tropicsbear: An iPod and earbuds greet one another with "Hey buds" and "'Sup player" (Music)
[personal profile] tropicsbear

KPop Demon Hunters (8/10)

(I watched this more than a month ago but only got around to writing about it now 🫠)

Went into this not really expecting much—I wanted to watch something that I could enjoy without using too much brainpower—and ended up becoming more invested than expected. Which isn't as much as some corners of the internet, but I didn't expect that I'd end up yeeting the soundtrack into my Spotify liked albums and having it play at least once every other day.

The title sums up the premise pretty nicely; there's a K-pop group called Huntr/x (made up of Rumi, Mira, and Zoey) and they're also demon hunters. They're actually the latest in a long line of hunters and omg that opening montage? Where they showed all the different trios over the generations??? I want the lore! I want the lore so bad.

Thinking about it, I actually kind of want a prequel more than a sequel. What is the hunter selection process? What's hunter training like? Do you get scouted on your singing talent first and then trained in hunting, or is it vice versa? I have questions!!

Cut for length and spoilers. )

(no subject)

Aug. 26th, 2025 09:55 pm
veetvoojagig: (chuguo)
[personal profile] veetvoojagig posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Just joined the fandom and community, and wanted to share what i spent today working on! I plan on messing around with the hands more and inking it properly still, but I like how it's coming along!

[ SECRET POST #6808 ]

Aug. 26th, 2025 05:29 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6808 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 18 secrets from Secret Submission Post #972.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Music Monday

Aug. 25th, 2025 10:04 pm
muccamukk: Orville Peck in a red Nudie suit, singing and playing guitar, while a pink and white musical score swirl behind him. (Music: Orville Peck)
[personal profile] muccamukk

Obsessed with the guitar here, for real.
denise: Image: Me, facing away from camera, on top of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome (Default)
[staff profile] denise posting in [site community profile] dw_news

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.

[ SECRET POST #6807 ]

Aug. 25th, 2025 04:44 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6807 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 24 secrets from Secret Submission Post #972.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Software rec: Libation for Audible

Aug. 25th, 2025 02:02 am
erinptah: Vintage screensaver (computing)
[personal profile] erinptah

After having this on my to-do list for an embarrassingly long time, I downloaded and ran Libation, a bit of open-source software to de-DRM your Audible purchases.

The walkthrough is really easy to follow. At first I used the default download settings, and got a file (m4b) that worked fine on my laptop, but my portable music player had some kind of trouble with the encoding. (It did play the file, but it was all crackly and poppy, like an old record.) Then I switched to “just download as an MP3,” and those worked fine.

…I had a lot more Audible purchases than I remember. Mostly “audiobooks I would’ve borrowed from the library if they were available, listened to once, no desire to re-listen.”

But it’s well worth having unlocked copies of the Murderbot books. And the Locked Tomb books. And this one book I don’t even remember reading the first time, so I don’t have to jump through any hoops to play it again and find out if I liked it or not.

(Speaking of Murderbot: if you haven’t read it yet, and you’re looking for the ebooks, Humble Bundle has them all in a Martha Wells special.)


Dragonriders of Pern/Talents Fusion

Aug. 26th, 2025 11:35 am
senmut: Ramoth and Mnementh's mating flight (Pern: Dragons Mating)
[personal profile] senmut
Reunion of Species (1770 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragonriders of Pern, The Talents Series - Anne McCaffrey
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Afra Lyon, Mirrim [Dragonriders of Pern], The Rowan, Menolly [Dragonriders of Pern]
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Other Characters Not Mentioned In Tags
Summary:

In the aftermath of yet another alien threat, Afra and other Talents are stranded on a world with dragons.



Reunion of Species

There was always a bigger threat, Afra Lyon thought to himself as he got his bearings. Humans and Mrdini alike had failed to truly appreciate the fullness of a race as determined to have worlds of its own, complete with races to enslave or kill to keep the factories and farms running for their whims.

He wondered if these aliens had faced Hivers, if they had chased the Hiver trails… or maybe even crafted the ships and flung them ahead of their onslaught. It was nearly as bad as the Nathi War was presented in history. He really hoped two things: that the last ditch effort by the gestalt-driven Primes had successfully destroyed the monstrous planetoid and that he and the rest of the other high-T ratings were able to be retrieved from whatever this planet was.

