Jealous of Roses Year In Review 2012

[shipwreck_light]

Actual Essay Part

I believe I mentioned before that I more or less grew up watching trashy action anime. I was an otaku+ back when that involved sharing VHS tapes of third-generation copy fansubs. How I got into this, well, the parents are all about trashy sci-fi novels and very short leap. More of a skip really. My dad actually bought me my first anime. Fansubs of /Project Eden/ and /Project A-ko/. Did Japan use up all of its "project" titles in the 80's? I wonder.

I still love a good action scene. I really, honestly do. I love assassins and mercenaries and arms dealers and drug pushers and prostitutes and misfits with guns; I love the stuff they get up to. That's interesting to me. Kind of always has been, but even the most modern, meta installments (CF- /Black Lagoon/). That's nostalgic to me. It reminds me of drinking cherry Gatorade on the floor with my friends while /Orgus 02/ blared against the air conditioner; of making dramatic readings of our Tanith Lee imitations while the windows turned white with dandelion fluff and everyone kept sneezing into the mic.

But, you know, I would always sit there and wonder. These edge of society types! How did they get where they are? Action anime tends to be remiss in explaining this. It's just not actiony enough. What do they eat? If they all live together, how do they decide who cleans? And of course, what are their sex lives like?

Is it obvious I used to be a fanficcer yet? I mean, the porn thing probably gave it away.

I don't necessarily think trashiness is bad. Keeping in mind that to me, trashiness equals a disregard for substances that do not entertain. Is that kind of a contradiction considering my own mental wanderings over gunplay? Sure. But, so what? I like to be entertained. And yet, strange things entertain me. I could watch two assassins spackle over the bullet holes in their walls as easily as watching them try to shoot each other some more.

And I'm also one of those people who enjoys a really, truly awful story just as much as an excellent one. In the mid-to-late 90's, there was one anime that was king of the bad, emperor of never explaining fucking anything, supreme chancellor of beckoning the fans with its spectacular lack of focus and sense. It's still one of my favorite shows ever.

So, how about I come clean here. I am about 60% responsible for the longest Weiss Kreuz fanfic ever written. No, not That One. The Other One. The one that beat That One out by a factor of three (meaning that the parts I wrote still total up longer then the next most significant contender). The one where like 15% of the goddamn story was Schwartz trying to manage their household and that overlapped significantly with the 15% of the story that was porn. Hey, if I'm going to write fanfic of a narrative trainwreck, I'm going to explore topics of interest to me between the bonking. To answer your next question, apparently retired psychic assassins like to eat lasagna and profiteroles, just like you and me.

That's what Ancestor Story is. Not WK, the fanfic. All 3,000 fucking pages of it*. Pages of what, you may ask. A tale told by two idiots. Yadda yadda. Blahblahblah. Rampant Macbeth quote abuse.

I just want to say that I'm sorry. I was a teenager. I didn't know any better about some of the Not Cool shit I personally included**. Is Jealous of Roses at least a little bit of an apology? You could chose to look at it that way, but the truth is, I can't get away from that kitchen full of psychics chatting about ruining the reputations of their enemies over, well, lasagna and profiteroles. I wanted to go back there more than anything I wanted from a writerly perspective. Now that I have, I can't see myself turning away any time soon. I was storming home to pound out that first scene of Jealous of Roses.

It reads like a comfy bed with a kitten in it because it /is/. To me anyway- having it to wake up to and all of you to share it with. So, thank you! All of you! For your kitten and sweater and other cuddly thing analogies.

But, why hasn't anyone called me on this resembling WK? I was actually confused by this, until I realized what appeared to be a few minor tweaks had thrown everybody pretty damn well. And also WK is not so infamous as it once was, le cough. Speaking of which, there's going to be a few minutes of talking about it here if you want to skim over a personae quick. You might try this one: http://web.archive.org/web/20070824175501/http://www.hopeforlorn.net/characters.html

Or, I could summarize for you.
"However, if you remove the fact that he is a homicidal maniac, he is actually a good person."

I did not write that. The person who ran the website I looked it up on didn't write that. It's a literal translation of one of the character guides. What the fuck, yo.

