#//Drives him NUTS; both in terms of being attracted to them but also Annoyed with them lmao

[intcrastra]

Love the idea of the little wings at Robin’s waist and head fluttering whenever she’s flustered.

[auncyen]

001 - Ann & Ren/Akira; 002 - Morgana

this time I will c/p both templates at the start so I remember to do both lol

Ren/Ann

when I started shipping it if I did:

I was interested in it from my first playthrough, though I actually romanced Makoto that playthrough due to timing with confidants (I was...not too great with confidants my first playthrough, though I would like to say I only missed by three in the end).  Romanced Ann my second playthrough and was happy.

my thoughts:

Like Ren/Ryuji, these two make me happy as a sort of “opposites attract”, where Ren appreciates Ann’s bubbly nature so much for helping him get out of his head for a bit and Ann doesn’t mind his reserved nature because of how thoughtful he is (until he’s keeping secrets on Christmas Eve and then it drives her a LITTLE nuts)

What makes me happy about them:

They’re pretty much my two favorite characters in p5 (though the competition for the top spots is fierce XD) and I think their differences make things interesting, so it’s fun to pair them just from that, but also thinking about Ren letting himself be silly with Ann is nice!

What makes me sad about them:

Because the game doesn’t let who your girlfriend is affect too much mechanically (which is a bit understandable in terms of difficulty implementing it...), it’s a little awkward if you romance Ann ASAP and they just...seem to go through the entire game with it apparently being a secret?  I think it is believable for them to keep it quiet for a while (maybe not wanting to make a big deal out of it in case they break up, or Ren worrying that any decision involving Ann will immediately lead to suspicions of favoritism once people know, or just not wanting to upset Mona/Ryuji/Yusuke, depending on what Ren thinks the other guys’ feelings for Ann are), but I would hope that by mid and especially end-game, they’d be comfortable enough with each other and the team to say “hey, yeah, we’re a couple”.

(Of course that would get in the way of harem route.  But harem route is dumb anyway.)

things done in fanfic that annoys me:

Sometimes I feel the ditziness for Ann gets...way too overdone?  It’s a hard balance to strike because she canonically isn’t much better as a student than Ryuji and it’s implied she has trouble staying on task on her own, but she definitely can stay on task in a group setting and she’s insightful at times.  I can get her getting down on herself sometimes (there’s little moments in canon that seem to imply she does) but when fic actually makes it seem like Joker has to...babysit her or something it’s like nooooooo.

things I look for in fanfic:

I guess just going with above, the sense that they’re equals and both making decisions to better themselves.

But also fluff.  I love fluff. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:

Ren: Ryuji, Haru, Yusuke

Ann: ...Ryuji with the caveat of a bit of development?  Like I don’t think I’d hate a different PT romance for her but I haven’t really been interested in any of them.  (Ann/Shiho is kind of so prevalent and usually presented like it’s just some automatic thing that I’m just “meh” on it.  I like them fine as best friends.)

My happily ever after for them:

I really would like Ann to finally figure out what acting is XD and be able to work as an actress.  I’m not sure if it’s something I see her sticking with long term, but I do think her career would be spent in the public spotlight, with her making sure to take lots of downtime in private to be with Ren and keep herself sane.  Ren could go a few ways--became a local politician out of sheer spite over bullshit policies, is a journalist in the politics section because he’s good at stumbling into all sorts of trouble and getting people to open up to him so it’s never been a dull moment....not sure.  They have a nice apartment where Morgana is staying with them (having long gotten over his crush by this point).

who is the big spoon/little spoon:

Ann initiates more often as the big spoon but every once in a while, Ren decides he needs to snuggle her close and is the big spoon. 

what is their favorite non-sexual activity:

...Cuddling.  Though I’m also amused by the idea of them playing team-based games easy for couples to play, like pictionary (ESPECIALLY pictionary--Ren’s drawings look fine, Ann’s look like an imaginative first grader’s...this would go one of two ways--Ren having fun lightly teasing Ann as their team goes down in flames because he can’t make heads or tails of what she’s drawing, or Ren astounding the other team because he can.)

Morgana

How I feel about this character:

So Ann and Ren are my top two characters; Morgana is third.  (Again, the competition for top spots is pretty fierce--Ryuji, Haru and Yusuke are all right below this, and I like Makoto and Futaba pretty well too.)  ...Part of that is probably because he is a cat, but it’s also just--he definitely comes off to me as a younger, caring but bossy sibling to the protagonist, and it’s just cute???

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

...I don’t...really...although actually in one fic where Ren’s hometown was Inaba and Morgana was trying to become human, I h/ced him having a crush on Nanako, who would be pretty close to the age I h/c him being equivalent to.  (I think they were just slightly off by a year or two?  I’d have to figure out her age again.)  ...But like even in that fic idea he didn’t actually get with Nanako.  In fic where he turns human there are a couple ships I’d be willing to read, but personally I feel like all the PT would probably see him as a younger brother.  ...and also be a little hung up on the fact that he’d once been cat-shaped.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Ren & Morgana brotp for life.  Morgana probably gets in trouble with other PT at some point for keeping secrets about Ren’s more dangerous activities, but he and Ren have a code.  (The code is “snitches get stitches”.  They are both a little terrible sometimes.)

My unpopular opinion about this character:

I just think he gets bashed way too much.  I have literally seen posts where Ryuji is excused on certain things for being immature, still a teenager, and then Morgana is bashed, and it’s like ?????? Ryuji has sixteen years of life experience over Morgana!  If Ryuji deserves that sympathy (which I think is fair, he does), Morgana deserves it as well, if not more!  Where in Mementos was Morgana supposed to pick up life lessons on being mature?

(Granted I think it’s perfectly fair to be irked at the writers for making Morgana the character he is, because they certainly could have made him mature if they wanted to with some handwavey reason.  Just, from an in-universe perspective, ...he actually could have been way worse with the background he has.)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

Let him be human!  Kind of still on the last point but I also think it’s understandable for Morgana to not always approach issues maturely because there are literally only seven people he can talk to so god help him when he needs to ask advice on an interpersonal conflict because there could easily be no neutral party for him to ask.  I just feel like him being stuck as a cat hamstrings him so much in terms of potential development which like...I guess ATLUS wants a mascot character, but in-universe?  Feels kind of cruel of Igor unless there wasn’t an option on how to make Mona.

