#like. I had to stop reading fma because of stuff like this. is God asking me to give up my favorite band now too? because I don't know

[swinging-stars-from-satellites]

😭😭😭

[dootznbootz]

Do you have any favorite m/f ship besides zelink, odypen, nalu? And do you have any favorite f/f and m/m ship? Or even a polyamorous one? (when I say "favorite" I really mean favorite, not just one you like!)

Lil confused by the question, as you're saying "I really mean favorite, not just one you like" as...I already told y'all about my favorites. Zelink, OdyPen, and Nalu. Those are my favorite ships.

But since you're asking again. I'll just name some in general :) I have many that I'll often be like "I love them!" but also I'm just thinking on the top of my head. Also I'll only be talking about ships that are like, for the ROMANTIC stuff. I have many brotps and friendships that I love a lot :D

Again, disclaimer: these are just opinions with shipping. Not about actual human people. Shipping is usually what you yourself vibe with the most, so that's what this is.

*coughs* Yuri > Yaoi. Women are cool. I ship more yuri and have more thoughts about yuri than yaoi *coughs*

I like Jim x Claire from Trollhunters. He's no longer human (for that short amount of time) and still she's so ride or die, as he is too. She held back the fucking SUN to save him. Enough said.

I haven't finished the Manga but I did get pretty far and I like Yato and Hiyori from Noragami. He's never had a shrine before despite being a god and she made him his first one.

OH ALSO MAIKO. I fucking love Mai x Zuko. I love Suki and Sokka but that's a given. They're fucking made for each other. but fucking Maiko?? I still get shivers from "I love Zuko more than I fear you." ughhjhhhh She's grumpy and mean but she loves him so muchhhhh. I don't give a fuck about the ship wars with ATLA except Maiko and Suki and Sokka.

Edwin and Royai from FMA :) Mostly Edwin, I teared up when Winry accidentally ripped his cute proposal apart with "Half? I'll give you all of me?"

Got a pair with OCs. (honestly it's funny because I had them for a while but then I got into the Odyssey and I realized they match up with my Odypen so I think poured so many of my thoughts from them into OdyPen as it fits. Water shit, scammers, one keeps having shit thrown at them and wants it to stop, etc. so much alike lol)

For F/F.

I'm very sure I'll love Farcelle once I get into Dungeon Meshi. they seem right up my alley. lol

"These shows are messy" yeahyeahyeahyeah, shut up. I love me some red and blue wives. Korrasami and Rupphire. Red and blue characters? WOMEN? Don't mind if I do >:) 🩵 ❤

There's so many more that I'm sure I'll like but I haven't watched/read everything yet. like I haven't seen owl house or she-ra and many others but I have a feeling I'll like them too (currently no streaming services :') )

I got lesbian grandma OCs :) Don't have names yet but in a DnD-esque shit, with a quiet and soft dwarven woman with a chaotic elf woman. They're done adventuring and are retired. They raise a different OC in their cottage now.

For M/M.

DioSthe I like a lot. >:) Sthenelus being his little cheerleader? Following Diomedes to all the new cities he founded? Literally saying I love you to one another? (I know that could've been platonic but they DO deeply care about one another) GOOD SHIT! They're messy but not purposely or happily hurting one another.

For poly, I don't really have any??? I already love platonic stuff in general and I'm a jealous person. :'D It's not like I don't want to ship Poly ships, I just haven't found any that I vibe with yet sadly.

There's that "(character) has two hands" which yes! That's right! :D They do!

...But so do the characters that they're holding hands with 👀 All characters do. Those other characters' other hands are free, they should reach over and hold hands too. If it's Person A/B/C, a triangle of holding hands. Poly marriages (not cult stuff. you know what I mean) need to be legalized so they can ALL be spouses.🥹 (if people just want significant others that's chill. But for me, it's ride or die for all lovers or I don't get it. BOND ALL YOUR SOULS TOGETHER or BUST)

if they're not all holding hands and spinning in a circle then the stupid, jealous, lizard brain in me is like "But...that's not fair ｡:ﾟ(;´∩`;)ﾟ:｡ They should all smooch each other. Why does only one get the smooches? If one is smoochless, I'LL start smooching their unloved cheek. You snooze, you lose."

Because like, there's some Poly ships where I KNOW that the character has a favorite. Canonically. Some people can know there's a favorite and still ship but not my jealous ass :') I would always feel bad and jealous on that character's behalf because I have lizard brain. Ship what you ship but with Odysseus for example, if he had to choose between Penelope and someone else, he'd choose Penelope. Always. I'm sorry but that's literally canon. He wouldn't even hesitate or feel bad.

Honestly, if folks know of poly ships who are all holding hands, are all mutually obsessed, and not letting go then I'm all ears.🥹

(preferably with a woman in it)

[majormiles]

🍬🌻🔮 for the fanfic asks! :) hope you’re having a great day!! 🥰

I almost lost a fight with an extremely stubborn jar lid this morning, so it’s definitely been A Day! From Fanfic Writer Ask Game

Do you write for multiple fandoms? If yes, what is your favourite fic of yours for each fandom?

Actively, no! I tend to only write in one fandom at a time, although sometimes I dabble in multiple at once.

I definitely have written in multiple fandoms over the years. I would say I��m most well known for my Trek, Naruto, and One Piece fic. Other fandoms I’ve only dabbled in once or twice, including Haikyuu, Star Wars, FMA, Final Fantasy…

So, to avoid this being an exhaustive list, I’ll just have a think for those three. Hm…

For Naruto, I think HIEROPHANT was my magnum opus. I definitely feel like it’s the best written fic of the bunch. It’s an AU where Kakashi gets a byakugan instead of a sharingan. I drew up a whole Hyuga family tree and made a bunch of OCs, most of which never appeared in the fic. That was fun! I really enjoy writing complicated family relationships.

For Trek, it has to be the one with the wife, which I know is a fic a lot of people will not read. It was extremely self indulgent and I still think about this ‘verse all the time. I wrote it for me. Purely, for myself.

For One Piece… god. I have no idea. It’s been a few years and I have a sieve for a brain. I remember having a lot of fun writing into flame but I think if I re-read it now, it would all be new to me.

Which leads into the next question!

How often do you read your own fics?

I don’t… tend to. Especially my older stuff - anything older than a couple of months may as well not exist in my brain lol. I think this is partly because my writing is constantly improving and looking back at older works makes me notice all of the things I could have done better. And partly I think I just… am not sentimental about fic at all. I’ve been known to remove works from ao3. I have no attachment to them lol, yes, even Hotspur, which I’ve just finished after 8 months of writing! Is that weird?

Sometimes, I get comments on really old stuff which I really appreciate, but I often don’t remember the fic at all. Once, I was trawling through ao3 in a tag and I found a fic and started reading it and it was weirdly nostalgic? So I scrolled up and I’d written it lmaoo. I had NO memory of doing so. Not the wildest thing to ever happen to me on ao3, but it’s up there.

Any advice for writers working through burnout or writer’s block?

Oh man. I get writer’s block all the time and, for me at least, it’s usually a sign that I need a break. And so I take heed! I try not to stress too much because I know I will get back into writing when I’m ready. I mean, I can’t imagine not writing you know, and if you are also like that, that writing is a part of you, then the writer’s block will pass. I get mini writer’s block every time I finish something - it’s like my brain’s giving me a moment to process haha

But some other advice is, if you still want to write, write something else. Stop whatever you’re doing and pick up something new. I find I get hit by writer’s block less if I’m more flexible about switching between fics or projects - I can use the time stuck on one fic to work on the other. Maybe that will work for you!

[dyingfad]

pls answer all of the anime asks i love knowing things abt you

hello beloved anon (whose name may or may not begin with "L"), thank you for the splendid request. I shall provide my answers under a "keep reading" out of courtesy, hopefully it works.

1. first anime you ever watched

Naruto. my brother and I encountered it one day while scrolling channels when I was about 6 or 7 I believe; I was fascinated by how different it was from the cartoons and shows I was used to.

2. first anime crush

I wouldn't really say I've ever had a crush on an anime character, but I'm a big fan of maka from soul eater.

3. favorite anime character

I thought about this a lot while making my fav characters list, and it is probably maka again.

4. least favorite anime character

This one's kinda tough, but I think I'll have to go with the main character from Alien Nine, Yuri Otani. I don't necessarily dislike her in terms of personality but I feel like she spends 70% of the show crying which made her very unpleasant to listen to. Alternatively any weirdly horny character could also go here.

5. list all anime you have ever watched

I have currently seen 211 shows so I shall refrain from making this that long. Though, if anyone is truly curious I do have each one listed and organized by my personal rating in a google doc that I can share.

6. popular anime you didn’t like

Made in Abyss. Really cool concept and decent visuals/music, but I often felt worse after watching an episode than I did before, it almost borders on torture p*rn at times.

7. anime you are currently watching

I'm gonna shorten some of these names, if any are unclear and you rly wanna know you can ask. Great: Sonny Boy Decent: Idaten Deities, Slime, Kaizoku, Higurashi Sotsu, Realist Kingdom, Aquatope, Peach Boy, Tsukimichi, Vanitas no Carte, Deatte 5 Okay: Tantei wa Mou, Seirei Gensouki, Kageki Shoujo, Night Head 2041, Otome Game X, Blue Reflection Ray, MHA season 5, Dragon Maid S, Cheat Kusushi

8. anime character you are most like

This one is also quite tough, I sometimes see a little bit of myself in characters but usually there isn't a ton of similarity. Though I did take a quiz a while ago that said I was similar to Uncle Iroh from avatar and I was very pleased with that answer.

9. favorite anime child

A tie between Renge Miyauchi from non non biyori and Naru Kotoishi from Barakamon.

10. favorite anime animal sidekick

Not technically an animal but Matsumoto from Vivy: Fluorite Eyes' Song was pretty good. Can't think of many off the top of my head honestly.

11. anime you didn’t expect to like but did

Nichijou. I actually stopped watching it the first time I tried thinking it was just generic cute stuff, but now it's unquestionably my favorite anime of all time.

12. anime that should get more attention from others

Mononoke. Super cool visuals and fairly interesting little stories.

13. funnest anime you have watched

Another difficult question, there are a few different ways I think a show can be fun (visually, plot twists, rapid action, etc.). But since it has all the things I just mentioned, I think I'll have to go with The Tatami Galaxy

14. saddest anime you have ever watched

Probably Plastic Memories, very similar to the movie I Want to Eat Your Pancreas.

15. anime you never get sick of watching

Nichijou, it's too good.

16. 10 best animes you have watched

Nichijou (10), Houseki no Kuni (9.8), Girls’ Last Tour (9.3), Yuyushiki (9.3), Wonder Egg Priority (9.2), Tower of God (9.2), The Tatami Galaxy (9.1), Kaguya-sama: Love is War (9.1), Mob Psycho 100 (9.0), Mononoke (9.0)

17. biggest anime crush

Still don't really have any so I'll just say Maka again.

18.10 worst anime you have watched

Juuni Taisen (6.5), Dragon Ball (kinda) (6.3), Kokkoku (6.3), Magical Girl Site (5.9), Mirai Nikki (5.6), Babylon (5.6), Ueno-san wa Bukiyou (5.4), From the New World (5.2), Asobi Asobase (5.2), Made in Abyss (5.0)

19. favorite anime ships

I don't really do this either sorry. I do like the relationship between the two main characters of Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions I suppose.

20. least favorite anime ships

Any weird pedophilic or incesty things people are freaks about.

21. anime that made you cry, when

I don't ever really full on sob because of shows, but the scene in Madoka Magica where they face off against the orchestra witch who is a character I won't spoil definitely made me tear up. Still love that scene.

22. age you started watching anime/person who introduced you to it.

As previously mentioned I think I was like 6 or 7 and I suppose you could say my brother introduced me to it.

23. unpopular character you love

I don't know if I have a good answer for this one as I'm not too sure which characters are and are not popular, but I feel like Adamant or Kongo-sensei from Houseki no Kuni is somewhat underappreciated

24. popular character you hate

Was never fond of Black Star from Soul Eater.

25. anime you would recommend to someone who hates anime

Either Cowboy Bebop or FMA Brotherhood usually seem to please people who aren't usually into anime.

26. manga you have read all the was through

There are a couple, but Shimeji Simulation is my favorite manga by far.

27. anime you plan to watch in the future

Komi-san will be getting an anime adaptation this October which I'll be watching.

28. most upsetting moment in anime, why

The scene in Made in Abyss where one character attempts to amputate the arm of another that has been stabbed by a venomous quill using only a rock and pocket knife. Like 15 straight minutes of a 12 year old screaming and crying in agony.

29. anime that deserves another season

Houseki no Kuni 100%. I've read through the manga for it and there's so much good content that could be covered.

30. one anime conclusion you would change

I would change up the ending of Carole and Tuesday quite a bit, the scope became too grandiose and ended up feeling pretty lame. Still a good show though, especially the first half.

[trisshawkeye]

Tagged by @thedreadvampy let’s goooo

Why did you choose your URL? It’s been my online handle since forever. I started using Triss by itself as a preteen on fandom message boards because I was an extremely Redwall kid, then when I found that username was often taken, I added Hawkeye because I was also an FMA kid. And it’s stuck ever since. 

Any side blogs? A couple! @preciousbrosfiliandkili is a The Hobbit side blog I made, focussed on... well, what it says on the tin. @a-foolish-notion is a vaguely in-character blog for stuff I come across that my Empire character would like, which I started because of some larp meme, I think? But still very occasionally reblog pretty masks and rings to. It keeps him happy. And there’s another blog attached to me In Real Life which I want to keep vaguely separate from my fandom presence, so I’ll say no more about it. If you know, you know.

How long have you been on Tumblr? Since summer 2012-ish? Initial Mechs content appears very early on.

Do you have a queue tag? There was a short while when I used a queue, but then I got bored and stopped. I don’t think I had a tag for it though.

Why did you start your blog in the first place? A bunch of my uni/larp friends had Tumblrs and I wanted to join in. Afterwards it became my primary connection to fandom stuff. 

Why did you choose your icon? Artemis is cool I guess, and I like reds and greens. I’ll usually grab a Supergiant icon once I play their latest game. I’ll change it fairly often, depending on what I’m into. It’s usually (but not limited to) redheads of some description. 

Why did you choose your header image? I like space. *shrug*

What’s your post with the most notes? Absolutely the ProBirdRights dramatic readings, particularly the politics one. 

How many mutuals do you have? I have absolutely no idea!

How many followers do you have? 876, but I imagine most of them are inactive given the general demographics of my notes.

How many people are you following? 142, but again a lot of these are inactive. I’ll often go on unfollowing sprees as my interests change unless it’s a friend - it’s nothing personal, I just like a well-curated dash. Occasionally I’ll go look up blogs by name if it’s someone I used to follow who I want to check in on. 

Have you ever made a shitpost? Eh, a couple? What defines a shitpost in contrast to just a silly joke? 

How often do you use Tumblr every day? Uh. Too much.

Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? Nah. I rarely engage with Discourse, and when I do I don’t directly engage with another person who is wrong. I just silently judge a lot of people.

How do you feel about the 'you need to reblog this’ posts? That kind of emotional manipulation is a near guarantee that I won’t reblog the post.

Do you like tag games? Sometimes, if they’re fun and I’m in the mood. 

Do you like ask games? I do, though I rarely actually get asks when I reblog them so...

Which of your Tumblr mutuals do you think is famous? @thedreadvampy haha. Your blog exists as a regular reminder to me that I don’t actually want to be a Big Name Fan for anything, even something I love as much as the Mechs. You seem to be having a good time but god, I would die. I will write my Weird Niche Fics in peace and I will enjoy it

Do you have a crush on a mutual? I have done occasionally in the past... but usually in the context of having a crush on a person IRL who I also know on Tumblr, rather than solely an internet friend. Make of that what you will, I guess

No pressure to do it, but tagging @morkaischosen @monsterthalia @duckbunny @rubecso ​

[medea10]

My Review of O Maidens in Your Savage Season

How did I get into this anime? This time, I didn’t rely on the randomizer to pick out a random anime licensed by Sentai Filmworks. I wanted to choose a small-sized anime with not that many episodes to its name. Probably because I spent a good year and a half on Rinne that all of these Sentai picks have been short series! So I went with one that came out not too long ago.

