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lana is boxbot
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Jul 8, 2023 17:58
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| # ? May 15, 2024 19:25 |
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im boxbot
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Jul 8, 2023 19:16
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gunnerkrigg court is boxbot
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Jul 8, 2023 20:04
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Jerrek = the Obama administration boxbot = boxbot
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Jul 8, 2023 21:54
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We Are All boxbot
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Jul 8, 2023 22:03
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Boxbot (Vriska)
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Jul 8, 2023 22:27
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I actually enjoyed this page and am excited to see if anything comes of a potential Coyote/Kat conflict.
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Jul 10, 2023 11:36
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man I'm just not really feeling it even Coyote feels weirdly out of character. less spontaneity, all these weird tiny mouth grumpy expressions. coyote knows love is one of the most capricious forces there is, he also knows there's a ton of other gods from various cultures in existence. He really didn't anticipate, especially with creating a young teen unpredictable trickster god, that his heart might find someone else? Coyote, the trickster, completely hosed over and enraged by "basic YA romance plot"? The deadpan annoyance was funny for a couple pages but this just feels... off, bordering fanfictiony, unless the next page is a punchline where he goes from pretending to be cartoonishly angry to "lol, lmao". Like for the entire strip he's largely unflappable and very rarely been truly enraged - we see it when he swats Ysengrin into a wall like a fly during his first appearance, abrupt and terrifying and an unpredictable force of nature, and then back to normal before you know it. Thus I keep expecting these strips to end with "oh my plan went totally sideways? hahahaha! I suppose the heart wants what it wants" before he disappears into Jerrek's mouth forever. But it keeps going. Still not even clear what he was hoping to accomplish either because his stated intentions were just going to make it harder for Annie to kill him??? I was excited for Coyote to show up but the comic continues to be bad. There Bias Two posted:I actually enjoyed this page and am excited to see if anything comes of a potential Coyote/Kat conflict. Tiny Myers fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 10, 2023 11:42
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There Bias Two posted:I actually enjoyed this page and am excited to see if anything comes of a potential Coyote/Kat conflict. jerrek is going to let annie kill him in order to kill coyote (because they're still bound or something) to save kat lana will get mad at annie for killing jerrek e: this will happen in a chapter that starts with two characters in a grey void talking to each other about how hosed up the court/forest fighting is now that it's between kat and coyote Ursine Catastrophe fucked around with this message at 11:48 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 10, 2023 11:45
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Ursine Catastrophe posted:jerrek is going to let annie kill him in order to kill coyote (because they're still bound or something) to save kat lmfao  then two of Annie's old classmates show up dressed like a 1920s period film to lecture her about how terrible she is and say "never talk to us again", only to be followed by a chapter of Kat monologuing into the camera about how Annie's behavior has never once been wrong and this is how
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Jul 10, 2023 11:50
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Some sort of terrible golem?Tiny Myers posted:The deadpan annoyance was funny for a couple pages but this just feels... off, bordering fanfictiony, unless the next page is a punchline where he goes from pretending to be cartoonishly angry to "lol, lmao". That's what I've been expecting but who knows at this point.
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Jul 10, 2023 11:54
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Coyote needs to be cross and angry to illustrate that Jerrek’s romance was a Big Deal that has Changed Everything this sucks man
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Jul 10, 2023 12:22
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I wanted Coyote back, but not like this... 
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Jul 10, 2023 12:51
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Oxxidation posted:Coyote needs to be cross and angry to illustrate that Jerrek’s romance was a Big Deal that has Changed Everything it's explicitly Kat's godhood that is a Big Deal That Changed Everything, the romance is just consequence. It's just that we had to slog through that consequence as readers.
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Jul 10, 2023 12:54
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Coyote was more terrifying in scribble form before, this grumpiness doesn’t really match the “oh gently caress” stuff it feels like it should be building towards? Angry Coyote is a big dangerous deal the few times we’ve seen it, but it’s been played right now with him being the straightman to whacky romantic hijinks which is… weird. Unfun facts: So far in this chapter Annie has had two speech bubbles and both of them are about Loup. Her on-page talking time is beneath both Lana and Jerrek at the moment (Coyote is a given). In the entirety of the last chapter, Annie had a few pages of non-Loup focused conversation at the very start of the chapter with Kat… and then every single other page for the rest of the chapter was her talking about or with Jerrek. So yeah, the feeling of Jerrek being the main character for months is very much not in the bitter imagination.
