#the original book is very serious but it's also FUNNY like where is the funny

[ghostbustermelanieking]

i will say that i am only on episode 6 but. apples never fall should've been like 10 episodes and also it should not have rewritten literally everything from the book

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Chapter 105.5 Thoughts: Control, Manipulation and Partnership

Or, how Chuuya is actually the most qualified character to land a victory over Dostoevsky.

I just want to preface this with: I think Chuuya has woken from the brainwashing. We can't see his eyes, he's holding his hat again, and look at the progression of his face and expression from the last few chapters with him (these are in order btw from left to right).

I'm not completely sure how he did this, but I chalk a lot of it up to sheer stubborn determination on Chuuya's part, mostly because it's funny and he was clearly fighting back before Dazai's speech. However, I find it likely the speech did contain some kind of code - others have pointed out how "Goodbye!" might be a reference to the original author's last unfinished book and we know skk's codenames for things generally are based off their real counterparts' works so, maybe he'd already broken out of it, maybe there was something in there that gave him the final push - who knows at this point honestly? Either way, it means Chuuya had the capacity to break out of the vampire curse on his own and that's incredibly funny to me for many reasons but mostly:

Fyodor: "Bold of you to assume Chuuya's ability can't overcome flooding."

Dazai: "Bold of you to assume Chuuya's personality can't overcome brainwashing."

But really, this highlights something interesting here, both in what Chuuya's role is ultimately intended to be in this arc, and in the way Fyodor and Dazai manipulate and value others in very different ways.

I've said it before but it bears repeating: we already know that Fyodor is an excellent long-term planner, while Dazai is effectively able to counter him because Dazai shifts into thinking like his opponent. They're foil characters for a reason; they're both highly intelligent, manipulative, and willing to play the long game for the sake of winning against their opponent.

Thing is, I also stand by the idea that personality-wise, they're not similar at all - and that has serious implications for the people they are connected with. The build-up to the prison escape arc really highlights this. Some examples:

Chapter 46: Fyodor believes that all people are sinful and foolish and that his goal is to remove sin. Dazai believes that all people are sinful and foolish but asks what's so wrong with that.

Chapter 64: They decide to have a "super-happy chit-chat" about their problems. Dazai's solution to Fyodor's issue with his lazy subordinates is to get them to think lazing around is a bad thing so they will put in effort of their own. Fyodor's solution to Dazai being unable to woo the waitress is to isolate her from her job, house and family so that she can only rely on Dazai.

Chapter 77: Fyodor believes god is perfection and harmony, and thus that the people capable of change are the superior ones with most control. Dazai believes god is the accidental and illogical and believes it is the ordinary people who fight and live in that uncertainty who create the greatest change.

So, what's happening here? Fyodor's manipulation is shown to be very exacting and direct. He leaves no room for error and regards people on a hierarchy - God above all, himself as a servant of God's will, and the sinful and foolish humans he has little regard for. Dazai's manipulation involves manipulation of the situation, and is often indirect. It involves people coming to the conclusion he intends for them to on their own. And from his later dialogue with Sigma, we see he doesn't regard the world in that same kind of hierarchy.

Now, look at the way Fyodor picks an item and Dazai picks a person when starting the game. Look at the way Fyodor refers to Chuuya respectfully but brainwashes him entirely and mocks Dazai for not being worthy of "using" his ability. Look at the way Dazai is a complete ass to Chuuya but ultimately lets him make his own choices (begging people to take note of that moment in Stormbringer where Dazai cuts himself off to correct his referring to Corruption as Arahabaki's true power to Chuuya's true power).

So, the actual strength Dazai has over Dostoevsky then, is not really his strength at all, it's the strength of others and their choice and willpower to act in the way they believe is best. It's the only means of getting a leg up on Dostoevsky, otherwise they will continue to go around and around in circles forever.

And Chuuya is the best candidate for finally throwing Fyodor off his game.

Firstly, let's just establish something: no matter how mad he is at Dazai, he's not going to side with Fyodor, not willingly. Fyodor threatened the Mafia in the Cannibalism arc by attacking Mori, first of all. I doubt he's forgiven him for that. Secondly, Fyodor embodies everything Chuuya can't stand about Dazai, at the very least, younger Dazai - the manipulation, the lack of consideration and connection with others, the callousness and lack of regard for life.

Well, perhaps he's not quite as irritating. +1 point for Dostoevsky I guess?

But lastly, it is more advantageous for Chuuya at this point to help fight against Fyodor, especially since most of the Mafia has been vampirized by his organization. Helping the Agency stop the terrorist plot will help the Mafia by extension by undoing that. And we know from Stormbringer that no matter how much Chuuya is personally hurt, he considers taking out the threat to his people a higher priority. Always.

(You could make the argument that he was told whatever Teruko told Atsushi and decided to join, but not only do I find this wildly out of character, but if that was the case then there would've been no reason to brainwash him.)

That said, I don't think this was preemptive "Dazai's master plan #3057", and in fact, I stand by the idea that Dazai had no idea Chuuya was going to be in the prison. It is very, very important to me that for the rest of this arc, no matter what Chuuya does, that his actions are his own. Not Fyodor's, not Dazai's, but his. And not just because I hate that he's being controlled right now and that freedom of choice has always been important for Chuuya.

But because it makes narrative sense.

The vampires are a bit silly, yes, but they represent the way Fyodor and Fukuchi think - humanity will commit atrocities. They cannot be trusted to make their own decisions. They want to make a world that is free by... mind-controlling people so their plans work without a hitch. In short, they choose, on behalf of others, to sacrifice human autonomy for peace. So, if we are going to turn this arc around, we need to have characters breaking out of that control and thinking for themselves, in spite of the uncertainty of the outcome.

We already see this with Atsushi in the last chapter! He finally takes initiative and makes that choice to leave the room when he doesn't exactly know what the right thing to do is. And this is also why I don't think Teruko is wholly convinced by the DoA either - she lets him go. She gives him the freedom to choose what he does with that information.

Another one of the focus characters here is Sigma. Sigma is a guy who has no past, whose humanity is questioned, who keeps being used by organizations for his valuable ability, who has no home but desperately wants one... oh wait. Remind you of anyone's younger self? This could go one of two ways: Chuuya fails to assert his autonomy, leaving Sigma to learn from that failure, or, Chuuya succeeds in asserting his autonomy, leaving Sigma to learn from his success.

I think it, by necessity, has to be the latter. Sigma's at a tipping point right now, and I think seeing someone try to assert their freedom only to fail would damage him greatly. And I think it's a waste of Chuuya's character honestly.

Chuuya needs to assert his autonomy in this arc. Not just for thematic reasons but because I can think of no one else who can effectively break the "super-genius stalemate".

I keep hearing "Dazai knows Chuuya" in response to Fyodor calling their bond shallow, and that is absolutely true! But Chuuya also knows Dazai. Incredibly well. Odasaku knew Dazai's soul, but Chuuya knows Dazai's mind, knows his strategies and ways of thinking without even needing words. What's more, Chuuya has thrown off Dazai before and done what he didn't expect him to.

