#LMB is cursed

[zahri-melitor]

Looking at the current covers on iBooks for the Vorkosigan Saga and I’m howling, because while YES these are probably some of the best covers I’ve seen for the series (and actually reflect the book contents) they suffer from the classic LMB issue that the covers are still TERRIBLE.

Like seriously. A Civil Campaign is never, ever, EVER going to get a good cover, ever, is it?

It’s not only a Butterbug it’s THE SPECIAL VORKOSIGAN BUTTERBUG. Look at the maple leaf.

(It’s hilarious, I adore that it’s ROSES with THAT BUG but also I could never ever hand this to anyone while saying ‘actually this is the best book in the series and the cover contains at least 3 solid injokes in tribute to the fact the book is also just concerted references and payoffs to the past 33 years of events in the series’ with a straight face)

[vertical-tacos]

HEY GUYS BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH ANOTHER "FUCKED-UP-IN-THE-HEAD" BLORBO!!!

I know I'm really behind on digital designs but idk what to say man adobe happened

also, this week will be just as if not less productive because of finals

I promise to post at least 2 teasers of survivor pages + Noob's killer page (I didn't forget about him I swear)

as per usual, info below cut

TWO_TIME - KILLER CONCEPT

INFO

BACKSTORY: After being killed by Azure, his second life kicked in, allowing for him to hunt down Azure- and anybody who stands in his way- as his own way of revenge.

ABILITIES

PASSIVE: "HOLY RETRIBUTION". If Azure is in the round, Two-Time gains the ability to see a trail of their footsteps if they are within 25 studs of them. Azure will gain the "Guilty Conscience*" Debuff whenever Two-Time gets within 15 studs of them (Debuff disappears whenever Two-Time leaves the 15-stud radius)

LMB: Two-Time pulls the dagger used to kill him out of his chest and takes a swing. Arc hitbox, 15 damage. 2.5s cooldown.

ABILITY ONE: “CURSE”. Two-Time fires a projectile that travels in an arc like a boomerang. If it hits a survivor, the projectile disappears and the survivor is thrown into a “spectral” state, gaining Weakness VI and Undetectable I for 10s. No matter their health, they will instantly die if they receive any damage within the first 5s of this state. This ability can only “ghost-ify” one survivor at a time.

ABILITY TWO: “SPAWN-POINT”. Two-Time will set down a platform with the classic respawn logo on it (logo glows faintly, as to not be totally invisible in the dark). After that, whenever Two-Time activates the ability again, they are instantly teleported to the “spawn point”, gaining Undetectable I for 5s, or until they hit someone. If they hit someone while Undetectable, the survivor takes twice the damage and receives the Afraid* I debuff.

STATS

DIFFICULTY:★★★★☆

DAMAGE: 15

HEALTH: 800

REGULAR SPEED: 16

SPRINT SPEED: 28

STAMINA: 100

STAMINA-LOSS: 20

STAMINA-GAIN: 24

VOICE LINES

Idle

humming

When Holy Retribution is in effect

"Look what the cat dragged out!"

"Fate drew them together, just as intended..."

When using "CURSE"

"FALL AS I HAVE!"

"A FRACTION OF WHAT I'VE FELT!"

When using "SPAWN-POINT"

"I'll be back.."

"Keep this in mind..."

KILL LINES

When killing Jason

"Keep your head high!"

"Hope you don't sink!"

When killing John Doe

"I can't wait to hold this over HIS head!"

"Call this your resignation!"

When killing 1x1x1x1

"Consider the heretic CONDEMNED!"

When killing C00LKIDD

"Awh, are you scared?"

"Don't you worry! This is just a bad dream."

When killing Guest 666

"You have no place here, beast."

"Should've stayed a myth!"

When killing Azure

"And so comes the conclusion of your story."

"The thread has been cut!"

*Guilty Conscience- Slows movement by 12% and increases ability cooldown by 12%. Increases defense by 22%.

*Afraid- Increases Speed and stamina regen by 5% per stack and decreases defense by 10% , up to a maximum of five (25% speed and stamina regen boost, -50% defense).

[call-me-rucy]

She wore space armor though for the moment she carried her helmet tucked under her arm like a decapitated head.

Do you think LMB looked at this sentence and said, you know what, a decapitated head sounds fun, let's do that in Barrayar?

