#we'd all lose focus of the plot

[dilf-destroyer-04]

DEAR LORD, WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN, PLS LET ME BRING MY MANNNN (shiu kong)

Cold Case, Hot Detective

When the police declare the mysterious disappearance of your husband a cold case, you hire a private detective to discover the truth. Shiu Kong says he is the best man for this job, and admittedly, he is not just excellent at investigating cold cases but also at heating things up when his discoveries lead to you looking for comfort in his arms.

Pairing: Shiu Kong x Reader (female) Genre: smut + fluff Word Count: 3.5k Warnings: 18+ smut, fingering, praise, mentions of masturbation, smoking, sharing a cigarette. A bit of forbidden romance trope, reader develops a crush on Shiu during the investigation but only acts on it after discovering her husband left her. All characters are of age. This story is 18+ Minors don't interact.

You stop in front of the small private detective agency, eyeing it warily. It looks exactly like you imagined a place like this to look like. As if you are in some film noir. A small office on a shady side street crammed between a takeout shop and a dry cleaner's. But the small room you step into a moment later is surprisingly clean and tidy. Just like the man greeting you with a raised eyebrow.

Shiu Kong was recommended to you by a close friend. Apparently, he is the best at finding lost things and people. He sits behind his polished desk, a neatly stacked pile of case files in front of him, looking much more handsome and posh than you imagined a man in his line of work to be.

He is wearing an immaculate-looking black suit with a white dress shirt and a black tie. His short hair is styled in an attractive modern way. If you had to guess his age, you would say he is in his late thirties. A pair of intelligent-looking, narrowed dark eyes meet yours across the room. His lips are wrapped around a half-smoked cigarette, explaining the smell of smoke you could already sense before entering his small office. In here, your nose also picks up another scent. An expensive, fresh, and masculine smell, probably his aftershave. Sexy.

You smile politely at him, introducing yourself and explaining your concern shortly. You tell him about your husband, who disappeared without a trace six months ago. About the police telling you they found no new leads and would stop investigating. Declaring the disappearance a cold case and telling you with a pitiful look that sometimes people just leave and don't want to be found.

Mr. Kong watches you interestedly, taking a slow drag from his cigarette as you finish your story. He blows out the smoke and straightens up in his chair, looking amused when he says,

"Ah, I see. You want me to do the police's job."

You feel your face heat up and quickly scramble to explain that no, of course, you trust the police to do their job right... It's just that... But he interrupts you politely,

"Please, don't worry. It is my job to do things like these. No shame about it at all. The police tends to drop cases like these too easily. However, I have certain connections that allow me a better assessment of the situation. So, let me summarize it. Basically, we have a typical case of "Honey, I'm getting some cigarettes," only for the husband to never be seen again. Is that correct?"

His gaze is intense, brown eyes with gray flecks, looking at you as if he is trying to read your mind. A detective's gaze. You avert your eyes, feeling shame flood your veins once again. It's embarrassing to admit it out loud. But he is right. Your husband just left one day and never came back. No signs of a crime, no indication that something happened to him.

You nod as you watch his long elegant fingers tap his cigarette on the glass ashtray standing on his desk,

"Yes, that is correct."

"Then you came to the right man. I am experienced, thorough, and discreet. If someone can find your missing husband, it is me."

He smiles reassuringly at you and points at the wall behind him that is lined with thank you letters from former clients. You nod and smile gratefully at him.

You leave his office half an hour later with a copy of a signed contract in your pocket and a good feeling in your gut. Yes, Shiu Kong seems like the best man for this job. Experienced and professional.

And, as a small voice in your head whispers to you, it also doesn't hurt that he is incredibly charming and sexy. A true gentleman. A private detective that could have stepped out of a noir romance novel. Tall, dark, and handsome.

You are back in his office two days later, delivering the additional documents he requested. He smokes his obligatory cigarette, going through the case file with you and explaining which steps he plans to take.

You nod gratefully at him,

"Thank you so much, Mr. Kong."

A smile plays around his lips,

"Please call me Shiu."

Your pulse flutters at that, but it gets even worse when his narrow warm brown eyes look at you inquiringly,

"Let me ask you something: Why do you want to find your husband? Is it out of love? Or is it because you need him to provide for you? Or is it for revenge?"

It catches you by surprise, and you squirm in your seat,

"Um...is this relevant to the case?"

He laughs, low and soft, his eyes glittering amusedly as he shakes his head,

"No, I am just curious. It comes with the job. I am constantly confronted with people's dark side and their deepest secrets. That makes you develop a certain curiosity, I guess. You don't have to answer."

But before you can think twice, you find yourself confessing everything to him, all the things that were obvious to everyone around you but no one ever dared say out loud, not even you. You don't know what it is about this man that makes you spill all your darkest secrets, all the things you are ashamed of.

"It's a marriage of convenience. I was young and needed the money, and he liked having a young wife he could parade around and who depends on him."

You cringe at those words, sounding like the biggest cliche. But Shiu just chuckles good-naturedly,

"Please, don't be ashamed. It makes perfect sense. A lot of marriages exist for that reason."

He winks at you, making your heart skip a beat at how attractive he looks. He leans closer, looking deeply into your eyes when he continues,

"I already suspected something along those lines. A guy like him could never pull a woman like you otherwise."

You feel your heart flutter at his words. At the apparent flirty nature of his comment and the way his gaze trails slowly over your body. You know you should be offended. You know you should get up and leave. You should tell him his behavior isn't very professional.

But you don't. Instead, you can't help but feel flattered at his comment.

When you leave an hour later, he accompanies you to the door with a hand on the small of your back, gently steering you toward the exit. You can smell the cigarette smoke on his clothes and his sexy aftershave. You even imagine you can feel his body heat when he is standing so close to you, his body just shy of pressing against yours.

You lift your head to look up at his handsome face, noticing how tall he is and how incredibly attractive he looks in his fine suit and the confident little smirk on his face.

He opens the door for you like a true gentleman, telling you to get home safely.

Shiu keeps you updated about his investigations at all times.

He calls you in the evening when you are already in bed, apologizing for the late call, making you feel strangely flustered because you are only wearing a flimsy lacy nightdress, and his low voice sounds almost seductive over the phone. It makes you picture sitting on his lap while he trails kisses over the low neckline of your nightdress, the stubble of his thin mustache scratching lightly over your sensitive skin.

You feel guilty for the sound of his name falling from your lips when you come undone on your fingers a while later, hiding your burning face in your pillows.

You should get him out of your mind. You really should. But it's hard when he is so charming and caring. When he is the first person in over six months who really takes you seriously and is willing to help you.

You meet him in a fancy restaurant for lunch, where he shows you pictures of a surveillance camera of a casino, clearly showing your husband. Shiu tells you about his contacts in dubious places. Tells you about illegal gambling, the Yakuza, and big money. When your eyes widen in worry, his hand lands on yours, his thumb caressing your wrist soothingly.

He insists on driving you home, making your pulse flutter nervously because he looks so sexy next to you, with one hand on the steering wheel and the other resting casually on the open window, a cigarette between his fingers.

You can't remember the last time someone gave you butterflies just from driving in a car with them. You don't know why this man makes you feel like a teenager on your first date.

But when he turns his head to look at you and offers you a small smile, you can't deny how attracted you are to him. How much you want him, even if it is wrong.

He parks his car in front of your apartment and walks over to the passenger side to hold the door open for you and offer you a strong arm. Does he know that he makes your knees go weak with this? Does he know his charming smile and politeness make you feel light-headed?

You don't know what's gotten into you when you step closer to press your body against his side and kiss his cheek, muttering a thank you before you quickly walk to the entrance of your apartment complex, practically fleeing the scene with your heels clacking loudly on the pavement and not daring to look back.

You lie awake in bed for hours that night, haunted by a sexy grin and the smell of cigarette smoke.

Unbidden, the same thoughts repeat in your head over and over again: What if Shiu finds your husband? What then? Do you even want him to come back? Wouldn't it be better if he just stayed missing?

