What was it he did? I cant miss an opportunity to drag Ross
So! First! He made out with Rachel while he was still dating Julie
THEN, he couldn’t decide which one he wanted to date more, so he kept dating Julie and didn’t tell Rachel anything about his decision after they had kissed
THEN he made a pros and cons list to decide whether or not to dump Julie so he could date Rachel and he wrote shit like: Too ditzy, too spoiled, too into her looks, not much in common since she’s just a waitress, and she has fat ankles
THEN, after he finally decided to dump Julie and be with Rachel, he tried to hide the list from her but she found it anyway and got rightfully pissed off
THEN he tried to make all sorts of excuses for the list without actually apologizing
THEN he ignored Rachel’s choice to be alone by CLIMBING UP THE SIDE OF THEIR BUILDING INTO THEIR FUCKING BALCONY to try and force her to listen to him read her “Pro-list”
THEN he gets his other friends to let him into the house after Rachel makes it clear that she doesn’t want to see him by going into her room
THEN Rachel tries to explain to him why she’s so hurt by the list by telling him that all the things he wrote on the list were things she actually hates about herself and it sucks he not only agrees with her but actually uses those things as reasons not to be with her
THEN he CONTINUES to try and make excuses for himself and even try to make her feel bad about being mad at him by turning the situation around by saying “If things were the other way around, there’s nothing you could write about me that would make me not want to be with you”
THEN, after Rachel makes it clear that she’s not interested in talking to him, he calls Monica and asks her to turn on the radio since he made a song request for her so he’s basically forcing Rachel to listen to him
SO IN CONCLUSION: He didn’t apologize ONE TIME for the list, he tried to manipulate Rachel into forgiving him by saying she’s overreacting, AND proceeded to ignore Rachel’s wishes for a little bit of space continuously
The thing with telling “cliche” stories, but with representation, is… these stories aren’t cliche for us.
Picture this. The people at the table next to you have been getting chocolate cake as a dessert for YEARS. After every meal, they get a chocolate cake. Now, it’s been years, and the people at that table can barely stand chocolate anymore. They want maybe a cheesecake. Or lemon mousse.
But your table? Has NEVER had chocolate cake. Mousse is also good, but you are SO hungry for that chocolate cake, cause you never had it before, and it’s brand new for you, and you’ve been watching the other table eat it for YEARS.
That’s what’s like getting a “cliche” story that’s representative. Has it been done a million times before? Yes. Has it ever been done for US? Well… no. Maybe it’s the 500th chocolate cake in existence, but all the other chocolate cakes weren’t meant for us (girls/PoC/queer folk/disabled folk/etc)
So it being cliche is not a bad thing. You may not want chocolate cake anymore. But we want our slice too.
More Gnomeworld stuff. Oakfell is the town the protagonist trio start their journey from, and it’s a pretty typical small village. Gnome settlements tend to be built like fortresses, since so many animals are interested in eating
either
them or their crops. The spikes and planted pricklebushes around the perimeter are meant to deter large herbivores, which on the grasslands are hooved birds anywhere from turkey to horse sized. In addition to the small well-irrigated garden, Oakfell gnomes seasonally harvest and cultivate the region’s wild grasses, berry brambles, and nut trees. Some of the dirt rooms below the oak are used to keep their meat livestock: large fat beetles who happily turn garden scraps into protein.
The queen of Oakfell has been in charge of the village’s reproduction for about 18 years, and at the start of the tale is working on her 15th litter. As a gnome in the afternoon of her life, she has a full ruff and mustache– the protagonists are closer in age to the young adult I drew. She wears oats in her hat as a symbol of fertility.
a smug indulgence. tell yourself, “i’m gonna do this thing because i like it, and there’s nothing you can do to make me feel bad about it!” eat that cake! read that romance novel! be free!!!
