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izumisays · 4 years

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dear yuletide author

Thank you so much for reading this and taking part in this wonderful annual conspiracy!

First of all, I hope you have a lovely time! If any of the fandoms below pique your interest, I’m delighted already, and ready to hear all the stories you want to tell.

Fandoms: Nirvana in Fire, Spinning Silver, In Other Lands, Thunderbolt Fantasy, Grasshopper Jungle

As for reading preferences, I’m happy with a wide variety of tones and genres, of any rating, ranging anywhere from lighthearted antics to dramatic casefics. But the core of all the stories I love has always been character interaction and interplay of their competences.

How the characters play off each other and bring out their best/worst, how they’d react to a divergence of events, how true they’d stay to themselves in a different setting -- I love fanfiction for allowing us to reconnect with our favourite stories time and again by asking these questions. And there are so many ways to do it! To name a few favourites, I’m always game for POV hijinks, a missing scene, a casefic, canon expansion, backstories and what-ifs.

You may notice that quite a few of my requests lean towards shipfic – those, too, are welcome in a variety of tones – but I also tried to include openings for gen ideas if that’s your jam. Additionally, while it is not usually my top interest, I don’t have anything against AUs if there is something that you are itching to explore: I tend to enjoy them for a new aesthetic that fleshes out the favoured character dynamics in a new light, or a fusion that redefines the playing ground to allow the characters to exhibit their core competences in new and exciting ways.

I would be very grateful if you could avoid a/b/o and similar kinktropes, played-straight soulmate fic, and character interpretation that runs contrary to their core values. If in doubt, please reach out to me on anon - the askbox is open!

NIRVANA IN FIRE: Mei Changsu, Xiao Jingyan

Is this a complex, narratively inevitable historic tapestry strangling people with its treads, full of delicious politicking and identity porn? Yes, it is.

Is my burning – nay, primal – desire so simple as to smoosh two faces together and watch them kiss? Yes, it is :’)

I mean, I will obviously not say no if the kissing is giftwrapped in the said tapestry of beautiful, politicky plot, but the fever I can’t get out of my system is this: LET THEM KISS, GODDAMMIT. LET THEM BE HAPPY. I welcome canon divergences, alternative endings, fix-its, insert eps and codas where it looks like they would have kissed (erm, or at least confronted each other in a way that would inevitably end with them making out) if only Mei Changsu wasn’t so caught up in self-loathing and fluffy foxfur coats, and Jingyan didn’t talk too loudly about his so dead, so very dead beautiful ex to hear Mei Changsu weep stoically into his beautiful white furs.

I adore Prince Jing. He is 90% cheekbones and 20% heartbroken pouting over his so very dead friends, and all of it noble and awkward and stubborn and deserving of happiness. Mei Changsu is ridiculous, and capable, and twisted into pretzels of his own creation: not above gloating over his enemies while daintily dipping cookies into his tea, he gets too caught up in weaving the tapestry to notice he is a part of it. Pull him off his high horse, Jing! Render him helpless by being yourself! Do something about being hopelessly charmed with each other, through resentment, loss, bitter pining, and narrative inevitability! JUSTKISSALREADY.gif!!

SPINNING SILVER: Mirnatius

Spinning Silver is a beautiful story, a polyphony of voices that echo the key themes with poignance in individual tales coming together into a bigger picture: admirable female characters, complicated families, bargains and stakes and wordless bonds, all spun and woven together with so much care and craft! While I really liked the whole journey, it’s two characters in particular at whom I’d like to get a closer look.

Irina and Mirnatius: both shipfic and/or gen. Irina the ruler, with an iron will and unwavering hand: I would absolutely like to explore the court life under her rule, after the events of the book. In between running a country and cleaning up a demonic mess, does she find a thought to spare about Mirnatius? Does she harbour any resentment or sense of obligation, or indulgently tolerates him as part of the ornamental royal regalia? Is there a role she envisages him playing? Does she box him into that role, or allow herself to be surprised?

MIRNATIUS, hands-down my favourite POV in the book. How does he get on after demon loses his hold on him? What kind of person he is on his own? I’d like to think he doesn’t lose all his edges, and perhaps gets high-headed and displaced now that his mind is vacated off its demonic freeloader, and there is a quest for find his own place in the new reality, before he can be that dramatic artistic bisexual with no interest in statecraft that Irina gleamed in him.

How do the power dynamics between them change, and how much of that stays the same? Is there any genuine love to be found between them, eventually? (The answer doesn’t have to be yes – for all that they are the same species, I tend to think their circumstances are more complicated than Miryem and the Staryk’s, and less forgiving.)

IN OTHER LANDS: Luke Sunborn

Elliot is a spectacular narrator. Novel-shaped case in point: In Other Lands.

Having said that, what I really, really want to see is a story that makes Luke a narrator, or otherwise puts him at the center. I have it on good authority that he makes one fucking adorable narrator (novella-shaped case in point: Wings in the Morning), but why stop there, right?

Luke/Elliot, either post-canon or slightly amending canon, is always a delight. Luke crushing on Elliot for years in a resigned, semi-unaware (or aware!) manner - he gives Elliot Dale’s name only as a distraction, to get Elliot off his back, and watches with horrified eyes how every member of his family is suddenly out there to set him up with the wrong boy! Luke handling the thought of Elliot the boyfriend with awkwardness unbefitting a Trigon champion (granted, Elliot is kinda more prickly than an average glass ball). Luke having 110% confidence in Elliot and admiring him sass people into submission from the sidelines.

A look at Luke’s friendship with Serene - completely compatible with Luke forever crushing on Elliot, just saying ^^. I suspect lack of Elliot’s Serene goggles could do marvels to building nuance to her character: a little less emphasis on gender-reversed dudebro comedy, a little more of someone who is clever enough to balance multiple things, connect the dots, and learn, and stand by what she believes is right.

Competence kinkkk. Forever admiring the bookish people, refusing to stop trying to catch up, and zero time spent being conceited about own achievements while fully embracing his role of a champion and defender - that’s the Luke I love <3 Luke’s brand of leadership & charisma - an introverted champion, well-loved by people and easily tired of company of not his people.

Figuring out life after graduation! Casefic of them solving a mystery and preventing a war breakout! Getting assignments and storming the castles! Building cross-cultural competence by throwing Elliot at new people and watching him sign up new pen friends and treaties!

Sunborn family fic! A holiday get together? Drunken exchange of family stories? Another terrible competition that Elliot boycotts? Rachel reading Luke’s letters from year one and with great amusement observing the progression of his “THAT ELLIOT” feelings. (I would so die to read an epistolary fic that documents Luke’s Elliot problems) God I love the Sunborns, especially Rachel <3

I’m not particularly fond of Dale, on understanding that he got enough screentime already, so I’d be grateful if you didn’t center the fic around him. Obviously no objections to him as part of class ensemble, whose names Luke continuously fails to remember.

If you are writing a Luke/Elliot shipfic (which is a prospect I would whole-heartedly welcome!), just a note to say that I don’t get particular kicks out of wingfic poetics. I mean, I’m alright with that as part of the “golden and beautiful” package and acknowledgement that Elliot sure gets his kick out of them, but I personally find wings-as-harpy legacy and associated emotional baggage/pragmatism mix Luke feels on the subject more interesting to investigate. All the rest of their ship chemistry is very much welcome, in whatever proportion you enjoy doing it most.

THUNDERBOLT FANTASY: Rin Setsua; Sho Fukan

I LOVE THIS SELF INDULGENT WUXIA NONSENSE AND I CANNOT LIE!

If you had told me a year ago that I would commit a definitely not-insignifiant amounts of emotional investment into a Taiwanese puppet show written by Urobutcher, I’d have laughed in your face. I am so glad my lovely friends know me better than I do, and tied me to a chair long enough to show me the first few episodes, and smugly watched me breeze through two seasons and a movie of this tropey goodness.

Sanfan is a mixture UTTER GLEE and deep fondness for the genre staples, self-aware and masterful playthrough of all the wuxia tropes in the book, and one goddamn well-constructed story. It plays the tropes straight, calls them out with a knowing wink, walks the tightrope between the two with panache, and just as you are relaxed and enjoying this trapeze show, it grins cheekily at you, sets the discoball on fire and pulls a bunny out of a hat. It’s DELIGHTFUL and fun and lovingly crafted, just like a good passion project should be.