Kazusa Onodera belongs to the literature club at her school. Seems decent enough, right? These girls read heavily, sexualized books. And as high schoolers, the word sex is taboo and intriguing all at the same time. Each of the girls in the literature club have their own view on the subject, mostly border-lining on wanting to know more and experiencing it soon. Aside from that, Kazusa is noticing that her childhood friend, Izumi Norimoto has changed since they were kids and other girls are noticing him. This, putting Kazusa in an awkward position of avoiding him when he’s around other girls! Half of it is because jealous bitches glare at her if she gets too close to Izumi. The other half is due to the fact that Kazusa is starting to notice her friend as maybe something more.

One day, the girls in the club get word of one of their favorite authors writing a new book. This one about someone writing a bucket list due to dying! One of the girls (Niina Sugawara) suggests sex. Ever since then, all of the other girls are noticing so many new things in their world. Certain words sound dirty, certain objects can be considered phallic, and boys are starting to look fuckable. And our girl Kazusa gets a heavy dose of reality when she gives her neighbor Izumi some dinner.

She walks upstairs to find Izumi jerking off to some hardcore porn on his computer.

So yeah, coming of age story up in here!

But it isn’t just Kazusa learning about the trials of love and sex. Momoko deals with her own troubles involving sexuality. Sugawara is torn between a past love and a new love. Rika is discovering love for the first time in her life. And Hongo wants to learn more about sex in order to become a great author. All five of these girls deal with that difficult time of adolescence with first love and the curiosity of “ess eee ex”.

BETWEEN THE SUB AND THE DUB: This is licensed by Sentai Filmworks. As of this date and time, an English cast has been announced, but by the looks of things, nothing has been dubbed yet. I am a little excited to hear several new voices in the cast and a few familiar ones including Brittney Karbowski and Natalie Rial. Many of the Japanese voice actors have been around for a while and I’m kinda familiar with. It’s just that I haven’t spent a great deal hearing them in my day-to-day rotations. But I can’t complain with the cast! Here’s what you might recognize these folks from.

JAPANESE CAST: *Kazusa is played by Hiyori Kouno (known for Phil on The Promised Neverland)

*Momoko is played by Momo Asakura (known for Ayumi on Charlotte, Iroha on Magia Record, Sumi on Sakura Trick, Manako on Monster Musume, Nagisa on Kaguya-sama, and Lamy on Fairy Tail)

*Rika is played by Sumire Uesaka (known for Dekomori on Chuunibyo, Nanase on In/Spectre, and Anastasia on Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls)

*Hongo is played by Tomoyo Kurosawa (known for Miria on Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls)

*Sugawara is played by Chika Anzai (known for Mina on Attack on Titan, Nana on My Roommate is a Cat, Maki on Sakura Quest, and Young Kamui on Gintama)

ENGLISH CAST: *Kazusa is played by Brittney Karbowski (known for Selim/Pride on FMA: Brotherhood, Misaka on Railgun/Index, Black Star on Soul Eater, Wendy on Fairy Tail, Dekomori on Chuunibyo, and Hisako on Food Wars)

*Momoko is played by Juliet Simmons (known for Yukika on My Love Story and Mayumi on Food Wars)

*Rika is played by Avery Smithhart

*Hongo is played by Elissa Cuellar

*Sugawara is played by Natalie Rial (known for Rui on Domestic Girlfriend)

THIS NEEDS TO PLAY ON REPEAT: Can we watch Creepy McPedofuck get socked in the face on loop?

Yes!

It goes without saying that I hated this fucker. I heavily enjoyed him getting knocked the fuck out. And I will go in further detail with the shipping category.

SHIPPING: As this is a coming of age anime with girls in high school just discovering love, lust, sex, and all that good shit, we’ve got some stuff to cover in this category.

*Kazusa x Izumi: The childhood friend scenario! Yeah, these two were quite inseparable as children, but as they grew older, Izumi started to grow somewhat of a popularity streak with the girls at school and as a result, Kazusa found herself inferior compared to these catty bitches. That and these girls are jealous if they see Kazusa even speaking to Izumi.

Throughout the series, Kazusa had to deal with jealous bitches telling her to back off and Kazusa’s friend Sugawara having growing feelings for Izumi every time she’s with him. It seemed like not a big deal in the earlier episodes. But once we see what Sugawara is getting back at, it gets downright love-triangle-ish. It got so crazy that both girls proclaimed their love for Izumi in an open setting during a school festival at the same time. I know Izumi wasn’t going to reciprocate Sugawara’s feelings, but when he started saying things that are friend-zone material, I got worried. I mean, Kazusa and Izumi were childhood friends and there’s been a strain in that due to hormonal changes. I don’t want to bring out the tired old excuse of Izumi being a boy and he’s a dumbass, but I kinda have to. Yes dude likes Kazusa, but he also likes Sugawara and both for different reasons. And when it comes to Sugawara, it’s a sexual attraction. Boy, you are not going to get your cake and pie here.

Now I’ve been in Kazusa’s position before of wanting to be in a relationship with a best friend. A lot of the time, it does not go well and can strain the friendship you once had making it hard to go back if there’s a crap-up. By the looks of things at the end of the anime, these two seem to be on a sure-footing in their relationship.

*Rika x Shun: Rika has always been seen as an outsider to many of the main cliques of school. But it wasn’t until Shun’s kind words in class one day that changed something inside of Rika. But it doesn’t stop there with this boy! He writes fifty pages of “I Love Yous”, he insists on wanting to be with Rika in any class activity, and goes out of his way to ask her out (which she eventually accepts). And Rika with these new feelings doesn’t really know how to handle it as this is the first time she’s experienced these feelings outside of reading them in a novel. But I gotta say, their confession in front of the school was just downright too cute for words. It definitely deserves a round of applause.

*Hongo x Milo-sensei: Oh dear God, not this again! I don’t know whether to think Hongo is just using this guy for her novel or if she’s really developing something for her teacher. Milo-sensei seems to have a thing for his teaching colleague. But does this fool have a side-thing for one of his students as well? I’m getting Marmalade Boy and Domestic Girlfriend vibes here. These two go beyond a lot of boundaries throughout the series including panty flashes and a spontaneous trip to a motel. This ship I’m not fully on board with! But this is still leaps and bound ahead of what I’m about to discuss next.

*Sugawara x Saegusa: Oh for fuck’s sake! Everything about this sounds so wrong, Domestic Girlfriend is demanding an apology for all the bad things said about that. Even Izumi finds this guy pedophilish. An old acting coach has a thing for little girls and finds Sugawara pure when she’s at a young age and Sugawara eventually grows to like him. It’s just that when she figured it out, she’s a young teenager in high school and according to Saegusa, she’s too old.

Too old?! Fool! You are clearly in your late 40s at the earliest. And Sugawara is at least 14 and SHE’S TOO OLD?! I’m about to slap the glasses off your dumbass-face and call Chris Hansen because this is too much. Sugawara, please for the love of all that’s cream pie, stop going after this creep and making him jealous with trying to get with Izumi! You CAN do better! And also, you’re really fucking with the Izumi x Kazusa ship. But more importantly, you CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS CREEPY FUCK!

…

And now it’s time to talk about Momoko. I thought that this anime was going to be all about these girls falling in love with different boys. At first, it looked like that with a boy named Satoshi coming in the picture saying he remembers Momoko when they were kids. But then, we get a surprise from Momoko when she finds girls more attractive (particularly Sugawara). Okay, I didn’t see that coming. And frankly, I’d prefer that or just about anything else to that old-ass actor with a little girl complex. But with Momoko, I feel like she’s going to be the one character that doesn’t get to be with someone in the end. Kazusa gets Izumi, Rika gets Shun, and Hongo gets Milo-sensei. Momoko does come out to Sugawara, but I’m unsure if this is one-sided or if Sugawara ends up together with her.

ENDING: All five girls are learning that love and sex come with a mixed bag of everything. Sometimes everything works out, sometimes things fall apart, sometimes actions have consequences, and sometimes a dick comes in and ruins everything.

Because of the blooming relationship of Kazusa and Izumi, Sugawara got jealous and did some risqué things on a train with Izumi. Hongo takes things to another level when she goes to a cheap hotel with Milo-sensei and she was ready to take the bull by the horns. Yeah, she was doing most of this for her novel, but this escalated into full-blown infatuation of her teacher. And Rika was feeling pretty good around school now that she has a boyfriend and is on speaking terms with one of the popular girls. Too bad Rika’s friend is never coming back to school because she’s knocked up! See, consequences!

The high school administration was upset by some recent incidents including a student getting pregnant. But what set them over the edge were reports of Rika and Shun outside of a love hotel. But as we all know, they did no act of sex. They were spying on Hongo and Milo-sensei. But you can’t tell these prudes that. They made an example of Rika and Shun by expelling them and putting out an updated P.D.A. rule at school. Not even Milo-sensei confessing to being at the love hotel could calm this storm with the heads of the school. So the girls of the literature club decide to take drastic measures.

They shut the school down, hold Milo-sensei hostage, and demand that Rika and Shun are reinstated at school. I wasn’t expecting this anime to go down the route of The Simpson’s classic episode Grade School Confidential, but here we are.

Yeah, the principal and vice principal had a Groundskeeper Willie attitude to their fight and left them to cool down for the night. This night in the school things kinda went a little crazy, particularly when Shun and Izumi came inside. Especially when you have Izumi admit that he likes Kazusa, but is sexually attracted to Sugawara. Then, you have Momoko irritated that all Sugawara is interested in is Izumi and she’s got this huge crush on her. Add to the thick layer we got already, Shun opens is dumbass mouth to mention he has kissed girls before Rika. Oh, dude. Shut up! But the girls found a way to fix things…sorta! A few episodes back, the girls had a pillow fight to let out their frustration. So, they’re going to play a simple game where there seems to be a happy conclusion for all involved. Rika and Shun share a cute forehead kiss and Shun admits his love for Rika once more. Momoko and Sugawara share a moment. As for Izumi and Kazusa, they both admitted to feeling anxious and uncomfortable jumping from friends to boyfriend/girlfriend. So it looks like they’re going to stay together. Sure looks like it in the epilogue. But we’ll get there soon enough.

After a full night of revelations, the principal and vice principal return to school the following morning to the entire building covered in protest paper to reinstate Rika and Shun and to get rid of the P.D.A. ban. I guess things worked out since a lot of students saw this and the principal is about as useless as a Band-Aid on a toothache.

At the end of the episode, we see the cast from what looks to be one year later as Rika and Shun are in college now. Rika’s friend and former classmate had her baby. Milo-sensei and Hongo are holding down the literature club with a few new members. It also looks as though they’re still in a relationship (possibly getting married later). I am unsure if Momoko and Sugawara ended up together or not. But at least they’re still friends. And it seems as though Izumi and Kazusa made it through that awkward time of adolescence and they seemed to have stayed together.

This was a fun romp! I think we all remember a time in high school where we were young and naïve about the concept of love and even sex. I can’t say there was one particular character I connected to in this series. I think I’ve been in all of the girl’s positions at one point or another. I’ve been friend-zoned like Kazusa. There was a boy I wasn’t into that wouldn’t leave me alone like Momoko. I was curious to a point where it did affect my own writing like Hongo. I had jealous fits over a friend’s boyfriend much like Sugawara. And once I got in a relationship, I felt as awkward as Rika. See, I’ve been all five at one point.

It’s a confusing time being an adolescent. Along with the changes in your body, there’s that gnawing pressure of noticing blossoming feelings for some person. And you’re not sure if you should talk to them, kiss them, or rip off their clothes in the heat of passion. Not sure if everything from the manga was covered. I’d like to assume it was due to the fact that both the anime series and manga were short. And I think all viewers can agree that…Can we see that gross dude get punched again?

Oh yeah, that’s so delicious.

So if you’re ready to re-watch possible flashbacks of your awkward high school moments again, check out this anime.

If you would like to watch O Maidens in Your Savage Season, all 12 episodes are available to watch on HI-DIVE.

Okay, what’s my next Sentai Filmworks anime?

*gasps*

In association with Pony Canyon & TBS!

What the…?! THEY ALL LOOK LIKE THEY’RE FROM K-ON!

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 258: Have You Thanked Your Twice Today

Previously on BnHA: All Might gave Deku a book with all of the previous OFA successors’ names, quirks, and career stats. Kacchan barely glanced at the book and was all “nah, boring” and JUST LIKE THAT he decided we’re not gonna get any new info, which I don’t think is very fair or considerate Kacchan but whatever!! Anyway though, All Might did reveal that Nana could fly and so Deku is going to learn to fly, so that’s fucking awesome, and then Kacchan and Deku had a moment of being bratty siblings together which I framed and put on my wall, so that was also very enjoyable. Back at the 1-A dorms we learned that Todoroki can’t cook, and the kids had a New Year’s party and talked about how they’re gonna be second years soon and how everything is just SO GREAT AND GOOD AND LIFE IS GOOD, and elsewhere All Might sat outside the teacher’s dorms and had a gorgeous fucking conversation with Aizawa that gave me all the feels. The chapter then ended with a THREE MONTH TIMESKIP to late March when apparently everything is about to go to shit. So yeah. Quite a lot to process there.

Today on BnHA: Hawks spends basically the entire chapter very slowly explaining to us that he became best friends with Twice, and it paid off dividends on account of Twice deciding that Hawks is definitely trustworthy and he should definitely tell him exactly where Tomura is off hiding in the mountains of Kyoto, because that’s the kind of extremely sensitive strategic intel that real best friends don’t keep from one another! Can you guys believe Hawks spent all that time trying to cozy up to fucking Dabi of all people when this whole time Twice was right fucking there. I bet you Twice would never have asked him to kill Best Jeanist and tote around his remains in a knapsack. Anyway so the chapter ends with the heroes launching what I assume is a surprise attack in where I assume is Kyoto, which probably explains that whole “on that day the heroes vanished” bit from the previous chapter. So let’s all wish them good luck, especially because THEY BROUGHT THE FUCKING KIDS WITH THEM GODDAMMIT. Oh my babies. Please be safe.

so I think I’m gonna go back to the Friday schedule since it just works better for me. just gotta remember to take the translations with a grain of salt, but all in all the quality last week wasn’t too bad, and overall the pros outweigh the cons

(ETA: the quality actually went down a lot this time honestly, but Friday still > Sunday in terms of me having the time to read this, so it is what it is.)

well this is interesting!

