#(in that he doesn't really have much of a story arc which is actually unusual for a VS character)

[diamondcitydarlin]

----LOTS OF SPOILERS FOR THE FILM BELOW BE AWARE---

The thing that's driving me kinda CRAZY about the sequel though is how perfectly it sets up a personal arc for Lydia to be intertwined with Beej's. Like I said in my reaction post after seeing the film last night, I feel like Lydia as a character doesn't really get much of an arc or a resolution by the end of the story, as most of the plot is focused on repairing her relationship with her daughter, with Delia, maybe even her ex-husband to a certain extent, and for as much as she's rid of someone actually preying on her (Rory) we have no reason to believe she's found inner peace or really discovered herself or isn't still constantly popping pills to help with the 'gift' of sight she still has to deal with. There's so much about her left unresolved that Tim is either going to have to make another film about or I will have to fanfic about. But again, what's also fascinating is the way the beats of Lydia's story become tangled up with Beej's by the end of this, and also the ambiguous suggestion that there might be some kind of red string of fate linking them together across life and death and centuries (my kingdom for Beej saying "I've crossed oceans of time to find you" in a deep sexy Dracula voice and Lydia being like "plz shut the fuck up" LMAO)

Like, the 'psychic connection'. The thing that makes Lydia able to see and interact with Beej in places other than the house/model in Winter River. At first I think we're led to believe these are genuine hallucinations she's having, but ofc that's debunked when Beej reveals he's aware of these sightings and has been participating in them on purpose. Does this suggest that their first marriage may have been binding in some way that didn't release him from death, but allowed him more range to manifest so long as he was attached to her? That's not really addressed or explained, but I feel like it opens the possibility of being a thing (as so many fanfics have had happen before, I LOVE it tbh)

Also, the parallel of them both having had predatory exes that tricked them into 'selling their souls' (one in a figurative sense, the other literally lmao). I'm honestly shocked more conclusions weren't drawn from that conspicuous parallel in the film itself, because it's VERY interesting. It seems almost to suggest they're both meant to safeguard each other's souls (which is why I'm still bitter we didn't get Lydia defending him from Delores, I think that would've been a nice follow up to Beej saving her from Rory, even if she was just doing it out of a sense of obligation).

And idk, on the whole I feel a lot of Lydia's personal struggle at this point in her life is defined by a need to feel 'normal'. I get how that can seem odd coming from the teen girl that confidently described herself as 'strange and unusual', but this is 30 years later, after several failed relationships, after becoming a mom and struggling with a strained relationship with her daughter because of her oddity, idk, I think it's a good case study on how society forces women to conform lest they be a bad daughter or a bad mom or a bad wife, etc, but I think it's obvious she's just fighting her 'strange and unusual' nature and the more she does that, the more difficult her life will be.

To me, that suggests her path to happiness has actually a lot to do with Beej, or very well could. Who else is going to understand her true nature the way he does? Who else is going to unashamedly encourage her to be balls to the wall weirdo like she REALLY is??? Who else can truly set her free that way??? Like I'm gnawing on wires here yall, if nothing else Tim gave us SO much fanfic material to work with on this one.

[iamnmbr3]

I hate it when people say Ginny "deserved better" when it comes to the way she was written and portrayed in canon. I'm sorry but no she didn't deserve better. She was a barely there Mary Sue character who existed primarily to be the future wife of Harry and link to him joining the Weasley family. She was also supposed to be this very powerful witch but again it never paid off. She didn't amount to anything. She turned out to be a big nothing burger of a character.

Idk. I do think she deserves better, though I definitely get where you're coming from. Ginny as a character really annoys me from book 6 on. Book 6 and 7 Ginny feels like a shallow and annoying Mary Sue and also is just kinda mean and I hate that she never gets called on her bad behavior. As soon as I feel like a story is trying to shove a character down my throat and insist that I love them and that they are flawless, I kinda feel turned off by the character and I want to hate them out of spite. Ginny's pettiness and stuff like her being pretty awful to Fleur and getting angry at Harry for even saying something nice about Fleur even though he has no romantic interest in her just really rubs me the wrong way. Especially bc these flaws are ignored and even glorified by the story. Plus there's not much there with her character.

She feels like this kinda wish fulfillment empty vessel. And I hate that she gets touted as this perfect girl for Harry when their romance feels so empty and her character feels so un-compelling - which is honestly pretty unusual because generally the characters in HP are really interesting, even the ones we only hear a little about.

Now that said, I still do actually feel that she deserves better. What do I mean by that? Well, first of all, in-universe she ends up with someone who frankly, doesn't pay much attention to her. Harry barely knows anything about Ginny and never makes her his priority. Even in the epilogue it feels like he barely even consulted her on naming their children. He never really views her as an equal or respects her opinion. And she seems to feel pressured to act a certain way to please him. Like not crying in front of him because it might bother him, but apparently having been extremely upset after their breakup according to Ron etc. I don't think they are really compatible or have a deep or substantive relationship and I think that's sad and she (or anyone in that situation) deserves better.

Also from a more Doylist POV she deserved better because her character had so much potential. I actually loved Ginny in book 5. She has a lot of growth but also still feels connected to who she was in the first 4 books. She doesn't need to be amazing and perfect at everything. She's human and real. She catches a snitch by luck because it was slow and her competitor looked away at the wrong moment - and she has the humility to notice and admit this. And it doesn't matter. Harry's professional-level good at Quidditch. She's good at other things. Also Harry and Ginny actually have a deeper and more trusting relationship in that book than in book 6, but I digress. She doesn't need to suddenly be an amazing seeker and an amazing chaser and be #NotLikeOtherGirls and super into Quidditch (even tho she wasn't in book 4) to be likable but book 6 makes her all these things and it just takes away from the real and human and flawed and empathetic and actually funny Ginny we have in book 5.

Also her whole backstory from book 2 was really promising. She and Harry could've bonded over both having had Voldemort inside their heads. She could've provided critical insights about Tom Riddle since she spent a year essentially being pen pals with him. She could've had an epic arc where in book 7 she took on a more central role in the fight and ultimately got to face her childhood monster and destroy a Horcrux. Also there was just a lot to explore with her dealing with the trauma from book 2. She could've done so much. But nope. She just gets reduced to Love Interest TM. So yeah we had this really great character who was just coming into her own in book 5 and had all this amazing potential and then gets absolutely torpedoed by JKR bc she doesn't know how to write romance. And I do think that's a shame.

Now I ship drarry and I think that's always going to be the most interesting and well set up relationship for Harry to be in. But I think Harry and Ginny getting together the way they did is realistic but I think they would then realize they aren't really a good match - they don't know each other and both are more attracted to the idea of each other than anything else. I think them realizing this and working through it would be something interesting to explore in an 8th year fic.

[sillypinkboy]

I think the way that I find Vic's identity issues works really well for my pro wrestling au. He doesn't know who he is and that's what I'd play into. I think his main arc is the story of learning WHO he wants to be. He keeps his Morals strangely enough though - since his debut as Vic Sage, he's had a set of principles. I think I'd be really interesting to watch him fall into all these different crowds, to try and come out knowing who is supposed to be. It ends up getting to a point where he can't think about it anymore - ‘I am whoever you say I am’.. you change enough and the only thing that stays are those principles but even those have changed. He's never on a team alone. There's always someone with him, but the end of his arc is where Question shows up.

There's a distinct change in his intro. Which isn't unusual- Fans are used to name changes and costume changes. The music has sat similar since the beginning, but changed to match his team's.

But not here. The music cuts after a moment- it's the familiar sound but then it ends. It goes dark. But the screens light up again. They play moments from matches - each a shard. Each a different team. Eventually every part is covered and a name pulls itself. Question.

A new costume and a new name but something has changed since he was Vuc all those years ago. His fighting is different. More a state of survival then a state of show.

The arc after that follows him giving in - there's a bite now. He's angry but he reasons it out . ‘I've been left behind enough. This dog has learned to bite.” But it's not an easy point to get too. To stay in. He'll never actually figure out who he is - and that's how it ends after awhile. He's tired of fighting to survive and goes back to his original team.

“Please tell me who I'm supposed to be. I can't stomach this anymore. My appetite is gone. Take me back. Make me who I'm supposed to be.” It's denied.

“You've picked who you are. If it destroys you, that's your doing. A dog can bite all it wants but that doesn't mean it'll be taken in”

More so i think even in finding that solid identity too much from his is borrowed to make him feel whole. He’s find with pretending but the cameras drop off him - the main ones at least - and he’s trying to hold what he can. The best way to describe it is like trying to hold water in an open hand.

There’s a lot of minot arcs of him becoming someone new. The small one that’s most loved by fans is him befriending the announcer. People are used to vic being friendly to staff but there’s an excitmentr to him coming to defend Darius. Like yeah, that guy isn’t as big of a deal to the show as would be expected but The moment someone says something bad…

The crowd loves it more then vic anticipated. He’s really just the Guy of the company

[lovethistoomuch]

10 characters 10 fandoms

I was tagged by @birdkeeperklink thank you so much! I really had to think on these since, as per my url you can guess there are a lot. (sorry for the late reply. I got no excuse, really, except life continued to happen around me and deciding who to pick was really hard.)

in no particular order (though Loki is Number 1, I'm sorry everyone else), here we go:

1. Loki Odinson from MARVEL

I just love him so much I've written a 78K fix-it fantasy novel (not finished) to give him the happy ending he deserves. there is no other character I identify with harder than this one: a younger sibling full of rage, always feeling overshadowed by the older one, just wanting to prove their own worth and show the world that they are capable (i got over this a lot in recent years but my love for him still remains.)

Tom just plays him so perfectly and I am so heartbroken that the writers at MARVEL did not know what to do with him, so they killed him off (the Loki show doesn't count because that's not him okay.) he's always having a good time, he's snarky and clever and desperately needs a hug. how can you not love him?

2. Mr. Spock and Leonard (Bones) McCoy from Star Trek TOS

Yes, they are two people but I just couldn't choose between them!

The grumpy surgeon with a heart of gold an the emotionally suppressed but deeply loving vulcan live in my heart rent free ever since I was a child. Spock was my first crush ever and his complicated relationship with McCoy has always fascinated me. they are two incredibly complicated people and there isn't enough space here to describe why. writing them is just as much fun as watching them and I actually own the autographs of both Leonard and De.

3. James Wilson from House M.D.

he's a man of many contradictions: he is kind but also House's best friend, he loves people dearly but can also tell them to fuck off. he is confident and funny and he helps people without being a pushover. he loves all of his his wives but cheats at least once. he is a walking mystery which makes him a great friend for House and a nightmare to write. I just love him! also, that smile!

4. Castiel from Supernatural

Cas is the character, truly! he can go from nerdy to badass in the blink of an eye. a cosmic being that plays dress up just to make one human smile, who should be nothing but an ant to him. he fiercely protects the people he loves and always tries to do the right thing. the character that inserted himself into the story against the writer's will and changed the narrative for ever. when he came on the show, I hated his guts. and look at me now...