Which is nifty, because Dazai and Fyodor think a lot alike. Chuuya is in a unique position to thwart Dostoevsky because he may actually be able to predict him to a degree. Chuuya can absolutely land a victory against him, and it's excellent because it would be completely unexpected to Fyodor, who apparently thinks Chuuya's strength lies only in what his ability has to offer and not much else.

But listen. This also can't be skk's plan. I need Chuuya to sideline both of them. Both for the sweet, sweet catharsis of putting those two idiot geniuses in their places and also because I need Dazai to have screwed up. He wasn't wrong about people making their own choices in uncertainty. People need to assert their autonomy to create change. Dazai can't be wrong in this regard.

But with going ahead with the trap to drown Fyodor despite also having to drown Chuuya when he promised not to let him get killed... this needs to have been a mistake, otherwise the value of Dazai's emotional speech to him is diminished.

I want Dazai to try to laugh it off. I want him to say he always knew Chuuya would escape and then for Chuuya to deck him because "no, the fuck you didn't".

I really think Dazai hoped Chuuya would make it. Do remember that Chuuya was one of the first reasons young Dazai decided to try giving life a chance. The fact that he flashbacked to all his key memories with Chuuya says a lot. But his survival was no guarantee and it seemed very unlikely.

So, Chuuya is faced with the fact that Dazai nearly sacrificed him to kill Dostoevsky and save his new Agency friends.

And I hope he finally gets mad. I hope he finally expresses hurt on his own behalf for once. I hope they are forced to break their status quo that they have carefully maintained by not talking about anything ever. I hope they are pushed to uncomfortable places and that it is Chuuya who finally spurs this development.

Let Chuuya break the stalemate between Dazai and Dostoevsky. Let him shatter the status quo that him and Dazai have kept going for year after year.

Autonomous action in the face of uncertainty is necessary for change.

[journalsouppe]

Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call!! I actually discovered ordering the game from the UK with shipping was actually cheaper than ordering the American version of the game, there were no major differences that I could tell as they still had the original English voice actors.

I enjoyed this game!! Not my top favorite installment but I still had a great time and loved the new characters. The puzzles were well designed and had nice scaled difficulty and the mini games were really neat too. The Eternal Diva references were so blatant lmfao but I’m excited for Miracle Mask! I was also super exhausted when writing the summary so sorry there’s so many errors and I use the word fun a million times ToT

The Descole and Tea sticker are from JordyDrawsMerch! All other stickers are from Daiso. Writing typed below!

Rating: 8.3

Played: Sp 2024

Port: DS on 3DS

Favorite? Y

Replayable? Y

Recommend? Y

Series: Professor Layton

Comments

Emmy and BABY LUKE!!

OH THANK GOD IT’S CHRISTOPHER ROBIN MILLER

Ngl im so excited to watch the anime, I love the animation sm

Oh Layton is not taking Claire’s death well at all

I love how animated the background now is!!

Beautiful music as always

Does Clark have the same VA as Dmitri lol

THE WORLD WILL END? Damn Luke

The specter looks like one of those little kingdom hearts guys

Luke’s been a LaytonMobile hater since day one lmao

Luke is especially funny in this game

Layton taking Luke to the black market is so wild

THE PUPPET PLAY IS ADORABLE

I’m going to fight aunt taffy

Ooo we get to play as Emmy

Holy shit Emmy

GIRL FROG

Emmy asking if Layton always pokes lamps he sees is making me think he physically touches everything the player taps

The convo with the meowing man???

CHELMEY AND BARTON

Based anti-cop npc

THE DYNAMITE WORKS LMAO

Is Hershel gonna get a cask of amantillado’d T^T

The canals are so pretty i like the design of misthallery

Oh i do not like the police chief

I LOVE YOU EMMYYY

Grosky is very funny

Omg the cliff death police cover up reminds me of killer frequency which i just watched a playthrough of

FUCK JAKES

Where’s phoenix when you need him

JAIL BREAK JAIL BREAK!!!

I love descole’s voice

YAAA LADDER VS STEP LADDER

NESSIE???

The story book stories and animations are so CUTE!!

I wonder if Naiya was added to the game to hit at the Eternal Diva

This kinda reminds me of a pokemon movie but I don’t remember which one it was

^^ it was pokemon heroes when latias and latios were caught ^^;

AN OCARINA!!!

Creepy fucking factory music ToT

Oh dear. I seem to have stepped on a hexagonal spanner

Descole always serving massive cunt

Woah the golden garden is beautiful

Ohh so that’s why Luke was fork life certified in plvspw

ZAMN T^T

THE WAY THE SPRITES WALK KILLS ME LOL

I really like these little episodes from others POVS! ^_^

Summary

This was such a fun origin story for Luke and Layton. Very much a classic Layton game with world ending machinery and gorgeous environment design. I really liked both Emmy and Descole, there’s a more serious undertone than with Don Paolo as the main villain (even though I do love Don Paolo). Emmy is amazing!! I was afraid she would be sidelined like Flora was but I’m glad to she stands her ground and does what she wants to do. I alos like how we got to go on our own adventure as her to London, she’s a character that doesn’t need to rely on Hershel to solve everything. Meeting Luke was great, loved his blank stare. It was fun seeing his origins and how Clark and Hershel knew each other. I’m curious how the prequels will play into the New World of Steam, especially now that Luke’s family have stories and sprites (unlike in the original trilogy). Loved the ACAB story, v nice to play while I’m still so mad at what’s happening to university students currently. Descole was so fun, I am obsessed with his outfit and personality. Unfortunately I was spoiled on who he is but I’m very excited to learn more. I think similar to Ace Attorney, the fourth installment is that last game in the classic 2D style, which is sad but PLvsPW makes me very hopeful about 3D Layton. The overall story was fun, I really liked the sub plot about the Ravens - that was really fun (i was so tired writing this omfg). I wish we got a little more backstory on the rich guy who died, I feel like there’s more to the story. OO I loved the little episodes, especially the one about Chelmey. They added a lot of fun context and gave more life to the NPCs. Such a fun and classic Layton game, I can’t wait to play Miracle Mask! (And read the light novels). This wasn’t my favorite Layton game but I still really loved it and had a great time and loved the puzzles — that’s all I want from PL!

[eerna]

My theory of why tpt is such a letdown is because HB had others ideas but the editor probably didnt like it and she had to change the book in the last moment,in a interview shes asked if some caracters from others series will apear and she says yes but they dont,EVERYONE WAS PUSHING THE WHOLE JURDAN VILLAINS and they used for marketing.They were to many gramatical mistakes and the book was to short,also im sorry to give you the news but holly told in one interviews that she plans to write a jurdan focused story again so probably we dont get Nicasia saphic story:(I loved the whole idea of to feel love is to feel known but i whised more from oak and wren interaction(i admit oak pining after wren was so funny and cute)Im going to be honest if the undersea story is from jurdan pov im not going to read it i love them but they story was already told,they already have they caracter arcs,The undersea book should be in the pov of somoane who has tides with that place(i will prefer to be in the pov of nicasia love intrest fighting for her hand and to be a woman)WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO NARATE????

