Reading

some good things

A coaxed me out of the house for lunch; they'd been intending to spend the day in the office, but Shenanigans ensued such that they needed to pick something up from home and also the office canteen had run out of the veggie option, and by this time the triptan was more-or-less working. So we had zapiekanka at the market in the sunshine, and lo, it was good.
I apparently somehow managed to duck into the BHF charity shop right before it started raining heavily, and upon reemerging from poking at homeware and books at the back was startled to find that it was no longer raining heavily, but that everything was suddenly and inexplicably (at least briefly at least to me, in my migraine-addled state) damp.
I have finally picked up Lake of Souls (Ann Leckie), which I absolutely pre-ordered and absolutely was very excited about but am only now getting to, and I am having A LOT OF FEELINGS. SO many feelings.
A brought me ice cream from the freezer. Raspberry ripple, which I was inexplicably in the mood for, and the hazelnut + hazelnut brittle.
... and in fact I am going to go and be in a sleepy pile. Yes. That can be thing number five.

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author: wendy cope

A Nursery Rhyme
as it might have been written by William Wordsworth

by Wendy Cope

The skylark and the jay sang loud and long,
The sun was calm and bright, the air was sweet,
When all at once I heard above the throng
Of jocund birds a single plaintive bleat.

And, turning, saw, as one sees in a dream,
It was a Sheep had broke the moorland peace
With his sad cry, a creature who did seem
The blackest thing that ever wore a fleece.

I walked towards him on the stony track
And, pausing for a while between two crags,
I asked him, ‘Have you wool upon your back?’
Thus he bespake, ‘Enough to fill three bags.’

Most courteously, in measured tones, he told
Who would receive each bag and where they dwelt;
And oft, now years have passed and I am old,
I recollect with joy that inky pelt.

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[food] today's adventures in EYB indexing: The National Trust Book of Puddings

Subtitle 50 irresistibly nostalgic sweet treats and comforting classics... featuring "Trinity burnt cream":

Also known as crème brûlée, old recipes for versions of this pudding are found in various parts of Britain and Europe. Its association with Trinity College, Cambridge goes back to at least the nineteenth century.

Despite my documented interest in crème brûlée and, you know, having grown up in Cambridge, I had somehow never come across this before?! And yet it's inexplicably clearly attested on Wikipedia. Nominally this means I should probably be indexing the "Ethnicity" of the dish as "English" as well as "French" but, frankly, je refuse, and even Trinity have the grace to say:

The story that crème brûlée itself was invented at the College almost certainly has no basis in fact.

It's not even like the National Trust is making a point of having all the recipes in this book be of British origin! Clearly-identified non-British culinary sources include Italy, Latvia, and Russia! (... the Welsh- and Scottish-origin puddings have headnotes mysteriously quiet on said origins, though.) AND YET. Crème brûlée! Trinity! Really.

Current Mood: cold

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weather

Holy Crap!

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(no subject)

My name is James Tiberius Kirk!

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how do your gardens grow

possibly the most constructive thing I have actually done today is hunt tomatoes

-- no wait that's a lie, I also investigated an apple tree. (Unremarkable eating apples.)

But! Tomatoes!

a lap full of tomatoes, in reds and oranges and greens and golds and purpleish

Pictured varieties: Purple Ukraine, Blue Fire, misc green stripey, Orange Banana, Moneymaker. Buried so you can't see it is a Feo di Rio Gordo. I did not get the whole rainbow I was aiming for this year (alas the Yellow Pearshaped all failed, as did the Known green stripey), but I'm nonetheless pleased!

Mississippi legal challenge: beginning 1 September, we will need to geoblock Mississippi IPs

I'll start with the tl;dr summary to make sure everyone sees it and then explain further: As of September 1, we will temporarily be forced to block access to Dreamwidth from all IP addresses that geolocate to Mississippi for legal reasons. This block will need to continue until we either win the legal case entirely, or the district court issues another injunction preventing Mississippi from enforcing their social media age verification and parental consent law against us.

Mississippi residents, we are so, so sorry. We really don't want to do this, but the legal fight we and Netchoice have been fighting for you had a temporary setback last week. We genuinely and honestly believe that we're going to win it in the end, but the Fifth Circuit appellate court said that the district judge was wrong to issue the preliminary injunction back in June that would have maintained the status quo and prevented the state from enforcing the law requiring any social media website (which is very broadly defined, and which we definitely qualify as) to deanonymize and age-verify all users and obtain parental permission from the parent of anyone under 18 who wants to open an account.

Netchoice took that appellate ruling up to the Supreme Court, who declined to overrule the Fifth Circuit with no explanation -- except for Justice Kavanaugh agreeing that we are likely to win the fight in the end, but saying that it's no big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime.

Needless to say, it's a big deal to let the state enforce the law in the meantime. The Mississippi law is a breathtaking state overreach: it forces us to verify the identity and age of every person who accesses Dreamwidth from the state of Mississippi and determine who's under the age of 18 by collecting identity documents, to save that highly personal and sensitive information, and then to obtain a permission slip from those users' parents to allow them to finish creating an account. It also forces us to change our moderation policies and stop anyone under 18 from accessing a wide variety of legal and beneficial speech because the state of Mississippi doesn't like it -- which, given the way Dreamwidth works, would mean blocking people from talking about those things at all. (And if you think you know exactly what kind of content the state of Mississippi doesn't like, you're absolutely right.)

Needless to say, we don't want to do that, either. Even if we wanted to, though, we can't: the resources it would take for us to build the systems that would let us do it are well beyond our capacity. You can read the sworn declaration I provided to the court for some examples of how unworkable these requirements are in practice. (That isn't even everything! The lawyers gave me a page limit!)

