Before & After & Inbetween

Just in case somebody is still lurking on this journal:

I've begun posting the three chapters (two shorts and a long one) of Mariko's tale (you may recall her from Family Matters Chapter 19) on the AO3. Chapters 1 and 2 are up, 3 still needs some minor work, but I hope to have it done within one or two weeks at most.

If you are interested: https://archiveofourown.org/works/84966496 (limited to logged in users, because of LLM scrapers that also took my homepage effectively offline for the time being & also because there were a lot of comment lice on AO3 recently).

I'm also working on the next chapter of Business As Usual (Case Studies) again and it's coming around nicely, but I will refrain from giving a time frame or snippets for that one - first of all, my job may turn busy again, second, I'm paranoid about feeding the scrapers these days.

current chapter word count: 7138 (9/16 pages in continuous text) of which roughly 3000 words are new words, because I realized I needed "Window [censored]" in Seishiro's pov instead of Subaru's to fit into the story.
pov change completed? yes.
scenes to be written next: "on the hunt", is it always like this? (the gap on page 9 and later)
character not caring about sights: Seishiro
character managing to accidentally link paperwork and sex: Subaru
character asking in vain for a maboroshi: also Subaru
research of the day: wipes in 2000 Japan.

author comment: thanks to the pov change I now have a meaty outtake for BAU part 2...

quote of the day:
Seishiro reached for him mid-sentence, pulling him close. “So, you propose we become undone?”

current chapter word count: 5848 (9/14 pages in continuous text)
scenes written today: working with Subaru, about Hokuto
scenes completed? yes, though "about Hokuto" is a scene that will see quite a bit of tinkering going forth to get it spot on. There's no leeway here, so even the chosen quote of the day may yet change.
scenes to be written next: is it always like this?, tatarigami mistress confrontation, reporting
character uncaring of purity but caring of pain: Yimura
character using the different meanings of living with: Subaru
research today: none, but the chapter is plotted through, albeit with gaps and some leeway here and there. The main reason that the continuous text still ends on page 9 is that I have yet to write Seishiro going after the tatarigami caller, whereas the following Subaru centric scenes are mostly written already.

quote of the day:
Subaru drew a deep breath and pushed himself off his chair. “I have to live with the fact that my sister committed suicide for me, and I can live with the Sakurazukamori who hurt me and abetted her to ensure the Final Battle remains undecided.” He headed for the door. “If you can’t, let me know and I’ll arrange for your return to Kyoto.”

no new update this weekend; I have quite a few scribbles about Subaru and Yimura interacting, but temperatures over here soared 15°C above what I'm comfortable with and my brain just fails to come up with meaningful sentences that actually express what I want to say; so - delay. It's supposed to cool down on Tuesday...

(I wrote "cook down on Tuesday"... Erk. I stop here.)

current chapter word count: 4306 (9/11 pages in continuous text)
scenes written today: Window [censored], Risk Assessment, Shisa approval
scenes completed? Window is complete, RA and Shisa are outlined and partial, but all was written in one giant splurge at 4:30 a.m. and will need proper spellcheck, finetuning, and editing before being considered "done".
character thinking the window cleaners are paid too much: Seishiro
character believing the window cleaners deserve a pay rise: Subaru
character beginning to regret glass doors: also Subaru

quote of the day:
"I'm not an exhibitionist."
"The new decor on that window suggests otherwise."


author comment: if the content of these three scenes stay as they are in this part, then Case Assessments as a chapter will have earned the overall rating of the Decagram series for a change.

current chapter word count: 2925 (6/7 continuous pages)
scenes written today: tracking down Subaru, can you talk?
scenes completed? nope, too much research needed
character having done his job not just since yesterday: Seishiro
character getting a reminder of what that means: Subaru
research of the day: train schedule around midday on weekdays between Tama New Town and Kasumigaseki, traveling time between Keio-Inadazutsumi Station and Chofu Station, platform design at Keio-Inadazutsumi, exits of and parking lots at Chofu station (Keio line) [up until here a big YAY for Google route planning & streetview, as well as screen capture & OneNote pls]; 1970s racing animes - Machine Hiryu, Dash Machine Hayabusa, Mach GoGoGo [and no, I don't care for racing animes - they're just boring]

quote of the day:
Subaru blinked at the sight of the blue sedan parking near the train station exit. “How come your car’s here and not at the previous—?”
Seishiro laughed. “Because I didn't just start doing this job yesterday.”

current chapter word count: 2027 (5/6 pages in continuous text)
scenes written today: arrival of the secretary, "are you kidding me?!"
scenes completed? Arrival is done, "are you kidding me?!" is to come
scenes to come next: "are you kidding me?!"
character having second thoughts: Yimura
character proving more capable than hoped: also Yimura
character having a temper: Seishiro
character considering decimating the less competent OMR staff: also Seishiro
research of the day: computer OSes in 2000 Japan; TRON kernel options

quote of the day 1:
“Yes, but it’s been two years since I actually used a computer.” At Namane’s surprised look, she added apologetically, “my house insists on… more traditional communication methods.” That earned her what could only be described as a snort and muttered ‘I know.’ “Is there a manual I may use?”

quote of the day 2:
“If they try to purify me, they will need a mop for themselves!”

current chapter word count: 1283
scenes written today: Tama New Town case, new secretary
scenes completed? you wish! The tatarigami still has to show up - secretary started because it's happening parallel to Tama New Town case (avoids boring fillers)
character whose shikigami hovers over kitchen knives: Subaru
character losing patience with OMR personnel: Seishiro
character confusing Subaru's new secretary: also Seishiro
character not bothering to wait: Seishiro again

quote of the day:
“I have Sumeragi-sama's pager number, sir,” she said quietly. “I will page him to call in.”
“Unnecessary,” Seishiro told her, grabbing his coat. “I’ll find him.”

current chapter word count: 421 (mostly scribbles)
scenes planned in order: Tama New Town case for Subaru, arrival of the secretary, Tatarigami are no accident, data deletion before closing of cases leads to incomplete data available, Subaru still has the data, Akechi musings (interlude).
scenes planned but not yet sorted in: customer verification issue, why are they ogling me?, first contact family, suicide case for Seishiro
character preferring his colleague's summaries: Subaru
character needing new shoes: Subaru's secretary
research for the day: Tama New City, Toei Atago complex, aging suburb population problem, tatarigami

quote of the day:
"With all due respect," the Sumeragi attendant huffed. "We never record that information about our customers. We respect our clients' privacy!"
"And we do not work for unverified customers!"

current chapter word count: 14342
scenes written: return from lunch (small but crucial, closing the last gap to the scenes that only need polishing) & report by form (needs polishing but is a fitting closure for this chapter)
scenes to be polished: all the rest between the two written today of course (currently 6 A4 pages)

AAAAND...
I'm almost done writing one of the side stories to Family Matters: "Domiciliary Visit" - about how Suoh ended up grumpy but alive. It's currently at 980 words and I judge it to end up between 1500 and 2000 words in total. Depending on how tomorrow works out writing-wise (and if I can keep myself from diving deeper into the yin/yang aspects of Traditional Chinese Medicine for it), it might end up on the AO3 tomorrow, if I'm not too scared to do that without having it betaed, that is.

quote of the day (from DV):
“Really, Taka-chan,” he addressed the unconscious man on the bed, “you should have accepted Subaru-kun’s help. If you were a dog, you’d have been put down already.”

p.s.: in case you miss me on Discord these days - it's currently too lively for me to keep track even remotely. :-)