#just-pot-over-here

[pigeonwit]

mr pidgeon. you made a post about crace (crutchie and race) as a ship like two months ago. they are my number one realest pairing of all time. the otp of otps. do you have any more thoughts about them? if so please share bc content is so rare and far between ty

love the way this is written like a formal request my guy. 'please sir may i have some more' type energy. love it. ABSOLUETLY yes.

so my big thing with newsies is that - to a certain degree - ALL the characters could potentially work together relationship-wise. it really just depends on how you want to interpret them, and since there are so many different productions of newsies and so much room for interpretation of all these slightly-different versions of the same characters, i have a lot of different interpretations for all of them. i've got a big empty brain and something has to fill it, and i spent so long pondering crutchie and race's dynamic in the,,, foooour years? five? five years of me being a newsies fan, that they're just,,, stuck in there and they're not leaving. so i would be THRILLED to share some thoughts*.

*every single crutchtrack thought i've ever had throughout my (approx) five years of watching and re-watching livesies and seeing uksies twice.

so my interpretation of crutchie and race as characters is like... they're both friends of jack's, but that's kind of where they end with each other. i didn't see their interactions in the musical as brotherly as other people do, i saw it more like 'we're supposed to be friends and this is how friends treat each other but it's just not landing the way it should' - in livesies and uksies, crutchie seems pretty offended (and a little pissed off honestly) that race implies it is only his limp that sells him papers. we know race is joking, but i don't think it ever occurred to race that that's not something he's allowed to joke about with crutchie. and to me, that speaks to them never having hashed out those boundaries together, which i interpret as them not having spent that much time bonding one-on-one despite both being so close to jack.

i also think crutchie being such a realist (especially in uksies, dude is kind of a jerk) made it difficult for them to connect with each other as well - i know a lot of people interpret 'king of new york' as race trying to keep the newsies from losing hope, and i imagine that that's part of it, but he literally got his name from constantly betting on horses at sheepshead, and with crutchie being such a realist ("we got the right to starve, let's just get our papes and go", rolling his eyes at katherine promising them a place in the paper, etc) i imagine that causes some friction between them. race, despite everything, believes there has to be some small chance things can turn around, whereas crutchie (again, ESPECIALLY in uksies) believes that focusing on what's real will keep him from getting stung - and THEN, during the strike, both of them seem to switch; crutchie is the one trying to be optimistic because he's finally let himself believe that they have a real chance, and race is pulling away because he knows the odds are stacked against them. and again - they are NOT getting along over it! race openly derides him in front of all the newsies! i wouldn't call them POLAR opposites, and i do agree they probably got along the way friends do, but all of their interactions gave me the idea that neither of them really seem to Get the other in the intrinsic way all the other newsies seem to. i never interpreted them as actually close, and certainly not brotherly, at least not until the strike, wherein they both start to realize there's more to the other than they thought. i think crutchie has always been underestimated by the people around him, even jack, and i think race always brushed him off as just another naive stray that jack was looking out for and didn't bother getting to know him, the same way crutchie probably brushed race off as an impulsive loudmouth gambler and didn't get to know him, either. i think their friendship became WAY more solidified during the strike for the split-second it lasted; and i think crutchie being taken away so soon after is left this massive hole race had been to oblivious to notice before.

i think race very suddenly realized the weight of crutchie's absence, especially right before king of new york - crutchie is definitely not an OPTIMIST per se, but he does clearly try to be kind to people, even when the situation is dire. but no one's doing that now. they're all wallowing in their loss and no one's there to goof off and make them smile again; hence, 'it ain't been the same without ya' (yes i made an entire backstory for that one fucking line i don't CARE okay i don't CARE you don't know how much that broke me). and i think after the strike, race - however conscious he is of it - is the one who keeps looking towards crutchie, keeps noticing all the little things he does to keep the newsies sane, keeps seeing the way he sets his shoulders when he's stressed and fiddles with his rosary when he's nervous, and doubly notices all the ways in which crutchie tries to hide that from people. i think he realizes that for all the years he spent knowing crutchie, being kinda-maybe-but-only-in-a-group friends with him, he never actually knew him at all. so he makes more of an effort, tries to talk to him more, even tries selling with him at one point, purely because race is the most annoying person alive when he's curious, and crutchie,,, DOES NOT care for it, obviously, because why is race being so nice to him NOW, when crutchie's freshly out of the refuge, than he ever has been before?

