#would cinder still be sarcastic and hilarious

[winterczn]

daily reminder that channary jannali blackburn, a sadistic tyrant who ordered her seamstress’s feet to be chopped off, loved cinder more than linh adri. A TYRANT, KNOWN FOR BEING EVEN WORSE THAN LEVANA, LOVED CINDER MORE THAN ADRI.

[dragynkeep]

Top 5 best male characters and Top 5 best female characters, and brief reasons why?

Now for some positivity for my precious ones in RWBY uwu

Top Five Best Male Characters

1. Lie Ren

Ren didn’t really get much in the first three volumes, and honestly he’s a pretty bad stereotype of Asian men, but I love him for his aesthetic, his storyline in V4, and the fact that he’s the only one out of the main group to be realistically reacting to what’s happening in V8. Everyone else is running on the idea that they’re in the right, and even though things are bad, they can still save everyone and be Huntsmen.

Ren knows that no matter what they do, people are going to die. He understands that their mistakes did not help the situation and they are just as much to blame as Ironwood, so his argument with Yang in Fault just hit some home truths that I very much appreciate.

2. Ozpin

Ozpin is one of the best characters and he deserves better than this show and this FNDM. Even after being abused and murdered by his wife, along with his four young daughters, he kept going life after life, trying to find a way so that Salem could be stopped and everyone would be safe from her. Even after centuries of being hunted down, undermined and hurt by his abuser, he refuses to turn dark and still keeps hope that there is some innate good in humanity.

Too bad RWBY stomped on that and betrayed him just like everyone else, before doing the exact same thing to others that they chewed him out for. 

3. Tyrian Callows

There’s not much writing wise that I could write for Tyrian. He’s a crackhead who’s both hilarious and dangerous, setting consistent stakes in RWBY that not many of the other villains do. I appreciate that CRWBY didn’t try to give him a sad backstory, or even much of one at all, because we don’t need it to understand Tyrian.

He’s a crackhead who likes his goddess’ big mommy milkers. That’s good enough for me. 

4. Arthur Watts

Arthur is one petty, sarcastic, hilarious man who’s biggest reason for siding with Salem is because Sugar Daddy Ironwood chose Pietro over him. His wit, smarts, just everything in V7, I always enjoy when he’s onscreen.

5.  Mercury Black

God, Mercury has so much potential as a character and I’m here for it. Not only is he the only character in RWBY to flat out not have a Semblance, but he’s made his name without it. Honestly, he’s one of the best fighters in the cast and he’s got the smug exterior to hide the soft interior since being aggressive and violent was the life he was raised in.

Hopefully, he clicks and bounces from Salem’s side with Emerald.

Top Five Best Female Characters

1. Salem

She pretty much the best villain in the show. She’s threatening, has an interesting past, intelligent, and her voice actress really does sell her lines most of the time. The only minor nitpick I have is that it takes her forever to actually do anything herself, and when you’re the main villain of the series, that’s not something you wanna do. 

2. Emerald Sustrai

Emerald was actually really close to being #1 for me but the fact that her abuse storyline with Cinder is starting to drag makes her miss it by just a bit. I still really love her, and while I don’t love the story between her and Cinder since it feels like it’s just going on for too long now, I do love her design, voice and her relationship with Mercury. 

3. Glynda Goodwitch

Glynda is my favourite type of teacher and she plays it so well. I love her design, her voice, her personality, her weapon, everything about her is great. I just wish we got a bit more about her past and relationships with not only Ozpin, but the other members of the Pod Squad too.

Since she’s appeared in V8 for a cameo, I suspect she’ll return to the story again, but I don’t know if CRWBY can spare the time to develop her with the rest of the bloated cast on top. 

4. Elm Ederne

I love big buff women with a heart of gold and bright personalities. Elm’s not really developed that well, but the same can be said for all of the Ace Ops, and it doesn’t take away from the fact that I really did enjoy her in V7. Dunno what they did to her in V8 but I’m not happy that they changed her into an aggressive, rude person who know is apparently okay with dehumanising Penny by referring to her as “junk”.

5. Harriet Bree

Okay, this is more how I write Harriet in AZRE than actual canon Harriet but I ran out of characters so she’s here now.

[danurso]

(Phew, another chalenge completed @smh0217 )

Yang: *staring at a beaten and handcuffed cinder* so, what do we do now?

Ruby: we take her back to general ironwood so he can lock her in prision.

Jaune: wait, what?

Ruby: i said we take her back to atlas and send her to prison.

Jaune: and what after that? You expect her to just sit quietly by the corner of her cell for the rest of her life? You know far too well she’s not one to give up, she escaped prison once and she’ll do it again just like she’s been escaping for us for almost a decade, we can’t give her this chance.

Ruby: and what do you suggest? That we just kill her?

