#still need to edit and review it before I put it out in the world
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purple haze // charles leclerc
summary: writing a novel is a long an arduous process. luckily for y/n, she has a very supportive partner in crime, and when it all works out, he's the only person she would want by her side.
pairing: charles leclerc x author reader
warnings: alcohol consumption, talk of deadlines, book referenced is a good girls guide to murder by holly jackson. gets a lil steamy towards the middle but nothing comes of it. still not sure how i feel about this one, but i havent written for charles in forever and i got an idea i really liked but i don't know if it worked out when i put it on paper.
by the time y/n closed her laptop, she felt like her fingers were going to fall off. she leaned back in her desk chair, gutted to find that the monaco cityscape outside her living room window was now pitch black, as might had fallen on the city.
her first book had been a red-wine and oasis fuelled fever dream, the last three chapters being written to ‘don’t look back in anger’. and now, the final edits were done.
“I’m so proud of you, mon tresor.” charles gushed, bringing her another glass of wine.
“the last three years are finally paying off. a good girls guide to murder is done, and the world is ready to meet pippa and ravi.” she grinned, clinking her glass against her boyfriends.
she had poured three years of her life into that book, and Charles had been by her side for all of it. through numerous rejections, edits and late night idea-vomit, nobody was prouder than charles was so see it work out for her.
and now he knew she needed a break.
taking her hand in his, he gently dragged her out of the desk chair and towards the couch, placing their wineglasses on the coffee table as he urged y/n to sit on the ground between his legs.
his hands were warm as he began to massage her shoulders, attempting to release the tension caused by the last round of edits, which she had worked on almost from sunup to sundown.
“there’s still so much to do.” she whined, tilting her head back to look up at her lover. “now there’s arcs and extra promotions and finding advance reviewers and-“
charles cut her off with a kiss. “none of that right now. right now, you and me are going to finish this bottle of wine and watch something pointless on tv.”
smiling to herself, y/n got up from the floor and moved to the leather couch, slipping seamlessly into charles' lap and nestling against his chest. his body was warm, and his sweater soft. even if his cologne was a little bit too strong, he made her feel safe. treasured.
"that sounds perfect." she hummed, gently turning his face so she could kiss him. "thank you for supporting me."
"always, my love." charles smiled before kissing her again.
SIX MONTHS LATER
it was half past five in the morning when the phone rang. charles could sleep through just about anything, but it was the vibrations of the phone against her side table that woke y/n.
she looked over at her sleeping lover, pressing a gentle kiss to the smooth skin on his shoulder blades before slipping out of bed and creeping into the hallway to answer a call from her agent, cecelia.
"cece, its five in the morning. couldn't this have waited?"
ceclia cleared her throat. "i've just heard from the american office. the preliminary numbers for the new york times list are in."
"fuck. how did we do?" she closed her eyes, holding up her crossed fingers and praying to every god she wasn't sure she believed in.
and when cecelia spoke again, she almost dropped her phone.
"okay. thank you for letting me know, cece."
she slipped back into the bedroom, bare, dry feet sinking into the plush carpet at the end of the bed before she sat down at the end of the bed, gripping the phone so tightly that her knuckles had gone white.
"mon amour." charles rasped, exhaustion in his voice as he rolled over onto his back. "what's wrong?"
"i just got a call from cecelia." she started, trying not to let her emotions show through. "she's just been on the phone with our american agent with the new york times numbers."
charles sat up, one of his warm hands going to rest on her thigh. "and?' he asked hesitantly, his piercing eyes meeting her uncertain ones in the dark.
"i made the top ten." she shouted, grin spreading all across her features.
making the new york times list had made everything worth it. all the sleepless nights when she had woken up with an idea she was scared to lose, all the rewrites, the weeks of writers block. the rejections, the aggravation, the insecurity.
this was it.
she had done it.
"i'm so proud of you." charles beamed, folding her into a hug. "i knew you could do it, my brilliant girl."
she dropped her phone on the bed, red-faced and giggly as she kissed him, allowing her hands to wander across his toned chest. "wanna show me just how much?"
THREE YEARS LATER
the theater was almost silent when the lights came up, the end credits of the final episode fading out on the screen. she held her breath, fingers gripping charles' hand so tightly that she thought she might break the fragile bones in her husband's fingers.
oh, yeah. they had gotten married about a year after her book had come out, while she was in the middle of writing as good as dead, the conclusion to the series.
since a good girls guide to murder had come out, her life had changed for the better. she felt more secure in herself and her talent, and the words had never come easier when she started writing the sequel, eager ton continue the story. she had since written two more books to complete the trilogy, as well as two standalone novels: five survive and the reappearance of rachel price. around the time that rachel price was announced, she had gotten another call from cecelia, asking if she and charles could come to london and meet with representatives from the bbc.
they wanted to turn her first book into a tv series.
she had been hands on from the beginning, throwing herself into her work and doing her best to make sure that the version of the story the readers saw on screen was the version that she had visualized when she'd first explained the storyboard to charles, the driver helping her connect everything on their living room wall with red yarn.
and now was the time. the time to see if it had all paid off. the theater was filled with minor celebrities, influencers, and the tiktokers who had made her book blow up in popularity.
it all came down this night.
"it's okay. whatever happens, you know you did your best." charles whispered in her ear, running one hand up and down her bare back. underneath the flimsy straps of her red dress.
she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath when the roar off applause began to drown her.
she rode the rush of emotions, allowing the tears of gratification and relief to ruin her mascara as she let her body go slack, resting against charles as she watched the room rise in a standing ovation for pippa and ravi.
"we did it. we made it, charles." she laughed, tilting her head up to kiss him.
"no, cherie. you did this. they're all here for you."
she watched as the event's host, a former spice girl that charles knew through his paddock connections, stepped out into the middle of the small stage set up at the front of the theater.
"and now, the moment i'm sure you've all been waiting for, a few words from y/n /y/l/n-leclerc!"
she wiped her eyes and fixed her hair, taking a deep breath before she walked across the stage, taking the microphone from geri halliwell, and turning to face the crowd.
in the front row, there was charles. her one true love. her biggest supporter.
and in that moment, she truly allowed herself to believe that she had made it.
#charles leclerc x reader#formula one x reader#f1 iagine#f1 x reader#f1 one shot#charles leclerc imagine#charles leclerc x you#Spotify
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will people boo me if I post my very first choso smut (and first fic after a pretty decent hiatus) next week? 😬
#I have it in my head that people are booing me constantly anyways so yeah lol#HAPPY FRIDAY MY DEAR FRIENDS!#I've been slowly working on this neighbor!choso fic for weeks now and finally finished it today#still need to edit and review it before I put it out in the world#nervous but excited for it!#I hope at least one of you will want to read it!#if not that's okay because I'm posting it anyways! for fun!
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TODDLER Traits Pack V2.5 by Vicky Sims
I love this mod because this gives your gameplay more traits for toddlers which can be very realistic to toddlers traits that they would normally have in the real world!
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🐣 A total of 20 Toddler Age-Exclusive Custom Traits.
They are all base game compatible.
All my Custom Traits Packs are compatible with any other mods.
Provided with CAS Traits version and Reward Traits version that can be used together
To add the reward version to toddlers, you need to use my Traits Picker or AddTraitsMenu.
Traits name in a colored font is the reward version; Traits name not in the colored font is the CAS version
Mod Review by CindySims on YouTube
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Changelog July 16, 2022:
V2.5:
Added Russian translations by coregirl. Thank you!
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👑 Full Details of TODDLER Traits Pack
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❓ What's the difference between Original (CAS) and Reward Version?
Not Required but Recommended Mods:
My Lifetime Traits is a mod to assign corresponding personality traits when toddlers grow up to child age. You can still edit the auto-assigned traits in the aging-up UI if you don't like them!
My More CAS Traits is a tuning mod that allows your Sims to have more than 3 Personality (CAS) traits without script or changes to UI.
My Custom Traits in Club Filter let you set all Preferences, Lifestyles, Parenthood Phases, University Diploma/Degree, Ghost/Death Types, Rewards, and Aspirations Bonus Traits from the base-game and packs as well as custom traits made by me and many other creators' traits as the club requirement.
My Sorted Traits Picker allows you to add traits to your Sims categorized by game packs, cc trait packs, and their creators, without going through a long list of AddTraitsMenu.
My Mass Traits Remover helps you to remove traits from your Sims/Pets in bulk, without clicking on remove traits one by one with other cheat traits mod.
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French translation by Saki and Kimikosoma here. Francophones ? Vous trouverez chez Kimikosoma, dans la partie "Traits par Chingyu", les différentes traductions des traits. A mettre dans le même dossier que les mods concernés ! Thank you!
If you use a separated translation package, download the mod as usual and also put the translation package directly in your Mod folder.
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You can use both the CAS version and Reward version of Toddler Traits.
Put the package into less than FIVE folders deep in your Mod Folder.
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Download 下載 (You can use both or either one.)
(this one describes my toddler in real life LOL)
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#sims 4 download#sims 4 cc#sims 4 gameplay#sims 4#the sims 4#sims 4 custom content#sims 4 mods#the sims 4 mods#the sims 4 custom content#ts4#ts4 traits#sims 4 traits#sims 4 cc finds#cc finds#sims cc#the sims cc#ts4 cc#cc#ts4 cc finds#sims cc finds
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Ok like nobody seems to have noticed but Juliette Blevins has recently put out a case that Great Andamanese might actually have been Austroasiatic all along (to complement Jarawan possibly being an Austronesian relative). There's some stuff that's certainly suggestive, but it'll be a bit more work needed before I'm ready to accept these 32 proposed correspondences as anything more than chance, particularly after the Indo-Vasconic debacle. Still, below the cut I'm going to try and give this a fair review.
All of this is from 'Linguistic clues to Andamanese pre-history: Understanding the North-South divide', in The Language of Hunter Gatherers, edited by Tom Güldemann, Patrick McConvell and Richard Rhodes and published in 2020 (a free version of the chapter can be found on Google Scholar).
Looking through the data, it actually seems relatively rigorous as a set of comparisons; she's done a shallow reconstruction of a Proto-Great-Andamanese from wordlists (seemingly a relatively trivial exercise, though with caveats noted below) and is seemingly comparing these to reconstructions from the Mon-Khmer comparative dictionary.
Many of the correspondences are basically identical between the two reconstructions with at most minimal semantic differences, e.g. (in the order PGA~PAA respectively) *buə 'clay' ~ *buəh 'ash, powdery dust'; *muən 'pus, dirt' ~ *muən 'pimple'; *cuər 'current, flow' ~ *cuər 'flow, pour'; *cuəp 'fasten, adjoin' ~ *bcuup/bcuəp 'adjoin, adhere'. However, I wonder if the Proto-GA reconstructions here have been massaged a bit to fit the Austroasiatic correspondence more closely; in Aka-Kede for example, each of these words shows a different vowel; pua, mine, cor(ie), cup. It's not fatal by any means (in fact if the correspondences could be shown to be more complex than simple identity that would actually help the argument), but definitely annoying.
There's a couple of PGA items which are presented as having a straightforward sound correpondence in PAA where the semantics is close but doesn't quite match, but also alongside a semantic match that differs slightly in sound, e.g. by a slightly different initial consonant, e.g. *raic 'bale out' ~ *raac 'sprinkle' /*saac 'bale out'; *pila 'tusk, tooth' ~ *plaaʔ 'blade'/*mlaʔ 'tusk, ivory'; *luk 'channel' ~ *ru(u)ŋ 'channel'/*lu(u)k 'have a hole'. I think there's possibly a plausible development here, with perhaps one form taking on the other's semantics because of taboo, or maybe due to an actual semantic shift (she notes that the Andamanese use boar tusks as scrapers, which could explain a 'blade'~'tusk' correspondence in itself).
There's an item which seems dubious on the PAA side, e.g. she proposes a correspondence *wət ~ *wət for 'bat, flying fox' but I can't find a *wət reconstructed anywhere in the MKCD with that meaning, not even in Bahnaric where she claims it comes from (there is a *wət reconstructed but with a meaning 'turn, bend'). Meanwhile, *kut 'fishing net' ~ *kuut 'tie, knot' seems wrong at first, as search for *kuut by itself only brings up a reconstruction *kuut 'scrape, scratch', however there is also a reconstruction *[c]kuut which does mean 'tie, knot'.
There's an interesting set of correspondences where PGA has a final schwa that's absent from the proposed PAA cognates, e.g. *lakə 'digging stick' ~ *lak 'hoe (v.)'; *ɲipə 'sandfly' ~ *jɔɔp 'horsefly'; *loŋə 'neck' ~ *tlu(u)ŋ 'throat'.
More generally, a substantial proportion of the proposed correspondences are nouns in Great Andamanese but verbs/adjective (stative verbs) in Austroasiatic, some of which are above, but also including e.g. *cuiɲ 'odour' ~ *ɟhuuɲ/ɟʔuuɲ 'smell, sniff'; *raic 'juice' ~ *raac 'sprinkle' (a separate correspondence to 'bale out' above); *mulə 'egg' ~ *muul 'round'; *ciəp 'belt, band' ~ *cuup/cuəp/ciəp 'wear, put on'. This also doesn't seem too much of an issue, given the general word-class flexibility in that part of the world, though there don't seem to be any correspondences going the other way, which could perhaps be a sign of loaning/relexification instead.
I mentioned that a lot of these seem to be exact matches, but of course what you really want to indicate relatedness are non-indentical but regular correspondences, and here is where I can see the issues probably starting to really arise. We've already noted some of the vowel issues, but we also have some messiness with some of the consonants, though at the very least the POA matches pretty much every time (including reasonable caveats like sibilants patterning with palatals and the like). However, that still leaves us with some messes.
The liquids and coronals especially are misaligned a fair bit in ways which could do with more correspondences to flesh out. Here's a list of the correspondences found in initial position in the examples given.