5. Zuko from Avatar the last Aribender

you simply cannot talk about redemption arcs without mentioning Zuko at some point. an exceptional character amongst a cast of exceptional characters. I once joked that 90% of his lines were just him screaming but that poor boy has so much rage inside him, and with all that trauma, can you really blame him? he is the epitome of character growth and a fascinating example of how the villain can become a hero without taking any shortcuts.

6. Stephen Maturin from the Aubrey-Maturin series

if you read the books, you'll know why. this fucking lunatic is so oblivious to his own eccentricities that you just have to love him. nobody does it quite like him to be honest. no, Stephen, people will not think you're eccentric because you practice sword fighting on deck, however they might think that because you let loose 1000 bees on the ship and run around naked. he has no sense for proper etiquette and i love him so much for it. also, he get's on a ship without being able to swim and performs open brain surgery on deck. he is incredibly skilled and the best damn doctor in the entire fleet. also, his dynamic with his best friend/captain is one of the best friendships I've ever seen/read.

7. Scrooge McDuck

this might be an unusual choice but i grew up reading comics and at one point in my life i figured out that all of my favourite stories were writen and drawn by the legendary Don Rosa, who in his book "the life and times of Scrooge McDuck" created one of the most fascinating and fun to watch characters i've ever seen. starting from humble beginnings and rising to the top through his percevierence, fearlessness and ingenuity, inevitably losing everything he loved and ending up alone, only to be found by his family again, his story is one of my absolute favourites in literature. i know that due the never ending nature of comic books, he can never truly get his happy ending but I really wished he could.

8. Keeley Jones from Ted Lasso

I don't think I've ever seen a woman like her in any media to be honest. she is so clearly feminine and embodies all the traits of a woman that would normally be depicted as bitchy, toxic and self obsessed but she is just none of those things. she is a girly woman who loves pink and cries and she is just so human and lovely and i love her so much for it! her friendship with Rebecca is also so amazing and feels very real and true to what friendships between woman are actually like. I just love her as a beacon of healthy femininity and can only hope that there will be more characters like her in the future!

9. Kim Kitsuragi from Disco Elysium

the voice, the looks, the everything! the moment I met him I knew I wanted him to be my best friend for ever! his deadpan delivery combined with his dorkyness and his shere competence had me on the floor on multiple occasions. I have not finished the game yet but I have never had a companion this incredible in any video game ever! I could listen to him read the phone book for hours. when he went "daba doop doop dead" I died. also him jumping in when I fail a check has to be the most badass thing ever. I love you, Kim. please be proud of me. (also, I know he probably has a darker side to him that I am not seeing right now because I am always choosing the nice options but hey, the best characters are the complicated ones.)

10. Cole Turner from Charmed

this show was so much better when he was in it! the half demon who crosses over to the good side without ever really changing his ways. he burns someone alive and laughs about it, drags a detective to hell and doesn't give a shit about civilians. even when he is completely human his solution to assholes is to punch them in the face. he loves power and controling others and looking good while doing it. I know him beind "good" was a whole thing on the show but to me the most fun about him was that he continued being evil but was now using his powers to help the good guys. show me another character that got redeemed into the hero team without losing his evil edge. Cole was just so much fun to watch but unfortunately his character got totally buthcered by bad writing.

No pressure of doing this but tagging:

@catzy88, @uponxhorhaus, @accrov

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC Review: Consort of Fire by Kit Rocha

4.25/5. Releases 11/28/2023.

Vibes: a complex love triangle, handmaiden/princess, arranged marriage, dragon heroes that fuck, and enemies to lovers with actual stakes.

Princess Sachielle is betrothed to the Dragon, a god feared for killing his previous consort a century prior. What the Dragon doesn't know is that she's been charged with killing him--and her own life is forfeit if she fails. He also doesn't know that Sachi's handmaiden and lover, Zanya, is much more than she seems. And neither Sachi nor Zanya expected their very different connections with the Dragon--or his determination to win both of them.

It's not easy to find FFM menage romances, and of course, it's therefore even harder to find good ones that don't treat the women as side dishes next to a hero entree. But this? This is really fucking good. And it's really good fantasy romance, at that. If the other dragon romance book (which I personally liked as well) was too light or tame for you--this uh... will not be that. This one is wild, and it is the beginning of a series--while this isn't exactly a cliffhanger, it doesn't end in a fully resolved manner, and I'm excited to see what comes next.

Quick Takes:

--Menage romances often favor one bond over the other; while I love them in general, I find many that do not... work. Here, it's pitched perfectly--and I suspect some of that has to do with the fact that we still have some story to tell, and development to watch unfold. Zanya and Sachi have a very established, loving, and passionate long-term relationship, and that is never in question in this book (despite the necessity of them keeping it a secret, initially). Sachi and Ash (of course the Dragon goes by Ash) have an immediate chemistry and physical attraction, which puts a real wrench in the "I'm here to kill him" thing. It only deepens into something more as they spend time together, with Zanya looking on--not quite un-jealous, but not really threatened either.

Zanya and Ash's interplay might have been my favorite, though. She is determined to keep Sachi safe no matter what, and she is vicious. Ash? Loves and relates to both of those things. The very literal sparring scenes between these two? So hot. And while I feel very sure about the dynamic between Sachi and Zanya and Sachi and Ash, these two still have a ways to go. Zanya is a hard character, with many emotional walls (and her reasons are super valid). Ash, on the other hand, is all heat--and while he's initially determined to make nice with Zanya because of his feelings for Sachi, over the course of the book you feel him become more interested in her, and excited to get to know her better and be with her for the long term. Zanya? Still needs some convincing. I am pumped to see how he wins her over.

--The way sexuality is handled in this book is so casual, and I fucking love that. Really, the main obstacle to Sachi and Zanya being together in public is related to class and Sachi's duty to marry Ash. The gods they meet are pretty much universally bisexual, and Ash's previous consort was a prince, not a princess, which doesn't seem unusual or remarked upon.

--I think it would be very easy for Ash to come off as a "just happy to be there" guy, because Zanya and Sachi have such a strong love, and such an established relationship. But he's really so lovable, so patient with both of them (well, Sachi has to be more patient in their case--he's very worried about hurting her) and so charmingly teasing. Like, he's a protective dangerous dragon guy (and to be clear: for most of the book, Ash is totally this big hot man dude, he shifts separately into a dragon form) but he's also just? A good guy?

--I loved the world of the gods and their mythology. It's fun, it's hedonistic, I identified several cool characters I'd love to see find love in their own books, and it feels like they're both... above humanity and sweetly emotional. It's a hard balance to strike, but I think they got it in this one. (Fun fact: Kit Rocha is a pen name for two friends.)

--In terms of "how fantasy is this and how romance is this" it's a romance novel, despite the fact that it doesn't end on a totally resolved note (I trust that will come in the future). But the fantasy is strong without being too hard to follow. I feel like fantasy purists who are Very Vocal On Twitter may complain about the level of fantasy in this but like. The world was very much solid enough for me. I got it. It was the right balance for me, as a romance reader, and I refuse to accept romantasy as a thing unless it defines itself better, because it feels like fantasy romance is all I really need to know about.

The Sex:

Um, one of the hottest books I've read in a while. It takes a bit before you get to the first sex scene, but once it gets going it's going. Most of the sex scenes involve all three parties in one way or the other. Sachi is absolutely a brat with both of her partners, and frankly, we love to see it.

One thing I really loved was the evolution of Zanya's role in the sexual aspect of the relationship. We see that she and Sachi have very defined roles in bed, they know each others' bodies so well. Ash is respectful of that, as he is respectful in general--and he's willing to learn from both Sachi and Zanya (and I get the impression that while both of them are clearly bi, neither has much or any experience with men due to their longstanding, presumably monogamous involvement with each other). He's such a great example of writing a romance hero who's like... an animal where it counts, but so respectful of consent and so willing to be taught. So, as time passes, you see Zanya's more dominant side come out with Ash as well, and the way in which she begins to shift her focus from just Sachi to Sachi and Ash. Which of course, very much aligns with the fact that she's catching feelings. Oops!

I can't give away too much, but--there is one sex scene towards the end of the book that is just. Beyond.

Like I said, it's kind of hard to find FFM, and I jumped on this book because I was so excited to see that--and of course, I want to read more fantasy romance. I'm really happy with where it's going, and I look forward to the next book.

Thanks to Montlake and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[oblivious-aro]

What was it that made you pick Skybound out of all the Ninjago seasons to rewrite? I know I usually do rewrites for story concepts that hold potential but are never lived up to them; is there anything like that you see in S6? :O

Boy is there ever!

There are a lot of things that could be tweaked to make Skybound way better, but the main thing that grabed me was Nya and Jay's storylines, which are actually set up to be pretty solid.

I liked how they actually set up an arc for Jay to go through. A focus season that actually focuses on developing the ninja's character? Sounds great! I'm so down!

Okay, Jay makes a wish he shouldn't have in a moment of weakness. This is a good setup. It's obviously gonna be a moment he regrets, and he's going to be carrying a guilty conscience-

Oh, actually, he immediately lies to Nya to try and manipulate her into liking him after she firmly started she wasn't interested.

His friends are mad at him for his actions later, though.

Okay, good. Having to deal with the consequences of his actions (remember how invested we were in "actions have consequences" in the first episode?) will surely spark some personal growth-

Nope! His friends immediately do a 180 and start talking about how sorry they are for being mean to Jay.

...what!?

You had Jay all set up to learn a lesson, and have to reflect and grow, but then we're suddenly supposed to feel sorry for him even though he hasn't shown the slightest hint of guilt? After half a season of nothing but him being a selfish lying remorseless jerk?

I'm not even being a Jay-hater. I love the idea of Nadakhan preying on Jay's low self-esteem, especially when he takes advantage of Jay's emotionally vulnerable state fresh off of Nya's rejection to trick him into making a wish. But even though Nadakhan influenced him, it was still Jay that made the wish, and that's an uncomfortable truth he's going to have to face.

You might say it's...Jay's wish to keep.

They've got a really good start to a story about a flawed character improving themselves, but then they don't put the part in where he improves himself, just more and more flaws with only the barest amount of growth (the one ninja guy stopped moping and saved the day like he and all the ninja do every season. That doesn't even come close to balancing out all the lying, whining, and possesivness we've been subjected to from him this entire season).

And then there's Nya.

Oh Nya.

Things again start off good. Nya's facing a lot of misogyny for being the first girl ninja. It sucks, she's mad, but at least her friends stick up for her.

Sure, it's done kind of clunkily, but showcasing that girls have to face a lot of unfair attitudes can be a very validating thing for real girls to see, especially if the girl characters are allowed to get angry, and the other characters take their anger seriously and help fight back.

Furthermore, having the main characters (you know, the ones the kids watching the show are supposed to relate to/look up to/think are cool) stick up for their friend, and learn that they need to check themselves sends a pretty good message to the kids watching. Like, exactly the kind of message you want to send.

And after Ninjago's previous poor handling of female characters, it would be a much appreciated gesture.