I want anything that capitalizes on the absolutely hilarious dynamics between Rin Setsua and Sho Fukan (and while personally I end up using the Japanese versions of their names more often, please feel free to go with the Chinese names if you prefer). Sho Fukan does not want any of those heroic quests, he’s the human equivalent of been there, done that mood, and he just wants to REST and hopefully dump a bunch of magical murderswords someplace safe. Rin Setsua is a Totally Respectable and Non-Villainous Member of Society, of which he will inform you firsthand in the most high spoken and verbose way possible, and maybe even produce paperwork that has definitely not been tampered with. He harbours no ulterior motives, ever, and does not trail behind Sho Fukan for any reason beyond the pleasure of his company, and his mission to personally victimize and cockblock every morally derelict villain in two countries, by no-one’s request.

Whether you go shipfic (yiss!) or canon levels teamup circus (also yiss!), don’t hold back your horses. Everything about this is Extra, and should continue to be so <3

GRASSHOPPER JUNGLE: Robby Brees

Do you ever, like, read an insanely cyclical, epic zombie apocalypse book that is probably narrated from the rubbles of the fallen fourth wall, and walk away softly clutching at your heart, whispering “Oh Robby”?

I sure did.

I mean, I definitely loved all the obsessive, crazy, cyclical shit the book did. It’s a trip and a half! Austin is a hilarious guide to the crazyland of zombie apocalypse and multiple identity crises, and I enjoyed him tremendously. If you want to dabble in recreating that, I’ll happily read it! But my heart longs to answer some important questions like, Will Robby Ever Get Appreciation He Deserves, Do They Get Laid, and most importantly, What The Fuck Happened That Night When They Got Drunk and Shit Got Transcendental. (I feel it in my heart of hearts that their dicks must have, or at least should have, touched.)

Play however you like with it -- coda, AU, fixit, crack (oh god, if there was a canon that was borderline crack itself), futurefic -- I’m gonna look forward to any and all permutations.

A note to say that I don’t harbor any ill feelings towards Shann! My primary urge is to coddle and adore Robby, and I leave it up to you to negotiate the hows and whys :)

FWIW, I have a copy of Exile from Eden on my hands, but haven’t cracked it open yet. It’s entirely up to you if you want to include whatever is in there: I’m going to be pleased with just GJ material as is! If I do read Exile anytime soon, and if it significantly changes my views on the subject, I’ll add a note to that effect.

#dear creator letter #yuletide #yuletide 2019

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ghostcat3000 · 6 years

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sophia-helix replied to your photoset: filmsby: Call Me by Your Name (2017) dir. Luca...

@ghostcat3000 yeah this movie was a big turning point for me in that I identified a lot more with the parents

Ha ha ha, that wasn’t the case for me. But sure, I can see that. Annella Perlman is aspirational goals fo’ sho’.

Elio Perlman is who I was at seventeen. It’s the closest thing to my teenage self that I’ve ever seen in a film and I did not expect that going in. After all, I’m not an affluent white Jewish French Italian male child of intellectuals who is stupid good at playing the piano, but of course that’s the beauty of art: it can speak to all things inside of you, at any age, for any number of reasons.

In this case, when the movie was over, I felt captured. That feeling--what it is to go through the process of falling in love for the first time, falling in love, perhaps, without quite realizing it; because you aren’t sure what it is at the start, you have nothing to compare it to--you only know that you want. I remembered that. It made me look back at myself at that age and feel an unexpected kindness towards that bookish, brazen, precocious, ridiculous girl. It was a lovely gift.

My eldest will be ten this year. And I haven’t found a gray hair yet, but if I make it to September, I’ll be happy to see it. When I was seventeen, I loved that Salinger story “Down at the Dinghy” because something about Boo Boo Glass reminded me of myself and identified with her so strongly but had no explanation for that feeling of identification. I wasn’t anything like that character: a mom, looking for her son, and upon finding him, taking care of him in the lightest, most loving way imaginable. At the time, I can tell you that I firmly wasn’t the sort of girl who hoped for that kind of future and yet, here was a weird, cosmic understanding that this would be me, in some way, years down the line.

This has nothing to do with your comment, @sophia-helix, so my apologies for my tangent but wow, isn’t it wonderful to find ourselves in fiction? To love ourselves more because of it? I come from people who think that liking yourself is a little bit of a crime, so yeah... it means a lot.

#sophia-helix #Call Me By Your Name #Elio Perlman #the things we relate to in art #clearly my sense of identification is on its own non-chronological timeline

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mythandmagicc · 4 years

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The red line By Tanmay dubey Publisher = leadstart publishing Genre = fiction,thriller,murder-mystery This book was my first murder-mystery read. I loved reading this book. This book is inspired by real events. I appreciate author's effort to write this book. The story starts on a cold winter night at Chawari Bazaar Metro Station in New Delhi, with death of Rakesh Kumar who was Director, Ministry of Defence. It looked like a coronary thrombosis but SHO of New Delhi Police station, Hanumant Shastri was not satisfied with it. So he went to hospital morgue and observed the body again carefully and declared that it was not a natural death it was a murder. Then he carried on with his investigation. Why was Rakesh Kumar murdered? Who was the culprit? Will hanumant be able to solve this murder mystery? To get answers of these questions and to know more about book go and grab your copy fast. I would recommend you to read this book. If you are a murder-mystery fan then you must read this book. Looking forward to reading the next part 😍 Rating =🌟🌟🌟🌟/🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 #instagram #Bookstagram #book #bookreview #bookreviewer #theredline #redline #theredlinebook #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #bookish #bookishmind #mustread #bookstagrammer #indianbookstagrammer #tanmaydubey #tanmaydubeybook #greatread #insta #booklover #booklovers #readerofinstagram #reviewerofinstagram #indianauthor #indianbook https://www.instagram.com/p/B-STk4ggGyI/?igshid=1mht84rhulhku

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owlways-and-forever · 7 years

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Cześć kochanie! 3,4,7,13,16,18,19,21,30

Aaahhh cześć! Kocham cie Mira!!

3. list your fandoms and one character from each that you identify with.

harry potter: mostly hermione. im quite and highly logical and academia oriented and i have trouble making friends and i have trouble reading social interactions and generally speaking i prefer the company of books to people with the exception of a chosen few. i always wanted to be like ginny though, fiery and bold and well-liked. i feel like my internal self is more like ginny, but she can just never make it out.

ouat: killian definitely. i think because i also feel very unsure of myself and where i fit in with other people a lot of the time, like i just don’t know what my role is and what people think of me and i always feel like they see the worst in me. and also because i think when i love people im all in with them, there’s no halfway for me.

doctor who: clara i think, but i couldn’t tell you why. i just feel so deeply connected to her.

gilmore girls: rory fo sho. kind of similar to hermione, just very bookish and academia oriented and was just very focused on school for a very long time.

4. do you like your name? is there another name you think would fit you better?

i used to hate it because it took me a really long time to learn how to spell it, but now i like it. it’s a family name, so im actually the 4th one, which i like. i dont know if there’s another name that would fit me better, i always liked elizabeth.

7. do you care about your ethnicity?

yes, very much. my family has always been very proud to be immigrants, and even though my mom’s family is been here about 100 years now, we’re still very in touch with our polish roots and we don’t feel very traditionally american. and my dad’s family isn’t american at all. i never felt very american, i still dont in some ways, i think england is just as much my home as the us is.

13. inside or outdoors?

i mean kind of both? i like hiking and stuff, but i draw the line at eating outdoors. food should be consumed inside without bugs. sorry not sorry im totally a city girl.

16. if you’d grown up in a different environment, do you think you’d have turned out the same?

i mean, yes and no. i think i’d probably have similar interests and personality traits, but i wouldnt have all the same experiences so that would change things. i often wonder if my parents hadn’t gotten divorced if i would be more trusting and more open to people. who knows though. i think that’s the biggest thing that would change me, is if my parents hadn’t gotten divorced. but everything else, idk, i can’t really imagine anything else making me a different person.

18. what’s your patronus?

an owl!! all the way! but if i cant have an owl, then i think a panther.

19. which Harry Potter house would you be in? or are you a muggle?

ravenclaw all the way. i feel like im a pretty stereotypical ravenclaw. i mean not like, straight-a perfect student brainiac ravenclaw stereotype but like adhd struggles with school but is really smart, often has alternative assignments because the actual ones are too easy or just not interesting enough, very creative and likes to study in unusual ways type ravenclaw.

21. do you love easily?

oh god, way too easily, its a problem. im a total sap. but i have a very difficult time communicating my emotions to people so sometimes its hard to tell. but i get very attached, very quickly.

30. pick one of your favorite quotes.

“I am a part of all that I have met.” - Alfred Lord Tennyson

send me identity questions!

#ginnyweasiee #ask gen #personal #come talk to me!

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beardofkamenev · 7 years

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1, 6, 18 & 49?

