#look i say this with full acceptance that she is popular and i'll never win. but i don't even consider SJM fantasy.

[wetcatspellcaster]

I saw you respond that you a very much not an SJM fan 😅 fair enough but I did want to ask what books/series you did like or would recommend that are of a fantasy/romantasy vibe!

lmfao, i am destined to become known for my parasocial enmity with the wingspan lady on this hellsite.

I don't read stuff with the same vibe as SJM all that often anymore. I used to read a lot of paranormal romance but the heteronormativity of SJM clones was upsetting me, so I've turned more towards the romance genre or just straight up fanfic these days.

So these recommendations might not be the perfect overlap but-!

Books with Fey Romances that are good

Holly Black, for all your fey needs. Tithe is the OG (and if you like sad men with white hair, have I got a blorbo for you!) but The Cruel Prince is her most popular series, that most people have read. The Darkest Part of the Forest is also an amazing standalone novel with a bit more creepiness than the other two. Not very explicit sex.

Olivia Atwater's Half A Soul and Ten Thousand Stitches are regency romance novels with fey associations, the first book is about a girl under a fairy curse and the second is about a fairy himbo trying his best at being a fairy godmother. No sex, that I can remember.

Heather Fawcett's Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies. I've talked about this book a lot. If you like my fanfic, you will like this book, because this book was written for Me specifically. Not very explicit sex.

The Falconer series by Elizabeth May. This is the closest in this list to what SJM writes, only this is. um. better. Much sex, but also just... 'what if we started an apocalypse together, and the guilt meant I was scared to touch you, but we've got nothing else to live for now so why shouldn't I just do it?'

Fantasy Books with Good Romance

T Kingfisher's Swordheart and Nettle & Bone - both standalone novels. Swordheart is just Howl x Sophie dynamics, if Howl was a martial class, and also. A sword. Some sexiness.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (if we count the love interests as both the hot sexy wizard man AND the protagonist's gal pal). Some sexiness.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. If you like your immortal/mortal romances, this is a pretty stellar read tbh. Some sexiness.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan. This is such a fun book just generally but the slowburn of a 7 year high school romance sent me a little feral actually. Some sexiness.

Daevabad trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty. Now, this one is a little bit evil bc its an epic fantasy trilogy that is quite dense, and the romance is amazing but it takes a WHILE. *I* can write an evil slowburn, but there is nothing more evil than what happened in these books bc everyone is so fucking repressed. Alternatively, The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by the same author, which cut to the chase a lot quicker, romance-wise.

Fantasy Books that are 😌😌 sexy 😌😌

The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman. This is my favourite paranormal romance I've read in recent years, and they don't even have sex but I'm putting it here because um. they did. to me. That's what happens when you write a regency romance where if a woman takes of a man's coat they have 37 horny thoughts about it in real time. Imagine if Darcy and Elizabeth for P&P were also fighting demons at the same time as falling in love (not metaphorically. literal demons.)

Mating the Huntress by Talia Hibbert. Talia Hibbert's books in general fucking slap but I wish she'd written more paranormal romance than just this ONE story bc um. This was. um. Good.✌️

A Marvellous Light and A Restless Truth by Freya Marske. Freya Marske is also a popular fanfic author, and it shows with the way she writes sex.

That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon by Kimberly Lemming. This author is the one who went briefly viral bc she accidentally has a book cover with Astarion on it lmao. This book was the first in that series, and unfortunately it wasn't for me (dragon shifter porn, I did *not* know going in) but the sex was really, really well-written, if that's something you could be into.

[unreliablesnake]

You must be new here (Joel Miller x reader)

Summary: You've heard a lot about Joel before he showed up in Jackson, but now it's time to meet him in person.

Note: (ex)popstar!reader. This is a short something. Take it as a test drive. If people like it, I think I'll continue this. / If you want to know when I post new stuff, follow @unreliablesnakefics and hit the get notifications button. I don't have a taglist. / It's late so I'm taking full responsibility for typos and mistakes since I didn't proofread it.

“You’re new,” you told the unfamiliar guy in the Tipsy Bison once you got off the small stage in the back and sat on a barstool next to him. You waited for him to say something, but he remained silent, and instead of paying attention to the conversation, he watched his glass as if there was something in it. “My name is–”

“I know who you are,” he suddenly interrupted you grumpily.

By now you knew who he was. Tommy had told you about him way before he got here with the girl, and now that they were here to stay, you thought it would be best if you introduced yourself first. He didn’t know anyone apart from his brother and sister-in-law, maybe having a friend would do wonders with his integration into this community.

You didn't find his tone of voice offensive, not after what you had heard about him. He was like this, and not just with you. But you didn’t give up, so instead of leaving him alone, you ordered two glasses of whiskey and kept watching him to make sure he wouldn’t sneak away while you weren’t looking.

“How do you like Jackson so far?” you asked, immediately regretting this trivial question. “You know what? Never mind. But tell me this. Do you even try to make friends here? Or are you planning on staying a loner?”

“You’re used to being liked by people, aren’t you? Not everyone’s out there to win a popularity contest, sweetheart,” he informed you before finishing his drink.

“You’ll learn that people here are nice to each other. The sooner you accept that and act nice, the better it’s going to get for you,” you explained with a smile. “The girl you came here with gets along with others quite nicely. Follow her example.”

After taking a deep breath, Joel reached for the drink you had ordered for him. “Ellie. Her name is Ellie.” You nodded, taking a mental note to remember it. “Why are you trying so hard to keep up this conversation?” he suddenly asked you.

