On Sunday, I heard Hotel California on the radio and suddenly knew it would be a great fanvid and could see it all unfold beautifully in my head. I was going to write it down but decided against it.

Today I'm like "okay I am not a vidder but maybe I could do that in drabble form" and CANNOT REMEMBER WHICH FANDOM IT WAS.

:(

guess I may go with "what's the funniest thing" (Jane Austen).



EDIT: I remember! I remember! Complaining works! ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.

This week, fancy books and skull from Sunset Road (part of their "Haunted Library" set.) Also a spiderweb from a set I bought at the Butterfly Pavilion a couple years ago.

This was a good week. Feeling sick for much of the mid-week wasn't great, but at least it seemed to resolve quickly. We went to Hudson Gardens, which was beautiful and a perfect day to be out. Work was fine. On Saturday we went to "Spirits and Spirits," which was our big Halloween thing for the year. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad we decided to do it. I wish I hadn't had to go back to work for one more day afterwards, but alas.

Goals for the week:

• We did attend Spirits and Spirits
• I picked up my ballot
• I read What Moves the Dead
• I worked on my book reviews
• I did not work on my reading page
• I did not make that stupid phone call
• I continued my October Devotional
• I did collect new branches for the katydids
• I started Queen Demon
• I wrote up the intro for the Alice Isn't Dead/Sparrow Hill Road crossover

For my October Devotional:

• 19 - I collected branches for the katydids
• 20 - Definitely appreciated some beautiful fall colors; got a pumpkin latte; bought fancy bread for French toast
• 21 - Went on a really nice walk at Hudson Gardens; splurged on some Halloween pins for myself
• 22 - Alex made another zucchini cake
• 23 - I did some plant care; got sweet potato fries
• 24 - We went and got pumpkin milkshakes (again)
• 25 - We went to Spirits and Spirits

Tracked habits:

• Work - 4.5/7 - took a half day on Saturday
• Household Maintenance - 5/7
• Physical Activity - 3/7
• Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 1/7 - over 500 words
• Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
• Meta Work - 3/7
• Personal Writing - 6/7
• Other Creative Things - 2/7
• Reading - 6/7 - I read What Moves the Dead and started Queen Demon; I also read a bit of Bloodhunt Academy, and kept up with Re: Dracula/Dracula Daily
• Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday we had some explore videos in the background and watched a book review; Monday I listened to music and later had stuff in the background; Tuesday I listened to music and later we watched Drive Back, which was better than anticipated; Wednesday we watched the documentary Audrey + Daisy; Thursday we watched Abbott Elementary, then had 20/20 and explore videos in the background; Friday we watched Great British Bake Off, and a paranormal livestream; Saturday had some stuff on in the background.
• Video Games - 0/7
• Social Interaction - 6/7

Total words written: 803 on the fic intro

While looking for something else in my bookmarks, I came across this article that I'd found back in 2014. Considering the moment we are currently in now, it seems prophetic.

From Politico: The Pitchforks are Coming...For Us by Nick Hanauer

"If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when".

petra has posted that if you donate at least $25 in cash or food to a food bank at any point between now and the end of the Trump Administration, and you either share a fandom of theirs and want a drabble or poetry for that fandom, or if you want original poetry, comment to petra about your donation and they will write for you.

For full details, including where to post your comment-of-donation and your writing request see their Dreamwidth post.

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'a’ and ’t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

I pinched this one from thisbluespirit (though I've seen it since all across the f-list) and started from my most recent fic and worked backwards snagging the first instance of each letter.

A - Another Day, Another Disaster (Good Omens, Aziraphale & Crowley, Adam & The Them)
B - Between Stimulation and Reaction (Leverage, Eliot Spencer/Parker/Alex Hardison, Eliot Spencer/Sophie Deveraux, Eliot Spencer/Others)
C - Cola, Bleach and Other Dangerous Chemicals (Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn, Cassie Cain, Joker)
D - Done Deal (Leverage, Eliot Spencer/Parker/Alec Hardison)
E - Eilean a 'Cheo (Rivers of London, Beverley Brook/Peter Grant, Abdul Haqq Walid, OCs)
F - Four Meals (Good Omens, Aziraphale/Crowley)
G - Gold Standard(The Thing in the Tunnels Wants Rather More) (The Thing In The Walls Wants Your Spare Change, Caro, Aly, Dragons)
H - Hiding in Plain Sight (Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau)
I - If Wishes Were Spaceships (Wolf 359, Doug Eiffel/Hera)
J - Joined By The Westering Wind (Pacific Rim, Rayleigh/Mako)
K - Knives Out of Context (Leverage, Parker/Alec Hardison)
L - Like the Arms of the Ocean (Birds of Prey, Cassandra Cain & Harleen Quinzel)
M - Midnight Special (Leverage, Eliot Spencer/Mr Quinn)
N - No Happy Ending (Forest 404, Pan/Daria)
O - Of Salt and Candles (Good Omens, Aziraphale & Crowley)
P - Practical Arrangements and Practical Jokes (Ghostbusters, Jillian Holtzman/Abby Yates)
Q -
R - Robots Need Hugs Too (Wolf 359, Doug Eiffel, Hera, Alana Maxwell)
S - Someone You Couldn't Lose (Ocean's Eight, Daphne Kluger/Debbie Ocean/Lou Miller)
T - Taking The Shine Off The Stars (The Mummy, Ardeth Bay/Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell)
U - The Universe Is Drifting Apart (Ghostbusters, Jillian Holtzmann/Patty Tolan)
V - A Voice From The Stars (Wolf 359, Doug Eiffel, Hera, Mr Cutter)
W - Weapon of Choice (James Bond Movies, Bond/M, Bond/Q, Bond & Moneypenny)
X -
Y - You Wear It Well (Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers/Maria Rambeau)
Z -

