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triviareads · 4 months

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ARC Review of Charlotte and the Seductive Spymaster by Grace Callaway

Rating: 4.5/5 Heat Level: 4/5 Publication Date: January 11th

Premise:

Lady Charlotte Fayne is outwardly a respectable widow of the ton, and secretly the founder of a society of lady detectives. Her latest mission unearths a deadly plot by anarchists, as well as the shocking reveal that her late husband is not only alive, but also investigating the same group.

My review:

This is the BEST second-chance historical romance with estranged spouses that I've ever read; The anger and resentment is REAL between Charlie and Sebastian— of course there’s gonna be hella beef when a hero is caught with his "mistress", refuses to deny it, fakes his own death, and emerges twelve years later and is caught out because he can’t handle his not!widow kissing another guy so he throws a rock at them. But what’s equally real is this all-encompassing attraction (obsession even) that never dimmed between them, even after twelve years apart.

In the previous books in Lady Charlotte’s Society of Angels series, Charlie is seen as this level-headed, elegant lady… so obviously, this means in her book she’s very much NOT. She’s haunted by her husband’s betrayal and supposed death even as she completely fails to move on with other men (and believe me, Francis Devlin tries lolol). She’s also in the position where her friends and fellow investigators are getting married and having kids all while she feels like the odd one out. That being said, she’s still the classy, hyper-competent investigator we’ve all known to come and love.

Sebastian is a smooth, equally hyper-competent spy, and is down just as bad for Charlie as he was twelve years prior, except he knows he’s in the doghouse after the whole faked-death thing. I did have to laugh at Seb’s wistful thinking early on about what would have happened if they weren't separated, something along the lines of "we were horny before, but who KNOWS what kind of kinky fucks we could have become if we had more time together :( ". And his secrets don’t end with his faked death either; there’s more to Sebastian’s past that he slowly starts to reveal while he tries to regain Charlie’s trust and it was really heart-wrenching to read how he grapples with his need to protect Charlie and his own internalized shame. And all of this is happening while the two of them work together to thwart an anarchist organization in the lead-up to the Great Exhibition.

I liked how Grace wrote Charlie and Sebastian’s path to reconciliation: sure, the attraction, respect, and even the love between them never really went away, but it's the hurt and lack of trust that keeps them apart juuuust enough for most of the story so they keep doing dumb stuff like agreeing to a no-strings FWB relationship. It’s also this lack of trust that leads Charlie to assume the worst about Sebastian based on some questionable third-party sources.

Speaking of which, I appreciate that this book establishes that abusive and coercive sexual relationships and grooming comes in many forms and that boys and men can absolutely be victims in a way a lot of other historical romances don't, or skirt around. There are plenty of HR heroes I've read who blithely describe having sex with much older women when they're little more than boys, and a lot of times it's glossed over and we move on, but I am very glad this book was not one of them.

The sex:

Classic Grace Callaway sex scenes, which means it’s hot and heavy, the hero usually professes wanting to eat the heroine out 24/7, there’s generally one sex act that’s never been done before in Callaway-verse and no it’s not him eating ass (which has happened before, and happens here— good on them), and someone might say “gamahuche” but that’s alright and you move on. Charlie and Sebastian have this super hot give-and-take, almost-goading dynamic where they each give as good as they’ve got and there’s a decent chance arguments might end with sex. They also do that thing in second chance romances that I love where they know EXACTLY what the other person likes and they aren’t afraid to use it on (against?) them.

I feel like the Lady Charlotte series has been a little more sex-toy forward (see: Pippa and Cull and ye olde sex swing), so it feels inevitable there would be a scene where Charlie shows Sebastian exactly how she pleasured herself for the twelve years he was away, namely, with a collection of dildos. I’d say that was the hottest scene in the book, but it’s also tied with The Time They Do Things With Meringue And A Butter Boat.

There is also scene where she employs a riding crop on him (in public! After some sexy shadow puppetry!), and while the crop itself wasn't used that much, it DID serve a purpose, and if that purpose is Charlie utterly failing to edge Sebastian as punishment for not telling the truth and accidentally getting him off sooner than she wanted, then so be it.

