#regardless of the (very confusing) background‚ the series is quite a lot of fun and rather better than its reputation (it's true that

[gentlemean]

I know the fandom loves throwing ideas around for a hypothetical adaptation, so why not chime in.

I think most of us agree that an animated series would be better than the dreaded life-action adaptation. Regardless of format, any adaptation would have to somehow preserve the peculiarities, the absolute whiplash, and way the narration shapes the narrative. In my opinion, an animated series could do this quite well.

We start off with Gideon the Ninth. It's shown in heavily stylized 3d animation (think, at least Arcane-style), with strong contrasts in the colors. The Ninth house is dark and desaturated, the lights in the eyes of animated skeletons and Gideon's hair positively burn among the dreary surroundings. Then, getting to the First, the world is vibrant and bright, lots of elaborate light refractions in the broken windows of Canaan house.

Characters are accompanied not only by small, individual musical themes, but also by visual clues. Each house might have distinct little particles and effects that appear in scenes in which the respective characters act. They might synergize in scenes where characters cooperate or contrast in scenes in which they fight. (example: the Niners are always accompanied by shadows, ink-blots staining the scenery around them. The Third are too graceful to be real, all of their animations use exaggerated smear-frames in overly grandiose flourishes. When Naberius fights Gideon, his strikes stir the shadows around Gideon, cleaving bright rifts into the inkstained dark.)

The story is told as we know it, without reordering or large ommissions. One thing we see not nearly often enough in modern television is actual narration in the background. We don't need it for all of the visuals and happenings, but so much of gtn profits from Gideon's thoughts and feelings.

A few scenes look differently though. When Gideon allows Harrow to take over her vision, the animation style changes. It gets a bit more abstract, the surroundings are textured like oil paintings, and Gideon herself has trails of smoke and ink following her movements. This is how they see the world together, and it is reflected again at the very end of the first book, when Harrow ascends. Except this time there's no borrowing, it's something deeper. The world is painted, more abstractly this time, and the characters appear almost like paper cuts.

And then the fun begins. We leave gtn and start htn. There is no more Gideon in our narrative, and yet there is her narration. As in the first series we retain parts of the narration, and it is her voice - mostly. Now, this is a source of great confusion in the book, right? The series would have to make it explicit that it is her voice, but it can have fun with it nevertheless. Some words are garbled, overlapping, distorted. Sometimes, Harrow's voice seamlessly takes over the narration, drifting in and continuing, while still using Gideon's pronunciation and vocal flow.

The visuals, on the other hand - now, that's an entirely different thing. At this point we know what the world looks like when Gideon sees it and what it looks like when they see it together. htn gives us two exciting new variations: 'Harrow with very little Gideon' for the Mithraeum story, and 'Harrow entirely without Gideon' for the river bubble. In the main, physical-world story we retain broad strokes of thick oil paint for the world around Harrow. The characters are too clean on a messy background, with some of the paint steadily bleeding into their shapes. The paint seems almost like it is an active participant in the narrative, crawling across inconvenient truths to blot them out, staining everyone but keeping it's distant from John, who therefore remains clearer than clear, shiny and bright, squeaky clean and lemon scented. But then there's the river bubble, and we get full Harrow, with a teeny bit of Wake. The scenery around the characters is vague and misty, swathes of color arrange into a distorted background like ink being poured into water. The entire scenery bleeds color and light into the surroundings of dark, barely saturated characters. It breaks at the seams when the uncomfortably realistic fleshy pipes wind through the walls, something too concrete for a tearstained world.

Towards the final act, we see a few changes: Abigail summons Nonius, and the shape language changes. Everything's still illustrated the way it was before, but the stark, desaturated characters in his proximity stop being mere dark blots in this scenery, and instead become almost comic-like. Their strikes and attacks are supported by respective action lines, their poses and moves adapt to the newly imposed genre conventions. Meanwhile, on the Mithraeum, Gideon is keeping the fires burning. We're almost back to the way we used to see the world in the beginning, Gideon's stark contrast and smooth environments. But there's the ink bleeding into the scenery from dark corners and bright red puddles, there's enough of Harrow here to stain the world.

And, well. We get to Nona. And Nona's world fundamentally isn't like the one the other's see. Nona's world is mismatched and chaotic and charmingly odd. Most of it is claymation, interspersed with some other materials. Cam's swords are real metal, the dust of New Rho fills the air, and most of the food is probably actual food that looks as dreadfully out of place in this world as it feels in Nona's mouth. There remains a touch of Harrow, expressive movements are exaggerated with her flowing ink, action lines like calligraphy. Of course, there are also the John chapters. Here, we get to have proper fun with the visuals. Let's recap: it's Harrow getting to experience a memory of Alecto, narrated by John. We already know Harrow's flowing colors that stain the backgrounds, and we get mixed medium animation with it: articulated plastic dolls, of course, with some natural materials (moss, wood, some metal scraps) as set dressing.

I'm still not entirely settled on the Nona Epilogue. As long as Alecto isn't out I'm not sure whether I want to keep in line with something from the next book, or whether it's its own thing. Until we know more: illuminated manuscript.

---

Well, that was more than I originally intended to write, but I've had those thoughts in my head basically since I've started the books, and they needed an outlet. There's plenty more ideas where those came from, please please talk to me. 'The Unwanted Guest' as an actual play, anyone? (When Cam makes contact with Babs, and the fight initiates, the camera zooms out from the now frozen claymation, revealing it's situated on a table in the front row of a theatre hall BTW)

#the locked tomb #tlt #Gideon the Ninth spoilers #Harrow the Ninth spoilers #Nona the Ninth spoilers #I could keep talking for hours. Anyone want a full concept for the soundtrack? #just tell me

[theizzifromosaka]

Monster High (generation 1)

It’s great to be back, I’m feeling a lot better and while I’m still not “healthy” I’m more than able enough to write this review.

Monster High is a multimedia franchise, primarily a fashion doll line aimed at young girls. It might surprise you to learn that I am not the target demographic for this series, but I’m more than willing to give this series a fair shot. I was not familiar with this series before starting this review beyond technically having watched Izzzyzzz’s overview of the franchise at some point, and I mostly had that on in the background when working on something else. I’m practically going in blind.

Frankie Stein

Let me start off this section off by adressing that the current version of Frankie Stein is NB, and uses gender neutral pronouns. I looked into it to be safe, and as I understand it, these are considered different characters that happen to share a name, kinda like all the different guys named Link from Zelda.

Frankie is a reanimated corpse, daugher of Frankenstein’s Monster, as you might imagine from her name. She’s the Audience Surrogate, unfamiliar with the ways of the world but wanting to do the right thing, and a strong want to fit in. She can discharge electricity, usually involuntarily when stressed or excited.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, alternative title The Modern Prometheus, is often cited as the earliest work of Science Fiction. It follows one Victor Frankenstein as his obsession with playing God leads to the creation of a monster that torments him. The monster itself suffers a great deal due to Victor’s hubris, overall quite a miserable time for everyone involved. Frankie seems to mostly take after the Universal adaptation of Frankenstein, specifically the green skin and bolts in her neck being iconic to that iteration. The electricity thing is probably an homage to how that version of Victor brings his creation to life.

Frankie is not my favorite character. Can’t quite put my finger on why, there’s plenty about her design I like. The heterochromia is neat, and her fall apart nature gets a lot of use in the shorts, with characters often asking her to “lend a hand”. Her hairstyle is a clear homage to the Bride of Frankenstein and the myriad of stitches is always fun. Maybe the strict adherence to Universal’s version of Frankenstein rubs me the wrong way.

Draculaura

Draculaura’s a vegetarian Vampire, the daughter of Count Dracula. She’s the most feminine of the group, and besides Frankie usually the most willing to give people a chance. She’s dating Clawdeen’s brother Clawd, and the two are very loyal to each other. Before the two met Draculaura was kind of boy crazy, especially compared with the rest of the cast.

Draculaura is the daughter of Count Dracula, which between Monster High and Castlevania I guess means it’s generally accepted Dracula is terrible at naming his kids. Actually, the wiki states that not only is Draculaura adopted, it’s not even THE Dracula, it’s some other guy. It just makes the whole thing confusing. Bram Stoker’s Dracula is in many ways responsible for how we in the modern day perceive vampires, with specifically the Universal film adaptation solidifying many things, such as the ability to transform into bats and the lack of a reflection.

Draculaura’s design, unlike Frankie’s, is not very invocative of her more famous relative, and I appreciate her design’s originality. The portruding fangs and bat motif help her to read as a vampire regardless, and her Victorian era-inspired look helps bring out her immortal nature. Overall, good design.

Clawdeen Wolf

Clawdeen comes from a very large family of werewolves. Due to her upbringing she’s the most resourceful of the group and is often the most level headed one. A bit they do in the shorts is at the beginning of the short Clawdeen will give a poor piece of advice and at the end of the short she’ll contradict herself with a good, contrary piece of advice.

Unlike the other main three, Clawdeen is not related to a famous monster, though given the precedent set by the other two, it’s probably safe to assume there’s some Universal’s The Wolf Man in there. The movies and shorts often making use of her canid features and her increased proficiencies in the presence of a full moon.

Clawdeen’s lack of reliance on an established popular monster leads her to be the most original of the main trio, and of many of the side characters. According to the wiki she’s supposed to be covered in fur, which does not come across in her design very well. Overall her Gen 1 design doesn’t read as “werewolf” very well, though her strong personality carries her in my opinion. Not as strong a design as the other two, but still a fun character.

Cleo De Nile

Cleo is I guess another reanimated corpse? It’s kinda unclear how the whole “mummy” thing works, she might just be like a more able bodied ghoul. She’s got an unreasonable amount of self confidence, and is very proud of her relationship with Deuce. Unlike Draculaura and Clawd their relationship is never really challenged from what I saw. She sees herself as something of a role model to all the other monsters at Monster High, and depending on the needs of the story she’ll occasionally be right.

Rounding out the Usual Suspects, Cleo De Nile’s obvious inspiration is Universal’s The Mummy, though her father is stated to be the ancient Pharaoh Ramses the Great. The movie’s mummy is a fictional priest by the name of Imhotep, played by Boris Karloff, same guy that played Frankenstein’s Monster and provided the voice of The Grinch. These four monsters (Frankenstein’s Monster, Count Dracula, The Wolf Man and The Mummy) are the four most popular of the Universal Classic Monsters, and are often paired together even outside of that context (Count Chocula & Co., Hotel Transylvania, your local Dollar Store’s seasonal Halloween section, etc.), with the occasional inclusion of the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Invisible Man and the Phantom of the Opera.

Cleo’s design is by far the least monstrous of any character from this series, and even in terms of her personality and abilities she could hardly be considered frightening or even abnormal. Her characterization isn’t all that consistent, sometimes she’ll act as the voice of the student body and other times she’s treated as the school idiot. I’ll admit I’m a bit biased as I’m just not into the whole “mummy” thing.

Ghoulia Yelps

Ghoulia is a very intelligent ghoul who speaks a fictional foreign language that all the rest of the cast understands. Despite being part of the main group since the very beginning her name is not in any of the intro songs that I saw, and that bothers me a lot. There’s also the issue of her potentially being an untasteful depiction of a neurodivergent person. Ghoulia is a Ghoul as you might imagine, a Zombie, and the brainiest girl at school.

Once again, Ghoulia is not related to any specific popular monster, though it’s pretty difficult for zombies to become popular given their tendency to act as a swarm instead of individuals. This is actually addressed in Monster High, with Ghouls supposedly being very easily influenced and made subservient, which is how Cleo and Ghoulia became friends. To keep up the trend of me talking about classic monster movies, Night of the Living Dead is NOT by Universal (shocker), it’s an independent film that due to an oversight was accidentally made public domain and served as the basis for how we expect zombies to act in modern pop media. Funnily enough, the word Zombie hadn’t begun to be used to refer to the undead, with the term “ghoul” being used by the production team, and no term at all used in the film. It’s a pretty good movie, and it’s easy to find online thanks to it being public domain. I recommend giving it a watch.

I feel like I have to address this with how my previous post popped off: Ghoulia’s animal companion is an owl name Sir Hoots A Lot, which shares an extremely similar name with a cosmetic for the Sniper in Team Fortress 2, Sir Hootsalot. This is most likely a coincidence, however the Monster High character did come first.

I actually really like Ghoulia. She’s got a fun design, and the pun of her being brainy, cuz like “Braaaainsssss”, is really cute. There is, as previously mentioned, the potential issue of her being neurodivergent coded, however she’s mostly portrayed positively, and it doesn’t seem to have been done intentionally.

Lagoona Blue

Lagoona’s a Sea Monster, an overall reliable, level headed and physically capable character. Her relationship with Gill is explored in the shorts, starting as a one sided crush to Gill confronting his parents about their dislike of sea monsters, as his family is freshwater. The writers seem to know she’s kinda overpowered as she’s often off doing her own thing, or has some convenient excuse to not get involved with issues.

Lagoona is stated somewhat vaguely to be the daughter of a Sea Monster and an Ocean Nymph on the wiki, which would potentially leave this section of the review empty if not for her boyfriend being freshwater and very likely having some Creature from the Black Lagoon inspiration. The Creature from the Black Lagoon is unapologetically an allegory for race relations, and though the original film did not depict the creature sympathetically, future interpretations and homages would give the creature far more characterization, culminating in works like The Shape of Water, which actively contradict the original film’s message. Come to think of it, Lagoona and Gill’s relationship shares some parallels too…

Though Lagoona does suffer from the “just paint em blue” fallacy, I’m still inclined to like her design. Honestly I’m not a fan of her depiction in the shorts but I think she really hits her stride once she enters into 3d. Also basically all the characters in this series suffer from “just paint em blue”, so it’s really not fair to hold it against only her.

Abbey Bominable

Abbey is an exchange student from the Himalayas, who confusingly has a Russian accent. She comes off as blunt and cold but she’s eager to make friends, and her straightforwardness is blamed on her upbringing on mountains teaching her to never waste her breath. She’s a Yeti with tremendous physical strength and ice powers.

We’ve officially reached the side characters, which means these characters can basically be taken at face value. I don’t have much to say about Yetis anyways besides it seems to be a cultural thing so very likely all western depictions of it are ignorant or insensitive.

Abbey’s cool, she is to Monster High what Rolf is to Ed, Edd n Eddy. She brings a vaguely foreign twist to the cast, and her place as an outsider often leaves her as the most likely to think outside the box. I will say, however, that her design doesn’t exactly match her personality, and it doesn’t seem intentional.

Toralei Stripe

Toralei is basically what I expected Cleo to be when she was first introduced, she’s a much more traditional Mean Girl. Her only motivation when doing anything seems to be “how can I cause the most chaos possible?” According to the wiki Toralei is a Werecat, which I was surprised to learn is an actual thing.

Toralei, and I mean no disrespect when I say this, is what I wanted Clawdeen to kinda be, in the visual department. Perhaps her passing resemblance to my own Gremlins subconsciously influenced my decision but those girls are more lemur-like. Her multicolored pattern reads a lot more like fur than Clawdeen’s does, and I do like me a love-to-hate-’em villain.

Spectra Vondergeist

Me talking about Spectra might seem a bit odd since she’s not really considered an important character, but I decided to include her because I’m incredibly biased and really like her 2d design. She writes a blog or something on the happenings at Monster High, she’s usually just floating around taking pictures of things.

She’s see-through, has purple hair, dark sclera and wild hair in her 2d depiction. If she’s not the coolest looking side character then I don’t know who is.

I initially wanted to add quick thoughts about the Monster Boys of Monster High, but this has already gone on long enough. Besides, it would’ve just culminated in me finding a way to share Jeckyll Jeckyll Hyde with y’all, so I’ll just cut to the chase. Maybe some other time.

This series ended up being basically what I expected it to be, I can definitely see myself enjoying these films as a young boy in much the same way I enjoyed the likes of Bratz and Winx, and much like them having very little in the way of shame about it. I just missed the Monster High boat however, so what are my thoughts about it? The character designs are delightfully out there for fashion dolls, especially at the time, and the characters are fun homages to classic monsters.

As for their Monster Girls? Despite the series’ massive popularity you might be disappointed to learn how small its influence on Monster Girl character design is, likely because of what people normally associate with the subject. Monster Girls aren’t for kids, after all, it’s a niche fetish thing. But why is it that way? For Monster Girl Connoisseurs like myself Monster High offers a refreshing look into a reality where such preconceptions don’t exist, and Monster Girls merely are. Definitely worth a look if you can overlook the occasional simplicity of the plots and characters.

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#monster girls #Monster Girl Reviews #Monster High #monster high gen 1 #Frankenstein #Dracula #Wolf Man #The Mummy #Youtube #Jeckyll Jeckyll Hyde Jeckyll Hyde Hyde Jeckyll

[azazelsconfessional]

((so i was gonna open up my askbox again but I got distracted doing this and watching streams i think idr what i did the past few hours, buuut there's something I need to cover first, especially since there are so many new people around! Hello! Especially since so many of you are playing OCs/MCs.

Don't worry, it's a tip to hopefully help you along! It may get a little long, especially as I try and provide examples. . .but hopefully it'll help.

I'm gonna talk a lot about OCs but this applies to canon characters too a bit. It certainly helps.

Tl;dr, you should have a character profile page.

(also remember that tumblr mobile doesn't really have direct access to Pages made with the Pages function on desktop, so you'll have to link them manually in your pinned or description or host them on another site(I used Google Docs in the apst) or in a regular post(this makes it very easy to lose as a forewarning) for maximum accessibility!)

(rules pages are also really really handy if you have alot of resteictions.)

So, in general, OCs have a bit of a lower reception rate in rp. Idk if that'll be the case here with MCs because they're, well, the main character. Housamo is also a series that lends itself well to OCs pretty well, especially non-human ones, but I figured I'd warn for that.

BUT. That doesn't mean you shouldn't play an OC! It just means there are things you need to keep in mind!

Think of all of the OCs you've seen--you all seem to be fun and wonderful people, and your characters are surely interesting. But. . .if you don't tell anybody about them, nobody will know what's going on or where to start, which makes asking questions a little hard, right? That's easier to work around with MC characters--we've played the game, we know the story, we know the characters, so we can figure out questions fairly easily based on that alone and go from there.

But with other OCs, especially those that don't represent charactera from mythology or fiction like many other characters in housamo do, there's like. Nowhere to start. We may see a face or some dialogue, but otherwise we don't have a frame of reference.

That's where a profile comes in!

Azazel-mun, I don't want to share all of the info about my character at once!

What if I don't know everything about my OC yet and want to figure it out along thw way?

The profile doesn't have to be super detailed! At most it shoule include things like the character's name and age and probably things like their location, profession, grade in school or place of work, etc., and anything you'd notice on the surface like their apperance. It's never a bad thing to include a description of their personality too, or a small section about their history/background. Little things that even you should probably know, too.

You can also section your profile off a bit into things like "surface info," "meta info," "things you could easily figure out about them," etc. That way, no one can spoil themself. Making lists like this can help you think these things through if you haven't already as well.

Let's use Azazel, a character that you probably know already, as an example here. I don't have a profile set

Name: Azazel

Species: Fallen Angel; Capra Therian - an anthropomorphic Goat (?)

Gender(pronouns): Male(he/him)

Age: difficult to calculate; several thousand years old?

Apperance age: hard to say, he's not human. Adult.

Origins: banished from his home world of Eden, has been in the human world for several thousand years

Profession: Priest of dubious denomination, most likely Catholic or Protestant; teacher at Daikanyama Academy; de facto head of the Missionaries Non-Profit charity Organization; supervisor of the Aoyama Missionaries

Role & Rule: Watcher; Revelation - allows him to see anything within the territory of the Aoyama Missionaries and anywhere the pages of his Artifact see

Apperance: Azazel is a 5'10"(180cm) tall, anthropomorphic goat of ambiguous breed, with fawn fur all over his body and lighter fur on his head and around his neck. He has brown, riged horns which curve out and back. Though his eyes are often closed, when opened they're red. He always carried around a leather bound bible with an eye on the cover, and is never seen without several chains on his person, although only the one(s) around his neck can be seen unless he's undressed.

He wears a black priest's cassock with a maroon sash and a capelet of the same color, with the same eye as on his bible on the shoulders of the cape, and brown dress shoes. The front of the robe is always open to expose his bare chest and the chains beneath.

Personality: Azazel is kind and doting, very fitting of both a teacher and priest, although his openly flirtatious, lustful, and secretive nature causes others to distrust him. He doesn't mind this at all. He has a strong adoration for humans, and values love in all of its forms more than anything. He's a bit of a passive person, often being unmotivated but working hard regardless, and seems to prefer to watch others and the world go by, although he won't decline most invitations to take part in it. He is always aware of anything that happens within the extensive territory of the Missionaries, and seems to know and see just about everything about anyone he meets, from their surface to their soul. . . .

If you know Azazel, or take note of some of the wording or question marks, you'll note I didn't explain everything(although I may have shared more than you want to.) This is just a bare bones exampe of how I do my profiles--but it can get even more bare!

I'll do two this time, a more vague version of Azazel's, and another that obscures information all together, using the same or a similar format to the above.

Name: Azazel

Species: anthropomorphic goat

Gender(pronouns): male (he/him)

Age: unquestionably an adult

Origins: Eden

Profession: Priest; teacher; head of a charity NPO; member of the Missionaries

Apperance: Horned goatman of slightly above average human height. Light brown fur, blond fur-hair, red eyes. Wears priest robes and a gold chain around his neck and chest. Carries around a bible with an eye on it?

Personality: Kind of eerie, but friendly and affectionate. A little flirtatious, especially towards humans. Seems to know everything about people for some reason?

Compare it to the one before--see how I've left even more things off or left things ambiguous while still sharing what's necessary or surface level? However, it's also not as engaging or as informative as the other one where I gave more information.

As someone who plays him, profiles like this aren't as helpful for me lol since he knows so much about everyone and everything, having a lot of details helps me play my character!

