#although in all honestly I have caught a couple errors in this game so far

[xerox-candybar]

:: blinks ::

Don’t think about TrueForm!Sukuna don’t think about TrueForm!Sukuna don’t think about TrueForm!Sukuna

[sinsbymanka]

Writing Tag Game

Okay listen I’m on vacation XD hence why I’m ignoring everyone’s tags/taking forever to respond. But I’ve been tagged in this A LOT and I really liked it/wanted to do it so thank you to everyone who tagged me (oh my god I’m so sorry if I missed one of you there were SO MANY): @noire-pandora, @in-arlathan, @thevikingwoman, @morganlefaye79, @elveny, @kunstpause, @pikapeppa

I’m not tagging anyone because I’m tagging everyone since I’m too lazy to find my tag list (I’m on VACATION). If you’ve not gotten tagged and wanted to do this, say I tagged you. 

How many works do you have on Ao3?

147 - I have 145 linked to my profile and two in the anonymous collection. 

What's your total Ao3 wordcount?

1,468,248. Almost 1.5 million!! 

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Of Miracles and Heroes (FenHawke, Cadash/Varric, Varania/Blackwall): 269

Interspecies Relationships Have Their Ups and Downs (Shakarian): 145

Don’t Make it Hawkeward (Varric/Hawke): 135

The Ambassador’s Vices (Josephine/Adaar): 111

The Girl with the Arrow Tattoo (Cadash/Varric): 101

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do (but - to be honest - it takes me FOREVER). I love comments. It’s so much easier to not leave comments than leave comments, so every time someone leaves one I’m blown away. I feel like - for leaving me a comment - you’re definitely owed an answer! I do apologize that it takes me awhile though - I am very bad at answering because they mean a lot to me and I get easily overwhelmed by the AO3 inbox I don’t know why. Blame anxiety. 

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

I’ll be honest, I don’t like angsty endings so I don’t have many of them. By far the angstiest ending I have is Flowers, Lies, and Forgiveness. This is a Bianca Davri/Varric Tethras fic set during the final act of DA2. I wrote it from Bianca’s POV - showing Varric unraveling under the pressure of Kirkwall and Bianca’s complicated feelings about infidelity to her husband who clearly cares about her as well. I wrote it for @hollyand-writes who always lets me lean into the tragic “fucked upness” of the pairing when I’m feeling like making Varric suffer.  

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending

I prefer happy endings so almost EVERYTHING has a happy ending. My favorite endings, so far, are for Cheating the Dread Wolf, which is my Varric/Cadash/Solas polycule (or as I like to refer to it - Solas has a dwarf kink) and The Viscount’s Mistress which is my Hurt/Comfort Cadash/Varric Trespasser bullshit. 

Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you've written?

I have not written crossovers - but I am very into AUs in another setting that belongs to a different fictional universe. Most recently I got back into my Downton Abbey bullshit and wrote Flappers for Fen’harel which is basically a Downton Abbey AU Solas/Cadash and I’m not taking comments about the outrageousness of it. 

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Yep. Honestly though? Over the two years I’ve been active in Fandom, the shitty comments can be counted on one hand and usually came from the same people over and over again, who are easily blocked, and should stop seeking out clearly labeled content they don’t like. Me and my work are not for everyone - that’s REALLY okay. I’ve blocked people for no other reason than making things I don’t like - that doesn’t mean they’re bad people. 

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

GOD DO I.

I am extremely sex and kink positive. Because of this - a lot of my work involves sex in some way or another. I think sex is a beautiful part of many (although not all) relationships, and that it’s frequently glossed over in mainstream media (particularly queer, kinky, and polyam sex). 

This ranges from sort of vanilla slow burns (My Cole/Bea fic, Compassion for an Assassin, has smut which hasn’t been posted yet. It’s Cole’s first time and is fairly vanilla and romantic, and occurs approximately 40k into the fic) to some pretty dubious consent near 24/7 dom/sub dynamics with BDSM kinks (I’ve written JUST as much of the Sereda/Gorim problematic smut as @jarakrisafis has in our series Forced Moves). 

There’s very few kinks I’m not willing to touch at least to try out - even if I end up not liking them. And the ones that aren’t for me are 100% allowed to exist and I will fight for them to the bloody end. My only recommendation is CLEARLY labeling your shit and not being afraid to add a tag if someone asks you to. 

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of? I’ve seen ideas I’ve tried on picked up by other people - but I don’t consider that stealing and it’s hard to trace “who has been inspired by who” because we ALL have been inspired by thousands of other people and frankly more stuff for me when I pull you over to my weird AUs and rarepairs. 

I also think that’s a huge part of not getting stolen - I’ve got so much weird niche shit that only a couple people read that stealing from me is going to most likely be caught IMMEDIATELY the audience is so small. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t believe so!

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! I’ve got some co-written secret smut with @blarfkey which almost nobody has seen, I’ve borrowed @tightassets Hawke, Lavellan, and Shepard for fics that she has illustrated, borrowed @tuffypelly‘s Adaars for some great fics, and my most ambitious project - the Forced Moves series with @jarakrisafis. It started out as us just exchanging gifts back and forth but we’ve wrangled it into Gambits and Countergambits, an Aeducan-origin prequel, that I’m VERY proud of. 

I love co-writing very much, but it’s very important to find the right partner and for it to be someone you trust completely. 

What's your all time favourite ship?

This is a stupidly hard question because I am, at heart, a multi-shipper. 

I love Varric/Hawke and Varric/Cadash. I’m also a sucker for Solas/Cadash. My fandom pool noodle is Varric/Cadash/Solas which I adore, and I’m very fond of Cole/Cadash. 

Most recently I’ve been DEEP in Aeducan/Gorim Saelac, Bhelen/Rica/Vartag, and Aeducan/Brosca feels. Dwarf origins are the best origins in my opinion and those characters are PERFECT. 

What's a WIP you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

I fully plan on finishing everything. My writing style changed a lot, for the better, in a short period of time. I need to integrate my old style/new style and had to get a pep talk about how to do that. Now I’m ready to try as soon as I finish Compassion for an Assassin. 

What are your writing strengths? 

I write very sexy, hot smut. I also really like playing with character voice and making sure I get them “right” so I do a lot of experimenting before publishing a new character for the first time. 

I struggle to write action scenes - it’s like pulling fucking teeth - but people really LOVE my action scenes and they read well. So that’s something I’m proud of even if it feels like doing fucking pull ups. 

What are your writing weaknesses?

I never learned anything. My experiences with English and writing teachers were overwhelmingly negative. I’m unsure if I’m just not cut out for classes or if they were that bad, but I always left feeling like there was one “right” way to do it, and everything I liked was “bad”, so what was the point of “learning” anything? 

It turns out there’s this very pompous, pretentious thought process in writing where people “assume” things must be done, but GOOD writing teachers teach you the rules and then how to break them. I either never had a good writing teacher or got too intimidated to give them a chance before bouncing. 

So I’m exceedingly self-taught. I lack the vocabulary to discuss plot structure, characterization, grammar, etc. I instinctively know most of these things based on trial and error and reading, but I didn’t learn them and I miss a lot of nuance in the rules, but until recently I was still too intimidated and unsure of myself to admit that or take it seriously. 

So - my defense mechanism is NOT taking ANYTHING seriously. If my writing is a joke to me, it’s gotta be a joke to everyone else, but that’s been a shield to hide behind instead of being thoughtful about things. I’m here to have fun, yes, but there’s nothing wrong with learning a technique to the art. 

I’ve learned - mostly thanks to @blarfkey who is an amazing person and a wonderful teacher - that I am a good writer based on my self-teaching. And being intimidated of people who throw around impressive sounding words is a weakness that I am working on. 

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic? 

Use sparingly and with good reason. It should be short and explained later or clear from context. 

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter on message boards back in the fucking day. Thankfully none of it exists anywhere anymore. 

What's your favourite fic you've written?

This is such a sappy answer and I’m so sorry. My favorite things have been written for and because of people I love and care about. When I read them, I’m not just reading the story, but remembering the relationships I’ve made and how important they are. 

So, my top three fics for THAT reason: 

1. Cheating the Dread Wolf - written for @blarfkey who inspired the idea and ruthlessly encouraged me to make it happen. This fic was so healing for me because it heavily features Fatherhood within it - and I lost my father in June 2020. I don’t know if I’d have been able to do it without her and it was so important for me to do. 

2. Gambits and Countergambits - written with @jarakrisafis and the culmination of a years worth of gifting shit back and forth and crafting a shared universe. The worldbuilding, smut, relationships, EVERYTHING about this fic is so deeply and passionately cared about by both of us and to our knowledge it is completely, totally unique.  