But as we know, that's not how things went down.

Instead, Nya gets kidnapped, doesn't get to be part of the climax, is killed for a man's character development, and then gets together with a guy she initially said 'no' to dating as a reward for his arc.

...why?!?

I think what gets me is they kind of start to go in a compelling direction, but then they make the most violent u-turn possible in the wrongest direction. It's not unusual for Ninjago to be bad, but here it almost feels like they were trying. Like...how does a conscious attempt to be more feminist result in the most misogynistic season of the series?? How could you set out on such a right direction things and end up going so wrong???

I know the reason the season's so bad because they're were basically no women involved in the writing process, and I get the feeling said writing process was on a time crunch, but even with those stipulations, I still don't understand how you can screw up that badly. It's genuinely baffling.

Skybound's failings stick out because it feels like they were purposely dumping gasoline on the misogynistic dumpster fire, and also trying to make Jay as hatable as possible. Like, you had some really solid storylines set up for your characters, why'd you suddenly stop and start shooting yourself in the foot???

I couldn't stop thinking about it. They were right there, and then they missed so dramatically.

It plagued my brain from the moment I first watched it.

Also I do like how Nadakhan's a more talky/manipulator type villain, that really let's you dig into your main characters weak points in an interesting way, but holy hell did he need a redesign because yikes.

[inksandpensblog]

I caved, I watched the teaser, here are my thoughts on it

Disclaimer: I will not be making predictions about the plot synopsis or character arcs of the upcoming episode in this post.

I want to keep a fresh mind for the episode, so that upon first viewing I can make my own observations without anyone else's influencing mine. If I get the notion to look for specific things that other people have noticed already, I might miss other things that maybe nobody has noticed yet.

I'll be perfectly happy and eager to compare notes with all of you after I've seen the full episode, but I'm doing my best to go into that first viewing with zero expectations about what direction the story might take. To that end, I'm not going to be making guesses about character motivations or plot points or anything along those lines.

With that said, I would like to point out some things about the teaser that I think are neat, the first being:

That is Victim. That is definitely Victim, without a doubt.

For comparison, have the opening seconds of AvA1 and AvA2, respectively:

Hmm, that figure on the left looks familiar.

The first half of this teaser intercuts AvA5 footage with, not the creation of The Chosen One, as one might expect given his presence in the rest of this teaser, but the creation of Victim, the very first character in the series (not counting the animator himself), whom we haven't seen since his debut episode.

...okay, I relent, I'll make one prediction: do I think this means we can expect Victim to come back, in this upcoming episode?

...no. Well, at least not in the way you might be thinking.

I don't believe Victim's character will return, and I have a few reasons for this:

As mentioned above, the Victim footage is all contained in the first half of this teaser, and it's intercut with previously-seen AvA5 footage. Once the new footage for the upcoming episode starts playing in the latter half of the teaser, there's no more Victim footage.

This also means that all the Victim footage in this teaser is old Victim footage. Victim's appearances in this teaser aren't new, in any capacity.

Moreover, it's all footage from the beginning of AvA1, before the animator had even named Victim. Before Victim moved on his own for the first time.

The editing of these clips makes no effort to connect Victim to what will be happening in the future, only to what has already happened. For this reason, I do not believe that Victim will have any agency in this upcoming short.

That doesn't mean he won't be there in some capacity, though. That doesn't mean his prior existence won't play a role in this short.

Notice I said "his existence," not him.

I don't think Victim will be making a reappearance in this narrative as a character with the agency to influence it. But. The fact that Alan is reminding his audience that Victim existed at one point has gotta mean something.

...okay, prediction over, back to neat observations!

Since I'm not making any speculations about the plot, the only comment I have on the footage of Chosen in a cityscape is that it is really starkly rendered, wow. They crammed a lot of detail into those buildings and that street. Look at the BRICKS.

It's a feast for the eyes, certainly, but...visually, it's an unusually busy setting for an action scene; there's so much visual information for the eye to take in that I worry I'll be distracted from the actual fight taking place.

We see Orange draw...a line XD and I'm not sure what we're supposed to get from that other than "this episode will feature Orange drawing again." Though I will note that he does this in close proximity to the cursor, which makes no move to stop him, so it seems that Orange and Alan are still getting along fine and still working together on projects.

We see Chosen being Chosen, making himself as unapproachable as possible by surrounding himself in a blazing arc of fire-breath and hovering over the water where no one can reach him unless they fly or take a boat. Yes the commentary in this paragraph is rather pointed, compared to the rest of the post.

I will say, though, that I cannot wait to hear whatever sound effects they've used for that scene. Chosen's fire-breath didn't actually sound like breath until The Chosen One's Return, and he hasn't used it since, so I'm really looking (listening?) forward to how it will sound in this upcoming scene ^_^

No comment on Orange apparently being in the outernet/interspace again...

...though I will say that Spyglasses' zoom feature looks a lot like the zoom feature in many computer programs XD

Speaking of, we've got new characters! Let's start with this guy, whom I've taken to calling Spyglasses, because frankly he's the least puzzling of the two:

Hello sir, please leave our orange boi alone.

Now, when I saw this guy, my first thought was to pull up The Flashback and take a closer look at the stillframe of Chosen and Dark terrorizing Stickpage. I'm sure many of you had this thought as well. Sure enough, our memories were not deceiving us, and it appears that some Spyglasses lookalikes did, at one point, dwell on Stickpage.

Awsome, mystery solved, right? Well, not quite.

There are, indeed, a grand total of four sticks in the Stickpage portion of Flashback who bear resemblance to our new friend Spyglasses, here. But if you take a closer look, you'll see that the resemblance isn't exact. Compare him, for instance, to these two Henry-Stickmin-looking guys near the bottom:

I think you'll agree that it's not the closest match. Spyglasses doesn't have visible eyes, and his hands look like the usual nubs instead of having distinct fingers. Plus, Spyglasses seems to have been drawn with a heavier lineweight than these two.

Well, I said he had four lookalikes on Stickpage, so what about the other two?

Aha, you might be thinking, here we have matches. Well, I say look again. Notice anything different?

That's right. The heads of these two were drawn freehand. You can see the slight imperfections in the circles; they're slightly wider than they are long, and there's a bit near the top of each where it's obvious the circle was closed.

By contrast, Spyglasses' head is a perfect circle. His head shape is too mathematically precise to have been handdrawn.

Gonna dip back into speculation territory just so I can talk about what I think this means: I don't think that Spyglasses is any of these four sticks that are shown on Stickpage in The Flashback. However, since Stickpage is the only other place in the entire series so far where we've seen black sticks with white-filled heads, I'm willing to bet that Spyglasses does come from Stickpage. Whether he still lives there now is another question that I won't be getting into, but I think it's fair to say that he lived there before The Flashback, at least.

And, if he comes from Stickpage, that almost certainly means he's a user-created stickfigure.

(My impulse is to say "score 1 for my theory about the rocket org. being founded by Stickpage sticks," but this teaser doesn't actually give us any confirmation that Spyglasses is connected to the rocket org. at all.)

And finally, we come to this guy:

Flowerbarrel has already pointed out that in terms of stylization, this guy bears more in common with the AIM icon than he does with any other stickfigures we've seen.

Not even anybody in the Stickpage Flashback screencap looks like him. No one else whom we've seen has that different-color outline, those proportions, those squared-off hands (and presumably feet), that…flat look…he looks like if you rotated him 90 degrees he'd just be a line XD like no dimension unless he's viewed directly from the front or back. He looks…almost artificial in a weird way. Granted, this is a digital space, so technically everything in it is "artificial," but still.

Honestly I consider this guy to be the biggest mystery in this teaser, from a worldbuilding standpoint. He looks like a desktop icon, but he's obviously not on a desktop in the short clip we get of him in action. He's in the outernet or interspace or whatever you want to call it; the place where stick-cities are, the place where Showdown happened.

Is he from a user-dominated, animation-populated website like Stickpage?

Is he from a stick-city that's populated by a different type of stick than what we've seen so far with Mango and Purple? So far, every glimpse we've gotten into a stick-city not including Orange's fundraiser dreams, from AvM30 to the Cherry Blossoms short two weeks ago, has shown them to be populated by sticks resembling Mango and Purple and their families: a single color, with small, filled heads, and toeless feet. We don't know yet if Orchid was buried in the same city that Mango lives near, or if they're in completely different cities, but either way we've only been shown one variety of stickfigure living in cities like this.

Maybe he's like RYGB, in the sense that, while he himself is animated, he didn't come from an animation? (Like… Slush Invaders and Henry Stickmin are both games where the player controls animated stickfigures, but…the animation in Henry Stickmin is mostly just the cutscenes, while in Slush Invaders animation gets used in the actual gameplay too. Or, like…animations on loading screens for programs, or something.)

I have no ideas about this guy, really.

And that about wraps up my thoughts on this teaser! Anyone who wants to offer their own input is free to do so, but if you want me to read it I must respectfully ask that you please refrain from offering theories on why the characters in the teaser are shown doing what they're doing, or what their motivations are, or anything like that.

Thanks folks ^_^

[the-nysh]

Time for some in-depth trigunbookclub notes! ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ First story arc 'episode': vol1 ch00-04~

A bit of a late start but I'm planning to reread the series again with the overhaul translation, hoping to catch what I might've missed the first time around vs Dark Horse's. Paying attention with more informed, detailed thoughts and impressions from the perspective of already knowing what happens later in the story. Special thanks to cerealandchoccymilk's translation notes comparing to their japanese copy for additional clarity!

Flipping through these pages again, and gosh I'm already surprised at how much information's densely packed in here! (I...may have miscalculated how long these commentaries might take...) I've already made some notes for the opening ch00: 'High Noon at July' prologue, and I'm not sure how far I can sustain this same level of detail (maybe I'll surprise myself), but for now I'll try to focus on what else I can observe and talk about from the manga's first official story 'arc' - which lasts for the first 3ish chapters, corresponding to the 98anime's episode 5: 'Hard Puncher.' Stampede actually begins with this same story arc in eps1-2! :O In short, about the town suffering in decline from their malfunctioning Plant problems, desperately in need of money that Everyone (citizens, hunters, and outlaws alike) chases after Vash for the huge bounty on his head, until the Nebraska family shows up to escalate more trouble.

Yup, that's where the manga's story begins, as ch4 already speeds right on through to the Sand Steamer arc! (After a 2 week timeskip) Which the 98anime adapts later in ep7, and Stampede ep6! :O So the pace of the early manga is considerably much denser and faster, with plenty of details to note in between.