Now, as helpful as this is, this is also a character you probably know. So how about I do this with an OC? Normally I'm extremely detailed in my profiles and such, especially for OCs, sharing headcanons and ideas for relationships between characters. But, again, I'll try and show how you can show some info while leaving some up to people to ask about to later be filled in.

Name: Kezia

Faceclaim/Art Source: [this is where you would put where you get the art for any icons you use--if you draw it yourself, say so; if you use official art from a series, credit the name of the character and the series; if you use picrews, link the specific picrews. DO NOT USE ART YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PERMITTED TO USE. DO NOT STEAL ART. IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE CREDIT, ASK SOMEONE TO HELP YOU, DO NOT JUST SAY THAT IT ISN'T YOURS. DO NOT USE ART YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO USE OR THAT ISN'T FROM A SERIES OF SOME SORT.]

Species: Human

Gender(pronouns): Female (she/her)

Age: mid 20's~early 30's?

Apperance age: older than she looks?

Origins: Tokyo?

Profession: Professor; Witch

Apperance: A fidgety woman who looks older than she is. She looks anxious and confused as often as she looks curious and confident. Wavy light brown hair. Often carries around schoolbooks and is never alone, always with a Rattus Therian and often with a Nyarlathotep.

Personality: seemingly anxious, but curious and exploratative nonetheless. On the awkward side, but can still keep up with the Nyarls that accompany her. Gets into trouble when she gets ahead of herself in exploring and learning about the arcane, but her Rule allows her to disappear easily.

History: Has always been curious about magic and attempted to run through a Gate when they began to open up. Performed a summon and brought a certain transients to Tokyo and recieved her familiar and the magic to use her Rule as a result. Currently teaches at a college. She stumbled into a certain someone while attempting to explore time, and became a fan ever since.

That tells you a fair amount, doesn't it? Even for someone you don't know? It may even raise some questions that you could ask. At the same time, it doesn't tell you that much, and that can be as much of a hindrance for coming up with questions as saying too much can. It's really up to you what's too much and too little. Here's a more detailed version! Some things have been left vague or confusing in such a way that they could be filled in after being revealed through asks and play. That way, people are encouraged to/given ideas of what to ask--and you can still share things in the long run.

Name: Kezia

Faceclaim/Art Source: [N/A]

Species: Human

Gender(pronouns): Female (she/her)

Age: mid 20's~early 30's?

Apperance age: somewhere in her 30's, maybe even a little older

Origins: Tokyo, with some sort of connection to at least one other world

Profession: Professor of [?] at [?] Academy; Witch

Role & Rule: [?] & [?]

Artifact, Summon, Familiar?: Always accompanied by at least one Nyarlathotep and some sort of man-rat? She also carries around a book that's labeled as a Grimoire, but it's rare for someone to be both a summon-user and an Artifact-user. . . .

Apperance: A fidgety older woman wearing a labcoat and a witch's hat. She looks quite stressed and has trouble sitting still. Her ashy brown hair is thin and a little wavy, with some strands of gray. Although she often squints, she doesn't wear glasses. She carries around a lot of books relating to maths and sciences and one labeled 'Grimoire' decorated with arcane symbols from Gehenna and Old Ones. She's always accompanied by at least one Nyarlathotep and a very short, bearded man who can best be described as a brown rat therian with a human-like face. Sometimes there's a normal rat on her person or in her pockets.

Personality: Kezia is a fidgety and anxious magic practitioner. She's very curious about other worlds and has been since the Gates appeared in this Tokyo since she was a child, however she has been pursuing magic before then. She often appears somewhat confused about or fascenated by even her usual surroundings, but, at other times moves through the world with confidence even in unfamiliar territory. She also likes rats and other rodents, and as such will often avoid felines and birds of prey. She has a tendency to disappear, seeming to walk through walls despite assuredly being alive.

She's a little bit awkward with people, but somehow keeps up with Nyarlathoteps nonetheless. She's a good teacher, once she figures out how to explain things in ways others can understand easily, but can be a bit difficult to follow and flighty up until then. Aware of this, she's rather patient, if a little down on herself at times. However, she most often simply has her mind elsewhere. Despite this and the company she keeps, she's relatively sane. . .most of the time.

She shares a name with a witch from the world of Old Ones who made a pact with Nyarlathotep, believing him to be the Devil. . .and the ratman always at her side uses the same name as that witch's familiar as well. It's. . .probably just a coincidence. . .who would rightfully make a pact with Nyarlathotep?

History: Kezia is an adult human from this Tokyo before the apperance of the Gates and construction of the Walls. She's explored various witchcraft pursuits since she was a child, with what was originally a mere imaginative curiosity and fascination. After the arrival of the Gates when she was still young, she snuck over the fences built around one and attempted to go inside the massive pillar of light, which she attributes to the reason she often seems to struggle with her vision. Several years later, she performed a successful summon and she recieved her familiar, Brown Jenkin, transformed into a somewhat therian form from one of her pet rats, and was given some powers from Nyarlathotep. She has no discernable control over any of the chaotic creatures, however they seem to spend time around her regardless.

At present she's a professor of a subject that interests her at a certain college. She's had other dangerous run-ins due to her excitement over the arcane and "darker" arts, but doesn't seem to show any signs of stopping. However, after an incident in an attempt to explore time itself, she encountered a certain guardian of time and feels reluctant for once to explore it further. . .although she's become quite a big fan of his.

. . .i ran out of steam amd kinda lost track of where i was going. idk if that helped at all really. But maybe it did! I hope it did. You don't need to use any of those things exactly by any means, but that's the kind of thing you usually see in profile pages. Basics like someone's name and birthday and age and apperance and a little about their personality, maybe some history. Oftentimes things like powers and weapons and the like. Interests, hobbies, ways they could be intereacted with, etc. Just stuff that'd help you know the character.

I write everything in paragraph form, but everyone is more than welcome to use a more script format. I love making profiles, myself--it really helps to think about the character and details about them. Normally I make really, really detailed profiles, but maybe I'll try and be more simple about it this time around. depends on how i'm feeling.

I know this seems weirdly hypocritical given I don't have one but when I first made this blog there were like four of us including myself. I didn't see the need for a rules or profile page because I didn't anticipate that there'd be so many of us or, like, people from other fandoms or who aren't familiar with certain characters. I'll rectify that soon hopefully. But I figured I'd pass along this idea/knowledge to others.

. . .I'm gonna go reopen my askbox now. Feel free to send asks again, ask about this, etc! You can send me an IM too if you want. I'll properly close up the guest event tomorrow. I'm real tired rn lol so idk how much i'll get done, but i usually do things super late at night my time, so i have some time to pull my shit together haha))

#ooc #((anyway i'm gonna open the askbox and crawl into a hole)) #((i got nothing done lol i was so engaged with something else all week))

[hellonoblesky]

School got me worn out so here's my team dynamic HCs

It's Kaeya, Xingqiu, Diluc, and Ayaka atm hngjfhgdjfg

Kaeya

This man is so tired, Archons please let him rest

Has to pick up his week's paperwork from Jean every Monday when we go to Mondstadt to buy food supplies and stuff before fighting Andrius, gets to work on it while Diluc and the Andrius team go at it

Actually is the person who keeps the whole party safe, has pulled Xingqiu away from ledges while he's reading more times than he can count, makes sure everyone has food at all times, and keeps the schedule in line

Has a flask of Death After Noon that he keeps on him, has to actively keep it away from Xingqiu because the kid's curious

He is so tired he is the reason the party only gets up to leave at like noon because he sleeps in

Thinks he's good enough at hiding his anxiety that no one else has noticed

He is not, they've all noticed him shaking visibly at high speeds in 90-degree weather and the kids will do their best to avoid fraying his nerves on a bad day

Very kind to Xingqiu and Ayaka, kinda like a cool uncle? Buys them things even though they can afford it

Kinda lets the kids do what they want and chat while he keeps them safe and the whole party on their way

Absolute tank, balances his skillset out so he can manage most threats alone, no one has to get hurt, they can just travel, it's fine it's fine

Pretends to casually bring up stuff the kids want to do (after meticulously making sure the party would be in the right place at the right time)

"Xingqiu, we have time to kill, care to show us to the Wanwen Bookhouse? We can see if they have the next issue in that book series you're always reading! :)"

"Ayaka, you wanted to try some Liyuen cuisine, didn't you? We have a dear friend who just so happens to be a chef at Wanmin Restaurant! And since we're in Liyue anyway, we should swing by, shouldn't we?"

He tries his best to find something Diluc wouldn't mind doing too! Usually, Diluc turns him down but Kaeya has scored on occasion!

"C'mon Diluc, you can't have lost all your taste for reading, right? I hear Inazuma has some interesting books nowadays, what with all the isolation..."

Basically, he just tries his best and is so tired please let him rest

Diluc

This man is angry all the time but he doesn't mean to be. He's just unnerved because he's basically back to hunting Fatui in other nations. He just isn't alone this time and the Fatui aren't the focus

He's so annoyed that they don't leave until Kaeya wakes up, actively in denial about the fact that he himself wakes up only an hour earlier and everyone else is waiting for much longer

Runs right into danger all the time please someone tell this man to calm down he is the reason they need so much food

Does and takes a whole lot of damage at the same time and it stresses Kaeya out so much

Was not Pleased to find out he'd be stuck traveling with Kaeya, puts up with it because he can't bring himself to turn down the Traveler's request. Because in his eyes they're just a kid trying to find their family and he really can't turn down their plea for help in

Gets along surprisingly well with Xingqiu, they both enjoy reading, and often recommend books to each other! Diluc has no idea Xingqiu wrote Legend of a Sword, but the only reason for that is that he literally forgot the book name

"Hmm... in Mondstadt we have this book, The Fox and the Dandelion Sea? For a traditional Mondstadt fairytale, it does remind me of Inazuma, funnily enough. There are versions of the book that are watered down for younger children, but if you have the time I'd recommend the full novelization."

"Tales From the Waves? No, I haven't read that. Is it good?" ... "A novelization of an old ship captain's life? That does sound interesting... I'll pick up a copy when I can"

Gets along well with Ayaka as well, they both appreciate the arts and such so they talk about that

"In Mondstadt we don't have nearly as many festivals as they do in Inazuma... but when we do they're quite the occasion, and very dear to people's hearts. There would be rioting in the streets if the Windblume Festival was postponed..."

"Oh Mond has its fair share of dance traditions, but they fell to be a staple of the Lawrence rule, so not many traditional dances remain... although if you wish to learn more about them you could ask Kaeya to introduce you to the Knight's Recconacance Captain. She doesn't like me very much"

Is the one person who actually doesn't realize that Kaeya is anxious All The Time, literally could watch him shake uncontrollably as Venti walks by and think it was his Vision acting up, he has all the pieces to put the puzzle together but has lost interest in it

Xingqiu

Top ten reasons the party gets sidetracked, number one: Xingqiu finding a book and getting so into it that he doesn't notice people

Actually besties with Ayaka he thinks she's really cool!

Top ten reasons why Kaeya actually gets to sleep as long as he does, number one: Xingqiu jumping up and yanking Diluc's hair when he tries to wake him up

"You're 22 you can go get breakfast by yourself, my leige"

Infodumps about his books to the whole party while they're eating dinner regardless of if they're listening or not (they are, they always are)

Pulls out relevant trivia out of nowhere?? Like they'll be stuck in some ruins and Xingqiu just

"Hey, you know this specific style of ruins are known to be built with metal hatches that always lead to escape routes :)"

Or like

"Oh yeah, the coloration in the animals is different here because the plants in Inazuma so often have purple and blue pigmentation, and Inazuma is so naturally isolated, that the animals adapted to get their pigments partially from the foliage!"

And no one knows how or why he knows this much but he Does??

Also, knows everyone's favorite bird for some reason and talks about them, why? Idk I think he'd like birds!!

"A peacock? Oh, I've never even seen one of those! I hear they're lovely, but a little noisy. Sometimes we get feathers imported for design reference at the Feyun Commerce Guild though!"

"Umbertail Falcon, right? Ohh I hear they can be very loyal, right? Ahh, so that's why yours flys down to check in on you? That's lovely! Owls? Oh yeah, those are cool birds, you know their feathers are fanned out just right so they're entirely silent while flying!"

"Herons? Oh yeah, that's what your title is, right? Graceful... I think they're more stealthy, very good at waiting to strike. That's how they hunt, you know? Just being patient and stealthy, then striking. That's also why they're so graceful standing there all the time!"

Bummed that he's the only person in the party without a bird as his constellation tbh, but he's alright with it because he's got books!!

Mentioned Albedo and Kaeya almost choked on his food, Xingqiu thought this was hilarious

Routinely plays pranks on Diluc and occasionally manages to pull a deez joke on Kaeya, leaves Ayaka alone with the pranks though because he knows she's new to all of this

Ayaka

Oh this poor girl, Lumine just dropped her off with Mondstadt's most dysfunctional siblings and a kid who reads at the speed of light and said have fun

Really gets along well with Xingqiu!! Having someone with a somewhat similar background is definitely a relief, especially because Kaeya and Diluc intimidate her, what with them arguing most of the time they interact

She recognizes the anxiety in Kaeya (because she also has it) so she's a little more comfortable approaching him because of that

She's happy to talk about Inazuma's ruins and is fascinated by Kaeya bringing up similar ruins in Mondstadt and Liyue

She really appreciates him remembering what she's interested in and making time in the day for it!

Diluc on the other hand?? She has... some idea how to talk to him? But?? He is either aggressive or glaring off into the distance at all times, and she's been around long enough to know that he doesn't mean to be like that but it's still unnerving to her

However, she Can talk to him! She is still a little confused because he constantly sounds so grumpy, but she's realized that he's actually really good at listening, and is absolutely willing to talk about Mondstadt traditions! Because she does really like to learn about other nations

Plus, she can go to Xingqiu to answer most of her questions!

"Xingqiu, I- I hope this isn't an odd question, but ah... how exactly do you get used to Kaeya and Diluc? I don't think I've quite figured it out yet..?"

"So in Liyue... the Merchant stalls are on the docks? Like Ritou but it's all on the docks? Interesting..."

"You're the second born of the Feyun Commerce Guild? Oh! Forgive me, I thought you were the eldest, my brother handles most international relations..."

It was really hard for her to adjust to the team, just because of how ragtag it is most of the time, but she's got it by now!

She actually kind of likes the scrappy chaos! She hasn't completely gotten used to it all but she finds it like kind of a break from having to uphold her image at all times

Top five Ayaka quotes and who she said them to:

"They fight a wolf ghost every week...?? Are they ok??" (To Kaeya, about the Andrius team)

"So this is Morax's old... dragon friend...??" (To Xingqiu)

"Wait, you do this every week?" (To Diluc, about the domains)

"Oh!! Oh it is spicy!!!" (To Xingqiu, about Xiangling's cooking)

"Ah... OH! Yes um I uh- *gay hand flip* ?? Is that right??" (Xingqiu was talking about Chongyun)

Also the party went to Dragonspine and Ayaka was actually really interested in Durin because she didn't know that other nations also had odd giant dragon skeletons

#genshin impact #genshin kaeya #kaeya albrich #genshin diluc #diluc ragnvindr #genshin xingqiu #genshin ayaka #kamisato ayaka #please disregard any msitakes I am so tired I just wanted to write sometehing #gonna post my school doodles in my sketchbook on the art blog later probably anyway #kaeya has anxiety diluc seems mad xingqiu is stable and ayaka is confused that's it that's the post

[grishaversecommunityyy]

The Grishaverse Ship Survey Results

So! After all of that, we finally have the results! What is the general opinion on the ships in the Grishaverse? Well, that’s for you to read below! It’s actually pretty interesting and, while some parts make sense, there were definitely some parts which... surprised me... Anyway, onto the results!

Everything in this post can be split into:

The Grisha Trilogy

Six Of Crows Duology

The Nikolai Series

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

Most Enjoyed Ships

Least Enjoyed Ships

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

Notes from the Survey 

(note from mod emily: i tried to bold all of fritz’ comments, but i might have missed a few! be aware there are two of us analysing here :))

The Grisha Trilogy

The first book series we asked about was, of course, the first chronologically: the Grisha Trilogy. The most popular ship, with 83% voters for this series selecting this, was Genya/David (Fritz was glad to hear that; Yes I am). This is likely due to the lack of alternate romantic interests in the series, which seems to be a major issue for Alina’s ships. It also seems to be one genuinely enjoyed by most fans, in contrast to Darkling/Alina and Mal/Alina (each around 30%) and Nikolai/Alina (just under 20%), for which I have definitely seen plenty of debate. The second and third most popular ships for this series were Tamar/Nadia (55%) and Nikolai/Zoya (47%). Interestingly, Genya/Alina (43%) and Zoya/Alina (30%) ranked surprisingly high, especially considering how few of my friends and associates I hear talking about them. Good for them!

Honourable mentions:

Alina/Sun (no doubt inspired by that crack fic I wrote a while back) (Still havent read that out of fear)

Alina alone (a common concept among those surveyed, though most mentioned it later)

Zoya/Genya or Alina/Zoya/Genya

Six Of Crows Duology

This series was a little less divided, I would say. Predictably, Kaz/Inej came out on top with a whopping 96% of voters (:relieved:), with Wylan/Jesper next (90%) and Nina/Matthias just after (83%). None of the others really came close, despite Nina/Inej gathering 35% of the votes and Colm/Aditi at 25% (yeah, I’m not sure why that was so popular on AO3 either, but nobody really has objections so I assume that’s why it amassed so many votes). As Six of Crows is decidedly less divisive about ships and doesn’t have such controversial ships (more on that later), it seems the fandom agrees with canon pairings and the votes are... pretty unanimous.

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper/Wylan/Kuwei

Polycrows (platonic or romantic)

Kaz/Inej/Nina

Whoever didn’t read the instruction about this being for only the book series and put Jesper/Milo. I will never escape. 

The Nikolai Series

This one is a little harder for me because I actually haven’t read this... so over to Fritz for analysis! But first, the stats. At 85%, the most popular ship is Genya/David, followed by Zoya/Nikolai at 77%. Tamar/Nadia and Nina/Hanne draw at 61.5% and Nina/Matthias has 56% voters onboard. There’s no real honourable mentions for this one, sadly. Hello Fritz here! Read the books and very glad to see Genya/David as the top ship as it damn well should. Although still a bit surprising since its more of a side-arc of the two and only ties in with the importance of the story at a specific chapter that I feel like I don’t need to elaborate about, if you read Rule of Wolves. (I believe the popularity of the ship also sky-rocketed due to ROW) Following of course Zoya/Nikolai, the high ranking makes sense, it is the main ship and lets be honest they deserve it <3

I think the only really surprising thing about this is the high votes for Nina/Matthias since [SPOILERS CROOKED KINGDOM] he’s dead so I feel like people should move on from that. Nina/“Hanne” having not as high a ranking as I would’ve thought, but with Matthias still being in the frame I guess we shouldn’t be surprised either.

Shadow and Bone: TV Series

This one is really interesting, with the exclusive show watchers now taking part! We have 89% voting for Kaz/Inej, 76% for David/Genya, 71% for Matthias/Nina, 67% for Ivan/Fedyor (that’s a thing???-->Yeah they had a few somewhat sweet interactions in the background-->nvm i watched it you’re right fritz) and 62% for Mal/Alina. What’s really surprising is how high Malina is compared to Darklina, with Darkling/Alina at 36%. Who knows, maybe Fritz’ analysis can shed some light on this?

Yes yes Fritz to the rescue: First of all we have to see their interactions a little different from what we already knew of them by the end of episode 8. I still think it is a surprising number, since the Darkling in the show isn’t as nasty as he was in the books BUT over all his actions are now seen on TV. We all thought the deer antlers were a necklace amirite? Well no apparently not, the darkling used the worst kind of small science to fit Alinas collarbone to the bone and out comes a gruesome sight: a reason why many people might have started thinking: Wow what a disgusting person he is. And on the Malina “ship”: Mal finally has personality!! jkjk :eyes: Mals and Alinas friendship has been portrayed way better in the show and I believe that the people noticed more chemistry between them especially by the end of season 1. So I’m still a little surprised Darklina has such a low ranking (what with him being all sweet and cuddly in the middle of the show) but it makes sense and the Malina ship as well. Their vibes are just *chefs kiss* and thats coming from someone who didnt even like any of these “ships” <3

Loving the quotation marks for the word ‘ships’, Fritz. Over to the honourable mentions!

Honourable Mentions:

Jesper and Milo (isn’t milo a goat? guys, why?)

Nadia/Marie (huh that didn’t appear anywhere else)

One person had several - Kaz/Inej/Jesper, Dubrov/Mikhael, Dubrov/Mikhael/Mal - and yeah, you can really see the show differences in these mentions right? (whose dubrov...and whose mikhael...)

16% actually voted for Inej/Alina which is wild to me because of book context (they did have chemistry in the show tho :cowboi_smirk:)

Another person with several! We have Nina/Inej, Genya/Alina, Zoya/Alina, Zoya/Genya/Alina. Very sapphic. Good for you.

Kaz/Jesper and Nina/Inej all in one

That’s a lot of honour and mentions but it’s so interesting to me and I think you should see too

Most Enjoyed Ships

The most enjoyed ship was Kaz/Inej. This had unparalleled support, being at 35%. Jesper/Wylan, which was next on the list (23.5%) and Nina/Matthias (18%) were also pretty popular. Most of the others were quite low, though interestingly Mal/Alina only had 1 vote (plus one for the show version). Overall, the SoC ships were a lot more popular in this section, which makes sense - this part is really about your favourite ship, and those were more unanimous in the last sections.

Least Enjoyed Ships

Most people said Darkling/Alina, which got 47% of the NOTP votes. A lot more people disliked Darkling/Alina than liked Kaz/Inej. Make of that what you will, but I take it as a somewhat general agreement among many of you guys. Mal/Alina was also strongly disliked at 22%, but around a half or more of these were clarified to be about the book version of the ship specifically. They really must’ve upgraded in the show! Jesper/Kuwei and any other Darkling ships were also voted by a few, but all of these pale in comparison to the anti-Darklina votes. Shoutout to the person who said Apparat/Anyone. I agree, though it’s not something I thought of before seeing this response. Also one person said they didn’t like the poly ships, which I hope meant just the ones mentioned earlier and not all poly relationships in general... Another shoutout to whoever said Kaz/Heleen, because why did I have to read that. A fun question, all in all!

