#I AM VERY INTERESTED to see who of the novella boys will get the most excerpts

[coffeeandcalligraphy]

preparing for my end of year reading video like :))))))))

[kyu-nee]

Calling for a SKZ roleplay!

Hi!! As you can see my name is Kyu, currently 24, and starting my summer break for the year! With only my part-time job to keep me busy during the summer months I am very free to amble about all day thinking of my eight favorite brainrot men and dreaming up little plots for them. Since writing fanfiction is nice but not as engaging and entertaining as roleplaying, I'm looking for someone who might want to chill out, go a little (a lot) nuts over them and write out some scenarios! 🍃

Talking about my roleplaying style: I'm a novella writer. That means you are getting at least 1-7k+ replies from yours truly, and it also means I am thirsting for someone who goes just as crazy with the internal monologue, the backflashes, the in-depth character exploration as I do! If I'm fed two listless little paragraphs in response to a 5k post then my motivation just flags. My grammar is (this comes off as snobby, I know) flawless except for the occasional typo or slip of the keyboard, and I like to think of my writing as rather engaging. What I really need from a roleplay partner is communication, activeness and friendliness, though. I'm very energetic sometimes and can ramble for hours about possible what-ifs in our roleplay, so I would very much like someone who wants to become friends, strikes up conversation as much as I do, and generally doesn't mind rants and fawning! 🍃

As far as topics and genres go: I love me some fluff and romance but angst, hurt, comfort, drama, misunderstandings are sooo good! I'm all in for dead dove themes and smut also, so long as we have a decent plot for it to fit into! If we get to talking I am also more than happy to provide a list of my kinks and no-nos for you to skim over and see if we'd be compatible in that regard. My absolutely favorite verses to play are omegaverse or hybrid verses, in which I am a strong stickler for the version where omegas/prey hybrids are naturally AFAB no matter their gender. 🍃

I play on Discord in private servers for easy organization and comfort!

Let's get to the (I assume) interesting part for you! I am generally all-in on every single member/member ship (NOT looking for any oc/member or self-inserts as that doesn't vibe with me at all and I don't like the notion of it) but of course I have some favorites, those being MinChan, MinSung, JeongChan, ChanBin, ChanSung and JeongLix! Still, I am very open to suggestions as I love all of my boys and am excited to play them, also as a pack, OT8, or any variation including however many of the members! 🍃

There are some plots I've been mulling over, most of them little snippets or vibes more than actual plotlines, but I'll try to piece them together coherently for your perusal once we get to talking and sort out or preferences! 🍃

Please shoot me a message that possibly also introduces yourself and I'll get back to you with haste! Will not be considering Likes/Reblogs since that low level of initiative and engagement is not what I'm looking for!🍃

Have a lovely day and thank you so much for reading through all this! 💖🍃

[forthegothicheroine]

Horror novel recommendations

@allthestoriescantbelies​ asked for horror novel recommendations, so I thought I’d throw one together to post on the blog! Largely focused on non-gothic stuff since I’ve already made a gothic lit list over here.

As a general warning, all horror books listed here will have potentially triggering material. If you want more specific trigger warnings, you can ask me or see if people have listed them on goodreads or storygraph.

My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix: I know you’ve read this, but I’m putting it on the list because it is one of the scariest books I’ve ever read, about a teenage girl in trouble and the only other girl willing to help her. I’m told the movie makes it much more straightforwardly comic rather than horror-with-jokes, which disappoints me. I’m a big fan of Hendrix in general, though I know you (and plenty of others!) find him hit-or-miss.

Red Dragon by Thomas Harris: Another one I believe you’ve read, but for reference, it’s the best serial killer thriller I’ve ever read. Francis Dolarhyde is a much more interesting character than Hannibal Lecter, I will die on this hill.

We Will All Go Down Together by Gemma Files: Centuries ago, the Five Family Coven made a deal with the Fairy Queen, and their descendants have been doomed ever since. I could have just as easily recommended Files’ book Experimental Film- if you like one, read the other as well.

The Drowning Girl by Caitlin R. Kiernan: A schizophrenic woman has two different memories of her ex-girlfriend and the horror that followed her- was she a werewolf, a mermaid, or were both memories wrong? This is Kiernan at her most heartfelt and most accessible; if you like this and want to try her grosser stuff, read The Very Best of Caitlin R. Kiernan.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski: A haunted house in a haunted film in a haunted memoir, written in a work of visual art. I won’t blame anyone who bounces off this, but give it a try!

Carrie by Stephen King: If you’re only going to read one Stephen King, make it either Carrie or Misery. I don’t feel like any film adaptations have captured all the aspects of this tragedy about a girl who deserved a better life and the town who didn’t save her while there was still a chance, including the epistolary format.

Rolling in the Deep by Mira Grant: This novella was followed up by Into the Drowning Deep, but I found Rolling in the Deep much scarier. It’s brisk and high-tension to watch a semi-fake documentary team put together, piece by piece, just what the monsters are that pursue them.

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge: The Great Pumpkin, but scary! Seriously, though, if you are willing to accept the concept of a boy with a pumpkin head and a knife and a yearly child sacrifice, this is short and a lot of fun.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones: Just an elk killed when some kids were blowing off steam. Just an elk damning the rest of their lives. (Jones’s My Heart is a Chainsaw was too sad for me to recommend as a favorite, but I am curious about the sequel.)

The Wolfen by Whitley Striber: I wanted to include a good werewolf novel on this list, and The Wolfen wins by far for interesting creature design. (The runner up was The Last Werewolf by Glen Duncan.)

The Auctioneer by Joan Samson: A very atypical entry on this list, closer to Twin Peaks than your average thriller. A rural town is turned into a capitalist police state when a slick salesman comes to see what they’ll allow him to do. It turns out, it’s a lot.

The Drive-In by Joe R. Lansdale: The only “splatterpunk” I’ve ever loved, this is an absurdist nightmare about a southern drive-in crowd who get stuck in a world with only the movie screens and each other, turning into literal and figurative monsters. Usually published with the sequel, since both are short, though I didn’t like the latter as much. If you like it, read one of Lansdale’s short story collections.

As always, reblog with suggestions of your own!

[kojirago]

18+ A new RP partner is approaching! 18+

Hey all, hey all! The name's Koji and BOY do I have an offer most couldn't refuse! I'm looking for any and everyone who is wanting to do a roleplay of really any sort! Albeit at the moment I do have a HEAVY bias towards **Hazbin Hotel** And **Helluva Boss**. So! If you have any fandoms you want to try out, or just a OC idea- Then let me know and I'm sure we can work something out! []---------------------------------------------------------------------------[]

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A little about me though: I am a 21M who has been roleplay concurrently for about 5-6 years now! I like to think I withing Advanced Literate - Novella range, but really it varies from roleplay-to-roleplay and from partner-to-partner! If I have enough to work with, I can write upwards of the Discord text limit (using it as a reference since that is where I am used to writing on). Speaking of Discord, that is what I primarily use for roleplay! I'm actually quite new to Tumblr, and heard that this was a good place to find people to roleplay with so I have high hopes! []---------------------------------------------------------------------------[]

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My requirements: Please be literate! I don't like to roleplay with anyone who puts very little effort- That's not to say I am expecting huge paragraphs! Just more than a few lines is all! I would also prefer if you are understanding that I have a life outside of roleplaying, so there will be times I get busy and don't respond- But I promise when I am locked in we could roleplay back and forth for hours! One other thing I should mention, I am looking for either SFW RP or NSFW RP! Just tell me when we get to talking! []---------------------------------------------------------------------------[]

[]---------------------------------------------------------------------------[] I think that's really it honestly! I'd like to thank you for reading this little post, and hope you consider trying me out as a partner! SO- If this DOES warrant any interest from anyone, don't be afraid to leave a note and I'll make sure to send a message your way; or if you want to go ahead and send me a DM then by all means I welcome it! See you all soon!

