#hugo the disaster as always

[kennimu]

Small little varigo doodles because I was bored and I love them :D

#ahshhsh i love how i drew Varian's fluffy/curly hair i might draw his hair like that from now on it's so fun #hugo the disaster as always #i refuse to believe that man could ever be cool #only yong thinks he is and thats because Yong hasn't yet realised that hes cooler than him #and yes im a believer in varian being able to flirt 😌 #must i bring up Great Expotations #if he was that flirty at age 14 he only got worse by the time he got to 18 #especially since this time he wont be flirting with a lesbian twice his age #varigo #tts varian #vat7k #hugo vat7k #varian vat7k #varigo fanart #vat7k fanart #varian tangled #tangled the series #varian and the 7 kingdoms #vat7k hugo #vat7k varian #vat7k varigo #varian #hugo

[cassius-the-kitten]

Sleeping Headcanons - (DDADDS x Reader)

I know this is going to be a lot different than what I usually post, but I've always kinda wanted to do headcanons\imagines, so here you go.

-

Pairings: Brian Harding x Reader, Hugo Vega x Reader, Mat Sella x Reader, & Robert Small x Reader.

Brian Harding

has a very easy time getting to bed, though has a harder time getting out of it.

he goes to sleep Early at like 8-9 PM, and wakes up sometime between 6 AM or 7 AM. Usually wakes up at 3-4 AM if he’s fishing in the morning.

he has multiple alarms set, because sometimes they don’t wake him up. hell, sometimes even YOU can’t wake him up. only Daisy knows the secret tip to waking him up on time

please note that the entire time you’re trying to wake him up for work, you are Trapped in his arms and he Will Not let you go until he’s awake.

Brian doesn’t move in his sleep. not an inch. he’s also always going to be the big spoon. you better hope you don’t have to get up for Any reason in the middle of the night, or else you are screwed

he has never had insomnia a day in his life, and he will do everything in his power to try and relieve yours. he will try his best to get any sleeping aids that you are remotely interested in, and will even do some solo research on his own when he has the time

depending on the position, he snores. loudly. enjoy your ear plugs. you will need them.

this man can and will fall asleep to anything and everything. including but not limited to: jackhammers, airplanes, Maxwell’s barking, and the sound of you watching stuff on your phone while he’s asleep

will sleep in any position, he really doesn’t mind as long as he can cuddle you.

beware, you will either need a fan by the bed, or one of those cooling beds, because he is WARM

he usually sleeps in a tank top and boxers, or on especially hot days, just boxers. if it’s cold, then he might put on a t-shirt. please never let him put on a sweater, you will die of heatstroke.

he has a tendency to underestimate how hot he gets with cuddling since he’s used to it at this point, so you’re gonna have to remind him that yes, he is that warm and no, he should NOT wear a sweater to bed even though it’s winter.

Hugo Vega

Hugo fucking LOVES bedtime.

the second his head touches the pillow, he is instantly transported to a realm of bliss. he likes basking in that until his body eventually drifts off to sleep

he has two alarms in the morning — the second one is just in case he doesn’t wake up. he also has a third alarm named Ernest.

Ernest refuses to take the bus and needs Hugo to keep driving him to school. also Ernest usually needs help getting ready because dear god that kid is a disaster sometimes

if you get up before Hugo and help Ernest get ready for school, he’s instantly gonna start thinking of marrying you. mainly because it’s Really hard to get Ernest out of bed, let alone up and ready for school. if you make it easy, then that means Ernest Really likes you

Hugo always reads before bed, and if you’re trying to fall asleep while he reads, he’ll gladly read to you until you fall asleep. it’s kind of second nature to him.

he used to read 2 stories to Ernest every night when Ernest was little, mostly because Ernest has always had some sleeping problems (and still does). obviously Ernest doesn’t let Hugo read to him anymore, but if you let Hugo read to you, then he’ll be really happy about it

Hugo used to do those meditation things before sleep, but mostly because his ex used to do them. if you do them, then he’ll gladly follow along

a relatively warm sleeper, so you will probably need a fan or one of those cooling beds, but he’s nowhere near as warm as Brian is

he’s also pretty quiet in his sleep. also has the tendency to turn and move a little in his sleep, though he remains on his side the whole time because he’s a side sleeper

you know that one video of the boyfriend holding his girlfriend, and the girlfriend holding their (big) dog, all in bed together, where the boyfriend turns over and the girlfriend and dog go with him because he’s still holding onto them? Hugo does that to you (and Duchess Cordelia). every night.

Mat Sella

Mat likes bedtime very much, and he’s usually fully asleep by 10 PM. he gets up bright and early at 7:00 AM, sometimes a little earlier if there’s an event going on at the Coffee Spoon so he has extra time to prepare.

relatively light sleeper, so just hope that you or Carmensita don’t have to get snacks in the middle of the night. because he Will know, and he will probably ask for a few before he tries going back to sleep

he’s also a Very quiet sleeper, and sometimes you’ll probably wonder if he’s actually asleep or not due to how quiet he is

he always has sleep sounds playing when he goes to bed, it lulls him right to sleep. his favorites are rain (but not thunderstorms) and whale noises. sometimes he just plays white noise

sometimes Mat also needs earplugs, but he’s scared of not waking up to his alarm. even though every time he has worn earplugs to bed, he still wakes up to his alarm without issue. His second alarm is named Carmensita

he has a weighted blanket that he’s had for a few years since Rosa passed and he Loves it dearly

he’s a bit cuddly and doesn’t tend to move too much in his sleep, so once you pick out a cuddling position to sleep in, he’s staying put until he wakes up. he usually sleeps on his side or his back

if you and him end up getting a cat, then prepare to have some attention stolen from you, because he IS cuddling with that cat. the only thing you can hope for is if the cat decides to cuddle you instead of him, or if the cat prefers sleeping at the foot of your bed

a surprisingly cool sleeper, so no worry of overheating (unless you are a very warm sleeper, in which he will probably call you his oven)

if you sleep in one of his shirts, he will Swoon. if you’re his size or bigger, chances are that he’ll ask nicely to wear one of your shirts to sleep so you can basically trade clothes

Robert Small

we all know this man has got some insomnia going on

it doesn’t help that he’s (kind of) a light sleeper, and has the tendency to wake up in the middle of the night.

he tends to snore, but not as much as you’d think.

in short, Robert doesn’t really like going to sleep. but he starts to like it once he knows that he can cuddle you.

like Brian, Robert WILL trap you in cuddles the second you get into bed. you cannot escape now. if anything, take it as a blessing because if you have to sleep anytime before 12 AM, Robert is in bed with you, and you will be the Only reason that he is in that bed.

