(no subject)
Apr. 19th, 2026 08:26 amI've been meaning for months to write up Knight Flower, the Joseon-era kdrama about a RESPECTABLE WIDOW BY DAY, VIGILANTE BY NIGHT who spends her days dutifully kneeling by her husband's portrait and serving her mother-in-law and her nights running around town in a black mask dispensing justice by the sword.
I enjoyed this drama very much, but it's kind of an odd beast -- it's genuinely interested in the awful constraints on Joseon's women's worlds and widow's worlds in particular and wants to explore that seriously, and it also wants have our heroine be extremely cool and fight off five guys in an alley every episode and toss off a one-liner about it, and it also wants our [middle-aged! widow!] heroine to be a charming sitcom naif who gets comically overcome by the sight of a man's midriff and is shocked! shocked! to learn about some of the various injustices going on in Joseon despite the fact that she's been wandering the streets dispensing vigilante justice for ten years. (They attempt to square some of this circle by virtue of the fact that our heroine's arranged husband was killed! by bandits! on his very wedding day! and so she has spent ten years dutifully mourning a man she never actually met, let alone slept with.)
And because Lee Hanee is a talented actress, she can almost more or less pull all of that off and make RESPECTABLE WIDOW SECRET VIGILANTE JO YEO-HWA a coherent character -- helped in large part by the various interesting women around her, including:
- Yeo-hwa's hard-nosed and cynical teenaged maid, whom Yeo-hwa rescued off the streets as a teenager, and who has spent her years since then in the single-minded pursuit of enough money for An Independent Place, which she is going to move into JUST as soon as her chaotic mistress to whom she is unfortunately absolutely loyal is Out Of This Fucking House and No Longer Doing This Stupid Vigilante Shit
- Yeo-hwa's mother-in-law, who holds Yeo-hwa harshly to the extremely narrow line of conduct allowed for widows [go nowhere; speak to no one; serve your husband's family; accept that it's an embarrassment for you to be alive when your husband is dead] and sees her largely as a walking reputational vector for the family -- but hey, at least she would never pressure Yeo-hwa to commit honorable suicide, like some other mother-in-laws-of-widows of their acquaintance, so that's something! In any other drama this character would be a cruel stereotype but in this drama she's played by Kim Mi-kyung with sympathy and complexity; she's the immediate bane of Yeo-hwa's life, and nonetheless she and Yeo-hwa have spent a decade bound together as family with a kind of affection, and Yeo-hwa understands perfectly well that her mother-in-law is also trapped by the only rules she knows
- Yeo-hwa's business partner and accomplice, a merchant whom Yeo-hwa also rescued on the streets and who has also spent the time since then like You Could Just Leave This Fucking House, I will prepare a fake identity for you, it won't be hard
- the main female villain, ( who is somewhat of a spoiler though this all starts to come out pretty early on )
Obviously Jo Yeo-hwa also has a love interest. He's an honorable baby cop who wants to fight corruption and also has a backstory tied up in the ten-years-ago political plot. He's completely fine. His older brother, an upright schemer who's been helping the virtuous king lay long-term plots to take back control from his evil ministers,* has an very cute B-plot bookstore romance with the cynical maid that I frankly found much more compelling in the glimpses of it that we got. More compelling yet ( is spoilers again! )
*there's nothing kdramas love more than a virtuous king who's trying to take back control from his evil ministers
I enjoyed this drama very much, but it's kind of an odd beast -- it's genuinely interested in the awful constraints on Joseon's women's worlds and widow's worlds in particular and wants to explore that seriously, and it also wants have our heroine be extremely cool and fight off five guys in an alley every episode and toss off a one-liner about it, and it also wants our [middle-aged! widow!] heroine to be a charming sitcom naif who gets comically overcome by the sight of a man's midriff and is shocked! shocked! to learn about some of the various injustices going on in Joseon despite the fact that she's been wandering the streets dispensing vigilante justice for ten years. (They attempt to square some of this circle by virtue of the fact that our heroine's arranged husband was killed! by bandits! on his very wedding day! and so she has spent ten years dutifully mourning a man she never actually met, let alone slept with.)
