i like the way you profiled makoto here. very good. thank you for sharing. :)

God I love this. I really, really do. Thank you.

I loved it.

Great story.

I actually only read the second chapter of this one, but I've got to say that it was absolutely beautifully done.

woo, its NICE. Great piece of work, good job!

The "...Shit, Makoto, he thought. What the hell do you teach this kid?" part made me laugh my ass off xD Really great written.

Oh this was great. A wonderful description of Kasai's "relationship" with Kubota and then Tokito, and so well written too. I really liked Kasai's revelation in the second chapter, and the comfortable feeling after Tokito woke up. One of the better WA fics I've read.

okay now my hubb's turn to og the pc, and i go to make dinner. and i can't wait to read the rest of it later. i'm so enjoying your fics. on page one already!

i like how you fill in the gaps so eloquently as well.

Wow. A wonderful portrayal of Kasai. But that feels like an understatement. A great story and a great fusion of concepts: warmth of family, warmth of the room, "the way it's supposed to be," Kubota as a mirror...it was all smooth and flowing. You really have a knack for getting people attached to characters they never thought they'd become attached to.

Business now, critiquing later. First off, can I ask your permission to recommend and link to "All Things Familiar" in my blog?
Critique now:
I love this fic! Definetely my favorite of all "Wild Adapter" fanfics I have read, and among my favorites of all time.
Much thought went into the making of this, that is obvious. Details within past history, conversation, symbolism (the closet, etc.) all work really well together, and even better when you reference them again (especially spanning both parts). I'd say I get an emotional charge equal to, if not greater than Minekura's own. (May be because I can't read the darned beautiful things, and can only dredge up reactions from looking at the artwork, but that certainly doesn't detract from the fact this fic is so well written.)
This is just my lack of knowledge of the details within "WA" (i.e. own books, can't read a lick...), but how old is Kubota? It seemed strange to me that he was living with Kasai from ages 12 to 14, then went off to join Sanai that early in his life! Dang!

umm, yeah, what Aki said.
What I loved best was the notion of Kubota reflecting others. A ghost indeed.
Awesome stuff, particularly since it's from a rare Kasai's POV. Thanks for that. )

Timms! you wrote another story! a red-letter day for me ) now, i'm your typical knows-nothing-about-the-series-but-slave-to-kubotoki fangirl (ok, so maybe typical isn't the right word to use-there can't be that many of us), but i found myself enjoying this fic in a rather different way. for one thing, you employed your impressive gifts of character insight to write this from kasai's POV. it's hard for young people to sound old, but i think you were far more convincing than most-i liked many of the details you used, the dialogue you crafted-i can believe that kasai is a person. kubota himself is rather remote and inaccessible, but his uncle is, alas, all too human! and getting old. you captured that regret, that sense of something being lost before you even knew it was yours-and a weariness, too. the scenes that stood out most sharply for me were those that took place in the kitchen-both before and after the advent of tokitoh: the two of them, silently eating, the conversation they had over chopped cabbage. as usual, your grasp of the characters is fantastic. their movements and speech are all natural and believable.
one small comment, on the side of constructive criticism-i find that your characters are vivid enough to let their actions speak for themselves. it may not be necessary to do as much explication as you do; let the reader figure some of it out, or read between the lines. you've done such an excellent job of showing us who they are that you probably don't need to have them explain it to themselves; that might help to concentrate the story even further. of course, it's totally unseemly for me to be giving advice to you, since you're like way ahead in terms of craft *respectful attitude*
thanks for the great read, as usual )

I would say you write them (and by "them", I mean everyone) better than Minekura. But that's venturing too far into Lightning-Will-Strike-Me-Down territory. So I'll just say you write them as well as she does. Thank you very much.

i love your subtle kubotoki-ness! the story is written very convincingly, and the way you showed the characters was very realistic, as if it came from the manga. _