unicornduke | Network

The last time I posted about Yue Xia Die Ying, I had just read one of her xianxia novels and really enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve read two more of her historical romances. TL,DR: two thumbs up.

The first one, Like Pearl and Jade, is a more serious, if low-key, drama with romance. Technically the female MC is a transmigrator, but this identity has zero impact on the story and is used only as a framing device. The story and romance are both quite good, and I like how the frequent small digs at the patriarchy build to (small) actions that improve the status of (some) women. This is about the same size as I Am Average and Unremarkable, or about half of Journey to the West.

The second one, though, this one is a delight. The half-again longer* The Times Spent in Pretense I can only describe as a Chinese analog of Georgette Heyer. Its tone is relatively light, despite a redonkulous number of assassination attempts,** with a sheen of satire. More to the point, the male MC is outright Heyeresque, one of her Mark II models by Heyer’s classification, and his several brothers are as eccentric as any Heyer cast.*** The female MC, meanwhile, spends most of the first half playing several roles that are funny enough in themselves, but that eventually start colliding with each other, resulting in comedy gold.

Unlike Like Pearl and Jade, its feminism is baked in from the start. The female MC’s parents are both generals and military heroes. Her mother in particular is a badass beauty, with adoring female fans who proposition her in public — behavior viewed as more déclassé than scandalous. Way less hetereonormative than usual for a straight romance from mainland China. Meanwhile the female MC’s initial life goal is to acquire an estate near the capital where she can “raise male pets,” i.e. collect a harem of consorts — and her family quietly supports this, as it’s not an unknown hobby for noblewomen, though not one that gets publicly flaunted. The differences from our history are highlighted by contrast with a neighboring kingdom with traditional NeoConfucian values, where they look down on this degenerate place (while being baffled at how happy and prosperous it is despite its grave moral lapses).

I am also greatly amused by a minor character, part of a rival’s girl posse, who makes repeated metatextual commentary based on genre tropes.

Possibly best of all, though, the female MC never fades into the background, as happens all too frequently in Chinese historical romances, but is an active plot participant all the way through the climax.

Both recommended, the second highly so.

* So about three-quarters of a Journey West.

** Spoiler: not a single assassin succeeds.

*** My favorite is the would-be painter. The female MC’s first reaction to one of his landscapes is “What on earth was this painting? A bunch of heavily inked blobs and lightly inked blobs mixing together as friends?” Which is funny enough, but eventually it comes out that everything about this scene are even more examples of pretenses.

---L.

Subject quote from …Ready For It?, Taylor Swift.

totchipanda

I accomplished most of my list. Easy when the majority of it was "do nothing" lol. Dinner was a sandwich and I just did whatever dishes were closest to the sink for as long as I had soapy water to do them. I did not do the fountain, which I WILL do tonight.

Moved all of the sack pieces to the couch, minus the sleeve ruffle pattern. I dropped the sleeves (pinned and ready for stitching) almost immediately so once everything was placed, I worked on one right away. I followed the directions in the book*, which did make a very pretty sleeve but also was maybe not the best choice on a densely embroidered fabric. I'm committed now, bc I've finished the sleeve that way! Top was basted together and the hem done. That all took most of my sewing time for the evening. I started doing the visible stitching with silk thread, but it kept breaking on me so I switched to a poly thread in a similar colour.

*Lay sleeve and lining WS together, fold so that the linings and one layer of fashion fabric are prepped. Baste. Fold under the seam allowance on the other side of the fashion fabric, arrange on top and prick stitch through all layers. Pretty! Would be prettier and easier on plain or figured silk!

I could have started the second one, but I was quite tired and it was after 9:30, so I opted not to do anything else. I took the book with me to read more of the further steps, but I don't remember a single thing that I read. Period started yesterday somewhat unexpectedly and while it let me sleep last night, I doubt I will be so lucky tonight. Good news is that it should be largely done by the weekend, where I have a birthday party to attend!

Top of my hand has been bugging me again so I am trying to remember to do stretches and the like with a stress ball for resistance.

prettygoodword

heavens (HEV-uhns) - n.pl. (usually with "the"), the near sky of atmosphere surrounding the earth; the distant sky of the sun, moon, and stars.