Crack Ships and Shipping Discourse

I love talking about crack ships, so let’s start with that! This time, I really don’t want to have to count and list because... well, let me show you:

I think that sums up the sheer variety, to be honest. Then again, it would be rude not to mention that the most popular were Jesper/Milo, Darkling/Nikolai and Alina/Sun. (If you’re still confused about that last one, I take full responsibility.)

YES KAZ/KRUGE I SUPPORT!!!

Honourable mention to this:

which was a lot to take in, and:

Now for the discourse. Yep, the part you probably came for. 

Actually... maybe you didn’t? Looking at all of these responses, I see a lot of people genuinely don’t care about ship wars and so on, and often enjoyed the books regardless of the romances involved. Quite a few disapproved of the ongoing (though small) wars between Darklina and Malina, and others had a similar line of thinking, saying we should maybe stop focusing so much on it. You guys are right. I know this is a ship survey, and the conclusions should not include that shipping isn’t as important as we make it (Yes it should), but... that’s where it’s at.

And then again, a lot of you guys expressed disapproval for Darkling/Alina, discussing how it is often one-sided and manipulative and overall unhealthy, so I could be completely off with that last one. Some people mentioned that they ship this but as a slightly different version that the one given to us, recognising the flaws of the canon ship.

Someone said they headcanon Tolya as aroace (OMG YES!!). We need more aroace characters, so thank you for that headcanon :) We also have a few gay ships mentioned here, and one person telling us they love Malina. Yes, you’re right - it’s pretty unpopular, it turns out. Someone else said Alina should’ve been single, and I agree, actually!

One person rickrolled me here. Thankfully, Youtube’s ads saved me. *wipes forehead*

I leave you all with this, in the end:

Notes from the Survey

Statistics Stuff:

The top ships were taken from AO3, so some ships may be more focused on in other books and may not provide accurate statistics for an earlier series.

The main circles this was sent around may have had bias as most people are from the same discord server, which has debated these topics in the past. Hence certain ships may have lower-than-average results. In future, this could be improved upon by sending this to other servers and areas of the fandom.

Personal bias may be present in the analysis, though I have tried to minimise this in the more formal sections.

Observations and Notes from Me:

You guys really don’t like Darklina. Or you love it. Usually one or the other. Wow.

Be glad I didn’t talk about any of the cursed ships in this. The things I have seen... (:cowboi_eyes:)

I thought more people would rickroll me, ngl.

What Surprised You Guys:

Kaz/Inej/Jesper

A few of you guys saw some of those cursed ships, and that surprised you. Well, me too!

Nikolai ships being in the TV Show section at all, what with his character not being in the show (yeah what was up with that huh tztz)

Inej/Alina

The existence of The Severed Moon

Darkling/Nikolai(/Alina)

How fun the quiz was :D

Things You Sent Me:

Bee Movie copypasta

“Nobody expects The Spanish Inquisition!”, except via an AO3 link

A fun fact about enzymes! I liked this one

Fic recs for Feriku and Sarai (esp for Wylan/Jesper shippers)

Another rickroll

Nice compliments :) aww you guys

I asked everyone for some kind of placeholder name and never used it. Sorry! But hey, anonymity, right?

Closing Statements

If you got this far (I feel like ive been sitting here for hours), thanks for reading! This was fun to do and I hope you enjoyed all of this too! The survey is still open for anyone who hasn’t done it but wants to. If I get a huge amount of new responses, I might update this post! But for now, adios!

-mod emily (and mod fritz)

#grishaverse #fandom #shipping #shadow and bone #six of crows #nikolai series #king of scars #the grisha trilogy

[komori--shoma]

Shoma Umi Komori.

🦢

(I'm sorry if my english is shitty-)

❛A sad soul can kill faster than bacteria.❜

—𝐽𝑜𝒉𝑛 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑘

⟅☙⟆ Universe ⟅☙⟆

Diabolik Lovers. I plan, however, to take her out of the universe and make her a character of her own. Or maybe I'll just drop it and do both. Who knows?

⟅☙⟆ Full Name ⟅☙⟆

Shoma Umi Komori.

"Shoma" is a Japanese name that means "Woman who seeks the truth, who is not conformist at all."  Her second name, "Umi", is also a Japanese name that means "ocean".

⟅☙⟆ Kanji ⟅☙⟆

シ ョ マ

⟅☙⟆ Nickname ⟅☙⟆

Despite being initially confused by these, as she was not used to it, she was given the nickname "Engel" (which means "Angel" in German) by a family quite close to her.  The nickname was given by the mother and head of the family, since in the eyes of that woman, Shoma is an angel.

Seiji, who was the adoptive father of the girl, called the young woman "Astertea", which is quite a "peculiar" name in the bible.

Yui, with whom she is no longer in contact with Shoma, used to call her "Sho" or "Shomi" affectionately.

⟅☙⟆ Age ⟅☙⟆

She is eighteen years old, although she looks a bit younger.

⟅☙⟆ Gender ⟅☙⟆

Feminine.

⟅☙⟆ Sexual Orientation ⟅☙⟆

She doesn't know yet. Doesn't really bothers her to know.

⟅☙⟆ Height ⟅☙⟆

160 cm.

⟅☙⟆ Weight ⟅☙⟆

She used to weigh 35 kg., But now she is a proud 64.5 kg.

⟅☙⟆ Blood type ⟅☙⟆

OR-

⟅☙⟆ Status ⟅☙⟆

Alive.

⟅☙⟆ Race ⟅☙⟆

Human

⟅☙⟆ Birthday ⟅☙⟆

June 20th.

⟅☙⟆ Sign ⟅☙⟆

Gemini.

⟅☙⟆ Favorite Color ⟅☙⟆

Light blue and night blue.

⟅☙⟆ Appearance ⟅☙⟆

There is a great before and after in her appearance, and even though she is not shown in her story (at the end of the card), there was the occasional change in her future.

The girl has oculocutaneous albinism, so her skin and hair are snow-white.  Her hair, due to a small "situation", was long, straight and lifeless.  Her hair almost touched her waist, and she basically managed to cover her view.  She is now a cute short hairstyle down to the nape of hers, wavy and neat.

Her skin is very pale and fragile, although now she is somewhat better, before she was simply rough and damaged.  She has several deep burns and scars on this one as well.

The young woman, despite not having very good eyesight, has beautiful eyes of a light blue color, somewhat grayish.

She has a mark on her right leg in the shape of a fox with several stars on it.  It's a pretty special symbol, but she keeps it covered most of the time.

She usually did not wear clothes other than bandages to cover herself, although she still finds old clothes to wear, even though she was a little too big.  Now, she got used to wearing light clothes that cover most of her body;  like jeans, leggings, or long dresses with something underneath.  She doesn't really like to wear short or see-through clothes.

⟅☙⟆ Personality ⟅☙⟆

Many think that she simply doesn't have any kind of emotion. Shoma never shows any kind of expression in public, she is shown with her face up and with a look so cold that she makes it true to her appearance. The young woman is too serious, and depending on the person, it is very difficult to get her out of her typical attitude.

Sho is an elegant little girl, and full of grace despite all her troubles. She will never be friendly enough in front of someone (again, it depends on the person), but she will also not feel uncomfortable or unwelcome unless that is the goal of the little one. Shoma knows that she is able to erase someone from the earth fas if she wishes, but she doesn't abuse that thought, you just have to be careful not to make her angry or touch her too much.  It could be a big mistake.

Still, well ...

She is always alert, so it is very easy for her to get nervous or anxious most of the time.

She can also happen that she cannot do something right (she finds it very difficult to concentrate / think on several occasions, as well as sometimes she finds it difficult to understand what happens around her, etc).  Still, it is something that doesn't happen as much as before, after leaving the aforementioned situation in which she found herself.

She is easily frustrated, and this happens when she recognizes that she has trouble thinking.  It's very easy for her to cry or tear up in frustration (she doesn't do it in public, she refuses to do it, but that only makes it worse).  Also, her coping strategy is simply not talking about her emotions and keeping a straight face all the time.

Still, and even though she very reluctantly accepted help, Sho is willing to change and improve (even if she has to go through hell first).  She has shown to be too cunning for her age and to behave as if she were an adult, and even though she is slowly trying to behave according to her age, she is very difficult for her as well.

Anyway, Shoma can also be a girl who listens to others and is willing to do it regardless of the situation, and she is always there to be a shoulder on which one can cry.  She also tends to have fun when she feels calm around her, being one of the few moments when she feels and acts like a young little girl.

⟅☙⟆ Relatives ⟅☙⟆

⟣ Seiji Komori: Adoptive father.  Currently dead.

⟣ Yui Komori: Adoptive sister.  Currently alive.

⟅☙⟆ Favorite Food ⟅☙⟆

She doesn't have a single specific favorite food, but she definitely likes sweet and simple foods, like grated applesauce and banana, or a fruit salad.

⟅☙⟆ Hoobies ⟅☙⟆

⟣ Shoma likes to make paintings with her hands.  She serves to entertain him and clear her mind.

⟣ She also likes to make crowns with different types of flowers, even some bracelets and necklaces.

⟣ She has a certain fascination for mathematics and literature, so it is normal to see her do either of the two when she is bored.  The problem is when she has a hard time doing a difficult exercise.

⟣ She Likes to play decorating and decision-making video games. She likes to decorate and combine, so it is normal for her as a hobby to do the odd combination in video games, or in a room.

⟣ It may not count as a hobby, but Shoma loves to watch an episode of a series that she likes or a movie many times to imitate the lines, as if it were some kind of dubbing attempt.

⟅☙⟆ Occupation ⟅☙⟆

None, she doesn't consider herself a student, even if she studies at home.

⟅☙⟆ Relationships ⟅☙⟆

⟣ Seiji Komori, adoptive father.

She did not have a good relationship with him no matter how hard she tried at the time.  It was too obvious the favoritism that he had with Yui, and how she always stayed in the shadow of the blonde.  Despite trying to be like Yui, he could never have any kind of acceptance with her father.

⟣ Yui Komori, adoptive sister.

He adored her with her soul. Yui was Shoma's heroine, and she always tried to follow her example despite her unruly attitude as a child.  The elder Komori was Shoma's world, and he simply wanted to be with her all the time.

Things have changed now. She can't even look at her. The disgust and hatred that he has for that now young woman is simply immense. And believe it when I say she tries; she tries too hard to forget so many things that caused this feeling, but she just can't.

⟣ Yvonne Beauchene, the right hand.

Shoma's only trusted person alongside her family.  Yvonne was Shoma's guardian from the day he arrived at the church, although she had some problems because of it, and that is the reason why she had to leave, but surely nothing bad could happen, right?

⟅☙⟆ Likes ⟅☙⟆

⟣ Despite not having tasted it in recent years, she liked (and still remembers the taste of it, so she still likes) Yvonne's orange tarts a lot.  She used to do them when Seiji was not at home for her, Yui and Shoma.

⟣ She loves music, especially the one that doesn't have any type of letter and is only a beautiful and hypnotizing melody. Her favorite, and also Yvonne's, is "The Vampire Masquerade", which is the melody which Yvonne met her husband.

⟣ Regarding the above, she usually daydreams many times with music in the background and she likes that (because the real world sucks and it is her only way out of the stress and anxiety that she feels most of the time). She sometimes even draws or paints those scenarios that are formed in her head.

⟣ As said before, she likes to play decorating and decision-making video games.  Also, despite having the face of wanting some horror games (these make her heart race and sometimes she has panic attacks), she prefers Animal Crossing by a lot.

⟣ Loves snakes (which are not poisonous), cats and dogs.  Snakes are very good company, and cats and dogs are responsible for keeping her calm.

⟅☙⟆ Dislikes ⟅☙⟆

⟣ Despite having been seen surviving based on it, she does not like meat very much.  Of course, she can bear it, she even likes some (very few) meat dishes !, but there are certain types of meat that remind him too much of ... well, her own meat.

⟣ Obviously, she can't stand going to churches or things related to religion.  She gets too anxious and nervous.

⟣ Her body and mind literally rejects any kind of physical affection if she doesn't know the person very well or doesn't trust them. It's no surprise, considering her personality.  Very few people are lucky enough to even put a hand on her shoulder and not get hurt (Shoma doesn't do it on purpose).

⟅☙⟆ Fears and Phobias ⟅☙⟆

⟣ Somniphobia: fear of sleeping.

Oneirophobia, somniphobia, clinophobia or hypnophobia is an irrational and excessive fear of the act of sleeping.  People who suffer from it enter a state of panic caused by the fear that while they are sleeping something terrible will happen to them, such as the possibility of stopping breathing or that they will never wake up, even knowing that there is no threat, but  they stay awake, presenting insomnia.  Some people who have this phobia associate going to bed with death.

In some cases, panic is unleashed by the belief that the dreams that will be had when sleeping are actually delusions and these will favor falling into a state of permanent madness.  This type of phobia generates a great deal of stress and significant physical and mental deterioration, so it is not uncommon for many people to end up suffering from hallucinations, a fact that further aggravates this type of phobia: fear of sleeping.

Shoma cannot sleep because various things used to happen during these.  She remembers well once a nun (then she disappeared without a trace) entered her room and hanged her, almost killing her if it weren't for Yui screaming for help.

⟣ Theophobia: fear of religion.

Theophobia is the fear or aversion to religion or the gods, and being more common among people who are raised in an environment of iron religiosity.  Theophobia can express itself as fear, aversion, anger, or other negative emotion towards religious practices.  In some cases, the theophobic representation can categorize the deity as an arbitrary totalitarian dictator or, conversely, as unworthy of worship.

It is common among people who suffer from theophobia to avoid religious texts, houses of worship (churches, mosques, synagogues ...) and even the parishioners of a religion.

The young woman lived in a church for years and was not treated as "a daughter of God", but as "an aberration of satan" by her father and certain nuns.  She causes him so much fear that, if there really is a god, she has abandoned her for "not being worthy".  Many things together caused this irrational fear of religion in general.

⟣ Hafephobia: fear of being touched.

Hafephobia is a specific phobic disorder (unlike agoraphobia or social phobia) that causes great suffering in the person who suffers from it.

It is an irrational fear of great intensity that manifests itself when the individual suffering from the phobia comes into physical contact with other people and is touched.  It produces a series of cognitive, physiological or behavioral responses, among which extreme anxiety and the attempt to avoid the feared stimulus to reduce the unpleasant sensation stand out.

Shoma, of course, is working on this and for now she's doing very well, but if she's some stranger, she isn't going to allow herself to be touched or touched by another individual. She is so afraid that every touch will turn into a blow or something to harm her.

⟣ Atazagoraphobia: fear of forgetting.

Atazagoraphobia is the excessive fear of forgetting, which includes both the fear of forgetting and the fear of being forgotten or replaced by others.  Despite the fact that it is a common sensation, atazagoraphobia has been little described in scientific language.  In fact, it has been more pointed out by philosophers and writers who speak of atazagoraphobia as the fear of eternal anonymity.

Shoma was literally forgotten or ignored from a young age, and she doesn't want to go through it again. She doesn't want to feel so cold again that she can't breathe properly or move. She can't, she doesn't want to...

⟅☙⟆ Headcannon Voice ⟅☙⟆

Mia Rodríguez.

⟅☙⟆ Skills ⟅☙⟆

⟣ She is impressively good with knives and razors.  She usually uses them for cooking.

⟣ Literally she can imitate many voices, even male ones.  She uses it to make jokes or for some plan (to get some dessert) that she has in mind.

⟣ She is becoming more and more independent, and that is why she is getting very good at cooking.  She even manages to focus on that rather than other things.

⟅☙⟆ Extra ⟅☙⟆

⟣ She has undiagnosed “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder”.

⟣ She tends to bite her arm or bite her nails if she is very anxious.

⟣ It is difficult for her to accept some changes in her life, but she manages to adapt step by step.

⟣ She likes to play with Yvonne's family, August, her husband, being Shoma's favorite.

⟣ She is considerably innocent of the world around her, but at the same time, she isn't.  She is aware that the world revolves around that filthy green paper, and she is very clever with it.  She knows that her "condition" and her situation may be a weak point, but it is for that reason that she is also careful who she hangs out with.

⟅☙⟆ History ⟅☙⟆

Shoma arrived at the doors of the Komori family church on May 22, 2001, with only a note that said "My name is Shoma, Mom and Dad can no longer take care of me," just three weeks after I was born. She was greeted by one of the local sisters, a favorite of the owner and leader of that church, Seiji Komori. The latter named was not on that cold night, with the snow falling slowly in that beautiful place, so the same sister took care of the girl in his absence.

A girl with blond hair and pink eyes like the petals of a cherry tree approached said sister, curious by the cries that began to be heard.  Seeing her up close, and seeing that beautiful celestial gaze, the seven-year-old girl took the girl in her arms (with the permission of her sister), and did not leave her during that night until the next day. It was no surprise to the sister that her crying stopped as soon as the young Komori began to gently cradle her in her arms.

Still, from the moment Seiji arrived, he knew that something was wrong with the girl, that she was "not human", and that he probably knew whose "gift" it was.  Shoma was unwelcome, and he couldn't show her that in public, not with Yui close to her. Also, the plan deviated. No, he isn't supposed to have two daughters, and she is supposed to be just one more orphan, but the young blonde girl already called her "Shoma Umi Komori", and that could be ... Something dangerous for him.  Obviously, the orders for Shoma to come to his office were not long in coming as soon as he was two years old.

What Shoma saw in her supposed father's room was sealed in her mind, and nothing else. Every time Shoma was called to her father's office, her heart raced because she knew something bad was going to happen.  Every time that happened it was because she Shoma found out more and more that she was going to happen to every sixteen, maybe seventeen-year-old on certain dates. It was because Shoma knew too much about her, and if he couldn't make her forget everything she had seen, then she would silence her to her grave.  Every time Shoma gained courage and told Yui, she was scolded for inventing such things, and she would see her father again for "breaking her promise" to him.

The only one who managed to believe her is the same sister who received her the day Shoma arrived there, although that same sister would get a serious face everytime Sho told her that, she never had to see her father when she told Yvonne.

But, one day, Seiji went a bit far with the punishments, and let the fury just blind him, even if he didn't even regret it afterwards.  Seeing Shoma talk to someone... Important, once this man left the church it just infuriated him. That man's smile when he stopped talking to her and saw him in the eye was not good news at all.  That night, everyone heard the screams of a three-year-old girl resound throughout the establishment, and she was found in the middle of the hall with a desperate Seiji, saying that she had been playing with a poker and that she tripped, with it smacking part of her face.

Shoma began to startle every time someone moved near her, every time someone placed her hand on some part of her body, or when they called her, or when they approached her. She didn't separate from Yui or the sister she trusted so much, and even though it started to be annoying for Yui as she grew older, there were very few times when she was really rude to Shoma due to the fatigue of having her on her back every day three seconds, but they just didn't help Shoma with her fear of being alone, either with Seiji, or with certain nuns. The sister who had her trust steadfastly refused to leave her alone if she wasn't with Yui, although it was only because she slipped out of sight once.

Things escalated to the worse on December 12, 2006, at exactly a quarter past two in the morning.  It was precisely an exhausting day for the girl, because the nun who was taking care of her and her sister had to leave due to family problems, or so they told her.

The albino-haired girl couldn't sleep due to some nightmares, even though she had become very habitual.  The young woman began to hear murmurs and footsteps outside the room that she shared with Yui, and she could make out her father's voice.  She could make out her desperate tone from her ... And, strangely, anger.

Carefully, she got out of her bed without making any noise, but following a little voice in her head, she took the camera that belonged to the blonde that was a gift from her only trusted caregiver, and opened  slowly the door.  Her father had locked himself in her office, and she could hear someone else's voice.  On tiptoe, he approached the door ajar, and looked behind it.  Tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the body of one of the older girls on the ground, tied up and with blood pouring from her head.  That memory is somewhat blurry, but it remembers very well various parts of the conversation between her father and a man with long hair.  She took photos, and to her surprise, they did not have flash, and the photos came out perfectly ... That woman had many strange objects.

Once she finished, she turned, intending to leave, but one of the nuns spotted her, yelling to warn Seiji. Shoma wasted no time running and closing in on her sister's room, which she was awakened by her scream. Shoma told her everything quickly, leaving the photos to hide them, and the little girl didn't hesitate long to jump out the window (it was not the first time that she did that out of boredom), and she ran away from there.  Still, the nun had gone ahead, and it wasn't long to be just a few steps away from her with her father's poker, part of them burning. 

She remembers her sister with hatred seeing it all in horror and just standing there with the camera in her hands, shaking, to simply turn and turn her back on him.

In the blink of an eye, she was dragged by her hair by her "father" and other nuns, and before she had a chance to run away, the girl was thrown into the basement, away from other people, away from Yui, away from  everyone.  She tried to get out, scream, but no one ever came.

Nobody, nobody at all...

And here ends her story.  The young woman, thanks to her curiosity, sealed her fate.  She was destined to die in that place, even if she didn't want that, alone and starving, not knowing if Yui or someone would remember her...

But they say that there is always someone who takes care of us somewhere, right?  Even if she has no hope... Maybe there really is someone, even without her knowing it.

#shoma komori #komori shoma #diabolik brothers #diabolik lovers #diavolik lovers #diabolik oc #diabolik lovers oc #diabolik #diaboliklovers #dia lovers #dialovers #describe your oc #oc info

[thunderbirds-are-fab]

The Mechanic

An unnecessarily long fan essay examining the character ‘The Mechanic’ from Thunderbirds are Go by thunderbirds-are-fab

Pretty much since the Mechanic was first revealed as an upcoming character to be introduced into Thunderbirds are Go, he’s been surrounded by mystery. There were a lot of wild fan theories about who he could be and if he was related to any original character in particular (He was either Brains’ brother or his father, Kyrano gone mad, and even Jeff in some weird disguise trying to traumatise his children to someone), but he has since turned out to be a completely new character and therefore had a lot of possibilities as to how he could fit into the established TAG universe.

