We'll Just Ignore That Week

Yup, I'm trying again.

Wow... I just... I completely missed last week! Sorry, folks! Is that the first time this year? I think it was the first time this year... It's just... that week really got away from me. It's been... hectic....

Two weeks ago, I still had HUNDREDS of pages to read in "Bitterblue" by Kristin Cashore before it has to go back to the library today. I had to work on the research portion of my "Meet Lia" mini-series for my on-going "Meet My OCs" project. I had to figure out my finances so I could pay for my portion of the car repairs. I had to organize my house, go to Zumba, prep for my trip down to visit my mother, and write a new and completed work of fiction for the month.

I... don't think I organized my time well.

First and foremost, I was able to get my finances all sorted out so I had enough to pay my portion of the collision repair bill. So check out how pretty my car is again!

It feels fantastic to drive my own car again after almost exactly a month! I did have a bit of a hiccup right out of the gate though, since my car has power steering to the point where I can use the heel of one hand to turn the steering wheel, whereas the Miata we had been borrowing did NOT have power steering. I had to muscle that thing around curves all the time, especially at slower speeds. When Hubby's friend told us "it could take a turn at 30mph no problem" I didn't realize he meant "it kinda NEEDS to go that fast in order for you to move the wheel at all."

Anyway, when I got my car back I forgot to take into consideration that I didn't need to do arm exercises before making a turn, and so I nearly over-turned and ran into a ditch pulling out of the collision center's parking lot! I did it a second time closer to my homee when I nearly steered right into the curb. Thankfully, I got the rhythm of my car after those two hiccups, and I was able to correct fast enough to stay in my lane of the road both times.

THAT would have been fun: leave collision center; wreck car all over again 2min out.

Anyway, that was Friday, 6/21. Wednesday, 6/19 - the day after my last blog post - I couldn't do anything writing or reading wise at work as I ran around changing sales tags all day; then Zumba and after-Zumba walk. Then I showered, ate, and spent SOME time with Hubby, so not much writing to be had even after work. Thursday was work again, and then Omnibladestrike's weekly visit. I can't recall at this time what I did at work, but if I had downtime, I was probably playing catch-up on my reading.

Friday, along with "pick up my car finally!" was also catch-up day for reading, for cleaning, for laundry, and for writing. I knew I wasn't going to really have time to do much outside of socializing while visiting Mom this past weekend, so I needed as much writing done as possible before I headed down on the 28th. That meant less than a week to work on "Meet Lia," my monthly fiction writing, and my blog since the 21st was also my last day off before my trip.

It was a LOT to do... and I do NOT know how to manage my time. I was able to get about half-done with everything before I panicked about how little time I had left and switched to a different project. Leaving them all incomplete instead of having at least ONE completed task and leave one or two not started...

Not a real confidence booster before heading into July's Camp NaNoWriMo. A trend that followed me into the new month as I only managed about 100 words last night.

What's worse is that, much like in May, I had no clue what to even write for my monthly completed piece of fiction. I had been so focused on the "Meet Willow" and "Meet Lia" posts that I wasn't thinking of any new content. I debated for the briefest of moments to write something with them, but I just couldn't think of what.

Then I spent Monday evening/Tuesday morning chatting with ChibiSunnie. We talked about a whole slew of things, but one of the topics that stuck with me was a bit about Fruits Basket. Specifically, she was telling me about the latest manga for the series called Fruits Basket Another. It's basically Boruto or X-Future. Namely, it continues the story by following the children of the original cast of characters. It's extremely short compared to the original manga series - only about 12 chapters/3 volumes long - and just concluded after 4yrs.

Anyway, the point is, much like the original Fruits Basket, apparently the parents don't make much of an appearance as the story focuses more on the high schoolers. Kind of sad, really, since it would be great to see 30-something, 40-something, and 50-something versions of the original cast. The real reason we were talking about this series though, aside from it simply being more Fruits Basket, is that the children of the three main characters of the show are also the main characters of this new manga series. Between the main cast briefly appearing here and there in the series centering around their children, and the flash-forward/epilogue of the original Fruits Basket, you get a glimpse into Tohru's love life and how happy a life she maintains for the rest of her days.

For those who want to get into the series, or have just started it, I don't want to give away who Tohru ends up with, but Chibi and I talked about a distinct and slightly odd way he shows her affection, and I hoped it continued into their adulthood. I threw out a bunch of headcanon scenes of when, how, and why he'd show her affection that way, and Chibi ate it up. Which, of course, encouraged me to keep thinking about them.

THIS WAS IT! This was the story I was going to tell for June! Now, the title alone for the story is probably a Tohru Endgame spoiler, so if you DO want to go into Fruits Basket spoiler-free, please skip on ahead a bit...
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Everyone who wanted to avoid spoilers has passed by? You guys either know the endgame or don't care? Alright, so I was specifically wondering about that little head bonk Kyo does to Tohru.

I came up with scenarios of him still doing that to refocus her throughout their life together, and I just HAD to write them out; they were too cute not to!

Thus "Love Taps" came into being, and was published on Wednesday, June 26th.

"Love Taps"

On FanFiction      On ArchiveOfOurOwn     On DeviantArt     On Tumblr

SUMMARY: Kyo’s little head bonks carry more meaning and more love than anyone could ever truly know. Anyone besides maybe Tohru, who reflects on an entire lifetime of receiving the loving raps on the noggin.

One-shot

WORD COUNT: 2952
RATING: General Audiences

Yeah! I posted the full story on Tumblr too! The story follows Kyo and Tohru - Kyohru - until they are 73, so it does also include spoilers for Fruits Basket Another; whatever I could grab from the wikis, spoiling myself be damned! So keep that in mind if you want to give my one-shot a read but haven't had a chance to read the newest manga and/or the "Three Musketeers Arc" companion stories. Now, TMA centers around Shigure, Hatori, and Ayame, but, from what I gathered via the wiki, there are some flash forwards in this arc that also spoils bits of Fruits Basket Another. So... fair warning... because I included as much as possible in "Love Taps" to make it canon compatible.
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OKAY! SPOILERS OVER NOW! YOU CAN START READING AGAIN IF YOU SKIPPED THE LAST PART!

The key thing to really take away from this fiction piece, whether or not you read it, is how much Chibi helped inspire me. We always pop out so many plot bunnies when we talk, and it was fun and refreshing to actually take one of those bunnies to maturity. She also greatly encouraged me by commenting about how perfect the headcanons were and how much she wished the manga creator Natsuki Takaya would actually draw them out to make them canon.

Well, Chibi, they'll be canon to us!

As I was publishing them, I thought it was fitting to have this story be dedicated to her. I haven't gifted Chibi a story in years, and she was beyond due for another one.

It was also nice to switch up fandoms for a few minutes. I flew through this story after work on Tuesday, June 25th. More on this later. For the quick recap, I gave Hubby a heads up, and squirreled myself away on the front porch to soak in my daily sunshine while I wrote. I then finished it up in the house, because my laptop was dying, and sent the first draft to Chibi late that night. I warned her that my eyes were glazing over towards the end, so please ignore the roughness of it. She seemed to enjoy seeing the headcanons written out.

The next day she saw that the edited version was published as a dedication to her, which was apparently a bit of a surprise. She completely gushed on my Facebook promotion for it, gushed on her reblog of my posting to Tumblr, and gushed in her review on AO3. She's just adorable! I mean, look at these!

ON FACEBOOK:
Aaaahhhhhh you're so sweet to dedicate this story to me and I LOVE IT SO MUCH IT'S SO ADORABLE AND SWEET EEEEEEEEEE THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D I left a proper review up on A03, but eeeeeee thank you this made me so happy to read and I love that you got inspired from our convo!! ^_^ <3 Aaahhhhhh my heart is all full of the fluff from this! :D <3
~~~ Followed by 3 different love-themed FB stickers ~~~

ON TUMBLR:
I already squeed on facebook and A03 but EEEEEEEEEE I LOVE THIS STORY SO MUCH IT’S SO SWEET AND FLUFFY AND MAKES ME SO HAPPY!!!! :D :D :D :D Thank you so much for dedicating it to me! ^_^ *sends you all the hugs* :D
~~~ Followed by 7 different Fruits Basket anime hug screen caps ~~~

AND THE AO3 REVIEW ITSELF:
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE THIS WAS SO SWEET AND FLUFFY AND ADORABLE AND I LOVE IT SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!! :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D <3 :D Aaahhhhhh and you dedicated it to me, that's so incredibly nice of you, THANK YOU!!! ^_^ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 This is exactly how I imagined those scenes when we were talking about all of this last week and I'm so happy that convo inspired plot bunnies that you loved enough to bring to life in this story!! :D Your writing is lovely as always and I can absolutely picture this whole story as a canon future for them!! :D Aahhhh and it was so fluffy and sweet it made me tear up a bit at how cute and happy and wonderful their life is together! ^_^ <3 Thank you for writing this story, it absolutely brightened my whole week!!! ^_^ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

So... I guess I did good?


