#moreso in the novel though

[be-bi-do-crime]

when it comes to people who acknowledge and love all sides of jiang xuening, shen zhiyi cannot be forgotten.

yes, dianxia does have a bit of a lovesick filter on when it comes to her beloved ningning, but she also knows who jiang xuening is as a person. she isn’t so blind as to casually miss her fierce temper, ignore her schemes and manipulation, and disregard her poor choices— you can see it in shen zhiyi’s expressions and tone, the concerns she voices, and particularly through her perspective in the novel— but these things could never make her love jiang xuening any less.

shen zhiyi isn’t oblivious. she knows that jiang xuening uses her at times to get what she wants, but what’s important is that she doesn’t care. she never has and she never will, because everything she does is her choice. she only wants jiang xuening to know that she doesn’t have to do anything at all to get her support, because she will always be there by her side, without any conditions attached.

there is no doubt that jiang xuening is the person she trusts most in the world. even if jiang xuening makes a decision she doesn’t particularly agree with, she will still never raise any complaint to her. shen zhiyi trusts that jiang xuening’s judgment and choices are right for herself, even if they’re not right to her, and it’s as simple as that. if there are any consequences, she will be there to resolve them. jiang xuening couldn’t lose her if she tried.

shen zhiyi and xie wei are the only two characters in kunning who see past all of jiang xuening’s sides, good and bad, and still recognize her true heart. the way they love her is different but also the same; if shen zhiyi is her shield, then xie wei is her sword.

and jiang xuening chooses them both.

[transingthoseformers]

Damn Starscream you are absolutely the MVP currently

[leafatlaw]

i NEED to make a horror game

[1427]

would you? (pt. 2)

Negan x Reader

Summary: Your mom died when you were 15, your Aunt Lucille was given custody even though she was battling cancer. When the world gets upended and Lucille dies, Negan is all you have, but he isn’t cut out to be a parent. When he becomes the leader of the Saviors and takes residence in the Sanctuary he’s almost a stranger. No one wants anything to do with you because you’re Negan’s “daughter”. So when you confront Negan about needing company, he obliges. You don’t realize that the feelings you’re developing are inappropriate, but Negan does.

Setting: Height of the Saviors era Sanctuary, Negan’s bedroom. 

Warnings: SMUT, age-gap (reader is 18, Negan is early/mid 40’s), virgin!reader, manipulation, guardian!negan (technically it’s Uncle!Negan and it IS mentioned explicitly), oral (f receiving), unprotected piv, creampie, stocking!kink, innocence/corruption!kink, reader is described several times as a doll/toy, read at your own risk ok

Word count: 3.3k

A/n: uhm, my heart was racing the entire time I was writing this please read at your own risk fr

// Part 1 //

masterlist

18+ mdni

I was just bending over to grab my pencil, coach. 

For a while, you don’t bring up what happened that night. Going to lunch like everything’s normal. Negan is even more disturbed by this than he was by your innocent flirting. You don’t bring it up, but you’re different. Reminding him of some of his former students. The girls with obvious crushes - ones they were trying to hide but actively weren’t. They’d do things that could easily be explained away. 

Sorry, I only packed these shorts today. I didn’t realize they were against dress code. 

It was easy to not look then, to hardly be affected by silly teenage girls who had no idea what they were doing. He could go to the teachers lounge and flirt with the TA’s if he was really looking for someone younger. But younger isn’t necessarily what Negan liked. ‘Innocent’ wasn’t something he thought he could get into. But with you? He had all control, every single aspect of your life was in his hands - and he knows he fucked up. He knows he fucked you up… but he’d gone and fucked himself up too. Finding himself wanting to teach you everything. So caught up in the knowledge of how bad you want him makes him feel like a king - moreso than any amount of wives. You only wanted him. You only knew him.

Oblivious to Negan’s dirty secret and because he’d threatened to stop seeing you if you continued this flirting behavior you stick with subtle stuff. Wearing even lower cut shirts, mini-skirts and stockings. And sure, the stockings had holes in them. But Negan liked that even more than if they hadn’t. It let him imagine you weren’t this pristine untouched thing. He wasn’t sure which was worse; fantasizing about you as this perfect little doll that’s never been held by anyone, that doesn’t know anything about a man’s body or as this thing he’d corrupted. Giving you romance novels? What an amateur mistake on a colossal scale. 

When you started wearing skirts he could smell you. Your wet cunt, sweet and unmistakable, every single time you walked into his bedroom for lunch. He tries to ignore it, tells the kitchen to make more pungent food, wears cologne, but it doesn’t matter - he could pick your scent out of a line-up of the undead, having had weeks to memorize it. 

Negan’s cologne only makes you more wet for him. You can barely make it through lunch anymore. Trying your best to keep up with the conversation that you’re almost positive he’s phoning in as well, but it’s not easy when all you can think about is him stuffing you full on the bed that sits a dozen feet away. You’re desperate to make a move and terrified that any move you make will disrupt everything. 

You scour your books for some kind of clue on what to do next, how to make it impossible for him to say no - but there’s no obvious answer. With no experience to tell you that Negan was losing his goddamn mind waiting for you to make a move or proposition so that he could oblige it. 

He gets sick of waiting. Sick of drinking down his disgust with himself. It only makes the fantasies more vivid. Almost tangible and right there. All he really had to do? Touch you. And he knows it. 

He’d stopped getting you gifts and novels after that night, but today? Today he had something real fuckin’ special. 

You’re sitting across from him eating… only desserts? Weird choice, but still delicious. “What’s the occasion?” You ask, taking a bite of the strawberry shortcake set out in front of you. 

“Do I need a special occasion to treat my favorite girl?” He says it so casually, but he’s never said anything like that to you before. 

“Okay,” you breathe out a chuckle, “who are you and what have you done with my uncle?” 

“Woah now, ‘Uncle’?” The title made him visibly uncomfortable, but not because he didn’t like it. He was too far gone with you, and now anything that made it more taboo just spurred his hunger further. 

You breathe in deeply, as if you’d just confessed to something. Simply put, you had. He knows how bad you want it. He can smell it on you, and you didn’t care he was your family. Not even just your almost supposed ‘guardian’, no. You saw him as your uncle and you still wanted it. Bad. “Yeah, you are my uncle, aren’t you?” 

“That makes you my niece.” He says it like it’s news. Not understanding that he’s trying to gauge your reaction. 

For some reason, it makes your heart pound. Your ears get hot, and that same smile you’d tried to will away that night he’d forced a confession out of you (in the form of a moan at his touch) blossoms on your face. Pink cheeked and starry eyed, “It does,” you nod, you really don’t know any better, “Anyway, what’s all this about?” 

Negan scrambles for an answer that isn’t the one he can’t say out loud, “Missed your birthday, wanted to… make it up to you.” His voice is low, droning, and it makes you shift in your seat, crossing your legs. Negan notices and smirks at your body giving you away. You’re so easy. 

“Oh… thanks.” You take another bite of the shortcake before moving your fork to his plate to take a bite of chocolate cake. He lets you, he’s been letting you get away with so much more disrespect than he’d ever allow from anyone else. Telling himself that no teenager shouldn’t be getting away with little stuff like that, but really it’s because he likes it. He wishes you would take more control, and just ask him already. He’d wished for weeks that you would press yourself up against him like you had before he’d made you aware of your own feelings for him. And he hates that he told you that you weren’t allowed. That it was wrong. Because it is, but he doesn’t care anymore. 

He’s sick of waiting for you to understand how to make a move, “I got you a little something too.”

It’s almost unbelievable that he’d gotten this for you. One of the saviors had tried to smuggle it to keep for himself, and once Negan saw it… he couldn’t think of something better for you. “Now close your eyes,” he purrs. 

You slam your eyes shut and put out your hands eager to receive another gift. Feeling a hard plastic case being slipped into your fingers, “Now open them.” 

It was a… you had no idea. Looking up at him in confusion you’re met with a look of complete and total satisfaction from Negan. Smiling wide at your reaction. “What is it?” You whisper, smiling back. 

“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll show you.” And he winks. He fucking winks. You’re a mess. You’re putty. You have no idea what this little pink egg shaped thing is, enclosed in the plastic balanced in your hands, but you know it’s something… different. He can tell you still have no clue what it is, what it’s for, but he sits and waits for your thanks. 

You can feel it, your legs tremble as you’re about to stand up but you stop yourself. You’re not supposed to flirt with him. And he told you that that’s what hugging him is. At least when you do it. You look to him, chewing on your lip, you want to feel him pressed against you so bad it’s making your knee bounce in anxious anticipation. You think about the fact that if you were hugging him you’d be able to smell his cologne even stronger, maybe you could even get away with kissing him on the cheek. After all, you could just blame it on the gift again. 