A week later, you find yourself once again in Shiu's private detective agency, wringing your hands in your lap as you listen to him explain gently how your husband won a lot of money in one of his illegal gambling events, how he booked two plane tickets afterward, leaving the country with a young woman on his arm, with no intention of returning.

You feel nauseous. Part of you wished your husband wouldn't come back, but you can't help but feel crushed anyway. Hurt, anger, and worry wash over you.

Hurt that your husband just replaced you. That you weren't enough. Maybe not young enough anymore? Not attractive enough? Anger that he just left without a single word. Why didn't he just file for divorce if he didn't want you anymore? Worry how you will fare now. You are dependent on your husband's money. What will happen to you now? You need to get a divorce to make sure you get alimony. But the thought of everything you must do for this overwhelms you. You feel tears gather in your eyes.

Shiu stops in the middle of his report, grayish-brown eyes watching you worriedly. His voice is gentle when he asks,

"Are you ok?"

Your lips tremble, and you shake your head, unable to form any words. The first tears run down your cheeks. You can see Shiu's handsome face soften as he looks at you.

He reaches across the desk to cup your cheek and gently wipes your tears away. His hand is soft and warm, feeling so comforting on your skin. It's a touch so gentle that you instinctively lean into it, so starved for affection. It has been years since someone touched you like this.

Shiu looks deeply into your eyes, watching you closely, his voice soft like a caress,

"Please don't be sad, sweetheart. That man didn't deserve you."

More tears well up in your eyes, not even because of your husband's betrayal but because Shiu is so nice to you. And a moment later, you are out of your chair and practically fling yourself at Shiu. He catches you, his arms wrapping around your waist and pulling you onto his lap.

He smells so good when you bury your face in his shoulder and cry into his suit jacket. His arms feel so comforting around your body, holding you securely and gently, one hand slowly caressing your back. His low voice is gentle and soothing when he murmurs,

"Please don't cry, sweetheart. Tell me what I can do for you. Tell me what I can do to make it better."

Your voice doesn't sound like your own when you say,

"Just make it go away, please. Make me feel good, please. I just... I just want to be held and feel...feel loved."

You cringe at how dumb you sound. So naive. So pathetic. Begging this guy, your business partner, for affection or sex, or whatever it is you want.

But Shiu doesn't laugh. He doesn't mock you or turn you down. Instead, his hand that was rubbing soothing circles on your back is suddenly on your thigh, warm fingers sprawling over your skin.

The touch of his skin on yours is like an electric jolt, buzzing through your body, making your pulse race and your head spin. Rekindling a fire in you that you never thought you would feel again. It has been years since someone's touch did this to you. And you know you need more of it. You need more of this sexy man who was so nice to you all those weeks.

You press yourself against him, your right hand coming up to run up his neck and into his hair, lips breathing a soft "more" against the side of his neck.

Shiu's warm hand caresses your inner thigh, slowly moving higher. Your breath hitches in your throat, but you open your legs for him, showing him this is what you want.

"Shiu..."

"Yes, let me take care of you, darling."

His voice sounds husky as his warm fingers slip under your skirt. You whine when those fingers reach your panties and brush over them, making your pussy twitch with a need you haven't felt in years. Shiu's thumb finds your clit and teases it lovingly, rubbing it slowy through the thin fabric, making your legs open sluttily as a shaky moan falls from your lips.

You bury your burning face in his suit jacket, inhaling his sexy scent, cigarette smoke, and expensive aftershave, clinging desperately to him. And he keeps massaging your swollen clit through your now wet panties, sending you higher and higher, head spinning and heart racing.

"You like that, sweetheart?"

You are putty in his hands, nodding wildly and sobbing an embarrassed,

"Y...yes...Shiu."

Your hips buck uncontrollably, and you push against his hand almost desperately, rubbing yourself against his thumb, craving his touch, needy for more, jerking when his thumb prods your little sensitive bud so good that your whole body feels on fire.

His voice is gentle, laced with desire when he says,

"Look at me. Let me see your pretty face. Please don't hide from me. I want to see how you like what I'm doing to you."

Something about his tone, the mix of gentleness and dominance, makes your toes curl, and you do as he says, lifting your face off his shoulder and looking straight at him.

Letting him see your face, letting him see the need in your eyes, letting him see the obscene way your mouth opens as a loud moan falls from your lips when he rubs more slow circles around your clit, filling the small office room with the wet sound of your arousal.

It sounds naughty. It feels forbidden what the two of you are doing. But it's the hottest thing you have ever experienced. Sitting on this sexy man's lap in his office, with his hand under your skirt, his fingers caressing you through your panties, bringing you closer and closer to the edge.

And suddenly, you find yourself being bold, letting go of your former shame. You reach down to grab the silky fabric of your panties and pull them to the side, exposing yourself to Shiu, whining his name when he grins at you and gently flicks his thumb over your clit again, this time skin on skin, spreading your cream over your puffy needy bud, massaging it thoroughly. You buck against his thumb as if you are in heat, nails digging into his back as you chase after what you know will be a mind-blowing orgasm.

All thoughts of your husband's betrayal have left your mind when Shiu pampers your pussy like that, so loving, so good, taking care of you in a way you have never known in your marriage.

His middle finger teases your creamy hole, slipping in and out slowly, just the fingertip, until you mewl loudly and push onto his finger needily, begging him for more.

And he gives it to you. Warm gray-brown eyes watch you intently as he pushes his finger deep into your wet heat, making you gasp loudly and spread your legs even wider. You ride his finger unashamedly, moaning shakily when Shiu rubs against that sweet spot inside you.

A second finger joins the first one, making you cry out in pleasure. Your eyes close as you give yourself completely to him, letting his strong arms hold you while he fucks you with his middle finger and ring finger, and his thumb caresses your clit.

Your needy moans and the wet sounds of your pussy getting fucked fill the small office, and Shiu's lips trail soft kisses over the side of your neck, murmuring against your skin in that sexy low voice,

"Hmm, yes, like that, sweet thing. Let go, baby. Just let go and cum all over me."

It's his words that make you tumble over the edge, crying out shakily as your orgasm washes over you, strong and deep, your cunt clenching around Shiu's fingers, your juices flowing down his long fingers and his wrist.

He fucks you through it, his fingers gently massaging the spot inside you that makes you see stars, rubbing every last wave of orgasm out of you while whispering sexy encouragements to you,

"Yes, you're such a good girl. Cumming so sweetly for me. Yeah, my sweet thing, just like that."

You collapse bonelessly against him, sobbing and whining from the overwhelming feeling of cumming so hard. And Shiu slowly lets his fingers slip out of you, but his thumb stays pressed against your swollen clit, massaging it tenderly, making your body twitch from the overstimulation.

It's you who grabs his handsome face with both hands and pulls him into a passionate kiss, licking hungrily into his mouth, tasting whiskey and cigarettes and chewing gum on his tongue, moaning into his mouth while he keeps playing with your sensitive clit, and your pussy pulses hotly with the aftershocks of the orgasm he gifted to you.

He kisses you like you haven't been kissed in years, tongue flicking tenderly against yours, deep and slow, his lips moving firmly but gently against yours, making your head spin and your heart race. His thumb rubs a few times more over your clit before he lets go and pulls your panties neatly into place again.

His lips remain close enough to brush against yours when he whispers huskily,

"See, you don't need your loser of a husband. I can take very good care of you, too, darling."

"You have already taken better care of me today than he has in all those years of our marriage."

Shiu raises an eyebrow, a handsome smirk lighting up his face,

"Oh, is that so? Well, in that case, you'll be surprised what else I can do for you. Will you give me a chance to show you?"

His gray-brown eyes observe you carefully. You smile and nod, filled with joy that he wants to see you again, that he wants more than just a short fling.

"Of course. I would love for you to show me everything you can do for me."

Shiu laughs softly and lets go of your thigh to reach behind you and grab his cigarette pack from his desk. He brings one cigarette to his lips, lighting it while he looks at you,

"So my new case will be to mend your broken heart and take proper care of you. It's a pro bono case, of course."