*l ~ *l: *lat ~ *[c]laat 'fear', *lakə 'digging stick' ~ *lak 'hoe'
*l ~ *r: *lap ~ *rap 'count' (*luk 'channel' ~ *ru(u)ŋ 'have a hole'/*lu(u)k 'channel' could be in either of these)
*r ~ *r: *raic 'juice' ~ *raac 'sprinkle'
*r ~ *ɗ: *rok ~ *ɗuk 'canoe'
*t ~ *ɗ: *tapə 'blind' ~ [ɟ]ɗaap 'pass hand along'
*t ~ *t: *ar-təm ~ *triəm 'old' (suggested that metathesis occurred, though to me there probably would need to be some reanalysis as well to make this work)
I invite any of my mutuals more experienced with the comparative method to have a look for yourselves and see what you make of the proposal as it currently stands. It would certainly be an interesting development if more actual correspondences could be set up, though I do have to wonder if more work would also be needed on Austroasiatic to double-check these reconstructions as well.
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Strictly Confidential: Chapter Six
A Modern Feysand AU
She’s a law student turned confidential informant. He’s a federal prosecutor with one goal: bringing down her boyfriend for his white collar crimes. What could go wrong?
A/N: I would like to thank "girl i've always been" by Olivia Rodrigo for helping me produce this one. Thanks for your patience and your love on the last chapter. Enjoy, and let me know if you would like to be tagged.
Also, I make no promises on the accuracy of international travel, time changes, and FBI investigations from this point forward. Welcome to the world of fanfiction, everyone--everything is subject to the machinations of my own mind. 😈
Sorry if the editing is crap. Needs must, and all that.
TW: drinking/alcohol
Strictly Confidential Masterlist
My other, completed, Feysand AU: What to Expect When You're (Not) Expecting
Chapter Six
It took Rhysand two days—two days—to get in touch with Feyre after Azriel’s attack.
“I’m going to kill you,” Feyre hissed through her teeth as she stepped onto the Illyria Station platform, the final station on the Prythian City Metro Line. Rhys’s eyebrow rose at the venom in Feyre’s voice, one large hand resting on the small of her back as he guided her away from the train and through the station, up the stairs, and into an awaiting black car.
“You realize you just threatened to murder a federal prosecutor,” Rhys noted as he tapped on the window separating them from the front seats. The driver pulled away from the curb.
“What of it?” Feyre asked. “Bare threats won't get you anywhere in court.”
“Maybe so, but if you do kill me, there are plenty of witnesses on the platform who could testify to your intent.”
“Good luck tracking them down when you’re dead,” Feyre said, holding Rhys’s gaze, his eyes twinkling in the dimness of the car.
Feyre almost smiled back at him, at the way words tripped so easily off her tongue whenever Rhys was around. But she swallowed the urge, instead rolling her eyes and slumping down in the leather seat, Rhys’s eyes tracking her every move. “Are you going to tell me if Agent Lapis is alright or not, or are you just going to press me for more information on—?”
Rhys lunged forward, his large hands covering her mouth. “No names until we get to the safe house.”
He waited for her to nod, his very large body taking up so much space as he hovered over her, the scent of salt and citrus enveloping her at his closeness.
Feyre struggled to suck down a breath, and it wasn't because Rhys was covering her mouth.
“Don’t you trust your driver?” Feyre asked when Rhys removed his hands, her body suddenly cold as he slid across the leather seat, back toward his side of the car.
“Of course I do,” Rhys said. “But we can’t be too careful. After Azriel’s attack, it’s best we take a little more care with our conversations, where we are, who sees us together.”
Feyre didn’t say anything, folding her arms over her chest.
Rhys blew out a breath. “Azriel is fine. He took a bad beating, but he’s had worse. He’ll be on his feet in another day or two, albeit with a few extra bruises.”
“And do you think it was—was—” Feyre pressed her lips together, unsure if she refrained from saying Tamlin’s name because of Rhys’s caution or because she still could barely fathom that someone she had thought she knew might sanction such violent behavior.
Rhys nodded curtly. “We’ll be there in ten minutes. We can talk then.”
The ten minutes passed quickly, Feyre mentally reviewing the information she had gathered in the past few days. She had managed to glean the location of Tamlin’s next business venture by going through his phone well past midnight the night before, slipping his phone from his nightstand and hiding away in the closet until she had found something, anything that might put a stop to everything Spring Solutions was doing.
Illyria was a pleasant enough town, if a little run down. The small main street the town car carried Feyre and Rhys down boasted a few cafes, a restaurant or two, and even a bar. Feyre caught sight of a bookstore, already closed for the evening, at the very end of the street, and something else that might have been an arts and crafts shop. She continued to observe as they left the main street and entered a series of residential neighborhoods, partly because she had never visited Illyria before, and partly because it gave her something to do in such a small space with Rhys mere inches away.
At last, the driver turned into a gated neighborhood full of quaint historical homes. The car pulled into the driveway of a red-brick home, two stories tall, with black shutters and white columns. Feyre unbuckled her seat belt as the car pulled around the back of the house, entirely out of sight of the street.
“Home sweet home,” Rhys said as Feyre rounded the car to stand next to him.
“Home?” she stammered, turning to stare up at him.
“One of them,” he said. “Once upon a time.”
Feyre narrowed her eyes as he strode up the back steps, producing a small key and unlocking the back door. He stepped back to let her enter first, and Feyre slid past him, her elbow brushing his stomach as she set foot on the dark wood floors.
Rhys followed her, flicking on a light switch, a warm glow flooding the hallway as Feyre delved further into the house.
Warm dark floors stretched down the long hallway that spanned from the back door directly to the front, the rooms of the first floor on either side of the hall. To her left was a small kitchen, with white appliances, light wood cabinets, and forest green tile backsplash. To her right was a closed door that she guessed led to a bedroom or office. Rhys ushered her toward the front of the house, gesturing to a small sitting room to their right. Across the hall from the sitting room was a small dining room. Both rooms boasted floor to ceiling, built-in shelves bursting with books and trinkets of all shapes and sizes.
Feyre settled herself onto a grey couch in the sitting room, gazing around the small space as Rhys ensured the curtains facing the street were drawn shut.
“This is your house?” Feyre asked as Rhys, satisfied with the curtains, crossed the plush red rug to the fireplace on the far wall, leaning down to start it with the push of a button. Flames danced to life in the hearth, Feyre’s brows raising at the sight. The house itself felt old, quaint. But the fixtures—the fireplace, the chandelier above them, even the appliances in the kitchen, were all quite modern.
“I grew up here,” Rhys said. “It was my mother’s house. My father didn’t want it—hasn’t been here in years—after she died. He gave it to me, told me to sell it if I wished. I thought about it for a while. It’s too far from the city for me to live in full-time. But I couldn’t stomach the thought of someone else living here. So I decided to keep it, update some of the appliances, the heating system, all that, thinking one day I would sell it for a higher price after all the improvements. But I… haven’t.”
“It’s lovely,” Feyre said.
Rhys gave a brisk grin, sitting down on the couch across from Feyre and clasping his hands between his knees. “Azriel and Mor should be down any minute.”
Feyre's brows creased, but Rhys shook his head. “Azriel’s staying here while he recuperates, and Mor arrived about an hour before us to check on him and make sure things were in order for this meeting. It's nothing... like that."
Feyre nodded, filing away the information for later.
They sat in comfortable silence while they awaited, and the creaking ceiling above Feyre told her Mor and Azriel were aware of the scheduled meeting and coming to meet them any second. Indeed, they emerged from the narrow staircase that occupied part of the central hallway, Azriel’s face several shades of black, blue, and yellow bruises.
“Gods above,” Feyre breathed, leaping to her feet and meeting Azriel halfway across the room. “Are you alright?” She asked, arms reaching toward him before she realized she wasn’t sure what to do with them.
But Azriel softly gripped her upper arms, his swollen lip breaking into a small smile. “I’m fine, Feyre. Occupational hazard.”
Feyre let Azriel lead her over to the couch after she greeted Mor, who had frozen in the hallway, gazing wide-eyed at Feyre and Azriel. At Feyre's "Hello," Mor swallowed, stepping into the living room at last.
“You were truly concerned for him,” Mor noted, taking a seat next to Rhys as Feyre forced Azriel to sit down first before she settled herself next to him.
Feyre folded her arms, glaring at Rhys. “Ask his Royal Highness the United States Attorney.”
“She threatened to kill me for making her wait this long,” Rhys admitted, eyes never leaving Feyre’s.
“Well, you’ve seen me. I’m fine,” Azriel said in that soft, but cutting, voice of his. “And I appreciate it, Feyre. I really do.”
Feyre tore her gaze from Rhys’s violet eyes and met Azriel’s hazel ones, nodding once before she strengthened her resolve.
“I know where Tamlin’s going next,” she announced.
----------------
One week later, the plans were arranged.
Cassian and Mor would board a plane for northern Washington State, hours after the private plane Lucien and Tamlin had chartered that would take them to the same place. The agents had arranged to rent a car to follow the two Spring Solutions higher-ups to the manufacturing plant that Tamlin had arranged a relationship with. Thanks to the vague map Feyre had found that first night of her sleuthing, the group had determined the estimated location of the exchange—the place Tamlin would accept responsibility for the non-compliant environmental materials. Then, the FBI Agents would trail whatever transport Tamlin had arranged until he either stored it or disposed of it. At that point, they hoped to have witnessed enough illegal activity that there would be plenty of cause to make an arrest—or at the very least to bring charges against Tamlin and Spring Solutions and end the illegal operation once and for all.
The plan made sense, despite the limited information it was based upon. The agents had planned everything to perfection. The intel Feyre had provided had allowed them to skirt the problem they had run into time and time again—because Tamlin and Lucien flew privately, under an ever-changing roster of company names other than Spring Solutions, and were careful to take nondescript vehicles to the private airport, it was difficult for the FBI to follow the duo when they jetted off to consult with their next client. But Feyre’s provision of the location had changed everything. The entire case might be resolved in less than a day.
Feyre, however, was pissed.
She had provided the information. She was the one who continued to stay with Tamlin, who still slept in his bed, in order to get this information for the FBI. And yet she hadn’t been invited to come along for the bust.
It was infuriating, and the worst kind of insult. She had spent the better part of an hour arguing with Rhys, Mor, and Azriel about it as they had discussed the information in Rhysand’s mother’s home that night a week ago.
It all came down to protocol, however, and civilians weren’t to be pulled into such dangerous surveillance activities if it was avoidable. And unfortunately, Feyre was a mole and nothing more. Cassian and Mor were the FBI agents, and they would be taking the lead in the investigation. Not even Rhysand was going.
Feyre lay on her couch, her casebooks unopened on the coffee table next to her as she stared at the clock on her phone. She was at least trusted enough to be told what time Cassian and Mor’s plane would be taking off—2:27 p.m.
Feyre rolled her eyes. What an honor.
The clock turned to 2:28, and she knew they were gone.
Feyre sighed, rolling off the couch and laying on the floor for a minute. Then two. Then three.
If they didn’t catch Tamlin—what then? How much longer would she need to stay here?
Feyre knew she could change her mind at any point. The FBI, and Rhysand, wouldn’t blame her. But what then? How could she live with herself knowing she had taken away the FBI’s only viable opportunity to bring down Spring Solutions?
No, Feyre didn’t have a choice. She was in this until Tamlin discovered her treachery or he was behind bars.
Eventually, Feyre peeled herself off the floor and padded through the empty apartment toward her closet.
Sure, it was 2:28 pm on a Friday, but Feyre didn’t have plans for the rest of the day.
Or the rest of the weekend.
So why not jump into her pajamas and read for her Corporations Law class until her eyes ceased focusing properly?
Feyre snorted at herself as she flicked on the light in the closet. Here she was, an informant for the FBI, a job that sounded so glamorous, so important, so mysterious.
And yet it was mid-afternoon on a Friday and Feyre was already shedding her bra for the day.
What was her life?
She sighed as she crossed to the enormous dresser against one of the walls of the closet. She shoved aside the suit jacket Tamlin had worn that morning, hastily discarded over the top of the dresser, the fabric emitting a faint crinkling sound as it hit the floor.
She had just reached into the drawer to retrieve the tattered old t-shirt and sweatpants that she slept in when she froze, slowly turning to gaze at the navy blazer, crumpled on the floor at her feet.
Because that crinkling sound. . . That wasn't just fabric.
Feyre knelt, sweatpants forgotten as she fished through the pockets of Tamlin’s jacket. A month ago, she wouldn’t have even considered doing this. Wouldn’t have been so hyperaware of everything having to do with her boyfriend, so anxious that the sound of what was probably a gum wrapper wouldn't have raised her hackles.
But a month ago, she hadn't known her boyfriend was a criminal mastermind.
Feyre drew out a small slip of paper from the inside breast pocket of the jacket.
It was a receipt.
A receipt for a set of plane tickets.
And in tiny black script across the top was the destination of those tickets, scheduled for that day, October 7th, at 10:53 a.m:
Dublin, Ireland.
Fuck.
---------
“Where the hell are you, Feyre?”
Rhysand’s voice was so loud in her phone speaker that Feyre actually held it several inches away from her ear as she responded.
“The airport…”
“You’re kidding. " Feyre heard what sounded like a door slamming in the background of the call. "You are actually calling me because you thought it would be fun to give me a heart attack as a prank, and you’re actually home right now, on your couch, watching The Nanny or whatever ridiculous show you and Mor were discussing the other night in Illyria. You’re not at the airport about to board a flight to Dublin because your boyfriend purposefully set a red herring in case anyone was on his tail.”
Feyre didn’t respond, just smiled at the woman manning the security line Feyre currently stood in, shedding her shoes with her one available hand, the other holding her phone to her ear.
“Feyre. Tell me I’m right. Tell me you’re not at the airport.”
“Can’t, sorry. Oh, hold on, gotta send my phone through the x-ray machine thing.”
Feyre ignored Rhys’s protests, placing her phone on the x-ray belt, call with Rhys still active, before she stepped into the line to go through the human scanning machine.