i imagine crutchie might chew him out for it, really lays into race for trying to take care of him when crutchie's made it pretty clear he's more than capable of taking care of himself - and i think race gives as good as he gets, really, because race doesn't shy away if someone's picking a fight with him. but i think at some point in the argument, race must say something along the lines of 'making up for lost time' - and that's something crutchie turns over in his head a LOT afterwards. until he realizes that oh, this isn't about his time in the refuge, it's about all the time they spent nodding at each other instead of saying hi or how are you, it's about all the times they awkwardly smiled in passing because neither of them knew what to say, it's about all the times they COULD have known each other and just. didn't. out of sheer convenience.

so crutchie turns up the next day and tells race they're selling together, and that's that. okay, so crutchie's blunt, race didn't know that - or, well, he did ("you're seeing stars all right", "ain't we got no rights?" "we've got the right to starve", etc), but he didn't... know that. not really. crutchie's polite to the delancey's and wiesel when they buy their papers, but when oscar tries to yank his papers as crutchie grabs them to make him lose his balance, crutchie stands completely firm, strong enough to make oscar wobble a little - and takes his papers with a saccharine smile and a 'thank-you'. okay, so crutchie's a decent person, race did know that, but he's no push-over, he's actually kind of tough, and race... did not know that. it was always there, and race never knew it.

so they sell, and every so often they make some attempts at conversation that, as awkward as they are, are still enjoyable. crutchie's funny, actually. not just roll-your-eyes funny, but genuinely, clutching your sides funny. he's kind of dark, too, and race loves it. and as much as race is noticing that, crutchie's noticing how smart and insightful and genuine race can be when he's not trying so hard to be a loudmouth - or maybe he was always that genuine and crutchie had just rolled his eyes and figured he was just being a loudmouth anyways.

they start selling regularly. they keep talking, asking questions - they try to keep it small, but somehow 'what's your favourite selling spot' becomes 'how'd you come to new york' which becomes 'how'd you meet jack' which... tells them a lot. and over some time, they're really starting to understand each other. it's weird - they're both very aware that race shouldn't have to ask what crutchie orders at jacobi's when they've supposedly been friends for years, they're both aware that crutchie shouldn't be surprised that race has so many cousins when he talks about them all the time, so on, so forth. but those cracks are starting to fill, and over time, they fit together. friends. real friends.

and when they're up late and drinking on the fire escape, and race turns to him and asks, "you ever been kissed? just, y'know, just askin'..." they both understand each other perfectly.

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

also imagining FC1, in the Tense Meeting i definitely think he had with Edward off-screen, concluding that he can't think of a worse punishment than Edward having to do Thomas's job (deal with the big engines and their shit) for a while

and Edward (who could have definitely thought of something worse, by this point if he'd been grounded in the sheds for even a single day he would have instantly turned to dust) just scarcely, for the sake of pure friendship, trying to work up the nerve to venture to hint that maaaybe the fact that Thomas's job is the worst punishment FC1 could think of was the entire fundamental problem here

[eggoatt]

egbert and lalonde, choose your flavor

[coquelicoq]

In talking about Chaucer (p. 74), I said that, in general, puns and verbal connections of sound were unimportant and not to be sought out; and now, you will say, I have been using them to explain cruces in Shakespeare. Alas, you have touched on a sore point; this is one of the less reputable aspects of our national poet. A quibble is to Shakespeare [Johnson could not but confess] what luminous vapours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way and sure to engulf him in the mire. It has some malignant power over his mind.... A quibble was for him the fatal Cleopatra for whom he lost the world, and was content to lose it. Nor can I hold out against the Doctor, beyond saying that life ran very high in those days, and that he does not seem to have lost the world so completely after all. It shows lack of decision and will-power, a feminine pleasure in yielding to the mesmerism of language, in getting one's way, if at all, by deceit and flattery, for a poet to be so fearfully susceptible to puns. Many of us could wish the Bard had been more manly in his literary habits, and I am afraid the Sitwells are just as bad.