Jaune: *glaring at cinder* do we have other choice?

RWBY: *shocked*

Weiss: are you hearing yourself right now?

Ruby: of course we have other choice! If we just kill her then we’re not going to be any better then the bad guys we’re fighting against!

Jaune: better? Do you think i give a shit to being better than them!? All i want is to keep this psycho bitch away from innocent peoples! Peoples that she'll end up killing when she escape from the prison!!

Blake: peoples like ren and nora?

Jaune: *flinches and clenches jaw* yes...good peoples like ren and nora and pyrrha and penny and like every single other friend we lost because of her.

Ruby: jaune, i know you’re angry, but doing that just isn’t the right thing to do.

Jaune: and letting her live so she can kill dozens of innocent peoples later is?

Ruby: we won’t let her escape, not this time *places a hand on his shoulder* i promise.

Jaune: *pushes her hand away* never make a promise you can’t keep ruby. *starts to walk away*

Ruby: *sighs* let's go, we need to take her back to atlas.

*three months later*

*RWBY and jaune gets into ironwood’s office*

Ironwood: good, you’re here.

Ruby: general ironwood, did something happened?

Jaune: we were about to leave for another mission.

Ironwood: yes, i'm aware of that but there is a problem that requires more of your attention at the moment.

Ruby: and what is it?

Ironwood: *sighs looking down* i'm sorry to inform that cinder fall escaped from the prison yesterday at night, she killed seven guards and two huntsmans in her escape.

RWBY: W-WHAT!?

Ruby: b-but how!?

Yang: didn't you say that the new prison was ten times stronger than the first one!?

Weiss: how did she managed to escape!?

Ironwood: the methods of her escape are still uncertain, but that doesn’t matter for now, our top priority right now is to find and capture cin-

Jaune: *chuckles*

RWBY & Ironwood: *turns to jaune who’s chuckling and looking down, his hair casting a shadow over his eyes*

Ruby: jaune...?

Jaune: *chuckles get louder until they develop into a full laughter*

Yang: *gritting her teeth* what’s so funny!?

Jaune: *still laughing* cinder escaped just like i said and now you want to capture her so she can escape yet again, isn’t that hilarious!? *starts to laugh again*

Yang: *stomps in his direction with red eyes and punches him across the face* WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?

Jaune: *on the ground, looking back at her with a sarcastic smile* with me? Nothing, i'm fine, even better than that,  you should be more concerned with the families of the guards and huntsmans that died facing cinder, what are you going to say to them? ‘sorry but your son slash husband slash dad is dead cause we were too fucking stupid and didn't killed the bad guy when we had the chance since it would be “morally wrong” im really sorry okay? Have a good day’ thats sounds good to me, what do you think?

Yang: *clenches her jaw and looks away*

Ruby: we didn’t knew that was going to happen.

Jaune: *getting up* no, we knew exactly what was going to happen, i warned you all three months ago but you didn’t hear me right? Now guess what? We’ll have to spend another six months hunting her while she kills everyone in her path, sounds great doesn’t it? *starts to walk away*

Ironwood: mr.arc, where are you going?

Jaune: i'm going to start searching for her of course, what else i could do? *opens the door* feel free to join me whenever you want, but just so you know, the next time i see that woman *with a deadly look* i will make sure to cut her throat personally, and if any of you get in my way, you will regret. *leaves slamming the door closed*

[somewhatwritinganonymously]

Cinder -Marissa Meyer, Book Review.

No. 1 New York Times and USA Today Bestseller Marissa Meyer, debuted brilliance in sending the story of Cinderella into a new and amazing dimension. ‘The Lunar Chronicles’ first book, titled ‘Cinder’ is a start of a quartet of fairytale retellings that was published back in 2012 by Feiwal and Friends. This retelling of the original text has left many readers in awe over the years, packing in more genres than should really fit, yet somehow Meyer makes it work.

What was initially written for the Young Adult genre has grown quite a large fan base within multiple age groups.Noticeably the under 12′s, who seem to prefer having this book read to them at bedtime instead of the original text. With the well rounded characters, story morale and overall amazingness of this book, who could blame them? Fairytale retellings are great, and Meyer gives her first instalment to this series elements that make for a fantastic, fresh re-imagining. Parts of the original story are woven in giving Cinderella fans plenty of Easter eggs to look out for. Even still the events are only similar, nothing is the same as the original text making the entire novel unique considering just how hard it is to retell a story well, when the majority of people know it back to front.

