#perhaps less drugs idk we’ll see

[nexility-sims]

i was randomly thinking about this shot while trapped at a stoplight just now … it might just be a masterpiece unto itself—! in any case, this middle post of the trio is one of my absolute favorites. epic highs, crushing lows, everything is fun and sexy …

[novamirmirsblog]

Stubborn

Genre: Fluff, hurt? a little angsty? Idk. you tell me ;)

Request: Yes

Word count: 1135

Warnings: Swearing, mention of drugs, injury, blood (I think that's it but lemme know if any more should be added)

This is the request: May i humbly request a Natasha x reader where R comes back from a mission all messed up and doesn’t want any help. R hides their injuries from the team but Natasha can see something is up. Later that evening, she tries to talk to R but they are stubborn and shouts they want to be left alone! Suddenly the reader starts coughing up blood due to internal bleeding and collapses. A worried Natasha screams for help while holding R. Feelings are confessed after R wakes up at hospital. Happy ending!

A/N: I hope this is what you wanted anon!

The mission had gone okay. It was a success for all intent and purposes and on paper, it looked like the perfect mission. Perhaps the paper should talk to your definitely bruised ribs and chest. Unfortunately, Stark's newest 'shock absorbent' fabric was more shock and less absorbent. You'd have to let him know that this was nowhere near the finished product he had promised. You'd do that tomorrow though. Right now, all you wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep the pain off. When the medics came to check you over, you waved them away, saying that you'd had worse and a bottle of painkillers would do just fine. You were hoping to just slink in unnoticed, have an extremely hot shower, followed by an even hotter bath and then pass out on your bed.

This did not happen.

Bless your team, you really did love them but when Stark decided today would be the perfect day to throw a little 'Congrats on doing so well' party, you wanted to scream. The only saving grace was that it was just the team attending.

The adrenaline had slowly begun to wear off and as you watched Peter's mouth move incredibly fast about a topic you didn't have the strength to listen to, you suddenly felt very faint.

"Sorry Peter, I think I had a little too much to drink. I just need to get some air."

"Oh sure - I'm sorry y/n - I completely forgot - you must be so tired from your mission and-"

You patted his shoulder tiredly and moved away before he could draw you back in with another conversation. Little did you know that a certain redhead's eyes hadn't left you since you came in.

"and then that's when- Natasha are you even listening to me?"

"Yes. And that's when you saved the kitten from the tree. Now if you'll excuse me. I think I need some air."

"But I was talking about the time Morgan gave me a makeover." Tony sulked. The sulk was abruptly replaced with a smirk when he realised who else 'needed some air'.

When Natasha made her way to the balcony, you had your back turned to her and were coughing. Your coughing fit stopped and you pulled your hand away only to see tiny red spots.

"Shit."

"I didn't know my company was that undesirable y/l/n." Natasha made her way next to you, leaning against the railing.

"Tasha! How've you been?" You nudged her and tried to wipe the blood into your hand.

"I'm pretty sure I should be asking you that question. Did you even go to medical before coming here?"

"Umm yes? Maybe?" Natasha gave you a look "Okay, no. I didn't. But it's not even that bad okay? Just some minor bruising. It's not like the time I got shot!" Even as the words left your lips, you could feel yourself slowing down, moving your mouth just took too much effort. That's when you were sent into another coughing fit.

"Y/n, we are going to the medical bay right now." Natasha looped her arm around your waist and tried to ignore the warm feeling she got by being so close to you. Now wasn't the time.

"Get off me, Natasha." You pushed her away and leant on the wall. "I don't need your help. I'm perfectly fine. I just-" You shook your head quickly, trying to clear the fog that was infecting your brain. "I just need to sleep." Apparently, sleep came a lot quicker than you expected because your vision suddenly went black.

