Dreamreader teaser: Bad Dreams

TL;DR: Dreamreader teaser. Also, I'm reading again! 

I'm reading again! Just this month I've read Mere Christianity (C.S. Lewis), Steelheart (Brandon Sanderson), Persona (Genevieve Valentine). I'll be starting The Screwtape Letters (C.S. Lewis) soon :) I'll maybe post comments on the fiction in a future post.

In terms of writing--Hey look it's an actual writing post! xForsakenx hosted a boot camp these last few weeks to get me to write consistently. Week 2 I worked on a project that's been under construction for a few months and finally has a title: Dream-reader. Hopefully I'll be finished with this project soon! So here's a little teaser :D


WC: 243

In the latest news of bad dreams, I’m fighting with Cyril. We’re sitting at our favorite ice cream parlor, across from the street from my office. We’re talking, although I can’t hear the words. Then he reaches forward to touch my hand. I flinch at his touch. I say something, and instantly, his face hardens. I startle, reach forward, fervently retracting what I just said. 

Then Cyril stands up, looking so mad he could tear a demon apart with his eyes alone. He turns to leave. I cry out, pleading forgiveness. He turns towards me again, but there’s a gun in his hand. It’s pointed at me now. I cry, my arms hanging limply at my sides. 

He pulls the trigger. In slow motion, the bullet approaches and the world goes dark. 

Before I have time to think anything about my death—or even understood that I had died in the dream— I’m back at the parlor. We’re sitting across from each other. Some distant part of me wonders if at least the ice cream flavor has changed. We talk. I say something. I probably shouldn’t. I try saying it differently. Cyril gets mad. He kills me. 

At least he’s original. Sometimes he shoots me. Sometimes he breaks my neck. Sometimes he slices me to shreds with a sword or lance that materializes from nowhere. Once, he just breaks up with me and I collapse. 

That time I wake up from the shock. 

Otome: Top Ten

So like I do with manga, my top ten (in terms of stories I liked) of all the otome games I've read thus far are: 

1. Hideki Ishigami (Her Love on the Force)
2. Yuta Kajima (My Forged Wedding)
3. Takuto Hirukawa (Thief X)
4. Issei Sezaki (Kiss of Revenge)
5. Ayumu Shinonome (Her Love on the Force)
6. Homore Midorikawa (Class Trip Crush)
7. Elias Goldstein (Wizardess Heart)
8. Ivan Chernenkov (Be My Princess 2)
9. Takashi Ninagawa (Scandal in the Spotlight)
10. Byron Wagner (Midnight Princess)

I say top ten but really these are just the handful that I really liked.

So.... generally: quiet/ aloof, smart/ genius-type. Which usually comes with a bit of arrogance and teasing that I've gotten used and can tolerate.

Things I've learned from otome games (this is a jest; don't take me seriously here):

1. Every guy has a sweet tooth (at least in otome games). It's sugar for the brain.
2. Liking the same kind of food is a sign of destiny. 
3. Everyone has a super-fit body no matter what they do for a living or what they eat/ don't eat.
4. Pretty people can be trusted. AKA Villains always look evil. 
5. Geniuses are jerks. Arrogant jerks. But they will reform.
6. Persistence is endearing. So is cluelessness. And clumsiness.
7. The more rude someone is, the more it means they secretly care about you. Aka everyone is tsundere.
8. Flirts and playboys will still fall for you because of [generic reason] that they could find in everyone. #protagonistpowers
9. Your niceness will definitely get to people. People will become better people when you let them push you around.

Otome games: MC names I use

TL;DR: The name I used for an otome game was based off the last otome guy I really liked. 

This is a post about the names I use in otome games:

Aura Ellis  |  Kitari Hirukawa  |  Ayane Sezaki  |  Hikari Ishinome  |  Iyue Kajima

I used to use "Adda Ellis" (my pen name) as my name in these stories. In Thief X though, I thought it looked weird or something and changed it to "Aura Ellis". Takuto Hirukawa was the first of the otome boys below that I really really liked, and thus for the next character I used Hirukawa as the surname. "Kitari" is an original name that comes from "kitsune" (japanese for fox) and "Ahri" (nine tailed fox character in League), inspired by the Black Foxes thief group that the boys of Thief X make up.

The name I used for most of these was thus, Kitari Hirukawa. Next I really liked Issei Sezaki in Kiss of Revenge. However, the name I came up with this was not quite as original or exciting. "Ayane Sezaki" is thus only used in the Her Love in the Force stories (and My Sweet Bodyguard because Ishigami's also in that one). "Ayane" came from Ayame, a female doctor and good friend of the main character (MC) in Kiss of Revenge.

I used the name Hikari Ishinome for a few of them. The surname comes from Ishigami + Shinonome, my two favorite characters from Her Love in the Force. The first name is because Hideki and Hikari look similar and I thought that would be cute. (Hikari is also the name of the protagonist in Special A!)