Sadly, two seasons since his introduction we still don’t know all that much about him or his super villain origin story, and with the conclusion of Season 3 we likely never will. The writers put this guy on the back shelf, and this is why I’m writing an essay piecing together all the messy details we have regarding the character of the Mechanic. It turns out there’s quite a lot to talk about, so get comfy.

*Episode spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched Seasons 2 and 3*

The biggest tease about the Mechanic was his hinting that he knows Brains very well or even personally in Earthbreaker, but after that it’s not really brought up again. Massive wasted potential there. He made it sound like he and Brains were old rivals from long ago, but Brains doesn’t show any signs of recognising him. Brains himself never really reacts to the Mechanic’s hints that they might know each other during Earthbreaker or after, and never even tries to guess at who this masked engineer may be, which feels ridiculous.

“Hey Brains, in all your years of being one of the world’s best engineers, did you ever meet anyone in your field of expertise who was capable of making an army of robots completely on his own, looked like he could bench press MAX with one hand, and maybe seemed a little power-hungry and unhinged?”

“Nope, sorry. That sounds like it could have been anyone.”

Surely if they were both brilliant inventors working on similar stuff, they would have mutually run into each other before???

Not only does Brains not keep up his end of the ‘we-may-know-each-other’ plotline to make it believable, but after Earthbreaker the writers seem to drop it from the Mechanic’s character too. He doesn’t show the same ominous bias towards focusing on Brains again whenever he crosses paths with IR, and if anything he seems to reacts with distrust towards Brains when he first offers to help him in Home on the Range. In Brains vs Brawn Brains offers to help him again, but still acts wary of him wanting to get close. If they had known each other before then this could have been a great bonding moment for them to reconnect and win each other’s trust, but instead Brains has to use the promise of “engineer to engineer” which is as far as their personal connection seems to go in the end.

Brains also only ever calls him “the Mechanic” the same as everyone else does, and going into Season 3 this lack of a proper name becomes more of a problem for the Mechanic’s character as a whole. We finally see him without his mask in Chaos Part 2, but a face reveal is all it is. It’s not a grand finale Scooby-Doo moment of “Aha! It was old man Jenkins the janitor all along!”, and this again feels like wasted potential to me. What’s the point of having a masked villain if he’s still exactly the same person without the mask, just a little sadder?

Between being taken into GDF custody in Brains vs. Brawn and then being negotiated for release in Break Out (a 20 episode gap, which is quite a long time span in TAGverse), the GDF don’t seem to have done any background check on him whatsoever. Everyone, including Colonel Casey, still refers to him as “the Mechanic”. If even the in-world authorities couldn’t find this guy’s original identity, then it seems that the entirety of who he was before never existed, and that’s because the writers never properly wrote it. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the TAG writers and have rarely had to fault them on anything in 78 episodes, but fitting their OCs into the series for more than an episode or two is by far their biggest weakness *coughcoughwhydidn’tyouuseEOSmorecough*

His backstory was clearly set up before his introduction, but then scrapped for whatever reason. Perhaps with everything else going on in the show they simply didn’t have time for it? This I can understand, because there’s only so much time in a children’s show and action has to come first in this genre, but it opens up a lot of additional plot holes when you keep trying to build a story on top of a poorly-established character.

What I’m trying to get at here is that without ever having his personal motivations revealed, looking back on the Mechanic’s pervious actions in the story gets a lot more confusing, and makes his character development and the plot development between Season 2 and 3 more difficult to understand.

I’ll split these last points into two parts:

1.    How do we know he built the the T-Drive when he’s unidentifiable?

In Break Out it’s suddenly revealed that the Mechanic was the engineer who designed the first T-Drive engine/Zero-X prototype... But how? How do they now know that??? Surely being the engineer who came up with this fantastic revolutionary warp drive for the spaceship that allegedly killed the great Jeff Tracy would make this guy pretty famous? His former name should probably be common knowledge, and yet he’s still only ever called the Mechanic. It’s been suggested to me on anon that maybe he’s shunned his former name in favour of the Mechanic moniker, which is fine, except that’s no reason for all of the other characters never to speak his true name even when he’s not there to hear it. To us he’s still just the villain we were introduced to, never the man he was before. Without being shown how that past and him today are linked, it’s difficult for us as an audience to attach such important prior information to a character who doesn’t seem to have previously existed.

2.    Was he ever really a true villain, or was it all because of the Hood? And does his change of heart make sense?

We’re never told how the Mechanic came to be. Why did he go from brilliant engineer, to turning over to the dark side and becoming a puppet of the Hood? In Break Out he hints that the Hood manipulated his bitterness over ~something~ in order to get him to work under him, but again it’s frustratingly vague! In the beginning we assumed it was through some personal grudge with Brains, but as I’ve already gone through at length, all that backstory just got washed away. Another anon has suggested to me that his rivalry with Brains was manufactured by the Hood. He didn’t know Brains personally, but developed a grudge against him through being compared. “Brains is brilliant, but you’re a failure”... because of the Zero-X disaster? He’s clearly as good as or even better than Brains when it comes to inventing things, so he had to have had something big happen to him in order to spiral downwards as he did. The Zero-X disaster would certainly fit the bill for that, but it’s a shame to leave all that to speculation. If it were true, then would it have been so hard to fit that into the show?

Anyway, the Hood somehow fostered a hatred for IR in him that served his own motives, and so began their partnership. He’s clearly very strong, so that’s probably why the Hood needed extra control over him via cybernetics. It’s in Brains vs. Brawn that we first learn that the Mechanic is at least partially being controlled by the Hood. Since the Hood spent most of Season 2 in jail, this was maintained through a connection between his bionic eye and some kind of cybernetics that the Mechanic has (forcibly implanted by the Hood or just already there and hacked, we don’t know). Partially coerced and partially forced, but we will never really know how much of each.

The Mechanic is a lot more violent than the Hood ever is on his own. The Hood may not care much for other people or the collateral damage he causes (e.g. in Falling Skies he’s fine with abandoning the Estrella Grand hotel full of people to crash and burn if he decides that he doesn’t want it anymore), but it isn’t really his priority. For the whole of Season 3 he makes the Chaos Crew do the physical dirty work he doesn’t care for (btw I let the Chaos Crew off for not having much background story because their “we’re bad just because we enjoy being that way” motive stays fairly consistent throughout the show. They aren’t that complicated). 

In contrast, the Mechanic has frequently plowed forward with no regard for anyone’s safety. He doesn’t make sneaking around his Plan A like the Hood, and he doesn’t hit and run for fun like the Chaos Crew. He’s brutal. Earthbreaker really sets him up for being a ruthless villain because he’s so focused on getting what he wants that he’s willing to take down anyone who gets in his way. Even when Scott asks for him just to let IR work around him to rescue the civilians below, he attacks! He’s a genuinely scary and thrilling character for how relentlessly destructive he manages to be every time she shows up in Season 2. Seriously, just read his wiki page and you’ll see it’s got ‘perfect villain traits’ written all the way through it.

Then comes the redemption arc.

In Brains vs. Brawn he is subdued and chooses to trust that Brains can redeem him. In Break Out he shows remorse for his actions. He believes that he deserves to be in prison and is beyond redemption for what he’s done. He puts Kayo’s safety before his own and saves her life. He could have disappeared, but instead comes to Tracy Island of his own free will and voluntarily works with his former enemies. That’s a pretty big change from someone who was hellbent on destruction regardless of innocent people begging for their lives! It’s a pretty big ask to believe that all of that relentless anger and complete apathy towards human life was only there because the Hood was in control the whole time.

There’s something else which leads me to believe that “I was being controlled by the Hood” isn’t the watertight excuse it’s presented as. The Mechanic makes it sound like he’s totally stuck and irredeemable without the Hood’s control being removed, but prior to that happening in Buried Treasure he makes choices of his own that the Hood could’ve stopped.

Between being dumped by the Hood in Escape Proof and Brains vs. Brawn, he’s pretty much a villain under his own steam. He’s working independently on continuing Project Sentinel, which has the aim of using to destroy the Hood for having control over him. Sure, he may only be doing bad things because he’s desperate for revenge against his abuser, but he’s still willfully endangering a lot of other people in the process. The Hood may have lost interest in him during that period, but the control system was still in place that whole time - and he was resisting it! If he can manage to hide himself from the Hood and work directly against him despite that, then he still has some free will of his own.

In Chaos - Part 2 Havoc learns the Mechanic is in space prison, which is why the Hood has lost control over him. Arguably the HEX probably had a faraday cage around his prison cell to block the Hood’s influence, and it is stated that it’s harder for the Hood to influence him from space anyway. But after breaking out and coming to Tracy Island of his own free will, shouldn’t being back on earth have put him back under influence again? The only time he had to fight against the Hood’s direct control after that was when Brains disturbed the control software and alerted the Hood, who then suddenly reveals that he has a fail-safe that can wipe the Mechanic’s memories. Wow. If he could really do that, then why didn’t he do so in Escape Proof and not leave the Mechanic as the potential enemy that he turned out to be? Sure, he later says that he still has plans for the Mechanic, but you would think that during Brains vs. Brawn when he’s getting shot at by a giant lazer whilst being thrown around by IR, and the Mechanic is resisting his commands to stop, that then would have been the ideal time to use the secret factory reset ability?  

Afterthoughts aside, I’m still convinced that the Mechanic had a lot of evil in himself that wasn’t just there because of the Hood, and it’s really a wonder that the Tracys let him into heir home after how many times he tried to kill them. i really don’t blame Scott for staying suspicious, even though he was the one most obviously anxious to find a way to get his father back. 

Despite all the questions that the show failed to answer about him, I still think that the Mechanic was a good villain. Whatever his super villain origin story was supposed to be, I think it had a lot more potential to be morally complex than the origin they ended up giving the Hood. It’s a shame that writers across the board these days often don’t have the time to write villains more complex than the trope of “once upon a time somebody made me sad, so I decided to be evil to get revenge”. I know that somebody out there will be looking at this unnecessarily long post and screaming But fab, it’s just a kid’s show! Kids won’t care about tying up offscreen plotlines or any of this crap! And my answer is yes, I know that. That’s why I’m not actually mad about what the writers did with the Mechanic’s character. The writers of TAG did a great job and the show works as it is, but I can’t help but feel that they only had to push a little more or add a line or two somewhere and then all of these questions I have about the Mechanic could have been answered. A little backstory goes a long way in fleshing out a character, and Thunderbirds is a franchise with a lot of history.

#the mechanic rant #the mechanic #this is long overdue #and way too long in itself #it's over 2000 words oops #but there's a lot to analyse #why couldn't i write this much for my essays? #and it was highly anticipated by some #so i hope some of you like it #and i hope i got all the details right #Thunderbirds are Go

[nsfw-bnha-and-dangan]

Commission

Another piece to the Gonta x Reader x Korekiyo bondage series! This one was super fun to work with, there's a sort of damsel in distress/capture scene going on, I hope you guys enjoy! Under the cut for length!

Movie nights had become a standard thing for the three of you. Every week or two, you would come to Korekiyo’s for something that wasn't just sex, something fun and relaxing all at once. And it felt nice, just snuggling up between Gonta and Korekiyo while a movie played in the background. You were watching closely, subconsciously biting your lip as the story's main character was captured by a villain and tied up, blindfolded to hide her surroundings. 

Your thighs squeezed together tightly while the villain toyed with her, threatening her and reminding her that she was all alone, with no one to save her. Korekiyo glanced over at you, noticing the concentration on your face as you stared. He said nothing, though, just quietly noting your interest until the movie came to a close. Usually now, the three of you would get up and either stay the night or go home. But Korekiyo made no move to stand, instead turning to face you.

 “So, I take it by your eager reactions you enjoyed the movie?” Gonta looked between the two of you with a confused expression as you went a little pink. 

“It was a good movie.” You said softly, knowing Korekiyo saw right through you. 

“I'm sure it was, but it seemed that something piqued your interest a bit more than just the plot.” You huffed a little and played with your hands, leaning back against Gonta. 

“There might have been a scene I liked… more than the others, I guess.” 

“What scene did (Y/N) like? Gonta liked all of them!” You smiled and hung your head, embarrassed. 

“I liked that scene where… the girl got caught and tied up, the damsel in distress thing, you know? Being at the mercy of a villain, not knowing what's going to happen next, it gets me all worked up.” Korekiyo smirked and you recognized the glint in his eyes, your heart skipping a beat in your chest. 

“Gonta, how would you feel about also being caught by a villain and tied up?” It finally clicked for him just what you were referring to and he made a soft noise in the back of his throat. 

“Gonta wouldn't… mind that, if Kiyo was the villain who caught him.” Korekiyo nodded, finally standing. 

“Glad we’re on the same page, then. Normally I would invite the two of you to stay the night, but I have some research to do. Are you alright with that?” You nodded a little too eagerly, staunchly ignoring the way your knees wobbled when you got up. You took Gonta’s hand and were out the door in seconds, almost too worked up to drive. You managed to keep it together long enough to go to sleep, although it took all of your willpower to not get off before you did. You knew the wait would be worth it and, two days later you got a call. You nearly dropped your phone when you saw that it was Korekiyo, a faint blush already dusting your cheeks. 

“Hello?!” 

“Ah, someone sounds quite excited today. Would the two of you care to come over? I have the scene ready for you.” You confirmed with him eagerly and sped over, already needing to press your thighs together tightly. Korekiyo smirked a little when he opened the door and you came inside, biting your lip. 

“I'm sure you're more than eager to get started, but I wanted to go over a few things first.” You nodded, sitting on the very edge of the couch with Gonta beside you. 

“I'd like to go a bit further in this session than is our standard. Nothing too severe, but i'd like to experiment a bit with your pain tolerance. Of course, if you aren't comfortable with that then I'll refrain, but I felt it fit nicely with the scene.” Gonta was the first to speak up, fidgeting. 

“Gonta isn't sure how much pain he would like, even from Kiyo.” 

“I promise, I won't be doing anything extraordinary, just a bit more intense than usual. As always, your more than welcome to use your safeword at any time if you need it.” Gonta nodded and relaxed, Korekiyo running a hand through his hair gently and tugging at the ends. 

“Another thing I need to make clear is that, while I am playing the villain, my threats to your life will not be real. I want you two to have the utmost trust in me and know that some of the things I will say are for the sake of the scene and nothing more.” You nodded and shivered a little, wondering just how dark Korekiyo’s persona was going to be. 

“We trust you, we know you would never do anything horrible to us that we weren't okay with.” Korekiyo smiled and stood, holding out both hands. You and Gonta each took one, letting him lead you to a room you had been to more than enough times to find on your own, yet you never minded being shown the way. It didn't look much different from usual, several toys laid out on the bed as well as restraints. 

“I'm going to get you two set up, alright?” You nodded and stripped down to your underwear, letting Korekiyo guide you so that you were more or less in Gonta’s lap, your arms around him and tied together tightly with a length fabric. Gonta’s arms were tied around you in the same way, forcing the two of you to embrace. You couldn't stop yourself from kissing Gonta sweetly as Korekiyo finished tying him up, humming softly against his lips. 

“How do you feel? Comfortable?” You tested your bonds, finding them solid. 

“I feel good, I'm ready. Gonta?” 

“Gonta is excited, he likes this a lot so far.” Korekiyo nodded and smiled, a hand lingering on Gonta’s shoulder. Then, he added the final touch, silk blindfolds that completely cut off your vision. 

“I'm going to return in a moment, and when I do, you two will be my captured prisoners, understood?” You nodded eagerly and wiggled in Gonta’s lap as Korekiyo left the room. Your breath hitched when the door closed and a tense silence set in, the anticipation building in your chest. A wave of arousal made you shudder as the door opened once again, Korekiyo walking in almost silently. You couldn't know for sure where he was, barely able to follow his quiet steps. 

"Look at the two of you, bound together so closely. Makes for quite a picture, id say." You heard the shutter of a camera and tried to turn around quickly, nearly smacking your head into Gonta's. It wouldn't have helped regardless, your vision dark behind the blindfold. It only made your heartbeat quicker, trying to look around and find where the sound emanated from. 

"W-what are you…" 

"Blackmail, of course. That is, if I decide to let you live, otherwise, they will be nothing more than fond reminders of you." You swallowed thickly, feeling Gonta pull you in closer protectively. 

"Please… don't kill (Y/N) or Gonta!" Korekiyo hummed, walking in a slow circle around you. 

"That all depends on just how well you behave for me. Are you going to do as your told?" You nodded quickly, jumping when Korekiyo's fingers started running through your hair. 

"Y-yes! We'll do anything you want, please, just let us go!" You cried, biting your lip when long fingers traced your lips from behind.

"You shouldn't say things like that, see. I could ask you to do anything I liked and you would have to hold to your word. Are you prepared for that?" You nodded, struggling a bit when something foreign slipped between you and Gonta. You shivered when the large head of what you guessed to be a vibrator settled at the front of your panties. Even off it was enough to make your cheeks heat up, doing your best to keep still. You were about to speak up when Korekiyo pressed a button and the toy buzzed to life, stealing the air from your lungs. It was strong, probably one of the strongest vibrators you had ever had the joy to experience. Korekiyo held it firmly to the front of your panties as you squirmed and moaned, Gonta fidgeting in front of you nervously. Fingers traced your throat gingerly as you bucked your hips against the toy, choking on anything you could have hoped to say. 

"You said anything, did you not? Then come." You were helpless against his demand, sobbing into Gonta's shoulder as your body shuddered with the force of your orgasm. Korekiyo kept the toy on you until you were whining and oversensitive, Gonta gasping moments after it disappeared. He fell over the edge quickly, crying out your name as he squirmed. Finally, the room fell silent save for your labored breathing, face burning with embarrassment. 

"Now, was that so hard? All you have to do is anything I ask of you, understood?" You nodded and went to reply, only to have a finger shush you. 

"No talking. No noise at all, actually, I much prefer silence to your whining and begging for now. In fact, if you make any sound, I'm going to have to punish you, and you wouldn't like that, hmm?" You wanted to challenge him but kept your mouth shut, biting your lip roughly when two fingers slipped into the front of your sticky panties. 

"Can you keep quiet even when I do this?" You forced yourself to breathe, ignoring the little sparks of oversensitive pleasure that were shooting up your spine. 

"So well behaved, I almost wish I could see you fight back. Perhaps seeing Gonta will put a little fire in you?" You didn't even have time to blink, your heartbeat shooting up as you looked around, the sudden light making you squint. 

"No noises, from either of you. If I hear even a whine, you'll be learning just why I'm so good at what I do." Those fingers traced your neck again, curling around it before pulling back. You almost couldn't breathe with fear, knowing you couldn't make a sound. It was so hard to be quiet when Korekiyo slipped his fingers inside you, fucking you slowly while his thumb rubbed your clit in torturous circles. You could feel yourself getting far too close to making noise and, in your desperation, shoved your lips against Gonta’s. He nearly yelped in surprise but didn't pull back, returning your kiss in hopes of keeping you quiet. It was just enough to muffle your moans as Korekiyo played with you in the worst way. He knew exactly how to work you up, what spots to focus on to make you shudder.

It was just this side of painful, still so sensitive from your earlier orgasm, but Korekiyo was ruthless. Just when you felt like you were adjusting to Korekiyo’s touch, Gonta squeaked into your mouth. You looked up, seeing his face go red and the barest threat of tears in his eyes. You couldn't move, wondering if Korekiyo was going to get upset, but he didn't seem to take notice. You felt his other hand moving between you, the source of Gonta’s sudden noise. You did your best to keep the both of you quiet swallowing your moans and muffling Gonta’s as you messily made out, impossible to keep coordinated as Korekiyo stole any focus you had. His fingers were steady, working you over and over till you were close to the edge and tightening around the digits. You squeezed your eyes shut behind the blindfold, so close to your second orgasm when Korekiyo’s hand stilled, fingers slipping out of you. It was almost impossible to choke down the needy whine that rose in your throat, hips twitching in hope of finding that friction again. He must have pulled the same stunt on Gonta because you could feel him shaking, his breath hitching against your lips. 

“Awe, were the two of you close? I suppose that was a little rude of me, stopping so soon, but it's no fun if I make things easy for you. I have to say, you did do quite well so far. Let's see what it takes to break you.” You felt Korekiyo’s presence disappear from behind you, his footsteps silent as he moved around the room, keeping out of your sight. Just as you were getting uneasy, he returned, kneeling somewhere behind your back. 

“You won't be needing this, will you?” You jumped when you felt something chilled and metallic trace the swell of your breasts, something you quickly realized was the flat of a knife. You felt no pain or sharpness, just the cold steel against your skin. You didn't dare move an inch or breath, squeezing your eyes shut tight. When Korekiyo cut the straps of your bra in two fluid motions you gasped, feeling him unhook the back to take it off of you. Thankfully, the knife disappeared after that, leaving you wondering if he was planning to use it again. Lithe fingers teased and pinched your nipples, making you squirm and take in a breath. 

“What's wrong? Are you not enjoying this enough?” You kept silent, pulling back from Gonta to try and catch your breath. It was in vain when those damn fingers slipped back into your panties, circling your clit roughly. You were forced to kiss Gonta again, a blessing as he swallowed your moans and pulled you close. You closed your eyes and tried to relax as Korekiyo worked you up, fingers dipping inside of you for a moment before returning to your clit. Korekiyo was relentless, doing just enough to keep you on edge without pushing you to orgasm. His other hand left your chest to wind around your waist, Gonta leaning into you as Korekiyo started teasing his cock. The pleasure came and went, Korekiyo edging you over and over with only his fingers as his warm body pressed against your back. You choked out a sob as Korekiyo pulled back for the umpteenth time, leaving you desperate and shaking. All you wanted was to cum, any consequence was nothing in your mind. Korekiyo started up again, even slower as he circled and teased your clit. You pulled back from Gonta, tears burning your eyes as you threw caution to the wind. 

