#and then they kept thwarting basically all his attempts to cover his own tracks and pursue his own goals

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

Listen. Listen. The more I think about Essek’s reality the more amused I get. It’s like the Mighty Nein EXISTED to fuck his life over in the kindest way possible. 

One of their first functional (and one of their most defining) actions as a group was when they stole a Beacon -- one of HIS Beacons. A Beacon he took from the Dynasty and gave to the Assembly in an INCREDIBLY risky gamble, so risky it ultimately plunged the continent into war, because that’s how badly he wanted learn something about it.

And the Mighty Nein, on a fucking whim, vanished it from under their noses. NOT ONLY was Essek deprived of further research, but he couldn’t even smooth over the tensions on either side. Essek was probably the only person alive, besides the Mighty Nein, who could know for a fact that neither the Empire nor the Dynasty had what the war functionally started over. By stealing the Beacon, the Mighty Nein made sure neither side could be happy, and Essek was the one stuck in between.

But then, they returned it to the Bright Queen! Surely that’s good for Essek, right? Except, one, now he gets no more of the research he enabled a war for, and two, it wasn’t even traded as a price to stop the bloodshed, which seems to be something he genuinely wants. So, cool! Beacon #1 is certainly out of his hands, out of the hands of the people who might have told him SOMETHING about it, and it wasn’t even for the sake of the war ending. ...Great! Fun. Okay.

But what did the Mighty Nein trade it for? Why, the freedom of Essek’s prisoner, of course! Because surprise! That’s one of their number’s husband. And it’s a complete coincidence.  Were you using one of the poor saps conducting the research as a way to finally learn about said research, Essek? No longer. Yeza’s gone now. Suck it.

So, the Mighty Nein took a Beacon completely out of his hands, made it useless to him in every way possible, and removed his access to his one (1) avenue of information on the Beacon. That’s surely already Fuck These Guys territory for Essek, right?

Well, guess what Essek! YOU have been chosen to be the lucky drow who gets to babysit them! For the entire time! They’re here!

But hey, they’re only visitors, just keep them at arm’s length for a few days and then you’ll never have to see them aga- Oh look, your Den and by extension YOUR MOTHER gave them a house. They live here now.

And Essek just has to sit there like “... :).”

AND ON TOP OF ALL OF THAT, EVERY WEEK OR SO, THEY COME BACK AND SAY:

“Hey Essek! We just thought you should know, we think there’s a traitor in the Dynasty, crazy right?”

“Hey Essek, we think this possible traitor actually GAVE the Empire the Beacons, isn’t that WILD?”

“Hey Essek, did we mention that we have connections not only to the Empire but to the Assembly specifically, AND we have easy access to the Empire in general, so we can totally dig around there AND here as much as we like? Wow, not many people could do that, huh?”

“Hey Essek, did you know our monk is trained to ruthlessly ferret out the truth no matter what, and also she’s super invested in the well being of all these civillians? Boy, she sure seems to want to get to the bottom of things!”

“Hey Essek, did you know that our wizard who knows a lot about the arcane and is super interested in dunamancy and also has a perfect memory was a Scourger in training and speaks Zemnian? He can interrogate another one of your captives for you, wonder if they know anything about traitors or what the Assembly might be up to!”

“Hey Essek, we have a cunning plan to interrogate ANOTHER prisoner of yours! You know, that one who totally sold the Beacons! Aren’t we smart, don’t you like it?”

“Hey Essek! This prisoner seems to be innocent? Like, his memories were planted and he’s almost been... framed, or something? Wild! Let’s go tell the Bright Queen together!!!!”

“HEY ESSEK! Crazy news, we almost single handedly coordinated a peace talks, and we’ll be overseeing all the big interactions on both sides! Wonder what we could learn from those interactions? Anyway, bye!”

IT NEVER ENDS. IT NEVER, EVER ENDS FOR ESSEK. HE LIVES NEXT DOOR. JESTER MESSAGES HIM CONSTANTLY. HIS MUM OWNS THEIR HOUSE. HE’S BORDERLINE AT THEIR BECK AND CALL. 

AND IT’S ALMOST LIKE THEY WERE SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED TO COUNTERACT HIS EVERY MOVE.

WHICH HE HAS TO HEAR ABOUT. CONSTANTLY.

Not only should the Nein by all rights have disliked him, he by all rights should FUCKING HATE the Mighty Nein.

