#sascha posts something original

[optimysticals]

This pendant is a perfect example of my love for Tumblr as an artistic business.

I love Tumblr for the fandom, the jokes, to social commentary, and the things that are just too difficult to explain to people not on this hellsite (affectionate).

But, this. This pendant. Damn.

We made these adorable little Robin Pendants with hand enameled masks and little crystals probably close to a decade ago. (Checking the OP timestamp it was December 2014).

When I originally sat down to make them I wasn't just going to enamel one of each color to see who was popular, that would have been silly. So I made a bunch of each.

In business terms, they flopped. But I always loved them.

They haven't been on our website since probably 2016 or 2018 (two big overhauls happened those years). The pendants were all disassembled so the crystal could be used elsewhere. And the Robins have been in a drawer ever since.

So why is this little pendant above so special to me and my feelings about Tumblr?

Because I took that photo today. Of a Stephanie Brown Robin Pendant I made this afternoon. Because someone found that ancient post, and commented on it that they'd love one of these. I was able to reach out and let them know it was possible. And through the magic of Tumblr we resurrected an 8 year old retired jewelry piece.

That's not something that happens on other social media sites. Once something is gone from the front page, it's gone forever. Resigned to the dustbin of digital history.

But here, here we celebrate "World Heritage Posts". We queue things like Sascha the Christmas Tiger 365 days in advance. We delight in going digging to find bits of the things we love.

And as an artist who tries desperately to make a living off of the shiny things we make, the fact that something can be found a week later, a year later, a decade later. It really is magic.

So yeah. Just going to be over here being sappy about community and jewelry for awhile.

[mercurialmalcontent]

It's Six Sentence... uhhh, Tuesday??

@lizardlicks was kind enough to tag me, it just took me a hot minute to get around to it.

How about something... original?

“All the way to the Misery Coast? What are we going to do if we get cornered, drive into the sea?” Sascha huffed a laugh. “We can throw that damned box in if we get desperate.” It didn’t sound like he was joking. “But yes, all the way here. No one in their right mind comes into an active upheaval zone, after all.”

Or from a different original story:

James settled down with his laptop and picked at his meal as he skimmed the NC Investigators forum. The thread about the recent murders was busy, but frustratingly everyone seemed to be talking around the actual details of the show. After scrolling past a handful of gross troll posts and what felt like the hundredth post about how these were just copycat murders because only children thought a ten-year anniversary held any supernatural significance, he made a snippy post of his own. I hate to interrupt your fun burying your heads in this dead horse you’re beating, but does anyone have a transcript or summary of tonight’s show? I want to form my own conclusions, not join the chorus of “Nothing to see here.” The resulting flame war ate an entire hour and only ended when a moderator locked the thread and issued warnings to everyone, except the trolls saying that ‘culling the population’ was good, actually.

Or... perhaps some fanfic?

It always goes like this: You wake up on a nautiloid, trapped in a pod, and witness a room full of other trapped people having disgusting worms forced into their eyes by bizarre, squid-like beings (mindflayers, one of the few intact parts of your brain provides). At some point they land and let you out -- confused commoners, monsters, and yourself. You fight although you don't understand why, you fail, you're brought back to a woman who smells of meat and rot who you hate even though you don't know why, she brutalizes you, and you die in a sickening room in a crumbling temple that is familiar for reasons your ruined brain can't place before your life slips away in anguish and fear. You wake up on a nautiloid. You wake up on a nautiloid, trapped in a pod. You wake up on a nautiloid, trapped in a pod, and witness a weird-looking green skinned girl having a worm forced into her eye by a mindflayer. This is new, you think. She wasn't there before.

(I cheated, that one is seven sentences.)

I tag anyone who wants to do this (and if you're thinking "Gee I wish they'd tag me in something" then TAG YOU'RE IT! Give me the goods!!)

[sarisinema]

Sascha Schneider, Hypnosis, 1904

The Lighthouse (2019) dir. Robert Eggers

Blog Post 5 - Why the scene from The Lighthouse is a tableau vivant? - 21.03.24

Inspired by a painting by Sascha Schneider, the film tells the story of two men's struggle for power over each other without any counterbalancing element, through mythological references. Sascha's paintings as he says often about the sexuality and domination ower males, with the touch of mythological elements.

Plot of the Movie

Thomas, an experienced sailor, and Ephraim, a rookie, arrive on an island. There is nothing but a hut and a lighthouse on the island where they will stay for a few months. Ephraim, who follows Thomas' orders and runs errands, begins to believe that there is something hidden in the lighthouse, which Thomas takes care of religiously. The lighthouse, which Thomas refers to as "a beauty" and which he keeps away from other men, is a phallic symbol. In this context, the movie can be read both sexually and in terms of myths. The character of Thomas, who keeps Ephraim away from the lighthouse just as he keeps his woman away from other men, constantly crushes the young man and destroys his psyche. When Ephraim's fragile ego is shattered, there is a breaking point in the movie and the young one rebels against the old one: he starts chasing the forbidden and we don't know what he ends up with - he ends up being devoured by "seagulls" like Prometheus.

Hypnosis and the Scene in the Film

When you think about it like this, you realize that this is more about the struggle of "men" against "He", that is, a man against God, rather than a power struggle between two men. The price paid by human beings trying to reach knowledge or a rebellion against authority. From this point of view, when Thomas rebels against the "old man" and starts to run away, we come across the scene I have put the image of. We see how vulnerable the kneeling "man" (Thomas) is in front of "God" (Ephraim) and how he is under the influence. Thanks to his position, Thomas dominates Ephraim. Mise-en-scene-wise, the director has created a dark, black and white atmosphere just like in the original painting. Although the director wanted to film Pattinson (the actor who plays Ephraim) with his penis visible, the director, unable to escape the pressure of the producers, chose to show the vulnerability of the young man kneeling on the ground, not in nudity as in the painting. The scene is generally dark, with the only strong light coming from above, illuminating the actors from above, almost filling the entire frame. Low key lightning is used. The shot type is long shot, the framing is symmetrical.

[th3-0bjectivist]

Folks, for just over two months I’ve been digging up the festering carcasses of the BEST and DEADEST of dead bands. People out there seem to like the running theme, and your hearts on my posts are like candy-coated heroine syringes for both my stats and my ego. So, suit up, dear listener. That’s right, into the armored wetsuit with ya! This week we’re diving directly into earth’s molten core, because rare gems built under pressure like this are not meant to be simply forgotten. Let me take you back to the early 2000’s for a moment. George W. was in charge, we were on the verge of the war in Iraq, Korn and Linkin Park were still all the rage on radio waves, and one band that was the very definition of anti-establishment had temporarily broken up. The band I’m referring to is KMFDM, and if you don’t know about them, shame on you. You can self-flagellate repeatedly in any manner you choose after reading this post. For reference, I've covered KMFDM before on this blog, as well as recently creamed my long johns over hottie Lucia Cifarelli. In 1999, industrial techno German powerhouse KMFDM had temporarily broken up over internal stress and creative differences. Two members remained to attempt to formulate a new sound: rock/metal instrumentalist legend Tim Skold and group founder Sascha Konietzko, who shortly thereafter drafted a down-on-her-luck Lucia Cifarelli, making them a trio. This group released a grand total of one album in 2000 which sold over a hundred thousand copies, only to then revert directly back to the KMFDM brand due to popular demand and a new recording label deal. The apparent point of this short-lived breakoff group, MDFMK, was to provide a slight inversion from KMFDM’s dance-club heavy tunes and give their already built-in international audience a far more aggressive and ‘futuristic’ noise. What I think they ended up creating with their one and only album is what we refer to today as electronica, but with a slightly more guitar-laden twist that I would recommend sipping for flavor. It’s not really intended for dancing, but you can sure as hell dance to it. I don’t think it’s meant to be catchy per se, but a big portion of it manages to be. And with three lead vocalists and an endless creative capacity between its members, MDFMK’s sound may have eventually outshined its predecessor if only it had stayed a viable and continuing musical enterprise. Alas, it was not to be, and so the originality and moniker of MDFMK was sacrificed so that KMFDM could live once again. This is Get Out of My Head, a song I’ve loved for something like 15 years. Thanks Pandora! Back with more nostalgic and musical necromancy soon!

