some good things make a post
Feb. 24th, 2026 11:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberett- inCompleted White Puzzle!!! We were right about That One Piece being the missing one, and now that I'm not worried about spoilers I have poked the internet and it (mostly in the form of reddit) confirms that Those Are The Missing Bit.
- one (1) orchid flower is all the way open!
- supermarket had discount fancy croissant, so we are most of the way to prepped for Fancy Breakfast tomorrow morning :)
a nice walk, a day after the blizzard
Feb. 24th, 2026 03:24 pmredbirdI have just been out for a walk, a day after the blizzard: bright blue sky, temperature around freezing, and most but not all of the sidewalks have been cleared, so I walked down the middle of the street for a bit. The turkey flock that hangs out on Egremont Road is now up to at least 12 birds, two of which were sitting on a railing. [We got 16-18 inches of snow, I think--the official number from the airport is 16.5, which is significant, but a lot less than this storm dumped on some places.]
Low expectations, but apparently not low enough...
Feb. 24th, 2026 02:09 pmbrithistorianI don't expect much from Goodreads, but I was still surprised to learn that Goodreads members have named The Hunger Games as the "best book ever"!
My Tea Habit Is a Medical Expense & other stories
Feb. 24th, 2026 08:16 pmextrapenguinToday I came across this factsheet on autism comorbidities (sleep issues, hypermobility, cardiovascular, immunology/MCAS, gastrointestinal, long COVID, chronic pain, reproductive, jaw/dental stuff), and a) I really need to get back into the melatonin game for my sleep issues, and b) it turns out that L-theanine ("caffeine of tea") is an analog of glutamate, and can thus be metabolized into GABA, which autistic brains generally have less of. So my tea habit is a medical expense!
(WRT the autism comorbidities mentioned, I def have the sleep issues, bruxism, a food allergy, and I guess some non-hEDS hypermobility? I bruise moderately easily, but my floppy joints are my shoulders, I've never dislocated anything due to good muscle tone, and my fingers and wrists are turbo normal, leading to me never getting over the threshold score in any assessments lol.)
Also I have good news WRT VidUKon: I can't be there in person, but my in-person commitment was altered to be only the Saturday, so I can watch the Sunday programming in peace! This year's themed vidshow is Unfinished Business, with vids for sources that e.g. were cancelled before their time, had a rushed ending, etc. So now I'm trying to think about canons that fit. My little lesbian shampoo commercials etc, short though they may be, don't count imo, as they all tell nice self-contained stories. The Star Wars Sequels, maybe, for Finn, but idek. Does anyone have any canon recs? I am willing to invest max 10h in your science fiction or wuxia that was cancelled (possibly mid-airing) or which has an unsatisfying ending.
For regular premieres, I currently have two finished vids. One is Star Wars Sequels (for my vid album); the other is for the Firebird ballet. I think I'll take a look at the full program and then decide which one I want to be my VidUKon premiere.
(WRT the autism comorbidities mentioned, I def have the sleep issues, bruxism, a food allergy, and I guess some non-hEDS hypermobility? I bruise moderately easily, but my floppy joints are my shoulders, I've never dislocated anything due to good muscle tone, and my fingers and wrists are turbo normal, leading to me never getting over the threshold score in any assessments lol.)
Also I have good news WRT VidUKon: I can't be there in person, but my in-person commitment was altered to be only the Saturday, so I can watch the Sunday programming in peace! This year's themed vidshow is Unfinished Business, with vids for sources that e.g. were cancelled before their time, had a rushed ending, etc. So now I'm trying to think about canons that fit. My little lesbian shampoo commercials etc, short though they may be, don't count imo, as they all tell nice self-contained stories. The Star Wars Sequels, maybe, for Finn, but idek. Does anyone have any canon recs? I am willing to invest max 10h in your science fiction or wuxia that was cancelled (possibly mid-airing) or which has an unsatisfying ending.
For regular premieres, I currently have two finished vids. One is Star Wars Sequels (for my vid album); the other is for the Firebird ballet. I think I'll take a look at the full program and then decide which one I want to be my VidUKon premiere.
The Language of Liars, by S.L. Huang
Feb. 24th, 2026 08:42 ammrissaReview copy provided by the publisher.
This is a novella with a whole range of aliens with different language features, wildly different environments, etc. Several of my friends just stopped reading this review to go pre-order or request that their library do so. You are correct, if that is the sort of thing you like, this sure is that thing.
