#new chapter kinda meh tbh

[ryann-44]

[fanfictiongirlie]

SPN: Your Archangels

Parings: None (Though I am tempted to make this multi-chaptered and have a romance with Jack, not sure tbh)

Description: You always had your angels watching over you, since the day you were born. They were to protect you, and to make sure you were happy. Until they all disappeared.

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Kinda sad ngl, Raphael sucks

Words: 1,409

p.s I wrote this ages ago, so it might be a bit meh, I love it nonetheless, enjoy <3

Having the four archangels assigned to you was something out of this world. Literally. It was special, you were never really alone growing up, because you had them, watching over you, making sure you were safe and happy. It was perfect, especially when you were younger since your parents never really got you. 

And even though Raphael never cared for you, having the other three there was amazing. They looked after you. 

Michael; the eldest angel, he acted like the eldest. Always bossing the others around, it made you giggle when you were little, you'd call him Mr grumpy some days. Michael was stern, and was always there to remind you of the rules, but most importantly he always reminded you that you were safe, and would forever be safe. He clashed with his brothers often trying to keep you safe. 

6 Years Old:

"Faster Gabie!" You giggled as you ran to the swings, it was a rainy miserable day, your favourite to go to the park, it was empty. Gabriel kept up as you ran towards the swings, Gabriel didn't struggle to keep up to your little legs as you ran, but that didn't stop you from always telling him to run faster. 

You jumped onto the swing and Gabriel started pushing you.

"Higher!" You squealed, you were going so high, you could almost see over the tops of the houses around the park. 

Suddenly the swing came to a halt, and you weren't up high anymore, you frowned and looked behind you, wondering why Gabriel had stopped pushing you, but instead of seeing Gabriel, you saw Michael standing next to Gabriel, looking very grumpy.

You pouted at them and hopped off the swing and skipping towards your angels. 

Michael smiled softly at you, and crouched to your level. 

"Why are you grumpy Mikey?" You ask.

He brushed your hair gently.

"I'm grumpy because Gabriel wasn't being safe with you" He frowned "He was pushing you too high, you could of been hurt"

"She was having fun" Gabriel grumbled.

 "Mikey it was so fun, I was so high, I just wanna fly, like you" You pleaded. Not understanding why you couldn't go high, you weren't breaking any rules, just having fun. 

Michael sighed and gave Gabriel a very annoyed look. 

"Pleeessee" You pleaded throwing your hands around Michael's neck, hugging him tight.

Michael let go of you, and stood up. He ran his hand through his hair. You pouted at him, and looked up at him with wide eyes, a look that always got you want you wanted. 

"Fine, you can go high on the swings but I shall stay here and watch, to make sure you're safe" Michael grumbled, Gabriel rolled his eyes and picked you up, he spun you around and placed you back on the swing, you both giggled as you got what you wanted.

Lucifer wasn't around much as you grew up, you weren't allowed around him, mostly due to him and Michael not getting along, also you once mentioned Lucifer's name in front of your parents and they shipped you off to all kinds of therapies and camps thinking you worshiped the devil.

Lucifer had scared you at first, you last hear of him when you were around seven. And since then you didn't mention him, nor did Michael and Gabriel. 

You had heard about the devil, obviously, but he was suppose to be red, and evil, covered in fire and blood, and that was so untrue.

15 Years Old:

You hated it here, your parents had moved once again, which meant another school, people were never nice on the first day of a new school. You had never had an actual human friend before, you were always moving, and your parents liked small towns were everyone knew each other, and they didn't want to befriend the new girl. 

So your only friends were the archangels, and a few other angels. Castiel was one of your closet angel friends, he was awkward and you related to that.

Your parents ignored you as you walked into the house, signing you raced upstairs.

"Michael, Gabriel I missed you so much today" You said as you were opening the door, you knew they'd be there waiting. But you froze, there was someone else here. Another archangel maybe? You weren't sure, he didn't look right, he was more built like Michael and Gabriel but his skin was covered in red blotches, they looked painful. 

You shuffled over to Michael, standing as close to him as you could, he instantly wrapped his arm around you. 

"This is our brother Y/n" Gabriel said, he didn't look happy, which made you feel very unsafe.

"I'm Lucifer" The man smiled, he stepped forward, but you stepped one step back slightly behind Michael now. 

"I suppose you don't remember me" He asks, you shake my head.

Remember him from where...?

"I'm going to help you remember princess" Lucifer said reaching his hand to the side of your face, you flinched and held on tighter to Michael's arm. 

"It's okay sweet" Gabriel smiles softly at you.

Lucifer touches the side of your head, and suddenly memories came flooding into your mind. 

-

Lucifer playing in the garden with you when you were four, him helping every time you cried before the age of seven, him holding your hand every time your parents would yell at you.. When he had to go away...

-

"Luci, I remember you" You smile and let go of Michael's arm, he opened his arms to you and you threw yourself into the hug. 

"I missed you princess"

And Gabriel, he was your best friend, the light in your life, he was such a goofball, he always knew how to cheer you up, always helped you when you were stressed out. 

18 Years Old:

You ran to your room crying, school wasn't the problem this time, it was college. Problems seemed to follow you wherever you went. You threw yourself onto your bed and sobbed, letting all the pain out through your tears.

"What's up sweet?" You heard a flutter and then the bed dipped as Gabriel sat next to you, his hair soon stroking your hair. 

You sat up and he opened his arms for you, and you buried your head int his chest and tried to even out your breathing. 

"Wanna tell me what'ts wrong?" He asked

"I still can't make any friends" You whisper

"You have us sweet" He said, kissing your forehead

"Yeah but Gabriel I have no human friends, what if you leave me one day" You whimpered. 

"We're never going to leave you" Gabriel said, stroking your hair once more. 

You didn't believe him.  Michael and Lucifer never stopped fighting, and you knew Gabriel hated his brothers fighting, what if he ran away from it. And what didn't help was Raphael didn't like you, and taunted them for looking after you. 

-

You hadn't seen your archangels in years, you couldn't believe it, your parents had been killed and you nearly with them, but two men saved you, and when those men found out you knew Castiel, they brought you home with him, like a stray. 

Sam and Dean Winchester.

You liked them well enough, they were a bit hostile at times, you think they only put up with you because Castiel asked. 

You were sitting in the bunker, you felt so alone, without your archangels.

Michael and Lucifer were locked in the cage, and Gabriel he was probably dead for all you knew. You had never gone so long without them, thinking of it made tears slip from your eyes. 

"Would you like a drink Y/n?" Sam asked you, you shook your head.

You didn't know what to do, you felt so alone.

"Cas I need them" You whimper. 

"Who?" Dean asked, both him and Sam were looking at you, they didn't know about the archangels being yours.

"Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer" You said, more tears slipping from your eyes. 

"And how exactly do you know them?" Dean asked

"Y/n was assigned the four archangels when she was born, maybe before" Castiel went on to explain your relationship with the archangels. The brothers listened but you could tell they found it odd. 

"But they left me" You frown. "They promised me"

They promised you'd never be alone, you'd never be upset. But here you were alone, and in need of your archangels. 

(I do not consent my works to be posted anywhere else, by anyone other than myself.)

[pumpkinpie59]

i think i’m enjoying the fontaine story now that i’m playing genshin again so here’s my thoughts on the new characters

-furina. i feel bad for her but i’m not a fan of her va. but i normally turn my sound off when i play so looking at just her writing,,,,,, i think she’s a fine character. the twist was interesting and i don’t fault furina for anything that happened. her being a drama queen but it being entirely a mask she puts on is fascinating. i don’t like focalors tho. she did furina so dirty

-neuvillette is kinda just vibin. he’s fine he’s likable. he doesn’t rlly stand out to me much except that i’m convinced he’s gay. i don’t ship him with anyone tho (most other characters are wayyyyy too young for him so i dislike seeing any ship art of him). i like to think of him as furina’s older brother.

-lyney. um. meh? he’s a good big brother but that’s all i rlly care about him. also he dresses like a slut? and his va is kinda annoying to me idk fjdksk

-lynette. kinda same as her twin. i appreciate that the twins are separate characters bc the trope where twins act exactly the same is a pet peeve of mine. i like that lynette is an introvert. idk that’s all i have to say.

-freminet. i don’t like his design. i’m so tired of the shorter guy characters wearing shorts and being treated like children. but as for his writing. it’s cool. i like that he’s the twins’ younger brother. i like how the plot actually addresses how much danger he was put in.

-charlotte. YOOOO NEWS REPORTER CHARACTER LETS GOOO!! she reminds me sm of april o’neil i love her.