It was a good question, you had to admit that. “I remember you from before the outbreak,” you told him.

“We haven’t met before.”

“But I met your daughter, didn’t I? At a signing event,” you specified, the corners of your lips curling into a smile when you saw the taken aback expression on his face. When he opened his mouth to say something, you shrugged and said, “It’s hard to forget a teenage girl who’s mortified by her father’s comments.”

“But how do you know that was me? I’m sure you met a lot of people before the outbreak, you can’t remember everyone.”

“Tommy told me about you, your daughter, and this little encounter of ours. It jump started my memory. I know she was a fan. I also know that you took her to one of my concerts in Austin.”

Joel mumbled something under his breath as he shook his head. If you had to guess, you would have said he swore to talk to his little brother about the importance of boundaries. You found it entertaining, so while you knew it was rude, you still let out a chuckle. He gave you a strange look at this which made you bite on your lower lip and focus your attention on your drink.

After a longer period of silence, you felt him staring at you. You had been avoiding his gaze for a while, but now that he was looking at you like that, as if he was judging you, it was getting frustrating. “What is it?” you asked him.

“Nothing.”

But he kept watching you with an intrigued look on his face. Gulping, you tried to focus on something else. Anything, really, but nothing worked. Your mind kept returning to him, trying to figure out what was going on in his head while he was looking at you like this.

Like he would like to devour you.

Although you might have been imagining things. Maybe he wasn’t looking at you because he found you that interesting, maybe he just wanted to get you to leave. So you cleared your throat, then stood up and flashed a friendly smile at him. “Well, I’ll call it a day. It was nice to meet you, Joel.”

Nodding, he raised his glass as a form of farewell. Joel would have never admitted it, but he liked you. Well, he liked your image before the outbreak. You had been around thirty at the time, being one of the most famous pop stars in the world, with millions of fans from kids to grown-ass adults. He wasn’t a fan of your music, but he sure appreciated all the things you did for the people in need.

And now that he met you in person, he hated to admit that you seemed genuinely nice. You actually cared about him, you truly wanted him to be a part of this community. He wondered what Tommy had told you before he showed up, how much he changed some stories to meet a narrative about a nice, caring brother, something he hadn’t been in a very, very long time.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

[aokuro-san]

The metamorphosis of Byron Farm, by Gaby Asceyndez.

PS: To this day, this is still my most popular story in Spanish. I finished polishing it on September 26, 2020, after winning a Wattpad contest (with "The Shikumori Sisters", a long J-Horror story) as an invitation from the judges of "Horror Hour" to create an anthology Halloween with all the winners from these years. The theme was free, and I chose to delve, for the first time, into cosmic horror. A genre that I have written quite a bit about currently, to be honest. I love it! And, in fact, I recently published a sentence from a longer story (that I wrote and published in 2021) that belongs to that genre, and I saw that it was quite liked. So today I continue with an "experiment" that I left halfway after seeing the little interest in the second story that I translated and published here (The day evil escaped a god). Since it takes me a while to translate it as I think it should (since I am not an English expert and I apologize in advance for possible errors)

I hope you enjoy it, though!

Georgine Valley was one of those towns that, no matter how much you looked for them on the map, seemed no less than a speck of dust between towns like St. Mary Castle, which had (and has) those huge Christmas parades, or Beach Sand, with its coasts full of satisfied tourists after a Fourth of July. Geevalley, as children then knew it, only had Halloween. And even that didn't make it stand out at all. The residents spent the year's savings on pumpkins to carve by hand, on skeletons that they then dressed as scarecrows and placed next to their mailboxes, on fake spiders and dead plastic mice. The stranger's mother used to buy lights disguised as mummified eyes, so penetrating that, when you passed in front of the house, they had the ability to make you believe that they followed you wherever you walked. It was, without a doubt, her favorite party. But since old Dankworth began spreading the story of the Byron farm, things got worse, and not even the lifelong settlers wanted to stay in Georgine Valley.

Old Dankworth lived in one of the houses on the hill. Pogo, a skinny, albino greyhound who kept jumping from here to there, was the only one who kept him company. He had never married, nor was it ever known if he had had children. He was a hermit, whose human contact was limited to a few members of the community. Those who were children at that time were strictly prohibited from approaching him. In Georgine Valley, there were always bad rumors about antisocial people… Who would have thought that he would later become such an outgoing drunk?

"Boy, do you know what happened to the Byron farm?", he emembers he's saying to anyone he caught off guard, half hidden in a dark corner, with the bottle of Conecuh Ridge always half empty. "I'll tell you what happened to the Byron farm, yes, I'll tell you… Something so horrible you won't believe it."

Out in the hills—perhaps largely thanks to old Dankworth—the Byrons were much better known than their own farm. Marthaline, the matriarch, ran a chicken business her father had started, which she called matchless and had a name as cartoonish as Filemon Genoese Byron. Attractive and charismatic, anyone would think he had been fathered by the monstrous Danylo and Dorotheus: twins joined by a single trunk, robust, bald, small-eyed men who gutted animals for fun in their free time, and whose father (the sickly Casimir) he had died long before seeing them born to a hypochondriac mother. Although, perhaps of all of them, the most notable was Arseny. A 19th century slacker, he was Geevalley's best fool and had acquired the farm for the small price of an old cow and a couple of sick sheep.

