#having thoughts that make no sense about a plot thread in an 18 year old video game

[mirrorhouse]

what was EVA’s purpose in operation snake eater? ADAM and EVA are “a couple of insiders”, “trained by the kgb for exactly this kind of mission”. but only ADAM has infiltrated gru’s ranks, according to zero. EVA is a kgb agent too, but gru aren’t exactly letting kgb wander around tselinoyarsk freely (although volgin seems kinda lax about letting tatyana disappear, despite ocelot suggesting to him she’s a kgb spy). but what was EVA specifically meant to be doing?

“EVA” never mentions having to take out EVA, only that she “snuck in” (assuming she means to the kgb research facility to meet with sokolov) while pretending she was him, although his death at her hands could be implicit. sokolov doesn’t seem to know her as EVA, though, instead as ‘tatyana’.

she only says she was planning on taking out ADAM but he never showed at the rendezvous point (since he cleared the preceding areas out he was probably hanging around, but maybe backed off when “EVA” showed up to avoid risking his gru cover with an unknown party. or maybe it was when the boss showed up and drew attention to snake’s position) and she obviously would have no idea who he was outside of that setting.

ADAM was able to offer field support, intel, and a means of escape. EVA (apparently) didn’t arrange anything, and hardly seems a big part of the mission at all until the ‘switch’ and “EVA” shows up at night before ADAM can get there in time. so… maybe EVA had a more ‘passive’ role. maybe he hadn’t been trained for combat, and was providing mission intel/intercepting radio transmissions instead, that kind of thing.

[birubilirubin]

Thanks to someone I rechecked the dialog in Conan

付き合うことになった

You are going out with her.

彼女を潜入するために付き合うんでしょう？

Aren't you going out with her to infiltrate?

二人の女は同時に愛せるほど器用な性分じゃないでね。

I'm not dexterous enough to love two women at the same time.

The plot goes like this:

Akai approaches Akemi – Approached her to gain her trust or to make her fall in love with him and began dating - Akemi introduces him to Shiho as a lover - Became close friends with Shiho- Infiltrated the organization through Shiho’s connections

In the dialogue above, we can know the timeline was that he has not infiltrated the organization, and he wasn't dating Akemi at that time, he just met her and there was a love bombing process to gain her trust or to make her fall in love for a few days or months. It was not that he just met her and then suddenly asked her out, unless she's really a love brain and crazy about him.

器用な性分じゃない =不器用/ 無器用

不器用 (Not very dexterous / Bad at doing things)

It means that he is not good at communicating, not good at socializing, not good at getting along like a couple.

So 愛せる doesn't refer to the literal meaning of "Love", but it refers to the contextual meaning of "Doing all the things that couples do", and he's not good at handling it. So, the indication is that he was not in 2 boats at the same time.

So the 2 women are still referring to Akemi and Jodie.

Because it's hard to find the original text. So, I only heard from the animation. So maybe there are wrong words.

84さい、嘘、本当は.....

I'm 84 years old, kidding, actually I....

Interrupted by Ai's hat falling off

....ますます興味ぶかい魅力的...

You're getting more and more interesting and fascinating (because Conan can figure out the bomber from just a few clues).

８４歳バアバに言われたかねよ

I don't want to be praised by an 84-year-old grandmother

あなたの似合い18歳よ、なんてね。

I'm 18 years old just like you, I'm kidding.

えっ??

Huh??

The full sentence becomes like this

84歳、嘘、本当はあなたの似合い１８歳よ、なんてね。

I'm 84 years old, it's a lie, I'm actually 18 like you, Just kidding.

Huh?? (You're really 18 years old??)

(So it's not ambiguous right)

まだ糸は切れていない

The thread has not been cut (Their destiny has not been cut)

糸= 運命  (thread = Destiny / Bond)

Title of this chapter 運命の人 (The destined person)

This chapter tells a lot about Akai Shuichi, from the appearance of the fake Akai, Jodie and Akai’s past, and Subaru also appears. So, the destined person refers to Akai Shuichi.

Shiratori is the one destined for Kobayashi.

Aoyama also used Ayumi's mouth to explicitly say 放っとけない人は、好きな人です (The person you worry about is the person you like).

Who is the person who worries about Haibara the most, installing bugs everywhere, having his subordinates guard her or tap her when he has to leave Kudo’s house, forbidding her from going to the crime scene, picking her up when she didn’t come home?.

Akemi said "The only thing to worry about is you, Shiho", and Akemi loved Shiho.

The title of this chapter is ‘白い雪黒い影’ (White Snow Black Shadow). All chapter titles are clues, it applies in Conan.

When Shiho first appeared the chapter was titled 白い世界 (The White World).

Thanks to Gin, we know shiho is White Snow 白い雪, and she likes Scarlet 緋色

The kanji is the same as the kanji in the chapter "The emergence of scarlet". 緋色

白い雪 White Snow refers to Shiho. It was because Shiho still has her own sense of justice although she's been in the dark world since she was a baby.

黒い影 The black shadow refers to Akai. At that time, Akai was still suspected of being black.

So the narrative trick played out like this:

Akai saw Ran, and he thought of a stupid woman (×)

Haibara saw Ran, and she thought of Akemi (×)

So X = Stupid woman = Akemi.

The animation/movie team and the most fans’ logic are like that.

"I knew it was the wrong person"

Akai probably heard that a brown-haired girl (Sonoko) was following the doctor (He already knew the doctor was Vermouth)

When Subaru met Ran and Sonoko, he immediately noticed Sonoko first. "You, browned-haired girl", he said it to Sonoko.

It can be seen that the buildings marked in both pictures are very similar, and there is no fence on the street. So it was the same place where Miyano Shiho first appeared and was shot by Gin.

The most important point is that there is a phone booth in that place. Akai also came out of the phone booth.

Then, in Vermouth's apartment there was a Shiho photo, but during the full moon chapter, Akai met Haibara, but he still said "The person I was waiting for didn't show up".

So, I assume Akai has two different targets from the FBI, I.e:

1. Finding Shiho

2. Confronting Gin

He probably thought he could find those two people with him following Vermouth, but the FBI knew nothing about them.

So his revenge on Gin was not for Akemi.

The only witness to Akemi's murder was Vodka. How could Akai know the person who shot Akemi was Gin?. It could have been another member.

That's why Akai's actions towards Gin were all related to Shiho not Akemi. These three people have a story, and only they know about it.

Then, I look at the vocabulary he used was complex and romantic, and have many implied expressions, and comparing his dialog with Ayumi's, his dialog was rarely used in daily conversation (Well, although it's an Oresama character's dialog, and don't use this grammar in daily conversation, or you will get slapped by others). Every dialog box of every character is always carefully thought out, right. So I think Aoyama designed Akai's character as a character who is quite dark, deep and has hidden feelings (deep affection).

For example:

愛しい愛しい宿敵(こいびと) 愛しい and 恋人 can not only be interpreted as dearest love, but can also be interpreted as the person he misses. So it can be interpreted as (Gin who I miss).

So 恋人(こいびと) is not referring to Akemi.

Aoyama is traditional Japanese. The use of these words is often found in classical Japanese literature (Osamu Dazai, Akutagawa, etc)

The shadow is very deep, right.

File 874

From what Bourbon said, "I met your mother and your sister".

Then Shiho (Kid) said, "You are the rival of my sister's boyfriend, Moroboshi Dai. I heard from my sister that you don't get along."

"My sister's boyfriend" in Ai's mind this misunderstanding is still not resolved. Ai didn't know it was just a fake relationship. So it wasn't Shu-Ake's official CP hammer.

"I heard from my sister" We all clearly knew Akemi is just an outsider, she wouldn't know the problem with Rye and Bourbon. Based on Rye's character he wouldn't tell her about it either. Then based on Aoyama's interview, he said "Akemi didn't remember Bourbon". It is a contradiction.

It can be inferred that "I met your mother and your sister" was when he was a child, and Akemi has forgotten about him.

So this "I heard from my sister" is Aoyama's narrative trick. Because Aoyama wanted to hide Shuichi-Shiho's close relationship. He used a patch sentence (I heard from my sister) to cover up the original information.

Then, I saw some theories from Chinese fans who argued, the dialog probably like this because I also forgot it, "Like two sisters (姉妹), I know your action".

Actually, there is no need to use complex logic to analyze the dialogue in Conan, just use simple logic. "Sisters" still refers to Shiho and Akemi not Vermouth and Yukiko. "Your action is just like two sisters" This action doesn't refer to Haibara's action of crying silently, but Haibara's action of sacrificing herself for others just like Akemi sacrificed herself for Shiho, and Akai clearly knew it. So this dialog doesn't describe Akai knowing Akemi well (because cring silently). So, the girl who cries silently still refers to Shiho (Haibara). Akai only knew Akemi sacrificed herself for Shiho (from the message she sent).

Then, In Conan, the information we get from each character is not synchronized. It happens in the case of Subaru and Wakasa's identities, so you can't line them up linearly, but you have to look at each character's perspective.

Some of Ran's behaviors can refer to several characters depending on the perspective of each character describing Ran, so Ran doesn't just seems like Akemi because they both have long black hair.

For example, in one of the daily cases. A murderer saw Ran and he saw his girlfriend's shadow because Ran's voice was similiar to his girlfriend.

In Ai's mind, Ran's characteristics, bright, kind-hearted, protect her, was the same as Akemi.

Ran wanted to go home because she was worried about Conan. But Ai suddenly shouted at her to stop her, seeing her sister's shadow. This is Ai's guilt for Akemi because she couldn't stop her at that time.

But for Akai who only always saw Ran crying alone was similar to Shiho.

And in Ai's mind Ran's behavior of always holding back her crying, pretending to smile was just like herself. So that's why Ai understands Ran's feelings because they have the same behavior like pretending to be strong.

It's in chapter 335 A Gift from The Wife, sorry I don't have a picture.

This chocolate is smiling, but its face is sad.

A face torn with pain and tears, she pushed herself too hard

Mistranslation in the English version

It should be a dialogue box for Yamamura

The dialog should be like this

"If you get in contact with Hiro-chan again. You'll talk to him about me..."

Look at the angle when Shinichi said to Ai. It has the same angle, and it's a lens language where the conversation doesn't use subject and object if there are only two of them there.

In the English version the object becomes "Her"

"I will protect her......"

If he loved her, Akai should have gone to save her when he knew Akemi was in danger, or he can spend 1000 episodes taking care of her grave. But instead he appeared to meet her younger sister with a smiling face every day.

Haibara said 守ってくれるんでしょう to Conan

....んです is an emphasis sentence.

She's emphasizing that Conan will protect her right?. Because there was someone who wanted to protect her, but he didn't keep his promise.

Spoiler M26

Many of the character settings are very OOC and slightly out of the manga. First, Akai's reaction when he found out Ai was kidnapped was calm, while in the manga he was looking for her all over the city with a sad face. Second, How could he miss it, so all those bugs are useless. Third, Ai heard Akai's voice through the intercom of the diving goggles, but she didn't respond at all, and after Conan started answering the call, but her attention was only on Conan, and she only responded with "Kudo-kun", it is not Ai-chan who will think of Moroboshi Dai when she hears that someone likes to drink black coffee. Fourth, Conan said "そんな颜してんじゃねーよ" (Don't make faces like that) to Ai-chan. The production team seemed to run out of ideas and just Ctrl+C - Ctrl+V another CP's phrase and pasted it on the popular CP, although the structure is slightly different from Akai's "そんな颜するな". Fifth, the Conan-Ai kiss that seems like a copy-paste of the Conan-Ran kiss in M2. My first reaction after reading it was that there were a lot of character setups that didn't make sense and didn't match the plot of the original manga, and it was again a recycling of the previous plot.

[edelgarfield]

Have you ever thought about durge sibling angst but as the younger sibling? Idk much about bg1 and 2 but in bg3 it's cannon that that protagonist was morally good and a bhaal spawn and was the previous ruler of the gate before wylls dad but died when bhaal came back to life 20ish years ago. If your durge is old enough and has been in the gate for long enough, why didn't bg1 protag notice the cult to their father under their feet? Why didn't they save their siblings? Why didn't they care?

I actually don't think I have and I'm not sure why now that you mention it.

as far as the timeline with respect to bhaal's resurrection, it's a huge damn mess that I'm pretty sure the game just handwaves for convenience, I don't think theres an actual answer. So the "canon" protagonist of BG1 & BG2 is "Abdel Adrian" or "Gorion's Ward" on the wiki.

And he died exactly 10 years before the events of the game in 1482. the dark urge is mostly left up to the player, BUT the "canonical" version of Dark Urge was operating under Bhaal's influence by 1477. the ARG where Durge was revealed has them committing a string of murders in Baldur's Gate in 1477.

this part is just my headcanon but it's also the closest we ever get to a "canon" age for Durge; iirc Sceleritas says he was sent to serve Durge when they reached the "age of maturity," meaning Durge has to be at least 18 by 1477, meaning they have to be at least 33 by the events of the game. If you assume the string of murders from the ARG is Durge's first outing as a Bhaalspawn, which is my personal hc, that would make them exactly 33.

As for why Abdel Adrian doesn't notice the cult, that's an extremely good question. also Durge & Abdel Adrian being alive at the same time kinda throws a whole wrench in the resurrection plot in the first place, but you can potentially handwave it by saying Durge is special.

But ignoring all the timeline weirdness, there's a tweet thread from one of the creators of the Forgotten Realms that basically says even after choosing to reject Bhaal, Abdel Adrian was still under Bhaal's influence to some extent, so you can potentially use that as an explanation;

basically "abdel adrian rejecting bhaal was actually part of bhaal's grand plan all along" & you could theorize that Bhaal's remaining influence over Adrian kept him from discovering the cult's operations. (and i have no idea what exactly this means for Durge post-game but I have thought abt it)

imo it makes the most sense for the Cult of Bhaal to have been operating largely in secret before Bhaal's resurrection. For what it's worth, they are technically STILL operating in secret during the events of the game. Even though to the player their involvement is extremely obvious & blatant, narratively the average citizen of Baldur's Gate isn't aware of the resurgence of the cult. and even in the game, even though you KNOW the Cult of Bhaal is involved, you still have to jump through a ton of hoops to get into their temple, and that's during a period of high activity. Hell, Orin literally invites you there and you STILL have to do a bunch of bullshit to get in.