So *cough* anyway, you have the same basic setup with the lords and the courtiers verses the de facto system in WK, although a lot of the characters in WK work for a government rather than against one. Sort of. Anyway, a person in charge of a group has assassins that live in a hideout and do cursory day jobs. Maybe there's a lovely assistant. The assassins all have reasons they can't or won't live in Society At Large. Anybody who dies gets replaced with impunity. There's UST goddamn everywhere and probably someone has an impractical bladed weapon.

I couldn't really start the story where I wanted to originally because... I'll explain when I get to that point and you'll be all "Oh, I see what you did there!" Hopefully. Also, I know enough about the WK Apocrypha that I scare myself.

If we're equating nouns, you're watching Schwartz at least two years before the plot of the original TV series begins. Crawford isn't a member; Nagi isn't either; Schuldig's got a kid; Takatori is competent (IE the opposite of Takatori). And there are vaginas.

Oh, does that make Roa Farf?

Well, you could be all- fine line between genius and madness and all that. Actually, she's Sylvia.

*crickets riding tumbleweeds*

Yeah. Somebody remembered Sylvia. And that's why every time any of you compliment Roa, I sit here and I smirk myself silly, because talk about a character who wasn't treated with anything resembling respect by the fans, let alone the people who wrote for her.

Plus, I'm going to throw this out there on the off chance any of you went, "Oh, SYLVIA!" and smacked your foreheads. Shizu shows up too. I have tentative plans for Reiko and Sakura. /Fucking everyone/ gets a line sooner or later. And now, you can play along! Go make yourself some bingo cards.

Did I mention this is one of my absolute favorite things to do if I'm writing a parody or an homage of something- dredge up the bit parts and try to make them interesting. Plus, you know, WK is just this orgy of THIS STORY IS ABOUT WOMENS. Only, female entities have no impact on anything, ever. Except via suffering.

It's basically got the same gender issues as /Twilight/ and all its dreadful spawn. Plus, Youji. Who reigned king of the dirtbags before Christian Gray was a twinkle in anybody's crotch. I might have to make up new trigger warnings when I get to dealing with that part of the plot.

[I am still not exactly pro trigger warnings, but I would like to thank all of you who are for tolerating my occasional jokes therein and also "surrealist violence". Not trying to belittle anyone, just have a weird sense of humor.]

Are you seeing why me trying to do a pastiche of this story fell in under its own meta weight?

Siebenkas is where things get odd. He's not equivalent to anyone in WK. Now, considering how stuff matches up later, you could make the (bizarre, standing on your head kind of) argument that he's some sort of hypothetical Dark!Shion.

There was a grandpa(ish) OC figure who appeared briefly in Ancestor Story. A) I wasn't the one writing for him and B) he was too laisser-faire to do much with as a character if attempting equivalents. He wasn't /there/ enough to be worth writing to me.

The doppel!Siebenkas thing happened outside of any of this, which just goes to show you the extent to which he malfunctioned.

But, you know, I have gone on and on about Siebenkas before and I still really haven't gotten down to why I keep saying he's broken.

The character I was thinking of when he came into being allowed someone else to smack the loving snot out of his kid which he then refused to claim. Siebenkas feeds other people's kids cake and calls them his own. And Siebenkas might stand as much chance against that other character as a bark scorpion stands against my ten pound /Dune/ parody, but I bet he'd take a swing at him and try to carry that poor boy home. And that's also why we don't let him near David from /Polyfaceted/, although I have entirely too much idea of who wins under what circumstances of their meeting and inevitably coming to blows.

That guy has totally fucked up everything and I could not be happier to have him.

One of the myriad problems with WK is that it has no theme. I mean, a theme like in music, something to tie the whole thing together. There's no imagery or unifying factor at all. It /exists/ and that's all it does unless someone manages to prove that some of the really terrible parts do, in fact, give off fumes. So, when Other Writer and I were working on Ancestor Story we kind of gave it the point of even killers being able to love one another in a romantic sense. Because yay porn.

Siebenkas up and stole my adjectives. Did the story have a theme before he did that? Yes, but now it has two even though because of him Second Theme got a little chewed up and has been slow to start. I don't care. Compassion is honest to crap not something I've ever chosen to explore before in a literary sense

Now, you might say "Ew! What a fluffy, girlie thing to include in a narrative, especially one about killers!" And first of all, since when is girlie a bad thing. Second, I disagree that the concept of compassion is gendered in the first place. Why would you do that? Is the ability to sympathize with one's fellow humans not a facet of humanity itself? To do otherwise after all, that's downright monstrous. And yes, there are like five puns in what I just said.