23/26 from 200 fics on AO3. Unsurprisingly no Q, X or Z - I did wonder if I might have a Q somewhere, but if I do it must be a drabble or comment fic that never got archived. I thought it was going to be a much worse turn out as after a strong start there was a lot of repetition in first letters but my Wolf 359 fic did me a solid with I, R and V after nearly two pages of nothing but Cs, Ls, Ms, Ss and Ts it felt like.

Canon divergence AUs are my favorite genre of Vorkosigan Saga fics, here are some I enjoyed a lot.

( 3 series with additional children and 1 isekai )

The alphabet meme from lots of places (title stolen from dhampyresa.)

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for starting a fic title? One fic per line, ‘A’ and 'The’ do not count for 'a’ and ’t’. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A: Assuming Shape, Young Avengers, 4k Sarah Altmann gen
B: Building for the Future, Castlevania (TV), 2k Hector & Isaac post-canon
C: Claw Out Your Eyes and Devour You, Hades 2, 1.4k ~Scylla/Melinoe
D: Drawn To You, Hockey RPF, 7.4k Robert Bortuzzo/Beau Bennett soulmate&prostitute AU
E: Etho's Escort Service From Hell, Hermitcraft, 1.5k Etho & Cleo
F: Forget-Me(-Not), The Gardener's Hand, 0.8k Alizhan & Thiyo missing scene
G: Go About Your Business, Act As If You're Free, Phoenotopia: Awakening, 2.1k Lisa & Bart post-canon
H:
I: In the Dream Grove, Dice Disasters, 1.9k Jasmin & Cody
J:
K: Kadavo, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, 1.8k Rex missing scene
L: Loop One Alliance, Life Series, 8k Impulse-centric Double Life time loop
M: Memories Of a Life Not Lived, Life Series/Hermitcraft, 1.5k, Cleo & Etho
N: Next Time Bring Candles, Food, 5.2k, SGA, Teyla&team gen
O: Only a little, The Bright Sessions, 6.6k, Adam & Damien canon divergence AU
P: Potato Blossom Magic, Dream SMP, 0.4k Techno&Phil sex pollen
Q:
R: Ritual of Cooperation, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, 14.1k Johannes & Zangetsu missing scene
S: Sitting by the Tree, Killjoys, Dutch & Johnny gen
T: Things That Make You Think Different, Steerswoman, 2.7k Steffie gen
U: Uncut Gems, The Fire's Stone, 3.8k ~Darvish/Aaron time travel
V: Various Ways to Victory, Life Series/Hermitcraft, 1.8k Pearl & Scar post-Secret Life gen
W: What Needs to Be Done (To Make a Difference, Hermitcraft/Hotguy Comics Zine, Pearl missing scenes
X:
Y:
Z:

20/26 with 126 works.

Berry Mad has emerged! She had burrowed a couple weeks ago, and for a while I could tell she was coming back out occasionally to make new mud for herself, but then she didn't seem to even be doing that. I was trying to decide if I should go dig her up (I don't want to overly bother or stress her, but it's not actually cold enough in here for her to hibernate.) But as with last year, as soon as I started to really worry about it, she came back out.


Not that she looks happy about it, lol.


Bonus Guava Splash. (With fruit flies.)

---

Sadly Three, one of the katydids, passed away a couple days ago. He was the third of the three we caught this year, but the first to go. This is about the end of the katydid lifecycle; we haven't heard any outside for a week or so. Last year we had two, and one died the last weekend of October, and one the first week of November.

So far both Clickbait and Green Bean are doing all right: still eating their beans, and Clickbait has had plenty to say. Unfortunately, we probably only have another week or so with them, but we can always hope for more!

---

I am free for nine whole days! I try to take the bulk of my "holiday" time off around Halloween, since that's my favorite, and doesn't have as much PTO competition as the time around Thanksgiving/Christmas.

As always, I have a long list of things I want to do. Lots of it is creative-ish stuff, like writing or working on the arty reading page I'm about five months behind on. I'd also like to read more, get some of my enamel pins displayed, maybe even play A Video Game, which I basically haven't done in a year+. Mixed in, I'd like to do some of the little cleaning projects that never seem to happen, like getting shelves dusted and drawers organized. Our nice weather is holding, at least to some extent (might be a bit chilly, and some overnight freezes, but not supposed to be snowy or anything,) so it'd also be nice to get a little more outdoor time in before the time change + not seeing the sun for six months makes me lose my mind. I also have plans to get together with Taylor for a couple nights. Also gotta fit in my annual Over the Garden Wall watch, obviously.

Now it's just a matter of doing those things. I know that last year after my Halloween week off I felt quite disappointed in how little we did with the week. I think the weather was less cooperative, but my recollection is a lot of days kind of wasted in being stuck in "waiting" mode, where I'm scrolling on my phone for a couple hours because we *might* have an errand to run later, or taking a nap that ends up eating the entire afternoon... every day.

