#LIKE IS THAT JUST A THING JAPANESE DETECTIVES KNOW HOW TO DO CAUSE ????

[todayisafridaynight]

Why are you saying that about Tanimura

You loooooove Makoto Date

because makoto date isn't a cop anymore you DINGUS he's a failwife bartender journalist who can't be trusted to watch haruka for more than five minutes because she's going to end up kidnapped and kiryu's gonna find him crying on the floor battered and bruised

[dira333]

Of Tremors and believing in Love - Yaku x Reader

Yaku’s not sure what he expected. 

Maybe some buff Russian guy like they show in action movies, or an elderly gentleman that makes him feel like a Celebrity with a private driver.

Not you. 

You’re gorgeous, even in the unforgiving light of the airport exit area, holding up a sign that spells his name in bright red Kanji. 

He swallows nervously, hands clammy with sweat as he approaches.

He hadn’t been that nervous, he thinks, leaving Japan for an unfamiliar country. It was Volleyball and he knew Volleyball. He could rely on his talent if everything else failed, and on his iron stomach to handle whatever the Russian kitchen was going to throw at him - Lev’s tales hadn’t left him with much hope.

But he’s never been that good at talking to girls and his perpetually single status is either a symptom or the cause of this predicament.

“Hi,” he greets you, voice breaking over that one-syllable word.

“Hi,” you smile and bow in greeting. “How was your flight? Are you hungry, tired, or anything else?”

Your Japanese is perfect. He can even hear hints of a Kansai dialect hidden somewhere in between.

“A little hungry,” he admits, “I… uh… I’m Yaku, by the way. Morisuke.”

He wants to facepalm so badly. Where’s his usual coolness? Where’s his confident tone?

“Sorry,” you apologize immediately, offering your name. “I got caught up in the moment. How about we grab something to eat and get to know each other?”

Yaku nods, glad that’s something he can answer without opening his mouth and making a fool of himself.

As it turns out, he was right.

You grew up in the Kansai region, moved to Russia with your parents when you were a young teen. 

He can’t help but search for familiarity in your features, half expecting to be reminded of Lev, or Alisa. He berates himself immediately. Just because you’re Japanese-Russian too doesn’t mean you have to look like everyone else who’s Japanese-Russian.

“How did they find you?” Yaku asks as he slips into the booth, “The agency, I mean.”

“Oh, I work for Tigr Ekaterinburg. I handled your contracts. They asked me if I would be willing to show you around and be a helping hand the first few months and I agreed. Japanese players are often polite and easy to work with. Do you think you’ll be able to handle the Russians though? They can be pretty rough.”

Yaku laughs. “I do think I can. I’ve played in quite a few different teams. My classmates called me Demon-Senpai.” He laughs again at the memory, fondness washing over him.

“Tell me more about that,” you ask, your question so unusually direct for the polite tone you’re using. You flip open the Menu. “I’ll be ordering. Any allergies?”

-

“So you’re the Mom-friend of the Group,” you summarize, popping the last tiny pancake, or Syrniki, as they are called, into your mouth. You chew slowly, not letting him out of your sight.

“That’s interesting. I’ve never met a male Mom-friend.”

“I’m not-” he tries to defend himself, even though he’s heard it often enough from Kenma and Kuroo, Kai and Lev. “You really think so?”

“There’s an easy test,” you tell him with a smile. “Did you know I have actually a headache? It’s been bothering me all day.”

Worry washes over him. “Really? God, why didn’t you say so? You should rest then. Did you drink enough water?”

You laugh, the sound tinkling around him like droplets of silver.

“You failed the test. Mom-Friend detected.”

He pouts and you still. For a moment, no one speaks.

Eventually, you move again, clear your throat, and take a sip of your drink.

“Sorry,” you say. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I’m not offended.”

“Good.” You nod, your voice calm and distant. “If you want, I can show you you��re apartment now.”

- - -

Yaku’s not the first guy you get to drive around town nor will he be the last, probably.

You drop him off at his apartment, show him the few things he could have trouble with - no rice cooker in the kitchen and the bathroom works a little different over here - and leave for the office, determined to finish that project you’d been working on all week.

Hopefully, work will flush out whatever’s bothering your heart, causing it to race at the adorable little pout on Yaku’s lips.

You told him you’d pick him up later for a night out, so you leave a little early - still not done with that damned project - to put on something fancier, add some smoke to your make-up.

Yaku’s waiting in the lobby when you step in and you swallow thickly at his sight.

Most athletes like to dress as casually as they can in their free time. Jeans and a shirt are often the most you get to see. Yaku, however, is dressed in an expensive suit, hair combed back. 

You can tell he’s not a stranger to wearing suits, moving just as easily in it as he did in his tracksuit earlier.

He gets up before you can call out his name, cheeks turning a soft pink at your sight. 

That eases your nerves a little, knowing you still have at least some effect on him.

“Ready to go?” You ask, trying to ignore the way he takes you in. There’s a warmth in his eyes that’s a little unnerving. 

-

He’s even prettier under the twinkling lights of the city, leaning in when you explain something, expensive Cologne wafting around you.

“Do you want to dance?” You ask, after you’ve wandered through the city center. “Or something to eat?”

Yaku ponders the question for a moment.

“How about a bite first? I’d love to take you out to dance, though.”

His words leave you flushed and angry. That’s not what you meant, but correcting him would sound weird. 

When you suddenly have to weave through a group of tourists, his hand presses against the small of your back, warm and steady, and in way you don’t want it to. But you can’t bring yourself to tell him off, nor to move away from his touch.

-

“First year was tough”, he remembers over a bowl of Pelmeni, “Kuroo and I didn’t get along.”

“Who was Kuroo again?” You ask, offering him one of your Pirozhki.

He swipes his thumb over his phone and turns it, so you can see a picture of his old Volleyball team. Yaku’s easy to find, almost the smallest of the group. He’s grown since then, though not much, if you had to guess.

“That’s Kuroo. I know his hair looks awful, but he claims he can’t do anything about it and that it’s natural. He was our Captain in our third year. The pudding head next to him is Kenma, our genius setter. These two have been best friends since childhood.” 

He tells you each name, warmth in his voice as he remembers. It’s not hard to tell that they were close.

“Are you still in contact?” You ask, surprised when he nods. 

“With all of them?” His eyebrows wander up.

“Yes, why? Is that surprising to you?”

You feel caught and look away, but you’re unable to escape his eyes, it seems.

“A little,” you admit finally and hope that he drops it. 

Thankfully, he does.

.

Yaku’s easy to talk to. 

All too soon you find yourself walking out of that restaurant and into a nightclub, his head so close as he listens to your explanation that you could kiss him, if you wanted to, without even having to move much.

But you don’t. Because it would be weird, right? And unprofessional.

His hand is warm in yours as a new song starts and he pulls you in.

It’s a slow one and you can’t tell if that’s good or bad. 

The dance floor is packed and you’re soon pressed against him, your own heartbeat echoing in your stomach. There’s a tilt to his mouth that makes you wonder how it would taste and before you know you’re leaning in a little and he’s leaning in too.

His lips are soft and warm and he tastes like the wine you shared earlier.

His teeth graze your lower lip, just the faintest touch, but it shakes you out of your dream-like state better than a bucket of ice water ever could.

You snap back and purse your lips like they’ve offended you personally.

“I…” You hesitate, your voice breathless, “I’ll wait for you at the bar.”

.

There’s a tremor hiding in your bones.

You check your hands in the seconds it takes him to catch up to you, but you can’t tell from the outside. Good.

“I-”

“You can dance with someone else,” you tell him, voice as polite as can be. “I am only your guide, after all.”

“I don’t want to dance with anyone else.” He reaches for you but you step out of reach.

“Please,” you ask, but he shakes his head.

“Very well. Do you want to take a walk?”

.

The sky is clear above you, though it’s hard to see the stars beyond the glow of street lamps. 

Your hands are buried in the pockets of your jacket in case he tries to take one.

“Do you believe in love?” You ask after a minute when the street clears and you’re on your own. “Not in general, but in like… love for yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“Makes sense.”

“It does?” Yaku looks over, confusion written all over his face.

“Sure. You’re good-looking, smart, easy to talk to. It makes sense.”

He smiles, but your stomach churns violently.

“Yaku-san,” you stop, address him in the politest way you can. “I don’t believe in love. I am sorry I just kissed you. But I cannot offer you anything of that kind.”

Yaku’s quiet for a while. His face does not give anything away. 

Eventually, he nods.

