#158 years ago

[armenelols]

By the way. Buying jeans in stores is impossible if you are shorter than average and they are gonna drag behind you like a veil. Have fun tripping on them (It's me. I am short)

[peridots-pixiwolf]

what is happening

[theriverbeyond]

how exactly is John lying (/about what) and is that the worst part of him and how explicit is it in the books? i often dont understand general/fandom characterizations of fictional characters and HtN is definitely not the book I paid the most attention in, so I just wanna see if I missed something wholly obvious

So John is a Lying Liar Who Lies, and I think the most damming evidence for the sheer enormity of it all is this bit in HtN, page 482:

Many of the things John says are like, him reflecting or discussing things only he has memory of, with no one left to dispute his version of events, and it's clear that he has long ago lost the "objective truth" of his own history--some of this is likely the side effect of being alive for ten thousand years, but a lot of it is probably due to the fact that he doesn't want anyone to know what actually happened. HtN p. 158:

John is talking to Harrow here, but to Me, he is also reassuring himself. He KNOWS that people would judge him for his actions, and alters the stories he tells accordingly. Nobody has to know. It happened, and he can't undo it, and they wouldn't understand. He's motivated to lie, he's capable of lying, and he himself has stated that he believes that there is no difference between the truth, and the truth he tells himself. Because he's God.

Anyway. re: "how explicit is it", a lot of the times where we know for sure John is telling an untruth, he isn't directly lying per say, but rather misrepresenting events to such an insidious extent that it is functionally the same as lying. Here is a short and incomplete list:

All the times Harrow begged him to protect her from G1deon the First, and John was like sorry I can't do that, when in fact JOHN was the one who ordered G1deon to attack Harrow

Changing the names of all his friends and not telling them what their previous names or personalities were (and if he didn't tell them that, it's very reasonable he may have kept other things from them as well)

Saying that the House of the First was killed by "rising sea levels" and a "massive nuclear fission chain reaction" when the Earth actually died because John initiated a nuclear standoff, and then set off a nuke. like yeah what he said was technically the truth, but it also served to paint an extremely different picture when compared to what we learn in NtN

In NtN, in the dream, John tells Harrow about the time he killed all those cops, and he mentions that when it happened he was like "I swear to God, I didn't know what I was doing" "I freaked out, it was an accident", "I made a mistake". and then like half a page later he tells Harrow "Come on love. Guys like me don't have accidents"

Saying he ate peanuts "discreetly", and "the once"

"is this the worst part of him" I think that is up to you, I really like the layers this adds to the story. So much of NtN is literally just John telling Harrow/the reader a story, and we know he misrepresents events and tells untruths and is motivated to protect his own image and no longer sees a difference between the truth and the truth he tells himself. So it's like... we are getting all this info about what happened pre-appocalypse/resurrection, but how much of it is REAL? How much of it is reliable? How much of it would match the story if anyone else was alive to tell their side? It is so interesting to me. It's like a hefty peanut butter filled kong, to me.

[t-horn-n]

— waterstrider

pairing: simon “ghost” riley x reader (female) 

genre: fluff ?

summary: watching you and ghost become you and ghost.

word count: 1 158

There is a certain inconsistency with you that Ghost is able to sense but not quite place when you first join the task force.  You’re the sort that wears her heart upon her sleeve.  You like to fill the room with your jokes and anecdotes and quips.  You spill your guts to the point that Ghost knows more about you and your idiot brother and how your parents have just retired) in the first six months following your arrival than he knew about the Captain in the first three years of knowing him.  On the internet, they would call you one of those people who can’t be mysterious because you yap too much.

Still, there is something that sets you apart from just any old civi.  And it is not simply that you’re good at staying calm in stressful situations, nor that you’re not half bad at military strategy.  Rather, it’s that you’ve compartmentalised yourself into the part that you offer to people (your brother, your parents’ retirement) and the part that you keep tucked into your chest, hidden beneath your ribs.  It’s an illusion, you see, that sense of complete transparency that you project.  

It was years ago, now.   When the scent of high school still clung to you and you were marginally more stupid than you are now.  You got yourself ensnared with the wrong, mean, borderline sociopathic sort of people so quickly that it was a real life example of the snowball effect.  Initially, it was just one time you brushed off your last period class to go around town with these guys you met at the convenience store to get back at your brother who, at the time, had a habit of being overprotective.  

