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Dec. 6th, 2007 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tammaiyaI've started back at uni. Summer session. It's not too bad, considering I have the attention span of a gnat and it's four hours almost in a row of the same subject. The sleeping patterns are going badly, though. I can't make myself sleep (combination of psychological and actual physical problem) early enough to get more than like, 5 hours.
Currently facing a dilemma re: mirage of blaze books. I own up until book 28. I'm on book 21. 23-28 are a six book arc so once I START reading them I'll probably get through fairly quickly. I have a friend currently living in Kanazawa coming home to Australia for a week at the end of December. It would save me mountains on postage if I just ordered the rest of the series to be sent to her before she comes, because it's fairly blindingly obvious I'm going to need book 29 up before *I* go in April. Here is where the dilemma comes in: this actually isn't all that expensive, considering it's 12 books... except for the fact that 29, 31 and 32 are all out of print currently and buying them second hand on Amazon is in fact mega heaps more than RRP. And I can't just skip them and wait for them to come back into print like with 14 and 19 because, er, they're like the first books I'll need.
And what makes this a dilemma is 21sts and Christmas. And, uh, my upcoming credit card bill. Can I really AFFORD to buy them? Without dipping into my savings account, that is. Hmmmm.
Anyway, just a quick note on book 20 and the beginning of book 21 beneath the cut.
Book 20 is a relatively short book. I think if I went back book 1 might be the same length, but recently the books have been 250+ pages (21 is 270-ish), and 20 is only 200.
This is because 20 doesn't really have a plot. Not that I'm bothered by this. I just mean, even the other books that sort of felt like filler (book 9, eg) had a central yamisengoku plot. In book 20, it's like the yami sengoku has just, er, stopped, because it's several months after the disaster at the end of book 19 and 20 has nothing to say about Chiaki being dead, Ayako being a hostage, or Yuzuru being dead-ish and a hostage. It does say that Irobe is recovering and that Hakkai is dead, though. Meanwhile, Naoe has spent the last few months shacked up in a remote mountain cottage with up-until-recently comatose (but still very much crazy) Takaya, entirely failing to let the Uesugi know that EITHER of them are still alive. The Uesugi are kind of like, FUCK, WHAT DO WE DO, CURRENT AND FORMER GENERALS BOTH DEAD!
And Naoe, Naoe is kind of like the worst general ever. XD
Anyway, Takaya is insane. This is a statement that requires qualification because his crazy comes in oh, so many forms, but currently it's expressing itself in being like a living doll: no speaking, moving, acknowledging Naoe's existence, etc etc.
And since this is not my actual summary, because to give an actual summary I would have needed to summarise the last 13 books and I'll do that later, I am not going to explain why. Really all that's important here is that Takaya is being like a vegetable, Naoe tries to kiss him, Takaya snaps out of vegetable state into first rape flashbacks (Naoe didn't know about that, btw, but he has to at least have a clue after some of the things Kagetora says when he's delusional) and then WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME, KENSHIN angst.
Then he fully snaps out of it and is happy Naoe's not dead... until he remembers that Naoe is the enemy now and spends a while being pissed off and sullen and not letting Naoe in his room. Fair enough, really.
Eventually, however, they talk it out (although Naoe is lying through his teeth about Kenshin's motives; he says it's because Kenshin was concerned by Kegetora automatically seeking out Ujiyasu's help, but the real reason is something he can't say) and get with the making out programme.
Except Takaya is still not totally convinced that Naoe wants him/that he deserves it, and thus the funniest exchange in the entire book takes place:
T: Even though you left... even though you don't know anything...
N: I do know.
T: I'm a coward. I'll take my clothes off for anyone who wants me.
N: Yes, I know.
T: ..........!
N: Another man touched you like this.
T: ... You can... laugh at me if you want.
T: Someone who'd sleep with anyone... it's okay to laugh at them, right? It's okay to laugh at someone who's... a slut.
N: That's not true. It's not like... anyone would have done.
N: ...You knew me.
T: ... Wh...
