#i hate stuff set in the 20th century i hate i hate i hate

[princema-k]

so draw your blade, you wretched fiend and let's you and i fight like the dishonourable dogs we are savage, violent, yet free and when the curtain calls, let me put you out of my misery

[curioushabitforarivergod]

dark(ish) academia books that I don't see recommended enough

I read a lot, both fiction and non-fiction, and a lot of the stuff I've read over the past 2-3 years has had underlying academic tones. I've tried to include books I've at least enjoyed, although there are a few 3 star ratings. All of these books are ones I haven't really seen mentioned in compiled dark academia lists (mainly because some of them fall outside the general scope and are more ✨vibes✨). Feel free to add more less well-known books. I've included my own blurbs of the books but I've got shit memory and some I read like 2 years ago so yeah

Fiction

"Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world." Voltaire

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

Takes place over 10 years and explores family and the destruction left behind after WWI. It discusses the feminine vs. masculine in art and while it can be a little slow to read (took me close to 3 weeks!) theres some really beautiful passages and also some funny ones as well — the characters spend several chapters at a dinner party convinced everyone hates them and constantly hating other people too.

The Dark is Rising (series) by Susan Cooper

Okay, yes this is a kids book series from the 70s/80s but it explores English, Cornish and Welsh mythology and has really good characters and world-building. Even though chronologically the series goes: Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; Silver on the Tree, it's best to read The Dark is Rising first and return back to Over Sea, Under Stone. Anyway, I love this series and I read The Dark is Rising every Christmas because it corresponds pretty much with the days and is easy to place and that's kind of what makes it feel very cozy and academic. Also, theres some brief moments of time travel to the past.

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

This is a beautiful written masterpiece set across the 20th century featuring plenty of train rides across Europe and vampires. It explores some of the history of Walachia and Dracula, as well as the Ottoman Empire and European politics of the time. It's a hefty read but I loved it because it combines history, dark academia, fantasy and vampires.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare

My favourite of Shakespeare that I've seen so far and honestly murder is so dark academia I don't need to talk any further. Strangely, I don't see this recommended enough.

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

This was quite popular a year or two ago, and honestly for good reason. I think it's only really academic because it's linked to Shakespeare and explores the less well-known lives of Shakespeare's family, but it's very good and I thought I'd include it anyway.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

This one feels really light academia to me, but I think it's mainly because of setting. It's set in this fantastical old and crumbling mansion that goes on forever. It's filled with statues and it floods and only two people live in the world. The story is told entirely through diary entries, but it's so well-written because it defamiliarises the reader entirely. It was a light and easy read for me, which is probably why I'm associating it with light academia rather than dark academia.

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

This book kinda mixes chaotic academia and cottagecore academia and is a reflection of girlhood and youth spent in the French countryside in the 50s. There's a toxic relationship between two friends who write a book together before one of them attends prestigious girls' school in England. Also the opening lines are amazing: "You cannot cut an apple with an apple. You cannot cut an orange with an orange. You can, if you have a knife, cut an apple or an orange. Or slice open the underbelly of a fish. Or, if your hands are steady enough and the blade is sharp enough, sever an umbilical cord."

Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

Another classic! I love Waugh, and Brideshead revisited is amazing and my favourite of what I've read of his. The book is quite homoerotic — explicitly so at times, which is fascinating for something published in 1945 — and deals with romanticisation. It nestles quite snugly between Picture of Dorian Grey and Secret History in terms of a dark academic literary canon.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

This is more gothic than dark academia, but it's also a satire of the gothic genre so I feel like it counts. It's definetly not as well known as some of Austen's other works and feels much more raw, particularly because its her first work (although not published until after her death). It's not my favourite Austen, but I love it all the same, especially because of its commentary on warning the romanticisation of other peoples lives and the gothic/dark academia. Although dark academia wasn't a thing in Austen's day!

Possession by A. S. Byatt

I love the main story but because its so metafictive and explores the relationship between two made-up poets (one of whom is bi and cheats on her gf with the second) from the perspective of modern academics, it can get quite hard to read sometimes. It's also really long, but definitely worth reading.

Non-Fiction

I feel like non-fiction is pretty over-looked when it comes to the academia aesthetic which really says something, given that its… kinda the whole point of academia?? Anyway, I read a lot of history books, but I only put down the ones which I found interesting or easy to read, so they're more popular histories than academic histories. Also; essays.

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At the Turn of the First Millennium by Robert Lacey

This explores early medieval life in England based on the Julius Work Calendar, an Anglo-Saxon manuscript believed to date to 1020BCE. It's honestly a really light and interesting read and it talks about what everyday life was like, which I think is important in history. It's in a narrative style so it's quite easy to read even if you don't consume history often.

Oh, to Be a Painter! by Virginia Woolf

This is actually a short, published collection of Virginia Woolf essays on art. I read the essays all in one sitting because they're quite short, but if you're into art and art academia, I'd highly recommend. There's also an essay on the cinema which provides some interesting insights into todays world particularly as Woolf was writing at the time when cinema was only just becoming widespread and an industry in its own right.

A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift

This is a satirical essay on attitudes towards the poor and it suggests that poor people might sell their children as food for the rich, highlighting the callousness of the upper classes. It's available free online and very much relevant today, despite being written close to 300 years ago.

The Time Traveller's Guide to Elizabethan England by Ian Mortimer

Very useful if you ever find yourself stuck in the Elizabethan period! It's read as a sort of travel guide but includes plenty on history as well, providing a picture of what England looked like in the late-Tudor period. Also people will think you're a time-traveller if you carry it around, which adds to your intrigue and mystery.

A Memoir of Jane Austen by James Edward Austen-Leigh

If you like Jane Austen and haven't read this memoir, you should. It's written by her nephew, so it's quite biased and it's not amazing in any way, but it provides a lot of context to her life and is a good light-read or coffee table book. Also my copy was pale pink so win.

Thats it folks. Feel free to include your own less well-known book recs that follow dark/light/chaotic, etc. aesthetics! I'd love to compile a huge list and read more outside my comfort zone.

[mobiuslab]

Reverse: 1999 seems unreal; too good to be true.