“I understand. But we can be friends, right?”

“Friends as in you’re waiting for me to change my mind about it?”

“No.” He shakes his head. “Friends as in friends. I quite like your company, but I can deal with a rejection.”

You hesitate for a second before you nod.

“Friends would be nice.

- - - xxx - - -

“Have you eaten yet?” Yaku’s standing in the doorway to your office, two identical looking Bento Boxes in his hands.

“Eh?” You look up from your Desk. “No, but what are you doing here?”

“I figured. Want to share?”

You’re just about to decline when your stomach grumbles loudly. 

Yaku grins and steps closer. “I think that was a confirmation.”

-

“Hey,” Yaku’s grin is warm and inviting, his hair dripping wet. “We just finished training and the boys want to hit the city. Do you want to come along? I heard they have great Syrniki.”

He absolutely butchers the name and you can’t help but correct him.

“So?” He cocks his head to the side, waiting. “It’s just a hangout with the guys. You know at least one of them, well, besides me, I mean.”

“Yeah, sure, I’ll come.”

-

“Are you coming to the game this weekend?” Yaku asks as you meet him in the lobby. He always comes in early for extra training and while you haven’t yet figured out at what time he arrives, he’s already got your schedule memorized, waiting for you with a coffee and a pastry.

“I wasn’t planning to,” you admit, “My parents are coming into town. They’ve moved into the countryside a few years back.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” He nods. “I hope you’re having a great time together.”

“We will.” You take a sip of coffee and can’t help the teasing comment slipping through your lips. “Aren’t you going to tell me that you’re going to play much worse now that I’m not there to cheer you on?”

“Your presence or lack thereof isn’t going to affect my game,” he tells you, voice serious, confidence so deeply laced into his tone it catches your breath, “But I prefer to celebrate my wins and losses with the people I care about.”

“O-oh…” you stammer, suddenly overwhelmed, “I… guess that makes sense. W-we can celebrate on Monday.”

-

“Girl, I don’t know how you do it,” your best friend comments and you can almost smell the alcohol on her breath - through the phone. “You decline every offer to have a relationship yet you have these fine men running after you? Why does this never work for me?”

“You can’t say no.”

“True.” She chuckles dryly. “But it’s a shame you didn’t get to watch that game. He was looking fine. I might not have understood all that much but he was doing well. At least if you believe the commentators.”

“I’m sure he did his best,” you tell her calmly, yet unable to keep from biting down on your fingernail. 

“Don’t worry, I recorded it. I’m sending the file over now.”

Your home computer dings with an incoming mail and you heave a sigh. 

“I don’t have time to watch it tonight. My parents just left and I’m exhausted.”

“Don’t tell me they asked you about grandchildren…”

You sigh again and she laughs. 

“Go, take a nap. The world will look better in the morning.”

And it will… but you can’t help yourself, press play instead of going to bed as you intended.

And your friend is right. 

Yaku looks good. He moves with the calm confidence of a professional.

If you could convince yourself that attraction is all it takes to lead a healthy relationship, you might have taken a leap of faith. 

-

Staying up late comes back to bite you in the butt.

No amount of concealer can cover the dark rings under your eyes.

“Long weekend,” Yaku asks when he meets you in the Lobby, coffee and a pastry in hand.

“Mhm,” you nod and take a large sip of coffee, hoping for it to fuel you. It doesn’t.

You chat for a bit but you need to get going and so does he, so you part with the quickest of hugs.

There are only a few steps leading down to the elevators, steps you’ve taken day after day after day for years, but today, you miss the last one.

Your right foot lands wrong, pain shoots through your ankle and you yelp. Your half-empty coffee cup goes flying, just like your pastry and you can see the mess you’ve made but all you can do is cower and clutch your ankle.

“Are you okay?” Yaku’s voice cuts through the ringing in your ears. There’s worry in his eyes. It lights the cold fire of shame in your veins. God, you just rolled your ankle, there’s no reason to make a big fuss about it.

“Sure, yeah, all fine!” You tell him, grinding your teeth as you get up. Nausea wells up inside you but you swallow it down. 

“We should get it looked at,” Yaku insists, hands hovering just a few inches above your skin.

“Stop worrying!” You bite out, tone harsher than necessary. But he doesn’t flinch.

“I know it’s a lot, but it will only take a minute, okay?” He insists, voice warm and soft and calming, like hot cocoa on a cold day. You can feel the tremor coming back, want nothing more than to sink into him.

“I’m fine,” you insist, taking one cautious step. It hurts, but it’s nothing you can’t handle.

“Yeah, for now.” He follows you, bends faster than you to pick up the coffee cup and the pastry. Someone’s going to have to mop the floor, but Yaku’s already waving at the receptionist and you’re too focused on grinding your teeth against the pain to complain.

“Stop worrying about me, okay?! We’re not that close.”

Hurt flickers over his face like candlelight. 

“I’d do this for everyone,” he insists. “I don’t mess with accidents. Please? It’s only a short trip down the hall for a first check-up. If our doc thinks it’s nothing I won’t bother you anymore.”

You agree, mostly just to get this over with.

But it’s not nothing. 

.

You must have fallen asleep, face pressed against the window of his car, because his hand is warm against your cheek and your name falls softly from his lips.

“Yaku?” You ask and he nods. 

“We’re at the hospital. Can you walk?”

“Sure,” you insist, grind your teeth through the pain. Yaku must have seen through your lies, though, getting a wheeling chair at the next chance.

He’s with you through the whole ordeal and you hate it but you don’t ask him to leave you alone. His warm hand on your shoulder is the only thing that keeps you from crying.

He’s there until the very end when they plaster up your leg up to your knee and you can’t help but laugh at the fact that you’ve made it so far in life without a broken bone, yet a single missed step has changed it all.

“I’ll take you home now,” Yaku insists as soon as you’re back in his car. “Are you hungry? We can stop and get some food on the way.”

“I just want to sleep,” you admit. “Forget this happened.”

“I think that’s going to take some time. The plaster stays one for the three weeks.”

“Don’t remind me.”

.

It’s only when he parks in front of your apartment block that you realize.

You live on the fifth level. No elevator. 

Stubbornly you grab your crutches and move toward the first step when Yaku stops you. 

“Do you want to carry me up?”

“No!”

“Okay,” he nods. “But you can’t make that trek. Not today for sure, and not every day for the next three weeks. Do you have any friends you could stay at where that’s not a problem?

You hesitate. Most of your friends have similar apartments and if they don’t, they can’t offer more than an air-mattress on the floor for you to sleep on.

“You can sleep on my couch,” Yaku’s voice is low, soft, and casual. This is nothing big to him, not like it is to you.

“Or I carry you up and you have to take the next three weeks off because you cannot get up and down here without help.”

He’s right. 

And it’s not that you have to work, you’re pretty sure you classify for sick leave at this point, not to mention that you have enough vacation days saved to take off half of the time without a problem. 

In the end, you oblige. And because you want to pack your own things, you agree to a piggyback ride up the stairs.

If Yaku notices how your face is pressed into his neck, your tears soaking his shirt, he doesn’t mention it. His hands are warm and steady around your thighs and he carries you up without breaking a sweat, telling you a funny story to distract you all the way.

-

It’s weird. It’s cozy. It’s everything at the same time.

You get to go through his list watchlist - which feels more personal than going through his underwear drawer - and watch him prepare Dinner for the two of you. 

You sit naked in his bathtub - door closed of course - and open the bottles of shower gel and shampoo to sniff at them like the crazy person you are but when the door opens and you limp outside he’s sitting at his desk practicing Russian, not even sparing your scrubbed clean form a glance.

Yaku’s switched his routine without a second thought, makes breakfast at home now and drives you to work.

He’s the best friend one could ask for, a man so good you wouldn’t believe he existed without the proof you have. But he has a hissy fit in front of you when his friend from school makes a joke about his size. 

And maybe that’s the last straw, the last proof you needed. 

Because people aren’t just always good. People are people, human and fallible, and there’s always something that makes them break their perfect facade.

For you, it’s the pain of having to rely on someone else.

For Yaku, it’s the pain of being looked down on.

-

Tomorrow your cast will come off.

Tomorrow you will move back into your own apartment.

You’re not sure how things between the two of you will be then.

But since there’s no way to turn back time, to go back to how things were before, you can try and find out how things could be instead.

“Yaku?” You ask into the silence of an early night.

“Yeah?” His voice is scratchy and sluggish like he’s just on the border of sleep.

“Are you still awake?”

“Am now.”