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[philcoulsonismyhero]

I just got to the bit in Lies Sleeping where Nightingale says he's "Merely an interested observer." after Peter jokingly calls him "such a romantic" and I Am Climbing The Fucking Walls, Here, Ben Aaronovitch

He's so aro! 9 entire books, like 10 comics, the novellas, the various short moments that I've found so far, Not One Single Hint that this man has ever expressed romantic interest in anyone (or sexual for that matter, he is Also very ace) in all 110+ years of his life

And then there's this! "It's Valentine's Day 2016 and for a moment everyone is dreaming about what and who they love and desire the most", and Nightingale's bit is this:

Major Nightingale alone in his much too comfortable Regency bed, dreams of mortar fire amongst the pine trees and the faces of the long dead friends he left on a mountainside in Germany. Boy’s Own to the last, he turns to make his stand as the panzers and the things that are not panzers come boiling out of the treeline. He has done this before and he is willing to do it again, except the dead keep asking him why he is still fighting this particular battle. And to his surprise he doesn’t have an answer. ‘Go home,’ they cry. ‘Or you’ll never see what happened next.’

This! Man! Is! Aroace!

His relationship drama is all about his friends and his sense of duty and his role as a mentor and I Am Going Slowly Mad over the fact that it's Not Quite Canon but also not remotely contradicted by anything in canon either. And the themes! Fuck, all the themes of loneliness and isolation and reconnecting to the world through his job and teaching and the friends that he makes are all So resonant with the idea of him being aroace. Put on a pedestal by his peers, the last man standing, the Nightingale, a man born in 1900 living in the 21st century, everything that's going on with him is about being a little bit apart from the people around him, marked as different, and in a lot of ways he is different. And he has never once reminisced about some long lost love or been indicated to have ever pursued a romantic relationship and the most meaningful people in his life are the friends that he lost and the friends that he's gained. Can You See Why I Am Climbing The Walls

And I'm still stressed out about getting invested in this one because it's literally never Actually There, I've been disappointed so many times with aroace headcanons, but I can't help it this time, It's Right There, Staring Me In The Face and I Need it to be true. Just Fucking Once I want a favourite character who could plausibly be like me to Actually Be Like Me, is that too much to fucking ask?

[findroleplay]

**Kingsman | The Secret Service - Canon x Oc + some other fandoms**

Hello hello hello! 🙂

**Basic info and writing preferences**

26, she/her, **I am 18+ so all characters and partners must be 18+ too!**

I have been roleplaying since 2010 but have just recently came back after a bit of a hiatus so just going to leave this post and hope to catch some one’s interest!

I write in 3rd person POV, paragraph format with a minimum of 200+ words, word length doesn’t really bother me tbh just as long as we both have enough to work with, that being said i definitely can and will do longer novella styled responses if that’s more your jam too! I usually prefer MxF for my side but happy to write any pairing for yours! ** I definitely prefer my roleplays to be plot focused, I love telling a story plotting with my partners so please feel free to share your ideas with me**

I love romance, slow burn, drama, angst, all the jolly good things to torture our characters with!

We all have lives outside of RP, so don’t worry about taking time with replies! I will always try to reply as often as I can, which can be multiple replies a day or one a week, but I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop if I’m too busy to get to reply asap!

**~ On to the fandom ~**

So I’m really looking for someone to play Eggsy Unwin against my female OC. I do have an idea for this, but I’m dying to rp this fandom so I’m also willing to change it ideas!!

So for my initial idea:-

Before Eggsy went through his Kingsman training, there was a girl who worked behind the bar at The Black Prince that he fancied the pants off of. He used to force the boys there for pints, just so he could see her. He had enjoyed some light banter with her and she humored his flirting, but he’d never gotten the chance to ask her out - mainly because a lot of Dean Baker’s boy’s, especially Rottweiler seemed to be trying to fire into her any chance they got. Not that she seemed she was anywhere near interested.

Eggsy went off on his Kingsman training and picture that kind of that moment at the end of the first movie where he completes the mission, he grabs the champagne and glasses, ignores Merlin trying to communicate with him on the radio, Slave to Love kicks in and he heads straight to the Princess’ cell?

Well imagine like THAT vibe but going back to the girl he’d always been too chicken to ask out. Leaving a boy in a tracksuit and coming back a MAN in a tailored suit who kicks A$$.**

We could start at the beginning and build up that background relationship or start when Eggsy had already joined Kingsman and include flashbacks to their earlier days, tbh I could go each way and every way with this one!

**>>Also very willing to completely ignore the plot of Golden Circle or tweak it to fit our style!<<**

As always, I am more than happy to double up! :) I’m dying to rp this too so i can definitely do another fandom for your side!

**other fandoms I can do for your side:-**

Harry Potter

Stranger Things

Once Upon A Time

Peaky Blinders

Friends

Disney

Marvel- I can do the most of the main MCU for this!

a few others that I can’t think of right now, you can definitely feel free to reach out with fandoms but if it’s an anime it’s probably gonna be a no, sorry!!

Please send PM or react to post if interested! 🫶

-

[edwinspaynes]

Hey hey hey Shadowhunter’s It-Girl (yes i meant it, when i said you ARE the it queeen)

RE Feel good vibes!

OMG just readingggg through your wonderful message and how deliciously indulgent your replies are gave me mad feel good vibes and made me want to bedoink a hammer on my head for not doing it sooner!!!!

I am so glad to hear you’re visiting Japan! What prompted you to want to go there? Like walk me through that brain thought 😊.

Re Dead Boy Detectives!

I am veryyyy aware of your love for Dead Boy Detectives! I love how much you love them! And massive fingers crossed that it gets renewed for a season 2! I know on the ends of comics (non exclusive to just the Dead Boys ongoing but also Fables, Sandman essentially everything that ISN’T batman or a superhero comic) tends to be very much on the ‘unlikely to get a run’ so i’m always fingers crossed. YK? CUZ I GET IT.

Re Book recs

Thank you sooooo much for the lovely book recs! Even if their random if you have more please let me know them! And who/and what do you think a shadowhunter character would react while reading it, or if they would reccomend it to another internally? 🤭

Re Matthewwwwwwwwww

Also a bit of a, in medias reas inserted ask- If TMI is fall, and TID is winter, and TDA is Summer… what do you think is the most appropriate synergistic time to read/reread TLH? Wicked Powers does give me for some reason Spring vibes. But maybe it will be Summer cuz Los Angeles and all… ANYWAY would love to know your thoughts on that!

And OMG, LOVEEEE That Matthew is with his golden retirever! have you managed to sus out from easter egg droppings any intel on his ship? If its a she…? or him… or they.?

Re Asking the It-Girl of Shadowhunters to potentially give me the low down of what i have missed from the fandom these past two-three months i have been away!

I really am soooo out of the loop on all recent happenings and shiftings and lurkings in the fandom? Have there been any? Any new releases? Any new CC updates?

Have you bought anything new shadowhunter related? Like either in terms of art… or memorabilia?