Chibi wasn't the only person to give me some love for this story though. Now, I derped up and didn't jot down the 24hr stats like I normally would, but here's where I am as of this writing:

FFN: 94 views, 5 faves, and 2 reviews
AO3: 167 hits, 14 kudos, 1 bookmark, and Chibi's comment
DA: 10 views and 1 fave

Total Results: 271 views, 20 faves, 1 bookmark, and 3 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 12 notes; 9 likes and 3 reblogs

FFN reviews:
  1. *squee* I get to follow you to a new fandom! HOORAY! I really hope [spoiler; content removed] keep going, too!
  2. This was so sweet, showing all the different meanings behind [spoiler; content removed] over the span of various special moments throughout their life, it was just perfect. Admittedly, I didn't remember [spoiler; content removed] in the manga (though truth be told it's been a long time since I've read it), so when he first did it in the new anime series my heart all but exploded in joy. I'm still such a fangirl for this series and for [spoiler; content removed] in particular haha. Anyway, lovely writing, absolutely adorable and heartwarming. Great work!

One of the reblogs off Tumblr was a Fruits Basket fanblog by fruits-basket2019, and their tags included "#this was so cuteeee" So.. yay!

fanfictionrecommendations-com found me again and once more liked one of my stories. It will be interesting to see if any of them ever show up on their site.... Perhaps I should check in on that to see if any of my fandoms were showcased in the past few months.

Anyway, I know the above stats are fairly small compared to the week-long stats I get on my ML stories, especially when one considers how popular Fruits Basket is right now. However, I AM talking post-endgame for Furuba, and I do warn that it contains spoilers for FBA, so perhaps a lot of fans are steering away to avoid spoilers? Perhaps there are those who aren't fans of the canon endgame pairing that are also avoiding the story? Or perhaps Furuba fanfiction isn't as popular as ML fanfics? Also, new Furuba episodes come out on Fridays, so maybe no one is looking for fanfiction on Wednesdays or Thursdays?

Regardless of the reasoning, the actual ratio of kudos/likes/reviews to views seems to be smaller than with ML, which means when someone reads this story they have a higher percentage of reacting to it - by way of likes/kudos/bookmarks/follows/reviews/etc - than my ML readers. I also remember having roughly 20 views on FFN within the first 24hrs, and around 80 hits on AO3. I think I also had something like 5 likes and the 3 reblogs on Tumblr within those first 24hrs. The fave on DA was within the first couple of hours after publishing. That's exciting, right?

Heck, that first review I shared a few paragraphs up? The one about following me into a new fandom? That's from faithful reader ChubbyUnicornMama. They've been following me since I published "Woven Heartstrings" for Taurus Pixie. My heart swelled a touch to see that they did indeed read something non-Miraculous related. Apparently they have that much faith in my writing that they would read it, even if it's outside of their current fandom. Now, they DO know the story behind Fruits Basket, so they didn't go in cold or anything, but still, it was sweet that they had that faith. I then got a bit of a chuckle when I realized the review went up barely 30minutes after I published the story! Unicorn must have instantly gone to read after getting the alert!

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I feel so loved right now! I can't even express it properly. So, thank you, ChubbyUnicornMama for the love, and thank you, ChibiSunnie, for all the gushing. EEEEEE.

For everyone else who read, liked, left kudos, reblogged, faved, and/or bookmarked my story? Thank you as well for taking time with my little experimental journey into the Fruits Basket world for a minute.

Anyway, getting back on track! I told you about TWO weeks ago, but what about LAST week? Why did I miss my update? How did my Furuba story affect that?

Well, as I mentioned towards the top, Friday, 6/21, was the only day off I had that week so I could take this past weekend to visit my mom and sister. That meant I didn't have the 4+ hours first thing Tuesday morning that I normally take to write up these posts and edit them. I was at work, and I just couldn't work on my post like I wanted.

I MEANT to work on my blog post Monday night so it was all queued up for Tuesday at noon, but I was tired from running around trying to get things sorted the previous day. I also had my last Zumba class before the instructor went on a week-long vacation, which meant I really couldn't afford to skip it. I'm glad I didn't for more than exercise/health reasons. It was a nice stress reliever, even if the stress piled back on after taking a nearly 2hr break from everything, but more importantly, my niece joined me and my sister-in-law. School got out early as the school year came to a close, and so my niece spent most of the day with her mom. My sister-in-law didn't have enough time to do a sort of hand-off to her husband before Zumba, so Niece came with! She sat in the corner and watched us, but it was still fun to have her there and then walk with them after class was done.

Point is, between work - where I was actually kept fairly hoppin' - Zumba, post-Zumba walk, showering, dinner, picking Hubby up from work, and spending time with him... I ran out of time to write up my blog post so it was set to go last Tuesday. I mean, late in the day I had the chance to work on my blog post, but instead I watched the latest Fruits Basket - since I ran out of time to do so over the weekend - and then chatted with ChibiSunnie about it. When it was after 1am, I realized that I NEEDED to go to bed. No blog pre-write time.

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I then figured I could use my downtime at work to write up the post so I could just publish it late when I got home. Noooope. Yet again I was actually kept fairly occupied at work, and I still needed to make sure I didn't fall behind on my reading, so my downtime was spent working on that. On top of that, the discussions Chibi and I had the night before kept poking at me. I knew that I wanted to write them up for my monthly fiction project.

The day spun out of control fairly quickly for me as my head swam between the reading to get "Bitterblue" done before it was due back at the library, working on my "Meet Lia" posts for my Sunday deadline, writing up my Furuba fanfic before heading down to my mom's on the 28th, and playing catch-up to write my blog post... I also had a writing date set up with Omni, which largely means either talking about both of our projects - something I didn't need on my end - or focusing solely on his story to help him out. Whether or not we focused on Omni, it meant I wasn't writing anything myself. I also needed to fold laundry and start packing for our trip, and cleaning the house... I couldn't mentally map out how to find the time for everything!

Frazzled, I asked Omni for a raincheck, and we agreed to spend an hour or two of our Thursday meet-up instead to chat about his story. Having some time freed up, I then messaged Hubby to tell him he shouldn't expect to see me much that day as I HAD to get writing done. Once I got home, I quickly changed out of my work clothes, then squirreled myself away on the front porch.

I should have instantly started on my blog post. However, I knew I wanted to have SOMETHING to talk about in my post, completely forgetting that I originally wanted to use an uneventful writing week to finally talk about my thoughts on "Graceling."  So, I prioritized writing my fiction over getting my blog post done before Tuesday's end. That way I could share my story with you fine folks in that week's blog post.

As I mentioned above, writing the story kept nearly all night to do, mostly because of the research I had to do to figure out Tohru's adult life. Eyes glazing over, I shared the story with Chibi, then passed out knowing I didn't even have the post written up to publish first thing Wednesday morning.

Wednesday was spent editing the story, more reading, and trying to mentally block out my co-worker's incessant whining about how bored she was since we barely had any customers. I managed to get the story published between 2pm and 3pm, and I then focused on "Meet Lia" instead of my blog post... because I can't prioritize properly....

Honestly? I can't recall what I did Wednesday evening instead of working on my blog post. Especially since I didn't have Zumba. I think I tried to get a head start on my reading? Did I get suckered into my husband's new JRPG? I can't recall, and I was too frantic to remember to do my time audits.

Something I'm correcting this week. I already have yesterday filled in, and I'm up to the minute on today's audit thus far. I also remembered to mark the monthly calendar with what writing I was working on. I'm striving to do better with this custom-made planner I printed.

Anyway, the point is I STILL didn't have the blog done Wednesday evening. So that was my goal while at work on Thursday. I didn't get very far. I was busy early in the morning, and then I did more reading and caught up on my mobile games over lunch... and a touch beyond. I didn't get started on my blog post until around 1pm, so close to 24hrs after my Furuba story published. I worked on the stats, dropping them into a blog draft as I went. However, figuring out how to format Chibi's squees so I could keep those emoticons in a blockquote... it was more exhausting and took up more time than I gave it credit when I went in to the task.

Before I knew it, the work day passed me by, I didn't have all the stats properly logged, especially when they were still updating, and I hadn't written much of anything for the blog outside of the stats and reviews. When I got home, Omni was already here, and Hubby was showing off his new JRPG video game. As agreed, Hubby continued playing his game while Omni and I chatted about his story for about an hour or two. Then Hubby made us all soft-shell tacos, and we switched gears.

I STILL needed to finish folding laundry and pack for the trip, so I begged Omni to bring his copy of the "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" movie. He had wanted us to watch it with him for nearly a year now, and I couldn't watch our normal subtitled anime. I needed to focus on something other than the TV, and having a show with English audio meant I could still follow the plot without gluing my eyes to the TV the whole time.

We watched the movie. I folded laundry and packed. We chatted a bit more. I had Omni watch the next Fruits Basket episode in my re-watch because I didn't need to see the TV to know what was going on anymore. I think Omni and I are now up to episode 5? I feel like the Culture Festival is the next episode for us to watch this week, so... whichever episode that is.