It was at least five minutes before she made it through the line and retrieved her stuff from the security belt. To her surprise, Rhys was still on the line when she retrieved her phone.
“Turn around right now. What are you planning to do when you get to Ireland? Find Tamlin and confront him yourself?”
“Of course not!” Feyre exclaimed, checking the departures board and smiling as she saw that her flight was right on time, although in her eagerness to get to the airport, she had arrived much too early. She had at least an hour before boarding the flight that would take her from Prythian to New York, where she would transfer to a flight to Ireland. “I just want to follow him and record everything he does.”
Except for vague background noise, and something that sounded like the rumble of traffic, the line remained quiet for several long moments.
“I swear, Feyre Archeron, if I die before I turn thirty, it’ll be because of you and this gods-damned case.”
“You’ll thank me later!” Feyre said brightly, and hung up the phone.
An hour later, Feyre had shuffled toward her gate with the rest of those boarding her flight to New York. She had spent the last hour consuming two glasses of wine at the airport bar, her productivity while reading for her Environmental Law class sharply declining as her glass emptied. Her original intention had been to stick with one small glass of wine so that she might fall asleep more easily on her flight.
But after half an hour of staring at her textbook, a sizable pit had formed deep in her stomach. Was she truly flying to Ireland for the weekend? Chasing Tamlin halfway across the world to—to what? To make up for the fact that she had fallen for the red herring Tamlin had left in his emails, had given the FBI wrong information, and sent them in the complete opposite direction of Tamlin’s true destination? She had nowhere to stay when she got to Ireland, no idea where to start on finding transport to whatever location Tamlin had arranged his rendezvous.
So Feyre had ordered another glass of wine, and downed most of it in the last ten minutes before her flight started boarding.
Thus the world had taken on a softer light, a slower quality that had loosened Feyre’s shoulders so much that she didn’t even care about the nearby toddler who had been crying for the last half hour, or the strong smell of weed emitting from the woman in front of her, or the enormous man who was standing a little too close to her, smelling of citrus and the sea and—
Feyre whirled around.
“What are you doing here?” She demanded when her eyes met violet ones, the intensity of Rhys’s gaze reminding her of her tipsiness.
“You thought I was going to let you run off to Ireland by yourself?”
Feyre bit her lip, suddenly wishing she hadn’t had that second glass of wine. Rhys was so poised, dressed in his signature black suit, pressed to perfection even after what must have been a long day at work. The shadow of a beard graced the lower half of his face, and his sea salt scent caressed her, pulling her closer. . .
Feyre blinked once. Then twice, reaching an arm out to steady herself against one of the barriers used to corral the boarding line.
Rhys's eyes narrowed. “Are you—drunk?” He asked, a hint of amusement creeping into his voice.
Feyre folded her arms. “I’m not drunk,” she insisted. “I had a two glasses of wine.”
“You can barely stand up straight,” Rhys noted, pocking her shoulder with a finger.
Feyre flashed her palms up at the prosecutor. “I’m fine, see? I was having a perfectly wonderful time until you decided to show up and crash my spontaneous trip to a foreign country.” She didn't mention the wave of relief that was sweeping through her even now, as she realized she wouldn't be leaving the country for the first time all by herself.
“Did you tell Mor and Cassian?” She asked, changing the subject, although the creeping grin on Rhys’s face told her he wouldn't let this go anytime soon.
And for some reason, Feyre didn’t mind that he found her amusing.
Tamlin would have told her she was being unprofessional, would have chastised her for doing something as unsafe as getting a little tipsy in the safety of an airport. Even though he and Lucien drank during their own travels, Tamlin would see Feyre’s unsteadiness as a weakness, something she should only do with him around.
And while Rhys was laughing at her, she didn’t feel . . . judged. Teased, yes, and perhaps a little embarrassed. But not ashamed.
Rhys gave a curt nod. “They’re staying the night in Washington and flying back tomorrow. Weather conditions are awful up there, so no planes, even private ones, are going up until the morning.”
“Will they fly over to meet us?” Feyre asked, falling into step beside Rhys as the line started moving, bringing them closer and closer to the gate.
Rhys shook his head. “If this trip is as short as Tamlin told you it would be, by the time they got to Ireland, they would have to board the plane to come back again.”
“So we’re on our own,” Feyre muttered, allowing the flight attendant to scan her boarding pass.
“We’re on our own,” Rhys echoed as they stepped onto the jetway.
------
It was a very long night. Feyre slept for most of both of their flights, occasionally waking up to turbulence or to use the restroom or eat the snacks the flight attendants provided. Every time she did, Rhys was a solid presence next to her, wide awake and reading through various legal documents on his laptop, his privacy screen preventing her from glimpsing much. If he slept at all, Feyre never saw it.
When they touched down in Dublin, Feyre jolted awake, something soft against her temple. She looked up, blinking the sleep from her eyes as she met Rhys’s stare.
“Sleep well?” Rhys asked, shifting in his seat, the movement jostling her.
She reared back, tearing her forehead from where it had been resting on Rhys’s shoulder. “Yes, I—I did,” she said, sure her cheeks were burning bright red. She had slept on his shoulder. Had probably drooled all over him while he read his professional legal documents and thought of her as a very silly, very impulsive young law student. “Sorry,” she said, running a hand through her hair.
But Rhys only shrugged, folding up his laptop and sliding it into the backpack beneath the seat in front of him. “No need to apologize. I’m positive my shoulder is much more comfortable than the window.”
Feyre huffed out a breath, a grin tugging at her cheek as she thought about just how muscular Rhys's shoulder was—if it was more comfortable than the window, it was only by a margin.
“What time is it?” She asked.
“Dublin time?” Rhys looked at his watch, Feyre’s eyes tracking the flick of his wrist. “About seven am. . . Prythian time? Two am. What time did you say Tamlin’s meeting was?”
“Not until this afternoon—two or three.”
“Plenty of time to find a hotel, then, because someone decided to come all the way over here without a plan,” Rhys said, his fingers gripping her chin lightly for a fleeting moment, his lips pursing as he gazed down at her.
“Come on, Night,” Feyre said, following him from their seats and out into the aisle. “Live a little.”
Feyre regretted those words two hours later, after the only hotel with a vacancy they could find had one room available--with only one bed.
“Are you sure you don’t have anything else? We’ll even take a bed and a pull-out couch,” Feyre pleaded with the receptionist, who was so busy staring as Rhysand that Feyre doubted the woman even heard her question.
“What was it you said to me on the plane, Feyre darling?” Rhys asked, glancing down at her from the corner of his eye, his fingers tapping on the front desk. “Live a little?”
Feyre groaned, exhaustion tugging at her limbs, at her very soul, despite the sleep she had managed to find on the plane. “Fine.” She snatched the keys out of Rhys’s hand and stomped over to the elevator, arms crossed.
“I can sleep on the floor,” Rhys offered as Feyre led the way down the hall, her suitcase rattling behind her.
“That’s ridiculous,” Feyre said. “It’s a king bed. Plenty of space.”
What was she saying? No amount of bed space would be enough if she was sharing it with Rhys. He was so . . . all-consuming. Feyre could feel him behind her even now, though she knew he was several feet away.
She unlocked their room, Rhys’s arm sliding above her head to hold the door so she could drag her suitcase inside.
"Thank you," she said quietly, swallowing at the gesture.
Neither of them spoke as they took turns in the bathroom, each taking a quick shower to rinse off the travel. Feyre let Rhys go first, insisting that she had to call her father anyway. But instead of calling, she sat on her side of the bed and thought about what Tamlin would say if he knew she was sharing a hotel room with another man.
Even if her relationship with Tamlin had an expiration date, even if it was over in Feyre’s mind . . . It wasn’t over in Tamlin’s.
Sharing a bed with Rhys, sleeping on his shoulder, flirting with him . . . It was one of the worst betrayals, no matter what Tamlin had or had not done. She knew her boyfriend would be livid if he knew about what she was doing with Rhys. Even if nothing had happened between them, even if Feyre wasn’t sure she felt anything more than sexual attraction for the federal prosecutor who had suddenly turned her entire life upside down... It was wrong.
Even if being with Rhys brought out a side to her that had long been dormant. She spent all of her time with Tamlin and Lucien these days.
How long had it been since she had joked with a new friend? Spent time with someone who shared her interests, her career path? Done something just because she wanted to?
She had booked an international flight without a second thought, for crying out loud.
She had never done something like that before.
And Rhys had followed. With some grumbling, yes, but he hadn’t tried to drag her out of the airport or convince her to change her mind.
And perhaps he cared more about indicting Tamlin than he did about Feyre’s safety, but . . . Feyre couldn’t shake the feeling that Rhys understood just how badly she wanted to see Tamlin pay for his actions. That he understood the guilt that clawed at her in the middle of the night, the guilt that told her she should have seen it, should have recognized that there was something fishy about Tamlin’s business, should have done something long ago to stop it, something that might have prevented what Rhys’s sister had endured…
Feyre was startled out of her spiraling thoughts by the sound of the bathroom door swinging open, Rhysand emerging in nothing but black sweats, his hair still damp from the shower.
Feyre’s mouth went dry.
“I, ah, left my shirt out here,” Rhys offered, crossing the room to his suitcase, every muscle on display.
Feyre bit her lip at the sight of his cheeks, which had turned every-so-slightly pink, before she averted her gaze.
She didn’t say anything, simply grabbing her stuff and shutting the bathroom door behind her.
Tamlin would certainly object to the sight of a shirtless Rhysand.
Feyre took a very, very cold shower.
---
Taglist:
@rhysiedarling @shedoessoshedoes @popjunkie42 @adreamof-spring @that-little-red-head @witch-and-her-witcher @cinnamonmelody @azrielover @1islessthan3books @jenahid @toporecall @martzja @marinated-fish @riribbonss @tunaababee @acourtofbatboydreams @clockworkgraystairs @muaddib-iswriting @queenofdivas
#acotar#feysand#sarah j maas#a court of thorns and roses#rhysand#feyre archeron#acomaf#a court of mist and fury#fanfiction#acotar fanfiction#acotar au#alternative universe#high lord#night court#sjm
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Social Media QB
Anon Requested
Disclaimer: this is a work of FICTION, the characters are fictionalized versions of real life situations and real people. It’s all based on my imagination.
Masterlist
The reputation of the Chargers social media team was unmatched. They are known for being funny and up to date on all memes and pop culture references while also showcasing players’ personalities. That alone made you apply and this past year on the job had really been a once in a lifetime experience. Working with Megan and the crew was a daily adventure and you were becoming more and more comfortable calling the guys your friends. It even got to a point where you didn’t even call them by their names anymore.
Keenan was usually “slay” or “slayer.” Mike was always “Mike Dub”, Michael Davis was “Vato” and your favorite nickname was definitely calling Justin “Sunshine.” At first it was a Remember the Titans reference but it became a lifestyle. Everything and everyone revolves around the sun and that’s exactly what it felt like when you were at work. All of the players were important and special but you could just feel the energy in the room shift when Justin was there. It was palpable, it almost took your breath away sometimes.
Off camera he was goofy, funny and had this uncanny ability to make the world stand still for a bit, even just for a few fleeting moments where it felt like you two were the only ones in the room. But then reality would hit and you were reminded that you work for the team and he’d never see you in that way, he was just nice to everyone he encountered. But on camera? It was all fun and games. There was a running joke, mostly based on his real feelings, that Justin hated cameras. He couldn’t stand being the center of attention or having people perceive him so he avoided the social media team altogether when phones were pointed in his direction.
But sometimes, a rarity, you were able to get him on camera, even if it was just for a split second. The two of you reviewed the questions he was going to be asked before their Hot Ones appearance and there was ALWAYS a discussion, more like subtle begging if you all were going to have him participate in any content.
“We need Justin for this new segment we’re doing, so you’re gonna have to talk to him.” Megan sighs, grabbing her Stanley cup that was sitting on the counter. She’d just finished editing a video where she and her assistant put fart spray on the tiny mic and could still feel the rancid scent on her clothes.
You were going through photos taken during practice earlier that morning and deciding which ones to post. “Why do I have to do it?”
Lorren and Allie giggle in the corner, shaking their heads. “You cannot be serious right now y/n,” Lorren gives you a pointed look.
“What?”
“We all know you and Justin have a thing for each other. Even if you won’t admit to us…or yourself. It’s pretty obvious.”
You raised your head up from your laptop, staring at them while also wracking your brain trying to figure out when your innocent crush had become so painfully obvious. If the girls knew, then Justin had probably somehow caught on and the thought of that made you want to dig a hole right outside on the practice field and never come out. “Is—am I that easy to read?”
“No one blames you,” Megan runs a loving hand on your shoulder. “And I’m sure you’ve been trying so hard to hide your feelings that you haven’t noticed that he’s doing an even worse job of hiding his massive crush on you.”
The look on your face sends the room into a fit of laughter. “We’re being serious. The way he looks at you and acts around you. Anyone can see he’s into you friend.”
You weren’t convinced, “I need an example.”
“Okay fine,” Lorren stands up to prepare a demonstration. “He wasn’t ready to put the mics on when he was mic’d up until you walked over and helped him get the mic in the perfect spot in his pads. And then he wore the friendship bracelet for six weeks because you handed it to him.”
Allie pipes up to put in her two cents. “And let’s not forget when he had you driving him around the golf tournament and kicked Zion to the curb. There’s no way all of those are just a coincidence.”
“Fine. I’ll go ask him if he’ll shoot the video for us but I’m not going to lose my job because of a meaningless crush on the starting quarterback.”
You waited around for the guys to leave treatment after practice and caught up with him on his way out. “Hey Sunshine, quick question for you.”
His cheeks turn a light shade of pink and he gives you a small tight-lipped smile. “What’s up?”
“I need you to do me a huge favor and be in this tik tok. It’s a short game and it’ll only take like 15 minutes.”