And because Lee Hanee is a talented actress, she can almost more or less pull all of that off and make RESPECTABLE WIDOW SECRET VIGILANTE JO YEO-HWA a coherent character -- helped in large part by the various interesting women around her, including:
- Yeo-hwa's hard-nosed and cynical teenaged maid, whom Yeo-hwa rescued off the streets as a teenager, and who has spent her years since then in the single-minded pursuit of enough money for An Independent Place, which she is going to move into JUST as soon as her chaotic mistress to whom she is unfortunately absolutely loyal is Out Of This Fucking House and No Longer Doing This Stupid Vigilante Shit
- Yeo-hwa's mother-in-law, who holds Yeo-hwa harshly to the extremely narrow line of conduct allowed for widows [go nowhere; speak to no one; serve your husband's family; accept that it's an embarrassment for you to be alive when your husband is dead] and sees her largely as a walking reputational vector for the family -- but hey, at least she would never pressure Yeo-hwa to commit honorable suicide, like some other mother-in-laws-of-widows of their acquaintance, so that's something! In any other drama this character would be a cruel stereotype but in this drama she's played by Kim Mi-kyung with sympathy and complexity; she's the immediate bane of Yeo-hwa's life, and nonetheless she and Yeo-hwa have spent a decade bound together as family with a kind of affection, and Yeo-hwa understands perfectly well that her mother-in-law is also trapped by the only rules she knows
- Yeo-hwa's business partner and accomplice, a merchant whom Yeo-hwa also rescued on the streets and who has also spent the time since then like You Could Just Leave This Fucking House, I will prepare a fake identity for you, it won't be hard
- the main female villain, ( who is somewhat of a spoiler though this all starts to come out pretty early on )
Obviously Jo Yeo-hwa also has a love interest. He's an honorable baby cop who wants to fight corruption and also has a backstory tied up in the ten-years-ago political plot. He's completely fine. His older brother, an upright schemer who's been helping the virtuous king lay long-term plots to take back control from his evil ministers,* has an very cute B-plot bookstore romance with the cynical maid that I frankly found much more compelling in the glimpses of it that we got. More compelling yet ( is spoilers again! )
*there's nothing kdramas love more than a virtuous king who's trying to take back control from his evil ministers
Check-In Post - April 19th 2026
Apr. 19th, 2026 07:04 pmHello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?
There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.
This Week's Question: Does your crafting change with the seasons, certain crafts at certain times of the year?
If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.
I now declare this Check-In OPEN!
One River Analogy, Used Often
Apr. 19th, 2026 05:31 pmI think that I would like to do a flash prompt event during
3weeks4dreamwidth. Now watch as I eventually start planning to do this, and then, when the time comes, refuse to tag it so it turns up on the feed. This is another step in my attempting to do things because I went to see them happen even though I am very self-conscious about the fact that I look like I have no friends when I do this. Case in point: Chemy Card Spring Silly at
precuretokupromp. It's fine! Everything's fine! Don't pity me!
Because I've been kind of bummed out about stuff, I've still thinking about the ebb and flow of these little streams within fandoms I enjoy that eventually run into the sea of just general tokusatsu fandom the greater the distance from their airing becomes. I tried to look elsewhere for engagement with the shows I like, I begged people to introduce me to their friends, I even went looking on ao3, and I still came away mostly empty of hand. On fedi recently,
kera posted some thoughts on filing the serial numbers off of fandoms you have put a lot of work into developing beyond the context of the original source material. In fact, her account is a treasure trove of this kind of inspiration, and each time the subject is broached, I think about it as I procrastinate on posting a second big Shiori post in which I continue to argue with Hasegawa Keiichi about the way the world he was hired to write works. What would I even call a Shiori expy, I asked myself recently, and the answer came back too quickly: Kotone Shiori. Because コトネ, Kotone in katakana, would be close to sounding like コートニー (Courtney). Get it? It's funny. I'm obsessed.
I'm not doing this, I just want to say. But if I was, I thought it would be funny. I think that the reason I've been even considering it is that I realise that as those rivers run closer to the sea, I'm going to make myself more miserable expecting conversation when the topic I wish to discuss is considered settled by others. I feel like I make this kind of post frequently when what it comes down to is basically: I'm going to look at making things in another way so I don't get sad.