What it does less successfully, I think, is the twist ending. I feel like this is a book that is for people who like science fiction about aliens, but for me, as soon as I knew the premise, I knew the ending, and I was correct. So if you're reading for the aliens, come on in; if you're reading for a clever twist you did not see coming, this is not that novella, that is not where Huang spent time and energy.
Well, I spent 40 hours at work
Feb. 24th, 2026 09:16 amconulyAnd I'm getting paid for every last one of them, including the 6 hours when the house slept and so did I. Normally, we're not actually supposed to sleep on an overnight shift - but almost everybody really does, so it's more like "don't get caught" - but c'mon.
For everybody at home, leaving without a replacement is not simply a fireable offense but an actual, factual crime. Also, I'm not sure how I would've gotten to the bus. I mean, it's right outside the door, and buses were running all night, but man, it was brutal out there. We needed a little shoveling, and neither I nor manager wanted to shovel, so we had to wait for the neighbors to get their sidewalks and then sorta patch us into theirs. (The transportation issue is also why I'm not blaming any coworkers who didn't come in. It was impossible. I genuinely don't think that this was a fixable issue, Staten Island got a lot of snow.)
In retrospect, what probably ought to have been done would have had to have been done in advance:
1. Manager should've taken as much discretionary money as possible, agreed to let staff order Chinese or whatever for two, three meals - something that reheats nicely - and offered to pay all our carfare home in advance, and then used that to straight up bribe at least one extra staff member to stay over the storm. With three of us, we could've had one on each floor and also could've more easily arranged sleeping shifts so somebody was awake at all times.
2. She also should've called up the families of those residents who frequently go home for an overnight and asked if they'd take their relatives from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. That's suboptimal for a lot of reasons - there's a reason they all live in a residence instead of with their families! - but it would've lightened the burden on us significantly if we'd had even just our two or three easiest residents away visiting their sisters and brothers.
But we all survived! My replacement actually showed up at midnight last night! But she declined to wake me on the grounds that I wasn't going home at midnight, and she was quite right. And then another staff member showed up this morning, and 90 or 100 minutes later my bus finally showed up. (And yes, I do insist on getting paid for that last hour and a half as well. I wasn't just sitting around, I was doing laundry, and supervising on the basement so that everybody else could handle the upper floors, and walking the guys out to their van so nobody slipped on ice.)
I'm home now, I showered, and I have the rest of the week off, off, off. Yay me!
If this happens again, I'm bringing a change of clothing.
For everybody at home, leaving without a replacement is not simply a fireable offense but an actual, factual crime. Also, I'm not sure how I would've gotten to the bus. I mean, it's right outside the door, and buses were running all night, but man, it was brutal out there. We needed a little shoveling, and neither I nor manager wanted to shovel, so we had to wait for the neighbors to get their sidewalks and then sorta patch us into theirs. (The transportation issue is also why I'm not blaming any coworkers who didn't come in. It was impossible. I genuinely don't think that this was a fixable issue, Staten Island got a lot of snow.)
In retrospect, what probably ought to have been done would have had to have been done in advance:
1. Manager should've taken as much discretionary money as possible, agreed to let staff order Chinese or whatever for two, three meals - something that reheats nicely - and offered to pay all our carfare home in advance, and then used that to straight up bribe at least one extra staff member to stay over the storm. With three of us, we could've had one on each floor and also could've more easily arranged sleeping shifts so somebody was awake at all times.
2. She also should've called up the families of those residents who frequently go home for an overnight and asked if they'd take their relatives from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning. That's suboptimal for a lot of reasons - there's a reason they all live in a residence instead of with their families! - but it would've lightened the burden on us significantly if we'd had even just our two or three easiest residents away visiting their sisters and brothers.
But we all survived! My replacement actually showed up at midnight last night! But she declined to wake me on the grounds that I wasn't going home at midnight, and she was quite right. And then another staff member showed up this morning, and 90 or 100 minutes later my bus finally showed up. (And yes, I do insist on getting paid for that last hour and a half as well. I wasn't just sitting around, I was doing laundry, and supervising on the basement so that everybody else could handle the upper floors, and walking the guys out to their van so nobody slipped on ice.)
I'm home now, I showered, and I have the rest of the week off, off, off. Yay me!
If this happens again, I'm bringing a change of clothing.