People far from the hills were always suspicious that the previous owners so easily accepted the proposals of that capricious one. And the consequences that plagued the Byrons—much later—ended up proving their doubts right: the delicate health of their firstborn, the arrival into the world of a body with two macabre heads and a long list of dead children; also the rotting of the matchless one's teeth at fifty-something, which made it almost impossible to look at his face and, finally, the terrible vision that drove old Dankworth crazy and ended, inexplicably, the lineage of that place.

Although neither he nor his family knew the Byrons, beyond the gossip whispered by the neighbors (that Marthaline was a black widow, that her three children had a voracious appetite, that Americus, the youngest of the house, was a witch and spiritualist from a plane other than the purely paranormal, and if this, and if that…), what was discovered later has not allowed him to forget them from his memory.

Sometimes, the stranger dreams of them, just as he imagined them in his childish mind, and they pursue him, and torment him, asking for help in the flesh, under the shadow of some place unimaginable for our limits.

As expected, Dankworth had a lot to do with that fatal discovery. "First, they told me to bury that. And then strange things kept happening to them… Lenise called me almost every day, terrified and crying her eyes out, like when the cold in the house was so unbearable that they could barely stay inside. Or when the sound of the walls got so loud that their ears rang for hours. They said it was like someone ran their teeth across the surface of the wood, night after night and with the strength of a mastodon, yes, with the strength of a god… I knew we should have burned it. Fire is always safe, but Marthaline hated fire," he explained it to strangers who, sooner or later, stopped coming to town under the influence of her stories. And then to the residents themselves, who were tired of having fear put into their bodies. None of them stayed too long listening to a mad man speak. However, the stranger, who had always overheard Dankworth's delusions—as opposed to the strict rules of adults—did not miss the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity as soon as the old man approached him. In those days, he was almost seventeen years old and he was a wiry teenager and waiting for the bus. Dankworth, on the other hand, had the look of a decrepit sick man, of someone who struggled to stay on his feet morning and night… it was sad to see him. He no longer even had the whiskey with him. But the stranger did not speak, he only listened to what he had to tell him, praying that he would not die right there and sometimes even holding his breath.

"Have I ever told you what happened to the Byron farm?", Old Dankworth asked him, sitting on the ground, on the edge of the road, without even waiting for an answer. “Well, I'll explain it to you, yes, yes, yes… Pogo was also a witness. But, of course, dogs can't talk to people… especially dead dogs…".

Rumors ruled that nothing but old age killed Pogo. However, he remembers that the old man sobbed as if what happened to the Byrons was to blame for it. Then he continued:

"What I'm going to tell you, everyone already knows, and it's crazy, very crazy… But I saw it. It was real, and it will kill me like he killed my Pogo… Death comes in many ways, and it is not exactly instantaneous."

"That morning was Halloween, our beloved Halloween. And while you, the naive ones from the lower part, were preparing for the best of the year, for your night of witches and candy, and you had breakfast happy and charming, like in those stupid advertisements… I got another call from Lenise. The last call, yes, the last… Do you know who Lenise was? Lenise was a Byron, the middle child, and she was yelling at me; she heard yelling everywhere around her for the phone. "Dan, Dan, help us, something is happening in the house! Something very strange is happening here!". Americus, the youngest, joined the horror fest with calls for help, while his brother Hartdan, who was the oldest, said: "What is that coming out of there!? What is that!?" Even Pogo was on alert! Jumping uncontrollably from side to side…"

"If you're wondering what I did, I did what I had to do: I urged her to calm down (even though I didn't succeed), hung up and drove there in a truck. I still had (and still have) the screams in my head… They reminded me (and they remind me) of when the pigs go to the slaughterhouse, and they know very well that they are going to die, and that they can't do anything to avoid it… Pogo accompanied me, perched on the seat next to him and barking—with increasing force—into the distance. Yes, that happened, yes, yes, yes… He already knew it. It is noted that animals are smarter than people."

“It took me about half an hour to get there. Not only because it was one of those places far from everything and everyone, whose only company was themselves and their chickens, but because, although I accelerated to the maximum, my truck was not capable of much more. My truck was too old, and I was also too old… and I'm too old now."

"As soon as I appeared in front of what should be a normal and ordinary house (with its shed with firewood, with its a shed with chickens and its happy family, despite what we know…), Pogo stopped barking and he hid under the seat, curled up in terror. I wished I were a dog, so I could do the same. But I just hit the brakes and stared at the impossible: there was the source of the midnight calls, of the screams that followed resonating somewhere as if they were being reproduced through very powerful speakers within that entity that, of course, was no longer a farm, nor a motionless thing…".

"Holy cow," I remember whispering, as open-mouthed as I've ever been. The house had merged with its surroundings: worms protruded from it, red, huge like leeches, and with pieces of chickens trapped in their deformed mass. The chickens were in unbearable pain: their eyes were bulging, and they were screaming at the top of their lungs, stained with slime and raw flesh. It looked like their skins had been accidentally turned inside out… And the worst was not even that: the Byron farm was standing on two newly formed legs, pretending to be a scavenger animal, and trying to stand on its own to at any moment (surely) run towards me…".

"Help!", said (what I assumed was) Marthaline from the molten interior, from which the creature was spitting and spitting out an orange paste, as if it couldn't stop vomiting. The house was transforming into something she had never seen before, with the windows being her eyes, the door being her mouth, and the rest of it being her body. It was disgusting… And when the Byron farm took a false step, almost making the ground shake, and stared at me, with that light so red and intense that it left anyone blind, instead of speeding up I imagined the end. And I peed on myself. Pogo, accompanying me in the feeling, began to howl.".

