#while i have some issues with the scene that precedes this one

[thagomizersshow]

Apes are a kind of monkey, and that's ok

This is a pet peeve of mine in sci comm ESPECIALLY because many well respected scientific institutions are insistent about apes and monkeys being separate things, despite how it's been established for nearly a century that apes are just a specific kind of monkey.

Nearly every zoo I've visited that houses apes has a sign somewhere like the one below that explains the supposed distinction between the two groups, focusing on anatomy instead of phylogeny.

(Every time I see a graphic like this I age ten years) Movies even do this, especially when they want to sound credible. Take this scene from Rise of the Planet of the Apes:

This guy Franklin is presented as the authority on apes in this scene, and he treats James Franco calling a chimpanzee a monkey like it's insulting.

But when you actually look at a primate family tree, you can see that apes are on the same branch as Old World monkeys, while New World monkeys branched off much earlier.

(I'm assuming bushbabies are included as "lorises" here?)

To put it simply, that means you and I are more closely related to a baboon than a baboon is to a capuchin.

Either the definition of monkey includes apes OR we can keep using an anatomical definition and Barbary macaques get to be an ape because they're tailless.

"I've got no tails on me!"

SO

Why did all this happen? Why did we start insisting apes are monkeys, especially considering the two words were pretty much interchangeable for centuries? Well I've got one word for ya...

This the attitude that puts humans on a pedestal over other life on Earth. That there are intrinsically important features of humanity, and other living things are simply stepping stones in that direction.

At the dawn of evolutionary study, anthropocentrism was enforced by using a model called evolutionary grades. And boy howdy do I hate evolutionary grades.

Basically, a grade is a way of defining a group of animals by using anatomical "complexity". It's the idea that evolution has milestones of importance that, once reached, makes an organism into a new kind of thing. You can almost think of it like evolutionary levels. An animal "levels up" once it gains a certain trait deemed "complex".

You can probably see the issue here; that complexity is an ephemeral idea defined through subjectivity, rather than based off anything truly observable. What makes walking on 2 legs more complex than walking on four? How are tails less complex than no tails? "Complexity" in this context is unmeasurable, therefore it is unscientific. That's why evolutionary grades suck and I never want to look at one.

For primates, this meant once some of them lost their tails, grew bigger brains, and started brachiating instead of leaping, they simply "leveled up" and became apes. Despite the early recognition that apes were simply a branch of the Old World monkey family tree (1785!), the idea of grades took precedent over the phylogenetic link.

In the early years of primatology, humans were even seen as a grade "above" apes, related but separated by our upright stance and supposed far greater intelligence (this was before other apes were recognized tool users).

It wasn't until the goddamn 1970s that it was recognized all great apes should be included in the clade Hominidae alongside humanity. This was a major shift in thinking, and required not just science, but the public, to recognize just how close we are to other living species. It seems like this change has, thankfully, happened and most institutions and science respecting folks have accepted this fact. Those who don't accept it tend to have a lot more issues with science than only accepting humans as apes.

And now, we come to the current problem. Why is there a persistent idea that monkeys and apes are separate?

I want to make it clear I don't believe there was a conscious movement at play here. I think there's a lot of things going on, but there isn't some anti-monkey lobby that is hiding the truth. I think the problem is more complicated and deals with how human brains and human culture often struggle to do too many changes at once.

Now, I haven't seen any studies on this topic, so everything I say going forward is based on my own experience of how people react to learning apes (and therefore, humans) are monkeys.

First off, there is a lot of mental rearranging you have to do to accept humans as monkeys. First you, gotta accept humans as apes, then you have to stop thinking in grades and look at the family tree. Then you have to accept that apes are on the Old World monkey branch, separate from the New World monkeys.

That's a lot of steps, and I've seen science-minded zoo educators struggle with that much mental rearranging. And even while they accept this to an extent, they often find it even harder to communicate these ideas to the public.

I think this is a big reason why zoos and museums often push this idea the hardest. Convincing the public humans are apes is already a challenge, teaching them that all apes are monkeys at the same time might seem impossible.

I believe the other big reason people cling to the "apes-aren't-monkeys" idea is that it still allows for that extra bit of comforting anthropocentrism. Think of it this way; anthropocentrism puts humans on a pedestal. When you learn that humans are apes, you can either remove the pedestal and place humans with other animals, OR, you can place the apes up on the pedestal with humanity. For those that have an anthropocentric worldview, it can actually be easier to "uplift" the apes than ditch the pedestal.

Too make things worse, monkeys are such a symbol of a "primitive" animal nature that many can't accept raising them to the "level" of humanity, but removing the pedestal altogether is equally painful. So they hold tight to an outdated idea despite all the evidence. This is why there's often offense taken when an ape is called a monkey. It's tantamount to someone calling you a monkey, and that's too much of a challenge to anthropocentrism.

Personally, I think recognizing myself as a monkey is wonderful. Non-ape monkeys are as "complex" as any ape. They make tools, they have dynamic social groups, they're adapted to a wide range of environments, AND they have the best hair of all primates.

I think we should be honored to be considered one of them.

[eroguron0nsense]

Garp, Fascism, and Parental Failure

Garp is truly one of the most interesting One Piece characters for me because of the extent to which his dogged, relentless devotion to a fascist system–and the supposed "order" it promises to uphold in the face of anarchy or rebellion–perseveres no matter how many times it fails him and his son and his grandsons. He's fully aware of the deep-seated corruption and atrocity, and feels some kind of moral obligation to bend its rules to protect the innocent (as we can see with his attempts to protect Rouge and Ace), but when faced with widespread femicide and infanticide, genocide, slavery and endless examples of egregious cruelty, he is unable to comprehend the notion that the system is indefensible, or that the only moral choice he can possibly make when faced with that level of atrocity is to leave and resist it. His son recognizing the inherent, inexcusable failures of the World Government and its armed enforcers–literally quitting the force to start a revolution– changes nothing. The order to slaughter pregnant people and infants at Baterilla can't convince him otherwise. The countless instances of bribery, the tolerance of atrocity from state-sanctioned privateers, everything about the history of the Valley of the Gods are all things he's aware of, and takes issue with, but never comes to the conclusion that he cannot affect positive change within a system designed for oppression. The public execution of his grandson–a prime example of the marine's fundamentally irrational, arrogant, vindictive cruelty clearly bound to blow up in all of their faces even before their Pyrrhic victory at the summit war–makes him waver, but even when confronted with this obvious, indefensible injustice against a child he raised and rescued by people seeking to murder him on live TV and desecrate his corpse as a show of power, he cannot bring himself to act against it in any meaningful way no matter how much it hurts him to leave his grandson to die. If he can't veto it, he'll stay Vice Admiral and suffer through Ace being sacrificed on the altar of fascist state control, and functionally leave Luffy for dead in the process while he's at it. He fails every single person he wanted to love–Ace, Luffy, and almost certainly Dragon–and allows himself to be reluctantly complicit in countless crimes against humanity again and again and again because he's so deeply steeped in this notion of preservation of order through state control that he convinces himself that even this disgusting, atrocious, fundamentally flawed and untenable excuse for a government is better than abolition, better than revolution, or just the act of expecting accountability or literally anything better from the systems that issue false promises to protect you. Dadan beating the living shit out of him and calling him a failure as a grandfather, as a self proclaimed defender of the people, is one of the most important scenes in the Postwar Arc because a lesser series might frame Garp as a tragic, helpless figure suffering more than anyone else due to conflict of love and duty, but One Piece refuses to whitewash his actions/inaction or allow the grief and suffering caused by systems he's complicit in to take precedence over its real victims: the D brothers.

There's so much I could say about statism and anarchism and the ways people have internalized the supposed necessity of state violence to the extent they can't oppose that violence even when it ruins them or their loved ones, but that horrible indoctrination and its devastating consequences for both him and his family are what makes Garp so fascinating to watch and so thematically/politically important to One Piece as a whole.

[bonefall]

Clear Sky Killed Bumble; Gray Wing's Desperate Defense

The "analysis" I've seen out there is beyond bananas. We are out there on state-of-the-art exploratory vessels, sailing the 7 seas into brand new lands, discovering new kinds of fruits to compare to the absolute lack of sanity people are displaying.

Clear Sky definitively killed Bumble. Gray Wing does not want to believe reality.

While some try to argue this death down to "negligent homicide," that Clear Sky essentially beat her unconscious and left her in an unsafe area where she got killed, that's so unlikely I'm confident in saying it's wrong. The evidence shows that Clear Sky tormented her to death with a ferocious, sadistic beating which caused her to bleed out, which is second degree murder, and used the smell of a fox and Gray Wing's blind adoration to lie his way out of consequences.

There's not a lot of ambiguity in the evidence that is presented. There is fox scent but no fox bites, and the preceding chapter provides a comparison between the wounds on Misty vs the wounds on Bumble. Clear Sky's story is so convoluted that not a single part of it makes any sense. Quite frankly it's only been topped recently by the "I can confirm this woman is evil because she snored her evil plans in their sleep" fib of ASC.

In either case, Gray Wing believes neither. He does not believe this is Clear Sky's kill in any way.

This moment is an excellent example of how Gray Wing continuously prevents anyone from taking any action against his dear brother's violence until it is too late. By convincing the moor cats to all calm down when they're rightfully furious, and treating the lives and perspectives of native cats as lesser, Gray Wing becomes complicit in some of the harm this tyrant manages to carry out.

To shield a person from the consequences of their own actions is enabling, regardless of if it's direct or indirect, wittingly or unwittingly.

We are going to go over the whole of the 26th chapter of DOTC Book 2: Thunder Rising, from Bumble's death scene to Gray Wing's downplay of it. A meticulous, step-by-step analysis.

Leading-up context

The Scene

The Immediate Response

Incredible suggestions that have been made that I had to read with my own eyes

Leading-up Context

Let's start from square one by introducing the cast, with the assumption you have not read DOTC or are just vaguely aware of it due to its reputation.

Bumble is a kittypet who regularly visits the woods without issue. She is a small supporting character in the first book, The Sun Trail, whose purpose is mostly to be a friend to Turtle Tail, who is the future wife of the main POV character, Gray Wing.

As the two girls become closer friends, Gray Wing becomes more controlling of Turtle Tail and more hostile towards Bumble. This culminates in Turtle Tail leaving "The Settlers" to live with her friend over the winter. All is idyllic until the humans adopt a third cat, known to the fandom as Tom the Wifebeater because of what happens next in Book 2; Thunder Rising.

Turtle Tail becomes pregnant, but notices that her roommates are keeping some kind of secret. She begs Bumble until she reveals that humans tend to take kittens away when they're old enough to be weaned. Turtle Tail leaves to return to the wild, and Tom the Wifebeater begins methodically torturing Bumble over the next month as punishment, leaving scratches, bruises, and "dried blood" all over her when the humans are not looking.