The Rift by Walter Jon Williams
Feb. 24th, 2026 09:15 amjames_davis_nicoll
The New Madrid Fault teaches a memorable lesson about the transience of things.
The Rift by Walter Jon Williams
(no subject)
Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:50 pmaurumcalendulaAmazon seems to have fixed the typos in the summary and sample of Jeannie Lin's Love, Death & Lanterns! Unfortunately they seem to have either have not done so in the ebook itself, or my copy is glitched (redownloading, clearing caches, and even deleting and rebuying it still gives me a copy with one of the main characters' names misspelled).
I have a version of it sans-typos from when it was one of the HEA Collective novellas, but this is annoying me.
I have a version of it sans-typos from when it was one of the HEA Collective novellas, but this is annoying me.
Shanghai Film Park
Feb. 23rd, 2026 07:01 pmsakana17 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
c_entIf you've watched Guardian or almost any Republican Era Cdrama, you've seen Shanghai Film Park. In December I had the chance to visit it, and I posted about it (with photos) in my journal: https://sakana17.dreamwidth.org/254192.html for those interested.
Monday Music Meme
Feb. 23rd, 2026 09:04 pmextrapenguinThe original prompt for today was "a song title that is in all lowercase" ... which, uh, I have zero (0) songs like that so I came up with an alternative prompt:
newest release
FlowerLeaf - The Wake
This is the first song I heard from the band, and instantly got me preordering the album. Also it's the freshest single, dropping a month ago.
Dreamerie by FlowerLeaf came out last Friday, 20th of Feb 2026.
a song you discovered this month
a song that makes you smile
a song that makes you cry
a song that you know all the lyrics of
a song that proves that you have good taste
a song title that is in all lowercase newest release
a song title that is in all uppercase
an underrated song
a song that has three words
a song from your childhood
a song that reminds you of summertime
a song that you feel nostalgic to
the first song that plays on shuffle
a song that someone showed you
a song from a movie soundtrack
a song from a television soundtrack
a song about being 17
a song that reminds you of somebody
a song to drive to
a song with a number in the title
a song that you listen to at 3am in the morning
a song with a long title
a song with a color in the title
a song that gets stuck in your head
a song in a different language
a song that helps you fall asleep at night
a song that describes how you feel right now
a song that you used to hate but love today
a song that you downloaded
a song that you want to share
newest release
FlowerLeaf - The Wake
This is the first song I heard from the band, and instantly got me preordering the album. Also it's the freshest single, dropping a month ago.
Dreamerie by FlowerLeaf came out last Friday, 20th of Feb 2026.
prompts under the cut
a song you discovered this month
a song that makes you smile
a song that makes you cry
a song that you know all the lyrics of
a song that proves that you have good taste
a song title that is in all uppercase
an underrated song
a song that has three words
a song from your childhood
a song that reminds you of summertime
a song that you feel nostalgic to
the first song that plays on shuffle
a song that someone showed you
a song from a movie soundtrack
a song from a television soundtrack
a song about being 17
a song that reminds you of somebody
a song to drive to
a song with a number in the title
a song that you listen to at 3am in the morning
a song with a long title
a song with a color in the title
a song that gets stuck in your head
a song in a different language
a song that helps you fall asleep at night
a song that describes how you feel right now
a song that you used to hate but love today
a song that you downloaded
a song that you want to share
Bundle of Holding: Mists of Akuma
Feb. 23rd, 2026 02:10 pmjames_davis_nicoll
A bundle for Mists of Akuma, the tabletop roleplaying campaign setting of Eastern fantasy noir steampunk from Storm Bunny Studios for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition.
Bundle of Holding: Mists of Akuma
Snow shows no sign of stopping
Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:45 amconulyAnd I am trapped at work!
I mean, the buses are running, but nobody else is coming in, and it’s not a job you can just shut down for the day.
I mean, the buses are running, but nobody else is coming in, and it’s not a job you can just shut down for the day.
three Cat Sebastian books
Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:14 amaurumcalendulaAfter Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian:
( Read more... )
Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue by Cat Sebastian:
( Read more... )
You So Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian:
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue by Cat Sebastian:
( Read more... )
You So Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian:
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
A Brief Survey of Canadian Political Thrillers
Feb. 23rd, 2026 10:02 amjames_davis_nicoll
You may be surprised to learn that "Canadian thriller" is not an oxymoron.