“in the absence of Endeavor” ? ??? the what now??? “oh yeah did we forget to mention, he’s gone now. we did some focus groups and made a few tweaks based on what the fans said they wanted.” well shit. let this be a warning to you all. it can happen JUST LIKE THAT

um. but I mean, that’s all well and good but uhhhh. [nervous glance toward Ujiko, Tomura, the 100k army, and the 11 noumus] ...

but maybe he’s just absent for the cover though. (ETA: yeah this makes a lot more sense after reading the last page of this chapter lol.) anyway so here we have everyone flying, as all good heroes do, including Deku who doesn’t really need that floating quirk after all I suppose, since he can jump real good. BUT IT’S STILL NICE FOR HIM TO HAVE IT SO SHHH

also the flower!Kacchan eyes are becoming more and more frequent lately. Horikoshi is really having a lot of fun with that

and now we’re going back roughly two months ago! which is still the future as far as I’m concerned! so this is really weird to have a “flashback” that basically still takes place after where we last left off. but whatever

“a week after the ‘hospital’ tip” well thank you, that certainly does help. so Twice is jogging in and beckoning to his best bud Hawks so Hawks is like “?” and walking over

(ETA: this has absolutely nothing to do with anything, but I just wanted to say that it’s very possible this flashback is actually taking place on Shouto’s birthday -- January 11th -- given the timing, so happy birthday Shouto! you are getting so big!)

lol see this is one of those times where the whole ‘translation of a translation’ thing doesn’t really work sob. even with context I’m not quite sure wtf Twice is actually asking, but at any rate this at least does give us an idea of how the rest of the League is spending their time now that they’ve completed their whole villain corporate merger

so Spinner and Compress, who actually have a few brain cells to rub together between the two of them, are already deeply involved in running things, and meanwhile Giran, Dabi, and Toga don’t really give a shit and so are content to sit back and wait until their services are actually needed. incidentally I like to think Giran spends a good chunk of his free time just tormenting ReDestro in a bunch of really small and petty ways. like making him get his coffee, and having him call and cancel his cable subscription and stuff. it’s just nice

guys I have no idea wtf is going on in these four panels honestly

well you heard him. that’s the situation. nobody trusts Twice (or was he talking about Hawks?), and meanwhile he has to go poo. not exactly where I thought this chapter would be picking up after that fun little cliffhanger last week, but just goes to show this series truly is a magical Kinder Egg and you never know what you’re gonna get!

so Hawks is explaining for my benefit that Twice was apparently doing an impression of some guy named “Sanctum” who is the oldest member of the MLA

holy shit it took Hawks a whole month to figure out all of the Pliff members? I’m just gonna pass then. thankfully I’m not a spy and I don’t have the fate of the free world depending on me memorizing the organizational chart of a bunch of really boring people whom I really do not give the slightest fuck about. anyway godspeed Hawks

oh no

son of a bitch. we’re in for another long fucking arc aren’t we lmao. well all right then let’s go ahead and do the rundown

Black 1: Fuhrer King Bradley

Black 2: Flying Ace

Black 3: Mother Ginger

Violet 1: Super Mario and Just A Bald Man

Violet 2: Predator and Best Sweaterist

Violet 3: Vizard and Gang Badger

in conclusion, Horikoshi will never stop making Alien/Predator references, and I’m also seeing some strong FMA and Bleach influence here as well. hell, the Mario guy even reminds me of some of the fishman characters from One Piece. so basically we’re all over the place here

other observations: “the new world movement”, huh? are they moving on from PLF at long last? I’ll take Newm over Pliff any day tbh

and so they have a tactical force and a raid force. now that’s interesting as fuck, because who exactly are they planning to raid? now that’s a nice disturbing question to ponder

lastly, the black and violet color schemes are very interesting and I wonder if there’s any significance there that’s going over my head lol. for now I just think it sounds cool regardless

-- MOTHERFUCKER THERE’S A WHOLE NOTHER PAGE OF THIS SHIT FUCK ME I FUCKING QUIT

goddammit. fine

Carmine 1: Lefty Hair and Gerudo Princess

Carmine 2: Slidin’ Go Away and R2-D2

and I can’t see Carmine 3, oh well. meanwhile on the other side we’ve got:

Cleveland 1: Praying Mantis and Righty Hair

Cleveland 2: Jawa and Just Happy To Be Here

and last but not least, Cleveland 3: Badger’s Revenge

what I have learned from this is that I don’t really know what a badger looks like and so any remotely rodent-looking animal person with stripes on their face is going to be slapped with that label because I don’t have time to research what would be a more appropriate animal nickname unless we want to be here until next week. anyway

haha Hawks what the fuck

well that sure is encouraging. so how exactly are the heroes supposed to get the drop on them then? basically we’re fucked, is what you’re saying. well we all been knew so whatever

so Hawks is monologuing to himself about how he was able to nice his way into learning all of the army’s members without getting caught, and in the process he observed how all of the members are all “FUCK THE SYSTEM”, which they definitely have a point about but are also definitely going about the wrong way holy shit

so now he’s feeding some good rabble-rousing lines to Twice who is eating them up

yeah, because Twice famously loves ReDestro lol, oh wait

so Twice is all “I don’t wanna say something that’s not from the heart” because he is PURE and not a Sneaky Sam like SOME PEOPLE! but he understands Hawks’s point that he basically just has to butter them up and tell them what they want to hear, and now he’s running off with a hearty thanks

fffffson of a --

like, you all can see the breakdown in logic that occurred here, right? “some heroes are corrupt” -- absolutely! “kill all heroes” -- wait, what

like obviously there are some real world parallels here. but I very much get the feeling that the PLF/NWM’s movement is fueled less by sentiments of “our law enforcement system is trigger-happy, racist, void of empathy, and think they’re above the law” and more by the notion of “our self-proclaimed superiority gives us the right to do whatever we want and trumps other people’s right to be safe and free, particularly if those people are unfortunate enough to not have quirks.” like, there are a lot of other nuances we could get into here, but that’s basically the gist of it, so yeah. these guys are not to be sympathized with here

and now there’s a big double page spread basically confirming that what these guys really want is blood and anarchy

and the really interesting thing here to me is that we can see Tomura standing at the front of the pack in that bottom right panel. but on the very next panel, with the close-up of Hawks looking as serious as we’ve ever seen him, he basically says that the endgame of all this, the ultimate outcome that this is all meant to bring into place, is one thing and one thing only

yep. well fuck

anyway I have no idea why he’s thanking Twice, but I’m gonna go ahead and guess he unknowingly did something which might give the heroes the potential glimmer of hope which they desperately need. so I will go ahead and thank you too, Twice. you’re a good guy buddy

oh wow there’s a whole page of more meta about Twice! -- and OH SHITTTTTTT

LKDsjflkjsdlfklskgjlskjlfkjsdlfk oh my fkfdjflk how did this never occur to me, just. FSDKLFLSIFKjk

hahaha. :’) holy fucking shit. they have to take him out. they can’t win otherwise. the heroes are already screwed enough as it is with just one Tomura and eleven high ends to contend with; if Twice is able to use his quirk to multiply that exponentially, we can basically kiss the world goodbye. fuck

but Hawks came to realize that Twice is actually a good guy though as echoed above! which, yeah, and can you imagine if he wasn’t, though? shiiit

oh my god they are so cute

listen, I won’t lie, I’m reading this for my 1-A children first and foremost, so there’s a part of me that’s like “HOW MANY MORE PAGES ARE WE GOING TO GET OF THIS JESUS CHRIST.” but there’s no denying that Jin is a good turnip and his unexpected friendship with Hawks -- which I am happy to report is now confirmed to be genuine! because Hawks really does like him! -- is a delight to witness

OH MY GOD TWICE LMAO

“HERE, LET ME JUST DRAW YOU A MAP! (⌒∇⌒。)ANYTHING FOR YOU, BEST FRIEND”

holy fucking shit Twice. did you just save all our asses you beautiful bastard

so between this, and the “hospital” clue, that could be enough to track him down, couldn’t it? no wonder Hawks was so pumped after getting that call. what are the odds this chapter ends with the start of a hero-led raid on a hospital in Kyoto. oh shit oh shit oh shit

lolol oh fuck me

I swear to god Horikoshi if you end this bromance by having Hawks kill Twice for the sake of the greater good, I’ll. ... well I sure as hell won’t like that. please do not

AND JUST LIKE THAT WE’RE BACK TO SPRINGTIME OH MY GOD

what a time to enter the first fucking grade Dai-kun. godspeed little man. I love the little detail that he’s holding an Endeavor plush while looking at the All Might statue. drawing strength from both heroes. aww

and then of course we have this fucking march of heroes which I can only hope is them heading to that hospital! no wonder they all vanished. they all ran off to Kyoto to try and put a stop to the villains’ plans before it’s too late

but I don’t see any of the kiddos there, though? don’t tell me the villains are gonna try something while the adults are away and leave the kids to deal with it all on their own

oh shit no!!! hold up!!

DON’T TELL ME THEY REALLY DID BRING THE KIDS WITH THEM ON THE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS “TIME TO GET OUR ASSES HANDED TO US BY NOUMURAKI TOMURA” MISSION NOOO MY BABIESSS

oh thank god

at least they don’t have the child soldiers on the front fucking lines, fucking christ

AHHHHHHHHH

SAY A PRAYER FOR KATSUKI’S WINTER COSTUME, EVERYONE. BE AT PEACE, SLEEVES OF GONDOR. FAREWELL BEST JEANIST TRIBUTE COLLAR

is this T chest thing on Shouto’s costume new? I can’t imagine that serves any sort of practical function whatsoever; he was probably just tired of looking boring

BUT!!!! those gloves, though!!?! now those are definitely new and I fucking love them. again I can’t really see them having much of a practical application given his quirk, but there is nothing wrong with upgrading oneself just to look sharp! boy wanted a facelift so he went out and got one

that’s some nice Anime Protagonist Wind they’ve got going on there in the mountains of Kyoto. real epic shit

1-B is there too!! and also Hadou, I think, unless that’s Pony? so that’s fucking awesome. we will certainly need all hands on deck

so that’s it for the chapter! not much happened, but we got a lot of Twice appreciation and learned that the heroes still have a few tricks up their sleeves! can’t wait to see how this will all go disastrously wrong. if you ask me, it’s probably when they decided that the best way to launch a surprise attack was to have fifty Endeavor-led guys gather all together and march up Main Street. but far be it from me to tell the heroes how to do their job I guess. best of luck not dying everyone

[zetalial]

FMA fanfiction recs!

Hey, so in my recent fma survey, I asked people for FMA fanfiction! And they delivered, yay! Thank you. I decided to make them into a nice list for all to see.

You’re very sweet, Anon but I’m afraid it’s already too late. This ended up quite, quite long. And I’m amazed at how long some of these stories are - if you’re looking for stuff to read, hopefully this list will occupy you for a while, (especially if you check some of the author’s other works). 

Most of these I have not read, but hey, they were recced so they’ve got to be good, right? Range of ships and stories from both canons. I’ve included the ships but haven’t included ratings so be warned that some of these may be explicit. (The author will probably indicate it themselves though.)

Full list under cut!

-Fullmetal’s Company by Roseveare | 18434 words | Gen, takes place pre-series. | Ed should have never flashed the silver pocketwatch in a warzone.

-A Wicked Game by Tierfal | 59921 words | RoyEd, Modern!AU |  Roy has lucked into the all-expenses-paid vacation of his dreams – all he has to do is convince a bunch of happy couples that he's head-over-heels in love with Ed Elric. What could possibly go wrong?

-Be light from now on by Merel | 2363 words | GreedLing, Modern!AU |  “Let’s go inside, sweetheart.” Cat café

-Number 28 by Sevlow | 63347 words | Gen, Parental RoyEd, divergence |  As of today, Edward Elric had been missing for four months, two weeks, and five days. Warnings for angst, some gore, and Chimera!Ed.

-In the Gaslight by UnorthodoxCreativity |13542 words | RoyEd |  Ed hates military parties. This is no surprise. But when a certain bastard of a colonel takes it into his head to make Ed's night a happier one, well. Ed's not complaining.

-Through the Gate by PreelikesWriting | 3 part series totalling  252736 words | Harry Potter crossover with BH Ed Pre-promised day covering books 5-7 of the HP books. Last part is still incomplete. |  Edward is transported to the Wizarding world and must fight his way back home.

-Playing God by the Flamel Cult | 44445 words | Harry Potter crossover  |  I thought the dull aching was something other than my demise. As it turned out, I was sorely mistaken. Perhaps I should listen to Alphonse more; maybe then there wouldn't be another bloody tragedy that would, inevitably, end it all. For good.

-snipers solve 99% of all problems by silentwalrus | 134066 words | Harry Potter crossover, incomplete post-Promised day | Ed had thought, after the whole Promised Day, homunculus, entire country harvested for alchemical batteries thing, the batshit quotient of his life would have settled down some. He really ought to have topped out the meter with that one. But no. The bullshit is just getting started.“Are you fucking kidding me,” Ed demands. “The wizards?”

-Harry Potter and the Eastern Sage by LiteratureWork | 141609 words | Harry Potter Crossover Brotherhood incomplete |  Nicholas Flamel was famous for creating the philosopher's stone, but like Lockhart's smile it was all a lie. Flamel stole a part of the stone and it took Edward 642 years to get it back along with the souls inside of it, one which was his brother. But after traveling to Hogwarts to retrieve it, Dumbledore has other plans for the ancient hero.

-Reversed by Autzulfrost | 162206 words | Harry Potter crossover post 03 anime |  At the end of the first anime, Ed is sent back to London. But he's a kid again and through a twist of fate gets involved with the wizarding world. Will the alchemist help save wizarding Britain? Will he find a way to return to his home and true family?

-Stray Hayate by Famousfault | 3436 words| Harry Potter crossover |  Hayate had no idea how he had ended up there, but he had no other choice but to accept the situation. Harry at the other hand is not quite as satisfied with it.

-Demon Alchemist by Metisket | Series, 88462 words | Brotherhood divergence covers whole series | Al died in the transmutation. In which Ed becomes Central's local vigilante, thereby becoming Maes's problem. Roy finds something poetic in this.

-No Crueler Punishment by Gomboc123 | 2504 words | Post-promised day humour |  Instead of taking away Roy's vision, Truth decides to take something much more precious from Roy, and defaces him in the worst way possible.

-The Bond we Share by DiaHonkers | 23750 words | What if Brotherhood where Ed and Al share a body incomplete |  The Fullmetal Alchemist was a weird person. He joined the military at only 12 years old. But the weirder thing about him was that he changed personalities in the blink of an eye. One moment he could be screaming his head off at you and the other he would be profusely apologizing. He would constantly talk to himself, and his commanding officer didn't bat an eye. But what they didn't know that it wasn't just one person. It was two.

-Another Journey by Isil'zha BLZ | 254486 words | Whole series rewrite. |  The Elric brothers embark on another journey, but this time it's different than the ones they've been through before. A reimagining of the FMA story that combines elements from both anime to create what is (hopefully) the best of both worlds.

-A boy named Ed by BelloftheSea | 302732 words | Post-canon but Ed is young again without memories of his old life. Incomplete |  Ed knew he was different. It wasn't just that he was smarter than the other kids or even that he had automail. No, it had more to do with the way people would occasionally look at him, like they were expecting somebody else. It was the way his mechanic cried the day she met him. It was the way his dad would sometimes slip – and call him Fullmetal.

-Nothing Gold by Rydia Highwind | 23230 words | EdLing Post-canon, AU ending |  Ling has gained immortality. Ed has not.

-Unto the Shores of Acheron by LAXgirl | 99904 words | Gen, post 03 AU |  Everyone thought Edward was dead. But when someone tries to resurrect him, no one's prepared to deal with the soulless look alike that's created instead, or its hurt and anger when his original half unexpectedly returns from the other side of the Gate.

-Nequitia Est Manus by Azei | 103304 words | Divergence story incomplete | Madame Christmas meets a blonde brat with a fondness for drinking all her whiskey and giving her more headaches than Roy ever did. AU in which Ed fakes his death at the end of episode 26 and uses it as a means to stop Father's plans from the sidelines.

-Beast of a Burden by Shoulderpads | 66416 words | Diverges Pre-canon, BH incomplete |  Alternate universe where Ed and Al don't get the chance to try and bring their mom back before they're taken to the labs as subjects for chimera experimentation.

-The Colours of the World by MaiKusakabe | 114228 words | Harry Potter crossover Post Promised day, incomplete |  When Roy Mustang went to retrieve his eyesight from Truth, he wasn’t expecting to end up doing a job in exchange. It couldn’t even be an easy job, of course, because Edward’s assessment of Truth was a pretty accurate one.

-Confirmation Bias by Cryogenia | 3327 words | RoyEd vague timeline. | (No summary) 

-Phylactery by Shade40 | 250666 words | Post-Promised day AU, incomplete |  Six years after the Promised Day, Selim is Homunculus and child. As he studies alchemy, Selim realizes it is possible to resurrect his family. The Homunculi deserve the same second chance that he was given, but while they struggle to embrace their newfound humanity, an unknown player comes with a deal that divides them. Post-FMAB with bits from 2003 series.

-Inhuman Beings by wllw | 3173 words | Mid BH, Pride + Kimblee centric |  At the edges of his vision, the shadows followed him.

-The Twelve Days of Disaster by  MEOW-I'm-A-Dog | 47932 words |  A series of oneshots about Christmas that go from crack to full cocaine. Written on a whim, not to be taken seriously unless you want to. Characters: Breda, Ed, Al, Havoc, Fuery, Hawkeye, Falman, Mustang, Hughes and the occasional Armstrong

-At Gate’s Edge by Winds of Water | 455478 words | RoyEd 03 AU where human transmutation went awry and Ed is a ghost. Incomplete |  Love's never easy as it is, but it's twice as hard when you're separated by life and death.

-Grand Arcanum by The-Immortal-Moon | 343781 words | Series AU and roleswap blending 03 and BH. Incomplete |  Brothers Edward and Alphonse tragically lose their bodies in a failed attempt at human transmutation. Now, they partner with their childhood friend, Winry, and scour Amestris in search of the Philosopher’s Stone.

-Abandon All Hope, Ye who enter here by Anonymous | 17171 words | Dark! Au from end of 03. Ed being held by Dante. NonCon. |  Everything went wrong. Al is gone, Dante has the Stone, and Ed is a prisoner to the fanciful whims of his new captor.

-Love Can Melt the Ice by Winryofresembool | 63640 words | EdWin Modern!Au |  Edward Elric, a hockey player from Amestris, participates in his first ever Olympics. The only thing he's planning to get from there is a gold medal. However, when he accidentally bumps into a childhood friend, a talented figure skater Winry Rockbell, he learns there are things bigger than hockey.