Natasha's heart dropped. She didn't know what to do. She caught you before you fell to the ground but after that, she was frozen. She snapped out of her fear-induced haze and shouted for help. She didn't care how she looked, she just needed you to be okay.

~~~~~

An annoying beeping woke you up. "5 more minutes and ugh, turn that light off."

A low chuckle rumbled out, indicating that you were not alone. "Detka, I can't turn off the sun." Although Natasha would have surely tried to.

"Tasha" You reached your hand out and slowly peeled your eyes open. "What happened."

That was the wrong thing to say because her face switched from being concerned to pissed off.

"You didn't go to medical when I told you to." Her voice was low and dangerous. You had never been afraid of Natasha but right now, you weren't so sure you were going to make it out unscathed.

"I really didn't think it was that bad..." You at least had the humility to look a little guilty.

"You had internal bleeding Y/n. How is that 'not that bad'?"

"Okay so maybe it was a little worse than I thought but you're not exactly one to talk." You were offended that she had the audacity to shout at you when you remember multiple occasions of her walking around with bullet wounds just because she wanted to have a shower instead of being fixed up.

Natasha scoffed. "That's different."

"How. How is that different Natasha? Do you think I like having to find out that you're bleeding out because you refuse to go and get stitched up?"

"It's different because I care about you."

"Wow. You're saying I don't care about you? News flash Natasha - you're one of a few who I actually trust and care about."

"That's not what I-" You cut her off

"No no. I'm glad we cleared this up."

"If you would just lis-"

"You know I really thought we had something special Tash. Nice to know our movie nights were meaningless."

"THAT'S THE THING! Our movie nights weren't meaningless. They just meant more to me than they did to you. I came straight back from missions just to see your face Y/n. I didn't want to go to medical because I wanted to get to you as fast as possible. When you fell to the floor I realised I had to tell you. I've been sitting on this for far too long and today made me realise that. The thing is Y/n, I like you. Like a lot. So much that when I think of my future you're the only thing in it."

"I-" You didn't know what to say. The painkillers they gave you were pretty strong and words weren't being your friend at the moment. "I really like you too."

Natasha's lips reached yours and the kiss was slow and gentle, almost as if you were both afraid that if it was too passionate, it would break.

"I would really like to continue this but I'm on so many drugs Snoop would be jealous."

Natasha kissed your head "We'll continue this when you've come down off your high then."

[arsenicpanda]

Trying to distract you from the elephants and hippopotami (hippopotamuses?) living above you: If you could write S5, what are the major highlights you’d focus on?

An excellent question!  So, I’m going to pick some of the speculation/leaks we have and toss the others and kind of guess/go from there.  Also, this gets long, like 1.9k words long, so be ready.

- Main Mystery: After the success of Jughead’s novel and the reunited Josie and the Pussycats, Riverdale has become something of a novelty, part curiosity, part tourist trap.  But, this season, tourists and Riverdale residents are starting to go missing.  Some come back, some don’t, and those who do come back have wild stories to tell about, idk, Mothman or something, we’ll run with that leak.  But they also have a weird drug in their system.  At least one of the people who disappeared was a government person with top secret knowledge.  Idk exactly what’s happening, but Penny Peabody and perhaps Penelope will be involved.  Maybe they’re using people as lab rats?  Idk, it’s unclear.  Everyone will have a piece of the mystery, even if Betty and Jughead are the ones to put it all together.

- Archie: Archie is, in fact coming home from the army, but instead of Not-Boyfriend #3, he’s coming home with Reggie, who also joined the army.  Reggie’s dad is dead and has left him the car dealership, while Archie wants to Do Something For The Community In Honor Of His Dad again (also, everyone knows he’d be a shitty car salesman).  Maybe we keep the firefighter thing though, idk.  What’s important is that he and Reggie are living together in the Andrews house and, yes, we will get Archie’s gay awakening that we all deserve.  This is 100% a ship we will explore starting somewhere in 5a.  Archie is concerned about the disappearances and knows people being affected by it, same for Reggie.

- Veronica: Veronica went to business school and did business stuff with something new while being distantly involved in Le Bonne Nuit (Pop’s, however, she mainly handed back to Pop, although she does still do something accounting shit for it or something).  However, she also started doing some shady shit (not sure what, I know jack all about this, I’d delegate this decision) and almost lost her business/went to jail/got sued/etc.  Now she’s back in Riverdale to try to return to her roots with Le Bonne Nuit and being a Legitimate Business Woman.  She married a dude who is reminiscent of her mother, kind of a business partner but also a Lady Macbeth type.  The marriage is shaky at best because Veronica kind of forced herself into it, thinking that dating a non-himbo might make her happy after Archie (spoiler: it hasn’t).  They will have their own apartment in the Pembrooke, and, yes, Veronica will have an office somewhere with the rediscovered painting of herself behind the desk ala Hiram because I deserve to see it.  She’ll probably take it down at some point, but it will definitely be up for a while.  She’ll have a rival business person (Elio?) who is both somehow involved in the disappearances, and Veronica’s husband will be revealed to have been working with him at some point.

- Veronica/Archie/Reggie: This is our endgame pairing because I deserve it.  Veronica will get close to her himbos again, with Archie bringing out her better nature and Reggie bringing out her better business angles.  Veronica gets brought into the Archie/Reggie relationship in 5b slowly, might all get together only toward or at the very end of the season.  I’d work out specifics later though.

Now, I’m of two minds about Betty and Jughead.  I could break them up like the show will or I could keep them together because I do what I want.  I’m going to present both cases:

Scenario 1: They stay together

- Betty: Betty is an FBI agent, but she’s also chafing at the restrictions placed on her.  She keeps getting in trouble for going about things in a shady way (like, say, ignoring the need for a warrant), and she’s getting frustrated by all the red tape.  Currently, she’s being sent to Riverdale because of all the disappearances (particularly the government person) and because, well, she’s from there, she knows it.  She has a partner who she doesn’t get along with.  She and Jughead made it through long distance at college and post-grad, and they live together...idk, somewhere.  She will somehow reconcile with Veronica, unclear how.  May or may not quit the FBI to be a PI with Jughead at the end of the season.  Definitely fucks up Penny’s shit at one point.

- Jughead: Jughead is a published author and a PI who Betty sometimes uses as a way around red tape and advocates as a consultant; they both love this.  His first novel about Riverdale secured Riverdale’s place as That Weird Murder Town Where Shit Goes Down and turned it into a tourist trap; he hates this.  He’s on his...idk, third novel, with his second having done less well than his first.  He’s having trouble writing, so he goes back to Riverdale with Betty, hoping that returning to the town that first fueled his writing will help him with his writer’s block.  Jughead gets sucked into the spooky part of the mystery, going off on wild tangents while Betty pursues legitimate avenues. 100% does not have a drinking problem.

Scenario 2: Betty and Jughead break up (either post 4x17 reveal or due to long distance troubles)

- Betty: A lot is the same here.  She’s an FBI agent chafing at the restrictions placed on her and frustrated by red tape; she gets in trouble a lot for going about things shadily in her usual way.  She’s being sent to Riverdale as a Riverdale expert to investigate the disappearances in general but, more specifically, that government person who went to Riverdale on vacation.  (There may or may not be a more suspicious reason for the government person’s visit.)  She is either a single career woman with a partner she doesn’t get along with or she is having an affair with her partner that is falling apart.  While in Riverdale, she’s staying either in an apartment, a motel, or her house, depending.  She will somehow reconcile with Veronica, unclear how.  May or may not quit the FBI to be a PI at the end of the season.  Again, definitely fucks up Penny’s shit at one point.

- Jughead: Jughead is still a novelist upset about the effect his breakout novel had on Riverdale.  He is also an investigative journalist who’s been sent to Riverdale to investigate this shit OR a PI who can afford to take a vacation in Riverdale, and he’s happy to do it because it might help him with his writer’s block.  He has a live-in girlfriend back wherever he lives, and their already dying relationship is going to break with the added long distance difficulties.  He’s going to go after the weirder aspects of the disappearances because he thinks that’s where Riverdale’s answers always are.  While in Riverdale, he’s staying with Cheryl and Toni.  He will definitely reunite with the Serpents, and probably have some friendship moments with Archie as well. 100% does not have a drinking problem.

- Bughead: They will keep ending up at the same places while investigating and slowly slip back into their old routine and habits.  They’ll have a murderboard in the bunker where they meet up away from the eyes of the FBI (Cheryl and Toni draw the line at murderboards in their house), and there will be a lot of pining and sexual tension.  They will have at least one heartfelt conversation about why things didn’t work out, one instance where they have to make out to try and seem harmless after being discovered somewhere they shouldn’t be, and one heated encounter (maybe sex, maybe just making out) after being in a lot of danger.  If Betty is dating her partner, he’s revealed to be a shady fucker after she breaks up with him like three episodes in.  Jughead and his girlfriend have a conversation over the phone where they’re both tryin to break up with the other; it’s quite comical.  Betty and Jughead are reunited by the end of 5a (episode nine at the latest) and spend the rest of the season rebuilding their relationship.  The season may or may not end with Jughead proposing, possibly with a ring he bought for Betty previously but never had the heart to get rid of after the break up, possibly impulsively with one of the rings he always wears, possibly just with a new ring.

- Kevin and Fangs:  Kevin is a drama teacher at Riverdale High, and Fangs does...idk, something, maybe he’s also a teacher, maybe he’s a /bein some field who can work from anywhere, maybe something else.  They live together, a little off/on, but in a way that suits them and always ends in on.  Kevin is concerned about some of his students who’ve gone missing.  Fangs is either in the same position as Kevin or he has an employer who’s being shady.

- Cheryl and Toni: Cheryl and Toni both went to Highsmith College.  Cheryl runs the Blossom maple business well and maybe something else, and Toni is a successful photographer.  As for the twins, Polly recovered and is now raising them somewhere other than this helltown.  They’re back in town for Cheryl’s business purposes, although they mainly live...idk, somewhere else.  Either other Blossoms are secretly pulling some shit, Penelope has resurfaced, or Cheryl has a business partner who’s doing something shady.  Toni sees some shit while taking photographs of Riverdale.  Toni should get a storyline/be involved in the main plot, but I’m not sure what.  Maybe she’ll investigate with Betty and Jughead sometimes?  She definitely has a lot of interactions with Jughead, Fangs, and Sweet Pea though.

- Sweet Pea: Apparently is here?  Maybe lives with Kevin and Fangs?  Works...idk, somewhere?  Possibly went to community college, maybe works at the hospital as a doctor or nurse or lab tech or something?  Maybe is the sheriff?  Unclear, but has seen some shit one way or the other.  I know he’s not a series regular, but we bothered to bring him back apparently, he has to do something.

- Southside Serpents: Might not even be around?  Maybe they disbanded at some point?  Maybe there’s a new version of them that’s being shady?  Maybe we don’t mention them at all?  Unclear.- Alice:  Is still here, apparently, living in Gladys’s house.  No longer with FP, who has gone...idk, somewhere, maybe lives with Gladys?  Alternately, Gladys comes back to live in her house and sparks fly between her and Alice.  Probably is being nosy.

- Hiram and Hermione: Doing some shady shit, undoubtedly, may or may not be shady shit related to the plot, possible red herrings.  It’s kind of one last hurrah for Hiram because we’re finishing up Veronica’s parallels with him this season.  We might get Hiram v Betty at last, though, but then that might be best saved for season 6.  Definitely a mirror for Veronica’s relationship though.

And I think that’s everyone?  I wrote out Tabitha because we know nothing about her so I have no idea what to do with her.  I didn’t break up choni because it really isn’t worth the hassle of breaking up and then getting back together three relationships.  I have no idea what the musical episode would be.  And I didn’t bother to hash out the plot because I’m not crazy enough to lay out a proper Riverdale plot, but I assure you a bunch of crazy shit goes down and at least one 90s teen/college icon shows up.

[lizacstuff]

Sen Çal Kapımı / Edser Asks

After the fragman, I got a few anons this afternoon, my answer are under the cut. 

(Also my initial reactions are in this post.)

Anonymous said: In the spirit of optimism- when Eda broke up with Serkan in 25, everyone freaked out but by the end of the next episode, she proposed LOL. Maybe just maybe they won’t do the “everyone pretends Selin and Serkan are a thing for medical reasons for multiple episodes” route and someone gets her kicked to the curb in 29. I wonder how much of the 2.5 hrs will be before he comes back and how much is after.

LOL, I certainly would like Selin to be back for only one episode. I hope my speculation is right (this post,)and her narrative purpose is to make Serkan distrust Eda from the start and once she’s done that she can exit stage right. 

As for the theory you mention, which I have seen on twitter, I don’t see people pretending they’re together for medical reasons. That makes zero sense to me (not that medical diagnosis on a silly romantic dramedy dizi would be accurate, lol) why would that be necessary? Why would anyone go along with that? Especially when all he would need to do is google himself to find out about his relationship with Eda.  They were all over the tabloids and on the cover of a magazine. Plus it seems like he knows about Eda, Selin tells him "she turned you into someone you’re not and dragged you into a different world.”  He has to know they were in a relationship.

There is a lot of knee-jerk hysteria over there right now which is leading to completely neurosis-induced, nonsensical, worst-case scenario speculation. I recommend avoiding for awhile if anyone is easily upset by that type of thing. 