Like obviously the parts of the city we get to explore feel very dense & crowded, & people joke abt the temple of Bhaal being three feet away from Cazador's dungeon, but I think you have to chalk some of that up to quirks of the genre. It would be much more realistic to have a giant empty city with all the points of interest spread out, and a giant empty sewer with the temple of Bhaal hidden super far away. but no game is going to make a bunch of assets just to fill space & it would drive players absolutely nuts if the map was filled with Empty Warehouses 1-49

all that is to say, I think if the Cult is actively trying to lay low, especially during a period where they're, say, planning for the resurrection of their dead god (and obviously they're only going to have a handful of very devoted worshippers at this time, bc their god is, y'know, dead) I think they're capable of more secrecy than we see in the game. especially since they're known to use changelings & doppelgangers.

additionally, even if you know the Cult of Bhaal is back in business, I think knowing they're around & actually being able to find and enter their temple without getting yourself killed are two different things.

while abdel adrian's involvement/knowledge of Durge is up to speculation & honestly i would love to see more people delve into the game's lore & answer these questions. did Durge look up to gorion's ward as a hero when they were young in baldur's gate? did they always feel a connection to the story of The Hero of Baldur's Gate & not know why? how did they feel abt Sarevok in the legends? did they cross paths with Abdel Adrian once like two ships passing in the night, not realizing they were actually siblings?

my personal take is that abdel adrian just didn't know abt the Cult's resurgence or Durge. Or even if he did know abt the Cult beginning operations again, IMO he was under the impression that Bhaal's divine power was hidden away beyond Bhaal's reach & he shouldn't be a threat, so even if his cult is acting up again, I doubt it's the first time they've tried to convince people Bhaal is definitely for sure coming back this time believe us. He probably had people keeping an eye on it, and tried to counteract the cult when he could, but it wouldn't be the most pressing issue on his plate bc he had a whole ass city to run. and again, exactly how much influence Bhaal still had over Adrian at this point is up to speculation, but he had at least SOME.

[hechiima]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Thought this would be fun with the end of the year!

1. How many works do you have on A03?

31.

2. What's your total A03 word count?

398,723. I'm really proud of this number tbh; never thought I'd write this much. Was hoping to hit 400k by the end of 2023 but I don't think that's gonna happen. Here's to hoping I hit half a million by this time next year!

3. What fandoms do you write for?

AA/DGS

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

You Ever Been In Love?

Things Are As They Are

On the Morality of Birds

Awkward Business

The View from the Gallery

No DGS fics. I know its a smaller fandom so it makes sense but still. 🥲 Also I swear I'll finish Awkward Business someday I'm just. So deep into Sherlock Holmes/DGS hell atm. ;A;

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I never do unless it's a specific question. I used to but then I got overwhelmed/I never knew what to say so I just stopped. That said, I read all of them and they really mean a ton to me!!!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Prob Running Late or Shoulder Pain. I'm not really good with angsty endings so I usually only keep it angsty in the shorter fics lmao.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Lololol I think most of my fics have happy endings so that's a hard one.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Nope! Thankfully, I think the hate on fics trend has died down a lot since the ff.net days.

9. Do you write smut?

Hell yeah. Please read my smut I'm so proud of it. I'm also on a quest to boost the hmmk smut tag on ao3 so if y'all have any smut you wanna see for them lmk.

10. Do you write crossovers?

Nope. My dream fic of a holmesverse crossover will happen someday though.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Thankfully no.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I've had a few translated to Russian and Chinese. Honestly it's insanely flattering when ppl ask to translate a fic like ough you liked my story so much you wanted to share it with others who don't speak English? It's so sweet. ;A;

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Okay so Mango and Krissey and I started an amazing pirate AU and l adore it. And someday. We will finish it. I believe in us. I'd love to co-write a fic tho so if anyone's interested please hmu I think it'd be so so fun.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

Ugh. Johnlock/Hmmk or Nrmt have to be like. The only ships that made me insane enough to write multiple fics over so it's def them. I love insanely codependant relationships.

15. What's the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

There's so many. But off the top of my head, I have a fantasy AU that Beau and I came up with that I still love a ton (Finding You) and want to finish and a Edgeworth ends up in a Gregory lives AU (In Another Life) that I'm not sure if I'll ever finish. The former is just so much work and the latter I've kinda lost the plot thread so. Ough. Sorry.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

aksfjjalsjflsjf everything else LMAO. That's why we practice!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I don't love doing it? I've done it like once for a fic where language was important but other than that I try to avoid doing it.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

....hetalia..........it was the only other fandom i wrote for before AA. This was like in 2009/2010 tho I know better now but those fics ARE still up on fanfiction.net (: It sucks b/c sometimes I wanna compare my old writing to my current writing but I'm like ough. I cannot read these old fics.

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

I'd have to say A Study In Gold. I genuinely love that one so much. Thinking about hmmk early days makes me insane. I also really liked On the Morality of Birds b/c it was just such a supremely stupid fic.

@anyone who sees this and writes fic please feel free to do it! I'd love to see others talk about their fics <3

[sincerely-krp]

if you're an au krper, please read through and give me your thoughts! i'm going crazy by myself. i kind of wish that literate and/or au krps would stop including an option for members to post sns. personally i think it kills the mood for writing threads, overall. tell me if i’m wrong though. //

(admins please only post positive things to this because i'm not trying to have any hidden agenda with this and i genuinely liked my time at insidious. maybe i left before any drama or something. i'm not willing to let my post be what brings down a krp's name)

this actually worked really well for au krps, back in the day, iirc insidious (au krp from a couple of years ago) focused much more on threads instead of sns and they had steady activity with good plot consistency and diversity for like a year. darkstt (another au krp that closed after about a year and a half) said no sns at all and it did phenomenal in terms of culture till the admins had to close it down in 2023. i still remember how tight knit that group was, they were there to WRITE you know. rupes (still around?) like darkstt didn't allow sns and the group had writing chemistry like crazy with everyone. they required paras every two months so the tl wasn't dead, which was the one thing with darkstt that made it feel super dead. i remember insidious would sometimes have like cute things everyone would do too lol, like post event fits, and both insidious and rupes having stuff on the timeline made darkstt feel a little dead, but nothing serious because you had other krps to vibe on when it was.

where insidious was much more modern and defined what i consider a genuinely literate au krp to be with its use of modern media and classic krp event ideas, darkstt felt like an old-time au krp (akin to gaia or tumblr aus), and rupes felt more like a place to find people invested in the art of writing and character development which are core aspects of krp everyone seeked to find writers enthused about, and they did so particularly with magical realism/fantasy/horror genres. which makes sense, since insidious was about classic supernatural media and exploration into that world, darkstt was about crime and city underbellies, and rupes is about purity, horror, and wonderland-like whimsy.

their admin teams reflected that too. the darkstt admin team was pretty hands-off, and only made activity posts and event posts. no one knew the admin but because they weren't super present it didn't matter, and no one had any issues with them ever, like either with the admins or the krp. their tone was always kind of kid-like but not unprofessional, just not taking themselves too seriously which broke immersion just enough (rupes too) that i felt like the place was super kind. i feel like the admins definitely set krp tones, and most old krps were like darkstt admins where being an admin was safe to make known because everyone generally supported the kid doing it. (i say kid because now i'm like 28, so everyone 18+ to 25 is a kid to me lol). i really liked this approach from this admin team because it was a low-maintenance krp as it stood, and the one time there was major drama not only did the admin handle it well, but they also made way to open a dialogue with their community and assert their decisions without being pretentious.

rupes admins don't write in their krp, but i can't think of a more accommodating and responsive, beginner-friendly admin team. they never assert themselves as more important or 'the law' and you could do whatever you wanted with their premise, even if you misinterpreted it they would find value in encouraging you to explore that. they never expected perfection from any member, and no member expected a level of writing skill, just ooc interest. i can't remember anyone in or out of the krp having anything bad to say about them which is, as all of us know now, rare (in a different way than darkstt). they have a sharp sense of humor too, and a very clear brand that they're dedicated to (in fact part of the humor was when the brand would meet their chaotic/modern humor). because of that it added to the feeling the place gave of being about the art of writing, but without expectations or judgement.

i actually looked up rupes and darkstt on this blog and nothing bad was said about either (in fact they're rare here in general) which only proves my point that krps like this feel so much different than the modern stuff because their communities are barely even here. even the stuff i found attached to insidious was minor/feels like it was way after the time of the krp itself, but a little bit of tea here or there is also part of a krp! it adds to the legends of the places you know!! a good au krp always has ooc lore to it and the members that were there, but no one ever takes it too seriously!

in insidious it was common knowledge the admin team was part of the central community, but it wasn't a bad thing! it added to that classic krp feel the place had, and they were pretty detailed and into their premise probably because they were actively writing in it too. i don't remember this team too much, just that they were super specific about people following their rules which is a totally valid admin style, especially in a literate krp. the expectations are always higher when it comes to member conduct with literate krpers, and these admins were so detailed in their announcements that it makes sense they would expect their community to follow what they basically spell out for them. this community was also like the admins, very detailed about how they liked to write, and very self-assured about their writing worth. they were very amicable and easy-going ooc, always excited to plot and offer ideas while communicating with the base admin team to make sure they were within the specifics and particulars of the influences the krp was based on. this krp had a lot of etiquette to learn because of the expectations of the members to know what they had written in their bios, but once you did it was smooth sailing and they would generally do the same for you. this meant that you carried yourself with more care, and because of that, it was a seriously literate group in a different way from darkstt (their mature and calm community never causing drama or propagating it because the focus was always writing), and rupes (their more academic pursuit of discovery in personal styles and love for exploring psychological nuance through their plots). all equally valid, although today i'm sure all three would be trashed for their communities or clear styles because they don't cater to everyone in krp and thus must be cliquey, or elitist, or dead!

even the events in these places reflected their krps: darkstt with their simple but versatile settings and references to classic crime pop culture, rupes with their beautiful, innovative and modern to gothic plots (balanced impeccably with what their community was in the mood for, which might be something easy and creative and not very in depth plot-wise), and insidious with their blend of classic and modern takes on time-tested events. bit of a tangent i know, but i picked these three because they are popular krps for their time that represent different takes on literate au mewe krps that didn't allow sns or had a community that didn't encourage/rely on it, and really did awesome with that.

so it can be done, but i feel like those same groups wouldn't do as well anymore because au krpers nowadays just seem to be into formatting blrs or accounts and chatting ooc. or worse, they just hear things from these blogs and spread them around without even bothering to realize how tone deaf that approach is.

modern au krpers get a lot of self importance from having such harsh, critical opinions of krps in my opinion.

these groups were definitely for the people who were looking for a place to stay through all the seasons of their life, both busy and still, and i think they all allowed triggers to be written that it feels like krp would take issue with, despite them being handled correctly.

also, nowadays i think people like the aesthetic of writing literate, but forget that literate doesn't mean darker/detailed/smarter plots. it means more writing. semilit used to have characters and plots just as complicated and cool, but without as much writing. you're expected to write in literate krps, and plot over ooc connections. jesus. or, i see literate krpers making responses that should be 200 - 300 words like 600 words! everything is filler! it's all backwards.

i think there's also very aggressive and obvious jealousy or competition between krps today sometimes. people from one group will shit on another for no reason, just because they're viewing everything as politics. gone are the days where everyone joined all the krps and shared their spaces, you know!

for context, when i used to au krp, everyone would join two or three krps, because when one would be dead they'd have the other two to keep writing in, and then when they'd be quieter, the other one would be popping again. nowadays no one's really into that i feel like.

i also think nowadays it's seen as cliquey to be in a group with people that have stayed in a group for a long time. but back in the day that was kind the point? like every krp had a community, and you could invest into one ooc to join their community or just vibe in their orbit and write with their muses. and if you tried hella to join a community and it wasn't working, they're just not your vibe & you can choose to leave. krps are so unique, their communities are too. none of us get along well with everyone we're paired with for irl group projects right. but it wasn't a requirement you know.

at all three of the krps i mentioned i was a writer in orbit, but i saw people bring others into their little communities all the time because you'd see new names consistently in the ooc chats you know. it was my favorite to see writers i knew in one of the krps join another one, you could tell because their style was so influenced by their community elsewhere but would grow from their immersion in the new one they added to their krp roster. unlikely writing-style muns meeting and becoming friends too.

i never went without plots at any krp, i had eight to twelve plots in all the groups overall even if i wasn't quite friends with anyone ooc, and if i wanted more ooc connection i'd bring a friend into a group and that would jumpstart things back into gear. if i miswrote someone's muse they'd just tell me to fix it, i was never scared they'd think i was an asshole or an elitist empty-shelled krp writer or anything you know.

one thing i liked about darkstt and rupes was that people would always give feedback on your writing, either support or suggestions for your next piece or character development, so i never cared about emojis and whatever else. in insidious this was supplemented by the constant emojis and occasional conversation about the piece in dms with people you plotted with (which occurred at the other two also, don't get me wrong!), but in classic krp style, paras were meant for the people you plot with to really care about, which was nice release of pressure in a lot of ways too.

see how things can be good depending on your perspective? all of this is just perspective i feel like. i'm gonna take a moment here to address that i know insidious ended problematically, and while i wasn't there, i was able to see a bit of it in my look-through on this blog. they were wrong for what they did, and very very very wrong for everything at paradigm. i'm not excusing or avoiding this, i'm just mentioning my experience there to show what a genuine experience was like in the krp, without knowing any tea or whatnot. because communities that are toxic under the surface are barely noticeable when in the place itself. they're no better or worse than the other places. i also know that group took issue with many au krps, and that they tried to defame so many other groups behind the scenes or on vent blogs, and that some people reading this will be influenced by that and not believe what i'm saying. i don't care to talk to sheep though, and they know they're sheep if they haven't been in a krp and have such a strong opinion they refuse to join. they're literally the whole problem, we all know this.

but also, in other krps, those same base communities didn't need an ooc chat to stay in the group. those were the quiet ones, which were always a welcome addition to the collection you join you know. one busy au, one chaotic gen, one quiet au or gen that you know will be around forever, and will have people in it forever that might be quiet but will always have awesome brains to plot with. in fact it was always nice whenever everyone seemed to be back and kicking, usually when that quiet au got a bunch of new members. and if the old quiet group was still... old and quiet, it also didn't matter because the new groups would become the new base. just like that though, the opposite (with darkstt) was great too, it was all about the writing, not about krp or art and just about plotting and making chaos. the focus was nice.

like idk, things are so different now. coming back to krp is just... it's no longer anything it used to be. every krp from back in the day would be called cliquey and elitist. those words have simply lost all meaning. no one is ever meant to write with everyone in the krp. you find a couple people, and you settle, and that's chill!!

so my point is in modern au krp, it's much more like fast food, kind of like how all our social media is becoming hyper-addictive (short form content everywhere, youtube shorts, insta reels, you can't even filter those functions anymore, sometimes the app just opens you to it. or they will show you those short form contents in your searches even to draw you in). until there's a return to reading being the source of dopamine (delayed gratification/resistance to immediate dopamine) we go to for escapism, i feel like these groups will never be joined.

the majority of krp today in the literate communities are all people with writing skill not realizing how inconsistent muse and flow state are. they just mistake it for being dead, or loss of muse, or take every move too seriously and decide things are being implied ooc when they aren't. like that ridiculous exchange i read about while looking through the proof here, of a college student berating someone for wasting their time who (i assume works) said less than a week is not enough time for receiving krp feedback! it would be unheard of in my day to try to do anything in less than a week.

the glory days of krp in the literate world died with the era these came from, right around/during quarantine. they began in 2016 or 2017. i probably sound like an old hag, please forgive me if i've misstepped, i'm not all the way caught up on modern krp etiquette.

we'll only post positive/constructive (with discretion) responses to this!

[moonlightreal]

The big Strange Fate factoids roundup

Presented here is every bit of information about the plot of Strange Fate I could find, with links to sources. Canon is in bold, my commentary is in normal text, links are all here so if they don’t link you should be able to copy-paste. If you find anything I’m missing, please send it to me! I found sources for all the orphaned factoids that had been floating around in my brain, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more out there.

