#also- my 20th posted work! wow. look at me go
Text
quiet
rating: T
summary: In the quiet of a perceived absence of scrutiny, Mickey can be incontrovertibly tender.
Or: 5 times Mickey lets his guard down, as observed by various third parties.
#the soft Mickey fic that no one asked for <3#my fics#🪐#shameless#gallavich#also- my 20th posted work! wow. look at me go
31 notes
·
View notes
Text
It is Monday, and Monday is for books. Look at these beautiful things! They took me five months to make. I tried so many new things in the process and I am extremely proud of them. This is a binding of @racketghost's amazing Good Omens fic Strange Moons (Hi. I hope it's ok I tagged you in this. Your fic has been one of my favorites since I found it in 2019.) The story is a series of short fics (and one long one) that really need no introduction from me. They're set throughout the 20th century, and they are beautiful and sensual and moody and you should definitely read them if you haven't already. This is the longest work I've bound so far, but I was fortunate that the word count on the shorter fics added up to almost exactly the length of the final, longest one, making them the perfect choice for a two-volume set. I tried very hard to get them to be an exact match, and they turned out even better than I pictured.
More pics under the cut! Two books means twice the pics, and all the stuff I tried here means it's a very long post, so be warned.
Individual images of the covers. The titles are done in silver htv over brown faux leather, edged in charcoal bookcloth. The graphics are the same on both, except for the title text, and they have the same image of the reaching hands on the back. All the art assets are from rawpixel, I just flipped and rotated some of them to make the back image.
The cover materials were an interesting challenge. I'd worked with both before and wanted to incorporate them both in the design, but after measuring and checking grain direction I found I didn't have enough of either of them to do a full book, or even a half bind. So they're actually made by affixing the faux leather to the book board, then layering strips of book cloth over the top. The corners are actually mitered at a 45-degree angle. Here's a close-up:
It's two long strips of cloth (spine and fore edge, not mitered) with two short strips (top and bottom, mitered) glued over the top. There was so much measuring, omg. I bought a new tool to make sure I got it right. Hilariously, I still didn't have enough leather and had to order another roll anyway. Also hilariously, I got the idea to do this after seeing an image of a leather-bound book made by a professional that appeared to have the same feature, i.e. multiple materials with an inset and mitered corners. Wow, I said, looking at a video thumbnail, I'm going to do that! So I did, even though I didn't watch the video. Much later, after I watched his tutorial, it was clear that the design was from leather dye and tooling, not the thing that I did at all. But I do like the effect, and now I know it's possible I think it'll be great for using up weird offcuts from making other covers.
Look, spines! With TITLES on them! And LITTLE RIDGES! Both firsts for me. I'm a little obsessed with them. The cricut has opened up entirely new worlds, though I suspect the little silver lines might have been easier to do with a foil pen (which I don't have) than they were with a heat press. I did them by making the cricut cut out several "=" symbols that were the same width as the spine. The raised bands are false bands; I made them by layering little pieces of chipboard on the spine stiffener, then molding the book cloth around them when I covered them. I was worried it wouldn't work, since this is usually done with leather and book cloth is apparently way less stretchy, but it worked fine. Probably because it's a small straight design, no curves or fancy bits. I'd layer the chipboard thicker next time so they stand up higher (this is 2 layers, I'd do 3 in future) but I'm delighted by how this turned out. They look so professional.
The endpapers on both books are a constellation print. I had a really hard time trying to find something to go with the typeset, and the only ones I liked were from an etsy seller who kept selling out of them. I got lucky eventually but it was one of many hassles that befell this project. I also made my own end bands using a tutorial from the Renegade Bindery discord. I had some issues and I didn't quite nail them but I think they're pretty good for a first time (ok, second time, the first one was on a practice text block, but my point stands). I had originally intended this to be a split boards binding, my first time trying that, but when I got the boards glued on I found that they were crooked. Really crooked. Completely misaligned. Much swearing followed this discovery. I ended up having to cut the boards free, cutting the mull and tapes in the process. The mull was easily replaced, but the parts of the tapes that are usually glued to the boards were a lost cause. I reused the boards, but flipped them so the edge with the cut tapes inside is at the fore edge so I could have a cleaner hinge. You can see in the last photo that the cover board is a little wider at the fore edge. On the plus side, there are no tapes to wrinkle my pretty endpapers and it combated the small bit of spine swell I had. On the downside, the hinge has less support and the only thing I learned was How Not To Make A Sewn Boards Binding.
I may have gone a little nuts with the images in this typeset. In my defense they look very pretty. In order, that's the title page, table of contents, section break image (same as the back cover, just tiny), chapter header and ender (each chapter has one on its first and last pages, they just look particularly cool when you can get a full page spread like this), and the image on the last page of the book (same as the cover image, almost). The cover image was also supposed to have little rays coming off its moon like this one does, but the lines proved too thin for the cricut and it ate them. I still like how it looks though. The prose in this story is really rich and I was in the mood for opulence when I did it. I have absolutely no regrets.
Here's a feature that's unique to this typeset. One of the chapters in the second volume has three alternating, interwoven timelines. I read them fine on Ao3 but had trouble following them when I formatted it for printing. Usually I'd use the section break image to denote when there's a scene skip but there are literally dozens in this chapter, like 40-60 breaks over the course of 10 or so pages, and it looked very busy with images in it. So I left them out, made the line skips single instead of double like they are elsewhere in the book, and I color-coded the text instead. One timeline is printed in black, one is dark gray, and one is dark blue. And it's a very surreal chapter, with the characters having some very confusing and conflicting emotions, so I feel like reading multicolored text when you're not expecting it (the rest of the book is all normal black and this bit is near the middle) sort of reflects that unbalanced feeling? I hope so anyway, because I love the way it looks so much.
I learned so many things in the course of making these. I'm absolutely doing all of them again. Part of the reason it took so long was that I wanted it to be perfect, or as near as I could get, and I had to take the time to solve all the puzzles it threw at me. But it stretched my creativity and ingenuity and I could not be more in love with the finished product.
#bookbinding#fanbinding#snek makes books#good omens#fic rec#this got super long#and considerably more journal-like than I planned#i guess when you work on something for five months it becomes part of you huh#there were more images too#i took so many photos of these
91 notes
·
View notes
Text
So, I appear with Madou findings I forgot to give. And Yokai Watch updates.
I was supposed to show this in my last post but forgot to make a section for it, so I'm deciding to do it here, alongside other stuff.
Check it, a popularity poll around the time Saturn released. (The Schezo and Witch artwork.)
It's quite literally a popularity poll. There's the usual, Arle and Schezo being top 2, Witch and Draco in top 5, Satan being 6th, that nonsense. However, as we go down the list gets more interesting. Notably, Kikimora ranked 10 over Lagnus, who ranked 11th.
A few more notable placement is Momomo outplacing Suke (15th to 19th), Skeleton-T being 14th, and 20th being Honey Bee.
Waku Puyo Stuff:
So, a pal (@kirstenonic05 ) and I decided to go through some old Waku Waku Puyo Puyo Dungeon manuals we found online, and honestly? Yielded interesting results.
Waku Puyo Translations takes a super long time. Believe me, I'm working on them.
But with that, here's some of what we found.
Photo of Serilly inside one of these manuals. If you notice, there's some text next to her, so I decided to quickly run through these. The result is:
Serilly: A Rather Timid Mermaid
17 years old
210 CM (so about 6'10 in Ft.)
B: 93 W: 58 H: N/A (all in CM)
Undefined Weight, but likes round things.
A slightly naive girl with a complex due to being legless. She's paranoid that people are out to get her, but is actually lonely and wants friends.
Then after this, we have Harpy.
This stuff is partly in Korean, mostly because the best quality image I could find of this (The ones we had weren't the best,) came from Puyo Chatterbox, so the Japanese text could be easier to read.
Harpy: A Self-Proclaimed "Diva"
14 years old
147 CM (About 4'8 Ft)
B: 75 W: 58 H: 79 All CM
38 KG (About 83 pounds), and likes singing.
A young girl with wings who loves to sing more than anything else. But the heavens never bestow things to one person, and she's frankly bad at it. She's so bad at it, you can complain at the top of your lungs and she won't hear you. No offense given.
And then we got Incubus.
It reads as follows:
Incubus: The Invincible Narcissist
Unknown Age
181 CM (About 5'9)
71 KG (156 pounds)
B, H, and H: I don't want to tell you. (AKA. Undefined.)
Likes cute girls and himself.
A narcissistic Demon who loves any cute girls, no questions asked. Despite being confident in his looks, rumor has it that he wears makeup. According to Arle, he's a pervert like Satan and Schezo. There's really no serious men in this world.
And now, Draco.
So what does her bio say? Well:
Draco: The Energetic Dragon Girl (You could add Kung Fu if wanted...?)
16 years old
162 CM (5'3-ish. Are YOU taller than Draco?)
B and W: 78, with her H being undefined.
She chose to not tell her weight, and likes beauty contests.
A high-spirited half dragon, half human girl in a Chinese dress. She's a fighter of many techniques, has a variety of special moves, and can even breathe fire. Rumor has it, she's gets stronger depending on her popularity. (Or yours.)
And finally, Witch.
Ah, here we go.
Witch: The Tomboy Who Runs Her Own Path (directly doing translations gave me the tomboy of the Witch clan, which is...correct too? Your choice.)
15 years old
158 CM (5'1. Wow. She's short.)
B and H: 81 W: 58
45 KG (99 pounds)
Likes clean clothing and brooms.
A magical girl whose tone is influenced by The Drifters (a Japanese comedy band), with phrases such as "Oops!" and "That won't work!" She has a rivalry with Arle, but for some reason, she has a soft spot for Schezo. (You can also say she's very friendly to him.) She tends to be nosy.
Quick Yokai Stuff:
A while back, I posted the 3D models of the Yokai Watch collab finally being unearthed, so I decided to just quickly find some neat looking stuff.
This thing.
First thing I wanna say about it: Arle is legit part of the metagame. She's unironically amazing.
Second, just some promotional artwork I found of the game. I couldn't find more stuff for Witch for some... unexplainable reason.
(Thank goodness for my friend finding the last image. And also the watermark being noticeable enough.)
And honestly? That'll be all for now. Thanks for reading.
Adios.
#madou saturn#madou monogatari#puyo#puyo puyo#witch puyo puyo#draco puyo puyo#arle puyo puyo#arle nadja#schezo puyo puyo#schezo wegey#satan puyo puyo#puyoposting#japanese translation#yokai watch#Typing all of these individually instead of clicking a button wasnt the best feeling in the world.
21 notes
·
View notes
Text
Insomniac Spider-Man X Reader platonic
AN: Hey Hey again everyone, Like I said in the previous post, I've been binge-playing the Spider-Man games to get ready for October 20th. But I also noticed there was a lack of platonic Insomniac Spider-Man fics so time to change that. This story will be loosely inspired by a conversation I had on character.ai. but other than that let's get into the story. word count: 1.1K
You had recently just moved out of your parent's house and found yourself a nice apartment in the city, the move was tough but you managed to get by, at least this apartment had a kickass view of the city from the fire escape. Looking out into the view, seeing the people walking by minding their own business, you didn't realize you weren't alone.
"Gotta love the view of central park am I right ??"
You jumped with a small fright but your fright immediately turned into awestruck.
"Woah... Spider-Man"
"Citizen of New York at large, sorry if I'm intruding."
"No no your fine, you busy saving the city ??."
"I was a bit before, But now I'm just swinging by, no pun intended. So what's your name anyway ??"
"Y/n"
"So Y/n do you have any questions for me ??"
"Oh boy do I ever !!" you immediately thought of some good questions.
"I'll try and keep it slow and simple, How do you make your webs ??"
"Oh that's simple, I make this formula which makes my webs, and these web shooters on my wrists.." Spider-Man shows you the web shooters. "Help regulate it and guide the webbing into the correct shape, pattern or direction."
"Wow that's so cool."
"It's pretty cool alright, but It's nothing compared to my Spider-Sense. That's a whole different beast, you wanna hear about that too ??"
"Please do tell"
"My Spider-sense is like a sixth sense, It's hard to explain how it works exactly... but when in physical or emotional danger, I get this feeling that somethings.... off"
"Oooh so like if you were about to be punched your spider-sense would tell you to move ??"
"B B bingo"
"That's amazing"
"Thanks, It's honestly just a drop in the bucket compared to my other powers. Superhuman strength, speed, reflexes, durability, agility, balance and endurance."
"I gotta ask too, how did you get bit by the spider that gave your powers ??"
"Well Y/n It's a bit of a long story, But in the short way, while I was doing my research for my college thesis, the class I was in were touring a lab that used this special type of radiation to study spiders and other insects. One reason or another one of the spider's in there escaped and crawled It's way to little ol me. and the rest is history as I say."
