#she literally has zero empathy i understand it now

[zevrans-remade]

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[sayyourprayers]

Why Will's resentment of El is not an in-show theme:

Diorama scene

Scene begins with El completely clueless about the school dynamics - eg. waving hi to someone who dgaf. She knows she isn't having a great time (hence lying to Mike) but at the same time she feels like THIS IS THE DAY when everything will change. Bruh if you haven't gotten the memo till a day before spring break maybe Hopper didn't call you stupid enough.

Talking about Hopper - presumed dead - presumed hawkins mall fire hero - subject of El's direyama, it wasn't Will's job to find a hero for El nor was it his responsibility to to suggest she make a projected presentation (his own project's a chart ffs). The shots of Will looking nervous and upset when El presents is for 2 reasons:

i) She followed Angela

ii) She followed Angela

It doesn't matter what your project is, your bullies aren't bullying you for quality control purposes. I guess people who think they can just intervene and stop bullying by their aura alone, truly have no idea how bullying works. Hopefully, for better understanding the material being analysed (to death), they do get to experience being at the receiving end of it, even if it's just a little.

As per El's own admission she chose the diorama as a visual aid - as she was allowed to. Idk if y'all expected Ms. My grammar's getting better also to do a verbose write-up or Ms. sheltered in the lab has got no one poor bby to just suddenly know and find heroic inspiration in famous personalities. What is it? Is she undersocialised and trapped or not? Analyse that.

2. Post presentation

Will tries to assuage El that her presentation wasn't that bad (not a lie that it was great but it truly wasn't the worst) But Ms. friends don't lie won't listen to him. (omg willel wonder twins friends). Sidenote: how was Will gonna tell her that her project was "not what she should have made"? I am guessing the lines would be similar to Angela's and El's response would be similar to El's. Anywho. I'm not spending more time analysing this scene that was clearly meant to establish that El's lying in her letter to Mike and she's not really having a great time in California - which isn't just about the school and bullying btw but also (moreso) about her father's death and the loss of her powers (shown by the scene of her walking away merging into a depressed max doing the emo walk to the chart topping kate bush song: nordic walking really fast up a cliff.) But let's forget all that on-screen text for fanfic hit pieces.

3. Die a rammer

Before El's homage to Hopper meets the wrath of Devila there's a small scene (bby scene tiny as hell uwu) of El receiving her maths tests results. And they were F-ing bad. Another scene to establish how much creative writing went into El's letters to Mike. Will should have tutored her though, I agree. The least he could have done for the girl that got him kidnapped and then saved him from the kidnapper - but was it really saving if he's forever changed? Not important: this is about establishing Will's guilt and El obviously has none.

Anyway, El is minding her business and California dreamin' but Angela and the minions trip her up and methodically destroy her diorama. It doesn't help that an enraged El tries to telekinekick Angela's ass, but as we all know (and now re-know) she has lost her powers and is sad and frustrated about it.

Now some brilliant scientific minds of our generation wanted Will to step into that shit show and (and what?) defend El? The guy that famously freezes? The guy who loaded up a gun in 3.5 seconds but froze up and didn't use it on a literal monster with a monsterface? The same guy who has NO POWERS (would be copying El) and has been bullied throughout his life, not only in school by his peers but even whole ass adults. They called him slurs, egged on by none other than his own Papa. So the great analysts with zero experience in bullying and less than basic level of empathy towards bullied people, wanted Will to shatter his little never seen before peaceful Cali existence to save El after the fact? Yes, Zombie boy go save your social pariah wonder woman channeling sister friend. The fact is, he NEVER abandoned her, but he also didn't have enough social standing at school to prevent El from getting bullied. (A point missed in all analyses.)

He was upset and worried and headed over to console El, not in secret no no, out in the open. He is not a fighter. He has never stood up to his own bullies. He's only "sassy" with his friends and family, people he's close to and feels safe with (a feeling he associates with El too, as seen in his "sassiness" with her, but that's for later.)

Poor El had to be rescued by the teacher herself. No other person in that entire school that was present did anything even remotely expressing sympathy - no they were all laughing at her. Only the teacher and Will were in her corner. So much for resentment.

4. Rink O Maniacs

Let's begin with the airport waiting area: Two happy Byers pookies (yes even I have to concede that El was a pookie here) waiting for their incelebrity crush/love - disappointed almost immediately by the scrotoid they fancy cuz they've not discovered feminism yet.

El has the whole day planned, Will is there around them cuz I guess he's too young to be hotboxing with (a concerned and all-knowing) Jonathan and my man Argyle. I mean they could've bonded over being stressed out over not their girlfriends.

Instead though, Angela and the aerobics class decided to eff up El's planned dayte. Angela on being called El--er--Jane's friend grabs her and heads over to the rink. Will knows El's lying, but was he supposed to idk just blurt it out with all that audience? What was he supposed to do? Was he supposed to pre-empt the attack (either) in a crowded place? He wasn't physically gonna stop anyone, let's be real. If Angela would have picked on him, he'd be the one on the rink dressed in milkshake. So let's not pretend it's a reaction unique to seeing El in distress. No that's his response to BEING DISTRESSED - which he was, seeing his sisterfriend whom he likes and doesn't resent (apart from her being the love of Mike's life) in trouble.

Mike goes "above and beyond" i.e. reacts the way y'all would've loved Will to react (but it's not his gene type). Will however is worried and the one that alerts Mike once he realises, things are no longer gonna go anywhere but down under. He finally, reluctantly, but for his sisterfriend El, tells Mike about her problems, or that she's having them. Mike also can hear what's being announced for all the rink (a dedication to Jane the snitch) and coupled with what Will's told him reacts fast and tries (the operative here, he failed too) to stop the show.

Acting prowess aside, Mike and Will are both shocked and worried by El's "wipeout" in a crowded rink where it seems nobody likes her. Mike calls out to El who runs away hurt and embarrassed n not in the mood to answer him.

Now, they BOTH look for El, and MIKE the cunt thinks it's a great time to have a one on one with Will, about him "sabotaging" the day. (I still don't know how he did that, since M11 were pretty much enjoying the date till Angela appeared). The stupid gay fight happens, whatever man, idgaf.

El straightening up in the staff closet hears Angela and the pussycats (and not stupid byler) laughing (most likely at her) and decides, powers or no powers, Angela's gonna feel it tonight. The iconic Angela facelift happens after El's appeals to salvage the day and protect her lies are dismissed. Mike and Will are both again there to give loud reactions and Mike manages to be a moid even in that situation and questions El's overreaction (he at least truly believes that, unlike Will who is ready to lie to the cops abt it being an accident, lol) (Also, a quick mention Mike doesn't remind her of Brenner, Mike's the final straw that takes her back to the lab, she's already feeling weirded out by the blood and the people surrounding her, but ya whatever.)

Commentary:

Will asking El about why she's lying to Mike, isn't just him caring about Mike being lied to over El's well-being. If one's to engage a third braincell, one would notice that Will, too, found out about El's lies that day itself. He realised cuz he lives with his sisterfriend and is with her at school and at not school and so knows whatever she's saying and Mike's recalling from the letters has more imagination put into it than his painting. Will is annoyed at El and Mike (El - cuz he says it, Mike - cuz Mike says it) for being made a third wheel and also being greeted awkwardly (let's not forget he literally didn't gift Mike the painting which he painstakingly made cuz of Mike's weirdo behaviour.) That's not resentment, that's plain annoyance - an emotion Will has shown multiple times over the course of 4 seasons. His emotions don't only exist in the context of El and Mike's existence - you may ask Jonathan and Joyce, if you don't believe me.

It's hard for some people to read Will's character as anything other than a lovesick fool or brother of the main character, and their analysis reeks of this. Let's not forget, unlike Mike Wheeler, Will actually has his OWN stake in the supernatural/sci-fi/horror/superhero plot. Mike is the romantic lead. Will and El have their own journeys and stories both including and completely independent of each other and Mike.

Will not showing El the painting, is more a testament to his enduring feelings for Mike and the post-puberty clarity of romantic/sexual attraction vs puppy love. El didn't show Will her letters to Mike either. (And I am not saying she should have.) Will is not in the text to serve El. In fact, Max herself got promoted from that job. Just slapping on Vecna preys on this juicy shit - doesn't make it true. I am not saying Will and El are perfect siblings, but they're close to it and the show wants us to believe that. (You may take this as a contribution to DBros/MissedOpporunities OTP fanwork)

Will's resentment of El is the jealousy from romantic (not even) rivalry, but it is a very small part of their relationship. He could and should have been more pissy about having the girl who (even accidentally) upended his life just being his new sister now (mike or no mike) but that's not what Will is as a person. Will's jealousy of El is also something he takes out on Mike and NEVER on El.

Maybe there's such a thing as re-watching the show too many times. Y'all jumbling up character names. Y'all need to be peer reviewed.

[a-student-out-of-time]

Episode 13 was...something

I have to be real with you all: I don't think I liked this episode very much. And no, it has nothing to do with my theory. This is a lot more serious than that. But hey, we're actually moving forward with the plot, and there's a lot to discuss about this episode

Let's cover the big things in detail, shall we?

Levi the Moral Sociopath

So let's get this out of the way: yeah, I was probably wrong here. I thought maybe Arei had talked to Levi about his secret and they reached a mutual understanding, and that turns out not to have been the case. In ways that NOBODY predicted.

See, we were all under the impression that Levi had moral reasons to kill and that's why he holds "no remorse." Turns out that interpretation was meant literally; as in, Levi doesn't experience remorse. Or compassion. Or empathy.

From the way he describes it, it sounds like Levi has Antisocial Personality Disorder or something similar, something that impedes his sense of empathy. See, there's two types of empathy to consider: Cognitive Empathy and Affective Empathy.

Cognitive is where you can interpret the emotions of another, while Affective is the ability to share in emotional experiences with others. Low cognitive empathy is what autistic peeps (such as myself) experience, while low affective empathy is what one would associate with sociopaths. They recognize emotions in others and mimic them accordingly, but they're not able to share or really understand them.

Levi...seems to be lacking in both. He has trouble interpreting emotions and he admits he doesn't really feel anything when it comes to the others; their deaths might as well be the deaths of complete strangers on the other side of the world. He murdered three strangers and his own father, yet he barely remembers them because he's moved on since then.

But Levi is not an evil person. Quite to the contrary, he still believes in doing good and helping people, even if he has no emotional attachment to doing so, because it guarantees him a better and easier life than continuously being a delinquent. He may not really be able to feel compassion for others, but he'll still try and help protect them. That's such a rare presentation of a character with low empathy, especially compared to the more common stereotype that they're all serial killers, and I just think that's really neat.

Way more interesting than him being the volatile, crazed murderer so many believed he was.

2. Hu, Veronika and Nico

So while it was largely skimmed over, here's what I did get right: Hu is the one who's attempted suicide three times and Ronnie has engaged in self-harm in the past. The latter didn't share because she decided it would be more interesting to hold onto it, and also because she considers suicide a boring motivation. Concerning.

And as it turns out, we finally discussed the murder method and they managed to draw an important conclusion: Nico's attempted murder of Ace and our current murder do indeed have a connection. That entire scene wasn't just there to happen, I'm still willing to believe that it was due to David's influence and that was the first attempt.

Because, again, the last people we saw with David before the attempted murder were Nico and Hu. And then Nico tries to kill Ace. And then Arei apparently dies in the same method.

Does that mean Nico is the culprit no? No, probably not. As I've said many times, we have to consider that rule that the Blackened doesn't have to be the murderer, they have to be the "most mastermind-y." Nico also really doesn't seem to have any motivations, at least at this point in time. Levi seemed like he did, but as he explained it, it became clear he had even less reasons to do so than we thought. Nico already has very few reasons themself.