“What if I changed my mind?”

“About what?”

“Love.”

Silence. Then, the rustling of sheets and soft steps on the floor.

“Are you being serious?” He asks and his voice sounds so warm and excited, so young and full of anticipation. 

“Yeah.”

“Well,” he clears his throat awkwardly, now only two steps away. “It depends if you mean me with that change of my mind. If you mean someone else I think I’ll have to get a lawyer before I answer.”

You laugh. “Yeah, I meant you.”

He giggles and there’s a slap as if he’s clamped a hand over his mouth urgently. 

You turn a little on the Couch, try to make him out in the dark.

“Do you want to cuddle?” You ask and there’s the swoosh of quick movement as he leaps onto the Couch.

“Boy, do I ever!”

- - - xxx - - -

The air smells the same, but maybe it’s just the airport. 

Yaku’s hand takes yours, warm and safe and well-known.

“Excited?” He asks, laughs when you pull a face.

“They’ll love you,” he insists and leans in to kiss you, not caring about all the people around you, or the fact that Kuroo’s going to be here any second to pick you up, or that your hair is a mess and you’re not wearing any make-up.

His lips are soft and warm, just like they were on that first night. 

You sink into the touch and when his teeth graze your lower lip and the tremors come, you embrace them.

Even if you shiver, you’ll never freeze.

You’ve got Yaku there to warm you, after all.

[covidsafehotties]

hello, i hope i don't sound naive I've only recently started to become aware again of the actual health situation, here in germany things are very much ignored as well by government, media etc

I'm currently out of secure employment and have been busking, guitar and singing at places with medium people flow I'd say and there's always six feet between where i stand and ppl put tips in my hat but I've also heared that the six feet thing was from when we thought most infections were cos of droplets so I'm unsure now

I've seen it said to visualize covid like it's smoke and in terms of that if someone smoking is walking by i think i smell it for maybe three seconds

i wanted to ask if you have an approximation of how big if a risk this is? there's been lots of rhetoric about how outside is so much safer but now I'm unsure

since realizing things are not fine I've gone back to always wearing an n95 in grocery stors and public transport (no restaurants, can't afford that anyway) and i do want to take this seriously, i also got the last updated vax even tho i wasn't in the recommended group and my doc questioned me on why i wanted it, i insisted on getting it but it was weird

i hope you can give me some type of insight and this blog is a place for this and I'm not mistaken

General covid risk is a complex calculation including some factors you are not able to detect without the aid of atmospheric sensors. In indoor situations, densely packed spaces that lack ventilation and air filtrarion allow covid to drift on the air for longer than 4 hours. Outdoor situations are somewhat more safe in the fact that they are pretty much perpetually ventilated. That means covid does not linger in one place long, and the complex, chaotic nature of outdoor air movement causes more covid to drop out of the air more quickly. The more people the more close to you, the higher the risk. If you are in a crowd of unmasked people standing shoulder to shoulder, your risk is incredibly high. If you are sitting on a park bench and someone passes by down wind 10 feet away, your risk is negligible. A Japanese study from 2023 showed that the greatest risk of outdoor transmission lies in the several seconds before passing face to face.

Maybe this will help you better gague outdoor risk. When in doubt, mask up. I typically wear a mask anytime I'm outside my house because you never know when someone will decide to bother you, and face to face conversation is when you face the highest risk of infection not just from aresols but large and small droplets.

[philosophicalparadox]

Personal Scent HC's

Because my brain needs to put these somewhere and my descriptive writing needs to expand its vocabulary. Bear in mind people smell different to other people! My lists are mainly points of description used in and for fic purposes, in which the person smelling has a much more acute olfactory powers than a human would normally possess. However I'll include what I think they'd smell like to a human just for reference.

CONTENT WARNING: talks about sexual arousal and fear/stress, and what that does with pheromonal scents, along with a few bodily fluid references. Keep in mind these are just opinions!

Rin:

Has a distinctly odd smell; human or demon, his scent is unique. To a mortal nose his scents are fainter, but his overall scent is salty and sweet - but not in a sugar and table salt way. More like a vaguely chemical sweetness and a organic kind of salty, detailed below.

The sweet was inspired by sweet sulfur compounds ( yes sulfur can smell, and even taste, sweet!) These compounds often have coffee, wine or chocolate notes - because those same compounds are what give these foods some of their distinctive tastes/aromas. Why sulfur? Because it burns his exact shade of blue, and so do many of these compounds. Whether he has them in his biology or not I liked the idea. :) besides which the compounds in his blood and skin that make him fire retardant (which are not likely to be these compounds alone - there are many) are likely to have a sweet smell, though how that smell comes through depends entirely on what else is in there.

The salty is an organic, plasma/sweat or tear-like saltiness. The smell of body fluid doesn't sound sexy but it's justified by his likely potent kidneys - keeping that fluid going while burning at high temps is no easy feat.

There's also a distinct, rather un-japanese sort of musk about him, which among other things leads to assumptions that he's half-blooded (which. Isn't technically wrong.) Still, even when he's unclean, he doesn't harbor bacteria in the nooks and folds the way many humans do, fire and high body heat being natural antiseptics. So while he's teenage-boy musky, he's a clean kind of musky, almost perfume musky in many cases. This whale-musk (perfume musk) scent gets much stronger when he is elated or sexually aroused.

When he's very stressed out - keeping in mind stress sweat reeks on the best of people - he smells like acid, to a human nose at least. Sulfuric salt compounds found in human stress-sweat that cause it's distinctively sharp smell are magnified in his half breed body, so he well and truly stinks if hes sweating under duress - the smell is best described as vinegar-like.

That being said, scent is a much more useful communication tool to demons, but human scents are designed to be picked up by poor human noses. Unfortunately, or fortunately, that means because of Rins human blood, all of his scents are a fair bit stronger than most demons are accustomed to. Strong enough that even humans can sometimes pick up on them, like various pheromones and other chemical cues, which only got stronger after his transformation. Yukio cringes at Rins habit of not flushing his pee in the middle of the night because it has a much stronger smell than it used to. His friends also notice his shifts in smell day to day if they get close enough, but as far as they know or care he just uses different shampoos or deodorants - never mind that he technically needs neither.

Yukio:

Has a mostly typical Japanese human smell, which is little to none at all that's detectable by other humans, excepting artificially added scents. However he does have just a hint more of that Muskiness only westerners seem to possess,( yes that's a thing, look it up) though it's not often anyone notices.

He does have, to a trained demon nose, the slightest demon-y scent to him, with just a bit of Rin's chemical sweetness coming through, enough to tell they are related. However his own distinct scent is described by my OC as vaguely clean-dog-like. His hormonal scents are held in that vein- excitable (or horny) Yukio smells vaguely like a hound (corn-chippy salty smell). When he's stressed he reeks like burning hair or wet dog.

Shiemi:

Has a distinctive scent that is not really noticeable to humans - mostly she doesn't really smell at all to them, and if she does, e.g. sweat, then it's a sweet, herby smell (I believe Kamiki comments that she smelled good once, but my brain might be imagining that). However a demon picks up that something just isn't quite right with her scent. She smells human enough, but it's too clean. Too soft. Too subtle. Too wild. And there's a kind of fresh air, wind in the trees quality to it that's strange to some, but it's never quite strong enough to guarantee anything.

Amaimon:

His scent is widely variable, as scent is a huuuuuge part of how earth demons, many with poor vision, communicate. To a human nose, his default scent is mossy. Not quite earthy, but mossy with a kind of sharp, acidic pine or oak like scent underneath. Like moss on damp Douglas fir bark, or wind through an oak-dominant temperate rainforest. To a demon, this scent is more complex - the acid components containing similarities to either fruit, oak, or cypress depending on his mood and hormones, and the earthiness ranging from fertile soil and ferns to rotting muck and the chemical-ness of rubber latex trees.

Speaking of which, when stressed or threatened, Amaimon, as per his mythology, releases a foul hydrogen sulfide stench from oil glands in his skin and between his scales. To a human the rotten smell is overwhelming, but a keen demon nose can pick through the reek to identify tar-like and magnesium sulfate scents that can indicate his specific level of stress and predict from there what he may decide to do about it.

Samael:

Oh boy where to begin with this.

Samael in my mind uses scent the way he uses his clothing - obvious but camouflaged. He will wear perfumes and oils to mask his scent or fudge it up so he's not as easy to "read" but it takes a certain set of knowledge or experience to decipher his natural chemical pheromones anyway. Even his biochemical language is confusing to the uninitiated.