3. Relentless, Ridiculous, and Rakish - one of my only primarily gen-fics focusing on a forming brother/sister relationship between Maria Cadash and @tuffypelly‘s Otsar Adaar. I very much enjoyed writing it for her <3 

And then my overall favorite fic: 

The Viscount’s Mistress: I have a lot of opinions about how fanfiction treats the anchor’s meltdown and the aftermath. It’s one of the things in DAI that resonated with me SO much as someone who lives with chronic pain and a disability. I loved the fact my OC was in the same shoes and STILL saving the world. This is very much a fic that explores all the dark sides of trauma, pain, and the mental health effects of it. But it ends on a happy and hopeful note.  

[fanwright]

Gladiator: 200th Chapter Celebration

Tagging: @kigozula @seyaryminamoto

---

Seyary, this is a great milestone for you. Just want to let you know that I’m happy for you and impressed by the work that you have done over the long years of writing this story. You’ve inspired others to get into Sokkla as well as to have fun with the ship. Its been a great pleasure!

When I first picked up this story, I was still in college and rediscovering ATLA. Gladiator, as well as your other stories (which I recommend that others read as well) really cemented my liking for this ship. Years later, I’m still here, though all the ups and downs.

Now, despite me liking Gladiator a whole lot, I’ve admittedly fallen behind on catching up with it, chapter by chapter. That said, I do want to read it at my own pace and as I read more I still find myself loving the story, as there is much to enjoy. 

So, to that end, I’ll be commenting on the parts of the story I have been caught up with, Chapters 1 to 100. I hope that’s okay. 

---

1.) Favorite Character: Sokka

Now, this doesn’t mean I don’t like Azula. Of course not. And choosing one over the other is such a hard call to make that I would rather have them both occupy the same spot. But I decided Sokka in this case for a number of reasons. Others have commented on Azula in their own posts, so I thought giving my reasons for Sokka seemed only fair. 

We’ve seen Sokka change a lot over the course of the story and I seeing him morph into the character he is now is such a stark contrast to the one we saw at the very beginning. He hated the Fire Nation and was unwilling to cooperate with Azula. And yet, after trial and error and harsh circumstance, we have seen become a great warrior in his own right and the closest companion Azula has ever had, being her secret lover. It has been such a treat seeing him change and adapt and grow in this story. And as someone who really does like him as much as Azula, it was (and still is) a thill to see him get an all-star treatment in a story. 

And yet there are lingering complexities within him in this story, as far as I have gotten in it. There is still that awareness within him of who he serves and what he is doing, along with a nagging feeling of inadequacy that has hounded him at every turn. Bit by bit, either by his own efforts or with a little help, he is clawing his way forward internally to find some reconciliation. And I find that very compelling. 

And also its fun to see him thrash gladiators.  

2.) Least Favorite Most Dreaded Character: Ozai

Well, that’s not true really. I don’t dislike any of the reoccurring characters actually. 

The best way to describe this particular choice is “Most Dreaded Character”. I chose Ozai for this one because I dread the moment in when he finds out Azula and Sokka’s little affair. Now, again, I’m only on Chapter 100, so things could have changed by now. Yet, I believe still that if Ozai finds about about all this... a lot is going to change for Azula, Sokka, and even the Fire Nation. He will be a consequential character in the chapters to come and dread to see the his wrath and what that will mean for everyone else. It will not be pretty.

3.) Favorite “Antagonist”: Toph

When I first picked up this story and saw Toph introduced as an adversary, I was hyped. Like, you have no idea how hyped and pumped up I was for them to brawl. And I was not disappointed. 

See, for me, Toph represented more than just a metaphorical torn in both Sokka’s and Azula’s side for a good chunk of this story. She is at times a very compelling mini-villain, as if she is straight out of a Disney movie. She loves what she does and enjoys it, and knows just how powerful she is. And flaunts it in spectacular display. She has such a simple yet understandable motivation and was a very real threat to Sokka’s own life in the very first fight they were in. And despite both Sokka and Toph eventually learning to respect and even befriend each other, there was always the nagging thought that they would eventually fight again, and each one knew they wanted to win that rematch. Toph provided Sokka and Azula a reoccurring adversary to strive toward beating. Even as other gladiators came and went, they always knew Toph would be their biggest obstacle. So much build up was focused on training for that eventuality. And all of it was compelling enough to paint Toph as this great rival to them. Her being a part-time ally in some cases and even being a friend didn’t really change that until after they had fought a second time. 

Its because of this that I now believe firmly that Toph should be used as an antagonist more, if a story needs one. She is just so fun and so good as villain that hope others come to use her as one in AUs. 

As I read more, I’m sure this might change in time. But, even with all the fights Sokka has had, I firmly maintain that Toph was his greatest adversary on many levels. 

4.) Favorite OC: Rui Shi

Honestly, I think this guy is a sprit animal to someone out there. He’s just a guard trying to do his job right and the person he protects consistently makes that job harder for him in the most ridiculous ways. “Oh great, my princess is in an affair with her Gladiator and that won’t stop fucking like rabbits. Joy.”

Honestly, this man needs a vacation. A long one. And Seyary hasn’t given it to him, because she likes to make his life hard. Rude. 

For the longest time, I actually thought Rui Shi was much older than he actually is in the story. So until a picture of him was finally made, I pictured him as a 40 year old veteran with a graying mustache and beard. Even with how he actually looks, I wouldn’t be surprised if his job made him grow gray hair from all the stress. 

Good OC, one of a few I like.

5.) Favorite Suitor: Zhao

Should probably be no surprise. Where I am at right now, he’s essentially the suitor to beat as well as having the ultimate Gladiator for Sokka and Azula to defeat. Azula even admired him at some point. Though that has changed, I feel that Zhao has his eyes set on courting Azula further. Its a move that Ozai would likely not object to, provided Zhao pulls off something grand to earn that honor. And although every suitor has made Sokka angry, I feel Zhao would anger him on a deeper level as his interest in Azula grows. 

I look forward to seeing him more.

6.) Favorite Gladiator(s): Jet and Suki (For Chapters 1-100)

Jet being a brainwashed Gladiator highlighted a dark aspect to the games. He was also a brutal berserker when in the ring and one of Sokka’s most bitter adversaries. Suki to me was an interesting contrast to Sokka his situation with Azula. She was to me a kind of noble gladiator, an Amazon in the ring put gentle when out of it. Putting the canon characters in as Gladiators was always a treat for me and actually lends itself to some world-building.

7.) Favorite Gladiator-Canon Pairing: Sokka/Azula

This should not be a surprise :P 

I could go on and on about it, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll keep things short. This should not be surprise because the driving force and the very soul of this entire story is about a warrior-princess falling in love with a tribal gladiator. Their differences and how they reconcile them, their fears and pain, their passion and drive, all propel this story forward. Things have changed in this story because of them and they themselves have changed because fate brought them together.

If that isn’t enough to make them my favorite, then I’m sorry I don’t know what else to say to convince you XD 

8.) Favorite Arc(s): Rough Rhinos Arcs

Two arcs hit me hard on an emotional level - The end of the introductory arc and the Rough Rhino’s arc. They literally crawl out of quagmire, find a dragon in the process, and have one of the most touching and sincere heart-to-hearts in the story thus far. It was one of my favorite arcs to read and the emotional stakes were high. As I read more and continue, this might change, but for now I maintain this is one of my favorite arcs.

9.) Favorite Places/Locations: To Be Determine

This is the down side of having to catch up. There are a lot of locations in the story and in the ATLA universe that I like, and its always a hard choice for me to decide. I am a big fan of settings for a story and when I find a setting I like I usually latch onto it in all its locations. So for now, I will not decide on a solid choice.

... however, in any AU it might show up in, Bs Sing Se is my first choice by biased default. I just love that city and I always appreciate when a story fleshes it out in little ways. Gladiator being set for a fraction of its time in the city was great for me as I got to read more about the city I like so much. 

10.) I wish to see Sokkla in...: More tender, couple-like moments

Surprising, I know. But I what I mean is this - moments where they refrain from arguing, don’t bicker, and just enjoy being around each other, doing small things together. And its hard for them, they have to train they, have to keep their relationship a secret, they can only be a true couple for fleeting moments because of how dangerous and vulnerable it will leave them. And it claws at my heart every time. So I cherish the moments they have when they can be themselves around one another, fleeting as they sometimes are. 

11.) I believe Sokka and Azula’s relationship will be revealed when/like/because of...:

... when they get careless. When they feel that they are safe in their secrecy, complacaent in their routines for keeping their relationship hidden, that’s when it will be revealed. Its a kind of Hubris of sorts. 

And when its revealed, it will lead to something bad and irreversible for the both of them. You can only hide something like this for so long. Even historical royal affairs were never as secret as theirs. And they have taken painful precautions to keep it all under wraps. 