This isn't us zeroing in on the culprit, just moving the story along. And boy did we REALLY need that. Now time for the part where Mod complains.

3. The Wheel-Spinning Is Becoming A Real Problem

Now, one thing I've praised DT for in the past is how well it handles foreshadowing. Small details always come back, no matter how seemingly innocuous. It really gives the impression that everything in the story matters in some respect, which is what good stories should do.

...But we've only just NOW started discussing the murder plot, and it took only a couple minutes to say what many of us have been saying: they used the carousel the hang the victim and snap their neck using the trash and the rafters. We're on Episode 13 of this chapter. It took us 5 episodes and 17 months to get here.

That's what's made this trial and this chapter in general so frustrating to me, because most of our time hasn't been spent on what's relevant to the situation at hand. Most of it has been spent on tangents about secrets, or just pointless nonsense and comedy hijinks. And I get it, this is DR, that's to be expected. But at this point? We should have more information than we do, because we only have a handful of episodes to work with and so many things left unexplained.

I harped on the smaller details because time was devoted to them, attention was drawn to them, and I refused to believe they're going to be totally irrelevant to this chapter. Now I worry they are and I have to wonder why time was spent on them this chapter and not the one(s) where they'll actually matter.

There were so many tangents this chapter and so much time spent on discussing them, I want to believe we're building to something for the climax.

"You mean your theory, right?" You may ask.

And I have to be honest, the theory is barely on my mind at this point. My concern isn't just the many, many tangents that don't seem to add anything, but the direction DT seems to be heading.

4. What even was that scene with Arei?

I have...so many questions about David's flashback.

To immediately dispel the obvious question, no, he's not lying here. If we're allowed to see it, that means it's what actually happened. What Arei said in that scene was what really went down. And I'm not really happy about that.

Now, I'll admit, I had a very negative initial reaction to that scene. Arei confronts David about his secret, and it turns out...she's relieved that it's true. My initial reading of that scene was that she was giving up on being a good person because David being a liar has proven it's pointless. She then goes on to say that Eden's probably done something terrible as well, so there's really no such thing as a good person, and it really felt like a cynical, mean-spirited undermining to everything that came before.

But revisiting it, that's not really what happened. TA and Poi pointed out how, no, what she really seems to be saying by "there's no such thing as a good person" is there's no one who's just naturally morally upstanding. And that it's okay, because it means she's not too far gone.

What came off as her giving up really seems to be more of her deciding not to live by some arbitrary standard about who isn't and isn't a good person, because everyone's probably done something they really regret. Her saying Eden's probably done something terrible isn't dismissing all her good efforts, since she still considers her a friend. It's her accepting that labels like "good person" are meaningless, and that it shouldn't stop you from trying to be better.

And she extends a hand to David, hoping that maybe both of them can be better in the future.

And David...doesn't share a word of this with anyone, especially not Eden. That means that scene only exists for the audience's benefit. We're meant to consider what she said for whatever reason, and while my initial interpretation wasn't wrong, I do have concerns about that.

First of all, while this could still work with my theory, this is probably the biggest factor that changes things. At this point, I'm willing to accept there's an 80% chance I'm wrong. The problem is, theory or not, I worry what exactly showing us that scene is meant to suggest. Why did we as the audience need to see it for dramatic irony purposes?

There are only three interpretations that really come to mind, and I have to say, I'm not fond of two of them:

My theory is correct and this is all part of Arei's 4000 IQ play.

My theory is wrong and that scene only exists to twist the knife for our sake, especially if David is the Blackened.

My theory is wrong, David is the rival, and that scene exists to facilitate his future character development.

And that last one is fridging. Like, it's blatant fridging, where a (frankly more interesting) female character dies in order to spur development in a dude. I'm going to be genuinely pissed if that happens, because it renders her entire character arc this chapter pointless and ends it in such poor taste. It's also a very dumb course of action because why would you ever say all this to someone you know is a MANIPULATOR WHO TAKES ADVANTAGE OF PEOPLE?!

The second one is just poor writing, where it's only there to hurt the audience a little bit more. It's unnecessary and ends things on such a pointlessly bittersweet note. But I'll take that over option 3, because I genuinely don't give a shit about David and I really don't want Arei's death only happen to focus on him more. He doesn't want to change, he believes it's better to sacrifice everyone's lives for some cause he refuses to disclose.

And at this point, I'm pretty sure I'm wrong. Whatever, I expected to be wrong anyway, but that's hardly my biggest concern.

My biggest concern is that DT is resorting to genuinely bad writing decisions and it's going to have a lasting negative effect on the story. I don't understand what other interpretations there could be with that scene, and I really don't like the possibilities we do have. Everything I point to as a basis for my theory could end up being completely pointless to the story, and I have to ask what the point was.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm reading all this in bad faith and something else will happen, and we'll spend the remaining episodes discussing everything I've brought up in detail. I've been burned a lot by stories I've enjoyed going in very poor directions and characters I got invested in bore the brunt of it. Regardless of my theory being true or not, I don't want the same to happen to DT.

And I can see reasons why I may be wrong here: David only really gives a damn about Xander, for instance, and we've yet to really discuss the hows and whys of the murder. And I still wonder why J has been getting so much focus when she was barely in Daily Life.

Overall, while I got really negative here, I hope next proves me wrong and things head in a new direction.

[genericpuff]

Honestly it’s getting tiring seeing the sobbing chronically of the cast ; Hera , Demeter, Persephone and probably more . Like it’s giving big baby cry cry energy instead of idk something proactive. Not sure if It’s just me getting that from the latest chapters???

I have two schools of thought on this.

On the one hand, I can fully understand wanting to show the vulnerability of these characters, to not send a message that emotions are bad and that people should just "toughen up". This is trying to be a "feminist" piece of work after all, and much of feminism preaches vulnerability and empathy and allowing oneself to get back in touch with their own emotions, rather than shutting themselves away from them which is often perpetuated by the societal expectations and norms of toxic masculinity.

Persephone crying as she confronts Apollo - the man who she now understands assaulted her - is understandable and real. A reasonable reaction to an emotional situation that many people can empathize with.

Hera crying as she reveals the true extent of the damage Kronos caused her is understandable and real. He's quite literally been stalking her in the recesses of her mind and it's reaching a breaking point.

But on the other hand, there's a difference between wanting to show a character showing their emotions and then learning to overcome the challenges they've presented with - whether they do it independently or learn to trust in others to help them - thus growing in the process and coming out stronger on the other side vs. using a character purely for torture porn. As much as we preach concepts like "normalize crying" in a very simplified way for the sake of being easily understood, such simplifications often result in a lack of nuance.

An entirely other subject to use as a comparison point to explain this nuance - it's like the difference between having a character who's become so jaded and disconnected from the concept of empathy that even murder becomes just a menial task to them vs. murderhobos. Murderhobos are not interesting or complex or empathetic or relatable, they're just written (and in the case of where the term comes from - Dungeons & Dragons - played) for the sole purpose of having an edgy uncaring character who thinks they're free from consequences while they fuck up the lives of everyone around them in a completely irredeemable way (and is often protected from such consequences due to plot armor, unless it's in D&D, in which case you'll likely be politely asked to either change your character for the sake of the campaign or leave.)

There's nothing to gain or learn from murderhobos. They only exist for the satisfaction of an ego complex - "I don't care what you want or how it affects the people around me, I want to kill people without consequences because that's as creative as my imagination can get in my own personal fantasy."

There's nothing to gain or grow from anymore when we get another scene of Hera bleeding mascara as she cries over her situation with Kronos while still refusing to actually tell anyone what's going on with Kronos, despite the fact that we had an entire fucking therapy speak episode where she realized she needed help. So it feels like it's purely there just to play on the trope of "sad woman is saaaad, won't anyone help herrrr?" which is really starting to learn into learned helplessness.

This is especially apparent with Persephone, who, upon causing a massive problem for everyone, has taken it upon herself to shut herself away while her loved ones deal with the problem. If she needs the time to cry and process what's going on, that's fine. But while that's happening, we know mortals are dying and that she's turning the situation into a learned helplessness pity party of "I'm a monsterrr and no one likes meeee :((((" while having zero self-awareness that yeah, she did cause this problem, and her locking herself away in her literal mansion isn't exactly going to help the situation.

I've already used Tamberlane as an example of approaching the subject of learned helplessness and how it's fundamentally different from simply being vulnerable and having emotions, but I'm gonna share it again here because it's really relevant and Persephone needs someone to give her this same wake-up call.

Considering Demeter was the one to approach her at the end of the last episode, I'm hoping she'll be the one to broach the topic with her, but judging by how Rachel's treated it so far with every character reassuring her with empty platitudes that accomplish nothing but comforting Persephone over something she caused like "Noooo you're not a monster, you're the best queen ever and you're trying her best!!" (and the fact that Rachel has spent so much time turning Demeter into public enemy #1 that her readers still can't fucking give her any shred of empathy even after finding out she lost a child, fucking yikes) I'm not holding my breath that this week's episode is gonna actually have that same level of emotional maturity or growth. This is the second time in the entire comic we've seen Persephone suffer the consequences of her actions out of many that have been harmful, some accidental, others very intentional (which Rachel has even supported her doing in a very unironic sense, it's safe to say Rachel really truly does believe that Persephone is entitled to abuse people). And judging by how things went the first time, it's hard to have the benefit of the doubt and assume Persephone is gonna actually take accountability and learn and grow from this. She didn't the last time and her character has only devolved since.

Sure, feeling like you've fucked up to such a monumental degree that you'll never be able to show your face in public again is something that's real and relatable and worth crying over... but crying is an emotional response, not the actual solution. It is a PART of expressing and processing emotions, but ultimately those emotions are not actions, just REactions. Crying is okay, crying is a normal response to grief and sadness, but if you don't actually take steps forward and continue to wallow in the sadness, blame everyone else around you for it, and simultaneously rely on everyone else to carry the burden of your own actions for you, then that's when it exits the realm of healthy emotional processing and broaches the unhealthy realm of learned helplessness and emotional manipulation.

If anything, her entire monologue in the last FP episode was more about Rachel being upset over criticism of her comic and her self-insert that, like Persephone's deal with Erebus and the "plague" that followed, she earned over not addressing the issues in her work sooner and instead choosing to double down - both through Persephone's abusive behavior within the narrative and Rachel's passive aggressive meta-commentary on that abuse being okay because "she's earned the right to lash out".

The only people in this entire comic who have "earned the right to lash out" are the women that Rachel has villainized along the way in the pursuit of giving her self-insert everything without effort or sacrifice. And even then those people would still have to rightfully answer for their wrongs and grow from them - because there is no right to abuse, there is no right to harming others, especially not if the "others" you're harming are people who were victims in their own right that you turned into imaginary enemies so you could have someone to punch down at in the absence of a spine to stand up for yourself against the real perpetrators. And in doing so, Persephone herself has become a perpetrator, who sheds crocodile tears that no one is buying because the writing is on the fucking wall.