Okay, a third thing was hoping that the anomaly itself hadn't destroyed any of the ships with the Primes aboard them. He just really didn't want to think about that part, given how many of them were some form of relation to him.

The other carriers were settling, opening… and the ones that landed upside down were being rocked back over by their kinetic. Poor Talents, getting all shook up after that kind of mind merge, so he didn't blame them for failing the landing. At least all of them were moving. It was too soon to tell if anyone had gone mind-deaf from the merge.

"Talents, on me," he called, knowing that he had sheer seniority and a presence that was seen as soothing. He'd been the one to pull the cluster together, grabbing on to the kinetics as soon as the telepaths had deemed a spot lacking in mental energy. If he didn't have all that experience getting uncased ores through atmosphere, he never could have held the mesh that got all of their carriers down at a slow enough speed.

The others, sometimes assisting one another, started pushing through the sandy soil, mostly leaning on one another. Most had some telepathy, all had telekinesis, but few were dual-rated the same in both fields like he was. He started doing his head count, strictly visual, not wanting to tax anyone's mind —

— and five giant flying lizards popped into the air out of nothingness, each with what appeared to be a human on their neck, forward of the wings.

"Are those dragons?" Mick Hatfield asked, a solid TK, while his TP partner Shirn McCoy gaped wordlessly at the sky.

"Certainly appear to be," Afra said calmly, wondering if that was what had accounted for the clusters of 'strange minds' the telepaths had noted.

He then looked at the beach, realized the carriers were spaced just far enough apart to make it impossible for such large reptiles to land, and that he was certain they were not hostile, merely curious. With a groan that was more psychosomatic for his age and doing things like this, he managed to get two up in the air and moved, prompting one of the other TKs to move a third and clear a good size swath of beach.

The mind-noise he was certain he was hearing now burst into excitement at the display of what was a common enough clean up skill.

He focused on the largest one, a shimmery deep bronze color, then shifted to the very small green one off their flank. He cleared as much of his public mind as he could, and invited those two, as well as the others, to land by visualizing the action.

The reptiles… no, not really? He'd chase that impression later… the dragons suited action to his invitation, and the five humans swiftly dismounted. The dragons' eyes were scintillating with color in many facets, all blues and greens in hue. The humans came to a formation ahead of the dragons, shoving goggles and helmets back with practice. The bronze's human was a tall man that Afra was certain his daughters would have swooned over, while the green's human was a shorter woman with a face given to infrequent smiles. The humans from the blue and two browns were slender, about the man's age maybe, and were clearly subordinate to the first pair.

"Hello?" Afra called, once he decided that yes, these looked like typical humans. He was glad most of the rest of his own people showed standard human deviations in color and height, unlike his own skin and eyes.

The man said something in turn, but the smile that came with it was genuine, like someone realizing that for all they might be one species, they didn't have words in common.

Well, Afra had done first contact before. And the Mrdini had helped broaden that skill in their own way.

He'd figure out communication.





Mirrim wasn't certain she liked the idea of a person talking in her head the way Path did, but through sharing of sights, she and T'gellan could understand these strange humans — even Afra, who looked like no human she knew of — had come from the same places that their many-times ancestors had. Things had changed there, with humanity slowly exploring and making stable colonies like Pern… by the efforts of people that could do as dragons did!

They couldn't just ask AIVAS to work out the language, but since the people were friendly, she supposed it didn't matter.

They will wait for their people to find them. Path was trying to be reassuring, but Mirrim wasn't certain she liked that idea either.

Change was difficult, and if there was contact with other humans, it would change them, on all sides. Granted, with Thread due to end after this Pass tapered off, there might be need for new challenges but couldn't that wait until… then?

Menolly is here.

Mirrim closed her eyes to get her composure; of course a Harper needed to be here, and of course T'gellan had likely sent specifically for Menolly. She loved him, she loved her best friend, and Path had probably tattled on her uneasiness.

Yes.

That calm acceptance of blame made her laugh a little, and then her original trio of fire-lizards joined her, so she could go and help with Leader duties. That was something Talina was adept at, managing people, Mirrim thought as she jogged to the large meeting hall that had been turned over to the Others. For all that she was a solid dragonrider, and knew how to manage things as well as events, people were still not her strong suit.