The reason I even took notice of it in the first place was its soundtrack. I hate jazz, but they made a jazz song that I actually like, and then there's ReReReRegulus!, what a banger. And then I watched the trailer, to get a feel of what the game is even about. First of all, the accents! Hello? I normally always play games in JP, but this game seems to be set not in some fictional world, but in our real world, in the real London, so the British English dub would be so much more immersive (but of course there are a lot of familiar JP seiyuu, I'm very conflicted.) If this game, unlike Genshin, has a good voice director, who actually does their work and tells the VA's how the character is supposed to sound, I might play in English tbh. As a former FGO player, traveling to the past isn't an entirely novel concept to me, however, we are going to the 20th century, which is quite interesting. I mean, think about it, the 20th century of our real world, there are so many fascinating historical events. And it seems that they are putting in much more effort in portraying the zeitgeist of the era than FGO ever did. The artistic direction seems to be on point for this game. Apparently there is a main character, with a canon personality and fully voiced dialogue. Hoyo making Honkai Impact 2.0's new MC a self-insert was the stupidest move, and I'm so glad that this game understands how much better a canon protagonist is. It really convinces me that they care about storytelling and characterization. The general artistic direction is so impressive, but the game itself also surprises me. The base rate of 6-stars is 1.5% (compared to Genshin and Star Rail's 0.6%) AND the soft pity starts at 60, with hard pity being at 70. There doesn't seem to be a weapon gacha and the dupes only increase skill multipliers instead of completely changing how a character can be played. At first, I thought it was unfortunate that pick-up rate was only 50%, but every character joins the standard pool, so losing the 50/50 won't be nearly as bad. Unless the gacha currency economy is completely fucked, this seems extremely generous. The combat is thankfully not one of those god-awful auto-fights like Blue Archive or PriConne, but it's turn-based, which is much more engaging, allowing for challenging battles that actually pick your brain and require some skill.

However, there is an auto-mode for the mundane stuff, and get this, you can record your actions, rather than having an AI do everything wrong. And thankfully, there is no PvP, so you don't need to compete with whales. Knowing all this, I really have to wonder, where is the catch? There must be some huge flaw, right? It is as if the devs of Reverse: 1999 looked at all the complaints and criticism of all other gacha games, and just decided to address all of them. As long as the game doesn't have a huge reliance on meta characters to clear endgame content and event-limited content and the writing doesn't absolutely suck, then this game might be the perfect gacha game. I'm so excited to give it a try!

[displacedbias]

[pre-gala]

Ted couldn't help but envy his twin sometimes. He was pretty lucky in ways Felix never even seemed to notice. Lucky in other ways? No, that would be an outright lie. But in his sense of fashion, his taste for higher class clothing, and etiquette, and language, and... all that other stuff Ted personally found boring-- were all things Fe absolutely thrived in. Ted only barely managed to learn it just because he was going to inherit their father's company, and even then, he'd hated every second. Felix on the other hand, had no reason to learn it better than Ted ever could, but he did. He had a real talent for it. And it was probably another case of doing it in the hopes he'd earn their dad's favour for once, but Ted could tell Felix did actually enjoy that stuff too.

The kindergala again... Ted shifted himself on the couch he was sitting on. --Well, 'sitting' was the wrong word. He never liked sitting still for too long with the restless energy he had, and now he was hanging upside down, back draping over the cushions, legs up on the backrest. 

It was a shame that Penny couldn't come this time. Something about being busy with the numerous afterschool stuff she'd begun taking up, and Ted understood. After all, he had MMA, music lessons, and business classes, but that was enough to juggle with the gala going on too. Besides, he could probably plan some other date with Penny, just the two of them. That'd be nice. But he was really hoping he could go on a double date, now that Felix was finally ready to ask someone out this time. No matter; he was gonna wingman the heck outta him and Ozzy, and hopefully they'd have as great of a time as Penny and himself had. ...The last thing he wanted was to see his twin sad. Yeah, no, Ted had already decided this gala was gonna be fun no matter what!!!

But still, Ted didn't entirely want to come alone either. It was a masquerade party this time around, wasn't it? ...It was kind of a no brainer as to which one of his friends would enjoy that the most.

Calling up Alice to invite her turned into a nice conversation, which turned into Ted immediately setting off to go to her house. She was such a creative person, always bursting with ideas he'd never even thought of. All he did was complain about the dress code, how much he hated wearing stiff, fancy tuxes and suits. He had plenty of those in his closet, thanks to the typical Huxley dinner parties and company balls that Ted was forced to attend as the son that Mr. Huxley had put all his hopes on since the moment of his birth. Eugh. But he really liked Alice's ideas-- much preferred them, really-- And she mentioned having some clothing in her possession that might work.

"Why not wear something else?" Alice had suggested during the phone call, "If you don't enjoy wearing formal clothing, then don't. It is a masquerade, yes? Masks are an important part of the attire, indeed, but that's just one component of it. Costumes are another big part of it. Actual costumes, not just suits and ties; although there is a lot of that in the modern day."

Ted blinked. That was news to him. "Like, Halloween costumes?"

"...Hm, well, somewhat?" Ted could hear Alice's voice teetering on how to answer that, "Sure, I suppose. Like Halloween costumes, but with a level of decorum."

"So no dressing in Spongebob foam suits?"

"I suppose you could. I don't see why anyone would stop you, but traditionally, no." Alice rejected solemnly, not even a hint of getting out of character, refined and composed, "Regrettably, Spongebob was not invented long 'til the eve of the 20th century. But I am sure aristocrats would have loved to have Spongebob costumes as their main mode of dress for masquerades, had that materialized in their time." Ted stifled a laugh as he listened to Alice continue on, "No, no, I have a proposal which should find you leagues better."

"Oh?" Ted asked, moving to sit right-side up on top of the couch's back, trying to see if he could fit in between the space between the couch and the wall (He could not). "I'm all ears!"

He could practically hear the way Alice's eyes sparkled when she got really into her fantasy, fae court, riddling, bone god roleplay kinds of scenarios she'd get super into. Especially when other people played along. "I beseech that you should don yourself a rogue of yore. One who is stealthy, perceptive, and skilled. Agile, cunning, and quick-witted-- Such a role is what would contend best to the likes of you, Theodore Huxley."

Even after knowing Alice since kindergarten four years ago, he still sometimes struggled to understand her fancy-speak. This however, actually wasn't too bad this time. "A rogue? I know what that is! Those are, like, the thief guys in D&D, right?" Ted thought about it some more, nodding to himself, "I bet they dress pretty comfy, 'cause they gotta move around a lot, too. Yeah! That sounds perfect for me! ...Uh, so, how do they dress anyway? Are they fancy enough for the gala?"