Anyway, with the socializing, folding, and packing, I had no time to go back to finish my blog. "Okay," I told myself "Wake up super early Friday morning to work on it then!" Nope. I mean, I still woke up early for me - about 6:30am - but I spent that time showering, shaving, finishing the packing, getting breakfast ready, and whatever else I needed to get sorted before the trip. I ran out of time to work on the blog post or the "Meet Lia" posts before Hubby and I had to leave. But, hey, we actually left for my mom's on time. That's kind of a first. My sister even joked that it might snow!

Instead, we just got caught in highway construction traffic, and got lost when I tried to self-detour... so we got to my mom's an hour later than intended. You win some you lose some?

Throughout the weekend, I DID have some downtime at my mom's here and there, but I was so drained at that time I didn't have the energy to write anything. I barely had the energy to even unpack my laptop. I think I used it for a grand total of about 20min the whole weekend. At that point I figured it was too late to worry about the "Meet Lia" posts, and it wasn't worth trying to get last week's blog post up. I waved the white flag and submitted to missing my first week of the year.

I'll have to write up a post focused solely on my thoughts about "Graceling" and "Bitterblue", and then double-post one of these weeks to make it up.

When I got back home Sunday evening I meant to take the time to work on publishing the "Meet Lia" posts, and I even hid in the bedroom to do just that. Except I passed out a few minutes in....

Hacker Boy Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

So, with only the overview/background post figured out, I FINALLY published the first "Meet Lia" post last night. I already got a like from both Skarabrae-stone and ChibiSunnie, as well as Chibi confessing that Lia is her favorite of my OCs. Honestly? Since Lia is basically just me with most of my friends - whereas Willow is me with Hubby, Trish is Angry Lyco, Jolene is AU Lyco, and Amara is just Emo Girl - I get why she might take a shine to her.


But this post is beyond epic as I tried to catch up on TWO crazy weeks!

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I STILL need to read 126 pages before writing group at 6pm tonight so I can return "Bitterblue" and I need to work on my Camp NaNo project - which I ran out of time to fully talk about, but I AM working on "One and the Same" again; hopefully third time's the charm. I have to work on more "Meet Lia" posts, and the blog post to make up for missing last week. I'm off to a great start with this epic post publishing two hours late.... Seems I'm not getting a break until August.

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Meet Willow

So, uh, I didn't get my Willow introductory posts up last Tuesday like I demanded myself to do. In fact, the more I worked on it, the more involved it became. By the time I finished writing/editing the posts it was Thursday. So I figured I'd just hold off until Sunday, and have my Meet My OCs series update every OTHER Sunday. That way I have two weeks to organize, write, and edit each character's introduction.

In the end, the document to introduce Willow was about 45pgs long! That doesn't include the space that would be taken up with pictures. The final info-dump - and it was indeed a DUMP as I flooded my poor followers' dashes - was SIX POSTS long, and the first 5 posts were each between 6 and 10 pages long in the master word document.

If you want to learn more about Willow - although, I think I have already shared pretty much all of it on here in some shape or form - you can check out my Meet Willow mini-series over on Tumblr.

• Part 1 introduces who Willow is, gives some of her family history/backstory, and explains her powers.
• Part 2 gets a bit more in-depth with her major relationships throughout X-Future, as well as how I'm planning on adapting those relationships in my rework for Glitches.
• Part 3 turned out MASSIVE as I recapped every major event Willow went through in the X-Future plot line, as well as explain how much of her story is going to be brought over to Glitches.
• Part 4 gave ALL the visuals I have for Willow.... And... it's- it's a lot.
• Part 5 actually has 5 different scene samples of Willow.
  As I was going back through the X-Future role play for research for Part 3, I was amused by some of Willow's interactions. I truly did forget some key bits about her since I haven't role played her for 2yrs. I wanted to showcase those bits via narrative prose.
  Samples include:
  • The one-shot "Mutual Teasing" to showcase Young Willow and her early dynamic with Devon
  • A snippet of the X-Men detention cells scene from "Please, Let Me Explain." Mainly the interaction of:
    Devon: "I'm innocent and never meant to hurt you."
    Willow: "Well, you being innocent makes my life worse; could you just admit to being the bad guy for me?"
  • The one-shot "It Is So On!" to showcase Snarky Willow, her interactions with Nyssa, and her attitude towards Devon post-Brotherhood return.
  • A prose adaptation of Willow's Astral Plane fight with Agony in X-Future, specifically showing off how powerful she is compared to her foil.
  • A prose adaptation of my role playing of Willow confronting Lia's tendency to overburden herself. Namely, the final interaction where Lia: "All of my friends die, and I'm useless to prevent it; why do I even exist?" is responded to by Willow: "Their deaths aren't about you! God, your ego! Get over yourself."
  She's a comfort, that one...
• Finally, after overwhelming everyone, I finished up with a bit of fun by showing off the two main Custom Wrestler entrances Hubby and I created for Willow.

Actually, since this is the first time I tried to film them, I'm cool with showing off the entrances here too. Sorry for the video quality, though. I don't have any recording hardware for the Xbox, so I had to resort to using my phone to record the video... Meh, it works....

This is Willow's individual wrestler entrance. She's donning her Cheshire Cat illusion, and wearing the closest thing I could get to her X-Men uniform. Her entrance music is also her unofficial theme song: "I Get Off" by Halestorm.

 This is Willow's Mixed-Gender Tag Team entrance for her and Chayse. I had Chayse in his casual, everyday clothes, and I had Willow in the closest to her "everyday clothes" that I created: a Slutty School Girl outfit. Their entrance music is "My Goddess" by The Exies.

So... yeah... if it's not obvious, that was what took up most of my week. Well, that and more reading, which I'll get to in a minute.

Next on the docket? Lia.

I was going to bounce over to Jolene, since I probably know her about as well as Willow, and she has a lot of visual aids too. However, that's the problem. I had originally saved a bunch of picture references for my own purpose, so I never noted the artists. I'm going to need time to try to track them down, but it will also be a bit of an uphill battle. Especially since I can't even re-find the image I had used for Jolene herself. She may need more than 2 weeks to be good to go.

Alternatively, I was thinking of writing about Amara, simply because she's my oldest-existing OC, and I THOUGHT I knew her inside and out.

However, ever since I started using Tumblr, I've really picked up on how "stand-offish female lead with a wounded heart that just wants to be loved" cliche Amara actually is. When I first created her, I had her physically abused by her father's side of the family, and then emotionally abused by her mother's side of the family. Giving up on her relatives, Amara went to a Human town to learn how to become an adventurer, but Something Vague happens, and she retreats to the wild. Then, upon near starvation during a particularly harsh winter, Amara is saved by a hermit who trains her on crucial survival skills. He becomes one of the first people to ever show her kindness - outside of her mother - and proves to her that Humans aren't entirely unbearable. At the very least, they can be useful allies/companions. With a renewed outlook on society, she becomes an Adventurer.

It was good, but I needed to figure out that Something Vague portion to figure out what drove Amara to the wild; giving up on society as completely useless to her. I also needed a reason for her to be so stand-offish around men, and why she purposely tried to make herself as unattractive to them as possible. About 5 or 6 years ago, I thought I figured out my solution: 16yo Amara, having traveled to the closest Human city outside of her family's woods, gets kidnapped off the streets, drugged, and forced into prostitution. When she finally breaks out of the brothel, she's so disgusted with Humans, and males in general, that she runs to the woods to live among the "more civilized" animals.

Fast forward to a year or two ago, and that "solution" to Amara's attitude left a foul taste in my mouth. I was basically using repetitive rape as a plot device for character development. Also, if Human males were that evil towards her - the physical abuse was also from her Human male relatives - then why the hell would she trust a Human male hermit, even if he did provide her food and shelter? She also wasn't showcasing nearly enough PTSD and other such symptoms of such a harsh trauma as sex trafficking.

And, on a MUCH more minor note, I couldn't figure out how she was able to break out of the brothel, especially when she was chained to her room. The only solution I could think of was a "good-natured" patron took pity on her and released her, and I hated that a man had to rescue her and set her free...

Still, the forced prostitution stayed in her backstory, because I couldn't think of an alternative.

Until recently, that is.

While reading "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore, I did NOT get a "Legend of Zelda" vibe from the story, as I've mentioned last week, but I DID see Amara a great deal in Cashore's lead Katsa. Both leading females are deadly warriors that no one wishes to mess with. A simple glare was enough to clear the room. Even with this harsh reputation, both women actually find the violence exhausting and disagreeable. Neither woman truly wants to be seen as attractive by men, even though they can't hide how conventionally beautiful they are. Katsa counters this by refusing to wear dresses whenever possible, and chopping her hair close to her scalp. A decision that was mostly functional, as long curly hair is a major pain to maintain and difficult to fight with, but it had the added benefit of making her more masculine looking. Amara, on the other hand, purposely kept herself filthy - covered in dirt and her hair tangled in unruly dreadlocks - and wore men's clothing whenever possible to hide her curves. Both women just wish to be free of criticism and obligation. Katsa wants to be her own woman, instead of the muscle of her king, and Amara wishes for her mother's family - and Elves in general - to just accept her.

