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hutahuta · 6 months

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P.AGE OO.8 — 𝐃𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐔𝐌 & NOBILITY : 交 ✦ ⏱

✦ nsfw ! || pavia x fem virgin!reader —

male reader (coming soon) !! I got into the moment of writing this, idk man. aussjsujsjs i'll finish the ask box soon dw to those who requested a while back! btw everything mentioned is consensual between the both of you, so no nasty stuff implied okay?? pavia loves u sm he just wants to make the both of you feel good :((

enjoy the vomit of words and drabbles ‼️

huta <3 (◍ ´꒳` ◍)

— — :

✦ With a delicate touch, he traced circles on your naked back, each motion conveying a silent language of love and understanding. You tilted your head, meeting his gaze with a soft smile, eyes sparkling with admiration and trust. In that tranquil intimacy, words seemed unnecessary; you didn't know how the hell you got into this mess, but your blurry visions tempt you to try to remember how you managed to convince him that you were ready to take him entirely. You weren't even sure yet if this is the bastard you want to lose your virginity to, but you loved him. Enough to allow your own purity to be engulfed by his own greed.

Your connection spoke volumes in the quiet exchange of shared affection, a symphony composed in gestures and whispers. His eyes glazed over the soft mounds of your chest that his slender fingers pinched the nipples between his fingers, watching ever so slowly, so mercilessly, how he wanted to devour your body as a whole and leave no trace behind. Pavia set you to be his little princess, allowing you to feel every inch of a thick cock be pushed directly into your hole that made you whimper and moan in your purity being fractured and split right open. He enjoyed this. He enjoyed taking his time with you, he didn't mind. But it was solely for the purpose of seeing every reaction you had.. and he didn't care that it took so long.

But regardless, you realised that within this moment of tranquility, your scattered clothing was yet to be cleaned up. It spread across the floor like a polluted river, but none of that mattered right now. At least, not to Pavia.

" How many times have you done this..?"

" Why does it even matter, ha? You're all I need to focus on right now.. "

A wolf devours it's meal when it's hungry, but Pavia? He had all the time in the world to watch you squirm and shudder to moan his name out like the most sinful prayer you've ever spoken of.

“ Just relax, puppy. You'll get what you want soon, and be patient, amore. I just want to see how long you can last until I fucking break you. “ He murmured huskily against your ear, moving his hands from your chest, to pinning both of your wrists above your head with one hand, the other laid firm against your waist.

He was somewhat lying. He just didn't want to hurt you during your first time, so stretching you out was the best possible choice to avoid hurting his beloved wife. <3

" Enjoying it, huh? Of course you are. Let me hear you, amore. Your noises are melodies for one to thrive in. So don't shut those pretty little lips of yours. "

His bites were gentle, but they became rougher by the minute with his groans exclaimed how badly he wanted this, just as much as you did under the muffled tone of his head devouring your body in sloppy kisses and bite marks.

But he didn't want to rush into it.

Let the man take care of you. Let him enjoy how his scent marks onto you with the perfume staining your body with the scent of mandarin and musk, adorned with fresh leather that polished him entirely.

He can feel it.

The way your hips grind against him to tell Pavia how badly you want to be destroyed, made him sinisterly laugh. He couldn't help but kiss your lips the moment you bucked into him, telling you to hush, that your silent pleas are heard but won't be taken into action, not yet anyways..

But then, It all stopped when he heard your whimper.

The hushed whisper that cracked something within his mind. Your words lingered.

" Please. Devour me. "

The teasing halted, and his movements were brief and short.. Between the sudden moment of panting and mixed breaths, Pavia flipped you on your back and he fucks into you like his own life depended on it.

Echoing slaps that filled the room emptied your pitched moans spilling effortlessly like wine out of a cup.

Staining the air with the murky scent of sex, your eyes half lidded, he managed to move you into a more comfortable position to continue thrusting his cock into your tight little hole with insanity. The slick that formed a ring around the base made him utterly crazy. Grabbing onto whatever he could to make you feel equally as pleasured as he was. He loved your body, worshipped it even. No matter how it seemed to look, he admired all traits of you and if anything, only extended his ego to see how ALL of this belongs to him.

“ T-That's it, cara mía. "

he groaned, snapping his head towards the base of your neck where he burrows under, because his feverish redness staining his cheeks made it known that he truly did thrive in it all, knowing how you could easily make him crumble just as much as how he knows how he can make you fold under five seconds.

Pavia raised your legs instantly and held them above his shoulders, leaning in to fold you, biting your bottom lip with slight pressure as he continued to effortlessly cram himself into your tight little hole, whimpers hushed and muffled by his rough handling of you. Watery eyes of yours closed instantly, all the while Pavia continued to abuse that one spot that bundled your nerves together, hitting deep and deeper with every raw thrust consuming both of your sweaty bodies together. Those fingers bearing rings and chains on his hand that made you feel the cold steel hit against your warmth, they circled your clit, every thrust that followed along after.

Hungry lips latched onto your chest, biting down gently on your soft nipples that perked up instantly as you felt his cock withdraw from you. Whines perched up as he immediately fucked into your body once again, your breathing suddenly halted and sucked out entirely.

seems like you'll be here for quite a while..

#reverse 1999 #pavia #pavia reverse 1999 #pavia x reader #reverse #paviarev1999 #r99 pavia #reverse 1999 pavia #pavia fluff #pavia smut #drabbles #mini stories

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metawatts · 1 year

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What are your thoughts about the fight of Ironwood vs everyone in vol. 8? I was so annoyed by it. I felt like they nerfed Ironwood so hard. Oh, and the writers decided to NOW use Marrow's semblance to stop characters before they can start fighting (the Ace Ops). Would have been nice to have consistent writing and have Marrow use that in the fight against RWBY. (Loved your review of JLxRWBY, btw. You put exactly how I felt into words.)

Well the reason you feel like Ironwood was nerfed was, in fact, because he WAS. I pulled this fact from the rwby wikia because I don’t have it in me to actually hunt down the quote, but, according to the Director’s commentary on episode 12, ‘the reason that Ironwood lost was because the writers felt that Team ORNJ deserved a win after losing to Neopolitan in Volume 7.’

So don’t worry, you’re not crazy. Ironwood absolutely got nerfed so MKEK could make sure JNR didn’t look like the jobbers we know they are. That’s plot armour, deus ex machina, and hand of the author at work, straight from the horse’s mouth. No one is allowed call MKEK good writers ever again, do the words 'kill your darlings' mean nothing anymore?

Anyway, this fight. It’s crap. Honestly a lot of the fights in vol8 are just really bad, that volume was just a disgrace in every way. Personal gripe: the song that plays over it, ‘Be Strong and Hit Stuff’, is probably my least favourite song on the entire vol8 album and considering all of them on the whole suck except for the one that was not written for the show, that’s a low bar. Most of why I hate this song is because Nora is without a doubt my absolute least favourite character in the whole show, but it’s also just. I’ll do song rankings one day.

It's just the same style of formulaic combat that rwby does in every fight of the entire volume. It’s just JNROW mashing their attack buttons until they get a decent combo. And the qrow and robyn and marrow vs the other ace ops scene? Don’t even talk to me about that, so Marrow suddenly has the guts to stop fighters in their tracks when it’s his old team? Vol8 really took every character I vaguely liked and put a gun to their likability (except you Watts you kept slaying, I named this blog for YOU).

I mean, real quick combat breakdown: Emerald rips off Mercury’s kick and then does nothing for the rest of the fight. Jaune and Oscar trade off ‘whack ironwood with my bladed weapon/cane’ before Ren does his stupid rope trick and decides he wants to try whack at Ironwood. Ironwood is doing great here honestly, he’s just in full boxer mode, his guard’s consistently up, he recovers quickly and adapts, he lands some good blows. Jaune and Ren also quietly drop out of the fight here, because Nora is getting powered up by Winter, somehow, even though she’s never been shown to use dust ever she suddenly uses it all the time even though her weapon lacks the same sort of dust casing as Weiss so where’s this come from you’d think she’d have used it against Cinder when she was literally getting killed but WHATEVER-

Anyway Nora gets the first major relevant hit on Ironwood because literally of course she does, we cut off to Marrow being a turncoat, and then cut back to Winter and Oscar riding a Manticore while Nora joins Jaune and Ren and Emerald in ‘not existing in this fight sequence anymore’ land, and apparently they just decided after getting one hit in they’d pause to get on an animal instead of continuing attacking, this fight makes no sense.

