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bagheerita · 7 months

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Thanks @chaniis-atlantis for the tag!! ❤

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

currently 66 though next month I'm hoping to have time to finish transferring over the rest of my old fics from FFN

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

1,495,124

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently, Stargate Atlantis previously (deep breath): Star Wars (OT & the novels that are now called Legends [I think]), X-Men, Kiesha'ra, Valdemar, Pet Shop of Horrors, Fruits Basket, Inuyasha, Saiyuki, MCU/Avengers, Avatar: the Last Airbender, Angel the series, The Last Unicorn, Lord of the Rings, Dead Poet's Society, Homer, Gargoyles

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1- "Nemo" (SGA) 2- "Nykteridolotry" (SGA) 3- "One and One and One is Three" (MCU) 4- "Regina Donum" (SGA) 5- "Your Prison is Walking Through This World All Alone" (MCU)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! I've met some great people through comment discussions. 😁 Probably the only time I don't is when someone comments on multiple chapters at a time on their read-through; in those cases I tend to only respond to the comments that I find the most interesting rather than to all of them, though it depends on my mood.

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Um probably "Beast of Venery" (SGA) though it is part 1 of a series that ends much more happily. Oh! I forgot about "Lie Still" (AtS)! It's a character profile of Wesley Wyndham-Price that literally no one has read (the only fic of mine at FFN that has 0 interactions). Very angsty, and probably very "in my own head" which is why no one else liked it lol.

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I am an absolute sucker for happy endings, so this is like choosing... i dunno, a best flavor of ice cream. They're all happy. I might say "Ivory Fanged" (Kiesha'ra) is the "happiest"? Or maybe "One and One and One is Three" (MCU)? Just because the first involves 2 kingdoms worth of people celebrating, and the second like 5 realities/multiverses of people being (relatively) happy at the end.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really? I do get weird comments sometimes. I got a comment on "Reunion" (IY) where the reader complained about the story being unfinished (when it was clearly marked that it was unfinished/abandoned) and that it had ruined the series to finish it on that note. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind?

lol. Yes. A lot. Mostly m/m, though I've occasionally branched out into m/m/m, m/m/m/m, and f/m. As far as kinks or types of smut, I honestly don't think I could remember all the scenes I've written, though I love power dynamics so I play with that a lot. And I've written both rape and incest, if by "kind" you mean the stuff that really gets people hot and bothered.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written?

LMAO. Crossovers are the reason I write fic in the first place. My favorite characters meeting each other is like... the shit. The craziest one (that ever made it to being partially posted anyway) was called "Twenty-Four Hours of Midnight," and was a crossover between The Three Musketeers, Dragonheart, X-Men, and Angel the series.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No. I don't think so? But that would be awesome.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, but sortof? Eos (Eos_x) did illustrations for my fic "Aubade" so we are credited as co-authors.

14. What's your all-time favourite ship?

I don't know if I can answer this. I ship whatever smashing together of my favorite characters works for me at the moment, and I have a lot of favorite characters. And do you mean to read, or to write? Conceptually, in my head? Or best execution, either in fic or canon? Because I feel like these would all be different answers for me...

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I have a fic currently working-titled "Though Far Away, We're Still the Same" which is a multiverse John/Todd/Rodney fic. I realized I wanted to change the arc of an OC, which will require rewriting the whole thing, and I'm realistically never going to have time for that.

16. What are your writing strengths?

For 3 fandoms now I've written snarky asshole/ancient villain as a ship, and I think I've gotten pretty good at the dynamic lol. I'm pretty good at dialogue I think, and while it's a bitch to write it I'm pretty good at action (as far as making everything make sense spatially).

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Conflict. Usually I start writing a story knowing how the conflict will be resolved and then I lose all interest in it and have to keep reminding myself that the characters are still in it, they don't have resolution yet.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

Author's discretion (because you write fic for you) but in general I don't care for reading it unless it's short endearments, non-plot relevant, or well known information. (Or the meaning gets otherwise explained in the surrounding text.) I never liked it in old books where the author will just throw in lines of French or Latin and expect you to know what it means. I think it pulls the reader out of the story, so I don't recommend it unless that's your intention. If you have two characters who are speaking a foreign language to each other, fully understanding each other, you should write the dialogue in the same language as the fic (because in the reality of the fic, everything is happening in that same language, if that makes sense). Though there are definitely some concepts that don't translate well; when I was writing a lot of anime fic I experimented by having one fandom where I stripped out all the Japanese honorifics and one where I kept them in, and I feel like it gives a different vibe to the fic. I've recently been reading a lot of Mandalorian adjacent Star Wars fics and I have to say I do not care for uses of excessive amounts of Mando'a. A few endearments, concepts that are very common knowledge, fine. But whole sentences? It better not be anything I needed to know for the plot because I am not looking that up. (lol I did not expect to have such opinions on this topic 🤣)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

OT Star Wars. First posted fic was "The Secret Life of Harrison Ford." Don't read it, it's not good. (Unless you like the same high school humor that me and my high school friends did?)

20. Favourite fic you've ever written?

Technically, this is a fic that isn't posted yet, but it's 90% written so it counts... lol. It's called "Circumvolution" (SGA) and I've been writing it in the background over the last few years whenever "Regina Donum" started giving me fits, so it's very much a work of love and a story I wrote for me. It was originally conceived as the ending of the "My Name Forevermore" series, but it's done (mostly), so I've moved it to be the next big fic I post after I finish "Regina Donum."

Npt: @tiltingheartand @judgeverse @only-in-december @lord-aldhelm @anomalousrobot @ladyofparchments @anyone i missed who wants to join in

#tag game #my writing #apologizes if this comes out looking weird. tumblr's formatting and i HAD WORDS today

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charlotterhea · 1 year

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I'm working on a new translation of one of my old stories and since I have so many feelings reading it again but am not yet ready to start posting, I thought I'd share some thoughts about it.

Follow me if you're ready for a lot of rambling and a bit of my personal fandom history.

'Inter Spem et Metum' - or ISEM as I resolved to call it - is my oldest Harry Potter fic. When my passion for this fandom grew and I thought about writing with these characters instead of Buffy's, I quickly found that Severus and Hermione would be my comfort pairing and OTP.

And quickly the plot formed in my head, at least partially. Contrary to today, at that time I had no problem with starting to write a story even though I didn't know how I wanted it to end. I knew that Hermione should witness more about what Severus was doing for the Order than she was supposed to know. And that she wouldn't be able to let it go. Today I know that there are probably thousands of Snamiones with exactly that premise but I didn't know when I began to write ISEM. Book 6 was just out, we still didn't know how all of this would end and so it was just logical to write a story within this setting. Plus I was new to the fandom and positively burning for this plot. ^^

So much so that there were days at which I would write three chapters, all of them about 4k in length. It was an insane experience, I was haunted by the plot, by Severus and Hermione and all I put them through. If it had been possible, I would have written this story in one go, without sleep, without food, without any break whatsoever. I only ever experienced something like that once again afterwards but I hope I will again sometime. Writing like that is a bit like being high. ^^

But I was 20 when I wrote this story and as it is when you're young and write something you're really burning for it was a mess. XD My beta at that time was a big help to me, adding some lightness to the overly dramatic story I'd written, putting some blatantly lacking Harry Potter spirit back in. And although it was still far away from perfect even with her help, this story opened the doors to a new fandom for me. I've met so many wonderful people through the comments to this story, one of them I'm still in contact with, 15 years later.

For all of these reasons, this story is really close to my heart - and that's why it was so hard to rediscover it a few years ago.

I'd grown as a person and as an author. I'd been through a hard time, I'd got older, I understood so much better what I had been doing to Severus because suddenly I was almost his age and couldn't see the romance between him and this Hermione happen anymore. This story was my epitome of cringe - and I wasn't ready to let it stay that way. I couldn't chalk it up as a sin of my youth, it just meant too much to me.

And after all, I somehow still liked the plot - but not the way I wrote it. I somehow still liked Hermione and Severus in this plot - but not the way I portrayed them. I saw what would have been possible if I had just been a tad bit more mature when I wrote it. I saw all the possibilities, the drama, the feels and I wanted to fall in love with this story again, just like I'd been in love with it when I wrote it - and so I sat down and revised it. Thoroughly.

I know, the opinions are divided about revising old stories. Some say it is a record of how far I've come as an author and I shouldn't erase it. Some could understand what I resolved to do. Probably because they'd read the story as it was. XD But anyway, I wouldn't have let myself be talked out of it. I couldn't find peace with the story as it had been.

But I admit, I underestimated how much it would need to find peace. I rewrote so much of it... The whole last 20 chapters are written anew because combing through the plot up to a certain point made it almost impossible for me to use anything I initially wrote afterwards. It was a hell of a lot of work and more than once I thought about screwing it. I thought about just deleting the story and being done with it. But I couldn't bring myself to do it and after I'd been more than halfway through I would have been stupid to not go through with it completely. But I did it bitching and whining. ^^

And I'm glad I did. I'm so happy with how the story turned out! <3

It's still not a plot I would write today; I prefer Hermione a bit older and I like to write after the war now. And it still contains some plot points I'm not exactly happy with. But it also has some absolutely wonderful chapters and moments that live in my head rent-free. I did fall in love with this story again and that's why I decided to translate it next. ^^

It will be a hell of a lot of work again because the story is 70 chapters long, about 380k words, and one of my longest stories ever. But once again, I'm blessed with an amazing beta and I'm slowly working my way through the story. And oh, the feels... XD

I'm really excited about posting it and I hope I'll meet some of you over at AO3 when I'm ready. Although the premise isn't really new, I think I did a good job giving it my own touch, sneaking my way through and around canon and making it an enjoyable story. I am once again proud of it and all the work I put into it.

Oh, and I'm proud of this story pic as well! I did it all by myself, even the photo of the coins I needed to create it. I brought them back home from Denmark on my own and I was really happy that I could put them to use for this story. They are beautiful and just perfect for the meaning these coins have in the story. ^^

Okay, enough gushing and musing. I hope I was able to intrigue you. If so, stay tuned, I will start posting it soon. :D

#fanfiction #writing #severus snape #hermione granger #sevmione #snamione #fic promo #ISEM #my stuff

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blnk338 · 1 year

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ACTUALLY re-edited chapters 1-4

I said I had edited them before, but I had done it all in a really tired state. From here on out, I'm editing them when I'm fully awake so there are fewer fuck ups.

What changes?

Basically, capitalization, grammar, adding translations, removing redundant/repeated words, or structural changes are needed for the older chapters of RWYS. I intend to continue to do this until the story ends, just so that, if people want to go back, the story's fully legible and not confusing.

Wait... so what did you change with the last round of old chapter edits?

I added chapter songs and partially edited older chapters (I believe up to chapter twelve or thirteen). I'm not calling it a full editing just because there was so much that I missed that I don't think it should be called a full edit.

Are you changing the story in any way?

Nope! If you're concerned with new easter eggs or story changes, you've got nothing to worry about. This is just me being a nitpick and a perfectionist with my writing. On top of that, I'm not changing the writing significantly because I think it's good to see the growth in my writing style.

When can we expect a fully re-edited version of all the previous chapters (this post was made as chapter 35 was in it's rough draft)?

Once RWYS is fully finished, all of the other chapters that I hadn't re-edited will get a once-over and then that'll be that. Until then, I'll be re-editing all the chapters building up to the most recent one just so you guys can get a better experience.

Thanks so much for your patience!

Blnk :) <3

#rwys updates

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acidproofnotebook · 1 year

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I posted 44 times in 2022

19 posts created (43%)

25 posts reblogged (57%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@gofancyninjaworld

@katyatalks

@koumbaya

@opmanime

I tagged 41 of my posts in 2022

Only 7% of my posts had no tags

#opm - 31 posts

#translation - 19 posts

#manga - 14 posts

#mob psycho 100 - 9 posts

#revisions - 9 posts

#omake - 7 posts

#genos - 6 posts

#drive knight - 3 posts

#update 160 - 3 posts

#update 163 - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 114 characters

#and it's good to see sekingar carefully weigh up his options before deciding to trust the hero with the dodgy past

My Top Posts in 2022:

Volume 26 Bonus chapter “The Great Selection” -- partial and rough translation

The first four pages (of eight). It’s not joking about being rough and there may be some passages that will be understood differently once a fuller translation is done. But it’s still interesting!

Translator/ Typesetter: u\Bald_Caped

Date: 3 June 2022

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n-UghKI90sQY1vT6WNBgk_vjiCyzfTaL/view

14 notes - Posted June 4, 2022

Update 160 (previously 159). Changes between online and print versions, part 2

Yup, this goes on!

Unlike the previous version, this time Nyan ignores Food Battler and was dragging just Waganma off to his most painful doom when lo, an intervention!

Fear not! Drive Knight is here!

See the full post

18 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

Update 163 (previously 162). Changes between online and print versions. Part 2

So, where we left off, it looked like a tense standoff between Genos, who wants to go back to the battle, and Sekingar and Waganma, who most desperately don't want to be ditched by an S-Class hero. Food Battler Futoshi steps up to offer a solution (revised version on top, old at the bottom).

Sekingar does some thinking before deciding to trust Genos (no equivalent in older version)

See the full post

25 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

ONE/Murata 2015 Joint Interview

Because I'm always concerned about old blogs going down and taking material with them, please find below a transcript of one of their first interviews on the subject of One-Punch Man.

Link: http://opmcityz.blogspot.com/2016/04/onemurata-2015-joint-interview.html

Translator: Herms

Translation Date: 2 April 2016

For no Earthly reason, it’s taken me this blasted long to finally translate the ONE/Murata joint interview from the 2015 guidebook OPM: Hero Encyclopedia. The notes throughout are the same ones as in the actual book, although towards the end I got lazy and didn’t write out the full details on such topics as the plot of Eyeshield 21 or the explanation for what fencing is. The curious may look that stuff up on Wikipedia. --Today I’d like to ask you two to provide the “definitive edition” of the story of One-Punch Man’s birth ONE: I’m much obliged. Yusuke Murata: Yes, thank you very much. --ONE-sensei, tell us how you began drawing One-Punch Man. ONE: Well, I wanted to try drawing manga digitally; that’s how it all started. There was this place (*1) online for posting up manga, and lots of people submitted their stuff there, so I wanted to submit something too. I bought a PC and some tools for drawing pictures digitally (*2). I tried out drawing 15 pages, and uploaded it with my PC for the first time…that was One-Punch Man Chapter 1. I didn’t have any real plans for continuing the story, and just posted it up without thinking of what to do next. But perhaps because I submitted it as “Chapter 1” it got a great response…OK, maybe not “great”, but a decent response. So I figured I might as well try drawing a continuation of the story. That’s when I really sat down and worked out how the story would continue, which made me realize this could turn into quite an interesting manga. And that pretty much brings us from Chapter 2 right up to the present. --Where did you get your ideas? ONE: To start with I simply tried to draw the sort of manga I’d want to read myself. I’ve read loads of Shonen manga throughout my life, and am particularly fond of battle manga. Generally speaking those types of stories are all about growth, meaning that by the last chapter the main character has grown stronger than anyone else and lives happily ever after. So I wondered what would happen if I started the story off with the main character already in peak condition. That became my jumping-off point. --So it’s a complete 180 from existing Shonen action manga? ONE: Which makes it fun for people who have already read lots of those typical Shonen manga. It’s like they’ve run the first lap, and this is their second time around. Murata: Yeah, it’s really exciting for Shonen manga aficionados. ONE: I also love it when a series creates friction between drama and humor. With One-Punch Man I wanted to try doing that through the worldview itself, rather than through specific plot points. The series is set in a dangerous, monster-infested world, but since Saitama’s there you don’t really notice just how bleak the world is. I think it’s that friction between Saitama and the rest of the world that makes things interesting. --Murata-sensei, what do you think makes One-Punch Man so appealing? Murata: It all boils down to Saitama’s appeal. In some ways, Saitama is incredibly similar to Son Goku from Dragon Ball (*3). It was Dragon Ball that first got me started reading Weekly Shonen Jump, so I find those similarities particularly appealing. Dragon Ball’s Goku (*4) is a very memorable protagonist: he does whatever he wants, fights strong guys…he’s only after excitement! He goes through life full of spirit. Even when the world’s in peril and he’s surrounded by chaos, it doesn’t bother him one bit. Like when Piccolo’s reincarnation entered the Tenkaichi Budokai (*5) and if Goku lost the world was doomed, even then Goku himself simply fought to win the tournament. After he beat Piccolo, he didn’t care that he had just saved the world, he was just happy to finally be crowned tournament champion. It’s that sort of detached easy-goingness, the sense of operating under a completely different logic than those around him. This type of aloofness, of doing things at one��s own pace, really screams “hero” to me. That’s what Goku and Saitama have in common. Another similarity is that they’re simply the strongest guys around. When things are looking hopeless, the moment

they show up you know things are going to be OK (laughs). --How did you find out about One-Punch Man, Murata-sensei? Murata: I follow this illustrator called “Akiman” (*6) on Twitter, and when I heard about One-Punch Man on his blog, I read the entire series overnight. I got a bit frustrated, because I realized I had become a manga artist precisely to draw something like this (laughs). At the time I was in sort of a dead-end career-wise, and (my apologies to Ootagaki-sensei[*7]) thanks to my incompetence things weren’t going very well with Donten Prism Solar Car (*8)…It’s safe to say I ended up causing Ootagaki-senseiand the readers a lot of trouble. Back then, I viewed my job simply as illustrating the stories given to me. But really, isn’t an illustrator’s job to visually convey the charm of the characters? You’ve got to understand what makes the characters appealing, or otherwise you’ll have nothing to show the readers. Once I read One-Punch Man, I knew it was exactly what I was looking for. I sent ONE-sensei a message right away, asking if we could meet. I told him point-blank I wanted to work with him… ONE: I was surprised to get a message from Murata-sensei. Frankly, at first I thought it might be a prank… Murata: Sorry… ONE: It was a real shock! (laughs) --Did you two hit it off? Murata: Yeah. I was so nervous about meeting him that I ended up being 30 minutes late (laughs). By that time I was already starving, so first I suggested we go get some yakiniku. (laughs) --What did you talk about at the yakiniku restaurant? Murata: I asked “hey, why don’t we do a one-shot together first?” --Your first collaboration was Earth Monster. ONE: With Earth Monster, I made storyboards so that Murata-sensei would have something to work off of, and to give us something to show the editorial office. I took it as an opportunity to make something really flashy, the sort of thing I could never draw on my own. I stayed within manga contest regulations (*9), so it was probably around 31 to 45 pages. Murata: But I wanted to use bigger panels, and expanded it to roughly 60 pages. --So you submitted Earth Monster (*10) to the editorial office as a one-shot? Murata: Actually, wasn’t Cockroach Busters (*11) the one we ended up showing to Young Jump first? ONE: That’s right. Before that we showed it to your then-current editor at Weekly Shonen Jump; I think we made about four copies. Murata: At the time I had an exclusive contract, so I felt obligated to draw it for Jump, but it wasn’t really panning out…And while I was wrapped up with that, I came down with gastroenteritis. ONE: Your wife found you and called an ambulance. Murata: I couldn’t move at all…That’s when I started thinking that if this exclusive contract was going to keep me from doing the work I wanted, then I had better do something about it. I called ONE-sensei from the hospital and told him “I’m terminating my contract, so how about we get a bunch of different one-shot manuscripts together and shop them around at different companies?” And that’s how things went. --How did you end up at Neighborhood Young Jump? ONE: Several different people had approached me with proposals for commercializing One-Punch Man. The question was, would I handle the illustrations myself, or get someone else to do them? Although personally I thought Murata-sensei was the best man for the job…Later there was discussion about me trying to draw a revised version, but after drawing about two chapters worth it became painfully obvious it would never sell. At that point Murata-sensei asked if he could take a stab at it. He redrew the first chapter with a felt-tip pen, and it blew me away. From there we started thinking about the best place to distribute this out to the world. With Murata-sensei’s connections we hooked up with an editor at Young Jump, and this led to the plan to run it in Neighborhood Young Jump, on condition that it be drawn by Murata-sensei. I thought it was incredible of Murata-sensei to publish this manga on the web rather than in print form, and I was sure