What else is going on? Not much! I'm reading Abarat at the moment, which, for some reason, is one of the few Clive Barker books I didn't read when it came out. I'm properly watching the adaptation of Miyuki by Adachi Mitsuru, which I have been on-off-again watching since 2013 when I was going through a moment where I really wanted to talk about love triangles and first discovered the series. Because I'm watching the adaptation of Yume Senshi Wingman by Katsura Masakazu (sorry, it's tokusatsu related!) at the same time, and because both shows came out within a year of one another, the dynamics between the love triangles in each show are sort of blurring into one huge love hexagon. I'm also steadily and happily reading a variety of yuri manga in the wild and ignoring Rebecca Silverstein's opinion about them all.
That's it. It's spring. I want to keep making things. I'm still watching lonely, livestreamed ice-skating events on youtube at work. Season 2 of The X-Files is on abema but it's sadly not eligible for catch-up. I'm going to start re-watching Kindred: the Embraced again and you can't stop me.
Because I've been kind of bummed out about stuff, I've still thinking about the ebb and flow of these little streams within fandoms I enjoy that eventually run into the sea of just general tokusatsu fandom the greater the distance from their airing becomes. I tried to look elsewhere for engagement with the shows I like, I begged people to introduce me to their friends, I even went looking on ao3, and I still came away mostly empty of hand. On fedi recently,
I'm not doing this, I just want to say. But if I was, I thought it would be funny. I think that the reason I've been even considering it is that I realise that as those rivers run closer to the sea, I'm going to make myself more miserable expecting conversation when the topic I wish to discuss is considered settled by others. I feel like I make this kind of post frequently when what it comes down to is basically: I'm going to look at making things in another way so I don't get sad.
What else is going on? Not much! I'm reading Abarat at the moment, which, for some reason, is one of the few Clive Barker books I didn't read when it came out. I'm properly watching the adaptation of Miyuki by Adachi Mitsuru, which I have been on-off-again watching since 2013 when I was going through a moment where I really wanted to talk about love triangles and first discovered the series. Because I'm watching the adaptation of Yume Senshi Wingman by Katsura Masakazu (sorry, it's tokusatsu related!) at the same time, and because both shows came out within a year of one another, the dynamics between the love triangles in each show are sort of blurring into one huge love hexagon. I'm also steadily and happily reading a variety of yuri manga in the wild and ignoring Rebecca Silverstein's opinion about them all.
That's it. It's spring. I want to keep making things. I'm still watching lonely, livestreamed ice-skating events on youtube at work. Season 2 of The X-Files is on abema but it's sadly not eligible for catch-up. I'm going to start re-watching Kindred: the Embraced again and you can't stop me.
FAKE: Not Afraid Anymore [Challenge 498: Remember]
Apr. 19th, 2026 06:11 pmTitle: Not Afraid Anymore
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
Characters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG
Written For: Challenge 498: Remember.
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Ryo doesn’t remember anymore why he was scared to admit the truth.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble.
Not Afraid Anymore
Day 19 check in!
Apr. 19th, 2026 01:07 pmHello & welcome to week 3 of April!
How was your weekend for writing? Do you have goals for the week?
It's been a while since I've hosted, I hope I don't mess anything up :D
Poll #34497 Writing!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2
Have you written today?
How was your weekend for writing? Do you have goals for the week?
It's been a while since I've hosted, I hope I don't mess anything up :D
Pimp: The Hunting Party (TV series) by flareonfury
Apr. 19th, 2026 10:46 amNever did one of these fandom pimps before, unless you count me gushing about fandoms on my journal.... so without further ado, I give you:

What Is the Show About?
( A secret prison. A killer escape. The hunt is on...... )
Main Characters (don't worry no major spoilers!)
( the characters.... )
If you liked...
Mindhunter, Fringe, Criminal Minds, The Blacklist, and various other similar cop related shows, you'd probably enjoy this show. It's filled with light and dark moments.
Where can I find it?
( Read more... )
The Fandom?
( Read more... )

The Hunting Party
What Is the Show About?
( A secret prison. A killer escape. The hunt is on...... )
Main Characters (don't worry no major spoilers!)
( the characters.... )
If you liked...