instead of being in a cold, lonely bed with his thoughts and vices, Robert will have you in his arms. if he can’t fall asleep, then he’s just going to enjoy watching you sleep. and he enjoys it a lot.

speaking of cuddles, Robert is going to be the big spoon 90% of the time. that, or he’s going to pick a position where he can watch your face as you sleep.

also, Robert does the same thing that Hugo does, where if he turns in his sleep, you’re coming with him. he refuses to let go of you.

if you leave bed for 10 seconds, he’s awake. you try swapping yourself out with Betsy one time to not trigger him to wake up, but it doesn’t work.

sometimes he ends up waiting for you outside the bathroom like a bored dog. that or he follows you to the kitchen and bothers you until you come back to bed. he will not hesitate to pick you up and STEAL you

if You also have any amount of insomnia or just like to stay up late, you’ll be giving Robert plenty of company. you’re either going to the bar or you’re going cryptid hunting.

on the nights where you and him are out, he’s usually so tired by the end of them that he doesn’t even shower before bed. he just collapses into bed, usually with his jacket still on, and falls right to sleep

he’s a surprisingly cool sleeper. cool enough to where you might actually need a heater to deal with it

he’s a bit opposed to using sleeping aids even though he knows he should use them — but if you use them, chances are he might try them. unless it’s guided meditation.

he secretly really enjoys falling asleep to asmr and thunderstorms

one day you get him a weighted blanket and his sleep starts to improve. he enjoys the deep pressure and the comfort it provides, but he still always wants to cuddle

#ddadds #dream daddy a dad dating simulator #dream daddy #brian harding #hugo vega #mat sella #robert small #headcanons #x reader #ddadds imagines #ddadds headcanons #brian harding x reader #hugo vega x reader #mat sella x reader #robert small x reader #dream daddy imagines #dream daddy headcanons

[hugogetsrawed]

nsfw//

Ok so like it was noted (implied) in official Hugo stuff that he's experimented and slept around a good amount before Varian. But I feel like Varian is the first person to really make him like. A gay disaster. Weak in the knees etc. Sure he's slept with other people but he wasn't really attached and it was always kind of just for the fuck not the person.

So when he's with Varian he gets flustered easily even just by teasing. He's down bad no clue what to do with himself. And he does not realize how horrendously touch starved he is. umm yea i don't wanna make this super long in ur inbox LOL but yeah basic gist <3

Y E S oh my GOD you understand me!! That SLUT that WHORE that WOMAN OF THE NIGHT meets the bisexual angee twink and goes WHAT 😳‼️I want THAT ONE!! and then doesn't know what to do about it bc all of his ways are the way of the whore and wooing Varian isn't going to work that way! And Varian is sooo touchy and silly with him and finally has a guy friend his age for the first time and when he finds out that Hugo turns beat read when he's embarrassed, Varian goes out of his way to tease him to death.

#UUUUGH I LOVE THEM #varigo

[cliverosfieldslefttiddy]

Hey you!

Are you like me and have a completely normal* relationship with video game OSTs and composers’ use of leitmotifs within them?

*not normal at all

GREAT NEWS!

I’ve gone through and catalogued almost the entire Final Fantasy XVI soundtrack by character/region/general interlude based on motif use alone!

(Basically in general if a motif shows up only once it’s not gonna be on this list. Also, some recurring motifs didn’t have a designated name or common title scheme so I classified them myself, such as Early Overworld, Disaster Strikes, Impending Doom, Interludes, and Mythos. If anyone is curious as to which songs those categories include, let me know!)

Without further ado, here’s the breakdown. Any numbers after a + indicate tracks from disc 8 of the Ultimate Edition, which are unused tracks or single-cutscene tracks. Spoilers abound under the cut as well.

Final Fantasy: 7

Crystal: 17-20, approximately

Joshua/Phoenix: 15 + 1

Clive/Ifrit: 13 + 3 (bro the unused Ifrit vs Ifrit is so funny to me, it’s basically Lo-Fi Beats To Face Your Inner Demons To)

Jill/Shiva: 9 + 2 (update: I still cry when My Star plays)

Cid/Ramuh: 7 + 1

Benedikta/Garuda: 7

Hugo/Titan: 6

Dion/Bahamut: 7

Barnabas/Odin: 5 + 2

Ultima: 19 + 1 (truly incredible how many times he shows up and how EARLY in the game, too. He was always watching!!)

Anabella: 2

Rosaria: 12 + 1

Sanbreque: 5

Republic of Dhalmekia: 8 + 1 (the unused theme and the actual theme are almost identical, the main motif is just ever so slightly different, which I find fascinating!)

Crystalline Dominion: 2

Ironholm: 5

Waloed: 5 + 2

Early Overworld: 4

Battle Theme: 5 + 1

Disaster Strikes: 3

Impending Doom: 1 (think I made this a category before I realized it only showed up once)

Eikonic: 3

Interludes: 2

Mythos: 5

This was honestly so much fun to do! If anyone’s curious about anything don’t hesitate to ask! Happy to elaborate for anyone curious or wondering about anything

#noelle posts #final fantasy xvi #final fantasy 16 #final fantasy 16 spoilers #ff16 #music #lists #leitmotifs #I’ve seriously always been fascinated by stuff like this and would love to share my thoughts if anyone’s interested!! #also one of the unused boss themes is so freakin funny to me #comparing it to the version that ended up getting used is a trip

[pansy-picnics]

pansy will the anons be released from your time out dungeon? (all the anons agree telepahically to behave)

there's been so much negativity going around so whats your favorite varigo hc?! your favorite oc?

SORRY this is honestly the funniest fucking ask i’ve ever received bc i’m being so real with you rn i forgot i even did that. i didn’t even give any context for it either i don’t think??? 😭😭 Yeah sorry ya’ll i just drew varian with top surgery scars ONCE and within 30 minutes i got like 3 asks from that one anon telling me to draw him with abs and that trans varian isn’t real or something. it’s like when one kid is a dick in class and now EVERYONE has to stay inside for recess just bc of the one guy. sorry i forgot you in there tho that’s my bad /j

i haven’t rlly noticed a lot of negativity recently but tbf i also just. haven’t been here much at all these past few weeks LOLLL so i guess that’s not all that surprising.

as for ur second question….Honestly depends on the day for both. but i think genderfluid hugo and varian just losing his fucking mind over it is always pretty high up there. especially since in my head varian’s not a fashionable guy at ALL, he doesn’t understand the first thing abt makeup or how people put outfits together or anything so as far as he knows his boygirlfriend is just a shapeshifter and he’s a bisexual disaster so like he’s sure as hell not gonna complain abt it. Fucking loser

for ocs….again depends on if were just talking ocs in general or specifically tangled ocs, cuz i’ve been a little abnormally obsessed with my splatoon ocs again recently

tangled wise tho….ryder will FOREVER be my favorite sorry………But don’t tell any of them i said that🤭

#ask #tangled ask #pansy rambling again #tts headcanons #varigo #i appreciate the telapathic pact thank you

[varibean]

whenever i think about girl hugo and varian it’s always hugo being a goofy lil bombshell who loves her disaster of a boyfriend bc she’s also a disaster 

however whenever it’s the opposite varian is always The Worst Woman You Could Ever Meet who is actively trying to make hugo’s life worse but it’s ok bc he’s into it

#varigo #hugo with varian: he's a lil dummy and i love him soooooo much my skrunkly blorbo lil special guy UwU #varian with hugo: LET'S MAKE THIS MAN WORSE!!! I WANT TO SEE HIM GET WORSE!!!!!