Unfortunately, the penalties for failing to comply with the Mississippi law are incredibly steep: fines of $10,000 per user from Mississippi who we don't have identity documents verifying age for, per incident -- which means every time someone from Mississippi loaded Dreamwidth, we'd potentially owe Mississippi $10,000. Even a single $10,000 fine would be rough for us, but the per-user, per-incident nature of the actual fine structure is an existential threat. And because we're part of the organization suing Mississippi over it, and were explicitly named in the now-overturned preliminary injunction, we think the risk of the state deciding to engage in retaliatory prosecution while the full legal challenge continues to work its way through the courts is a lot higher than we're comfortable with. Mississippi has been itching to issue those fines for a while, and while normally we wouldn't worry much because we're a small and obscure site, the fact that we've been yelling at them in court about the law being unconstitutional means the chance of them lumping us in with the big social media giants and trying to fine us is just too high for us to want to risk it. (The excellent lawyers we've been working with are Netchoice's lawyers, not ours!)

All of this means we've made the extremely painful decision that our only possible option for the time being is to block Mississippi IP addresses from accessing Dreamwidth, until we win the case. (And I repeat: I am absolutely incredibly confident we'll win the case. And apparently Justice Kavanaugh agrees!) I repeat: I am so, so sorry. This is the last thing we wanted to do, and I've been fighting my ass off for the last three years to prevent it. But, as everyone who follows the legal system knows, the Fifth Circuit is gonna do what it's gonna do, whether or not what they want to do has any relationship to the actual law.

We don't collect geolocation information ourselves, and we have no idea which of our users are residents of Mississippi. (We also don't want to know that, unless you choose to tell us.) Because of that, and because access to highly accurate geolocation databases is extremely expensive, our only option is to use our network provider's geolocation-based blocking to prevent connections from IP addresses they identify as being from Mississippi from even reaching Dreamwidth in the first place. I have no idea how accurate their geolocation is, and it's possible that some people not in Mississippi might also be affected by this block. (The inaccuracy of geolocation is only, like, the 27th most important reason on the list of "why this law is practically impossible for any site to comply with, much less a tiny site like us".)

If your IP address is identified as coming from Mississippi, beginning on September 1, you'll see a shorter, simpler version of this message and be unable to proceed to the site itself. If you would otherwise be affected, but you have a VPN or proxy service that masks your IP address and changes where your connection appears to come from, you won't get the block message, and you can keep using Dreamwidth the way you usually would.

On a completely unrelated note while I have you all here, have I mentioned lately that I really like ProtonVPN's service, privacy practices, and pricing? They also have a free tier available that, although limited to one device, has no ads or data caps and doesn't log your activity, unlike most of the free VPN services out there. VPNs are an excellent privacy and security tool that every user of the internet should be familiar with! We aren't affiliated with Proton and we don't get any kickbacks if you sign up with them, but I'm a satisfied customer and I wanted to take this chance to let you know that.

Again, we're so incredibly sorry to have to make this announcement, and I personally promise you that I will continue to fight this law, and all of the others like it that various states are passing, with every inch of the New Jersey-bred stubborn fightiness you've come to know and love over the last 16 years. The instant we think it's less legally risky for us to allow connections from Mississippi IP addresses, we'll undo the block and let you know.

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vital functions

vital functions

Reading. ( Raymond Blanc, Ceri Olofson, David S. Butler + G. Lorimer Moseley, David J. Linden )

Watching. An episode of Farscape: S02E04 Crackers Don't Matter, which I note with mild alarm (given how "..." we were at it) is considered to merit its very own Wikipedia page?!

The Old Guard 2. I... might yet get around to writing up thoughts.

Cooking. An Salad. An improvised but definitely acceptable for its purposes (i.e. providing nutrition for someone who currently has some decidedly inconvenient dietary restrictions) chickpea curry.

Eating. BLACKBERRIES. Still. Also plums. Really enjoying the plums. So many tomatoes.

Also a box of Many Salads from Mel Tropical Kitchen, some mildly disappointing cookies and a Good raspberry pastel de nata, and another cardamom bun from buns from home. Hurrah for spending a day at the BL?

Exploring. Poking around the grounds of a new-to-me hospital, where I came across an Exciting Apple Tree that I totally failed to actually inspect more closely, and about which I am excited primarily because of just having read a book a solid, like, half of which was Reviews Of Heritage Apple Varieties. (I was a little sad that James Grieve got only a very passing mention.)

The BL! And Beckenham, a bit, while picking up a watering can.

Growing. LEMONGRASS HAS A ROOTLET. Having another go at rooting a bunch of supermarket tarragon.

Observing. We found BABY COOTS. At least five of them, possibly six, plus one egg. They are juuust at the stage where they are practising GOING INTO THE WATER and then rapidly deciding Don't Like That and retreating to the Warm.

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anime

A3! Act Addict Actors

⭐ x40 A3! icons here!

Current Mood: tired

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It's Pumpkin Spice Time!

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speaking of ocd

Here’s the post about scrupulosity!

OCD is best known for germaphobia and hoarding and religious scrupulosity, all of which I’ve dealt with in varying degrees, but I think it’s less well-known that religious scrupulosity is basically a form of moral scrupulosity, and that it can take other shapes as well.

Sidebar: scrupulosity as a word just means an obsessive, overwhelming anxiety/fear of being bad, for whatever bad means to you. You can probably guess why it often hijacks religious beliefs, and why it loves to square dance with intrusive thoughts.

In practice, this means constantly feeling like I’m not doing enough: for new people, for friends, for mutuals, for the fandom as a whole. I want to be welcoming and encouraging. I want to read and chat with new writers so they write more! I want to keep up with my friends’ fics! I want to read other fics just because they look interesting! And of course if I’m reading, I want to be commenting and live reacting and reccing on tumblr! I want to gift drabbles and fanart and reaction fics to people so they know how awesome they and their work are!

(also I want to write my own fics and draw my own art, and I’m really not good at pushing my own work because I’m always fighting the idea that it’s selfish to want people to read my work.)

There’s a reason Mr Rogers is so prominent on my ancestor altar, y'all, and it’s because I want to be a good person so fucking bad. It’s because in my heart and soul there’s a part of me that’s constantly certain that I’m a fucked up, horrible monster and if people like me it’s only because I’m fooling them.

