About Riko 1/?

My idea of Riko is of an absolutely insufferable person, but person everyone tolerates because his ways bring home results. Not talking about the behind scenes terror he exposed foxes to. That's dirty play, and I usually write it off as something master Tetsuji was behind. Riko just used them as manipulation tactic (which backfires as instead of frightening foxes, he pissed them off and motivated them to work harder). Ravens are trained to be pinnacle of excellence when it comes to their physical abilities. After all, they are worth little to nothing outside of court. But to be good player you need to be able to strategize on the fly and synergize with your team and that's not something charts before game can always prepare you for. That's what Riko excels at, quick decision making and risky play. The ravens are groomed to support this play style. Their only job is to read Riko and adjust their game to match him (this is why the board was concerned about the play style holding Kevin Day back). Current team for ravens is undefeated because everyone on the team trusts Riko's judgment. As fucked up as the little fucker is, he knows the game. He has intuition few can rival with. He does not fuck around, does not allow people to feel more important than they are when their game is shit. That's why raven team consists of numbers from 1 to 4 then 10 and up. The fodder is in constant competition between each other to earn that single digit. They know Riko is crazy. They know a person should not function like this but they also know that his way bring results. They follow him off field with the same trust they follow him on field because for ravens there is no difference between the two. They need Riko, who gave his life away to the game (a choice master made for him) to carry them to better future. But then Riko's only reason to play is gone. His father passed, never acknowledging him as a human being. And the game does not matter so much any more. TLDR ravens know Riko is fucking insane but they respect it because they need him that way.

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey Review

Plot

Piper Bellinger is fashionable and influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop part land Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off and sends her and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father's dive bar...in Westport, Washington.

Piper hasn't even been in Westport five minutes when she meets big, bearded (and grumpy) Brendan Taggart, who thinks she won't last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can't do math and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives? How bad could it really be? She's determined to show her stepfather- and the hot, grumpy local- that she's more than just a pretty face.

Except it's a small town, and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there's an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn't want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan- and this town full of memories- may have already caught her heart.

Discussion

WHERE'S MY GRUMPY, BORDERLINE SUGAR DADDY FISHERMAN TO SPOIL ME?! Okay, okay, all jokes aside, I enjoyed this book far more than I thought. I'm an absolute sucker for the grumpy and sunshine trope.

I liked Piper's character development and I love her relationship with her sister. When Brendan would narrate the chapter, my heart melted when I read how much he truly loved her, viewed her as the most perfect woman, in the works.

One thing I do wish that we saw was Piper calling Daniel and her mother out on their bullshit. Piper and Hannah, while their plan to restore the bar to convince Daniel to bring them home was based on a selfish reason, they didn't deserve to basically be ghosted by him.

And Maureen- I can completely understand not wanting to return to your dead relative's memorial, but to completely ghost his mother, never return to his hometown, and deny your own DAUGHTERS, the humans YOU created with HIM, the closure that they deserve...girl, no. Just...no...please get therapy. I know grief and the loss of a loved one can cause people to change how they act (me included...), but still. Opal was going through extreme grief and you two could've grieved together. I hope the two women can reconcile one day.

I know there's a sequel, so maybe Maureen will get a redemption arc? I also hope to learn more about her, maybe my first impression of her will change.

There are some content/trigger warnings:

Medical emergency

Grief & loss depiction

D*ath of a spouse/parent

Drowning

There's also a lot of spice if you catch my drift.

Rating

4/5

What are your views regarding Melisandre, Val, Varys, Illyrio, and Littlefinger? And why?

Wow this is a lot in one ask anon haha. I will condense it to a few comments per person. 

Melisandre–Honestly one of the most interesting characters to me. I believe she does what she thinks is right. It doesn’t excuse the awful things she’s done, particularly Shireen. But Melisandre actually has power. 

There is a lot of religious discussion in GoT/ASOIAF, but we don’t get a lot of solid confirmation of the existence or power of the respective deities. We hear a lot about the Olds Gods and the Seven, but when it comes to the Lord of Light, we’ve actually seen Melisandre’s and Thoros’s power in action on more than one occasion. 

So I try to put myself in her shoes. In real life there are radical religious fundamentalists who commit horrific atrocities in the name of their god(s). Yet there is not verifiable proof of a higher power in our world. So imagine living in this universe and being a priestess like Melisandre who has actually seen people resurrected from the dead by your god, who has actually given birth to a monster, who can somehow fabricate eternal youth. All of this leads her to believe that she is on the correct path, that she is doing what she is supposed to be doing and is being rewarded and validated by her god. 

So in light of all of that I find it really hard to think negatively of Melisandre. I also think that season 6 showed us her humanity and confirmed that even if she does a lot of what she does out of blind faith with seemingly no remorse, she still harbors emotions and weakness. It made it easier to sympathize with her. 

Val–I was so intrigued by Val in the books and thought for sure she was going to be Jon’s next big love story. She is one of the characters that remains a bit of an enigma to me. 

I had an anon awhile back present a theory that Val was Dany and Jon’s child who somehow traveled through time in the Land of Always Winter haha. I don’t really subscribe to the theory but the anon brought up that part of why people believe it is that Val’s got the mannerisms of someone of higher birth and standing than one of the Free Folk. And that’s true. So, why? I don’t really have a good answer for it. 

Anyway, I think she’s interesting, another badass woman to cross Jon Snow’s path, and I really resented how at The Wall Stannis and Selyse presumptuously kept trying to marry her off to various men as political collateral. 

It’s interesting that you bring her up after Melisandre, because one of the moments I had distaste for Val was when she told Jon Shireen should be killed. Something those two women have in common I guess. 

