#it was clearly more atmosphere-motivated than character-motivated

[obstinaterixatrix]

out of boredom/curiosity I read 60 eps of a webtoon. it was not good.

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Hi! I have a request, i hope it's not too specific or silly! How about an ace character that finds a fellow ace? Could be a villain that keeps flirting and when the hero tells them they don't want anything spicy villain is like 'Oh yeah no I'm ace too, just like teasing you :3'

Regardless of whether you answer or not, i hope you have a wonderful day!!

For better or for worse, the date they were on was rather pleasant.

It had been a trap the villain had prepared which was in retrospect a little bit too obvious. Their nemesis had lured the hero out of their messy apartment with a single note - a warning that quite a few hostages were waiting for them at one of the most expensive restaurants in town.

Without hesitation, the hero had rushed to the address but once the hero had opened the door, it was rather clear that no one was in danger. Instead, the hero got some judging looks from fancy folks when they had thrown open the door, panting.

The villain had looked rather amused when their gazes had met. It was the kind of embarrassment that burnt itself into the hero's brain. A memory that would pop up whenever they tried to fall asleep. It was so bad, in fact, that they considered turning on their heel and leave all together but the villain was too quick.

They raised a glass, their smile crooked.

And the hero felt obligated to walk up to them, now that curious looks were jumping from the hero to the villain.

"You could have told me to wear something nice," the hero hissed as they sat down.

"You look great in everything," the villain purred. Their eyes wandered up and down the hero. "Even in sweatpants."

"You flatter me."

"I'm stating a fact."

The hero took in a deep breath. Their heart was still banging against their rib cage violently. They lowered their voice.

"Why am I here?"

"Because you're gullible?" The villain swayed their wineglass in one hand.

"That's not what I mean."

"Because you're the city's sweet saviour who will always help the poor and innocent?" The hero didn't really know why the villain was toying with them like this. Clearly, there was an ulterior motive behind this. There always was.

Mostly, it was scheme after scheme with them. It was true that the hero was rather fond of them but they'd rather cut their arm off than admit that.

"You know I don't have much time on my hands," the hero said. "So whatever you want from me, make it quick."

For a moment, the villain didn't say anything and exactly that gave the hero enough time to truly look at them. Apparently, they had taken their sweet time to get ready for this date. The hero didn't know how to interpret that. Maybe it was the overall atmosphere of the restaurant or maybe the villain really cared about other's perception of them. The hero couldn't tell.

"I guess there is your answer. I thought it would be nice to spoil you a little," the villain said. "My little workaholic."

Oh, shit.

To say the hero started panicking internally was an understatement. They liked the villain, really liked them. Maybe even more than that.

And the villain seemed to have similar feelings for them.

The hero swallowed.

It had taken them quite a lot of bargaining, denial and a great deal of sadness to realise that they weren't interested in anything sexual. It had taken them a lot of time to come to terms with it. Back then, they had felt guilty for feeling the way they did. Often, they had wondered if there was something wrong with them. If it was just them who felt like this.

It was an almost obsessive fear of exclusion that had infiltrated their mind. It was exhauting to explain their own feelings over and over again and sometimes, they had even forced themselves to go beyond their boundaries.

On some nights, they had lain in bed awake, asking themselves if it was fair to be this way. To never be able to fully give back and love a partner that way. They had lost enough people they had been interested in romantically because of this. It was always the same stupid cycle. Always the same brainless questions that didn't help nor comfort them.

The hero was a different person now. They were much more confident but losing the villain that way wasn't only awkward, it was also a little heartbreak all over again.

"Listen..." the hero said. "I appreciate all of this. You're very sweet."

They dug their nails into their palms. Most people didn't understand. Most people said they were totally fine with it and still, they distanced themselves in the end. It used to make the hero angry but above all, it used to make them very sad.

"But, you know, I'm ace, so. Well, yeah, I...you probably know what that means but if you don't, uhm..."

Suddenly, something lit up behind the villain's eyes.

"Yeah?" The villain smiled. It wasn't a grin. It wasn't a smirk. It was a sweet, lovely smile.

"Huh?"

"You're ace?" they asked. Again, the hero swallowed. They looked down at the still empty dinner plate. It seemed like they had been in here for hours now, even though it had been mere minutes.

"...yeah."

"Me too," the villain said softly and the hero couldn't tell if this was some cruel joke or if this was a genuine gift from the universe. This meant no explaining, no stupid questions. No lost relationship, no arguments over this...For the first time in their life, they felt excited after coming out.

"What? Really? But the flirting and the-"

"I love messing with you, you know that," the villain said, winking. They took a sip of their wine. "And I meant what I said. You need to relax. You need someone to take care of you, even if that someone has to use some questionable methods to get you out of your apartment."

The hero stared at them, almost drunk on happiness.

"Thank you," the hero whispered.

"What a silly thing to say, darling," the villain responded.

Both would return to the restaurant several times after.

Hungry for more.

[writer-freak]

Birthday Celebration | Lucifer x Gn reader

Summary: Charlie throws a birthday party for you with everyone from the hotel there. After everyone left Lucifer had a sweet little surprise for you.

Warnings: gn reader, fluff, readers birthday, first time writing for hazbin hotel, english isn't my first language

A/n: So this is the second fic I wrote for my birthday and I decided to go into a new fandom. I actually wanted to do a after the party part for different characters but got a little lazy and just did Lucifer. Maybe I will one day come back to this but enjoy.

Comments, likes and reblogs are always appreciated and really motivate me to write more

It was just another day in hell, or so you thought. The same old routine of dodging demons and trying to survive the chaos outside of the hotel. Little did you know, your friends had something special planned for you. It all started with Charlie, the princess of Hell, who had a heart as big as her smile. She had been secretly organizing a birthday party for you, determined to make your special day something very memorable. With the help of her father and friends, including Vaggie, Angel Dust, Husk, and even Alastor, Charlie managed to set up a surprise party in the lobby of the Hazbin Hotel. As you entered the lobby, you were met with the sight of colorful decorations, balloons, and a banner that read "Happy Birthday!" in your favorite color. "Surprise!" Charlie exclaimed, her excitement contagious as she bounced up to you and pulled you into a bone-crushing hug. You couldn't help but smile at the sight of your friends gathered around, each wearing party hats and holding presents. Angel Dust winked at you playfully, while Husk grumbled something about needing a drink already. Alastor, the radio demon himself, smirked from his corner, clearly pleased with what he helped to orchestrate. Even Vaggie, though initially skeptical of the idea, couldn't help but be swept up by the atmosphere especially seeing how happy it made her girlfriend. As the party got into full swing, your friends took turns presenting you with their gifts. Angel Dust gave you a flashy new outfit, completed with some very revealing cutouts, while Husk offered you a nice bottle of whiskey. Nifty of course gifted you with some bugs saying that she found them in your room and made sure to kill them for you. Even Lucifer gave you a little handmade ducky though you could tell he was a bit embarrassed about presenting it to you. Charlie, of course, the ever-thoughtful hostess, presented you with a homemade cake adorned with candles. "Make a wish!" she urged, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. You closed your eyes and made a silent wish, blowing out the candles in one breath. As you opened your eyes, you were met with cheers and applause from your friends, their genuine happiness warming your heart. The rest of the evening was spent laughing, dancing, and enjoying each other's company. Despite being in hell, you couldn't imagine a better way to celebrate your birthday than surrounded by your friends in the Hazbin Hotel. As the party drew to a close you and your friends began to disperse, you felt so grateful to have met them in hell. They bring joy into your life that you would never have been able to imagine before. You found a sense of belonging amidst the chaos and this hotel felt like your home.

As the last guest departed you found yourself alone in the lobby of the Hazbin Hotel. Well, almost alone. A soft chuckle from the shadows caught your attention, and you turned to see Lucifer emerging from the darkness, a small smirk playing on his lips. "Quite the celebration, wouldn't you say?" he remarked, his crimson eyes glinting with amusement. You nodded, a warm smile tugging at your lips. "It was incredible. I never expected anything like this." Lucifer stepped closer, his gaze locking with yours. "Well, you deserve it, my dear" he said softly, his voice low and velvety. "But I couldn't let the night end without giving you something special." With a flourish, he produced a small box from the pocket of his suit and extended it toward you. "Happy birthday, my dear." Curious, you accepted the box and opened it to reveal a delicate necklace, adorned with a single ruby pendant. Your breath caught in your throat as you marveled at the exquisite craftsmanship. "It's beautiful, but you really didn't have to. You already gave me that little ducky earlier." you looked up at him not knowing how you could accept such a precious gift. Lucifer smiled, an expression that made your chest feel warm. "But it still can't compare to you" he said softly, before adding "And I would shower you with gifts but I know that you wouldn't want that so please just accept it." He said so much fondness in his eyes as he reached out to hold your cheek. Leaning forward, you pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. "Thank you," you murmured, your voice barely audible. As you pulled back, you met Lucifer's gaze, finding warmth and understanding reflected in his eyes. In that fleeting moment, you knew that despite the darkness of hell, you had found something truly precious—a connection that transcended time and space, a love that burned brighter than any flame in the depths of the abyss.