We already did our big "event" for the holiday, which I'll post about in a day or two when I get the pictures sorted. (We went to the "Spirits and Spirits" event at the Four Mile House, which was a lot of fun!)

---

I feel bad for my coworker. Yesterday she told me she was going to put in her two weeks notice today. Sounds like she and her fiance are splitting up. He's moving back to be with his trump-humper family in Wisconsin, and since she can't afford to live here on her own, she's moving home to her family in Alamosa. So big breakup, quitting her job, and having to move all in one go.

---

Weirdly, I keep catching myself kind of slipping into "New Year" mode. It could be the shorter days, it could be just general autumn wanderlust feelings, could be the subconscious desire to skip a chunk of winter... I sort of suspect it's just me, haha. I feel like I often get about 3/4 of the way through an allotted time (in this case, 2025) and am ready to jump ahead and start planning for the next bit.

In this case, I really want to start sorting through my TBR list again and figure out what I realistically expect I can get through in 2026. I keep slapping my own hand away from it, because I'm not there yet! Gotta get through this year before I can reasonably guess where to start for next year!
To a lesser extent I'm sort of doing the same with writing goals, and trying to figure out a plan to actually get some sort of writing completed next year (unlike this year.) But again, gotta get through this year to know where I'll be at!

---

The World As It Is continues to sort of suck. Alex won't be getting food aid for November, which is money we definitely rely on to, y'know, eat. We will be okay, but I know there are people who are likely to be less okay than we are.

But that's kind of a downer to leave it on so...

Looking forward to this week off, and really hoping to find ways to make the time intentional!

Ooh a meme!

Rules: How many letters of the alphabet have you used for [starting] a fic title? One fic per line, 'A' and 'The' do not count for 'a' and 't'. Post your score out of 26 at the end, along with your total fic count.

A - Accidental Documentaries (Supernatural, Teenchesters)
B - Blueshift (Star Trek AOS, Kirk/Bones)
C - Chicago and Change (due South/NCIS, Gen)
D - Dress Me Up Take Me Out (Guardian, Shen Wei/Zhou Yunlan)
E - Eight Crazy Pilots Serenity Didn't Keep (Firefly/Many, Gen)
F - The Five-0 Job (Hawaii 5-0/Leverage Crossover, Gen)
G - The Gatekeeper and the Keymaster (Buffy/SG1, Gen)
H - Heart of a Lion (Buffy, Gen)
I - In Want of a Hyperdrive (Star Wars, Gen)
J - Just Another Provincial Town (Merlin, Merlin/Gwaine)
K - Keeping Up Appearances During the Holidays (Leverage, Parker/Hardison)
L - Let's Play Pretend and Live Our Lives (The Untamed, WWX/LWJ)
M - Mornings Between Jobs (Leverage, OT3)
N - A Nude Awakening (Dragon Age Origins, Alistair/Zevran)
O - of cheese and carrots (Dragon Age Inquisition, Alistair/Cullen)
P - Perspective Dispersion (Teen Wolf, Werewolf!Sheriff)
Q - Quintessent Entanglement Theory (Voltron: Legendary Defender, OT6)
R - Reflects in Moonlight (Teen Wolf, Werewolf!Sheriff)
S - Slats: Moments in Time (Buffy/Stargate SG1, Gen)
T - The Thin Wall (Teen Wolf, Derek/Stiles)
U - Untaken Roads (Farscape/SGA/Supernatural)
V - Variations on a Square Dance (Haven, Audrey/Duke/Nathan + Jordan)
W - Weather Every Rack (Pirates of the Caribbean, Elizabeth/Will)
X - NA
Y - NA
Z - NA

23/26 - Not bad! I have 146 fics total. I forgot I had a Q and U in there. I set my works to most kudos and went from there, so these are the more popular of my fic over the years. It's a pretty good spread of my ouvre, I think, although light on the Farscape, most of which I wrote before AO3 + being a smaller fandom.

Sweetbreads (200 words) by merryghoul
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Cooking Lessons, Organs, Ficlet
Series: Part 13 of Spook Me Ficathon
Summary: An excerpt from a cooking show on how to prepare sweetbreads.

We Could Die Like This (4743 words) by merryghoul
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Charlotte/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox/Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Finn Balor | Prince Devitt/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox & Lyra Valkyria, Bayley | Davina Rose/Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Sasha Banks & Bayley | Davina Rose
Characters: Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Finn Balor | Prince Devitt, Lyra Valkyria, Bayley | Davina Rose, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Inspired by Final Destination (Movies), Inspired by Irish Mythology, Little Black Dress, Surreal, Tokyo (City), Car Accidents, Homophobic Language, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, WWE Clash in Paris, Accidental Death, Hotels, Reality TV, Electrocution, WWE SummerSlam 2018, Podcast, WWE Wrestlepalooza, Airports
Series: Part 14 of Spook Me Ficathon
Summary: Becky Lynch is living her best life when a raven suddenly appears.

 
Our food delivery service sent us a lot of apples this summer. Like a bag of six or eight at a time for several weeks. We got it sorted out, and ate a bunch, but Husband and I prefer the Farmer's market apples, so really we had apples accumulating.

I had to toss one of three bags today, but the other two bags we still had were still good if getting mealy, so I'm making applesauce. Things to note.
1. I've never made applesauce before, but the internet says it's should be pretty easy.
2. I don't like applesauce all that much.
3. Bets are open on how long it takes us to eat said applesauce and/or how long it stays in our freezer frozen.