After the prologue sets the tone--ominously post-disaster with human survival and hope, ch1 opens with the iconic shot of Vash's Wanted poster. Many people have already noticed the...unusually vague and contradictory bits of information on him. So much is 'unknown' (note: Dark Horse lists an unknown birthplace while overhaul lists an unclear appearance) and yet...he's suspected to be the 'murderer' of someone with a fancy alias, as a 'young' (est age24) horrible killer who's also a pacifist?? 🤔 (How does that contradiction work out?) Who's believed 'capable' of mass destruction...and yet, there's nothing really conclusive he's indicted with here. Most of it feels like unconfirmed rumors and hearsay, so what's the actual truth? Who is he really? There's the additional tonal whiplash of seeing his ~smiley smiley~ easygoing (and old western themed) mugshot in contrast to the prologue's (sci-fi) bleak & desolate shot of a city that looks eerily destroyed by a post-nuclear bomb, released or shot from a clear direction leveled at ground zero. Something disastrously huge happened here to account for that ridiculous sum of $$60 billion on his head, with way more missing info than the suspicions he's listed for. Something doesn't add up here, so that's what the rest of the story's about--for us to find out~

First impressions of actual manga Vash (just from this introductory arc alone)....and he's a cute & silly little guy! :'D Whose attention is sharp and alert (he's definitely no idiot) to his surroundings sensing danger, with quick reaction times and even quicker resourceful fingers. A little odd and creature-y; how does he move that way and get himself into so many ridiculously contorted pretzel upskirt positions?! (Ahem: Nightow gives him all the 'fanservice' shots so the women don't have to; I respect that~ Hey, and why do the 4 buttons on his coat's collar keep mysteriously unbuttoning away in the breeze like that too, c'mon!!) Very animated and openly emotive with range, from the uwuest sad puppy eyes ever seen (accentuated with pretty corner lashes~) to flipping into irritation as someone who's not above using petty sass to make his points either. Oh he cries, both blubbering to himself about his own misfortunes and empathetic to others' pain, and oh he gets angry with dialed up severity too. And yet...he's a nice guy (who's gentle and considerate with women!!! 📣 with none of that 98 weirdness shown here at least, and easily makes friends with kids; all these are good signs) with an aloof air of mysterious distance, like he's a tired, traveling loner. Who seems like he'd just happily prefer to keep to himself out of trouble, simply trying to enjoy his meals in peace...until people rudely inconvenience him or interrupt his day with violent guns blazing!! D: Oh my god what an upsetting life (everyone's so mean to him~) give this poor guy a break with some actual Rest and peace please!

More in-depth thoughts from chapter 01: 'The 60 Billion Double Dollar Man' Immediately the setting is a very lawless, harsh place to live. With daily injuries and murder cases galore, where violence is so commonplace that even kids yearn for their own guns someday (wow D:) People might be cold and inconsiderate to others, cause everyone has it Hard here--everyday is a struggle, but the biggest telling observation -to me- is that no one is evil. :O Everyone presented this arc simply does what they must to survive, that resorting to violence (without malice) simply becomes a necessitated choice or way of life for many. :') That, in itself, clues me in that humanity is not evil, despite how it may appear. (I'll continue this more.)

I say this because the group of bandits who violently open fire on Vash in the diner, aren't there to hurt anybody else--they're only after his bounty (nothing personal), and in fact they assure the waitress they'll even repair the damages with that money later. Vash Notices(tm)~ Creatively resolving the situation thru non-lethal distraction, attrition, and his de-escalation + marskman skills using a child's toy. (So you see kid~ real guns aren't needed to win and save the day~) And I'm glad the overhaul translation made it clear the group volunteered giving up all their clothes & weapons to pay for the diner's damages as they concede defeat (that was...nice? of them), rather than simply walking away in humbled shame. Cause in the Dark Horse tl and old anime I didn't quite understand why they all suddenly stripped like that (to Vash's uncomfortable surprise: he didn't make them or expect they'd do that gesture either.)

We get some of our first classic Vash lines! yay~ Dark Horse kinda awkwardly botches his purple-prosey way to express his ongoing quest for 'Love & Peace,' so overhaul sounds more natural and faithful to the 98anime here: "[I'm a] hunter of peace, who continues to chase the elusive mayfly of love." (as opposed to a 'peaceful hunter' for the 'dragonfly' of love...which doesn't make much sense, since dragonflies are the hunters Dark Horse pls) Because striving for peace in this violent land is hard, and love itself (not necessarily 'romantic,' since familial and platonic kinds exist too) is as rare, short-lived, and precious to find here as a mayfly's tragically short lifespan...:') Man...

The whole thrifty 'price of one bullet for [insert any amount of food]' joke, cause whether pizza, pancakes (he ate those in the 98anime here), or donuts, his point still stands that choosing more food to live is more important/valuable than buying more bullets for killing & violence~

Violence which! He reasons that since no one likes to receive pain, he's decided to avoid any casualties. Apparently Dark Horse has the more accurate tl here, as it's about 'receiving' it: "pain isn't something anyone likes, right?" over rhetorically asking whether anyone can forgive 'doing harm' (overhaul). Because just SAYIN, as someone like him who personally KNOWS pain and what it's like to receive it etched all over his body, of course he'd feel awful and project empathize when others get hurt too. Never wishing they'd come to suffer the same as him. As long as he can help it, never again--whether that's to the pacifist level of preventing, stopping, relieving, or taking their pain upon himself in their place. But perhaps only lightly alluded to though or maybe I'm reading too much into his awkward sweating closed-off expression, since even he can't fully explain it yet; all the pain and scars of his past and the reasons why he refuses to kill aren't fully revealed yet~

...Oh my god, and we see our first official Plant bulb - which is so utterly bizarre to see it standing so bare and 'alone' surrounded by what amounts to only a roadside gas station & diner in the middle of nowhere. We know a single Plant can sustain a whole town..so why...it's almost like it was only recently 'dropped' (off the 'ship') or discovered as still active that civilization hasn't had enough time to properly settle around it...hmm.

But it marks the resting stop and first official appearance of Meryl & Milly! YES!! The girls show up in ~chapter one~ and are here to STAY, as important characters from beginning to end! 🎉 Meryl arrives with all the aura and swag of one whose larger than life ~presence~ belies her small frame. She's here for a reason, determined on a mission with a job to do, and has no time of day (she seems used to it as one who's experienced much of this before) for men who won't take her seriously or who make vulgar jokes at her (their) expense--thank you Milly's giant stungun for the karmic slap in their stead; don't dismiss, disrespect, ignore, or overlook these ladies, now!

I love that the moment Meryl's told the whereabouts of Vash, along with the wise advice to stay away from the current danger in that city--BAM she's already heading out the door (ditching Milly and their meal order?!) Reminds me how in the 98anime she ditched Milly in hot pursuit jumping off a tower wearing a parachute--like HELLO? Meryl pls! But here THEY'RE OFF~ on their way while Vash is...ulp, welp he's in trouble. :'D

Chapter 02: 'Looney Tunes' More worldbuilding's revealed to flesh out what we first glimpsed in the prologue: it's been over a 100yrs since humans crash-landed onto this desert planet and built up cities around the fallen ships, closely dependent on the viable technology brought within them. The first (!!) time the name 'Vash the Stampede' made history was once one of those major cities--lost July, was wiped off the map. Links are connecting, especially if he was deemed the prime suspect responsible for its sudden, unexplained destruction. The prologue said this disaster happened in year 0104, which matches being over a hundred years since humanity's 'arrival,' but just how long ago has it been since that incident? For Vash's name to build that notoriety for his bounty? For him to remain dangerously at large, yet uncaught, like a mysterious urban legend humanoid 'bomb.' The narration implies it's been a while for his story to be 'passed though the ages,' but we shall see.

But no time to ponder about that, because immediate tonal whiplash! Current Vash is in trouble and distress, running around dodging bullets, grenades, and the silliest cartoony hijinks imaginable for his life. Since after those first few guys in ch1, now the entire town knows who he is to be after his bounty too! aaaa~

Meryl & Milly are already here! (urgently, in hot pursuit to do....?) Meryl's pissed at how carelessly the town's handing all the chaos, as if they're all childish fools unknowingly playing with a nuclear warhead set to blow. (So interestingly, that's her first presumption about Vash; she's likely done her homework on July's historical disaster report.) Scaring Milly so much about the imminent danger (this town could be the next to explode!) that Milly stops, deciding she doesn't want to go anymore. :O Ah!! This interestingly reveals Meryl's likely the braver, more headstrong leader of the two, who seems to know what she's doing. Which is...wait, what does she plan to do here, exactly?? AAAAA!!! Bringing a megaphone into a warzone--alright, silly silly silly. She's SO silly, but so brave. And reckless. :P (Go Meryl~) Actually I like that she sees everyone here as humans first, who--she thinks, can still listen to reason even riled up in a mob. But even with her most ridiculously polite and ~formal~ way of speaking, you guessed it: the crowd pays her 'request' no attention. :'D (aaa! she's ignored; much woe and irony~) But whatever she has to say is so important that Meryl's determined and desperate to have her voice heard!

While wondering what on earth these two insurance ladies can still possibly hope to achieve here, now that the situation's chaotically escalated to the point the town chairman's called in the Nebraska family to pit against Vash...I'd say, in contrast to the town's many unsuccessful, over-the-top bombastic methods to catch him so far, I find it...very interesting that the ones who actually silently corner Vash (at gunpoint) are a room full of women. :O Interesting, very interesting~ (It seems the women in this story are the ones who can effectively get shit done~ So Meryl & Milly? Let's have faith to see what else they got~) As armed mothers, sisters and wives, prepared to do whatever it takes to get the money needed to save their kids and town from dying. So remember what I said about how none of the humans shown here are evil? Cause these women, and this whole town really, are just trying to survive (while resorting to violence); everyone has their own reasons to be after that bounty, with no personal malice towards Vash himself. :')

Vash of course, sympathizes with their terrible plight. And holy shit they said they lost 50 Plants?! (that's a shitton! D:) How is he holding himself together so well--ah, he is forcibly holding back his tears. :') BUT he's doubly conflicted, because he asserts he cannot afford to stop (as in, getting captured or killed) before he sees 'Him' again. (We know who that is, as there's only one stabby guy that could be.) The 98anime dub happened to mistranslate this line as 'the guy you're after' (who, the waitress!? she doesn't even know who [redacted] is!) so I imagine the subjects/objects were vague enough in japanese for that mistake to happen. Still, there's nothing else to really imply what Vash intends to do when he sees 'him.' Is it for revenge or something else he plans to do? It's unclear, aside from how clearly Vash gets angry and serious when it comes to 'him' (bonus: yes as suspected, Vash uses 'ore' as his personal pronoun like in the 98anime when it comes to topics about 'him' I'm glad to see those jp scans to confirm) That it must be something so personal/sensitive/grave enough that he realllllllly doesn't want to resort to shooting a room full of women when he's cornered (don't force him!!! pls he's already begging them not to make him do this), so that he can escape and continue his quest without dying early here. Whew... Fortunately no one has to make that difficult decision yet, because (unfortunately) the Nebraska's rocket fist breaks that building tension...and literally the entire room first.

Uhoh? But surprise!!! Vash is unharmed, gently holding the same waitress who'd just aimed a gun at him before, and somehow he managed to write a sassy "kiss my ass!!" returning message on Nebraska's fist--MULTITASK ahoy! (Also where did Vash grab that marker??? hah who knows~) But Milly's so worried at this point--and smothering Meryl from seeing anything, that 'bomb-kun' (Vash) has been provoked enough to explode! lmao :P (but will he?)