His deadpan face and disappointed dad sigh has you practically begging, saying “please” in your finest sing-song tone.
“Fine, I’ll do it.” You knew he’d crack, he always did. “On one condition. You also have to participate.”
You hold your hand out and he engulfs it with his much larger one. “You’ve got yourself a deal Herbert.”
“Okay the rules of the game are simple,” Megan begins from behind her phone screen before hitting record, “we’re going to give you these Canadian snacks and you’ll rate them on a scale from 1 to 10. One being it’s awful I’ll never touch that again and 10 being a solid snack that you’d eat everyday if given the opportunity.”
You and Justin nod, diving in on everything from the ketchup chips to the toffee. The video didn’t take long as promised and the quarterback went about the rest of his day with no further distractions.
In your office a few days later on the team’s off day, you were contemplating your life. Maybe you should take a step back from him so people didn’t get the wrong idea. Sure, your coworkers were convinced the crush was mutual but what if he was just being nice? He was always so focused on football and making the most out of every opportunity why in the world would he waste time flirting with a social media manager? It just made no sense. Instead of continuing to run a million imaginary scenarios in your mind you packed up your stuff and tried heading out to the parking lot. Even after all this time you still struggled to maneuver all the twists and turns of the building and somehow found yourself walking past the quarterback room. You intended to just keep walking but he was in there alone and called out your name when he saw you.
“What are you doing here? I didn’t think anyone would be in the building today.” His bright eyes staring down at you made your heart feel like it was beating out of your chest. You desperately needed to get it together.
“I came in to finish up a few things but I’m heading out now. What are you doing? I think you’ve watched enough film to last you a couple lifetimes.” That gets a light chuckle out of him and he shakes his head, the two of you knowing that his quest for perfection would never allow him to believe he’s watched enough film. “Thank you for shooting that video the other day. The fans are gonna love it, they’re always begging us to get you on camera.”
“No problem, anything for you.” He clears his throat after whispering the last part, desperately hoping that you didn’t hear it. Even though you definitely did. You should go home for the day and leave him alone in the office so he can get back to work. You should stop staring at his lips that look so soft and just begging to be kissed. He should turn around and get back to the playbook and the computer but here he is, standing still right in front of you.
You’re just here, waiting for some to rip the carpet out from under you, to fall on your face, for someone to tell you that this isn’t actually happening. The space between your bodies diminishes significantly, so much so that you can smell the Dr. Squatch Birchwood Breeze radiating off of him. It’s intoxicating and you swallow the fear in your gut and ignore all of the common sense thoughts plaguing your mind, allowing you to feel.
The kiss is tentative at first, he pulls back slightly, whispering if it’s okay to keep going as you felt his breath against your lips. You don’t respond but instead pull him in closer, hearing a satisfied husky moan from him as he allowed your tongue access to his. His right palm rests against your cheek until he’s tilting your head up ever so slightly to deepen the embrace and he picks you up, holding on for dear life while closing and locking the door behind you. It was so much more than he imagined, these feelings that he’d been pushing aside were being confronted and magnified by the second. This innocent crush that you had on him were genuine, real feelings that created a deep ache in your bones, actively being soothed with his hands all over you as the two of you made out like helpless teenagers.
You didn’t think you’d have the strength to tear yourself away from him…until his phone rings. He ignores it the first time but it’s all you can think about by the fifth ring.
“Answer it,” you whisper breathlessly as he places you back on your feet. A thousand unspoken apologies are painted on his face as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. He keeps the call short and sweet but the look of devastation is clear when he hangs up. “You have to go don’t you?”
“I’m so sorry. We can—we need to talk about this I know. And I promise we will I just, I need to take care of this.” He doesn’t want to leave, not like this. Even if he knows you understand. Justin presses a kiss to the side of your head and whispers another “I’m so sorry” leaving you in the room to think about what just happened.
You walk around the empty parking lot until you reach your car, letting out a deep sigh at the thought of what the conversation with him is going to look like after this. You need to be mentally prepared for good news, bad news and everything in between.
He is the sun after all. And sometimes when you stand too close, you might get burned. And maybe, just maybe, you’d avoid the burn altogether and bask in the warmth as long as you can.
#Justin Herbert#justin herbert fluff#justin herbert imagine#Justin Herbert x reader#justin herbert fanfic
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Kinou Nani tabeta. aka My Heart is Full
aka I suck at titles
Let me just say before anything else. This is not a recap or a review. This is me feeling the need to write down my feelings because they are pouring out of me. This is more a personal note than anything else so skip it if that's not your thing.
I always watch this show on saturday mornings, with my coffee and breakfast, because it gives me a boost for the weekend. And I wanted to postpone the final episode as much as possible but I just couldn't. I gave in.
Second FYI. This will probably be incoherent and a mess because that's how I feel. Also, this fucking menopause (surgical, don't give me too many extra years) is really making a mess of my emotional state this week, so I'm all over the place. Also I might've had some wine. Also this may be a bit long. I think that's it.
How I got here
So, I've loved cinema since I was like 7. (yeah I'm going really back in time) Because my mom like films, she dragged to the cinema even when I was way too young for whatever was on. [ Fun Side note- The first film that I saw in the cinema was Bram Stoker's Dracula, when I was like 6, and my mum got into an argument with the cinema employee because" I am her mother, and I'll decide what she can or can't watch"and so I did watch it.]
So I always loved watching films, talking about them and eventually went to uni to learn how to make them. During that time, I went through a phase (which happened to a couple other people in my school) where I kinda got emotionally detached from the stories. I could only see the camera angles, the lighting, the editing, etc.
When I was done with uni, and had decided that editing was my favourite thing I started doing a bit of work in editing, mostly online stuff and a couple of ads in London, and 3 years later I was done. Obviously there were life factors and health factors that contributed to this, but still I left it all behind.
Then, I quickly went back to being able to watch stories with all the emotions.
Let's skip forward to present day.
Kinou Nani Tabeta? feel in my lap by way of my very first BL.
Seven Days. I watched those films and went through all the emotions and needed more. More of that serotonin please.
So I got in research mode and that's when I found this wonderful world of BL and eventually this show.
Now, a little bit more about me, just in case you aren't sick of me talking about myself. I'm not a jolly person. If you asked anyone that knows me irl, they would describe me as someone who always thinks the sky is falling. However, I also love a lot of things deeply, and when it comes to things that I can't find a word big enough for it I call it magic. So I'll use it here.
Kinou Nani Tabeta? is magic.
If this show was a meal then the absolutely right ingredients were found, they were put in the hands of the best cooks and everything was prepared with love and care. This show that I love, was put together by people who love it, and couldn't not make it. This is what I believe. It's my kind of faith.
I've seen so many shows, I've loved so many of them, a lot of them touched me deeply. But only a few touched me this way.
When there is love in something, real care and empathy in the making of something, you can feel it, I believe. And I feel it so much watching this show. I get emotional just writing this.
I wish I could thank every single person that made this show possible. And we could argue all day about the quality of a show, its actors, writers or directors. I could argue why my favourite show is better than your favourite show, and why your show is more important than my show, and why that show failed and another succeeded. I will not argue about the importance of this show and my faith is unshakable.
Maybe because I love food so much and in my life my love filled moments were always around food, I connected at first with Kenji, because his reactions to food resemble mine. But this season Shiro stole my heart and soul.
His quiet but profound way of loving Kenji made cry more than any sad scene ever could. And onions and chicken thighs will forever have deeper meaning in my kitchen.
These two characters are so well written and so well acted, the words are so layered and so meaningful, that it's a miracle to me that it exists and that I got to watch it.
I'm sure other people will write much better posts about this show, and will probably be better (at a hell of a lot more on point) at writing about all the amazing things that this show has done. But I'm an emotional wreck and I could only write from a personal place today.
I'll be rewatching this show in it's entirety soon, because the evolution of these characters, Shiro specially, was such a joy to witness.
If you read this far, thank you. 💜
#kinou nani tabeta?#what did you eat yesterday?#what did you eat yesterday S2#it has never been so hard to hit the post button#i'm having so many feeling about posting this#i'm a wreck right now
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As you can maybe tell by the three reviews I posted in July, it was a good reading month! Overall, at least. I still had a couple “this was fine” and one DNF, but there were a lot of hits and I read more books than I have the last few months.
So, highlights: The Hollow Places was fantastic, as was Bookshops and Bonedust but for very different reasons. If you’re worried that Baldree won’t be able to repeat the magic of Legends and Lattes, stop now. It was pure cozy delight. March’s End didn’t get a review simply because I already had three coming, but it was also very good. It examines family dynamics and the realities of a portal fantasy world in a very complex, adult way. The characters are believable if not necessarily likeable, the world-building is great, the writing is strong… all the things.
But between March’s End, The Hexologists, and The Hollow Places, I needed a lot of lighter books to balance, as you can probably tell by the rest of my list. I enjoyed pretty much everything! I’m just sorry I didn’t like the Sanderson more but I guess that’s a sign he isn’t an author for me since I didn’t like the last book of his I read either. I’m also a bit sorry I couldn’t get into The Atlas Six because so many people love it, but I dropped it in a Little Free Library and it got snapped up almost instantly so hopefully it’s found a better home.
So that was my unhaul of the month! I … did not do well with my book haul, or perhaps I did too well with it. The Odyssey and Thud were both damaged books that came in at work and I couldn’t say no. Thud has some wear to the cover; the Odyssey has some uncut and weirdly bound pages I’ll need to slice open. (Have I read and do I own other editions of both? Absolutely.) Love in the Time of Serial Killers was an unexpected rebound—I originally got it as a reading copy and passed it on to a coworker, who sent it back when she’d finished.
And then, well. There’s a new bookshop opening in my metro area. They’ve taken over from a used bookstore and have to sell off its stock before they can properly move in their own. I had to go help out, right? I couldn’t find anything in their SFF section I wanted but still left with three books: Gaudy Night, Evelina, and a collection of Molière. I went with friends, the same day we saw Barbie. ’Twas a very good day, all around.
And last but not least, I have started on one of those long, dense reads that will last ages. I’ve had Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century on my shelf for years and made it a goal to finally start it this year, since it’s totally up my alley but also huge and academic. There was a point in July where I didn’t want epic stories, light stories, or narrative non-fiction, so I figured that was as good a time to start it as any. I’ll probably read a section or two a month, whenever a similar mood hits.
And now without further ado, in order of enjoyment…
The Hollow Places - T. Kingfisher
Kara moves into her uncle’s museum of weird after her divorce, only to discover another universe behind a wall.
9/10
🏳��🌈 secondary character (gay), disabled secondary character
warning: body horror
Bookshops and Bonedust - Travis Baldree
Viv is recuperating from an injury in a sleepy town, where she finds a struggling bookshop, new friends, and a mystery. Out in November.
9/10
🏳️🌈 main character (sapphic), 🏳️🌈 secondary character (sapphic)
March’s End - Daniel Polansky
The Harrows have been tasked for generations with protecting a fantastical other world, but now the family is fracturing and that could endanger everything.
8/10
major 🏳️🌈 character (lesbian), 🏳️🌈 secondary character (sapphic), African-American secondary character
warning: toxic family dynamics, commentary on colonialism
Imogen, Obviously - Becky Albertalli
Imogen puts the A in Ally and that’s fine. Then she visits her best friend in college and meets a girl….
8/10
🏳️🌈 main character (bisexual), main character with anxiety, 🏳️🌈 secondary characters (nonbinary, pan, lesbian, bisexual), Jewish secondary character, Brazilian-American secondary characters, secondary character with ADHD, Japanese secondary character, Black secondary character, 🏳️🌈 author, #ownvoices
warning: biphobia, discourse
The Hexologists - Josiah Bancroft
The Wilbys get more than they bargained for when they’re hired to find a lost royal heir and stop the king from baking himself into a cake. Out in September.
7.5/10
possibly biracial main character
The Bookbinder - Pip Williams
When World War I pushes Peggy out of her routine, she’s forced to choose: a life binding the books of the Oxford Press or a life studying them?
8/10
major autistic secondary character, disabled secondary character
warning: war, injuries
The Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel - KJ Charles
Rufus is the new Earl of Oxney, saddled with a crumbling estate and a bitter family. Desperate for a good secretary, he hires Luke—who has a hidden agenda which doesn’t involve tupping the boss. And yet. Out in September.
7/10
🏳️🌈 main characters (demisexual-gay, gay), main character with dyslexia, 🏳️🌈 secondary characters (gay), minor Black British character
warning: toxic family dynamics, abuse
Weird Rules to Follow - Kim Spencer
Mia starts to notice that she and her best friend are living very different lives, with very different expectations from the adults around them.
7/10
Ts’msyen protagonist, Mexican-Canadian secondary characters, Ts’msyen secondary characters, Gitxsan secondary character, Ts’msyen author, #ownvoices, 🇨🇦
warning: racism, alcohol abuse
A Man and His Cat, Vol. 3 - Umi Sakurai with Taylor Engel (translator)
Kanda begins to deal with his emotional baggage, with the help of his cat and a fellow teacher.
7/10
Japanese cast, Japanese author, #ownvoices
Bookshop Cinderella - Laura Lee Guhrke
Evie is quite content as a spinster with a bookshop. Duke Maximilian has wagered he can make her the diamond of the season. This is a strictly platonic alliance, of course.
6/10
The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England - Brandon Sanderson
An amnesiac man wakes up in a country that may or may not be Anglo-Saxon England with an exploded guidebook. Good thing he has ~*~Mystical~*~ ~*~Powers~*~™.
6.5/10
Persian secondary character, Chinese-American secondary character
Picture Books
The Skull - Jon Klassen
Otilla finds a large house in the woods inhabited by a talking skull, so she helps him in return for shelter.
🇨🇦
DNF
The Atlas Six - Olivie Blake
Six ambitious magicians compete for a coveted place at the Library of Alexandria.