I had originally created a love interest for Amara; a Human fighter who falls for her, warts and all. He knows she's broken, and he doesn't demand she give him affection in return. All he asks is that she accepts HIS affection, and finally believe herself worthy of being loved. A task that proves trying, since even Amara's mother was a bit distant from her, emotionally. Eventually, Amara not only accepts his love, and the realization that she DESERVES love, but she also falls for him in return. She doesn't necessarily soften due to his love, but she does finally show her existing soft spots to others; now feeling safe to do so.

For Katsa, Cashore had her also believe she wasn't suited for love. Katsa is actually surprised to discover how many of her companions have fallen in love with her. It's a pretty amusing scene as she races to her cousin and demands to know if HE has also fallen in love with her. To which the cousin just kind of chuckles before admitting that he does love her, but he certainly isn't IN love with her. Katsa is determined to remain unmarried and childless, something I'll touch upon more as I fully talk about this book. She then meets Po, a fellow Graceling, who is very nearly her match in hand-to-hand combat. They agree to train together while secretly gathering information on who would want to kidnap Po's grandfather. There is a hiccup in their relationship and trust...

...when Katsa figures out Po's true Grace, however, his encouragement sticks with her, and Katsa decides to officially free herself from her uncle's service. After threatening the king into submission, Katsa decides to forgive Po's deception and travel with him to find the answers he needs about his grandfather's kidnapping.

While on a quest - which takes months to complete - Po and Katsa re-connect. Then Po apologizes to Katsa. Despite his efforts, and despite his knowledge that she doesn't want a relationship, Po has fallen in love with Katsa. She is equally distressed as she realizes she loves Po in return. However, she still wants to remain unmarried and childless. A decision Po doesn't bother attempting to push. He lets her know that he is hers, and it is up to her to decide what to do with that information.

Much like Amara, Katsa doesn't exactly "soften" with Po's love, but she does find the courage to finally showcase the kindness and mercy she had to keep hidden for most of her life. Po also helped her realize what her true Grace is, and how she wasn't meant to be the weapon her uncle, the king, forced her to become.

The more I read about Katsa, the more the wheels spun in my head, and the more I tried to figure out how to use Katsa as a blueprint for Amara's backstory rework. I don't know if I'll have her become a forced assassin like Katsa was, but I now know of much preferred alternatives for Amara's "Tragic Past," things that can still force her to hate humanity.

Likewise, Hubby, Omnibladestrike, and I just finished up watching How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord during our weekly anime-watching meet-ups. In the show, a character is revealed to be a Demon Lord sympathizer, wishing for the Demon Lord Krebskulm to be revived so she can exterminate the mortal races. While we don't have MUCH on this character's backstory, we do get some hints as to why they want all mortal races to be erased from the planet. Not a kind childhood, that one had.

The Netflix season of Lucifer - which Hubby and I just finished last night - even had a Generic Cop Brutality Towards PoC/Gang Violence episode that had Amenadiel question the value of staying on Earth, and how safe life is among humans. That could also kinda sorta maybe work for Amara pulling away from Humanity....

In truth, it doesn't take much to make someone lose faith in Humanity. It doesn't need to be as violent, traumatizing, triggering, and/or invasive as rape. I don't need - and, in fact, I should avoid - the "old, white, male writer shortcut to tragic female character development" trope. It's gross. It's insulting. It's insensitive. I'm better than that. All writers SHOULD be better than that.

I need to find more characters like Katsa, Amenadiel, and the demon worshiper in HNTSADL. That way I can find a reason to hate Humanity that fits Amara's world, backstory, and personality. I also need to determine if I still want to lean so hard into my InuYasha obsession when I first created Amara, making her goal in life be a quest to find some magical artifact that could dispel her human half and make her fully Elven.

With so much I need to rework for Amara, I probably won't write up her intro until nearly all of the others are done.

Which brings me back to where this all started: Lia being my next OC introduction in 2 weeks. Who knows what I might unearth as I start writing up her intro, considering Willow's intro was supposed to be ONE post. As of right now, though? I think the only thing I need to "sort out" is her Glitches last name since her father is no longer going to be the X-Men canonical character Jamie Madrox. As of right now, the leading option is Mordeaux, mainly because I kept mispronouncing Jamie's last name as that, so Lia's basically been Lia Mordeaux in my head the whole time anyway....

As I mentioned above, working on Willow's write-up wasn't the only thing I did this week, although it was pretty darn close to being so....

This past weekend, EdenDaphne surprised everyone with a second epilogue to her and Maerynn's story "Under Lock and Key." Eden was commissioned to draw the Adrienette Halloween costume teased at the end of the story. After drawing the commission, Eden had an itch to write a small companion piece, so she added the scene as an epilogue chapter, and it was so sweet.

Now, I was busy working on finishing my Willow posts this weekend, but I did finally get around to reading the new chapter yesterday. Of course, I'd recommend it. If you haven't yet, go check out ULAK, especially with this new chapter.

Also, released yesterday, and promptly consumed by me, was the latest chapter of Taurus Pixie's story "Chat Vert". And, yes, it IS another mini-Lukanette chapter. So of COURSE I was sitting on my front porch squealing at a pitch only the neighbor dogs could hear.

I'm calling all fanartists here. If you ever feel inclined to draw fanart for Pixie's story, could you PLEASE do a comic-style side-by-side of Marinette and Luka's phone conversation? Because seeing his side of the conversation would look ADORABLE, and I would love it, and Pixie's stories deserve more fanart.

I'd do it myself, but it might take me 3 months to get it nice enough for anyone to recognize what exactly is even going on in the image...

Anyway, along with reading fanfiction, yesterday I caught up on my re-read of "Fruits Basket." At least, I'm caught up in re-reading volume 3 of the manga, which is where the anime is up to now. This Friday's episode will be the start of volume 4 of the manga, so I should get started on my re-read of that...

Not enough reading for you? Well hold on, because I still have more! I've actually been quite the busy girl this week....

"Graceling" was due back at the library on the 13th, so I rushed to get through the final 100 pages of the story. I still think the second half of Part II in the story is my favorite part; the most intense. However, I did enjoy the conclusion of the story. My only real complaint is about Google's auto-fill feature.

See, about half-way through the book, the descriptions of Po's cocky, intense, but somehow still playful look, and his constant style of undoing the top of his shirt and rolling up his sleeves, just kept making me think of this image:

This is Addison, an OC of windyautumnmoon, and drawn by CrystalCurtisArt. Addison is a were-fox and king of thieves, so it makes sense that he'd give off the same energy as Po. However, without fully remembering this image while I was reading, I couldn't recall if it was actually fanart for "Graceling," especially since I hadn't heard of the book prior to that Tumblr post a month ago. We'll ignore that the series premiered in 2008. Anyway, I didn't think to look up who the artist is via an old Rogue's Scribe post, and instead tried to just search for generic Po fanart.

This, was a TERRIBLE idea. Because all I had to do was write "Graceling Po" in the Google search bar, and the first auto-fill hit turned out to be a major spoiler.

So, here's your warning. DO NOT SEARCH FOR PO WITHIN THE GRACELING FANDOM UNLESS YOU HAVE FULLY READ "GRACELING" OR YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS.

Going into the third part of the book, I kept trying to forget the spoiler I saw. I could not, and the reveal wasn't nearly as impactful because of it. I mean, obviously, that's why the scene was "spoiled." I do have to say the emotion was still there, and it still hit me, but it didn't hit AS hard as it could have because I saw it coming. Plus side though, at least I know that scene has re-readability if it still hit me even after knowing what was going to happen.

Oh geez, I was going to go into more depth about my overall thoughts on "Graceling" but I've already rambled for quite a bit about my characters, so I guess I'll have to postpone again until next week.

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For now, I'll leave you with this: the writing style Cashore uses, her voice, the language utilized, isn't really "me." I didn't find it nearly as engaging as the more conversational writing voices of say Rick Riordan, or any of the fanfiction writers I follow. I just wasn't as emotionally invested. But, that could just be me and my desire to read more conversational writing. All-in-all, language aside, I did enjoy the plot and characters immensely, and did instantly talk about the book with both Hubby and Omni.

I am planning on picking up the next book in the series "Bitterblue" when I hit up the library for my writing group tonight. I'll keep you posted on my thoughts.

Now, to go work on Lia's write-up so I can actually get it done by my deadline of Sunday, June 30th. An interesting task, considering I should be visiting my mom that weekend; assuming my car is finally out of the shop by then.

Wish me luck!

That Week Went Quick

This week I somehow did a lot and nothing at the same time. I manage to fall into the paradox quite frequently, actually. I guess that means I'm not nearly as efficient as I would like to believe myself.

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc

What I mean is, I've read for hours this week, and yet the book isn't done yet, and I have 2 days to finish reading before it's due back at the library. I also have been working on my latest Meet My OCs post for Tumblr since Friday; the writing of which has taken up most of my free-time, and yet I couldn't get it done by my self-imposed deadline of Sunday.

In fact, as I'm working on this blog, I STILL don't have the Meet My OCs post done, and will need to work on that next. Along with working on my dishes... and folding my laundry... and vacuuming... you get the idea.