The title character ‘Cinder’ lives in the fictional ‘New Beijing’. A city that is seemingly Chinese in name and aesthetic only, as the culture and world building was barely more than briefly touched upon. ‘The Eastern commonwealth’, where ‘New Beijing’ resides supposedly is a culmination of different Asian cultures. This is assumedly because ‘Cinder’ takes place in an unspecified time in Earth's future, where the countries of Earth have now united together as a  resistance against one of the main antagonists of the book, ‘The Lunars’. Meyer has confirmed in interviews that the inspiration for basing the book in ‘New Beijing’ comes from how the earliest origination of the Cinderella story took place in China. By choosing to do this Meyer is paying homage to the Chinese culture.

The plot was clear, you could always tell what was going on, however sometimes that is not the best option. This comes into play with the predictability factor. Foreshadowing is at every corner and by the second section of the book it was already easy to guess the ending. Considering one of the greatest drives to reading a new book is curiosity, it was rather difficult to finish this book after knowing exactly how it was going to end. Regardless the plot was anything but boring. It didn’t drag and everything that happened had a point, later adding up to something else. There are multiple points within the novel where the readers felt empowered, just another reason why this book is the better option to read to children as they grow up. Many emotions swirled around readers heads as they read. Reportedly the most common were happiness, sadness and frustration. Meyer’s amazing writing really gets in to the readers emotions, pulling on heartstrings, however despite being a YA novel, the book was missing a significant amount of romantic plot. This is due to just how much is going on in the novel, it makes sense that there simply is not enough time for the romantic interests to fall in love. Those going into the book looking for the typical ‘Cinderella and the prince fall in love trope’ would have been severely disappointed. This isn’t to say ‘Cinder’ and this novel’s adaptation of Prince Charming won’t fall in love, it is however clear that this entire first book in the series is a novel sized prologue waiting for the rest of the story to pick up in book 2. One aspect of Meyer’s interpretation that was simply amazing was how she took the magical elements of Cinderella, and put them in to a sci-fi setting, giving everything a scientific reason behind the ‘magic’, for instance, ‘The Lunars’ and their psychic abilities.  

Whilst the original Cinderella lacked a rounded character arc, ‘Cinder’ most definitely didn't.   This adaptation of the title character was feisty, and well developed. 36.28% cyborg and 100% badly treated, this new and improved ‘Cinder’ was an active protagonist that continuously progressed the plot.

The main recurring theme within the pages of the book was discrimination, something that largely come into play when you take account of how her cyborg side classifies her as subhuman in this new world. The cyborgs themselves are simply humans that have medical issues and have been given cybernetic prosthetics to get on with everyday life. It’s interesting to see in the mind of the author as she describes cyborgs and how she portrays them to act around the rest of society.

‘Cinder’ herself is a really interesting character. She is incapable of showing emotion due to the wiring inside of her body from the cyborg parts of her, making her seem like quite the heartless monster at certain points of the book. On the inside however she is hurting, something that is shown very well through the third person point of view that Meyer writes in.

This unapologetic, hard worker gets blamed for things all throughout the book, similarly to the original Cinderella. In contrast to the text ‘Cinder’ is based from however, ‘Cinder’ is not worried about sticking up for herself whatsoever. She doesn't cower and when upset she will make sure those around her know.   Knowing cinder could have been written as ‘perfect’ but wasn’t, really made the novel what it was. All of the characters are really unique and the writing was phenomenal, the world created was magnificent despite how little details were given out initially. Meyer makes a point of not throwing descriptions at the readers, instead she gives them gradually, allowing the readers to very slowly build the world as they read, instead of being given a place to try and imagine off the bat.  Besides Cinder herself there are other notable characters, for instance Iko. Iko is Cinders android friend with a broken personality chip, making her the most relatable. She practically is the reader, fangirling about the things around her constantly. In relation to the original text. Iko clearly represents the role of Cinderella’s animal helpers. This hilarious and sassy android draws the attention of the readers immediately as she burrows her way in to those that reads hearts. She is easily the most likeable and gives the book a cute mascot character to route for.

‘’Queen Levana is ‘The Evil Queen’ in this fairytale. ‘Levana’ is conniving and clearly made to be the main antagonist. She is written really well and makes a great evil character. ‘The Lunars’ themselves aren’t expanded on much throughout this first book, however their Queen is not only introduced but also shown to be the evil that she is. Her psychic abilities make her terrifying to the readers who can only read on as she manipulates people's thoughts, feelings and actions. She is portrayed as extremely over dramatic, stealing every scene she is in. Overall, ‘Queen Levana’ is clearly the antagonist you’d love to hate.

Whilst on the topic of antagonists of the book however, ‘Levana’ is not the only one. No Cinderella adaptation would be the same without the typical evil stepmother who in this case is named ‘Adri’. Despite how horrible she is to ‘Cinder’, Meyer makes it easy to empathise with the woman. ‘Adri’ is human at the end of the day and whilst harsh, does seem to have redeeming qualities within how she is written. You can almost actually understand her strong feelings towards ‘Cinder’ as the first book rounds to a close. The last notable character is ‘Prince Kai’. Unlike the original material this prince is more than a plot device or just the romantic interest of the heroine. He always had a purpose in the novel and was extremely driven to accomplish the tasks he set out for himself.