🏳️🌈 main characters (multisexual); Black-British, Cuban, Japanese, and Persian main characters; Filipino-American author
Currently reading:
Kill Show - Daniel Sweren-Becker
A teen goes missing after running back to her school bus for a bag. Forget podcasts: time for the reality show! Out in October.
warning: missing child, murder
The Wager - David Grann
A secret mission in the Age of Sail. A shipwreck and a mutiny. The perils of the sea—and your fellow man.
Music from the Earliest Notations to the Sixteenth Century - Richard Taruskin
A history of early written European music, in its social and political contexts.
Stats
Monthly total: 11+1
Yearly total: 75/140
Queer books: 4
Authors of colour: 2
Books by women: 7
Authors outside the binary: 0
Canadian authors: 1
Off the TBR shelves: 1
Books hauled: 6
ARCs acquired: 4
ARCs unhauled: 6
DNFs: 1
January February March April May June
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please give us the correct negative Ted lasso review
Oh my God. This feels like a trap but I can't help it
update from the other side, this is no joke 2k words long and it's not uh happy lmao so dead dove do not eat
TL;DR:
Bill Lawrence's involvement lessened every season and it fuckin' shows
There were arcs and plot points established over the first two seasons that the writers very obviously just changed their minds about for this season
Takes about this season being dark/ending sad on purpose are MUCH too generous. like giving WAY too much credit.
It turns out most of my feelings boil down to "it's not aggressively bad it's just nonsensical"
How tf was every episode twice as long as in previous seasons but everything important happened offscreen
FIRST OF ALL, since MONTHS before the season started airing, I've nursed a conspiracy theory that Bill Lawrence left the show because of creative differences with Jason Sudeikis and that therefore this season would be significantly less good than previous seasons. This started when I saw Bill tweet that he was going home, basically, and I figured we'd get "season 3 is in post" news shortly thereafter but instead there was that weird stuff about things being delayed because of rewrites...? Anyway, that is mostly to say that I was ready to think this season was worse because I love Bill Lawrence's storytelling and have forever and you should give Cougar Town a shot if you haven't yet it's no Scrubs but it's sweet
There were interviews early in the show in which I swear Jason/Brendan/whoever said they pitched the show to Bill because he's fuckin' good at TV and he basically said "this is a great idea but you're writing to the wrong ending, it should be this," and they were like "wow you're right that is a better ending." I can't find that now but I did find this from a more recent Bill interview:
I ran that show the first year because Jason was still shooting movies while we were doing the writers room. Then, at the end of that year, much like Gary with me, I was like, “Ah, I’ll spend a couple of months teaching him how to edit.” But after like a day or two, he’s like, “Yeah, I got it.” (Laughs.) So, the second year, we ran it together, and I’m only able to do other things now because that guy ran the show himself the third year, as it should be. It’s his voice and his world this season.
Now look, Bill Lawrence is obviously not trying to throw shade here because he's lovely and also this is a Hollywood Reporter article and how immature would that be, but I can throw shade for him and I will: Jason Sudeikis is a talented comedic actor and seems like a very nice man and he had a good idea for a show, and his instincts to involve an extremely experienced showrunner with an insane talent for feelsy found family sitcoms were good and he should have stuck to them!! Telling Bill Lawrence you're good after two days of editing instruction or whatever is stupid!! Insisting on your voice and your world when BILL LAWRENCE'S VOICE IS AVAILABLE TO YOU and also you CO-CREATED THE WORLD whatever gdi
OK fine I'll do Ted/Rebecca next. Obviously I was in for Ted/Rebecca. I wanted them to put their faces together. But look, I'm not a shipper over all else; over all else I want a good storyteller to tell me the story they want to tell. If I expect things or see them coming, that's not bad! That's good! If I'm surprised by things, that's good too as long as it holds together! "Subverting expectations" shouldn't look like spiting the audience, a lie is not a twist, etc. SO. If Ted and Rebecca were meant to be platonic soulmates, that's fine!!! I don't NEED them to kiss!!! But I do not believe these people are even friends in season 3, after season 1 and tbh most of my favorite parts of season 2 were about how much they impact each other's lives. That's a dropped ball and there's NO REASON to have not made time for them to interact meaningfully because every episode was so fucking long. Instead I guess we had to know how super sad Rebecca was about not being able to have children but not need to talk to anyone about it and immediately be fully over it. Also see a lot of lingering shots of Rebecca...looking at a matchbook...
sfjbkfgs early in the season they very obviously established that Rebecca's arc was going to be realizing she actually loves the team and wants to support them and see them succeed because of her own heart and not to spite Rupert, and I guess that happened but why didn't it happen gradually in ways I could see, why did it happen in an episode in which I'm supposed to have known all along that this has to do with her childhood self ?? and in which Rupert has a FULL personality change to facilitate her sudden realization. In what fucking world would he invite her to that meeting, because she's smart or because she brings ~diversity or because maybe he wants to sleep with her again? None of it tracks at all lmao but it was also the episode in which I really enjoyed Tony Head so whatever
speaking of not tracking, Nate.........I've never been invested in Nate especially but he was SO cartoonishly evil at the start and then kind of never again. I was braced for a redemption arc I wouldn't care about but that didn't even really happen?? he got a girlfriend and realized Rupert was a bad role model? it turns out his dad thinks he was a prodigy and always just wanted him to be happy, which, lmao WHAT where????? and what am I supposed to believe about Jade changing her mind about him btw because she's seen people be terrible to him at that very table before AND she has to know he loves the place and the food because he's there all the time, so what was the revelation that turned her from relatable-via-Nate-ambivalence to suddenly heart-eyes just fdslelugatw so much of my feeling about this season isn't even like it's bad it's just it's nonsense
One of my big complaints about the season is just Keeley's whole deal. Separating her from the team/rest of the cast was a wild choice. Barbara is fine but I also would have been perfectly fine without her and none of the other new characters for the PR side story added anything to the show. Especially if at the end Rebecca is just going to write Keeley a check for the chump change she needs to run the agency. Why didn't we just do that to begin with??? I guess this season I'm supposed to think Keeley ~learned to be independent in various ways but, again, I don't ?? And her needing to not be with Roy I guess as part of that and then get back together offscreen but then not really be together maybe but then also possibly having throuple vibes later that never get acknowledged feels, whatever, like something Bill Lawrence didn't write sdfjlsefaj,lwte I know this is my unsupportable argument that post I RBed was making fun of but idc
also Jamie wanting to be with Keeley at the end of the show feels extremely Harry Potter epilogue to me lmao Jamie you don't have to marry someone you went to high school with there are so many people
Roy was fine this season. He didn't have much to do but that's probably for the best lol. Him taking Ted's job is probably the only main character ending I feel like makes sense for this season and the overall show. Him training and begrudgingly becoming friends with Jamie was always funny.
OK one of the wrong reviews was basically like if you don't appreciate this season you don't appreciate classic tragic structure. Fuck off with that. First of all this was a sitcom about soccer so even if they were going for a classic tragedy in season 3 that's stupid and they shouldn't have been. But I also just don't think that's what was happening ??? I think I'm supposed to believe everyone gets a happy ending and I just don't. Like the whole oh it's sad that Ted ends up where he started and it's about how persistent optimism and kindness can burn you out or whatever, that's...if that's what they were going for, again, why tf, and also could we have seen that like. at all. Ted barely Teds for anyone this season (frex the previously mentioned never talking to Rebecca). ROY Teds more than Ted in season 3. If we got to see Ted trying to Ted even, like, twice, and either not being able to dig down and find the positivity or I guess noticing that he needs someone to be that for him, OK, fine. A Ted/Keeley scene would have been a PERFECT vehicle for this. Didn't happen. idk if we're supposed to think he's getting back together with Michelle but that would be so...so bad ??? like what about Tan Lines??? why even have Tan Lines??? even if not, we just left completely unaddressed her starting a relationship with their marriage counselor, which is also BAD lmao. God why did I have to see so much of Michelle this season. Michelle video calls every other episode and two lines for Dr. Sharon. Nonsense. lol one of my friends summarized Ted's ending as "yeah going back to the unfulfilling life that didn't work before the show started is a victory for our protagonist"
Even the soccer of it all re that whole thing was silly. Oh marriage counselor boyfriend is a bad guy because he doesn't care about the soccer game. Oh Ted is happy now because he's coaching Henry's rec league soccer team. like it's fine that EVERYONE is still together in Richmond but he's "home" now and still around soccer which is good because we definitely saw him learn to love soccer during the course of the show. sure Jan
(to be fair I am not the audience for "it's about the kid" plots so even if I felt like it worked from the start of the show for Ted to choose moving back to where Henry is, which I don't, I wouldn't care for it, so maybe those criticisms aren't especially valid) (I didn't care about JD's kid either)
speaking of the soccer though every single scene that revolved around the actual soccer team was essentially perfect. Great use of so many of those boys. Very few notes. Sam in particular had a few nice things this season and of course Colin. Another incorrect review by a critic I actually like very much was complaining about Colin's story this season and it being tired and overdone and not caring about Trent's or Isaac's parts of it, but I actually really disagree! It was well done and it was nice to see in the context of professional sports where, sorry, coming out and being received well is not a cliche thing that happens a lot! Also, hot take! Zava was a good part of this season! Nice contained little story that impacted some characters I actually care about plus he was legit funny! Sometimes things in a comedy should be funny! I'd honestly watch three more seasons of Richmond-focused half-hour episodes with idk probably Brett Goldstein in charge
I haven't mentioned Beard because I just never understood what I was supposed to think about him lmao. By far the funniest character overall but I never felt settled on whether he was meant to be a manic pixie comic relief BFF or if he was like...a real person?? It strikes me as potentially bad that he was so worried about Ted's mental state all the time and never really mentioned his own and that was sort of a thing in the weird s2 episode but then not again? I felt so much ire about so much else I didn't have any for him marrying Jane lmao but I do understand the people who are upset about that because that sure seemed pretty toxic, but wasn't it supposed to be played for laughs? Does that fit in a show that's supposed to mainly be about people treating each other well because we're all we've got? idk, RIP Beard, sorry your best friend in the world wasn't at your wedding because it would have been narratively underwhelming to see him leave and then see him back at a future major event or whatever
idk idk, season 1 Rebecca was one of my favorite characters ever and I was so angry in the middleish of the season about how much I felt like she was being wasted, but by the end I was just like...I mean, what's to be mad at. She's not even her anymore. Ted wasn't Ted anymore. Nate I guess literally reverted back to season 1 Nate which also is that...okay...him ending up lower than he started out feels not great
Good for Mae and the bar boys though, used just the right amount this and every season and always a damn delight
OK this is ridiculous I'm going to be done now. I do want to say I enjoyed several episodes this season a lot! A couple top 10 potentials! I really enjoyed the Amsterdam one actually because it reminded me of like a Nancy Meyers movie, very nice and warm, but it feels worth noting that that is not a feeling I would describe as being struck by fucking lightning :))))))
in conclusion maybe we as a nation can move on now from giving SNL alumni we find charming huge budgets and ethereally talented casts and collaborators and letting them get us emotionally invested in their midlife crises sandbox playing
#be warned that this is truly absurdly long and very very little of it is positive#so if you don't want to read 2k negative words about the soccer show that is perfectly fine#thank u anon for this opportunity to be a buzzkill on my own blog something i am weirdly hesitant to do unprompted#maybe this will be the final exorcism of these feelings and i can ~move on lol#life of catey#i didn't like the uh back half ish of barry either but i don't feel this strongly about it lmao
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This week, Maison Ikkoku comes to an end (again); the mesmerizing A.I. story, Your Forma, receives a manga adaptation; Tomozaki-kun makes a difficult choice in the latest volume of his top-tier light novel series; and much more, including the debut reviews by our two newest reviewers, WacOtaku and Marg. Check out their reviews and the rest below!
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (Vol. 9) • Maison Ikkoku: Collector’s Edition (Vol. 10) • Oshi no Ko (Vol. 1) • Pandora Seven (Vol. 1) • Romantic Killer (Vol. 2) • Yakuza Fiance: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii (Vol. 1) • Your Forma (Vol. 1)
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Maison Ikkoku: Collector’s Edition, Manga Vol. 10
After a hit-or-miss middle portion that sometimes felt like Rumiko Takahashi was deliberately stalling, the final act of Maison Ikkoku gives this iconic RomCom a grand-slam home run finish. Volume nine ended on a cliffhanger, with an enraged Kyoko planning to return to her parents’ home after a miscommunication convinced her that Godai had two-timed her and proposed to his longtime sort-of girlfriend Kozue, when in fact he had deliberately broken off that relationship to tie up his loose ends. Now, with the finish line almost in sight, our luckless protagonist must overcome his lady love’s tempestuous nature, her father’s disapproval, and his own insecurities over whether Kyoko truly loves him or just sees him as the best available substitute for her late husband Soichiro. (Oh, and he still needs to find a full-time job as well.) This final volume centers around a remarkable shift in the relationship dynamic between our two main characters, and not simply in a romantic way. For so long, Godai has been an immature schmuck desperately trying to prove himself to an older and more established Kyoko. But now that Godai has grown as a man and closed the maturity gap between them, he is in a place to take the lead in their relationship, putting Kyoko into a situation where she must confront her own character flaws. I won’t spoil the details of the ending, but it forgoes bombastic displays of romantic passion in favor of a sometimes messy but incredibly tender intimacy that I’ve yet to see equaled by any other mangaka. Rumiko Takahashi finished Maison Ikkoku before I was born, and Yusaku and Kyoko would be about the same age as my parents today; but I strongly suspect that for as long as there are fans of manga, this series will remain evergreen. ~ WacOtaku
Maison Ikkoku: Collector’s Edition is published by VIZ Media.