...There were ship questions in this meme but I’m taking those out lol

a headcanon fact:

He can’t talk to normal cats, but he does understand them better than most humans do (though he doesn’t understand them perfectly himself--he is still a product of human cognition, not feline) and that’s part of why he gets so upset about the cat abuser.  He people-watches a lot when Ren’s with confidants, but he has once or twice gotten attached to strays in the area and done his best to try to help them, most likely by leading them to friendly humans, or leading the friendly humans to them.

[transmascfrankiero]

um thoughts on hamlet?

i’m sobbing thank you and i’m sorry in advance because this is going to be LONG

so my hottest take on hamlet (i have many, many hot takes on this play) is that ophelia’s suicide was a hoax, and that gertrude, the queen, straight up murdered ophelia instead. why do i believe this? many reasons:

1. throughout the play, gertrude and ophelia have almost no relationship in terms of interaction between them. many, if not most, stagings of the play place ophelia and gertrude on opposite sides of the stage when a scene has both of them in it, and gertrude’s dialogue toward and about ophelia heavily suggests that she doesn’t really care for ophelia at all. at best, she tolerates ophelia, and at worst, she treats ophelia like an interloper in her court, a flighty girl who drives her son to distraction and has as much to offer to gertrude as her father. (gertrude’s famous line, “more matter with less art,” is an annoyed outburst directed at ophelia’s father polonius, whom gertrude outwardly loathes.) in ophelia’s last scene before her death, she appears to have lost her mind to grief in the wake of her father’s murder, and wanders through a royal meeting handing out flowers and singing. however, she gives gertrude fennel and columbines, which represent adultery in flower language, and TELLS GERTRUDE AS MUCH, TO HER FACE. in case you’re unfamiliar with hamlet, one of the big conflicts in the play is that gertrude, hamlet’s mother the queen, married claudius, the king’s brother, approximately thirty seconds after the king died and there’s a rumor floating around court that they were hooking up LONG before hamlet senior fell victim to the classic poison-in-the-ear trick. (later it’s confirmed that claudius himself was the one who murdered the king. whoops!) so ophelia accusing the queen of adultery is of course a HUGE slap in the face, and ophelia only gets away with it because ~~~she’s mad with grieeeeef sob cry~~~ which is GENIUS and i have more theories about that particular action on ophelia’s but that’s another post for another day.

2. ophelia dies offstage. she is never seen or heard from again until her funeral in act V. the only reason we find out about ophelia’s death - and in fact, the only way we know how she died - is because gertrude tells us about it. yes, gertrude, weirdly enough! gertrude gives a monologue which describes in excruciating detail exactly how ophelia died, right down to the kind of plants that were getting caught in her dress as she drowned and what songs she sang as she slipped into her watery grave. the sort of details you would only expect a person who was there to witness the death could provide. sketchy, right? what’s even sketchier is that gertrude makes no mention of having heard this from someone else. she’s not like, “oh, this is the hot village goss, take a sip babes,” she doesn’t offer any explanation at all as to how this information got to her. she just dives straight into her ultra explicit account of the drowning. SUPER weird! and furthermore, why is gertrude of all people the one giving us this information when there is clearly no love lost in their relationship? couldn’t this have come from one of those rando shakespeare characters who show up for one scene, deliver a message, and then vanish again? well, sure, but it didn’t. it came from gertrude. and that was intentional on shakespeare’s part - he wants you to be suspicious of this information, beCAUSE...

3. the play itself tells us that the conditions of ophelia’s death are VERY SUS. the very next scene after gertrude’s macabre monologue is act V scene I, wherein two gravediggers are preparing ophelia’s grave for her burial and discussing between themselves why they’re preparing for a christian burial if she killed herself. (in shakespeare’s time, suicide was a sin, and people who committed suicide weren’t given proper burials because of it.) the dialogue goes like this:

GRAVEDIGGER 1: Is she to be buried in Christian burial when she willfully seeks her own salvation? (translation: Why is she getting a proper burial if she killed herself?) GRAVEDIGGER 2: I tell thee she is. Therefore make her grave straight. The crowner hath sat on her and finds it Christian burial. (After examining her, the coroner said she should get a proper burial.) GRAVEDIGGER 1: How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defense? (So what, she drowned in self-defense?) GRAVEDIGGER 2: Why, ‘tis found so. (That’s what they said she did.)

the text here indicates loud and clear that something about ophelia’s death is complicated, enough that there’s DOUBT about it being a suicide. and what’s more, there’s so much doubt that her death was a suicide, she gets to be buried for real in the eyes of God. but the text does not explicitly state what, exactly, is so weird about ophelia’s death. it just wants you to know that the whens and wherefores about it are strange, and that characters who are not emotionally involved believe it’s strange, too. it doesn’t stop there, either! the priest who’s going to perform the funeral ceremony says, in as many words, to the royal family, “Her death was doubtful.” interesting!

4.  gertrude has this TOTAL crocodile tears thing going on at ophelia’s funeral. after spending the entire play openly disdaining ophelia as a silly little airhead, here’s what she has to say at her grave:

GERTRUDE: Sweets to the sweet. Farewell! I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlet’s wife. I thought thy bride-bed to have decked, sweet maid, and not have strewed thy grave. (I thought I’d be covering your wedding bed in flowers, not your grave.)

kind of a weird, sudden change of heart for her to have about ophelia, right? you could argue that it’s grief-driven, that people gain new perspective after someone dies and maybe she’s just now realizing that ophelia was really a great person all along. but given just how few fucks she gave about ophelia when she was alive, it doesn’t make sense for her to be sad after ophelia’s death, unless she’s being performative about her grief. and yeah, she’s the queen, people are paying attention to how she reacts to shit and therefore on some level everything she does is performative, but it’s in particular how she relates her grief back to ophelia being her son’s girlfriend that gives me pause, beCAUSE...