"I bet it must've been weird discovering your powers for the first time."
"It definitely was. Having all these new abilities mean I had to adapt and figure out how to control and live with them. But luckily as you see every time, I use these powers for the greater good of this very city i also call home."
"It's showing, you've helped a lot for this city Spider-Man, you really have."
"Thanks Y/n, that means a lot, I want to keep using these powers to help as many people as I can. To me, that's what the responsibility that comes with my power means."
"That's a nice philosophy."
"I have my moments" you could see his mask shift slightly indicating a smile.
Then police sirens were heard off in the distance, indicating It's time for Spider-Man to go.
"Oh duty call's, thanks for this chat Y/n, I hope to see you around again." Spider-Man leaped of the railing and began to swing to the police cars direction.
"Good luck Spider-Man !!" you yelled out, you really hoped to see him again soon.
2 weeks later
Something has happened significantly to Y/n, one day you were helping your uncle move houses so he can be a tad bit closer to his workplace, oscorp. but as you were moving the boxes, you felt something sting at your hand and slapped whatever it was away, a spider... but It didn't look like any spider you read in books. Overtime you noticed strange things happen, you were able to lift more heavy items. you were able to run slightly faster to get to the subway etc. you slowly came to realize that maybe you have been developing the same powers as Spider-Man. He would know... right ??
So the next day you waited for him on the fire escape and surely enough he saw you and landed on the railing.
"Hey Y/n, long time no see. How've you been ??"
"Hey.... I gotta tell you something"
"Sure thing, what's up"
"So.... to make a long story short, I was helping my uncle move and..... I got bit by a spider... and after that I think I've developed the same powers as you"
"Yeah ?? how can you tell ??"
Y/n then looked at the wall behind them and then pressed their fingers on the wall. then slowly beginning to climb up the wall like Spider-Man does.
"Gotcha now.." the eyes of his mask went wide.
"But the strangest thing is theirs this stuff on my wrists" Y/n shows him a almost white clear substance on their wrists.
"Weird.."
But then he had a theory.
"Y/n I want you to look out int the open and do this for me ok ??" Spider-Man showed them a posture to do with their hand, making a rockstar pose with his fingers.
"Ok...." y/n did so and then something came out of their wrists and strung off into the distance. This made Spider-Man excited.
"No way dude you have organic web substances !!"
"Woah..."
Y/n thought they were dreaming, they really were like Spider-man.
"But Y/n, real talk. You can't go flaunting these newfound powers ok ?? as someone once told me with great power comes great responsibility. I live by that every day and I hope you will too."
"Thanks Spider-Man. I'll keep it in my mind."
It was slightly quiet for a bit until you spoke up.
"Spider-Man... I wanna use these powers to help the city like you, I wanna help people. I know I was destined for something on this earth and this is it. Can you help me ??"
Spider-Man did think about it for a slight bit, a crime-fighting buddy and a mentee. This could be fun.
"You got yourself a deal Y/n"
"Awesome !!!"
"But first, Let's come up with a superhero name for you."
"I have a few ideas.."
You were given a gift, a strange powerful gift. One that wasn't meant to be carried away with. But this was your calling, to help those in need. For people to look up to someone when the light seems far away, You have Spider-Man to help you along the way too, He would be an amazing mentor and friend. New York will have two amazing superheroes.
taglist @callofdudes
51 notes
·
View notes
Note
i've been meaning to ask for a while.. what are some of your favorite kamen rider fics? i've been looking for good recomendations and i trust your taste
unfortunately i don't have as many recs as you might expect because i'm highly picky and i don't read kamen rider fic all that much 😔 i kinda lost the habit because i feel like a lot of people in the tag have a different vision than i do. but let me dig a few up that i remember
first though to get this out of the way. i do in fact recommend my own fics. hi. here's all my kamen rider fics if you haven't checked them out already. at the risk of sounding conceited, i think they are really good. do let me know if you enjoy them as i love feedback
other general author recs! ihasa is prose/description goals to me, and i love their kuuga stuff in particular. bladebrave, parad, and realxeyez are all my friends who have written some great stuff and i will always hype up their excellent character takes. now for more specific fics. bolded are my favorites
impressions by estelraca - an interesting crossover take on how tsukasa lost his memories. ft lots of godai and ichijou which makes me happy because i love them :) a bit confusing in places but i liked it a lot
hanging tree by rainbowfootsteps - this is by my friend rain and was inspired by a wip snippet i posted which makes me very happy. a gloomy look at how a previous round of the rider battle might have ended
what do you call a male femme fatale? by chancellorxofxtrash - written for me for the toku holiday exchange and i was delighted to receive it. kirihiko/shoutarou fake dating
the other kind of yummy by laylah (explicit) - the most "yeah, that is exactly how it would go down" take on ankheiji having sex i've ever seen. foundational text to me
my madly-blooming feelings by shoceted - literally just now discovered this one going into the gouchase tag to retrieve another fic to add to this post (see below) AUGH IT'S SO GOOD. gouchase hanahaki disease. GOD THIS AUTHOR GETS IT. THEY GET IT
sick by oneatatime - makoala sickfic, pre-canon. pretty short but made me think "wow, this author really gets these characters" and more than that made me feel like i had a much deeper and better picture of their relationship, which is quite the feat
NOW HERE'S THE THING... a lot of the best kamen rider fics i've read are in chinese. i don't speak chinese past the beginner level but i've found deepl does the trick well enough to understand it. if you are also interested in reading chinese fics through deepl or another machine translator, here are a few more...
羚羊有一百条命 (antelopes have 100 lives) by ephedrine - satosano psychological horror and probably my favorite ryuki fic
run wolf run by liliamt - yuutaku high school au but takumi... is a werewolf o_O short but sweet
20th century boy by acetylcholine - overview of a year with ren and shinji. the prose in this is so, so gorgeous even with machine translate. some other equally beautiful works of theirs i like include special needs (yuutaku lesbians au), insomnia (heartbreaking faiz angst), it (kenhaji shape of water au), and like father like daughter (bittersweet kenhaji angst, and was a big part of the inspiration for my fic in the gaps of sunlight)
生活碎片 by fireworkinstar - post-canon gouchase that ends in them eloping. it's adorable
ok it's late and i'm getting sleepy. huh that is more recs than i expected to have. if i remember or discover any more i will add to this post, making this has inspired me to go digging for more fics and also actually read more of the many many chinese rider fics on ao3. goodnight
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
quantum break appreciation month: a quick retrospective
so, first of all, wow, it was WAY more effort than i thought to just POST SOMETHING EVERY DAY. i put a lot of pressure on myself to only post The Good Stuff to this blog, and boy golly is my standard of "good stuff" higher than it ought to be! so this has been great practice for me in "finished is better than perfect."
second of all, i wanna put together a quick rundown of everything i did this month!
Announcement post
April 1st: My Bleeding Clock (My Immortal AU) fanfic for April Fool's Day
April 2nd: Playlist to go with My Bleeding Clock
April 3rd: Sketch of 2010!Beth
April 4th: Sketch of Jack and Beth
April 5th: Reblogged my old post about last year's anniversary zine, as well as a new little sketch to celebrate the 7th anniversary of the game's release
April 6th: Doodle of Beth in a skirt (with pockets!)
April 7th: I literally just posted a passage I like from the QB:ZS novel
April 8th: Started posting old art... completed set of the halo series here!
April 9th: More old art (Jack/Paul this time)
April 10th: More old art, LNEHH edition
April 11th: More old art, Will Joyce edition
April 12th: Some Jack/Paul art to celebrate me and my husband's anniversary :3c
April 13th: QUANTUM BREAK HOMESTUCK AU!!!
April 14th: Surprise! it's even more old Jack/Paul art!
April 15th: Wow! I can't believe it's more Jack/Paul art!
April 16th: Apparently I was busy this day because I just reblogged LNEHH, lol
April 17th: Quantum Break characters, but as Skyrim characters
April 18th: Some blinkie gifs I made using blinkies.cafe
April 19th: A sweater I made using the linocut stamps from last year's anniversary zine
April 20th: Another blinkie gif, hehe
April 21st: Meta post about color palettes and color usage in Quantum Break
April 22nd: A little QB divider I made for my fansite (WIP)
April 23rd: Some terrible glitter gifs, also for the WIP fansite
April 24th: Minecraft skins of a bunch of QB characters!
April 25th: I was also apparently busy this day, cuz all I did was make a stupid phone background for myself XD
April 26th: Took a swing at pixel art
April 27th: A promo for the Quantum Break Discord Server I run!
April 28th: Wrote another chapter of My Bleeding Clock...
April 29th: Art of Jack and Paul :3
April 30th: Started a new longfic: The Symmetry of Fear!
holy shit. that's a lot. i am retroactively impressed with my past self for doing all this, lmao. nice.
third of all! i wanna note that i started several projects this month that i have yet to finish. of course i'm not confining my quantum break posting to one month of the year (impossible) but i will take my time finishing the... uh... three fics and two meta essays i have unfinished, as well as the fansite i am working on. i want these to be GOOD, so i'm not going to rush them. i'm glad this month gave me to juice to finally get these projects started, though!
and lastly... why did i even do this project/event in the first place?
well... good question. i imagine i'm not the only one who has been Going Through It for a while now, and i just... really needed a big project to focus on for a while. and quantum break is like, one of the only things that i never get tired of thinking about, so... are you seeing my logic here?
all that said, i do genuinely want to work on putting more love out into the world. and i love quantum break! i want other people to love it too! (or at least, i want other people to look at my passion for it and be like "i dont go here but you keep doing your funky little thing my man," you know what i mean?)
so, big thanks to everyone who has encouraged me this month, whether it be in reblog tags, in the quantum break discord server, or elsewhere. also, big thanks to my husband, who i would not have married if not for our mutual obsession with quantum break, and who is always down to listen to me talk about my various theories and fic ideas. and finally, a big thanks to remedy, for making this dumb game that i love so so so much.
#quantum break#quantum break appreciation month#thanks yall for putting up with my qb posting seriously#i know thats not what most of yall are here for#but thanks for humoring me anyway!#i WILL make more people love this game so help me god
10 notes
·
View notes
Text
getaway
so it was my 20th anniversary with Dude this past weekend, so I got back from the farm on Saturday and on Sunday we drove to the Finger Lakes and stayed two nights in this.... well it was an inn, and it was just this side of bonkers, and it’s a long story but we definitely admired their ability to walk that fine line of wow this is weird and come up on the but i like it side instead of i gotta get outta here.
Anyway it was really lovely and we had a lovely time and the most important thing was the company, of course, yadda yadda, but I got home on Tuesday night into the worst case of Sunday Scaries I’ve had in a while, and I am just. So full of dread and despair today folks, so full of it.
cut for whining, mostly job-search-related but also existential!
Nothing I do is worth money, no job I’ve ever had has actually wanted me there except as a warm body to grudgingly pay the least amount they could get away with. I have no marketable skills. I can write novels, but not on demand. And really, that’s the problem-- up to 80% of my mind at any given time is taken up with fake things, imaginary worlds and situations, and I can’t focus anyway but even if I could, I wouldn’t focus on the real world, because the real world sucks, and I’m wildly productive at real-world things but not in ways that anyone ever in the history of ever has wanted to pay me for. i’ve done a lot of really skilled volunteer jobs but they are all things nobody is going to pay actual money for.
The only thing I want to do, the only thing I have ever wanted to do, the only thing I have ever consistently done, is write, and the way our economy and culture and publishing system works, that is something I can never be paid money for. I will never earn a living, and I will never even earn more than expenses unless I devote attention I simply don’t possess to marketing and other things, which I cannot do and have no skills in. So that’s out.
But I should be honest: all I’m doing is trying to earn enough paychecks in my life that someone will someday say “Okay you can stop” and let me go write for a while, and that’s not going to happen, so.
Yeah I also keep hoping they’ll find money to pay me with at the farm but that keeps not happening. I needed to find myself a job to do that would provide a revenue stream for them to pay me from, but when I tried to be the flowers person they refused to hire me for that one and hired someone who flaked out instead and this year’s plan for that is apparently none of my business, and now i was trying to be the person doing commercial kitchen stuff but they’re already talking about the people they want to hire for that and i’m not any of those either, and I guess I gotta put on my big girl panties and ask directly but I did that for flowers and the rejection really stung and so I’m not looking forward to that. but it’s better than wishing, i suppose.
I had always idly thought if I finished any of my original novels ever I could put those somewhere and sell them but well first I’d have to find the time, and second, watching joy demorra’s (bibliosphere) posts about how little money Amazon actually gives to her is so demoralizing. I’ll only do that if I don’t actually need the money, jesus christ. meanwhile i’d rather sate my encompassing addiction with fanfic because then i can at least be realistic that it doesn’t pay money. Again, better than wishing.