He’s just sitting there, leaned back in his chair, staring toward the window. It would be so easy to just… you get up and crash down into his lap. Draping your arms around him, pulling your face into the crook of his neck like you always do. This time is different, like everything else has been different since that night. You can’t will yourself to move. Your breath caught in your throat as your gaze travels upward. All you can see is his neck, his chin still pointed away like he’s trying to hold himself together. You feel a guilt creeping into your periphery but it’s drowned out by the heat between your legs. Without even realizing you’re doing it, you plant your lips on his neck. 

He’s quick to react, his hand coming to grip your thigh just as instinctually as you had kissed him. Negan is sick of waiting, he was not built for this. “Do you want me to show you how to use your gift?” 

You’re melting, all your senses dizzy with his hand so firmly on your leg. Feeling his calloused palm through the tears in your stockings, your skin prickles. He puts his one arm underneath your legs and the other under your arms and picks you up, placing you gently back down in his chair. The suspense courses through you, tightening and moving to your limbs. The personification and embodiment of an exclamation point, you’re trembling as he stalks around the room. Taking the still unopened gift off of the table, you hear the click of the knife from behind you as he paces. He’s cutting into it as he leans down and breathes in your ear, “If you want me to stop, you tell me to stop, okay?” 

You nod in response, trying to swallow the knot in your throat.  He keeps talking, walking around to face you again as he gets the small mysterious device free from its packaging. “I fucked up with you,” you can tell he’s going to start monologuing like he always does, building up the anticipation you already can’t take. Your hands pulling at the hem of your skirt because you don’t know what else to do with them. “I want you to know that I know I’ve made mistakes. I’ve really really fucked up your pretty little head.” As he speaks he moves back around behind you. Cheeks flushing at the compliment. He’d called you pretty. 

“But don’t worry, kid,” his voice in your ear feels like his stubble beneath your lips that you’ve imagined so many times, “I’m gonna fix you right up.”

His hand glides down your chest from above you and your body dramatically arches into his touch. Shivering as he moves his way down to one leg, pulling on your stocking to maneuver the limb onto the arm-rest. He does the same with the other, as if you’re some doll he’s positioning. You’re putty, not a single ounce of resistance inside of you. He moves his hand to lift up your skirt, letting it fall to your stomach. Unable to look at yourself in such a provocative position you close your eyes. 

“Holy shit, girl.” Negan’s smile devours him as he takes it all in. You’re not wearing underwear underneath your stockings, something he was absolutely not expecting. Your pretty pussy all smashed up against the mesh, your juices seeping through. In the light it almost sparkles. He’s never seen a damn thing like it. He hadn’t even done anything yet, and you were a shaking mess in his chair. Waiting so patiently for him to fix you. 

He had planned on putting the little vibrator against the fabric of your panties and stockings, and while he still could… he can’t stop himself from putting his warm hand between your legs instead. He doesn’t want to stop himself, he wasn’t built for that. Fuck the piece of shit vibrator and fuck all of his stupid fucking plans to take this slow. No, he knows what you really need. Him. 

His big hand comes to rest on top of your mound, pressing his fingers flat against the wet fabric of your stockings hard. The pressure.. the warmth.. your hands immediately shoot up from your sides grabbing his forearm as you gasp at the feeling. Pulling yourself even more flush against him, any piece of him you can get. 

You’re shaking, Negan can’t think straight. All plans out the window, that smell, he needs to taste you. He rubs his whole hand, all four warm fingers, against the sopping fabric in circles for only a few seconds before bringing his hand up to his nose and taking a deep breath in of your scent. (He won’t lick you from his fingers, that’s somehow beneath him.)

You whimper under his touch and whine when he pulls away, but you don’t move other than to put your arms flat against the armrests of the chair. He was going to fix you, right? So you submit, not really even understanding how to react to any of this. 

His dick is so hard against the fabric of his pants that it hurts. He tries to readjust, but it only makes him groan. Your neck cranes at the noise, but before you can get a look he’s in front of you, pulling up on the mesh directly above your heat, taking the knife he’d still been holding and cutting into it. The sound of the stockings tearing only makes Negan’s dick harder, revealing your glistening cunt like unwrapping a fucking present. Just for him, all for him. He did this… all of it. 

He rips the fabric more before pulling your hips closer to the edge of the chair and kneeling down on one knee. His face buries against you with a haste you weren’t expecting, your body shooting up at the feeling. So sharp and too much, you squirm against his tongue but he keeps you still. Growling into your cunt, “I said I’m going to take care of you, doll, so you have to let me.  Stop. Moving. Just…” his tone softens, and he kisses you sweetly on your hood, “relax.” 

Negan dives back in more gently this time, taking in the taste of you slowly. Drinking from you, he’s never tasted anything so sweet. So pristine. His tongue swathing in large laps against your lips, you’re trying your best to relax but your orgasm builds faster than you can tolerate. It felt like fucking magic, filling you with stars that buzzed all the colors of the rainbow. He flicks his tongue between your folds, directly onto that spot and your orgasm shoots through you like a bullet. From your core to the top of your head, no orgasm you’d ever had had felt like that. It left you wanting, it wasn’t enough. Your walls pulsate, gushing thick white perfect ecstasy into Negan’s mouth. He snickers against you, his nose resting gently on your still quivering clit. 

He doesn’t want to wait - picking you up like you weigh absolutely nothing, bringing you and your dizzy head to lay gently on his satin sheets. Bliss; and yet, you yearned. 

Inside. 

Your whole body shouting, the personification and embodiment of a fucking exclamation point. His belt clacks against your sensitive folds as he races to get himself inside.

And then, all of a sudden and just like that - you’re whole. His lips smashing into yours in a desperate need to claim every part of you. 

When he’d imagined it in his head you were naked, all skin and blush and like sweet honey coating his senses. It was all different, but he didn’t mind you like this. Clothing soaked with sweat and your own sweet nectar; he felt like he was in high school and he’s taking your virginity underneath the bleachers. All limbs and throbbing need and no time, no breath to waste.

 He kisses you deep and rough until you can’t breathe and you pull away, still adjusting to his size which you imagine is large from the discomfort inside of you, snaring itself into your vision like white flashes of electricity.

His first few labored thrusts hurt like you imagined it would, though it’s not like anything you’ve felt before. The burn of your walls stretching over him makes your breath hitch sharply in your throat, “That’s a good girl,” he purrs in your ear as he pulls out and slams into you harder. Tears sting your eyes as you nod into his shoulder, silently willing him to keep going. Don’t stop. He couldn’t stop even if you’d asked him too, your pussy is too wet, too hungry and swallowing him whole. He knows what you need, he can tell, even if you couldn’t. You need this. 

Negan is seeing fucking stars, your hole stretching so perfectly around him like it never needed anything more, “Fu-uck,” he’s not going to last 5 minutes. He leans back, taking your hips and pulling them off of the bed to stay attached to his while he fucks you like that. Your shoulders still down against the bed, you’d never read about a position like this and it hurts but you like it. Your eyes traveling down his body as he buries himself slowly into you. All the way to the hilt, and that’s when you see it.

“Oh my god,” you breathe, causing him to look down and see what was going on but he had already pulled back. 

“Hm?” His tone is amused. 

“Do it again,” you whine. He smirks a brilliant flash of white teeth, before his face completely falters at the sight when he presses himself all the way into you again. Both of your eyes wide as the outline of his cock protrudes from your belly. 

“Jesus,” his voice is loud, it seems to vibrate your brain against your skull. He draws himself out of you and shoves back in - more unceremoniously than previous. He’d been trying his best to not hurt you, to take it as slow as he could manage; but seeing his hard length poke out of your body was too divine, way too fucking hot for him to not lose any semblance of control he’d had. 

Negan drowns you out, your loud screams, your hands clawing at his forearms, as he rails into you. Eyes fixed on your stomach as he watches; he doesn’t even realize you’re cumming until your hips shake violently in his grip. Your walls clench so tight his cock is pushed out. Negan clicks his tongue, as if you’d done something wrong. Moving himself in position back on top of you, his elbows coming to rest above your shoulders, his whole being swallowing you up. Your arms and legs wrap around him to try and still your shaking body as he ruts up and into you like a wild animal, his breathing jagged, his movements much less languid. Rough and desperate and all consuming. 

Using your body like a toy to get himself off, he’s hardly paying attention anymore. Grunting curses that you’re trying to memorize through a hazy veil of satisfaction.

He’s. Falling. Apart.  

And it’s wet and hot and so deep inside you that you can feel it in your fucking throat. You scream, loud, as he empties himself inside you.

Quickly, too quickly, he pulls himself out. He wants to watch his seed spill out and onto the gray sheets. You’d said you fucking sucked at painting, but Negan thinks this is the most beautiful piece of art he’s ever fucking seen. His cum dripping out of your freshly and newly used pussy in soft glistening strings to pool underneath of you, the white in stark contrast to the dark fabric is something real fuckin’ special. 