A Brief Survey of Canadian Political Thrillers
I guessed people would call out, and I was right
Feb. 22nd, 2026 06:27 pmconulyI didn’t guess that I’d be stuck with the roads closed until at least noon tomorrow.
Well, I’m getting paid every hour I’m here, at least.
Well, I’m getting paid every hour I’m here, at least.
Slo-Mo Rewatch: Guardian episode 12, part 1
Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:47 amchina_shop posting in sid_guardian
Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!
Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.
Episode 12, up to 22:18
Summary
Fourth Uncle drugs Zhu Hong; Guo Changcheng zaps himself unconscious. Wang Zheng is teaching Sang Zan to write (but hasn't shown him how to hold a pen). Zhao Yunlan confronts Shen Wei in his university office, ostensibly about the case but in fact seeking confirmation of Shen Wei's other identity. Tan Xiao breaks into the SID to steal the Hallows but is thwarted by Sang Zan's trap, followed by Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's arrival. Zhao Yunlan catches the Awl, has visions and falls unconscious (feat. some lovely manhandling by Shen Wei); Da Qing wakes him by being catlike. Lin Jing wants to run some tests on a human; Zhao Yunlan fakes a headache, so Shen Wei volunteers. Shen Wei lies on the evidence bed in his undershirt. Fourth Uncle talks to tied-up!Zhu Hong, only it's actually Guo Changcheng in a skirt and wig. Zhu Hong drugs her uncle. (So much drugging!) Zhu Jiu is angry at Tan Xiao's failure to retrieve the Hallows; he's holding Zheng Yi hostage, promising to cure her. Zhao Yunlan doodles Shen Wei and the Envoy in his notebook. Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi ambush and hypnotise Zhu Hong as she returns from the Snake Village. She fights Chu Shuzhi, and Lin Jing has to sedate her. Zhao Yunlan tells Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi that they can't trust Zhu Jiu.
Quote
Shen Wei: Are you even listening to me?
Zhao Yunlan: I only want to hear you tell the truth.
Detail
Presumably Zhao Yunlan is already wearing protective earplugs when he apprehends Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi on his own.
Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 12? How is Zhao Yunlan hoping that the conversation in Shen Wei's office will go? Does Sang Zan have any other booby traps set up around the SID (and how many times has Guo Changcheng set them off)? Did Shen Wei put himself in a trance/stasis during Lin Jing's experiment? Any theories about what happened to Tan Xiao's sister? What's with all the drugging??
Poll #34277 Episide 12, part 1
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 8
How many times has Guo Changcheng zapped himself unconscious before?
View Answers
once
0 (0.0%)
a couple of times
1 (12.5%)
truly an alarming number of times
5 (62.5%)
Lin Jing is ~this close~ to confiscating the baton
2 (25.0%)
Chu Shuzhi bought a portable defibrillator to take to training practice
4 (50.0%)
other
0 (0.0%)
Does Shen Wei expect Zhao Yunlan to take him literally when he says, "To be honest, I'm just a normal person who happens to be unlucky"?
View Answers
yes, he's determined to stuff the cat back into the bag
2 (25.0%)
he doesn't *expect*, exactly; but he hopes!
4 (50.0%)
no, he's implicitly asking Zhao Yunlan to play along
4 (50.0%)
other
1 (12.5%)
Why does Shen Wei volunteer to be a test subject?
View Answers
he thinks he can fake a human field of consciousness
4 (50.0%)
he's no longer really hiding his identity; he just doesn't want to admit the truth in so many words
3 (37.5%)
other
1 (12.5%)
Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?
(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)
And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!
vital functions
Feb. 22nd, 2026 10:15 pmkaberettReading. Finished The Rose Field (Pullman)!!! I am Making Arrangements for it to Leave My House. ( Read more... )
ANYWAY. I finished it. It Is Done.Then read the first few pages of Dead Hand Rule (Gladstone; latest in the Craft Wars) before deciding that actually I need to reread at least the end of Wicked Problems in order to remember what's going on...
Writing. Progress continues both glacial and extant.
Listening. My relisten-while-actually-awake of the first chunk of The Hidden Almanac continues, slowly.
Playing. We have finished an Exploders run on Hard in Inkulinati. I am contemplating, given how smoothly that went, whether I want to have a try at Very Hard...
Cooking. It's not quite "this week's breakfast dal, and a loaf of bread", but it does sort of feel like it was. Partly because for reasons we did not get our usual box of veg on Monday last week, which meant that we were scrabbling around using up Shelf Things and the occasional Supermarket Discount Item...