5. there is, of course, that whole Oedipal reading of hamlet, where the reason hamlet and gertrude’s relationship is fifty shades of fucked up is because they’re sexually attracted to one another. while this reading of hamlet is mostly a freudian analysis that is treated as a sort of embarrassing joke nowadays by scholars and theatre folks alike, when you read the scenes between hamlet and gertrude - in particular the famous closet scene, from which the bulk of this analysis derives - you DEFINITELY get the sense that this relationship is weird and toxic for reasons that have nothing to do with the fact that gertrude married hamlet’s uncle. gertrude is really, really, really wrapped up in her son. but not in a loving, maternal sort of way - instead, it comes across as a narcissistic parent desperate to understand why their child has not turned out exactly the way the parent wanted them to be. gertrude continually accuses hamlet of acting out of pocket specifically to hurt her, and does not consider any other motivation for his actions. when he acts out of turn in court, it embarrasses her. his strange behavior reflects poorly on her as a mother and as the queen, and she doesn’t like it. she has a nervous breakdown over it in the closet scene, where she basically begs hamlet to be normal for her sake.

now with all of this in mind...

i believe gertrude, having gotten fed up with her son acting Weird and making her look bad all the time, decides that in order to exert SOME means of control over the situation, is going to take it upon herself to eliminate anything that could be the cause of his bad behavior. and the most obvious cause, at least to her, is ophelia. why would gertrude believe this? well, in act one, polonius encourages ophelia to break up with hamlet, because he’s worried hamlet’s gonna steal his daughter’s virginity (which, gross, but whatever, we’re not here to talk about that today). because ophelia’s an obedient daughter, she does so. then, in act two, ophelia runs to tell her father polonius about an encounter she had with hamlet in her bedroom, where he did a bunch of weird creepy shit and then left her a letter that expressed how desperately in love with her he was. polonius decides that hamlet’s gone nuts because ophelia dumped him, and the two of them tell the king and queen about their theory. claudius asks gertrude if she thinks the theory holds water, and gertrude responds that it might. later on, in act three scene one (i.e. “to be or not to be”), this theory is apparently confirmed - at least to polonius and gertrude - by the way hamlet treats ophelia.

so, the very first theory posited to gertrude about why her son’s acting weird is that it’s because of ophelia. and we’ve already established that a) gertrude doesn’t like ophelia, and b) gertrude is a narcissist. she’s desperate to make hamlet stop his bad behavior and therefore stop making her look bad. the worse hamlet’s behavior gets, the worse gertrude’s desperation gets to stop it. and everyone else in this play solves their problems with murder, so it tracks that gertrude would solve her problem with murder, too!

gertrude killed ophelia hoping that it would make her son would go back to normal. (and, if for some reason you like the Oedipal reading of hamlet, it could be argued that she was also jealous of ophelia. but i don’t really love the Oedipal reading, so i’m choosing to ignore this argument.) the fact that ophelia was apparently insane at the time just made it easier for her to make up the suicide alibi. that’s why she knows so much about the circumstances surrounding ophelia’s death - because she was THERE and she CAUSED IT. that’s why shakespeare has gertrude delivering the news of her death. that’s why the play tells us, repeatedly, that the circumstances of ophelia’s death are suspicious. because ophelia didn’t drown herself. gertrude totally straight up drowned her!

thanks for coming to my TED talk everyone

[pedroanwildary68insurance-blog]

How much more would i have to pay insurance for a cheve monte carlo?

How much more would i have to pay insurance for a cheve monte carlo?

Im 16 and i want to get a cheve monte carlo but my parents say that the insurance will be too much, but there are a lot of people my age with one and i am pretty sure we are more better off financial than they are

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare free quotes :insureoptionsreview.top

SOURCES:

Im 16 and i want to get a cheve monte carlo but my parents say that the insurance will be too much, but there are a lot of people my age with one and i am pretty sure we are more better off financial than they are

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[thetravelerwrites]

Salvatore (Cambion Incubus)

Rating: Mature Relationship: Human Female Reader x Male Incubus (Cambion) Additional Tags: Exophilia, Incubus, Cambion, Incubus Boyfriend, Monster Boyfriend, Asexual Monster, Asexual Incubus, Asexual Reader Content Warnings: Prostitution, Mention of Alcoholism, Strong Language, Use of a Slur, Open Discussion of Sex and Sexuality Words: 5270

Here it is! This story just poured out of me yesterday, and I hope you guys like Sal. I love him. He needs all the love he can get, the poor dear. Please leave feedback!

*Note: A Cambion is a half-human, half-Incubus/Succubus, originating in medieval European folklore.

The Traveler's Masterlist

How did you get talked into this? You hated bars. The smoke, the noise, the drunk girls falling all over themselves, the guys trying to get the drunk girls to go home with them. It was all tedious and you hated it.

It was supposed to be a celebration. You had just graduated from school with a business degree, and a bunch of friends suggested dinner. You didn’t realize dinner would be alcohol. You groaned as soon as you set foot into the place and just ordered a water. You sat in the corner and watched your friends get properly sloshed, grimacing into your glass and wishing you were somewhere else.

“What are you doing all the way over here?” A seductive voice asked. You looked up to see a man smirking down at you. He was dressed in a suit with no tie, his collar rakishly ruffled around his neck in what you guessed was supposed to be a fetching manner. He had reddish-brown hair and clear skin with a strong chin and straight eyebrows. His face was symmetrical, despite his lopsided grin, and he was leaning slightly over you.

“Avoiding people,” You muttered irritably.

“Does that include me?” He asked, winking.

You felt your face sneer. “Yes, that includes you.”

His head rocked back as if stunned. He seemed genuinely surprised at your answer. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Look, I’m sure your used to drunk chicks flinging themselves at you, but I’m not drunk and I’m not into you, so walk on, dude.”

He frowned and continued to stare at you. “You’re serious. You’re not attracted to me at all?”

You shook your head impatiently.

His frown deepened. “Strange. I’m normally pretty good at reading who’s gay and who’s not.”

“Ugh!” You exclaimed, setting your glass down so hard that you sloshed him with water and he took a half-step back. “Fucking typical! I’m not throwing myself at you, so I must be a dyke, right? I don’t have to be a lesbian to not want to fuck a random guy in a bar. Fuck you, asshole!”

You picked up your purse and coat and stormed out of the bar and into the empty parking lot, preparing to call a cab.

He followed you out. “No, wait, that’s not what I meant!”

“Leave me alone!” You yelled at him.

“Wait!”

“What?!” You screeched at him, and he stumbled to a stop behind you, a absolutely baffled look on his face.

“What are you?” He asked, staring at you hard.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You asked him, reaching into your bag for your taser.

“Are you… like me?” He asked earnestly. “Is that why you can see through me?”

“Dude, you’re going to have to be a lot more specific, because right now, you’re talking nonsense.”

“You’re a Cambion, right? Or are you full-blooded?”

“Full blooded what?”

“Succubus.”

You stared at him with a dumbfounded look on your face. “Ohhh,” You said slowly. “Okay, I get it now.”