Bro that's why I am leaving place for speculation bc it really DID feel like it took a sudden left turn into "what the people want" in a way that wasn't originally intended. Maybe by that HB meant we get to see Roiben and Kaye in the Lake of Masks, but I doubt it... And the whole villain thing? Jude wasn't even that horrible to Wren, she was very judgemental but ultimately listened to Oak right up until the final 50 pages. I too thought that it was a very nice that the point of the story was that you can't be loved without being known, I just wish we got more time with them and some kind of a breakthrough moment where Wren understands it, too.

And bro... in my Goodreads review I literally said I was terrified that she'd make the Undersea story about Jurdan... I mean. If that happens I am still gonna read it bc it's Jurdan. But I will be very annoyed. Like fr, why would I care what JUDE AND CARDAN have to say about a contest where the winner gets to marry Nicasia!!!!!!!! C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Be serious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wanna know how Nicasia feels about the fact that people keep going out of their way to avoid marrying her and then the only ones interested are in it for the title bc she is that much of an unbearably annoying bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[flea-palace]

Based on this post: https://www.tumblr.com/flea-palace/748059076352737280/just-had-the-horrifying-revelation-that-ive?source=share

I now have an insatiable curiosity about your opinions on Phantom of Manhattan. Would you please share them?

👀 👀 👀

i have SO many opinions on phantom of manhattan (disclaimer they are all derogatory), i've read it a few times over the years to try and give it a chance but i simply cannot enjoy it (thoughts under the cut)

i first read it when i was like 12 because i was looking for phantom-adjacent books at the library and i was so excited to find it, my hopes were really high and they got SO crushed when i did read it

for a book that's like less than 100 pages long, why does it feel like it goes on FOREVER oh my god it is the most boring, dry exposition and the dialogue is pretty bad too (such a drastically different tone than the og novel or the ALW musical that it doesn't fit as a sequel to either of them)

speaking of ALW, i hate that fredrick forsyth has to discredit the original book so much in his little foreword (like ok we know you are meatriding ALW hardcore but you don't have to badmouth the source material !!! especially all the madame giry commentary where he's like "ooooh she's not portrayed correctly in the leroux version" like huh? you mean the original???? make it make sense king)

the characterization is so bland. i liked the flashback at the very beginning (mainly bc i fixate on erik's backstory so i like getting my hands on any and all content about it) but aside from that it's such a snoozefest and none of the characters feel like they want to be there lol. They're so lackluster compared to their original selves and it makes me not care about what happens to them

i HATE the "let's kill christine" ending for both phantom of manhattan and LND. if anything, kill erik and let him have a hero moment or something idk but why kill christine??? it's dumb

i also hate the very end where he's like "hehehehe the phantom still lives among us today!!! but we don't know who he is although he's incredibly famous" it doesn't make sense and it feels again like a lackluster epilogue for erik's story.

too many side characters oh my god. i do not care about fredrick forsyth's ocs and they are written so blandly that i don't think anyone cares about them. they clog up the story so bad and make it lose any cohesive elements

in what universe would erik get a job as a clown. be SO serious

raoul's balls getting shot off was kinda funny i will admit

[grifff17]

The similes, metaphors and symbolism in Prison of Plastic are incredible

So I finished Prison of Plastic. Jello is so talented with symbolism and analogies. This book is packed with them, and after I finished listening to it I rewatched the Say No lyric video and there's even more meaning in it now.

The most obvious one is the fire imagery. Both Molly and Lori are terrified of fire, and anytime the story is getting dark you can tell by the references to fire. "the blood spilled down Molly's cheek, like a burn" "the crumbling carrot cake looked like ash" "you don't have to light yourself on fire to keep everyone warm". This is in the song too, the very first line is "how do you balance the irons in the fire" and it continues to reference fire about 5 more times. The details are amazing. Lori has a fire alarm in her fantasy witch's hut because her mom died when the fire alarm failed. Even Lori's dragon only breaths lukewarm fire.

There's also the name of the book, Prison of Plastic. This is mostly just in that one scene in chapter 7, where the prison of plastic is actually the real world and not a dream bubble. The song parallels Molly being trapped with Lori's freedom.

Tied to this is the wrecking ball symbolism. In the chapter 7 scene, Molly needs a wrecking ball to break her out of her prison of plastic. In the video for the song there's a literally wrecking ball at one point. The last chapter is called wrecking ball. Giovanni was the wrecking ball, breaking her free, which is directly tied to the theme of no one able to help Molly if they follow the rules.

Then there's little stuff. One of the lyrics from the song is "baking self-reflection so exhausting". Both are things that Lori is forced to do, but hates. In her fantasy world, she doesn't appear in mirrors, so self-reflection is both literal and metaphorical. "take those imperfections and coat them in frosting" is again both a metaphor and something she literally does in the cooking challenge.

That's the serious stuff. When the book is being funny, a whole different set of metaphors are used. Jello has such a unique writing style. The funny metaphors are on the perfect edge between ridiculous and somehow perfectly logical and comprehensible. He manages to put into words "phrase that everyone in a friend group uses with no one sure of its origin" (for my friends the phrase was "we do a little trolling" and we were shocked to discover that its actually a Trump quote).

tldr BUY HIS BOOK BUY HIS BOOK BUY HIS B-

[uwublr]

Pine's Ridiculously Long List of Free Japanese Study Materials

First Month Edition

All my current study materials, because sharing found resources is caring. These are not JLPT-specific and are for pre-beginners to beginners like me. I can't believe I have been studying for a month. Comparison is truly the thief of joy. I am a slow learner, but that's okay. Find a community because it truly does make a difference. Shoutout to Seitokai's Nihongo Discord, and to @tokidokitokyo whose post let me know about it and is just overall a great person too.

Main study material: Marugoto Online A1 Self-Study Kastudoo and Rikai with downloaded PDF and Wordbook (my original post about it)

Supplemental references:

A Dictionary of Basic Japanese Grammar (The only NOT free resource in this list, sorry! The e-book sold on Amazon does not have good reviews as it's a scanned copy of the book, rather than a properly formatted e-book. A free alternative to this is JapBase which also contains Intermediate and Advanced content.)

Marugoto Plus which accompanies the Marugoto courses and includes videos, audio files, etc.

Apps: Anki, Renshuu

Anki decks:

Tatsumoto's Kana (Recognizing and Writing)

Tatsumoto's AnkiDrone Sentence Pack V7

Official KanjiDamage Deck (from the creator of KanjiDamage, crude language warning for both the deck and the site)

Marugoto A1 Rikai Katsudoo 2021

Dictionaries:

Rikaitan browser extension (installed JMDict English V4, JMExtra, 日本語文法辞典(全集), and Kanjium)

Takoboto app (with offline access)

Other resources:

Sukiruma for practice writing sheets

Reader Ttsu for reading Japanese materials on a browser (used in conjunction with Rikaitan, since I couldn't find an e-book reader that I can install a Japanese dictionary in)

Sousakuba for downloadable genkouyoushi without watermarks

Youtube:

Favorites marked with a ⭐️.