Overall:

I adore Grace Callaway and this book hit all the points I wanted from a second-chance romance with a married couple: it had the romance, the tension and angst, and you immediately feel that despite their estrangement, Charlie and Sebastian know each other better than anyone else and in that sense, they truly belong together. I would absolutely recommend this to any historical romance reader, though I do suggest starting from the beginning of the Lady Charlotte series.

Thank you to Grace Callaway and her team for the ARC in exchange for my review.

#arc review #grace callaway #historical romance #arc #romance novels

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mermaidsirennikita · 10 months

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do you have any recs where the hero is not conventionally handsome? Like maybe his a bit chubby or something? There’s not a lot of rep for men other than being Tall and jacked and sometimes he thinks he’s ugly because his face is craggily or something.

I have some, but I will say that I think this is easier to find in contemporary romance because a lot of heroes in historical, fantasy, PNR, tend towards being hyper masculine. Which means that even when they aren't conventionally hot, they do get that "craggy" description, or "almost handsome" in a way that suggests he's even hotter than he would be if he was conventionally handsome. Like, Derek Craven in Dreaming of You has snaggly teeth, but he's so competent and masculine (and built) that he is. HOT. Even if he's not described as being conventionally handsome.

But I will also add that many of the ones where there's a specific callout towards things like the hero being fat or short (things we don't associate with .02% body fat 6'4" romance heroes) somehow? Are cinnamon roll hero books? Like, I don't think I've read a book where the hero is described as a true bad boy or alpha who's also fat. Or short. Which is honestly fucked, like you don't have to be 6'5" with a nine pack to consensually throw someone around the room like a rag doll. And my thing is, I hate cinnamon roll heroes nine times out of ten, so. It's hard out there.

Xeni by Rebekah Weatherspoon is a cute book with a fat Scottish hero. I'll be honest, it's a bit CUTE for me, but if you like cute (and pegging) the book totally works.

Sworn to the Shadow God by Ruby Dixon is a fantasy romance I find quite enjoyable in which a gamer girl becomes bound to the God of Death in a parallel universe. He's described as being kind of like... too much? All over? In a way that isn't conventionally handsome. (Adam Driver. He's Adam Driver. But the heroine has nothing to do with Daisy Ridley, as she's Latina among other things, and I wouldn't call this a Reylo book.) Like all Ruby Dixon books, this is very fun, the heroine spends a lot of time being like "this is just like a DnD campaign!!!" only to be proven wrong. And she does get her period and he does prove that Fear is Not A Factor For Him which is something you really don't see enough of in romance.

The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt is like... Jane Eyre if Jane was a widow and also a secretary instead of a governess and there was masked sex. The hero is described as ugly like, all the time, lol. He has smallpox scars that are disfiguring to the point that he has a hard time finding a wife. I will also add that Hoyt often writes heroes who are unconventional looking. I don't think the hero of The Leopard Prince is described as much besides "nondescript". The hero of The Serpent Prince, however, is flash as fuck.

Westcliff, the hero of It Happened One Autumn by Lisa Kleypas, is famously described as like... kinda short and box-headed, but there'S SOMETHING about him. Something bitches (Lisa Kleypas is bitches) CAN'T RESIST. Something that COMPELS HER SO.

The Taming of a Highlander by Elisa Braden has a hero who was handsome, but after being tortured in prison for months he comes out with a bunch of disfiguring scars, missing an eye. Personally I find him super hot, but it's something a lot of people find scary in the book.

Twist by Kylie Scott is.... not my favorite Kylie Scott, but it's cute if you like a small-town romance. The hero is described as not being super toned, and he's a Big Boy. He's the less attractive brother and he basically catfishes a girl who was talking to his brother online. Lol.

In Something Fabulous by Alexis Hall (m/m) Bonny is described as being on the plumper side. He's like, CURVY.

Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade is one that didn't super work for me, but it's a celebrity romance in which both the hero and heroine (costars on a Game of Thrones type show) are fat. They hook up right before they begin working together, and then they can't do anything for YEARS until the show is over.

The hero of The Intimacy Experiment, another contemporary that was fine but not great for me, has a hero who is hot but noticeably short. He's also a rabbi, which I did love.