“Please!” You sobbed, pressing your forehead to Gonta’s shoulder. 

“Was wondering how long it would take you to crack, (Y/N). I have to commend you for holding out so long, most of my captives don't have the willpower. But, I can't simply let it go, no matter how nicely you beg for me.” Korekiyo started rubbing your clit faster than ever, your blood on fire as Korekiyo forced a second orgasm out of you like it was nothing. As you basked in your afterglow Korekiyo gave Gonta the same treatment, getting him off easily. You sobbed as your mind returned from the clouds, knowing just how badly you had messed up. 

“I was almost tempted to be lenient with the two of you. You’re by far my favorite captives so far, making such pretty noises for me, I couldn't ask for better prisoners. But a promise is a promise, I can't be going back on my word now.” You yelped as Korekiyo roughly undid the ties around both yours and Gonta’s wrists, pulling you up with more force than necessary and tugging you to the bed. You were shoved down unceremoniously, gasping in a ragged breath as tears burned at your eyes. You felt dirty and used, your panties clinging to you with your own mess. Korekiyo stood by the edge of the bed, pulling various toys out from beneath the comforter. A massive dildo with menacing spines, plugs, a few whips, and paddles, among other things.

“You going to take your punishment like a good girl?” Korekiyo asked. You glanced at Gonta, still on the floor and watching you nervously as Korekiyo mulled over his options. 

“Y-yes…” You swallowed thickly as Korekiyo picked up what looked like a frayed whip, testing its weight. He smiled, deciding it was his weapon of choice. He sat at the edge of the bed, tugging you over his lap roughly and making you whine. 

“Can't have you making all that noise again, you’re quite the loud one.” Korekiyo undid the button on his jeans and pulled his cock out, precum beading at the flushed tip. 

“Suck. And no teeth.” You did as you were told, taking the first inch or two into your mouth to suck on. You tried to focus on the taste, the heat of Korekiyo on your tongue as you slightly bobbed your head. But your focus was quickly broken when Korekiyo’s hand returned, spanking you roughly enough to push you forward onto his cock. You knew it was only a prelude to what was coming next, the whip looking thing he had so lovingly chosen. 

“There you go, just like that. See, not so bad, hmm?” Korekiyo looked pointedly at Gonta, motioning him over. 

“You can watch, for now, it’ll be your turn soon enough." You could see Gonta shudder, his cheeks red as he squirmed on the floor at Korekiyo’s feet. Another rough spank had you whining through your mouthful, tears threatening to drip down your cheeks. For a moment there was peace, Korekiyo letting you focus on sucking him off, slow and deep the way he liked it. But then, something different made contact with your skin. You cried out, the impact shoving you deeper on Korekiyo’s cock, enough to make you gag briefly. 

“Can't take a little flogging, pretty girl? If you can't even take this much pain, you're not going to like what I have in store for you later.” Tears burned hot tracks along your cheeks and you pulled back for a moment to breath, almost tempted to use your safeword. The flogger was more painful than anything Korekiyo had done with you before, and he must have noticed your uneasiness because he gave you a moment to rest before starting back up again. The noise was the worst part, though, the thick crack of the leather against your ass before the pain would register. Korekiyo's other hand rubbed you through your damp panties, taking the edge off the pain as the flogger connected again and you sobbed. 

"Three more. Three more and you can stop." You didn't respond, your mind too hazy with pain and muted pleasure as Korekiyo hit you again. Time moved too slowly, each second passing between hits dragging on for ages as anticipation made you stiff. Finally, Korekiyo yanked your head up by your hair, flogger tossed aside. You moved your sore jaw, trying to catch your breath in quick pants while Korekiyo pushed you to your feet. He turned you around, nails biting into your hip as he looked you over, admiring his work. 

"You look so beautiful like this, almost makes me want to keep the two of you around for a while longer. You respond well to pain, I like seeing you squirm and cry." He pushed you to the ground and you made no move to get up, exhausted and barely hanging on to linear thought. With the flogging over, the pain lingered on, your ass stinging as Gonta was pulled into the same position you had been in. It was almost harder to watch, knowing how much it had hurt as Gonta was spanked and whipped with the flogger. He could barely manage to get his mouth around Korekiyo, too distracted by the pain. Fearing he would be punished for not listening, you got on your knees and started sucking Korekiyo off for him. Gonta tried to help, your lips connecting around Korekiyo's length a few times, but he couldn't do much more than that. Each time the flogger connected he sobbed, fat tears slipping down his cheeks. You kissed them away when you needed to breathe, comforting Gonta silently as the crack of the flogger echoed around the room. Just as you started to worry Gonta couldn't take any more, Korekiyo stopped, running a hand through Gonta's hair as he struggled to catch his breath. 

"This is what happens when you don't listen. Disobey me again and you'll be in much worse shape afterwards. Understood?” You nodded quickly, looking over and seeing just how red Gonta’s ass was from his punishment. You felt bad, knowing it had been all your fault. You had been the one to break and beg, and Gonta had gotten flogged for it. You bit your lip and nudged your forehead against Gonta’s, cupping his cheek. 

“I'm sorry, so sorry.” You muttered, jumping when Korekiyo’s hand ran through your hair. 

“I couldn't pick favorites, now could I? One misbehaves, the other takes the punishment just as harshly. You’ll find that I can be quite nice if you earn it.” 

“I want… to earn it.” You said softly, perking your head up and squeezing your thighs together. As lost as you were in the moment, you were still turned on by Korekiyo’s forcefulness, his demands and threats. You wanted to please him, especially if it meant sparing Gonta from any punishment. 

“Oh? And how do you expect to do that, princess?” 

“I can… get you off. You can use me, do whatever you want with me, and I won't complain.” Korekiyo smirked, moving Gonta off of his lap and pulling you up by the hand so that you were straddling him. 

“You won't? Even if I have you going till you can't take it anymore?” You nodded, fighting down a whine when Korekiyo smoothly cuffed your hands behind your back. 

“Turn around, then, and make yourself useful. Don't think for a moment that you get to enjoy it, either. You did offer to take care of me, after all.” You awkwardly turned around so that your back was to Korekiyo, shuddering as he pulled your panties aside and lined you up with his length. But he made no move to push inside you, leaving all the work for you. You tried to tease, at first, rutting against his cock and letting the tip nudge your entrance, never quite going inside. It was enough to make Korekiyo yank at the chain connecting your wrists, a warning to hurry up, or else. You lowered yourself onto his cock, a breathless moan escaping you as he finally filled you properly. Another tug and you started to move, squeezing your eyes shut as you bounced slowly. 

You found a pace that seemed to keep Korekiyo happy, if his quiet groans were any indication. It kept you on edge, enough to make you shiver every time he bottomed out inside you, but not enough to get you off. You knew he had done that on purpose, making sure you didn't get to cum, no matter how much you wanted it. A few fingers were looped into the connecting link of your handcuffs, his other hand groping and squeezing your sore ass. It still stung, but that only wound up turning you on more, the little prickles of pain traveling up your spine. Gonta watched the two of you with wide eyes, unable to look away as you bounced in Korekiyo’s lap. 

“Care to make yourself useful?” Korekiyo asked, his voice dark as he smirked. “Clean up the mess she’s making, Gonta. Don't force my hand into punishing you again.” 

Gonta was quick to kneel between your legs, messily lapping at the spot where you and Korekiyo were joined. His tongue would graze your clit every so often and make you shiver, trying to ignore it as you got Korekiyo off. If you came now, who knew what he would do to you? You weren't keen to find out, squeezing around his length tightly when Korekiyo’s hand roughly grabbed your breast. 

“Just like that…” He muttered, clearly losing his composure as he reached his breaking point. You sobbed when his hips started meeting you movements, fucking you quick and deep while Gonta’s warm mouth was between your legs. His cock rubbed over your sweet spot, over and over till you were seeing stars and couldn't take it anymore. 

“P-please! Please, please let me cum, i-i’m gonna… no, no, p-please!” You begged, knowing you wouldn't be able to stop now, praying for Korekiyo’s permission. 

“Cum, then, my beautiful little whore.” Korekiyo groaned, and you lost it. Tears slipped down your cheeks as he forced a third orgasm out of you, still fucking you even when your legs gave out and you couldn't move. Distantly, you felt him spill inside you, warm and wet as you rode out the waves of pleasure running up your spine. Gonta didn't stop licking you and Korekiyo, doing as he was told and cleaning the two of you up. Korekiyo collected himself quickly and helped you off of him, getting Gonta to move you into a better position on the bed. You were weak and didn't fight it, still up in the clouds as the scene ended and Korekiyo started bringing you back to reality. It wasn't till the camera shutter clicked again that you came to your senses and sat up slowly. 

“How are doing, beautiful?” Korekiyo asked gently, setting the camera aside and added the picture to a stack beside it. 

“Sore… still fuzzy. I'm really tired too…” 

“I'm not surprised, I may have taken it a bit far with the two of you this session.” You shook your head, Gonta moving behind you and hugging you to his chest. He was still hard against you, having not gotten off when you and Korekiyo did. 

“Wait, Gonta…” “Gonta is fine, (Y/N) shouldn't worry! Gonta just wants her to relax now.” You felt a little bad that he hadn't come, but didn't have the energy for anything else. 

“It was really good, Kiyo. It was almost too much but I knew you wouldn't push me too far.” 

“Are you certain? I should have warned you about the flogger, or used something more gentle.” You smiled and yawned as Korekiyo wrapped a blanket around your naked form. 

“I liked it. I liked it a lot. You really do make a good villain, Kiyo. If I didn't know it was a scene I would have been terrified.” You laughed a little, squirming when you felt Korekiyo’s cum dripping out of you. 

“Gonta was pretty scared of Kiyo for a while, he wasn't sure if he was going to ever escape.” You smiled, letting your eyes close. 

“I would never let anything happen to the two of you, I want you to know that. As intense as things may get in this room, I would never let you be truly hurt. Go ahead and rest now, I'll bring you some food and have a bath ready in a short while. Do you need anything in the meantime?” You shook your head, turning over to face Gonta, who repeated the action. 

“Rest well, then, you deserve it. I'll wake you up before long.” You were already out by the time Korekiyo pressed a kiss to your sweaty forehead, making sure you were comfortable before starting to clean up the room. It was an easy clean up and by the time he was done, you and Gonta were sound asleep and cuddled close. Carefully, to not wake you, Korekiyo picked up the instant camera and snapped a few photos of the two of you. He wanted to capture it, the way you held each other so close, how evident your love was even in sleep. As much as this relationship was about scenes and punishment, Korekiyo still enjoyed the moments where things were quiet and sweet. 

He smiled at the slowly developing photos, picking up the pile of the others and bringing them with him as he left the room. Much as he would have liked to join you, he had things to do. Once the two of you were rested and fed, he was going to take care of every inch of bruised, sore skin he had left in his wake. It was the least he could do, since the two of you had been such lovely prisoners for him. 

#ndrv3 #gontakiyo #gonta gokuhara #korekiyo shinguuji #commission

[dbhilluminate]

DBHI: Equilibrium, ch. 13 - “Periapsis” (pt. 1)

Characters: Noah / “Erwin Yvonne”, Gabriel / “Vincent Sharp”, Special Agent Gavin Reed, Director Thomas Falken Word Count: 2,842

Noah crashes an undercover FBI operation to say hello to a friend he hasn't seen or spoken to in a couple of months, but the mood is spoiled when the Zionist Inquisition shows up to deliver an ultimatum to Vincent Sharp, and issue a threat to anyone who would dare support the installation of an android suburb in Washington, DC.

***For a glossary of world-building terms relating to this series and chapter, click here.

(Chapter Art by ozaya, Co-authored by @grayorca15​)

• Chapter Index • Characters • Glossary •

——

December 23rd, 2041 - 9:45 PM

From the outside, the looming auditorium locally known as The Mellon was unchanged. Whatever techno-aesthetics the Capitol had adopted in the last two decades, Washington, DC’s architecture was still mostly the same neoclassical Roman-inspired drivel the Founding Fathers probably thought the height of grandeur that any respectable city could model itself after. This particular building was very much a product of its time- a perfect encapsulation of the stiff right angles, thick brooding columns, and bleak texture-less walls, suggested nothing of what might actually be happening beyond the foyer. The red-green cutout projections of trees and reindeer and ornaments dancing across the Columbia pediment sculpted across its tented promenade and the delicate string instruments currently honoring an orchestral cover of one of a hundred classic Christmas songs was a hint though.

Noah stepped out of the Jaguar to be accosted by a shower of holographic white and blue snowflakes, mixed with the real-life equivalent wafting about that cold winter’s night. They swarmed like his very own plague of too-friendly gnats. Whatever property-wide projection program the event had been accentuated with, the programmer had evidently spent too much time re-watching Frozen as a child. He pulled his sunglasses down just far enough to peer over the lenses as a few flakes fluttered in, close enough for him to see their individual fractals, and gave an irritated huff through his nose. “Still bitter over the demise of Disney, I see.” A few seconds later, the shy valet swept around the roadster’s red taillights and apologized profusely for a near-nonexistent delay in offering to take the car to be parked. Noah felt nothing but amusement at their blathering, patted him on the shoulder and held the door open. “Quit fussing. It’s early yet, and you’ve a lot more rides to tuck in before the night’s over. Treat this one like the queen she is and there’ll be an extra fifty in it for you… Fredrick.”

The kitschy light-show and dear hapless Fred weren’t as bothersome as the front ranks of guards posted at the velvet rope-fenced entrance. The nearest man put up a hand and stopped him in his tracks at the top of the stairs. “I’m sorry, sir, but this is a charity function for contributors only. Have you made a donation?” It seemed only pre-approved guests were being permitted inside- a slight oversight on his part, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from his goal. He had a conversation to close out.

Noah popped his brows and donned a charming smile as he presented the falsified credentials, nestled in a flip-fold ID bearing the name Erwin L. Yvonne, complete with the most abhorrent manipulation of his likeness ever produced. “Not to worry, gents. I’m intimately acquainted with the curator, Mr. Sharp, and I’m here to deliver my contribution in the flesh.” Everything about the little white lie he’d spun on a whim was unnatural to him, but convincing to the two confused humans -poor, overworked and underpaid minions as they probably were- relaying questions into their headsets. After a few moments of conferring with whoever was heading security (most likely the Special Agents in charge of the sting this event was a front for), they motioned him through for a pat-down just beyond the rope. Noah didn’t bother feeling offended at them for only doing as they were instructed, but he did have a little fun making them as uncomfortable as possible as they searched his person for weapons. If his disguise, an old favorite thrown together on such short notice, held up to that much, then the rest would be a cakewalk- not that he had ever harbored a desire to actually go skipping through a fully-stocked dessert table. As fun as it sounded, he had enough messes splashed all over his real name without adding another to the list.

To his relief, the reach of the holographic snowflakes stopped at the door and vanished as he crossed the threshold of the foyer. The marble floor of the lobby had been buffed and waxed to a soft shine, and was still holding up to the foot traffic four hours after the meet’s commencement. Noah only paid enough mind to the guests still loitering about in groups no larger than six people to disinterestedly scan their faces at a glance and assign his background processes the menial task of matching names and dossiers to them. At the moment, he was far too focused on finding the one disguised face among them who was of any real importance to care about much else.

Mr. Vincent Sharp. Or should he say, Gabriel Reed.

The main hall was a wide, cavernous space, with rows of columns standing off to either side. Gold leaf sconced wall lamps provided an accentuating glow compared to the three giant chandeliers of brass and aluminum that bathed the room in ambient light. The dazzling light-show playing outdoors was only outdone by the splendor of one thirty-foot tall balsam fir erected in the center of the floor, adorned with no less than one hundred feet of multicolored string lights, dozens of strands of tinsel, swaths of garland, and a few hundred bauble ornaments. The topper, a white tinsel angel with glittery wings, faced the entrance with its hands pressed together and head bowed as if to thank all who arrived. A few outlying rings of cocktail tables surrounded the roped-off centerpiece. Those guests who weren’t conversing had taken seats to sip champagne or nibble on appetizers while they caught up on their gossip. Each cloth-covered table possessed its own small topper of a larger holographic projection of snowflakes hanging stationary in midair, which constantly shifted from one pattern to the next, spinning like a globe on a stand whenever a curious hand reached out to ‘tap’ them.

A small stage nestled in an alcove against the back of the ballroom hosted a classical band (ruled by one full-size concert piano) who looked as superfluous as the snowflakes that had greeted him outside. They wound through the last chorus of Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire as he descended the staircase, before starting back up with Jingle Bell Rock. Between the cello and violins, Noah’s hypersensitive ear detected at least three strings in need of tightening before he shunted that note aside to take a backseat with the rest of his anxieties. He hadn’t spent two hours biting his knuckles over ever approaching the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium just to show up and critique its acoustic entertainment.

It wasn’t until a few curious eyes had turned his way, nodded and bid him good evening, that Noah realized how entirely inappropriate it was to be wearing sunglasses indoors, much less an event so high-class. The rest of his ensemble was tame enough- a dark navy blue suit bearing pointed lapels and a Zion sigil pin, complimented by a black dress shirt and loafers. The mild dose of glitter effect (same as could be found on the snow outside) projected into his black hair, accented with blue highlights, wasn’t as much of an affront as the pair of Ray Bans. Before anyone could make much of a fuss about it, he pulled them off and stashed the specs in his jacket’s breast pocket; in this kind of crowd, acting appropriate was of the utmost priority. Except when it wasn’t. Off to the left was a fully stocked pop-up bar- heads of the handful of people standing near it were turned away, giving off all manner of unapproachable vibes, including the only familiar silhouette in the room. Noah fought back a smirk when he spotted one particular set of ears before the facial recognition software even kicked in. As much as he would have loved to surprise him with his presence, he knew better than to sneak up on the owner of said ears. The last time he’d done so, Noah had wound up laid out over the fragments of his former coffee table, and he wasn’t eager to experience the cocktail hour equivalent of that encounter.

A half-hearted sweep of the room offered a few other suggestions of anything amiss, and that conclusion was about as dull as dishwater. Noah wasn’t really feeling making a scene with another guest (this event was far too classy for such delinquency), nor was he feeling at all confident enough to steal the mic off its stand and serenade the entire room. But that Christmas tree… it was giving off far too many signals to only be rigged with illumination accents. On his optical spectrum, a cloud of static encircled the poor displaced flora from top to bottom, a few of which were emitting from little lens-capped nodes disguised as burnt-out bulbs along the string. He drifted over casually and leaned in as if to admire his reflection in one of the gold metallic baubles, then carefully reached past the rope to twist and unplug one of the planted camera bulbs like plucking a petal off a flower. The fir gave only a whisper-quiet tink at this attack. The light strand continued to blink and cycle away, regardless of the missing piece. Noah held it up to eye level with a triumphant, yet mischievous grin. He knew exactly who was on the other side of the monitor observing the footage.

And having the most important discussion of the holiday season. On the other end of the feed, tucked away in the off-limits green rooms of the hall, Special Agent Reed was too busy engaging in one of his favorite pastimes of discussing classic action flicks with the unbaptized to notice that one of their cameras was moving. “I’m tellin’ you, man, Die Hard is THE Christmas movie, and if you don’t agree you’re just wrong .” “No way,” a second agent argued, “Bruce Willis himself denied that shit more than twenty years ago…” Reed let out a laugh that bordered on mocking, shook his head, and gestured to the man with one scolding finger lifted off his coffee cup. “John McClane would disagree-“ “Hey! Dumbasses! Stay focused!” Director Thomas Falken -who had insisted on overseeing the sting himself, in the event that something went horribly wrong - barked at the yapping men with a threatening leer that snapped Gavin’s head around and back into focus. On the feed of one of the bulb-cameras, an unrecognizable man rolled the glass node between his fingertips like a gem, and smirked as he held it up to the light. Reed’s brow furrowed in distress as he mumbled “What the fuck…?”, then swiped the walkie off the counter to relay the information. “Gabe.” “What is it, Reed?”

All done up in the swankest cocktail suit anyone would ever see him in, ‘Vincent Sharp’ turned, then leaned with his back against the bar and nursed a drink as he scanned the room through half-framed, squared-off, horn-rimmed glasses. One idle hand reached to throw back the hem of the tweed charcoal gray blazer, exposed the light brown waistcoat hugging his waist and hips, and slipped into the pocket of a pair of perfectly tailored, black slim-legged slacks. “We may have trouble, one of our spycams has been compromised.” Gabe tipped back his head and emptied the glass in his hand to smother the outward reaction of surprise, then set it down on the counter and gestured to the bartender for another. Rather than reach for any of the bottles displayed on the back counter, she went for a decanter on the shelf below the bar and refilled the glass with a burgundy brown liquid- thirium, distilled and dyed to mimic the appearance of Scotch. "Just one?” he asked in a curious tone as he searched the crowd around the tree. From his vantage point, he couldn’t clearly see anyone acting suspiciously. “Yeah, it’s the weirdest thing… little shit’s just holdin’ it up and grinnin’ like he knows we’re here…” And that he did. The harsh whisper to emanate over the commandeered camera’s mic said as much:

Good evening, Special Agent Reed. Fancy seeing you here.

From the other side of the room, Gabriel’s head turned a tic at the sound of crashing equipment and a few muttered ‘shit Shit, SHIT’s coming from the other end of the frequency he was currently tuned to. Like a bull in a china shop.

“How does he know you’re here… !?” Falken -known in his social circles as Tomahawk, for good reason- boomed from across the room as he rose from the couch and stormed over to the monitors. He shoved Reed’s chair aside, and scrutinized the face of the man making a mockery of their carefully planted monitoring equipment. Gavin’s heels scraped against the hardwood as he backpedaled and held his hands up in surrender. “I- I- I don’t… I don’t know, I didn’t tell anyone, I swear-” “Then who is THAT?” Falken punctuated with a slam of his palm against the monitor that made everyone in the room jump. “That’s… that’s, uh-...” He could explain that, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to. No matter how he looked at it, he was to blame for his presence that evening. His negligence had compromised months of careful planning.