Divider by: @saradika-graphics

[ladyloveandjustice]

Fall 2023 Anime Overview: Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and The Apothecary Diaries

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Premise: Frieren and her adventuring party saved the world from the Demon King after a ten year quest, and now their adventure is over. Frieren, as an elf who's lived for thousands of years, calls the journey a "short" one and casually says goodbye to her companions, promising to pop back around in fifty years. She does exactly that, only to find her companions have significantly aged, and when a beloved friend quickly passes away, she's wracked with grief and suddenly realizes this very "short" journey was important to her. In order to try to understand her feelings and human lives in general, she decided to retrace the steps of her journey, picking up companions on the way.

Frieren is both an interesting examination of what happens after the hero saves the world, as well as a meditation on mortality, grief, and the endless march of time. Frieren's long life allows her to see the impact she and her friends had on tons of people, even as, heartbreakingly, the memories of her companions are slowly fading from the collective consciousness, with only the legend remaining. There's a beautiful, bittersweet, hopeful but melancholy  atmosphere to the narrative, and the animation is absolutely breathtaking. Frieren herself is an intriguing character, seemingly stoic and disconnected but achingly human underneath it all and not without her funny quirks. She also has a good dynamic with the companions she picks up.

A sticking point for some might be the small arc where Frieren takes on some demons. It's a tone shift from the rest, being more of a fight against the Evil Enemy rather than a quiet meditation on loss, and I'll never be fond of the Innately Evil Fantasy Race trope.

Frieren does try to counteract the implications by saying the demons are just evolved from monsters who would mimic human speech to lure in and eat people. So they're basically monsters! ..But that actually just makes some parts just straight up not make sense (they're clearly sentient, animals don't get together to plot like the demons do, etc). I think what Frieren is going for is the horror of a monster almost indistinguishable from humans that only has interest in eating and killing us, which is has it's basis in mythology (while having it's own loaded implications) but the execution... could be better. There's something uncomfortable whenever a hero's motivation is "wipe all of this sentient race out" and the narrative seemingly bends over backwards to justify that. (And even if the demons sincerely did actually act like animals, I would have a hard time with Frieren declaring she's going to kill every last dragon on earth because some destroyed her village).

I'm told that Frieren isn't necessarily meant to be right about demons, and later on the manga introduces some elements that make the demons much more complex and less 'innately evil'' than that arc has them appear to be, but for now, it's awkward. However, I really did enjoy the amazingly animated fights and bonechilling moments we got out of that arc, and afterward the show went back to doing it's usual exploration of loss thing.

I think Frieren is a well crafted, beautiful and sometimes touching journey though a pastoral fantasy world. There's just a jarring and somewhat poorly executed element as a bump in the road (that nevertheless is a mostly entertaining arc). It also has girls that kick ass and are interesting characters and there's no fanservice bullshit, always a bonus. I'm on board for the rest!

The Apothecary Diaries

Premise: Maomao works as an apothecary in a land much like 15th century China and she LOVES poisons. After being kidnapped and forced to work as a servant girl in the imperial palace, she solves a mysterious case of poisoning and catches the eye one of the Emporer's top concubines, who makes her a lady in waiting. Thanks to her sharp mind and knowledge of poisons, Mao Mao is unwilling pulled into the cauldron of deception and sabotage that is the inner palace, and there's lots of mysteries to solve...

The Apothecary Diaries is definitely among my top anime this season, and a lot of it is down to Maomao, who's an incredible character. She's whip smart and refreshingly pragmatic, she's a cynical, bizarre little gremlin who loves poison way too much and she wishes everyone would just leave her alone so she can do weird medical experiments (often on herself). She just wants to keep her head down and not attract any trouble but annoyingly, her sense of justice means she can't ignore people in trouble! She's also disgusted by any man who tries to seduce her (girl, same). She's just plain fun to follow. She's impressive with her deductions, and intensely relatable at times. I love her, and Aoi Yuki does a fantastic job with her deadpan affect.

The anime is beautifully done, and it really gets across the cutthroat world of the Imperial Palace. Maomao lives among the concubines, so a lot of the anime is concerned with how women are treated as disposable, and how they're pitted against each other for the Emperor's approval. Without being direct about it, it shows that being a concubine and palace servant is not a happy life, and even the most favored long for more freedom. Maomao is a girl without any power to change things, so she has to accept the way it is, but does extend kindnesses and helps the women around her when she can.

Then there's Jinshi, who. uh.  He's an interesting character and is slowly developing, but I hate how he treats Maomao a lot of the time. The gag that he can't seduce her is fine enough, but he's super willing to use his social power over her to force her into uncomfortable situations. There's a part where he tries to force Maomao to taste honey from his fingers, backing her up against a wall, and it's so realistic about how it feels to have a man weaponize his higher standing in the workplace to harass you that it's very hard to watch. Maomao sweats and desperately strategizes to figure out how to refuse him without getting beheaded, looks at his assistant for help only for him to ignore her-- it's heartbreaking. The show does acknowledge how messed up with this is. Concubine Gyokuyo comes in to save Maomao and is furious at Jinshi for how he's treating her, Maomao tells off the assistant for ignoring her, and takes pleasure in getting a small bit of revenge on Jinshi later. But it makes me want Jinshi to go away. He's framed as Maomao's potential love interest sometimes, despite the fact she doesn't show any interest in him so far, (though I'm told they haven't gotten together in the English release of the source yet). I hope it doesn't happen (Maomao reads so aroace right now), but who knows, maybe he'll develop a lot.

Jinshi aside, you should also know that this being based off imperial China, pretty horrifying things are presented casually (like a nine year old concubine) though again, the show is well aware the system is messed up. There's also an incredibly quick, weird moment where Maomao tells a rape joke? She obliquely threatens sexual assault to a concubine who's bullying and threatening her (so obliquely I didn't realize at first and thought she was threatening to poison her, which would have been way more in character) and then goes 'whooops it was just a joke'. Nothing like that happens again, but it was completely bizarre and seemed OOC. There's also some "women are like this" dialogue that fits the time period but can still be annoying.

Overall, The Apothecary Diaries has intrigue, well-developed characters and an impeccable atmosphere, with a fascinating examination of the social constraints placed on women as an undercurrent. It tells a great range of stories, from romantic triumph, to bittersweet tales of recovering from grief, to pure tragedies, MaoMao is extremely lovable and entertaining, and I adore seeing her Sherlock Holmes her way though all the medical mysteries, while squeeing over horrible poison. Definitely check this out!

[ranwing]

Why The Wincesters is such a disaster and what can we learn from it.

As The Winchesters limps to its season (and possibly series) finale, I wanted to do something of a deep dive as to what went so colossally wrong. How was it that the first viable spinoff, and helmed by one of the leads of the original series, went so badly off the rails and is now one of the poorest viewed shows currently running on any network? There are lots of elements that played into this folly so let’s dive in.

1) The premise. This was an issue that many had pointed to from the very start but it’s important to understand why the very premise of TW was such a problem. A good spinoff will be able to stand on its own from the original series, even if there are elements linking them together. You should be able to watch the spinoff and be able to understand it without having seen the original series. Watching both would deepen the storyline and give elements that new viewers might miss, so it builds interest for both shows. A well-done spinoff can get viewers who never bothered to watch the original series interested. What happened instead was that viewers who never watched SPN would be hard pressed to understand who these characters were and why they are so important. It didn’t help that John and Mary are pretty polarizing figures in the SPN fandom which could have tempered excitement over the series with the fandom. Many, myself included, had argued that it would have been better to do a storyline that either focused on the distant ancestors of Sam and Dean, or to focus on completely original characters following the end of the SPN series. Revisiting the well-documented story of John and Mary wasn’t going to excite anyone.