I like to think that Jealous of Roses has broadened its scope by having its adjectives removed by bookish middle-aged assassins. That's what I've got. I wouldn't have it if not for Siebenkas and the fact a hell of a lot of you seem to enjoy him more than I anticipated anybody would.

I didn't get comfortable, truly so, with anyone in the cast until I stopped thinking of them as being in Ancestor Story or equivalent to anyone else. Yes, I just spent all of that time talking about how I'm basically writing a fanfic OF a fanfic and now here I am saying I'm happy it's not that.

Then again, you could say I never did get comfortable and I never well. I've got a tenuous grip on this sucker at best. Is it a trashy action anime, one in particular? It might have been at one point.

But, I never learned how to write that. I know how to write like me and to a lesser extent, Tanith Lee. The intricacies of the action genre are lost on me and I'm very aware of that. Which leaves us with A) storyline and genre not meshing in the way they usually would and B) a really argumentative cast from my perspective, despite they do not speak to me in the sense many other writers here seem to experience. Nene had a moment where she did that yelling at me despite the whole not existing thing and Zephyr? I bet subluxate doesn't want to hear any more about what he did over the autumn. A whole week of angstypants followed on my part. It was them saying "Zephyr's his own man" that convinced me to stop looking at anything in Jealous of Roses as being Ancestor Story or nothing but a pastiche or an imitation. And Zephyr as Schuldig. Because he isn't. Except for the demon business, but that's fanon for WK. One offhand remark in Kapital and all that.

They were being facetious, or so I found out later. Yep. Best advice I got on this mess was a joke. I think it's fitting in a way.

In the meantime, if you want to chitchat about WK orthodoxy v. WK orthopraxy, hit me up. As you can see, I still know this shit. And that's terrible.



+ I realize the word is not acceptable to use for other people anymore, but if I can call myself a babydyke, I can damnwell call myself an otaku.

* I do not have a total wordcount, but assuming about 250 words per page, that's 750,000 words with 450,000 that I wrote. I am taking 60% because I wrote most of the exposition and settings and weird character asides. Additionally, the actual amount of porn per serving was 14%, which I know because I did the math at one point (although it was only for chapters 1-20 and we quit around chapter 24) (with intentions of hitting chapter 70ish with all we had planned out) (derp).

** Which nonetheless did not top Dramatic Precious #3 in the nausealymics, being as that's physically impossible. Unless Yvonne has a baby with Brent and it's raised in the setting of /Vampire Academy/ or something. Please don't test my theory. Or read Dramatic Precious without massive fucking amounts of booze.

~*~

Part With Numbers

Total Wordcount: 333,600
Fics posted: 65
Average Words Per Fic: 5050 MY AVERAGE FIC IS A PORTRAIT /DED
* Only includes stories with JoR castmembers which ran in the comm because I sorted the Meme!fill badly.
Active AUs: 2 (Pirates, Sorcerers and Elementals with bookblather)
Universes Crossed Over: Polyfaceted, The Tenth Sage, In The Heart/Shine Like It Does (could be less if any of those coexist)
HEY OTHER WRITERS YOUR STORIES ARE NOW THREE OR FOUR DEGREES REMOVED FROM A SHOW THAT USED POISONED SPORTS DRINKS FOR MORE THAN ONE DRAMATIC APPLICATION. SORRY.
Characters Named: At least 72 in cannon
Colors Finished: One
Styles and Materials Employed: Portrait, Mural, Feathers, Canvas, Seed Beads, Finger Paint, Eraser, Oils, Novelty Beads, Graffiti, Photography, Stained Glass, Miniature Collection, Collage, Mosaic.
People Who Died Onscreen: Austin, Reggie, Lonnie, the reporter in Peacock, the guy Nene sniped, the wight Roa stabbed, the officer Siebenkas shot, and the secretary who got shot in Evi's story.
Character Who Got Laid The Most In Canon: Siebenkas ("My Cherie Amour", "His Heart Pounded", "Other People's Kids", "Fata Morgana").
* Character Who Got Laid The Most Period: Zephyr
Character Who Surprised Me The Most: Siebenkas
Character The Audience Seems To Like Best Right Now: SOMEONE JUST WON TIC-TAC-TOE
Characters The Audience Wants To See More Of: VOTE IN THE COMMENTS
Nouns named after famous beaders: 3

~*~

Chef's Choice Assortment
And yes, I do realize these are chronologically close together, although they were written far apart.

