#ninjaeyecandy

I am so sorry this response is so late, but since the pandemic is STILL ongoing, maybe it’s not all that late.

Ki and Aubrey had a very tiny wedding in June in a friend’s backyard, after driving 90 minutes from home to get to the nearest small town that was actually issuing licenses. We recorded our vows and shared the video afterwards with family and close friends, so in a way it was an online wedding too. We even had a tiny cake made by our original baker -- well, not that tiny, as our 5 friends barely finished a single tier, and we ate the rest for breakfast for the following week. 

(These are handmade sugar-paste peonies and bud roses, btw. No live flowers sacrificed in the making of this cake!)

A couple of weeks later we went on a tiny honeymoon to a cabin on a lake in Algonquin Provincial Park in northern Ontario, and honestly it couldn’t have been better.

As for the rest of the pandemic... We’re hanging in there about as well as anyone, I suspect. We’re all still breathing, and in this moment in time, we’re grateful for it.

Picking for this one was SO HARD. I don’t think you understand all the times I made myself cry or agonized over the right wording for some of these bits. I was torn between the description of Ravus’s hand, Noctis doing the math of how little long he was in the others’ lives, his reunion with each of the boys, and his decision-making at the very end. 

Ultimately, the line I keep coming back to is from Noct’s reunion with Luna in chapter four: [Noctis] feels the carpet turn soft, shapeless beneath his soles and marvels at the power Luna carries draped across her shoulders like a mantle.

I didn’t include the commentary of everyone asking where they could get them but I did tag all of you guys, so you should have your answers here! 

ninjaeyecandy replied to your photo “I forgot to tell you guys...”

Whole Foods has them too, under the 365 brand.

Oh, good to know! The ones I found were at Mariano’s (for chicagoans, that’s the one at North and Clybourn, in the shopping center across the street from the REI). 

scifigrl47 replied to your photo “I forgot to tell you guys...”

I'm concerned with "Made with REAL potatoes!" Like that's the least you can say about chips. Really

I suspect the potatoes were the only things they could claim were real :D 

thewittiestpartition replied to your photo “I forgot to tell you guys...”

flavored.........like what? :/

Well, the idea is that they’re like an everything bagel, they have all the toppings. But as with an Everything bagel, which always just tastes like cheesy onions, the All Dressed chips have a dominant flavor, which in this case is BBQ. They taste like what would happen if you tossed a bunch of bbq chips and a bunch of salt-and-vinegar chips together REALLY THOROUGHLY. 

dr-kara replied to your photo “I forgot to tell you guys...”

but do they have no where to go?

They went IN MY STOMACH! 

Actually about half of them did. I took the rest with me and kept trying to finish the bag but the flavor was just too strong. I think I threw out about a quarter of them. 

shirokou replied to your photo “I forgot to tell you guys...”

Is the flavor potatoes?

THE FANCIEST POTATOES! 

digitaldiscipline replied to your photo “I forgot to tell you guys...”

"excessive" is not an adjective that applies to garlic. i must find these.

I dearly want Joe-won to step back and just DO HIS JOB and not bother his employees. But I adore everyone else.

Read:

Kindred, Octavia Butler (scifi/fantasy: a modern black woman repeatedly and involuntarily time-travels to 1830s Virginia to save the life of her slaveholding ancestor; I can’t believe I’ve missed Octavia Butler for so long and I need to rectify that stat.)

Bloodchild and Other Stories, Octavia Butler (scifi; WOW. Short stories, but they each pack a punch, and the titular story will stick with me for a long time.) 

Dim Sum Asylum, Rhys Ford (urban fantasy gay romance; the hero is a crossbreed fae cop in a San Francisco Chinatown where humans and the fae have always co-existed. Fun but slight.)

An Unseen Attraction, K.J. Charles (historical gay romance; an autism-spectrum lodging house-keeper and a sweet, shy taxidermist find romance in 1870s London. Two of the nicest protagonists ever.)

An Unnatural Vice, K.J. Charles (historical gay romance; a crusading journalist clashes with a conman spiritualist in 1870s London. Epic hatesex ensues...)

Reread:

Burndive, Karin Lowachee (military scifi, sequel to Warchild, with a protagonist who very much isn’t in the military and doesn’t want to be, but people keep shooting at him anyway. Explores PTSD, family, addiction, and what it takes to make peace)

Cagebird, Karin Lowachee (military scifi, sequel to Burndive, parallel paths following the protagonist’s descent into prostitution and piracy, and his efforts to pull himself out and protect the man he maybe-loves? I liked it much better on reread, and I already liked it to begin.)

Reading:

Raven Stratagem, Yoon Ha Lee (had to put it down again for the Lowachee reread, but picking it back up this weekend)

River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey (told you I got sidetracked...)

It kind of snuck up on Ryouma too! Honestly though, Kakashi has been demonstrating his thoughtfulness for others, his compassion, and his respect for those who deserve it since day 1 of the ANBU Trials. He is frequently “kind of weird, mostly rude, and scary as hell on the battlefield” -- but he’s also an incredible sweetheart.

Here’s your Valentine’s Day compilation of some of my favorite Top Boyfriend Kakashi threads:

Trouble Round My Door

Down to the Bone

Worth the Pain

Laws of Gravity

Red Seas at Dawn

Light Me Up (of course)

Lost in the Dark

Lay Your Body Down (of COURSE)

Mistakes We Knew We Were Making (the HAIR-PETTING)

Before You Turn to the Knife

One Kiss Away From Killing (MY HEART IS A PUDDLE)

Enjoy another reread! ;)

Nope!