Mindhunter, Fringe, Criminal Minds, The Blacklist, and various other similar cop related shows, you'd probably enjoy this show. It's filled with light and dark moments.
Where can I find it?
( Read more... )
The Fandom?
( Read more... )
New Music
Apr. 19th, 2026 07:08 pmTXT - 7TH YEAR: A Moment of Stillness in the Thorns
TXT's music is always comforting to me.This album didn't have that grandiose single but regardless I liked it. Favorite song: Take Me To Nirvana (ft. Vinida Weng)
Yves ft. Lolo Zouaï - NAIL
I'm so happy for Yves' solo career. She has been able to collab with such cool artists. She really found her niche audience from kpop gg gays with elite taste. I really loved this song. It's catchy, unexpected, futuristic, fresh. Loved the music video too! The whole EP is elite.
Min Jiwoon - Feel It Too
First release this year from her. She's a singer-songwriter at SM/Krucialize. This song too has that classical and romantic R&B feel. She clearly has her own style and i love it. I've liked every release from her!
Tyla ft. Zara Larsson - SHE DID IT AGAIN
Song and music video are so 2000 and Shakira inspired. The beat and hip movements are hypnotic. I feel like i will be hearing this song a lot this summer. Tyla and Zara are really becoming the next pop girls. It's not 100% my thing but i prefer them in the mainstream than some other pop girls.
KARLEE GIRL - Right Back!
This was released few weeks ago but i only found it recently. She was also in Dream Academy and has made her own songs since but hasn't been able to pop off until now so I'm happy for her! Some people say it reminds of Tinashe but I wouldn't say so (closest is Superlove maybe?). Perfect song to put to your summer playlist.
Adéla - KGB
Passion with gritty teeth and glamour, that is what Adéla is about and i love it. KGB is a catchy electro pop song about her Slovakian roots. She had teased the song for a while and i knew i would like it. Extra love to her for standing up for Ukraine<3
Rosalía - Focu 'Ranni
New song for her deluxe album. Petra Collins directed the music video (only available on Apple Music). It has similar feeling to Daughters of The Dust(1991). White vintage wedding dresses, forest, sisterhood, lake, white horse - nostalgic, spiritual, and feminine images. The song is very beautiful, letting go of your love and choosing yourself.
Kelela - idea1
I LOVE KELELA!!! This song takes you to another world. It doesn't really fit into one genre: i would say it has R&B and shoegaze influence. It's my favorite out of all new releases.
TXT's music is always comforting to me.This album didn't have that grandiose single but regardless I liked it. Favorite song: Take Me To Nirvana (ft. Vinida Weng)
Yves ft. Lolo Zouaï - NAIL
I'm so happy for Yves' solo career. She has been able to collab with such cool artists. She really found her niche audience from kpop gg gays with elite taste. I really loved this song. It's catchy, unexpected, futuristic, fresh. Loved the music video too! The whole EP is elite.
Min Jiwoon - Feel It Too
First release this year from her. She's a singer-songwriter at SM/Krucialize. This song too has that classical and romantic R&B feel. She clearly has her own style and i love it. I've liked every release from her!
Tyla ft. Zara Larsson - SHE DID IT AGAIN
Song and music video are so 2000 and Shakira inspired. The beat and hip movements are hypnotic. I feel like i will be hearing this song a lot this summer. Tyla and Zara are really becoming the next pop girls. It's not 100% my thing but i prefer them in the mainstream than some other pop girls.
KARLEE GIRL - Right Back!
This was released few weeks ago but i only found it recently. She was also in Dream Academy and has made her own songs since but hasn't been able to pop off until now so I'm happy for her! Some people say it reminds of Tinashe but I wouldn't say so (closest is Superlove maybe?). Perfect song to put to your summer playlist.
Adéla - KGB
Passion with gritty teeth and glamour, that is what Adéla is about and i love it. KGB is a catchy electro pop song about her Slovakian roots. She had teased the song for a while and i knew i would like it. Extra love to her for standing up for Ukraine<3
Rosalía - Focu 'Ranni
New song for her deluxe album. Petra Collins directed the music video (only available on Apple Music). It has similar feeling to Daughters of The Dust(1991). White vintage wedding dresses, forest, sisterhood, lake, white horse - nostalgic, spiritual, and feminine images. The song is very beautiful, letting go of your love and choosing yourself.