“...Gavin?” His target rose from a table toward the front of the ballroom and directed his attention toward the bar, leering with the clear intent of starting a conversation. What impeccably bad timing for this to go down. “Reed! Talk to me!”

Gabriel’s intrusion provided him with the convenient excuse he needed to disengage for a moment. One visibly-shaking hand swiped the walkie off the desk and Gavin turned to break away from the glower of Falken’s death-glare long enough to respond to his partner in the field. The other hand ran through his hair with a nervous twitch in his fingers and he glanced over his shoulder as he cleared his throat and swallowed, then mumbled, “It’s-... it’s Noah,” under his breath just loud enough for him to hear.

Gabe’s thought processes came to a screeching halt as his personal life collided with his alias for just a moment. To hear that Noah was in Washington, DC, much less at the Zion Founders Fundraiser, was the last thing he’d expected to hear that evening. As Reed continued to drop curses in the background, Gabe turned to face the bar and flashed a polite, but forced smile at the bartender as she eyed him with nervous sweeps. He didn’t reach for the glass right away as it was set in front of him on a small black napkin. “Please, tell me I didn’t just hear what I think I did…” he muttered internally as a dozen different possibilities for how the night would turn out flashed thumb-nailed pre-constructions across his HUD. But Reed’s uncomfortable sputtering confirmed what he was hoping was just a joke.

“No, you heard me right.” One hand swiped over his face in a downward motion and scratched in frustration at the stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave in almost a week and desperately avoided Falken’s infuriated ‘what the fuck’ gestures in the background. “The bastard’s actually here, arrived in DC last night with Hannah and President-Elect Kamski. H-he stopped by the house lookin’ for you, but I told him you were undercover an’couldn’t make an appointment. I told him t’keep his nose outta our shit, but he-” Reed paused and squinted over Falken’s shoulder as Noah slipped the tiny camera into his pocket with a ‘Can you hear me alright in there?’ “Oh, son of a….” “What the hell is he doing…?”

The camera-bulb didn’t act as a walkie. And to their credit, all the personnel Noah could plainly see -now that his recognition software had sorted fact from fiction- didn’t stir, much less blow their cover. He knew without being told what this sting was about, and who it was the FBI were really here to keep tabs on. Perhaps him showing up was akin to being a ‘fly in the ointment’, but as yet he hadn’t done anything other than offend their Christmas tree. He gave the indifferent lens one more wordless glance as he rolled the bulb between his fingers. For a brief moment he considered winking at it, but decided at the last moment to pocket the device instead. Perhaps it’d come in handy elsewhere- for someone who hadn’t been properly equipped for this operation, it was the best he could do on such short notice. Failing that, he could always speak very loudly and deliberately at Gabriel’s collar mic, if he’d let him get close enough. The owner of the ear he recognized from before still hadn’t turned around. Outwardly he didn’t look very distressed. Only the new hunch in his shoulders, invisible to the human eye as it was, said it all. Far be it from him to keep ‘Vincent’ in suspense.

#rk900 #rk1800 #dbhilluminate #noriel #dbhiequilibrium #noah #gabriel

[taiblogcomics]

The Short Stint of the Suicide Substitute Squad

Hey there, cultural exchanges. It's Thanksgiving! The one holiday you can guarantee will fall on an update day, because that's how Thursdays work. Seems like it was Halloween only a few updates ago, doesn't it? Well, let's give you something to be thankful for and not continue that "Sink Atlantis" storyline we were doing in Suicide Squad. Yeah, turns out the next thing in my stack is an annual issue, and it looks like a lot of fun~

Here's the cover:

Don't have to draw a background if you draw a huge character who takes up the background, am I right? Also, guys, "Drain the Swamp" was several story arcs ago. Either way, I'm loving the girl group of Suicide Squad members here. We'll get into their identities in the review proper, but honestly they look more interesting than our regular cast, which is always sad~

So we open in Belle Reve, where some medical procedure is going on. Very unexpectedly, the corpse they're dissecting suddenly gets up and begins killing everyone. Her name is Cadence Laramie, and she appears to have some power to manipulate a bunch of shadowy creatures. She picks up the corpse of her partner and fellow dissectee and wanders off. With the main Squad off doing their thing in Atlantis (which apparently needs a two-page spread to remind us of instead of just a caption), Amanda Waller puts together another emergency team to retrieve her walking corpses.

And what a team it is! We have Merlyn, an archer and common Green Arrow rival. Here's Ragdoll, the contortionist from Secret Six. Shimmer here is a matter transmuter and a frequent Teen Titans foe. And the others I don't have previous familiarity with! The goth lady here is Scream Queen, and she's a vampire. The stereotypical Chinese lady is Tao Jones, martial artist. The stripey green fellow is Skorpio, and his power is listed only as "blades". And the tiny lady in glasses dressed like Shirley Temple is not Baby Doll from Batman: The Animated Series. No, this is our original character Baby Boom. She's like Baby Doll except she explodes~

Waller explains the backstory: Cadence Laramie and her friend Dennis Gaines (the corpse she's travelling with) suddenly appeared one day, conjoined at the waist. They're two whole torsos sharing one pair of hips and legs. That must make toilet time awfully awkward. Being conjoined by unknown forces so has driven them quite mad, and they choose to go on a rampage over it. They were apprehended and Dennis died in custody. And that's where we are now! This makeshift group has to go and retrieve the corpse-and-a-half before Laramie herself expires too. Merlyn feels Waller isn't telling them everything, and of course she isn't, she's Amanda Waller. Nonetheless, off they go~

Cadence Laramie (who I've chosen to refer to as Laramie, lest I get her confused with a pink alicorn princess) continues to run and finds herself in a swamp. Fortunately, the huge green person she runs into here isn't Shrek, but is instead Swamp Thing. Given Laramie's obvious distress and mutilation, Swamp Thing suddenly takes pity on her. Suddenly the pair are attacked--not by the Substitute Squad, but by the shadowy creatures that killed the medical staff earlier. Swamp Thing defends himself, and Laramie runs off, just as frightened of the shadowy things as anyone else. Perhaps she's not the one controlling them.

Ragdoll and Merlyn turn up and quickly manage to apprehend Laramie, under threat of sharp impalement. Merlyn radios in that they're successful when suddenly the shadow creatures show up again, now looking a lot more defined. No longer are they black formless things, but green ghostly corpses. Merlyn notes that all the goony green ghosts have noticable surgery scars, and regardless of whether she's controlling them, they're connected to her in some way. Laramie runs off again, while the ghosts tear Ragdoll apart.

Shimmer and Scream Queen receive a radio for backup and Shimmer confirms a reply, though Scream Queen seems more interested in... shall we say, intimate activities with Shimmer. Tao Jones suddenly appears in front of Laramie, asking her to stop running. Skorpio also shows up, saying he's not going to kill her because the boss wants her back alive, but he's not hesitant in being the scariest thing in the swamp that night. That's when Swamp Thing turns up, and he and Skorpio get in a fight. Tao Jones attempts to reason with Swampy, but then the ghosts catch up with them again.

Skorpio and Tao Jones are both killed while Merlyn films it, sending the video to Waller. Waller decides that the mission is worth changing given the new player on the field. She now wants them to apprehend Swamp Thing as well. Surprisingly, the ghosts dissipate instead of attacking Swamp Thing. Laramie explains that the ghosts are the victims of the people her other half, Dennis, has killed. Now that he's dead, they've taken physical form. Waller gives the order, and the rest of the Substitute Squad leap into action, tearing into Swamp Thing to try and reduce him.

As the ghosts start to appear again, Merlyn considers putting Laramie down before the rest of the team is killed. Waller, of course, forbids him from doing so. Baby Boom, who has barely appeared until now, is killed, followed by Shimmer. The loss of Shimmer causes Scream Queen to snap, and she attempts to strangle Laramie to death. Both Merlyn and Swamp Thing try to stop her, but she off-handedly tears open Laramie's throat. The ghosts disappear, and she dies, glad to be free of them. Swamp Thing cradles her body and tells them to get the hell out of his swamp. Oh, he was Shrek the whole time~

Scream Queen and Merlyn report to Waller, who is pretty displeased they've come back with neither of their targets. Scream Queen gets mouthy with how pissed she is at Waller for Shimmer's death, and Waller finally does something she's been threatening Suicide Squad members with for years: she activates her brain bomb and blows her head up. Merlyn has no further comments, personally. That's when Waller's salad suddenly comes to life and Swamp Thing emerges from it. He tells her he doesn't like her, and wants her to keep her business out of his swamp. She retorts that the swamp is government property, and that he can't be everywhere. He can't watch her constantly. And he replies that this is true, but someone will. And we see the ghosts one more time, with Cadence Laramie herself now among their number.

Well, that was a lot less fun than I thought it’d be, honestly. I get that they’re called the Suicide Squad, but I still don’t expect them to have an 85% mortality rate. Especially when you’re killing established characters like Ragdoll and Shimmer. Honestly, you can probably skip this story and lose nothing. I’m relatively certain that nothing comes of the ghosts or Swamp Thing’s threat. The series ends in five issues, after all~

#comics #reviews #Suicide Squad #Suicide Squad Annual #Taiblog

[darklightsworld]

Okay, so once again a Lanyon book is keeping my mind busy… The fourth book in The Art of Murder series was released a few days ago, I devoured it immediately, and now I’m trying to figure it out while dreading the fact that the final book will take more than a year. Below is a long (I mean loooooong) gushing and rant with spoilers, and it doesn’t really make sense for non-readers, so the J key is your friend. I just want to get this out of my system XD;

I like The Art of Murder series, I like hot-and-cold behavioral analyst Sam Kennedy (45-46) and not-just-a-pretty-face, devoted-to-protect-art Jason West (33-34), I like them together, I like how they try to make their relationship work (when they do), I like how they change. Sure, there are still a lot of reasons for shaking my head, like Jason doing stupid things, being too stubborn and irresponsible, and being really angry with Sam usually makes him pretty blind and prone to more stupid actions. And Sam is just Sam, set in his ways, lone ranger, totally inept at making a relationship work, even fights it with all he has, black and white views, great at his job but unable to understand his and Jason’s feelings in many conflicts and prone to shut off completely. But I love them nonetheless.

Now, how does it look like as a series? The first book, The Mermaid Murders, was amazing! Intriguing crime and mystery, it had to do with Jason’s past, so we got to know him a bit, while Sam was a mystery and generally a difficult guy. Dislike at first sight for both, but they can’t keep their paws off each other, and regardless of how Sam fights it, it does not end in his usually “catch and release”. The way they got closed was fascinating. All round a gripping read from the first pages till the very end.

The second book, The Monet Murders, was equally exciting. Interesting mystery, we learned more about Jason, his work and also his family. The mystery/crime was interesting and complex, and the overarching plots were set in motion. Relationship-wise it was an intense book. The boys had a long-distance phone relationship for eight months (wow 0_0), but Sam decided to end it - without telling Jason about it ^^;;; The boys weren’t together in the first half of the book, but it was still interesting, because regardless of Sam ending it, he couldn’t let go at all, and he’s willing to go at great lengths for Jason - even when he claimed he wanted to break up. He’s reactions are so telling - except for Jason ^^; (Best quote in relation to that: “Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto” XDDD) Extra fun: the story runs parallel to Winter Kill (I still have some grievance about how that book and the Roadside Ripper case was wrapped up - especially because it was important for Sam too)

Third book, The Magician Murders. It was different, but still very good. The murder case of the book wasn’t all that exciting, but the book was more relationship centric. The boys were together a lot, and despite the problems they and their relationship grew a lot, and most importantly we got to know more about Sam, his family, background, motivations and his tragic first love. The overarching stalker plot had important twists and an evil, goose bump-inducing ending. There were two main conflicts: Jason not realizing/admitting, that he’s under shock and his judgment is not the best. The other is that Sam withholds some information and tries to make decisions about Jason without consulting him - which is mostly because he’s aware of Jason’s limited abilities after his trauma, so the main point was that he could not communicate it. I always thought Jason was overreacting to this (”It feels like I don’t know you” - WTF?!), but they resolved it and they came out stronger.

So how was the fourth book, The Monuments Men Murders after these? Interestingly after reading I liked it (although it was clear it was by far not as good as the previous ones), but the more time passed the more confused I was about it. The good: the boys are happily together in the first half of the book, it’s totally loving, nice, Sam is happier, totally deredere, it’s just right - although the sex scene is a major lackluster and only two pages long, which is a huge change from the previous books. Okay, we get cuddles and talking in bed, sleeping together and stuff, but still, it’s not enough. I only realized after skimming through the previous books again, but there are a lot of references to previous things (aside from the outright mentioned first sex and others), like now Sam leaves a note when he goes jogging in the morning, and he also won’t bother trying to wake Jason with knocking, because he’s a deep sleeper. Sam was also once again expecting Jason to call him when he was in a dangerous situation regardless of the catastrophic state of their relationship, and once again he didn’t understand why Jason didn’t want his help XD;;;; They have come a long way... and not XD;;;

The problem even with the happy first half is, that everything is overshadowed by Jason’s idiotic actions, because you know it from the first pages that it will blow up. It’s like watching a train wreck... Jason’s current case implies his grandfather might have had been part of a crime, and instead of pulling out of the case, he takes the morally and ethically wrong choice and investigates himself compromising the case. Tbh this time I could not sympathize with Jason on any level. His reasoning to himself, the way he convinces himself it’s okay what he does, the way he doesn’t see he’s wrong even when it blows up with Sam is irritating, and I have no understanding for him - except for the fact that his judgment might be influenced by the stress from the ongoing stalker issue. But yeah, that would be an exaggerated repetition of the third book’s conflict. All in all this whole thing made me like Jason less, and I kind of hope he gets his ass kicked for everything he has done.

I could totally understand that Sam was very angry and disappointed, and also that he didn’t want to see him for a while (although it was a bit extreme that he questioned the foundations of their relationship - we got a deja vu for the “It feels like I don’t know you“, and it didn’t make more sense this time either). On the other hand what I couldn’t really understand was how Jason assumed Sam was shutting him out and turning his feelings off again when Sam was clearly suffering??? And how he was once again eager to throw the relationship away saying they can’t go on like this - like, heh??? You fucked up, but you’re fed up, when you only gave Sam one-two days to tackle it??? And Sam has to come to you and literally beg you??? The thing is, we already had all this before, and it didn’t make any sense to do it once again. Of course they will be even stronger after another crisis like this, but it was completely unnecessary.

The case itself was also a lackluster. For instance it was just one murder, not murders, and it was very simple, not like the complex (or seemingly complex) cases from before. Sure, the art rescuing tidbits and the Vermeer stuff was interesting, but there should have been much more. Btw, the book was very short, less than 200 pages, so that also explains the simplicity, but it does not make it good. More pages, more complex case. Since the previous books all allowed us to learn more about the boys and their pasts I was expecting the same here, for example many memories about Jason and his grandfather, but we got nothing, and this was a problem with the book too. And speaking of investigation... that was a wreck too. Many important facts were found off screen by JJ, and more often than not Jason was absentminded and preoccupied with clearing his grandfather’s name to really do the investigation (so yeah, Sam was right). Yeah, this whole thing was not necessary, or it would have been better if Jason has a breakdown or something to explain or give it a reason, but in the end his issues aren’t even mentioned in relation to his blowup. It was also a pity/mistake that Sam and Jason did not take part in each others cases in any way, also because Sam wasn’t even there for solving a case...

A pleasant surprise was JJ, though, ongoing asshole since Winter Kill, but here he redeemed himself quite a bit, and it was nice to see the partnership between him and Jason getting better. Unpleasant surprise was one of Sam’s previous “mission only“ bed partners. Yeah, we knew he had many of those and it was unavoidable, but aside from the meeting and talking about it with Sam once it was unnecessary. Jason knows, we know Sam doesn’t care, there was no dangerous development, so further mention was useless.

All in all, while I liked to have more about Sam and Jason, because I love them (I don’t do patreon but I’m considering to pay one month for their extras...), this book was not really necessary for them, and yeah, it could have, should have been much-much better. After reading it I skimmed over the previous three books, and once again I re-confirmed just how amazing they are and re-readable all the time - while I’m less inclined to re-read the fourth one. Now I only hope the final volume will be a good one. No more relationship crisis, and I want to have a solution for the stalker issue, the forgery case (tbh one of these should have been resolved in the fourth book, preferably the forgery one) and a realistic plan for Sam and Jason’s future.

Btw the images are from the sample of the Japanese edition of The Mermaid Murders. First it seemed strange, but it grew on me. I would love to see he other illustrations as well *__*

#m/m novel #long post #rant

[apathetic-revenant]

alright I have had this Doctor Who rant building up in me for years and I gotta get it out eventually so I might as well go ahead and do it

this rant is about why I stopped watching the show after season 7 and it’s not gonna be complimentary so I will put it under a cut and not in the tag so no one has to read it that doesn’t want to. 

also it is very long. 

some background: I started watch Doctor Who when I was thirteen. because I have a knack for picking the worst place to start a series, the first episode I ever fully watched was Human Nature. it was very confusing, but I was entranced. I immediately went to the internet and looked up as much as I could find about the show, and before the next episode had even aired I was already whole-heartedly in love with it.

Doctor Who was very important to me for the next several years. it was something to hold onto through some pretty difficult times. it could be quite hard to watch in the US (let alone to get a hold of merch or novels) but I grabbed every scrap of it that I could. Doctor Who was something that I found solace in when everything else seemed absolutely awful.

so it really hurt to fall out of love with it. but I did. 

now I’m fully willing to admit that a lot of what happened had to do with very personal, specific circumstances for me, and truthfully I don’t know how much of it applies to anyone else at all. but...I don’t think that makes my feelings about it entirely invalid either.

I was sad to see RTD and Ten--my first Doctor--go, but I was very excited for Steven Moffat to take over. I thought that the episodes that he had written were some of the best in the show, and I was looking forward to what he would do with more free rein. but he disappointed me in a lot of ways.

I don’t like Moffat’s writing, not anymore. I think he did well under the constraints of only writing one story a season, but not when given control over the entire show. I think his overarching plot lines are grandiose, over-complicated, are more concerned with building themselves up than delivering a satisfying resolution, and show a tendency to think that stories get more interesting the larger they are in scale, which is sometimes true but certainly not always. I think he spends too much time talking things up--his characters, his stories--resulting in a lot of telling and not enough showing. I think the occasional bombastic reminder of how old/powerful/smart/morally conflicted/whatever the Doctor is is fine enough, but that Moffat turned the dial on that up so much that I got sick of hearing people talk about the Doctor at all, which is not a good thing for the protagonist of the show. I think he hamstrung his own monsters by insisting on bringing them back over and over on increasingly larger scales so that something that was originally scary because it was mysterious and unknown become banal through over-exposure. I think his characterization is extremely poor, resulting in characters that are either inconsistent, two-dimensional, or both. I think he relied too much on using Time Travel Rules for dramatic effect, which doesn’t work too well when said Rules were made up just for that episode and aren’t consistent. I think he has a deeply irritating tendency to extend his control not just over his own era but on the entire show: ret-conning the Time War to what he thought it should be, writing characters that are not just the most important person ever to the Doctor he is writing, but to every Doctor there’s ever been. 

but. 

all that is just writing. I think it’s bad writing, and not writing that I at all enjoyed, but just bad writing on its own doesn’t really offend me. Doctor Who has had plenty of bad writing in the past and it’s carried on quite well regardless, and even if I don’t like it, well, if other people do then that’s good for them and I can live and let live.

the problem is that bad writing is not all that I disliked about the show under Moffat’s tenure. it is not what made me truly and deeply uncomfortable with the show as it went on until I had to stop watching it altogether.

here’s where the personal bit starts to come in. see, I’m asexual. at thirteen, I don’t think I really knew that yet, but I had started to twig that there was something a bit different about me. I didn’t seem to be feeling all the things thirteen year olds were usually supposed to be feeling. I read YA books describing puberty in ways that I often felt uncomfortable with and disconnected from. but maybe I was a late bloomer, I thought--I didn’t really have a lot of other information to go on anyway. 

so when I was reading up on the show after watching Human Nature and read that the Doctor typically didn’t show any interest in romance or attraction, I didn’t exactly think “oh, it’s someone like me!” but it definitely drew my attention, even if all I thought was “oh thank god, a show that won’t spend so much time on all that weird boring stuff.”

of course, watching the second part of that two-parter made it pretty clear that while the classic series may have abstained from romance, the new series felt no such restriction. I was disappointed, but not too much, because this was pretty much business as usual and I was very accustomed to it. 

but I’ve never been able, since then, to completely disconnect my experience with watching Doctor Who with my experience of discovering asexuality and what that meant for me. not when it contained the only character I’d yet encountered who even came close to being canonically asexual. not when there was so much discussion in and around the fandom about how the Doctor should be written. not when the show itself was clearly conscious of wanting to prove that whatever had happened in the old series, the new series Doctor was not asexual.

it was little things. like the way, any time I read anything about that infamous kiss in the TV movie, the reaction to it was always characterized as being a silly fandom thing--oh these repressed nerds, fussing about how the Doctor kissing someone violates canon, just goes to show how stuffy and out of touch they are. or the discussions of ‘dancing’ in season one that scornfully made clear that of course the Doctor felt attraction because it’s such a fundamental thing that it’d be weird for even an alien not to feel it. I mean, who could empathize with a character who wasn’t interested in sex?! it was things like the way the EU in the hiatus years tended to play up the Doctor being asexual--all in the service of making him seem more alien, more detached from human emotion. it was things that I never saw anyone complain about, that no one else ever seemed to think was a problem in any way, so I thought the fault must be mine for being uncomfortable with it.

I’m well aware that this did not start with Moffat--the new series was taking part in it from the outset, and I have my own issues with that (I’ve never been able to get onboard with a romance between a 1000+ year old alien and a 19-year-old girl. sorry, I know lots of people love that ship, but I just can’t personally). but it got a lot worse under his tenure.

