We Had An Uninvited Visitor ...

That one time I bought a cheap automatic wrist watch at a discount store, just to see if it would work for me. The cashier told me twice that it was a men's watch. Both times I said that I knew this and I wanted to buy it. If she'd said it a third time, I would have asked where she thinks a man would wear the watch so that I, as a woman, can't. Sadly, she clearly read on my face that it would be better to shut her trap.

dude today a customer brought me a birthday card and asked me "is this a girl birthday card or a unisex birthday card? I thought it was unisex but when I scanned it at the self-checkout it said girl birthday card." the birthday card was just a bunch of balloons with the text "happy birthday". and then when I was like "i dunno I think that's just the official name of the card on our system I'm sure a boy would be happy with the card" the customer was like "well if it is a girl birthday card can you tell me if this other birthday card is unisex or for girls? if the other card is unisex I'd like to exchange the girl birthday card for the unisex one". Like what. You can look at the cards. With your eyeballs. You are holding them both you can see them and decide whether or not you want the card. What the fuck are you talking about why are you asking me this

Progress Report: In Truth No Beauty, in Lies No Refuge

I just sent my Papyrus file to my beta. Since I'm just under 90.000 words and she has a life on the side, it'll take a hot minute. This part is, oddly, the hardest. I can't do much except wait, feeling both accomplished and anxious.

Well, I can do one thing: Get going with the next fanfic. Which is exactly what I'm going to do. (No, not a beefleaf one. Next one's Xiyao.)

Honestly, I have learned from constructive criticism in reviews/comments (how to arrange dialogue is my big one thing because I did that in a fashion that was confusing until I got a hint and followed it) and sometimes people find actual mistakes - which I'm very grateful for.

So, I have to contradict this mindset, I welcome it when it is good advice. If people tell me I use the wrong typography because I use ' instead of ", I send them to f themselves because that's common in British English, which is what I use. So it depends. If you're giving me a heads-up that I missed something or that something isn't clear, that's great. But if you tell me my correct spelling is wrong, we won't be friends.

I just saw a Tik Tok that said writers on AO3 are not looking for constructive criticism in their reviews. I have no audience on this platform so I have to know if this is true? I've always left my pros and cons when reading a fic and now I'm concerned that the authors didn't like that.

Yeah writers are Not looking for criticism, constructive or otherwise. Unless they specifically ask for it, it’s considered rude and honestly a bit hurtful. In the least bitchy way possible, don’t do that. It’s unwanted.

Redemption by Proxy

When my best friend informed me what the Dark Urge in Baldur's Gate 3 is, my brain screamed, SUIKOTSU.

Mind you, my brain defaults to the Band of Seven more than I like to admit, because sue me, but I love almost all of them. (Mukotsu can die in a fire and I have no attachment to Kyoukotsu because we meet him for all of five minutes, but I honestly love the rest of them, all of them, as of late.)

When I first watched Inuyasha, I fell for the poor unfortunate soul but I understood he had to die. I was about 20 and never thought beyond this.

Cue the pandemic, and I binged Inuyasha for the first time after way back when. Of course I still loved Suikotsu, but I also sort of started liking Kikyou and how she grows. From someone who has learned (been told and adapted to that logic) that she cannot live among humans to someone who sees that ... she could? Because this guy, this dead guy, he has no idea he's a corpse, but he's here, helping, for no reward. Purest, softest, altruism, the way she offered before being ousted by an overzealous monk. And when later, he has a clear moment and begs for death, she wants to save him instead.

Of course, she can't. Not because Jakotsu is faster. Because in the Middle Ages there is no helping a man with severs dissociative PTSD. And of course, because the only thing keeping him and her alive is a jewel shard they won't be able to hold on to. But adult me thought, please just let them leave. Let them go away, far away out of Naraku's reach and just find peace somewhere together, giving all the love and warmth they have to offer to poor people with no-one else bothered to help them. It was never an option, but oh how I wanted that.