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Jul 10, 2023 12:58
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coolusername posted:Unfun facts: So far in this chapter Annie has had two speech bubbles and both of them are about Loup. Her on-page talking time is beneath both Lana and Jerrek at the moment (Coyote is a given). the jechdel test
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Jul 10, 2023 12:59
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i think it's really funny actually that the trickster who builds himself up to be a cool and aloof mastermind is defeated because his terrible ship was sunk by a barely less terrible one
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Jul 10, 2023 13:13
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who else watched Lost?
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Jul 10, 2023 14:01
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"uhhh we need AN ending, fucken uhhhhhhh here you go"
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Jul 10, 2023 14:01
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Jul 10, 2023 14:30
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Jul 10, 2023 14:34
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poo poo pretend I remembered to change it to “jerrek”
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Jul 10, 2023 14:41
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Does the pacing feel like it’s going back and forth between approaching some sort of climax and setting up new arcs?
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Jul 10, 2023 14:54
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Pants Donkey posted:Does the pacing feel like it’s going back and forth between approaching some sort of climax and setting up new arcs? Yes for about 3 years now
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Jul 10, 2023 15:14
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coolusername posted:Coyote was more terrifying in scribble form before, this grumpiness doesn’t really match the “oh gently caress” stuff it feels like it should be building towards? Angry Coyote is a big dangerous deal the few times we’ve seen it, but it’s been played right now with him being the straightman to whacky romantic hijinks which is… weird. You’re totally right but also I kept reading and got reminded that Ysengrin had an entire monologue about how Tony isn’t abusive, or possibly that Annie just needed to tough it out. And it’s basically presented as him being tough but helping Annie move forward. Also gives Annie some poo poo about her makeup!
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Jul 10, 2023 15:24
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Pants Donkey posted:Does the pacing feel like it’s going back and forth between approaching some sort of climax and setting up new arcs? It's like he introduced Loup as a way to ramp up the stakes, wasn't quite sure what to do with him, then decided "Oh, I know what he needs - a romance arc where he supplants the protagonist as the primary focus of the comic"
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Jul 10, 2023 16:36
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So is the court just like picking it's nose while this is happening? Do Kat and Annie just own it now?
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Jul 10, 2023 16:41
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Pants Donkey posted:Does the pacing feel like it’s going back and forth between approaching some sort of climax and setting up new arcs? I first felt this when Loup initially attacked the Court, and the next chapter was Evac where it seemed nobody had any sense of urgency or alarm. It felt more like they were dealing with a flood than an attack from a god. I let it go then, but it seems to be a recurring theme. Joe Slowboat posted:You’re totally right but also I kept reading and got reminded that Ysengrin had an entire monologue about how Tony isn’t abusive, or possibly that Annie just needed to tough it out. And it’s basically presented as him being tough but helping Annie move forward. I loving hated that, but I thought maybe it was due to Ysengrin being a wolf who doesn't have/understand the full context of the situation. That and Ys accepted and loved Coyote despite Coyote's abuse, so he's not the best to talk to about Tony. I'm not so sure my interpretation is correct anymore though, lol.
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Jul 10, 2023 17:54
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catapede posted:I first felt this when Loup initially attacked the Court, and the next chapter was Evac where it seemed nobody had any sense of urgency or alarm. It felt more like they were dealing with a flood than an attack from a god. I let it go then, but it seems to be a recurring theme. But he also says "if he truly does hurt you", implying nothing Tony has done was actually hurtful, which always bothered me with how it felt like minimizing Annie's pain and trauma. I tried to see it as Ysengrin not understanding that because of his own issues - he's a wild animal of the forest, so he thinks of "harm" in terms more like physical violence. But.. then the chapter ends with her saying he was right and she was being "selfish" for being upset over her father's mistreatment. And then Tony never apologizes. Annie apologizes way more to Renard for letting Tony have control over him when she was in total trauma shutdown mode (????? ???? why did she treat this as some grand failure of hers). And we're constantly told Tony Has His Reasons. And Ysengrin shits on Annie for wearing make-up and you go back and look at how Annie getting rid of her make-up is seen as a sign of emotional maturity and aaaaa
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Jul 10, 2023 18:07
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catapede posted:I loving hated that, but I thought maybe it was due to Ysengrin being a wolf who doesn't have/understand the full context of the situation. That and Ys accepted and loved Coyote despite Coyote's abuse, so he's not the best to talk to about Tony. I'm not so sure my interpretation is correct anymore though, lol. Yeah my take on that was Ysengrin being hidebound and having a kind of "warrior culture" mentality. At the time I thought it was pretty clearly not meant to be good advice, especially with that scene later on where Jack and Annie were discussing and Jack straight up asked if the person who said that was particularly happy. Knowing what we do now, though...