As for the timeline of the ep, great question. I am hoping that the walk into ArtLife is not the end of the episode. We’re going to need to see Serkan and Eda meeting face to face before this episode is up in order to survive! We know almost the full cast (including Hande and Kerem) were shooting at a cafe yesterday, and the cast looked dressed up. Most thought it was for 1x28, so that seems like there are scenes with Serkan and the full cast in this ep. 

Though, the show has a lot of questions to answer.  How in God’s name did he end up in that cabin? Did he get on the plane or not?  Was he held captive and got dropped in the woods with only Selin’s phone number? Has he been in a coma?  Was there foul play involved?   Was there a brain injury or did Babaanne arrange his kidnapping and give him some experimental drug to wipe out his memories of Eda? 

Not sure if this Deniz is a law enforcement official or some sort of private detective, but there would have been some sort of official inquiry and search when he went missing. So he can’t just be lazing around for 2 months, easily findable. And Selin can’t have been with him for anything length of time without the others knowing he’s alive, because that would pretty much be kidnapping. So what HAPPENED? 

Anonymous said: I hope we get good Eda and Aydan moments. She didn’t get married but she is still Aydan’s daughter now. He’s going to come back and find that this woman has his mother, his company, his dog, his car, his friends.....there’s no way that he doesn’t just know that Selin has been a snake.

Yes, please!  I’m sure we will get Eda and Aydan moments, it looks from the first trailer that they will lean on each other while he’s missing. Which they should, they’ll be the two that will hold out hope and give one another comfort. 

I am LOVING that Eda is driving his car and taking care of his dog. As she should, they were hours away from being married! And yes, you’re correct, he’s going to find Eda so deeply embedded in everything he remembers (except Selin) that it’s going to drive him crazy. Who is this woman and how did she ensorcell him so thoroughly? Can’t wait for him to find out. 

You know what I’m most looking forward to in regards to Aydan? Serkan’s shock that his mother has conquered her agoraphobia. Can’t wait for him to find out that Eda was instrumental in helping her do that. 

She is going to hit him like an emotional freight train. A second time. 

Anonymous said: i know most of the fandom has already accepted it as fact bc they can't wait for the actual ep to make conclusions, but i'm less inclined to believe he's been in that cabin w/ selin for 2 months.. idk HOW he gets there, or how selin ends up there.. but for some reason i think they find him first, and he takes off by himself for a bit as he's overwhelmed with the whole situation.. and then selin enters. idk, we'll have to see it, but i think, like all trailers, it's confusing on purpose.

This theory is definitely possible. That he’s found and freaks out and goes to the cabin. Perhaps the last he remembers he was still with Selin so he reaches out to her for answer about what’s going on.  That would make sense why he accepts her comfort, and she gives it, but can’t help herself from trying to do everything in her power to make him distrust Eda. Even if she doesn’t have hope of reconciliation, just to cause chaos because she doesn’t want them to find happiness together. She’s said it more than once, she didn’t want him happy, while she was not. 

Anonymous said: I am not emotionally prepared to watch the look on Eda’s face when Serkan walks in holding hands with Selin after being missing for the last two months....😭😭😭. Also even if Serkan & Selin are purely platonic watching their scenes together are going to be brutal. I am prepared to cry ( both tears of joy & sadness) & be very mad at various points in this episode. It will be an rollercoaster of emotions for sure.

Yep, pretty much all of this!  I don’t think I’m going to enjoy watching this episode at all. However, my hope is that I will really enjoy watching the storyline that it sets up where we get to watch Serkan fall in love with Eda all over again.  Think of all the delicious, UST-y, sexy, funny, fiery, passionate scenes that are in store for us! 

Off the top of my head, things I want:

Serkan opening Madonna in a Fur Coat and finding their photo

Serkan’s deep-seated memory kicking in and mindlessly tearing the crusts off bread for her without realizing it or knowing why

Finding out his computer password and what it means

Seeing photos of them from their matchmaking party. Looking so in love and surrounded by friends and family and everyone looks so happy

One of the friends, Engin or Piril snapping and telling him the big change Eda brought about in him was just that he was happy

Serkan seeing media clippings of them and their relationship

Eda handcuffing him so they have to spend time together while trying to jog his memory

After being suspicious and trying to keep her at arms length, Serkan finally breaking down and asking her questions about their relationship

Serkan being mistrustful of her, but still unable to say no to her

Anonymous said: So I get that SCK is going through a reset and now we will get to watch Eda & Serkan fall in love again but seriously they brought Selin back like that...WTF? Now she is even worse than Balca. Plus the entire world thinks Serkan is dead but somehow Selin found him and never bothered to tell anyone else...that should send up some red flags for sure. Regardless of the explanation, this situation is going to crush Eda. And it seems like a lot to go through to have him immediately get his memories back so we could be stuck with this storyline for a while.

Yes, poor Eda is going to be crushed no matter what.  However, I know that people have been theorizing that the memory loss would be short, but I never thought it would be.  What’s the point of this reset unless they’re going to follow through with it and milk it for as many episode as possible. They’re trying to find ways to keep this show going and this is their big swing. 

The entire point is to recreate the magic of Eda and Serkan falling in love, and, honestly, I'm not sure why anyone would want that to be over in 2 episodes. I don’t see it as being stuck with the amnesia story, I’m excited for all the parallels, watching Serkan get struck by lightning a second time when he first sees her.  Watching him be suspicious of her, of her motives of her abilities, but then finding out all the same things that he found out the first time, that she’s fierce, kind-hearted, loyal and talented. And just a bright shining light for him. 

My heart melts just thinking about it.  We just have to get rid of that opportunistic, malevolent, bitter hag. 

Anonymous said: one complaint that i've seen in regards to sck is that characters aren't sent off properly.. but outside of maybe fifi (which we don't know how they'll explain her leaving) am i the only one that doesn't... really care? everyone that's left has been unsubstantial or in a villain role, and personally whatever way they leave i'm fine with lol.. i know when selin left ppl were mad bc they wanted a redemption story arc for her.. but not every character NEEDS that by default, if that makes sense.

For context, this ask was sent before the fragman.  I agree with you, no side character needs redemption by default. I’ve said it many times, but on this specific show, really only two characters matter: Eda and Serkan. This is their story. Their love story. Everyone else is supporting in the truest sense of the word. They all exist to prop up the A story. So for most of them their journey doesn’t matter unless it directly affects Eda or Serkan. (Aydan’s growth and redemption has directly impacted Eda and Serkan and that’s why time has been spent on it). Selin is a tool. She’s behaved erratically at time because she only exists for the writers to use her to antagonize the protagonists. Her story in and of itself does not matter. 

I laughed hysterically when some on twitter were thinking Serkan might really be dead and Kerem was leaving the show. 

Seriously? You think they would try to keep this show going without Edser? That anyone would pay money for it, without them?  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! If one of them were to leave, the show would be over. Dead. Cancelled. There is NO reason for this show to keep going other than for more Edser. Everything else is an after thought, filler, or characters that prop up Eda and Serkan either literally or symbolically or thematically. Nothing else stands on it’s own.

They devised this storyline in order to go back to the magic of these two people falling in love. Full stop. That’s why we’re seeing this reset.  Because no other characters or their storylines are compelling enough to carry the show.  I applaud the writers for creating a situation where we could watch Serkan fall in love with Eda one more time. (just get rid of Selin, please, so I can enjoy it... and do it quickly.)

[tellywoodtrash]

immj2 29.10.20 lb

dadi getting a lil too intrusive in her confidence in vansh's ability to pyaar, just coz he got his wife’s wrist size right.

appropriate response.

idhar chachi lamenting ki ohnoe i think vansh really loves riddhima now.

yet again, an appropriate response.

but for wrong reason. coz this one's like, look at all the great love stories. the truer the love, the more bitter the ending.

mummy like ughhhh but these two seem annoyingly indestructibleeeee.

aryan is pretty chill. he's like we shall try try againnnnn, mom. till when will she escape and he keep saving her??? at one point or the other he'll be late by 5 min. that day, we'll get her.

time for riddhima to get an angre of her own, methinks.

meanwhile someone's fucking with the mehendi. ofc.

lo. adulterated mehendi has been delivered to correctttttttttttt victim itself. even though there's no name or anything written on the trays.

she's SOOOOOO excited to put mehendi that she's not eaten all day and telling dadi she'll eat after the mehendi is dry. her cheerfulness is annoying me. who would be this happy about a hetero relationship with a man????? wouldn’t be me.

husband has noted the point ki karwa chauth vrat seems to have started a day early.

black string on chachi's shoulder, same as from mehendi-fucker-upper ka blanket thingy. i mean..... i think it's a red herring, coz she and aryan were bitching when the mehendi was being tampered with, but who knows with the timeline of this show anymore.

the stupidest thing here is that only the open mehendi has been fucked with. i wouldn't use that in the first place and just use the cone for sheer convenience and less mess. also KNOWING that everyone in this house wants to kill me???? why the fuckkkk would you use the one in the open container????

ainvayi mein these three are glaring at her. imagine letting someone this stupid live rent-free in your head all day. be better, queens.

hubs is here with khaaana.

dadi has to taang adaaofy some more and force him to feed her. honestly, iss dadi ko bohut zyaada utaavli chadhi hai. calm your tits, woman.

not to nitpick on a nice thing being done, but that dal to rice ratio seems waaaaaaaaay off.

also gross, she eats like a baby. truly incompetent in every single way.

sir what is your face?????? but also yes, simp more for your wifeee!!!!!

ew dal waale haath se hi baal bhi sawaar raha hai.

GODDDDDD, GET A FUCKING ROOM BEFORE DADI POPS IN BETWEEN YOU TWO LIKE

yup. she had to say some nonsense in between and make me die of cringe. i'm fwding the scene coz i realllllly can't handle the second hand embarrassment.

if my cat stepped in mehendi and walked all over my palms, it would look better than this.

DADI IS LITERALLY KILLING HER POTA BY EMBARRASSING HIM TO DEATH. PLS WOMAN, STOP. I CAN'T HANDLE IT.

ishani and mummy being eternal mood.

itch itch itch itch itch.

sensible dude is like just wash it the fuck off you idiot, and she's like noooooooooooooo but the rang!!!!

“tumhe lagta hai mehendi zyaada der tak rakhne se rang gaadha hota hai, ya phir pati ke chaahne se?”

“dono hi samajh lo.”

gotta say, i like flirty riddhima. it's the only time she uses her brain a lil and is tolerable. BUT OH GOD JUST GO WASH YOUR HANDS YOU DUMBASS.

thank god, he insisted and sent her off.

these two's issues i really dgaf about anymore, so fwding. like........ i think angre needs to back the fuck off a little bit. har waqt uske mooh mein ghuske yeh pati waala drama karoge toh kisi ko bhi gussa aana hai.

wonderful. aur rakho itchy mehendi haath pe.

husband ready to burn down mehendi waale ppl's house. totes appropriate reaction.

she's like oh no idc about my sore, bleeding hands, i just feel so bad for dadi. omfg dumbass just get a brown sketch pen from somewhereeee. like the old bat would be able to tell the difference. 

“mehendi ka rang aur pati ka pyaar, inn dono mein koi connection nahi hai.”

ex-fucking-actly. i gots no pati and my mehendi comes out DARK AF, every single time. it has to do with body heat more than anything. and since i am a human furnace, i don't need no pati ka pyaar. not only in this area, but in alllllll areas of my life. #aatmanirbhar

“yeh mehendi ka rang humaare rishte ka certificate nahi ban sakta hai; lekin agar tumhe aisa lagta hai, toh mere paas ek solution hai.”

sweet.

ugh i don't caaaaaaaaare about these family waale and their neverending tippaniyaan on these two's marriage. fwding.

anyway pati is here to tell everyone to stfu and gtfo, thank god.

ofc that gets these 3 to turn on laser glare eyes and vow hellfire and brimstone on riddhima.

ishani was mehendi culprit?

here some more bitching and theories ki riddhima ne itna dimaag chalaana kabse shuru kar diya, uski neeyat kyun badal gayi about giving kabir the memory card, blah blah. i'm just here to stare at kabir in all black.

hein? mummy ALSO has the black kambhal???? did alllllll of you bitches add your own own poisons to the mehendi???

oh?????????????????

can't say i wouldn't do the same.

lol she's straight up calling him out for being an asshole when awake.

and now she's imitating him and maarofying all his dialogues, including the "interestingggggggggg.... veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyy interesting." again, this episode is perhaps the firsttttttttt time i've liked riddhima as a character.

ASLKJDLASDLKASJDLKJASLKDJLASKJDLSAJLKDJL I LEGIT SCREAMED

and he's back to growling at her. but good for her, she doesn’t seem intimidated at all.

but april fool! he likes it!

“ek baat boloon?”

“haan bolo.”

“kabhi tumhe aise muskuraate hue nahi dekha. aadat daal lo, achche lagte ho.”

“tum bhi aadat daal lo. mujhe yeh aise achcha lagta hai.”

OH GOD SHE'S GONNA RUIN THE MOMENT BY TELLING HIM ABOUT KABIR. OH GOD. OHHHHHHH GOD. IDK IF IT'S MY PERIOD CRAMPS OR SHEER TERROR, BUT MUMMMMY, MY STOMACH HURTSSSSSSS.

ok phew, she didn't say the R(agini) word. she just says that like you had a story in your past, i have one too....

andddddddd he told her he doesn't care. it's her past. it's done. he only cares about living with her in the present. well dang. such a reasonable response? from this dude???? unexpected.

but also, He Knows right????? He fully Knows already.

is the person writing their scenes on some special drug these days? whatever it is, they should keep doing it. remarkable improvement in romantic scenes. like, crazy amazing improvement.

is it that, or have i developed stockholm syndrome for this show now??????? oh fuck.

early morning sargi blah blah.