2) Poor casting choices. This is not a slam on any of the actors who are clearly trying their best, but casting has been an issue from the start. Especially with the leads. I’m sure that Meg and Drake are lovely people, but they were poor choices to play younger versions of such well established characters. As an audience that already knows John and Mary very well and have clear images of their characters from how Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Samantha Smith played them, it makes the casting of Meg and Drake even more perplexing. Meg especially, as physically it’s impossible to see her maturing into the Mary that we know from SPN. Even if we were to completely divorce TW from SPN, the actors just don’t fit the characters they are supposed to play. Meg is too small and frail looking to be believable as someone raised in the hunter life from childhood, while Drake is too innocent looking to be convincing as a former Marine and Vietnam veteran. It didn’t help that Meg and Drake had little real chemistry between them, making it difficult to buy that they were supposed to an epic love story. Rather than seeing sparks even when their characters were not romantically linked, we often had to wonder why they were in the same room together.

3) Poor production values and writing. I get that TW was being produced by a novice production company on a shoestring budget, but it shows. The early seasons of SPN also were filmed on very tight budgets, but they were able to make the most of what they had and used well staged practical effects to create an atmosphere of danger and tension and then used limited special effects for the big moments. In contrast, the effects on TW look worse than effects on a show from 15 years ago. It also doesn’t help that TW is something of a period piece and very little about the show really gives a feeling of the early 1970s. Period clothing looks like costumes rather than lived-in garments and hair and makeup were anachronistic much of the time. Meg’s eyebrows were especially distracting, as even counterculture women would have had thin, highly arched eyebrows during this period.

The storyline and motivation for the characters was all over the place at times and the dialogue was pretty laughable. John was supposed to be only 19 or 20, yet the audience was supposed to buy that he not only served multiple tours in Vietnam but had also been a POW. Nothing about his character arc made any sense. Nor did Mary’s. For someone who supposedly wanted out of the hunting life before she ever met John, she wasn’t exactly trying too hard to step away from it. The backgrounds for the supporting players in this cut-rate Scooby gang were unconvincing and uninteresting and the storyline as a while was a jumbled mess. There was a lot more tell than show and rather that streamlining the story so that it could be told naturally within the 13 episode season, we just had a lot of unnecessary baggage that prevented it from flowing in an organic manner.

4) The inability of TW to stand on its own. As I stated earlier, a good spinoff can be enjoyed in conjunction with the original series but it needs to be able to be viewed on its own. It’s one thing to have a few easter eggs sprinkled about those longtime fans might catch and enjoy (but don't distract or impact on the overall story), but it’s another to have the constant parade of supporting characters from SPN showing up as exposition fairies. Granted, these are supernatural beings so it would make sense for one of two to pop up as a surprise, but the show treated the appearance of characters like Loki/Gabriel, Rowena and Dean as major events for viewers to tune in for. They were announced and advertised in advance with the goal of trying to convince SPN fans who haven’t show interest in watching TW to give it a chance. Given the poor ratings thus far, the shoehorning of original SPN characters has not helped.

And Dean, acting as both narrator and McGuffin for the show has been problematic on multiple levels. Again, you have to be at least somewhat familiar with SPN to get why Dean is in any way important. And with him at the center of the myth arc for the season/series, you have a tie with SPN that cannot be broken. This crippled TW’s ability to hold its own as a series and it would always be the weaker spin off from SPN. There was no chance of it being able to survive on its own. This wasn’t a bug, but a feature that was built into the show from its very inception.

5) The retconning. For all the protestations that TW would honor SPN lore, it’s very clear that they have been playing fast and loose with the facts established in the series. John’s character especially suffered, as SPN established that he only began to learn about the supernatural world after his wife’s death (though he did have him memory wiped when Sam and Dean did some time traveling). But despite hiring the people behind SPNWiki to help with the lore, many contractions were made that only confused and annoyed the few longtime SPN fans that were watching. It showed a carelessness with the storytelling that they never got a handle on. While SPN often had issues with their own lore and continuity, the issues with TW were particularly glaring.

6) Jensen, Dannell and Prequal-Gate. It cannot be understated just how badly Jensen and Dannell handled the roll out of TW, or their planning of the show in general. Part of it can be chalked up to inexperience, as they had never produced a show before. But Jensen knew the SPN fanbase as well as anyone else and had to be aware that shutting out Jared and all but completely erasing any mention of Sam from the storyline was going to alienate a significant portion of the fandom. We can argue whether or not Jared’s initial response when the news broke was a good one, but it doesn’t change the fact that Jensen designed the show to showcase himself and Dean’s importance in the SPN lore (something never really disputed) and did so by erasing Sam. By apparently shutting Jared out of the show completely, he ensured that Jared’s fans would not give TW a fair shot. And that showed in the ratings. Even the premiere, which was the high point of TW viewership was markedly down from SPN’s low points in the last seasons. 1.23 million viewers watched the premiere of SPN’s final season and nearly half of them didn’t bother to watch TW. That hamstrung TW from the very start, and it was all downhill from there.

When we look at the promotion of TW from the start, it was about Jensen and Dean. He got the primary focus and not the young leads that he should have been featuring. Jensen and Dannell took most of the focus at NYCC, while Meg and Drake were almost afterthoughts. They did little to guide their inexperienced cast and it became obvious very quickly that the premise of the show as less about the John and Mary epic love story and more about how Dean plays into things. For newcomers who didn’t know who Dean was, this was confusing and for Jared’s fans, it was confirmation of their worst suspicions about Jensen’s motives. It hasn't been helped when so many of the remaining fans are all but admitting that the only reason that they are watching is for Jensen/Dean.

In the end, TW was doomed from the very start. There were so many mistakes and missteps and with a short, 13 episode season, the show never found its footing. With the bottom of the barrel viewership that it is receiving, the odds are that it never will. At best, TW was forgettable. At worse, an exercise in hubris that no one is coming out of looking better than when they entered and very possibly killed whatever chances their were of further storytelling in the SPN universe.

Feel free to add anything you think I might have missed here.

[tench]

Wait, that's it? That's where you decided to end this game????

I'm so puzzeled by their narrative choices.

Anyway, I finished the goblin series and I think, that I'd rate them as such:

1 - Of Orcs and Men is my favorite storywize (it has characters that have arcs! And fashion!) . Also found family (I'll die on this hill). Again, problem with abrupt ending (and so many gay jokes..), but other than that pretty straightforward road trip with unlikely allies to friends to "you know what you are". And horrendous fighting. But still very unique and very atmospheric setting.

2 - Styx: Master of Shadows. Honestly? I liked it! Very pretty game, very atmospheric. I love the character study of Styx in it. I was absolutely lost all the way from very beginning to the very end. I have questions to the way they tell the first half of the story (and the rest too tbh), but maybe it's a design choice, so you'd feel as confused as the main character. Would be improved significantly if the npcs were more than plot devices. But still, good game.

3 - Styx: Shards of Darkness. I would put it lower if it was an option. If you come into it not as a fan of the series (not where I expected to find myself in the beginning of 2024 but here I am) it was a solid stealth game. I feel like they lost pretty much most of the unique atmosphere, but maybe it's because they decided to sacrifice the whole character of the protagonist to some very low quality 4th wall breaking jokes. And I do like that Styx as a character can't shut up to save his life and very bad at humor, but leave it at least canon-adjacent. You can't put a player into one of the two boss fights in the whole game and put a lotr one-liner as the line of dialogue! Have some respect for yourself? For your story?? Also your players, what the hell were these death cutscenes? Still the story feels like a very rough draft. But! We finally have other characters! Two of them! Unfortunately their motivation is not very clear especially in the story that is all over the place, that doesn't know how properly end. Speaking of it, I am very confused by this storytelling move when they clearly set up the villain, but at the last second we fight some henchmen and the story ends. It was in several games of different studios and I can't say that it's a setup for a sequel because the main characters just don't acknowledge this in any way? It's odd. What can I say.

Anyway, Happy New Year, I was planning on staying late playing the game but I guess I'll go to bed early!

[o-uncle-newt]

Enter Sir John (and Lord Peter)

This is basically a Sayers blog alongside a Finnemore blog at this point- and this is going to be mostly a Sayers post but also a bit of a window into my other detective fiction reading, which I don't really post about here but kind of want to. A bit of an experiment. (Also, some spoilers to a very old and AFAIK out of print book that I don't particularly recommend below, as well as a Sayers novel.)

So I have been reading a LOT of random old timey detective fiction recently, and at one point made a reading list based on having read the fabulous The Golden Age of Murder by Martin Edwards, which I highly recommend to basically anyone with even the faintest interest in the subject (and even more so to Christie and Sayers fans). ANYWAY, I made the list, then completely forgot where I got it from, ordered a bunch of books through the NYPL's interlibrary loan system, and somehow got all of them at once. So now I have a stack of books from five states on my dresser, many of which are first editions. One of those is my copy of Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson, which isn't only a first edition but literally has the pencil inscription by the original owner from Christmas 1928, when he bought/received the book. Gah I love reading other people's old books.