50 Bookish Questions

1. What is your favourite book and/or book series of all time?

Answered here :)

6. What is your favourite stand-alone book?

Really hard to choose, but The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak was really good?

18. Have you read a book with a male protagonist? What is it?

Lmao Lord of the Rings fo sho

49. What book has inspired you?

Weirdly, Machiavelli’s The Prince. No, it didn’t “inspire” me to go through my life constantly trying to fuck people over, but he gives such candid, useful advice that is applicable in every day life. I also appreciate the fact that he gets straight to the point without ‘wasting’ words on metaphors (although I did like Sun Tzu’s Art of War too). TBH, Machiavelli really doesn’t deserve the bad rep that he has, mostly because of that “better to be feared than loved” line that everyone knows, but takes out of context.

#bookish asks meme #essequamvideri24 #questions for the beard

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norihisahyuga-archived · 7 years

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Secret Admirer.

Tsukioka Sho/Takiguchi Yuichiro Battle Royale 6,000~ words. Sfw.

Yuichiro has known he’s been attracted to other boys for a while now, but his latest crush on Sho Tsukioka of the Kiriyama Family refuses to go away. When he starts leaving Sho little presents in the form of manga he thinks Sho might like without signing his name to the cards, Sho is bewildered. Who would be leaving him presents, and isn’t being an admirer his job in the first place? And for the first time, Hiroshi just might be right about something. Modern day non-Program AU. Tagging @hironoshimizu and @yoshimiyahagi

Most people knew well enough to leave the Kiriyama Family as alone as humanly possible; avoiding them in the hallways at all costs and doing their best not to aggravate or anger them in any way. Yuichiro Takiguchi avoided them even more so than most did, knowing as well as anyone else that he would become a target for bullying if he strayed too close to them or made one of them angry. Especially Ryuhei Sasagawa; his temper was legendary and rested on a hair trigger, and even small things were enough to upset him.

So Yuichiro stayed away from the Kiriyama Family. Even when the first stirrings of the crush made themselves known in the middle of a test, he stayed away.

He remembers that day all too well, the day that really made his life at school that much extra hell. The classroom was quiet except for the scratching of pencils and pens on paper and the whispers of Kazuo Kiriyama turning the pages in his book; he had already finished twenty minutes ago, only six or seven after the test had been handed out. Yuichiro was about halfway through the bulk of the test, tapping the eraser end of his pencil against his lower lip.

His eyes were drawn again and again to the boy sitting diagonally from him, broad shoulders relaxed, thumb clicking the end of his pen. Despite the heat of summer still stirring this far into September, he had managed to find a way to keep his pompadour perfectly in place, and he looked immaculate as always. Unable to help himself, Yuichiro admired the way his strong hands looked around the slender length of his pen.

For the last two years or so, Yuichiro was well aware he had an attraction to other boys. He had started out with a fledgling crush on his best friend, Tadakatsu Hatagami, that had faded away with time. He’d found himself interested in some of the other jocks in class, boys like Tatsumichi Oki with his friendly smile and Shinji Mimura with his cocky smirk. Nothing had ever come of those crushes, though. Tatsu is only a good friend, and Shinji a veritable stranger.

Nonetheless, those crushes had been innocent. Even if Tatsu and Shinji had found out Yuichiro had crushes on them, neither of them would have much cared. They would have been understanding about it, not likely to do anything about it. But this… This was different, and Yuichiro knew that better than anyone. This time, he has a crush on Sho Tsukioka.

And Sho Tsukioka is a member of the Kiriyama Family.

It was such a stereotype. Yuichiro couldn’t help laughing to himself about that later on when he realized that the stirrings he felt were more than just curiosity. In the few manga he’d read that featured two boys dating— they were few and far between but he read them when he could find them— it was always a quiet, bookish type that fell for some handsome badboy.

Sho had never been cruel to him. Truth be told, the only thing Sho seemed to have the patience to spend considerable time on was his own appearance and his crushes on Kazuo Kiriyama and Shinji Mimura. He didn’t pick on people or bully them the way that the rest of the Family did.

When Yuichio turned in his test, fully completed, he couldn’t help but find himself staring at Sho on the way back to his desk. Out of the corner of his eye, of course, too terrified to be caught staring and asked what he was doing. Sho had just finished his test and was filing his nails, humming a song beneath his breath that Yuichiro didn’t recognize, one that probably went along with the song playing through his earbuds. As always, he looked impeccable up close.

Sho was handsome, all strong lines in his face, an interesting contrast to his full lips and long, long eyelashes. Yuichiro shook his head, went back to his desk, and laid his head down on the cool wood as he tried to figure out where he was supposed to go from here.

It had been over a month since that test, and to the best of his ability, Yuichiro has been unable to shake the crush. If anything, it’s only grown worse as time has passed. He catches himself staring at Sho far too often, whether it be in class, across the cafeteria, or during the irregular moments when the Kiriyama Family makes themselves visible at baseball games. It isn’t often, of course, because they have better things to do, but when they’re bored, they show up.

Days like today, actually. Yuichiro has been doing his best to focus on the game at hand, cheering on his best friend Katsu when Katsu does something particularly brilliant. He’s one of the best on the team, especially once Shuya Nanahara had dropped baseball in favor of learning to play guitar. But when Sho is sitting just a few rows down with the rest of the Kiriyama Family, Yuichiro finds it’s a lot more difficult to focus than it is usually.

“What are you staring at?” The question comes from Yutaka Seto, who is seated next to him with his boyfriend Shinji Mimura’s varsity jacket draped over his shoulders. It’s too hot to wear it properly but Shinji had given it to him last year and he’s found a way to wear it ever since even if it just means wrapping it around his shoulders.

Yuichiro jumps at the question, then shakes his head at himself. “Nothing, nothing. I’m just… Distracted, I guess. Thinking about the test we have coming up for history.”

“I can help you study if you want to. I’m good at history.” At this, Yutaka beams and Yuichiro has to chuckle a little. Yutaka has always been smart, not the smartest in the class but smart enough to have a high grade point average. “Seriously, though, what’s bothering you? It’s not that something’s bothering me… Well. Maybe something is bothering me.” Yuichiro picks at a loose thread on his sleeve, resisting the urge to gnaw on his lower lip and risk having a bloody lip in the process.

Yutaka stretches out a hand and rests it on Yuichiro’s shoulder tenderly. “If you want to talk about it, just let me know and I’ll listen to what you have to say. You know I will.”

“I just…” Yuichiro trails off, shoving his sleeve into his mouth to stop himself from biting his lip in its place. “I just have a crush on someone, is all. That’s what I was thinking about.”

There is silence between them then, Yutaka’s eyes widening a touch and then softening with understanding as he wraps his arm around Yuichiro’s shoulders. Of course he understands, his crush on Shinji had led to their relationship forming, but it’s hardly that simple in Yuichiro’s case. As much as he appreciates his friend offering him a shoulder to lean on, he knows this can’t be solved so easily with a simple conversation. After all, Shinji was already Yutaka’s best friend. Sho probably has no idea that Yuichiro even exists.

“Are you going to tell me who it’s on?” Yutaka asks him after a few silent minutes have passed.

Yuichiro debates the merit of telling him, then shakes his head before leaning it on Yutaka’s shoulder. “I don’t think I’m ready to admit it right now, actually.”

His eyes stray to where Sho is sitting, his phone visible in one hand. Texting Yahagi, maybe, Yuichiro knows the two of them have become friends as of late.

“Besides,” he adds softly, “I don’t think he knows that I exist.”

On Monday morning, Yuichiro finds himself hovering beside Sho’s locker, having arrived at school early enough that no other students would be present. There’s a gift bag in his hands, a bright pink ribbon pinned to the front with a card attached that simply says “Sho Tsukioka” in a careful script. He practiced it over and over in his notebook until he was confident he had a good style choice, something befitting someone as elegant as Sho.

He knows nothing about Sho’s interests or tastes because Sho by and large keeps to himself, and the only thing he puts on display is his vibrant personality. So with nothing to go by and no real way to buy Sho a present he might like or need, he settled for giving Sho something that might at least appeal to him based on who he is as a person.

The mangas are copies of the ones that Yuichiro already owns, ridiculous soft romance between boys in the same class who end up falling in love with each other. A lot of them reminded him of the situation between himself and Sho, one of them almost perfect for the way he feels about Sho. It was only a few volumes long, a story about a quiet boy with very few friends who ended up falling in love with the biggest yankee in his class.

Chewing on his lower lip, Yuichiro looks quickly from left to right before retrieving the piece of ribbon from his pocket, threading it through the grate on the front of the locker and knotting it around the handles of the gift bag. He makes sure it’s tied as tightly as possible, happy to see the ribbon can support the weight of the bag, and quickly scurries away before he’s caught.