Anyway, Ironwood destroys the Manticore barehanded, king shit, Winter hits him with the ice dust she suddenly uses, Oscar poke attacks, and right when ironwood’s about to knock this kid out of the stratosphere, Winter uses some sort of flashy finishing move that is literally ripped from Kill La Kill I see those studio trigger sparkles. Again, also makes no fucking sense either, what even is this, and don’t tell me ‘rule of cool’ because it wasn’t cool, it was lame. And also, so much for ‘give JNRO a win’, they can’t even stick to their own favouritism because Winter does all the actual fuckin work here.

Overall scores

Story Context: 4/10

Fight Choreography: 1/10

Authorial Bullshit Intervention (Plot Armour, this time admitted to): 10/10

Emotional Investment: 4/10 (but only because I wanted Ironwood to at least megaton punch Jaune or Nora into outer space)

Deserved Outcome: 1/10

Also, thank you!! I ended up having a lot of fun writing out my JLxRWBY review, even if a lot of it was tempered by Seething Rage. Being a miserly grump sometimes is good for the soul, after all.

#rwby #rwde #fight-meta #rwby-meta #asks #mod watts #James Ironwood deserved a better show on god

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pancake-breakfast · 1 year

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Time to finish up volume 1 of TriMax!

Archive

Trigun Volume 1: Covers + 1-3, 3 Detailed Thoughts, 4, 4 DT, 5-6, 5-6 + DT, 6 DT, 7-8, 9-10

Trigun Volume 2: Covers + Extras, 1, 1 Supplemental Research, 2-4, 5-6, 7-8

TriMax Volume 1: 1-2, 2 DT, 3-4, 3 DT

Stream-of-consciousness thoughts for TriMax Vol. 1, Chapters 5-6 below.

Chapter 5: Dancing Revolver

Gods, Vash always has to do that little hip jut, doesn't he?

Eyyy, geranium scene!

It's funny because geraniums are seen as almost plain here. They get used a lot in, like, planters for strip malls and such because they're hardy, drought-resistant beasts that need very little care and grow nicely from cuttings so they're cheap AF to reproduce and spread around. (BTW, if you ever want to add some pretty geraniums you see out in public to your yard/patio/whatever, you can just "borrow" a nice stem from that plant, take it home, and probably grow it for yourself.)

Vash is a growing boy. Of course he's thinking with his stomach.

As someone who has tended to them, I can confidently say that geraniums are definitely determined....

I'm sure he's trying to look somewhat fierce here, but mostly he just looks annoyed.

Uh oh. Vash might have the attention of someone who will try to do some damage.

Yeah... don't go pointing guns at people (purposely or no) if you're all tensed up. You might make a regrettable move.

Oh, no. I remember this guy from the anime. Please send him back where he came from.

LOL, this Elena girl is abandoning her duties to check out Vash the Stampede.

HAHAHAHAHAHA, it's the Vash slaughter song!

"Won't leave a single man alive." Vash, you're so full of shit right now, it's hilarious.

Sorry, Wolfwood. Now you have to deal with Vash being dramatic and calling attention to himself.

The funniest thing about this page to me is how Vash goes from screaming, "AAAAAAAA!!!" in Japanese to screaming, "AAAAAAAAA!!!" in English.

Pretty sure he just turned into a windmill of legs and coattails.

Yeah, from what I gather, bullet-proof vests don't keep you from getting nasty bruises and broken ribs. They just keep the hot lead from entering your body and doing the kind of damage that's harder to recover from.

He's remembering this morning's training session, I see.

Hey, Vash warned them....

Did he miss, though? Did he??

LOL, yeah, he did not.

This is, like, a Vash catchphrase at this point.

Well, if he didn't have Vash's attention before, he has it now.

Chapter 6: Sin

This doesn't have anything to do with the manga; I just want to note the number of times I've tried to navigate these pages by pushing left instead of right on my keyboard ('cause that's the way you read manga) is really, really high.

The contrast between the doctor's optimism and Brad's pessimism. Also, doc's viewing glass.

Wolfwood is having WAY too much fun spectating here. He looks like he's genuinely enjoying the chaos of it all.

Even scum can beg for its life when the tables are turned. Is the regret true and will it stick, or will being allowed mercy only open the door to further atrocities down the line? Do we have the right to decide?

Vash is making a choice, and it's not a choice to do nothing.

Hehhhh, people saying, "What do you know about my pain?" to Vash. Yes, this kind of pain is unique and individual, and Vash hasn't been through anything quite like losing a daughter in such a horrific fashion (that we know of; he is quite old), but he does understand both horrific loss and unimaginable betrayal, as well as the grief, self-blame, and feelings of utter helplessness that can come in its aftermath.

Poor Vash. He looks like hell after that fight. Probably feels like it, too.

Vash gave the father time to not become a murderer, and that's the sort of thing that would be of infinite value to Vash.

This panel, though. Important character notes here. In fact, one might say the only person Vash might not see as family on this planet is his very own twin.

The doctor sure has some trust in Vash getting out of things. And... he probably knows Vash well enough to know Vash would regret if his situation caused trouble for the doc and the rest of the people on that steamer.

LOL, Wolfwood, making a dramatic entrance, ready to bust through everything with hot lead and his beloved bike. He looks like an antihero arriving to save his kidnapped woman.

Hahahahahahaha, he pretty much buried Vash in rubble with that entrance. Mmmmmaybe didn't think it all the way through....

This panel has the same energy as Wolfwood telling Vash that kicking a rocket out of the air was "fucking stupid."

Awww, Wolfie, your heart of gold is showing....

We're just gonna ignore these panels where WW warns Vash that one of these days, pushing his luck won't work and he'll have to choose. I'm sure there's no foreshadowing in that whatsoever. Nope, none at all.

Ok, I tried to ignore it, but I also want to note I think Stampede did an excellent job capturing this running theme of how Vash is walking a precarious path trying not to choose. I don't remember that theme at all in '98. (Not saying it wasn't there; just saying it doesn't stand out in my memory.) Meanwhile, it's not just core to Vash's story in Stampede, but it's core to Meryl's and Wolfwood's stories in Stampede, too, even if in theirs, it's not mentioned so explicitly by the narrative.

Goshdarn it. That stupid Hitler-moustached, too-tall bowler hat guy is still here. Yes, yes, I know he wasn't dealt with so he can't just leave. But I want him to leave because it's better than him being in the narrative.

SEE?!!? GOOD PEOPLE DON'T HAVE PEOPLE PUPPETS LIKE THAT. SEND BOWLER HAT GUY BACK!!!

Uuuuhhhhh.... Look, I get that Legato (like a good percentage of the major characters in this story) likes fetish gear, but wearing a freaking iron maiden is taking it to a whole 'nother level.

Also, is he really big, or is this new creature person very small, or is the panel just framed weird for weird perspective? Questions....

Author Bonus Chapter: Gun Love Island

SALUTATIONS!!!

If this panel is meant to be the inside of Nightow's brain, it's a... very busy place. I do have a special appreciation for the dragon dissolving into a single sexy fishnet leg.

Oh, so the '98 anime had already started by the time this collection came out.

"First half of the story." LOL, half. Lies. But this might be a bit of a translation error. I've seen it elsewhere. Seems like (and I could be wrong here since I'm not a Japanese language expert by any means) the Japanese terms for parts of things don't necessarily mean equal parts like they do in English. To clarify, in English, if we say "a third," we mean 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1, but the Japanese term that usually gets translated into 1/3 (三分; literally "three parts") can also mean 1/3 + 1/2 + 1/6 = 1. It's still referring to one part of three out of the whole, but that part is not necessarily equal to the other parts. Then again, the characters usually used for "half" are 半分 rather than 二分, and to the best of my knowledge, 半 does indeed mean equal halves, so maybe I'm wrong in this instance. I don't know, I'm not reading this in Japanese and I've only studied the language for like 3 years, which is nothing for Japanese.