-wriothesley. at first sight i thought he was a basic bad boy werewolf lookin weirdo (my demi butt can’t ever find thirst trap characters attractive lmao). but then i heard him talk,,,, and yeah his voice actor is genuinely a good actor???? i don’t like most of the anime-esque voice acting in this game, and the dramatic dialogue doesn’t help, but wriothesley’s voice actor actually tries to make it believable that his character is a person. and i respect that. and yeah um his backstory is darker than i expected,,,,

-arlecchino. she’s neat i like her aesthetic.

-clorinde. …….. finally a genshin character who doesn’t speak multiple paragraphs at a time LMAO. i like her so far. i kinda ship her with wriothesley tbh ,,, 👉👈 idk i like how often they work together.

-sigewinne. um. i don’t rlly like the child characters. also they were cowards for making her look human and not tHE LITERAL SPECIES SHE IS UGH-

-navia. SAVING THE BEST CHARACTER FOR LAST. bro i was blown away with how much respect and care they put into navia’s writing. her grief felt so real and i could not believe they put her through that much. she’s also so pretty and her design is so aesthetically pleasing. and tbh i hate seeing sm ship art under her name bc she’s too good for everyone lmaooo she’s great. i’m in love. she’s the best fontaine character (and maybe the best genshin character).

also i wanna say i did not expect for this chapter to have this much death and other dark themes. ik fontaine is the land of justice and court cases but man,,,,, tragic,,,,,

[thedemoninme141]

Hii! I saw your post and I wanted to give you something but I am not confident in leaving them on public so..

1. Did you ever feel like "Meh Wednesday seems more like an oc than herself in this."? You've written Wednesday beautifully. I can totally see her as Wednesday and not a different character.

2. Did you ever feel bored reading this fic? Like, did any chapter feel less engaging? No. I love every chapter you created. Each of them holds weight. I wish I can give her my heart just for her to live longer. She wants to and I wish I could give mine to her.

3. Which chapter is your favorite? Or which moment between you and Wednesday is your favorite? I love all of them but one of the hits home for me is when they played in the snow/fake snow. Seems childish but that made me breakdown. I can't really much explain but i relate to it the most.

I am a new reader, and I'll checking out your other stories as well. Thank you for writing this, and I hope you will be or continue writing more.

Thank you so so much! These words really mean alot! Kinda wish this wasn't anon so I could follow you too for future opinion. These inputs really help me to improve. Tbh I wrote the snow scene as an angst scene disguised as a fluff scene lol.

[kyogre-blue]

SS continues. Seteth is handsome and I think I would be okay with this normally, but I played VW first and Claude was cuter.

Not to be mean, but that's pretty much literally the only difference so far. Off screen Claude even supporting character magics us into getting the same reinforcements in the same place and going to the same next map. (I tell Seteth I want to go to the Kingdom this time. Seteth says no. I feel like at least Claude didn't pretend I had options. Did I just agree with him on everything...? That is also possible.)

It's kind of... even some of Seteth's lines don't seem to be intended for him. I heard from interview that SS was written first, so I figured that playing it would make VW feel like a reskin, but I dunno if it's the order I did them in, but tbh VW so far feels a more "natural" progression, Edelgard stuff aside.

Aside from that, using church units on the church route has some funny effects like that one general going "your army of children," but I'm actually... using almost entirely adults...

Live blogging notes:

Oh, I didn't notice, but the "village" where we wake up is in ruins. There are burnt remnants and half-collapsed brick walls in the background.

Interesting point: I didn't keep track of the months before, but now I see we fell asleep in March 1181 but wake up in December 1185. I kinda thought it would be the same months, but it's not.

Edelgard's tone at the reunion is...... hum. Not very emotive? Don't get me wrong, Claude doesn't exactly get worked up much either, but Edelgard has a lot more personal stakes in all this, and she should really have a deeper investment in regard to Byleth. It was like this when they parted ways in Garreg Mach too.

Edelgard says "friend from our Black Eagle days have chosen to join me in the fight ahead." But that's... hum. First, why is it a fight ahead for her? She's been fighting for 5 years and is winning, according to the info dump. Second, did the students actually join her? I got them all killed, so I won't know either way, but my impression is that this is not actually the case to begin with.

Edelgard is using a wavy sword... Levin Sword?

Kinda meh sword battle scene.

The fact that Edelgard is older than Byleth now... haha. Claude switches to calling you "my friend" but Edelgard is still pushing the teacher angle.

The info dumps about the political situation post timeskip are slightly different all around, but the only real difference seems to be that Lorenz leads the Empire supporter faction in the Alliance, which iirc was not the case in VW. That checks out. Dimitri is still presumed dead and Faerghus is a Dukedom.

Flayn says she forgot something at the Holy Mausoleum, where we meet up with her... Not sure what this is about. (Update: She and Seteth hang around there later too. Really not sure why.)

SS savefile has the banner I presume Claude also makes you use in VW - kinda blue-grey background with a pink Crest of Flames.

Lol, I killed everyone, but the chapter crawl still says students from the Black Eagle house are working with the Church. Instead I recruited all the Church units, so they show up to help in the new month.

War phase SS has the same monastery music and yellow skybox as VW. Kinda disappointed, tbh. I was (vainly) hoping that each route would get something a little different.

I did notice that they have wooden construction equipment type structures in a lot of places, which I didn't realize before. I guess it's supposed to show how the monastery is in a rundown, damaged state, but even seeing it, I don't think it works too well.

Shamir says that Dagda was "destroyed" ten years ago.

Seteth has been refusing Hanneman's requests for 21 years. So even though Flayn came to the monastery very recently, Seteth has been around for long enough that his physical age is going to start looking weird lol (his info on Serenes Forest says he's physically 27). Notably though, he and Jeralt didn't know each other (iirc), so based on the timeline, Seteth came pretty much immediately after Jeralt faked Byleth's death and disappeared. I wonder if it was because Rhea would have been "in a state" about Byleth's supposed death (and the loss of Sothis's crest stone).

There are no records of anyone except Seteth having a Major Crest of Cichol. In fact, it seems like there's probably no one who has a crest of Cichol at all. Seteth says he is a commoner and has no idea how he ended up with a crest. Hanneman when Byleth says the exact same thing, while being just as sus:

There's some cliff rubble on the monastery defense map... looks like there was a rockslide during the Imperial attack.

The fact that I've forgotten half of VW already is making this a little more tolerable, but looking at the chapter list for VW, we did have a monastery defense map before going to get Judith's troops, and in SS we are...... also going to get Judith's troops.

There's some snippets about how Judith and Daphnel have mostly remained out of Imperial attention and how Judith is a devout follower of the Seiros faith, but tbh it feels out of place here compared to VW.

Oh, there's a spy. Man, was this in VW? I remember nothing.

I've seen this mentioned in fic, but the quest for the Almyran merchant in disguise mentions a Nader bear (which is an Armored Bear Stuffy in your inventory). The thing you give him is "Zoltan's Beast Idol" that mentions the famous craftsman Zoltan who was believed to have made only weapons. I wonder if there's some weapon in the game that was made by him?

Seteth repeats the legend about Ailell being caused by the goddess's wrath after a battle there long ago. Which... is a weird thing, given that he should theoretically know the actual cause -- Agarthan missiles getting deflected from the monastery by the protections on the Holy Tomb.

Oh, Judith suggests she's helping because Claude asked her to. My sus man <3

Reiterating that the Oghma mountains are to the south of the monastery and between it and the Empire. You can't enter the monastery from the Empire directly. You have to go through the Kingdom or the Alliance.

Why do they give you the choice between east and west approaches?? I picked west because I already saw the Alliance stuff, but Seteth just directly shoots you down...

Claude continues to be a proper side character by giving us a way to get into the Empire through the Alliance. "I don't know exactly why, but I feel that I can trust you," my dude, it's because you are a side character who exists to fill the needs of the plot. It's the damn bridge again. SIGH

Also, I was worried for a moment when I couldn't talk to Ashe, but apparently you don't need to. Just kill him and he magically survives. There isn't even a little scene about him coming back or anything...?

[slowdripsunrise]

MORE READING UPDATES OMLLLLLLL i forgor about this blog again. it will happen again tbh but i still have to go through all of the books i finished in late 2023 up to now... i'm gonna try and get as many as i can done but probably wont get all of them lol. probably very long post/rant + spoilers for various books under the cut

keep in mind i have shit memory and all of these books were finished a while ago so be warned for bad analysis and summaries

-How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu: this book was a collection of short stories that are interconnected through characters and a central storyline - a plague. i thought the concept was super interesting and i had heard really good things about it from people i share a reading taste with so i went into this expecting to be blown away and i just. wasnt. i LOVED some of the short stories and there were a few that made me cry, mainly snortorious and the robot dog story where the mom died, but other than that it was kinda a let down. the ending fucking sucked ngl. like i thought we were leading up to some profound moment, especially calling back to the chapter where people are relieving their memories in the dark, because i thought that was really compelling and interesting, but it was just fucking aliens. like it reallly feels like a cop out to me. like a whole "and it was all just a dream" type ending. im not gonna rate it actually yes i am i'd give it like 2.5-3 stars. only because some of the chapters were super hard hitting but other than that. meh.