The Mighty Nein were the bane of his existence. He must have laid awake some nights, wondering if they were taunting him. How could they know so much, and yet not realise he’s the last person they should be confiding in? How could he have run into a group with an ex-student of one of the men he’s illegally working with, by accident? HOW could he have kidnapped, out of all the researchers involved with the Beacons, the one married to a Mighty Nein member? Why does the truth-sniffing monk know Undercommon now. WHY is the firblog so fucking perceptive. And please, please, why won’t the tiefling stop messaging him?

Surely, they’re taunting him. They’re his own personal hell.

And they keep inviting him to dinner.

...I think I’ve made the joke several times now that somewhere out there, the big players in the war must fucking hate the Nein, accomplishing so much by accident.

Well I’ve found out who that big player is and his name is Essek. It’s him. Everything the Nein have done of any significance has made specifically his life harder, and on top of all that? 

They don’t even let him hate them properly, like Actual Nemeses™. Instead they gave him a morality crises. 

Because that’s the final, most poetic indignity of them all. 

After all that, he likes them.

[dapper-ships-herself]

A Memory

---------

In a dark stretch of hallway, lined with floor to ceiling stained glass windows and towering pillars that stretched down into infinity within the reflective surface of the tiled floor, most footsteps clicked and echoed throughout the space. Her's were a barely heard whisper.

Pigtails bouncing with each step, Gillian payed no mind to the way in front of her. Seemingly all her attention was on the ebony black book in her hands. A thick cover, with beautifully intricate white and gold gilding swirling along the borders and forming the title, the edges of each page were purposefully weathered and rough. She flipped another page, eyes moving methodically across the text.

She passed a pillar, and didn't flinch when a new pair of footsteps rang in the hallway, stepping in time with her.

Dazai had his hands in his pockets, facing forward with a neutral expression on his face. She payed him no attention. They passed through a slice of darkness before they were bathed in the colorful light once again.

"Impressive how you can walk so confidently without even looking at what's in front of you." His quiet voice bounced in the silence.

She shrugged, turning another page.

"All I've had to read these days are documents Mr. Mori gives me, they're so boring."

She moved her thumb along the page, feeling it's course texture.

"Does he make you do paper work too? Honestly, I think this is actually just one of a handful of times I've seen you not right next to him. It surprised me just a bit."

"Is there a reason you are bothering me?" Her voice was hardl enough to be heard, no louder than the barely there rustle of her pages.

"Chuuya has been such a bother ever since we recruited him. I swear, if he had no intention of being my faithful servant, then we should have just left him where he was." He gestured with one hand, an exaggerated look of exasperation on his face, sighing loudly.

"So you were lurking here just to get away from him?" Another page whispered as it was turned.

"Basically." He nodded "And that's when little you happened to come by."

"I can promise you won't find anything to keep you occupied here. Why don't you just continue on your way and go hide somewhere else?"

"I beg to differ about the "nothing interesting" thing. And the "hiding" part too, for that matter; like I need to hide from that slug. I was just taking a break, my neck was hurting from looking down at him so much."

Once again, she kept reading and didn't bother to respond. She would have kept doing that, except the book wasn't in her hands anymore.

She blinked, and looked over at Dazai, who had hopped back a few steps with a sly smile and her book dangling from his fingers.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, honestly perplexed.

"You weren't paying attention to me." He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"Because I was reading." She kept her expression flat.

"Exactly." He started swaying his wrist so her book moved back and forth like a pendulum.

"Give it back." She held out her hand.

"But then you'll just start ignoring me again, and I'm bored. Hm, how about maybe if you ask nicely enough? Say "pretty please"."

Her expression stayed, but the corner of her lip twitched to a frown for just a second in annoyance.

"No? Too much pride? Figures for the mafia. Well then, I guess there's only one way you're getting this book back." He turned and starting jogging backwards up the hallway in front of her, his smile turned straight mischievous. "You'll just have to take it from me."

"No, you're just going to give it back." She stayed in her spot." Honestly, how childish can you get?"

"Less talking, more chasing, Gillian!" He spun around, and started running at an even pace down the hall.

"Dazai." Gillian shook her head at him, still not moving. Instead, she flicked her wrist slightly down at her side, the movement concealed by the long flowing sleeve of her blouse. Up ahead, as Dazai passed by another block of shadow, a hand on the end of a long, misty, dark and twisting appendage shot out and aimed straight for the book. She couldn't grab him directly thanks to his cancelling ability, so she'd just have to go for it directly.

However, just before the hand could close down on it's prize, Dazai's forearm moved up to block it, and the hand grabbed hold of it instead, instantly evaporating in a flash.