He meets up with Katsu at the doors of the library, still clocked and locked this early, the room beyond still dark. Katsu raises an eyebrow at him, settling an arm comfortable across his shoulders. “Where you been all this time? I got your text last night and slept in a little.”

“Oh good, I’m glad you saw it.” He had sent the text late after he’d finally put the finishing touches on Sho’s gift that Katsu didn’t need to walk the extra blocks to meet him outside of his house. “I just had to do something this morning, that’s all. Did you get your studying done?”

“More or less. I would have texted you back but I was in the middle of note cards and didn’t want to lose my rhythm. You know how it goes.” Katsu flashes him a bright smile.

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.” Yuichiro breathes a nervous sigh when he starts seeing people walking through the halls, mostly the early birds like him and Katsu, but still.

Katsu reaches into his bag and retrieves the stack of note cards held together by a metal ring. “Actually, since we’ve got some time before class starts, would you mind quizzing me before the test? Gotta keep my grades up if I want to stay on the team.”

Sho Tsukioka arrives to school earlier than the rest of the Kiriyama Family. Ryuhei and Hiroshi catch the bus together and show up right before class starts, not caring if they happen to be late to class. Mitsuru and Kazuo meet up outside of Kazuo’s house and walk the rest of the day and they show up with fifteen minutes until the beginning of class. Sho walks to school without meeting either group because he doesn’t want to spend much time with Ryuhei and Hiroshi if he can manage not to, and he knows he can’t interrupt Mitsuru and Kazuo.

He arrives to school at his usual time, humming along to the music blasting through his earbuds as he walks along the hallway to his locker. Unlike what most people might believe, he gets himself properly prepared for class and is ready to go as soon as the bell rings. Today will be no different, but the sight of the gift bag on his locker makes him pause.

The only two boys in class he has attempted actively pursuing are Kazuo and Shinji Mimura. The former had been nearly impossible to woo, and just when Sho had been convinced Kazuo would never like anyone, Kazuo had shown up to school one morning holding Mitsuru Numai’s hand. The latter was currently dating his best friend Yutaka Seto, which made sense. Sho can be jealous, but he can’t exactly pretend he doesn’t understand the merit of dating a best friend.

There hasn’t been anyone else who really caught his eye, and as far as he knows, none of the boys in class who are actively interested in men are interested in him. Does that mean this gift is a from a girl? He hopes not because he’s been nothing but loud and to the point about his sexuality, never feeling ashamed of being himself.

“Oh,” he says aloud to himself, tugging an earbud out of his ear as he touches the card attached to the bag. “No name, huh? Maybe it’s from Yoshimi or something. It’s not my birthday, though…”

He can’t really think of anyone who might have given him a gift, much less what the gift itself might be. His only choice is to open the bag and hope the contents are obvious enough that they give away who the gift might have been from. Dropping his bag on the ground in front of his locker, he carefully unknots the ribbon suspending the bag and peeks inside.

The sight of what is obviously a half dozen books confuses him even further. He glances around from left to right but no one else is in sight this early in the morning. Carefully, he fishes one of the books out and blinks at the colorful cover, turning it around to read the back. A yaoi manga? Who on earth would give him something like this? Plenty of people read manga in class, but he can’t imagine any of them reading something like this. The more he reads of the description, though, the more intriguing the book sounds. Maybe he can give it a read sometime.

He opens his locker, deposits what he doesn’t need for the first class inside, and retrieves what he does need. He takes his textbook, his binder, his notebook, and the gift bag, and goes to sit on the bench beside the art classroom where the Kiriyama Family usually meets.

“Are you sure you didn’t give these to me?” Sho brandishes one of the manga in front of Yoshimi’s face the next morning. Never much of a reader, he found himself pulling out the first book after he finished his test and turned it in and was surprised when it was engrossing enough to keep reading. By the time he turned out the light to go to sleep, he’d finished them.

Yoshimi frowns at him and shakes her head, swirling a French fry around in her ketchup. It isn’t unusual for Sho to join the Souma gang for lunch anymore, just like it’s not unusual for Hiroshi to pop over with him, having formed his own strange friendship with Hirono. Who would have thought the one thing Hiroshi was good at was making friends?

“I think I would have remembered giving you books, Zuki,” she says, popping the fry into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before speaking. “What did the card say?”

Sho retrieves the card from his bag, tucked safely into one of the internal pockets so nothing would happen to it. “Just my name,” he says, showing it to Yoshimi.

“Someone has a secret admirer then.” Yoshimi smiles up at him before picking up her sandwich. “You should just enjoy it and hope for the best. After all, I’m sure whoever it is is bound to tell you in his own way eventually. Do you have any idea who it might be?”

“No. Who reads things like this? Other than me, I mean. I happen to think it’s brilliant but I severely doubt anyone else from our class would be into these books,” Sho says.

Hiroshi leans across the table, making a grab for the book. “Let me see it.”

“No! With my luck you’ll manage to ruin it in the five seconds I actually let you touch it.” Sho jerks the manga away from Hiroshi’s hand, smacking him with it. “Besides, you don’t need to touch it to look at it. Just look at it with your eyes, okay, Hiroshi?”

“Fine, fine. Hold it up to let me see.” Hiroshi scowls at him, pushing messy bangs out of his eyes before leaning across the table to get a better look at the cover.

Sho rolls his eyes but, for the moment at least, decides to humor Hiroshi. He knows there’s no way HIroshi actually knows what he’s talking about, not when Hiroshi himself can probably barely read a single word. But Hiroshi states intently at the cover, his head cocked to the side, and a slow smile spreads across his face as he snaps his fingers.

“I knew I recognized that book from somewhere. Takiguchi read that series a few weeks ago. I remember thinking that I didn’t know he was into that.” Hiroshi leans back in his seat, triumphant, while Sho just stares at him in silence.

Finally, he sets the book down on the table and picks up his sandwich. “Shut the fuck up, Hiroshi. There’s no way Takiguchi would give me books anyway.”

Across the cafeteria, Yuichiro picks a crouton out of his salad and pops it into his mouth, chewing softly to himself as he reads the book in front of him. Though he hasn’t been able to shake his concern about Sho in the least, he’s been able to distract himself from it by working his way through yet another series. His parents have no problem buying him the books, probably glad he has a hobby far less risky than a good number of his peers.

Katsu and Shinji are chatting across the table, Shinji having joined them today so he could sit with Yutaka. The banter makes for excellent background noise to his reading and he’s long since learned to master the art of multitasking so that he can eat his salad and read without dropping any food on his book or not finishing his meal by the end of the lunch period.

“What are you reading?” Shinji asks him, nudging him on the shoulder. Though the two of them spoke very little before Shinji began dating Yutaka, they’ve managed to get to the point where they can have actual conversations with each other.

“It’s a sports manga, actually, you might even like it.” Yuichiro retrieves the first volume from his bag having finished it earlier this morning, holding it out for Shinji to inspect. “It’s not basketball, but you’re pretty athletic, right? I’m sure you like more sports than basketball.”

Shinji grins and tips him a wink. “I love every sport. Basketball’s just what I’m best at.”

Preoccupied with his conversation with Shinji, Yuichiro fails to notice the moment when Sho glances across the cafeteria at him, a considering expression on his face.

Two weeks go by, and Sho finds himself receiving more bags as the time goes by. Each bag is a different color with a different ribbon attached, and he’s ultimately very surprised to find that all of them are yaoi manga. All of them are also excellent. Hiroshi and Ryuhei crack jokes at him for reading them in the first place— Kazuo doesn’t care and Mitsuru even sidles up next to him during a particular steamy kiss scene— but he still reads them, and he tries to figure out if Hiroshi might have been right after all. Nothing would make him more annoyed.

He tries to catch Yuichiro Takiguchi’s eye in the hallways and usually fails, the boy too absorbed in his manga to pay attention to anything else. It’s cute how he manages to read without running into anyone, though, his dark hair falling into his eyes every so often until he finally has to tuck it back out of his face with adorable fingers.

“Do you think it really might be him?” Mitsuru asks him one afternoon. They’ve chosen to skip math in favor of sitting out on the football field inside of the track, Mitsuru staring up at the cloudy sky while Sho smokes and reads the latest volume he’d been given.

“I don’t know,” Sho admits, marking his place before setting the book down on his lap. “When did you finally realize that Kiriyama-kun liked you back?”

Mitsuru pushes his curls back out of his eyes before tilting his head, raising an eyebrow at Sho with an amused smile on his lips. “Are you kidding me? It was just as much of a surprise to me as it was to everyone else. He’s a mystery. I haven’t even come close to solving him.”