A significant part of the reason for this is because his natural scents are specifically designed to work like honey on flies, and are especially effective on humans. Consequently, demons that are not kin of time or otherwise familiar with them can get a little confused by the often subtle chemistry, which is further made weird by his own unique peculiarities

To this end, his dominant bodily scent is vanilla-like. (Vanilla being apparently the most universally appealing scent across cultures. No one knows why). This combines with a variety of other scents, principally jasmine-like (second most well liked scent) and spicy scents reminiscent of ginger and chili peppers (which trick the human brain pheromonally I found out. Dried chili peppers accidentally mimic the "you'd be a good mate" immune-system compatibility pheromones for upwards of 60% of people though that number may be anecdotally higher for neurodivergents. Science! And ginger for some reason triggers the release of important neurotransmitters in rats as well as possibly humans, especially depressed ones. More science!)

In addition to the above he wears clove oil to repel pests (bet your ass he doesn't want lice or fleas!) and because it's traditionally associated with aristocracy and wealth. He also will adorn himself with scents of Ambergris (that whale musk I was talking about earlier) and cinnamon, for the same reasons. But it's never too obvious or strong - he's got a very sensitive nose! - just enough that if you stood next to him you might notice it.

When he's powered up or stressed or sick, he develops a cloying, sickly sweet smell, reminiscent of angels trumpet or mandrake and slightly off meat. The smell only gets worse if he decays, overlapping with the typical putrid stench to form something truly hellish. (I know this one from experience!)

Lucifer:

Has a very mild but utterly odd scent. If you've ever used a UV sterilizer, the weird, vaguely metallic and almost vegetative odor of hydrogen being created and isolated in the air should be familiar. It's very subtle but has a almost cabbage-in-an-iron-vessel kind of odor - hydrogen itself has no scent or taste but it reacts with air to form these smells. Why hydrogen? Because of the sun. That's my only logic there lol.

Courtesy his existing as a concept of light I imagine he has a citrusy or clean, mentholated scent like camphor about him. Whether it's natural or added I'll let someone else decide, but these are the scents most universally associated with light and sunlight especially.

When he's lit up and plasma-fied he actively emits various amounts of Ozone, O2, which is toxic and has a very powerful scent that's hard to describe, though I would call it asphalt-like. Other scents depend on the makeup of the air in the room.

Egyn:

Pretty much smells like the Pacific Ocean. Salty, rich and deep.

There's a vague fishiness to his scent, noticeable mostly to demons, though it gets potent enough to notice if he's especially stressed.

Interestingly his scent turns rich and seaweed like when he's aroused, inspired by the uh. Unique, smell of a dolphin. (Don't ask how I know that).

Astaroth:

Has a rich, earthy smell most the time. Other times he has no apparent smell at all.

When he is using his abilities or depending on his mood, he can develop a variety of scents from moldy to outright putrid. But he can develop pleasant-ish rotting wood scents as well. His biochemical language is also not well understood and rather confusing.

Iblis:

In accordance with the mythology of Jinni, she has a vague scent that is petrichor-like. The irony that it’s water on dry soil that produces that smell is not lost on me lol but it’s the scent most often associated with them I guess.

Overlaying this is a smoky, sooty smell that can be either pleasant or offputting depending on her mood.

When particularly stressed, she smells like Lye, which has a very strong, caustic odor. Lye can be made from wood ash, so there’s my logic in that.

Beelzebub:

Not sure where to start with this one either. Insects use pheromones ALL the time, but they’re often secreted in such small amounts we can’t detect them.

However, based on what I do know, I’d wager Beel has a very ant-like scent. Which ants I haven’t got a clue- ant pheromones run the gauntlet from sweet and citrusy to a chemical kind of foulness that is distinctly insectoid. Formica ants tend to have a more acidic and sweet odor, while stinging ants tend more towards the chemical. So depending on his mood he might run that scope.

Except when he is aroused - then he has a very potent, moth-like smell that’s actually very floral-perfume like and smells rather pleasant even to a human nose. (Insp by plume moths, which though they’re tiny have a strong enough scent even humans notice it) . Personally I HC that beel has something like a heat or rut cycle, where he exudes the “mate with me” pheromones non stop, much like moths or butterflies.

Going back to the bad for a minute, when he’s scared or stressed, he can secrete very caustic chemicals that have a pungent, noxious odor. If you’ve ever pestered a darkling beetle (in my case Morio beetles)to the point of emission, that’s what I think of. It’s a really hard smell to describe other than “astringent” and it sticks to you and the air and your throat and it’s honestly pretty freakin horrible lol.

Anyway that’s all I’ve got for now. Feel free to share comments but please be civil about it. :)

[thethirdgenesisbooks]

Five Ways to Name Your Characters

One of the most common problems that authors, especially new authors, complain about is how difficult it is to come up with good names for their characters. Over my many years of writing, I’ve developed a few ways to name characters in stories. Here are a few. Bear in mind, some of these pieces of advice are genre-specific.

Babynames.com:

The site babynames.com is a great source for names from different countries and cultures. You can also look up name meanings or look up the names by the letters that are in them. In general, I recommend against having two main characters in your novel who have names beginning with the same letter, as this can cause confusion. For instance, you shouldn’t have both a “Robert” and a “Roger” among your main characters, because readers will mix them up. Also, while name meanings can be important, I urge you to consider the other factors as well. How does the name sound when spoken out loud? Does the name have negative connotations because of famous people who shared the name (for instance, the name “Adolph” means “Wolf,” which might be cool for some characters, but I strongly recommend against using that name because of its association with a certain, hated historical figure). Also, consider what nationality a character likely has if they have a certain name. A Caucasian boy living in modern California should not have a name like “Shinji,” unless he happened to be raised by Japanese parents, just as a native Japanese boy living in Tokyo should not be called “Stanley.”

Historical Records:

If you are writing in a certain place and time period, it can be helpful to look up names from that place and time period to create your character names. For example, when I was writing my westerns, sometimes I’d do a Google search for names of people who lived I the Old West. Then, I’d take the first name of one person and the last name of another and put them together. One instance of this would be to take Billy the Kid’s real name (Henry McCarty) and combine it with the name of another Old West outlaw, John Wesley Hardin. Together, we get the names Wesley McCarty and Henry Hardin. If you’re writing a modern story, you can also do this with the names of people you know, or other interesting names you see and hear. When you go to a restaurant to eat, pay attention to the nametags of the people serving you, as you might find a name you really like there.

Mythology:

I recommend only using mythology as a source for names if you are writing fantasy or science fiction stories. If you write a modern murder mystery and your detective’s name is “Thor Odinson,” a lot of readers are going to roll their eyes. I’d also recommend not using terribly well-known mythological names either. Names like Thor, Odin, Apollo, Zeus, Horus, Osirus, Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Freya, and Isis are far too well-known to be used, unless you have characters in the setting specifically point out the namesake. Names Fenris, Morrigan, Dorian, and Mordred are also far too common, and their inclusion in fantasy might well pull readers out of the story (again, unless your intention is to specifically invoke parallels to these mythological figures). However, names like Nikke, Selene, Eris, Argus, and Dia are a little more obscure and are less likely to take your reader out of the story. You can also look up the etymology of these names and find alternative ways that they were pronounced and spelled, because names in mythology certainly changed over time.

The Bible:

I know, this one is a touchy subject for a lot of people, but bear with me. For one thing, a lot of names in modern America (and in the Western world at large) come from Biblical names. Peter, Matthew, Joshua, Caleb, Paul, Aaron, John, Michael, Luke, Thadeus, and many others all come from the Bible. You don’t need to have Biblical themes in your work in order to use these Biblical names, because a great many people named “Peter” came from secular families who just happened to like the name, or who wanted to honor a loved one who had that name. Also, if you’re looking for names that sound a bit exotic but also feel familiar, the names listed in the various “begat” sections of the Bible (where it’s just one name after another) can be helpful. I’d just recommend looking up what the name means before using it. I made the mistake of not looking up a name meaning once, and named a villain in one of my stories “Zadok,” a name which means “Righteous.” Those who knew the name meaning would likely either laugh at the irony or just consider me ignorant. Thankfully, I never finished or published that story. In any event, the Bible can be a great source of names.