-The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater: WHOOOOO BOY. i ate this shit up. god if i had read this in middle school or high school i am 100% certain it would have become my entire personality. like i fucking get it. i totally fucking get it. i'm treating the whole series as one book rn bc they all kinda blend together in my mind and its been a while but just. the fucking vibes. good lord the vibes were so good. can't pick out any 100% certain things i particularly noticed but i will reblog every webweave about this series there is trust. rating the entire series as 5 stars mostly because i listened to the audiobook and they did SUCH A GOOD JOB ON TH E AUDIOBOOK OML like. at first i was kinda thrown off bc i wasn't expecting it to be so. southern? but once i finished the first one i knew there was no way i could just go back to reading it with a physical book like audiobook all the way the narrator was so awesome and i love the southernness of it.

-What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher: my first t. kingfisher book! i loved the vibes, the world, the whole new set of pronouns, that shit was so fun, overall a nice short and sweet creepy ass fucking book. like im a huge wimp so i was deffo nervous and freaked out at some points, especially with the rabbits lol idk why but those were unnerving. the author did a really good job of conveying the mc's anxiety and fear while also adding in some humor and soldier rationality and stoicism. lol. cute i liked it 3.5/4 stars.

-Fault Lines by Emily Itami: tbh mostly picked this one up for the cover and it was really just a standard cheating story where the mc gets back together with her original husband because of their kids. nothing i remember to be groundbreaking at all really. 2.5 stars

-Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez: I really wasn't expecting to like this book as much as I did. the pov changes i think were very well done and intentional and weren't confusing at all! the narrators for the audiobook were wonderful and really brought life to the story, a lovely book.

-She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan: honestly, looking back on it, i was never really captivated by this story. it took me a long time to get into it, and i really never connected with any of the characters. a lot of it was more confusing than not, and i'm honestly not sure if i feel the need to continue the series. may be a case of me not being in the right mood for it, but i don't see myself trying it again. kinda sad cuz i was excited to love this but oh well. win some lose some.

-Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr: hands down my fav book of 2023 and one of my fav books of all time. like i have a feeling this review is going to be either very long or very short because there is no way i will be able to write out all the ways i love this book. the owl motif. the environmental extremism from seymore that i can 100% relate to. the way that he fell down that path in a way that felt realistic to me, based on his circumstances, and it isn't implied in my opinion, that all autistic people are like this, that all autistic people can take things to the extreme like seymore did. the audiobook was wonderful. the interconnected stories over time i think is one of my new favorite tropes/plots/metas. if done well (cough how high we go in the dark) it gets me every single time. XENO and everything about him. i was listening to the audiobook at work and during his death i had to fight back tears lol. god. and the kids in the play and how they wanted to end the story.... fuck my life. and konstance and her curiosity and oh my god everything about this book messed me up. 5/5 i think thats all i'll be able to say before i combust.

-Chlorine by Jade Song: what a weird little book. really liked it. audiobook slayed. not much else to say. recommend for weird lesbians. 3.5/4 stars.

-A Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson: THE AUDIOBOOK NARRATOR IS SO FUCKING GOOD AT HER JOB I COULD LISTEN TO HER TALK ALL DAY I THINK IM IN LOVE WITH HER. the story was really good love a good vampire story love a good creepy story. fun time. listened to the audiobook in like an hour hour and a half car ride it was a good time. 3.5 stars.

and that ends off all of the books i read in 2023 !!!!!!! YIPPEEE!!!!! i'll stop here and make a separate post for the books i've read so far in 2024 just for organizational purposes and also because i am hungry and need to stop lol. if you made it this far through the post i love you and also sorry for the long rant but also too bad because this is my blog and you clicked on it. happy reading :)

[harapeveco]

im actually very curious, why do write so many aus instead of using the main plot of the manga for your kara no kioku fanfics?

The answer may be highly controversial anon but I will be honest with you…the truth is I don’t really like knk

I don’t like where the plot is going and I don’t like what is really happening with the story either and tbh to me it’s kinda boring, true when a new chapter comes out I’m like super excited and I read it the second is posted (if I Can ofc) but meh I’m very like whatever with it THO I do love the characters they are great they are my children and I love them that’s why I’m using them as my Barbies and play with them in my fics where I use them the way I like so yeh I’ll put them in as many AUs as I can!

[rodolfoparras]

Helloo Alec, how are you today.

Here’s the best opinion I can give you abt this campaign ITS NOT THE BEST BUT I TRIED.

Btw keep in mind I don’t really know much about video games in general even if I wish I did.

First makarov was very smart and fast in this, how he kinda used one missile to distract them from the other missiles he was going to launch, the way he could do so many even after getting out just 6 hours later, makarov really knows how to get shit done.

honesty it all felt so rushed, they made everything so easy for makarov, which was annoying, makarov got shit done easily and what not yk what I’m saying. I was like expecting it to be like hard on both sides, both tf141 and makarov so it would be much more fun to play yk. It’s like made so lazily, nothing very new or some, everything is mostly happening on warzones map or whatever it’s called , the whole story wasn’t so good as the past ones, then to get someone killed is also hard, you’d loose so many bullets on just one person which is annoying. And whyyyt did they all look so good on the winter mission like whattttt, and price I swear. And oh the ending wasn’t the best tbh, the so called revenge could’ve been so much better yk, could have done it with the whole task force so it would be more pleasing ig. like to me it wasn’t the worst but yes

But price got me on my knees, Thiss man was soo fine like wooof woof.

Now I want to hear your thoughts on price and the game. Pls do not come for me😭😭 I tried

-🐍

I’m good my little sugar cube I hope you’re doing good today!!

I 100 agree with you that it was rushed and set up in such way that makarov had his victory handed to him it really was like my best way to explain is like reading a good slow burn and suddenly the author is like shit I have yet to write about abc let me hastily write it all in the same chapter you barley got a deeper look into 141 as both a task force and individuals they had been together for a couple of years now yet the only time I saw dynamic growth was when gaz had adapted a much more leadership like role? and that was the scene where he directed the task force on what to do when price was too angry Bc there I was like okay yall spent enough time together for this growth to happen but I didn’t see that between soap and ghost or gaz and soap interactions were so strangely limited

Also I discussed earlier with someone how soaps personality took a 360, price’s amped up personality I could understand as I said he has a temper that he’s learned to contain and any dramatic out of character action is understandable but soap?? I didn’t feel like I was watching soap? And I get it they could be like he matured grew harder but again babe you are making me work with nothing I can’t spin the story here

Also yes the revenge was super sudden YOURE TELLING ME that price spent a whole game explaining how he’d come for Shepard only to have that half assed minute 💀 a lot of it was half assed and had just a way meh feeling to it

Also fuck u Shepard his death was so unsatisfying I wish he’d begged just so I could’ve had that at least😭

[theinyshlobster]

camp zero by michelle min sterling [review]

read from july 27th - august 2nd

review

first and foremost — YO I JUST MET MY 2024 READING GOAL! 60TH BOOK OF 2024 WHO CHEERED!

anyways i need to be real. this book was really confusing for my tiny little pea brain. i will admit i think i might have liked this story a bit more if i had read it at a different time. like im so serious i have no critical thinking right now. changing to a new antidepressant coupled with a cold? yeah i have about zero reading comprehension at the moment so take everything i say critiquing this book with a grain of salt. hell i might come back to this book in 6 months and give it an extra star cuz i did really enjoy this book at times! but idk i don’t think i can give this 4-stars when i was confused for a good chunk of the book 💀

most of my confusion i think comes from what the character’s motivations are and why they’re doing xyz. rose, judith, the barber, the foreman, garreth & merley or whatever the fuck his name was, none of their motivations made logical sense to me. yet again i am not one to talk about logic when i am literally noncoherent in daily conversations & my memory is of a goldfish. like gun to my head i cant figure out what the M guy’s actual goal was, or damien/damian (i’m gonna go with the ‘a’ spelling & if im wrong sue me). i am still confused by that.

i am also confused about the time period this takes place in, as well as the actual setting. yeah i know its in canada and its snowy and shit. but like do the girls live in a mall? where is gareth living? what even was the camp supposed to be?

