#baps self with rolled up newspaper

[veliseraptor]

knitting a sweater to avoid writing fic

[laelior]

What would fix me is having someone sit with me when I'm writing and gently bap me with a rolled up newspaper when I go down a spiral of self-doubt and give me treats when I stay on task for more than five minutes.

[estro-boi]

(baps ur snout with a rolled up newspaper) stop looking for validation and self-worth on imageboards, it isn't there

[britishsass]

I'm thinking of Razdad AU with “you deserve better than what you’ve got.”… for an angsty fight scene between Sasha and Augustus. I'll just bap my head with the neewspaper *baps head with newspaper*.

Hey, I actually don't think I would make that a fight! I actually have a little idea about that, so no worries. *Takes the newspaper and hands you the comic section for you to enjoy* Have some nice hurt-comfort.

~

Augustus sat on the edge of a platform, taking a moment to rest in between all the fighting and acrobatics he had been doing. Sasha spent the same time trying to recalibrate his balance after all the insane flips and jumps Augustus had pulled him through. As if on cue, Augustus did another flip, rolling backward to land on his feet and stand up again.

"Is that something important?" he asked, pointing a slender finger at a box. Sasha turned and nodded, recognizing what it truly was.

"A memory vault," he answered, and he fired off a psi-blast, opening it up with ease. Augustus jogged to join him. Together, they entered the vault.

The scene was cramped. Sasha couldn't help but feel a bit claustrophobic, even as Augustus sat down, relaxing automatically.

"What...?"

"The caravan," Augustus happily noted. "Home."

It was tiny, barely enough for a few people, and yet everyone gathered around the tiny table as the rain pummeled the fabric from outside. All eight of them were close by, finding their way around the tiniest kitchen he had ever seen, and Raz's tiny body almost vibrated with joy as they set a bowl of soup in front of everyone. Augustus in the memory was only a bit younger, but his eye seemed fine back then. He pulled a package from the top shelf, and he handed it to Raz.

"Happy sixth birthday, son."

Raz tore through the newspaper wrapping it before Sasha could say a word, and he pulled out the contents, excited beyond measure.

"Wow!"

"We thought you deserved a good gift for your performance in the shows as of late-- And your birthday too, of course." Augustus knelt beside him, and Raz hugged him tight, giving Sasha a view of the present.

A trio of comic books.

"...Is that what you got him?" Sasha asked his version of Augustus, who smiled brightly.

"It was. He was so pleased, and it took so long to find secondhand copies that weren't falling apart at the seams, but when I did, it was perfect. His favorite meal, a gift he'd wanted for a while... I did everything I could."

"That... that was all you got?" Sasha managed.

"It was all we could. There wasn't much money to go around." Augustus stood, and he walked to the door.

"You deserved better than that," Sasha stated simply. "Better than what either of you got."

"We made do, Agent Nein. Let's go."

Augustus led him out, and the two let the vault continue around them. Even though the life he was watching seemed rather happy, Sasha couldn't help but think about that present.

Three secondhand comics, a gift to remember. He could hardly believe it.

Note to self. Find a way to assist the Aquatos with their monetary issues.

"I heard that."

Addendum. Do not let the Aquatos stop me from assisting them with this.

[madmaudlingoes]

In a weird brain space right now and trying to sort out some thought. Not tagging this because I don’t want to get into Discourse; this is just me thinking aloud.

I didn’t like MAG 142 “Scrutiny.”

The difference between a twist and an asspull is in the execution: a twist has to be foreshadowed to some extent, even if that foreshadowing is hidden. A twist is a surprise that still fits seamlessly into the story, so that in hindsight you can see how we got from A to B to C even if, in the moment, you’re blindsided.

“Jon Archivist has been eating statements all along since he got out of the coma” doesn’t feel like a twist to me right now. At best it feels more like an asspull; at worst, it feels like Jonny Sims reaching through my speakers and bapping me with a rolled-up newspaper for daring to care about the character he’s spent the past twenty episodes making me care about.

Which is a ridiculously personal reaction, and is probably to some degree just my personal brain weasels acting up. And before any self-important troglodytes come in with your fucking “tHiS iS a HoRrOr PoDcAsT”: first of all, thanks for reminding me to block you. Second, my problem isn’t that Jon’s going Full Monster, my problem is the abruptness with which it’s being thrown at us.

Most of episodes 122-140 were tightly focused on Jon and his internal state. He spoke to the tapes like he was giving confession; he was intensely vulnerable about his self-loathing and his uncertainty and his awareness of being less that human. There’s been exactly one explicit reference to Jon even leaving between 123 and 140, much less that he’s leaving to feed on strangers. By contrast, the dominant theme of the first half was Jon regretting what he’s become and trying to control his more monstrous urges. The change in behavior is beyond jarring; if we’re supposed to believe that this has been going on since he woke up, it recontextualizes all that internal conflict and heartfelt regret into a much worse light.

“It’s supposed to be jarring! It’s supposed to make us rethink everything!” That doesn’t make it not an asspull, Karen. The foreshadowing isn’t there. The continuity of characterization isn’t there. And being told that the image of this character and the expectations I had built in my head were wrong, when I was never given any evidence to the contrary, is not a good feeling. “The struggling, conflicted, surprisingly soft man I showed you is in fact a monster far worse than you ever imagined” is a manipulative asspull, not a cool twist.

I’m hesitant to even post this rn because a) brain weasels, and b) there’s still plenty of time left in the season. Maybe 143 will completely recontextualize everything yet again, I don’t fucking know. But if this continues to be played straight, if all the growth we thought Jon had undergone in the first half really was just an illusion, well, wouldn’t be the first time I dropped a fandom like a rock. :-/

[lumbering-blog1]

me, bapping my muse with a rolled-up newspaper while i work on this reply: you! are! so! loved! can! you! quit! being! completely! self-absorbed! for! like! three! seconds! acknowledge! the! full! extent! reciprocate! properly!

[veliseraptor]

oh no just discovered that the job I really wanted that I gave up hope of getting still has my application listed as “in progress” thus resulting in me getting my hopes up all over again. no! *baps self with rolled up newspaper* stop that!