everyone else would be impressed with it too. So with that, we made our proposal to Young Jump, and it began. --Murata-sensei, were you in any way reluctant to publish the series online? Murata: Back when I was doing Eyeshield 21 (*12), I had never read any webcomics, and my thoughts towards them didn’t extend much beyond “eh, doing one might be interesting”. But when this proposal came up, I had by then read ONE-sensei's One-Punch Man, so I felt like publishing on the web had real merit. For instance, with a weekly magazine each issue disappears from stores when the next one comes out a week later, but on the web people can read the previous chapters too. And since it’s available to the entire world, it seemed like a good way to gain a larger audience. Viewing something published online on my monitor, I was amazed at how pretty the lines were (laughs) (*13). But since up until that point I had only ever worked with lines on paper, I had absolutely no skills at making them look pretty on monitors...So me and my staff went through a lot of trial and error. That's what made it so interesting! Mastering a new field was a lot of fun. Another advantage of drawing on the web is that you can make corrections. With Eyeshield 21, I was always pressed for time, which didn’t leave room for much trial and error…I’d question if what I was drawing was really up to snuff…then realize it wasn’t. But even after a chapter ran in Jump, there still wouldn’t be any time to fix it, so it would just remain as-is forever. This happened all the time, and really stressed me out. Online though, I can fine-tune things until I’m satisfied. Particularly the characters’ faces. I mean, when anyone other than ONE-sensei draws Saitama, he ends up a different character. Though at first I was real keen on putting a Shonen manga spin on him. --I hear there were a lot of rejected Saitama faces. Murata: That’s right. It wasn’t until I had drawn a good number of pages that I finally got the hang of his expressions. It was when he and Genos are listening to Sneck’s lecture at the Hero Association, and he’s noisily chewing gum. The moment I saw this bored-looking Saitama, a lightbulb went off in my head (laughs). I realized that because Saitama is so strong, for him everything is always boring. This made me want to redraw the whole thing from square one. Me and the staff had by then learned the ropes of drawing online and were really into it. I told them that this was the first step in what would be a historic manga; I was drawing in a daze of ecstasy. --How do you two work together during the writing process? Does ONE-sensei create new storyboards? Murata: With the main storyline or anything else where I’m going off of ONE-sensei’s original, I’m generally given free reign with page distribution and whatnot. But I’ll ask ONE-sensei if I have any questions. ONE: That’s right. Murata: For the main storyline, the dialogue stays pretty much the same. But with side-stories, sometimes I’ll try adding in scenes to ONE-sensei’s storyboards, or change the dialogue up a bit. In such cases, I’ll always ask ONE-sensei’s opinion. We’ll go back and forth fine-tuning it…and sometimes it’ll just end up reverting back to how it was in the beginning (laughs). ONE: Murata-senseialways shows me whenever he thinks up new scenes or dialogue to add. For instance, with the A-Class hero Spring Mustachio, my storyboards just had his name and general appearance. He talked a bit and got beat up by the monster, nothing more. I didn’t plan to highlight what weapons he used or anything like that; that part was really cut short. But the storyboards Murata-sensei came up with featured him using his weapon against the monster, showing off his fighting chops so that the monster looked even more impressive by comparison. It was fantastic! Murata: When I heard his weapon was a fencing (*14) rapier (*15), it reminded me of that cool swordsman from Wheels on Meals (*16). Sometimes it’s fun to add in more action like that. --On the flipside, has ONE-sensei ever given you pointers on how

to draw something? Murata: On occasion. For instance, during the big showdown with Boros. Since I felt this was the heavyweight championship of the universe, I tried to make it as flashy as possible. However, midway through when Boros starts losing ground to Saitama, there were places where he appeared clownish…ONE-sensei pointed out to me that the reason Boros is popular is because he always retains his dignity, even against Saitama. That made it all click for me, and I redrew things from square one. When it comes to the storyline, characters, and dialogue, all of that flows from ONE-sensei’s head, so I constantly check in with him. --Thank you very much. Finally, what do each of you consider a “true hero”? Murata: "Even if you’re the strongest around, not letting it go to your head”, I guess. Abiding by your own rules. A true hero never waivers. ONE: I agree; someone who never waivers. A true hero is someone who follows their dreams to the very end. ==[Notes]== *1: ONE-senseibegan serializing One-Punch Man in Weekly Shonen VIP on the community site Toshanai in 2009. *2: A graphics tablet and related software. *3: One of Weekly Shonen Jump’s most well-known series, a battle/adventure series by Akira Toriyama that ran in Jump from 1984 to 1995. *4: The protagonist of Dragon Ball. A member of the Saiyans (a warrior race) who grew up on Earth. Though pure-hearted, he is also a super-warrior who loves fighting against strong opponents. *5: The 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai (“Strongest Under the Heavens” Tournament). The reincarnation of the supposedly defeated Demon King Piccolo entered the tournament and battled Goku. *6: A Japanese illustrator who has worked on numerous games and anime, including Street Fighter II. *7: Yasuo Ootagaki-sensei. Wrote the story for the series Donten Prism Solar Car, which ran in Jump Square from 2010 to 2011. *8: The aforementioned series which ran in Jump Square from 2010 to 2011, depicting the struggles and friendships of young people involved in the development of solar cars. *9: There is a set number of pages for Rookie of the Year awards. For instance, the Tezuka Prize requires 31 pages. *10: Original story by ONE-sensei. A doujinshi by ONE-sensei, Yusuke Murata-sensei, and Kinu Nishimura-sensei. An action story depicting the struggles of a father who becomes a giant to fight monsters, and his frustrated son. *11: Comedy depicting the adventures of soldiers who undergo special training to exterminate cockroaches. Ran as a guest one-shot in the July 2015 issue of Young Gan-Gan. *12: American Football manga series which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2002 to 2009. *13: The current Neighborhood Young Jump browser is improved constantly to allow everyone to read the latest One-Punch Man as soon as possible. *14: A European style of swordplay, and now an Olympic sport. *15: One-handed sword with a sharp point. *16: 1984 Jackie Chan movie.

27 notes - Posted January 22, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Update 171 (previously 170). Changes between online and print versions

Murata has taken advantage of the revisions he's doing for volume 25 to make a few small but important changes to update 171.

Amai Mask calling for help

No excuses, just a straight out plea for help. Which isn't forthcoming

See the full post

28 notes - Posted February 26, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review

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hermitslifeforme · 6 months

Text

Why am I encountering so many KakaGai comments online that confuse fanon with canon materials?

Ever since Konoha Shinden anime adaptation came out in 2019, KakaGai has been gaining popularity. In fact, about 80% of KakaGai fanfiction on AO3 were published post 2019. And I can see why. It's one of the healthier ships for Kakashi in my opinion and there are a lot more canon interactions as Gai is officially designated as Kakashi's close friend. Konoha Shinden itself is a pretty fun read and while the original Japanese made me squeal about how Kakashi and Gai are friendship goals, the English translation...well, gave off a different vibe that is good shipping fuel I guess. Let's just say the English manga also made some translational choices that made me go...ok (Gai definitely did not say "that's MY Kakashi" for example. In fact, reading the English translation definitely made me reach for the Japanese version because I couldn't believe that's in the original text. Let's just say there were some important nuisances that could not get translated properly as well as some stylistic choices that I wouldn't have made).

Anyway, what that means is that inadvertently I am seeing KakaGai fan comments on more platforms everywhere, from Reddit to Quora to YouTube comments. Again, nothing wrong with staning your OTP. But WHY are most of their comments filled with fanon being passed as official facts?

The biggest one is obviously the one where Kakashi and Gai live together. Apparently it is all based that panel in Chapter 700 where they are sitting together at an outdoor patio.

Or that in Konoha Shinden novel Mirai compared them to her parents. Yeah, no, Kurenai was not mentioned. The so called comparison is "if Asuma is alive would he be more like Gai or Kakashi?" I get that Konoha Shinden novel was not released in English but there is a fairly decent fan translation floating out there that is easily searchable.

Even the Shinden trip itself is being framed as "they take vacations together" versus it's a mission under the cover of a vacation. In fact, the novel revealed that the "nostalgia trip" Kakashi mentioned taking with Gai in chapter 700 IS the Shinden mission.

I've also read so many partial representations of the actual context when trying to make a point of Kakagai being "canon", such as "oh, Gai can't wait to go to the bath with Kakashi" (the communal public bath btw) when it's really about Gai being afraid of ghosts, or the old married couple comment from Mirai which was clearly an comedic metaphor about their slow walking speed.

Is this just a case of the echo chamber effect and no one cared enough to actually read the actual materials? I don't mind anyone shipping OTPs but shouldn't you at least verify your sources and context before you spread something as fact? It's frankly straight up irritating to come across at this point (the "fanon being passed to canon" thing, not the ship itself).

#fanon is not canon #naruto

0 notes

eyfey · 7 years

Note

Do you have the full translation for chapter 173? I'm trying to figure out what their conversations were about

I... actually do! I just finished up translating that chapter for PSI Scans a couple weeks ago, so just this once I'll post a chapter transcript for 173

Enjoy! (under the readmore)

Page 007

{1}

1: Cafe Mami.

2: Seated at the table farthest from the entrance...

Sign: Cafe Mami.

title: PSI 173: Let’s go! PK Academy PSIkickers!

{2}

ai(a): 4:43 pm...

ai(b): Ah! There we are!

{3}

ai(a): And here he...

ai(b): Comes!

1: Welcome.

Fx: jingle jingle

{4}

sai: Good grief... Here too...?

{5}

sai: I don’t know what you’re planning...

{6}

sai: But can you stop showing up before me everywhere I go?

ai: Heyo♡

Page 008

{1}

top: My fighting technique?

It's nothing really, I'm just

using ESP.

This week’s ESP Haiku model: Saiki Kusuo-san (16)

Sign: Ultimate

{2}

title: PSI 137: Let’s go! PK Academy PSIkickers!

Page 009

{1}

1: Thanks for waiting.

Sign: Cafe Mami

{2}

1: Here’s our house coffee jelly.

Sai: What a pain... Even though went out of my way to come on a day when Mera-san wasn’t working...

fx: set

{3}

sai: So why is she here? Seriously...

ai(a): I never pegged you as the kind of guy who liked sweets Kusuo. That’s hilarious.

ai(b): Let’s go to a dessert buffet some time.

Sai: Don’t sit next to me. Go sit on the other side.

Fx: click

{4}

sai: As for how she knew I was going to be here... I don’t even need to ask.

Ai: Hey, were you surprised that I was here!?

{5}

ai: Sorry! I scryed it ♡

ai: Aha,

sai: This is the problem with ESPers.

Fx: Ta-dah★

{6}

ai(a): Well, I'm pretty sure you already knew, since you always manage to ditch me at school.

ai(b): You're like, on some whole nother level.

sai: It's because I can hear you with telepathy.

{7}

ai: Oh! That looks good!

Page 010

{1}

ai: Ahh.

{2}

ai(a): Woah!

ai(b): You’re no fun~

sai: nom nom

{3}

ai: Well whatever! I already ordered something so I don't care!

Ai: It’s taking forever though! Hey! Is it still not ready yet!?

{4}

ai: You've got 10 seconds!

1(a): Yes ma’am! It’s ready now!

1(b): Sorry, but you placed a very complex order!

{5}

1: As you requested: One mega serving of coffee jelly everest with caramel sauce, extra chocolate chips, and ice cream super sized.

Ai: Wo-hoah!! This looks totally dope!!

sai: That is incredible.

Fx: ta-dah

{6}

ai: You really outdid yourself old man! I’ve changed my mind about you.

1: Ha ha ha I won’t lose out to the young people just yet!

Sai: They’ve become friends.

Fx: yay yay

Page 011

{1}

sai: More importantly, why are you going out of your way to foresee where I’m going to be and then wait for me there?

Sai: Didn’t I tell you not to get involved with me...?

{2}

Sai: ...though right now not only is she not getting involved, but she’s even completely ignoring me.

Ai: This is going to get so many retweets.

Boss: Yay! Happy joy-py nice to meetcha-py!

Sai: Can I go now?

Fx: click click

{3}

sai: Huh!? You want to know why I was waiting for you?

Ai: You don't really need me to say it for you to know, do you?

Fx: tap tap

{4}

sai: It’s faster if you just say it though. Honestly...

ai: ...love you...

{5}

ai(a): I super love you ♡

ai(b): Super love-love.

ai(c): Pay attention to me ♡

ai: I love love love love you.

ai(a): I love you so much

ai(b): BIG LOVE　♡

ai(c): Wuv you ♡

ai(d): Cutie wootie lovey wuvy ♡

{6}

Sai: I still don't understand. I should just leave.

Ai: Huh!? Wait, where are you going!

Fx: clatter

{7}

tori: Huh?

Page 012

{1}

tori: Huhhh!?

{2}

tori: Saiki-san’s on a date!?

Ai: Huh? Who are you?

Sai: The annoyances have increased.

Fx small: run run run run run

fx large: BAM

{3}

tori: Woah! You’re the transfer student boob girl!!

ai: Ah! You’re the p*nis aura playboy!!

tori: P*nis aura!?

Ai: Besides, what does a suspicious guy like you want with my boo!?

Tori: Your boo!? Is this for real Saiki-san!?

{4}

sai: Shut up.

Ai: Nmph!?

Tori: Fbgh!?

Fx: Slam

fx small: snap

{5}

tori: ...!? Wait... what are you doing!? I understand if it was just me, but this girl...

{6}

ai: Isn’t that dangerous? Your powers are totally gonna be found out...

Page 013

{1}

1: Huh!?

{2}

tori: You told tits mcgee about your powers!!??

ai: Huhh!? Why does he know about your powers, Kusuo!!?

sai: I repeat: Shut up.

Fx: boom

{3}

ai: I thought it was our special secret!?

Tori(a): But you were trying that hard to hide it...

tori(b): Don’t tell me... you gave in to the power of boobs!?

sai: Lower your voices already.

{4}

ai: I mean like, why would you ever tell someone as loose lipped as him!?

boss: They’re pretty noisy over there... I wonder what they’re talking about?

Sai: At this rate one more person is going to know.

Fx: shout shout

fx bot: sneak

{5}

sai: You two are the only ones at our school who know.

Sai: and the reason I told is the same for both of you.

{6}

text: The same...!?

TextP: Then that means this girl also had her abilities acknowledged by Saiki san and is permitted to be his right hand man...!?

Sai: I haven’t acknowledged anyone and I’m not permitting anything.

{7}

text: The same...!?

Text: Then that mean just like me, he thinks Saiki is his soul mate!?

Text: Huh!? BL!?

Sai: No one is anyone’s soul mate and there is no BL.

Page 014

{1}

sai: It’s because both of you also have special powers.

Sai: I just figured it would be better to tell you myself then to have you find out with your own abilities.

{2}

tori: Huh... So that means you have ESP too...?

ai(a): Huh!?

ai(b): Are you serious right now!? This guy’s obviously just your average joe!

{3}

ai(a): Oh, is that it?

ai(b): Is your power that you can tell a girl’s three sizes just by looking?

Tori: Oh come on! Don’t underestimate me! I was born in a temple family!!

tori: Don’t think I'll forgive you just because your bust is 89cm!

sai: So he can tell.

{4}

tori: I have the power to see ghosts!

Ai: Huh? Wait, for realsies?

{5}

tori: For realsies! I’m a spiritual medium.

Tori: I can talk to ghosts and have them possess my body.

{6}

ai(a): Aren’t you just delusional?

ai(b): Shouldn’t you go to the hospital get your head examined?

Tori: I’m not seeing hallucinations!?

Page 015

{1}

tori: Well, I’m used to people not believing me, so let me show you some proof.

Tori: Hey.

{2}

tori(a): ...mutter... mutter...

tori(b): mutter mutter mutter...

ai: ? Who are you talking to?

tori(a): ...mutter... mutter...

tori(b): ...okay!

Fx: intense intense

{3}

tori: Rose pink T-Back...!

Ai: Huh!?

Tori: That’s the underwear you’re wearing right now.

Fx big: Boom

fx small: Swish

{4}

tori: I had a ghost check and tell me!

Tori: Well? Was I right?

Fx: ta-dah

{5}

tori: If I was, then as proof how about you show

fx: Kick

{6}

ai: He was right!

Ai: Tch... These were my fighting panties too...

tori: ...It was too fast, I couldn’t see...

{7}

sai: When did ghosts start agreeing to requests like that?

Tori: heheh... I’m not the same as before.

Fx: wobble

{8}

tori: I’ve gotten some negotiation material...

tori(a): In exchange for them doing what I ask...

tori(b): Urgh!!

fx: Flinch

Page 016

{1}

tori: Mo-poh.

Fx: snap

{2}

tori: Yyeeeaaahhh!!!

tori: It’s flesh!! All right!!

fx: ta-dah

{3}

tori: Wahaha!! Gravity!!

tori: Gravity is crazy!!

fx: bounce bounce

{4}

tori(a): Woohoo! Wind pressure!!

tori(b): I can feel the air!!

fx top: whoosh whoosh

fx bot: spin spin spin spin spin spin

{5}

1: Yes yes yes yes yes!!

2: I can’t get enough!!

fx top: Jab jab jab

fx bot: stab stab stab

{6}

tori(a): Wahoo... huh!?

tori(b): That’s it!?

Tori: Wait, hold on, just a little l-...

{7}

tori(A): ......!

tori(b): Phew...

tori: ...Do you get it now? Saiki-san...

fx: silence...

{8}

tori: I got him to tell me the color of her underwear in exchange for me lending him my body...!

Sai: You wanted to know that badly, huh.

Fx big: Ta-dah

fx small: huff huff

Page 017

{1}

ai: Hey, this guy might seriously be bad news... you should stop hanging out with him.

Sai: You make an extremely good point.

Tori: There! That’s my power!!

{2}

tori: Now it’s your turn, tits mcgee!!

ai: Oh, me?

{3}

ai: I’m a fortune teller! I can see the future, the past, or whenever!

Ai: And let me just say, unlike your powers, mine are the real deal! Get it!

Fx: Ta-dah

{4}

tori: Fortune telling~? You sure you don't mean body selling?

Ai: I’ll kill you!!

tori: Besides, it’s probably just stuff like Aquariuses will be lucky today, right?

{5}

tori: It would be a different story if you could foresee the winning lottery numbers or something, but...

ai: I can.

{6}

ai: I can foresee them...

ai: Got a problem with that?