He’s smiling, kneeling above you with his hands on your stockinged knees as he watches between your legs. You’re in another world, on another planet and lost in your senses. It was everything you’d dreamed it’d be. Heaven. 

Negan had every intention on this being a one time thing. After all, hysteria was curable - but as he lays back on the bed to catch his breath he’s already caught dreaming about you in every position, any way he can place you. His perfect little toy, all just for him. Only his. 

[moremousewrites]

Through your Eyes

Pairing: Astarion/Tav (gn)

Request link

Summary: Your companions had a difficult time understanding what exactly you saw in Astarion. It seemed as though you were polar opposites. When you meet a young girl named Yenna, the camp starts to consider that maybe there's more to Astarion than they realized

Tags: Fluff, comfort

A/N: thank you for the request! They don't explicitly make a comment about letting Yenna stay with them but it's implied at the end. There's also some spoilers about the game but nothing too revealing.

Astarion had a reputation in camp for being a bit rough around the edges. Well, moreso that he was a manipulative jerk with no regards to other's feelings. You didn't share that opinion at all and your party was not sure why.

It isn't as though they hated him, just that he was sort of impossible. And what seemed more impossible was your love for him. You had sacrificed time and time again for total strangers- ones Astarion encouraged you to abandon and yet you couldn't stand to be apart for even a moment. 

It made everyone a bit uneasy. Except Lae'zel who just thought you had a death wish and it was irritating to watch you put yourself in danger. But you trusted Astarion, he'd shown you that you could, even after he confessed his ulterior motives to you, you knew he was trying to survive just like you. 

In Rivington, a child named Yenna asked for your help. The companions you traveled with knew Astarion was not a fan of children, he'd made that clear. They expected him to shoo the child away, until you helped her and he… approved? No snarky comments, no chastising. He thought you were doing something right.

It came as a bigger shock when she asked to stay with you at camp and Astarion said nothing of it. She wasn't the first stray you'd let in your camp. He'd made a fuss about Arabella. But it seemed your generosity was rubbing off on him.

Still, the camp wasn't convinced.

“I don't mean to doubt their wisdom, but it seems like an odd choice to trust him” Gale whispered to Shadowheart. 

Shadowheart shrugged. “They're an adult. Besides, if we say anything we'll probably drive them closer together” she said, watching you help Yenna set up her things. Astarion offered a pet to Yenna's cat but it evaded him, looking very skittish.

“You're not wrong, I just don't understand what they have in common. Tav is so selfless and he's… Astarion” Gale mused. Rainclouds formed in the sky, blocking the sun. Your companions built their tents in preparation. 

But Yenna looked very pale. Night came and the storms became violent. Wind blew the rain sideways and thunder exploded over the camp. You stayed with her in the barn, holding her as she shook like a leaf. Astarion  brought extra blankets from your tent, giving you some warmth while you waited out the storm.

He could tell the young girl was terrified. It was a novel thing for him to see someone so scared and want to help. It wasn't something he'd go out of his way to do, but you were so caring and seemed important that he tried; for you.

“Yenna, would you like to hear a story about when Tav was scared?” He asked, a sincerity in his voice he rarely showed. Yenna nodded and bundled up more. Astarion began regaling her in stories of your adventures, painting a dramatic picture of you trembling in horror but gaining the courage to strike down your foes. 

Gale had to leave his tent, nature was calling and the sound of the rain was not helping. As he made his way to the edge of the woods, he heard a sound through the heavy rainfall. It sounded like a child's laughter. There you were, holding Yenna in your lap, and watching intently as Astarion made animated gestures and scary monster noises. Gale was in shock. This couldn't be the same vampire that nagged at you for helping the children at the grove. Surely he was some doppelganger sent by Orin.

But it had to be him. Orin wouldn't have acted so out of character. This perplexed Gale. He left to the woods, doing what he initially set out to. And when he returned, Yenna was asleep in your arms. Astarion looked into your eyes, sharing some thought only the two of you would know. Gale waited, wondering if perhaps you knew this side of Astarion that he did not. Perhaps he had changed for the better. For you.

[yuurei20]

hello! first of all I love all that you do, its so helpful having something I can come back and refrence when needed. secondly I would like to ask for your help, I swear in the prologue book with Crowley in the library they used the same sound effect as Divuss whip/pointer and I swear the model of Crowley even in that moment was holding a whip but going back and trying to find it has been fruitless for me, am I going insane or was this something that maybe they took out in an update or was it not in the english verson? many thanks.

Hello hello!! Thank you so much, you are too kind! ♡

I am not sure if he was ever physically holding a whip (he does not seem to have one in his sprites), but you are very right that there is a whip sound effect in that moment!

Grim is bound and gagged by something in the game that the novel explains in more detail (below).

While the situation is vague on both EN and JP in the game, it is possibly moreso on EN because of untranslatable wordplay:

After the whip-crack sound, Grim reacts as though he is in pain and Crowley says, "Consider it tough love."

And in Japanese the kanji used to express "tough love" is love (愛) and whip (鞭) (literally, "whip of love"), but it is just a form of expression and (usually) doesn't mean literal whipping is taking place.

We've never had an official, visual representation of Crowley with a whip (not in the game guide, manga or the game itself, though the novel may have solved the mystery), but this is not the only time "tough love" comes up:

Later on in the prologue Grim refers to Crowley's "whip of love" binding him, using the katakana for "whip of love" rather than the kanji for "tough love," possibly because he only knows the attack by the name that Crowley used for it.

Crowley repeats his, "It's tough love!" line again on JP, possibly for the wordplay.

While sometimes things happen in the novel that don't happen in the game at all (and vice verse), it can be useful as a reference, and the violence of the "tough love" scene is described as follows:

"A long, black cloth wraps around Grim, binding his limbs and torso in an instant. The fabric stretches and contracts, moving as if alive.

'What the…! What is this rope?'

'It's not a rope. It's my tough love.'

The masked man points the end of the staff he holds at Grim.

'You tried to use magic just now, didn't you? We cannot have you thrashing around in a cramped place like this.'

'If you're gonna take it this far--grr.'

'Tried to use magic again, did you? You may not.'

Now with his mouth covered as well as his body, Grim bounces around at their feet.

Every time the man waves his key-shaped staff, the wriggling cloth he refers to as 'tough love' tightens around Grim. It is not unlike a large snake devouring a frog." -Twisted Wonderland the First Novel

And something similar might be happening in the game! While "lashings of love" is great localization, it means that EN loses Grim's actual line of, "He's gonna bind us up," as if something similar happened to Grim in the game as what happened in the novel--he was tied up--but due to the limitations of the visual novel medium, we weren't able to see it.

And right after Grim gives this warning there are two whip-crack sounds, and Grim and Ace are suddenly closer together on screen:

This might be to represent that they were tied together by Crowley's cloth! While it might also just be Grim hiding behind Ace--visual novels tend to leave a lot to the imagination--Ace and Grim getting tied up by Crowley's cloth is exactly what happens in the novel:

"Though he, too, tries to flee, Ace finds himself magically bound along with Grim, perhaps for being seen with his pen in his hand.” - “Still bound, Ace desperately shakes his head.” - “The laughing Grim is bound even tighter by the cord.” - “Crowley nods as he unties the cord from around the shocked-looking Ace.” - “Looking exhausted, Ace stands up and brushes the dirt from his uniform.” - Twisted Wonderland the First Novel

If you've ever seen fan art of Crowley with a whip, this is why! But I am not sure that the weapon he is using has ever been portrayed on-screen, in the form of a whip, magic cloth or otherwise :>

[civilotterneer]

"Well, gotta refuel before I make my way to Prescott Valley. I didn't see this town on my map, but gas is gas." He doesn't realize he's about to enter just as the hysteria hits.

Decided to make a fun little art piece about Echo, my current reading material. However, I kinda have a lot of thoughts about it so far.

I'll keep my dialogue here spoiler-light, and will avoid giving anything important away.

Echo is one of those stories that, as much as I typically detest horror, has completely enthralled me. Not to get to philosophical, but its use of foreshadowing reminds me of a few strong mystery and sci-fi points:

The overall foreshadowing reminds me of solid Arthur Conan Doyle-style. ACD was known for his novels having given you everything you need to solve the mystery long before the characters can. While the mystery isn't solved in each ending, there is a heavy amount of this foreshadowing that is just like ACD. Things mentioned early on that feel like minor statements become important later. For example, swimming is heavily mentioned by Chase early on in TJ's route, and to those who have done the route, they realize why. With Leo, its the trainyard. These are the only routes I've completed so far, but I will be watching for these now when I do the rest.

Another neat note is how each story gives a bit of foreshadowing to each other. In Flynn's route, its mentioned that the railing by Lake Emma wouldn't stop a car from going in. Though I haven't finished Flynn's route yet to see if this is direct foreshadowing, I do remember the car doing exactly this in Leo's route, and it's never mentioned there.