He looked back over his shoulder at her. "You'll have to try harder than that!" He called. He picked up speed, reaching the end of the hallway and turning a corner to the right.

Oh, come on.

She huffed, glaring at the doorway, then she stepped forward and sunk down into the shadows at her feet.

She moved through the strange world of the dark that was second nature to her with ease. She could see Dazai running up ahead through the film and flowed forward, jumping out of the shadows right next to him as he moved by. However, the sneak attack that had proved her victorious multiple times over, was thwarted by him ducking under her grasp and rolling forward. Somehow, he'd known exactly where she would appear.

He laughed at her attempt, not breaking his stride. That only made her more irritated, and a low growl escaped her throat.

Again and again and again, he dodged, he weaved, he jumped over her attempts to retrieve her book, smiling the whole time. "I was hoping to find out why Mori bothered to make a little girl his body guard, and I must say so far I'm not impressed!" The look in his eyes making it clear he was baiting her.

It was infuriating, it was annoying, it was... It was...

Due to her father, and the world he lived in and the circumstances she was raised in, she'd rarely even seen much of kids her age, much less played with them. She wasn't sure she could call this playing, but-

Wait, was that exactly what this was? A game? Judging by his laughter, he certainly thought so.

But of course she thought differently. She was just trying to get her precious book back. He was just being a nuisance.

He dodged backwards as her hand shot out and her momentum carried her in front of him. Looking up at him, a part of her was surprised to realise his wicked sharp grin was matched on her own face.

It was the most fun she'd had in a long time.

Eventually, their chase carried them outside, where she now had to be more careful at how much she used her shadows in her pursuit in front of the crowds. One more disadvantage. Oh well, she wasn't giving up.

Dazai tried to lose her amongst the throng of people, but she was an expert at tracking a target.

He ran to a park that had less people than the main streets. Here, she saw an opportunity.

Sinking down into the shadows again, she popped up on his right, where he immediately moved to avoid her. She was ready for that though.

Before she'd entered the shadows, she'd bent down to scoop up a small rock sitting on the path. She threw it, sending it right under his feet. His next step landed right on top of it and sent him off balance, falling backward.

She moved, appearing closer now on his left, and snatched the book as he fell. She skipped forward as soon as her hand closed on it's surface, a triumphant laugh leaving her lips involuntarily. "How was that, huh? Impressive enough? I got it!" She held her prize triumphantly out in front of her.

He chuckled from his spot on the ground, pushing himself up to sit cross legged. "And you've also apparently got more than one expression. What a lovely smile that is." He grinned.

Her smile morphed into a a confused expression, her mouth a small O. She bit her lip, glaring and glancing away. "So you really were just trying to mess with me this whole time."

"Obviously. We both had fun though, didn't we?"

She hummed in the back of her throat. Spotting a bench just a bit away, she walked to it. As soon as she sat down, she opened her book to the exact page she'd been on before Dazai's chase had begun.

He took a seat next to her, leaning to look over her shoulder at the pages, his one uncovered eye wide and curious. "What kind of book is it?"

"A fairy tale." She answered. She flipped another page.

"That covers gotten kind of worn." He observed "You've taken good care of it, but you've read it a lot, haven't you?"

"I have. It's my favorite, I know everything that happens in this book, every twist, every word."

"Why bother reading a book again that you've already read? Sounds boring."

She paused, looking up from the book to glance at the sky, thinking for a moment. When Gillian had her answer, she looked over at Dazai, a small, fond smile on her face. "I suppose that's because, a good book is always good, no matter how many times you read it."

---

---

---

Seven years later.

Gillian turns another page of the black book with it's white and gold engravings. The cover is worn, but she's always been careful with it, a few pages have gained new tears, but she's delicate with each one she flips.

She sits in the dark of her room, the curtains drawn and a bare sliver of light from the full moon slicing through in a long line across the floor and up the opposite wall.

Even if her eyes weren't naturally adapted to the dark, it still wouldn't bother her. This book was as familiar to her as the back of her own hand, every twist, every word.

This book was very special to her. Many, many, many memories were attached to it. Ones that she was very fond of, and they kept her company in the dark when she was all alone.

She turned another page.

[recentanimenews]

Bookshelf Briefs 11/28/17

It’s a cornucopia of briefs!

