#this is not even the juicy part

[qvissvmi]

I reincarnated as a side character in my favourite novel to prevent the villain's death!

Chapter 2

"--- Renee, hey! Are you listening?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I want one cotton candy too, please!"

Cicilia handed over some copper coins in her right hand while she took two cotton candies in her other hand from the candy booth. We kept walking down the festive street.

"You've been quiet the whole way here. Are you alright, sweetie?"

"Mhm, just a bit shaken up. But now that I have cotton candy, I'm already in a better mood!"

I took a big bite and gulped it down in one go. Hanna picked a small piece and ate it bit by bit. Seeing us pleased, Cicilia sighed in relief and points at the other booths.

"Let's go look there too, shall we?"

In all honesty I was still processing that I was reborn in my favourite novel. I thought that the only abnormality were my memories from my past life. One day when I was still a toddler, I got terribly sick. I was bedridden and suffered from a high fever. Suddenly a vivid dream flashed before my eyes, or so I thought. But after I recovered, my mind started to clear up like a cloudless sky after the storm. My awareness of my surroundings improved tremendously, my thoughts became coherent and the dream felt more and more like memories. I've already accepted that magic exists in this universe because Cicilia has been teaching me. Before my memories returned that was my reality but I had my suspicions. Which is the real me? What if that dream wasn’t real after all? Now I know that I haven’t imagined it. Still, it’s ridiculous. And meeting the heroine is quite shocking for my little child brain.

"D-do you not feel well? Because of me, you had to go through the trouble…", Hanna said with a guilty look.

That’s no good. I can think about all that later. I made Hanna worry…

"It wasn't your fault! Who knows what that creep would have done to you if I didn't come? I don't regret it at all. It's just a pity that the guy disappeared before the guards could catch him." I took another huge bite and chew in frustration.

"They will find him soon. I'm sure of it!"

"Hopefully. Anyway, what about you? Do you feel alright?"

"Since Lady Cicilia invited me to go with you, I'm not scared anymore. But is it really okay for me to be here?"

"It is! I want to be with you, Hanna. Do you not?"

"No, I do! I haven't had that much fun in a long time…"

"Then let's try out lots of other fun stuff today!"

I took Hanna's hand and rushed off to the next attraction while Cicilia called out my name before she just let us run off in defeat. It's my duty as a fangirl to spoil her with every possible thing there is! As far as I know, her childhood consists of only lonely moments. Even after she gets adopted by family Wellmond, she wasn't able to call it her home. They only needed her as a replacement for the baron's daughter to marry her off for money and didn't spare a single sign of affection for her. It's going to be difficult to see her once she is part of the Wellmond family, but until then I want to be there for her as much as I can.

"There is even a carousel! Do you want to ride it with me?"

"Sure!"

We jump on the wood horses and circled a few rounds. Even though I felt a bit silly as an adult in spirit, I couldn't help but grin like a fool. When I looked over to Hanna, she was busy clinging to her horse while screaming and laughing  simultaneously. She couldn't open her eyes for the most of the ride, but her laughter exposed her genuine excitement. 

After the ride ended, Hanna couldn't stand straight and seemed to be dizzy for a while. I noticed that a thread of her dress got loose that probably was caught up on the wood horse.

"Looks like you two had a blast, haha! Shall we rest a little bit before we continue?"

"That would be nice…", Hanna giggled.

"The bench over there seems free. Let's sit there and I get us some water."

I lend my shoulder to Hanna and slowly let her slide off on the bench. While Cicilia looked for some refreshments, I glanced at Hanna's dress again.

"Your dress seems pretty worn out."

"Oh, I wear this dress almost every day. I don't have a lot of clothes at home so I try to repair it later."

"Hmm, I see."

I looked around for a clothes seller nearby. Hanna quickly caught on what I was thinking.

"Please don't feel the need to buy me something! You already gave me plenty of nice things today… I couldn't ask for more."

"But I still want to give you a present! To remember this day."

"You're too kind, Renee. Really, I'm okay."

This back and forth reminds me of mom arguing with her friends over who pays the bill. But I will not back down!

"That won't do. Wait here, I'll be right back." Before Hanna could say anything, I already rushed over to the booth across the street. After a short while I returned with a little bag.

"A scarf should be okay, right? Nothing expensive either. And as my friend, you don't need to be so humble! Please, take it."

"Renee… okay, I accept this. Thank you so much!"

It's strange; seeing Hanna happy makes me want to try harder in this life. Maybe that's why I remember my past life, to atone for all the wasted time and potential I willingly threw away. Now that I have the knowledge to change someone's life for the better, I should take it in my own hands. While Hanna plays on the stage, I will help her out behind the scenes. Thank you dear author, I truly loved your novel, but this time I will save my favourite characters! Even the villain!

[ghostlyheart]

ohhhhh so they're trying to figure out how to stay in each other's lives without the comfort and structure of defined roles, meaning they would actually have to intentionally choose one other and be vulnerable about their mutual love and care. okay

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

An aspect of Hilda the series that I feel isn’t talked about enough is the colonizer’s guilt and how it affects the main character.