#romance novel blogging #book recs

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hawkepockets · 3 years

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YESSS PLEASE ELABORATE ON IDA…… MY BRAIN IS DRY AND UR OC CONTENT IS WHAT WATERS IT

!!! ah thank you!! ❤️

1. nobara kugisaki (jjk)

i really love kugisaki’s energy because she’s just like, so convincingly a teenage girl. she’s difficult, proud, overzealous, materialistic, and runs very hot & cold between being super affectionate and super hostile. she can get defensive and let points fly over her head that she should be smart enough to understand (like when another girl points out that young women shouldn’t have to be hyper competent and look cute just to be taken seriously, and kugisaki angrily replies that she is hyper competent and cute so it doesn’t matter).

ida can be hard to predict and put up with in the same way, and has a bad habit of being wilfully ignorant when something hurts her pride.

2. dipper pines (gravity falls)

like dipper, ida can be distrustful to the point of conspiracy theories, and tends to conflate her intense imagination with “the facts.” she’s also the serious twin to scott’s goofball mabel, and she tends to dismiss scott’s problems as silly, shallow, and short-term compared to her own. the main difference between ida and dipper is that she’s a lot harder to scare!

3. sam winchester (spn)

i used a photo of sam from supernatural season 1 because although ida has some things in common with sam personality-wise (intensity, seriousness, warmth, and suspicion again), the big thing is their relationship with an abusive father.

while scott & dean grow up as people-pleasers who keep trying to justify, cover up, or take responsibility for their dads’ behavior, ida & sam have their eyes opened at an early age, and get pissed about it. they fight, talk back, run away more than once, and rebel by trying to get themselves an education (sam goes to stanford; ida becomes an archaeology intern) when their fathers warned them not to. despite, or maybe because of, how much sam and ida push back, they end up perversely being their fathers’ favorite, and resemble them in their tendencies towards anger and obsession.

where sam usually gives up agency to dean, though, ida is the more assertive twin. it’s an active struggle for her to break the cycle of abuse and not lash out at scott like their father did.

i have a lot of feelings about this one.

4. katara (atla)

once again it’s about being a messy, wilful, sometimes too acidic young woman who can alienate people with her pride, even though it’s backed up by heart and skill. katara & ida are both really dutiful and perfectionistic, and easily upset when they feel others are being dishonorable or not taking things as seriously as they are. they have hot tempers that they actively work to control. ida can be a little preachy and controlling, like katara, but, also like katara, increases in grace and magnetism as she ages, without toning down her passion.

5. leia organa (starwars)

i don’t want to get too repetitive, but again, it’s about being the serious twin, the idealistic cynic, and capable of both harsh coldness and great warmth. ida wears a braid crown when she’s older, as a homage to leia!

6. alina starkov (s&b)

she’s mean!! >:-)

alina was one of my favorite characters as a kid, because she was honestly kind of a bitch and was allowed to be not just surface level sarcastic, but actively selfish, cruel, and hungry for power, knowledge, and love at times, and yet she was still always written as worth caring about & rooting for, and that’s the kind of heroine i see ida as!

7. mako (legend of korra)

protective! angry! self-pitying! awkward! suspicuous! loving! has unforgiveably put their foot in their mouth and pushed people away more than once! attention from a hot girl has the same effect on them as a concussion!! you get it.

8. judy robinson (lost in space 2018)

judy is a serious, ambitious, super smart, high-strung kid scientist who takes family and space exploration super seriously, and always wants to be the one with the day-saving piece of knowledge or crazy plan that Just Might Work. very often, she is the hero, but sometimes the rules of physics, misfortune, or her own limitations get in the way, and reality makes her so anxious that she snaps, either breaking down, or lashing out and making their sibling (penny for judy, scott for ida) feel dumb so they feel smart again by comparison. the combo of competence & insecurity for both of them is potent!!

#ANON ILY #oc: ida #mass effect #the outer worlds #pocket talk #answers #a lot of these sound rly negative but ida is my all time favorite oc for these reasons #long post #i’ll put this under a readmore tomorrow 🤦‍♀️ sorry its mobile

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roxannepolice · 5 years

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Long asks anon again, here to offer my opinion on the current wank. Rey as a character is rather blatantly breaking sw story rules and nothing is going to get SFF fans hackles up like rule breakage. This is root of both the MarySue accusations and current wank. Rey has a tragic backstory thats doubling as the only failure she can call her own. But its a) damn near entirely offscreen and b) serves as convenient justification for why shes competent at near everything that comes up.