Their full album is here if you care to have a gander. It’s a trip, but it's also a decent trip. Next time I post music, it will include the lovely Lucia and come with a 90’s grunge aftertaste. Image source: https://music.youtube.com/channel/UCQWxPw6Fvg3cq_MiydIntyw

[goratrix-betrayed]

The Art of Regret, and Why I Can't Do It

This is an essay I originally posted on the Fictionkind Dreamwidth on November 19, 2021. I kept it there to avoid harassment from anyone who might not like what I have to say, but due to the response that my panel got at Othercon, and the fact that I referenced this essay multiple times, I have decided to crosspost it to Tumblr as well.

This is an essay largely aimed at others with "problematic" fiction-based identities. For those who tuned into my panel, you can see some of the same ideas I took to the panel in their infancy, here--I was only three months "old" in terms of being in the system, and had not yet refined many of my ideas.

I hope that it helps someone. You are welcome to reblog this, add discussion if desired, ask questions. Please--interact if you wish to. However, if your intent is to interact with the goal of harassment, remember that I am quick on the block button and also do not care. Respectful debate is fine, cruelty is not.

Content warning for discussions of murder back in-source.

The word regret carries many connotations in addition to its definition. If you regret something, you wish you hadn’t done it; you would like to take it back, do something in its place or abstain from action altogether, or perhaps act when you did not before. However, I have found that this word, regret, often carries a moral or ethical connotation to it when used in relation to actions taken against other people. While “I regret not taking that course in college” or “I regret taking that trip” carry no moral connotation or obligation, “I regret saying that to her” or “I regret pushing him over” do. If you regret what you did to someone, it implies that you feel bad about it, not just that you’d rather that you hadn’t done it.

This is why I cannot regret what I have done.

Back in my “source,” I did bad things, and I do not hide this, but nor do I apologize. I did what I felt was right in the moment; I did what seemed justified. Some of those actions, in hindsight, were foolhardy, absurd, unnecessary, inefficient, or just wasteful. As a result, I wish I had not done them—to do so had negative consequences I did not foresee or desire. However, I cannot say that I regret them, because to do so would imply that I feel bad about what I did.

I do not feel bad about trying to get Myca Vykos killed. (As stated in a previous writing of mine, Sascha does not care if people refer to their “past self” Myca with his name and pronouns, for clarity.) I do not have a moral issue with the actions I took, nor do I consider it deeply out of line or something that I have to, God forbid, atone for. That is not who I am, and that is not my lot in life. Instead, I wish I had never done that to him because, in hindsight, it was stupid. It accomplished nothing, wasted a perfectly good student, and ultimately caused more suffering than I had intended. Had I known that the Tzimisce would Embrace the poor boy, not kill him, I would have pitched him off the tower myself. I certainly never intended for him to go through the torture and horrors that would characterize the next several centuries of his life.

Do I “regret” trying to get him killed? By definition, I suppose, yes, but ultimately I have to say no. I do not feel bad about it. I feel stupid over it, certainly, but not like I did anything wrong, despite knowing that the action was wrong. Doing “bad” things like that rarely bothered me, especially that long after the consecration of Ceoris and, therefore, the loss of most of my few remaining morals. (The rest went after my Embrace and subsequent centuries as a vampire.)

Do I “regret” treating Tremere like I did, towards the end? Perhaps, but again, I feel like I was justified. When the man you love abandons you over a botched ritual, an accidentally killed friend, and a shouting match with your rival, sides against you, and then treats you icily for decades or centuries… What else was I supposed to do? Part of me wishes I had not treated him that way, but the rest of me reminds, he deserved it. He treated me poorly first, he abandoned me first, and he said hurtful things to me first. I will not lie down and take such treatment, and he got what he gave, even as it tore me up inside to not simply accept it, just to try to win him back and let him love me again.

(I tried a few times. It didn’t work either.)

But despite me wishing that I hadn’t had to treat him that way, again, I felt as if I had to, and I still feel justified in that feeling and decision. I have always done what I felt was right: right for myself, for Tremere, for my friends, and for House Tremere as a whole. I did what I could for Clan Tremere until they turned their backs on me, and then I fled.

The closest thing I have to an action that I regret is the slaying of Calderon. After I fled the Clan, Tremere sent him after me. Calderon, the closest thing I had to a brother at that time... He ordered me to return with him to Tremere for punishment, or he would kill me. I would die if I went with him; I told him as much. He attacked me. I had two choices: kill or be killed. For me, there was no moment of hesitation, no decision to be made. As much as I cared for Calderon, I would not die by his hand, for I had not come this far just to get this far. I wish it had not come to that. I miss him many nights, and his death plays over and over in my mind when I think of him. It was a terrible waste, and just another ultimately unnecessary murder on my hands that I was forced into committing.

How can I feel bad about something I had to do? I had no reasonable other choice in most of these situations, and even when I did, at the time, I felt fully justified. I have reached no atonement, no redemption: I am not the tragic hero hiding in the mantle of a villain. I am not recovered nor good; I have not been absolved of my sins and I do not seek such. To say that I am sorry would be a lie, and while I am typically not above such things, I will not lie to you. I am, for all intents and purposes, a bad man, Lawful Evil as D&D would have it, an advocate and disciple of the Path of Power in my own world, having shed Humanity and its virtue of Conscience centuries ago.

Such an idea is anathema to most. Should I not, then, be punished for my transgressions? But I am a fictive; all of my crimes are in my source. I have wronged no one you would consider real. Am I deserving of scorn, of punishment, of harassment and cruelty? Or am I someone to be spoken to in the hopes of helping me find redemption, turning me into someone that I am not? Entire communities could fight, viciously, for years over this binary that does not have to be.

I have seen most “villainous” fictionkin regret the things that they did in their source. That is largely to be expected; in most cases, fictionkin are their own people first, their kintype second. There is a degree of separation in this identity, as far as I can tell. (See my headmate, Research’s, essay "Fiction in the System and Being the "Odd One Out.") I also see this, frequently, in fictives, but not as often. Many fictives “grow” and change to become something beyond their source; they began as a specific character, but grew to find a degree of separation between themselves and that identity, and therefore grow to regret much of what they did. Others simply grow and change as people, and as people do, may come to regret previous actions taken in haste, anger, or other unpleasant circumstances.

What, then, to do when I don’t want that? I don’t want to become one of those people. I’m perfectly happy being who I am. I have been Goratrix for over one thousand years, and while I have, of course, changed over that time—no one is static—old vampires are rarely as dynamic in personality as younger vampires and mortals. If you leave a mortal human alone for five years and return, they will be quite different; if you leave an elder vampire alone for even thrice that and return, they will be much the same. As a result, the idea of rapid change in order to be respected is as anathema to me as the idea of not changing is to the “purity culture” present in most online spaces. I refuse to change myself for others, and I refuse to force myself to be respectable. I am DONE making myself palatable to other people: I did so for decades, nay, centuries amongst House Tremere, forcing myself into molds that I do not fit, re-shaping myself to take on the traits of those around me that made them likable. I will do it no longer, and I will not bend that rule of mine for something as petty as regretting my crimes with the correct moral connotation.