"I can exert my magic, if you wish it, to add some ‘fancy’ elements necessary. Depart for my dwelling, and you shall be bestowed garments fit for Robin Hood himself. Certainly, I have something in here to spare. Some old costuming from plays, and whatnot." Alice paused for a second, "...And you've already set off, haven't you? The wind whispers so."

Oh. She could hear the wind through his cellphone. "Right, sorry. It is pretty windy today, huh...? That's distracting. Tell you what, we can just talk more when I get to your place! See you then!"

"Then I await your presence. Godspeed." Alice hung up. And Ted was already on his way, glad he finally didn't have to wear some stupid stuffy Huxley outfit to a fancy party for once.

[venomouschocolate]

Why Do They Talk Like That: a stream of consciousness

Fantasy linguistics are so hard like where do you draw the line... I mean none of my characters are referencing major theistic religions or using real life loanwords or expletives but then there's quote-unquote fun stuff like "sadism" or "lunatic" or "sinister". i.e the Marquis de Sade does not exist in this world, but the concept of pleasure from cruelty does... Latin is not a language there, but I, personally, am writing in English, which has much of its etymology rooted in Latin (as well as pretty much every other language ever), even if there is no hate for left-handed people or indeed the left in this world, so "sinister" is inexplicable in itself now (odd how the left has historically been demonised and that it's also the socialist side of the political spectrum. not that odd really. thank you robert walpole?). The same with "lunatic": the moon is literally worshipped in some areas of my world, but it's still a term characters use, despite the moon having positive connotations.

Where Do You Draw The Line... I can't write in a conlang because a) I am not masochistic but b) I want my work to actually be read. You can imply different languages with accents and word choice and compound words, but ultimately I am writing in the same language for all (despite being bilingual, go me!) and ultimately that language is one that exists only in our world and not in the one that I've created.

While we're here, let's talk about swearing (cursing if you're american?) in fantasy settings. I don't mean "oh my god/s", that's arguably blasphemy and certainly not explicit; I don't mean "bloody" (not really explicit either) because frankly that does tend to fit a fantasy vibe with the type of characters likely to use it (considering the real world stereotypes and thus the archetypes an author will write using it). I mean expletives like "fuck", "bitch", "shit": STOP USING THEM. you absolute buffoons.

Recently I read a fantasy novel which included a whole magic system and several countries with absolute monarchies, etc, and they kept using expletives and it just did not work, and it never does. A step back: I believe that using expletives when writing in a real world setting (provided it's period-believable, of course) can work, and often (not always, not even mostly) works - I do it myself. However, believable expletives and exclamations and intensifiers can and sometimes do make or break worldbuilding, at least for me. The worldbuilding in the novel was fine, good even! But every time the (twenty-eight-year-old) mc used "fucking" or "bitch", I was immediately yanked out of the story and into reality. It was like reading a period piece (say, in the 19th-early 20th century) and seeing "bitch" in the expletive (slur) sense. I don't care whether it would be used: I don't BELIEVE that it would be.

Suspension of disbelief is everything, which (as a theatre kid...) is, I suspect, why musical films don't work: we're primed for a more true-to-life piece, whereas in a theatre, we're prepared to cast a lot more aside. We KNOW they're actors, we know bursting into song is unrealistic, but it's the stage! We believe it anyway. Seeing a fantasy character, particularly one that was meant to be a minor royal, consistently THINK in expletives (and not just exclaim them!) felt to me like watching Mean Girls The Musical The Movie. I did not believe the magic (which was a major plot point so it kind of sucked). I did not believe that the characters saying "bitch" and "fuck" would say those words, especially since those characters were almost exclusively limited to the middle-aged queen, an almost thirty-year-old established to be groomed into mild-mannered obedience, the former queen's guard and a (bastard) prince. I did not believe that the characters whose thoughts I was reading would think them, and thus I did not believe in the story.

If you're going to create a prose-based world intended to be separate from our own in terms of religion/history/sociopolitical structure/magic/etc, you NEED to think about the linguistics. I'm not saying think HARD or be super mega creative: in my sky-worship country, a common exclamation is "stars-be", short for "stars-be-dimmed", ditto "skies-be" and "skies-be-felled". My sun-based little sillies go "be-set" as in "sun-be-set"; the only country in a technological revolution (also the only country with guns): "I'm not wired that way"; "he's gearing for a fight"; "I was shooting for you". Furthermore, when explaining their culture in other languages, they struggle for words, because, for example, a train is a monolingual concept (one falters when about to describe someone as a "train wreck" and just goes "sorry"). It's not clever, it's not particularly original, but, in my opinion, it makes the language, and by extension the world, more believable.

While I'm mid-rant: there's a marked difference between characters of different class and upbringing. My more religious, self-righteous queen of skycountry says "my stars": she rules the country, she is a little crazy insane, she feels that she owns the sky, too. A less-educated character uses slang like "lunar", "feared", "heartfulness" where his posh boy counterpart says "insane", "afraid" and "empathy". And yes, I am totally neurodivergent, and I think about details, and I also study the development of the English language and want to continue to do so at university, so of course I am more drawn to it, but at the end of the day if you're writing prose then the words are really bloody important.

TLDR: worldbuilding is hard; do your high fantasy (or even low fantasy) characters NEED to say "fuck"?