Finally, my kickstarter box hasn’t been shipped either girlie! I am right there with you!!!!! I am not really that mad because I feel like i know this might sound weird, but even from my hiatus of Shadowhunters i still felt really well fed with all the lovely bonus chapters you always post! I loveddd two days ago the newly posted James and Cordelia’s Primemark Adventure bonus chap for example. It just REALLY Just is so well written AND it always satiates that era and time period of London so deeply!

Cheers to more ❤️‍🔥🌈🌈🌈🤗

JAPAN! So one of my best friends lives there. She's dear to me. I'm visiting her! But also, I've wanted to go to Japan since I was a little kid because I grew up in a Japanese language/culture immersion program. So this is like, a lifelong dream coming true!

I'm going to do TSC blorbo book recs in another post :) Just for you!

Honestly, TLH is always going to give me spring vibes. (Oddly, this is probably my strongest time-of-the-year TSC association - it's just such a gentle and comforting series, like a breezy spring day with flowers blooming after the frost is gone for the year.) I associate it from start to finish with light academia pastel vibes and dewy flowers, and the end of ChoT is New Beginnings incarnate.

Here's a recent commission I bought that reflects the Vibe of TLH for me! It's on my wall now. :)

But yes, agree that TID is winter (for Wessa proposal lmao) and that TMI is fall based on Vibes. Not sure about TWP yet since I've only read the first chapter, I'll wait and see what I think when it comes out!

Re: Matthew ship! We got a snippet (now on Cassie's Tumblr) that brought up a young man named Sylvain Allard. I thought from Moment 1 that he was probably Matthew's love interest.

Catching Up With the Fandom.

Some stuff you may have missed!

Matthew snippets one and two. three. The novella is called A Sea Change! Matthew art is what I showed you before.

The Matthew sticker was accidentally excluded from the first KS box, so he will be arriving fashionably late in the same box as his novella.

The Thomas journal is unfortunately paperback rather than hardback as advertised. This has disappointed me, but it's okay.

I assume you got the Better in Black list, but if not, it's Wessa, Herondaisy, Thomastair, Arianna, Clace, Sizzy, Sebastian/Seelie Queen, Luke/Jocelyn, Blackstairs, and Kierarktina.

First chapter of TWP has been making the rounds via DM, I have indeed read it. It met my expectations. Let me know if you want me to DM it to you.

Anddd....

I'm so glad that you have been enjoying my "bonus chapters!" I hope to have one I'm currently working on up in a couple of days. We shall see. :)

I'm not upset that my box hasn't shipped, there are four (4) people shipping out like 10,000 boxes. It's gonna take a while, and it's okay. I'll be happy when it gets here!

[rp-partnerfinder]

Hello hello hello! 🙂

**Basic info and writing preferences**

26, she/her, **I am 18+ so all characters and partners must be 18+ too!**

I have been roleplaying since 2010 but have just recently came back after a bit of a hiatus so just going to leave this post and hope to catch some one’s interest!

I write in 3rd person POV, paragraph format with a minimum of 200+ words, word length doesn’t really bother me tbh just as long as we both have enough to work with, that being said i definitely can and will do longer novella styled responses if that’s more your jam too! I usually prefer MxF for my side but happy to write any pairing for yours! ** I definitely prefer my roleplays to be plot focused, I love telling a story plotting with my partners so please feel free to share your ideas with me**

I love romance, slow burn, drama, angst, all the jolly good things to torture our characters with!

We all have lives outside of RP, so don’t worry about taking time with replies! I will always try to reply as often as I can, which can be multiple replies a day or one a week, but I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop if I’m too busy to get to reply asap!

~ On to the fandom ~

So I’m really looking for someone to play Eggsy Unwin against my female OC. I do have an idea for this, but I’m dying to rp this fandom so I’m also willing to change it ideas!!

So for my initial idea:-

Before Eggsy went through his Kingsman training, there was a girl who worked behind the bar at The Black Prince that he fancied the pants off of. He used to force the boys there for pints, just so he could see her. He had enjoyed some light banter with her and she humored his flirting, but he’d never gotten the chance to ask her out - mainly because a lot of Dean Baker’s boy’s, especially Rottweiler seemed to be trying to fire into her any chance they got. Not that she seemed she was anywhere near interested.

Eggsy went off on his Kingsman training and picture that kind of that moment at the end of the first movie where he completes the mission, he grabs the champagne and glasses, ignores Merlin trying to communicate with him on the radio, Slave to Love kicks in and he heads straight to the Princess’ cell?

Well imagine like THAT vibe but going back to the girl he’d always been too chicken to ask out. Leaving a boy in a tracksuit and coming back a MAN in a tailored suit who kicks A$$.

We could start at the beginning and build up that background relationship or start when Eggsy had already joined Kingsman and include flashbacks to their earlier days, tbh I could go each way and every way with this one!

>>Also very willing to completely ignore the plot of Golden Circle or tweak it to fit our style!<<

As always, I am more than happy to double up! :) I’m dying to rp this too so i can definitely do another fandom for your side!

other fandoms I can do for your side

Harry Potter

Stranger Things

Once Upon A Time

Peaky Blinders

Friends

Disney

Marvel- I can do the most of the main MCU for this!

a few others that I can’t think of right now, you can definitely feel free to reach out with fandoms but if it’s an anime it’s probably gonna be a no, sorry!!

Please send PM or react to post if interested!

.

[huntunderironskies]

moooooooom @gristlegrinder is trying to get me to explain the edgy battle idol boy microgenre to unsuspecting innocent people againnnnn

Anyway. Ask meme time! I always feel bad tagging people in these because I can never tell if someone finds it annoying or if someone would do them but doesn't get tagged most of the time and therefore feels left out, so if you're reading this consider it an invitation to participate. That is an @ everyone I guess. All that said, I'm going to pick randomly from both old friends (@braintapes @elderdragonapologist @darkprincecait) and some people who I see interacting with my posts a lot but who I've never really held conversations with (@brieflyinfatuated @parasitic--saint @6-piece-chicken-mcnobody) just to kick things off. Again, if I didn't tag you but this looks like fun, you can do it! But I like giving people notifications and I also like multiples of three so that's why I only actively tagged six people by name.

I went way off the rails talking about stuff so I made it harder than it should be to find the categories. For the record the categories we are talking about are: Last Song Listened To, Currently Watching, Currently Reading, and Current Obsessions should you decide to do this meme. Without further ado....

Last Song Listened To: If we're talking "listened to because I was actively seeking out music," it was apparently No Matter What by The Cat's Whiskers according to Spotify. If we're talking incidental background music, it's whatever that one BGM is in the Grammaphone Cafe in Cassette Beasts.

Currently Watching: Kingohger. Kind of. I'm way behind at the moment, I am really sorry, Cait. If drama tracks/radioplays count I've been picking through Magatsunote and just wrapped up the first season. It's slow going because I have to translate it from Japanese which I absolutely do not speak fluently, I'm trying to finish it before Executioner starts putting out theirs in earnest. I am probably not going to make it in time.

Currently Reading: I finished An Unauthorised Fan Treatise in like. A single sitting which is rare for me, my attention span and memory retention has shrunken to nothing over the past few weeks for various reasons. A mystery novella was apparently just what the doctor ordered. What I'm actively reading now is The Backwater Sermons by Jay Hulme since poems are so much easier for me to get through when I'm having those kinds of moments.

Currently Obssessed With:

So. I'll start with the answer you're fishing for...

...but it's under a cut because I got very wordy given that I'm kind of intense about the things I like.

I don't know how to describe this other than the fact that hit music project Hypnosis Mic, in which the matriarchal government that takes over Japan after World War III legally mandates psychic damage-based bloodsports as a form of conflict resolution, absolutely printed money.