Chapter 03: 'Hard Puncher' Once again I need to appreciatively state just how gentlemanly and careful Vash is with these injured women; he fishes them out of the rubble and carries them all out to safety, one by one. Even Nebraska patiently waits, chilling there smoking a cig, for Vash to finish! They may be a notorious, haughty, and highly destructive family of outlaws, but see even the Nebraskas here aren't evil. :O Even when Vash moves away from the women to make space (and this is different from how the 98anime did it) Nebraska still faithfully aims at him, not them. But Vash needlessly dives forward to bodily shield the women from the exploding debris anyway! :O (In the 98 anime Vash was far away but Nebraska aimed at the women to force a lesson on him to make a choice, here interestingly not so; the women aren't helplessly made targets like that.)

Nebraska finds Vash's behavior odd, cause this is a duel - a quick draw match between a gunman and a cyborg's flying rocket punch (Nebraska himself is only after the bounty too for his own reasons; nothing personal.) So with Vash's own survival on the line, why would he continue to risk harming himself to protect others? Nebraska finds his actions wanting to save everyone hypocritical, and the Dark Horse tl seems to make more sense (closer to the 98anime's lines), when his reasoning's about 'his turn' to either be eliminated or become, either directly or indirectly, the killer (aka kill or be killed, even the choice with the whole trolley problem) when the time comes faced against an opponent who gives him nothing but trouble someday. So if Vash has survived this long unscathed (just think about him emerging from the July rubble...) then someone else must've already died in his place before (or so Nebraska thinks, he doesn't know Vash tries to find other creative ways to win without casualties, and gloats that today is that turn for Vash to die~)

But then...suppose Vash has killed somebody in his past before (remember the prelude about July 👀), wouldn't his choice to change and practice no-killing now be an active improvement over that - as a measure of growth or atonement? And not the same 'hypocrisy' Nebraska means? It'd become that way if say, Vash broke his current philosophy once it becomes impossible/unsustainable to uphold, and he had to kill again someday (as a choice, orr...forcibly no choice as even the women who cornered him this ch almost forced him a tough decision he didn't want to make) despite everything---ahhh, so then what does Vash plan to do when he sees 'Him' again? If Vash chooses to kill him then...whoopdeedo, Nebraska's hypocrisy point will be made. But anyway...

It's the first time we see Vash don his glasses when it's time to ~Get Serious~ for shooting a quick draw match (vs a rocket punch--note again, how Nebraska only aims for Vash, not the women, unlike the 98anime.) And here, Vash is still faster than his opponent!! Unloading multiple bullets that force the fist to veer off-course and miss him~ While aiming to break the cyborg socket of that arm for good measure so it can't be punched again. Interestingly a male citizen says Meryl's lines from the 98anime expressing awe understanding now why this skilled man is called 'Vash the Stampede.' But manga Meryl has none of that identity crisis confusion; she already knows who this Vash is and is determined to get right down to business!

Which is....? Calling for everyone to stop the fight!!! oh but it's already over~ I'm marking this moment down as the first time Meryl & Milly make eye contact with Vash--them awkwardly yelling from the rooftop of a building with the same diplomatic intent in their methods as Vash, by wanting to resolve things peacefully!!!!

BECAUSE!! Oh, you thought the girls were only here to be a slapstick comedy duo? SURPRISE!!! THEY WERE HERE TO SAVE VASH ALL ALONG!!! ;A; That important 'thing' that Meryl was so desperately trying to announce to everyone this whole time--but could never get her voice heard, was that Vash's bounty has been officially rendered null! Void, invalid, zero! Everyone had only been fighting, trying to shoot him dead, and destroying their own damn city for nothing! AHHHHH!! (I totally understand your anger/frustration here, Meryl--an authentic and capable short woman's struggle to be listened to and taken seriously! UGH! ;o;)

[But that's curious--why so suddenly NOW, or er, yesterday, did the government decide to call off his bounty? This is so sudden, and it's only in the first story arc too! Pretty sure his bounty remains active for much longer in the 98anime before his status changes later. So what was the most recent occasion or reason?? Especially if it'd been years since lost July happened to build his bounty, why is he only declared a natural/localized disaster--like that of an earthquake or typhoon, now? 🤔🤔🤔 As someone who can't be compared on the same level as other human criminals--wait, then hold up: how does the government, or the insurance company really, intend to 'control' or contain him then? By sending out two women?? To deal with the most dangerous non-human category risk alive?! Who sent them out here expecting them to make contact and negotiate or die trying right in the line of fire! Ahem.]

For what it's worth, Vash looks the happiest he's ever been seen so far, rejoicing that ~HE'S FREE~ from that marked life of running from everyone who comes after his head. :'D No more bounty to worry about means peace for real, right? Well not so fast!!! The girls are still here with a job to do. Bernadelli's 'typhoon' insurance premiums payouts are probably pretty damn huge to cover for all his damages all the time so...to prevent needless, costly risks and disasters from happening, they're here to ensure Vash doesn't get himself into any more trouble...by keeping him under their close watch: 24hr vigilant surveillance! 8'D (so he's not freeee~)

Considering how Meryl compared his risk factor to that of a nuclear warhead before, she's pretty damn bold and fearless!!! To waltz right up in his face, poking a finger in his chest, and offering him a gorilla grip of a handshake to officiate their first 'meeting' doing business with him! (Damn, girl!) Dark Horse's tl appears to be more accurate when she describes him having a 'chronic troublemaking disease' too. :P Hah~ She keeps her face tightly composed and 'professional,' but if she's this 'comfortable' to be in his 'dangerous' presence then...looks like she at least regards him--Vash the person, as human too. :'))

But instead of two insurance agents containing him for the benefit of their company and/or the government, it's more like Vash has gained two women bodyguards who're here to fend off any provoking or untoward attempts on his person. 😌 Anyone who doesn't like that and still wants to pick a fight with him (whoa mr Nebraska's not done yet!) can pack it up and go home!!! He's officially off limits! Back off, show's over! hahaha~ Cause the girls are armed (non-lethally! now doesn't that nicely align with his values) to defend themselves. He's quite a bit shook~ ;D

Chapter 04: 'Bang Bang!' starts transitioning into the Sand Steamer arc, but there's some aftermath details to note.

There's been at least a 2 week timeskip (Meryl says they've been here for over half a month) and the town's financial situation has been resolved thanks to the bounty on the captured Nebraskas covering for their needed money instead. (Ironically in Vash's place.) Vash's wanted posters are also starting to get torn down, since his bounty no longer applies. Meryl clocks Vash as an unbelievably nice/soft hearted person for offering the town all his credit and bounty money earned from taking down the Nebraskas himself. (Technically the girls subdued mr Nebraska at the end, but how sweet and generous of him~)

Still, since it has been a quiet 2 weeks without incident (what's happened in between now and then is anyone's best guess or anime filler territory~ but he HAS been a 'good boy' staying out of trouble if nothing's bad happened, right?) that Vash rightly has to wonder....just how long do the insurance girls intend to stick around him?? No time limit, or until their term ends, huh? D: Oh...well that's going to be a problem. (Knowing his lifestyle and quest to find 'Him' again...yeah, Vash can't settle in one place for too long, or risk those getting too close to him lest they get swept up in the danger...) Welp, since the Steamer's arrived, that's the perfect opportunity to begin his leave.

Hah! Meryl's so high-strung and on edge that Vash has suddenly ditched them, she rescinds her previous 'nice person' comment, thinking he's only playing 'nice' and innocent now to trick them and slip away. I...think she's jumped to some conclusions (cause while he is clever and skilled, his kindness isn't fake or trickery) just like Milly thinks he's transformed into a cat. :P

So relax, the Steamer doesn't even leave til tomorrow, he's only ~discreetly~ gone to reserve his spot, he's stayed here the whole time since they first met without randomly leaving them, and it's not like him (or at least, his manga self that is) to leave town full of his new friends made these past 2 weeks without saying goodbye yet, right?!

Cause he's already befriended Tonis! (Stampede reference! Rosa's name was also listed among the fallen women he rescued from the rubble.) And I'm pretty sure this kid is the same one who had that toy gun! He's totally a Vash fan now~

Also to note: it's the first time we see his travel duffel bag and cloak, and one of the Steamer's caravan guys keeps heckling Vash to hire him for their security. So much for him trying to keep a low profile. :P What's funny is that the insurance girls--with jobs, seem to have ran out of money these past two weeks while away from their office branches, yet Vash's 'finances' appear to be fine, even without the reward money he gave away.

I reckon that if the town has offered Vash free food in exchange for the generous blessing he's offered them, then I'm sure they've likely compensated him enough with means to pay for his passage on the Steamer, too. I mean hell, they've thrown him a whole lively going-away party tonight! While even going the extra mile to call in some expensive looking 'working' girls for his pleasure! :P

Now everyone and their mom has commented on him feigning drunken sleep as his way to 'politely' avoid it and turn them down. Apparently the original japanese line has him wondering whether it's a 'waste' (the 98anime has him wondering whether he regrets it a little) as depending on your interpretation, he could mean his choice (celibacy) is a bit of a waste when the chance is offered so freely, where he knows it's better that he shouldn't do/risk it despite how much he's possibly starved himself longing/craving for closeness, OR that he feels it's a bit of a waste for the town to have invited those nice girls all the way over here for the one thing he just can't give so easily (acespec lens). EITHER WAY, there's at least 3 narrative reasons why he'd choose to avoid getting too close/intimate with people like 'that' (for now): 1) his dangerous lifestyle--it's not safe to risk others he cares about; his distance protects both sides from further harm, 2) his scars--can't risk revealing those or their reaction to what he 'is', and 3) lifespan--uhoh spoilery, but still hurty for the gap between him and them. So he chooses lonely, sad boi hours in the dark... :'))

But what about the light? Check out what Meryl does during the party: sitting there watching him the whole time wondering about his ~mysterious~ ways. Even after another guy casually sits next to her wondering what she's doing. :P Her attention's still fondly on Vash. (MERYL I SEE YOUUUUUU!!!!) Especially after thinking he's a nice person, to thinking he'd ditched her, to seeing how he is now--having such a lively, open, rambunctious time welcomed among the town's celebrations. That the other guy supplies it's a wonder too--that Vash is getting along so friendly now with the same people who previously shot at him wanting him dead. :'D How accepting, how forgiving, how things change~

Final Vash notes on the Steamer: he still just wants peaceful alone time and Rest, despite how much others--like the caravan guy again, keep pestering him. :P He washes his hands after using the restroom! (Good etiquette!) And...his first pair of glasses barely lasted two chapters before they broke. :P Welp! He's off to befriend another lost 'stowaway' troublemaking kid...as the girls work their fare on board, blissfully unaware; just what can possibly go wrong~

[ijustkindalikebooks]

You know, I hate stereotypes but as I look out my window and I see stereotypical British weather in the beginnings of Summer, you know this one is based in truth. Of course it's raining.