N: <3 *blow job*
T: ! *BRAIN EXPLODES*
T: OH MY GOD, YOU'RE KIDDING ME. *has figured out that yes, Kaizaki was actually Naoe*
You know, I'd slap him around then, but the blowjob was probably a good tactical diversion strike. XD Also, it seems that this is conclusive proof that Kaizaki totally DID give Takaya a blowjob when Takaya was... possibly roofied. It was too vague to really tell at the time, but this suggests so. Takaya probably wouldn't be so worried about his sluttiness if they'd just made out, in any case.
Anyway, I'm a bad person to find this so funny, but the mental image of Takaya being like "But I'm a slut D:" is HILARIOUS to me. XDDD
Then there are flashbacks about when they first met, etc-- it seems Naoe didn't start being truly obsessive about Kagetora until Haruie was going to leave the Yashashuu 200 years ago and he realised his original reasons were all gone and now he was living for Kagetora-- and then, they have sex. Which, um. Look, maybe they didn't have lube 400 years ago, I don't know, and okay, you're in a remote mountain cottage and Ayugawa PROBABLY didn't bother bringing you any with the food and medicine (how remiss of him), and hey, maybe you did actually use some and Japanese porn is just too vague for me to really tell, but... IF HE'S PASSING OUT, NAOE, YOU'RE *DOING IT WRONG*.
One hopes this improves in future. Anyway, then Naoe has angst about the real reason Kagetora has been deposed as general, which is that Kagetora's soul is self-destructing and if he doesn't get exorcised soon, he won't even be able to have his soul purified and be reincarnated. His soul is stretched too thin; it's lived for four hundred years, used itself up with the exorcism power, and then there's been extra strain on it from all the self-hypnosis and memory sealing in Takaya's lifetime. (er, Naoe, I hate to point this out, but this means this is almost single-handedly your fault...) So it is on implosion point and there will be no more Kagetora's soul, full stop. So Kenshin asked Naoe to exorcise Kagetora to save him; if he does it soon he still might be in time, but too much longer and it'll be too late.
GEE, THANKS, JUST IN CASE I WAS STARTING TO MISS THE ANGST.
Then they get a few pages of newly-wed bliss where they have sex a lot (I can only assume Naoe has found a way not to make Takaya pass out with pain, because otherwise I don't see that working) and so forth, which I... again find hilarious, which is my way of showing my LOVE. Then the angst comes back, this time Takaya angsting about the fact that the poison in his body (another of those book 19, too lazy to go into things) is killing Naoe slowly and Naoe loves him enough that he'll stay until he's dead. So Takaya decides if Naoe won't leave him, he'll leave Naoe, and he drugs Naoe, tells him he loves him, and runs off into the wilderness.
I love that I can say "and then he ran off into the wilderness" and NOT BE EXAGGERATING. Anyway, that's the end of book 20. It is a whole book devoted to Naoe and Takaya being in the same place, which someone makes up for whole books where they don't even enter the same zip code. Hell, there's whole books without Naoe in them at all.
Random point of interest: Naoe calls him Takaya this whole book, including when they're having sex. He doesn't say "Kagetora-sama" once.
As for book 21, I'm not very far in, and only have two things to say:
1. Hahahah, Shingen has a tragic anime past! XD ... is his original name Harunobu? I found that a trifle confusing.
2. Chiaki?! Or Nagahide, rather. Wow, I SO did not see that one coming. Not least because it contradicts my spoilers. But I guess that must mean CHIAKI comes back in book 32...? Yeah, don't ask me, I got no clue how that works. Or why Nagahide has joined with Oda, considering his last thoughts towards Kagetora were actually rather warm and fuzzy, for him. Like, he was the one person who was there for Kagetora at the crunch in book 19 (Ayako, Yuzuru and Yagami were detained through no fault of their own, but they still weren't there), he was willing to die for Kagetora... and now he's betraying Kagetora by joining his worst enemy? There has got to be a reason for this, but I don't know what it is yet.
PS: regarding christmas fics, I'm sorry, they're going to be late. At this point there's practically no physical way of finishing them on time, especially when at the moment I can't seem to concentrate on them. I will do them, though. One is finished, I have snippets in varying lengths of about 5 others, and I think I have ideas for all the rest of them. but we shall see.