"I'm going to die, we're all going to die, this is the end…" I thought, gripping my hands on the wheel. However, inexplicably, the thing left us off its list. He grimaced, the wood creaking, and began to waste away before us, yes, yes, yes: his legs were sucked up and disappeared; first one and then the other, quickly… The horror of those inside increased in terrifying screams. The chickens became even more attached to the worms, to the dough, to the house… All living proof that a farm called Byron existed in Georgine Valley disappeared into thin air. And then all I could do was scream."

"The grass hasn't grown there since. And I'm sure that what we buried, what came from I don't know where, was to blame for what happened to the Byron's… If you want, I'll tell you. They found him dead near the house. He had crawled there from the forest, badly injured, leaving a trail of dried blood in his wake. It was repulsive. And between the five of us, we buried him underground."

"You know, boy, sometimes I dream about them: they are alive, I know it, and they are afraid, very afraid…, as much as I can be when I tell this. Someday that will come back and destroy everything. I think that's what they want to tell me… But he won't catch me, no, no, no…, not me…"

The stranger kept in his memory that image of Dankworth: that of an old man on the verge of fainting, with his gaze fixed on the asphalt and his hair torn out in rage; distant from the figure of a madman, but not so much from that of a sunk person.

From afar, he saw the bus arrive. He parked in front of them and, when he entered, the stranger felt curiosity burrowing under his skin. In the end, hearing the story only made everything worse.

A few days before a new and spooky Halloween, old Dankworth fulfilled his promise in the middle of the square, with the spectators (mostly children accompanied by worried parents) scandalized by the tragedy: he did it with an old and deviated shotgun that pierced his cheek. Nothing elegant. It was from that moment that the stranger began to have those dreams that were not dreams, but nightmares. These forced him to continue investigating what the old man had said before his death.

He took the only and essential time to decide what to do. And he convinced a friend to accompany him.

If Dankworth thought his home was far from what had once been Byron Farm, he had no idea what it was like to climb mountains of roads, driving around and around in despair and asking the few inhabitants of upper Geevalley where that place was.

"Are you sure this is it? It's been years since that, people probably don't even know where it is anymore, and they're lying to you," his friend questioned every time he turned the wheel, with that skeptical face that made him even more nervous. But he stood his ground, as old Dankworth had once done, until the grassless ground lay before him. Scorched by the sun, just as the legends said. He almost jumped out of the car with excitement! There, there the Byrons had sent him, there was the end of his curiosity! His friend warned him not to fall into the distance, but he could only see that ground where he could run and dig… The stranger jumped for joy, just as Pogo would have done if he were still alive. Finally, he was going to get rid of that terrible intrigue! However, something tripped him, and he fell face first onto the barren ground.

"You'll be clumsy!" his friend shouted, still inside the car. He did not come out to help him even when he began to scream in terror: he had fallen into a damp, oval hole, in which some living being had once lain… However, now it was gone and a trail of dried blood guided him to the deepest part of the forest, where the breeze continued to blow…

He still dreams today.

[kaibutsushidousha]

Tribe Nine progress report #00 (part 1)

Translations from the official Tribe Nine website, supplemented with things that were said on stream.

Character names are in Japanese order because that's how they're officially romanized.

Also, I'll be posting this in multiple parts because I reached the image limit on this post.

World

In the country of Neotokyo, year 20XX, youth with no hope for society's future form Tribes to find a place to call home.

With time, the disputes between Tribes continued to grow more and more violent. The situation was very intense in the eyes of the Neotokyo government, so they enforced the XB Law, which limited the quarrels between Tribes to only Extreme Baseball.

Pitch, bat, and trade blows. The youths were crazy over this radical pride-staking game.

XB (Extreme Baseball)

A duel method similar to baseball, designed to settle conflicts between Tribes. As determined by the XB Law, the loser must obey the winner's order(s).

Runners and the fielder with the ball can initiate battles with each other for the right to reach a base. The slugfests between players equipped with body-enhancing gear are XB's greatest trademark.

Rules

The games must be played late at night when there are no longer any onlookers.

The games will use the entire City as its field.

Batters are only out by tag out or by strike out.

There is no home run. In case of an extra-base hit, the runner(s) can run through the bases until they initiate a battle against the fielder with the ball.

A fielder with the ball is allowed to initiate a battle against a runner, staking the runner's right to reach a base.

Players can equip XB Gear to enhance their physical abilities.

Anything can be used as XB Gear, as long as it's approved by the Judge Robot acting as the umpire for the game.

The win condition is either scoring more points than the opposing team or knocking out the opponents in battle.

The winner can give any order to the loser.

Characters

[This section will have some character profiles for a few Tribes, but before that, I'll have to go over some elements that were only explained in a previous interview and in the stream. The game will contain 23 Tribes, each themed after one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. The names of the Tribes here all match the names of the wards they represent. Their base concepts will be all about local stereotypes, of course, but in the stream, Kodaka compared them to One Piece pirate crews in terms of how much individuality the characters will get within the team.]

Minato Tribe

A Tribe famed as the strongest in Neotokyo. They value the bonds between teammates and genuinely enjoy XB.

[The Minato ward is the ward where the Tokyo Tower (also called Minato Tower) is. Due to holding the symbol of the city, Kodaka chose it to be the ward of the anime's protagonist Tribe.]

Kamiya Shun (Leader)

CV: Akira Ishida

Birthday: February 22nd

Height: 179 cm

Weight: 65 kg

Voice sample 1: Let's enjoy one more game.