[owltypical]

oh yeah, finished that agatha christie memoir, a little overlong and rambling and of course plenty of outdated victorian grandma views and such, but it had some interesting stuff

couple of entertaining tidbits too:

england started using the metric system for stuff in the early 20th century and they hated it and complained too, that's honestly extremely funny to me

while interning at an apothecary the pharmacist fucked up his metric math and created some dangerously overdosed suppositories, panicking at this realization and not wanting to have an embarrassing scene of correcting her teacher, christie did an elaborate staged clumsy fall and knocked the medicine down and stomped it to pieces so she had an excuse to take it all away from him and toss it

an italian crewman of a ship she was on misunderstood freshly-divorced christie's conversation and tried to show up for a late night snog, there was a big argument where she declined and said "sorry, i'm british, i'm frigid"

the revelation that she personally didn't think most murder mysteries should have a romance between characters in them because it didn't feel like an appropriate setting and was often pretty dumb, but she resignedly always included them in her own books because it's what people wanted and expected, which tbh explains a lot lol

i didn't realize her second husband was like fourteen years younger than her and was into older women, and what a scandal their whole relationship and eventual secret marriage were to people in the time period, everybody tried to stop it

the archeological work she and her husband did appears to have been pretty above board by the time period's standards? it was done only with the approval of the local government and the native landowners, and for every piece they were allowed to take back to england they were required to give a piece to the country itself to keep in their local museums, also christie loved the middle east and the art and people there, she particularly thought mosques were very pretty

[themememerchant]

P5R ARCANA SWAP AU IDEAS I HAD

These are all small little ideas and thoughts I have for my fanfiction Queenpin Of The Metaverse which I will hopefully be able to begin publishing on ao3 soon enough

So until then, have this moderately sized collection of random facts about the swapped thieves personalities and such

HERE WE FUCkIN GO:

Something not mentioned the original post but is important to know is that the phantom thieves are effectively a giant polycule, many of them are dating each other with Sophia being the exception-(she’s 10)

Sumire, Futaba, Haru, and Ann all trying on Makoto’s bomber jacket when they think nobody’s looking and Makoto thinking they’re adorable

Yuuki trying-(and failing)-to “rizz up” Sumire without knowing what the phrase actually means while everyone else gets 2nd-hand embarrassment

Futaba calling Sumi and Makoto her “Waifus for life-u”

Akira 100% being like Gomez Addams where he challenges the sun to a duel because Goro or Sumi got sunburned

“EN GUARDE, Mon Soleil!”

“Akira, that’s the sun-”

“EN GUARDE, I SAY!”

Yuuki pulling stupidly annoying yet harmless pranks on everyone like giving them 1,000 yen in nothing but 10 yen coins

Anytime someone tries to get a favor from Makoto she pulls out a box of pocky sticks and says: “Ya gotta play for it.”

Sumire doing weight lifting instead of gymnastics because she still wants to be fit

Makoto spots her

Yusuke giving off cat energy by getting stuck in the stupidest places and crying about it

Haru being weirdly talented with every niche thing she tries like drawing and singing

People ask how she got so good and she just shrugs innocently with legitimately zero explanation, she’s just built different

Sophia and Sumire both use age regression to cope with abuse from their respective parents and they set up playdates constantly

Futaba is Sophia’s designated caregiver

Makoto and Ann take turns being Sumi’s caregivers-(they begrugingly agreed to share custody)

TW: ALL THE STUFF ASSOSCIATED WITH KAMOSHITHEAD 

Yuuki having a “Poison” moment like Angel from Hazbin, except the song flips between him being beaten and assaulted in the P.E. office and his cognitive self coming onto Kamoshida

In reference to the above, Makoto and Yuuki having a “Loser, Baby” moment where they bond over hating Kamoshithead once Yuuki awakens

Sumire saying things like: “Everything’s jake!”, and nobody knows what the fuck she means until she needs to explain

Sumire using slang from the American 20’s is such a funny concept to me since not only is it outdated terminology, it’s also in a perfect NY American accent from a Japanese highschool girl

The thieves taking on traits from their personas in general is such a fun idea to work with

Sumire with her slang as i already said but also being enthralled by jazz music and early 20th century fashion

Goro having excellent deductive reasoning and fascination with random knowledge, he also has slight opium cravings

Makoto having inexplicable knowledge on sailing and being really good at bargaining and negotiation

Futaba emitting an aura of almost royal-like confidence that makes other students fall head over heels for her

Yuuki being a master of sneaking up on people by accident and having a really good poker-face

Sophia having a child-like curiosity over basic things like why the sky is blue and how rain works

Akira speaking in random bursts of Latin and Greek, he also begins writing poetry in his free time

Haru saying obscenities with a Southern-belle accent and being really good at working a crowd

Yusuke being followed by Paimon’s demonic parade so anyone near him will hear faint sounds of drums and trumpets when he walks

Ann suddenly becomes a master tactician who was even able to beat Goro at chess once, she also unconsciously whispers French prayers sometimes

Ryuji is a masterful pick-pocket-(Nezumi Kozo)-with great public speaking skills-(Maximilien)-, he later gets a side job with crossdressing-(Nezumi Kozo again)-

Goro and Akira having the same homoerotic tension between each other as canon but Akira is less self-assured and Goro is not a murderer but is still very threatening and intimidating

Ann has a “resting bitch face” because she has trouble expressing her emotions, so most students are too afraid to talk to her. After she joins and starts dating some of the thieves everyone just looks so confused as this gorgeous-yet-stone-faced blonde model starts hugging a red-headed cinnamon roll-(Sumi)-while looking as stoic as ever

Even better when Sumi makes comments like: ”Awww, It seems someone's in an extra good mood today!” And then Ann goes: “Thanks, I was hoping you’d notice.”

The students around them have no idea how anyone was supposed to know the blonde’s emotions, but Sumi is just built different

FUCK NOW I WANT TO MAKE A ONESHOT ABT THIS FUCK-

Yusuke and Futaba are both pretty smart people but when they try to work together they end up canceling out each other’s brain cells and becoming morons

Ann probably wears berets sometimes and the thieves poke fun at her by calling her a "French stereotype"

And that is all for now, who knows what else my diseased mind shall spit out next…

Until then, adieu all ye power tops

[bluberimufim]

7. 👠 SHOES: What is transportation like in the world of your WIP?

8. 🧢 CLOTHING: What is your MC currently wearing in the most recent scene of your WIP?

Hi! Thank you so much for the ask! I'll be answering for DoS since that's what I'm trying to focus on right now.

7. 👠 SHOES: What is transportation like in the world of your WIP?

The setting is supposed to have a general ~world wars~ (mostly around the 30's which I know didn't have a world war, ok, we're going by vibes here), so a lot of the stuff there is from the early 20th century. People have access to cars and trains for long-distance transportation (not that I'm specific with it), but rural areas, like where the first half of the plot is set, still have stuff like carts pulled by ox or donkeys. The whole Thing of the setting is supposed to be "oh yeah the War", so I never really connected it to real-life specifics.

8. 🧢 CLOTHING: What is your MC currently wearing in the most recent scene of your WIP?