Pandora Seven, Manga Vol. 1
Lia is the lone resident human on an otherwise-utopian island where food is plentiful and strawberries come in milkshake form practically straight off the plant. She’s cheery, capable, and kind—too kind for her own good, as her mother (a very, very large dragon) intones to the audience of (humanoid) vegetables, animals, and demons—er, “village ladies”—who come to keep her company during the millennial festival. Mama dragon is too preggers to move, so they bring the party to her. That turns out to be short-lived too, as suddenly a shipful of aggressive, veiled humans led by a particularly imperious young woman rock up and ruin everything. Absolutely everything. Lia flees, leaving death and destruction in her wake—much of it of her own inadvertent doing. For amid all the turmoil, Lia accidentally opened Pandora’s Box! What strange power has she stumbled into? What identity crisis will this fateful encounter with her own kind spark? Only time, and hopefully subsequent volumes, will tell—because this volume doesn’t really. Instead, reading Pandora Seven is akin to being dropped in the middle of a Gordian knot: there is a profusion of subplots, characters, relationships, tropes, and meaningful hints branching off willy-nilly, alongside masses of world-building, both visual and dialogic, but no clear through-line—thematic or otherwise. There’s no setup for a central character arc yet either. Granted, I do suspect that things will clarify in volume two, and what we’ll have is a kind of paralleling of the tales of the two human girls, protagonist and antagonist, until they realize they have more in common than not and would be better off partnering up to overthrow the various oppressive forces in their lives. But this is just a hunch, and based more on the two pages of bonus material at the end than the four chapters that precede it. Indeed, the bonus material goes a long way to salvaging this first volume, clarifying the lore and teasing vital plot and character points that are enough to pique my interest again after it had waned halfway through. What this volume needs is one final edit. Yet even so, there is a spark of something here that could be quite epic, and so I’ll give Pandora Seven and creator Yuta Kayashima one more volume to pull themselves together and start to shine with clearer purpose and direction. ~ claire
Pandora Seven is published by Yen Press. Volume one releases on January 17th.
Yakuza Fiance: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii, Manga Vol. 1
I am beyond excited to finally have this in my hands! This is one of my most anticipated releases from 2022! Yakuza Fiance is by Asuka Konishi, who also created the one-shot Haru’s Curse. Having enjoyed that manga, I couldn’t wait to read more of her work. Konishi’s storytelling and beautifully distinct art style make her stand out above the crowd. The story opens with our lovely heroine, Yoshino, storming in on her grandfather and demanding he give her an explanation about a newspaper article. She finds out that the article is about her, and that she is to be married off to Miyama, the son of a rival yakuza gang. To keep the peace between gangs, her grandfather coaxes her into meeting Miyama in Tokyo. Yoshino reluctantly agrees, and off to Tokyo she goes. When they meet, Yoshino thinks that Miyama’s just a little “too chummy.” He doesn’t act like she’d expect a yakuza boss’s son to act, just like a regular high school guy. Then late one night, unable to sleep, she happens to see him coming home with blood all over his hands and clothes. Maybe she was wrong about her first impressions of him. Little by little, she starts seeing a different side to Miyama, a scary one. Her first instinct is to go back to her grandfather in Osaka, but she decides to stick it out for one year. She fires back at Miyama and takes him by surprise—so much so that a switch is flipped inside of him, and he becomes utterly obsessed with this strong, fiery side of her. It looks like we are witnessing the birth of a strong, independent woman. Will she be able to continue holding her own against these rivals and a love-crazed Miyama? I cannot wait to find out! The next volume is set to release this month. ~ Marg
Yakuza Fiance: Raise was Tanin ga li is published by Seven Seas Entertainment.
Your Forma, Manga Vol. 1
Echika Hieda has always been head and shoulders above the rest of the Electronic Investigation Department of Interpol. Which wouldn’t be a problem, if it weren’t for the fact that Divers like her must be paired up with equally skillful Belayers, or else risk permanent brain damage—to the Belayer, that is. After frying the brain of her latest partner in less than two seconds flat, Echika is paired with her worst nightmare—an Amicus, or a type of artificial person that Echika loathes, for reasons that are only hinted at so far through tantalizingly brief peeks at her slow-burn backstory. Writer Mareho Kikuishi offers up some ingenious world-building and genre play here, making Your Forma ideal for fans of sci-fi mixed with psychological detective story a la ID: Invaded, as Echika dives into people’s minds through the Your Forma technology implanted in their brains (now you can just think your social media posts!) and Harold, the AI, pulls her out. The story sports an edginess that recalls the more unsettling side of the genre spawned by Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics,” as seen in films such as Alex Garland’s Ex Machina. It’s also a bit of a globetrotting adventure, taking the leads from Paris to St. Petersburg, to the wilds of Sapmi (Sami territory or Lapland, and an official no-go zone for tech) and its polar opposite, Silicon Valley. The two MCs make for an interesting pair, with Echika being strangely grizzled for one so young and more emotionless than any AI ever was, while Harold is as jovial as they come, with cut-glass good looks and a flirty readiness to use them—all in the line of duty, of course. This is the first of writer Kikuishi’s novels to be adapted for manga, and boy, does artist Yoshinori Kisaragi ever do a fantastic job. I would be tempted to read the novel rather than wait for the next manga installment, but the art is so vivid and expressive that I’m going to try to resist, even if it means perching on the edge of my seat for a few months. In short, Your Forma is an absolute corker! ~ claire
Your Forma is published by Yen Press.
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki, Light Novel Vol. 9
Fun, addictive, intriguing, and now, masterpiece? Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki reaches the heights of the romcom genre in volume nine, blowing the lid on parallel stories—Hinami’s slowly churning tale on the one hand, and on the other the romance between Tomozaki and Kikuchi, thanks to their recent decision to date and the major challenges in their new relationship. What results from Yuki Yaku’s decision to dig deep into these major storylines is heavy progression in relationships all around as Tomozaki, with the help of friends old and new, must decide how to prioritize values in his packed life. His thoughts are scattered and often puzzling, but realistic for him (and more generally to 17-year-olds). There’s also serious character growth for Tomozaki as the author dives right into the complexities of romantic relationships, jealousy, and friendships with the opposite sex. He doesn’t shy away from these issues, creating considerable depth as Tomozaki evaluates his feelings for Kikuchi and how he should treat her, as well as what he really feels for Hinami. But not only are we treated to Oregairu-level thoughtfulness, we also get tender and emotional moments—more in this volume than in the rest of the series combined. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll sometimes scratch your head—and you’ll finish volume nine feeling satisfied. This story refuses to go in circles. I can’t wait to see how all lands. One caveat, though, which I haven’t previously explored: For all the laud I’ve given Yuki Yaku, I find this author’s notes at the end of each volume strange and sometimes deplorable. He gives little insight into his wonderful work, but always focuses on the cover image, explaining in great detail why these illustrations are so sexy. I wish he’d class these notes up to match the series he’s created. ~ @animepopheart
Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki is published by Yen Press. Volume nine releases on January 17th.
Read: Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki Reviews: Vol. 3 // Vol. 5 // Vol. 6 // Vol. 6.5 // Vol. 7 // Vol. 8 // Vol. 8.5
Romantic Killer, Manga Vol. 2
Due to the ever-heated controversy on Twitter surrounding the shojo series Romantic Killer, I continued this series with just as much hesitant curiosity as I did volume one. Volume two kicks off right where the previous volume ended, as we get to know and learn more about the “childhood friend,” Junta. As Anzu becomes more acquainted with him while discovering how to survive in her “awful world” of being surrounded by hot guys, she starts to think she has a pretty good handle on things. That is, until Riri’s antics lead to another hot guy taking an interest in her! I have to confess that I was most interested in reading this second volume because of Kazuki. He and Anzu have such a wonderful and refreshing friendship that I needed to know if Riri would cause more romantic “mishaps” between these two. While I won’t say whether my expectations were well met (due to not wanting to share spoilers), I will say that I was very happy with the amount of page time he received. I also enjoyed getting to know Junta on a deeper level, even if, like Anzu, I wish that the “love spell” (as she calls it) would be broken. He is such a sweet young man! I did, however, deeply dislike the new guy that Anzu meets. I didn’t care for his actions or general attitude, regardless of how hard he tried to “change” so that he could get to know Anzu better. Despite that, though, I am curious to see where things go in volume three, even if it is specifically for more romantic mishaps between Kazuki and Anzu thanks to Riri’s relentless shenanigans. ~ Laura A. Grace
Romantic Killer is published by VIZ Media.
READ: Romantic Killer Vol. 1 Review
Oshi no Ko, Manga Vol. 1
What do you get when you cross the comedic cleverness of Kaguya-sama: Love is War with the unflinching stare at the seedier side of life found in Scum’s Wish and set the whole thing among teenaged entertainers in the Japanese film and music scene? You guessed it: Oshi no Ko (which can be translated many ways, the most pertinent to this story being “the children of my favorite performer”), which is co-created by Aka Akasaka of Kaguya fame, and Mengo Yakoyari, of Scum’s Wish. The results are intriguing, producing a rich thematic tapestry that both pushes and pulls, repels and compels with its various plots and punchlines. There are many moments that, if pursued a beat (or panel) longer, could make for a really uncomfortable scene. The premise alone is what my grandma would have called “near the knuckle”: Gorou is a massive idol otaku and an OB/GYN who treats—and then on the fateful day of labor, reincarnates into the child of—his favorite idol, Ai, who is a mere sixteen years of age(!). But Akasaka and Yokoyari know precisely when to cut short a particular thread before it crosses the line, and leave it up to the reader instead to wander (or not) into unsavory thought territory. If this were all this volume was—a sort of knife’s edge dance with titillation—then I’d probably pass on it and the upcoming anime adaptation (about which there’s already a fair amount of buzz). But actually, there’s a lot more on offer here. The story swiftly and unexpectedly moves into the realm of thriller, with the fate of the male lead’s soul in the balance. There are layers upon layers to the storytelling, with a clever framing device at the start of each chapter that gives the sense that the creators have planned everything out thoroughly, taking the time to refine the details and set up a potentially mind-blowing resolution, possibly years from now. The first volume concludes with two core mysteries in play: one that Gorou is aware of, and the other that has yet to dawn on him, though we already know the answer. This is a clever technique because the genuinely unknown plot hooks the reader, while the known mystery ties us to Gorou as we anticipate that moment when he finally realizes what we know to be true. Will this second mystery have lost its affective power by the time he puts things together, or will it be the missing piece that redeems him from a self-inflicted fate as ugly as any of those in Scum’s Wish? In short, an unexpected twist and skillful restraint in the writing here have piqued my interest, and I am looking forward to the next installment. ~ claire
Oshi no Ko is published by Yen Press.
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“Reader’s Corner” is our way of embracing the wonderful world of manga, light novels, and visual novels, creative works intimately related to anime but with a magic all their own. Each week, our writers provide their thoughts on the works they’re reading—both those recently released as we keep you informed of newly published works, and those older titles that you might find as magical (or in some cases, reprehensible) as we do.
#Oshi no Ko#Romantic Killer#Maison Ikkoku#Bottom Tier Character Tomozaki#Jaku Chara Tomozaki kun#Manga#Light Novels#Pandora Seven#Your Forma#Yakuza Fiance: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii#Raise wa Tanin ga Ii#Reader's Corner#Manga Article#Manga Blog#Light Novel Article#Light Novel Blog#Articles#Christian Blog#Christian Manga#Christian Light Novels#Author: WacOtaku#Author: MargReadsManga#Author: claire
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this shapeshifting vessel is a lie
it's been a year already since my last pinned, and I got shadowbanned exactly around that time back then because of course I did, so here's a new one 🩷
I'm Autumn, but you can call me Faon as well. my pronouns are they/ them. ticked all the boxes on the queer registration form, and I'm currently in a queerplatonic poly relationship. I was born in '95. central european & white. future linguistics student. proud plant parent. kpop fan. I really adore vampires and I write original and fan fiction, as well as poetry. I speak english and german, and I'm studying french, japanese, korean and finnish. lover of bats, snakes, horsies, deer and cats, as well as sharks. I sometimes make cat ear edits and vampire edits of idols and actors ( see: my icon ) so if you want me to make one for you, you can DM me.
my interests and hyperfixations change over time — yes, it was a phase, mum! name a constant state of being, mum! — and I change my username every two years, round about. currently I'm really into the quantum leap spin-off, live action one piece show, and I'm watching a couple of kdramas and such at the side. I play baldur's gate 3, vampyr and control, but also 2064: read only memories.
I was very active in the shadowhunters and the dragon age as well as the james bond / 00q fandoms, and I will reblog every single gif of spirit - stallion of the cimarron, it's my childhood movie. also, Jin Oshiro from STRAY (2019) deserved better, thank you. you may know me as leafmiilk, taehdenveri, fliederfuchs or thetevinterelf.
this blog of mine was created in 2012, I was on here already when you could still count on the superwholock people to throw gifs at posts although I was never one of them, which, trust me, was a hilarious feeling in hindsight asjfjahajft. I have one sideblog worthy of note @splittergheist which is my writing blog, and I have a secret sideblog for my omegaverse / miscecanis stuff ( much more the lifestyle, world building and concept than the smut and stuff, I'll be honest, but no hate at all!! ) that I might give out if someone asks nicely and privately.
that said, I tag my posts extensively, and if you ask politely, I will try and tag specific things for you too! please be nice in my inbox or I'll simply delete your ask and block you. 🦈 oftentimes I will message you privately when you've sent me an ask that doesn't seem to be an ask game or such! and while I do post stuff for tag games I'm not a fan of tagging others unless we're, like, really close, sorry ><
relevant kpop stuff can be found under the tag. I also put some "reviews" written by mutuals about my blog there, thank you everyone, you're lovely 💚🌼
and thank you everyone else for reading this, may your days be bright I think we all could need that at the moment. I would super love new people to talk to ( please have your age / some approximate of it in your bio; I'm totally fine with talking to minors but I would like to know I am before I do, thank u ) so message me or reply to this!
kpop stuff
ult group: GOT7
other groups I like: NCT 127, WayV, Red Velvet, ITZY, Seventeen, SHINee, ONEUS; ...
soloists I like: XIA / Kim Junsu, Taemin
biases: Lim Jaebeom & Choi Youngjae; Nakamoto Yuta; Xiaojun; Kang Seulgi; Hwang Yeji; Joshua Hong & Lee Seokmin; Choi Minho & Taemin; Kim Leedo & Lee Seoho; Park Seonghwa & Jeong Yunho; Kanemoto Yoshi; ...
wreckers: Mark Tuan & Kim Yugyeom; Ten Lee; Kim Mingyu & Lee Woozi; Kang Yeosang & Song Mingi; ...
for as long as xitter still lives, you can find my kpop account under: jaebueomgi
blog reviews
@meant-to-be-a-hero wrote on 22nd November:
Shall I compare Autumn's blog to a summer's day? I shall not, because I am not a hack.