Currently facing a dilemma re: mirage of blaze books. I own up until book 28. I'm on book 21. 23-28 are a six book arc so once I START reading them I'll probably get through fairly quickly. I have a friend currently living in Kanazawa coming home to Australia for a week at the end of December. It would save me mountains on postage if I just ordered the rest of the series to be sent to her before she comes, because it's fairly blindingly obvious I'm going to need book 29 up before *I* go in April. Here is where the dilemma comes in: this actually isn't all that expensive, considering it's 12 books... except for the fact that 29, 31 and 32 are all out of print currently and buying them second hand on Amazon is in fact mega heaps more than RRP. And I can't just skip them and wait for them to come back into print like with 14 and 19 because, er, they're like the first books I'll need.
And what makes this a dilemma is 21sts and Christmas. And, uh, my upcoming credit card bill. Can I really AFFORD to buy them? Without dipping into my savings account, that is. Hmmmm.
Anyway, just a quick note on book 20 and the beginning of book 21 beneath the cut.
Book 20 is a relatively short book. I think if I went back book 1 might be the same length, but recently the books have been 250+ pages (21 is 270-ish), and 20 is only 200.
This is because 20 doesn't really have a plot. Not that I'm bothered by this. I just mean, even the other books that sort of felt like filler (book 9, eg) had a central yamisengoku plot. In book 20, it's like the yami sengoku has just, er, stopped, because it's several months after the disaster at the end of book 19 and 20 has nothing to say about Chiaki being dead, Ayako being a hostage, or Yuzuru being dead-ish and a hostage. It does say that Irobe is recovering and that Hakkai is dead, though. Meanwhile, Naoe has spent the last few months shacked up in a remote mountain cottage with up-until-recently comatose (but still very much crazy) Takaya, entirely failing to let the Uesugi know that EITHER of them are still alive. The Uesugi are kind of like, FUCK, WHAT DO WE DO, CURRENT AND FORMER GENERALS BOTH DEAD!
And Naoe, Naoe is kind of like the worst general ever. XD
Anyway, Takaya is insane. This is a statement that requires qualification because his crazy comes in oh, so many forms, but currently it's expressing itself in being like a living doll: no speaking, moving, acknowledging Naoe's existence, etc etc.
And since this is not my actual summary, because to give an actual summary I would have needed to summarise the last 13 books and I'll do that later, I am not going to explain why. Really all that's important here is that Takaya is being like a vegetable, Naoe tries to kiss him, Takaya snaps out of vegetable state into first rape flashbacks (Naoe didn't know about that, btw, but he has to at least have a clue after some of the things Kagetora says when he's delusional) and then WHY HAVE YOU ABANDONED ME, KENSHIN angst.
Then he fully snaps out of it and is happy Naoe's not dead... until he remembers that Naoe is the enemy now and spends a while being pissed off and sullen and not letting Naoe in his room. Fair enough, really.
Eventually, however, they talk it out (although Naoe is lying through his teeth about Kenshin's motives; he says it's because Kenshin was concerned by Kegetora automatically seeking out Ujiyasu's help, but the real reason is something he can't say) and get with the making out programme.
Except Takaya is still not totally convinced that Naoe wants him/that he deserves it, and thus the funniest exchange in the entire book takes place:
T: Even though you left... even though you don't know anything...
N: I do know.
T: I'm a coward. I'll take my clothes off for anyone who wants me.
N: Yes, I know.
T: ..........!
N: Another man touched you like this.
T: ... You can... laugh at me if you want.
T: Someone who'd sleep with anyone... it's okay to laugh at them, right? It's okay to laugh at someone who's... a slut.
N: That's not true. It's not like... anyone would have done.
N: ...You knew me.
T: ... Wh...