He exhales the cigarette smoke slowly into your face, never averting his gaze as he watches you through the smoke with a grin on his handsome face. Does he know how fast your heart is beating when you imagine what your life with him will be like?

A smile spreads over your face as you reach out and steal the cigarette from his mouth and slowly bring it to your lips. You take a long drag, grinning when you return the favor and blow the smoke into Shiu's face.

"You are hired, Detective Kong."

AAAHHHH I REALLY WROTE SOMETHING FOR HIM!!!

When I read that Shiu used to be a detective, I immediately pictured him as one of those cool private investigators, and yeah, I HAD to write him in that role. Thank you so much to @blueparadis for encouraging me to write this! I had a lot of fun, and I am happy to contribute to the love for this man!

I listened to Taylor Swift's "Reputation" album on repeat while writing this story, and I think the vibe and the lyrics of those songs fit Shiu and this story very well. My heart was definitely beating faster :)

I hope you enjoyed this sexy little story! Please let me know what you think. Comments and reblogs would be very sweet.

[nanowrimo]

Write Smarter, Not Harder: 5 Ways to Conquer Chaotic Writing

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. ButterDocs, a 2023 NaNoWriMo sponsor, is an all-in-one writing app built for productivity, collaboration, and a more joyful writing experience. Today, the folks at ButterDocs share a few tips on organizing your writing to meet your goals:

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[cluescorner]

Tim Drake has a weird fucking function

The thing about Tim that I find unique is that his life became SO MUCH WORSE after joining the heroing thing. Everybody else had a mid-to-shit life before becoming a hero/living with Bruce and mostly everybody (except Jason who LITERALLY DIED) had their life improved by being a hero/being Bruce's kid (or at least it is typically portrayed as such.

Tim had the exact opposite trajectory. His life wasn't perfect before he became Robin, but like...multi-millionaire/billionaire (canon is unclear, but he's within Gotham's upper-strata) kid with both natural intelligence + charisma and a bright future ahead of him and parents who were emotionally neglectful but nothing really beyond that (which is also a form of trauma, but all of the info we have indicates that the Drakes were no Arthur Brown or David Cain) and he still had other people he could rely on outside of them. He went to boarding school, which could be something horrible OR something amazing depending on your own thoughts/experiences. I grew up having a commute where we'd drive past a really pretty and rich af boarding school that literally everybody in our area DREAMED of going to, so to me the idea of going to boarding school sounds incredible but mileage may vary. Tim seems like the type of kid who would thrive in that though. Based on what we know in canon atm, his pre-robin life was fucking amazing.

And then he starts being the sidekick and working towards becoming Robin. His parents immediately get kidnapped and poison themselves through drinking tainted water; his mom dies and his dad is in a coma. This is not the fault of Robin, but Tim himself muses about the idea that Robin and dead parents are linked: to become Robin completely, you must lose your parents. And with how fate/destiny/canon events can operate in comics universes, maybe he isn't that far off. Once his dad wakes up, their relationship becomes strained as the man grieves the loss of his wife and realizes that his son has been doing vigilantism as a hobby. It is unclear exactly how good of a parent Jack was before the incident, but the results of Tim's involvement with the Robin mantle has definitely made things worse between father and son. Jack will also die within quick succession of 2 of Tim's best friends, his girlfriend, and his other father. He will also effectively lose like 1/2 his loved ones in the fallout of all of that mess including: his older brother, his other friends (both civilian and superhero), and the stepmother with whom he shared what I would argue is his best parent-child relationship (Dana also may have died, but it's left unclear). He has stopped pursuing higher education (the moment he even applied for college he 'died', and it seems he hasn't made another attempt since) and if he wasn’t a major focus of the media before he sure is now. He tries to quit briefly (in fact he initially was planning on quitting once someone more suited came along) and cannot bring himself to do so. Even when he does manage to get away for a while, his superhero life impacts the pre-robin life he is trying to go back to. Leaving is an impossibility, this is all there is for him now. He also isn’t allowed to make mistakes anymore, not when lives hang in the balance. The one who enforces that impossible standard the most (besides Bruce depending on who's writing) is himself. He’s got TRAUMA now and people want to hurt him constantly. He is constantly questioning his own sanity and morality and place in the world. He almost dies like every month. Tim grows colder and less grounded, he is becoming both a better and a worse version of himself at the same time. He’s saving lives in the same few issues as he’s setting up a Saw movie plot for the man who killed his father. He is haunted by the ghosts of his past and the looming figure of his future. His life becomes SO MUCH FUCKING WORSE after he becomes Robin. Some of it is the fault of others, some is the fault of circumstance, and some of it is due to his own actions. But basically all of Tim's worst traumas and life-changing moments are either tied to or caused by Robin. Dick's parents would still be dead, Jason would still be living on the streets, Stephanie would still have Arthur Brown for a father and a lot of other things that deserve their own posts/IDK if they've been retconned, and Damian would still have been raised in the eco-cult where death is a constant. Those are life circumstances that occur without the involvement of Robin, the only one who even needs Bruce involved at all in their series of events is Damian. But Tim? All of what is considered his 'worst' moments occur after he assumes the role.

This idea is what I find the coolest and most fascinating about Tim as a character. Being a hero is usually portrayed as either an outright awesome thing or a righteous duty that one must fulfill or (maybe in a grimmer and/or more grounded story) a sacrifice to your interpersonal relationships/mental health that is made for the greater good. For Tim, being a superhero actively ruined his life (both because of the general circumstances surrounding being a kid vigilante and the choices he made as part of that role). It's never portrayed that way in canon because we need to come out of issues going 'wow being a superhero is so cool! I'm gonna buy the next issue!', but when you just look at Tim's life literally everything really bad that we know of occurred after he became Robin.

[thiscanbegood]

WHAT IS THE SECOND FUNERAL?

So I've been going crazy trying to figure out a timeline of events based on the episodes descriptions we got. We know Luca makes an appearance and that something happens to Marcus that makes him lose his focus enough for him to need a moment to get his groove back (which we all are pretty sure it's his mom's passing). All of that happens from the start to mid season.

BUT there's a mention of a funeral at the last episode.

Some people are guessing Donna's or Jimmy's but I feel like their passing in last ep would be such a huge cliffhanger that giving it away in the description like that just doesn't makes sense. Plus, Carm hasn't been seen actually processing his grief for losing his brother, Donna passing would be another huge blow and we wouldn't get to see each process separately, consecutive and similar punches might be cool in a fight but in a tv series would feel too much.

My guesses are on either one of these two (or a mix, they aren't mutually exclusive):

1. Something like a Michael's funeral redo for Carm. Giving him more closure and acceptance, maybe get in his brother's head somehow (his real head and not the persona's he liked to use with his weird messages and catch phrases) to understand his suffering and why he kept Carm away.

2. The Bear is gonna be put to rest. Either by an accident that compromises the building or by money problems (considering Mr. Eleven Mad is going cray cray with the budget making daily changes to the menu), the restaurant closes and the crew morn the loss. In this case (love this plot, have to admit) I think we'd get a light at end of the tunnel kinda thing, like Syd having an offer in the bag to open her own place (maybe the opportunity she gets) and take the crew with her or some investor looking to put money on a sydcarmy's restaurant.

Anyway this funeral goes, I think the restaurant is gonna finish the season in very shaky legs even if they get a star, like the opposite of the end of S2, which was "disaster just happened with this guy in the freezer but good things ahead maybe", S3 could be "great thing just happened but there's an incoming disaster, stay tuned for S4" lol.

Let me know what you think the another funeral is going to be if you want, would appreciate it!