Kelela - idea1
I LOVE KELELA!!! This song takes you to another world. It doesn't really fit into one genre: i would say it has R&B and shoegaze influence. It's my favorite out of all new releases.
Monthly Battle : 26
Apr. 19th, 2026 12:02 pmThe theme for this May is:
BLACK & WHITE
For this coming month, we are doing black & white icons.
♦ You can use any fandom or stock images for this battle.
♦ You can make 1- 20 icons for this battle.
♦ To enter, post your icons here in a new comment.
♦ To participant, please comment below. :)
♦ Sign-ups are open the whole battle.
You have until Saturday, May 30th @ 11:59pm EDT
Media Post
Apr. 19th, 2026 10:50 amMovies: None.
Television/Streaming: There is a new season of Taskmaster out; they're a fun happy group so far and I'm enjoying them!
We're nearly done with Buffy season 3. Since last post, we've watched:
"Bad Girls," where Faith gets Buffy to be a little wild, but then Faith ends up killing the deputy mayor
"Consequences," where Buffy is haunted by the actions of the previous episode, but Faith is still pulling her tough-guy persona and claims she doesn't care
"Doppelgangland," where the alternate-universe Willow is brought into the current Sunnydale
"Enemies," where the Mayor and Faith conspire to rob Angel of his soul, so that he will hopefully destroy Buffy
"Earshot," where Buffy is touched by the mouthless demons and suddenly can hear everyone's thoughts
"Choices," where Buffy tries to shut down the Mayor's ascension and where the gang talk about their future plans after graduation
Faith irritates the hell out of me still; I understand she's had a rough life but the "tough-guy" try-hard stuff gets old. Again, this is a 40+ year old person commenting on teenagers' actions so take that how you will.
It also annoys me how Angel is just going along with Buffy's delusions of the fact that they can have a normal life together. The Mayor, as evil as he is, is right - Angel can never be truly happy as otherwise he will lose his soul (as we have previously seen) and he will never age whereas Buffy will, and that could definitely lead to resentment down the line. Plus, they have even discussed that he can't take her out during the day and what kind of life is that?
We also are nearly done with Season 3 of Farscape. Episodes watched:
"Revenging Angel," where D'Argo puts Crichton into a coma and he keeps going through these Looney Tunes-style scenarios. Very silly, but Farscape can do that quirkiness well.
"The Choice," where Aeryn goes to a planet with all the supernatural beings to deal with all her current losses
"Fractures," where Talyn once again reconnects with Moya and Aeryn has difficulty interacting with a not-dead, alternate Crichton.
Books: I read Little Bosses Everywhere, which is about MLMs. Informative and infuriating. I'm glad that the author pretty much reiterates how much these are a scam and folks don't make their money back. I had not idea that Herbalife was still so prevalent, and I knew that the likes of Amway meddled in politics, but I don't think I was fully aware of the extent of it.
I also read all three volumes of Warbeck of Wolfstein by Margaret Holford. This book came to my attention via a TikTok someone shared with me, and billed as an anti-Byron novel. There is not a lot about this book available online to get any sort of background on it other than that. I am not a Byron scholar but I know that he was very cruel to a lot of the women around him and abusive to his wife, and I think Holford was friends with Lady Byron, which is what probably prompted this book. I also did see in my internet wanderings that Byron did criticize some of Holford's work (she was a prolific poet, as well), so that probably had something to do with it, too.
Our titular character does not show up for several chapters, as the scene must be set by the fragile Baron Marchfeldt, returning home to his castle and beloved sister after suffering ill health during battle. The reader learns along with Louisa about the wonderful Casimir and the brutish Warbeck, and that the Baron loves Casimir like a brother and made him promise to marry his sister after he, the Baron, is dead. Louisa is hesitant because she wants to get to know the guy first, after all.
The Baron dies, and some time later, this handsome soldier shows up and claims to be Casimir. A series of events follows where Louisa falls in love with Casimir and they are pledged to marry, and at the 11th hour it is discovered that this gentleman is not Casimir at all, but Wolfstein! He leaves, the real Casimir shows up, but Louisa has heard some bullshit about him from other sources so she doesn't trust him at all.