[chaifootsteps]

do you think Blitz is out of character for going back to Stolas and demanding they do sex again / the whole 'I want to earn my way to Earth' thing?

like I get the writers are trying to paint it as a self-worth thing mixed with a 'don't throw me away!' thing but like

it feels like they only did that to try and make Stolas look more mature. the whole thing just becomes a pretext to make it look more justifiable for Blitz to spend the episode wanting to apologize to him even though what the writers actually want him to apologize for isn't what he said or did in Apology Tour, it's for ever daring to get mad in Full Moon despite it being totally understandable and Stolas deserving to be called far worse than just a 'privileged rich asshole' (goodness only knows they'll never let Blitz say he felt degraded or used or that Stolas coerced sex out of him so it's rape)

not to mention Blitz knew he was serious, it's the whole reason he blew up at Stolas in Full Moon in the first place. having him walk it back the next ep and act like it was just a 'bad night' just feels like they made him catch a case of the stupids from Stolas (who gets amnesia routinely anytime he hears something he doesn't like, so it's at least a consistent trait with him)

compare and contrast with Verosika. when she said she loved him, he panicked and stole her credit cards to make her dump him. He never begged to go back to being casual with her, he understood she was serious and dipped as fast as he could

why doesn't he just do that with Stolas now? take the opportunity to never speak with him again now he has the crystal and thinks Stolas is talking total BS with the 'how dare you make it about sex' routine (which he is, and continued to do throughout apology tour. Blitz has less incentive than ever to want to be around this self-centred black hole of empathy because if he still can't fathom he did something wrong and the crystal didn't insta-fix all of it, he likely never will)

it feels like the writers want to paint it like Blitz feels bad for what he said in full moon or that he's secretly into Stolas but won't admit it (or both) but the former is completely wrong given what Stolas has done to him and imo it's way too late to sell the latter as being true. We've barely seen any positive interactions between Blitz and Stolas and he so rarely even seems attracted to the guy

this just isn't how you write a friends with benefits to lovers relationship. they waited way too late to make Blitz look anything other than annoyed and repulsed by Stolas and even then it's overshadowed by literally everything from s1

It was tremendously out of character, for all the reasons you've said and more. There's been zero, and I mean zero indications that Blitzo enjoys his contract with Stolas more than he hates being rejected. Just the episode prior, we see that all those months when Stolas let him use the book without being forced to fuck him, he seized the hell out of the opportunity and took it.

Unfortunately, there's no "the writers" in this case. It's just Viv and Adam, mostly Viv, and that's why the show exists for her and no one else.

[rappaccini]

alright... the exception to no-gwen-comics-until-she's-home-or-queer had to be made for hobiefic research.

so. spider society thoughts

issue 1

yes i'm reading this because of hobie but you know i'm gonna zero in on gwen.

so... gwen is once again the peppy girlboss she always is in events.

idk when this takes place. presumably after gwen's 'arrival in 616' arc in sgtgs bc from what i'm understanding, she's hiding out from the other spiders and on the run and there's None Of That here.

so hopefully this means we'll make it out of this event without gwiles happening at all or lasting because i've heard the discourse about gwen's new love interest and it aint him.

more spiderman chosen one bullshit. oh brother this guy stinks.

oh they're after miles and gwen specifically. god dammit.

more sinister six nostalgia. uggggnnngghgh.

listen seeing gwiles all over each other on that cover--

and knowing what the goal of the gwen-in-616 synergy is, has me anxious whenever they're together. and i'm definitely staring hard at how gwen and miles sitting on a roof at sunset and racing each other is clearly a ripoff of their swinging date in atsv.

miles "worrying about her" also feels ripped from atsv and seems totally insincere. if you're actually worried about gwen not being able to go home, help her go back, you douche.

don't touch her. you're on thin ice. get a job stay away from her. you have a girlfriend.

... well at least miles being weird about gwen is consistent. he's been doing this for years and i hope her symbiote eats him someday.

no mention of miles being a vampire. k. is he hiding it. is he mysteriously better now. is this set even later than we think.

no mention from miles about having a girlfriend as he's sidling up to gwen. i hope tiana flies him to the stratosphere while the sun's up and lets him fry a little.

gwen and ham's relationship is Gone. she has no reaction to seeing him. hate that!

gwen's symbiote is unacknowledged and she's taking her mask off like it's a normal suit. hate that!

miles getting in the way of gwen's fight with gwen goblin because he's ~being protective~. fuck off.

gwen already interacted with a gwen goblin. no acknowledgment of that. treating her alt self like an enemy that needs to be smacked down and dismissed instead of someone to empathize with, even after she responded to gwen goblin 3109 with support and empathy. hate that!

you guys owe seanan mcguire an apology. gwen goblin 3109 is michaelangelo's david compared to this.

gwen goblin calling miles a "baby boy." yep. he sure is. 😐

hobie's secret abandonment issues peeking through? love that!

hobie's suicidal tendencies manifesting through his eagerness to throw himself on death missions? yup. that's consistent too.

disappointed that gwen and hobie's shippy vibe seems to be gone now. the last time they met they were all over each other, promising to be there for each other and then they just... weren't. and practically every spider-crossover involves them getting closer together. except here.

but not surprised. i knew they wouldn't do anything with ghostpunk. the powers that be are pushing for gwiles, and barely anyone knows she and hobie had a thing to begin with, so it's no surprise that hobie's getting thrown at a different romantic interest at mach speed. god knows people have issues with gwen being into anyone that isn't miles, so they have to take her options away. they're nuking earth 65 probably, now they're taking out two potential love interests for her in one fell swoop by pairing them up with each other out of nowhere. i hate sounding conspiratorial about this but the timing is just too suspect.

if the only way to get gwen and miles together is to literally isolate her from all her other options, maybe that's a warning sign about what this relationship fundamentally is.

... also unsurprised that after hobie's getting his big breakout in the movies, that marvel's rushing to reassure people that he's Definitely Into Chicks. yep. okay.

seeing gwen and hobie in the same room, interacting positively was more than i was hoping for tbh. seeing hobie stand between her and miles pleases me immensely. the elbow tap was sweet. the friendship remains. maybe it'll be something again someday.

and gwen being totally chill about hobie apparently seeing someone else, and even egging him on, is frankly very in-character with her, and doesn't necessarily close the door on anything. that girl simply doesn't get jealous over her romantic interests or care about commitment. she wasn't jealous of em jay and glory. and in (gag) sitting in a tree, when kamala walked in on her and (gag) miles, gwen was so chill about it that she basically invited kamala along. it lines up, is all i'm saying. the door's still open, we're just not peeking through it anymore.

plus... from web warriors:

look. maybe she wants to be in the middle of that. web warriors was onto something.

(extremely funny that gwen has more chemistry with both of them than they do with each other. make it a threesome and it makes sense.)

baffled about anyahobie coming out of nowhere. apparently they went on a date a while ago? they avoid giving the specifics, but it was either weeks, months, or years ago. so it must have happened during web warriors because that was the only time hobie and anya hung out (while gwen was present, so she'd know about them), and that was years ago.

i'm just ??? technically the timeline works, but they have no tension whatsoever in that story, they both seem more into gwen than each other, they have little in common, they haven't hung out since then and have never brought this up anywhere before now. so... ???

i mean. hobie denies that it was a date, but after gwen eggs him on he admits he finds her cool so maybe it's not a gwen/mateo one-off regret situation and he's just shy about his feelings. which does add up. we've seen him being a dork around gwen and carry a torch for her for years. we've seen him deny his soft side in front of people. he is like that. that is how hobie acts when he has romantic feelings.

my issue is that anya's such a Lesbian that i just don't see her ever being into him at all. she's never successfully been shipped with a man, or even had chemistry with one, has always had a queer vibe with other women, has had several queercoded interactions with women, she switches to a gender-neutral hero name and her fucking hood is made of flannel. everyone keeps insisting that gwen's the GNC Lesbian Spider-Person but it's always been anya.

like. look at this. hobie's supposed canon girlfriend has more chemistry with the girlfriend the writers refuse to acknowledge.

his girl's bleeding out and he's just 🧍‍♂️. anya dump him.

and then she's like. has no tender feelings for him, doesn't acknowledge him. sends him on the most dangerous mission and doesn't keep him close or check in on him. hobie dump her.

he's pan. she's a lesbian. they're more attracted to gwen than each other. their 30 year marriage will challenge your definition of love.

if this is meant to be a romance it's genuinely awful.

or hey maybe gwen was just assuming because she got hit with the gwilesification beam and now everything looks heterosexual to her. please give that girl a lobotomy.

if it is happening, i do find it extremely funny that the only women hobie's canonically attracted to are queercoded. like, yeah that's about right. no straights allowed.

regardless it's just so transparent that hobie and anya are getting shoved in the closet for forced seven minutes in heaven so they aren't competition for gwiles and to keep everyone straight. it's obvious that this is just the writers taking away gwen's other options by pairing them up out of nowhere. i hope all three of them run away together.

....... i really wonder how cody ziglar feels about miles and hobie being written Like That.

k this did not get off to a good start.

issue 2

fwiw i do like that the c-listers are getting time to shine. like, good, yes, i love that anya's leading this team and hobie's running point. wonderful. the spiderverse is to showcase all these obscure variants, not just gwen and miles.

still annoying that they're grouping 'ghost spider and (miles's) spider-man' together. don't think i don't see what you're doing.

don't like that they're the only ones not unconscious. i see what you're doing.

gwen said 'hell'. a tiny bit of her pottymouth's back i'll take it. and loudly shit talking the villains. thank you.

looks like gwen goblin's a reluctant minion of offbrand madame web. ok, shades of gray. i'll take it.

'we kidnapped one loved one each' is... something. idk about it yet. but hey, looks like george stacy's still alive. or this'll be REALLY out of continuity with the phillips run if he's dead there.

i'm... really wondering what's up with the name thing in this book. people keep calling each other by their codenames, which on the one hand, good on miles for keeping gwen's name out of his fucking mouth, but on the other... if anya's supposedly into hobie, why does she keep calling him 'punk.'

does the writer not know hobie's name.

let out the biggest sigh at that hobieanya handhold. yeah they're doing it.

well. my forced spidermarriage canon event theory's getting stronger. hobieanya, take your place next to petercindy and gwiles.

mattea murdock mention fuck yeah. idk why she's the one kidnapped, when karl and riri are right there. but then again, this book's clearly all about stamping all the queer subtext out of hobie so it makes sense that they'd go for elevating the one member of his big gay friend group whose sexuality is still unconfirmed.

hey maybe he'll finally get to introduce her and gwen. then again, this book's all about stomping out queer subtext and that's why he wants them to meet so probably not.

evil aunt may being the big bad is a fun twist.

issue 3

ok yeah this is bad. the stakes don't make sense. the continuity is awful.

what even are these spider-collars. why do they work.

why do they work on gwen, who has no spider-powers. why is a lens punched out of her goop suit. the writer doesn't know she has one do they.

the internal hierarchy of The A-List Characters being chosen ones is just... ugh. it's so clear that peter, cindy, gwen, miles and miguel are just Chosen because they're high-profile characters, and nothing else. look i know it's brand synergy, but can you at least make up a convincing in-story reason for why this group are elevated above the others.

evil aunt may is such a flat antagonist though. like i do not feel any sense of stakes or urgency to her big multiversal threat.

no gwiles in sight. whew.

gwen whimpering about how powerless she is. hate that.

gwen cuddling a cat. love that. i miss murderface.

hobie being supportive of his female team leader/love interest! love that. the writers are finally moving past the early macho asshole characterization and the in-universe application of that is that hobie's getting comfortable enough around spider-people other than gwen to drop his tough guy act.

the one redeeming quality is that anya's the de facto protagonist of this story, and it revolves around her being tested as a leader. even then... why. is. she. acting. like. this.

hate this. anya would not do that. she would not whimper in a corner and wait for a boy to comfort her. she would never kiss him.

initiating the kiss???? with a man???? huuuh???? she would not do that!

at least he looks confused as hell. same, bro. what are we doing here.

this comic really thinks it's cooking with anyahobie but like. why are they like this. they aren't into each other. they've barely spoken in years. where did this romance come from apart from an editorial note to make them both less gay. this is diet gwiles.

okay. so ten years into em jay being clearly attracted to gwen and constant queercoding for gwen, we get a love confession but it ends in gwen being unable to reply.... and two issues into whatever this is, anya and hobie are making out? okay. the double standard's certainly out in the open.