Comprehensible Input for what it says on the tin, in bite-size formats

Daily Japanese with Naoko for vlogs with Japanese subtitles

Dogen for the funny videos that you can learn from and/or relate to

Game Gengo because Japanese learning through games, and has JLPT geared content if you're looking for it

Gino Kei who has shorts teaching Japanese in a not so serious way

Hiro - Food in Japan for cooking videos, not in Japanese, but these make me crave for Japanese food anyway so that counts

⭐️ Japan Eat for Japanese food commentary in English and also makes me hungry. So, yeah, not in 日本語 but it's delicious so that also counts

Japanese Koro mostly for kana reading practice which actually helps you get short serotonin boosts for when you do actually get to read the words correctly

Japanese Quest which plays games in Japanese

⭐️ Japarrot! for fun, animated comprehensible input videos

Let's ask Shogo for culture content

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Matcha Samurai for delightfully unhinged culture content, debunking Japanese misconceptions one video at a time

Namba Tsuyoshi for no narration Japanese walk with me style vlogs, very chill and relaxing

⭐️ NihongoDekita with Sayaka for fun, short grammar content

ShekMatz Japan has videos/playlists where she teaches Japanese in Tagalog, so if you can't understand Tagalog, you'd better skip it

Sora The Troll because why not

⭐️ Takashii from Japan is honestly one of my favorites, even before I started learning Japanese. His interviews are just really good!

Taro's Sewing because my toxic trait is thinking I can sew the cool things they post. Also comes with short Japanese commentary on screen

Tokyo Lens counts as uh, immersion even if it's not in Japanese, but it's in Japan so that counts? Yeah, let's go with that

もしもしようすけ for Japan vlogs/walk with me with Japanese and English subtitles

Yomii Japan Piano if you like piano and the occasional trolling

Japanese Calligrapher Takumi because my other toxic trait is thinking I can write this beautifully

[simpalert]

movie night

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

desc:tails and sonic enjoy a movie marathon

fandom: sth [sonic the hedgehog] au: main ship: none story:1 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It's a calm afternoon and nothing seems to be going on in the Eggman department, which leaves sonic and tails to do whatever they want. sadly they didn't know what they wanted to do."chao kart?"tails asked "nah there's nothing new and we've played it a million times." replied sonic. "monopoly? candy land? that and duck shape game that we've never gotten rid of?" "nah, it would be boring with just two people". they keep looking through the junk and stuff for something to do. finally, tails pulls out a DVD collection, a chao in space DVD collection. movies 1-10. "oh how about this?" tails asked showing sonic the DVD collection, his eyes light up and a smile paints on his face "omg yes dude, let's do a chao and space marathon!" sonic exclaims in excitement.

tails sets up the movie and sonic gets the snacks and they start the movie marathon.

chao in space 1:they laugh at the jokes and love every scene, to them this movie is a classic.

chao in space 2: just as funny and as creative as the original, another classic in sonic and tails book.

chao in space 3:lack luster in the beginning but packs a real punch near the end, adds one of sonics favorite characters to the cast, chief choa.

chao in space 4:this is at the point where they ran out of snacks so sonic gets some more, and makes sure to get tails some mint stuff. not too much but just the right amount. also yes they like this one.

chao on space 5: while confusing to the plot and missing some things it's still a funny movie with even more creative jokes.

chao in space 6-7:both are pretty short but really pack a punch, in the action and in the feels.

chao in space 8:a very action-packed and comedy packed movie, amazingly enjoyable.

chao in space 9-deep space: chief chao shows up more in this movie which sonic loves, they have fun laughing at the jokes and watching the action.

and finally, chao in space 10-the "final" frontier: is definitely more serious than the other installments to the series but it still has great jokes and the boys had fun watching it together.

it was late, the tv was on the last DVDs titles screen, the snack bowls were empty, tails is curled up on sonics lap, and both the boys are asleep. they both had a blast today and enjoyed the break from stopping Eggman from taking over the world. it was just them and the peace of the night.

goodnight sonic and tails, have a good sleep. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

guess whose back for wholes Wednesday, thats right me!

i hope ya'll enjoy when i make these fics of the boys, i have fun spewing out this major fluff. ^u^

[findpenpalsover20]

I'm ancient, 37 at least! but somehow, still not dead. Married, works in retail, I own a cat, I'll sleep 16 hours a day when I can. I read a lot, usually books about nuclear accidents, miserable graphic novels or weird stuff featuring mushrooms. (Jeff Vandermeer and China Mieville are favourites) I watch pre-code films mainly, or old talkies where the dialogue is slightly echoey and stilted. I like any old films though, and I'm a real lover of Star Trek. I think I know someone who may actually be Gul Dukat.

 I take Instax photos because they look exactly how memories do in the confines of my own head. Blurry, soft focus, more the idea of something than how it really looks. Or maybe that's because I'm terrible at taking photos, and I have a really bad memory. Anyway, I can send some to you, maybe?

 I like to knit and crochet, but it takes me years to finish anything. Also, I've long held the suspicion that purling is a hoax and Not Real.

 I have a very scruffy garden in which I pretend to grow food. This charade takes up entirely too much of my time. I basically use it as a cover - when my astroturf-gravel-and-decking neighbours look over snootily, I say, "well my garden is messy because I grow food in it, you know. It's functional, not aesthetic, darling."

 I geocache, with very limited success. The main goal of geocaching, I find, is to try and look as suspicious as you can in front of passers-by. I look a bit foreign, too, so that helps.

I play video games, especially if they're filled with moments of calm tragedy. You know: Panzer Dragoon Saga, Shadow Of The Colossus/Ico, Sable, Kentucky Route Zero, Hyper Light Drifter, the original Link's Awakening...Elden Ring, even. I like a meditative, solitary experience from my games. I rarely finish them, though. If I finish a game that means I have to say goodbye and I don't like that.

 I'm really into the idea of outsider artists at the moment. I've never created a thing in my life and have no intention of ever doing so; ADHD makes sure I have absolutely no drive. But I'm fascinated with the idea of people who decide to make a holy shrine out of tinfoil, or wear a papermache head, create an alter-ego and then get booed off at Wembley for asking who's got Betamax, or write songs about how Spiderman tried to cut them out of 70 dollars and so they felt compelled to beat him with a rubber hose. You know what I mean? These people are all around us and we don't always know they're there. (There's a man who lives near me, in my dull New Town who's covered his house, the outside that is, in his own paintings. I have a terrible urge to knock on his door and ask him what's up, but my husband has implored me not to in case he murders me and uses my skull as an ashtray.)