Fx big: ta-dah

fx small: whoosh

{7}

tori: ...huh...

tori: Well isn’t that impressive...

fx: whoosh

{8}

tori: In that case...

fx: crouch

Page 018

{1}

tori: Please make me your disciple!!

ai: No way!!

fx: Boom

{2}

tori: I’ll clean, do the laundry, give you massages, provide night service, anything you want!! Please!!

ai(a): Even if you try to butter me up now, it’s no use!!

ai(b): You’re disgusting!!

{3}

sai: That’s amazing. So you can even do stuff like that...

ai(a): Huh? Well, I guess?

ai(b): It’s nothing compared to what you can do though Kusuo. ~blush~

{4}

sai: No, even I don’t have the ability to predict whatever I want.

Ai: But getting the winning lotto numbers has a high chance of things turning out badly.

{5}

ai(a): A person’s luck moves like a wave.

ai(b): Whenever something really lucky happens, something really unlucky is sure to follow so that it always balances out to net 0.

ai: That’s why if you win the lottery, you might just end up dying on the very same day.

{6}

ai(a): One time, before I knew about this, I used my powers to win 3 free packets of Yotchan Squid in a row, and the very next day I got hit by a truck.

ai(b): My bones were totally shattered! Lol ♡

sai: That’s not net 0 at all.

Text: Yotchan Squid

Page 019

{1}

tori: Woah... what the heck? That means your powers are completely useless...

tori(a): You got your bones broken (lol) just from winning 3 packets of Yotchan Squid? Wow that’s terrible...

tori(b): Can I take back the groveling I did?

Ai: Huh!?

{2}

ai(a): Yeah but I can foresee anything about other people!!

ai(b): It’s way more amazing than your stupid power that only let’s you hallucinate!!

tori: Huh!? You don’t understand anything about what makes my power great!!

{3}

tori: It seems I have no choice but to make you understand...

tori: just who the weakest, most disgraceful member of the PK Psychic Trio is...!

sai: I don’t remember forming any trios.

Fx: menace menace

{4}

ai: You're the one who needs to understand..

Ai: We already have our super love love ESPer Combo, so you’re not necessary.

sai: We have no such thing.

Fx: menace

{5}

tori: Okay then! Let’s compete to see who’s more worthy of being Saiki-san’s sidekick!!

ai: Bring it on!! You’re going down!!

tori: What should the competition be!?

Sai: Well, I’ve eaten my coffee jelly. Guess I’ll go home.

Fx wht: Shout Shout

fx: Scoot

{6}

sai: Seriously. What a waste of time... hm?

Aai: How about... uhhh...

fx: shout shout

{7}

sai: Nwah!!

1: What’s wrong!?

Fx: Clatter

Page 020

{1}

fxtop: Menace menace

fx left: Boom

{2}

tori: Woah! It’s a cockroach!!

ai: Huhh? Ew, you’re right.

Ai: ? Wait, but aren’t you freaking out a little too much?

{3}

tori: Stupid! Saiki-san hates bugs enough to pee his pants!!

sai: I didn’t...

tori: All right! Whoever eliminates that bug gets to be the sidekick!!

ai: Huhh!? Hey, wait!!

fx: dash

{4}

tori: All right! Let’s go! Are any of you good with bugs!?

1: Not me.

2: I’ll take care of it.

{5}

tori: All right! I’ll leave it to you then!! I’m not actually good with bugs myself...

1: Geheheh... Bugs are easy as pie...

text: Possession!!

fx: Boom

{6}

1: I’ll turn you into a pancake!!

tori: Huh? Hey, wait... with my bare hand!?

Fx: Whoosh

{7}

1: Ah!! It’s escaping!!

fx big: Smack

fx small: flutter flutter

Page 021

{1}

1: And now it's going... what!? That girl...

ai: I used foresight to see that it would fly here!!

fx: Ta-dah

Cans: bug spray

{2}

ai: Take this! Cockroach repell...

ai: Ew never mind I can’t do this!! I can’t stand bugs either!!

fx top: flap flap flap flap

fx: duck

Can: bug spray

{3}

tori: Hey! Why are you running away!! Aren’t you psychic!?

Ai: You do something about it!

Fx: Aaaahhhh

{4}

fx: smack

{5}

boss: Ahh~ I’m so sorry, I’ll take care of it.

Boss: Even though we just had the place fumigated last week~

{6}

tori: ...let’s just call today’s match a draw...

ai: S... Sounds good...

sai: Glad to have you as my sidekick, manager.

Sign: Cafe Mami

#saiki asks #translation #normally I wouldn't post the transcript #but the partial translation post I made for this chapter was really old and really short #Anonymous

3 notes · View notes

carriagelamp · 3 years

Photo

Art of Aardman

I found myself a cheap copy of the Shaun the Sheep movie, so I was rewatching a bunch of Aardman films earlier this month and decided to hunt down some books too. For anyone that doesn’t know, Aardman is a British stop-motion studio that does fantastic work like Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, Early Man… tons of cool stuff. They’re always quirky and funny and warm-hearted. This was just a very nice art book for anyone that’s a fan of Aardman stop motion and wants to see a bit extra; it shows some cool concept art and blows up the neat details in Aardman work, especially in their intricate stuff like The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!

Asterix and the Picts (Asterix and the Chariot Race, and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion)

I decided to try a couple of the new Asterix comics that were done by the new team, just to see if they stand up to the old ones (that and How Obelix Fell Into The Magic Potion cause I’d never read that one before). They were pretty decent! Asterix and the Picts was my favourite of the two though I wouldn’t say either are going to contest for my favourite Asterix comic... but still! The art looks good and the stories felt like what I would expect, they made for a pleasant couple evenings of reading especially since it’s been so long since I’ve read a new Asterix comic. If you’ve never read Asterix it’s one of the biggest name French comic series in North America, as far as I know and very worth the read. It’s about a single Gaulish village that’s holding out against the invading Romans through sheer force of will, slapstick hijinks, and a magical super-strength potion brewed by their druid. Lots of fantastic visuals and cute wordplay, even in the English translations.

Bear

I found out about this bastion of Canadian literature via tumblr post that was losing its collective mind over the fact that some bizarre bear-based erotica novella somehow won the most prestigious literary prize available in Canada. Since I too found this hilarious and unspeakably bizarre I had to give it a read, obviously. And yes, the flat surface level summary is... a librarian moves out into rural Ontario and falls in love with a literal for-real not-supernatural-not-a-joke bear. And I have to say… it is actually worthy of an award, which I was not expecting given that I was there for a laugh. It has beautiful writing, and the subtextual story is pretty interesting… it kind of makes me think of The Haunting of Hill House actually in terms of themes. (Womanhood, personhood, independence, autonomy partially achieved through escaping the male gaze by claiming non-human lovers... listen if I were still in university I would right a paper comparing the two novels).

I dunno man, it’s fucking weird. Actually a well-written book, but sure is about a woman falling in love with a literal bear. Give it a read if you want something bonkers but like… high-brow bonkers.

Hunger Pangs: True Love Bites

Best book I have read in like… a while. A long while. I am not a fast reader, and I consumed 90% of this book over a weekend. It’s not at all like Terry Pratchett, but at the same time it scratched an itch for me that I haven’t had satisfied since Pratchett’s death. A very clever, hilariously funny poly romance between a disabled werewolf, an anxious vampire lord, and an incredibly powerful woman, with heaps of social satire, political commentary, and sinister undertones. The whole thing reads a bit like fanfiction and I say that in the most flattering way possible -- it is so easy to jump right in and be immediately taken over by the characters and the world and the plot, you never feel like you’re fighting to engage even though the world-building is fascinating and expansive. It welcomes you in right away, it was the book equivalent of a quilt and a hug which is something I sorely needed with all this pandemic bullshit. If you read any of the books on this list, go read that one while I sit here in pain waiting for the sequel.

Kid Paddle

I watched the cartoon of Kid Paddle as a kid and was thinking about it recently, so I decided to hunt down some of the original comics online. They’re fun and weird, with a cute art style and fantastic monsters designs. (My favourites are always about Kid either daydreaming or playing games that involve Midam’s weird warty troll creatures. It’s like a cross between Calvin and Hobbes and Foxtrot with the fun sort of quirks that I love in Belgian comics. Unfortunately, unlike Asterix, I’ve only come across these ones in French, but if you can read French it’s totally worth popping over to The Internet Archive and reading the ones they have available.

The Last Firehawk: The Golden Temple

The lastest Firehawk book. Despite being written for quite young readers, I did enjoy the early books in this series quite a bit. They’re about a young owl and squirrel who found an egg for a magical species that was believed to be extinct. With the newly hatched firehawk, the three of them head off on a mission to find an ancient firehawk magic that could save the entire forest. Very basic adventure story but a good intro to the tropes for children. Unfortunately the quality really feels like it drops with each subsequent book; this will probably be the last one I bother reading.

Lumberjanes: The Moon Is Up

I honestly think I enjoy these Lumberjanes novels even more than the comics just because it really gives time to delve into each story and examine how the camper are really thinking and feeling about everything. (Also I’m always weak for novelizations of anything.) The Moon Is Up is a book that focuses more on Jo, and takes place during the camp’s much anticipated Galaxy Wars, a competition between cabins that goes over several days. While the campers prepare for these challenges though, they also run into a strange little creature with a penchant for cheese and theft. Roanoke cabin needs to keep ahead in Galaxy Wars and somehow deal with the fearsome Moon Pirates that a closing in...

Lumberjanes v4 (Out Of Time)

One of the Lumberjanes comics, a cool, girl-focused, queer comic series. Honestly, this is just a fun series that I never got as into as I should have. My advice is honestly to skip book one because it gets better as it continues, and I’ve really been enjoying the later books now that I’ve given it another go. It follows five campers at Miss Qiunzella Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet’s Camp for Hardcore Lady Types (Jo, April, Molly, Mal, and Ripley) as they handle all sorts of challenges, from friendship to crushes, camp activities to supernatural horrors, getting badges to not being brutally killed. Great if you liked the vibe of Gravity Falls but want it to be queer-er.

Mooncakes

Another queer graphic novel, but unfortunately not a very good one. It really looked appealing and I had high hopes, but the book itself really didn’t hold up… I actually couldn’t even finish it, the plot was just too… non-existent. The art is fairly mediocre once you actually look at it, especially backgrounds, and it feels very… placid. Not much conflict or excitement or even a very compelling reason to keep reading. If you just want a soft queer supernatural you may get more mileage out of it than me, but it didn’t really do it for me. There’s better queer graphic novels out there.

New Boy In Town

One of the worst books I have ever read. My girlfriend had ordered a very different book online but through a frankly stupendous error was sent this 1980s pulp romance instead. Absolutely nauseating on levels I couldn’t even begin to enumerate here. Naturally we read the whole thing out loud. Probably took us 10 times longer to finish than it warranted because I had to stop every two sentences to lose my mind. If you like bad decisions, baffling hetero courting rituals, built-in cultural Christianity without actually calling it that, and gold panning then boy howdy is this the book for you.

(seriously, you better have patience for gold-panning if you attempt this one, because I sure learn that I don’t)

Piggies

This was a picture book I enjoyed as a kid and had a reason to reread recently. Honestly it’s just very cute and simple, and the art is completely mesmerizing. Wonderful if you know a young child that would enjoy a simple goofy boardbook.

Shaun the Sheep: Tales From Mossy Bottom

Related to my Aardman fascination earlier this month. I tried reading a varieties of Shaun the Sheep books — most of which are mediocre at best — but the Tales From Mossy Bottom Farm series is genuinely good. Just chapter books, of course, but the illustrations match the series’ concept art and each story feels like it could have jumped directly out of an episode. They’re just cute and feel-good! Kinda like Footrot Flats but more for kids, and from the sheep’s perspective moreso than the dog’s.

#aardman animation #shaun the sheep #lumberjanes #kid paddle #asterix #the last firehawk #hunger pangs: true love bites #marian engel #bear #canadian literature #canlit #queer lit #book review #book reviews #chatter

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ashesforfoxes · 3 years

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RuYue 如月 (drama working title The Shadow) Webnovel Spoilers

this post is a continuation of this twitter thread, which is for people who do not like spoilers, this post is for people who do

this will be an extremely detailed description of what happens in the webnovel, so if you click “read more” below please realize you are signing away any and all rights to non-spoilers for this show (but also if you’ve ever watched a cdrama you’ll be spoiled in the opening and ending credits so, good luck with that)

spoilers ahead! like major spoilers! no spoilers left unturned! hark, there be spoilers! you are gonna be spoiled!

okay welcome to the danger zone

some notes: I do not speak or read Mandarin outside of a cursory knowledge and read the webnovel using g-translate so some details will be off but I have done this with multiple untranslated webnovels (looking at you, Ancient Love Poetry) to decent result. The original full novel can be found here

also there will most likely be changes in the cdrama including those made for censorship (people overstate how much censorship happens although supernatural themes are a huge target), but scripts based on novels or manhwa tend to adhere to the original works with few changes, because if you thought fans were sticklers for canon in Western audiences try disappointing netizens

I’ll keep editing this as I get more info as well, it’s easier than correcting myself on twitter

summary

In the 25th year of the Republic of China (1937) during the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War [Northern China has been occupied since 1931] and Shanghai split into foreign concessions, vampire Shen Zhiheng has been secretly working against Japanese occupying force and has incidentally offended the young head of a construction company working with the Japanese, Li Yingliang, who attempts to assassinate him. After his dead body disappears and Shen reappears very much alive not long later and tries to eat him, Li begins to suspect him of being inhuman and colludes with the Japanese authority to capture him and experiment on him using his friends as bait.

cast

Gao Weiguang as Shen Zhiheng - 115+ year old vampire, he was originally human and turned at the age of 14 when his entire family was slaughtered by a foreign woman who married into his family, had a child, and then murdered everyone by infecting them with vampirism. He was the only survivor, and has looked for his younger brother* ever since. Note: brother could mean younger cousin this is a common term in families but I read them as half-brothers with a shared father who had multiple wives. Due to his old age (he’s Qing dynasty old) he has many foreign connections and owns/partially owns many of Shanghai’s newspapers. He lives alone in the French Concession and survives off of blood he gets from his one and only friend. He’s notably tall and quiet and while he tries to keep his humanity turns into a feral monster when he is starvd.

Dong Sicheng aka Winwin as Dr. Weilan “Google translated his name as William” Situ - a foreign doctor, friends with SZH for 3 years, who supplies him with blood from the local hospital where he works in exchange for petty cash to fund his partying habits (he’s poor but trying to get with rich socialite Jin Jingxue). He’s witty, charming, feckless, and sometimes really uncertain of human behavior. ***massive spoiler***: 10/34 chapters or so he’s shot to death by Japanese soldiers and is revealed to actually be a vampire, the dìdì that SZH has been searching for. Unlike his brother he is a born vampire, meaning he is stronger and faster, can eat human food, and is less prone to losing his mind when he’s hungry. SZH is notably upset when he finds out he’s been lied to for years, leading to a hilarious series of requests for forgiveness (and money) as well as being kicked out of big brother’s house and life multiple times only to come skulking back. Their reconciliation is a stronger love arc than the ML/FL

Ouyang Nana as Mi Lan - a 16-year-old blind girl, daughter of a general who is alluded to be collaborating with the Japanese, her mother is a physically abusive alcoholic who beats her to the point that she is suicidal at the start of the story. She is wandering in the snowy night looking for a place to freeze to death when she stumbles on a severely injured SZH and saves him by contacting Weilan, but gets deathly ill in the process. Once he’s recovered SZH takes care of her and ultimately takes her in as his ward, with the text clearly stating he does not know what to do with her but feels he owes her. Mi Lan develops a deep attachment to her vampire protector and eventually (unreciprocated) romantic feelings. ***massive spoiler*** midway through the story she is killed by gunfire meant for SZH and turned by William, curing her blindness

Maggie Huang as Jin Jingxue - an extremely rich socialite, her family adopted the orphan Li Yingliang after he had already achieved some status. Being in love with her foster brother she’s convinced that she will eventually marry him even though he has come to hate her for her advances and teasing and only maintains a relationship with her out of respect for her family. She toys with other men and lives an extravagant life with lots of dancing and indulgence. Currently playing with the good doctor and making him spend more money than he can afford.

Ren Shihao as Li Yingliang - not your typical antagonist, he’s the polar opposite of SZH in terms of being born an orphan and forced to work from childhood, advancing in life and career by having absolutely 0 scruples about working with the Japanese. He becomes obsessed with gaining SZH’s interest and friendship and when rejected enacts petty revenge, only to have it horribly backfire when he is alternately captured by SZH and then the Japanese, playing both against each other and constantly having a scheme to save his skin. He immediately clocks SZH’s weaknesses in Mi Lan and Dr. Situ and manages to kidnap them to manipulate him but is out of his depth. A complete coward with no loyalty to speak of, he fails so often that in the end the main characters feel sorry for him enough that they pass up multiple opportunities to kill him. ***massive spoiler*** William turns him in the end out of what I can only assume is pity

Tang Jingmei as Mu Liuhua - a Japanese collaborator who finds out about SZH and plays the ultimate big bad when Li Yingliang gets a (sort of?) redemption arc

fun vampire facts

vampires in this version are not affected by sunlight or anything else besides blood loss, they are effectively immortal but can be incapacitated by being injured or, in SZH’s case, drinking a lot of blood at once and going into a food coma

everyone gets massively injured many many times: as just one example, SZH is ran over by a car twice, shot in the head and body, and trapped outdoors in freezing temperatures for 2 days and that’s just in the first chapter. Every WWII era injury including flamethrowers, grenades, and machine gun fire hits them but they still get better with a little blood

they can drink animal blood but prefer human blood

none of the vampires are shown to hunt regularly except William in an emergency and when they’re in battle

SZH needs to feed every 2 days or so, William less

they don’t need to sleep

they move super fast and are super strong

they can breed with each other (rarely) or humans (a little less rarely)

older “infected” vampires vs. true vampires lose their ability to consume any food or drink without vomiting, but true vampires can still eat

somehow they age, just very slowly? stop at 20s-30s? not explained at all!

“The Shadow” seems to refer to SZH’s feral state when he goes murder-mode but translation was uncertain

being turned apparently can cure blindness but not old scars *shrugs*

favorite little details

SZH’s brains and eyeball are literally hanging out of his head when he meets Mi Lan but fortunately she can’t see it

Li’s obsession with SZH being downright gay

the first time Li and SZH face off after the failed assassination SZH breaks his arm, stabs him in both legs with wooden chopsticks, and would have eaten him if they weren’t interrupted

there’s a cool train escape early in the story when the three leads are being transported to the unfortunately very real human experimentation hospitals/labs in Manchuria

SZH pretending to be the ghost of a Mi family ancestor and scaring Mi Lan’s drunk mom so badly she runs off with the chauffeur

William begging for money in every single scene, which in hindsight should be clue enough he’s a baby brother

there’s a massive fistfight between the two female leads and the vampire brothers that’s played for laughs

William feeding SZH chewing gum so he vomits uncontrollably before an important meeting

Li’s constant and inevitable betrayal

SZH getting so fed up with the constant backstabbing that he locks up Li in a warehouse for weeks to die only to find Li’s escaped by scratching through the walls like a rat

an incredibly awkward sex scene and cigarette smoking scene after between JJX and Li

the absolute ineptitude of the enemy, including trying to burn down a mountain to flush out a vampire and caving in tunnels by using grenades in enclosed spaces

the ending is a prison break with a lot going on including Mi Lan going feral to protect SZH

ongoing questions, I’ll update these as I find they come up:

does anyone die?

technically everyone but Jin Jingxue, but all the mains get better (by becoming vampires or in William’s case being born one)

the tags on the novel and drama say romance, why are you saying it’s not a romance?

there’s always a possibility the drama will be tweaked to be more romantic, but in order for me to qualify the novel as a romance I would expect it to fit more standard tropes and plot progressions, which it really does not. narratively the relationships between SZH and his brother and his enemy are given equal if not more weight with more internal and external changes than between him and Mi Lan, who he continues to treat as his ward vs. a romantic partner by the end of the book

does Winwin’s character William get a romance?

a toxic barely requited one with a hot older woman, but yes

Li basically tries to get him to sellout his brother by promising his foster sister’s hand in marriage, which William rightly responds with by saying she has rights and agency and also are you nuts? they all end up as friends in the end, who’s to say it’s not an OT3

is there vampire age-gap romance?

yes, kind of, thank you for asking, let me explain

note: I’m a fan of age gaps*, especially supernatural age gaps but I also obviously strongly believe in age of consent laws so reading this I was just as curious if there would be uncomfortable developments and would warn people if so because this is incredibly triggering for many. From my interpretation, even with sensitivity considerations, this is not a reciprocated romance but ends with the potential for one in time.