Voice sample 2: I'll show you how to topple the Minato Tower.

"What could be more exciting than XB?"

The founder and leader of the Minato Tribe, as well as the main reason why they're considered the strongest. He is one of the very few Beam Bat users. He's as top tier as you'd expect as a pitcher and batter, not to mention he's unmatched at a fistfight.

He enjoys unchallenged popularity on the XB field, but he also has a more goofy side. His antics include giving his teammate incomprehensible nicknames and getting hungover on coffee, among others.

Shirokane Haru

CV: Shun Horie

Birthday: January 20th

Height: 160 cm

Weight: 47 kg

Voice sample 1: My name is Haru. Shirokane Haru.

Voice sample 2: If I can really hit this swing...

"If I really have potential... I wanna give it a try!"

A timid bullied boy. He was getting into trouble with the town's delinquents as usual when Kamiya and Taiga saved him. He was bound by his own perceived uselessness, but Kamiya noticed his natural agility, wits, and keen eyes and he was invited to use these "weapons" of him for the Minato Tribe.

Taiga

CV: Chiharu Sawashiro

Birthday: October 10th

Height: 182 cm

Weight: 76 kg

Voice sample 1: I'll beat Kamiya Shun and become the best player!

Voice sample 2: The match only starts when you get to the batter's box.

You got nothing to worry about, you got me as the captain on this ride aboard the S.S. Big Ship Taiga, where S.S. stands for "safe and sound"!

A hot-blooded boy who came to Neotokyo from the other side of the ocean in pursuit of one dream: winning against the strongest man, Kamiya Shun! He joins the Minato Tribe along with Haru. He's a novice in XB and struggles to memorize the rules, but he keeps challenging his opponents with his dauntless courage and the brute strength he's so proud of.

Arisugawa Saori (Vice-Leader)

CV: Mai Fuchigami

Birthday: November 22nd

Height: 162 cm

Weight: 43 kg

Voice sample 1: The Minato Tribe never says no to anyone wanting to join or leave. You can stay as long as you want.

Voice sample 2: Raise your arm higher and put more strength into your swing.

There's no ball I can't catch!

The Minato Tribe's vice-leader. Despite her frail looks, she's an outstanding catcher, capable of stopping even Kamiya's blazing fastballs. She takes charge, commanding Minato's ensemble of oddballs since Kamiya is too careless to be a real leader.

No one values the members of Minato's team more than her, but she is extremely strict about rules and morals, never hesitating to unload a cartridge of her favorite airsoft gun on a transgressing teammate.

Mita Santarou

CV: Mutsumi Tamura

Birthday: March 30th

Height: 150 cm

Weight: 44 kg

Voice sample 1: I know talent when I see it.

Voice sample 2: The first thing rookies do is carry my stuff. That's the law of Minato.

T-those dudes are no match for me...! Ok, you guys go take them on!

A member of the Minato Tribe. He claims to be the ace of the team but is actually just a reserve pitcher. He's a pervert and a sleazeball and often gets punished by Arisugawa for it, but he shows no signs of wanting to fix his flaws.

He tends to abuse his seniority over the new members, but he's as caring and friendly as he is unreasonably bossy.

Daimon Manami

CV: Fukushi Ochiai

Birthday: July 20th

Height: 191 cm

Weight: 180 kg

Voice sample 1: I accept all forms of gratitude and cake.

Voice sample 2: You gotta swing hard but without straining yourself.

Don't forget to eat well before a game of XB.

A member of the Minato Tribe. He's always supporting the other members with his gentle personality and great cooking. Minato's base of operation is Lovely Ocean, a restaurant he runs.

Despite his usual calm, no one can stop him when he snaps.

[Translation note: Manami means "lovely ocean"]

Aoyama Kazuki

CV: Shouya Chiba

Birthday: May 18th

Height: 174 cm

Weight: 57 kg

Voice sample 1: Huhu, even if I can't use my left arm anymore, my brain is still much better than yours, stupid people.

Voice sample 2: Timing is essential in our next strategy, I'll be giving the commands. It'd be easier for all of you since you won't have to think.

"You'll be my pawns."

A mysterious boy who suddenly appeared asking to join the Minato Tribe. He can't properly play XB because his left hand is injured. But for unknown reasons, he's very knowledgeable about XB tactics and how to handle a Beam Bat and makes full use of his ingenuity to bring victory to Minato.

He seems to have some kind of goal in approaching the Minato Tribe, but what could it be?

Chiyoda Tribe

A tribe under the patronage of the king of Neotokyo. They have been suppressing many other Tribes all over the country to ostentate their power.

[Chiyoda is the ward where the Palace is, so the Chiyoda Tribe are the guys with political power]

Ootori Oujirou (Leader)

CV: Jun'ichi Suwabe

Birthday: September 26th

Height: 192 cm

Weight: 78 kg

Voice sample 1: Can you entertain me, even a little?

Voice sample 2: A game needs blood. In eras where giants clash, the people are waiting for battles that spray blood and shatter bone.

"Winning is everything. There is nothing else I need."

The leader of the Chiyoda Tribe, and heir to Ootori Tenshin, the king of Neotokyo. Tenshin trained him since he was a child to be the strongest XB player.

He challenges teams all over Neotokyo to prove he is the best.

Ootori Tenshin (King of Neotokyo)

CV: Hiroshi Naka

Birthday: January 31st

Height: 177 cm

Weight: 51 kg

Voice sample 1: None is allowed to disobey the Ootori family! It's the masses to duty to kneel before me. Am I wrong?