"There you are," Menolly said, beaming at her. "I have been getting used to Afra's mind-speech. Different from the dragons and our fairs," she added, nodding to the seated man who was working on his second plate of plant foods. Many of the newcomers did not eat meat, Mirrim remembered from the first conference of settling needs and history.

"Without common words — and none of us took the science classes very far — the picture sharing has been effective," Mirrim said, making herself sit at that table. "What did I miss while I stepped out?"

"Wansor's people have been consulted, and it looks like the … hole in space? Is still there. Which hopefully means once the people on the other side recover — really they should all be gray, because I know what using their minds so much does to the dragons — there will be a rescue attempt, from Afra's complete confidence in a woman that reminds me a little of Lessa."

Mirrim didn't want to contemplate there being two of that dynamic woman in the universe.

"Then we just need to keep them safe, and their pods, until that happens." She met Menolly's eyes firmly. "Including keeping it to ourselves, because we do not need to invite trouble."

"I want to protest, but yes. That is the wisest course," Menolly agreed. "Wansor's students are going to be silent on the matter as well. No one wants more hysteria."

"Good."





The Rowan stepped out of her carrier to find Afra right there. She and Damia had had pointed words, a small argument, and then the Rowan had ruthlessly pointed out that Damia's need to protect Afra had diminished her skill much further than the Rowan's own abilities had been by the effort.

She was planet-side now, to arrange for the timing and to be certain her dearest, oldest friend was as hale as his mind had sounded when they had managed to navigate the wormhole.

"We still don't have a language in common, many of the dragons are shy about communicating directly with non-riders, and apparently they have recently had some form of technical resurgence," Afra said aloud, taking her hands. "You didn't have to come ground-side, you know. I have enough people here to do a translation to orbit even without generators."

"So you do, but having me among you will make it easier for Jeff and Damia to make the connection to guide us back through," she said with full hauteur. "Earth Prime," and she stressed the title to make it official, "wishes to know if this lost colony wishes to have a reconnection to Earth.

"From star patterns, we pieced together this was an interdicted system after colonization, but they are obviously thriving."

"Master Menolly, one of their teacher-legist-diplomat profession, is of the opinion that it would be best to wait a generation or so," Afra answered. "The best I can determine. The space-born threat they have endured for centuries is due to be at an end at that point, and negotiations could be handled at that time."

"She sounds wise." She then turned her attention to the tall man striding their way, placing him by Afra's mind as T'gellan, the male leader of this protective enclave. She focused on him, making her mind more receptive to the native's latent telepathy… and she wound up smiling, nodding to him.

"What just happened?" Afra asked warily, as the Rowan smiling was often dangerous.

"The dragons, who have space suits, apparently, will take us up to orbit, to make our lives easier."

"Now I've heard everything."





Master Jancis reported that the last of the pods had vanished near the space-hole. Wansor made a thoughtful noise, while Menolly just sighed.

"I have no idea if I will still be alive when they return, but I will be certain to train those who need to know about them," she said.

"I will be long gone, but… the idea that we might reconnect with others of our species, is as astounding to me as all I have learned of space so far," Wansor said.

"Indeed, Master, indeed."

[ SECRET POST #6806 ]

Aug. 24th, 2025 02:53 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6806 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #972.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Highlander Ficlet

Aug. 25th, 2025 06:42 pm
senmut: Rebecca Horne in a hat with a smirk (Highlander: Rebecca)
[personal profile] senmut
But Why Not (600 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Highlander The Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Amanda Darieux, Rebecca Horne [Highlander the Series]
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Slice of Life, Teacher & Student
Summary:

Rebecca has to deal with a student clashing with her own current ideals.



But Why Not

"But why not?"

There were days, Rebecca decided, that it wasn't enough to try and understand the cultural mores as they shifted. What was taboo in one land or century might be a requirement elsewhere and when.

No, it was also needful to stay abreast of how mortals themselves shifted, adapted, changed. Her latest foundling, a thief, was one such. Completely lacking in shame or guilt, Rebecca decided, and yet… there was a burning bright mind, the basis of a potential survivor in the Game.

Utter poverty, lack of resources, restricted chances for social mobility, and a complete attempt to prevent literacy while also stomping on oral traditions older than the province they were in had produced this young woman. Rebecca had trouble seeing her as more than girl, honestly, with the way she acted half the time. But maybe it was a bit like the tales of whipped hounds, that finding a safer master, reverted to more playful and rash behavior once they knew they were safe.