Ace of the Diamond, Vol. 6 | By Yuji Terjima | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – Training camp continues, and the coach has arranged for some practice games right afterwards, the better to gauge how well the first years play when exhausted. For Furuya, the answer is initially “not well,” but he never loses his determination, and once he swallows his pride and asks Miyuki for advice, finally internalizes the truth that, at Seido, he’s got teammates who are going to back him up, even if the batter does manage to get a hit. Eijun’s fun and everything, but Furuya is not your typical shounen protagonist, and I’m pleased that he’s getting his share of attention. I also liked that the boys hang out some with varsity teammates we’ve barely glimpsed, and we learn how awesome the captain is. I am already relishing the thought of future marathon rereads of this series. It’s a keeper for sure. – Michelle Smith

Cells at Work!, Vol. 5 | By Akane Shimizu | Kodansha Comics – Once again, Red Blood Cell is absent from this volume except a brief cameo. This allows us to focus our attention on the ‘normal cell’ from prior volumes, who still has a tendency to do dumb things on impulse. Fortunately, the cute adorable bacteria he’s harboring in his room are the GOOD kind of bacteria. Unfortunately, his attempt to get them to where they can do good is thwarted by a host of crises from which White Blood Cell and company must rescue him, most notably the return of Cancer Cell, who brings back the ethical ambiguity to the series as he asks essentially “are the needs of the many less important than the needs of the one?” The one being the body. This was a lot of fun. – Sean Gaffney

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 3 | By Ryoko Kui| Yen Press – The cast expands a bit in this third volume. We see one of our team’s old comrades, who left them due to actually wanting to get paid, and the complicated relationship she has with them, particularly Marcille, and it’s made clear she’s not a bad guy—everyone has their own needs and drives. As for Marcille, we also get a flashback to her school days, which shows how she met Laios’ sister (still being digested by a dragon, if you recall), which is rather cute. And of course more ridiculously gross yet amusing monster recipes. And plenty of humor, as it turns out tentacles can be peeled sort of like bananas. Still good, though I’d like to get the sister rescued or declare her dead. – Sean Gaffney

The Full-Time Wife Escapist, Vol. 6 | By Tsunami Umino | Kodansha Comics (digital only) – It was inevitable that Mikuri and Hiramasa would discover that they are in love with each other, but I am still kind of surprised that it actually happened. It’s lovely to see him grinning like a doofus at the office after an evening of fooling around, but I appreciate that the transition into a real marriage isn’t exactly going to be smooth. Mikuri is worried, for example, that she’ll be expected to do the same amount of work for free, while Hiramasa worries about his waning sex drive. Somehow I doubt we’ll ever see the latter issue addressed Everyone’s Getting Married! I also really enjoyed the scenes where Mikuri’s aunt and Kazami get to know each other better—I wholeheartedly approve of them hooking up! – Michelle Smith

Haikyu!!, Vol. 17 | By Haruichi Furudate | Viz Media – And so our heroes pull it off, and get to advance, while Aoba Johsai has to suffer an ignominious defeat. This is done in the best possible shonen way, with lots of noble tears and resolve to get even stronger. The cliches don’t FEEL like cliches—the author is adept at making this feel fresh even when you know where every plot beat is going to be. And so it’s on to the finals, and I suspect this game may drag on a while, as it’s a best 3-sets-of-5 game. Their opponent is Shiratorizawa, who I’m sure we’ll find out more about as we move on, but who clearly have one player who’s REALLY good, and the volume ends with our heroes down by quite a bit. I think they’ll come back, though. Just a hunch. – Sean Gaffney

Hana & Hina After School, Vol. 3 | By Milk Morinaga | Seven Seas – This turns out to be the final volume, and honestly you get the sense it was cut a bit short—the last half feels rushed. Of course, considering all we were getting before that was a slow-burning pile of angst, it might be best that it got the push. Morinaga Milk has always been better at fluffy than angsty, so it comes as something of a relief when our two heroines finally get over the whole “is it just me? Did she mean it when she said she’s not that way?” drama and get together (in all respects—as with previous MM titles, there’s a brief, not-that-explicit sex scene here). In the end, this was a cute read, but I’ve seen better yuri from this author. – Sean Gaffney

Horimiya, Vol. 9 | By Hero and Daisuke Hagiwara | Yen Press – Horimiya has always tried to be at least slightly more realistic than a lot of romance manga, and thus watching Yuki’s ongoing angst regarding her lies and deceit and how it’s impacting other people is particularly painful. I’m not really all that sure I want her to win here, even though the alternative will also suck. On the bright side, Hori and Morimiya are doing better than ever, and as Hori is forced to think about her future—something which she seemed to have given not a single thought to—but she realizes here that no matter what she does, she wants to be with Miyamura. This leads to a sort of adorable reverse proposal, which fits the general characterization. Still good, but I hope it’s wrapping up soon. – Sean Gaffney