"God help us now" is a fun expression for Miles taking into account that in TWA he instructed Elena to use it as expression of ultimate despair/disappointment.

GREGOR I LOVE YOU

ALSO GREGOR, PLEASE GET SOME SELF-PRESERVATION

Now that I think of it, I think I've seen this scene drawn. Here: https://www.tumblr.com/artfrostedleaf/642488576204013568/a-wonderful-scene-from-the-vor-game-by-lois?source=share Lovely art!

Poor Gregor...

"I can only bluff. Your breath is law." is such a good summary of these characters.

"You realize, Gregor, you did this? Sabotaged the Cetagandan invasion single-handedly?" "Oh," breathed Gregor, "it took both hands."

My boy :")

I fear that this post is going to be just Gregor quotes. I just love him so much.

He raised his head to say tiredly, "Commander Cavilo, both my parents died violently in political intrigue before I was six years old. A fact you might have researched. Did you think you were dealing with an amateur?"

Cavilo's threat for the future sounds like... some kind of curse. I too wonder what Miles would be like in 20 years.

Gregor being emperor! Always nice to see. Use your power, my boy!

It's a pity these were written so long ago because the sentence "Two ships trying to rematerialize in the same place at the same time would result in no ships and a very large explosion" has the precise structure needed for a "none pizza with left beef" joke. Sometimes I think Tamsyn Muir has spoiled me with Tumblr jokes in scifi books.

There's a chinese quote about this scene. From The Three Kingdoms Romance. I had to so search it in Detecteive Conan of all places but here it is:

Liu Bei said, Do you not understand that the plans elaborated in a little chamber will determine victories thousands of miles away?

Goodbye Oser, you won't be missed! Wonder if Cavilo and Metzov died there too...

HELP COMING!

THE PRINCE SERG!! Gregor, is that you??? :D

(Why is "Prince Serge" not translated to "Príncipe Serg"? I guess because "Triumph" and "Peregrine" are not translated either. But this is a title not a name. And you did adapt "Kurin's Hand".)

EMPEROR GREGOR VORBARRA AND ADMIRAL COUNT ARAL VORKOSIGAN, JOINT COMMANDERS!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSS!!!!

Ah, right, Tung was Aral's fan. I hope they meet, that would be so much fun.

[joannalannister]

What would a not knight lords son that isn't a lord yet be called in not asoiaf? Duke? Earl? Baron? What about knight wives? How could grrm have made it easier?

In not ASOIAF? Well, Lois McMaster Bujold has a cool noble hierarchy for her Curse of Chalion series (which I have not yet read):

ser - Lowest title of nobility, below a castillar in rank, roughly equivalent to a knight or baronet

sera - Wife of a ser, or a female ser

castillar - Title of nobility below march and above ser, roughly equivalent to an earl or baron

castillara - Wife of a castillar, or a female castillar

march - Title of nobility, below provincar and above castillar, roughly equivalent to a marquess

marchess - The wife of a march, or a female march

provincar - Title of nobility, below a roya and above a march, roughly equivalent to a duke. Addressed as “Your Grace”.

provincara - Wife of a provincar, or a female provincar. Addressed as “Your Grace”. The Provincara (capitalized) is the dowager Provincara of Baocia in CoC.

royse - Son of a roya, a prince.royesse - Daughter of a roya, a princess.

roya - Ruler of a country, equivalent to a king.

royina - The wife of a roya, or (possibly) a female ruler of a country: a queen.

Titles and definitions taken from The Bujold Nexus Dictionary

Some might say that this is more complicated, but I can recite the Lannister family tree going back six generations, and I can recite the positions of the Small Council, so I think I could get this down easily. 

For ASOIAF, GRRM might have made Aegon I into an Emperor, with his wives as Empresses, and Targ children as, idk make something up, like Empir Maegor and Empira Rhaena. And then you would have King Loren and King Torrhen Who Knelt and then princes, dukes, etc

But GRRM wanted to emphasize the social cohesion of Westeros, he wanted to emphasize how Aegon’s Conquest radically changed Westeros and made it all one Realm, he wanted a place with the same laws and same language etc, and he wanted it to be more meaningful when it all breaks up at the end into separate kingdoms again, so GRRM didn’t go the Emperor route. 