NO WAIT, I also DID make buckwheat pancakes, and inspired by lnr combined Tinned Pear and Stem Ginger with Vanilla Essence and also Ground Cardamom to go in same. V good. Will repeat.
Eating. My mother acquired for us, as A Special Treat, a variety of Baked Goods from The Fancy Bakery In Eddington: my favourite is still the fig-and-?ricotta, but the blueberry-and-?ricotta is also very good, as is the fougasse. A was extremely pleased with the pain aux raisins. AND my mother made some excellent baba ganoush, eaten with said fougasse.
This week also feat. rainbow bagels (which we got to watch some of the manufacturing process for!) as well as misc other foodstuffs from Shalom Hot Beigels.
A has some coffee and butterscotch cake (leftovers from a test bake!) from Flour Arrangements; alas by the time I got my act together to actually collect Excess Test Cake the apple pie and lemon had both all gone...
Exploring. I got to spend a little time in the City of London Cemetery, which is currently ablaze with (among other things) purple crocuses; we also (on our second attempt) managed to go on A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey (with thanks to aldabra for reminding me that it is That Time Of Year still!). Snowdrops excellent. May or may not get around to sharing some photos. (Our first attempt at A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey Abbey wound up mutating into a poke around the back of Churchill and Astronomy to peer at bulbs and other plants misc, which was also very enjoyable even if I did once again fail to take A to see the Barbara Hepworth.)
Growing. ... I bought a bag of snowdrops In The Green at Anglesey, to go into the ground around the cherry tree at the allotment? The lemongrass seedlings haven't all died?
advice from camera nerds
Feb. 22nd, 2026 04:43 pmjadelennoxI take a lot of pictures of three classes of things:
- Cats: This pictures are good on any camera, including my agéd single-lens SE.
- Birds: These pics are shit on the aforementioned handheld phone.
- Moss and lichens and bugs: These pics are fine on the phone, but could be much better.
My real constraint is my hands and arms. I can't hold my arms above my head, I can't hold a phone still very long, the non-ergonomic controls and shape of a phone are shit, I realistically can't carry a tripod on a hike, and I can't bear weight on my shoulders or the back of my neck for any length of time. (I recognize that this collection of constraints means my pictures will never be great, and that's okay.)
So, questions:
- Are there any cameras that have particularly good ergonomics, are particularly light, or have a good reputation for accessibility?
- I believe I could get a remote shutter trigger & a remote focus, so I could prop the camera somewhere and get a good pic from a less painful angle; do you know how to choose a hand-friendly one? (Not finger-fiddly, easy to attach & detach, easy to click buttons.)
- On a modern camera, is it possible to get lenses good enough for bird pics that are not, you know, heavy? Last time I had an SLR I was taking pictures on film, so that tells you how out of date my knowledge is.
- What's the lightest tripod that works well for people with shit fine motor control and no finger strength? I can sort by weight on hiking sites, but hikers put up with a lot of fiddly controls that I can't handle.
(I'm only looking for advice from your experience or from the experience of people you trust. Please don't GoogleKagiGoPT it for me!)
Fangirl geebling
Feb. 22nd, 2026 12:32 pmcupcake_gothThe background: last year MCR announced the second US leg of the Long Live the Black Parade tour, with the city/date closest to me being Oct. 24 in L.A.. The Stroppy One sighed at the inevitable, and cass404 braved the Ticketmaster queue to get us tickets. the Ticketmaster online queue to get us tickets. Then MCR announced the final two shows of the tour, both in L.A.: Oct. 30 & 31. Cue much wailing from me, because there was no way I could afford to stay in L.A. for a week.
Last weekend, the Stroppy One suggested I ask Cass if I could stay at her place for a week, and the we head back to L.A. for the concerts. I stared, asked if he was okay with me missing our anniversary to go see MCR. He pointed out that he wouldn’t have suggested it if he wasn’t, just see if tickets were available you silly head.
So! After conferring with Cass, I’m going to see if any tickets are available. Because spending time with Cass is something I desperately miss, and omg my precious cupcakes of bombast.
Pretty much the opposite of a scientific method, I suppose
Feb. 22nd, 2026 12:50 pmbrithistorianI was reading this morning's edition of Dan Rather's Substack newsletter, where he was writing about the song "Stand By Me". (Apparently he writes about a song or musician every Sunday.)
