#white moon of the night

[shiningdesignersreflections]

Chapter 2: White Moon of the Night

Narrated by Celina.

Narrator: They say that the older a family, the more bizarre some of its practice might be.

Narrator: The town has never seen any woman married to a man in the dead of night... but then again, the baron is just so noble and one of a kind... and I supposed I shouldn't say much about a practice I know nothing about.

Narrator: In the dead of night, when the night has drowned out the stars and night, a jet-black carriage pulls to a stop right in front of my house.

Narrator: Drawn by a ridiculously well-built horse with shiny skin that's breathing out the night air, the solemn-looking carriage seems to stand even taller than my house.

Narrator: Out of the carriage comes a towering servant dressed to the nines, just like my fiancé. His formidable body clad in a jet-black uniform, he brings to mind a civilized beast.

Manservant: The baron would like to invite his future wife to the castle to try out her dresses.

Narrator: The servant has impeccable manners, his eyes unfathomably dark. One wouldn't have been blamed for thinking that the man is blind hadn't he acted normally.

Manservant: The baron's fiancée shall be the only one to travel back with me.

Narrator: Towered over by the baron's servant, Father remains well-mannered.

Narrator: Consenting to the unreasonable request, Father quietly sees me board the carriage.

Narrator: The forest at night is a lot more ghostly than I imagined.

Narrator: I'm going back to that castle that belonged to Mother's family. This is going to be my first time setting foot in it...

Narrator: The air was thick with all sorts of unnamed sounds and noises coming from the depths of the forest.

Narrator: Traveling in complete darkness, the carriage moves through the quiet path in the woods, which is about to take me into a life full of unknowns from the one I've been most familiar with.

Narrator: The inside of the boxy carriage is upholstered with dark velvet, yet my seat feels icy cold. Without a single oil lamp around, the depths of the dark stare right back at me when I pull open the curtains.

Narrator: Awash in silence and feeling slightly tired, I lean against the inner wall of the carriage...

Narrator: Why am I feeling sleepy, though? I bet it's got to do with how it's so dark in the carriage and how stuffy the air is.

Narrator: When the carriage bumps for a second, I seem to hear a purposely quietened "shh." It disappears before I know it.

Narrator: Like a beast scuttling through the dark, the horse drawing the carriage finally stops at the magnificent castle.

Narrator: The placid moonlight gently kisses the roses in the garden as it slowly chisels out a fine marble statue.

Narrator: The golden statue of a goddess holds a long sword that carries a bone-chilling luster. Is that a real sword? It's so sharp that it's hurting my eyes.

Narrator: Golden velvet runs along the walls and floor of the seemingly never-ending hallway. Against the candlelight, the heaps of jewelry glow hazily.

Narrator: The servant comes out of the shades from the corner of the walls, looking as though he were until moments ago part of the shades. Politely, he holds a golden tray in his hand.

Narrator: A string of keys sits in the tray, each heavy with the weight of the gold that they're made of.

Narrator: The baron plays with the keys with his long, pale fingers. Then, as if picking a favorite rose out of the garden, he picks out a key.

Baron: I believe you will enjoy trying out your dresses in the bedroom on the southern end of the castle. It belonged to the previous master of the castle.

Narrator: I can't, however, get my eyes off of the string of golden keys. My, just how adorable are they?

Narrator: Forgive me for being such a hick... the keys are just so irresistible. I'm glad you aren't taking my staring at you to heart.

Baron: Hold your horses, love. Once we tie the knot, every key here belongs to you, and every nook and cranny in this place will be yours to explore, my bride...

Baron: ...but the room at the end of the corridor is off-limits.

Celina: What do you mean?

Baron: You'll slowly learn that every man needs to have his own secrets.

Narrator: I nod to his words. As the baron's fiancée, I ought to be understanding of such a noble and well-off gentleman.

Narrator: When he puts the key back onto the golden tray, the key seems like a grain of sand returning to a sea of sand.

Narrator: The formidable servant quietly returns to the shades, out of the reach of the candlelight.

Narrator: This castle is so spacious that, even with all the candlelight and moonlight shining upon it, there are still patches of shades all over the place.

Narrator: When I'm with my noble fiancé, I can't help feeling a sort of tranquility that I can't quite word.