Second is the push for "Man is the Monster", akin to Frankenstein. So far, TJ's route was heavily this (Chase you heathen), and Leo's was from Leo. The use of the monster physically in Leo's is almost unnecessary, as the monster's been with them the whole time. It's a great dive into man is the monster that reminds me of the common scifi tropes that aim to point that out instead of just putting a monster in the way (See Alien and how though the monster is a very real threat, the true monster is the company that keeps sacrificing people to study the alien).

This story is so well written and uses a lot of very-strong scifi writing traits, and I'm excited to continue and analyze these more. Props to The Echo Project for really having some great writers so far!

It feels really weird (and even moreso enthralling!) because I don't live that far from the approximate location Echo should be, not to far away from Prescott. I've even located Lake Alamo, which has a lot of similarities to Lake Emma, though there isn't a nearby settlement that matches Echo's description. I'm tempted to do a quick study of the area, take a weekend and hike around after doing like a week of local research to see what I could find that matches the descriptions of Echo. Maybe make some kind of literary analysis out of the photos and the story itself once I complete all the routes.

Note: I noticed a render error and re-uploaded the fixed version.

[localapparently]

i love kimcom so much.. i love them so much..

theyre so..!! honestly if i think about them too much i'll cry.. and I'm rereading a few bits of dark castle to compare the novel and the webtoon and gosh, sleepyc and team's art really allows kimcoms interactions to feel more alive and goofy, silly even,,

epilogue spoilers ahead near the end

and novel's narration are like the gaps to fill in, both sides elevate the story,, i sound like a food critic but like. oh my goodness you read the part where kdj reunites with sys in dark castle after his revival and youre so taken by how sweet and cute it is. and then you read novel and..!!

I wouldn't have been able to run straight here if it wasn't for this feeling. I saw Shin Yoosung crying and thought that parents probably felt like this.

GOODBYEEEE I AM SO DEADDDD LIKE OH MY GOD YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME???

and webtoon chooses to let kdj maintain the same composure he had when he talked to jihye after saving her just moments prior,, and it works because now i read his inner thoughts in novel and I FEEL SO INSANE?!?!?! YOU BITCHHH SAY IT SAY YOU MISS HER?? no wait .. im getting off topic. this is becoming a kdj sys ramble

Honestly even though i call them found family I don't really classify them as a family either, they feel more like a home? at least at the first half of the story.. In an apocalypse where everything feels uncertain and you've lost all your close friends, you'd end up wandering aimlessly, so sticking to a group is moreso a temporary means of survival than friendship of any sort. It's also why kdj is so essential to kimcom as their glue, as the person who gathered them together, he provided them with that temporary party. and having that 'constant' you can return and realign to in that setting is so.. augh...

not to mention that three of the kimcom members are kids and kdj is their form of stability. lgy and sys hug him whenever they see him because he's the first adult that had ever shown them care. jihye is probably shaken from the first scenario but while she clings to yjh and admires him as her master, he probably doesnt do enough to reciprocate her respect or communicate as enthusiastically. now that i think about it, jihye feels kind of lonely, not young enough to get along with the kids particularly closely and not old enough to be buddies with the adults. does she make up for it by being talkative?)

And at this point in the story its evident that theyre not even that close !! singshong's writing style isnt one that elaborates on emotions and descriptive fluff to begin with, but sys is stated to not be so fond of jihye in ch162 because jihye was rude to kdj, they still feel like theyre in their own cliques. sys and lgy stick together as kids of similar ages, jhw and lhs get along normally, hsy is. hsy. lhs for one narrates kimcom as his 'companions' quite early on, but i'm unsure whether that choice is becuase thats just a suitable word for people closer than 'allies' but not close enough to be 'friends'. ultimately its just a buncha people who are trying to survive, and care about the guy that brought them tgt. it doesnt really feel like anything more than that.

and then as you're caught up in kdj's shenanigans, small snippets pass by and they feel a bit warmer yk. like sys and lgy having a coin flip whenever they're uneasy. (sys states that lgy has "done this before", like he's the one that has suggested the past coin flip(s). it feels like its implying that hes initiated this game system just to cheer up sys because shes a lot more transparent about feeling sad that kdj isnt there.) sooyoung of all people, willing to get an outer god contract to save sangah. jihye, hyunsung and seolhwa chilling in the room during proof of stars, and hyunsung was picking his nose like are you fr they are so unserious,.

in jttw arc ch 433, yoosung growing close enough to joonghyuk to not get intimidated by him and (forcefully (forcefully is a strong word but she straight up just puts it on his cheek unprompted and that is so funny of her)) apply seolhwa's ointment, even giggling when he allows her to do it after she brings up doctors orders.

after proof of stars, theres a portion that goes

The party members supported each other. (...) I saw the white lines connecting the empty universe. The stars, that seemed like they would never meet each other, were facing each other.

please know this: i wanted to cry and scream so bad. ive started to spell out kimcoms names rather than address them in their shortforms, that writing inconsistency is how emotional i am right now.

I can't do the justice of listing down every instance where they've grown a little closer, but i'm hoping to remember more on my second reread.

because orv is such a long novel, the way they gradually grow closer also feels realistic.. and by the time you're in the ch400s, its so clear that they wouldn't go anywhere else without each other.. if i start talking about vacation arc i'll just start sitting and staring at a wall again.

"you're explaining how an average found family trope is realised" Youre right!!! youre right!!,, me when the found family is actually found family.. don't shame me like this.. i'm just an emotional person..

Ah and then you get moments where their unity really shines, and they become god pummeling probability festering forces of nature... and its when one guy's life is in jeopardy. even when they weren't all that close yet, its when they save kdj where they feel most strong. and its a bit obvious because its like, common goal makes people group together yknow, but god the adrenaline and relief when they appeared in demon king selection.. the way their names pop up one after another when they vote for jung heewon's skill..

and 1865 !! 1865 was really the epitome of it all!! oh my god they were all so reluctant to return to the hell of the scenarios but they dragged themselves back because of one fucking guy that they loved too much. and i'm rereading 1865 a bit as i write this but the way they all yelled at their sponsors to pick them is so so funny and the whole speedrunning thing really shows their desperation to quickly find him but also feels a bit fun and even exhilirating with how theyd already beaten the game once, and they were going to storm through the whole thing again to reach kim dokja. like a fuckin earthquake. the lines in ch 536

They had to be insane. (...) These people who lost their minds were clearing the scenarios with insane methods.

YEAHHH THATS MY FUCKING KIMCOM WOOOH OH MY GODD THEYRE SO INSANE!!!!

kimcom's bond was strengthened because of their love for kim dokja, kimcom drifted so close because of how much they wanted to save kim dokja. whenever i think about the 'found family' trope between kimcom, it exists because they love kim dokja, and once again i'm reminded of how much that bastard is loved and how he denies that he is anything else but a reader outside the covers of the story.

It's not to say that all of kimcom's bonds were because of him, but it's clear that had it not been for him, they would have dissipated so much quicker.

agh. what was i talking about again..

genuinely i dont know if ive proven anything through this. i just had to talk about it. i havent even talked about the relationship between kdj and each kimcom member but then the post wouldnt end. sys's section would be thousands of words and i would even have a portion for gong pildu and jang hayoung..

i love kimcom. thats it thats the post.

[nonhumanresources]

A List Of Books/Stories About Transformation

You ever seen those titles of extremely specific essays? If this was one of those I'd call it "A List Of Books That Contain In Whole Or In Part Some Amount Of Transformation, Or The Changing Of Oneself To Another That Has In Some Manner Been Fundamentally Altered From The Self You Used To Be." That was the original title but I didn't want to be mean.

I was rambling far too long about post TF on one of warmer-hotcakes's posts and they mentioned not being able to find stories with a positive relationship to transformation (as well as transformations that are permanent) so I wanted to put a few down in a list!

Granted, these are incredibly inconsistent in pretty much every way other than being SFF but hey, we take what we can get here. Plus they weren't wrong it is VERY hard to find these kinds of stories, half of the list at this point is self published novels on Amazon written by people I've met by chance in TF circles, to give you an idea. So, to pad it out I will add more tangentially related TF stories.

If anyone happens to have more stories feel free to comment them and I'll add them on! I will also add to the list sporadically if I feel like it.

Anyway, without further ado:

Wolven by Di Toft is about a kid finding a werewolf out in the woods. It's been years since I read it but it's got a fun dichotomy between a villain and a protagonist both suffering from partial werewolfication and the ways they deal with it.

Thousand Tales by Kris Schnee is a self published series of books set in the near future where an AI runs a video game that allows people to be "uploaded" into it. There's a lot of books that don't need to be read in any specific order focusing on different characters and is generally a more lighthearted approach to the topic than most, and also it has furries in it. There are books about people who upload immediately, people who do eventually, and people who never do. Not quite the same as adjusting to changes IRL but this is my list and I get to shill whatever I want. Also, it's some of the highest quality writing/editing I have seen in a self-published novel (especially TF novel).