"It Sounds Like A Nightmare, But It Isn't" [NSFW]
http://rainbowfic.dreamwidth.org/236673.html

"Zephyr's Not An Artist"
http://rainbowfic.dreamwidth.org/296061.html

"Lycopodium"
http://rainbowfic.dreamwidth.org/281815.html

"The Achy Hour Where No One Goes But Courtiers"
http://rainbowfic.dreamwidth.org/268370.html

"Contes Barbares"
http://rainbowfic.dreamwidth.org/238164.html


Wine
This RP thread with settecorvi
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/30867.html?thread=1071763#cmt1071763

or

This RP thread with bookblather [NSFW]
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/19310.html?thread=608110#cmt608110

And no, I really could not pick between the two.

~*~

Future Plans

-Get through autumn of Arc II
-MORE PIP
-Roa Backstory [Barbados Blue] & Siebenkas Backstory [Provence Lavender]
-Siebenkas and Yueh Story ("Real Materials")
-Nene in first person
-Zephyr in first person
-That Thing With Jane
-Finish Angel Cake, Sulfur, Lotus, Lawn Green (fucking finally); move on to the alchemy colors and other seasons
--I will be taking other PBNs once Angel Cake is over.
-Retelling of various incidents from /Crushed Violets/; see, if you finish my rants, you get treats. Like the name of Ancestor Story. Anyway, doing the kirsch incident for sure. If you manage to google the fucking thing up, consider associated requests for Jealous of Roses free candy. Or booze. As you like.
--That said, I will be dealing with some new stuff and setting one of the set pieces from CV on its ear.
-Other people have chances to get laid
-Relationship developments which may or may not surprise the audience.
-Seedbeads. Everywhere.

~*~

Some Memorable Comments From 2012
I appreciate and adore ALL COMMENTS; these are primarily those which don't require referencing the story to get and which I was able to recall the locations of after the fact. We may need to have some sort of Best Memefill Evar runoff vote...

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

...most of it is sticky-sweet like Halloween candy should be, but the sad and even infuriating moments add another dimension that had me reworking things over in my head, like taking another bite of something to catch exactly what flavors are working in your mouth. -isana

Plenty of other people have said this to you, but it deserves reiterating because it is absolutely true: You have a wonderful way of showing us these small, intimate moments between people. A conversation about scars (that is more than a conversation about scars) becomes more interesting than a gunfight. -settecorvi

And so is Roa, but I have a feeling she could be doing something mundane like shopping and I'd still be first in line to get inside her head. -isana

I love the idea of Duclos just deciding to take a vacation day and buying the stuff people do for vacation, except for her it's a kind of performance art, almost. Deliberately going for the cheap plastic things and building sand castles and all that. -kay_brooke

But seriously, I am always impressed with your ability to bring quiet moments to life and make them epic. -isana

weuagbwarebgowQ IMAGERY. I am drowning in the beauty of the imagery. The rest is brilliant, but mostly--imagery. God, I love your writing. -subluxate

Oh, man. I want to take Pip and feed her soup and tea and cake forever. -isana

New verdict: you come up with some of the greatest first lines/paragraphs. Marry me, seriously. -ce_jour_la

...it's all dreamy. Rushed and anxious dream in the fight, maybe, but the rest has a sort of hazy, almost-not-quite real quality that a lot of my dreams had. -subluxate

One day I will gush about something other than your description of music and dialogue.
Today is not that day. -isana

Seriously, how are you and this fic so awesome? -geena

One day I will gush about something other than your description of music and dialogue.
Today is not that day. -isana

This is. This is just. Do not change a word of this ever, okay? Okay. -bookblather

I mean, wow. All of this. Your imagery and the way people do things, it's like a futuristic Versailles with only the slightest moral compass to hold it together. I LOVE IT. There's such a rainbow of emotion and action here that I can't absorb it all at once, but damn, is it ever lovely. isana