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Ney, éperdu, grand de toute la hauteur de la mort acceptée, s'offrait à tous les coups dans cette tourmente. Il eut son cinquième cheval tué sous lui. En sueur, la flamme aux yeux, l'écume aux lèvres, l'uniforme déboutonné, une de ses épaulettes à demi coupée par le coup de sabre d'un horse-guard, sa plaque de grand-aigle bosselée par une balle, sanglant, fangeux, magnifique, une épée cassée à la main, il disait : « Venez voir comment meurt un maréchal de France sur un champ de bataille ! » Mais en vain ; il ne mourut pas.**

Victor Hugo

I've always had a soft spot for Marshal Ney. Napoleon had said: "He is as weak as he is brave and his excessive ambition gives him a hold. Ney is the bravest of men." And so he was.

It was at the battle of Waterloo, roughly at 4pm, Marshal Ney noticed quite the sight. Ahead of him, Wellington's centre appeared to be folding and looked like the beginning of an organised retreat. Aware that the British were not decisively defeated, he rallied a cavalry force of roughly 9,000 and prepared a charge to cut down the fleeing British.

Why cavalry alone? After all, this was a Marshal who served under an Emperor who heavily advocated for cavalry to be used alongside infantry and artillery, and never alone. Wanting to take advantage of an opportunity, Ney needed to act quickly. The reality of the situation was most of Napoleon's infantry was already committed in other areas of the battle, and so Ney hoped to break Wellington's centre with cavalry alone.

British infantry were made quickly aware of the masses of cavalry forming along the French lines and retired behind the crest of the hill where they formed into square formations. So as not to repeat the failures of the French gunners, British gunners were ordered to take shelter in the squares and take their positions again once the charge faded away.

The square formation was deadly, though not impenetrable. A concentrated cavalry attack had the potential to break through the 'walls' of the square, but as one would expect such a feat is difficult. The British squares were thus arranged in such a fashion that neighboring squares could support one another, creating 'corridors of death' by forcing French cavalry down and around the sides of the square so as to retain their momentum.

Captain Rees Gronow of the British Foot Guards commented on the charge that it was 'n overwhelming, long moving line, which, ever advancing, glittered like a stormy wave of the sea when it catches the sunlight … one might suppose that nothing could have resisted the shock of this terrible moving mass.'

Without support, Ney's initial charges were unsuccessful. His attacks were repeatedly repelled both by the steadfastness of the British squares and the successful counter charges by British and Dutch cavalry, and what remained of the Household Cavalry.

Napoleon, witnessing the disaster, commented that the charge happened an hour too early.

Among the generals who covered themselves in glory during the Revolution and the First Empire, there is none whose male and heroic figure inspires more sympathy than that of Marshal Ney. But he didn’t achieve the glory he wanted that day at Waterloo. For that he did pay the ultimate price.

For Marshal Ney's life was intimately linked to the political and military events of France, from the end of the Ancien Régime to the Restoration. It was he the king sent to stop Napoleon when he escaped Elba and landed back on French soil. Loyal though he was to France itself he was was unable to cope with the political upheavals of the Hundred Days. Faced with the difficult choice between two loyalties, to the King and to the Emperor, he chose Napoleon.

At Waterloo where Marshal Ney charged five times at the head of his cavalry, vainly seeking death on the battlefield. Instead he died by firing squad by the restored Bourbon monarchy at the age of 46, judged by his peers in a hasty manner, even though he was destined for a glorious death on the battlefield, in the heat of the action, as he had always wanted.

Ney, distraught, tall with all the height of accepted death, offered himself to all the blows in this turmoil. His fifth horse was killed beneath him. Sweating, flame in his eyes, foam on his lips, his uniform unbuttoned, one of his epaulettes half-cut by a horse-guard's sabre stroke, his grand-aigle plate dented by a bullet, bloody, muddy, magnificent, with a broken sword in his hand, he said: "Come and see how a Marshal of France dies on a battlefield! But in vain; he did not die.**

#hugo #victor hugo #quote #french #marshal ney #waterloo #battle of waterloo #war #battle #napoleonic war #grand armée #france #wellington #napoleon #british army #cavalry #life #death #soldier #military history #history #europe

[sheigarche]

My thoughts and highlights on A Plague Tale: Tenebris:

Hugo doesn't know the difference between the role of a mother and sister in his life is a fair but sad point in the story (especially for Amicia who had her childhood taken away)

Beatrice is almost always right, but is terrible at making her points and comes across as an evil witch. Hot take: The woman has never done anything wrong in her life, she just has very poor communication skills 😂

I need to draw Hugo and Brume at some point because the idea of them is just too cute to stop myself ❤️

There are at least 3 good little moments between Beatrice and Amicia that sell me the mother/daughter relationship well, even in conflict, and I wish Requiem had at least one moment like that 🥺

Of all the masters Lucas had: Laurentius taught him the curiosity and discipline of learning; Beatrice taught him to trust his instincts and have the guts to defend his own theories; but André was the one who showed him that none of that matters if he doesn't put it to use to help others and - while Lucas was always a good person - he still needed to learn how to direct that goodness into action and seeing a person as a person, with feelings and that needs more than his systematic help. I believe it's because of what André taught him that Lucas became our golden boy in Requiem 🥰

Amicia getting annoyed when Beatrice treats her and Lucas like kids is great! This shows that the girl sees him as an equal, someone she can trust and have by her side in moments of crisis. The funny part is they met a bunch of kids and she still saw them as kids, even the older ones. But Lucas? Amicia doesn't even consider him an apprentice anymore and gets offended when someone offends him (soulmates behavior ✨)

The little interactions between Lucas and Amicia it's a whole meal for my ship heart 🥰. It's something about the respect between them. The way they care and support each other. And how relieved they feel to know that the other is okay. It's a special bond that makes me so happy and I can't compare it to anything else in this franchise.