Let's back up and go day by day, because that seems to be the most coherent way to explain what I've been up to when I've had weeks like this.

Tuesday
I finished up my blog post on time, but between picking Hubby up from work, running errands, and eating meals, I didn't get to promoting my blog post until late afternoon/early evening. In fact, I don't think I managed to get my promotion for the post up on Tumblr until around 9pm, when all was said and done. Mainly because my afternoon mostly consisted of dropping my car off at the collision center around 3pm so Rozsavaria could pick me up and bring me back home, and then I kidnapped her to play Diablo III with Hubby and I until 5ish. Then she went home to finish up some school work before she had another friend meet-up, meanwhile, I scrambled to try to get more blog promotions done and dinner eaten before my Writers Group meeting.

At the meeting, I read my penultimate chapter of Prescription for Love. Omnibladestrike had also attended again, making it a bit of a habit for him, which is fantastic. Everyone seems to be really enjoying his story, and I think he really needed to hear that from someone other than a friend. Post-meeting, I hung out for a couple minutes with Omni and Skarabrae-stone. We chatted about Ska's character for X-Future, role playing in general, and interesting quirks we each have that seems to be fairly unique within our social circles. I ended up getting home closer to 8:30, and pretty much crashed; only taking enough time to finish my blog post promotions.

Wednesday
During my little bursts of free time at work - 15min here, 40min there - I cracked "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore open again to try to get some more reading in. I was far from where I should have been, reading wise, in order to finish the book before it was due back at the library, so I had to start tearing through it. After work, I quickly got ready for Zumba, and then I scooped up Roz for her second attempt at the class. I think I killed her a touch less this go. We then did my normal cool-down walk, but it was drizzling, so we only walked one block before I escorted her home. Then, because it's how we always are, I said goodbye, only to stick around and chat for another 30min.... It went from "Oh hey, it really opened up, maybe you should stick around for a bit" to "Yay, you talked long enough that the rain stopped" to "Oh, whoops, we talked too long and it's pouring again." It was beautifully warm rain, I needed to hop into the shower when I got home anyway, and it wasn't that far to go with stuff that could get wet, so I said my goodbyes and legit left.

I made it home, a bit drenched, a little after 8:30. I then scrubbed down the tub, because I had forgotten to do so Tuesday, and hopped into the shower. By the time I was done with the bathroom scrub down and my own shower, it was a little after 9pm. One late dinner and quality time with Hubby later, and it was bed time.

Thursday
I spent HOURS at work - it was DEAD - reading more of "Graceling" in order to catch up. Last week, when I first started reading "Graceling," I had enjoyed the story well enough. However, now that I was getting further into the plot, the story was really hooking me; begging me to keep going. Still wasn't feeling any "Legend of Zelda" vibes, though. When I got home, Hubby and Omni were already hanging out. We enjoyed our weekly anime-watching hang, and I "forced" Omni to finally get into the Fruits Basket 2019 reboot; he had it in his queue but hadn't started it. Omni stuck around until about midnight, so I just did a brief wind-down after he left before I went to bed.

Friday
I got another hour or so of reading in, and now I was getting to the point where I was thinking about the characters and what could potentially happen next. It was harder to stop reading. After work I ran around doing errands; mostly doing laundry. While waiting for my clothes to be dry, I decided to do my new Friday routine: dinner while watching the latest Fruits Basket episode. Except there was a broadcast delay in Japan, I guess, so the latest episode wasn't up yet. I COULD have just watched something on my laptop, like more Steven Universe, or just have the TV on Cartoon Network or something. Instead, I shrugged and started up Ouran High School Host Club again. Got three episodes in before I had to go collect my clothes from the laundromat.

When I got home I figured I'd start work on my latest Meet My OCs post for Tumblr. I was FINALLY done introducing the broad, IRL inspiration for the builds of my worlds and characters. It was time to ACTUALLY introduce my characters. I was starting with Willow, and it turns out this was a TERRIBLE idea. I should have started with the characters I don't really know instead of the other way around, that way I could figure out what I was getting myself into. I'll talk a bit more about this later. Point is, while working on Willow's intro, I thought about her wrestling intro in Hubby's WWE13 game. I wondered if I could somehow record it to post with Willow's intro, and so I spent the next 40min or so trying to find the dang game. I found the case exactly where it was supposed to be, but the game itself wasn't in it. I looked on things, under things, and behind things. I went through all of our other game cases, and a great deal of DVD cases to make sure it wasn't accidentally tucked in any of those. I then checked my box of "sort and put away later" that I have tucked in my library. Nowhere. I can't find this game, but it kept me far too long to give up on trying to find it.

While I was in the library searching, though, I decided to grab the last of the Fruits Basket mangas. I had read the earlier mangas enough times, and I've watched the original anime a couple of times, and so the first... fifth?... of the Fruits Basket storyline is fairly well defined in my memory. The last bits of the story, though? The actual reason Akito allowed Tohru to stay with the Sohmas, Shigure's plot from the moment he met Tohru, the true story behind The Baseball Cap, how Kyo knew Tohru's mom, Kyo's guilt, and a bunch of love confessions.... I vaguely remembered them all, but I needed refreshers. I especially wanted to know how the arcs all ended and tied up so I could properly appreciate the foreshadowing the new anime has been sprinkling in already. For instance, I'm already seeing hints at Kyo's greatest regret and the burden of his guilt, and I just needed a refresher on the exact event he felt guilty for. Anyway, after grabbing the last four mangas of the series, I started skimming them to refresh my memory.

Quick side anecdote: I started buying the Fruits Basket manga back around 2006 or something. I stopped reading the series right after the major reveal of Kyo's guilt. It was a MAJOR cliff hanger, and I didn't intend to stop reading with that dangling in my mind, but I just COULD. NOT. FIND. the next manga. I managed to find and buy mangas 22 and 23 to end the series, but for the life of me, manga volume 21 just wasn't in ANY of the bookstores I searched, and it was always out of stock, even online. Fast forward about TEN YEARS, and, while hanging out with Roz, I saw a Fruits Basket manga, all by its little lonesome, chilling on her bookshelf. It was a later volume, and it was the only one she had; it used to be her late sister's. Roz never bothered trying to track down the other volumes, and wasn't even sure why her sister would have only one so late in the series. But, lo and behold, it was the elusive 21st volume! Roz gave it to me to complete my collection, and I was FINALLY able to finish the series about 4 years ago. As I re-read the final mangas - volumes 20 through 23 - on Friday, I remembered the nearly decade-long cliff hanger I had to suffer though, and I mini-raged at the ridiculousness of it all. Thank God for Roz and her random manga collection.

Anyway, I got so engrossed in my manga re-read that I actually stopped skimming the contents fairly quickly, instead fully reading without realizing I transitioned. Since Hubby was at a Midnight Release game for Magic: The Gathering, I lost track of time. I ended up reading manga until 1am. I guess that was one way to make up for not getting a new episode this week.... When I went to bed I still wasn't quite tired, though, so I cracked open "Graceling" and read one more chapter before passing out.

Saturday
I was finally getting into the real meat of "Graceling", the Act II midpoint had already come and gone, there were slightly new goals for the characters, and the romance subplot was chugging along - something I want to talk about, but this blog is long enough as it is; I'll have to discuss it next week. My point is, I read whenever I could. Getting to the end of Part 2 of the book - basically the end of Act II - felt like a good stopping point for me. Taking a breather from reading, I tried to switch gears and work more on my intro to Willow. I worked on my writing, but not nearly long enough. I had about 12pages, and knew I needed to split up the post so it wouldn't be overwhelmingly long, but Hubby really wanted to get back into our watch of Lucifer on Netflix.

We had heard of the show, and we've caught an episode here and there while it was on. However, we never fully got into it, mostly because it was on at the same time as a show we were already fans of, and so the other show won out the time-slot. We are really enjoying this show - in particular, I'm really enjoying the soundtrack for the show - and we have been majorly binging. In fact, tearing through the seasons of Lucifer is one of the main reasons I didn't get much else accomplished this past week.

Anyway, most of Saturday evening was Hubby and I watching Lucifer together, especially since we didn't get to watch any on Thursday or Friday, so Hubby was itching for more episodes.

Sunday
I tried. I really did. We had two customers the whole day. It was DEAD while people enjoyed the nice weather we were FINALLY having this weekend. We accomplished our paperwork and other such busywork fairly early into the shift, so I worked as diligently as I could to crank out the rest of Willow's intro, that way I could post it when I got home. I had split up the original post into two. Part one was Willow's generic info, pre-X-Future background, and overview of her powers. Part two was a breakdown of her main relationships, both good and bad. Part one ended up being about 6pgs long, and part two was about 8pgs. I STILL wasn't done, though. Part of knowing who Willow is includes knowing what she went through during X-Future, and how that helped her mature into a better person.