How To Be A Hero: (And Part Time Dragon) by S. Blakeway is a book about a hero who gets defeated and turned into a wyvern by the Dark Lord. Her eternal torment is interrupted, though, by said Dark Lord sending her out on a quest, during which she has to navigate turning back into a wyvern every few days. It's fun and silly and has lots of TF and the author is a very nice and cool person. Go buy this one and the sequel and help me bother her into finishing the trilogy please.

Perspective Flip also by Kris Schnee and Shifting Tails by Paul Lotor are a pair of short story collections. These are more of a soft recommend; both include cases of protags adapting to transformations, and generally involve positive stories, but not all of them are great. Perspective Flip is generally good but Shifting Tails especially has stories that lean very far into the horny side of things as well as topics I was very much not into, but some of them were admittedly very enjoyable. Being horny isn't bad, of course; it's moreso that there is less "story" and more "hey wouldn't this TF be hot." To be fair, sometimes they are, but sometimes they stray far away from my interests, so take that how you will.

Wereworld by Curtis Jobling is something I read as a kid but I'm gonna be honest I remember almost nothing about it. However it is about therianthropes of all types and I like that so it's going on here. They even have sharks!

The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. Full disclosure, I have not finished reading this one, and I do not believe it has permanent TF, but it does feature a dude who astral projects into a dragon and is generally a fine book.

The Dangers Of Wearable Technology by Serathin Sabertooth (gods I hope that isn't a pen name, that would be so cool). This is one that I don't really recommend? Which is odd, you might say, for a list of recommendations. Correct! I just have a complex relationship with it, which I will include in a post here so that I don't flood this list with unnecessary words.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but like I said, feel free to send suggestions my way and I'd be happy to read em/add em to the list! Obviously it's pretty short right now and I'd love to bulk it up as much as possible for all us COOL NERDS

[maxwell-grant]

hi, can you elaborate on that monk-the thing-hank mccoy parallel you mentioned? im curious

(Follow-up to this post)

I certainly don't think anybody past Lee and Kirby took Monk as a factor when writing Ben and Hank, but the fact is that they were both conceived pulling from the same source character in directly opposite ways, and they've been shooting off further apart ever since, with Ben becoming more and more of a kind, inspiring, positive figure among superheroes, and Hank McCoy has been non-stop leapfrogging into greater heights of irredeemable jackassery and evil, both still carrying most of those traits still. You can kinda map them out like this:

He was Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Blodgett Mayfair, but he heard the full name so seldom he had about forgotten what it sounded like.

To give a brief a crash course on Monk, I assume most of you are at least passingly familiar that Doc Savage's crew had an ape guy in it. That's him. Artistic depictions vary on this a lot but in-text, Monk Mayfair is described as maybe the ugliest man in the world, a "dwarf King Kong" whose face makes babies cry, so apelike that he even runs faster when on all fours. Like the rest of the Five, he's driven by a desire for adventure and excitement and deep loyalty to Doc Savage. If one of the heroes kills a guy in a Doc Savage novel, it's probably going to be him, and he is kind of a colossal horndog, which didn't carry over to those two (all of the Fabulous Five - sans Long Tom who is an outspoken misogynist - make a heterosexual pony show out of ogling and competing for the women Doc ignores, Monk first and foremost among them). He lives for a good fight and frequently and constantly bickers with the lawyer Ham, they have that sort of fight-fight-snark-snark-brotherly-bond dynamic and they probably codified it in their own right.

And Monk is also one of the top chemists in the country, said to be "the Houdini of test tubes", his head fit to burst with chemical knowledge, and he's responsible for much of Doc's gadgetry. And even though his own teammates get in on insulting his intelligence and looks (and he barbs back as well, and even defies Doc more directly than the others rarely), he isn't remotely stupid. That is kinda the point, in fact, that he constantly invites you to look down on and underestimate the ugly gorilla man and forget the fact that he can memorize intricate formulas and rip your arms off in the same breath he uses to bicker and insult his companions, and particularly his smart-mouthed rival within the group, all in good fun. And within the Fabulous Five-setup that inspires the Fantastic Four and Lee and Kirby's mutual interest for Doc Savage stories showing through, crucial to Ben Grimm's early character is that he hits many of these same notes, but all is very much not always in good fun.

Of the six men present, Monk's skin alone bore scars. The skin of the others held no marks of their adventurous past, thanks to Doc's uncanny skill in causing wounds to heal without leaving scars. But not Monk.

His tough, rusty iron hide was so marked with gray scars that it looked as if a flock of chickens with gray−chalk feet had paraded on him. This was because Monk refused to let Doc treat him. Monk gloried in his tough looks. - The Man of Bronze

Monk was never satisfied unless picking on somebody, or being picked on in turn.

The Thing initially is what happens when being the strong, physically deformed and scarred coarse bruiser who pals around big shot scientists is a set-up played for tension and drama moreso than comedy, as said man is tormented and bitter over his condition, bordering on murderously angry liability and downright jackass. Ben is constantly losing his temper and smashing things, constantly breaking off the team, his initial spats with Johnny are frequent and not very lighthearted, and constantly put a strain on the team and Reed's ability to hold them together. It's deeply important to his character arc that he starts this way and that him lightening up and growing more into his heroic role is as much about him adapting as it's about him rediscovering himself in a new form.

(And while not as pronounced as Beast and Monk's scientific brains, Ben too is supposed to be smarter and more intelectually capable than he appears or credits himself for - he frequently tells himself that he's nothing without strength and that he's just a big dumb bruiser, he gets that whole, too dumb to collapse and too ugly to die and all that, but every now and then Reed reminds us that he isn't so easily fooled by Ben's persona)

Ben spends so much of those early issues deeply angry at Reed Richards for fully justified reasons and entirely consumed by self-loathing, convinced he isn't something anyone would want to be or be with, and it makes all of his baby steps towards becoming Ben Grimm as we know him meaningful. Every step and set back and rising above himself on his journey as Ben Grimm the hero, Ben Grimm the guy who becomes the archetypal lovable curmudgeon bruiser of comics in his own right, the guy who's going to become not just the invaluable heroic core of the Four, but a beloved and respected pillar of the superhero community in his own right, The Idol O'Millions. If I start talking about Ben Grimm I get emotional and it feels cheap to pretend like some jerk who would never cut it on Yancy Street, and probably doesn't even HAVE an Aunt Petunia, belongs in the same conversation, but he is in Ben's DNA, and the DNA he shares with the guy who made the wildest leap possible in the opposite direction.

Monk emitted a great howl. Monk's fights were always noisy, unless there was a reason for them to be quiet. Like a gladiator of old, Monk fought best when the racket was loudest.

"It'll take a good fight to get me feelin' like a human being again!"

Where as Hank McCoy initially almost feels like a kid-friendly do-over of Monk, who pushes the contrast further: his ape traits are explicit biological mutation superpowers, but he isn't just an expert chemist, he's a comically verbose super genius who talks like Littlejohn (the Fabulous Five member who spouts off sesquipedalianisms), but still cartwheels around to smash bad guys with gorilla fighting skills and roughhouses with resident rival-friend Iceman. The pop culture image of Beast is/was that of a friendly, sartorial professor who only looked monstrous, but had none of the darkness or conflict that defined much of the other X-Men, and had a fairly squeaky-clean image.

Which might be the biggest reason why his character took enough dark turns that he wound up becoming a gleefully sadistic spymaster mad scientist who runs genocide programs in Latin America "for the sake of mutantkind". Maybe it just boils down to writers overcorrecting, building off what was already there in prior storylines. Dark Beast, the Legacy Virus, the Inhumans War, etc. Maybe some of it was just bound to come up sooner or later.

The extent of Beast's development and the many, many places where the character took these turns is something this article by David Bowen goes into, and how much of it might even just be where the character was always heading, maybe ever since he decided pulling a Jekyll & Hyde and transforming himself into something new so he could live a new carefree life crossed his mind as a good idea. Maybe you can't play Mr. Hyde and pretend you're only kidding.

I sat in the sun on a bench; the animal within me licking the chops of memory; the spiritual side a little drowsed, promising subsequent penitence, but not yet moved to begin. After all, I reflected, I was like my neighbours.

I began to be aware of a change in the temper of my thoughts, a greater boldness, a contempt of danger, a solution of the bonds of obligation.

I looked down; the hand that lay on my knee was corded and hairy.

I was once more Edward Hyde.

And yes, every major X-Men character has rep sheets that put supervillains to shame and consists of at least one or five completely infedensible things, sure, but Hank's has clearly crossed to a level of villainy that can't really be walked back on, in the name of good intentions. In the name of loyalty, in the name of scientific reasoning.