There are people who are deeply uncomfortable with relationships where one party was underage growing up and forming a romantic attachment to someone who was emotionally indifferent to them but acting as a protector (see: Rin and Sesshomaru in Inuyasha) because it reminds them of grooming. That is incredibly valid, but it’s also true that reading it as such is personal interpretation--not authorial intent, and not a universal application. I have been in fandom for over 25 years and I strongly believe in this difference, do not @ me.

I’m not gonna pull quotes (there’s a ton of them) but throughout the novel it’s shown Mi Lan has a deep attachment to SZH, wanting to protect and save him as he protected her. It’s also well established that SZH has never once thought about Mi Lan (or anyone) in this way and is deeply confused by these feelings in addition to finding them childish. He’s also described as being emotionally stunted with the habits of a teenager despite having the appearance of someone in their early 30s, which from a vampire genre perspective is a standard trope that makes it work really well (think Twilight’s Edward being a century old but still a dumbass boy).

Mi Lan’s unarticulated desire is normal, even if it screams daddy issues, and SZH not even considering her as an object of anything but paternalistic/brotherly affection is really the key to everything feeling satisfactory. If you are a sucker for slowburn, up-to-interpretation future love, it’s incredibly good. It reminds me of the physically dead (heh) but clearly implied romantic vampire/human or vampire/vampire dynamic of early shoujo vampire anime like Hellsing, Vampire Princess Miyuu, and Blood+. I suspect author Ni Luo was influenced but even if not her work is now embedded in the genre in my mind. As a fem author it’s clear what she was aiming for--in addition to throwing a bone to us slash shippers with the enemies-to-lovers tête-à-tête of Li and SZH. Note for the new: webnovels as a serial medium share many of the trope-heavy and exploratory facets of fanfiction and of course are commonly adapted into comics.

So they have a relationship that is borderline romantic, barely there, and if that upsets some people it’s understandable but it also shouldn’t be assumed as the norm, or used as a way to moralize against people who do appreciate it.

Moving on, it should be noted the only person who does make it weird in the book is William, reminding both of them that she’ll be of age in 2 years (although she’s technically dead at 16 forever) and forcing Mi Lan to admit she has feelings. Here’s the only two instances of textual admission of romantic feelings for your judgement and interpretation:

I do think they will update this in some way in the drama, whether it’s upping her age or the dialogue, but even if they heighten Mi Lan’s feelings I strongly doubt they’ll actually have SZH respond. Here’s the very last part of the novel, in which she confesses to him. I can hear the Wii music in SZH’s head just reading it:

Other reasons I don’t think this will be a full-fledged romance. If you are unfamiliar with cdrama tropes in general, thanks to established family values almost every hero portrayed as stoic and mission-oriented like our lead is voluntarily celibate--in some instances you’d think they’ve never once considered the possibility--and only breaks this vow by agreeing to marriage. As a vampire this is even more a canon facet of SZH’s character. He was turned young and he just never stopped to think of a relationship, physical or otherwise, as a possibility.

Finally, Gao Weiguang’s two most famous roles have been older virgin monks pursued by feisty younger women who tricked them into marriage so this role is tapping into an established zeitgeist I don’t see them breaking, but if they do then well . . . I guess I’m just gonna put the disclaimer that I am not personally responsible for a disappointing turn in a drama and if you want to complain about it please please please make a Weibo account to @ the creators rather than harassing people who enjoy it online.

*for your consideration, my favorite canon age gap: somewhere in the 100,000 year range

Update 10/27: I received questions from @_linowin on twitter and am adding them to this post, I think they are exceptionally good for others who may have been wondering the same things so thank you as a fellow stay/czennie

the whole thing between jin jingxue and li yingliang i know they aren’t exactly related by blood and the whole being in love with her brother is part of the storyline. but i was wondering…does the novel fully or explicitly portray this, or is it mostly implied? [ed. are there any incest themes, implied or explicit, for tw]

Li Yingliang is at least a teenager or young adult when he's adopted into the Jin family so their relationship is very much not actual siblings.

Here’s the excerpt from their first conversation about how her mother took pity on him after being a regular at what’s basically the sweatshop he worked in:

Also I’ll note that cdramas tend to have far more “found family” relationships based in the modern prevalence of single-child families so less emphasis is placed on foster relationships as being actual sibling dynamics and rarely if ever touch incestuous themes. Commonly second male leads are the “brother” the female lead grew up with who was seen as an obvious shoe-in for husband material, which tends to backfire. Childhood friends-to-lovers and foster siblings are valid relationship archetypes but not my jam, either.

I should note you do get a lot of resentment from LYL (who grew up poor) against JJX including him wanting to strangle her, etc. which was honestly more upsetting to me! He gives into her advances but hates her still and it's very messy but from my old person's perspective I feel kind of realistic to their dynamic and peak love triangle fodder.

you mentioned an awkward sex scene between [jin jingxue and li yingliang]. i’m not too familiar with how cdrama works, but do you reckon that the drama adaptation will omit this out for censorship and broadcast rules, etc? just to play it safe to, since i’m most probably gonna watch this drama when it airs with my mom who’s a fan as well lol and she’s a bit more conservative

Great question. Cdramas absolutely never show sex scenes (they always cut away from any prolonged kissing to a candle burning or a rainy window, lol) and kissing scenes are rare and generally chaste. You aren't going to have a problem watching any show with family, I watch most of them with my grandmother! This drama especially will not have anything that isn’t PG-rated.

for winwin’s character, i’m super excited since i love these kinds of tropes who are kind of not your typical main character yet has so much depth and development to them. this isn’t exactly a question, more of a discussion or thought sharing haha. it’s kind of mindblowing that this is winwin’s first acting role on-screen, yet he’s been assigned a role that is so significant in the story, and as you said, the heart of the drama. that’s got to put some pressure on him, but surely the director saw something in him (maybe) for him to be casted in this role. it’s quite exciting to see how he’ll portray william/weilan.

I’m a huge fan of Winwin after getting into NCT/WayV last year and learning about and then feeling for myself the disappointment of him returning to China and no longer being a part of 127 (the irony of a vampire concept song dropping on the same day as I was reading the webnovel). He's such a beautiful person in all the live and reality content and I've wanted to see more of him! The pipeline of actors from music careers to acting is just as robust for c-ent as korean entertainment and he has the visuals for it but also he has the sort of "appears soft but is secretly very smart and deliberate" personality that works well for both this path and this role. He's playing a younger brother to an older established actor who also worked hard and broke into acting much later in his career than most (the standard is pretty young nowadays, with leads in their early 20s)

For not being the lead star it will be his breakout role because he has the opportunity for the full spectrum of emotional expression (unlike SZH, who sort of grumpily deals with everyone and everything). When I said he’s the “heart of the drama” it's because within the narrative he's often explaining things like love and idealism to the other characters (Mi Lan and SZH have both given up on having a real life for their own personal reasons).

In many Asian dramas but especially cdramas where they aren’t the romantic rival, the second male lead is that person, the emotional touchstone that checks in and cares for the male and female leads in times of turmoil, so really it's a better spot than the lead role in this instance.

William/Weilan is the most unique character in the drama. He'll present as a secret second lead at first, he's introduced as the best friend who is playful and charming but prone to partying and not even really working as a doctor in the hospital he's at, he just stays on as one to get blood for SZH. It's after quite a bit of action, including him being kidnapped along with Mi Lan to entice SZH to surrender himself to the Japanese to be experimented on in the North and their escape from that into the wilderness that he's revealed to be a vampire.

SZH feels betrayed (rightfully) and pushes him away and at points you think he's defected to work with LYL but he's always loyal to his brother and vice versa. Later on SZH admits he was just putting him through the ringer for lying to him for 3 years while watching him struggle with his vampire nature and his attempts to find his brother who was in front of him the whole time. As a born vampire whose mother taught him their history and heritage he also has access to more knowledge and in the novel he's lived abroad most his life so is fluent in English and other languages and is able to adapt better as well. I think in the drama they are making it so he turned SZH when he was a boy about to die, and he also turns Mi Lan and Li Yingliang in the story (I don't think SZH can? Or knows how?) so again, he's the most important character.

There's several points where he almost dies and I was intensely worried for him only to be pleasantly surprised so you will see that as well! It will make for good airing drama if people think he can actually die when he has the strongest plot armor of the entire crew.

does the novel ever explain how william and mi lan become friends? since she contacts him when trying to save szh. it’s interesting to know how those two became “friends” if it was alluded or mentioned in the novel

They have an understanding from the start, just their personalities are mutually distrustful for very separate reasons

SZH is practically dead when Mi Lan finds him and he tells her to find William but she's constrained by her family and social status and the fact that it's the dead night of winter so it takes awhile for her to get to him.

SZH later notes they have similar personalities, which doesn’t make sense from a surface level because how cold Mi Lan is but rather because they are both very separate from society and humanity

I think in the drama adaptation (vs. the novel where she is at a different hospital) William will be taking care of Mi Lan when she gets sick from almost killing herself in the cold (she even gave up her jacket for SZH in their first meeting). He's constantly questioning both of them about their feelings for eachother and why they persist in having a relationship, mostly because Mi Lan is a huge liability as an unmarried young woman of this dangerous family and SZH being an older, rich bachelor but also the target of assassination by the Japanese.

Mi Lan gets shot and spends a lot of the time in the hospital only to be killed in an attack in the street and William saves her by turning her, so he’s also the one to make sure she understands her new life. They aren't close but they have a found family relationship and I think it will be neat to see play out

so…everyone eventually ends up a vampire (credits to william lol) except for jjx? hehe i wonder if that’ll be adapted into the drama

oh yeah it will, Li Yingliang becoming a vampire is the coolest part in the end

you think William is going to eat him to recover from his injuries (William kills his underling/right hand man to do so earlier) but they have a thieves' bargain with regards to JJX and have several interactions that cement them working together while not trusting eachother before and it makes sense. The end of the novel is them going to meet JJX together

side note: “William feeding SZH chewing gum so he vomits uncontrollably before an important meeting” is ironically funny idk why but it has so much brother energy in this

the translation errors did not negate the hilarity at all. it's even funnier because William knows that he will probably accidentally swallow the gum or at least ingest the juices which are toxic to SZH at this point in his vampire evolution

what does happen in the very end of the novel for william and szh? like how does it end for them?

they're separated during the final fight but both return to Shanghai. SZH has made it clear earlier that he was never really mad enough to abandon William he just wanted to make him suffer for lying to him so he will always have a home with him and Mi Lan whenever he returns

also, since you’ve explained the relationship between the two main leads as well as the love triangle thing going on for the other three [. . . ] were there any like couple-y or romantic scenes going in with william and jjx that were genuine or less…toxic? i know she just toys or plays with him, but it’s fascinating to know that jjx is said to be the one who kind of changes his perspective?

Jin Jingxue likes William I think, she just is in love with Li Yingliang and banking on him for her future marriage

When LYL says she has to marry William she initiates the love scene where he resists but ends up giving in. She’s in an impossible situation but she’s also an incredibly smart woman who knows how to hedge her bets with both men, she shows her true heart and vulnerability even if it will hurt her in that scene.

Also William knows he doesn't have her heart but explains to SZH that vampires like himself are romantic creatures (he mentions his mother and their father as an example) and that it might be part of their survival instinct and why they've survived as a race by breeding with humans. The translation is a bit funny but it suggests that he knows he's in an unrequited relationship and that if LYL is in danger she will choose him but he wouldn't choose not to even if given the chance. Here’s a great interchange on the subject highlighting this:

William understands love better than SZH and explains that it’s not about possession but allowing choice and an end, which is honestly very sexy of him but also very commonly reiterated in cdramas. Possessive love destroys the agency and outcome of romantic love because it doesn’t allow either person to grow and experience change.

See what I said about him being the heart of the show and the most interesting character? I am incredibly excited for them exploring this dynamic in the drama.

#ruyue #ruyue cdrama #spoilers #writing meta in the year 2021 for what

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kinetic-elaboration · 3 years

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100 Days of Writing: Day Sixty-Three

I decided to catch up on The 100 Days of Writing and then I... accidentally wrote a large number of words. In my defense, this is like 2 weeks’ worth of questions. Also I skipped the ones I didn’t have anything to say about so actually this could be worse.

(I’m not even kidding, this is really long. I talk about writing rituals, tools for plotting, my thoughts on opening with dialogue and why I don’t like it, my favorite topics, the weather, and what length of fic I like to write.)

I’m tagging, and apologizing to, @the-wip-project and fellow participants @she-who-the-river-could-not-hold, @thelittlefanpire, @hopskipaway, @easilydistractedbyfanfic, @dylanobrienisbatman, and @fontainebleau22.

Day 49: How do you get yourself in the mood to write? Do you have a ritual?

Every time I tell myself I’m going to get back into doing these questions, I see this one in my bookmarks and go nope! and turn around. It’s not a hard question; I’ve just been having trouble consistently getting into the mood to write, so I feel like any answer I try to give to it will be, in some sense, a lie. Like do I ever get “in the mood” to write? Really?? Also, I feel like I’m relying too much on ‘ritual,’ building up ‘the perfect writing situation’ in my head, which at the end of the day is less important than just saying ‘I’m going to do this now’ and then doing it.

I do have some things I always do when I sit down to a writing session. I write on my couch. Almost always (unless I’m on an event deadline where I just have to write in bits and pieces whenever possible), I write in sprints—I use write or die to keep me actually typing and not staring into space. I write in order, and I often write a whole scene at a time. So before I start I need to have at least a couple solid opening sentences in mind, plus some kind of idea about what happens/needs to happen in the scene. In order to get in the right headspace, I usually spend some time just thinking before I actually get to writing. I reread my outline or notes, and skim whatever I might have already written on the project. Sometimes I look at images that help me get in the right mood. Sometimes I just imagine or daydream for a bit. The difficulty, especially recently, is in making sure I do this just enough and not too much, because then I get too caught up in my head and I can no longer translate what I’m seeing into words.

In a broader sense, I also have a building up to writing ritual—again, I think this is part of my problem, that I don’t know how to balance this build up with actual writing. In the hours/days before writing something, I turn it over in my head a lot. I practice different versions of those critical opening sentences. I play it out like a fantasy just to see if there’s a possible flow, even if the final version is different. Basically, I try to turn it into something that just needs to be written, that just needs to get out. But again—this can lead to overthinking and frustration.

The best way I can describe writing for me is that, when it goes well, I find a rhythm, or enter into a zone, where I can describe the images in my head in a way that’s both accurate and pleasant to read. But entering that zone or finding that rhythm is like jumping into a game of jump rope. If you don’t do it right, you’re just going to trip over your feet and get tangled in the rope. But if you do it correctly, it’s fun and exhilarating and you can keep jumping for a long time. Sometimes it takes me some false starts to jump in. And recently I’ve been having days where I just can’t at all, where I tangle the rope up so much I can’t unknot it. Those are the days I just have the same sentences repeating over and over in my head, sounding wrong, and I can’t do anything about it. On the other hand, I write in much longer sprints than I did a couple years ago. I used to only write partial scenes, maybe a few hundred words. Now I can write whole scenes without stopping, and on a few occasions, I’ve written multiple scenes or even whole stories without stopping. So in other words, when it works, it really works. But it doesn’t always, and there’s not a lot of in between.

Day 50 What fic/story made you?

Um… honestly I’ve been writing, in general and fic specifically, for such a long time that I didn’t have a ‘maybe I can do this’ moment. I mean one problem I’ve never had is thinking I can’t do this. I had positive reinforcement for my school and academic writing, and for a long time my fictional stories were just for me, and I knew what I liked. Even just thinking about my fic writing… I’ve been posting fic online since 2006, and I’ve been in multiple fandoms. I don’t really have much connection to a lot of those early stories anymore. They feel like they were written by someone else, a little. I’ve also moved on from most of the fandoms I wrote for in my early fic days so I don’t feel like I can really judge them anymore.

That said… there is kinda an obvious answer for my Star Trek fic lol. I also have favorite stories, and stories that stick out even years after I wrote them, in all (or at least most) of the fandoms I’ve been in. But I’m not sure if that’s the same.

Also, I had two teachers who were really encouraging of me and who I still think about often. One was my seventh grade English teacher, who had us do a lot of writing exercises of various types, both large and small, including keeping writing journals we wrote in every day at the start of class. He once told my mom that I wrote well, not for a seventh grader, but in general, and to be honest I still think of that with some regularity and take a lot of pride and comfort in it. The other was my creative writing professor in college. I don’t think I did my best work for that class, but she was very encouraging and seemed to like what I did. At the end of the semester, as I was preparing my portfolio, she told me that if I didn’t want to do much editing, I didn’t have to, because my unedited work would stand on its own. Again, especially considering all the problems that I saw with my writing for that class even then, I really took that comment to heart. When I’m feeling very self-critical, I remind myself that even my raw scribblings have, perhaps, something to them, and it helps ease the excessive and unwarranted pressure I put on myself. These aren’t really stories about specific writing pieces that ‘made’ me but I do think they speak to that ‘maybe I can do this’ feeling.

Day 51: Do you use tools for plotting and what are they?

So, generally, no. Sometimes I’ll look at various writing/plotting/organizational tools as a method of distraction, but my actual process is very simple. I use plain old notebooks and pens, and word documents on my computer, to plan all my fics, from the one-shots to the multi-chapters. I start by writing down general thoughts and brainstorming, then I build a scene list and/or outline, and then, if necessary, I separate the scenes lists into chapters. Sometimes I break down the scenes even more, if I have additional ideas I don’t wan to forget or if I know I need to hit certain points in a specific scene. The process varies a little bit from project to project, but that’s basically all I do.