Reading other people's old books in general is fun- reading this particular one was more of a mixed bag. The pacing was kind of weird, the mystery was kind of thin (and the motive was... PECULIAR for a 21st century reader, a mix of oddly progressive and deeply, deeply problematic depending on how you look at it), and the characterization of most of the characters was pretty thin. The atmosphere of the small-time theatrical setting was fun, and the detective, Sir John Saumarez, is reasonably entertaining. To go through, and mildly spoil (you'll see why shortly), the plot- someone is found dead who had been known to have previously quarrelled with a woman in the past, under circumstances which make it clear that this woman had both motive, means, and opportunity. The woman is arrested and her trial is attended by a man with a title who is struck by her and feels compelled to work on her behalf. He works hard to find the actual killer when the trial goes poorly for her, and realizes that he is in love with her and confesses his feelings to her.

Sound familiar?

For context, Enter Sir John was published two years before Dorothy L Sayers's Strong Poison, and to be transparent I fiddled a bit with the timing and phrasing to make the synopsis as CLEARLY correlated as it is (he doesn't confess his feelings to her until after he's gotten her off the murder charges, she's actually in the room when the murder victim is found, she actually is convicted and her conviction is overturned on appeal, among other changes). If the above plot sounds interesting and you HAVEN'T read Strong Poison, just skip and read Strong Poison because it does the whole thing SO much better. For one thing, the mystery is better- this was Dane and Simpson's first mystery, and while I largely enjoyed Dane's earlier novel Regiment of Women (which I may post my thoughts about sometime), this book just didn't really work for me. It's technically fair play, I guess, but there aren't a whole lot of actual suspects or clues (there aren't many suspects in Strong Poison either, but there are many more clues and there's a much more robust structure).

The other major difference, and this is pretty important because it's at exactly the point where the two books are so similar, is that the characterization of the romance in Enter Sir John is REALLY NOT GOOD. Sure, as Sayers noted in her 1929 introduction to her Omnibus of Crime anthology, love interests in detective novels are often shitty and this isn't necessarily significantly worse than certain others I have read. But while there do seem to be attempts to describe the suspect's personality in a way that makes her sound more honest, frank, straightforward, etc (the kinds of ways that Harriet Vane comes across later in Strong Poison), she also comes across really naive and dumb, and really doesn't have a whole lot to do in the book at all to counteract that impression. On the plus side... she isn't AS racist as some other people, I guess? (This plays into the motive, which I can describe in the comments for people- it's too annoying to get bogged down in.) But anyway, Sir John largely (apparently? it's not characterized super well) is compelled by her and falls in love with her because of her striking appearance and her good breeding and gentility or whatever, and it's all just super awkward. (Also, there's the same "oh no I didn't realize you were proposing" awkwardness in this book as in Regiment of Women, which does it MUCH better and for MUCH better characterization-related reasons. In this book it's just kind of skin-crawling to read.)

Anyway, why have I made you all read about why I didn't particularly like a not-super-easy-to-find book that you were unlikely to ever read anyway? Well, partly because it's an interesting curiosity- and because as I was reading I was like "what the hell, how did Sayers get away with this?" So I cracked open my copy of The Golden Age of Murder again and in its description of the book realized that it mentions that Sayers and Simpson were friends and that Enter Sir John is of interest as an inspiration to Strong Poison, which in retrospect is probably why I put it on my list in the first place.

But I'm still left with some lingering questions. While the actual murder plot and motive are entirely different, this particular throughline on the part of the detective is really STARTLINGLY similar, not least because Sir John Saumarez has some distinctive surface resemblances to Wimsey. For one thing, the method used to trap the killer (casually having them be part of a reenactment/discussion of the way the murder took place) is used by Sayers in Strong Poison as a ruse that Wimsey uses to try to catch Harriet Vane out, if there's anything to catch (when he "casually" brings up the murder-for-book-profits mystery plot idea he had). For another, like Wimsey later would in Strong Poison, Saumarez has a whole inner monologue about how he has only a month to solve the case (though in his case it's before the suspect is executed, and in Wimsey's case it's the IMO more plausible situation of being before the retrial occurs).

All that being considered, one major difference is, of course, that at the end of Strong Poison Wimsey and Harriet don't get engaged, and Saumarez and the suspect (whose name I don't even remember, if I'm being honest, she REALLY wasn't that memorable) do. But Sayers famously wrote that she wanted to use this book to marry Wimsey off! If she had followed through, and still used this same book as a way to do it, would she have literally lifted, if substantially improved, this plotline from her friend's book in order to do it? She was such an original writer- would she have borrowed so significantly from another writer to finish off a series that she had worked so hard on, even if it was one she was wearying of?!

It's interesting, because I wrote in a previous post about how it feels like after writing the Omnibus of Crime intro, including how bad mystery romance plots are, she dared herself to do it better. Reading this book makes me wonder if she read THIS PARTICULAR BOOK and decided she wanted to do it better. Which would be fascinating whether that was a decision that she made before she'd decided to continue the series after this book or afterward- before, in which case she'd be wholesale lifting the plot but at the same time elevating it lol I feel like I'm writing crossword clues) just by virtue of better writing and characterization in both that plot and the mystery that surrounded it, or after, in which case one of her ways of elevating it would de facto BE changing the ending to make it less corny and awkward, and writing a detective romance which is actually psychologically plausible and satisfying rather than just pairing pants and a skirt, so to speak.

Anyway- decidedly mediocre book that I don't particularly recommend, but one that made me ask some questions that I had a lot of fun pondering! I also had fun writing this, and am considering doing another one on Leo Bruce's The Case for Three Detectives, which was tremendously fun as a pastiche of Wimsey as well as Poirot and Father Brown.

[vellichxrr6782]

CHAPTER FOUR, shiny toy with a price.

SYNOPSIS: an encounter with your supposed "enemy" leaves you questioning his motives. a drive with your closest friend gives you insight on your new relationship, which could be your biggest break or your biggest problem.

CHARACTERS (in this chapter): ayato, diluc, kaeya, jean.

CW/TW: cussing, kaeya and diluc almost arguing (the epitome of brotherly love).

WORD COUNT: 2k words.

<- previous chapter | cruel summer masterlist | next chapter ->

it had been a few days since the incident at the party. you were honestly rather exhausted from everyone’s endless questions. the news of childe’s girlfriend cheating on him was overpowered completely by the news of you and childe dating. 

your fans were clearly ecstatic, and many fan pages had been opened for you both. you, however, were definitely not ecstatic, considering your life was taking another route entirely. 

jean and zhongli were definitely the happiest, though. maybe because they’re getting their raise soon. 

childe was doing a splendid job of adhering to the rules of the contract. in fact, you’d say he was more dedicated than you were, considering you were the one who agreed to the contract in the first place. 

he put a cheesy, romantic quote in his bio, and asked you to go on a “date” with him, so you could prove the credibility of your relationship, and get some pictures. 

you weren’t looking forward to the date, that’s for sure. for now, you just needed to rest, away from everyone who was trying to leech on you. 

although, coming to rest at komore teahouse was probably not such a good idea. 

you had just ended a meeting with a producer, and you were looking for a place to get something to drink. you entered the komore teahouse, since it was pretty popular nowadays. 

how were you supposed to know that a man you should most certainly avoid, was also there?

kamisato ayato was sitting cross-legged on the chair, sipping boba tea. you found it quite… unusual, a man whose entire atmosphere and mannerisms fell nothing short of ‘elegant’ and ‘refined’, was drinking bubble tea with sparkles in his eyes. 

you immediately covered your face, attempting to sneak by to the cashier to place your order, but lady luck was not on your side, since ayato had immediately noticed you. 

“miss y/n l/n?” he called out, and you froze. you’d barely heard his voice before, but wow, was it a soothing one. “what brings you here?” 

you forced a smile, fiddling with your fingers as you looked at ayato. “oh, ayato, right? what a pleasure to meet you. i’m here to…drink tea? i guess? what about you?” 

“same as you, haha. my manager, thoma, owns this place.” 

“your manager…owns a cafe too?” well, that was certainly new. 

you excused yourself, scurrying over to the register. you placed your order for what you guessed would take the least amount of time to make, and gleefully accepted and paid when you got it. 

attempting once more to sneak past unnoticed, and failing once more to sneak past unnoticed, you found yourself seated across ayato. 

this was sure to end badly if you weren’t careful.