-Our Embalmed hearts, our desolate kingdoms by spooky_bee | 155853 words | Neon Genesis Evangelion fusion with FMAB RoyAi | "He leans back, palms connecting with the concrete, and looks up over their city, their desolate kingdom. In the rain, Central City might as well be the ruins of Xerxes, empty and grey, and he and she may as well be the last two people on earth."Or, Love in the Time of Giant Robots

-Talking With Ghosts by em-witchwood | 2801 words | EdRiza, Post FMA 03 |  Out of all of them, she was probably the only one that didn’t regret all the things she had never said to him, because she’d said all that she wanted.

-We That Are Young by Stoplight Delight | 277131 words | Pre-canon |  It's a well-known fact that innocents make poor soldiers. Fortunately, Riza Hawkeye's childhood was not entirely innocent. She had to grow up fast... though she wasn't the only one. The early years of the Colonel and his First Lieutenant.

-Tempest by Bookwrm389 | 16810 words | Gen, vaguely mid-series Parental RoyEd |  Ed is adamant that he doesn't need a father. And it's only when he's about to lose the closest thing he has to one that he understands how very wrong he is.

-Flames of Consequence by EnviousMonster | 67018 words | Gen, Envy lives AU post BH. Incomplete |  Where Envy survives and is given a second chance to become something more than they were made to be. Will contain depictions of violence, emotional and mental duress, etc.

-Stock Market Crash by VIKAN | 29301 words | Gen, vaguely canon timeline |  Stranded in the middle of the Eastern Desert, Roy Mustang must try to get himself and a concussed Edward across it safely before he completely loses his mind.

-Mendacium by ChaoticClueless | 15558 words | My Hero Academia crossover with BH Ed. Incomplete | Edward didn't want to help Truth. He didn't want to go to a different world to defeat yet another Father. He didn't want to become a vigilante there.He also wanted his brother back. The choice was obvious, even if Truth is a massive asshole.

-Reverti Ad Praeteritum by Batsutousai | 288908 words | EdRoy Timetravel story, BH |  Unwillingly forced to serve as a human trial for a crazy alchemist experimenting with time travel, Edward Elric finds himself standing across from Truth in the moment it takes his leg from him. Armed with the knowledge of what's to come and burdened with guilt for the choices he'd made as an adult, Ed sets out to fix every mistake he ever made and save every life they ever lost, no matter what it takes.

-Best Kept Secret by MoonStarDutchess | 523815 words | RoyAi BH canon-compliant incomplete |  What if Roy and Riza were secretly married through the entire series? This story tells you that.

-Ash Like Snow by Laora | 6723 words | Harry Potter Crossover |  His sanity is crumbling away, but then, so is the entire wizarding world.

-Penance by Laora | 125965 words | Harry Potter Crossover around Promised Day |  The Gate was opening; the black arms stretched toward him and Pride. Ed knew he had no say in the matter. He would be pulled to this parallel dimension, alternate universe—whatever it was—and Amestris would be left to die. Truth merely grinned.

-Jiǔ by agentcalliope | 3131 words | Roy-centric piece, RoyAi |  the nine steps Roy Mustang takes towards acceptance

-Homefront by hlwim | 50895 words | BH AU, some RoyAi |  Miss Riza's arrival in Resembool has the potential to ruin everything.

-Infernia by mitsys | 3899 words | Royai, Pacific Rim AU |  Some stories aren't told in headlines or newspapers, but in the touch of hands and minds. They linger together in the Drift, lines melting together into the seams, and they don't mourn the lost letters. They've been writing their story long enough to do it without words.

-Wooden by tobu_ishi | 1928 words | Gen, Post 03 anime, Ed in other world |  He never realized how useful automail could be until he was an entire world away from it, or what a pain simple daily tasks could become.

-Mirrorworld by Tramontana Keeper | 305134 words | EdHei, Pre-CoS AU |  Ed managed to prove that he was truly from a different world, and Alfons finds himself captive in Ed's dream of opening the Gate. 

-Fragile Worlds by The Prettiest Frog in the Pond | 5635 words | Gen, 03 anime AU |  He'd been stuck in this place for months now, but no matter what he says, nothing changes. He's Edward Elric. He's been Edward Elric all his life. So why won't they believe him?

-One Foot in by Firewind | 7008 words | Gen, 03 anime AU |  Envy shows Ed why it's unwise to break a deal with homunculi.

-The Circle by Elfpen | 3007 words | Gen, promised day |  Edward Elric teaches alchemy at Central University. A particularly horrible student leads them down a path of dark discussion, which somehow, leads Edward back full circle.

-Ignis Fatuus by Mikkeneko | 5787 words | Gen. |  Edward attempts to break apart a chimera made from an animal and a child.

-Abstention by Asidian | 11117 words | Vague timeline |  An assignment to snow country under Colonel Mustang is bad enough for the damper it puts on the Elrics' search for the Stone, but downed supply lines lead to cut rations, and Ed discovers that he can't take the deprivation as well as he'd like to pretend.

-Never break the chain by haganenobeato | 4199 words | RoyAi BH, vague timeline | The nights were not kind to Riza Hawkeye. Sleep felt elusive following the failed operative to capture a homunculus after Gluttony swallowed the Colonel whole with Edward alongside him. Before she could gather her bearings and make sense of what was happening, Mustang’s men were transferred at different cardinal points in Amestris with herself at the center as Bradley’s assistant.As for him… he had been changed.

-Men and Angels by Laora | 56333 words | Timetravel AU |  Trisha can't understand; she's terrified, but she has to stay calm. Her boys are gone, replaced by her sons from the future...and something, she knows, is terribly wrong.

-The Really Ridiculously Good Looking Summer Festival by VerboseWordsmith | 45594 words | Modern!Band!AU RoyEd |  Quasi-indie newcomers, Fullmetal Alchemist, just hit number one with their second single on the Amestris Hot 100 Rock chart and they've been added to the lineup of this summer's Transmuted Tour.

-To Love is to Sacrifice by Konfessor2U | 6372 words | Edvy, BH |  Edward is held captive as a human sacrifice and Envy is set to watch over him.

-Not in His Job Description by alightintheshadows | 1331 words | Gen, BH Post-promised day, Parental Roy |  General Mustang receives visitor much too early on a Sunday morning, but he doesn't mind in the slightest.

-Aftermath by Asidian | 32148 words | Elricest, vaguely post-series |  Not even a year after Al receives his new body, Ed requests a mission that will take him far from his brother's side. When things go terribly wrong, they must pick up the pieces together.

-Ignis Aurum Probat by writing_addict | 34827 words | How to train your dragon AU, FMAB, incomplete | Edward Elric is born early into the dead of winter, on an island twelve days North of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing-To-Death. He comes into the world sickly and small--and endlessly defiant, burning with the kind of rage that can shake the foundations of the universe. The gods themselves hear that scream, that roar of fury and thunder promising to remake the world as they know it, and wonder. Fifteen years later, Ed brings down the Night Fury that's been plaguing his people for generations, stands over it with the perfect opportunity to make the kill...and spares it.

-Satellite by SpicyReyes | 103170 words | EdRoy, Timetravel, BH incomplete |  A rogue alchemist, desperate to restore the alchemy of the famous Fullmetal Alchemist, pushes Truth into playing a new game - one that has Edward Elric waking up on the floor of his house where a transmuted abomination should have been, just in time to save his younger self and brother. He might have a chance to do everything again, now, though...He would never hold anything but bitterness for the title of 'dad,' but maybe an older brother could make things better.

-With Eyes Anew by Rider_of_Spades | 500 words | LustScar FMA 03 | "She’s not your second chance– she’s your first." On the implications of being in love with a Homunculus.

-Son of the Desert by ShanaStoryteller | 10445 words | Ishvalan!Ed AU, BH EdRoy | Every time Edward sees the circle on the back Mustang's hand, he wants to scream, wants to reach across the desk and shake him, wants to wrap his hands around the older man's throat and ask if it was worth it, if this desk and his rank is worth the screaming, crying, writhing, burning bodies of his people-

-Tears and Rain by BeautifulFiction_FMA | 196772 words | RoyEd FMA 03 vague timeline |  When Ed stops an assassination attempt on Roy's life, he foils one of the opening moves in a massive military intrigue. Can he and Roy stay one step ahead of those who want them dead, or will they both lose the fight to survive?

-The Lost Language of Swans by Mirabella | 2258 words | Elricest, Wingfic Post-series |  They smuggled Al out of Central and back to Rizembul, where they rented a small house with room for Ed's books and Al's wings.

-For the night has been unkind by CoolJellyBean25 | 159980 words | RoyEd PostBH AU, Incomplete |  Even with the straitjacket off, Ed never feels like it's really gone.

-conflicted by the very air i breathe by writing_addict | 149707 words | some RoyAi, BH AU, incomplete |  Edward Elric vanishes after what was supposed to be an ordinary mission. A year later, Roy Mustang gets a call that changes everything.

-World without Roy by Manalfedz | 41482 words | Gen, BH AU, incomplete |  Wherein...Roy tries not to freak out in an alternate world where everything has gone horribly wrong.

-A sudden alchemy by LadyMerlin | 5388 words | RoyEd Modern!Au |  The one in which Roy is a Knight in Shining Armour

-A Pyramid Scheme by PhantomRose96 | 1662 words | Gen, immediately Post!BH | “Why didn’t you run?”   “Sorry?”  “Why didn’t you run away, Fullmetal?”

-From Ashes by JordannaMorgan | 22864 words | Gen, canon-compliant set right after the human transmutation attempt. |  Edward and Alphonse had a long journey to make before they ever left home.

-Babylon by BeautifulFiction_FMA | 261096 words | RoyEd, post FMA 03 AU |  Two years after retrieving his brother's body from the Gate of Truth Edward Elric is still paying the price. Will his debt ever be repaid, or will it finally cost him everything?

-Havoc’s Foolproof Plan by 1stTimeCaller | 9187 words | vague timeline, some RoyAi shiptease. |  Havoc's love life is constantly interrupted by his womanizing boss. So he decides to try it on with the one woman who is immune to Mustang's charm.

-The Ordeal of Being Known by budgeWrites | 20254 words | FMA 03 AU LustScar Lust and Scar both live, Incomplete |  On conquering demons, remembering how to live, and coming home.

-Focus by Sevlow | 37665 words | Gen, vague timeline |  Mustang, Edward, and all the other Alchemists of fair Amestris are starting to lose their grip on their own minds and bodies. The Amestrian military is in chaos as dozens of its higher-ranking officers start losing their minds to an unknown sickness.

[alyseofwonderland]

Alyse Reads The Goldfinch, Part 2

What follows is my best attempt at liveblogging. I had the books as an audiobook in hopes that I could keep it from taking even more of my life from me. This was perhaps a mistake. I think I broke Siri trying to make notes. The notes that are rambly are the ones I dictated.

I entirely blame @rollono​ for my suffering. But I am also aware that it seems to give her joy. 

Every time I reference Tara, I am talking about @wellntruly​ who’s own live blog of the book was the only roadmap I had to follow in this waterlogged wasteland of a novel.

Part 1

I thought Tara was making up the Camel-hair coat bit but APPARENTLY NOT.

Architecture has that much to do with the city and or northern Europe, really? I mean, “whitewash” doesn't everybody do that?

Nina ( @proud-librarian​ ) is going to have a lot to say about their descriptions of the Netherlands and Amsterdam in this book. like oh my God!

Theo Deckard doesn't understand how thermostats work.

This isn't satire? I don't understand we're like three minutes in and it has to be satire. right. right?

Who the hell says my mother and I didn't like my father much? like what.... what is this? what am I reading? what is happening? what.... I don't understand.... okay maybe fine whatever

This feels like it should be... I don't know.... satire is the word I'm looking for again. I don't want to just repeat what Tara, said but Jesus. the start of the story is he is rich enough to have a Doorman but not rich enough to afford the fancy private school, and him and his friends break into vacation homes in the Hamptons. what is this? what is this? I just... just.... just write a Jane Austen or Lord Byron novel if that's what you want to do just do that. do that.

My audiobook app just turned itself off in the middle of a passage because it decided I didn't need to listen to Theo talk about whatever he was talking about.

Curse you, Donna Tartt, for also being in the "all things coconut smell like suntan lotion" club. I did not want to have this in common with you.

I am laughing so hard it turns silent into my steering wheel because the audiobook reader makes Tom Cable sound like a surfer dude from the 70s,  and I. cannot. handle. that.

"I like to think of myself as a perceptive person" is basically the way that I know that Theo has about Harry Potter level skills of observation when it comes to the people around him.

Y'all this book would be so much better if Theo actually thought like a 13-year-old that he is supposed to be in the intro part. That would just be peak comedy, which is really what I'm looking for.

Audrey Decker and the Laura Moon from American gods are now the two people that I have ever known to call men "puppy" which I still find alarming, in both cases. Surprisingly they also both die, so I guess more things they have in common.

The longer this book goes on the more clear it is that I am not bougie enough for its contents. ( timestamp 30 minutes)

(GIF BY @rollono​ BY MY REQUEST FOR EVERY TIME THIS BOOK MAKES ME FEEL POOR)

I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to think that a 13-year-old would know this much about their parent's job and be able to ask questions. I'm trying to think of what my dad was doing when I was 13, and I mean I know where he worked, and I know who his boss was, but if you tried to ask me daily issues or me giving advice... oh my gosh. I just can't. nobody talks like this.

I’m making a face akin to Kermit the frog. 

I threw up in my mouth a little at the description of Pippa walking past in the museum.

Did we just describe a 12-year-old girl's arms as marble? is that what just happened? did I just have to listen to that?

Theo has given me a lot of like “Golden State killer” vibes right now with his desire to poke around through all these people's homes and stuff. like this is clearly the Visalia ransacker's motivation in the 70s. I know too much about true crime, that's what's happening right now.

The true-crime serial killer alarms keep going off in my brain.

I know Tara already mentioned how ridiculous the Murphys bed story is but it really is incredibly ridiculous and breaks the tension of the entire scene that is occurring at the time (laughed uncontrollably to the point that Siri typed nonsense)

I get it, Donna, you know things. You do not have list every fire truck to prove it.

Let's take a child to a dinner at 3 am. Really Donna?

Why does Donna insist on giving me the text of signs around whats going on? Why did I just listen to the smoothie specials while an emotional scene is occurring?

Donna, did you just call Mrs. Barough a weasel?  [afronted gasp]

OI!  (me shouting when Donna says that Andy was weird for being lactose intolerant.)

Pukes in my mouth a little at the term 'high verbal'. I get it, Donna, you think you are smarter than all of us stop being a dick.

Donna Tartt would make it to r/iamverysmart in like a minute if she understood how the internet worked.

WHO TAUGHT HER ABOUT FMA?

Okay, so either Donna Tartt knows someone who lost a parent and basing this off them or like went through it herself because I am white-knuckling through the grief bits trying not to have my own trauma response to the situation. Or she wrote Theo with like the exact grief I had. Her incessant need to list things in a room is the only thing between me and a spiral of remembering my dad's death.

ANDY IS A RAY OF LIGHT AND DOES NOT DESERVE TO BE IN THIS FAMILY OR IN THIS BOOK!

Five whole hours before the first sight of Hobie. Like Jesus.

I miss Terry Pratchett.

Hobie thank you for making this book interesting again.

Hobie is now my main squeeze and I won't hear a word against him.

POE DIDN'T INVENT SCIENCE FICTION FUCKING MARY SHELLY DID. DONNA WHAT THE FUCK.

The Hobie part of the story just makes me more sure that a version of the movie should have been without the Baroughers (sp?) and only included Hobie and Pippa.

Any is a murderino. I love this baby boy.

Aw, I love Hobie so so much.

Donna if you call Andy annoying one more time you are gonna catch my hands. (She just referred to his voice as annoying twice in a conversation and I swear to god I will rip this character out of her snobbish clutches she doesn't deserve him.)

Theo on this we agree, I too enjoy Hobie.

Hobie is the only person who belongs in this novel and he's a god damn delight.

SEVEN HOURS AND THE PAINTING HAS COME UP AGAIN FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LITERAL HOURS.

Theo straight up using Spanish to fuck over his father is just *chef's kiss.

I can see how much contempt Donna has for Xandra is longer and deeper than this book will ever be.

I am going to suplex Larry Decker I swear to god. (i have a very particular trigger to spouses bad-mouthing the dead one due to personal experience.)

Necco wafers are no one's favorite candy Donna. You can't just say shit like that and expect anyone to believe you.

I have just realized that Donna Tartt has never been to a public library. How do I know? Witchcraft books are never on the shelves. Ask any librarian. They are stolen pretty much the moment we buy them.