N: <3 *blow job*
T: ! *BRAIN EXPLODES*
T: OH MY GOD, YOU'RE KIDDING ME. *has figured out that yes, Kaizaki was actually Naoe*
You know, I'd slap him around then, but the blowjob was probably a good tactical diversion strike. XD Also, it seems that this is conclusive proof that Kaizaki totally DID give Takaya a blowjob when Takaya was... possibly roofied. It was too vague to really tell at the time, but this suggests so. Takaya probably wouldn't be so worried about his sluttiness if they'd just made out, in any case.
Anyway, I'm a bad person to find this so funny, but the mental image of Takaya being like "But I'm a slut D:" is HILARIOUS to me. XDDD
Then there are flashbacks about when they first met, etc-- it seems Naoe didn't start being truly obsessive about Kagetora until Haruie was going to leave the Yashashuu 200 years ago and he realised his original reasons were all gone and now he was living for Kagetora-- and then, they have sex. Which, um. Look, maybe they didn't have lube 400 years ago, I don't know, and okay, you're in a remote mountain cottage and Ayugawa PROBABLY didn't bother bringing you any with the food and medicine (how remiss of him), and hey, maybe you did actually use some and Japanese porn is just too vague for me to really tell, but... IF HE'S PASSING OUT, NAOE, YOU'RE *DOING IT WRONG*.
One hopes this improves in future. Anyway, then Naoe has angst about the real reason Kagetora has been deposed as general, which is that Kagetora's soul is self-destructing and if he doesn't get exorcised soon, he won't even be able to have his soul purified and be reincarnated. His soul is stretched too thin; it's lived for four hundred years, used itself up with the exorcism power, and then there's been extra strain on it from all the self-hypnosis and memory sealing in Takaya's lifetime. (er, Naoe, I hate to point this out, but this means this is almost single-handedly your fault...) So it is on implosion point and there will be no more Kagetora's soul, full stop. So Kenshin asked Naoe to exorcise Kagetora to save him; if he does it soon he still might be in time, but too much longer and it'll be too late.
GEE, THANKS, JUST IN CASE I WAS STARTING TO MISS THE ANGST.
Then they get a few pages of newly-wed bliss where they have sex a lot (I can only assume Naoe has found a way not to make Takaya pass out with pain, because otherwise I don't see that working) and so forth, which I... again find hilarious, which is my way of showing my LOVE. Then the angst comes back, this time Takaya angsting about the fact that the poison in his body (another of those book 19, too lazy to go into things) is killing Naoe slowly and Naoe loves him enough that he'll stay until he's dead. So Takaya decides if Naoe won't leave him, he'll leave Naoe, and he drugs Naoe, tells him he loves him, and runs off into the wilderness.
I love that I can say "and then he ran off into the wilderness" and NOT BE EXAGGERATING. Anyway, that's the end of book 20. It is a whole book devoted to Naoe and Takaya being in the same place, which someone makes up for whole books where they don't even enter the same zip code. Hell, there's whole books without Naoe in them at all.
Random point of interest: Naoe calls him Takaya this whole book, including when they're having sex. He doesn't say "Kagetora-sama" once.
As for book 21, I'm not very far in, and only have two things to say:
1. Hahahah, Shingen has a tragic anime past! XD ... is his original name Harunobu? I found that a trifle confusing.
2. Chiaki?! Or Nagahide, rather. Wow, I SO did not see that one coming. Not least because it contradicts my spoilers. But I guess that must mean CHIAKI comes back in book 32...? Yeah, don't ask me, I got no clue how that works. Or why Nagahide has joined with Oda, considering his last thoughts towards Kagetora were actually rather warm and fuzzy, for him. Like, he was the one person who was there for Kagetora at the crunch in book 19 (Ayako, Yuzuru and Yagami were detained through no fault of their own, but they still weren't there), he was willing to die for Kagetora... and now he's betraying Kagetora by joining his worst enemy? There has got to be a reason for this, but I don't know what it is yet.
PS: regarding christmas fics, I'm sorry, they're going to be late. At this point there's practically no physical way of finishing them on time, especially when at the moment I can't seem to concentrate on them. I will do them, though. One is finished, I have snippets in varying lengths of about 5 others, and I think I have ideas for all the rest of them. but we shall see.