“You do?” He said, his face hopeful.

“Yeah,” You said. “You’re fucking nuts.”

He growled and rolled his eyes. “No, look, I--” He started forward toward you and stopped when you pulled out the taser gun. “Alright, calm down.”

“You calm down, weirdo,” You said, your aim at him steady.

“I’m just trying to figure out why it’s not working!” He said. “It always worked before. I just trying to figure it out.”

“Why what’s not working?” You asked.

“This… whatever it is I do…” He gestured to himself in a vague annoyed way. “Charm, I guess you’d call it, but it’s more than that. It always works. I don’t even know what it is or why it works, but it always does.” He grunted in frustration. “I don’t know why it’s not working now.”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, but either you start making sense or you leave me the fuck alone.”

“Look.” He snarled.

Then his face began to change. His eyes went completely black and his mouth widened, revealing sharp teeth beyond his thin lips. Horns sprouted from his forehead and he seemed to grow taller, looming over you.

You jumped, and your finger accidentally pressed the trigger to the taser. He shouted when the barbs struck him and he hit the ground.

“Shit!” You said, dropping the taser and pulled the lines from him.

“You fucking tased me!” He shouted from the ground, his face and body returning to normal.

“You scared the shit out of me!” You said defensively, helping him back to his feet. You propped him up against the wall of the bar. He rubbed his shoulder, where the barbs had hit him. You just stared at him as he breathed hard. “What did you say you were?”

“A Cambion,” He said. “I’m half-human, half-succubus. Or is it incubus because I’m male?” His face as scrunched up, almost angry. “I dunno. Who cares?”

“So your mother was…”

“Obviously,” He said. “Succubi and incubi need to feed on people’s sexual energy to survive. Whatever it is that makes succubi attractive to people, I inherited some of it, but I also inherited the… hunger, I guess you’d say. I’m mostly human so I eat regular food, but every few days I get this… craving. I can ignore it for a while, but if it goes on too long, I get sick and weak. That’s when I go… well, hunting.”

“So you tried to prey on me, is that it?” You asked him.

“Tried and failed, it seems,” He said, fixing you with a confused stare.

“Why didn’t you go after any number of the other people in there?”

“I don’t hunt drunks. I may be a monster, but I’m not a monster, if you catch my drift. You were the only person in there who didn’t smell like booze. I’ve never failed before.”

“Ah, I think I understand now,” You said. “I’m asexual. I’m not attracted to you because I’m not attracted to anyone.”

He blinked, then blinked again. “You’re what?”

“Asexual,” You said again. “I don’t feel sexual attraction.”

“Like… at all?”

“Nope.”

“Have you ever had sex?” He asked

“Oh, yeah,” You replied. “It’s fine, but I can take it or leave it. It’s not as important to me as it seems to be to everyone else. College was rife with it. I don’t tell people I’m asexual because they either think it’s not a real thing or they think I’ll be ‘cured’ if I get fucked one good time. It’s exhausting. I tell most of my friends that I’m too busy with schoolwork for a boyfriend, which was fine during school, but now that I’ve graduated, it won’t be a good enough excuse.”

He opened his mouth to respond, but his phone buzzed and he looked at it, seemingly both annoyed and relieved.

“What?”

“It’s a client,” He said.

“It’s nearly one in the morning. What kind of client calls at this hour?”

He raised his eyebrow at you.

“Oh,” You said, catching on.

“Hey, it’s good money,” He shrugged “And it keeps me fed and healthy, as long as I’m careful and use protection.”

“I’m not judging, man; do what you gotta do,” You said.

“I’d kind of like to talk about this whole… thing more, if you wouldn’t mind,” He said. “I have questions.”

“What would a person who lives on sex want to know about asexuals?” You asked.

“Well, mostly, I want to figure out if I am one,” He said seriously.

You were shocked at that answer. “Uh… okay. Well, I can meet you tomorrow, if you like. You know that diner on Fifth and Lowell?”

“Yeah, the one that has the really good pie?”

“Yeah. Meet me there at seven, if you’re not otherwise occupied. We can talk about it then.”

“Sure.” He smiled in a way that would have been flirtatious to anyone else, but perhaps that was just the way he smiled. “I’m Sal, by the way. See you.”

He got into a nice car at the end of the parking lot and drove off as you stepped under the awning of the bar to call a cab.

You arrived at the diner to see he was already there sitting at the bar, and he greeted you with a smile.

“Hey,” He said.

“Hey,” You replied, sitting on the stool next to him. “I’m glad you came.”

His smile widened. “Thanks. I wasn’t sure if I would. This is all a little weird to me.”

“Well, I’m happy to answer any questions you have,” You said, ordering a cup of coffee and a pie. He did the same. “Why do you think you might be asexual?”

“Well,” He started, “First, explain it to me. Like, what do asexual people do or feel? Is it just no attraction or what?”

“Okay, well, there’s all kinds of different asexuals,” I began. “The term ‘asexuality’ simply means that you don’t experience sexual attraction for other people, but that doesn’t necessarily exclude sex or relationships altogether. Some are what you might call sex-repulsed, as in the very idea of sex is disgusting to them. Then there’s people like me, who are indifferent. Like, I like sex, but I don’t need to have it and don’t actively seek it out, but there are asexuals who have sex-drives, ones who do seek out sex because they enjoy it.”

“Okay,” He said slowly, trying to process it.

“Now,” You continued as the coffee and pie were placed in front of the both of you. “Just because you don’t feel sexual attraction doesn’t mean you don’t feel romantic attraction. I myself am bi-romantic. I can have romantic feelings and be in relationships with either men or women.”

“What’s the difference between a sexual relationship and a romantic relationship?”

“A romantic relationship is emotional, not physical.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Have you ever been in a relationship that wasn’t based entirely around sex?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Well, that might be a little hard to explain, then. It’s like being in love with your best friend in more than a friends way. Does that make sense?”

“No. All my friends have wanted to sleep with me.”

“Oh.” You took a bite of pie and backpedaled a bit. “So, explain to me what you feel about sex and I’ll try and help you figure it out.”

“I don’t… I don’t really feel attracted to the people I have sex with. Guy, girl, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s the sex I need, and even then, I don’t really like it. I just do it because my body compels me to. If I had any choice in the matter, I wouldn’t have sex at all.”

“So, maybe you’re sex-repulsed?”

