#sometimes the romance is good fun and sometimes its the least interesting part for me; really depends

[ranseur]

adding mako and raleigh from pacific rim to your list of great m/f platonic pairs!

OHH thank you! yes i love them a lot! i forgot to mention them in my list.

i guess someone could make a case for a romantic future for them, from the time Mako was Gazing Respectfully at Raleigh's abs, but the final scene with the forehead touch and hug was perfect! i'm really glad you mentioned Mako and Raleigh because i LOVE that they didn't go for a kiss

also Pacific Rim... really gave us the gift of 'drift compatibility' as a term for being connected in mind and body without it being necessarily romantic. the other platonic drift compatible teams in that movie are splendid as well, the Striker Eureka father son team, the Crimson Typhoon triplets, and of COURSE Hermann and Newt (another two blorbos i rotate in my mind) speaking of Hermann and Newt, while the m/f platonic pairs are uncommon and very special to me, i will also say I love the m/m and f/f platonic pairs too!

[vigilskeep]

now that you finished inquisition, what did you think of it? like favorite things, least favorite, etc?

oh man okay

things i love about dragon age inquisition:

capturing the specific feeling of bonding with a group of people you have absolutely nothing in common with because u all had to go through something long and specific together

the maps can be so pretty and in places really calming and lovely to spend time in. it does make me want to explore and i have no explorer’s instinct

i love the war table and judgements i think those are really fun features

i like that approval for many major decisions applies to everyone regardless of who you bring to specific events/quests. it feels a lot less like you have to manage that really hard, as you sometimes do in the other games and also really noticeably to me in something like baldur’s gate 3. it’s irritating when i have to plan ahead and can’t take who i want to hear from

i like how attached you can get to little npcs who wander around

i loveeeee fighting dragons and how beautiful they all are

little puzzles <3

the collectibles are also mostly fine by me i am a magpie by nature. as long as i can find them, obviously, bc if i can’t they suck and this whole game sucks

the templar specialisation is fun and i enjoyed that part of combat a lot. wrath of heaven/spell purge combo is a power trip

i thought my character was pretty :) i defeated u in the end dai character creator. may you be as merciful when we meet in battle once more

i’m not a huge crafter but being able to tint things is rlly nice

blackwall’s romance is good

vivienne is there

they let me briefly tame a dragon at the end there

things i don’t love about dragon age inquisition:

some genuine cruelty in writing the dalish in a way that feels shockingly callous to the real world cultures the writers took inspiration from

never giving the dalish or the rebel mages any kind of voice of their own and making the player do all that work if they care, which i also feel limits my roleplaying creativity

refusing to let you challenge any of the often overwhelmingly conservative views expressed by other characters without receiving only derision and disapproval. inquisition is a game that punishes you at every turn for having your own opinions, in a way that could be interesting if it was willing to truly let you develop complex or antagonistic relationships with those characters, but ends up mostly just feeling mocking when nobody ever even tries to see your side, while simply agreeing with these people always rewards you with content. origins was capable of letting you engage in discussion, and da2 let you form rivalries that mattered; inquisition, despite starring some of the most intentionally controversial characters, does neither

the game engineering conflicts against groups like the freemen of the dales or the avvar that mean nothing to the player and range from vaguely to seriously upsetting in their assumptions about who it’s normal to just start killing en masse. it’s both boring and distressing

odd, for lack of a better word “casting choices”, like having the fantasy impoverished racial minority all be white within the party while the wealthiest and most privileged are characters of colour, or for a more in-world example having the elves express the most distaste towards elves and the mages express the most caution about mages. i don’t know that i quite have the vocabulary to fully discuss why these weird me out, but it all feels... disingenuous? and chosen to forestall criticism based on real world comparisons in a game series that i wish had the nerve to openly confront what it’s talking about if it’s going to try to make any of its conflicts feel relevant

most of the companions, and indeed most of the quests and time spent playing the game, feel disconnected from the main plot. it’s hard to feel any pressure when the game tells you we need to deal with the main plot “right now!” and “get there before corypheus!” when the bulk of the game is doing other things while you’re supposed to be doing that. the majority of companions could be cut without changing anything. and when you finally want to deal with the main plot you just click to start it. it’s not engaging

the game fails to fully expand dialogue for the player character options it provided, particularly notable with its confusing chantry focus when you’ve said for the dozenth time you’re not andrastian

the 2-handed weapon whirlwind ability sound effect is an exercise in creating the worst and most grating sound effect for someone to constantly hear

they didn’t let me romance vivienne

they killed my dragon :(

[magpiefngrl]

hey! curious new writer here. which fix of yours were the easiest to write and which were the hardest? in what way?

Hello anon! Thanks for an interesting ask.

OK I'll start with the disclaimer that every fic has its difficulties as well as moments when it flows, but there have definitely been some that poured out of me with great ease than others which were a constant struggle.

The Miseducation of Draco Malfoy, my first drarry, was written at the height of my obsession and it poured out of me. I wrote like a fiend all day and would go to bed at night and reread what I wrote. I breathed that fic day and night for the weeks it took me to write it. It was also the most fun I had writing, prob because I was a complete unknown and there were zero expectations from me. Similarly, The Full Monty, written just after TMODM, was an easy fic to write. I remember I read the prompt and was immediately assaulted by images and started laughing on my own and was like, OK I need to claim this, the fic is writing itself.

Similarly but in a more tortuous way, dirtynumbangelboy poured out of me too. More tortuous because it took me ages to find the right beginning, and by then I was behind with my deadlines and got stressed. Also, I wrote it in a sort of dread of the Erised fest, because it had some amazing writers that year and I was intimidated. I remember my goal was to "at least not embarrass myself" .

But, aside from the doubts and stress, dnab itself flowed like nothing else. There are passages that I really love, even now years later, and they are exactly as they came out the first time. I did very little editing (compared to other works).

With The Boy Who Died I made a fun post on tumblr about a mdzs AU of drarry and then the idea wouldn't let me go so I had to sit and write it. Luckily it was summer and I didn't work and I could spend my days writing it. There were moments I got stumped but it mostly came out easily.

Finally, a lot of my short fics poured out of me in one go and came out almost perfectly formed. The Dare, A Perfectly Normal Reaction, and my MCD The Death You Carry are good examples.

Fics that took ages at first:

so my thing is that I have to find the right opening to begin the story, otherwise I can't proceed. I don't plan; the first scene/chapter is my plan. And sometimes I get stuck for yonks. With The Unquiet Grave I began with a Draco POV, him being a politician and Harry his bodyguard, had an interesting first scene and then---nothing. It's like I hit a wall. Zero words come. When I have this feeling, I know I need to go back and revise. Long story short, it was when I changed the POV to Harry that somehow the whole gothic mood came about and I felt the auspicious click: I got it. That's what the story is. A gothic romance. After that, it was easier.

The same thing happened with Hush, darling. I rewrote a first scene fruitlessly several times until a random bit of inspiration fell into my hands: the visual of a card game. I began with it and I let it guide me and the whole plot/stakes/cast fell into place.

Fics that needed a LOT of work and had to be dragged into existence:

The Gift is the first that comes to mind. First couple of chapters were pretty easy and then I was stumped. Writing it felt like dragging myself up a slope, step by step and also not being happy with anything, so that was fun. :/

The other is 9 ½ Days, which took actual years to finish. In that case the middle part was the hard one. I wrote the beginning fairly easily and the last chapters, the plotty ones, also flowed. But the middle. Zeus almighty. It took me years and I thought and thought and thought about it a lot. Finishing this fic was an immense relief but also a source of pride, especially because I really liked the result, and judging by the comments I get, people seem to love it too.

Thanks for an unusual ask! It was good to ponder about my fics and my writing process. The same issues seem to crop up with my original works too, and it's helpful to remind myself that I got over those issues before and I can get over them again.

[pixlpxie]

omgg SAG RISING SQUAD YAAS! And yes yes yes yes to that. I think he gets away with things because of the dumb persona producers made him to do, and I think he decided to play a bit with people about it, I mean I remember when he said his favorite song of the moment was 3D, a song that everyone and their grandma knows what is about 👀 but everyone just went aww he loves Jk. Like have we all seen his playlist? Mingi is a young man, but he’s really smart

And pleaaase I love rambling about birth charts! so feel free to do it honey ! And thank you 🤭 gotta admit that is not all of the placements but I share most of them with him so I REALLY can relate to him that sometimes scares me, but I’ll say that is hard to have the combos he has cause he’s known to be awkward and I don’t blame him ‘cause EVERYTHING FEELS AWKWARD I hate it. And he’s good with separating himself which I admire, I feel all of his personas, off stage, on stage are pretty genuine at least 70% percent , his on stage persona is the self I think is inside him that can be rebellious and feels desired in a certain way 👀 really deep inside him he craves for that type of attention, but I don’t think is the self his romantic partner will see 24/7, that dude is a natural sub on daily basis but happens to switch at times, if you see his lives that’s probably the one they’ll see which makes me feral to know cause he’s so pouty and whiny on his lives. And with preferences I think he’s pretty open minded, unless he feels a fake vibe he’ll probably will try to avoid the person straight away , and in some videos you can tell it by his face XD. My preferences are fire+earth+wind+water placements, if it is for romance earth is first hehe🤤, so I can get why he loves Yunho a lot . AND I BET MY ASS MINGI ASKS FOR HIS READINGS FROM TIME TO TIME, he’s spiritual for sure

and just to confirm the titty thing that you wrote was too accurate for me btw XD I won’t be a sub to a man but I’ll definitely do this for a woman. Love you too babe <3

WE SAW HIS PLAYLIST??? Omg I missed all that 3D convo but honestly my sag rising ass relates so much I loved that song for a while too esp the last rap part the lyrics were too fun for no reason. And honestly you’re right most people miss that male idols at the end of the day are men so them constantly babying grown ass adults really weirds me out also its probably an innacurate perception of them like yeah Mingi is probably a little dumb in a cute way (naive would be a better word) but like he really isn’t the cute little chick y’all think he is so :D also ppl don’t really understand how unhinged sag risings/placements are he fits the vibe so much