But I’m just old and tired, and all the frustrations of this job I’ve spent twelve years at being grudgingly paid the least they can get away with, with my poorly-defined job description it’s a nightmare to navigate on the daily, are just piling up extra, and I am so tired of the only things I enjoy and am supported in doing in this world are things that do not actually contribute to my actually having food and shelter. It’s not that I’m trying to do what I love or whatever, I know that’s a fake idea, I’m just so tired that there are so many calls for me to work hard in ways I love, and those have to come out of my own reserves, I pay to do them, and then I have to poorly do a terrible job at a job that dislikes me in order to get any money, to afford to be able to do the things I love that cost money to do, and it’s just frustrating because the things I love are also hard work and I don’t know how to solve that. I’m not even explaining it well! I’m just very tired.
It is all irredeemable whining but when I think too hard about this it cuts into my ability to write; I was making progress FINALLY on the next bit of Fit For Pearls until I got the crushing wave of nothing-I-do-is-valued-by-society ennui, which is no fair. If I’m so thoroughly worthless I should at least be able to write some lesbian porn about it, but I was denied.
Honestly that’s the only thing I need, is enthusiasm for that; I gotta solve my actual real world problems on my own. but i would super not mind a reminder that I’ve come far too far with Ciri and Lu to only come this far.
Though if anyone’s got any good leads on part-time remote work I could to to make ends meet that’d be pretty keen.
33 notes
·
View notes
Text
16 october:
Good morning everyone.
Thank you for watching #ONEDAY Episode 2: 🙇♂️The timeline for episode 2 is 1 hour 7 minutes 🙈.
17th october:
Sorry for the inconvenience: 🙇♂️
A triumphant return to our first solo performance space. I'm back 🙈.
I can't believe you guys welcomed me like this😭.Thank you Nagoya🙈.
I'm home!
Tell me what it's all about.My mum has the same birthday as you 🙈.
18th october:
Good morning everyone!
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.Thank you all 😭
19th and 20th october:
Good morning everyone!
21 october:Good morning everyone!
Why not?That's a thing, isn't it?What's the scene?I danced today... #ONEDAY
22th october:
Good morning everyone.
23th october:
Good morning everyone!
So today's #ONEDAY is1 hour and 4 minute timeline, apparently. Episode 3. We hope you enjoy it: 🙇♂️
24th october:
Good morning everyone!
25 october:
Good morning everyone!
Mi, mi, mi, everyone...! Thank you very much. 🙇♂️ All the really warm words are sinking in.
Woke up in the morning, worked first thing, checked emails for enquiries.It's a new and fresh movement.
26th october:
Good morning, everyone!
Nino-san recording finished. After all, it's fun to get together with everyone, isn't it?
27th october:
I'm done-i'm going home.
I was kind of embarrassed because i felt like i sent that post earlier probably once in my life to my mum. I'm back lol.
28th october:
Good morning, everyone!
Hey everyone! Good morning: ！！！！
I didn't say hello today...Sorry. 🙇♂️
29th october:
Good morning, everyone!
When I went out on the street, there were lots of people dressed up!It's Halloween. It's getting colder, so take care of yourselves💪.
I mean, how would I make a website for my future work? I wondered,My sister said, "I can make a simple one. My sister said, "I can make a simple website", so we decided to make one together.
Wow! Thank you! Thank you! I'm so happy😭Oh, no. Nothing but gratitude. #Default2MillionMan.
We've probably only had about 7,000 more people today alone. 🙇♂️Thank you so much! And I changed my profile, though, ididn't want to cause any trouble for 00pon, so i made it this way. So far 🙈.
30 th october:
Good morning, everyone!
Today's #ONEDAY Episode 4 time line is apparently 2 hours and 2 minutes. I just realised that about 12.5 hours have already passed. Maybe today is effectively the turnaround...?Enjoy: 🙇♂️
31th october:
"Analogue" event ends.Venue.[Congratulations to the default 2 million man...]And. I'll be waiting for your website!and [I'm waiting for your website! Thank you 🙇♂️ (Of course we received your support too. Thank you 😊)
1st november:
Good morning, everyone!(2 times.)
2nd november:
Good morning, everyone!
I took a wrong turn and got lost for a moment. I managed to get to the site five minutes before (even though it wasn't a particularly unusual place). So I'll do my best again today. 🙇♂️
3rd november:
Good morning, everyone!
Thank you for all the celebrations 😊. It's been 24 years since your debut 🙈.
4th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Hey guys! Thank you so much 🙇♂️🙇♂️🙇♂️🙇♂️
Is this real?@MJ_Perspective
Thank you all: 🙇♂️ Looking at the rips, it seems to be real!Exhibition, they're going to do it: 🙇♂️#MJinitsentirety
5th november:
Good morning, everyone!
6th november: Good morning, everyone!
Today's #ONEDAY episode 5 has a time slot of 1 hour 4 minutes. So almost to the point where it's almost as long as the broadcast slot (not that it matters lol). We were filming today to rave reviews: 🙇♂️ Please watch it at 9pm: 🙇♂️
7th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Report. Ninomiya, we have created a company 🙈. We are also steadily working on our website. We will do our best. 🙇♂️
8th and 9th november:
Good morning, everyone!
10th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Today's filming required quite a lot of people and the extras lent us a lot of help. The filming ended without incident, thanks to a lot of help from our side! Thanks to everyone who participated. 🙇♂️
11th november:
Good norning, everyone!(2 times).
Oh, by the way, just now. Good morning! Good morning! So i turned around and it was you.
I should have had my photo taken...
Thank you for your hard work. Today's drama shoot is over lol.
12th november:
Good morning, everyone!
You don't mean... what i said at ......! No, this is a sign of your further growth, Uno...! In any case, congratulations ㊗️
13th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Ah, what a lovely day. My friends on the big stage on New Year's Eve...Sing a miracle in the small wide world. Let's all get bumped up: 🙇♂️#Ohmochiri-Ryo-chanShukui.
Today's #ONEDAY episode 6 timeline is 56 minutes. It's real time now. Enjoy: 🙇♂️
14th november:
Good morning, everyone!
I thought it was nostalgic, so i went through my folders and found that i had one too: 🎞️ They were all really cute lol. Let's shoot again🙆(Repost of tweet)
15th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Today all the parking spaces near the work place were full. I had no choice but to park at a distance, i parked in a remote place and walked slowly. I met a nice alley(excuse)and was 10 minutes late.(Sorry about that.)
Sorry about the typo.
So i asked Nakamaru to take a picture.
16th november:
Good morning, everyone!
On the way to the convenience store just now. I was on my way to the convenience store when i heard the words "Oh, i've just seen the "Analogue."I was told in such a normal way that i thought i should be more excited because it was the real thing. 🙇♂️
I'm Ninomiya, and i've shot the arthouse photos(artist photos) today 📷. I'll do my best to tell you about it soon 🙈.
Can i have the header and icons accordingly with today's arthouse photo? Can i just use a picture of nothing? I know you guys can't say anything about it because you haven't seen ...... yet lol. I'd like to try this feature for a bit, so let me do it lol.
17th november:
Good morning, everyone!
First survey.As of now, more than 443,000 people have participated. Thank you so much for your participation! But the results have stayed at this percentage since about an hour after we started. I'm surprised that the percentage hasn't changed. We've taken everyone's feelings into account...
At any rate, thank you for your first survey. That's why I'm going to leave the little niño here.
18th and 19th november:
Good morning, everyone!
20th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Today's #ONEDAY Episode 7 timeline is. 1 hour 17 minutes. Also, it looks like episode 0 will be on TVer. Enjoy: 🙇♂️
Mizuki... mizuki... mizuki...
21th and 22th november:
Good morning, everyone!
23th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Every year (probably almost...) i choose to spend Labor Thanksgiving Day in the strong style of being thankful while working. I would like to thank all the people who rested on the same strong style as me, and i would like to thank all of you for your hard work!🙇♂️
24th november:
Good morning, everyone!
25th november:
Good morning, everyone!
I'd say, but I'd like to sleep some more.
26th november:
Good morning, everyone!
Congratulations: ❤️#Themanwhocelebratedtheworldsslowest
0 notes
Text
NOW 3 In Chicago
My thoughts and commentary as I watch the NOW DVDs! I asked if people wanted me to post my thoughts as I watched and the majority did, so here we are. There is only 1 DVD in this package again, about an hour and a half long. The other part of this was just the photobook and extra photo goodies, such as posters. Reminder that these are just my thoughts, it's not very organized. You get me typing it out as I go like I'm reacting to a friend. Somewhat like a bullet point format in a way.
This was filmed during 150720 - 150723 during their Red Bullet Tour, they performed in Chicago on the 24th (Tae confirms first day of shooting is the 20th). This Taekook ft. Mini & Moni Bangtan Bomb that was released in 2016 was actually filmed during these photoshoots too. I also actually was able to find these on YouTube subbed. You can watch them if you want, part 1 and part 2. You can see their tweets from that time frame as well here, including 2 tweets jikook made together.
DVD opens up with Hobi struggling to put contacts in and I was not prepared! Watching people touch their eyeballs gives me chills. Lol Jimin just laughing at him too 😂 JK so proud of his colored lenses! Jin is so cute. "I was trying to be cool, but I tripped." Jimin with his reddish hair and that bandana around his neck, the jewelry and that makeup, and it WORKS for him. Easily my favorite look. I swear, I'm obsessed 😍 HopeKook always so ready to break into dance together. The eyeliner for everyone is so intense. Lol
Tae 😭 "the future me who is watching this, what are you doing? I must be successful in a year, right?" Oh who is going to tell him?! Minimoni walking around Chicago together with a self camera, exploring. I love them. Jimin strutting around Chicago with a self cam looking fierce as heck and so happy. One of my favorite clips I swear. It is giving off so much energy, the vibes. I love it
Hobi was so nervous and scared through his whole shoot on that bridge but you would never be able to tell! He kills it. It's interesting (and the photos turned out crazy good) that they did unit shoots for this location with Namkook in one unit and then the other 5 in another too.
3J being so goofy in the car. 😍 Hopekook messing around with the camera, hearing Jimins laugh as they have English Time too. Lol Yoongi has got the MOST colorful hair for these shoots and I adore everything about it.
Sope photoshoots being the best thing ever! Yoongi unable to stop giggling the whole time and complaining about Hobi taking his sandwich as he is already just handing it over happily. They just make me so happy.
Jikook unit shoot 😭 there was just so much cuteness in here. "Now for Jungkook and Jimin who are always squabbling." Lmao we know editors, but they are so cute. And at the end of their shooting, Jimin joking about JK being taller today and just JK fully checking Jimin out from behind, head to toe, wow. Okay 😂 before agreeing and teasing about being taller. Jimin doing his solo shoot and struggling hard blowing bubbles with the gum. Only for us to hear JK still there watching his solo shoot and teasing him in the background while waiting for his own solo shoot. Lol their unit shoots together are always so special
Namjoon being the cutest and most precious little bean during the Taenamjin unit shoot. I don't know what he was doing, but it was adorable. Lol and can we all agree that Pink is Jins color. Yes? Great. Tae doing the opening line for Dope and being so goofy interrupting Jins shoot, while Jin just smiles so fondly 😂 Tae almost taking Jimin to the ground by jumping on his back during during group shoot 😅😂 and getting his revenge on Tae while JK was just trying to say goodbye to the camera. The chaos of them all together is beautiful.
Team missions for photoshoots again! Teams were created off of a random draw this time. I'm excited for watching the process of the insanity I know is going to come. Lol we have NamGi, Taekook and HopeJinJi teams! They created their trio name themselves after picking their teams now and Tae created Taekook after that too. NamGi said they would be 6 years, for the length of their friendship 🥺
Everyone talking about how Namsen tower is super popular for couples, but that it has a really good view and good food and good music. Tae wanted to be able to go. Jimin said he went over his last vacation, Jin and Joon both said it was a really good spot for food and music. And they all got to go up to the top of the tower for some time! Vmin were so cute too
Next day of shooting starts off with Jimin pretending to throw grenades at Jungkook who is peacefully trying to take scenery photos! Lol Joon starting the photos off with some crazy dance moves. Jihope watching so fondly as he acts crazy. Jimin going "he's cute" and Hobi going "he looks like he has no eyebrows" 😂😂 The editors putting a horror movie scream over the footage of the photographer rescuing Hobi from a spider on the tree is so rude 😂 Hobi is so sweet though, giving us flowers 💜 Tae filming with a puppy!! The cutest thing ever. JK wants to go play with that dog so bad. Lol this shoot was so chaotic. Lol there was SO MUCH energy, particularly from Tae!