Long story short, the whole situation ended with fingerprints around your neck and your head held down in the river behind the grocery mart that everyone was sure was a mafia front.  You remember being hauled out of that river with astonishing accuracy.  You remember the temperature of the water and the exact thoughts that raced through your mind.

Of course, over the years you recovered, squeezed the silty water from your lungs and learned some common sense.  But events like that are somewhat sticky.  

One of your motivations to join the military was to find the self-confidence to never feel like you did coughing up water and dirt, after all.  

You were wary—cat-like—when you first joined Ghost and the rest of the 141, but that’s just how it is in the military most of the time.  And after a few weeks you were bantering with them like you had known them for years.  Truly, it seemed as though you were the most normal one out of them.

What they don’t know is that you don’t like showers.  Or at least, you don’t like the sensation of the water beating on your face.  It feels like you’ll just forget how to breathe and the water will fill your lungs again.  So instead you’ll stand at the edge of the shower, wetting a soapy washcloth every evening after training.  

You’ll never go swimming, of course.   You won’t take the chance.  Even when you can see the bottom, an irrational, bone-deep paralysis traps you in this space where your thoughts are very loud and your body feels very far away.  It’s fine, though.   There isn't a great deal of demand for aquatic soldiers.  

You don’t like sleeping under a lot of covers either, but you’re a cold sleeper and you don’t have control over the temperature on base, so you layer hoodie over hoodie at night.  Inevitably, you look like a mass of sentient fabric if you ever  encounter one of your  peers in the kitchen late at night.  

Talking is how your little dance with Ghost started, though, late night encounters aside.  Sometimes, you would open with a joke on the way back to base from the training grounds and he would reply with his own and you would both feel a special sense of connection that is a little different than that most often found in  military task forces.  It wasn’t brotherhood, like what linked Ghost to Soap and Price and Gaz.  

On other occasions, you all would be at a bar on the weekend, making the cheap beer taste better with each other’s company.  You and Ghost would be perched on your barstools and he would be telling you about some stunt Soap pulled years ago while the other three men kept each other entertained.  You two would still be there after Price, Soap, and Gaz sobered up in the late night air on the way to the bus stop that took them back to the base.  You would blink and then it was midnight and you were on the bus with all of the other witching hour vagrants that got on after spending too much time staring at the bottom of a glass, but you wouldn’t even see them because you were too busy listening to Simon and his wonderfully deep, tired voice.  You would be pressed shoulder to shoulder, each staring at your feet or your hands.  

There are very special times, too.  The kind that you will remember the sensation of—the moment’s taste, its colors, its imprint on your mind—even after you’ve forgotten the time and place and the words said.  Like when Ghost becomes Simon.  Like when he tells you about his mother and the man she was married to.  Like when he presses his lips to your neck and instead of feeling cold and wet and gross like you expect it to, he just sighs, warmly, in a way that makes you feel like you’ve been filled with helium.

Then, when that dance you were doing becomes more confident, when you start pulling and twisting each other about the dance floor rather than just hoping you’ll brush the other’s hand as you glide aimlessly around, those compartments that you have successfully preserved for the last decade shift, somewhat.  They don’t break, by any means.  Simply, they are rearranged.

Simon runs hot.  Especially when he sleeps, which means that when he crashes in your quarters you de-layer and tuck your cold feet between his calves.  Simon is also a big man, though.  So when he rolls over on to your chest in the middle of the night, you are startled awake.  You remember the pressure as the air in your lungs was replaced by something denser.  While he sleeps—deeply, as he always does in your quarters—you stare at the ceiling, watching the fuzzy darkness undulate over and around itself.

Eventually, you will tell him why you can’t tolerate your face being covered while you sleep.  You’ll divulge the contents of your nightmares.  Someday, his past and yours will be murmured into existence whether on a late-night bus back from town or in his bathroom as you brush your teeth together on some random Thursday night.