I have completed 42 books this month ( plus 4 DNFs) and have read novels, manga, poetry and essay collections to get to this point. I read mainly from women this month and predominantly fiction which is not unusual, but the numbers were so high this month.

I also had my highest amount of five star books this month as well, so this might be a bit of a long one.

I am also going to link four different gofundmes I am aware for people trying to get themselves and their families out of Gaza.

Dina - Lulu - Doaa - Jumana.

Blue Exorcist 14 and 15 by Kazue Kato - I really am deep into this series now. The end of the last arc was fantastic and this one involved some of my favourite characters and I really feel the strength of the team and class is really beginning to show now. I just really appreciate this series alot so far and I can't wait to keep reading more of it. The story of Rin who finds out he's the son of satan when his exorcist father figure is killed, Blue Exorcist is definitely a heck of a series so far as they fight demons and break curses.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman - I've read this month so many books that have demanded to seen, heard and felt and this is definitely one of those books. The story of a young girl who grows up with a group of women who finally escape the confines of a cell they were trapped in, this book tells the story of her exploration of the world she now inhabits. Gloriously written and packing an emotional punch that will leave you breathless for days, I'd recommend this book to everyone.

Sketchy Vol 1 by Makihorichi - I am not going to dwell on this long as I have a whole review on this blog for it, but I highly recommend this manga about a woman who gets into skateboarding and begins to find new friends and create a new life for herself.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - I've been reading alot of classics and honestly very few have got five stars, actually few have even got four, but Mansfield Park is just so good. How Austen writes people is way ahead of her time, she is fantastic at creating people you love, you hate, you feel for and this book is no exception (even if the awful man in this book seems to come from my home county smh). The story of Fanny Price, a young but poor girl who is sent to live with rich family, she navigate, love, life, loneliness and envy, it is a classic for a a reason.

Homebody by Theo Parrish - I was lucky enough to see them discuss this book at my local Waterstones and was able to get a signed copy of this fantastic graphic novel. The story of Theo as they figure out their identity and find the gender they feel at home with, Homebody is a beautifully drawn and fantastically written story of figuring out who you are. I loved this so much and highly recommend it.

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan - Keegan is at the height of her talent right now and it's short stories like these? Novellas? That make that so abundantly clear. A beautifully told story about a man learning where the power lies in his Irish village (with the church in this case) it touches on the Magdalene Laundries and the impact they had on women and the places they were based in. A tale of quite hope and heroism, this book is a gem.

The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris - I will say from the top if you are not comfortable with explicit examples of wounds or surgery, this is not something I'd recommend, there is a lot of detail that goes into how these men got their wounds in world war one and I took several breaks to read this book. However this doesn't change just how well written this book is and the depth this has gone to research Doctor Gillies who basically invested plastic and reconstructive surgery for men who were burnt, scarred and hurt in the trenches and the impact of his work that is still seen today. The story of a pioneer in 250 pages, it's a piece of history that doesn't get heard about.

What were your favourite books of May? Please let me know!

Vee xo

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

John and Helene?

ohoho!! so! they are a couple who I genuinely don't remember when I first conceived of them. I wasn't super old but nor was I super young.

the first concept of them had ... a lot of dodgy/problematic stuff, mostly pertaining to undertones and implications I was completely unaware of. oh, and they were originally inspired by Robert Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy (the first Heinlein book I ever read, no idea what age I was tho). Anyway, to skip over the worst of it, John is a high ranking ??? in a society, sees slaves up for sale and decides to buy them all, which includes Helene. They fall in love, blah blah, etc. As you can see, that has a lot of nasty undertones. Anyway I love their characters and their romance as it's very gentle and sweet.

moooooving right along from that, we came to the next major iteration, in which there's a law (?) that a particular class of slaves are bought specifically for marriage. This leads to some icky stuff, of course, in implication, but anyway, John sees that particular class being auctioned off one time, sees a Nasty Old Man (antagonist) bidding for an unusually young woman (a child, really), and invokes the privilege of the Duke's son to shut down the bidding and buy her for himself. this causes some fascinating cultural clashes I did enjoy fleshing out. Ultimately, they court for several years until both are well of age before actually marrying.

The next major development came in the form of something which I had a name for at the time but have forgotten now. It was something, anyway, like the elixir of courage. This one I can pinpoint to developing during covid, no earlier than that. It's a highly addictive substance, bright blue, and John has trauma around it because somebody taking it gave them the courage to murder his father, the previous Duke. He hence has utterly banned it. Similar to previous versions, he then acquires Helene, only this time he is much more explicit about the fact that he doesn't want to marry her. He bought her to save her, and he'll marry her but in name only, unless they both end up wanting to be really married. Her mental problems, which existed in previous versions already, are dialed up/focused on more in this version, manifesting in severe anxiety. One of the other servants suggests a nice bright blue potion, which Helene does not realise is the elixir of courage. She becomes dependent on it, which does help her anxiety. John becomes aware that it is being used among his staff, and interviews them all to find out who and how. He discovers Helene under the influence of it, and in a fit of rage orders her to be whipped. Almost immediately he regrets it, but according to the laws of the Medes and Persians, &c. Here is where a character who was minor in previous version appears - Mason, John's friend. He supports Helene through all the ensuing troubles, and enables her to flee to his protection. When forced to choose whether she returns to John or not, Helene stays with Mason, breaks off her engagement with John and he turns into the antagonist, though he does end up with a redemption arc. In this version, all three characters remain single and there is no pairing - the ending involves them becoming friends again, Helene growing into herself (and out of the elixir), and a general sense of safety being established. Also John gets help for his anger issues (which exist in previous versions but not to the same extent. Also I yoinked this character trait for Tom lol).

Those are the major three versions I have apart from the one that excerpt is from. Despite passing similarities in those stories, they're not so much developments of one story, as different stories with similar themes/plot points.

The one this excerpt is from is yet another one, in which John has previously been married (his wife died), with kids. He's looking for a replacement mother for the children. Helene comes along out of ??? bad circumstances, agrees to marry him, and then during that excerpt backs out of marriage because she feels she'll taint the children, et cetera. Shamelessly borrowed from a book i read as a kid. This one's the most Only Vibes of all of them.

There are so many other versions and possibilities and vibes but I love this couple. I love their dynamic, which has the potential to be bad, but in this case is good and sweet and wholesome.

character summary of John: - entitled (is always upperclass or that sort of thing) - ignorant of real world issues/sheltered - potential for anger issues when he discovers the truth about things - smooth and polished in society but doesn't know how to deal with lower classes like Helene - honest to a fault - very in earnest but blundering - does his best to grow and learn tho

character summary of Helene: - shy and skittish - does not consider herself worth anything but also very pliable - loves deeply - very quiet about everything and needs kindness to open up - anxiety and fear bc of past - trauma

A fun lil fact about this *gestures* thing as a whole: I would estimate I have less than a thousand words of actual story of any of these iterations written down, but I have plans and I have very specific plot outlines and character sketches. And yet there's hardly any of it actually existing other than in my brain.

[philosopherking1887]

since you finished Gotham, the people must know... what did you think of sid's character in it

Much like his character on Game of Thrones: tragically, even criminally under-utilized. Siddig was in the credits for all of season 4, but he was only actually in half of the episodes, and many of those appearances were very brief, and/or in the form of other people's hallucinations rather than the actual character. I don't know that much about the Batman mythos, but my sense is that Ra's al Ghul is kind of a big deal? So it seems weird to introduce him and cast a really great (and hot) actor in the role and then keep him off-screen most of the time.

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT (in case anyone out there might watch the show and cares about spoilers...)

They did this weird thing where he was in the last two episodes of season 3 (briefly) and then first few episodes of season 4, then he gets (apparently) killed in episode 5 and only appears in flashbacks or hallucinations a couple times, until his crazy followers bring him back to life in episode 19. At first he comes back as a creepy skeleton-zombie thing hidden under a hooded cloak, but fortunately he gets de-zombified partway through the episode (so we get to actually see Sid as well as hearing his voice). Then most of the remaining 3 episodes are taken up with thwarting the evil plans of the second proto-Joker character (there are twin brothers... it's pretty baroque). Sid isn't in episode 20 at all, pops up very briefly toward the end of 4.21 to ally himself with the Joker, then has a little more presence in 4.22 (the season finale), but gets definitively killed -- as in, crumbles into ash and disappears -- 2/3 of the way through the episode.

In all of seasons 2-4 -- which are the mature, complete seasons; in season 1 they were still figuring out the format, and season 5 was a half-season with only 12 episodes -- Gotham almost always has multiple storylines and major antagonists. In fact, they started naming the story arcs in season 2, with each of seasons 2 and 3 divided into two distinct but semi-continuous arcs, each with a different main antagonist. Season 4 is named as a single arc ("A Dark Knight"), but there are a lot of separate strands, some of which aren't connected at all. Ra's al Ghul is one of the main antagonists at the beginning of season 4, but he's also kind of a spillover from the second half of season 3, when we find out that the Court of Owls (the sinister group that controls Gotham) is in turn controlled by the League of Shadows, led by Ra's al Ghul. His obsession with Bruce Wayne, who he thinks is his heir, carries over into early season 4, but then Bruce (apparently/temporarily) kills him 5 episodes in, which leads into a character arc where baby Bruce temporarily turns into the dissolute asshole playboy that he'll pretend to be as cover when he's an adult moonlighting as Batman.

This is happening at the same time that Jim Gordon has brought Carmine Falcone's daughter, Sofia, back to Gotham to try to wrest control of the criminal underworld away from Penguin. That storyline is the main one until it wraps up in 4.15, and has no intersection at all with the Ra's al Ghul stuff, or indeed with anything that Bruce is involved in, which includes some weird shit with Poison Ivy killing people with magic plants. It's unusual for two major, partly simultaneous storylines in a season to be so completely isolated from each other, and I think that's part of why season 4 feels so messy and all over the place -- it's trying to pack in too much stuff that doesn't fit together neatly, if at all, and doesn't quite keep track of it all or manage to wrap it all up in a satisfying way. If they had figured out a way to integrate the competing storylines, they might have been able to give Sid a more substantial role. I personally consider it a tragedy that he never really got to interact with Penguin, as played brilliantly by Robin Lord Taylor... though I suppose they do exist in two very different parts of the Batman world: Ra's al Ghul lives in the mystical, magical, unfortunately Orientalist world of secret ninja societies and Lazarus Water that resurrects people and makes them immortal; while Penguin lives in the largely mundane world of organized crime, inhabited by some oddball characters but generally non-magical.

Writing this (unnecessarily long) answer made me think more about the narrative structure of Gotham, and it occurred to me that Bruce almost never interacts with Penguin, which is kind of odd considering that Penguin is being established as one of Batman's future antagonists, as well as an occasional source of information. In season 1, Gordon and Oswald/Penguin are decidedly the show's deuteragonists, and Bruce is more of a side character, but in later seasons it can be envisioned as a triangle missing a side (like this symbol: ^ ), where Jim Gordon is the central 'hinge' character, whose storylines connect with both those of Bruce on one side and Oswald on the other, but their storylines are running on parallel tracks, linked only by Gordon and/or the current main antagonist.