Anyway, he mentioned that "Stand By Me" was "numbered among the Recording Industry Association of America’s 25 Songs of the Century." This naturally got me curious: A ranked list of things? That's like catnip to me!
So I went to look for it. Turns out that there's no such things as the RIAA "25 Songs of the Century." What there is is the "Song of the Century" list, produced by the RIAA in conjunction with the NEA and Scholastic Inc. It's a list of 365 songs. So where did Rather get this idea of "25 Songs of the Century"? Because "Stand by Me" is #25 on the list, and the Wikipedia entry for "Songs of the Century" only includes the top 25 songs on the list. Apparently Rather (or, more likely, one of his research assistants) looked at the Wikipedia entry, didn't read the text carefully, and based on the table of songs assumed that it was a list of 25 songs.
If you read the text carefully, not only do you get the correct number of songs. You also start to question the RIAA's methodology for creating the list. According to the entry, "[h]undreds of voters, who included elected officials, people from the music industry and from the media, teachers, and students" were asked to select the songs. These voters were selected by the RIAA (and one is forced to ask "how many students does the RIAA know?"), and of the 1300 voters selected, only 200 responded. Seems kind of sloppy and haphazard.
Then, if you read the list, you see that the voters were rather sloppy and haphazard in their definition of a song: #7 on the list is the entire album of West Side Story, which is not "a song." Altogether there are 18 albums on the list: 11 Broadway shows, 6 jazz albums, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Obviously I don't have a copy of the instructions that the RIAA sent to the voters, but I think we can all agree that (with the exception of Thick as a Brick and possibly a few others) an album is not a song.
Also, just as an aside, I think 2001 (when this survey was conducted) was a bit premature to be choosing the most impactful songs of the 20th century.
All that being said, I think any other such list would be just as subject to being haphazard and subjective, and on skimming over the list I do think it would be an enjoyable and/or interesting list to listen to. Plus, unless you were born on February 29, you can figure out what day of the year you were born on and then look at the complete list and see what song your birthday corresponds to. (Mine is "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy.)
FIC: in the darkness with you (Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan) [Mature]
Feb. 22nd, 2026 08:18 pmtrobadora posting in sid_guardianTitle: in the darkness with you
Word count: 4,233
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: Mature
Content tags: Blind Zhao Yunlan, First time, Hand-Feeding, Finger-Sucking, Clothed Sex, Zhao Yunlan's oral fixation, Episode Related, Episode 21, Missing Scene, Blindness Arc
Summary:
Zhao Yunlan woke to the smell of citrus, sweet and strong in the air. Without fully turning his face out of the pillow, he slitted open a sleep-heavy eye - to complete, unchanged darkness. Reality came crashing down like a landslide. Right: still blind.
Word count: 4,233
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: Mature
Content tags: Blind Zhao Yunlan, First time, Hand-Feeding, Finger-Sucking, Clothed Sex, Zhao Yunlan's oral fixation, Episode Related, Episode 21, Missing Scene, Blindness Arc
Summary:
Zhao Yunlan woke to the smell of citrus, sweet and strong in the air. Without fully turning his face out of the pillow, he slitted open a sleep-heavy eye - to complete, unchanged darkness. Reality came crashing down like a landslide. Right: still blind.
My latest Guardian fanworks
Feb. 22nd, 2026 07:18 pmfacethestrange posting in sid_guardiancandyheartsex had creator reveals, so here's another portion of fanworks. :D Weilan drawing and 2 fics, a Chuguo fic, and a (non-Candy-Hearts) Zhubai drabble. :)Underneath by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Undressing, undergarments, Kneeling, Mild Sexual Content, no sex just touching and vibes, Black-Cloaked Envoy | Hei Pao Shi (Guardian), Long-Haired Shen Wei (Guardian), Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan discovers what's under the Envoy's robes.
meet me where the hours bend (I'll do it again) (524 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Episode: e008 Zhao Yunlan Fails at Impressing Shen Wei, Canon Compliant, Pining Shen Wei (Guardian), Caretaking, Hurt/Comfort, Stomach Ache, Sick Zhao Yunlan, Memories, Tenderness
Summary: Zhao Yunlan whimpers in his sleep, and Shen Wei doesn't do anything.