They're currently wearing their uniforms, mostly, which I once drew for my birthday (tbh now that I look at it again, I don't like the drawing anymore smh)

Seth looks pretty much like the drawing except her cloak is supposed to close at the front. The cloak is basically all that you see, it kinda engulfs her. It's a while, floor-length cloak with two openings for the arms and another at the centre. It clasps over her neck and chest and it's a pretty high neckline. The front has flowers embroidered on it, also in white, signifying that she's Master Healer Lady. She hates it btw.

Oh yeah and also her cane with the flower engravings on the handle. It's her favourite because Theo gave it to her <3

[catgirljaneway]

Ask game:

Janeway, Kira, Julian, Tom (if you want to)

(ask game in question)

Thank you for the ask, anon! I love these characters.

Janeway

Stan Account: Amelia Earhart. She mostly posts text heavy + very intellectual posts about her impact on women in aviation, but honestly the more intellectual the posy, the hornier the undertones. Janeway has shared it with Tuvok (he beta reads her posts) but she tries to keep it secret from everyone else. Everyone is onto her. Tom found it first and showed it to Harry who showed it to B'elanna and it spiraled from there. Janeway hasn't realized this.

Convenience Store Purchase: Coffee without a cap. Also chocolate covered espresso beans. (This one was hard to figure out for her, not sure why)

Kink: Sex on the captain's chair for sure. Also smart people who argue with her turn her on. I also think she'd be into something like orgasm denial. Also being called Kathryn because she rarely gets to be called Kathryn in the Delta Quadrant cause ya know... it's lonely at the top. I also think that while she enjoys dominating, she also likes giving up her control cause she never gets that chance otherwise.

Kira

Stan Account: The prophets. Unfortunately she posts those terrible Christian mom bible verses over highly-pixelated "aesthetic" photos....

But also she runs a stan account for GIRLI (This is because I've decided Kira would like her music + her music reminds me of Kira) She starts it while she's still not out to herself, so there are so many photosets she posts of her being like "wow! I want to be her!" and Jadzia takes one look at the account and is like..... hey girl... i have some news for you....

Convenience Store Purchase: Beef jerky.

Kink: Honestly romance and setting the mode. You know that cheesy romance movie "trail of rose petals leading to bed" stuff? Yeah that would work on her methinks. Also biting.

Julian

Stan Account: Himself. He runs a stan account for himself. He claims it's not him running it, it's just "someone who appreciates his work" but no one believes him. He routinely makes burner accounts to send his "fan blog" hate for attention. I also believe he used to run a stan blog for some musician but then it got "too mainstream".

Convenience Store Purchase: Celebrity gossip magazine + those iced starbucks frappichinos

Kink: Unfortunately it's being called kitten. (also voyeurism)

Tom

Stan Account: He runs a 20th century car stand blog. He gets in the most HORRIBLE drama with other 20th century car bloggers. He gets so upset and is constantly telling Harry about it. Harry wants to delete his social media. Also he runs a Tom Petty blog. He likes to post "cool" photos of 20th century cars with Tom Petty lyrics.

Convenience Store Purchase: Dill pickle lays, hotdog, slurpee, beef jerkey, bubble gum. He has no self-control.

Kink: Dying in Harry's arms. (also daddy + degradation)

[gascon-en-exil]

Are there fictional settings you particularly enjoy? (To clarify what I mean, stuff like being based on particular countries or time periods or even more out there things like other planets, dystopian cyberpunk cities etc.) Is there a fictional setting you'd really like to see in a video game of your favorite genre?

Even though most of my current online content involves video games, Nintendo is actually sort of an outlier when it comes to the kinds of fiction I enjoy. I typically prefer historical fiction settings, most often 18th through the early 20th centuries. That's the literature I focused on at university, and some of my favorite period dramas and novel adaptations are set then. Of course France and Louisiana are the most interesting settings to me personally, although I can enjoy others that are at least somewhat related. My favorite books, movies, and TV shows tend to be slow and ponderous, with a lot of sitting around and talking - not the sort of thing that would really work in video games outside perhaps visual novels.

With that said, I do always enjoy getting to see more fictionalized versions of New Orleans. I even contemplated getting Red Dead Redemption 2 solely because it includes a well-realized interpretation of the city in the 1890s that I would have loved to explore. Alas, my PC can't really handle something like that...plus I'd hate all the cowboy stuff that makes up the overwhelming majority of that game.

[maguro13-2]

War of Shadow Realm ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Chapter 4 Pt.1

[Opening ~ Title Theme - Naofumi Hataya]

"Near the end of the 20th Century, computerized and technological genius, Lain Iwakura, known as the wired girl, has been linking to the world of data through computer memory space and has gained information about the planet's wonders. Yet, but soon, all data within the computer will be corrupted by viruses hacked by the evil forces during cyber warfare. In order to keep data safe from the hands of evil, Lain used her LAN data to link the computerized brain of a giant Gundam robot named Deathscythe Hell, that is under possession of it's pilot Duo Maxwell, due to the Soul data transfer link."

Lain Iwakura : Let's all love lain. We are all connected by data. The data link with each other's hearts.

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : Yeah, I'm ready for it. The Great Deathscythe has returned from the ashes.

"Battles after battles, Deathscythe continued to be one of the most dominant robots that has ever tipped the scales between balance of good vs evil, which gained the powers of soul-absoring energy from the enemies. With Lain's aid, Duo will unlock his robot's true potential and would put his plans on stopping one organization that had spreaded Shinra's Influence... Death Weapon Meister Academy."

"Later in the 21st Century, the great state of Nevada is in peril due to the Ohkuboverse's crisis, the evil force of darkness has began when heartlesses were planning on destroying the likes of humankind and Witchkind."

"But when it comes to the spreading truth, Deathscythe believes that a mysterious object called the Kusakabe legacy was responsible for the influence of Shinra Kusakabe, and Duo knew that it was all a lie just to hid the truth by Necrodeus as part of his plan to overthrow the witches of earth."

Duo Maxwell (Deathscythe Hell) : Lain, as much of you know about the human race, there's just one thing about this Soul Eater stuff in my head, can the world of Soul Eater really be a facade of this Shadow Realm thing? And what was their connection with the Kusakabe legacy? There's just no end to these monsters, is there?