"how enthralling," ayato whispered, after a few seconds of observing you, "the movies fail to capture your beauty, l/n."

"ah, thank you. you’re the new rising star of teyvat’s film industry, aren’t you?" you asked, keeping your distance. god knows what controversy would awaken if you were seen getting buddy-buddy with your "boyfriend"s rival. 

"the one and only," ayato chuckled, "i've heard a lot about you from my sister. my curiosity did not allow me to sit still, i simply had to see you in person."

you laughed awkwardly, your discomfort quite obvious in your tone. ayato was certainly a perceptive individual, so this didn't go unnoticed. 

still, it did nothing to quell his antics. 

"and i must say, i have no regrets." he narrowed his eyes, smiling. he was like a sly fox. and you thought director yae was the fox.

you had to admit, he was very attractive. you could see why he'd instantly shot to popularity, and his acting was commendable too. he was talented and gifted. 

but gods, it would be amazing if he wouldn't get so incredibly close to you right now.

"so, um, how's work?" you asked, internally praying for ajax, jean, zhongli, anyone to come and interrupt. 

"i wouldn't call it work, honestly. it's quite enjoyable to be surrounded by my fans and do what i enjoy all the time." classic response.

wish you could say the same. you loved your fans, yeah. but it was a bit tiring, when the reason people approached you nowadays was to know about the "hot scoop" of your relationship (the term "hot scoop" should be banned, honestly).

"that's nice.. haha." you replied. "um, well, i should certainly get going- "

"oh, so quick?" ayato raised a brow. "my apologies if i made you uncomfortable, haha. i tend to come off as such."

'it's okay', you thought, but said, "no, no! not at all. i'm just busy." you stood up, patting invisible dust off your clothes. 

"well, can i get your number?"

"excuse me?"

unbelievable. he's making moves on his enemy's girlfriend. 

you didn't really wanna be a card he could use against childe, so naturally, you would've declined. but...

"i won't be a bother, don't worry. it's rather lonely for me since i'm new to the film industry." he frowned a little, "still, i'm glad we spoke, though."

how, how could you say no? he's lonely. you would feel so bad. he wants a friend. 

"yeah... sure, i'll enter it." you gave in rather quick, feeling a bit remorseful for acting a tad bit stand-offish earlier.

god, he's ... incredibly two-faced. just a few minutes ago, he was eyeing you up and down suggestively, and now he was acting all cute to get your number?

it's tough being in demand.

you handed his phone back to him, and ayato grinned like the fox he was. a cute one. alright, shut up. ajax would be disappointed if he could hear your thoughts. 

you waved a quick goodbye to ayato, putting on your mask as a disguise, and immediately calling jean to ask where she was. 

"i'm being held up with something right now, y/n. would you mind if i sent eula or lisa to come and pick you up?" 

"please send anyone but eula. her driving skills are gonna get me arrested and i'm too tired right now." you replied, recalling the last time eula almost crashed the car and swore vengeance upon a tree. 

jean laughed, and replied, "yeah, yeah, i'll send lisa." before hanging up. 

you waited on the sidewalk, since that seemed preferable to you instead of talking to ayato who was inside the cafe. you took off your mask, letting out a huge breath. 

you needed to get to the studio to film a scene. the director thought the weather was splendid today, and scheduled a shooting on short notice. 

all of a sudden, a fancy car stopped in front of you. you immediately froze, your thoughts rising to kidnapping. 

the windows rolled down to show a familiar face. there he was, in all his glory, 

diluc ragnvindr. 

not who you were expecting, huh? i mean, ajax, lisa and diluc all owned fancy expensive cars. it was tough to differentiate sometimes. 

"hey, y/n." diluc smiled, which was a first for others, but pretty usual for you. "waiting for someone?" 

"nope, what brings you here?" you replied, leaning against his door. 

"i'm your chauffeur for the day, it seems." diluc opened the door for the passenger seat, and you leaned against the door. "jean sent me."

"she said she was sending lisa though?" you raised a brow, getting in. 

"it's a tuesday, which means it's spa day for lisa. i offered to pick you up instead." diluc sighed, starting the car. "to the studio?"

"ah, of course, typical lisa. yeah, to the studio." you thanked diluc, and he started driving. 

you had known diluc for years, since you went to high school with him and kaeya. he was always silent, but he was caring and reliable. he was quite the gentleman, offering you his coat, bringing you coffee, helping you study, and cautioning you from trying daring things for your own safety. he was also the one who urged you to try out acting as a career choice, and look where that had brought you.

if anything, you owed diluc quite a bit for being an important person in your life. 

"so, what's up?" you asked, leaning back, "it's been a while since we last caught up. it was when we were doing that movie together, no? god, that was years ago." 

"mhm," diluc nodded, "nothing much from my end. kaeya's gotten a modelling gig and he won't shut up about it." 

"i heard about it from childe, apparently it's for a pretty big modelling company, so kaeya's basically a celebrity now." you chuckled, remembering how badly kaeya wanted to model when he was young.

"oh yeah, speaking about childe." you noticed how diluc's expression twisted into a sour frown when he took ajax's name. "i heard you're dating him now?"

diluc had never liked childe. you didn't exactly know why, maybe it was because of childe's... rambunctious personality. or maybe because he was kaeya's best friend? you didn't really bother to ask, since you weren't a big fan of the tartaglia either.

"o-oh, um, yeah-" you stammered, preferring to completely avoid this topic. god forbid you let it slip to diluc that it was all an elaborate lie. "it just happened, i guess."

"i'm surprised, i thought you hated him?" 

"hate is a rather strong word. i just didn't like him much. he's not all that bad though." you smiled, "what about you diluc? you've never dated anyone, right?"

"no, i have not." he replied, looking away. "i did like someone, though."

you gasped, "why'd you never tell me?! i'm your friend for a damn reason, diluc!" this was news to you, and you took offence at yourself for never noticing. 

but then again, diluc was like a closed book that was wrapped and tied tightly, no one could open it. he was unreadable with his emotions, especially ones that related to love.

diluc chuckled, "i didn't realise it back then, there was too much going on in my life. besides, i deemed it pointless to like someone who wouldn't really look at me the way i look at them."

that sounds... quite poetic actually. it was surprising to hear diluc had feelings for someone, or perhaps used to. you wondered what happened, but the topic seemed to make diluc a little uncomfortable by looking at how he was sweating. so you decided not to pursue further. 

"i'm probably in no position to give you advice, y/n. but," diluc started, a bittersweet expression on his face. "our hearts are fragile and naive. they trust easily in times of desperation and convince themselves of lies to seek solace. they break and shatter, crumble and fall."

"still, our hearts are capable of healing. it takes time, don't rush. the same hearts that are naive and easily-distraught can be incredibly cunning and ruthless too." diluc breathed out, as if he’d let go of something that was on the tip of his tongue, a hefty burden on his shoulders lifted. 

"thank you, diluc." you smiled, looking at him. “i appreciate it.”

diluc gazed away from you, "be careful around childe, is what i want to say. he's quite unpredictable, and i don't want you getting hurt."

still caring for you, nonetheless. 

his car came to an abrupt stop, and a bang on your window snapped you out of your train of thought. you met eyes with kaeya, who looked ecstatic. diluc’s smile twisted into a frown of distaste. 

“you?” diluc deadpanned, glaring at kaeya, rolling his windows down. 

“sup, diluc! y/n!” kaeya grinned, getting in the car uninvited. “it’s amazing i ran into you two right now, i could really use a lift to the mondstadt modelling agency.” he threw his shopping bags onto diluc’s backseat, as if he had come from a shopping spree. 

“well?” he urged, when diluc didn’t start the car, choosing to glare at kaeya. 

“what the fuck, kaeya?” diluc said, “where the hell did you come from?” 

“well, i’m sorry i interrupted your lovey-dovey moment with y/n, but i’m getting very late for my photo shoot.” kaeya pulled out a bottle of black nail-polish. he started painting his nails nonchalantly. “start driving, dipshit.”

“what did you just call me-?!” diluc nearly jumped at kaeya, who was unfazed. you put a hand on diluc’s chest to stop him from nearly murdering his little brother. 

“just drive, ‘luc.” 

diluc obliged with no further argument.

published on; 19th may, 2023. writing belongs to @/vellichxrr6782 on tumblr

[themattress]

Kodaka's back, y'all.