When Bumble tries to seek help from the moor cats, Gray Wing is frustrated that the battered woman has interrupted his walk with his new wife. It is stressed that Gray Wing hates her for taking his love interest away, and he believes she is too fat and clumsy to live in the wild. The leader of the moor cat settlers, Tall Shadow, has a hard time throwing Bumble out, until two outsiders, Wind and Gorse, who are trying to get accepted into this group themselves, take the initiative and drag Bumble back to her domestic abuser.

Gray Wing is biased against Bumble. This is a fact. He explicitly does not like her.

Shortly afterwards, the forest cat settlers, led by Gray Wing's brother Clear Sky, experience a fire and begin to expand their borders. They are already known as a violent group, their leader is a manipulative liar, and Gray Wing himself was once viciously mauled as Clear Sky sat by and watched.

Yes, Gray Wing is aware that Clear Sky sat there and watched, too. He called out to him and Clear Sky did nothing as Fox, a man who knew full well that this cat was his leader's brother, was shredding him.

Gray Wing doesn't want to believe his brother is a bad person. This is also a fact. He explicitly feels guilty when he has thoughts otherwise.

On-screen, through the POV of Gray Wing's nephew Thunder, we see a native woman named Misty slaughtered by Clear Sky for her land. Her children are taken, and her body lays unburied and rotting for two days before Wind Runner and Gorse Fur (sporting new names at the request of the moor cats) find her.

They describe the wounds they found on the corpse in detail and make an accusation,

Now, before this point, Wind Runner and Gorse Fur have been doing everything in their power to endear themselves to this group. Gray Wing himself trusted them, because they've taught him methods for living here, caught and shared food, and even saved the life of his other brother, Jagged Peak, when a burrow collapsed on him.

But now his xenophobia towards them is coming back-- because they're calling for action against his brother. He's only ever uneasy about them when they seem to have an ounce of influence over his group.

Turtle Tail's conclusion is completely sound, and if it hadn't been for someone else, would be correct. Clear Sky DID move to kill the children-- he was stopped by his underling, Petal. Turts was able to understand what Clear Sky was going to do without seeing it firsthand.

The crowd is shocked and furious, for logical reason. They ARE in danger. Clear Sky IS escalating his violence and expanding his territory. It's starting with the native population, and the moor cats are able to understand and predict what will happen next.

Except Gray Wing.

The Scene

While investigating ONE confirmed murder, as there is no reason to doubt Wind Runner and Gorse Fur except for conveniently xenophobic ones, and TWO suspected murders of children, the patrol hears the sudden shriek of a cat in pain.

Bumble is found bleeding to death on a previously unclaimed patch of land, at the very center of a circle of trampled grass. There is the reeking smell of fox, and under that, there is the scent of Clear Sky.

Her wounds are described in great detail,

Completely consistent with the way that the wounds were described on Misty. Nearly word-for-word.

The only evidence of fox is the smell. No one heard it bark, there is no note of it bounding off, there are no bites or wounds consistent with those of a canid. They were described exactly the same as Misty's.

Slits are cat claw wounds. Not fox bite wounds. She was not being bitten, she was cut all over her body, prominently down her belly and sides.

Unless this fox shapeshifted into a cat and then meticulously created wounds consistent with the ones left on Misty, Clear Sky did this.

Where did the fox go? Probably came to investigate, maybe licked at the bloody cuts expecting a meal, and then was scared off by Bumble suddenly waking up and screaming. It's possible, but unlikely that the patrol's clamor scared it off, considering they didn't see or hear any fox noises.

There are also signs of a struggle-- and Bumble was not able to fight in the condition she is currently in. It's most likely it was the struggle from when she was being tormented and trying to get away, unless there was a fight with a fox while Bumble was still unconscious and she was dragged to the middle of it, for some reason.

However, a fight with a fox is still unlikely, as the patrol was able to hear the whimpering of a cat in pain as they approached but not the furious sounds of a battle with a large predator. If there was this whole epic brawl with a fox that trampled the grass around Bumble, why was there only a single shriek?

Gray Wing, expert on the smell of Clear Sky's armpit, confirms it's his brother. His whole world spins when he realizes his Dear Brother is involved in this, feeling horror and disbelief.

(Also note that Gray Wing implies Clear Sky's involvement is the prophetic bad thing his adopted son mentioned in the previous chapter, not the shredded woman dying in front of him lol)

The rest of the group is able to acknowledge reality, coming to the obvious conclusion. Clear Sky is expanding his territory, including the very patch they're standing on. He has been violent in the past, even against other settlers. Misty was slaughtered in a way consistent with the victim dying in front of them, so he is killing cats who stand in his way. Gray Wing's immediate, literally DESPERATE response is first to jump to Clear Sky's defense.

Gray Wing asks Bumble directly if it was a fox, and she is too weak to answer... until she finds the strength, as a domestic abuse victim, to blame herself for the way a cat beat her bloody. She thinks it's her fault for hunting here, because she was hungry, not thinking straight, and stupid.

I have seen this described as Bumble "making a defense of Clear Sky." I will leave it up to you, the reader, to determine if this sounds like Bumble is trying to say he's not guilty of hurting her or if it's the sort of infamous self-blame that domestic violence victims lapse into after a furious thrashing.

When Clear Sky returns to the scene of the crime, he cuts her off while admitting he did assault Bumble, then glares at everyone to challenge a fight.

Gray Wing swoons over him like he always does.

I have heard it said, without examples, that this is normal because this happens all the time in Warrior Cats. That it's a normal thing to be standing next to a domestic abuse victim who is bleeding out and watch her murderer daring all of your friends to do something about it, and admire how brave he is. That, again, without any examples, this is just something that every character does when the Villain of the Week exists in front of them, so it's not even special that it was Gray Wing's first response.

If you believe that, I have a bridge in London to sell you.

Desperation is under all of Gray Wing's feelings which immediately follow. His voice "cracks" when he has to ask if his darling brother did this. He wants to scream when he takes his sweet time answering. He shrinks under Clear Sky's gaze, because he reads that he's "accusing him of betrayal."

But somehow, that FIRST response for him to fawn over his brother is not part of that, because in unquoted books of other arcs a hero has admired a villain?? Context doesn't exist because in some other book the same emotion was described maybe. Incredible.

No mention of how casually he brushes off this sight that makes his eyes show "guilt and horror," either. No talk of how he made a little ""joke"" about how no one greeted him nicely at a tortured woman's deathbed. Almost like he was caught red-handed and the wounds don't actually unsettle him as much as the crowd's reaction.

Even the glare-- Clear Sky is trying to get Gray Wing to do his bidding. He wants him to protect him, be his flying monkey, and control his furious people.

So at the next opportunity, Gray Wing jumps to his defense again. Second time in this exchange.

FIRST he was described as "desperate." Now he takes a deep breath and BRAVELY licks that boot.

Turtle Tail steps forward and posits the obvious truth. Clear Sky is going mad with power, doesn't care who he hurts, and is completely capable of doing something like this to Bumble. This was already done to Misty, and even earlier, Clear Sky stood by and watched as one of his minions savaged Gray Wing in a similar way.

The whoooole crowd can see this. It is Gray Wing, and Gray Wing alone, who prevents there from being any consequences for Clear Sky's actions.

He hypocritically believes that attacking Clear Sky for the murder of Bumble would make them all "no better than he is" when he had no qualms about coming to blows over the exile of Jagged Peak much earlier. "Attacking Clear Sky for Murder" is morally equivalent to "Actually Doing Murder."

This is only for Bumble though, a "foreign" woman he does not like. He did not believe this for Jagged Peak, and he will not believe it later when he watches Clear Sky strangle Rainswept Flower to death. They are worth physical consequences.

He even physically shields him.

"he stepped between Clear Sky and his own cats, not sure which of them he was trying to protect." It's Clear Sky. Bumble's life means nothing to Gray Wing, so he is trying to protect Clear Sky from the fury of the angry mob he has earned by killing her and Misty.

He CANNOT let there be any doubt. Not even from himself. His brother must be protected at all costs. To that end, he is trying to make some kind of opportunity for Clear Sky to escape accountability.

If you are "neutral" in the conflict between victims and their abuser, you have taken the side of the abuser. If you provide opportunities for a perpetrator to escape accountability, you are an enabler. If you allow a suspect to escape the scene of a crime, since every cat in these books seems to be a lawyer the minute anyone wants to react to violence, you could be charged with accessory fleeing and eluding-- a felony.

Before you try to say this is all in the noble pursuit of peace, let's not be dense.

DOTC is not committed to non-violence for any other tyrannical leader. Especially not One Eye, even believing that an underhanded ambush that breaks the terms of a duel Clear Sky set is the good and righteous thing to do. Killing him was the correct action, as it was with Slash in Riverstar's Home. Outside of DOTC this logic is casually applied to Brokenstar, Tigerstar, Scourge, Hawkfrost, Darktail, and Ashfur-- with only Leopardstar and Blackstar being "exempt" for following an evil ringleader.

Gray Wing himself has no moral dilemma about One Eye or Slash, either. Nonviolence is not his goal.

It is Clear Sky, and Clear Sky alone, who the narrative of DOTC will conclude "deserved" a million second chances. That torturing Bumble to death, slaughtering Misty for her land, and countless offscreen cases of attacking natives didn't push him past the "fundamentally evil" threshold into an irredeemable monster, as is the case with Slash and One Eye later in this arc.

The difference between Clear Sky and DOTC's other two tyrants, to me, is obvious. Clear Sky is the POV's brother and a member of the in-group of The Settlers. The lives of his victims, as mostly "foreigners" and entirely women, are worth very little to the notoriously xenophobic and misogynist writing team.

If the moor cats had shredded Clear Sky right here and now, dozens of lives would have been saved. The First Battle wouldn't have happened. Justice would have been served for Bumble, regardless of if the cause of death was 2nd degree murder or negligent homicide. He wouldn't have smacked and beaten any of his other victims.

Gray Wing prevents this, giving Clear Sky an opportunity to tell a lie.

(He even whines about the idea of Wind Runner challenging Clear Sky about boundaries, the whole thing that started this incident in the first place. This is the perfect time to start arguing about boundaries, actually, when he's in the middle of establishing new ones.)

In the past, I'd been too charitable to this exchange. This lie is obscene and anyone who believes it is ignorant. No frills, no bells, you either can't think critically or just didn't want to so Clear Sky can be innocent or Gray Wing can seem "reasonable."

Clear Sky's visibly eager to start his story, "glad of the chance" now that he's had time to concoct a story. He could have explained earlier but didn't, sizing the group up and glaring at his brother to crack a whip, asking if they believed he was capable of it, so he could gauge what he can get away with.

"New part of my territory" = Freshly annexed land he has violently conquered, confirming the patrol's fears of expansion.