 I'm quite flippant and usually never serious. If you don't find me funny - which most people don't - then maybe I'm not for you. A lot of people on the internet are so normal, and my penpal attempts have usually fizzled out because these people want to talk about... Grad school, or buying a house, or working in an office... and I want to talk about the sad melancholy feeling when BBC1 used to close down at midnight in the 1990s... Your typical university educated office worker I ain't. I'm not exactly shoplifting from Londis though, either, don't worry.

contact: @rainy-walk

[nepobabyeurydice]

REALLY FAST ANALYSIS OF THE NEW TRAILER and MY THOUGHTS ON IT

Baby percy is adorable, o shots of sally’s face

MET scene, original trailer scene

Special thing is a good word choice to hide behind since neurodivergent people are ‘special’ and it’s likely what Percy thinks Chiron is referring to.

My analysis earlier on the Variety was stuck between Montauk or Ares but how I’m sure it’s Ares

The head shot looks really good for Medusa since it’s not just 1 or 3 snakes but like 50 or so

The Underworld is going to be hell since it looks like it’s going to be super foggy

Clarisse bullying sceneeeee!! The actress somehow pulls off a resting bitch face and aggressive. I love how we also see the kids milling in the background!

The minotaur is definitely more bulllike than the books but it makes it scarier somehow???

Posidon shot is straight out of the last episode, the bolt is also from the last episode when Percy’s going up to Olympus

In love with the Big House windows they give it an old but diy feeling

The joy on Clarisse’s face when she lights Maimer stoooppp

I KNOW NEW JERSEY WHEN I SEE IT

The creepy bald lady i’m pretty sure is the Neried forming it was just on a different frame than the one they plucked for the trailer

LEAH IS SO PRETTY, she looks all serious too

Aryan looks so happy in so many scenes when he looks sad we know something bad just happened ugggghhh.

THE WINDOW WIPE FOR ANNABETH’s HAT. there’s just a small zing! and she’s gone

Luke’s actor is hella fine, I’m going to love hating the character so hard because he seems like someone who could pull off sympathetic looking but hella evil

Also everyone hurls themselves on the floor when Percy shoots I love it. He misses, the Apollo kids look so freaked out along which the Hermes kids. Luke was being so inspirational and Percy just FAILS.

Also disabled camper spotted either Demeter or Ares Cabin guessing by the jewellery on her arms but maybe Aphrodite???

Eveyone yells at Percy not SHOOT AGAIN ITS SO FUNNY ISTG

AHHH Waterland!!! Annabeth just looks tired but also like she’s having fun being with Percy

Percy on Olympus, Annabeth says “you still don’t know where you fit into all this?” I wonder if it could be before Capture the Flag or after the claiming that Annabeth instigated

Amtrak! I thought Annabeth was stabbed but never mind looking fierce though

Yup cloudy as shit, very monochrome, the guards looked cool though.

The lotus hotel is so florescent I can’t.

HERMES IS THERE??? HE WASNT THERE ORIGINALLY WHY IS HE HERE? Also I forgot Lin was Hermes I thought he was a cameo.

Percy jumping over shit I love him

Fight with Minotaur, Minotaur is scary, I think the show is trying to show that Sally really was a good candidate for Oracle by giving her a prophetic sensibility around her

Fun clip splice at the end the Chimera is literally terrifying what the hell. like it looks silly but from the angle it’s introduced it sends chills down my spine.

I think they’re keeping a lot of Annabeth & Grover’s story out of it to make them the emotional backbone of the story in the next 2 seasons and so on so forth. It makes sense since TLT was about Percy, TSM relied on Grover and Annabeth, TTC relied on Thalia, BotL relied on Annnabeth and Nico, TLO relied on Percy again. Rick can add more hints and Chekhov’s Guns now but he also can’t pull them all at once now because he wants this show renewed for another season.

My advice is to keep cool when we don’t get a ton of Grover & Annabeth’s story and riot if Season 2 doesn’t deliver but right now the show is trying to get newer and younger fans (as seen with it being followed right up by What If… in an attempt to get more people to jump into Disney+ and then scroll through once they finish watching whatever episode just ended to the new stuff) but I think it looks good there’s a lot of deliberate representation and diversity in the show and as spoilery as the trailer scenes we haven’t seen the actual meeting with Hades, Zeus and the other Olympians, no Dionysus lines or anything from New Jersey or the Lotus Hotel in truth.

[vanilla-villainsstuff]

HERE'S MY THOUGHTS ON ALL THE MAJOR SHIPS IN LMK

I dunno how controversial this is so...

Takes cover

I don't really like the idea of ppl shipping Nezha with anybody for two reasons:

In the original JTTW, he's mentally and physically a 12 year old who happens to be immortal. Meaning he looks and acts like a preteen. Now, in the show it seems that they made Nezha closer to MK's age. (who's probably 18-20 years old.) I don't really know why this decision was made, but I ain't touching that grey area with a ten foot pole.

Secondly, He... doesn't really have any romantic chemistry with anyone? Sure, he hasn't gotten much screentime but I can't really see Nezha being romantically involved with anyone, he just... doesn't seem to really care for it all that much. (Personally I hc him as aro-ace)

As for Dragonfruit, ehhh...I can see the appeal? It just seems kinda...repetitive as a ship? If Red Son and Mei were love interests, it would more or less be "Red Son not understanding social cues or social interactions or taking things too seriously and Mei helping him out." I don't think it's me being biased towards hetero ships cuz well, there are hetero ships I fucking love it's just, Dragonfruit just lacks that "umph!" factor, y'know? That deeper thing that makes it really stand out as a ship. It's a neat ship, don't get me wrong, I just don't really see why others really like it or make it their otp. Especially since Red Son and Mei seem to hate the idea of being together as seen in Revenge of the Spider Queen, it just seems like ppl are shipping them for no other reason than Red Son and Mei have funny/well written interactions in the show.

Now, why did I put Spicynoodles at the "should be canon" tier and not Dragonfruit? Well...

MK and Red Son are both bad at social interaction/social cues in completely opposite ways. MK is extremely impulsive, impatient, and hyperactive, which causes him to indirectly put him and/or his friends in danger to the point where multiple episodes are dedicated to explaining to MK to take it down a couple of notches. Meanwhile, Red Son is bad at social interaction/social cues because he's sheltered, overly serious, and hot tempered. If Red Son and MK were to be love interests, it could potentially balance things out. (MK showing Red how to let loose and appreciate others' company, and Red reeling MK in from doing something stupidly impulsive.)

Red Son and MK are also very inexperienced with romance, Red Son moreso. Red Son never seems to take romance into consideration, and again, was offended at the idea of being Mei's partner. I'd hazard a guess that Red never had a crush on or dated anyone before. Now, MK'S a different story...MK is explicitly shown to have interest in other men and see them as attractive, (See MK call DBK "Demon Daddy", calling Monkie King "handsome", and never expressing the same with women) so he's definitely had crushes on a few guys before, but it doesn't seem like he's ever dated anyone. So it would be super interesting to see both Red Son and MK figure out the whole dating thing as they go along

The reason why I believe it should be canon is because it could bring out a side of both the characters we don't really see and having both of them discover significant, new things about themselves. It could really flesh them out in a really interesting way and they'd have a very stand out dynamic

So... ShadowPeaches, amirite? But seriously, why do I think it should be canon? Well, I would explain in excruciating detail but this post is already hella fucking long and I'd rather go more in depth on ShadowPeaches in a post all about that ship exclusively.