That does not, however, mean that I intend to keep doing harm. I do not see it necessary to do so. I am extracted from the environment of political manipulation and murder, where a single mistake can cost you hundreds of years of work and your unlife. Instead of contemplating killing and manipulating my enemies, now, I mostly play video games and listen to music. Am I changed, reformed? No. I am the same man I have always been, with no environmental factors forcing me to do what must be done. I am only a threat to those that prompt me to be one; in a space such as this, I am, in essence, harmless.

We come, at last, to my questions. Those who made mistakes or did “bad” things in your sources: do you regret it? Why? Talk to me, and do not hold back; you are safe from scorn. I am curious to see if I am the only one who feels this way, and how others approach this topic regarding their own sources. I wonder if the pattern I have noticed in fictionkin vs fictives will continue, or if it has, so far, been coincidence.

Say whatever you’d like. Answer my questions, or don’t. Ask something, if you have something to ask. I am trying to make sense of this, and wonder if anyone else is, too.

Thank you for your time.

[clementines-writing-corner]

extra content 2: electric boogaloo

Hello friends!

As the title suggests, here is the second extra post as promised!! Last week I introduced y’all to Prince Kazuki of Okunseiko, who is Queen Aurora of Sylvanthia’s beau, so this week I figured I’d introduce some of their attendants/friends. Also, one of these characters happens to be my favorite character thus far! I hope you love her just as much as I do! ᕱ__ᕱ 

~*~*~

Sascha [meaning]  (19)

Age 19

Human (?)

Her father abandoned her when she was quite young and she never knew her mother

Right hand woman of Queen Aurora of Sylvanthia

The Spymaster for her majesty

Was previously on an undercover mission to investigate the mysterious illness (that claimed both Aurora’s mother and Kazuki’s father) which had been spreading across the land in the past decade or so

And she was in the process of discovering that it ran much deeper than simply a new virus developing

Was pulled away from that to attend Kazuki’s coronation as a representative for Sylvanthia as her Queen was too busy cleaning up the mess her previous advisors made to attend

Is now stuck on the run with Prince Pretty Boy Kazuki himself after uncovering a plot to kill him and saving his life

Serious, takes no sh*t attitude with a sharp wit and sharper tongue

If one is lucky (or unlucky depending) they may get to experience her wicked sense of humor

Surprisingly beautiful, ironically contrasting her caustic personality

Extremely independent 

She gets her job done and done well

Has been very hurt and betrayed by people she should have been able to trust in the past

Which is why she staunchly ignores Romulus’s affections for her (though she mayhaps feel the same)

Her thoughts are rushing around at the speed of light, constantly observing her surroundings and taking in new information, but the most common of them feature worry over Aurora, both as her Queen and her oldest and dearest friend, determination to figure out just what is causing the rising unrest in Delyorea, and attempting to resist the urge to throttle Kazuki whomst seems to attract trouble like dung attracts flies

Nicolás [meaning] (19) 

Age 19

Human

Bodyguard of Crown Prince Kazuki or Okunseiko

Also his best friend

A classic knight figure

Extremely noble of spirit and loyal of heart

To his credit he immediately believed Sascha when she said something was fishy during Kazuki’s coronation and contributed heavily to saving the lives of not only Kazuki, but Sascha as well

Son of a nobleman on Okunseiko’s court, he has been with Kazuki since Kazuki was 8 and he was 9

It almost pained him physically to not flee with Kazuki but stayed behind to attempt some light undercover work to try and discover Kagero’s motivations

Eventually he leaves Okunseiko however and sets out to try and convince the Atharenel to ally with Kazuki and Aurora

His current worries are whether or not Kazuki is okay, why these damn shadow beasts won’t stay dead, and how he’s ever going to make allies with the Atharenel if Ailidh keeps avoiding him 

~*~*~

Sascha is an absolute doll, I love her so much!! She’s also the second main, main character in my story. And Nicolás, we can’t forget about him. If any of y’all remember way, way back at the beginning of this blog when I first introduced an original character from this story, but Nicolás is Ailidh’s knight. *waggles eyebrows* ᕱ__<

Ugh! I have such plans for these babies and I can’t wait to start actually writing, but as I said last week, I have a lot of planning left to do first. Thanks for hanging in there with me y’all!  Till next week!!

Remember to dot those j’s and cross those t’s!

~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

[the-letter-horror-lover]

What could have happened

Its_natalie_here123

Summary:

This is basically if died at any point past book of circus, while he was still a kid. Not including book of Atlantic as I have not seen that yet

Chapter 1

Chapter Text

*READ THIS IMPORTANT* I'm not going to be doing any of the starting parts as that will make this even more cringe then it already is. It's going to start off where everyone is in the "Judgement room" and a random angel is going to be reading out the events of his life. It's not going to be word for word, just like how you would explain that or something else. A short brief description of what happened.

"We are gathered here today to see tp the Final Judgement of Ciel Phantomhive. To do this, we will need to be looking through his memories with someone of the people who have effected him the most in his life, of whom are already deceased. We will be bringing his parents, some of the friends he made-" Before the angle could go on, he was cut off by your favorite reaper.

"Yes, yes, we know now move on. You're getting awfully boring." The Undertaker interjected.

The angel glared for a quick second before announcing, "Fine, BRING IN THE GUESTS!"

Basically the people who were tagged were brought in. (They were already informed of the situation)

Everyone who was brought in was sitting at the humongous table in a tense silence. Eventually, someone brought Ciel in.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I NEED TO TELL YOU! DON"T F**KING TOUCH ME!"

The people at the table were either shocked done to their core, or snickering at him.

The other angels were trying to get him to calm down but it clearly wasn't working. Ciel, finally have enough starting yelling, "Sabastian! Come here right now and get these fools off of me at once!"

"Yes, Young master."

Time skip to after Ciel calmed down and things were explained to him.

"I have to stay in here with that THING while we read my memories." Ciel complained in a disgusted tone while pointing at Kelvin.

At that Victor, Ciel's father, got defensive. "What's wrong with him. When we met he was pleasant to have around as he is now."

Ciel just stared for a moment then snorted. "Suuuuuuurrrrreeeee. What ever you say. Wait why is he even IN Heaven. You should have see his cinematic record by now."

"U-Uhm, MOVING ON!"

Ciel and a few others suspiciously glanced at him but didn't say anything.

"Whatever let's start."

"What a wonderful Idea."

Forgiveness

TwilightKnight17

Summary:

Parties are an excellent distraction, but being a reaper means you can never be completely content.

Tipsy reapers discuss their (assumed) reward.

Notes:

Originally posted to my tumblr a while back.

Sascha and Rudgar's characterization is based on how an RP partner of mine plays the two of them, including Sascha being referred to as "they".

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

Reapers had to take their opportunities to be social where they could get them. The job was demanding, and while that was to be expected considering the circumstances that it was given to them under, it still wore on them all. There wasn't time for vacation, either, which mean that there were even fewer opportunities to see friends in other branches.

Every year, there was a huge conference that brought together representatives of all the different Shinigami Dispatch Association branches. While the Board hoped it would be a dignified affair, and for the most part it was, it inevitably ended up dissolving into a raucous party as reapers who didn't even necessarily speak the same language ended up joined in the common language of drinking too much and passing out all over the hosting dispatch.

This year, London was hosting, and Eric and Grell along with Ronald and many other enthusiastic Juniors had made sure that that there was plenty of liquor in the office. After all of the official meetings and socializing had finished, bottles had been cracked open and reapers, especially Collections reapers, proceeded to get completely smashed.