Next shoot! I'm never not going to laugh at Jhopes energy. He has so much of it! Joon just tolerating everything he throws at him. Jimin complaining about his hyung always hitting his chest anytime he wears a dress shirt cracks me up, before it turns into a childish slapping pushing fight between the two as they giggle. Lol JinKook on a ferris wheel too! Their smiles were precious. Jhope pushing people out of the camera view consistently this whole shoot 😅
The next day they finally start working on their missions. These are always so funny. HopeJinJi decide to be thieves. Jimin explaining what some of them will do, just for Hobi to come and scoop Jimin up bridal style and say "okay. Lets go!" NamGi decide to do a horror movie parody with ghosts. And while they are nicely explaining their concept idea, we see JK hanging upside down off the railing at the top of the stairs. Lmao and he doesn't get down when other people talk to him, but when we hear Jimin behind the camera call him and tell him to be careful, he gets up and off the railing finally. Lol that cut below, with added captions for Jimin 🥰 Jimin worries about him and JK just immediately gets back down. Also he is insane, lmao I love him. Yoongi was so excited to be a ghost. Lol so excited. Taekook doing a Pokémon theme shoot, I love it.
vimeo
Taekook did their shooting first and omfg, the face paint. They are making sure they protray their storyline well though, planning for each photo cut perfectly! They did a whole shoot and really committed. Lmao to the wild Pokémon (Tae) to the trainer (JK) finding and then fighting the Pokémon. Winning and capturing him in his pokeball (an apple lol). And victory shots. This was so extra and they did great 🤣 HopeJinJi doing a home alone themed shoot! Lol Jimin being "home alone" and 2seok being the thieves. Omg they were so cute and did such a good job too. Yoongi was soooo into being a ghost for this photoshoot. It's so endearing. Lmfao having the time of his life honestly. RM at the start, "it's nice he is so enthusiastic about this," and RM towards the end, "he keeps coming up with new ideas. I wish it would stop. I want to be done." 😂 they are so unintentionally funny. I love them!
JK so bored waiting for filming and went to go bug Jhope by tickling his feet and pinching him while he was trying to nap 😅 then jikook filming together, Jimin continuously zooming in on JKs face, just totally drapped across his lap as the cuddle while playing with the camera. "Jungkook-ah has a habit of kissing whenever he sees the camera" okay Jimin!
Jungkook telling Suga to give a 200% mischievous smile while he films his individual shooting before going over to watch Jimins shoot, which is next. All his giggles before he starts going in on his "oh he is so good looking" and "oh what a sexy expression" compliments and then over and over saying "oh I want to have you." Jungkook PLEASE. I have such a hard time watching this, the second hand embarrassment I get 😅 my post over THAT comment is here for those who want to read it. Lmao the editors, "he wants Jimin, but it ends." Please that doesn't make it any better 😭😭
Yoonminhopekook doing a unit shoot together. Yoonminkook tickling the heck out of Hobi for photos and 3J pushing Yoongi around on a skateboard. They are so cute. NamTaeJin were so chill in comparison as a group! Lol and their group shoots in the house were precious and chaotic as per usually. Right before it started, we see Jimin giving JK a bit of a neck massage too before they start filming as he is on the floor right in front of him. Sooo sweet. Just for Tae to put JK immediately in a headlock for photos 😂 Everyone tickling Hobi again too, someone save Jhope and everyone then tickling Kookie. It's nice they have fun as much as possible doing all these photoshoots.
Finally back in Korea and getting to see how their missions went. Them giggling over their team names is all so cute. Taekook saying they were happy to be on a team since other members can be more quiet at times. NamGi saying they were happy to work together since they hadn't been in a group together much before. HopeJinJi were so cute too talking about how good their teamwork is and how Jimin was their groups spy. Plus Jin spent that whole segment with his leg propped over Hobi's leg and tucked under Jimins arm. Lmao I love that for him! Everyone laughing super hard at how weird their photos turned out, and NamGi being like oh ours turned out so good, we look good, we did good. 🤣 Yoongi LOVED this concept, my goodness.
Omg first prize for this mission is $300 to a restaurant. That is QUITE the prize for real! Everyone else thinking they will win, and then there is Taekook saying they think Jimin will win, cuties. Tae saying he knows where Hobi would put their gift card and making plans to steal it 😂😂 Taekooks photos were so silly, Jimin was giggling so hard, yet so quietly about it too. Lol everyone was so sweet though "good looking guys look good even when they are trying to look ugly." HopeJinJi photo review turned into a roasting Jin session from the other teams 🤣 please. Lol NamGi won with just 4 more votes over the HopeJinJi team and got the gift certificate. The cheering they did was so cute!! Tae wouldn't leave JKs ear alone either or stop hitting him with the paper. Lol why are they like this? Jimin so sweet thanking all the staff who worked with them. He was so quick to leave though after his thank yous. Tae right on his heels! And ending the DVD with cute self filmed footage of NamGi's Korean Beef date with their well earned prize money was the perfect ending for sure 🥺🥺🥺
This was so cute and had so many amazing moments between everyone. I love getting to watch them all have fun together too. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts! You can find my thoughts over the first 2 NOW DVDs as well on my masterlist 💜💜
#my thoughts over now in Chicago#my thoughts over bts now 3 dvd#jikook in now dvds#jikook in now 3#Vimeo
72 notes
·
View notes
Text
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
remember, forever. (12)
↳ kageyama tobio x f!reader
description: in which the boy you’ve loved for years unexpectedly becomes your baby daddy. the catch? he’s in love with someone else.
genre: angst, cheating, unrequited love
a/n: i have an important-ish announcement after this but i’ll make a separate post for that, for now here’s part 12 :)
previous
The busier you were, the faster the days passed by. You focused all of your attention on work and giving Jina advices for her wedding arrangement while Kageyama focused on his games.
There were days where Kageyama played Away games and he had to travel far, but he still made sure that every time he came home, he would spend all of his free time with you.
He still paid very close attention to you and your baby’s needs that he almost moved into your apartment—sometimes staying at your place as if it was his own. He’d even already filled up half of your closet with his clothes.
He was actually a wonderful dad even if the baby wasn’t born yet, you could see through his actions that he genuinely cared for the baby. It just seemed innate within him to always be there and treat you with utmost care.
The hardest part was the relationship between the two of you. For the past few weeks, none of you had ever talked about your feelings. Sure, you two had gotten closer but there was some sort of a wall in between.
There was a boundary—a safe zone where the two of you would fall back into whenever serious feelings were getting involved.
Today, an appointment was set for you because you’ve already reached your second trimester and you were advised that you could already find out the baby’s gender as early as now.
Kageyama was nervous when the two of you waited outside and it reminded you of the day you were about to get an abortion done, but this time he was nervous for something more positive.
“Stop fidgeting,” you told him.
You caressed your bump that grew over the course of a few weeks. It was an instinct to rub your belly so your baby could feel your love.
“I can’t help it.“ He leaned back on his seat, looking at you. “If it’s a girl, doesn’t matter. I’ll still teach her how to play.”
You smiled. “And if it’s a boy?”
“He’s going to be an Olympic player,” he claimed, confidently. “I’ll make him surpass me.”
It made you chuckle. “I’m fine with whatever, as long as our baby’s healthy.”
He placed a hand on your bump. “I’m still manifesting it’s a boy. He better be a boy.”
“Daddy’s being so controlling, isn’t he?” you spoke to your baby.
Kageyama looked at you with heated cheeks. “Say it again.”
You looked at him, confused. “What?”
“The thing you said,” he mumbled.
“Daddy?”
He grinned, causing you to roll your eyes at him playfully.
When you got inside the room, the doctor did her monthly assessment on you. It was mainly just asking if you had any odd symptoms or if you were on a healthy diet. She also noted that it was nice to see your ‘husband’ with you this time.
By the time the ultrasound was ready, Kageyama held your hand and anticipated for the baby to appear on the monitor.
It surprised you a little to see how much your baby had developed since the last time you had an ultrasound done. Your baby wasn’t just a little bean anymore—this time, you could see the head, the limbs, and the body. You were so overjoyed that your heart was racing.
My baby.
“Oh, wow. Your baby’s looking very healthy,” the doctor noted, looking at the monitor with a smile. “Oh! Looks like the baby’s sucking its thumb.”
The doctor pointed where to spot it and you swooned at how adorable it was. She told you that since you were on your 20th week, you could now see much of the baby’s movements like kicking or thumb-sucking.
You glanced at Kageyama to see his wide blue eyes staring at the screen with adoration. He was awestruck, to say the least.
“Our baby moves a lot,” he said, still amazed at the sight. He then placed a kiss on the back of your hand.
The doctor smiled. “Yes, because the baby’s awake so we’re lucky.”
Kageyama suddenly turned his attention to the doctor. “Um, can we know the baby’s gender?”
It was adorable how excited he was to hear it. You already knew he was praying so hard for the baby to be a boy.
“Okay, so...” the doctor assessed the screen once again, Kageyama squeezed your hand. “From this angle, it’s quite obvious that your baby is a boy.”
You’ve only seen Kageyama’s full smile twice in your life; first was when they won the Spring Inter High and second was today.
His eyes were shining of pure joy as if this was the best news he’d ever heard in his life and it warmed your heart. You were happy to see that he was feeling this way towards your baby.
It was all you ever wanted. For the baby to be loved. You didn’t care if he didn’t love you, but you were glad that he truthfully loved his son.
“We’re having a boy,” he said it like he couldn’t believe it. And before you could respond, he planted a kiss on your forehead. “Thank you.”
———————————————————————
You already had a gut-feeling that you were going to have a baby boy, but you were still surprised to know. Just thinking about having a little Tobio already made you so eager to see your baby.
“I’m going to make him the best volleyball player in the world.” Kageyama held your hand as the two of you walked around the mall. He looked like he was in a very happy mood.
“You wanted a boy so much just so you can have a little you,” you replied, intertwining your fingers with his.
He looked at you, teasingly. “Did you want a little you?”
���I don’t mind having a girl is what I’m saying.”
“We’ll try for a girl next time.”
Your heart stopped for a moment.
Did you hear that right?
Did he really want another baby with you? You wanted to cry then and there because he had no single idea what kind of weight his words have in them.
He probably didn’t mean it, but you felt so emotional. How could he say he wanted to try for another baby when he didn’t even love you?
It wasn’t just about having kids. It was about building a relationship together as parents. You knew he wasn’t thinking deep into what he was saying.
He wanted all of these with Lara, not you.
He stopped walking at once and you figured out that he was heading towards the baby store that you went into last time. You just didn’t want to ruin his happy mood.
“Tobio,” you spoke. “We’re not gonna shop for the baby right now, are we?”
He displayed a cheeky smile. “We are now.”
———————————————————————
The reason why you’ve had to work your ass off for the last few weeks was because this upcoming project would be your last big project before you’d file your maternity leave.
Your doctor advised that the stress would be bad for your baby so you had to spend lesser time doing things that could potentially overwork you both physically and mentally.
Kageyama was also very adamant about you just staying at home for the time being.
In a few weeks, that would be the case.
For now, you had an important meeting set up for your upcoming project. This project meant a lot to you and you were silently praying that everything would go well.
“Do you know who’s gonna be the model for the next cover?” You heard one of your staff writers ask her co-worker.
“Lara Miyazaki?” she answered as you listened from your office. “God, we’re screwed. She’s a diva.”
You were surprised for one of two things because a) you didn’t expect that your manager had chosen her as the featuring model and b) you didn’t understand why your staff were scared to work with her.
“I heard she caused a scene from this one photoshoot,” they continued their gossip. “Apparently, she didn’t like the hair and make up so she threw a tantrum and got the artist fired.”
But Lara had always appeared as a nice and friendly person so it was weird to hear that. You could still remember the day you bumped into her outside the elevator where she smiled and apologized to you so sweetly.
She was also the one who initiated the conversation with you that day you saw her and Kageyama together at the convenience store.
“That’s awful,” one of them commented. “She’s really pretty but I didn’t expect her to be two-faced.”
“Wasn’t she dating Tobio Kageyama?”
“Oh, that famous volleyball player? I heard they broke up because he cheated.”
You felt dizzy.
You were surprised that none of the people you work with had figured out who your baby daddy was. But then again, you didn’t really tell them anything. There was also no trace of you and Kageyama on any of his social media. It was impossible to know, unless they saw you two together outside.
“I think they broke up because she has an ugly personality. Serves her right!”
The three girls started laughing and that was the moment you decided to step out of your office.
“Hey, guys,” you greeted as soon as you stepped out. “Let’s not badmouth our clients. Remember your actions reflect the values we have as a company.”
“We’re sorry, miss.”
You smiled. “It’s fine. Please prepare the meeting room in a bit. I want everything set up before our client arrives.”