The writer missed the opportunity to have Amicia hit Aurele straight in the head with a rock only for him to survive and she be like "oh no, this new sling doesn't have any upgrades 😯"

I wish Aurele and Milo were combined into one character. Both are minor religious fanatics villains with a lot of potential, but no enough time to develop that well. Adapting and mixing their story in some way could work. Just imagine Aurele/Milo survives Tenebris and appears in Requiem and Amicia comment "oh that's the guy who hunted us in Guyenne". Fans more attentive to the ending of Innocence would make the connection, those who read the book would have more context, and the character would feels more fresh and complex. Just a wishful thought, of course, they still good for small villains.

Tenebris made me realize that Amicia's plan at the end of Requiem to go live isolated in the mountains would be completely impractical. I can even imagine Hugo in his teens getting tired of living there with just trees and goats and eventually having another breakdown causing more disasters.

I know I probably missed a lot of details in the translation, but I started reading this just because I wanted more Plague Tale and, as a whole, that's exactly what I got with Tenebris.

I wouldn't be against it if they decided to do another book with a story about what happened after Requiem.

Yeah, give me Amicia and Sophia traveling on a boat bumping into Lucas and André somewhere and end up having to unravel the mystery of some cult recreating Vitalis' white rats.

(Oh, or maybe I'll just write a fanfic about it 👀)

#apt tenebris #books #amicia de rune #lucas the apprentice #hugo de rune #beatrice de rune #a plague tale tenebris #a plague tale innocence #a plague tale requiem #a plague tale #lumicia #lucas x amicia #amicia x lucas

[dolphin1812]

“every evening, Ma’am Bougon when she set out for her dish-washing in town, had a habit of locking the door, which was always closed at dusk. Marius had given his key to the inspector of police; it was important, therefore, that he should make haste.”

Not Javert almost locking Marius out of his home by taking his key

This will likely be brief, as most of this chapter is just plot. The chisel is really ominous, so this chapter definitely serves its purpose in building tension!

That being said, Jondrette isn’t that great at crime? To be fair, this is Marius’ better tracking attempt; with Mlle Lanoire, it was a disaster not because he’s inherently bad at following people in secret, but because he was so excited that the “in secret” part stopped mattering. In this case, Marius is genuinely being careful, and that caution does keep him from getting caught at least once (when Jondrette turns back). Still, Hugo specifies that Jondrette had no suspicion that he was being followed for most of this walk, and given that he was planning a crime, being a bit more careful or alert would have made sense. Marius was cautious, yes, but Jondrette probably wouldn’t have been so easy to follow if he were better at crime. In this, he forms an implicit contrast with the (presumably more seasoned) members of Patron Minette that he has connections to; after all, a group with a member who’s never even been seen is likely very good at operating in secret when they need to.

I love that we get to spend time with Bossuet and Courfeyrac! Their exchange is pretty funny, and it’s a nice bit of comic relief after so many sad and tense chapters. I also enjoy how their own backgrounds are clear from their dialogue. For instance:

“He [Jondrette]?” retorted Courfeyrac, “he’s a poet. Poets are very fond of wearing the trousers of dealers in rabbit skins and the overcoats of peers of France.”

Courfeyrac is probably joking, but his first reference for a poorly dressed person being “poet” really shows that he hangs out with lots of Romantics.

#Les mis letters #lm 3.8.15 #m jondrette #marius pontmercy #courfeyrac #bossuet #I missed them!

[kuwdora]

WIP Sunday Snippet... from the vilgefortz wankery. This snippet remains in my discard pile because how many paintings is too many to be referencing in this fic? I think I'm up to 5 or 6 at this point. I might put it back in though...we'll see. Soooo... Geralt and Vilgefortz are in a wing of the gallery that features some of the more critical artwork.

Sunday Afternoon on The River of Alabaster Bridges depicted a rotting corpse of a dragon floating belly up in the middle of the Pontar. Peasants in the foreground went about their harvesting, scythes in their hands while a small child played naked in the shallows. A small rowboat with two lovers were mid-river, hands joined in a moment of quiet intimacy and indifferent to the decay beside them. The brushstrokes of the water were inelegant, and the usual gleaming color of the river was polluted by the fetid body. The human figures were painted in a dull grey in contrast of the dragon whose golden scales were melting off its body in the heat of the sun. A mage in a deep red cloak stood at the corner of the painting, holding a magnifying glass up to a melted scale he had fished out of the water.

It was the work of Hugo Bluewythe, the only gnomish artist whose work was featured at Aretuza. Born to a Mahakham family, he was a successful metallurgist, had local fame and a family who was proud to call him one of their own. After several decades of monotony, he grew tired of embellishing weapons that he knew would be used to kill. So he picked up a paintbrush instead. His customers and family were unhappy with this change in vocation because he dared to express his vision by other means. But he didn’t allow their criticisms to get in his way and he became quite renowned for his work depicting humanity’s indifference to non-human suffering.

Vilgefortz watched Geralt frown at the painting.

Anyway, this is 100% a riff on Pieter Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus and Auden's poem about the painting.

Musée des Beaux Arts By W. H. Auden

December 1938 About suffering they were never wrong, The Old Masters: how well they understood Its human position; how it takes place While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along

How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting For the miraculous birth, there always must be Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating On a pond at the edge of the wood: They never forgot That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.

In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry, But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

#vilgywank #my witcher wips #there is actual fucking in this fic #there's also just a lot of art history and political and moral philosophy too. okay. TWN did not have enough of that. #vilgefortz of roggeveen #geralt x vilgefortz

[mk-wizard]

A Plague Tale: When tragedy is necessary

SPOILERS ABOUT “A PLAGUE TALE” SERIES AHEAD!!

As sad as the ending was and much as we all wish Hugo made it, it should stand not just because it would cheapen his death. The fact that there was no saving him was the entire point of the story which is actually Amicia’s story. The story of A Plague Tale is really the story about Amicia and her coming to terms with her brother having a supernatural illness known as the Macula and seeing him go through all the harrowing phase while fighting both literally and metaphorically for a way to save him. Eventually, she has to accept that there was no saving him from the Macula, but she could at least give her brother a proper goodbye and end his suffering out of mercy. While the circumstances and details are fictional, the situation is not. Dealing with a terminally ill loved one is a very common thing as is hoping that maybe they will be the exception and beat the disease or that there is a cure waiting to be discovered in their lifetime only to face the harsh reality that all we can do is love them and be there until the end.

We talk about representation, but we forget that isn’t just orientation, skin tones, race, religion, gender identity, etc. Representation can be things such as this and it is important to showcase them. We need show that some people just don’t have happy endings, but that doesn’t mean they can’t recover from them. In fact, the way Amicia was at the end of everything (Requiem) shows the right way to mourn which is to continue living your best life, cherishing the time you had together, remembering them and also learning from it. In her case, she wants to take action to help the next Carrier and Guardian, so that this time, they may have a fighting chance at least which can be seen as a metaphor for a loved one passing away from cancer and you trying to do what you can to help the fight against it so someone else may have a fighting chance. When you look at this way, it also drives home the point of how the tragedy of Hugo should stand. He did not make it, but because everyone learned from his experience, the next Macula Carrier might be able to.