Basically anything where GRRM had a more complicated system of rankings for the nobility would have been better, even if he just borrowed real-world titles. I know GRRM has explained why he didn’t do this to make it simpler, but I think it would have been better this way. 

[astralnexus]

Mark: Partner, pardner, pordner, pardino, pimento, puunter

me: superb you funky little cursed rabies-infested cowboy

it’s almost 2am lmb but also send help

[artemisegeria]

I was tagged by @bartagnanz to list top 10 things. Thanks! Some of these are my favorites of all time, but some are as of this moment. Not necessarily in order.

MOVIES 

1. Ever After: A Cinderella Story

2. Beauty and the Beast (animated)

3. Avengers: Infinity War 

4. Mulan

5. Wimbledon 

6. Hitch

7. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

8.  Captain America: Civil War

9.  Atlantis: The Lost Empire

10. The Road to El Dorado

TV SHOWS 

1. Doctor Who 

2. The Good Place

3. The West Wing 

4. Gilmore Girls

5. Castle

6. Avengers: United They Stand (animated) 

7. Parks and Recreation

8. Marvel’s Runaways

9. Once Upon a Time

10. Agent Carter

BOOKS 

1. The Curse of Chalion - Lois McMaster Bujold (LMB)

2. Paladin of Souls - LMB

3. Shards of Honor - LMB 

4. Ethan of Athos - LMB 

5. Deerskin - Robin McKinley

6. Shiva’s Fire - Suzanne Fisher Staples

7. The Raging Quiet - Sherryl Jordan 

8. Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling

9. Finishing Becca - Ann Rinaldi

10. A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeleine L’Engle

 MUSIC ARTISTS 

1. Howard Shore 

2. Michael Giacchino

3. Alan Silvestri

4. Michelle Branch 

5. Ingrid Michaelson

6. Sara Bareilles

7. Imagine Dragons 

8. One Republic 

9.  Enya

10. Florence + The Machine

[sillyfudgemonkeys]

Persona Problems: Apathy Syndrome, Mental Shutdowns, and Reverse Cases

Sooooo uhhh I can’t sleep so might as well ramble about this.

Comparing and contrasting the 3, ranting on why Mental Shutdowns are called Mental Shutdowns and why it’s stupid, and trying to fix PTS’ Reverse Cases.

An issue I’ve had with P5 tbh (I think I’ve talked about this before), but while thinking about it I realized that......my own idea of fixing P:TS’ Reverse Cases instead....made me realized some complications (I mean the complication was there to begin with but I’ll get to that). 

Anyway I’ll save Reverse Cases for last since I’m sure most of you are only here for P3/5. 8U

So one thing that bothered me in P5 is.....the fact they call Mental Shutdowns well...Mental Shutdowns. I mean because....it’s just Apathy Syndrome (or at least, how it’s called by the public, “Mass Lethargy Syndrome, which we find out in P4D, as a similar case is happening there).

Well let me explain what each one basically is.

Apathy Syndrome. is basically when a person’s shadow goes on vacation in P3, and Nyx/Full Moon bosses be giving out those vacation tickets like Oprah when well....the Full moon comes around. 8U I mean technically the person’s shadow gets “eaten” by a Dark Hour Shadow (and yes it’s their shadow, MegaTen says “psyche” but it’s clarified more that by psyche they mean shadow). Basically, while there are technicalities in HOW the shadow isn’t in the person’s body, the fact remains it happens because the shadow is not in the body. As for what happens to the person, they usually go into a coma/vegetative state and will die without medical help.

Mass Lethargy Syndrome: 

Now let’s look at Mental Shutdowns. It happens when a Shadow Self is killed.....ok.....so basically that means the Shadow is not there anymore. The Shadow is not in the body. Basically the same exact thing as Apathy Syndrome. What happens to the body? Same exact thing as Apathy Syndrome, they go into coma/vegetative state and will die without medical help. I mean sometimes they’ll die right on the spot for no good reason(ok maybe not RIGHT on the spot, stupid delay reaction Okumura....fudging things up), but of the 3/4 we saw, we know 2/3 (dunno if I should count train guy, but Wakabe and Kobayashi def count) died because they fell in traffic and not by whatever Okumura conveniently got. Also this doesn’t count Ichiko’s friend who was just in a coma, so it seems Okumura’s reaction is.....VERY rare. Btw fun fact, in P3′s 1st movie, something similar happens at a train station that mirrors Wakabe/Kobayashi, someone gets Apathy syndrome and falls in front of a train (I know it’s the movie, but the game DOES say there was a delay and the movie spells it out for us it’s cause of a body on the train tracks so.....there might be some weight to the movie). 