Reys instantly good at the force because of a convenient force download that to the best of my knowledge only occured in the noncanon KOTOR II and quite frankly cant blame most of the general audience for not getting because without prior knowledge or the novelizations why would they? She has darkness in her but as so far used and touched it consequence free and its almost entirely symbolically externalized on the Kylo (and in SW symbolism is Real in a way it isnt in other narratives) Shes strong in the force because Light rises to meet Dark but to quote the current crop of movies ‘thats not how the force works) or at least thats never how it worked before. Shes the first SW protagonist to go behind enemy lines and come out with both hands in the second movie. For ppl wondering how come Luke and Ani never get labeled MarySues, this is why, they got thier asses handed to them, Rey hasnt. There /is/ something /off/ in Reys story, and ppl pick up on it. if you can make a post (w/ over 1k notes!) about how great it is that a character meant to prop up 7hrs worth of movies has little to no character development to go through, somethings off. If multiple ppl can make posts about how its neat Rey can tap into the darkside (still characterized as evil in ST) consequence free (with some quite frankly stupid justifications, 'shes disciplined’ really? jedi lacked a lot of things thats not one of them) somethings off and again, if the only failure your main heroine has is /entirely retroactive something’s off/. If the story were getting with the is the story most ppl think we are, a 'female empowerment’ (i dont feel particularly empowered by being told I have an equal chance at being a deus ex machina but ok) than well, her story is over and theres no need for IX (hell it could have been over in TFA, most ppl assumed she had accepted her place as the future jedi in that one) and no need for reylo The ST was always gonna deconstruct all that came before it purely by virtue of being a sequel. The tragedy of anakin skywalker is now a farce, the happy ot ending now a tragedy, and the mythopoetic structure shot to shit in the name of serialization and perpetual warfare. this stand true for all the sequel characters including rey and ben. the only question is are we going to get anything out of it? I compare it to home renovation. You can knock out a wall and the walls gone, but new opportunities arise. With Benlo, I’m reasonably confident that there will be at least some attempt to take advantage of the new space. With rey and the resistance kids? not so much. it just feels like they knocked down a blue wall to rebuild it as pink one and at the point it just feels like a waste of time because ive seen this before. Ive seen pure cinnamon roll desert orphan reform jedi order If this was all youre going to do that the fuck was the point? which circles around to my problem with team good guy this go around and That Scene. JJ twisted the story into a pretzel to justify the winners of the last round being the underdogs again and then rian twisted so much further the storys head may as well be up its own ass. And then at the very end he shoots it all to shit and rushes to reassure us its all gonna be okay. He removes the entire point of the underdog trope /the tension that comes from the fact that they might lose/. I mean there wasnt a whole lot of that to begin with already but really? So theres no tension that Reys gonna win so her journey feels frictionless, and theres no question where shes gonna end up so full offense why give a shit? Thats where the whole 'can rey lose a fight?’ thing comes from. Ppl want conflict in her arc to justify its existence and give us a reason why this her story to begin with. if the only character going through growth for all three movies is ben, if the only characters whos fate is up in the air is ben, and if all the tension in the reylo relationship comes from ben, then why is this /reys story/? why not just make it about the character actually driving all the drama and thus, the story? As a final thought, im going to add that having Kylo be aware and insecure that hes never gonna be as Iconic as Vader was a great story choice, regardless of where ends up. Current Rebels, on the other hand, seems to have not gotten the memo that they are never gonna be as iconic as Original Rebels, and the story itself seems to being trying to sell them to me as being better. Rey is Luke but better, Poe/Finn are Han wo the smuggler grit, and id be lying if i said it didnt piss me off.

Long asks anon to kick down ur door again, AND ANOTHER THING. SW is a lotta things. Subtle aint one of them, and St hasnt changed in that regard. If you have to debate it chances are either a) ur arguing counter to the text in which case mor power to you but not really helpful for predictions or intended meaning or b) /it aint there. A bunch of ppl didnt like anidala, but nobody doubted we were supposed to think they were in love by the end of AOTC, bunch of ppl didnt like poes arc, but no one doubts he fucked up by not listening to holdo was the intended take away. Which brings to rey and flaws or lack there of. Were told rey has flaws but she has yet to suffer any real consequences from them with the exception of The Damn Parentage Wank, which again, pulls the double duty of making her hyper competent at everything. Because rey has no consequences for her flaws, from a story function pov there aren’t any. If rey did have a flaw to overcome, we would all agree what it was

Now won’t you all just look at this beautiful, spot on rant which has been lagging in my askbox since the last time Rey’s flaws or lack thereof were the discourse’s focus (November, I believe?) and suddenly became a thing again, courtesy of Tweetgate. I think you really summed up the crux of this debate wonderfully, anon.