And while Monk has never gone anywhere near as monstrous and never went so far as to be an outright villain, we can in fact trace a line between Beast's own loyalty-driven monstrousness, and Monk Mayfair doing things like threatening to carve up crooks if Doc lets him, chasing down and machine-gunning fleeing henchmen, and cutting off a guy's parachute and laughing off his death.

All of the Fabulous Five can be bastards to varying degrees sometimes and this mean streak of Monk's has been excised from pretty much all of his comics appearences that have played the character much closer to Ben Grimm, which is the smart thing to do and, really he should get a pass for ripping off Ben since Ben kinda ripped him off first. But maybe that mean streak, that potential Mr Hyde darkness of the genius chained to the ape, never really went away, and it just passed along to the next in line.

"Tell him I'll pull his ears off an' feed 'em to him if he don't come clean!" Monk suggested. Doc, anxious himself to note the effect of torture threats on the Mayan, repeated Monk's remarks - The Man of Bronze

Monk picked up a big, gleaming cutlass. He whetted it suggestively on a soggy shoe sole, then whacked an ear off a papier-mâché likeness of a bearded pirate, just to show Kar's men how it might go.

"Only say the word, Doc!" He slanted a great arm at a wizened fellow who looked the most cowardly of the lot. "I'll start on the little one, there!" - The Land of Terror

Monk did three or four things very violently, and finally ended with the long knife in his possession. "I'm gonna cut your heads off," Monk told his foes. Mathis raced for the cabin door. Monk watched him come but made no effort to stop him. Mathis gained the door, struggled to open it. He was not more than a long arm reach from Monk, who could have stopped him easily. Monk made no effort to stop him. He did reach out and thrust the long knife to the hilt into Mathis's parachute pack. Mathis, knowing nothing of the knife in the 'chute pack, jumped gleefully out into space.

Monk was looking out of the window. He drew back and grinned at Doc. "He made quite a splash," Monk said. "Who?" "Mathis. For some reason or other his parachute didn't open." Blumbeck yelled, "No wonder! You stuck a knife in the parachute!" "I don't remember doing that," Monk said innocently. -The Laugh of Death

[hopeymchope]

Worrying about Halara Nightmare, Rain Code's non-binary beauty

Despite seemingly presenting as female at first impression, Halara Nightmare from (Master Detective Archive: Rain Code) is non-binary. Or, to be clearer about it, their character profile says that they "have no specified gender." However, they are described as "beautiful" to both men and women, which... yeah, I can see that. Halara definitely rocks that look.

Look at 'em sweeping that coat around. Every detective should rock an epic coat.

And they're more than a cool coat — Halara's a really compelling character! Like so many characters that've been born from the minds of Kazutaka Kodaka and his supporting team, Halara is an odd duck who possesses believable complexity thanks to a mix of positive and negative traits — some of which seem to come out of left field in the best way.

But here's the thing: I've been doing this for a while. I've seen all the raging discourse that follows video game/visual novel/anime characters such as Chihiro Fujisaki, Naoto Shirogane, and R/Luka Urushibara. So I know a significant chunk of players aren't going to just see Halara as another character participating in the larger narrative who happens to provide some nice diversity to the cast. Even though this is the kind of story where a massive amount of the cast isn't going to make it out alive, many would-be fans are going to take it extremely personally if Halara gets killed or — god forbid — winds up being a culprit at some point. Even MORESO if either of those happens in the first half of the game, for that matter. And worst of all... I can't even say that such a reaction would be wholly unjustified. Y'know?

That's why Halara isn't just a compelling non-binary character who could go any number of directions from my current point in the game; they're a powder keg waiting to go off. I love the representation, but... they also make me nervous.

I'm simultaneously both totally open to whatever story Kodaka wants to tell me AND crossing my fingers for Halara to avoid sparking a bunch of discourse.

[poorlittleyaoyao]

Okay! Trying this again now that it's not midnight, because I'm still on my bullshit but have more words now. What I do not have is my copies of the first two novel volumes, since I am traveling, so I can't do direct quotes.

We know that, at some point, JGY and XY became cultivators. IIRC, it is stated in Volume 1 that becoming a cultivator without a golden core is possible but it's unorthodox and unlikely--even moreso given that a golden core in MDZS/CQL is akin to an organ that can be permanently destroyed/remove rather than an energy reserve from your qi being super swole. Demonic cultivation is appealing in part because it operates under a different set of parameters, and (though the world at large doesn't know this) WWX invents it in large part to compensate for the loss of his core.

We can also safely assume that the means to do this aren't accessible to everyone. We see peddlers hawking dubious cultivation materials. JGY tells his sworn brothers about the fraudulent pamphlets his mother purchased for him as a child and laments that she and people like her have no way of knowing that they're useless. (Since this statement goes unchallenged by LXC, NMJ, or WWX's narration, I think we can take this particular JGY assertion at face value.) In Yi City, WWX explains the "folk wisdom" practiced by regular people, ranging from the effective (the rice congee to absorb poison, the mortuary's high threshold to keep corpses from hopping away) to the superstitious (the paper effigies and joss money), and WWX reminds the juniors that these people don't have cultivation knowledge of their own. All of this suggests that there is no freely-accessible bank of cultivation knowledge, demonic or otherwise. There are no old-timey YouTube tutorials, and there is no indication that a person can roll up to a sect like it's nbd in this particular universe for formal education.

WHICH BRINGS ME BACK TO MY ORIGINAL POINT, which is: how did JGY and XY become cultivators in the first place?

JGY has acquired some level of cultivation by the time he's working with the Nie, albeit with a shaky foundation that both he and Narrator WWX identify as a deficit he'll need to compensate for with breadth over depth. How did he develop his power without formal training or reliable study materials? Teenage XY has somehow become capable enough for the Jin clan to see him as an asset, despite the fact that he is a feral street urchin who can't even read as a child, and demonic cultivation is a brand-new technology, as it were. Where, when, and how did he teach himself? What skills did he demonstrate that caught JGY's interest?

Since this story is not about JGY and XY's professional journeys, the text doesn't have an explanation. (Or, if it does, this website and also the wiki have been slipping, because "how the hell does JGY even have a core?" has vexed me since 2021.) There isn't a definitive answer here! What I am curious about--because I cannot possibly be the only one who wonders about worldbuilding ramifications and what offscreen events brought these characters to where they are, and I think it is fair to wonder about the mechanics of things that a text itself brings up--is people's personal headcanons.

So! Canon-compliant Xue Yang and/or Jin Guangyao enjoyers! Tell me how you personally explain their whole deal! Bonus points for telling me how it changes for CQL, bc both of them are coming from very different places there, and an MDZS-compliant explanation won't work for CQL and vice versa. Bonus BONUS points if you have fic exploring it that you can link.

[ftmtftm]

Do you have any books on your whole "nazis don't deserve to die" and prison abolishon ideas? I'm interested in learning more, but when it comes to finding literature I'm a bit of a ditz at finding books on topics I'm not as familiar with.

So in terms of my "I think all human life has value and no one deserves death" belief - Not really unfortunately. At least not directly. It's more of an extrapolation from a lot of my own experiences feeling discontent in leftist spaces and my own experiences with death in both my personal life and responses to death in my activism.

That feeling is also particularly influenced by Laura Jane Grace's openness regarding her ostricization from anarchist spaces though. Her autobiography Tranny is just generally a good book that I recommend to people a lot. It's available on Overdrive if your local library system has access to that service!

In terms of prison abolition I can do you a lot better though. I don't have time to gather links in ways I'd like, but eventually when I've got the time I'll properly toss these in my reading list.

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis and The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarnation in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander are the two biggest books that introduced me to the reality of policing and what abolition really looks like. They should be available in most library systems and if I'm remembering correctly Are Prisons Obsolete? is available on The Internet Archive - which is linked at the top of my reading list.

I also recommend Exit West by Moshin Hamid. It's actually a fiction novel and is moreso about emigration and refugee crises, but it deeply impacted my views on personhood, citizenship, and what it means to be a human being simply trying to live. It's also just a beautifully written book and one of the best pieces of fiction I've read in the last few years. It just kind of feels like it fits in this recommendation list, even if it's not directly on topic.

And of course, I've mentioned it a few times now but the Behind the Police miniseries podcast did wonders for my understanding of the police as an institution and really helped the foundations for my belief in prison abolition.

[electronickingdomfox]

"The Vulcan Academy Murders" review

Novel by Jean Lorrah, from 1984. Set entirely on Vulcan, after "Journey to Babel" but a bit before M'Benga joins the Enterprise. It seems that Spock can never have a quiet family reunion with his parents, since this time, a suspicious series of computer malfunctions start killing patients in the Academy hospital...