It was several hours later when Eric found himself on a couch in one of the break rooms, with Alan, who had never been one to hold his liquor well, asleep half in his lap and half in Grell's. Ronald had been dragged off by a few of the Archives girls an hour ago, and Will had apparently gone home based on what Grell had said. Two of their friends from the German dispatch, Sascha and Rudgar, were piled on the other couch along with a passed-out Felice, one of Eric's friends from the Italian dispatch. They'd all had at least as much alcohol as they would on a standard night out at a bar, so all of them were tipsy. That was probably what prompted Eric to comment absently, "Has anyone actually seen somebody get outta here?"

Rudgar stirred, blinking dark green-gold eyes at Eric. "Vhat do you mean?" he asked, as Grell made a sleepy noise of interest. Sascha was distracted playing with the end of Rudgar's tie, but tilted their head to indicate they were still listening.

"This," Eric said vaguely, waving his hand at everything and nothing. "Dispatch. Work. Bein' a reaper. We're supposed t'be workin' towards forgiveness, righ'? But has anyone actually got it?"

All of the reapers listening glanced at each other uncomfortably. It wasn't really a topic most of them chose to talk about, considering the unpleasant memories it could summon up. After a long moment of silence, Rudgar said gruffly, "I've heard of people being forgiven, but I've never known any of 'dem personally. 'Dey are usually from ano'der branch."

"That's what I've heard, too," Grell drawled. "I've never heard of anyone who actually knew someone personally who was forgiven." He leaned on Eric's shoulder, head lolling. "But I don't caaaare~ I like this~! I get to paint as many people red as I'm assigned~"

"I do, too!" Sascha chimed in, not seeing the way their partner cringed a bit as they spoke. "It's so interesting getting to watch every'ding and observe humans. I like being a reaper."

Eric frowned, glancing down at Alan. "It's no' really abou' whether we like it or no', though. It's s'posed t'be a punishment, an' they promised us an' endin' when we'd earned it." He carded his fingers absently through his partner's hair as he spoke. "But if no one ever earns it... Is th' whole system jus' broken? Are we gonna be stuck like this f'rever?"

"Nein!" Rudgar snarled, almost lurching to his feet save for Sascha grabbing his arm to keep him down. "Don't talk like 'dat! Of course ve're not going to be stuck like 'dis! Ve can't be." He knew he wasn't the only one for whom the thought of forgiveness was the only thing that kept them going some days. Reapers cracked every once in a while, fleeing the Dispatch and becoming fugitives or turning their scythes on themselves in desperation. Even a reaper as great as Legendary Death hadn't been immune. So the idea that forgiveness was an impossible goal was something that couldn't be entertained. Ever.

Sascha clung to their partner, still slightly dazed from the alcohol but aware enough to know Rudgar needed to calm down. "Nein, Rudgar, es ist in Ordnung. Wir sind in Ordnung. Wir werden eines Tages vergeben..." they mumbled, losing their grasp of English in their buzzed haze. Rudgar looked down at them, sighing, but fell quiet.

"I'm sorry. I just get a bit...touchy about 'dings relating to forgiveness."

"No, no, I get it," Eric assured. "I get it..." He eyed the narrow, branching scar around Alan's wrist, just visible where his sleeve had ridden up as he slept. If there was no forgiveness waiting, he wouldn't be able to handle eternity without Alan. He knew that.

Grell stretched, almost dumping Alan's legs off the couch, and nudged Eric. "Forgiveness or not, darling, worrying about it won't get us anywhere. Either it will come or it won't."

"Easy for you t'say, Red. Ya don' care whether we get it 'r not."

"I'm telling you to relax, Eric. There's nothing we can do but do our jobs." And for a moment, there was a flicker of seriousness in Grell's expression. "Don't dwell on it. That's how reapers go mad." Then it was gone, and Grell was leaning over to try to see the table on the other side of the room. "I wonder if there's any bourbon left..."

Normally Eric would be all over more bourbon, but he just nodded, waving Grell off to find the liquor and stroking Alan's hair. Rudgar sank back into the couch, sipping absently on a beer that he still had left and trying to manage Sascha, who had crawled into his lap sleepily and was trying to get comfortable. They locked eyes for a second, understanding in their expressions, and then settled back to their own thoughts. Grell was right, after all. There really wasn't anything they could do.

Just carry on...and hope that one day it all worked out.

Notes:

Sascha: "No, Rudgar, it's all right, we're all right, we'll be forgiven one day..." Courtesy of GoogleTranslate. X'''D

Series this work belongs to:

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Tanaka's Secret

rosabelladarling

Summary:

Ciel searches for the missing Tanaka and finds a secret of Tanaka while going through his stuff. Work by gothic carousel of BBNet.

Notes:

This fanfiction was written by the wonderful gothic carousel at BlackButler.net. If you enjoy this piece and would like to learn more about the reasons that Sebastian and Tanaka should be together, please join us in the "The Tanaka X Sebastian FC ("Ho Ho Ho" means "I love you")" fanclub. We look forward to praising this ship with you.

Work Text:

The rain poured on relentlessly in Victorian England, as Ciel finished his paperwork. It had taken him a while to finish his work because he kept getting distracted by Bard yelling in the kitchen about how much it rained in England. Now that his paperwork was done, Ciel was hungry. He had already eaten dinner and dessert, but now he was craving something warm and sweet to eat in this cold rainy day.

"I'm in the mood for some freshly made chocolate chip cookies with warm honeyed milk", though Ciel. He straightened up and yelled, "SEBASTIAN!!". Nothing happened. Ciel waited a few more minutes and called his butler's name again. Once again nothing happened. Ciel proceeded to do this twenty times, and each time there were no results. "Where the hell is Sebastian!?", yelled Ciel as he got up from his chair.

"Um, master Ciel, are you alright?", said Mey-Rin as she and Bard and Finny entered Ciel's office. The three of them had worried looks on their faces. "Master Ciel, you called Sebastian's name many times...more than usual and louder than usual", said Bard. Ciel dismissed Bard's claim and asked, "Have any of you seen Sebastian?"

"Not since Dinner sir!", all three of his servants replied. "Do you want us to search for him master Ciel?", asked Finny. "No, I will go do it", answered Ciel. He motioned for them to leave and said, "Mey-Rin go help Bard clean the kitchen and Finny, go trim the bushes in the garden".

"Um, its raining outside master Ciel", said Finny. "Oh, right. Well go help the other two in cleaning the kitchen then", said Ciel as the servants nodded and started to leave. Ciel realized something was missing and asked,"Hey, where are Tanaka and Snake?". Bard scratched his head and said, "The cold weather has made Snake a bit sick so he is taking a quick nap for now and I don't recall seeing Tanaka at all today". "Me neither", said the other two servants. Now Ciel was confused. Before he gathered his thoughts, he allowed the servants to leave. For now, Ciel set Sebastian's whereabouts to the side. It was Tanaka that he was worried about. Tanaka was seen everyday by at least one servant. Everyday someone at least knew his whereabouts. It was strange for someone as calm and relaxed as Tanaka to just disappear, even if it was for a few hours.

Ciel left his office and headed to Tanaka's bedroom. "Maybe the cold and rainy weather has made Tanaka sick", he though. "Nah, Tanaka is incredibly healthy for his age and he drinks lots of good tea, so it must be something else."