I did use Evernote to plan the (still unwritten….) Ark AU. I don’t know if that was the best program choice or if something else exists that would have more precisely met my needs. But that’s what I used and that’s how it is. It’s a little annoying that every time I open it, it’s been updated, and the interface looks totally different and I have to relearn where everything is. But the tagging system has worked decently to allow me to see the big picture of this complex, multi-strand, multi-character, multi-ship disaster epic of a story. I struggled to plot it for a long time because I didn’t know how to balance all of the different parts. In Evernote, I made one ‘note’ for each character, and one for each scene (in addition to miscellaneous notes about sub plots, relationships, questions, etc.). Then I tagged each of them, including tagging the scenes by chapter. So now I can look at a list of all the characters, or all the scenes, or all of the scenes in chapter 8, or whatever, but I can also look at just one particular note at a time, and not be distracted by anything else. That said, I do also have one note that is just a total scene list for the whole fic, which is pretty reminiscent of my usual outlining process.

So… somehow this helped me plot (tentatively) the whole thing, but as I’ve written almost none of it—I finished outlining this in February 2020 so in my defense… I think you can see why it stalled—I’m not yet sure if it was a successful experiment in a ‘plotting tool.’

Day 60: How do you start your chapters? Do you start with dialogue? Why or why not?

While I am definitely against prescriptive “writing rues” generally, as my own personal rule, I try not to start with dialogue unless I have a very good reason.

To be quite honest, I think it’s lazy. I do think that dialogue openings can be used well, if the writer acknowledges that they are intensely stylistic and, from a reader’s perspective, quite difficult. Even within fanfiction, where a line of dialogue (especially if accompanied by a dialogue tag or swiftly followed by a reference to the speaker) gives a lot more information to the reader than in original fiction, opening with dialogue still shoves the reader directly into the deep end of the scene, with very little to orient her. WHERE is the speaker? WHO is being addressed in the dialogue? WHAT is the context of the conversation? Who ELSE might be present in the scene?

There are reasons you might want to throw the reader in the aforementioned deep-end. Maybe it’s an in media res situation and you want to emphasize the overwhelming nature of the action—starting a scene with “Get down!” for example. Or maybe the overall mood is one of disorientation or floating or uncertainty, and you want to create the same effect in the reader.

But I think if you’re starting a scene with dialogue because that’s the first thing that comes to mind for you—the person who conveniently already has the setting, character list, and even future plot already in mind—and it’s just simplest and easiest to start that way, you’re doing a disservice to the reader.

For example, I actually am planning to start the next chapter of the Sleeping Beauty AU with dialogue. My POV character is in a room with multiple other characters, and she’s examining something meaningful to her and not fully listening to the conversation around her. So I want the dialogue to float around in the background, to feel unmoored, and to stand in contrast to the very precise, detailed thoughts and memories that she’s experiencing, which are grounded in physical sensations like touch.

I haven’t quite gotten it to work yet, though, in part because opening with dialogue and doing it well is, in my opinion, quite hard. The difficulty lies in alleviating the challenges the reader is experiencing and making the text fluid and easy to picture. You need to get all of that scene-setting information—the who, what, when, where, and why—in very quickly, but without being jarring. In this scene in particular, I have multiple characters, all in a comparatively unusual location, and I need to establish where they are, who exactly is there, how they’ve come to meet my POV character (which happens ‘off screen’ between the end of Ch5 and the beginning of Ch6), all on top of the character’s thoughts and feelings.

I know all of this very well. To picture the scene in my own head takes only a moment. I just think about it and I see all seven of the characters, where they’re sitting, how they’re positioned, what their facial expressions are, and I also know roughly what each of them is thinking and feeling. To describe all of this in words would take several sentences. Do I put all those sentences on the front end? Do I weave them in among other description and dialogue? Is all of it even necessary—maybe we don’t need to know who’s sitting in what order on the couch, for example.

I’ve gone over a couple of different ways to do this in my head, and I’m sure it is possible, but I’m struggling to get it all down in a coherent way. (Admittedly, I’ve only made one solid attempt. As I was describing above, I’m probably going to jump in with several false starts, and then it will suddenly click.)

My initial attempt to set up the scene relied heavily on dialogue, but when I read it over, what sounded snappy and interesting in my head just fell completely flat—because it lacked context and thus, any meaning. I think the gulf between how dialogue openings feel to the writer and how they feel to the reader is large. To the writer, they feel easy and natural. To the reader, they can feel forced and, contrary to the writer’s intention, serve as an additional reminder that this is a constructed narrative rather than an immersive experience—the opposite of natural. In other words, as I said, they’re a highly stylized form of writing.

To illustrate, this was my first try at the Chapter 6 intro:

"I still can't believe it," a lightly awed voice says from somewhere behind Clarke. "The Princess of Alpha Station really used to live in our quarters.”

She pictures Miller, sunk into the couch cushions, slowly shaking his head, the expression on his face equal parts satisfied and amused.

"Really? That's what you think is the oddest part of all this?"

"Yeah, Bry, I do. Would you prefer I gloat? About being right this whole time? Who says she's just a legend now?"

My current idea is to still start with dialogue, but to move back into a significant amount of description pretty immediately afterward, and only then add more dialogue. Even this is a little hazy, since I haven’t thought much about this fic in a while. But I do think it’s quite clear this won’t work.

As for how I DO start chapters/scenes/stories… I like to start with a strong image that sets the scene and mood of the story, and hopefully leaves the reader wanting to know more. Here are some examples of story openings I’ve written recently, which I like a lot:

When Bellamy is angered, deafening bouts of thunder shake the heavens.

The cawing of the crows—high, sharp, angry shots of sound. The buzzing of the telephone wires.

Marcus Kane's body shows up again in June, skeletal and rotting, six months after his disappearance at the turn of the year.

The sky has turned a bruised yellow, like the inside of a plum, by the time Bellamy starts seeing the robots in the fields.

At noon on the third-to-last day before Christmas, Murphy leaves the cafe, with a single peppermint mocha and a small paper bag, and heads right, walking parallel to the ocean.

The last one doesn’t seem as interesting but consider: you get the who, what, when, and where, the mystery of the paper bag and where he might be going, and also the immediate understanding that this is probably going to be a Fluffy Beach Christmas story—which is correct, that’s exactly what it is.

I’m not saying that I’m always creative or unique. I often start stories off with descriptions of the weather. And I have committed the ~~cardinal sin~~ of starting with a character waking up, heaven forbid. I don’t have any hard and fast rules for myself other than that I try to avoid dialogue, or at least, be careful about its use (another example: I use dialogue to start off Mad Women—but it reads like narration, until it’s rudely interrupted, a sort of in-joke/reference/twist). I try to match the mood of the story and, as I said, include something that will create a question for the reader, some version of why, that the rest of the story will answer.

Day 61: Do you describe the weather? Try changing a scene you wrote by adding weather effects.

After writing a book for the last question, here’s an easy one! Yes, I describe the weather. A lot. Often. In detail.

(Though if we’re talking about the Sleeping Beauty AU as my “current wip,” I actually don’t do much weather describing there, because 4 of the 6 chapters take place in a location with no weather.)

Day 62: What is your favorite thing to write about?

Honestly I like to write about people being dramatic about their emotions. That’s what I’ve discovered while writing my surprisingly self-indulgent Troped fic: I want to describe people acting as if Everything was the Most Ever. It’s fun. Part of this is getting into the usual romantic tropes—longing, pining, exaggerated touches and glances and the like—but why stop at romance when you also have stuff like The Weather and Random Feelings to contemplate?

I also like setting scenes that I find soothing, which is part of why I like Seasonal Stories.

Day 63: Are you more of a drabble/flash or a longfic/novel kind of writer?

I’m in the middle. I mostly write one-shots, and I’ve noticed that a lot of them fall in the 4-6k range. Long one-shots can get all the way to 10-12k but I feel like most of those are, semi-objectively speaking, too long, and would probably have been stronger if they were pruned down to 6k, or, better yet, never made it past 6k in the first place.

I have written some multi-chapters, or, uh, started multi-chapters, but I’m VERY bad at it. The only thing that makes me slightly less bad is being stubborn. Hence the existence of a WIP that I’ve had going for over 10 years now and refuse to call abandoned. Hence this year’s extended angst about the Sleeping Beauty AU, which is only 6 chapters but has taken me literally years to write. I don’t honestly know if I’ve ever finished a multi-chapter WIP, like, properly speaking. I’ve done some short multi-chapters that I wrote as if they were one-shots and then split up for ease of reading or, I dunno, just because. I wrote a Big Bang once, but it’s not very good. Nor very long, if I remember correctly. Generally speaking I probably shouldn’t be allowed to write novels lol—I have a lot of them in my ‘I should write this one day’ idea list—but as it so happens, no one can stop me, so here we are. I definitely have wild fantasies of writing multi-chapters with ease but I’m just a very slow writer and my ideas can’t keep up with my actual-writing. Thus one shots are much easier than multi-chaps, and one-shots on a deadline are much easier than ‘I’ll finish this whenever’ one-shots. One-shots written for events or exchanges also tend to be shorter (and, imo, better) because of the deadlines they’re written on, and are thus more likely to hit that sweet 4-6k spot than stories where I’m allowed to ramble at will.

All that said, I ALSO write a good number of drabbles/writing exercises. I used to write them more often than I do now, but still over the last five years I’ve produced 110,000+ words in free-standing scenes so like… that’s also a thing I guess.

#100 days of writing #my 100 days of writing #100daysofwriting

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dillydedalus · 3 years

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march reading

kinda forgot about this i guess. anyway feat. uh, magical ships, dubious mental health institutions (plural) & a parisian building with 99 rooms.

the forever sea, joshua phillip johnson (forever sea #1) i firmly believe that more fantasy lit should be set on ships bc ships are inherently a sexy setting & you could have pirates which are extremely sexy. this has ships (and pirates) and also a sea made of grass? a magical plant sea on which ships sail via magical fires, so conceptually i’m very into it all. the plot is fine, but the protagonist kindred has a very bad case of Main Character Syndrome so prepare for mild annoyance throughout. also while i generally enjoy book magic vs wild magic i wish more works would treat them as two ends of a spectrum rather than ~book magic bad and boring, wild magic cool and *~natural*~. but overall i think this series has potential. 3/5

jagannath: stories, karin tidbeck ([partially?] translated from swedish by the author) really cool collection of sff stories by tidbeck, many of which veer into mild horror and some of which are influenced by swedish folklore and especially swedish fey stories. i enjoyed most of these a lot, especially the existential call centre horror story, the ‘god won’t let me die’ one, and a taxonomy of a cryptid that goes a little off the rails. 4/5

annette, ein heldinnenepos, anne weber a novel in verse about anne beaumanoir, a real person who was a résistance member during world war 2 and later supported the algerian national liberation front, for which she was sentenced to 10 years in prison (she escaped to tunisia and later algeria). she’s clearly a very impressive and interesting person & i conceptually enjoyed the idea of writing a modern hero(ine)’s epic, but i feel like the language could have been a bit more stylized to match the form. 3/5

salvage the bones, jesmyn ward (audio) bleak but ultimately hopeful novel about a black family in the days before and during hurricane katrina, although the focus is on the family dynamics, the 14-year-old narrator discovering that she is pregnant, and the kids trying to keep the puppies their dog china just had alive and well. enjoyed this, altho i did it a bit of a disservice but listening to it a lot of short chunks. 3.5/5

regeneration, pat barker (regeneration trilogy #1) set mostly at a military hospital for soldiers with shell shock during world war 1, this novel explores the existential horror of war, psychological treatment (& the horrible absurdity of treating traumatised men just enough so that you can send them straight back to Trauma Town), and the meeting between siegfried sassoon & wilfred owen. i find i don’t really have much to say about it, but it is very, very good. 4/5

how to pronounce knife, souvankham thammavongsa a short story collection mainly about refugees and migrants from laos to canada, many focusing on parent-child relationships and being forced to work in low-paid jobs, often ones that are damaging to their health. the stories are very well-observed and emotionally nuanced and detailed, but with 14 mostly very short stories, the collection as a whole felt a bit samey, which i guess is something i often experience with short story collections. 3/5

faces in the water, janet frame horrifying semi-autobiographical novel about a young woman stuck in new zealand’s mental health system, moving to different hospitals but mostly from ward to (more depressing) ward in the 40s/50s. while there is a shift in attitudes during her stay that sometimes makes the wards more tolerable, mostly the patients are neglected, abused, and the threat of electric shock therapy and lobotomy always hangs over them. 3/5

the upstairs house, julia fine fuck why did i read so many books about mental health conditions this month??? this is another entry in my casual ‘motherhood as horror’ reading project, in which a new mother develops post-partum psychosis & imagines the modernist children’s book writer she’s writing her dissertation on and her poet sometimes-lover haunting her and her child (margaret wise brown & michael strange, who are real people i was utterly unaware of). this does pretty good on the maternal horror front, but i wasn’t entirely sold on the literary haunting. 2/5

1000 serpentinen angst, olivia wenzel a very interesting novel about a woman struggling with grief over her brother’s suicide, an anxiety disorder, the (non)state of a (non)relationship and discrimination/marginalisation based on her identity as a black, east-german, bi woman (while also being, as she notes, financially privileged). much of the novel is written in a dialogue between the narrator and an unnamed (& probably internal) interlocutor, which was p effective for a novel more focused on introspection than much of a plot. 3/5

atlas: the archaeology of an imaginary city, dung kai-cheung (tr. from chinese by the author, anders hansson, bonnie mcdougall) fictitious theory about a slightly-left-of-reality version of hong kong and how maps (re)construct the city, very heavy on the postmodern poststructuralist postcolonial (and some other posts, i’m sure). in many ways my jam. unfortunately my favourite parts of this were the author’s preface and the first part (fictitious theory of mapping alternate hong kong); the rest felt very repetitive and not particularly interesting, altho i’m sure i was also just missing a lot of cultural context. 2.5/5

under the net, iris murdoch .........i liked the other two murdochs i’ve read (the sea, the sea & a severed head) quite a lot so either i was not in the mood for her very peculiar style of constructing novels and characters or, this being her first novel, she just wasn’t in full command of that peculiar style yet but man this was a slooooooooog. don’t stretch out your modern picaresque with an incredibly annoying narrator over more than 300 pages iris!!!! 2/5 bc this probably has some merit & i just wasn’t into it

the impossible revolution: making sense of the syrian tragedy, yassin al-haj saleh (tr. from arabic by i. rida mahmoud) collection of articles and essays saleh (a syrian intellectual & activist who spent 16 years in a syrian prison) wrote from 2011 to 2015, analysing the reasons for, potential and development of the revolution, as well as some background sociological discussion on the assads’ regime. very interesting, very dense, very depressing. wouldn’t necessarily recommend it as a first read on the topic tho. 3/5

angels in america: millenium approaches & perestroika, tony kushner the page to tumblr darling quote ratio in this is insane (”just mangled guts pretending” and so on) and also it just really slaps on every level. also managed to get me from 0 to crying several times. brilliant work of theatre, would love to see it staged (or filmed). 4/5

life: a user’s manual, georges perec (german tr. by eugen helmlé) 99 chapters, each corresponding with a single room in a parisian apartment block; some chapters are basically ‘here’s the room, here’s a long list of objects in the room, that’s it bye :)’, some are short insights into the lives of the people living there, some (the best, mostly) are long, absolutely wild tales that are sometimes only tangentially connected to the room in question. why are the french like this. 61/99 rooms

sisters in hate: american women on the front lines of white nationalism, seyward darby (audio) nonfiction about women’s role in white nationalist hate movements, mainly based on the stories of three women who are or have been involved with various contemporary american alt-right/racist/neonazi hate groups, while also looking at general social trends and the history of white women’s role in white supremacy. interesting and engaging if you’re interested in this kind of thing. if you’re both politically aware and internet poisoned, it’s probably not much that is completely new to you but still worth reading. 3/5

starting in april i will be Gainfully Employed (ugh) & thus probably not read as much or read even more bc i have no energy for anything else

#the books i read #long post

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noragami-ru-manga · 4 years

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For ease of use, abuse

________________

An unnecessarily long, super biased and very spoiler-y analysis of chapter 87-1 ________________

If this isn’t Father’s motto, I don’t know what is. We’ve already seen him use it on Yato and Mizuchi; seems like it’s Hagusa’s turn.

The chapter starts with Yukine’s memories that we already saw at the trial. Except now that the truth about the mysterious “box” is out, Adachitoka aren’t trying to hide anything anymore – it’s painfully obvious that it’s an old fridge that was thrown away. Haru’s father closes the door and says the last goodbye to his son.

Haru is fixing his sleeve – his arms must be hurting. Is it because they were tied? Or is it from the shots? After all, fans have suggested that he may have been ill for a long time. His bare feet and pajamas indicate that the father probably placed a sleeping boy in the fridge. I have nothing but curse words for this man, so I’ll keep my silence.

The chapter is called “The way to darkness”. Since this month’s half-chapter is only 15 pages long, the second part should be longer; that’s where we’ll see the way to darkness in all its glory.

While nothing scary happens in the chapter, it’s still kind of creepy. Father is being very, very nice to Hagusa. We know what hides behind his smile and fake care, but Hagusa doesn’t. His calling Father “father” isn’t the scariest thing here, ‘cause it can be the effect of kotonoha. But it’s unnerving how fast they have bonded, even though there are reasons for that.

Father says that Hagusa is tired from walking all day. It’s not just the fact that the house is very far from the place where he gave the boy his new name (although that seems to be the case, too) – they must have spent the day before visiting places that Father had seen in Hagusa’s memories. Except none of them did the trick – Hagusa recalled nothing about his past life from being in those places. What’s so special about the locations is hard to tell – they seem to be a 1) café, 2) probably a school, and 3) a neighborhood where Haru used to live.

And of course, the house. The building being so run-down that it’s scheduled to be demolished is not particularly surprising – who knows when it was built. The thing that interests me is its location. A house in such a close proximity to the railway is not a nice place to live in. People settle for those when they don’t have better options. In other words, Haru’s family was poor; which is nothing new, it has already been suggested by the fans, I believe. Although Father says it’s Haru’s final place of residence. Maybe the family had to move in there from a nicer house.

Haru’s memories are fragmented because they are 35 years old. Can we trust Father’s words just like that? Of course not, it’s Father we’re talking about. But I think that’s it’s one of those cases where he wouldn’t benefit much from lying, so he tells the truth. And even if there was some other reason for Hagusa’s memories to be fragmented like that, Father probably could have bent it as he pleased. For example, if it had something to do with Hagusa being part-ayakashi, he could have said “I’m sorry, but some of your memories disappeared when you started transforming. I did everything in my power to keep as much as I could”. But turning into an ayakashi is usually accompanied (or rather, caused) by an influx of memories, not their loss. Conclusion: Father isn’t lying, and we’ll come back to this.

Some of the partial memories that Father saw are: a letter, this time addressed to the sister; a symbol on a building (school?) – a flower; Haru’s father’s face; a door handle. That’s doesn’t seem to be a lot of information, but… If you’d hoped that somehow Father didn’t get to see Haru’s last moments, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. The lighting on Haru’s father’s face seems to be similar to the one in Yukine’s memories from the trial / the beginning of the chapter, so it’s probably the same memory. Father saw it, and he’s planning to use it to his advantage.

Apparently, there’s a minor translation error on the top left frame. Hagusa’s facial expression doesn’t match the phrase, and the speech bubble isn’t coming from him. It’s Father suggesting that he plays a game of finding his real name somewhere in the house, which Hagusa happily agrees to do. What Father’s doing with this little “treasure hunting” game reflects the bigger picture: he’s nudging Hagusa to look for answers about the boy’s past without actually causing any suspicions towards his intentions. What can I say, Father loves giving his kids something to play with; ask Yato, he’ll confirm that.