— m. list

[lesbiansforboromir]

Spare a thought for the cartographers of Pelargir who had to throw out literally every map ever done of their lovely, simple, flat Middle Earth because now the whole fucking thing has been stretched around a globe (???) and this fucking Merenor guy has come up with this infuriating cylinder projection that, whilst vital for nautical maps in order to keep every line as a constant bearing, now means you have to draw the Forodwaith like 35% bigger than it actually is and you’re sure the religious trauma is bad for some people and okay there’re two new kingdoms now and Numenor is destroyed or whatever but you REALLY don’t have time to think about that because you’ve gotta fucking REINVENT THE WHEEL OF CARTOGRAPHY suddenly at the ripe old age 210 because some jolly mathematician in Umbar confirmed using two pillars 158 lár apart that the shadows are different lengths at the same time of day now, which means not ONLY has Arda become round, but we have an approximate circumference of about 4153 lár WHICH IS A FIGURE YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU’D BE ABLE TO GET and now you owe that blasted Elvedui fellow 200 castar over a drunk bet you made 100 years ago that Arda was only 2000 lár long from west to east that you didn’t actually believe you just thought it was funny when he got so angry about it TRULY!! You are suffering more than Turin Turambar right now.

[exeggcute]

interesting links roundup #5

reading

A British Nurse Was Found Guilty of Killing Seven Babies. Did She Do It?

A Tick Is Making Farmers Allergic to Their Own Animals

The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man

Bringing Up Babies

The Degradation Drug

Does Matt Mullenweg Want a Fork or Not?

The Flying Car Is Finally Here. It’s Slightly Illegal.

How to Talk to People When You Live Alone

I got dysentery so you don’t have to

The invisible seafaring industry that keeps the internet afloat

Kurt Vonnegut’s lost board game finally published

The Pain of Travelling While Palestinian

Personal Best

Rage bait is all the rage on Threads

The Secretive Dynasty That Controls the Boar’s Head Brand

The shady origins of the climate haven myth

Social Media Tells You Who You Are. What if It's Totally Wrong?

We’re not going to run out of new anatomy anytime soon

Who Pays for the Arts?

Works by Pissarro, Renoir, and Avercamp Vanished. Here’s How an Amateur Art Sleuth Cracked the Case

Writing in Pictures: Richard Scarry and the art of children’s literature

tools/reference

An Illustrated Guide to Maritime Signal Flags

If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel: A tediously accurate map of the solar system

Plotto by William Wallace Cook (1928) [for context, read this]

Snapseed: Android, iOS

These Apps Help People With Disabilities Travel More Easily

other

Euthanasia machine, Australia, 1995-1996

how-i-experience-web-today.com

Reply All #158: The Case of the Missing Hit [I first listened to this years ago but just listened to it again... still soooo good]

Subterranea Britannica

[dontforgetukraine]

Today Ukraine commemorates the fallen defenders who fought for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty, & territorial integrity. This day of remembrance was established in 2019 to mark the Ilovaisk tragedy. 10 years ago Russia violated an agreement and ambushed Ukrainian soldiers that were leaving through the "green corridor" near Ilovaisk.

366 Ukrainian soldiers were killed, 429 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded, 158 missing, 300 captured.

Photo credit: Arsen Petrov Sources: Euromaidan Press, Gyunduz Mamedov,

[ironunderstands]

How this singular Gold and Gears occurrence might change everything we know about Dr. Ratio 

…He might be thousands of years old, oh boy.

Ok, where to begin? Well probably with the occurrence that started it all:

Mechanical City, “Cogito Hair Salon”- Intellgencia Guild 

This is where things get complicated.

You see, the Mechanical City is old as hell

This took place around the time of the First Mechanical Emperor’s war, who created the machine empire, which included the Mechanical City, something which occurred soon after the Borderstar Trade War. 

Then, the Rupert 1 (the leader of this empire) sleeps, and this caused his empire to crumble, presumably the city alongside it:

Which according to these Xianzhou records, happened at this time

Then Polka Kakamond fought Rubert for a few more Amber Eras until she eventually succeeded in killing him, marking the end of the First Mechanical War.

Which resulted in the collapse of its empire, and presumably, the Mechanical City alongside it, Nanook, the youngest aeon, also ascended during this time due to the mess of the Emperor’s War and the remnants of the swarm.

Now, for the sake of my sanity, and this first scenario, I am going to assume that the Mechanical City fell alongside Rubert I when their empire collapsed about years ago, as although it’s likely Rubert II could have revived it, as you will see, it’s not necessarily relevant to this discussion (there are actually only two possible paths this situation could lead to). 