Mingi is def a switch who likes praises like lets be real although I feel like when he’s dominating he’d really become a good dom too and yes you’re right he’s most likely an open minded person he might even like poly relationships if he has the sag influence (just an assumption pls don’t come at me) Also Id give him as many readings as he wants he just needs to meet me lmao

Anyway my placements are Pisces sun+venus, sag moon+rising, Taurus mars and aqua mercury if you’re interested in reading mine (bc id luv that if you comment on it)

[arliedraws]

Do you think Harry was in love with Sirius? Something more intense feeling at least than just friendship/fatherhood? Because the intensity is burning across the pages and it really reminds me of being much closer to real love than any mentorship thingy, idk how to say. Now, I don't want to be so brainrotted that any platonic relationship is just shipping material. I wouldn't even say Harry's feelings were the same as the canon romantic relationships like Harry/ Ginny and Ron/Hermoine but being someone's main person, apart from parents and kids (which Harry never really got) is often the husband/wife/significant other

look at the transference in ootp, when Sirius pulls back from giving good advise to Harry and Harry withdraws too, and in the end Ginny helps Harry out with the ,,am i possessed part,, something he asked Sirius before. Later after Snapes woret memory bit, Harry confides no one why he doenst have occlumency lessons anymore but tells Ginny he wants to talk to Sirius. Its interesting to me that, Ginny took over some of Sirius's emotional duties and filled a void after Sirius's emotional withdrawal and and Harry grew in love with Ginny later. I think those are linked but that's me.

Also the books are littered with how often Harry remarks upon Sirius's handsome self so that doesn't really help. If Harry was in love and after the war he and Sirius got on with a quiet secluded life somewhere where they could see the sky, do you think Sirius could have developed the same love in return? I'm into Sirry waters here now I guess, but there's something that just keeps reminding me that Sirius was Harry's true main love, wether romantically or otherwise coded. I don't think it'd ever go into sex or stereotypical husbands sharing a flat like wolfstar is but def more closer than best friends. A secret thied option?

Canonically? No, I don’t think so.

I joke that Harry has a crush on Sirius but unfortunately, I don’t think his constant pointing to Sirius’s attractiveness is actually Harry speaking—I think it’s Rowling illustrating the “waste” that is Sirius’s life. She’s trying to show us the consequence of good looks and too much cleverness, as if to say that Sirius has nothing left. Because Harry doesn’t call Sirius handsome post-Azkaban—only pre-Azkaban Sirius is handsome (lol sure Jan). It’s funny to me how she built some really wonderful, complicated characters but did not really understand who they were.

Anyway, as much as I find Sirry fun, I don’t think Harry was in love with Sirius romantically, but he did LOVE Sirius more than anyone else. You could link emotional closeness with romance, I suppose, but I personally feel that it’s simply that Harry sought Sirius’s advice and support because Sirius is like a father to him.

Now, I could see Harry and Sirius living quietly together as adults, coping with their traumas and simply escaping the limelight for a while. Sirius, in my opinion, is Harry’s parent. The only reason I take to the Sirry route sometimes is when I am feeling feral and want to shred stuff with my teeth.

[thgfanfictionlibrary]

E Rated Fics Masterlist (49)

Part 1 -Part 38/  Part 39 / Part 40 / Part 41 / Part 42 / Part 43 / Part 44 / Part 45 / Part 46 / Part 47 / Part 48 /

Created: May 27th, 2024

Last Checked:-----

Ode To Sleep-Joshs_left_earlobe (ao3) Summary: My name is Katniss Everdeen. I’m seventeen years old. My father is dead. My mother is useless. My sister is separated from me and living with strangers. I’ve failed to kill myself twice. Outside Expectations-katnissdoesnotfollowback (ao3) Summary: Sometimes, the best person for you is the one you don't expect. An expansion of the "Outside Chance" universe focused on Graham and Savannah and how they wound up in that ivory and estrogen tower with a pack of daughters. Outside the Lines-katnissdoesnotfollowback (ao3) Summary: Blue lines painted on the outside edges of alpine courses help guide skiers as they race downhill at high speeds, sometimes as fast as 70 mph. On freestyle ski courses, the blue lines provide contrast between sharp edges and blind dips in the course, giving airborne and sometimes upside down athletes a point of reference in an otherwise completely white set of obstacles. The lines are guides, not rules. You don’t have to stay inside the lines. Which is good, because Ryen Mellark’s never been too fond of rules… Outtakes from The Borrowed Wings Universe-LemonLuvGirl (ao3) Summary: A place to expand on the backstory of the Burning Bright and Blazing Free & its sequel story (Golden Cages & Borrowed Wings) Universe. Most of these stories will center around Katniss and Peeta during their two years as mentors. Deen will get more backstory as well, and there will also be the occasional smut chapter for the fun of it. After all Katniss and Peeta had around a month and half of freedom before they made their escape in Blazing Free. Paper Hearts-LemonLuvGirl (ao3) Summary: “My name is Katniss Everdeen. I’m 17. I’m stubborn and good with a bow and that’s pretty much it.” I say dryly, and it gets a few chuckles. After that, the spotlight of my peers' attention moves on and no one spares me a second glance. Which is exactly how I prefer it. Everyone here already knows I’m not very interesting. My life is a series of responsibilities and expectations that my classmates could never relate to. And their lives are a carefree existence of parties, dances, and soap-opera-like romance and drama that I have no interest in. They live in their little bubbles and I live in the real world and we will go on co-existing in this way until graduation breaks the cycle." Pinnacle-JHsgf82 (ao3) Summary: AU. Katniss Everdeen is disgruntled over needing a new roof put on her house, but her irritation quickly melts away when she meets the man who'll be doing the work for her, and develops a powerful attraction to him. Does Peeta Mellark see her as more than just a customer? Will he ever return her feelings, or will she be forced to continue watching him from a distance? Promise Me, Little Brother-LemonLuvGirl (ao3) Summary: When his middle brother is Reaped along with the love of his life in the 74th annual Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark makes a promise. One year later he is still struggling to fulfill the last request his brother made before he was killed. It's simple really, all Peeta has to do is talk to a girl. The only problem is that girl is Katniss Everdeen, victor of the 74th Hunger Games and the person who killed his brother. Pure-katnissdoesnotfollowback (ao3) Summary: I’m a survivor. At least that’s what someone once told me. He was probably right, which explains a lot about me. Survivors are selfish and despicable, although I think he meant it as a compliment. Problem is, what I’m surviving for is sometimes hard to tell anymore. Science vs. Romance-loveleee (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen is twenty-two years old, slinging burgers and beer at Hawthorne's Bar and Grill the day the vampires come out of the coffin.

Señorita!-LemonLuvGirl, MegaAuLover (ao3) Summary: Katniss Everdeen is a young break out Latin music sensation who has hit a rough patch after a very public breakup with her boyfriend and music partner. Desperate to prove the naysayers wrong and reinvigorate her career she agrees to try to partner with a new solo artist for a Spanish to English crossover collaboration. Peeta Mellark just got out of the music recording contract from hell, and likewise just finished cutting ties with his nightmare of a momager. He’s trying to break away from the boyband image that defined him in his early youth and start making real, honest music. Not the cookie cutter sugar pop he’s been forced to sing for years. But to reinvent his image he’ll need the help of someone in the industry who is seen as both edgy and authentic. Can these two struggling artists work together to cultivate a spark that will light the music world on fire? Or will their personalities and cultures clash too much and lead their careers to crash and burn?

[natashasbitxh]

I have to say it. I started my Shayne journey this week and honestly not mad at all. I just u know, love to see sometimes how Shayne will be looking at chance like he's trying to understand something in him, that he doesn't even realize. Always when chance isn't looking obviously, the other part to me is how gentle the interactions are, sometimes I feel like Shayne is afraid of Chance in a good way I think. Then when they laugh at the same joke, it's rare but curious. I sense like they could be really good friends, but there's something that doesn't let them be close in that way. Maybe they're not trying to be friends, maybe they will always see the other as someone dar away even though they actually have a lot of things to relate. The new video with the fanfic really highlights for me that strange aura around them, like a wall they're too afraid to be friendly, Shayne seemed nervous and I don't understand why, nothing bad really happens and he doesn't like the eye contact too much hahahaha. Those two are a funny little duo, like they would be the kind of friendship that act like they have a secret and wouldn't tell anybody and inside jokes. So I'm saying this to you now, thank you for sharing your love for this duo, they deserve more, even if it's only shipping, it works for me, I don't mind. Another thing is, I would love to see more banter between them in the next videos hahahaha. Chance did a great job in the fanfic, he really is a theater kid. I wonder if he sense Shayne nervousness sometimes or not. Please share you thoughts on them too!!! I would totally read just an essay of them, explaining why you like this dynamic if you ever wanted to write it

Well first off, welcome to shaynse nation! Was gonna say that I hope ur enjoying ur journey but it seems u r!

(Putting more under the cut because this got rlly long!)

Adding on, I also find that Chanse does the same with Shayne! Both of them watch eachother and seem to REALLY be listening. I think Shayne wants to impress Chanse, not always but often he'll make a joke and look over to Chanse for his reaction.

And I understand what u mean sm! I could deffo feel some nervousness from Shayne, once again I've seen other ppl say it but it is so introvert x extrovert!

and honestly even without shipping, I think their dynamic and friendship is so fun and entertaining! They really are so funny together!

I honestly tried to go back and see what video made me think of shaynse, but I honestly can't remember at all!