So when it finally does, it will change everything. And that’s going to be quite the wild ride.

12.) I believe at the end of Part 3...:

... that a sacrifice will be made. A death or a relinquishment of something. Sokka and Azula will be together, but something will have to be given up, and it will test them for the final time. 

I can’t say what it will be, but I’m going to enjoy finding out.

[lanx-reads]

The Blood Diamond Review

Final Rating: ***/***** or 5/10

You’re a Vampire Hunter. Killing Vamps is what you do. No exceptions. Ever... right?

Antoinette Drake never chose her role in life to be that of a Vampire Hunter, yet now her main mission is to quell the misdemeanors of the NYC vampiric underworld. But when a new nightclub is opened by the handsome and notorious vampire Henri Sinclair, she finds herself taking on more than she bargained for.

The last thing Antoinette wants to do is get wrapped up in Henri’s cryptic games, but if she wants to unveil his plans and save her sister’s life at the same time, she might just have to get closer to a vampire than she ever has before...

Even tho @authorrjcity​ is my friend and fellow mutual and writer, I did indeed promise her a 100% brutally honest review of her book. As it stands, I am of course reviewing this as a critique and judging her as an author and nothing else. I also wanna note I am reading somewhat outside my preferred genres to a degree! So that also affects my rating.

Since I am still wading my way through how to write these reviews, I’m gonna try a new tactic that kinda combines my previous review styles. I will be breaking my review into numerous sections: Characters, Plot, World Building, Writing, What I Liked, and lastly, What I Disliked. 

There will be minor spoilers in this review, so just a heads up if you want to read The Blood Diamond spoiler-free! 

Writing:

I want to note that I am not the biggest fan of first person. I find it kinda stiff to both write and read and incredibly limiting. Likewise, I personally think that this book could’ve benefited from a pure third person style rather than sticking with first person. Furthermore, The Blood Diamond did have transitional scenes written in third person due to the fact that information had to be given to the reader and Toni couldn’t be around to narrate it. Personally, I didn’t really much agree with this artistic choice, as it would’ve been much smoother if the entire book stayed in first person, but merely bounced around different heads as needed. 

Minus the issues I had with the POV the writing was decent. I do feel like Toni had too many stock sentences in her narration at times, like “Well, yeah” and “Hmm...” and such that were distracting and could’ve been cut out without changing the story at all. Sometimes Toni had thoughts as if she were talking to the reader, which was also a little distracting at times. 

Another artistic/style choice I didn’t like was the fact that Toni’s direct thoughts weren’t italicized. Instead of being written like [This is a thought, Toni thought.] it was written instead like [This is a thought, Toni thought.] which sometimes made reading her direct thoughts a bit confusing as they ran into the narration. 

The author also uses a lot of epithets and describes eyes as “orbs” a couple of times, which are pet peeves of mine. Nothing inherently wrong with either, but they did ruffle me a little. Another pet peeve of mine that popped up was dropping a Twilight reference. Considering how long ago Twilight was published, I feel it was a bit awkward. I think this sentence could’ve easily just been cut out and replaced with the general “Have you been reading vampire romance novels or something?” as then the sentence would be funny in the sense that its pure irony (though I also have a huge weakness for irony as a plot device so...). 

Lastly, though the book was pretty clean from typos and mistakes in the beginning and the middle, but near the end I counted a lot of mistakes popping up. I only caught one actual misspelled word, but mistakes such as writing an instead of a and using a dash rather than a hyphen did find its way into this book. A couple of other mistakes were some capitalization errors (The Order vs the Order vs the order in describing a political group). 

Now, everything I have stated so far is mainly just. Little pet peeves of mine and things that can be overlooked more or less. However, the one negative aspect of the writing that stuck out like a sore thumb to me was the fact that setting descriptions were rarely, if ever, used. The most description the author used was saying what type of room someone is in, or a club, or a mansion or apartment, or whatever. However, these places weren’t actually ever really described, which sometimes made it hard to visualize certain scenes. The lack of setting descriptions also made certain scenes in the book pass by too quickly. In some places this worked, however in others, I feel the lack of a slowed down pacing did a real disservice to building up tension in some places. 

Characters

There are quite a few characters in this book! I will be talking about the side characters as a whole group to keep it simple, but talk about the main characters individually. 

Toni: 

Toni is easily a main character you will either really enjoy or dislike. She tends to be sarcastic, though not always witty. There are at times inconsistencies with her character, such as the fact that she has destroyed some pretty powerful vampires, but doesn’t seem to be very good at planning ahead and rushes into things at times, which although is a interesting and good flaw for this sort of book, doesn’t match with what we’re told of her being an infamous hunter among vampires. That being said, Toni is overall a really fun character. She has a couple of pretty popular tropes included with her character (such as parents dying via a vampire and such...) but those things didn’t really bother me as I like those tropes well enough. 

Henri:

Henri is a character I can honestly say without a doubt that will become a fan favorite. Broody, though not above mockery, secretive, and dangerous, he employs numerous popular vampire tropes, yet there are scenes in which he inverts them to a degree. He isn’t a good person at all. He’s killed people and is a clear vampire, which is always fun and refreshing to see. Though he is a powerful vampire, he’s also not the most powerful vampire to ever exist or anything. Another part of him I liked is that though he acted like he knew everything and was in control of things, he really wasn’t, and that arrogance in many ways lead to many downfalls for him. He’s a fun character I would love to see more development of. 

Gavin: 

Gavin is Henri’s twin brother and in many ways is the polar opposite. He’s narcissistic, psychopathic, outgoing, and overtly sexual. He’s a genuine asshole and though there are points where he feels a bit like an archetype, overall Gavin, like Henri, will most likely become a fan favorite as well. He has a certain villainous charm to him where every time he pops up, you know some exciting shit is gonna go down, and you’re sitting on the edge of your seat. 

Robert: 

Warning: Major Spoilers

Robert seems to be the Big Bad of this series, but as a big bad, I have to say he is a little underwhelming. His backstory was monologued to us in the climax, which was a little uninteresting. If instead Toni had to slowly uncover the identity of who he was over the course of the book, I feel the plot twist relating to him would’ve been a lot more powerful. He’s described as a pretty stereotypical vampire and besides being evil we really don’t know much about him. He seems to be younger than Gavin or Henri, which makes me wonder as to why he’s a master vampire and their master in the first place. 

Not much of his personality was given, and his motivations seem a little flimsy. Hopefully, the sequel will shed more light on him and flesh him out as a villain more because as of right now, he’s a little bit forgettable. 

Liz: 

Liz is Toni’s younger sister and though she is told to us to be a major part of Toni’s life and her only family left, we really don’t get to see much of her. We get to see her a little bit near the end of the book, and she starts forming a more interesting personality then, but overall we’re left with too little too late due to the plot twist. I do wish she was given more of a chance to breathe and grow, as I feel that fleshing out her character would’ve made the plot twist at the end a lot more weighty and emotional. 

Ethan:

Ethan is Toni’s best friend and fills the roll pretty well for the most part. Though he pops up quite often, he has a pretty general personality and isn’t the most memorable of characters. 

Micah: 

Micah is a side character, but is one of the more interesting ones. Though I do wish to learn more about him as some secrets of his are both exposed and kept under wraps, his personality is a little hard to place. The sort of character roll he fills doesn’t quite match the personality he is given. Though I do wanna learn more about him, as a character he is a little bland besides the roll he is given in the plot. 

The rest of the side characters: 

The rest of the side characters such as Giselle, Melissa, Stephan Church, Hannah, Clary, and the like are a bit of a mixed bag. They have a lot more clear personalities than some of the main or more important cast of side characters and have clear quirks in the way they talk and such. That being said, we really don’t learn much about them, and a couple of these characters do fall into archetypes I am not a huge fan of (such as two of the female characters just kinda being jealous bitches to Toni...) Some of the other side hunter characters, such as Hannah and Clary, are used very sparingly. Hannah, who is a faerie, only really pops up in the beginning and end of the book while Clary is mentioned briefly in the beginning, then finally gets a little screen time at the end. 

Considering how big this cast of characters is, I do hope that all these side characters are given more development in the sequels to come. 

Overall, the characters weren’t too bad! A little bit of a mixed bag- some were quite interesting while others less so. The only real issue I had was some of the names of the characters being a little out of place. Such as an age-old vampire being named Andrew, for instance, and I personally wouldn’t have called the Big Bad Robert of all things (unless that’s purposely done to be a bit comical, tho Toni never finds his name a little funny...) Despite the little inconsistencies in character naming, and in some characters in general, they overall worked well for this sort of book and plot and were fun to read about overall! 