Now PTS....I’m....I’m mostly gonna focus on Reverse Cases, I mean this anime has Apathy Syndrome but I don’t recall it (or I didn’t get that far into it), and the wiki states it’s when a Persona is taken or destroyed, while Reverse Cases (as well as Kagenuki) specifically mention Shadows....and I dunno it could be P:TS being weird again and not knowing how the relationship between Personas/Shadows work, but then again Kagenuki was used so that people could tell if that person has a strong shadow and thus strong Persona and....basically I don’t think the creators through it through or the wiki is missing some info. ANYWAY, Reverse Cases are similar, it’s where a Shadow is forcibly taken by another Persona user for a certain goal of summoning something more powerful by gathering those Personas (if any of you Arena/Ultimax fans feel like you might’ve heard something like this before yeah I think they repurposed P:TS’s thing), and when that happens the person is turned inside out! Whoops! Well that’s a bit different, but hey same concept, shadow leaving the body (THAT BEING SAID it’s understandable why it’s called something different, the outcome is different compared to AS and MS). (btw Kagenuki is where you pull a Shadow/Persona out but it’s used to relieve stress or some BS, it’s temporary and....it’s kinda more like you are forcing someone to summon their Persona rather than take it....unless you are discount Strega aka Marebito then they are trying to actually take it).

Fun Fact: P2IS I believe is the first place that showcases Apathy Syndrome (or whatever we wanna call all 3/4 of these things), as the character Yukino experience similar symptoms when her Shadow Self commits suicide. P2IS didn’t have a name for it but....just a fun fact. 8U

Anyway before I pick apart P:TS’ mess, lemme get back to P5. Why the fudge do they call it something different? Like I GET MS’ process is a little different, but the outcome is pretty much identical, esp to the public....who are the one’s naming the phenomenon. Like us the players know it’s different, one is caused by the Dark Hour and is temporary, the other is caused by Goro being an asshole and it seems like this one is a bit more permanent....BUT THE PUBLIC DOESN’T KNOW THAT! To them it should be “Apathy Syndrome/Mass Lethargy Syndrome has returned and a new phenomenon ‘Psychotic Breakdowns’ has emerged!” you could possibly connect them due to both showing up at around the same time, but calling AS something different? No, to the public it’s pretty much the same, people are becoming vegetables and we dunno how to help them. In all honesty, just because the way shadows are leaving people’s bodies are a bit different, I don’t think it warrants a new name...in fact I think it can be confusing “Wait isn’t it basically the same thing? How/why is it called something different?” it just raises unneeded questions. And no you can’t make the argument that ‘maybe AS wasn’t well known’ because 1) it’s mentioned later in P4D (and I think even in Arena), albeit by a different but similar sounding title and 2) even a small town like Inaba’s murder mystery was still being alluded to in P5 about 5ish years later in-game....and Iwatodai is a city and it was being talked about on the news A LOT.....so no it’s not a small town/city thing.

But...”Well why aren’t you complaining about P4D’s re-name?” Probably cause the rumor of knowing the cause of MLS vs AS/MS. MLS is associated with the cursed video, while AS/MS are unknown to the public..... Or maybe AS was just known as MLS to the mass public or it’s a phenomenon where a bunch of people fall to AS, I need to replay P4D tbh if there are additional details I’m missing, but the fact remains that, to the public, MLS has a possible root cause while the other two do not so it’s possible to let that slide....tho it brings up the fact MS should either be called AS or MLS.... Esp because there’s also the fact that P4D is probably taking place in Tokyo (P3/4/4D basically just call it “the city,” but I think it’s heavily hinted to be Tokyo, heck a quick google search lead me to a LMB festival look alike, aka Tokyo Idol Festival so....yeah 8U). Which makes it even more jarring for P5 since WE KNOW it takes place in Tokyo so why are they using two names for the same thing??? It’s like.....calling the Chicken Pox something like “Polly Pocket Pox,” same symptoms, we just feel like calling it something totally random and new now for no reason even tho it’s literally the exact same thing in everyone’s eyes. 8U 

Anyway end rant on P5′s annoying alt naming, now for P:TS.

