#how weird it would be to exist in a mostly not fantasy world (save for i think trolls and unicorns? but NOT dragons)

[supersecretmetalocalypseblog]

If Charles found out about the prophecy before Black Fire Upon Us, i.e. before he dies/(almost dies??? I've never been fully clear on if he really died or just let everyone believe he did) like would he be stressed out about it?

"A prophecy? That, uh, sounds a bit far fetched and all- I'm sorry, I'm who? The dead man????? I die? That's my job????"

They have to elaborate like "Well, like, yes but it's fine!!! You get to come back or whatever bestie don't sweat it!"

like would he be worried about that? is that something that would cause concern? every time something starts to go wrong and the fans and klokateers start dropping like flies, would it make charles sweat like "oh god when is it gonna happen oh god"

[ourlegendwillbefitforverse]

I was rewatching EEAAO just to feel something and I've always been incredibly fascinated by the characters of Jobu Tupaki and Alpha Waymond- because they both are not what they are presented to us, exactly.

Alpha Waymond, and the whole concept of Alphaverse reminded me of the "older" generations- the way he talked about how things aren't exactly how it used to be and how the Alphaverse mission is to make things how they used to be. Alphaverse has Verse Jumping, and real-life "older" generation has......religion.

Like, the way Alpha Waymond was searching for the perfect Evelyn throughout the multiverse, the Evelyn which can be the "greater good against greater evil"- it echoes the tendency of humans to look for a pariah(Jesus, Mohammad, fantasy and dystopian media is filled with these pariahs). Evelyn stands out to be this hero, the good against the evil, almost a God- in the way she is limitless by the power of Verse Jumping.

Jobu, on the other hand, is labeled as the harbinger of "chaos", an "evil" force, and she stands as a metaphor for how the "older" generations see the new generations- rejecting order and their beliefs, and how instead of nurturing ride-or-die beliefs about reality and trying to foster a past that exists no more, the "newer" generations see the present for what it is- with all its sheer pain and how we're all just trying to make sense of a reality that doesn't even make sense ultimately. Jobu's outfits are a perfect motif for this divide between the two ways of thinking- older people would mostly find Jobu's costumes weird and absurd, the newer generations will appreciate how good she actually looks in them.

And that's where the brilliance of the movie comes out- Evelyn is not your local pariah, defeating the evil and save the day! She understands what's the problem that caused it all in the first place- lack of empathy and communication. All Jobu wanted is answers, to make sense of the world thorough her mother's love- and Evelyn understood that. All these stories of a Chosen One dooms the chosen one by giving them traits of empathy and kindness but then never let them exercise those traits with a character that needs them the most. This divide, this lack of communication between the two generations is the evil- and Evelyn understands that. She not only subverts multiverses with this act of kindness, she bends the whole fucking genre of Chosen Ones.

[hopeymchope]

True confessions from an RE:Zero convert

This might be more of a ramble than my better-organized reviews, but I have a lot to get off my chest.

Personal Backstory: The stuff you skip when reading a recipe

For a long time, I avoided isekai stories. They were so pervasive in anime/manga that I found them quite annoying.

When I first caved, it was only for comedies. I figured that, hey, they're taking the piss out of the genre; that sounds up my alley. So I felt it was safe to enjoy Konosuba. After that, I fell in love with Trapped in a Dating Sim... and to my surprise, it wasn't solely engaging for its overarching comedy. There was more characterization and interpersonal relationship stuff that grabbed me in that one.

That's probably what made me feel more receptive when I saw a couple of people call out Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion as an underappreciated anime highlight of 2023. I gave it a shot one afternoon with only mild expectations for it, and guess what? I adored it.

Yet despite ALL THAT? My expectations for RE:Zero were close to the floor. Raeliana had opened the floodgates, leading me to try some other isekai stories... yet I repeatedly found the ones I tried quite lacking. Furthermore, almost everything I'd read about RE:Zero over the years had been resoundingly negative in spite of its seeming popularity — a real "Sword Art Online" situation, basically.

But eventually, I was curious enough about why some people are invested in these characters that I started giving it a watch. These low expectations left me perfectly disarmed when it began to weave its spell over me.

Storytelling and Worldbuilding: Returning by death

You can neatly divide the show into story arcs, each representing a unique event/hurdle that the protagonist has to get past using his unique power.

The first arc of the story is mostly just setup for some of the important characters and the basic conceit. Our freshly isekai'd Japanese protagonist, Subaru, meets and bonds with a half-elf girl named Emilia, only to soon get tragically murdered. However, he just restarts his life from roughly one day earlier. He can go back in time by dying, giving him a new chance to take new approaches to situations and to accumulate knowledge via loops. Eventually, his "save point" advances to a new point in time... but what causes that to happen is left unknown for now. Making matters even worse is that if he tries to tell anyone about this superpower/curse, he feels intense chest pain as though he's about to be killed... so he has to keep this under wraps. (Though I still wish he'd try to tell people that he can't tell them. We never see if that'd work.)

With Subaru and Emilia established, the second arc introduces the most important supporting characters — Beatrice, Roswaal, Rem and Ram — and also puts one of them through a significant stretch of development. And finally, the third arc takes up the bulk of the series' first season, dealing with... frankly, a LOT. There's a lot crammed into it. You could even argue that it's got multiple smaller arcs stacked inside of it, and that would make complete sense. The third arc definitely does the bulk of the world-building/stage-setting for the future of the series, but there are details and background provided all throughout to get you up to speed on how people think here, how the government works, some of the existing races, etc.

I was initially taken aback by now blasé Subaru is about being transported to another world. This isn't a "death and reincarnation" thing like I've seen in most isekai stories; Subaru just blinks, rubs his eyes, and suddenly he's in a fantasy world just like that. And he... is completely unconcerned and unimpressed by that? It's a weird choice. Combine that with a point late in the first arc where he literally talks to the camera, and I thought maybe we were getting some kind of Deadpool-esque comedic commentary on isekai conventions.

It's the severity of the violence and related agony that makes me take it more seriously than that. I still find animated blood and gore extremely affecting — moreso than fake blood in live-action. That's probably because I was raised on Western animation that contained little to no sign of such violence, whereas Western movies and TV are full of corn syrup and other blood stand-ins. I'm just saying that when the deaths/kills come around in RE:Zero, they hit hard and often quite intensely. They're not showing entrails hanging out (even if they talk about it), but you can expect to see snapping bones and arterial spray. It's still a minority of the time, though; this is NOT a gorefest, and it's better off for that fact. When you suddenly get two minutes of ultraviolence after four episodes of relative peace, that makes it feel all the more effective.

It's not lookin' good there, chief.

I'm an easy mark for this stuff. Some of my primary entry points into anime were horror anime, so playing up this kind of horror gets me to sit up and take notice. It's not going to be anywhere near enough to keep my attention, though. I've certainly watched AWFUL horror anime that had nothing to boast about beyond their gore levels. That's where the quality of RE:Zero's character writing really saves the day.

What's really important to understand is that, through the strength of its gradual buildup of intensity helped along by showing the repeated consequences of failure Re:Zero manages to make some of the big anime shōnen  battles EXTREMELY hype! And yet, thanks to the great characterization? One of my favorite episodes in the whole show is an ep where two characters are just talking the entire time from a single location. THAT is the mark of something I love: If two characters holding a discussion for nearly half an hour has me COMPLETELY GLUED to it.

I've glossed over season two here because, although it still has some excellent moments, it's just not as good as the first. A big part of that is because it's just one giant-huge arc that covers all 26 episodes... and that's a LOT of time to spend on a single ongoing challenge/hurdle. It not only becomes exhausting and kind of boring to be confined to this problem/situation for so goddamn long, but it also makes it extremely obvious when Subaru is going to reach his final time loop and succeed. So once you piece together that the entire season is going to be stuck on this one arc, you realize you're stuck just waiting for him to get close enough to the season's end to finally achieve real progress. Once he does, though? It weirdly manages to feel like it's too soon -- like he didn't do enough to prepare all the problems at hand and somehow just won this time around because he tried super duper hard. There's also the fact that my favorite character from the first season is entirely sidelined (and apparently won't be in season 3 EITHER) — and nobody new manages to step into any similar shoes to pick up the slack.

Sounds like a good time to talk about that that character... as well as the rest.

Characters: The value of growth and change

One of the reasons I got into this so much is because the characters have flaws, go through changes, grow and develop. Rem is an early standout of this. As is apparently a common opinion, she quickly became my favorite character. Her shift from being suspicious and disdainful of Subaru to being 1000% supportive of him is EXTREMELY well-handled, and her sympathetic backstory is also one that we get before most other characters share their own. But when you get down to brass tacks, the main reason I think she's great is because she flips out and goes into violent combat mode whenever anyone she cares about is threatened. :D That's always a favorite archetype of mine. I love me a bloodstained hero or heroine who will march through hell and take any measure of punishment to save someone. Honestly, it makes it hard to understand why he'd so hooked on Emilia when Rem is so peak. And as I mentioned above, a big downside of season 2 is that Rem is completely absent past the first episode. In fact, she won't even be in the upcoming season 3!!! Alas, there is no "person who absolutely tears shit up and covers themselves in the enemy's blood to protect the ones they care about" character who steps in and picks up the slack, so I'm missing my favorite archetype after the first season. TSK.

She's not a princess (a lot of anger in it). Not your cutie girlfriend, oh no, don't you know?

I find it literally depressing that, to date, Rem is STILL not truly back in the cast of the source light novels - not in any way that matters. She makes her cameos via illusions or flashbacks or what-have-you, but she's not really there until she's physically AND mentally present once again. So until she returns to the team with all her memories (and therefore, her all-important character development) intact, I must legitimately ask: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING, NAGATSUKI?!

Enough about Rem: We need to talk about the lead protagonist. Subaru is pretty brave throughout all this but really has to grow over the course of the first season and learn to be less self-serving and invest a lot harder into self-improvement. It's nice to see someone who clearly has blatant personal flaws but also is never a detestable person. I actually first saw him when I watched a few episodes of Isekai Quartet a couple years back, and frankly? I found him pretty loathesome over there. I was fully prepared for him to be a shitheel that I was inexplicably expected to like. I'm so glad that this isn't the case. In fact, I love having a character who wears his heart on his sleeve. He's not too manly to weep openly, and he's not afraid to act like a total doofus... or maybe he’s not smart enough sometimes to realize when he does. And although he may be frequently selfish and kind of stupid on multiple occasions, he never becomes one of those perverted male characters or too egotistical. Well... he gets a bit egotistical at times. Too much for someone like me, but... still not overmuch compared to many, many anime protags.

Panic! After Repeated Trauma

And yet... he does get a bit exasperating by the end of season two, imo. Partly because he doesn't grow too much in season two. At least he gets to confront his bottled-up feelings over leaving his homeworld behind, so that's nice. But otherwise, he's pretty much treated as this perfect man whose only major remaining flaw is a lack of combat skill. By the time you've got him convincing yet ANOTHER long-lived character to never give up and put all their faith into him personally just like he's done multiple times before, and it yet AGAIN works? The swelling music and the emotional reaction of the characters to him speechifying about how he'll always be there for them and needs them... that lands well maybe two times, but by this point — when he's talking to a character who has mostly treated him with disdain/avoidance and whom he's only hung out with maybe five or six times — it's pretty hard to swallow, honestly. But I'll try not to hold that against Subaru... I just want him to show some more flaws in future stories that go beyond just "He's not good at fighting." I want him to lose more arguments again. Besides, one of the best things in season two is when his mind starts to crack under the stress and pain of all the deaths he's endured. I think we should dig deeper into that.

I honestly love seeing a hero begin to crack under the pressure.