Plot 

The plot is a little difficult to describe, if I am being honest, as the plot drifts quite a bit in this book. Sometimes, it’s really focused and other times, not so much. I would say its a mystery, but there is little foreshadowing and the mysteries themselves aren’t touched upon and after a while, become quite vague, leaving you a bit confused. 

Overall, the story is about Toni trying to bust The Blood Diamond and the vampires within it for illegally turning humans while also trying to figure out who the master vampire is, who is the one pulling all the strings and causing the violence in the first place. Unfortunately, this plot is dropped pretty quickly and instead, the subplot of Toni and Henri’s relationship and him Marking her takes over for a good chunk of the book.

I think one of the biggest weaknesses of the plot is its reliance on the readers to understand the world building and how this system of vampire hunters work. However, this system isn’t given a lot of screen time and at times, the plot (and world building itself) gets muddied. There are many places where I feel like if the world building had been fleshed out a bit more, it would’ve helped the plot a lot. Such as why doesn’t Toni, and by extension everyone else, know who the master vampire is? Why are certain vampires not archived in the system? Though the latter is brought up at one point, it’s not really touched upon, and I personally felt that it could’ve been part of the overarching story and a puzzle piece of the mystery this book was trying to build. 

At times, the overarching plot of the book felt a little everywhere, and thus when the climax at the end happened, it wasn’t quite as powerful as it could’ve been.

Furthermore, the pacing was a little odd. The book was a fast read for sure, but in places it needed to slow down, it didn’t, which led to it not being as emotional as it could’ve been. 

There are also a couple of scenes I feel could’ve been cut out. 

I also want to note that this book does not end with a clear stop. Not everything is wrapped up whatsoever, and thus, this book by itself is an incomplete story. This isn’t a negative point or a bad thing at all! It’s just how this book is written and set up. A lot is built up for the sequel. 

Though this book never felt “plot-less” by any means, the plot never felt like the focus of the book either, and instead felt muddied and a bit vague. However, I think this is less the plot’s fault, and more of the fact that the book could’ve been a bit longer to accommodate some changes and that the world building could’ve been fleshed out more to give definition to the plot elements present. 

World building 

Out of everything in The Blood Diamond, I think the world building is its weakest aspect. Though these is no infodumping, which is always a good thing, the author also doesn’t really give us a chance to learn about the world. Since Toni already knows about the world more or less, she doesn’t explain much, so you’re basically thrown in and hope you can hang onto the information that’s thrown at you. 

Furthermore, there are points in The Blood Diamond where I think not everything was thought through. How does the Agency keep vampires and other supernatural creatures hidden? Vampires themselves aren’t discreet and there are numerous times where there are “supernaturals only” places around. It’s never explained if they are hidden or if normal humans are compelled to not enter via magic. Furthermore, if the Agency has to tell family of the victims of vampires of the supernatural world, how has the truth not gotten out yet? And also especially with all this taken place in the modern world and a densely packed city, how have vampires, or other supernaturals, avoided being caught on tape or anything? 

The Agency seems a bit small for the setting as well and at times, a bit unprofessional. The entire system of this government isn’t explained the best either. The Agency is what I suppose are like cops while The Order is closer to something akin to the FBI I am guessing, but it isn’t exactly clear. The Agency also seems to work as the judge, jury, and the police, which gets even more confusing and doesn’t fit in with how America is run as a country either.

Vampires and their powers are also not that well explained. Other supernatural creatures, such as werewolves and witches, are mentioned but not touched upon at all or fleshed out, making them feel more like an afterthought. 

There is also a scene midway into The Blood Diamond with some mermaids in the NYC rivers. Though there were a lot of cool ideas in this scene, the scene itself felt completely and utterly pointless to the rest of the book and felt more like something in there for a sequel or to try and world build a bit more. However, the world building should’ve been tied into the plot. If less of the plot had been on Henri Marking Toni and more focused on fleshing out the plot, the world building could’ve gone along with that, and overall both world building and the plot could’ve been a lot stronger.  

What I Liked 

I know that it sounded like I didn’t like this book with how much negativity is in this review! But trust me, there is plenty I enjoyed about this book as well, and I will list out everything I did enjoy in this section below!

I enjoyed Toni’s narration and her character.

Henri and Toni’s romance was interesting.

I really enjoyed the powers we did see from the vampires. Some of them were very unique.

Hannah. Just. Hannah was adorable I enjoyed her a lot! 

A lot of the names in this book I liked too. Such as The Blood Diamond and La Luna and such! 

A fast-paced and quick read overall, which is pretty good! 

Toni staking vampires was always a fun treat to read about.

Giselle. She was great. Like I said, there are a lot of side characters to enjoy here. 

Woman friendship between Toni and Clary at the end was fun. Though it stuck out a little, I did like that the author confirmed that Toni was bi/pan and that Clary is at least, not straight either. 

The plot twist, though it had its problems, was good in theory. 

I enjoyed the idea behind Marking as well as compulsion. 

Actual forensic science was used in a scene near the end, which was a pleasant surprise in a book such as this. 

Though I did mention a couple of pointless scenes, the pointless scenes themselves were at least interesting to read even though they went nowhere. There weren’t any slow paced, snore-fest parts, which is good. 

The print itself in the book was pretty big, which was easy on the eyes for me. 

I think this book, if just read as a piece of light entertainment with vampires and mystery, is great. 

Honestly, I really did enjoy reading another vampire book again. I haven’t in a while, so it was fun to go back to reading vampire fiction. 

Near the end had some showing of Toni working with some other hunters on what seemed to be pretty standard run-of-the-mill cases, and that was really fun to read about. 

What I Disliked 

The stuff listed here are further nitpicks that personally made me cock my head to the side. Nothing major enough to discuss in the above sections, however. 

Too many teenagers in things like clubs. Unless you’re counting 18 year olds as teenagers, then I guess it fits, but I found it a little distracting. 

It seemed like only women were the victims of vampire attacks all through this book. It kinda rubbed me the wrong way. 

At times, Henri and Toni’s romance squicked me out, especially there is a point where he feeds on her without her consent and the fact he does assault her. That being said, he does apologize for the feeding from her and admits he it was wrong and though its a little vague, it’s explained he was being controlled by the Mark, just like Toni was. The assault, though it does rub me the wrong way, makes sense as he was defending himself against her. 

Some of the descriptors at times felt a little cliche, such as “raven-black hair.” 

Toni’s supposed infamy for being a badass vampire hunter usually didn’t match up to her as she actually acted in the field. 

Near the end of the book, Toni was knocked unconscious about three times, including once during an action scene. I was a little annoyed at this. 

There was no explanation how any sort of “clean up” was done after vampire attacks. There didn’t seem to be a protocol, which mixed me up. 

A lot of the timing of events felt off to me.

Dream/nightmare sequences were used to tell us Toni’s backstory. I feel like this could’ve been woven into the actual story and narration, as the way the nightmares were written didn’t feel natural or convincing. 

I wish there was more of a focus on the supernatural creatures and how they work cases. 

The slang for vampires at times seemed a bit childish and random. In one sentence, Toni will think of them as purely “vampires” and the next, they’d be call “vamps” or “blood suckers.” 

Final verdict

The Blood Diamond is pretty middle of the road for me and sits at a 3/5 stars, which basically means “good” to me. The rating of 5/10 also matches this. The Blood Diamond has its problems, but if you can look past those, and are looking for a fun and light piece of entertainment, it may fit what you’re looking for. 

What really knocked off those two stars were the world building issues, the muddy plot (that romance took over), and some of the writing issues I had stated above. 

That being said, a lot is promised in the sequel, and I do hope the sequel gives us readers world building, a better crafted mystery, a more focused plot, and details our established characters a bit more. I would definitely rec this book to people who enjoy vampire books and miss reading them and those a fan of YA and tired of the dystopian genre currently being passed around. 

***/***** or 5/10

[breeeliss]

[Miraculous Ladybug]: It’s All Hype!

lol i’ve stopped being anxious about these prompts being late, they’ll happen eventually

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[Day 4: Common Interests]

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

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Title: It’s All Hype! Pairings: Ladynoir (Ladybug x Chat Noir), Adrienette (Adrien x Marinette) Summary: Alya accidentally gets the Internet in a frenzy after announcing that Ladybug and Chat Noir are dating, but the two heroes are adamant about correcting the error and making sure the world knows that they’re just friends. So Alya proposes a staged public break up to set everything right.

In hindsight, she really underestimated how utterly freaking difficult that would be.