Lain Iwakura : Perhaps it's best that the Ohkuboverse wasn't a universe at all, it's basically a facade by Shadow Realm itself, I hope you're intriguing that the evil forces in Soul World were a diversion set up by Demon Vibe himself. I gained his information data about his plans of conquering the universe of the real world, covering the planet in darkness and would corrupt both the humans and witches as well.

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : Yeah, you're right about that. But we couldn't let them get away with this. Some humans maybe bad for them to be called a heartless, but villains are always the picky eater of being the most hated beings like the Gorgon Witch sisters, who turned out to be the heartless Dopplergangers sent out by the real ones as decoys. But thanks to the detectives and their efforts to stop them, now we finally understand the truth about the world of Soul Eater, It's time that I can destroy the one's that shattered the peace of the real Deathscythe that I possessed.

Lain Iwakura : You are certainly correct and you have the vulnerable responsibility of taking your actions to the next level. So, what are you thinking right now?

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : [thinking] Hmmm... Let's just say that me and the boys are thinking that it would be a reunion for them, I hope they would return after our fight with the villains from the show. It's been so long since the guys boke up. Now that it's the 21st century, I can't believe that my reunion with the guys is gonna be here soon for their arrival once the war begins.

Lain Iwakura : I see your point tho. We would wait for their arrival as well. Have good luck in ya and believe you, Duo Maxwell. Our world's fate is in our hands.

Computer Voice : Preparing launch sequence in 15 seconds. All systems online...Green. Gate open

"Duo Maxwell, Pilot of the Gundam Robot Deathscythe, now has the same ability as his friends, to fuse his soul into a Gundam's computerized brain, becoming the one and only machine that is capable of being strong and brute, the sole surviving machine. And his request of stopping forces of evil that will put an end to everything that the world had to offer."

Duo Maxwell (as Deathscythe Hell) : Now then...Necrodeus, it's over for you, ya self-righteous son of a b*tch! Your days as the phony Shinigami is over! And I'm going to put a stop to this, along with those heartlesses you dealt!

Computer Voice : Beginning launch sequence in 5...4...3...2...1... lifting off! (Deathscythe begins to flies off from the ocean and into space)

~ CHAPTER 4 : WAR OF SHADOW REALM ~

[hazelcephalopod]

Some thoughts on Carnival Row (spoilers both seasons)-

- this show feels like a remake of a late 90’s to early aughts cartoon but with a gritty adult vibe. I say this with affection.

-I think if this was maybe a movie or maybe they had just gone a slightly different direction this would have really taken off. Even as is though it think it’s vastly underrated, like it has problems -oh boy does it-, but the steampunk-ish early 20th century vibe plus fantasy set in an entirely new world is cool. Just the vibes, they are great. (Ps it could actually be gaslight punk or something).

- I really hope the “New Dawn” revolutionary group from the Pact might be good guys? Like not perfect, but I’d like the communists to maybe make some lasting good change on the world? I’m probably putting my clown make up on with that a little. On the other hand I am deeply pessimistic they are going to also be the villains. I hope I’m wrong, I hope they are a nuanced faction which does offer support but maybe is doing some fucked up stuff too, which just pales in comparison to the rest of the world atm.

- I wish the Fae were more like, visibly on screen queer and poly instead of just minor lip service to back up the mostly obscure world building for that. The poly part I get is slightly more… a sign of some progress in that even talking about it as a good thing is a positive. But this could be more queer. (I got a whole thing about how it seems like Amazon especially doesn’t like mlm on screen but that does extend to queer people as a whole).

- there is a fuck ton of worldbuilding and I’m sad we won’t be able to see much more of it. I think it could be really neat.

Ok so, plot opinions time.

- I enjoy Imogen and Agreaus but they really are just in a different show, I’m hopeful their involvement with the New Dawn is going to lead to them being used to support the Row and the Fae in the Burgue. Tbf I’m not really annoyed by them just off doing whatever, I just think it’s kinda funny, but it is a show.

- plot point 2. Flying into the Burgue State dinner was… a choice. A very dangerous and likely deadly one. The core “show them what is happening to us and how we are suffering” is good but like… these people are just inches from, uhhh, mass murder -well, more of it? Dahlia deciding she *had* to be the one to go was odd to me, because it seemed like a death mission right? The power play of showing up to that dinner, when they aren’t even supposed to be able to leave the Row, well that’s a threat and like I said solutions in the Burgue are, um, very death oriented at the moment. Which, I thought maybe Dahlia might be smart enough to try a “how about you do that and I will coordinate from here (and hopefully you die because I hate you)” to Vin. But, nope she went herself with a handful of others most of whom died -though I think it wasn’t at the dinner, I need to rewatch. The woman with Bas Dubh (is that black death? It’s not translated for me, but it’s pretty much just Irish yea? I don’t recall the meaning of “bas” If any [edit yea it’s Black Death]) anyway she was shot. So. Idk if the garnering sympathy worked. Personally I think maybe a gathering of both common people and some of the politicians would have been most ideal. But I know the point was stopping Philo, bringing us too-

- Philo, really dude? You hid you half fae status your entire life -because the discrimination is so bad in the Burgue- and now it’s “oh now that I’ve revealed that, I can totally uh, convince all these violent bigots to listen to me -someone they no longer see as a person- that their leader is, illegitimate and murder-y?” What? Again, the solutions are very murder oriented and idk, doubt they will listen. Maybe I’m being the asshole pessimist here idk, but I just don’t think that’s how a systems like that works.

- counterpoint to the general murderous political environment in the Burgue. Primarily from seeing some of the Burgue owner class being like “this whole confining our workforce with a police state is really hurting our bottom line” was something. I hope, but doubt, it will be explored more. For instance, some of them should be plotting a coup. B/c when the government begins to threaten their bottom line many companies will decide “how get rid of this?” And choose “overthrow the whole government, consequences be damned”.

- I think it’s was a Pact (feudalist) dignitary or soldier who shot the woman with Bas Dubh, which could indicate that they are in fact the worse guys in that conflict and the New Dawn could be primarily helpful later on.

[trickstercaptain]

@hargrovetm sent a meme: name a few of their favourite pieces of popular culture.