I kinda cheated by talking about Rem before Emilia. Emilia's the main female lead, after all, whereas Rem is a supporting player. The thing about Emilia, though, is that she's good and noble and pure-hearted from the start. She doesn't grow at all during season one, though at least she does show us a different side of herself when she questions Subaru's behavior during their argument. Season two sees her face her past and gain new inner strength, but she still undergoes far less change than Subaru or Rem in even just the first season. I'm glad they took the time to show her failing and then needing to learn in order to move forward, but Emilia's maybe just a little too perfect, y'know? One thing that garners her a lot of sympathy is that most everyone who meets her dislikes her just for being born a silver-haired half-elf. So many people associate that with one of the gravest threats to ever exist in this world that Emilia has to endure a lot of racism, and honestly? Confronting that racism is when the character is most engaging. So while Emilia is clearly likable and not totally uninteresting, she's not as interesting as a lot of the other players in the story. Most of the characters run deeper than her or have more mysterious goals. Compared to them, Emilia is an open book who rarely changes. The author of the books has said that Emilia is his favorite character, and maybe that's why he never sees much need to develop her. I think it does her a disservice.

On top of being beautiful and kind and intelligent, Emilia is also a powerful combatant. Because of course she is.

Her relationship with Subaru is a major focus, but it seems sort of hollow at first. Subaru admires her kindness/helpfulness and thinks she's beautiful, so he follows her around and dotes on her as much as he can. It's easy to see why he'd admire someone so good-hearted, but it starts to become a little cringe just how obsessively he dotes on her... and that cringiness peaks right around the moment when the two have a big argument and a falling out. It's an important scene that helps both characters, because it shows us Subaru's flaws on full display and also makes him confront just how cringey his devotion to Emilia can come off. Emilia, meanwhile, walks away to spend time without him for a while... though she never really rejects him, either. She really struggles with being independent. She keeps thinking about him and wishing he'd come back and make up with her. Clearly, she's gotten addicted to having a Hype Man around... and goddamn, I can't even blame her. Subaru looks at Emilia the way Stilgar looks at Paul Atreides. Who doesn't want that level of positive reinforcement available 24/7? By the end of season two, although both of them have grown, Subaru's still relentlessly hyping her up. He did criticize her (softly) in one major season two moment, but despite his claims otherwise, he still acts like she's an angel on Earth. And so, although he pool of their romance has grown deeper, it still feels like we've stepped out of the kiddie pool and into the shallow end. It means a lot more to see a character and their feelings grow and change over time, y'know? I suppose part of why we don't see that happening much is because Emilia is treated as so flawless to begin with.

Something I love in a long-running story is when a minor background character slowly starts to appear more frequently until - surprise! - they become a major cast member and full-time supporting player. Season two does this very successfully, and I love the character they expanded and brought into the cast. I feel like I shouldn't say too much about them for anyone who's a newcomer, because the gradual increase in their presence is so enjoyable. But it's a character who first appears in season one and has to wait numerous episodes of season two before they become important enough to get a front-row seat. It's very satisfying to watch them shift slowly from "fifth-tier supporting character who shows up for two scenes" into "major player."

Other characters? Ram is Rem's sister, and she's... not exactly a wealth of depth. Not yet, at least. She's mostly there to act tsundere. Her exact relationship with Roswaal remains hazy by the end of season 2, but she's clearly devoted to him and he's clearly doing... something for her? Roswaal and Beatrice both get by on acting mysterious. We learn a lot more about them in season two, and what we learn makes it hard to tear your eyes off Roswaal especially — he's a fascinating and weird bastard. Puck is a cat-like spirit with a lot of power and a very mischievious attitude. There's a surprising darkness lurking within him that keeps him from being some cute mascot-type. Season 2 also brings us some new characters whose long-term presence among the cast is still in question, but Echidna (not an Australian monotreme) is a standout. She really made me question everything I thought I understood about the moral good-and-evil situation in this reality.

Get those eyebrows under control. We ARE on television, y'know.

Serial Killin'

The series a whole is SO serialized and SO intense that it's really hard to watch it with gaps in-between episodes. Even taking one day off from the show mid-viewing proved too agonizing for me, so I was really grateful I could tear through seasons 1 and 2 in a rapid binge. I say this because... yeah, I don't see myself watching season 3 as it airs. Maybe I'll do a binge for each story arc it contains when they wrap up, or maybe I'll just wait for the whole season to conclude. But either way? This is something that demands to be binged in rapid succession.

I guess you get my point by now. I'm pretty hype about this series in spite of it holding some noteworthy flaws. I'm surprised I can still get so invested in something that dates back as far as 2016 that I haven't seen yet... and that gives me hope for what else I might discover going forward with my anime viewing.

[livviem-009]