Hahahahaha, sounds like Trigun is a bit of a case of the story running away with the author. It happens sometimes.

I'm also happy that people like Nightow's characters. Thank you very much.

#thank you all the manga readers who've come before me for keeping this manga going long enough to reach its conclusion #and eventually make its way back to me #trigun maximum #volume 1 #trigunbookclub #pancake thoughts

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chellyfishing · 6 months

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ho ho holy shit it’s the end of the year and that means it’s time for you guessed it my reading year in review.

instead of “read more than last year” my goal this year was “read at least one non-fiction book” and not only did i do that, not only did i read FOUR of them, i still also read more than last year!

(btw i am on storygraph if any of you are also on storygraph)

in january i read that there uh locked tomb series by tamsyn muir. thinking that it was a trilogy and then finding out no i actually have to suffer like the peasants for the conclusion. anyway it was fine and definitely hasn’t taken up at least 40% of my brain at all times ever since. it’s a very normal series i had a normal reaction to and you should read it, it’ll be fine.

i also read volumes 7 and 8 of spy x family by endo tatsuya. 7 is around where the anime stops and i watched it at the end of last year so. i finally just picked up 9 and 10 but i’m saving them as treat for surviving to the new year. anyway it’s good. i generally avoid graphic formats because my brain is just not good at processing images properly, especially when it’s all in black and white, but this was pretty easy for me to read. it’s a good time, recommend.

in february i read witchlings by claribel ortega. this is a middle grade book so the depth and style aren’t exactly for me, but it was very very cute and fun, with a diverse and lovable cast, and i would definitely recommend this to kids age idk 7-ish to 12-ish. that genre of child. a good magical book series to read instead of. you know. i’d be interested to continue the series as well, i think especially if ortega has the books mature with the readership she could really have something special here.

confession i really like to listen to people tell me stories (horrorbabble my beloved) and since i finally got a new library card this year (two actually now!) i can just get audiobooks and listen to them whenever i want. so in april first i listened to we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson, which as you may or may not know is one of my favorite books of all time. i wanted to experience the story again and i didn’t want to just watch the film (it’s fine, honestly, it just lacks a lot of what i find really captivating about the book) so i put this on while i was doing other things. great book, great author, and i have no complaints whatsoever with the audiobook performance.

i also listened to james and the giant peach. this is my favorite roald dahl book and the audiobook is only about three hours. the narrator had incredible energy, exactly what you’d want from someone reading a children’s book.

in june i read the first nonfiction book, sex ed by ruby rare. this is a very accessible and inclusive book about… no. i shan’t say. everything is spoken about in frank terms and rare has a very personable voice and style. it’s also illustrated!

my next nonfiction book was in august, when i finally got to read i’m glad my mom died by jennette mccurdy. you probably don’t need me to tell you that this book is SO!! GOOD!! an incredible and important piece of art. jennette is so heartbreakingly honest and real here. i spent the whole book just wanting this child, then woman, to be okay. i am so happy she has turned the page on a new chapter in her life and has been able both to follow her real dreams of writing and gain some catharsis in the process. trigger warnings especially for abuse, including sexual abuse, including to a child, including by a parent, and eating disorders. she does not shy away from the ugliness of her experiences so please be prepared for that. it is very heavy at points.

after i finished that book i was just skimming through libby even though i already own [redacted] unread books and anyway on a whim i picked up a book called a door in the dark by scott reintgen. i decided to give it a shot because the main complaints were slow first half (that’s fine) and “unlikeable main character” (a woman with questionable morality). it was pretty good! the high point for me was the main character, in fact. i don’t really want to spoil anything so i won’t go into details but it definitely toys with your expectations in ways i appreciate. looking forward to more in the series!

i finished out august with they were here before us by eric larocca. this is only my second book by larocca (you’ve lost a lot of blood was my last book of 2022) but honestly i already knew i would read anything by them. this book is kind of a collection of short stories but they all have a theme that ties them together and are meant to be read in order. i love his prose, I love his weird imagination and imagery. this is exactly the kind of “unsettling and weird” that i will eat up. easily a new favorite author of mine. (their books are not for everyone, i hasten to add. they are very much for certain tastes. warnings in this book for some mild body horror as well as animal and child death.)

oh just kidding i forgot i read two books that day. the real last book i read in august was after they came by tom kavanagh. it is not a plot twist that this is a story about someone (a teenage girl specifically) living with paranoid schizophrenia, which i believe kavanagh also has. it’s clear this is a very personal story to him, and the horror comes not from the delusions or behavior this girl is having but from knowing she is trapped in them, scared and effectively alone. it’s very heartfelt.

in september i read a couple of shorter works. the first one was “undercover” by tamsyn muir, which is part of amazon’s “into shadow” series of short horror stories. being only about sixty pages this is nowhere near the ballpark of locked tomb’s twisting density but it still really draws you in. it’s a good time.

the other was the novella sour candy by kealan burke patrick. let me start off by saying! this is a grim one. there’s no real catharsis here. it’s just down, down, oh look we can go even further down. i guess it’s not my preferred type of horror, but it was still a good read.

in september i also read a full-length novel, sawkill girls by claire legrand. this is unfortunately my “worst book” of the year but even then it’s completely relative, most of the rest of my reading was bangers. i guess it’s not really what i was hoping it would be. it went places i thought were a bit… idk. i don’t want to say silly, exactly, but it didn’t quite work for me. i think that’s it really, it just wasn’t what i wanted, and what it was wasn’t really for me. important tho: there is sapphic rep and ace rep in here, asexuality in particular being addressed by name, so if you want more of those things, you could do a lot worse than this.

my third nonfiction read was in november and it was the woman in me by britney spears. i decided to crack this open and hopefully read it over the last couple days before my library hold ran out and i ended up devouring it in one sitting instead. like the other memoir on this list, this is a tough read. you will get angry, you will get furious, you will get sad. most people do not come out of this looking good at all and i am so glad brit and her ghostwriter decided to pull no punches. again check the trigger warnings, there’s a lot of abuse of a person with mental illness here, including forced institutionalization and of course the extremely unethical conservatorship. there’s also discussion of an abortion that was difficult and not especially wanted. i’m so so so so glad that she is free to live her life and speak her truth and i hope she gets to live happily with her boys and her man forever.

another book i read in one sitting was exit, pursued by a bear by ek johnston. i found this awhile back when i was looking for modern shakespeare retellings, specifically for one of a midsummer night’s dream, though as you can probably guess from the title this is actually inspired by the winter’s tale. so, there’s no getting around that this book is about sexual assault. it’s very blunt and frank about it, though the assault is not described, only the events leading up and the aftermath. weirdly, i would describe this as something of a slice of life more than a “message” book. this is the story of a seventeen-year-old girl getting on with her life after being drugged and raped. it’s primarily about her recovery especially through her relationships with friends, family, and others. it contains episodes of her triggers (the song that was playing just before she blacked out being a big one) but is primarily about her fighting desperately with everything she has not to let it dictate her life. warnings aside from sexual assault include discussions of forced pregnancy and abortion.

so, i’ve been wanting to read katzenjammer by francesca zappia for quite awhile now, but the price will not drop and the library down the street doesn’t have it. but then i got a card at another branch and voilà! let me warn you now that this is a sad book. it does not have a happy ending. i was warned it was sad going in and i was still not prepared to be absolutely gutted on a spit by it. i figured out what was going on about a fifth of the way from the end and just. cried from that point on. bawled my eyes out. might cry again now. so good, for the record, zappia has an undeniable way with prose and imagery, and there are sketched drawings throughout to shape her vision. i cannot give proper content warnings without dropping a major spoiler, so it will be up to you to decide how you need to approach this book if you want to. i will say that it is NOT sexual assault, though there is quite a bit of bullying that at points can feel a bit threatening in that regard, if that makes sense. i recommend it if idk you have tastes similar to mine (again, i did love it) and are willing to just be really fucking sad for a few hours.