But at least we won't have apples going to rot on the counter anymore.

obi_ki and her son Alan have been two of my Con*Strict friends. I've just today learned of Alan's death. Too sad for me to write more here but you can read about Alan's life and his family and his friends at Alan's obituary.

Last week, we were lucky enough to have a pretty nice day, so we definitely wanted to take advantage of it!

It was a very beautiful fall day. There were lovely colors, it was warm, and it was all around fairly perfect to be out.


Much gold! And the creek down in the corner.


Liked the view looking up. The sky was also just extremely blue.


Look, it's Bella!

Eleven more pictures:

This time we walked past the other two mosaics on the road bridg:






A boxelder bug nymph!


Ducks on the creek! And some nice fluffy milkweed seeds.


A late chicory flower.


More ducks and colors!


This goober.

(This was right after she took a wade in the very cold creek, immediately got the zoomies from being overstimulated by the cold, rocketed around for a bit, and slammed into my shin hard enough to make both of us yelp, lol.)


Flowers!

We went down to the little stone house for a bit.


It's Bella again!


Really nice colors!


I love the color of these geraniums, but it also seems like a fake color, haha.

Merry October the twenty-fourth in the house of Elrond, to those observing.

---

I am moving in with a friend-of-a-friend a little closer to Boston at the end of the year, hopefully for not more than a year or two. It's not a situation I'd really like to be in long-term, though not any fault of the FOAF; she's very nice, but not, afaik, my flavors of weird, and it's a small basement apartment. That said, it is cheaper even than my pre-increase rent, and I can make it work for now.

On the plus side, it's within walking distance of branches of both the Boston PL and the Minuteman library network! I haven't been within walking distance of a public library since I was eight.

---

This year I set myself a reading goal of 100 books. I got to February, realized this meant about 2 books a week, and figured I wasn't going to make it and that was fine because goals are made up.

I hit 100 books yesterday.

I have been working through the Very Short Introductions series, which run somewhere around 100-120 pages each, so that helps. This is not to say a book only "counts" at a certain length; I'm just used to reading standard nonfiction monographs and 350+ page fiction.

---

I am the Hurt and the Comfort


I am the evil tyrant, the abusive parent.
My charges are cruelly abandoned, tormented, neglected.
Trapped in small prisons their limbs strain, distorted,
They grow starved and pale, yellowed with hunger,
Allowed barely enough water to survive, brittle with thirst.

Then I am the saviour, making all things right.
I free them from their prisons, tuck them into lush new homes.
To the starved and the thirsty I give food and drink.
I bathe them in gentle water, straightening their abused limbs,
Debriding what cannot be saved so the whole may thrive.

This is about gardening.

God, how I love repotting.

---

Dear Yuletide Author,

Thank you so much for writing me a fic this year!  I'm very excited to read whatever you write.  I’m sure it’ll be wonderful.

This year, as last year, I’m interested in fandom tropes, All the Tropes.  If a trope strikes your Yuletide fancy, and especially if you can have extra fun writing it, please, please, go for it!  Do not worry about me.  I will accept any and all tropes.  The more tropes the better, even.  AUs definitely count!  So do fusions, canon divergence, AUs of AUS, or whatever else floats your authorly boat.  Adult and explicit content is very welcome if that’s part of your boat.  Kinky boats are also enthusiastically invited.

Stuck on a Desert Island/In a Snow Storm/Anywhere Waiting for ‘Rescue’? Yes, please!  (Platonic) Wait, You’re Secretly Kinky Too?  Bring it on!  Traveling to an Alternate Universe? Take your pick!  Werewolves? Oh, yes!  Forced to Go Undercover?  Go for It!  Long Lost Relatives?  Thrilling!  Suddenly Teenagers Again?  Wouldn’t that be interesting!  Crossovers between my requested fandoms?  Oh, I’d just love to see you pull it off!  Do not limit your creativity on my acccount.  Let it soar!  Only if you want to, of course. 

The best stories are the stories that you enjoy writing, so enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, dearest Yuletide Author. 

 

 

I’m happy for you to bring in any characters you want, so long as my requested character(s) is the focus. An ensemble piece or writing from another character’s point of view is fine too, if it serves the overall narrative that remains focused on the requested character. For example, if you write an ensemble piece for Grace where Cassian and the team go camping, and various arguments start among the group, I would want those arguments to either parallel something going on with Cassian or lead to something that keeps the general action and arc of the story focused on Cassian.

For prompts below, I’m separating kinky ones at the bottom of the sections, in case that isn’t your thing.  Ignore or not as you like.

And in the spirit of fun, treats are always welcome, in any form.

Thank you and, of course, 

Happy Yuletide!