"I wanted to give her a warning, just a little cuff" = No one leaves his territory gently. Confirmation he thrashed her, downplay of how severe.

"How was I to know she would faint?" = Bumble is visibly emaciated, and he's blaming her for not being able to stay conscious through the whole beating.

"I could see her paws twitching, and I knew she would come around" = He would not care, Misty's body was unburied for two days.

"So I left" = Leaving Count: 1

Pauses, wincing, because this is another act. Every time he's putting on a little show for other cats, he takes dramatic pauses and plays up his pain and regret. Seen earlier in this book.

"But heard a fox bark" = no barking was heard by the patrol, only a cat's shriek.

"And ran back" = Was apparently so close that he could hear barking the patrol didn't, but so far away that a fox had time to cut her to ribbons, AND this was so long ago the patrol wasn't close enough to hear the fight? Returning Count: 2

"But I was too late" = Wounds inconsistent with fox attack. Leaving Count: 2

"I was going to get help" = There is no medic in proto-SkyClan. When Jagged Peak broke his leg, they had to borrow Dappled Pelt. What help? Who?? Even as he says this, Frost's wound is going completely untreated. If Clear Sky was going to get help, why wasn't he telling Cloud Spots to do something when he got back?

"But then I heard you all arrive" = He left to get help but was still close enough to hear running? Just abandoning his noble quest to get that "help" he apparently has? Returning Count: 3

Not a single part of his story adds up. EVERY aspect of it has a problem, in that it's either deceptively worded to downplay his abuse, doesn't line up with who he is, or just doesn't make logistical sense.

It's not JUST a lie, it's a BAD one.

Even worse, Clear Sky is a known liar at this point. He does this when the truth would not benefit him, like earlier in this book when he fibbed to Thunder about why he abandoned him right in front of Gray Wing's face. The story doesn't make sense and there's not even any reason to give him benefit of the doubt, because he is known to be dishonest.

He's offended when Turtle Tail calls him on being full of baloney, and once again shoots a sharp look over to his flying monkey, expecting Gray Wing to dance on command and defend his honor like always.

But Gray Wing seems to be perfectly capable of being "wise" when it would directly benefit Clear Sky.

I have seen the question begged, "if he's such a bootlicker then why he no verbally bootlick a third time in a single exchange?" and I would tell that person to read the text because it says why. Right there. Here, I've underlined it. So you don't miss it again.

If Gray Wing licks that boot again, THIRD TIME, in front of an angry mob who wants to skin Clear Sky alive, they will lose patience and make the clearing look like Bruce's Eating Dome. So he shuts the fuck up and gives his ungrateful brother the chance to indignantly slip away, even though he desperately wants to cry out and tell him how shiny and lickable those boots are.

"What can I say?" Nothing. "I'll only make things worse" Correct. "If I don't let him leave now there will be a fight" im literally just quoting the text verbatim

He is NOT doing this because he does not believe him, NOR because he doesn't want to defend him. It's because this the best way to protect his brother from consequence.

And then Bumble uses her dying breath to apologize for ever hurting her friend, showing Bumble is still just blaming herself for everything, with Turtle Tail still repeating the same malicious excuses that were used to deny her asylum from domestic abuse.

"I wish you could have found happiness, even though I was unwilling to help you. It sucked to learn that our shared wifebeater started wifebeating you, but we didn't want you in our camp so really this was unavoidable."

I've voiced my ire before, gone on long rants about how angry this exchange makes me and even campaigned for more recognition of the misogyny in this subplot. The fact that the last words Bumble hears are just more excuses from a person who could have done something disgust me, and I think I'm right to feel that it's vile that this sits unexamined in a book for young readers. But it doesn't change what happened.

She senselessly died in intense pain and despair, for the crime of existing. All that's left to say is that I wish Bumble could have found a better friend.

But ultimately, Turtle Tail is another woman in the notoriously misogynistic arc of DOTC. She's just a supporting character for Gray Wing's conflict, and he's got some opinions about what, exactly, is making this so sad.

He doesn't give a fuck that this woman he hates has been murdered after slowly starving to death, for months, since he watched her be dragged back to a domestic abuser. She "stole" his romantic interest for a few months, after all.

It's stressed he "never especially liked Bumble" at her deathbed. It's not JUST "the death of a kittypet," a group of people he is bigoted against. It's about his piece of shit brother.

It's about how HIS REPUTATION HAS BEEN TARNISHED.

"It changes the way my cats think of Clear Sky," THAT HE IS NOW A KNOWN MURDERER, "and that changes everything" IT'S GOING TO BE A LOT HARDER TO DEFEND HIM NOW

This is completely consistent with Gray Wing's behavior into the rest of the chapter, and even the books beyond.

The Immediate Response

Gray Wing explains what happened to the other moor cats. He has to hide his actual belief that Clear Sky didn't actually do anything wrong so that the moor cats don't dismiss him for the biased, brother-obsessed little minion he is. He admits how he really feels about Bumble's death to Turtle Tail at the very end of the chapter-- so what he says here is a lie.

Not a delusion. A lie. He withheld the full truth of his bias when questioned. If he's honest about his conflict of interest, this group will trust his judgement less. He has a goal; to prevent his cats from retaliating.

Wind Runner is, again, the one who is rallying the other cats into action. She's seeing that Clear Sky is murdering innocent cats, possibly even her friend considering how much she knew about Misty, and that this will only escalate. Gray Wing doesn't like that.

So when Tall Shadow starts suggesting the things he agrees with, like how Bumble's life was less valuable anyway so this is no reason to start a fight with his Dear Sweet Brother, and they should all just sit on their butts until no one's angry anymore, he decides she "deserves" his support.

It's a political move.

"After all, she was only a kittypet... omg why are you so mad?? I didnt mean it like that, all im saying is that we should just calm down ugh dont be so sensitive" -Tall Shadow, channeling your racist aunt

If Gray Wing can get the other cats to waste their time on useless half-measures, like more patrols or perhaps writing a strongly-worded letter, he can make them feel like they're doing something when they're actually doing jack shit. Wittingly or unwittingly, this is a measure to stall the inevitable, making them miss their chance to strike while the iron is hot.

He's either an idiot or he's subconsciously acting from a place of loyalty to his brother. Bias resembles the former but is born of the latter, and either way the result is the same.

After this, there's a brief conversation where Tall Shadow makes it clear that there is absolutely no reason to be mistrusting Wind Runner. They both agree "when this is all over" she's a good cat to have around-- they just don't seem want to listen to her now, when she wants something done about the sadistic lunatic next door.

Gray Wing's talk of "working together" is laughable. His idea of "working together" includes the cat who just slaughtered two people for existing on his newly annexed land, who long ago stopped listening to reason. Tall Shadow herself starts preening and announces that her response to all this is that Clear Sky must absolutely be stopped by some cat.......................... so she'll think abt it.

tomorrow maybe. we'll put a pin in it. set a little reminder on her phone or something.

(the genius plan she comes up with in the end is a nonsequitor babble about how rocks don't exist to be sat on, so clear sky should just stop conquering all the land or something. he listens intently and then throws her into a tank of piranhas.)

But anyway, it's time to smooth things over with Turtle Tail, who had been struggling with that uncomfortable truth that the moor cats, and Gray Wing specifically, were also culpable in some way for the slow, painful death of Bumble.

He'll fix that with a big display of affection.

"Don't be mad at me it's nobody's fault :) She wouldn't have been able to cope so it's inevitable she wound up dead :) I'm sorry you're hurting bc i like you, not that i give a damn that your friend was shoved into a blender and shredded alive after starving for months :) Thanks to you I am now ready to lead this clan directly off the side of a cliff." -very endearing conversation i assure you

It works because Turtle Tail is not allowed to maintain her own opinions as a girl in DOTC. Obviously. Her husband licks her ears and tells her that he likes her and that's the end of any examination that they have any responsibility here. god forbid she re-examine her feelings towards the writers' favorite in light of how much of an ass he made of himself at her friend's deathbed.

Just in case it slipped your mind though, once again it is made clear that Gray Wing is reacting with leisure because he does not believe (or care) that Clear Sky killed Bumble. No, not even in the negligent homicide sense, that Clear Sky's actions allowed Bumble to die through beating her unconscious and leaving her alone in an unsafe location. He does not think this was something to blame Clear Sky for.

He believes that the fox did it-- he was lying earlier when he said he "didn't know what to believe." He does. He didn't reveal his bias when he was being questioned, because he wants to prevent the moor cats from fighting Clear Sky over Bumble's death.

Also note the sneaky little turn of language Gray Wing makes there. In denial of Turt's claim that "innocent cats are being slaughtered," Gray's counter is Bumble alone before the pivot. The patrol was originally about Misty's murder and her missing kittens as Clear Sky expanded his borders-- but Misty's apparently not an "innocent cat" who's been slaughtered. She's absent from that category, implied to be part of Clear Sky's hypothetical "good reason" for expansion that Gray Wing needs to get to the bottom of.

Bumble's murder is denied. Misty's is implied to just be collateral damage for the unknown plan. He's unbothered about the death of either one.

Gray Wing: "No one else can get to the bottom of this! theres only ME! I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN STOP CLEAR SKY"

Also Gray Wing: (leaps in front of an angry crowd to defend his brother. cries that he doesn't believe hes capable of such terrible violence. actively prevents anyone else from doing anything about him)

Anyone with a vague awareness of DOTC knows how this ends. Gray Wing is going to lead them astray with his bad judgement, so purposefully delusional about his brother that they will have to dig a mass grave at Fourtrees. Gray Wing thinks he's a *~special boy~* who is the only one who can truly get through to his brother, and maybe he is, but not before dozens of people have to suffer and die for it.

This is enabling. To enable is to directly or indirectly support another's harmful actions, such as addiction or abuse. He did it here, both during and after Bumble's death, giving Clear Sky the cover to escape consequences for his actions and halting any attempts to do anything concrete. Because of him, Clear Sky never pays for what he did to her.

In the book 3, Clear Sky denies all wrongdoing, and in Bumble's last mention in book 4, her torture is described in passive voice. A terrible "happening" which seemingly couldn't have been avoided. No one is held accountable. Not the moor cats for turning her away, not Clear Sky for her killing, and even Tom the Wifebeater is redeemed after being given a chance to live in a clan for not being "soft" like his female victim.

All so sweet, beloved little Gray Wing never has to confront that he let a killer get off scot-free because the uncomplicated childhood memory of his brother as a lovely good boy was wrong. That he was so consumed by spite that he smugly watched Bumble get dragged away from the only people who could have helped her. That he was complicit twice.

Incredible suggestions that I have had to read with my own eyes

fucking ✨Bonus Round✨

"If clear sky fought bumble, why bumble leave no scratches?" I'll let you sit there and think about why the DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIM did not fight back against a large, violent man who was beating her. I'll give you a minute. I'll play some jeopardy music.