Though Sho usually lives for lovey dovey drivel like this, he can’t help but roll his eyes and throw himself back on the grass, blowing smoke up toward the sky. He had been chasing Kazuo for months to no avail, and considering Kazuo’s perfectly blank expressions and his odd behavior, wooing him had been nearly impossible no matter what Sho tried. In the end, Mitsuru had somehow managed to succeed. Sho has to admit he’s a little bit proud of him.

“It’s probably stupid for me to assume it’s him just because he likes manga too, but…” Sho shrugs a shoulder. Even Mitsuru reads manga from time to time. “I dunno. I have no leads.”

Gently, Mitsuru pushes at his shoulder. “Hey, a thought. Wild, I know, but… Why don’t you just ask for him yourself? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind telling you if he does like you.”

Sho bites his lip, tilting his head back to look up at the sky as he thinks it over. “I mean, I could do that, I think. But I also don’t want to completely humiliate myself if it turns out I’m way off base. Like, what if he’s not interested in me and I was wrong about who it was?”

“Would it really be that big of a deal?” Mitsuru asks.

“I mean, maybe not to you, but it would be to me.” Sho knows himself, knows how vain he is and knows how much pride he has, and he doesn’t really want to think about having to sacrifice any of it in case he’s wrong. “I’ll have to figure something out. I need to figure out who this is.”

“Let me ask you something.” Mitsuru rolls over onto his front, chin propped on his hands, and not for the first time Sho has to admit to himself that he might be eternally jealous of Mitsuru stealing his crush away from him but he’s also not surprised because Mitsuru is gorgeous. “If it was Takiguchi, what would you do about it? Would you be interested in him back?”

The question throws Sho off. He hadn’t really thought about what he would do once he found out who his crush was. After all, his only thoughts had been about finding the person sending him these manga just to put a name and face to the gift bags. All things considered, he hadn’t thought much about what he would do once he figured out who it was. He needed to know before he could make a proper decision, after all. It wasn’t like he would even so much as consider spending a single moment alone with Yoji Kuramoto or Kazushi Niida.

“I guess we’ll have to find my secret admirer first,” he finally says, earning a respectful nod from Mitsuru in response. “And when we do that, I’ll decide what to do about him from there.”

Yuichiro notices the moment when Sho and Mitsuru exit the classroom and do not return for the next class, slumping down in his seat and sighing softly. Weeks have passed with no increase in his courage or strength. He hasn’t told Sho how he feels about him yet and even though it would be in his best interest to tell him sooner rather than later, he can’t. Every time he manages to summon enough nerve to do so, he almost immediately talks himself out of it. Besides, what would someone like Sho want with someone like him?

Katsu must notice his expression because he leans over and taps Yuichiro on the shoulder. “Hey, what’s up with you? You look upset about something.”

“I’m just thinking too hard about things, you know. That’s what I do sometimes.” He manages a small smile for his best friend and sits up straighter in his chair, reaching into his bag for something to read to take his mind off of things. “I’ll get over it. It’s no big deal.”

“We can do something after school if you want. Go out, find a way to take your mind off of what’s bothering you.” Katsu flashes him a hopeful grin, all bright white teeth.

The last thing Yuichiro wants to do right now is go out because he knows the Kiriyama Family frequents the city especially in the evening, but he feels bad because he doesn’t want to let Katsu overworry about him. So he nods and flashes Katsu a smile of his own. “Sure thing. Just let’s stop at our places first so we can change out of our uniforms into something comfortable.”

Katsu nods and Yuichiro considers the matter settled, fixing his eyes on Sho’s chair once more before turning to the manga in his hands. He doesn’t notice Katsu glancing in the same direction, nor does he notice Katu’s concerned expression as he turns back to his own desk.

The afternoon becomes a group venture instead of just the two of them, because as soon as Yutaka and Yoshio catch on that he’s upset about something, they want to tag along. And of course Shinji and Tatsu come with them, because Shinji and Yutaka are nearly attached at the hip and Tatsu, well… Yuichiro would like to think he’s noticed the way Tatsu occasionally stares in Yoshio’s direction, but he isn’t sure. He keeps his nose out of it, though, because the last thing he wants to do is become involved with something that has nothing to do with him.

They settle on the mall, though, spending a little time shopping before they go about doing anything else. Yoshio picks up a new game and Yuichiro does the same, the two of them already talking about hooking up to play together. Yutaka cracks jokes every time he gets the chance, and though a good portion of them are just corny, Shinji laughs at all of them. More than once, Yuichiro just has to lean back and marvel at how cute the two of them are.

After they eat in the food court, he and Yoshio drag the others upstairs to the arcade. It’s the last place that Yuichiro expects to see them, if he’s being honest. They might be typical teenage boys— or at least most of them, if you could even call Kiriyama typical— but an arcade seems beneath them somehow. As soon as Yoshio notices Ryuhei, he takes a step back.

“Hey, don’t worry about him.” Tatsu drops a comforting hand onto his shoulder and though Yoshio jumps initially, he relaxes when he sees who touched him. “If he tries to bother you, you’ve got three badass jocks here to deal with him. That short punk’s nothing.”

Shinji chimes in, thumping Tatsu on the back. “He’s right. I’m not the least bit afraid of the Kiriyama Family and I’m not going to let them mess with you.”

“Me either.” Katsu flashes his bright white smile again, and between the three of them, it’s enough to calm Yoshio down enough to make him smile. “Trust us, okay? We’re all going to have a good time without anyone fucking it up for us.”

Yuichiro does his best to enjoy himself now that he’s out with his friends and everyone is ready to have a good time. And he tries his best to keep from focusing on Sho because the last thing he wants to do is ruin the entire point for this trip in the first place. But why did they have to show up here? Of all places. Yuichiro has been here a dozen times before and has never seen any of them here, and he can’t believe they’re here now.

The fact that Sho is ignoring the “no smoking” signs in the room, cigarette in hand, should be annoying, but instead Yuichiro finds it amusing. He wants to ask Sho if he’s ever just followed the rules once in his entire life, but he knows he can’t.

“He’s kind of cute,” Mitsuru tells Sho across the room, the two of them sitting at a table and sharing a plate of nachos. Kazuo sits between Mitsuru and the wall, his phone in hand and another book open on the screen. “I mean, if you like them short and baby-faced.”

Sho scowls at him. “Yes, because you’re one to talk with the curls and the big doe eyes. Anyway, what do you think? I didn’t even know they were going to be here. It’s gotta be fate, right?”

“Maybe, maybe not. It’s up to you to see it through.” Mitsuru picks up a chip and offers it to Kazuo, who bites it from between his fingers without turning away from his phone.

He has a point even if Sho doesn’t like to admit it. He puts his cigarette out and pushes himself to his feet, telling himself to try to appear as nonthreatening as possible even though his size and status as a member of the Kiriyama Family make that nearly impossible. Which is a pity, because he’s not much of a fighter and he never has been. He keeps to himself and only gets involved in scuffles when he’s needed, which is typically when Kazuo doesn’t want to get his hands dirty. He doesn’t bully anyone, he doesn’t start trouble. He just collects gossip.

The arcade is crowded but people step out of Sho’s way when they see him approaching; the reach of the Kiriyama Family goes a long way. Yuichiro and his cute friend Yutaka Seto are in front of a game, Yuichiro playing while Yutaka cheers him on, and not for the first time, Sho wonders how someone like Yuichiro could have fallen for someone like him.

It’s stupid to think the mangas contained any hidden messages, he knows that much. It was the one thing Yuichiro could give him that he thought Sho might like considering they knew next to nothing about each other. He picked manga he thought might appeal to Sho and he wasn’t wrong in his choices, and it was manga because that’s what Yuichiro knows best. The only hint in those pages had been the cuter ones about the shy boys and the yankees they liked.

Yutaka sees him coming, his hand instantly flying to Yuichiro’s shoulder to give it a shake. “I don’t know what you did to piss off the Kiriyama Family but this looks like bad news.”

“What?” Yuichiro spins around instantly, his bright brown eyes widening when he realizes Sho is hovering behind both of them, not really sure what to do himself. “O-oh, Tsukioka! I thought I saw some of you here. I didn’t realize you liked arcades.”

“It’s more Hiroshi and Ryuhei. Mitsuru and I are just here for food and Kiriyama-kun, well…” Sho leans slightly out of the way, watching both Yuichiro and Yutaka lean around him to see where Kazuo is leaning against Mitsuru, reading silently. “Mitsuru is the one who suggested I come talk to you, actually. Are you the one who’s been leaving me the books?”