ishani like i don't even got no saas, why i gotta be here for thissssss?????

riddhima as usual has to be overrrrrrrrr, and has prepared sargi for ishani and hands it over.

OH GOD DADI IS TELLING HER TO TOUCH RIDDHIMA'S FEET OH GOD DADI WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS YOU JUST WANNA SEE THIS MANSION BURNNNNNN, DON'T YOU

ofc there are promises of soooooot-samedh badla.

aaaaaaaaand mummy purposely messed up riddhima's sargi. ouff. saas bahu politics. idccccccc.

lmaooooooooo i am ishani. i can't help it, i just really am her.

wait mummy is saying shit like “mere bete ka dil todkar, vansh ke liye karwachauth ka vrat rakhne chali hai.........” ARE YOU TELLING ME KABIR REALLY FELL FOR THIS CHICK??????????? IT ISN'T JUST A EGO THING FOR HIM??????? RE DEVAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

[gottagobuycheese]

Tag Thingy

Thanks @silent--sonata for indulging my terrible sleeping habits XD

(fyi this will probably be unnecessarily long and rambly, so it’s going under a cut (EDIT: whelp the song list got a little out of hand, I’d apologize if I were even remotely sorry)) 

Rules: Answer 17 questions & tag 17 people you want to get to know better  

Nickname: Cheese (or Lactose Wedge, or Dairy Product of Unspecified Origin and Purpose)

Zodiac Sign: Gemini! 

Height: 160.5 cm/5′3″ (Bubbles I refuse to believe you’re actually that much taller than me) 

Hogwarts house: Somewhere between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff allegedly, both of which I’d be honored to get sorted into, but honestly I’d just be stoked to get sorted at all 

Last thing I googled: I think it was something along the lines of “how to speed up audio playback in GarageBand,” but but my train of thought was derailed before I actually looked at any of the results so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (and on a related note, thanks again for the magical audio editing @imperiousheiress!)

Song stuck in my head: The end credits to Legacy of the Wizard (which is SUCH a jam, thank you for enlightening me @jessicafish) Following and followers: 227 (goodness just looking at that number is stress-inducing) and...104?! When the HECK did you all get here??? I think just last summer I was happily floating about in the 50′s. Anyways, to anyone I have not said hello, hello! Hope you enjoy your stay, and I am sincerely sorry if you expected Quality Original Content, or even just regularly scheduled other people’s content. Sadly, neither of these things tend to happen here. 

Amount I sleep: During the school year it’s usually anywhere between 30 minutes and 6 hours (DON’T EVEN START BUBBLES YOU HAVE NO RIGHT), usually landing in the 3/4 hour ranges if I’m smart about it, but now that I am on Unofficial Break, it’s usually at least around 6 hours (except today was 3 because Avatar is an excellent show and the weirdos in this house have regularly scheduled breakfast at 9-something every morning). Sadly my sleep schedule can only be forced to tolerate normalcy for so long before careening back in the other direction, so we’ll see if this is just a blip or if we’re back to normal mid-Atlantic Ocean hours!

Lucky number(s): I wouldn’t say these are necessarily favorite numbers, but I do like 2 and 9. But come to think of it, second attempts at Official Things do tend to go better for me than first attempts, so maybe there’s some merit there after all! Dream Job: Don’t think I’m really cut out for dreaming anymore, haha (unless you are a theoretical future employer in which case I am Extremely Full of Ambition and Passion). The bed-adjacent metaphor has been made, and not to brag, but I can sleep on pretty much any surface. Currently studying my Not Favorite aspect of STEM (was there ever a favorite or did I just like being good at things sometimes) and learning how to People™ properly (and also learning a gazillion convoluted drug names like what the heck dude, did you just fall asleep on your typewriter coming up with these), so I’ll take whatever place hires me and pays me enough not to depend on my parents for everything, I suppose. In an ideal world, that would entail a job where I could make friends, and even more importantly, a job where my shortcomings would not cause Massive and Irreparable Harm, but I don’t think this line of work really meshes with that last one, so I guess I’ll either have to get my shit together™ extremely soon or fake my death, adopt an alias, and flee to a completely new place with no ties whatsoever before trying to get another, less high stakes job. 

(Though I guess, less cynically, I like helping people well enough? And stories are fun! Maybe there could’ve been something with that. Not that there still can’t be, mind, but there’s still a long way to go between Here and There)

Wearing: Black shorts. Navy t-shirt. Brown some-specific-kind-of-jacket-I-forgot-the-name-of jacket. Is it summer? Is it fall? Am I in middle school? Who can say, but they are COMFY so sadly I have no cares to give

Favourite song(s): way way WAY too many to list here, and I do not have them all organized in a handy playlist separately, but to name a few (and these are not necessarily the MOST favorite okay, it doesn’t mean I don’t love stuff not on this list, it means you can’t force me to pick between my children and I am going to find at least one quick thing from a few things I like before I need to hit post and go back to looking like I’m being studious, and also things I think you should listen to right now, but for everything I’ve linked assuming I mean the whole OST), here’s a spam of links in no particular order: 

LoZ Wind Waker - The Great Sea (aka the epitome of optimism) 

Undertale - NGAHHH!! (I was about to link more but then I realized it’d be the whole soundtrack lol) 

LoZ Breath of the Wild - Hateno Village (Night) 

A:tLA - Peace (bad call BAD CALL NOW I HAVE EMOTIONS) 

Legend of Korra - Final Scene/Ending Theme (MISTAKES WERE MADE MISTAKES WERE MADE) 

Kung Fu Panda - Oogway Ascends (I feel like I’m taking you on a whole little album journey now XD) 

PMD: Explorers of Sky - Dialga’s Fight to the Finish (aka the Gotta Shower Fast song) 

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Pursuit ~ Cornered (aka the HURRY UP AND PACK UR SHIT YOUR FLIGHT LEAVES IN THREE HOURS song) 

Apollo Justice: A New Trial Is In Session (very underrated soundtrack imo) and also Apollo Justice: Telling the Truth (because these two are very closely associated in my head and it’s getting harder and harder to narrow things down so maybe I should stop lol) 

Your Name: Katawaredoki (in which I am forcibly thrown heart first into the bedroom of my second apartment at approximately 12-something A.M.) 

Digimon Adventure 01: Butterfly (MASSIVE 90′s childhood anime feels, and also Last Summer Before Everything Went to Shit feels (on a general scale I mean, not personal)) 

Pokémon: Lugia’s Song multitrack cover by Jordan Moore (would that I could have a talent of that musical talent) 

Pokémon the First Movie: Tears of Life (great now I’m on a Pokémon music spiral GUESS IT’S CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA HOURS NOW) 

PMD: Blue Rescue Team - Farewell and Run Away/Fugitives (you CANNOT make me choose between these guys okay, my brain WILL explode, and whoops now I want to link the whole ost) 

Palette by A Dear Friend (wink wonk) 

Pokémon: Alpha Sapphire - Fortree City (wow talk about mood whiplash)

Detective Conan: Main Theme (I can’t find the specific version since there are so many, but it’s a Good Theme) 

Super Smash Bros.: Brawl - Opening Theme 

Pokémon Colosseum - Relic Forest 

Song for Lindsay by Andrew Boysen Jr. (oh great now it’s time for marching band feelings I guess)

Mt. Everest by Rossano Galante 

Deltarune - Field of Hopes and Dreams and A Town Called Hometown (orchestrated) (aka the Lots of Work To Do song) and You Can Always Come Home and Don’t Forget (hey guess what I wrote a bunch of fake extra verses for) (also it looks my pathetic attempts at narrowing things down are getting even more pathetic so I’ll wrap up soon XD) 

 Guild Wars 2 - Fear Not This Night (never actually played this myself but my friend got me addicted to the music) 

Lord of the Rings - May It Be (Enya) (aaaand now I miss choir, THANKS BUBBLES) 

Lion King - Can You Feel the Love Tonight (Multilingual) by Travys Kim (aka how I remembered how fun these things are) 

Original Song by Anonymous  

(The urge to add all the other songs I’m not adding is so strong but I’ve got so much work to do so just assume I mean all Nintendo music from any game I’ve played, all Ghibli movie music, every musical I’ve ever heard, and even more) 

Random fact:

Apparently as early as the 17th century, you could guess that a child would have a shortened life span if their foreheads tasted salty. Yes, there is a specific reason, and yes, you may already know what it is, and thankfully no, that life span projection no longer holds true, assuming access to Modern Medicine! 

Favourite Authors: Okay I have not read enough various books of enough various authors to be able to answer this, so I’m just gonna go with a few books instead. They are not necessarily all-time favorites, but I enjoyed reading them very much at the time and more often than not go back to them for comfort reads: The Martian, any of first three Harry Potter books, and The Rise of Kiyoshi. (That last one’s not really a comfort read but I am drowning in Loving Kiyoshi juice so here we are)

Favourite Animal Noises: Certain kinds of birds (UNLESS it’s some ungodly hour of the morning and you’re trying to sleep)? Ooh, and crickets! 

Aesthetic: A slob, but like...a comfy slob. An incredibly disorganized hermit who is happy to mill about in the uncontrolled entropy. (Are we talking about what aesthetic I give off, or what I like to look at, visually? Because I like space, and water, and mountains, and forests, and forests ON mountains, OOH and forests on mountains at night where you can see space, perhaps reflected in a body of water. Or just water, idk. Different things are pretty to look at at different times)

WELL THAT ONLY TOOK FOREVER SORRY FOR THE OBSCENE LENGTH 

@pachelbelsheadcanon @averybritishbumblebee @shingeki-no-korra @sailorlock @yeswevegotavideo @soultheta @queenerdloser @ifeelbetterer @rogueofdragons @peppervl @amadness2method @mutalune and anybody else who wants to do this! This isn’t seventeen, and I don’t know if any of you have already done it/been tagged, but I hear people moving around upstairs so that means this break is over XD. And ABSOLUTELY no pressure to actually do this, this is pretty much just me wishing you well! (and YOU of course, my dear reader! I hope everything’s going all right, or if it’s not, that it does soon)

[praphit]

Gretel & Hansel: White people, hear me!

I know, I know, some of y'all were hoping that my next review would be Taylor Swift's "Miss Americana". 

I'm sorry to disappoint you. Why and how is she still making movies anyway? I thought that everyone associated with "Cats" had been banned from Hollywood.

Now, it WOULD be cool, if Taylor got involved in Horror. I'm thinking that a bunch of horror monsters could get together to track her down; kinda like a contest. They would, you know... do their thing to her, and then bring her back from the dead in the sequel, and repeat the process. Every now and then, they could throw in Justin Bieber or someone else with his same level of annoyance. BOOM! Franchise! So, donate to Praphit Productions (millions), so I can make that happen. I'll just CG Taylor Swift in, if I have to; I'm sure she'd be ok with that.

Just picture Jason Voorhees or Kanye West chasing her.

No, people, I'm here to talk to y'all about Hansel & Gretel!

No, no, no, I'm sorry! "Gretel and Hansel!"

I almost forgot about that blow up in their studio. Y'all remember that?

Sophia Lillis' (who plays Gretel - SHE’S GREAT IN THIS-BTW) first day on the set was raw! 

She walked up to the director and was like "Bleep this bleep! Who is Hansel? Who the bleep is he?! No one knows that actor! What is he, like 5 years old? Bleep him! How is his name first?! So, a woman can't lead a man, huh??! It's always gotta be Hansel first, right?! And what always happens?! That witch bitch always tries to eat them! Bleep that! Y'all know who I is! I'm Sophia bleeping Lillis! I was in "It" one AND two. What has "Sammy Leakey" (playing Hansel) been in??!

Not a damned thing! I want my name first! You will put it first or so help me God, I will UNLEASH THE FURY!"

Director (Oz Perkins): "I actually like that idea"

SL: "I don't give a bleep what you like! Just make it happen!" 

Then, she went to her trailer, and when she came back out, it was "Gretel & Hansel".

(Hansel’s not even in the shot. Lillis was too raw for him.)

Let's see if Gretel fairs better in this story, now that she's getting the chance to lead.

We all know this Brothers Grimm story. There's a family (I don't know what Gretel & Hansel's last name is... we'll just say "Shakur"). So, the Shakur Family was struck by a famine in the land. Stuff happens, and G & H end up off on their own, in the woods, and eventually meet up with a witch, who later tries to eat them.

White people, hear me! Are you listening? STOP GOING INTO THE WOODS! Seriously, STOP! I'm trying to save you. Black people know better, but y'all... smh. I know y'all like to go hiking, and camping, and taking selfies on mountain tops and shit, but PLEASE... STOP! Nothing good is waiting for you out there!

Quit going into the woods to get footage of alleged monsters/spirits. Quit going into the woods to spend the night in cabins. Quit going into the woods to party on the anniversary of the night that 12 people were mysteriously murdered in those same woods. STOP!

JUST STOP! DAMN!

Some of you might be thinking, "Well maybe Gretel will make it. Maybe now that she's leading the duo, things will be different." Nope, she's white... *sigh* so we all know what she and Hansel did...  went right into the woods.

This movie is mainly from Gretel's perspective. Right from the jump, we see Gretel being pimped out by her mama. Gretel of course declines to become a professional hoe, but when she comes back to her mama for a possible different direction in life, Mama is like "Would it have killed you to get on your knees for your family?! We're starving!"

I know - Mom of the Year.

Dad isn't even around. I may have missed something, but I don't remember where he was, or if maybe he ran away, a long time ago. One of those "Daddy went to get a pack of cigs, and never came back" scenarios. He may be off in a land flowing with Big Macs and Fries, Idk. Or maybe, being that his "selfish" daughter wouldn't put-out, he decided to get to work on the corner himself. Who knows where he was in this movie??

Gretel was def tough though. And she loved her brother! She was very protective of him. There is a scene where there's some sort of vampire creature chasing down Hansel, and Gretel stands up to the creature. That's the type of character that she is in this movie. She's smart, tough, and though sometimes hard on her bro, she loves him very much.

Hansel on the other hand is annoying as shit. And Dumb! Man, is he dumb! I'm surprised that we never see Gretel slap him. But, she is always able to compose herself in the midst of her annoying brother, and keep the journey going. She even calms him down at one point with some drugs. They end up eating some shrooms on their trip. Now, THAT'S love, people! Seeing someone in need of calming the bleep down, and offering them some good shit. What's a road trip without a moment when the group gets high??

There's a Lando-looking character that they meet along the way. 