The Envoy and the Cat (549 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Da Qing & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Da Qing (Guardian), Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Tree Climbing, friendly teasing, Da Qing Being a Cat in Human Form
Summary: "Really? Really, Damn Cat? You had to get the Black-Cloaked Envoy of all people to help you down from a tree?"
It Takes a Village (369 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng
Characters: Chu Shuzhi, Guo Changcheng, Xiaomi the Dog (Guardian), Special Investigation Division | SID Ensemble (Guardian)
Additional Tags: Fluff, Dogs, Domestic, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Minor Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Team as Family
Summary: "Who will feed Xiaomi when we're away?" Guo Changcheng asks, and Chu Shuzhi blinks.
"Everyone?"
See Nothing (100 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, Chinese Actor RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Characters: Bai Yu (Actor), Zhu Yilong, Li Yan (Actor)
Additional Tags: Beard Burn, Innuendo, Silly, Light-Hearted, No Homophobia, POV Outsider, Drabble
Summary: "Hey, what happened to your chin?"
Sunshine on my window
Feb. 22nd, 2026 03:17 pmdolorosa_12I'm really tired, and don't feel in any way prepared for the upcoming working week, but I've been trying to mitigate that with a very lazy Sunday. I had grand plans to plant the first of the spring seeds and start germinating seedlings in the growhouse, I had plans to go out for a walk with Matthias (the weather today is gorgeous), but instead I've spent the whole day vegetating in my wing chair in the living room, watching the tail-end of the Winter Olympics from the corner of my eye, watching Olia Hercules cook borshch on a BBC cooking show, scrolling around on Dreamwidth, and so on.
Matthias and I saw Marty Supreme at the community cinema earlier this week, and we'll be heading out to see Hamnet tonight, so it's definitely been a film-heavy time by our standards. I'm anticipating a lot of cathartic crying tonight.
I've continued to make my way through mythology/fairytale/folktale retellings recommended by you on a previous post. This week it was Girl Meets Boy (Ali Smith), a slim little novella in conversation with Ovid's Metamorphoses, concerned with fluidity in gender, gender presentation, sexuality, and so on. It felt very, very, very of its time and place (the UK in the 2000s), but that's not to say that its specificity was a bad thing.
I also read The Swan's Daughter (Roshani Chokshi), a lush, surreal fairytale of a book in which the titular daughter (one of seven sisters born to a power-hungry wizard and his swanmaiden wife) finds herself caught up in a competition to win the hand of the kingdom's prince in marriage. Chokshi's previous books have been very melodramatic and earnest, and she's relished the opportunity here to shift the tone to something much more humorous and knowing, while still digging into her favourite big themes: the tension between love and vulnerability, genuine love requiring an embrace of uncertainty, and the interplay of love and monstrosity made literal.
It reminded me so much of one of my very favourite books — The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip) — although the latter is portentous and serious where Chokshi is whimsical and humorous that I picked up the McKillip for yet another reread. I've written about it here before, so suffice it to say now that it remains an incredible book — sharp and perceptive, devastating and beautiful.
I'll leave you with this fantastic link to a Shrove Tuesday tradition in which contestants dressed in costumes race through central London while flipping pancakes in pans. It's as delightful as you might imagine.
Matthias and I saw Marty Supreme at the community cinema earlier this week, and we'll be heading out to see Hamnet tonight, so it's definitely been a film-heavy time by our standards. I'm anticipating a lot of cathartic crying tonight.
I've continued to make my way through mythology/fairytale/folktale retellings recommended by you on a previous post. This week it was Girl Meets Boy (Ali Smith), a slim little novella in conversation with Ovid's Metamorphoses, concerned with fluidity in gender, gender presentation, sexuality, and so on. It felt very, very, very of its time and place (the UK in the 2000s), but that's not to say that its specificity was a bad thing.
I also read The Swan's Daughter (Roshani Chokshi), a lush, surreal fairytale of a book in which the titular daughter (one of seven sisters born to a power-hungry wizard and his swanmaiden wife) finds herself caught up in a competition to win the hand of the kingdom's prince in marriage. Chokshi's previous books have been very melodramatic and earnest, and she's relished the opportunity here to shift the tone to something much more humorous and knowing, while still digging into her favourite big themes: the tension between love and vulnerability, genuine love requiring an embrace of uncertainty, and the interplay of love and monstrosity made literal.
It reminded me so much of one of my very favourite books — The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (Patricia McKillip) — although the latter is portentous and serious where Chokshi is whimsical and humorous that I picked up the McKillip for yet another reread. I've written about it here before, so suffice it to say now that it remains an incredible book — sharp and perceptive, devastating and beautiful.