Ciel finally reached Tanaka's door and turned the doorknob when he realized that the door was locked. Now Ciel became more worried. A master swordsman like Tanaka never locked his door. Ciel recalled all those faint memories of him playing with Tanaka as little toddler. Tanaka would always let Ciel go to his room to play and that is why he always let the door opened. Ciel would play hide and seek with his mother and Lizzy, and he always chose his room to hide in. His mother could never find him in hide and seek, but Lizzy always did. Since the young Ciel loved hiding there, Tanaka never locked the door.

Ciel was so confused, "Since when did Tanaka lock his door?", he asked himself. "Did he start doing this after...the fire?", he though. Ciel got closer to the door and pressed his ear against it. He heard nothing. Now his confusion turned into curiosity. He wanted to go in the room so badly now, he didn't know why, he just wanted to go in there. Ciel wanted to feel nostalgic about his more innocent younger years and this room was a way to achieve that nostalgia.

Tanaka had a small room with only two ways inside. The first way was the locked door and the second way was a small window. This meant that Ciel's only other option inside was to go outside through the rain and to the window. He slipped outside through another window near Tanaka's room as he did not want the other servants notice him leaving. As Ciel stepped outside, he was met with harsh cold rain. There was no doubt that he was going to get sick after this. Ciel finally reached Tanaka's window and opened it after a lot of effort.

Ciel quickly stepped inside and closed the window. He was shivering pretty badly and grabbed a small blanket to warp himself around with. He stood for moment to examine the room. It was the same as always, but there seemed something different about it. He walked around this simple room until his shoes hit something. One of tiles in Tanaka's room was a bit raised. Ciel kneeled down and tried to take the tile off with his cold delicate hands. After a few minutes and a small cut, Ciel succeeded in removing the tile. Under the tile, there was a small ornate wooden box. The box looked extremely well made and it had Japanese art and writings all over it.

Ciel opened the box to discover a bunch of old paper written in Japanese. Thankfully, Sebastian had taught Ciel a bit of Japanese, and unfortunately Ciel never paid attention. So Ciel was only able to decipher some of the faint writing. Ciel could only make out the following words: I'm sorry, fire, loved, samurai, and my fault. The word fire was written the most.

As Ciel picked up the last paper, he saw a photograph at the bottom of the box. It was old and seemed as if it were taken 50 years ago. He picked it up and examined it. He cried in horror when he saw the contents of the photograph. In the photograph there were three samurai. The one in the middle had a face that Ciel did not recognize. However, Ciel knew the faces of the other two samurai. The left samurai was non other than Tanaka, who while young, was still quite recognizable. The samurai on the right was non other than Sebastian.

"What the hell!!?", screamed Ciel. Never had Ciel felt so lost in his life.

The doorknob started turning quickly and Ciel tried to reach the window in hurry. The door opens to reveal Tanaka, looking mortified. "Ciel, what are you doing here!?", he yelled.

Ciel held on to the blanket with one hand and held the photograph towards Tanaka with the other hand. "What's the meaning of this Tanaka!? How long have you known Sebastian!?", he screamed.

Tanaka started crying and said, "Ciel let me explain...my secret shame has come to light". Tanaka looked at Ciel, straight in the eye and continued, "Before I became a servant in the Phantomhive Manor, I was a samurai in Japan. As Japan opened its doors to the western world, the number of samurai dwindled. My friend Makoto and I were one of the only samurai left in Japan. Even as we were one of the few, there was still a lot of competition among samurai to be one of the best. My friend Makoto was obsessed with being the most strongest and powerful samurai in all of Japan. He somehow got in contact with western traders who happened to be occultists. Makoto summoned Sebastian and with his help, he became the most powerful demon in Japan. Afterwards, Sebastian consumed his soul."

"During the time in which Sebastian served Makoto, I started having feelings towards Sebastian. He was perfect Ciel, the most perfect being in the whole world. I loved him. When Sebastian consumed Makoto's soul, I was horrified that Sebastian was going to leave me. I couldn't let that happen. I just couldn't."

"After many years of sadness and regret of not confessing my love to Sebastian when I had the chance, I decided to retire from being a samurai. I was walking in the streets of Tokyo one day when I overheard of a man talking about how he wanted a foreign butler with good skills. I wanted something to forget my love for Sebastian, so I offered my services to the man who was non other than Vincent Phantomhive."

"Yet, as a butler in England, I still couldn't forget my love for Sebastian. I wanted to summon Sebastian but I wasn't in the right state of mind and emotional stress to summon a demon as strong as Sebastian. Everyone I knew had perfect lives so they didn't need a demon."

Tanaka looked at Ciel in the eye and continued, "One day I woke up and decided that Sebastian had to be with me. That day, I killed the other servants of the Phantomhive manor and set the manor on fire. Whoever would survive the fire would be in the right amount of emotional trauma to summon Sebastian."

"I injured myself to make it look like I wasn't a suspect and retreated to safety while I waited for one of the Phantomhives to survive. Unfortunately, Rachel and Vincent perished and you, Ciel, went missing. I lost hope immediately."

"One day, you showed up again with the love of my life. I almost cried but I had to act surprised in seeing you."

Before Tanaka could continue, Sebastian entered the room all wet and carrying hundreds of cats. He was blushing and looking at Tanaka. "Ta...Tanaka...I didn't know you felt this way about me!"

Ciel was still in shock. He glared at Sebastian and yelled, "Sebastian I can't believe that you spent hours bringing cats from the rain! And don't come near me! You know I'm allergic to cats!"

Sebastian stared at Ciel, "My lord, can you believe that there are thousands of cats out there that don't have a home? Thousands! Can I keep them all?", he stated.

Ciel ignored his reply, "That doesn't matter Sebastian. Just kill Tanaka! He was the one that started the fire that killed my family and destroyed my innocence and happiness! This was part of our contract! Kill him Sebastian, and then you can have my soul!"

Sebastian dropped the cats on Ciel. "My lord", he said, "Forget the contract, you can live happily now."

Sebastian walked towards Tanaka and proclaimed, "Tanaka, I didn't know you felt this way about me. You don't know how many times that I looked at you with such longing. Now that we expressed our feelings for each other, let's run away in Hell together!"

"Yes my love!", cheered Tanaka as they both ran towards the sunset together while the rain stopped and Ciel drowned in cats.

Series this work belongs to:

Part 1 of Tanakabastian Takeover 2k15 Next Work →

[sas3ha]

dc graphics meme: favourite female characte

stephanie brown

[annicaax]

Kellan Malphas.

Kellan -- the name signifies power brilliance, brightness

Malphas-- stands for a major powerful demon. The malphas lineage doesn't boast righteousness, but I'm sure our demon cap'n is different as he chose the ward! He wants a better society. In one of the stories, Nate's... We learn that he has a grandmother. And in Sascha's, we learnt he has ties with the limbo he wants to severe.

Good VNs ... Great VN writers name their characters after lots of lots of brainstorming and as a writer myself I do the same while picking names while framing my characters of my original fics.

Just a random post dedicated to my favorite demon captain. You're loved you're missed. Fantasy isn't my genre but I'm gonna imagine my fantasy romance with you inside my head now. I'm having some pretty ideas in pretty blonde head of mine. (In reality I'm not blonde lol)

Everyone who'd anticipated his route in the past, and who's read this post now, feel free to imagine romacing this hell of a man for yourself. Yeah, our hopes are dashed but at least we had something... right? Also if interested, do checkout my ideas for his route from above~ just click on my linked post

End note: My big thanks to the wonderful artists and writers who made this series. WWL may be underrated but it's #1 many like me. Thanks for great times.