Voice sample 2: Every single one of those so-called big shots sullying my Chiyoda must be exterminated! Go show them the power of the Ootori family!

"Through XB, you must show that that the power of the Ootori family is absolute!"

The king of Neotokyo. He's strongly obsessed with XB, to the point he trained his heir Oujirou since childhood to be the best player.

After that, he founded the Chiyoda Tribe with Oujirou as the leader.

He aims to trample all Tribes in the country in XB to ostentate the strength of the Ootori family.

CV: Mikako Komatsu

Birthday: March 15th

Height: 170 cm

Weight: 46 kg

Voice sample 1: As you wish.

Voice sample 2: I honestly and absolutely believe you will get the result you desire.

"Only death awaits the enemies of the Ootori family."

Ootori Tenshin's secretary. To the public, she's nothing more than a modest secretary, but her secret is that she's a cold-blooded agent, capable of doing anything for the sake of the Ootori family.

Countless people who criticized or plotted to opposed the Ootori family's plans may or may not have been to their grave by her hand.

[growingstronglikeahighgardenrose]

Sanditon Season 2: all the news & my thoughts

So, we're getting not one but two new seasons of Sanditon! After a year of tremendous effort on behalf of the Sanditon sisterhood who kept the fandom alive, we'll be looking at a new season. Although I think the biggest thank you probably goes out to Bridgerton, which showed that romance, regency, a diverse cast and butts are a perfect mix to lure audiences.

I want to take this moment to reflect on what I think we'll win, what we'll lose and what we can expect in the future.

1. No Sidlotte HEA

This is probably the most heartbreaking salty news we could get. But I know Theo James, he likes new projects. And after divergent's disaster, I can't blame the boy for not wanting to hang onto another franchise. As a fanfic writer, although mainly an Esther/Babington one, I broke my head for over a year on how to get Sidlotte together. I had to imagine the grandest schemes to get them together. Tom needed 10 000 pounds in less than a month. Even Babington was probably not worth that much. That's over 6 million in today's money if adjusted to inflation. Regency era's England's top 1-2% made that in a full a year, and most of that is probably in assets and investments. And they don't just get to keep that money, most used a good chunk of it to keep their estates running and to pay their staff. Anyone know someone who has a casual 6 million lying around?

There's only two realistic solutions: either have Eliza die: which would be cruel and take years (unless you kill her in childbirth 9 months in), or create a grand scheme that would take months and see Sidney, Crowe and Babington actively work hard on their 'business' while in the meantime Charlotte, Lady Denham and Lady Susan get everyone including the prince regent to come to Sanditon. I kind of accepted they would have a hard time getting out of that plot twist. It was likely that Sidlotte could not be endgame.

Personally, I never felt a strong connection to Sidlotte, and had hoped that Charlotte, like Jane Bennet, would go to London with Lady Susan to recover from her heartbreak, and I kind of hoped James Stringer would eventually go down there for his apprenticeship, where a sort of Captain Wentworth-like situation would come to exist where he is a young man trying to make something of himself. I know Charlotte didn't love him. But I also knew that Charlotte wanted adventure and perhaps needed to grow as a person. But in the new season she'll probably be a bit jaded, closed off, and depressed. And will probably need a softer more available man. Growing up goes with swinging to extremes. She was an open optimist at the beginning, and eventually turned to the opposite, not letting her emotions shine through and being very guarded (@miss-holly-goes-lightly did a wonderful post on this). Adulthood is finding a good balance again.

So while I am saddened, because this brings along a long set of questions like: "Does Sanditon still take place in Sanditon then?" "Where will Sidney live, will he then live in London with his wife?" "Why doesn't he come help his brother the next season or visit his family, as we know Tom will make a mess of things" The show will have to answer these questions in a believable manner.

2. No Beaufort twins

Mollie Holder said on her instagram that the Beauforts wouldn't be returning. This leads to quite a few questions like: where will Georgiana stay then? What will be happening to Mrs. Griffiths? Will Georgiana be her sole ward while the Beaufort's absence is explained as them having married or having become governesses?

3. Who remains aboard

Rose Williams is definitely on board. It's also pretty certain Tom will be there again. Lady Denham is also likely to return. The child actors and their parents were willing, but worried about their increasing age a few months back. Old Stringer said he'd have loved to be part of Sanditon again and to see it continue, but he's well... dead on the show so he won't return. So who will join Charlotte?

Leo Sutter might not return. He plays an important role in the next spin-off of vikings. Vikings has a new season each year. On top of that he's currently busy recording Gateway 6. We don't know how long that might take. And perhaps by the time filming ends he's required for the next season of the Walhalla series. Leo Sutter is a rising star, he might not even have the time to return. Especially for two seasons. At his age and point in his career, he needs to cement his name, or he'll remain b-list while he has a-list potential. So he might have to give up Sanditon for his career. It's sad, I'd love a Stringer/Charlotte future where they both grow to being suitable for each other while becoming people confident in their own abilities. But in the end, I would be alright with it, as Charlotte didn't express immediate interest in him. Writing him out would also be fairly easy, they could just write that despite thinking he had to stay home after his father's death, he went to London in the end under Charlotte's encouragement. Perhaps he could then come back for a guest appearance.