I know I maybe over-identify with Xaden, okay? He knows he’s going to be the bad guy for a lot of people no matter what he does, and he still does everything he can, and he gets shit on for it. I think about his comments in Samara, about how people are fuckheads to him but he doesn’t mind because they go easier on Garrick.

One of the things that’s come up when I write Xaden more than once is projecting my own insecurities onto him. The certainty that he can never do enough. The fear that he really is the monster people see when they look at him, and no amount of… well, no amount of anything is going to fix that.

There’s a reason he’s fascinated by Violet telling him he’s a good person.

I really, really struggle when people talk about how Xaden is a terrible person and an awful friend and everyone else would be better off without him because I feel like that’s true of me too.

Disclaimer: I know that’s not the same thing, and people are entitled to their interpretations of the characters! This is just me talking about what goes on in my head. The ways my brain lies to me ultimately have nothing to do with the way people write fic. If it doesn’t latch on to this, it would (and does) latch onto something else.

I still don’t have a point. I’m just finding it helpful to write this stuff out and work through it, and some people seem to have found the first post helpful to read so! Let’s be vulnerable.

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just a little meltdown

I'm maybe having a slow-motion meltdown.

I've left two-thirds of my discord servers, deleted my writing server, and tonight I'm clearing out my tumblr follows.

I'm ostensibly getting the condo ready to show so we can put it on the market but it feels like an utterly sisyphean task. Mostly because every time I turn around my kid is making a new mess, and it's summer so all of Moth's spoons and then some are going to managing the kid and her camps and stuff.

When I get anxiety flairs I want to declutter everything. Like, everything. This is not practical for a number of reasons, including the fact that I live with two other people. But in this particular case, it means I'm trying to actually declutter/pack/clean the house to show it whilst at the same time not get rid of anything I'll actually regret getting rid of, or do anything that will give my kid Hoarding Trauma, or... well, you get the idea.

Basically I'm trying to declutter but only a reasonable amount while my brain wants to declutter everything. I keep having nightmares where I discover I've thrown out Bug's stuff or Moth's stuff and I'm sure they'll hate me, or I'm supposed to be going abroad to live or study or something but I can't find my passport and I realize I'm going to be leaving my family and I can't remember why I thought I wanted to do this.

So I focus on what I can control. I clear out my files, or I leave most of my discord servers and mute the rest, or... well you get the idea. And I try not to have a full-on meltdown.

I hate it.

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inner:dreams

worse than the end

I have nightmares about the world ending periodically.

It's different every time, but they tend not to be the kind of world-ending situations that you see in books or movies. They're about reality failing, the laws of... well, the laws of everything ceasing to work.

The one I still remember most vividly even years later, it was one I couldn't stop, and everything was just... slowly falling apart. I remember when words just stopped working and I lost the ability to read and the panic and sadness I felt were so raw that it stuck with me.

Last night's dream was one where I kept repeating it when I "failed" and the situation became more complicated every time. At first I thought I was just trying to fix one bad situation, where I got shot, and when I managed to make everything go smoothly so no one got killed, it just... kept rolling forward to a more complicated situation, and eventually it was about understanding different kinds of magic, and the songs that kept the universe from falling apart (the only ones I remember were on the Bat Out of Hell II album by Meatloaf), and I had to solve riddles but every time I went through of course I could remember the answers from the previous times and it got so weirdly boring.

Boring apocalypses suck.

As I was going through I was also constantly worried about where my spouse was, where my kid was, were they okay, if they weren't with me, where had they gone, over and over. Finally my spouse and I got in to some side dimension and were able to stabilize everything and it was safe, yay, etc, but when we came out it turned out time had been different in there and we'd been gone two and a half years. We were able to be reunited with our kid almost immediately and she seemed fine? She'd missed us but she had been with a foster family that was apparently really nice.

And then she said something about Jesus and I just... recoiled in horror, in the dream. It was like my kid had been replaced with a pod person and I didn't know what to do.

That was when I woke up.

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Memory

What triggers a memory is super weird, when you think about it. We went out to the coast last weekend and stayed in a little beach house that was built in the 40s, probably from a kit and all. The place we stayed in had ceiling tiles in a style that I haven't thought about in ages, even while dreaming about redoing the ceiling in our condo because it's fucking popcorn. But the tiles looked exactly like the ceiling tiles in my Yaya's house did, and if you'd asked me what they looked like before this weekend I wouldn't have been able to tell you, but as soon as I laid on the bed and looked up at them I remembered.

I ate a bite of taffy and somehow the taste of it reminded me of the smell of the pizza place where my mom used to stop and pick up pizza on Friday on our way home. The dark wood, the vinyl seats, the smell of the onions and the spices and the cheese. How a dill-flavored taffy managed that, I'm not sure, but it was incredibly specific and clear.

I've been thinking about descriptions in fiction lately because I follow a couple of fanfic writers who write incredibly lush, vivid descriptions of places and it makes me want to do that more thoroughly when I'm writing.

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Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria

(Reposting from my Tumblr because this is more personal than I usually get over there.)

I'm not putting this on my fandom blog because ultimately it's not fandom specific... but since we're talking about mental health as fic writers and fandom people, I asked myself, should I insert myself into this conversation?

Because if I'm not on Tumblr, I would not have an excuse to avoid doing my accounting homework and while I do find figuring depreciation to be calming I don't want to do it before today. ( Read more... )

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outer:digital

I built that city...

Well, I half-built that city, by which I mean leusana.city, but renewal for it is $18 dollars and I haven't even finished building it out. Which sounds kind of wild when I say it like that, it's been almost a year, and somehow $18 feels like so much more money than the $11 I pay for other domains.

Nobody reads this weblog but I'm just kind of writing this out here so I can think it through. There's something to be said for not having an audience.