There were moments however that didn’t feel necessarily believable.

There was one point within the book where ‘Kai’ is sitting amongst world leaders in a formal political setting and he’s being sarcastic, quite frankly it came across rather childish and immature. It wasn't believable that the prince of a country would act in such a way amongst those particular people.

Despite this ‘Kai’ wasn't a bad character, he clearly really cares about his people, but unfortunately that seems to be the only thing he has going for him in this particular book. We do however get to see his responsibilities of being a prince and get to see how he deals with everything going on within the novel. This is something we didn’t necessarily see from Prince Charming in the original text. There are so many twists and turns as well as things that are hidden keeping the readers intrigued and wanting to know more. The story is really mysterious and as soon as the book itself is finished it’s difficult to stop thinking about it and what will happen next.

Despite the negatives it was enjoyable. Whilst overly clumsy, obvious and lacking of subtlety, it was a great read and is brilliant for exposing people to a new genre.

The back of this book says “This isn’t the fairytale you remember. But it’s one you won’t forget.”

This statement couldn't be more accurate.

[reid-like-roses]

All I Need - Chapter 2

Read on FF.net

Summary: After the Mountain Glenn plot failed, Roman was imprisoned while Neo escaped. Enraged by Roman’s failure of her plan, Cinder punishes Neo by torturing her, banishing her from her faction and occupying Neo’s hideouts. Now homeless and without a weapon, Neo winds up far from Vale and is trapped in a blizzard. But then she’s saved by the most unlikely of heroes. Post Volume 2 AU

Content Rating: T

Word Count: 3,138

Author’s Note: Post Volume 2 AU where basically none of Volume 3 or beyond happened. Neo is mute in this story and any dialogue from her is implied or inner monologue and will be written in italics.

RWBY and all the characters within are the intellectual property of Rooster Teeth Productions, Miles Luna, Kerry Shawcross, Gray Haddock and the late Monty Oum. I am not being compensated in any way for this story and wrote it merely for entertainment purposes.

It was dark and warm so Neo deduced she’d been sent to the bad place, which wasn’t really a surprise to her in the slightest. Sure, she’d robbed and stolen pretty much as a means to survive but that didn’t change the reality that she was a criminal. However, this was far more pleasant than Neo had been lead to believe it would be. All she’d ever heard about was the eternal fire and darkness but this was pretty nice and cozy. Sure, eventually she’d get bored with being in the dark with seemingly nothing to do but for now, it was actually kinda pleasant. Someone in her vicinity was cooking something and it smelled delicious. Neo started to try to move towards the source of the scent but as she started walking, her hand struck something solid.

“Ow!” Neo’s eyes shot open as something moved next to her, trying to get away. Neo blinked several times to try and regain her vision and she started to become aware that she was lying in a bed in an unfamiliar room. Eventually, the room came into focus and Neo noticed someone was sitting next to her with long, blonde hair. The person was sitting on the edge of the bed and pawing at their face while mumbling under their breath.

“Should have figured that the first thing you’d do was clock me in the face,” the stranger said. They then turned to look at Neo and suddenly Neo recognized who was with her. It was that blonde kid from Beacon who she’d fought on the train. Her eyes went wide and she let out a surprised yell that only came out as a raspy breath. Neo tried to scramble away but her entire body shut down that idea and refused to budge.

“Whoa, whoa, it’s okay. Take it easy. You’re okay. I’m not going to hurt you, Neo,” the blonde said to her softly to try and calm her down. Neo wrenched her hands free of the blankets and quickly began signing.

“What are you doing here?! Where am I? What’s going on?”

“Oh, I didn’t realize you were deaf. I’m so sorry,” the blonde signed back to her. “I was just trying to tell you that you’re okay and you’re safe.”

“Wait, you know sign language?” Neo signed with a genuinely surprised look on her face. She hadn’t been expecting that.

“Yeah, we all get taught it in school so that we can communicate but stay quiet in case we need to be stealthy.”

“Okay,” Neo began as she pushed herself up into a seated position. “Well first off, I’m not deaf, I’m just mute, Blondie.”

“Oh, that’s good to know,” Yang said cheerfully, abandoning her sign language. “And it’s Yang, by the way.”

“Whatever,” Neo signed as she rolled her eyes. “Now, where am I?”

“You’re at my father’s house on the island of Patch,” Yang replied. “I found you last night in the middle of the blizzard near our house. You were out cold so I carried you back here. I’m just glad you’re okay. Things looked really bad there for a bit.”