"he's quote 'horrified and guilty' at the wounds which means he didn't make them himself" Clear Sky has a repeated habit of "blacking out" when he butchers women (Rainswept Flower, Willow Tail). He's also a liar and an actor, even according to his own account he'd seen these same wounds before when he came back a second time. Most importantly, what fucking part of "horrified and guilty" implies he didn't make those himself, does a toddler not look "horrified and guilty" when it spills chocolate milk on a couch and its parent sees it? Does that mean the toddler didn't do it? If you wouldn't accept this logic for a toddler why the fuck will you accept it for a suspected murderer?

"Maybe Clear Sky fought the fox off?" He doesn't actually say that, it's just implied during his lie when he says he showed up too late, but it's hypothetically possible. Even if he did fight this fox off, he must have still mauled Bumble because she is covered in claw wounds, even if he doesn't remember it because he "blacked out." There's also still the problems of Bumble being in the middle of the trampled grass, the patrol not hearing the sound of battle, his framing that he just tapped her and she passed out, and him apparently running to get help he does not have. Occam's Razor still suggests the solution is that this fox was scared off when Bumble screamed, with Clear Sky just using the convenient smell to lie his way out of consequences

"How'd Clear Sky get fox scent on him?" Probably from showing up to the crime scene that absolutely reeks and prowling around like an axe murderer, which we saw him do. Bumble had no fox bites and no one heard a fight. did you know that if you stand in a sewer you smell like shit

"Gray Wing just doesn't want to think his dear sweet brother could ever do such a thing :("

"What if the Erins are just so incompetent that they created a crime scene completely inconsistent with the very true and real story that Clear Sky told, it just happens to look like a lie on accident, they unwittingly made him a liar earlier in this book because they forgot the events they previously wrote, and don't know anything about a type of predator that appears in nearly every entry of warrior cats and happens to be one of the most popular animals of all time" what if i tripped and fell and a shawarma with extra tahini sauce fell into my mouth, followed by an apple slice, and 3 litres of water. should i continue my fast or has Allah fed me.

All of this is why I am adamant on saying that Clear Sky killed Bumble by beating her to death. In order for this to have been the cause of a fox, you'd have to take a liar at face value and ignore every other detail. That's what Gray Wing does, described on the page as "desperate to believe in his brother's innocence."

Unfortunately, this will also not be the only time that Gray Wing's obsession with his brother and shockingly horrific judgement will put other cats in danger or get them killed. It's just the most deliberate example, and thus imo the most upsetting.

[sapphorror]

The Nightmare Begins in general excels at establishing long-running precedents, the chase scene being one of the best and most obvious examples even if I think that in a vacuum it was by far the weakest part of the episode—I mean, I've already made it VERY clear how passionate I am about the pursuer/pursued dynamic at play here. But while I don't necessarily think this was the writers' conscious intent, the sleep cuffs themselves being the centerpiece in Zim and Dib's first conflict can actually ALSO be interpreted as a kind of brilliant bit of symbolism

Because there's an underlying joke here that the shady 'alien sleep cuffs' ordered by a twelve year old out of some random magazine almost CERTAINLY do not work as intended—I mean, they're notably not even one of Membrane's experimental creations, which is the device generally used to supply Dib with inexplicable anti-Zim tech. This renders the whole chase meaningless, since even if Dib HAD caught Zim and cuffed him, it wouldn't have mattered—just being restrained isn't an issue for Zim. This is NOT a strange or difficult conclusion to come to for anyone paying the slightest bit of attention, but Zim and Dib both buy into it (actually, even Zim seemed a bit suspicious of their validity, but it was like his second day on an unknown planet and he was not taking any chances). It's only through their mutual belief that the stakes become real, and then only between the two of them.

And that's... that's the whole show. While it's very rarely right up and explicitly stated, every viewer watches with an implicit awareness that no matter what is happening on screen and how much the characters care, none of it will ever actually amount to anything. Partially because cartoon law states that neither Zim nor Dib can ever truly win, lest it destroy the status quo, but more importantly because even if they DID succeed in their stated goals, it wouldn't matter. Zim's mission is, of course, fake, that's key to the story's entire premise, and it's made increasingly clear as the show goes on (+ explicitly confirmed through Zib in the comics) that no amount of proof will ever sway humanity to Dib's side. Everyone besides them can recognize these fool's errands for what they are (even if they don't necessarily understand the full truth as to why), but within this self-contained bubble, the unerring conviction shared solely between two opponents gives the conflict weight. It's pointless, and you know it's pointless, but you get caught up in it anyway.

And y'know. Intentional or not, I just find little thematic microcosms like that really neat.

[dduane]

hi ms duane (who is rlly cool and i love your books btw),

any advice? one of my favourite book series (released 30 years ago) was never finished... it's rumoured the last book was written but never published . ever since i have discovered this i have been heartbroken 😔. how do i cope with the cliffhanger? is it okay to approach the author and ask him about it? (he has written other books since + has other social medias) what do i dooooooo?

Well—per the second-to-last question, and speaking as someone who started one novel series more than forty years ago, and still haven't finished its last main-sequence book (and hears about it more than occasionally from the readership)—my immediate reaction would be:

From where I'm sitting, no, it's not really okay. So don't.

To clarify the thinking behind this, a couple of questions need to be answered.

(1) How sure are you about whether the rumor accurately reflects reality?

(2) Is the author someone you'd care about possibly hurting?

(And #2 is more important than #1, but bear with me.)

First of all: rumors are, well, rumors. I wouldn't approach an author about something like this if a rumor was all there was to go on. In particular, if the author's ever been asked about this and declined to answer, there may be legal complications in the background that they can't or don't want to deal with in public.

Secondly: if the book does indeed exist but was never published, three decades back, then there are numerous reasons that could be behind it, and all of them are painful to consider. A couple that immediately occur to me are:

The publisher decided they didn't like the last book enough to take the risk of publishing it (or sales figures for preceding books had been poor or declining), and/or no other publisher wanted the final book because they couldn't also publish the front end of the series. (I.e., the original publisher refused to revert those books' publcation rights.)

The author decided for some reason after completing the book that they didn't like it (and/or the series preceding it), and pulled it.

And there are many other possibilities... but I'm not going to get into a long list of maybes here. The point is that there's a better-than-even chance that having someone turn up on social media or in their inbox with a question about Oh Sweet Gods Not This Again, will cause the author pain.

And the issue of whether (for whatever reason) some people might think the author deserves the pain is completely beside the point. Hamlet's got it right here: "Use every man after his desert, and who shall 'scape whipping? Use them after your own honor and dignity—the less they deserve, the more merit is in your bounty."

So if I was standing where you are, after thinking about it a bit, I'd say "...yeah, no." ...and let the author be.

Now as for the question "How do I cope with the cliffhanger?": well, you pull on your Thoughtful Reader Pants—pull them right up high— and remind yourself that:

(a) Powerful though all art can be, it also can be fragile, especially as regards completions... because entropy, and sometimes mortality, can get in the way.

(b) And while we're discussing mortality: Cliffhangers are an inescapable part of the human condition. One day, you and I and everyone we know will suddenly depart this scene, and leave everyone else who knows us wondering what would have happened if... and never finding out. Maybe this is why we have a certain amount of trouble with cliffhangers in literature, on TV and in other arts: because "art is supposed to reflect life" (...long pause...) "But not like that!"

(c) In the meantime: Read the author's books that you do have. Celebrate what that person's made in that particular universe that you've got access to. And know that, in the fullness of time, eventually your heart will mend, and be stronger after the break as a result.

And finally: never give up hope. That author, and that book, might surprise you some day, when you most need it. :)

HTH!

[cellarspider]

2/?? Prometheus attempts to establish themes

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Several minutes into Prometheus, we have had no dialog, and we are going to wish that it stayed that way.

This is by little fault of the actors themselves. They all put in solid work. Many of the problems come from the writing, and others from the mismatch between their characterization what we’d call “informed traits”: What the movie tells us we should know about these characters. 

Elizabeth Shaw and Charlie Holloway are archaeologists. We see them with a dig team on the Isle of Skye, where they have just discovered their latest piece of evidence towards a radical theory. They have noticed something astounding that nobody else has dared to consider: evidence of alien contact with Earth, recorded in the art of disparate cultures from around the world. We, the audience, already know that they’re right. 

And we, the audience, know that the History Channel has had kooks on it for ages, ranting about Ancient Aliens. We’ve all seen the meme guy.

Okay. Let's try to meet this movie where it wants to be, thematically. These are its first two scenes, it's still establishing its direction, and nothing openly egregious has happened yet. We will ignore nitpicky stuff, like the fact that this previously undiscovered dig site is right next to a well-known tourist spot on Skye with 400 reviews on Google Maps.

This movie is establishing an existential premise for its themes. It implies aliens had some hand in shaping not just our culture, but our evolution. The questions it invites at this time are equally existential: why would they do that? What was their purpose here? What was their purpose for us? Why did they stop contacting Earth?

Whether life has a purpose is one of the core debates of philosophy and religion. This movie is beginning with the premise that terrestrial life does have a purpose, implied by the deliberate sacrifice of a thinking being to shape it. This supposition could create a more focused exploration of one possibility, within its narrative space.

I think it fails to deliver on this. The writing specifically fails to deliver on this, which will become apparent once we have more dialog. But there is also an issue with the framing of this premise, which the movie ultimately does not manage to avoid. An issue of cultural context.

Because this is where I, as somebody with a background in history, start to brace. The idea of extraterrestrials visiting ancient peoples is a discredited mid-20th century theory, which stems from ignorance of the historical record, and assumption of ignorance and incapability of ancient peoples to achieve great things, particularly outside of the cultures placed in the prized pedigree of European civilization. 

Such theorists look at the Great Pyramid of Giza and scoff at the idea that they it have been made without outside help, completely unaware of the century of more experimental pyramid-building that had preceded it, and the fact that we have written records that help us chart the progress of Egyptian mathematics for six hundred years prior to its construction.

They point to the Ramayana–likely written down around the same time that the Ancient Greeks were getting along just fine without aliens–and they say that the flying castles and chariots described in the text must’ve been aliens, who were mistaken for gods, and technological achievements such as rust-resistant iron must have been alien-made. Never mind that the period had a lively scholarly culture that was incorporating ideas from their Greek and Egyptian counterparts, and the people of the Indus Valley built well-planned metropolises with the world’s first known urban sanitation systems three thousand years before that.

They think the Moai of Rapanui, some of which were being erected while Shakespeare was writing his plays, were erected with the help of aliens. The actual answer, as usual, seems to be much more interesting: the Moai walked there:.

This is what ideas of ancient aliens are culturally tied to. You throw this into a movie, and even with the foreknowledge that they’re going to be proven right, I start out skeptical of these people from moment one. I was less likely to give them the benefit of the doubt, and less able to suspend my disbelief around them specifically. This will not get easier as we go.