Narrator: Awash in the ghostly moonlight, his pale face seems as though it were a lifeless vessel covered in shades.

Narrator: He's calm and quiet when he doesn't talk, exuding not a trace of warmth even when he literally sits just inches away from me. Does it come from a noble and restrained upbringing?

Narrator: I look around... the innumerable dark curtains in this sparkling castle of awe are not unlike spiderwebs, standing in between my life going forward and the one I've been so familiar with.

Chapter 1

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

[sam-spills-alot]

[2000s-angell]

Cc: to the owner

[1st-1]

[lepetitdragonvert]

Night and Day

ca. 2024

Artist : Miles Cleveland Goodwin

[maureen2musings]

eventyr

[littleoil]

Waiting for you in a place of light

Time stands still The dew no longer evaporates. The forest stops breathing in dreams. I'm still waiting for you in a place of light

[heartnosekid]

🌓 mimikyu 🪡

with no people or hands for anon!

🪡-🌓-🪡 / 🌓-🪡-🌓 / 🪡-🌓-🪡

[animeglitch]

[yoursghouly]

Illustration By Gustave Doré for Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven”— (1883) x

[lacenwings]

@lacenwings

[spiritofthemeadow]

July 2024 Buck Moon

ig - afternoondreams

[2000s-angell]

Cc: to the owner

[ladyloveandjustice]

Yuri Manga for New (AND Not-So-New) Readers

I was talking on discord about some good yuri for beginners, and figured I'd repost here.

I get way more detailed some of these recommendations in this post, and there's great recs from another person too! Check it out!

I'm doing this accounting to various tones and tastes, so what works as a beginner yuri for one person might not for another, just read the info to figure out what your jam is.

I'll put a star by the ones about adults (which is the majority of them) since I've found that's always something people want.

Goodbye my Rose Garden (Victorian yuri w/ beautiful art, just beautiful all around)*

How Do We Relationship? (messy adult relationships and lots of actually realistic intimacy)*

She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat- (A woman loves to cook but doesn’t have a huge appetite, only to find the woman next door to her does! She cooks for her and they really start to bond over food and the trials of being working adults. Yes, this is the one where the woman googles lesbian. It's really good)*

Bloom into You- a common go-to yuri for beginners for a reason, about a girl who believes she can't fall in love meeting a girl who wants to date her specifically BECAUSE she can't fall in love. Find out more about it and hear my thoughts here. It has a gorgeous anime that doesn't cover the complete story.

Doughnuts Under the Crescent Moon (sweet office lady romance, ace rep) *

Catch These Hands! (These two women were delinquents and rivals in high school, they meet up again, one reveals she was always into the other, she challenges her to a fight on the condition that if the other woman loses she'll date her. Lots of slapsticky fun and great for any lover of girl delinquents)*

Run away with me, Girl (there's some abuse shown in this one, but it's a story about healing, the premise is these girls dated in high school, but one of the pressured herself "normal" and marry a man, that man turns out to be abusive, so when the former lovers reunite, they decide to run away together. It's got beautiful art and a well done story)*

The Moon on a Rainy Night (absolutely spectacular, explores the relationship between a hard of hearing girl and her closeted classmate, the characters are complex and the writing is so good!)

Kase-san And...- Starting with Kase-san and the Morning Glories, this is a very fluffy and sweet high school romance. It also has a short movie. (as the manga goes on they become college students, too)

The Two of Them Are Pretty Much Like This (slice of life about a voice actress and anime screenwriter who live together as a couple. Unfortunately the ending is a bit abrupt (and likely premature) but I love their relationship)*

My fave Otherside Picnic is great for scifi and (mild) horror lovers. It's Scifi creepypasta adventure yuri. It's a slow burn but does truly spectacularly deliver on the gay. Has an anime, it's not great, you should start with the novels. Wrote an article here. https://www.animefeminist.com/how-otherside-picnic-masterfully-uses-horror-to-explore-abuse-and-show-healing-queer-love/ *(v young adults, college students)

The Guy She was Interested in Wasn't a Guy at All: (A web manga about a girl who works at a record shop. Her classmate , Aya, wanders in but doesn't recognize her because she has her hair hidden with a hat and is wearing a face mask, and Aya assumes she's a guy. They bond over music and slowly start to get closer...and Aya's finds her heart is fluttering not only over this mysterious boy, but her female classmate that seems a lot like him...) It's going to get a physical release soon.