Have fun! (it’s nine pages long...)

What about Strange Fate—really https://www.facebook.com/notes/684528395496843/?locale=hi_IN&paipv=0&eav=AfYTUg-qPuddohcLG_4yYui3c9CIr3W9GNa_yAwvyD7JeBCZ13KAEuoBWZhHUpOcR1A

I used new stories about what happens after a year to all the soulmate couples in the Night World series. They all had exciting stories to tell: Ash Redford is doing good deeds to make amends so that Mary-Lynnette will accept him as her soulmate. Poppy has developed her telepathy into a weapon against evil. Rashel and Quinn are married, as are Thierry and Hannah. And one lucky couple is expecting a baby.

From… I thought it was the author’s note from amazon for the hardcover editions, but it has a picture signature so may have been from LJ Smith’s website.

Although Thierry is an old vampire, he isn’t the oldest vampire. There is one older, the one who Changed him. She provides another thread that binds the series: the pitiless Maya. Maya is the first vampire, the witch who finds the secret of eternal life—and chooses to use it for evil. But there will be plenty more about her, including a look at the young Maya, her sister Hellewise, and their mother, Hecate Witch-Queen, in the upcoming Strange Fate.

From LJ Smith’s blog

18 August 2010, Ms. Smith answering a question about how she developed the idea of silver cords

https://web.archive.org/web/20131226172041/http://webmail.ljanesmith.net/blog/2010/238-more-news-a-the-silver-cord-a-dont-despair-delena

Imagine how Sarah Strange of Strange Fate, the last, LONG overdue Night World series when she sees two silver cords connecting her to the two guys she loves best in the world. Can I say confused? Maybe flummoxed is better.

And the silver cords have an additional function that won't be explained until Strange Fate finally comes out--I hope and pray in 2011. Something that may make it all make sense at last.

19 December 2011 https://web.archive.org/web/20120512010007/http://www.ljanesmith.net/www/blog/2011

An image of Hecate Witch-Queen’s family tree of all the Redferns and Harmans with notes about what books the characters appear in. Here’s the list for Strange Fate:

Hecate herself, Hellewise, Iliana, and Aradia,

Thea and Blaise and Aunt Ursula

Phil and Poppy and their mother Phillipa, and James

Gillian

Maya Dragonslayer, the first vampire

Thierry and Hannah

Delos and Jez

Rowan, Kestrel and Jade and Ash

and

Mal Redfern Harman, vampire and witch

Ms. Smith also says,

I hope to do the same thing for the shapeshifters, although information about them is much more sparse. STRANGE FATE will clear up much of that confusion, and at last there will be enough about werewolves and other ’shifters to put onto paper. Right now, most people know that Galen Drache of the First Family of the Shapeshifters, whose chosen shape is a leopard to match his soulmate Keller’s black panther, has a cousin named Kierlan Drache who also chose a shape in the large cat family. And if you look at the very bottom of Hecate’s family tree you’ll find the vampire who is also a witch, although he hasn’t cultivated his powers, Mal Redfern Harman. (Witches are matrilineal—they pass the name through the female line). They’re the two soulmates of the human girl Sarah Strange.

So Mal is a hybrid and Kierlan the wild power is some kind of big cat. So much for my idea that he could be a good dragon! Also Hecate and Hellewise appear, and Maya may not be as dead as previously assumed.

24 June 2012 answering a fan question about recommending her own books, Ms. Smith posts the blurb for Last Lullaby https://web.archive.org/web/20130508094847/http://www.ljanesmith.net/blog/2012/560-some-interesting-questions-from-ziggy

or those who actually can fly: my latest book, THE LAST LULLABY, over 700 pages, and once part of STRANGE FATE. It is the tale of Brionwy and her guttersnipe friend, Crispy, who . . . oh, here’s the blurb:

THE LAST LULLABY is the story of Brionwy, daughter of Branwen, a courtesan in the harem of the Lord Overseer, Rajan Adani, who is the head of a Great House under the rule of the Masters. In this post-Apocalypse story, magic exists, but is rarely seen. Brionwy befriends Crispy, a little girl, or fawn, who has escaped from the pens in which all humans but the serving slaves of the Overseer, the guards, and the “humble and pathetic” Beauties in the harem are kept like animals.

Crispy has named herself for the burns that cover half of her body and have withered one of her arms. She considers herself slightly abled because of her baby arm; it looks useless but is almost as strong as the other. Tough, cynical, and quick to laugh at herself or others, Crispy’s life changes the day that she peeps through a hole in the harem wall and listens to Brionwy playing her lute and singing a heart-rending lullaby. Together, the two girls who come from the most different backgrounds imaginable, and with the help of Crispy’s gang of dwarfed, misshapen, deaf, and otherwise abled misfits, solve the mystery of a strange prophecy that leads to the secret of the nearby caverns and of how to fight the Masters. Despite the fearsome Guntra, Head Dwenna of Brionwy’s Concubine Pavilion; despite the Overseer himself, Brionwy and Crispy find themselves leading a revolution that will change the lives of all who belong to the Overseer’s Great House forever.

When THE LAST LULLABY comes out will be up to the publisher who buys it. Unlike all my other books since THE NIGHT OF THE SOLSTICE, I wrote it before trying to sell it.

1 Feb 2013 Sarah Strange description https://web.archive.org/web/20130703170137/http://www.ljanesmith.net/blog/2013/592-sarah-strange-of-strange-fate

I'm not really sure if this is the right place to post this, but I did do an avatar for Sarah Strange. As I work toward what I hope is the end of this book, really how extraordinarily fond I am of her, although she does not have outstanding brains and beauty. Sarah's qualities are more internal, and though she may have an ordinary face and ordinary brown hair, she has a deep, fierce love for all creatures flawed or fallen, or helpless, or striving. She loves forests and sees trees as dryads. She loves animals. She may be a little flat-chested, a little clumsy, a little naive, and a lot shy, but she never stops trying, or loving, or doing her best to understand.

Here she is, with brown hair that is always a bit disheveled and falling in her face, and with the Avatar version of her best feature:  aquamarine eyes that always look as if they are full of unshed tears.

4 Feb 2013 Strange Fate chapter 1 outline https://web.archive.org/web/20130628210912/http://www.ljanesmith.net/blog/2013/594-strange-fate-chapter-1-outline-with-ch-1-download

Ash and redhead: Ash: I’m trying to make amends for the harm that I did to you. Madelyn: At two o’clock in the morning in a cemetery?  Are you crazy?  First you stalk me and hide out in my closet so you can come out once I’m asleep in bed—” “I didn’t stalk you.  I don’t need to stalk you.  I just used a little magic to come in your bedroom window—” “And now you’re telling me all kinds of impossible lies—“ “They’re not lies.  I don’t lie anymore—well, not much anymore, and if you’d just give me a chance—“ “If you think this is the way to win a girl’s heart, then I have a hot news flash for you—” “But it is the way to win a girl’s heart.  Um . . . not your heart, is sort of the point.  Someone else’s . . .” “You brought me out here to talk about some other girl?” Madelyn hits him. Ash explains:

Who he is

What he is

What the Night World is

What he’s trying to do for his soulmate

Who Mary-Lynnette is 

Ash is divided into boredom of going through rote explanations (Madelyn is Lightly Bitten Girl #97) and an uncanny sense that something is around.  That something is stalking him.

Eventually he turns around, sees nothing, looks higher …  and higher … and higher … and sees evil red eyes staring down at him.    His mind reels.  He sees a flash of purple, shouts, “Look out” to Madelyn and dives for her.  She dodges, spraying him with pepper spray.  He staggers back; there is a black (violet-edged) flame like a burst from a flame-thrower and then there is only Ash, and a white silhouette of a woman on a charcoal-black wall.  Dreamily, Ash goes and scrapes a little of the charcoaled blackness off the wall outside the shadow when he once again feels something behind him.  He whirls and finds himself staring at Sarah: description (aquamarine eyes, ordinary face, mouse-brown hair). Sarah wakes up, tosses mouse-brown hair off her face, and realizes she is late for school.

You can also read the whole chapter. Mary-Lynette is in college. Sarah is fifteen or sixteen, so younger than the other characters. She dreams of Ash and appears to him as a ghost. So, astral projection. She has an instinctive loathing for vampires.

Ask LJ question about Strange Fate’s release—undated but accessible without the wayback machine. https://ljanesmith.net/ask-l-j/

“I don’t know.  As you’ve probably heard, I wanted to publish this epic in two volumes, but Simon & Schuster did not.  I had what I felt was a complete volume already finished—the first half of Strange Fate, called The Mystic—before I began to write any of my recent Vampire Diaries books Nightfall, etc).  At this point, I don’t even have a signed contract for Strange Fate, but I keep working on it, these days using the ‘cameo appearance’ of old soulmates and friends in place of seeing a post-apocalypitic fututre with Brionwy and her young friend Crispy.”

And, yes, it is true that Brionwy’s Lullabye was originally part of Strange Fate, but the post apocalyptic future that Sarah Strange dreamed about Brionwy and her friends sort of took over the whole book.  So I had to extract them, and instead had Sarah dream about the soulmated couples you’ve already seen in Night World.  This turned out to be much better for Strange Fate anyway, as you get to see Poppy and James, and Phillip and every other pair of soulmates in the series, even if its just a cameo role.  I plan to write Brionwy’s Lullabye as a book of its own.  I do love the characters.”

Question about strong female characters

Some of my characters don’t start out as strong girls. They start out as shy, introverted or gentle girls, like Cassie Blake of The Secret Circle, or Jenny Thornton of The Forbidden Game. Then the story is about how they become stronger, through their terrifying experiences and their concern for other people. Strange Fate has this kind of a heroine, Sarah Strange.”

The stories https://web.archive.org/web/20191019132319/http://www.ljanesmith.net/stories/stories

These stories take place during the apocalypse, while the Wild Powers are off on their mission. You should go read the whole thing, but here are the factoids I got from each of them.

Thicker than Water

The characters live in the Circle Daybreak town of Harmony, with Thierry and Hannah basically ruling as king and queen. The town has cryogenics and a scientific/magical effect that makes time pass slower in the “underground tower that is the heart of the town.” The town has a park on the surface where shapeshifters and vampires can hunt animals. Dragons try to infiltrate the town. San Francisco has been destrpyed.

The wild powers are fighting against hundreds of dragons. Iliana has acquired the title Mistress of Air.

Hannah has gone with the wild powers on the mission. Thierry has not. Keller and Galen and Rashel and Quinn are still in Harmony.

Everyone was very impressed by Sarah, she’s “almost a dryad” and has prophetic dreams. So everybody met her at some point.

Keller and Rashel are twins, born to one human and one shapeshifter. Timmy has been retconned to Rashel’s friend not her brother.

Those who Favor Fire

The Circle Daybreak members have started wearing white flower pendants as identification and also as to who you gave your allegiance to. The jewelry serves as a key to get into Harmony. Thierry is basically king, but at least Iliana has her followers. Circle Daybreak has many trained professionals who have taken out the nastier Night World enclaves and imprisoned the nastiest vampires and shapeshifters.

There was also a “time bubble” in San Francisco.

Cambridge Massachusetts has been destroyed as the beginning of the apocalypse. The dragons suddenly start destroying cities with Circle Daybreak enclaves in them. Fire, weirdly colored sky. The dragons put a telepathic call on all humans and most of them walked off to meet the dragons. Some stayed behind to capture people who didn’t hear the call. Mary-Lynette didn’t, so probably having a soulmate protects you.

Sarah and her boys are in Harmony when things go down. Thierry gifted her a helicopter, which she gives Ash so he can look for Mary-Lynette.

Mary-Lynette rescues a girl names Devi who has very important pictures faxed from her mother in antarctica… The mother is studying meteorites and has found something that Devi thinks might save the world. We don’t know what the pictures are, and how a human would find the answer to the problem of “dragons” isn’t clear.

This is the last Ash rescue story and it happens as the apocalypse kicks off. So if Sarah has been dreaming the other stories as they happen, then a good bit of Strange Fate happens before the apocalypse. What is Sarah doing while she’s awake all that time?

Strange Fate Previews and chapters https://web.archive.org/web/20191020013828/http://mail.ljanesmith.net/stories/sneak-peeks

Poppy, Phil and James

Poppy has become a badass warrior with her vampire strength, and can use her telepathy to control human minds. She can also use it as an anti-dragon weapon, with help from James and Phil! Also Phil has joined Team Circle Daybreak and is riding the helicopter with Ash.

Aradia had a vision that whoever is controlling the dragons knows that the youngest generation of Harmans and Redferns, especially the ones with soulmates, are able to fight the dragons.

Brionwy’s Lullaby

In this dark future beautiful human girls are courtesans, raised in basically harems to be food and mates for vampire overlords. They are guarded by eunuchs and kept in line by “dwennas” women who raise, teach and discipline them. The girls are drugged but it’s not clear why. When one girl has a baby, it is taken away and the mother is told it has died, but clearly it’s still alive and taken for some dark purpose-- whatever could be darker than the purposes we already know about!

Brionwy has been taught that she has human dignity, she’s been taught to fight, and she can read pre-apocalypse books. She understands the idea of post-partum depression, and read the words which I guess makes sense in a place where people have lots of babies. She learned to not drink the everyday drugs.

There is a special drink that makes the girls sleep when a dragon visits so they won’t all go to it and get eaten. Maybe the dragons can’t control their calling ability.

Anyone not beautiful enough lives in pens to breed more slaves and be food for dragons.

So Brionwy’s story will be about finding out what’s happened to the vanished babies, escaping the harem and probably meeting the girl Crispy who lives out in the ruins. And then, who can say? Their future will be erased when the wild powers stop the apocalypse

Blurbs

Google books blurb https://books.google.com/books/about/Strange_Fate.html?id=jZFmkgEACAAJ

Simon Pulse, 1998 - Juvenile Fiction - 224 pages

Sarah Strange and her lover, the gentle vampire Blade, watch their peaceful life in New England come to an end when Sarah's family is asked to hide an arrogant male witch whose supernatural powers draw Sarah into his clutches.

Google books blurb 2

Hodder & Stoughton, 1998 - Witches - 224 pages

Sarah is a human girl who is happy to be with Blade, a strong yet gentle vampire she regards as her soulmate. However, when an arrogant witch called Kierlan comes to town, Sarah is strongly attracted to him. But who is her true soulmate? In the NIGHT WORLD series

google books blurb 3 https://books.google.com/books/about/Strange_Fate.html?id=k0BEPwAACAAJ

Simon Pulse, Dec 31, 2030 - Juvenile Fiction - 528 pages

Vampires, werewolves, witches, shapeshifters -- they live among us without our knowledge. Night World is their secret society, a secret society with very strict rules. And falling in love breaks all the laws of the Night World.

Sarah Strange's life was what you might call ordinary. Then her mother died.

Now Sarah has visions -- visions of a place where dragons darken the sky and a young girl is fighting to survive.