Like, I currently own 11 domains. One I'm already planning to let expire, plus leusana, and then one's for my building's HOA (and I should really get them to reimburse me for that just on principal). Three are for small business stuff, three are for fandom stuff, and then there's skyhold and the domain name that I mostly just have for family email.

I don't need that many, lol.

No matter what I do my internet presence seems to end up really fragmented anyway. Every time I want to simplify I swear I somehow end up making it more complicated.

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blog

I don't understand why I'm so bad at existing in more than one space at a time.

I haven't been here in ages, and that's because I've been on tumblr. I'm on tumblr (and also IG) because that's where my fandom friends are. I'd love to have them here but... no luck.

And it's hard to convince them when I'm not posting, so I guess it's a catch-22, isn't it?

I occasionally make long serious posts over on tumblr, because it's there and people read it. It's rare, but let's be honest, any posts are rare here so... idk.

I periodically think about having a "real" blog and I even set one up on weblog.lol but then I feel like I'm posting into the void because there's no way to even know if someone's reading it really.

And I guess it's like realizing you used to go to this one coffee shop all the time but suddenly you realize you haven't been for ages and ages, because your schedule changed or something else shifted and there was just enough friction that it didn't happen.

What I really need is automated crossposting, probably. The best way for me to make sure something happens is to automate it. But I don't think I have a good way to do that right now in either direction. (If you have a good one, let me know.)

We've been dealing with a dollop of stressful stuff offline this year- there were major changes at work, Bug graduated fifth grade and is starting middle school in a few weeks (how!?), we've been thinking about selling the condo if we can find a place with a yard that's in our budget.

I'm going to move over the couple of posts and backdate them, probably. At this point, between this dw account and the locked one where we backed up our LJ, dreamwidth has by far the longest share of my life history.

No point, not really. Just rambling.

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match-ups

2025 Big Bang/Multi-Bang Match-ups

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facts of the day, courtesy of current book

Koalas have fingerprints; hairy-nose wombats do not.

Skin on fingers and toes wrinkle in water not because cells get saturated but as an autonomic nervous system function, which we have apparently known since at least 1935. An initial 2013 study found that people with wrinkled fingertips could pick up and move more wet marbles in a set time frame than people with dry skin; a 2014 study failed to replicate this, but there's more at the BBC including a 2020 replication. (The 2013 reference at least is buried in the BBC article.)

Holding a hot drink inclines us to view people as "emotionally warmer"; a heavier clipboard inclines us to believe the person whose CV it's displaying takes their work more seriously. Many other related fun facts over here.

(Book of the moment: Touch, David J. Linden.)

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dear author

Dear Boxing Champ (Fic in a Box 2025)

Dear Creator,

Hello! Thank you very much for writing/mapping/documenting/plotting/whatever-ing for me! I'm also primeideal on Ao3.

Medium opt-ins: I'm opting into "Any Nominated In-Universe Medium That Fit the Canon Setting," as well as any kind of choice-based interactive fiction (hosted on Ao3 or otherwise), for all fandoms. I would be happy with either more typical fanworks or basically any kind of in-universe documentation for any of these fandoms and characters, so consider these prompts very much a starting point, and feel free to mix and match. If you have an idea that fits with my opt-ins, go wild!

My dear author tag has more examples of tropes and prompts that I'm into, although some of these are characters/ships that I'm prompting for the first time. I've received some amazing fanworks for this exchange in the past but am always excited for more.

General likes

-canon-divergence AUs

-five things

-worldbuilding

-dialogue

-wit and wordplay

-nonstandard formats (documentation, epistolary, etc.)

-time travel

-happy endings

-sad endings (when providing some measure of closure or melodrama; I'm fine with character death)

General art likes:

-black and white art

-bright/bold colors

-traditional or digital art

-objects that represent/are strongly associated with characters

-fantastic/speculative worldbuilding elements

-in-universe artifacts/sketches that the characters might have drawn

General art dislikes (please don't consider these binding DNWs: if your interests or preferences lie strongly along these lines then feel free.)

-pastel-heavy palettes

-deliberately wildly disproportionate/chibi-like characters

-completely non-representational art

DNWs:
-second person POV (unless canonical--see notes for "Debrief"--or in something like interactive fiction)
-eye trauma
-explicit sex (but fade-to-black or innuendo is fine), explicit depictions of genitalia in art

-underage sex

-rape/noncon

-moralizing/didactic stories (characters Learning An Important Lesson about the value of tolerance, etc.)

-allegories of current events and/or contemporary politics (Ye Wenjie in the Cultural Revolution: fine; Cheng Xin comments on a Xi Jinping stand-in: no thanks. Marco flirts with the governor of California: fine; Marco flirts with the governor and this is a metaphor for the Newsom administration: no thanks.)

-character bashing

-cliffhanger endings (see notes for "Debrief")

Animorphs

Worldbuilding
Ax & Elfangor
Aftran & Cassie
Ax & Tobias
Elfangor/Loren
Loren & Visser Three

I love the glimpses of all kinds of diverse alien species, crazy timeline shenanigans, and the themes of hope even in the midst of terrible struggle. For this fandom, I'm happy with fix-its as well as "rocks fall, everyone dies," but I'm not interested in cliffhangers or "both sides are equally terrible" posturing.

Ax & Elfangor: growing up in Elfangor's shadow and resenting it? Coming to terms with Elfangor's legacy (and/or hirac delest?) post-canon? Not understanding weird human habits Elfangor picked up?

Aftran & Cassie: how would anything post-29 have been different if Aftran had stayed either in Cassie or elsewhere in the human world? How does Aftran decide who to trust in the Peace Movement with the Animorphs' secret? One of the "canon AUs" (the 41 dystopia, time travel stuff) if Aftran had been there?

Ax & Tobias: Ax's misunderstandings about human culture? Tobias visits the Andalite homeworld with Ax post-canon? Some human developments encroach on the scoop and they have to move?