“No, that’s not it exactly. Like, it doesn’t gross me out, but…” He pointed at his pie. “Take this, right? It’s really good pie, and while you’re eating it, you think ‘I could eat this all the time,’ right? But then say this was the only thing you could eat for an entire year. Eventually, you’d get sick of it. Right now it tastes great, but after your fiftieth piece, or your hundredth, it would start to taste like ashes, and the idea of putting another bite in your mouth would make you wish you could eat literally anything else. But it’s all you have and you have to eat it or you’d starve otherwise.”

He put his fork down and looked at the pie as if he’d suddenly lost his appetite. “That’s what sex feels like for me. I don’t hate it, I just don’t enjoy it.”

“Hmm,” You mused. “Maybe sex-neutral, then. But I’d definitely classify you as asexual, just from what you’ve told me.”

“An asexual incubus, huh?” He laughed. “Cosmic irony at its finest.”

“Do you think you’re the only one like you?” You asked him.

“I have no idea,” He said. “I’ve never met another… creature like me. I only know of my mother, and I’ve only heard expletives to describe her, so I couldn’t tell you.”

“You don’t know your mother?” You asked.

He frowned. “No. I was raised by my human dad. Begrudgingly.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed, taking a sip of his coffee. “My dad was seduced by my mother at a very vulnerable time in his life. He was up for a big promotion at his job and about to get married to the love of his life. And then my mom came along and did what her kind do… what my kind do…” He gestured to himself and scowled.

“Someone caught them at it and told the woman he was supposed to marry. She broke it off, after which my dad started drinking and lost his job. And then I turned up on his doorstep a few months later, a reminder of the worst mistake he ever made.” Sal’s eyes were distant and cold. “He blamed her, and me, for ruining his life. I think the only thing that kept him from throwing me out was that when I was that young, I couldn’t control my form very well and he knew I’d be studied or killed. It was the only kindness he could muster for me.”

You were shocked to silence. “I’m sorry.”

She shrugged. “He drank himself to death before I started college. By then, the hunger had kicked in. I started escorting to pay for classes, fucking my way through school blindly. I probably only graduated because the dean was a regular.”

You laid your hand on his in an effort to comfort him, only for him to snatch his hand away immediately.

“What are you doing?” He asked suspiciously.

“Nothing,” You said, startled. “I… was just trying to be reassuring. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“You said you were indifferent to sex,” He said, his eyes still narrowed.

“I am,” You shot back. “I wasn’t trying to--”

“People only touch me when they want to have sex with me,” He said.

“I was just showing you affection!” You retorted. “You seemed sad. I wanted to comfort you. That’s all it was, I swear.” You looked around you and saw two women in a booth. “Look. Look at them.”

He swiveled in his seat to peer at the two young women. One of them was clearly upset, though not actually crying, and the other hand her arm around her shoulders and was talking to her in a low, consoling tone.

“That girl, the one that’s upset, she’s not thinking about sex right now, I guarantee you that. And the girl with her arm around her is trying to comfort her friend. She’s not trying to seduce her.” You turned back to look at him. “That’s what people do when they care about each other. They comfort them. They’re affectionate. Touch isn’t inherently sexual, Sal. Holding a person’s hand doesn’t always mean that you want to sleep with them. Hasn’t anyone ever just held your hand because they wanted to be close and not because they were trying to fuck you?”

He looked at the two women with a deeply troubled look in his eyes. Abruptly, he stood and threw some money on the counter.

“I should go,” He said, turning and making a quick escape to the exit.

“Sal!” You got up and rushed after him.

“This was a mistake,” He said, opening his car door. “I know what I am. I don’t need this.”

“Sal, wait!”

“I don’t think it would be good for us to see each other again,” He said, slamming his door.

“Wait!” You cried as he started his car and sped off. You put a hand to your forehead and sighed heavily, confused and upset.

You didn’t see him again, either at the diner or the bar. Perhaps those weren’t normal haunts for him. You couldn’t stop thinking about him, though. The look on his face when he saw the two women stuck in your brain and you couldn’t get it out. He looked like he was in pain. It looked like agony.

A month later, you got a job at a casino hotel as an overnight concierge, because this is what a business degree got you, apparently. It wasn’t a bad job, just slow, and you had a lot of time to watch people coming and going, which was fairly interesting.

You’d been working there a while when you finally saw him again, exiting the elevator with another man. The man gave Sal an envelope, and Sal smiled seductively. The man came over to the desk to check out, and you saw Sal behind him, his face draining of color as he realized who you were.

You stayed professional as you checked out the man, who turned and smiled at Sal before walking off. Sal’s returning smile was a bit brittle, and he waited for the man to walk away before approaching you, looking a little embarrassed.

“Hi,” He said.

“Hey,” You replied.

“I, uh… I didn’t know you worked here,” He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I started a few weeks ago, and I just got transferred to nights.”

“Ah.” He stood there awkwardly, visibly uncomfortable. “Listen,” He said finally, not meeting your eye. “I’m sorry about what happened the last time we saw each other. I was just really confused and I thought, when you touched me, that you were coming on to me. I thought the whole asexual thing was a con to get me to open up to you, get my defenses down, and then sleep with you. Like you were trying to get a freebie, or something.”

“I wasn’t,” You insisted.

“No, I know,” He said. “I researched it a little after I stopped being weirded out. I wanted to apologize, but I didn’t know how to reach you. I realized I didn’t even ask you your name.”

You laughed and told him your name. “It’s okay,” You said. “I get it. It was a lot to process all at once. Look, I think you’ve been missing out on a lot because of this… hunger, as you call it. I mean, have you ever been on a date that you weren’t paid to go on or didn’t end in sex?”

He thought about it, and shook his head. “Nope, I can’t say I ever have.”

“Well, let me treat you, then,” You said. “How about dinner and a movie? And I promise not to fondle you at any point during the date. And you’re not getting a tip.”

He laughed. “Sounds nice. Tonight?”

“Sure.”

“Okay,” He said, sounding suddenly nervous. “Okay. Uh… here.” He wrote down his number on some hotel stationary. “Call me when you get out of here and we’ll work it out.”

“I will,” You said, smiling at him.

He seemed weirdly shy then, putting his hands in his pockets and backing away with a sweet smile on his face.

You called him as soon as you clocked out and agreed to meet him at six that evening, after you’d had some sleep. You met him at the theater, dressed for the first date you’d had since eleventh grade. He smiled when he saw you, dressed much like he had when you first met him, only he was wearing a tie this time.