When Sarah confides in her best friends, Mal and Kierlan, about the devastation in her dreams, she discovers that her friends are not what they seem. They are part of the Night World -- and they believe Sarah has a special role in their world. And if Sarah's visions are any indication of the impending danger and destruction, there is no time to lose.…

Goodreads blurb, dated 7 2012

Also on amazon dated 11 2006

Sarah Strange is a normal teenager with annoying siblings and a crush on two boys, Mal and Kierlan, who happen to be her best friends. But Sarah also has visions of a place where dragons darken the sky and feast on humans. When Sarah confides in Mal and Kierlan about her visions, she discovers her friends are not who they seem. They are part of the Night World. And they believe Sarah must help establish peace and harmony between humans and creatures of the Night World to stave off the apocalypse. And if Sarah’s visions are any indication of the danger, destruction, and devastation that the apocalypse will bring, there is no time to lose…

Risingshadow blurb https://www.risingshadow.net/book/22703-strange-fate

Sarah Strange is a fragile human girl – happy in Circle Daybreak with her soulmate, Blade, a gentle Vampire. Then Kierlan comes to town. He is an arrogant witch and a Wild Power, and Sarah is strongly attracted to him. But who is her real soulmate? And is the answer waiting in the Night World?

Blurb from Kinokuniya Malaysia

A long-awaited conclusion to the best-selling series finds Sarah journeying with Mal and Kierlan to the Night World to prevent an apocalypse in the dragon-oppressed world of her visions. Original.

I wouldn’t put too much credence on a blurb that might be translated from another language but it’s possible evidence that the three main characters go on the quest.

Speaking of which:

Sixteen-year-old Sarah Strange finds life a mass of contradictions. She’s an ordinary-looking girl, and yet two of the most popular guys at school form her circle of friends. Kierlan Drache and Mal Harman, who are as unalike as any two people can be. That ought to make her happy, but recently she’s been having romantic feelings about each of them—and has seen two silver cords: one reaching from her to Kierlan, and one from her to Mal. What’s going on? In addition, every night she dreams of a future where dragons and vampires rule the world, and of a brave child called Crispy. For a girl who hasn’t even heard of the Night World yet, Sarah has a lot to handle! Even worse, the Apocalypse has finally come—and even the Wild Powers see only one way to stop it. This is an epic volume, which stars all the most beloved Night Worlders from the other books. Be prepared, though, because seven go on a mission to save the world . . . and only two come back.

I found this blurb on a sales site as a review, on a site in Russian, and where I posted it. I didn’t make it up, I found it somewhere, but I can’t track it back to a source! And this is the only source for killing off five characters!

Or maybe Jez and Delos come home to their soulmates and Sarah and Mal go off on a different quest so are still alive just not coming back to Harmony, or maybe some characters become guardian spirits or time travel to the past or take up new lives in another realm… there are lots of not-actually-death options, but you know what I mean.

The first two chapters from the Fan Guide. As of 2009. Linking myself, though I’m not the only person to have posted them.

Sarah has a plant theme. She’s only good at art and math in school.

Sarah is in honors math, Mal is in regular math and Kierlan takes math at “the junior college.” There’s their academic-ness ranked. Kierlan flipped a girl’s skirt and Mal is “master of the cold stare.” Mal is described as having dark hair and very pale gray eyes. Not the Harman coloring! Kierlan has dark red hair and “tawny eyes.” Ms. Smith does love her golden-eyed characters!

Sarah gets migraines and in the middle of them passes out and has visions of the dark future. She smells roses before an attack.

Preview from the back of the third omnibus edition https://www.tumblr.com/moonlightreal/742175609526075392/another-strange-fate-preview?source=share

Kierlan considers himself and Mal “soul brothers.” They had a gentleman’s agreement that Kierlan would be the one to be with Sarah, though they both love her.

Kierlan can see his silver cord with Sarah, but not Sarah’s silver cord with Mal. Kierlan is desperate for Sarah to be in love with him and not with Mal. They met as children and he has been in love with her ever since. Kierlan believes Sarah could cut the silver cord between them.

This sneak peak describes being soulmates sort of differently than all the Night World books so far, describing the cord as being “woven” in a way that almost suggests a cord could be artificially created. It doesn’t come out and say it but… read the passage and see how it strikes you.

It’s possible that this scene happens right after the chapter in the fan guide. Sarah collapses at school, the guys take her home, this scene occurs, we get a flashback to Kierlan and Sarah meeting, then the boys kidnap her and take her to Circle Daybreak which is why she’s in Harmony for the apocalypse.

Art from LJ Smith’s website https://ljanesmith.net/gallery/

Kierlan’s animal form is a tiger.

...ok, so what’d I miss?

Next I have to turn this soup of factoids into a coherent topic-by-topic list of what we know and see how much of Strange Fate I can REALLY reconstruct! *cracks knuckles*

[brawltogethernow]

@mirrorfalls​ submitted: Came across this while searching for James Bond’s scrambled-eggs recipe (long story). Your thoughts?

~~

But did you find James Bond’s scrambled eggs recipe?

In this article, Scocca laments his inability to find accessible, lighthearted superhero comics suitable to read with his young son, while also demonstrating a mysterious aversion to looking at DC and Marvel’s lines of comics for children, which is where the accessible, lighthearted superhero comics suitable for reading with young children are. He wants his elementary schooler to be able to safely have the run of all superhero media so he doesn’t have to touch the yucky baby books.

This is not an industry-wide crisis. This is just one dude who got paid to write an article where he accidentally exposed one of his personal hangups.

The child headed toward the trade paperbacks of Marvel and D.C. superhero titles on the side wall […] a few steps in front of me. […] Is he with you? a clerk asked me. I said he was. You know, the clerk said, we have a kids’ section. The clerk gestured backward, at a few shelves near the entrance. I said, Thanks, we know and tried throwing in a little shrug, as the kid kept going.

You can’t just turn a seven-year-old child loose in a comic-book store to look at the superhero comic books. […] My seven-year-old really wanted to see that last Avengers movie […] that is, he wished it were a movie he could see, but he understood that it was, instead, a movie designed to scare and sadden him—a movie actively hostile to people like him.

They have a children’s section. Because comics are a medium suitable for stories for everybody, and they are sold in comic book shops, which have sections, like bookstores. You can use this organization to find books that you know in advance are suitable for children. What goes in that category is determined by industry professionals. This area will be bigger the bigger the shop is. These comics are not lower quality that titles from the main lines. They are actually slightly better-written on average.

Your local comic book shop has considerately wrapped Empowered in a plastic bag, so your child will not be drawn in by a colorful superhero and accidentally read a graphic scene. If you think your kid might find a memoir about internment camps upsetting, it is your job to notice them picking up They Called Us Enemy and read the blurb on the back before you let them have it. This comic adults are meant to read is in a comic book shop because that is where comics are sold. Not every public place is supposed to be Disneyland.

Movies have ratings systems. If you do not want your child to watch a PG-13 movie, you will find that most superhero cartoons are for children. They are about the same characters. Some are quite good! I really enjoyed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Your child may like Avengers Assemble. At least I think that’s right. I’m always mixing those titles around.

This is a deeply weird bias for Scocca to casually demonstrate, because he identifies in the article that real childishness is striving for empty maturity.

He compares an old comic,

[…]a 1966 Spider-Man comic in which Spider-Man meets, fights, and defeats the Rhino; participates in a running argument between John Jameson and J. Jonah Jameson about his heroism; buys a motorcycle; breaks up with his first girlfriend, Betty Brant; flirts with Gwen Stacy; and reluctantly agrees to let Aunt May take him to meet her friend Mrs. Watson’s niece, Mary Jane.

and a new comic,

[…]a 21st century comic book in which Thor, brooding in a Katrina-destroyed New Orleans, beats up Iron Man. He also yells at Iron Man a lot about some incomprehensibly convoluted set of grievances, including involuntary cloning, that he believes Iron Man perpetrated against him while he was dead(?), and then summons some other Norse god from the beyond somehow for reasons having something to do with real estate. I think. Where the 1966 comic is zippy and fun and complete, the whole contemporary one is muddled and lugubrious and seems to constitute a tiny piece of a seemingly endless plot arc—simultaneously apocalyptic and inert.

and concludes that the edgier comic is actually less mature. This is true. (This is not news about mediocre comics.)

It also has nothing to do with either comic being child-friendly, the article’s nominal thesis, except in the sense that ASM #41 (yes, I eyeballed that from that summary, yes I am just showing off now) is better written, making it more everyone-friendly. It also has practically more space dedicated to word balloons than art and is about a college student juggling girl problems and a part-time job with a tyrannical boss. But the immature one, as Scocca points out, is dour.

These are both teenagery issues, separated only by quality. It’s true that lots of new comics published by the big 2 are bad in the specific way Scocca describes here, taking themselves too seriously and hauled down by associated stories instead of buoyed by them. Some are not! Some titles from these companies’ main continuities are zippy, contained, and child friendly. Give your child The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! Or if you like vintage comics so much better, why don’t you…buy some?

The books on the kid’s rack are good and fun and totally suitable for parents to read with their children without wanting to scoop their eyeballs out. Scocca cites the Batman ‘66 comics as the brightly colored, tightly written all ages solution to his problem about sharing superhero stories with his son. My local comic shop stores this title in the kid’s section. I am glad that Scocca’s does not, as he seems to have a peculiar aversion to looking for comics to read with his son there.

Scocca cites Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as a superhero movie he could watch with his kids. (I was surprised when this line made it sound like he has several. I don’t want to assume the other one isn’t in this article because they’re a girl, but I very much am assuming that.) Great! Go to the kid’s section and look for Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man. It’s a fun, zippy title directly inspired by ITSV where Miles, Gwen, and Peter superhero together. It’s much more tightly written than most of the various Spider-Verse comics, which are ambitiously messy ubercrossovers. You may not want to give those to children because they include murder and so on, but also you just have the choice between the two as an adult reader deciding how much continuity you want to deal with. Adventures is one of the only titles I would buy on sight before corona. The kid comic rack is a reliable place to take a break from How Comics Get Sometimes regardless of how old you are.

This article makes me feel quarrelsome. Maybe it’s that it doesn’t seem like exploration of a single idea so much as a loosely grouped bundle of things to kvetch about. Maybe it’s that the experience of getting into superheroes that Scocca describes experiencing, projects his seven-year-old son will experience, and from which he extrapolates a metaphorical microcosm of the history of the genre is completely alien to me.

Comic books [and] comic-book movies—are […] trapped in their imagined audience’s own awful passage from childhood to adolescence. A seven-year-old has a clean […] appreciation of superheroes. They like hero comics because the comics have heroes: bold, strong, vividly colored good guys to fight off the bad guys and make the world safe.

But seven-year-olds stop being seven. […] They become 13-year-olds, defensively trying to learn how to develop tastes about tastes.

The 13-year-old wants many things from comics, but the overarching one is that they want to prove that they’re not some seven-year-old baby anymore. They want gloomy heroes, miserable heroes, heroes who would make a seven-year-old feel bad. (Also boobs. They want boobs.)

Not because of the boobs line, although that does illicit an eyeroll that this gloomy thinkpiece is fretting over preserving the superhero experience of little boys who resemble the little boy the writer was while casually dismissing everyone else. I was one of those unlikable little seven-year-olds with a college reading level and the impression that maintaining it was the crux of my worth. I only read Books - distinguished media you could club someone with. I have a formative memory of pausing, enraptured, in front of a poster for Spider-Man 3, preparing to say that it looked pretty cool, and being beaten to the punch by my mother making a disparaging comment about how the movie was trash. It wasn’t out yet, but it was a superhero movie. That meant it was for loud, brainless children.

That was the total of my childhood experience with superheroes, excluding being the unwilling audience to incessant renditions of “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” that left me wondering why in god’s name Batman’s sidekick was named Robin. I certainly never visited a comic book shop. I got into TvTropes, which got me into webcomics, which got me following David Willis, who got me into Ask Chris at ComicsAlliance, which led to me rewarding myself for studying like a demon for the AP tests with three volumes of Waid’s Daredevil, pitched as a return to the character being colorful and swashbuckling. I was seven…teen.

This is of the same thread as Scocca’s point that immaturity is running from childish things. It leaves me baffled that he doesn’t follow that maturity is embracing them.

I will disclose here that while I think it was dumb I had to overcome my upbringing’s deeply embedded shame associated with enjoying arbitrarily defined lowbrow media and children being childish, I think it’s fine that I was allowed largely unchecked access to technically age-inappropriate content. In my limited experience, content small children are too young for is also content they’re too young to understand, so it kind of just bounces off of them, and what actually ends up terrorizing them is unpredictable collages of impressions that strike out at them from content deemed perfectly child-friendly. I would not forbid a seven-year-old I was in charge of from seeing an MCU movie unless I had a reason to believe that specific child would not take it well. These are emotionally low-stakes bubblegum films. It will probably be easier to socialize with other kids if they have seen them.

But then, when I picture being in charge of a hypothetical child, I usually imagine this being the case because they are related to me, and the pupal stage in my family strongly resembles Wednesday Addams. ALL children love death and violence, though, right?? This isn’t a joke point. I know it looks like a joke point.

The MCU thing seems especially weird in light of the article’s particular focus on Spider-Man, which is the kiddie line of the MCU, even if they refused to waver from their usual formula enough to get a lower rating. Though I am more inclined to describe it as “preying on the young” than “child-friendly”.

(MCU movies are increasingly dubious propaganda, but I would not judge them in front of a child who wanted to watch them for that reason, just in case this led to them partaking of them without me the second they were old enough to and then they grew up to run a blog about them while our relationship suffered because they didn’t feel like it was safe to talk to me about their interests…Mom.)

I tried to overcome the philosophy of letting anyone read anything while compiling this handful of mostly-newish superhero recs for the road that anyone can read. (Handily, I have been in spitting distance of being hired as a comic shop clerk enough to have thought about it before):

For actual children:

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (the new one is reminiscent of ITSV, the old one is more like 616) any DC/Archie crossover, Archie’s Superteens The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (for bookish children who think they’re too good for comics and adults afraid of the kid’s section) Teen Titans Go (even if you hate the show) Superman Smashes the Klan

For teens:

Ms. Marvel Young Avengers (volume 2) Unbelievable Gwenpool Batman: Gotham Adventures Teen Titans Go (the tie-in comic based off the old show was also called this)

Here are a bunch of relevant C. S. Lewis quotes.

[astradrifting]

 AGOT - Jon I (Chapter 5)

There were times—not many, but a few—when Jon Snow was glad he was a bastard. As he filled his wine cup once more from a passing flagon, it struck him that this might be one of them.

I don’t know why D&D decided Jon could never lie, when literally the first line in his POV is a lie. He’s so good at it he can even lie to himself!

****

A singer was playing the high harp and reciting a ballad, but down at this end of the hall his voice could scarcely be heard above the roar of the fire, the clangor of pewter plates and cups, and the low mutter of a hundred drunken conversations.

A singer with a high harp and a ballad seems like a vague Rhaegar allusion. That Jon can’t actually hear him makes me happy in a very petty way.