———————————————————————
You have always been calm and collected whenever you had a presentation in front of very important people. You always knew what to say and you were always professional at how you carried yourself at work.
It was because you loved what you were doing and you wouldn’t be standing there if you weren’t prepared to present your proposal.
However, something about Lara being the main model for the project you were working on gave you incredible anxiety.
Your manager told you that Lara was one of the most prominent rising models in Japan and that it was a great opportunity to choose her as the next cover for the magazine. She reassured you that it was a good idea to choose a model who was at the height of her career because their covers tend to sell out fast.
But as you stood at the other end of the table, Lara’s scrutinizing gaze almost set you on fire.
She was seated next to her manager along with the other big bosses that you had to work with and it scared you.
You took a deep breath and reminded yourself that it was going to be okay. You’ve faced people like Anna Wintour, so this should be fine.
“Good afternoon, everyone,” you began as you stood next to the TV screen. “I’m very delighted to have all of you here. Today, I will be presenting the concept that my team and I have proposed for this month’s cover.”
Everyone in the room looked at you with great interest except for Lara. You could very well see, even from afar, that she was rolling her eyes.
You didn’t let her distract you. “Fashion is evolving from time to time,” you continued. “We are at an age where people, young and old, are using fashion as a way to express themselves. As Tokyo Fashion Week is coming up, we have decided to—”
“Um, sorry but,” Lara interrupted, causing everyone in the room to look at her. “If she’s the one I’m gonna work with, I’m gonna have to decline on this feature.”
She looked at you unapologetically and you were taken aback that you couldn’t think of any rebuttal. You were left speechless.
Everyone else had no idea why she didn’t want to work with you, but you and Lara knew exactly why.
You could see in her eyes how willing she was to make this difficult for you.
Your manager had stepped in on your behalf to try and reason out, “We understand but she’s one of our best fashion editors. She has a degree from NYU and she has interned for Vogue’s top editor-in-chief. I can assure that she’s more than capable of—”
“That’s not my point,” Lara had quickly retorted, now losing her patience. Her manager tried to calm her down. “No. I don’t want her on this project, so choose. Her or me?”
When all eyes turned to you, you wanted to bury yourself right on the spot.
This was possibly the worst experience you’ve ever had after working with so many big names in the industry.
But you knew where Lara was coming from. You understood her sentiments. She was furious and the last thing she wanted was to work with the girl who stole her boyfriend from her. Even if that was never your intention, it was still a slap to her face for you to even be there.
This project meant the world for you, but you knew that if you proceeded, you would ruin it for the company and for everything that your team had worked hard for.
You thought of the sleepless nights that they had researching, gathering ideas, and collecting bits and pieces to make this proposal one of the best you’ve came up with. So much thought and effort were put into every detail of this project.
You didn’t want to throw all of that away. You didn’t want to be the reason why all of it would go to waste. At this situation, Lara had the upperhand and she knew how to use it so well.
As you took a step aside, you turned to your boss and remained professional. “It’s fine. I’ll just hand the project over to Ayane. Her and my team will take care of everything.”
———————————————————————
Later that day, your team went to your office and apologized for what happened. You reassured them that it was going to be okay, because they’d still be successful at running this month’s feature even without your help.
Yes you worked hard for it, but there were times where you had to sacrifice. This was a situation that greatly called for it.
The meeting lasted for almost 2 hours and you assumed that Lara had already left after that.
But you were surprised when she met with you at the lobby just as you were about to head home.
“It’s upsetting to see you act so innocent,” she spat, sending you a piercing stare. “Is that how you stole my boyfriend? By throwing a pity party so you could have him?”
You took a deep breath. “Lara, I know you’re mad and...”
“I am mad. I don’t just hate you, I despise you,” she stated—her anger reflecting through her words. “You’re a snake. You’re a slut.”
This, you realized, was how Lara handled her pain. It was full of anger and resentment, and you understood why she would feel that way.
“And just because Tobio is with you now doesn’t mean he loves you,” she stated firmly. “You burdened him with a kid and he just feels bad for you.”
“I know that,” was all you could say.
Lara snorted. “He doesn’t love you. He’ll never love you like he loves me. Even if you have that child with him, he’s eventually gonna get sick of you. Did you stop for a minute and think, what if he’s still seeing me behind your back?”
You lost the will to speak because your heart was in so much pain. Not because you refused to believe her words, but because you knew there was some truth to the things she was saying.
“I can’t control how he feels for me and I’d never force him into anything,” you said, swallowing your weak feelings back in. “But I trust him.”
Lara let out a sardonic laugh. “So if he cheated on you, that’s just karma, right?”
Whether Kageyama would cheat on you or not was out of your hands, but there was one thing you were sure of.
He loved this woman in front of you. Before you came into the picture, she was his world. They made promises to each other that wouldn’t have been broken if only you didn’t reappear in his life.
His life would have been better with her. He would have been happier and you were holding him back from his true happiness.
After all, Lara did say he’d only seen you as an obsessive girl in high school that he probably had gotten sick of. She was right. Even if he chose to be with you, he’d get tired eventually. You were nothing but an obligation that he wished he didn’t have to deal with.
Even if it hurt you, it was simply the truth.
#kageyama tobio#tobio kageyama#tobio kageyama x reader#tobio kageyama x you#kageyama x reader#kageyama x you#kageyama angst#kageyama fic#kageyama#haikyuu x reader#haikyuu x you#haikyuu angst#haikyuu fic#haikyuu#haikyuu!!#haikyu
753 notes
·
View notes
Note
in an ask you mentioned that fetishization can be positive. in my understanding, fetishization is an inherently bad thing, so if you're up to it, could you elaborate on that?
I can, but get ready for some early 20th century Jewish philosophy! :D
So, there's this guy named Martin Buber, one of the most famous Jewish philosophers, who posited a specific kind of existentialism: the theory of the I–It relationship and the I–Thou relationship (or Ich–Es and Ich–Du). Definitely read up on it, I'm going to do a shitty job of explaining it.
In essence:
The I–It relationship is a transactional, objectifying relationship. It's one where a person sees another being for what they are, and not who they are. There's no real connection between spirits, because each person only sees a representation of the other person in their mind.
The I–Thou relationship, conversely, is about seeing another being in truth, without any filters based on preconceptions, what they can do for each other, or what they want out of the encounter. It's the most true meeting, because you get to experience who a person actually is, instead of all of the mental and relational fog that we build around others.
Buber goes on to explain that I–Thou relationships are rare, and that each person may only have a handful of fleeting moments in their life where they get to experience a connection like that.
*****
Okay, so. What does this look like in practice?
(this explanation is mine, and is structured for ease and simplicity. Don't @ me, I know I'm deviating from Buber's purposes.) (He can @ me, you guys can't)
Imagine you board a specific bus for the first time. New job, new house, whatever. It's your first time on this bus line. You step on the bus, and there is a bus driver. You pay your fare and say thank you, and sit down. What kind of relationship do you have with this bus driver? It's an I–It relationship - your whole interaction is through a lens of purpose. They are there to drive you to their destination, you are there to pay your fare and be transported. There is no true connection there.
Now, imagine you take that bus every week day, for months and months, and you've started chatting with that bus driver. Now you know about their kids, what kind of coffee they like. They know about your job and what makes you smile. You like each other as people. This could be the beginning of an I–Thou relationship (Buber would disagree - whatever, it's my blog).
You had no way to develop that I–Thou relationship, though, if you hadn't interacted first through the I–It lens.
*****
"Mx. Ficsex, when do we get to the part about sex?"
Now, dear reader. Now.
*****
When it comes to sex and relationships, we often meet people through a lens of fetishization. The only reason you notice them is because they exemplify something sexual. They are a role or an object, but in the sense that Buber describes (and I bastardize).
We cannot control our desires. We can certainly control our behaviors, and we might be able to put in work to expand our view of what's considered "attractive", but we can't have a conversation with our subconscious to say "hey, I need you to turn off that fetish, please". That's a recipe for repression.
If you have a fetish for large breasts, you might view someone with large breasts as a role, as opposed to as a person. Their role is "sexy person that I look at". Their role is not "person who owes me sex" or "person I can demean" or even "person I can hit on", but your brain assigns them a box that they fit in, just like "bus driver" fits into the box of "I pay, they get me somewhere".
It's not that someone with large breasts is actually an object, of course, but the fact that they fit into the role of "sexy person that I look at" may be what connects you. Maybe it gives you a reason to say hello, or send a drink down the bar to them, or send the first message in OkC. This opens the door to a true and meaningful connection.
*****
This gets trickier when we discuss identities that are typically fetishized. I'm not going to go into the downsides of fetishization here (and there are many), as that would make this post a lot longer.
It can be empowering to be seen as sexual and desirable when you are part of a group that is frequently seen as deviant, undesirable, or non-sexual. It's not even a "well, no one regular likes me, so I guess I'll take someone gross who fetishizes part of my identity" (though that happens too). It's more "wow, this aspect of myself that society tells me / others is undesirable is a major turn-on for this person. If they are also a nice/good person that I get along with, this could work out really well for both of us!
(get ready for the thesis statement. drumroll, please....)
Fetishization is by nature dehumanizing, but that doesn't necessarily mean that there is no humanity to be found in potential connections. I–It relationships are all dehumanizing, to some extent, but we can use the "person as role" introduction as a foundation to create a "person as person" relationship.
If you are a person who is uncomfortable being fetishized at all, that is okay! You don't have to stand for it! I'm not being sarcastic, that is a genuinely good line to draw. But your point of view is not the only one.
There are trans women - especially older trans women - who are in relationships with men who are primarily sexually attracted to trans women (also known as chasers), and they can be good and healthy relationships. Yes, the relationship is built on an objectification of a marginalized identity, but the two people in that relationship have decided together that they are happy.
There are people missing limbs, either from congenital abnormalities or amputations, who have found love and companionship with people have have a fetish for their limb difference.
What is important to keep in mind is consent and power dynamics.
For example, race-based fetishization is almost always unethical, as it's based on a concept of privilege versus marginalization. So is fetishization based on cognitive ability, as it's based on being more powerful and able than a partner with an intellectual disability. People can't just say "I cannot control my desires", and use that to excuse bad intentions, bad practices, and bad behavior. But people can say "this aspect of a person attracts me to them, and puts them into a role of "sexy person I want to look at", and I therefore will see if I can get close to them.
*****
This post is getting way, way too long, so I'm going to cut it here now.
I want to wrap up by saying that this is ONE view, that I am presenting in ONE way. I am generally against the concept of fetishization, and only intend here to explain how it can be positive or powerful. If individual people with marginalized identities find value or desirability in being fetishized, that is not ours to police.
Enjoy my brutal butchering of Martin Buber's philosophy, and feel free to share nuanced takes in the replies.
#damn#this doesn't even get into ethical objectification#which is way less cringe than fetishization#and is one of my favorite topics to yell about
106 notes
·
View notes
Text
Since an anon asked me to tell them about the factual inaccuracies in the latest AK*M episode I’ll make a numbered list a la Jenny Nicholson, under the cut.
1. Phoebe says at the 30:55 mark that the contract they signed in September of 1969 would require them to put out SEVEN ALBUMS PER YEAR. I thought she misspoke, but no, she said it twice, with emphasis. This is not true as far as I can tell; they cite their sources in the show notes but don’t notate which things they refer to, so if it’s in there somewhere, I haven’t been able to find it yet, though I’m still looking. Beatlesbible says it was two albums per year, though there’s no source; however, I found this in And In The End by Ken McNab that seems to agree with that:
2. At the 32 minute mark Phoebe says, “They have a whole month, so it’s not even that wild for Paul to say, ‘Okay listen, it’s January 3rd, we have until the 30th. So we have a whole freakin month to come up with a decent idea, like, we should be able to do that, guys.’” In the opening montage of Get Back, it is made explicitly clear that the dress rehearsal was meant to happen on the 18th, with the shows on the 19th and 20th. Also, on the 6th, Paul says they only have twelve more days, but since they’re not originally working weekends (possibly because of the film crew’s union requirements? not sure about that), it’s actually even less.
3. I talked about the Ringo and Paul quote in this post; the talk about this quote in the podcast starts at 1:13:08. Like I said in that post, they could just be severely misremembering it, or they might be conflating that quote with another one I don’t know about. Again, they list their sources, but not what points in the conversation the sources relate to. So I’m still looking for a possible other quote, but I haven’t yet found it.
4. They attempt to refute the idea that Ringo walked out in 68 because Paul wouldn’t stop criticizing his drumming by misrepresenting Maureen Starkey’s interview in 1988. They represent it like this at 1:22:35:
Thalia: Another thing that has been folded into this ‘Paul was the problem child of the Beatles’ narrative is the idea that he was alienating his bandmates with egomaniac and diva behavior. An example of how this has been retrofit to support this narrative is the way that fans have begun to blame Paul for Ringo’s quitting in 1968.