(Also, to all the dumb brains out there spreading misinformation about JTTW, lemme put this misconception to bed now... MACAQUE AND WUKONG WERE NEVER BROTHERS IN JTTW! Buddha stated that they're vaguely a part of the same species, but not brothers. Wukong and Macaque have precisely zero deeper connection to each other in JTTW, Macaque's birth was never even detailed in the book and Wukong doesn't even have parents. I have researched this topic for weeks, I've read parts of the original JTTW, I have even talked with actual Chinese people on this stupid ass issue, and as far as I can tell, this is just a stupid fan theory being passed off as canon by non-Chinese ppl who haven't read or even properly researched the original JTTW. Shut the actual fuck up, I don't want to hear it.)

And finally, why is it gross to ship MK with Macaque/SWK? After all, didn't I myself say that MK is probably a legal adult, so shouldn't shipping them be fine? No, because it's not about the age thing (although it kinda is) it's about the massive, collosal, power imbalance that could manifest.

While MK is 18-20 years old, SWK and Macaque are very likely to be at least 1,000 years old. (SWK and Macaque were friends years before the events of JTTW, in the original JTTW, SWK gets put under a mountain for 500 years, and in the events of LMK, SWK went missing after sealing DBK under a mountain for another 500 years, so if we're assuming that LMK is following the same lore as JTTW, SWK and Macaque are at least 1,000 years old) Although it seems that Macaque and SWK are mentally and physically middle aged, which still isn't any better. Point being, a romantic relationship between MK and these two would be the equivalent of a 30 year old dating an 18 year old.

Secondly, SWK and Macaque are MK'S teachers and guardians, SWK moreso. A romantic relationship between them would be pretty fucked since SWK is affectively MK'S superior in everyway. MK wants to be SWK'S successor, wants to be close to him, wants to be a stronger person, and SWK having romantic feelings towards MK would just seem like...borderline grooming. Like I'm sorry, but that's why most college teachers, therapists, and doctors have a strict "no dating students/clients" rule since that could potentially lead to their students/clients to be taken advantage of because they're eager/vulnerable.

Now here's the thing: Why is shipping MK with the 1,000 year old SWK/Macaque wrong, but shipping him with the 420 (ha) year old Red Son is fine? Well, multiple reasons, the major ones being that Red looks mentally and physically to be around the same age as MK (both are still coming into their own, both aren't quite mature, plus Red Son is described as a "boy genius", so yeah, Red probably just ages a lot slower in comparison to mortals). Secondly because Red Son and MK are equals, Red isn't MK'S mentor or anything. But yeah to sum it up: even though MK X SWK/Macaque isn't technically p*dophila or whatever, it's still a massive power imbalance and comes off as gross. Stop it.

Andddd... that's all of my main thoughts on these ships! Hope you found this enjoyable, thanks for reading! :)

[quietbluejay]

Notes for the crack Loyalist!Lucius AU

Once again just copied with minimal editing from discord. Does it make sense? eh. Is it in character? probably not. Is it silly? yes. Was it fun to play around with? Absolutely.

I'm still thinking about the loyalist!lucius au where eidolon turns him down because it's so much in eidolon's character to do that also after finding out loken somehow survived isstvan iii that means that other people could also have survived, in theory

malcador: im recruiting you to be part of a secret elite unit lucius: i like "elite" malcador: you will get no glory and no recognition lucius: ahkay im out

malcador keeps sending him on extremely flashy suicide missions and lucius keeps surviving the way malcador gets him to agree to the missions is that they're high risk high reward and because they're high visibility impossible missions his name is out there iirc in the original version of this he became Slaanesh's champion anyways, just fighting on the opposite side lucius to various imperials: im going to teach you all about the power of rock like hm realistically tho malcador would try to kill him like not just via suicide mission but more immediately if he went chaos even crackier idea where malcador kills lucius, succeeds and now lucius is malcador

now, this would be an absolute disaster on every possible level especially given this lucius is slaanesh's champion BUT it would be extremely funny but back to the main au idea thinking further on "why malcador wouldn't just kill lucius" he and loken became besties after surviving for months (years???) alone together on isstvan iii

even more crackily he ends up getting an anti-chaos blade i dunno i feel like such a thing SHOULD exist ...eldar weapon this is the man who used a giant alien murder spider leg (very sharp) as a sword when he got trapped on murder spider planet (and got yelled at for it, because it was alien) also a lot of the good magical artefacts/swords have morality requirements and lucius is nnnnnnot going to pass those the most "realistic" way he gets the sword is by killing a craftworld but, tbh, i do not wish to reward this behaviour

…he should derail the plot of Angel Exterminatus from what I understand it involved eldar things and Fulgrim using a whole bunch of eldar soulstones (and also part of Perturabo's soul) to turn himself into a daemon (maybe i should not actually make these plans without reading the book. oh well.)

malcador: your primarch and also perturabo are trying to do something suspicious are you a bad enough dude to stop them? lucius: absolutely malcador: i have every faith that you will succeed after lucius leaves malcador: there's a 99% chance he'll die. FINALLY. maybe lucius gets the soulstones and accidentally trades them to the eldar for the sword like he survives but he's too injured to actually do anything here which is how he gets thanked and they say, lucius' hearts grew three sizes that day

he also wasn't really attached to the sword and then malcador told him not to get rid of it "you're not my real dad!" he said, clutching the sword "no," muttered malcador, "your real dad is trying to turn into a sexy snake" "i have many questions," said loken, who was currently being ignored in the corner.

so in canon loken kind of snapped due to being alone on isstvan iii surrounded only by the bodies of his former comrades is….is lucius somehow his emotional crutch i mean having one person to talk to is loads better than being alone even if that person is someone who hates you and you don't particularly care for either would lucius be the type of person who would like someone being emotionally dependent on him (especially given the beef) or would he be "ew clingy"

lol okay this is a more serious part of the au, i think lucius would have a lot of time for uncomfortable introspection on isstvan iii maybe that's how some of his character development happens

oh no look it's one of my favourite character dynamics garviel loken and lucius, starring in: this is our get-along virus-bombed planet

[thebookdragonsden]

Omg my wife's I just resolved a weeks long misunderstanding and I'm dying. Little backstory and to set the stage... we're both heavy readers but for the past five years my tastes have leaned pretty far outside of the general Western reader's interest sphere (about 50% danmei web novels, 40% manga/manhua, and 10% western published media) and my wife, while much wider in her reading tastes has recently been caught up Korean manhua and those really trashy translated web novels that FB advertises.

So her coworker had recently mentioned he was looking for LGBT SFF recs, specifically YA because he was not interested in reading sexual content. She mentioned this to me and after In Other Lands and FT Lukens we both just kind of stared at each other blankly. Most of my western media consumption has been LGBT but it's also been adult or new adult.