****

His lord father had come first, escorting the queen. She was as beautiful as men said. A jeweled tiara gleamed amidst her long golden hair, its emeralds a perfect match for the green of her eyes. His father helped her up the steps to the dais and led her to her seat, but the queen never so much as looked at him. Even at fourteen, Jon could see through her smile.

I think this part is actually Jon being indignant on Ned’s behalf that Cersei was rude to him, by not looking at him when he escorts her, not that she never looked at Jon. Also, there’s those observation skills. He’s never been taken in by a pretty smile.

****

After them came the children. Little Rickon first, managing the long walk with all the dignity a three-year-old could muster. Jon had to urge him on when he stopped to visit.

Adorable!!!

****

Jon noticed the shy looks she gave Robb as they passed between the tables and the timid way she smiled at him. He decided she was insipid. Robb didn’t even have the sense to realize how stupid she was; he was grinning like a fool.

Jon’s a mean drunk I guess 💀

****

Sansa, two years older, drew the crown prince, Joffrey Baratheon. He was twelve, younger than Jon or Robb, but taller than either, to Jon’s vast dismay. Prince Joffrey had his sister’s hair and his mother’s deep green eyes. A thick tangle of blond curls dripped down past his golden choker and high velvet collar. Sansa looked radiant as she walked beside him, but Jon did not like Joffrey’s pouty lips or the bored, disdainful way he looked at Winterfell’s Great Hall.

Joffrey according to Jon: 👁👄👁

But Sansa looked radiant 🥰

****

He was more interested in the pair that came behind him: the queen’s brothers, the Lannisters of Casterly Rock. The Lion and the Imp; there was no mistaking which was which. Ser Jaime Lannister was twin to Queen Cersei; tall and golden, with flashing green eyes and a smile that cut like a knife. He wore crimson silk, high black boots, a black satin cloak. On the breast of his tunic, the lion of his House was embroidered in gold thread, roaring its defiance. They called him the Lion of Lannister to his face and whispered “Kingslayer” behind his back. Jon found it hard to look away from him.

This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed.

Giving me big ‘muscled like a maiden’s fantasy’ vibes there, Jon.

Also, curiously enough Jaime’s introduced wearing black and red, Targaryen colours. Maybe a nod to the incest storyline, possibly leftover foreshadowing from when Jaime was going to become king, as per the outline.

Otherwise this means that, like everybody else in this story, Jaime is a secret Targaryen. He and Cersei can join the ranks of Jon, Tyrion, Varys, Mance Rayder and while we’re at it… *spins a wheel of names* Meera too.

****

His brothers and sisters had not been permitted to bring their wolves to the banquet, but there were more curs than Jon could count at this end of the hall, and no one had said a word about his pup. He told himself he was fortunate in that too.

His eyes stung. Jon rubbed at them savagely, cursing the smoke.

Jon spends half this chapter on the verge of tears, my angsty little lad.

****

Jon looked up happily as his uncle Ben put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair much as Jon had ruffled the wolf’s.

They actually call him Ben and ‘uncle Ben’ a few times in the series, which I honestly think might be a Spider-Man allusion. Surrogate father figure Uncle Ben’s early disappearance/death kicking off the plot… There’s also a saying that nobody stays dead in comics except for Uncle Ben - considering all the other resurrections in the books, metaphorical and literal, yet GRRM says that Benjen isn’t Coldhands, it might be the same for this Uncle Ben too.

****

Jon swelled with pride. “Robb is a stronger lance than I am, but I’m the better sword, and Hullen says I sit a horse as well as anyone in the castle.”

"[Garlan] is a great knight," Ser Loras replied. "A better sword than me, in truth, though I'm the better lance." (ASOS, Sansa I)

Love a Jon-Garlan parallel! Also thinking about Garlan being the older brother made me realise - in the story everyone thinks that Jon is younger than Robb, but timeline-wise, he has to be older, because Robb was conceived in the two weeks before Ned left to fight at the Trident, and Rhaegar must have at least already been in the capital by then to rally the loyalists, so Jon was conceived weeks, if not months earlier. Which means that Ned has definitely lied about when Jon’s birthday is.

Jon being the product of a ‘youthful indiscretion’ before he was married is less of a stain on Ned’s honour than him betraying his marriage bed but I imagine Catelyn’s fears about Jon usurping her children might have had more basis if he was known to be the eldest, so maybe that’s why Ned lied about how old he is.

****

“Daeron Targaryen was only fourteen when he conquered Dorne,” Jon said. The Young Dragon was one of his heroes. 

"A conquest that lasted a summer," his uncle pointed out. "Your Boy King lost ten thousand men taking the place, and another fifty trying to hold it. Someone should have told him that war isn't a game." He took another sip of wine. "Also," he said, wiping his mouth, "Daeron Targaryen was only eighteen when he died. Or have you forgotten that part?"

Jon is unfortunately, a jock. And a bit of an idiot. 

There’s something about Jon’s hero dying at 18, Waymar dying at 18 just a few chapters ago... Jon has them all beat by dying at 17.

****

"You are a boy of fourteen," Benjen said. "Not a man, not yet. Until you have known a woman, you cannot understand what you would be giving up."

"I don't care about that!" Jon said hotly.

"You might, if you knew what it meant," Benjen said. "If you knew what the oath would cost you, you might be less eager to pay the price, son."

Jon felt anger rise inside him. "I'm not your son!"

Benjen Stark stood up. “More’s the pity.”

Establishing Benjen as a somewhat contentious father figure to Jon - even more fuel for my brand new Uncle Ben ‘theory’.

****

The wolf pup padded closer and nuzzled at Jon's face, but he kept a wary eye on Tyrion Lannister, and when the dwarf reached out to pet him, he drew back and bared his fangs in a silent snarl. 

"Shy, isn't he?" Lannister observed.

"Sit, Ghost," Jon commanded. "That's it. Keep still." He looked up at the dwarf. "You can touch him now. He won't move until I tell him to. I've been training him."

Possibly he and Sansa are the only ones who properly trained their direwolves, considering how the rest of them will end up behaving.

****

“If I wasn’t here, he’d tear out your throat,” Jon said. It wasn’t actually true yet, but it would be.

Pffffft! Edgy edgy edge-lord 💀

Though I also always feel like issuing casual threats to Tyrion Lannister so I can’t really blame him.

****

Standing, he was taller than the dwarf. It made him feel strange.

He’s got a weird preoccupation with comparing his height to Lannister men in this chapter. My headcanon for the books is that Jon’s quite tall by ADWD but evidently he’s tiny in AGOT if he feels strange being tall next to a dwarf.

****

final thoughts:

Believe it or not, I didn’t actually have Jonsa in mind with my new Uncle Ben theory, but I did just remember that brown haired Peter Parker’s main love interest is red-haired MJ :P

[peel-a-potato-with-a-potato]

So I binge read Invincible

What a trip of a story. Gotta say, I’m really hoping Amazon doesn’t screw it up, but what I’ve seen of the show so far seems to be a good update. The comic came out in 2003 after all, so there’s some parts that don’t hold up well 18 years later.

The ending wasn’t to my taste, but it was mostly satisfying. Spoilers if you keep reading beyond here.

The comic makes gratuitous use of time skipping, usually because of Mark being very vincible (yes, bad joke, don’t care), at several points. The worst ones for me were the 3 or 4 months he spent with his father and brother healing from a stomach wound and the 5 year skip after the “reboot”.

And oh boy do I have thoughts on that reboot. Some mysterious entity we are never given any further information on traps him in a cave and sends him back to being 17 with no powers on Earth. He proceeds to do everything in the most efficient way he can before giving up to be with his family. And then he’s back, but 5 years after he left. Was he really in the past or was that entity just messing with his mind? And did it really take him 5 years to process those few weeks? Or did he get brought back to the wrong time? Was that thing vengeful and wanted to rob him of what he wanted for disobeying it? And after that little section is over, we never hear about that thing again.

And then there’s the deaths of Oliver and Nolan. Both were mostly well done, Oliver died in battle (sure he would have wanted it that way), and Nolan died with his favorite son present. Or least favorite, it’s hard to tell at some points. And both were well used catalysts into propelling the story. Oliver’s death convinced Mark he had to act against Thragg. Nolan’s death put Mark in control of the new Viltrum Empire, and in direct opposition to Robot. I refuse to call him Rex. Rex Splode deserved better than that.

Through the whole series, I didn’t trust Robot. From the beginning, I had a bad feeling about him, and when he was revealed to be a human, Rudy, that pretty much cemented it for me. A genius who relies entirely on logic, even when they have an emotional attachment to someone? Yeah, if that doesn’t scream trouble, I don’t know what does. Putting his brain in a jar and leaving Immortal in charge seemed like the best option.

But that also brings up the question of why he left Immortal in charge at all. Having been brought to the future by two people working for Immortal just so he could get his death, don’t you think Mark would have remembered that? Would have known the pain he would cause his friend? Or was there really no better option? It does provide continuity, answers why Immortal was in charge, and I guess prevents a paradox, which is all probably why it was done. Mark doing that knowing what would happen though, it’s probably the most Viltrumite thing he does in the series, cold and devoid of human emotion. Mark does have a habit of disagreeing with his allies at times, and sometimes that leads to what feels like betrayal.

Even Allen got the short end of that stick, with the Viltrum Empire spreading peace at the end, Allen’s coalition fell apart. And Mark makes some good commentary there that definitely applies to Earth today. But wouldn’t you think he’d want to help Allen change the COP to make it better for those planets being exploited? That seemed to be his thing, but instead he just left them to figure it out.

Going back to immortality for a bit, let’s talk about Eve. She gets severely wounded and suddenly she becomes a god just long enough to patch herself back up. This is used a couple times, first on Eve alone, and then on herself and Mark. The first time she gives herself bigger breasts (yup, it’s a guy writing the series) and the second time Mark asks “Did you make me stronger?” while he flexes. Given that Eve was carrying their child at the time, it makes sense why he wouldn’t leave her power to kick in to replace her lost leg, but it ends up making death feel a bit cheap, the way Marvel and DC do by killing off their heroes and bringing them back. It’s really made worse when Eve dies of old age and is suddenly in her 20′s again. “Guess I’m immortal” my ass. If she’s just going to keep doing that, eventually she will outlive Mark’s thousands of years and she’ll be just as lonely as Immortal. Feels like they didn’t think the ramifications of that one through. I do enjoy the fact that Eve is always, and I do mean always, the one initiating their intimate moments though. A woman taking charge of her sexuality is nice to see.

And then there’s Marky. Poor Marky. Left alone on Earth with an adoptive human father while Mark ignored him because of his rage at Marky’s mother. Debbie steps in to help, and it’s clear Mark still has some contact with his son, but he’s definitely not going to have the support his father did growing up, even if he is the new Invincible. Why on earth would this poor half abandoned child take the name of the father that clearly doesn’t want to take much interest in him? I get it’s a carrying on the family legacy kind of thing, but it gives me weird vibes.

For all my griping though, I have to mention Cecil. Almost a perfect foil to Mark’s black and white thinking. Cecil only sees in shades of grey. No matter where someone’s actions put them in Mark’s eyes, Cecil always sees them as a force to be used to his own ends. Cecil’s need to protect people and his search for peace align so perfectly with Mark’s but because of his way of looking at the world and lack of superpowers, he contrasts so perfectly with the hero of the story. I disagree with Rudy that Cecil would have been okay dying to get the world brought about by Rudy, but I’m not really sure how to put those thoughts into words just yet.

But the ending in general, while neatly wrapping up most of the plot threads (looking at you tentacle entity from the reboot storyline), feels a bit too much like a happily ever after. Now that’s personal taste, but honestly, if they’d just ended it with Mark taking over and saying he was going to leave Earth with the Viltrumites on his mission to help the universe, I’d have been a lot happier leaving the rest up to the imagination. Instead, we get flashes of this race of near gods forcefully bringing peace to the universe and we end with another vaguely satisfying callback.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved the series and I’m honestly tempted to read it again to get a better idea of the callbacks and setups we see. The perspective on some things might be different now too, and that’s always interesting. I’m very much of the opinion that if you love something, you should be critical of it. And there’s a lot in Invincible that seems like doing something just to make the story work. I can’t tell if that’s just because of the medium or if it actually makes sense given that Mark is an alien, so maybe I would need to read it again to figure that out.

[foxanddragonbooks]

Witchshadow Review and Rating

★★☆☆☆

I have thought about this rating for a long time. This was my most anticipated book of the year and my favorite series. It hurts my soul to rate it low, but anything else would be a lie. There were just so many things I did not like. Of course, there were things I liked, the writing was beautiful as always, Stix’s arc, but unfortunately the positive couldn't outweigh the negative. And I had a lot of negative feelings while reading this book.

The first thing that didn't work for me was the nonlinear timeline. The prolog takes place a few days after the last book ended. That was nice. Then the next chapter takes place one month after that event. That is already too big of a time jump for my liking. Characters were in certain places already, and you don't find out why, how, or when until later on. Usually in a flashback scene. It was so confusing. I want to know why someone is at this place now and how they get there when it happens, not through a flashback. This type of storytelling might work for movies and tv shows, but it's really difficult in books. The flashbacks also felt ill-placed. We already knew this plan went wrong because if it didn’t the character wouldn't be in the position they are in now. It could have just been described in a few sentences, instead of flashbacks that took up several pages.

Second of all, one of the MAIN characters was completely absent. This just doesn't make sense storytelling-wise. At all. He still has so much left to do and there is only one more book left. One 500 page book that is distributed into 6 povs. I really can't see how that's supposed to work. I can see how that character had to be gone for some time, given the events of the previous book, but that could have been solved with the usual 2 week time jump between books. Keeping the main character away for a whole book/movie/series just never works. Remember when Game of Thrones left out Bran for an entire season even though GRRM said that he is one of the key five? This is what this book felt like.

Another main character was barely in the book either. He was there, but he was not himself. He was literally possessed for 95% of the book, so in a way, two main characters were not part of the book.

That brings me right to my next point. Way too much focus on side characters I couldn't care less about. This was supposed to be Iseult's book but it felt more like a Hell Bard book. Again, I don't understand why. They are side characters but they felt so present in the book while other characters that are much more important to the story were absent. I wanted this to be a Nomatsi book. A book about the history of the Nomatsi. Why are they hated? How did they live before they came to the Witchlands? I was so sure that all those questions would be answered in this book but all we got were a few folktales and a history in hell bards. This was supposed to be Iseutls book, not theirs. They are not even that important to the plot and a big chunk of their plot could have been given to maybe the two missing main characters. That would have been pretty epic. The hell bard loom was never mentioned before, Midne, the first hell bard was never mentioned before, but they take up such a big plot in ISEULT’S book? Why? It felt so random. Esme’s loom was important to the story in the previous book, but it was barely mentioned in this one.

And Esme, oh God. This was supposed to be this super powerful, badass villain, and then she is turned into a weasel just like that. It felt so off and weird.

Furthermore, at this point, Safi has more development with the hell bards, SIDE CHARACTERS, than she has with any of the main characters. She had 1 book with Merik, her love interest, 1 with Iseult, her best friend, and 0 with Aeduan, Vivia, and Stix. This is the second to last book. I really don’t understand how she didn’t get to interact with all these important characters more or at all so far.