Between this and the anime Akudama Drive, it's clear that Kazutaka Kodaka has learned from where he went wrong in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls and Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony. For the former, Akudama Drive took the grim, dark, dystopian city action thriller and actually made it consistently fun by not bringing in extremely uncomfortable subjects that he's clearly way out of his depth in covering and then failing to even follow them through to their logical fatal conclusion. And now in this, what I hope is the first installment in a new series, he revitalizes the Danganronpa style mystery game in a way that balances light and dark tones perfectly, washing out the bad taste that V3 left behind.

For one thing, Kanai Ward is an excellent setting. While narratively it's isolated from the rest of the world, as a player you don't feel any isolation given how huge it is, which differentiates it from the enclosed spaces the Danganronpa games were set in...except for Ultra Despair Girls, but this time the city's a real city, full of people and activity and culture, not just a bunch of mostly vacant arenas to shoot enemies in. The perpetual rain, as well as the musical score, gives it so much atmosphere which is equally parts haunting and comforting.

In addition, going fully 3D rather than stick to the more standard visual novel format helps give the game its own identity, and with full animation the slower pace feels way more justified than in V3. Said pace is also helped by the addition of optional side quests to break up the monotony of the chapter-by-chapter formula, and by the blessing of the R button's fast-forward feature. The only times things feel like they're dragging on is in the Mystery Labyrinths, and even then they're so unpredictable that they held my interest the whole way.

The story and characters are fantastic. Many of them are reminiscent of Danganronpa characters, but have just enough unique qualities to make them distinct, with the standout of course being Shinigami who is like Junko Enoshima / Monokuma if s/he were an anti-hero instead of a villain. She steals the show with her antics and quips, with wonderfully energetic voice-acting by Anjali Kunapaneni. I won't be forgetting the term "boom-kill" anytime soon! However, I think that besides her the characters that left the biggest impression on me, causing me to think about them long after having witnessed their last moments on screen, were Chief Yakou Furio, Director Yomi Hellsmile, and CEO Makoto Kagutsuchi. Long story short, they're twisted as fuck, although each in varying ways: Yakou leaning toward the light, Yomi toward the dark, and Makoto as a solid True Neutral. They always held my attention.

Lastly I need to mention some of the plot points that were executed a lot better than in past Danganronpa games. The first chapter featured a huge subversion of expectations related to the game's characters, but unlike in V3 it didn't overreach to the main character in a way that felt mean-spirited and sapped away my enthusiasm for playing the rest of the game. In the second chapter, we finally got an instance of separate culprits rather than a single culprit or accomplices, which V3 had once looked like it was setting up to do before totally backtracking on it. In the third chapter, we had a murder happen while investigating a different murder done to much greater effect than in V3 where it was expected and ultimately underwhelming. In the fourth chapter, which is the third case in Kanai Ward, we get the return of Case 3 Syndrome where an intriguing and terrifying set-up ends up with a disappointingly mundane revelation fueled by some outlandish criminal motivation, but this is the first time since the original Danganronpa where I was willing to buy it since it fit the characters and situation involved from how they were established. In the fifth chapter, let's just say there's a certain character voiced by a certain VA who is killed due to the machinations of a hateful villain, and it is handled much more tactfully and meaningfully. And in the final chapter, we get kind of a repeat of the Hajime-Izuru situation from Danganronpa 2, but while I liked that just fine I actually found this to be better executed since it had way more narrative build-up in-game.

All in all, a great game. Mystery lovers everywhere should check it out.

[emeyuko]

I cannot stop fucking rambling about my favourite characters so imma do another long post, this time about Killua, more expecific CAA Killua, shall well?

Well, i think we all know this panel

Yes, we all know, the basically confirmation of Killua's feelings for Gon bc of the use of the words, we all already know about this, but let's get more deep into it.

I think this panel doesn't only explain his feelings, and foresadowing to Merumugi's fate, but also, explain his behaviour around the palace invasion, as we could notice, most of the CAA is seem by Killua's POV, we don't know what Gon is thinking, but we know what Killua thinks for sure most of the time, except that, in the Palace invasion, there's a thing, which his thought process is left more ambigious

I know a lot of people who didn't understood this scene, even after a better explanation when the arcs ends in the hospital

Did you said it...as a friend or as a teamate?

Killua can't handle the fact that Gon may see him as a mere teamate, he clearly was destroyed by this thought and was scared by asking Gon specially by his current emotional state and the fact that it wasn't the time so what was his mental process to reach this emotional crisis? Easily, since the "you are light" scene, Killua has been going throught the sadness of the idea of him not being worthy enough to stay by his side, or simply lose him

He's not only scared or sad about this, he's terrified, the idea of not being able to stay with Gon, it just a heartache, something he wouldn't be able to handle, that comes to a clearly overprotectiviness with him around the arc

He's afraid of him dying or just going away, that's his entire motivation during the arc, even if the worse moments where he tried to not flop the plan, Gon was still his priority

Why i am saying this? Coming back to the "which one" scene, in this moment of the story, he has already experienced two things, first a clear jealousy towards Palm and second, almost fucking dying on his own blood where his almost last thoughts were how he couldn't be useful for Gon (that is a consequence of the atmosphere he has grown up to, about being useful for people that you love to be worth it for them), It wasn't something spontaneous, my proof is how he was already sad before the palace invasion started, pointed out by Shoot

My theory is that, in here, Killua realized how with Gon's emotional state, and how he knows him more than anyone else in the room, the possibility of him dying are way too high, not only that, Ikalgo himself also realized that when Gon and Pitou leave the palace to see Kite's corpse. This is where i believe he thought about the double suicide, how it doesn't matter what happend, he would never leave Gon alone, he would never think twice in choosing between staying alive or staying by Gon's side.

And there's also Killua's reaction to the "it means nothing to you", Gon is pushing him away, whatever they come from dead or alive from it, he wanted to stay with Gon, he is free from his family control, and what he really wanted was that, even if a tragic end was coming, he wanted to do this TOGETHER.

But something that never will change of Killua is his love, even if staying by his side was his wish, he still cared for him, he still wanted him to live (he literally cried his ass out in front of Palm for not being able to do anything for him) and he still did anything to keep him alive in the end

[obstinaterixatrix]

For the fic ask game! 18+6 in general, and 25 x 3 from fics of your own choosing

6. How did you decide what tense and POV(s) to use?

I generally default to third person present unless there’s some kind of meta element I want to toy with. I feel like it’s a lot easier to figure out past/present/future tenses from that starting point, whereas starting from past tense it can be harder to keep track of past tense (current) and past tense (pluperfect/past continuous/etc whatever).

As for what point of view character, it ranges from ‘barely a decision because the fic inherently needs to be from this character’s perspective’ to ‘going back and forth writing snippets of scenes from different perspectives to find out what works’ but in the end, the decision’s made based on what perspective drives the fic the furthest and the easiest. I might be swapping a pov of a wip to see if it goes further..

18. Talk about your editing and revision process

I generally don’t write in a way where I do major revisions, I usually have a Very Specific Idea about the atmosphere and the intention I have for a scene, so it’s more about filling in gaps and fine-tuning something. I remember a while ago I had a foxskull fic where the emotional cohesion wasn’t working out, and air was like ‘I think it’d make more sense if there was conflict here’ & while they were right about that as a possible solution, and while I love conflict, I was like. no. I think what ended up happening was pushing the vibe to more extremes, like cautiously defusing an emotional bomb.

If I can, I like getting a pal who can read over and give notes on what works and what doesn’t. I like thorough notes on atmosphere and phrasing and pacing, and I need the positives to be pointed out so The Agonizing Process Of Being Edited is offset. Which is a pretty common experience of editing preference, I’d imagine. If I’m writing in isolation it’s easy for me to lose focus and motivation, but fortunately I’ve had friends who were willing to hype me up as I dragged my corpse over the finish line… there’s no way I would’ve finished night flowers without liz or april lol

25. Share your favorite line (x3)

I never like just one singular line so I’m gonna change it to ‘section’

from as it turns out, dying isn’t the romantic gesture you might think it is

Despite being explicitly told not to get involved, Shang Qinghua involves himself for a couple reasons, neither of them flattering.

Reason number one: jealousy.

Listen. It took years for Shang Qinghua to close the gap between him and Mobei Jun, to get them from an undefined relationship between strangers… to an undefined relationship between acquaintances. And that was fine. That was great. Who could ask for more, especially from someone like Mobei Jun?

Shen Qingqiu, apparently! In less than a day, fucking Shen Qingqiu swooped in from nowhere and usurped what Shang Qinghua had built over the better part of a decade! Who wouldn’t be bitter!! Who wouldn’t go mad!! Fuck!!

Reason number two: desperation.