There's some political intrigue with Casimir and his father, the Duke. Casimir is trying to get over Louisa, and it's all very melodramatic, as these old books tend to be. Wolfstein comes back sometime later, claiming to be penitent and supposedly had a religious conversion, so will Louisa forgive him? She does, over time, realizes she still loves this man, despite his lies from earlier, and they get married.
Of course, after marriage he becomes a tyrant and basically keeps her a prisoner in the castle. More political intrigue, Casimir's father keeps him prisoner, but not in his OWN castle, but in Wolfstein's, and neither of the star-crossed lovers knows about the existence of the other until the very last pages. Of course, it all winds up positively.
Overall, it was decently entertaining but a bit long in the tooth.
Listening to: I have only listened to one album from the Rolling Stone list recently, Lady Gaga's Born This Way, which is number 484 on the current list. It was not on the original list from 2012.
Rolling Stone blurb:
This is a good album, very danceable. I like the title track, "Marry the Night," and "Edge of Glory" the best.
Playing: the first Danganronpa game, Trigger Happy Havoc. After finishing the Zero Escape games, I had gone looking around Reddit and Steam forums for similar games. The main recommendations were AI: The Somnium Files and Paranormasight for the escape room elements. Others also recommended the Danganronpa games, which are less escape room, but definitely have the visual novel elements as well as murder mystery (and courtroom trials, a la the Ace Attorney games). I bought the first two on a Steam sale a while ago, and then the more recent Steam sale this year had a bundle of the first two Danganronpa games for pretty cheap, so I got them. After getting frustrated with Bendy and the Ink Machine, I turned to Trigger Happy Havoc.
I am enjoying it but a few of the game mechanics in the first game are a bit annoying. Such as the difficulty level, which I set to the middle/default, which I presumed wouldn't be "baby" level, but also not hellishly difficult. However, it doesn't really explain at the outset how that all works, so in the courtroom trials, it will occasionally throw more difficulties in and it's occasionally frustrating if you want to just work on the story. You cannot change the difficulty without restarting the game in the first volume, but apparently in the second game, you can change the difficulty before each new chapter if you want to. Hopefully it doesn't get too much harder past the Chapter 3 trial, which I just finished. But overall, I do like the game and am curious to see how it all ends.
Television/Streaming: There is a new season of Taskmaster out; they're a fun happy group so far and I'm enjoying them!
We're nearly done with Buffy season 3. Since last post, we've watched:
Faith irritates the hell out of me still; I understand she's had a rough life but the "tough-guy" try-hard stuff gets old. Again, this is a 40+ year old person commenting on teenagers' actions so take that how you will.
It also annoys me how Angel is just going along with Buffy's delusions of the fact that they can have a normal life together. The Mayor, as evil as he is, is right - Angel can never be truly happy as otherwise he will lose his soul (as we have previously seen) and he will never age whereas Buffy will, and that could definitely lead to resentment down the line. Plus, they have even discussed that he can't take her out during the day and what kind of life is that?
We also are nearly done with Season 3 of Farscape. Episodes watched:
Books: I read Little Bosses Everywhere, which is about MLMs. Informative and infuriating. I'm glad that the author pretty much reiterates how much these are a scam and folks don't make their money back. I had not idea that Herbalife was still so prevalent, and I knew that the likes of Amway meddled in politics, but I don't think I was fully aware of the extent of it.
I also read all three volumes of Warbeck of Wolfstein by Margaret Holford. This book came to my attention via a TikTok someone shared with me, and billed as an anti-Byron novel. There is not a lot about this book available online to get any sort of background on it other than that. I am not a Byron scholar but I know that he was very cruel to a lot of the women around him and abusive to his wife, and I think Holford was friends with Lady Byron, which is what probably prompted this book. I also did see in my internet wanderings that Byron did criticize some of Holford's work (she was a prolific poet, as well), so that probably had something to do with it, too.
Our titular character does not show up for several chapters, as the scene must be set by the fragile Baron Marchfeldt, returning home to his castle and beloved sister after suffering ill health during battle. The reader learns along with Louisa about the wonderful Casimir and the brutish Warbeck, and that the Baron loves Casimir like a brother and made him promise to marry his sister after he, the Baron, is dead. Louisa is hesitant because she wants to get to know the guy first, after all.