[raayllum]

stop the episode is making me lose my mind ok

it will never not be funny to me the way rayllum has literally taken on a life of its own. like between aaron being like "we didn't want this they just made it happen somehow idk" and the writers being like "we don't even ship them they're teenagers" despite the fact that they are the ones writing them (or so you think) to be digustingly in love. i'm fully convinced that the spirit of rayllum has possessed the entire cast and crew and it's amazing

"he needs to be murdered, she needs to learn how to murder someone, they're perfect." HUHU HUH HUHA WHAT MR EHASZ SIR HUH REPEAT THAT WHAHT

terry arc + pure of heart trope??? consider me gagged

you mentioning ez/runaan conflict and aaron just being "THATS A VERY INTERESTING QUESTION 😈😈"

aaron ehasz fanboying over you???? as he should. as he should

Listen it was so fun and I've always wondered that about Rayllum for a Long time (like 4+ years) so getting to finally know (within reason, who knows about the story boarders / animators sneaking stuff in) is immensely satisfying.

Between "he needs to be murdered, she needs to learn how to murder someone" & "we'll see [Rayla's conflict between love & duty" manifest again" from another interview it's like. yeah dark magic + possession plot line in s7 let's goo

"True Heart" is super intriguing as an episode title since we've seen pure of heart be referenced (hi s3 Amaya) and I could see any of the trio having it, but I'm Pumped for the Terry focus and confirmation he's gonna have a bit more outright inner turmoil next season over his relationship to Claudia vs what he thinks is Right. Makes me nervous it's spell ingredient adjacent but maybe not (TDP loves its "hearts as ingredients/symbols" in particular after all, I wonder if we'll see why Laurelion got his heart stabbed/pierced)

And listen I was not prepared aah!! Aaron has always been gracious/appreciative over twitter and we'd talked a bit in DMs where he'd been very kind (stuff like character analysis from this video being "spot on") but I was of course floored and very flustered, it was incredibly kind and like getting to write/analyze stuff is its own reward, but knowing that my love/appreciation for the show is also seen and appreciated in turn is a very positive feedback loop that is very validating/affirming too of course! ("I was a little bit intimidated" will always live in my head rent free bc What The Fuck truly aaah from the bottom of my heart forever & ever)

[comicaurora]

If you were to actually write a tournament arc (be it in Aurora or a future story) fashioned in your own preferences and ideas, what would it be like?

Oh boy. That's an interesting challenge, because there are so many factors to the Tournament Arc that I just don't like on principle-

Foregone conclusion. If the tournament is centered on a final battle with the Super Scary Big Bad, as they so often are, the heroes are just killing time before they get there, and at least one of the heroes is guaranteed to get to the final round. If the stakes of the tournament are too high, the conclusion is set in stone from the outset. If the heroes are being forced to participate for hostage or supervillain reasons, their victory becomes narratively assured. If the heroes aren't being forced to participate by narrative necessity, then the whole thing becomes an even bigger waste of time.

Formulaic. There's only so much you can mix up a tournament format - environmental hazards, minigames, ring-out rules - and without that, it's just a linear series of fights. Can give the heroes a chance to show off their unique movesets, but narratively they're just ticking up a progress bar before they can get to the end.

Fuckton of characters. Tournament needs meat for the grinder, let's make several dozen characters to throw at the heroes of which maybe five will be memorable enough to recur later. Better make sure they all have interesting gimmicks too - otherwise the formulaic fights will become even more formulaic!

None of these are particularly enticing for me, so in order to construct a tournament arc I actually liked, we'd need to find some way around them:

To avoid a foregone conclusion, the tournament stakes can't be a simple boolean value with "heroes win" and "heroes lose" tied inextricably to things like "heroes save hostage" or "villain destroys entire world." The easiest way to do that is to remove "the heroes" as a single unified participant. It's not a question of whether good will triumph over evil, it's a question of which characters will win and under what circumstances? Part of the reason I liked the tournament arc in MHA more than most is the actual overarching victory was basically irrelevant and our protagonist got eliminated in the quarterfinals, because it was actually all about character development inspired by that fight. So splitting the heroes up, letting them work independently and making their opponents something other than a monolithic antagonistic force would probably help to reduce that issue.

Some tournament arcs also make things more interesting by having a single loss not categorically eliminate a character from the running - the Dark Tournament arc of YYH was pretty good about this, despite being way too long, since it meant protagonists could actually lose fights without being kicked out of the arc entirely, which was a very smart way to keep the tension going, since only a few fights became foregone "either the heroes win this one or they die" situations.

The problem of fights being formulaic can also be addressed here, although I think the more relevant way to fix that is to simply make sure the tournament doesn't drag on for too long. Like, three to five fights is probably the max number we can really focus on. But we can also dodge the formulaic-ness accusations by making sure the fights have more going on than just "which action figure gets mashed harder." This is where most tournament arcs solve things by making a lot of unique gimmick characters with weird powers (so the heroes can't just smack em around the same way every time) and by giving the heroes either handicaps or new abilities/powerups they're still figuring out. This makes the choreography more interesting, and honestly even a really boring plot can be significantly brightened up by extremely cool fight choreography. "They fight and [character] wins" is a single line in the screenplay that can translate into something very spectacular in the execution. But this is, again, something they did in the YYH Dark Tournament arc, and that was still way too much tournament arc, so I think plotline fatigue is a problem that can't entirely be solved by finding new spices to pepper onto the same bracket structure.

You can, of course, also add emotional stakes like "this character's self-worth is tied in with their victory" or "this character is being manipulated by someone else" or "this character is having a personal crisis and handling it poorly" or even something really basic like "the other people in this tournament think we suck, let's prove them wrong."

The "fuckton of characters" problem isn't intrinsically an issue, because it can also be an opportunity to create and introduce a lot of very interesting secondary characters, but it does unfortunately lock them into an extremely artificially constraining plotline. The problem with a tournament arc is it is literally the same subplot template over and over again until the finale inevitably breaks the format. It's an extremely rigid scenario to lock a character-driven story into, and no matter how individually rad parts of the fights are, the overarching structure is repetitive and it limits the characters' ability to shine. Ultimately, no matter how neat or complicated a new character is, they only exist in the arc to be defeated and then get out of the way of the plot. They can have cool stories when they show up later, but in the bounds of the tournament arc they're just more obstacles.

On paper a tournament arc should be a fantastic way to elaborate on a character. The number one recipe for cool character moments is putting that bitch in a Situation and seeing how they handle it, and "a bunch of different fights with different enemies with different powers and different rules" sounds like an ideal Situation Gauntlet. But practically speaking they're all the same! Outside a tournament arc, the stakes of a fight can be anything and the victory condition can be anything. The heroes can bypass the fight, talk down the antagonist, plan a heist, turn the bad guys against each other, organize a prison break, hide and be sneaky - they can find allies, negotiate with political leaders, get captured or rescued, protect someone from pursuit, navigate a hostile and unfamiliar environment, outwit a super-persistent predator, join an underground resistance movement, run off for an angsty solo arc - but within the confines of a tournament, no matter how wacky that tournament might be, everything boils down to a fight with a clear-cut victory and defeat condition. The space of characterization carved out by this format is very, very narrow, so I think legitimately the only tournament arc I would uncritically enjoy is a short one.

[kirwell]

I don't have to voice that the new era of warrior books are,,, struggling creatively,,, to put it nicely, cus everyone's who has been here for a minute already knows. But A Starless Clan is already coming to an end,, and I just feel like it was all REALLY short. The final book drops in November before we immediately move onto Changing Skies in January, but I feel like we should still be in the middle of THIS arc. The conflict is so short-lived.

Maybe it's just me, but when comparing TBC to ASC, the former felt it had a much longer, drawn out and more involved story and plot, with all the POV characters going through plenty of experiences that impacted them before the final endgame.

Rootspring dealing with Bramblestar's spirit. Direct involvement. Shadowsight being manipulated by Ashfur. Direct involvement. Bristlefrost and her complicated involvement with the imposter, the Rebels, and ThunderClan. Direct involvement.

That's not been the case for half of our protags in A Starless Clan. Not that Nightheart and Sunbeam don't do anything at all, but compared to Frostpaw, who is literally carrying everything, they might as well be background characters. Damn near the entire plot has been carried on this poor girl's shoulders, and it shows, because Nightheart and Sunbeam are suffering from lack of important character progression and main plot relevance.

