Before & After & Inbetween

...and will probably be corrected. Repeatedly. As usual. ;-)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/89238176/chapters/237674726

For the record, I do not use AI, generative or otherwise, for writing and editing my stories. I do this for fun, and outsourcing fun to a technology with an energy demand that puts our planetary heating on MAX while we already suffer temperatures above 40°C (!) in Northern(!!) Germany and have projected to potentially reach 46°C (!!!) in a week in my books is suicidal.

And other than anyone on Windows and Mac with Word these days, I can be sure that all mistakes, errors, inconsistencies, and quirks in my writing are mine and not slop induced:
My computer runs on Linux, my writing software is a barebones LibreOffice, my dictionary... is the same since 2001: Langenscheidt's Handwörterbuch Englisch (ISBN 3-468-05127-1, 1800 pages, weighs 2.8 kg, firmly occupying one corner of my desk, because I deem it too heavy to haul around).

If there are similarities in style or grammar between my writing and genAI output, that's because my homepage was scraped without my consent.

In short:
Accuse me of writing and editing with a chatbot, and my dictionary would like to have an impactful conversation with your face. Have a good day.

Chapter 8 (Quarantine) of The Right to Refuse is now up.
The story refused to be done in 8 chapters + an epilogue, so it's going to be 9+E instead.
So much for planned brevity!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/87440591/chapters/234486736

The final chapter of Mariko's tale (you may recall her from Family Matters Chapter 19) is up on the AO3.
You can find the story at 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).

Now back to the next chapter of Business As Usual (Case Studies). :-)

Dear all,

as you maybe (not) noticed, the last BAUplan update is from August, reporting on a required change of perspective. Unfortunately, soon after my real life also insisted on such a change as the university decided after 14 years not to extend my contract past the current project. Hence, instead of writing I ended up job hunting.
Yesterday, I received - and accepted - a job offer for a position at a federal institute. :D

Now I have at least the rest of the month free for (a) calming my frayed nerves from the last months and (b) writing TBX. So, if the aftermath of the stress doesn't get the better of me, expect updates!

current chapter word count: 6823 (9/16 pages in continuous text; one gap before this scene, hence...)
scene written today: on the hunt
scene completed? not yet
scene to be written next: closer to home
character learning about "normal" retiree shenanigans in Tokyo: Seishiro
character reconsidering his options: also Seishiro
research of today: distance between Tama, Tokyo and Gero, Gifu Prefecture; distance between Tama, Tokyo and Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, as the shikigami flies and by train; toll road operations in Japan (not needed); river flooding in Tokyo in y2k (yes, but six months too late for the story)
author's comment: this is one of the 'mechanical' scenes that read "meh" and everything is figured out and the text tightened accordingly. Let's hope that happens soon!

quote of the day:
“Keep the file, but exclude her from the immediate list,” Seishiro decided. “Move the other two up to prime targets. You usually don’t send a tatarigami across downtown without it being noticed. I need full files on all three in thirty minutes, and the address in Otsuka right now.”

current chapter word count: 5324 (9/13 pages in continuous text)
scenes written today: Yimura's office, sensing the kill, about Hokuto (was: realization), report writing
scenes completed? you wish!
scenes to be written (next-ish): is it always like this?, working with Subaru, tatarigami mistress confrontation
character admitting to himself that he does exactly what his elders fear he does: Subaru
character finally getting recognized as what she was: Hokuto
characters embarrassed by her office size: Yimura
person who wishes to have more time for this: the author.

quote of the day:
“If it helps, the tatarigami would have killed Hasegawa without the active protection charm. Something I could only offer because I knew you’d be on the case immediately.”
Seishiro nodded. “Put that in your report. I’ll add a risk assessment to mine about what the tatarigami would have caused had it broken its tether.”
“Do we know its tether?” Subaru asked.
“Destroying Hasegawa.” Seishiro snorted. “My client was rather vocal about it.”

current chapter word count: 4642 (9/11 pages in continuous text)
scenes written today: Window [censored], Risk Assessment, Shisa approval & risqué and risk
scenes completed? Window was tweaked, RA and Shisa are more fleshed out, but not yet complete, R&R is almost complete, but all of them need more preparation in the still missing events beforehand that have been partially outlined today, but still aren't written.
scenes to be written next: is it always like this?, working with Subaru, tatarigami mistress confrontation, sensing the kill, realization
character not paying attention in his meeting because of underwear in his pocket: Seishiro
character deeply uncomfortable because of a missing piece of underwear: Subaru
character wondering about public transport usage: Seishiro
research for today: lines of sight between Kokyo, the Imperial Guards HQ, and Sakura Enterprises' location; building shadows in Tokyo in May at approx. 17:30; distance range of military grade binoculars

author's comment:
I originally planned to have the first touch of the Ijyeun thread in this part, but it increasingly looks that it will end up in the next part. There's so much going on already and window [censored] & co further expanding / complicating matters that it's either going to be twice the size it was supposed to be or going to be horribly cluttered. Both options are not appealing.

quote of the day:
“Shiibatani is probably furthering his education with binoculars.” Another stroke. “Right now.”

current chapter word count: 3652 (9/9 pages continuous text)
scenes written today: tracking down Subaru, talking shop
scenes completed? yes.
scenes to be written next: Yimura wondering about the weird phone requests, Seishiro on the job, Subaru back in Kasumigaseki, Akechi-interim
character getting a verbal case report: Seishiro
character risking more because of the OMR: Subaru
research of the day: electronic car lock systems built in the 1990s; parking options near Chofu station

quote of the day:
"It’s Yimura’s first day, and I better have a word with Orito-kun.”
“He might be too busy for that. I demanded him to restore the data or personally report to our respective ministries about its loss.” Seishiro’s smile had a distinct edge. “Last time I saw him, he was frantically talking on the phone for a change.”

current chapter word count: 2531 (6/6 pages continuous text)
scenes written today: "are you kidding me?!"
scenes completed? yes.
scenes to be written next: tracking down Subaru
character having a temper: Seishiro
character having a bad day: Sumeragi Orito
characters ordered to bear witness: Namane and Yimura
research of the day: public transport and expressway connections between Tama New Town and Kasumigaseki, family names in Tokyo

quote of the day 1:
“I do not contact a client, Orito-kun,” Seishiro reminded him.
“I don’t see how excessive information about the neighborhood and living circumstances will help with that. I—”
“Do you think you will leave this building if I explain that to you?”

quote of the day 2:
“They deleted four person days of work for an unclosed case. Let them realize what that means before we get a file consisting of ‘Suzuki in Tokyo’.”