In the singular, the abode of the Deity and the blessed dead, but as noted yesterday, the main sense of Old English heofon was sky. It in turn comes from a Proto-Germanic root of uncertain origin.

---L.

glassesofjustice posting in

flashexchanges

This is a low-pressure multifandom flash exchange with a Grief/Mourning theme. That does not mean this is a flash specifically about characters dying (but of course, characters dying is on the menu!). Mourning can be the loss of: a loved one, a pet, an object, a character's sense of self, of time, of their past, and more. Grief isn't exclusively or necessarily expressed as sadness, it can be anger, numbness, risk taking, survivors living life to its fullest, etc.

AO3 Collection | Tagset

Work Minimums:

300 words (ship or gen)
art is a competed line sketch
podfic is of a 300 word fic
fanvis is 30 seconds

Schedule
☆ All Deadlines 11:59PM EDT | 8:59PM PDT ☆
- Sign-ups & Noms run concurrently: OPEN
- Sign-ups close: Monday, July 21, 2025
- Works Due: Monday, August 4, 2025
- Works Revealed 24 Hours Later: Tuesday, August 5, 2025
- Creators Revealed: Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Given the exchange theme, and fandom matching, we're relying on good faith from everyone. As a recipient, please make your requests in a spirit of openness, bearing in mind that for this exchange you are opting into someone else's interpretation of grief/mourning. As a creator, the aim is to create something you think your recipient might enjoy. Additional details are optional. Respect DNWs. Have fun. Take risks. Be gracious.

jazzyjj posting in

awesomeers

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!

Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

walkitout

And for the next couple of days.

R. and T. separately drove out to Florence to look at the construction site and for meetings. I will be attending the meeting remotely. R. is sticking around later to see Dinosaur Jr. I have no idea what T.’s plans are. I helped him fold his clothes for his upcoming trip to visit relatives. He wants to do carryon only, but he keeps packing way too many clothes. We identified a laundromat about a block from his hotel on one stop, and his aunt will almost certainly help him out for the other stop. He’s absolutely terrible at folding, which is a little weird in this family, but not weird across people in general and he’s got motor skills and motor planning deficiencies to blame it on so I’m just not going to get that concerned about it.

I used up the cumin that was already ground, and I want to fry up more chicken tenders and I really like cumin for that (along with paprika and some red pepper), so I got out the small single blade coffee grinder (ancient) that we use for that, ran some rice through it because I think it smelled like fennel seed, and then ground the cumin and finally, in a fit of something or other, ran more rice through it to clean it out. I did two rounds of cumin, and it mostly refilled the bottle. I really like my metal funnel. Stuff doesn’t stick to it at all.

I walked with M. at 9 this morning, because it’s going to be hot.

Lately, I’ve been working on a slide deck filled with photos of stuff we already own (I know, super weird, right?) arranging where things will go. I mostly started with art and furniture (big stuff), and along the way, it is making apparent gaps in what we will need either because stuff we have is pretty worn and in 2 years will only be more worn, or because of the bed problem associated with living part time in 2 places. I’d rather not buy and then get rid of beds in rapid succession, so last night I called my sister to review her timeline and plans, and then I texted my niblings to ask them about what size beds they’ll want in the new house, since they currently share a room and are still on the twins from their childhood. Minimum, they probably will want twin XLs, and more likely a queen. After consultation, we have established queens, and they are fine with us using them when they will not yet be moved in, which actually covers our extra needs unless something changes. Fingers crossed!