Honestly, I think I like this ship just cause its so interesting and like you said, gentle? There's this sort of softness that I always associate with shaynse, and even any angst I imagine to be the same if that makes sense. I've said it before, but they really do give me the vibes of evermore (by Taylor Swift), Cigarettes After Sex, Lana Del Rey and maybe even Mitski. Also just throwing this in but I've noticed he's started to give Shayne the "Angela..." treatment, "Shayne..." and I think that shows a development in at least friendship. Like taking out any romance, I think you really can notice how they've gotten closer in videos and have great chemistry. I've also noticed in videos recently that they mirror each other a lot or even finish each other's sentences to an extent and I think that's rlly sweet! I've mentioned this before but Chanse often twirls his hair whilst he's listening or talking to Shayne, just an observation! I've noticed he does this kinda thing (not saying it's just limited to Shayne) where he responds to Shayne with this far off look in his eyes as he twirls his hair. Honestly that may very well not be a shaynse moment and is probably Chanse just zoning out, and quite frankly he's so real for that I relate to that so hard. And I'm sorry but my shipping self...the way Chanse looks at Shayne makes me insane sometimes!! Even when neither of them are talking!! And then when Shayne is talking, the eye contact from Chanse is so FIERCE. I've said before that the formula is that Chanse gazes at Shayne and Shayne cries at Chanse's jokes...and honestly now both things apply to both of them! Shayne also very much gives the vibe that he's nervous to compliment Chanse to his face but absolutely gushes abt him to other ppl (this thought coming from Shayne bringing up Chanse AS MUCH AS HE CAN).

Sorry, this became sooo unorganised but I kinda just jotted down all my shaynse feelings/ideas! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, I found it so fun to read and so fun to reply!! Don't be afraid to do it again! (And that goes to everybody!)

Shaynse is a niche ship and I get that not everybody is gonna like it, but I do rlly appreciate shaynse nation and smoshblr in general!

[unavailable-fan]

Just some thoughts on why it's extremely entertaining to watch Bucchigiri?! at least for me and at least now (with 3 ep out)

Obviously the designs, backgrounds, animation, voice acting and music is really good. It's fun enough to watch even without trying to piece together all the details of possible plot development or characterization. The world is bizarre and you never know what will happen, but it's also silly in a way what can remind of silly stuff irl(yes, playing baseball with a basketball, that brings some memories).

Even though the plot isn't clear at all now, i'm still curious about what might happen in the future episodes, cause there's more to each character than i thought at first and in each episode lots of stuff happens. It's both good and bad, but for me it's incredibly interesting, cause it's hard to predict what will actually happen.

And insane details what make no sense at first but then you wake up at 3am realizing "oh, that's what it meant", probably. It just works for some people, but will not work for others, obviously. And i'm in a group who's puzzle-solving and eccentric-fashion-loving parts of the brain just got activated by this show. Kinda spoilers and wild theories, thoughts, observations and bad attempts at analyzing ahead

Right now i think we've been introduced to most main characters, and show may probably continue with awful interactions between them. Awful cause, well, each of these characters wants something different from others, sometimes something completely opposite (like with Senya and Arajin, one wants to fight but has no interest in other stuff, like romance, and the other doesn't want to get anywhere near fights and just wants some romance in his life; similar with Jin siblings, Zabu and Matakara and Arajin and Mahoro in that order, and different gangs). And when there are these dialogue lines and scenes, what kinda feel like they're supposed to make more sense later (like with how Zabu tells where's no "fair" and "unfair" in fights; how Arajin actively avoids talking with Matakara, but is still clearly worried about him, and how quickly his usual commically-happy-and-invincible attitude changes when anyone is hurt; and various comments about gangs' lore in background dialogue; and the fact what there should be a second genie somewhere). It's fascinating if you love digging into every plot detail like there's some big conspiracy behind it. This research activity can be fun on its own, and it's increasingly hard to stumble upon anything what really makes you wonder what is even going on. That is not for everyone, and that's ok. But i won't be able to shut up when i have so many theories about what could happen, or why characters act like they do, because it's fun. First episode is a series of wild events what occurred because characters either ignored something or tried to make something worse for someone because of a personal want. And it just spirals from there. It may be not about how good and right can these characters be, but the opposite, how bad can it get and how can they change it. Everyone is a bit dumb and a bit mean and a bit stubborn, and it's interesting, cause everyone also has something or someone they care about. It's like billiards but with abstract concepts of characters' motivation instead of balls. It will be sad if we just return to typical plot development, though it's not clear what genre are we even watching at the moment. But this will be later, and now i'm having fun with this show, and that's already good.

[realcube]

YOU GOT: TETSURŌ KUROO

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ matchup for @reecheecx / @rnm-magic-space-xsd

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ if you would like a matchup, read this!

'My hobbies are listening to romantic music, singing, reading webtoons, watching romance and sports anime, writing romance scenes (non-sexual) and poetry/prose!'

𓆩♡𓆪 i can imagine him being down for the majority of those things tbh

𓆩♡𓆪 tbh i picture him as more of a rap enjoyer or hip-hop however you could definitely put him on to some soulful romantic music and he'd secretly love it

𓆩♡𓆪 not even that secretly tbh

𓆩♡𓆪 maybe he wouldn't go around saying to new people and acquaintances that he has a preference for sweet romance music

𓆩♡𓆪 but he'd defo put some on while in the changing room after a big game to help him settle down

𓆩♡𓆪 and if any of his teammates or friends inquire into like 'erm what is this 😐' he is so not ashamed or embarrassed to say that it's music his s/o recommended

𓆩♡𓆪 and if they try to come for him saying that's corny he will legit just ignore them or explain the health benefits of listening to calm music to lower your heart rate or smth like that

𓆩♡𓆪 he's undoubtably into sports anime so there's no question that he'd watch that with you

𓆩♡𓆪 but sometimes just to tease you he will root for the opposing team of the mc

𓆩♡𓆪 you'll be like 'wth kuroo! [made-up anime mc] worked so hard and literally sacrificed his best friend (and potential gay love interest) to the pickleball demon just so he could qualify for intersectional national regional championships and you are saying you want him to LOSE?!'

𓆩♡𓆪 and he'll just be like 'ya 🤷‍♂️ his face just annoys me ig'

𓆩♡𓆪 ofc you'll get confused and maybe a bit frustrated bc like.. has he even been watching the show?!

𓆩♡𓆪 while he just thrives bc he loves teasing you and making you lil mad ; he thinks its super cute

𓆩♡𓆪 especially bc you're usually so timid in public/at school so he finds the contrast amusing

𓆩♡𓆪 also i feel like he's one of the only smart characters in haikyuu who would be capable of properly appreciating a piece of romantic prose you were to write for him instead of just being like 'neat ^-^'

𓆩♡𓆪 like he is able to understand and pick up on all the subtext and recognise all the impressive literary techniques you use etc etc

𓆩♡𓆪 and is able to fully aknowledge how wonderful you're writing is and that adds to his appreciation of your work

𓆩♡𓆪 he's maybe even smart enough to try write you a prose or two back and have it actually be intelligable haha

𓆩♡𓆪 defo not as good as yours but they are decent and you can tell how much passion and effort he puts into them just to make you feel loved

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵  

'I’d love to go to an ethical cat cafe together! [...] I feel safe with protective, passionate and snarky guys who are just, intelligent and love animals.'

𓆩♡𓆪 when i read the second part of you describing the guy i was literally just like KUROO

𓆩♡𓆪 the kuroo alarm was going off in my head

𓆩♡𓆪 bc he literally ??? all ?? of ?? those ? things ???

𓆩♡𓆪 it's crazy

𓆩♡𓆪 as i mentioned he is one of not very many haikyuu characters that is shown to be both very academically inclined and smart in a general manner too

𓆩♡𓆪 like you can tell how smart he is by his volleyball tactics n stuff

𓆩♡𓆪 and he is shown to be a bit snarky and sarcastic but you only really get to see that side of him properly maybe 2-3 months into the relationship

𓆩♡𓆪 before that he tries to keep a gentlemanly facade

𓆩♡𓆪 (but you see the way he acts with his friends and teammates so you know what you are getting yourself into)

𓆩♡𓆪 and once he find out you can match his energy and tease him back , it's relentless! he just loves to be light-hearted and poke a bit of fun

𓆩♡𓆪 while thinking its so funny when you do it back to him

𓆩♡𓆪 as for the animals part likee ofc he does !!

𓆩♡𓆪 he obviously likes cats or at least tolerates them bc he literally is one

𓆩♡𓆪 and i believe in a manga panel it stated he really likes dogs too

𓆩♡𓆪 as for all the other animals, nekoma volleyball team is basically a zoo as it is (lev = giraffe, yaku = chinchilla etc etc LMAO) so he is down with all kinda of animals

𓆩♡𓆪 (i lowkey hc he is afraid of monkys or apes though, idk seems like that kinda guy)

𓆩♡𓆪 also a cat cafe date with him would fly so well

𓆩♡𓆪 he'd love to try all of the sweet treats with and would be so entertained by all the cats n stuff

𓆩♡𓆪 and if it's your suggestion , he'd think just the fact you want to go to a cat cafe SO endearing and cute so there is no way he can say no

𓆩♡𓆪 the only thing is that if y'all go to the cat cafe and you start paying more attention to the cats than him , he will get a tiny bit salty hahah

𓆩♡𓆪 like he thinks to himself 'this is OUR date 😫 stop trying to third wheel, mr whiskers 😠'

𓆩♡𓆪 but nah he usually likes cats (when they aren't trying to steal his girl 😤)

𓆩♡𓆪 and omg if you make a joke about his cat phenotype or him looking like one of the cats he will literally fall so hard

𓆩♡𓆪 bc he'd love someone with a sense of humour

𓆩♡𓆪 meanwhile if one of his teammates tried to joke like that to him, he'd kick them upside the head lol

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵  

'My love languages are words of affirmation, acts of service and physical touch (mostly hugs, cuddles and kisses with those I’m especially close to).'