Day 5: Right-Hook

Chat Noir used the twenty euros that Ladybug had reluctantly handed over to buy himself a plate of crepes and waffles, and after that the Egg Discourse™ had thankfully ended. They finished their brunch together while Alya started checking all of the likes and hits racking up on the video that she had posted of the two of them arguing rather vehemently about food of all things. Figures that they couldn’t dare to argue with each other about something serious but the moment you brought up irrelevant discourse about breakfast foods, they were both at each other’s necks and attracting the attention of an entire restaurant with their antics. Alya thought about telling them that they acted exactly like an old married couple who loved to bicker about the little things and didn’t sweat the big ones, but she figured it would sound odd considering they were trying to convince the world of the exact opposite.

The three of them ended up on top of an apartment building near the café with Alya leaning against the chimney and moderating all the comments that were steadily pouring onto the end of the video. She must have been at it for longer than she realized because at some point Ladybug and Chat Noir discarded their weapons next to her and started killing time in that way they usually did whenever people randomly caught footage of them on their patrols at night. They’d switched from a crunching competition to doing handstands on the edge of the roof to some light hand-to-hand practice by the time Alya was sure she’d gotten all of the inappropriate comments off.

“Sorry about this,” Alya told them as Chat Noir knocked Ladybug onto her back and declared himself the winner of their second round. “My friend Nino usually helps mod this stuff for me when I’m busy but he’s got a family thing right now and I don’t want to let the comments get too cluttered.”

“Take your time, we don’t have much to do today anyway,” Ladybug said, sounding slightly out of breath. She nodded at Chat Noir. “Again.”

“Don’t stay so flat footed by the way,” Chat Noir told her. “Stay bouncing on your toes and you can move quicker. When you’re ready.”

Ladybug lunged at him first while Chat Noir quickly blocked her punch, and Alya cleared her throat as she pulled up a few comments. “Alright. So the results of that little show during brunch are turning out to be interesting.”

“I can’t believe you actually uploaded all of that,” Chat Noir called over, ducking underneath Ladybug’s kick and coming up behind her.

“It was the closest thing to a fight I was going to get out of you two, of course I posted it. We’ve been at this for like two days, I’ve gotta take what I can get.”

Ladybug landed a kick in Chat Noir’s abdomen but he stepped back with the momentum of the blow and stayed steady on his feet. “Well, is the video helping?”

Alya sighed. “So a few things are happening. Good news is that there are actually a few people who are theorizing that your non-existent relationship is looking a little rocky.”

“Oh sweet!” Chat Noir grinned. “That’s good!”

“Alright. So. LadynoirXOXO229 said ‘if they’re fighting about something as silly as eggs I can only imagine what their really bad fights must look like. I’m worried.’ Frowny face, frowny face, sobbing emoji.”

Ladybug snorted. “Our really bad fights involve akumas flinging us halfway across the city.” She hissed when her arm collided with Chat’s steel-toed boots as she blocked one of his kicks. “If you can deal with that, you can deal with anything.”

“Uh, ChatNoirIsMySon said, ‘jesus I never expected them to get so uppity about something as simple as eggs. Are they okay?’”

Chat Noir paused for a moment and sighed forlornly. “No, unfortunately. I feel horribly betrayed.”

“Oh get over it,” Ladybug said with an eyeroll. “If you feel so betrayed why don’t you try knocking me over again?”

“So demanding! ”

“And then ItsCalledChatBug — um yeah, sure buddy, like I didn’t totally coin Ladynoir from like day one — they said ‘Ladybug looked about two seconds from punching Chat Noir in the face.’ You’ve got a few more comments that all read something like that so I’d say that the seed is planted.”

“Well that’s a good sign I g —!!” His sentence was cut off as Ladybug took advantage of his distraction and swiped his feet out from under him with her leg and left him sprawling on his back. He grunted when Ladybug playfully planted her foot in the middle of his chest and waved sweetly at him. Chat scowled at her and held his hand out so that she could help him up. “Stop looking so self-satisfied,” he muttered. “I’m still winning.”

“For now.”

“Now for the bad news,” Alya continued, ignoring their back and forth. “Which is what I was admittedly afraid of when I posted the thing. It kind of just encouraged people. Like a lot of people. Like they think you guys are such a cute and adorable couple and that this is proof of how close the two of you are.”

“Well I guess they’re not wrong ,” Ladybug reasoned. “At least not completely.”

“So HawkmothGetBent said , ‘this is literally how me and my boyfriend are all the time this is the single most adorable thing I’ve ever seen the two of them do.’ LBBeauty said ‘this is the greatest thing to ever happen to the Internet hands down everyone else go home.’ OhMyWhiskers said ‘I’d pay money to see the two of them do stuff like this on a daily basis. Relationship goals tbh.’ So essentially we took two steps forward and then took two steps backwards. Meaning we didn’t go anywhere. Although, I will say you two got me a ridiculous amount of followers this weekend so thank you very much for that.”

“Dude, who is OhMyWhiskers I want that username,” Chat Noir laughed.

Ladybug stopped for a moment, gently smacked his arm, and pointed to her eyes. “Focus before I accidentally punch you somewhere important.”

“Sorry, sorry. Come at me, I’m ready.”

Alya started laughing. “Oh man, okay, get this. Because I’m a little asshole, I pinned a poll at the top of the blog asking people what they thought about eggs. So far it’s 60% yay and 40% nay.”

“Ha!” Ladybug cheered as they kept on fighting. “What did I tell you?”

“You are not changing my mind, they’re still gross, and we are not reopening this discussion.”

Alya stuffed her phone in her jacket and pillowed her arms behind her head as she laid down flat on the roof. Out of the corner of her eyes she could still see that they were sparring but she decided to think out loud anyway. “I think we need to just screw it and do something dramatic. Like we’ve been doing things by the books this entire time. I think we just need something super crazy and out there you know? Just sucker punch everyone with the news.”

They were caught in a really intense moment of rapid blows and blocks, but when they briefly pushed away from each other to catch their breaths Ladybug answered, “How crazy are we talking?”

Alya shrugged and started fiddling with the ends of her jacket sleeves. “What if you both faked your deaths?”

Chat Noir wiped his forehead. “Then Paris would be doomed because Hawkmoth would have a field day.”

“Oh right, I forgot about that part,” Alya mumbled. “What if only Ladybug faked her death?”

“Then there would be no one to purify akumas and Chat would have to fight by himself.”

“Okay, so we kill Chat Noir.”

Chat Noir frowned. “I think we’ll run into a similar problem.”

“Fine!” she said, throwing up her arms. “Then I’ll fake my death.”

Ladybug snorted. “I don’t see how that’ll help us. Or you for that matter.”

“Well I don’t know what else to come up with,” Alya complained. “I’m totally out of ideas. I honestly didn’t mean to make you both uncomfortable. And I know how I can get with the fan theories and stuff and I need to remember that you guys are real people and I have to be careful about all that stuff. I get it. Trust me. So I thought I could like make up for it by helping you and fixing my mistake, but I’m hitting a block. And it doesn’t help that you two are literally impossible to work with! Always gotta make things complicated!”

Chat Noir laughed and walked over to gently pat her on the head. “I can’t tell if you’re mad at us or mad at yourself, but don’t worry about it. We know you weren’t trying to be mean about it. And you realized your mistakes. We’re not mad, we promise.”

“Not even about these rumors running around?”

Ladybug shrugged. “I mean, I won’t lie, I’d prefer if they weren’t out there. Like I said, it’s just….weird to have everyone wishing for you to get together with another guy when you’ve got a boyfriend you love very much. But we’re not going to hate you if it turns out we can’t squash them. We’ll just have to deal.”

Alya bit her lip. “I can still take those pictures down, you know. It’s a little late in the game, but at least it’ll help. Or at least delete the shippy caption. It’ll only take a second.”

“There’s still hope of this blowing over eventually though, right?” Ladybug asked.

Alya and Chat Noir laughed simultaneously. “Not likely, my Lady,” Chat Noir said regretfully. “Like I said. Our fans are really intense.”

Alya chewed on the nail of her thumb and kept her gaze up at the overcast sky. “Hey, I know we’re not like…. super close friends or anything. And you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but totally off the record: did this shipping stuff bother you before you started dating your partners? I know you kinda said it didn’t, but why?”

Chat Noir hummed and sat cross legged next to Alya’s head. “I mean, to be honest, we didn’t realize that we had an official fandom until recently. I mean, we’ve been following your blog for ages, but now it’s like the center for everything having to do with us. At first when we found out about it, we were kind of too surprised to really have an opinion. It wasn’t something we ever expected to happen to us.”

“Everyone loves you two,” Alya explained. “No one would bother with being this extra if they didn’t really care about you and what you do for us.”

Ladybug leaned against the chimney and stared down at Alya and Chat. “We know,” she smiled. “It’s just this whole superhero thing got sprung on us really unexpectedly. All we knew was that we had these powers and there were people who needed us. We do this because it’s necessary, because we’re the only people who can do what we do. We sort of didn’t think about everything else. Like the fanfare and the publicity and standing up for something bigger. So it took us a while to react.”