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Jul 10, 2023 18:11
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Tiny Myers posted:But.. then the chapter ends with her saying he was right and she was being "selfish" for being upset over her father's mistreatment. Ehh I assume you're referring to this page in which case it reads to me more like her saying that she was being selfish by lashing out at Ysengrim when she was supposed to be escorting the faerie kid whose name I forget.
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Jul 10, 2023 18:38
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Tiny Myers posted:Yeah I took it as "Ysengrin has his own problems with emotional control and can't fully empathize with human issues, especially the struggles of a teenage girl, no matter how valid and painful they are. He doesn't understand how these simple things are indicative of his emotional neglect and disregard for her feelings, and willingness to humiliate her in front of her peers. But in his own way, he is being supportive and validating her on a level no one else is." I think the early warning signs for this were when Annie apologized to Jack for... Well, I don't know what for, for making him have a crush on her? It was implied she led him on, but I NEVER got that impression from anything she did. And then she asked for a kiss which was VERY confusing.
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Jul 10, 2023 18:40
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Jabarto posted:Yeah my take on that was Ysengrin being hidebound and having a kind of "warrior culture" mentality. At the time I thought it was pretty clearly not meant to be good advice, especially with that scene later on where Jack and Annie were discussing and Jack straight up asked if the person who said that was particularly happy. Ysengrin also gave her that advice that led to her splitting her spirit in two. His advice has always been kind of a crapshoot
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Jul 10, 2023 19:39
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Rotten Red Rod posted:I think the early warning signs for this were when Annie apologized to Jack for... Well, I don't know what for, for making him have a crush on her? It was implied she led him on, but I NEVER got that impression from anything she did. https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=926 Whether or not the two of them going off alone to an out-of-the-way balcony during an illicit night party counts as leading him on can be debated, but there's no argument that she absolutely tried to twist the knife when turning him down. Even if her interpretation of the situation was just that they were having a pleasant chat here reaction is a deliberate attempt to wound. At the very least that's what the apology is for, but yeah also her twisting the knife that hard implies her pleasant chatting wasn't exactly genuine to begin with. She asks him if he still wants a kiss for the same reason Jack tried for one in the first place - they're a pair of idiot teenagers at a secret party and kissing people is fun. e: ok there's a bit more to her reasons than that but that's the basics. Splicer fucked around with this message at 20:48 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 10, 2023 20:45
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Yeah while the Jack scene felt a little abrupt on my first reading, I legitimately like it a lot. It shows Annie having a cruel/cold streak, such as when she yells at Mort or tries to taunt Renard over Surma (scenes that also felt a little abrupt to me on my first reading and maybe could've used a little more foreshadowing, but still fine). I don't think Annie IS cruel or mean, is the thing. But all of us are capable of cruelty on some level. Everyone's done something then said "gently caress, that was actually mean and I regret that" later. Teenagers especially are growing people struggling to figure out what they want in life and how to control their emotions. Neglected, traumatized, sheltered/socially awkward teenagers with very little in the way of positive adult role models, even moreso - perfect victims rarely exist, abuse and trauma causes people to sometimes lash out and seek to hurt and control others on some level, perhaps as a way to feel more in control of their own circumstances. It made her feel more human and multifaceted to me. Like, her behavior wasn't good, morally, to be clear! Jack was right to call her out and she's right to apologize. I always really liked the closer of her asking for a kiss, too, because like someone else said, she's a teen at a party where teens are necking, and it's a very human, vulnerable moment. It's very sweet and realistic that even though Jack declines, they part on good terms. This comic used to be so good
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Jul 10, 2023 21:13
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It's kind of grating in retrospective that Annie keeps showing so many realistic signs of trauma in her personal interactions and reactions but then there is no payoff beyond "she should suck it up and grow up". The comic used to be more sympathetic to her, too, in the first half of the story, which is even more baffling. Or is the lesson here that children's pain is valid but once they are teenagers they should bootstrap themselves into maturity with no external help?
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Jul 10, 2023 21:15
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Splicer posted:Whut? Look at the malicious glee on her face in the fourth panel: Seriously? That little moment on the balcony is NOTHING compared to the bullshit Jack put her through. She was a bit teasing in that moment but it was not "twisting the knife". Are you not allow to "pleasantly chat" with someone you're going to turn down but intend on staying friends with? Plus this page basically invalidates anything Annie just did: https://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=930 Jack is the rear end in a top hat here. He's still creepy, whether he's mind controlled or not. I don't see anything Annie has to apologize for. And yet she does this weird thing where she lets down her hair and apologizes profusely like she'd destroyed his life when he's FINE. Ugh. I don't like that scene at all and I don't understand why anyone else does.