Nightheart's most prominent arc was his angst phase and temporarily switching clans for his crush. Even when he and Frostpaw were traveling and met the park cats, he took a major backseat compared to Frostpaw. The book told us that Nightheart and Frostpaw grew closer on their journey together, but it really doesn't feel that way. It would've made more sense for a banished Frostpaw to stay with Thunderclan rather than ShadowClan. We'd get more Night and Frost interaction, and now all our protags are together as well.

And Sunbeam, don't get me wrong, I like her, and I've been much more invested in her emotional journey then Nightheart's, post his ShadowClan arc. Breaking up with her best friend, crush rejection, her overbearing and phobic mother, leaving her birth-clan, being abandoned by Nightheart more than once, and her family (aside from Spireclaw) living in exile. However, Sunbeam has little affect on the overarching plot, compared to Frostpaw. Sunbeam's chapters in Wind basically consisted of her worrying about her mother and crossing the border to check up on her family. As for Nightheart, all that he was really doin' was trainin' Waffle (our precious waffle boi) and being his girl's yes-man for the majority of the book. It also seems like Sunbeam's and Nightheart's romantic arc is just finished now i guess. We'll probably see their kits in Changing Skies, and Sun and Night will be put on the backburner of obscurity.

I just wish Nightheart and Sunbeam took a more pressing role in the plot and were more emotionally invested in the main conflict. Their personal stakes aren't nearly as high as Frostpaw's, who is truly burdened by the weight of so many responsibilities, on top of having damn near no one that supports her. A Starless Clan is truly Frostpaw's series- and ya can't tell me otherwise.

Nightheart quite literally has nothing to lose if Splashtail takes over RiverClan completely. He has Sunbeam, and that's all he wants.

Sunbeam has an emotional investment now with BerryHeart being Splashtail's cohort, (and now deputy), but her focus is less set on RiverClan's wellbeing, and more so directly on her family's. If Berryheart wasn't involved with Splashtail, I feel Sunbeam wouldn't have gotten herself up in RiverClan's business after the ShadowClan warriors left.

Frostpaw is carrying an absurd level of trauma and personal involvement with what's going on, as she's entangled in everything that's important within the plot from every single angle.

ASC just feels really, really short and underwhelming, in terms of it's supporting cast and main villain. Part of me kinda likes that Splashtail is a sleezy snake, but he's still just sooo,,, boring, especially when putting him up against other villains like Ashfur and Darktail. Curlfeather didn't even get a chance, and she's by FAR, a much more interesting choice for an antagonist.

Off the top of my head, a better plot could've been Curlfeather successfully pretending to be Curlstar, and Splashtail being discontent with only being deputy, and stirring up chaos and plotting to overthrow Curlstar. The endgame could've been Splashtail trying to kill Frostpaw (again), but Curlstar refusing to let her daughter be murdered, and in the end, sacrifices herself to take down Splashtail for good. And then, like what a lot of us are expecting will happen at the end of ASC, Frostpaw becomes Froststar (i love frost so much this better happen dont let the flame die out!!)

The theme of this season has 100% been family issues/trauma, as every protag has stuff goin' on with their moms, but we get Splashtail as a main villain, with no prominent ties to anyone except Curlfeather (tho we don't rlly see much of it)

but anywayy,,, enough rambling and GIVE IT UP FOR ARC 9 EVERYBODYYYY!! ARC 9 COMING SOON LETS GOO !! WE'RE GONNA BE READING CAT BOOKS TILL WE'RE 90 :)

[troutfur]

Are you reading the Feline Wizards books? I’m thinking of getting the bundle but I’m not certain. Would you be open to sharing your thoughts on them?

Yes! I'm part of a book club with a few friends from WC Tumblr and they came up as a recommendation. Currently we are finishing To Visit the Queen and we were discussing diving right into The Big Meow instead of taking a pause as we usually do. (As an aside we don't only read cat books, our first book was in fact This is How You Lose the Time War but you can probably see how the kitty wizard books came up as something we'd all want to read.)

Feline Wizards is fantastic. I was afraid that it wouldn't be an accessible read standalone as it's a spinoff of Diane Duane's long-running Young Wizard series but The Book of Night With Moon perfectly sets up the world all its own in a very impressive and compact way. My biggest compliment is just how tightly paced the whole work is. Absolutely no word is wasted by the end.

I also found it very interesting how, despite being a book with a child as part of the protagonist ensamble and that it is clearly aimed at that sort of demographic at least to an extent, the adult characters are the focus. The kid more often than not seems more of a supporting role or even plot device. That's an unusual dynamic I appreciate and found very compelling.

I also enjoy how the worldbuilding of the wizards and the fact wizards of all species exist makes the world feel so vast. To Visit the Queen makes particular good of use with the introduction of the ravens of the Tower of London who although not full wizards still have some magic capabilities. It's neat and contributes to this overarching theme about how all life forms are valuable and special in their own way.

Also I'll say that if Warriors and its anti-domesticity messaging feels tiring you will definitely appreciate this one. Our primary PoV character is a pet cat and she loves her humans so much. Many a chapter have gotten me soft and wanting to hug my own kitties.

I will append though. This series can get rather silly. Not enough to undercut the seriousness of the plot but the animal wizards and time travel and dinosaurs and all the rest are there. Definitely be prepared for a story that really utilizes both the urban AND the fantasy of urban fantasy.

[true-blue-sonic]

honestly the forces plot would’ve been fixed in my eyes if silver and espio had actually gotten any direct interactions. the story would still be utter nonsense but i’d’ve overlooked all of it as long as my boys found some amount of happiness in each other

I mean, we do have Espio hanging over a table to tell Silver he's right about miracles and what-not! That's pretty romantic, isn't it? /j XD

Amy is judging in the background, oops XD XD

In general, I think Forces would have done well if we'd seen the Resistance as a whole do more, or at least its core members. I feel quite uncertain about the idea that seven people with a collection of extremely powerful superpowers and weaponry plus a ton of manpower can only protect .1% of the world over six months, and then the two Sonics roll around and in three days Eggman has lost everything. It feels like it's doing the other characters in the cast a disservice, almost. We don't know how the war went, so we really cannot say if they immediately got overrun by Eggman or if they gradually lost terrain over six months' time. But still... Of course Sonic is powerful (as the main player character who always wins, he of course is always going to be more powerful in the end than whatever threat he faces), but the Resistance really could do nothing to win back a bit of terrain and protect it until the Sonics plus the Avatar ran through it once and destroyed some robots? (Hmm, one reason I'm willing to accept on this topic is that Sonic is supposed to be so inspiring to the populace, he gave them the strength to persevere where they could not before. After all, if the most powerful being on the planet is killed by Eggman, what chance do some commoners have to persevere against him? And if that being then comes back to life (sort of XD), it could be the push they needed. I like that idea, actually!)

The above kind of also ties in with the reason why I think six months is simply too long for such a story. There's so much that happened, both to the planet physically and (you would presume) everyone mentally: it's strange to me that afterwards things are immediately back to normal again and in the next game everyone is totes racing around with the guy who actively was destroying and terrorising their home for six months. Nobody, except for arguably Tails, seems particularly affected by that long time-span and the fact they thought Sonic was literally dead, and I feel like more could have been done on that topic. The story is dark and grandiose and epic without being willing to commit to the consequences the events should have, I would say. Except that immediately brings issues: diving into that comes at the risk of things getting melodramatic and overly edgy, which iirc is already a complaint against Forces to begin with, and the Sonic franchise also just plain isn't going to overtly deeply dive into such things, I feel like. The characters are meant to be ideals to marvel at and to be inspiring; obviously they're going to focus on making things right instead of angsting about Eggman's six-month regime in excruciating detail. Such things are hit or miss, and I think it suits the franchise to not even attempt to swing and see. (and during the times it does try, such as with the translation of Forces into English, people immediately point out how things like "Tails losing it" and "Sonic has been tortured for six months" feel very unfitting and don't even match what we see in the game after. But then again, the games have managed to handle dark topics like weapons of mass destruction in a proper way, I would say.) But I'd have to replay Forces and gather my thoughts on this topic more to describe my gripes with the story in much deeper detail, haha. I find it a very inspiring game and I always enjoy playing it because Sonic is so kind to the Avatar, but I do wish they'd tackled certain things differently.