... somehow unsurprised that hobie's fun pink hair is mysteriously missing as he's getting crammed into comphet.

hobie Does get sentimental and sappy with the girls he likes. and comforting his crush feels right too. but why is this lesbian his crush. why does this just feel like the writer's goal was 'make hobie straight, but keep him away from gwen.'

and like. guys. they would never have allowed hobie to be gay. that just never would've happened. giving him a female love interest isn't the problem. it's that it's this female love interest.

i believe hobie would go off to suck face in the corner in the middle of a mission. but why that face.

god i hate that hobie's first canon kiss is with anya. it could've been a girl! it feels right that he'd be into a queer girl! not this one! not a lesbian!

hobie acting on years of romantic tension with a spider-woman he met ages ago during web-warriors? great! why is it anya when gwen's right there and the last time he and gwen were together they cranked up the romantic vibe? if it were gwen this would make total sense!

man is hobie's role in this event a letdown. giving him the spotlight could've been great. and it's great that we're moving past the 'edgelord murder is cool guy' characterization and exploring his soft side. but the girl he's being shipped with just totally kills it.

anyway. gwen goblin taking the goblin serum to escape her death curse is cool as hell. now this gwen goblin's different from 3109 in an interesting way. and from a meta perspective... learning spider-man gets you killed and IMMEDIATELY chugging the villain juice to save yourself and get his ass? yeah. good for her. more of this please.

atsv jessica... idk why she was billed as the Secret Weapon when she's done nothing.

i'm not gonna touch the 'anya randomly throwing spanish into her lines' discourse with a ten foot pole.

in general i also get the sense that the 'spider-society' is totally flat. web-warriors at least understood that it needed to let the characters breathe and hang out (... which is why the gwen-hobie dynamic was so juicy. it grew out of something, instead of being crammed in out of nowhere). you believe the characters are friends. meanwhile here it's just... the spider-gang just meet up once a year to solve a crisis and then dip. there's no human connection. no internal rivalries and friendships and romances that make sense (and the only dynamics that survive come from somewhere else, like miles coming onto gwen, or gwen and hobie having Something Going On). we just show up together, say hi, blow something up, and leave. i don't care about this team and can't wait for them to stop speaking again.

totally okay with ziglar and phillips ignoring the hell out of this event in their miles and gwen books. please.

issue 4

in with a whimper out with a whimper.

i really don't have much to say.

well at least gwiles didn't happen.

movie jess was cool to look at but boy does she not do much.

i'm cool with gwen having a supporting role in this series, fwiw. she wasn't written well but she wasn't written Bad.

the chosen ones plotline doesn't even lead anywhere. like what even was the point of that.

... i really have no clue what the big status quo change to the spiderverse was. like no idea. feels like nothing changed.

goblin gwen saving the day is... hm. i love a gwen goblin, and i like that this one had a bit of an arc. but it feels like she's stealing arana's spotlight.

ok i'm just gonna say it: anya's a bad leader. like the whole point of this miniseries is to Level Her Up as a team leader but i am totally unconvinced that she can do it since over the course of this mini all she does is doubt herself and sit in the corner and wait for a boy to kiss her and the big hero moment isn't even hers. like i have less respect for her than when we started. don't put her in charge of anyone again please.

likr... thank you for giving anya the spotlight but oh my god her characterization's awful.

thank you for giving hobie a big role that emphasizes his soft side, terrible choice of who he's showing it to.

horrible romance. please retcon it to oblivion.

i was So Excited to see miguel and anya be a duo and... nothing.

in general this miniseries needed to sell you on the 'spider-society'... but it doesn't.

web-warriors at least understood that it needed to let the characters breathe and hang out (… which is why the gwen-hobie dynamic was so juicy. it grew out of something, instead of being crammed in out of nowhere). you believe the characters are friends. meanwhile here it's just… the spider-gang just meet up once a year to solve a crisis and then dip.

there's no human connection. no internal rivalries and friendships and romances that make sense, and totally dropping most of the preexisting dynamics-- like gwen and ham not even acknowledging each other? or gwen and hobie's tension suddenly being gone? -- and the only one that sticks around is miles being embarrassingly clingy towards an unfeeling gwen. i don't care about this team and can't wait for them to stop speaking again.

anyway the big takeaways are: hobie's being humanized thanks to the spiderverse movies popularizing him but that may be at the cost of his queerness or his politics, but hey, maybe they won't kill him off in a spiderverse event now. nobody knows what to do with anya. the writers continue to have no clue what gwen's personality or powers are and they clearly want the door open for gwiles.

i'm gonna put this one on the gwen reading list as a skip.

[evilwickedme]

Do you have autism headcanons for the Bats? Or any superhero really

Oh my god absolutely! But also I did misread this and started talking about all my superhero headcanons so now I have all these headcanons and nowhere to put them lmao

The gimme is Tim. Look me in the eye and tell me he doesn't have autistic swag, I dare you. That boy pulls BECAUSE of his autism. You just know the hyperfocus is strong with this one. He gets into a case and learns everything there is to know about it. He'll talk your ear off about photography and you won't even mind because it's the most animated you've seen him in a solid like six weeks. His sense of humor is also so fucking weird. If you're close friends with an autistic person you know exactly what I mean. We're the funniest people on earth but if you don't know the exact thing we're referencing it makes zero sense. That's okay, we know we're funny. The rest of the world is weird for always reacting strangely to our jokes is all. Also he gets migraines when he gets sensory overload

Bruce also has autistic swag, but his just makes him awkward. He's less likely to hyperfocus accidentally, but you betcha detective work IS his special interest. y'all seen elementary? He's like that version of Sherlock, he's just made it his business to know everything there is to know about Being Batman. His social skills are in the pits, but his masking game is strong - you think Tim's awkward around people, but if Bruce were to unmask he'd just become a shut in. The Brucie personality IS masking fight me

Damian is also autistic and the pickiest eater you'll ever meet. Do you know what's it like being a picky eater AND a vegetarian? Cause I do and it very simply means you never have anything to eat when you're not at home. His list of safe foods is short and consists mostly of middle eastern food. His social skills are as bad as his father but he simply never learned to mask and doesn't understand the point. He gets easily overwhelmed by Bad Textures, whether food or clothing, and (like me) the ensuing meltdown looks like extreme anger. Poor kid simply never learned to regulate his emotions :/

Also not what you asked but you'll pry bipolar!Jason and ADHD!Dick from my cold dead hands

As for other heroes it REALLY depends on how he's written but Peter Parker being autistic is absolutely a consideration. In every iteration ever he has GAD, but there are absolutely versions of him that Need To Be Squished Under A Weighted Blanket Right Now. He manages to channel his hyperfocus energy into experiments and his hyper empathy is exactly what would make him a great teacher and mentor to other heroes LET HIM SETTLE DOWN MARVEL STOP RUINING HIS HAPPINESS (@stackthedeck has SEVERAL rants on the subject and he's so right for that)

Reed Richards is currently being written as autistic by Ryan North, I don't even need to explain this one

Not technically a superhero but arguably superhero media, I hc Willow Rosenberg from Buffy as autistic. She's had multiple SpIns and hyperfixations in her life, but computers and magic are her longest standing ones. I honestly think a lot of Willow's insecurities about how people perceive her can easily be read as her learning to mask but being frustrated that she's not being her authentic self

Well that's it for now hit me up for Jewish hcs cause I literally was two paragraphs in before I realized that's not what you asked for

[tellywoodtrash]

Hey TT. I have my NEET PG exam coming up in 4 days and underprepared, uninterested, depressed, anxious and a whole lot of other adjectives. It feels like i did a big blunder becoming a doctor and coming into this field. I have zero interest left in this field. But nobody outside will understand if I want to leave this field because doctor bannke kon chod deta hain. Don't even know if i can leave this and do something else because I come from a middle class family and have a single parent.

I'm already 27 and jobless. At this point it feels like I want a PG seat only to get a good rishta and settle in life. I do want it. A good partner. A nice companion ship. I want to be happy. Would it be so bad to take any non clinical seat and be satisfied with a 60k 70k salary for the rest of my life? This move is a career suicide in my field literally. People will look down upon me and I'm already dealing with this immense pressure since childhood to be ultra succesful in life and help my mom. My mom is supportive but I can't help being guilty for all the sacrifices she made for me and my education and I won't even give her the satisfaction of a succesful child. All I want is to be peaceful and happy. Will it ever get better?

Hi friendddd,

First of all big hugs. 🫂🫂🫂 I know perfectly the feeling of putting in the years and effort only to realize that the career isn't working out for whom you are as a person. Been there, done that.

I personally am of the opinion (and you are fully welcome to disagree) that if you are finding it intolerable to trudge through a day in a certain profession, then it's better to leave it. Fuck what people outside or even INSIDE the career think. Medicine is very very hard (in every way; academically, physically - depending on your area, and emotionally) and a soul-grinding kinda job and not everyone is made for it. And if you have zero interest in it anymore...... Well, there's your answer. Patients who come to a doctor deserve to have someone who is invested in making them better. If you feel like you don't have that to give (and that's in no way a bad thing! not everyone is capable of it!) then why put yourself through becoming a doctor? Look up the concept of "sunk cost fallacy". I think that's what you're experiencing right now.

You said your mom is supportive and you want to help her out. So I want you to carefully sit and think about this: Which do you think will work out for both of your happiness long term? Pushing yourself into a big career that you can't sustain long-term, which could lead to burnout and then her having to support you again; or making a side-step into a non-clinical field which may start small and not flashy, but you can successfully commit to long-term, and thus build up a career in eventually? Trust me, any good parent just wants their child to be healthy and happy. All the money in the world cannot buy those things. I would suggest you have an honest talk with your mom and tell her that you're struggling, but also feeling an immense amount of guilt that you may be letting her down. I am sure she will want you to pick the option that makes you feel better in the long run. You have nothing to prove to anyone else. It's just between you and her.

As for the rishta thing, again, you want a life partner who is going to understand when you feel like this (and we go through things like this many a time in life; unfortunately, this is what adulthood is) and be a supportive companion through it. So look for a partner who has compassion and empathy and can understand why you made such a decision, rather than one who just looks at the job title you hold and your take-home package.

It WILL get better. But for it to get better, you will have to make some unconventional choices and not care what other people think or say. Once you are at peace with yourself, you will not care for outside opinions anyway.

I am sending you all the love and strength I have. Hope everything works out for the best of your health and happiness! 🤗🤗🤗

[vespertin-y]

more liveblogging YIPPEE!! this time it’s the first half of ch1′s daily life.

-”monokuma will never directly commit a murder” bro don’t you threaten to kill all of them like two days from now??

-himiko’s vibrating sprite 😭 she is my spirit animal truly

-oh, shuichi and rantaro’s dynamic is GREAT. shuichi pulls kaede aside to ask if she thinks an ultimate talent is “really something you can forget” and iirc rantaro says he thinks shuichi is the most suspicious person in his FTEs - they both clearly suspect the other of being the ringleader and it’s fantastic. especially since their shared fondness for kaede makes them interact more than they’d probably like.

-we meet again, manhole gonta cg, we meet again. you have not gotten any prettier.

-kokichi’s first instinct when faced with a big hollow place is to yodel, and honestly same. echos r fun okay!!