𓆩♡𓆪 he's probably heavy on physical touch and quality time imo

𓆩♡𓆪 mans is NOT shy to bring you in for a cuddle or a hug though

𓆩♡𓆪 will literally snake his arms around you when you least expect it

𓆩♡𓆪 so yeah he is physical touch leaning and he'd love it if you could come to his games to support him and stuff , that would be a major act of love in his eyes

𓆩♡𓆪 and considering how you mentioned being timid, i'd asusme your not big on pda but if/when you ever get comfortable enough in the relationship to actually hold his hand in public or even give him a lil kiss on the cheek in front his teammates, he would MELT

𓆩♡𓆪 literally into a pool of kuroo

𓆩♡𓆪 and he would wear a shit-eatting grin of his face for the whole rest of the day

𓆩♡𓆪 like it gives him so much confidence having people know that you guys are together bc then he can silently be like 'yup, i'm just that charming and hot that managed to pull someone like her. yup yup.'

𓆩♡𓆪 he's definitely not bad for words of affirmation bc he is a lot better spoken than some other characters

𓆩♡𓆪 but not by miles or anything, he's not royalty

𓆩♡𓆪 he's a solid medium on compliments bc he does speak up and say nice things about you when you dress up for a date, or when you do well on a test

𓆩♡𓆪 but he's not sappy enough (YET) to speak his mind freely, like if he did, he would be complimenting you every other second sayign the most random stuff like 'your hair looks especially soft today' , 'you're voice is so creamy' and 'i like the way you smell'

𓆩♡𓆪 but he doesn't say any of it aloud bc he doesn't want you to think he is corny or creepy

𓆩♡𓆪 however when he realises how much you appreciate it and they boost your confidence he will most definitely let his walls down and start saying some of the stuff he usually keeps in his head

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵  

for @reecheecx : i was choosing between bokuto and kuroo but when you said smart i knew exactly who it had to be lol

[yellowbluemoonshine]

Do you read manhwas ?? If so then which one?

Yeah, I read webtoon/manhwa and manga a lot.

I am not really fan of manhua but there are exceptions for that one too, for example; 'Your Dream is Delicious' was one of my exceptions for me because i love characters. I love it.

I dont have specific genre to read one because you can never know which story has good characters and well written plotline but i generally prefer to read;

Yaoi- But i cant enjoy the story, if sex is only thing or main focus.

Romance- The reason i love romance because i love series that focus on relationships the most, though i hate when 'romance is the only focus' or when lovers act like they only care about each others but still, at least, story explores the interaction between characters.

Fantasy- I dont mind slice of life but sometimes its fun to explore supernatural or fantasy world.

Psychological- What can i say, psychology is my favorite thing because i dont enjoy shallow-typical characters, i want to know more about them, thats how i can get into story and enjoy from it. Though, its hard to find well written one.

Horror- i think every story needs a little/small horror element.

Shounen ai- Unlike yaoi, slowburn romance when characters get to know each others first works better because two strangers having sex and magiclaly falling in love is so unrealistic to me. Not to mention, most of them are romanticized toxic relationships without consent, i hate it.

Shoujo ai- I mean, there is no difference for me between shoujo ai and shounen ai, if its well written. Though, its hard to find good yuri too.

This doesnt mean i dont read other genres but i usually read those ones the most. I read reencarnation stories too but most of the mare cliche, its hard to find good one.

The thing is; Its been years since i start reading manhwa, I dont remember which ones i read because i read a lot and i still read.

But i have a few favorites, unfortunately i dont remember everything i read so just a few faves of mine.

Bastard;

Genre; Crime, mystery, psychological, horror.

I enjoy this story a lot.

A Joyful Life;

Genre; Slice of life, shoujo ai, romance, drama

I love main characters and the interaction between them.

Stagtown;

Genre; Horror, mystery, supernatural.

Recently, it has finished, i really enjoyed the horror elements of the story.

Pyramid Game;

Genre; Psychology

Both story and characters are good. Another 'win the game/war' type of story but its about more mental struggle than psychical one. If you love stories with tension, you might like this.

King's Maker;

Genre; Shounen ai, yaoi, history.

Main focus isnt romance. Its about changing the kingdom they live in.

The Best Smell;

Genre; Shounen ai.

Just adding here, cute shounen ai story, though art c/should've been better. Not necessarely my fave but i am just adding here because i dont remember other stories i read.

Her Shimchang;

Genre; Shoujo ai, romance, history, supernatural.

I keep rec.ing shoujo ai, even though i hardly read one, (i usually read yaoi/shounen ai). I often end up hating most the things i read so its rare to find a story i love from beginning to the ending and this one is one of them.

Hooky;

Genre; Fantasy, adventure.

It has very cute art, and storyline. I love when characters go to adventure, discover the world around them, interact with others. Though i didnt enjoy the second part os tory, still worh it though and i love the twins and their relationship the most.

I Love Amy;

This one isnt necessarely my fave because story is new to me but i find the story, characters and art interesting enough to mention it. Its about yandere girl who fall in love with the girl she considered love rival, lol. I love the fact that they actually give yandere girl a character and story and allow her to learn true love.

I read so many good stories, especially romance, yaoi but these ones are the ones i remember right now.

Bonus; I also read Dr Frost, The Guy Upstairs, Like You Maybe, Sugar & Spice, High Class Homos, Fictional Skin, Tower of God etc on webtoon app. Others i read on random websites, there are too many to write it here so for now, thats it.

[ginnymoonbeam]

A couple months ago I decided to watch the whole HIStory series. I had already seen Trapped (more than once) and I watched Love in the Future as it aired, so I picked up the rest in order from series 1-4. Here's my teeny tiny review of each one, in order of least favorite to favorite.

A note: overall this series is drastically unconcerned with whether its relationships are "healthy" or "unproblematic." I'm not bothered by that, and in fact some of my favorites are... well, you'll see. Definitely recommend looking for content warnings before starting any of these - I'm also happy to answer questions about content as long as they're not "how could you enjoy media that features XYZ".

Onto the reviews! There will be a few spoilers, but only things I think viewers are genuinely better off knowing before they start.

HIStory 1: Stay Away From Me

Brief premise: after their parents' marriage, Feng He gets a new roommate in his stepbrother Cheng Qing, who's a big star. It's all too much for Feng He's fujoshi best friend to handle. I quite enjoy a good stepbrothers setup, but this one fell pretty flat, and I hated the fujoshi friend situation. Shipper characters are on thin ice for me in general, and this one was so intrusive that it ruined the other things I might have enjoyed. I did like the leads pretty well - I have a soft spot for bratty characters who are secretly under a lot of strain - but the relationship development was just so-so.

HIStory 5: Love in the Future

There were parts of this I really liked, mostly the side couple, but it was sooo tedious. It's this low on the list because the ratio of "minutes I enjoyed" to "minutes I resent giving away" is so abysmal... at least the H1 installments come in at barely over an hour each, so I don't feel like I wasted so much time on the ones I didn't like. This show is trying to do at least three different genres and doing none of them well. I don't even know how to sum up the premise... there's a guy who's gotten zapped 20 years into the future by mistake, but more of the show deals with business drama and eventual corporate espionage at the department store where the other main characters are centered. There's so much going on and none of it quite coheres. I'm too bored and annoyed to talk about it any more.

HIStory 1: Obsessed

This gets top out of the three I really didn't like, because it had the most id candy. And, again, because it's short. The setup is neat: a guy who's just gotten his heart broken gets zapped back into his younger self and tries, unsuccessfully, not to get with the same guy again. The love interest is just incredibly pushy and aggressive, sometimes in a way that's bad!hot and sometimes in a way that's just bad. I also hated the reveal at the end - there was no reason for him not to explain himself immediately instead of watching his lover's heart break, and I have no patience for that kind of thing.

Those were the three I didn't really like. Now we're going from liked to loved.

HIStory 1: My Hero

This one was a big surprise to me... I would have skipped it entirely if I wasn't on a completionist project, because the premise "girl dies, gets put into a boy's body, and has to try and win over her boyfriend" is incredibly unappealing to me. But they took it in a direction I wasn't expecting and I found myself having a great time. It couldn't have sustained itself for any longer, but with an under-90-minute runtime it's a fun little story.

HIStory 2: Right or Wrong

Enjoyed this one a lot - I love a nanny romance in theory, but I'm picky about kids in media. This kid is both charming and realistically childlike, and one of the leads does plenty of yelling about the kid's initial bad home situation, so I don't have to. The basic setup is that Fei Shengzhe discovers that his professor's 8 year old daughter is being neglected, gets hired to take care of her, shakes his professor/boss into being responsible, and of course eventually falls in love.

I liked most of the relationship dynamics - when there's a big structural power differential, I like to see it balanced in-story by their personalities or other factors, and this show did that well, but there were still moments where I wanted to yell not at school! or transfer out of his class ftlog! Overall, still positive, and I'll probably rewatch it when I'm in the mood for some nicely layered domestic romance.

HIStory 2: Crossing the Line

I am not a sports person but I loved these sports boys very much. A new transfer student gets strong-armed into joining the school's volleyball team, ends up pursuing the team's previous ace, who's permanently unable to play due to an injury.

Xia Yuhao thinks he's sooo bad until he discovers a burning need to be bossed around and I love that in a man. Qiu Zixuan won my heart immediately and kept it - he's so sensible and focused and stoic, and the moments where he struggles against the reality of his injury hit so hard in contrast. This one had me hooked from beginning to end. And the side couple is exactly what I mean when I say I enjoy a good stepbrothers setup - the established intimacy and tenderness juxtaposed with confusion and guilt makes a tasty tasty emotional cocktail.

The final three shows are why this post has been sitting in drafts for a couple weeks. I've been undecided on how to rank them, and I've been processing a ton of thoughts about the two new-to-me ones. I'll try to stay brief here, and keep my longer thoughts for possible future posts.

As for ranking - I simply can't. I love all three very much, so let's just say they sit together at the top spot.