He doesn't have much of a role in this movie. I'm not saying it's because he's black, BUT he's a fascinating, noble character, who's black and barely in the movie. And they do not trust him at all. I'm not saying it's because he's black... you know what?? - YES! Yes I am saying that!

He saves their lives, offers them food and shelter, and gives them specific instructions that will keep them safe. But, after that (the only character so far that has had G & H's best interests in mind), Gretel immediately questions his motives. White women, hear me! If a black man willingly sticks out his neck for you, IN THE DARKNESS, in order to save YOUR life, that's a man that you can trust. Cuz we (black men) all know, that if we try to save a white woman out in public (even if we succeed), there's a good chance that the cops will still swing by to shoot us. They're thinking just like Gretel is in this movie - "I know it LOOKS like they saved her, but... can we really trust him? - let's shoot him just in case." Granted, this Landoish character sends them off (again with instructions for their safety). They had no quarrels about leaving (and quickly).

So, they runaway from the compassionate black man, who just saved them, and they meet an old lady (the witch) who has black fingers, and house smells a lil like death... and they say to themselves "Let's sleep here!" Ain't that some shit??! 

White people, HEAR ME!

STOP!

They don't even question her black fingers, they just let her handle their food. I question people of whom I don't know, with normal fingers, handling my food, but... I guess that's just me.

Then, the rest of the story is legend.

The production design in this movie is absolutely amazing! If this film had no dialogue, and was just silent, it still would have been a beautiful movie (despite the cannibalism:)

The plot, I felt, was secondary to the cinematography.

Some of you might say, "Well that's nice and all, but is the movie scary? Does the witch, at some point, rev-up a chainsaw, and chase the two kids around her house?" No. "Ok, but does the movie, at some point, have little, pale Asian kids making creepy noises at H & G while they're trying to sleep?" NO! "Yeah, but is there some sort of human centipede action happening in the basement of the witch, and she tries to..."

NO! NO! HELL NO! What's wrong with y'all?!

No, none of that. The story that The Brothers Grimm have painted is horrifying enough. Famine and crappy parenting, leading to witch who wants to eat you... I'd say that's all that's required; the director knows this.

They don't need to use any gimmicks, just the same story (pretty much), a lil dark magic, the mentioned cinematography, and well-placed spooky music keep the movie in a consistent place of dread.

I think RT got this one wrong (59%). I don't have much bad to speak of, concerning this movie. I can't give it an A grade, due to it being a copy of a story that we've seen copied many times before. Plus, there are some ending issues I have with it, that I'll get to in a sec. BUT, this film is a hell of a B grade :)

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I WARNED YOU!

A few things:

Soooooo, Gretel has some sort of connection to the witch that is never explained. Apparently, she has within her, the same powers as the witch.

She ends up sending her bro off to Lord knows where. She sends him off on a horse that she says she SPOKE TO, and he (the horse) will get Hansel there (where? who knows??) safely. So, she's talking the animals now?? When did she pick-up that skill? And where the bleep did she even get a horse?

There's some super grease that her and the witch use to do magic, that is never explained.

Now, none of this took away from my enjoyment of the film, but... still though.

There's a message of false empowerment at the end. Like I said, she abandons her brother, so that she can... fulfill her destiny or something. She has dark magic in her, but she is convinced that she'll use it for good. Like I said, Gretel is a SMART character... what happened to all of that smart? It's like saying "Hey, I have this STD, but instead of tending to it, I'm going to use my STD for good. It's going to be hard, but I've gotta be strong."

WHAT?!

I said "false empowerment". The movie isn't painting a picture of this being a good thing, but the "false" part is subtle enough to where people could walk away thinking it's an empowering message.

You abandoned your brother to become a witch! But, maybe I'm not being fair. Perhaps Gretel will be just fine. Throughout the history of human beings, we've had many people who were in power, and who thought that not allowing their power to be checked was the brave and noble thing to do. I think those times in history all worked out well right??

I could have added some pics to accentuate my last statement, but I feel it might have been a little too real:)

So, instead I'll leave y'all with this slightly less horrifying pic

... and bid you adieu.

STAY OUT OF THE WOODS!

[ettadunham]

A Buffy rewatch 2x11 Ted

aka domestic abuse and personal responsibility

Welcome to this dailyish text post series where I will rewatch an episode of Buffy and point out / hyperfocus on one detail in it in 10-3k words. Or maybe go through each and every random scene I choose. Rules are fake.

And today’s episode is a tough one to dissect. For one, it addresses a pretty bleak subject matter and then pivots a couple of times during its run - but still, I’ll attempt to disentangle some of it, and see what this all means for Buffy. And perhaps Joyce.

There are a couple of episodes in the Buffyverse that I personally find particularly hard to watch for their portrayal of violence against women. I usually bring up Billy from Angel the series as a prime example, but we’ll run into some of these instances on BtVS as well. (*cough* Dead Things *cough*)

And the first half of Ted easily qualifies among those. Especially since long before resorting to physical violence, the titular character of Ted displays a number of alarming abusive and controlling behavioral patterns towards Buffy, the 17-year-old daughter of the woman he’s currently dating.

More disconcerting however, is the response Buffy gets from the people around her, when she starts voicing her concerns as well as describe the sinister threat Ted made to her. And this is one of those instances, where the show is trying to have its cake and it eat as well with showing Buffy as the victim no one believes and then later reveal that Ted’s been drugging Joyce and her friends to absolve them from not listening to her.

Which really isn’t a rare kind of device for supernatural shows. Science fiction and fantasy haven been used to make commentary on our world since its inception And in television that often means having the option to hit the reset button, after telling an otherwise super heavy story.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer of course, as do most shows of that notion for that matter, excels when that story still has consequences, especially for its characters. And I would definitely argue that this episode has some of that, as Buffy is faced with a situation that forces her to consider her responsibilities as the Slayer. But it also has some of the most jarring resets at the same time.

Now of course, the introspective part of Buffy’s journey here mostly comes out of the storyline that follows the scene where we’re reminded that as imposing as Ted may seem, she is still the Slayer. Which still doesn’t really take away from the sickly impact of Ted waiting for Buffy in her room after having gone through her stuff, and threatening to lock her up in the mental institution (hm, I wonder if that will come back) right before punching her in the face... But as she hits him back and then keeps hitting him until he falls down the stairs, suddenly everything changes.

Buffy just killed a man. And an episode that started out as a tale about domestic abuse is now all about personal responsibility.

Because Buffy does take responsibility for her actions immediately. I find her questioning at the police station a particularly powerful scene, as there’s no ‘gotcha’ moment, no justification from Buffy’s end. It’s apparent that she feels insanely guilty and shocked about what happened, and she tries to give the facts as much as possible about what happened. And while the police officer grills her and points out details like the lack any visible injury on her face from Ted’s aggression, no one presses charges at this point. It was self defense after all.

This of course brings on an intriguing discussion for the first (but definitely not last) time in the show. What are Buffy’s responsibilities as a superpowered human being in human society? Should the same rules and laws apply to her?

And Buffy here takes a definitive stance. She not only holds herself to human laws, but laws beyond that. “I had no right to hit him that hard” - she says. She defended herself, but she also lost her temper, and so she sees herself accountable for what happened as a result.

With great power comes great responsibility.

This is of course a storyline that will become hugely important in the coming season, and even in season 7... But at this point, the show is not yet ready to make this a central conflict for Buffy, so they reset everything by making Ted a robot monster (with a somewhat convoluted backstory), who comes back from the dead for one last scare.

But while Buffy gets a juicy character exploration, Joyce ends up getting the short stick here. I mentioned before how much I enjoyed Mama Joyce in the earlier episodes, but here, I definitely got a beef with her. While her initial dismissal of Buffy’s concerns about Ted after he threatens her can be chalked up to the magic drug cookies, her behavior at the end once he comes back is less easy to explain. The way she initially greets him, before he starts showing his circuits colors very much betrays that she didn’t believe Buffy about him hitting her that night.

On the other hand, she lies to the police after Buffy “kills” Ted. Which proves that Joyce would protect her daughter under any circumstances - but also possibly points to her clinging to the image of who she wishes Buffy to be over a daughter that she barely knows.

Oh, and Giles and Jenny get back together. Idk, I’m too wiped to say anything more on that.

And Willow kept parts of the robot as if she were some aspiring supervillain.

But I’m sure it’s nothing, and humanoid robots totally won’t become a thing on this show...

[sometimesrosy]

Do you have any ideas of what Octaiva's relationship will be like with any of the former cult followers, like Niylah for instance? Niylah did call Octavia "the sun". Do you think her feelings on Octavia has changed now that Octavia is no longer in charge of Wonkru. Will Octavia still maintain authority over her followers in the season?

I can’t tell you what will happen, because, while I think it’s pretty clear that “forgiveness” will be a theme next season, connected not only to what Octavia did but all the other characters and, in fact, the redemption of HUMANITY itself, I don’t know how exactly that’s going to play out. 

So to consider it, I’m going to think about what we DO know about how wonkru feels about Octavia.

First there’s the cultish devotion. We saw that with Niylah… which tbh I’m not so sure isn’t romantic love, so its hard to tell if Niylah is IN LOVE with Octavia or devoted to her as blodreina. Or both. IDK. I lean towards in love with her, but that could be my ship goggles, because I’ve been watching that since season 3. It’s still open ended in canon, so they could go either way.

But we also saw Miller, who was ALSO loyal, her most loyal lieutenant. Betraying his OLD leader for Octavia. I mean it sucked for Bellamy, but I think that had it not been AGAINST him, and things hadn’t gone SO bad in wonkru, Bellamy would probably have been very glad that Miller was there to stand at Octavia’s side. When he was planning to leave in s1, he told Clarke to keep Miller close, and when he had to leave Octavia, there Miller went and proved is faith in him correct. HOWEVER, Miller has been known to make his OWN judgments and NOT followed his leader blindly, like in s3 with Bellamy and Pike-Kane. So while Miller stuck by Octavia when it was necessary, I think he might be willing to pull back and reassess. We’ll have to wait and see what Octavia DOES in season 6 to see where Miller falls, I think.

I think Jackson will go whichever way Abby does, because, you know. But perhaps that will influence Miller? Or Miller will influence him? IDK.

But Octavia makes a point that Abby is ALSO responsible for the monsters that wonkru because, and I think Abby knew that. That’s what her drug addiction is, inability to face that therfore, self medication. So maybe Abby and Octavia will have to work towards redemption TOGETHER? (oh interesting.) Now that Octavia doesn’t have power, they can both address the underlying causes and effects of the choices they made.

It’s good that Kara Cooper isn’t alive anymore, because I think she encouraged Octavia to be MORE brutal and ruthless and LESS forgiving than Octavia was personally leaning towards. 

Kane will probably not be so kind on Octavia, the same way he was not kind on Bellamy in season 3. He’s a blame layer. Even on himself sometimes. But we don’t know how much role he’ll have.

As for the general population of wonkru? We’ve already seen that a LOT of them didn’t like wonkru, and wanted to leave and were terrified of Octavia.

And it seemed that wonkru was pretty evenly split between those who wanted to follow Octavia and those who wanted to follow the new Heda. I don’t actually imagine that is going to disappear.

There was that hint dropped that Clarke will have enemies, and not everyone will forgive her, so I think there are going to be some people in wonkru who won’t like wanheda. Knowing now how this show holds onto storythreads to appear YEARS later, it’s probably a good idea NOT to forget that Clarke is the one who stole the bunker and locked the grounders out. And they brought up the possibility that the grounders would hold Clarke responsible and possibly kill her for her part in that betrayal. So, depending upon Octavia and how she feels about the shifting power structure and the new characters and some old ones, who knows?

Remember Diyoza called her out on LIKING the power. That probably means something.

In the end, I am going back to my original theory of Octavia symbolically representing both The Soul, and humanity itself, in this story about the end of the world and the rebirth of humanity. Octavia almost died. She was corrupted. She caused pain through her greed and ignorance and selfishness and fear and desire to keep everyone alive. She did EVIL in the name of her people. She was NOT the good guy.

But then, that’s what happened to humanity in the first place, isn’t it? So in a way, Octavia’s redemption represents the redemption of humanity. Like Jasper said, maybe humanity doesn’t deserve to be saved? We’ll see with what happens with Octavia, I believe. I think The 100 is going to take a lighter turn and no longer be about surviving in the apocalypse no matter what, but instead be about making sure humanity DESERVES to survive and being the good guys. That means Octavia has to be redeemed. She was on my death list last year, because I thought they were going dark with that sullied soul symbolism and like Jasper said, decide she didn’t DESERVE to live. I think that’s what Octavia herself thought, too. But instead they yoinked her unearned BUT FORESHADOWED redemption right out of her grasp and now she has to do the WORK to earn a redemption. That was tricky, but a better story. I’m pleased.