[wlw-lovestruck-fiction]

Me watching my original rant spark a huge conversation amongst everyone: 👁👄👁

I just wanna say, because i did see some people saying stuff about the wlm, and here’s how I personally see it

1. “Lorelei got shitted on” yes yes, I agree 100%. I will never laugh or make fun of Lorelei fans for that, she deserved better. I’m not a fan of her route, so I haven’t read almost any of it, but she did deserved better from what i heard happened in her route. But I feel like the fact that it happened to Lorelei, the wlm would understand how it feels when it happens to the newer guy LIs time and time again. When I complained about Sascha, I wasn’t trying to make it seem like this never happened to the female LIs, and if the anon who talked about Lorelei thought that, i’m sorry.

2. “The wlm can be toxic at times and hate on the female LIs and attack others for their opinions”. I apologize for those people’s behavior. I’m sorry you’ve had to deal with those fans. I know a lot of wlm readers who are so nice, and it hurts to know that some of y’all don’t meet some of the nicer side. I promise not all wlm readers are like that. And for that anon who said they deleted lovestruck because of how toxic some of the wlm can be, i am truly sorry. I personally don’t like Runa’s route because of her attitude (i don’t like Chance either actually, so i’m not a hypocrite, promise lol), but I will never attack anyone for liking her.

3. “the wlm attack female and nonbinary LIs because they’re not male” It truly isn’t all of us. i promise. I, personally, may be bratty or do attack female Lis at times when i don’t like them, but it’s truly because i just don’t like the Li. I do the same so some males (in fact, I hate more men LIs, than i do female). No LI or their fans deserves to be attacked for being themselves, and if you’ve gotten attacked for it i’m sorry.

4. “some wlm go on and be homophobic about double wlw or wlnb LIs” We, the fans with a brain, don’t claim them. I don’t. I don’t care if lovestruck releases a women and enby at the same time. For RP, I just don’t read RP so i don’t care, and for EAA, i love everything from EAA, so I don’t care. I would’ve preferred Omar over Lavinia a little cause I just LOVE his character, but I still love Lavinia. And I’m sorry some of yall have to see it.

I hate how the wlm can be toxic, but it’s not just the one side, both sides are toxic, and here’s how my friend said it

“they don’t see what’s going on with the LIs they don’t read because it doesn’t affect them or their LIs”

So I think that’s one reason the fandom is so toxic, no one really tries to see how the other side is taking things. And it really isn’t one side, it’s both who do it.

In conclusion, that’s how I, personally, see and view y’all’s arguments. They’re valid, 100%. I just w anted to say something back. I’m not trying to start an argument, But yea.

This wasn’t asked for but yall got this huge response anyways lol. Baii.

Not me replying to the other post because I didn't see this one at first 🤣🤣

Man I'm dumb lol

“they don’t see what’s going on with the LIs they don’t read because it doesn’t affect them or their LIs” YES! That's the main problem. I agree 100% with that. Lack of empathy will always end up in toxic behaviour :/

Thank you for stating your opinions, anon. I do agree not all wlm fans are toxic, as well as not all wlw are toxic. I've truly found some wonderful people from both sides. Seriously, thank you for existing everyone. It sometimes feels like us bisexuals are caught in the crossfire so it's always nice to find non-toxic people lol

Everyone deserves to rant, and everyone is allowed to have their opinions. That will always be top rule here. - Mod Jessa

[bellamygateoldblog]

Where did everyone get the idea that there was going to be a love triangle this season? Because I keep seeing it everywhere and I'm like is this like when people thought there was going to be an echo-bellamy-clarke triangle or is there actually something there?

well, there's these two comments from the druck official posted originally by @gele-gordijnen which is what convinced me

also the druck ig account (? I believe) posting a story after the clip of lou asking ismail was sascha's bf saying "do you feel the triangle vibes?" but i have no screenshot of that.

but also there's just kinda triangle energy there in the way isi interacts with both sash and lou but some moments the energy isn't there so... idek what's happening 😭

[doks-aux]

Alright, it’s OC secret origins time.

The short story for Sascha’s existence in Earth-24 is that Victor was spiraling into self-destructive depression after his parents' deaths and one night got exceptionally drunk and had unprotected sex with a woman who looked enough like Roman in the dark that he thought it might make him feel something.

The longer, more complicated story is that Sascha's mother deliberately set out to get pregnant because she thought having the child of a grieving man who'd just come into a significant inheritance and must be desperate for a familial connection was a way out of an increasingly dangerous life and marriage.

She really could not have anticipated how quickly and thoroughly Victor was demolishing his life and finances.

She obviously didn't end up approaching him. Initially because he'd lost his entire fortune, so it really defeated the purpose. And then after he took up with Roman because that wasn't exactly a stable, safe situation itself. And she did feel guilty by then. She didn't regret it, really, but she at no point pretended it wasn't a pretty shitty, dishonest dick move. But it was what she felt she had to try.

And she loved Sascha. She raised her as well as she could under the circumstances. Her husband was a low-level criminal in Bludhaven, barely scraping by in and constantly under threat of retaliation from his employers for being pretty shit at his job. He never physically abused Sascha or her mother nor did he frequently lose his temper at them, but he refused to recognize the constant danger he was putting them in in his futile pursuit of underworld notoriety, to the point that he began involving Sascha herself in the work.

She kept up-to-date with Victor, just in case. Every few years she'd write a letter she never sent. There was probably never going to be a good time to say, “Hey, I tried to baby trap you a little under a decade ago. Here’s the result.” But her hand was forced when Sascha was targeted for kidnapping. (This part involves the Court of Owls arc of the ‘verse, so I'm still working out the details. But the Court always hated the Zsaszes--for reasons I'll get into in another post--and were more than petty enough to abduct their grandkid to become a Talon.) At any rate, she gives Sascha the letters and tells her where to find her biological father. Sascha comes out of the encounter with the Talons alive and on her way. Her mother and the man who raised her do not. Though Sascha either does not know or is in denial of that for awhile longer.

And that is how Roman finds a goddamned ten-year-old drinking virgin daquiris with Harley Quinn in his goddamned night club.

[ryttu3k]

Fic/writing end of the year meme! Questions found here.

Crown, LaCroix/Nines, 35,625 (20,220 written in 2022, rest in 2021)

i thought that i was here with you (but it was always just an empty room), Sascha-centric, 21,303

remember when you were young (you shone like the sun), Beckett + Dracon, 3,765

Homecoming, Sascha/Ilias, 2,059

Golden One, original, 3,935 (unpublished)

This Train Terminates Here, original, 30,003, incomplete

1. Favourite fic you wrote this year

I think empty room, that one was. Heavy.

2. Least favourite fic you wrote this year

Man idek. Homecoming?

3. Favourite line/scene you wrote this year

The diablerie scene in chapter six of empty room was brutal, but I think it was emotionally impactful?

4. Total number of words you wrote this year

51,282 for completed stories and the portion of Crown I wrote this year, plus another 30,003 for TTTH, for a total of 81,285. I'm not including the 9k or so I wrote of what's technically the second draft of TTTH.

5. Most popular fic this year

Crown got 53 kudos and 9 bookmarks!

6. Least popular fic this year

Definitely Homecoming, with 11 kudos, 2 bookmarks, and 65 hits.

7. Longest completed fic you wrote this year

Crown is longer, but I wrote almost half of it last year, so it's actually empty room.

8. Shortest completed fic you wrote this year

Homecoming. Li'l baby fic.

9. Longest WIP of the year

My only WIP is this draft of This Train Terminates Here, currently at 30k.

10. Shortest WIP of the year

I mean, I have some stuff mentally plotted out that's at a solid 0 for actual words, so...

11. Fandom you enjoyed writing for the most this year

Literally the only one I wrote for was Vampire: the Masquerade, so.