We haven’t got into much detail in Legacy on promotion requirements, although I think Ryouma at least has mentioned that his field promotion to chuunin came after he used the Nikutai Tokasu to kill an Iwa jounin who’d killed Ryouma’s genin teammate. His promotion to special jounin came three days after the Kyuubi attack, during which he’d helped create a firebreak that saved a portion of Konoha’s residential district. 

In the real world, battlefield promotions are sometimes awarded for feats of outstanding leadership or exceptionally heroic qualities. We figure that war-time promotions in Legacy must have run along somewhat similar lines, with the additional possibility of demonstration of a significant and/or self-developed jutsu under battlefield conditions. Given that both chuunin and jounin/special jounin ranks require demonstration of leadership capabilities, Ryouma’s self-reported accounts of his promotions must have downplayed his efforts and effectiveness at organizing and leading his comrades.

In Legacy, Kakashi was promoted to chuunin at ten, and Raidou and Genma at thirteen. All of these promotions would similarly have happened during the war, although we don’t know what the precipitating factors were. It’s possible that they proceeded through more normal routes than Ryouma’s. A written exam and team component (similar to the canonical Forest of Death trial) are possible. But we’re damn well certain that nobody was hosting canon-style gladiatorial matches during wartime!

(DK points out that: “One on one fights are also a stupid assessment for a chuunin, since the position is supposed to be about leadership, commanding teams, and working in groups.” And opening up your “hidden” village to poorly vetted guest ninja and civilian tourists is even stupider, as the Sandaime learned...) 

(See 2018 Year in Review)

2019 marked ANBU Legacy’s 6th official year in existence, and first full year on our own site. In terms of production, it was a decent year for us. We published 11 full chapters -- starting with The Target You Earned and ending with One Kiss Away From Killing -- covering... 10 days in story time, from Aug. 7 to Aug. 17. Well. A lot happened in those 10 days?

2019 Legacy Chapters

August 7

The Target You Earned (Minato, Raidou, Genma, Kakashi, Ryouma, Naruto) — Minato came out for a good time, and he’s honestly feeling so attacked right now.

Ties That Bind (Naruto, Raidou, Genma, Kakashi, Ryouma) — Team Six babysits, but when a new visitor arrives, it’s Naruto’s turn to supervise.

August 9

Call Off Your Ghosts (Raidou, Genma, Ryouma) — Team Six’s next mission summons involves a replacement tracker, lives on the clock, and a painfully close encounter with the realities of the bounty system.

August 10

Someday I’ll Pay for What I’m About to Do (Raidou, Genma, Ryouma) — Something very wrong has happened at Tochigi Bounty Office, but with a traumatized genin and a dangerous prisoner on their hands, Team Six doesn’t have time for answers.

August 11

Paying the Piper (Nijo) — Nijo Kozue has had better days.

August 9 – 15

Dog Stays Home (Kakashi, Rin, Hakone, Kurenai, Ginta, Minato, Naruto) — Kakashi copes with being left behind. It goes about as well as you’d expect.

August 15

Welcome Home, Losers (Genma, Raidou, Kakashi, Ryouma, Rin) — Team Six is reunited. Kakashi has Opinions, Genma has alarming news, and Ryouma has anxiety. Raidou has a headache.

One Step Across the Line (Genma, Raidou, Kurenai) — Genma, Raidou, and Kurenai renegotiate boundaries over belated birthday cake.

August 16

Place at the Table (Raidou, Genma, Kakashi, Ryouma, Rin, Minato, Naruto, Jiraiya) — Team Six has a scheduled meeting with a chakra injury specialist. And then an extremely unexpected meeting with a bestselling novelist and famed Toad Sage…

Spill the Tea (Ginta, Minato, Jiraiya, Kakashi, Naruto) — Sake is sweeter When drunk from the master’s cup As autumn leaves fall

August 17

One Kiss Away From Killing (Kakashi, Ryouma, Minato, Jiraiya) — You wouldn’t think blowing up rabbits for science with your teacher and his teacher would lead to romance, but you’re not ANBU. Ryouma and Kakashi solve the mystery of Iebara’s jutsu and have some sex to celebrate. Graphic Animal Death, Explicit Sexual Content

2019 Reader Engagement

In terms of views and visitors, we saw significant increase over 2018 (probably because the ANBU Legacy site only went live in June 2018). 

We had 94,324 total views and 16,276 visitors. Most visitors came from search engines, followed by Tumblr, AO3, Reddit, and Wordpress subscribers. Keep spreading the word! 

Most visitors came from English-speaking countries, but I’m blown away by the amount of visitors we have from around the world. Welcome, all! 

Of course, a lot of visitors were either algorithm-driven or arrived while looking for something else, took a quick spin around, and decided we weren’t for them. In terms of readers following the story, my best guess is somewhere between 700 - 800, judging by the view-counts on one-shot chapters published this year and less susceptible for rereading: 

And, of course, some awesome readers started an unofficial Legacy Discord, where we’ve found many more awesome opportunities for conversation with and between readers! 

2020 Plans 

We started the year off early with a new thread:

August 18

Closet Cases (Raidou, Genma, Kakashi, Ryouma, Aoba) — After Genma picks Ryouma up from his first day of Medic School, their teammates offer a chance to put theory into practice.  Then it’s time for lunch, more apartment renovations, and a few surprises.

As for what’s up next?

Well, at LegacyCon in October, we planned out the next few threads and arcs. As you can see, we’ve hit three of them already:

We figure the next set of threads (including missions!) should see us at least part of the way through 2020. After that... well, @aubreyli​ and @ninjaeyecandy​ have a June 2020 wedding planned, and @saunterleftside​ and @nezumiko​ will be in attendance. I’m sure we’ll do some more planning then. 

We’re looking forward to sharing a lot more exciting stories with you in 2020 and years to come -- we hope you’ll come with us, and bring your friends!