I am standing dead in the tea aisle at the store because Theo just thought it would be “gay” to tell the doormen he has known almost his whole life he is gonna miss them.  (hours later I realize this is her backtracking in edits going "shit shit shit I have to add the repression in somewhere for those dumb readers that don't understand art" and I hate it more.)

Mrs. B is ready to physically fight Larry and I would pay real money to see it.

WHY DOES DONNA KNOW ABOUT DRAGON BALL Z?!? Step away from the things I love Donna I don't trust you near my media. (Also why she does reference it she clearly has NO concept of what DBZ hair would even look like to expect me to believe any child could achieve it.)

oh my god, Boris. I'm so happy to see you.

I am happy to report the audiobook narrator does not do an Australian accent for Boris. Thank the lord.

I knew I was going to love Boris but like a few minutes in I adore him.

It's interesting to me that Theo and Boris seem to have received similar amounts of attention/affection from non-parent adults, but while Theo finds it uncomfortable Boris soaks it in.

The Australian part of Boris's accent seems impossible.

*sobbing audibly into my keyboard* Popchyck

Boris you sweet like socialist.

Comrade Boris we need you in this election.

I'm sad he (Boris) doesn't get to go to college and like piss off every yuppie and hippie, and just make Philosophy 100 and Government 250 absolute hell for everyone.

Drunk Boris at Thanksgiving is a gift.

Me listening to this book before Boris: half paying attention, fucking around on my computer, doing chores. Me after Boris shows up: staring at the middle distance determined to listen to every fucking word because this prison sentence of a novel is finally interesting.

James: you said the author is a snob and you aren't enjoying the main character.  Me: yeah James: then stop reading it. Me: No, then Donna and her Anna Wintour knock off hair cut will win. James, frowning and backing out of the room: k sweetie.

6:30 am is too early to hear Theo Decker describe his bed as "our bed"

I WAS RIGHT. Boris belongs in college making every American white kid absolutely furious in every Poli-sci.

Larry Decker calling Theo and Boris his "kids" made my heart skip a beat.

So the nurse notices they don't have vitamins and smell but doesn't call child services. I mean I know that I learned that school nurses are less likely to call CFS on white kids than they are on black kids but like god damn.

The sheer salt of Theo refusing to learn the name of Boris’s girlfriend is so hilarious.

Now *this* is gay.

The truth is Theo is ready to cut a bitch.

Fellas is it gay to do shots while your boyfriend talks about his girlfriend?

Theo trying to set up Boris with like a nice polite girl who won't fuck him is fucking hilarious. This poor baby gay.

Theo (and Donna cuz she writes him) have never heard of learning disabilities and I will legit throw down.

LARRY IS A SCORPIO IN CANON?! I thought that was something from the fan fics. omg Ally hates this.

No one wears white sport coats Donna stop trying to make it happen.

Boris totally knows what's going on with Larry and he's just trying to look out for Theo because he loves Theo but oh my gosh Boris why do you make me feel so many feelings!

Please, Donna, I am begging you to stop telling me what the light from the sun looks like at different times of the day. I just can't take it anymore. Every scene of Theo in Xandra's house does not need the qualifier of what type of sunlight he is seeing. Some times fine. But every time?

My entire stomach just dropped when I realized what Boris has done, and I'm just I'm so sad. this is not how I wanna start my commute to work today.

I have just had my first moments of being very proud of Donna's writing, because long long time ago, in the same chapter, she had the bit about how Xandra will say "apparently" when she's being bitchy with Theo and now in a conversation where Theo isn't paying attention to her she says "apparently" to Larry and I just had to stop and say this, this is the writing I'm looking for Donna. This is clever and interesting and I LIKED IT. Stop making lists and do more of this.

Friendship ended with Book Boris, Movie Boris is my best friend now.

I don't understand how the director and the screenwriter of the film could move who said those lines and then not make it gay. Like, commit to your choice.

My mom: You finish that book yet? Me, angrily: No. My mom slightly worried: do you like it? Me: unclear.

NEW CHAPTER!

Theo, I need you calm all the way down when you are looking at Pippa.

Love this lawyer. I want to be his friend.

God poor Pippa. All the shit she goes through and she still has to put up with Theo's weird obsession.

Theo, you slid right back into the serial killer habits in a second and I want you to stop it.

Oh god, I feel that in my soul. Like "no sir you have it wrong I look more like the parent I like best." (also I do look more like my dad. like way more like him)

I am begging someone to get Theo some kind of hobby or help or something so he stops acting like a victorian ghost.

I am gonna have to get the actual book so I can see what weird spelling is going on with the text messages. I just know its weird. The narrator does it in such a weird voice.

We spent so much time dealing with emotional issues and other whatnot that going back to the bit about the painting feels like a huge tonal shift in the book. I'm like staggering around confused.

Literally no one uses strawberry shampoo.

Love that Theo ‘s final plan is the one Andy purposed an eon ago.

Salty that Theo is getting the cool college experience that Boris would have crushed.  I would have paid good money to watch him make the philosophy department cry.

[kermit in the car gif]

Yo! Theo struggling to deal with school is like exactly my semester after my dad died.  

The adults attempting to force him into different living arrangements is so what we dealt with post my dad’s death.

Grisha! (Russians the only people I trust atm)

Tara was right, Andy's death comes off like a joke!

I gotta say, Crime Theo is my favorite Theo so far.

I don't know which serial killer Donna was channeling to write the parts about Theo being obsessed with Pippa, but it is just so intensely a serial killer vibe I cannot even begin to describe the look on my face; the feelings I'm having. I'm just like this man is going to kill someone. he's going to kill a lot of people. not only that it's going to be a lot of women because he doesn't view them as people. that's what I'm getting from this it's. Theo doesn't think women are people.

If Theo was on reddit he would be part of r/niceguys and r/iamverysmart.

If I have to listen to him drone on about his fantasies of Pippa for one more minute I will kill myself in the baking aisle of Aldis.

HES HOARDING HER HAIR?! HER UNWASHED CLOTHES?!? Please someone put him in jail.

[the sound of me throwing up in the frozen food section as Theo describes Kitsey]

Donna don’t try to act like you didn’t add that foreshadowing yourself about Andy. You crack me up you relentlessly snob.

How is Theo just The Worst all the time?

Theo freaking out because two gay guys know what’s up with him is just *chef’s kiss

Me having seen only the movie: Theo and Boris should get redemption and a romance run away. Me now: [ gif of “Ive had enough of this guy” from IASIP]

I mean I understand that John Crawley was a coward in so many of his directorial choices, but the fact that he didn't put the second meeting of Theo and this Lucius guy into a crowded weird restaurant where they're both getting hit by the waiters as they go past is just the weakest move you could've made. because this makes it so much funnier.

I'm with Hobie.

honestly this book should've just been 20 hours of art crime and like to shave off a good 10 hours of LISTS because that's what 10 hours is. give me 20 hours of art crime. I would love to watch each sale happen that would've been riveting to read but instead.... this.

Bish, you like those earrings or I will cut you.

Theo salty, while Kitsey picks out new china, is so fucking hilarious.

him just like "why are we buying new plates when my job is literally to find plates that were made by craftsmen?!?!” but being too fucking repressed in his bullshit to say anything, so he just making some poor sales lady suffer.

my friend Ally: “Theo’s repression makes everyone suffer is a good summary of the book.”

Alternative version of this book that would have been 8 million times better: Theo gets into art crimes but is also a serial killer. We don't know the second bit but it begins to start dawning on us as women seem to disappear from his social circles and weird hints of thoughts about blood and rivers.  Bonus points if it ends with him on the run from the law with his only vaguely criminal (by comparison to serial killer Theo) boyfriend. We are left to wonder if they will be gunned down in the chase or if perhaps there will be one more body to great the river.

Theo's textbook serial killer nonsense is only comparable to the sheer petty gay energy he gives off.

The power trip he gets from being like "hahaha yes I have bagged the ice princess who wanted nothing to do with me when we were kids" is just so gross and hilarious.

Theo realizing he is not the only sociopath in the room is just *chef's kiss.

Boris, did you really send some guy to just watch your ex?

Boris, I am begging you. You have made Grisha so upset.

Donna shying away from describing Boris comes off, if you don't know who we are talking about, as weird and slightly racist.

You have the internet Theo, you can look up when movies are going to start. You are not living on the moors.

HOW IS THIS BOOK NOT A SATIRE OF AMERICAN PYSCHO FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE BONERS FOR ANTIQUES?!?

Boris returns. I have almost forgiven him for what he put me through.

Maybe "fuck you" can be our always.

*tries not to cry when I realize that Boris' friends have heard about Theo

bless Aneurin for everything he did for this reunion in the movie.

Why is Boris such a slut? Why will I forgive him for anything?

Is it gay to think about the guy you used to jack off as handsome when you meet each other again?

Genetics means those kids can't be Boris' unless his mother was blonde. (Theo kind of agrees.)

My soul has left my body at the concept of Boris having a wife and kids.

I'm not saying I endorse crime, I'm just saying a mobster front with a pun in the name is really on-brand for me.

Knowing what I Know. That Boris thinks Theo is gonna try to kill him when they go for the "surprise" just makes the whole thing so tragic and sad.

Boris and his dog REUNITED AT LAST. I'm not crying. I'm fine.

Interesting that the next story we hear is about Gyuri's dead "brother" right after Boris says that Theo is "blood of his heart, his brother". Like. I might not be the biggest history buff in the world but I know gay code when I see it.

I mean I knew this was gonna happen, but I can't help but feel personally betrayed by Boris once again.

Donna, stay away from stuff about computers. Your attempts to use them make me, a technology expert, cringe.

Boris like "you don't deserve this dog. I deserve this dog."

"Babe I get that you are a WASP at heart but I need you to fight with me like a Russian now." - Boris to his disaster husband

"Did I lie?" "YES" (me laughing so hard I'm practically crying)

why does no one in this book appear to exchange numbers or like airdrop contact info.

Does Donna think that people only have iPhones?

Ally who is CTRL F reading this book "'Every few hundred pages she's like 'oh yeah, it's modern times...they're texting and there's emojis!' Seriously, there was the mention of emoji's and my soul escaped my body for a minute because it had no tether to time or space" @aces-low​

Off the top of my head, the name that Donna is not saying for this Horace to guy is Volkswagen.

Instead of being in the mob Boris should run an animal shelter.

Boris being Bitchy and jelly when Theo is talking to the German guy is just so cute. You two deserve each other with your weird shit.

If Donna wasn't a coward this book would have had Theo just getting eyeballs deep in art crime with Boris and his associates.

Adding a sin for making me listen to whatever that just was.

Things Donna forgot to list in "girl food": chicken wings, bread, rolls, other types of bread, garlic bread, a bit more bread, maybe cookies, eight more cookies, 20 more cookies, every type of chocolate humanly imaginable, jam, and barbecue ribs.

What do ankles have to do with being attractive?!?!?! this isn't the Victorian age! 

(from Ally re this comment: “I'm now convinced that every day Donna sat down to write this book she spun a wheel with different years on it, and that's the year the book was set that day”)

I didn't mind Kitsey cheating on Theo, because he doesn't even really like her. Until just now, when I realized that Mrs. B knows about it and she's keeping it from Theo, and my heart broke into 1 trillion pieces. she is the closest thing he has to a mother and he realized that she kept it from him, and I should not be crying in my car before my special Valentine night dinner.

James just walked in during a part describing Pippa and goes "Men writing women, huh?" and I had to pause the book, turn to him and say "a woman wrote this" and he just looks at me like 0_0

Mrs. B clutching Theo's hand so he won't leave her alone with Smalltalk-old-man is honestly the cutest thing in this entire book.

Hobie being able to be spotted from a distance at all times! I have a friend who is 6'5" and we can find him in crowds so easily!

Perhaps the funniest moment of this book is Theo saying "if girls loved assholes then Pippa would love me". buddy I'm going to post this entire book to r/niceguys

I WANT MORE ART CRIME! Why did you make me listen to 15 hours of boring nonsense when we could have had ART CRIME!

I deeply enjoy Boris's commitment to being a dramatic goofball, falling to his knees just be annoying.

Movie Boris appears in a dramatic way. Book Boris is just like there and also shoving food in his face and walking out of the party still eating all the food he just put in his cheeks like a chipmunk.

Hobie just like "if you want to run off with your gay love i'll cover."

Theodor Decker you get back in there and make sure that thief stays away from Nicole Kidman she has been through enough already!

Theo, I know that you don't actually have brains for anything besides drugs, crimes, being weird about women, and your own ass, but you could at least listen when people speak.

Theo is such a mess. He doesn't belong in modern times. He deserves to be Jack the Ripper.

I know the narrator is saying croissant the "correct" way. But every single time it happens I'm so fucking confused because who just leans into a french accent that hard for a single word?

Theo offers an actual good idea that Boris is going to use later and they all look at him like he's crazy.

I know "my brand" is "man holding gun" but listening to Boris assemble a gun I'm like "oh goodness I need to lay down". *fans self

Theo suddenly "I have made a huge mistake"

It's interesting to me how reluctant Boris is to make Theo a larger part of the heist. Theo reads it as frustrating but I read it like a kind of care and affection. He doesn't want his friend mixed up in something he can't handle, despite the fact that he wants Theo close so he can get him the painting back.

I see now why the heist in the movie was so fucking confusing. You need the Horst stuff and like a bunch of other nonsense that does not translate well to screen unless you re-write all the connections, which John Crowley was not willing to do.

Really love the "women drop their mark the first time" bit.

me: Theo I swear to god stop being high and sick in your room and go get some actual clothes and medication or at least don't make me listen to so much of it

this book is not 30 hours long. its 15 hours of a book and 15 hours of Donna going "gotta get that word count up or people with think I'm weak". Please, Donna. I don't need to hear this one thing happen for so long. It adds nothing to the tone, the themes, the plot, or the ambiance. You are just writing words for words sake.

The first suicide note was so well crafted that I honestly want Theo to kill himself now. If he can manage to write the others pretty okay I will be happy with this ending.

Don’t think I didn’t notice that the ghost of a dead loved one appeared on Christmas Eve.

I'm sorry who doesn't respond to "didn't you get my text?" with "my phone was dead" instantly?

me listening to Theo throw a tantrum at Boris because neither of them is capable of explaining themselves and like speaking as normal humans do: "It would have been better if Theo died"

Why must I be forced to listen to Donna make these scenes longer because these people don't talk like people?

Thud by Terry Pratchett does a much much better job of asking the question "can we trust our hearts and be the person we want to be?" And it honestly gives a better answer. And has you know, clever writing.

I thought it was like Over. I did. I was like "oh this is it wrapping up" ONLY THERE IS 30 MORE MINUTES AND I WANT TO SCREAM!

Me certain the book is over: i mean maybe this is a good ending

Me seeing i still have 30 more minutes: this is the worst book ever

This book held me fucking captive for over a week and all it left me with was like a few good lines, burning hatred for the main character, and the desire to go into Donna's home and rearrange all her stuff. 

also, I now hate antiques. out of spite.

don't read The Goldfinch. it's not worth it y’all.    

[arosnowflake]

About arospec headcannon thing anyone from FMA of your choice and a character from a series/book that you have enjoying latelly!

“character from a series/book that you have enjoying latelly” bold of you to assume I’ve had the attention span to be reading anything anon. the only thing I’ve been reading lately is ‘The Bacchae and Other Works’, demonstrating that I can, in fact, be a smart literary reader every once in a while, but the only play I’ve finished is Ion, and like… sure Athena is aro, but I also feel like headcanoning a greek god as aro is kinda cheating, but in the spirit of ancient greek myths, I’ll be doing my fave aro headcanon, Percy Jackson. He’s going under the cut though, because Ed’s turned out… long. Sorry about that.

Anyway, from FMA, I’m (predicatably) picking Edward Elric, because I can’t and won’t stop:

What arospec identities do they have? (Can be as specific or vague as desired)

I generally headcanon Ed as nebularomantic, though I also really really like the headcanon of him having my exact aro experience because honestly, I like projecting onto him. But I usually go with nebularomantic because I feel like the headcanon possibilities for that are more interesting, so I’ll go with that in this post.

(Or arovague, a little more, maybe? He’s nebularomantic in the sense that a) alexithymia makes figuring out whether he’s feeling platonic or romantic attraction pretty much impossible, and b) he feels like he doesn’t really fit into society’s ideas of romance due to it heavily being tied up into neurotypical standards, and finds the concept of romantic relationships/romantic attraction somewhat inaccessible to him as a result. So he’s kind of a mix between nebularomantic, quoiromantic with the ‘disidentifies with the concept of romantic attraction’ definition, and arovague, I guess, but I think he’d just use nebularomantic because it’s easier and it still encompasses his experiences very well.)