To the best of my reckoning the reason why is that a lot of the women (and a not insubstantial amount of transmascs from what I've observed, me included) who'd grown up on male idol projects like Uta no Prince-Sama and fluffy otomuke were older now and were no longer able to relate to lighthearted high school antics. But being stuck in a miserable adulthood with a world that feels like it's getting worse and worse around you and you have to struggle against the crushing pressure of a system you never asked to be born into, sometimes pitting you against people and things you love? That's relatable. Meanwhile, you still get the fun of identifying and fighting for a musical group? And there are anime boys who are in their mid-twenties to early thirties and are therefore age-appropriate for you to be thirsting after? And and the music is really good? Total goldmine.

And so a bunch of other corporations with an interest in the joseimuke market decided to make their own music projects that (mostly) take place in the dystopian near future and feature a lot of suffering and bloodshed and homoeroticism and some kind of plot they can shoehorn idol units into.

I have nicknamed this microgenre the Edgy Idol Boy Battle Anime and appointed myself the foremost expert on this esteemed field. @missmadril (...who I guess I have now tagged so she can do this tag game also now, have at it bestie) will probably back me up on having claim to it since I have no standards and will immediately watch/listen to anything that falls under that genre, also I have very little competition for that role because I'm pretty sure the EN-side fandom for Magatsunote and Executioner is literally just me.

I got onboard very early with Hypnosis Mic pre-first season and immediately knew the second that I saw Jakurai that he was going to rewrite my brain chemistry. He's a white haired (....well, grey, close enough) angel-themed character who has committed terrible crimes in the past and is wracked with guilt over it, doing everything he can to make up for his misdeeds to the point of needless self-sacrifice. What was I supposed to do, not fall madly in love with him? Now, I am still very occupied with hpmi but we're currently between plot arcs waiting for the third round of...whatever is going on after all those plot twists so in lieu of content I have been fixated on different franchises. More specifically, certain characters. I accidentally wrote essays about them. Sorry.

The shitty pictures are because, once again, the EN-side fanbase of these is me and me alone. As such there are like, zero resources out there including art assets. I tried very hard to make these screenshots of the official webpages. Please clap.

Momiji Beniyashiki

Remember how I knew sight unseen that Jakurai was going to rewrite my brain chemistry? If you forgot, just scroll up, it's like just two paragraphs above. Then you will remember.

Alright, well, here's the second character who's going to do that. Executioner only has its story/character teasers and a single out right now but so did hpmi when I first got into it and I could just instinctively feel it in my otomuke/joseimuke old guard bones. It feels like a bad arthritis day, for the record.

Now, those of you who have been in my presence for some time may be thinking "Hey, he's not Raz's type at all, since when have they been into pink haired alt fashion anime boys?" Well, you have judged me wrongly. I am somewhat less superficial than that. You see, it's all in the personality and backstory.

Momiji is an orphan who was adopted by a phantom thief who stole from the rich to give to the poor, and after finding out his dad's secret decided he was going to become a phantom thief too, owing to his own strong sense of justice. He's a pacifist with a reckless streak who sells his soul to a demon to save the world and that's why he's part of a demon-possessed visual-kei tokusatsu unit, and the other members are his adoptive brothers who are also phantom thieves. I would say this makes sense in context, but it doesn't.

I am entranced by his tboy swag and dedication to doing the right thing in defiance of conventional moral codes. For approximately one second in the latest single teaser (the full single is happening on Friday) (sorry in advance to anyone who talks to me on Friday), he was animated parkouring about the screen and I was so excited I began to vibrate quickly enough that I started clipping through the furniture like a character in a badly programmed video game. If the Asta drama track doesn't get dropped soon I will simply chew my own arm off from frustrated anticipation. I barely speak any Japanese and I've been trying to translate every single line of dialogue and lyrics he's had in my spare time just so I can keep thinking about him during this content gap. I've bookmarked a kanji dictionary because I'm functionally illiterate and I can get through maybe one sentence a day. Why must it not be Friday. I need it to be Friday.

At any rate, stan Asta because one of your alternatives is stanning for the unit that consists mostly of cops, and I think it is a moral good to join the war on crime on the side of the criminals. There's like, a bunch of medical professionals or whatever as the other alternative I guess. But come on. Heroic phantom thief siblings. There's a clear correct choice here.

Now that we have established the objectively best character in any of these edgy idol projects ever, let's move onto the next person who has infested my brain like a culture of cordyceps.

Masamune

"Oh, there's the white-haired anime boy!" you may be saying. To which I respond, "Shut up, a gentleman is allowed to indulge in certain vices."

Now, I know he did conduct a semi-judicial summary execution of a man who had resorted to crime in order to feed his family due in part to the inherently horrific socially stratified dystopia everyone lives in, and that was within the first five minutes of his appearance. So, not a great first impression. Like, the guy was threatening to shoot a hostage, but it was kind of overkill to take his head off without a second of hesitation. At least his corpse got used for like, fertilizer or Soylent Green or something, it's not totally clear other than ominous implications as to what happens to dead people in this setting. Truly a win for all the utilitarians out there!

He has a sense of justice in the worst possible way where he's completely unforgiving, uncompromising, fanatically dedicated to the group that he thinks is helping save humanity, and is incapable of seeing nuance. However, when compared to all of the unrepentant war criminals and the habitual arson-murderer and the omnicidal cult leader and the guy heavily implied to be conducting immoral medical trials on his patients, he starts looking like the least bad option. He is in the unique position of being capable of feeling remorse and he was brainwashed (as in, the cyberpunk corporation running everything rewired his neurons and memories in addition to the mundane definition of the word) so that kind of accounts for some of the "being a terrible person" thing.

He, uh, gets better about the whole fanatical devotion issue? Character growth. Like I said, least awful person in Magatsunote is a low bar to clear but he did it. Good job buddy, I am feeling an emotion roughly adjacent to pride for you.

I very, very rarely get the "I want to treat this character as my personal chew toy" response that other people seem to have. Then l I started watching Magatsunote and suddenly my list of characters I would put into a blender if given half the chance has increased tenfold. You can set a clock by the fact that whenever you think someone is redeemable, they will immediately do something that lets you down a scene after at the latest, but they're at least doing it in an interesting way. I have the most affection for Masamune in the sense I would like to gently pick him up, pat him on the head, and then fling him off a cliff instead of immediately succumbing to my own homicidal impulses. I probably don't need to though because every single person in the series is trying to kill each other, up to and including inter-unit violence and backstabbing. Why get involved when other people are going to do my work for me?

Don't take this as a knock against the series, it has some of the best writing chops out of what's otherwise a guilty pleasure genre for me, but it is very hard to recommend to people due to the absolutely bizarre premise even by the microgenre's standards (I honestly don't know how to start explaining it) and all of the characters being kind of. Like that. You need a specific mindset, part of which is an extremely high tolerance for weird anime bullshit and thinking horrible people ruining each others' lives is good wholesome fun, to genuinely enjoy it.

Wait, I'm supposed to be trying to convince people to listen to music. Uh. Stan ARK Kansakyoku, the least of many evils. Also Libra is a good song so, you know, there's that. That's the best pitch I can give his unit.

On a more normal person note, I've been having a lot of fun with Octopath Traveler 2 and I refuse to say which character has been occupying most of my brainspace because some of you will never let me live it down even though I think it is very cruel of the writers to genetically engineer a man designed to appeal to me and me alone, specifically, and I have already said way too much about my taste in men within just this post alone. Don't worry, though! I'm bi! And my taste in women is even worse. It starts with Rodya from Limbus Company and then it's all downhill from there. Listen, she was at least a tiny bit justified in that murder, don't judge me.