If Amber Eras are on average this long

And the current year we are in is

Which is about this in Xianzhou years 

Meaning that disaster in the Xianzhou happened around 3500 years ago (if Xianzhou years are the same length as Trailblaze ones, if they aren’t I’m not gonna think about that <3). Then, Polka Kakamond was alive around this time, and it took her several Amber Eras to finally kill Rubert, which I’m going to interpret several as ~5 and the length of these Amber Eras to be averaged out to be around 158 years long each, meaning Rubert died about 2700 years ago, give or take A LOT OF TIME because of the inconsistency of Amber Era lengths, the amount of Amber Eras, the fact that we don’t know when exactly Polka Kakamond decided to start trying to kill Rubert, or even when she was alive, etc. 

SO, when you put it all together Dr. Ratio must be at least 1000 years old if he were to be able to be alive during this period of time to attend the Mechanical City within this occurrence.

Which changes everything, because presumably Dr. Ratio is a normal human and he should not be that old.

Oh dear.

However, before I ponder the implications of THAT, let’s explore the other possibilities.

This never actually happened.

This is by far both the most boring and most likely one for a lot of reasons.

a) There is an occurrence that definitely takes place in the preset exactly like it 

This is Mechanical City, Cogito Hair Salon: Genius Society 

And based on its description, it was clearly put in here to help the trailblazer navigate the Simulated Universe through the Intra-Cognition function, and the 4 Genius Society members depicted (Ruan Mei, Herta, Stephen Lloyd and Screwllum) absolutely did not travel back in time for this to happen, rather they seem to habe implemented it themselves. 

Therefore, the occurrence with Dr. Ratio could be something similar: an event made up for the sake of navigating the Sim Uni, and not something that ever actually took place, I believe this and another solution I will introduce later are the most likely explanations for this situation.

b) The occurrence with Dr. Ratio is uh, weird 

For lack of a better explanation in this, Dr. No5 is uh, tweaking. Meaning, the events taking place around him might not even be what’s happening in reality.

Or, the Trailblazer is in the Mechanical City, but Dr. No5 isn’t and the sim uni kinda just meshed the two together. 

What also complicates things is that it seems like after he killed himself, No5 turned into a mechanical spinning top, meaning the Anti-Organic equation might have been the cause of his death? And I’m not sure if it’s still active in modern times.

Either way, the sheer levels of delusion radiating off of Dr. No5 leave to believe this scene isn’t entirely real, however I don’t think this explanation is all good honestly, it’s just something I wished to point out before moving on.

That’s not our Dr. Ratio

Apparently in the original Chinese, the characters used to denote Dr. Ratio are different to the way he is typically referred to, meaning that whoever this Dr. Ratio is, it might not actually BE him.

Now, I know absolutely nothing about how Chinese works, but based off the discussions I’ve seen around this particular detail, I think the general consensus is that the Ratio in this is more of a surname, and our Dr. Ratio either named himself after/is a descendant of this one.

Which would be interesting, and would mean we (I) would now have to scour future updates for his mention, but for now I’ll leave this option at that because like I said, I don’t know how any dialect of Chinese works at all, much less the original used in the game.

If someone reading this does, I would really appreciate clarification/confirmation/your opinion on this, so thanks in advance.

Finally, for my favorite explanation (and the one I think is what really happened), that being:

The Mechanical City still exists, and Ratio is in fact, some dude with a normal lifespan.

Let me cook.

So, based on what I showed you earlier, it’s heavily implied that the Mechanical City fell with Rubert during the First Emperor’s War around 2000 ish years ago alongside him.

However, what if I told you that isn’t necessarily true:

The IPC took it over.

Although this passage doesn’t mention the Mechanical City or even allude to it, it does mention thin how the IPC, with the aid of the Intellgencia Guild, began taking over areas across the universe, especially areas of inorganic life, following Nous’s prophecy, with the methodology of “Colonization Under the facade of development,” (the game straight up calls them colonizers LMAOOO).

Anyways, the IPC HATES inorganic life due to the Emperor’s Wars, and were about to pass an order to eradicate all inorganic life when Screwllum gained Nous’ approval and joined the Genius Society, and as we saw in the screenshot, they were, well, colonizing those areas and making it into their own.

So- who’s to say they didn’t do it to the Mechanical City? Why wouldn’t one of the most defining features of the Mechanical Empire now be under IPC control, even to this day?

Besides, inorganic life forms have no need for hair salons- they don’t have growing hair! But in a Mechanical City repurposed for people, yeah, a hair salon would make sense.

Thereofore, Ratio isn’t some thousand year old entity, rather he’s just in a location run by the IPC and Intellgencia Guild that happens to have thousands of years of history behind it.