Things also didn't add up. It's implied that Safi is 18 in this book when she has been 19 for the last two books. Leopold suddenly becomes younger too. In the first book, Safi says he is the same age as Merik, who is 20, now he is 18. Or it is implied that he is. It’s confusing. It doesn't make sense.

There is a very weird scene that borders on romance and made me dread reading further. It's said in the beginning of the book that these characters are thread FAMILY. Thread SIBLINGS. Yet one thinks about the other as very handsome and they are only inches apart and holding hands in a scene. IT'S WEIRD. If they are supposed to be family then why was this scene written? If you consider someone your sister or brother from another mother you don't do this kind of stuff. The Vivia/Vaness romance came out of nowhere.

The Vivia/Stix being thread siblings came out of nowhere and made 0 sense. They were supposed to be the mutual pining childhood friends to lovers ship, now they are family. Vivia was jealous in Windwitch when she thought Stix had slept with someone. This is not sibling behavior! The set up for Vivia/Stix was right THERE and so present! Whereas Vivia/Vaness came out of nowhere. I don’t understand what’s going on anymore. Please don’t foreshadow things that you don’t mean to go through with. I hate this.

To quote Iseult: “Nothing felt real. Nothing made sense.” That sums up the entire book for me. The characters felt so off to me.

Safi comes up with this ridiculous plan to noose the Emperor while kissing him, and OF COURSE, it goes wrong. It was such a stupid plan, and Safi at this part of the story would have never done this. It felt like a step back for her and made zero sense. She is supposed to be smarter than that now.

Iseult felt so off at the beginning of the book, I didn’t even realize it was her at first. She was all ‘I kill people and regret nothing, I am the badass puppeteer, don’t fuck with me’ and then she went back to her old self in like a blink and never returned to her ‘dark self’.

There is a scene where Safi walks into the Emperor’s room while he has sex with his mistress, IT WAS SO WEIRD and uncomfortable. Literally, why was this scene necessary. Like she wanted to steal something from his rooms but she could have done this at night while he was sleeping. While everyone was sleeping.

Safi’s original plan was also to noose Henrick during their wedding night. That was so weird and made me so uncomfortable. He is 3 times Safi’s age, please. Like I get that she honestly believed she would be forced to consummate the marriage, so she thought hmm might as well get my revenge on this bitch then. But when Henrick said he had no intention of taking Safi to his bed, she was not relieved at all? She was like no, no, no, you have to take me to your bed. It felt so unrealistic. Safi is literally a teenager. Any teenage girl would be glad to not have to sleep with a man old enough to be her father. She should have been relieved that she wasn’t forced to sleep with an old man, and glad that that would mean she had more time to come up with a more fleshed-out plan to kill him. And Iseult would have never let Safi go through with her original plan. Never.

This book felt so, so different from the other books of the series that I love so much, and not in a good way. I don’t think I have been so disappointed and upset since the last season of Game of Thrones aired.

I want to go back in time when the main characters of this series were still main characters. At this point, I have so little hope for the last book. Maybe I am wrong, I would be glad to be wrong, but this book feels like a bullet hole in my chest and I am not sure it can be fixed.

[pixiedane]

Fic Writer Review

Thank you for the tag, @ussjellyfish ! I don't know whom to tag so I will just say to all of you: TAG, you're it (scroll to the end to copy paste the questions).

how many works do you have on AO3?

187

what’s your total AO3 word count?

373,260

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

The count is 74, but they're not wholly individual (lots of "all media types" for example). I have pseuds for Star Wars (68 works), Star Trek (63 works), and Marvel (18 works). There are 38 works in other fandoms including Leverage, Killjoys, Harry Potter, The Hobbit, House MD, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time, Law and Order, Peter Pan, Willow...

16 more questions beneath the cut.

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

512 kudos, Let's Go Steal a Family (Leverage), 2044 words | The Leverage team decide they don't need to settle down in order to start a family.

This was written for the "Leverage-a-thing-a-thon" run in August 2015 (making this fic almost exactly six years old). It's about found family in the most literal sense.

415 kudos, catch a glimpse of sunlight (Star Wars), 2324 words + a fanvid | What if Anakin listened to Padmé more than Palpatine and Obi-Wan listened to Anakin more than Yoda? tldr; galaxy saved

Created for the 2016 Star Wars Rarepairs exchange, a canon divergent au where Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé work together to take down the Chancellor and raise the twins as a triad.

253 kudos, and a softness came from the starlight and filled me full to the bone. (Star Wars), 726 words | Luke wants to know about his mother.

Written for PadMay 2018, for the prompt "How should Padmé be remembered?". Wow, I'm surprised this is in the top five given it's a tiny ficlet in a giant fandom written for a challenge I made up myself. But I'm pleased! Padmé deserves to be remembered, that's why I started PadMay.

247 kudos, Serendipity (Star Wars), 1914 words | That time Padmé accidentally walked in on the wrong naked Jedi.

Another ObiAniDala AU written for the Star Wars Rarepairs Exchange, 2018 in this case. Two years earlier I'd made a random photo manip of Natalie Portman and Ewan Mcgregor drinking tea and it eventually inspired the fic.

221 kudos, Your Beating Heart Tonight (Star Wars), 3121 words | Padmé develops feelings for her other Jedi protector.

And another written for the Star Wars Rarepairs Exchange in 2016! And also another AU based in a storm of emotions between Anakin, Padmé, and Obi-Wan. I have a specialty.

All five of these are about family first and foremost. Three and a half feature polyamory. Three and a half are canon divergent AUs. None breaks 3200 words. All were written for an event/exchange.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

For the most part. Sometimes I don't right away and it becomes awkward. And I generally don't respond to negative comments because who needs that.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Probably Abduction, a mirror universe story vaguely inspired by The Handmaid's Tale. My author's note: "It is not a happy story for anyone and implies the extreme emotional abuse of a child, as well as the coercion and torture of adults."

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I love crossovers! I've completed a few and have fifty more in wip folders. The most ambitious is War of Stars, a Star Wars/Game of Thrones fusion with 26,480 words, thirty chapters, and five different povs (Cersei, Anakin, Daenerys, Ahsoka, and Boba). Niche, but I am very proud of how it worked out.

I've also blended Star Wars with Mad Max, Kelvin Star Trek, Star Trek Discovery, Deep Space Nine, Sleeping Beauty, and Black Widow.

have you ever received hate on a fic?

I've had a few mean comments but they're basically "I don't like this pairing and I want you to feel bad about writing it" and I won't.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

No. Just not my thing.

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, I've had a few translated into Russian, which just adds to the headcanon that I'm secretly Black Widow.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, back in the LiveJournal days I wrote many thousands of words with @vasnormandy. I am slowly posting those stories to AO3 under my Marvel pseud Amelia Danvers, my OC and main character.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

An impossible question because I multi-ship like my life depends on it. Anakin/Padmé is my most prolific ship followed by Rey/Ben, Kat/Lorca, and Carol Danvers/Peter Parker (the parents of Amelia above). But I've written alternate ships for all of the above.

You can read more about my shipping interests here.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Oof. I have a lot of WIPs that I would like to finish but it's hard to get back to.

what are your writing strengths?

Dialogue. Introspection. I'm good at writing a specific point of view. Characters addressing their issues. I like to pull at threads so I've built up those skills. I love mixing and mashing fandoms and pairings. Complex relationships and the discussion thereof.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Action, like sex scenes or fight scenes, and anything plot heavy. I'm more interested in character and it shows in my writing.

I am also terrible at follow through and finishing things. It's why so much of my fic is written for challenges with external deadlines.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I'm not fluent in any other languages and I wouldn't want to do it without extensive research.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Either Star Trek (TNG, mainly the adventures of Beverly Crusher - as a preteen, at the Academy, as a single mom, and because I'm me I also gave her a Romulan lover) or Star Wars (the adventures of Han and Leia's daughter who was ME but also Jaina Solo before Jaina Solo existed because she was a twin who wanted to be a pilot more than a Jedi). These stories were written on notebook paper in colored pen and I'd do dramatic readings in the backyard, in costume, with only the trees (all of whom I'd named, mostly after heroines in books, like Elizabeth, Jane, Anne, Alice, Mary, etc.) as the audience.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Well, the one I imagine as something more is Pas De Deux, my Jedi Dance Academy AU. I can picture the senes in my mind and I really enjoyed the adaptation process, melding two things I love into one. The characters and events are recognizable, but also very different and that's something I enjoy.

Questions for anyone who wants to complete it:

Fic Writer Review

how many works do you have on AO3?

what’s your total AO3 word count?

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

have you ever received hate on a fic?

do you write smut? if so what kind?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

have you ever had a fic translated?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

what’s your all time favorite ship?

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

what are your writing strengths?

what are your writing weaknesses?

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

[scribeofred]

Thanks to @onereyofstarlight for the tag!

 1. What fandoms have you written for?

This is embarrassing but I actually had to look at both FFnet and AO3 because I couldn’t remember all of them. TRON: Legacy, Assassin’s Creed, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit, Sherlock, Final Fantasy VII and XV and Kingsglaive, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Merlin, Skyrim, and, of course, Thunderbirds. I have a couple other fandoms that crop up in various wips, including a Tom Swift/Thunderbirds crossover that I really should finish.

2. How many works do you have on AO3 &/or FFNet?

FFnet has 45, and AO3 has 41. There’s also a couple stories lurking on tumblr, notably a final chapter for Reflection.

3. What are your top 3 fics by kudos on A03 &/or Favs on FFNet?

AO3 dominates in this area, if I can use a word like “dominates” for stories that have less than 125 kudos each haha. Oh well, the numbers don’t matter!

1.     118 kudos on tell the shades apart (my world is black and white)

2.     94 kudos on Reflection

3.     91 kudos on The 43rd Hour

4. Which 3 fics have the least kudos & Favs?

Again on AO3:

1 kudos on I Am You (And You Are Me)

5 kudos on The Dragonborn Chronicles

6 kudos on cynosure

5. Which Fic has the most comments and which has the least?

Reflection has the most at 29 threads, and I Am You (And You Are Me) has the least at zero.

6. Which complete fic do you wish had gotten more attention?

Lodestar, definitely. Sure, it’s for something of a rarepair, but they aren’t that rare, and I just really really like the way the story came together. On the other hand, of course my unfinished Merlin fic has gotten probably the most attention, because that’s just the way it goes, eh?

7. Have you written any crossovers?

None that I’ve published! I have various crossovers lurking in mostly unfinished states, including the aforementioned Tom Swift/Thunderbirds crossover, and an Assassin’s Creed/Thundeerbirds crossover that is very good and I should also finish. There’s an Expanse/Thunderbirds fic lurking in my brain that I may or may not ever commit to paper, who knows. I’ve also very vaguely toyed with a Batman/Thunderbirds crossover, in the sense that “nebulous” is too strong a word for the kind of toying I’ve been doing.

8. What is the craziest fic you’ve written?

I don’t really write crazy or crack or humor in general, so probably the closest thing to “crazy” is On the Lam, which was the result of wanting to throw Scott and Penelope toward an Egyptian stud farm. It ended up being the host for a bad joke about that, courtesy of one @thebaconsandwichofregret, who consistently gives some of the best dialogue advice I’ve ever encountered.

Actually, the true answer is probably a chapter in Glimpses into a Supernova, maybe the one about blood? It seems bonkers when I think back on it now, but I admittedly haven’t read it in many years. Possibly I am misremembering. Glimpses has some weird ones, though.

9. What’s the fic you’ve written with the saddest ending?

It’s a tossup between The Painting and a place where the water touches the sky. The former deals with a prior off-screen death; the latter is (maybe??) an on-screen death. People seemed upset by it, at any rate. I said it was ambiguous!

10. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

“Happy” is probably a matter of perspective? Depends on the overall reading experience and the ending within that context. Either septet or Three Towels and a Tracy, they’re both pretty fluffy overall.

11. What is your smuttiest fic?

protoinstincts, which I completely forgot I wrote and then rediscovered like a year later and realized “hey, this is actually pretty good” and you know what, despite it not being overly spicy, it is pretty good.

12. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not hate, per se, but someone left a review on Less Than Nothing saying they “didn’t like” that I “wrote the story as a series of drabbles.” Cool, I didn’t write the story for you, random guest reader, and the back button exists, friend 😂 It didn’t bother me on a personal level because I wrote the fic for an audience of one (incidentally, not myself and rather the recipient of a secret santa event), but I was mad because the reviewer had no way of knowing where I was at as a writer, and I know from longtime observation how that kind of comment can crush less experienced or confident writers.

Don’t leave flames, kids, you don’t understand the power your words have. Don’t like, don’t read.

13. What is the nicest comment you’ve received?

The nicest? Goodness. Hmm. I’d have to go hunting to find the nicest, but in recent memory, @ayzrules sent me a couple passages from Spanish texts she’s been studying that reminded her of my writing, and I was honestly so touched by the fact that she even thought to make such comparisons, much less mention them to me. Taking the time to familiarize yourself with someone’s style until you can make comparisons between it and someone else’s work is so much more meaningful to me personally than a basic “Nice story!” or “Loved this!” type of comment ever could be. <3 Ayz <3

14. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of, but I’ve never gone looking on any sort of copycat site or whatever either.

15. How many fics do you have marked as incomplete?

Two. First is The Dragonborn Chronicles, which is a retelling of Skyrim from Lydia’s perspective via her journal, to complement the in-game journal. It’s a slog of a style to write, though, even for someone who loves writing first person and doesn’t really want to write a lot of dialogue, and the outline is huge, and the story will be many times more huge, and just. Some day. Some day.

Second is tell the shades apart (my world is black and white), which has always been unfinished because the outline itself is over seven thousand words and the fully written story would undoubtedly land between 100,000 and 200,000 words, and there’s no way I’m writing that. I’ve always meant to upload the outline, but I got kind of self-conscious about the way I formatted it, and ugh I just haven’t bothered. One day, one day, right?

Moral of the story is I’m intensely a short story writer, and I’ve really found myself settling into that role over the last couple years. Better a clipped, punchy short story than a bloated slog of an epic.

16. Which of the WIPS will most likely be finished first?

Literally no one knows that. I wrote 95% of the observable entropy of a closed system over five years ago, and then I proceeded to pull it out roughly once a year and write and rewrite various endings until last month, which was when I finally figured out how I wanted to end the story. septet, too, languished for about five years before I finally remembered it existed and managed to wrangle an ending. Endings are hard, man. So are those third plot points. Terrible creatures, those, bog me down every time.

17. Which WIP are you looking forward to finishing?

Uh... mm. See. If I were looking forward to finishing any of them, I’d be actively working on them. At this moment, writing fic isn’t exactly high on my list of priorities, but I am also coming off a four-day idle game bender, so I still feel like I haven’t quite reengaged with myself as a living person. Give me another few days and I might have an answer.

(I am always most looking forward to finishing this ridiculous Ignis-drives-the-Audi-R8 fic that’s been languishing in my wips for literal years. As mentioned above, third plot points. Killer, man.)

(oh and also the working-titled the art of murder. Scott and Penny attend a private art auction. Things don’t go to plan. It, too, is stuck at the third plot point. I know, I know I have a problem, shush.)