Actually, now that I'm thinking on it, Temenos needs to grow his hair out a few inches longer to be truly perfect for my awful tastes. So maybe this isn't a conspiracy against me. Nevertheless, further research into this concerning trend of white-haired anime boys seemingly tailored to my very specific desires is needed.

The last real obsession I have as of late is monster collecting games. I've mostly been doing a SwSh speedrun (to get Rapid Strikes Urshifu, Regileki and Spectrier) (yes, this is for competitive reasons) (at literally every turn where I had a choice I made the wrong meta one my first go around) and playing through Cassette Beasts as a more casual option. Cassette Beasts is super fun! I think it's really more of a Persona-alike than a monster catching game despite how it's been advertised but it 100% nails the late eighties/early nineties nostalgia in the best possible way. I'm so happy I got it on sale but TBH I'd say it would have still been worth it at full price with the amount of fun I've had playing it. It's also really well-designed from a mechanical standpoint IMO and I like its unique take on how type matchups should work, the fact that it uses status effects instead of just a damage multiplier gives so much more tactical weight to combat.

[monotoneprowess]

Day 5: Bargello Museum, Santa Maria Novella, and Medici Tombs (And bonus Natural History Museum!)

Today was about 11 hours on my feet after everything was done with it, and it was absolutely worth it! From seeing multiple Michelangelos and Donatellos, to seeing a lot of cool formaldehyde animals at the natural history museum! Which I will not be showing since I know those can make some folks uncomfy.

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Our first stop of the day was the Bargello Museum, a former prison turned sculpture museum as Italy is one of those places that tends to separate sculpture and paintings in art museums, a practice that is less common in the United States.

(Bacchus by Michelangelo, 1497, marble)

The first major statue you see upon entering the lower floor is a piece by Michelangelo featuring the Roman god Bacchus, the God of wine and parties, and oh boy does this version look like he had one too many. And that's what makes it absolutely stunning!

The way this version leans back like he's about to stumble to his inhibitions is absolutely fabulous. And the fact that you can see so many chisel marks and drill holes from where he was working makes this so much more interesting. To me at least as an art historian, I don't know if that'd be interesting to anyone else.

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Santa Maria Novella was our next stop, along with the Medici Tombs and Chapel that are connected to them. The Santa Maria is the church located right next to the train station in Florence, and the church that the train station is named after if you ever find yourself needing to take the train to Florence from anywhere else in Italy.

The actual church, I will admit, didn't peak my interest as much as I will fully admit I am not the largest fan of Gothic architecture. It's not that I dislike it, but it's not for me really so the main church was not really my cup of tea.

The Medici Chapel and tombs that were attached to it however? Were something else.

(Night and Day in the Medici Tombs by Michelangelo, 1520-34, Marble)

The room that holds the Medici Tombs was designed by Michelangelo, who if you couldn't tell already, is my favorite of the big Renaissance artists as he's an interesting person to me and I love his super muscley forms.

It's a stunning room filled with these sculptures, most of which are unfinished in areas, which is just a theme of a lot of his work ironically.

Night and Day are so contorted here, and it was absolutely gorgeous. If you can't tell by the way, the women with the owl on the left side is meant to represent night, and the man who is looking over his shoulder is meant to present day. I quite appreciate Michelangelo using more then simply sun and moon motifs to represent night and day as concepts.

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Bonus stop time! I went to a few more museums after the day was over with, but my absolute favorite was the natural history museum. They have a large collection of rocks, minerals, skeletons, wax figures of various plants, and animals preserved with formaldehyde.

(Fossilized crab in the mineral section at La Specola)

This is just where I admit that while art history is my true passion in school, rocks and animal preservation were my first loves in life.

Sadly my group had other plans that we had to get to before they closed, so we had to leave before we could see their skeleton collection. I'm hoping to go back in my own time before we see Florence, as I absolutely want to see the skeletons.

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Overall, I didn't take my daily rest break after lunchtime so I actually got take out and went back to the hotel early so that I could relax. But it was very much a worth it day.

[desperatecheesecubes]

March Wrap Up Part 4 (I may need to find a better system)

Superman (1987) 662, 668

Dates Read: 27 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: Reading all of Chris’s comics is an interesting experience, boys timeline makes no sense. Hard to say my thoughts on either of these issues on their own merits-they’re both clearly one issue in an arc. I’ll probably go back and read the rest of the arc for issue 662 because it was an interesting start-i actually have to forecast siroccos so that was kinda a fun name for a hero for me lol. The third Kryptonian arc I’ll try and finish this month lol.

The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

Dates Read: 25 March- 29 March

Review: 2 stars

Thoughts: Hey have you ever written a good story and then decided to fucking ruin it completely with an epilogue? Well so did this author! Why why why why did this book go from being a historical drama to a fucking sci-fi in the epilogue. Explain it to me. Really truly. Because it was some of the stupidest shit I’ve ever read. God it made me mad. I’m making all my book people read it. I need to know what their authentic reactions are to that fucking acid trip of an epilogue. OTHER THAN THAT I liked this. The author didn’t Go There enough for my personal preference but that’s not the story he was setting out to write I suppose. A sapphic story of an enslaved woman becoming a spy and thwarting the man who enslaves her? Absolutely a story I’m down for. Unfortunately the pacing was very bad. In summation-I did not like this and I’m mad as hell about it.

Superboy the Boy of Steel by Geoff Johns

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: I loved the art of this so much. The first two pages technically being a Blackest Night tie in and the rest of the collected not addressing the event at all was absolutely hilarious to me. This was a fun story, it felt like the set up it was and it’s pacing worked well for what it had. I’ll get to Smallville Attacks soon I swear. It’s sitting next to me while I type this.

Superboy (1994) 5

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: this was another reread. Not too much to say about it other than how intense my dislike is for Tana-I am simply unable to look past her age Jesus Christ. Kon being absolutely determined to be a hero always breaks my heart a little.

Superman Man of Steel 35

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: Thjs was really interesting to me because in the most recent collected release of Kon’s 94 superboy run they do not include this issue or any of the rest of this arc so Kon just gets magically cured off page with no explanation there.

Superman (1987) 90

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: Jesus fucking Christ Luthor is crazy.

Adventures of Superman 513

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: My biggest take away from this issue was Kon believing he’d failed to evacuate the mountain and hating himself over it. Because I love Kon more than I love Clark lol.

Steel 5

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: This is listed as a battle for metropolis tie in issue but there’s only a few panels that do that and the character who’s having the tie in is completely foreign to me. A story about kids doing drugs on the streets isn’t really my cup of tea but it was fine.

Action Comics 700

Dates Read: 31 March

Review: 3 stars

Thoughts: damn they fucking destroyed metropolis in this one. The amount of times they blow up the globe from the daily planet to symbol tremendous loss in Superman’s life is kind of ridiculous at this point. I liked seeing the superfam all working together in this!

IN SUMMATION!

I read 7 novels, one novella, one poetry collection, one ‘collection of essays’, 4 graphic novels, two comic collecteds, 10 volumes of manga and 33 single issue comics. According to Goodreads I’m now ahead of my goal! According to StoryGraph (the one where I’m not counting comics, collecteds, or manga) I remain behind. A tragedy.