“Why are you glad that I’m okay? Shouldn’t you want me dead?” Neo asked as she let out a disbelieving snort of air.

“Look,” Yang began, scowling at Neo, “just because we don’t like each other doesn’t mean it’s okay for me to just leave you to freeze to death. If I see someone who is in trouble, I’m going to do what I can to help them. Even if it is you.”

“My hero,” Neo signed flippantly. Of course these goody two-shoes huntresses couldn’t pass up an opportunity to play the knight in shining armor. “You really should have just left me to die, though.”

“And why is that?” Yang asked warily. She knew better than to expect someone like Neo to be grateful but she wasn’t expecting her to be so grim about it.

“Did you ever consider that maybe I wanted to die? That I’m fed up with everything in this miserable life and wanted it to be over?”

“I think you probably would have tried something quicker and less painful than turning yourself into a popsicle if that really was the case,” reasoned Yang.

“Fair enough,” conceded Neo. “But it’s true, though. I was ready for it all to be over.”

“Why? What happened to you?” Yang asked as she tentatively reached out to touch Neo’s shoulder but thought better of it and retracted her hand.

“What makes you think I want to tell you that?”

“I dunno. You brought it up.”

“I guess I did. Maybe I’ll tell you some other time. I’m too tired right now.” The effort of going through all the motions of signing to Yang was starting to wear Neo out.

“Do you want some food? My Dad’s cooking some soup.”

“Is that what smells so good?”

“Yeah, Dad’s soup will rock your socks. Would you like some?”

“That would be nice,” Neo admitted begrudgingly as her stomach growled. It had been weeks since she’d had a decent meal.

Yang got up off the edge of the bed and walked across the room to the door. She cracked it open and said, “Hey Ruby, when the soup’s done, can you bring me a bowl, please?”

“Sure thing, sis!” Ruby called from the kitchen. Neo’s stomach turned as she heard her voice. That was that red bitch in the hood. She was the one who kept sticking her nose in Roman’s business. She was the one who found their hideout in the caves and caused the plan to start. She was why Roman was in jail and she nearly froze to death. Neo hated this Ruby almost as much as she hated Cinder. Yang closed the door and stood against the wall, giving Neo her space. Neither one spoke again as the air was thick with tension. After several minutes, the door swung open and Ruby walked inside with a gigantic bowl with a spoon inside.

“Here’s your soup, Yang!” Ruby said proudly, holding out the bowl for her sister. But as Yang took it, Ruby noticed Neo was awake and was glaring menacingly at her. “EEK! She’s awake!” Ruby screeched as she backpedaled into the wall.

“Oh, yeah, I guess I should have mentioned that,” Yang said sheepishly as she set the bowl down on the nightstand beside the bed. “Sorry sis. But thanks for bringing some soup for her.”

“What? Oh, yeah, sure, no problem!” Ruby said with her voice shaking in fear. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up for Neo. She pretended to roar at Ruby and raised her hands like claws. Ruby shrieked in terror and sped out of the room, sending a cloud of rose petals everywhere. Neo started laughing hard, pounding her fist on the mattress.

“Was that really necessary?” Yang asked sternly, not at all amused.

“No, but it was hilarious,” replied Neo without lifting her head up from the pillow she was laughing into.

“Never mind,” Yang said as she shook her head in disapproval. She then placed the bowl on the mattress next to Neo. “Do you think you can eat on your own?”

“Of course I can, dummy. How pitiful do you think I am?” But as Neo went to grab the spoon, it slipped through her fingers and clattered to the hardwood floor. Neo stared at her hand in shock, flexing her fingers to try and get them to work properly. But it felt like her hand was encased in clay. Every movement felt like it took a hundred times the effort it usually did. Meanwhile, Yang was stifling a giggle into her fist.

“Do you still want me to answer that question?” Yang asked sarcastically. She knew it wasn’t very polite but she couldn’t help feeling satisfied at watching Neo figuratively fall on her face like that. But then she switched back into caregiver mode as she told Neo, “I’ll go get you a fresh spoon. I don’t exactly know the last time the floors in here were cleaned so I don’t want you catching anything worse than you’ve already got.

Neo didn’t appear to register what Yang said as she kept staring at her hands. Yang waited for a moment to see if she would respond at all before shrugging and bending down to pick up the spoon Neo dropped. As she left, her father Taiyang was waiting by the door, looking displeased.

"Yang, what’s going on in there?” Taiyang asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“What do you mean?”

“Why exactly did Ruby come bolting out of that room in terror and take shelter under the stairs?” Yang glanced and saw a few stray rose petals leading to the closet underneath the stairs.

“Oh, that. Neo thought it would be funny to try and scare Ruby, that’s all,” answered Yang dismissively as she strode past her father and deposited the spoon in the sink.

“It wasn’t funny at all!” Ruby yelled from inside the closet.