-rantaro gets so much snarkier upon rewatch - you realize how much of his dialogue is just taking the piss. him saying “oh, how considerate” when they find the exit sign still makes me giggle.

-kaito thinking kaede is the COOLEST WOMAN ON EARTH and kaede thinking he’s sooo lame is such an underrated dynamic. “gimme a hug!” “no 💖” lives in my head rent free.

-kokichi’s speech after the death road of despair is what made me sit up and take interest in him and in kaede as characters and it still holds up so good hpsuhag,,,,i don’t have a ton of bigbrain thoughts about it but please know i am thinking about high empathy/low compassion kokichi and low empathy/high compassion kaede every single day. autistic queens.

-kokichi literally just says they need to find another way out and rantaro’s immediately like “murder?? you want to do a murder, you little gremlin????” then tenko freaks out, kokichi tells her to chill, and she threatens to smash his head into the ground!? it seems to me that the writers had a set dynamic between kokichi and the rest of the group, but forgot that by this point in the story they haven’t written anything to justify it - even with rantaro’s paranoia and tenko’s anger issues, this is excessive. HILARIOUSLY, this makes the scene read as his fucking jonker origin story. tenko, you fool, you should’ve taken the bubblegum...! look what you’ve gotten us all into...!

-the dorm rooms are INSANELY swanky. i’d want to live there, if not for the...everything else......

-them having tons of copies of the same outfit is so funny. tsumugi put her heart and soul into those costumes and you WILL wear them.

-that’s the end of day one! i’ll be keeping track of them, just so you all can understand how RIDICULOUS v3′s timeline is.

-i once saw someone point out that there was zero reason for maki not to take the first blood perk, and now that HAUNTS me. she would only be responsible for one death since there’s no class trial, and we know that ever after five chapters of ✨bonding✨ she’s still willing to murder all her “friends” in a petty revenge plot, and she’s supposed to be willing to do ANYTHING to keep her orphanage from going under. completely irrelevantly, did you know maki being an assassin was actually added later in development than kaede being the first killer?

-despite him definitely knowing that monokuma isn’t really dead, kokichi insists wholeheartedly that the killing game is “cancelled” - it’s one of his more obvious ploys imo. even if it can only delay deaths for a day or so, he’s willing to throw all his acting chops behind it.

-you know that meme that goes “god made me mentally ill to nerf me”? that’s shuichi. he’s a side character that becomes the protagonist. he has a plan to catch the mastermind in CHAPTER ONE. he is breaking the danganronpa formula so bad. tsumugi had to pump him full of depression or else he would have crushed her show like a nut on day one. the detective. he destroyed his narrative. yes. YES. the detective is out.

-KAEDE TOLD MIU TO SHUT THE HELL UP...u know it’s serious when u get *kaede* to curse omg

-”hey,do you think this door is connected to monokuma somehow?” “i think it might.” and here we get our first reminder that v3 was translated by character, not by scene. the translators mostly stuck to their individual character’s dialogue without much communication, and it leaves lots of little blips like this.

-and so day two ends!

-the way they just...take the wind right out of monokuma’s sails is so funny. he’s so excited for this yokai gimmick!! and then miu tells him to get hit by a second car, tsumugi complains that his outfit is bad, and korekiyo starts explaining the difference between ghosts and yokai in excruciating detail. monokuma’s one weakness: pretentious teenage nerds...!

-the additional time-limit motive doesn’t make sense to me when it’s been ONE DAY since he introduced the first one!? it feels like a last resort, something to be used after they refused to take the bait. fits much better with a more stretched-out timeline, where they were in the school for a month or so with no murder before monokuma snapped and told them to kill or else.

-rantaro questions if he can even trust himself because of his missing memories. of course WE know he’s not gonna get hajime’d, but it’s a reasonable fear!

-”that’s why i didn’t want to talk about this in front of everyone...if we told them now, they might all try to find the mastermind, and be led to murder. that’s why...i could only tell you, kaede.” oh, shuichi......(┬┬﹏┬┬) kaede just goes dead silent after this too, before changing the subject. she doesn’t have a murder plan yet - she can’t have one, not before they’ve gone to the warehouse - but she’s certainly Considering Options.

-there’s part one of daily life! like and subscribe, i’ll be posting the second half momentarily :]

[bethylforthewin]

Hey everyone! New Bethyl blog here, supporting my favorite ship.

A few things to mention before I start posting, reblogging, and what not.

I have a ZERO tolerance for bullying, harassment, and flat out being disrespectful to someone else over a ship you may not agree with. The lack of human empathy and the need to constantly hound someone over something you don’t agree with is not okay. We all are free to speak our minds, but there is a fine line.

You as a whole a$$ person, are allowed to ship whoever you want, but don’t come to my blog (or quite frankly anyone else’s blog), and try to start un-necessary drama. If you personally don’t like Bethyl you are wasting your own time by coming to my page just to harass and berate me over a ship. You will be blocked, and you can expect me to not respond. It’s so much easier to just scroll on and actually comment and react to what YOU LIKE. NOT what you HATE.

There’s also mis information when it comes to Beth. Beth was 17 in Season 3. (Video below) Beth verbally told creeper Axel her age. This would make Beth roughly 19, or even arguably 20 when she passed in season 5. Keep in mind, if Beth was still alive, she would have gone through some major time jumps and would be MORE than old enough to date Daryl.

I must add that I deeply empathize with creators who can spend literal hours, if not weeks, or months on their work to only take it down over being criticized, and harassed. Creators love good constructive criticism, but there are people who take things too far. Be helpful, and positive. No one needs to hear you don’t like something. Just scroll along.

Lastly, The one thing I will never fully understand is those who try to compare bethylers to other ships and different fandoms saying “we must ship this”. Some of us aren’t even aware, nor watch these certain shows you compare us to, let alone ship whatever it is. Excuse the f*ck out of you, but who are you to assume about ANYONE. Who likes ANYBODY to ASSUME ANYTHING about them? You don’t know us, so don’t act like you do on a personal note.

It honestly, and truly baffles me how people are so hateful these days. Which leads me to say, who the f*ck are you to tell someone if they can’t handle the internet, to leave, and not use it? Take accountability for YOURSELVES for once. Don’t be a POS and rally your possé, blast, or be verbally abusive towards us over an OPINION. Some of y’all take things way to far and you never stop to think that maybe someone is disabled, has learning disabilities, or is su1cidal. Words can actually damage someone. It’s not just because they have “thin skin”. Maybe they had an abusive upbringing, are recovering from an abusive environment, maybe they struggled with drugs and are in recovery, maybe they even have self confidence issues. You say it isn’t your problem; BUT IT IS!!!!! YOU AS A PERSON ARE IN CONTROL OF WHAT YOU SAY!!! WHAT YOU DO!!! YOU!!! NO ONE ELSE!!!

Positivity is what this world needs, and there’s barely any of that left these days.

That’s it for now, I hope you all enjoy my blog. ✨

[presidentkamala]

Just more chat

Said goodbye to the cat i was babysitting yday. I miss having a pet!! A Little Guy!! She was sooo sweet even though she was a little black himalayan and resembled a feather duster or maybe a piece of lint. Theres just something about having a slightly annoying nonhuman roommate around to prod you when you havent moved in a while to get you out of an interminable doomscroll sesh. Apt is cleaner now than it has been in months!! Im actually almost done cleaning out my wardrobe! I started sleeping in my bed again as opposed to exclusively couchsleeping!

Work is annoying but im actually getting better about not ruminating (despite my posting thru it here LMAO) too much outside of work.

Anyway, my friend who was picking her up was out of town because her 97 yr old grandpa (who is still trying to live independently on his farm in upstate NY) had a bad fall and is also deaf in a way where he only hears males (lol) and is also in some stage of prostate cancer so they went up to visit and to give her aunt and uncle a break from looking after him (actually i think her aunt is in the middle of a huge major depressive episode but they are the type of extremely christian where that's not a valid reason not to care for your high needs children and pets and farm animals and now your literally-deaf-to-women father). Well they havent told him but he's coming to live with my friend's parents in like 2 weeks and they've already had to make alterations to the home for accessibility, find homecare, etc, and there's no way grandpa is gonna go quietly so they're basically kidnapping him from what he thinks is a very independent successful life on his farm.

When she left i had to leg it to my parents' house because MY aunt is visiting and MY grandma lives with HER for now - and it sounds like my grandma's dementia has really progressed. As my aunt put it, "the qualities you love about them, their empathy and their thoughtfulness, all go away and what's left is stubborness, sulleness, and anger" and its like. Jesus Christ elder care sounds like a horror movie from both the elder and the caregiver. My aunt was straight up like "i think in response to how difficult it is, my empathy has also gone down" and its like YES of COURSE it would!!! And for my grandma shes literally so confused and has zero control over anything in her life, and for my friend's grandpa he is about to be taken away from everything he knows without any agency - but if they were within their full faculties they would understand and both of them made statements supporting this type of action like 5 to 10 years ago!!!

Well i was rewatching severance and its like. Yeah. Wow. What if you woke up and someone showed you a piece of paper you allegedly signed attesting to your care but you don't remember any of that and you don't know whats going on and all these people in your family who supposedly love you keep taking things from you and you don't understand why.

[little-lanterns]

I am obsessed with like only two characters from akn and they both aren't that unpopular but I want to make a post with both of them in it anyway

hortus de escapismo is an important event that serve as build up to zwilingsturme, future seaborn event, and future laterano event where andoain is possibly going to be involved. why? idk just a gut feeling? when I first read the event story I didn't expect much that I will get anything about him but I actually get a lot more than expected which shouldn't surprise me since it is literally the sequel to guide ahead

this is the event where it is revealed how andoain got the idea of what he wants laterano to be, but it is also where it is put into a test if this little paradise could last

this guy isn't in the event at all but it really feels like he should to see the answer to that one question, is it really not possible?

even arturia after witnessing that herself wanted to realize it too

there is also this part that got me giggling. I always find this funny because the title Martyr didn't appear until the very end of guide ahead and it was said by cecilia, so it is unknown who gave that title to him. was it his followers? or is he now famous among the lateran for what he did?

his effect on lemuen is obvious because they were once close, she is the only lateran who understand him, even forgave him for what he did. but what about other lateran? were they too drunk in sweet and explosion that they didn't even notice what he did? well I guess some did because he is a wanted criminal now

I also speculate that the person they are talking about at the beginning and at the end of the event is him. after all this is the guy who is famous for going through all those shit just to ask question to the pope. he seems like the perfect person to ask something that only sankta understand but also held some doubts on it to actually gives a meaningful answer

there were some uncertainties because he called them friends but we know from arturia's oprec that the pope would personally visit each candidate of future saint. so this is the part where I don't like that much. if that's really the guy then it means andoain will be future saint. my impression is, I don't think if he want anything to do with laterano, though I could say the same about arturia

which brings us to the next point, The Disaster.

what we know about it is that laterano and the sankta will be the one affected first. and if what the pope said is true then the Law will also take a hit. what would sankta be without their halo? without their law? without their empathy? idk, it is not only about them, other country will also be affected, it just happen that laterano was able to foresee it. will this push him to help and accept the title of saint? maybe? it is hard to tell when we don't even know where he is and what is he doing

but it is not like Law cares what are the candidates current goal is to be appointed as a saint

there were some clues from fia's oprec but isn't it odd, why would he still go looking for mostima, didn't he find the answer already. seriously where the fuck is this guy

so whatever that laterano event will be it is going to be huge, definitely an 3 weeks/intermezzi event

what does this has to do with my other favourite character? azazel could also mean fallen angel and its symbol resemble sankta. there are no information about it so there is non-zero chance that the leader or founder of azazel is one. which could mean a lot or nothing when it comes to the next laterano event. after all isn't it weird that some small clinic in some ursus city has symbol that resemble a sankta?

but at this point please hYPERGRYPH ITS BEEN 5 YEARS GIVE ME SOME MORE LORE ON AZAZEL I'LL TAKE ANY SMALLEST CRUMB AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[coffee-in-veins]

Since we both want to forget about the DD tinfood; what do you think would be some good rations to take into a dungeon? What do heroes like/despise? Eating habits? Bonus points for the heroes' favourite foods, or some signature dishes from their homeland.