Alter Real Names:

Sometimes when writing something futuristic, you don’t want real names for your characters, either from modern times or earlier, neither will mythological or Biblical names work in your futuristic setting. We can’t all be Frank Herbert, who’s coming up with such names as Muadib, Atreides, Harkonnen, and Feyd-Rautha, or words like Bene Gesserit, Kwisatz-Haderach, Ginaz, and Faufreluches. Some of us are a little too grounded in reality for that, and often overly-complex words and names such as these end up confusing our readers. So, in order to make a futuristic name, perhaps start with a real name that exists today, and then change a few letters. Maybe remove some letters, add others, and rearrange some. Just as popular names in the real world change over time (see the various ways of spelling such names as “Sean” and “Geoff”), so too would futuristic names change over the years. Even so, your main character probably shouldn’t have too exotic of a name. Maybe give the main character a name that’s one, maybe two syllables long, but spelled slightly differently from its modern equivalent. For example, you may want a main character named “Nick,” but in a futuristic story it might be better to spell it “Nyk.” Or perhaps you want to name your character “John,” and a futuristic version of that name might be “Chon” or “Jahnn.” In any event, changing or rearranging letters in an existing name can be a great way to make your character feel more fantastical or futuristic.

These are just a few examples of how to name your characters. There are still many things to keep in mind, such as cultural context, the way the names sound when spoke out loud, negative connotations or associations of a particular name, name meaning, and whether the name is setting appropriate.

[kafus]

OK my feelings on the pokemon presents

excited for BOTH animated side series they announced!! i love all the side animated content pokemon has been putting out recently i'm really excited for both the TCG thing and the paldea series i hope it's as good as twilight wings

i really need to play detective pikachu on 3ds before the new one comes out oopsies its like the only pokemon game i've never played but the sequel on switch looks charming even though it was very obviously meant to be a 3ds game that got stuck in dev hell and looks the part

as per usual don't give a single shit about all the mobile gacha garbage but it was nice to see nemona even though her english voice jumpscared me (used to her jp one in horizons)

in speaking of horizons very funny to be like pokemon horizons coming soon... as if i didn't already watch it in japanese. god the pokemon anime being on netflix sucks ass

disappointed about no announcement of a battle tower in the SV DLC... at this point im probably giving up hope. HOWEVER im very excited for the DLCs!!

unironically super excited for the fucking Selfie Stick and Room Customization and being able to change how i throw my pokeballs like YES GIVE ME MORE CUSTOMIZATION PELASE FOR THE LOVE OF G

the minigames with koraidon/miraidon look cute i hope they run okay

DIPPLIN AND WHATEVER THE NAME OF THE DURALADON EVOLUTION ARE SO GOOD HDSJKSFD

LONG RAIKOU (ALSO THE MECHA COBALION IS AWESOME)

hearing them refer to a pokemon as just. an ogre. like not an ogre pokemon. An Ogre. was really funny to me. ogres are canon to pokemon now

I WANT TO KNOW WHAT THE FUCKING DISC POKEMON IS AHHHHHHHH

i love all the new character designs in the second DLC especially!! the BB league looks cool

oh yeah and the mewtwo raids were leaked but im really excited about the mew event stuff because my ribbon master mew can get the mightiest mark!! i enjoyed the CG animation they played to announce it as well. cool theyre giving you something to do with ur mew instead of just taking it and putting it in a box forever

everything about worlds makes me jealous im not there but my friend is buying me the lapras/pikachu plush cause hes in japan rn xoxo yay

that about summarizes all of my feelings. i think

[sdaurio]

4/3

My younger sister is a really big fan of Banana Fish and always tried to get me to watch it but I was never interested. She was happy to hear that I was assigned this anime for class.

This is no one's fault due to the nature of having to pick only 4 episodes of the series, but I felt that the episodes lacked a lot of context, which caused me to not develop empathy for the characters. I was sad to see Skip die early in the series, especially because it seems like he was just a kid, but again I didn't have any real connection with the characters. I would've liked to know where this took place (I later learned it was New York), I would've liked to know why Eiji was in America (I didn't know Eiji was the only Japanese guy until a character called him "the Asian guy" or something), or why Ash was involved in gangs in the first place.

I had heard a lot about the homosexual romance before watching, and without looking into it at all, I just thought it was the typical queerbaiting media. I was relieved to see that it wasn't simply queerbaiting, but in fact had a deeper context. It was really sad finding our about Ash's past being trafficked and a "child p*rn star" (for lack of a better term). It was especially disappointing when the police officer/detective who was interrogating him showed Ash the media he was part of and called him a "movie star" on his way out of the interrogation room. I don't know much about how human trafficking is dealt with on the legal end (ex. like how Ash was treated in that interrogation room), but I thought it was sad to see a victim be made fun of and looked down upon in such a way. Later in the series, some other guys call him a "whore" as well. It's a really harsh look into the lives that human trafficking victims live, but one that is necessary for non-victims to see. I think Banana Fish did a great job depicting the lives of trafficking victims.

However, again due to only watching 4 episodes, I had a lot of questions about the series. There were so, many, characters, I couldn't keep track of them all. I didn't know why there were people from so many other countries involved (especially the Chinese clan). Hopefully I can learn more context tomorrow in class. Overall, this was a very gruesome and bloody anime, but I still enjoyed the themes and the messaging. These kinds of things really do happen in real life, so it's important to bring awareness to it.

[gardengnosticator]

KAL movie notes

The Point Man. korean action film about kidnapped missionaries in afghanistan during the war on terror. classic jingoistic schlock. foreigners are all bad, the west are all good except for the occasional outlier politician messing things up for the cool ROK army. really interesting to see such a classic us style action set piece translated into a different cultural framework yet be so strikingly similar i got a headache. classic terrorist movie set-pieces where they have the terrorist disguised as a woman in a burka to cause more injuries in a suicide bombing, the afghan government being incredibly corrupt and incompetent, a hard nosed soldier who was traumatised seeing innocent people die in the war on terror (but not the afghan people). mindless trash in that classic action movie style designed to glamorise the intervention in the middle east.

The Boys. a docudrama??? hard to say as its based off a real case but the opening text crawl made a huge effort to say how far away from the source material the film is. a detective moves to a new precinct where an old robbery homicide case catches his eye. he finds out his predecessor forced a confession out of three innocent teens and had them framed for the crime so its his job to bust this corruption scandal wide open. the ending “where are they now” credits says no one in the police was ever penalised for jailing three kids for 16 years so… bit of a downer even when the do the celebratory freeze frame of everyone turning out okay.

Don’t Buy The Seller. thriller about a serial killer who shops for online deals, meets the seller, murders them, sells their goods, rinse and repeat. after selling a faulty washer to a interior designer she goes around giving him negative reviews which interrupt his killing spree because aint no one trusting some 1 star guy selling an IMac, so he seeks her out. intense and a pretty unique setting for a thriller, way way better than a lot of the “technology lets killers get ya” narratives ive seen from the west. the final confrontation is wack, the killer gets smashed through windows, hammered in the head, shot with a nail gun, thrown from a building and still lives. so outlandish i was like completely shocked every time the guy gets up. pretty bloody and brutal overall but defs not a horror or something too gory for a mainstream audience to see.

Remember. a thriller about a korean retiree with dementia seeking vengeance on colonial japan for their crimes alongside in his words korean traitors. again more simple nationalistic spiel but with a john wick esque style badass grandpa murking imperial japanese war criminals. hes also hip and plays starcraft with his young hip friend who works at TGO Fridays with him. the dementia angle is a neat framing device since he makes it clear he has to seek revenge on the japanese army before his own body lets him forget what he and his family endured. some very subtle digs at ROK and the JSDF launching joint military drills as the trigger for him to remember. the officials and ex soldiers he kills are all just 2d villains, the corrupt governor who sold out koreans to japanese soldiers, the academic who frames japans colonisation as “modernising korea”, a politician who claims communism is worse than imperialism (wild moment since the film does not give him any redeeming moments to justify his anticommunist stance) all very easily dislikable and valid targets so at no point does the audience feel any sort of empathy which i vibe with, fuck imperialist collaborators am i right? also the main target is a ex JSDF general called Tojo Hisashi who is campaigning to get rid of article nine of the japanese constitution and render them able to engage in open war, subtle i know.

[tesalicious2]

So, I was thinking about how in the manga, Horikoshi drew Spider-Man in the first few chapters. Meaning that it is possible for the DC heroes to exist.

My headcanons/ideas for a crossover and some things that would happen in no particular order:

Dick and Jason go to Japan for a case and it ends early, so Nezu yoinks them away for a few lessons

Aizawa was not amused and Vlad was skeptical

When each Class was told the news, most didn’t really care or know who they were. Midpriya and Pony were freaking out tho.