This Monster Wants to Eat Me: (A depressed girl who's been searching for death gets approached by a mermaid who wants to eat her...but the thing is, our monster mermaid is a gourmet who wants her to be as delicious as possible, which means she's going to make her happy first (as apparently that enhances her flavor), and fight off all the other monsters who want to kill her. This is TOP TIER yuri horror and a must read for any lover of monster girls, especially monster girls drenched in the blood of their enemies, it's so good)

I Married my Best Friend to Shut My Parents Up (girl and her friend get married simply so her parents will stop bugging her about being single. You can probably guess where it goes from there) *

I Married my Female Friend (similar premise, except no parents involved, it's a platonic marriage they both agreed to with the promise they'll divorce if one of them falls in love. But one woman has decidedly not platonic feeling for the other that she's hiding from her, so It will likely turn romantic, it hasn't all come out here yet so I haven't finished it)*

Whisper Me a Love Song: (A girl named Himari sees her upperclassman, Yori, perform with her band and falls in love with her music. She confesses her love of Yori's music, and Yori mistakes it as Himari confessing to being in love with her. Yori falls head over heels at first sight. (if you don't like miscommunication, dw this is cleared up fairly quickly and new drama ensues) Has an anime covering early material)

Monthly in the Garden with my Landlord* (it didn't really hit with me but I might give it a shot again, it's solid despite the terrible title, a woman moves into a house and finds she'll be cohabitating with an idol) (Some more titles I haven't fully read that could appeal: Still Sick*, Cheerful Amnesia*)

Hana and Hina After School: (a cute three volume about a gyaru and shy girl working together at a shop after school and catching feelings)

After Hours: (A cool punk girl meets a girl who's been abandoned by her friend at the club, and she introduces her to the world of DJ'ing...and romance!)*

My Cute Little Kitten (two roommates adopt a cat...and maybe fall in love?)*

I think all of those work as solid intro- though it does depend on what flavor you're looking for!

This article also covers some of these recs and some manga I didn't mention due to not having completely read it. so check it out: The Beginners Guide to Yuri Manga.

Here's some titles to try when you're a little more familiar with yuri (or you can try them now! I'm not your boss!)

SHWD (action yuri that's taking forever to come out over here physically, featuring extremely muscular women fighting monsters. I think it was forced to end prematurely too)*

Kiss and White Lily for my Dearest Girl: (I'm only three volumes in, but it's really enjoyable. The main storyline is about two academic rivals, where one is determined to rank first in class, and the other is an effortless genius who becomes intrigued at the possibility of someone beating her. Honestly they have the kind of messy combative sexual tension I wish we'd see more often in yuri because it's so good. The story follows other couples too. However, big warning for some nonconsensual kisses in early volumes, and a storyline in volume 7 that has implied incest and an age gap, though the older sister doesn't go through with it onscreen).

Sweet Blue Flowers/Aoi Hana- (This one is a little bit dated, and boy is the ending weirdly paced, but a lot still holds up imo. A painful and sweet coming of age tale, it also has an anime that's good but ends too soon.

One teenage characters backstory involves incestuous (older cousin) the perpetrator of which pulls the "oh no did I turn you gay? thing" but it's definitely framed as a bad thing. )

The Summer You Were There: (For tragic and doomed yuri lovers. A deeply depressed girl starts her journey to healing thanks to a girl who courts her and enjoys her writing. Unfortunately, said girl is terminally ill. The manga is a heart wrenching meditation on grief, redemption, and how being sick doesn't mean you can't still be loved).

Yuri is My Job- a story about messy lesbians in a yuri-themed cafe, and how their real relationships differ from the personas they put on. Read more about it here. Big warning for sexual assault of a minor (by an adult villain) in volume 12. Has an anime covering early material.

[jacobhubertusart]

January 2025. Venus, and the moon. By Jacob Hubertus.

[meagancandraw]

You ever think about how neither of them got to say goodbye?