Side note: Wolfhearted was right. Once I actually wrote out Willow's personality and her relationships with others in an objective summary, she kinda WAS a bully, a manipulator, and an overall bitch. Without her charisma to carry her and hide her, I can see why Wolfhearted hates her. Whoops. Never realized how bad she truly was. I'll have to rework her character and overall character arc when officially writing Glitches. Thankfully, I've grown to become a much more empathetic person, so hopefully I can see my character's pitfalls a bit easier and can curb them slightly. Either that, or lean hard into them if I want the character to lose sympathy....

Anyway, after writing nearly 20pgs already, I STILL had to do an X-Future recap. I enjoyed the sunshine a bit by trying to work on that third part to Willow's intro on the front porch. Sadly, my laptop's battery doesn't seem to hold much of a charge anymore - probably because I keep it on charge more often than not; I heard that actually ruins batteries - so I only managed about an hour or so before I had to go inside to charge.

Around 7pm, Wolfhearted came over to hang out and watch the English dubbing of the latest Miraculous Ladybug episode; the original French dub having come out nearly a month ago, so this watch with Wolf was long awaited. Hubby, Wolf, and I chatted a bit about the validity of the time travel showcased in the episode. Then Hubby started up Lucifer again. Wolf had watched the series when it first aired, so he was already caught up on where we were. Sadly, where we were was the third season, which Wolf wasn't a fan of. I have to admit, once he pointed it out, I had to agree that, while still entertaining, the writing did do a slight downward slide. Wolf also grumbled about how the season ended, and, having finished season 3 last night, I have to agree with him. I'll get to that, though.

After Wolfhearted left, Hubby and I kept pushing through season 3. I kept trying to work on my post in order to publish it on Sunday. Problem is, I was so engrossed in the show's story that I never got around to asking Hubby if he could stop the show for the night; which would have allowed me to re-focus on my writing. Instead, I waved the white flag, put my laptop away, and just enjoyed the episodes with Hubby. About 12:30am or so, we finally caved, and went to bed.

Monday
Another slow day at work, so I spent nearly half of my work day just writing up more of Willow's post. I figured, "Meh, I had posted on Monday instead of Sunday before, and this post is MASSIVE, so I'm sure no one will care about it being a day late." However, I was still determined to have it be A DAY late. No more. Sadly, that didn't work out. I got home from work with Willow's story arc post nearing 6pgs long, and every time I thought I was done, I remembered another key event that I needed to work in. I also had to go back to the previous two post drafts, and edit a few things, shift a few things, it was getting a bit overwhelming.

Once again nearly done, I paused to have dinner with Hubby, and he turned on Lucifer as we ate. Bad idea. Yet again, I became too entranced by the show's story to gather up the will to ask Hubby to turn it off so I could finish my post. I kept trying to look away from the show. I figured I could listen to it more than watch it; that way I could work on my post. I couldn't split focus, though. I rarely can split focus. For me, my focus tends to be more all-or-nothing. Is there an opposite to ADHD? If so, I think that's me.

I mean, I get so hyperfocused on a task that hours EASILY fall away without me realizing it. Look at this recap of my week: hours of Lucifer watching, hours reading mangas or "Graceling," hours working on "simple" Tumblr posts, the need for me to have an hourly planner in order to keep TIME AUDITS, the fact that when I would character-build in video games I would need anywhere between 1 and 3 hours to do so, the fact that I would spend about 5hrs playing The Sims and I was only building the house, I would irritate my mother when I used to edit AMVs at home because I would spend HOURS working on it, and even 15 solid minutes trying to perfect the timing of the same 4sec of video. I.... might have a problem....

Anyway, we watched the last of season 3, and Wolfhearted was right. The character motivations seemed to meander, which was bad enough. But the true crime was that it had what would have been the PERFECT season finale episode, only to have two more episodes left in the official season. I mean, the 24th episode - in a 26 episode season - had multiple character arc loose ends tied up. There was a nice conclusion to Amenadiel's main arc, a nice redemption arc for Charlotte, a conclusion for the Villain of the Season arc, Linda and Maze's relationship arc comes to a good conclusion, and the long-awaited curveball to the Chloe/Lucifer ship was FINALLY thrown. You just finish the episode going "Whoo, now THAT is a nice cliffhanger." And, honestly, I was a bit disappointed to find out it WASN'T the season finale. I mean, I was binge watching anyway, I didn't have to wait five months for the cliffhanger to be resolved. I'm sure if I was watching it live I would have been happy to learn I still had a new episode the following week. Maybe the cliffhanger could be resolved then.

Except... nope. I enjoyed the next episode, I did, but it felt like filler. It felt like it was supposed to be mid-season or even a left-over from season 2. After watching how screwy the Miraculous Ladybug episode order becomes on Netflix, I wondered if maybe we HAD watched the season finale of Lucifer, and that episode 25 was actually out of order somehow. Except, right at the very end of the episode, Chloe sort of just sneaks in a vague reference to the curveball thrown in the previous episode. That was it. The cliffhanger wasn't resolved. Chloe and Lucifer didn't even really interact much that episode, instead making it a plucky Chloe and Ella buddy-cop sort of episode. There's the GIANT elephant in the room, but the episode refused to address it at all.

The ACTUAL season finale for the show might have been even worse. It, again, was a fun episode, and I greatly enjoyed it. They even had English author, and creator of the stories Lucifer was based on, Neil Gaiman voice God in this episode. It was such a brilliant move. The problem, though? Well, it's sort of two-fold. First, and most importantly, it's an Alternate Universe episode. God, trying to prove a point to the audience even though we never argued against it, decides to alter just ONE simple thing to Butterfly Affect the Lucifer universe in an experiment to see if the characters will still be, at their core, who they are in the main universe. Will they still gravitate to each other? Will Lucifer and Chloe still fall in love, or did God truly manipulate their feelings in the main universe.

The big problem there is that the main element of the "should have been the season finale" episode was the focus on how involved God truly is. Actually, this is a focus on both episode 24 AND episode 23; two episodes so closely tied that episode 24 takes place within minutes of episode 23 concluding. Further proof that this two-parter should have ended the season instead of the actual final two episodes. Anyway, getting back on topic, episodes 23 and 24 focused on God's Master Plan. How much of His Plan does God truly act upon? How much of the Master Plan is actually Free Will, but misinterpreted as God's Will; puppeteered by The Big Guy? The audience is seemingly given the answer to those questions in episode 24. So, after the ultimate question and series theme of "how involved truly is God" is already fairly resolved, the fact that we are given a whole episode again showcasing how involved God truly is seems redundant.

Again, it's a fun episode, and I'd gladly take it, just... not as a season finale. It's lame to end a season on a filler episode, especially when a perfectly good finale was TWO. EPISODES. BACK. Like... why didn't the AU episode air back when Lucifer was questioning his and Chloe's feelings? I mean, I get it, there's a gut-punch bit of this AU episode that wouldn't be as impactful if it had aired before that "should be the finale" episode, but... gah, it's still annoying.

The other main reason I'm a bit rage-y about this finale, is that, aside from two people - maybe three - it seems the cast of characters would have had much happier endings if God truly did alter the timeline the way showcased in episode 26. Sure, Chloe and Lucifer would have met a touch later in life, and Trixie wouldn't have been born, but it looked like Chloe and Lucifer got close a lot faster in this AU than they did in the main universe. In fact, they may actually have a healthier relationship in this AU. Maze wouldn't have learned to love humanity if the AU were the main timeline. However, her views on humanity changed in the main timeline largely due to Lucifer's own perspective changing thanks to Chloe. It's possible that AU Maze would likewise evolve with Chloe's influence on Lucifer. Same goes for Amenadiel. Linda could re-find her way, as could Ella, especially after meeting Chloe. Dan would FINALLY get something that resembled a happy ending. The poor guy truly is the writers' punching bag. He's a bit brutish, sure, but he's not nearly as much of a jerk as he's painted out to be.

The episode was fun, but it was a bit annoying that this was possibly the "better" timeline, and God clearly knew this, but still didn't officially change things. Oh well, at least the AU gives fodder for fanfic writers I guess....

My point being, I was so engrossed in the ending of the Lucifer season that I didn't finish my posts. I hated admitting defeat and putting my laptop away last night. I felt a bit of a failure for doubly missing my self-appointed deadline.

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I know, I know, I need to give myself a break and forgive my failings. It's not crucial that I get these posts published on Sunday every week. However, it's the principle of the thing. I didn't prioritize properly, and that needs to change. So, this morning, I told Hubby that I have some new TV watching rules.

• Rule #1: Hubby can't just auto-turn-on shows we're jointly watching, like he did this week. If I was home, he had the show on. He knows he can't do that anymore. We have to verbally agree that we want to watch TV together. That way if I have other things I need or want to do, I can do them. This also prevents us from being bums who watch 6hrs straight of TV - between my arrival at home at 6pm until we're about to pass out at midnight. 
• Rule #2: No more than 3 episodes in a row. Netflix has its "Are you still watching" prompt after 3 hrs, and from now on, if we haven't stopped at just one or two episodes, we are using that prompt as our reminder to stop. If we're not watching Netflix, I'll put on a timer to remind us to turn off the TV. Three hours is the length of a movie; longer than most movies, actually. It is more than enough TV per sitting. Now, if we're both home all day, and we wish to watch three episodes earlier in the day, then spend the day doing other things, and circle back to bookend our day with more episodes; fine. But no more major-binges. It's unhealthy. It's pathetic. And I accomplish nothing else with my life.
• Rule #3: When my "Go Write" alarm on my phone goes off every night at 8pm, I. NEED. TO. GO. WRITE! I keep hitting ignore, and it's not helpful in the slightest. I need to get back on track with my priorities. I picked up far too many poor habits over the winter and gloomy spring. I need to start anew and really get my life back in order.