Both are hardcore fans, pony cause she grew up with them in America and Izuku cause he’s a nerd and admires their detective skills

When they show up, it’s in civvies with their masks on (for this, Jason wears his Red Hood from Arkham Knight outfit (its my favorite version and I love it so much))

So, they’re wearing jeans and Dick’s on a nice flannel bc while Jason is in a r red hoodie that is big on purpose (they’re both drama queens Abs want the dramatic reveal so looser clothes it is)

Pony is their guide since she speaks Rnglish and knows them, sorta acts as a translator

Jason is fluent in Japanese and Dick is passable so they don’t really need a translator but Pony looked really excited

When they first walked out on the training ground in their costumes, they were very excited. Dick loves to teach and Jason loves to knock egos down

Vlad and Aizawa notice some of the kids being too cocky, mostly because they did research and found none of the bats had quirks (except my precious signal, we love him here)

So, first round Jason goes again Bakugou, Kamikiri, Bondo, and Iida. The four kids are on the field and Jason is about to walk up when Dick holds out his hands

Jason sighs and is like ‘noooooo, let me shoot them.’ Pony finds this hilarious, Dick not so much.

Instead of just handing over the guns (we’ve established that Jason is a drama queen), Jason quickly disassembles and hands Dick the freaking barrels

So Jason onto the field, doesn’t do anything like pull out his sword (oh yeah, this is the version with the two katanas, i adore it), and is like, ‘come at me bitch’

Less than a minute later all four are out of bounds and lose. Aizawa is like, nah again but no out of bound bs, actually fight them

So, Jason in two minutes (a minute too long I know dickhead) gives each a minor concussion and almost knocks them out before Aizawa is like chill

Ojiro and Sen (the two best martial artists) have a blast learning from Dick and sparring with Jason, they’re probably the only ones tho since the bats go hard

So, at the end the students want to see them fight each other, bc why not

Jason and Dick don’t hold back, Dick has a blood nose and Jason has a concussion but ‘we’re fine! This happens all the time!’

[chibitantei]

@gentlemanthiief sends:

⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳⏳ LET THE OVERSHARING BEGIN

Naoto talks about her PAST NO CAP | Open

“Well, I hope I don’t bore you to tears with some tidbits about my past. Have a seat because I’m sure this will take a while.”

Where to begin? From the beginning, perhaps.

“For as long as I can remember, I held a great desire to become a detective. One could say it was overwhelming, because when I say I couldn’t imagine myself in any other occupation, I meant it. My parents and grandfather had said that I didn’t have to be a detective. I could be whatever I wanted, but I refused. It didn’t matter if I could modify devices or fix them, it didn't matter if I was half decent at playing the piano, I wanted to be a detective. So they relented, and began teaching me the basics.”

She paused, and took a sip from her glass of water.

“On some of their cases, I shadowed them, but they didn’t allow me to look at any images. I remember when I first read an officer’s report, the amount of kanji I had never seen before took me by surprise. I had to consult my father, and he teased me about my inability to understand a full paragraph without asking him for help. Since it damaged my childish pride, I decided to prove him wrong and begin studying kanji ahead of what my classmates were learning. My teacher had to ask me to stop using such advanced kanji when writing because none of my peers could read it.”

In hindsight, perhaps this was one of the reasons why they bullied her. Didn’t really matter now, or what they thought of her.

“My parents and Grampa drilled me in the basics, how to tail a suspect, what I could learn from a footprint, what luminol reactions did and so forth. It was only for a few hours a day, but I wanted them to keep going, to teach me everything. When they said I could take a break, I ended up reading books from my grandfather’s study. He had plenty of detective novels, but there were books on psychology and other things a detective would find useful. More importantly, he had dictionaries. I remember flipping through the Kōjien and Daijirin to make sure I understood the complex kanji my self studies didn’t cover. The amount of English loan words also made me consult a Japanese to English dictionary, and it was the start of me practicing English.”

Wasn’t this something a supervillain would do? Monologue about their past before the final, decisive battle?

“But what good were learning the basics if I couldn’t put them into action? So I played games with them, or ‘special training’ as I preferred to call it then. It wasn’t just me solving the crime, it was also about me causing them. If I could understand the thought process of a criminal, then it would help me catch them. You can argue the portion where I pretended to be Moriarty would help with nothing, but I was convinced it would then. Everything was fine for a while, but then...”

Years after the fact, something she should have gotten over was still too difficult to—

“Their deaths were on the news, at least for a while before they faded into obscurity, but during that moment, when I wanted to forget, it was impossible when almost every news outlet kept talking about them. And then they were forgotten, but I couldn’t let go. I bit my tongue when Grampa said I should live with other relatives. I didn’t want to burden him, but after three tries, we both knew that I couldn’t be with anyone else but him.”

It was always best to gloss over those parts. Always.

“I don’t know what else to say after that. I never talked much to my peers at school, they never liked me, so I stopped talking to them altogether. I read the detective novels in Grampa’s study. I was much quieter, Grampa and Yakushiji could tell. On rare occasions I would ask if I could help with a case, but he would say no. It left me feeling disappointed, and I wondered if he thought I wasn’t capable of being a Shirogane detective all along. I don’t know what changed his mind, but one day, he invited me to his study and began to explain the details of a case he was working on. Looking back on it now, it must have been easy for him to solve, but he listened and encouraged me to share my thoughts, and before I knew it, I’d solved my first case. I was so proud, and that moment was when I felt that there was an end to the numbness I’d felt after my parents died. After that, I became Grampa’s little helper. During one case, I pointed out a clue he said he would have missed. He must’ve only said that to make me feel better, but at the time, I thought I found something he hadn’t.”

And then...

“Then it was time for me to go out on my own. He still has to be the one to officially accept since he’s the current head of the family, but other than that, I would go out and solve those cases on my own. They’d take me around Japan, and sometimes I’d return to an empty estate because Grampa was elsewhere, solving a case in a different place, even overseas. We’d have a few arguments, but I can’t imagine a family that doesn’t have any. And you know the rest.”

She’d skipped a couple of things, minor details no one really cared about, but that was how it usually went, wasn’t it? Only share the bigger picture, skip those inconsequential additions one could live without. “I think I shared enough, haven’t I?”

[twiststreet]

I had a nice time playing this visual novel called Paranormasight.  It’s been a while since there’s been buzz around a game that’s made it sound at all interesting at least for the writing/world/vibe, but this one had a curious buzz around it-- people really struggling to avoid describing the plot, or what made it so compelling for them.  So I checked it out and got through it, playing a little bit at a time over the weekend.  

I’m not sure I’d have an easy time describing it either, though... It’s a visual novel, but one where choices don’t particularly matter, though-- it has “multiple endings” but you invariably see all of them as you work your way through a pretty linear story. It’s “barely a game”-- you’re mostly clicking through a lot of conversations though it has enough interactive bits and bobs, sort of narrative puzzles, where I’m not just sitting here like “why was that a game???”.  But what makes it such a pleasant time is that it has this entertaining introductory sequence, that it’d be grotesque to spoil... but I’m not sure how to describe the premise without ruining the introductory sequence.  Especially because the introductory stretch has this old-school-gaming playfulness in terms of how it’s presenting the story, its visual storytelling and its puzzles, which is sort of the primary delight of the piece.

Those qualities diminish as the game goes along (there’s two frustrating puzzles at key points in the back half I had to look up because they rely on seeing something that are way too hard to pick out, where they really fall down visually-- frustrating!).  But I liked the story?  Genrewise, it’s a Japanese supernatural murder mystery set in the 1980′s, with detectives and psychic schoolgirls and grossness and all that stuff.  It’s very pulpy. There’s something Argento-ish about how the Japanese can present murders as this kind of unbelievable rupture in the order of things-- we can’t really do that cause we do so much murder in the United States, comparatively, but it makes for curious viewing, I guess.  Sometimes it goes up its own ass with lore-dumps, or I wouldn’t call it “scary” (I felt like the writer-director showed that he could be doing scary interesting things early in the game and then it felt like he held back as things went on), but... it held my attention.