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders, Vol. 5 | By Hirohiko Araki | Viz Media And so, finally, JoJo’s has run up against my ability to get 500+ words out of each volume. Yes, this is the first volume to get a Brief rather than a full review, and I put the blame entirely on the rambling Road To Cairo plot that Araki has chosen to use this time around. Individual moments are as striking as ever—I felt the killer baby was more interesting as a killer within dreams than in the real world, and the surprise non-death of a character feels a bit cheap. But JoJo’s still has its bizarre visuals and grotesque violence, and as long as it keeps that up it should stay interesting, even if Jotaru continues to be the dullest Jo we’ve had to date. – Sean Gaffney

Kiss & White Lily for My Dearest Girl, Vol. 4 | By Canno | Yen Press – Most sports manga fail to show the heroes moving on to a professional career, with a few exceptions like Captain Tsubasa. In reality, a lot of sports careers end just the way we see Mizuki’s end here—she comes close to the Nationals, but doesn’t make it, and realizes that this is it, she has to stop doing track and decide on an actual career. There’s also her relationship with Moe, which may actually be hindering her for a spell—it’s gotten to the point where she forgets running was fun—but eventually proves stronger than both thought, and we get a proposal (of sorts) and a kiss. This is a bit stronger than Hana & Hina, even if it’s just as fluffy, and I’m pleased to see it continue. – Sean Gaffney

Log Horizon: The West Wind Brigade, Vol. 7 | By Koyuki and Mamare Touno | Yen Press – The comedy is kept to a minimum here, as we get the more dramatic parts of the third and fourth novel, intermixed with how it’s affecting the West Wind Brigade. Kawara’s on the cover, and we get a bit more insight into her character—basically, she’s an instinctual fighter but a bit of an idiot who got into the game because she wanted to be a shonen hero, and the West Wind Brigade was the only one that would take her in. It does also show off her strengths as well, though. That said, easily the most interesting part is the ending, where we get a surprise appearance by a seemingly insane Nureha, who’s met by a battle-crazy Soujiro. I want to see how this battle turns out. – Sean Gaffney

My Hero Academia, Vol. 10 | By Kohei Horikoshi | Viz Media – I appreciate that Horikoshi is willing to let Bakugo be a completely unlikable jerk, driven by rage and jealousy and every single negative emotion, and yet still show that he realizes the difference between good and evil—that he’s decided that he wants to be a HERO rather than a villain, even if that means going against what comes more naturally. It’s a terrific scene that really made me like him. On the flip side, the disguises used to infiltrate Evil HQ are hilarious, particularly Deku and Momo. The humor is needed, as this is something of a grim arc, especially with the arrival of a Bigger Bad towards the end. This volume shows off everything that has made this the hot new Jump title. – Sean Gaffney

Nisekoi: False Love, Vol. 24 | By Naoshi Komi | Viz Media – Even though it’s obvious Onodera’s going to lose, give credit to the author for not making it easy. She and Raku have really developed a close relationship, and even if it’s not romantic I hope they can stay friends. More to the point, the fact that Onodera is willing to help Raku track down Chitoge by FLYING TO AMERICA with him (because Chitoge has, like many tsundere heroines in denial, literally run halfway across the Earth to escape her love issues) shows off her truly ridiculous kindness. There’s the last popularity poll in this book, and Chitoge and Onodera are separated by barely 100 votes. That’s impressive for a harem title. In any case, it wraps up next time, so keep reading. – Sean Gaffney

One Piece, Vol. 84 | By Eiichiro Oda | VIZ Media – It’s been a while since we had a volume that focused on further sad backstory for one of the Straw Hat crew, but that’s what we get here, with many hard-to-read scenes about Sanji’s abuse at the hands of his family, intercut with a silly fight in which Luffy defeats a bunch of cracker soldiers by eating them. Because Big Mom is threatening to kill Chef Zeff if he doesn’t comply, Sanji is forced to both insult and attack Luffy in an attempt to get him to abort the rescue, but of course this doesn’t work. In addition to this riveting drama, there’s also the question of whether Pudding (Sanji’s seemingly sympathetic bride-to-be) can actually be trusted, more information about the ponegliffs (yay!), and a glimpse at the unintended consequences of toppling Doflamingo. Plus, Brook actually gets something important to do! This series is still excellent. – Michelle Smith

By: Michelle Smith