the ending was lowkey kinda fire, i did not see those reveals coming (but tbh you could’ve given me a mystery novel where the killer literally confessed on the first page & i still would’ve been blindsided at the moment). i really loved the white alice chapters and as things slowly started to make more sense i was having the time of my life. but when those reveals only come with 20% of the book left….. i mean like i said i cant 4-star it.

the characters themselves were….. fine. rose was likeable most of the time. i really couldn’t work out her motivations or her true thoughts by the end. willow was also fine. judith was meh. the other blooms were literally non-characters. garreth was insufferable. the rest of the male characters were fine. i still don’t really get the barber’s motivations by the end regarding him & rose but 🤷 im not mad at it. same applies to M-guy what the fuck was he trying to do at the end. numbskull

the plot was… Ok! the actual story felt like it was going nowhere, but like i said i absolutely loved the white alice chapters. give me an entire book expanding on those chapters & im sold. those chapters kinda remind me of ‘i who have never known men’ and i adored that book so!

the preachy messages about the patriarchy and men sucking got tiring at times. yes i know men suck. they are opportunists and shallow and see women as objects and blah blah blah. sorry you’ve said your message to me, now do something with it. i mean the book kind of did at the end with white alice & rose but… idk more should’ve been done with that. i really liked the grimy vibe of this book. idk what more to say about that it had a real edgy vibe that i liked.

i have a feeling this review is all over the place (when are my reviews not) but anyways. i had a good time. i found this book average. probably shouldn’t have read this whilst my brain is mush. i defo want to come back to this in the future and see if i enjoy it more when i can actually think coherently. anyways off i go to increase my reading goal now that ive met it with *checks calendar* FOUR MONTHS LEFT OF 2024.

god speed

[barbatoss-bitch]

OK LETS GO!

UMEKOPPE

“The Yandere Prince Won't Let Me Slip Away”

10/10 I LOVE THE TWIST! TBH this kind of yandere is quite tolerable. +1 ISTG I LOVE THE PLANNING PART OF THIS GUY

OVERALL: 11/10

"The Sacrificial Maiden Corrupted by Coupling With an Oni"

OK LET ME SAY THIS! WHAT A DUMB BITCH YAE! LMAO IM KIDDING. IF I HAVE DEMON LIKE THIS I'LL DEFINETELY STAYING AT THIS GODDAMN MOUNTAIN FUCK YALL GET SLAIN! +1 FOR THE ONI/DEMON +1 PLOT -1 FOR DUMB YAE

OVERALL: 11/10

"The Spy Who Ravished Me ~Reborn As a Mafia Princess in a Deadly Game~"

IDK I didn't feel too much here. Maybe I read this after the room 203 one and sakaki, I kinda didn't vibe well on this one. I didn't get the plot tbh. IDK it feels rush? maybe a 5/10 idk if it is the story or something I ain't feeling it.

OVERALL: 5/10

"You’re Cutest When You’re Pathetic ~Obsessed Golden Retriever Boy Haru’s Disciplinary Sex~"

Hmmm first of all, I like golden retriever! +1. I also like the FL! The plot is good! +50 for the FL I liked her! (she is kind, kinky and masochist, I love her!). +10 for the FL new body type! I also liked to be choked lmao so +10 for Haru. "I will kill you" -Haru +30. 50/10

OVERALL: 151/10

PARASITE GARDEN

"The Corpse of a Goldfish is at the Bottom of the Swamp"

First of all, One genre I don't like is incest but for me this is actually good. I actually forgot that this is incest from time to time. If you like/enjoy incest themes I think this is not that incest incest. The plot is a meh but overall it is okay. Maybe not a cup of my tea but hey if this is your cup of tea might as well enjoy it.

OVERALL: 7/10

"The Neighbor in Room 203 Disappeared Leaving their Keys Behind"

YO! YK I can take it all like oviposition, vore, slight gore, monster something something but THIS GOT ME SHOOKT only SHOOKT NOT SCARED! girl, I want them yandere BUT NOT THIS MUCH!! +1 for plot, +1 for the twist, +1 for the insane part, -1 for the ending idk if what's worst if you die or you get kidnap by this man, +1 I like his face lmao, +1 for the genre, tbh I kinda like this mc +1 , 50/10

OVERALL: 55/10 LIKED IT BUT DONT DO THIS IRL

OTHERS

"Sakaki the Lazybones Shows His Talents at Night"

I will start this with a mfing 100/10. kinda like the whole plot has a story BUT GODDAMN WHEN THE MFING LIGHTS GET OFF MR MASATO'S MFING MACHINE GUN GOES BRRRTTTT but hey I kinda like it kyaaa!. +10 Masato, +10 side characters! +5 like the mc not dumb dumb, +5 Masato's golden retriever energy, +50 on Mr. sakaki's night performance lmao

OVERALL: 180/10 lots of chapter(I've seen "how talented" Mr. sakaki is). Beautifully ended. I liked how "jealous" they are of each other. How the fuck did Sakaki hide that mfing body

OKAY THAT MFING IT FOR NOW

Female-Targeted Doujin Masterlist

Thank you anon! Sooooo, I have decided to compile a female-targeted/yumejoshi masterlist, I'll add this post to my main masterlist soon.

These were the one I could think of from memory, I’ll come back to this list and add to it if I get more, I'm sure I missed a few from my bookmarks. Feel free to add to it in the comments, and I'll try to find and update it! Also, several of these were recommended from anons in the past, so thank you all <3

FYI several links lead to nh*ntai dot net, so be aware of that.

Umekoppe

As per the post anon is referencing, Umekoppe is a doujin group that consistently puts out exclusively good content!

“The Yandere Prince Won't Let Me Slip Away”

(Part One)

(Part Two)

Premise: Isekai/pseudo-reincarnation trope, premise basically explained by the title, MC is isekai'd as prince's lost lover.

"The Sacrificial Maiden Corrupted by Coupling With an Oni"

(Link)

Premise: Historical Japan setting, the "MC is an offering sacrifice to the Creature, but the Creature chooses to keep her instead" trope.

"Until the Trashiest Boy Toy Exorcist Ren-kun Crushes Me in His Embrace"

(Part One)

(Part Two)

Premise: MC is a girl that attracts malevolent spirits, exorcist-kun is obligated to help her ward them off (with orgasms, naturally).

"The Spy Who Ravished Me ~Reborn As a Mafia Princess in a Deadly Game~"

(Link)

Premise: Isekai, MC reincarnated into a game where she knows who the guy who is most likely to kill her is, but in her attempt to avoid getting killed by him, ends up taking actions that make him grow into an obsessive love-hate instead. Top tier, this boy is probably the worst (in a good way) of how all the Umekoppe love interests treat the girl.

"Heibon Onna wa Downer Kami-sama ni Izon sarete Modorenai" (this one didn't have a translated title, sorry)

(Link)

Premise: MC discovers her friend is a shrine god and wolf-boy. Wolfboy fun times ensue (and in the end she's apparently unknowingly trapped into being with him forever, so that's nice).

You’re Cutest When You’re Pathetic ~Obsessed Golden Retriever Boy Haru’s Disciplinary Sex~

(Part One)

(Part Two)

Premise: Softboy™ neighbor finds MC's phone with lewd stuff on it, gets her confessions in drunk conversations, turns out to not be so much of a Softboy behind closed doors.

Oniben Katze

Another group that also does a lot of fem-targeted stuff.

Serious Sex with my Brutish Boyfriend

(Link)

Premise: MC's lover gets mad over rumors that she's a slut, decides to get possessive and rough over it.

Dog Eat Dog Era

(Part One)

(Part Two/Extras)

Premise: a personal favorite, an isekai'd witch adopts two dragon boys who grow up to have a strong fixation with her and noncon ensues.

Parasite Garden

Makes notably darker stuff that contains more controversial subject matter/themes, so be warned.

The Corpse of a Goldfish is at the Bottom of the Swamp

(Link)

CW: INCEST

Premise: possessive brother wants to corrupt/mindbreak sister to keep her forever (spoiler: he succeeds)

The Neighbor in Room 203 Disappeared Leaving their Keys Behind

(Link)

Premise: stalker girl meets her match, as it turns out the boy neighbor she's stalking pulls a spiderman pointing meme and has actually been her stalker for even longer and to a much greater, darker, and more more extreme extent, and is intent on not letting her go.

My Sweet Bunny Cage

(Part One)

(Part Two)

Premise: tiny girl is kidnapped by a crazed guy convinced she is the reincarnation of his lost pet rabbit.

Other

(artist listed below titles)

If you wish, hypnosis ~Maki-san's secret love therapy~

(Link)

Artist: Meeo

Premise: pretty straightforward, after she doesn't believe it's real, MC's coworker uses hypnosis on her for Certain Specific Purposes.

