#i could probably finish this but it might get long 🤦

[tommarvoloriddlesdiary]

Do you write any non-magic AUs?? I like your writing a lot, by the way :D

🥹 thank you very much! 😯 i do not write many non magical aus. actually, i don't think i have ever even posted or shared one here before 😳 i have a modern spy au that i've had drafted for a long while 🤔 i hadn't decided if it was going to be non magical yet because i often naturally gravitate to magical aus when writing, but what i have so far could be written as non magic. 😊 here's what i feel comfortable sharing if you are interested

There were very few things that Harry drew the line at. As a spy, he supposed that was part of the job. To be one required more blurred lines than Harry staring at a pinstripe suit with his glasses off—more than he ever truly felt comfortable admitting, even to Ron and Hermione. The gruesome feeling that some days were so much easier than others, some lines were so much simpler to ignore, was hard to swallow in the dark hours of early morning light. But Harry had gotten very good at shaking those feelings off; he’d had years of practice, after all. But. There were very few things that Harry drew the line at. And though not all of them were morally motivated, they mattered to him all the same. And one of those things was—“I’m not accepting this job,” he slapped the file back down on the desk. One glance at the location was plenty for him to decide then and there. Not happening. McGonagall frowned. Her brows drew together, and before she could deliver Harry some bullshit about Dumbledore and how vital this mission was and how the Order needed his expertise blah blah blah, he interrupted her. “There’re rumours he’s in Italy. You know my rules.” She sighed, “Mr Potter. I understand Malta may be closer than you’d prefer if that is the case, but Italy is a large country in comparison, and what are the odds-“ “High. The odds are extremely high.” Harry rubbed his hand up his face, jostling his glasses. “The two of us are like volatile magnets,” he groaned. When she grimaced and gave a nearly imperceptible nod, Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh, cry, or punch something. “Our intel found nothing to suggest Grindelwald’s organisation would be involved.” “Yeah,” he scoffed, “because your intel isn’t looking out for him like I am. When was the last time the Order even knew The Alliance would be involved in a mission anyway? Every time I was sent out, it’d be like a goddamn popup book surprise.” His voice went up an octave, “Oh! We’re so sorry, Harry! We hadn’t known Grindelwald’s top assassin, who has threatened to kill you multiple times, would be there! Our bad!” “Now, Mr Potter-“ “No. I’ve heard quite enough. You know my rules,” Harry turned to walk out of her office with a parting, “I don’t take jobs involving Tom Riddle.”

[stampstamp]

Finished re-reading F*shigi Y*gi part 1 and the first and final arcs still spark joy so I'll keep my collection but volumes 9-11 were so frustrating that I'm gonna roast them a little under the cut (and be a bit critical of other aspects that don't hold up 30 years on)

Major spoilers and references to SA in the series under the cut! (And it's a super long rant!)

The dip in quality from 9 onwards was such a shame! The plot just turns into various enemies trying to rape the 15-year-old protagonist for three volumes! Not to be a pearl clutcher but Watase says the target demographic is middle school - junior high students and there's just a whole arc where:

It's implied that Nakago raped Miaka. It's later revealed he didn't manage to penetrate her and everyone is like 'oh phew! 😄' and her traumatic nightmares about her memories of him stripping her and pinning her down before she fainted just stop. 🤦

Also, in the author note alongside that part Watase comments that things are getting dark but points out that we've just learned that Yui didn't actually get raped by strangers so it's not all bad. Mate, your protagonist is being assaulted?? We can't take much solace in that revelation right now!

Then there's a bit where Amiboshi climbs on top of her while she's sleeping naked and kisses her without her consent (his parents had drugged her).

Meanwhile, Soi disguises herself as Miaka and tries to seduce Tamahome. I know it's a product of it's time but ughh the way Tamahome almost getting raped is handled so differently to scenes where Miaka is assaulted - it's awful. And there's also a 'gag' parody page where it replicates the scene where Tamahome found Miaka after she's been assaulted by Nakago but makes it look like one of the gay characters had raped Tamahome.

After his comrades have failed to take her virginity and stop her from summoning Suzaku, Tomo, who Watase confirms is gay, also tries to rape Miaka. 😑

In the last volume, Watase shares the ideas that there wasn't space for and they were so good 🥲 maybe you could have removed one of the SA scenes or one of the twenty times Miaka or Tamahome breaks it off and runs away to protect the other?