[loregoddess]

Temenos Mistral for the character ask game! (Because you were talking about them earlier!)

First impression: "Oh, he seems neat, wonder what his story will be about."

Impression now: I love Temenos, one of my top favorite characters from the game, probably my scond-fave after Ochette. He's such an interesting character and his story (gripes I might have with the pacing aside) was unexpected for a "cleric" story, based on what I'd seen with Ophilia and some of the clerics from CotC. Honestly I'd write up an entire character analysis if I had the energy to do so, bc there is so much going on with him.

Favorite moment: A few different ones, but I really like how any time that the façade he puts up starts to slip, this sheer force of anger slips through--that's good stuff. Love that his "In Pursuit of Truth" theme also sounds much more energetic and aggressive when compared to his normal theme song (and like, I'm not well-versed with music terms and stuff, but Temenos is also the only character whose "In Pursuit of..." song has a significantly different tempo and more aggressive melody when compared to the standard theme, if I recall correctly).

Idea for a story: Hmm, do the two rewrite ideas of his main narrative that I have floating in my head count? Like I've said, something about the general pacing of events and a handful of narrative elements in his story don't really work for me, and as a result his story arc doesn't seem as strong compared to the others' stories. Not all of it is "bad writing" or anything, like the writers clearly had a plan in mind, and I know some of it is just my personal taste...but yeah, I have a "canon compliant, trying to match the general narrative motifs and themes of the rest of the characters" rewrite idea, and a "mostly canon compliant, but definitely changing some things to fit my personal tastes which therefore go against one or two of the overall recurring themes and motifs" rewrite idea. I'll probably never do anything with them though bc it's more like...anytime I come across story writing that I thought was really good, I try to figure out what about it I liked and how the writers set it up, and any time I come across story writing that doesn't work, I do the same thing where I try to figure out why I didn't like it and then try to figure out how I'd write it myself, and this is like, a little mental enrichment I do just for fun and also to try and sharpen my own preferences and sensibilities for storytelling and writing. So like, I don't technically have that much beef with his story, and I don't want to come off as "I'm a better writer than the original writers" or even that I thought the original arc was bad (it really wasn't bad writing per se), it's more just a thing I came up with for myself for funsies and as a mental exercise in narrative, more so than an actual like, critique of the original story.

Unpopular opinion: I uh, I don't ship him with Crick...or anyone actually. In fact the Temenos x Crick ship really does not float my goats (nothing against anyone who enjoys the ship, you do you and all that, it's just not my cup of tea). I actually read and more or less headcanon Temenos as aroace, and even if I didn't, he's got like 2934820398432 unresolved trust issues, so I'd have a hard time seeing him be able to enter into a romantic relationship anyhow. But that's just my reading, again no shade to anyone who has a different reading/headcanons.

Favorite relationship: I love his interactions with all the other main characters, but I find his weird friendship with Ochette to be really, really interesting especially (I'd write up an analysis and list of thoughts on this too if I had the energy). Outside of the main cast, what little we get to see of his interactions with Jorg, along with what we learn after Jorg gets murdered, is really fascinating to me as well. They have a very unusual familial/professional relationship (although given that Benedict and Anna's wildly unconventional familial relationship is also super interesting to me, I'm thinking I might just be an enjoyer of unconventional and murky adopted familial relationships in fiction).

Favorite headcanon: I am fond of the idea of him being related to Alpates and Throne by blood, although as I've turned the headcanon over in my head and whittled it like a wood carving, it's developed into something really specific with basically no in-game source to back it up, so it's a 100% bona fide "I just made something up and went with it" headcanon that I keep modifying and changing. Basically, I think he's got a situation similar to Hikari's, but significantly more subdued since he doesn't have an evil shadow version of himself trying to talk him into murdering everyone, and that his blood ties to Alpates's bloodline are stronger than his blood ties to D'arqest. Some more specifics about that under the cut bc explaining myself requires talking about late-game spoilers.

(Specifically rather than being directly Claude's son, I think it's entirely possible some of the Blacksnakes were able to have kids of their own, like Father did, without Claude finding out about them and having the child killed, and that even potentially those kids might have had kids, thinning the blood ties to Claude further--so rather than being Throne's half-sibling, Temenos would be more uh...*checks cheat-sheet chart for familial ties* ummm...her half-grand-nephew, god I hate everything about that phrase why does anything relating to Claude have to be a string of "wtf??"s). I keep changing this headcanon slightly (I did originally start from the base of having him and Throne as half-siblings), so who knows just how much it's gonna change before I settle on something I'm really happy with, but I do like the idea a lot.

[kradogsrats]

OKAY so the meat of Neither Crows Nor Eagles is actually “Lissa and Kpp’Ar tag-team through the Titan Heart arc WAY better than Viren navigated it on his own” and yeah that’s gonna take approximately forever to write

but I still just wanted to post a little chunk that resembles “done” because a) idek man it makes me stupid happy, and b) I swear to god that three stanzas mimicking the Midnight Star poem structure might have been the single most difficult thing I’ve ever experienced writing, please look at it and feel the pain it caused my soul

—

Lissa spent days scouring the library—histories, sagas, ancient poetry. Even a few tomes on magic that looked somewhat comprehensible.

In the end, she stumbled upon what she was looking for almost by accident. An otherwise extremely dry analysis of settlement distribution across the area of what would eventually become Katolis made an unusual reference to a contemporary heroic lay, which sent her after several collections of pre-kingdoms era poetry, seeking to identify the original verse. As she paged through the fourth of the half-dozen volumes the librarian retrieved for her, a handful of stanzas from an unrelated, even earlier poem caught her eye. 

"It's about an early human queen, referred to only as 'Bone-crowned,'" she told Kpp'Ar, back at his house. "It's not clear whether or not she really existed—the whole story may be a metaphor for fallen Elarion, to express human suffering and grief after the expulsion."

"Spare me the senseless academic waffling," Kpp'Ar grumbled, flapping a hand at her. He bent over the text. "It doesn’t matter whether the individual existed, as long as the spellcraft is sound."

Lissa pointed out the stanzas in question. "Here. It’s not much, unfortunately."

Unbowed queen, with harden’d heart, no traitor’s rule left in her stead. Cast from her throne and crowned with bone, her people to the wilds she led.

Exiled queen, with pow'r undimmed, an ebon gaze swept o'er the waste. In barren ground no seed was found, both root and stalk by blight erased. 

Wand'ring queen, with children frail, faced winter's bite and hunger's sting. 'Til warmth of Earth drew bounty forth, growth like unto most tend'r spring.

Kpp'Ar frowned, thick brows knit together. "Actually, this is quite promising," he conceded. “Workable, even.”

"How? It doesn't look much like a spell.”

"Did you expect a shopping list? The reagent and incantation would have been closely-guarded secrets, particularly for a working of this scale. But there are signs." He tapped a stanza. "Here—a reagent of the Earth primal, that brings the warmth of a second spring to the land."

She thought back to what little she remembered of primal sources lore. It came up far less often as poetic imagery during the later eras she was more familiar with. "Wouldn't warmth come from the Sun primal?"

"Do you know of many plants that grow better when on fire? No," he answered himself testily, not waiting for her response, "the spell would require the vitality and fertility of Earth. Think of the heat of a beating heart, not a lit flame."

He went to one of the bookshelves and selected several thick tomes. Lissa peered curiously at the pages as he flipped through one of them—it appeared to be some manner of reference text, cataloging properties of Xadian flora and fauna. Some entries he dismissed without a second glance, including several forms of dragon, but others he reviewed more carefully before moving on.

She watched as he muttered over the pages, absorbed to the point of having forgotten her presence. His shaggy hair fell across his face as he bent his head to examine a diagram in detail, and he pushed it back impatiently, tousling the pale streaks that raked through it like skeletal fingers. 

Bone-crowned, she thought. She was less familiar with stories from the pre-Katolis region than those of her homeland, but she recalled the queen’s tale as being one primarily of betrayal and bloody retribution. The grisly crown was usually depicted as wrought from her enemies’ remains, growing more elaborate as she continued to exact her revenge. If the epithet instead described a natural coloration—it posed significant challenge to certain assumptions. Not even to mention the question of when the popular perception had changed, and how.

She wondered if anyone had published a monograph on the topic, yet. Maybe she’d write one. Assuming there was any interest in scholarship remaining after famine ravaged the kingdoms.

"Here," Kpp’Ar said abruptly, startling her out of her thoughts. He smoothed the open page with his hand. "This is a possibility."

The illustration showed a hulking creature of rock, man-like in its shape and stance, but without recognizable features. Deep fissures ran over its craggy surface, and its gaping maw hung open in a ferocious bellow.

“A magma titan,” Kpp’Ar explained. “Uncommon, but not unheard of, particularly in the volcanic wastelands near the border. Its heart, for lack of a better term, is a massive crystal of concentrated magic. Potentially enough to restore Duren’s fields to flourishing, and spur them to produce before winter.”

Hope—real hope—swelled in Lissa’s chest, lifting away some of the smothering dread that had weighed her down since Sarai admitted the dire situation. “You think it can be done?”

“Perhaps.” He drummed his fingers against the page, still frowning. "Unfortunately, magma titans are quite difficult to kill. It will take a dozen soldiers, at the least. Maybe two."

Lissa’s fragile bubble of hope crashed back to earth. "There's no way that many can march into Xadia. It would be seen as an act of war—that's the last thing we need."

"Indeed. Which is why they must not be seen."

"If magic could sneak an army over the border, it would have been done centuries ago." She hesitated. It seemed like common sense, but there was a lot she didn’t know about magic. “Right?”

“Conjuring illusions that deceive normal beings is trivial, but dark magic does little against the senses of an archdragon,” he confirmed. "Which is why I'm proposing speed, not spells. Cross, hunt the titan, and return in a single night. The most time-consuming part is locating a target—my presence will speed that step significantly."

It took Lissa a moment to register what he'd said. "You?" she exclaimed, a wave of mingled disbelief and dismay rising in her.

Kpp'Ar cast a look at her, brows raised. "You know someone else who can perform a tracking spell?"

"No, but—" She grimaced. Until now, the entire prospect had been, if not academic, then at least abstract. It was one thing to think about a dozen unnamed soldiers venturing into Xadia after a monstrous creature, but entirely another to imagine Kpp'Ar—who seemed to hold all the brittle frailty of ancient parchment, ready to crumble at a touch—doing the same. He had not, to the best of her knowledge, left his home in years, save for the morning Viren died. She remembered him blinking owlishly in the sunlight, stumbling after her through the streets.

She remembered how his hands shook when he’d touched Viren’s lifeless body. So, so gently.

“Couldn’t you do it from here? Or this side of the border, at least?” she finished weakly.