I also had an idea that instead of one big table, I wanted to have smaller tables like 2-tops and 4-tops, restaurant style, and we could put them together for Family Meals and otherwise distribute them around bistro style. Making this work along with having an area rug in the dining room has turned into an amazing puzzle, but I think I’ve figured it out. First of all, the Must Have Border Around Area Rug is clearly optional, and if I run the rug right up against the window wall, and match the length to the windows, it should look good. Then the must have space around the table to allow the chairs when pulled out to fit on the carpet rule is tricky given the multiplicity of potential arrangements. I eventually worked out that if you aren’t going to have a seat on one side of a table (like a 2-top), you can have it right on the edge of the carpet and have one person entirely on hardwood floor and the other on carpet and each should be just fine. Working that out in detail produces multiple possible arrangements. I don’t need to know the details — I just need proof of concept, and to know the area rug size and location, so this is a huge relief. At least initially, my plan is to send my current dining room rug out to be cleaned, and then try it out in the new space. I know it is color compatible with the sideboard, lamps and maple flooring and I’m not worried about the tabletops because I can presumably pick an appropriate species and stain (I’m going to get Rockless bases and have nice wood tops made, in keeping with the restaurant theme). The current plan is 2 30x30 and 2 24x30 (2 2 or 4 tops and 2 2 tops). When bistro style, one of the 2 tops probably goes out to the reception area to serve as a table near the bar.

I used to think having multiple dining surfaces was weird, despite growing up with a round table in the eatin kitchen and a kitchen bar counter. Now I live in a house with a dining room with table, and eat in kitchen with table and a kitchen counter height seating. And we use all of it every day. The bar plus bistro tables should work out really well.

I turned on FB Marketplace again (I’d set vacation mode for our trip and then construction limited my ability to restart), and someone picked up the crystal bell yesterday. In theory, someone will be here in about an hour to pick up several other items. I haven’t even listed anything new. I’m supposed to ship out one ipad today to R.’s cousin H., and to reset another and then arrange a handoff to G. I meant to do that yesterday, but the day got away from me.

ETA: pickup happened! Woot!

abracanabra

INGREDIENTS

1 kohlrabi
2 medium carrots
3 green onions or 1/2 regular onion, minced
3 Tbsp garlic scapes, or fresh chives, chopped
2 eggs
2 Tbsp plain flour
2 tsp paprika
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp onion powder
⅛ tsp cayenne pepper
Black pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for shallow frying

INSTRUCTIONS

Prepare the kohlrabi. Cut off the leaves and stalks, and then peel the vegetable with a knife.

Shred kohlrabi in food processor.

Press down on the grated kohlrabi with paper towels to remove excess moisture.

Peel and shred the carrots.

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Once the oil is hot, turn the heat down to medium. Use a small cookie dough scoop to dollop batter into frying pan. Press it down to flatten so that the fritters don’t end up too thick in the middle. Cook for around 2 1/2 - 3 minutes per side, until light brown but not scorched (it is easy to overcook these!).

When the fritters are ready, transfer them to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain off any excess oil. Lightly salt.

moon_custafer

I’ve a job interview for Thursday, might lead to something, you never know.

Andrew’s been feeling a little better lately—we got a referral to a pain clinic a while back and some adjustment of his meds. It seems to be helping, and he’s been getting out for walks pretty frequently, at least till yesterday when the air-quality outside dropped. Apologies to everyone Stateside who’s also had to deal with the wildfire smoke.

I’ve begun volunteering with the local community theatre. We had the first production meeting for Bus Stop, and now I have to put together costumes for two diner waitresses and a seedy college professor. The head of costuming is doing the other five characters. She costumed the last production of the show thirty years ago, and says the gingham skirts she made for the waitresses might still be around somewhere, but I sort of hope we don’t find them, as I think those blue or green uniforms with the white collars would be more period-appropriate.

We watched A Matter of Life and Death (1946) last night—Andrew had never seen it before, and I’d never seen the whole thing all the way through. Andrew commented that it was the most solidly real surrealism he’d ever seen. Thinking of maybe watching Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) later. It’s also got an afterlife setting, as well as a score by Gogol Bordello; Shea Whigham (playing a character based on the lead singer of Gogol Bordello); and Tom Waits. Fanvid here (contains spoilers)

Watched Under the Volcano (1984), still processing it.

tcpip

Several years ago, I was visited by John August of the Pirate Party as I was hosting a special dinner for visitors, and he watched with keen interest as I put together a four-course French dinner with paired drinks, music, and a multi-layered laminated menu. "You have a very organised mind", he observed kindly. Cue last Friday, and I find myself in the company of Liza D., at a multi-narrative arthouse theatrical production, "Art, War, and Other Catastrophes". It was quite an interesting show, with unexpected convergence of the past (hello Helen!) afterwards, with our discussion venturing to a slightly wayward younger friend and my consistent efforts to encourage their intellectual insight. "You would make a good father", Liza remarked, which is probably one of the nicest things that one could say to a man of my vintage. Between the two events, a moment burned in my mind is Karl B., discussing life-skills referred to what he called "shit-togetherness", the ability to manage everything from one's own mental states, to personal and household budgets, to community groups, and beyond. Karl was expressing some concern that many don't seem to acquire this skill and knowledge until their thirties, if at all.