Haha, kids. I love it. It feels like a lazy sunny day just messing around in the backyard, except of course they're not in the backyard and there's a lot more violence. BUT STILL. And Siebenkas mother-henning, ahahahaha I love it. -bookblather

Dr. Islington, please come lecture my class on the wonders of the cervix. You can have fun showing us gruesome pictures of STDs and watching us all try to hold onto our poker faces. -settecorvi

So, this is utterly perfect. I may be reading your stories slowly, but be assured that I am loving them. Your characters are brilliant and I am in love with the interactions. Thanks for posting this. -walkswithheroes

*flails wordlessly* *and clutches Siebenkas to her bosom* -bookblather

. .gah. If this was Facebook, I'd 'like' this. If this was Tumblr, I'd reblog with a gif about my "feels". -walkswithheroes

Good lord, everything about this is magical, you know that? -isana

Okay, this is going to be kind of weird? But this has the sort of beauty you find in something everyday that transcends itself, like the way light shining through a window will arrest your attention unexpectedly. -settecorvi

Despite the sort of out of our world and understanding nature of what is going on there is such a REALISM here. I'm really blown away by how much Seb feels like a very normal guy (probably because that is how he sees himself?). [...] I was a bit daunted by the wordcount, but I'm SO glad I read it all, it was a perfect pairing with my red wine and cake. -novel_machinist

This is like flailing around in a giant feather bed and then finally finding the perfect sweet spot to cuddle under the big warm blankets and pillows and you're super comfortable and SUDDENLY A CAT APPEARS and purrs at you. That is what this story makes me feel. -bookblather

I like how this is almost prose-poem and you don't shy away from using descriptive words even if they might require the audience to chew on them. Beautiful. -finch

And now I think I need to go play with perfume, even if it doesn't come with Proustian telepathic overlays. -settecorvi

I just...you have removed my words, you. -isana
^ She later removed them right back.

~*~



Questions and comments welcome. Feel free to make inquiries of any of the cast personally. Note that they may respond to multiple questions (3+) better if those questions are asked by another character.

Any and all cast members are available.

And if anyone posted their own Chef's Choice, either for their own fics or for JoR or anyone else who wanted in on the menu joke, I would probably squirt champagne out my nose just for that person.

Comments

[bookblather]

Siebenkas is always welcome in my bosom.

Two chef's choice menus for you, then, purely in the interests of making you squirt champagne out your nose:

In the Heart

Rosemary and Thyme

Experience

Tidal

all that jazz

warm NC-17.

winter


Shine Like It Does

Pride

longing

Blur

and

something of yourself

At the Bone

Wine:

Martina Corlioni Facts

or

Ninjas

or

Gentle

or

Any Other Way

or

Building Up

[shipwreck_light]

Siebenkas is most gracious for your accommodations :D.

Will Cremant de Bourgogne do? We drank all of the champagne.

*and the wine goes shhhhhhhh in slow motion*

ZOMG. "Rosemary and Thyme"! I just. You shot one out of the park and possibly the city with that one. It's not a failed NaNo! It's a mural of good fortune, damnit.

"Experience" (and suddenly finding out what happened with Alyssa elsewhere XD) just really- it brings this really cool extra dimension to Felipe. It makes him seem very huggable and real.

"Tidal" = THE BOOKSEA. EVERYTHING. I mean, that piece is it's whole own little world. Of books. In a sea. *MELTS*

"Warm"/"Winter" Summer and her boys shine otherwise, but here's my favorite fairy tale ever with some of my favorite characters who just step so perfectly into their rolls it's almost like they came from this land. Nevermind the way you worked in other members of the cast. That "I'm Summer" at the end of "Winter" is just so haunting and beautiful. I can totally hear it.

~*~

"Pride" still makes me tear up a little.

"Longing" is tasteful, artful and has naked Jack in it. It is everything it needs to be. It is perfect, like a jewel no one can bear to cut. In fact, permit me to return your "don't change a word of this ever" XD.

The timing in "Something of Yourself" is just incredible, and is made even better by the sparsity of the language. I mean, a lot of people would have overwritten the beejeesus out of that. But, this is SHARP. And it's good that way.

"At The Bone"- speaking of rarities and overdoing, character pieces this smoking hot AND thoughtful only come along once in a blue moon. And look! IT'S BLUE.