“And when you finally did?”

Chat Noir shrugged. “I mean, I don’t know we sort of just ignored it. People sometimes got really crazy with it when they asked personal questions or were inappropriate or something like that. Most of the time, though, it was just stuff on the Internet and gossip and it’s easy to just not take that stuff seriously. But it’s different when you have someone you really care about — someone that makes you happy and someone that knows you so well — and you’re hearing everyone just talk about how much they say you’re the perfect match for a completely different girl.”

“We care about each other so much,” Ladybug said. “Honestly. I can’t imagine not having Chat Noir around. We act the way we do because we’re important to each other, and he’s one of my closest friends. But it’s just not like that, you know? We’re both in relationships that make us so happy, so it’s just not gonna happen with the two of us. It’s weird having the Internet think otherwise.”

“I see what you’re saying, but I also understand why people think the way they do,” Alya said. “ I thought that until you told me you weren’t together. You just have this chemistry with each other. It’s not something you see all the time, you know? So it’s easy for people to assume it’s something romantic.”

Ladybug reached down and fiddled with the ends of Chat Noir’s hair. “We kind of have to have that chemistry.”

Alya frowned. “What do you mean?

“When you do what we do and have a partner doing it along with you, have to learn how to put your whole trust into that person,” Ladybug replied. “I wouldn’t be able to defeat akumas if I didn’t have total faith in Chat to keep me safe or distract an enemy or agree to a really last minute plan. We have to be close. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t be able to work as well as we do. And doing our job would be impossible.”

“So you guys got close really quickly because you had to?”

“Eh, yes and no,” Chat Noir decided. “Don’t get me wrong, we had to really get used to each other and spend a lot of time together at first once we realized this was our job now. But it also happened kind of naturally. Even in our first battle when we were strangers, we worked really well together. We don’t clash on the important stuff and that lets us work together without much tension. It’s almost too good to be true sometimes, but I’ve learned not to question it.”

Ladybug laughed when Chat Noir smiled happily and nuzzled against her hand. “The two of us lucked out. I couldn’t possibly ask for anyone better. And I guess maybe from the outside looking in it does come off a certain way to some people.”

“Plus it also helps that we are both very good looking. Especially me.”

Ladybug frowned and reached over to punch him in the shoulder, but he rolled to the side and hopped up on his feet before she could touch him. He winked and stuck his tongue out. “Ah, you gotta be quicker than that.”

“Oh square up, you loser. You’re just waiting for me to get a good hit in aren’t you?”

“It wouldn’t be a full day otherwise.”

“God,” Alya laughed. “If you’re this nauseating with each other I can only imagine you two with the people you’re dating. Chat’s girlfriend must get sick of you very quickly.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes. “Oh man, I can only imagine.”

“Excuse the both of you, I am a gentleman,” Chat said, sounding affronted. “I regale her with my love, affection, and quality puns on a daily basis just like every self respecting man ought to do. And I make her laugh. That’s important in a relationship.”

“You sure she’s not laughing out of pity?”

“You know what? Just for that? I’m not going to feel bad when I punch you. Let’s go.”

“Don’t test me. I’ll deck you in the face and then your girlfriend is gonna wonder why a little girl beat you up.”

“First of all rude. Second of all, everyone knows you’re a certified badass so stop acting humble and kick my ass already.”

Alya cupped her hands around her mouth. “You’re killing me with all of this banter, go get a room!” she laughed.

They both made silly faces at her and continued on with their sparring, and Alya was comfortable to enjoy the weather, watch the sky, and occasionally look over at the two of them taking advantage of each other’s company without the dramatics of an akuma getting involved. As exhausting as dealing with both of them was, Alya was in a way grateful for what little time she got to spend with them. Sure she’d snagged interviews with them before, but those had always been business first. This was just Ladybug and Chat Noir acting their age, being dorks, and taking advantage of an opportunity to have some fun. It was a charming look into their relationship that Alya only ever got to see literal snapshots of, and, all this dating-not dating drama aside, it made her realize how precious it seemed. These weren’t jobs they asked for, but they made do and gained each other out of the deal. It wasn’t until then that she felt bad for trying to publicly smear their relationship, even if it was fake and only for the sake of diffusing rumors that she started.

It wasn’t just that she was out of ideas. It was also that it wasn’t fair to make the world think that Ladybug and Chat Noir were anything other than what they were right now — two people who meant the world to each other even through the worst of times. Two people who shared something special.

She let out a huge sigh. Looks like she was back to square one — doing this the hard way. Buzz about their supposed relationship was going to be ridiculously difficult to kill and it was going to take forever . But editing her original post and killing the rumor on her blog was probably a good place to start with. After that, it was just squashing all of the dissents to the correction in the comments sections. Maybe she could get help. Alya would cover the Ladyblog, Nino would cover Facebook, Marinette would deal with Instagram, and Adrien would snoop around on Tumblr. Hell, maybe she could bribe Chloe to yell at people on Twitter. She was no doubt pissed to hear that Ladybug was dating Chat Noir instead of her and would probably enjoy dashing everyone’s hopes. There were no guarantees that any of it would actually help put a dent in things, but at least it was something.

God this was going to suck. Lesson learned. Marinette was going to be reminding her about this slip up for months.

Although, even as she was thinking this, her reporter instincts were bringing up one last question to niggle in the back of her mind as she kept watching the heroes. She wasn’t sure when she’d be able to speak with them this candidly again in the future and — off the record of course — there was just something she had to know for herself.

“Can I ask one more question?” she said.

“Sure,” Ladybug struggled out in between ducks and blows. “What’s up?”

“Did you have any feelings for each other before you both started seeing other people?”

Chat Noir froze and snapped his head towards Alya. “Wait, what??”

But he picked the wrong moment to get distracted because right when Chat Noir stopped, it was already too late for Ladybug to stop the right-hook she had aimed straight for his face. Instead of dodging, he felt the full force of her fist to his cheek and went sprawling back a couple of feet before landing on his butt and howling at the searing pain that was spreading all over the left side of his face.

“Oh my God!!!” Ladybug screamed. “I’m so sorry!! Oh no, oh no, I didn’t expect you to just stop, I’m so sorry.”

“Ah, Jesus,” Chat Noir said, working his sore jaw. “When you said you wanted to deck me in the face I thought you were kidding.”

Ladybug gently cupped his injured cheek and turned his head. “Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Chat Noir laughed. “Nah, you’re good. Might just bruise a bit, that’s all. I deserved it for not paying attention.”

Ladybug bit her lip and pressed a quick apology kiss to his cheek. “I’m still sorry.”

“It’s fine, honest. Crap you hit hard though!”

Alya came over and winced at his cheek. “Dude, you’re gonna wanna ice that. She really clocked you good.”

“Yeah, my bad, I was, uh….trying to hear your question and I got distracted. What was it again?”

Alya bit her lip, opened her mouth, but decided against it. “Never mind. It’s honestly nothing, don’t worry about it. Besides, I’ve gotta get going anyways.” She pulled out her cell phone and checked the time. “My little sisters are going to be back from their sleepover soon and I need to look after them until Maman comes home.”

“Need help getting down?” Ladybug asked. “I could give you a lift back home if you want.”

“Don’t worry about it. If I biked all the way here just to try some eggs, I can bike home.”

Ladybug let Alya hang onto her yoyo while she gently lowered her down to the sidewalk. Chat Noir crawled over, huffing and whining in pain while holding his cheek, and called down to her while she unchained her bike. “What are we going to do about this whole dating rumors thing?”

Alya shrugged. “Eh, I’m all out of ideas at the moment. I’m gonna sleep on it and probably do some damage control on social media in the meantime so at least it feels like I’m doing something. You know where to find me if you’ve got a way to make this blow over quicker. I’ll do some thinking too.”

“We trust you,” Ladybug smiled. “And thanks for everything. Even though it really didn’t go the way we planned.”

“Oh, that’s an understatement,” she chuckled. Alya straddled her bike and saluted the two heroes. “Welp. It’s been a blast, you crazy kids. And pay better attention so pretty girls don’t beat the crap out of you, Chat. Okay?”

He rolled his eyes and gave her a thumbs up, still holding his face. “Yeah. Sure. Will do.”

Ladybug pouted. “You want some ice, kitty? I’ll run to the bakery across the street.”

Chat sniffled and nodded. “Yes please.”

Alya shook her head in amusement and pushed off from her bike waving over her shoulder as she dipped into the street and headed home. Yup. These two were definitely special, alright.

[hope-for-olicity]

What Goes Through Your Mind When You Fall in Love With a Brilliant Man Named Sherlock Holmes

Happy Happy Birthday Mel!!! @mel-loves-all I’m so glad I found you on Tumblr and I wish you the very happiest of birthdays!!!