Loren & Visser Three: what if Esplin had infested Loren instead of Chapman on the Taxxon homeworld? (Did she sell Earth out instead, or is he using her to get close to Elfangor and Alloran?) Maybe he follows up on her after the invasion begins, worried that she still remembers? They meet during the Visser's imprisonment?

Elfangor/Loren:
-their time building a life on Earth. Elfangor's reaction to human tastes? How did they acquire DNA for him to morph? Are Tobias' aunt and uncle Loren's sibling(s)/that person's ex?/related to the fake husband that the Ellimist retcons in?

-they use the Time Matrix to go somewhere else--a new "pocket universe"? Elsewhere in the past or future of canon?

-Elfangor stays on Earth and they organize a human resistance as the Yeerk threat grows

-Loren gets her memories back somehow (the hirac delest shows up? Something like the utzum ritual? Ellimist nonsense?)

Worldbuilding: what changes (or doesn't) in the human world after the invasion is revealed? Anything expanding on alien culture and society, main characters or otherwise? More about the canon-AU worlds?

Alternate-medium ideas:
-declassified documents from the Yeerk or Andalite militaries
-language stuff! How does Galard work? What about the Hork-Bajir mishmashes?
-the terms of the Ellimist and Crayak's "games" as if they were a legal document or RPG rulebook

Arthurian Mythology

Dinadan
Galahad

Also opting into any kind of in-universe poetry, and various kinds of formal verses, for this fandom! See Ao3/autoapp request.

I love these two individually and juxtaposed with each other--what do their (a)sexualities say about the Arthurian setting? Dinadan writing snarky songs and being "one of the guys" contrasts with Galahad's slightly out-of-this-world purity. (I'm mostly familiar with Malory, but feel free to draw on any source you're interested in!)

Dinadan: according to Malory, basically everyone liked him except the bad guys. What was he like as a jouster? How did he die? Did he write any other goofy songs?

Galahad: growing up with his mother? His relationship with Lancelot? What do the other knights think of his obsession with the Grail, and what does he think of them joining on his quest? Does he feel like chastity is a struggle, or does he just not see what the fuss is about?

Alternate-medium ideas:
-let's see the ballad Dinadan made to make fun of King Mark!
-what are Galahad's prayers like, before or after he's seen the Grail?
-I think any kind of poetry contrasting either or both of these two with more traditional courtly love would be neat.

Debrief
Worldbuilding
George Russell
Robert Alderidge
Robert Alderidge & or / George Russell

So on the one hand, RPGs can be kind of difficult to prompt for, in that everyone's playthroughs are different and will result in slightly different characterizations; on the other hand, I have so many feelings about these guys and would absolutely love any version. A retelling of your playthrough, what happened next, more backstory, fix-it, "fix-it" that makes it worse...

-I love the dramatic irony of seeing the same incidents from different POVs in the character sheets, and then trying to talk about it just makes it worse. (The Catholic Underground in Spain, Courtenay's investigation.) Anything expanding on those or another memory that they technically share but actually remember differently.

-From Alderidge's sheet: "Bykov has the distinction of being the only human on Earth, apart from George Russell, who has ever known you in any meaningful sense." What's going on with these two? How much does Bykov know about the OUC? Is there hatesex?

-Does any of this ever get declassified? How much do Dora or Jean, or the kids, ever figure out, correctly or incorrectly?

-Worldbuilding! What kind of research is the OUC (or the Soviets) doing into ghost technology? What are spirit mediums doing in other parts of the world? At rates of ~one in ten thousand, it's unlikely you'd ever run across another unless there was some effort--but there are also more people who acknowledge ghosts and auras even if they can't directly witness them.

For me, the disruptor was an important focal point of the playthrough--my version of Russell is increasingly horrified at the thought of using it on Alderidge, meanwhile, Alderidge is insisting that it's this great tool of mercy and it's not clear whether he's talking about himself. Then once my Russell admits to himself that getting Alderidge to cross over and get closure is more important to him than anything else, he gets his act together in kind of a ruthless Pascal's Wager-y way. The sense they both have of "okay well here's when I draw the line, it's different when it's you at risk" is part of what I love about this dynamic, so anything touching on that (or the disruptor in general) would be great, but obviously everyone's characterization will be different!

Feel free to lean into the shippy aspects, or not, as you prefer; I don't really want anything too anachronistic or setting-changey, but Alderidge's level of candor (or Russell's level of having-a-clue) can be anywhere on the scale, it's all good. "Not romantic not platonic but some weird third thing" also great.

Note: some of the DNWs I've listed for other exchanges do not apply to this request. For instance, I think the use of second-person POV works very well in the character sheets, so I enthusiastically opt in to second-person POV fic here! (As well as first or third.) Also, go as dark as you want in terms of "possible outcomes include ghosts being destroyed forever with the disruptor, or haunting the world until they decay and lose all coherence."

Alternate medium ideas:
-trying to be penpals during university but growing apart
-heavily redacted classified documentation in response to a Freedom of Information request
-technical diagrams of the disruptor

Divine Cities

Malwina & Tatyana
Shara Komayd
The Kaj
Vinya Komayd
Worldbuilding: History of the Divinities, Miraculous Artifacts, any

Malwina & Tatyana: they meet earlier than in canon and figure out what they are? Sempros' trying to balance her different influences, post-canon? Parallels in their lives that they weren't aware of?

Shara: playing board games in school? Her idealistic efforts to reform politics? Other agents like Sigrud she's recruited? Nerding out with Efrem? Spycraft stuff? Spycraft goes wrong and ends in tragedy?

The Kaj: who was his children's mother? What was his relationship like with his children and grandchildren? His early years researching miraculous phenomena? How much does he realize before he dies?

Vinya: the realization that maybe her achievements weren't "earned" feels like a terrible bout of impostor syndrome; what was that moment like? Was she ever as idealistic as Shara, and if so, what changed? Various secrets/classified nonsense she has to put up with as Minister?