I’d been in the mood for some kind of anime something for the last couple months-- just one of those moods, but I couldn’t find anything before that’d scratch it.  This kind of did it enough, especially in the way the character designs are very fun and broad?  (Kotaku says the character designer is a “legendary” guy from those Kingdom Hearts games, but I don’t know that stuff). I’m 100% one of those “the Japanese are better at comics than we are” people (because they are; it’s not even close; come on), but ... people just dress well, or in ways that create character, in Japanese stuff, among their other virtues.  I’ve been over there, though, and a lot of people were just dressed really generally well, though, just in life, too!  I dunno what that was about.  But in this game, I just liked how one of the psychic schoolgirls just had a pentagram floating in her hair.  Or how one of the detectives (probably everyone’s favorite character) was just like a hipster cowboy...?  I like that visual broadness-- I like my cartoon characters to be cartoony.  I kind of hate when they’re not... 

I don’t really have a good frame of reference though to judge Japanese visual novels, having only played this and two out of three of the Danganronpa games (which are pretty different).  (Oh and like the first hour or two of the Kojima Lethal Weapon-in-Space game).  It’s an interesting form to me, though, especially just on a ... on the level of them having this whole thing where their nerds can go big on a story or guys like Kojima can cut their teeth, that we don’t really have an equivalent of, not really.  (AGS/Sierra/Lucasarts style games is as close as we got and those are very different to me).  

Anyways, yeah: cute game; but one where the game doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the opening stretch.  I want to see this director take the lessons of this one and push harder on a follow-up... Or get some kind of Kojima-syle treatment where we can see what they’d do outside of the visual novel, if he could bring that same playfulness to another genre... 

TLDR Richter’s my favorite character, too.

[hergan416]

Ok so got to the train dinner scene in English and you know I love the train scene right? So I'm PUMPED

(long post/spoilers below the cut, etc. etc.)

And like sure Sherlock and William read as flirtatious, and some of the word play is interesting (different translation than the subtitles, or from the manga) but it also feels like it loses impact.

Someone who can speak Japanese could probably say more than me, but there is just something so poignant about the way William breaks out into English to say the classic "Catch me if you can, Mr. Holmes" in the sub.

I predicted that shock would wear off, but they don't even leave the line the same!! It's "Come and catch me if you can, Mr. Holmes" (emphasis mine).

And also, Sherlock specifically prompts William to say something. "If you were this mastermind, what would you say?"/ "Come and catch me if you can, Mr. Holmes ... Yes, I suspect you would derive satisfaction at hearing those words."

In the sub translation, it's William choosing to say it, adding to Sherlock's "joke." Same thing with the manga.

"Still...I was just thinking how great it would be if you were the sharp witted mastermind." / "Catch me if you can Mr. Holmes ... would that satisfy you to hear me say that, Mr. Detective?"

The sub is much more faithful to the manga here too.

(Also look at Sherlocks blush in the manga. He's getting a little pink, then William makes it clear he has the excuse of joking back, and it's a full face blush for a second. I adore how emotional Sherlock is, in all iterations but especially in the manga.

It doesn't have to be flirtation that's causing the blush, it could be anger, or amusement, or a lot of things. But I personally feel like that look William gets when he is challenging Sherlock is one of the sexiest things ever, and if I were Sherly, I would do exactly that too sooo)

[tabbi-mysteries]

452-467

That's actually two nights worth of episodes I was just busy.

Phantom of Konpira is well phantom of the opera so fairly straightforward. I do like that someone on the anime original writing team got attached to this little theatre troupe they made they and I'm sad that the wiki says that's there last appearance so far. Bring them back again.

Preview screening is a fun case cause it goes a little against the normal structure with the prevention of the crime instead and I like that and the hopeful ending. If I must nitpick tho, the guy didn't need to be in love with the victim as well, he can be sad his friend died without needing to be in love with her good grief. (Also my friend lost it at the star wars parody cause he had no idea it was coming) also hi widescreen!

The overturned conclusion is a fun detective boys case and I think it's the start of 'genta panicks thinking he accidentally killed someone' which will proceed to happen multiple times poor boy. I have no idea how the culprit planned on getting away with this long term tho. He's not good at thinking things through.

The mystery I loved could have been as simple as maybe ask the old lady first you idiot. If she's that good of a mystery writer to impress Shinichi and she was down for it this plan could have gone way better.

Sonoko's red handkerchief is a case I adore because a) Sonoko and b) Ran and Makoto sending a gang's worth of old men flying as a conclusion. I kinda wish the fight had been longer to be honest.

A mysterious man is one of those weird little cases where everyone is a bit fucked up and the plan seems not very well thought through...

Ova 7 (I think) is very cute and I like recognising the method to solving codes and ciphers even if I can't read them so that was neat. Also I relate hard to Agasa's poor eyesight here. I would be useless at providing information in my whereabouts without my glasses.

Class 1B's great operation is adorable though! So so good! Again with fun codes with recognisable methods even if you don't know Japanese and Haibara gets a spotlight in mystery solving and leading the kids and it was very cute.

The missing page is also cute. Simple but has a cute little message. Genta's book report is a mood even tho I'm a bookworm myself.

The shadow of the black organization is... well the cases are fine but the link to the overarching plot feels... a little eh I guess? Eisuke is one of the characters I want to like and yet find myself struggling to :( also the victim from the second half sure was a terrible person. Divorce was probably still the better option tho guy.

(my friend has a collection of bizarre half formed theories here that are okay but mostly a little off cause they are of the opinion that Eisuke and Rena don't actually look that alike somehow XD)

The unsmashable snowman is a nice case cause I think the trick is neat and the detective boys are particularly cute. Damn the victim/culprit and suspects are all kinda like what on earth is with you people though.

Phew that was a lot of EPs. I should get my thoughts out on the daily instead of doing this again. Looking forward to tomorrow tho! My boy KID is there! The next film! Of which all I know is it's pirate themed. Babby Shinichi and Ran! Teasing my friend who lives Eri and despairs over Eri/Kogoro! And maybe even reaching Genta killing a man. Maybe. Depends how much time we have. But theres a lot to look forward to.

[stellatenuem]

maybe i just need to talk about the fucker a little bit and the urge to make another blog will go away

so lets talk about mia’s goro :)

- goro akechi is an alias and not his real name! his name is Kogoro Hirai. this idea in my mind is that his mom named him after Kogoro Akechi in the first place, the fictional private detective created by Japanese mystery writer Edogawa Ranpo. (whos name is actually Taro Hirai. is their family related at all? who knows.) it was his moms favorite series when she was a little girl. and when he was making this new "Persona" he just. cut the ko out of kogoro and went with akechi. its all references. also kind of really sentimental at its roots when you think about it,, when it comes to his mom and how he wanted to be a hero for her.

kogoro was a kid chasing a pipe dream of revenge, but he wasnt completely stupid. once he started making his plans, he couldnt risk shido recognizing his Actual Name.  he also really liked the image it conjured up in his mind. of when he finally takes down shido and reveals who he Really is.

- hes a dog person. its not like he hates cats, he just prefers dogs. kogoro hirai sees a dog he just. !!! a friend. put a puppy in front of him and he experiences the Cute Rage™️ and tears up a lot. ("kinda wanna cry right now. i am so normal") resists the natural urge to just go complete baby talk mode. he actually gets a emotional support animal of his own. a retriever/shiba mix named senbei! (a traditional japanese rice cracker) he does, also. get a cat. “reluctantly” later on that ended up attaching itself to his dog more than him at first. hes a golden tabby named flapjack.

- hes a big nerd about jazz. its something hes actually really passionate about. his mom used to play jazz on their radio and he wanted to learn to play a lot of instruments as a child. kogoro does learn how to play the trumpet. he goes a long time without touching the instrument, though... with all his jobs... its sad. but!! when he actually starts studying music/jazz in uni, he picks it up again. (you know that fuckign video of the dog that was trained to doot on this plastic trumpet??? kogoro totally taught senbei to do that)

- thinks fish are cool. even if it was true when he said a co-worker gave him those tickets, theres no way he would invite ren to the aquarium to Not show off how Smart about fish he is. (cause no one will value me if i dont have anything intelligent or meaningful to say. and his inferiority complex demands he be better than everyone else at every turn.) the funny thing is that he didnt actually know/care much about fish beforehand and goes down a rabbit hole of fish research the night before to One up ren and be Smarter and Better than him, and accidentally discovers a fixation. very undiagnosed adhd/autism of him, fr....

- has an average spice tolerance. his only hubris is his pathological need to show off and his competitive nature, hence taking that spicy takoyaki thinking he could handle it (wanting to show off in front of the PT) and it backfiring horribly. hes so fuckin stupit and i love him

[whatsabriard]

Watch With Me: Hart to Hart 1x06

Episode Title: You Made Me Kill You

Original Airdate: October 23, 1979

Why this one? Every episode about a Hart stalker will be represented in this project. Maybe I have a kink, I don't know. But Peggy kicks off my favorite trend in this series.