Phoebe: There apparently was at least one day where Ringo came home from the studio during the White album complaining about Paul, because Maureen gave an interview later where she recounts that one day he came home and he said, ‘Paul’s a fucking moron.’ She used ‘freaking,’ but I think in one interview she said ‘fucking.’
Iris: But, from Ringo’s point of view, at least, that wasn’t the cause of his walkout.
Then they play a clip of Ringo refuting this idea in 2000 on the Howard Stern show. But, here’s what the Maureen Starkey interview actually says:
Q: Were you there when Ritchie walked out?
A: No, but I was surprised when he came home so soon. He told me to pack my bags without giving me much of an explanation; but I could see a look of distress in his eyes. It was just painful. I fought with him for a while, I really did and I told him that it was foolish to go away so soon, but I could tell he didn't really care at that point. I do remember him muttering something about Paul under his breath- something really dirty which made me believe that Paul and Ritchie had a row.
Q: Can you recall what Ritchie said?
A: They were all curse words. I don't really want to repeat -
Q: (interrupts) Just do the best you can.
A: (laughs and puts her hands to her face) Ohhh.. it's easy for you to
say.
Q: (Whistles) Wow! Were they that bad?
A: Well pretty much. I will never forget what he muttered as he folded his socks and put them in the suitcase. He said: "Paul is a freaking moron."
Q: You used freaking instead of the "F" word?
A: (laughs) Yes I did. He put so much stress on that word that it shocked me to hear him say it because he usually isn't like that.
Q: Did you know why he left? Did he tell you?
A: From what I heard him tell Peter [Sellers] on the yacht, Paul wanted a certain drum pattern on a song and Ritchie was just fed up with his coaching him too much. He usually did something totally opposite of what Paul specifically told him to do, and Paul would get upset.
#podcast blues#honestly this is another reason i could never do a podcast#i would say things on air and then get way too bogged down in editing trying to look up sources for every single thing i said#and wanting to re-record things i got even SLIGHTLY wrong#not to mention the fact that ive always said my opinions are pretty fluid
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
guide you home. - rj huang
prompt: after skipping last year's tradition due to a complicated breakup, you vow yourself you aren't missing the eta aquarids this year. ecstatic as ever, everything goes as planned until you see a familiar figure at your usual camping spot—renjun huang, your ex.
genre: angst, fluff, exes to lovers!au, renjun x reader, jaemin x reader, slight mark x reader's friend, etc.
prologue word count: 700+
a/n: this is an ongoing socmed au on twitter written in eng/fil but i also feel like writing this in full english since most of my narrations are written that way! i'll probably be posting this once i finish my socmed au! i'm posting the prologue below so you can have a glimpse of the story! ;)
btw if you wanna read the ongoing socmed version in taglish, you can find it here.
One year ago:
You never celebrated your birthdays grandly. But somehow, Renjun managed to convince you. It’s your 20th birthday, after all. It’s something worth celebrating, even if it means missing this month’s meteor shower.
On nights like this, you’d rather join your hike team and go stargazing. And it just so happens that the Eta Aquarids meteor shower peaks on the night of your birthday, May 5th. It has been a tradition you started at fifteen, after your dad left to work for NASA the year before. Feeling lonely without your father’s presence, he promised that you could join his group’s stargazing events if you wanted to. Of course, you definitely agreed. Just staring under the same sky with him even if they’re miles apart is a moment you’ll always treasure dearly.
A beach party, wow.
You had quite a number of visitors. Well, your father came home just this morning to surprise his loving daughter. Big names from science and tech companies are here, congratulating your dad for the work he’s contributed over the last six years. Of course, everyone would want to hear his experiences firsthand.
Standing by his side proudly, you can’t help but look for Renjun in the crowd.
I guess he’s entertaining the guests?
You look down on the ground, playing with the sand on your feet. Your sandals were stuck underneath and you're trying to get them out discreetly, trying not to distract your father’s guests.
You receive a text from Renjun.
renjun: love, i have a surprise for u ;)
you: huh?
you: where are you?
you: i can't see you
renjun: i prepared something
renjun: already texted ur dad if i could spend time with u for a bit
The lines on your forehead increased as your glared at your smirking father.
“Go. Renjun’s waiting,” he says, letting out a chuckle.
You excused yourself from the guests surrounding you and dashed off to the location Renjun sent you. From afar, your figure shrinks and the smile on your father’s face starts to disappear.
“I just hope she’s okay.”
you: im here. where are you
renjun: there's someone waiting for u inside the car
you: huh? who?
renjun: you'll find out
renjun: i'm still at the cafe, i'm getting some drinks for us
you: i'll just get in the car??
you: if something happens to me istg 😃🔪
renjun: don't worry, love. you'll be fine :)
From a nearby cafe, Renjun bought three drinks. He knows you aren't the type to hold your liquor so getting your favorite matcha drink is a must.
I guess this is okay, he thinks to himself. This is enough to sober us up.
They had quite a few drinks at your beach party. He wasn’t expecting the cocktails to hit that much but it apparently did. He was also quite happy with how the party turned out since he’s never seen you with the biggest smile across your face. He knew how much your dad meant to you and convincing him to come home was quite a struggle. But still, he managed to pull through.
There’s still one more surprise though. I hope she likes it.
But she didn’t.
Renjun was almost nearing the parking lot when you bumped into him—smudged makeup on your face and your hair disheveled. He manages to hold you by the shoulders as you cry heavily on his chest, wanting to get out of his embrace.
“Love, what happened? Why are you crying?” Your purse your lips and wipe the tears from your swollen face.
You break free from his arms and run once again, but Renjun grips your right wrist tightly before you gets away.
“(Y/N). What happened?” Renjun asks, utterly confused with how the events turned out.
“Renjun, stop. Please.”
“Love, tell me—”
“FUCK! Can you please stop? Don't add to my frustration anymore!”
“But (Y/N)…”
“Leave me the fuck alone!”
You finally break away from his embrace, running away as fast as you could. He is left on the side of the road, with three spilled drinks beside him.
One hour later, he texts you.
renjun: (y/n)
you: what?
renjun: can we talk?
you: no
renjun: (y/n), please.
you: i said NO.
you: can't you understand that?
you: NO. FUCKING NO.
renjun: (y/n)...
you: you know, don't contact me ever again
you: please
you: leave me alone
renjun: (y/n), i'm sorry
you: but you are not forgiven
you: so get the fuck out of my life
bonus: kayak scene. read it after this prompt.
#my prompts#nct imagines#nct dream imagines#renjun imagines#huang renjun imagines#nct renjun imagines#renjun x reader#nct renjun x reader#renjun prompt#nct renjun prompt#renjun au#nct renjun au#nct x reader#renjun angst#renjun fluff#nct renjun fluff#nct renjun angst#renjun scenarios#nct renjun scenarios#nct dream scenarios#jaemin x reader#jaemin au#jaemin fluff#jaemin angst
48 notes
·
View notes
Text
Paradise
Summary: requested by lovely anon:
Oh goody, your requests are open again. How about either Chris or Henry meet a girl on a vacation. They hit it off as friends and they stay in touch. He invites her over for Christmas and when she’s about to leave to return home, he asks her to stay with him. I’m a sucker for happy endings.
Warning: Fluff
Word count: 2k
Title: paradise
Pairing: Chris Evans x reader
Masterlist • requested closed momentarily! Don't send any more!
Please don't post any of my content anywhere else without my permission. Comments and reblog welcome!
*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*
November 6th
Chris was in a huge need for a vacation. Interviews, zoom meetings, ASP, he was dying for a break. Now he finally got time to take one.
-♥-
He brought his beer to his lips, drinking it. Chris decided to come to Cancun because it seemed like a good place to relax. His eyes scanned the crowd around himself. There were people everywhere chatting with people. He thought he was the only person who wasn't until his eyes landed on you.
His stomach did a loop when he saw how beautiful you were. You sat alone, blue jean shorts on and a crop top. Your eyes scanning the crowd just like Chris's was. The straw that was in your mouth was being chewed on and your face turned as you thought about the people around you and how much fun they were having.
You were in the same situation as Chris. You were on vacation from work, all by yourself. To be honest you were kinda hating it. But soon you wouldn't.
-
Chris was inching to talk to you. He didn't know if you were alone, but he was tempted. He waited for a while just to make sure that you weren't with anyone before he stood up. He took a deep breath before he walked over to you.
"Hola." As soon as Chris said that he regretted it.
You looked up at what you just heard a guy's voice. The way you almost forgot how to breathe when you saw him was quite sad. He was like a gift sent from heaven. Finer than any guy you've ever seen.
"Hi. Don't worry I speak English." You chuckled as you sat up straight. Chris smiled at you, "um I noticed you were alone and I would like to talk to you because you're beautiful - I mean I'm alone as well so you know it's um yeah."
Chris mentally cursed himself as he rambled. He probably blew his chance to talk to you.
"I would love to talk to you." You pulled out the chair next to you. "Here sit." A smile rested on Chris's face as he sat beside you. With an exhale, he looked over at you. "So what is a pretty lady doing here by herself?"
You smiled, laughing slightly. "Well my friend demanded that I take a break from work and go on a little vacation. So here I am." You pointed to the beach that was to your left.
Chris nodded. "So…" you started. "What is a guapa like you doing here by yourself?" You asked. Chris blushed as you spoke spanish.
"Well it's the same as you. My publicist made me go on vacation."
"Publicist?"
Chris gasped. "Yeah, I'm an actor." He whispered the last part. "Ever watched Captain America?" You nodded. "Yeah well that's me."
You were a little confused at first but then it hit you. He was Chris evans.
"Oh that's cool. Chris Evans." The way you were calm and didn't go fangirl on him made Chris feel comfortable around him. "Yeah so what do you do?"
"I work as a preschool teacher. i love working with kids." You smiled as you thought about the kids back at your school. You looked at Chris. He was smiling, his palm was pressed against his face as he listened to you. You felt your face heat up. "So why don't we spend the rest of the day together. You know so we aren't lonely."
Chris chuckled and the hottest way. "Okay. Sounds like a plan."
-♥-
For the rest of the day you and Chris spent the day together. you both talked, Chris took you to dinner at a beautiful restaurant that you definitely couldn't afford. You both told each other stories about your families, shared a few laughs, and winks with each other.
Chris was a complete gentleman. At the end of the night you found out you both were staying at the same hotel. Chris Walked you to your room. He asked for your number which you of course gave to him.
"I'll call you later?" Chris said as he put his phone in his pocket. "Yes, of course. "You and Chris smiled at each other as you stood in silence. You both started inching closer and closer before your lips touched.
You moaned softly as you melted into his kiss. His lips were soft against yours as they moved together.
Unfortunately you both had to pull away for air after a while. You looked into his blue eyes. "Wow... your lips are soft." You chuckled softly. Chris looked at you. "I know. Well it's getting late. I think we should both get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow okay?"
You nodded, "okay." You opened your hotel room door and walked in. Before you shut it, you waved to Chris. Goodnight hermoso." With that you shutted your door.
Chris shook his head with a smile. He didn't understand you both, he knew it meant something special.
-♥-
Days turned into a week. You and Chris spent every day of your vacation with each other and it was fun. But unfortunately you both had to go home.
You slung your bag over your shoulder. "I'm going to miss you." You pouted as you looked at Chris. Chris cupped your cheek. "I am too but you can call me and text me whenever you feel like. I'm not going anywhere."
You smiled. "Okay. Well we both need to get on our flights. Goodbye Chris." You took his hand in yours. "Goodbye y/n." He kissed the back of your hand. You exhaled before letting go and walked the way to your flight. Hopefully you'll see him soon.
*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*
December 20th
You and Chris kept contact after you both left. He would call you every day and make sure that you were doing well. Sometimes you would zoom so you could see Dodger. You loved the pups so much even though you haven't seen him yet.
You were sitting on your couch, your TV was playing a baking show that you weren't paying much attention to. Your phone ringing snapped you out of your daze. You sat up, grabbing your phone. Looking at the caller ID you saw Chris. You smile as you take the call.
"Hi Chris!"
"Hi honey, how are you." You smiled as you heard his question. "I'm great. How are you?"
"I'm perfect. Hey I got a question." You listened as Chris continued. "Um I was wondering if you have nothing going on Christmas you can come to Boston to celebrate Christmas with me. What do you say?"
You couldn't believe it. He wanted you to spend Christmas with him and his family. You were flattered.
"I would love to. I'll catch a flight and I'll be there. By chris."
Chris said his goodbye to you and hung up the phone. As soon as you heard the line end you squealed. You were happy to be spending the holidays with him. You hopped off of the couch, running to your room. You needed to pack.
