Agrippa

May 30th to June 5th Schedule

So, you guys must be getting tired of these postmortems that basically only tell you how bad I am at guessing how productive I’ll actually be (and if you are, please tell me so), so I’ll try to keep this brief.

I managed to finish Wordsworth on time (though not to my complete satisfaction), and then started working on Wake-up Call for a Wednesday release that… didn’t work out, because Wednesday was the first time I could go see my father after the whole COVID thing an...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 21

“So… she’s staying the night?” Sister asks, lifting her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose as she leans on the wooden doorframe of her bedroom.

“I mean… she insisted she wouldn’t leave until she finished, and… it’s a whole novel… so…” I try not to fidget as I answer her, with about as much success as I get when trying not to feel jealous at the way her glasses keep turning glaringly opaque as they move up and down above her pinched fingers.

�...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 39

Bath scenes are iconic in far too many mangas to list. The mix of the everyday element with the titillation of female flesh only hidden by bizarrely persistent puffs of steam heroically striving to keep the censors away has granted them a place in any rom-com worth said name and plenty of mangas that would, at first glance, not fit the genre at all.

There’s also plenty of variety in said scenes. From the always favored hot springs (extra points if the whole story occurs in ...

Wake-up Call – Chapter 40 – Armed and Mastered – Part 5

Hannah’s waist feels small between my hands.

She is driving slowly, my bike smoothly obeying her as she takes us along the seaside street. The breeze from the ocean is constantly cool on my exposed face, yet it doesn’t always stop me from being enveloped in orange blossoms and that uniquely Hannah scent of hers that keeps drifting to me from the fanning hair that spreads from below the edge of her borrowed helmet.

And I was stupid enough not to wear my gloves, to ju...

Wordsworth – Chapter 17

I would like to wax poetic about Lisa’s hair glinting like the sun when I wake up next to her, rousing from a gallery of unending stories that isn’t quite a dream, but it’s the closest I can now come to them.

I would like to dwell on the warmth in my chest at her falling asleep in my arms, exhausted after last night’s surge of emotions. To weave a tapestry of words about the way she makes me feel with her trust, with her vulnerability, so readily displayed even after ...

May's Second Plot Bunnies Poll

This shall likely be known as "that useless poll Agrippa did where Konosuba inevitably won," but, well, let's at least make a token effort to keep up the charade, shall we?

I am still thinking about possible changes to this. I want to write the Konosuba fic, and it's obviously a fan favorite, so maybe I should just give it a fixed spot at the start of the month and exclude it from further polls? Let me know what you think.

May 23th to 29th Schedule

All right, let’s get back to this, shall we?

About last week’s schedule, I didn’t manage to finish either April 17th nor the next Ginosko chapter. I started more or less strong and kinda managed to adhere to my goals, but then, on Thursday, my accumulated fatigue caught up with me. I finished the latest Oregairu chapter on Friday, pushed myself to continue writing Batman, and then spent almost all Saturday just sleeping.

Which must’ve been just what I needed, be...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 20

I’ve once again found myself escorting Minami to her residence, walking through streets only lit by yellow streetlamps, the cold air held at bay merely by the warm grasp of her hand on mine.

And I’m so euphoric at it, at our parting kiss, that her warmth remains on me until I enter my own home, my head swimming in images of a bashful, not quite irate redhead every step of the way.

Which may explain my utter lack of defenses in entering my living room without taking ...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 38

Cooking mangas are, by necessity, incredibly creative. The reason for that is as simple and straightforward as the plots of said mangas isn’t: the whole thing hinges on a sense other than what a manga can adequately convey.

Mangas are a visual medium. One can conceive of one without words, but not one without drawings (that’s what we usually call ‘a book,’ which I understand can be a bewildering notion for modern audiences), and thus it is up to the artist to make ima...

Self Insert of the Dead – Chapter 5 – Shounen Style Training Should Always Have Fanservice

Waking up is… weird.

I am Lee, I know I am, but my mind is muddled, and that… that kind of springy tension I feel separating Takashi and I is relaxed, and so I can feel the shape of his thoughts through it, prodding at my own, molding them and being molded in turn. A part of me knows that this barrier doesn’t even exist, that it’s something we both make up and reinforce when we’re aware of each other, and…

And we aren’t aware of that much while dreaming. 2022-05-18 22:50:45 +0000 UTC View Post

Wake-up Call – Chapter 39 – Armed and Mastered – Part 4

The yellow streetlamps of Brockton Bay streak past my bike at a far more sedate pace than I’m used to. Still, the lack of pressure at, for once, heeding the speed limit is more than offset by the civilian version of the Armscycle not having any overt computerized navigational assistance other than the obvious GPS, and that’s not taking into account the added difficulty of…

…

Well…

Hannah’s hugging me.

We decided to take a single vehicle, seeing a...

Wordsworth – Chapter 16 – Colors 6

“What were you thinking?!” Armsmaster yells at me once again.

And far be it from me to decry his earnest efforts to help me in my self-flagellation, but it may be slightly rude to do this while I’m lying on a hospital bed.

“Sir, I just acted according to—”

“According to nothing. There’s absolutely no justification for a Ward to risk their life so blatantly against an enemy of Lung’s caliber. Do you have the slightest idea of how close a ...

April 16th to 22th Schedule, Poll Results, and changes

Been a while since I’ve written one of these, hasn’t it?

Well, as thoroughly impractical as it would’ve been since the whole medical mess started, I think these help me quite a bit, even if I don’t always manage to adhere to them (for obvious reasons), so let me try and see whether I can make something out of this one. I’m almost recovered from COVID, and the isolation should’ve me stay in my apartment, unable to help my parents for a few days still, so I’ll try...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 19

“I don’t see why you just can’t expand the magic compass story,” Minami tells me in an almost exasperated tone that, in any other person, would make me worry rather than relax.