I watched the TARDIS--a goddamn inanimate blue box--get characterized as the Doctor’s wife, a woman, called ‘sexy’, because for some reason the connection between an alien and their biomechanical time machine needs to map nicely onto a heterosexual relationship. I watched River making orgasm jokes at the camera with a wink, and the sonic screwdriver used to make dick jokes. I watched a parade of female characters that all seemed to fall into the mold of Sexy Flirty Feisty, who all fell hopelessly in love with the Doctor, whose lives revolved around him even from a very young age. 

I remember feeling sick and stunned as I watched a scene where Amy started making out with the Doctor while he tried to get away, a scene that was clearly supposed to be funny. I watched all this at the same time that I was struggling with the idea that I didn’t think I wanted sex at all, feeling like I was weird and wrong for it, like I would eventually have to fall into the right mold and go through the motions no matter how much I didn’t want to, because there didn’t seem to be any room in the world for a person like me. 

but even then, I felt like the problem was more on me. Doctor Who wasn’t really doing anything that every other show I watched didn’t do. it felt selfish to expect the show to cater to me when I was clearly in the vast minority of people. anyway, I didn’t really expect asexual representation. I still don’t. I’d love to have it, but expecting would just be getting my hopes up a lot so they could be dashed over and over again. I know a lot of people still don’t even know that asexuality exists, or what it really is, which is becoming less and less of an excuse as it becomes more well known, but I still don’t ever expect it to be brought up in mainstream pop culture (at this point I pretty much figure I’ll just to have to do it myself). I assumed that this writing on Doctor Who came out of the same place, that they felt fine writing off any sign of asexuality in the old series as being an outdated artifact they were no longer bound to because they didn’t know there was anyone in real life who actually felt like that.

and then I read a quote from Steven Moffat, about Sherlock--another series featuring a character with a distinct lack of interest in sex or romance in the source material. Moffat said that Sherlock was not asexual because that would be boring--no fun at all--and that him intentionally distancing himself from his feelings was much more interesting.

that was the betrayal. that was when I realized--he knew. he knew what asexuality was and he chose not to put it in his work because it was boring. it was not just “I don’t see you.” it was “I see you, I know you exist, but I don’t care.”

all my struggle, my identity, my existence, willfully tossed aside because it was too boring to even think about, compared to the gripping tale of a straight dude who didn’t have time for women because he was too busy being really smart. 

in retrospect it’s not surprising. this was, after all, the same show in which a self-described lesbian falls for a man, I guess to show that Sherlock is just so appealing that women will change sexualities for him. but hey, it goes both ways--this is the same character that, according to Moffat, Sherlock only lost to in the original story because he fancied her and got distracted. obviously nothing else could explain a woman beating Sherlock Holmes. don’t worry, he corrected that little oversight in his show by having Irene have to be rescued by Sherlock, the way things should properly go. 

I guess that was the point where I lost trust in the show. Doctor Who had been there for me through a lot of rough shit, but it was not going to be there for me on this one. it was not going to make me feel more comfortable with myself, feel like I was okay just the way I was, like I could be proud in my own skin. I know it’s helped other people with that, and I am truly happy for them. but I wouldn’t be one of them. not while Moffat was in charge. I was too boring. now, another woman falling in love with the Doctor--now that would be interesting, eh?

I couldn’t trust anymore that any joke about the Doctor not understanding sex--ha ha, those jokes always seemed to go, look at the funny alien acting all confused and ignorant--would be any more than that, a joke, to be tossed aside the moment a tempting bit of lewd humor or romantic moment came up. I couldn’t trust that any female character would appear on the show--or even would have existed in the show’s history--without becoming yet another in the long line of women who fancied the Doctor. maybe the show would do better, maybe it would become something I could feel comfortable with again--but I was done waiting around to find out. 

I stopped watching the show. I went to college. I watched other stuff. I kept on struggling. I still didn’t see myself in media, in lots of ways, but I found people like me on the internet, I read niche fiction and bits of fanfic that finally described my experiences, and I started feeling better about myself. not perfect, but better. 

I wasn’t watching Doctor Who anymore, or Sherlock, but I heard things over time. 

like Moffat passing over three past Doctors, saying that despite them all being ready and capable he wasn’t including them in the 50th Anniversary because he didn’t think they’d want to “struggle into their old costumes” again, managing to simultaneously diss three great actors who’d been contributing to the show for decades and demonstrate a stunning lack of creativity for a sci-fi writer for a show with a large budget by apparently being unwilling to even try to figure out a way to work around them having aged. oh, but McGann got to come back long enough to get killed off. and we would have had Eccleston but he didn’t want to come back for the special that retconned all the work he put into his character as being based on a giant lie, I wonder why? 

like how Sherlock rewrote the ending of a story that originally had the villain finished off by a woman, because as the writers explained in an interview, it was completely unbelievable that that could happen. 

like lots of lovely little comments, about how women only watched Sherlock because they were attracted to Cumberbatch, or watched Doctor Who if the Doctor was hot enough; about how bisexual representation wasn’t needed because bi people were too busy “having fun” to watch TV anyway; about how the idea of a female Doctor was as silly as a male queen. well, fine. I’m personally glad that Steven Moffat dismissed the idea of a female Doctor because I shudder to think how he would have written her. 

I could go on, but I have other stuff to do. you don’t have to take my word for it, though; here’s a nice article to start with. 

I almost didn’t bother watching the newest season, but I made a spur of the moment decision to catch it. and I am enjoying it so far. it’s reminding me of the things I originally loved about the show. I was nervous about how the first female Doctor would be written, but watching Thirteen in action gave me a sense of empowerment I honestly wasn’t expecting. maybe someday I’ll be able to just completely enjoy the show again without having so many conflicting feelings about it. 

probably eventually I’ll go back and watch what I missed. there may be things I enjoy in there. episodes I like. I’ve gotten the impression I would like Capaldi himself. and if I just didn’t like Moffat’s writing, I would be happy to enjoy what I enjoyed and not bother with the rest. I would be willing to believe that he might improve or take a different tack that I enjoyed more. 

but after the things I’ve seen in Moffat’s writing, and the things he has said, I don’t trust him anymore. I don’t feel comfortable enough to ever fully enjoy his writing. I can’t respect him because I know he does not respect me. 

really I guess I should never have been all that surprised. like I said, I don’t really expect to see myself in most media. and plenty of works are worse than Doctor Who. 

I guess Doctor Who was just the only one that got my hopes up first. 

#rants #long

[all-good-things-dot-dot-dot]

All Good Things… The Good With the Bad.

All Good Things… The Good With the Bad. #Blog #Bloggerstribe #AllGoodThings… 24th June 2020 Hello, Chaps and Chapettes,

(Source: https://www.keengamer.com/articles/guides/list-of-common-fallout-4-pc-errors-and-how-to-fix-them/ ) It might have seemed like I stopped for a little bit there, huh? In actual fact, I have still been writing, but more or less in the background rather than doing a full-on post like this. Does that mean I’ve been “neglecting my duties” or “forgetting the challenge” I set myself to write for thirty minutes a day? Well, sort of. I cannot lie. Let’s see if we can analyze what happened here and correct the error, shall we? The main hiccup was actually on Friday where I did not write anything at all. I did end up writing that blog on Saturday and followed it up with the actual Saturday blog which I wrote and posted on Sunday, but by then I was already going back on several guidelines that I’d set myself. The first was to ensure that I wrote thirty minutes a day, this was missed on Friday, and the second was to have a break on Sunday.

I’ll come back to Friday in a bit and how I’ll resolve that in the future but I also want to talk about why Monday and Tuesday also didn’t happen. Monday was an oddly exhausting day. The heat has been creeping up this week, today being the hottest so far, but Monday was still cool. I had to take a nap after work and then when I did sit down to write, what I wanted to write was not one of these. Instead, I wanted to work on “Scoundrels”, a story about colorful ponies living in apocalyptic times. They swear, take drugs, shoot guns, it’s fun to write. The reason I wanted to write that, was because on Tuesday I attended an online workshop by a fellow writer who goes by the codename “Somber”. I know there’s non-bronies who read this on my Tumblr so, to summarise, they wrote a particularly famous FanFiction called “Fallout Equestria; Project Horizons”, millions of peeps have read it. It’s also a spin-off from an equally successful story called “Fallout: Equestria” (written by another fanfiction writer, KKat). Somber has a background teaching English so a class on Creative Writing was practically extra studies for my university course!

(Art by me, see https://derpibooru.org/images/2200843 )

The workshop was brilliant. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to workshop my story as we ran out of time but I didn’t feel too down about this. I made friends with a few other fellow writers and so could happily learn and share ideas with them. This ran on quite late and by the time it had ended, the clock was telling me I wouldn’t wake up for work if I didn’t attempt to sleep. That, neatly, leads me to today. As you can see, although I’ve had a busy day of work, walking to and from the shops and watching “Game Night” with my brother, I still managed to find the time to write this. That’s because tonight I had the time. That’s important. Friday, the time wasn’t there. I had to be there for a friend who was in need and since my chat, I have it on good authority that their life is looking up. Sunday was father’s day and I wanted to see both dad and stepdad, which I accomplished. Both men had a great day and felt loved, which was another mission accomplished. Sunday night was blitzed by a migraine and it took two paracetamol two hours to put those fires in my brain out. Monday, as said, was a very tiring day. But I also spent time writing something, even if it wasn’t this. So there was still something completed by the close of the day. Tuesday, there was work, I had my mother pop over for something, I had to cook dinner, and despite all of this still managed to make Somber’s workshop and find writing allies. Do you see where I’m going with this? Basically, just because you don’t get done what you wanted to do, do not look at it as a wasted day. Even a rest day is a success, so long as it is used to let you prepare for some harder work ahead. You are not failing if you didn’t hit that word count, or forgot to do something you wanted to do, or missed that walk to slim down the spare tractor tyre your gut has become. Even little accomplishments are still a win in the grand scheme of things and believe me they make all the difference. And sometimes, if someone you know, care about, or love is in need of you, then you should down tools to help them. Let me reiterate that it should be somebody you care about or at least someone who will return the favor along the line. There are people, even family, who can be a drain on your time, resources, and energy. I learned that the hard way last week (see my blog about bullies). Follow your head in these instances, especially if it is aligned with your heart. Most of all, I want you to take this away with you. Did you wake up today? Do you know how many didn’t get out of bed? Pulled a sickie? Or gave up? You didn’t so in that sense you’re already winning. Now go treat yourself to some cake, champ, you earned it. Stay safe, stay happy. All good things, Love, Scaramouche. X Oh, eerrrr, still here? Okay, let me square with you. Thirty mins just ran out but I wanted to include this; I am writing a spin-off of that “Fallout: Equestria,” series too, as I mentioned, called “Scoundrels”. I did have a lot of the story already up in my FIMFiction library, but I have unpublished it. Here are my reasons; I didn’t like how confusing it was. It felt like it started in the middle of a story. I had made choices as a writer that took the story in some strange directions. I made the plot too complicated. I made some of the good characters unlikeable. I made it too long while not much/ too much happened. So, I am holding onto what I wrote. I want to rewrite it, so that story that you may or may not have read does still exist and isn’t a waste of time, it just needs surgery. When it’s ready, you’ll be able to see it again. Until then, here’s a sneak peek at “Scoundrels”, the ponies of the apocalypse story I will be writing, have edited and polished before I publish it as fanfiction. Enjoy!

(Artist: Brainiac - see https://derpibooru.org/profiles/Brainiac ) ~ Scoundrels Written by Scaramouche “War,” a voice, masculine and gravelly, haunted my hangover. “War never changes.” It wasn’t much, but it was enough to stir me from where I’d attempted to make my early grave. My snout had the telltale feeling you got when you accidentally snorted water while submerged in a pool... Or hit too much Dash. I pushed my hooves out around me before my eyes were able to open and felt tiny canisters rattle away from me wherever I moved. My ribs hurt, telling me I hadn’t found a nice or even barely comfortable place to flop. The information fed back to me from all my senses came to the conclusion that I’d bucked up again. Daring to wake, I cracked my eyes open for as long as I could muster and fluttered the lids ‘til I could make out the shapes of a flickering square of light in the night-time room. Black and white images flashed through the screen of ponies dressed in armor and uniforms, those in the foreground attempting an escape with their wounded while the “best and bravest” continued to fight, to injure, to die. The image changed to Wonderbolts tearing over a coal cloud that once belonged to a shining city. I realized it was Manehattan, the place I’d hailed from. I knew from the shadow of a building topped with a huge pony head choking on the fumes. The Pegasi just seemed like haunting crows over that havoc. After the Manehattan skyline lingered for a few seconds, it switched to a shot taken behind ponies hiding from the invisible foe in a shady tunnel. Their silhouettes were huddled and perpetually expecting the worst of what was to come. Image after image along with the low, tedious voice seemed to mingle with the throbbing headache I’d gained. It reminded me that as gloomy as these images were, they were only the precursor for the apocalyptic times that came after them. I watched, laid lazily on my side among spent stims I’d used to forget the woes of the new world. I couldn’t help thinking that those dumb saps who had lived nearly a hundred years ago never knew how lucky they were. They could still trust the folks either side of them and that was more than could be said for most ponies this side of a century. “... But out of the devastation that arose from the wars, a few were able to reach stables that could house and shield them underground.” The narrator of the scenes kept going with his spiel regardless of whether I was listening or not. I looked about, but it quickly became apparent to me that the voice was just that. A recording from a stallion no doubts long gone now. There was nopony else in the place but for me that I could see. Nonetheless, he persisted. “Your family was part of that group and took refuge in Stable Thirteen.” On-screen, a snap of the giant cog that had once locked up this subterranean vault could be seen. “No, they weren’t, pal,” I grouched, squinting about the area still while battling with some persistently annoying amber locks of mane in my eyes. Something in this place was still trying to live, based on the squealing of a harmed fan spinning in the walls. Thanks to the projection lamp, I could see the tiles that dripped from the ceilings as age and erosion pulled them down. Wires knotted into nooses hung out from the ceiling gaps. Across dirty, rusted floors, the corpses of chairs lay on their sides and backs, stricken by the last unknown executions that had taken place here. Near me and my graveyard of used drug containers, a card crate lay on its side in a beaten state. “You are the first generation born in this stable to have not known the-the-the--” Apparently, I still wasn’t to know what “the” was. Above me, the box that had created this depressing light and sound show for me fizzed, crackled, sparked, then died. All light failed and draped a veil casually over me and space. Yet, this wasn’t as terrifying to me as might have been to somepony else. I sighed, relaxed, and let the gentle black patch encourage my head to heal. The festering stable was dead, the complaining sounds of the vents now a memory, and it was good. It was calming. I could maybe forget everything and fall back into a graceful slumber with it. After all, a ship in the harbor is a ship that’s safe... Of course, fate intervened. “Breeze! Breeze, where are you?” The voice was distant, but it was growing closer. “Gypsy Breeze, I swear on the spirit of Celestia, if you don’t get your ass into gear…” Fresh, battery-powered light began to dawn around the edges of the forever-open doorway into the corridors, confirming that the calling, living voice wasn’t far from finding me. “Buck,” I grunted to myself and pushed back the pain sloshing side to side in my cranium. I had to get myself up before they found me and the evidence littered around me. My legs complained but lifted me, allowing me to stand and let my brain cease paddling about in my skull. I swung a hoof out, brought it down, then my face immediately met the oxidized floor once more as a giggling Dash inhaler tripped me and twirled away. “Breeze?” They’d heard my tumble. “Buck,” I hissed painfully and scrambled back up, firing up a spell. I knew the caller in the halls would see the light but hoped I’d be quick enough. Despite the magic throbbing behind my junked-out eyes, I gathered all the emptied Dash I could see in the enchanted light. Catching as many as I could levitate, I shoved them into the deteriorated box, managing to slip the last of them away when a blinding orb swung through the door. I covered my bleary eyes and snarled out at a feeling only a vampire pony in the baking sun would understand. “Gypsy!” The dazzling sprite squeaked. “That’s my name— Buck, Hayfever, could you drop the light of that thing? My bucking eyes are about to explode…” mercifully, the beam lowered to ground level, allowing me to partially see the mare I knew behind it. Her sunset orange wings were spread in preparation to once more admonish me while the expression on the pegasus remained concerned. “You split from me again, Breeze. Ottawa said this stable is particularly dangerous, we shouldn’t be going off alone when--” “Ottawa was wrong,” I skulked somehow towards the door and waved my hoof back the way she’d come from. “I caught a terminal back up that way and… I dunno, something about the water talisman failing? Either way, the pony meant to fix it shuffled out the main door, and never came back. After that, the rest of the dwellers overthrew the overstallion and let themselves out of their own accord. Probably likely that nopony’s been here since.” If I’d have sounded more sure of myself in that last comment, I might not have seen doubt spread across her freckled, gold-lit face. “No, somepony has been here before us,” she suggested, “I found the mattresses pulled out of their rooms and laid together in the atrium. There was waste and broken gear that could only have come from outside too. Could be scavs, could be raiders, either way, we don’t want to take our chances.” “It could have easily been the Stable Thirteen ponies too,” I countered, “especially if they were going back and forth in and out of here, not wanting to--” I interrupted myself, as a false step kicked something, which ricocheted off of the metal wall and swirled unfortunately into the light of Hayfever’s torch. It only took her a second to realize what it was and I was already cringing guiltily when the light raised back accusingly at me. “Gypsy Breeze, you silly mare,” she scolded as well as any experienced mother could, “Using? Again? I thought you were beating this.” “It’s not mine,” I played the part of a lying teenager as best as I could, “it’s from those raiders you were bitching about--” “Oh, so now we believe in the raiders?” She had another quick examination of the inhaler and sighed, ruffling her wings in irritation as she walked past me, ensuring her hoofsteps echoed her annoyance. “When I agreed to hide your troubles from the rest of Helping Hooves, it was on the promise that you were going to make an effort to quit from them. Not so that you could privately indulge in the stuff.” She collected my saddlebag, discarded on a spineless chair, and was about to toss it to me when she had second thoughts. At my protests, she flipped the flap open first and rifled through up, digging out what she had expected to find almost instantly. Five more full inhalators of Dash were plucked out and tossed into the void of the room before she was comfortable returning my near-empty sack to me. “I’m not doing it to be an ass to you, Gypsy,” she said as I mournfully took the bag and slipped it back on. “As mayor of Helping Hooves I have a duty to look out for everypony and that includes you. But if you’re going to endanger lives this way, I’ll have no choice but…” I waited for what kind of penalty she’d place on me. Yet, all she could do was gaze at me, not mad, just disappointed. I gave a low groan, both out of the pain of coming down and the guilt of letting down a mare who was just looking out for my best interests. “Can we just get out of here?” I pleaded, “the air in here is making me feel sick.” “You sure it’s just the air?” She thrust a hoof forward, directing me on the way to head next. “But you’re right. Let’s just get the spark batteries Ottawa needs and high-tail it out of here…” To be continued...

(Source: https://thegeek.games/2020/03/24/fallout-3-war-war-never-changes-retro-2008/ )

#fallout #blog #writing #challenge #brony #equestria #my little pony #friendship #new vegas

[nettvnow-blog]

Fan Expo 2017: The Web Series That Could and Would

Carmilla series being at Fan Expo 2017 never should have happened.

But it did.

And it’s glorious.

If you don’t know what Carmilla series is then here’s the short answer right off the top: it’s really, really gay, really, really female/nonbinary centric, and has a really, really great set of cast, crew, and fans associated with it.

Boom. Information acquired.

On the off chance you need a little more background, Carmilla is a queer-centric web series retelling of the 1897 novella by Sheridan LeFanu. It aired for three seasons on KindaTV and, to the excitement of its fans (called ‘Creampuffs’), will be dropping a movie on October 26, 2017. Filmed in Toronto, Ontario, the series and upcoming movie stars Elise Bauman as Laura Hollis and Natasha Negovanlis as Carmilla Karnstein.

The fact that the ‘little web series that could’ has become a movie is the cause of all the excitement. Starting as a low budget YouTube show where fans campaigned hard on social media just to get a second season, Carmilla has turned into a Telefilm and fan-funded movie with millions of views on the original web series and a novel expected in a few years.

Fans were ecstatic to get their season three. No-one ever expected a movie. When the movie was announced last year with no warning, fans exploded with joy and gifs. They wished and hoped and dreamed but three years ago, no-one predicted this. Web series don’t usually become movies, nevermind queer web series with a basically non-male cast.

Now that’s it’s here, everyone’s dead. In the best possible way.

While the internet is a great place to learn all about this web series and the movie, there’s nothing quite like experiencing Carmilla and its Creampuffs in person. The place to find them was Fan Expo in Toronto where the movie’s teaser trailer dropped to thunderous applause, a couple of swoons, and a few giggles.

The perfect mix of feelings to make the audience itch for more Carmilla content.

The teaser trailer (below) provided fans with a taste of what was to come and a promise of more concrete content when the full trailer drops at NYCC later this fall. For now, fans have heads full of speculation and theories to keep them going.

And go they did, participating in a Carmilla panel that always rings a differently than anything else at the conference. This was my fifth year at Fan Expo, my third Carmilla panel at the event, and I’ve still yet to come across another panel that *feels* the same way that the Carmilla panel always does.

Warm and excited and open.

With a cast as eager for the film as the fans are and with a crew who were more than happy to throw out a few long awaited secrets like casual truth-bombs, the experience felt more like a group of friends coming together to chat than a formal panel of people who were paid to be there.

The panel provided lots of fun content and behind the scenes information for fans. This ranged from Bauman (Laura Hollis) and Negovanlis (Carmilla Karnstein) laughing while claiming that their dancing during the long-awaited waltz scene was terrible beneath the cuts, a movie release date of October 26 of this year with a promise of fun events, and the super casual bomb from the moderator that Dominique Provost-Chalkley, a new member cast only as ‘The Woman In Black’, was playing Carmilla’s ex-girlfriend Ell.