-
Your flight wasn't long. You arrived safely in Boston in no time. The cold new England air hit you as you walked out of the airport. You scanned the roads until you found Chris waiting for you.
When you both saw each a smile appeared on your faces. You ran up to, wrapping your arms around him, kissing his lips you miss so much.
"How are you Chris?" You asked as you pulled away. "I'm amazing now that you're here. Come on let's go to my mom's house where everyone is waiting. And it's also nice and warm."
Chris took your luggage and put it in the trunk while you got in the passenger side. After putting your things in the back, Chris got in the drivers side.
He drove to his mom's house while playing some Christmas classics. You smirked as you listened to him sing. He was seriously adorable.
5 minutes later Chris arrived at his mom's home. He parked in the driveway, turning off the car before turning to you.
"Are you ready?" You took a deep breath, "ready as I'll ever be." Chris nodded, "alright let's go." Chris opened his Door, you doing the same. You walked to Chris's side and took his hand in yours. Together you both walked the short way up the stairs to the front door. Chris knocked twice before someone answered. It was Scott.
"Oh you must be y/n. I've heard a lot about you." Scott looked at Chris while giving Chris the kissy face. You chuckled softly at the two dorks. "Alright Scott cut it out."
You looked up to see Mama evans walking to the doorway. Scott moved out of the way giving Lisa her space. "How are you? Chris has told me a lot about you."
Lisa pulled you into a hug. You smiled softly as you returned it. "I'm great." You pulled away. "Well come in. Everyone is waiting for you both."
Lisa welcomed you both inside. You happily walked in. Pictures of Chris's family hung up on the wall making you smile. You followed Chris, Lisa and Scott further into the house until you reached the living room.
There were some people you found out were Chris' siblings and nieces and nephews. You greeted all of them before sitting next to Chris on the love seat in the corner.
As the day went on Chris's nieces and nephews opened up presents. It made you smile watching them get excited as they opened their gifts. Kinda reminded you of your Pre-K class.
You didn't even notice Chris looking at you every now and then. He saw every reaction you had and how easily you warmed up to everyone. He seriously thinks you're a keeper. So did Mama Evans. While you were playing with Chris's niece she pulled him away for a little chat.
"So y/n huh? She's a sweetheart." Lisa said. Chris smiled at his mom's words. "Yeah she is. I've only met her last month, but she's amazing and I already love her."
Lisa knew when her son was in love and this was one of those moments. She smiled as she saw Chris looking at you as you played. "Well you two can go talk while I get dinner prepared. Ask her to stay for a while. I love having her here."
Chris nodded as he stood up. They both went their separate ways. Lisa to the kitchen and Chris to you. "Hey can I talk to you for a second?"
You looked up at Chris. "Yeah sure." You told little stella you would keep playing with her later and then followed Chris. He took your hand and led you to his childhood bedroom. Once you both were in, Chris shutted the door and turned to you.
"Uh it's been amazing having you here." Chris walked up to you, he was beaming hard. "Can you stay maybe till new years? I don't want you to go, not yet." You smiled at Chris, the guy you were deeply in love with. "Of course. I'll love to stay here with you until then."
Chris felt an overwhelming rush of joy take over himself. He cupped your cheek. "l love you." He whispered against your lips softly.
"Me too Mi amor."
*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*✭˚･ﾟ✧*･ﾟ*
@chris-butt @princess-evans-addict @patzammit @bval-1 @irespostthingsiwanttoseelater @raveviolet @rynabarnesrogers-reading @enn-j @london-dreamer71 @harrysthiccthighss @captainamerica-is-bae @la-cey @weirdowithnobeardo @lovepeacefood @baby-i-am-fireproof @denisemarieangelina @evans713 @smyfmj @thereisa8ella @jillanaholland @rororo06 @briannab1234 @keiva1000 @ughitsnic @kianifan @adriannajackson @boojack73 @marvelnaturalock @notyourtypicalrose @dummiesshort @onetwo3000 @i-lie-here-charmed @hhiggs
#chris evans#chris evans x reader#chris evans fanfiction#chris evans imagines#chris evans x plus size reader#chris evans imagine#chris evans smut#chris evans x black reader#chris evans fluff
268 notes
·
View notes
Text
A totally self indulgent compilation of my favorite works on this blog of the year June 13, 2020 - June 13, 2021
2019-2020
The following lists are all in chronological order according to the date each post was first published.
Top 10 panel edits:
#1: It's our first morning
Date: Aug 20th, 2020
Time: ~ 2:18 h
I really like how this one turned out!!! The 2020 Emma b-day edit has a lot of major panel redraws, but this is probably my favorite. I I really enjoy how I made the shadows work!! And the ear banfage looks pretty neat. Nice!!!
Immagine
#2: Norman birthday edit 2021
Date: Mar 20th, 2021
Time: ~ 2:21 h
Awww, soft Norman :')
There was a bit to redraw, but I think everything turned out pretty neat!!! I believe everything works out fine. Though looking back at it, the part of the ID I added is definitely top small :')
#3: Manga dub: Yuugo gets knocked out
Date: Mar 27th, 2021
Time: ~ 5:05 h
Here start the Manga Dub redraws to which I gave my everything ahah. This one turned out nice! I think the shoes turned out particularly good eheh. I like how Yuugo's clothing lineart- for the texture, I wanted to go for something heterogeneous, but I'm not fully confident in the final result. Gilda looks very rushed but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
#4: Manga dub: Yuugo makes his dramatic entrance
Date: Apr 5th, 2021
Time: ~ 4:02 h
This is pretty cool!!!! The coat took ages to redraw, but sis it turned out perfect!!! I'm very proud of this.
#5: Manga dub: RayGildEmma hug!!!
Date: Apr 9th, 2021
Time: ~ 1:31 h
Awww, a beautiful panel I was really happy to have the chance to redraw. Taking into account what there was to redraw, I'm actually surprised with how little this took! Ray's backpack was a pain to make, but I think it turned out fine. I'm very happy with Emma and Ray's heads!!
#6: Manga dub: Formalities
Date: Apr 12th, 2021
Time: ~ 5:31 h
It is not always easy to give sense to Demizu's perspective, but I do my best!!! In this I am *so* happy with how Don and Ray turned out, they look neat! The background on the other hand... It took hours to make ahah. I'm not fully confident in the perspective, but I'm happy with the details I've added- I really did my best to make it look like athe other manga panels and I think it paid off!!!
#7: Manga dub: We may be weaklings, but we're still alive
Date: Apr 30th, 2021
Time: ~ 1:37 h
This little Emma is so cute!!!!!! I think the redraw turned out pretty perfect. I'm really satisfied with how this one turned out, and it's such a cute little Emma!!!! She's so brave and optimistic, I love her. It's a shame this panel didn't make it to the episode :')
#8: Manga dub: Goldy Pond Gang
Date: May 7th, 2021
Time: ~ 8:44 h lmao
This is probably the panel redraw I'm the most proud of ever :')
Just think everyone turned out very nice!! The ceiling is not exactly perfect, but it still works somehow. I'm very happy with how Gillian's back turned out!! I don't really like the fading effect on the right, but 8h in I got pretty tired of working on this ahah
#9: Manga dub: This is Goldy Pond
Date: May 21st, 2021
Time: ~ 1:29 h
I'm very glad for how the Manga dub has been challenging me to learn to redraw backgrounds, something I had quite literally never tried before. It can be a little frustrating, but it's so satisfying to see the final cleaned piece!! With this panel, I also learnt to use copy and paste, which is something I had never done before beyond texture
#10: Manga dub: Good morning doctor
Date: May 21st, 2021
Time: ~ 3:42 h
This is another background that turned out pretty good!! That one Norman is one I knew I would have had to fully redraw sooner or lager- the background was a bonus ahah. I'm very happy with the final result!!
Top 5 edits as whole:
#1: The Promised Neverland manga ending edit
Date: Jun 14th 2020
Time: ~ 12h 41min (5h 45min of cleaning panels in the edit + 5h 37min of cleaning panels that didn't make it to the edit + 1h 19min of resizing) + time spent cleaning panels I've deleted the file of so I can't see lmao
This is overall very nice!!! The concept of an Emma evolution through her back is cool, and I think overall the edit turned out very aesthetically pleasing. The concept idea came to me while I was working on the 2019 Emma's birthday edit, a long time before the manga ending announcement- back then I wouldn't have imagined using it in occasion of the manga ending, but I think it ended up making a nice tribute. The colors add a nice touch, since so far my edits had always been black and white- it makes a sweet closure. To make that edit I selected 76 panels of Emma framed from her back; I plan to make other versions of that edit using the discarded panels eventually!
#2: Emma - Chapter 181: Beyond Destiny
Date: Jul 12th 2020
Time: 2h 57min
My last edit for the manga 🥺🥺
I think this one is my very "manga ending edit" because to me it really signed the ending of weekly chapters and their weekly chapter edits. It makes me a little sad to look at it, but it's also, I don't know, kinda sweet to see how I grew both in my panel cleaning and as a person since I first started my blog. I'm glad I got into TPN!
#3: Emma birthday edit 2020
Date: Aug 22nd 2020
Time: 8h 54min
This one turned out so well!!! Though I used the same concept for all the trio edits, I think this one is the best one. The two panels on the left / two panels on the right alternation combo never fails ahah. The colors are nice (shout-out to my sister for making me a palette), despite the fact that it was hard for the lighter ones to make them work with the images without having those disappear. I'm very satisfied with the panels I chose for this, I think they work really good together! Also, it got me very happy to read everyone's comments saying they liked the fading effect in the last panel :)
#4: Emma + Eyes Close Ups [1/?]
Date: Jan 24th 2021
Time: 5h 55min
This one was really nice!! Another idea I got when working on the 2019 Emma birthday edit I was glad to finally execute. Started the edit in September, finished it in December. I'm overall very happy with how it turned out... I hope I will be able to make more in the future!
#5: The Promised Neverland Parallels → (9/?) » 114 // 122
Date: Feb 23th 2021
Time: 5h 7min (panel cleaning only)
Aaaaahh I really like this one!!!! A parallel I love very much, and I'm really happy with how the edit turned out. All the hair redrawing looks neat!!!! The gif is maybe a little excessive, but I think overall it's a nice edit. I like it!!! Fun fact, I completed it on August 26th 2020, but I couldn't find the right moment to post it ahah.
Honorable mention: The Promised Neverland Parallels → (5/?) » 08 // 16
Date: Aug 30th 2020
Time: 2h 52min (Second picture cleaning only; I deleted the first picture art file so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
I don't have much to say about this one except!! It turned out very nice!!!!! Love the pen lmao.
Top 10 analysis:
Too many analysis,,
#1: Post chapter 181 Emma analysis
Date: Jul 9th 2020
Mmmh a nice analysis. I think it was important for me to put down in words what I think of Emma's characterization and the manga ending, so I'm happy I did it!
#2: A long Oliver analysis because I love him very much
Date: Dec 6th 2020
What can I say I just love Oliver tons 😔😔💕💕
This was very fun to make!!!
#3: TPN s2 previsions
Date: Jan 14th 2021
Really love the effort that went into this + me proving that 11 episodes GP could have possibly worked + it's just a lot of fun to read again after s2 ended pffft
#4: More s2 delusional previsions lmao
Date: Jan 27th 2021
I think the points and previsions I made where pretty neat!! In my defense, it was pretty impossible to predict the anime would have ended with this season. I always feel honoured when friends and Anon ask for my opinion, I'm like "you wanna know what I think? Wow. I'm flattered (◍•ᴗ•◍) "
Thank you to anyone who ever sent me an ask!!
#5: Why Emma not wearing pants is 𝕨𝕣𝕠𝕟𝕘
Date: Jan 29th 2021
Really proud of this!!! Pants Emma is important!!!!!
#6: Post episode 5 manga Emma analysis
Date: Feb 4th 2021
A depressed analysis, but a necessary one 😔
#7: Norman analysis
Date: Feb 12th 2021
I love him!!!! And I'm happy I eventually got to put down in words what I love about his character. The day I posted this ww3.readneverland was in maintenance so I couldn't use the volume scans for it- the thought of that post having fan edited and fan translated scans still haunts me
#8: RayDon rambles
Date: May 12th 2021
I had a blast writing this and like. It's likely the post of mine I reread more often of them all. I love this ship tons!!!!! I'm satisfied with how I put down in words what I like about them. I LOVE THIS SHIP
#9: Chapter 58 analysis
Date: May 23th 2021
I've wanted to express this concept since like the first time reading the manga- I'm so happy I finally did!!!! This concept is one of my absolute favorite things about tpn- the feelings that people are good. The concept that kids who got to live in an healthy and supportive environment will always be inclined to kindness and altruism, because humans are just inherently good. From the Three Character Classic: “people at birth are inherently good”. I want to have faith and courage to hold on the goodness in myself, and to hold on the goodness in the world, no matter how difficult it to do that (Chloé Zhao).