The “lonely and lovely and lethal” line is one of my favorites and one of the few effective uses of alliteration in my opinion haha. I am bummed she didn’t end up in the show but I understand why she was cut. When we met Karsi in 5.08 I half expected her to be a Val stand-in. I was sorely disappointed. 

Varys–I looooove Varys! And if you had told me in 2010 when I started reading ASOIAF that I would love Varys, I would have laughed at you. At first I thought Varys was as slimy as LF and I did not like him. His descriptions in the books especially repulsed me, the powdered skin and simpering. Ew. 

Show!Varys is pleasantly much funnier than I ever expected and his friendship with Tyrion is one of my favorite aspects of the series currently. 

Just as a character, I hope I’m not wrong, but as of right now I trust him and believe his intentions are good. What’s so fascinating about Varys is that looking at him he seems very unassuming and he doesn’t present as a major player of the Game. But he’s (obviously) one of the most important players there is. 

One of my favorite moments is the one when he says that LF is the second most dangerous man in the realm (implying he himself is the first.) I love that, and I 100% agree. At Con of Thrones there was a panel on Varys vs Littlefinger and it completely filled up, had people sitting in the aisles and standing outside the door trying to listen. Because people are fascinated by this character!

Anyway, I think that Varys is smart, wily, hilarious, and a survivor. I think he will live until the end and that whatever ending we get is one that he wanted, planned, and played some part in bringing about. And for better or for worse, one of the reasons I am sure of that is that Varys seems to be the only person in the series who isn’t tempted by anything that could throw him off course. 

He is supposedly asexual and aromantic, saying that desire is dangerous. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that he cares much about money. And since he’s a realist I think he knows that he would never be accepted as king of the 7k, so I don’t believe he desires power. 

He genuinely wants to make the realm better, which is so? Crazy to me? He almost seems too good to be true. But then we can remind ourselves that he will let seemingly anyone die on the path to bettering the realm, and that’s where he becomes a problematic fave. 

Illyrio–The least interesting to me of all the characters on this list. Illyrio is transparent while the others seem (to me, anyway) to have layers of complexity. the scene where Arya overhears him plotting with Varys hints at Illyrio being a player on par with Varys and LF, but he just isn’t. 

Illyrio doesn’t support the Targaryens out of loyality or principle, he does it out of greed. And while his behind-the-scenes work with Varys has been extremely influential and important to the plot (marrying Dany to Drogo, housing Tyrion in Pentos after is escape from KL, etc) I am not nearly as interested in his actions as I am in those of LF or Varys. 

Because while Varys’s motives are still interesting to me and his actions are harder to predict, and while LF is a villain we all love/hate, Illyrio is just a typical greedy man. If I’m remembering right, he even tells Tyrion his ambition is to be Master of Coin to a Targaryen monarch. So bearing this in mind, Illyrio’s greed doesn’t even really make sense?

Because as Master of Coin, LF had (from what we could tell) a good life and a cozy living with immediate influence on the king in small council. But he wanted more. He wanted more because Master of Coin does not guarantee extravagant living. So to me it would make more sense for Illyrio to stay in Pentos in his mansion, where he clearly has a vast amount of resources and connections. Sure, accept the job of Master of Coin if it’s offered to you. But I don’t see why he’s going to so much trouble to establish a Targ monarch just to have that position as a reward. I just don’t understand it. 

Littlefinger–I hate him. He’s creepy and treacherous. But he’s losing control of his schemes now. I think (hope?) that Sansa sees straight through him by now and so all his scheming has been in vain. 

Look, I am impressed with what he has accomplished. I love the revelation of him being behind not only Joffrey’s death, but Jon Arryn’s as well. He truly has shaped the trajectory of almost every single character with his actions. 

So I don’t underestimate his cunning or his capabilities. But he made all of these things happen and still doesn’t really have anything to show for it. The only person truly under his sway is Robin/Robert Arryn. And is that really such a big deal? The knights of the Vale are excellent fighters and being the de facto Lord of the Vale is great. But that’s not what LF was after from the beginning, and I honestly don’t think he is going up from here. 

So what has it all been for? So many people died because of him who simply didn’t have to, and all of it so that he can take the Iron Throne. And let’s face it–he won’t. 

Unlike Varys, LF’s motives are pretty clear and pretty predictable. He wants power and he wants a woman. One of the things I find interesting about LF, though, is that he is a reversal of the “nice guy” trope. Ordinarily in fiction and especially in romance, the LF’s of the world are the underdog we all root for. The weak guy who can’t fight the Brandon Stark but whose mind reigns supreme always has the audience on his side and the girl on his arm. But LF doesn’t. Because he is the weakling with the powerful brain who isn’t the nice guy. 

In the panel I mentioned above the crowd booed about LF and cheered about Varys. The people running the panel hated LF too and pointed out how problematic he is, and one person compared him to Severus Snape. As much as I like Snape, as I’ve grown older I’ve come to realize how genuinely awful it is that this man bullied a child for years after holding onto love for his dead mother, love that was never reciprocated anyway. So it was super romantic in the moment when Snape died, that fateful tear rolling down his cheek and into Harry’s vial. But now I’m kind of freaked out about it. And LF is like Snape’s creep level times a thousand. 

So not only are his motives predictable, they are also not respectable. And if LF’s attachment to Catelyn wasn’t bad enough, his attachment to Sansa is absolutely disgusting. Because in a way I think he sees Sansa is this daughter that could have been with Catelyn. But at the same time he has a sexual attraction to her. All the while, he’s been ruining her life to serve his own ends, especially in the show. 

He needs to go. He needs to die. I can’t wait. 

Anyway, I hope these answers are interesting to you anon because this took me a seriously long time to write haha. Thanks for the ask :)