 

Do Not Wants/Dislikes: Rape or Sexual Assault (mentions are fine if they’re plot relevant or part of the canon, but no descriptions), Sex Pollen/Aliens Made them Do It, Straight Romance or Sex (mentions okay), Torture, Political Maneuvering (e.g. spy craft, government intrigue, x faction versus y faction in a non-game scenario), Sexual ageplay, Younger ageplay (Littles age 10 or less), Cancer (mentions are fine if necessary, but not descriptions of treatment, death, etc.), Scat/Waterworks, A/B/O, CBT, Impact play that draws blood (e.g. using whips or knives), Gender- or Race-flipped/changed characters

 

Likes: Hurt/Comfort, Cuddling, Men emoting without shame, Crying, Emotional insecurity, Reassurance, Emotional catharsis, BDSM, Spanking (particularly punishment and discipline; This is my Bullet-Proof Kink), Ageplay (older Little and Middle, age 11 & up), De-aging, Emotional intimacy, Fandom tropes used in surprising ways, Competence, Unabashed incompetence, Logical explanations for ‘illogical’ behavior, Everyone’s subjectivity is valid, Humor, Cliches are cliches for a reason, In conflict/antagonists/enemies to friends/lovers, Found family, Crack AUs that somehow make sense, Friendship treated as equally important to romantic love, Forced together/stuck somewhere, Hijinks ensue, Teambuilding exercises (aka the management consultants made us do it), Shapeshifters/everyone has an animal form, Throw it all at the wall and see what sticks, Characters with surprising hobbies/backstories/relationships, Fake dating as a supportive friendship activity, People actually having that discussion/fight instead of stewing in silence, People fighting dirty when they can’t fight fair, Clever/Out of left field solutions to problems

 

Grace (TV 2021)

NOTE: I’m in the US where series/season 5 hasn’t aired yet, so everything I know about it is based on bad internet reviews and summaries.  So for UK folks, that obviously affects my idea of plot points.  For the sake of US folks, I’m going to put parts where I discuss or mention season 5 developments in Cassian’s plotlines at the bottom of the Grace section after a Spoiler space, if you want to avoid that info and those prompts.
 

Why I Like It:

Norman Potting and Cassian Pewe.  Both complex men and outsiders in their own ways.

Norman:

He’s sarcastic and he doesn’t hide what he thinks of people.  And he’s professional and incredibly competent at his job.  He has worked out the exact line where professionalism ends and insubordination starts and can strategically push right up against the precise edge if he feels it’s warranted.  But he never pushes so far that it interferes with getting the job done, no matter how much it may pain him to back down, or how much he may feel that the wrong decision is being made.  He deals with interpersonal tension with jokes or deflection, but will have a conversation if confronted directly.  He’s sarcastic but he’s never mean or dismissive.  He cares deeply for others, wants to give people a second/multiple chances, and recognizes and empathizes with people in difficult situations.  Not many people, especially police officers, would refer to a drug dealer who stole from their uncle after they stuck their neck out to give him an opportunity working at that uncle’s business, and who they now think may be a killer, as “a harmless moron.”  Not many people would be on a first name basis with that drug dealer’s sister years afterward.  Despite having apparently very ‘unrefined’ tastes in food – microwave pasties, never had a cold brew coffee – he cares enough about his appearance that he is willing to pay for custom tailored suits when he can.  One of his love languages is acts of service.  He cares about what people he cares about think of him, and he wants others to be happy and safe.  He invests time and resources in his brand of service and caring -  by investment in people even in the face of the judgement of others, by strategic nudging of his colleagues and suspects with sarcasm, ‘insubordination,’ and ‘unprofessional behavior,’ by dogged pursuit of a result for a case, by paying attention to people and their circumstances and trying to understand, by being kind and giving where it will be accepted.  He isn’t nice, but he is kind.        

 Please Note:  While I think Norman and Bella’s relationship is sweet, I’m not really interested in seeing it explored in fic.  I’m happy for it to be mentioned in a story, so long as it’s not a focus of the story itself.

 

Cassian:

He embodies the phrase ‘Still waters run deep.’  We get very little information about him, but what we are told and shown could have a lot of explanations and motivations behind it.  Almost all of what we’re told about him is filtered through the assumptions and biases of others and what we are shown often lacks context.  Yet the glimpses we get of who he actually is show that he is a man who values connection and caring.  Sandy describes him as “sweet and attentive.”  While he has his own reasons for going to Sandy’s parents to look into her disappearance, he genuinely cares about how her absence has affected them.  He has an impulsive side, jumping into a caravan that is dangling over a cliff to help rescue someone despite his added weight not being helpful at all and panicking when he thinks he might die.  But he also owns up to awkwardness with his colleagues, wanting to clear the air with Roy around his investigation into Sandy’s death.  We’re told he’s “pompous,” but he’s aloof and stiff not conceited.  Cassian is a lonely man who is very caring and very loyal and has an extremely strong protective streak, although he’s dedicated to his profession, he is frequently an outsider at work.  Details that emerge in season/series 5 only underline these characteristics more.

SPOILERS AHEAD

S
P
O
I
L
E
R

S
P
A
C
E

 

SPOILERS:

Not many people would help someone disappear to avoid gambling debts, even if they were sleeping together, particularly by illegal means, as the new identity Cassian obtained for Sandy cannot have been legal.  He then kept his mouth shut for close to ten years, all the while not knowing if Sandy was safe, in order to ensure her safety if she happened to still be alive.   He did end up working for the gang who killed Sandy, but he also knew that there was now a child in the picture and that Roy and Cleo had already received threats to their baby before they knew about Bruno.  As he says when Roy asserts that Cassian would pursue any lead if his own wife were missing, “you don’t know what I’d do.”  And that turns out to be the case.  Cassian is a loving, protective man trapped by his own loyalty, and I find that fascinating and endearing.    