"I am not saying that it is never right to steal. I am saying it is not right to steal here, in this place," Rebecca told her.

Amanda was not convinced, so Rebecca dove in further. "One, theft is a good way to bring attention to your nature. Because if caught, you could be killed, except you won't stay dead, unless they use an axe."

"But I don't get caught… usually. Or stay caught if I am."

"Which is the second part, and the larger one of why I am counseling you," Rebecca answered. "Look around, my student. Actually see the people and the shape of this hamlet."

There was a cursory look around, then Amanda's eyes came right back to her and there was a shrug of uncaring.

Had she chosen poorly, Rebecca wondered, trying to find the striker to light a sense of compassion in this one.

"A person who takes from those who barely have enough to survive is already on the path of being corrupted by immortality," Rebecca said bluntly, then walked away in a different direction, her thoughts turning to gathering her pack and the jack she'd found half-starved at a burned out farm. Either her words or her leaving prompted Amanda to call after her, start her way… and then stop.

Where the main track through the homes became the rougher trail of an occasionally used trade route, Rebecca turned, and saw that Amanda was actually studying the people around her.

Well. Maybe she'd stay one night at the camp they had made before coming in to see if there was grain to barter for.





It was almost raining, a damp misery on top of the cool night air when Amanda showed up. She had half a loaf of bread and a rough-made crock of cider.

"I didn't steal them," she quickly said at Rebecca's look. "I taught some of the children how to set snares, and their mother insisted I take these for payment. I found out most of the men of age were dragged off for war."

"So the women are having to handle all aspects of life," Rebecca said with a sigh. "It will be the same through the region. We should move on to other lands."

"We can?" Amanda asked, lightly stressing the first word.

"Promise me to abide by my rules?"

"Teach me when stealing isn't offensive to your ideas?" Amanda countered.

Rebecca smiled and then opened her arm so her waxed cloak had room under it for Amanda, who swiftly took the offered spot.

"We have a deal, my student."
senmut: A painted picture of Bones McCoy (Star Trek: Bones McCoy)
[personal profile] senmut
Annealed but to What? (4304 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: TOS - Dwellers in the Crucible - Margaret Wander Bonanno
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: T'Shael, Amanda Grayson, Cleante al-Faisal
Additional Tags: Female-Centric
Summary:

In the aftermath of Dwellers in the Crucible, T'Shael is attempting to pick up her life, as Cleante is away with her mother. As a Vulcan, she expects this to be a logical step.

In the meantime, Amanda Grayson, mother of the one whom T'Shael served for, has put in place further protections for the introverted one.



Chapter Two is new with 1,041 words.

Annealed but to What?: Chapter Two

Tell me about your parents. I've told you about Mother, and the stories she told me about my father.

T'Shael even remembered Cleante's provisional words on that matter, if she remembered the correct one and wondered at the need to know more of T'Shael's family. Was it to fulfill an emotive need for something she had lacked, or merely a course to better understanding T'Shael? Were there lessons that T'Shael herself could learn by revisiting the past of her childhood dedication to her father, of telling Cleante about the woman that had rarely been present, and found her daughter lacking?

On another day, T'Shael had answered, knowing that she would soon receive the few belongings that had been held for her. With the physical reminders of specific points in her life, it would facilitate speaking of the past, of the two people who had created T'Shael and shared so little in the way of common cause.

Love. Cleante had asked her to speak of love, once, before their abduction, of love among Vulcans, and now T'Shael had a firmer grasp on the concept, understood that yes, it was an emotion, yet it was also a duty and choice. She had come to love by her own definition of it, with the need to see to Cleante's welfare, to share her life as long as possible, so that they experienced freedom and learning together.

Had her parents loved? Had it merely been duty? They had been traditionally wed, much as she had been to Stalek. Unlike with herself and Stalek, T'Pei would have known of Salet, as the man had already become a known entity with his calling to music. That they had never severed the bonds between them, even when their lives frequently left no time for cohabitation, spoke of something enduring, yet it might have only been tradition.

T'Shael consciously pulled in a deep breath, forcing herself to come away from thinking deeply — turning inward Master Stimm would say — and focused on true meditation instead. The belongings would arrive, and then she would answer Cleante's questions.