Equal parts language jokes, kpop boys (and girls, but I don't look at those) and #bitter millennial blogging, there's something for everyone here at Autumn's blog.
They are also one of the few people who still write funky things in the tags, a true dying breed on Tumblr.
I feel like I'm reviewing a restaurant or something. Either way, click follow, thank me later, because you will.
It's a good blog, Bront.
— ★★★★★(★★) [ 7 out of 5 ]
@klutenpetter wrote on 22nd November:
It seems I have misplaced the URL of the blog in question that I was supposed to review.
— ★★★★★ [ 5 out of 5 ]
#itzy#got7#nct 127#red velvet#xia#vampires#langblr#quantum leap 2022#baldur's gate 3#wayv#shinee#cbjb does stuff#stray 2019
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actually am intrigued by your writing process! writing ficlets just for the exploration and all that. can you tell me more about how this works for you/how have you come up with this/all that? and do you plan on publishing the senseific ficlets somewhere in one place?
wrote a description of the entirety of how I’ve been working on sensei fic and it’s very very long, so. under the cut. (excuse my self indulgence, i absolutely could have answered this more succinctly, but i thought it would be fun (to me) to talk about my process with senseific as a whole)
I mentioned it before, but I am not a planner when it comes to writing, so I just do whatever the hell I want. and this works great since almost all my writing is short one-shots! just start on something as vague as a feeling or as detailed as a fleshed out idea and just start rolling. see how it goes. and then I go over and edit, add and cut or refine. nice and easy.
unfortunately, sensei fic doc (or rather, “yagamikuwana school au.docx” as my literal document naming goes) currently looks like this:
this includes me writing down ideas and some half formed snippets/exchanges that i’m not sure will make the cut, so it’s not an entirely accurate word count, but the point stands. it’s hardly the longest fic in the world by a long shot obviously, but for me this is uncharted territory. I just… don’t write… anything this long. ever. so sensei fic has been kind of odd because I am still very much a “just do whatever you feel like” writer, except that process has been stretched over months and months. I jump around doing different things without necessarily a coherent order, deciding depending both on what I feel like and what needs to be done
I’ll try to outline the progress behind senseific as best I remember it:
well I first had the idea during my first stint with kuwagami after LJ in 2023… I can’t say I remember much from then. I started as I always do. with an idea and a dream. I wanted mundane romance kuwagami. I one day thought about if he’d somehow stay as kitakata and still met yagami. I pushed together as many pieces together as necessary to make it work (and tried to use what was already there because it would be too difficult to make stuff up on my own) – reuse seiryo high, put it in tokyo (it would be difficult to justify having yagami regularly go to the mrc if it was in another city and he didn’t have the main case of LJ to keep him around ijincho). amasawa and the club are a natural addition and an easy way to keep kitakata and yagami around each other despite an initial distaste for each other. I had a few ideas as to some of the exchanges I wanted them to have… some ideas as to fleshing out the new setting… and I did what I usually do and just riffed.
now here’s the main part of the process that I’m sure is already obvious by my saying I’m not a planner:
I try to think through the internal logic of the au setting or come up with a fun idea I want to include -> I make a note of it or start writing it immediately (regardless of its spot in the fic) -> I see where it takes me -> review, add, cut, refine, consider it in the context of the wider fic. see if anything else comes up. use my best judgment and do whatever.
some of the earliest things I remember writing for this fic is the intro, a scene with kitakata being an annoying flirt (kitakata taking yagami's cigarette was an image that stuck in my head hard), and one of the first scenes with the mrc. since I wrote quite a bit out of order, eventually I ended up focusing on bridging, following the natural logic between the scenes I wanted to write, trying to connect things. the scene after the intro. whatever makes sense after that. go over everything, edit some more, make sure everything feels as cohesive as I can make it. (I think somewhere in the middle of this I dropped off until I got my second wind on kuwagami, where I picked it up again)
I have something like: intro (setting up the au and making it all clear to the reader as quickly as possible. probably inelegantly but it was a start), which naturally progressed to elaboration on kitakata and yagami’s relationship, a school club scene, me trying to think of another way to get kitakata and yagami in a room together, kaito and kitakata meeting, whatever progressed naturally as a result from that, etc. go back over, adding more things as I thought of them, fleshing stuff out (hello sawa sensei!) and all that. Though I’m working out of order, eventually a sequence starts to form. The beginning is the most fully formed rn, since I have the clearest idea as to how things should be when they start, and what should logically follow. I also like starting my editing from the top unless I have a specific scene in mind to look at, so I’ve read over the beginning the most times of anything else.
obviously I always had vague ideas as to progression, but now that I was starting to fill in more gaps, I had to think about it more seriously to ensure consistency between older scenes and new scenes. I rewrite a bunch of things for senseific not just as editing, but to add new context that wasn’t there previously, and in some cases totally overhaul them to better fit the tone, to adjust the overall progression. one of the scenes in the middle, which I mentally call “are you seeing anyone", is one I really enjoy, so I worked hard to adjust that to better suit the new context so I didn’t have to scrap it outright. on the other hand, kitakata’s phonecall scene is one that got the total overhaul treatment, because the tone no longer matched – kitakata was originally more… hm… disagreeable there, and it wouldn’t have worked with the way the yagami-kitakata relationship development was panning out, so I kept the bones but wrote it in a different direction. since nothing is really planned, most of this fic is in a state of perpetual flux. everything is subject to tinkering if need be.
it’s probably pointless for me to refer to specific scenes since they’re not posted publicly but. well. I guess it’ll make sense later if/when I post senseific. at least I know what I mean for now.
anyway, since a lot of my initial writing in the “do whatever you want” phase was about kuwagami and the development of their relationship, my first attempts at planning and organising are also about that (though I did try to keep the school stories plot in mind at the same time). I had to try and take what I already had and marry them together, make some kind of logical order.
around this time I was already on tumblr and posting some other kuwagamis and just generally feeling great about writing. I ended up showing four-white-trees (excuse my favouritism) some of my starting scenes on sensei fic since it had mostly settled down by then, and it was certainly by this point that I was feeling More Serious about making sensei fic not only Real (and genuinely trying to make it complete), but hopefully good, LMAO. not just some “if it happens it happens" venture. But yeah I was thinking more seriously about my details and getting some feedback on it for the first time and just. Man. Shit got real for me. I want to finish sensei fic even though I started it not knowing if I could commit.
ANYWAY. I was trying to lock in a sequence of events for the kuwagami relationship progression, ended up making a spreadsheet for my fic so I had a more digestible timeline to look at and understand what beats happen where, how I can smooth out any inconsistencies, where my gaps were. I’ll probably be coming back to that sheet to sort out school stories plot… but yeah. not just pure improvisation anymore.
more details started to creep out of the woodworks. I originally wrote something incredibly stupid that I ended up trying to twist into something serious lmao, and that is the um. Maturity/immaturity throughline.
Fuck. God this is embarrassing. But. I once, half asleep, wrote Yagami comparing Kitakata’s insensitive/rude flirting with him as being like a kid picking on his crush. and um. I read back over that later and. My god. You can’t just mention bullying with Kitakata around and not have it mean something. So, well, I tried to talk myself through it and arrived at something with meaning. Kitakata has to learn to not be an asshole with his flirting. To be mature about it and be a little sincere and honest and maybe not mock Yagami to his face. Yagami also learns that he’s being immature towards Kitakata in some ways and has to grow past that. They both have to grow up and talk like some fucking adults, and that’s how they can move on from the conflict that defines their early relationship. Yeah. And of course the school setting and bringing in Sawa and the students as other comparison points will help develop the theme some more. anyhow, it's not something I’ve fully sorted out, but my point is that I stumbled on this totally by accident. unplanned. I hope I can tease it out in an interesting way because it’s not quite there yet, but it’s funny how it went from a thoughtless line to something that I think is… surprisingly defining… just gotta stick the landing...
but yeah, the big picture kitakata-yagami relationship stuff was coming together. right now I’m at the stage where that plotting is as planned out as it can be without the school stories side being completed. the next big step is getting my notes so I can figure out a proper school story progression that I can line up with my kitakata-yagami plot, see how they fit together.
with regards to exploration writing – while writing/thinking about the main plot, a bunch of details have come up in passing. and while I can be vague and try to write around it, it feels so fake? It feels so obvious to me when I’m writing around something because I haven’t thought hard enough about it.
I was writing a scene where… hm… how much do I say here… Yagami has to come to understand that it’s personally important to Kitakata to make sure his students are okay, and with that is Sawa alluding to what happened with Mitsuru. and to be clear, she’s not so tactless to say it outright, but I knew, deep in my heart, that I was writing some non-committal bullshit. I was writing about her talking about what happened without enough knowledge myself as to how I think it changed Kitakata. So I forced myself to understand how Mitsuru changed Kitakata by writing about what happened between them. That’s the ficlet. And then I could look over what I wrote with Sawa with full perspective and decide if it really did sound the way I thought it should sound. I really enjoyed writing that as a personal piece of art, but it was very much a tool for my own understanding.
It’s something similar for Itokura and Kitakata now. Because my focus is shifting towards the school story plot, it raises an obvious question: If Kitakata was changed by the Mitsuru incident, then shouldn’t he have tried to do something about what happened to Itokura? (I am once again thanking four-white-trees for poking me) I can’t write about the relationship between these two in the main plot without a proper understanding of this. And I prefer to write than to plan, hence the sunday six wip. I start with a vague idea and write and see where it gets me. when I do that I’ll have a better understanding of how I want these two to operate, in a way that’s more detailed that my initial vague ideas.
That’s basically it. It doesn’t need to go in main fic but I have to write it so I feel I can make the right judgment calls. I’ll probably do this as much as I feel necessary, and yeah, I don’t see any reason not to post them since, unlike the main sensei fic which always has things changing around, these explorations should be locked in. I did make sensei fic stuff into a series on ao3, so I’ll keep putting them there as they come up.
#jitxt#long post#seriously i'm not joking#me when i casually write something about my process that's longer than the word count of most of my fanfiction. lmao.#THE YAPPER....#kitakata sensei#shout out to “are you seeing anyone” i always get all excited to reread that part#that one and. The Ramen Shop Scene. my god. gets me every time (the end of it needs some work though)#<- what these two scenes have in common is kitakata obnoxious flirting LMAO#it's so fucking hard keeping my mouth shut because i want people to read the stuff i really enjoyed writing#BUT IT'S NOT DONE (head in hands)#anyway yeah part of why i sound so uncertain about sensei fic is because everything is subject to change#and also i get anxious and doubt myself. but also that first thing
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Monthly Fandom Faves: February 2023 (ALOTO Edition)
I have Jess/Lupe recs again this month! The hyperfixation continues!
I didn't read as much as I normally do in February because I wrote something like 7.5k words this month and that's approximately 7.5k more than my usual. However, I do have two fics I'd like to highlight in addition to pointing all of you to the collection of Jess/Lupe Valentine's sprint week fics! I'm way behind on reading and commenting but there are some really excellent, creative takes on the prompts in there so I encourage you to check them out. :)
(If you'll indulge a little self-rec, in my opinion this is the best 250-word ficlet I wrote for the sprints week.)
Back to our regularly scheduled programming... fics reviewed below the cut, from longest to shortest:
some of us just had to fight (for even being looked at right) by @talaricula
an ocean of violets by @were-sailing
some of us just had to fight (for even being looked at right) by talaricula
(Jess/Lupe, E, 60k)
Jess and Lupe know too well how the world looks at people like them. But then they meet, and they see each other.
This is an exploration of Jess’ and Lupe’s relationship throughout Season 1, as they become friends, get wildly horny for each other, fall in love, and finally do something about it. This fic is as canon compliant as humanly possible, and is built out of a mix of scenes from the show told from their perspectives, expanded upon background moments, and plenty of missing scenes.
I should probably start this little review by 'fessing up to the fact I'm an absolute weirdo who watched episodes 1-6 in September and episodes 7-8 this month. That's relevant because I read chapters 1-6 of this fic in October but didn't let myself read chapters 7-11 until now, because some of us is the ultimate love letter to Jess and Lupe's canon story. I can't comprehend how much careful study of the show must have gone into writing this, because talaricula masterfully weaves together every moment Jess or Lupe is on screen—even out of focus in the background—with introspection and missing moments in a way that feels fresh and fascinating and not like a rehash of canon. Jess and Lupe are both good people trying their best while still being flawed and human, and the POV switches highlight their strengths and blind spots. Queer themes abound, from personal identity to solidarity on the team and community in Rockford and in the history the story draws on to flesh out Jess and Lupe's world. I'm shy but I'll close by saying that the NSFW portions are very well-written and add a lot to the emotional arc of the fic!
She’s angry, in the uniquely tender way that Jess’ anger so often is. It’s like a fire – lethal when aimed at you, warm and bright when wielded for you.
an ocean of violets by weresailing
(Jess/Lupe, M, 6k)
It would be Jess’ first time seeing her house. Jess’ first time seeing her. Lupe stared at her reflection in the blank screen of the TV and wondered how much more time she needed before she might feel ready for it.
It's the 80s; Lupe and Jess meet via a personal ad.
