characters with quiet dignity
When it’s your moral and sworn duty to stop them but you also want to be supportive !!
So, your landlord/parents/home inspector/favorite movie star is dropping by, and your place is a disaster. You don’t have much time to clean it up. You’re in emergency mode. Let’s get started.
Don’t panic. Panic leads to fear, fear leads to procrastination, procrastination leads to the dark side. You can do this, but you have to stay calm.
Unlike maintenance cleaning, we’re not looking to completely unfuck one space at a time. Instead, we want to decrease the overall mess in stages, spread evenly across the whole area that we’re concerned about. If you think your home is at Level 10 filth, we want to bring the whole thing down to a Level 9, and then down from there. One really clean spot in an otherwise messy home is not going to be helpful here.
Get prepared. You’ll want to shut the computer down (or turn the modem off if you need your computer to play music). Trust me. Get your music going. Gather up trash bags, your vacuum and mop, some rags or paper towel, sponges, and other cleaning supplies. Use what you have on hand. Don’t get distracted running to the store and spending an hour browsing cleaning supplies. A multi-purpose cleaning concentrate or a jug of vinegar will be just fine.
Breaks are very important. Depending on your time constraints, work in 20/10s (20 minutes working, 10-minute break) or 45/15s. But take breaks because otherwise you’re marathoning, and marathon cleaning is no one’s friend. Keep hydrated, don’t forget to eat, and check in with yourself frequently to make sure you’re physically doing OK.
Make your bed. This will be your home base if you get overwhelmed or need somewhere clear to take a break.
Start with the garbage. Going from room to room, throw out anything that is obvious trash. Once you fill a bag, take it out. Repeat as many times as necessary.
Move on to dishes. Gather the dishes from all over your house and bring them to the kitchen. If you can, start them soaking in a sink of hot, soapy water or start loading the dishwasher. After the dishes are all in one place, spend one 20/10 getting started getting them under control.
Now it’s time for your flat surfaces. Countertops, tables, dresser tops, etc. Clear them off and wipe them down. Don’t get distracted in too much sorting and organizing. We’re in crisis mode here. There will be time to get in-depth once this is all done. The same applies to cabinets and closets. Unless you have reason to believe people will be opening closed doors, leave these alone for now.
Attack the floordrobe and shoe pile. Get your clothes either put away or in the hamper. Start a load of laundry if you need to, but keep in mind that laundry and dishes have three steps: wash, dry, and put it away, goddammit!
Get random stuff up off the floors. If something is trash-worthy, throw it away now rather than just move it around a bunch of times. Otherwise, put stuff where it belongs.
Take another 20/10 or 45/15 to catch up on more dishes, if needed.
Head into the bathroom. Pour some cleaner in the toilet bowl, fill the sink with hot water and cleaner, and either spray the tub and shower with cleaner, or fill the tub up with some hot water and add cleaner and let it soak. Put everything away that’s out and shouldn’t be, clean the mirror, counters, and toilet seat. Sweep or dry mop the floor. Wipe down the sink and tub/shower, and give the toilet bowl a scrub. Mop the floor.
Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
Vacuum everything you can, and sweep everything you can’t.
Walk outside of your house (don’t lock yourself out, please). Walk back in and see what catches your eye first. Go and deal with that.
If you’re being inspected or your landlord is coming in for repairs, spend time on whatever area they’ll be focusing on.
Give the whole place one more once-over and pay attention to anything you’ve missed so far.
It’s an old trick, but if your place is a little funky-smelling, put a pan of water on the stove on low heat and add some citrus or cinnamon or vanilla. Don’t leave it unattended or forget about it.
Take a shower, put on something clean, and eat something.
You can do this. It’s overwhelming, yes, but it is not impossible. You just need to do it. You have a list. You have directions. You have a whole bunch of Internet strangers who have been there before and who are cheering you on. You can do this, but you need to get started.
Why are you still here? GO. START. NOW.
A pack of good dogs
You know what, the recent chapters left me in the mood for some Hunting Dogs analysis.
As others (see the great analysis by @hamliet, @linkspooky and @blackandwhitemusician), they are introduced as a counterpart to the ADA on the opposite side of the spectrum from the Port Mafia: the servants of the government, representatives of a blind justice devoid of empathy or mercy, attacking whomever they are unleashed at without questioning it, putting law and orders above the people.
But doing a re-reading … the biggest proponent of this amongst the Dogs is Fukuchi. He is the one who declares openly that he doesn’t believe in the ADA’s guilt, but he still has to hunt them down until they die or surrender, even encouraging Fukuzawa to do the latter so the Agency can get a fair trial and the Dogs can switch to defend them.
But the point is, Fukuchi is the traitor, he is also the leader of the Decay of Angels, the very organization that committed the crimes that the ADA is framed for. That advice is not the genuine if misguided goodwill of someone that’s blindly devoted to the law, it’s a trap to worsen the position of the enemies, knowing full well that they won’t be able to defend themselves.
All of the other Hunting Dogs, even if in varying degrees, are a lot less devoted to this ideal of Law Above All.
Let’s start with Tachihara.
He’s the one we have known for the longest time, because of his infiltration in the mafia. He presented himself as something of a thug, a rude hothead who nevertheless managed to be part of a very special division, so he had to have some talent. He was also depicted as a true mafioso, loyal to his criminal family. So, the reveal that he was actually a spy came as quite the surprise.
As a Hunting Dog, he showcases quite a different personality: he’s more serious, posed, his speech more polite and respectful. The one thing that stays is his loyalty, and this is what creates his main conflict.