END SPOILERS

E

N

D

SPOILERS

 

 

Some Thoughts to Spark Your Muse (aka Prompts):

We know next to nothing about Norman’s backstory and even less about Cassian’s.  For Norman, we know his father is a farmer who he didn’t get to see much of while he was growing up and his uncle owns a lumber yard in the Brighton area.  He speaks with a Northern accent.  Despite wearing a coat with a rip in the shoulder seam in Series 1, by Series 3 he’s paying for custom tailored suits.  He worked in Vice for 5 years.  He worked with/under Sid Barrow early on in his career.  Early(er) in his career he tried, at least once, to get a kid ‘on the straight and narrow.’  We know nothing at all about Cassian’s family background.  We know he was seconded to Brighton several times for long enough that he’s well known enough to have a reputation as a “pompous shitehawk” and to be recognized on sight by Norman despite their never apparently having formally met. And that’s it.  So give me some more details.  Do they have siblings?  Any hobbies?  Do they volunteer?  How do they spend their free times?

 

Have they met before?  Did they work together or did they meet outside of work or when they were kids?  Do they actually know each other quite well and are just pretending to be at odds at work?  What if they’re actually very good friends?  What if they’re related?  Step-brothers? 

 

In Dead Like You/S3 E1, Norman dangles a man off Brighton Pier and threatens him in broad daylight, and apparently gets away with it, despite CCTV cameras being everywhere and everyone having a camera in their pocket these days.  What if someone had filed a complaint, or posted footage of their encounter online?  What if Spinella had got pictures?  What then? 

 

In Dead Man’s Grip/S3 E2, poor Norman gets put through the ringer.  He’s caught between his knowledge of his past association with “harmless moron” Ewan Preece and later his sympathy for Ewan’s sister Evie, and Roy and his team, who won’t listen to him about Ewan not being a killer.  Then they discover the body of Ewan, who has apparently committed suicide rather than be brought in by their manhunt, only to realize instead that he was tortured to death.  And then Norman appears to go back to work with little to no lingering tension or fallout from all of that.  So how might he be dealing with it outside of work?  Does he have healthy coping mechanisms?  Unhealthy ones?   

 

Norman makes a fair number of sarcastic remarks and uses jokes to deflect attention, but we don’t see him really laugh.  We see him with a vulnerable witness once, but there are very few other indications that he has a softer side.  So show me Norman the softy with a sense of humor.  Does he volunteer at an animal shelter?  Is he a favorite of the neighborhood kids?  Does his soft side have anything to do with why he left Vice?

 

Norman doesn’t actually insult Cassian himself, he quotes someone else – ‘You know what Huey Long would say . . .’  Why?  Could it have something to do with a covert operation?

 

Why did Cassian come back to Brighton in the first place?  Why did he then decide to go back to London only to return to be ACC Vosper’s replacement?     

 

 Kink Prompts:

 In S3 E1, Norman questions Cassian about his asking the rape victim back to his room shortly before she was attacked in order to rule him out of the enquiry.  He pushes hard right up against the very edge of professionalism, going so far as to start his questions on the main stairway where anyone could hear, and Cassian gives him nothing in return, being perfectly correct in his side of the interaction.  Through a kinky lens, Norman is bratting for all he’s worth and Cassian is blanking him completely.  Why did Norman decide to go there, at work?  What did Cassian actually think about it?  It’s only after this interaction that Norman dangles a serial sexual harrasser off the Brighton Pier while threatening him in broad daylight.  Might it have been a two birds one stone situation to attempt provoke Cassian further?  Why? 

 

Brighton is only about an hour away from London by train and Cassian worked in the MET for years.  Might he and Norman have met at a BDSM club there?  More than once?  Did they realize who each other were right away?  Have they had an ongoing relationship?  Use each other for stress relief after difficult cases?

 

To flip the script above, might Cassian be a secret Brat with iron self control at work?

 

Cassian seems like a natural service top, but what if he’s something totally different?  What might that be?

 

 

 

Soulmate Goose AU Suggestion

Why I Like It:  

It’s just such an interesting idea.  A goose that herds you to a soulmate using violence.  And the mental images alone are pure gold.  The feathers.  The mayhem.  The confusion of a goose just appearing out of nowhere.  What’s not to like?

 

Some Thoughts to Spark Your Muse (aka Prompts):

Why a Goose?  Is it a single Goose or multiple Geese that share duties?  Is it always a Goose, or are there different animals leading people to their soulmates in different areas of the world that are more appropriate to different cultures and climates?  Do different parts of the world get different species of geese?

 

What’s up with the mauling?  Does the goose sometimes choose not to maul the soulmates?  Why might this be?

 

What defines a soulmate?  I was told once that a soulmate was a person who you’d been reincarnated with across multiple lifetimes.  They could have been your sibling in one lifetime, a parent in another, a school classmate in another, etc.  Could the goose be so irritable because people keep fundamentally misunderstanding what having a soulmate means?  Or what role the person they’re leading them to is supposed to fulfill in their life?

 

Was a Soulmate Goose always known in history or did the phenonmenon start at some point in the past.  When and why?

 

What does the Goose or Geese think about all this?  What do they do when they aren’t mauling people toward their soulmates?  Do they like their job?  Are their other animals or entities with other ‘mystical’ jobs that they commiserate with?  What does Soulmate Goose watercooler talk look like?

 

Is something else going on here and the Goose is a side effect?  Why has no one figured that out yet?   