"My mother was a scientist, eminent in her field," T'Shael began, having neatly placed the holo-cube on the table after painstakingly setting it for voice cues to her script. The images were of T'Pei at work, conferences, even one aboard the ill-fated Intrepid. "She, and father, were from traditional families, and had been betrothed according to custom, much as I was to Stalek."

The image showed first the boy that had been chosen for her, and then the man at one of his own conferences.

"You didn't know him at all," Cleante said, remembering that terrible time of the burning fever within her friend.

"No. But I made it a point, during my time on Vulcan, to learn what he had become, to … what is it you say? Keep his memory alive? I believe he and I would have become as my own parents, pursuing our own lives, save for necessary times of cohabitation."

Cleante shook her head at that. "I mean, I know. In your culture, it works. Clan ahead of home, duty over companionship. It's still very odd to me, and … I don't want to be like that."

The last words were said with hesitation, and emotional weight, T'Shael realized, and had to take the time of silence after to consider the correct response for her human companion.

"I do not foresee a necessity of separate lives, until such time as you grow away from me," T'Shael finally said, before Cleante could jump up and pace, or perform some attempt at humorous deflection.

That got an impulsive reach for — and quick change of target — so that Cleante tangled her hand in the flowing sleeve of T'Shael's robe.

"Good.

"And your father?"

T'Shael remembered her script, and moved back to that. "Salet, master musician. You asked me once to speak of Vulcan love. And my father, I think, embodied that emotion, bringing it to his music, to his life in the perfection of instrument and harmony that he sought."

The holo-cube showed imagery of Salet in concerts, among the instrument makers, allowing Cleante a glimpse of younger versions of the people T'Shael had introduced her to. It ended on one of Salet in his bed, wasted by the illness, because that too was a part of T'Shael's experiences to share.

"Such opposites," Cleante said, and T'Shael could not disagree.

"My mother stated once that he indulged me, and she was not incorrect," T'Shael said. "But it was I to whom much of the labor of his care fell to. The community could only do so much, given propriety and privacy.

"I learned much, young. And chose to take the precision of my mother's analytical nature to guide me into teaching, where I could then foster the sharing of culture as he had."

"Which is how you came to be an instructor for us off-worlders, despite being young for it?" Cleante asked.

T'Shael paused, and looked at it from the human point of view, given that Cleante did know her age from discussion, albeit in very clinical words, of how T'Shael had not yet been fully wed.

"An accurate summation, yes."

Cleante studied the last image, one of T'Shael at a young age with both of her parents standing to either side, slightly behind her. T'Shael knew what she was seeing, that Salet had a hand on her shoulder, while T'Pei stood with both hands behind her, far more formal and fully Vulcan in her seeming.

"You are more than the sum of your parents," Cleante finally said, "but in the time I have known you, I can see the care for your heritage and culture that came from your father, and the adherence to duty that was probably your mother's nature.

"It is shaped by loss. I think you spent much time alone with your duty, but now? Now you can learn to share that, if you want, and we'll face the rest of it together."

T'Shael inclined her head, having come to acceptance of this in her soul-searching while separated from Cleante. In time, it would be another loss, but as with her father, she would face that ending when it came.

china_shop: The popcorn scene from Guardian. :-) (Guardian - popcorn!)
[personal profile] china_shop posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
Guardian novel readalong.


Hi, and welcome to the last installment of the Guardian novel readalong!

Here is last week's post about the Shen San extra, and you can find all previous discussions in the schedule posts (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5), or via the !readalong tag.

In this week's extra, Pocket Dimension: Zhao Yunlan shows Shen Wei how to send red envelopes from his new phone, and Shen Wei sends bonuses to the SID team until he runs out of money. Everyone wants to work for the SID under Kunlun-jun, so Shen Wei has devised personalised applications. Mysteriously, more than twice as many applications have been returned as were sent out. Zhu Hong's Fourth Uncle disappears while visiting the South Sea Water Tribe, and Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei go to investigate. They get caught in a vortex full of bubble AUs, each with a connection point to the real world. Zhao Yunlan escapes from eighty-one pocket dimensions and reunites with Shen Wei, who seems traumatised. Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei take a seaside vacation. Shen Wei thinks swimming trunks are inelegant.