~*~

Fact: Martina is in Kelly and Geena's Fishmas fic. I had to reread this list to pull her off.

Ninjas: I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH ABOUT NINJAS.

"Any Other Way" really pulls a chaotic moment in the Corlioni lives together and Teresa's there at the end. Oh, my feels.

"Building Up" made me want to find a way to fit Eithne and Yan on my lap at once.

~*~

I like this restaurant.

[bookblather]

Is Siebenkas aware that my bosom is a magical healing bosom? Because apparently it is, IDK.

omg *blush* I would feel guilty about turning your utterly fascinating post about the origins of Jealous of Roses into squeeing about my story but that would require me to regret it. :D THANK YOU for the lovely compliments. I have left you some in return on the love meme.

Fun fact: Zephyr's Not An Artist and Lycopodium are perfect. Forever.

[shipwreck_light]

He was not, nor was I. I believe this pleases him. Anyway, he's doing that thing where he tries not to smile and blushes a little and won't quite look anybody in the eye.

ANYTHING YOU WISH TO COMMENT IS FINE FOREVERS. Plus, I really enjoyed getting to say more about those fics, you know! Winteeeeeeeeeer.

I'm headed there now.

OK, I'm headed there as soon as I get over my blush.

Is there still room on the magical healing bosom?

[bookblather]

There is PLENTY of room in the magical healing bosom. XD I am a very bosomy young lady, I'm afraid, but that does mean more space for cuddles.

LOVE.

[isana]

I SEE WHUT U DID THAR.

Sorry it's taken me so long to reply to this--I've had this on my browser for days, trying to think up a proper response. But damn, JoR being WK-based? I am impressed, and this hat tip is for you!

Being as into anime as you were back then, I knew of WK, but wasn't all that interested, since CLAMP had me hook, line and sinker in my high school years, soon followed by Gundam Wing. The fact that you managed to make interesting and better a) makes me want to look at WK a little closer, and b) makes me want to do that EG rewrite that takes out the misogyny, because now you've made it look like so. much. fun.

And following Kat's suit, here is my menu:

Bone Deep

The Ribbon and the Rose

When the Weather Turns

In the Twilight

Fragments

Mercy

Gratitude

Lifelines

Complete (NC-17)

Between Wind and Water

There'll Still Be Rainbows (NC-17)

Sorry for it being so honkingly long!

[shipwreck_light]

FOR HAT TIPS I WOULD WAIT A YEAR.

*takes a bow* Thank you very much for reading! I wrote the essay with love (and also embarrassment XD) and, in my own odd way, I put love in every installment of JoR.

I have to say, that's not even the first re-imagining/pastiche of WK that's hit the internet. There was apparently a substantial one in Spanish at one time, but I've not been able to pull of an archive, let alone an English version. And I wouldn't be surprised if the person I used to write with is running one now too. It's probably from "Weiss"'s POV, and you know, I sure as hell wouldn't talk to her about it, but I'd read the hell out of it nonetheless.

Why? Because it is fun! It is fun every single day I post, it's fun to watch ALL OF YOU ASK FOR ROA IN A STORY I COULD NOT PUT HER IN. When she's Sylvia's standing and /Sylvia is one of the most hated people in the franchise/. The feeling's like getting hit in the face with the best air-conditioning ever on the hottest day of the year and I do highly recommend it.

If you want to try some WK...
-See if you can find the old panome fansubs. They're very literal. Make sure you try the OVA because... you'll see.
-I have translations for most of the drama CDs. Some of said translations are barely readable and some of the drama CDs are triggery as /fuck/. I am actually going to rag on one in Nene's first person narrative.
-I have some doujinshi and some fan essays and possibly some fanfic that I'm not responsible for.

So, if you've got even the littlest inclination to do it. This sort of thing- it's cathartic, it's fun and it will grow beyond how it starts if you take care of it.

In the meantime...

"Bone Deep" would be in my personal favorites of what you posted this year. It's just so moving and emotional with big drama and small drama. Ever part of it starts and ends right where it needs to. It really touched me and I'm very, very glad I read it.

"The Ribbon and the Rose" may be set during spring and summer, but it's really the perfect holiday season fic. Because it /gives/. It's just a joy to spend time with. Also, Yuyan in armor. Yes.

"In the Twilight" BRB CUDDLING SAITH.