Mephisto - Sherliam & Isekai'd adopted daughter! reader

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Summary: You had a bad dream about your past life and you reflect on what has happened to you and judge your own worth. Was this reality real or were selfish for projecting your own desires? A/N: This fic is half venting and half wish fulfillment. I wrote this to let some things out about what happened earlier. The title of this one is based on the song Mephisto by QUEEN BEE because it explains my feelings about my favorite characters. Trigger Warning: Suicide and Existentialism.

~~~~~~~~

Y/N felt her senses heightened as she fell asleep in her dream again. Her past life was foggy, but it was all too familiar. She feels like a puzzle out of place, a monster from dark origins, and everyone wants her gone. She was content with running away, not noticing the trucks that sent her to this new world. The one from her favorite manga, the one thing keeping her happy and inspiring her through her darkest times. But now she questions herself. Everything about this world is fictional; how was she going to handle things when the fantasy was over? She woke up in a cold sweat and drank the glass of water beside her.

"It’s just a dream, Y/N, it’s just a dream!" She tells herself before sneaking around the mansion to the bathroom.

Everyone’s been so kind to her since she got there, but she was mostly close to William. He adopted her into the family with no hesitation, taught her fencing, and saw her as a competent person even though she made mistakes. Y/N was even close to Sherlock Holmes himself and related to him through his thrill-seeking energy. But they aren’t real, right? After all, she was aware that this was a serialized manga series based on a very old book series. So often, these thoughts pile up in her head, but she doesn’t care since she is having fun. She just enjoyed meeting the characters and subtly thanking them for just existing.

‘But... Do real people say that? ’

Looking up at the mirror in the bathroom, she sees herself. This isn’t what she looks like in the real world. She was boring and weird in the real world, and no one wanted to be near her. Her ranting over characters only seems to push the people in her life away, especially her parents. Oh, how she remembered her father reprimanding her for watching anime instead of learning her new lessons for the new school year. Instead of encouraging her by introducing stuff that is both appealing and educational for her, like a nice person politely suggesting something interesting, Of course, it had to be shoved down, and it was taken as Y/N’s fault for ‘not fitting in’ and ‘being a weirdo. Sure, let your own daughter hate everything in her life just so you can feel superior for putting down others.

‘Did I do anything wrong? ’

They said that to help her, right? Y/N knows that she’s weird, and her family said that they loved her. But why were they trying to hide her so much? They didn’t even know that it got to the point that her darkness manifested inside her. She isn’t perfect, but did they lie about actually loving her?

‘Why... Does this hurt? ’

One day, she gets interested in something that gives her joy. William James Moriarty was her idol, her role model for how to be kind, and someone to admire. He was imperfect, but his nature was in the right place. He was a capable man who would answer for his sins, and after all that misery and despair, his life finally became happy after he was saved by the people he met along the way. To her, he was everything she wanted to be and more. He was admirable for living on

‘... But I’m not him.

Y/N was nothing like that. Reading through each panel, she rooted for him to succeed and wanted him to see how he was deserving of living in the new world he sought to create. For her, he had to live with Sherlock. When she was reborn into their world from the beginning, she met the younger version of them as the Rockwells only daughter. She turned to him for guidance. When she hits her teen years, her happiness stems from solving cases after school with Sherlock and John. She admired the two men; they were so different yet on the same page. Eventually, that admiration turned into a love between parents and child. But her dilemma comes from a different thought: she knew this was fake, so did she just replace her real family and world just for a fantasy to be happy?

‘Selfish…’

Her tears fell. Y/N was selfish. She’d replace her own family—such a selfish wish to be granted by characters who were better than her. Compared to them, she was only an outsider. She only knew how their story ended, and yet, why was she given the opportunity to live with them? Looking up at the mirror again, her face fell. No one truly loved her there; this was the reality she was running away from. No matter what world she lives in, no one really loves her, and she’ll never belong. Standing up, Y/N sneakily went to the weapon room and grabbed a gun.

‘Maybe this will wake me up. Why did I get reincarnated? Why were Liam and Sherly nice to a weirdo fan like me? ’

Her emotions felt numb as she walked towards the open window. Her hair was a mess from crying, but she didn’t care anymore. As she felt the cold night breeze blow through her hair, she adjusted her gun and put it on her head. This opportunity was a gift. Why did someone like her get to be happy while she herself was a monster? All she ever cared about was the lives of people who weren’t real, to the point where she doesn’t care about herself anymore. Before the girl could make the fatal mistake, she was yanked off the window and hit the cold, hard ground.

"What are you doing?" A frantic and scared voice rang out, making her freeze.

Two pairs of arms wrapped around her, giving her a head pat. Hot tears fell as Y/N recognized their voices. William and Sherlock saved her, didn’t they? The girl realized that, while they may be fictional, the feelings she felt for them were real. Every hardship they face inspires her to keep moving on. That’s why she was attached to them; they were her escape and hope. They’re the ones making her stronger, and just living makes her feel better. It’s what people who love you do for you. No matter what, the world she’s in is her reality now. Y/N’s old life was behind her since this world was a blessing and another chance to move on. She hugged her favorite characters close, feeling their warmth as she lost herself in the stories they shared.

"Y/N, are you okay now?" Sherlock asked, looking down.

His little girl was tired from crying. William wanted to stay with the both of them, so they just hugged until sunrise.

[mask131]

It is always a fascinating experience to see people describe their dislike or hatred of, for example, a fantasy series or a fantasy book, when you, yourself, you know that it is objectively good - as in, in term of literature and of book it is good, no matter if you actually like the story or the characters.

In general, it really makes you realize how one's reception and appreciation of a book recently has turned away from actual literary quality, and is now mostly tied to the reader's personal life-experiences and personal world-views.

For example recently - this is why I picked up a fantasy series as an example - I read a fantasy book which had as a main character a composer of music, and made music a part of its plot, a key part. I myself do not know anything about the technicalities of music, but I recognized that there was a real work of information and knowledge placed into this, and despite not knowing anything about higher musical arts, I still perfectly got everything the author was trying to carry - and it worked very well for non-experts, while also clearly being written by someone who knows what they're talking about.

And I randomly found this one person on a blog that said that this was one of the weakest and most dragging parts/aspect of the book because, and I quote, "I get people would be into reading about sword-fighting, or languages, but music? Seriously?"

This person basically said that because they found the subject silly and uninteresting outside of the book (in real life, as this person clearly has no interest in the making of music), the parts dedicated to exploring it and using it for fantasy were bad. And that was it. It wasn't about the handling of the topic, or the writing style, or how well it carried in the plot, it was just about... "Music doesn't interest anyone, so this book who is third about it is already of bad quality".

And I'm not even going to point out the obvious problems a person has when they think that nobody should take interest in music... In fact (and I am a bit jumping around here from point to point), this is something I noticed in online forums and so when it comes to fantasy reviews and fantasy audiences - at least the English speaking ones. One of their very first complaints is "Fantasy books are too generic, they're too cliche, they're too stereotyped" but when someone tries to do something new or bring something added to the table, the same people will criticize it as being too weird or unusual or not interesting enough. And with this specific "music" comment, we can unload a whole can of worms about this sort of strange "reverse-geek-bullying" in fantasy reader groups.

One of the things I appreciate with fantasy stories is variety, the exploration of new territories, the use of new sources of inspiration. A very easy way to do this is simply to focus on a part of life, a trade, a job, an element of culture that hasn't been focused on by "traditional", "archetypal", "stereotypical", "done to eath" fantasies. There are epic fantasy stories about music and the making of it. There high fantasy series about cooking and the art of food. There are weird fantasy series about poetry and how to write a poem. There are mythical fantasy stories about making books, and the numerous jobs surrounding the existence of a book. There are so many stories which aren't about just digging up treasures in lost temples, and making war against evil overlords, and having sex with pretty girls saved from human sacrifices. Fantasy series where people often overlooked in fantasy - cooks, writers, musician, poets - will have a prominent place and an important role. And what happens?

Some idiots just come in and mock this/insult it, and they typically do what bullies in real-life do when they call someone's interest or passion "geeky" or "nerdy". The two words are never spoken or outright written in their reviews, but when you consider their sentences, their points, their logic, which is "This author has a passion for a specific craft or a specific hobby I do not enjoy/I find boring/I find weird, so this is bad", you actually can hear in their unspoken word the same cries of "Look at this nerd!" or "What a geek!" bullies shouted upon seeing kids enjoy video games, play role-playing games or reading science-fiction books ; talk eagerly about math, or share a love for classical literature, or enjoy computer coding.

This is literaly the same logic, but in a very bizarre way, applied to fantasy reviews and the appreciation of fantasy literature.

I don't know if that's related to specific fandoms and authors fan-base in the fantasy world, or if it is a recurring phenomenon everywhere - but there's clearly a faction of "fantasy readers" and "fantasy fans" you must be aware of, who will complain if something is too "that was done before" and be unhappy if they are given "something that hasn't been done before". They want non-archetypal character, but standard plot-focus ; they want stereotype-breaking worlds, but that the author has the same interests as them ; they want to not see specific tropes they know too well, and yet they refuse to read about stuff they do not know about. They're just infuriating little bugs, who somehow manage to perpetuate within the world of fantasy enjoyers the same behavior little school-bullies had towards fantasy-enjoyers back in the old decades when fantasy "wasn't cool".

In fact, I wonder if this behavior isn't somehow related to the fact that fantasy became much more widespread, normal, recognized and "cool" - meaning the type of idiots who mocked non-usual and deemed-weird subjects got "absorbed" within the fantasy sphere, and simply switched from "Let's not care about fantasy cause it's weird and not real literature" to "Okay, fantasy can be good since everybody is into it, but let's still disdain and reject weird stuff within fantasy".

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 3/5

Book Blurb: From the author of Monsters Born and Made comes an action-packed South Asian inspired fantasy that will have your heart racing at every turn. Seventeen-year-old Krescent Dune is buried under the weight of her dead parents' debt and the ruinous legacy they left behind. The only way she can earn enough money to escape her unforgiving island is by battling monstrous creatures in an underground fighting pit.

After a fight goes terribly wrong, she's banned from the pits. Now hopeless, she is offered a deal: in exchange for the erasure of her debts, she must join and protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the island. 

Krescent is determined to keep her head down and fulfill her role as the dutiful bodyguard, even though she is trapped underground with her childhood enemy and a company of people who would gladly kill her if they knew who her parents were. As they come across creatures she believed only existed in legends, it becomes clear they are in far more danger than she could have imagined.

But someone doesn't want her to make it out alive. And she'll have to figure out who before she's left alone…in the dark. 

Review:

Taking place in the same world as Monsters Born and Made, set in a parallel time line, the story follows seventeen year old Krescent Dune, forced to fight monsters in pit battles to make money and deal with the burden of being hated by all because her parent's debts and legacy for mass murder has tainted her. All Kress wants to do is get enough money to pay off her parents debts and escape the island filled with people who hate her save for her best friend Rivan. When a battle goes wrong and she is betrayed, Kress is forced to accept a job from the Collector in which she must protect a hunting party for a rescue mission deep within the mining caves beneath the sea, and if she succeeds her debts will be erased. What she didn't expect for her mission was that she two people who hate her beyond reason are also part of the journey and her best friend has snuck himself there to protect her as well... oh and that the mission was completely false and that she is being sent to hunt down deadly creatures instead. Kress will need to find a way to get out of these deadly caves before it takes both her and Rivan's life. This is a vastly different vibe from the first book and definitely works for anyone who enjoys action adventure stories with a tiny bit of romance. Kres has had to deal with so much hate and danger and still maintain her kindness. Rivan is a sweet love interest for her and they have a best friends to lovers kind of relationship. The story focuses mostly on the expedition and the dangers of the cave and the people in the group. Overall it was okay but I guess I just was hoping for more, the overall resolution in the third part felt rushed and a bit meh. I am curious how the third book will go and if the two main characters from each of the books will meet. It's definitely a weird way to expand the book universe without actually writing a sequel, but it's unique I'll give it that.