18. Is there a WIP that you’re considering abandoning?

Any wip has the potential to be revived—this year and the old wips I’ve unearthed, dusted off, finished, and posted have been proof of that. I don’t intentionally permanently abandon anything for that reason, some stories just probably will remain dusty old wips forever because I didn’t actually need or want to write the full story for one reason or another.

19. Which complete fic would you consider rewriting?

Now that’s an interesting question. Hmm! Honestly? None of them. Once I finish a story, I’m not inclined toward rereading it again any time soon, to the point of years in some cases, and I feel like I’ve moved on from the stories I wrote one, two, five, eight years ago in the actual writing sense. They’re finished stories, and on top of that are relics of their time, which doesn’t mean the stories don’t have any ongoing significance on a reading level—I just don’t have any interest in rewriting those particular stories. I’ve gotten them out of my head, to the point of not remembering at least a third of them on demand anymore, and I don’t have any desire to “retell” those exact stories. I do tend to tighten the wording and fix perceived errors/weaknesses whenever I do end up rereading an old story, and I usually silently update the AO3 version if I make any significant changes because AO3 makes it a breeze to update a posted fic. I might do FFnet too if I’m feeling up to it or have the time.

20. Which complete fic is your favourite?

Once upon a time I would’ve said Holding On, but I honestly find it kind of unbearably melodramatic now. the observable entropy of a closed system is equally melodramatic, as it was written in the same era, but at least it has the excuse of being told in second person and via a style that is a half step away from being poetry. Possibly I will reread it in a few years and find it equally obnoxious and overly dramatic, but it received some shockingly positive comments, which I wasn’t expecting at ALL, and I’ve been honestly blown away by the amount of praise it’s received. <3 to everyone who’s said anything about it!

21. What’s your total published word count?

141,000 on AO3, 160,000 on FFnet, but technically the light of my life SS wrote fifty thousand words of each. It’s too late for math.

 I tag @velkynkarma, @lurkinglurkerwholurks, @writtenbyrain, @thebaconsandwichofregret, and anyone else who wants to play!

[eddardstark]

Fanfiction Review

@redead-red tagged me in a thing so i guess idk have some rambling or whatever?

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

7⅛

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

39,685

3. How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

9:

Murdoch Mysteries (unpublished WIP)

Doctor Strange (Marvel 616)

Heroes, Heroes Reborn

A Song of Ice and Fire, Game of Thrones*

Firefly*

Harry Potter**

24**

Quantum Leap**

Star Trek: Enterprise**

* on LiveJournal somewhere ** hidden in the depth of FFN and too embarrassing to speak of

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

real god require blood

this is the way the world ends

this valley of dying stars

revenant

hollow crown

5. Which of your fic do you want more attention for?

I suppose the fine art of falling apart? I mean, it’s a completely indulgent rarepair fic and a completely unnecessary scifi AU, so I’m not surprised by its lack of popularity, but it took, like, effort and stuff to write.

6. Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to respond to all my comments, although there are periods when I’m just not using the platforms and don’t see I have a comment until months or years later.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I suppose hollow crown due to major canonical character death. But for pure angst, probably this is the way the world ends.

8. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you’ve written?

I think the only crossovers I’ve written have been RP threads.

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I’m pretty lucky and pretty small time, so not really. I’ve received some negative reviews on FFN fics, but they weren’t hate—and they weren’t wrong, either.

10. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I didn’t even know there were types of smut. But, yeah, I do from time to time write smut.

11. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have not.

12. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Sort of. 35,000 years ago, @ohvienna and I wrote a series of Firefly vignettes together. More recently, I have been in talks with @redead-red to write a thing.

13. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Hell if I know, man. Of the fics I’ve written, maybe Mal/Inara or Ned/Cersei? I guess for all-time I’d have to say Han/Leia, though, since they’re, like, the formative shipping blueprint from before I even knew what shipping was.

14. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

hell is empty. I stopped writing creatively for a few years shortly after I started that, and though I would dearly like to get back to it, I don’t know if I’ll ever manage it.

15. What are your writing strengths?

Strengths? Writing? Me? *nervous laughter*

16. What are your writing weaknesses?

Actually doing the writing is by far my biggest weakness, not gonna lie. But putting together a plot is also something I am not great at.

17. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don’t know. I think it depends on the context and the purpose. It can be used to great effect or it can just be obnoxious. I’ve also seen some people use tooltips to act as a kind of subtitle, which I’m on the fence about.

18. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Trek: Enterprise. 14 year old me was something else, y’all.

19. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Bold of you to assume I like any of my fics. But, er, I think for me often my favourite fic is whatever I’m currently working on, as that tends to represent what I’d consider my most skilled attempt, if that makes sense? And I’ll tell you what, my current WIP has, if nothing else, my favourite sentence I’ve ever written:

“He thinks holding a knife makes him a hunter, but you were weaned and raised on violence—forced to consume it with the Eucharist, to memorize it with the Rosary.”

Now if that is not the most Extra shit, I don’t know what is.

20. What fic are you most proud of?

Again, bold to assume I take pride in my work. Buuuut, I guess in a lot of ways real gods require blood is the one I’m most proud of, if I had to really pick. It’s not that it’s terribly well written or anything. But it’s a complete story with a plot—a mystery, no less—and since most of my writing tends be introspective character drabbles, that was, you know, something. And you know what else, arrogance be damned, I do happen to think I write a pretty decent Stephen Strange. Like, this shit?

“And that’s how I came to be here, standing on a pool deck watching a corpse casually bob up and down in the chlorinated water. It really does look like the opening of Sunset Boulevard, but in full colour and with magical ritual sacrifice. A slightly different genre, I’ll grant you, but there’s no reason the fantastic can’t interact with noir elements now and then, is there? After all, I wore a trench coat for the better part of a year.”

C’mon. That’s not half bad for some dumbass ski bum.

I tag: literally anyone who see this and has written fic. And also wants to answer a bunch of questions.

[hemera989]

Hello~!

Hi there! I’m Alex, and I thought I should do an introductory post! This will mainly be background on myself as a writer, and the fanfics I have posted and are currently updating (ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥ 

I have been writing for 8+ years now, through fanfics, original writing, and various roleplays throughout the years! I’ve written for a dozen or so fandoms (Including Naruto, BNHA, D. Gray Man, The Arcana, Soul Eater, FMA, Danny Phantom, Homestuck, etc!) but the main fandom that I write for these days is Blue Exorcist/Ao no Exorcist! I post most of my fanfics on ao3 under the name SidewaysClarinet.

In this post, I’ll be listing the stories I have up and running so far, as well as listing my social media below if you’d like to follow! Fanfic titles are also click-able, and link you to ao3, where they’re posted!

~CHAPTERED FICS~

Through Rose Colored Glasses

Genre: Action, mystery, hurt/comfort, angst

Pairing: Gen/No exwire ships (focus is mainly plot and action), Kirigakure Shura/Original Female Character, Past Fujimoto Shiro/Yuri Egin

Number of Chapters: 10/?

Update schedule: Sundays

Summary: “By some miracle, Shiro wakes up after being possessed by Satan and finds himself alive- sore, missing a few fingers, but alive.The only one who knows what happened that night is Rin himself, and he wants to take Rin's word for it when his son says that Satan abandoned his body to save it for later. However, the threads of Rin's tale are quickly unraveling, and people are becoming more suspicious. There's something not making sense about Shiro's survival, about the Kurikara, the truth of the night he was possessed. The forces of Gehenna and Assiah alike are demanding answers, and when their damning fingers turn to Rin himself, the lies begin falling apart to reveal something far darker underneath.”

Also includes collection of outtakes!

Brother Mine

Genre: Psychological horror, angst, hurt/comfort, Yukio-centric

Pairing: Gen/None

Number of chapters: 1/?

Update schedule: None

Summary: “Okumura Yukio is 18 years old, and he is a murderer. Of course, no one will call him that. 'You did the world a favor', they tell him. 'Got rid of the pest', they tell him. 'He wasn't human, so it doesn't count, not really', they tell him. He was the good boy, who saved the world from his no good, waste of space, demon spawn brother. But he is a murderer. And he knows that this is his penance.“

~DRABBLE COLLECTION~

vignettes and snapshots

This is a collection of ship drabbles that I have written! Updates are also infrequent, but I am open to requests!

books: Kamiki Izumo/Moriyama Shiemi, ‘The girls fall asleep reading their favorite romance novel together.’

bathtub: Fujimoto Shiro/Yuri Egin, ‘Yuri and Shiro talk about moving out together.’

bite: Fujimoto Shiro/Yuri Egin, ‘Yuri gets her fingers bitten, and Shiro thinks she’s being a baby about it.’

hair: Arthur Auguste Angel/Lewin Light, ‘Lewin likes coddling Arthur a little more than he lets on.’

swipe right: Godaiin Sei/Okumura Rin, ‘Godaiin panics and rejects Rin on Tinder, unaware that his old classmate is watching from behind him.’

~ONESHOTS~

Though I don’t have many posted now, this is an ever growing and expanding list! I write oneshots mainly when the urge strikes me, and post them at random (─‿‿─)

first time for everything, right?

Genre: NSFW/smut

Pairing: Fujimoto Shiro/Yuri Egin

Word count: 3,285 words

Summary: ‘Shiro didn’t know how Yuri managed to convince him into trying this- bottoming, of all things -but he can’t exactly say that he regretted it.’

just one more try

Genre: Silly fluff, romance, fantasy AU

Pairing: Okumura Yukio/Shima Renzou

Word count: 6,593 words

Summary: ‘ From the second Shima saw that handsome adventurer in the white clothes and dark-framed glasses, he was enthralled. He knew he just had to do it- he had to get a date with the guy! But getting the adventurer to look at him was harder than it seemed, and it would take the combined efforts of himself, and the other (reluctant) demon generals to finally get that pretty boy to look his way!’

Though this is the list of what I have now, there is always more to come! I have many fics in the making, chapters to update, and ideas to flesh out, but thank you for your time and for reading!

[recentanimenews]

Random Reads 2/18/21

Are You in the House Alone? by Richard Peck Are You in the House Alone? came out in 1976 and though I totally could’ve read it when I was a teen—and thus still a member of its target audience—I never did.

Gail Osburne is a sixteen-year-old high school junior and native New Yorker who’s not at home in the quaint Connecticut village her family relocated to several years back. I knew that the plot involved Gail receiving menacing anonymous notes and phone calls, and I was expecting these events to get started quickly and the suspense to remain high throughout. But that doesn’t happen.

Instead, the story is told retroactively, so we know Gail survives. Also, obvious culprit is obvious. (I hope the reveal wasn’t intended to be a surprise, but perhaps readers were less savvy about such things in 1976.) Initially, much more of the focus is on Gail’s relationships with her parents, boyfriend, and best friend, and in particular how the latter two are in the slow process of dissolution. Eventually she receives some threatening notes and creepy phone calls, gets scared, is let down by people in positions of authority, and comes face-to-face with said obvious culprit. That happens halfway through this slim novel. The rest of the book is about Gail’s recovery from her ordeal.

I thought Are You in the House Alone? was going to be fun, suspenseful fluff, but it turned out to be fairly serious and occasionally (intentionally) infuriating. I really appreciated how Peck was able to weave in a couple of threads that seemed very random at first and make them integral to the denouement, too. Ultimately, I didn’t love the book, but I kind of… respect it, if that makes sense. It didn’t go the cheap route.

The Automatic Detective by A. Lee Martinez Mack Megaton is a hulking robot who was created to destroy. He developed self-determination, however, and went against his programming. Now, he’s a probationary citizen of Empire City, where mutagens and pollution have created a very diverse population. While some “biologicals” are still “norms,” others have been physically transformed (like rat-like Detective Alfredo Sanchez) and others have been changed in not-so-visible ways (like Mack’s friend, Jung, a talking gorilla with refined literary taste). Mack works as a cab driver and is trying to keep a low profile, but when his neighbors are abducted, he can’t help but try to rescue them. This gets him into all sorts of trouble, of course.

Despite its name, The Automatic Detective isn’t really much of a mystery. I suppose it’s more… sci-fi noir. Mack meets various thugs, beats some of them up, gets beat up himself, etc. Slowly, he makes progress on uncovering a huge conspiracy. At times, I felt like Martinez was a little too enamored of the gimmick he created, and places in the middle dragged a bit as a result, but the ending is pretty satisfying and overall the book was enjoyable enough, even though it’s quite far from the sort of thing I usually read.

As a final note: I really liked that Martinez limited himself when it came time to invent universe-specific profanity. Instead of the text being liberally sprinkled with words like “frell” or “frak,” the phrase “Oh, flurb” appears but once (during a moment where the meaning is 100% apparent) and made me laugh out loud.

I don’t know if I’m necessarily eager to read more by Martinez, but I’m glad I read this one.

The Inimitable Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse When I read My Man Jeeves back in 2010, I was somewhat disappointed because so much of it was repetitive. While there are some common elements that recur within the eleven stories that comprise The Inimitable Jeeves, it is still so very much superior that I’d now say… forget about that first book. Start here. Go back and read My Man Jeeves for completist purposes, if that’s your inclination, but start here for the best introduction to these characters and Wodehouse’s uniquely charming and amusing writing.

First published in 1923, The Inimitable Jeeves contains a linked set of stories that typically involve affable Bertie Wooster being imposed upon by either his eternally lovesick friend Bingo Little (who is “always waylaying one and decanting his anguished soul”) or his mischief-making younger cousins, Claude and Eustace. One plot thread involves convincing Bingo’s uncle (who provides him with an allowance) to agree to Bingo marrying a waitress. Jeeves comes up with the idea to ply the uncle with romance novels featuring class differences to soften his heart, and it ends up that Bertie is compelled to go visit the old fellow and claim to be the author. In addition to containing the most elegant description of sweat I’ve ever seen—“The good old persp was bedewing my forehead by this time in a pretty lavish manner.”—this situation is referenced a few times in subsequent stories until Bingo succeeds in getting married to a different waitress who really is the author of those romance novels.

So, even though you’ve got episodic happenings, it’s rather a satisfactory conclusion. Bertie is endearing, Jeeves is competent, the writing is excellent, and it made me laugh. (I especially liked when a character was described as resembling “a sheep with a secret sorrow.”) I’m so glad that I didn’t give up on the series after the first book; now I feel as though I finally see what the fuss is all about. I’d also like to give credit to the fabulous narration by Jonathan Cecil. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate, but I hear echoes of Fry and Laurie in his performance, and I heartily approve. I will certainly seek out more unabridged versions read by him.

The Murders of Richard III by Elizabeth Peters This is the second in the Jacqueline Kirby series of mysteries. I haven’t read the first, and wouldn’t normally begin with the second, but the book promised an English country mansion plus “fanatic devotees of King Richard III” so my usual routine flew right out the window.