So.....Reverse Cases are a bit of a mess....both in the show (damn it be bloody) and.....lore wise (not new to P:TS bless its soul....haha soul....pun not intended). Lore wise it doesn’t make sense. I mean P3/4D/5′s way of doing it we basically have different ways of doing X1+A/B/C but we still get the same Y (basically X+A=Y, X+B=Y, and X+C=Y for P3/4D/5 respectively, X=a shadow leaving, A/B/C=the different forms aka Full Moon/Cursed Video/Goro-murders). RC is different, it’s end result is different even if say.....it’s the same as P5 (P5 involve another human harming another Person’s shadow so yeah). So with PTS, instead of X+C=Y, it’s now X+C=Z (Shadow leaving+basically stealing and absorbing the shadow=a person explodes).....so with PT X+C≠Y.....and that’s.....that’s some problems. Because PTS equates the shadow leaving with the person exploding (we’re ignoring AS in this universe cause....we don’t need more problems).

So....to fix it.....I originally thought “maybe add one more thing to the equation!” Have it be X+C+D=Z. With D= maybe the shadow goes berserk before it’s eaten and that’s how the person is exploded. Kinda similar to how Personas can turn on their user in P3 and strangle them....or in P4 the Shadow Selves....do something that kills them. I mean they both try to kill their hosts and seem to do different things to get the job done, and how they do it could result in a different outcome (P3 it’s strangulation tho not sure if traceable, P4 it’s unknown, PTS it’s explosion). There fix right? Nope.......I realized, thanks to P4 esp....there’s an issue....And this exists with how RCs already operate not just my fix it tweak. The issue is that.....once the person is killed, the shadow self (and by extension the Persona) disappears with it.... 

“Ok how is that bad?” Well the point of the RC are that the Marebito are gathering Shadows(/Personas) to make themselves stronger (and so that what’s his face can summon something, keeping it vague for spoilers but hey already dropped a spoiler so whatevs). But.....as soon as the Person explodes that Shadow should cease to exist. Rendering everything moot.

Which means we need to change PTS again, and we can do it a few ways thankfully! I mean you might have to rewrite PTS for some of the options but.....like it already needs rewrites so klnvkds;vna Anyway here’s what we can do:

No RCs! Instead it’s just Apathy Syndrome a new wave. What ain’t broke don’t fix it. Personas/Shadows are still stolen, but we just keep the symptoms as AS and just call it AS (or MLS, I’m down for either)

Might be an issue with getting the police involved, so either with the revamp have Shadow Ops be involved 

Or make it so the police think AS in PTS has a different patter compared to P3′s so they think it might be a group or some BS.

Keep the RC, but don’t make it about stealing shadows/personas to make something stronger or summon something. Instead just make it about a (or a group of) serial killer(s)! 

Either they just use their Persona to explode people

Or they utilize the Kagenuki to draw out the shadow self to do it for them!. 

Use both 1 and 2, by which I mean I guess pull a P5 (aka have two going at the same time like P5 has with Mental Shutdowns and Psychotic Breakdowns, and RC could be the reason the police get involved), AS is when they steal the shadow, RC is when they wanna kill a person without the weird as time delay MS has at times. 

I feel like I had more to say but it’s late and.....I think I’ll just end it here. 8V

[fully-booked-this-weekend]

June Bookish Photo Challenge - 16. fictional fathers

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold

Neither of these protagonists are fathers but they are both a fresh of breath air for their age and wisdom. In the first, Cazaril is 35-year-old war veteran and in the second, Ista is a 40-year-old lady of leisure. These books won so many awards and it’s easy to see why, they take you along for an incredible ride. LMB is a master of fantasy.

[violetstrongblog1]

MIIX EVENT por Violeta McDowell Via Flickr: 1658 - @MIIX EVENT (30 June - 20 July) LMB Witch Set *Lara* *Legacy* *Reborn* @MIIX EVENT ** NicK'n BriNK ** Tattoo and Accessories *NB* BOX - Lady Earrings *NB* -Hud Colors - Resize @MIIX EVENT Moon World Store The Moon lipsticks Curse Lelutka Evo X HD @MIIX EVENT quasesemprenublado.blogspot.com/2022/07/miix-event_6.html

[naomilibicki]

I'd like to know why you so dislike the Chalion books? Because I kind of love them. I've got a couple complaints, but the way the divinities function is great, and Paladin of Souls is probably one of my favorite books. Everything about Ista is so good.