Excerpts:

1) Shen Wei is possibly even worse at managing money than Zhao Yunlan is )

2) Shen Wei gives away all his money as SID bonuses )

3) Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan become trapped in bubbles )

4) What are the bubbles? )

5) Zhao Yunlan enjoys some virtual reality alernate lives with his boo )

Questions:
Did you enjoy this extra? What's your favourite thing about it? Do you have questions about what's happened in the six years between the epilogue and now? On a scale of one to ten, how terrible is Zhao Yunlan's dad? When Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan portal to the South Sea, who does the portalling: Shen Wei, Zhao Yunlan, or both separately? We know Fourth Uncle is still alive, but what happened to him? Do you think the question of the duplicate applications was satisfactorily answered? How do you feel about the bubble AUs?

(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 readalong!)

Finally, I just want to thank everyone who's been part of this readalong, either by hosting, commenting, or reading along! It's been such a pleasure sharing this with you all for the last nearly-ten months. And super special extra thanks to [personal profile] trobadora for being an awesome co-mod! <3 <3 <3
muccamukk: The PresAux team hug Murderbot, who looks confused. (Murderbot: -hugs-)
[personal profile] muccamukk
Humble Book Bundle: Martha Wells' Murderbot and More by TOR (pay what you want and help charity):
This multi-Hugo Award-winning series includes standout titles like All Systems Red and Artificial Condition. Plus, a portion of your purchase helps support World Central Kitchen.

The full bundle includes all of the Murderbot novellas and novels plus two short stories, the two stand-alone fantasy novels, Witch King, the first two Ile-Rien novels, and the middle-grade adventure novels. Doesn't include any Raksura novels or the Ile-Rien trilogy (which I guess Tor doesn't have the rights to yet?). Obviously doesn't include the tie in novels.

I already own all of these, but it's a good deal if you don't!

Should be available for the next three weeks.

Works in the US and Canada, not sure where else.
trobadora: (Guardian - SID team)
[personal profile] trobadora posting in [community profile] sid_guardian
A gifting fest for Guardian and related fandoms: guardian-wishlist.dreamwidth.org


The Guardian Wishlist rules and FAQ for 2025 are up on [community profile] guardian_wishlist! Please check them out and let us know if you have any questions.

Sign-ups open on 28 August!

And if you're willing to post a promo to Tumblr, Twitter, Discord, or elsewhere to spread the word, please check out this post for promo graphics and text. (We'd love it if you commented there to let us know which platform and/or drop us a link, but don't feel you have to.) Thanks!

(Much thanks to [personal profile] teaotter for our lovely banner!)

[ SECRET POST #6805 ]

Aug. 23rd, 2025 03:48 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6805 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.


More! )


Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 36 secrets from Secret Submission Post #972.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #973 ]

Aug. 23rd, 2025 03:37 pm
case: (Default)
[personal profile] case posting in [community profile] fandomsecrets
[ SECRET SUBMISSIONS POST #973 ]




The first secret from this batch will be posted on August 30th.



RULES:
1. One secret link per comment.
2. 750x750 px or smaller.
3. Link directly to the image.

More details on how to send a secret in!

Optional: If you would like your secret's fandom to be noted in the main post along with the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret. If your secret makes the fandom obvious, there's no need to do this. If your fandom is obscure, you should probably tell me what it is.

Optional #2: If you would like WARNINGS (such as spoilers or common triggers -- list of some common ones here) to be noted in the main post before the secret itself, please put it in the comment along with your secret.

Optional #3: If you would like a transcript to be posted along with your secret, put it along with the link in the comment!

X-Files Drabble

Aug. 23rd, 2025 01:47 pm
senmut: The trio are all on the phones in their separate baths (X-Files: Scully Mulder Skinner)
[personal profile] senmut
It Was a Sore Subject (100 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Files
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Dana Scully [X-Files], Fox Mulder [X-Files]
Additional Tags: Drabble, Prompt Fic
Summary:

Fox drags in on Monday worse for wear



It Was a Sore Subject

"Don't ask."

Despite that warning, Dana followed Fox into their office, highly concerned about his disheveled clothes, the scruffy cheeks, and most of all, the black eye coming in vividly.

"I think this is one time I can safely assume there weren't any aliens involved," she quipped at him, to try and set a better mood.

His wan smile only highlighted how tired he was on top of it.

She raised an eyebrow, obeying the 'don't ask', knowing he'd cave.

"Frohicke took me to a con. There was a scuffle."

"At a convention?"

"Comic book fans can be very violent."

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mithen

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