The Baron dies, and some time later, this handsome soldier shows up and claims to be Casimir. A series of events follows where Louisa falls in love with Casimir and they are pledged to marry, and at the 11th hour it is discovered that this gentleman is not Casimir at all, but Wolfstein! He leaves, the real Casimir shows up, but Louisa has heard some bullshit about him from other sources so she doesn't trust him at all.
There's some political intrigue with Casimir and his father, the Duke. Casimir is trying to get over Louisa, and it's all very melodramatic, as these old books tend to be. Wolfstein comes back sometime later, claiming to be penitent and supposedly had a religious conversion, so will Louisa forgive him? She does, over time, realizes she still loves this man, despite his lies from earlier, and they get married.
Of course, after marriage he becomes a tyrant and basically keeps her a prisoner in the castle. More political intrigue, Casimir's father keeps him prisoner, but not in his OWN castle, but in Wolfstein's, and neither of the star-crossed lovers knows about the existence of the other until the very last pages. Of course, it all winds up positively.
Overall, it was decently entertaining but a bit long in the tooth.
Listening to: I have only listened to one album from the Rolling Stone list recently, Lady Gaga's Born This Way, which is number 484 on the current list. It was not on the original list from 2012.
Rolling Stone blurb:
“Over-the-top” isn’t an insult in Gaga’s world; it’s a statement of purpose. Her second album is a work of blessed bombast, all arena-size sonics and Springsteenian romanticism, complete with a Clarence Clemons sax solo. There’s a thumping, half-in-Spanish song that proposes marriage to “a girl in east L.A.” (“Americano”), a synth-pop jam that includes a come-on on to John F. Kennedy (“Government Hooker”), and a touching ballad about a guy from Nebraska (“You and I”). Fittingly, the glam-slam title track became an LGBTQ anthem.
This is a good album, very danceable. I like the title track, "Marry the Night," and "Edge of Glory" the best.
Playing: the first Danganronpa game, Trigger Happy Havoc. After finishing the Zero Escape games, I had gone looking around Reddit and Steam forums for similar games. The main recommendations were AI: The Somnium Files and Paranormasight for the escape room elements. Others also recommended the Danganronpa games, which are less escape room, but definitely have the visual novel elements as well as murder mystery (and courtroom trials, a la the Ace Attorney games). I bought the first two on a Steam sale a while ago, and then the more recent Steam sale this year had a bundle of the first two Danganronpa games for pretty cheap, so I got them. After getting frustrated with Bendy and the Ink Machine, I turned to Trigger Happy Havoc.
I am enjoying it but a few of the game mechanics in the first game are a bit annoying. Such as the difficulty level, which I set to the middle/default, which I presumed wouldn't be "baby" level, but also not hellishly difficult. However, it doesn't really explain at the outset how that all works, so in the courtroom trials, it will occasionally throw more difficulties in and it's occasionally frustrating if you want to just work on the story. You cannot change the difficulty without restarting the game in the first volume, but apparently in the second game, you can change the difficulty before each new chapter if you want to. Hopefully it doesn't get too much harder past the Chapter 3 trial, which I just finished. But overall, I do like the game and am curious to see how it all ends.
(10 out of 20) Paternity Testing
Apr. 19th, 2026 11:40 amTitle: Paternity Testing
Author:
goddess47
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Challenge: 10 out of 20
Length: 322
Warnings: None
Notes:
For
sweetandshort April 2026 10 out of 20 challenge - uncomfortable
For
mcsheplets prompt #149 - dodge a bullet
Summary:
John insisted on bringing the news.
Paternity Testing on AO3
Author:
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Challenge: 10 out of 20
Length: 322
Warnings: None
Notes:
For
For
Summary:
John insisted on bringing the news.
Paternity Testing on AO3
[#297] Stray (The Lord of the Rings)
Apr. 19th, 2026 04:38 pmTheme Prompt: #297 "Unexpected Kindness"
Title: Stray
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Rating/Warnings: None, General Audiences
Bonus: No
Word Count: 1000
Summary: The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, with the addition of some fantastical whimsy.