So anyway she starts poring through ideas and the going through other rec lists. I'm playing a timed game demo so I'm only half paying attention to what she says and finally we have an exchange that goes something like this:

Her: you've read the Witch King right?

Me: yeah, not too long ago.

Her: would you recommend it?

Me: definitely. I really enjoyed it. But I thought he wanted YA and LGBT recs?

Her: he does.

Me: ??? Okay. Well the LGBT content is pretty minimal, mostly side characters, no romance, and i wouldn't really characterize it as YA

Her: ???? But it's on this YA rec list

Me: ???????? They crazy

Her: Isn't the main character Trans?

Me: he's a demon possessing bodies. Sometimes they were male sometime they were female. Pretty sure the author stuck to male pronouns though. Is that trans?

Her: hm

Me: I'm serious though. Almost no romance. There's an established side lesbiam pairing but one of them is missing for most of the story and the MC has some ambiguous relationships and accusations made about other men but it's never overt or the focus.

Her: alright

Three weeks later I'm sending her a screenshot from Illumicrate's upcoming special editions for HE Edgmon, gushing about the editions but mentioning I didn't know the books themselves. My wife sent me screenshots of the original covers, a funny post the author had made when doing cover reveals and then mentioned it was the same author as the Witch King. To which I'm like ????????? But i thought... And then i start frantically googling.

So that's the story about how my wife and I had a very confusing conversation for both of us regarding a book recommendation, where I was talking about Witch King by Martha Wells and she was talking about The Witch King by HE Edgmon and titles are hard.

[sir-davey]

Writing a book wow ✍️

Alright, lemme introduce you to a project I’ve been working on for a few years now 😘

I have been very dedicated to it, and it’s been through many, MANY changes because of the concept for it, which has been hard for even me to develop and have it make sense lol

Also here’s some art I made for it, hehe

This novel in question is, “Saul,” a fictional retelling of, well you know, King Saul 🥶 Strictly through his perspective and how he sees the world around him, which is shown in a very symbolic way. Everything about this story is symbolic with it presented through symbolic imagery that Saul experiences. Within the story, Saul would go through seven visions, given by Ze’ev, his evil spirit, detailing his state of mind and his gnawing grudges.

Basically, this story brings light to Saul’s mentality in the Bible in other means of interpreting it, in which Saul is honestly never sane and he has a lot of issues lol. Also, the story goes through his entire life, and I mean going back to when he’s around 15, which is where the story starts (other than his traumatic flashback that I’m not going to talk about loll) So it’s an origin story as well, but it ties into the whole idea of what drives Saul forward in the life he lives.

Also, there’s generational trauma 🥶 that explains Saul’s abuse for Jonathan (although there are many more aspects to it, Saul’s past is partly the reason for Saul’s abuse) in which Saul’s father, Kish, is the biggest asshole you’ll ever meet lol. And yeah, there’s a reason why, and yet, he’s an asshole through and through and there’s no redemption for him. Kish doesn’t want to be associated with his son which spirals into endless abuse and neglect (kind of explains why Saul has little to no confidence in himself and is constantly paranoid).

There are also prominent characters I’ve come up with, such as Saul’s mother, Hodesh, and basically the character of Saul’s evil spirit, Ze’ev, who is a shift-shaping demon wolf that guides Saul to seek his truest intentions while bringing fear into his heart so Ze’ev can feed off of him. Firstly, Hodesh holds a special place in Saul’s heart. And it’s to the point where he becomes obsessive of her, trying to find answers through her since she is the bearer of his life (also she sings really well, making it the origin for Saul’s musical needs). Ze’ev, on the other hand, stems from Saul’s traumas/fears and becomes prevalent later on to weaken Saul and to bring him to a place of chaos and terror so much so it hinders Saul seeking for the answers he’s been looking for for all his life.

And some other things about the novel: Saul’s childhood is absolute garbage, yet Ahinoam has always tried to alleviate him from his burdens. His relationship with Ahinoam, however, is at first very, very strong but becomes unstable when Saul’s drama with Rizpah comes into the picture, which is all Saul’s fault by the way lol. Him and Ahinoam though have a strong connection, despite their troubled beginnings with each other, and Jonathan is basically a combination of them in good ways lol. Jonathan is really prominent in the story too, and I’ll maybe make another post discussing David/Jonathan’s relationship in the story, because I’m still trying to figure out a symbolic way to add them into Saul’s narrative.

One thing about Jonathan is that Saul in his visions constantly imagines a scary version of Jonathan, which is supposed to be serious, but I’ve always found it funny loll. Like Saul would be waking up screaming from Jonathan drenched in blood and then sees a perfectly normal Jonathan smiling at him.

So ANYWAYS,

I’ve been working on this novel for a long while, and it has gone through a lot of changes. I have written the first draft for it, but I’ve recently scrapped the entire draft because the whole story has entirely changed lol. The first draft actually dwelled on Saul’s childhood, but the narrative ended up being really pandering and stupid while not adding anything to the story, if I’m being honest 🥶 I mean, there was a chapter of 10k words of just little Saul talking to little Abner about some plan of sneaking out to go and see the Philistines. They’re like 7 btw. You’d spend five chapters of an annoying, 7 year old Saul who thinks he’s tough and brave in every sentence he says loll.

Alright that’s enough rambling 😭 I doubt anyone would read this other than me, but if you have, then you’re amazing and I applaud you greatly 😎👏👏 I ramble a lot because I’m a nerd, and I’m very passionate, and uh- DAVID FOREVERRR 😍😘✨🫶 EEEEEEEEEE

Also, any ideas/suggestions would be AWESOME 😎👍✨

[danmeiarchive]

Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me / EPWCM by Qing Duan -- a brief review (no spoilers)

Novel length: 80 chapters + 8 extras

My Rating: ★★★★★ / 5

This is another of the first few danmei I read -- After The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System I either read this or How to Survive as a Villain next and loved them both. I've read this one twice and it was still very enjoyable the second time around. If you liked SVSSS or HSAV I think you'll like this one!

Check for content warnings under the cut.

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What kind of story is Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me?

This story manages to keep a funny upbeat rhythm while also putting the characters into some serious situations. The MC is relatable, the ML charming, and the supporting cast are fleshed out with more canonical gay couples by the end of the book! There is unfortunately a lack of female characters but that's not wholly uncommon in danmei :/

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EPWCM is a story about growing up, taking responsibility, showing love through actions, and gay love saving the world. This is another story that (like SVSSS) due to the transmigrator (MC)'s actions the protagonist (ML) changes so completely that the plot of the original work goes off the rails.

(Note that the MC and ML are both cultivators under the same teacher and so call each other by "shixiong / da shixiong" [older / eldest martial brother] and "shidi" [younger martial brother] most of the time.)

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Like SVSSS this is a xianxia setting. Also of note is that for the most part the other characters don't have a problem with the main couple being gay. There is a scene where one character can't wrap his head around it and the MC and ML's teacher stands up and tells him to get over himself and support his them (the MC and ML).