I suggested to Karl (inspired by the skill in the Pendragon RPG, no less) that the most appropriate term was "stewardship". The word, from Old English (stigweard) itself, originally means "hall guardian". It has semi-religious overtones as well, an trend in the Judeo-Christian tradition that represents an active and responsible engagement with the environment, a point I strenously made in an address to the Unitarian Church some eight years ago, and one which our political and economic leaders have manifestly failed; we are supposed to "serve the garden in which we have been placed" (Genesis 2:15). There is a grim irony that an rational atheist and emotional pantheist finds himself appealing to Biblical verse when our nominal leaders profess a faith that they do not seem to even aspire to practise. But of course, there are very profound secular reasons as well why stewardship is the right noun to describe human interaction with our environment, rather than a protectionist laissez-faire or indifferent exploitation.

Stewardship most of all entails a sense of responsibility. Starting from oneself, it entails a sense that one will not engage in self-sabotating behaviour and put effort in making the best use of one's mind ("the mind is a terrible thing to waste") and time ("Life is short, death is long, use your time wisely"). Extended to households, whether shared or singular, it means being responsible for creating an home that is both stimulating and a sanctuary, and extended to the social world, to paraphrase Hannah Arendt, it is engagement in the public realm where social freedom, through action and dialogue, becomes manifest, within the context of the natural world as a whole. Ultimately, stewardship is the responsible and ethical planning and management of resources, whether personal, social, or environmental, and as Lamb pointed out, the greater the power, the greater the responsibility. How careless are our rulers! As Frankl remarked, without responsibility, freedom degenerates into arbitrary whims, these rampaging childish pathological monsters who crush others underfoot with their indifference.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Tangerine Dream, Mars Polaris

missdiane

Last night we had QUITE the gullywasher. The nearby area that had a tornado recently got smacked with flash flooding. People had to be rescued from their cars on the highway. Highland Park is literal so while there was a nice river of water down the street, it wasn't a danger of floating my new-ish car away. However, that doesn't mean basements were safe. Compared to some houses, I'm sure we fared pretty well but we do have some cleanup to do tonight since the cheap area rugs are soaked and some of the stuff in nylon/plastic bags on the floor need to be sorted through.

Emily's getting ready to head out to get a haircut but I gave her a call and told her to set the tower fan up downstairs to get a start on drying things out and we're emptying the dehumidifier that we have down there on the regular. She also did a first pass with our shopvac and got some of the moisture up since we do NOT want mold. I popped out from work to go to Home Depot and bought a bunch of things of DampRid before other folks got that idea. I'm glad I did since at 8am, I saw someone else loading a shopvac in their car and another person with a sump pump and they had a whole big display of sump pumps. So if I'd have waited until noon, people may have lit onto the idea of DampRid.

She's going to stop by the other house and get the plastic bins she has stored there so we can transfer items to there. We also need to build the shelving we have to keep things off the floor in the event of more crazy weather. Speaking of the house, since there's no way we're going to be able to clear it by the end of the month, we may have a guest for some time - Emily's older niece Linnea. I don't have a problem with her staying at all. She's chill and she's also vegetarian and eats healthy so I'm going to use that as motivation to do the same.