Also, I mentioned that there was no saving poor Hugo and I meant it. The only way to keep the Macula from taking over the boy was for him to be constantly calm and happy which is impossible. No matter what Amicia and the others would have done or went, Hugo would eventually face stressful and bad situations as the beginning of Requiem showed us. It is impossible to control every single event and suffering is a part of life. And there was no medical way to keep the Macula at bay with the way science and alchemy were in the gang’s lifetime. Even if the Count had never kidnapped Hugo and they did make it to the cabin in the mountains, something else would have eventually triggered the Macula. They just did not have the means to cure, treat or keep it under control. Even the elixir from the first installment (Innocence) just slowed the process down. Also, Hugo was either always on the run, was in pain or getting treatments that were like torture which was not a life any person should live much less a child. To add insult to injury, none of it helped, so in the end, the only way to end Hugo’s suffering was to euthanize him.

This doesn’t mean that this is the way it will end in the hypothetical third installment. In the final bonus scene of the Requiem, it is hinted that the next Carrier was born in modern times when medicine, science and possibly alchemy has made progress in leaps and bounds. And considering how determined and unbroken Amicia was, I have no doubt that she made precautions to help the next Carrier and Guardian to prevent both a disaster and tragedy. It is possible and dare I say likely that in the hypothetical third installment, the terror of Macula will be put to an end and the Carrier will be saved. The dark side of this though is that Hugo’s tragic end has to stand.

Anyway, that is my opinion, and I would like to hear yours. Thank you for reading and as always, stay safe.

PS: I think the creators should create a third installment not just to complete the trilogy, but also because having this one time where having a story take place in modern times would work in its favor because we are going through a pandemic. In this case, A Plague Tale which takes place in our time would be especially terrifying and all the more satisfying.

#a plague tale #a plague tale innocence #a plague tale requiem #amicia de rune #lucas #alchemey #prima macula #macula #hugo de rune #arnaud #a plague tale amicia #a plague tale hugo #tragedy #terminal #terminal illness #illness #sickness #sad #coping #mourning #grief #love #a plague tale third game #video game #survival horror

[kyogre-blue]

Roundup of manhwa I've been catching up on and/or rereading recently. These are unfortunately mostly on Asura Scans, so linking or bookmarking them is useless. I really hate that about their site.

The scores are in regard to what I expect of the overall genre, not general quality per se. I'm not expecting deep, profound writing here. The range is A to F, with A being an easy recommend, B having some flaws but also having some really strong points that make it worth reading, C being extremely average, not terrible but not really doing anything well enough to recommend, and D being largely a waste of time. F is for outright offensive. But there won't really be many failing grades on this list because I just drop them and forget lol. Plus minus is based on my personal enjoyment.

Return of the Disaster-Class Hero, ch74 - Rank: B+. I really enjoyed it, but it's just that the different aspects are overall passable to good (art, humor, battles), plus it has some presence given to supporting characters (Hugo, Sungjae) and relationships, which I happen to enjoy. Additionally, the story actually advances, which can't be taken as a given lol... Unfortunately, the manhwa has been on hiatus since Aug 2023 due to the artist's health and later passing. It's unclear whether it will continue, or how it will look or progress if it does.

The Novel's Extra, ch93 - Rank: C. I was initially going to rank it higher, but while the art is nice and the characters are passable, the pacing is a mess. I genuinely couldn't tell you what the direction of the story is even supposed to be, despite how many chapters it's been. Have we even advanced at all here? I sure don't know.

The Protagonist's Younger Sister, ch33 - Rank: B, though this notably has the lowest chapter count here by a wide margin. Cute story and I like the protagonist family. It's just that it has always updated very slowly, and I'm not even sure it's still updating, so the pacing feels dragged out even if it's actually fine as a whole. But like I mentioned separately, the story has only just passed basic setup, so I don't even know for sure where it's going in the long term.

SSS-Class Suicide Hunter, ch113 - Rank: A. If I have to pick a manhwa I consider most overall impressive among those I've read, it would probably be this one. It has a very strong sense of its protagonist and what it wants to say, and it uses very distinctive arcs with strong supporting characters to do it. The murim arc was obviously a standout, but I think the romance genre arc that is wrapping up was impressive in what it dared to do. They really said "yeah, the protag falls in love and gets married, this is part of his growth as a person." I genuinely did not expect that they would go through with it and let him actually stay married. That's a thing they did. In general, this is just a very solid story, and I hope they are able to adapt it in its entirety, though that will probably take years to come.

I’m a Martial Art Villainess but I’m the Strongest!, ch92 - Rank: B. This one has a female lead (and thus a prominent romance) but it also does a lot of fight scenes and training and stuff like that. The fairly unusual (in my experience) combination of elements works well for me, though the actual contents are fairly average, nothing amazing or terrible, just okay enough. I think my biggest take away aside from the genre combination is the ML's big boobas. I seriously want the MC and ML to bang, they deserve it.

Ending Maker, ch56 - Rank: B. Actually, this one hasn't had any progress since I caught up on the TLs a while back, but I wanted to note it. I like how much focus is given to the relationship between the MC and his love interest, and I don't really have any major complaints. However, I hope they're able to flesh out the plot going forward. It's been very "go to a place, get a thing" without really giving any major weight to anything that's happened, and the supporting characters haven't really left an impression either.

The Duke's Redemption, ch50 - Rank: B-. This one also hasn't updated since I caught up on it a while back, but adding here. Pros: strong focus on the relationship between the MC and the duke, setup for potentially interesting conflict with Serpens not being chosen as the hero per the OG plot. Cons: art is kinda mid, the actual story so far has been largely filler or not very interesting in and of itself. They've built up the foundation of Shion and Serpens as a relationship, but the stuff around that could have been done a lot better.

Doctor's Rebirth, ch150 - Rank: C+, though that's being generous tbh. It is the definition of extremely mid. However, it does make me lol at least somewhat regularly about how gay the entire supporting cast is toward the MC. Truly peak shounen experience. Whether it's his master, his master's assistant (love triangle), the original novel's demonic hero protag, secondary novel villains A through D... they all want him so bad. It's very funny to me personally.

The Extra is Too Strong, ch50 - Rank: D+. I'm adding the plus purely because I spend a lot of time lolling about how buff absolutely everyone is. This includes the one notable female side character and background female characters. That aside, I'm curious what they're going to do with the original novel's protag. He's mentioned several times and with quite a bit of detail about what his deal was, plus he has a non-standard design, so I feel like we will eventually meet him and something is planned for that.