Regardless, your ask did give me an idea about a story I could write between Silver and Espio, so I'll upload that to Tumblr in a sec! ^-^

[mobumi]

I was kinda frustrated and intrigued at the same time after watching ep 6. I mean, we did get some types of development with Arajin, but the pacing and the writing is a little bit irregular for me. That being said, it's just a fun little anime about delinquents so there's no use having high expectations, and in terms of entertainment the contract has been fulfilled.

I'm not going to dive into what I liked and didn't like 'cause I'm waiting to see more to form a better opinion on the show.

But here are some of my predictions or what to expect for the second part of the anime:

Senya/Ichiya: they probably have a history as rivals or something, at least it's insinuated from the beginning. They are most likely a parallel to Arajin/Matakara and as many said before I think Ichiya is going to merge with Matakara and he and Arajin will eventually fight. For what reason? I have no clue, maybe Mata's brother Mitsukuni is going to have an important role in the upcoming events.

Mitsukuni/his relationship with Matakara: something is definitely going to happen after Mitsukuni goes out of juvie. We know he was the former leader of the Minato Kai gang, so what will his role be next? Perhaps he'll be the trigger that will make Matakara merge with Ichiya. At least, I think Mata will turn to his brother instead of Arajin and his brother's presence will change something in his relationship with Arajin. Idk I feel like something will happen because of him

Mahoro's development: I thought Mahoro was not going to be important and we'd rarely see her. But she's not just a love interest, she showed us that besides being a brocon and manipulating others, she has unshakeable character, she's strong. Didn't like her at first, but now I think she's interesting. I'm curious what her character can do to help move the plot even further. She has the potential to actually be the hero of her own story and evolve. I think she'll help Arajin for something big in the future

Arajin, his goal and the gangs: we saw how Arajin didn't want to have anything to do with the gangs and their fights. He is still uninterested to join a gang and jumps from one gang to another just so he can get Mahoro's attention. He's also scared to be seen as weak again. The fact that he couldn't save Matakara has haunted him til now. He has avoided his trauma and fixed his mind on a new goal. Arajin may have wanted to be a Honkibito with Matakara but his childhood dream is buried deep down in his heart and his only wish is to be a normal teenager, have a girlfriend, lose his virginity, what he thinks society expects of a teenage boy. And they are in a men's world so there's this demonstration of masculinity conveyed with all the fights and disputes between gangs, but in the end, Arajin rejects that. He wants to enter a women's world through Mahoro because the men's world disappointed him in the past. There's something interesting about genders here i think but it's just speculations at the moment, we'll see how the story progresses

So yeah I think the last part of the anime will focus on Arajin doing a little introspection because for once he is seen as strong, he got up to defend someone and he is not left with shame, but with the cheers of everyone. By defeating Akutaro, maybe he finally defeated his fear, so I guess a new arc is starting for our mc and he is going to reevaluate his goal and his relationships with others. Will he fix his relationship with Matakara though? That's unsure if we consider them fighting at the end.

But anyway, these are my predictions for next episodes or more exactly my speculations. I may have been disappointed with some of the writing choices, but I still expect to be surprised by the end. I think they really tried to change our vision of the shonen genre with the comedy and tropes so I'm still really curious! It's not the best anime of the season, not by far, but it did subvert all my expectations so yeah I'm intrigued!

[egg-emperor]

I watched the Shadow x Sonic Generations Trailer and I hope we get more Robotnik Family, Gerald and Maria or maybe a Parent to Eggman.

I'd say its highly unlikely that we'd get anything like seeing more Robotnik family members that we haven't seen before because stuff like that would be pretty huge lore bombs to drop and I feel they'd do it in an original game with a whole new plot to really delve into it, rather than part of an expansion to a remaster, as cool as it looks right now.

Though with the new story focus on Shadow going through time and the mention of his memories in the descriptions, we could at least get Gerald and Maria cameos! If they can bring back Black fucking Doom of all characters, I'd say it's not off the table lol. Don't wanna get my hopes up but I'd really love to see them again even just a tiny bit.

And if they acknowledged the GUN Commander and included him too omg I'd go insane... I need to not get my hopes up for that especially though since they wouldn't even include my boy in the Sonic Channel stuff XD There's so many possibilities and so many things that I'd be overjoyed to see but I'm trying to curb my expectations.

But regardless of what we get I know I'm gonna love it and lose my mind anyway at every SA2 and Shadow 2005 related thing game and story wise because they're both two of my absolute favorite games!! But what would make it even better would be if we get a little bit of Eggman and/or Gerald and/or the Commander tooo 🥰

With the small amount we know it's one of the most specifically appealing to me pieces of Sonic media already, I can't wait! Above everything I just hope there's a good amount of new stuff but we're not sure how big it is and know barely anything so I'm trying not to go too crazy with speculation and hopes but ahahgbsbhfkbfksg

[roboraindrop]

🤪 ❤️☕️💌

Thank you!! I'll answer these for my s/I for Fenn, since he's been on my mind 🥰

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate

- My annoyance with Eddie would get blown up pretty big, I think. After all, he's kind of a dick... I'm annoyed by him for sure, but I think people would interpret it as me outright hating him, which isn't the case!

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

- Considering the fact that we're dating in canon, I don't think we'd really be a rarepair. Actually, since it's a one-off episode out of a big series, we might be considered a rare ship... Hm. I'm not sure how I'd classify this one, actually!

☕️: What are the most common plots of shipping fics between you and your f/o?

- Oh, angst for fuckin sure. Ones where I jump in front of the bullet that gets him, ones where I deal with the aftermath of losing him, even ones where he lives and we mourn Eddie together.

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

- People would definitely portrayme as in the way of Eddie and Fenn tbh. I feel like they would end up being a popular ship. But in the fics that did focus on us, it would be a lot of exploring Fenn's past, and how I helped him get out of his life of crime. I think a lot of people would probably think I'd hate Eddie for shooting Fenn, even though again- that's not the case. He didn't intend on shooting him, and you could see that he regretted it immediately. He might've mourned, too, if he hadn't been shot immediately after.

[kimaratomoya]

You said yesterday that you were interested in a fanfic idea I had? Well here it is.

It's about a pair of fangirls going into freddy fazbear's pizzeria and deciding to stay the night there for shits n giggles. But it's a deconstruction of several things, such as wanting to get isekai'ed into the media of your choice, the fact that I kept wanting this despite the fact that teenage me would have made a terribly dysfunctional protagonist, the way how fandom seems to fill out every gap that canon lacks, but causes the place to be confusing as if reality overlaps, as somewhat of a side effect.

It was because when I was 13 and talking with my friends online, we used to get a kick out of pretending Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria was a real place, we'd be looking up vandalised google maps places and joking about going there. The fanfiction is similar, but it's also a deconstruction of the idea because FNAF in real life would be Very Dangerous regardless of if you're 20 or 12, or a fangirl or not. And it's also about how the real world would react to the haunted animatronics, I think there might just be two entries in the series but I'll focus on the first one for now.

It takes place in around 2016 or so when FNAF had less content, and had much more of an 'urban legend' aesthetic to it than it does now. If I am ever to write this fanfiction however, I think I'll need to change that. However this goes in contrast with the 'urban legend' aesthetic I had in mind, so I'll either find a workaround or I'll just not make it about FNAF in general. The main point is to deconstruct this adventurous tangent I had in mind and demonstrate how actually fucked someone in the situation would be in, regardless of how much they know about the lore.

The names of the two girls are Áine (awn-yah) and Jene. One of them values enjoyment over personal safety, and the other is an insecure liar. Áine's the one who suggests exploring the places where the children were killed staying the night when Jene wants to look around and then leave, and Jene, while having a higher sense of self preservation, compulsively lies to Áine and other characters to try and keep them safe. The conflict is about them keeping safe from the animatronics of course, but also to work together even though they eventually end up fighting a lot and Áine starts to slowly transform into her self insert OC and lose her memories. Jene's quick lying ability comes in handy as she is able to write Áine's self insert's backstory even closer to Áine's actual memories, and preserve them quicker.