I particularly agree with the part about Rey not getting narratively punished for whatever flaws we’d like her to have (great point about returning from behind the enemy lines with both arms still in place), when SW don’t stay away from allowing characters to get “punished” even for otherwise applaudable features - vide Padmé, whose idealism is what Palps manipulates into gaining more power (this is why Padmé will never come off as a Mary Sue or too perfect, btw). But I’ll say even more - Rey doesn’t even get called out on her flaws, except for by Ben, who’s mostly dismissed as a baddie like Palpatine saying Luke was foolish to rely on his friends. Let’s just consider one thing - both Anakin and Luke get called out on their flaws by Yoda (Anakin repeatedly and by lots of other people for that matter) whereas with Rey, the same grumpy-yet-jolly senex pops up from the afterlife to further inform us what a great jedi material she is.

TBH, I have a very cynical theory as to why Rey is being pushed as the main character while it’s difficult to deny that it’s Kylo Ben who does all the plot heavy lifting. I’m pretty sure Ben’s arc was the first one DLF thought out (and the big question is, was it the only one they thought out) and only later on decided to make Rey the main character, which also involved much less spontaneous writing. Mind you, it’s not as if benepemption didn’t have a manufactured subtaste to it, but with Rey’s heroine’s journey stiff structure occasionally substitutes any in-world explanations of her actions (this is why I have to hope renperor has some narrative purpose rather than happening because lovers need to be separated and anti-hero needs to achieve what he wanted in 2nd act). I feel as if whatever potential her character had (and hopefully still has, pending IX) got smothered by layer upon layer of making her likable by everyone, which largely relied on negative characterization: she’s not helpless, she’s not too naive, not cynical, not too emotional, not too emotionless, not morally corruptible, not anything you’ve ever complained about regarding any SW character, not falling for the bad boy, not not not - and in the end it’s kinda difficult to say what Rey is like and while the goal of making her widely likable was achieved, it also made it almost impossible to view her as loveably flawed/annoying like the classic characters. And on top of all this is the matter of making her a nobody just like you!, as DLF appears to say with uncle Sam’s gesture (which also kinda assumes the existence of a Star Wars fan as some uniform entity? because if you identify with her, good for you, I just don’t understand why the franchise assumes I’ll identify with her by the grace of being a SW fan alone), because, as you excellently put it, the message here is that everyone can be chosen by God - which again, it’s not as if the saga ever contradicted this, so why the hell make a case of it? I can’t agree that it’s made into Rey’s flaw, though, imo her low birth only serves to further frame her as an oppressed virtue. And I definitely agree regarding too much of her growth being left off-screen, or before the story ever begins. The problem here isn’t even that it is left off-screen (it’s not as if we had huge insight into any of the pt or ot characters) but rather that her characterizations is left off-screen while being depicted as at least untypical (unique to put it bluntly) for her situation (same goes for Finn). A hopeful, kind person growing up on her on her own in slavery under a nicer name is a rarity and DLF makes a case for it being a rarity - and this sparks up curiosity in her past, as if market pandering to Re/sky wasn’t enough. So from this pov her un-reveal being frustrating isn’t just a case of not wanting to love her or her self only a potentially deeper psychological question getting answered with well, light.

I should add, Ben’s arc feels like the most spontaneous one (though Finn’s may yet be a masterpiece) and he’s the one to admit his fear of not living up to Vader’s legacy, because I think he’s the character serving as the creators’ vessel, more or less like Luke was Lucas’ avatar in ot. In his fear regarding Vader’s legacy one can feel Disney’s fear due to having bought popculture’s holy grail and not being entirely sure what to do with it. On this background, Rey (a literal scavenger of OT’s pieces) and rebels 2.0 repeatedly blessed by Leia come off as what DLF would want to be. And the result is that the character which was supposed to be Vader 2.0 proves the most original and surprising one, whereas “breaths of fresh air” come off as room aromatizers with “fresh” written on them.