Which is unfortunate, because most of the next scene is back to being phenomenal, and managed to bounce me back into going along with their premise.

...A side note as we close this out: Getting way too deep into the weeds here, but the art style of the cave paintings is worth mentioning. It appears to be a mashup of two famous cave’s painting styles: The animals are near-replicas of those famously seen in Chauvet (35,000 years old), and the humans and attendant dots are somewhat similar to Lascaux (17,000 years old), both caves in France. Here's an excellent little video from Tom Scott about the former, and the way that you can go see the cave paintings without endangering the site itself. There's a similar museum for Lascaux, shown below!

I say the human figures are somewhat similar to Lascaux, but I can’t find a match for the style anywhere. The closest I can find is from Tassili n’Ajjer in Algeria (6000 BC) or the Cave of Beasts in the Gilf Kebir mountains in Egypt (5000+ BC). This is because depictions of humanoid figures in european cave art are rare–ranging from a single bird-head figure in Lascaux, to the possible hoax at La Marche. 

This produces an interesting implication, if we take the movie’s premise at face value. If humanoid figures were avoided as subjects for cave art for thousands of years, their inclusion here is especially significant. Perhaps indicating that the alien visitors instructed that some visual representation of this scene to be made, or did so themselves. Thus, it is slotted in amongst the pre-existing animal art, creating a culture clash.

…However, cave lions never made it as far north as Skye. Their known northern range tapped out at about London. While it’s certainly possible that people could’ve traveled that far during this period, local animals tend to be the focus of cave paintings. So we’re getting the visual sense that a French stone age painter was doing a residency at Skye. Amusing, but odd.

⛬

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Citations for alt text ramblings:

1. https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-skye-walks/old-man-of-storr 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariots_of_the_Gods%3F 3. https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ 4. https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/royalty-calculator 5. https://search.worldcat.org/title/7625265

[tiffanybluesclues]

HELLO! I'm making an obnoxiously long meta about the inconsistencies of Dick's and Bruce's relationship. I'm ALMOST finishes but I need an instance of adult-ish Dick Grayson saying that he didn't want Bruce to be his father pre-flashpoint

Also if you have instances of the writer hammering they're brothers pre-flashpoint that'd be cool as hell too, but I already got at least one instance of it (when dick goes to college)

Thank you in advance!!!! I'm still on the Kory-Bruce meta lmao I'm so annoyed he barely mentions her lmaooo

Somewhere in the decades and decades of pre-Flashpoint DC Comics, there may be an instance where Dick Grayson (as an adult or at least as a teenager) said he didn't want Bruce to be his father, but I've never seen it and I'm kind of glad I haven't because tbh based on what I *have* seen it would be Dick lying to himself.

I'm guessing the page that inspired your quest is this court scene from "Batman: Year 3" (1989)?

– Batman #439, 09/1989.

Maybe it was a modernized explanation for why Bruce took Dick in as a ward instead of adopting him – as opposed to the version in Batman #213 (08/1969), with the court saying Bruce couldn't adopt because he was a bachelor.

Something that speaks volumes to me is that in the same story as the above court scene, in the preceding issue actually, Dick thinks to himself that Bruce was like father to him. There is no internal conflict in this statement, no thought about how he at some point didn't want this. "He was like a FATHER to me and I LOVED him." He follows that up with a sad reminder of the distance between him and post-Crisis Bruce: "...and though he could NEVER bring himself to say it, I know he loved me too."

– Batman #438, 08/1989 or 09/1989.

You're familiar with the college-send-off, so please keep it in mind when you read this scene with [regard to] Bruce and pre-Crisis Jason.

– pages from Batman #376, 10/1984.

Alfred's response makes sense, it's a good explanation. It's also a complete rewrite of history, so these two are lying to themselves – or, more likely, the writers are trying to emphasize the current day stakes and emotions at the expense of the past. With the above panels in mind, let's look again at how Bruce actually reacted when Dick left home...

– pages from Batman #217, 12/1969.

Oh suuuuure, he definitely didn't mope around feeling lonely and depressed at all – and closing up Wayne Manor and moving out was a ~totally~ chill and non-dramatic reaction to Dick leaving for college... lol, okay, Bruce. I guess 159 issues and almost 15 years can make memories faulty.

The following are two pages I saved because of their references to the history that Bruce and Dick share. I want to highlight the page on the left though, because on a single page this comic manages to pay respect to the long history between Dick and Bruce while also disrespecting Dick's role as a surrogate son in Bruce's life.

– pages from Detective Comics #533, 12/1983; The New Titans #61, 12/1989.

That final yellow panel is so rude to me lol, like how dare you say "for the first time" as if like-a-son-to-him Dick Grayson didn't happen.

Comics from the 60s and 70s were probably the peak time for the idea that Bruce and Dick were like brothers. As far as I can tell though, writers didn't really have other characters describe them as brothers. I've seen mentor & apprentice, friends, partners, guardian & ward, knight & squire, and (primarily when there are no other children in the mix) of course Dick is also described as Bruce's heir pretty often.

I feel like, compared to Batman comics, the 1980s Teen Titans comics were more willing to say Bruce and Dick had a father and son relationship. Donna even contrasts her sisterly relationship with Diana to the parent and child relationship of Bruce and Dick during "Who Is Donna Troy?"

– The New Teen Titans #38, 01/1984 (Donna); The New Titans #61, 12/1989 (Alfred); The Brave and the Bold #197 04/1983 (Golden Age/Earth Two Bruce Wayne).

At least they let Earth Two Bruce remain true to Golden Age vibes.

My headcanon is always that he is the Bruce who every Dick Grayson grew up with, regardless of era, regardless of rewrites. Here are some panels that kind of support that – a significant factor in how Dick views Bruce is that he had a "softer" version of him than the man we see now.

– Batman: Gotham Knights #26, 04/2002 (Barbara); Nightwing #134, 09/2007 (Dick in flashback); Batman #437, 08/1989 or 09/1989 (Dick again).

A repeated theme from Dick is that he is insecure about his place in Bruce's life, and in some instances Bruce even made it clear that Dick's role was as a soldier, or at best a partner, and that being part of his family was conditional.

– left: pages from Robin: Year One - Part 2, Part 3, Part 3, Part 4, 01/2001.

right: panels from Robin: Year One - Part 4, 01/2001; Batman: Gotham Knights #43 09/2003; Action Comics #613, 08/1988; same; Nightwing #134, 09/2007; Nightwing Secret Files #1, 10/1999; same.

With that underlying insecurity, and the deep love and loyalty that Dick has for Bruce, I think that by the time he came of age it's likely that Dick actively wanted Bruce to be his father.

The first 20 or so issues of Gotham Knights offered some great material about their familial relationship (leading up to the adoption storyline). In issue #14 Dick writes a letter that he still never send. I swear half the delay in my response was probably me deciding which panels to include from this because it is a gold mine for the kind of meta you're writing.

– panels from Batman: Gotham Knights #14, 04/2001.

& with that I've hit the image limit, but I'll reblog with some panels on the point about how Bruce and Dick were often described as friends (something I saw possibly just as often as ward and heir).

[wolfmadefromash]

I’ve been doing an intermittent rewatch of 911. I’m finishing up 5x18 now.

Seeing some of the negative comments and feelings toward Tommy regarding his behavior in the Begins… episodes and watching this particular episode has me thinking. If you’re going to hate on Tommy because he was essentially hiding and protecting himself you should be equally upset with Toni for purposefully missing her only daughters wedding just because she was marrying a women.

Toni was given the opportunity on screen to apologize and make up for that but it doesn’t not take away that she refused to go to the first wedding and showed her disapproved with her actions. This is a MOTHER doing this to her DAUGHTER.

I’ll have to rewatch again, but as far as I’m aware Tommy never actually said anything outright racist or homophobic, maybe one scene looking over the balcony? Most were from Sal and Capt. Gerrard. Yes he stood by while other did, or made the implication, and maybe he should have said something or stood up for either Hen or Chimney. But this was someone who was a virtual stranger not a relative. Tommy was distant and standoffish. We know he and Chimney made up and became friends. And obviously he and Hen did too, he joins them both at the bar during Bobby Begins. We didn’t get any sort of on-screen apology but we also haven’t gotten the time to see that, it was a moment that didn’t take precedence over other plot points.

I have no issues with Toni and certainly not Tommy but I just think it’s hypocritical to hate on Tommy for staying quiet in order to hide in plain sight but not hate on Toni for bailing on her DAUGHTERS wedding.

[thisisnotthenerd]

d20 finale thoughts.

for being the ‘horror season’, the intrepid heroes really go all in on the comedy in neverafter. i was laughing through the finale, in between some high stakes roles, npc and pc deaths, and wave after wave of enemies.

now that i think about it, this finale just shows how much the intrepid heroes have really tightened up their strategy as players, to the point that they can pull really crazy bits in the midst of battle and still hit a victory at the end of the day. for every ih season, they’ve had to step up the final battle to make it something that’s conceivably a challenge to the players

like in fhfy, they had some quips in the final battle, and a clutch beardsley roll to kick off the final ep, but it’s all battle focus. more individual attacks, and just trying to keep everyone alive pre-aguefort intervention. they had a few smaller enemies to deal with, but the primary issue was kalvaxus.

with tuc, it’s a similar scenario, but they have more options in terms of calling allies and a more complex environment. the individual appeals from the american dream, as well as the continuation of their fight with robert moses make this a more involved combat than fhfy. they were more confident coming in.

with acoc, the balance between troop mechanics and individual combat was the new challenge--the gimmick of the battlefield being the one they had previously fled from, as well as the task of getting rid of the leaders as well as the general troops added a new dimension to the ih final combats. edit: the intra-party tension added to this battle in particular; saccharina & ruby really defined the end of the campaign.

once they hit fhsy, battles became longer and carried out over more than just the two finale episodes. with theater of the mind, brennan could give them a longer sequence of individual and group combat. it starts with the nightmare forest individual fear scenes, layers on the need to rescue their attacking/trapped allies, as well as the continuity of the lore going on throughout the battle. i would say this style of battle, with multiple waves to exhaust the intrepid heroes, set a precedent for future combats.

with tuc II, the longer battle sequence continued, but more condensed. tony simos @ gramercy took 1 and a half episodes to get through, and so did null at the dragon’s hoard. again, each battle had layered mechanics e.g. having to stop the umbral engine overload and then having to birth the dragon. this style of battle aligns with what we saw in previous final combats, and has just the funniest instance of a divine intervention that i’ve seen.

in starstruck, they have talespire. they also have a lot of enemies, with their guns, trained on you. there were a few layers to this combat. again, the extension from a previous battle episode, the split between minis and ship combat, and of course, who could forget margaret encino, turning their enemies away with the power of emails and girlbossing her way into a campaign office. literally overwhelming odds that they managed to pull through including a 2 on the die from gnosis.

and now with neverafter, they had waves of powerful enemies, going from a siege to a tower defense from one episode to the next, the baba yaga, the ally persuasion mechanics, and the objective of holding concentration on bottle of ink that has hand(s), while either convincing or killing everyone else. the actual battle was not the hard part--as evidenced by the shenanigans they pulled off by the skin of their teeth. it was just the singular goal, and more rp than previous final combats. they also just crit. so much. no need for a beardsley crit when you’ve got siobhan one-shotting fairies and zac killing god and rolling an 18 that makes a new universe.

in short, as d20 has grown, so to have the intrepid heroes (+brennan). i’m excited to see where they go from here.