“Neo, huh?” Taiyang asked curiously. “Do you girls know her?”

“Uh, yeah, we met her at school, that’s all,” Yang said quickly as she grabbed a fresh spoon from the silverware drawer. She also took the small whiteboard off of the refrigerator so Neo could write what she wanted to say instead of having to sign all the time. But before she could get back into the room, Ruby threw open the closet door.

“She helped with the train that blew up Vale!” Ruby cried before slamming the door again. Yang winced from the crash of the door and from knowing the can of worms that Ruby had just opened. She tried to brush it off and get back to Neo but Taiyang grabbed her by the shoulder.

“Hold it right there, young lady,” Taiyang said angrily, his eyes taking on a red hue. “You mean to tell me that the girl you saved is one of those terrorists that Ozpin is trying to stop? And you brought her into our house?”

“Yes, dad, that’s right,” replied Yang flatly, not in the mood for an argument right now. “I saved her from freezing to death and brought her here. What’s your point?”

“My point is do you know how much danger you’ve just put this family in, Yang? You need to get her out of this house right now!”

“No,” Yang said without hesitation.

“Excuse me?” Taiyang asked in disbelief.

“You heard me,” Yang affirmed in a dangerous tone. “No.”

“What exactly do you mean, ‘no?’”

“She’s not even well enough to feed herself right now,” argued Yang, attempting to make her father see reason. “If you throw her out, she’ll die.”

“So, send her to the hospital. That’s probably where she should be if you really want her to get better. We’re not exactly equipped to treat anything more serious than a headcold right now.”

“And how exactly is she supposed to get there? You do remember that whole blizzard thing, right? The snow’s piled halfway up the front door. I’m no expert but I don’t think any ambulance driver in the kingdoms could get to us right now.”

“Look, I really don’t care where she goes as long as it’s not in this house, got it?” Taiyang shouted with finality.

“Will you listen to yourself right now, Dad?!” Yang hollered as she slammed her foot into the ground. “You’re literally telling me to condemn someone to die. And you’re somehow okay with that? You raised me better than that. So, I’m telling you again, no, I’m not making her leave. Now, if you’ll please excuse me, the soup is getting cold and I need to help her eat.” Before Taiyang could offer a response, Yang shouldered her way past him and stomped into the room, slamming the door behind her. She took a few breaths to calm herself back down and put on a smile that was quickly erased when she saw Neo crying silently.

“Hey, you okay? What’s wrong?” Yang asked with concern as she knelt down beside the bed. Neo started to sign a response but kept stopping herself and restarting. Yang offered her the whiteboard and marker to see if she wanted to use that instead. Neo blinked a few times and sniffled as she considered the white board before taking it and starting to quickly write. After a few moments, she passed the board to Yang to read.

“Am I okay? No, of course I’m not okay! Look at me! I’m clinging to life in the home of someone who hates me and I can’t even feed myself! I’ve lost everything I ever cared about in my life. I have no home, no friends, no money, no way to protect myself, nothing!”

Yang read over Neo’s message, feeling her guts twist up with every word. When she was finished, she swallowed hard and glanced over at Neo who was hugging her knees to her chest. Under normal circumstances, Yang would have given her one of her legendary bone crushing hugs. But Neo definitely didn’t seem like the kind of person who would appreciate affection like that. Instead, she simply wiped away Neo’s message and passed the board back to her.

“Are you still hungry?” Yang asked softly. She wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted Neo to reply with. Part of her hoped she said yes and would allow Yang to take care of her. But another just wanted to get the hell out of there and leave her alone. After a minute of sitting in silence, Neo finally nodded that she was still hungry. Yang picked up the still warm bowl of soup and scooped out a spoonful. She then blew gently on the soup to make sure it wasn’t too hot and then held the spoon in front of Neo’s mouth, waiting for her to eat from it. Neo let out a fresh sob as she realized the unpleasantness of the situation but eventually craned her neck out and took the spoon into her mouth. She closed her eyes as she felt the warmth of the soup immediately start to warm her from the inside.

“Is it okay?” Yang asked nervously.

“It’s delicious,” Neo signed back, unable to keep a small smile off her face.

“Would you like some more, then?” Neo nodded enthusiastically and awaited for Yang to bring her another spoonful. Sure, this was undoubtedly the most humiliating moment of her life. But at least the soup was good and the person feeding it to her wasn’t so bad either. Yang readied another spoonful of soup for Neo who took it far more readily than the first time. After a few minutes spent in silence with Yang feeding Neo, the bowl was empty.

“I would offer you some more but I’m sure your stomach’s not in the best shape so I don’t want to overdo it,” Yang said as she set the empty bowl on the nightstand.

“Makes sense,” Neo signed back. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Would you like some time alone?”