I liked going all in on stupid bitter jealousy and resentment and then figuratively switching to the next powerpoint slide. I think I’m hysterical. In general, mo/shang is where some of my funniest writing is

from “I can’t stay” and other lies to tell

The thing about being a blindingly competent genius with a very specific skillset is that everyone wants to use Han Sooyoung in completely inconsequential ways. It’s a waste. It’s overkill. It’s as insulting as buying a sword from a master craftsman and using it to chop vegetables.

“I’m not editing your essay,” she says, looking up from the three sheets of paper that Lee Gilyoung had shoved into her hands.

I love when sooyoung is annoying <3

from reprise, refrain

“Then it sounds like we’re all on the same page!” Lance claps his hands together, clearly pleased with himself. “All we have to do is get in the cat-stack and we’ll be fine, right?”

this is buried in a vld gen fic which means hardly anyone would’ve seen it. I still really love lance describing voltron as ‘the cat-stack’ and it’s one of my favorite lines I’ve written for him even though I’ve for sure written much more overtly funny lines for him.

[romanceyourdemons]

bluebeard (2009), an adaptation of an undisneyfiable fairy tale, does interesting work with the storytelling or story-within-a-story conceit many fairytale adaptations use. rather than opening in the frame with the story being established as such for the audience, the story opens within its bluebeard narrative before moving back to show its framing conceit of two girls in an attic they are not supposed to enter, with the younger reading the story of bluebeard to frighten the older. the girls in the framing device and the girls within the story clearly mirror one another; their tragic fates provide complementary perspectives on the dire consequences narratives and societies impose on young women complicating their presumed innocence by expressing and acting on desire—desire for control, desire for love, and, yes, desire for intimacy, a topic which director catherine breillat’s films frequently explore in far more explicit terms and modes. everything in this film, however, is understated and minimalist, from the spare dialogue and acting to the cinematography, which favors static shots that turn into slow pans around the subjects. the effect of this is a slightly unsettling atmosphere, not so unsettling that the actions and motivations of the characters toward the young protagonist do not manifestly speak for and condemn themselves. bluebeard (2009) is a fascinating and very well-composed film that i enjoyed watching and would recommend

[exitvelocities]

on fandom and writing.

so that meme about showing how many fandoms you've written for is going around bsky and i assume twitter and here's mine:

the way i put it on bsky is that my purview is narrow and my start up cost is high. two of those (yowapeda and all out) are only in there as part of multi-fandom drabble dumps from the bygone saso days; chyf and oofuri i did at least write short (<1K) pieces for chocolate box. the last three are the main fandoms i've produced for in the last decade or so. daiya for about three years 2014-2018, bad buddy from late 2022-mid 2023 or so, and now mlc from april 2024 on.

i hope i'll be able to hold on to mlc for longer than i was bad buddy but i think i will -- i've been able to find enough community that i think it will stick for a while. part of that is the leap of faith that is the dihua discord server, but finding any cdrama friends at all has been a journey since my old circles are all dwrp and sports anime.

fandom for me is inherently a social activity or i would just stay in my corner and enjoy by myself like i do for most things; the main thing that motivates me to become active in a fandom is the desire to talk to someone about it. the desire to write may or may not be there without having someone to talk to, but even a little bit of encouragement goes a long way, so just someone saying "yeah i'd read that" was enough to get me to commit to my usual fic meme bullshit and that, i think, also helped find some more people to talk to, or at least interact with on some level.

i'm actually a very introverted person but i've been spending a lot of energy trying to foster a friendly environment on the server and hopefully in this space, though i can't see how well that's working as clearly. i gather the energy to throw myself at new people approximately once a decade lol so it's a little surprising that i'm managing so quickly after flaming out in my last fandom but mlc and dihuas in particular have been really welcoming.

anyway, this was supposed to be a post about writing. writing is pretty difficult for me in many ways, but it's also just. sort of what i do. so if i love something enough to want to talk to another human about it, it's not a stretch that i'll eventually want to create for it too. granted, for me, this is often expedited if i get bitten by the ship bug. i did actually watch mlc when it aired last year, but didn't really look into fandom or fic for it until earlier this year and sort of got delayed-reaction thunderstruck by dihua, which has so many elements that i love in a ship. the tension! the fondness! the trust and knowing! i should have known i was a goner but i didn't until i was falling headlong.

according to ao3 i've produced about 16K of mlc fic since april of this year. now, i know that's not a not for some, but to contrast my highest production year was 24K in 2015, so, for me: quite a lot! especially within that time period. i'm slowing down now/it's getting harder again but i don't plan on stopping so we'll see what my count is by the end of the year.

like many writers, i battle with self-confidence and mlc fic in particular has been a weird struggle for me. my writing hallmarks from previous fandoms have been atmosphere and poetics, succinct characterization, and imagery. for mlc fic i feel like i'm at 1 out of 3. i think (hope!) my character work is still good, but i feel like my writing for this fandom has been so plain. i want to write pretty things for this ship! i will keep trying. i may just need to eat more poetry and spend more time violently throwing myself around when trying to write, but hopefully i will manage at some point.

this post actually started with me thinking about why i choose to make my fic meme/drabble dumps chaptered rather than posting them individually when visibility/feedback/attention are unfortunately so important to me. every kudos, comment, tag comment, reblog, rec, etc really means a ton. writing is something that takes up a ton of energy and sometimes it can feel like you're pouring a whole lot of it out and not getting any in return and, for me at least, that's what burn out feels like. at the same time, like. in the end you're always writing for yourself so you sort of have balance that with how feedback or lack thereof makes you feel.

fic meme does get posted separately here on tumblr so maybe with that i get a little best of both worlds? i don't do it on ao3 because it would just straight up make me feel crazy to have literally 100+ 300-700ish word long ficlets scattered across my account over the decade, all needing titles, so my need to have things organized and in their place wins out over the need for validation there.

i don't know where i was going with this anymore tbh, but thanks if you read it! also thank you thank you thank you so much to those of you who take the time to read and respond to fic in some way, whether it's reblogging with tags, leaving comments, or just hitting the kudos button. i really can overemphasize how important these thing are as a fic writer.

[tenebrius-excellium]

Hot Take: Avatar The Way Of Water will receive mixed reviews and while it’s beautiful, it won’t work for European audiences.

1. Someone I watched the movie with described it as a “documentary” of the water world and that’s exactly what it is. It’s beautiful. Focus lies on aesthetic descriptions and playful visual experiences. It’s not plot-driven, but that’s not a bad thing! It’s just... different. What someone might call a “good” filler movie.

2. James Cameron’s themes remain highly traditional. While I support that to a degree, it puts them in danger of being outdated. I don’t know, I’ll let myself be surprised by audience reactions. To me, the values feel dusty and out of touch with the current mindsets and priorities of Western society. Cameron wrote a script that was borderline old 13 years ago. A lot has happened in the world since then.

3. The Na’vi culture, so carefully built during the first movie, was eliminated, full of plot holes, and made to fit narrative whims. The kids were loud and careless in the forest. Barely any Na’vi was spoken. The Omaticaya’s way of life was erased and Jake not held accountable for destroying the Metkayina’s too.

4. Stereotypes of outcast existences, culture appropriation and white savior elements were applied again as if it was white man’s earth. What the heck. I don’t think the Maori culture inspiration and the use of sign language were truly done justice. They were creative plot devices. Wonderful to be explored, but not treated as if they were to be taken seriously as parts of real people’s identities in reality. Jake got to play at *another* way of life without risk to himself. He switches tribes and identities at his leisure, adopting their manners as he pleases without realizing the harm he is doing to them. He plows through their hospitality and their resources like a bulldozer. What.

5. The new characters are super cool, the old ones neglected and ooc. Arcs happen at random. They are picked up, then dropped again. The movie is more about existing than about action, which strangely, isn’t a bad thing to me. It’s simply a series of events led mostly by the kids’ wondrous, innocent discoveries. What the events mean and where they lead, remains shrouded in mystery. Somehow, it’s still immensely enjoyable to watch it all unfold!

6. The main point being that this movie is still as painfully White American as can be and that is terrible to watch in the year 2022. As a European, I don’t identify with Jake’s motivations. Like, at all. I doubt any other culture will. This movie pushes American “black vs. white, right vs. wrong” dualistic thinking to a brink where it can exclusively be understood by White Americans with military background. That’s a far too narrow target audience, if you ask me. I felt pretty alienated. To me, Jake was a horrible parent. Addressing fathers as Sir and expecting your kids to give you the respect of a soldier would count as child abuse over here. We are not familiar with military culture, nor do we want to be. Neytiri “Missus Sully” is not meant to be a military wife and she is clearly uncomfortable with it. Also, Europe is not divided in “white” and “different”. We define ourselves (mostly, hopefully - please don’t argue with me on this) by our nationality and whether we are part of the European Union, not by skin color. Avatar The Way Of Water is stuck up, misses the modern world’s heartbeat and is, by all means, not relatable to European multinational coexistence (not to even speak of global cultural diversity). In addition, the movie’s narrative structure is repetitive and not even that well thought out at times.