Okay, well, I guess this is the time and place for my World of the Five Gods rant!

So first of all, I want to say that I can totally see why someone would love the Chalion books.  There are a lot of very good things about them, which is part of what makes me so mad.  There’s a lot of upsetting things in fantasy novels, and if they were unreadable drivel, or if they were written by an author I didn’t respect, I would just shrug and move on.

And, you know, everyone has their priorities and brings their own stuff to the table when they’re reading and draws their line in different places, and that’s fine.  I am 100% not judging anyone for loving the Chalion books.  I’m not–okay, I kind of am judging LMB for having written the Chalion books, but I don’t think it makes her a bad person or a bad author or that she deserves to be cast into the outer darkness until she says she’s sorry or anything like that.

THAT SAID–

Okay, my first problem with the World of the Five Gods is right there in the name.  It’s the world of the five gods.  In the first two books, the ones set in Chalion and Ibra, there’s a religious conflict between the people who worship four gods and the ones who worship five, and there’s never any doubt from the perspective of the story that the people who worship five gods are right, that there are five gods who are worthy of being worshiped.  And while there are certainly evil Quintarian individuals, and individual Quadrenes who are virtuous and beloved by the gods, it’s made pretty clear that the Quadrene religion is wrong and causes harm by its rejection of the divinity of the Bastard and the consequent refusal to make a place in its society for the people and things the Bastard represents.

I don’t like it when there’s a religious conflict and one side is right and the other side is wrong.  I don’t like it in fantasy fiction from a sense-making worldbuilding point of view–speaking directly to the gods in the World of the Five Gods is unusual but far from unheard of, so why don’t any of these saints ever just ask “Oh hey Father of Winter, we’ve been having these wars and maybe you could clear this up for us, should we be worshiping the Bastard as a god or cursing him as a devil or what”–but more than that I just don’t like it.

I especially don’t like it when there are clear parallels to real-world religions in play.  And while there’s not a lot of similarities between Quintarianism and Christiany or Quadrenism and Islam in terms of doctrine or religious practice, the historical parallels and cultural cues are pretty clear.

(Incidentally, and this is almost a side issue, but it does make me mad that there are no Jews.  It’s medieval Spain.  How are there no Jews.  That’s my people you’re erasing from history because it doesn’t fit your neat set of contrasts that you’re building.)

But what really, really makes me want to spit nails is–okay.  So remember how I said that Quintairianism is better than Quadrenism because, as a consequence of acknowledging the divinity of the Bastard, they make room in their religion and society for the people and things that the Bastard represents?  In other words, because Quintarianism is more tolerant.

And remember what I said about historical parallels?  These are not sort of vague historical parallels.  Among the heroes of The Curse of Chalion are stand-ins for Ferdinand and Isabella.  You know, the people who expelled the Jews and Muslims from Spain and started the Spanish Inquisition.

And, like, I get it.  LMB likes and admires these historical figures.  And that’s okay!  That’s fine!  Historical figures are complex and there is what there to like and admire!

But you do not get to take them and make them more palatable to modern audiences by giving them the exact opposite virtue of what they actually did.  You can’t just erase their crimes and their victims because you happen to like them.  You don’t do that.  It’s not okay.

[solivagantis]

@calystegiaidol

There was no rest for the wicked, it seemed.

Only half of a year had passed, and the former Investigation Team already had something suspicious going on around them. Seeing them on TV was surprising enough, but it's the rumors of a cursed video surrounding the impending LMB Festival that truly caught his attention.

"If you go to the LMB Fest site at midnight you will see a video of a dead idol dancing". It sounded like a simple urban legend to someone unfamiliar with the supernatural. To him, however... Well, needless to day, it jogged a couple of memories. And the new cases of Apathy Syndrome popping up made him worried in addition to that.

So it was nothing short of a blessing when a word reached him about a strange portal opening up at Takura Productions during a photo shoot. Reserve or not, he was still part of the Shadow Operatives. And it was their job to investigate happenings like these, wasn't it? So it was his job as well. And if he had motives unrelated to work, well... It only made him want to get to the bottom of this more.