This is my first attempt at a Sherlolly fanfic but I had to try to as it is for the lovely @mel-loves-all​’s birthday! Told from Molly Hooper’s point of view, not brave enough to tackle the mind of Sherlock Holmes.

Coffee?

Molly’s friends had been pushing her to find a man and she had finally found one that was interesting. If she was honest she had a little crush on Sherlock Holmes.

So she decided to bite the bullet, she refreshed her lipstick and walked back into the lab with confidence and asked “I was wondering if you would like to have coffee.” Truthfully, she’d stumbled a little when he noticed her lipstick -  but she asked.

And Sherlock responded in true Sherlock fashion, by saying how he takes his coffee. He had totally missed the ask and thought she was offering to get him one.

Well she had asked and that was something.

Happy Christmas

Molly checked the mirror one more time, too much? She was wearing the dress the girl in the shop said would wow and she wanted to wow.

She looked at her reflection the mirror and pulled the dress down a little, she wasn’t used to wearing dresses.  But of course pulling down the dress only revealed more of her breasts which in the push up bra looked impressive.

He would definitely notice her tonight. And then she would know if she was wasting her efforts in wooing the great Sherlock Holmes.

_______

All her fussing had made her the last to arrive to the party. She could hear the others talking as she arrived. John, his girlfriend Jeanette,  Mrs. Hudson, Detective Inspector Lestrade all seemed to be having a jolly time.

Reflecting back she realized she should have seen it coming. It was Sherlock’s way to deduce. But she was truly mortified as she stood there being deduced herself - even if he was getting it wrong.

Once Sherlock realized the error of his ways he did sincerely apologize. Sherlock never apologizes to anyone. She was so dumbstruck she almost missed him leaning in to kiss her on the cheek.

Liking a person like Sherlock Holmes was going to be complicated at the very least.

Time in the Lab

Molly knew something was bothering Sherlock. He looked so sad, but really he only did this when he thought no one could see.

So she told him a personal story about her father hoping it would lead him to feel comfortable to open up. In her babbling on about her father she accidentally gave away a bit of herself, saying “I don’t count.”  She quickly offered to help him in anyway possible but she knew she had said too much. She rushed out of the lab too disturbed by her own actions to notice the look on Sherlock’s face.

_____

Molly was shocked later when Sherlock emphatically told her how much she counted. Truthfully she lost the ability to breathe. It was all too much. All she could think to say is what do you need me to do?

And it was in this moment that she knew without a doubt she was in love with Sherlock Holmes. This was not a schoolgirl crush. This ran far far deeper.

John and Mary’s Wedding

Molly quite loved a good wedding and John and Mary were truly a lovely couple and she was attending with her very own fiance.

Molly gave up her dreams for Sherlock once he had disappeared. She honestly thought she would never see him again. So she replaced him with her very own Sherlock Holmes look alike. This was all grand until the real Sherlock had returned. And for one terrifying moment she had thought he was going to point out the similarities. Luckily, she was spared.

Now she was dancing at John and Mary’s reception after attending one of the most interesting weddings of her life. Sherlock literally caught a murderer and it was beautiful to watch how his mind worked.

She almost forgot she had a fiance until he spoke up at the most inopportune time saying the silliest thing. He really did have to go.

She looked around for Sherlock, she had not seen him since he passed her after playing that beautiful piece for John and Mary. She loved watching the three together, she was happy Sherlock had found happiness. Although, she did worry about how he would adapt to John being married.

She decided go outside and catch a bit of air. As she stood just outside the door she could see Sherlock walking away. She was tempted to shout out and ask him to come back. But what would she say? I never stopped loving you? No those were words best left unsaid.

The Phone Call

Molly hung up the phone after it went dead. The tears were streaming down her face but she did not wipe them away.

Sherlock loved her.

Sherlock loved HER.

At first she thought this was another of his twisted games but this one was especially cruel. Molly knew that she wasn’t adept at hiding her feelings. Everyone knew she loved Sherlock. Except apparently Mr. Observant himself, Sherlock. How could not have known? How could he notice EVERYTHING except HER feelings?

But she believed him when she heard the surprise in his voice. He had not known it was true and she was pretty sure he had been just as blind to his own feelings for her.

Her world was spinning. Molly could do nothing but stand there and hold the phone.

They loved one another.

They loved one another and Molly knew everything was going to be okay. 

@mel-loves-all @oliverfel4 @memcjo @diggo26 @lalawo1

[katehoughton1950]

Awesome iRobot Roomba 980 Bera Huge Discount

Just in time for the Holiday Season, iRobot released their prized Roomba 980 vacuum cleaner. With competitor Neato recently releasing their somewhat enhance Botvac “D ” series, it was speculated that iRobot might be following suit. Yet, it has been a comparatively long time since the Roomba 880 and 870 debuted. I honestly didn’t understand what to expect. Definitely, iRobot is not interested in ceding any market share to competitors, and rightfully so.

As with all previous Roomba’s there are things to like and things that I don’t like. Regardless, it ’s going to be challenging for me to not gift a couple Roomba 980’s this year.

In this Roomba 980 review, I’ll get into the crucial features (what’s new) as well as the Pros and Cons. At the bottom, I’ll suggest a number of choices and make an overall recommendation.

Essential Attributes –

The following are remarkable features on the 980, and some of the new, updated:

More Battery Charge Life: The Roomba 980 is capable of running fro a full 2 hours before needed to recharge. On some of my older 700 series vacuums I’ve come close to this with after market third party replacement batteries, but this can be the finest factory default (out of the carton) battery life thus far. It’s still not Lithium ion (for those that enjoy that), but it really is an advancement. Like the 800 series robots, the 980 will automatically return to the docking station base, but it will recharge, then resume cleaning where it left off.

iRobot HOUSE Program: For me, this is the game changer. I’ve been waiting for robot vacuums to become fully incorporated into the smart home experience. iRobot is the first robot vacuum business – to my knowledge – that has a program such as this. You'll be able to press “Clean” from anywhere and the 980 will start/stop as wanted. If I’m at work or from the home, I can get things began while I’m away. The program is easy basically functions as an advanced remote control and to use. On the Roomba’s that is older you could have a pre-determined schedule to run every day, but not instantaneous control like this!

It’s really more of an upgrade. This can be a big deal. Essentially it allows the visual localization allows the Roomba to “look” out and up to help navigate and map the room. This can be the kind of ground breaking betterment that vastly improves the 980 over previous versions. What does this mean almost? Bumping into things randomly and a more organized efficient and – – cleaning path.

Thankfully, iRobot wasn’t content with just a couple of new attributes. In addition they upped their game in the power section. The AeroForce cleaning system is exactly the same base technology, but 2 times more effective at picking up debris per cleaning cycle. It also has “carpet boost” which maximizes air power when it detects a carpet or rug beneath. The end result is a hoover that is traditional that is more extensive clean, reproducing a greater standard.

Enhanced Virtual Wall Lighthouse: Roomba uses these small towers to signal where to clean (and where not to clean…acting as an invisible wall obstacle). The 980 has stepped up it’s lighthouse game. They truly are now smaller and take AA batteries (as opposed to the hulking “D” batteries for previous series). This is a nice advancement because who has extra “D” batteries?

Pros and Cons – Things I like and Things I Don’t

Pros

The Program is Awesome: It’s reasonably easy and straightforward, but it means everything to me. Being able to control my robot from my telephone means the Roomba is now part of my house family that is smart. Picking up on where tools like Ecobee smart thermostats and the Nest have left off, iRobot has really produced on a smart, internet-connected, roomba vacuum. I eagerly thinking about the options for future integration with controls and my various smart house programs.

Program Helps Monitor Care: There is a very cool “diagnostics” portion of the program that monitors distinct parts of the Roomba and uses simple bars to let you know when things need to be altered or serviced (think emptying the bin, changing extractors, filters, etc…). Additionally, it tells you precisely how to perform the desired maintenance requirement.

Better on Carpeting: Robots vacuums consistently have a tendency to perform better on hardwood floors and hard floor choices (tile, etc…). Now, the newly redesigned motor is not particularly bad at adjusting to carpeting surfaces as well. After found, the 980 will engage a bit more muscle to completely clean carpeting the manner they should be cleaned. In a side by side test with my Roomba 880 (and a group of spilled crushed cheerios), both “seemed” to clean the same at a distance, but the 980 really was able to pick up more of the crumbs that had filtered down to the underparts of the the carpet. It was a subtle difference, an important difference nonetheless, although t that is challenging tell from standing up even.