Worldbuilding: feel free to use the nominated tags as starting points or just do whatever. I like the Divinities' original combinations of attributes--I would rather see something leaning into what makes this particular setting unique than just "fantasy India" or "fantasy Russia." And I love the in-universe documentation style, the lists of things in the Unmentionable Warehouses are fascinating. More like that would be great!

Alternate-medium ideas:
-encrypted or declassified materials from Shara's espionage
-Efrem's scholarly reports about the Kaj or worldbuilding topics
-Parliamentary documents from Shara's time as prime minister

Dune (2021)

Liet Kynes

Imperial Planetologist and science nerd who's also fully embedded in Fremen life and religion, and takes agency in the plot=my fav! I have also read the original book and would be happy to see anything that works in some of that characterization/Liet's relationships with Pardot, Chani, etc, but obviously this is not expected!

What was her scientific career like when the Harkonnens were in charge? Did she meet Duncan Idaho when he came ahead to scout Arrakis, and if so, what did they make of each other? What if she'd survived--would she have continued to admire and respect Paul, or would their different goals eventually diverge?

Alternate medium ideas:

-notes on creatures she's studied on Arrakis. Shai-Hulud? Muad'Dib the mouse?

-correspondence to and from the Empire

-Fremen religious prophecies she's interpreted, looking for the Mahdi

Farscape

Aeryn Sun & Talyn (Farscape)

Bialar Crais & Talyn (Farscape)

D'Argo Sun-Crichton & Princess Katrana (Farscape TV)

John Crichton & Aeryn Sun & Zotoh Zhaan (Farscape)

John Crichton & John Crichton (Farscape)
John Crichton/Aeryn Sun (Farscape)

John Crichton/Aeryn Sun & D'Argo Sun-Crichton (Farscape TV)

John Crichton/John Crichton (Farscape)

John Crichton/John Crichton/Aeryn Sun (Farscape)

Moya (Farscape) & Pilot (Farscape)

Pilot & Aeryn Sun (Farscape)

Rygel XVI & Utu Noranti Pralatong (Farscape)

Solo: Aeryn Sun (Farscape)
Solo: Pilot (Farscape)

Solo: Zotoh Zhaan (Farscape)

WB: Bond between pilot and leviathan (Farscape)

D'Argo Sun-Crichton & Princess Katrana

"Katrana"'s name is not in primary canon; this is a secondary-canon name for Princess Katralla's daughter (using John's DNA). Feel free to call her whatever you like.

So in the distant future, an elderly D'Argo gets to meet his long-lost sister. How much has John told him about the circumstances of her conception, and how much does he tell her? Do they get along or bicker like siblings? Are there any weird Sebacean-human hybrid quirks where they can be like "finally, someone else who understands"?

Rygel & Noranti

These two have the potential to be very annoying individually, but as a team, they're a lot of fun--it helps that one loves to cook and one loves to eat, and Noranti saves Rygel's life with the cure in 4x19. More of their adventures on Earth? Their first meeting, after Noranti joins Moya in the chaos from the Command Carrier's destruction? Maybe Rygel finally reclaims his throne and appoints her royal chef? Or other post-canon adventures?

John & John

John/John

John/John/Aeryn

This is presumably about the two Johns that resulted from the cloning in 3.6 and persist for most of Season 3, but for what it's worth, if you want to make this about the Neanderthal Crichton and/or jerk future Crichton from 2.10 instead, I'm here for that too!

What if they had been stuck together and had to get used to each other? Do they exaggerate small differences to develop their identities as different people? Continue taking a competitive "there can only be one" approach? If you're interested in the / version--maybe it starts as a joke and then gets more serious, neither one wants to back down and look like a wimp if his clone is into it, after all! How does Aeryn react when she finds out? Is she grossed out, voyeueristic, or does she want to join in? (I'm not interested in explicit porn, but banter/innuendo/fade to black/awkward morning afters are all great!)

Moya & Pilot

Pilot & Aeryn
Solo: Pilot

Worldbuilding: Bond between Pilot and Leviathan

There's no way that "our" Pilot can just be named "Pilot"--what was his identity before he bonded with Moya? What are their sensory experiences like, communicating with each other and with the crew? What's his POV on donating his DNA to save Aeryn; how does that change her? Did he vote for her to be captain in 4.6? We hear very little from Moya directly--I'd love to see something from her POV about the weird tiny aliens living inside her and the trouble they cause.

Did Leviathans and Pilots evolve together? If not, how are they so compatible; if so, what's the deal with Pilots' truncated lifespans? How do DRDs fit into the Leviathan+Pilot system? Feel free to bring in the other examples we've seen (Moya's flashback pilot from 2.5, and 1812's original Leviathan from the beginning of Season 4).

John/Aeryn

John/Aeryn and D'Argo Sun-Crichton

Post-canon adventures! Does D'Argo have the wormhole-making power? What does a "normal" day look like for John and Aeryn when they're not running for their lives? Do they ever return to some of the planet-of-the-week locations from canon? Contrasting POVs on canon events in the early days of their relationship?

John & Aeryn & Zhaan

I love the contrasts between their backgrounds and the ways they approach problems: John, the peaceful scientist; Aeryn, the hardened warrior; and Zhaan, the sensual priest. Anything contrasting these approaches would be great. What was the aftermath of John and Zhaan sharing unity? To what extent does Aeryn's relationships with John and/or Pilot factor into Zhaan's decision to sacrifice herself for Aeryn?

Aeryn

What was she doing between seasons 3 and 4, and how did she become so loyal to those comrades? What was her life in the PKs like after selling out Velorek to become a Prowler pilot again? "N things" exploring her relationship with different members of the crew? Learning human games/phrases/mannerisms from John? AU Aeryn in an unrealized reality? Tragedy where the heat delirium is uncontrollable?

Zhaan

More of her experiences in prison (besides hoping that the crazy Luxan monster would kill her)? Wrestling with her faith over the course of the series? How did she get all that cool jewelry? Other weird biomes/stars where being a photosynthesizer is a problem or a benefit? How would the later seasons have been different if she'd survived?