Favorite quote:

I have seen Peggy in multiple things since this episode. She was in Dr Quinn. I recently saw her in ER. And she will never not be Peggy, sorry about it Kathleen Lloyd.

Right out of the gate this episode went "no, really, we're taking this one to the limit." (incidentally, a later season episode with Mimi Rogers saw this one and went "hold my beer".)

Harts riding a tandem bike! While being stalked! And Jennifer's shorts were the inspiration of that song "we wear short shorts".

This nutter is calling a bunch, sending tons of flowers, and JOnathan is like "it's not illegal to send flowers" as if he wouldn't be tearing down the city if this was happening to Jennifer.

Now, just to make sure we aren't underestimating the wacky of this woman, we have a scene of her having a conversation with a voice recording of Jonathan as she does her makeup (poorly) and WIG to look like Jennifer.

And if that isn't enough...

Realizing she's not pulling of The Jennifer, Peggy decides to follow her around and try to get the deets on how Jennifer is How She Is. This means a shopping trip! The most important detail of this shopping trip is that it's the origin story for that FABULOUS fucking white hat. You'll know it when you see it.

I am obsessed with this boutique that plays disco music and has multicolored lights flashing.

Anyway, Peggy steals the lingerie Jennifer was getting because she's committed to being committed.

Jonathan. Some kind of business deal. With Tokyo or something.

He decides to send the Japanese business men to Las Vegas and meet Ann Margaret. Who reads the In Death books? Jonathan is basically Roarke.

But then OTHER tickets arrive from Tony's Tickets. A single ticket to a jazz concert. "One ticket? What would I do with one ticket to a jazz concert?"

In this episode, supposedly married-with-two-daughters Stanley accepts a single ticket to a jazz concert and bops.

Peggy is pretty mad so she calls Jennifer to holler at her. "I'll get you for this. I'll get you."

Deanne guesses that the crazy works at Hart Industries. Deanne is right.

So Peggy runs into Jennifer in the bathroom and wants to know where she gets her hair done (she does not say Barry's Hotheads, of whom she has been a client forEVER, but I digress) but all that is unimportant because this is a lük.

So anyway, Jennifer wants to make sure this nice Peggy accountant girl is coming to their HOUSE for a staff party. Check me rolling my eyes GUYS.

Peggy goes to see Tony, the ticket guy, to make a reservation for her and Jonathan at some resort place. Tony, as he's been instructed, calls Deanne who alerts Jonathan. Peggy suspects something is up so she stabs him with like...a letter opener.

It's just a flesh wound though.

Jonathan invites Tony to the staff party, which is apparently now open to everyone in the greater los angeles area.

Tony and Stanley check out the lady guests - they're super stealth about it - but don't recognize anyone.

They're just pretty, ok.

Tony has shrimp with Peggy, not recognizing her because he's fkn useless.

Stanley hits on some chick who mentions his wife and kids. He's NOT. MARRIEd.

Jonathan dances with Peggy. I guess she's not sketch if you haven't seen her sleeping with his picture but man. They're not great detectives.

But then Jonathan leaves Peggy for Jennifer (oh, that's not going to cause a psychotic break or anything).

oh no now Peggy sees them kiss. so she does what any not-even-a-little-bit-sane person does, goes up to the Hart bedroom.

She starts opening the doors in their massive goddamn closets.

"I have the sickening feeling she's right here under out roof." And Jonathan is like "If she is she's a great actress or crazy or both." Duh.

THEN AND THEN Stanley spills cocktail sauce on the outfit Jennifer said she would kill herself over if she spilled anything on it. Also a very sane reaction to a women who has 19 closets currently being rifled by peggy.

Check out peggy being SUPER sane.

Jennifer stumbles on this Totally Normal situation, Peggy smacks her in the head and blows out the pilot light on the water heater (that's in the CLOSET?) to try to kill her with carbon monoxide.

although for me, the incredibly hard hit to the HEAD with the blunt object was probably more of an immediate threat.

Max is enjoying the party by dancing with young girls. Oh Max.

Because they can't be separated for more than a few minutes (d'awwww) Jonathan goes and finds his wife knocked tf out in his creepy closet with all the doors open.

"We'll find her, we'll find her." OK, jonathan, is it time to worry NOW?

The next day Jennifer is having some PTSD with not wanting to answer the phone. She's writing a story about her experience.

But she's going to carry on with her life, the idiot.

So she goes out to the post office by herself. But guess who is in the backseat!

What is with this chick and her teeny tiny knives?

Anyway, Jonathan is on his way home and sees Jennifer in the car with crazycakes and tries to follow them but this dumb 18 wheeler gets in his way.

So Peggy takes Jennifer back to her batcave of crazy where she strips (!) Jennifer to her slip and takes her clothes. She starts calling Jennifer "Peggy" and Jennifer is like "the FUCK is happening right now."

"You Peggy, have to die so Jonathan and I can live on forever...always."

She has Jennifer tied up with nylons but not very well because our girl Jennifer has been tied up a few times in her life and she slips those knots p quick and knocks Peggy down and does a runner.

Jennifer jumps out the window and races up the fire escape to the roof with Peggy in hot pursuit.

Jennifer's shoes are dog-show ugly in the action shots. But they look like regular buckle pumps up close.

Being a master of weird psychology, Jonathan calls Peggy "Jennifer" and tries to talk her into giving up the knife.

So Peggy snatches Jennifer by the hair.

Anyway, Peggy asks Jonathan to say he loves her. He does but then she starts screaming that he's a liar, she almost falls off the roof and "It's over, Peggy."

After all that trauma, the Harts go roller skating like whatever. Jennifer didn't nearly get deaded twice. trauma just rolls off them like water off a duck.

and they make out.

I'm going to skip "Murder Between Friends" and go straight to "Cop Out", which is important for several reasons, not the least of which is a riff of music Mark Snow recycled into the X-Files. It's also about prostitutes so good times.

[wuxiaphoenix]

On Writing: Looking for the Right Rock

If you’re looking to lay a church foundation stone, granite is the way to go. If you want to make lithographic prints, look for fine-grained slate. And if you want to go old school and chip out arrowheads and scrapers, you want flint. They’re all rocks; not better, not worse. But they’re very different rocks.

You need to give the same considerations to elements of plot, character, and world when you create a story. Does what you’re picked fit the purpose it fills in the story? If not, why not? And how bad is the mismatch?

Sometimes you do want a mismatch. In Stalking the Unicorn by Mike Resnick, a classic NYC private detective gets a case in a magical Manhattan, and much of the story revolves around what he does and doesn’t learn about creatures, powers, and events that explain the crime. The Fish Out of Water trope exists for good reason.

But it you’re trying to build a world that feels as seamless in its reality as the one we live in, you need to give certain story elements a second thought. Because so many Neat Shiny Things out of folklore, history, and modern science imply other elements of context that may not be obvious. And if those further elements aren’t there - it can break suspension of disbelief.

For example, take spook-lights. They come in many different manifestations. But there are a few places in the Appalachians where they specifically appear and burn like ghostly flames over a family’s grave, an omen that someone in that family is soon to die.

Creepy. Thrilling. An awesome bit of folklore to add to give your story a sense of place. But it also has implications. There is a family grave. There are people who visit the grave (in a cemetery or elsewhere) often enough to spot the flames. And at least one death in the family - or another family so haunted - has happened before, so people know what the omen means.

If any of these extra elements are lacking, say the character just moved into the big city and the spook-lights are appearing at a local crematorium they’ve never even visited - that sense of place, connection, and personal history is lost.

One a side note, this is one reason I’ve been bewildered by the “is Ichigo Kurosaki actually a dead Shinigami or a live human” tussles in the Bleach fandom. In Japanese folklore, in a lot of old European folklore as well if you dig deep enough, it’s quite possible to have a living ghost.

The ikiryou turns up in The Tale of Genji, as well as many folktales. An angry or obsessed person’s spirit, or even only part of their spirit, wanders around loose; haunting, laying curses, sometimes possessing people, and generally causing havoc. A living Shinigami would fit perfectly into that category.

Yet the realms of the dead and the living, in Bleach canon, aren’t supposed to interact. When folklore has them interacting all the time. Hence cleaning graves, respectful burials, and listening to spirits when they warn you about trouble!

Pick your story rocks for the right purpose. Make your story elements fit the world, down to the ghosts in the stones. Because fossils show what came before... and that gives your readers the thrill of what happens next!