How proud of being arospec are they?

Pretty proud, if only because he knows it pisses people off and he loves doing that. He’s not dropping it into every conversation ever, but he definitely has a couple pins and shows up at pride with the flag painted on his cheeks.

Do they prioritize their arospec identity over any others?

I’d say that on the Minority Identity tier, it’s probably his least important identity to him, definitely after autistic/ADHD (kind of the same thing to him) and nonbinary. It’s still pretty important to him, though. Maybe the only thing he prioritizes it over might be his amputee status, mostly because, since he grew up with a bunch of automail engineers and later living in Rush Valley with Paninya and Winry for a long while, amputees have kinda become the norm for him. However, I can also see that, due to the Circumstances surrounding the loss of his limbs, he might prioritize his physical disability anyway, because he’s had to learn to take pride in it, whereas for the nebularomanticism, that came pretty naturally.

Are they out? If so, how did they come out, and to whom?

He’s out to pretty much everyone, although the only people he actually sat down and had a conversation with were Winry, Paninya, and Al. Winry because she helped him figure out he wasn’t allo (even if he couldn’t pin down his specific aro identity), and Paninya because he brought it up when he proposed starting a qpr to sort of close a sort of ‘qpr’ triad between him, Winry, and Paninya. Al also knows because Ed talked his feelings over with him when he was still questioning, and then Mei found the identity ‘nebularomantic’ and told Al, who told Ed, and that’s how Ed figured out his identity.

How do they feel about romance? Romance-favorable? Romance-neutral? Romance-repulsed? Or does it fluctuate?

Romance-neutral, largely. I mean, he’s married, so that counts as romance-favourable probably, but honestly? He’s mostly neutral to the concept of romance because he doesn’t understand why it exists. It’s pretty much impossible for him to separate neurotypical expectations of romance and love from the concept of romantic relationships/romantic attraction in general, and this was one of the main reasons he and Winry decided to change their relationship from ‘romantic’ to ‘idk what but we’re definitely important to another/queerplatonic-ish’; he constantly felt like he was failing in romance, and Winry had a bit of trouble adjusting her expectations from a generic romantic relationship to one with Ed once they moved from a long distance relationship to a short distance one, so they felt like it was best to change the label. But that said, he’s not repulsed, and he’s not necessarily opposed to the concept of a romantic relationship, he just doesn’t really understand why that exists and has trouble living up to the neurotypical standards it generally entails.

Have they ever experienced arophobia? If so, how?

Some mild stuff, but nothing extreme. He married Winry fairly young, so that warred off all the ‘I can fix you/you need to be fixed’ and ‘you’re horrible and are going to die alone!’ flavours of arophobia, but at the same time, the fact that he married her means that a lot of people deny, ignore, and/or erase his arospec identity. Even showing up in public with an aro/nebularomantic pride flag doesn’t stop people from ignoring it. Since he’s a pretty high-profile figure, this means that it’s especially noticeable.

In addition, he’s also faced some ableist-specific arophobia in people saying that he just doesn’t understand romantic attraction because he’s autistic/ADHD, which, yeah, duh, that’s why he identifies as nebula? But people use that to deny his identity, saying that his aro identity isn’t real because it’s caused/affected by his neurodivergency, or that it must be fixed with therapy. He generally punches those people in the face and they shut up really quickly.

How do they show their arospec pride?

Like I said, he goes to pride and paints his cheeks in the nebularomantic/aromantic pride colours (one on each cheek), and he doesn’t shy away from talking about it in day-to-day life. On the rare occasion that he makes a public appearance such as an interview or as a gala attendee (mostly when he’s lost a bet to Mustang or Ling), he usually takes either a small or big flag with him (depending on the mood he’s in), just to smirk when people get awkward or try to ignore it.

Do they actively try to combat amatonormativity in their daily lives or elsewhere? If so, how?

He constantly corrects people if they call Winry his wife (yes, they’re partners, and yes, they’re married, but ‘wife’ specifically has connotations to him that he doesn’t like), constantly corrects them if they assume he’s alloro, and just generally is an obnoxious arospec fuck who’s not going to let any part of his arospec identity get erased.

Was it easy for them to label themselves arospec, or was there a long period of questioning? How many labels did they have to try before landing on the one they use now?

The questioning process took pretty long, both due to the complicated nature of his identity and alexithymia hindering the process. As I already said, it’s pretty much impossible for him to distinguish neurotypical expectations of romance from romantic attraction/relationships, but he was also aware that societal expectations =/= romantic attraction at its core, so he didn’t know if his confusion surrounding the matter was enough to make him anything but allo. Furthermore, there was the fact that alexithymia made trying to figure out whether what he was feeling was platonic or romantic pretty much impossible: he could barely figure out if he was feeling hungry, fuck if he knew he was having a squish or a crush. There was also the obvious fact that yup, he sure married Winry, and he didn’t want to divorce her because he did want to be in some kind of relationship, but he didn’t know if that was because he was feeling any kind of romantic (or platonic, for that matter) attraction, or because he simply felt at home with her, and yes he did consider that the ‘at home’ feeling might’ve been romantic, but probably not, since he also feels it with Al, but then again it was still very much different with Al, so maybe…?

Anyway, you get the point. Questioning was long and messy, and eventually came to a head when Winry basically said ‘look listen I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you promised not to keep me in the dark anymore, so spit it out’ so he did and she basically said ‘well in my expert alloromantic opinion that’s not very allo’ and he went ‘oh. shit. why didn’t I ask you earlier’ (it was because he’s the world’s smartest idiot). So they sat down and figured things out, and eventually agreed that it would be best if they ‘cancelled’ the romance aspect of their relationship for now, just to figure out what would work for them.

Also Mei was actually the one who found the term ‘nebularomantic’ way later, when she was researching arospec identities after her and Al’s relationship crashed and burned horribly (she definitely has access to a huge library of queer identities in Ling’s palace shut up), and Al heard her say the definition and he went ‘oh shit that’s my brother’, so then he called Ed and that’s how Ed came to identify as nebularomantic.

Would they be interested in a QPR? Why or why not?

He’s in a queerplatonic triad with Winry and Paninya! The relationship is actually kind of complicated, with Winry and Paninya being in a romantic relationship, Ed and Winry being in a committed relationship they’re chosing not to label at the moment, and Paninya and Ed being in the world’s most casual qpr, but the three of them call their triad ‘queerplatonic’ to simplify stuff. He probably wouldn’t necessarily search out a qpr, I think, but he very much loves people (regardless of whether or not it’s platonic or romantic or something else entirely), and he does like living with other people, so he’d probably have fallen into one naturally anyway, even if canon hadn’t played out the way it did.

Final thoughts?

If you think that I won’t headcanon someone as arospec just because they married and had kids at the end of the series then you’re so fucking mistaken.

What arospec identities do they have? (Can be as specific or vague as desired)

Percy’s demiromantic!

How proud of being arospec are they?

Very proud! If you think he ever stops making demi jokes, you are very very wrong. He goes to pride, has pins, has a flag up in his room, and generally won’t shut up about it.

Do they prioritize their arospec identity over any others?

Somewhat! He’s both demisexual and demiromantic, and he doesn’t necessarily separate those two out, but he does prioritize both of those over his demiboy identity, though that’s definitely important to him too and he’s proud of that as well (plus, he appreciates the pun material).

Are they out? If so, how did they come out, and to whom?

He’s out! After he figured it out the first thing he did was kick Annabeth’s door open and go ‘Annabeth Holy Fuck!’, so she knows. His mom and Paul know, because he actually had a Serious Coming Out conversation with them (he knew they’d take it well, but still). Everyone else at camp also knows, because he won’t shut up about it, and also like everyone at Camp Halfblood is queer as fuck, so they just kind of expected something like this sooner or later. The puns are an unwelcome surprise, though.

How do they feel about romance? Romance-favorable? Romance-neutral? Romance-repulsed? Or does it fluctuate?

None of the above, he’s very firmly romance oblivious. He’s not going to catch you flirting with him, he WILL read over romance subplots without picking up on them, he is always the last to catch on to relationships his friends have started, etc. etc. He’s romance-favourable in the sense that he’s currently in a romantic relationship with Annabeth, but honestly, I don’t think he cares enough about romance to use any of the above labels.

Have they ever experienced arophobia? If so, how?

Yeah, he’s had a bunch of assholes tell him that he’s just straight, or that he needs to use demi as a modifier, or that demiromanticism doesn’t exist, etc. etc. However, he’s been lucky enough to have a supportive family and a queer as fuck friendgroup, so it hasn’t been as bad as it could’ve been and he’s had a lot of support.

How do they show their arospec pride?

PUNS (IN THE FORM OF DEMI- JOKES). SO MANY FUCKING PUNS. NEITHER HE NOR I WILL SHUT UP ABOUT THE PUNS.

Do they actively try to combat amatonormativity in their daily lives or elsewhere? If so, how?

Sort of? He’s loudly demi, which combats amatonormativity pretty much automatically, but he’s not exactly the type to go around educating everyone about the concept of amatonormativity or anything. That’s what Annabeth is for.

Was it easy for them to label themselves arospec, or was there a long period of questioning? How many labels did they have to try before landing on the one they use now?

Honestly, he just sort of assumed that the world was playing a prank on him regarding this ‘falling in love at first sight’ thing, or in general, this ‘falling in love’ thing. He’s never had a crush on anyone before Annabeth, and was honestly halfway convinced that the concept was fake until her, but he also never really analyzed that? He just kind of… assumed that was normal. Calypso was the first real wrench in that theory, but he chalked it up to her being not human and went about his life.

Aaand then he overheard someone talking about being demi, got massively confused for a second, asked for clarification before, you know, calling a satyr, and realized ‘oh hey that’s me!’.

So all in all, the questioning process was pretty straight forward, just hampered by him being very oblivious.

Would they be interested in a QPR? Why or why not?

Hmmm, maybe? I think he’s satisfied with his romantic relationship with Annabeth, but I also don’t necessarily think he’d be opposed to one. I don’t think he’d search one out, but if someone asked, he’d probably be willing to give it a go.

Final thoughts?

This was my first ever aro headcanon and I can and WILL die on this hill.

[oceanflowerrs]

fullmetal alchemist brotherhood for the anime ask meme!

haven’t heard of it | absolutely never watching | might watch | currently watching | dropped | hated it | meh | a positive okay | liked it | liked it a lot! | loved it | a favorite

don’t watch period | drop if not interested within 2-3 episodes | give it a go, could be your thing | 5 star recommendation

fav characters: i relate so much with edward (as lesbians are known to do), winry is very pretty, i like ling yaos character a lot, greed is very very good, etc etcleast fav characters: kimblee. i hate how they try to like redeem him a Little bit at the end by being like Woah Hes BadAss! sucks.fav relationship: edwin is one of the only het ships that i can stand and is also very cute! but everyone knows winry x paninya x lan fan is where its atfav moment: the ending. i absolutely love how much it subverts expectations and stereotypical stories. i know people call random shit subversive media all the time just because they like it, but fullmetal alchemist very legitimately is one of the best pieces of subversive anime i’ve ever seen. throughout the entire anime, the theme of sacrifice being necessary for gain is shown over and over again. the viewer begins to take this obvious theme, and come up with something. edward and alphonse need a philosopher’s stone. hohenheim is a walking stone, and he probably wants to die seeing how he’s lived several lifetimes and the only person he truly cared about is gone. so then, at the end, it’s like: alphonse is trapped in the truth, and there’s no way to get him back. hohenheim says he’s willing to sacrifice himself for alphonse’s return. he’s finally being the father he never could be, doing anything he can for his children. this would bring his character arc to a kind of obvious, but fitting conclusion. everyone there, every character, even the viewer has accepted this is the only way it can happen.

everyone except edward. ed can’t even believe what he’s hearing. he actually gets angry at him for even thinking of doing something as selfish as that. then, for the first time, edward calls hohenheim his father. he also stops holding back his emotions, and cries for the first time as well. (he cries before but its like silly jokey stuff so it doesnt count shut up)

he ends up sacrificing his alchemy, once again subverting the theme of alchemists being basically better than humans. i always loved the exchange “you’d give up your alchemy and go back to being a regular human?” “i’ve always been a regular human.” god i just fucking wrote an essay didnt i. god fullmetal alchemist good

headcanons/theories: nothing besides trans headcanons and stuff hdfsjhdfkunpopular opinion: none reallyhow’d you find it: on my first day of high school i decided to look in the library for any interesting books, and found out that they put in a manga corner. there was stuff like random, scattered volumes of naruto and i’m pretty sure the only series they had the first issue of was fullmetal alchemist. i had heard about it scarcely and decided to read it. i was quickly hooked. like, REALLY quickly. i read the whole thing front to back probably 5 times or more. i wanted to read the whole thing, and quickly found out about the anime. after hesitating a bit, i gave in and watched the whole thing, and loved every second of it. i mentioned it on my tumblr and a SUPER popular mutual at the time decided to watch and liveblog it because of my post. after that, everyone on my dash started talking fma. anyway i’m like 90% sure i’m the reason fma resurgedrandom thoughts: i prefer fmab over fma03, and i probably always will. fmab was hiromu’s intention from the beginning, while the latter half of 03 was more or less improvised. while i do think it’s very interesting to see someone else’s take on the story, i just can’t get into it. i see people say they prefer 03 and i just can’t agree. i guess it really depends on which one you watched first.

god i fucking talked a lot. fma good

[thesuesyndicate]

A Treatise on the Finer Points of Riku Gay

I thought I would write a little fic about a common issue I see in fandom elitists: internalized homophobia and how that translates into how they behave in fandom. Also, me, Antares, Orion and a currently unnamed agent have been playing Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance lately, switching off at every drop, so that’s been on our minds.

It was a fine day in the Debate Void. The sky and ground were as pure white as ever, and the ornate table with its matching set of chairs was, as well, with that pleasant dusting of soft, light grey-blue defining their edges. Despite the lack of any sun or moon to speak of, the Debate Void maintained a comfortably chilly temperature, warmed by some unknown aura. It was certainly sun-adjacent, that’s likely how one would describe it to someone who had never set foot in the Void.

And there sat the lovely Meridiana, head of The Sue Syndicate, her black legs crossed where she sat, pouring a cold glass of water for her guest, a comparatively modestly-dressed girl in a black t-shirt and jeans. A simple, clean look.

If the girl wasn’t an agent of the Protectors of the Plot Continuum, Meri had to assume she was at least the sort of person who supported the PPC’s endeavors.

You see, they had been in the middle of a rather long, rambling, disjointed conversation - as most conversations with Meridiana tend to be - jumping from topic to topic, and their latest topic was this.

The girl took a sip, then a gulp of water, and said, “Look - that’s the thing about these fangirls. If they’re not out here sexually harassing every fictional guy they can get their hands on, their assuming every guy who exchanges eye contact with another is gay or something.”

“I think that’s an unfair stereotype,” Meri said, rolling her eyes affectionately, “It’s a talking point someone came up with, but never bothered to delve into the reasons why such a thing, if it happens at all, would be happening.”

“Oh, no— I mean it literally happens. All the time. Like- any two guys in anything, I guarantee the fangirls ship them. Like... Ed and Roy in FMA.”

“I certainly hope not,” said Meri, eyes closed as she took a drink of water, knowing full well that EdxRoy was real, “That would make Colonel Mustang a disgusting monster of a man. Poor Edward, only 16...”

“Right?! And like, Frodo and Sam in Lord of the Rings,” said the girl, chuckling. “Like, have these people ever heard of friends?”

“I once wrote a paper on their relationship from a queer theory perspective in college,” Meri hummed, “I got an A - clearly a professor of fiction analysis thought my argument was sound.”

“What?” The girl snorted, rolling her eyes, “That’s fake, you totally just made that up. College professors don’t support yaoi fangirls, they would shut that shit down right away. They’re professionals - they’re respectable, they’ve gone to school for this stuff themselves.”

“Nope, it happened. I just can’t show you, the submission was electronic and the online space for that class isn’t on my Canvas page anymore - but, rest assured, I even spoke to her beforehand about it and she said she felt there was strong merit to a gay interpretation of the, ah... Friendship between Frodo and Sam. That’s why I did it in the first place, because she encouraged that sort of analysis.”

“I mean... Alright, I guess that makes sense, but you can’t really think Tolkien intended for us to read it that way, do you?”