Even before university lecturer Thomas Carter likened himself unto Watson, I’d noticed the similarities between how this tale is told and the Sherlock Holmes stories. We are never permitted inside Jacqueline’s head. Instead, we see her how Thomas, hopeful of one day securing her romantic affections, views her. It’s fairly interesting, actually, because Thomas’ opinion of her fluctuates, sometimes peevishly. “You drive me crazy with your arrogance and your sarcasm and your know-it-all airs,” he says at one point. And though he soon after claims “I’m no male chauvinist; I don’t mind you showing off,” the fact is that earlier he was grumbling inwardly about her feigning “girlish ignorance” to reel in mansplainers and then walloping the “unwitting victim” with a cartload of knowledge. It’s true that Jacqueline isn’t especially likeable sometimes, but for remorselessly trouncing the sexist louts she encounters throughout the book, I must commend her!

The mystery itself is somewhat bland, unfortunately. The leader of a Ricardian society has received a letter purportedly written by Elizabeth of York, which would exonerate Richard of the deaths of her brothers, the “princes in the tower.” He calls a meeting of the society, with each attendee costumed as one of the historical personages involved, and summons the press, planning to unveil his find with much fanfare. But someone begins playing practical jokes on the Ricardians reminiscent of the fates of the people they are pretending to be. The book isn’t a long one, and soon the pranks start coming right on the heels of one another. Because of the swift pace—and some shallow characterization—the solution is rather anti-climactic.

Still, while I’m not sure I’ll seek out any more Jacqueline Kirby mysteries, this was overall a decent read.

A Perfect Match by Jill McGown The series of books featuring Detective Inspector Lloyd (whose first name is a secret for now) and Detective Sergeant Judy Hill begins with a short yet enjoyable mystery in which a wealthy young widow is found dead in a small English town on property she’d just inherited from her recently deceased husband. Unlike some mysteries of which I am fond, there’s no preamble where readers get to know the victim or the circumstances of their life. Instead, immediately there’s a policeman discovering the body and then Lloyd turns up to question the victim’s next of kin. This same lack of character development hampers the romantic tension between Lloyd and Hill, leaving me with no idea what motivated Hill to finally decide to act on her feelings for him, betraying her marriage vows in the process.

The mystery itself is interesting enough, however, involving long-married Helen and Donald Mitchell who have ties to both the victim, Julia—her late husband was Donald’s older brother and Helen thinks they were having an affair—and chief suspect, Chris, originally a friend of Donald’s who has fallen in love with Helen. I can’t claim to have mustered anything more than a mild curiosity as to what the outcome would be, but neither did I guess the specifics, so that was good. I liked the interrogation scenes, too.

McGown’s writing had some fun moments. I loved the super-evocative imagery of Lloyd telling Hill that her new perm makes her look like Kevin Keegan. I also really appreciated a recurring bit where each chapter ends with the point of view of wildlife. When Chris is eventually brought in by the police, his arrest is depicted from a bird’s perspective, for example. There are also ducks, a moth, a fly, a cat… I don’t know if this device recurs in later books in the series, but I look forward to finding out.

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight This is the second mystery/thriller I’ve read in which a single mom who is a lawyer with a cold and unfeeling mother of her own attempts to work out the mystery of what happened to a family member (the other being Girl in the Dark by Marion Pauw). Is that some kind of trend these days?

Kate Baron has a demanding job at a swanky firm, but she’s trying her best to be a good mom to her fifteen-year-old bookworm daughter, Amelia. She’s shocked to get a call from Grace Hall, the prestigious private school Amelia attends, saying that her daughter has been accused of cheating, and by the time she makes her way to the school, Amelia has evidently jumped to her death from the school roof. The police are only too happy to classify her death as a suicide, but when Kate gets a text that says “Amelia didn’t jump,” she starts trying to put together the pieces of what happened.

Reconstructing Amelia has quite a few problems. Despite her better judgment (and a promise to her best friend), Amelia joins a clique of bitchy girls at school who end up publicly humiliating her and trying to get her expelled when she falls in love with someone deemed off-limits. It’s hard to muster sympathy for what she ends up going through when one remembers the cruel prank she was willing to pull on someone else as part of the initiation process (largely kept off-camera to keep us from disliking her too much, I guess). We’re repeatedly told about the great relationship Amelia and her mom share, but never shown it. The subplot about Amelia’s dad is the literary equivalent of wilted lettuce. And the fact that the new detective who gets assigned to the case allows Kate to question suspects is absolutely ludicrous.

And yet, I couldn’t hate the book, largely because of Amelia’s friend, Sylvia. For much of the book she comes across as shallow and self-absorbed, but when Amelia really needs her, she’s there. She gives Amelia this tour of “great moments at Grace Hall” to cheer up her impressive pal, right before breaking down about her own legitimate pain. I never would’ve thought at the outset that I would have such immense sympathy for Sylvia, but I do. I find myself hoping that she’ll be okay.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane It sure is nice going into a book unspoiled, particularly one as twisty as Shutter Island. I was quite happy with the book as it began, with U.S. Marshals Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule taking the ferry to Shutter Island to track down a patient missing from Ashcliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane. It’s late summer 1954, and these guys are manly but accessible, and surprisingly funny. Consider this relatiely early exchange that cracked me up:

Pretentious Doctor: *makes remarks on the lives of violence the marshals must lead* Chuck: Wasn’t raised to run, Doc. Pretentious Doctor: Ah, yes. Raised. And who did raise you? Teddy: Bears.

For a while, all seems straightforward. Then Teddy confides to Chuck that he’s actually come there looking for a patient named Andrew Laediss, who was responsible for setting the fire that killed Teddy’s wife two years before. Gradually, one starts to doubt everything (and there was a point where all of the uncertainty got to be a little much for me) but the ultimate conclusion is a very satisfactory one.

Why Did You Lie? by Yrsa Sigurdardottir Set in Iceland, Why Did You Lie? starts out with three different storylines taking place a few days apart. The first involves a photographer on a helicopter journey to take pictures of a lighthouse on a rock in the middle of the ocean, the second is about a policewoman whose journalist husband has recently attempted suicide, and the third is about a family who returns from a house swap with an American couple to find some of their stuff missing and weird footage on the security camera. Of course, as the book progresses, these storylines converge, and it’s pretty neat when the police activity the helicopter flew over in chapter one turns out to be almost the culmination of the policewoman’s plot thread.

For some reason, I can’t help wondering how Ruth Rendell might’ve written this book. I think Rendell would’ve done a lot more with characterization, for one thing. There’s certainly some here, especially for the anxious husband who struggles to make his wife admit something really has gone wrong with their houseguests, but the primary concern seems to be getting on with the suspenseful action. Quickly, each plot features some kind of creepy lurker and then ominous notes (variations on the “why did you lie?” theme) figure in to all three, as well. Nina, the policewoman, digs around and talks to people and works out that everything connects to a supposed suicide from thirty years ago.

The result is certainly an entertaining book, but not one I could really love. One major issue I had is being able to predict something very significant. The number of characters who could’ve been angry enough about the 30-year-old lies in question to terrorize people in the present is very small. And once the existence of a certain person is oh-so-casually mentioned two-thirds through the book, I thought, “Oh, well, it’s them, then.” And then a little later, I figured out which of the characters it must be and I was right. This made for an anticlimactic ending that was clearly meant to be a shocking one. Also, I would’ve liked to have cared more that one character ends the novel poised to move on with life but, in reality, still in jeopardy.

I still would read more by this author, though.

By: Michelle Smith

[merinnan]

DMBJ Explore with the Note Ep 4

Explore with the Note Ep 4 watch thread! 

 Since Ep 3 had no updates to any of the counts, we start ep 4 off with the following:

Season 2 Xiaoge Rescue Count: 2 for Wu Xie, 2 for protagonists, 3 for everyone

Season 2 Wu Xie Swoon Count: 0 Season 2 Evil Hair Count: 2 

Cumulative Xiaoge Rescue Count: 12 for Wu Xie, 17 for protagonists, 18 for everyone 

Cumulative Wu Xie Swoon Count: 6 

- Now that I have some idea of the colour schemes, I can identify which opening credits shots are from flashback scenes and which are from Wu Xie era scenes 

- Ah yes, the snek fishies. A clue to consider, then forget about while we look at other things.

- Aww, he's so happy to see the baby corpse vase 

- And the paintings are far more interesting than whatever might be inside the vase. Although he's moving it around far too easily for the baby corpse to still be in there, I think

- Poor confused Wu Xie. I don't blame him. The stuff in this tomb and its design apparently places it in two different time periods which are like 1000 years apart 

- Oooh, bubbles 

- Good move on the jumping back, turning off your torch, and getting a knife ready

- Although there appears to now be light coming from the water itself 

- Hahah, it's Pangzi and Xiaoge 

- Oh, nice, this time they're not subbing Men Youping as Pokerface.

- And of course Xiaoge is the first one he asks if he's alright, and goes to help out of the water XD 

- lol, even Pangzi calling him out on that 

- Aww, he's so worried about the mark on Xiaoge's arm

- "What happened?!" 

"Oh nothing, just a demon" 

"..." 

- Ah, Pangzi knows what that is 

- ...and ofc Wu Xie only knows what it is from classic poetry texts 

 - *googles ptomaine gas* 

- Ugh, yeah, you don't want to be breathing that. Sounds unpleasant

- Wu Xie is so over everything rn 

- Except Xiaoge, anyway

- I really like S2 Pangzi. He's got the right blend of competence and humour. Comic relief without being just a caricature like S1 Pangzi 

- And Wu Xie showing off his smarts, which is cute. It's moments like these that reminds me he's got an architecture degree

- I think this is the first time we've heard Wang Zanghai's name in the dramas so far 

- And Xiaoge seems to certainly know the name and not be happy about it

- Oh, this looks like a Xiaoge flashback? 

- More fucking swimming, of course 

- But without a diving suit this time - And that's all it was. So interesting. So groundbreaking. I've never seen anyone swimming through dark murky water in this show before

- This Wu Xie is a much more expressive Wu Xie than S1. So many smiles! 

- And such a brilliant little shit 

- I'm really liking the Wu Xie/Pangzi interactions so far. Well, all of them, but these moments are so good. They're reminding me of the Chongqi interactions

- Oh, more bubbles, I'm sure this will be FINE 

- Oh, it's just the water draining out

- Pangzi complaining he can't see because of the fog, but really, I'd think the darkness would be the bigger problem. 

 - They've only got a couple of torches, and this is a large room and even larger pit that that staircase is going down into

- Wu Xie, what did you expect, asking if he can read something from such a distance? 

- And then looking at Xiaoge to see if it's going to be okay to do this 

- These steps & the twig-things on them are remarkably dry for having been submerged in water only a couple of minutes ago

- OK, now that I'm not distracted by speaking or, like, plot (or pingxie), the bgm is actually drawing my attention and dear god, yes, it really is awful and annoying 

- Hahah, dunking on both Sanshu's and Pangzi's English skills in one go

- This Wu Xie is a lovely chaos gremlin 

- Who hasn't completely lost all sense of caution yet, it seems 

- I mean, Pangzi, I'm not sure you'd be saying those things if you heard the kinds of stories Sanshu was telling bby!Wu Xie in those flashbacks 

- Then again, you probably would

- "Besides, I can't leave Xiaoge" ❤️

 - So Xiaoge probably left those marks 

- This look on Pangzi's face as Wu Xie just throws away all the caution he'd been arguing with Pangzi with to go chasing after Xiaoge XD

- I have to say, S1 was far superior in terms of set lighting. Most of the time it's so hard to make out anything. Like, I know they're meant to be in a tomb, but would it have killed them to add more set lighting so we could actually see what's going on more consistently?

- I do love this Xiaoge's unimpressed looks. 

- Oh, it's the mirror 

- Again, everything down here is so remarkably dry 

 - Dry enough to have got dusty in mere minutes!

- Intense Xiaoge Stares! All the stares, all the time, all at Wu Xie

- Ooh, old diving equipment. Well spotted. 

- That airtank being crushed like that does not seem to be a good sign 

- I'm with Pangzi. What sounds? The bgm was drowning out everything except speech

- Hahahah. Pangzi all like, no, we don't need to go up, it's not that dangerous, you're just scaring yourself. Then one mention of the Drought Demon and he's like y'know, on second thoughts.... 

- Xiaoge does like his disappearing tricks 

- And reappearing ones

- This is a good shot for a vague creepiness factor

- Baby is so worried

- Oooh, time for dramatic music while we look at dramatic skyscapes and seascapes 

- Wait, is all that water running backward? 

- I have no idea how that is meant to symbolise remembering things, but apparently it does 

- And now, a Xiaoge flashback

- The vases in the tomb 20 years ago were amazingly clean. Somehow they went somewhere between 500-1500 years staying as clean as if new, then in 20 years they got covered in waterscum.

- I am impressed at the seals on their equipment, if dude was able to bring a sketchpad along on a dive and have it be perfectly dry when he took it out to draw on. 

- And all those notebooks, too 

- The flashbacks get MUCH better set lighting

- Boys, boys, don't fight over the priceless antique porcelain like that. You're gonna drop it and break it. 

- Hahah, Xiaoge's trying so hard to ignore this girl 

- Even when she does give him something interesting to look at

- Well, that explains why all the vases were over there and in that order 20 years later for Wu Xie to find

- This kind of chatter is exactly the kind of chatter I'd expect on an excursion to look at things, or a group project. A little bit is relevant, most is just random chatter, and some might actually eventually mean something once they talk it out. It's great

- Oh, if only you knew, Wenjin. If only you knew 

- Hahah, Wenjin yelling at everyone and telling them to stay put, while Xiaoge just calmly ignores her while he puts his backpack on and walks off 

- lol, and then he just staaaaares at her until she lets him go

- Ah, she knows Sanshu so well 

- She's trying to be the grownup here 

- Poor Wenjin. She really can't win either was when she was stuck on an expedition with both Sanshu and Xiaoge

- Apparently these guys all managed to make it through the hallway without any of them triggering the traps 

- Well done, kiddos 

- Poor Wenjin playing babysitter to all these kids, though

- At least 20 years ago the stonework stayed wet after the water receding instead of mysteriously drying off 

- Well. Most of it, anyway 

- The floor, at least 

- I mean, like, kids. You didn't have to follow him. He didn't ask you to. 

- You just decided to

- Well, they were right, Sanshu was there 

- Just not the one they thought he was 

- Oh, that's a door there 

- I love the way Wu Xie and Pangzi in this tend to shine their flashlights in each other's faces to indicate "I think you're full of shit"

- Oh, clever Wenjin, the first one to figure it out 

- So much staring at each other

- Season 2 Evil Hair Count: 3 

- Though so far it's just sneaking down to tickle Wenjin's neck 

- And they go from perfectly dry corridor to wet-floored room 

- For no discernable reason

- And we end the episode mid-flashback, with them gushing over how pretty the Heavenly Palace is 

- And it really is quite pretty 

- No updates to either the Rescue Count or the Swoon Count, and only the single last-minute update to the Evil Hair Count

So, we end with:

Season 2 Xiaoge Rescue Count: 2 for Wu Xie, 2 for protagonists, 3 for everyone

Season 2 Wu Xie Swoon Count: 0

Season 2 Evil Hair Count: 3

Cumulative Xiaoge Rescue Count: 12 for Wu Xie, 17 for protagonists, 18 for everyone

Cumulative Wu Xie Swoon Count: 6