Me, My Shelf, & I > Recent Status Updates

“But then does this threat lessen its beauty? Is the swan more lovely than the eagle, the placid whale more magnificent than the warlike shark?”

"A stowaway is no better than a thief. A stowaway must face train justice."

"'Nothing has changed,' she whispers. Everything she needs is on this train. Everything she cares about. Nothing has changed.
He shakes his head. 'If only that were true.'"

"What’s that? A refrain that echoes through every crossing. The crew have taught themselves not to react. A crawler, a specter; some familiar strangeness."

"The milkman wants ruination. He wants to spoil the milk."

"It’s strange how after you lose someone, they start to fade piece by piece, until all that’s left are memories that could slip through my fingers like water."

I didn't realize this was a Judge Dee retelling, though also mixed with a Guy Ritchie Sherlock adaptation (the latter I remember reading as inspo here).
I only have the audio so I can't see any hanzi, but it's a little odd that the MC is called Laoshi (Lao for short by Dee). Laoshi means teacher and normally you would use their surname (eg Li Laoshi). Lao on its own is odder since it just means old.

"I can’t breathe, but I won’t say it. I never want them to hear another of us say those words again."

"That’s the lesson: As long as someone is stretching
to reach you, you’d better bend to reach them."

"For a place that calls us savage they sure are
maximizing the replayability of seeing bodies turned inside out."

"The mistake they made was an old one, but one they’ll
undoubtedly make again: forgetting we outnumber them, forgetting
we are just as comfortable with bloody hands as they are and that
we don’t have delusions of being called a hero holding us back."

"I held her together. She insisted on breaking
apart. I held her harder. But then I was just breaking her too."

"Someone get my pants. I'm going to kill a motherfucker!" lmaooooo

Honestly really loving this. The tone is very fun and shares nothing in common with Khaw's work that I previously DNF'd. Really loving this, honestly.

Surprisingly enjoying this quite a bit. It's got a bit of an incompetent gumshoe vibe, but I love the sociopathic Gray personality that's just so unhinged.

She's of Tunisian descent and her family speaks Arabic, he's from Delhi. She just mentioned alcohol being haram so presumably they're also Muslim.

"This doesn't feel like the country we say we are."

[end of ch 8]
Very heavy and realistic portrayal so far. Well-written, but so much racism. Making me feel sad/depleted.