Meri nearly choked on her water, and said, holding back laughter, “Tolkien has been dead for over 40 years, love.”

At this, the girl frowned. “So... What, that means he doesn’t have any say over how people interpret the work he poured his heart and soul into?”

“That’s precisely what it means.” Meri tilted her neck to one side, cracking it, and then the other. “If you put something out there into the world, it’s inevitable that people will read whatever they want to read into it.”

“Well... I don’t think that’s fair,” said the girl, looking away. “I think you’re disrespecting his memory and violating his canon.”

Meri seemed offended by this wording. Wincing, she retorted, “It’s a series of books, not a human being. It’s a wonderful series of books I enjoyed very much, that very much changed me as a writer and a reader, don’t get me wrong - but it is ink printed onto paper. Be careful of assigning too much personhood - and your preferred kind of personhood, at that, your preferred opinions, and morals, and boundaries - to ink on paper. I don’t think page 42 of The Two Towers feels particularly violated by anything, especially not someone thinking the love between Frodo and Sam is romantic rather than platonic.”

“Well...” It seemed that the girl was at least somewhat convinced. “I guess? But what about stories where the creators are still alive to see all the weird stuff people make? How do you think, like... Hashimoto and Nomura feel, with all the work they’ve put into developing the friendship between Sora and Riku, seeing a bunch of fangirls act like that makes Sora and Riku gay?”

“I would have simply asked why they made Sora and Riku so gay,” Meri said, chuckling before taking a sip of water.

“What?! Oh— pfft, come on, they are not gay! They’re just friends! What is with you people and friendship?! Why can’t two guys just be friends anymore, why do they always have to be gay, all the time?”

“Again, I think you’re using a common talking point to avoid asking why, if that even happens at all, it happens. Why do you suppose ‘fangirls’ read gayer themes into male friendships?”

“Like... I dunno, I always just assumed it was because they think two boys kissing is ‘hawt’.” The girl shrugged.

“That’s sometimes part of it,” Meri muttered, resting her cheek in her hand, “But do you think maybe... The way straight romances are written may have something to do with it? What sort of bonding do you see Sora and Kairi go through? What tension do they ever have to work through? What adventures have they shared? What deep, cerebral conversations about their bond do they ever have?”

The girl was silent, so Meri went on. “Or do they just grin at each other, hug and become separated again, only for Sora to mention her once or twice during his adventure, the narrative telling us rather than showing us that he’s pining for her? I think Kingdom Hearts 2 wasn’t so bad about this, it actually managed to sell me on the idea that Sora really does love Kairi, but after that, it’s sort of all flown out the window. Do you think that’s what romantic love is? Hugs and then separation, with lukewarm pining?”

“Now that you make it sound like that, I hope there’s more to love than that,” the girl said with a grimace.

“You can’t tell me that ‘fangirls’ are so wrong and twisted to read romance into Sora’s bond with Riku, then. Not when their dynamic is so much more... Well, dynamic.” Meri smiled. “They’re not yaoi-obsessed, I think they’re just smarter regarding romance than Hashimoto and Nomura give their audiences credit for being!”

“Alright, alright, I guess that makes sense,” said the girl, before stopping for a second. “... Or... Would make sense, if most of their fics weren’t so god-awful. Are you gonna defend bad grammar, characterization and plot at me too?”

Her smile growing slightly strained, Meri said, “Now you’re talking about a very specific genre of fandom. You’ll have to be patient with middle schoolers, my friend. You were one once, i was too - and I don’t think either of us would look kindly on our writing ability at that age.”

The girl lightened up a bit, feeling some common ground with Meri, “See, that’s what my side is trying to help with, though. We critique fics constructively so the authors will improve.”

“Tell me again about how lampooning the fanfiction of tweens, insulting their headcanons, portraying their original characters as dangerous sexual harassers violating their fictional crushes and turning them into the joke of the week helps them improve as authors. Come on, do it. Right here, to my face.” Meri’s smile was unwavering.

... Well, it was tough to argue with that, now that it was worded like that.

“Good,” said Meri. “I didn’t want to smack you, you’ve been so civil so far. What I’ve learned as an artist and writer is that the difference between critique and bullying is consent. When someone asks to be critiqued, they are an artist or writer wanting to improve their craft. When you take a tween daring to post her OCxLegolas fanfiction as inherent request for ‘critique’, and then ‘critique’ her like this, well...”

“... I guess that’s. Kinda assholish,” the girl conceded.

“Oh, it’s very assholish,” Meri snapped. “Very, very fucking assholish. It’s things like that I have no tolerance at all for, so don’t act like you’re some innocent helper if all you’re doing is bullying people.”

There was a moment of silence, as the two drank their water.

Deciding to break the ice that Meri had re-frozen over, the girl said, a little awkwardly, “Well... How do you think Riku himself feels?”

“... What, about SoraxRiku fanfiction?”

“Well - yeah. I’ve run into canon Riku now and again in my work, and I don’t think he would feel comfortable with all these ship fics.”

“... You’re asking how I think a fictional character feels about a fictional ship?”

The girl sighed and said, “Come on - you know they feel and think just like we do! And I can prove to you, that he’s super freaked out by all the yaoi, and that should be reason enough to shut down all the fangirl nonsense.”

With that, the girl simply reached out to her side, a dark hole materializing, from which she rather roughly pulled out a wrist, an arm - an entire person, looking very confused in his pajamas.

Meri blinked, wide-eyed. She didn’t think her guest was going to start yanking canon characters out here, and yet here he was - Riku Kingdom Hearts, in the flesh.

“Uh— hey,” said Meri, waving gently. Awkwardly. “You—you sleep alright, champ?”

“No,” said Riku, who was too tired to come up with a lie or joke.

“Yeah, that’s fair, I wouldn’t— either— uh—“ Meri simply glanced over at the girl, curious what she was about to do.

“Riku,” the girl started, brows furrowing a bit. “How does it make you feel that people think you and Sora are gay?”

... Riku just seemed confused, blinking the way he was, to which Meri said, “Well, for goodness’ fucking sake, give him a second to wake up before drilling him on his sexuality.” She, ever the polite host, was already pouring a glass of water for the young man standing in front of her table, and, with a snap, there was a third chair for him. “He seems confused enough about that canonically to begin with.”

“Aw, come on, no he doesn’t, you know Hashimoto and Nomura didn’t make him like, for-real gay,” said the girl, which only confused Riku even further.

“I didn’t say they intentionally made him gay, I’m saying there’s a reason every gay person I know and their lesbian grandma, including myself, identifies with him on the level of being a confused, angry kid.”

“Okay, okay- what is going on?” Asked Riku in a raspy voice, rubbing his eyes and seeming altogether too sleepy for this bullshit.

The girl looked to Riku and rephrased her initial question, “Riku, are you gay?”

“Huh-? Wha— no, I’m not anything like that,” Riku replied, suddenly a bit uncomfortable, “Why are you asking me all that?”

Meri rolled her eyes and said, “No closeted kid I knew would ever say ‘yes’ to a question like that. Just, ‘are you gay’, totally point-blank.”

“Okay, then how do you suggest I ask him?” Asked the girl, crossing her arms.

“What matters isn’t how gay is canonically is or isn’t, what matters is this - Riku, what do you think of the fact that people think you and Sora are gay?”

“... Uh... But it’s not... We’re just friends?” Riku and Meri were in a similar boat, not 100% liking the idea of two adult women asking a teenager such pointed questions, but Meri took a deep breath through her nose and resolved to be as non-creepy as possible.

“I believe you, that’s your call to make. But we have people like this one over here, bashing gay teens over the head for identifying with your struggle to accept your - platonic, even - feelings for Sora, and thinking your relationship with him is human and relatable.”

“I— I’m not bashing gay teens!” Cried out the girl, “It’s fangirls who are the problem!”

“At that age, you wouldn’t have known the difference in someone like me or my friends,” said Meri slyly. “Believe me, most of these ‘shallow fangirls’ are people working out some inner truths of their own.”

... Something about that phrasing - a struggle to accept his own feelings for Sora... Made Riku’s stomach turn in a way he didn’t understand, didn’t want to understand, but knew better by now than to turn away from.

Very meekly, Riku looked down and asked, “I mean. Am I gay? It’s not weird for two guys to care about each other like that.”

“Of course it’s not weird,” said Meri. “Your relationships are what they are, and they don’t have to follow any rules that hurt or restrict you. But being gay isn’t weird - and I think this is a question your canon hasn’t allowed you to ask yourself.”

“Hasn’t... Allowed?” Riku glanced over at the girl, who simply shrugged, just as lost as he was.

“That’s right. Can a story lacking in gay themes altogether accurately allow its characters to explore their sexualities?”

“Of course it can,” said the girl, scrunching up her nose a bit, “It just means no one in it is gay.”

“No one in it is gay?” Meri asked, squinting. “Not the main character? No one the main character knows? None of the side characters? None of the shopkeepers? None of the random people the characters talk to? Absolutely everyone is 100% heterosexual?”

“... Alright, I guess that’s. Improbable. But not every story has to be all about gay stuff!” Replied the girl, rolling her eyes.

“Not every? Or not any?” Meri frowned, furrowing her brows. “That’s not fair of you, to paint gay and bisexual people like me, as greedy little gremlins who demand the world, when all they’re asking for is to exist in fiction and be depicted as human beings.”

Glancing back over at Riku, she went on, “That’s what I’m saying. A theme your story doesn’t cover isn’t a theme you can claim to fully understand, when you haven’t even delved into it. I’m not saying you are — required to be gay, for my benefit - I gain nothing from your canon changing other than a sense of gladness that people like me exist and kids can grow up seeing positive gay figures in their favorite stories. I am saying you, Riku, deserve space to question and explore your identity even if canon doesn’t allow it. That sort of thing is what many of these fic authors are depicting... Sure, it’s not always perfectly graceful works of literary genius, but that’s the spirit of transformative fandom as opposed to curatorial fandom. Expanding canon and making it better.”

The girl gasped. “You think you can do Kingdom Hearts better?!

“I think I could do Kingdom Hearts better in my sleep, given the inherently restrictive nature of canon, and I would love to see what a good, healthy fandom would do with any story I write given all this,” said Meri, grinning. “Don’t get your panties in a twist over it. Transformative fans do it better, it’s the whole idea of what we are, and it’s the basis of the conflict between my Sue Syndicate and groups like the PPC.”

Riku, though a bit confused, felt a bit more at peace with himself.

“While canon can never give you the space you deserve, I’m afraid,” Meri went on, “That’s what fanfics about you and Sora kissing are often for. That make sense?”

He paused for a moment, but Riku eventually said, “That’s... Fine by me, then.” He stood, stretching his back, turning away from the women and said, “I gotta get up early tomorrow. Me and Sora have our Mark of Mastery exams - I’m gonna head back to my world now and get some sleep.”

It was a strange way of thanking the women for their perspectives, but it was essentially what he was trying to get across, and Meri understood that. The girl just thought he was being a bit rude, as he stepped out through the portal he was pulled in through.

Once he was gone, Meri leaned across the table, grinning at the girl.

“That all make sense?”

And, much to the girl’s chagrin, it almost did.

[cosmosogler]

hi guys. didn’t sleep much last night. didn’t prepare me well for today.

i did get up and get to my chores... eventually. it took an hour and a half to get up and moving once i got out of bed. i showered and that went so late i just skipped breakfast and made myself lunch. 

harrison decided to wait until 4 hours before mom was set to show up to freak the hell out at me. he figured out i was avoiding him and i told him the truth. he didn’t stop doing things i told him repeatedly to stop doing. i said those comments made me feel bad. he did the whole “oh i’m a failure of a friend” shtick and i didn’t have the energy to turn around and ignore my hurt feelings to comfort his hurt feelings about my hurt feelings.

he made me so angry! i typed out a lot of messages and had to press my fists against the desk and take a deep breath and erase them and try again. 

the reason i got so angry was because as soon as it became clear i wasn’t going to say “oh no it’s ok” or whatever he demanded i send him a list of boundaries i have for him to not cross. like buddy if you don’t know them by now then it’s either not a problem or a very big problem. (he doesn’t listen.) i told him i didn’t know off the top of my head and he basically freaked out over and over in the same exact way no matter how many times i told him i was too tired to give him a list of my life for his own convenience.

i told him that. “i don’t have a check list for your convenience.” his response was “then how am i supposed to learn?” he sent me that literal message word for word after i told him twice that i am not his teacher or his babysitter. i have a full time job and it is not “patiently teach harrison about the magical ways of the world constantly and repeatedly at his pleasure forever and ever.” 

i was so angry. i didn’t have time for that. i didn’t really get to prepare myself for mother before she showed up because i was grinding my teeth and taking deep breaths about harrison for two hours this afternoon. i sent him a link to a long pdf about emotional labor. that’s what he’s sapping out of me. the emotional labor. he won’t read it or understand it. but i told him to talk to literally anyone besides me about it. i know he won’t. he doesn’t listen. he doesn’t really listen to me. it doesn’t matter what i do. he’s just going to put me in these lose-lose situations forever and it’s exhausting and i have OTHER THINGS I NEED TO DO WITH MY DAY!!!

so i stumbled down to the parking lot to greet mother. we went and got her checked in to her hotel and we had dinner. i ended up talking a lot more than i wanted to. when i found out dad’s mom wants to get another dog (she killed her last one) i couldn’t hold back a pretty nasty comment. didn’t have the patience i needed. 

at least when mom started making judgmental comments about other people i had the presence of mind to say “that’s not really my business” and change the subject to something that is my business. like insurance and taxes and boring difficult impossible adult stuff. mother wasn’t very helpful with a pep talk. when dad called she had me answer the phone for her. dad asked how i was doing and i said “i’m ok” and then let the silence kind of hang there. then i relayed mom’s message and hung up. 

i was starving all day (i didn’t have the energy to actually make myself a lunch) and then when i got my food i could barely eat anything at all. it took me like an hour to eat my pasta. i didn’t even finish it. i ate too much to keep the few bites remaining for leftovers but... my body was doing that thing where i felt weak from hunger and yet food was the last thing i wanted anywhere near me. 

every time mom complains about genevieve i tell her the same thing. eve is bored. she’s out of shape. she needs more exercise. mom never listens though and nothing changes. nothing ever changes just because i asked for something.

feels like that at least.

i learned my sister has been taking anxiety medication for several years now. our primary doctor prescribes them, my sister won’t see a therapist or psychiatrist. it’s so frustrating sometimes. she seems so miserable all the time but it’s like she thinks seeing a counselor will make her a crazy person or something. and you can’t be a crazy person! they’re the worst thing you could possibly be.

stigma. 

she might be a little proud, too. but the way my brother’s expression changes if therapy ever comes up, that sort of sharp flinch, i can tell that judgment is there. i don’t see why my sister wouldn’t feel a similar way. 

anyway i came home and i was so tired i did nothing for several hours. i got started on a thing for the comic but i didn’t have the energy to move past a quick sketch. i watched fma for a bit... episode 40 is next. 

i feel like i can’t draw fast enough. i wish it didn’t take so long to tell a story. i have a hundred things backed up that i REALLY want to draw. but no energy to actually draw them. i stare at my to-do list and i look at my sketchbook sitting next to me and i just sag a little. i’m feeling overwhelmed. and i can’t find that... drive, i guess, i keep wondering if anyone’s even reading it (even though i know people are reading it, and they want to know what happens next, because that’s what happens when you follow an ongoing story). 

i want to talk about it with someone besides harrison but when i go to talk about my process or the characters or choices i made i kinda clam up. at least in creative writing club that five-second hesitation of “oh my god, there is a huge flood of information i could  give about how i’m doing with this story, i’ve been making such good progress, what do i talk about?” got me absolutely nothing. i didn’t get to talk about it at all! the president moved on to his dnd campaign. i don’t have super-reflex wit... i needed a minute.

i guess with harrison it’s easier to talk about it because he hasn’t played the game and doesn’t have his own opinions about the characters. he has a different set of spoilers i can avoid. it’s way easier to talk about elements from the middle of the story (the part i wrote) when i’m sitting on the horrible bombshell twist of an ending to the game (the part i didn’t write). harrison knows some of my events and the characters but not where i’m going with all of it.

while with people who HAVE played the game, the middle of the story is going to be much more unknown! how do our protagonists get from where they are to where they end up in the game? (what changes did i decide to make to the game’s story? i’ve revealed a few already, a minor one and a major one.) 

so it’s way harder to talk with them about my story because a different subset of the story is going to be unknown to them. that subset is the part that i put all the work into. if i talk too much about the middle of the story then there ain’t gonna be any big mysteries left.

i dunno. a solution to this problem would be to have more friends i guess. i never know what to say or how to say what i want to say. i’m still very afraid of the judgment. i get it. i’m a big gay nerd. but the minute you say “fanfiction” people get all weird about it. i had to be really careful about who i told about my art. and none of them even looked anyway. nothing even matters.

i feel so trapped.

i gotta run errands with mom tomorrow, probably most of the day. i’ve been putting together a list of things i need to collect or fix. mom likes having things to fix. and if i give her things to fix that are not me, we get along a little better. she gets to feel helpful, i get to have a working desk fan, and i don’t have yet another tense situation under my belt of “memories of mother.” 

anyway. i don’t know what else to talk about. i feel like i have more to say but i’m not sure what it is i want to say, and even if i did i don’t have the energy to say it.