If this show’s central couple is Clarke and Bellamy, it’s central TRIO is Clarke, Bellamy AND OCTAVIA. They are the head, the heart AND THE SOUL. Octavia is a SULLIED soul. All of them are, really, because what they have done to survive has tainted them. But NOW they on a journey to BE THE GOOD GUYS, and in order to do that, I think they probably have to bring Octavia back over to the good side. They need HER to heal. They need HER to make amends. They need HER to find peace and learn how to be happy and find love again. 

HOW will wonkru act towards Octavia? I don’t know. I think her story will be a major one with a deep symbolism that affects the meaning of the show, just like Bellarke.

We don’t have a solution for people who refuse to be good guys, yet. Do we? Oh wait. Yes we do. Season 2. Mount Weather. Eradication. 

[regular-lord-reckoner]

AFI: Secret Nazis?!?!

Alright, so...let’s jump into this, I guess 

I’ve posted before about Davey’s clothing line Eat Your Own Tail here because that’s just a wholllllle bucket of problems, although like I said in my post, I’m not gonna take that as solid 1000% proof that dude’s a secret Nazi 

Do I think what he’s doing there is the most responsible thing? No. Have I called him out on it? Yes. Is he gonna do something about it? Idk, that remains to be seen 

I realize that this has caused a looooot of emotional turmoil for fans and it’s even garnered the attention of non-fans who have looked further into the band and the situation as a whole and there’s a post going around that lays out what it claims to be proof that AFI is basically a beehive of racism 

And here’s the thing, like...we all understand on just a base line level that white people are inherently racist. We were born into a racist society and we benefit from white privilege and it’s not like reading a few articles or watching 13th magically cures any of us of being racist 

Is it possible that this group or at least half of it is totally fucking racist and at the very least Nazi sympathizers? I mean...yeah, anything’s possible. 

Given some of the posed arguments, though...Idk. I might be an oblivious fan over here with my head stuck up my own ass, but I’m not swayed by arguments such as “They have a song called ‘White Offerings’” as proof of them being racist 

Like...okay, and? 

These are the lyrics: 

If I were only If I were only here I'd try I'd try to give you little birds I've made Oh, everyone takes flight never to return again White offerings are all I bring Welcome to white room, white room White offerings are all I bring I welcome you, I offer you this white room If I were only If I were only here I'd try I'd try to gift you paper birds I free And you'd set fire to my sky Oh, but I will offer you White offerings are all I bring Welcome to white room, white room White offerings are all I bring I welcome you, I offer you this white room I can feel your color changing I can feel your color changing I can feel your color changing I can feel it change White offerings are all I bring Welcome to white room, white room White offerings are all I bring I welcome you, I offer you this white room White White room White room White offerings are all I bring I offer you this white room

Now, perhaps I’m just super duper ignorant here, but...this doesn’t sound like a pro-ethnic cleansing anthem to me ???? 

As someone who’s listened to this band for years I can tell you that the lyrics often reference colors (white, black, gold, grey, etc.) and that there are a loooooot of songs about failed relationships 

Another way of looking at this song could be that the use of the color white here is symbolism for the absence of something. I’m no color theory major, but I know a lot of people tend to think of white as being the absence of color (which I feel like is actually wrong but regardless it’s still something people believe so bear with me) 

You could interpret this song as being about a situation being disturbed or changing, becoming tumultuous or chaotic. “I offer you stability and you reject that” in other words. 

Or, y’know, you could take it to mean Davey wants to see the destruction of all other races, that’s a thing, too. 

I guess by that logic any time I hear the word white in a song sung by a white dude I’m gonna have to rethink everything. I’m lookin’ at you, Thom Yorke and your “Daydreaming” song. “WHITE room, by window?” I see you. 

Another point was that Kerrang! magazine rated AFI’s most recent album with a series of Ks because their name begins with a K so I guess instead of stars they made the piss poor decision to giving albums ratings in Ks? Or maybe just this one? I don’t fuckin’ know, but it sounds like Kerrang!’s problem if you ask me, but Idk maybe Davey asked for that rating specifically as a shout out to his brothers in the klan. 

Yet another point is in XTRMST lyrics and this one I can see because that’s some angry, violent shit but...here’s the thing, I dunno why we all suddenly have amnesia and are pretending that we don’t know what that band’s purpose was 

Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t XTRMST supposed to be an angry, violent straight edge thing? Meaning...the references to Xs have to do with straight edge symbolism. The lyrics are talking about drugs culture, alcohol culture, meat/dairy culture, and religion? The talk about eradicating shit is in reference to doing away with society’s acceptance of what Davey perceives to be toxic behaviors and mindsets as they pertain to drugs, alcohol, meat/dairy consumption, and religion. 

Because it’s not really any big secret that these are things Davey has a pretty big problem with, like he’s not been quiet about that in interviews and in songs and look, like...I like AFI and shit, but I do find some of that shit to be borderline obnoxious 

I bought into straight edge culture at one point in time and thought myself morally superior and better than, etc.,etc and now I’m just like...let people fucking live their lives, man. If someone wants to get fucked up on drugs, that’s their choice. If someone wants to believe in something I don’t, I’m cool with that as long as they don’t try to force it down my throat. If someone wants to eat meat and consume dairy I’m cool, just don’t insist that everyone else do the same and we’ll be okay 

So yeah, on that level that kinda makes him a dick, like I get that he has strong feelings about this shit, but the name XTRMST itself suggests that he knows as much but he’s gonna go ahead with it anyway 

But like I said, I get how you could look at that, especially given everything else, and be like, “Yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikes” And I could be totally ass wrong about this, I really could 

My thing is, though...I’m trying not to go into this with confirmation bias. Like...I think people are understandably uncomfortable and displaced with the EYOT shit, fine. But I think now people are looking into other things and trying to find further evidence to compound this situation and I just...I’m not sure it’s really there??? 

Again, I could be totally, totally ass wrong and if I am then believe you me I’ll be right there with you throwing away all my posters and albums and shit because fucking no, man 

But like...before I start just burning everything down and wailing and screaming I’m gonna try to take a step back and really think about this shit and think about what the other possible explanations could be 

Ideally, yes, they would be 100% up front about this and it would be clear as fucking DAY where they stand and I realize that’s caused a lot of anxiety and uncertainty and I feel ya on that one, I do 

But I think it’s also worth noting that like...people have pointed out how good Hunter and Adam especially have been about speaking out against all the bullshit that’s been happening lately in the world and with politics. And if nothing else, maybe that’s something to consider? 

Because here’s the thing, either these two are somehow completely hookwinked by their bandmates and somehow would have just no-fucking-clue whatsoever that they’ve been friends with Nazis for like 20 some odd years and they’re completely innocent in this or...

They’re okay with it. They don’t think it’s that big of a deal and by proxy then, they’re assholes as well and belong in the trash right alongside Davey and Jade 

And I would hope to fuckin’ god that Adam especially isn’t in the latter category because heyyyyy someone tell his wife she needs to fuckin’ run because apparently Adam’s down with his bandmates wanting to kill her 

So, there’s that. 

Again, like...I’m not here trying to excuse a bunch of shit and act like, “my faves aren’t problematic!!!” because uh, yeah, they are 

Personally, I’m of the camp that I think Davey’s clothing line disaster was an effort to try to pay homage to the occult/witchcraft shit it’s just...so many of those fuckin’ symbols and shit are tainted now and should probably go in the fucking trash, Idk. Being that that’s the theme I could understand why there’s an image of a church with a noose in front of it because correct me if I’m wrong, but supposed witches were hung in the gallows in addition to being burned and thrown in rivers with pockets full of stones and being that this persecution came from churches, well...ya know

But again, the image of a noose brings up a lot of other shit that, given this whole situation makes people go, “Eh????” so I get that, I do, I’m just saying like...that’s not the only explanation, especially when you put the image in the context of what at least was trying to be intended here 

Again, though, I could very well be wrong and this whole thing could Davey’s way of trying to make his Nazi affiliation be known, I’m not necessarily ruling that one out because the world’s a fucking garbage dump, my country’s basically on fire, and I say you kill your heroes and fly, fly baby don’t cry because people you look up to usually end up disappointing and devastating you in some way or another, right? Might as well go big or go fuckin’ home in this case 

As of right now, though, right in this moment I’m sorry but I can’t get on this bandwagon of, “Let’s throw all AFI shit away and wash my hands of this!!!” because I feel like this is a clusterfuck of a situation and that there are other explanations besides, “Well clearly this is the work of some racist mother fuckers who want ethnic cleansing” 

Yes, XTRMST lyrics are...what they are and maybe I’m being misdirected by the creators themselves, but if you look at the songs again from the lens of someone who’s talking about rejecting/destroying these things that he finds abhorrent (again, drug culture, religion, consumption of meat/dairy, drinking) it leaves less room to interpret it as, “Oh, well clearly this is all about ridding the world of races other than white” 

Hold Davey accountable for his misstep with his clothing line and keep trying to reach out, try to get him to listen because I agree that even if his intentions were good, even if he was trying to reclaim these images back to their original context, given the climate of things right now it’s A. not really his place to be doing so and B. just overall not a good idea and comes off as super sketchy and not okay 

But I will implore you, if I can, to not jump to conclusions. To not try to twist every lyric you find that has the word “white” in it into something it’s more than likely not. And to just sort of take a step back if you’re starting to feel overwhelmed and upset 

Also to realize that yes, we need to do our best to recognize and identify and reject symbols that have Nazi affiliations, but to also realize that guys, there are...a fuck ton. Because as I said in my other post, that’s part of their insidious nature is to hijack shit that doesn’t belong to them and fucking taint it and ruin it for everyone else. The fucking Swastika should tell you as much (and although there are cultures that have since given up the symbol there are some that still continue to use it because it belonged to them first and they refuse to let someone take it from them, fair enough). 

In the case of the occult/witchcraft symbolism Nazis have borrowed pretty heavily from this well. The image of three figures cloaked in black has been circulating with some of these posts. These, again, are images meant to signify the occult, these are as far as I know meant to represent witches. The pointed hood, however, lends itself to klan imagery which came after and which stole from this look, taking the all black look and turning it all white. You could then argue that continuing to use the all black imagery is a middle finger to the klan for trying to re-purpose and make shitty what doesn’t belong to them, but that’s sort of a tricky area, I think. I’ve seen recent photos taken of covens at some of the protests that have been happening and these individuals are still wearing the black garb with pointed hoods because it’s still integral to their imagery. If the two are too similar, though, I think we need to have a larger discussion then about what needs to be done in those communities regarding certain imagery, wardrobe, and symbolism and if Davey wants to get in on that and contribute in a positive way, then great. If not then that’s unfortunate and we need to continue to try to address that point with him. 

And here’s the thing, like...I get it, man. Nobody wants to be the fucking asshole. Nobody wants to have egg on their face and it’s better to err on the side of caution by just saying, “Yeah, they’re probably a bunch of racist Nazi fucks, fuck them” because if you’re wrong then...oh well, but if you’re right then you dodged a bullet and you have the satisfaction of knowing that you made the right call 

At the same time, though, maybe don’t make villains out of people because they’ve done problematic shit? Still hold them accountable for what they’ve done wrong, absolutely, but like...you don’t have to go on a fucking treasure hunt to uncover more fucked up shit that might not even be there to support your argument 

I think the clothing line shit within itself is bad enough without having to take lyrics out of their original context in order to say, “And as you can see, this clearly proves my point that these dudes are racist as FUCK” 

They may very well be, but I guess I say all of this to say I’m gonna need something besides what’s been provided to convince me and maybe that’s just shitty and terrible and ignorant of me, maybe I’m being a stubborn fan here, but I’m just not seeing it. 

I am seeing the problems with EYOT (even though I don’t think there quite as severe as some have made them out to be) but when I see these posts dragging out lyrics and shit all I can think is: it’s not that deep 

I understand that this is a serious and sensitive issue and I’m not saying people are wrong for being concerned, but...being that it’s a serious and sensitive issue I guess I want to see it treated with a little more care than just going, “Well, he used the word white in a song so clearly he’s racist” or “he used occult imagery that’s since been tainted by Nazi use so let’s rule out the possibility that he’s misguidedly trying to reclaim these images and instead insist that it means he’s a full blown Nazi because here’s some pictures of witches with pointed hoods and a picture of a church on fire, clearly this can’t have anything to do with his views on religion or interest in the occult, it’s gotta be the Nazi thing and the Nazi thing only and if you say different then you’re a Nazi, too!”. Like is that really helping? Nazis are a legitimate problem right now, we’re dealing with some serious shit and there are people insisting that if you don’t reach to connect these dots that you’re the real problem here. I realize that not all Nazis exist in the spot light, not all Nazis do super obvious Nazi shit, but like...we’re also not going anywhere if we’re going to, forgive me, go on a witch hunt. 