William Empson, 7 Types of Ambiguity, ch 2 pp 100-101

i'm sorry this is so fucking funny. that pathetic loser shakespeare who loved puns so much it cost him everything, except of course his status as the most famous, most read, most immortal english-language author of all time. but everything else, he lost and it's all because of how weak he was to resist a pun :/ pouring one out for my sad little girly man who could have had it all if only he was better at writing, the thing he is the most famous guy in the world for.

even empson, who disagrees with johnson that shakespeare "lost the world", is like, too bad our favorite poet is susceptible to the thing that made him famous :/ really tragic that the guy whose wordplay we've been talking about for 300 years likes wordplay :///

also i can't get over writing a book about the types of ambiguity and NOT INCLUDING PUNS?? sorry but puns are ambiguous! that's where their juice comes from! imagine liking ambiguity so much you write a book about it but never mention puns except to dunk on them. imagine being a POET and POETRY CRITIC who looks down on sound-based ambiguity! could not be me!!

[crowkip]

just a reminder all my WIP updates go on my insta!!

[unexpectedbrickattack]

I hope you're feeling better from earlier!

You are so sweet; i am feeling WAY better actually!!

[thebookworm0001]

Hi hello queer southerner here:

The word y’all is already inclusive. if I see one of y’all using “y’xll” because you don’t want to associate with the south, I’m smacking you with my cast iron skillet.

You’re not better than us because you’re from a northern/blue state.

[musical-chick-13]

Okay, no, sorry, I’m still mad about this. “Be critical of the media you consume and examine why you react to it in the way that you do, support marginalized and stigmatized identities.” Yeah, until it’s about mental illness.

A woman (or even man, if he’s deemed over-emotional) makes music about suffering from mental illness and people just go, “What are they complaining about, that’s so immature, hashtag wangst.” (And then, sometimes, inexplicably, if the mentally ill woman gets better and writes happier music, they then talk about how artistically bankrupt she is now and that she should go back to hating herself.) People LOVE cis white pRoBLeMaTiC (straight) fictional men until they are realistically mentally ill, in which case they’re “whiny” and “insufferable” and deserve to die violently, apparently (or, if fandom is merciful, they’re ignored). (And then they celebrate when they DO inevitably get killed off.) “Do your duty and watch [thing I, mc13, personally find insufferable] For The (white) Gays because it has Gays.” Sure, will you watch c4 Pure, the ONLY show specifically about OCD, then? (No, the answer is no, it’s always no.)

I can’t get anyone to watch Doom Patrol. I couldn’t get people (in general-I did convince a few irl friends thank GOD) to watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. One of the most popular and acclaimed shows right now has a character with schizophrenia who was turned into the Big Bad Villain for no fucking reason. One of the most commonly-cited examples of Iconic™ queer media involves a mentally ill man being broken over and over and over again before The Ship™ can reasonably happen. DW introduced a major character who was at one point suffering from mental illness in her past, AND THEN ALL MENTION OF THIS WAS COMPLETELY DROPPED IN THE FUTURE, WITH NO BEARING ON ANYTHING TO THE POINT WHERE I FORGOT IT EVEN EXISTED??!?!? R*tched was a thing that existed despite the Sad Sympathetic Backstory treatment being IN DIRECT CONTRADICTION OF WHAT PURPOSE THIS CHARACTER SERVED IN One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. THEY GAVE. A SAD WOOBIE VILLAIN TREATMENT. TO THE /LITERAL PERSONIFICATION/ OF ABLEISM. THAT IS HER FUNCTION. TO EXIST AS A SYMBOL OF ALL THE WAYS SOCIETY OPPRESSES THE DISABLED AND MENTALLY ILL.