i got a couple more library books in december. the first was my fourth and final nonfiction book of the year, another memoir, counting the cost, by jill duggar (dillard), her husband derick, and a credited professional writer, craig borlase. i have way too many words that i feel should be said about this book for one bullet point. i think it’s important to remember that jill and derick are still conservatives with some toxic and very harmful values, but jill has done incredible work deconstructing and derick has been a phenomenal husband to her. this book feels… unfinished though. it’s clear there’s still a lot that jill has not come to terms with. i hope that she can continue to grow and find peace. and i hope that others who are escaping fundamentalism can feel seen by this.

i took a break from my other library book (below) bc i just really wanted something i knew would be light and fun and easy to read, so i turned to ship wrecked by olivia dade. this is the third book in a series, the first two of which (spoiler alert and all the feels) i read last year. each one is about a couple with one (or two in this case) actors from a fictional show that is… i mean it’s game of thrones but make it greek myth. she doesn’t even try to hide it, it’s game of thrones. the thing that drew me to the series, aside from the fact that it just sounded like fun, is that all the main ladies (and in this case the man as well) are fat. as for this book, i think it’s probably my least favorite of the three. the fmc maria is pretty great but the mmc peter is easily my least favorite of the three male leads. dade doesn’t write toxic men, let me add, and all three books are dual pov so you really get to know both characters, but he just wasn’t it for me. i wish that the other characters got more screen time, especially since the books are not that short, but dade prefers to really dig into the psyches of her leads, unpacking their baggage and traumas to build healthy relationships, and i do appreciate that. downside is that there is not much diversity, other than her three ladies are each different kinds of fat (and don’t get me wrong, i love that and want to see more of it). this book has a lot of background queerness though so that was nice to see. i wonder if she intends to write a book about the wlw couple from the show, but i don’t know since afaik neither of those ladies are plus size. i’d read it, or really anything else she decides to do with this world.

the other library book i read from this batch was leech by hiron ennes. people describe this as a weird book but honestly if anything it could have been weirder. i went in without knowing a thing about it besides, like, taz blurbed it shut UP i doNOT HAVE a proBLEM. quick sketch this takes place in a very post-apocalyptic world and is about a doctor going to a remote isolated northern region during winter. yep, that’s all that it’s about. content warnings for body horror, both of the icky kind and the psychological kind, miscarriages, infant/child death, violence, and discussions of grooming and sexual abuse. it’s not really about those things (except the body horror) and when it comes up it’s generally less than a page at a time, but like. it’s all there and you should be careful. i would say it’s more about identity and autonomy and what it costs to break free. and body horror.

i read the burglar in the closet by lawrence block. i came across this book because one of my booktubers put it on his best of 2023 list and it sounded fun. and it was! it’s actually from 1978 and the second book in a series but i didn’t read the first book and was fine. there’s quite a bit of sexism but the amount and the framing of it didn’t make it impossible to enjoy this book. the narrator has such a strong voice and there are some genuine laughs to be had. plus, the ending surprised me! it was well-crafted! it’s a quick read and i’m pleased i took a little detour through it.

and the last book i’ll probably finish in 2023 (who knows!) is maeve fly by cj leede. i literally just now finished it and have to sit with it before i give it a proper rating and all that. there were times i wasn’t sure how i felt about this book. the narrator has such strong nlog edgelord energy but in her defense, she is literally a serial killer (i don’t think this is a spoiler tho it does take her a minute to say on page that she has killed). there are a lot of lines that had me rolling my eyes a bit, mostly because they were always the lines that were marked as frequently highlighted, like yeah, predictable. but there are also a lot of moments of genuinely beautiful prose, and a kind of macabre humor over it all. things really go off the rails in the last 20-25% or so but that was definitely my favorite part. technically i’ve seen this book classed as on the milder end of extreme horror, basically just be aware that there is a lot of very, very graphic violence. but the thing is, i read this book primarily as a metaphor, tho i’m not sure how much the author meant it as one. the ending makes me think perhaps she did. and honestly, framing it that way, maeve is actually… painfully relatable. why do i feel like i just got put on a watchlist somewhere. uhh, i could go on about it a lot, but you don’t care, you don’t intend to read this book. plus it’s more important that i mention that this book takes place in los angeles, except the parts that are in anaheim, because maeve plays princess E— at D— (never named but not at all obfuscated). the author does treat anaheim like it’s part of LA and i KNOW I KNOW it doesn’t matter TO YOU but the main thing i kept thinking was, wow i bet that commute is a bitch. i actually really liked the D— stuff because it’s all a bit inside baseball, employees and anaheim residents will capital K Know. there were also some really great descriptions of LA, and it just was nice to read someone put to words what the actual appeal of living around here is. it’s difficult to explain because people always come in with so many preconceived notions. as mandy moore put it, it’s a city of open doors. (lmao i just saw grady hendrix blurbed this as “anaheim psycho.” chef’s kiss.)

anyway i could easily finish something else if i set my mind to it but i kinda wanna maybe crack into something a bit longer. those last two were both under 300 pages, and even leech is not that much over it. or maybe i’ll just let myself disappear into bg3 until the new year.

#no books in march bc i was playing resi4 #or october bc i was playing bg3 #or july bc i was depressed #deep thoughts

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this-was-a-terrible-idea · 6 months

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ALRIGHT BEAN YOU DIDN'T RESTRICT THE BOOK RECS ASK SO HERE YOU GO: 1, 7, 8, 16, 18, 20, 23, 42, 51, 60, 62, 77, 87, 90, 91, 121, 124!! (you can skip any that you don't have an answer for and repeat whatever you want also ahhhh the ask won't let me make a new paragraph but it's @bi-bats)

😈 nyehehehe thank u for all the questions ily @bi-bats. kissing u on the forehead for this

1) a book that is close to your heart: i talk about it a lot but The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. the first book that ADHD problem child baby bean ever read and felt Seen in 💕

7) a book you did not finish: losing my MIND about Husband Material by Alexis Hall. i WANT to finish it but i legitimately CANNOT get over the fact that the author made one of the characters a vegan for ethical reasons after he had a whole ass Moment about a bacon sandwich and Expectations in the previous book. it is SO stupid that i can't get past this but alas

8) a book you finished in one sitting: Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall! yes this is the aforementioned previous book to the book in the last question

16) a book you'd recommend to your younger self: i think i would be a cooler person in general if i read more gothic lit in high school. cool is a relative term btw. i'm recommending to my younger self: read more Poe

18) your least favorite book ever: okay so this one is probably a Required Reading in High School bias, but Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe 😩

20) a book that got you out of a reading slump: Game Changer by Rachel Reid

23) a book that is currently on your TBR: The Secret of the Grande Chateau by Dr. Cecil H. H. Mills! this one is @jayzelnut's influence

42) a book that made you want to scream by the time you got to the end: Vicious by V.E. Schwab. look at what you've done to me misha

51) a book that you found underwhelming: ACOTAR

60) a book that you think about at 3am: The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

62) a book with a forgettable plot but amazing characters: im being a bit salty here but The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. the characters are wonderful but the plot (and in some ways the writing) of that book was mid, especially for it being the last book of the series

77) a book so useless that you could use it as a coaster: i got legitimate psychic damage from The Change Up by Meghan Quinn. i gave it a shot after i read and loved the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid bc i thought i might be judging sports romances too harshly but i was not.

87) a book with a predictable ending: is picking a romance book cheating? Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinston

90) the longest book you've read: given that the official english translation was split up into five volumes, i'm gonna go with MDZS, aka The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, by MXTX. i haven't tallied up how many pages it is but each volume is a decent size so i'm making an assumption that its the longest book i've read

91) the shortest book you've read: if we aren't counting the micro story Warm Up by V.E. Schwab, the shortest book i've read is Galatea by Madeline Miller

121) a book that makes you nostalgic: oh buddy, you guessed it! any of the og Percy Jackson series

124) the book you're currently reading: oh, so many. Chalice of the Gods by Rick Riordan, Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malinda Lo, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins, Just like Home by Sarah Gailey. AND VICIOUS! I SWEAR I WILL FINISH ANNOTATING IT FOR YOU AAAAAAAAAH

book rec ask game!