What made me write this was watching the third episode of the new season, but honestly, it’s something we see throughout the whole series. Starting out with the elves in the northern counties, and moving on to trolls and now giants. Every season that came out gave us a chance to see Hilda deal with the feelings that arise from living in a society she knows is built on the occupation of another people’s native land and the oppression of those inhabitants.

She knows it’s not her fault, she knows she’s not the colonizer, but she’s well aware that she’s in the privileged side of her society. Seeing her grapple with the fact that her very existence in these spaces is only possible because someone else is getting the short end of the stick, to me at least, makes her that much more interesting of a character.

Because it’s not a matter of fixing what she’s done, but the privilege is still there and not even well hidden when she sees the day to day life of the people whose land has been occupied by humans/trolbergians. So whenever we see her rush to aid them, her borderline desperation to fix what’s been broken, it’s even more captivating because it’s not just the usual “I love helping people and having adventures” gist, there’s always this undertone of guilt for something she hasn’t personally done but still knows has to be held accountable for.

Hilda knows the type of oppression that people like her get away with. And she wants no part in it.

[byeler]

wish they hadn’t bitched out on having will kill bob in s2. do you know what i would have done with that all-encompassing and inescapable guilt

[coyote-catcher]

one thing i actually really like about star stable (and wanna embrace more in my own lore building stuff in my brain) is that it doesn't actually matter at all where your character came from, just that they're on jorvik now

[aliennazero]

This is like... one of the gayest paneling I have ever seen in shounen, IT LOOKS SO INTENTIONAL ISTG. Fujimoto you can't keep get away from this.

The romantic/platonic subtlety isn't very visible in English, in the original Japanese ver HOWEVER—

*open my eyes wide to make sure I'm not insane and hallucinating*

I don't have such knowledge on Japanese language but I could read it for a bit. In this exact scene where their expression is shown face to face, when they talk, they didn't use any specific plural pronoun (they/you all) except for context giver in the middle.

When we exclude the middle frame and directly translate other lines, up and below, we will have something like this.

"Ore tte ii ko na no ni nande?" (But I am a good boy, why?)

"Kimi o kirai dakara sa." (Because you are hated)

*VERY DRAMATIC zoom in*

"Nande demo-tai to tatakatte nda?" (Why fighting the protesters?)

"Kimi o suki dakara." (Because you are adored/liked)

*gritting my teeth and punching the air* If we take a look at it again, that sounds like some sort of a VERY deliberate double meaning words right?

Since "Kimi o suki dakara" could mean "Because I like you" and it sounds like as if Yoshida also fighting for Denji versus people who hates him (the protester).

After that, it cut shorts to the next panel where Denji say this-

Then they had a brief moment of silence where Denji looked up at Yoshida and Yoshida's eyes remain hidden.

It's so??? Skskskskskk. Fujimoto, what kind of yoai are you sniffing when writing these two.

[greenerteacups]

Hi GT,

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I absolutely love the recs you've given (you've introduced me to tomione, and I love it!) and I was wondering if it's possible to give you some recs in return? There are some books and fics that definitely have dramione / got vibes, and I was wondering if I could share them with you!

So glad you've enjoyed them! Feel free to rec me anything you want. I've read most of the classic recs in terms of fic and adjacent content (Cruel Prince et al), but I'll try anything that's well-written. My tastes run towards weird and/or audaciously creative stuff, and I can forgive a lot of weaknesses in plot on the grounds of (1) ambition or (2) character work. My turnoffs are instalove, protagonists who can't fail, and most Y/A (I'm not a hater, I swear, I just need characters who can say "fuck" when their leg gets chopped off.)

I'm also a fan of weird and fucked-up dynamics.(Wuthering Heights was my favorite book for a while, and as a teenager I wrote an AU in which the book ends on a long sex scene where Heathcliff fucks Cathy's ghost and then immediately gets murdered by Catherine 2.) Obviously, I am very normal.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

it also once again makes me painfully aware of the woes of being a dragon age dwarf enjoyer (<- being starved for proper lore) 😔

[casuallyobssessed]

feverishly writing some kinda fucked up stalker!neo based on @/97keanu's j.ai bot 🫡 gonna try to finish it in time for Keanuween :3c

[batsplat]