“Yeah, I could use that,” answered Neo as she tried to suppress a large yawn. “I’m still really tired.”

“Okay, you got it. Just call if you need anything, okay?” It took a beat for Yang to realize just how stupid what she said was. Neo simply glared at her. “Okay, yeah, that might prove to be a bit hard. Hang on a second. Are you good with pets?”

“I guess?” Neo signed in confusion.

“Perfect!” Yang then opened up the door a crack and called out into the house. “Hey Zwei? Come here boy!” There was a moment of silence before Neo heard some padded footsteps scampering across the floor. Yang bent down in the doorway and when she stood back up, she had a fluffy corgi in her arms. Neo couldn’t help putting her hands over her mouth in surprise and joy. This Zwei was so cute. Yang then brought him over to Neo and set him down on the bed. Neo tentatively reached out to pet Zwei who happily let her.

“Zwei, you remember Neo?” Yang asked the dog who yipped in confirmation.

“Wait, how would he remember me?” Neo asked quickly before going back to petting Zwei.

“He’s the one who found you passed out and led me to you. If there’s anyone you really should thank for you being alive right now, it’s him.”

“Thank you,” Neo mouthed to Zwei, wishing she had a voice she could properly say it with. Zwei wagged his tail happily and licked Neo’s hand.

“Anyway,” Yang continued, “Neo’s going to be staying with us for a little bit. But she’s not feeling very well and unfortunately, she can’t talk. So I’m giving you a job, okay boy? I need you to keep watch over her for me when I’m not in here. If it looks like she needs someone to come help her, just give us a bark, okay?” Zwei replied by climbing up onto Yang and trying to lick her face. “Okay, good boy. I’m gonna go get your bed, okay? You keep Neo company. But if she doesn’t want any attention, just leave her alone, okay?”

Zwei barked and jumped off the bed down to the floor. Yang went to go get Zwei his bed and left Neo by herself in the bedroom. Even if she had the ability to talk, Neo was at a loss for words as to the situation she found herself in. Over the past couple days, she’d been beaten up, stuffed in a crate, survived attempted murder, been attacked by beowolves, gotten stranded in a blizzard and passed out from the cold and now she found herself being taken in and taken care of by someone who she would have previously labeled a sworn enemy. But after how Yang had taken care of her and defended her against her father, Neo was starting to wonder just who this girl was and what was her deal. But as the edges of her vision began to darken and she felt herself slumping down into the comfort of the mattress, she decided that she’d have to find those answers some other time. Right now, all she wanted to do was sleep and try to get better again.

[rhysthehighlord]

Review: Cress (The Lunar Chronicles #3) by Marissa Meyer

4.5 Stars for Cress and Thorne.

You can also read this review on my goodreads.

You shouldn't read this review, if you haven't read Scarlet yet.

 “Delete anything that has to do with love, respect, or joy, and I’ll sign on the dotted line.”

This is so far the best book in this series.

This book is based on 'Rapunzel' and I think Marissa did a good job at putting all important elements of the original fairytale in the world of this book series.

The book started a bit slow but it picked up after a very important scene in the book. I saw part of the conflict coming, but I was glad that Marissa used the oportunity to create the conflict. It's such a pivotal scene in this book and I loved it. The book only got better after this scene.

This book was filled with scenes that had me at the edge of my seat, it was so hard to put this book down. I can't even name all the brilliant plot twists Marissa put into this book. But I would have prefered it, if it wasn't filled with so many scenes that were so awkward and almost painful. They made me feel dread and I really had to keep myself from skipping to the end of the scene to see how it worked out. And it made me so emotional, both in a good and in a bad way.

Cinder was amazing as always. She really takes that whole 'I have to get rid of Levana and become the new queen' thing serious. But it's also shown that she's still a teenager and there's only so much she can do. I loved her sarcastic comments and her bravery and that she grows as a person. Her plans were crazy, but I always love it when crazy plans work out.

Kai shows that he is a perfect match for Cinder lol. His sarcasm was hilarious. He's still sweet and so concerned about everyone and he still wants to do what is best for his people. Also it's amazing that a part of him still believes in Cinder. His scenes honestly made me want to hug him all the time, because he has to deal with so much.

Cress, the girl who warned Cinder in the first book, is our new protagonist. The parallels to 'Rapunzel' are that she is living on a satellite with no way to escape hidden from the whole galaxy and that she has super long hair, since noone allows sharp things near her. She's wonderfully sweet and just so precious. It was heartwarming that she wanted to help Cinder and Co despite not knowing them very well. It was also super realistic that she was a bit naive and socially awkward since she almost spend her whole life alone on a satellite. I really wanted to stab Sybil for treating her like she is nothing more but a servant. But I liked it that Marissa gave her an ability that made her incredibly useful.