The audience and cast, who were unaware that this was an approved spoiler, all had a simultaneous heart attack for very different reasons. It was great.

Astute fans might have noticed that producer Steph Ouaknine also revealed that Ell, in line with the original Woman In Black novel, will be playing a ghost. With the movie just over a month and a half away, that gives Tumblr plenty of time to start creating ghostly ex-girlfriend theories. I have several.

Regardless of the content shared at the panel, the underlying message was the same - everyone believes in this story because no-one can quite believe that it’s actually happening.

Everyone is just really, really happy to be here.

It’s not just the panel that carried this attitude but this seemed to be an attitude that Creampuffs carried with them as they went about their day. While walking the floor over the 4 day event, I’d occasionally play a game of ‘spot the Carmilla fan’ and something that should have been hard for a tiny fandom in a sea of people turned out to be remarkably easy. There was the girl with the ‘Carmilla in NYC’ shirt who I tapped on the shoulder as I passed by, the 4 people from Hamilton, ON in front of me at the Beauty and The Beast panel who were squealing over the movie teaser trailer until I couldn’t help but join in, and the new friends I made in line after a quick text asking if anyone wanted to chat.

Then there were the hard ones, the people who I’d squint at and wonder only to find them later at the panel and smile. Creampuff successfully spotted.

When the weekend was over, weary legs dragging me home, there was the lingering question of how I’d spotted these less obvious Creampuffs. The ones who pinged my creampuff radar without Carmilla swag or snapbacks or flannels.

I still don’t know what it is.

But I know what it feels like, what it’s always felt like whether at panels or in crowded venues or across the internet: warm and excited and open. That same feeling that drove the Creampuffs in attendance to lift up hundreds of signs simply reading “thank you Carmilla.” Happy to just be here, existing and thrilled and a little confused as to how this all happened but thrilled just the same.

And curiously awaiting whatever might come next from the little fandom that could.

Written by Aria Bauer

#FanExpo #Fan Expo 2017 #Carmilla #KindaTV #Smokebomb #Natasha Negovanlis #Elise Bauman #Sharon Belle #Dominique Provost-Chalkley #Aria Bauer #Steph Ouakine #Kaitlyn Alexander #Annie Briggs #Matt O'Connor #Nicole Stamp #Cara Gee #NYCC

[jenniferfaye34]

#Giveaway ~ "heartwarming and sweet romance" THE #PRINCE AND THE #WEDDING PLANNER by Jennifer Faye... #excerpt #books #romance #readers #royal #amreading #PrincPrism

On Tour with Prism Book Tours We hope you enjoyed the tour! If you missed any of the stops you'll find snippets, as well as the link to each full post, below:

Launch - Note from the Author

Thanks so much for joining me for the launch of The Bartolini Legacy trilogy. This family saga filled with secrets, surprises and lots of romance begins with THE PRINCE AND THE WEDDING PLANNER. . . . I hope you’ll join Bianca and Prince Leo in this royal romance as they wrestle with the past and come to terms with the present in order to have a happily ever after future. Happy reading, — Jennifer

Rockin' Book Reviews - Review

"In her familiar style, Jennifer Faye, once again, creates a wonderful "feel good" novel which is sure to leave the reader uplifted and entertained. . . . Within this tale, is a whirlwind of fun, often unexpected events, which will keep the reader eagerly anxious for the next page. The characters are delightfully endearing. and portrayed well. The background scenes and events are well described, allowing the reader the feel he/she is there, experiencing it."

Thoughts of a Blonde - Excerpt

“I… I’ll be there.” Bianca turned her back to her brother, not wanting him to see the unshed tears shimmering in her eyes. She could be strong like him. She could get through this agonizing day without crumbling into a million pieces. She needed to think about anything but the hollow spot in her heart. She lifted her head and her gaze came to land on the old photos on the wall. It was a collage of her grandparents, her parents’ wedding and herself and her two siblings. They’d all looked so happy— “Bianca, they loved you.” And then her brother exited the room, closing the door softly.

Books and Zebras - Review

"I've become a fan of Jennifer Faye's simplistic warm hearted stories. The Prince And The Wedding Planner did not disappoint. This story is delightfully entertaining and charming. The premise is unique and fun, and I just love a good royal romcom. . . . Bianca and Prince Leo are quite adorable in close company, and I enjoyed reading their story. This was a fast read for me. In the end, it's the kind of story that will make you smile!"

Pause for Tales - Review

"This was a sweet romance that took you out of everyday life and into a life of royalty. Which certainly is no picnic at times but there is [definitely] some advantages. Leo and Bianca instantly hit it off and of course there is an immediate attraction. What follows is should they or shouldn't they follow their hearts desire and go against expectations or after his sister's wedding go their own separate ways."

Wishful Endings - Excerpt

. . . Truth be told, there was another woman that had caught his attention. Her hair was dark and her skin glowed a warm tan. He noticed that she spoke when addressed but for the most part she was quiet. And when she did speak, her voice was soft. He caught himself staring at her more than once. Maybe it was because she didn’t make a point of walking up to him and introducing herself like so many of the other people. In fact, she acted as though she didn’t even know he was royalty. Could that be possible? Regardless, his interest in the beautiful woman increased. It’d been a while since he’d enjoyed a woman’s company. With his pending engagement and marriage—a necessity in order to ascend to the throne—he wasn’t in a position to start anything. But for the moment, he was still a free man.

Bookworm Lisa - Review

" It's cute and fun. It is a romance that many people like to fantasize about. The characters are interesting and their story keeps the book moving at a good pace. It is easy to read and engaging. This is a book that is an escape when you need a few minutes to relax and enjoy a book."

Jorie Loves A Story - Review

"Throughout the story, Faye wants you to remember to hold back judgment and to see how her characters choose to take steps to reassert their own independence in their lives. They each desire to find happiness and to catch it as long as they can whilst dealing with obligations none of them are truly ready or prepared to accept. Its a lovely story about the fortitude one needs to survive the ruts in the road life brings along whilst keeping hopeful about the future which is never quite written in stone as some would like to believe! . . . Faye writes realistic narratives for today's Romance reader and that is exactly why I love continuing to follow her publishing journey."

Deal Sharing Aunt - Review

"This is a great book about love. The love between a family, a couple, and even a kingdom. . . . I can not wait to see how the rest of this series plays out."

Reading Excursions - Review

"This was a sweet, fun, and whirlwind read. I didn’t even know it was over until I got to the last page. The author’s vivid writing brought the scenery to life. Bianca and Leo were such a perfect couple, and it was easy to see where the novel was going. The romance element was absolute perfection . . . The author does a terrific job of keeping the pace going for the romance. This short, but addictive little read is the perfect beach day or even rainy day read."

Andi's Book Reviews - Excerpt

“I’m confused,” he said. “Are you a guest of the bride or the groom?” “Neither. I’m their wedding planner, Bianca Bartolini.” He hadn’t expected that response. He must be slipping. He was usually very good at reading people. It probably had something to do with the turmoil back at the palace. By the time he turned in at day’s end, he usually had a headache that kept him up until late into the night. He needed to do something to bring peace back to the palace. If he couldn’t do that for his family, how would he ever keep peace over the nation?

Two Points of Interest - Review

"I have read a few of Jennifer's books and have enjoyed this one. . . . Overall, it was a quick read and I can't wait to read the rest of the novels."

Harlie's Books - Review

"I loved Leo and Bianca as a couple. They are sweet together and compliment each other. . . . I can’t wait to read the other two books in the series. I will miss the Queen and how she deals with Bianca and Leo’s relationship but upward and onward. Again, Ms. Faye has written a beautiful book about two characters that you will like and want to keep in touch with."

Baroness' Book Trove - Excerpt

“Bianca Bartolini, I’d like to introduce you to His Royal Highness, Crown Prince Leopold of Patazonia.” Once again, Bianca curtsied. She willed her face to cool down, but it only succeeded in making her warmer. Goodness. What was he going to think of her? First, she was openly staring at him. And now her face must look like a roasted beet—all red and steamy. Not good. Not good at all. “You’ve put on a splendid wedding,” the prince said. “I’ve quite enjoyed it.” “Th…thank you, Your Highness.” “The prince is searching for a wedding planner,” Benito said. “And I was telling him what a great job you did with our wedding.”

Peaceful Pastime - Review

"This is the first book in a new series by Jennifer Faye and it promises to be quite a wonderful series based on this book. . . . I thought this is an engaging story with charming characters and the perfect way to spend a relaxing afternoon or week-end getting lost in a book."

Splashes of Joy - Review

"The author does a great job of writing this story, weaving together the many different issues going on, and giving readers a wonderful story that will stay with me for a while. Some couples I just can’t get off my mind, and this as one of them. If you enjoy romance, check this one out. It’s a pretty fast read, and will give you a few hours of enjoyment and entertainment."

Locks, Hooks and Books - Review

"I love Jennifer Faye’s books and The Prince and the Wedding Planner is no different. . . . I highly recommend it for readers who enjoy a quick, heartwarming and sweet romance."

underneath the covers - Excerpt

As though Bianca sensed his presence behind her, she turned. “Your Highness.” She dipped her chin. “Is there something I can do for you?” Just then the orchestra started to play a new song. It’d been a while since he’d danced and from what he’d observed, Bianca hadn’t let up on her duties long enough to enjoy the evening. It was wrong for her to miss out on such a marvelous evening. With the lanterns sending a warm cast over the patio area, he asked, “Would you care to dance?”

Hallie Reads - Review

"An unexpected romance develops in Jennifer Faye’s The Prince and the Wedding Planner, the first of her Bartolini Legacy trilogy, and it is so fun. . . . I always enjoy a romance from Faye. Falling in love with a prince is a traditional childhood fantasy, and I enjoyed seeing the drama of that fantasy playing out on the pages of The Prince and the Wedding Planner."

Bookish Jottings - Review

"A wonderful romantic read, The Prince and the Wedding Planner is sheer reading delight from beginning to end. Jennifer Faye has written an emotional and dramatic tale sprinkled with humor, warmth and heart which readers will read in a single sitting as they find themselves completely and utterly bowled over by Leo and Bianca’s love story and unable to put the book down."

Don't forget to enter the giveaway at the end of this post...

The Prince and the Wedding Planner (The Bartolini Legacy #1)

By Jennifer Faye

Contemporary Romance

Paperback & ebook, 256 Pages

March 1st 2020 by Harlequin Romance

When different worlds collide…

…sparks fly!

With her family name on the line, wedding planner Bianca Bartolini needs this royal wedding to go perfectly—she can’t afford distractions. Too bad the bride’s dashing brother has other plans! Duty-bound Crown Prince Leo has mere weeks to announce his own engagement, but none of the candidates measure up to Bianca. They’re the most unlikely match, but might that just make them perfect for one another?

(Affiliate links included.)

Goodreads | Kindle | Nook | Book Depository | Apple | Kobo | PRINT

Go to Jennifer's Contact Page HERE and order your bookmark(s)!

Tour Schedule

March 2nd:

Launch

Rockin' Book Reviews

Thoughts of a Blonde

Books and Zebras

March 3rd:

Pause for Tales

Wishful Endings

Bookworm Lisa

Jorie Loves A Story

March 4th:

Deal Sharing Aunt

Reading Excursions

Andi's Book Reviews

Two Points of Interest

March 5th:

Harlie's Books

Baroness' Book Trove

Peaceful Pastime

Splashes of Joy

March 6th:

Locks, Hooks and Books

underneath the covers

Bookish Jottings

Hallie Reads

March 7th:

Grand Finale

About the Author

Award-winning author, Jennifer Faye pens fun, heartwarming contemporary romances with rugged cowboys, sexy billionaires and enchanting royalty. Internationally published with books translated into nine languages. She is a two-time winner of the RT Book Reviews Reviewers' Choice Award, the CataRomance Reviewers' Choice Award, named a TOP PICK author, and been nominated for numerous other awards.

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | YouTube | BookBub | Newsletter

Tour Giveaway

- One winner will receive a $25 Amazon gift card and one of Jennifer's backlisted titles, winner's choice of print (US only) or ebook (if outside the US)

- Three winners will each receive one of Jennifer's backlisted titles, winner's choice of print (US only) or ebook (if outside the US)

Ends March 11, 2020

ENTER HERE

#The Prince and the Wedding Planner #The Bartolini Legacy #Jennifer Faye #Contemporary Romance #royal romance #wedding #prince #wedding planner #Italy #Prism Book Tours #Hearts & Scribbles

[akocomyk]

The Top 10 Books I Read in 2017

Funny how I wasn’t able to read as much books as I wanted to despite the fact that I wasn’t really doing anything for two and a half months.  I was able to read 25 books in 2017, just enough to hit my Goodreads 2017 Reading Challenge.  Usually, I go over my pledged number of books.  This was the only time, if I remember right, that I wasn’t able to surpass my reading challenge.

Finishing that challenge was an effort, mind you.  I finished reading the last book for 2017 on December 30, and i pushed myself just so that I can finish the challenge.  I blame all this slow reading to Miss Peregrine.  If you’ve read my thoughts on that book, you’d know why.

Going back to the real purpose of this blog... Of the 25 books I read this year, 15 were considered for this list.  I know that’s quite a lot, but that’s good, in reality.  That means I'm now more careful on choosing which books to read.

The sad part about this—similar to my dilemma last year—is that I have too many books that I want to include in the list.  It’s with great regret that I won’t be able to put them in here even if I wanted to.

Anyway... here it goes.

*The books in here are included regardless of their genre, release date, and author—whether they be Filipino or international.  As long as its a book that I’ve read within the given year, they can be considered for the list.

(Scores are on a scale of 1-5, inspired by Goodreads’ rating format)

10.  A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett (2005)

SCORE: 4.250

This is the second book in Pratchett’s Tiffany Aching series.  I really loved the first book and I’m so thrilled that whatever it is I liked from the first one continued with this—at times, even better.  But I’m a nothing-bests-the-original type of person, so the first book scored higher for me.  You’ll see it further on this list.

9.  The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Allire Sáenz (2017)

SCORE: 4.275

One thing that t I really love about Sáenz‘s books is the tone of his writing.  It’s utterly simple, yet very poetically beautiful—which for me makes it very quick and easy to read.

His other book that I read, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, is one of my favorite books.  Having known that he recently released a new book, I din’t mind that it’s still only available on hardbound, I immediately bought it when it came out.  I had high expectations for it.

This book gave me the same feelings when I read Ari and Dante, though it wasn’t as effective.  Toned-down would be a good word for it.  There are parts where it would hit you right on the heart.  Ironically, this is what the books is all about—love.  It’s about all types of love, even if the book never had an ounce of romance in it—maybe just a little bit.

8.  The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett (2003)

SCORE: 4.330

The story in itself is very similar to a fairy tale and you can even identify a few references grabbed from the classics.  But unlike those old tales of fantasy, this one is void of all the atrocities and rather has common sense and unwavering cleverness—not to mention, an ample amount of humor.

One thing that I also love about the book is that all characters are very likable and have distinct personalities—even the tertiary and background characters have personalities, it’s insane!

See full review

7.  The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (2016)

SCORE: 4.345

I always love a book with amazing characters who have deeply rooted motivations.  This is what I adored about this book.  It felt like all the characters have valid reasons why they were doing the things that they did in the story, and the way it just pushed the plot forward and how everything went to be is just enchanting.

This is a book meant for children but it can certainly be enjoyed by any person of any age—except for the toddlers who can’t read, obviously.  This book is for the people who looooove fantasy.  I got into reading because of fantasy books—hello Chronicles of Narnia—and this creation by Barnhill is a unique jewel in the midst of middle grade to young adult novels which nowadays are starting to sound too similar to one another.

6.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (1999)

SCORE: 4.405

I had setbacks when I decided that I wanted to read it.  It was on the bottom of my I-plan-to-read-list primarily because I’ve already watched the film adaptation and I’m worried that I wouldn’t appreciate the book that much since I already know the story and thought that it would take away too much of the book’s charm.

BUT I WAS WRONG.

I didn’t really plan on reading it but on June 10, when I was alone in our house and wanted to do something so that I won’t get bored, I went out to find a book and eat at a local café.  Turns out, this was the cheapest book I found that actually pulled my interest.

Anyway, the book—much like the film—is very touching and fun to read.  Like, I never would’ve thought that the book was written during the 90′s because it gave me the modern YA feels, like it totally blended in with the books that I love reading.

It gave me the feels.  You know, the weird feeling in your heart when you read a book or watch a film.  It was very prevalent in this book.

5.  The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (2007)

SCORE: 4.475

I got this book as a Christmas gift from a fellow Star Wars nerd.  She loved it that’s why she gave me a copy.  Basing from the reviews it got from Goodreads, it is an amazing book.  AND IT LIVED UP TO MY EXPECTATIONS. 

I just love how the characters are fully made up… although some feel like cardboard cutouts, I don’t mind.  I mean, they’re very minor characters.  At most, the main characters are very interesting.

It’s a good substitute to those who are reading the A Song of Ice and Fire series.  It has the same amount of epicness, same amount of characters, ample amount of secrecy and mysteries, but thankfully not as grandiose and confusing\ as GRRM’s (yeah, as much as I love the ASOIF books, sometimes it goes a little too far).

It’s a really thick book which I would normally get bored of reading in the middle, but that didn’t happen.

4.  Simon Vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli (2015)

SCORE: 4.605

It is a truly wonderful book that proudly represents the LGBTQ community.

I love how Albertalli wrote it in such a sarcastic tone, and it reminds me of the time when I have a similar tone in writing—the time before I started doing all those melodramatic stuff.

There are times in the book that I almost wanted to cry.

Also, it’s one hell of a page-turner.  I couldn’t stop reading it!  The book laid open on my desk at work and I occasionally read a few pages every now and then.  I wanted to know how it ends so badly.

I also love the way that the story is also very engaging to the readers, like the way that you want to share with Simon’s adventure and search for the mysterious identity of Blue.  I had speculations.  I said, if this would be him, the story would be stupid.  If this would be a girl, it would be disappointing (and Will Grayson-ish).  If it was this other characters, it just doesn’t make any sense.  But there’s this minor character who would probably fit.  AND I WAS DAMN RIGHT.  I predicted it but it was good, because all the other options would make a really bad story.  I predicted it but it was good, because if I was the one who wrote the story, I would’ve written it the same way.

3.  Scythe by Neal Shusterman (2016)

SCORE: 4.610

This is only my second Neal Shusterman book and I think I’m starting to become a fan.  In this novel, he created a world that is so thought-provoking, and he made it distinct among the over-crowded dystopian novels of the recent years.

I recommend this to anyone who loved reading The Hunger Games—or just to anyone who loves to read—because it gives you the same emotions.  Different story, same feeling.  It will surprise you.  It will scare you.  It will excite you.  And at a certain point, it will crush your heart.

See full review

2.  We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson (2016)

SCORE: 4.615

This book portrays the message that no person in this world has a perfect life.  We are all flawed, and we all have reasons to be unhappy.

I was heavily impressed at how Hutchinson was able to incorporate that factor in all of his characters.   That is what I like most about this book.  Anyone in the world who loves to read may be able to have a connection to it—naturally, everyone of us has imperfections and we can empathize on the characters because of that.

I love the little sci-fi things that are enclosed in-between chapters, including the main premise that Henry (the main character) is abducted by aliens.  And I love the mystery by the end as to whether or not these abductions are true or just a figment of Henry’s imagination. *Spoiler alert, if you’re wondering how this part of the story is resolved… it was never resolved*

He’s depressed and he probably has anxiety so this could possibly his mind’s manifestations to cope up with his life.  This real-unreal phenomenon kinda reminds me of A Monster Calls… you know, you’re not sure if whether or not the Monster was real or not.

This factor adds a little interaction with the readers as it forces us to use our own creativity and rely solely on our imagination on how this all adds up.  It can be true.  It cannot be true.

And also, the book has these occasional moments that will really crush your heart.  You know how much I love books that do that to me.

AND THE AWARD FOR THE BEST BOOK I READ IN 2017 GOES TO...

1.  The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (2003)

SCORE: 4.630

I’ve seen this book on store shelves a couple of times and I always overlooked it.  Probably because the cover isn’t very much appealing to me, and I’m not a usual fan of books that center on war themes, especially those that are set in the middle east.

So when I finally paid attention to it, and saw the good reviews it had on Goodreads, I said to myself.  “I effin’ need to read this.”

Also, one of the reasons why I decided to read it is for this list.  At the time, this list was dominated by YA novels, all of which have LGBTQ themes in them.  Had We Are the Ants topped the list, for three years straight, YA-LGBTQ books bagged the top plum.  I have nothing against these type of books—I like them, obviously—but I thought that I just need some sort of variety.

Going back to this book... this has left me scarred.  There are scenes in the book that I will never, ever be able to forget.  Like there were scenes that I read while I was inside a bus on my way home, and I had to stop reading because I didn’t want people to see me crying in public.  Unfortunately, I still cried.

For me, this book tells us that life will always be full of sh*t.  You may have your good days, but it will always try to test you.  Other than that, it tells us that there are people in this world who would die for honor, and for love.

I will no longer tell anymore about this book.  I suggest that you should just read it.  I highly recommend it.  Definitely one of my favorites.

Other books considered for this list were I Wrote This for You by Iain S. Thomas, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Chasers of the Light by Tyler Knott Gregson,  Kids of Apetite by David Arnold, and Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon.  I really wish that they were in the top—especially the poetry books by Thomas and Gregson, that would’ve been a first—but I only need ten and 2017 was just crowded with good books.

I read better books this year than the past year.  You can just tell from the ratings.  The tenth place on this was already on 4.250—I had to include a third decimal to break the ties, that’s why the scores are so close.  Last year’s tenth was at 3.68, and the first book to actually go higher than 4.250 was All the Light We Cannot See with 4.32, last year’s fourth placer.  Last year’s first placer— I’ll Give You the Sun which scored 4.57—was edged out by this year’s with 4.630.

I wish I would still have the same dilemma for 2018.  I know it’s a problem, but it’s a good problem.

Happy book-reading this 2018!

#Top10Books