Sakaki the Lazybones Shows His Talents at Night

(Link) (Contains all chapters' links on the page, you might have to scroll down on the chapter list to see chapter one on some phones)

Artist: Potsunen Jin

Premise: (Another personal favorite) MC's younger coworker, peak innocent idolizing softboy, is in love with her and takes advantage of a situation while she's drunk after watching porn to "learn what girls like." Clingy, possessive relationship ensues.

Lady K and the Sick Man

(Chapter One) (site's menu is a bit awkward to deal with, but you have to click in the corner to view the menu to go to other chapters).

Artist: Rororogi Mogera

Yet another personal favorite, this one does have slight male gaze to it in that it focuses on the girl quite a bit, but it still focuses on the guy way more than the average doujin. Also the guy is an older bigger guy, if you ever tire of the twink/twunk standard in yumejoshi stuff.

Premise: guy moves into an apartment with a ghost lady and just kinda accepts it because he can't afford to live anywhere else, but quickly decides he’s down bad for ghussy.

I Became the True Love Object of Mr. Segawa, Who Has a Huge Attitude and Body

(Link)

Artist: Haruo Haruyama

Premise: very straightforward office coworkers to lovers, coworker is a big guy who turns out to be kinda sadistic, which is good for the masochistic MC.

The Man Who Saved Me on my Isekai Trip was a Killer

(Part One)

(Part Two)

(Part Three)

Artist: Ahan Horihori

Premise: this one got kind of infamous and shock-valued the mainstream crowd due to an animated advertisement I believe, it's essentially self-explanatory from the title: isekai'd lady gets saved by a guy who turns out to be a violent murderer, dark and sometimes pseudo-incesty plot twists ensue.

[beloved-child-of-the-house]

Fic Writer Questions! (you can find me here on AO3 if you're interested!)

tagged by dear @theburialofstrawberries mwah!

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

112 yowza!

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

750,421 kinda tempted to go delete one word so it can be 750420 which is a far more Pleasing number

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

12ish but some of them overlap: BBCS/Sherlock Holmes/ACD (these are all different bc my bbcs fics are not the same as my own modern fem Sherlock Holmes adaptation are not the same as my ACD Holmes fic; Good Omens; Harry Potter/The Werewolf Draco Malfoy Cinematic Universe; Captive Prince; The Hobbit; Fleabag (it was a crossover with BBCS but Fleabag is the perspective character so it still counts as a separate fandom imo); Doctor Who; The Office; Parks and Rec; Broad City (one a piece for those last 5 but I AM going to write a Parks and Rec polycule fic for @gaykagome)

4) What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

They're all Good Omens fics from the 2019 Summer of Good Omens! Susceptible to Summer, Fragments Shored Against My Ruin, Something So Magic, Enter Serpent, and Anything We Like

All of those have over 2k except the last one, but average engagement for me is like 400 kudos or so

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try! It depends on what's going on with me. Sometimes I just don't have the energy, and I figure people would rather I spend my brain power on writing new fics than on writing replies to comments. Wish I had a fave button tho so I could let people know I read and reread comments, because I do!

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh I wrote this ficlet series called A Chemical Defect about John and Sherlock's relationship in s3 of BBCS, and it's WILDLY unpopular. People don't read my fic to cry sad tears I guess! John and Sherlock are having an affair in the story, and it ends with the implication that their relationship is unsustainable and that Mary knows about it anyway. I intended to come back to it after s4 and write a more optimistic ending but LOL! Didn't have the heart.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

I know this answer is kinda up my own ass, but like. I think stories that feel true to life sort of feel like they end on a beginning if you know what I mean? You don't really consider a chapter of your life closed until you look back on it from the next? SO that said, I think I'd have to say that it's my big BBCS serial The Only One in the World. I spent 2 years writing it, and it ends with John retiring from medicine to solve crimes and write books full time.

Could also be my WDMCU (werewolf Draco Malfoy cinematic universe) series Moonrise, which starts with Draco isolated in his abusive mother's house, trying to cope with lycanthropy essentially alone and ends with him in love and surrounded by found family in a cozy cottage in Hogsmeade, having gotten some lycanthrope rights legislation passed after working at it for years and talking to Harry about whether they want to have kids. Oh man I feel warm and fuzzy just thinking about it

8) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I have written one crossover. It's BBCS/Fleabag, because me and @loudest-subtext-in-tv were laughing about how John seems like one of the horrible guys Fleabag sleeps with basically out of self loathing, so I wrote this fic to make Nattie laugh, and you should read it bc it's so good and so underrated.

9) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, but people don't seem to know that authors can read bookmark tags unless you private the bookmark, and someone once put in the bookmark tag on one of my fics 'writing was meh but it was okay.' Okay so why bookmark it then??

10) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

Fuck yes! I'm not sure what 'what kind?' means? People fucking? Sloppy, silly, and awkward, with lots of laughing. I also really like writing afterglow scenes which are even sillier and gigglier and often involve one character cooking for another. Food as love language is a very distinct pattern of mine tbh

11) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I'm aware of, but occasionally I'll write a post on here where I make some elaborate head canon, and I'll see people in the tags talking about how they want to write fic of it, and it makes me breathe fire out of my nose like a dragon like PLEASE DON'T. The WDMCU came out of a ficlet post I made on here like a year before I actually wrote the 60k series so like!!! Please don't do that!

12) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! To Russian and I believe Chinese. Not my entire oeuvre but a handful of BBCS and Good Omens fics

13) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I wrote a fic inspired by an RP I did with my gf right around when we met (actually now that I think about it, it's two fics), and I waaaaaaanna do a WDMCU collab with my beloved Sally @clytemenestras at some point if he has time bc he inspired me to even write werewolf draco with his original lesbian werewolf story

14) What’s your all time favorite ship?

favorites are hard for me? I always think I'm currently doing my best writing lol so I'll say drarry

15) What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I don't post fics unless theyre finished, so I don't have any WIP up on AO3, but I did intend to continue with my fem Sherlock Holmes series, Your Many Tendencies. I just haven't been in a Holmes mood for a long time. Maybe I'll come back to it idk. This particular series is honestly very unpopular? People will just straight up say they don't read femslash, and it hurts a lot. This series feels really personal too, bc it's about a Black autistic nonbinary lesbian, so it does hurt my feelings that no one seems to care, yknow? I mean the people who read it are extremely kind and thoughtful in their engagement with it, but it has vastly less engagement than my m/m fic, and that's painful. It gets literally 1/10 the attention my fics usually get.

16) What are your writing strengths?

Almost all of my writing is romance, but I tend to write concurrently about recovery and found family, and I think I'm very good at doing that in a way that connects with my audience. I once had someone ask if they could use my words in their wedding vows, and I've had people tell me they started doing things with their spouse that my characters do with their partners in order to express love. I think about that all the time. My Impact. It makes me feel like I have a real duty to my audience yknow?

17) What are your writing weaknesses?

This question is hard for me like I've been writing so long and so much that I'm literally always happy with my final draft! It's always exactly to my taste, yknow? I suppose I could say that my fics tend not to be terribly plotty but so WHAT? That's beside the fuckn point for me. Plot who? I don't know Her. Also honestly like. Stories feel more True to me when they aren't ruthlessly devoted to plot bc like life isn't like that yknow?

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

If you're not fluent in that language, get a beta who is!!!!! That said, I have written scraps of very simple dialogue in French using mostly Google Translate (sometimes I check w Sally bc he speaks French but I am usually too impatient), and I am perfectly well aware that I take my life in my hands each time!!! Also don't do that bullshit thing where it's in italics? That shit is weird and exoticizing. Just write it in quotation marks like normal dialogue.

19) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

BBCS babey back in 2012. Ended a 5 year dry spell for me after I got my writing degree.

20) What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Hmmmm I think it's probably gonna be the fic I'm working on now that I haven't posted yet, but I know it's called Names for a House, and here's a tiny bit of it

Thanks again Shreya for asking me to do this bc I really love talking about myself. I tag @the-moon-loves-the-sea, @clytemenestras, @tomiano, @gaykagome and @totallysilvergirl

No pressure <3

[worangetraveler-multiverseguide]

Looking at 331... curious and perhaps annoyed?

Okay that might be a bit of an exaggeration but here’s the thing I was looking yesterday WAITING for the chapter and the second I don’t look its out and by the time I saw it I couldnt get in the mood to react to it and its MAYBE about the class A-hole? So yeah... curious and annoyed IS kinda accurate

ANYWAY Future Worange here ready to check what this chapter... so let’s go?