Moreover, it just wouldn’t make sense for Ratio to be that old.

He has plenty of media about him documenting his life, and based on how recent those media are and how this passage is worded, I’m led to believe that Ratio aged like a normal person, and his middle school years didn’t somehow last an exponential amount of time. 

Also, I feel like if he WAS that old we would have some actual clue pointing to it beyond a singular occurrence that would only ever point to that once you do all this digging.

Therefore, I conclude Ratio is not in fact immortal, and the IPC likely just colonized the Mechanical City, which is why it is still around today.

Finally, I sincerely hope you enjoy me going insane over this one stupid occurrence, and I would like to disclaim that I am no lore expert when it comes to the simulated universe, so if something I said in here was misinformation, please tell me! It seems as though Dr. Ratio is never beating the “just some guy” allegations lmao.

[jelzorz]

158.

"Hey, you know how to pick locks, right?"

It's an odd thing to ask. Callum's always been weird like that, Rayla supposes, and usually his weird questions are related to magic, and Xadia, and elven script and Rayla is (generally) happy to oblige. What can she say? He likes to learn, and the lilt in his voice and the light in his eyes and the excitement in his smile is endearing, and she's never been particularly good at saying no, at least not to him.

But this one is weird because it's not a Xadia thing, or a magic thing, or an elven script thing, and when he asks, he's not nearly as upbeat about it. At first, she doesn't get it. It's a useful skill to have, and a fun skill to master—it's like a puzzle but more fiddly, and Rayla had taught herself years and years ago because she didn't like it when Ethari and Runaan tried to keep her out of places, so of course she learned (in part) to spite them. Callum's never really had the same restrictions because he's a prince, and all he has to do to unlock anything is ask, usually, and yet—

"Can you teach me?"

"Er. Sure?" Rayla tilts her head at him curiously. "You planning a heist or something?"

Callum chuckles a little. "Or something," he says cryptically. "What, you don't think I can do it?"

"I don't think it's your style," says Rayla. "You're a prince and high mage, why on earth would you need to know how to pick a lock?"

He smirks then. "Ancient tomes, forbidden libraries, old abandoned ruins, jellytart runs... All sorts of reasons. Just feels like a necessary skill for adventure, y'know?"

Rayla laughs at that. "I mean, I guess. How often are you intending to break into forbidden libraries and old abandoned ruins?"

"As often as I need to, thank you very much. I have a whole life of adventure ahead of me, and I'll be damned if not being able to pick locks is the thing that stops me."

Rayla shakes her head at him, trying not to laugh at the way he wheedles. She was never going to say no, and he knows it, and he's far too smug about it for it not to be funny. For a second, she actually forgets that it's a weird thing to ask and teases him back: "Fine, but you'll have to ask Opeli for the handcuffs. I'm sure she won't wonder why you want them."

Callum snickers loudly at that, and it's that simple, that easy, just jokes between the two of them about a skill they don't really need, until later, when Rayla's showing him the mechanics of a lock and a thought occurs to her that reminds her why the whole thing feels a bit off-kilter.

"You know, we've only really had problems with locks, like, twice," she muses. "There was that one time Opeli arrested me, and then that time on Sea Legs, but I mean, you managed fine."

Something flickers across Callum's face. His smile twitches, falters, and if Rayla didn't know him so well, she might have missed it because she can see how hard he's trying to make it less of a deal than it is.

"Yeah, well." He shifts uncomfortably, the memory just as unpleasant for him. "I don't want repeats. I don't want anyone else trying to feed you to any sea leviathans."

"Somehow I think that was a one time thing." Rayla pauses, her smile fading a little as she fiddles with the manacles on his wrists. "How'd you get out of the chains Finnegrin put you in anyway? You apparently didn't pick them."

There's a pause. Callum looks away, and the whole world stills as the realisation dawns over Rayla, as cold as the way her blood froze in her veins that same day.

"...Callum."

"I had to do," he says quietly. He meets her gaze then, and the storm in his eyes makes her intestines writhe like snakes. "I couldn't let him hurt you."

Rayla says nothing for a moment, fingers hovering over the chains locked around his wrists. Her heart thumps heavily. Her breath shudders out. "Well," she says after a moment. "I guess we have to make sure you don't end up in that position a third time."

"You're not angry?"