I'm trying to encourage them to just SELL that house. It's not a good idea to keep it in the possible event that one of the nibblings might need someplace. It's got horrible juju from being the house where Emily had to care for her dying dad and then her mom with dementia and having to even put on child locks to keep her from wandering before she finally relented to put her in a memory care ward (thankfully a good one since her parents had money). The house itself is in a trust that Emily and her Sister maintain and honestly, it's an albatross. Emily needs to just collect the big need and want items from there and then just take one of those offers she gets all the time and let them gut or raze the place and put the money in the trust for her Mom's care until she passes. Her Mom is in the hospice stage but it's really a who knows kind of situation. Her brain is not there and her body is fading but you just don't know how long someone's system will just hold on.

Ok, gotta get back to work since I want to front load things and get as much done as I can in the office so that this afternoon I can sort through stuff in the basement.

conuly

Gosh it's thunderstorming out there!

**********************************

( Read more... )

mallorys_camera

I'm bored with grieving.

Brian would have thoroughly sympathized.

Brian was one of the least sentimental humans I've ever met.

###

Daria & I are sentimental enough to want to do a memorial. Flavia is not interested at all in doing a memorial, says Brian wouldn't have cared one way or another, which may or may not be true, but anyway, even if it is true, is entirely irrelevant: Memorials are for the survivors.

Flavia's reluctance does raise some issues, though. Like is she reluctant because she is too prostrate with grief to participate in anything? As the kinda/sorta Official Grieving Widow, will she resent it—consciously or unconsciously—if two survivors lower down on the Grief Ladder seize the initiative here?

No real plans have been made other than a vague commitment to the third or fourth week in September, a date far enough ahead in an indeterminate future to seem doable.

But if we really want to do it, we're gonna have to begin to make some concrete plans sooner rather than later. Pin down an actual date; pin down a venue. New Paltz is the obvious venue, but I've also been wondering about Norma's, BB's & my favorite cafe in Wappingers Falls, or Tranquili-Tea, that adorable little rabbit hole in (of all bizarre places) Middletown that we stumbled across that day:

I had a busy weekend: Democratic Committee meeting, D&D with the Boneyard BoyZ, & a tea party that doubled as a Democratic fundraiser. Also I baked a sour cherry pie:

The aesthetics are off. As I say, I am just terrible with crusts! But the pie tastes great.

I hadn't exercised in 10 days, but yesterday I trotted off to the gym and today I plan to tromp before it gets too hot.

###

I've been trying to think of a plot to graft on to the Neversink backstory.

Of course, it should focus on the animosity between the folks who've been farming in these parts for three or four generations and the recent emigrants from the Big City, 'cause that's a very real dynamic in these parts plus the whole water theft—They drowned our homes so their city could have water!—demands it.

Possibly a young, idealistic Brooklyn immigrant runs for the village planning board? Maybe there's still some arcane zoning law that she opposes that allows stores to be built in the middle of the reservoir? (But why would she oppose it? There are tons of arcane laws dating back centuries in every town in these parts! People just ignore them.) And, of course, on the actual night of the election, the reservoir recedes so you can see the chimneys & spires & mercantile towers of the drowned town.

Writing style I'm aiming for is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. Susanna Clark does a most excellent job of integrating fantasma into everyday.

I will mull it over some more.

But not too much. Some things just naturally work themselves out while you're writing.

lirazel

troisoiseaux just reread A Brief History of Montmaray, reminding me of the existence of this series, which got my mind to churning.

There's a very specific sub-genre of books written for bookish teenage girls that I need a name for. They're either set in or written in a previous era (usually late Victorian to WWII), usually in the UK though occasionally in the US (though some have scenes set elsewhere, especially in Ibbotson). They're self-indulgent but well-written, focus on the inner lives of their heroines, are chock-full of lovely period details, and have a sense of whimsy without going too far into the precious or twee. They're often more episodic than plot-driven. The characters are always well-drawn, eccentric, and wide-ranging in age and sometimes class, though not (sadly) in race. Honestly, the books are...very white. They are not cozy in the sense that word gets thrown around today--there's always loss or death--but they feel cozy aesthetically despite this.

Here are the examples I've come up with:

Eva Ibbotson's young adult novels (A Countess Below Stairs, A Company of Swans, The Morning Gift, A Song for Summer, Magic Flutes)
I Capture the Castle
The Montmaray Journals
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion
the Gone-Away Lake books (this duology is an outlier in that it's MG and has a male co-protagonist, but they feel this way in my memory, though admittedly I haven't reread them in 20 years)
Daddy Long-legs

Strangely, I would not include L.M. Montgomery's books in these categories, except, maybe, The Blue Castle? I don't know why, but the vibe is different enough to me that they don't belong in this category.