*Thanks Netgalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire, Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

[1986hell]

Secret Monsters AU

I’ve talked about this before on @ludabug ‘s post but I need to rewrite and elaborate.

The basic premise is that everyone in the main cast is some kind of magical creature but nobody else knows so everybody thinks they’re the only one.

Since no one is human, they all think the other’s behavior is completely normal and so they ignore completely obvious magical signs. 

Steve smells like wet dog in the rain? Must be a jock thing.

Ms. Wheeler knew Will wasn’t dead despite his “body” having been found? She has great intuition. 

Eleven can flip cars with her mind? She’s just a special type of human. 

Lukas was completely uninjured after Eleven threw him? He’s just built different. 

Robin was singing in some unfamiliar language? Must be a weird Fresh dialect.

There are a few pairs who know about each other like Robin (siren) and Steve (werewolf). But for the majority, everyone thinks they’re alone in this manner. 

Eleven is a full-blooded fae, who thinks she’s just a human with powers. This does not come out until she re-meets Papa in season 4. 

Seasons 1-3 go relatively similarly expect for a few moments when the party subtly uses their powers to save each other. Hence, not everyone dies but most still do because magical creature does not equal magical healing. 

Enter: Eddie Munson

The boys are 100% convinced he’s a part of the magical community in some way. Most likely a vampire. No normal human would be this interested in a fantasy game unless they were already familiar with it? He’s got whole books of information memorized just for making new adventures. 

But nah. He’s their token human.

(And if you want to add Steddie to it, Steve doing a werewolf courting ritual thinking that Eddie knows about these things and Eddie is totally oblivious to the fact that he’s playing hard-to-get.)

During the Vol 2 fiasco, some of them try to “subtly” tell him that they’re also a monster and he (having no idea that monsters exist) think that they’re all coming out to him. He’s so confused because as nice as it is that they trust him, it’s kinda wrong place, wrong time.

Eddie lives because Dustin runs out with him and uses his powers to save them both.

And yet… Eddie still comes out of it with a concussion and no idea that magical creatures exist because this reveal wouldn’t be dramatic enough.

It all comes out in the most mundane way possible. I haven’t decided how yet but I do have some ideas. It’s got to be something that’s hilarious (at least in hindsight) and reveals pretty much everyone all at once.

My best idea so far is they’re all having a ‘We Survived the End of the World/Eddie Got His GED’ pool party at Steve’s house in the Summer. Something spooks one of them and there’s a chain reaction of everybody instinctually using their powers like a Rube Goldberg machine. 

Once everybody stops staring at each other, mostly everyone starts talking at once, asking questions, demanding to see powers, etc. Everyone is exasperated that they wasted a lot of time and put themselves in extra danger by not revealing this sooner.

Eddie is just sitting in the corner whispering, “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!”

[wyrmfedgrave]

Pics:

1. Lena Heady is a British actress best known for: "Games of Thrones", "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles", "The Jungle Book", "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance ", "Masters of the Universe: Revelation", "The Brothers Grimm" & Zach Snyder's "300"!!

She was born in Bermuda, but, now lives in, both, London & LA.

Weird Bit: For "Games of Thrones," she learned how to ride horses, shoot arrows & how to skin rabbits!

At home, she likes to practice yoga & how to box...

2. Cole Hauser is an American actor best known for: "2 Fast 2 Furious", "Good Will Hunter", "Yellowstone", "ER", "Pitch Black", "Chronicles of Riddick", "Olympus Has Fallen", "A Good Day to Die Hard", "Dazed & Confused"; plus, "Transcendence."

Has a long & impressive career - even though he dropped out of high school - to pursue acting & professional soccer! He lives in LA.

Weird Shit: His great grandpa helped found the great Warner Bros Studios!

3. The poster for "The Cave" seems to correctly(?) describes the Earth as being a demonic location!! Remember, "Below Heaven, there's Earth!" "Below Earth, there's Hell"... "Below Hell, there's... the "Cave"!!

4 & 5. Behind-the-scenes photos of the movie's creature FX.

1906: The Earth is Not Hollow.

Intro: This is an American-Dutch horror flick, with an emphasis on the creature FX.

Exterior scenes were mostly shot in Bucharest, Romania. This serves as the story's above ground setting.

However, the watery underground cave system was shot at the Hidden World Cenote (a well) Park in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Plot: A small team of spelunkers (cave explorers) enter a vast subterranean cavern, to find out what happened to an earlier expedition.

After following long, cramped stream, they become trapped a mile beneath the surface!

Worse, it soon becomes clear that something else lives down here. And, that they're not harmless...

The crew of the original expedition have been mutated into monsters - by underwater parasites!!

(Such a large & complex evolution would normally take millenia to occur.)

These things attack the cave divers & the movie just becomes another survival genre type of film.

One character is eaten outright. A 2nd one's hauled up a cliff face & another leaps onto the back of a flying thing!!

The rest of the crew are chased thru dark 'corridors' deep under of the Earth!

Following a cold stream, they emerge where it merges with a regular river.

Only 3 characters return to the upper world - 1 of which has been infected!!

(The parasite's been trying to get out onto the surface for millennia!)

Sometime later, 2 of the survivors meet at a cafe's sidewalk table.

There, it's revealed who's brought the parasite to the outer world...

Criticism: Decently crafted, but, not very original. The original creature FX are among the few, true moments of entertainment.

(What does that even mean?)

This work is kind of a mix of "Alien", "Predator" & quite a lot of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre"!!

Should appeal to viewers who like unusual locations, a fast pace & lots of jump scares.

If you're seeking more credible fare, please exit this theater. We'll wait...

Now, although it's a violent movie, the monster attacks are way too frenetic!

There's splashing water, quick cuts & short peeks of the monsters' bodies to deal with.

Shooting movies this way, makes it very hard to follow what's going on.

But, I understand that it's done to save money on 'dressing' the set & to curtail the use of SFX...

Notes:

1. There seems to be some kind of evolution going on for subterranean stories on these list.

Specifically, the list starts out with whole cavern worlds serving as primal jungle adventures.

These existed in conjunction with ancient races & utopian fantasies...

Not so anymore.

By 2005, these locations are getting closer, becoming far more personal.

From wide, cradled worlds down to ever tight, suffocating spaces.

From primal sociopolitical concerns to basic human survival...

2. Movie fans know that, sometimes, two films will come out bearing the same premise!

So, audiences get to experience some rather similar dualities.

In 2005, we had "The Cave" & "The Descent" come out in the same year.

3. Both concern spelunking horrors, but, represent different subgenres: grim survival & revenge 'fantasy'!!

"The Cave" is a horror thriller - with ravaging monsters.

And, "The Descent" seems to be nothing but, more of the same.

Yet, "Decent's" monsters might be nothing more than a damaged psyche's self delusions or just plain lies...

Anyway, we've moved on, out from fantastical worlds & down into our own personal thoughts.

Which I find fascinating - &, scary as heck...

[earnestly-endlessly]

kind of an odd request — do you have fics where erik is grumpy with everyone else but a ray of sunshine with charles?

Hi anon, thank you for the ask. First and foremost, I'm so sorry for how long this took me but I've been searching for all the fics that come to mind that fit your request. Second, this is not an odd request because I love this trope so much. I mean, it's basically canon that he's grumpy with everyone except for his Charles, right? Anyway, I might add to this list later on, but I can't sit on this any longer and hope that you have found some fics that you enjoy!!

Fic Recs Where Erik is grumpy with everyone but a ray of sunshine with Charles

Twice as Blind – Darksknight

Summary: Erik is probably the biggest asshole on the face of the earth, and because of this, he'll probably die alone. Charles is a complete flirt and playboy and, probably, will never commit to anyone ever.

(The lesson here is that when you have two friends who are BOTH secretly seeing someone, well, it's probable that they're seeing each other.)

In the moonlight, on a joy ride – scarlettblush

Summary: Librarian AU. Charles is the young librarian and Erik is the college student who is completely besotted with him.

The Proper Care of Actors – Clear_Liqueur, Clocks, Etherei, afrocurl

Summary: Erik is an A-list action star who is notoriously difficult to work with, until the day he gets cast alongside Charles Xavier, rom-com darling who can charm the pants off movie audiences the world over and apparently even one Erik Lehnsherr. The paparazzi catch them out and about soon enough, and their real-life Hollywood movie romance becomes instant tabloid fodder.

Rumor Mill – ikeracity

Summary: Erik is the grumpiest, most foul tempered worker at Stark industries. His grumpiness is the stuff of legends.

So it's obviously the talk of the office when Erik is being made to go to the company party and he's bringing his husband. There's rumors flying round about how much of a masochist or equally antisocial bastard Erik's husband must be to put up with him. Others think he must be a meek mouse perhaps bullied by Erik.

What they weren't expecting was the confident, charming, adorable and unbelievably nice Charles that turns up on Erik's arm. What they certainly weren't expecting was how much Erik obviously adores his husband and how happy he is to let others see this.

Work/Life Balance – pocky_slash

Summary: Alex is pretty sure his weird, anti-social boss is a robot. Right up until the guy's adorable husband shows up. His adorable husband who happens to be a famous actor. His adorable husband who happens to be the very same famous actor who was the source of many of Alex's teenage fantasies.

Terrifying Domesticity – ishipitsobad

Summary: Erik is the most dangerous and notorious mafia boss around for miles, and yet the strangest things terrify him.

For example: his children, and his very pregnant mate.

Of kittens and teacups and love – Ren

Summary: Modern AU in which Charles and Erik are flatmates. Charles studies psychology and likes tea and chess and keeps bringing home stray kittens, and Erik lets him because he's maybe perhaps a little bit sort of in love with him.

Fools Rush In – LoveSupreme

Summary: Erik owns a cafe on the edge of campus and accidentally starts maybe-stalking a Biology Professor there.

Growing Pains – ikeracity

Summary: Twelve-year-old Erik Lehnsherr is an angry, closed-off foster kid with trust issues and a bad temper. Ten-year-old Charles Xavier is a lonely kid in boarding school who just wants a friend.

Logan pretends he doesn't think they're both fucking adorable.

Series

Home Together (The Finding Our Way Remix) – significantowl

Summary: Erik is not the sort of person other students strike up conversations with. His expression, his posture, every part of his manner say: Don’t talk to me. I don’t want to talk to you. But none of that stops the boy ahead of him in line with the collapsible white cane, and nothing can stop Erik from falling for him, like it or not.

Melted Ice Cream and Macaroni Art – pocky_slash

Summary: Everybody likes Charles. Nobody likes Erik. And that's really the source of Erik's doubts. Also, there's ice cream and a baby. Part of ‘the Daycare’ verse.

Walling in or Walling Out – stlkrchck

Summary: Erik stifles a sigh. Of course this is Mr. C. F. Xavier. Of course.

For the prompt: Charles and Raven are throwing a holiday party. Erik is the grumpy neighbor who is annoyed by how loud they are being. So he goes to complain, and Charles makes it up to him.

(Wise Men Say) Only Fools Rush In – wildelybroken

Summary: After reading a fic where Erik and Charles are super sluts, meet at what is presumably Raven and Emma's engagement party, and end up sleeping together, I made the following comment and just inspired myself.

"They start casually texting each other throughout the day, maybe while they’re bored or frustrated at work, and start out meeting up and sleeping together semi-frequently. And eventually they accidentally start dating without noticing it at first, not until Raven and Emma get them alone and are like “wtf you two super sluts are actually dating??” And at first they deny, but then they’re both like “holy shit, we are!” And they meet back at one of their places and they don’t have to say anything, they just look at each other and come together immediately, kissing passionately and ~making love~. In the middle of it they realise that’s what they’ve been doing for a long time now and they confess their love to each other and they live happily ever after because they deserve all the good in the world."

For Charles – Shigai

Summary: Tired of being told he has to find his 'heart', classical piano graduate Erik Lehnsherr decides to travel to Italy and drink from the famous Italian passion for music. While searching for it, he meets Charles Xavier, a graduate in Fine Arts who is basically travelling around the world perfectioning his technique, and who will turn his world upside down.

Together they will discover that, sometimes, what you thought you didn't need is what you needed the most.

Erik Hates People – Anonymous

Summary: Erik hates people- it's his rule, a way of living.

Sugar – humanitys_cutest

Summary: Erik glances at the clock for what feels like the tenth time in less than half the minutes. It feels like he's been in some meeting or other since the day started almost 10 hours ago, and he's had just about enough of listening to these pompous old men discuss what would be the best design for his building like they know anything about it. He tries as subtly as possible to massage his temples to assuage the building migraine, but he knows it's no use.

He just wants to go home.

Everyone Likes Charles – Rosawyn

Summary: '“Everyone who's met him likes him.” Cain's grin was even stupider than before. “Once you meet him, you'll see.”

It was almost like a challenge then. And damn. Erik hated saying no to a challenge.'

Still Going Strong – JackyJango

Summary: Speaking of forty-eight, Erik hates it. Hates it even more that others are aware of it. While he’s pragmatic enough to know and accept that aging is inexorable, the increase in number gives the people around him the freedom to pounce at him with questions, opinions and advice he'd fought to keep at bay all year.

Besides, Erik believes that youth is a state of mind, not a phase in one’s life.

You have a child’s mind in a man’s body, Charles constantly tells him.