And along comes BG3 and when halfway through my first run I understood what the Dark Urge is and what Shadowheart is, I knew I can give them exactly that arc through those proxies. I have no idea what the Dark Urge is exactly, I only started a couple of days ago. The casualty I couldn't avoid so far was a squirrel, and I fear this will get a lot worse before it gets better. But I'll keep resisting and trying to make this work. I know the redemption is possible and I'll fight tooth and claw for it.

This is him, by the way. I picked a Drow over a human, but apart from that, I think the visuals check out.

As one of the people who voted for Jin Guangyao - I want to make it very clear that this wasn't meant as a Nie Mingjue diss OR because I believe Jiggy is promiscuous. He's not. I re-read the passage where people said he was faithful while slavering for his blood only yesterday. (Which, considering he couldn't touch his wife, is saying something.) ((Shoutout to Wei Ying, who thinks - okay, knows - Jin Guangyao is guilty as sin as far as Nie Mingjue and their trip to the Burial Mounds is concerned, but STILL realises that this lynch mob dynamic is horrid and exactly what happened to him and STILL tries to keep this fair and Sect Leader Yao under control. I really adore all of those people, oh God. I mean, not all. Not Sect Leader Yao. He's a piece of work.)) I love Nie Mingjue and Jin Guangyao. I'd never be mean to them. But the previous tags include the words 'speech check' and now I can't help thinking about 3zun as some weirdly escalating DnD session and I think I need help.

So my verdict is as follows: Eventually, they'd all be really good at it, if we think of a universe where they pass these speech checks and end up together. They'd want each other to feel good, which is a good starting point, and they know each other well.

I think Jin Guangyao would have restraints. I don't see him calling someone names during sex, even if that person would want that. I think he's heard too much of that in a very bad way to do that and wouldn't be able to separate real demeaning behaviour from play.

I think Lan Xichen would take too much care of the others and too little of himself, meaning they have to make sure he gets what he needs. At least at first. I like to think he'd learn to be a little selfish and the other two would just LOVE it when that happens.

I think Nie Mingjue would be extremely careful. He's strong and he knows he's not mentally okay. He'd have a hard time relaxing and letting himself fall. When he does, he'd be very passionate and probably an incredible lover.

In essence, I think all three would be extremely good at providing the other two pleasure and borderline horrible at chasing their own.

I can't believe those are words I have typed.

Malding abt that 3zun sex poll again. Come the fuck on guys just bc JGY knows the most about sex does not mean he's the best in bed. Like sure he knows the most about the physical act but emotionally this means the opposite in his case. He grew up in a brothel with, textually, really terrible worker protections. One of his fundamental character traits is accepting the way violence trickles down in society as a fact of life. He's the most likely out of all of them to have a panic attack in the middle of the act. All of them have "sex is inherently exploitative" worms to some extent but JGY's worms are the most material and specific. Nielan are inexperienced and skittish jocks the biggest problem you will have is calming them down enough to get them to consider that they can perhaps ethically fuck and then getting LXC to communicate consistently enough. Sleeping with JGY is a Silent Hill boss fight every time. He's not even significantly more experienced than Nielan he is NOT sleeping around. Come the fuck on. JGY may understand the mechanics of the act but he's the lay that gives you mental illnesses

C'mon, we need to catch up! Some of the tags are so angry, haha. Viktuuri needs to win everything, it's in the name!

The Anime Binge-Watcher's Queer Anime Ship Tournament!

The second round rages on! This match-up has me absolutely terrified that my number-one pick is going to be crushed by the titan that is Victuuri. But I can hold out hope, right? Right??? Cast your votes now!

All Round 2 Match-Ups

Rules and Full Bracket

We found a book, but nothing to open it with.

We also met a bunch of chatty ogres, and I intend to ask them for help.

Why not.

Lae'zel is nervous.

At least someone is kind.

... Ouch.

I'm reblogging this from you just to let you know you're no longer alone because ... Jin Guangyao.

Dye Their Flowers With My Blood - Subdue Them to the Useful and the Good

Finding a traitor for beginners.

Dye Their Flowers With My Blood - I Am a Part of All That I Have Met

How wary should one be of a stranger offering passage on their ship?