[lamiaward]

I was tagged by @sweetcarlos-bravecarlos to do this , so here goes:

1.Nickname: uhm believe it or not , but I actually have quite a few? My bff has a long list of nicknames for me that we came up with years ago like pi, 12 etc. Additionally, my little sis calls me Lizzy, or Liz. My family sometimes call me Lies (or my completely embarrassing nickname that I will never reveal) And the crew at Uni call me Dog ( it was a Pavlov reference goddamn IT) and Destroyer of Civilization. 

2. height: like 1.70 m? For a Dutch person, I am kind of smoll but at least I am taller than @juliettesferrar 

3. fav school subject: in highschool, it was definitely history. In my first semester of University College, it was political theory theory ( although yup, definitely want to hear less about white, almost always straight, white guys and more about all the other awesome philosophers)

4. something I want to learn: I am a Ravenclaw you should not ever ask me this, there is too much omg. I will just limit it to the things I want to learn most I guess.  Latin and Hieroglyphs, sword fighting, cooking, singing( that will never happen but let me dream about being able to write and sing a song for a girl okay).

5. fav quote: ehhh difficult.  Maybe a Beau Taplin one? I really like The Connection: My heart is not captured easily. I am disinterested in small talk, disillusioned with love and too focused on my dreams and aspirations to lend anybody my attention for long. But if we make that connection, if you find your way into my heart , God I will fall for you like gravity has let go of the earth. Also, the Sappho one where she very poetically describes being so gay for a girl she can no longer breathe and pretty much dies.

6. Fav food: honestly, I love food so much, just put something in front of me and I will be like *gasp* you gave me food, thank you. As long as it is not like fish or something. I guess if I had to pick though, it would probably be chocolate or watermelon ( I once ate an entire watermelon by myself so.. )

7. Fav place: this bookstore in Nijmegen where they also have the best cheesecake, and wherever my friends are. also, I love Switzerland and Sienna.

8. What can’t I leave the house without: books/my notebook. Also music, I need it for when I make up entire stories with crossovers in my head okay.

9. last song I listened to: take me to church ( a cover actually, I have listened to the original about a billion times so sometimes I need to listen to someone else singing it)

10. identity : uhhh I guess kind of a butch lesbian? I am always 100% uncertain about my own feelings and stuff thanks to how much I repress everything lmao but that kind of feels like me?

11. eye color; it is blue but the shade changes (sometimes it is also kind of grey) and there are other colors in there. I have like gold around the pupil.

12. Hair color: it is originally a really dark shade of blonde. Right now it is sort of brown-red.

13. Something I collect: books and random things that make me happy which can be merchandise ( I have this awesome fma watch that you could only get away from me if you killed me) but also pictures and basically anything.

14. fav movie: I don’t really have a favourite, just ones I enjoyed a LOT. I loved black panther (!), wonder woman, thor ragnarok, coco, mamma mia etc.

15. fav song: urgh I can’t just pick one. Take me to church is definitely a favourite, but I also really love Halsey songs (especially Sorry, and Strange Love) and let her go by Passengers. I also have a soft spot for disney songs( especially Hellfire, I won’t say I am in love and pretty much all songs from Moana)

16. fav book: bitch I have been a bookworm since I could read, you honestly think I can just pick one?? I love Riordan’s books -esp. the later ones (omg Alex Fierro is the best and Apollo as a mortal is so fucking relatable) I just started Labyrinth Lost and I am really loving that as well. I just finished tell me again how a crush should feel which was also very well-written and I already know I will reread it.  Shatter me series are great (the WRITING OMG); so is the Grisha trilogy (hate Mal though)/ pretty much anything by Leigh Bardugo. The Stravaganza series is something special and I love, love Every day by David Levithan. There are more, but I will stop now. 

17. zodiac: Taurus

18: languages I know: English and Dutch, but also some German and French (I know random words in different languages, like Italian and Greek) My French and German is pretty basic though :(

19. full name: Lisa (you’re not getting my last name, nor my middle names, sorry)

20. tattoos/piercings: I have piercings in my ears, had a nose piercing for a while but it kept falling out so to speak and then I had to return to the shop to get it pierced again so I finally gave up. I am going to get a tattoo -I am thinking of one connected to Artemis or Athena, and it will probably be on my wrist ( I have a scar on my left arm that would be perfect for an Artemis tattoo actually)

Urgh I hate tagging people because I hardly talk to anyone on Tumblr ( I am a shy bean okay) but I tag @frenchdork and @juliettesferrar for this I guess :)

[shanastoryteller]

how do you actually sit down and write stuff? I want to write stories, i want to be able to craft words, to be able to merge them with my pictures(which is my actual main focus, im an artist first), i want to be able to get my characters across the way you and others of my favorite writers do, but i dont know how to start. the generic advice is just do it, just start writing, practice it. but i dont know how to do that, i dont know how anybody can. i'm either constantly getting bogged (cont)

bogged down in the details, or unable to find the rightwords for how i imagine said details, sometimes because it's always changing,and i cant get them out right consistently. and i dont know how to practicethat, i dont know how to practice writing anything. i love finding words but ifeel like i use the specific ones too often, or otherwise im always resortingto metaphors that usually only make sense to me. (2/3)

im sorry if this is all kinda rambling and unclear. at thispoint, several minutes into thinking about what to say, and being unable tolook at what i already sent, im kinda unsure exactly what my question is beyond"how do you do it, and do it so well?" which is something difficultto answer with anything beyond the generic. it's too broad. thanks for, iguess, listening to me vent. i'd like to hear your thoughts, if there'sanything. you can ignore these though. (3/3)

 hi! so i’m answering this publicly because this ended upbeing kinda long and i’ve gotten some similar asks before, and my answer isalmost always ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ because i honestlyjust have no idea what i’m doing 100% of the time

so the thing is, my answer is just likeeverybody’s answer, and equally unhelpful: you have to just write. and you haveto write a lot.

i think something that people get bogged downwith when they try anything new is that they just aren’t good at it, and theyknow the level of good they want to be but since they can’t replicate it immediatelythey get frustrated and disheartened and stop. you’re an artist, so think aboutwhen you started drawing or painting or whathaveyou – you were probably prettycrap at it for a really long time.because with things like art and music and writing, there’s a horrendously bigspace between where we’re all kind of terrible before we get the hang of it.full disclosure: there’s a lot of time i’m convinced i’m still in the awfulstage of writing, and hoping if i just write enough i’ll get over it one day.

not to be a cliché, but i really do think that ernest hemingwaysaid it best: we are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes amaster.

so don’t stay upset when things don’t come out how you wantthem too. almost nothing i write comes out how i want it to. when i posted myfma fic ‘know the difference’ where i made the main characters angels i wastotally convinced that nothing i’d tried to say had come across right and i’djust spent 9k sounded long winded and stuffy. i literally almost just deletedthe whole thing because it wasn’t where i wanted it to be, but i couldn’tfigure out how to get it there and i was so upsetand frustrated.

but i posted it anyway because hey, it was words that i hadwritten, might as well – and a lot people liked it! so there’s that.

this is all vague and pep-talky, so here’s some actual realadvice:

1.  you don’t have to writeprose! i spent a long time before i started writing prose just doing poetry.really, horribly bad poetry, but poetry is good when you just have this onespecific thing you want to say. some people will say poetry is easier. that’slike saying it’s easier to build a boat inside a bottle with tweezers. sure, it’ssmaller with less stuff, but is ittruly easier? no.

2. you don’t have to write full stories! just write thescenes that matter to you, write your beginning and ending and say fuck it tothe middle. write random things that don’t matter, jot down scenes andcharacters doing mundane things like buying coffee, or doing something likehiding a body or being transported to the moon or having a swordfight. it doesn’tmatter if it doesn’t make sense.

3. write things that you’re excited about. if you’re not having fun, if you’re not enjoyingwhen you write, it will show. and also, what’s the point? don’t worry aboutsounding serious or smart or important. who cares about any of that crap, it’sboring. write things that make you happy. write about a magical princess on themoon, about your favorite characters finding happiness, write soulmate aus andmermaids who control the sea and imperfect people finding perfect love. life isshort. the things that you enjoy writing are the best things to write about.period, end of discussion.  

4. one of the longest pieces i wrote in the beginning thatreally helped me get a handle on writing was awful. it was about vampires and werewolves and a magical people calledan ‘ambivalence’, with ancient Egyptian priestesses thrown in for good measureand a god for every zodiac sign meddling in everything. seriously, writewhatever you want. but something i did for this is i just wrote all the scenesi cared about in a row, and then i went back and wrote all the connecting bitslater. fun stuff first. everything else later. i don’t write like that anymore,and actually it would probably drive me crazy if i tried. but it was reallyuseful before i figured out how to have the patience to write everything inorder.

5. so i know everyone has really mixed emotions about elmoreleonard and his ten rules of writing, and i think a lot of them are worthless,but he gave me the most import writing advice i’ve ever received: leave out the parts that people skip. iknow my writing is kinda off from a lot of other people, because i don’t spend alot of time explaining stuff and going through all these scenes showing howthings happen, like what i should do logically, because if something isimportant it should be shown. but sometimes important things are boring and canjust be referenced later. and i know there are people who wish i didn’t writethis way, but i just get too impatient and it starts to seem boring to me, so ijust … don’t do it. i trust that my readers are smart enough to keep up andknow what’s going on without me having to explain it all, and that seems to beworking? so if you’re writing a scene and its seems boring an unnecessary,chances are it is and you can skip it. if you don’t want to write it peopleprobably won’t want to read it.

6. i know this isn’t what anyone who’s just getting intowriting wants to hear, but i really think you need to write at least a half millionwords before you’re a good writer, ithink it takes about that many before you get the hang of it and it starts cominga little naturally to you. to put that in perspective, that’s 50k ten times,aka the equivalent doing national novel writing months ten times. i think atthat point you’ll start to beginfiguring it out. and also, i just don’t know if there ever comes a point whereyou’re 100% satisfied with your writing. if there is, i certainly haven’tgotten there.

but really, truly, honest to god, the only writing advice thatmatters is do whatever the fuck you want.

don’t worry if it seems like crap. don’t worry if it seemssilly, if it’s incomplete, if it’s haiku or a just some scenes, if the words aren’tperfect or you devolve just into a series of metaphors. if you’re writing, it’sgood. the end.

[vers-1]

Ch5&6 lightning theif

I read two chapters today because I was busy studying for my midterm last night. Stats 151 can suck an egg. I would like to hopefully never take that class again.

Percy is in shock. He’s in a cabin eating weird pudding and iced tea that is supposed to taste like something you really like I think. Idk. Later in the chapter I found out it’s called ambrosia and necter. Percy recovers and he is met with Grover trying to wear shoes, but he has hooves and he gives him the Minotaur horn that Percy broke as a souvenir. Grover has a orange shirt that’s says camp half blood. They go to another building and they see mr Brunner and a small baby man with a tiger shirt. They are playing cards. Annabeth is also there, but mr Brunner sends her to make preparations in cabin 11 for Percy. Baby man turns out to be Dionysus the god of wine and he has been grounded by his dad Zeus so now he’s in the camp. Mr D takes Grover and gives him a scolding or something and he is taken away. Mr Brunner is revealed to be Chiron a centaur and he gives Percy a tour. Cabins are assigned by who your god parent is. Some cabins are empty and some have kids in it. The ugly red cabin is filled with rowdy kids. I knew that was an Ares cabin. Percy was sent to the Hermes cabin which was full of kids. Chiron leaves and Annabeth is there to take over the tour. They asked if he was regular or undetermined which I guess means if he belongs there or just passing by. Annabeth tells the kids he is undetermined and they groan. Percy’s spot is some random space on the floor. He doesn’t trust the Hermes kids because their god is the god of travellers and theives. Annabeth peels Percy out of the cabin and scolds him because he said something weird and an Ares kid with 2 others approach them. The main leader was named Clarisse and she just grabbed Percy by the neck and pulled him into a smelly bathroom. She tried to shove his head into a toilet, but the water came up and attacked her and she was hosed down along with her little gang. Annabeth got soaking too, but not washed away like them. Percy was the only dry one. The area gang runs away and Clarisse swears that she’s gonna get him during capture the flag. Annabeth is impressed and wants Percy in her team

I know I said that if I had to pick a God to be my parent it would be Hades, but Clarisse.. um. I remember talking about Nancy and how if I ever met a kid like her I’d grab her by skin of her neck and grand slam her. I thought it was funny that Clarisse also aimed for the neck and pretty much just dragged him by it to the bathroom. I would like to point out that I’m mostly a pasifist and violence shouldn’t always be an answer so some difference there. I’m a bit of a softie so I wouldn’t say that Ares is my godly parent.

Now hold the phone. Hermes is the god of theives and they know this. This is like the biggest foreshadowing. I mean I also saw the movie. By the way the movie starts to stray really early in the book. They are 12 not 16ish, Chiron is supposed to have a white stallion half, Percy upon arriving to camp isn’t placed in a posidon cabin immediately, no one tells him who his parent is, the ares kids exist and are never mentioned in the movie. Also at the end of chapter 6 when Percy hits Clarisse with water gun she is the one that wants to beat up Percy. In the movie Annabeth and Percy have a 1v1 battle, but I think I’m This book it’s gonna be between him and Clarisse. Annabeth even said that she wanted him on her team. I can see why people got frustrated about the movie. In anime it usually follows the manga and sometimes there are differences with the ending like in FMA and parts in Soul eater, but it still follows cannon on the most part. The movie is straying pretty far from the book, not too far tho. It’s like parallel lines. It’s 2 stories with the same direction, but they’re seperated. Similar but not in the same plane kind of thing. Weird

When I was trying to read the 2 chapters I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. Sounds weird right? I thought I’d get bored and just stop after ch5, but the end was interesting and I did skip the day before so I went all the way to chapter 6. The way that ended really made me want to do ch7 too, but I needed to pull back. Save it for later kind of thing. Percy has no field experience unlike the rest of the kids and they’re gonna toss him into a scary cature the flag game. Wild. I would like to see how this goes. In the movie they made him win after fighting Annabeth. I think it would be interesting if in the next chapter when he fights Clarisse that he would lose miserably. He knows he’s got this power that helps him in tight situations, but he doesn’t know how to control it or how it works yet. Something something character development.

I also read the part where Percy saw Annabeth blush at Luke. Okay girl he’s like 19. You’re 12. A sixth grader and some guy going into college. Someone is gonna catch a case. He’s too old for you right now girl. Annabeth is an interesting character she was super curious and had high expectations when Percy came to the camp. She helped rehabilitate him when he was in shock and would stay with him while he slept. She knew about his mom and the fury cause he would sleep talk and how would she hear that? She’s be there when he was sleeping. Her god parent is Athena goddess of knowledge right? So she wants to seek more knowledge or she’s curious by nature? Idk. It’s just weird cause it seemed like she was being nice to him, but when he woke up for real she pointed out how he drools in his sleep. That’s not the friendliest thing to say to someone. She does somewhat have interest/care in him cause she questions why he’s saying these things when the Hermes kids laughed at him. What I’m trying to get at is if she likes him or not. Not in the romantic sense but in the as a person sense. It almost feels like she is just testing him out and sorta seeing how he would react to stuff. I just thought her first initial greeting to him was weird and I thought it was a bit out of character cause she had been nice to him before. I think it will be nice to see who she is as a character while reading the book.

Also poor Grover. He’s 20ish years old and a late bloomer. I feel bad for him cause apparently he was guarding another kid 5 years ago that died. That is rough. He blames himself for Sally’s death too. He just wants to be good at his job and now it seems like he’s being fired. I would like for that not to happen. He’s such a cool guy