[gleamingtempest]

Danganronpa Despair Time Foils

TL;DR - The foils of the main cast of the killing game in Danganronpa Despair Time are foreshadowed in the chapter 1 recap video. - Hey hey! As said above, premise is pretty simple. While based on the initial impressions alone not all of these seem to make sense, connections and shared themes can be found between all of the pairings presented in the chapter 1 recap video which is what makes me think they are foils. This is not concrete evidence and you are free to disagree! I'd love to hear others opinions and discourse regarding the topic in the comments. ^^ I will be making more in depth analysis posts on each of these pairings in the future. All screenshots are attributed and credited to the Danganronpa Despair Time channel. Please watch the original video & series as a whole! For some extra clarity:

From Wikipedia Here we go.

Foil #1 - Xander the Rebel & Min the Student

Shared Themes & Topics: Resenting their talents, resenting academia, importance to Teruko Tawaki, red/warm color pallets, pro & anti authority perspectives

Clarifications & Other Notes: They share a relationship of culprit & victim, giving them a unique dynamic in the story. A clear precedent for tension & conflict was set in their dynamic from their first interaction, though until the murder this was minimal.

Foil #2 - Teruko the Lucky Student & Charles the Chemist

Shared Themes & Topics: Distrust, social isolation, amnesia/obscured pasts, Pragmatism, Logic V. Fate Clarifications & Other Notes: Teruko & Charles had opposite upbringings with one being very privileged and the other being borderline or literally homeless. They have butted heads since day one and seem to be going in opposite directions as characters atm. They have had many scenes of direct conflict & tension.

Foil #3 - Eden the Clockmaker & Arei the Bowler

Shared Themes & Topics: Friendship, kindness/cruelty, Hope & Trust, Optimism, Naivety Clarifications & Other Notes: Arei has always been openly antagonistic towards Eden & Eden has expressed very clearly that she wants to get closer to Arei. Arei was devastated by Arei's death and Arei has expressed that Eden is everything she was not allowed to be but deeply desires to be.

Foil #4 - Nico the Pet Therapist & Ace the Jockey

Shared Themes & Topics: Bullying, Anxiety, Neurodivergence (Heavily Implied), Animals, Strength/Control Clarifications & Other Notes: Ace has an explicit history of cruelly bullying Nico while Nico has a confirmed past of being bullied by others for their identity as a non-binary person. Nico has attempted to murder Ace.

Foil #5 - Hu the Zither Player & Veronika the Horror Fanatic

Shared Themes & Topics: S*****e/S**f H**m, Lack of Purpose/Boredom Clarifications & Other Notes: There have been no explicit scenes of tension between the two. It is heavily implied that they have each others secrets. Hu has been portayed as 'motherly' & thoughtful while Veronika has been portrayed as 'childish' & impulsive.

Foil #6 - Rose the Art Forger & J the Effects Artist

Shared Themes & Topics: Identity Issues, Lack of Agency, Troubled Family Relations, Art/Performance Clarifications & Other Notes: There have been no explicit scenes of tension between the two. Rose has lost her passion for her talent while J has stated that she really loves her talent. Both have more powerful figures in their lives which have in some way stripped them of their agency to explore their identity on their own terms.

Foil #7 - Arturo the Plastic Surgeon & Levi the Personal Stylist

Shared Themes & Topics: 'Sinful' pasts, Troubled Family Relationships, Aesthetic/Cosmetic Talents Clarifications & Other Notes: These two have had one scene where there was some light tension & conflict established. Levi is portrayed humble & down to earth while Arturo is portrayed as haughty & excessively prideful. While Arturo's past is not explicitly or literally sinful, it is heavily implied that he subconsciously feels guilty for the death of his younger sister. Levi is heavily implied to have the heartless murderer secret based on the small number of secrets left & his secret quote where he laments over his 'heartlessness'. Both seem to have a tense relationship with their family with Levi having been literally disowned & Arturo seeming to be no contact with his family for one reason or another. Levi's talent focuses on making someone the best version of what they already are while Arturo's focuses on making you into someone else entirely. (Plastic surgery is not literally this but this is how he portrays it.)

Foil #8 - Whit the Matchmaker & David the Inspirational Speaker

Shared Themes & Topics: Optimism, Nihilism, Apathy, Depression, Kindness/Cruelty, Trauma Clarifications & Other Notes: Whit's primary visual motif is hearts while David's is stars. Hearts are essential, intimate & personal while stars are pretty but distant & uninhabitable. David's true nature is cold and uncaring while Whit is portrayed as very empathetic & mindful of others. Both characters seem to struggle in some way with feelings of apathy and nihilism, though they seem to deal with this in very different ways. Whit had David's secret & tried to keep it until he learned his true nature, at which point he remarked that 'his career was in trouble for reasons out of his (whit's) control'. David is intially inviting & kind while Whit is initially somewhat abrasive & insensitive. -

Tysm for reading if you did! I'd love to hear your thoughts down below, as well as any other shared themes/topics you can see applying to any of these characters. Hu & Veronika in particular is a pairing I don't understand super well but would love to hear more about!

Not sure when I'll post the individual analysis posts but I look forward to doing so when I do. Bye bye!

[thesixthcavalier]

I want to rant for a bit here about some of the gameplay elements of Stray Gods that advance so much of the story and character choices that make this story so amazing. Others have probably noticed these things and put them in better words than I, but I've been listening and relistening to various versions of the soundtrack and have an obsession to feed, so here we are.

Much has already been made of the madly impressive fact that the songs are a complex and winding series of choices, where distinct instruments and styles are made to flow neatly from one choice to the next, and each choice you make can drastically change ones you get down the line. And for good reason, that is crazy and amazing and I love it. But what I want to talk about is the way the choices you have, and how they aren't as simple as you might first think, builds characters and relations throughout the game and enhances the story.

To start with, we all know you generally have three options, or flavors, to choose from: Red/Blue/Green. At the start of the game you choose on of these colors to be the sort of core personality of your version of Grace. Green is charismatic, friendly and well meaning, Red is tough and willing to be brash and bold, and Blue is clever and cunning. The nature of this matching of colors to personality is reinforced with several early choices in your interactions with Caliope, Hermes, and the Chorus.

But as the game continues, it quickly becomes apparent that these options get a lot more meat on their bones and that they are not as cut and dry as it might seem on first glance. Yes, Green tends to be more about being friendly while Red is more about a fighty Grace. But the key thing I think, and what really fascinates me, is that it goes deeper on each of these options in relation to who or what Grace is interacting with. Red choices are often confrontational and direct, but that doesn't mean antagonistic. There are several points throughout the game where Red options are definitely cutting through the bullshit or trying to start a fight, but there are also a lot of times where it's a direct and measured response from Grace to try and cut to the heart of an issue.

Blue meanwhile often presents plainly as the clever, thinky option. Again often very true, but I think it also represents the restrained and strategic option. Several blue options are about weighing what is going on, or Grace stepping back to take in her different paths. Green meanwhile has a lot to do with empathy. In my first playthrough I often found myself leaning towards Green options solely because they were instinctive, gut reactions on how to handle people going through something difficult, or to try and mellow out a situation.

All of this is to say, it is utterly fascinating how these choices interact in different scenes in ways that immediately lean into both the character you are choosing for Grace to be, and those she is interacting with. Take Medusa for example. The pure Red track of that fight is all but an actual fight. Grace is taking this in a very hero vs. monster direction and throughout is almost eager to get to actual blows, meanwhile Green leans much more into the angle of Medusa as a victim, a tool being poorly used by the woman who first wronged her anyway. And Blue is manipulative. It sees the paths before Grace and says "I don't need to fight this person, I can use her hurting to get what I want."

We see this even more clearly in Aphrodite's song, and in your first meeting with Persephone, but in different forms. In those songs, while Red is still extremely antagonistic, it takes on much different contexts. With Persephone, Grace is still spoiling for a fight, but a lot of it comes off as less heated. Yeah she is trying to rev up Persephone and cut her down, but it feels a lot more like a poetry slam or rap battle than lines preceding an all out brawl. Meanwhile with Aphrodite it's Grace trying to cut through flowery words and get to the heart of what she sees as the problem with this whole situation.

And to top all of this off, and not go on forever since this is already more than long enough, the way the latter half of the game has you choose another personality trait for Grace, the story not just telling you she has changed and grown but actively making it an element of the game by expanding your special option choices, is brilliant. It naturally, on a first playthrough, leads you into picking a secondary option that is most in line with the way you have been taking Grace as things unfold. If you started the game eager to fight but have since seen the story unfold and feel a calmer, more empathetic approach is warranted, you'll naturally pick that option because it feels appropriate, and same for any other combination. It not only opens up more gameplay, but entwines gameplay with story, and allows you as the player to feel the journey Grace has been on. As yet another link to classical epic poetry it is a slam dunk, and as a gameplay mechanic that reinforces your connection to the character, it's a double slam dunk.

[il-predestinato]

Hi! Can we have some context (and a lil' snippet of course 😉) of the evolutionary theory of attraction? Thank you ❤️

Oh yes, absolutely! It's inspired by this sequence from the Imperfects, a Netflix show where one of the characters' superpower is emitting very powerful pheromones. So everyone in her vicinity develops an unstoppable attraction/obsession with her. Specifically, I was inspired by the scene where she sprays a bottle of air freshener at her pursuers to break the pheromone smell and run away. 🤣 Well, I was thinking - our little Monegasque croissant already has VERY. DEVOTED. OBSESSIVE. FANS. What if we just turned that up a notch?

(Also to everyone else, I see your requests in my inbox! Have to bolt after this one but I will get back to you! 🥰)

title: the evolutionary theory of attraction (aka. Charles Leclerc and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Race Weekend)

summary: Of course, it would be typical Charles Leclerc luck that his body would pick the 2022 Monza race weekend to start uncontrollably emitting pheromones. And of course the only person immune to his scent is his very secret crush rival Max Verstappen.

Later, upon reflection - after he prevented a near apocalyptic event on planet Earth, and that was hardly a hyperbole - he would say that it all went to shit in the media pen after free practice. The week had started brightly enough, and Charles at the very least thought he could hold onto some measure of hope until Sunday - as history would suggest for this calendar year, but it seemed like his race weekend took its usual plunge much earlier.