O Caldeonia is this genre taken and turned sharper and crueler. It's this genre with an edge.

[eta] This is a sub-set of the Special Girl genre articulated by

qian below. To me, Ibbotson is the epitome of this genre. It's got a glittering-ness to it that sets it apart from things like Little Women and Montgomery (The Blue Castle aside. Maybe it feels almost fairytale-adjacent? Like, the world they're operating in has things like crumbling castles, dukes (though they may be driving taxis now, as in Ibbotson), a kind of air of not-realism to the world they're operating in even if the emotions of our main character are realistic. Like I have to accept that I'm in a different world with different laws for how things work and to complain about the way things work would be as silly as complaining about how things work in a fantasy novel. They are the spiritual children of Frances Hodgson Burnett.

So my questions are:

a) what should we call this genre?

and

b) does anyone have any other titles they think belong in it? I'd like to compose a list and also I would like to read those books because this genre exists for me specifically and I eat it up with a spoon.

oursin

Happy birthday,

owlectomy and

talking_sock!

mizkit

My crossposter still isn't working, but I know people are enjoying the Cthulhu writeups, so I'll at least repost this one here manually...

***

I was sick the last two gaming sessions, and in my absence, Our Heroes gathered a lot of information, and...lost a hero.

Dillon, who if you will recall from the end of the England adventure, came away with compromised lungs, was caught in a cloud of icy lung-sucking horribleness, which worked as advertised, and killed him dead.

Of the various players and DM, it appears that Ted (Dillon's actual player) was the only person even KIND of emotionally prepared for this possibility, and even he was a little rocked by it. We're about to find out how everybody reacts in character (spoiler: Alice is going to have HUGE GUILT because Dillon was there in the first place because her father hired him to keep an eye on her. Never mind that it's now been YEARS since that happened and Dillon was definitely there of his own volition at this point; Alice is not exactly stable, and this isn't going to help O.O).

Okay. ONWARD.

Summerset says a few kind words about Dillon's bravery and how he'd have been honored to serve with him in the war. Teddy vows to avenge his best friend ever, Dillon. Alice stares into the distance, mute with guilt. Evelyn (whose player isn't available tonight) drinks herself insensible. Calliope, who doesn't really know any of us yet, studies while the rest of us are sad.

It transpires that the crew who have returned alive have also taken possession of a girdle from one of Alice's visions. Summerset, as he relates this information to Alice, adds a desperate, "Please do not put it on, it is very very cursed."

Me: I feel like I need a wisdom check on this one.

GM: You can roll luck.

Fortunately I rolled high and did not make bad choices. ::laughs::

The next morning, a Mysterious Stranger appears...

Mysterious Stranger, at the front desk: I am in search of a Dr Smith or a Dr Calliope (I can't remember her last name).

Summerset, overhearing: There's a man looking for us. We should either run away or go talk to him. Alice?

Alice looks over & sees this man:

Alice, apparently recovering her wits: We should definitely go talk to that incredibly handsome man.

Summerset: -eyes Teddy, down the table nomming his breakfast and oblivious- (mumbled) Poor Teddy. (aloud) Yes, very well, let's go talk to this gentleman, Alice.

We retire to the rooms, where we learn this gentleman's name is Arad al Fey and he'd like to know what the hell happened a couple nights ago, although much more politely framed. Summerset explains people were brutally murdered, including our Dillon and what turns out to be most of Fey's compatriots. Alice begins to cry at the reminder that DILLON IS DEAD.

Fey is shocked, but recovers. Summerset shows Arad al Fey the scimitar he was given by an imam at the site of the fight to help him survive, and offers it back to Fey. Fey tells him to keep it and asks about the above-mentioned girdle, whether they saved it and whether it's safe.

Alice, upon hearing the girdle mentioned: GASP A vision! She's looking at me! She looked at me and vanished!