In 1996 Vale raced a rotary-valve 125cc two-stroke that weighed 70kg and was good for 140mph/225kph. In the year he reached his retirement age he raced a 1,000cc four-stroke that weighed nearly 160kg and nudged 220mph/350kph. It is inevitable that such motorcycles need to be ridden in different ways. The essential difference between racing a low-powered bike and a high-powered bike is the speed the rider uses through corners. The best way to achieve fast lap times on a lightweight bike with relatively little horsepower - like a 125 or 250 - is to use as much corner speed as possible, by taking flowing lines through the turns. On the other hand, a 500 or a MotoGP bike has a lot of horsepower (too much, in fact!), which if used correctly has a huge effect on lap times. Therefore Vale had to change the way he attacked corners when he graduated to the premier class in 2000. After his first few races on a 500 he understood that the secret to a fast lap time on a big bike was to focus on corner exit, so he could unleash the engine's power as soon as possible. This required sacrificing corner speed, the gain in acceleration in corner exit more than compensating for the loss of time in the middle of the corner. "You need to go slow mid-corner, then lift up the bike really quickly and give gas when you are on the fatter part of the rear tyre," he said. "If you don't get it right, you're either slow or you crash." The first man to set him right was rival Sete Gibernau. Vale had a lot of crashes during the winter of 1999/2000, because he was trying to ride the bike like it was a 250, using flowing cornering lines on the edge of the tyre. Gibernau told him what to do, but like any keen young racer, Vale ignored the advice and kept falling off. Gibernau was correct, however. The 500 had double the power of a 250 - about 180 horsepower - and a two-stroke engine delivers power and torque in an aggressive and unpredictable way, so it's asking for trouble to swoop through corners on the edge of the tyres and then open the throttle.

Mat Oxley’s Valentino Rossi: All His Races

At the time, I was falling a lot. And for many different reasons. Part of it had to do with my style in 250. In 250cc you can go into a turn bent right over and you can even open the throttle all the way on the turn, accelerating as you go through it. OK, it's not the easiest thing to do but it was possible and many of us had mastered it. You can forget about doing things like that on a 500cc. One of the problems with the 500 is that, at first, you feel totally confident. That's what happened to me. I felt very sure of myself, I pushed ahead, keeping my 250cc style. And, as a result, I kept falling off. It happened in my second test, at Phillip Island. And it was a very bad fall. Gibernau had come up to me before the test and actually warned me: "Look, you bend the bike too much, treat it as if it was a 250cc. You can't do that. You should use your body more rather than bending the bike." "Gee, thanks, yeah, I'll do that..." I replied, not really taking him too seriously. I asked myself, "Who is this Gibernau who thinks he can tell me how to race?" Of course, I paid no attention to him. And that was a big mistake. Two hours later I had a terrible spill. I was going very fast and, all of a sudden, I felt the rear tyre lift itself off the track and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air. It was an incredible flight. When I finally landed it was with the kind of thud I'm sure to remember for a very long time.

Valentino Rossi in his 2005 autobiography, What if I had never tried it

[jemmo]

you’re telling me p’aof gave us a first kiss on a rooftop AGAIN and i can’t watch it until tonight?!!???!!!

[scare-ard--sleigh]

okay so speaking of the finale i didn't have time to finish anything new but i rounded up my favorite archer fics for your viewing pleasure, all are rated E <3

💥 no light, no light / 8.8k / While Archer's in a coma, Cyril builds himself a whole new life (for better and for worse.) Messiness predictably ensues when Archer returns. / cyrling

💥 you are everything i want (cause you are everything i'm not) / 4.5k / Archer and Cyril hate each other and are stuck sharing a hotel suite. There's only one bed. / cyrling (vicious hatesex edition)

💥 part of that dream / 7k / There’s an aspect of Fabian’s life that he keeps very secret. / fabicyril, dilf fabian cinematic universe

💥 out of network / 5.9k / Takes place right after 'out of network' (13x05). Cyril has some things to say about Archer's relationship with his therapist. They talk about their feelings later that night. / cyrling (feelies hours)

💥 Prelude, Fugue and Riffs / 3.9k / Takes place before 'fugue and riffs' (04x01), though it's slightly au. Bob and Linda take Archer in after he discloses that he needs a new identity and a place to stay. Tension develops between Bob and Archer, which they happily explore. / insert bob/archer portmanteau here

💥 best friends / 4.3k / Takes place right after 11x05 ("Best Friends.") Cyril helps Archer with his post-coma dry spell. Aleister may have had a point. / cyrling (h/c edition)

💥 like a heathen clung to the homily / 5k / Sterling dresses as a priest for the gang's latest mission. Cyril has some feelings about it, which they explore. / cyrling (priest kink edition)

💥 nothing will feel the same (because nothing will be the same) / 16.5k / This takes place during and then immediately after mission: difficult (12x08.) Life after the Agency takes a toll on Archer. He finds comfort in places that are both novel and very familiar. / cyrilanarcher

[seasicksilver]

pretending

[longagoitwastuesday]

ngl it sort of pisses me off the way adults regard Gojo in Jujutsu Kaisen at times. Which could be a very interesting and poignant point in a good way if well written, but as it is it becomes mainly just frustrating and sad in a negative way.

Nanami saying Gojo never cared about anything or anyone other than himself crashes interestingly with Kusakabe saying the whole situation was just all his fault because he refused to kill Itadori. The students are very aware of those aspects of Gojo's personality, but overall they seem to regard him with way more kindness and fondness even when at their rudest, not truly coinciding with either Nanami's or Kusakabe's views.

[impossible-rat-babies]

ohhhhh I’m thinking about the dynamic between eyrie “I will willing lay down my autonomy in situations of great emotional distress to distance me from myself + to remove the burden of choice/guilt” v. just estinien !

[vintagepresley]

Was writing a bit of ‘Hold The Camera, Baby… Part Two.’ figured I’d give you guys a little sneak peek. 🤭