"I don't know." She touches his hand then and finds herself relieved that it's still warm under her fingers. She doesn't know how to feel about it, but they're both alive and they're both safe so... that must count for something. "It doesn't matter," she says in the end. "I'm just... Glad we're okay. You won't do it again anyway."

Callum looks up at her. "Won't I?"

"No." Rayla hands him the lockpick. "I won't let you."

[the-apocrypha]

AO3 Wrapped: Author's Edition

Got tagged by @seiya-starsniper to play, and I get immense satisfaction from lists and stats, so. Here we go! (Spoilers: it was literally all Sandman fics.)

In chronological order, the fics i posted this year are:

[cottagecore series] rest in the of my bones Dream is fae. Hob is a hedgewitch. And in this cottage in the woods, they have found peace

[cottagecore series] a good trade

[cottagecore series] subjective analysis

[cottagecore series] singing in the dead of night

[cottagecore series] illuminated manuscripts

[cottagecore series] wolf heart

[cottagecore series] could, would (already do)

[cottagecore series] a soft place to land

the fourth dimension Most days, Dream could not tell you how many years ago he was made human. Or, if you like, how many years he has been human for.

[cottagecore series] the beauty, the splendor, the wonder

[cottagecore series] aftershocks

[cottagecore series] at least two miracles

song of a swan dive Discord decided that we needed to see Dream at the Olympics, falling into a pool, and Hob diving in for the rescue.

subtext Retired!Dream struggles with the unspoken parts of humanity

[St. Ignatius University Series] It Started With A Whisper Hob is a working-class werewolf, Dream is a nepo baby sorcerer, and they collide spectacularly at university

[St. Ignatius University Series] Paint My Spirit Gold

Stats

Works Published: 16 Work Subscriptions: 158 Kudos: 4673 Comment Threads: 867 Bookmarks: 661 Hits: 24,962 Word Count: 155,248

Most Popular By Kudos

rest in the of my bones [cottagecore series #1]

a good trade [cottagecore series #2]

subjective analysis [cottagecore series #5]

Longest

cottagecore series - 80,616 words

St. Ignatius Univerity Series - 59,154 words

the fourth dimension - 8666 words

Top Ships

Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling [16 works]

that's it that's all I wrote this year

Top Tags

Established Relationship

Alternate Universe - Medieval

Hurt/Comfort

[archivist-crow]

Interpol - Turn On the Bright Lights (2002)

Twenty-two years ago today, on August 20, 2002, Turn On the Bright Lights, the debut album by Interpol, was released in the US. Released to near unanimous critical acclaim, the album would peak at number 101 in the UK and number 158 in the US, and the record would spend a total of 73 weeks on the Billboard Independent Albums chart, peaking at number five. The album would go on to be named one of the best albums of the year by several publications and has gone on to be viewed as a defining, seminal album of the aughts.

[hualianlover4ever]

JWQS chapters memorable/ major scenes

(Presenting my speculative Timeline + key chapters in JWQS)

Ch 23 (Marriage) (Jingjia 8th Year) Ch 31 (Qi Yan first targets Chuntao, the soup incident) Ch 47 (Qi Yan's eyes have brightness for the first time since her kingdom was invaded 10 years ago) Ch 70 (Jingnu 15) first kiss (scary) Ch 96 -97 (Jingnu 15) proper memorable kiss after Jingnu's birthday (Jingjia 9th year 10th Month)

(Jingnu's birthday is in the month of October)