Hunting Dogs or Mafia? His dilemma arises from the fact that he got accomplishments and social relationships in both groups. He considers himself as defined by the orders he receives, and by obeying them, he acquired a respect for both the leaders he served, Fukuchi and Mori. Morality has no place here: while trying to understand if he truly is a mafioso or a government agent, he thinks to the bonds he has within the groups, at the standing he managed to acquire; the fact that one association ostensibly protects people and the other hurts them is not something he worries about.
Or rather- conventional morality. His ultimate decision is partly due to the fact that while he gives intense loyalty, he expects the same loyalty in return. The fact that Fukuchi was revealed as the leader of the Decay of Angels was the tipping point, because he had betrayed the Hunting Dogs that looked up at him so much.
Tachihara ended up acting on his personal feelings and values, not because of a blind obedience to the law.
Then, let’s take into consideration Jouno.
… where do I even start with him?!
Right from the beginning, he is introduced as rude, ruthless in his pursuit of criminals, downright sadistic in psychologically breaking people, even just suspects, to extort a confession out of them. He looks like the ideal image of a merciless legal system that only cares about locking up criminals under the pretense of absolute justice … except for a couple things.
First, Jouno is the first to acknowledge that se ne sbatte altamente il cazzo he has little care for justice, and nobody cares that he does, either: he just enjoys seeing people terrified, and as long as they’re even vaguely suspected, the public opinion will claim that he’s doing the right thing, the necessary thing for everyone’s safety, and hail him as a hero. Nice middle finger at the concept of torture and ignoring the human rights of people involved in crimes from the authors, here.
Then, the second part. Fukuchi sees this, has likely seen Jouno behave like that for quite a long time now, and decides he would be an ideal new member for the Decay of Angels, now that, with Gogol and Sigma dead as far as he knows and Fyodor in a jail all the way in Europe, the organization is dwindling down in members. After all, Jouno doesn’t care about justice, right? He’s also a former criminal to boot, he joined the Hunting Dogs just to escape jail (like Tachihara, by the way). As long as he’s given the chance to torment people, he should jump on any wagon, right?
No. Jouno briefly pretends to agree, to get him to lower his guard and try a surprise attack. Why?
Because, while he genuinely is a sadist and doesn’t care about justice, he likes saving people. Just that: while in the Hunting Dogs, he found out that the serotonin release he got from seeing people saved was greater than the one he got from hurting them. It’s a pretty selfish motivation and Jouno doesn’t try to pretend otherwise; still, it’s a very far cry from the idea of a blind justice that ruthlessly pursues the criminals, it’s something much more human.
Now, onto Tecchou!
He ends up partnered with Jouno in chasing the Agency, and he presents himself as a diametral opposite. Where Jouno has a no-nonsense attitude, he has a lot of quirks. Where Jouno is rude, he is always polite. Where Jouno is sadistic, he doesn’t enjoy violence one bit. Everything he does, is for the service of justice. He seems like a good candidate for the role of ‘law-obsessed antagonist’ … except he isn’t, either.
It’s the most evident when he and Jouno interrogate the cafe owner. The latter tries his usual psychological warfare tactics, figuring out that his employee Lucy is an ally of the ADA and he himself is an accomplice; he was about to make him confess by making him crumble, but Tecchou stopped him. His motivation? He admired the loyalty of Lucy and the cafe owners, saying that he wanted to see such noble characteristics rewarded. Those were good moral principles, and he wouldn’t have acted against those who displayed them; Lucy would have received no punishment.
If he had really put law and justice above everything, he would have thrown Lucy and the cafe owners in jail in an heartbeat, or possibly even killed them; instead, he goes by his own, personal principles.
Last but not least, we have Teruko.
Well, what to say about her? She’s basically the crossover between Jouno and Tecchou from hell.
She’s violent and sadistic, alright. She has a lot of enthusiasm both in physically fighting Sigma and in deconstructing his view of himself and the world in general. But she’s also very careful not to hurt civilians (something that isn’t exactly a top priority for Jouno) and has quite interesting ideals behind this attention.
She talks about people ‘built for violence’ - herself included - as beings that, without the existence of law and order, would dominate other people, and comments that this would just suck; thus, by becoming an Hunting Dog and placing herself at the service of the government, she becomes an embodiment of this order, of this principle of protecting those weaker; and this is the reason behind all of her actions.
So uh, we found her! We found the person for whom Fukuchi’s statement could be true! Still, she has a very interesting reasoning for her ‘sticking to law’; and the time we see her put this worldview into practice, it’s to protect people who aren’t directly involved.
All in all, despite having been their commander for likely years, Fukuchi doesn’t seem to really know his subordinates. Even of Jouno, of whom he noticed the actual disinterest for the law, he didn’t realize the better inclination until he was betrayed by him. That thing he went telling Fukuzawa was essentially a bluff to get him to surrender, and his subordinates have shown, time and time again, that they’re not the blind attack dogs everyone believes them to be: they’re people with their own minds and value, and I think that when push will come to shove, even the survivors, Tecchou and Teruko, will side with the Agency, the side that saves people, against Fukuchi and his tricks.
Thanks to anyone who bothered to read my ramblings!
the gumi… real
the yttd brainrot hit really bad so i got around to making some text posts. no 3-1b spoilers here - i’ll be making a set of those later. having way too much fun with these. hopefully i find enough resources for good 3-1b posts.
seinfeld fanfiction
Be careful princess 🌸
bsd 99 meme bcs tecchou in this chapter </3
alternatively:
protags and social links
this is just a lil idea im not gonna elaborate further also reserve course trio ghosts