Another thing that I really need is Willow not having so much happen to her over on X-Future... As I mentioned above, I had to keep going back to add in events I kept forgetting about. I'm STILL trying to get everything. I had originally forgotten about her first interaction with the villain Agony, I had to go back to put in the mission she went on with Chayse to find Nix, I even forgot the time-traveling visit from her future son Sebastian!

Also, if Willow's story alone wasn't enough, in order for the audience to truly understand the impact of certain events, such as Devon's leaving the X-Men and subsequent return, I had to also explain DEVON'S main events: the Danger Room run that convinced him to leave, as well as him running into Lia on his mission to rescue Trish from S.H.I.E.L.D.

So Willow's X-Future story arc is becoming MASSIVE! I'm ALMOST done - I think? - and I'm at 6pgs again. I also still need to explain the key differences between what happened on X-Future vs what I want to happen in Glitches. In the end, this post will probably be the longest yet at nearly 9pgs. I hope I still stay within the word-cap of Tumblr posts.... Because these posts are going to be insane when I finally publish them. Which... will be later today. They will. Definitely. My goal today is to POST. WILLOW'S. INTRO.

And then get started on the next character. I'm debating between introducing all of the Glitches characters first, meaning the next character intro should be either Lia or Trish, or should I go in order of whom I know the most about, in which case the next character intro would be either Amara or Jolene.

One of those four girls: Lia, Trish, Amara, or Jolene. Either way, I now know that I need to get right on to writing those introductions. I'm not going to have Thursday, since that's when Omni will be over, and I probably won't have much of tonight and/or tomorrow as I finish Willow's intro and complete my read of "Graceling." So my hope is slow points at work and my day off on Friday to get the main chunks of the next intro done.

Why do my projects ALWAYS become more epic than I first expect them to be?

As for "Graceling"? Well... I'm about 330pgs into a 470pg story. I have to really crank out those last 100-some pages before the book is due on Thursday. I have the third part of the book to go; basically the final act of the story. My thoughts thus far, though?

It's good. As I mentioned above, I'm enjoying it. It captures me, makes me think about what could happen next, and calls for me to keep reading. I had a hard time stopping as I raced through pages 200 through 300; roughly.

Still not feeling "Legend of Zelda" though. It makes me wonder if the person who suggested that connection ever played a LoZ game, or read the book, or both. Sure, it's high fantasy/low magic, but there are tons of other video games within that genre. If one wanted to stick with Nintendo games, Fire Emblem could have worked better. At least in those games there are warring countries, espionage, special abilities, adventuring parties, and overt romance. Zelda has a solo protagonist for most of the games, any romance is highly interpreted by the players as opposed to being overtly expressed within the game itself, usually Hyrule is the only country mentioned, there are multiple different humanoid races/species, there are puzzles to solve and temples/dungeons to conquer, and the only "special powers" include Zelda using some sort of light magic via her Triforce of Wisdom.

It just... it doesn't fit. Granted, the suggestion was accurate. I have played Legend of Zelda, and I am indeed enjoying "Graceling" but I don't know how closely those two things actually relate. Makes me wonder even more about the other two books on my list.

Well... four books now, because "Graceling" also has a companion story called "Fire" as well as a sequel called "Bitterblue." Which reminds me, WHAT IS UP WITH THE NAMES THIS AUTHOR COMES UP WITH!? Yes, Bitterblue is a character name, and I HATE that she doesn't have a nickname. At least Greening Grandemalion gets the nickname Po, because I'm sure Greening would be just as exhausting to write/read all the time as Bitterblue. Also, at least everyone in the book admits that Greening Grandemalion is a terrible name, which is why Po prefers the nickname. Now, Po's other family members have much improved names, ones such as Ror, Silvern, Skye, and Ashen. Then, you get kooky again with Tealiff...

You also have the main character Katsa, her mentor Oll, her main adventuring companion Giddon - whose name I keep reading as Gideon - Katsa's cousin Raffin, and her uncle Randa.

I mean, I shouldn't critique since I loudly proclaim frequently my inability to come up with names, but... where did any of THOSE names even come from?

Also, the next time I complain about how "on the nose" Gyateara is for the name of a planet, I really need to remember the names of other fantasy locations:

• Middle Earth - Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit
• Westeros (for a western continent) - A Song of Ice and Fire series
• Essos (for an eastern continent) - A Song of Ice and Fire series
• Nander (a northern country) - Graceling
• Wester (a western country) - Graceling
• Sunder (a southern country) - Graceling
• Estill (an eastern country) - Graceling
• Middluns (the country Katsa is native to; nestled in the middle of the above 4 countries) - Graceling

Also, in "Graceling," each king is, presumably, known by his first name instead of his familial name. So King Ror's given name is Ror, and his last name would be Grandemalion; presumably, since he's Po's father. The other kings then, presumably have the GIVEN names of Birn, Murgon, Drowden, Leck, and Thigpen. Thigpen? Seriously? Anyway, my point being that the capital cities of each country, the cities where these kings themselves live, are all named after them.

These are not new monarchies. So, does that mean THIS is why it's like Legend of Zelda? The heir to the thrown has to bear the current king's given name? Considering Leck was adopted into his royal family when he was about 13, I'm thinking no... Also, Raffin is the crowned prince, and his father's name is Randa. So, what? The capital cities are renamed whenever a new king takes the thrown? Middluns' capital will be named Raffin City once Randa dies or is dethrowned?

Perhaps this is why I haven't gotten very far with my Gyateara build. I think so much about stuff like this that I never get past the planning portion of my world....

Anyway, names aside, I am enjoying the book, but this post is so long already, and I yet again posted late, so I'll discuss my views of the story itself next week. Until then, I'm hiding away so I can get my reading and writing done.

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New Month; New Drive

It's June! So, for all of my LGBTQ+ readers, Happy Pride Month!

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I'm hoping that June will bring more sunshine; banishing my "meh" feelings I've had most of this year thus far. We've had fairly nice weather these first four days of June, so that's a start. I even sat on my front porch writing a couple of times already.

Now, if only the temperature could remember it's June... I started off working on this blog post on the front porch this morning. It was bright out, barely any clouds, and there was a nice, light breeze. The problem was that it was still only about 50-degrees Fahrenheit, I was in the shade of my covered porch, and the light breeze was not a warm one. I lasted about 30min before I lost feeling in my fingers and toes, and I had to come inside. But the blinds are still up so I can enjoy the sunshine...

Eh, it's a start...

Hacker Girl Facebook sticker
by Birdman, Inc.

The sunshine alone does seem to be working it's magic, at least a little. As I mentioned above, I've been on the porch WRITING a few times already this week. Sadly, it only resulted in one bit of fiction writing, but still, I'm pouring words onto paper... er... screen... close enough.

I was too focused on figuring out my car situation last Tuesday to work on anything other than my blog, but I NEEDED to have some fiction written before the end of the month. I couldn't let myself slack off again. I needed to shake myself out of my rut, for fear that I'd never leave it otherwise.

Taurus Pixie had suggested to me last week that I should try writing some Laidren fanfiction, since there isn't really all that much of it out there, and I have yet to really touch that corner of the Love Square. ChibiSunnie also suggested that I could write more Lukanette fanfiction, since that seems to be my jam right now, and it was noted that there isn't very much "good" Lukanette fiction.

While I was too busy on Tuesday to actually start working on my fiction for May, I did take those suggestions into consideration, and tried to mentally come up with a story. Of course, an idea came to me as I was falling asleep.

I had finished off Pixie's birthday gift "I Was Thinking Of You" with the happy couple being discovered by Marinette's friends. I didn't really show any repercussions of the two of them getting together. Specifically, I didn't show what Adrien's reaction would be.

You know how much I love torturing this poor little bean, so of COURSE I had to continue IWTOY to showcase his reaction to discovering Lukanette was a thing. While I may, at some point in the (distant?) future, officially continue IWTOY by adding more chapters to the story, for right now I'm just making a series of short stories within this over-arcing plot.

So, my completed work of fiction for May is a short sequel to IWTOY, exploring Adrien's feelings after discovering Marinette is dating Luka.

Summary: Everyone has been acting weird all week, and when Adrien finds out why, he starts acting weird too. It can't all be about Marinette's new beau, could it?

You can check out my story at my normal three spots.

"Acting Weird"

On FanFiction            On ArchiveOfOurOwn            On DeviantArt

I even posted the full story on Tumblr, since it's only 2600 words: Acting Weird

Now, just because I had figured out the basic premise of this story Tuesday evening, it doesn't mean I actually had the darn thing finished with time to spare! Hardly, actually.