#thank you for asking!!!#i love ask games #ask game #bean speaks #book recs

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bigcats-birds-and-books · 1 year

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For the book ask - 18, 33, 36 (yes I'm gonna make you total all the book purchases no you don't have to include gifted books 🤣)

thanks for the ask, referencing this post, even though you are ABSOLUTELY Coming For Me With A Knife, Here:

18. Least favourite books of the year

unfortunately i nerfed myself by not lowball rating ANYthing, this year. on the one hand, that’s good, because it means i didn’t read anything TOO shitty, but on the other hand: yikes what didn’t i like lol.

i was most disappointed in A MASTER OF DJINN, because i love love love his shorter work, and his first Novel Length Thing didn’t quite deliver for me :/ the worldbuilding in that was still cool, though, so i think Least Favorite has to go to HE MELE A HILO: A HILO SONG by Ryka Aoki (yes, that same Aoki, of LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS), because it was Very Disjointed, Very Many POV, and Very Episodic. and i know it’s bad when i think something is too episodic...i was ensaddened by that, too, because the premise seemed very cool, and it also didn’t deliver for me.

33. Did you DNF anything?

i did not!! unless you count the AFRICA: A BIOGRAPHY book that’s still languishing on my goodreads Currently Reading (i swear i’ll finish it someday, it’s just. today is Not That Day), or my ongoing HARROW reread, because i’m on page 294, currently. i am planning on remedying the HARROW DNF by tomorrow, though, so that probably doesn’t count either XD it also probably doesn’t count because i’m love harrow and the only reason my reread’s not finished yet is because of Time lol

i don’t, in general, DNF things, because even if they’re not sparking joy for me, i turn it into a Well Why? exercise and activate the writerly hat instead. i also read fast enough once i get going that it doesn’t feel like a time waste, and i thrive on a good cathartic Spite Read.

36. How many books did you buy?

oh coming for me with a KNIFE i see okay let’s go~~

criteria: books purchased this year (so i’m not counting preorders that were Delivered This Year), not gifted or as gifts (i tallied digitally-purchased gifts separately anyway, i had to, although in my defense i did do a lot more Knitting Gifts than Book Gifts this year so that number won’t be as high as it could be, and it’s mostly Bot by Volume), caveat criteria: i only actually tallied things i bought online, and i know i bought At Least Two Books IRL--two can probably be rounded up to five, but i didn’t actually enter too many bookstores and walk out with things this year because i know that’s Dangerous for my wallet.

method: i checked All The Websites i frequent for my book procuring needs. these are: 1. downbound, 2. barnes and noble, 3. bookshop, 4. prologue, and 5. HPB (also 6. brilliant books, but i didn’t buy anything from them this year). i tallied books as either purchases For Me, or Gifts.

results: look, i made a list:

prologue - 1 for me, 0 gifts

hpb - 0 for me, 1 boxed set (4 books) gift

bookshop - 3 for me, 0 gifts

b&n - 8 for me, 1 gift

downbound - 15 for me, 3 gifts

walking into physical bookstores, probably, conservatively: 5 for me, ?? gifts

bringing our grand total to: 32 for me, either 5 or 8 as gifts, depending on how you count the boxed set (all but 1 of the gift books was murderbot, btw)

that five (5) is Definitely Conservative, so probably truly i bought between 35 and 40 books this year, is my best guess, WHICH MEANS, i did, in fact, read more books than i purchased!! muahaha!! (we’re ignoring books i Was Gifted, also, because ahahaha yikes if we count those the books acquired to books consumed ratio is no longer weighted in the correct direction for knocking down my tbr)

thanks, friend, this was fun, DESPITE you coming for me with a naked blade XD !!!

#text #book games #books #ask games #answered #gaywinemommarianhawke #IT'S REALLY ACTUALLY NOT AS BAD AS I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HONESTLY #i got three books for christmas from parents and two from friend!!#i absolutely do not remember how many i got for my birthday XD

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minyare2906 · 2 years

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hi! i wanted to ask if hanakoi tsurane publication status is the same as the scanlation one? that is, if the last chapter that was realised was also ch.53 or if there were more published since then? also, does the author of that manga have any schedule? i’m always surprised when new scans come out, but that might be just because i didn’t figure out when they usually do! thank you so much for your hard work btw it’s delightful!!

Hi!! First of all, thank you for the nice words, they're always very much appreciated! About Hanakoi, the official releases and our releases are quite close, to be frank. Official release is chapter 54, that came out in digital (that's what we use) on the 14th of July, we are with the finishing touches of the volume 8 extras, which would be 53.5. We've been a bit slow this time because of my lack of computer though. Isaku sensei usually releases a chapter per month, sometimes she'll take two months, I guess that because she has more projects to release, but it's not too often, she'll usually have a chapter in every issue of Dear+, which comes out around the 14th of every month (digital comes out a month later). Hope I answered it all, anything else, you can contact me whenever you need ;)

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yuukei-yikes · 1 year

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If someone has only listened to the songs and watched the anime, what's the best way to get into other content? (I'll admit im biased towards whatever has the most Haruka tbh)

HMMMM both novel and manga are pretty long. id say the novels are an easier read than the manga and maybe even quicker lol they're pretty short, 8 of them and like less than 200 pages each?? depends on what u consider long. but the manga has 2 routes and it gets confusing so yea. if u want the manga just read until everyone fucking dies which is volume 4 cuz then the second route starts and if u dont wanna Deal with that cuz its like a lot happening, then id not read it. second manga route id read as the very very last thing. first id read the novels

but since ur awesome cuz u like haruka i will tell u all the bits that feature haruka as a main character in case u just wanna read those.

manga volume 3 and the little first bit of volume 4 are the yuukei yesterday arc (takane is protag ofc but haruka is here and they are very cute :) )

then there's the second manga route with the lost days arc. again let me say. very different from what the normal routes are so in this haruka meets takane and shintaro at the hospital and never ayano, thats volume 10. its haruka pov babyyyy(SECOND MANGA ROUTE HARUKA ARC I UMM... personally i fucking hate this arc like ok yes YES YES HARUKA POV HARUKA POV FUCK YEAHHHHH but there's 1 thing that happens in this arc that i fucking hate so much it makes me just dislike the whole thing lmao so i never recommend it buuut u can go ahead. thats just me being nitpicky its not bad lol and has lots of cute harutaka)

and then the 2nd novel volume headphone actor which is the yuukei yesterday arc so ofc haruka is here and then CHA CHAAAAN volume 6!!! HARUKA POV!!!!! if u like haruka and he's ur fave and u want all his content. NOVEL 6 OVER THE DIMENSION. READ NOW. NOW. NOW. i love you over the dimension *kisses it and tucks it in bed* its not a long read at all like i said less than 200 pages. u can finish it in 1 afternoon for sure. ive re read it like 1 million times i love it so much💗💗💗over the dimension💗💗💗 its haruka's pov during the cultural festival btw and even more hangouts with the quartet.

he also has a couple chapters in the eighth novel but without reading the rest i dont recommend it cuz itd be confusing LOL if u still wanna tho, its all the chapters named with "side 9" at the end.

ummm yeah anyways. lol

#ask tag #kagexplain

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canonicallyanxious · 1 year

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in addition to my usual top 10's the last couple of years i made an extra top 10 list for funsies (2020 list of top 10 wlw medias and 2021 list of top 10 webcomics for posterity) and i wanted to take this year's list as an opportunity to shout out some cool artists/shoprunners out there (and also drag myself for my poor self-control) so this year I present:

Sarah's Top 10 Impulse Purchases of 2022

(notes: links to stores where applicable; also this post features my personal pics so some of them include my face and/or body, don't be jumpscared)

10. Uchuu Summer (feat. Private Caller Hawaiian Shirt and Watermelon Pop Hawaiian shirt)

Shout out to Jacob & Karina Drawfee for wearing their cool shirts from this rad artist-owned store during a livestream which prompted me to buy two of my own shirts as the stream was happening. no model pics bc these shirts just recently came in (these previews are pulled from the website, also just want to say their preview art goes so hard) but when summer comes round again i will have infinite rights

9. Awesome Socks Club

(i don't have any cool pics yet for this one either because the subscription starts at the beginning of 2023 but look at the past designs on this website and tell me they don't absolutely fuck)

I saw a tumblr post from Hank Green about his socks subscription service where each month they get a new indie artist to design a pair of socks and all of their profits go to charity and look. i couldn't not do it. i fucking love weird quirky socks i was doomed from the moment i saw the words "awesome socks club".