He doesn’t miss the way Yuichiro’s cheeks pinken even in the half-dark arcade. “Oh, so you figured that out,” he says after a moment, tugging at the cuffs of his sleeves.

“Wait.” Yutaka furrows his eyebrows, jerking his head back and forth between the two of them. “What books? Why are you giving someone books? Why would you give Tsukioka books? I don’t— Wait. Wait! He’s the one you have the crush on, isn’t he?”

Silently, Yuichiro nods. “And it looks like he figured it out, too.”

“Hiroshi was the one who figured it out, actually. I’m kind of pissed off that he was right. I hate it when Hiroshi is right about absolutely anything.” Sho gives himself a shake. No one wants to hear about that kind of talk right now. “Anyway, so it has been you after all.”

“Um, yeah. I wanted to give you something but I didn’t know what to give you. I don’t really know much about you, I just…” Yuichiro trails off and drops his head, and Sho bites back a sigh.

“He’s shy,” Yutaka finally says, throwing an arm around Yuichiro’s shoulders and giving them a squeeze. “You think the guys in those manga were shy? If Yuichiro catches his reflection’s eye in the mirror he makes himself blush. You should have seen the one time he—”

Yuichiro rounds on Yutaka, clapping a hand over his mouth. “Shut! You’re making me look bad.”

“He’s really not,” Sho offers, unable to admit the truth. If anything, Yutaka is just making Yuichiro look that much cuter, and Sho has always been weak when it comes to cute boys. Call it a curse. “Look, I’m… Well, you probably know I’m not exactly the safest option when it comes to the available guys in our class. But I mean… I’m not unwilling to give it a shot. This. Us.”

“Us.” Yuichiro squeaks out the word, covering his mouth with his sleeve.

Yutaka throws his hands up in the air. “I can’t believe this. Yuichiro, you finally got what you wanted. He knows, and he likes you back. Didn’t you tell me at the game you didn’t think the guy you liked even knew you existed? Now you know he does.”

Sho blinks. “What are you even talking about, Seto?”

“It’s stupid, just ignore him.” Yuichiro gives his friend a stern look, but all Yutaka does is pull a face at him in answer. “I didn’t… Look, I don’t want you to think you have to do this or anything. I don’t care if you don’t like me back, but like… Don’t just humor me or anything, okay? I don’t want to be humored, I just want… I just want something real.”

“Well, all I can say for certain is that you’re cute, and it was really nice of you to give me the books. I read them all and I enjoyed them.” Sho shrugs his broad shoulders, then sets one hand on Yuichiro’s much smaller one. “The best I can tell you is that I’d like to give it a shot.”

Yuichiro blinks up at him a few times before giving a small nod, a tiny smile curving his soft lips as he rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. He’s a cute, nervous little thing, that much Sho can tell. “I… I’d really like that, Tsukioka. If you don’t mind.”

“I really don’t. And it’s Sho. Or Zuki, that’s the nickname I prefer.” Sho tilts his head toward the game. “What are you playing? I’m not sure I know anything about the games here.”

Across the arcade, Hiroshi Kuronaga grins from beneath his beanie, completely ignoring the sound of Ryuhei Sasagawa bitching about not cracking the top ten high scores on the first person shooter he’s working on. So he was right after all.

On the other side of the arcade, Tadakatsu Hatagami smiles to himself at the sight of Yuichiro chatting happily away to Sho Tsukioka. This explains so much of his strange behavior, even the wistful look he had given Sho’s empty chair. And now, finally, Katsu can breathe a sigh of relief.

His eyes wander across the room to where Hiroshi and Ryuhei are standing, and even from here he can see the little smile on Hiroshi’s face. And finally, he manages to breathe a sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t Hiroshi after all.

#battle royale #yuichiro takiguchi #sho tsukioka #background shintaka #background hiroshi/katsu #it's been 84 fucking years and i finally wrote it out i'm so happy #*f: mine #*f: br #*f: sho #*f: yuichiro

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beneaththetangles · 3 years

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Otaku Reader’s Corner: KH3, Eniale & Dewiela, and Reset!

Eniale & Dewiela, Vol. 1

Eniale is an angel. Dewiela is a demon. But the two of them are buddies. It’s an Odd Couple situation with two celestial ladies who love fashion, babies, and being over the top to cause the world to spiral. The humor of this series lies in the absurdity of it’s premise. The first chapter has the angel / demon duo sending signs across the globe about mothers because they find a baby alone in a park. Another chapter has them just riding around Paris cause they love fashion, while Dewiela is simultaneously being chased by an exorcist. It’s over the top, but an entertaining over the top. I recognize it will not be for everyone in its universalist and “all faiths are equivalent” view of the universe, but I found it quite humorous for what it is. Also, Eniale & Dewiela gives us a moment where it states that Adam and Eve invented fashion when they started wearing fig leaves and, come on, that’s just comic gold. ~ MDMRN

Eniale & Dewiela Vol. 1 is available through Yen Press.

Kingdom Hearts III, Vol. 1

When it comes to light versus darkness, I can’t think of a better game than Kingdom Hearts. As someone who has played through all the titles that have been made, I couldn’t say no to reviewing the manga release of KHIII. It follows the game faithfully, except it skips certain scenes and intros that the game features. The artwork is done well, and looks similar to the game. If you are not familiar with the series, it starts right after the end of KHII with Sora having lost his power, while having to go on a mission to rescue other keyblade holders that are needed for the upcoming battle with Xehanort (basically the final boss). They end up going to see Hercules in Olympus (yes, the one from the Disney movie) to ask him for advice on retrieving Sora’s power. I won’t say what happens next, but the battles that ensue are terrific. I recommend picking it up for those of you that have played the series. ~ Samuru

Kingdom Hearts III Vol. 1is published by Yen Press.

Ascendance of a Bookworm: Part 1 Vol. 2

Almost a year has passed since Urano reincarnated into Myne’s world, and after her successful dealings with the conniving merchant Benno, she’s painfully close to her dreams of being surrounded by books once more. But life is not so simple. After all, it isn’t easy (or cheap) to make paper, especially when you’re starting from scratch. To make matters worse, Lutz is starting to suspect that there’s more to Myne than her childlike appearance, and the burning sensation that Myne’s been feeling is getting stronger every day. And what’s all this business about magic, anyway? Volume 2 of Ascendance of a Bookworm doubles down on the charm and adventure that characterize the first volume of the series. If you loved seeing Myne’s world expand in the first volume as she inched closer toward realizing her bookish fantasies, you won’t regret picking this one up. ~ sleepminusminus

Ascendance of a Bookworm Part 1 Vol. 2 is available through J-Novel Club.

Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!, Vol. 1

A princess inexplicably betrayed by her fiance, Bel hears in prison that her country has been conquered and loses her last loyal retainer, a knight named Ed. In an outburst of grief, anger, and magic, she goes back in time to being twelve (with a relic of her first life that confirms she didn’t imagine it). Determined not to have the same regrets this time around, Bel sets out to live a different life and change history. This fantasy-school-life-romance-adventure also features heartwarming family interactions and thoughtful moments of reflection on what’s truly important in life. It’s worth noting that although Reset! has some some major parallels with the Tearmoon Empire light novels published by J-Novel Club, it stands as its own story, offering a more serious tone, a heartfelt first-person narration, a more mature and grounded protagonist, and a greater emphasis on mystery. I happily recommend you try Reset!, it’s my new favorite light novel from Cross Infinite World. ~ jeskaiangel

Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance! Vol. 1 is published by Cross Infinite World.

Skip Beat, Vols. 13-14-15 (3-in-1)

In a sense, the long-running (and still on-going) Skip Beat series moves past it’s lengthy introduction during this 3-in-1 edition from Viz: Kyoko is in the industry, Ren has developed feelings for her, and a love rival (or rivals) have entered the picture. The real story is now in motion, with volumes 13, 14, and 15 crossing between arcs—the “Dark Moon” one comes to an end, with Kyoko aiding Ren in his acting, leading to a breakthrough for the actor / idol, and the start of the “Suddenly, a Love Story” arc, in which Sho returns and…becomes a good guy? Well, maybe not, and especially if seeing his actions in a 2020 light compared to 2005. Of note in these volumes, as well, is a shift from an emphasis on gothic fashion to a visual kei storyline, adding a further layer of art and interest to this already excellent story. ~ Twwk

Skip Beat, Vols. 13-14-15 are available individually through Viz (13, 14, and 15) or in a 3-in-1 edition through Amazon.