“You look really nice,” He said.

“Thanks,” You said. “I like that tie.”

He chuckled nervously and petted it down. “Thanks. I haven’t worn a tie in a while.”

“What do you want to see?” You asked.

“Oh, I don’t know,” He said, looking at the marquee. “To be perfectly honest with you, I’ve never gone to the theater and seen a movie all the way through. It usually ends up with someone getting a blowjob.”

You snorted. “Well, I can assure you that won’t happen in this case.”

He laughed again, looking relieved. “What about that one?”

“Oh, yeah, although to be honest, the actor in that one is wasted in this franchise. He could do so much better.”

“Right?” He said enthusiastically. “He needs more serious work. He’s going to get pigeonholed if he keeps doing these kinds of films.”

“Oh, my god, exactly,” You agreed. You bought the tickets and some snacks and took your seats. It was nice just sitting next to him. Throughout the movie, he kept looking over at you, as if to check if you were going to make a move or if you expected him to do so. Twice, his phone buzzed, likely from clients, and he ignored them both.

When the movie was over, you went to dinner, and he offered to pay since you had bought the movie tickets and snacks. He wanted the date to be equal, since it wasn’t a job. You said you were fine with that.

While sitting and talking about the movie, you noticed he was staring at your hand.

“What’s wrong?” You asked.

“Well, I was thinking about what you said,” He replied thoughtfully. “About how not all touch is sexual. Sometimes people touch each other because they want to comfort them or offer them affection. I didn’t think much of it, but during the movie, they touched each other a lot, even though they didn’t have sex at the end. And I thought about it some more, and I’ve seen other people in real life do things like that, like hold hands and hug and things.”

“Right…” You said slowly.

“I was wondering…” He said, clenching his hands. “Can I try? With you? Just holding your hand, I mean.”

“Yeah, if you want to,” You said. You reached out across the table and linked your fingers with his lightly, not squeezing too hard in case he felt the need to pull away, stroking his thumb with yours. He stared at your linked hands with an indecipherable expression.

“Is this okay?” You asked him.

“Yeah,” He replied softly. “It… feels nice.”

“It’s supposed to,” You said. “Things can feel good without being sexual.”

“I’m starting to realize that,” He said. After a moment or two, he withdrew his hand and continued eating.

He drove you home and walked you to the door.

“Every movie I’ve ever seen suggests this is either where we kiss or fuck. I’m not sure I want to do either of those things,” He laughed.

“That’s perfectly fine,” You said. “What about a hug instead?”

He smiled. “A hug sounds nice.”

You slipped your arms around his waist and wrapped his arms around your shoulders, laying his cheek on the top of your head. He held you for several moments.

“I like this a lot,” He said softly into your hair.

“How about a second date, then? You can pick what we do next time,” You said, turning your face up to look at him.

He smiled, but it slipped from his face slowly and he frowned.

“What’s the matter?”

“Does it bother you?” He asked with a worried expression. “The fact that I’m, for want of a better word, a prostitute? That I’m… not all human?”

“The not-quite-human thing is a little weird, I’ll admit, but it doesn’t bother me. If we were planning to have sex, I might feel a little uncomfortable about your job, but as long as you’re using protection and getting yourself checked and doing what you need to do to be safe and healthy, I’m okay with it.”

“Really?” He said, unsure if he believed you.

“Of course,” You said. You squeezed his waist tightly and he grinned at you.

“That’s a relief.”

For the next date, he took you swimming. For the next, you took him dancing. The next, he surprised you with a three day trip out of town.

The second day there, he became surly and taciturn, not his normal sweet, unintentionally flirty self.

“What’s wrong,” you asked him.

He sighed angrily. “I’m… hungry.” He said. “I haven’t had a client in a week. It’s the slow season. Normally I’d go out and just find someone to supplement it, but that feels like cheating now that I’m with you.”

“Oh,” You replied. “Do you… want me to…

“No!” He said. “Not here. Not with you.”

Your head rocked back and you must have made a face, because he looked apologetic and said, “No, I don’t mean it like that. You’re very important to me. I don’t want to see you like I see my clients, like food. That’s not what you are.”

“Well, I want to help,” You said. “What can I do?”

He sighed when he felt your touch. “Just touch me, okay?”

“Sal,” You began, putting your hand on his back and rubbing it slowly. “Hasn’t anyone ever done this before?”

“Done what?”

“Touched you just to touch you?”

“No,” He said, his head in his hands. “People usually have ulterior motives.”

You thought about it. “Lean back.”

He lifted his head and peered at you, confused, but complied. You moved to straddle his waist.

“What are you…” He started suspiciously, but you stopped him.

“Do you trust me?” You asked him.

“Yes…” He said slowly, still eyeing you.

You took your hands and very slowly began to map the contours of his face with your fingertips, starting with his cheekbones, brushing your hands around his ears and running your fingers through his hair. His eyes closed and he inhaled as though he’d never breathed real air before. You drew your index finger over his brow and down his jaw and pressed your forehead against his.

“Sal,” You asked him softly. “Has anyone ever loved you before? Anyone?”

His eyes opened wide and he looked at you, completely at a loss for words. He seemed to be searching for an answer and coming up empty. His face crumpled and a tear leaked from one of his eyes. You pulled him into a tight hug as he began to weep into your shoulder, your hand in his hair. He gripped you as though falling, gulping air into his lungs.

He seemed so taken by surprise at the question, and the reaction could only have been a genuine one. You wondered if he even realized it before you pointed it out.

“Shh, honey,” You whispered in his ear. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m here. I’m here with you.”

He looked up at you with wide, wet eyes. “Do you love me?”

“I don’t know,” You answered honestly. “But… I think I’m starting to. I want you to be happy.”

“I’m happy with you,” He said. “Even when I’m hungry, I feel better when I’m with you. It doesn’t hurt so bad when you’re with me. I don’t know why.”

You stood up and took him by the hand.

“It’s late,” you said. “Why don’t we get to bed? Maybe you’ll feel better in the morning.”

He sighed and got to his feet. You went into the bedroom and changed into your night clothes. You didn’t mind letting him see you naked, trusting that he wouldn’t need to control any impulses around you. You were the same with him, and he was comfortable letting you see him change, too.

Although, he was still hesitant to show you his true form. You had convinced him to show it to you once, the full experience and not just the sample on the night you first met, but he seemed to worry that you’d eventually grow frightened of him. You told him you just wanted him to trust you enough that he felt being comfortable in his own skin around you. He said that would take time, and you understood.

