Better late than never, happy Bilbo and Frodo's birthday!

I have been reading my son The Lord of the Rings. Alas, we are making very slow progress because I only read it once a week (the rest of the time his dad reads other books), and since school started, he's been so tired with his own evening reading to himself that he falls asleep after about one section.

"When will we reach the Black Riders again?" he asks.
"If we never reach the Prancing Pony, it will be a while," say I.

Other than that, my mind has not had much room for LotR this season. It is filled with many things, but the love is perpetual.

Rina has summarized volume 34! Oh my goodness, we are hurtling toward the end. Many thanks, Rina!


Summary of Volume 34: http://www.asphodelshaven.com/forums/translation-and-summary/summary-vol-34

Okay, this one sounds fun. Favorite characters in 10 different fandoms.

1. Fullmetal Alchemist. Roy. I mean, Ed is huge fun to write, and so is Al when he gets his snark on, but Roy is my most reliable fic-fodder character, plotting creature that he is.

2. Prince of Tennis. Probably Yukimura, with Rikkai as a whole coming close second. They’re just so much fun to write about as a team; tasty dynamics everywhere, especially with the angst-lever to crack it all open.

3. Bleach. Hm. This one is actually a little difficult. I mean, in absolute terms, Rukia, but, again, mostly Rukia in relation to Ichigo and Orihime and Renji. Close second place is split by Byakyua and Hirako Shinji, despite the second’s late appearance.

4. Kuroko no Basuke. Kuroko, hands down, often in relation to Kagami, but also in relation to the other Miracle-idiots. No one can lay the straight-faced smackdown like Kuroko.

5. Angel Sanctuary. Mad Hatter, with Kira following close behind. I have a soft spot for complex motivation, in case that wasn’t obvious.

6. Naruto. Kakashi, closely followed by Sakura, albeit usually in the key of “omfg, move over and let me drive” given that canon gives them both a pretty raw deal, character-development-wise.

7. 07-Ghost. Frau. I also have a /huge/ soft spot for Teito and Ouka, and everything they might make of their world, but Frau is the most fun to play with.

8. Katekyou Hitman Reborn. Gokudera is entertainingly highstrung, but the more I dug into it, the more Squalo showed up with a bagful of plot and emotional porn. 

9. GetBackers. Kazuki, especially in relation to Saizou, Toshiki, Sakura, and Juubei. Also with the emotional porn and fix-it urges.

10. Nirvana in Fire. Lin Shu/Mei Changsu, yes, all the way. A type, I can haz it, and it’s called Magnificent Bastards.

In conclusion, I clearly like the ones who smile politely all the while they’re getting a nice, iron grip on everything around them. Though also the ones whose central motivation is devotion. 

Consider yourself tagged, if you’d like!

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I have finally put my old Blake/Avon fic "Mnemonics" on Ao3. It is an AU (i.e. the last episode was different) future fic and has the distinction of being my only B/A slash fic.

Rina has summarized volume 33 in detail! It is a doozy, including two rather famous scenes poignant enough to have been translated before. But now we can get the whole story in sequence. Thank you, Rina!

http://www.asphodelshaven.com/forums/translation-and-summary/summary-vol-33

 :)

http://quaint-twilight.dreamwidth.org/68110.html