There's also a plot about how the fuck the pizzeria even came into being in the first place, because most stories where fans are transported into the medium of what they're fans of don't tend to dive into this.

In the beginning, Áine says she wants to invite whoever is the night guard over to her house so they're safe from animatronics, and Jene suggests spending more time with them to determine whether or not they're Purple Guy first. This is foreshadowing towards the end where they crash, fictional characters and all, at Áine's house and Áine's mom is like WTF. It also sets up the sequel since Áine has irreversibly been touched by whatever forces have been at play in the pizzeria, she needs to stay close to it or she might vanish from existence entirely. Áine's mom can't have her daughter staying so close to something so dangerous, so she becomes the manager and strives to make the place safer. She does things such as putting the animatronics in giant hamster wheels the whole night so even though they can free roam, there's no way for them to harm people, and installing an emergency escape door for the night guard and also doors that don't use electricity.

That's some of what I have for now. Also since FNAF has so many continuities, part of the early plot is Áine and Jene trying to figure out which one they're in. The books? The movie? The games? Some fan artist's AU? Someone's fan fiction? They learn kind of later in that it's Áine's own AU which she never fully developed and based it off a bunch of other works.

Should I continue?

Bestie

Write this please, I'd 100% read it. Sounds like something that genuinely could be in the books (with some of the weird shit that happens in them *cough cough* the fucking mpreg one *cough cough*).

Genuinely, go for writing it. I kinda am torn about hearing more, because I don't want you to spoil it tbh.

[uboat53]

I had a revelation today about why I'm suddenly disconnected from the Marvel movies and shows that are coming out.

You see, I've been reading lot about how they've just become CGI spectacles and how it's terrible for movies, but that never bothered me. So why haven't I felt as much interest in the latest series of Marvel content, otherwise referred to as Phase 4?

I came to realize it's because they spent 22 movies building up a consistent narrative which was interesting and interconnected… and then they abandoned it.

Let me explain.

For reference, I'm an older Millennial. I grew up on Marvel stuff, X-men and Spider Man, and I was just finishing college when Iron Man (2008) came out, so I'm pretty much the prime audience for this.

Now, everything in Phases 1 through 3 of the MCU built toward Endgame, I think we can all agree that that's the case. Every solo movie, every Avengers movie, everything built one or more pieces toward what happened when Thanos snapped and then the Avengers snapped back.

Not only mechanical stuff, but there was also a build-up of trauma and experience. We saw the progression of Tony Stark's PTSD and his determination to do ANYTHING to stop what he thought was coming. We saw Steve Rogers slowly lose faith in the institutions he had once believed in. It wasn't even all trauma, though, we got to see Natasha Romanov learn to trust and James Barnes start to rebuild himself after being brainwashed.

And the snap, once it happened, was devastating. Half the population of the universe disappeared, including many of the heroes we'd been following in the various movies. Beyond the personal trauma of loss, jobs were left with no one skilled enough to do them, houses were left empty, and property was abandoned. It was clear that there was not a single person or place in the universe that wasn't dramatically affected.

Then, five years later, after everything had sort of adjusted, the Avengers snapped everyone back.

What happened then? What happened when the population suddenly doubled? When people thought lost forever, who had been grieved, came back? When people returned to find their friends and relatives had changed over the 5 years? What happened to the homes that had been left abandoned or had been taken over by other people? How did the universe suddenly feed twice as many people as had existed the day before?

Don't get me wrong, some Marvel cinema touched on some of this. We see people suddenly reappearing out of nowhere in Wandavision and the entire premise of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revolves around a group that's angry at having what they feel is theirs taken away from them by people who have returned, but it's not the focus. Instead, we see everything jumping straight into the multiverse saga without much of a pause taken to explore the immense consequences of what the Avengers did in Endgame.

So yeah, it feels like they dropped the plot. Everything built up to Endgame and Endgame delivered a massive gut punch of a plot point, the kind that could reverberate through dozens of films, and then… nothing.

I should note that I'm not completely disconnected from the MCU, I'm still excited about Loki Season 2 and I've seen Wakanda Forever, but I'm not looking forward to the new movies or TV shows the way I did in the decade leading up to Endgame. It just doesn't feel like it's part of the same story arc anymore.

Maybe I'll get there. Maybe I'll find the new arc just as interesting as the old one, but I've figured out why I'm not there yet.

[oswednesday]

Bnha is a fine series for what it is but i just can't understand my problem with it - like, having read from the beginning it feels like it lost some aspects that i enjoyed or moved away from things i thought it was setting up.

On some level i attribute it to my 'the hundred chapter shounen curse" where around a hundred chapters in most shounen just dip in quality. But it's not quite like that.

I do agree with some people's complaints about setting deku up as hyper analytical character but then providing him a 'punch harder' flying brick powerset.

I do wonder how the series could have handled it if they had just let deku be op from the beginning, as i feel exploring the quirk have vs havenot stuff couldve been more explicit if they did that.

Also Bakugo is such a genius addition for the story. His 'no i want to be a hero moment' was great

And i know this complaint is just all shounen but i wish the women characters could have more to do / more focus without having to deal with the shounen enforced gender roles death trap.

I should read through it again and actually analyze some of the themes, might help me learn what i disliked about the transition to longer running

i dont think the solution or the problem is like what if the characters were x and y and z instead tho that is a fun thought exercise! i was rolling this ask over in my head a bunch because i feel much the same, i think where the Problem arises happens in pretty much everything the seams are just more noticeable in a shounen cause theyre unfortunately expected to follow a set of stuff to be publishable and marketable as that, this happens in usamerican comics too so i think ill use that to talk about it like, what we get introduced to is an intimate story in a world like our own but not exactly, much of the mystery of the world is concealed to us, the conflicts are close to the protagonist our window into the world, the antagonist feel so much bigger theyre a huge unknown, as the story progresses the intimacy is often lost , all things have these growing pains of course, i think for bnha in order to like have stretch marks instead of tearing the antagonists would have had to get more complicated and the protagonists interactions with that would have had to get more in depth and serious and there would have had to been bigger and bigger consequences while there are eventually it ends up feeling just like expected beats so with that loss and familiarity the charge of the story is lost?

to talk about something like, power and story creep, like superhero stuff often starts intimate does it? like you learn about the protagonist and youre close to the inner struggles, the antagonists are larger than life and often pale behind The Real Big Bad but you dont even know yet! its mysterious and scary! but then the world opens up and its like with batman in the greater dcu, doesnt that ruin the sort of intimacy knowing someone with god like powers is a phone call away? thinking about how the animated series teen titans handles that by keeping the stories really close and interpersonal and the characters' antagonists always these figures just one step away from being understood its like theyre scary!

but bnha let the air out real fast on a lot of stuff while never moving them beyond, what are we suppose to feel about all for one or about tomura or about any over them, like we'd get a lore dump and the status quo would remain! i think about like the who is the traitor arc and how that doesnt matter after everything cause of how big a jump the comic made in that, while that happens and sometimes it happens real good, it sort of becomes plug in play doesnt it like did the overhaul stuff really serve the narrative where it was in the story? was that really the best way to handle dabi's narrative? like it feels like a list of check off marks!!! and of course its in some part because its a serialized comic series

but teal deer its like Pacing and Plot economy, what you lose in intimacy and being on the ground floor at the start you make up for with like overwhelming your other senses as the series becomes ungrounded and seemingly further away from like, the opening wound but it has to be there in secret the whole time so that by the time it ends you feel that it was there the entire time! of course thats just for stories like this, its like theres also a lack of examination and exploring that was found in earlier chapters but maybe thatll get coaxed out more, its a bit of that like naruto problem or star wars problem even like not much point in being like The Good Guys Are Actually Not But The Other side Is Morally Ambitious and Not Evil if youre like side evil eats babies and the good guys are heroes periodt like, well, whatever! waste my time

[yunoteru4ever]

I'm not someone who usually would push for shortening/consolidating this story that I love, but if *I* had to fit Future Diary into two light novels? Yeah, I DEFINITELY would've made serious edits to make sure it completely, coherently worked in two volumes.

