Yamaku Book Club (20220124 Dish Washing)

[Helbereth]

It would get rather cluttered very quickly if I started using them for every word, especially in the case of Misha or Satoru...

[Mirage_GSM]

Also, I had assumed the visiting teachers were all figments of Mirage's imagination... now I've learned that at least one of them wasn't. Does that remain true for the rest as well?

Well, Kozo Kanzaki is (very loosely) based on Khelben Arunsun - the other five OCs are completely original.

[dewelar]

It would get rather cluttered very quickly if I started using them for every word, especially in the case of Misha or Satoru...

*nods* Same here, even given Misha's smaller role in Developments than in TD. I'll stick with just using them for words on which she places particular~ emphasis .

[griffon8]

I always thought Misha was using a sing-song tone with the tildes as well. Maybe a question on the Ask! thread could clear it up.

Here are my rambling thoughts on Katawa Kijo:

Katawa Kijo was a story I always enjoyed. I didn't realize at first that all the chapter titles were Disney songs, and doing that is bonus points to Mirage.

When Mirage and I briefly discussed this story, I didn't even recognize it as a route. After some back and forth on that, I realized that to me, the magic aspect overshadows the romance part. Romance is there, no doubt, but that didn't feel like the point of the story. This, even though one of my favorite parts is the conversation between Hisao and Shizune where Shizune reveals her attraction to Hisao.

Hmm, I thought there was more to add. Serves me right for getting interrupted for six hours.

[Mahorfeus]

Just a detail I got stuck on that got me thinking.

The intersection of leylines beneath Yamaku serves to foster the development of latent magical potential. Nurse doesn't really specify whether the school was built there for that very purpose, or if it was just a big coincidence. In which case, is there anything particular about disabled children that makes them more likely to develop magical powers? Or would any other kind of learning facility built on this particular plot of land have garnered the same result?

A bit of a silly question I guess, seeing as the very purpose of the fic is to consolidate a school for the disabled into a magical setting.

Maybe I'm overthinking things. Just a little bit.

[Helbereth]

It's possible the Yamaku Foundation purchased and plotted the land without having any clue about the convergence. Considering that it isn't a school specialized for magical students, but rather one where the councils seek out potential mages, I'd guess its placement there was an accident. That seems likely considering the fact that the headmaster seems to have no involvement with the magical studies.

The only thing that doesn't make sense, now that I think about it, is that they're using several different classrooms after hours for these magical tutoring sessions, and even taking some of them out of their regular classes. That doesn't really jive with how a school ought to be run, and seems like a great way for the secrecy to get thrown out a window.

My impression of Hogwarts (which I basically know nothing about) is that they recruit students from regular schools to study magic at their secluded, secret academy so as not to raise suspicion at regular academic institutions. If the Yamaku facility isn't specifically intended to cater to magically inclined students, and they plan on keeping the studies a secret, I'm not sure how that can realistically be accomplished considering their lax security measures.

[dewelar]

It's possible the Yamaku Foundation purchased and plotted the land without having any clue about the convergence. Considering that it isn't a school specialized for magical students, but rather one where the councils seek out potential mages, I'd guess its placement there was an accident. That seems likely considering the fact that the headmaster seems to have no involvement with the magical studies.

Which, in turn, leads to the question: Given the level of organization that we've seen, why would the mages allow Yamaku to be built in such a powerful place by accident? Are ley line convergences like that so common that they can leave such a place untapped?

[AntonSlavik020]

It's possible the Yamaku Foundation purchased and plotted the land without having any clue about the convergence. Considering that it isn't a school specialized for magical students, but rather one where the councils seek out potential mages, I'd guess its placement there was an accident. That seems likely considering the fact that the headmaster seems to have no involvement with the magical studies.

Which, in turn, leads to the question: Given the level of organization that we've seen, why would the mages allow Yamaku to be built in such a powerful place by accident? Are the line convergences like that so common that they can leave such a place untapped?

If I were to guess, I would say the're common enough where it's not a big deal. Plus, what reason could they use that wouldn't give them away for stopping Yamaku from being placed there? It's seemingly the perfect location otherwise.

[dewelar]

It's possible the Yamaku Foundation purchased and plotted the land without having any clue about the convergence. Considering that it isn't a school specialized for magical students, but rather one where the councils seek out potential mages, I'd guess its placement there was an accident. That seems likely considering the fact that the headmaster seems to have no involvement with the magical studies.