After getting to the TakuroPro building and scaring some staff with his badge, he happened to stumble upon someone he knew. Members of the Investigation Team were expected, but not this. No, what he got instead was probably worse. Puppy eyes and quiet incomprehension aside, few liked to be less qualified than someone half their age.

But one strained conversation with Dojima and a stern 'no' to Nanako later, he was all ready to go. Tomorrow, local library, Mashita Kanami. Chestnut hair, square glasses, plain clothes. Shouldn't be too hard.

And it wasn't. The library was almost dead when he got there — must’ve been too early for visitors. He quickly located the one he was looking for. She was sitting at an empty table, spacing out from the looks of it. Sliding into the seat opposite of her, he lightly tapped the table surface to catch her attention.

"Mashita Kanami? I know I'm not the one you were expecting today, but I'll be taking over for detective Dojima on this case."

[bleachblondbeefcake]

Dancing In The Rain

He knew the first days of spring had arrived since the sky was clear as day, and yet showers were still rolling in. It was nothing heavy, nor was it cold, but it was certainly steady. He had his headphones in on his walk home from school, an oddity in that he was alone today. Normally, he walked with Rise due to their houses being a handful of yards from one another, but she’d taken the day off for rest from her most recent tour. Having a small sampling of what an idol’s life was like at this point, he could honestly say he didn’t blame her.

As he came to the floodplain, the earbuds began pumping a familiar tune. Upbeat, a quick BPM and an intensity in it’s buildup and payoff. This was the song he’d practiced for with the LMB. It put a spring in his step and, when he came to the steps leading toward the riverbank, he hooked down them, jumping down the last few.

“One, two, three, turn, five, six, kick, kick.”

Liquid rolled off him in beads, being flung about the studio. Sweat was his life, and his life was hell. He’d gone through three days of rigorous dance routines already, and yet his instructor showed no signs of slowing. He looked over at Yosuke and Teddie, glad that they were in a similar state at least, and flashed them a grin and a thumbs up.

“Alright, Tatsumi. Again, and try not to embarrass yourself this time!”

He spun, leaning back and planting his palm on the ground, droplets being flung from the grass where his hand struck. His right leg shot out, crossed in front of his left, and he spun again, rolling through the air before landing in the same position, letting his momentum carry him. His legs swung as he twisted and bent, revolving in place like a top while his legs whirled with practiced speed like a propeller.

WHAM!

His instructor sighed and threw his hands up in the air, cursing his luck for ending up with these amateurs. Yosuke and Teddie looked like they were trying to decide between helping him or staying where they were to avoid the instructor’s wrath. Kanji was on the floor, cheek first, having tripped over his own legs once more. By the bruises forming all over his body, it was evident that he’d done so several times. But still, he stood back up, wiped the sweat from his brow and flashed his friends one more thumbs-up.

“One, two, three, turn-”

The leg swing stopped, and Kanji rolled out, springing to his feet, arms crossing back and forth in front of him, swaying rhythmically with the beat of the music, leaning forward and planting hia palm, swinging his body up until he stood only on one hand, then back down, rolling himself into a jumping backflip and more, the dance coming to him without much thought, only the feel of his instincts and the music flowing through him.

When he finally laid on the ground, he wasn’t sure if the wet feeling on his face was from the rain or from his own sweat, but it was fulfilling.

[bixbythemartian]

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#vorkosigan saga#LMB is cursed#that’s the only explanation I have for why the covers remain so bad#she traded for her writing talent in exchange for never getting a decent cover

Looking at the current covers on iBooks for the Vorkosigan Saga and I’m howling, because while YES these are probably some of the best covers I’ve seen for the series (and actually reflect the book contents) they suffer from the classic LMB issue that the covers are still TERRIBLE.

Like seriously. A Civil Campaign is never, ever, EVER going to get a good cover, ever, is it?

It’s not only a Butterbug it’s THE SPECIAL VORKOSIGAN BUTTERBUG. Look at the maple leaf.

(It’s hilarious, I adore that it’s ROSES with THAT BUG but also I could never ever hand this to anyone while saying ‘actually this is the best book in the series and the cover contains at least 3 solid injokes in tribute to the fact the book is also just concerted references and payoffs to the past 33 years of events in the series’ with a straight face)