An aside: I wish this author (and, ofc, we as fans) had access to Sakae Esuno's two outlines for the story, because he did mention that he had a full-length outline as well as a much more condensed version that would complete the story faster in the event the manga wasn't successful and needed to end earlier. The latter seems like something that could've been a valuable resource for this writer.

Regardless, there had to be a better way to handle these light novels. I'm already personally imagining what I might drop and how I might fit the story into a tighter timeline now. I realize that the author removed a full 13 friggin' chapters from the story, so maybe it's just hard to figure out how to deal with that much content loss? You have to make some BRUTAL decisions. But I could at least try.

We see some infighting among the diary holders outside of them going after Yuki, but only a bit. If we need to really remove a ton of material here, we could probably have a diary holder get full-on eliminated by someone else off-screen. Yuno and Yuki personally take down almost all of them as it stands. But who could we drop without losing too much important characterization/plot development? I'm thinking Fifth is the easiest to cut — that's over 3 chapters of content we can slice out all by itself. Even though his arc is one of my favorite parts of the anime adaption.

I don't know if this author included the lone chapter from "Mosaic" that was brought into the anime as a means to set up the entire Nishijima/Minene subplot, but I'd not only drop that "Mosaic" chapter, I'd straight-up drop Nishijima's material entirely. (Sorry, my guy.) In fact, one easy way to condense things would be to avoid shifting focus away from Yuki and/or Yuno whatsoever... so we'd only get info on Akise and the others closing in on poor abducted Yuki/Underwear Yuno in the mountains via Yuno's observations, and we'd just get an overview of how they're watching Minene and the others right before they invade 11th's tower, etc. Similarly, this would mean we wouldn't get to know Twelfth at all before he attacks the Omakata compound, but... honestly, that may be a sacrifice we just have to make at this point? Maybe we can just trim those scenes down a bunch. We also wouldn't follow along with Minene and Murmur's finale showdown. We might still have to cut to Deus and Murmur one or two times to keep some plot points clear, but EVEN IF THAT'S THE CASE: Putting together everything I just said, we just dropped the equivalent of slightly over 5 chapters from the story.

As much as the "amusement park date" is great for character/relationship development, I suppose most of it isn't plot-mandatory. Just have them head home after talking to Kurusu, and maybe the most important conversation from the amusement park (the one in the ferris wheel about the supposed "promise" and all that) happens during their walk to Yuno's house. That's the length of one chapter dropped!

Drop the flashback to Yuno stalking Yuki in the bunny suit. That's another chapter gone.

Lots of people have complained over the years that Yuki is quick to try and give his dad forgiveness after he straight-up murder-kills Yuki's mom. But we could always just have Kurou get killed off-screen as punishment for his outstanding debts shortly after he kills Rea. Yuki still gets the motivation of losing both parents, maybe Kurou left a remorseful letter or some shit, and then we just dropped 3/4 of a chapter.

I think it'd be pretty easy to condense the climactic showdown between Yuno and Yuki... sadly. Not that I want to lose all that precious dramatic juice, but we could probably bypass a lot of the fighting at the school and lock Yuki into the illusory/"ideal" world sooner. Not a huge trim-down — just about 1/3 of a chapter of the manga — but we've got to make up a LOT of ground here. Every bit helps.

If we don't get into the story of Marco first befriending Ai when he finds her abandoning at Sakurami Tower when they were kids, we can remove a few pages. The anime saw fit to expand their backstory with a whole gang-rape scenario during high school; idk if that was in the light novels, but I'm absolutely advocating to leave it out. That's a few more pages dropped the manga, and maybe more than that removed from the light novels if they opted to toss in the anime-added stuff.

Crap. I've only removed the equivalent of 11 manga chapters so far. But here's the kicker: If we don't have to do the framing device of the prologue and epilogue to justify the abbreviated story, we get even more pages of writing back. That might get us to at least 12 chapters.

And yes, I AM out of ideas now! And I'm still a chapter short, unfortunately. But at least I'm trying... evidently unlike Itou Nobuki. :P

Future Diary Light Novel (thoughts/ short TL)

It’s common for light novels to receive manga or anime adaptations in order to introduce the series to a wider public. What’s not so common is for the reverse to happen, though with a series as popular as Future Diary was back in the early 2010’s, it’s only natural that a light novel was among the many adaptations it received. Said adaptation was released in 2012 and written by the author Itou Nobuki (who, according to his MAL profile, hasn’t worked on any other piece). The light novel was divided into two books, and each chapter contains unique artwork done by Masahiko Yoshihara. The art is also the only different/new thing the light novel adds to this series. 

The general consensus on the light novel is that it’s a retelling of the manga, which other than giving you a little more insight on the characters’ thoughts, doesn’t add anything new. I decided to give it a read to confirm this myself, and… I have things to say (spoilers for the LN ahead… and Future Diary too, duh).

First and foremost, the notion that the light novel adds nothing new is mostly correct, save for the prologue and epilogue. The prologue introduces the reader to ““Deus,”” who is experiencing some form of memory loss and is now being guided by MurMur through the Akashic Records to remember the events of the Survival Game. The novel then goes over the events we already know from the series all the way up to 9th’s death… where it suddenly ends. Yes, the novel ends with 9th’s death and jumps straight to the epilogue, where ““Deus”” informs the reader that he cannot recall the events after that, because it physically hurts him to remember.

That’s when we get the revelation that this isn’t Deus we’re dealing with, but Yukiteru, who has taken on Deus’ role after winning the Survival Game. Apparently, he’s experiencing problems with his memory similar to Yuno’s due to the trauma of losing her, so to further help Yukiteru remember the ending of the Survival Game, MurMur gives him Yuno’s diary, from which he gathers the final details. From there on, the events carry out similar to Redial, where the last entry in Yukiteru’s diary gets rewritten to “Yuno’s coming to see me.” Yuno then magically appears and it’s happily ever after and blah blah blah…

While I found the prologue and epilogue to be insightful in terms of giving us more details about the ending, I was pretty confused that the novel left out the most crucial aspects of the story. Everything from episode 22 and on from the anime (or the last two volumes of the manga), which includes: Yukiteru killing his friends, Yukiteru finding out that the dead cannot be revived, Happy End, time loop plot twist (which is the pillar the story is built upon btw), the final battle between Yukiteru, Yuno and the 9th… and the list goes on. If someone who hasn’t read the manga or watched the anime read this as a stand-alone piece, they’d be left scratching their heads at the epilogue. 

The novel makes you raise all the questions that would lead to the eventual plot twist, simply to end with said questions unanswered. And if you think this is weird, it’s because it is. The author himself acknowledges this on the author’s notes at the end of the novel. He explains that the light novel was set out to be a two-parter from the very beginning, meaning he couldn’t extend it to fit all aspects from the manga. Which is understandable; however, he deliberately chose to end it with 9th’s death because he "wanted to leave the story at its climax for the epilogue."

Look, I understand this man was working with what he was given, but if he really wanted to blue-ball the audience, he could’ve at least tried to fit the revelation of the time loop before cutting to the epilogue. You know, so the story actually makes some sense? The epilogue casually mentions the second and third world as if it's something that's been brought up before, when this is the first and only time it's mentioned. Anyway, I’m going off on a rant here. I’m very particular about pacing and structure in writing, so seeing something like this really grinds my gears (especially since I wanted to see the events from the final episodes novelized).

With that out of the way, I did translate a little bit of the light novel since there’s no official translation out there, namely the prologue, chapter 1 and the epilogue. I’m not planning on translating the rest of the novel since it’s basically a retelling, but I did find those parts to be interesting enough to translate, given that the prologue and epilogue delve into Yukiteru’s ten thousand years of solitude. 

Now that I have my little rant/ translation projects of the week out of the way, I’ll go back my cave ~