The new app, the more powerful battery and the automatic recharging/resume attribute makes the Roomba 980 more hands free than both previous versions and the competition. Slowly but surely, dwelling robotics is living up to it’s promise. If you hate vacuuming – or physically cannot do it this is the solution that is outsourced that is quintessential. Short the Roomba 980 is the best option out there.

Navigation is Apparently Improved: Occasionally new features are added and I can hardly tell the difference. For cleaning in a randomized, haphazard pattern before, Roomba’s have had the knock. While the ending result was clean floors, how it occurred wasn’t quite. Nevertheless, it was also somewhat ineffective. It was among the comparisons I enjoyed about most Neato versions. Now, the 980 is considerably more organized, methodical, and efficient.

It bumps into matters to gain its bearings, particularly in rooms with tons of furniture. Merely not nearly to the degree it did previously. On careful observation it seems the 980 will remember these “bumps” for future cleans and WOn't keep doing it with the same wild abandon.

Brighter Algorithm: For all you geeks out there, this robot is actually smarter than it’s the competition and forerunners.

Generally, I discovered that the 980 spent much less time than both my 880 and Botvac’s (included the new Linked Botvac) pausing and computing as it creates the map of the room.

Excellent Customer Service: iRobot remains the leader as it pertains to customers service. This more of a general “pro” and particular to this model, but still worth noting. Every time I’ve needed to replace a Roomba, I’ve had no issues. They truly are also good at walking you through diagnosing issues.

Powerful Secondary Parts Market: Unlike other robot companies, the Roomba has a deluge of after market businesses specializing in creating better replacement accessories and components. For example, I’ve been able to find replacement batteries that are better in relation to the factory default ones.

Better Suction Complete: My two quasi scientific methods for quantifying this are that A) I can sense a lot more wind/air coming from the unit and B) those larger particles of grit that only high powered vacs often get are being caught in the dust bin.

Cons

App Could be More: This isn’t really a legit gripe, because I’m thrilled with the new program. I’d like to fully incorporate my Roomba with the rest of my smart dwelling. It would be pleasant to be able to handle everything from one program (and one controller like the SmartThings Hub and others). It probably wouldn’t be tough to do and it may be something iRobot already intends to do anyhow.

Not “Perfect”: It’s a definite progress, but it’s still not perfect. It sometimes gets confused by power cords and can have trouble with brinks that were substantial. Once in a while it will get stuck, but once you determine the issue areas, it’s easy to “Roomba proof” your house. It’s not quite like a human….yet.

Both the Neato Botvac Joined and the Dyson Eye are rumored to be coming out “ soon. How? I can’t actually tell. The Botvac Linked (which features similar program controls) will likely be out sometimes this season, but no firm release date continues to be set. The Dyson Eye was rumored to be in the works for years, but I 'ven’t heard much lately about an anticipated release date. It could still be 6-12 months away. What this means is that the Roomba 980 could have some harder competition on the horizon. Right now, the 980 is the greatest robot on the market, but that could change. Especially if the price points are more affordable, Roomba could be severely undercut. UPGRADE: The Dyson 360 Eye has been released. Generally speaking, it's a more powerful vacuum, but less capable room -to-room navigation. You can read my complete review for more details.

Nevertheless, for pitch black rooms you'll necessarily get an error code. My simple alternative would be to keep on in every room that needs it.

It’s still worth noting, although carpeting Boost is Loud: It picks up more dirt, so I’m a happy customer. Don’t plan on sleeping in the same room.

Only Accessible in One Area: So far as is often true for new releases – the Roomba 980 is ONLY accessible via the shop that is iRobot here. That is likely because they would like to control pricing. As soon as it’s released like carton retailers and Amazon to other markets, I’ll make sure to update this post. UPGRADE 10/8#158/15: It’s only been released to Amazon (see here for the listing)!

Price: As always, iRobot is the cost leader. All their robots usually are somewhat to moderately higher priced than the competition. The 980 is different. In fact, it’s not pretty darn cheap! At RM 4850 per unit, this can be likely not something that’s simple to spring for. You can check out this listing for more detailed pricing info. In this case, you do get what you buy. This generation really HAS enhanced many aspects that were significant. Hands down, this really is the best robot vacuum currently accessible. Still, if this really is your first robot, you may want to look into some less expensive – but still qualified – alternatives (see below)

Other Roomba 980 Options to Contemplate

If the cost is too much of a sticking point, not to worry. There are other great hoovers with considering.

Roomba 880

Sometimes last years version is the best value around. Sure, it’s not the latest and greatest, but it still can offer many of the exact same benefits. Until the 980 was released the Roomba 880 WAS the cream of the crop. At time, it was the best robot hoover money could purchase. The patented AeroForce cleaning system is 50% more effective at cleaning up debris in relation to the 700 series. This, joined with a a better battery, a larger dust bin, and a remote control made it the most hands free apparatus at the time. It doesn’t have the revolutionary use, but it's all the other essential attributes for a true runner up. Most significantly, it’s a total cheaper compared to 980 (check this listing for even steeper reductions). Still costly, but a lot.

Botvac D80

I wasn’t too impressed with the original Botvac release, but some helpful improvements have been made by the new “D” chain. Notably, they’ve repaired a problem with the brush (by altering a bearing) to allow it to be less susceptible to getting tangled (particularly with person and pet hair, in my experience). The Botvac D80 doesn’t just look better, it also functionally performs better than preceding Neato models. The suction power is the best yet and comparable to the new Roomba 980. Still, you won’t get the app controls, but it not too hard to schedule and use. The patented laser navigation technology means more courses that are organized and it generally works quite well. Where it generally sells for less compared to the top line Roomba’s it's possible for you to see this listing here.

Roomba 650

It’s been around for a while, but it’s not still false. It MUCH cheaper. You are able to read my full take here. If budget is your top concern, attempt the 650 out to see if it on your needs. Yes, it’s missing a group of pleasant extras” that is “ but the core cleaning technology is till there. The 650 is ideal for people who have merely a little area they need routinely cleaned, apartments, or small homes. It does not come with the standard HEPA filter (great for those with allergies and pet owners) like the 880 and 980, but the AeroVac filter does a good enough job. I still have mine running to this day after 3 years (and a couple of replacement batteries). On top of that, you can find the 650 for an extremely affordable cost at this listing.

New Robots on the Horizon?

As I mentioned previously, the rumored Dyson Eye is officially under development. Who knows when it will be released. They have but only at that stage it will be unlikely to strike before the 2015 Holiday season. The new attributes on the Roomba 980 may really lead them to delay release until they are able to fit the core characteristics.

The option that is intriguing is the the Neato Botvac “Linked” robot which aims to add WiFi ability that is similar to the Roomba 980. You'll be able to read more here. They’ll have to do it shortly to capitalize entirely, although it'd seem sensible about them to release it prior to the 2015 Holiday season.

UPDATE: See my complete review.

Thinking Cleaner Faceplate

I was somewhat skeptical of this “work-around” at first, but it actually works pretty well. Thinking Cleanser was the outcome of a successful Kickstarter campaign. It adds or 600 series robot and WiFi capacity. Disbelieving? I was also. Basically, you attach a “faceplate” that modifies your Roomba. It’s easy to attach. It is possible to do most of precisely the same functions as the Roomba 980 WiFi, merely in a polished” and intuitive way. If you have to locate your lost Roomba the app is quite sound and will let you schedule slightly, alarm you when your Roomba wants help and plays a song. It’s accessible for just a fraction of the cost of a Roomba that is new here.

Thinking Cleaner is working on a brand new faceplate for the 700/800 chain, but as of yet it only exists as a Kickstarter job here.

Who is this a good option for? 2) Prospective buyers who desire WiFi ability, but can’t afford/don’t need to spend $899 on the 980. By way of example, buying a brand new Roomba 650 and Thinking Cleaner Faceplate will run you .

Roomba 980 vs Botvac Linked

I desired to touch on this briefly because I’ve been getting a lot of questions about it, although I’ll be writing a full comparison up soon.

Both Botvac Connected and the Roomba 980 attribute WiFi enabled management. This is certainly the headline attribute for both. Personally, I favor the Roomba program better, but both are comparable when it comes to characteristics/usage.

What are the Essential Differences? 2) The Botvac now has “Eco” and “Turbo” mode.

UPDATE: It's possible for you to read my complete comparison (recently finished) right here.

Ultimate Call – Is the Roomba 980 Worth it?

The brief reply: Yes! The longer response? If you've the cash, this really is arguably the greatest robot vacuum cleaner on the market. At the minimum, it’s definitely the best roomba model to date.

The 980 is the best robot for the occupation, if you've got a larger house or office/company that must be cleaned often. It can cover the earth and recharge on it’s own as needed. The 980 has the most power/suction and the finest cleaning tech of any robot to get the job done if you'll need a vacuuming occupation that strongly resembles a traditional upright vacuum clean.