Crystal Clarke will reprise her role as Georgiana. Clarke has, since Sanditon, spoken out about the sometimes tone-deaf director and scriptwriters. She had to step in a few times to make sure Georgiana was done justice. She also said she hoped Georgiana, if the show was continued, would get the space to breathe and be independent, instead of playing a minor role as token black friend of Charlotte while under the control of Sidney. It will be complex to have her return without involving Sidney, as his character will have to be written out. I imagine this can be done with a timejump, but the timejump would have to be 4 years to make Georgiana 'of age' as she is 17 in the show. They'll probably place her under someone's care while saying Sidney is "still her guardian, but away". Georgiana is, in my opinion, an essential part of Sanditon. Bridgerton showed the world wanted to see diverse faces. Austen wrote a black character as a wealthy and desirable woman. They simply have to do more with her in the future. Clarke will reprise her role, this time with black writers to do justice to her character. I'm excited to see what will be done.

The actor who plays Arthur, Turlough Convery, is a good actor and mostly in period pieces. However he's never overly in demand, and usually stays with shows for multiple seasons. I think he's quite willing to come back and it means Georgiana would have a friend. I also hope they delve into his character, especially after his "I don't think i'll ever get married".

Matthew Needham and Mark Stanley, Crowe and Babington, are Sidney's best friends. It will be hard to have them come back without them explaining why Sidney is never with them. But I believe they would work well as a duo: the drunk and the one braincell are a fun dynamic. Both are not much in demand, despite that I quite like them as actors. So we might see them returning. Their return would also be vital for the return of a few other characters:

Their return would also be vital for the return of a few other characters:

Charlotte Spencer's Esther Denham is married to Babington. Without Babington returning, how can Esther? And vice versa. Their storyline was also the main romance for me and a big part of the last few episodes. They kinda need to return. Babington is also Sanditon's access point to high society. To cash in on Bridgerton's success they should search that royal connection. Babington is friends with the Prince Regent. On top of that he has the most money. If he hosts a party and Charlotte is invited, this is where they get those grand-bridgertonesque scenes.

Lily Sacofsky's Clara had a romantic subplot with Crowe. In their final unaired scene they went to London together. She could return. However, the chances are quite slim. Clara is in London, and Sanditon takes place in Sanditon. Unless Lady Susan takes Charlotte to London for a while and she meets Clara and Edward there, cooking up a plan to get back at Esther and Lady Denham.

4. Predictions

There's no words to describe the popularity of Bridgerton, so this WILL influence Sanditon. I predict: more sex, more scandal, and even more ahistorically modern ideas and characters, multiple female characters and multiple male characters that each get screentime and their separate storylines and developments like in bridgerton, instead of just Charlotte's pov we follow. Glamorous scenes. And more POC.

The season will start with a timejump in all likeliness (as it is easier so they don't have to focus too much on her grieving). Charlotte will catch us up with what has happened while perhaps narrating over some letters she's written to georgiana and lady susan. She'll return to Sanditon during a summer. Sanditon will have been partially rebuilt with Eliza's money, and many activities will be planned. Sanditon will be in some kind of trouble. Charlotte will still be a planner. Her being very actively involved in things and having a vision was one of the most alluring parts of her character. In the books there was a rival town Tom hated. That might be a bit tricky to adapt so they could introduce some local competition for attention around Sanditon. A local duke hosting parties could overshadow tom's events. Or the social season in London could lure everyone there instead of to Sanditon. Charlotte will try to help Tom with this while getting reacquainted with everyone still in Sanditon, and hearing about the reasons why Sidney/Esther/Stringer/The Beauforts (to be seen) aren't in the show anymore. She'll also rebuild her relationship with Georgiana.

Then one day for an event Charlotte will invite Lady Susan, who will invite her to the London season to get over her heartache à la Jane Bennet. Charlotte will join Lady Susan to lure a crowd to Sanditon. There, she'll be confronted with some of her demons of the past season. Perhaps a pregnant Eliza Campion makes an appearance to rub it in Charlotte's face. In Sense & Sensibility Margaret discovered Willoughby's relationship in a most shocking manner in an almost public setting. Sanditon likes to nod at all Austen books so this could be a nod at that book when Charlotte discovers unpleasant news in a public manner. Charlotte will congratulate her and wish them happiness, and afterwards either a girlpower moment could happen with Lady Susan or Georgiana supporting her, or a love moment. Mrs Campion has tried to talk Charlotte down in front of people in the past, if she did it again, a new love interest could step in at that time to compliment her and then take her off for a dance. That could be an emotional moment for her, as she realized her feelings for Sidney in London during a dance the last time around as well. And she could have her cinderella moment by excusing herself and running off after the dance, uncertain of her feelings. She'll have some grand balls, might be harrassed by a man and risk a scandal, or try and prevent Georgiana from ruin during a scandal.

At the last moment she'll succeed in her goal and lure a crowd to Sanditon's events that will put Sanditon on the map. Either the local competitive duke, or someone from London will be impressed with her, but she won't be ready to marry yet. I trust that by the end of the second season, she'll finally have a realisation that she's quite happy with how she's living her life and how good her work is, and that she has finally stopped feeling sad. So the second season will stop with her atop a cliff, letting go of the traumatic loss she suffered on that same cliff a season before. By the end of the season, one or two love interests will be set up for the last season.