I can still smell the night and feel the invisible bonds sliding in "Mercy". Mmm, yes. It is cruel, but it is cruel in that way that honestly almost kind of makes me smile. Maybe I'm odd.

Yep. "Between Wind and Water" still hurts. SEE IF THIS STOPS ME FROM CLINGING TO IT.

"There’ll Still Be Rainbows" is still made of rainbows. The relationship handling and changing comes off so deliciously, subtle and strong and /cuddly/; and it's emotional contrasts make it so much better. It's one of those don't change a word kind of situations, really.

"When the Weather Turns" ALSO STILL PLEASED BY MORE OF THIS INCIDENT. And OH YOUR IMAGERY. With these two and the almost cuddling and eeeee!

"Fragments" got posted not long after I started reading. It was very educational for me in a truly beautiful way. I can still see the misty green shores of the City of Corpses abandoned.

[Note to self: might have to make that one a necklace too. Need to find a source for massive amounts of pressed glass beads.]

"Gratitude" shines in an of itself, not only as a contrast to what the characters went through in other stories. It's uncomplicated, but nuanced. Which is way cool.

"Lifelines" is similar to "Gratitude" in that way, but it has that whole parallelism going as a diptych. It's really very artistic all around.

And "Complete". Well, you romance always blows me away. And um *dabs up nosebleed*.

My favorites:
"Bone Deep"
"There’ll Still Be Rainbows"
"Clear Autumn Moon"
"Once in a Lifetime"

[settecorvi]

I'm not familiar with the many-times greatgrandparent source material, but it's still fascinating to read about the genesis of this twisty and sprawling tale and equally-twisty characters you've made us love so much. Thank you for writing this up!

(And that RP thread was so much fun.)

Hmm, I haven't posted much, so my Chef's Menu will have few courses, but:

Appetizers: Weapons of Choice and Transubstantiation

Entree: The Bonetrain to Pandemonium (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5)

Wine: Mar's Mirror
(The wine may contain ground glass. Management takes no responsibility.)

[shipwreck_light]

WK is a mess to begin with. Putting it mildly. If you're familiar with the concept of fractal wrongness, this is a fractally wrong narrative and I love it on every conceivably wrong magnification. It makes no sense and it handles telepathy very, very badly.

Short version of the Sylvia debacle. One of the default fanon couples is Schuldig (the telepath who looks like Axl Rose) with Brad (the precognitive no one knows how to fucking write). It comes out on one of the drama CDs that Brad and Schuldig both slept with a woman named Sylvia, who is, when this is basically told to the audience by a shocked Schuldig, trying to kill them. Now, how a precognitive and a telepath got into a situation wherein this revelation comes about through a would-be assassin who is still awfully alive is anyone's guess and I swear to crap if you figure it out the gates to hell will open up and swallow Koyasu Takehito once and for all.

My reaction: ZOMG CANON BI HAWT.

Fandom's reaction: *raving hatred of Sylvia*

I don't... I don't get it. And neither does Zephyr, apparently. Because his misbehavior over the autumn has to do with his sexual expression. If Seb's the closest a character ever came to politely debating with me, Zephyr's the closest a character ever came to pitching a goddamn hissyfit in my ear. I would however like to take a moment to thank Roa for her patience and her grace and the fact I will never stop grinning when people express admiration of her on any level.

And that RP is like the BEST REFERENCE MATERIAL EVER. Thank you so much! *GLOMP*

Ahem.

I find your menu perfectly suited to a summer evening, ground glass and all.

"Weapons of Choice" is almost a pen portrait of Naveed, but it's also of her whole world. It really brings out feelings of one through the other in this delicious synergy of surrealist sensory porn. #15 is still my favorite.

Am having some difficulties looking at "Transubstantiation" and not going into happy spazz mode over SHEER FORCE OF AWESOME CONCEPT.

Bonetrain made me care about zombie predator spacetrains as if they were kittens. It taught the audience about Sihara via gamut and this was the best way. It was exciting and FUN. Yes, it was gruesome as all getout (your gruesome makes me /happy/), but it was still FUN. You made it fun and you made us care. You should be proud.

I will tame you yet, "Mar's Mirror". I will wear you. I know how to make you. I'm going to look for factory packs of Swarovski pearls just for you.