To his best recollection, it started with an innocuous moment with Max Verstappen (typical, as far as unforeseen important events in his life went). Not that Charles willed it or anything, but the contact was initiated by the Dutchman, who brushed an arm against his in the “zoo.” (A term for the media pen that Alex coined affectionately in the drivers’ WhatsApp group, comparing them to animals to be gawked at, poked, and prodded for commercial gain. Albeit, very privileged and pampered animals, as Guanyu pointed out.)

An accidental touch, of course. Out of politeness alone (Max later insisted, while Charles rolled his eyes), the Red Bull driver paused beside him, which was not usual, and Charles waited patiently to receive his usual smile and greeting, but Max didn’t do either. Instead, he scrunched his nose - still slightly sunburned from the summer break - and sniffed twice at the air around Charles, which was unquestionably unusual.

Frowning and suddenly self-conscious, Charles looked down at his slightly sweaty team polo and gave a tentative sniff of his own. Sure, he was a little sweaty, but he didn’t notice any scent other than his usual anti-perspirant.

Max blinked once, twice, and then broke out in a wide smile. The one that scrunched the corners of both of his eyes, which was not something that Charles would ever admit to noticing, but nevertheless had the resulting effect of Charles forgetting whatever thoughts had preceded that moment.

“New body spray?” teased Max. “It’s not bad.”

Charles shook his head. “Flirt,” he muttered under his breath, after making sure the nearest microphone was well out of pick up range, earning both a soft chuckle and even deeper eye crinkles from his rival. If his heart thumped a little loudly, well - he would deny it with his dying breath.

Before either of them could get another word in, Max was promptly whisked away by his press officer to attend his next interview.

Ignoring his poorly disguised disappointment, his own press officer, Mia, beckoned him from a few metres away, directing him towards Ted Kravitz from SkySports. “Last one.”

Plastering a smile to his face, Charles made his way obediently towards Ted, who started off predictably with a question about Ferrari’s recent troubles. He was about halfway through his rehearsed answer about the team working hard to fix their setup issues when it happened again.

Ted, eyes almost half glazed over with a bead of sweat forming on his hairline, turned his head back and forth and… sniffed the air.

Charles was now really starting to feel self-conscious. Faltering mid-sentence, he glanced towards Mia, wondering if she should maybe call for medical assistance for poor Ted, or at the very least give Charles an excuse to leave and take a shower. But she too scrunched her nose and stared at Charles with a half-blank expression.

Ted broke the silence first. “You smell amazing!” exclaimed the reporter.

“Uh, thanks -” he stuttered, bewildered, but Ted cut him off swiftly.

“Charles, how does it feel to be the most handsome driver in the whole paddock?” Without waiting for a response, Ted leaned in - close enough that Charles could smell the other man’s… shampoo? Hair spray? He really didn’t want to know. It took every bit of his media training to not recoil dramatically at the sudden invasion of his personal space. But the SkySports reporter was undaunted, and added, “We must get a drink together after this.”

Deciding that he no longer cared if Head of Communications Silvia Hoffer Frangipane (Mattia may be the Team Principal but Sivia is - well, the boss) showed up in the zoo herself and strangled him then and there, Charles took two stumbling steps backwards and tried to unlock his half-open jaw. Then he tried pinching his arm to wake up from this bizarre nightmare. All that accomplished was a sore arm and a wave of disappointment at the realization that he was very much awake.

Fortunately, Mia intervened. “That’s an inappropriate question -” But Charles’s relief was short-lived. “What you should be asking Charles is how it feels to be the most handsome man in the whole world.”

Charles gaped at her. Either Andrea put hallucinogens instead of vitamins into his breakfast juice, or Twitter was correct and this season has caused him to lose his last shred of sanity.

“Of course,” snapped Ted, clearly annoyed by her interjection. “Charles, I will tell you how handsome you are over dinner. And then we can go back to my hotel room.”

“Over my dead body!” screeched Mia, lunging at the reporter. “I work with Charles. I love him! I have always been in love with him.”

Charles laughed - a hollow, humourless, desperate sound - as he started backing away in earnest.

Noticing his sudden movement, Mia and Ted advanced in his direction, still clawing at each other, and he was suddenly reminded of a scene from a zombie film he dearly regretted watching. Half of the people in the media pen, drivers and reporters alike, had paused their own interviews to stare at him.

Before he could lose his nerve, Charles decided to make a run for it. Ferrari can afford paying the fine.

Predictably, with his lack of luck this season, he managed to barrel straight into Max in his haste, almost knocking both of them to the ground.

“Charles?” He sounded concerned, not grumpy, despite Charles’s best attempt at bowling. “What’s wrong?”

Charles could hear his own rapid breathing and was all too aware of how close Max’s face was to his own. The blue eyes that stared back at him were confused but not unfocused, and the warm hand on Charles’s arm made his skin tingle.

“There’s something going on -” he started, but a new unwelcome touch on his cheek caused him to flinch.

Max’s press officer was no longer next to her charge, but pressed against Charles. “Oh my darling,” she tittered at Charles. “Are you hurt?” She nuzzled - actually nuzzled - his cheek, and Charles nearly swallowed a strand of her hair. “Show me where,” she cooed, unperturbed. “I’ll kiss it better.”

“Okay, what the fuck -” cursed the Red Bull driver, eyes wide in disbelief.

Wrenching his arm out of Max’s grasp, Charles bolted.

[genericpuff]

Minthe, Pyros, and how LO treats motherhood.

I wrote a piece on this over on reddit but wanted to make a dedicated post here.

So I'm sure I'm not the only one a little miffed by Episode 212-214's development concerning Minthe. But I feel like there's one thing that has yet to really be mentioned in any of these discussions.

There's this... issue that often arises in stories written about female characters, and it's not one that's exhibited purely by uninformed male writers (like those passages of women looking in the mirror and commenting on their bodies in great, hyperbolic detail, that's absolutely "a man wrote this" energy lol).

The issue I'm getting at specifically is one that seems to come up universally regardless of the gender of the writer, and that's regarding the usage of motherhood and childrearing in media when concerning a female character.

Some women want children. Others don't. Both are valid. But for some reason, it tends to be a trend in media for women who don't want children to still somehow inevitably end up with them, whether it's through adoption or pregnancy, whatever have you. On its own, this might be fine for some stories, you get the character realizing "wow kids aren't actually that bad!" But when it becomes a trend for female characters to constantly "evolve" into characters who like raising children, that's when it starts to become a sort of unrealistic, unhealthy precedent.

I get what Rachel is trying to do here, opening Minthe's flashback with a scene about her mother and how her mother clearly didn't want kids but ended up with one anyways; and then ending it with Minthe, who ALSO didn't want kids but ALSO ended up with them anyways (albeit not biological) but showing the difference in how Minthe handles the situation.

But it's not being done well because it's failing to recognize that 1.) women should be allowed to not want children and not be seen as the villain (disclaimer: this isn't me saying how Minthe's mother treated her is an excuse, if anything I feel like the inclusion of Minthe's mother at this point in time feels very scapegoaty?), and 2.) teaching a preschool class is anything like raising a child as a single mother.

But this mirrors that deeper issue that I mentioned above. That Minthe, a character who didn't want to get married and didn't want to have children, has her character arc resolved by her taking care of children. You see what I'm getting at here? There's this constant trend of women in literature and media "finding their calling" through children. That a woman's character arc can't be considered "complete" until she's had children or "learned to love them."

IDK what Rachel has against moms, but I'm really tired of seeing LO's motherly characters get reduced to overbearing assholes; while characters who are assholes are "fixed" by having children (not just with Minthe, even Hades - it's a common 'defense' I see that "Hades will be better at it when he has his own biological children, how he treated Thanatos has nothing to do with how he'll be as a dad!"🚩🚩🚩) It sets a very weird precedent ESPECIALLY when you remember that Minthe was also someone who was designed with BPD.

The cliffhanger we got a few weeks ago was of Minthe saying she "had something to do" after spotting Demeter. This led us to believe she'd be confronting her. Instead, we get Minthe... going to work to teach nymphs how to write resumes. Honestly, I think people's predictions from that cliffhanger way back would have been far more suitable - have Minthe approach Demeter and talk about her unresolved issues with her mother and all the reflecting she did while in plant form and tie it into Demeter's development and how she views/treats her own daughter. Having her just clearly "moved on" is... fine, but not really as impactful as it could have been to see Minthe ACTUALLY develop beyond her issues besides just telling Thetis to fuck off (for a second time, I might add) and ignoring Hades (as we're led to believe by her choosing to go to work instead of going along with Thetis' crap).

Minthe taking over a classroom of preschoolers does not solve ANY of the pre-established problems she had, it doesn't even begin to address her own insecurities or problems she exhibited from her side of her relationship with Hades. It's just "look! she's gonna be a better mom than her own mom was!" which tells us... what exactly? How is that something that's relevant to Minthe's character arc? How does that feel 'resolved'? Especially considering, again, this is a classroom of kids that are all gonna return to their own homes after the day is done. Maybe Minthe will go on to adopt Pyros, who knows, but even if she does, that's solving a different problem that Minthe doesn't have. A child is not going to "fix" her, none of her character development or conflicts with other characters in the narrative had anything to do with childrearing.

Motherhood should not be the default resolution to a woman's character arc.

[simp-ly-writes]

Meet the Doctor pt.3

Pairing: Stardew Valley Harvey x Reader

Summary: Harvey had never seen the reader until now, what on earth was running through his head during it all?

Warnings: mentions of anxiety, scratching, cuteness.

A/N: did you drink water today? inspired by the 2 hearts scene.

Masterlist | Taglist | edited.

Meet the Doctor Series (pt.1) (pt.2) (pt.3) (pt.4) (pt.5) (pt.6) (pt.7) (pt.8) (pt.9) (pt.10) you are here

George wagged his finger in Harvey’s direction in a motion to shush him; his hearing was perfectly fine or at least that is what the senior thought as Harvey began scratching at his arms, trying to fight himself for snapping back. 

Life could be so much easier if people would just listen to one another. Harvey thought to himself. Evelyn has expressed many concerns about her husband's hearing, and how deeply it was affecting things at home. It was hard to hear that two long term patients of his were doing poorly back at home, and equally hard hearing how much they loved and cared for one another even during stressful moments such as this one. 

George, with your best interests in my mind and heart, you need to make these changes to your lifestyle if you want to stay healthy and want your relationships to stay healthy. Evelyn has expressed her concerns to me about you and Maru as well. I’d like you to try out a hearing device- it can only be temporary but you may find out in the end that you are living a better and happier life for not only yourself, but the people around you if you were to do this. Harvey expressed to George, sincerity dripping from each word as his eyes desperately tried to find a solution to this longing issue while looking over the room. 