Aeryn & Talyn

Crais & Talyn

Talyn, my glorious spaceship problem child! I love his and Crais' arc--anything that leans into the tragic melodrama of canon would be great, but also, fix-it is good too. I'd especially like something that depicts Talyn as a character in his own right rather than just anxious beeping noises mediated through Crais--it doesn't necessarily have to be from his POV, but something that shows he has a POV, if that makes sense.

Aeryn and Talyn: talking about his name, either in the aftermath of the Xhalax stuff from S3 or just whenever? Bonding over being part-Peacekeeper, part-something new? The negotiations between S1 and S2 when she gets Crais' help, in exchange for letting him stay with Talyn? Trying to explain her relationship with John (or lack thereof) after 3.8?

Crais and Talyn: how does Stark's temporary link with Talyn contrast with Crais' long-term bond? Does Crais explain his role in creating the hybrid program, and how does Talyn react? What does a relatively peaceful, happy day look like for them? Talyn's POV on their last couple episodes?

Alternate-medium ideas:

-a herbal depicting medicinal plants that Zhaan uses in her healing, or Noranti uses in her cooking?

-Aeryn's military records, before or after she's declared "irreversibly contaminated"

-letters that D'Argo Sun-Crichton has written over the years, to send to his sister in the future

-in-universe literal ship manifestos for Moya or Talyn

Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy

Cheng Xin/Yun Tianming (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

Solo: Original Galactic Human (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

Solo: Yang Dong (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

Solo: Ye Wenjie (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

WB: Fairy Tales from Earth (In-Universe Book) (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

WB: Higher- Or Lower-Dimensional Regions of the Universe (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

WB: Three-Body (In-Universe Video Game) (Remembrance of Earth's Past Trilogy)

Cheng Xin/Yun Tianming:
Fix-it where they don't miss each other?! Exploring the worlds around "their star" together, maybe with Ai AA and Guan Yifan? Or having adventures in the pocket universe or elsewhere in our universe? What did Cheng Xin see in Yun Tianming when they were students together?

Original Galactic Human:
Are humans fundamentally different for having left their homeworld under these circumstances? Do the crew of Gravity and Blue Space make a difference between their origins once they've merged? Do they have alien encounters that go better than the Trisolarans'? If "A Past Outside of Time" is Cheng Xin's legacy and testament to the new universe, do the galactic humans leave behind records of their own? What are the important parts of their history that they choose to highlight?

Yang Dong:
For someone who has very little time "on screen," she casts a long shadow over all of the books. More about her friendship with the programmer from "Death's End," and/or with Luo Ji? What if she'd survived--what would she have made of her mother's betrayal? How would things have gone with Ding Yi?

Ye Wenjie:

Secrets at Red Coast Base? Some more of the "declassified" documents? The early days of the ETO? What did she work out about Dark Forest theory before meeting Luo Ji? What if Yang Dong had talked to her about the documents she'd sneaked a look at? Or if Ye had lived long enough to discover more of Deterrence theory herself?

Fairy Tales from Earth:
There were dozens or hundreds of other stories that Yun Tianming wrote to disguise his insights. Tell me some of those! Do any of them contain other hints about physics, or are they just red herrings? Do the Galactic humans ever read them, and what do they make of them?

Higher- or lower-dimensional regions of the universe:
What's going on in the "bubbles"? There's mention of aliens who modify themselves to survive dimension-reduction strikes; what is that process like? Maybe the solar system survived after all and they're doing fine but just can't communicate with three-dimensional space? Other than immense-scale warfare, what technologies have aliens adopted for making use of extra dimensions?

Three Body (in universe video game):
Who are some of the other Earth scientists/theories that show up? Do any players try strategies that the Trisolarans or ETO hadn't prepared for, and if so, what happens to them? What about people who still aren't sympathetic to the Trisolarans' cause even after they progress through several levels?

Alternate medium ideas:
-the first few players of "Three Body" reaching out on internet forums to discuss strategy
-maps of a two-dimensional region
-Trisolarans' analysis of what insights about humanity "Fairy Tales from Earth" might reveal
-"multiple dimensions of time allows us to make multiple sets of decisions" seems like a great premise for interactive fic!

Shadow of the Leviathan

Ana & Din
Din/Kepheus
Ana Dolabra
Kulaq Thelenai
Tira Malo
Worldbuilding: Daily Life in the Inner Rings, History of Alteration Research and Usage, Mythology/Cultural Perception of the Leviathans, any

I love the weird worldbuilding and the themes of slowly working together to improve the world! I'm not super interested in body horror as a main focus, or coerced drug use.

Ana: It's implied that her idiosyncracies aren't the result of alterations but rather attempts to imitate the Khanum, and she's always been like this. What was her childhood like? Where did she grow up? Why did she agree to the "so secret you can't say anything about it" limitations? What other faulty assumptions have people made about her, and how does she respond?

Ana & Din: more solving cases together! I like it when Ana is able to be more relaxed and let her filter down around Din, but at least tries to be not super rude with other people.

Din/Kepheus: AU post-"Drop of Corruption" where Din accepts Ana's offer to move to the sea walls? They get to enjoy some time off without a case hanging over them? What was "Tainted Cup" like from Kepheus' POV--when did he realize he had feelings for Din?

Kulaq Thelenai: I appreciate her candor that "even people trying to do the right thing don't get to ignore the rules." What kinds of stuff did she get up to on the shroud? Maybe she and Ana meet again post-canon and reluctantly have to help each other with a case?

Tira Malo: I enjoy her cynicism about monarchy and Yarrow society. What was it like for her getting her modifications? What's her new job like in the empire? Culture shock?

Worldbuilding: feel free to use any of the nominated tags or something else. I like the arms race between humans and Leviathans, and all the weird bio-punk buildings and lamps and technology. Anything goes!