Thorne, my darling. There are honestly just two reactions when it comes to him. You either want to laugh out loud or hit him, because he said/did something stupid. He is still having a big mouth, but he also proves that he is very intelligent and skillfull and that deep down he has a very good heart.

Scarlet and Wolf did have storylines, but I had the feeling that they weren't as developed as the other characters. That led to me not caring that much about them and that is kinda sad. I really hope they gat more important roles in the next book.

There are two other characters that had unexpected but important roles in this book. I won’t tell you more about them, because it might be a spoiler.

Overall I loved the book, the characters and the storyline. I would have given this book 5 Stars if it weren't for the slow start. And as much as I like the characters my love for them will never reach the same depth as my love for other characters from other books. There is just something missing that makes me say: Those are my babies and I want to protect them at all cost. And for my taste there were a bit too many of the awkward/dreadful scenes. I'm a person who skips such uncomfortable scenes when I watch a movie or a tv show. You know the scenes in which you just know that it will end badly/embarassing for the characters.

Nonetheless I still think that this is the best book in the series and I'm not sure if Winter can top it.

[thenatureofpages]

Matching Fried Rice to YA Books!

Everyone knows a bowl of steamy fried rice can make your entire day turn around!

If you’re not familiar with my twitter fried rice adventures, you may not know that I. adore. fried. rice. I mean, how could you not?! The fluffy rice. The vegetables. The sauce. PERFECTION.

….this is a universal experience, right?

It’s even gotten to the point where other book twitter members know of my rice obsession and send me recipes or tag me in fried rice jokes. I have nothing to say for myself except that I’m proud this is my legacy.

It’s inevitable, then, that at some point there had to be a fried rice blog post coming. Its astonishing we’ve made it this long, to be honest. So here we are; buckle in, kids. We’re going to match fried rice to books.

Fried Rice #1: The Microwavable Packet

Look, I have nothing against microwavable meals at all. I was raised on a steady diet of Kraft 2 minute microwave mac n’ cheese and chicken nuggets. But to be entirely honest, fried rice in the microwave, while it has the steamy warmth we’re going for, it lacks in flavor and form. So for this book, we’re going with one that had nice moments, but overall had a harder time connecting. *drum roll*

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

I read Shatter Me last month on a plane ride and after all the hype, I was honestly a tad disappointed. It had cute moments, yes, but overall I felt like the plot and romance was rushed. I’ve read the second book to see if I feel like continuing, and I’m still undecided as to whether to read the third or not. *wild shrugging*

Fried Rice #2: Chain Restaurant

AKA REALLY GOOD RICE! Not like, ASDFGHJKL AMAZING but still super super good. They make a variety of food so fried rice isn’t like, their priority but dang, I love it. Like holy cow, yes. The way to my heart is fried rice.

This book issssss: The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

This book is adorable. Holy cow, y’all, I shipped it from page one. Enemies to lovers, did someone say? One of my favorite tropes of all time? Check. Sarcastic banter? Check. Empowering life decisions, hilarious situations, and a realistic view of romance? Check, check, and check.

Fried Rice #3: Leftovers (a little something different)

You know this rice. It’s been sitting in the fridge, calling your name for you to just finish it off. It’s a little soggy and the vegetables are slightly wilted, but pop it in the microwave and it’s still good to go.

If I really didn’t like the book, it wouldn’t be on this list at all. It has some truly witty moments and a really cute ship, but there were some parts of the book that kinda made you go, “What am I reading?” Mainly the parts from the bench’s perspective where it waxes on about the perfect butt forms (yes, you read that right) which was meant to be comic relief but really just came across…uncomfortable.

Aaaand that would be…A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Look, look, it’s SUCH a cute concept – a love story told from 12 perspectives, others watching the two main characters fall in love. It just comes across a tad flat and while the characters are both adorable, the chemistry isn’t “ASDFGHJK I NEED THEM TO END UP TOGETHER!!”

Fried Rice #4: Your Local Fried Rice Restaurant

AKA THE BEST

THE BEST OF ALL THE BEST

BETTER THAN ALL THE REST

…I really really love my local restaurant’s food, okay? XD It’s my favoriteeeee! There’s not much else to say except I would die for their friend rice I’d eat their rice everyday, all day, 24/7.

Aaaand for the final and best:

Cinder by Marissa Meyer!

I’m on a bit of a Marissa Meyer kick lately – I started rereading The Lunar Chronicles before I left for college. Now that classes have started, I’ve been too overwhelmed to read for fun (it’s only been a week, lol, hopefully it lightens up soon) but I just adore the series as a whole. My favorite in TLC is actually Cress, but since Cinder kicks off the whole shebang, we’ll go with it!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this random fried-rice-and-books adoration post. What’re your favorite foods and books? Let me know in the comments!

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