12. name a few of their favourite pieces of popular culture.

okay so this is the part where i call Jack out for having extremely limited interest in popular culture from the 1990s onwards lmao. there's a reason why I've always thought it made sense for Jack to grow up in the 70s/80s and that's because he's into a lot of older movies and tv shows — I think in a modern setting you could easily bring up any recent cultural phenomenon like, idk, GoT or something and he'd have no fucking clue what you're talking about lmaooo. Jack doesn't pay attention to popular culture, he's just interested in his own specific niches.

but some of his faves, in no particular order and not an exhaustive list, are: grease ( yes, his bisexual awakening ), the indiana jones movies, ghostbusters, knight rider, dallas ( l m a o ), saturday night fever, back to the future, mamma mia ( i hate him ), the oceans movies, blackadder, baywatch ( again, l m a o ), the x files. more generally, he enjoys true crime documentaries and is also pretty prone to watching trashy reality tv too. he also reads widely and really enjoys a lot of 19th century and 20th century fiction ( stuff that he would not be able to read in his canon ) and in all honesty is much more likely to be reading than he would watching tv or movies. so it's not even that he's a film snob, it's just a medium that doesn't interest him as much as reading.

when it comes to popular, nerdy culture, I can tell you that he has seen the original star wars trilogy once and did not care for it ( and hasn't watched any since ), he never bothered to read lotr and therefore did not watch the movies ( I think medieval fantasy in general doesn't interest him, he prefers adventure/action stuff hence why indiana jones makes the shortlist of his favourite pieces of popular culture ), he's never picked up a comic book in his life and does not intend to start now, so has zero interest in superheroes, and I can't really see him being all that into video games either ? board games, sure, but probably only a passing interest in video games. he's not nerd material, basically — unless you want to talk about shakespeare.

[take-me-to-valhalla]

The 2022 Big Book Review

Books read in 2022

Absolutely non-exhaustive. I dropped Goodreads and can’t keep track of anything I don’t write down. Also not counting the children’s books and other quite short stuff I read in 5 minutes so I can tell customers what it’s about.

All in all : it’s a CLASSIC year lads. And I’ll be screaming about Marguerite Yourcenar to everyone forever.

Total (minus comics): 60 books

Total (including everything): 168 books

I organized them loosely, but it won’t be very consistent. Tried to add some comment but this won’t be a literary review

Classics

Mémoires d’Hadrien – So good omg. One of the books ever. Words fail me to say how much this book is amazing. Made me visit the Villa Adriana when I went to Rome. Indirectly responsible for a tendinitis in my left foot. Madeline Miller WISHES she were Yourcenar.

Miss Pettigrew lives for a day - A cute one! Recommended by my sister

La guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu - found in an old edition in a tiny free library. Very good & depressing

La vie de Monsieur de Molière, Boulgakov - If I had a nickel each time I read a book by a beloved author written by another beloved author, I’ll have two nickels.

Balzac, le roman de sa vie, Zweig – See above

Mille et un fantômes, Dumas - a Russian-doll-type-set of stories, but I have no recollection of them

Lorenzaccio - my sister recommended it to me in 2010. Finally got around to it.

Little House in the Big Woods - Cottagecore before it was cool. Also devoid of the unfortunate racism of the sequel

Le Vicomte de Bragelonne 1 & 2 - I’ll finish it next year for sure

Balzac et la petite tailleuse chinoise - loved the book, hated the ending

Pauline, Dumas - it was okay, I guess

La fin de Satan, Hugo - “Les soleils étaient loin, mais ils brillaient encore”. Hugo always goes HARD

Balzac :

Here’s an extract from a June entry in my diary : «  because of a tumblr post, I started reading Le père Goriot, and it’s quite good, which I find irritating ». And now look here we are.

Le père Goriot - So Good. So good I keep jokingly (?) recommending it to customers when they don’t know what book to buy

Le Code des Gens honnêtes - a fun read. Serves as documentation for 19th century life, too

Illusions Perdues - It’s like watching a car crash for 800 pages. In other words, excellent. Also did not expect the ending.

Splendeurs et misères des courtisanes - Come for the story, stay for the harsh commentary on capitalists that Marx wishes he wrote. Horrible, and a masterpiece.

Ferragus - only read it because of the “there’s a secret society in La Comédie Humaine” premice.

La Duchesse de Langeais - funnier once you learn exactly why Balzac wrote it

La Fille aux yeux d’or - Marsay is a dick and I love it

Le Colonel Chabert - SO. GOOD.

La peau de chagrin - This year’s mandatory reading for highschoolers. I pity them.

La Rabouilleuse - Ft the most punchable asshole you’ll ever read in your life

La maison du chat qui pelote – which does not mean, as I initially thought « the house of the cat who plays with a ball of yarn »

Mémoires de deux jeunes mariées - Both very good and quite sad, I couldn’t say why

Le Curé de Tours - Beware the Old Maids, they’ll ruin your life if you don’t treat them well. Pettiness is not a crime, except when it is.

Pathologie de la vie sociale - no recollection of it

History

Les bas-fonds, naissance d’un imaginaire - Very good! Required reading if you love 19th century (and early 20th) literature

La vie quotidienne des religieux au Moyen-âge - Read for documentation purposes

La vie quotidienne des templiers - ditto

La vie quotidienne sous le Directoire - ditto. Quite interesting!

La vie quotidienne des français sous Napoléon, Tulard - I had to hunt it down, but it was worth it. Tulard knows his stuff.

La vie quotidienne à Florence au temps de Dante - Read in Florence, of course.

La vie quotidienne en Italie au temps de Machiavel - To carry on after the previous one.

Yeah, I own quite a lot of these books.

Les jours sans : l’alimentation en temps de guerre - Read it before, but worth it. It’s always good to see history from the side of everyday life.

Pour vous mesdames ! La mode en temps de guerre - Disappointing.

Les Douze heures noires, la nuit à Paris au XIXè siècle - SO GOOD. But I said this before.

Le monde du crime sous Napoléon - Jean Tulard again. Still knows his stuff, but it’s more trivia than a real historical study

Manga

I have to read quite a lot of them for my work. It’s hard, I know. I read the whole series, unless specified

Thermae Romae - still a favourite

Vinland Saga - everyone should read Vinland Saga. Everyone.

Angel Sanctuary 1-20 - Sadly does not hold up today.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun - One of my favourite new series. I laud it (and sell it) every chance I can.

Look Back - are you an artist? Read this.

Nonnonbâ, Mizuki Shigeru - a very sweet story. But then I love Mizuki’s work.

Berserk 1-4 - good art, but I’m not sold on the story. I’ll try again, I think.