Summerset: So I'm very sorry your friends are all dead, Mr Fey.

We discuss a plan of attack which ends up, somehow, with our concierge, Seleem, bringing poor Teddy up to the room, announcing that he's taken too much sun ("HOW?" Summerset demands, "IT'S MORNING!"

"Yesterday, sir," says Seleem. "When he was otherwise unattended he went out walking in the sun. Without water. All day."

"Of course he did," Summerset moans. "Go take a nap, Teddy."

"I don't feel so well, Summerset," Teddy admits. "A nap sounds good."

"Also," says Seleem, "A Mr Frederick Bosingworth* is here. Miss Evelyn's affianced, I believe?"

"Oh, good," Teddy says wearily, "Freddy can come sleep with me."

Summerset's player: HE SAID IT OUT LOUD, IT'S CANON, IS IT CANON IF EVELYN ISN'T HERE?

DM: No, sorry

Summerset's player: BUT PLEEEAAAAAASE

Summerset: fine. we're going to go talk to this guy. Teddy, I'm putting a chest in your room--

Teddy: Is there a body in it?

Summerset: NOT IN FRONT OF THE NEW GUY, TEDDY, WE DON'T PUT BODIES IN CHESTS EVER WE NEVER DO THAT and i want you to not open the chest, not put the thing in the chest on, and if anybody comes in and wants to open the chest, shoot them in the face

Teddy: And put the body in the chest?)

We went to see a couple of horribly maimed people who worked on the Giza dig for the people we're looking for. They're, like, HORRIBLY maimed, we have to roll to not go into shock from seeing them, but we succeed and they gave us a Mysterious Tablet, then carried on to Memphis, where

:: GLEEFUL SCREAMS ::

DR WILLIE PRESTON ENTERS THE CHAT

Willie: I just got fired for being a rogue element in the archaeology dig. A wyld stallion, if you will.

Me: ::screams laughing::

Summerset: Very well, I'm also a fan of unorthodox methods, perhaps we can be (I can't believe I'm saying this out loud) wild stallions together.

Me: ::SCREAMS::

We send Willie into town to stay at our hotel while we go try to shake some information out of the dig expedition that we believe might Know Stuff. It gradually becomes increasingly clear that they're incredibly untrustworthy and that Willie might know more than they do with his crazy theories about labyrinths under Giza. Alice does talk to the woman she had a vision of, who gives her a cryptic phrase to remember, and while she's doing that Summerset realizes that one of the dig members is a proto-Nazi. Not that we know what Nazis are yet, in 1925, but WE know, and decide it's best to get out of there since they're not helping with any info on what happened to the stolen alabaster sarcophagus they're complaining about having lost.

This, in fact, is why Willie got fired: he fell asleep and the sarcophagus got stolen. Along with a number of Egyptian police who are presumed dead, but we're not entirely sure about that, so we're going to go back to Giza and see if there's any labyrinths under the pyramids. Also, almost as an aside, we learned that when Willie fell asleep, he dreamed of a queen--

Alice: was she wearing my girdle?

Summerset: it's not YOUR girdle, Alice, and also we have to be very careful about taking things out of Egypt, they're really cracking down on that kind of thing--

Me: you're worried about this in 1925?

Summerset's player & the GM: That's WHEN they started cracking down, was in the 20s! After decades of looting! It's the one thing they're really able to do in that era!

Me: Huh! Okay then!

Summerset: --and so we absolutely definitely can't be caught with it. You might have to wear it to get it out of the country.

Alice, dreamily: okay

Summerset: NO WAIT I DIDN'T MEAN THAT--

Thus far, we have not yet managed to introduce Willie and Teddy, because, since Calliope and Evelyn's players weren't available this evening, we decided the three of them had been left in Cairo to do "a side adventure I wasn't planning on running anyway," said the DM. :D

BUT I HAVE FAITH THAT THE WYLD STALLIONS WILL BE (RE?)UNITED!

*I don't remember Freddy's actual last name. Something like that. :)

myrmidon posting in

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Superman (2025)
[ david corenswet ]

[ here @

axisandallies ]

snickfic

Authors have revealed!