I'll leave you with this fantastic link to a Shrove Tuesday tradition in which contestants dressed in costumes race through central London while flipping pancakes in pans. It's as delightful as you might imagine.
(no subject)
Feb. 18th, 2026 10:32 amconulySo, you got my opinion on Heated Rivalry, but I gotta say, I will never not read fanfics structured like ongoing internet sagas.
Also, gotta love the one dude, BostonSportsBro69, who posts in both /r/relationship_advice and /r/hockey going around in /r/hockey saying "Uh, no, it's just normal sportsbro rival stuff, you're all reading way too much into this"when because he absolutely knows better. (I don't think he's supposed to be one of Ilya's teammates, just a fan.)
***************
( Links )
Also, gotta love the one dude, BostonSportsBro69, who posts in both /r/relationship_advice and /r/hockey going around in /r/hockey saying "Uh, no, it's just normal sportsbro rival stuff, you're all reading way too much into this"
( Links )
Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
Feb. 22nd, 2026 09:33 amjames_davis_nicoll
Can America's well-financed, highly-experienced, heavily-armed war machine hope to prevail against a numerically insignificant, poorly-armed, American teen movement?
Dance the Eagle to Sleep by Marge Piercy
Projects and Bunnies
Feb. 21st, 2026 10:05 pmsenmut~ 10trueloves - 5/10 written
~ Fulcrum and Rex time travel to before Anakin runs to Mace. - NEEDS CANON REVIEW
~ Sequel to Retrieval - 93 WORDS
~ An Atin universe that is more like The Second Clone War or Mine, All of Them - 3 chapters written, each about 1k words
~ Rachel and Joe meet with BOTH finally aware in Closing Up Shop
~ Drizzt's fallout/Vierna's reactions in the Divining Destiny universe
nothing
10trueloves - 5/10 written Random Plot Bunnies in Progress
~ Fulcrum and Rex time travel to before Anakin runs to Mace. - NEEDS CANON REVIEW
~ Sequel to Retrieval - 93 WORDS
~ An Atin universe that is more like The Second Clone War or Mine, All of Them - 3 chapters written, each about 1k words
Potential Bunnies Pending Further Bouncing
~ Rachel and Joe meet with BOTH finally aware in Closing Up Shop
~ Drizzt's fallout/Vierna's reactions in the Divining Destiny universe
Finished
nothing
(no subject)
Feb. 21st, 2026 03:51 pmconuly posting in agonyauntMy daughter “Melody” is in the midst of the terrible twos. Five or more meltdowns per day over normal frustrations/limits are typical. Recently, my mother-in-law, “Darlene” took Melody and my 6-year-old son out to run errands, and true to form, Melody had a blow-up. It was how Darlene handled it that has me seeing red. She told Melody that she was leaving her in the store and that she could find her own way home, and left her screaming on the floor! She then moved off with my son, out of my daughter’s view, and waited for several minutes before coming back for her. I only learned of this later when my son told me what happened.
When I confronted my mother-in-law, she claimed her method was helpful because Melody behaved afterward. And she said Melody was “never in any danger” because she kept her in sight at all times. After this, I no longer feel safe with Darlene going places with the kids without my husband present or me. Sadly, my husband is no help. He agrees that this was a good “lesson” in behaving for our daughter and that his mother used to do it to him and his sister when they were kids! Please tell me I’m right in telling Darlene her days of taking the kids solo are over.
—Pissed
( Read more... )
When I confronted my mother-in-law, she claimed her method was helpful because Melody behaved afterward. And she said Melody was “never in any danger” because she kept her in sight at all times. After this, I no longer feel safe with Darlene going places with the kids without my husband present or me. Sadly, my husband is no help. He agrees that this was a good “lesson” in behaving for our daughter and that his mother used to do it to him and his sister when they were kids! Please tell me I’m right in telling Darlene her days of taking the kids solo are over.
—Pissed
( Read more... )
Eldest Prince Above fic
Feb. 22nd, 2026 12:58 pmthawrecka posting in c_entFinding Moments (627 words) by thawrecka
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gu Xuanqing/Li Yunzhen
Characters: Gu Xuanqing, Li Yunzhen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gu Xuanqing/Li Yunzhen
Characters: Gu Xuanqing, Li Yunzhen