Hmph… I know what's best for me and for the people I hold dearest. I don’t need my doctor to tell me off about my home life. George bit back to the healthcare provider. 

Harvey countered, voice strained, George, I have studied years to help, care and provide for others, that is what I am doing here today in this room with you. Fulfilling the duty I pledged myself to. I am pleading with you to go forward with your doctor’s and your wife’s recommendation. 

Yet the war in the room had been shut down for the day as Maru made her way into the room, informing Harvey that the farmer had arrived. Harvey nodded, looking over George once more as he began to pack up his supplies and Maru moved to take over the last of George’s appointment; inform the long term patient of the new medication offered while refiling his old ones. 

--

Harvey moved out of the room and into the hallway. Stopping to take a deep breath and to shake the stress out of his body. 

How will I ever convince the old man; he will be much happier being able to hear better. Harvey thought to himself as he continued his way across the hall, absent mindly clicking his black pen to alleviate the tension growing in himself. 

Upon first entering the room, he sees you sitting there and leans forward slightly; giving you a quick look over for anything in need of immediate medical attention. Coming up with nothing, he goes straight to the papers sitting upon the desk and begins to read the notes from your past doctors in order to obtain some of your medical history and any concerns that may affect the preceding appointment. 

Humming to himself upon completion, he begins a new note for today's session while taking a sip of much needed caffeine. Smiling to himself for Maru’s forward thinking in providing this form of liquid sustenance. Turning around, his smile continues as he properly looks over your face, extending his hand forward as an introduction. 

Hello Y/N, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Harvey and I am a licensed doctor in the Valley, welcome to my clinic. I was worried that you would never show up, those farm working conditions really take a toll on one's body and I just wanted to make sure that you are managing everything alright from a health provider's side. And that if you ever feel uncomfortable at all during our session, I would always be happy to discuss exactly what I am doing and why it is in your best health interests. 

He could feel the clauses in your hands you connected and he began moving to begin setting up the necessary equipment, only to feel himself stopped by your hand in his. Observing how snugly your hand fits into his larger one from this extended connection. You quickly drop his hand and apologise as he moves back into working form, taking off his jacket in the process he notices your eyes still follow his head and how they move down towards his exposed forearms. 

Cheeks becoming rosy, Harvey swiftly back on his heels to face you, the examination officially starts as his heart picks its space while being in your proximity. He notices the intricacies of your facial features, the fullness of your small smile in his direction when you think he doesn't see it alongside the comforting earthy undertones you smell of. Yet through the stethoscope he hears your heart beating in tune with his as he makes his way back to the papers, ruffling his hair in the process.

He debates questioning this observation of heart to only come back empty handed with your reply. Silly of him to think otherwise with a patient, what would George think now of him? Thankfully he is not in the room. Harvey thought to himself. How silly of him indeed.. Even when he could feel your little breaths as he inspected your mouth for potential infection or inflammation. And how your chin moved forward as his fingers moved away. Harvey silently sips his coffee while looking you over and writing the test results down. 

--

The appointment eventually finishes up to Harveys equal delight and sorrow. He begins to discuss with you the next steps moving forward with your health plan and you two shake hands, and hold eyes once more. Harvey misses the warmth of your hand in his and the brightness of your eyes as you turn and run out the door, saying goodbye to Maru on your way out as she enters to help Harvey to sanitize the room. 

I really need a good glass of wine and a night out soon, Harvey thinks, I'll join you on that one, Maru replies, what a long day it has been at the clinic… Harvey laughs aloud as Maru begins to rub circles on his back; comforting the Doctor’s tired state, only a few more days of appointments and they’d be set free from the clinical halls and latex gloves.

To be continued.

Meet the Doctor Series (pt.1) (pt.2) (pt.3) (pt.4) (pt.5) (pt.6) (pt.7) (pt.8) (pt.9) (pt.10) you are here

[mimicteruyo]

A quick project update because my insomnia's making writing very difficult but it's still on my mind.

So I'm currently trying to muddle my way through:

Multichapter project 1: a.k.a. the hell WIP. I actually haven't touched it since incorporating my notes into the project, but considering what a hot mess the rough draft is it could use a longer rest anyway. The general structure is likely already as good as it's going to get, but fixing everything else… oof. I'm bracing myself for a preliminary rewrite to precede my usual editing passes. At least I finally came up with a likely title! (tfw I already used what would've been the ideal title nearly a decade ago, but at least the current title is also appropriate & even rhymes with that title 😂).

Multichapter project 2: oh look it's structural issues all over the place. This one is the simplest one of my current projects, so hopefully I can wrangle it into shape without too much pain, but it definitely needs some more polish.

Multichapter project 3: this time the structure is fine, but I'm worried I'm not doing enough to include all the necessary information: it's kind of dense and I worry the pacing is too fast to convey what I hope to get across. If nothing else, I know the most crucial dialogue scene in the fic is hopelessly broken (it's one of those things where I had a fully formed idea for the scene and simply wrote down some markers because I was convinced I'd remember…and then I didn't.), so that certainly requires some extra attention.

Multichapter project 4: I never even finished the rough draft and now have to toss out most of it anyway (the pacing issues alone were just yikes). However, at this point I'm confident that once I write new chapter summaries and start over, I'll be able to see it to the end.

Misc. shorts: one of these has a serious structural issue I still haven't solved, but hopefully the rest will be relatively easy to edit once I've let the drafts be for a while. 🤞

Hopefully everyone's doing well! I can't wait for my sleep deprivation to ease so that I can think straight again. Fight!

[hunter-sylvester]

I honestly feel bad for Hunter. Having neglectful parents suck, I can see why he’s so attached to Kevin. Especially considering they’ve been friends since third grade (I think). I’d be scared if my friend started running off with some chick too tbh. Because now it’s not just us anymore.

[although Hunter still has Robbie, I love Robbie]

You and me both, Anon 💔 [prev ask for context]

And you’re preaching to the choir about neglectful parents lmao there’s a reason I relate to him so heavily. More like about a million reasons but that’s beside the point.

I agree and I definitely think it plays a very large part. Even the band’s name changing is symbolic of that loss of the illusion of them that Hunter was living under. I didn’t touch on it much in the previous analysis because I was trying to stay focused on his parental issues. But when discussing his attachment to Kevin in any way it’d be an oversight to ignore the fact that Hunter is in love with him. Dare I say canonically.

“When I first got the script, the first thing which popped out to me was that Hunter seemed like he was in love with Kevin.” – Adrian Greensmith

It's how Adrian played Hunter. It's as close to canon as it can be without it being in the script.

Although I do not think that it's entirely necessary to accept him being in love with Kevin for the following to make sense, it does enrich it imo.

So in my mind he subconsciously believes that Kevin and he are something. Something more than simply best friends. Not that he’s able to realize that. He automatically pushes everything down the second he feels it. Unless it's anger, of course. [emotional regulation issues | father]

You can see him repress his emotions so clearly here.

And yeah, the bandname. In the same scene, we get a quote I always read entirely too much into love to analyze deeply. Watch how he says it. It means way more to him than it should.

Skullfucker is them. It's Kevin & Hunter. It's his idea of them and their future. Of touring and performing together. Of striding into adulthood together.

His preceding "You can't. You can't-" is him practically begging Kevin not to abandon him. [abandonment issues | mother]

"You can't leave me because we are Skullfucker. Skullfucker is us. You can't break us. You can't throw me away, you were supposed to be the one that doesn't throw me away because we're us. You can't break Skullfucker."

It makes sense that Skullfucker is quite a 'strong' and over-the-top, even violent name. It's everything Hunter wants to project outward to protect himself and what he has with Kevin. Aside: it changing to Skullflower, which has a softer connotation while still befitting a metal band, can easily be read as symbolic of Hunter being forced to learn it's okay to be vulnerable as well. But that'd be a tangent and a half.

Kevin is shattering his entire world in the scene. He's taking a fucking sledgehammer to it.

"You need me a lot more than I need you. Without me all of your dumb fantasies disappear. But without you I might actually live a real life." - Kevin Schlieb

"Dumb fantasies" can be read as the more obvious. Namely, their band making it big while Hunter has to make zero compromises to his vision. Or there is the arguably more painful version. Hunter's dumb fantasy is them. Them together. Them being anything. Which certainly all falls apart without Kevin.

Aside: I wish to note that while I think Kevin makes a good number of painfully accurate points during this fight, I don't think he means all of it at his core. It's said in the heat of the moment and should thus be taken with a grain of salt. "You need me a lot more than I need you. Without me all of your dumb fantasies disappear." These lines I view as painfully accurate. "But without you I might actually live a real life." This one I think is not to be taken entirely at face value. It is said in anger with the intention to hurt in my opinion. And it works. But it's not what Kevin actually thinks.

He lashes out after this. As it's the only way he knows how to deal with anything and it beats having to examine why this is shattering his very being. [emotional regulation issues | father]

Aside: let it not be thought that I in any way condone his actions leading up to this scene. While the speech class scene is my favorite scene in the movie, Hunter's actions in it towards Emily are inexcusable. And the consequences that follow are something he brought upon himself.

There is also a case to be made for this being an example of or affected by Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria, as I view all the members of Skullflower as being AuDHD (ADHD + Autistic).

But to circle back to Kevin running off with Emily...yeah. Of course that shatters him. Kevin is the only person that he feels safe around and on top of that he's in love with him.

His bubble of safety and his presumption that Kevin is his are turned to dust before his eyes and he doesn't even know why it's hitting him as hard as it is.

Also yes, they have indeed been best friends since third grade.

"Hunter's been my best friend ever since he stopped Molly Levine from pulling out my hair in third grade" - Kevin Schlieb

And yes, Robbie rules. We love Robbie in this household. I love that he's someone Hunter can also lean on. Even if it does have to be through very heavy projection.

And a hug. You can't fault a good hug.

I will emphasize tho, he never actually loses Kevin.

He couldn't. The way in which he thought he lost Kevin was a way he never had him to begin with. Kevin is still his best friend, still his bandmate and still someone who is safe and who is there for him. Kevin was just angry at him (and for good reason, let's be real). But he wasn't actually abandoning him. Hunter only felt like he did. [abandonment issues | mother]

Look no further than the fact he broke him out of Rehab. He came back for him because that is what Kevin does. Even if he gets mad, even if they fight, even if Hunter acts entirely out of line, Kevin is never gone. Never lost.

There will be consequences, absolutely. But he'd have to do a lot worse to actually lose Kevin for real. Tune in next time, where I will explain why Hunter and Kevin's relationship fits a BDSM bratting dynamic /j ANYWAY-

I do think their relationship is special. Just not necessarily in a way that involves kissing, unfortunately for Hunter.

Thank you so much for asking, Anon 🤘 If you are the same Anon from last time, then thank you again. I enjoy going on these incomprehensible rants and I'm massively thankful for being asked about my special interest like this. It's very nice ^-^