I am!!! Literally!!!!! The only one!!!!!!!!! Complaining about these things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE ONLY ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one else has said ANYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No one is talking about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m so tired!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sophiethewitch1]

hiiii!!! i love www so far, i think you’re doing such a good job <3 my fav rn is tim, but i wanted to ask who’s ur fav? and which batboy are you most excited to write about?!! can we get a sneak peek into some of your plans long term 🥹 only if you’re comfortable! i feel very inspired and i wanted to know some of your creative writing process for www/in general 🫶

POINTS AT SCREEN! Anon I love you!! If you write anything that's inspired by me you HAVE to tag me okay??!!! Non-negotiable!!! Also I love Tim too, I think I gravitate towards him most because he just screams late-diagnosed autism and he's a fellow high school dropout lmfao. But having a fav? No, we don't do that here. My fav changes hourly, minutely? Idk but rn I'm writing Grayson's introduction and his confused but loving ass is melting me. But I have scenes I'm bouncing off the walls for all of them. Thelma + Louise by Bastille chapter you are so loved <3 <3

Also!! Plans!! Long term!!!! Ahhhh, I'm feeling less and less like spoiling the big things, because I'm actually managing to write regularly and I really didn't think I would. But what I am willing to share... hm. So far there are 4 arcs (but they're almost more like books or parts...??? they're very very long D:) planned, built around mostly the different phases in your relationship. It's the love-hate, love-hate wave. Friends to enemies to lovers to enemies to lovers again lmfao. There also might be a 5th arc because I'm not exactly sure how I want the fic to end just yet. The yandere stuff only becomes an acknowledged thing at the end of part 1, and even then reader is very oblivious throughout part 2. So we've got a girl who is in denial almost as much as the guys. 'Okay they might, MIGHT be obsessed with me (might) but they're not in love with me. that's silly.' I may not have a favourite boy but I definitely have favourite arcs and it is 2 and 4. You will see why.

The document itself, not just the published parts is at 50k, which is 20k extra. Also, I have 169 tidbits done, hopefully we can condense and merge them because oh my fucking god 169 chapters is genuinely absurd. worryingly absurd. lets hope we never get to that point. Even if it is the sex number, I'm not doing it. Also I don't know what my creative process is I don't really remember things lmfao.

[hzdtrees]

Misty dark

[imblocking-you]

As a Kaleidoscope of Death enjoyer, I'm really having fun with the vibes the Dreadful Night world is offering

[ancient-reverie]

does anyone else realize that white supremacy in america has also taken white people culture away from various different white cultures there used to be and made it into one conglomerate white person thing. like I can't look back into my ancestors and find any culture at all. and I can't really say that being american is much of a culture really it's just capitalism, and surviving that capitalism

[stem-and-leaves]

So, I finally found space in a pottery wheel class

Been subsisting hungrily for years on yt tutorials, where everyone always emphasizes "you need to use a lot of force", "make sure you use lots of water", "brace your hands", "use your core", "oh yeah your arms will be sore for a while when you start",

and the instructor repeated these things, but crucially, I forgot -

I have large, strong hands. beefiest forearms you've ever seen on someone who actively tries to reduce their muscle mass but continues to be bulked the hell out (???)

And so: (artist's rendering)

Fuckin, Bruce in his eating dome

All the other people were so prim and neat

Then there's me, half the ball of clay on myself, half on the floor, water everywhere

This is bad. I'm going to get a bad grade in pottery :(

[edwardshundredyearoldspunk]

…

[luxaofhesperides]

got home and immediately led a successful bee rescue :)

[skaldish]

deerpriestess

any way you can tag this stuff as misogyny or something, kind of sick of seeing these types of anons, creeps me out at best…

I gotchu. I've added a misogyny tag and transphobia tag. I'll also put any of these kinds of contentious asks under #discourse going forward.