“Not accurately. To track a specific individual using a direct sample, maybe—but a broad specimen match requires proximity. There's also a chance the spell will need to be refreshed multiple times, depending on how far away the target is revealed to be.”

He closed the book, looking down at his hands resting on its cover. “This plan cannot be executed without a mage. Not quickly enough to make a difference.”

Lissa had nothing she could say to that. Neither Katolis nor Duren had a high mage to take responsibility. Seeking outside aid risked widespread panic—a single kingdom’s choice to hoard and isolate rather than stand together could bring the collapse of centuries of peace. 

“Contrary to what you may believe, there are things I care deeply for. People, both present snd gone,” Kpp’Ar said quietly. "We both know he would go without hesitation, if he were here.”

His hands curled into fists against the book. “He’s not, and I am. It is what it is.”

Lissa opened her mouth to somehow protest further, then closed it with a sigh. “I’ll inform the queen.”

[donuts4evry1]

lets ramble abot my first jellyfish oc(s)

Since I'm not planning on making this idea into an actual game anymore, all lore is fair rambling game :)

Their full names are as follows:

Aurealis Aurita Vita (15) and Chrestos Chironex Vita (11)

they are brothers :)

I'll ramble under the cut, hehe

Aurealis Vita was born to Pleione Vita and Chryos Vita, two prominent figures in the noble society. He hails from a kingdom of human-marine animal hybrids, operating under a monarchy of crown jellyfish.

Aurealis themself was a hybrid with moon jellyfish (Aurelia labiata, to be exact) as well as his mother, while his father was a hybrid of a black sea nettle. As a sort of hybrid species, their hair acts like jellyfish tentacles. This fact will be important later.

Chryos was... not the best father, but his mother was loving and warm, so his early years were great.

Then came Chiro.

Aurealis was only 4 years old when Chiro was born and his mother died.

All the odds were against her with the birth. Coming from a long line of box jellyfish hybrids, there was a small chance that she could give birth to one.

Even then, newly born box jellyfish hybrids usually don't have venom potent enough to kill, but Chiro was different. His venom was unusually strong, and Pleione died in childbirth.

Everything changed then. Chryos upgraded from a not good father to an absolutely terrible father- often showing preferential treatment to Chiro and berating Aurealis for not meeting his standards. Sometimes verbally, other times physically. Sorry :(

Chiro himself was a precocious child, showing more interest in books than others. He quickly grew to be more smarter and competent than Aurealis, and stronger too. He often injured Aurealis on accident on account of his deadly hair, which would grow longer or shorter depending on his emotional state.

He still was not happy, however. He longed for affection and validation that didn't come from his father- which only came when he did something destructive.

The servants obviously feared him, and no matter how nice he was, he couldn't help but feel self conscious about their nervous demeanor around him.

Aurealis loathed Chiro, and she would bully him to make themselves feel better. He took the bullying- even internalizing it, because he felt as if his own existence were the cause of all the problems. Admist all that, he gained an interest in nematocytes, and spent much of his time studying them, and finding cures and uses for them.

Eventually, Aurealis had enough of life at home, and ran far, far away, to a whole other place full of different people and different... Everything, really. Leaving Chiro alone. Leaving everything they knew behind.

Honestly, their story came out of a desire for me to write something wholly dramatic and emotional, and I really liked it. I could develop it so much.

I latched onto Aurealis in particular, because her story involved heavy themes of self-hatred and the different ways to cope with it. They belittled others, they acted the opposite of the way they actually felt in a "fake it til you make it" sort of way (ie. ore-sama like). Of course, I give him a redemption arc, but they eventually have to deal with the fallout of their actions and I think that's great :).

Chiro, on the other hand, dealt a lot with gifted kid burnout and a different sort of self-hatred. He feels immense guilt for events that he had no control over, and seeks to fix them. He doesn't feel worthy if he doesn't have anything of worth to offer anyone, and his story is just. Incredibly sad.

Especially since terrible things could happen to him (I haven't decided yet tbh). Which I will ramble about in a different post. All I will say is that I named his theme is named "Lethe" for a narrative reason, hehe.

So anyways. They're the perfect comfort characters.

Recently I've been super into writing the brothers as adults (hence the florist Aurealis) and... Ugh. I've been missing them more and more lately, especially since I still need to write and design for Ite!

[smalltownfae]

Title: The Lollipop Shoes (Sapatos de Rebuçado)

Series: Chocolat #2

Author: Joanne Harris

Translator: Teresa Curvelo

Pages: 504

Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐

(Read in portuguese)

I have read the first book in the series a long time ago. I liked it well enough, but there were some scenes that bothered me, even though I can't quite remember which ones and why. From what I remember, I feel a similar way towards this sequel. There are a lot of things I like, but there are also things that bothered me and most of those I can blame it on it being an old book.

The sequel to Chocolat is set in Paris, Montmartre to be more exact. I didn't know this going in, but I was pleasantly surprised because I just visited Paris for the first time this year and the descriptions of the city made it really clear in my mind. Vianne, the main character from the first book, is now using another name along with her daughter, Anouk. She now has another daughter, Rosette. Rosette speaks through gestures since she cannot talk and people see her as a weird child. This time the characters are trying to blend in with other people while running a chocolate shop that has been going through financial troubles. Due to this, Vianne decides to accept the marriage purposal of a rich man she doesn't love in order to give her daughters a better future. Meanwhile, Rosette suffers prejudice in spite of Vianne's best efforts to appear as normal as possible and Anouk is being bullied at school. Everything changes when an unusual woman named Zozie appears. The shop starts being successful and Anouk can stand up to her bullies. Zozie is hiding something and there is a price to pay for all the help she is giving the family, but they don't know it until it's too late.

I really like the writing style for the most part. The descriptions of smells and tastes are so vivid that I can feel them. I am not a fan of when the characters address the reader though. There is one character perspective in this book that keeps doing that and it takes me out of the story for a moment.

There are three perspectives in this story: Vianne, Anouk and Zozie. The three main characters are great and complex, but I wish the others were more fleshed out. Everyone, except the main characters, is very one note. In one of the perspectives this makes sense, but the other two are supposed to know certain characters more deeply. My favourite was definitely Anouk and I would say this is her book since she is the one with a bigger character arc. I kept thinking she was 15 when she is actually 11 though. Everyone around her seems to treat her as if she is older and that's why I kept being surprised when her real age was mentioned.

I really like the magic in general. It is everyday simple magic that the reader can believe as true or not. The main characters are like witches that do little spells, read tarot cards, can see someone's aura, have an animal companion, etc. It's not over the top and it works well in a contemporary real world setting. However, Zozie keeps using and refering to magic from a culture that is not her own and the way it is done is a little fishy. It feels like cultural appropriation. There is also a scene towards the end that is very similar to a fairy tale conclusion and that felt odd in a story that for the most part was centered in reality. The resolution to the story seemed easy and out of place.

What I disliked the most were certain terms to insult characters that felt very outdated. There is also a fat character and the fact that he is fat seems to be his main trait and he keeps being described as such everytime he appears on the page. That same character also uses a weird term to describe his girlfriend once during dinner. One character compares another to an "ugly prostitute" as a way to insult them. It's stuff like that that makes me feel like the book is old because I don't see this terms, in the situations they were used in, happening as much in modern works.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I want to read the next ones, but I know for sure I will still feel conflicted about some of the choices happening in them. It's a pity because without the ones that were completely unecessary it would have a higher rating and it would have been a much better experience.

[ascalonianlightbringer]

Last time on the liveblog, I wrapped up the "Down the Hatch" phase of the Order of Whispers initiation proper/rescue of Demmi Beetlestone. After meeting Demmi at the Order's safehouse, Gwen decided to use the tracking spell on Demmi's necklace to misdirect Demmi's pursuers with a decoy. Demmi's mesmer godmother, a major figure in the Order, declared she'd cast the disguise spell on ... Tybalt.

Next up, we found Gwen and Tybalt in Lion's Arch, and Tybalt saying "Time for me to get pretty."

Tybalt <333

He was a bit taken aback that the spell worked and he had hands and "apples" (lmao, but Charr are so low on sexual dimorphism that it actually makes sense that this would be weird for him). Gwen basically told him to focus and go wander about the city and see if the Ministry guards would take the bait and pursue him. He was ready to do it, though Gwen wanted to make sure he understood the danger; if the guards couldn't capture "Demmi," they'd kill her, meaning Tybalt.

<3

I really enjoy how the Order of Whispers arc mixes comedy, the mechanics of the story, and then more serious character moments like this. I've seen people say that Tybalt is beloved because he's funny, but there's a lot more to him and what makes him so endearing.

Tybalt went on that fighting dragons would require the support of Kryta, which meant keeping Queen Jennah in power, which meant him, a Charr, risking his life to secure the human throne.

Canonically, the PC replies "The world's a funny place, Lightbringer. As long as we keep laughing, I guess we're not dead."

That's not wildly OOC for Gwen or anything—in fact, I can easily see her saying it to evade the human-Charr discussion—but the fact that she's human and Ascalonian makes it very possible for her to respond differently. I can see her response being more uneasy, say, but much less wary/privately hostile as before. It might be a deliberately neutral "It's certainly unusual. Are you sure you're prepared to risk it?"

Or her own distaste for the monarchy might factor in. I suspect that's on the back burner for now, though, and she wouldn't want to betray her own dissent to anyone she doesn't fully trust.

As a bonus, the AU response would fit Tybalt's response really well: "The order gave me a mission, and I'm not turning back now. I can do this. Trust me!"

Again, he has to insist on his trustworthiness. I think even Gwen, for all her biases, has become aware that it's a tender spot and feels some uncomfortable compassion. It's not hard to guess that someone, somewhere—maybe multiple someones—didn't trust him. She could even remember him describing himself as "a broken-down engineer" and wonder if it has to do with that. Maybe he doesn't fully trust himself, but while she doesn't fully trust him ethically, he would strike her as perfectly competent.

Anyway, they started walking through the city. Tybalt was weirded out by not having a tail to balance with, and talked himself up a bit. He told Gwen that if this ever had to happen again, she'd be the one transformed. Fair! And in-story, it would make somewhat more sense for Gwen, a human woman from Divinity's Reach, to pass as Demmi—but it'd be much less funny :P

Tybalt and Gwen were attacked by various Ministry Guards who were definitely deceived by the disguise (as a mesmer main, I do love that everyone in the story seems to perpetually underestimate what we can do!). The fights weren't hard, though, and they reached the docks intact and met with the captain taking "Demmi" away.

He pretty openly hit on "her," to Tybalt's discomfort, though I do appreciate how he put it:

Gwen assured him that he'd be okay despite his concern at being disguised as a human woman and alone at sea with sailors (certainly suggests something about Tyrian gender relations). Both the ferocity and charm options were pretty asinine, so unusually, I went with dignity for her, and Gwen assured him that Demmi is a Krytan noble and her status/reputation would protect him. He agreed to lean into it "and remind them who my daddy is. Heh."

That seemed properly espionage-y, and Gwen told the captain to give Demmi some space.

And that was that phase!