 

Kink Prompts:

Could there be different types of Geese that lead kinky soulmates to each other?  How would people explain why their Goose was different?  If part of the one or more of the soulmates’ kinks involved pain, would the Goose not maul them?  What would they do instead?  Could the Goose find a way to signal ‘I’m going to pretend to maul you, play along if you don’t want to be embarrassed’?

 

In a BDSM or similar AU, how would the Goose’s behavior change?  Would it still be a goose?  Would the soulmate animal vary by kink?  If the soulmates were platonic or sexual but with kinks that they would prefer their soulmate indulge in outside the soulmate partnership, how might that change the Goose’s behavior or appeareance?

 

Is the Goose the least interesting thing to kinky people, in or out of a BDSM AU, now the mauling part . . .

 

Three words: Soulmate Goose Kink

 

 

 

Mother Mort’s Carnival of Souls Oracle Deck (Anthropomorphic)

Why I Like It:  

The atmosphere is a lovely mix of spooky gothic with a nurturing and accepting underbelly that beckons from each tent for those who are ready to enter and look.  The entities and people of the Carnival have fearsome appearances but there is nothing to fear from them for those who do not deserve to be shunned for how they have harmed others.

 

 

Some Thoughts to Spark Your Muse (aka Prompts):

The Ngenechen is in a tent that the querent is drawn to when they are feeling overwhelmed to the point of nausea.  Why?  Why might the Ngenechen call out to the totally overwhelmed?  Where do the keyholes in its eyes lead, if they lead anywhere?  Does it even allow querents, or anyone, to use these keyholes as portals or would it consider that a violation?

The Sphinx and The Kismet share a tent.  Why?  Because they are both part cat?  Because they are both associated with fortune in some way?  Just because they get along well and want to?

What’s the Carnival like when all the querents/guests have gone home?  Who hangs out with whom?  Why or why not?

How did the Carnival come together?  How did The Ngenechen, Kismet, and Sphinx find their ways there?  Why do they stay?  Why allow themselves to appear ‘tame’?

How does the Carnival decide where it travels to and how long it stays there?  By vote?  Mystical means?  Rotating who gets to choose?

Do any of the entities ever leave their tents when the Carnival is open?  Why?  Would they stalk a guest? 

 

 

A Sorceress Comes to Call

Why I Like It:  

It’s a great book about how the power of friends and the opening up of the world, however slight, can help someone feel less powerless.  But it never underplays the struggles of getting out of an abusive situation and a childhood filled with control and trauma, whether or not your mother is a sorceress.  Cordelia is courageous and does her best but she doesn’t make unrealistic strides overnight, nor without a lot of help.  And the adults around her don’t expect her to, nor are they less than clear eyed around the pros and cons for their own situations of helping her.  The adults see Cordelia not just as a scared child who’s being controlled, but as a person, who they are driven to help and who also has valueable things to contribute when she can.  I like that Cordelia is introduced to what outside relationships and ‘grand’ society are through a group of long time friends who don’t stand on ceremony with each other and aren’t interested in criticizing what people wear or if they use the right fork or how many people they dance with, unless it serves a larger purpose or everyone in the conversation is in on the joke.  The book a finely balanced walk on the knife edge of hope and dread until the very end when there’s finally space to breathe and look ahead to the possibilities that are opening up on the horizon.

 

Some Thoughts to Spark Your Muse (aka Prompts):

Cordelia is told that she won’t need to officially come out in high society and attend balls nor take deportment lessons if she doesn’t want to.  But at some point she, Hester, and Richard will have to have a conversation about how to insure her financial future and how marriage could help or hinder that goal.  And even if Richard and Hester don’t care so much about social niceities and polish, they aren’t recluses.  Cordelia will doubtlessly be called upon at some point to interact with guests or mingle at parties.  So what sort of plan for her education might the three of them draw up together?  What would be considered the ‘hold your nose and learn because you have to’ things and what ‘useful but only if you want’ stuff?  What about more traditional school subjects like math, history, etc.?  What might Cordelia study if she were given the chance and a gigantic library at her disposal?  How might they support Cordelia in finding friends her own age?  Or just in building her confidence in general?

 

How might Richard and Hester explain to Richard’s staff Cordelia and her unique needs as a victim of trauma?  How might Cordelia have learned to be less wary of the staff and of embarrassing herself around them?  How might she come to maybe even trust or ask some of them for help?

 

Although Richard is adopting Cordelia, and she and Hester are coming to stay with Richard, Hester and Richard themselves have waited years to live under one roof and to dare to actively plan a longterm future together.  So after all those years – decades – of denying each other and not talking about certain things, how do they begin this new stage in their lives.  Are the staff on board?  Active facilitators of the new ‘not marriage’ arrangement?  Do Hester and Richard perhaps speak frankly about at least one thing that has previously been in the ‘not mentioned’ category?  Might Cordelia’s confusion about society’s rules about what is and isn’t proper unwittingly (or not-so-un?) aid in working out the new status quo? 

 

Why wasn’t Richard the right person to stand for Wine?  Does Hester know more about this than she’s letting herself think about?

 

Kink Prompts:

Hester was not happy to have to explain sex and sexual politics to Cordelia.  Now that Cordelia has access to the library of a book hoarder, and a desire to not be too much trouble for people who have already been so good to her, what could possibly go wrong with trying to learn more about the specifics of sex from a gentlemen’s explicit collection of books?  Might Richard be much better placed to intercept her before she sees anything too traumatic than one might otherwise suspect?