HIStory 4: Close to You

I'm fascinated by stories that take some basic messy yaoi tropes and peel them back, really dig into the layers of what's going on and how they affect people, all while keeping it fun and horny. Love in the Air does that with consent (masterfully, as I will argue until I'm blue in the face), and Close to You does it with the boundaries of intimacy, the extent to which we're required to draw rigid lines around types of intimacy and what happens when those lines get smudged.

I do understand why a lot of people simply do not fuck with this show. There very much are multiple sexual assaults, including between one of the main pairs. And while the other stepbrother romances in this series do what they can to lean away from the incest angle, this one leans hard into it. A lot of the show operates on the level of farce - it's doing absolutely outrageous things with a straight face. If you can have a sense of humor about the things it's playing with, there are some sublimely funny moments. But I don't fault anyone for saying "nope, that's not for me."

Teng Muren and Xiao Licheng, the best-friends-to-lovers, are one of my favorite couples from the whole HIStory franchise, and the only thing better than their intricate and frenetic dance around each other was Ye Xingsi watching with his fond, weary, experienced-gay gaze. Also I am obsessed with the way people just come out and say shit in this story. Nobody keeps a secret for more than half an episode, even when they really probably should. Plots are so often driven by people not telling each other everything, and watching this one run instead on everyone telling each other way too much was fascinating.

HIStory 3: Trapped

I can't possibly rank this one in relation to the others because I watched it long ago and I've seen it several times. It's been high on my list of beloved BLs since I first watched. Meng Shaofei is one of my all-time favorites, he's so stubborn and loving and honest. I love how hard he and Tang Yi fight for each other once they get together. I love when guys get lost in the woods handcuffed together, I love Tang Yi's sexy bffs and weaponized makeouts, I love the angst and hurt/comfort and yelling crying fights between two people who love each other. I don't feel the need to say much more: it's the most popular of the series, and rightly so.

HIStory 3: Make Our Days Count

I think I watched MODC in the best possible way: knowing the ending, and in 2023 when there are so many good happy-ending BLs I can't possibly watch them all. Had I watched it when it aired and been hit with the ending out of the blue, I think I'd have been as devastated and lastingly bitter as a lot of people who did.

I really do think viewers are better going into this one spoiled, so in case you don't know: one of the leads dies abruptly at the end of the penultimate episode (not onscreen), and the final episode is the surviving partner processing grief many years later.

The presence of grief - past, future, or potential - grounds a love story for me like nothing else quite does. Without the ending, I would like MODC very very much but I wouldn't love it quite as fervently as I do. The final episode is complicated and difficult - we see Xiang Haoting at a moment when his grief over Yu Xigu is rearing up due to a time of transition in his life. We see him let go of some of the ways he's been coping in the past, we see him fall into a dangerously low state and then come back out of it, but we don't see him get over it and move on. That's because you don't get over some losses, you don't move on - they sit beside you for the rest of your life, and you learn how to be happy but never entirely how to not be sad.

The other thing I love most about MODC is how extremely Boys the boys are. The leads don't look the age they're supposed to be, but they act it. No other BL I've seen has done so well at capturing this type of teenage boy, bursting at the seams with hormones and the fiery need to DO things. They lose control and do the dumbest shit even though they know better, and they're also overwhelmingly thoughtful and caring just when you least expect it. The way Xiang Haoting sometimes just moves because his body can't be still; the way the whole friend group teases and derides but also rallies around each other with fierce devotion. Haoting's reaction when his friend comes out to him is perfect - a minute of teasing and incredulity, then an immediate pivot to "I've got your back."

The contrast between youthful, hopeful energy and adult experiences of pain and loss makes the key axis the whole show rotates around. The side couple has a big age gap, with high schooler Sun Boxiang pursuing Liu Zhigang, a wounded and weary gym hottie of about 30. Yu Xigu is the same age as Boxiang and Haoting, but he already knows grief. Haoting and Boxiang with their fearless optimism beat like waves against the walls of these sadder, warier love interests until they each decide to dare to try for happiness. In the one story, Haoting ends up inheriting his lover's sorrow, and it will take some other, future connection to get him to try for happiness again. In the other, Boxiang's persistence not only brings romantic happiness to Zhigang, but eventually heals another loss that Zhigang had given up on ever seeing restored.

There's a moment during his pursuit of Zhigang when Boxiang swears he'll love him forever, and Zhigang says no, you can't promise that, no one can. Which is always what I want to say to the BL schoolboys, because I too am older, wounded and weary. You can't promise forever, no matter how badly you want to. All you can do is love each other well for as long as you can, and know that life is long, and joy follows sorrow follows joy.

[pinkanonwrites]

this isnt me requesting a fic or drabble or anything, and i do NOT mean to sound critical/mean in any way of how youve written Vash, but i think you have an interesting oppurtunity to have Reader find out >> call out Vash on sleeping with his prosthetic on

admittingly, ive never watched any form of Trigun (i only know some things via Pop Culture Osmosis). i just like your romance writing; you are very good at polishing your craftsmanship, it's, again, very good. so ill read whatever (so long as i.. vaguely recognize the property at least). so i dont know if Vash cannonically sleeps with his prosthetic on-- but as a disabled person who has friends with missing limbs, even if the creator of Trigun hypothetically says it's fine that Vash sleeps with it: no, it's not. not in real life. it can cause injuries to the limb and the stump needs to de-stress. that's how real life prosthetics work (and, off-topic, is a detail i really like about Full-Metal Alchemist! they talk about this and show it! a lot! (maybe Trigun does too, idk, again, i havent seen it))

but yeah! idk if sleeping with prosthetics is something canonical to Trigun or if it is something you accidentally assumed (no hard feelings there either way, lots of disabled media accidentally protrays this. Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon and Finn in Adventure Time are both widely beloved disabled representations and also their creators fuck up sometimes and have them sleep with their prosthetics on. it happens. you live and you learn). if youd like to learn more, there's a youtube channel called Oakwyrm where disabled representation is the main point of discussion (fun fact: they even have a video analyzing the disabled representation in a Barbie fairy movie, that's fun lmao). i would link you the specific videoes id recommend you watch, but tumblr doesnt like anons sending links, so i just recommend checking out their channel (again: they have videos on Hiccup of How To Train Your Dragon, Finn of Adventure Time, and Edward of Full-Metal Alchemist. so there are a variety of resources on their channel about how prosthetics are handled in media. all three of these videos are typically pretty short and fairly succinct. i recommend watching all three and any other video topic of Oakwyrm's that catches your fancy, but im not gonna push you to watch something you dont wanna watch lmao) just wanted to give you that as a good opening point for resource about disability

i do think you having written the Reader seeing Vash sleep with his prosthetic on gives you a unique opportunity tho! (again, this isnt a Request. i know those are closed. its more of an "i dont want you to feel bad and i also dont want you to panic and take down those fics or anything, here's a helpful reminder that theres Other Options and you can use this as a jumping off point for future fic ideas or you can ignore this idea and just Write Prosthetics Differently In The Future", i dunno, its your blog, your writing, im not in charge lmao) you now have a history of the Reader knowing he sleeps with it on and can now potentially write a fic about why him doing that would make sense from a character stand-point. like why isnt he taking care of himself? why is he risking ruining that prosthetic or hurting his stump? does he not typically feel safe enough to be that vulnerable or is it a self-image thing or, or, or...? like, there is oppurtunity there. and it does make sense in some of your fics why he wouldnt-- the sick-fic you wrote recently is one of my favorite of yours ever, and it makes complete sense that Vash wouldn't go the extra step of taking off his prosthetic if there was a chance he'd need to use that arm to help take care of the Reader or if it's over-use is part of the reason why maybe his body runs as warm as it does. its just some spaghetti to throw at the wall, y'know, see if it sticks, scrap it and cook something else up if it doesn't. i dont want you to think im entitled or anything, again, this isnt a request at all. just some proverbial spaghetti to throw, you can feel free to respond via scrapping my pitch and doing your own thing reactive to this correction on how living with prosthetics works. maybe Reader is a techie who Vash visits to fix his prosthetic. i dunno if that's a role already taken in the canon of the show/manga. but hey, whatever you wanna do now that you know one shouldnt sleep with their prosthetic on and have a starting point with research, im sure ill be all for ♡ do whatever you want, its your blog ♡♡♡

but yEAH, ive encountered enough Squirrelly Writers who panic at any sign of innacuracy or problematic aspects in their hard-work where i think me being on the back-foot and going "you do NOT have to delete everything you wrote that is inaccurate to real experiences with prosthetics" makes sense. so i do want to reiterate that: you do NOT have to do that (and, ngl to you, fam, i would feel really bad if you did; i really like your work with Vash, like i said, the sick-fic specifically is one of my favorite fics by anybody that ive read in a while, that shit will be sticking around my noggin). i just wanted to reiterate that. i dont think you are a bad person or that this is immoral or anything. i think its a common mistake and, ill admit, i know squat about that other cgi show you watch with another prosthetic-user, but i noticed this was recurring with Vash, so i thought id gently mention it since i know it is a common mistake people make without, y'know, realizing its a mistake. and if Trigun shows Vash cannonically sleeping with his prosthetic, shame on them, that really sucks, they should do better by him and their disabled audience. but you?? you're just one person writing romance for fun. youre not a corporation with editors who should know to research this stuff before publishing. (or, who knows, maybe Trigun does show Vash taking his prosthetic off before sleeping, i dunno, im a casual fan of YOUR work, i dont know anything about Trigun beyond what i vaguely absorbed via Pop Culture Osmosis due to having been in the anime and sci-fo community in the past. i have no idea if they do or dont do their research. they should. but i certainly dont know if they do or not)

so yeah. just wanted to put that out there so Now You Know and the ball is now in your court as towards what to do with that information now that you have it. im sure ill love whatever you do with it, again, big fan of what you make as is already ♡ lots of love to you and yours, have a good day!!