8. REGALROSE (feat. Betrayal hoop dagger earrings)

REGALROSE is a UK based company that makes supremely badass jewelry. i picked up these dagger earrings to complement a wedding outfit and i think it worked very well if i do say so myself. Tbh very challenging to get good close ups of these lol so you're just gonna have to take my word for it that they're just as cool and badass in person as you might imagine. Favorite earring purchase of the year hands down!

7. Across a Field of Starlight by Blue Delliquanti

Became a huge fan of Blue Delliquanti after reading their excellent webcomic O Human Star (HUGELY recommend if you're in the mood for good sci fi with strong queer/trans themes btw!) and was thrilled to find out that they were coming out with a YA sci fi graphic novel with nonbinary protagonists earlier this year. Even more thrilled to discover how tender and heartfelt the story was!! Highly recommend for any graphic novel/sci fi enthusiasts!!

6. An Assortment of Records

My parents got me a record player for my birthday this year so obviously i had to buy the fuck out of some vinyls(there are plenty i bought that aren't pictured here but i was too lazy to scrounge up every single pic i have on hand of my records skdjfnskdnfs)

5. Sleepy Peach (feat. Choose Violence sweater vest, Locals Only bomber jacket, & Bird of Paradise cardigan)

Sleepy Peach is an independent clothing store that makes some bombass clothing, so colorful and fun and eyecatching! a friend sent me a link to their Instagram and i went OOH and never went back. I basically lived in the bomber jacket for most of the year and i have absolutely no regrets

4. Classics but Make it Gay: Volume II (edited by Nova & Mali)

Nova & Mali are a small queer publishing house that puts out some really incredible queer-themed art books and projects. This is part of a series that reimagines classic art through a queer/trans lens and it's absolutely gorgeous from start to finish, featuring so many talented artists it honestly blows my mind. They're planning on putting together a Volume III next year which I'm really looking forward to supporting!! (i also have digital copies of Cover Me Queer, an art book of queer-themed romance novel covers, and their Our Flag Means Death fanzine and they're both fantastic, just some outstanding work from these folks)

3. The Calorum Cookbook (unofficial Dimension 20 inspired fanzine)

Dimension 20's "A Crown of Candy" has an INSANELY talented fandom, it's truly jaw-dropping. The Calorum Cookbook is a charity fanzine cookbook inspired by ACOC's world that collects original recipes and TONS of amazing accompanying fanart and spot art. The layout is so professional and aesthetically pleasing, the recipes look so delicious (can't wait to try my hand at some of them!) and they even all come with little blurbs of in-world fanmade lore that put the recipes in the context of the show's setting in such a fun and creative way! Everything about this zine delights me and I'm so glad i decided to purchase a physical copy so I can hold it in my hands with childish delight and wonder. unfortunately i don't think they're selling physical copies anymore but I still recommend checking out the featured artists and contributors, this is a cool bunch of people!

2. Kinwamonster (feat. Monster Train bag, Big Bad jacket, & Home sweater)

One of my favorite independent clothing brand discoveries of the year! run primarily by one artist, i'm just so in love with the aesthetic and the quality of these products. This sweater is seriously the comfiest thing i own and i use the monster train bag for everything, it fits basically everything i need when I'm out and about. don't even get me started on this jacket, if it were possible to put it on and never take it off I ABSOLUTELY WOULD. I think they're currently on break but I'm really excited to see what they'll release in the new year!!!

1. Original lineart of Princeps Zortch from Dimension 20's A Starstruck Odyssey (by Amy Reeder)

This is undoubtedly one of the coolest purchases i have ever made in my goddamn life. unfortunately i am so hopelessly lazy and haven't gotten a frame for it yet so it's basically just sitting on my bedroom wall right now but MY GOD it is glorious. Thank you Amy Reeder for making such wonderfully compelling character art for dimension 20 and for the amazing opportunity to get my hands on the real actual lineart of my favorite npc of my favorite d20 season!!!!

#sarah.txt #facepics #2022 recap #not sponsored lol #honorable mention to my nail polish obsession #i'm too lazy to take a pic of all the polishes i accumulated this year but rest assured. there are many.

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miaicefyre · 2 years

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Yeah, I kinda decided at the start of the year that I would’ve be watching volume 9 as it came out

Instead I would wait until it’s finished then for someone to make a compilation video of all the vacuo/ace-ops scenes, cause someone’s bound to do that right (right? Well if not, I will)

It’s typical really. I spent all day wandering when this trailer would come but then when it did I was ready to watch it, which is probably because I was terrified it wasn’t going to have any Vacuo/ace-ops scenes

(which it didn’t

But what the…?

I watched it muted btw)

*oncoming rant*

Fuck that island

Fuck there multiverse (I got enough of that from the new dr strange movie)

There’s still a part of me that wishes yang was the only one to have fallen, even if it’s just so that Blake could spend some time with someone other than her. She could even have hooked up with sun for a bit

Never gonna stop hating the volume 8 finale

Yeet, I’m out. Let me know when Oscar rejoins the plot

It doesn’t even come out till 2023 now 👹 didn’t they promise before that it would air in 2022…

I’ve been holding out hope for this show for. Right now it’s literally hanging by a thread. The only hope I’ve got left is a reply to this comment

#rwby #volume 9 trailer

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5-pp-man · 3 months

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helppp this was still in my drafts. ill add the original date later but we finished this game months ago.

WE'RE FINALLY DONE WITH TACTICAAAA AGHAGHHS took us around 56 hours. which is between what i expected. 50/60 hours. we're just glad its over and done with (for now. we'll revisit the dlc once we finish royal) its honestly such a shame that it ended up being the way it was.

it was like. ok the entire first area feels like a way too long tutorial. and then the 2nd area had some fun stuff but also felt like a drag cause they kept repeating themselves over and over again in typical p5 fashion…

the third area was easily the best because it finally had good pacing between story and battle amount and then the last area was like the last area in s frontiers were it was clear that they just. sort of ran out of time and just decided to recolour some shit from previous areas to throw at you

the final boss battle was kinda nice though but unfortunately we were way too overpowered on hard mode…? without grinding ever. ok then.

anyways shoutout to brigantine blitzkrieg. the only voltage move we ever used. used it like 8 times in that final battle. shoutout to ryuji in general btw he was almost always in our team. along w yusuke and ann. they were the dreamteam.

also fun fact. whenever lavenza would talk with spoken dialogue we would straight up cut her off because she talks terribly slow and we hate her <3

also i like the style of this game. sure. but i feel like it actively worked against itself whenever it would get really serious the boss designs in this game though? fucking phenomenal like they really knocked it outta the park w those and every p5 game should've used the offwhite in the menus of this one instead of the bright white. my eyes thank the designer of this game

and no way in hell ppl finished this game in 25 hours. shut the hell up no you didn't. i think its barely worth its price at 60 hours, but if people seriously did completionist in only 37 hours... then it for sure isn't

AND ANOTHER THING. Toshiro's audio was fucking abysmal. We seriously turned down EVERY other sound in the game just so we could hear him talk. Who is in charge of the audio mixing for atlus' eng dub. cause i don't even think they have someone for that. either that or they're sleeping on the job. Scramble had this same exact problem but that game didn't let you change volume levels so we just couldn't hear what some characters were saying for like 40% of their dialogue.

The music is this game was also... very unremarkable. Like the opening was nice. besides that, nothing really stood out. Which is a shame because we LOVED the music in Scramble, it was one of the things we got super hyped about.

#tedpost #tedtalks #should i tag the game when all im doing is shitting on it..?#also i remember why this was in my drafts. i copied the tags from some post because they were super long #and served as their own sort of review #but i had to reformat it first. and i never did. until now that is

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bird-lore · 1 year

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not an ask but just wanna say that I'm new here- hello- and also that your story's premise seems so cool?? I haven't even read any chapters yet, but I can assure you that once they come out in volumes I'll be getting myself a copy. I'm curious if they're going to be physical copies or PDFs, because I'd love to have them on my bookshelf <3 . I'm coming straight from Cheeteh's pmv btw. I wish I knew about your story sooner because I'm a huge lover when it comes to historical fiction writing/art. Anyways good luck with your story! I'll be watching from the sidelines and cheering you on to finish!