Return of the 8th Class Magician, ch81 (complete) - Rank: C. I know there's other series with a very similar title, so to be clear, this is the one where the MC has long light brown hair (lol) and regresses uses dragon tongue. A complete story that has no particular flaws, but tbh I don't think it has any particular strengths either. The thing I remember most about it is that, around chapter 60 or so, there is a note from the artist that directly says they're about to start deviating from the novel they're adapting. Immediately the main villain is introduced, dragon lore gets updated, and the MC's father is brought up, so you can just tell, yeah, his father is going to be a dragon. And he is. I didn't have any issues with the manhwa-original (presumed) ending, it was done more smoothly than I would have expected, but the whole story just didn't serve anything to make me really excited. Fine read tho, if you've got some time to kill, and the MC is quite pretty.

Trash of the Count’s Family, ch121 - Rank: C. The art is nice, and I liked the initial sections, but the pacing is a mess and nothing meaningful seems to happen. The biggest issue is probably that the MC is just not a type I care for, and the supporting characters don't feel like they're fleshed out enough to stand on their own. The entire story, with over a hundred chapters, has been just endlessly picking up power-ups in preparation for the supposed war, but 120 chapters in and we're still not to the actual war, so... I do think that I'm finally seeing the appeal of the crown prince, so there's that.

The Newbie is Too Strong, ch90 - Rank: C-. This is also a pretty basic series, but the popoi are cute, the MC doesn't annoy me, and I am legitimately interested in the plot mysteries. Also, it does seem to be promising to introduce some recurring side characters in the future, so there is some room to grow.

Overpowered Sword, ch88 - Rank: C. It's a shounen, functionally. I enjoy it in a brain off way, and I will say that I first shipped Leon with Eclid, but now I keep thinking that Karen is good, I ship Karen. However, it has a weakness in that the arcs aren't particularly interesting in themselves. Not enough emphasis on fucked up backstories for the villains and new allies, I guess. Shounen runs on fucked up backstories.

Of All Things, I Became a Crow, ch107 (complete) - Rank: C+. This is a female lead transmigration romance. It's cute! I like it well enough and it's complete. Not really a lot else to say.

#reading manhwa

[only4rei]

Hugo Otters (Return of the disaster-class hero)

request from : @momut

at first, it was just me and him.

well.. until he decided to bring Lee gun too.

me and Lee gun didn't get along very well.

why? because he's annoying!!

but as long as he's happy with Lee gun then i don't mind.

I'm not one of the saint, neither do I have an important part on saving the world.

i don't know, all i know is I'm just me.

i feel a bit useless because i can't help him while he's fighting..

i didn't quite remember anything that happen before the disaster happen, but all i could remember is that I'm always with him.

I'm used to have a fight with Lee gun whenever we go out. so when Lee gun was announced "dead" i know that's not the case.

i know that the other saint never liked him. well, i know how does that feel. when you're thinking you're the best but then someone who's smarter, stronger, popular than you showed up and making you live in their shadow.

but even tho i understand it, i don't like them. i hate it that they make him sad.

i always try to comfort him.

right now, he's married. they even have 2 children, one girl and one boy.

i already gave up on him since the day they meet, i also try to distance myself from them. but they always notice it and always worries about me.

why are you guys so nice to me? why? didn't you ever think that i must have something against you guys?

they're too nice to me... i don't know how to feel about it. I'm relieved but also scared, what if they found out about my thoughts and leave me? what would happen to me later?

everyday, everytime i hang out with them i feel relieved, that they haven't throw me away. they still need me.

it happen too fast. that accident happen too fast, even tho i was there all i could do was seeing her sacrifice herself and I'm literally just trying to calm her son's down while trying not to make any loud sound.

it's my fault. he's crying. i don't like him crying. stop crying. it hurts to see you cry. if I'm the one who sacrifice myself would it be better? now i think.. why aren't i be the one who's laying in the bed instead? at least no one will be sad right?

his children admires Lee gun. i don't know what they see in him. okay he's cool but if there's a strong wind I'm sure he'll be bald in no time.

Lee gun is Lee gun. he's back now, I'm just happy because hugo is happy. but because of that accident all i could feel is guilt. i can try and fake a smile, but everytime i do that Lee gun always glare at me. like.. what did i do wrong???

it's just a matter of time and suddenly that disaster show it self again, but this time, they win.

that makes me realize, i still can change this. i don't know how but i can go back to the past, well not just like that. it have to be the past that i remember very clearly, for the first time, I'm glad that i remember every detail of that moment.

this is it. i quickly pull her hand, now, it's different. she was the one who's in the car while I'm the one who's outside. i didn't mind. i just thought that i should've done this sooner. but the cost of doing this is breaking my soul. I'm scared. why do you look scared? shouldn't you be happy? i know, human are selfish. so am i. i just and hugo to be happy, but since his happiness is with you, then i just have to keep you alive. i don't know what I'm thinking right now. i just smiled at you because I'm glad i can make him happy by doing this.

I'm sorry for breaking the doors car, but i have to make sure i didn't do any mistake again. you have to stay there this time. not me.

ah, it's a lie if i say that I'm not feeling scared when I'm running to that disaster, I'm really scared. but i won't change my mind. I'm scared everytime i see him and your children sad. because i could've save their mom. but i didn't do it.

it's dark here, and silent.. i don't know what happening outside anymore, i just hope they didn't put hope that i can still be alive if they killed that monster. but I'm glad. now the children wouldn't lost their mother, now hugo will be relieved right? and he wouldn't lost his power.

i hate here.. i hate dark place..

even tho my soul have broken it didn't hurt. I'm relieved. i hate being hurt.

now, i hope they will stop worrying about me, and good luck meeting with Lee gun, hugo.

don't mind me here. I'm just sitting in a dark room while everyday my soul keep broke, it's like a shattered mirror. when you punch it it left a mark.

i don't know how many times, days, or months have passed by now.

but all i know is that it'll need 20 years for Lee gun to appear, by that time, i don't think my soul will still here.

you're right, Lee gun. i wish i confess to him first before this. i should've listen to you when you say that i should do it quickly. but at the same time i didn't want to do it. i just need him to be happy. even tho It's not with me then it's fine.

i wish they didn't put hope in me. because right now, i never hope i could get out either.

I'm happy right now, so you guys better be happy. okay? thank you for always worrying about me. even tho you shouldn't do that.

thank you. I'm sorry i never said that to you. thank you for worrying, and helping me. and this is how i repay you. by saving your wife and son.

thank you, and sorry.