The one who balks the most at the gay relationship is the MC and I believe this is due to his growing up in modern day china. There's brief mention of characters needing to do what's right and continue the family line but ultimately the characters follow their hearts in the end.

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Who are the main characters?

Without going into details here's a little bit about our main squad:

Chu Yu - the main character. He was a normal guy in the modern world when one day he wakes up in the webnovel he was reading as the protagonist's childhood bully and da-shixiong. He's committed to his new role and feels a bit guilty about taking the "original" Chu Yu's place.

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Xie Xi - the protagonist of the webnovel and the male lead. At the beginning of the novel he is very wary of his da-shixiong's sudden change of heart. After a while he learns to trust Chu Yu and then decides to protect Chu Yu. Due to Chu Yu's need to put himself in danger Xie Xi gets a bit of a yandere personality.

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Chu Sheng - Chu Yu's older brother. He loves his dear baby brother very much and is very protective of him. He does not approve of Chu Yu and Xie Xi's relationship mostly because he doesn't want anyone to take his brother away. He has a romance with a medical cultivator named Fu Chongyi.

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Lu Qingan - Chu Yu and Xie Xi's shizun [teacher]. A well known and badass cultivator in his own right, he is an aloof and peerless immortal. He has a romance in his past that he still can't let go of. (He and his love interest remind me of Lan Wanji and Wei Wuxian from MDZS.)

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Third Shidi - ...I can't remember his actual name because it was only mentioned in the extras. For the rest of the novel everyone just calls him third shidi. He's also Lu Qingan's student and shidi to Chu Yu and Xie Xi. He mostly plays the role of comedic relief but later proves to be quite adept at talisman crafting.

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What is the plot of Every Day the Protagonist Wants to Capture Me?

Chu Yu wakes up in the webnovel he had been reading and right away starts trying to prevent his character's tragic end by putting an stop to everyone bullying Xie Xi. After that he spends countless nights healing Xie Xi and strengthening his core while Xie Xi is asleep. Once Xie Xi learns what Chu Yu is doing his opinion of his da-shixiong changes and he vows to get stronger himself so that when he gets older he can protect Chu Yu.

There's tensions between the righteous and demonic cultivators which eventually lead to a war, a secret realm that can easily trap someone, a cult-like group of demonic cultivators who want to bring a demon lord back to life, and a strange cliffside that would just be perfect to fall or get pushed off of. There's also some in-sect disagreements and a cover-up that is unearthed as well as a glimpse into the Chu family's past as well as Lu Qingan's.

Overall I feel like this story has an interesting and interwoven plot that connects things in ways I hadn't anticipated during my first read. Reading it a second time there's some hints at things at the beginning that hit differently once you know what the connections are.

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Click 'keep reading' to see trigger warnings.

content warnings: genre typical gore and violence, bullying, torture, off screen sexual assault is mentioned in one of the extras -> for more about this please keep reading.

Please note that third shidi is sexually assaulted by someone drugged with aphrodisiacs -- I believe it's a fuck or die type situation. The assault is not described and takes place "off screen."

In the main text the assault is only hinted at -- there's a part where third shidi asks Xie Xi to go beat up the guy who attacked him. (I think it's even worded like that and the nature of the attack is not revealed until later). The person who attacked third shidi relentlessly continues to pester third shidi and wants to pursue him romantically.

In the extras about third shidi (BC Novels' translation chapters 85 and 86) the assault is not described in detail but iirc there's a brief mention of it -- this is where it's revealed that he was sexually assaulted.

If you would like to know what the third shidi extras are about please keep reading. I'll keep it somewhat vague that way you can still read them if you chose.

Third Shidi extras summary

Third shidi is taken captive and he is forced to spend time with his attacker. His attacker flirts with him but other than that wants to get to know third shidi. He also wants third shidi to give him a chance and get to know him in return. The extra ends with third shidi deciding maybe he's not so bad and giving him that chance.

[lixenn]

COMES IN TO BOTHER YOU. what was the first fic you wrote? do you have any cool keychains/trinkets you carry around? if money and time was no object, what field of study/career would you pursue? what is a book youre currently reading?

WOW SO MANY QUESTIONS I LOVE IT!!

Let's get you some answers then:

First fic

... Already stumped at that one, because damn my memory is so fucking bad. I can't even ruffle through my documents on laptop because when I first started writing I had a different one and I'm not sure if I transfered all the files when I upgraded.

*tries to make the brain do the thinking thing*

I think actually my first try at anything fanfic like was with my super cringy self-insert thing into the Percy Jackson universe. I didn't even know fanfic was a thing at the time and I'm pretty sure I deleted that document because it went absolutely no where, so yeah that was probably it. I was and still kinda am pretty obsessed with Uncle Rick's work, so it's no surprise to me that I tried my hand at writing fanfic without knowing the concept even existed. However I wouldn't be able to tell you what that story was about even if you put a gun to my head so I can't really give you much detail.

Cool keychain/trinkets

Unfortunately no cool keychains for me, I have a heart shaped one my mum got me from her trip to Berlin but that's pretty basic. As for trinkets? Do earrings count? Because I have some pretty dope sword earrings.

The keychain situation might change though, because my friend is going to Japan in May and he promised to get me a souvenir, so maybe I'll have a cool KHR keychain soon (might get something else though who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

Field of study/career

It's a toss up between Writer and Owner of Small Crochet Business. I would love to spent my day just being creative and making stuff. I do like science and I think with all the time I invested in my studies I can say I'm not bad at it but it's not my passion. Like, learning about new stuff is fun and I certainly can do experiments and data analysis but give me the option to simply chill on my couch/bed and just create, I would choose it over science every single time.

I'd probably need to get a better grip on scheduling my day because I realized having a strict routine does wonders for my mental health but otherwise just let me make stuff and I'll be happy.

BOOKS

*stares at all the books in my shelf that I've started but currently don't have the energy to read*

...

You want me to choose just ONE?

Well, if we take the one I read the most recently it's Assisstant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Meahrer. It's a cozy fantasy romance, easy to read and quite funny at times. I liked the premise so I picked it up and I'm over half way through but my brain is so focused on writing right now, I don't really have the motivation to read (which is very strange since normally it's the other way around.)

Other titles that are gathering dust in my self:

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch; also funny but in a more serious way, very heavy on the worldbuilding which is awesome but it takes a lot of brainspace so I put it on hold for now.

As Good as Dead by Holly Jackson; I binged the first two books in the trilogy in a day, but this one a bit darker than the others (which makes sense because shit happened) and I need to be in a certain brainspace for that.

The colour of magic by Terry Prachett; I read a lot of Discworld as a kid but I read it in German. This book is my first try reading Prachett in his original glory and it's actually a bit difficult, because again very heavy on the worldbuilding.

I know you only asked for one book, but I'm a chronic oversharer and you asked about BOOKS okay?! I'm bad at controlling myself when it comes to book discussions, so be glad I just kept it to four examples, I could have listed more!