Thank you for this ask, and sorry for taking so long to answer! This ask actually allows me to share a lot of things I've looked into for my writing of "Restructured, refractured, recalled" - but it’s mostly background flavour work to add the text its flavour, and usually isn’t too noticeable. Still, I’ve spent quite some time reading and thinking about it. Hyperfixation at its finest, what do you do.

LOADS of ramblings are incoming! Thee hast been warned.

So the thing is, I have to admit that I'm biased in a way - I was researching it all from the perspective of my Heiress, and thus, the decisions made in the food provided (and the housing, technically, but that’s a separate story) are made with her personality in mind, that being cold, calculated and completely, utterly devoid of any understanding of empathy. Therefore, the sustenance was akin to solving a puzzle - how to feed the heroes without it being too costly.

The biggest number of heroes Hamlet could house at any given moment (provided there are fully repaired and upgraded barracks and we count one additional slot provided by Shieldbreaker DLC and no one is out on a mission) is 29. This is huge, considering that Hamlet, if taken in its most literal sense, is a tiny settlement, with a population of fewer than 100 people from what I could gather. Interestingly, “hamlet” is defined as “a small settlement that has no central place of worship and no meeting point, for example, a village hall”, but Hamlet in DD has a whole Abbey. Which I think is supposed to be bigger than mere church...? But frankly, I’m far from being a religious person, so I’m not sure how that is supposed to work or is it yet another “here’s a tin can, don’t think about it if you want your sanity back” thing. We might never know. If someone knows about it, feel free to write to me; I’d love to understand it.

The point of this tangent is that if we assume that Hamlet has a population of 100, adding 29 heroes is impossible for the town to feed on its own. That might explain the need to provide the sustenance for the expeditions out of the Heiress’ pockets at a full price instead of getting it as a tax, for example, from the lands she supposedly owns. And an argument could be made that it’s only a 2:100 ratio when we first come to Hamlet and that the first Vestal is from the Abbey itself, and the first PD is a scholar from a Sanatorium (hence them always being the first additions to your team that you get), and that the population of Hamlet increases with the infrastructure you re-build and the more monsters you clear out the more people come to Hamlet, thus making the food situation more manageable. Another argument can be made that Hamlet is merely a name that historically stuck, and the actual population is much higher than the name would suggest. The fact that even in its most dilapidated state, the town has stone buildings and bridges, and a working harbour, as well as noblemen with titles as high as Countess coming to the Estate in the past somewhat supports this idea. A small settlement wouldn’t be able to feed and support the revelry that Ancestor was supposedly having before your time. Then again, it’s very hard to understand what is a limitation of the game, what is a deliberate artistic choice and what is simply the rule of cool, here.

Now to the food itself.

First of all, there’s foraging during the expeditions themselves. Save for Ruins, there’s always a non-zero chance to find or get food if you know what you’re doing. A bag of herbs can cleanse enough things to sustain a party for at least some time. The real quality of said sustenance is dubious at best, but when the alternative is starvation, one cannot be picky. It’s hard to say for sure what can be found in each location but we can speculate. There’s fish, sea monster meat, whale meat (based on the corpse in one of the rooms) and seaweed in Cove; most likely wild game carcasses and gnashers in Weald (fun fact! rabies virus is extremely susceptible to heat, just 50 degrees Celsius is enough to destroy it, so technically, cooked gnasher meat should be safely edible for heroes); stolen food from surrounding farms and swine carcasses themselves (for completely desensitised heroes) in Warrens - based on the quest for stealing their food, humans and swine require the same or extremely similar sustenance, after all. Also, there are molluscs and barnacles in Cove, rats and mice in Ruins, Weald and Warrens, nuts, berries, acorns and wild greens in the Weald and lichen most likely everywhere, all of which can be used to stretch the rations for longer. 

Second of all, Hamlet is sea-side which has a huge benefit we might not appreciate enough nowadays, that being - an abundance of relatively cheap (Hamlet seems to be in middle latitudes (despite there being surface corals, I hate it here, I hate it here so much), so salt extraction cannot be achieved by solar power alone and requires some fuel source; fortunately, Weald is in the convenient distance), available sea salt for any needs. Namely, for food preservation. Yes, one can argue that having fishfolk in the Cove increases the cost, but I'd argue anything in Hamlet is far from being monster-proof, so I assume that the possibility of being butchered by some eldritch horrors during work hours is simply included in the baseline cost.

Regardless, having access to the sea/ocean and a huge forest, as well as farms (we know they canonically exist because of the Bumper Crop event and well, Farmstead) makes salted meat and fish quite readily available for heroes during their expeditions. Moreover, salted meat, fish and lard can be used in cooking during camping and eliminates the need of salting the pottage it is added to, serving a double purpose. 

Now, on the topic of something more affordable - such as bread. Bread in itself isn't as storage-efficient as it may look at a first glance - even if we're talking about denser, heavier "peasant" (that is, rye, oats or barley instead of more expensive wheat) wholewheat bread. However, considering there's a town which can be tasked with it, ordering the baking of hardtack and flatbreads specifically for the purpose of providing for the expeditions looks like a reasonable choice. They are cheaper (requiring no yeast, beer barm or beer), and need only water, flour and salt, all of which Hamlet has access to. And, well, this is one of the most sufficient, calorie-dense and cheap options - ideal for our heartless, calculating Heiress. Far more affordable than meat, for example. Furthermore, it can be used to thicken and enrich some sort of stew or pottage, and we can see some sort of (presumably?) stew, pottage or soup being cooked during the camping in the pot that heroes canonically carry with them. Providing hardtack instead of grains can even be considered being "merciful" or "caring" since cooking them in some sort of gruel is far easier, and the resulting dish is far more nourishing than having to deal with plain grains on the expeditions (by either making porridge/gruel out of them or having to make some sort of flatbread by themselves). 

Also, an abundance of salt means we probably have pickled/brined vegetables as a part of the rations. Pickles are sturdy, easy to transport, don’t require refrigeration and again, have the added bonus of salting otherwise unsalted stew. What types of vegetables those might be is tricky to suggest, but it is known that onions, carrots, peas, beans, rutabaga and cabbage were used a lot during medieval times. Parsnips were used up until the 16th century, from what I can find, and considering other anachronisms, they are a safe bet to add. Dried beans and peas are easy to transport and can be used as a base for stews and pottages, especially combined with other ingredients. The inclusion of fresh vegetables is more up to debate since they require more prep work. But onions, carrots and other roots are quite easy to transport and deal with, even during the expedition, and should last the canonical week well enough while adding quite a lot of nutrition to the supposed pottage. Especially if we consider that cabbage, peas and carrots were the cheapest available options for nourishment - again, ideal for our Heiress, who is only interested in keeping her hired muscles fed, not fed well. 

Then there are eggs. They have an added bonus of not requiring to kill the hen, and therefore are relatively cheap. Cheaper than chicken meat, that’s for sure (and yes, I am aware, that cockerels were mostly raised for meat, killing a hen was more flaunting wealth than anything else in medieval times). Raw eggs are rather fragile, however, fresh eggs can last a week or two without refrigeration making them a nice addition to the meal, if it was possible to carry them - because honestly, adding just a couple of eggs to the gruel adds a lot to its nutritional value. On the contrary, hard-boiled eggs only last a couple of hours before starting to spoil but are far easier to transport, possibly playing the role of some sort of "on the road" snack, for a lack of a better term. However, they are far better used as an ingredient for our next option.

And the option is pastry! There is evidence of pies being abundant in the medieval period and them being used as meals during the working day. Pies had a wide variety of fillings, from extremely expensive beef or veal and venison to much more affordable pork, to fish, to fruit. Pies are not considered long-lasting provisions, but they could’ve been used as a “food for the first day” sort of rations, while longer-lasting products or raw products that required cooking were kept for the last days of the expedition. Again, there were types of very bland pastry, basically water with flour and a bit of salt, which was merely a holder for the filling, and I think it would fit the type of food the Heiress could provide for her mercenaries. More costly fillings (such as meat or cheese) can be diluted with vegetables while providing more volume, thus lowering the cost even further. I’m not entirely sure what can be the thing that heroes fry during their camping. It can be some sort of root vegetable, chopped and cooked. Or can be some sort of pastry or dumplings that have probably gone stale during the expedition and are re-heated in molten lard to make them edible again. Honourable mention goes to halusky, a variety of dumplings cooked in the Central and Eastern European cuisines. These are small lumps cut from a thick flour and egg batter and dropped into boiling water. The lack of filling makes them – say it with me – cheaper and thus, more valuable as food to give to the mercenaries, however (and I can say it from experience) they are extremely filling, especially if combined with lard.

Also, one cannot forget about cheese as a product with high nutritional value, good shelf life and the added benefit of easy transportation. Cheese as a type of food was commonplace in medieval times, as were whey cheeses (cheeses made from by-products of the production of harder cheeses) due to having no other ways to increase dairy shelf life. Again, because there’s no need to kill the cow to get the cheese, the product was way cheaper than meat. It is dense, has a good nutrition-to-volume ratio, and can be used in stews or eaten by itself, making it very versatile.

Another way of sustenance that was mentioned before is lard and butter. Although butter production in large quantities is way more cattle-heavy, and thus less probable in Hamlet which is canonically situated in dense woods on the seaside. On the other hand, lard is way more available, especially if we consider that pork was the staple meat of medieval times, much like poultry is now. Lard can be salted and/or smoked, and preserves extremely well after it, while serving as a meal when combined with bread. Also, hot lard can be used for meat preservation and cooking, but since it’s liquid, I doubt any of it was used during expeditions. Lard itself, however, in its solid form, is far more viable, as a very calory-dense product, an oil source for frying (since we see some sort of a frying pan during camping) and as a reliable, relatively cheap ingredient.

Another way of adding sustenance was using mushrooms. There’s a history of mushroom consumption, and we even have some medieval recipes requiring mushrooms. Wild mushrooms can add nutrition to pottage or be fried with onions and leaks on lard as a separate dish. They also can be dried to last for a while. The problem is the bigger bipedal mushrooms of the Weald that wouldn’t mind reversing the roles and eating the mushroom hunters and the fact that they possess danger in themselves. While it would be bad enough to have food poisoning, having food poisoning in the middle of an expedition surrounded by eldritch horrors sounds like a very high-risk play. I have no doubt that mushrooms were given to Seekers (level 0 heroes) instead of meat when they were in-season as relatively cheap sustenance, but adding avoidable risk factors for high-level expeditions sounds like a bad investment. After all, high-level heroes are money sinks with their skills, gear and weapons. Therefore, they most likely got other foodstuffs instead of mushrooms.

One more good food that could’ve been used and is relatively cheap is dried fruits. Nothing fancy, though, something simple and readily available in middle latitudes such as dried apples, pears or plums. There’s a source called “Naturalis historia” which, while describing real-world Italy (which is undoubtedly far more southern than Hamlet’s position, not gonna lie), mentions twelve kinds of plums, thirty kinds of apple, forty-one kinds of pear, sorb, cherries and multiple nuts including chestnuts which would’ve probably been available in one capacity or another. Dried berries could also be added as long-lasting, easy-to-transport addition to rations. Namely, dried berries, including rosehip berries, were often used to simply eat or brew drinks.