We begin from where the communication problem class’ A-hole tried to shot Komi and while she was stopped she went all “why so angry? it’s just a game” which while not WRONG... inmediately shows her as an A-hole in my book 

And so the mood in the class went heavy... damn (also hi Not!Oda)

Thanks for the insight AND Shiinasshole’s name gugu gaga man (not but seriously it amusing Ogiya got to narrate the summary of last chapter)

OH so yeah... even with that armor looking arm it counts as taking the bullet so... sorry still don’t remember her name but she is out of the game and it IS knowledge (4th wall-y at least) that she and Komi are friends since first year even when they dont talk much

OH!!! she’s Kishi-san! thanks Komi... o.o! Komi is the one thanking (VERBALLY) KISHI for the help and Kishi (silently) knowledges her... small yet sweet moment tbh

And then Kishi died, the end. PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

Katou in charge of her class doing an assesment of the situation, apparently the third years have been left to be for the time being... which IS concerning... but for now their focus is to protect the buzzer although the fear of the first and second years teaming up is a possibility

HOWEVER

Seems Suteno (2nd year’s A-hole) has take a hold of the first years and now holds the buzzer in his hands

Aori Umai... good at exaggerating... meh, it does for good narration so I like her :P

That IS the most kind hostage enforcer I’ve seen... amusing xD

:O

Katou WAS RIGHT, Suteno is planning to use the first years as extra force to overwhelm the third years

Guess the dude is less annoying A-hole and more charismatic A-hole... that IS a bit better tbh, but yeah first years wanna play some more so a lot are following them

Although Apparently Hiki, Susumu and a third new friend are in hiding... but no focus on that for now

The march toward the third years begin and

Yamai...

and Nanakanaka...

This is the first time you will ever hear me being excited to see them both (Yamai more specifically)

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT

NOT EVERY CHUUNI IS RELATED YAMAI!?!?!?!?! xD (although yeah Suteno MIGHT be a bit Chuuni you know?)

anyway BLOODSHED TIME! (not real blood but still)

FIGHT TO THE DEATH LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooo... probably next chapter? DAMN IT! (but understandable)

Back to 3-1 the situation while tense internally seems secure with the secret police defending the outside

Meanwhile Komi is a bit anxious about Shiina... which yeah, valid

Oh hai Machi what’s happening now? oh she calling Komi cute? accurate accurate

OH and Komi returning the compliment back, how sweet :) (and again verbally which is NICE to hear... you know what I mean :P)

Mmm... okay? “Tragic” backstory for Machi?

So Machi’s wish since before getting to highschool was to be called “cute”... all things considered? Hey everyone has their goals

(also Not!Oda I’m not filling that comeback cause 1-RUDE! 2-japanese puns... I fail them)

Komi-san has fulfilled Machi 3 year long dream and it’s a burst of emotions

The room is getting a bit more friendly now

“What was that all about?“ ... honestly? while Shiina is still an A-hole... she kinda has a point of this being weird, but is nothing BAD so not sure what to say

I thought I was gonna be angrier at Shiina or that she was gonna be a bigger A-hole... but apparently whatever is coming between her and Komi-san is gonna happen NEXT TIME

A couple of movements and excited for more shenanigans this was interesting, and honestly that’s all I can ask for this right now :D

See you... most likely in the next chapter cause its POKEMON WEEKEND BABY! Never fully played gen 4 so the remake should be fun to experience.

[otometearoom]

I Finished Tsumugu Logic!! Overview/Rant

It took me a month, but I finished the last chapter of the game and got the true ending. I will keep playing to get all of the other bad ends, etc. 

I have so so many feels about this game, y’all. I will be highlighting a few chapters in the game, so if you haven’t finished it. Beware of spoilers!!

[MANY SPOILERS/ENDINGS BELOW]

To recount my feelings throughout the game for each character: 

1. Tsumugu is a cutie pie. I actually really related to him, because I’m also at that point in my life where I have to decide what exactly I want to do for the rest of my life. I just finished university, but I’m still unsure about my career ahahah. So, seeing Tsumugu struggle to figure his life out was refreshing. 

2. “Sosei” is so hot. I laid eyes on him and thought, uh-oh, he’s my new addiction ahahah. I would buy his merchandise if there was any. The dude loves sweets (how cute is that) and he has such a good head for mysteries (my dream man). Plus, he’s a tsundere but really cares about Tsumugu, often giving hints and advice to him. He’s a very trustworthy older brother/senpai. I could gush over how much I love Sosei for ages. His drunken habits -> those are to die for. He becomes so lewd and straightforward. I love it. 

“Koyo”, on the other hand, I didn’t like him as much as Sosei. Which is weird, cause I love ikemen. Maybe I’m just drawn more into the withdrawn, mysterious guys?? I do like the concept of twin brothers though. I have a bit of a dirty mind so when the twins said they shared everything, even their gf, I was like ohohoho, 3p? 

I absolutely enjoyed the twins together though. I love seeing them pretend to be the other. I wish they had more of an appearance lol. I could even say that Sosei and Koyo are a scale higher than Tsumugu for me. I wish the twins were the main protagonists ahahah. No offense Tsumugu. 

I’ll just summarize my first impressions for others real quick: 

3. Kotoko - I thought she was cute, but I never really liked her and couldn’t quite pinpoint exactly why. This feeling will come into play later on. So at first, I was like meh, she’s okay, I guess. But, as I learned more about her, I really didn’t like her character that much. I mean, I wouldn’t say I hated her but I didn’t find her as a good fit for Tsumugu. 

- When she told Tsumugu to be a salesman or whatever. I was like, do you even know Tsumugu? Lmao. I didn’t know if it was just me empathizing with Tsumugu cuz I’ve often been told of what I should be, but no one asks what I want to be. 

- When she didn’t want to help Mirei, I thought how odd, for someone who tries to befriend everyone, she’s not doing so well as a heroine. I mean, it was realistic, at least. But, I think the chapter where she admits that she tries really hard to fit in so others will like her was starting to draw some red flags for me. It made me wonder how much of her was ‘real’. Idk if I’m making any sense though.

- When she swung the knife at Tsumugu, I didn’t hate her as much as I did when she swung the knife at Sosei (who protected Tsumugu) and killed him. I was furious then. 

4. Sally - I admit I was really turned off by the girly lolita style. Mainly because I’m more tomboyish irl. But, she had a good sense of justice so I actually liked her. It did come as a shock to me though that she was the “gorilla” girl that was forced to kiss Nozaki. Tbh, I was kinda sad she died at the end. Like, I know she killed Hikone, but I could understand her motive better than I could understand Kotoko’s motive. Maybe cuz I have an older brother and can’t see myself being a brocon? ahahah. 

5. Toma - In terms of hotness, he comes 2nd right after Sosei. He’s a really good friend. And I absolutely adore how he scares ppl with his glare lol. i love yankees ahaha. He’s not afraid to speak his mind. He’s a very solid character.

6. Daimon - My girl crush. High key curious who she’s arranged to marry because her fiance seems boring. Who takes an hour to choose a handkerchief? Anyways, Im sad that Daimon and Sosei never got to meet because I’m low key shipping them. Idk if they’d click well romantically because they’re so similar, but I would’ve loved for some sort of interaction. They’d make for an epic couple, solving mysteries. I really wanna write a fic for them. 

7. Tsukasa Tsukasa - I didn’t like him because of the cheating and blaming on my poor Toma, but after that, he was okay. Plus, he helped write the Tsumugu’s love letter to Kotoko. Which I find is funny, because Kotoko copied Tsukasa’s writing, thinking it was Tsumugu’s. Ahahah. The lesson here, folks, is that don’t use your own handwriting in love letters, you never know if you’re crush will copy said handwriting into your own suicide letter. 

8. Mirei - that girl can sing. I kinda cried after hearing it cuz I was going through something at the time and it really encouraged me. 

9. Landlady & Hikkimori - Both names that I can’t remember off the top of my head. I think both people are fun. The landlady is super supportive. And the hikkimori refusing to talk with Sosei made for a fun dynamic. I genuinely enjoyed seeing Sosei offended. Nice way to see emotions on my fave character. 

10. Other characters (Rindo, Happy, Travel Club Members) - I genuinely did not care enough about ahahah. I think I even enjoyed seeing some of them murdered, tbh. They were really horrible people in different ways. 

The Black club members headed under Fumi. Like what? How do you control victims to be assailants and live with yourself to be a future kindergarten teacher? Like what? I couldn’t live with myself if I was her. Plus, her disproportionately large boobs were really weirding me out. I can’t believe Yu died all because Fumi wanted to f*ck him. It’s like one day you’re living your best life and someone thinks, ah, I wanna ruin this person. 