[carriagelamp]

Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

[transsexualhamlet]

Moriarty the Patriot + The Final Problem

aka another unecessary essay from ya boy on how yuumori, instead of taking away from the original text, adds meaning and depth to it

So I finally got around to reading the final problem after wading through all the memoirs of sherlock holmes and yes, I am in fact reading these because of yuumori. I wanted to see how it was portrayed, what the differences and influences from the original source were. I did end up getting incredibly attached to the original series too, so yeah... I'm glad to report that the original and adaption get along well.

And yeah, I have a lot of thoughts, most of them being just me generally praising yuumori. I think it was straight up genius how they pulled so much content from... well, frankly. The Final Problem was a 15 page short story tossed off by Doyle in order to have an excuse to be done with sherlock holmes, told from the perspective of someone who wasn't even there. And yuumori still managed to make it generally very accurate and complementary to the original, while still being, uhhhhh really fucking different, let's say that.

Read more because again, long essay

Just my observations on the final problem itself is that it is so underdeveloped and told from an outsider perspective. Because of that, so many questions go unanswered, and the reader gets a sense that they are only witnessing a very small part of what actually happened. Sherlock can't afford to go into detail on what Moriarty was even involved in, Watson isn't privy to what's honestly even happening most of the time, and Moriarty just... has this extensive network of organized crime that just isn't even talked about other than Trust Me It's Bad Bro. We don't know Moriarty's intentions, most of who he is, and more questions are honestly brought up than answered within the story. Sherlock knows, oh that's for sure, Sherlock knows what's going on and he has no fucking time to tell Watson. You get a sense that Watson himself isn't even telling all that went down.

So yeah, I can see where there's so much room to expand upon here, not even to change things or make it different because it would be cool, but there's so much that could be happening just within the realm of plausible deniability in the canon.

And I think that it's amazing how Yuumori chose to market itself that way- not as an adaption or reimagining- but that this was in fact the Real story, with Doyle's final problem being... honestly a bit of a cover up, a purposeful misrepresentation of a small slice of the full story. It lends itself completely to that, and I think that's amazing.

(One thing I do find funny is that in Yuumori the story "the final problem" is depicted as a full novella that could be published on its own... man it's not nearly long enough for that but I find it funny in any way)

Of course, there are elements of yuumori that are yknow, simply not realistically something that could have happened, but most of the story is actually within that range of plausible deniability since the canon is so vague and sparse. And since they state that things were changed on purpose to protect people and the moriarty plan, it basically covers that all as simply The Truth. It's well done, and very interesting, especially with the new anime ending taking them to Reichenbach itself.

Like, yuumori didn't even truly change the appearances of the characters, from the descriptions. (we're not counting the illustrations lol) like, Sherlock was never stated (as far as I can tell) to have a specific hair or eye color, hairstyle or such.... he was described as tall, thin, eccentric, messy, with like... long fingers and stuff. Man, yuumori did not go against that. With Moriarty it's different, though he was also reportedly Tall and Thin and Built Like A Yaoi Protag for some goddamn reason, he... you know, has these weird and unattractive features as well, which... in the context of Watson trying to portray Moriarty as unmitigated evil in order to protect the plan, were in this situation made up specifically to further the idea that he was just that.

Because of this situation, the Moriarty that is portrayed as yeah, a smart guy and a threat but seriously just A Bad Dude who seems to have no particular reason behind his actions save being A Bad Dude actually make more sense as a cover up behind a more dangerous secret of him having Real Feelings than the only stated reason being "he inherited being evil from his family". (like... watson, really?)

It explains the vagueness and the events and the weird connection between those two better than the original does, and that's really cool to me.

On their own, without yuumori to back me up on these things, reading this would have left me confused and depressed. But as a half truth immortalized as the real story, you get so much more out of it.

Especially these certain scenes:

When Moriarty just pops into Sherlock's house and they proceed to have a basically wordless conversation amounting to

"you know why I'm here" "you know how I'm going to respond" "well then" "here's date and time of our mutual destruction" "thanks I'll be there" "well I'll be off nice knowing you" "wow it sucks that we're enemies he's such a civil guy"

It just really adds something to that, don't you think?

And the subject of their fall itself, simply the fact that Watson wasn't even there. No one witnessed it. No one found even Moriarty's body. No one found evidence of anything at all.

All Watson could say was that Sherlock and Moriarty had gone up to the mountain together, Moriarty told Sherlock of his plans, let Sherlock write and leave a letter to Watson, and that they never came back down. So he came to the conclusion that they must have fought and both fallen off.... like, holding each other. Not really sure how they reached that conclusion, to be honest.

It doesn't even make sense, exactly told how it is. If Moriarty wanted to kill sherlock and survive, he would have just... brought a fucking gun. Or just pushed him off on the way up. As soon as he got him alone just fucking stab the man. It would have been that easy, but no, he had a whole ass convo with the man, they went up civilly side by side, and they stayed on the cliff a long time while Sherlock wrote that letter. Even then, Sherlock could have just waited to catch Moriarty off guard and pushed him off. But he didn't.

Why would they even have fought, if it was so scheduled? You telling me to believe that after this letter was written and moriarty stood there watching him sipping tea or whatever he was suddenly like "ok im ready to fight now", knowing they would both probably die, and if they were genuinely trying to kill each other and survive, that would even make sense?

Of course, these problems in the original stem just from Doyle no longer giving a shit and slapping this together after losing motivation for sherlock, he was obviously, not hinting at some great conspiracy in the slightest.

But damn, Yuumori really does change that all for you, huh. It adds a whole new layer of context to it. And I like it a lot, I like what they've done on their own, I like what they've done for the original stories, and I especially like what they've done telling the "real story" of this short, vague, mystery that otherwise leaves you feeling unsatisfied and confused.

[readingshananagins]

The Lux Series

In the last five days, I finished the Lux Series by Jennifer L Armentrout. 

I’ve kind of steered away from YA, but I found a completed list (that you can add check marks next to the book) of all the books written by JLA and my OCD was like, I must check all these boxes. So here we are. 

Not to mention the first few books are on Kindle Unlimited, so, how could I possibly pass up a free reading experience??? First up - 

Shadows (Lux, #0.5)

This was the sweetest, but also the most HEARTBREAKING novella. Like, okay wow...what a way to start the series! Dawson is the epitome of a sweet little cinnamon roll (who could also kill you). He is just, *chef’s kiss*, the cutest. I am getting to the point where I feel like I am too old to read about “kids” in high school settings, but I did very much enjoy this interesting little alien novel. 

 I was completely unprepared for that ending - it literally had me looking like a goldfish with my mouth just gaping open and closed. I had to sit in silence for a minute to just process. 

Obsidian (Lux, #1)

Ah yes, new girl meets next door neighbor who is also a royal asshole. Love this trope - LET’S GO. 

And boy is he a frickin asshole. Daemon is probably going to be one of my favs, I just know it. 

At first, this book was giving me hella Twilight vibes, and I was eye rolling a lot. Seriously, read this and tell me you don’t immediately think of Twilight throughout the majority of it. Dee is a little sweetie whom I’m glad we get to see more of. I relate best with Katy because well, she loves books - and here I am, writing reviews about books on a blog (just like her). All in all though, I did end up enjoying it and it hooked me enough that I continued on in the series...

Onyx (Lux, #2)

So, *spoilers*, something happens and Katy and Daemon are now connected together - and they’re fighting their feelings still. I totally love the angst, but I also freaking hate it? Just admit how you feel. TELL THEM THE TRUTH!! It drove me crazy the entire time. I rolled my eyes so many times I thought they would get stuck. In Katy’s defense, Daemon was being a huge freaking tool. But just apologize and admit your feelings and PLEASE BE TOGETHER AND PUT ME OUT OF MY MISERY.