(scooping up your proverbial spaghetti into a pot for later use in fanfic inspiration)

Thank you so much for all of your kind words! As for Trigun, as much as I love it, it's not the most realistic when it comes to the actual drawbacks and difficulties of having a prosthetic limb. It could be because it's a futuristic sci-fi piece, or the writers just don't want to get into it, or they just didn't know much about actual prosthetic management, but Vash doesn't really make a point to remove his prosthetic intentionally all that often. They've shown him sleeping in it before, and as far as I can remember in the OG anime the only time he didn't have it was when he was switching to a new model of arm.

There could be canonical reasons for that! It could be because of his vague inhuman-ness, or because he's self punishing, or any number of reasons we could interpolate from the OG mediums that they don't succinctly spell out for us. But reasons aside, the realities of using/wearing a prosthetic limb would make very interesting fic writing details, and I'd definitely like to dig into it a bit more in the future.

This ask actually comes at the perfect time, because as I've been working on my Twitch Streamer Trigun AU I've been doing some research on the realities of being a competitive (or even casual) video game player while being physically disabled. I've been doing a lot of thinking and researching on how people with only one arm actually play video games and custom controllers and set-ups and stuff, so while I may or may not go into it in super serious detail in the future I'm definitely going to at least touch on it more than once!

And last but not least, thank you for being so kind and respectful about commenting! I'm more than willing to admit that if I'm broaching a subject I'm not the most versed in I may make a mistake or two, and I'm alright with that! A long time ago I wrote a Stardew Valley fic and mistranslated some sign language, and like you I had a very kind and friendly reader point out my goof-up in a way that didn't mock me or make me feel stupid. I don't mind being corrected at all, as long as people are being nice about it. I'm only human too, afterall.

Anyway, TLDR; Thanks for being so nice, I'd love to write more about Vash's prosthetic in the future <3

[sharkbaitouhaha]

Tell me about your book !!! (I saw the name of the book btw) I just don't know what it's about . Curious to know why it's not that enjoyable but you're still reading 😂😂

Lola i am about to write you a novel i am so sorry

for anyone curious this is a bout the book "a touch of darkness" okay so! i have to start with the fact that this was a book bought for me for my birthday and was very much a shot in the dark on if i'd like it or not. and this is all going to be very rambly because i'm really not sure why i'm still reading it 😂

it's a retelling of the hades & persephone myth but it's like a ✨spicy✨ retelling. so look i love some good smut but i'm not a big romance or smut book reader, it's just usually not my jam or something i'm drawn to outside of fanfic. i adore greek mythology which is why the book was bought for me, with the biggest worry being "is the retelling going to be good enough for my dear darling wife who admittedly is sometimes too critical of retellings". My sweet darling beloved husband also did not realize this was a smutty book he was buying which actually is the funniest part of this entire story to me.

at the time of writing this i'm about 50% done the book. now the way this author has gone about doing the actual retelling or reworking of the myth is just, in my opinion, not great. however it really reads like maybe they had this other story and just slapped some greek mythology characters onto the book. the story very much feels like they wanted to write that kinda 'billionaire, possessive, enemies to lover' type story which again just not my usual type of story but hey it's good to give things a chance. also persephone, who this particular book really places the focus on, is just really fucking stupid

the smut is also just not really smutting to put it in the worst possible wording i can. there's like hints of it but nothing has really happened. perhaps i am just impatient but also there's been moments where there's definitely build up and then it doesn't go far and just ends very abruptly.

honestly it feels like maybe the book would have been better if it was not meant to be smutty at all, or there was more commitment to the smut. it almost feels jarring, like i'm being pulled out of one type of story and i'm being plopped into another type of story.

now with all of that i'm sure you're still wondering why is she reading this she has many a complaint. and i really wish i had a firm answer here because i wouldn't be so confused myself. here are some thoughts on why i think i have continued to read it despite all of the above

like sometimes things are objectively bad but they're fun and so it's still enjoyable and while it may not be a super enjoyable book it's also not unenjoyable, it's kind of a middle ground i guess. at no point have i been reading and felt "this is so atrocious that it's a waste of time to read it". so while i don't find it's very good i also don't think it's bad enough to just stop reading. ya know what i mean?

i am also genuinely curious to see where this author takes the myth. i don't necessarily think it's a great retelling or rework of the myth but i am so curious to see where she takes it, at least for this book because i don't see myself reading the rest of the series. that's part of the fun in reading retellings is seeing how things are changed and while i don't love the current choices i've seen the authot has in fact piqued my interest enough to see where things go, or at the very least where this book ends in terms of the myth.

it's also a pretty quick read so it doesn't feel like it's draining or taking more mental energy than its worth to read it. and hey why not try to just finish a book in a genre you never would have bought yourself

anyway i don't know if any of this makes any sense or really explains why i'm reading it. i guess there's just parts of the story i am somewhat interested in but as a whole im just not really liking it. if i had to rate it right now i'd say it's like a 2/5 so not the worst but also not good.

[smoothshine]

Tag game: eight shows to get to know me

I was tagged by @scienceoftheidiot and @goneadrift (thank you!! 🥺💕), and now the deal is that I get to rant about a couple of shows I like, so let's get straight to it!

1. House M.D.

- Knowing how many seasons are there in this show, I think it says something that I purposefully rewatched the full thing several times, and I probably will do it again at some point. Many characters from this series have a special place in my heart, and oh boy do I love myself a good medical drama sometimes. + the different medical cases are just very interesting for me to observe, even though I am by no means a medical specialist, let's say I know a thing or two from this field x)) (and some of you are probably aware of that, ahah)

2. Lethal Weapon

- This one is another one of these shows that I occasionally come back to for a rewatch, the chemistry between two main characters is amazing, and the main plotline is pretty good imo, + it's a classic detective-involving series, where, granted, not every case is super intriguing or complicated, but I think the characters and their development and relationships with each other - all this usually goes first when determining a series that I'll most probably like, and it delivers that part for sure! (Yes I used this specific gif because now I can't stop picturing this, but with Royais + Hughes, lolol, sorry I have a brainrot)

Also, look at this silly little totally not dysfunctional guy, come on, you can't help but love him:

3. Lucifer

- Ohohoho this one was one of the first quite long-term obsessions for me - I was watching it with my good friend as it was coming out (pretty sure starting from like, season 2 we began to watch it as it was airing, or at least I was and then I dragged this friend along for the ride, ahah), and I remember having so much fun with it - making theories, trying to predict the direction for the next season, simping over the main cast, being (more often unironically than not) frustrated with love triangles, all the good stuff. I also really like the soundtrack used in the series, and, of course, I have to mention the fact that its main leads are a blonde badass detective who is actually a sweetheart and her goofy dark-haired bastard-certified material partner who can actually be very scary and powerful to anyone but her :333

Go figure if I have a type or not, right (omg I just realized she also has a cute pet name and it's "detective")

4. Fleabag

- This one was such a pleasant surprise for me, the further I was watching the more invested into it I was getting, and in the end it turned out to be such an emotional rollercoaster, while also being able to handle a balance between more serious scenes and great humor really well. The romance plotline turned out to be very interesting too - overall, it's a great pretty short series that I can definitely recommend for people to check out at some point (I was indeed very happy when I found out @goneadrift was watching it too, hehe)

5. Sherlock (the BBC one)

- Honestly, this one is associated with many good memories for me - we used to watch it for a couple of years in a row with my parents during New Year, and it was like, one of the highlights of our celebration. Life just seemed so much easier these days, and I always remember them with warmth and joy. But! Apart from the sappy stuff - I genuinely think it's a nice modern AU Sherlock adaptation, hehe, as always, I pay a lot of attention to the chemistry between the characters, especially the main cast, and I think pretty much everyone nailed it - I find the characters from this series to be very enjoyable to watch. The other point that I want to mention here is the directing - I remember myself being very impressed by some of the shots and directing/editing choices they made there, and, of course, the main soundtrack is now pretty much engraved into my memory, hehe

(So yeah, aside from the last season, which I don't think is that bad, but definitely not as good as the earlier ones imo, it's a great show!)

6. Elementary

- Surprise surprise, another Sherlock adaptation involving detective storyline(s), who would've thought, right? Honestly, I don't remember a lot about it, since I haven't rewatched it in a looong time, ahah, but, believe it or not, I still love it and have a couple of good memories associated with it. Used to watch it during weekends back in the day when I still watched TV, lolol, but yeah, I think it's a pretty unique Sherlock adaptation, and you can definitely have fun watching it!

7. Forever

- That one is unexpected, definitely not my usual series of choice, but surprisingly I finished it pretty quickly and was glad I decided to give it a shot x)

(For the record - it's a series about a guy who works in the morgue while trying to find how to get rid of his immortality curse 👀👌).

8. Fullmetal Alchemist

- Gonna follow the lead of @scienceoftheidiot and add this one on the list too, because my god this series has me in a chokehold. Specifically Royai stuff of course, but I think in general this is the kind of anime (both FMA and FMAB btw) people who are generally not that much into anime can enjoy (I am saying as I am, apparently, one of these people, ahah). It's just a great story with a great cast and lovely imagery and soundtrack, I mean, what else can you possibly need? (Meanwhile here I am, going absolutely insane every time I think about my two beloved war criminals kissing)

O, here they are, by the way!

Aand that's all for today, no-pressure tags for @lassusog @chrysopoeias @nightofnyx8 @fullmetalscullyy @jedidragonwarriorqueen and anyone who wants to participate (also because it doesn't allow me to tag more people for some reason??), in case you feel like it! :3

[grapecaseschoices]

I know Lloyd and Hayden are quite new ocs, but I was if we could get some facts about them as well pls. 👀👀

Ty anon for indulging me. I would LOVE to speak about Lloyd and Hayden.