Be skeptical, keep your eyes open, pay attention, watch this EYOT closely and like I said, keep trying to push this point with him if you can and hopefully we’ll get some answers or going forward he’ll start using symbols that haven’t been tainted in his designs instead. But digging into lyrics and taking shit that’s honestly likely about failed relationships and straight edge culture and twisting it to fit a certain narrative isn’t really helping anything. You can still be 100% on your fuckin’ guard about this shit without having to reach 

By all means, if I end up being wrong you can come rub it in my face and tell me how badly I have fucked up and how wrong and stupid I am, but I honestly, i feel like people are jumping to conclusions here and I’m not saying there’s no basis for it whatsoever, because there is unfortunately, and I understand the mindset of “no fucking excuses” and that’s fine, but like...these arguments are just not that good, my dudes. Beyond the already established problematic use of symbols in EYOT the rest of this is relying on taking things out of context and finding a way to apply it to this particular situation and it may in all actuality be completely valid and I’m just too blind to see that right now, but I just...yeah, I can’t get on this particular outrage train 

From what I’ve seen from this band so far is that even though some of its members are a little extreme in their edge life shit that overall they’ve been on the progressive side of things and before you say anything like I get it, there are people who are fairly liberal and supposedly open-minded who are still racist sacks of shit and I understand that, I’m just saying it’s something else to keep in mind 

We need to be aware of who the enemies are, for goddamn sure, but I think it’s also important that we don’t make enemies out of people who might not actually be enemies. 

Do your own research. Look into these symbols, see what their origins are and what the other meanings consist of. Think about shit for yourself, not just what someone else is telling you to think. You can take everything I’ve said and throw it out the goddamn window if you don’t agree and that’s fine because I don’t want someone to just mindlessly read what I’m saying and go, “Yep, that sounds good, I’m gonna believe that now!” 

I think people mean well and I think you’re trying to do the right thing, I do, but I see a loooooot of people who just let someone else dictate to them what is and isn’t good and bad. Someone posts an argument and it sounds convincing and suddenly everyone’s on board with that, they’re fully behind it, but someone poses a counter argument that’s just as convincing and suddenly there’s some doubt there, there’s some uncertainty and people are reevaluating their feelings 

I know it’s tempting to sit back and let someone else do your thinking for you, I fall prey to this as well, but I implore you to really take a step back here and reassess and if you feel the same way then that’s totally fine, I won’t hold it against you, but I just...I really feel like this is verging on fear-mongering and I can’t get behind it 

[comicteaparty]

October 11th, 2018 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on October 11th, 2018, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on Four Corners by Boniae.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB START!

Good evening, everyone~! This week’s Thursday Book Club is officially beginning! Today we are discussing Four Corners by Boniae~! (http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/)

Remember that Thursday discussions are completely freeform! However, every 30 minutes I will drop in OPTIONAL discussion questions in case you’d like a bit of a prompt. If you miss out on one of these prompts, you can find them pinned for the chat’s duration. Additionally, remember that while constructive criticism is allowed, our focus is fun and respectfully appreciating the comic. All that said, let’s begin!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

RebelVampire

one of my favorite scenes is actually when hideki and kazuhiro have their little confessions. i really loved the silence, pacing, and paneling in that moment. the time it took to depict it and the fact that the images were allowed to speak for themselves made it a really great moment with fantastic atmosphere.

another scene that i quite enjoyed was when we first see ranmaru. i felt like itd been quite a while since there was a good fight, so it was good to see. but i also like the story effects the scene had. since this was really the moment hideki stopped toeing the line and was ready to admit he was in it for something more. and i think this sort of fighting parallel worked well with having such a pivotal character development

less of a scene, but in general i liked that whole chapter where hideki and kazuhiro spend time together. it was nice to see them bond over not work and learn a ton more about hideki. i think as a whole it was a needed chapter because it helped bring the characters closer together to create a stronger dynamic for what i imagine will be many troubles ahead

mathtans

I made it! ^.^ I only got partly into Chapter 5, busy week... for everyone, apparently.

I'm guessing the bonding was mostly in Chapter 5, that seemed to be where it was heading.

Superjustinbros

Hello!

RebelVampire

yes it was chapter 5

cause i had to look just now XD

mathtans

Was Ranmaru the guy who drugged people?

(I'm bad with names, for the record. Every week.)

Superjustinbros

Can I just say that I'm in love with the art style?

mathtans

I liked seeing how the art evolved over time myself.

Superjustinbros

It's very manga-like and I like how the faces don't go overblown with details

RebelVampire

yes ranmaru was the guy who drugged me.

yeah i also like the art style in regards to the setting. its got a kind of older manga nostalgia feel to it

but the art evolution is also fun. i forgot how diff that first chapter was (cause this is my 2nd time reading the entire comic for the record)

mathtans

Okay, then yeah, I also liked the scene with Ranmaru and the two of them fighting (I'm assuming you meant that, since I think the first time we see Ranmaru he's with the fortune teller).... though part of the reason I liked it was because the guy had call waiting for another fight or something.

Superjustinbros

I actually never thought that it looks like the "vintage manga" style until you mentioned it

mathtans

I noticed a mention that the comic had been reviewed in StArt Faire.

Superjustinbros

That's cool

mathtans

Yeah, and it went from shading to colour - I think the artist said it was to deal better with shading? I might be misremembering. Interesting.

RebelVampire

yeah i meant the fighting scene. sorry. im like on 3 hours of sleep atm and havent quite woken up to full function yet.

but yeah i liked how the fight was ultimately ended by a phone call

like that takes a lot of gall, but i like how it shows off ranmaru's character of not really giving a damn about their little fight that much

mathtans

Not a problem, I understood, and the wee one kept me up last night here too.

Yeah, that's true, it went to characterization.

Then there was the little bonus comic (non-canon) where he was called away to talk about types of shirts. I gravitate towards the humourous bits.

Superjustinbros

That sounds cute, lol

mathtans

It's cool that in a comic like this which has fighting and relationship issues, that there's still fun to be had.

Superjustinbros

Indeed

I mean if it was nothing but those two it'd get boring/repetitive.

mathtans

I dunno, they have pretty good chemistry. But yeah, not totally feasible for world building.

I want to see Hideki at an all you can eat buffet.

RebelVampire

yeah. i really like that the gang focused on also is a gang who is just going around protecting ppl and stuff. i think that gives them a needed high ground for what the comic is doing.

hideki at an all you can eat buffet sounds spooky XD

Superjustinbros

Well it's almost Halloween so X3

mathtans

Yeah, that was an interesting take on gangs! Doesn't seem to net them any additional popularity in the school though (or with the ladies).

I wonder if "four corners" is from, like, if you're doing evil anywhere in the four corners of the room we'll spot you.

Superjustinbros

Well it's always good to see characters doing things outside what the audience expects them to always do

Helps flesh 'em out, if you know what I'm saying

RebelVampire

ya know ive never actually thought about what the name might stand for and now im curious

mathtans

Indeed.

Their founder really liked squares?

RebelVampire

i was just gonna make a square joke XD

Superjustinbros

Quick, what's the square root of 24

RebelVampire

QUESTION 2. Though some things have been revealed over the course of the comic, Hideki still remains quite the mystery. In what way do you think Hideki was involved with Four Corners in the past? Was he some sort of consultant, a member by association, or something else? Do you think Hideki really left gang life just to avoid violence, or do you think there is something more to it? What do you think he did that gave birth to the dark rumors surrounding him? Further, what is Hideki’s relationship with the man he keeps hallucinating on seeing? What exactly happened that seemed to cause Hideki such worry and trauma? Does it have something to do with why Hideki is so knowledgeable about gang activity? Lastly, do you think his current involvement will have negative consequences for his future, especially in regards to taking over for his father?

mathtans

A bit under 5, SJ.

Superjustinbros

Nice

mathtans

Well, Hideki's family is into big business and all, maybe he was just looking for something to analyze in that sense, like as you say a consultant or something... makes sense that he would attempt the same thing later with ... ... damn it, I forget name of protagonist. x.x

RebelVampire

kazuhiro

mathtans

Starts with Y.

Superjustinbros

Thanks Rebel

mathtans

Oh, right.

That's not even a Y. (Is there a character page? I always need one to keep everybody straight, it's the visuals I remember more than the names.)

RebelVampire

http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/characters/

mathtans

Sweeeeeet. I didn't remember seeing a link.

Superjustinbros

Nice hairstyles on these characters

mathtans

Anyway, back to what I was saying, maybe Hideki was just looking to apply his skills, and was turned off by the violence; maybe I just don't look that deep.

Superjustinbros

Keiichi especially

But I digress(edited)

RebelVampire

maybe although idk. itd be weird if hideki was involved cause of the business. but then again maybe his father has secret gang connections we dont know about? tbh tho i think he was just assumed to be part of the gang cause he followed keiichi around. that and was into his own sort of trouble.

keiichi does have great hair

Superjustinbros

http://i.imgur.com/qvXivUg.png Dare I say he looks like a total daddy

RebelVampire

so i assume the man hideki was seeing is arakawa (fortune teller guy), though i didnt want to be presumptious in the question. so im wondering how the heck do they know each other. cause im worried hideki tried to join the yakuza or something but then chickened out. and thus sought refuge with the four corners when the yakuza were mad

mathtans

Oh, that'd be interesting, Dad with secret connections. Or maybe the mastermind behind everything is a half brother Hideki doesn't know about. And he keeps getting pulled in by those forces.

Arakawa is half brother. Calling it now.

Superjustinbros

That would be an interestign twist

RebelVampire

i did consider that. or if the mystery man and arakawa are two diff ppl, the mystery man is hideki's secret brother.

mathtans

Hideki maybe got in over his head and figured he might need the gang, perhaps? But then realized he could just run away and that worked better, so gave it up.

I'm impressed, I just came up with random crazy plot off the top of my head.

RebelVampire

that could be maybe. although idk where hideki's quitting resides with keiichi's death

mathtans

Or maybe part of Hideki was thinking he was gay, and gangs are largely guys, and so he figured he'd try it out as a way to meet more guys, but then was turned off by the actual fighting and stuff. Because he hadn't met best fighter Kazuhiro yet.

RebelVampire

it could be keiichi died before hideki quit

and hideki was like peace out

mathtans

Hmm. Maybe but I didn't get the vibe from the timelines.

RebelVampire

i didnt get it either but hard to say for sure.

i do think hideki had a run in with the yakuza in some way. cause itd make sense then why hed know how to watch gangs or something. and itd explain why hideki's cousin was super extra worried at the path hideki was starting down again

or maybe...keiichi was the one in the yakuza all along O_O and hideki found out and was like "how dare"

mathtans

Oooh, there's a twist.

Superjustinbros

That'd be... kinda scary

mathtans

I've been continuing my reading in the background and just got to this page: http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/comics/2456598/ch5p18/. Maybe Hideki is rebelling a bit about the fact that his future is laid out for him? Could explain some of the worry about him, as well as his investigative skills.

"I don't want to be a businessman. I want to be a private detective."

RebelVampire

yeah on a more mundane but equally believable level, it couldve just been youthful rebellion. albeit id more believe that keiichi helped hideki with some bullies or something and hideki was like "wow if i learn to fight i can control more own life." and he just happened to be super good at it

i wonder if well get to see hideki's dad ever cause that could be an illuminating conversation

Superjustinbros

I wonder which of those two occupations would be more troublesome to work in

RebelVampire

which two occupations?

mathtans

Could be. (I think we saw his dad in a flashback panel or something, but he doesn't seem to be around. Maybe Hideki was also hoping to get Dad's attention?)

Superjustinbros

The ones Match mentioned

mathtans

Businessman or private detective, I wager.

Hideki just needs to make friends with a gourmet chef. Oh wait, he has Kazuhiro there.

RebelVampire

i dont think hideki's relationship with his dad is bad. but maybe his dad has all the answers. is like "hideki i know you miss your secret brother"

and businessman is probably harder

given the setting

mathtans

Oh whoa, comic has multiple languages. (I guess when we see English they're actually speaking Japanese, and so this is... chinese?)

Yeah, his family relations don't seem bad, just distant.

Superjustinbros

I heard Japanese

mathtans

I'm still reading Chapter 5, they just met Hideki's cousin.

Oh, Taiwanese. Helps to keep reading.

RebelVampire

yeah youre gonna see some info about hideki there

which shows his dad is actually not that bad a dude just busy and socially awkward

mathtans

Maybe Hideki's mixed heritage is also how he ended up so aloof.

Superjustinbros

Perhaps

RebelVampire

yeah. hideki has a lot of demons there i think. or had cause i feel he seems probably more adjusted than he used to be? not that hes fully healed but he seems less troubled than in that one flashback

mathtans