And as far as the plot being bended into a pretzel and then disappearing up it’s own ass, well, a part of me is still hoping that taking virtually the same villains as before is a mythological-psychoanalitical metaphor of a nigredo repeating itself until the unconscious gets accepted by the conscious…. but, tbh, as the leaks flow this hope is withering.

#asks #cleaning up the askbox #long asks anon #sw negativity #let rey free from the corset disney

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thatothercosplayer · 7 years

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Kyusha bounded over the rooftops, stylishly leaping over obstacles in her way. Yeah, she could jump a bit harder and just cross several rooftops but where’s the fun in that? Awesome parkour sequences have always been something she felt make a competent action scene feel more intense.

A nice side tracking shot showing the silhouette of the jade heroine doggedly making her way across Akibahara’s skyline would definitely help here.

Hikaru could only look down and shake her head. “Come on, chief! This isn’t no time to show off! We’ve gotta catch that guy!”

“Come on, let me have a little fun for once!” Kyusha called back, but the bird had a point. So, she took one hard step and launched into the air, closing quite a bit of distance between herself and the mysterious assailant.

The chase quickly came into a head on top of the GiGo arcade building.

“Alright, you...time to give up the chase!” Kyusha had already brandished the Neurevolver, and was aiming it at the would-be sniper.

He was facing away from our intrepid duo. He was wearing a combat vest, and underneath that military fatigues done up in urban camo (which was rather wild and colorful). The rifle he’d been using was slung up on his back- but it wasn’t any make Ikura had ever seen. A full face hood and gloves were being used to hide his identity.

Reaching up, he took off the mask and gloves, tossing them aside. As he turned around, it revealed...to be another bird-person!? His

“What?” Hikaru asked. “I wasn’t aware of any other Raptoroids on this part of Earth!” She cried out.

“I’m no Raptoroid, you mewling quim.”

Hikaru flared her wings. “You shut your piehole, guy!”

For a moment, there was naught a word uttered; the only sounds were those coming from the streets below.

The assassin took a step forwards. “I am a proud Zyuman...not some filthy alien who thinks she owns this town,” he hissed, leering at Hikaru. His down was inky black, smoothly set against his sharp figure. Not a single feather was out of place; his eyes, sharp and narrow, being a gold rivaling that of Hikaru’s armor. His beak was long and sharp, being only a few shades lighter than his feathers. Overall, he was a sharp fellow. Indeed, he was quite the sharpshooter.

“I wanna hit him. Can I hit him? We should hit him,” Hikaru said, already flexing her digits.

Of course, her boss wasn’t quite ready for that, so she held her other arm out to stop her. “Who are you? Why are you attempting to kill me?” Kyusha demanded, stepping forward and moving to pull the trigger on the Neurevolver.

“My name is Karasu,” he replied, curling up his talons into a mock gun and acting like he was shooting the others. “But you can call me the Black Reaper...” He laughed, twitching his neck a bit and looking at the two sideways.

“Man...so much edge I feel like he could cut me on it. No wonder he’s so sharp,” Kyusha mused.

“Indeed. I have already risen to fame in the underworld....and it seems my reputation preceded me. I received an offer I just couldn’t refuse....you have quite the pretty price on your head, Miss Ikura. You do answer to that, right?”

If birds could grin, Karasu definitely would. “Someone doesn’t like you....they made that very clear in their letter to me. How old fashioned, hm? I prefer to arrange my jobs digitally....much more convenient. But...it was part of the charm. Would you believe the price he set forwards?”

Karasu turned his back to the pair, looking down on street below. “1,337,133,713,370 yen. A rather peculiar number, but more than enough for me to retire and find a nice place to roost and shoot clay pigeons. Or...perhaps try some human wine.” He chuckled.

“Just get to the point already!” Kyusha barked, pulling the trigger. In the blink of an eye, Karasu had whipped out his sniper rifle, firing a shot that met the Neurevolver’s blast and dispersed it.

“Oh, touchy. Patience, miss. I am getting there.” Karasu held his rifle up, leaning it on his shoulder. “’Get it done with, make it quick,’ he insisted. With the amount he promised...how could I refuse? And now, to see my target, but also a potential trophy? Hmhmhm.....I’m thrilled.”

“So, like, do you assassin guys always exposit like this? We’ve been standing here for a while now.” Hikaru blurted out, bored out of her skull.