If the topic of sweeter foodstuffs is touched, one cannot forget about honey. Sugar wasn’t readily available due to sugarcane not being grown in Europe until the mid-15th century and therefore was stupidly expensive. Moreover, sugar was considered valuable mostly for its “medical properties”. Honey, while also isn’t particularly cheap, was far more available for the population. It can last for years without the need for preservation or refrigeration, making it an enticing option for more valuable mercenaries.

On the topic of pottages, stews, drinks and basic sustenance, we cannot forget one crucial component without which no long-term expedition can be carried out – fresh water. In cooking, for drinking, water is required in expeditions, especially when there’s basically zero chance of finding it, like in the Cove or the Ruins. Therefore, the heroes would also have to carry waterskins with water. Said water would most likely be diluted with either wine or vinegar to prevent it from going bad. It is unclear whether Hamlet uses wells or the bridges we see are over actual rivers, but medieval settlements were seldom created without direct access to some source of fresh water.

Finally, there’s the question of flavouring. And while true, spices were extremely costly in the medieval period, costing a ludicrous amount of money, there were quite a few options to spice things up that could’ve been used – especially for preparing the food for longer-lasting, higher-value mercenaries (levels 4 and up let’s say) which Heiress would be interested to keep around at least as a money investment she had committed to. Such spice options include garlic, leeks, onion, rosemary, mint, thyme, horseradish, basil, oregano, sage, parsley, dill, lovage, marjoram and cilantro to name a few. Maybe ginger and some types of pepper (long pepper I believe) that were native to the east.

Thus, the average rations that could’ve been provided could include:

hardtack or flatbreads;

some sort of treated meat (most likely salted due to availability of salt, but cured and smoked, or processed into sausages are also an option);

lard;

cheap dried fruits (like apple, pear or plum);

cheese or whey cheese;

root vegetables (maybe pickled);

dried peas or beans;

drinking water in a waterskin;

additives (salt, flavouring, honey) if provided and/or available.

Again, we know that the meat is provided based on Reynauld’s paranoid barks (“Look, it's all pink. Cook it properly”), and we know that the bread is provided from Junia’s paranoid barks (“The Verses say nothing about fuzzy bread... hmmm...”). “Apples and cheese” and “Stale bread” are foods available in DD2 (as much as I hate to mix those two together, especially because of the potato mentioned there...) and the picture for Hunger shows us some bread, waterskin and sausages, so we know they were canonically offered to heroes.

Now, bonus round!

Please note that mostly I have headcanons for characters used in the fic the most (since the abovementioned work was done mostly for writing RRR), and some will be far less thought-through than others.

Abomination/Bigby – he always gives me pause, so again, thank you, @engelsschwert for discussing him with me and offering help. Probably a very polite eater and tries to mimic someone whom he sees as “refined”, such as Alhazred, because he sees himself as eating “like an animal” otherwise. Rather territorial about his food and has food anxiety after being held captive by the cult. Probably loves stews and hearty, hot pottages because they feel “homey”. Doesn’t like fish because fish bones tend to stick in the teeth and make transformations even more unpleasant than they already are.

Antiquarian/Josephine – I can easily picture her loving sweet pastries of more expensive variety and especially those which included almond milk or almond puree. With saffron, if we want to make it extra rich.

Arbalest/Missandei – she is a girl of simple needs, those needs being a mug of good booze and a fine piece of roast fresh from the fire, still dripping fat. Her guilty pleasure is venison and bear meat. Probably used to be a poacher to satisfy them.

Bounty Hunter/Tardif – he loves tooth-rottingly sweet Turkish coffee (or the closest equivalent DD world has to offer). The problem is, despite the fact that Hamlet is a settlement with an operating harbour, I doubt he can enjoy that quite often. The price is simply too high for a mercenary. The idea of dairy makes him sick unless it’s used in baking. One of the few people in Hamlet who knows what carob is and what it tastes like. Prefers any fruits in dry form. Preferably in a pie. Uses kneading dough as an outlet for anger issues – he needs the process, not the result, but just throwing it away is wasteful, so he ended up taking baking as a hobby. Rey is wisely silent about cooking being “unmanly” when Tardif is the one doing it.

Crusader/Reynauld – he’s the only man in Hamlet who knows how to dance around Lent rules without technically breaking them, from arguing that barley geese are grains to guiding pigs into rivers to make them mythical waterhogs or asserting that beavers are fish, Rey knows what he’s doing and isn’t afraid to abuse that knowledge to the fullest when the need arises. Can cook for sustenance but would rather not, since it’s “women’s work”. Has a huge sweet tooth and love for snacks and is in even bigger denial about it because it’s “unmanly”. He spends time blessing every meal even when in a hurry, even for his teammates, and even when they would rather him not do it (eventually most heroes just accepted it as inevitability). Has access to Abbey’s alcohol stocks but doesn’t see much point in inebriation. I have to thank @engelsschwert for his fav food, that being “the poor knights”. Preferably with cream and marmalade with just a pinch of vanilla and cinnamon but he’d rather die of shame than ask for those.

Flagellant/Damian – tried almond milk because of Tardif. Flagellation has not been the same ever since. Actively denies loving it while Tardif nods in agreement and makes another batch of almond cookies. Which mysteriously disappear each and every time. Because of Rey and him, Tardif takes part of his mercenary wages in almond flour. Not that anyone but the Heiress would know. And live.

Grave Robber/Audrey – she would kill for spices. Literally. Ma girl is starved on spices she had as a noble lady. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, peppers, saffron, vanilla – all of those make her mouth water and rational decision-making take a backseat. Probably receives part of her wages in spices. Is extremely picky about her food if she has an option to be. Became friends with Rey because he always knows how to get adequate food during Lent. She loves custard tarts with spices and sugar.

Hellion/Boudica – canonically is fine about eating raw meat and cannibalism but is rather peer-pressured by the Spirits and tribe elders to follow the tradition than sees it as desirable on her own. Has a soft spot for animal and bird-shaped pastry. She sees complicated dishes as a show of weakness but is drawn to them out of curiosity and because they, well, taste good. Her favourite dish is a wild boar roast with cranberries and wild garlic and a slice of black blood bread.

Highwayman/Dismas – is utterly feral about his food and keeping it safe. Whenever he shares food, it’s a big gesture for him. If he actively caters for another person’s food preferences, it’s adoration. Food is basically his love language. Has a taste for meat, and yes, knows well how to cook rats – along with stray dogs, cats and whatnot. Can find food in the most improbable places. Desensitized to the point of being fine with eating cooked swine and fishfolk if it means survival. Loves jerky and needs to have some sort of emergency ration hidden on him to feel sane. Tried coffee once a long time ago and regrets not knowing what it was to look for more of it. His favourite dish is baked pork foreshank which was pre-boiled in dark beer with spices. Not that he can afford this dish often. Or at all.

Houndmaster/Willam – he loves some hearty pork pie, especially of gala variety. Preferably with a pint of nice ale. I wanted to give him some nice shepherd’s pie as his fav dish but it has potatoes which are blasphemy. Dunno why, he gives me strong Irish vibes. I can easily see him enjoying some crubeens and sharing them with Fergus. He’s a bad drinker and cannot hold liquor well but wants to keep up with others (namely Dismas), and usually, it ends badly for him. Has a habit of giving Fergus a bite of his own food and then finishing it, which some find endearing while others view as disgusting.

Jester/Sarmenti – has chronic lead poisoning from sugar of lead he was fed in the Court. Because of that he is irritable and has headaches and abdominal pains. He loves garlic and eats it demonstratively while showing off his Crimson Curse mutations to mess with people. His favourite dish is baked hedgehog with cameline sauce. He hates fruit pies because those were the ones which contained sugar of lead and he has had bad associations ever since. Overindulges in wine and has quite a taste for it thanks to Baldwin. 

Leper/Baldwin – not gonna lie, ancient Israelite cuisine isn’t my strong suit. Probably milk- or broth-stewed meat with spices, from what I managed to find…? Veal meat was considered opulent, as was the meat of wild game hunted during the royal hunts. His eating habits most likely changed a lot after his illness, and now he simply prefers softer and lighter foods, which are easier to digest and usually reserved for the sick. Based on being an absolute unit of a man, eats quite a lot. Probably has a strong longing for olives. Has a softer temper and is willing to share but when stress mounts on him, snaps at people because of their table manners and their constant tries to cheat him out of his portion of rations since “he won’t be alive for long anyway”.

Man-at-Arms/Barristan – used to love rather opulent dishes back in his days of glory hounding, something like cherry chicken with rose water. Might enjoy stews and soups more now simply because they remind him of how he was humbled during his campaigns.

Musketeer/Margaret – canonically has a masochistic bark about loving Wraith peppers (a type of chilli peppers native to South America) and makes me cry in tin cans. No further comment.

Occultist/Alhazred – canonically likes or at least drinks coffee based on his masochistic bark. May have shown it to Dismas as a re-discovery. Has an affinity for consuming inadequate quantities of dried fruit, especially southern ones and tiny crumbly biscuits. Dislikes greasy foods because they leave stains on scrolls and books easily and he has a bad habit of absentmindedly eating whatever is in the vicinity while reading, and because of his concentration on the text, he doesn’t really register the taste or what exactly he’s eating. Once, someone placed a wax piece where his biscuits usually are as a joke. Alhazred didn’t notice and doesn’t know to this day why he had that weird constipation one time.

Plague Doctor/Paracelsus – she eats butter. No. You don’t get it. She just eats it as is. Plain butter. In chunks. Preferably from cold storage. Splintered in tiny frozen bits. Sometimes with a sprinkle of flaky unrefined sea salt. It’s her favourite. Says it saves time for more important things. Junia used to cook meals for them both, and Para doesn’t have the heart to throw away the jars and pots she used to bring food in. Now dragging Para to eat so she won’t die from her horrendous diet is mostly Audrey’s and Bigby’s job.

Shieldbreaker/Amani – again, ancient Turkish cuisine isn’t my forte but I can speculate. Because she is a woman in an ancient ottoman world, and an “object”, she probably didn’t get much meat to eat previously. And she might love her dolma, but the allure of breaking a taboo and eating pork is incredibly alluring, so she gets cheap thrills from that. Has a sweet tooth, even though you wouldn’t think that based on her physique and misses more intricate desserts dearly. Is disgusted by what people in Hamlet consider to be “tea” and would rather drink spoiled water. Is forced to eat in a specific manner as it is uncomfortable for her to hold the bowl and eat as most heroes do during camping due to lacking one hand.

Vestal/Junia – loves cheese, especially soft cheese and cream cheese. Especially loves to incorporate them into baking. Making cheesecakes is her passion, she ponders a lot about recipes and she silently respects Tardif for it and is probably the only person who can cook with him even if she is intimidated by him at any other time. Characters in her steamy novels often indulge in cheesecakes too. Is generally saddled with making church bread and cooking during camping much to her chagrin. Knows how to turn a stirring spoon into a weapon. Has a knack of taking grumpy and/or antisocial heroes and making them finally eat.

PHEW! This was a lot. Hope it answers all your questions :}

What’s my final score? ^^

[animeyanderelover]

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy mindset, unhealthy relationship, possessiveness, obsessiveness, delusions, clinginess, manipulation, gambling addiction, masochism, sadism

Teacher's shy pet s/o who never gambles

Jabami Yumeko

♠️She's a compulsive gambler so for Yumeko this is gonna be a problem which only grows with more and more time. She adores her darling's shyness since she loves teasing the s/o and she has also a easier time manipulating her darling like this. You being the favorite among teachers is not something that bothers her either, after all gambling decides in this school who is truly going to live a good life later on and she admires the diligence that earned you this position.