But despite his age, Erik is healthy. He works out daily. His muscles are steel and he can dead-lift four hundred pounds. He can break bones without breaking a sweat. Most importantly, he can still carry Charles to the bedroom and fuck him senseless. And as long as Erik can do that, he’s perfectly happy.

All I know is pouring rain and everything has changed – hllfire

Summary: Charles meets Erik, the man he had heard about many times from his sister and some friends, on a rainy Sunday morning. The stories about Erik paint him as a distant and intimidating man, but Charles finds out that maybe the stories had been wrong.

How to Successfully Ruin Your Life – humanveil

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Charles Xavier accepts a job at his local café, expecting nothing more than a fun, new pastime. What he gets is a mysterious customer and a schoolboy crush.

Stolen – ishipitsobad

Summary: Erik is a miserable, grumpy, cantankerous bastard, and he has every fucking right to be. He drew the short end of the stick when he got the Underworld as his domain, and there isn't very much fun to be had in judging and governing dead souls who would rather be anywhere else but with Erik in the depths of Hell.

So when he meets Charles, brilliant and lovely Charles who is more popularly known amongst the mortals as Persephone, and feels the promise of something wonderful that could make his eternally doomed existence infinitely more bearable... you can bet all your drachmas Erik's not going to let Charles go any fucking time soon.

Erik Lehnsherr's Guide to Saving the Universe By Meeting Your Soul-Mate and Falling in Love in Less than 72 Hours – magneto, pangea

Summary:Army Pilot Erik Lehnsherr is just trying to enjoy his day off when a mostly naked person crashes through the roof of his car. Even more alarming, the strange falling naked person—who goes by Charles Xavier when he's not speaking an ancient dead language—brings tidings of the apparent potential end of the world, and begs Erik to help him put a stop to it.

Well. His mother has been nagging at him to go out and meet new people.

The Theory of Partnership Dynamics – Pangea

Summary: “Detective Lehnsherr, how wonderful to see you out on the job!” The fed in the front greets him as they draw nearer. He’s shorter than the other two by a full head, and he’s beaming at Lehnsherr as if completely undeterred by Lehnsherr’s paint-peeling scowl.

“What do the feds want?” Lehnsherr asks bluntly.

“You know I can’t tell you that,” the fed answers cheerfully. Then his gaze lands on Alex, and, impossibly, his grin gets even brighter. “Did you get a new partner?"

“No,” Lehnsherr says through his teeth while at the same time Alex says, “Yes.”

[grittyreadsfic]

hello my friends, one singular person asked for this weeks ago so i’m here with my most unhinged rec list yet: tk and nolan.

now, this one was hard to reign in, so i really didn’t. this pairing had maybe 230 fics in the tag when i first started reading hockey fic, and it’s now over 900, and i’ve read far too many of them, and that makes it so hard to parse it down. so i just...didn't!

so with that said, please enjoy so you want to get into tknp: a beginners guide to a classic case of idiots to lovers

i told myself that i couldn’t rec an author’s entire body of work but then i remembered this is my blog and i do what i want, so i did some consolidating. here’s a list of the quintessential authors for this pairing, you can start at any of their profiles and pick any of their fics at random, and it’ll be one of the best ones for the pairing, hands down.

therainbowsedge: i’d start with the summer camp fic, or the sex toys one, as both beautifully capture the true idiots to lovers nature of this pairing, but just top tier writing all around

manybumblebees: the wedding fic is so tender and port stanley is a classic, but literally pick any single fic and you’ll have a perfect tknp fic. i’m not kidding

jamesvanriemsdick: their tknp fics in their series are some of the hidden gems of this pairing (the tk heartbeat fic makes me LOSE it) but the delaware fic or the seattle fic…..there’s really something for every mood

catchascatchcan: start with era of gods because i could write literal essays on how it’s some of the best fantasy worldbuilding i’ve ever read, but then just read everything else on their account, including non tknp fics. you won’t regret it

hackysack: ao3 user hackysack has written one of two timeloop fics that i absolutely adore, and i thought about just calling that one out in particular, but all of their work deserves the attention

canary: nothing to prove was the first tknp fic i ever read and i was immediately hooked. all of their fics are a good starting place for the pairing, and just really give you a feeling for the pairing

and now, for the fic recs!

to be, despite it all by smudgedfreckles

summary: or, nolan patrick’s gender thesis, by travis konecny.

why i love it: there’s not a lot ofo nonbinary characters in media, even in fic, but this fic’s treatment of nolan and their path to figuring out their gender just feels so real and made me feel so seen. tk’s characterization is also just top notch, and it’s just a super sweet story about two people who love each other

last ones standing by makeit_takeit

summary: If you’re committed to finding your future spouse, reads the last line of the ad, and are ready to look at yourself and your love life in a whole new way, apply now.

At the bottom of the ad there’s a link, and Travis finds his finger hovering over the screen, lip still caught between his teeth.

“I mean,” he says very reasonably, speaking out loud to his empty apartment like some sort of possibly-crazy person, “just applying doesn’t mean anything. Maybe I just fill it out, and see what happens. It’s not like I’m really gonna get picked to be on TV, come on.”

He snorts out loud, just to show his apartment he hasn’t lost his grip on reality or anything; he fully understands how ludicrous that would be.

Then he clicks the link anyway, because yolo or whatever.

why i love it: what part of a married at first sight fic doesn’t make you want to immediately dive right in? the concept is fun, the execution is absolutely flawless, and it captures their dynamic so well while letting it develop naturally

motivation by connectknee

summary: Kevin knows when to back off, the article said. He knows just when to shut up and leave Patty alone, something Travis has never known how to do.

why i love it: the thing i love about this pairing is that tk is loud and in your face, and nolan’s more reserved, a little quieter, a little harder to read. this fic does a really great job of exploring how tk could feel like maybe he’s just a bit too much and is one of my favorites in terms of miscommunication

a tenderness grows by rusesdeguerre

summary: Nolan wouldn’t say that landing a job as the Philadelphia Flyers’ psychotic and probably clinically insane mascot was a childhood dream of his. Maybe tangentially: playing pond hockey in –30°C weather and pretending to be Sidney Crosby is practically a rite of passage when you grow up in Manitoba. That, and experiencing the distinct displeasure that is thousands of mosquitoes sucking your blood out when your father drags you on a father-son camping trip into the backwoods of the northern Canadian Prairies.

why i love it: this was the first fic i recced on this blog, and i stand by that decision. a fic where nolan is not only not a hockey player, but is in fact the person in the gritty suit? absolutely perfect, and so charming from start to finish

meet me at my window by springsteen

summary: Travis has lived in Philadelphia for a few years now, long enough to know there isn’t a major city in America where superheroes don’t destroy an entire city block trying to save humanity or whatever. He can deal with all the super-shit, but Travis did not sign up for getting woken up from a deep sleep because some fucker’s trying to break in through his window.

(5 times the super-villain known as "The Cat" breaks into Travis's apartment, plus 1 time Travis invites him in.)

why i love it: there’s a lot of things to love here, but the concept is just absolutely one of my all time favorite aus ever. it’s fun and charming and the perfect glimpse into a world where heroes and villains exist, and what it’s like just to be a run of the mill kind of guy existing in it. tk and nolan’s back and forth in this make it so engaging, and it’s such a top tier fic

body’s in trouble by cloudsandpassingevents

summary: “Oh, sorry,” someone says. “Didn’t know anyone else was here.”

Nolan freezes, then turns around very slowly. When he looks up, Nicklas fucking Backstrom is standing behind him in a hoodie and baggy sweats, holding the biggest bag of Swedish Fish Nolan’s ever seen in his life in one hand.

“Uh,” Nolan says around the pop tart between his teeth. “Yeah.”

What the fuck, his brain helpfully supplies.

why i love it: from nolan’s inner voice, to the way the author explores all the dynamics within the team, to the way they write the unexpected but actually, it kind of makes sense friendship between nolan and backstrom, is just absolutely fantastic. there’s a lot of moments that circle back and build on each other in a way that really just makes it super compelling

rhizomatic foundations by lighthousetowers

summary: Twenty days after he moves in with Kevin Hayes, twenty days – three months, five months, depending on how you look at it – after not talking to TK, TK shows up at the front door with a plant the size of a basketball in his hands.

TK grins. "Patty, meet Reginald." He lifts up the plant. "Reggie, meet Patty. He's going to be your new - caretaker."

"What the fuck," says Nolan, not moving a single muscle.

Or: That Nolan can hear the plant talk might as well just happen.

why i love it: this is probably my favorite magical realism fic just about ever. it’s fun and charming and a little weird, but in the best possible way. there’s such a wonderful narrative in it, and lighthousetowers always has such beautiful writing, and it really shines in this one. the dialogue and nolan’s characterization are also part of what set it apart for me as one of the best tknp fics

in the dark of any town by mengetpegged

summary: If the voice has an accent at all, it’s a flat prairie Canadian, with none of G’s French-Canadian softness at the edges. But mostly, the accent is just ‘pissed off,’ which TK believes is a default setting for ghosts.

“Who are you?” TK asks, and he doesn’t like how strained his voice sounds, doesn’t like the tinge of anxiety tinting the rise of his question. He tries to regulate his breaths—in through his nose, hold, out through his mouth—but it feels like he’s not getting enough oxygen, which makes him panic even more.

“Someone with a fucking migraine, dickhead,” the voice says. “So keep the lights off and shut the hell up.”

(or: Nolan Patrick, Hotel X Ghost)

why i love it: i’m usually not super into ghost fics, both the spooky kind and the nonspooky kind, but this one is a rare exception. it’s charming and fun and tender and it’s got some of, in my opinion, the best characterization of tk and nolan in any fic. the way the author writes their dynamic and their dialogue is just unmatched

lets_make_this_moment_a_crime.mp3 by honeydripping

summary: Travis meets Nolan at a Midtown show in 2002 when he punches Nolan in the face. He can’t help it, “Like A Movie” just goes off.

But he does feel guilty about it.

or

TK and Patty work at a bakery together. They go to punk shows to pass the time.

why i love it: idk if anyone asked for an early 2000s emo/punk/alt au but wow! i sure am glad it exists! really the vibes of this fic, as silly as that sounds, are absolutely unmatched. i love the structure with the music, the development of their relationship, and just everything about how the author wrote the setting (there’s this whole thing with tattoos in it that makes me feel absolutely insane)

you’re ripped at every edge by you’re a masterpiece by conformityissuicide

summary: “Ugh, look, this yoga teacher has it out for me, man. And I can’t go back there without at least having some of the basics down. I’ve got to win this battle.”

“Yoga isn’t really something you win at,” Hartsy starts.

Travis cuts him off, “You can win at anything if you try hard enough.”

+++

OR that time Nolan's a grumpy yoga teacher and Travis realizes he wants to bone him and prove him wrong about Travis' non-existent yoga abilities.

why i love it: listen, if you want tknp, at least one of them has to be an idiot, and this tk absolutely captures the obliviousness i love to see in him in fic. it’s such a great characterization of them both and such a great concept (and even better execution)

you form a terror pack (and i’m aware of that) by dalmatienne

summary: “Can I help you?” TK snarks, both eyebrows hiked up in a way that has earned her many elbow checks to the ribs.

The chick looks down her nose, long thick eyelashes fluttering. Red-bitten lips part to blow a florid pink bubble and TK can smell the chemical sweetness when it pops.

“Yeah,” she says in this monotonous voice that seems almost at odds with her bubble gum and neon skates. She jams her stopper into TK’s thigh again, literally inches away from where it’d really hurt. “Tie ‘em.”

why i love it: to be honest, i generally don’t read rule 63 within hrpf, but this one is just absolutely knocks it out of the park. the concept (i fuckin’ love roller derby), the characterization of nolan, the pacing, the rituals, the tone of the entire fic, it’s just all around a perfect read from start to finish

thrills and grills by bitter_leaf

summary: Travis can’t even begin to wonder what he did in a previous life to incur the wrath of this fucking cook. Travis thinks he’s a nice person, doesn’t conduct himself in any way that could be considered particularly dickish, and unless this guy has some sort of issue with hockey bros or people from the boonies, he’s not sure how he started shit without even knowing.

__

Patty has a vendetta. Travis just wants to eat his eggs in peace.

why i love it: honestly this is the enemies to lovers fic i’ve been waiting for. i remember seeing the reddit post when it first went viral and thinking it would make such a great fic premise, so stumbling across this one was just so wonderful. super engaging and fun and so hilarious to read!

nothing but room for you by fightingfuries

summary: When his agent tells him he’s going to be traded to the Devils, Nolan isn't sure how he feels about it. Might be easier if he was going somewhere farther away, like California or fucking Florida. Somewhere sun-soaked and foreign. Someplace so different from Philadelphia that he can forget he ever played for the Flyers, forget everything that happened there.

Or Nolan fucks up, gets traded, gets his shit together and falls in love. Not necessarily in that order.

why i love it: i cannot stress to you how much i love trade fics, and this one is one of my absolute favorites. the trade to the devils-so close to philly, still, but there’s more to distance than physical miles-was such an excellent choice and the split timeline adds so much to the narrative, and the emotions are real and messy and complicated in the best way

a couple of runaways (i’m glad you stayed) by overturnedgoal

summary: The person in the video he’s watching is super annoying. Some obnoxious holier than thou granola type who keeps talking about their environmental impact as if they aren’t driving a gas guzzler around, but the basic idea of living in a van, driving around wherever, camping all the time, just going hiking and swimming and seeing the whole country? It sounds pretty dope, honestly.

