Haunted 1-43
It works like this: you have the whole scene in your head, it’s so clear. She bursts up and yells “Who wants coffee?” to the whole office. All eyes will be on her; that’s what’s going to happen. Then you realize Iliana’s hiding under her desk behind the partition, Ari’s behind the same partition, Sergio’s behind a different partition, Miles is at the reception desk, Sirak is installing the landline in Xiyuan’s office, and Gail is hiding in the basement storage area. Now she’s just yelling to what looks like an empty office. You, of course, realize this after you’ve inked the background in that humdinger of a last panel. You stare at the screen and think about what you’ve done. You say to yourself, “fuck it, there are rap songs and illustrations of ghost snails on the line,” and keep chugging forward anyway.
The answer is me. I want coffee.
(If you’re curious, I’ll just drop this link here.)
(Also—I know this is a bit too late—if you usually get links to the new stuff from the forums, I don’t really feel comfortable on the forums anymore, so I’m going to stop posting there for a while. Sorry!)
All I can think of is Sergio shaking his head and fml-ing in his partition/cubicle.😆Hopefully he likes coffee.
Hahaha! If that were the case, coffee would be the first thing we have confirmation that Sergio actually likes, besides Althea, I guess.
for some reason wp logged me off so you might have a comment in your spam folder from me 😄
I am drinking coffee! I think I have yelled “Who wants coffee!” to an empty office before. Reading this makes me grateful not to be in an office anymore, so much awkwardness upon awkwardness! The only thing that made it fun (besides work I adored) were all the others who felt even more awkward! Of course I love any episode that features Champei. Did she really reconnect the puzzle after finally getting it apart? I hope I didn’t contribute to forum discomfort. I realize I was spamming as I replied to so many posts, and I was kind of excited you and Monasolstraale were there, so I might have been overly positive in my replies. My apologies if being out of sync with the tone or conversation contributed to or exasperated feelings of not being seen or heard. I feel I was hollering “who wants coffee” into the empty office.
Haha, don’t worry about the forums! You didn’t contribute to the discomfort at all! Honestly, most people behaved reasonably & had excellent points, but there was just enough “let’s pile on the ideological outsider for clout” that I decided to nope out before it got worse.
(Specifically, everyone was fine except Snowbnuuy and possibly SnuffyBucket, but I wouldn’t expect someone to catch on without context. Snowbnuuy’s deleted comment, paraphrased, boiled down to “Simple writing is great! You don’t want to sound like one of those annoying pretentious assholes anyway. Their writing is inaccessible and not enjoyable, and it’s so obvious they’re just using big words to show off and make readers feel insecure.” It was several paragraphs of how much she HATES stories like mine; it wasn’t a misunderstanding as she claims.
SnuffyBucket is one of many and I mean many authors who habitually reply to all comments on their stories except mine. You’ll notice that both people acted in bad faith & ignored the crux of the message to unilaterally criticize me, and even though they responded to something I said, they felt the need to address the forums as a whole rather than addressing me directly.)
So at the first signs of no one else calling out Snowbnuuy’s bullying—and realizing they could make themselves appear more inclusive by excluding me—I fled. I know from experience it’ll end poorly if I try to handle that myself. They’ll just double down because admitting I have a point will make them look mean.
Aaaanyway, my point is, don’t worry about it. All I can do is stop chasing widespread acceptance, cherish the people who do accept me, and curate spaces where this doesn’t happen to other unlucky folks. (Thank you for being yourself and being awesome, by the way!! Can’t say it enough.)
Anyway my actual point is, whew, I just knew Champei would turn out to be your favorite! She takes a lot of inspiration from the same person who inspired Charlie, and this person happens to be on the spectrum… and happens to be married to me. There was a time where she hadn’t gelled yet compared to the rest of Drama Club. But now she’s singlehandedly driving the plot bus, and I’m proud of her. That is, one hand on the wheel and the other resetting the metal puzzle for the next person to enjoy!