So the nudity and big romance will have to come from elsewhere. Georgiana will get more agency and action in the next seasons. She could be trying to tempt Charlotte in joining her adventures as a single wealthy independent woman. She might even leave to find her place in the world via boat, returning to where she was last truly happy: Antigua. The second season could maybe end with Charlotte overlooking Georgiana's boat leaving from the previously mentioned clifftop. Another option is Georgiana falling in love with a local man and taken an interest in the town. Financially speaking, Georgiana could be the only one able to save Sanditon. But I don't think she owes the town anything. Another option is the writers focus on Georgiana navigating her relationship with Otis, who might be back home for a holiday after navy duty. We could also see some political debates à la Poldark S5 about freedom, servitude, independence and so on. The first plan for Georgiana doesn't even have to exclude the second, she could decide to sail away with Otis to find their place in the world. In any case: race shall not be brushed under the carpet and Georgiana will kick some shins on her way to her happy ending. In Jane Austen, we have rarely seen a woman who tried to elope, or escape her guardian, get a happy ending. Georgiana Darcy, Eliza Williams, Eliza's mother, ... they're all tragic tales of women falling for bad guys who try to steal their virtue or take their money. And in the end they always become dependent on men again. I hope in Sanditon Georgiana will learn and grow herself, instead of being coddled by men. A lot could be done.

Esther and Babington could be a very cool insert if the actors join. They can really connect the high society to Sanditon. They could host balls, invest in Sanditon or drive the London plot. But they can also be an emotional backbone to the show. Esther married Babington, but she wasn't in love yet. I'm not a fan of the edward/Esther angle. After all he did, I rather she hated him with burning passion and never spoke to him again. But he could try to blackmail her and ruin her reputation in London. Perhaps become some kind of Lord Whistledown. With Charlotte coming to Esther's aid. Esther's plotline could be about learning to trust people and open her heart again. Perhaps she could have a conflict with Babington about him wanting a family and she still being uneasy with marriage, let alone children. Maybe they could have a fight, with one of them going to London. In their separation they might realize they love each other. And then the other comes back home from London with Charlotte and they fix everything. Another route is them having a fight, Esther going to confront Edward or Clara about their blackmailing or maneouvring. Babington thinks it's because she doesn't love him, but actually it's because she loves Babington and wants to be rid of her past. But she gets into an accident and Babington only realizes the truth later on, leading to a happy ending.

Other things I'd love to see: Mary finally growing a backbone and telling Tom to either be open about his affairs and finances or be gone. Arthur and Diana growing a backbone and telling their brother he's a fuck up. Charlotte realizing Tom is stupid. Lady Denham appointing Charlotte or Arthur to head of Sanditon after showing their worth an entire season. Tom being repentant. Diana getting over her fears. Arthur getting a love interest. Crowe being in Sanditon, I just love him. Kisses. Healthy love interests that aren't broody and traumatized and in need of fixing by women. Jane Austen's men need to do their growing ON THEIR OWN. And then they earn their brides.

5. What we'll lose

- A Sidlotte ending: once the new season comes out, Sidlotte is no longer headcanon.

- A happy Esther/Babington ending: they married and looked happy, despite Esther's rushed turn around. If they're in the new season, their marriage won't be perfect. They'll have conflicts, just for plot. Whatever headcanons we had for them will probably be falsified. We might come to dislike them or their relationship. I've seen almost all my ships crumble to dust on the rocks of multiple seasons dragging out relationships and piling on conflict just to keep it interesting.

- A part of what made Sanditon Sanditon: we'll lose many faces we've come to love. And the dynamics and relationships will therefore change a lot.

- Fanfics become dated: I know it is the problem of every fandom, but it's one I regret all the same. Part of why I love Austen fandoms is the fact that the books are written. The characters and relationships won't change. With 2 new seasons coming, all fanfics out there will become dated. The millions of hours authors put into Sidlotte fics will perhaps become barely read when Charlotte gets new love interests. All the headcanons I and many others wrote down for Sidlotte, Esther/Babington, Charlotte/Stringer, will officially become silly fantheories. I've been there a couple of times before that shows changed the entire course and personality of certain characters and then you can't help but feel exhausted and sometimes annoyed because these are your babies and you had dreams for them, and the writers took them in directions that sometimes don't do them justice. But it's canon so you gotta accept it. Sometimes fantasy is nicer than a writer toying around with storylines and characters just to create drama. And I'll have to write my characters in a new way that fits the characters based on the info from the new seasons. I might fall out of love with them. Ah, the burden of being a shipper weighs heavy.

- Perhaps we still lose a HEA: Season one ended with a happy babington/Esther and an unhappy Charlotte who learned a lot, and a Sanditon that was saved. Although Sanditon has been extended for two seasons it's possible that if the ratings for S2 aren't good they may still cancel the third season. If they don't learn from their mistakes and end season 2 on another cliffhanger even Esther's relationship and sanditon may be at stake. If they're getting 2 seasons they will also not marry or engage charlotte in the second, meaning Charlotte will still be single by the end of the series if they cancel season 3. The whole reason we wanted more seasons was for charlotte to have a HEA. So I'm really fearful that she'll be put in another hard spot. They at least need to get her happy by the end of S2.

6. What we'll gain

- More sanditon content

- More regency era content and images and music which is always lovely

- Seeing our favourites again

- Hopefully we get to see new challenges and romance and humor and tense moments and scandal and drama that will be fun to watch

- A Georgiana story arc: a black woman in a realistic historical setting living her life, being wealthy, and England just having to Deal With It. And as cherry on top she'll be written by black writers.

- Happy endings (hopefully)

- New hot men! This is a guarantee

- Perhaps LGBTQ+ representation with Arthur

- Frustration at Tom's antics (guaranteed)

- Maybe some interactions with Charlotte's siblings

- Esther Babington content

- New material to write fanfics and metas about

- Over 8 hours of viewing pleasure