#return of the disaster-class hero #return of the disaster-class hero x reader #hugo otter x reader

[kyndaris]

Protect One, Protect All

A Plague Tale: Innocence was one of the most harrowing games I’d played in a long time. It was a little known title from a AA studio that might have sailed beneath most people’s noses except for those in the business. I, for one, had been intrigued by the trailers and you can read my impressions on it if you search far enough down on my Tumblr blog. 

Though it took players on a journey across war ravaged France when pestilence and disease reigned in the early half of the 14th century, at its heart, the game was about a brother and a sister and the bond between them. Forged from familial ties and strengthened by the challenges they faced - whether that be deadly rats ready to tear the flesh off your bones or the Inquisition, Along the way, they were aided by strangers and friends. And though they suffered loss, the ending to A Plague Tale: Innocence was an uplifting message.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is not so kind.

Following on six months from the end of the first game, A Plague Tale: Requiem starts off peaceful enough. Hugo, Amicia, their mother Beatrice and Lucas are headed towards a city where a known Order member resides. There, they hope to find a cure for Hugo’s ailment: the Macula.

Along the way, they enjoy the fresh air and countryside, with Amicia and Hugo taking the opportunity to play at a local creek and explore what initially appears to be an abandoned tower. But after they climb inside to look around, disaster strikes. They two siblings are mistaken for thieves and Amicia must once again do the unthinkable to protect her brother and herself. The skirmish triggers the disease in Hugo’s blood and when they make it to Provence, they find that the rats have followed them.

Over the course of those opening hours, however, Hugo talks about an island that he has seen in his dreams. One he hopes that will provide the cure he so desperately needs. When Provence is overrun and they attempt to flee, so begins Amicia and Hugo’s journey to unlock the secrets of the Macula.

Watching a few of the trailers, I initially feared that something terrible would beset Amicia. I was convinced that she would have to sacrifice her life in a desperate bid to keep Hugo safe. But as the game went on, it became clear that my fears were unwarranted. True, Amicia does suffer a terrible head wound and is shot and stabbed, but as the main character, she managed to pull through - her love for her brother and the bond that they share allowing her to stand back up after every setback.

Along the way, she and Hugo discover what happened to the first known carrier of the Carrier and the origins of the Justinian plague that was hinted at in the first game. Just like Hugo and Amicia, it is implied that Basilius and his protector Aelia were family.

What I loved about A Plague Tale: Requiem was the impact that the first game had on our protagonists. During those first few hours, it was clear that Amicia was still struggling with a lot of trauma. And in the sequel, some of that trauma manifests as anger. Scared and terrified, she no longer wants to be the victim - instead turning the tables on the guards that she faces as she goes on a murderous rampage. One that culminates when their mother, Beatrice, is killed in a ritual sacrifice.

Hugo, too, has seen his own share of death across both titles. Despite Amicia’s attempts to shield him from reality, Hugo is wiser beyond his years. And yet in those early moments of the game, he still retains a lot of his childlike wonder. Being out on the sea, enjoying the games and festivals in Provence...

These moments are short and precious and give players something worth fighting for. It’s easy to understand why Amicia wants the best for her brother. He didn’t ask to be the Carrier of the Macula. He’s just a young boy that is curious about the world around him. And just like Amicia, I couldn’t help but want the best for him - even though I didn’t always agree with Amicia’s methods - especially when she became deadset to find out what happened to Basilius and Aelia. Like, couldn’t they have waited a day or two to explore the shrine atop the mountain? It wasn’t as if going into the fort with slavers a week or two after more preparations had been made would have made too much of a difference. And perhaps then, as well, Emilie and Victor wouldn’t have realised that Hugo was special.

But then, of course, we might not have had the game that we had. Sometimes events need be contrived. Like how Hugo befriended Arnaud.

In all honesty, that moment caught me off guard. For the first several chapters, Arnaud served as an antagonist to our erstwhile heroes. But then suddenly, his helm was off and he had become a reluctant ally. At first, I didn’t know who he was - as he’d been dressed in plate armour and his face hidden. The sudden 180 degree turn was jarring and probably could have been tackled slightly better.

Still, story-wise, I was utterly devastated by the ending. Even when I felt that the bond between Amicia and Hugo had become somewhat twisted and was a little too co-dependent, having to kill the young brother that had grown from an annoying liability to something precious and dear to my heart was almost too much. But kill him, I did.

And the way those last few moments played out - with the slowing of the animation as Amicia took out her sling...it was the perfect demonstration of how difficult the entire situation was.

From a gameplay standpoint, A Plague Tale: Requiem builds on what came before. Amicia now has plenty more tools in her belt when it comes to enemies although I did find it best to play it stealthy as much as possible. Or, at the very least, be a little more creative. For, just like the first game, Amicia isn’t built for combat. She doesn’t die immediately with one hit but she’s still no stalwart warrior.

There was one part in Chapter 10 that was so thoroughly infuriating because no matter what I did, I would always be detected. The guards, too, were far too alert for the slightest noise and it was a struggle to use my crossbow, pull open the door and dash through the opening without wasting too many resources.

So, while much of the gameplay had improved, there were still frustrations because of the limitations presented by the game itself.

Beyond that, the puzzles were much more enjoyable this time round. As was trying to find and locate every collectible. I didn’t quite manage to get them all, but most of them were placed just far enough down path not followed that they weren’t too hard to find.

As for the graphics, they were mighty impressive. The rat swarms, especially. I can’t really attest to the 300,000 rats that were in the advertisements, but the waves of rats that I encountered near the end of the game were terrifying. The way that they would pop up from the ground, the wave of them rushing towards Amicia and Lucas...

I cannot say if A Plague Tale: Requiem will have a sequel. While it did bring closure, I didn’t want my time with Amicia to end. Truth be told, a part of me wanted her to find happiness. Whether that be with Sophia or in the pursuit of a noble goal in aiding the future Carrier. The stinger at the end did imply a Carrier in modern times and I would be curious to see how that might play out given the years of COVID that had us all locked up in our homes.

Just like its predecessor, A Plague Tale: Requiem isn’t quite the perfect polished game that AAA game studios will pump out. But perhaps because of that, it was able to reach my cold dead heart. The story is rich and the characters were a joy even if the ending brought with it a difficult decision to make. Amicia and Hugo have left a profound mark on me and their story is something I would like others to experience.

Its nomination for Game of the Year at the Game Awards 2022 is a recognition that it’s most definitely a game worth playing. Will it win? Probably not. I’m sure Elden Ring or God of War Ragnarok will take that lofty title, but I’m satisfied that it, along with Xenoblade Chronicles 3 might finally enter the popular zeitgeist. For too long, big titles like Halo and Call of Duty have dominated the charts. It’s time for more introspective games to take the helm and show off, once and for all, that games can be art and great vehicles for narrative.