7. So what do we make of it? This movie is clearly weaker than its predecessor, yet somehow almost equally enjoyable. It relies heavily on the visuals and the atmosphere, while missing out hard on zeitgeist and cultural respect. I like every character’s story, although it rarely seems to lead places. Perhaps it doesn’t have to. Avatar The Way Of Water is a flawed, dreamy, idealistic, aesthetic nature vibe. The reality is much more complex. It was slightly underwhelming, but in a James Cameron kind of way, so it lowkey was to be expected and I’d 7/10 watch it again :)

[callimaria]

hi!!! I am here with a request !! i rarely see any love for murro!! And i love him sm

could I please request murro x adoring and socially inept reader (or s/o) 😍😍

THANK U FOR UR TIME

murroses are red, violets are blue… wait

warnings: none

characters: murro

murro, time and time again, was always surprised whenever you laid your eyes on him; gazing at him with pure adoration. it wasn’t like you two were strangers, no, you had gotten quite close since you entered the manor for the first time.

yet that part was a surprise, too, as you were completely overwhelmed at the start. new, fresh faces everywhere, an eclectic mix of eccentric personalities—you shut down almost instantly, locked away in your room, reviewing your own decision to come to the manor.

though as time went by, slowly, you grew comfortable enough to get out of your room, attend dinner without having the friendly gardener—you learned her name was emma—bring you meals, and after that you even managed to start talking to those you found pleasant enough.

💗💗💗

the first time you met murro was when you were teamed up together with two other survivors, (frankly, you had not a clue what their names were, and they looked too intimidating to ask) waiting for your match to start.

the room was silent, leaving you to fiddle with your fingers, clearly uncomfortable in your chair. murro was seated next to you, hand trailing over the back of his boar companion, visibly calmed.

in all honesty, his boar intrigued you as it became clear there was a connection between them, like a bond. you had always wanted to voice your thoughts, maybe even get just a single remark in there, but you always froze, the words stuck on the tip of your tongue.

looking around, the atmosphere had slightly changed, alerting you that it was almost time. if it was almost time, then perhaps you could finally get a word out; you thought, turning to look at the man. gripping onto your seat, you cringed.

“u-uh..” you began, stammering. he looked up, staring at you with an expression you were too nervous to analyze, but he looked like he was willing to hear you out.

“i think your boar’s very cool,” you said, sweating. it wasn’t the best execution, but it was less embarrassing than you thought it would be.

his companion responded before he had the chance to, with a little gurgle and a small tilt of its head.

unfortunately, the match started immediately after that, whisking everyone away—leaving you to wonder what his reply would have been.

💗

perhaps, after that moment, it spurred you on to do your best in that match. pulling off a kite you thought you wouldn’t, managing to avoid being shocked by a cipher—it really shocked you, the sudden motivation taking charge of your body.

you were ecstatic at a well deserved win, especially when you had been stuck on a losing streak. it ground down on your confidence, but you persevered—considering you had nothing else to do in the manor, besides your hobbies—and this win felt refreshing.

you shied away from your teammates, struggling to not smile, when you noticed murro muttering something to his little companion.

he radiated a bit of pride and happiness, and you stopped in your tracks to wonder if he had lost quite a few matches before too. lost in your thoughts, you hadn’t noticed he was staring back at you.

“the others went back to the manor,” murro supplied helpfully, “are you going?”

snapping out of it, you felt embarrassed. (you had no idea you were glaring daggers into him, you were simply spacing out, really)

“oh—! uh.. yes. right.” rushing forwards, you heard the boar snort a bit, him following along.

you kept your head down, unnerved by the silence. it was only the slightest bit awkward, but to you, it felt even more awkward.

though, as it became clear you two weren’t going to talk or bother each other; the trek back was filled with comfortable silence.

💗💗💗

“why do— why would you remember that?!” you cried, flustered. you covered your ears with your hands, hoping to block out the man’s voice.

he only laughed, his boar chiming in with an awfully specific noise you couldn’t bother to pin down as a grunt or snort.

“i remember the entire match, see— it was a good one,” he paused, smiling.

“it was great. i saved you a few times, didn’t i? like i was your own prince.”

despite your initial agony upon remembering how ‘weird’ you were then, your eyes can’t help but twinkle when you gaze at him.

“yes, murro— but you always save me like a prince..

“except for last match, where you fumbled and got caught yourself.”

you were so lucky to have an odd fellow like him.

GOD I HAD TO SCOUR HIS WIKI SO MANY TIMES IN FEAR OF MISCHARACTERIZATION.. like

me, intensely staring at his literal jp twt replies:

stared so hard i bet i concerned my phone tbh

also i wish for once i didn’t write literally all of my posts on my phone bc i wish i could put the little “read more” things on them.. maybe tomorrow lol

[magicinkjasp]

The Spirit Bares it's Teeeth- Book Review (Part 1)

The bolded leaders indicate the CAWPILE method. (characters, atmosphere, writing style, plot, intrigue, logic and enjoyment)

Before I write my book review on "The Spirit Bares its Teeth", I would like to echo the author's sentiment. This book is hard, it contains SA, body harm, graphic violence, ableism, pregnancy and other such topics. It touches open nerves. It will hurt, especially those who have scar tissue built. There is no obligation to read it, and those who don’t, I too applaud you. There is more bravery in walking away that words can ever express. The Spirit Bares it Teeth follows Silas in 1800 Victorian England. In this world building there are people with violet eyes who can manipulate the veil between the living and the dead. These people are called speakers and they have their own little government.

(C)The characters in the book are written with care, each of their voices and characteristics are unique. When it comes to the main character, Silas, there is no doubt on his motives and what drives him to do what he does. The secondary characters of Louise, Charlotte, Isabella, Daphne, and George were a whirlwind to watch. They were each equally memorable, with their placement in the story and their actions that lead to certain events. Even the characters we never met first hand were memorable, in the way the other characters describe them. The cunningness and their depictions drove the story forward and into the heart. They each helped turn the story into the beauty it is. Between them, I did not particularly see growth, but more so a crumpled piece of paper turned flat. As the whole story progressed we were able to see them for who and what they truly were. It is something I deeply appreciate in this novel.

(A)The book was highly immersive, I could clearly picture everything that was being described. It was gross when it came to the medical gore. In some scenes I did notice the use of less description, and this too was amazing since it allows the audience to imagine what they view as more grotesque. The scenes were palatable, and convincing in the twist and turns of organs. The time period relevant language also did an amazing job portraying the atmosphere of the time. When it came to the multiple conversations of gender, it was also convincing. As a trans individual, the way Silas described their feelings made total sense, it mirrored how I felt in my own body and gender. The book made me angry, and I hope that was the point, since it is noted that Andrew Joseph White, writes out of anger. The injustices queer people, neurodivergent people and anyone else ‘othered’ by society can be reflected in our modern society. It points to what is still wrong and what people everywhere are trying to solve, what they die fighting for.

(W)When it came to the writing style, I enjoyed it. It was not difficult to follow and all the medical analogies and jargon were easy to pick up. With that it added a whole other dimension to the book. The addition of the rabbit in the book was an interesting concept, but perfectly describes the way people try to stay alive, even if it is not the best. It was another part of the writing that added dimension. In about the first half I noticed more narration than actual dialogue. It was not a truly bad thing, I liked being in and out of Silas’ mind. As the action picks up, there is more dialogue. The quirks in the writing made it all the more engaging and interesting to read. With the type of writing style A.J White had, I will be sure to pick up more books of his.

(P)The plot was both direct and indirect. The pacing was a rather even one, it felt slightly slow at the start but it really wasn’t it, it was leaving everything to build up. Once the pieces of the puzzle started to click, it seemed obvious as to where the plot was going, but at times I would stop and question if it really was heading that way. For me, that made it all the more engaging, to see which way it truly went. It allowed me to cheer for the characters and lament their losses. The plot itself was not the most complicated one I have seen, but a good middle, it has threads to tie up rather than just a string. With the ending of the book, there were pieces left behind, but it gave the characters life beyond the pages. It is also something I enjoy, when characters live past the book, when a life can be envisioned for them.