#Manga #Light Novels #Eniale & Dewiela #EniDewi #Kingdom Hearts III #Ascendance of a Bookworm #Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen #Reset! The Imprisoned Princess Dreams of Another Chance!#Torawareta Oujo wa Nido Shiawasena Yume o Miru #Skip Beat!#Otaku Reader's Corner #Articles #Author: MDMRN #Author: Samuru #Author: TWWK #Author: sleepminusminus #Author: Jeskai Angel

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lordraveondagooseofdolallytap · 4 years

Text

State of Emergency

authorship of this work

David Kitchen 27th March 2010

State of Emergency

Saturday 14th June 1986.

The suburb of Rosebank in Johannesburg, South Africa.

It was on Radio 702 News, the second item after the declaration of a State of Emergency. Ryan heard it whilst making dinner for the kids.

He was at the kitchen stove in the small brick and corrugated-iron bungalow that came with his nursing job at the hospital. The radio as always his company. The newsreader told how a young mother had been backing the families Combi out the driveway of her home in Rosebank. Her three-year-old was in the back. The men had stepped out from behind a hedge and fired twice into the woman head through the open driver’s window. They pulled her body out and dumped it on the concrete. They must have then seen the child. Ryan supposed there was a moment when the girl’s life hung in the balance, but they must have judged her too young to be of use to the police. A neighbour said they just shoed her away. In their rush to get away, the men drove over the woman’s body. Ryan guessed they did not understand the VW gears. Maybe they did and just didn’t care.

Little of this callousness was especially shocking. It was the child being there that made it so.

If this violence was reaching the prosperous white suburbs like Rosebank in the northern suburbs, well that marked the crossing of more than one boundary. The bus drivers and maintenance men at the hospital said it was ‘black on black’ violence, mainly Zulu’s and Xosa. A leftover from old tribal wars. The men would get angry and pronounce that the Americans and the Brits and all the other critics of this country did not understand that it was our armed forces and police who were actually risking their lives to save Bantu’s lives and keep order in the townships. The boss driver said “You can’t mix the races, and recently there had been a damn sight too much of that going on, especially in the city”. Hennie had killed a carjacker when they had tried for his bus at the traffic robots in Rosebank. Just took his gun from the glove compartment and shop the man in the face.

Well, it wasn’t just black on black any more.

Most car hijackings targeted Mercs and BMW’s. They were taken out of the country, cleaned up and reimported into Europe, but stolen minibus Combi’s stayed local. That one would be heading for a workshop in Soweto now for a makeover, and be back on the road in a week as a minibus taxi. The blood would be a problem.

And the kid. Would she remember? Awful thoughts came piling in. This violence was spreading out of the black districts into the white ones. That much was now clear. Few talked about it, it was for everyone to make their own assessment. Ryan supposed many were looking for a bolt hole and checking their passports.

He would get into Rosebank tomorrow on the hospital transport. Get off shift and head straight out for a Wimpy. If he didn’t change out of his uniform he could get the 3.30 bus. Best staying out of central Johannesburg for now but he needed to get out and see what was going on. Rosebank would do. The hospital was like a little island in the affluent suburbs. It was very easy not to lose touch with what was happening out in real world. “Bloody hell, a State of Emergency across the whole country, not just the black areas. “Things must be really kicking off”. He said these last words out loud.

So next day still dressed in his white polyester Safari Suit uniform with the light blue shoulder epilates, Ryan climbed into the hospital bus along with the morning shift cleaners and kitchen staff heading into the city to catch their trains. He could get the 5.30 pm transport back after his Saturday treat: burger and fries, root beer and a good long read of the Johannesburg Star.

He didn’t know why they called it a Wimpy bar. It was more like a small restaurant but with most of the tables out on the pavement. Rosebank liked to think itself ‘continental’, Here that meant elegant European. Nothing at all to do with Africa. Bookish but with good clothes shops. Africa was getting nearer though. Not all the blacks were returning home to the townships at night. The Group Areas Act was leaking aplenty.

A fifty-metre line of black day-workers was at the roadside, waiting for their rides out to Alexandria Township. The racists called these stock vehicles of mass transit for the blacks, Kaffir Taxis. As an English immigrant, Ryan had naïvely copied the phrase until a doctor at work had shamed and corrected him.

June is the Southern hemisphere winter. The sun would be down by 5 pm. It was the season of no rains and dust and brilliant sunsets. Soon the temperature would drop sharply and Ryan would have to get up for a walk or go inside and get another coffee, but he loved this time of day and lingered. The blacks came to the city early morning and they largely decamped and went back to their townships around dusk. The street traders like the old women squatting on tarpaulins with little pyramids of fruit set out in from of them, would pack up and hop on a minibus. The armies of maids and gardeners flowed out of the suburbs, but their numbers were less each month as many now stayed behind in lonely little shed-like homes at the back of their employers’ houses. In the half-hour, before dusk, the dust suspended in the air would produce a spectacular show in the western sky. No place has sunsets like Johannesburg, when the light softened and slanted, the place took on a sepia glow.

Ryan sat at his table, newspaper folded to the section he was reading. They had been in the country three years. The meal and the view was his favourite part of the week.

Narrow white stripes ran down the front page of the newspaper His first thought: that there was some failure in the printing was ridiculous of course. There was a complete article on yesterday’s declaration of a State of Emergency, another on the young mother’s murder and a third on a battle in the Falklands, but the rest of the front page were gaps where there should have been stories. The paper had been censored. Ryan’s eyes looked across the spaces and guessed they represented fighting out in the townships but maybe now also now in the white areas.

A lemon-coloured SAPS van coming from the direction of Johannesburg did a U-turn just in front of him and parked alongside the curb facing oncoming traffic. Two officers in blue fatigues and stab vests got out. The elder of the two positioned himself thirty metres ahead of the bonnet of the van and monitored oncoming traffic. He livened as he spotted a fully laden minibus taxi and gestured for it to pull over in front of the police vehicle. The younger officer stood ready at the kerb. He looked about eighteen and was probably a conscript. The older guy, with close-cropped blonde hair and moustache, was about twenty and almost certainly a regular.

Ryan decoded what was about to happen. The policemen’s plan was to do roadside interrogations of minibus-taxi drivers, the cowboys of their world, men plugged into the whisper networks that doubtless operated along the routes. The SAPS men wanted that information. Ryan craned his neck around. Such information getting would need some rough handling and this was not the place to do it. There was maybe a hundred blacks along the pavement and around them.

The younger officer (barely half a year out of matric, Ryan guessed) was eying the crowds, his right hand nervously touching his sidearm. He wanted to get out and away, but his partner, Blondie was intent on his task. His blood was up and he was out to prove himself. Ryan intuited this operation was about the mother and kid. Matric boy hung forward on the balls of his feet and watched his partner.

Blondie Cop pulled the track suited driver bodily from his cab, grabbed him by his neck and waistband and marched him to the bonnet of the police van. He slammed him against the short bonnet of the vehicle so that the black man’s face hit against the guttering of the windscreen. Ryan rested down his knife and fork. Forward and to the left, two lanes of traffic were slowing and merging to get around the police vehicle. Behind his right shoulder was Matric Boy, now with his back wholly to the pressing crowd, his mouth agape. Entirely absorbed in the drama and insufficiently sensitive to the mood of the crowd.

Blondie pulled the taller man to his feet, spun him around like a toy and then slammed him down again, this time face up and a little closer. His left hand went to the man’s neck and made a fork around the driver’s throat. His right hand went to the baggy crotch of the man’s tracksuit trousers and grabbed his balls. He screamed into the drivers face a sentence in Afrikaans. The man, frozen by this sudden terror was clearly not hearing. Angered further, Blondie turned the hand holding the driver's sac forty-five degrees like he was twisting a wheel. The driver’s eyes expanded. With his left hand, Blondie clutched the man’s now prominent windpipe and squeezed. This allowed for no possibility of speech but talking was clearly not the point now. The crowd moved forward half a metre to the curb edge, but still cautious as they knew the officers had guns. Blondie kept at the man. Now screaming in English “You must know the animals”.

The body moves and the mind follows. Afterwards when he was home and dosing himself with whisky, Ryan interrogated himself. What made it happen?

He was a tall man. Near on two metres. That might partly explain. He did not feel angry or vengeful. He only wanted to do one thing. Get Blondie and Matric back in their van and away before they were torn limb from limb. Ryan spoke slowly and with plain purpose but also like a bank manager instructing a junior teller. “Take your hands off that man”. The police officer responded and the driver collapsed to the floor and flipped about like a floundering fish.

Blondie’s hands fell to his sides. Puce faced and panting he looked up at the sky like he had won a race. Ryan sensed the other officer at his side and grabbed him. His tone now changed, he barked, “Both of you fuck off right off!” That’s all it took. The two policemen climbed into their van like they were going to be eaten by bears. Backed up two metres and drove forward into oncoming traffic, then mounted the pavement at the corner and took a right. They were out of sight in seconds.