Concision and precision of language is something I strive for in my own writing, and weresailing puts on an absolute masterclass in both in an ocean of violets. Every word and punctuation mark is deliberate, resulting in prose that's arresting in its directness and that pairs perfectly with the solitary and repressed Lupe's POV. Lupe's personality and lifestyle are sharply defined within the first few paragraphs, and the brief but memorable hints at her backstory that are sprinkled in throughout the fic make her feel even more real. The churning, visceral knot of Lupe's conflicted emotions about herself, Jess, and their meeting is wrenching and relatable, and the ending holds onto both characters' hope and uncertainty instead of rushing through to a neat happily-ever-after. I was excited to read this as soon as I saw the summary because what a premise for a historical AU, and it blew past all my expectations and then some.
Lupe felt thirty-four and seventeen at once, standing next to a woman in her home and wishing she would come closer, so Lupe didn’t have to be responsible for it.
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All of my ALOTO fic recs can be found here. I hope you find something you like!
#monthly fandom faves#bfe fic recs#aloto fic recs#jesslupe fic recs#jesslupe#jelupe#aloto#a league of their own (2022)#fic recs
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So, I really need some book recommendations.
I usually read fantasy but I also like dystopian, sci-fi and stuff. As long as it's fictional. I also like rewrites (if that makes sense).
Since the request wasn't super specific, for this one I just picked a couple of very different fantasy books that I read recently and have not yet discussed. I don't have a lot of recent dystopian (publishing currently believed dystopian is dead, I think). For sci-fi, check out this post
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen is a retelling of the Goose Girl. That's a relatively unknown Grimm fairytale where a wicked maid steals the identity of a princess. This book tells the story of the maid, Vanja Schmidt, who is the adopted daughter of Fortune and Death. She used to be Princess Gisele's maid, until she stole Gisele's enchanted pearl necklace that changes her appearance and takes her place. Now, Vanja leads a double life as princess and jewel thief, seeking to make enough money to escape before she has to marry her creepy fiance, and so she can escape her mothers. But when she crosses the wrong god, she is cursed to slowly turn into a statue of jewels as punishment for her greed, unless she finds a way to make up for what she stole. I'd recommend this book if you like unlikeable main characters.
Vanja is very selfish, but she if she doesn't put herself first, no one else will, so it is definitely understandable. She has a tendency to push everyone away, but deep down she's very lonely. She's a gremlin, and I love her.
There are also some very charming side characters, including the daughter of the god who cursed Vanja, a shape shifter who does not quite understand human behavior, and a prefect (a magic detective of sorts) chasing the jewel thief.
This book also makes some great social commentary on class and wealth. Vanja might have done a bad thing stealing Gisele's life, but Gisele wasn't entitled to all that wealth and prestige in the first place, and this book heavily criticizes nobility.
The Forever Sea and the Endless Song are part of a series and I have only read book 1 so far (book 2 just came in yesterday). This is an adult fantasy series and as such it is heavier on the world building and more complicated than most YA fantasy, so if you've only ever read YA fantasy I don't think this is the best book to transition into adult, but if you're used to reading adult this is a good series to try.
The Forever Sea is one of the most unique fantasies I've read, and this mainly lies in the world building. The premise of this world is an ocean made out of very high grassland. Ships can sail on this grass with the help of a magic hearthfire, and if this fire would go out you would very slowly sink beneath the grass. Sailors go out onto the sea mainly to harvest all sorts of plants used for food and medicine.
Kindred was raised by her grandmother, the Marchess, a legendary captain and hearthfire keeper. When her grandmother disappears beneath the sea, everyone assumes it was a suicide. But Kindred finds a note from her grandmother implying that it was not suicide, but that she was searching for what is down at the bottom of the sea, and might still be alive there. So Kindred sets out to find her, traveling across the Sea and through a legendary pirate city to see if her grandmother could still be out there, and what is at the bottom of the sea.
This book is very plot driven with a huge emphasis on the environment and descriptions on it, but also lots of world building on how this works exactly. There isn't a lot of emphasis on it, but there is also a sapphic relationship in here between the main character and another sailor. As I said, I haven't read book 2 yet but will start it soon. It's also not out in the US yet (coming 14th February, but the UK edition was released already) From the reviews I gathered there's going to be a third (last? idk) book.
In the Ravenous Dark is a dark fantasy that is marketed as YA, but I think it's very upper YA, maybe more NA but publishing doesn't think that is a thing, so YA it is.
This is set in a world inspired by ancient Greece, but only vaguely (clothes, buildings etc, much of the world building is completely made up), and Rovan, the main character, is a blood mage. Since her father's death, she's kept her blood magic hidden, but when her magic is revealed she is taken to the palace and bound to Ivrilos, a dead spirit who can control here, which is something that is done to all blood mages.
Rovan falls in love with two people she can't trust, the spirit Ivrilos, and princess Lydea, another blood mage, and together they uncover a plot of what is going on in the world of the dead and living, and why blood mages must be bound to spirits.
I think the magic system in this book was very well done, including the way spirits work and the realm of the dead. The book was at times a little messy, and I think it might have worked better as a duology since there was so much going on, but I don't bother me much while reading it.
There's a poly relationship between Rovan, Ivrilos and Lydea, which I really liked, and there's Japha, a really cool non binary side character who's essentially the fourth part of the found family.
Unseelie by Ivelisse Housman is a YA fae fantasy set in a second world focusing on an autistic main character
Seelie is a changeling. Though she looks exactly like her twin Isolde, she's actually a fae creature trying to control her unpredictable magic. She and her sister had to flee their home due to prejudice against changelings, and end up stealing to survive. When they get caught up in a heist gone wrong, they team up with unexpected allies to go on a quest and unravel a mystery to do with fae and human history.
The plot of this book is what you'd expect from a YA fantasy, fast paced, not super unpredictable or anything. The strenght of this book is the main character. Seelie is autistic and written by an autistic author, and while it is set in a world where the term autism does not exist, it is portrayed really well and I found Seelie very relatable as an autistic person. In this world, changelings are typically autistic (because real world changeling myths often derive from disabled children, including autistic children). The sister relationship is also intersting, because Seelie and Isolde are so different, and have very different ideas of what their life should be like once they're finished with this quest.
It is the first in a duology and I have no clue when book 2 is coming out
The last book on this list is the Dream Runners by Shveta Thakrar which is a contemporary fantasy inspired by Indian mythology, specifically, the naga. Naga in this world can't dream on their own, so they have children taken from the human world who become dream runners. They travel to the human world to collect dreams from humans for the naga.
Tanvi is such a dream runner, she's been in Nagalok for the past 7 years. Dream runners don't dream themselves and are devoid of emotion, but for Tanvi this is slowly returning and she's desperate to make it stop.
Venkat is a dreamsmith, the only human in Nagalok who is not a dream runner. Instead, he shapes dreams collected by the dream runners into dream stones used by the naga.
They team up to figure out what is going on with Tanvi, and uncover a plot that could destroy the naga world.
I loved the creative world building in this book, with how the dream runner system works. Tanvi was a little difficult to relate to at first, because she was very obsessed with earning a charm bracelet in exchange for her dreams and I found this confusing, but this will make sense later on, and this book had some twists I really liked.
I hope this helps!
#book recommendations#nina's 150 follower celebration#150 followers#little thieves#margaret owen#the forever sea#the endless song#Joshua Phillip Johnson#in the ravenous dark#a.m. strickland#unseelie#ivelisse housman#the dream runners#shveta thakrar#ask answered#anon ask#thanks for the ask!
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Okayyyyy, it’s Yugioh GX AU rant time. Time to get my game on and hang out in the school yard, I guess…
Some trigger warning before we start the ranting; fire, burning houses, Yubel in general (they play heavy in here), mentions of curses, and some other things I may not pick up on. I have mental illness I’m sorry.
Okay, so welcome to my Feral!Judai AU… umm so shall we start from the beginning?
Jaden Yuki, an average kid that no one seems to understand. His life is like him, normal. He plays with his “imaginary” friend, who he lovingly calls “Yubel” and his parents work all the time, but that’s beside the point. One night as Jaden and his family were sleeping, a loud boom went off. Someone was having a gender reveal party and it set the house on fire, Yubel, being worried for Jaden’s safety, took him and the Yu-Gi-Oh™️ cards to the nearby forest, and there they lived for many years. Yubel teaching Jaden the basics of American Sign Language (ASL), how to communicate and how to duel, which proved useful as he got older.
Speaking of getting older… Jay got older, Yubel got further. I think I put it best like this, “…The only person to guide him was slowly fading from his memory with age. Imaginary friends don’t last forever, even wild children grow up.”, which I wrote about two months ago in a Google doc. But anyways his hair now grown out and frizzed, mind so unkept yet tamed to the wild, it was almost as if an animal would be attending the duel academy. And everybody knew. He skipped prep, going straight for the big leagues of this academy, it’s because he didn’t know he needed to go to prep or really any school. He had someone’s teachings, a mother? A parent perhaps? He had forgotten by now… but they haven’t.
Yubel has cursed Jaden and one other person for some evil scheme, but they must wait to see their lovely Jaden. Time heals all wounds but not in this case, time only makes them worse…
Yubel’s curse; it makes anyone who touches you feel the need to protect you in some way, even if they hate you. The person will still hate you just feel conflicted. It was the last thing Yubel gave Jaden, to protect him and his innocents from the outside world, from people.
(Unoriginal and kinda Marry Sue-ish, he grows more mature when all the shit goes down and Yubel takes Jessie, I promise. I just don’t feel like detailing his whole life rn. Pure edited and reviewed for grammar and spelling mistakes by; @steelgritandironwill HAI BUBBBYYY!!!!)
Some pics of my son!!!❤️❤️💖💖
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I recently went back through old tweets of mine on a whim and realized that I read through TPN for the first time four years ago. I debated whether or not I wanted to continue the story, since I enjoyed watching season one blind, but my curious mind was screaming at me to learn more about this world and these characters fighting to survive in it. I thought about it for a while but eventually gave in and started from ch1 on April 2nd. Apparently, I loved it all so much that it only took me three days to catch up to all 129 available chapters at the time.
It was crazy to me back then, as someone who never felt the desire to read manga before, that a series was able to capture my heart so strongly, especially one that was so new to me. As more chapters released, I found myself willingly jump further down into an inescapable TPN hole. I started analyzing anything and everything, from characters to panels, to coming up with predictions or indulging in theories regarding how this wonderful story would end and what could happen to these precious kids I’ve come to love.
Naturally, many other series before and after TPN have caught my attention, but none have got me to hyperfocus on them as much. And not to get all sappy, but my experience in this fandom has sorta changed me a bit? I was always someone who would just watch, take and move on when it came to anime, but now I felt the need to create, chat and share anything I could. From writing out little chapter reviews, to making silly memes and numerous manga/anime edits, and engaging with others on and off this hellsite, I can say for certain that no series has made quite such a large impact on me as TPN did.
Sure, nowadays I may occasionally create something or ramble on about a handful of other series that are in my heart, but TPN still very much lives rent free in my head. So.. I’m gonna do something that I believe is very on-brand for me, which is..
182 Days of TPN
where I’ll share quick thoughts of mine about each chapter (181+epilogue) once per day.
Though the main idea is to talk about the manga, I can’t promise that I won’t mention the anime, since I love to compare the two. I’m also sure there will be moments where I’ll repeat myself from various other posts as well, so y’all will just have to endure it, especially with moments/characters I’m very passionate about. Nonetheless, these will vary in length depending on the chapter and whatever I decide to ramble on about, but let’s get started.
Day 1 - Chapter 1: “Grace Field House”
I said I’ll chat about the manga, yet I’m about to praise the anime for something instead. I’m already failing aahaha.. but the scene in question is where our young trio investigates the gate. Nothing is wrong with it in manga, of course, and naturally I adore Emma’s little imagination bubble with her and the giraffe, but I very much prefer how the anime puts this scene at the very start of the episode rather than the manga having it in the middle of the chapter.
If someone went into this series blind and decided to read the manga first, there could be a slight chance they might not pick up that anything is wrong with this world the kids are living for maybe half the chapter, unless you pay some attention to Emma as she narrates about her life:
“And I’m an orphan. Or so I thought.”
“This orphanage was my home.”
“Everything here was normal to us.”
“This was our ordinary daily life.”
The word choice is subtle, but it works. The thing with the anime, however, is that it (more often than not) leaves out the character’s internal dialogue, as to keep their true thoughts/plans/emotions from us so we can be surprised later.
Sure, the numbers on their necks, the serious nature of the daily tests, and the forbidden fence are all suspicious in their own way, but starting with the gate scene to make us wary of everything from the very beginning was a brilliant move on the anime’s part, as we don’t get to hear Emma’s narration.
I dunno, maybe it’s because I was anime-only first that I prefer the placement of this scene this way? It got me curious about this world and the kid’s situation right away and I knew I had to keep an eye out for any clues as to what might happen in the story. Despite being on guard the whole episode, all the tiny hints still couldn’t prepare me for the big reveal.
Of course leaving the secret to the very end and seeing how much it shook Norman and Emma was necessary, but man, if they showed us our girl being this determined after the terrifying and life changing night she just had, I would’ve fallen in love with her about 90 chapters sooner.
The fear and anxiety we do see from her does carry over into the next chapters/episode, so perhaps seeing her find this resolve would’ve thrown off the whole mood and that’s why it was cut. Though I can’t deny that giving us one final jump scare of Isabella finding Little Bunny left behind was the perfect way to end the episode.
Favorite panel/moment:
There’s so many I’d like to choose, due partly because the chapter itself is twice as long as any other, but I’ll give the first one to Norman since it is the rare occasion that his little hair.. swoop? curl? horn? (what the hell do we call this thing) faces the opposite way.
Ah, if only the anime had this scene instead of just have the duo seemingly run to the gate effortlessly. Knowing that Isabella locks the house up when she leaves would’ve added to the threat that the kids are indeed trapped here, but I understand they didn’t wanna give away too much in order preserve all the shock that came along with us seeing a very un-lively Conny.
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