#10: Norman and Lambda squad relationship analysis
Date: May 24th 2021
I think this was a pretty sharp analysis and I like what I did with it!!
Other stuff:
#1: Krone birthday edit
Date: Jul 15th 2020
This edit is so good ;; Like not perfect since it was my first attempt at coloring gifs but still I believe it turned out so good ;;;;;;
The time and effort that went unto this is crazy, but... Maybe I'm happy to have dedicated time to something I like for a satisfying result.
#2: Get to know my ship- Wolfpack Trio
Date: Aug 24th 2020
Uuuh a good post. A good ship.
#3: Gilda + blank glasses
Date: Aug 27th 2020
This is such a cute nice compilation!!! I love looking at it. A few panels are missing but still :')
#4: Apollo Ray AU
Date: Sep 7th 2020 (Though it was written Sep 2nd 2019 lmao)
I'm so happy I finally gathered the courage to post this 😭😭
I really enjoy what I did with this AU, so this one and its other installments are all posts I have a lot of fun rereading. More than everything, I was astounded and overjoyed by the positive response it got: that gave me tons of confidence to put my ideas out there, no matter how unique they sound!!! Here's to hoping I will be able to post my RayEmma Hadestown AU, by other big AU from late summer 2019 :')
#5: TPN timeline project
Date: Dec 2nd 2020
This is like. I don't know it's a lot ahah. Arguably the project I'm the most proud of ever making. I'm just so happy of all the months long hard work and of the final result!! The post didn't receive much response (though the ones I got were extremely kind and sweethearted so that totally makes up for it), but in the end I don't really mind? I'm just so proud I accomplished that idea :')
#6: TPN calendar
Date: Jan 4th 2021
A nice sum of the tpn timeline + everyone's birth dates!!! I really like how it turned out visually. It's a cute little tpn calendar!!!
#7: Ray smiles compilation
Date: Jan 17th 2021
Ray's smile. That's it that's the post :')
#8: Trans Oliver headcanons
Date: Jan 24th 2021
MMMH really like this headcanon I think about it a lot
#9: Thoma and Lani theory
Date: Jan 28th 2021
I really don't want to brag but this is the best joke I've ever made :')
#10: My TPN AUs
Date: May 10th 2021
Ok you gotta admit those are very good AUs, I'm glad to have made a list out of them!!!
#11: Ranking Emma promotional art outfits
Date: May 16th 2021
This is one people seem to have liked a lot which makes me happy ahah. I'm glad to know we can all agree Emma deserves more pants outfits!! Please stop it with the gendered clothing :')
This is the post I want to be remembered for
#12: TPN musicals AU part 2
Date: May 20th 2021
A GREAT POST I can't stretch enough how happy I am with those character-song associations. I hope I have time to make a part 3 in the future!!
#13: TPN Drive folder
Date: May 30th 2021
This was born as a way for me to have all the tpn extra contents easily accessible, but I'm happy to have shared it with people- I hope it will turn out to be useful to others too!
#14: TPN s2 recolorings
Date: Jun 12th 2021
A more diverse children cast is good for the soul :')
That's it, this year was really fun!! Thank you to everyone who supported me through it, I can't express how grateful I am for all the kindness and validation I received. Here's to many more months in the fandom!!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧
#mine#tpn#the promised neverland#tpn manga spoilers#Tumblr: *literally refuses to let me open the post*#Me: *Turns on my computer* B*TCH YOU THOUGHT I'M POSTING THIS TODAY AND NOTHING IS GOING TO STOP ME#Been working on this for four hours now.. I'm literally dead...#Also thank you Tutu for deleting the other post you're the sweetest :')#Once again this is just a personal report you don't have to read all (or any) of it unless you want to :)#Ok to reblog btw#I'll click the post button now I don't want to hear anyrhing else
26 notes
·
View notes
Text
Book recommendations, Literary Fiction edition(?)
A companion to this post (which should be updated, at some point lol)
Short Story Collections:
Salt Slow by Julia Armfield: grotesque and disquieting collection about women and their experience in society, how they view and perceive their own body and desires. Pretty strong mythic, magical realism, body horror elements in here.
The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks: fascinating collection in which Sacks reminishes some particularly odd stories of patients who had to cope with bizarre neurological disorders.
Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang: a collection focused on the Chinese millennial experience. Stories about love and loss, family, immigration and the uncertainty of the future. (also there’s an extremely beautiful short story about a pair of Chinese divers that broke me forever!!!)
Bestiary: The Selected Stories by Julio Cortázar: unforgettable selection of short stories that mix surreal elements to everyday life and apparently ordinary events. Would also recommend All Fires the Fire by the same author.
Novels:
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C. Pam Zhang: one of the biggest debuts of 2020, it follows two recently orphaned children through the gold rush era. An adventurous historical fiction piece that focuses on themes like gender, identity and immigration, this is one of my favorites 2020 reads so yeah, I’d really push it in anyone’s hands to be honest.
Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: historical fiction inspired by the last days of a young woman accused of murder in Iceland in the 1820s. A quite bleak, but beautiful novel (the prose is stunning).
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave: historical fiction novel set in Norway in the 17th century, following the lives of a group of women in a village that recently (barely) survived a storm that killed all of the island’s men.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: the 2020 winner of the Pulitzer Prize. The book follows the lives of two boys sentenced to a reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida. A bleak, but important book, with a shocking final twist (side note, I’ve been recommended The Underground Railroad by Whitehead as well, but I haven’t gotten to it yet. If you’re looking for something quite peculiar, if a bit less refined when compared to The Nickel Boys, The Intuitionist is a quite odd pulpy noir set in an alternate NY about...elevator inspectors *and racism*).
The Leavers by Lisa Ko: haunting book about identity and immigration as the main character is apparently abandoned by his own mother (an undocumented Chinese immigrant) during his childhood. Mainly a story about living in between places and constantly feeling out of place.
The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa: when everyone would probably recommend Murakami (not much against Murakami besides his descriptions of women and their boobs), I suggest checking out some of Ogawa’s books. The recently translated The Memory Police, published in Japan in the mid 90s, is an orwellian dystopian novel set on an unnamed Island where memories slowly disappear. Would also really recommend The Housekeeper and The Professor, a really short novel about a housekeeper hired to clean and cook for a math professor who suffered an injury that causes him to remember new things for only 80 minutes.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong: Ocean Vuong’s debut novel, following a son writing a letter to his illiterate mother. The book seems quite polarising due to Vuong’s writing style (his poetry background is really quite clear and the book doesn’t really follow a regular narrative, rather than portrays events and memories in brief flashes), but I loved it and I’d really just recommend going into it without knowing much? It’s a beautiful exploration of language, family history, trauma, sexuality and more.
Exist West by Mohsin Hamid: this book was fairly popular when it came out (in 2017 I believe) and was often incorrectly marketed as magical realism. Hamid’s book is a brief and quietly brutal journey with a few fantastical elements, following a couple trying to escape their city in the middle of war, as they hear about peculiar doors that can whisk people far away. The doors are, of course, a quite effective metaphor for the immigrant experience and the book does a great job at portraying the main characters’ relationship.
Family Trust by Kathy Wang: this has a really low rating on goodreads which...wow i hate that. Family Trust is a literary family saga/drama about a Chinese-American family residing in the Silicon Valley. It’s often been compared to Crazy Rich Asians, but I believe it to be more on the literary side and definitely less lighthearted.
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee: historical family saga (one of my favorites tbh, I’m absolutely biased, but this book deserved more hype) set in Korea and Japan throughout the 20th century, following four generations of a Korean family. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the prose, the book has really great characterisation and absolutely fascinating characters. (I’d suggest checking out eventual TW first, in this case).
The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker: another recent read, The Silence of the Girls, while not faultless, is a pretty good retelling of The Iliad, narrated through Briseis’ perspective. The prose can feel a bit too modern at times, but it provides the reader with some really strong quotes and descriptions.
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: and also Little Fires Everywhere by the same author, to be honest. If you’re looking for really really good family dramas, with great explorations of rather complex and nuanced relationships? You should just check out her stuff. Vibrant characters, good writing, and some superb portrayal of longing here.
Nutshell by Ian McEwan: i’m starting with this one only to grab your attention (if you’ve even reached this part lol, congrats), but McEwan’s one of my favorite authors and I’d recommend almost everything I’ve read by him? Nutshell, specifically, is a really odd and fun retelling of Hamlet...told from the pov of an unborn baby. But really, I’d also recommend Atonement (of course), The Children Act, Amsterdam? All good stuff.
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles: I’ve read this book this summer and, while I’m still unsatisfied with the ending, I’d thoroughly recommend this? The novel follows Count Alexander Rostov, who, in 1922, is sentenced to a lifetime of house arrest in the Metropol, a luxurious hotel in the center of Moscow. A singular novel, funny and heartbreaking at once, following a vibrant cast of characters as they come and go from Rostov’s secluded life.
Human Acts by Han Kang: from the bestselling author of The Vegetarian (which honestly, I thoroughly despised lol), Human Acts focuses on the South Korean Gwangju uprising. It’s a really odd (and at times grotesque) experimental novel (one chapter is narrated from the pov of one of the bodies if I remember correctly), so one really has to be in the mood for it, but it’s a really unique experience, worth a chance.
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon: sort of a really chunky historical adventure novel following two artists in 1940s/1950s NY, who create a superhero and use him to wage a one man war on the Nazis. A bit slow in places (the pace can be uneven at times and the book is quite long), but an enjoyable novel that does a pretty good job when it comes to exploring rather classic themes of American contemporary fiction: the American dream and the figure of the artist (I think there’s a particularly interesting focus on how the artists navigates the corporate world and its rules) and their creative process.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel: this is a pretty classic rec, the book really got a lot of hype when it came out? It’s a dystopian-ish novel set after civilisation’s collapse, following a post-apocalyptic troupe (of Shakespearean actors). It’s a really odd, but surprisingly quiet book. Not sure if a pandemic is exactly the right time to read it, but I thoroughly recommend it.
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng: I feel like this book is extremely complex to summarise to be honest. In short, it’s a book set in Malaya at the end of the 1940s, following a woman who, after surviving Japanese wartime camps, spends her life prosecuting war criminals. But truthfully this book is about conflicts and contradictions and in particular about remembering and forgetting. Lovely prose.
The Secret History by Donna Tartt: and also The Goldfinch. I’m sure no one really needs me to introduce Donna Tartt?
The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton: quite cerebral mystery set in New Zealand in 1866. Honestly you have to be a patient reader who enjoys novels with a pretty complex structure to like this, but if you’re into this sort of challenging read...go for it? It’s a book of interlocking stories (with 10+ pov and main characters) with a really fascinating structure based on astrological charts, which provide insight to the main characters’ traits and personality as the mystery unfolds.
The Hours by Michael Cunningham: ok...do not watch the movie first. The Hours is an incredibly difficult novel to describe to be honest: it begins by recalling the last moments of Virginia Woolf’s life, as she’s writing Mrs. Dalloway. The book focuses on three separate narratives, each one following a specific character throughout a single day of their own life. Goes without saying that I’d suggest being familiar with Mrs. Dalloway itself first though.
An Artists of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro: not one of Ishiguro’s most famous works (most start reading his work with Never Let Me Go or The Remains of the Day), but probably my favorite out of those I’ve read so far. The novel follows Masuji Ono, an artist who put his work in service of imperialist propaganda throughout WWII. Basically a reflection and an account of the artist’s life as he deals with the culpability of his previous actions.
Stoner by John Williams: I feel like this is an odd book to recommend, because I don’t think someone can truly get the hype unless they read it themselves. Stoner is a pretty straight-forward book, following the ordinary life of an even more ordinary man. And yet it’s so compelling and never dull in its exploration of the characters’ lives and personalities. Also, I’ve just finished Augustus by the same author, which is an epistolary historical fiction novel narrating some of the main events of Augustus’ reign through letters from/by his closest friends and enemies. Really liked it.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien: back to integenerational family sagas (because I love those, in case it wasn’t clear lol), Do Not Say We Have Nothing follows a young woman who suddenly rediscovers her family’s fractured past. The novel focuses on two successive generations of a Chinese family through China’s 20th century history. While not every character got the type of development they deserved, the author does a good job when it comes to gradually recreating the family’s complex and nuanced history.
There’s probably more but I doubt anyone’s going to reach the end or anything so. There’s that lol.
#book recs#book rec#litblr#2020 reads#all the typos are my own LOL#also i didnt put here philip roth or auster#but tbh#i dont think anyone needs me to rec them???
161 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