Also, Blake is the worst and I really hate him and everything to do with him. I seriously guessed every almost everything that was going to happen here. Almost..

Opal (Lux, #3)

Now sh*t’s getting crazy. So much trauma and what not, but now we’re getting to the point where I am not finding myself guessing every single outcome, which is nice. I’m here for the sweetie that is Daemon Black OMG. When he commits, he COMMITS!!! AND DAMN. I just love him. He’s like a little PG-13 Casteel and I. AM. HERE. FOR. IT. Ooooooof man. That ending though. Saw that coming but it didn’t hurt any less. 

Origin (Lux, #4)

SO, this book was pretty freaking heart-hurting for many reasons. I say heart-hurting because it didn’t break my heart per say, but I definitely felt a lot of things. The sh*t they put Katy through was really freaking rough. And just frustrating as all get out - like they tried to make her unstable, and then turn around and are like “yep, unstable”. YEAH BECAUSE YOU MADE HER BE!!! Sorry, I’m so annoyed. 

But YES - all hail king Daemon. OF COURSE he’s going to get his girl. The hella protective instincts are what I LIVE for ladies and gents. LOVING THIS. I very much enjoyed this novel - and it definitely sealed the deal for me on adding a new book boyfriend to the cache. 

Opposition (Lux, #5)

Here we go - the ending. I was very much wondering how this series would finish off, considering everything they have already book through. Sometimes when there’s more than three novels, I feel like series can kind of drag or ruin the ending. But I very much enjoyed this one and thought it wrapped up nicely. Lots of heartbreak, but a solid HEA that I’m good with. LOVE Daemon so much. He has zero flaws in my book. Katy has made her way into one of my fav heroines too. 

Now I’m in a series book hangover and I am The Big Sad, TM. 

I still have Oblivion to read, which is Daemon’s POV from the first three novels (which were told solely in Katy’s POV). So I’m not done with the series for good quite yet, but I am very sad it’s over. UGH.

[elias-veturius-laia-of-serra]

Why Elias And Laia Mean So Much To Me

Okay so I’ve been wanting to write this for a while but knew it would be long and that I’d need some time to get my thoughts in order. So without a further ado here is my attempt:

Why is Elaia so important to me. Well to start off, Laia Of Serra in particular is very important and inspirational to me. She is not only a brown girl who is a hero but she is the most realistic hero I’ve ever had the honor of meeting. I’m so used to white female main characters that are badass warriors who are smart, beautiful, strong, special, that everyone is attracted to, and who fight for their people. I grew up on books like that. In which don’t get me wrong I still greatly enjoyed those stories and some of them are still my favorite to this day.

However I could never relate to those characters and it really solidified the belief that I most likely could never be a hero cause I could never fit that mold. And for the longest time I thought I was okay with that and I never really understood how much physical and emotional representation could mean to me until, Laia Of Serra.

Laia is a brown girl that is afraid, insecure, oppressed, sheltered, poor, weak, with no fighting experience, kind, emotional, girly, and self deprecating. She’s scared and second guesses herself all the time. It’s hard for her to phantom that she’s good enough to make the right choices or save anyone or anything. Which is exactly what I struggle with on the daily let alone in the middle of a war. I first read aeita when I was 17, the same age as Laia. So meeting a heroine that made mistakes, berated herself, cracked under pressure, had no clue what she was doing, let herself cry, understood that in a place filled with skilled deathly warriors she was weak, and let people trample over her. It was so relatable and heart wrenching. Especially when I’ve been wired to think girls like her are useless and typically the first to die or used as a stepping stool for the real hero.

Seeing her continue to fight with what she can and however she can made my heart soar. There were so many times she wanted to give up and feared death. However in time she grew and instead of fearing death she embraced the possibility of it in order to fight for what is right and for the people she loved. She stayed true to herself and became a badass without the need of having to kill people. Laia detested killing people especially after having to see how her people got killed all the time. She’s filled with understanding, love, forgiveness, sensitivity, kindness, and determination. No matter how many times she got knocked down she kept getting back up.

She gave and still gives me hope. Hope for who I am today and who I can grow into the future. She’s a symbol that you can be strong in other ways. That physical strength isn’t the only way to be a hero. Her bravery to face things head on, her compassion towards everyone, her determination to reach her goal, and her heart always willing to accept others is what makes her a hero. Even when it came to the final battle. It wasn’t her powers or weapons that got her to win the war. It was her kindness and understanding and love.

I understand people are disappointed that she wasn’t as “brutal” or stabby as other heroines. I love stabby women as well! But I think her depiction of strength and heroism is so important. It really shines a light on the meek and shy and scared and shows that it’s okay to feel like that. How that doesn’t automatically make you weak and how you can be just as important in the world.

I also love that Laia isn’t reduced or or shown as “not like other girls”. Laia loves to dress up, she likes to look pretty, she does think about boys, she is bossy, she is emotional, often has break downs, and she’s just so human. I find that a lot of the most badass heroines are always the ones that don’t like dressing up and finds it a waste of time, doesn’t fit in with other women, is stoic, cold, good with swords but not with words, and violent. Im not saying that these characters shouldn’t be allowed, but I feel like it reinforces the idea that the normal things a woman feels or behaves is considered weak. Not saying that all women are emotional, but we do feel. We do stress and some of us do love to put on make up and dresses. That shouldn’t be demonized or looked down upon.

That’s why I adore Laia. She’s a normal teenage girl that IS like most girls. And she gets praise and stronger because of it. Also people need to realize that at the start of the series Laia is a 17 year old girl with zero survival training skills. Elias and Helene have been training since they were literal children. Their whole lives revolves around fighting. Laia’s didn’t. So it makes sense and is realistic why she isn’t as “strong” or “skilled” as them.

To expect her to be at their level within the three year timeline between these books is impossible. I feel like people are so used to heroines that know how to fight or learn to become the most badass fighter through mere chapter montages that seeing a realistic depiction of a teenage girl that’s never fought in her life is displeasing. But I love that about her. She always becomes stronger in spirit, braver at heart, but at her core she is still Laia. A teenage girl trying her best.

Her needing help or needing a team to fulfill her goals shouldn’t be looked down on. It’s shown through even real history some of the best fighters or leaders needed a team. Needed support, right hand man, etc. Which is why I feel so connected to her and wish she wasn’t so underrated or looked down upon. Cause I feel like she’s a voice for girls like us that so desperately needed a way to be heard. She’s someone I can look up to and remember and find comfort in when times get stressful or dark.

Now as for why Elias and Laia’s relationship mean a lot to me. It’s simple. They’re a healthy brown couple and I love finally seeing a girl that looks and acts like me get praise and love. I love that Elias sees her strength and admires her for who she is. And how he actually finds comfort in a person like her. How he views her at times even stronger than him and everyone else.

Girls/characters like Laia are always reduced to a side character, the best friend, the second choice for the love interest, the death that motivates the main character, and or the character that pops in and out to give moral support. However under Elias’s eyes she IS the main character. She IS the only girl for him. He loves everything about her and was the first to believe she’s strong. He chooses her above all. Above anything and anyone else.

As a brown girl as shallow or dumb as it may sound it really does feel touching to see us described as not only just strong and desirable but loved and wanted by the warrior. The main love interest. That in his eyes this brown girl that others deem as weak, useless, boring, and a waste of time. To him she is everything. She is brave, smart, powerful, beautiful, admirable, and perfect. It means the world to me. Especially with how characters like her especially in fantasy is seen as never good enough or tossed aside.