I started working on it on Wednesday, but I only had some sporadic moments at work to shift focus to my writing. Post-work, I got back into Zumba for the first time since my accident, and let me tell you how sore my legs were for the next three days!

My friend Rozsavaria wanted to try out the Zumba class with me, so I dragged her along. My sister-in-law and I also do an hour-long cool-down walk after our Zumba classes. It helps us with preventing cramping from just collapsing after the workout. It also gives us time to just chat and vent to each other. Not to mention, the extra steps doesn't hurt with over-all calorie burning. Anyway, Roz came with us, and the three of us chatted for a bit. By the time I got home it was time for a much-needed shower, some dinner, and just an overall collapse for the close of the evening.

Thursday I had off, but I focused on home-stuff and more car-stuff. For those of you who are wondering, I think the insurance debacle is sorted out, the other driver was deemed mostly at fault, and I have the funds to go fix my car now... in theory... assuming the insurance company didn't majorly low-ball me. I'm dropping the car off at the collision center tonight at least...

Anyway, Thursday evening Omnibladestrike came over for his weekly hang-out and anime watching. Naturally, I wasn't going to run away to write while Omni was over. While I'm sure I could have found time before Omni's visit to write, I just didn't take the opportunity.

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Which meant Friday was crunch time! I NEEDED to have the story done, edited, and posted before midnight in order to hit my goal.

It was a bit of a squeeze, with me formatting and posting between 11:30pm and 11:50pm, but I managed to get the story up on my main three sites before midnight.

NuaNia Facebook sticker
by PRANEAT

It kept me a touch longer to get things properly formatted on Tumblr, so I wasn't able to publish to that site until 12:15ish, but the story itself was done before June, so it counts.


In the four days that I've had "Acting Weird" up, I've had a nice influx of readers already! Short and sweet, with some Adrien angst, and mention of Lukanette, is my sweet-spot I guess.

Here are my stats as of this writing:

FFN: 692 views, 11 faves, 7 followers, and 6 reviews
AO3: 221 views, 29 kudos, 1 bookmark, but no comments
DA: 20 views, 2 faves, and 1 comment

Total Results: 933 views, 42 faves, 9 followers, and 7 reviews

Tumblr Notes: 8 likes and 2 reblogs

DA review:    <3

FFN reviews:
  1. I super love this.
  2. I like it! But it kind of feels unfinished?
  3. This was awesome! Thank you for sharing it!
  4. Yes he does... blind cinnamon roll! Thanks for writing and stay Amazing!
  5. This is an interesting approach. You should continue it.
  6. Taurus Pixie's review; see below

Yeah, you knew that if Pixie had reviewed this story that it had to be its own blockquote. I love how much she puts into her reviews! Makes my heart swell a touch.

Taurus Pixie:
*slams head against table*

UGH! ADRIEN! WHY MUST YOU BE SO DENSE AND INFURIATING?!

Ahem...sorry about that. That boy is seriously gonna break me one day, I just know it. You managed to capture his infuriating obliviousness and naivety perfectly in this fic. It was also great seeing everyone interacting at school and just have a normal day with no threats or akumas. It makes for a nice, peaceful and casual read. And of course it was amazing seeing the references to Lukanette. Everyone was very in-character which just made it even more awesome.

You never fail to blow me away with your ideas and talent. I'm sorry about your writing slump though. I know how annoying those can be. Great work as always! Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

Haha, I think I may have broken Pixie slightly.... Sorry, girl!

Anyway, it's been so nice to see the comments, and watch my faves/kudos/bookmarks and hit counts climb. Not insane numbers in the thousands like a lot of fanfic writers, but still... over 900 hits in 4 days is nice.

Well, since I was able to hit my self-imposed deadline of at least one completed piece of fiction before the end of the month, I needed to hit my next deadline. Specifically, to continue my Meet My OCs series on Sunday, as I had promised myself.

In case you don't recall, two weeks ago I started up a Tumblr series of posts all dedicated to explaining who my main OCs were, and how I came up with the worlds they inhabit. I had originally intended to just crank them out over the weekend, but then the car accident happened, and I only managed to release the first of the series.

It had introduced what I wanted to do with the series, as well as explain the real-world inspiration for my worlds Gyateara and "Glitches". I then came back last Monday - having sucked at life and neglected to get the post done by Sunday's end - and posted the second part of my multiple-post series. That one broke down the real-world inspiration that produced my four Gyateara characters: Amara Yori, Jolene Crisslebalm, Natalie, and Connor.

Well, I wanted to get back on track, and have Part 3 of my series posted this Sunday. What I didn't take into consideration, however, is that I have a LOT more characters for Glitches, and they are much more developed with a lot more real-world influence.

I had written the post in Word since it was easier to see everything that way, and I had save features. The complete post ended up being 9 pages long! It kept me nearly the full 8hrs that Hubby was at work for me to write! A touch more epic than I had intended, plus, I think Tumblr has a word cap for their posts, and I didn't know if that would surpass it.

What really killed me, though, was that I had forgotten to manually hit save for an hour of writing. My laptop didn't give me the normal "your battery is dying, bro" pop-up warning, and with my sunglasses on outside I apparently didn't notice the screen dimming to save power. I just so happened to glance at the clock and noticed the battery icon nearly empty. I raced inside to plug my laptop in when it had something like 10min of battery life left. In my frantic scrambling to gather everything up and bring it into the apartment I didn't notice that Word ended up crashing on me. Which meant I only had my last save to use.... I had lost an hour of work. Joy.

So good at life, you guys.

Anyway, I was still able to finish writing up my post, and split it in two. Then came the struggle of formatting everything for Tumblr. I guess Tumblr got rid of its line-breaks, which sucks because they looked so much nicer than a series of dashes.

I had tried shifting everything I had written into HTML in order to format with header-sized fonts and line breaks and indents and bullet points within numbered points and... none of it worked properly. I must have spent an hour working on the coding, but when I previewed what I had done it never looked the way I wanted it to.

Knives from the Scott Pilgrim comic books
by Bryan Lee O'Malley

I tweaked a few things here and there while in the normal Rich Text formatting, and left it at that. I think I had it looking well enough. Once that headache was done, I worked on formatting and posting the second part... er... of my third part... of a series.

ANYWAY! I got them done and up before midnight. Cutting it close again, but technically hitting my deadline.

Whoo! Technicalities!

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If you want to see how I spent my Sunday, you can check out the posts on my Tumblr:

Meet My OCs (Part 3a - Glitches Originals)

Meet My OCs (Part 3b - Glitches Reworks)

Yesterday I took a break from writing, and instead tried to focus on reading again. Last week I saw a Tumblr post showcasing a bookstore that had a bookcase display set up to suggest books based on the potential reader's gaming tastes. Things like "If you like to play Call of Duty: Black Ops (Zombies), then try World War Z by Max Brooks" or "If you like playing Sid Meier’s Civilization, then try A Game Of Thrones by George R. R. Martin" or, my favorite because of how tongue-in-cheek it is, "If you like playing Mario Party, then try Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins."

Now, I don't know how closely the theme of these books and video games truly relate, but I figured I'd give some of the suggestions a try. Out of the list of 31 books, there were 3 games/franchises that I really enjoyed. So I figured I'd give these books a try.

If you liked "The Legend of Zelda,"
then try "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore 

If you liked "Fable,"
then try "The Young Elites" by Marie Lu

If you liked "Portal,"
then try "House Of Stairs" by William Sleator

Out of those three suggestions, my local library had "Graceling" and "The Young Elites." So, being such a huge "Legend of Zelda" fan, I figured I'd give "Graceling" the first try. See how close the aesthetics truly are.

Honestly, I'm not expecting much, especially based on the back cover blurbs. They seem like interesting stories, but trying to equate them to the games they're paired with feel like stretches.

The big thing with the Portal/House of Stairs pairing is that both involve a person - persons, in the book's case - trapped inside a strange building with no knowledge of how they got there, and I'm assuming puzzles need to be solved to leave?

"The Young Elites" has a main character who, after childhood tragedy, may have fantastic power and the potential to become a villain as much as she could become the hero. I can see how that might relate to "Fable."

"Graceling" though? The premise is that the main character Katsa has a "Grace" - which is kind of a mutation of preternatural skill - and her Grace is for killing; a power she can't stand. She then pairs up with another Graceling; an unlikely match.

I'm about 70pgs in, and I am enjoying the story, but I am NOT feeling "Legend of Zelda" at all while reading it. In fact, the other Graceling Po has a sort of "Aged Up Fanfic Chat Noir" feel to him. Also, based on the story blurbs, "Graceling" might tie in well with "The Young Elites" and "Fable" again, but so far no "Legend of Zelda."

The story IS still interesting to me though, because the Graces truly do feel like mutations. So... maybe some inspiration fodder for Glitches? We'll see.

Anyway, if you're interested in the full list of book suggestions, you can find the post here: Console-free Camping

If you join in on this list, feel free to let me know which game/book pairing you chose, and if you feel like the suggestion was accurate.

Until then, I'll keep up with my own reading, try to get some more writing in, and I'll catch you guys next week.

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