Hagusa discovers his nickname from when he was alive – Haru – near some height marks that belonged to him and his older sister Yuka. The smallest number that has Haru written beside it is 3 (years). It means that even if the family moved here from a nicer house, it had happened long before the boy’s death. The names Yuka and Haru are written over semi-erased names of some other children. It isn’t at all surprising, since the house is very old.

So the name Haru was useless to Father’s plan after all, since it turned out to be a nickname. For the next three pages he’s quietly seething, trying to understand why Hagusa is so happy to learn little bits of his past. Maybe Father is comparing him to Mizuchi who (until recently) has been always so reserved (too reserved) when it came to her being dead. Or maybe it has to do something with Father thinking that all humans are monsters whose real appearance starts to show when they are nudged in the right direction. In stark contrast to that idea, Hagusa is simply happy to learn that he had a sister, and a home, and the cutest nickname.

Father’s words about giving Hagusa a little push to discover the truth on his own are pretty interesting. It means that he’d planned that by this point, the boy would start getting angry at the life he could have lived. But something went wrong, so Father has to revise the plan on the go.

Hagusa asks a reasonable question: if Yato never told him anything, why is Father being so nice to him – giving him a tour, playing “treasure hunting” with his name as the treasure? Father’s answer is… intriguing.

Father manages to tell a truth and a lie within the same sentence. Hagusa, for example, finds the answer honest and not needing any further prying, so he happily goes on a walk around his neighborhood in hopes of finding someone who knew him when he was alive. And technically, the things Father says aren’t a lie. What he’s been revealing so far can hurt Hagusa, and he does trust that the boy will be able to survive. However, he’s withholding the most important part – what is this all about. His words aren’t a lie. but his intentions are.

Hagusa recalls something while looking at the door but is distracted by the ayakashi wolf. I originally assumed that the door itself could have somehow reminded him of the dreaded fridge, but the thing that actually caught his attention is obviously the door handle. It’s the same one that appeared in the bits of memories that Father saw when naming him. I’ve already made a separate post about that door handle, but I’ll repeat it here anyway. So here are a couple of things why it could have appeared in the fragments of memories that Father’s received.

1) Haru’s father was abusive to the point where the boy would be afraid to come home. So he would just stand at the front door looking at the handle, too afraid to pull.

2) Some kind of trauma could have occurred. Haru could have fallen on the handle and got an injury, either by accident or with the help of his father.

This last page shows that Father’s intentions are very serious. He’s done being the game master; he’s going to be a full-fledged player from now on and will be actively involved in the further events – and for that, he needs Hagusa. Up until this point, despite Yato’s concerns that Father was a bit too flattering when talking about Yukine, I assumed that Father only needs Yukine as a pawn; a hostage of sorts that could be used to bring Yaboku back to his “loving family”. However, Yato made it clear that that’s out of question when he tried to kill his father in earnest. So now Father has another plan – to turn Hagusa into an unbelievably strong weapon; and the one wielding it will be him, not Yato. Except Hagusa’s buoyancy has been ruining this plan so far.

As for the fragmented memories that I’ve promised to return to, I really believe that Father wasn’t lying and has only seen bits and pieces of Haru’s life, not the whole thing. It has to do something with the boy being a sudama when he was first named and not a regular ghost, like Daikoku, for example. Nora said it in the previous chapter that when Haru’s memories were intact, he had a form of a person. It means that he either started turning into a sudama after his memories began to fade, or, conversely, started losing his memories because he began turning into a sudama.

The important thing here is that if Father only saw fragmented memories, then so did Yato. Nothing in the manga suggests that the new master gets fewer of a shinki’s memories than the previous one. When Yato named Kazune, he saw Kiotsugu’s entire life from birth to death – well, maybe not all of it, but definitely the important parts. So I assume that the information Father and Yato got was identical.

And this shows once again just how much Yato cared about Yukine from the very start. Think about it: throughout this chapter we’ve been getting more and more proof that Father initially wanted to break Hagusa as soon as possible. He dragged the boy around potentially familiar places, urged him to look for his name in the house – nothing. Only after that Father decided to change his tactics and let Hagusa discover the GGS on his own, so he allowed the boy to walk around the neighborhood looking for other clues. But if he needed an immediate result, why not take Hagusa to the place of his death, which was bound to be the best trigger?

Because Father doesn’t know where it is.

Do you see it now? Father, who needed something that would break Hagusa for sure, wasn’t able to figure out the most suiting place from the bits of memories he’d received – or didn’t bother. But Yato did everything in his power to find that damn fridge, only with completely different intentions – to keep Yukine safe from that place and everything that discovering it entails. Who knows how many bridges and dumps he had to visit before finding the right area.

Nevertheless, Hagusa is with Father now, not with Yato where he belongs. As I said, the chapter isn’t frightening – by which I meant “we haven’t been shown more horrifying things from Haru’s life yet”. It’s scary in an entirely different way, because it shows how easily Father was able to earn Hagusa’s trust. He exploited everything. He turned the kid’s natural curiosity into a game – “find your name”, “go talk to the neighbors”. When Hagusa complained that Yato never told him anything, Father didn’t say a single bad word about Yato, didn’t try to turn them against each other. Instead, he focused Hagusa’s attention on himself – how he’s ready to “help” Hagusa, even if it’s dangerous, because he “cares” for him and “trusts” him – the two things Yukine has been missing lately. And the background to all this is his terrible inner monologue: how come a dead person is enjoying his “life”? It should be rectified, and the result should be used to my advantage. For ease of use, abuse.

Get ready; we’re on a path to darkness.

#noragami #noragami manga #theories #fujisaki kouto #yukine #yato #noragami meta

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aye-write · 3 years

Text

Summary: Research student Isla Reid has been fascinated with the legend of the Kildonian Chessmen - a trio of mythical Pokemon rumoured to have lived centuries ago on the remote region of Kildo - for as long as she can remember. So, when a museum exhibit on the Chessmen is set to open in Kildo’s Hydrogate City, coinciding with her independent research project, she packs herself and her trusty partner Furret onto the long ferry journey bound for this new region.

However, when she arrives in Kildo, thoughts of her research, new friends, and an entire Pokedex’s worth of new Pokemon, are quickly dashed. Kildo is a troubled place, beset by natural disasters and fierce rivalries among its people. Isla suddenly finds herself at the centre of a centuries-old plot to invoke the wrath of the Chessmen, and is set on a race against time to stop them, before it spells destruction for the entire region.

Other Links: Read it on Ao3!

Tags: OC Pokemon journey, OC region, Fakemon region, bisexual main character, found family, ace main character.

If you are not interested in these posts, especially as I know Pokemon journeyfic is fairly niche, please blacklist the tag #Checkmate. Most of the story will be put under a Readmore anyway!

Author’s Note: If you’re interested in more information, exclusive updates, character art, and teasers for this fic, please consider following its sister tumblr @kildo-pokedex!

This was another chonker chapter at 4.5k that I didn’t anticipate being this long at all! The joys of plantsing, eh? I had hoped to reveal the starters this chapter, but that’s being bumped to next update. In the meantime, please enjoy the reveal of Brootser, and the partial reveals of Weldeon, Ampster and Coastrot!

*****

Chapter Three

Despite everything, night rolled over the Whispering Pine Croft.

After hours battling insomnia, Isla stole downstairs not long after the clock in the hallway chimed midnight. Goosepimples erupted on her skin, the air chilling her to the core. Clicking on the floor lamp, she cast her gaze around the living room. A rickety bookshelf took up most of one wall, covered in dust and trinkets. It didn’t take her long to strike gold.

The Etymological Dictionary of Old Kildonian, 1981 Edition.

Sitting at the old coffee table, she spread out her books and copies of the Old Kildonian script until there wasn’t an inch of space left. Then she opened the dictionary and started to read. She read, moving between dictionary and text, until her eyes strained in the dim light of the lamp, and the words on the page turned into incomprehensible squiggles. Just keep going, she told herself, as she marked off another decoded word. Just keep going. Just keep going. Just keep—

“Isla?”

Isla slammed the book shut. The noise seemed to echo forever in the quiet of the living room. The intruder snapped on the main light and Isla blinked foolishly as everything illuminated around her. It was Blair at the door, swaddled in an enormous red dressing gown and a pinched look on his face.

“What are you doing down here?” he asked, pulling his dressing gown tighter. “You’ll catch your death of cold.”

“I’m… I’m not doing anything,” Isla said, trying to collect the papers together, position her body over them, anything to hide them from sight.

“Really? You look like a student trying to panic revise a whole subject the night before an exam,” he chuckled, plopping himself in the seat opposite. “Come on. What’s up?”

Isla sighed. What was the point in lying? “I’m just trying to make some sense of these texts.”

Blair glanced at the clock above the fireplace. “At half two in the morning?”

“I couldn’t sleep. This presentation is doing my head in.” When Blair frowned, she added, “My supervisor asked me to update them with all the “progress” I’ve mad so far. Of course, I haven’t made any yet.”

“So, you’re trying to decode all these old books with…. an out-of-date Kildonian dictionary?”

“I found it in the bookcase. I thought it might help.”

“I’m pretty sure that book is older than me. Please don’t tell me you’re taking it word-by-word.”

“More or less.”

“You’ll be there months trying to sort all that lot.”

“I don’t have any other choice,” Isla’s voice cracked. “Everyone is hounding me. I can’t let this come undone. They’ll pull approval of my project and fail me if I don’t keep jumping through all their hoops.”

“Why is the legend of the Chessmen so important to you?”

Isla hesitated. It was an innocent enough question, but the thought of answering it felt like ripping her chest open and exposing the beating heart underneath. “Well...” she started, cringing at how stupid it all sounded in her head. “When I was little, I was kinda lonely. I didn’t have siblings. Or friends, really,”

Blair made a sympathetic noise.

“No, it’s okay. I wasn’t that bothered by it,” Isla lied. “But because I didn’t have many friends, I naturally leant towards books instead. And I loved fiction, like adventure stories and that, but I felt so much more connected to things that were actually real.”

Blair nodded. “Understandable.”

“Anyway, one Christmas, I got this book. I think it was called Myths and Legends of the Pokemon World and it had all the origin stories of all the legendary Pokemon from like… every region in the world. God, I ate up every single story - how Arceus created the world, the theory that all Pokemon came from Mew in some way, how Groudon and Kyogre created the land and sea. I was absolutely hooked. Then, right at the end, there were a couple of small articles devoted to a place called Kildo.”

“Typical,” Blair muttered. “Always playing second fiddle to the big guns.”

“The book explained a little bit about the legend of the Chessmen. I was just… amazed at how these Pokemon brought humans these gifts of technology and arts and whatnot and how advanced the region was for its time. And then when I read what happened next, well… I just wanted to know why. Why did the Chessmen take away what they gave the humans? What happened to them after they became dormant? I was obsessed. When I was younger, I had this stupid dream that I would like… Oh, it sounds so cheesy now, but… like solve the mystery of what happened all those years ago.”

“It’s not cheesy, Isla. Dreams are never cheesy.”

Isla bit the inside of her cheek. “I know that. It’s just… well, this legend has been everything to me for years. I’m not bigheaded enough now to think someone like me could ever solve it. But I’d love to find something. Even if it’s just standing in the same place these Pokemon stood once, all those years ago. But now it feels like it’s slipping away from me. I won’t be able to do anything unless I get these texts translated.”

“They’re well-known texts, right? Haven’t they already been translated?”

“The only translations that exist are locked behind online paywalls,” Isla sighed. “Not exactly within my budget. The originals were family owned. I suppose you can’t blame them for wanting them kept safe.”

“Could the university not pay for you to access them?”

“Not my department. They already think the project isn’t worth the time. They’re usually into social changes, modern day life, that sort of thing. Mythology doesn’t get a look in. Even though I changed my project a bit – focusing more on how the mythology influences modern life, with the Chessmen more of like a case study – the department still don’t want much to do with it.”

“Well, that’s their loss. Your project sounds fascinating just from what I’ve seen of it.”

“This little bit you’ve seen might end up being all it ever amounts to. With Nana Morag in the hospital, my options for translations are limited, and these old texts are all I have to help me piece together where the Chessmen might be.”

Silence unfurled around them. Isla stared down at her lap, her legs shaking and her mouth dry. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d ever talked so much about herself and she found that she couldn’t quite bring herself to look Blair in the eye.

“I think I might know someone.”

Isla pricked her head up. “Really?” she said, hope throbbing in her chest.

“I have a friend who lives in Inverbrook. It’s not a huge city, but they do have a subsect of Tideburgh University there. He’s doing a Masters in Language and mentioned being involved with an elective on Old Kildonian. I can contact him for you. He might be able to help.”

Something surged through Isla like she’d just taken a shot of adrenaline. “Oh, Blair, thank you! That’s amazing!”

“No guarantees, of course!” he said, spreading his hands hastily. “He might not know enough of it to be a proper help. But he may be able to put you in touch with some other folks who can help, if that makes sense.”

“It does. A lot of sense. Thank you again.” Isla paused. “Where is Inverbrook?”

“Pretty much directly south of here. About forty odd miles or so. Following routes 29 through 26 pretty much leads you right there. Public transport is crap, though, so you’re better walking most of it. Shouldn’t take much more than a couple of days if you’re…”

He paused. Isla knew what he wanted to say. If you’re fit. Women like her weren’t supposed to be fit. And even though the thought of days of walking filled her with equal parts apprehension and dread, she forced a look of determination onto her face.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I can handle it.”

Isla shared the news that she would be leaving in the morning as they sat down at the kitchen table. Kenneth and Skye stayed quiet, barely reacting to the news, but Rhona’s face crumpled.

“Oh, chick, are you sure?”

“I think it’s probably for the best,” Isla said. “I don’t want to be a burden, especially with you guys having your hands full with the croft and Nana Morag being ill. Having a guest is too much on top of everything. I really do appreciate everything you’ve all done, but I think it’s best that I head towards Inverbrook and start my research properly.”

A strange expression passed over Rhona’s face, one that Isla couldn’t make sense of. For several terrifying moments, she thought she’d offended her.

“You wouldn’t be a burden on us, Isla,” Rhona eventually said, her eyes brimming. “We’d happily have you here for as long as you want. It’s been lovely having you.”

Isla felt something in her heart buckle.

“We do understand that your studies have to come first. But… you said you wanted to go to Inverbrook?”

“Yes. Blair is going to put me in touch with a friend of his there that might be able to help me with some translations.”

“It might not be as easy as you think, chick. I’ve just been watching the local news. There was flooding down south. The river that goes through Route 27, which connects Port Glen to Inverbrook, burst its banks. The whole route is submerged. No-one can go through. It’s completely impassable.”

You wouldn’t have said the entire of Port Glen had only just recently been battered by a storm, Isla thought, as she set off down towards the harbour after a filling breakfast. The morning sky pinkened gently, like a mother’s embrace, and golden threads of sun drifted through soft, watercolour clouds. A cool wind kept the worst of the heat at bay as she walked. All in all, it was a fairly pleasant experience. Well, as pleasant an experience as walking would ever be.

It was Rhona that had suggested trying the ferry. She couldn’t be sure what passenger routes they ran from Port Glen, or if they only did international and goods shipments, but it was a better option than waiting the potential weeks for the Inverbrook route to be cleared or taking the (extremely) long way around the whole region.

Breathing heavily and sweating despite the brisk ocean breeze, Isla stopped to catch her breath as she arrived at the harbour. She cast her gaze around hopefully. It was quiet. Too quiet. Not a good sign in the least. Aside from the occasional sailor pacing the docks, and the sharp, cutting cry of seabirds, the place was still and silent.

The thought of asking someone to help sent panic crashing through her like waves in a storm, but there was no other choice. The best option rested with a nearby sailor, busily looping ropes and picking apart complicated knots. A Pokemon stood at his side. Squat, muscular, with short brown fur, flecked with white, and cut into a stout triangle pattern, it was another one that Isla didn’t recognise. Every now and again, the sailor tossed it a particularly difficult-looking knot of rope, which the Pokemon expertly shredded with sharp, curved claws.

“Brootser, the Pelting Pokemon. The evolved form of Brogue. With incredibly sharp claws and powerful jaws, Brootser are highly aggressive and territorial. Even against much stronger foes, it won’t back down easily,” her Pokedex chirruped.

Isla’s hand tightened around Soba’s Pokeball as she read more details. A Fighting type. A second evolution. Being a Furret, Soba wouldn’t stand much chance in a fair fight, much less an unfair one. While she did generally feel more comfortable approaching a fellow Pokemon owner, she probably could have stood to pick one with a less terrifying partner.

All the same, she approached the sailor, keeping herself primed like a coiled spring. “Excuse me? I was wondering if you could help me with something?”

The sailor had a strong, lined face, but he didn’t seem anywhere near as intimidating when he relaxed into a smile. “Sure,” he boomed. “What can I do for you?”

“Are there going to be any sailings from this port in the next few days? Anywhere that lands near Inverbrook?”

The Brootser, distracted from its work with the knots, pressed its wet nose against Isla’s hand. Isla let out an involuntary squeak.

“Brootser, stop that!” the sailor said firmly. “Sorry, miss. He’s obsessed with leather. Have you got leather in your handbag or anything? Your shoes? I swear, he can sniff it out within a mile. I have to keep him distracted at work otherwise he’d never leave people alone. Here, Brootser, go and do this for me.”

The sailor tossed a section of rope a few feet down the docks. The Brootser growled, a deep throaty rumble, before dropping to all fours and pursuing. Within moments, the rope was ripped to little more than fibres.

Isla searched for something to say. She eventually settled on, “He’s cute.”

“He’s a menace is what he is,” the sailor said, wiping his brow. “Anyway, you were asking about the ferries? Unfortunately, the passenger ferry was badly damaged in that storm two nights ago and won’t be running any routes for a while.”

“How long is a while?” Isla asked nervously.

“We’re waiting for some metal workers to come down from Hydrogate. They’re delayed because their Weldeon team were exhausted after a big job in the ironworks. Currently we’re looking at about a week.”

“A week?”

“I’m afraid so. If you go to reception and leave your details, they’ll be able to contact you as soon as we know when the sailings will be going ahead.”

“Aren’t there any other options?”

The sailor considered. “Not here. But if you’re set on sailing and you could get to Dewbrae Town, I think they’re still running sailings.”

“Where’s Dewbrae Town? Is it close?”

“It’s up past Aberdrip City, which is an hour’s drive north of here. Then you have to pass through Aberdrip Forest and that brings you out just at Dewbrae. Maybe a couple of days walking if you keep a steady pace,” he paused, and Isla felt his eyes rake her body. “Maybe a couple more. But, if you’re in a hurry, it’s better than waiting around here. Everything’s very up in the air at the moment.”

Isla thanked the sailor, trying to ignore the heavy feeling that came over her. Why was this so difficult? She’d encountered disaster at every turn so far and, in her darkest moments, she couldn’t deny wondering if it was even worth it to keep going. Nana Morag ill, no passage to Inverbrook through Route 27, no ferry from the Port Glen docks, now she had to go all the way to Dewbrae – wherever that was – on nothing more than a possibility?

But what could she do? What other options did she have?

Rhona would know what to do, Isla decided. She had a way of sorting things out, an uncanny level-headedness her own mother didn’t have. That’s what she’d do. She’d head back to the croft and take stock of the situation. She started walking, thoughts whirling through her head like the flapping of birds’ wings. Maybe there was another way to Inverbrook. They knew the region better than she ever would. Maybe they could—

“WIIIIING!”