( Read more )
Title: Stray
Fandom: The Lord of the Rings
Rating/Warnings: None, General Audiences
Bonus: No
Word Count: 1000
Summary: The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen, with the addition of some fantastical whimsy.
( Read more )
🔊 Daily music
Apr. 19th, 2026 09:49 amI tried to forgive them
I triеd to forget
Though they had forgotten
I am sorry I can't
Now I'm both thе victim
And I am to blame
For all the things that I am
I am🎤
Kalandra - I Am
I triеd to forget
Though they had forgotten
I am sorry I can't
Now I'm both thе victim
And I am to blame
For all the things that I am
I am🎤
Kalandra - I Am
Round 160 Poll
Apr. 19th, 2026 09:20 amLet's have a new Round, baby, new Round, there's some dates below here, new Round new Round!
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8
When should we have Round 160?
View Answers
24-26 Apr
3 (37.5%)
1-3 May
3 (37.5%)
8-10 May
1 (12.5%)
15-17 May
4 (50.0%)
22-24 May
4 (50.0%)
29-31 May
5 (62.5%)
oh I don't make decisions
1 (12.5%)
or do I?
2 (25.0%)
not to worry, that's why we use
1 (12.5%)
ticky boxes
5 (62.5%)
The Testaments 1.04 and For All Mankind 5.04
Apr. 19th, 2026 03:21 pmThe Testaments 1.04: again, my only nitpick with this wasn't about the episode itself but solely source material related, as in, my favourite element of the source material is still not in it. As an episode buildng on the first three, it's tops, acting and script wise, continues to flesh out the two woman characters, heightens the stakes, and does, in fact, a better job with one of them than the book did. (I thought this in the first three eps as well.) I'm also intrigued by some of the chances due to what they could mean long term. ( Spoilers beneath the cut. )
For All Mankind 5.04: In which we get introduced to a new cast member and learn an old acquaintance is on their way. Also: (some) answers about the latest dastardly scheme.
( Spoilers wait with their reveals until after mission launch )
For All Mankind 5.04: In which we get introduced to a new cast member and learn an old acquaintance is on their way. Also: (some) answers about the latest dastardly scheme.
( Spoilers wait with their reveals until after mission launch )
Spring Drabble 19/30: Sherlock, Daffodils
Apr. 19th, 2026 12:29 pm***
Title: Daffodils
Author:
kat_lair
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Tags: Drabble, Flowers, Language of Flowers
Rating: T
Word count: 100
Summary: The body lies in the flowerbed.
Author notes: Spring defiance from under the crushing forces of capitalism = a drabble a day in April. This one for
stonepicnicking_okapi who wanted something for this pairing and spring flowers.
Daffodils on AO3
( Daffodils )
***
Title: Daffodils
Author:
Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Pairing: John/Sherlock
Tags: Drabble, Flowers, Language of Flowers
Rating: T
Word count: 100
Summary: The body lies in the flowerbed.
Author notes: Spring defiance from under the crushing forces of capitalism = a drabble a day in April. This one for
Daffodils on AO3
( Daffodils )
***
[Amnesty XLIX: Prompt #153] Viola come il mare / Trouble in a Miniskirt
Apr. 19th, 2026 10:59 amTitle: Trouble in a Miniskirt
Fandom: Viola come il mare (Italian TV show)
Author:
veronyxk84
Pairing: Viola Vitale/Francesco Demir
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Word count: 100 (Ellipsus)
Spoilers/Setting: Set after S2.
Summary: Francesco tries to stay professional. Viola’s miniskirt won’t let him.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.
Prompt: #153 - Tease [Amnesty Week]
Crossposted:
anythingdrabble, My journal (with bonus Italian version), “Chiamami Ancora Amore” - the Series
—
( READ: Trouble in a Miniskirt )
☙ ☙ ☙
Fandom: Viola come il mare (Italian TV show)
Author:
Pairing: Viola Vitale/Francesco Demir
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: none
Word count: 100 (Ellipsus)
Spoilers/Setting: Set after S2.
Summary: Francesco tries to stay professional. Viola’s miniskirt won’t let him.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for fun and no profit has been made. All rights belong to the respective owners.
Prompt: #153 - Tease [Amnesty Week]
Crossposted:
—
( READ: Trouble in a Miniskirt )
☙ ☙ ☙