Don’t even get me started with Nozaki. That dude is a piece of trash. Human garbage. He knows how it feels to be a victim and yet thinks it’s his right to assault women. I wanted to slap that guy so hard. So many times. He was like the boy who cried wolf. He kept pretending to be dead and eventually died in the hands of Kotoko. XD I wonder what his last thoughts were. To have died in the hands of someone he trusted. 

Hikone was another nutcase. From what I understood, he just saw everyone else as characters in his book. Sure, he didn’t physically harm anyone, but doing nothing and observing is just as much of a crime as committing it. 

Shun. I never really like cutesy guys. But when he turned out to be an ex-pimp plus lover of Fumi, he fell off the likeable scale. 

Yoshimoto being an uncontrollable drunk murderer was the only thing needed to complete the psycho Travel Club members. Tbh, I thought he was the one behind the killings at first ahaha. 

Suguha. I thought she was a tough chick. It was cool to know that she had another motive to get closer to Fumi. Because I thought it was weird how she took her cellphone at the BBQ restaurant. It’s nice to know that SEEC still foreshadows like that. 

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

ok finished reading and i have Thoughts so i'll put them under a cut (spoilers abound). also this got uh... a lot longer than i was intending it to be so apologies if it feels rambley.

Negative/Neutral Stuff first:

overall the plot was pretty meh. i didn't actively hate anything however the pacing of the story especially with how quickly Seven fell in with the Rangers when they didn't have any reason to trust her was... not good. maybe i misread things but i was pretty sure the main bulk of the book happens over a few weeks which just felt really rushed for a) the Rangers to trust Seven that much and b) for Seven to form the deep connections that the book allegedly described (especially with Harker who tbh just annoyed me a little bit given that he was in a pretty big chunk of the book but never got properly fleshed out beyond the "grumpy old soldier taking another rookie" archetype).

i think it's evident when you start reading but a lot of the plot beats were pretty clichéd. not bad but like... i knew exactly how the story was going to shape up after chapter 5 or so and my only surprise was that Ellory didn't die by the end of the book. which good for her i guess. her future doesn't look great given what we know about Seven's future but i hope they had some happy years together.

i think my main complaint is one i share with a lot of Star Trek books i've picked up (particularly those written by men) seem to veer towards Big Action Plots which is just. deeply not why i like Star Trek and imo novels (and tv/movies for that matter) with a lot of focus on action/fights/that sort of thing are just far less interesting and i found myself skimming over a lot of those parts. i think there are ways to write action-heavy prose well but i've found very few books that do it convincingly because imo action scenes are the hardest thing to write.

i found a decent bit of the dialogue was stilted and clichéd and wasn't always successful at bridging the gap between how Seven acts/speaks in Voyager and Picard (especially without Jeri Ryan's acting to sell it). and for that matter, it didn't quite bridge the general writing differences between 90s era Trek and new Trek. it wasn't the worst dialogue and there were some moments that i thought sounded nice (and demonstrated Seven's struggle between speaking in her natural Voyager-era speech patterns and her need to fit in and camouflage herself) but on the whole, it was just kinda eh and used slang way too much for my liking.

this is a very niche complaint as someone who has spent too much time thinking of Seven as a disabled character but i wish the book considered the fact that she is disabled and that her implants, while they might give her some super-human abilities, still come at a cost. i think just a few lines about her being fearful about finding safe medical care or being afraid of losing her portable regenerator (which... wasn't mentioned) would have really contributed to her fear of discrimination away from Voyager's crew and "outing" herself to people she can't trust when she is uniquely vulnerable. as i'll say later, the book very much leaned into some of the trans allegories that Picard s3 did with Seven and including a few lines about a fear of finding doctors she trusts/fear of being dehumanized in medical settings would have really strengthened that allegory and brought it some more depth.

oh and one thing that... idk i'm undecided of whether or not i like is that the other Voyager characters are implied to not be in close contact with either Seven or Janeway. i have complicated feelings about this and i think it does make sense and it is in character that they would all drift apart to some extent but i just find it off that Seven went for over a year without being in contact with either Naomi or Icheb. especially given the role Icheb's death plays in Picard s1. however, i do very much like that Seven still very much values her former crew and still has photos of them and thinks about them. it's understandable that she wants Distance but i think there are some people (Naomi) who she would never be fully out of contact with.

Positive Stuff:

all of that said... there were enough quieter moments that really appealed to me, particularly with regard to how Seven's queerness was portrayed. often in big franchise science fiction i think queerness gets reduced to "just" being gay/bi/trans/etc in a pretty surface level sense OR it's solely queer subtext without explicit identity. but i really appreciate this book for taking the already existing queer subtext around Seven and dialing it up on purpose (such as how her refusal to accept her deadname is directly tied to the Federation refusing her citizenship) while also exploring her textual queerness through her romantic/sexual relationships with women. like Seven in this book is portrayed as queer not just because she likes women but because by her nature, she is a perpetual outsider and because she's been refused inclusion by "normal" mainstream society, she's found a home outside of that "normal" society. i could (and should) write a whole essay on Seven and voidpunk identity/reclamation of dehumanization but that's a whole other conversation but i appreciate the book for playing into some of those ideas. tying together ideas of Seven's queerness and her perceived inhumanity isn't exactly a new idea in the fandom but it feels so wonderful to have an official book do it.

also as i alluded to above, there were a decent amount of small things regarding the Federation rejecting Seven's citizenship and her conflict with Janeway on that point that were just. really tasty. and i can't wait to play with those ideas in fics.

on that note, i think the book understood Seven and Janeway's complicated relationship beautifully. they might fight (a lot) and have some differing opinions colored by their different experiences but they will always respect each other on some level. i also think the book did a good job at showing how much Seven needed to get out of this mentor/protege relationship she had with Janeway and find where she actually belongs instead of following others. and Janeway realizing, however much it might hurt, that she needs to let Seven go and be her own person rather than trying to be overprotective and thinking she knows what's best.

also related ^ their last scene was so shippy for no reason. Janeway giving Seven permission to call her Kathryn... Janeway wishing she could reach out to touch Seven's face..... sorry for having shipper's goggles on but what else was i supposed to take away?

ok aside from character/relationship stuff – as someone who is very much invested in this era of Star Trek worldbuilding, i appreciate the book for expanding on what was going on during the Romulan rescue mission and i think it complements Picard s1/The Last Best Hope well by showing how complicated the political situation really was and what exactly was going on outside of Starfleet. again, it gives a lot of fodder for fanfiction especially with how Seven and Raffi were essentially on two different sides during this time with Raffi (and Picard) pushing for more of Starfleet's help with the Romulan evacuation and Seven seeing how redirecting Starfleet's forces ending up causing more suffering.

and it was a small thing but i was super excited that this book used elements of Star Trek Prodigy!!! there were just little references since this book is set 2(?) years before the show but i loved the continuity of including characters like Tysess, mentioning the Protostar, and having Janeway commandeer the Dauntless. it was just really nice to see other media use Prodigy's characters and world after Paramount fucked Prodigy over and tried to pretend it didn't exist despite it? being a very good show?

all in all – i'm very glad i read it even if it was just for the few scenes that i really thought hit the nail on the head. the stuff i disliked, i didn't feel particularly strongly about and can pretty easily ignore/forget about in lieu of the things that i REALLY did like. but yadda yadda your mileage may vary and my opinions will probably change over time as i think about it more.

anyways, i'm mostly happy because a few things were brought up that can very easily slide into the next chapter of my fic :) if i. y'know. manage to write it any time soon.

just got my copy of Star Trek Picard: Firewall! i've unsurprisingly been looking forward to this one since it's been announced so i'll post my thoughts after reading if anyone's curious.

[redgillan]

hiya! I am reading you new series, I'm invested, but the main character is kinda meh? She is just too perfect, it doesn't feel real. Everything is too perfectly set up. I can see where you're making her relateable but it's not for me. But I want to know how the main story line ends, so I'm in it till the end. As for people preferring porn, porn is easy to write, you don't need to flesh out characters, people can just skip to the juicy bits.

But I totally get you! I also write, and my stories got like 0 notes with several chapters in. I just mostly only publish them for myself now, but it isn't fun.

yeah i get that, i mean it hurts that you called her meh but i get it. there’s just not much in reader’s life. she’s alone and lonely and that’s it. tbh i have the urge to delete the whole thing so we’ll see how my mood is in the morning.

[amazingorangedangantrash]

The only ending everyone seems to ignore is v3 because it’s just... it’s just a mess.

How do feel about this game survivors? And do you think that everyone woke up from the simulator or tv show like sdr2 or only the survivors?