I also love that Elias shows the struggles on what it means to be “strong”. How a lot of learning to be the best fighter happened through a lot of trauma, shame, and guilt. He does show how physical strength isn’t the only way to be strong. Which is why Laia is his balance. She is the peace and freedom he yearns for while Elias is the strength, power, and love she’s always yearned for. Where she falls in believing herself he is always the first to count his vote on her. They compliment each other perfectly. Countermelodies. True loves.

They show me a healthy version of love. One of the purest and sweetest kinds of love. Elias is always soft, kind, and patient with her. He’s proud of her even if she feels like it’s undeserved. She sees the good in him even if he feels like he’s a monster. They see each other for who they are and love that about each other. They love each other so much and I’d never seen two characters be as in love as these two are. They are utterly devoted to each other and constantly fought for their way back to each other. It’s been five years and rereading their scenes still makes me smile and feel butterflies, like it’s the first time all over again.

Even now seeing any content of them is like a shot of straight up serotonin. They are my comfort ship. Despite the stress these past five years of being with them and shipping them has brought me. They also bring me great happiness and excitement and I wish I never had to say goodbye.

Though here’s to hoping that maybe we can have an Elaia novella, at the least, in the future 👀🤞

♥️♥️♥️ Elaia Forever ♥️♥️♥️

[courtofwingsandruin]

Does anyone else ever think how we know that originally, Lucien and Nesta were supposed to end up together, not Cassian and Nesta? And how that means that this bond between Lucien and Elain probably was a very sudden idea SJM had when writing ACOMAF out?

She decided to change it because this relationship wouldn’t work. I’m not gonna lie that this is slightly perplexing to me. Lucien, especially ACOTAR-era Lucien, probably could’ve gotten along with Nesta quite well. I know SJM knows her characters better than us, but I just can’t see why they wouldn’t work, y’know?

And now, with the whole 3 brothers/3 sisters thing...I’m wondering if that’s part of the reason why. If SJM realized she wanted Lucien to have some connection to one of the three (a mating bond, rather than a romantic relationship), but doesn’t get with them. Because in the end, she had these two Bat Bois sitting right here who would work with them just as well, if not better, than Lucien could with either of them—and it would give her a future story to tell with the three brothers/three sisters and Koschei storyline.

I feel this can be reinforced by the fact that SJM has been planning Elain’s specifically but also Nesta’s story since ACOMAF. She made a lot of decisions while writing ACOMAF and began preparing things for the future books she wanted to write. Choosing not to have Nesta and Lucien get together, instead the tension between Cassian and Nesta the moment they meet. The way Elain and Azriel seem to click and focus on each other the moment they meet, too (if you reread that first meeting I promise you’ll see it. Elain specifically looks to Azriel, not her newly-fae sister, not the High Lord, not the much louder Illyrian right next to Az—not even Nesta. She looks to Azriel every single time when she was unsure, and he’s constantly reassuring her that she’s good to speak up and try). I don’t think that was a coincidence.

Not to mention that if she was planning for Elain and Lucien to be together, she would’ve most definitely given them at least one romantic coded moment together. The closest thing I’ve seen is when Lucien is leaving once and Elain nearly steps down the stairs to say something to him but he’s already gone. And honestly, I blame that completely on the bond. We know they can feel each other’s emotions, Rhys and Feyre can feel each other’s even with their mental shields up (or are supposed to be able to at least)—and we see that Lucien had “longing and sadness” in his eyes just before he disappeared there, which was when Elain almost stepped down. Then Lucien had winnowed away, and she walked away without any other care (likely because the farther away he was the less strong the pull of the mating bond, so she couldn’t feel him as strongly then). This is chapter 34 of ACOWAR. This is the only scene we see that seems like it has slight potential of Elucien in canon.

However, we have many, many scenes to support Elain and Azriel. Their friendship started in ACOMAF, was seen throughout ACOWAR, throughout ACOFAS, and even though we don’t see them even in the same room together but three or so times in ACOSF, there is some kind of tension between them every time (Azriel’s clear protectiveness of Elain when his shadows gathered in the corners to strike, the clear liking of each other when Elain looked away from Azriel’s smile, Nesta noticing a charged look going between them). As well as the many scenes where Azriel and usually Cassian discuss Elain and Azriel’s protectiveness comes back up. As a disclaimer, I don’t like that Azriel is also supporting not allowing Elain to go on these missions and try to prove herself. But every single other couple in the books is protective of each other. Cassian didn’t want Nesta to even let go of his hand to get the harp. Rhys had multiple occasions where he was angry and protective over Feyre doing something dangerous—when instead of going to the townhouse she fought in the streets of Velaris, when she went to find the Suriel during the war. Saying “oh but they’re mates” ignores the fact that it’s said most all males are possessive and protective like this in their world, regardless if it’s a mating bond or family or love. And it also ignores the very plausible theory of Azriel being Elain’s second and/or true mate. I won’t get into that right now though.

And then, of course, the bonus chapter proved that Elain and Azriel’s feeling definitely are not just platonic, and they both have a lot going on behind the scenes. I won’t get into the chapter much because I have plenty of other posts on my blog where I or someone else dissected and discussed it. But they definitely have both romantic and sexual interest in each other.

I truly, truly don’t see why SJM would set that up over the course of three novels and one novella to suddenly not put them together. Especially knowing that she’s said she doesn’t like couples that were built up over long periods of time (4 books is a very long time) and then don’t end up together. I don’t think she introduced Gwyn to be a romantic interest—I do think she included Gwyn in his extra chapter to confuse us and cause panic and chaos, sure, SJM is like that, remember when we first met Emerie? And then Emerie turned out to have no connection to Cassian other than him being her mentor/trainer and she being Nesta’s friend? I don’t think Gwyn will have any actual potential as a romantic partner. This also parallels Cassian and Nesta’s story—with them both mentioning another girl pre-getting together and (likely) nothing actually comes of it. She does parallel things a lot, and I don’t think she did this on accident.

To round this out, I’d like to bring us back to Lucien and Nesta. If she originally had them together, I think there can definitely be an implication there that she had considered them working some. And Cassian and ACOTAR-era Lucien are similar, as well as...well, Nesta and Vassa. The firebird and the silver flames. A human Queen and the Queen of Queens. Vassa has shown a great backbone, will openly bicker with people (we hear about her and Jurian fighting a lot), she’s just this woman who seems like she could be similar enough to Nesta to warrant the idea that Nesta/Lucien could’ve possibly worked if Nesta was a little more like Vassa or Lucien was a little more like Cassian.

I also want to clarify that I’m not against the Elain and Lucien ship, nor am I against Gwyn and Azriel. I actually ship Elain and Lucien—just not as much as I ship Elain and Azriel, because I’m 99.9% certain that Elriel will be endgame (always leave room for error). And once the next book is out and this whole mess has cleared up, I could definitely get behind Gwyn and Azriel as a non-canon sorta-crack ship. I read about pairings that completely disregard canon all the time (Feycien is hardcore slept on). But I can’t find myself supporting Gwyn and Azriel right now, not while this ship war is happening, because I feel right now is the time to actually look at canon and focus on what’s obviously there—not what, to me, is more of just a fun little ship that could work in theory and fanfics and that’s about it.

And that’s all. End rant. I’m so sorry if you actually read all this. This stuff has been on loop in my head for days and I had to word vomit again.