I’ve also thought of the name Iyue Kajima based in part on Yuta Kajima. Actually it was supposed to be Iymuine, from “Ayumu” which means a dream or vision, and “Imogene” from latin for innocent maiden. I liked how both Ayumu and Yuta's stories were a little more innocent and cheerful than some of the others I’ve encountered (they still have their drama lol). Also, Yuta says (sometime around the wedding story) that he wanted to make a family that was just as supportive and cheerful as the character’s. So Iymuine was kinda like that dream for innocence. But when I went to type it I felt like it was too long. So just Iyue.

Actually, this pattern of using the surname of the last character I really liked created a sense of continuity at first. I really thought of Kitari as Aura and Takuto's daughter (or as much as possible). It didn't really work out with Kiss of Revenge because of the details on the MC's background. But for most characters it worked. Mostly I use Kitari now, or Iyue for more royal-type games or Aura if it's a more european vibe where a japanese name would sound weird. 

Otome games: Non-voltage games.

TL;DR: Moar otome games! These are not by Voltage. 

EDIT: sorry, I had scheduled this to be posted on August 7th; obviously it didn't work -_-"

So although most otome games I read were pay-by-story (let's not talk about how much money it added up to.... -_-") some of these are free. However, I was usually not patient enough to wait for reading tickets every day and hated the event trials and anything that relied on grinding other stats (charm or elegance or whatever) or in-game currency. The only two exceptions to this was Destiny Ninja, which was before I discovered the satisfaction of pay-by-story; and Wizardess Heart, which I just liked enough to push through (with a walkthrough ><")

MORE SPOILERS. MORE OPINIONS!

• Angel or Devil (Shall We Date?)
• Ruvel--the Reaper choice. It had its tender moments. I finished most of it before just looking up the ending online. 
• Destiny Ninja (Shall We Date?)
•  Hattori Hanzo Kazamasa--The first otome game I read! I don't remember too much of it, but I know it was good enough to keep me patiently reading until I finished. I liked how quiet he was actually.
• Forbidden Love: It's Our Secret (Accela Inc)
• I got really mad at this one. Really mad. The idea is that MC's stepfather has ordered her to marry her stepbrother for anyone to get their inheritance. Both Edward (intended main route) and Kevin (alternate route) are abusive towards MC-san, who is just trying her best in her job as a designer. Kevin steals her designs and creates a scandal with her professional life and Edward alternatively pushes her away and comes onto her too strong. If I had to choose I'd go with Kevin though, because in the end he at least apologizes and respects MC's designing talent enough to help her go to Italy, whereas Edward threatens her with his father's will condition . I'm going to stop there before I can remember more examples that will upset me.
• Forbidden Love: The Unforgivable Couple (Accela Inc)
• Like with the one above, I just remember liking Johannes (the alternate/ actual boyfriend) more than Mike (stepbrother and intended main route). This was less severe and I actually liked Johannes a little.
• Midnight Princess (Ikeman Royal Romances)
• *Byron Wagner--This one was really sweet. I don't really get how MC falls in love so quickly and why Byron is so fixated on her specifically, but I like their interactions. Although I'd like it if he took off the eyepatch when they're alone together especially since it's more for the people not to get intimidated by his looking like his dictator father.
• My Sweet Proposal (Okko)
• Keita Mitsui--I actually just watched a play-through of this on youtube or something. Keita and MC are high school sweethearts that broke up due to a misunderstanding. I facepalmed so many times because MC and Keita couldn't recognize that they both still loved each other and that the other girl was messing with them.
• Seduce Me (Seraphim Entertainment) is basically what I want to do with my year off: make an otome game by myself.
• I kinda went for Damien's story at first but ended up getting one where I GOT MAGIC >:D It was awesome! Until Diana showed up. I played a few versions with her, Andrew and Damien and have decided that Diana is the best lover and that having magic beats having a boyfriend. 
• Roommates (Winterwolves) more in this post.
• Max--The first otome game I paid for (before all the Voltage ones). I liked how sweet his and Anne's teasing was. 
• Dominic--at first glance this guy should be more my "type", but....yea the guy's just as pretentious as Max teases him to be.
• Wizardess Heart (Shall We Date?)
• *Elias Goldstein--Another one where I stuck through to the end. I really liked the portrayal of the Gendonlune Royal Magic Academy, which might have been a good part of what entranced me. The story was well paced as well. Some of the questions for the love meter were based on paying attention to other aspects of the story (like answering a question in class); I don't get how that would work, but I'm not complaining haha. What I liked about Elias's story was that he and the MC are on no friendly terms in the beginning and he calls her an idiot almost excessively, and we get to see, step-by-step, how both of them start to have feelings for each other.