Aaaa thank you so much! There will definitely be physical copies released, and it's a big priority for me. My goal is to release three physical volumes of eight chapters each. So once I'm done with chapter 8, you'll be able to get the physical copy of volume 1! That seems like a ways away, but I'm working at a pace of 3 chapters/year so it won't really be long at all. Until then, individual chapters are being sold as PDFs, and I'll lower the price of older chapters as more come out.

I really really appreciate the kind words. If you want to binge more about the story, I recommend going through my YouTube playlist, which has most of the stuff in chronological order.

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spencersgfwrites · 2 years

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✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: a new family: brave:･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

authors note: this is from rosie's pov btw

"No, she's not up yet. Oh wait, nevermind." I hear a voice say. Low and gravelly, a man's most likely. I open my eyes which feel like lead.

"Wh- where am I?" I ask, I try to reach up and rub my head, but realize my hands are bound to the back of the chair I'm sitting on. I move my feet and when I find out they're tied to my heart beats faster and I begin to panic.

"Calm down little girl," the man with the low voice says. I do not calm down. I finally manage to open my eyes and blink a couple times before my eyes adjust to the dim lighting. I look around, and try to imprint my surroundings into my brain, something Sherlock always said to do if I got kidnapped. I tried to wiggle around so I could feel if my phone was in my back pocket, but the bonds were too tight, and it was unlikely it was there anyway.

"Why... why have you kidnapped me?" I ask, hoping to get some answers. Before the man speaks the door to the room opens. In strolls a man who I assume is the person the other man was talking to earlier. Judging by his suit and haircut, he is very wealthy. Well, that pretty much rules out the possibility of me being kidnapped for money, but it was relativley unlikely anyway.

"Well, Rosie," The rich man starts, and I feel nervous when he knows my name,"I have kidnapped you to... well, to prove a point" he finishes.

"And what point would that be?" I say, surprised myself at how cocky it sounds, when in reality I feel like the personification of a scared puppy.

"I am going to prove I am better than my brother, and better than Sherlock Holmes!" He exclaims. I wince at the sudden change in volume, but quickly rack my brain for who his brother could be. I decide the most likely is Moriarty, as they look at least somewhat similar, and he is one of the most well known enemies of Sherlock.

"And what if you aren't?" I say, hoping to get more of his plan.

"Then I will die," Moriarty's brother says, rather matter of factly. He then turns to the other man and says "Make sure she stays alive, we can't have her dying on us. But please do rough her up a bit. Sher needs to look so very scared for the video. I better be off KJ, Ta ta!" Moriarty's brother says, and walks out of the door. So KJ is the other man's name. I then begin to worry about the other thing he said, about "roughing me up", and I realize I may be getting a few scars soon.

Judging by the sun, which I can barely see through the window, it had been about a day since I first woke up in this room. Over that time I've gained several bruises, mostly on my face. I'm also very hungry, and have a raging headache since I haven't drinken anything since what must be almost 2 days ago, since I had been kidnapped on Friday, and it was now midday Sunday. KJ, who didn't seem to talk much, was now setting up a video camera across from me.Moriarty's brother entered the room wearing another expensive suit.

"Okay Rosie, I need you to just stay still, and look as injured as possible. This is going to your dad, and if you act nice I'll give you water. Alright?" Moriarty's brother said, smiling a creepy smile. I decide to do what he says instead of yelling, since I need to drink soon or I will die. He records the video, and I stay quiet, but try to look brave. After it's done KJ leaves the room and comes back a moment later with water. I open my mouth and he pours it in. On the back of my throat it feels cool and refreshing, like snow on my skin when walking to school.

"I'm going now," He says. I don't ask where he's going since he grabs a syringe from the table across the room and sticks it into my arm as he says it. My head droops and my eyes close.

I open my eyes and hear gunshots outside. I try to see out of the door but don't see anything. Muffled voices come through and the gunshots stop. I hold my breath, wondering what's about to happen. The door opens.

❤ part 8: found

❤ a new family: masterlist

❤ my main fanfic masterlist

#spencersgfwrites fanfic #sherlock holmes #sherlock bbc #bbc sherlock #johnlock #sherlock holmes x john watson #sherlock holmes x platonic!rosie watson #john watson x platonic!rosie watson #john watson #rosie watson #sherlock season 5 #sherlock season five

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centrally-unplanned · 2 years

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I saw some hot yuri art on the dash the other day which inspired me to check out its source, Alter Ego, a story which highlights a problem I have seen time and again with the “OEL”/Original English Language manga genre (though ironically, in this case the book was initially in Spanish). To set up, Alter Ego is an entry into the “gay girl in love with/jealous of her straight friend and the other people in her life” genre, which means we are contractually obligated to have a scene of our MC yelling at her friend about how she wants her all to herself. Which we get, upon the news that said friend’s pen-pal other best friend is moving to their city:

In the middle of a diner, at like afternoon lunch...on page 15 of the story. I literally could not remember this bitch’s name and she is already throwing plates. And the build up to this scene is *entirely* her being a jealous snot, in public, to classmates and friends. She has two traits at this point in the tale: Being In Love and Being a Maladroit Maniac About It.

Our main girl - who is named Noel btw, I remembered - is an extremely unlikable protagonist; but she isn’t meant to be. As much as OEL manga would seem like its primary inspiration is, ya know, manga....it isn’t. Its primary inspiration is fanfiction, its where it was born; western artists writing fanfiction of Japanese manga, and getting good enough at it to shoot off their own attempts. Now, fanfiction’s primary strength, to quote Folding Ideas, is its ability to “shortcut to the Good Stuff”; if this was Sayaka being jealous of Madoka’s new best friend Homura, I wouldn’t *need* to characterize her, my audience already knows her, already likes her. I can make her an asshat for drama and it won’t ruin the story, and I can cut to the chase. Once you suddenly have to obey copyright law and need original characters, however, this approach falls apart.

Which might seem obvious - like why not fix this? That is harder than it sounds, however, due to the limitations of the publication market. OEL manga has a far smaller market than Japanese manga does, and is therefore structured differently; it is sold discretely, as individual books telling one complete story. Meanwhile in Japan manga is, almost universally, ‘piloted’ in serializing magazines bundling dozens of stories into one package. This allows stories to be tested out, see if they capture a market, without them actually being finished. But charging an audience for just one story that doesn’t go anywhere is a tougher sell in the US (it still happens of course); which is why this entire story is under 200 pages and fits into one volume, while recently-read yuri manga Bloom Into You, for example, is spread out over 8 books while telling a tale of equal complexity. Bloom Into You got its start in Dengeki Daioh, a monthly shounen magazine with a 130k monthly circulation, its story got tested and proved itself worthy of enough pages to tell its tale. Since OEL manga can’t even attempt that, it has to sell its stories raw, which means it generally is going to sell a lot more of them as a whole package.

Adding to this complexity is the supposedly-core inspiration, that of manga. You can tell a cohesive comic story in 200 pages, but you can’t tell a cohesive *yuri* story of this kind because those stories aren’t built for it. But they try anyway, since its the genre trappings that *are* the appeal, and the rushed, fanfic-y nature just becomes inevitable from that combination of forces. And I mean, we are all fanfic writers here anyway right? We don’t need all that so-called padding, we can shortcut to the good stuff! The problem gets baked in.

But okay, I hear you all asking the question, “Ash, I get that you didn’t like this scene. But high schoolers do dumb shit like this all the time! This girl is like 14 right? Its her first love, she is flipping out, that happens.”

And that would be a decent rebuttal...if Noel wasn’t 23 years old.

...okay I admit her age isn’t explicitly stated, but the girl she eventually does start dating, who seems like a same-age peer, has her 24th birthday in the comic and is a professional author with a book deal, and like look at the classroom they attend!

That is a college lecture hall, no high school shenanigans here. Noel is at the youngest 22 in this comic.

But that starts sitting weird with some of the other elements of the story - Noel lives with her parents and gets woken up by her little sister, her straight friend walks to school with her and brings her boyfriend along, Noel has like no career ambitions or job worries at all. Everything about this seems like its a story about 14 year olds! Why isn’t it?