You got into bed, and instead of putting space between the two of you, like you had been doing, you pulled him close and pressed your cheek to his. He touched your breast hesitantly, as if to test you, and you shook your head with a wry smile. He breathed a sigh of relief and snuggled into your body.

And you touched him. You petted up and down his back. You played with his hair. You traced his smile. All of it was loving, none of it was sexual. When you pressed a kiss to his lips, the first time you had ever done so, it was a soft, sweet kiss, lip on lip, slight pressure, no expectation for more. When you pulled back, he had tears in his eyes again. You kissed his eyelids and he breathed a soft laugh against your cheek.

You were gentle and tender and made it clear you didn’t expect him to reciprocate unless it’s what he wanted to do. It took some time, but eventually, he began to touch you tentatively, trying to learn. He stroked your shoulder and caressed your face. He planted a kiss on your lips, mirroring the one you gave him, if a bit longer.

Eventually, he fell asleep with his nose in your hair and his arms clutching you to him tightly, breathing deeply and contentedly.

He woke in the morning with a bright smile on his face.

You laughed. “See? I told you you’d feel better.”

“I feel wonderful,” He said. “I don’t feel hungry at all. Quite the opposite, actually, I feel like I’ve been on a binge.”

“Maybe sex isn’t what you needed all along,” You said, holding him close. “Maybe you just thought it was because you hadn’t experienced anything else.”

He pulled back so that he could look at you, frowning. “Could I have been doing this wrong the whole time?”

“Maybe,” You said. “I suppose we’ll find out, my love.”

A slow smile split his face. “Say that again.”

“My love.”

His smile cracked his cheeks. “Good. Now say it all the time forever.”

You laughed and kissed him.

“Hmm,” He said, looking passed you in thought. “I wonder if I should still be an escort. If sex isn’t what I need to survive, there’s no reason for me to keep doing it. I do have a degree in medieval literature.”

“Yeah, good luck getting a job with that degree that’s not prostitution,” You said, laughing.

He hit you with a pillow. “Really, though. I think I should quit. It feels kind of weird now that I have a girlfriend. And if I don’t have to have sex, I don’t want to have sex.”

“Well, whatever you do, I will support you, honey,” You said.

“I appreciate that.” He sank back into your arms and looked at you seriously. “If I do quit, what’ll happen if I do need sex again?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when and if we come to it,” You assured him. “But to be honest, I don’t think that’s what you need to be healthy. I think you need what we all need. You need love. You’ve just never had it before.”

“I’m glad I have it now,” He said, pressing his head against your shoulder, dotting chaste kisses along your skin. “I’m sorry I tried to prey on you, and I’m still a little mad that you shot me with a taser, but it’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I’ve never felt this good before. I want to feel like this forever.”

“I won���t be around forever,” You told him. “And we may not love each other forever. But I can promise you that, at the very least, you will always have a friend who will never expect you to have sex with them.”

He barked a loud laugh. “I can live with that,” He said happily, cuddling you close.

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Thanks for reading!

My Masterlist

The Exophilia Creator’s Masterlist

[drink-n-watch]

BoogiePop’s messy release schedule was driving me just a little nuts so I did the most reasonable thing possible and drove Shania a little nuts too. The results! We are almost caught up! Here’s everything that happened before this Friday! There Shall Be Spoilers!

go us! we wrote posts! YAY!

Boogiepop at Dawn – Episodes 12 & 13

The BoogiePop at Dawn 4 episode arc has been quite the rollercoaster. It started with what I believe is the best episode of the season then plunged right into the worst only to settle somewhere in the middle for these last two.

I definitely agree with you there Irina. But on the flipside, we finally get what I’ve been hoping we would get for a long time. More info on Nagi! Starting with her illusive father no less.

First we get a flashback episode to Nagi’s past and we finally get to meet her mysterious father. I gotta say, I was sort of disappointed with how ordinary he is. BoogiePop (the series not the phantom) has made a habit of creating these weird, disjointed, drastically underdeveloped characters and Mr. Kirima just didn’t stand out in any way. The only notable thing about him is that evolved humans liked his books.  In principal, that notion is actually very cool, but it came off rather dull in presentation.

He was a bit dull, but I did like how much his books were basically the driving force for most of the situations in this series. Especially since they are referenced to so much.

we just thought he was a little boring…there’s no need to take it this far! huh soilers

Was the little girl in the park a little BoogiePop?

Wait…there was a little girl in the park that looked like a little Boogiepop? How in the world did I miss that…

There was some throwbacks to earlier episodes, we got the sentence sometimes it snows in April again, proving that this wasn’t some odd mantra of the Imaginators. By the way, t is currently mid March and there’s a good 6 inches of snow on the ground right now. It was snowing quite generously all weekend as well. I really wouldn’t be surprised if this weather held up for another two weeks. I don’t get this expression at all. Is it suppose to mean something rather common but not guaranteed. Like sometimes it rains on a Tuesday?

I think what they are trying to get at is more psychological and metaphorical. Like sometimes unique experiences can happen whether we plan for them or not. It just matters how we deal with them when they come.

But it’s not unique at all. That’s my point.

this little girl…. not the same body but the same entity?

Besides the book thing, we found out the Nagi’s dad is divorced and that’s actually it. Next thing we know he gets murdered by synthetic megane same as scarecrow and his daughter takes it rather well, all things considered.

I think she just has a rather large capability to internalize things but I could be wrong.

The narrative has gone back to the nonlinear format which I liked. The sudden jump forward brought us back to a little after Scarecrow’s death which is still a flashback when compared to other episodes.

Synthetic megane teams up we now esper Nagi to hunt down whoever’s been murdering left and right. Let’s keep in mind that this particular synthetic already killed Nag’s dad when she was little, and her friend Scarecrow just recently. There’s a little sleuthing, nothing too impressive. They talk to one girl and Nai magically figures everything out so they go confront shrink lady who’s name I still don’t know. (Synthetic megane is called Sasaki, and hilariously Mo Murder!).

well um, I guess that’s an important distinction?

At this point we see an unrecognizable Pigeon bait and distract Sasaki so that he can get promptly murdered by psycho shrink while he simultaneously killed Pigeon. It took my awhile to figure out what was going on but apparently Pigeon was sacrificing herself to avenge Scarecrow nd n her last moments BoogiePop came to her in a scene paralleling her friend’s death. It would have been touching if I knew the first thing about Pigeon. I honestly thought that she had ordered Scarecrow’s death in the first place. Anywho, she dead now.