I wrote: everybody's on the run, Cuckoo (2024), Ed/Gretchen and Gretchen & Alma, post-canon, 2k. This fic was a surprise. I matched on Creator's Choice of Fandom, which meant I could write whateverfandom I wanted, and fresh off finishing my 20k Re-Animator fic, I planned to write more Re-Animator. I came up with several ideas, managed to write a solid 1100 words on one, and just completely stalled out. Instead I wrote this entire fic on the day of the deadline.

I think it turned out okay, though! I enjoyed this movie so much when I saw it earlier this year, especially the messy worldbuilding, and the ending is very wish-fulfillment, I feel, for a certain kind of viewer (which I guess I am, lol). It was fun to try to imagine what the immediate aftermath of everything might look like for these three.

Meanwhile, I received: You, Me, and the Serum Makes Three, Re-Animator, by

psychomachia. Dan/Herbert, mpreg, 3k. Absolute galaxy-brained way to knock Dan up, A+. Just a very fun series of relationship development and pregnancy vignettes.

walkitout

I was going to go over to Circle Furniture to try the stressless dining chair. I did do that, but R. decided to go and that turned into a substantial outing. It was chaotic and I lost a lot of detail, which is a bummer. However, I think I have a strategy for the barstools, and I definitely have a brand for couches, so there’s that. I even worked through some discussion with people about beds.

I walked with M.

I ordered the dragon finial! Woot!

I picked up an attic access panel. LOL.

I handed B. the check that was still on the magnet board

sonia

The Back Room by Alicia Adams. A rock shop with a magic back room, and a teenager aching to find her way in.

Negative Scholarship on the Fifth State of Being by A. W. Prihandita. A doctor struggling with corporate control as she tries to treat a patient who is a member of an isolated minority.

torachan

1. Back to work today. Not too much going on. I got stuff done and was able to get home at a decent time, so that was nice.

2. When Carla was in Chicago she saw the Mitsuwa there was selling Tokyo Banana, which is really hard to get outside of Japan. She regretted not buying any, and didn't see it at Mitsuwa here, but when I googled, I saw people saying H-Mart was selling it, so she went to H-Mart today and they had it in stock! Alas, we'll have to wait until next year in Japan to have the sakura version again, since that's seasonal, but I'm sure the original will be just as delicious (we actually didn't try the original in Japan because the sakura one was too good and we just bought more of that instead).

3. Lately everyone loves to hide in this box. Only one I haven't seen using it is Jasper.

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larryhammer - “in my dreams / i know i’m gonna be with you / so i take my time / are you ready for it?”
totchipanda - (no subject)
prettygoodword - heavens
glassesofjustice in flashexchanges - 2025 Grief Semi-Flash Exchange
jazzyjj in awesomeers - Just one thing: 15 July 2025
walkitout - Hot again on Tuesday
abracanabra - Recipe: Kohlrabi Fritters
moon_custafer - Update
tcpip - Stewardship
missdiane - At least we didn't float away
conuly - Thunderstorms!
mallorys_camera - Arcane Zoning Laws
lirazel - lauren's never-ending search for words to describe the vibes of specific books
oursin - (no subject)
mizkit - Call of Cthulhu: Pour One Out For Dillon
myrmidon in fandom_icons - Superman [2025]
snickfic - H/C Exchange
walkitout - Monday involved a lot of furniture
sonia - Stories! social awkwardness and unexpected friendship
torachan - Daily Happiness

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Page generated Jul. 15th, 2025 04:50 pm

It is a mystery

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“in my dreams / i know i’m gonna be with you / so i take my time / are you ready for it?”

(no subject)

heavens

2025 Grief Semi-Flash Exchange

Just one thing: 15 July 2025

Hot again on Tuesday

Recipe: Kohlrabi Fritters

Update

Stewardship

At least we didn't float away

Thunderstorms!

Arcane Zoning Laws

lauren's never-ending search for words to describe the vibes of specific books

(no subject)

Call of Cthulhu: Pour One Out For Dillon

Superman [2025]

H/C Exchange

Monday involved a lot of furniture

Stories! social awkwardness and unexpected friendship

Daily Happiness

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