why i love it: i like to watch tours and conversions of vans/buses into tiny homes as a self soothing method, and this fic has the same impact that watching those do. it’s such a fun concept, and it’s so fuckin’ soft, and the dialouge between tk and nolan is just *chef’s kiss*

all candor and style in the crook of your smile by p3trichor

summary: It’s a photo of Nolan on his knees with someones’ fingers in his mouth, lips slick with spit. Travis flicks by it almost too fast and he’s only got seconds to decide if he wants to screenshot it, if he wants to just give up the ghost right then and there. Except Travis’s phone freezes momentarily and then the group refreshes, sidcros87, Bert59 and 14 others took a screenshot!

It’s gone before Travis even has time to process it and he already wasted his replay of the day on a stupid video of a stupid fish that Hayes caught.

Can you send me that screenshot Travis texts Bertuzzi before he can overthink it, his dick already stirring in his sweats. Tuzzi sends back the cry-laughing emoji and then the screenshot before Travis can be too annoyed at him.

Or, Nolan is being weird about Travis's break-up and TK is maybe not straight.

why i love it: i genuinely don’t think i have words for the amount i love this fic. it took me forever to actually read, but it’s absolutely one of my favorite fics, and it’s an absolutely riot to read. carter’s meddling and the presence of tyler bertuzzi both make it extra fun, in my humble opinion

[goldie90]

What kind of weird things the Sawyers believe in.😄

Warning: Don´t take this too seriously.😉

Bubba: 

Please don´t laugh, but he still believes in Santa Claus.🎅

And the easter bunny. 🐰

Yes, it´s true, he never lost this childish belief and no one - not even Drayton - has the heart to tell him otherwise and take it from him by doing so.😊

And so it comes that every year on christmas eve, when Bubba is again providing milk🥛 and cookies🍪 for Santa, the rest of the family doesn´t say anything about it. No, we simply smile about it and later when Bubba is asleep, the twins will fight about who´s going to eat the cookies.🙄

There are also some other things Bubba does believe in, which are much weirder than Santa Claus or the easter bunny, but I have to say, it´s not his fault.

No, it´s because Chop told him about some things he believes in and because Bubba is pretty influenceable, especially when it comes to things his brothers are telling him, he now believes in them, too. But that´s a topic, I will talk about later. 

Nubbins:

Well, my dear husband doesn´t really believe in any weird things, mostly because he ´s simply not interested in them.

If Chop tells him about his weird beliefs, he just shrugs it off, without giving it a second thought. He simply doesn´t care. 

But there´s one thing he believes, that´s actually pretty weird (even though I would never dare to tell him so🤐). He´s actually convinced, that it´s possible to build a house out of headcheese.🤢😟

I don´t even know how he came up with this (seriously, no one does), but he´s talking about it for quite some time by now. 

In his opinion, it is just a great idea. Just think about the benefits a headcheese house would have. If you live in such a house and you are hungry, you can simply take a bite right out of the wall in your living room, or your bedroom or whichever room you want. It´s just perfect.🙄

The only problem as he told me, is that there´s a really great amount of headcheese needed to build such a house (yes, he actually thinks that this is the only problem😅)

He´s still not sure what the exact amount is, but he tries his best to figure it out. 

Chop Top:

Out of the whole family, he´s definitely the one with the weirdest beliefs and let me tell you, he has quite a lot of them.

Firstly there are of course the aliens.👽🛸 Chop is absolutely convinced that they exist. If you ask him, he would tell you that he thinks there have to be other life forms on almost every planet. In his opinion it´s only logical. If there´s life on earth, then why shouldn´t there be life in other places of the universe, too?

One of his biggest wishes (beside meeting Cher and Sonny Bono in person🙂) is to meet an alien one day. 

Yes, he´s even low key hoping to be abducted by them, cause damn, that would be groovy!🙄

Another thing he wholeheartedly believes in is the loch ness monster. It just have to exist! Also, there are people who claim that they have seen it, right? That´s proof enough for him. The loch ness monster exists and if you try to tell him otherwise, he simply refuses to listen.🙄

Of course, the loch ness monster can´t be the only sea monster in the world, no there have to be more of them. They probably live in every lake and every ocean (at least, that´s what Chop thinks😩)

And while we´re talking about sea monsters, let us not forget the sea people,🧜‍♂️🧜‍♀️ who are of course also existing. Also, they are another life form that Chop would love to meet in person one day. (He´s actually thinking about making a trip to the sea, just to search for them.🙄)

He mayyybe have this fantasy about almost drowning in the ocean and being saved by a beautiful mermaid.🧜‍♀️😉💘

He´s also absolutely convinced that there are elfs which are regulary stealing his socks🧦, the keys🔑 for his truck and really anything that goes missing. (But maybe this is just an excuse for being so damn chaotic and therefore losing things almost on a daily basis, I don´t know.🤷‍♀️)

He also considers the possibility of the existence of fairies.🧚‍♀️(And of course, he would love to meet them.)

He´s not really sure about vampires🧛‍♂️ and werewolves, but he thinks that there´s at least a possibility of their existence, which he thinks is really groovy.😄

Drayton:

I think it´s not surprising that he doesn´t believe in any weird things. In his opinion it is all completely nonsense. 

But for some reason, he always gets a little nervous whenever he sees a black cat.🐱😅

Of course, he would never admit it and I highly recommend that you don´t say anything about it, unless you are craving a good beating with the broom.🧹 

Grandpa:

Does grandpa believe in any weird things?🤔 

That´s probably one of these mysteries that will never be solved.❓❓❓

And when it comes to me:

I don´t believe in any of the things named above, but of course, I ( just like the rest of the family) would never have the heart to tell Bubba the truth about Santa or the easter bunny.😟

 I would never dare to tell my dear husband what I really think about his headcheese house idea.😰

And because I learned that it makes no sense to discuss with him, I simply ignore Chop whenever he talks about his weird beliefs again.😩

And I think there´s no need to say it, but I would never, NEVER make a comment about Drayton being afraid of black cats.😱

[guesst]

some of the best fantasy au fics for bnha that i've read

i decided to make a fic rec list of one of my favourite aus/fusions. mostly midoriya-centric, there are some crossovers (with hp), and a lot of different ways in which the authors have taken them - so it could be Quirks, ghosts, outright fantasy aus, spirits, witches etc etc. there isn't a specific order and there aren't a tonne (these are the ones i could find buried in my bookmarks lol), but the ones on the list are all really well written i love them.

i've tried adding relevant information, the summary (shortened if it's pretty long) and just. adding some random tags that may be important. not all of them though. obviously this is not a complete list and there will most definitely be more fics out there, if there are some really good fics that you know that aren't on this list, feel free to tell me, i'd love to read them!!!

i hope someone enjoys these!

Faith Becomes You by SugaSuga

oneshot | gen dfo, quirkless midoriya summary 'There's a tiny shrine in Musutafu that's overgrown with kudzu vines between Izuku's apartment and his middle-school. There may very well still be a god inside it. There may be nothing but the myth of a man from when Quirks were first emerging. Izuku hides in its walls for a while and ends up tending to the forgotten shrine. All good deeds have their impact, don't they?'

Of Mythos and Men by Oceanbreeze7

oneshot | gen spirit animal au, kinda summary (shortened) 'When he was young, Midoriya always wondered what his mythos would be. The matching half to his quirk, the ancestry of its power. Mythos were strange things, not linked genetically like quirks seemed to be. [...] Midoriya hadn't met his mythos. Even in UA. (In his dreams, something called to him, 'Chase me!')'

what a lion cannot manage by LadyLiterature

multichapter | ongoing | f/m, m/m kitsune au, female izuku, future bakudeku summary (shortened) 'She wants to be a hero. Wants to save everyone she meets and even the people she hasn’t. [...] A smart fox avoids fights. A smart fox does not seek them out. A smart fox does not fight for everyone. A smart fox, when they absolutely must, only fights for themselves and what is theirs and nothing else. Izumi, for all that she tries to be, is not a good fox.'

My Magic Academia by Kiterou

series | oneshots and multichapter | ongoing | gen HP crossover, wizard midoriya, platonic bkdk, some ocs summary (shortened) ' [...] In which Midoriya Inko is a witch and Izuku a wizard and even after 150 years of quirks taking over the world, Izuku still couldn't tell Kacchan that he isn't worthless and that he still could become a hero all on his own.'

A Lonely Windchime Makes No Sound by Musecookie

multichapter | ongoing | multi reader/shinso, total fantasy au, very wholesome summary (shortened) ' [...] You enjoy visiting your slightly creepy local library. When you accidentally befriend the elusive owner's familiar, he begins to appear more and more when you visit. You don't really mind, and he doesn't seem to hate you, even when the two of you become tied up in each other's fate as you pursue the secret to reviving a magical species of flower. Soft Strangers to Friends to Lovers type beat with lots of fluff and naps! Sleepy cuddles included.'

The grapes of friendship by Gentrychild

oneshot | gen crack, dfo, vampire izuku summary 'Izuku, a dhampir hiding his real identity as he goes to UA, the best wizard school in the country, spends the day with his friends. None of them are aware of it.'

Yesterday Upon the Stair by PitViperofDoom

multichapter | complete | gen less supernatural, izu's quirk lets him see ghosts, he still has ofa summary (shortened) 'Midoriya Izuku has always been written off as weird. As if it's not bad enough to be the quirkless weakling, he has to be the weird quirkless weakling on top of it. But truthfully, the "weird" part is the only part that's accurate. He's determined not to be a weakling, and in spite of what it says on paper, he's not actually quirkless [...] Not that anyone would believe it if he told them.'

sum of all (and by them driven) by Elemental

series | multichapter | ongoing | gen dadzawa, spirits give quirks, izu sees these spirits series summary 'Quirks aren't what you think they are.' first part summary (shortened) 'Midoriya Izuku is medically quirkless, not technically homeless, perpetually exhausted and doing his damned best despite it all. He also sees spirits, which might be cool if not for the fact that a) no one else does, b) they really don't like him very much, and c) he's pretty sure the heroes now think he's a villain working for the League [...]'

The Struggles of a Modern-Day Vampire by miraculousemily47

oneshot | gen crack, 1-a shenanigans, vampire midoriya summary 'After Midoriya Izuku is turned into a vampire towards the end of his first year at U.A., he decides he wants to tell his classmates about his condition. The only problem is that he can't physically say the words, and his classmates are fucking idiots.'

Lights in the Dark by FrostKitten

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen supernatural au, izuku can see demons etc, quirkless/magic au summary (of first part) 'Midoriya Izuku, like most young kids, knows there are monsters. They live in closets, under beds, and occasionally in the park. As he grows older, his friends stop seeing them...but he still does.'

Hand in Unlovable Hand by jumbletea

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen vampire midoriya (and aizawa), dadzawa, toga n dabi n mido being siblings summary 'A collection of stories surrounding a not-quite-human Izuku and everyone he meets along the way.'

Simply Superstitious by CryCaladrius

multichapter | ongoing | gen lots of folklore and yokai and stuff, 'quirkless' magic user izuku, decent dad hisashi too summary (shortened) 'Izuku Midoriya’s father is a Hou-ou — a Japanese phoenix. For some reason, this means yokai have a standing invitation to pester Izuku with their existence. Birds assemble choirs for his birthday. If there’s no cedar leaf under the welcome mat, the amazake babaa that lives two apartments over will be knocking on their door by evening. His yokai-purifying excursions get mistaken for vigilantism far too often. [...]'

Cuckoo Bird (anonymous author)

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | gen it may be discontinued but theres lots of fae folklore, deku is a changeling, deals etc, plus some platonic shindeku building up?? summary 'There's something off about Midoriya Izuku. (change·ling /ˈCHānjliNG/ noun a child believed to have been secretly substituted by fairies for the parents' real child in infancy.)'

tread softly as you go by IceEckos12

oneshot | gen if you read any fae au please let it be this! has faeries but mido is not one summary 'Humans used to be good at the old ways. They used to know how to bait the trap, to spin a web of words and lies that would ensnare even the most wily. Humans used to be able to twist deceptions around knots of iron and turn them into weapons of power. They forgot a long, long time ago. A boy unwittingly makes a deal with one of the fae, severing his ties to humanity. However, he finds that the fae world is far more strange and complex than he ever could have imagined.'

Hell is just a shoujo manga by supercrunch

multichapter | complete | f/m fantasy au, bakudeku, fem!izuku, isekai, dekusquad stuff, also some iidachako summary (shortened) 'Izuku wakes up crushed under a statue, trapped in the body of a princess who doesn't exist. Turns out she's a demon, which is weird. What's even weirder is the déjà vu that surrounds Kamino palace, reminding her of the events of this one manga she used to love. [...] But that's probably just a coincidence. [...] The problem here, obviously, is that Izuku's the demon princess. Ergo, she's a villain. And that means she's going to die at the end of this manga. Again.'

hold your breath as you cross by cassiopeia721

oneshot | gen dadzawa, another 'quirks are from spirits au' (expect more of those actually), mido is sad :( summary 'As the bridge between the world of guardian spirits and the quirk users who are blessed by them, Izuku's duty is to clean up the mess his predecessor left. It's taken what feels like an eternity worth of work, but Izuku's finally finished, and he's ready to rest at last. Unfortunately, the pro heroes who just watched him take down the Scourge of Kamino have no intention of letting him just wander off, and he finds himself stuck in an interrogation room with a bunch of humans who he's sure will never believe a word he says.'

To See with Eyes Unclouded by CrazySatan