I used to like the author notes but this time they kept rubbing me the wrong way. Watase would say things like 'too bad we HAVE to spank our tiny terrier puppy to discipline it 🫤' or share racist travelogues about trips to China.

But it's kind of funny that in the author notes, Watase hinted at shipping Tamahome and Nakago 😂 never really gushed about how much she loved Tamahome/Miaka as a ship though. I quite like Keisuke/Tamahome as a ship - they got on well.

I was thinking about ranting about how Nuriko is handled but that's hard because 1. 90s 2. Another culture 3. Watase later came out as X gender so the offensive character notes were probably well intentioned and might be regretted now? 4. The translators had to do the usual thing of deciding which pronouns the character that's almost certainly trans would use, while also translating jokes that implied Nuriko is simply crossdressing for funsies and deciphering whatever the hell happened in vol 8 where Nuriko decided to be cis and in love with Miaka for a chapter or two.

I started shipping Tasuki and Nuriko this time and I was delighted to see 20 whole fics on AO3 but almost all of them misgender Nuriko. Maybe the anime subbers used different pronouns or Nuriko's backstory was different in the anime? Watase said someone did a Tasuki/Nuriko doujin and they wanted to read it. Same!

I used to think I wasn't attached to most of the Suzaku warriors beyond Tasuki because I'd re-read the first few volumes way more times than the rest but Watase really didn't give the others much to say or do! 😬 I feel sorry for the fans of Mitsukake(?) Apparently there were lots of Hotohori fans but I always found him creepy; despite his gentle actions, he never seemed to listen to Miaka's wishes. Yandere behaviour. Lucky for me he wasn't in it much (I also feel sorry for his fans lmao)

Forgot how much character death there was towards the end. It's impressive that Watase included characters from the Genbu and Byakko arcs decades before they were written IRL. I don't think I'll read those since FY suggests they ended badly? I wonder if much was retconned.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

How would you describe Stranges personality? I have a hard time pin pointing how to describe him and its hard to find good meta on him. I'm trying to figure out the best way to write him where he still feels like your seeing him and not someone else.

I'd describe him as kind and gentle and completely non-judgemental. He's the type of guy who is willing to listen to someone who has screwed up big time, he would not say a word and let the other person express themselves, but once they have finished he wouldn't hesitate to speak his mind bluntly - not rudely, certainly not in a hurtful manner, but clearly and honestly.

He can read the room pretty easily but if he's disrespected he lays it all out, this is probably just a headcanon but I get the impression he values polite and respectful people, and so any sign of rudeness or someone acting like an idiot he has no patience to tolerate. At that point he might need someone to stop him or he won't stop saying all the wrong things those people do!

He's a huge show-off though. And a diva. He knows he's good and he enjoys seeing other people in awe at what he can do (we could see that side of him at the hospital and he hasn't really lost it since then). A part of this is also the fact that he enjoys controlling the knife as Christine put it, he believes in his abilities and sometimes that might come out as cold, like he doesn't see other people as capable beings who can do great things like he can.

Slightly related to that is he also has a thing for control, certainly derived from what happened with Donna, but it is tied to his capacity for goodness that The Ancient One mentioned in DS1. He just loves to help other people, it fuels him to a great extent. Plus he loves learning, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge is what makes him such a great sorcerer.

He also longs for close relationships but doesn't quite know how to do it. He's alone most of the time and that loneliness hurts him, if you notice he's never been too high on physical contact (except when it comes to Christine). I see him as someone who would like the company but doesn't think too high of himself or even worthy of that kind of company (that's another thing, his self-esteem isn't really that high which contrasts with how some people write him. His arrogance is a shield, he uses it to protect himself not because he thinks he's better than everyone else or that other people are stupid and he's the only smart one).

And that makes him a big softie. I have meta in my page about that (and this has gotten long enough, sorry!) but he's so compassionate and sweet, when someone is hurt he's there to comfort them, if he has to say something that they might not want to hear he lowers his voice, he does that lovely head tilt of his... he's the sweetest guy.

I don't know if this is what you wanted but I hope it was lol I left some things unsaid but this got super long anyway 🤦😊