♠️The biggest problem for her just is that she has absolutely zero understanding to why you avoid gambling. The thrill, the fun, the ecstasy are things that you completely avoid and she turns with time incredibly pushy, a scary determination to drag you with her into the gambling hell. She's not someone to give up very easily and she has led many to their ruin already, maybe you are the first one she can't pull into misery? Though I warn you, once she has stopped seeing this as a fun game and starts feeling annoyed and slightly disappointed, her methods become more and more extreme without her caring whether this terrifies you or not.

Momobami Ririka

🎭She sees so much of herself in her darling and for that has a great empathy for her. Looking on how shy Ririka herself can be, it's utterly funny seeing her darling and Ririka together, constantly flustered and shy together, though to outstanders it might look cute. As long as Ririka has her mask on, she tends to be the more confident and bold one, though her facade crumbles as son as she takes her maks off, comfortable enough to do it around you.

🎭Honestly, Ririka is a Yandere who cares a great deal about you and your feelings and since she hates being forced to do something herself, she'd never feel like she has to force you into a gamble. There are other ways to have a good life in this world and even if she is a excellent player herself, she never expects you to be involved in the same high bets she is. She does fear though, it's only natural since she knows how this Academy works and how easy it is to start something that will end in someone's demise so she might want to teach you at least the basics in case of an emergency. She doesn't mind her s/o being the teacher's pet, it is rather proof to her that her s/o can live a normal life without having to gamble for millions of Yen since you are diligent and work hard.

Ikishima Midari

♥️Midari is probably next to Yumeko the worst with such a darling and her antics are what is to blame for this. She does not necessarily have anything against a shy darling herself, problem is that the way she interacts with you is unsettling and if you are as shy as you are, this will be especially bad for you. You will naturally tend to avoid her and that is where Midari tends to snap. She follows you anywhere, constantly tries to get you to talk to her and creeps everyone out who you talk to since she highly envies them for the fact you pay attention to them, but not to her.

♥️Screw it that you're a student favored among teachers, she does not care about your grades or your money. But your attention and the pain you could inflict on her are what pushes her to continously pursue you, no matter how terrified you feel about her by now. She just needs to have you look at her, give her this pleasurable pain that will make her laugh in ecstasy and euphoria. She is just a needy, little masochist who needs her daily dose of gambling so she can get hurt. Imagining you, who tends to be so bashful, hitting her or inflicting any other sort of beautiful agony on her with a bright grin arouses Midari beyond belief. The image has her going crazy and the more she is neglected, the more frantic she becomes.

Momobami Kirari

♣️This woman here gives about literally nothing a fuck, her reaction is just indifference on itself. Kirari is heir of her clan, she is the president of this place and she has all the influence and money she needs. So she doesn't even need you to play games and load yourself with debt, she will be anyways the one in the higher position. That is what ends up intimidating her darling greatly, but Kirari does not really mind. She might actually enjoy this shyness a bit, she is more sadistic so it is likely that she'll pull quite a bit on your ears for her own personal curiosity and amusement.

♣️Being the teacher's pet won't help you either because she could probably easily fire them with a snip of her fingers, that is just the difference in the influence and as long as people aren't out of their mind, they'd never dare to go against her. Darling is already on her leash before she'll realize it. All the caution to never even risk the possibility of becoming a pet is completely useless the moment Kirari somehow has her eyes set on you, your attitude sparks her interest. Maybe because she can't fully grasp your thoughts and your behavior, similar to why she finds Sayaka so highly interesting. Even if you are not officially a pet, you'll always be Kirari's personal pet.

[ben-talks-art]

Thoughts on Chainsawman II's first major arc

Since it seems part II just wrapped its first major arc I felt it would be fun to share what I thought about it!

(Spoilers)

My first impressions are overall positive.

I'm still enjoying Asa and Yoru as a duo protagonists and I like how Denji has become the new "Power" of the series. I also like the addition of Yoshida, who at first I didn't even realize was a returning character because he left basically zero impact on me but now adopted this new role of the "mom" among all these kids trying to keep them from destroying each other.

I think my only major problem is that the current series feels a little too safe right now. There is no big threat looming on the horizon, no giant evil gun devil or control devil to scare us or to be the focus of what we need to defeat. Chainsawman is, despite everything that happened, really chill at the moment.

The biggest thing we had was the event dealing with Yuko and the justice devil, but even that doesn't really put me at the edge of my sit in the same way past threats used to do.

Part 2 so far seems to focus more on the smaller more personal struggles and challenges and how these affect the characters. It's more about seeing how these kids will be affected by these problems than how they will solve these problems.

On that note, I think the themes this arc tried to tackle were really interesting with the character of Yuko!

Yuko reminds me a lot of Makima in that both feel like representations of what a dangerous fan looks like.

Makima was the entitled fan. She only believed her point of view was the correct one and wanted to change things so everything would be just like she wanted because according to her, only she knows what's best, all while acting under the pretense of doing it for her hero.

Meanwhile, Yuko was the misguided fan. She assumed she knew what the core essence of her great hero was about and tried to follow in his footsteps while ignoring basic things like morality and empathy, all because she wanted a little taste of the success he had while not caring about who could suffer in the process.

I feel like this is a brilliant commentary on fanbases overall. So many people on the internet who think they "understand" certain online celebrities better than others and try so hard to copy their formula while attempting to appear "strong" and "confident" even though deep down they hide so much fear and insecurity while also trying to hide behind these masks to attack others, and justifying themselves with the mentality of "I'm the hero! I'm the one in the right! Everyone else is wrong and needs to be taught a lesson by me!! I was a victim of bullying and deserve to have my justice!!"

It reminds me of when fanbases start going after people online because they hear someone sharing different or negative opinions about the media they like and use it to spread hate and fear. Sometimes fans are so focused on "protecting" and "respecting" their idol's image that they end up completely missing the point that a story might be trying to teach. (like, say, sending death threats to someone just because they made a silly joke on Twitter just a couple of weeks after Chainsawman told a story about a girl who was considering suicide and could barely consider going back to school because she was being hated and bullied by all of her classmates after she accidentally killed a headless chicken)

Yuko is just such a great representation of fanbases that try to use the thing they love and the pain they carry to justify attacking others.

Meanwhile, Asa, the biggest chainsawman hater, and the most miserable person in the series (aside from maybe Kobeni?), manages to capture the essence of being a hero better than Yuko, better than anyone honestly, even though she doesn't even like the guy. All because the thing she loves, that being her mother, taught her to not let the pain she carries become a weapon to hurt others but to use the love she carries to be a weapon to protect others (literally).

I love that by the way, I love how Asa and Yuko show that two people can still be great friends even if one hates the thing that the other one loves, while Asa and Yoru, who share a mutual dislike for Denji, are the ones constantly bickering.

It teaches people don't need to like the same things to like each other.

There is also some other stuff like possible connections with the four horsemen, the darkness devil, Pochita's past, and so on but... Eh... I'm not a lore guy, I'm more a "character, themes, and messages" guy.

Overall, I'm enjoying it. I like these characters, I like these themes and the possible messages we can take out of it, artwork is still great, everyone is very expressive and the action still looks sick as always. I just wish we would have an actual villain, some really cool and scary big bad to make us worry about the safety of our heroes... and it seems like we might be getting something? But it's still unclear right now.

We shall see.

Thought os part II's start>>

[alligatorjesie]

1) Rey’s relevance is not dependent on Kylo/Ben, it never was

It is tho. It literally is. They’re fucking soul bonded to one another.

well... were.

2) she’s the protagonist like the movies are about HER journey and always will be

Star Wars episodes 7 8 and 9 are about multiple people. Rey is the ‘main character’ for sure since she has the most screen time but those stories are just as much about the Skywalkers and their drama, Rey sometimes being just a vessel for us to watch it implode upon itself up close. Stating these movies were solely about Rey is an outright lie. Those movies were just as much about Ben Solo and his family.

3) TFA Rey, TLJ Rey and TROS Rey are all one in the same

… yeah? I mean, no one is arguing she’s an entirely different character from one movie to another?

She’s a little out of character in tros because she has some severe emotional constipation that I personally feel like she never had in TFA and TLJ. She was always very blunt but if she felt a way about something she was at least vocal about it.

In tros she’s just angry and pent up she comes off as somewhat emotionally stifled compared to her in previous movies in my opinion and I understand fully that is My opinion, not a fact.

But no one said she’s completely out of character. Or a different character?

Legit I don't remember seeing anyone say that in the original post.

4. DLF is just short for Disney Lucas Films mate. It ain’t that deep.

what else do you want us to call it? You really want everyone to type out the entire thing like that’s some kind of sign of respect? I don’t respect Disney because they hired nazis back in the 50s and shuttered an entire hand animation studio because they realized they could force computer animators to do the same work next to fucking nothing with zero union fees.

Fuck Disney. They're lucky I don't call them Demon Lickass Fucks.

Listen, yo, my comradio, you need to let this 'Strong People Don't Need Anybody' shit fuckin' die brah.

It’s not weakness needing people.

If anything; people can achieve amazing things with help from loved ones.

Ben Solo was able to do the one thing Anakin was never fuckin' able to figure out and tipped ass over teakettle to the darkside to try and learn it, how to bring a loved one back from the dead, and he was able to do it at all Because He Loved So Deeply.

There's power in that. Power both the Sith and the Jedi were very afraid of.

No man is an island and we could/should argue trying to force a person who needed people into not needing people is how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren.

Rey having a bond with a person she’s able to emotionally understand and balance with through the force isn’t a character weakness. I don’t know why people like you think she can just swallow that pain down and pull herself up by her bootstraps and still be emotionally centered enough to be an effective Jedi master.

She rejected Ben in the throne room back in TLJ and spent An Entire Year trying (poorly) to emotionally suppress those complicated feeling. She couldn't process being mad at him over the course of tros and constantly has angry outbursts that start bleeding out into the friendships around her.

That just doesn't sound like shit a centered Jedi master does you know?

She lost a very deeply ingrained part of herself when Ben passed. Broken force bonds can feel like someone has cut off a part of themselves, forever feeling a hollow ache in the place the person once occupied.

You know. Like when a Fucking Loved One Dies.

I've lost pets over 15 years ago who I still think about and it makes me sad they're not here anymore.

Rey lost half her soul.

The Jedi being so hell bent on no attachments and a lack of empathy for the suffering around them is the exact reason they failed in the end. Forcing Rey who So Deeply Craved Someone, Anyone, to come back for her on jakku to now forgo all attachments because she’s trying to become the jedi master we’re not even entirely sure she wanted to become to start with says YOU only view Rey as a vessel that will rebuild the Jedi Order.

She wanted a family. She got war and death.

It’s fine for some fans to not be really jazzed to watch a character they really like get beaten down further by the pain we know she’s got to be feeling or worst yet expect us to swallow that she’s fine and happy with her shitty lot in life from a writer who doesn’t understand her or care to.

I'll be real with you, until I see Adam Driver is attached to this project I sincerely dgaf, and we all know that's not going to happen I don't blame him for writing off the whole idea post TROS, obviously, the cast of the Sequel Trilogy was PRISTINE across the board and I blame them for literally nothing, it is DLF that is the problem It will be interesting to see how Star Wars fans react to this, and if anyone at all gives it the time of day. It will also be interesting to see if they give Rey a new love interest in these new movies, because I've got a feeling the internet will instantly set the whole thing on fire if they do Lots of bad in the future, people. Lots of bad.