I am sure its a pretty easy guess: politics. 14 year olds can’t have sex in western books. Or at least, certainly not in the social-justice world of queer graphic novels. So the seemingly-easy fix is applied to this story of just making the characters adults, in their 20′s, their ability to Consent being handed to them alongside their first electric bill.

That easy fix transforms the previously awkward fit of its Japanese manga source material into a garbled mess. The type of yuri this story is pulling from is *built* on the character’s youth, these are stories about innocence and pure love and sexual awakening. If you want stories about adults its literally a different genre, its called Josei, and its stories of depressed konbini workers trying to Figure Out Life while in grungy Tokyo studio apartments. And in fact, that innocence and youth is exactly what audiences want from this kind of yuri, as this Goodreads review suggests:

So soft! So young! I bet this person didn’t even notice the birthday line. They wanted to have their cake and eat it too, a 24 year old Ethically Adult girl-child with a crush on her “Best Friend” who has literally never dated before and whose whole world revolves around alternating fits of jealously and jiltedness. Which like, fine, if thats all you want, I am not judging your desires.

But you shortcutted to the good stuff. And I know why. And it bothers me, especially when half the reason you needed a shortcut is that you think its morally wrong to take the long way. That you think you are better than your ostensible source material, while executing worse on the craft. Its not a deal I want to take, and I see too many OEL manga taking it. Grow up.

#mini-essay #Ash Reads Manga Project #alter ego

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akatsuki-shin · 3 years

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I... I don’t often call out anyone specifically using social media before, but... I saw this among the reblogs in my first post about MXTX novels English release announcement and I feel that this is just too much...

I’m not going to tag this with the fandom tags because this is literally just my personal rant, and I don’t want unpleasant things to appear when people are happily browsing the tags.

I also censored the person’s blog name. It’s not like I want people to mass attack them.

But I do have some things I want to say about this kind of mindset.

And this is gonna be a long post, so I’ll cut it with "Read More” later below as not to disturb anyone’s browsing experience.

Why do they have to split the books into multiple volumes?

First, you do realize that the original Chinese version and other languages versions are also in multiple volumes that don’t always be published on the same date, right?

SVSSS has 3 volumes, MDZS has 4 volumes, TGCF has 5 volumes.

With the English release, both SVSSS and MDZS get +1 volume while TGCF gets +3 volumes.

Why you ask?

Have you ever considered how long a single Chinese word would be if written in alphabets?

The word “人” in Chinese only needs 1 (one) character, while in English it would translate to “P E O P L E” = 5 (five) characters.

The word “知己” in Chinese only needs 2 (two) characters, while in English it would translate to “C O N F I D A N T E” = 10 characters, or “S O U L M A T E” = 8 characters.

Now apply this to an entire novel. FYI, TGCF has more than 1 million word count in Chinese, so you can do the math by yourself.

I mean, just go watch the donghua or live action in YouTube. One single sentence in the Chinese sub is often translated to two or more lines in the English subtitle.

And have I mentioned that the English release will have:

Glossary

Footnotes

Character Guides

And I’m going to repeat this once again: In China and other countries that already get their official releases, it is also NOT always all released on the same date as a single set/box.

So yes, (not) surprise! For the Chinese release and official releases in other countries, you also often need to purchase multiple times, pay shipping fee multiple times, and wait for certain period of times until all volumes are released.

It doesn’t only happen to MXTX novels, it happens to almost all novels, be it danmei or not.

Why don’t they just wait for translations to finish and release it all at the same time/as a box set? Why the span of two years?

On my part, I already say above that in China and other countries that already get their official release, it’s also not always published all on the same date.

Other than that, I’m not an expert at book publishing, much less when the publisher is not from my own country. But maybe consider the following:

They’re releasing 3 (three) hugely popular IPs all at the same time. Maybe the preparations take more time and effort to ensure everything is flawless?

Since it is very rare (or maybe never, cmiiw) for danmei novels to be published in English, maybe the publisher is testing the market first? Because if they already release them as a huge bundle from the start and it somehow flops, the loss would be very big. If it works well, then good! Maybe for future danmei release, they will consider making a box set or releasing them within shorter timeframe.

In terms of marketing, if they wait another 2 years to release it all at once, will the momentum still be there? You can say “so in the end it’s all about money”, but if not sales number and money, what else should the publisher expect to receive for their work? They’re already putting a lot of effort buying all three IPs from the Chinese publishers, proofread or even translate some from scratch, pay translators, editors, illustrators, printing companies, etc. If it’s not selling well simply because they release it at the wrong time, aren’t all these efforts going to be wasted? And you can bet there will be no more danmei published in English if their first try already flops merely because of losing the momentum.

Are there any other rules or regulations they need to comply that prevents them from releasing everything in one go? But once again, even in China and other countries, it is also not always all released in one go, so this argument is already invalid from the start.

But they make it so expensive like this!

I’m sorry to break it to you, but I’ve compared the prices to MDZS Japanese release + TGCF Thai release and... The price isn’t really that much different.

Btw, I’m using Google’s currency converter, in case anyone wants to know where does my calculation comes from.

Okay, so here’s MDZS Japanese version from CD Japan:

One volume of MDZS Regular ver. cost 1760 yen. This is 15,96 USD before shipping. There’s only like $4 difference.

There’s also the Exclusive ver. that cost 3660 yen (32,92 USD) but we’re not gonna talk about that because they’re basically making you pay for the bonus, which is some acrylic panels and illustration cards.

Now here’s TGCF Thai version from Sense Book:

Translation using Google Chrome page translate:

One volume of TGCF costs 360 baht. This is 10.77 USD before shipping. So there’s about $9.22 difference.

Again, notice the difference of word/sentence length in the Thai words and English alphabet.

"But there’s still difference in price and other releases usually gets merchandise!” - Correct me if I’m wrong, but the US is probably one of the most expensive countries in the world. Do you think the materials, printings, and manpower cost is the same with other countries? Especially compared to one in Southeast Asia.

“But it’s xxxx times more expensive than the original Chinese version!” - Excuse me, the original Chinese version doesn’t need to pay for translators, proofreaders and editors with multilingual skills, and purchase the IPs? If you think it’s more worth buying the Chinese version, then by all means go ahead.

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Some last words...

I’m not looking down on those in difficult financial situation, but hey, I’m not filthy rich either? I come from a third world country and even if I’m a working adult, I’m still in working middle class + I got my parents to take care of. My country’s currency is literally just a tiny 0.000069 USD per 1 Indonesian Rupiah.

Every single fandom merchandise that you see me bought, either I’ve saved up for that or I sacrificed other things to buy that. I just don’t show the struggle to you guys because why should I? I’m just here to have fun about the fandom I love, not to flex my struggling financial condition.

These official English release of MXTX novels? All 17 books are going to cost me almost HALF of my monthly salary. But hey, I think it’s a good thing that they didn’t release it all at once, so that I can save up between months to purchase them all and plan my spending better.

If you feel the price is expensive, especially if you have to ship from outside North America, consider the following:

Book Depository provide free worldwide shipping

The books’ ISBN numbers are all available in the publisher’s website, just show it to you local bookstore and ask if they can order it for you

Plus, there are already hundreds of generous fans doing free giveaways in Twitter, even the publishers are helping to signal boost this. You can go and try your luck if you’re really desperate.

Lastly, I know how much love we all have for our favorite fandoms, but remember that fandom merchandise is NOT your primary needs.

You are NOT obliged to purchase any fandom merchandise if you can’t afford it and you should ALWAYS prioritize your primary needs.

Also, if you still want to read the fan-translations that are still available, alright go ahead. But remember that the translators themselves already said fan translations in English are now illegal. You can read it. We all consume pirated contents at one point. But don’t flex about it and diss the official release just because you can’t afford it.

I don’t know if the person who made that reblog tags are going to come at me or not, but even if they do, I literally don’t care. I’m not gonna waste my time arguing with someone with that kind of mindset and will block them right on the spot.

Also Idgaf if they call me out or talk behind my back, I literally don’t know them, so I don’t care.

End of rant.

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