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Jul 10, 2023 21:34
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I think Jack is being an rear end, but Annie was kind of trying to engineer a chance to get to reject him with a zippy one-liner. Which isn’t evil but is like, a dumb teenage thing to do! And it does reflect her general difficulty with relationships, where she used to see being in control and having control of others’ reactions as kind of the goal, which fits with the whole ‘neglectful father and surrounded by weird demanding gods’ thing. It’s not as cruel as half the things in this comic, but she was hoping he’d take it harder than that. But, where she’s gone from there isn’t really growth, she’s just stopped trying to have relationships where she makes any decisions at all. Instead of an overly defensive back and forth, she’s just going “yeah this emotional neglect is fine.” E: later in that scene when Annie and Jack are having their heart to heart she says “you should be in control of your emotions” and that’s the actual content, she wanted to be the one in control and yank him around a bit, because she feels yanked around and out of control. I think it’s not done perfectly but he’s right to call her out for saying “it was a moment of anger and wanting revenge” because it wasn’t, it was a chance to have control and not be the one having an emotional moment. Which is all betrayed by her whole arc since Jean, really. Joe Slowboat fucked around with this message at 21:55 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 10, 2023 21:49
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Rotten Red Rod posted:Seriously? That little moment on the balcony is NOTHING compared to the bullshit Jack put her through. She was a bit teasing in that moment but it was not "twisting the knife". Are you not allow to "pleasantly chat" with someone you're going to turn down but intend on staying friends with? She's also definitely flirting with him throughout Faraway Morning. There's tons of flirting and physical contact throughout with the other character pairings, and that repeatedly acknowledged atmosphere creates the entire series of B plots. Meanwhile Annie lets him take her coat off, spends most of the night with him (implied to be hours), including deliberately, playfully chatting at the bar with him apart from the others. She acts interested in him, goes out on the balcony with him, draws closer physically. It is very clearly dictated Fictional Teen Flirting. And when he goes in for a romantic moment and kiss as the moment seems to be dictating, she smirks at him and says she doesn't like him. She is then irritated when he isn't bothered by this like she expected. I'm not-a-girl-but-treated-as-one, as well as a survivor of abuse similar to Annie's situation, so it's not like I'm some random dude saying she "led him on". I know women don't owe men anything. Even if a woman (or anyone else) shows earlier interest, she can at literally any point turn around and say "I changed my mind, no". Annie is entirely within her right to say "I'm sorry, I'm not interested in you like that" and decline an advance. But the point is, she deliberately does it in a dick way. She ADMITS it was on purpose - she says 1. it wasn't on impulse, but rather was something she'd been holding for a while (see the earlier linked strip as well as Jack calling her out when she tries to claim it was a Heated Annie Moment) 2. was because of a grudge over something where he was absolutely not in his right mind and APOLOGIZED REPEATEDLY for. Like, Annie was hella being weird and vindictive. The scene is kind of abrupt so I understand if you missed some of that, but that is 100% the intention. Jack is weird and a little neurotic, yeah, but most of his "creep" behavior was from spiders, and I don't think he deserved that from her. And while I dislike the term "baggage", having someone deliberately try to hurt you after playing nice the entire evening? It's not too unfair of an accusation. It's not a strike against her character! Like I said, it's a trauma survivor with a lot of misplaced anger learning a valuable lesson. It shows her being flawed and capable of making petty, lovely mistakes in what is, imo, a very realistic way. Tiny Myers fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Jul 10, 2023 |
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Jul 10, 2023 22:02
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I always interpreted it as her trying to get some insight into her mom. She knew at that point Surma faked affection for Renard to get him to come to the court amd be trapped. I feel like that's a big thing to process about one of your parents. I don't even know if there is a clear thought process there, just seeing how it feels to do something emotionally confusing your mom did, plus already kind of not liking the guy. I'm a woman who has definitely been on the wrong end of 'you owe men attention and reciprocation', and I still see that the comic was intentionally showing Annie pretending to flirt with Jack- or maybe trying on flirting with him to see if it worked for her, or maybe both and not being clear about what she wanted. When you're a teen you have complicated and often ambigous reasons for your emotions and actions. I don't really think anything is wrong with that plot point, even in retrospect. I liked that it was an emotionally complex situation. Also correctly observing that the story was potraying Annie doing that isn't the same as saying she owed Jack anything or that he never did anything wrong, wth.
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Jul 11, 2023 02:25
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