 

Just because Richard is a good man to whom it is important to use his position to take care of people and Hester is aware of the social realities of her position in society doesn’t mean that either of them weren’t adventurous in bed.

 

 

There you have it, dear Author.  I hope you’ve been inspired.  Have fun!

And once again,

Happy Yuletide!   

 

 

I've had a sore throat for two days now (I tried to lie to myself yesterday that it was 'just allergies'.)

It hasn't gotten better, but it hasn't gotten worse...

But if it doesn't go the fuck away, I'm going to be pissed.

I don't want to be sick for my time off. ;_;

In my reading of Game Of Thrones fic, I developed an urge for fic where Elia Martell Targaryen (why some married women are only referred to by their maiden names and some are always only referred to by their married names, I do not know) and her kids don't die. It would be interesting to see what it would change!, I thought. Surely it doesn't need to change a huge amount necessarily, but it would great to see it!

And so I went looking and found a bunch and it turns out.

It turns out that when you want fic where legitimate claimants to a throne survive, you get a ton of fic about Targaryen restoration. You get so many fics that are love letters to the Targaryens.

I don't care about Targaryen restoration! I don't like the Targaryens and see no reason why I should! (Except for Aemon, the Targaryen maester who is still alive at the Wall, I allow that he's really intruiging.)

Also I will admit the first time I saw the pairing of Jon Snow/Rhaenys Targaryen, I had a full blown "why? why the fuck?"

But yeah I get it, if Jon Snow is her long lost half-brother, then it's true Targaryen heritage to ship them. I don't see it, I don't even like the ship, and it's interesting how I have no problem whatsoever with Jon Snow/Sansa Stark, who were raised as half-siblings, but my reaction to Jon/Rhaenys is "I'm completely uninterested in reading this". Also I'm not really into Jon/Daenerys.

Maybe it's the whole enforced-incest of the Targaryens? IDK.

But also.

Reading the fic.

Okay so I am never going to read the books, I have long since been warned off from all the grimdark rape, and I am never going to watch the show, ditto.

I did not realize how small the amount of time the Targaryens have actually been ruling in Westeros. They only showed up like 300 years ago???? In a setting where people are like "my family has been ruling in this one spot for 10,000 years" or whatever, the Targaryens are new kids on the block who showed up with dragons, conquered everyone, had several (!) really bad rulers, constantly married each other (in violation of the local religion, and no one else was allowed to copy their behavior because they're special), seemed to do very little marrying out to the locals because who needs to shore up support, dealt with civil war/rebellion, lost their dragons, had a really fucking awful last king, and then, surprise, they were overthrown.

And you want those folks back? You are nostalgic for the wonderful days of the people who showed up five minutes ago and were generally terrible?

Also blowing my mind was, okay, I had been told over and over again that Baratheons all look a certain way since time immemorial and so that's why obviously if you look into it, Cersei's kids can't be Robert's.

But the Baratheons were founded as a new house by a Targaryen bastard. The looks of the Baratheons are the opposite of the Targaryens. Also this is also only like 300 years ago, and Westeros seems to enjoy a society where there are several pathways to ensure that only one or two of your sons are allowed to have children (maesters, the wall, endless wars).

So all this is kind of amusing from a "reading fic without knowing canon" perspective, the slow unfolding of, oh my god, what is going on in this canon. But also the mismatch of people who have actually read/watch this canon and what they want to write (Targaryen restoration, Targaryen incest) vs. me who has not done that, and what I want to read.

But actually what I want to write is a fic where Jon Snow actually is Ned Stark's bastard. Ah, yes, I see here that "Ned Stark is very honorable". Uh-huh. Well, he had an affair with a woman who is a sex worker/laundress/woman who was interested before his marriage and then, because he is so honorable, he took the child in and raised him, rather than leaving Jon Snow to live in poverty.

This explains nothing about why Ned Stark wouldn't tell Jon Snow about this mother but I'm sure we can come up with something (the mother was already married? who cares).

But I'm not writing this, entirely because I have no idea of a plot to go along with this. Oh and also I'm not reading/watching this, but I wrote an MDZS drabble without reading the book/finishing the show.

Per the Oaklandside:

Major federal immigration operation will begin tomorrow in the Bay Area

What it says on the tin.  They're staging out at Coast Guard Island in Alameda (that only has one way off of it, BTW).  I sat in on an emergency call with Bay Resistance and there will be some folks out there tomorrow morning.  Not sure what the action is going to be.  Organizations here have been collectively organizing for months so we'll see how it all shakes out. Oakland, the city council and Mayor Barbara Lee are pretty firm in how we collectively feel about this.

Unfortunately, San Francisco has Daniel Lurie as mayor and a bunch of feckless tech bros who think they want Feds in the street but are just now realizing that they have miscalculated with their bullshit (looking at you, Mark Benioff. YOU DON'T EVEN LIVE HERE ANYMORE).

In any case, I have the rapid response numbers on my phone, directions on how to document ICE activities (don't depend it on your phone. It is recommended that folks write information down) and a lot of crankiness. Moreso than my usual level.

Bay Resistance has a Get Ready page with ways to get involved.  Do what you can, where you can.

I am worried. I am worried for Shirley and her staff at the restaurant, for all us out and about on our bikes and walking and living. However, i take heart from New York's response as well as other cities.  The orange fucker is trying to speed run this and the cracks are there.