Karasu paused, then laughed. “Of course....inferior alien scum like you would be impatient, wouldn’t you?”

“Hey! You leave her race out of this!” Kyusha shouted, dashing forwards and going to roundhouse Karasu. He stepped back, her foot missing his beak by a hair’s breadth.

“He’s fast,” Hikaru said in amazement. “Those kind of reflexes...”

“So you noticed, hm? I honed my skills well. But....for it to just end like this....there’s no fun in it. So...how about a game?” Karasu squatted, looking between Kyusha and Hikaru.

“I’m listening,” Kyusha began.

“My first rule...come alone. I want a duel. No seconds, rooftop aids, or anything of that sort....a fair shootout between two aces.”

Kyusha held a finger up. “Actually, I’m not asexual, I kind of enjoy se--”

Karasu whipped his wrist, and a feather fired out from his wing. It covered the approximate area Ikura’s mouth was on Kyusha’s helmet, and somehow that muffled her speech.

“Your jokes can wait. Now...as for the terms....I do quite enjoy my life. So...we shall use these.” He held up two discs with crossheir patterns on them. “One shot in the bullseye of this will administer a shock to the wearer that will knock them unconcious, allowing the victor to do as they please afterwards.”

“But wouldn’t that just mean you’d kill chief if you won?” Hikaru pointed out again, poking holes in Karasu’s attempts to be mysterious and cool.

“Silence, girl! Your ilk already pollutes this blue planet enough!” Karasu shrieked, leveling his rifle at her. “Your wings may resist my rounds....but I doubt your pretty little face will.”

“Mhhfhfmmfhf,” Kyusha said, moving in the way.

Karasu laughed. “Oh, how predictable! A righteous, selfless leader. Just a facade. He told me all about you.”

Kyusha stomped, and she ripped the feather off. “Okay, I’ve had enough of this bullshit. For fuck’s sake- you’re not cool, you’re not mysterious, you’re annoying.”

She spun the Neurevolver once and aimed at Karasu’s head. “We either duel here and now or I blow your stupid bird brains out! ...no offense, sweetie.”

“None taken,” Hikaru replied, shrugging.

Karasu stood up, blinking then nodding. “Very well then! Our duel shall begin now!”

“I’ll provide the location change!” Kyusha shouted, rushing Karasu and tackling him off the building.

Quite suddenly, the two were in an abandoned storehouse area, and it was broad daylight. Crates had sporadically been placed about to provide waist-high cover. Karasu tossed Kyusha off of him, then took to the skies, putting a bit of distance between himself and the metal warrior. He landed on the other end of the lot, resting his sniper rifle on his shoulder. “There is only one way out, here- death!”

Kyusha stood up, dusting herself off. “We’ll see about that!”

Hikaru was just kind of there. “So, uh, what do I do now? Not quite used to this yet, chief.”

“Go scout around. Make sure he doesn’t have any friends placed on the rooftops.”

Hikaru saluted, then took off. The two really were alone now.

After a quick Mode Change back to Alpha, Kyusha readied the Neurevolver. This would be a bit tricky; he had far more ranged capabilities than she did. To get any effective shots at this distance, she’d have to get up close- Karasu was about 500 meters away.

“Game...” Karasu said, kneeling down and setting up his rifle.

“...start!” Kyusha responded, rolling behind cover as he took his first shot. She popped up, firing several shots in response, even if they were ineffective.

She peered over her cover just enough to get a visual on Karasu; he was confidently exposing himself, knowing he had the advantage. “What a cocky corvid, that card,” she muttered. She brings two fingers up to where her temple would be.

“Hyper Scan!” She shouts, which earns a shot that grazed her shoulder. Sparks flew and she fell back a bit, but grabbed the crate to make sure Karasu stayed in sight.

Her visor lights up, a bright pink line scanning back and forth across it. Inside Kyusha’s helmet, the built in computer systems begin analyzing Karasu; more specifically, his rifle. Streams of data scroll up the far right side of her vision, random lines coming out of the mass of words now and again to point out a significant feature of the weapon. Reticles ran back and forth over it as smaller windows opened up, zooming in on the highlighted traits before everything finally closed and a new window opened, with all the specs that were really relevant to the fight.