In a way it was rather poetic though. Especially with Pidgeon’s last line after Boogiepop told her instead of Heaven shes go to hell: “Heh, you’re right. Just like you.”

I did love Pidgeon aesthetic though. She might be a cool cosplay in the future.

I like her better with her blonde and pink hair. It helps sets her apart I find

see, it’s cool

Then Nagi and Shrinki face off in a swamp, after Nagi’s done all the work, BoogiePop appears and finishes her.

Again, this could have been exciting or at least cathartic if this shrink wasn’t the worst villain so far. Just plain uninteresting even when considered a madman evil with no viable motive. She didn’t even hurt anyone we care about so it’s not like we felt any sense of justice or retribution here.

It’s unfortunate that Nagi went from being a bedridden sick girl straight into being a superhero without BoogiePop bothering to show us that evolution. A training montage, an indication that she suddenly wants to solve crimes because of her father’s murder all batman style…something would have been nice. Nope, just jumpcut and apparently we’re a firewitch now.

True. A little explanation would have been nice.

don’t make that face

Nagi makes it back to have Sasaki die in her arms. Two synthetic humans have now sacrificed themselves for her, for no real reason. I assume that just like her dad attracted espers, she’s catnip to synthetics.

This would have been such a sad scene if Sasaki had any sort of personality or developpement other that “follow the plot”, well you get the idea.

At this point there’s a conversation between Nagi and BoogiePop. It’s one of those cryptic small talks at an inappropriate time, what with all the murdered bodies all around. We didn’t get any information or anything. What I got from it mostly is that at this point and time, Nagi and BoogiePop are on rather friendly terms. BoogiePop is impressed and interested by Nagi and has helped her out in a difficult situation. From what I can tell the feeling is mutual. So something must have happened to make their future encounters so frosty. Knowing this show, there’s almost no chance they’ll tell us what that was.

Which is a shame. Its really good for character development. Then again, that’s exactly what Boogiepop lacks.

And this is when I realized that I had forgotten that the entire arc was a story being told by BoogiePop to Echoes. We still don’t know where that weird red place is or why Echoes is alive but you know, I’m just going to let that one go.

oh yeah….you guys….

The King of Distortion – Episodes 14 & 15

The King of Distortion open with a familiar face. We catch up with Takeda some time after the Maticora arc and he’s reading an architecture magazine. I grew up around architects, several members of my family were architects including my mom who use to say that every time there was an architect in a work of fiction they were evil. It was a weird sort of mini persecution complex. I don’t think she was right at all but it always stuck with me. So yeah, I’m saying akeda is evil now!

There’s this new swoopy monument building and it’s the place to be apparently. It’s one of those decorative buildings that cost a fortune in taxes to upkeep but the government hopes it will encourage tourism so they brand it as a national treasure and source of pride. It looked pretty cool.

I like it….cause I don’t have to pay for it

So a crowd of people are there for the opening inclusion an assortment of Shinyo Academy students. We learn that the man whose building it is (I’m assuming the man who designed it) was some type of multi talented super genius who just recently passed away. It wasn’t specified by I’m going to assume it was under odd or mysterious circumstances. And yet, ironically he’s seen talking to little boy at the beginning of the episode. And leaves him with the ominous phrase of saying he was just reborn.

Takeda is also meeting Miyashita there for date s we’re setting up all our big players. However, when she gets there Boogiepop takes over and she ips away into the crowd. We’re quickly introduced to this arc’s baddie, The King of Distortion.

We are told that this entity wants to turn the world to gold. I should be annoyed by the cryptic nonsense of it all but I actually like that motivation. I dunno. It’s completely ridiculous yet so concrete that for some reason, it speaks to me.

oh…I was just talking to a supernatural entity that wants to turn the world to gold. Tuesdays! Am I right?

The King of Distortion seems to be able to trap people within their own minds and make them confront unresolved issues in their past. I’m not entirely sure why yet but as clichéd as it is, it’ also a mechanic I generally enjoy.

True. It is a quite overused trope, but I think the King of Distortion could actually be a decent villain this time. I hope.

Between the shrink lady last arc and this trauma facing/closure seeking character, I’m starting to think that the main thesis of BoogiePop is that psychiatry is evil!

Or straight up freaking confusing heh.

BoogiePop and I are freaked out by mannequins

Not that we have much of a moral judgement on the King of Distortion yet. So far they haven’t hurt anyone in any way. If anything they do really seem to be helping people. But BoogiePop considers them an enemy of the world so you know how that goes…

After a brief setup, both episodes mostly consisted of set pieces where the Kin of Distortion has conversations with various characters and makes them confront traumatic past experiences by taking the appearance of people from their past. These dreamscapes are very abstract and at times the narrative felt more than non-linear but downright non-sequitur.

This is a level of weirdness I like. It’s not pretending that everything is supposed to make sense. There is a surreal element. Heck the second episode turns into a kaiju movie at some point. But you can still follow along easily.

Heh, so true but I gotta admit it was a bit entertaining to see it go that way.

entertaining is a good thing!

We catch up again with Kentarou which we had seen briefly in the past. At this point, I’m starting to blur the manga and anime together so I’m not sure how much we’re supposed to know about the character but I always liked him. I’m happy to see him again.

I do remember that manticore killed his girlfriend, so there’s that.

I’m not sure he had a girlfriend?

Conversations with dead people is my favourite Buffy episode. Now I’m not trying to imply that BoogiePop comes anywhere close to it but there is something comparable in the mood and pacing of his arc. A bittersweet melancholy. Rather than having people turn into monster or cause their own doom through fear or greed, The King of Distortion is creating a hollow longing and cold guilt and offering up salvation. There something particularly disturbing about that.

I don’t want to call it a strong start or the most promising arc yet. I do that everytime and every time I get stung. BoogiePop knows how to start stories, it’s everything else that falls apart. But it’s a really strong star and seems very promising….

I’m scared to get my hopes up…

Since we didn’t write much today, cough, here’s a bunch of pics to tell the story instead. This is 4 episodes worth!

BoogiePop and Others Ep. 12-15 with Shania BoogiePop's messy release schedule was driving me just a little nuts so I did the most reasonable thing possible and drove Shania a little nuts too.