#video games #a plague tale: requiem #rats #amicia x sophia #hugo de rune #amicia de rune

[danjaley]

8 favourite characters

thanks for the tag @nocturnalazure​ !

Share ten different favorite characters from ten different pieces of media, in no particular order, then tag/send to ten people (anon or not).

Feel free to join in, I have cold, tagging people is stressing me out more than usual.

Filifjonka (Moomin series, Tove Jansson). While there are a lot of characters in this series I share attitudes with, I especially identify with this one. The Filifjonka is tidy, cares about family while not being very gregarious by nature, is frequently nervous to the point of totally panicked, but always manages to regain her ground. Then again she’s unexpectedly brave and rebellious or freaks everyone out by saying overly dramatic things (”When will our execution take place?”) In the end she learns to play the mouth-organ, to become a little more like Mumrik, whom I also admire.

Thursday Next (The Eyre Affair (and sequels) Jasper Fforde): Okay, maybe it’s not the character alone, but this is the most brilliant work of (meta) fiction I ever read. I appreciate that Thursday, as the protagonist of a fantasy novel, is over thirty, and I like her matter-of-fact way to deal with the most surreal of situations. As the first person narrator she doesn’t get kitschy or sentimental about her own feelings, and never loses her sense of humour. The whole book manages to be the most hilarious of Jabberwocky and deeply touching at the same time.

Andrej Bolkonsky (War and Peace, Leo Tolstoi): Even at dying he was better than other people! I also relate to the feeling when you’d love to speak to someone on eye-level, but everyone around you is more interested in meaningless small-talk. He did an interesting thing in my head. At the beginning of the novel I imagined him a light blonde, but the more he realized there was no place for him in this world, the darker-haired he grew. Also: That feeling when you’re heartbroken about a book, but nobody understands how you could read War and Peace in the first place. In 2018 I felt that as an expert on the Napoleonic times I ought to tackle it. My mother had bought our copy in order to disapprove of it. I read past her bookmark from 1982. Actually I was surprised how many characters’ storylines, outside the Rostov-Bolkonsky connection, just ran into nowhere. This wouldn’t have happened with Victor Hugo!

Gösta Berling (Gösta Berling, Selma Lagerlöff): Most things he does end in disaster, but in such an incredibly aesthetic way, it’s a delight to read. Also no amount of tragedy stops him from being the coolest historical guy in Sweden.

Desirée Clary / Bernadotte (Desirée, Annemarie Selinko): Again, this is generally one of my favourite books. It follows the (somewhat fictionalized) biography of the first Bernadotte Queen of Sweden and her entanglements with Napoleon Bonaparte. In the course of the novel she goes from a silly teenager to a world-wise adult to a slightly patronizing middle-aged lady, while always staying true to herself. The transition is almost imperceptible. She also speaks the author’s charming Austrian German :)

Leslie May (Rivers of London series, Ben Aaronovitch): My role-model on how to maintain dignity and self-respect in the event of ones face falling off. (This mainly refers to volume 1-3. In volume 4 she changes sides and rarely appears any more. I quit reading it when I realized the series wasn’t working towards a conclusion.)

Walter Blythe (Anne of Green Gables series, Lucy Maud Montgomery): I am rather a fan of the later volumes of Anne actually. Not to say anything about his story being truly heartbreaking, he’s a great example of how to build up a tragic hero while still letting him be a kid. In general I’m deeply fascinated with how the World Wars impacted serial literature for young girls. If I had stayed with history of literature, I would have done research about this.

Alm-Öhi (Heidi, Johann Spiry): Admittedly, as a child I identified more with Heidi herself, but I was always in awe of her grandfather. He reminded me a little bit of my own grandfather. He’s self-reliant and can do anything that needs to be done in their little world. He cares about his family while not being a gregarious person at all. When I was five years old myself, I thought he had lost his son a lifetime ago - but in fact it was less than five years. When I grew older and became a historian I also started noticing his occasional references to his past as a soldier.

#tagged #personal #nonsims

[mxlumen]

A Running List of Books I’ve Read in 2022

My Most Favorites:

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston (2x)

Love + Other Disasters - Anita Kelly

Red, White + Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston (2x)

The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care - Ashley Herring Blake

The Charm Offensive - Alison Cochrun

Heartstopper 1 - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper 2 - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper 3 - Alice Oseman

Heartstopper 4 - Alice Oseman

I Kissed Shara Wheeler - Casey McQuiston

She Gets the Girl - Racheal Lippencott + Alyson Derrick

They Both Die at the End - Adam Silvera

Last Night at the Telegraph Club - Malinda Lo

Wherever is Your Heart - Anita Kelly

Aristotle + Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins-Reid

A Scatter of Light - Malinda Lo

Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail - Ashley Herring Blake

Yerba Buena - Nina LaCour

I Liked It - A LOT

Carry On - Rainbow Rowell

Any Way the Wind Blows - Rainbow Rowell

Malice - Heather Walter

Misrule - Heather Walter

Our Favorite Songs - Anita Kelly

All Our Hidden Gifts - Caroline O’Donoghue

This is How You Lose the Time War - Amal El-Mohtar + Max Gladstone

The Extraordinaries - TJ Klune

Flash Fire - TJ Klune

Heat Wave - TJ Klune

Mistakes We’re Made - Meryl Wilsner

I Liked It

Criers War - Nina Varela

Iron Heart - Nina Vareles

Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

She Drives Me Crazy - Kelly Quindlen

Wayward Son - Rainbow Rowell

The Girl in the Sea - Molly Ostertag

Satisfaction Guaranteed - Karelia Stern-Waters

Sing Anyway - Anita Kelly

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

A Line in the Dark - Malinda Lo

Not My Personal Favorite

Queerly Beloved - Susie Dummond

Chefs Kiss - TJ Alexander

I Think I Love You - Auriane Desombre

Something to Talk About - Meryl Wilsner

When Katie Met Cassidy - Camille Perri

Currently Reading

Hang the Moon - Alexandria Bellefleur

Kiss Her Once For Me - Allison Cochrun

DNF

I’m So Not Over You - Kosoko Jackson

She Who Became the Sun - Shelley Parker-Chan

Current TBR (in my possession)

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven - Juno Dawson

What If It’s Us - Albertalli + Silvera

Beastiary - K-Ming Chang

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab

Outlawed - Anna North

Under The Whispering Door - TJ Klune

Are You My Mother? - Alison Bechdel

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For - Alison Bechdel

Aristotle + Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

The Ones We Burn - Rebecca Mix

last updated 12/6/2022

((always accepting recs!))

#casey mcquiston #one last stop #rwrb #red white and royal blue #snowbaz #tj klune #the house in the cerulean sea #anita kelly #heartstopper #alice oseman #shara wheeler #aristotle and dante discover the universe #books & libraries #the extraordinaries #evelyn hugo