Alternate-medium ideas:
-popular culture depictions of the Leviathans
-Thelenai's forms and scientific documents
-art depicting various heralds/insignia for different bureaucracy roles

Stormlight Archive

Adolin & Maya

Queen Fen

Gawx | Yanagawn

Rock | Lunamor

Rysn & Vstim

Taravangian

Any Knight Radiant & Their Spren

Worldbuilding

As much as I love the POV characters, I find it really fascinating how the minor characters evolve between their appearances, the cultural worldbuilding of the different monarchs in the coalition, all the singers and spren etc!

Taravangian:

When I finished book three I was like "this guy's out here playing 4D chess, he wants to save the world, why isn't he the main character already." Well did that ever age well! Taravangian goes to Damnation for 1000 years and has a great time because he definitely deserves it? The early days of creating the Diagram and figuring out the limitations of his boon and curse? How did he realize the calamity was coming, anyway? Trying not to blow his cover with Fen and Gawx? What kind of life lessons did he give Gavinor? He meets Sazed from Mistborn (or another Cosmere crossover character) and tries to unite more Shards?

Fen and/or Gawx

I love all the characterization in the "Not Sleeping" chapter--Fen and her consort are on a ship, scandalizing the crew; Gawx is being ogled by the lucky Azish people and doing the duties of an emperor. Anything about their backstories and how they are (or aren't) representative of their homelands. Fen sending Rysn on a mission? Gawx bringing Lift along to important meetings? Both of them being really tired of whatever stupid plan Dalinar just came up with?

Rysn & Vstim

Vstim trying (and failing) to teach Rysn lessons about merchant-ing pre-canon? More souvenirs of their adventures, like the grass and Chiri-Chiri? Rysn coming to terms with being disabled, and her spanreed network of people who have been there and can give her advice? Does Vstim get to tag along with her when she leaves to keep the Dawnshard safe? Is she retrofitting the Wandersail as a spaceship or what?

Rock | Lunamor

I know he has to do the honorable thing and face justice but I need more Horneater narrative in my dialogue. Anything about the Peaks and their relationship to spren, the Perpendicularities, etc? His relationship with his wife and kids pre-canon? What was the hell of Bridge Four like before Kaladin got there? Does he ever meet any of his friends again in another context?

Adolin & Maya

I love Adolin's trying to do the right thing even when it's awkward or blustery (waiting in prison until Kaladin is released, putting himself on trial at Lasting Integrity), and the way his basic decency helps Maya find her voice is so sweet. What was going on for Maya when Adolin was still just a kid talking to his sword? Offscreen moments between books?

Any Radiant Spren

Really just...anything about the spren and their outsider POVs on humans! Syl discovering what it means to grow and change? Pattern comparing everything to math? The irony in Ivory's name and the importance of free will? Glys' relationship to Sja-anat and the free will issues there? Pattern and Testament gossiping about Shallan's love life? All the spren!

Worldbuilding

I mean, literally any aspects of the worldbuilding, and there's a lot. The weird Schrodinger's cat stuff going on with the spren? Technological evolution on Ashyn, they appear to have invented nuclear weapons before writing or the wheel. What are the Aimians doing after "Dawnshard"? All of the weird culture clashes or settings we only see a little of in canon? I love how the Heralds' names have evolved into so many different place names or religious jargon--more of that kind of thing! Other spren cities/societies in Shadesmar? Ghostblood interactions with the rest of the Cosmere? Raboniel or Navani's experimentations with different ways to combine powers? The fourth moon shattering the Shattered Plains?

Alternate medium ideas:
-scientific sketches like Shallan might have made. Maya as a sword!
-some of the paperwork nonsense Gawx has to fill out because the Azish are just like that
-epistolary documents like the chapter epigraphs. Death rattles that Taravangian has collected?
-Rysn's spanreed letters to her pen pals

Wheel of Time (books)

Asmodean

Egwene al'Vere

Egwene al'Vere/Aviendha
Rand al'Thor & Tam al'Thor

Egwene: I love Egwene's journey as someone who chooses to join the adventure, rather than being dragged along by destiny, and learns from every opportunity she faces. Tell me more about her time among the Aiel? Dealing with headaches, literal and figurative? Her private war against Elaida, combining the different Ajahs' strengths and inspiring the novices around her? What if she'd survived--would she really have led the Tower for centuries, or move on to new horizons?

Egwene/Aviendha: They're cute and they learn from each other! And I like the idea of people's romantic relationships not being as predetermined by prophecies as canon has it. Secret meetings in Tel'aran'rhiod? How do the rebel Aes Sedai view Aviendha? Post-canon fix-it where Egwene helps co-parent Aviendha's kids?

Asmodean: The motivation of "former child prodigy wants to live forever to fulfill his potential" is such a fascinating origin story, and I felt like we could have gotten an amusing/unwitting redemption arc with him. Was there ever a moment during the Age of Legends when he was like "yes, this is going to be my magnum opus, joining the Forsaken was totally the right call"? What sorts of skills does he teach Rand? How does he view the others on the Rhuidean journey, or how do they view him? What's it like to get balefired and return to the timestream? What if he'd lived longer--would he have grudgingly returned to the light, or continue to try to advance the Dark One's cause despite the difficulties?

Rand and Tam: I would love it if eventually, post-canon, Rand returned home and revealed himself to Tam (and/or any of his other meaningful platonic relationships, there's more to life than romance!) Tam's POV on being a grandfather? How he taught Rand about the Flame and the Void? How their relationship might have played out in one of the various "flicker"/parallel universes?

Alternate-medium ideas:

-Asmodean's compositions, from the Age of Legends or the age of Jasin Natael

-How is Egwene remembered in the Tower archives? In the secret Thirteenth Depository records versus the official ones? Are they ever declassified?

-the different futures Aviendha saw for herself in the three rings could be a neat IF setting

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Again, there are so many great mediums and character dynamics that I could go on all day, so please don't feel limited by this. Thanks for creating for me!