Hoo boy...

Honestly nonny, having only finished the dang thing yesterday I... don't know.

(I kinda went off into a spiel, so feel free to skip to the part where I talk about survivors and what I think happens next)

I understand the mixed response a LOT. I mean- I see what they were going for. The 4th wall break was cool, and the (sorta?) reappearance of past characters was pretty damn awesome. I like that the creators are definitely self aware- and there's a kind of 'learn to laugh at yourself' sort of thing.

On the other hand it can almost seem a little too mocking?

I get the whole yaknow. 'Fictional characters are aware they're fictional and rebel against their creators' thing but- like-?

As I mentioned before, thing is, Tsumugi is not us? We aren't exactly intentionally cruel? There's a BIG difference between the kind of fiction in our world and in their world.

What does Tsumugi call it? "Real fiction"?. Yeah- thing is- we don't have that. We don't have the technology for it, and I certainly hope we wouldn't abandon ethics for it either!!! We can't have 'real' fiction, because in our world, all fiction is fake! The closest you have is fiction about real people, perhaps, but- that's not even remotely the same thing?

So it does come across as a little... um- preachy.

We're supposed to represent the audience but... like- the audience fucking suck! What was that they said during the argument armament? "This guy should have died instead of Kaede!" Like- fucking hell. Imagine saying that to someone, who can HEAR you say it, and who's MURDER you could potentially watch unfold before your very eyes as a result of YOUR actions. I mean- look how empathetic some of us are to ACTUAL fictional characters. Could you imagine if we were in a similar situation to the outside world in V3???

Maybe it's because I keep imagining the v3 cast as like- sentient AI, instead of "just fiction". Because I can't imagine anyone being so sadistic or apathetic otherwise.

So uh- yeah. I don't... know how I feel about that. It's not- very satisfying?

With sdr2, the whole "none of this is real, the killing game is all a lie, you're in a fake world!" felt like a relief ! Whereas here it's more like- "what?? It's all fake? What the hell was the point then?!"

"Nothing matters!" vs "nothing matters..."

The whole HOPE VS DESPAIR, FUTURE VS PAST thing worked, because, well, it's something we can all understand. We have all felt hope and we have all felt despair. We've all, at some point in our lives, felt stuck in the past, unable to or scared to move on.

(Hey- some of us still feel like that now, even).

The first game was very simple- hope and despair. Still relatable, but fairly basic- effective to set up the foundation for the follow up.

The second game made things a little more complicated. Sometimes it's more complicated then just- choosing between Hope and Despair. We refuse to fall into Despair, but we can't just blindly have Hope.

So we choose the Future. We can't promise it'll be a good one OR a bad one. But whatever happens- we need to move on. The only way we can make things change is by making that choice, to create our OWN future.

V3 felt very... complex. It started to get kind of... uh... philosophical? And- don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with that. It just... it kind of shifted from TRUTH VS LIE to FICTION VS REALITY. And whilst the latter definitely sounds interesting- I don't really know if I liked the direction they took with it-? I wish they'd kept the focus on TRUTH VS LIE a lot more.

(Fiction and Reality are like extensions of Lie and Truth but- only to a certain extent? Really?)

It's kind of harder to get into the final fight in V3 because... what are you fighting? The outside world? I mean- I can't speak for the rest of you, but as far as I'm aware I'm not a fictional character.

(If I am- then wow someone's a reallly bad writer huh?)

I can relate to Hope. I can relate to Future.

I can't relate to Fiction.

I THOUGHT maybe the message was a warning of the dangers of escapism ('please dont go as far as to erase your own personality just to be a part of a type of fiction you like' definitely seems fitting for this fandom)- but the message "fiction has the power to change the world!" kinda contradicts that. I mean- I do like that message, but- I don't like the idea of a series about killing games being heavily influential-!

The whole problem was that people grew so obsessed with the series that they threw away their lives! Is that not the point you should be focusing on-!!!!

The outside world in this universe fucking sucks. So they changed their mind, big DEAL! that's not comforting knowing they let this shit continue for 53 seasons-! I mean, maybe Makoto and Hajime were all 100% fictional, but at some point they started putting real people into these games, and everyone was ok with that!

I just-

I'm glad Shuichi got through to them at last but...

Someone said something which resonated with me- "in a vacuum, this is good". Like... on it's own, I thought the ending was great! It was entertaining, for sure. And the whole concept and stuff was unexpected and interesting. You gotta give em points for originality.

The problem comes with it being the 3rd game in a series. (Ignoring UDG I mean-). When a series becomes a Trilogy, you gotta make it good. This is presumably the last game in the (main) series too. And- after the UTTER NARRATIVE DISAPPOINTMENT of dr3- can you blame people for wanting more? People fell in love for THH and SDR2 (and UDG even if its not part of the main series) for a reason- and, for me at least, a biiiig part of that reason was the continued storyline. The last chapter of sdr2 was the hypest shit EVER. when you see glimpses of the previous game bleed into this one, only for it to turn into what's like- a full crossover???? The previous game isn't just mentioned, it's a straight up sequel!!!! I had absolutely no idea Makoto and co would return (i thought the games were separate) so when i saw that they'd be interacting with the new cast- yoooooooooooooooo-!

Hell, even seeing alter ego again made me go WILD.

V3 plays upon these expectations, and subverts them, but... not necessarily in a good way? You- kind of feel cheated? (Idk if you're an avengers fan, but- it's like expecting *Endgame* and instead getting...

Well- Endgame).

The ending isn't bad persay it's just- not quite what one would expect? I can definitely understand why people are disappointed. The problem is, instead of standing alone, you can't help but consider it as part of the series. Individually, I don't think the ending was that weak or bad, but in comparison to the series as a whole?

Meh.

SURVIVORS

(Oh my- I really got off track, oh dear. I'll- get back to what you asked now.)

KEEBO

W H Y

They rllly gonna rub salt in the wound huh?

(Whilst i dont dislike the other survivors, there are a LOT of people i really really wanted to see make it to the end, and it's just the final god damn nail in the coffin to kill off the last of the few characters I came even close to liking the most-)

Killing keebo was dumb

Maki- I liked Maki quite a bit! She's a bit cold, yeah, but I warmed up to her after hearing her backstory.

I found it annoying (if understandable) that no one trusted her at first. I thought it was sweet that her, Kaito and Shuichi had this friendship trio. They really trusted each other- it was very refreshing. I also love me a strong girl. Her romance thing with Kaito was a little... forced. I'd have found it more meaningful if they kept it more subtle/ambiguous (though i suppose they needed smth to use against her in the final trial sooo-).

Himiko-

I-

*sigh*

Ok I'm going to say this once, and once only.

Someoneonthedrteamhasabigthingforlolis

OK! I SAID IT- AND IM NEVER SAYING IT AGAIN

No judgement here of course. Just. Uh. Y-yeah-

(I'm mainly kidding of course, idek if Himiko counts as a loli but-)

I mean... I'm not... the fondest of very small, childish girl characters (Saionji intensifies). I like a bit of childishness in a character but- i mean- it depends.

(I'll never recover from the "seductive whisper" thing from the love suite event

Never.

Never ever.)

Himiko comes across as like An Actual Child at times and at the start it was VERY annoying. Surprisingly, I warmed up to her eventually. I knew in advance she'd be a survivor so i kinda thought "well she's gonna stick around so might as well try to like her". I do appreciate that she underwent a character arc too, and it was sweet to see how she became a more active, determined person. I wish it hadn't taken Tenko's death for her to finally start changing but whatever. She is quite a cute character and after a while became more endearing then annoying.... (for the most part).

Was she in my top 3 picks for a survivor? No.

The top 10 even?

N-no-

I'm glad she's still alive though. SOMEONE damn well needs to be.

Tsumugi- ah. She's not a survivor, is she? I knew well in advance she was the mastermind so I didn't really warm up to her all that much during the final chapters, for obvious reasons.

Shuichi- if shuichi hadn't survived I think that would have been the breaking point for me, honestly.

Overall- uh... they aren't... the ideal picks. Shuichi is the only one I really wanted to see survive, I was neutral towards the others. Tbh I was just happy anyone was alive by the end of that.

Waking up- for the sake of my sanity, I like to think that after the survivors wake up, they threaten to sue and/or maim the shit out of the dr team if they don't start on reanimating their 'dead' friends right fucking now. Surely they gotta keep their consciousness' somewhere in those memories banks right? I mean- what if they ever wanted a "surprise return from the dead" plotline? Surely they gotta keep em somewhere? Right?

Whether or not they reawaken as their in-game or pre-game selves, who knows. Whichever you prefer, I guess. Maybe a mixture of both.