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen witch au, witch midoriya, quirkless mido, bkg is not a good friend series summary 'Midoriya Izuku is a witch. A powerful witch. And even though he doesn't have a quirk, and magic doesn't Work Like That, Izuku ends up a hero. Somehow.'

Demons and Darkness by wolfsrainrules

series | oneshots | ongoing | gen dadzawa, shinso and mido and bkg are becoming friends, they can see monsters/spirits/bad things summary of first part 'Izuku has believed in the things that go bump in the night since he was small. That means he can see them, and almost everyone he knows....can't. So he decides he's going to be the shield humanity needs, no matter what. Eventually, he finds others that See too.'

know what i've made by the marks on my hands by simkjrs

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | gen dadzawa, quirk spirit au (this inspired most of the others on this list), also eri summary (shortened) 'Midoriya Izuku just wants to lead a quiet, peaceful life. This is foiled by the fact that a) he can see spirits, b) his good nature demands that he help anyone he sees in trouble, and c) he, by all rights, should not exist. [...]'

Izuku haunts class 1-A by Artistic-Gamer

series or multichapter whichever floats your boat | incomplete (hiatus) | other there are some triggering themes! such as suicide, blood, body disfigurement! please take care of yourself and avoid reading if this will hurt you! in other news: so much dadzawa, so much friendship, hurt mido summary (of first part) 'Class 1-A is rumored to be haunted, only the residents are aware it’s more than just a rumor..'

U.A's Resident Ghost by BeyondTheClouds777

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | gen ghost midoriya, dadzawa, friendships!!!! summary 'There is a ghost at U.A. Not haunting U.A. Not even hanging out at U.A. There is a ghost. Enrolled. As a student of U.A. And it's just Shouta's luck that he has everything to do with it.'

and now, the weather by xylophones

oneshot | gen CRACK, paranormal/ghost hunters au, dekusquad stuff summary 'Izuku runs a fictional horror radio show. Because ghosts aren’t real. Right? (“Holy shit, ghosts are real,” Izuku whispers. Then, with the smugness of a sixteen-year-old who just won a decade long bet, “I knew it! Kacchan owes me five hundred yen!” “Midoriya,” Todoroki sighs, “this ghost is trying to kill us.”)'

U.A Unsolved by handcrusher(ameliafromafairytale)

oneshot | gen (it's a fic of a fic, so if you've read yesterday upon the stair then you'll understand better) izuku can see ghosts thats his quirk summary ' "Hey there, ghosts," Midoriya says, "it's me, ya boy." The dorms are haunted. Shenanigans ensue.'

The Haunting of Class 1-A by BritishRobutt

multichapter | ongoing/maybe discontinued | n/a ghost midoriya, vigilante au, crack, the ghost bit is izu's quirk summary 'Everyone always told Izuku he couldn't be a hero, so when he dies and discovers his quirk, he becomes a vigilante out of spite. Whoops. After becoming Spectre, Japan's most wanted vigilante, Izuku realizes he can just fulfill his dreams of going to the top heroic school- after all, who can physically stop him from attending UA when he's a literal ghost?'

Caged by SternStunde

oneshot | gen tododeku, fantasy au (todo is a dragon, mido is a princess), genderbent deku (fem deku) summary 'Then she held up one of the books and smiled. "Want to learn an ancient language with me?" She was kind of a nerd, and she really hoped the dragon was too.'

Magic Runs Deep by draconicschinx

multichapter | ongoing/probably discontinued | gen mido has a quirk and he can see mythical creatures. summary '"Midoriya Izuku has always been good at making friends. Not human ones, really, but they are good friends nonetheless. " Izuku can see and talk to and interact with mythical creatures. It's not exactly the quirk he was hoping for, but he's going to use it to help humans and his non-human friends all the same.'

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What if vampire Bella took Renesmee and ran away with her? What do you think would happen?

Well that would be an entirely different story on so many levels I don’t even know where to begin.

First, when is Bella running away and why?

Per your ask, you specify that Bella is a vampire. This means that this is not beginning of Breaking Dawn AU where Bella, terrified Edward and the Cullens will force her to abort, flees from them in order to save Renesmee’s life (sacrificing her own in the process). 

For the record, though you didn’t ask, I imagine Bella would have a terrible time, starving in the jungle in Brazil, probably drinking the blood of dead road kill until Renesmee pulls an alien and bursts out of her womb and stomach. Renesmee then eats her mother’s corpse.

Edward would never find her because he’s an awful tracker, he’d probably do what he does best, goes to Rio. Eventually, he shows back up on Aro’s doorstep telling him it’s time for assisted suicide again, because Bella is definitely dead this time. Just to make sure they actually do it this time, he walked into Volterra shirtless.

Aro just stares, gets up, and walks out of the room. He has a very terrible phone call to make to Carlisle and then a hybrid vampire (and probably an immortal child) to track down somewhere in South America.

Caius looks at Marcus, Marcus looks at nothing, Caius tries to decide if he’s more insulted by being Edward Cullen’s assisted suicide express or by Edward Cullen’s existence. It’s a very tough call. I imagine that, rather than let Edward slip away again after breaking the law several times over now, Caius goes, “Okay” and lights him on fire.

But you specified that Bella’s a vampire, meaning this is happening post birth and possibly post Breaking Dawn.

To be honest, I think towards the end of Breaking Dawn, Bella’s left the planet. Her world is a surreal haze that has nothing to do with reality. She had this horrific pregnancy, she actually died, went through three days of agony, and is now this alien being.

She prances through fields of flowers in beautiful clothes, she has a lovely five-year-old precocious daughter, he has Edward and a small little cabin where they have the world’s tamest sex, she’s able to keep Charlie in her life, the realities of vampirism are miles away from her.

Bella’s not living on Earth anymore, she’s in the headspace only Esme of the books lives in. And, to be honest, I think Bella’s doomed to become Esme 2.0. Bella will go full incest at high school (as you know she, Renesmee, and Edward will be posing as triplets), probably bake cookies for Renesmee (who probably can’t even eat them), thinks vampire hunts are the equivalent to camping and a wonderful bonding experience, has 0 awareness that every relationship in her life is falling apart, and is just this deeply weird and frankly creepy person.

Renesmee is more... a concept to Bella than a person. I mean, I don’t blame Bella in this, Bella goes from never thinking about having kids to suddenly having an alien five-year-old in a month. How do you process that?

The damning part is Bella thinks she knows her daughter very well. She looks at Renesmee and sees this alien thing that she can’t gauge at all (she keeps trying to guess Renemsee’s physical and mental age in human terms when Renesmee isn’t remotely human, her DNA is completely different, she just has this human shell). Bella concludes she’s very mature and adult in mentality. Renesmee seems to read Bella’s favorite books, (which by the way are really weird reading material for children), and Bella bonds with her daughter by reading Wuthering Heights to her alien child. 

Bella sees a miniature Edward in her child (in terms of sophistication and intelligence) and thinks everything’s wonderful.

Bella’s life is perfect. Everyone else’s lives, including Renesmee’s, are perfect. Why would she ever leave?

So, for Bella to take Renesmee and run, we need a catalyst.

I believe Edward will inevitably cheat on her (yes, I know, I haven’t posted a meta yet but you can’t simply open the dark box labeled Edward Cullen and emerge unscathed, these things take time). But I think that would prompt Bella herself to leave or, more likely, be the Yoko Ono effect that breaks up the Cullen coven.

It’d be devastating, but has nothing to do with Renesmee. I imagine Renesmee would just sit there, eating rats like she’s eating popcorn, looking rather bored as she saw this coming ages ago and she has no idea why everyone’s losing their collective minds.

I also imagine she takes this as permission as that she can eat Edward (I imagine Renesmee and Edward’s relationship is... not good, but that’s for another meta).

The Romanians may come calling and try to sweet talk Bella into the necessity of destroying the Volturi. That, or Edward himself will decide it’s his god given mission to destroy the Volturi and free mankind and vampirekind from their tyranny.

However, while that will result in a horrific dystopia, it doesn’t necessitate Bella and Renesmee breaking off from the coven. That, and Bella’s so far from reality, that I imagine it doesn’t sink in for a long time and perhaps ever that she now lives in a hellscape.

I think it’d have to be a direct threat to Renesmee from Edward. And a clear, non-negotiable, horrifying threat at that (which Edward is fully capable of).

I say Edward, because that would be the biggest betrayal to Bella. After New Moon, I believe that Bella thinks her fate with the family rests on Edward’s opinion alone. Edward can make them flip on her in an instant. If it was someone else threatening Renesmee, then Edward could come with her or they could do something about whoever’s gone crazy.

If Edward decides that, no, it is time to kill the demon child then Bella will lose faith in the entire coven. She’ll panic, and she will run with Renesmee as far and as fast as she can.

Volterra’s off the table thanks to the Breaking Dawn fiasco, I imagine Bella would be too paranoid to seek out any of Carlisle’s friends as she’d lump Carlisle in with the threat that is Edward. So, likely, she and Renesmee would go to Antarctica or somewhere else completely uninhabited.

Edward would go to Rio.

Bella and Renesmee would probably finally talk to one another. Though it’s probably mostly Renesmee trying to deal with the emotional, depressed, mess that is her mother whose entire fantasy has now completely fallen apart.

Renesmee gets to be the new Jake!

Carlisle, meanwhile, is wherever the Cullen family has moved to, trying to process what even happened and what he’s going to do. He’s probably lost all faith in Edward and finally acknowledged that something’s not right and is desperately trying to get a hold of Bella and Renesmee, who aren’t answering his phone calls.

[vivithefolle]

“Harry and Hermione are platonic soulmates” “Hermione is Harry’s best friend” okay but like..... is she though? Like yes they’re close friends but Ron is 100% the glue that holds the group together and whenever Harry is alone with Hermione he just seems bored and talks about how he misses Ron and I the reader am also bored and miss Ron. Ron is Harry’s best friend. Ron is the person Harry would miss more than anybody else in the world. Ron is the person Harry loves more than anyone else in the world. Hermione is Harry’s close friend, Ron is Harry’s platonic soulmate. Harry is Hermione’s close friend, but Ron is the love of her life.

To be completely honest, I never really felt anything special between Hermione and Harry. And part of it is due to Harry being extremely detached from people, he’s super cold. He rarely tells us about how he feels about people, mostly he observes how people react around him, and he has this... subtle entitlement? Like, Harry tends to complain about how blah blah fame sucks and he hates it, but at the same time he certainly doesn’t complain when he gets preferrential treatment, and at times even seems offended when he doesn’t get any. He kind of expects his friends to be always 100% down with his ideas and endlessly supportive, and sure he protests and goes “no I must do this alone because I’m a danger to you all” but at the same time when Ron was calling him out on his nonexistent plan for the Horcrux Hunt he sure was quick to go all “how dare you question me!”.

As such... Harry feels really detached and cold, and when I read the series, I end up thinking of him and Hermione more as coworkers working together to attain the same objective than as actual friends. They get excited about big breakthroughs in their cases, they share coffee breaks together and stuff, but... there’s not much else. There’s not... some sense of companionship, of being able to stay in a room together without feeling awkward... I really don’t see “friends”. It’s funny, but “siblings” may actually be the best moniker to put on their relationship, because after all you don’t have to love or care about your sibling.

Harry feels closer to Ron, to a point that I would actually call them true friends, and I certainly love their bond and bromance... but I still can’t shake the feeling that Ron’s giving much more than he’s receiving in this friendship. No wonder the poor guy needed a break at times.

Anyway. Even if you can justify it by his abusive childhood and trauma, Harry’s still kind of a cold bastard and I honestly don’t think he’s a good friend. Truth is, many readers are blinded by the fact that he’s “The Boy Who Lived” and so hype and so they think that obviously, it automatically means he’s a great friend to Ron and Hermione... he’s not? I mean, sure he’s ~sassy~ and whatever but, no, sorry, that’s not enough to make me want to be friends with someone.

(Especially since the ~sassy~ bit can be downright hurtful, too. I mean, think of how many people think of Hermione’s “emotional range of a teaspoon” line is ~iconic~. But had it been spoken to Harry, I don’t think Harmony shippers would have been pleased by it.)

Frankly I think Harry’s coldness is not just a character problem, it’s also very much a Rowling problem. She has problems with empathy sometimes, especially towards characters she seems to deem as “lesser” in her mind - side characters, one-off characters, throwaway characters and such. Like, Hermione’s parents are SO important... that she doesn’t even consider them human beings, instead uses them as narrative tools to showcase Hermione’s “bravery”:

Yes, her sacrifice was massive, completely. A very calculated act of bravery. That is not an ‘in the moment’ act of bravery where emotion carries you through, that is a deliberate choice.

I’m sure Hermione’s parents were delighted to be stripped of their entire mind, life story, identity and sense of self as “proof” that their daughter is brave. Not like we already know Hermione is brave. Not like she was member of the House of the Brave or anything like it. We absolutely needed two innocent non-magical people who couldn’t fight back against magic to be destroyed mentally to showcase what a brave person Hermione is.

Rowling does that with so many characters. She has this twisted sense of justice, of morality, honestly kind of akin to that of teenager’s. Marietta Edgecombe’s scarring feels like a pissed-off kid’s revenge fantasy - Rowling said “I loathe a traitor”, but then you realize that Marietta got a worse punishment even than Peter Pettigrew! Peter gets to slightly redeem himself just before dying in front of Harry and Ron (who even try to save him!!!) but Marietta’s the one who’s gonna have to deal with weird looks all her life due to a disfiguring scar on her face! And you’d think that Mister “I have a scar on my face that people stare at and it makes me uncomfortable :(” himself, Mister “I have a new scar on my hand that a horrible woman inflicted to be as punishment for misbehaviour”, MISTER HARRY FREAKIN’ POTTER WOULD HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO REALIZE THE SIMILARITIES, but alas. In the same book Rowling had her favourite character emulate the character she had created to be the most despicable person in existence... I wonder if anyone ever told her?