12. Favourite character to write about this year

*holds up Sascha by the scruff of the neck*

13. Favourite writing song/artist/album of this year

Still Florence, but with a new addition of Pink Floyd. Shine On You Crazy Diamond sort of became the Dracon's theme song, and I've been writing a ton of TTTH to it as well. And the next two skyline fics will have titles from those two as well (part 8 from Comfortably Numb, part 9 from My Love).

14. A fic you didn’t expect to write

shone like the sun was definitely not planned.

15. Something you learned this year

Whatever genre Golden One was, I want to write more of it. (It's not posted anywhere. Sorry. I'm trying to get it published and they take First Publication Rights seriously.)

16. Fic(s) you completed this year

Finished Crown (the clanswap one with Banu Haqim LaCroix and Tremere Nines), wrote three more skyline fics in full (well, two officially skyline, one adjacent), wrote a short original story, and started properly on the third draft of an original novel.

17. Fics you'll continue next year

Definitely TTTH. Honestly, I think the Prague one and With your eyes turned skyward are shelved, considering I haven't worked on them since last year.

18. Current number of WIPs

Just TTTH and the above two.

19. Any new fics to start next year

*muffled screaming* (The interview one is done, obviously, that's shone like the sun, and yes I'm working on the novel, yes! I suspect the Tremere!Myca AU will come in first before part 8 of skyline, it's developed pretty heavily in my head.)

20. Number of comments you haven’t read

None. I read (and flail) over all of them <3

21. Most memorable comment/review

Honestly there was a really nice one from someone who enjoyed one of my ancient Zelda fics on FF.N and was really disappointed when I deleted it, and was delighted to see it on AO3. Honestly though I get so many lovely comments it's hard to judge!

22. Events you participated in this year

I... attempted TTTH draft 2 as part of Camp NaNo. It did not happen lmao

23. Fics you wanted to write but didn’t

*waves at question 19*

24. Favourite fic you read this year

Oh dangit this question is mean. Diviner Bureaucrat by @iravaid finished and emotionally destroyed me. I love basically everything @robotslenderman posted, but special shoutouts to Radio Silence, which is goddamn epic and officially my canon for the NSA breach, Trust Fall (Daemon AU and so soft), and Witness (Mithras and Roger are observed). Wherefore Means Why by @meteormemoirs had some damn good updates. All the assorted updates for from a lifetime ago by @goreador emotionally kicked my ass.

And for some non-VtM, with the earth and the sky and the water re-made by ponderinfrustration is a Quincey-survives Dracula AU, Excerpt from Book 22 (lost) of The Noniad by oliviacirce is a spectacular and frankly adorable Ortus/Matthias Locked Tomb fic written in enneameter are you kidding me, and @insecateur somehow dragged me back to being Perfworld Pokemon trash with do let the old enmity be, which. Killed me.

25. A fic you read this year you would recommend everyone read

See above!

26. Number of favourites/bookmarks you made this year

Aaaand above!

27. Favourite fanfic author of the year

And above :D

28. Longest fic you read this year

Diviner Bureaucrat came in at 159k, followed by Radio Silence at 137k.

29. Shortest fic you read this year

Many a one-shot!

30. Favourite fandom to read fic from this year

You know it's VtM <3

[chibimyumi]

Hi Chibi! I’m kind of obsessed with your blog. I’ve loved Kuro for a long time so it’s nice to see someone make very thoughtful posts about it. I was reading some of your posts about the kuro anime and was wondering. What is your opinion of the season 2 OVA The story of Will the reaper? I love the reapers so getting to know about their world is great, but will kicking grell’s ass was not great 😖.

【Response to: “are there any S1 or S2 OVAs you enjoyed?”】

Dear Dagonl,

Thank you very much for your interest! I’m happy you like my content, and it’s always nice to hear that somebody is interested in long-winded posts deep-analyses! ^^

Short answer:

As for my opinion on ‘The story of Will the Reaper’: as I said in the original post, in my opinion “[a]ll OVAs for the second season were (almost) as awful as the season itself, save for ‘The Making of [Kuroshitsuji]’.” Though, ‘the story of Will the reaper’ is actually the one that made me add the ‘almost’ in the previous sentence, meaning that it’s marginally better than the rest.

Click for Full Answer: The good things and the... awful things.

1. The good things

The reason I found this OVA marginally better is because I do respect the ambition and (attempt at) creativity the makers have shown. At the time of release the manga had not revealed anything yet about reaper origins. So I guess they could be forgiven for their artistic liberties (unlike the spoiler-revelation of Undertaker’s nature that ruined his big revelation in the manga.)

1.1. Fair world-building

The world-building works well with the idea of Yana’s satire on the Japanese Salaryman through William. As William is something of a self-proclaimed ‘model’ and so unforgivingly rigid, it gives us reason to believe the Reaper Dispatch Society is built on this type of ideal; aka the Japanese office environment. We have also seen that the technology of the Death Scythes is a century more advanced than Kuroshitsuji’s contemporaries, so the 1980s setting was well done in my opinion.

1.2. Fair reflection on reaper/Salaryman doctrine

The biggest critique on Salaryman culture is the robotic attitude employers demand. The Japanese Salaryman™ is expected to be no more than silent executors of the will from above. As explained by William, reapers don’t actually do all that much; all they do is meaningless double-checking JUST IN CASE something might be off.

As a satire this OVA is not ‘complete’ because you do need the information from the manga that came out many years later to understand why the reaper world is a satire in the first place for the actual punch. But in the very least the OVA pays adequate lip-service and does not disrespect the satirical origins of Yana’s design.

One thing this OVA does arguably better than even Yana is showing that most reapers are robotic work zombies like Will, rather than that the Dispatch Office is filled with eccentric youngsters as the named reapers of the series might suggest. (Though there is a downside that I will discuss in section 2.2.)

2. The awful things

So, to me this OVA has two good things, but they are insignificant in the face of the awful things that’s the rest of this OVA.

2.1. Raging homo and transphobia, etc.

This OVA handles Grell extremely poorly. First of all, this OVA makes it explicit that Grell is a homosexual man, blatantly defying both canon and Yana’s explicit statement of her female gender. Why? Because the most obnoxious shippers want their Yaoi, and this sells. This one literally needed to sell because it’s an OVA.

As explained in more detail in this post, Grell was called a man and she eagerly responded “oh, yes”, and later she herself confirms this statement by making it explicit that she dreams of herself in a m/m relationship. (Yes, these subs are accurately translated. Click the link for a Japanese to English breakdown).

Some fans have explained this as Grell’s words before she realised her own identity, and I understand why. We all want something to not be this gross and try to make sense of the nonsensical, and some actual identity discovering journey would have been nice. For Grell as a character however, it only serves to give Man!Grellers more ammo (even though they have the destructive power of cotton wads).

As I said in the post linked above, “[if this statement] used to be [Grell’s] thoughts that are no longer relevant in present time, the script should have addressed that in present-timeline of the story. As it is now, it is clear as day that the writer Nemoto Toshizou did not take that into inconsideration.”

Secondly, this OVA is desperately trying to cater to Grelliam shippers. Fans have always come up with different reasons to ship this, but this OVA had to choose the most toxic one to capitalise on. Why make Grell so shitty to Will for no reason? Being degrading to him is one thing, but Grell was outright deadly violent to William for trying to do his job. And then Grell only stopped being so hostile because she got beaten back and therefore fell in love?

Yes, people justify this by saying that it’s charming to Grell because she’s a masochist, “whatever”. This however, paints a very askew image of real people who enjoy masochism as a kink. Any responsible adult in the SM community would tell you how painfully shallow Grell’s masochism is portrayed as, and how this portrayal takes away all accountability from someone who harms a kink-masochist if something went wrong.