Lloyd

- i think I've mentioned but Lloyd has been into Uma all his life. But he never saw it as such. He just was like oh yeah this is my platonic SOULMATE but one of the few things that could get him Upset was Uma spending a lot of attention with anyone not him and Travis [and to an extant Wanda. Suddenly getting the feeling he would glare holes into Js head. Djhdhdhd J probably made him feel inadequate]

- Other than his possessiveness re: Uma [which he tried to curve] and the way Travis could wind him up easily into an argument, Lloyd was rather chill. In part because I think it is a default of being easily overwhelmed, so it is easier to stay quiet. But it is also just an observant person. It is easy to see when you're not talking.

- He loves music. But he also enjoys playing video games. I think he is a pretty dedicated gamer [don't ask me what he's into but I bet it's singleplayer games unless it is rpg stuff ]. It is not to his passion of music but he loves it. It is definitely a calming thing and something he does for fun. He can be shy sharing about his music but you can get him Talking about games.

- He also loves to read. But I don't think he likes getting into reading discussions because people can get pretentious. Also he likes romance novels and really doesn't want to deal with peoples judgments on that/ I imagine that is probably another thing that gets him huffy.

- I don't think he is going to be close to any of his family [don't quote me on it]. Except maybe his uncle. He admires Deon a lot, tho. And I think he knows Maude loves him but it isn't hard not to connect her to people he had to please -- but at least he isn't afraid of her.

- I know I mentioned he likes going shirtless. But he also loves sweater vests [wearing just that] and leaving his buttons unbuttoned. If you don't see his chest its because he is wearing a sweater sweater, he loves those too. The softer the better. Maybe he will learn how to knit.

- He has real good dexterity and spatial awareness.

- He genuinely loves NYC. It is home to him. It doesn't matter how loud, rude, or whatever it can get. He loves it.

- He used to take pictures of Bodega cats to share with travis.

- his biggest vices are smoking and self flagellation. I don't think he is a big drinker and he doesn't curse. Much. In fact I feel when he does curse you know he is PISSED.

- Other than smoking, one of his biggest acts of Rebellion was his hair. Once he got older he very rarely cuts it. It is often shaggy and sometimes two toned. Usually black and blonde. Or dark brown and white. Other than that, before dropping out, he was a Good and Obedient boy.

- He really is so disgustingly in love with Uma [and Travis]. How doesn't realize is beyond me. Maybe its from a life time of self suppression.

Hayden

- I said I wasn't sure if Hayden dated Jean or Jade. But more and more I think it is Jean. I think it would be interesting to explore Jean needing to keep the relationship private vs Hayden was always so... Hayden. Even before she found the language she was looking for [realizing she is trans when she was younger, realizing she is bi until recently], she was always SO ... as confidentially herself as she could be. So it will be interesting to sus out those past complicated feelings and work on current healing so they can be together now.

- Hayden's style is very much masc. Picture a stud queer lady and you will see Hayden. Sweatpants with hoodies, curly hair pulled up with an undercut. Headbamd and rolled up t-shirt. The SNEAKERS. [/sorry I'm just swooning over my own character] But she also loves like vintage bowling shirts and overside shirts with ~chill and cute prints [like fruits and dark flowers etc]

- She has tattoos. I don't know what they are yet but she does.

- Hayden wears glasses. She prefers round ones, usually metal frame and large. Shes been wearing glasses most her life.

- I think Hayden is gonna be short. I think under 5'3. She has a muscular frame.

- Hayden did a lot of sports when she was younger. She was a bit stocky too as a bb. She was on the wrestling and [gridiron] football teams in HS. And football when she was in middle school too. Mma recreationally at the local Y. That said she can be a little bit if a butter fingers.

- Hayden is very big hearted and I don't see her as a big grudge holder. But she isn't naive about it. She is also a gremlin. I picture her as a human with the zoomies. She is positive and happy go lucky, but she is also highly sarcastic with a big mouth. So you will probably get your feelings hurt with a bright smile. [I'm still figuring out her vibe. Like I can SEE it but I can't spell it out. But a quote I have for her is 'She is water. Powerful enough to drown you, soft enough to cleanse you...'

- She recently realized she is bi but Kai is gonna one of the first she puts her moves on. So it will be fun.

[ghostoftonantzin]

Books I have read this year, 2023, roughly in order

I enjoyed doing this last year, so I thought I would do another little write-up of the books I read this year and what I thought.

I've read 52 books this year, hitting a goal I hadn't thought to set. That includes a few graphic novels, but not the audiobooks, which I listened to 15 of this year (I spent a lot of time driving). Same as last year, I've annotated the audiobooks with an asterisk.

I also started listening to Backlisted this year, which significantly influenced my reading choices.

Under a cut, because it got long

Swedish Cults, Anders Fager (1/2) - I saw this was originally published in 2009, and I feel like the first story in this collection somehow really echoes that time. Which is probably a strange thing to say about a horror story.

When Washington was in Vogue, Edward Christopher Williams (1/13) - very sweet, very interesting look at a time and a place I didn't know much about.

The Cement Garden, Ian McEwan (1/19) - I expected to enjoy this a lot more than I did, based on how it's often described as a great "fucked up" book. I think the teenage boy POV just didn't do much for me.

Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons (1/20) - a reread, for the first time since probably 2014 or so. I enjoyed it (and understood it) a lot better this time around. I got to the back half and couldn't put it down, which is a strange thing to say about a parody of the rural novels of the 1930s.

Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (2/12) - finally got this from the library. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two books in the series

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2/24) - a reread. The final page always destroys me.

Cassandra at the Wedding, Dorothy Baker (2/25) - Very literary. I think I enjoyed it, though I can't muster up the energy to form a stronger opinion. The scene where Cassandra pulls out the bridesmaid dress she bought was memorable, though.

Are You My Mother?, Alison Bechdel (2/28) - a reread. Scratches the same itch as Fun Home, but doesn't tie the family narrative into the theoretical themes as cohesively.

Surviving the Applewhites, Stephanie S. Tolan (3/12) - another reread, to see if it was as good as I remembered from fourth grade. It held up for the most part.

The Secret to Superhuman Strength, Alison Bechdel (3/13) - finally, not a reread. Fun, erudite, perhaps not as tight as Fun Home, but another excellent Bechdel.

Ravishment, Amanda Quick (3/24) - sometimes you have to read an entire romance novel in an evening. This was fun, though its plot and that of "Mistress" (see below) blur into one another.

Season of Migration to the North, Tayib Saleh (4/7) - I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it in a class where I could discuss it and learn more about the historical context behind it.

The Bloater, Rosemary Tonks (4/9) - of Backlisted fame. I should reread again, more slowly, to get a better taste for Tonk's use of language.

Mistress, Amanda Quick (4/15) - also a fun quick read, though I can't remember much of the plot.

Excellent Women*, Barbara Pym (4/25) - yet another attempt to get into audiobooks, and it semi-worked this time. Mildred sets a high bar for other Pym protagonists to follow, and I thought Pym created an excellent portrait of post-war life for unmarried women and the minor indignities and intimacies that accompany it. Also ridiculously funny, at least to me.

Clouds of Witness*, Dorothy L. Sayers (5/12) - I wanted to read Gaudy Night, but I figured I should read at least a few Peter Wimsey mysteries that came before it. I think my favorite character was Lord Wimsey's mother.

Star, Yukio Mishima (5/16) - an interesting portrait of a disaffected youth and of fame in Japan at the time it was written.

Strong Poison*, Dorothy L. Sayers (5/16) - the first Wimsey mystery to feature Harriet Vane, and my first encounter with Lord Peter's office of overlooked older secretaries, who provides the enjoyable detour of Miss Murchison making an important breakthrough in the case. Not bad, though not super memorable.

Have His Carcase, Dorothy L. Sayers (5/17) - the only Wimsey mystery I read instead of listened to, because neither library app had the audiobook. This one was too reliant on keeping timetables straight for my taste, but I still read it in a day.

Beyond Black, Hilary Mantel (5/22) - possibly the best book I read this year. Bleak, bleak, bleak, and wonderful for it. Yet one of the most cathartic happy endings I've ever read.

Thus was Adonis Murdered, Sarah Caudwell (5/28) - caught my sense of humor by the second or third page. Hilariously dry mystery, and understandable even if you don't know legal jargon.

The Feast, Margaret Kennedy (5/31) - this book is not even remotely a thriller, is in fact sort of an elaborate morality play, and yet I couldn't put it down. The conceit- that a cliff collapses onto a hotel and everyone inside dies, but not all the hotel guests were inside- keeps you guessing at whose sins are bad enough to merit a karmic death.

Starlight, Stella Gibbons (6/4) - a lot grimmer than I expected, and almost ahead of its time in terms of the (I'm going to say) pointlessness of its ending, in a "people come into the main character's lives, stuff happens, but the main two old ladies aren't actually affected" way. Not a book you would expect to find demonic possession in, but it's there and it's played straight!

The Shortest Way to Hades, Sarah Caudwell (6/6) - I find it interesting that all of these mysteries center around details of things like inheritance law and yet all feature murder as the main crime, and also that (spoilers) the villain is disposed of in a manner that does not require the main cast to get involved with the police.

The Sirens Sang of Murder, Sarah Caudwell (6/9) - by the second volume in this series I kept trying to guess who the murderer, and I was never ever able to do it. Not that I've ever been good at that part of mystery novels, but I do appreciate Caudwell keeping me on my toes.

Gaudy Night*, Dorothy L. Sayers (6/11) - finally, the book I read three prior mysteries for. I found this one fascinatingly slow for a mystery and much more focused on the life of women in academia in that era than I had expected. I particularly enjoyed the character of Miss de Vine, who at first seems like the classic absent-minded professor, only to reveal herself to be much wiser in ways of the heart than she appears.

The Black Maybe, Attila Veres (6/19) - short horror story collection, translated from Hungarian. Not bad, but none of the stories were super memorable.

Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus (6/22) - I did not enjoy this and probably would not have finished it if my mom hadn't highly recommended it. The characters felt flat and the plot struggled to build enough tension for the emotional beats to hit. I also feel like the four-year-old character did not act anything like a four-year-old, though I'll admit I don't know a lot of four-year-olds.

Hackenfeller’s Ape, Brigid Brophy (6/26) - I would say this book wasn't that exciting, very dry and academic for its bizarre plot, but one detail near the end (which I won't spoil) knocked me sideways and tbh probably made the book for me.

Less Than Angels*, Barbara Pym (6/27) - I had to go back and add this while writing these reviews because I'd completely forgotten to list it at the time. Not as good as Excellent Women, though I also had to adjust to the multiple perspectives as opposed to just one.

Comemadre, Roque Larraquy (7/2) - a reread. Still one of the strangest books I've ever read. Highly recommend.

The Sky is Blue, With a Single Cloud, Kuniko Tsurita (7/3) - I'd had this collection of manga one-shots for about a year, and decided to finally read it when hanging out at the library when the water was out at my apartment. It's very interesting to see her style develop and to learn more about the alternative manga industry.

Mrs. Caliban, Rachel Ingalls (7/4) - I had been vaguely meaning to read this for a while, then found it on Hoopla. Looking back on it, it rivals In a Lonely Place (the Dorothy Hughes one) with regards to drawing California in the mind's eye, though the mood of their particular Californias are very different.

Black Wings Has My Angel, Elliott Chaze (7/8) - the tension at the end of this book is like pulling teeth, it's incredible.

Scruples, Judith Krantz (7/24) - absolutely frothy and frequently ridiculous, but also fun. Their are main characters named Spider and Valentine, and it's taken completely seriously. It's actually a really interesting look at the values and beliefs of the 1980's as reflected through pop culture.

Days in the Caucasus, Banine (7/28) - I was more interested in the sequel to this memoir, Parisian Days, but figured I should read this volume, about the author's childhood in Azerbaijan in the years leading up to its incorporation into the Soviet Union. It provided a really interesting perspective of the Soviet Union from a resident of one of its subject states.

Frederica, Georgette Heyer (8/6) - my first Heyer. I'm impressed by her ability to write annoying younger siblings and walk the line between "overly cute" and "overly aggravating".

In the Miso Soup, Ryu Murakami (8/17) - good, though not my favorite of the year by far. The violence depicted did manage to turn my stomach a bit.

My Man Jeeves*, P.G. Wodehouse (8/20) - I've realized that I need to listen to audiobooks that are fun if I'm going to survive long drives, so I turned to the Jeeves series (I only listened to the Jeeves stories in this one). An interesting introduction to the character, especially since it starts in America instead of the England of the more well-known tales.

Love in the New Millennium, Can Xue (8/29) - I'm not sure if this book is meant to be very surreal, if I'm missing cultural context, or both, but I will say it does serve me well to be a little befuddled by books sometimes. This book has a strange, flowing sense of perspective, where it moves between perspectives and the stories of its characters, only slowly unveiling where it's emotional weight lies. Very interesting.

The Inimitable Jeeves*, P.G. Wodehouse (9/1) - second collection of Jeeves & Wooster stories. Good, though Bingo isn't my favorite side character.

Flesh, Brigid Brophy (9/1) - the beginning chapters are incredibly sensual in a way I can't describe, but after that it inspired an incredible feeling of dread that something would go terribly wrong. Despite the fact that this is a satire of young adults in 1960s London, I could feel emotional catastrophe creeping around every corner. I don't think this was Brophy's intention.

Ice*, Anna Kavan (9/8) - somehow not anything like I had osmosed it being. The narrative flows between reality and fantasy so fluidly that it's incredibly easy to wonder if you spaced out and missed something important while listening to it. The plot is also fascinatingly simple and surprisingly free of actual conflict: despite impediments, the hero ("hero") rarely actually encounters any opposition that seems like it could truly keep him from his goal. This adds to the feeling that everything occurring in the book is barely-veiled symbolism.

The Glass Pearls, Emeric Pressburger (9/13) - the tension in this might have honestly been too much for me. Good, but I don't know if I can read it again.

The English Understand Wool, Helen DeWitt (9/16) - sometimes you read a book and recognize that it's very good, while also being annoyed that what it is is different from what you want it to be. I understood it worked as a morality tale, but I found it limiting and frustrating. I will also indulge in a bit of cattiness here and say that for a book about luxury and high-quality goods, the book design chosen by New Directions for this series feels like a cheap set of children's books. (I read this on an online checkout from the library, so I only saw the book itself in a bookstore.)

Right Ho, Jeeves*, P.G. Wodehouse (9/18) - The fact that Jeeves and Bertie were on the outs for this one did stress me out, I will admit.

In a Lonely Place, Karl Edward Wagner (9/22) - the stories pick up in quality in the back half, in my opinion, though none of them are true duds. The last story and standout in the collection, yet another twist on a vampire tale, really draws its strength from the grimy-yet-glamorous depiction of an art student's life in London.

Kissing the Witch, Emma Donoghue (9/27) - I enjoyed how each story folded into one another and found this book hard to put down. Also very gay, loved it.

The Drama of Celebrity, Sharon Marcus (9/27) - I was reading this for background for my fic, and it was somewhat helpful. It's really mostly an analysis of Sarah Bernhardt's career, with some light theory of celebrity to contextualize it instead of the other way around like I expected.

Malpertuis, Jean Ray (10/15) - I probably shouldn't have read the summary for this book before the book itself, but I'm not sure I would have fully understood the plot if I hadn't. Not a knock on the book itself.

The Great God Pan and Other Stories*, Arthur Machen (10/16) - I don't read a ton of nineteenth-century literature, so I was surprised by how compelling the title story was, especially when listened to. I also found some of the imagery in "The Novel of the White Powder" horrifying and would not be out of place in a modern horror story. The final story was a bit of a slog, though.

Heartburn*, Nora Ephron (10/20) - a relisten to the version narrated by Meryl Streep. I downloaded it based on a recommendation describing the audiobook as turning it into the one-woman monologue the book was meant to be, and I can't think of any higher recommendation to offer than that.

Casting the Runes and Other Stories*, M.R. James and others (10/30) - I knew about M.R. James from popular culture, but I honestly had not expected "Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad" to center so much around golf.

Invitation the the Waltz, Rosamond Lehmann (11/1) - I read most of this in one sitting, playing old music through my headphones, which felt really ideal. Setting most of it during one formal dance allows for a sense of insular-ness while allowing the details of the world to be woven in. If that makes any sense.

Crazy Salad and Scribble Scrabble*, Nora Ephron (11/3) - it's really interesting to listen to these essays written during the second wave feminist movement and realize that we've been having the same arguments for 50 years. It's also interesting to read about the minutiae of Watergate from the perspective of those watching it unfold in real time. So many weird, unmemorable cultural-political things that have gone down the hole of public memory! (I need to note here that the last essay in Crazy Salad is, based on my memory of the first time I read it (I skipped it this time around) very transphobic, so I can only recommend this collection with that heavy caveat.)

BBC Radiophonic Workshop: A Retrospective, William L. Weir (11/7) - I first learned about the BBC radiophonic workshop through the Backlisted episode about Rosemary Tonks, and this was a fascinating look into that period of British history and the origins of electronic music. It's also helped me pinpoint how to find that sort of music I think of as "alien abduction music", which is a bonus.

Joy in the Morning*, P.G. Wodehouse (11/10) - I didn't realize this wasn't in the 3-book arc that starts with Right Ho, Jeeves until I was partway through. Still, quality Wodehouse.

Good Morning, Midnight, Jean Rhys (11/17) - despite listening to the Backlisted episode before reading this, I didn't quite grasp what "modernist novel" meant, which meant I was surprised by the stream-of-consciousness flow of this novel. It's such gorgeous writing, though. Depressing as hell.

Winter Love*, Han Suyin (11/18) - beautiful and sad. The main character, Red, is frustrating, even though everything she does is perfectly understandable within the context she lives in.

The Girls, John Bowen (11/21) - the blurbs for this book ("Barbara Pym meets Stephen King") made it seem like this would be both lighter and more horrifying than it actually was. I found it to actually be very melancholy in parts, and surprisingly focused on the emotional aftereffects of murder. The ending, the final paragraph, is gorgeous.

Black Orchids, Rex Stout (11/30) - I'm now trying to find Nero Wolfe books in secondhand bookstores, though I'm limited by the lack of secondhand bookstores in my area (that may be a good thing). I enjoy how Nero Wolfe and Archie play off each other.

The Hearing Trumpet*, Leonara Carrington (12/1) - so, so good, and I'm glad I listened to it as an audiobook, because the narrator, Sian Phillips, is an elderly woman herself and therefore able to conjure up a whole range of different voices for the old women who populate this book.

Mistletoe Malice, Kathleen Farrell (12/6) - I was actually disappointed by this, which might have been a matter of mismatched expectations. However, the Christmas tree never caught fire, and I swore a review I read said it would, so I spent the whole book waiting in vain.

Venetia, Georgette Heyer (12/16) - A delight. Aubrey is a great character, and I enjoy how Heyer has the different characters play on each other.

Great Granny Webster, Caroline Blackwood (12/18) - did not expect this book to have a large section on "decaying old Anglo-Irish homes and their horrors", but I guess that's a richer vein in literary fiction than I realized (see: Good Behaviour by Molly Keane).

Sylvester, Georgette Heyer (12/21) - not quite as enjoyable as Frederica or Venetia, in my opinion, though that may be partly because I waited for almost 2/3 of the book for Phoebe's book to actually be published.

Providence, Anita Brookner (12/28) - beautiful prose, of the sort that makes me realize my own inadequacies in both my writing and my critical capabilities, because I can neither replicate it or describe what makes it so compelling. This book is also so tightly crafted for a story where almost nothing happens. It ends up exactly where it's been leading all along.