As an insight into Vulcan culture, and specially Spock's family, the story is fine. There are lots of anecdotes from his childhood, as well as Sarek and Amanda's marriage. Spock has also resolved his differences with Sarek, after the events of Babel, and they're starting to understand and appreciate each other much better now. Apart from this, we get to see how Vulcans treat foreigners, and how even in this society there are dissenting parties, that aren't so fond of Surak's teachings.

As a murder mystery, though, the narrative is rather clumsy. The real culprit is pretty obvious, at least from halfway into the novel. Even moreso, by the way the characters brush aside their suspicions about this person for no discernible reason, to focus instead on the (also obvious) red herring. Kirk in particular seems pretty irresponsible in the way he conducts the investigation. But in general, the only reason the murderer escapes capture for so long, it's because all characters seem determined to play the idiot ball around this person.

The structure is a bit uneven as well. A couple of original characters get a lot of exposure in the early parts, even with entire chapters written from their point of view, but eventually return to the background without truly becoming protagonists. It's also a bit weird to see such quiet scenes, like Sarek telling stories about his wife, or Kirk planning to go out on a date, while Amanda's life is still so seriously threatened.

So, not all that great (though fans of Sarek and Amanda will probably love it), but not bad either.

I'll try to explain the plot a bit without spoiling everything. But just in case, spoilers under the cut:

During a battle against Klingons, a crewman sustains grave nervous damage, and he's left in a vegetative state. Spock, however, has heard about a revolutionary treatment, recently developed in Vulcan, that can completely regenerate a nervous system. He knows about the treatment because his own mother is undergoing it, due to a degenerative disease (not that he'd have talked about such trifles with Kirk or McCoy, of course). So they head to Vulcan, and leave the crewman in the hands of Vulcan healer Sorel, and his human partner Daniel, the developers of the new treatment. It consists in placing the patient in a stasis chamber, where he remains unconscious for several days until his system is regenerated. Amanda will be ready to leave her chamber in a couple of days, but the disconnection procedure is very delicate, and doing it too soon would be fatal for the person.

All seems well, so Kirk, Spock and McCoy get a little shore leave at Sarek's house. The story also introduces some other characters, like Eleyna, a human who helps Sarek at the Academy, or Sendet, an elitist Vulcan working under Sorel. However, the problems begin when Sorel's wife suffers also an accident that damages her nerves, and she's put in yet another stasis chamber (so there's a total of three patients now). Shortly thereafter, an apparent power failure disconnects the stasis field around the Vulcan woman, and then she's dead, Jim. Feeling the bond with his wife breaking, Sorel almost dies as well (yes, this is something that happens to Vulcans in this novel; and it's a bit impractical). But Daniel manages to mind-meld with his partner, as he's considered part of the family, and together with Sorel's children, they heal him and bring him out of his shock.

The investigations about the power malfunction don't show any problem with the equipment itself, nor with the computer, and yet the alarms didn't activate until it was too late. When a little later, the chamber that holds Kirk's crewman also fails, and the ensign dies, it starts looking as a murder case and not a simple accident. Vulcan hasn't had any murders for millennia (if you're not counting things like Spock's wedding, that is), so Vulcans are very reluctant to accept it's a crime. But Kirk, Sarek and Spock decide to start their own investigation, as Vulcan lacks a proper police. If there's a murderer, Amanda could be the next target. Kirk starts interrogating several suspects (including T'Pau!), while Sarek and Spock try to retrieve info about the malfunctions from the Academy computer network. Meanwhile, McCoy is doing his medical things, or drinking mint juleps, I'm not sure... Also, Kirk thinks this is an appropiate time to ask Eleyna on a date (sigh...).

At last, Sarek and Spock seem to be on the track of something with the computers. But just then, there's a massive power failure in the whole hospital, the computer's memory is wiped, and all lights go out. To complicate things further, a fire breaks in the hospital immediately after. And Kirk and Sarek are injured while trying to protect Amanda's chamber from the fire. Meanwhile, Daniel had confessed his love for T'Mir (Sorel's daughter), and they had established a bond. Sendet, who's really dismissive of outworlders and wanted T'Mir for himself, attacks Daniel in public. This turns Sendet into suspect number one, apparently causing the stasis malfunctions to discredit Daniel's work. But is he?...

In the last part Kirk, instead of going out on a date with Eleyna, ends up lost in the Vulcan desert at night. And he's almost eaten by a carnivorous plant and a le-matya (the thing in the cover which Spock, in fact, NEVER fights in the book). McCoy proves he's a better detective than all the others conducting the case, when he guesses what happened with Kirk and goes to his rescue. Kirk is unconscious at first, but upon waking up, he reveals the identity of the killer.

McSpirk Meter: 5/10*. It's difficult to separate the relationships in this case. Kirk and McCoy are both invited to Sarek's house, and it's obvious he sees them as part of Spock's family. Also, Sarek isn't very concerned about his son not marrying a woman again (this, in a society that is absolutely obsessed with getting people married). For their part, both Kirk and McCoy seem very interested in learning things about Spock's past, and his family relationships. McCoy "feels warmth" when Spock trusts him as a doctor to treat Amanda. And Kirk is said to only tolerate the presence of Spock while in intense pain; as McCoy explains, "Spock is very good with people in pain". On the other hand, it's significant how the novel avoids any mention of Spock having a mental link with Kirk or McCoy (which is almost a staple in many novels and comics). Precisely in a story that stresses so much the mind link, as a bond between a married man and woman...

On a more comedic note, there's also a bit of McKirk. They tell an anecdote about Kirk and McCoy beaming down stark naked to a nudist planet, and how they tried to cover their junk in embarrassment. And then something about them getting drunk in shore leave, and McCoy putting Kirk to bed... Sarek even wonders if this "putting the Captain to bed" is something McCoy does on a regular basis.

Last but not least, the relationship between Sorel and Daniel is... well... Daniel gets to experience a really intense warmth and belonging while melding with Sorel, during which he also shares his feelings for his wife. Then he's pained to break the link. It's obvious they're really, really close, and Daniel wants to be a part of Sorel's family above anything else. The Vulcan-human relationship somehow mirrors that of Spock with Kirk and McCoy, where he's found his other family as well. The narrative tries to avert this direction by insisting Sorel and Daniel are "like brothers". And then tries to avert it more by having Daniel bond with T'Mir (Sorel's MUCH younger daughter). Which yeah, it's not gay but... in hindsight, it looks a bit incestuous instead.

[blorbortion]

happy pride month!

i figured its as good a time as any for me to finally post my gay book recs 😌

theyre overwhelmingly YA as im a young adult and thats what ive been reading, but im widening my horizons, so stay tuned for more mature entries! ill be updating this list as i read more gay lit.

WLW 4 or 5 out of 5 stars

- She Drives Me Crazy by Kelly Quindlen (les/bi, enemies to lovers, sports, set in high school, YA)

- The Falling in Love Montage by Ciara Smyth (great writing, appealing characters and authentic chemistry, i think les/les, YA)

- Not My Problem by Ciara Smyth (also amazing, also les/les, has heavier themes, YA)

- Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo (historical - 1950s, asian american sanfran culture, butch/femme, YA, deserves its popularity. do Not read the spin off its not worth it)

- Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (fairytale retelling, feminist focus, les/les, YA)

- This Poison Heart + This Wicked Fate by Kalynn Bayron (urban fantasy, bi/les? i think, poisonous plants, greek mythology, two books, YA)

- How to Excavate a Heart by Jake Maia Arlow (les/les, YA, lots of "reclaimed" slurs, lots of secondhand embarrassment, but if you wanted something seasonal for winter here you go - its not bad!)

- A Spindle Splintered + A Mirror Mended by Alix E. Harrow (fairy tales, lesbian mc, other wlw side characters, fun and short, written for tumblr and its obvious, sometimes depressingly real)

- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amar El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (time traveling, enemies to lovers, short chapters, tries to be poetic and sometimes it succeeds sometimes it doesnt)

- Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield (horrors of the ocean, it doesnt get better - no happy ending, still beatiful though)

- Salt Slow by Julia Armfield (women-focused horror short stories antology, i would call it bisexual moreso than lesbian, definitely worth a read)

- Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag (a story that takes decades and focuses on many characters, two of the most prominent are in a same-sex relationship, lovely and bittersweet at times)

MLM 4 or 5 out of 5 stars

- If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzalez and Kale Dietrich (gay/bi?, YA, secret dating, two boysband members, alternating perspectives)

- Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall (fake dating, cringe but somehow fun when you get into it, very organic writing)

- Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (gay/bi, YA, enemies to lovers, actually fun!, better than the movie^tm, a bit cringe with the ~progressive~ lines and fanficky moments)

- Time to Shine by Rachel Reid (gay/bi, sports romance, there were so many beds and still they chose to sleep in one together, very fun + funny)

- Icebreaker by A. L. Graziadei (bi/gay, rivals to lovers, YA, sports romance, a little internet-y at times, theres a side poly relationship)