Which, in turn, leads to the question: Given the level of organization that we've seen, why would the mages allow Yamaku to be built in such a powerful place by accident? Are the line convergences like that so common that they can leave such a place untapped?

If I were to guess, I would say the're common enough where it's not a big deal. Plus, what reason could they use that wouldn't give them away for stopping Yamaku from being placed there? It's seemingly the perfect location otherwise.

Well, unless ley lines move around in this setting, it could have been something they saw to decades/centuries ago.

[Mirage_GSM]

Answering most of these questions would not be talking about the story so much as developing the setting further...
The school building is definitely old and certainly predates a school for the disabled. I didn't decide what kind of place it was before that, but it being turned into a school - and thus a potential screening place for young mages - could have been both accidental or planned in some way.
Regarding the frequencies of such places, they are uncommon but not so rare, that each and every one has to be monopolized by the magic community - they'll still keep an eye on most of them.
I've always thought of them as static, and they are described as such in most settings. However the fact that they almost never coincide with large population centers indicate that they either can be "crowded out" by those or they prevent humans from settling there in some way.
If I had to choose one for this setting, I'd probably choose the first, if only because it's a novel idea.
And, Helbereth, you seem to have missed my comment regarding the headmaster...

Edit:
Ah, the secrecy thing...
Emi's lessons take place in the nurse's office, so nobody is supposed to enter unannounced. In Hanako's case I had them lock the classroom, but I didn't want to bog down the story describing all the little security measures.
In most cases I suppose anything unusual that someone could stumble upon could be explained away with few problems (e.g. some kind of science experiment for remedial lessons in Misha's case). Most people wouldn't think twice about such an explanation - especially if the altrnative would be "magic"...

[Oddball]

Sorry, Mirage. I tried this one, but I just couldn't get into it.

[Sea]

Welcome to Meeting two!
Woohoo! It's Misha time! I really liked this one in that we got so see a girl not often covered out of Shizune's route, and saw some good character development for her.
I'm going to go all despot for the next meeting and choose the next story, but it'll be a short one, (My definition of short being 10k> words), but after that we'll do another, also short. After that, well we'll see.
I'll announce the story at 24:00 GMT on the 7th, and the 3rd meeting will be on the 9th, not because everybody can't all read <10k words, but if somebody misses a day, I don't want them to be out of the loop.
Note I have put up a link under the archive section to get to this page, so for convenience you can all use that. Not sure what else to saw, but happy readings!

[AntonSlavik020]

Really liked this story. Wasn't a huge fan of Linda early on, but she grew on me quickly enough. Of course any story with Hisao dating Shizune gets bonus points even if they aren't the focus. Honestly, there wan't much I DIDN'T like about this story. It kept my attention throughout, and perhaps most importantly, had a satisfying ending. I'd like to imagine that they decided to move to Japan, mainly because I don't want to break up the trio of Shizune-Hisao-Misha(plus Linda now obviously). Overall, one of the better finished stories on the site. I'll leave the more in depth reviews to others.

As a side note, if you don't mind asking, where do you live Sea? Where I am it was 4:30 PM March 4th when the meeting started.

[Mahorfeus]

Ouch, I didn't realize the reading period and discussion period overlapped. My reading comprehension betrays me once again.

I remember this one vaguely, but I'll have to give it a reread.

[Hoitash]

Yeah, it's still March 4th here, too. But no worries.

Guess as the author of the current/soon-to-be current reading, I better way in before the whiskey kicks in .

Oops, meant weigh in. Guess it's too late. Ah well.

I'm impressed, honestly, at how well received the story was when I wrote it and how much it is still enjoyed by those who read it. Especially considering the lukewarm response the one-shots get.

I wrote this story when I was younger, a little more optimistic, and obviously a lot less insane. I am glad I wrote this first, before the H&K stuff, though, because USM keeps at least some of my writing grounded in reality. For that, and for being my first serious effort of fan-fiction, it'll always have a special place in my writing vitae.

Also, I'm a huge Misha fan. Not sure why, but my current theory is that my preference for tomboys tends to segue into an attraction of lesbians. But moving on.

All that said, I can't help and roll my eyes a bit at how clunky, rushed, and poorly set up some of it is. I am glad the characters hold up, though, even if I wasn't quite sure what to do with them half the time. and I used Linda's bipolar disorder as a writing crutch. And I didn't think through Misha's speech patterns enough...

Heck, the fact it's still liked after all that is pretty darn cool in itself .