The driver rolled to his left side and vomited, his hands placed over his groin, resisting movement. A woman stepped off the minibus like she was going to help him. Ryan judged that to be for the best…for the driver to be helped by one of his own. He walked slowly, avoiding eye contact and sat back down at the table. He knew somehow if he didn’t eat he would be killed. His hands shook wildly and he struggled to spear and gather the food. It became dry in his mouth and he could not swallow. People moved around him. They looking down as they passed. He felt the hostility, held his breath and felt like a target. Five metres away the woman knelt by the driver and spoke quietly in their own language.

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La Times: 'Books, not boys': Director Bill Condon on updating 'Beauty and the Beast' and the whole princess/prisoner deal

One of the most cherished musical numbers in a Disney movie centers on a young woman ostracized from her community because she likes to read.

“Look there she goes, that girl is strange no question. Dazed and distracted, can’t you tell?”

This is how we meet one of Disney’s most progressive princesses: Belle, the girl who dared to read. She’s the nonconformist, the outsider, the nerd.

“Never part of any crowd. ’Cause her head’s up on some cloud. No denying she’s a funny girl, that Belle!”

Life in Belle’s poor provincial town, as described in the classic song by the late lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken, sounds quite cruel for the bookish heroine.

Not only is Belle labeled a “funny girl,” her inability to fit in is called a “sin.” But despite societal pressure, she reads on. And that passion for education was one of the emotional cornerstones director Bill Condon used to build new plot points and broaden the characters inside the retelling of Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” as a live-action film.

“[Reading] defined Belle in the original movie,” Condon says the day after the film’s Hollywood premiere.

Still energized from the positive audience response at the El Capitan Theatre, the director breaks down how he turned animated fantasy into live action reality.

“Books, not boys. And everything that books represent,” he says. “It’s a double thing for her. There’s an escape into the adventure of books, but it’s also just feeding her imagination, and the zeal for knowledge. That’s something that, I think, is important to a lot of us.”

While the animated film’s townsfolk chided Belle’s interest in education as foolish, the new movie (opening in theaters Thursday) goes one step further — they punish her for it. One particularly harrowing scene shows the locals outraged at the sight of Belle (played by Emma Watson) teaching another girl how to read. They are so enraged by this act that they destroy Belle’s clever clothes washing contraption (in this movie, her father, Maurice, isn’t the only inventor).

“What I’m proud of in our movie is that [Belle’s] also become an activist 25 years later,” Condon says. “That she not only has a private interest in [reading], but she wants to share it and figure out how to help other little girls discover books too.”

No longer does Belle sit solitarily reading to disinterested sheep — “Oh isn’t this amazing” — she’s actively trying to get young women involved.

The ramifications of reading are threaded throughout Condon’s feature. The heavily stocked bookshop that the original Belle frequented in her cartoon town has been swapped out for a more realistic representation of the times. New Belle picks from a minuscule collection of reading material housed in the local church.

“There weren’t bookstores in 1740,” Condon says. “It’s as simple as that. The church would have been the center for learning, and she’s found one priest who connects to her. Everyone else thinks it’s just an absolutely crazy thing that a woman would be interested.” This makes the eventual reveal of the Beast’s expansive castle library even more impressive.

Even LeFou, the lackey to the villainous Gaston, gets an illiteracy gag in his climactic solo during the rowdy tavern performance of “Gaston.” It’s a moment not lost on Josh Gad, the actor behind the joke and father of two little girls.

“Right now, my daughter is learning how to read,” Gad says. “To have this character whose superpower is essentially that she devours books and is an inventor is a great thing to hold up and share with them. She is the hero of the movie. I think that now more than ever we need amazing female role models like that, and I’m thrilled to be a part of a movie that has one at its core.”

“Beauty and the Beast” isn’t Condon’s first musical movie adaptation — he spearheaded the two-time Oscar-winning “Dreamgirls” in 2006. Nor is this his first brush with a devout fan base. He put the “Twilight” saga to bed in “Breaking Dawn” Parts 1 and 2. However, this is the first movie that combines massive fandom with an internationally adored songbook. The director is aware he’s playing with a powerful brand of nostalgia.

Full Coverage ‘Beauty and the Beast’ news, interviews, videos, reviews »

Still, Belle’s rebellious reading wasn’t the only part of Disney’s tale as old as time that was due for a little dusting. With a running time 45 minutes longer than the original, Condon hoped that his “Beauty and the Beast” expansion would answer questions fans may have been carrying with them for years. Some new investigations are arguably easier to answer than others, thanks to a little movie magic.

For example, how were the townsfolk seemingly unaware of the existence of a multistory, magical castle in the woods that (presumably) used to house their governing system? Simple: a magical memory wiping incantation directly tied to the Beast’s curse.

Granted, the larger questions Condon attempts to answer (how did Belle and her father wind up living in a village where they’re complete outsiders, and what happened to Belle’s mother?) are clearly more complicated and will forever change the back story to this Disney staple. But most pressing, according to the director, was expanding the relationship between Belle and the Beast (played by Dan Stevens).

“You’re asking an audience to believe that Emma Watson is falling in love with this big hunk of fur,” Condon says. “So you want to make it absolutely recognizable in human terms.”

That also meant addressing the Stockholm syndrome issues with the classic story’s prisoner/princess relationship. When questioned about the problematic nature of the duo’s courtship, the director immediately lists his leading lady as a champion for this change.

“That’s where having Emma Watson as a partner, as a collaborator, was so crucial,” Condon says. “Because she’ll always know more than I do about this, because she’s leading the life of a strong role model for women in the 21st century.”

In fact, both Stevens and Watson worked with Condon on their dialogue in hopes of refining and reshaping their complicated affair in an attempt to steer it away from victim and kidnapper.

“To me, the crucial line is when they finally connect, and [Beast] says, ‘Could you ever be happy here?’ [Belle] thinks about it and says, ‘Could anybody be happy when they’re not free?’ ”

“She’s not falling in love with him. She understands the terms of what he’s done, she reminds him of it, and he feels ashamed of it,” Condon says. “She very clearly sets up those boundaries. And it’s only when he actually does free her, and long after that, that she kind of lets herself open up to her feelings for him. That scene, which probably has only 10 lines, it’s sort of like haiku. We kept refining, word by word, to make sure that moment, that line, packed a real punch.”

Whether the evolution of Belle and the Beast will alleviate modern minds troubled by the questionable romance remains to be seen, but one thing that took most by surprise was the outing and subsequent backlash at the sexuality of the aforementioned LeFou. After it was announced that LeFou would be Disney’s first gay character, a Henagar, Ala., drive-in theater said it wouldn’t screen the film — specifically citing LeFou’s sexual orientation. Overseas, Disney has decided to pull its Malaysian distribution of the film rather than censor the few minutes of content the country’s film censorship board regarded as unsuitable.

Condon spoke vaguely about the reaction at a press conference in Beverly Hills last week, noting that this too is another expansion of a character for the modern age, “What has this story always been about for 300 years?” he asked. “It’s about looking closer, going deeper, accepting people for who they really are. And in a very Disney way, we are including everybody. I think this movie is for everybody, and on the screen you’ll see everybody. That was important to me, I think, to all of us.”

The backlash has already received plenty of backlash from the rest of the cast. Ian McKellen (who plays Cogsworth) labeled the controversy “rubbish” in an interview with CNN at the New York premiere. And Ewan McGregor (Lumière), at first joking that “there is a lot of gay sex in this cartoon” on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” turned serious when he told Colbert, “He’s a gay character. It’s 2017, for … sake.”

It’s only too perfect that one of the many themes in this timeless fairy tale that doesn’t need updating is the proverbial sentiment: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

Condon encourages his audience to look beyond Beast’s intimidating horns or the beautiful filigree of the castle’s magical inhabitants and take in the big picture.

Only then will you realize in the live action opening number that the only children marching into the school are the boys, while the girls are stuck doing the laundry.

More about “Beauty and the Beast” . . .

What happens when you put ‘Beauty and the Beast’ stars at a piano with composer Alan Menken? Disney magic

Review: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ remake is a gilded monument to the more-is-more principle

‘Beauty and the Beast’ won’t be shown in Malaysia after Disney refuses to cut gay scene

Why ‘Beauty and the Beast’ will be the biggest box-office hit of the year so far

From the archives: A ‘Beast’ With Heart — Kenneth Turan’s review of the 1991 animated ‘Beauty and the Beast’

‘Beauty and the Beast’s‘ Alan Menken takes pride in carrying the vision of his songwriting partner Howard Ashman

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour »

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