Isla gasped and swore as her foot trod on something soft. With a gust of cold air, the offending thing burst upwards and pain erupted at the top of her head. Sharp, pointed talons dug into her scalp and she yelped in pain.

“Gull! Gull!” her assailant screeched; each squawk accompanied by a swift peck to the head.

Isla’s hands closed around her attacker’s soft wriggling body. With all her might, she tore it from her head and tossed it as far as she could manage. But the Pokemon swooped back into the air, seemingly unharmed, fixing Isla with a glare that sent a tremble down her spine.

“Gull! Wingull!” it shrieked.

Recognition dropped into Isla’s belly like a stone. It was a Kildonian Wingull. The same Kildonian Wingull that had attacked Rhona the day Isla got off the ferry. At least, it certainly looked like the same one – she could hardly call herself an expert on them – but it was roughly the same size and had the same high-pitched squawk. And didn’t the Pokedex say that Kildonian Wingull only attacked people who had food? Isla didn’t have a single crumb on her. So what other motive could it possibly have for attacking her?

Isla reached for the Pokeball at her waist, panicked fingers scrabbling for the catch. But the Wingull screeched again, diving into a tackle. The impact came low in her stomach, knocking the air from her lungs and leaving her doubled over. The second blow sent her off-balance and stumbling, eventually crashing to the ground where the pain came in sharp spikes. With a fury of feathers, the Pokemon ripped Isla’s bag away from her.

“Hey!” She wheezed. “There’s nothing in there for you!”

Her protests were rewarded with a face full of frigid water.

By the time Isla had sluiced the water from her face, the Wingull had unhooked the bag’s clasp and was digging around in her things. Hairbrush and deodorant were both ignored, the coin purse in the shape of a Quagsire got an inquisitive gnaw but ultimately left in favour of a pen, which lasted a whole thirty seconds until it splintered and was promptly spat back out.

Every inhale felt like she was being stabbed underneath the ribs, but she still forced herself to move. “Leave my things alone! There’s no food in there!”

Wingull had wriggled itself right into the bottom of the bag and had pulled out an old emergency kit that Isla had nearly forgotten about. Most of the items had already been used or dumped over the years she’d had it, leaving only a couple of travel sized Potions, a Repel Kit, and a Poke Doll, wrapped up in a worn-out bag. The Wingull squawked indignantly and decapitated the doll in one fell swoop. Then it turned back on the travel bag, scraping around and tearing at it with its beak.

Something dropped out. Isla’s heart plummeted to somewhere near her feet.

It was a Pokeball. An old Pokeball scratched and grimy with age. A Pokeball that Isla had all but forgotten about ever since she made the decision to train just Soba all those years ago. A Pokeball that was now right in the Kildonian Wingull’s line of sight.

She saw it happening before it actually did. The hungry Wingull viewed the Pokeball as nothing more than a shiny, tasty snack. It darted forward, opened its beak wide, and engulfed the old capsule. Isla prayed that the ten year old ball would turn out to be too old to work anymore, and the worst thing to happen would be the Wingull hacking it back up again. But the Pokeball made a shrill shiiing noise as it made contact with Wingull’s beak, and the Pokemon disappeared in a flash of blue light.

The Pokeball shook. Once. Twice. Three times. Then it was still.

And Isla had caught a Kildonian Wingull.

Isla told the story of her accidental Wingull capture to an appreciative audience when she got back from the docks. And then again over sandwiches at lunchtime. While Soba curled up in the corner next to the radiator, oblivious to this new teammate, Isla released Wingull for the nerve-wracking job of introductions and feeding time. Rhona’s eyebrows rose so high that they practically disappeared into her hairline, but she didn’t protest.

“I can’t believe it’s the same one,” Rhona said, eyeing her half-eaten sandwich she was planning on saving for later. “Most try their luck once and then move on.”

“I think it’s young,” Blair said, lifting its wing to get a better look. “Perhaps separated from its mum too early. Maybe it doesn’t know any better.”

“I didn’t mean to catch it,” Isla sighed. “I’d forgotten all about that old Pokeball. We were always told to carry an extra one or two, even if we never intended to catch Pokemon, like for emergencies and that.”

“It must have been starving if it thought a Pokeball was food. Or maybe just exceptionally stupid.”

“Jury’s out on that one,” Isla said, as the Wingull pecked at a Tauros shaped pepper shaker.

“Kildonian Wingull are incredibly food oriented,” Blair lifted his plate to avoid the Pokemon’s frantically flapping wings. “Most of the bird Pokemon around here are.”

“Why is that?”

“Competition. Because there’s so many, they all compete for the same natural resources. That’s part of why people think Wingull adapted for Kildo the way they did. They couldn’t compete for most of the natural food, so they evolved to take food from humans instead. Problem is, they end up thinking all food is fair game. Hey, watch it! No! That’s mine!”

Isla suppressed a chuckle as Wingull lunged for the crusts on Blair’s sandwiches. In the kerfuffle of squawking and feathers, Isla looked over at Skye, who hadn’t said a word through the entire of lunch. Her face was screwed up.

“Skye? Are you alright?” Isla asked.

Skye made an odd strangling noise, pushed herself back from the chair, and ran for the stairs, each one thudding under her feet. A moment later, a door slammed.

“Did I say something wrong?” Isla said, horrified.

“No, not at all,” Rhona said, rescuing a glass of juice that had been upended when Skye left the table. “She’s just a bit upset. We were supposed to be going up to meet Professor Spruce tomorrow to get her trainer’s license and first Pokemon. But because Nana Morag is in hospital, I have to be here in case something comes up on short notice, and I just can’t spare the time to take Skye up to Aberdrip City. She’ll only be delayed for a few days, but the poor lass was so looking forward to it. Especially when she’s had to wait so much longer than everyone else.”

“Why’s that?”

It was only after she asked the question that she considered it might have been rude. Or none of her business. Too late to save herself now, though. Rhona’s face tightened, her mouth puckering like she was sucking on a sour lemon.

“Sorry,” Isla looked down at the table. “I shouldn’t be nosy.”

The kitchen fell quiet. Rhona let out a deep, juddering exhale and sat back down, folding her hands into her lap, the kitchen suddenly feeling about ten degrees colder. Isla took a sip of water, her mouth and throat turning to chalk.

“Skye had childhood cancer.” The words didn’t even get a chance to settle before they were tumbling out again, like Rhona was trying to get them all out at once. Like they couldn’t hurt her as much that way. “She spent most of her childhood in hospital with leukaemia.”

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.” Once again Isla found herself cursing both her mother and herself for not bothering to find any of this information out beforehand.

Rhona shook her head. “It’s alright, chick. We don’t talk about it much. Besides, she’s been in remission for a year now. But she’s missed out on so much school and she gets tired so easily.”

There was nothing Isla could say that would be enough. She had to settle for, “I’m sorry to hear that…” and hope Rhona could somehow understand just how much she meant it.

“There was a time when she was being treated that she became very low and very depressed. It was frightening. I’ve never been so worried in all my life. We were scared she was just… giving up. Then, one day, they had some Pokemon trainers visit the hospital. A lot of children there would never be able to go out training. Some wouldn’t even… you know, live to see their next birthday.”

Rhona’s voice wavered. Blair put his hand over hers and squeezed. “Easy, Mum. Don’t go upsetting yourself now.”

“One of the trainers was assigned to Skye,” Rhona continued. “But she was so quiet and so withdrawn that we didn’t think the trainer could get through to her. The trainer had this Pokemon with her – Ampster, I think it was – and it was like a light turned on behind Skye’s eyes when she saw it. I saw glimpses of my daughter again. This trainer stayed with her for hours. Just talking. She’s wanted to be a Pokemon trainer ever since. And I hate that so many things keep getting in her way.”

Rhona sunk her head into her hands. Her shoulders quivered.

Isla felt terrible. No wonder Skye had been quiet during the whole of lunch. How stupid had she been? Skye was being kept from her dream of being a Pokemon trainer and she’d waltzed into their kitchen showing off a Pokemon she hadn’t even meant to catch? It made Isla’s toes curl just thinking about it.

“Could Skye not make the journey on her own?” she asked.

“No,” Rhona lifted her head again, looking pale even at the thought. “She’s not fit enough. We were going to rent a car and drive her, but…”

“Could I take her?”

The offer slipped past Isla’s lips before she knew what she was doing. Rhona looked at her in mild shock, her mouth slowly gaping open.

“I mean, I’ll be passing through Aberdrip anyway!” Isla continued. “One of the sailors said I could get the ferry from Dewbrae Town which is just past Aberdrip, right?. I could take her along with me.”

“Gosh, that’s very kind of you, chick. And I’m sure Skye would love it,” Rhona said, nervously glancing at the stairs. “But I’m not comfortable with her making the trip back on her own. Or even just the amount of walking she’d have to do.”

“I could go with them,” Blair said.

Rhona looked at her son like she’d only just remembered he existed. “What’s that, honey?”

“I could go with them,” he repeated. “We could put Skye on Coastrot. That’s my partner Pokemon,” he added for Isla’s benefit. “He’s strong enough to carry her and we can keep her nicely bundled up. Then once Isla heads off to Dewbrae, I can take Skye back.”

“I don’t know,” Rhona said. “We need you here too.”

“Mum, it’s a day. Maybe two, tops, if we let Skye rest overnight. You and Dad can manage that long, right? You could ask a couple of the lads from the market to pitch in if you really need to. I’m sure they’d work for a hot pie and some cash in hand. And you don’t need to worry about us. We won’t do anything silly. We’ll just get Skye her Pokemon, check in for the night, see Isla off to Dewbrae the next morning and head back ourselves. Easy-peasy!”

Rhona still didn’t look convinced. “It’s such a long way, though. She’s not been away overnight in such a long time.”

“It’s a few hours of travelling, Mum. You said it yourself, Skye’s already missed out on so much. It might not feel like much for us, but for Skye, it’s her whole life. One delay after the other. And with everything the way it is right now, what if there’s just more delays? More reasons not to take her? You have to let her.”

Rhona went very quiet, her face pale.

“I’ll look after her, Mum,” Blair said. “She needs this.”

“I know you will. And I know she does,” Rhona heaved a sigh. “She’s not my little baby anymore. She’s growing up.”

“I’d like to go.”

Everyone jumped at the voice that came in from the doorway. Rhona wiped her eyes. “Oh, Skye, honey, sorry. I didn’t hear you come down. Are you okay?”

“I think I can do it,” Skye ignored her mother’s question. Her voice was louder this time, but still hesitant, like she was testing out its limits. “I want to go get my Pokemon and I’d like Blair and Coastrot to take me. And Isla,” she added, and Isla felt a smile curve onto her face. “If that’s okay with you?”

Silence widened like a chasm between mother and daughter and for one horrible moment, Isla half-expected Rhona to turn away, to start shouting, to deny her flat out. But then tears spilled out of Rhona’s eyes and her whole face softened.

“Yes, honey,” Rhona said, her voice little more than a whisper. “Yes, that’ll be okay with me.”

As they hugged, Isla felt a stray tear prick at the corner of her eye. The emotion surprised her. Yes, it was touching to see a mother and daughter hug and reconcile, but something told her it went deeper. As she looked out at the dying sky, strewn with deepening orange and slicks of black, something unsettled itself in her heart.

Tomorrow she would be leaving Port Glen. Tomorrow she would leave behind a family unit where she felt accepted. Tomorrow she would start her journey to Inverbrook.

She didn’t know which one felt scarier.

#checkmate #pokemon oc fiction #pokemon fanfiction #fakemon #fakemon fanfiction #long post #fanfiction

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sayu-is-a-sass-queen · 4 years

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Redemption and Identity - Death Note: New Generation

One thing I really appreciated from the third and final episode of “Death Note: New Generation” was Taichi Amazawa’s arc and his main conflict with Yuki Shien. Those themes of redemption and identity really stuck with me!

I’m gonna be sharing some thoughts and personal opinions under the cut below! Spoilers for “Chapter 3: Fanaticism” (Shien’s chapter) of “Death Note: New Generation”! You can find a brief summary of the episode here (I will be diving into a summary myself, though).

My personal arguement: Taichi’s surname (formerly Kunugida, now Amazawa) represents his identity - how he sees himself and how he is seen by others. Consequently, the act of changing one’s name represents the decision of moving on from his [criminal] past and yearning for at least partial redemption. The episode thus expores the question whether one’s identity should be defined by their past actions (Taichi Kunugida) or by who they are working towards becoming in the future (Taichi Amazawa).

Let’s start with a brief elaboration on the two opposing viewpoints presented in this episode!

On one hand, we have Taichi’s girlfriend Hayaka, who sees him as Taichi Amazawa - she judges him based on his current actions and not based on the act of killing a young girl as Taichi Kunugida. According to her, he is “no longer Kunugida”.

On the other hand, all other major characters in this episode judge him based on the killing that took place. This includes Taichi himself, who does not feel like he deserves to live a happy life as a possible husband and future father. Of course, this is certainly a valid viewpoint, especially in the case of the older woman related to Taichi’s victim, who simply cannot forgive Taichi for what he has done.

Yet, Shien takes this a step further by planning to write down the names of Taichi and Namaki, his former partner in crime, in his Death Note. As the victim of a similar crime and as a Kira supporter, Shien judges both Taichi and Namaki based on their past actions and does not believe that they should get the chance to redeem themselves.

Now, how does this conflict further explore themes of regret and (partial) redemption?

This is when the episode presents us with a comparison between Taichi and Namaki. Clearly, Namaki is very much the foil to Taichi’s character - they share the same past but, in the present, choose to define themselves differently. While Taichi is living a quiet life and performing hard but honest work, Namaki is planing to commit further crimes and does not regret his past at all. Thus, he threatens Taichi in order to make him join his criminal ways once more.

However, when Namaki dies because of the effects of Death Note, Taichi finally feels like there might be a chance to partly move on from his past. After all, the person mainly tying him to those events is now gone. Additionally, that meeting with Namaki has reminded Taichi of how he is aiming to improve himself and choosing live with the consequences of his actions, instead of taking the “easy” route.

This results in Taichi not having nightmares about his past for once (something he shares with Shien btw - both have frequent nightmares about family killings but from constrasting perspectives). In my interpretation, he realizes that he has the chance to improve himself and thus accepts Hayaka’s wedding proposal.

Now, whether that would redeem his character or not is up to personal debate. I personally think redemption is a matter based on personal relationships and values - you can be redeemed in the eyes some but not be forgiven by others. It would be unrealistic for somebody to be “completely” redeemed, as there will always be someone who won’t be able to forgive you (often for justified reasons). In a way, I do believe that Taichi has become aware of this notion as well. He might never be able to completely move on from his past but, to some people, he can bring positive change. I’d like to think that this is what lead to his change of mind.

Now, how exactly does that moral conflict conclude with Shien writing down Taichi’s name in the Death Note?

Ironically, this one night without any nightmares (and thus to Shien’s eyes, without regrets) is the reason why Shien chooses to write down Taichi’s name after all (although I do personally think that Shien might have written down Taichi’s name anyway and was merely looking for ways to justify his decision).

Interestingly, Shien confronts Taichi upfront about his actions - which is something he did not do before killing Namaki! Shien once more makes his moral standpoint clear by referring to Taichi as “Taichi Kunugida” and states the following: “Even if you change your name, your sin will not go away.”

And Shien is right about that. Taichi will never be able to completely erase his past. However, Shien refuses to even acknowledge Taichi’s new identity, his regret, and how he is aiming to become a better person.

In the end, Shien does write down Taichi’s name at home, observing Taichi through live security footage. (Of course he cannot be seen at the crime scene during the crime itself, but I do find that sudden distance after such a direct confrontation interesting as well.)

Shien writes down Tiachi’s name: Taichi Kunugida - his old surname. It’s the identity that represents his crimes and that Shien sees him through.

And so he waits for Taichi to die - but nothing happens.

Shien stops....and he is forced to acknowledge that Taichi’s birthname is not the name that can be used to kill him. Thus, when Shien now writes down the name “Taichi Amazawa”, he is forced to admit to himself that he was wrong about what Taichi’s real identity truly was.

In the end, the name used to kill Taichi represents the identity that he chose himself - the identity that he is striving towards in the present, not the identity defined by his past.

Once again, whether this prooves that Taichi is a redeemed character is not entirely possible to answer. It goes without saying that this is a tricky subject to discuss. Yet, what this episode does state (in my personal opinion!!) is the following:

While our past actions can not be entirely ignored, they are not the sole thing defining our identity. Rather, our identity also depends on how we react to our past actions and how we are willing to improve ourselves towards a future goal.

Of course this statement is a fairly popular one that’s explored in all sorts of different media - but I simply liked the execution in this particular episode and how (given the nature of the Death Note universe), names were used to drive this point further.

Moreover, I am aware that the universe that this miniseries takes place in is not the canon manga universe. From what I’m aware (pls correct me if I’m wrong!), we don’t know how name changes affect the Death Note in the manga. It was really just fun to explore this idea further (bc I feel like this moral conflict is something the manga did not elaborate on to the same degree) and to give these lesser-known Death Note characters some more attention. New content! We love to see it!

To conclude this spiral of Death Note thoughts, I thought it would be fun to end this with some translations of Taichi’s name(s)! Thank you so much for the translations and your general help regarding this post, @misora-massacre!

To directly quote Blue’s messages:

[02:19, 1.6.2020] Blue: Amazawa is written 雨澤, those are the kanji for "rain" and "swamp" [02:23, 1.6.2020] Blue: Kunugida is 椚田, those are "oak" and "rice field" [02:24, 1.6.2020] Blue: Taichi is written with the kanji for "thick"/"fat" and "one" [02:24, 1.6.2020] Blue: ....... He shares two kanji with [Touta] Matsuda's [02:25, 1.6.2020] Blue: The da at the end of Kunigida "rice field" is also the da at the end of Matsuda [02:25, 1.6.2020] Blue: And the Ta at the beginning of Taichi "fat" is also the Ta at the end of Touta

Some things that stand out in my opinion (but that could very much be coincidental): The common kanji with Matsuda’s name, as well the possible translation of “one” for Taichi’s first name in contrast his two surnames/identities.

Anyways, thank you very much for reading this! If you have anything to add or if you disagree with one of or several of the points that I have made, feel free to reblog this post with your reply or make your own post and (if you want to) tag me in it. Always looking forward to different opinions or corrections in case I accidentally got something wrong!

#taichi amazawa #taichi kunugida #yuki shien #death note new generation #death note: new generation #death note*#dn #dn ng #dn lutnw #death note light up the new world #dnlutnw #my meta #my writing #mine #deathnote #death note #dn thoughts

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sammy8d257 · 4 years

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Masterlist For Object Head Media

LAST UPDATED: April 1st, 2020

Google Doc: HERE

Welcome! Ever wanted to find out if there’s any types of media that feature Object Head characters that aren’t just one-off or background characters?

Well you’ve come to the right place!

Here I hope to create a comprehensible list of all types of media that contain Object Headed characters!

But I’m only one person who doesn’t know every piece of Object Head media out there

SO IF YOU have a suggestion for a piece of media that would fit on this list

Send me a message through my Tumblr @sammy8d257

or on Twitter under the same name

With your help, I hope this list becomes very long with all sorts of amazing Object Head media!