[ladyloveandjustice]

Belated Spring 2020 Anime Overview: My Next Life as Villainess

For the Spring 2020 anime season, I mostly watched continuations of shows I was already into. The one new show I did pick up was My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!

My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! follows Katerina Claes, a spoiled young noble girl deviously scheming to win the heart of a prince- oh wait, never mind, she hit her head and remembered her past life! Turns out she’s an eighteen year old Japanese otaku chick who died and got reincarnated as the villainess in her favorite otome game. 

If you don’t feel like reading the wiki article, an otome game is basically a female- targeted dating sim where you play as a blank slate main character and date a bunch of pretty boys (and sometimes girls, but usually only if you go outside the mainstream ones), unlocking their backstories and collecting all the romantic endings.

Having played this game, Katarina is well aware that the Villainess character- who constantly tries to interfere with the game’s heroine and whichever boy she’s pursuing- is either exiled or killed in all of the games endings. And now she IS that villainess, living in the world of the game and all its characters! Does that mean she’s doomed to a horrible fate? What’s a girl to do?

Well, if you’re Katarina, what you do is be supportive and kind to the people around you and in doing so accidentally get every single character in the game to fall in love with you. And yes, this includes all the boys the heroine is supposed to date, the other female romantic rivals the heroine is faced with and the game’s heroine herself.

That’s right, we finally got us some bisexual romantic comedy hijinx last anime season, my friends! My Next Life as a Villainess was the delightful little show I really escaped into during these anxious pandemic times . All these girls casually falling in love with Katarina without it being treated as ‘weird’ was what particularly drew me to this show and warmed my gay little heart to see. It was honestly the perfect fluffy, low stress watch during these high stress times.

Anime has long been oversaturated with ‘harem’ stories- where a usually unwitting protagonist somehow gets a bevy of beauties in love with them- but it’s still unfortunately really unusual to see bisexual harems, especially ones with a girl at the center, so right away there’s a big draw to this story that helps it stick out from the rest.  (And worry not, the story is largely focused on Katarina having fun with these pals-who-are-not-so-secretly-in-love-with-her, rather than having a ton the dubious shenanigans you see in more sexually charged tales.)

Harem protoganists also famously tend to have the personality of potatoes, being so painfully bland it’s unclear why so many people would fall in love with them in the first place. But that definitely not the case for Katarina. She’s brash, ridiculous, kind and INCREDIBLY dense, and that for a pretty dynamic combination in this setting! She does genuinely come off as a fun person to be around. Unlike a lot of modern isekai shows, she doesn’t stumble into having incredible magic powers or skills, so her compassion is genuinely her greatest strength and what saves the day and wins hearts time and time again.

Katarina’s five brain cells doing their weekly check-in

(The moment she won my heart was when she responded to a tragic Frozen style situation with her friend locking himself away from people because he believed his magic was dangerous by taking an axe to his door. My kinda girl!)

The premise also allows for some plausible built-in reasons for the characters to take such special notice of Katarina- having been raised in a different world, she isn’t beholden to all the social rules, class divisions and noble family drama all the other kids in this very specific midevial-esque fantasy world are so embroiled in. This combined with her naturally earnest, accepting and straightfoward nature means she’s able to cross boundaries and reach out to them in a way they aren’t accustomed to. She was significant in each character’s life because she genuinely was the first to show them acceptance and affection without pretense, if only because she isn’t even aware there was supposed to be a pretense.

Katarina’s focus on trying not to die and her fear she’s going to meet the same fate as the villainess in the game also at least gives some kind of a basis to her comical obliviousness to everyone being in love with her. She assumes that everyone has to be into Maria (the heroine) and terrified of her because that’s how the game GOES okay, that’s CANON! Of course, this logic stretches thin as time goes on and it would be abundantly clear to most people that things have diverged greatly from the game’s storyline, but the show makes it clear that Katarina’s determined, one track mind is as much a gift as a curse. 

Her bullheadedness when it comes to picking up how everyone REALLY feels about her is an intentional gag on the show’s part and even her love interests are well aware of what a colossal dumbass she is and not afraid to point it out!

My Next Life as a Villainess isn’t without its flaws, and the personalities/backstories of some of the ‘love interests’ Katarina gathers may be a stumbling block on some- mostly the male ones.  Geordo, “the black hearted prince” has a bit of the “ possessive shoujo bad boy” archetype about him, and though he’s far from the worst that genre of love interest has to offer (there’s not much bad he can get up to due to Katarina’s obliviousness, the lighthearted nature of the show, and his rivals constantly getting in his way), the way he refuses to break Katarina and his engagement off despite her repeatedly asking him to, as well as some of his lines here and there, are definitely NOT cute. 

Keith is Katarina’s adopted brother, but clearly has a thing for her too. On one hand, they only first met when they were nine and he fell for her pretty immediately. On the other hand, he still refers to her as “sister” constantly which is kinda eesh. 

The other two guys are all right- Nicol’s big thing is he’s inexpressive and doesn’t talk much which, considering show doesn’t spend much time inside his head, doesn’t make him a very interesting character in the ensemble (maybe he comes across better in the novels) but there’s nothing wrong with him. Alan is undoubtedly the Best Boy in my book. He’s another common trope- rambunctious and competitive with Katarina but clearly soft for her- but he’s done well and they have a lot of cute moments together.

I find the girl love interests to be a much more interesting group overall, though this may be my obvious bias talking. Sophia has the strongest connection to Katarina, their backstories being intertwined in a surprising and touching way (I’m told in the novels her affection for Katarina was treated as more platonic, but the anime definitely plays it up as having romantic elements). Maria’s original role as the game’s heroine puts her in the most interesting position (and would make her the most narratively satisfying choice of love interest, if the show was actually interested in choosing). And while Mary is comically tenacious in her pursuit of Katarina, she’s doesn’t ever act ‘sinister’ or overstep boundaries in the way Geordo does, her “scheming” only really amounting to straightforwardly asking if Katarina wants to ditch her fiance and run away with her. 

As I mentioned, one thing that really contributes to My Next Life as a Villainess being a relaxing watch is that the queer characters are treated with casual acceptance. Mary in particular isn’t subtle about her crush on Katarina, but nobody bats an eye at her and she’s completely open and comfortable with herself too. The observing maid notes that the girls are in love with Katarina with the same bland affect as when she notes she notes the guys are. And while the social practices of the nobles are pretty heteronormative- girls are always engaged in arranged marriages to guys, the guys are expected to dance with the girls (something Mary complains about!)- there’s apparently a booming queer romance novel industry that inspires our young wlw.

Katarina, having grown up in a different world, seems to be the one most prone to heteronormativity of her group. She never really considers  that a girl would ever fall in love with her, but is also never hostile to the idea. It’s telling that when Mary very clearly indicates her desired romantic partner would be a girl, Katarina’s the only one that gets tripped up and has to walk back her assumption that Mary would be talking about a guy. 

Mary LAYING DOWN THE LAW

Also, Katarina has  SEVERAL “she’s so cute! My heart is beating faster!” moments with the other girls, on par in frequency with her moments with the guys. This strongly hints she’s an oblivious bisexual disaster.

So, My Next Life as Villainess is a fun, frothy watch and the rare positive example of silly wish-fufillment that’s inclusive to a wlw audience. But is the actual plot good, or remotely complex? The answer to that is no, the plot is fairly predictable and one definitely shouldn’t got into this story expecting a deep examination of the nature of fate or anything like that.There’s no real explanation of big reason as to why why Katarina was reborn into this game world and so on.

 The antagonist that does eventually emerge plays off otome game tropes a bit, but ultimately isn’t that interesting or built up all that well. . The attempts at drama the show makes towards the end fall a little flat, especially since it tends to rely on very-late-in-the-game-exposition-dumps (dark magic isn’t even MENTIONED as existing in this world until like, the second to last episode where it becomes relevant and we get a vague infodump explaining its mechanics). The conflict honestly almost feels shoehorned in and the climax is pretty standard and doesn’t really utilize the big cast of characters all that well

But in the end, that’s okay! The show makes it abundantly clear from the beginning it’s not here to be Deep, but to be some silly fun. And it really fulfills that purpose well, from it’s catchy, peppy theme tune to its consistently warm tone. It MAY get repetitive at times for some, and I do have some quibbles- like how I found the childhood segments to be some of the shows best material and wish we could have stayed in that section for a bit instead of rushing through it, how I wish Katarina had kept her cute little scar, etc- but overall, it was definitely the soothing balm I needed during a very rough time and I absolutely recommend it if you’re looking for a chill, feel-good watch.

 And hey, a second season’s supposed to be on the way too, so there’s something to potentially look forward to!

[veebs-hates-video-games]

So I finally finished the first Xenoblade Chronicles. I should probably write down my thoughts on this one before too much more time goes by.

I probably had one of the weirder experiences playing through it. By the time it came out my Wii had already been acting funny for a couple years and I'd stopped playing games on it, so I didn't get to it right away. I finally gave it a shot a few years later in Dolphin and it was great. This was around 2016, and I found a HD texture pack for it that made it look better in some ways than the Switch version (and less in others, mostly because of the limitations of the original engine). I spent like 65 hours on it doing every side quest and all the little things that came up as they happened because I was enjoying it so much that I didn't want to miss any of it.

...and then my computer broke. Luckily I had a friend who was able to just give me a replacemnt CPU for free (I seem to know a lot of people willing to help me out like that, who I would not have survived as long as I have without), but it wasn't as good as the one that died. I wasn't able to upgrade or replace anything in my computer until early 2020, so I didn't really have a good way to keep playing and kind of forgot about it, and it wasn't until this year that I managed to dig up my old saves and the texture pack from my old drive, a year after XCDE was already out.

Once I finally started playing again I was sucked right back into it though. Well ok, after a 6600 word summary of the first half of the game, then spending an hour rereading all the tutorials, and a few more hours relearning how to actually play the game, but after that...

It's just such a neat game that does a lot of stuff well. The characters are fun, it's very pretty, the music is good, there's enough going on mechanically to have still been interesting 140 hours later, and the world/story/general concept are absolutely bonkers in the kind of way that Squenix has repeately tried to pull off with the Final Fantasy games but never succeeded like this did. The only two RPGs I've play in a while that have grabbed me like that and made me want to do everything just because I'm curious and invested and want more are this and The Witcher 3 (which I'm still working on because I also didn't start that until after new computer time), and they're definitely my two favorites I've played in a long time and contenders for two of my favorites ever.

There are plenty of games that don't manage to be as compelling at any point in their entire run as XC does just setting up the initial premise: the entire in-game world exists on the corpses of two gods who fought each other to death, and the inhabitants of each are now fighting each other for some reason. They go in a lot of interesting directions from there which I can't say too much about without spoiling a lot of stuff, but despite having as many twists and turns as the most convoluted of the FF games it still manages to be a coherent story that all fits together. True to form as the people who made the previous Xeno games (Xenogears/Xenosaga) it gets into plenty of philosophy and religion along the way, with fate vs. free will, if/how morality would apply to gods, and other shenanigans like that, all wrapped in a lightly anime-flavored shell. Lots of the power of friendship, and there are times you'll walk into a boss fight and the soundtrack just feels exactly like a typical anime showdown. It's fun.

(I'm like two chapters into XC2, and it leans more heavily into the anime side of things, for better and worse. Aesthetically it uses it well, and the tone works well for some stuff too...but then it'll intermittently break that with some weird dubbing decisions that do the same stuff that tends to annoy me about a lot of dubbed anime (although 95% of the time the voice acting has been good), and it's always a bad sign when a character pops up on screen and I can hear the implied "goshujin-sama" before they even pan over to the maid outfits...and also let the female characters wear actual clothes please?)

Anyway, I rather enjoyed it and am looking forward to when the plot of the second one picks up, and also to eventually playing XCX. I liked it enough to grab a copy of XCDE and play through the epilogue, and I'm really curious what Monolith is going to do next...