“I mean… It’s not that I can’t, I just think that…” I try to answer.

“I really like it, you know?” she shyly tells me, looking at me with a cute, bashful smile that is only highlighted by the pink dusting over her cheekbones.

That alone is more than enough for me to ...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 37

Expectations.

Expectations are forged through repeating patterns, either explicit or unstated. We expect the shounen protagonist to pull a power-up out of some anatomically uncomfortable cavity, we expect the romcom haremette to blindly devote herself to a moron with about as much empathy as a cardboard shoebox, we expect the villain to wear cool pauldrons.

We expect Haruno Yukinoshita to be all right.

Because… Because that’s what she always showed. The girl w...

When it rains...

So, some of you may have read a joking comment I made on QQ about the latest good news being that my father didn't catch covid from his hospital roommate.

The bad news is that both my mother and I did.

I only have mild symptoms (headache, dizziness, throat soreness, plenty of coughing and snot...), but I've had them since last Saturday. She showed as positive on the test straight away, but I've only been positive today (right now, in fact) so I didn't want to make a big thing out ...

Self Insert of the Dead – Chapter 4 – The Harem Protagonist Should (Not) Be This Dense

I don’t know anything about spears.

It’s something I’ve never thought that much about, just a thing Rei did, something her mother taught her and that she enjoyed. Something that was hers and that I didn’t particularly care much about.

That… was a mistake.

Because I’m watching Rei wearing a pink spaghetti strap top and white shorts that may as well be panties, barefooted, going through a series of strikes and motions in the middle of Ms. Marikawa’s fr...

Wake-up Call – Chapter 38 – Armed and Mastered – Part 3

“What the Hell?” Vista asks.

“Language,” I automatically reply.

And, in the middle of a corridor in the Rig the diminutive parahuman shouldn’t be in—ah, right. I retook command of the Wards.

They all should be here.

Darnation.

“Did you just seriously—” she starts to protest.

“I’ll get you extra hours in the firing range if you don’t tell any of your horribly gossipy partners what you just saw,” I interrupt, hopefully der...

A Pure Knight’s Natural Enemy – Chapter 2

Too much of a good thing.

The phrase itself is preposterous: if it’s good, you can’t have too much of it. You can’t have too much money, too much power, too many waifus… Those are things no reasonable man would ever be satisfied with an arbitrary amount of. And, since I came to this world, I’ve obviously gone through quite a few things that have made me realize what ‘too much’ really means.

Because you can have too many explosions. Too many drunk goddesses...

All Right! Fine! I Will Take You! – Chapter 36 – Haruno Doesn’t Go on Dates 4

The loose earth of one of Chiba Port Park’s sidepaths crunches beneath my square heels as the streetlights alternatively pour color and shadow over it.

And Shizuka’s by my side.

It’s a mild winter, and it will give way to spring soon enough, but it’s still night, and she’s only wearing that creamy shawl wrapped around her arms to shield her from the cold, and I…

I’m wearing my coat, the same one I realized hours ago is too near to her own, even if mi...

Wake-up Call – Chapter 37 – Armed and Mastered – Part 2

“So, what do you think?” I ask Dragon as I turn the latest iteration of the Armscycle’s front fork in my gauntlets, appreciating the finish of the nanolathe—

“Jeans, white shirt, and your brown leather jacket. You want something that offsets your work-persona, and I know you’re practical enough to have all of those things already. Wear nice shoes, though—if she dresses up, you don’t want to come across as sloppy,” she replies from the monitor swiveling in fr...

May's Plot Bunnies Poll

Hey, everyone! Life’s still hectic and unpredictable around here, but I’ll try to deal better with it and get back to a semi-productive schedule. That being said, what better way to show my determination than by throwing every single brainfart of mine at the wall and seeing what sticks?

So, this is the newest plot bunny poll. The losers of last month are now joined by some of the things I forgot to add at the time (I told you my brain was getting crowded, didn’t I?), so t...

Ginosko – Chapter 3 – Patricia: Sisterhood

A boardroom meeting usually follows certain protocols and aesthetics. There’s a bit of a performance to it all, with everybody both jockeying for position and letting everybody else know how seriously they’re all taking everything.

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say. And I’m counting the time you decided we should all share a birthday for greater ‘cohesion.’”

Most boardroom meetings don’t have a Clarissa on them.

Thankfully.

Good news, everyone!

So, basically, the procedure was entirely successful and I’m now no longer growing white hairs at a visible rate. The whole thing’s still not over, though, as we’re now in the critical 72 hours to see whether there will be any trouble with the new lungs.

To make a long story short: my father will remain unconscious and sedated for up to a few weeks while his body adjusts to the new organs, and I’ll be staying with my mother in the meantime. During this time, I’ll ke...

When it rains, it pours

So... The good news Is the power issues seem to have been solved.

The bad news (or, well, hopefully good news) is that I'm rushing to the hospital in a bit to see whether this time the donor will be suitable for my father, who's already in the ER, so look forward to me slipping up this week depending on how this whole thing goes (I'm using irony and humor as a way to deflect and not get overly invested in case it turns out the operation can't be carried out once again--it's not working)...

All Right! Fine! I’ll Take You! – Zaimokuza Gaiden – Chapter 18

Often, I’ve wondered about Saika’s gentle demeanor and charm, about how his allure can get Hachiman to so easily lose himself as if confronted by a bashful maiden whose meek protests about being ‘a boy’ are too easily dismissed. About the plentiful adornments of womanhood many of our female classmates fail to grasp with such ease and instinct.

“Tell me everything!”

Apparently, his being a terrible gossip is also part of the package.

‘Dud...