Oh, thanks for clarifying–I was pretty sure I’d missed all the specifics and some of the context and since I sometimes stumble in those kinds of situations, I wanted to be sure to check in. And… yes, I have such a huge friend-crush on Champei! That face! Fidget toys! And all the clues! Also, yelling into empty rooms! Yeah, of course Charlie is a favorite, too, so also of course, your spouse must be amazing!
Sorry Dolly. I can’t help but read your reply to Cathytea. Thank you for explaining what happened. I missed the entire discussion and reading the thread after, there was too much context missing.
I want to commend you for standing up for yourself and your way of writing. I grew up in a poor literacy environment and while my language and writing skills are average by world standards, I have felt and experienced the isolation as you did, where my speaking and writing is too ‘different’. that by exercising the full range of my vocabulary, I would make others feel insecure. There was a strong pressure to conform to gain acceptance and that has led to some bad habits and perceptions that would take years to undo. You might not know or maybe you do, thank you for being that voice of representation. And as an ex esl teacher, I can confidently say that you’re helping a lot of young uns who are trying to gain stronger language proficiency but face discrimination as they practice new skills. Change is a slow process. I have hope that you’re points are taken and definitely not forgotten.
Thank you so much.
My heart was split in half and I had to drop everything and tear up.
I hate conflict, and only said anything because I suspected there might be others who feel the same way. There’s my friend in another fandom who faces the exact same issues and even gets anonymous hate mail on Tumblr for her work. There’s my friend who got shunned by her entire department for years during her PhD program for standing up for her beliefs. And here you are!
So here’s even more evidence that you belong here & fit in great. In fact! My ladies who have crossed the education barrier, formal or otherwise, from “awww, how cute, she thinks she’s people” to “SHUN SHUN SHUN SHUN SHUN,” where are you?! Come out!
If I’m being honest, I thought Champei zestfully yelling COFFEE COFFEE WHO WANTS COFFEE into an empty office was intentional because it’s so funny. It’s just a coffee mood — and maybe a Champei mood! We’re still getting to know her. (I love a girl with Hayley Kiyoko hair who wears a green suit [with elbow patches] and oxfords. This is soft butch representation.)
Anyway, we already have visual evidence that answers the question posed in the second panel. They’re gonna go berserk.
Can I just say I love how you’ve built up suspense for something that is so inherently silly? I’m drawn into the Spy Club’s shenanigans, and I look forward every week to these pages. Thanks always for being yourself and continuing to share your stories.
Oh, man, now I’m upset on Champei’s behalf that she has to wait decades for Hayley Kiyoko’s music career to take off.
<3 <3 <3 as always <3 <3 <3
OBSESSED. Listen, sometimes the office is busy and there is no one there to hear your coffee screams. The gleefulness with which she skipped into the room made me cackle.
And now that I’m catching up I’m sorry about the forums. I feel like a dummy that I tagged you so much. I just love CT and did not realize what happened. I’m sorry.
Eff. I was going to end this with another joke about Nina but that is not the vibe. I will say that I love CT. I love getting lost in it, and the complexity of it is part of the joy. The thing about fan fiction is that it gives you a variety of interpretations to enjoy. Watching all the ways people express themselves with this game is part of the joy and no one is “better” or “worse” for pursuing a particular writing style.
Anyways, I know this was awhile ago and I’m late so I won’t dwell on it except to say I remain a fan <3
Hahaha, don’t worry about the forum thing. It really wasn’t that bad. I just saw people responding to what they thought I said—and not what I actually said—and didn’t have the spoons to deal with that.
A million times this!! Lately, all I want to do is sneak in messages about appreciating other people for their talent and gassing them up. It’s so hard not to spoil an upcoming plot point about Althea. Shoot. Eh, there are contextual clues that point toward the true nature of their relationship, even if no one’s ready for it.
I do feel bad I couldn’t hype BBD in the same thread, but will try to figure out how to make up for that :/