This OVA would ironically have been more effective as an anti-Grelliam story, except that it sells itself as the opposite. With just the manga, people could just say: “oh, Grell doesn’t respect William’s personal boundaries, and William is very aggressive to Grell, but they can sort that out...eventually.” Add this OVA however, suddenly William is an indisputable abuse victim, and Grell is just an “in your face gay” (as the gay stereotype dictates...)

2.2. Contradicting Canon

I am actually not all that harsh about this OVA contradicting canon history because at the time of release nothing about the reapers had been revealed yet. Like I said above, I even respect the creativity to some extent. The only real problem is because this fandom tends to conflate canon with anime information by using cross-media information to understand Kuroshitsuji.

As discussed in section 1.2., the glimpses of the Reaper office are interesting, but the downside to this is that it suggests reapers are a race one is born into because all newbies are approximately the same age. Without the manga, this information in a vacuum is fine. Later however, Yana reveals that all reapers are suicides and are being punished for this sin. If a fan accepts both pieces of information and tries to piece them together, then suddenly this bit of creativity becomes a totalitarian nightmare.

People of all ages commit suicide. If a fan were to try shoehorn the OVA info into canon material (for lack of more stories), then we get: 1. reapers are suicides who get punished, and 2. all reaper newbies are approximately the same age and able bodied. The only conclusion we can draw then is that only able-bodied suicides who fit the ‘newbie age’ are punished. What happens to people who fall outside this norm? Is becoming a reaper and ‘paying off’ your sin the only way to “serve your term”? If so, then do suicides who fall outside this norm never get a chance to redeem themselves?😱 Or...... do only able-bodied youngsters get punished for committing suicide because they still had “societal value” but wasted it? Either way would be f*cked up!

But again, none of this is a real problem as long as a fan can distinguish canon from non-canon information ^^ So, moving on

2.3. Are reapers God Almighty?

Unlike the second, the third issue I have with the OVA is actually something I am quite harsh on. In this OVA we see that even trainees like William and Grell have apparent power to judge over somebody’s life and death based on their intellectual value. However, this begs for an urgent question!

Under section 3 of this post I discussed whether the law of “a human dies because a reaper says so” according to Grell would be feasible. It’s a relatively long discussion, so please click the link if you’re interested in the details. If you just want it to be quick then just ask the following question: “why give trainees/reapers with human subjectivity an almighty God’s** power to decide over life and death of others?” If we then add the manga’s canon information that reapers are being punished for having committed suicide, then why give people whose sin was ‘deciding over life and death wrongly FOR THEMSELVES’ the power to do so for OTHERS????

Still, even if we disregard the manga and view this OVA in a vacuum, it is still VERY alarming that trainees are given this power. Perhaps if a trainee misjudges there will be due consequences from above, but why give a trainee this power in the first place? Are human lives just test objects to this “reaper race”?

This third issue is so awful to me because it shows how little the OVA creators thought through matters and just wanted a quick money grab by selling the most toxic version of the Grelliam ship.

**TLN: A ‘shinigami’ is Japanese for ‘Death (shini) God (gami/kami)’, but please note that in Japanese definitions, a ‘kami’ is not ‘god’ in the same way it is in the Abrahamic sense. A ‘kami’ is more similar to a ‘spirit’, and is therefore not a supreme being. Entirely accurately, a ‘shinigami’ would be more similar to ‘death angel’ or ‘death spirit’.

Related posts:

Why would Sascha have committed suicide? Rutger, Will and the JP Salaryman

How does a scythe kill a reaper? A discussion of MBD musical’s horrible writing of universe laws, and canon reaper laws

Can reapers teleport?

A reaper’s dormitory

[clementines-writing-corner]

extra content

Hello friends!

As promised, here is one of the extra posts about my original story! A few weeks back, I introduced y’all to Queen Aurora of Sylvanthia, so today I figured I’d introduce you to the special man in her life! ᕱ__< He was talked about briefly in her short character description, but he is one of my 2 main, main characters so I figured I’d better give him his own proper introduction. I also have a picrew of him to share, but hopefully someday I’ll get around to creating my own drawing. Without further ado, however, I’m delighted to introduce ma main boy Kazuki!

~*~*~

Kazuki of Okunseiko [meaning]

Age 18

Human

Rightful Ruler of Okunseiko

He was about to be coronated when sh*t hit the fan and he had to flee with Sascha

His mother was assassinated when he was 12 and his dad got super over protective

When he was 16 his dad contracted the same illness that killed Aurora’s mother

His uncle Kagero took over as pseudo-regent until his dad passed away when he was 18 and Kazuki was to be crowned king

However on his coronation day Kagero attempted to murder him (it was very chaotic lots of explosions and magic) framing it as an outside assassination forcing him to flee

Engaged to Aurora of Sylvanthia

A puppy love childhood romance in which they strong armed their parents into making official by betrothing them

He misses her desperately (it makes Sascha sick)

A very calm, steady individual, it takes a lot to make Kazuki lose his cool (something Sascha seems very good at)

Also quite adept at reading emotions, even Sascha’s, which gets under her skin something fierce

Very artistically inclined

Loves music of any kind

Plays the violin/fiddle himself

Constantly doubts his ability to be a good ruler, but has a very logical and tactical mind along with empathy in spades

Though Sascha constantly complains he is useless he has saved her life more than once through both strategy and his instinctual understanding of others

He is very aware he is mostly book smart not street smart however

His mind is current on worrying for his people, figuring out why his Uncle betrayed him and if there is a bigger problem at hand (like he fears), and making his way to reunite with Aurora after 6 long years apart without getting killed in the process

~*~*~

Sooooo… what do ya think? Not sure if y'all saw my last post, but writing out even this short description of Kazuki was one of the first indicators that I had a lot more worldbuilding to do before I was ready to manuscript anything and also the moment when my main antagonist began to take shape. No spoilers (half because spoiler suck and half because I’m still shaky on the details myself) but I hope yall will stick around with me as I continue to craft this story and find out for yourselves in time. I have a long journey ahead and next week you will be getting a second extra content post revealing some more characters!!

TTYL! (And remember to dot those j’s and cross those t’s!)

~Clementine J. Quincey 🪷

[abybweisse]

I wondered if the reapers' anachronistic accessories were from the time period they died in. And that's why some reapers would have knowledge of advanced technologies.

I’d find it pretty weird if they died in the future but were sent back in time, before their own births... or something.

Since those death lists are distributed to them from someone “higher up”, I think someone has direct information about the future (a “god’s plan” sort of thing), and pertinent information gets trickled down to reapers for them to perform their task. But then other people in the reaper realm have access to other future knowledge.

That would explain the death lists, Sascha getting so excited about diplomatic relations between England and Germany, and how reapers are expected to determine whether an individual would benefit the world somehow if allowed to live.

It would also explain how they could use advanced technology (like a chainsaw), though it doesn’t explain how they have name brand accessories from the future. Unless they are using the “stollen” techniques, etc. and making knock-offs that predate the human-made originals. Technically, that could be an explanation for why the accessories they use are typically not exact replicas; they are simply making their own products in the reaper realm, based on stuff that will be available in the human realm later. And reapers buy these items with the pay they receive, since it’s stated they do indeed get payment. Yana-san even downgraded Ludger/Rudgar’s wristwatch, saying the original model she gave him was more than he could afford at his pay rate.

The reaper realm seems to operate roughly 50-75 years in the future, technology-wise, though some things are definitely even newer. I’ve got more posts on this. Please check the tags for further reading.