3A613 Long-range Enemy Eradication Kannon (L.E.E.K) Scope distance: 10,000 Km at max zoom Firing range: 20,000 Km at max velocity C͉̝a̢̤͍̘̮̞͇l̪̥̕i̶̯͇͓̪b̸e̺̜ͅṟ̼͈̤̬̦ͅ: ̛̗͉͈̳̮2̴̘̦̱̲̻ͅ3͏͉̺̞̠̞̬̳4̨̣̮̤8̤̪̫̲͔͚͎9̵͔̞̳̝͙2͢3͎̘̻̞̝̩̦5̘̥̝̠9͍͙̯͠8̖̺̥̘̫ D̶̯̦̜̯͖̭̙͎͢o҉̯̭̪̲̱̘̤̣͢ȩ͙̀s̷͕͉̮ ̤͍̱ͅi͔̗̣͉̳͡t̬͙̀͞ ҉͍̳͉͍̖̘h̢͉̥͢u̸̹͓̰̯̠̦͇͜r͈̭̙̟̭͝t̳̳͙̦̘ͅ:̮̹̯ ̶̛̦̗̱͖̟͘f̗̼u̟̠̯̖̖̺͇ ̧̙̦̞͎̝͖̜̤c̛̞k̤̰̮͉̯ ̨̡͎̟̖͙̪̮͙k̪͚̬͘y̩͙͈͕̙e̷̱̻͜͠ ̡̨͎̝̣͞s̺͇͕̼̠̹͝ͅ ͇ͅ

̴̞͎̘͚̖ͨ̃͊͠q̛̲̥̇̅̈́ͬ ̱̗̼̅͆͗Û̶͍̹̜̎̌̄̐̿́ ̶̨̙̮͍̘̝̞̽̏͑1̶̛̞͎̪͖̞͈͋͛͒̈́͛ͬ ͕͖̤̬͙̭̭̦̈ͨ̓͛̽+̦̮̱̮͂̂͛͋̔ͨͦ͛ ̸̲͖̰̀̒ͭ͛͛́$̧ͨ́͏̺̦ ̈́͌͑ͧͤ҉̥‘̛̥̗̟͑̋̌̒͜͟]̼̭̯͖͚̙̗̺͒̏͊͗ͭͧ͋̓͢[̸̳ͪͯͩͥ’̴̭̻͉͐͑̇ͩ̾̄ͧ̽̓ ̡͇̹͔̿ͥͫ̋|͍̬͖ͭͥͨ̓’̙͉̗͈̙̘̺̥̈́̔͛͊̑͞ ̖̭͕̘͎͚̆̋ͤ͋͒͊͡v̴̠̗̄ͦ̔̆̀ ͙̘̲̺̥̥͓̲ͯͧ͆̀6̴̡̳̙͈͕ͣ͌ͤ ̨̝̞̬͓̣͔̟̗̤̀̃ͨ͝9̨͚͕̲̪̥͕̯̬̏̍́̊̈ͭ͡ ̨̪̗̠̪̓̊|̙̘͍̹̆̊̒̄̈́͝ͅ_̸̶̛̪̫̥̻̱̯̲̳̍͑ͦ̆ ̛̗̫ͥ̃̋ͦ̇ͤ̍̊̀|͌̏̈ͮ̕͞҉͎̘ͅ ̒͏҉̰̖̯̙͙̼̕ͅ|̛͔̦̤͖͓̄̇̽\̄ͩ́̓̎̉ͤ̚͏̨̟͕̹͓́|̷̱͈̞̱̳̘̥ͨͬ̅̂̇͘ ̎͐̋̃̈͘҉͙̱̱g̴͔͓̤̼͖̬̅̓̀͒͝ͅ ͗ͬͧ̾͛̚͞͏̶̻͍̪̺̪̦

Kyusha’s visor began showing error messages, new windows opening up and completely blocking her view. “Shit!” She yelled, punching the crate.

Setting the Neurevolver by her foot, she brought both her hands up and pressed two concealed switches, causing the helmet to unlock with a hiss and release steam.

Ikura tossed the helmet aside, which rolled a bit before coming to a stop and sparking, small electric pulses running across it before the visor stopped glowing. “What the hell...I coded the OS myself, this shouldn’t be happening!”

She grit her teeth.

Things were looking bad, and the duel had only just begun......

#plot point #Hikaru #Ikura

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