Seeing the banter reminds me of another scene I liked, after Hideki had turned down the girl or whatever, and Kazuhiro is hiding and then he goes... wait, why am I hiding?

RebelVampire

yes i enjoyed that moment too. especially cause i was already laughing wondering why he was hiding.

in terms of comedy i like hideki with his "friends"

and his magical excuses to leave

QUESTION 3. Besides Hideki and Kazuhiro, we also see several scenes with the villainous Arakawa who seems to be immensely involved with what’s happening to the gangs. What do you think Arakawa’s aim is? Is it a solo goal, or does it have something to do with the yakuza? For what reason do you think Arakawa hides under an assumed identity? Is it related to his goals, or is there a different reason for it? Do you think Arakawa is still even part of the yakuza in full? For what reason do you think Arakawa tolerates Ranmaru, and how might Arakawa’s plans change to deal with him? Finally, Arakawa mentions fortune-telling and how knowing what’s going to happen beforehand is a viable strategy. What do you think this might mean for what’s going on in the story, and do you think Hideki and Kazuhiro will be able to handle it?

Superjustinbros

Money, dear boy

RebelVampire

i mean its possible. although if arakawa wanted money i dont think hed be worked a service industry manager cover story.

mathtans

Right. Also interesting how at the festival when he left his friends and encountered Kazuhiro that he played it off as the guy's just another friend from a year down.

The Arakawa fortune telling thing is an interesting angle. I wonder if he can do readings on people without their knowledge. I also wonder if he just tries to make things come true that he sees, like a self-fulfiling prophecy.

Superjustinbros

That would be interesting

mathtans

As far as tolerating Ranmaru goes, sometimes it's fun to have someone around to tease? ^.^

Superjustinbros

yus

RebelVampire

oh thats a good line of thought. id never consider that arakawa meant he didnt actually tell the future. he meant that he just makes the future happen to suit his vision

maybe hideki was arakawa's apprentice and arakawa was trying to teach hideki all about fortune reading but hideki was like "fortune telling isnt profitable" and bailed

im gonna go the simple route with theories and say arakawa's goal is simply to eliminate competition. cause he wants to push the drugs but cant do so easily when gangs are around protecting territories. so hes just making it easy for himself

mathtans

Hideki preferred using a crystal ball, but only amateurs use crystal balls, so they had a falling out.

That makes some sense, except why knock the gangs out rather than simply cutting a deal with them or something?

Pride? Desire for a monopoly?

RebelVampire

desire for a monopoly. and like really why cut them in if theyre so simple to move out of the way. arakawa seems very much a play the long con game sort of guy. so if he has to put more in the overhead to get tons more profit later, hed probably do it

mathtans

(Oh, hey, a trans character, that's neat.)

I suppose, just seems like that would call more attention to you, putting down all the gangs, which is something Arakawa wants to avoid. Maybe that's also why he has Ranmaru, to act as a lightning rod?

Superjustinbros

(Good to have them trans characters, always)

mathtans

(Wow, Hideki's pretty sharp, picking up on things.)

Superjustinbros

So sharp he can easily pierce through steel

RebelVampire

but is anyone gonna care about gangs besides gangs? cause nobody of the general public seems irritated that the gangs are being taken out XD

but yeah i do think this is why ranmaru is around

Superjustinbros

XD

RebelVampire

he can deal with the gangs and is crazy enough to follow arakawa

mathtans

I suppose there's that. I wonder why the Four Corners is being targeted now? Is it just they were next in the region, or if there's some method behind it? Like, maybe Arakawa's behind Keiichi too.

RebelVampire

are they being specific target tho? cause i took the 'they're next' thing as more metaphorical. in the sense that theyre on the chopping block in general and could be next or they could be taken out at any time

mathtans

Not sure, just wondering if there's more to it somehow.

RebelVampire

there could be

QUESTION 4. Compared to the present, Kazuhiro’s time before the Four Corners seems drastically different. Do you think their walk-out father is the only reason Kazuhiro and Keiichi had a strained relationship? Or was there something else going on between them? Why do you think Keiichi started the Four Corners, and why do you think Keiichi kept up with it in the face of his family’s disapproval? Why do you think Kazuhiro was so compelled to take over the Four Corners, especially considering the drastic change in personality and style he underwent? Do you think Kazuhiro will be able to uphold Keiichi’s ideals and save the Four Corners at the end of the day? Also, do you think he’ll repair some of his relationship with his sisters, or will his pursuits continue to cause a rift? Lastly, do you think Keiichi died of natural causes, or was his death caused by sinister means?

RebelVampire

the keiichi segue

mathtans

Well played.

RebelVampire

i dont think keiichi died of natural causes. if nothing more than the fact that nobody has yet said how he died in the comic and that is hella suspicious

Superjustinbros

yes

mathtans

Interesting point about Kazuhiro taking over Four Corners, given how they didn't get along too well, that didn't even fully register with me. Maybe he realized his brother had been trying to do good? Maybe he was even a member before Keiichi passed away? (I mean, you don't get promoted from outside, do you?)

Keiichi, suspiciously walked in front of a bus.

RebelVampire

idk id believe he got promoted from outside. if only because none of the other members ive seen strike me as leader types.

mathtans

There is that. He knows the gang members pretty well though.

RebelVampire

i do think theres some message of respect hidden behind why he took over. and he just didnt realize how much he respected his bro till it was too late

mathtans

Yeah, I can see that. Nice thought there.

(Made it through Chapter 5, OMG, the anniversary/april video at the end... that's amazing. And Arakawa has a magic 8 ball, hilarious!)

Superjustinbros

lol

I used to love those

mathtans

As to why Keiichi started it up, maybe a bunch of them wanted to clean up the four corners of the neighbourhood, and decided a gang would be the best way.

RebelVampire

maybe keiichi just thought if he tidied the neighborhood their dad would come home

although maybe keiichi felt he didnt belong to his own family. so he started the four corners to create that sense of family and fill the gap

mathtans

The sister relationship angle is also interesting, I liked that it was brought up back in chapter 2, to help put the family in perspective. Might be interesting if that one unapproving sister met Lei... um, the cousin character, not on the character page... they have some things in common.

Maybe. Lots of Dad issues on the part of both main characters, for different reasons.

boniae

(whispers) HI everyone!! btw im here just listening into the conversation and screaming on the inside dont mind me

Superjustinbros

Hello!!

I see you're the maker of this lovely little comic~

mathtans

Oh, hi creator! Hope you're screaming for good reasons.

boniae

Hi everyone!!! HAHA yes for good reasons!! Im so blown away by this conversation and just thank you all for reading it this week!!! ahhhh

mathtans

So yeah, as to whether Kazuhiro will save the Four Corners, I think obviously he'll die a tragic death saving Hideki, who goes off to become a monk. It paves the way for the sequel involving sister Kiyomi taking over the Four Corners next.

Superjustinbros

Heehee, glad you're enjoying the show.

RebelVampire

glad you could make it, @boniae ~!

Superjustinbros

Well there's only about 15 minutes left so...

I'm sure you got my comments on the art style when I popped in earlier

also lol Math

RebelVampire

haha i did kind of route for kiyomi taking over. just an endless cycle of respect, the four corners will never die. its why the mom had kids.

Superjustinbros

oh yes

mathtans

Actually, Mom had four kids... and they're the four corners gang... coincidence?

It was the Boxing club in the video parody.

boniae

@Superjustinbros YES AH thank you im so glad you like my art?! @RebelVampire LMFAOO

Superjustinbros

Aay, you're welcome! It some really good art you got going on~

boniae

@mathtans somebody's onto me...... you know too much....

Superjustinbros

lol, that's math for ya

mathtans

Or possibly too little. But maybe Keiichi had wanted a boxing club and was rejected and figured, I'll start a gang instead then.

Then someone dropped a piano on him. Tragic.

Superjustinbros

Math running a gang

I can sense all the incoming math puns

RebelVampire

couldnt get enough members to make a boxing club, but everyone was totally up for a gang

Superjustinbros

and characters with outrageous hair

mathtans

Oh, speaking of gang members, just wanted to add that Azumi's an interesting member. Not just for the female perspective, but how she seemed to know how to push Hideki's buttons.

RebelVampire

yeah i also liked that azumi had been around when keiichi was. cause i think that adds an interesting dimension to the whole kazuhiro takes over thing. since he really did kind of overtake more likely ppl to take over

mathtans

Yes, that too. You can see how the continuity goes through the two leaders, and there's still respect there.

Superjustinbros

Yuh

RebelVampire

i wanna see more of the gang in general tho. especially makoto since hes supposedly a great but unreliable fighter

Superjustinbros

^

mathtans

Started a bit into Chapter 6. Interesting fleshing out of the 'villain' characters. There's a lot of interesting characters overall.

Superjustinbros

I second Rebel's comment

mathtans

Could work as a flashback. "Remember the time Makoto slept in for the big fight?"

Actually, some of the flashback stuff has been interesting in it's own right. And I felt like it was well placed. Like, relevant.

RebelVampire

since makoto liked manga apparently, i hope the context of them seeing him fight was that someone told him his waifu was trash

yeah i really loved getting to actually see past hideki in the house and kazuhiro being grump master of glares

mathtans

Heh. Gotta pick your battles.

Superjustinbros

And pick them well

mathtans

Ranmaru prefers to just let things happen. He's gonna annoy the wrong person the wrong way some time... needs to adopt Hideki's "run away" strategy more often.

RebelVampire

are there any final comments anyone wants to share?

mathtans

One last thought, I wonder if the setting of 1995 is relevant? Or is that just to avoid cell phones?

Superjustinbros

Nothing much, other than that I'd like to quickly wish Boniae success on the comic, it's coming along great so far and I'm sure it'll grow to be even bigger!

mathtans

(My history is pretty bad.)

Or maybe it's to have Makoto be a fan of the anime back then.

boniae

Aww thank you so much!!! I appreciate this so much you guys!!! and LMFAO i legit dont even remember why I picked 1995, I think it was on a whim and then realized i had/have to do so much research to see if things existed and what was happening in 1995

mathtans

I guess we'll see then! Thanks!

Superjustinbros

You're welcome, @boniae!

RebelVampire

COMIC TEA PARTY- THURSDAY BOOK CLUB END!

Sadly, this wraps up this week’s Thursday Book Club chat for now. Thank you so much to everyone for reading and joining us! We want to give a special thank you to Boniae, as well, for making Four Corners. If you liked the comic, make sure to support Boniae’s efforts however you’re able to~!

Read and Comment: http://fourcorners.smackjeeves.com/

Boniae’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/boniae

Boniae’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/cooljalebis

Comic Tea Party- Thursday Book Club

Next week’s Thursday Book Club will be about The Origin Story by Carolin Reich. For participants, you have the next week to read as much of the comic as you would like~! We hope to see you on Thursday, October 18th, from 5PM to 7PM PDT for the chat in #thursday_bookclub!

Comic’s Main Site: https://tapas.io/series/The-Origin-Story

[cerebusfire17]

Trying

I’m slowly but surely reverting back to the person I was as a teen. I’m artistic as fuck, but people are a trial all over again. I’m trying to be happy with them, but Alice stays on my mind all of the time. It’s hard to concentrate when I’m only two weeks from what the due date was supposed to be. I still can’t get over the fact that she isn’t here. She was supposed to be here, and she isn’t. It’s quite depressing, and I’m not sure how to really deal with all of it on a day to day basis. I’m going to a doc tomorrow anyway, so I guess we’ll see how that goes. I don’t want to be on medicine again. Lord knows how quick I’ll figure out how it affect me. Don’t know why, but my body responds immediately to drugs, always has.

Other than that!!!! I’m wondering if I should try to sell my art that I’ve been working on. I actually have a youtube channel, but I’m thinking maybe I’m start drawing and telling stories or something. I’ll have to figure out what to do with it. I don’t even use it as much as I once did. It’s not like it matters anymore at this point.

I don’t even believe that I made it because I wanted to now, that’s how much I care. I don’t know if I’ll do whatever with it. I really don’t. I might delete the channel, just cause I really don’t need it, but there is potential to be an influence to people who want to learn new techniques. It’s a hard thing to accomplish, but if it inspires others to make their work more poslished, or help discover a simpler way to make an object (more like person, cause that’s where I excel) with less effort, I might as well go for it. This talent could help someone in the future, and that’s would be content worth displaying.

I do understand that I’m not the most positive person, and I’m finding myself creating inner monologues since I’m stopping myself from saying them out loud. As of late, one of the coworkers that had been trying to get me fired has been walking around with a chip on her shoulder and my name in my mouth more than my parents ever did. At first, I started to get aggitated, but then I started to think, “Why do I care what she says about me? SHe doesn’t even have enough respect to admit that she tried to do what she did.” (Note: My boss told me she was in there, right in front of her, cause she wouldn’t stop bringing it up. Still denied it.) “If this person wants to talk shit about me after what she’s done, fuck it. I’m not going to give this the time of day. It’s not worth taking it personally.”

That’s been helping a lot: remembering that people will say what they want to say. I’ll keep my ears open for genuine words, but I’m not going to worry about the words of someone who tried to hurt me. Perhaps I should do that with more people, but I still feel I need others to correct me.

I’m not sure if that is bad parenting or if I conditioned myself, but I’ve found I’ve been a people pleaser for most of my life. I’ve always believed I was wrong, but everyone always assumes I trying to hard to be right.... Which I don’t understand at all. Aren’t you supposed to know what you’re talking about before you open your mouth about how light bends with the pull of gravity.

Idk, I wish I had some idea. If anyone reads this, you can say what you want. I’m open to suggestions, just as I’ve always been