- More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera (NOT a romance, super depressing, a lot of deep homophobia, but also beautiful. i gave it 5/5 on goodreads, YA)

honorable mentions that arent very gay focused but are very good

- If We Were Villains by M.L.Rio (campus novel/dark academia, the m/m is mostly subtext, heavy style of writing but so worth it, shakespeare abound, please read it)

- The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater (YA, fantasy, literally so good, not much of the m/m romance but when it happens it HAPPENS, 5/5 im obsessed with this series)

- The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler (a short sci-fi novel about bringing back mammoths, multiple povs, one of those is focused on a gay couple - which is irrelevant in the story but i loved the book so im using this opportunity to promote it)

less than 4 out of 5 stars but i read them so ill state my opinion anyways

- A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo (YA, wlw - bi/les, great writing boring story, gnc lesbian compared to a boy later revealed to identify as nonbinary, homophobic slurs "reclaimed", cheating, unfinished sideplots)

- Ash by Malinda Lo (YA, wlw, bi/les i think, fairytales, fantasy, uncomfortable het age gap, moral of the story - love triumphs all)

- The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (YA, mlm, gay/gay?, lots of awkward internet popculture references, slurs, writing mostly fun and engaging but at times felt like an educational PSA)

- The Coldest Touch by Isabel Sterling (YA, wlw, les/bi, marketed as lesbian Twilight - do not be fooled, the author is weird abt race too though, the romance isnt really fleshed out)

- These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever (mlm, an attempt at dark academia, the start was interesting but then it turned into disgusting fetishization of violence in a gay relationship, written by a tif and you can tell)

- Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney (the mc is bi and her best friend is a lesbian, the characters are all awful, it kinda felt lesbophobic at times but i dont have proof)

- Hani and Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar (wlw, YA, as you can guess fake dating, also rivals to lovers iirc?, its nice but just didnt catch my attention much)

- Honeymoon for One by Rachel Bowdler (winter holiday romance, les/bi ("pan"), lots of grief and conflict and not enough of the romance developing, so many awful mothers??)

- Running With Lions by Julian Winters (ya, mlm bi/gay, the writing isnt that good, a bit of misogyny)

sekcja polska 🇵🇱

- Córki tamtych wiedźm autorstwa Weroniki Łodygi (wlw, les/les?, mało romansu w pierwszej części, Hogwart ale polski i tylko dla dziewczyn, główny wątek rozwija się dość późno)

- Noce za nocami i Noce aż po wieczność autorstwa Małgorzaty Wilk (wampiry w Warszawie, pierwsza książka homo m/m druga bi w/m - ale oryginalna parka nadal na pierwszym planie, dużo drugoplanowych postaci lgb i innych par jednopłciowych, nie ma żadnych slurów ani praktycznie nic o trans, lekki i bardzo zabawny styl, bardzo przyjemna dylogia)

- Zanim dojrzeją granaty autorstwa Rene Karabasz (bułgarska powieść o specyficznym stylu, główna bohaterka jest lesbijką i albańską burneszą - zaprzysiężoną dziewicą)

[danganronpa96]

Hi Lenn! According to you, who would each DR69 and DR96 character listen to (musically speaking)? Who would be their favourite artist/favourite song? (just a silly question to distract me from chapter 4) (you guys need to pay my therapy/j)

Btw, thanks a lot, both to you and Rexx, for everything you do for the fic! I love your writing and also the amazing art!🫠❤️ We’ll patiently wait for chapter 5, but I’m sure it will be FANTASTIC, as always🥹 love ya🫶🏻

It’s funny how I received two similar music asks in a row, but because this one is actually a different question on the topic, I can answer this one separately!

However, since even the last music post had me in agony (/j), I don’t think I’m going to go through every single character’s individual favourite song and artist, and moreso just their music taste (especially since some characters would canonically listen to music from cultures or genres I don’t listen to or know much about myself).

DR96

Hayasaka - most people would say classical, but my big brain (/lh) has bestowed the headcanon ever: vocaloid. I think it would be funny if this man had a secret love for the music, walking to work listening to the most depressing or cutesy song known to Earth. His favourite producer would probably be wowaka (rip) or 40mp.

Kurumada - that kind of grunge, heavy beat, but sort of depressing music? Not trap per say, but like r&b and rap. Or whatever is playing at the gym at the time, sometimes a song will get added to his workout playlist if it sounds good enough.

Mai - she’s that kind of pop girl, but also likes some more sombre songs here and there. Definitely indulges in songs with playful and or sensual lyrics.

Walter - (this is where my disclosure starts to show) Like classic, 50-80s songs. Jazz and blues, or something he can sing along to on the radio.

Jesse - hip-hop, trap, some heavy metal, rock, techno and house music. Anything with a stanky-ass beat (/lh) and Jesse will probably listen to it.

Saiki - I’ve given him the headcanon that he listens to hyperpop, speedcore and breakcore. I got the idea from another tumblr post that said he’d use loud, scratchy music to try and block out the thoughts of other people. It’s implied that’s what he was listening to during chapter 3 as well!

Kaidou - what we all listened to when we were 13 and wanted to be edgy. Also fandom songs (I know this isn’t nationally accurate unless there are hardcore jp fandom song fans lol), and video game OSTs that make him feel powerful.

Retsuko - heavy metal, obviously. But, I think she also likes pop and idol music, considering her history with that, hehe

Natsuki - vocaloid hardcore to the max (some favourite producers be like deco*27 and syudou). Also J-pop/idol music (and some video game OSTs).

Yuri - now I think she would like some classical music, considering her whole elegant aesthetic. I think she’d personally like piano and violin arrangements though, since they are relaxing to listen to while reading. I think she would be convinced to listen to some J-pop after Natsuki begs encourages her.

Hiroshi - he would be a classical guy too, but he would also enjoy some video game OSTs (since he’s kind of a certified gamer if you consider the novels and that chibi anime thingy).

Brian - anything past 1996 would be periodically inaccurate, but I feel like he’s the type of guy who’d try to listen to anything if someone recommended it to him. I think he’d enjoy new-age, or something relaxing on par with the vibes of his game’s OST (synth… rock? I’m not a genres expert).

Bojack - it’s either something really depressing or really sexual and there is just that scale and nothing else

Latte - canonically, folk and symphony since I think that’s the sort of music Parfaedia has. Although, she’d also listen to jazz and dance (she that type of teacher to play music in class all the students try to grin and bare because no one listens to it anymore /lh)

L - whatever music is scientifically proven to enhance focus. Classical? Some jazz? I feel like L likes to work in silence, but with music on the bare occasion.

Ena - something that we would not be able to comprehend if we heard it. Lyrics that sound like 14 different languages all mashed up together. Instruments that shouldn’t exist. Voices that shouldn’t exist. The same song that runs for 4 minutes on the first play, 15 seconds on the second, and 2 hours on the third. Or just webcore/weirdcore instrumental music lmao

DR69

Luigi - calm jazz and swing, I also think he be into acoustic arrangements.

Mario - I think he’d listen to energetic music to get himself pumped up. But also enjoys the folk music of the mushroom kingdom.

Peter - I would say 50-90s songs, ranging from classic hits to goofy ass songs (like the Rock Lobster bit)

Brian - I think he’s into ska, jazz, and blues. Also very pretentious with his music taste lol

Miku - Pop, dance, techno and electronica are her mains, but she can dabble into any genre. Likes to support and listen to her other fellow voice synth’s music.

Teto - rock, but also some dance/pop. Secretly enjoys listening to Miku’s songs (as long as she’s not around)

Nagito - nicher artists of alt and synth. I don’t think he’d be into mainstream music. Also depressing lyrics are his go-to lol

Sans - ironically, the stankiest beat you’ve ever heard and penis music (rubber band). Unironically, some smooth tunes akin to Nastablook’s music taste.

Parappa - rap, hip-hop, r&b and dance. Could unironically make a great rap over the instrumentals of ‘A Pimp Named Slickback’.

Fluttershy - Equestria folk music, acapella and that musical-type genre they have in the show’s music.

Ayano - whatever her Senpai is listening to. So, I would assume the latest trending J-pop mostly.

Ashley - rock and alt. Emo type beat. Mainly female vocals. One or two heavy metal songs. Any other warioware cast member will die upon listening to any of it lol

2D - his favourite band is canonically The Human League, so other new wave and synth-pop stuff too.

Mr. Krabs - sea shanties, unironically. He probably sang a lot of them while on the navy.

Dedede - (I have no Kirby lore but I must scream) I feel like he’d play classical music in his castle to give off those regal king vibes. But he’d also enjoy energetic music like his boss battle themes.

The Conductor - western and western movie soundtracks. Also some smooth jazz and soul. I like to think he likes the sounds of the piano the most, from the ‘heart to heart’ OST

Also, TYSM for the lovely words!! I’m so happy to hear how much you’ve enjoyed the fic so far! 😭❤️