Other than that, have fun exploring to your heart's content!

- Sammy

(List under “Keep Reading”)

Comics/Webcomics:

Saga - written by Brian Vaughan, illustrated by Fiona Staples

Gene: Space/fantasy

Rating: M+

Language: English

Status: 54 issues, On Hiatus (as of 4/1/2020)

Read On: Physical Comic

Description: Saga is an epic science-fiction/fantasy drama about two lovers from long-warring extraterrestrial races, Alana and Marko, fleeing from authorities from both sides of a galactic war as they struggle to care for their daughter, Hazel.

Object Heads: TV Heads, in Saga there is a whole race known as Robots Kingdom that are made entirely TV Headed characters.

Character Status: The object head characters turns from side to supporting character in the main cast

Warnings: Nudity, Sex, Death, Violence, its a war setting, blood, drugs, etc.

MyStereoBot - by bioatomic

Gene: Sci-fi, Romance, Comedy

Rating: M

Language: English

Status: 537 pages + 24 page Epilogue, Completed on 6/6/2017

Read On: Smackjeeves or Tapas

Description: Infinity, a stereo head robot, finds himself conflicted with his worth as a person, as a partner, and as a friend. Having trouble with feeling at home on Planet Ribbon and finding happiness, his boyfriend, Cloudburn, and his cousin, Ohm, do the best they can to help him feel worthy. Things seem to go downhill when Quence, a new friend, worries Cloudburn about Infinity’s motives towards him. That is, until an outer-worldly encounter changes all of their lives, for better or for worse, and may just show Infinity what home really is.

Object Heads: Stereo heads, radio heads, tv heads, box heads, etc. There's a lot of different Object heads in this comic

Character Status: Main characters and other side characters are object heads

Warnings: Swearing, partial nudity, drugs

Notes: You can find more information on Tumblr - @mystereobot

Sebastian - by Amanda Heard

Gene: Slice-of-Life, Romantic, Comedy

Rating: pg-13 to M

Language: English

Status: On-going, 80+ pages (as of 4/1/2020), Updates Tuesdays and Thursdays

Read On: http://www.sebastiancomic.com/, Tumblr: https://sebastiancomic.tumblr.com/ or @sebastiancomic

Description: Sebastian is about a pessimistic thief and a happy-go-lucky dork finding each other through unexpected circumstances and learning about forgiveness, love, and loss. Also CRIME!

Object Heads: Pumpkin Heads

Character Status: Main characters are object heads

Warnings: Swearing

Notes: Created by @batberryboo on Tumblr

The Property of Hate - by Sarah Jolley

Gene: Fantasy/Adventure

Rating: Pg 13

Language: English, translations in French, Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Norwegian, Dutch, Portuguese, Breton, Brazilian, Tagalog, German, Chinese, Swedish, Spanish, Esperanto, Latin, Korean, Italian, Hebrew, Greek, Czech

Status: On-going, 400+ pages(as of 4/1/2020), Updates Sundays

Read On: http://jolleycomics.com/, Smackjeeves

Description: When offered a chance to be a hero by a strange figure with a TV for a head, a young girl is whisked away to a whimsical land in desperate need of a hero. This journey will take them across the lands where emotions manifest into physical forms and the inanimate becomes animate.

Object Heads: Tv Head, Radio Head, etc.

Character Status: One of the main characters and a few secondary characters are object heads

Warnings: None

Notes: Created by @modmad on Tumblr

The Strange Tales of Oscar Zahn - by Tri Vuong

Gene: Fantasy, slight horror

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: 100 Chapters, Completed on 5/21/2019(maybe on Hiatus?)(as of 4/1/2020)

Read On: Webtoons

Description: Follow the journey of the world's greatest paranormal investigator - Oscar Zahn. Friend to lost souls, enemy of evil, he may lack a body but that doesn't mean he's missing a heart!

Object Heads: Skull Head

Character Status: Main character is an object head

Warnings: Some disturbing imagery

Robot Dream - by Robot Dream, written down by Paulie Godbout, illustrated by Sandra Grygier

Gene: Action, Drama

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: On-Going, 70+ pages (as of 4/1/2020) No Solid Update schedule

Read On: https://www.robotdream.com/mystory (up until page 73), Tapas (up until page 70)

Description: When a lonely human-robot-hybrid refuses to live a life of seclusion, he discovers a community of outcasts in the world of electronic music. But, when he begins creating his own remixes, and discovers they somehow have the power to heal broken hearts and minds, he must learn that revealing who you truly are comes at a price before he is captured by the people who “created” him.

Object Heads: TV Head

Character Status: Main Character

Warnings: References to manipulation and abuse

Notes: You can also read it on Webtoon under the same name but it is only up to page 32

Third Shift Society - by Meredith Moriarty

Gene: Supernatural, Adventure

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: 24 Episodes, On Hiatus(as of 4/1/2020)

Read On: Webtoon

Description: Life’s funny. One minute you're jobless, deep in debt and on the verge of eviction; the next you’re in a fight with a monster and getting a job working for a Paranormal Detective with the head of a Jack-o-Lantern. It’s an age-old story. Now the financially-challenged Ellie (who’s just discovered she has strong psychic powers) and her Pumpkin-headed boss Ichabod have to team up and fight the things that go bump in the night.

Object Heads: Pumpkin Head

Character Status: Secondary Main Character

Warnings: None

Notes: Created by @meredithmoriarty on Tumblr

Rice Boy - by Evan Dahm

Gene: Surreal fantasy, Adventure

Rating: PG 13

Language: English

Status: 439 pages, Completed as of 2008,

Read On: http://www.rice-boy.com/see/, or on Soft/Hardcover Graphic Novels,

Description: Rice Boy is a simple creature torn from his mundane life by an immortal “machine man” called The One Electronic, who suspects that Rice Boy may fulfill an ancient prophecy. Now tasked with trying to fulfill a prophecy he did not choose, Rice Boy must explore the vast, fantastical, and surreal world of Overside and encounter the dangers that it hides.

Object Heads: Circular TV Head

Character Status: Secondary Main Character

Warnings: Chapter 19 contains one page of suggestive incest, Slightly disturbing imagery, violence, drug use

Notes: Dahm also runs a Rerun blog of Rice Boy where he does commentary on the pages as he posts them on Tumblr: @riceboycomic

Film/Shows/Anime:

FLCL (also known as Fooly Cooly) - written by Yōji Enokido, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki

Studio: Gainax

Gene: Comedy, drama

Style: 2D Animation

Rating: PG 13

Language: Japanese, with an English sub and Dub

Status: 1 season(6 episodes), Completed as of 2001

Description: A boy's humdrum life turns upside-down when he encounters a maniacal girl who causes strange things to grow out of his forehead and draws him into conflict with a mysterious, otherworldly organization.

Object Heads: TV Head Robot

Character Status: Side Main Character

Warnings: Sexual innuendos

Notes: There are 2 more seasons of FLCL known as FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative, I haven’t watched them but I don’t believe there are any object head robots in them

The Amazing World of Gumball - created by Ben Bocquelet

Premiered on: Cartoon Network

Gene: slice of life, comedy

Style: Mixed Media Animation

Rating: PG

Language: English,

Status: 6 seasons(240 episodes) + a 6 episode miniseries, Completed as of December 2019

Description: The series revolves around the misadventures of blue cat Gumball Watterson and his adopted goldfish brother and best friend, Darwin. Together they spread mischief across the weird and wacky city of Elmore.

Object Heads: Bomb Head, Boombox head, whatever rob was

Character Status: Secondary and background characters

Warnings: None

Notes: This one really shouldn’t be on the list but I added it because I literally could not think of another show or film that has Object Head characters

Video Games:

Cuphead by StudioMDHR

Gene: Classic Run and Gun

Style: 2D Handpainted Visuals

Rating: E

Language: English

Released: 9/29/2017, DLC (coming soon 2020)

Playable On: Steam, Xbox, Windows 10, Mac, Nintendo Switch

Price: $19.99

Description: Cuphead is a classic run and gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era, i.e. traditional hand-drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings.

Play as Cuphead or Mugman (in single player or local co-op) as you traverse strange worlds, acquire new weapons, learn powerful super moves, and discover hidden secrets while you try to pay your debt back to the devil!

Object Heads: Cup Heads, Apple Head, Dice Head, Fork Head, etc.

Character Status: Playable Main Characters, some secondary characters, and some of the Bosses

Warnings: Cartoony violence

BattleBlock Theater by The Behemoth

Gene: Platforming, comedy

Style: 2D Graphics

Rating: E

Language: English

Released: Xbox Live-4/3/2013, Steam- 5/15/2014,

Playable On: Steam, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, Macintosh operating system

Price: $14.99

Description: Shipwrecked. Captured. Betrayed. Forced to perform for an audience of cats? Yes, all that and more when you unlock BattleBlock Theater! There’s no turning back once you've started on your quest to free over 300 of your imprisoned friends from evil technological cats. Immerse yourself in this mind bending tale of treachery as you use your arsenal of weapon-tools to battle your way through hundreds of levels in order to discover the puzzling truth behind BattleBlock Theater.

If solo acts aren't your style, go online or bring a buddy couch-side to play a thoroughly co-optimized quest or enter the arenas. The game also includes a level editor so you can craft your own mind bending trials!

Object Heads: Heads are customizable but the main game gives you many heads to choose from. Block heads, Shape Heads

Character Status: Playable Characters

Warnings: Cartoony violence, crude humor

Pumpkin Noir by PumpkinNoirDev

Gene: RPG Adventure

Style: Pixel Graphics, RPGMaker

Rating: E

Language: English

Status: Demo as of 6/19/2017

Play On: PC, demo link - https://rpgmaker.net/games/9817/

Price: Not available

Description: Stop, Drop, Noir!

Perched on the precipice of endless void-- a single seedy city. Detectives “Smoke & Fire” Rem and Wednesday face a puzzling situation as the curtain lifts on Halloween night. Go broke, or investigate a rollickingly risky mafia mystery? The answer is clear.

Search for the void’s greatest criminal minds, uncover the shocking secrets of the underworld!

Object Heads: Pumpkin Head

Character Status: Main Character

Warnings: None

Notes: This game is still under development, for more information visit the dev’s blog- https://pumpkin-noir.tumblr.com/ or @pumpkin-noir

Other:

Object Head Zine - hosted by @potentialforart on Tumblr

Style: Mostly 2D Illustrations and short comics

Gene: Genes differ per year

Rating: PG-PG 13

Language: English

Status: On-Going Project, This zine is a yearly thing

Read On: Tumblr- https://objectheadzine.tumblr.com/ or @objectheadzine, Buy Physical/Digital Copies here - https://gumroad.com/objectheadzine

Price: Prices Vary

Description: The Object Head Zine is a collection of artwork from different artists coming together for a common love of object heads. The Object Head Zine is a yearly project with a new theme chosen for each year. Such themes include Forks and Utensils, Spooky, Flora and Fungi, Superstitions, and Science and Technology.

Object Heads: Yes

Character Status: Main Focus

Warnings: None

And if you have any more suggestions for this list, please let me know!!

#object head #object head media masterlist #object heads #object head character #objecthead #Sammy8D says #Sammy8D257

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miran-native · 5 years

Text

About Mimeosomes

Everyone who’s played through the main story knows the basics: Mimeosomes were designed to bridge the unknown amount of time it would take humanity to find a new habitable planet. This way, people wouldn’t grow old and be able to maintain the White Whale and protect the Lifehold. We know that they are artificial in nature and that they are controlled from the consciousness stored within the Lifehold.

Elma mentions in one of the chapters (l can’t remember which one rn, but if someone requests it I will look it up) that the Lifehold cannot be too far, since they would otherwise feel the lag. Considering how the player can move freely all around Mira it is suffice to say that while the Lifeholds transmission range is limited, it is nonetheless still huge. Like, encompassing a whole planet huge.

(Though, this observation might be futile since the endgame reveals that humanity would have been dead all along, so Mira Magic prevents us from making a sensible estimate as to how far this range could have been.)

What the main story chapters don’t tell us are the little details: can mimeosomes get sick, do they need food, etc.

So here is what I found:

Right off the bat: Mimeosomes have organic components. It is why in the sidequest “Lakeside Getaway” the cantors are able to exterminate the workers there, as they had laid eggs inside their bodies. We also see symptoms of sickness in Ajoa (the NPC who either dies or survives depending on your choices) because of that.

Despite that, other NPCs tell us that a mimesome doesn’t experience allergies and that they keep the humans safe from germs and contaminations which means they can’t get sick.

I’ve seen other speech bubble dialogue pop up when you walk past NPCs, talking about the ration bars BLADE use when they are out in the field (unfortunately I didn’t take screenshots at the time because I didn’t think I’d make a blog with all that neat trivia. They didn’t say anything important, just talked about the taste of these things).

If they didn’t need to eat at all, I figure they’d just pass on eating while they are on a mission since it’s just additional hassle – which is why I believe that (part, if not all) those organic components make up the digestive system. A lot of parasites do settle in the intestines, so I feel this is most likely the case.

Other neat things I found:

We know that mimeosomes are supposed to mimic the actual human as close as possible when it comes to looks, but there are a few NPCs that tell us that there is a bit of leeway included when it comes to outer appearance.

Hair, for example, can be easily swapped out (or in Felice’s case replaced), so there don’t seem to be any restrictions on hairstyle and color. Used to have straight hair and want curls now? Apparently no problem.

In the same dialogue Dorothy tells us that ‘bells and whistles’ is stuff like less weight, get rid of scars, beer bellies, etc. (I really wish I had screenshotted that latter part too, but again, I didn’t think I’d make a blog with this. I tried talking to her again, but I had cleared a chapter or the main story even and the dialogue didn’t pop up again.)

So from how I understand it: As long as it doesn’t concern one’s facial features (you know, that thing that makes a person actually recognizable, like eyes, nose, mouth, jawline, etc. you are good to go. Height, I assume, is one of them. Not sure on eye color, since technically there do exist contact lenses that change eye color) one is free to do whatever they want. Make oneself skinnier, get rid of wrinkles, whatever comes to mind.

And it kinda makes sense, really. The higher-ups would know that people would never get their old bodies back and start over with newly created ones, so things like scars or overweight and other stuff one did to their body (surgeries and tattoos included) wouldn’t carry over anyway. The new body would be a blank slate in regards to that.

Other bits of trivia:

Another NPC says that one can regulate the growth of their hair and nails, even shut it off completely if they so wish.

(Unfortunately I do not have a screenshot and I don’t remember which NPC that was, so until I go through the game again and actually find it, take this one with a grain of salt.)

One of the NPCs in front of the mimeosome maintenance center (Kent D. Carr) says that sensory impressions like taste are just data that one could easily recreate by uploading them in the mimeosome maintenance center. Which means that any kind of sensation can be recreated as long as it is in the database. (I assume this doesn’t only apply to the taste of say, chocolate cake, but also touch or maybe even visual recreation of something.)

I find it very interesting that this is even possible to do, since mimeosomes can eat and taste well enough to differentiate tastes (if they didn’t why would fellow BLADEs gush about Lin’s food or complain about the taste of the ration bars. And Lin has this whole thing in one of the official short stories where she complains about the canteen food on the White Whale). I guess it is still different from the real thing. Or maybe this is to preserve the taste of food one can’t get on Mira anymore. All human food is synthesized after all and in no way ‘natural’, so it wouldn’t possibly taste the same.

(I actually do have a screenshot of this buuuuuut it’s in German and I took it with my phone because I couldn’t connect the Wii U with the internet at the time. If anyone wishes to see it, I will gladly upload it though.)

The blood substitute is called “biocirculatory plasma”

This is said by Lin in Ch. 5 after Cross gets their arm blown off (screenshot available, but I didn’t deem it necessary to add as it’s a mainstory cutscene). Not exactly missable, but thought I’d throw it in here in case someone needs it for fanfiction or anything. The plasma is also blue, not red, as implicated by the following things:

a.) Mimeosomes are called Blue Bloods in Japanese

b.) After the attack on NLA (Ch. 8) there are NPC who do express their surprise at the humans being blue blooded/mimeosomes.

c.) This picture:

The plasma also has to circulate somehow inside the body so it’s not a stretch to assume that mimeosomes have an artificial heart that acts as pump.

Ch. 5 also shows that mimeosomes can be shut down to prevent pain or further plasma loss. It is also possible to just turn off the pain response and stay conscious (I think this was said in the Sylvalum mission “Predator and Prey”).

Mimeosomes are able to feel some sort of “reverse phantom pain”, i.e. feeling the (partial) lack of a body part even though it’s connected and up and running. This is also part of Ch. 5 after the player awakens in the maintenance center and is asked if they feel okay. One of the options leads to this bit of trivia.

Okay, I think that was all I had for now. Thanks for reading :D

If anyone can provide missing screenshots or has found other bits of trivia regarding mimesomes do tell – or even better, submit!

An extra bonus:

The name mimeosome may come from the Greek μνήμη (mnimi, pronounced as mnee-mee)) and σώμα (soma). Minimi means memory and soma body so the word would basically translate to memory body. And that’s kina dope.

Not sure if this is right, obviously, the “mimeo” might be latin or some shit (or ancient Greek which is NOT the same, lemme tell you, as a native Greek speaker) and just mean mimic (as in mimic the human body), but, oh well.

Edit:

So, someone in the tags said that “Blue Bloods” is a term used in Japan to describe the rich and exempt (makes sense, here in Germany the nobility used to be referred to as such as well because the veins look blueish against pale skin. And back then pale skin meant you didn’t bust your ass open working in the fields), so basically sth among the lines of “rich and lucky ones” which is a neat bit of foreshadowing that got lost in translation. (I know who you are but since this was just tag-rambling I figured you might wanna keep your name outta this - if not, I can edit your name into the post.)

They also wondered how tf this mix of organic and mechanic components would even work; now, I don’t think the game is ever going to give us an actually coherent and scientifically sound explanation for that - I think they most likely settled on bullet points of what mims can/can’t do to keep things consistent (bc one would need not only a medical, but also a scientific and engineering degree to have a good grasp of everything and I’m sure af the developers didn’t study up THAT meticulously on this), but I was thinking about it, bc ya know, I studied biophysics and find this kinda stuff interesting af.

And then I remembered that one of the research groups at my university studies the interaction between organic molecules and solid surfaces.

This kind of research can be used to get new insights on how those molecules function, and also helps developing better prostheses (in regards to biocompatibility) - obviously they aren’t trying to make artificial organs or anything related to mimeosomes, but it IS a pretty big field afaik.

Organic molecules can be viruses or bacteria for examples - and bacteria are a very important part of our intestinal flora.

So, what if a mimeosome’s intestinal tract is made out of a material that those kinda bacteria can thrive on? (It can’t be cells imo, bc human cells have to replace themselves very regulary. Intestinal cells get replaced every 2 - 4 days for example - and making use of life cells that need renewal seems to defeat the purpose of almost-immortal machines since the point was to live in and with them as long as possible as it was unclear when they’d find a new planet to settle on.) Gut flora can digest carbohydrates and certain sugars, so there is a starting point as to how mims could digest food. These bacteria can’t break down everything, but it is common practice in life sciences to use bacteria as hosts to express certain enzymes (even though they weren’t native in that bacterium before), so engineering bacteria that could digest all kinds of food doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to me.

#Xenoblade chronicles X #mimeosome #XBCX #Xenoblade X #mimeosomes

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