Spy x Family - For once, a series that is both popular and good enough for me to sell to parents who don’t know anything about manga

The Apothicary’s diaries, 1-5 - Not bad, maybe even good, but I don’t get the hype around it

Atelier of Witch Hat, 10 - read this series. That is all.

Kitchen of Witch Hat - Exactly what I want: short, slice of life stories in a fantasy world, centered around food.

Heaven’s Design team 1 - Not bad.

Beastars 21&22 - Good ending to a great series

DanDaDan - the other of my favourite new series. Highly recommended if you’re not allergic to absurd stuff.

Chouchin X 1&2 - Can’t get behind this, sorry. And yet I loved Tokyo Ghoul.

Comics

Not much to say about this section, I’m afraid.

Three Joker

The Joker : 80 years

I, Joker (yeah, it was a Joker binge)

Batman : Year one

Beasts of Burden

The Ex-People - a nice indie comic ft an immortal horse (among others)

The entire Calvin & Hobbes series - as often

Franco-belgian comics

Les cahiers d’Esther 3 – 7

Journal d’un ingénu 3 - 4

Le Projet Jules Verne

E.C. Jacobs, le rêveur d’apocalypse

La Marque jaune - directly linked to the one above.

Jours de sable - an indie comic about the Dustbowl. Both excellent and depressing

L’arabe du futur 6 - READ IT

Mystery & Thrillers

Messieurs les hommes, S. Antonio - San Antonio is (was?) a big name in the roman de gare genre. The language used is worth bearing the sexism of the MC (in par for the course for a novel written in the 50s, but still)

La Daronne - a very fun read

The Cuckoo’s Call

Career of Evil

Lethal White

Troubled Blood - All of these are good, but I especially loved this one + Career of Evil (bc BÖC)

The Shawshanks Redemption

Du plomb dans la tête – Absolutely bad. Doesn’t help that it was supposed to be a revenge story, and instead I got a badly written pseudo-shocking thriller. Blah.

Which strenghtens my theory that women just write better thrillers than men.

Contemporary, fantasy & YA

Game Changer, N. Shusterman

A Deathly Education – Why don’t I see anything about this series anywhere ? It’s so good.

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue, V. Schwab - aka I think one of the only YA writers worth reading past 25

Legends and Lattes – The best coffeshop slice of life fantasy I had the pleasure of reading. The only one in existence, which is a crying shame

Gideon the Ninth - no need to say anything about it. Tumblr knows it’s a masterpiece

Âge Tendre, C. Beauvais - A sweet read, and cleverly written, too

Les petites reines, C. Beauvais

Vampyria 3, V. Dixen – See my comment about Deathly Education. We’ve got a dystopian YA series where Louis XIV is a vampire and no one talks about this ?

Hogfather

Equal Rites

Mort

The Truth - Yeah, I re-read a bit of Discworld. Whenever I find myself in a reading slump, Pratchett’s always got my back.

Others :

Vers la sobriété heureuse, P. Rabbi

L’humanité en péril 2, Vargas

Tried reading more books about ecology and sobriey but it’s quite depressing.

[littlewalken]

may 18

Wisened as I have become I just bought a "base set" of KFC mini brands and decided to be done with it. I'll have triples for coleslaw and the bucket that's half potato wedges but I'll also have biscuits and won't have the extra baggage or packaging of buying until I have biscuits for my dolls.

And we don't care for the scented ones.

Working towards sorting thru the fast food minis and putting eye screws in some of them because making charms is a cool repurposing.

Spotted another one of the Wish era Cure logo charms in the wild so that would just leave the 1940 Billy Rose Aquacade charm as the only one I've never seen elsewhere for those playing along at home.

Got to get out the metal stamping tools and make a 'hello' on one side 'goodbye' on the other for Robert Sheehan. Not sure if I have a hand stamp.

It felt good to get out and just do stuff yesterday. No appointments, no set times, just meandering to eventually do some consignment store business. No chance that will pay for my dental work but it will help but a dent in the price.

Had to explain to someone who's prices are still in the 20th century that if they don't want to use my old iPhone SE (they don't like the home button) that it'll be at least $750 to get a proper refurb. The phone they currently have was free but it's also a piece of shit, like all their past free phones, and that never seems to get thru.

I hate phones and would still probably be on the old glass one but I had an opportunity to get myself one of the real ones with a fancy camera so I took it. Aside from planning to use my phone for a very long time even when it stops being a phone it'll still make a great camera.

Remind and encourage me to take pictures of my art work with it. You don't realize that some of the pictures of your art work is a good 20 years old until you do.

[goetzjpvis]

Banana Fish is very different from most of the stuff we've been watching and reading in class, in that I feel like it portrays and criticizes a climate much different than 20th century Japan. This time, we're in 1980s America! Gangs, gun violence, militarism, and drugs are ideas that have been explored in Japanese media, but for it to have a new American skin makes me feel like I can relate especially with Banana Fish.

We are immediately thrust into the world of organized crime, in fact, we get a quicker insight into Ash's abuse history than we do his own personality, interests, hobbies, etc. I also felt like this story illustrates how child abuse and sexual crime is hidden right in front of our eyes, the abuse of ash was normalize so much so, that the cycle of abuse and violence is perpetuated when Ash decides he wants to participate in violent gang wars. His story reminds me of the 'World's most beautiful boy', Bjorn Anderson. I find it striking that Ash and Bjorn share similar features. Bjorn was a venetian actor, sought out by Luchino Visconti, an agency director who set him up to act only to eventually be sexually abused by the industry around him. Bjorn went on to do great things, but his past scarred him both physically and mentally. Plus, the idea of blonde hair kind of symbolizes his innocence, which was taken advantage of by the darker-haired thugs (reach?).

Side note: Bjorn was actually the inspiration for Lady Oskar from Rose of Versailles.

Anyways, seeing how Ash lingered around his abuser despite hating him and wanting him dead kind of shows how people can stay around or even stay attached to their abusers. It gives an insight to the feelings and motives of those who don't just immediately 'run away'.

Anyways, as much as people want to call it "BL", I don't consider it so. I do think that Ash and Eiji carry some kind of deep, spiritual/platonic/romantic relationship, but I don't think that's the focus of the story. Eiji is the only person that Ash can be comfortable around, which implies a sort of sincerity and comfort that those who are abused, and by extension everyone, needs.