Ch 108 (Jingnu 16)(Experiences her 1st period) Ch 111 (Qi Yan is scary) (Jingjia 10th Year 10th Month) Ch 121 (Jingnu 17) (first break point) Ch 132 (Jingnu sends Qi Yan away while making her the Viceroy of Jin Province) Jingjia 11th year Ch 133 (3 years have passed) Ch 136 (Jingnu 20)(Meeting after 3 years separation) (Jingjia 14th year) Ch 139 (Qi Yan became the Minister of Personal) Ch 140 (family time) Ch 141 (Qi Yan age 24) Ch 144 -145 (trying to repair the first break point) Ch 147 (Qi Yan gets a mental shock) ("My sister is having a night of passion with the daughter of the enemy?!")(Jingjia 14th year 11th Month )(Qi Yan burns her own estate) Ch 151-152 (Jingjia 15th year 3rd Month) (Qi Yan recovers from the Fuma estate Fire incident) (The Capital exam begins with Qi Yan as the main examiner) Ch 157 (Nangong Rang asks Qi Yan about her opinion of a Female emperor) Ch 158 ( Act as you see fit) Ch 159 (Qi Yan feelings are growing) Ch 170 (Qi Yan age 25) (Liu An matters solved) Ch 171 (OMG Qi Yan fell in an incurable love with the daughter of her enemy) Ch 174 (Palace exam begins.. Nangong Rang hosted it ) (Jingjia 15th year 5th Month) Ch 176 (Qi Yan sets off to the north of Luo) Ch 181 (Wolves scene) Ch 183 (Qi Yan meets Bayin after many years) (Jingjia 15th year) Apparently Jinwushu was brought to the grass plains at the age of 4, after that Bayin started acting as his guardian Ch 186 (The pride of Qiyan Agula returns) Ch 193 (Qi Yan and Jingnu reunion after a good amount of separation) Ch 212 (Intimate scenes (last for Qi Yan as male)) (Just be reckless this once) Ch 218 (Nangong Rang dies )(Jingjia 16th year 2nd Month) ( Qi Yan is 27) Ch 228 (Jingnu ascends the throne at the age of 23) Ch 229 (Jingjia 16th year 5th Month , Reign changes to Chengji) Ch 242 (Truth gets revealed) Ch 243 (Qi Yan confesses her identity) Ch 244 (Jingnu faints from the shocking new lmao) Ch 247 (Jingnu 's first gradual acceptance..of Qi Yan being a women) Ch 258 (Divorce comes…"Qi Yan…don't cry…") Ch 259 (Prison arc torture. Qi Yan - Age-28) Ch 263 (Jingnu finds the wooden sculpt pigs) Ch 268 (Qi Yan leaves …Oh dear…) Ch 270 (No fear when Da-Jie is here!) Ch 271 (Their first time) (Jingnu -23) (Qi Yan age 27) (7th month) Ch 277 (Grand enthronement ) Ch 279 (Bathing intimate scene) (Jingnu -25) Ch 286 (Rebellion of North Luo) Ch 288 (Qi Yan's mind deterioration first proper symptoms. …oh boy..) Ch 290 (Qi Yan meets Baishi again) Ch 293 (Bayin learns the truth….No longer Andas) (Also Qian Tong, all hail our saviour) (Jingnu -26) Ch 296 (REUNION with a lingering kiss) Ch 297 (Say..which of us is the wife?)(The fluff is just AHHHHH) Ch 301 (Qi Yan (age -30) learns of her parent's death…) Ch 302 (Ding You returns..) Ch 303 (Qi Yan fake dies) Ch 305 (darkest chapter of Qi Yan's life )

Jingjia 8th Year 3rd Month Capital Exam begins Qi Yan obtained the first position 5th Month Qi Yan becomes the Flower Seeker 6th Month Nangong Rang arranges the two marriages She gets sick again… Meets Ding You ,the Imperial doctor 12th Month Marriage of Qi Yan and Jingnu

Jingjia 9th Year 2nd Month Jingnu wishes for Qi Yan to live to a ripe old age 4th Month Initiates a scheme of the great Fire of Imperial Mausoluem and the Weiyang palace

Jingjia 10th Year 10th Month Qi Yan kills the saviour of her younger sister(along side many other innocent folks)

Jingjia 11th Year Qi Yan is under house arrest The witchcraft incident occurs Nangong Shunu meets Qiyan Nomin for the first time

Jingjia 14th Year Qi Yan becomes the minister of Personal 11th Month Learns of her sister 's relationship. . .. Qi Yan burns the Fuma estate

Jingjia 15th Year In the first two months , Qi Yan was still recovering from the damage from the Great Fire of the Fuma Estate 3rd Month Qi Yan becomes the main examiner of Capital exam (She receives the secret decree of "Act as you see fit) (Liu An incident occurs) Qi Yan entrusts her sister in Nangong Shunu's hands 5th Month Palace exams begins Meanwhile Qi Yan departs to the North of Luo as the Imperial Ambassador

(Jingjia 16th year = Chengji 1st year) Jingjia 16th Year 1st Month Qi Yan returns to the capital Spends an approx of 22 days in prison Schemes a plan to assassinate the sixth prince 2nd Month Qi Yan reveals her identity killing Nangong Rang in the process 5th Month Jingnu officially acsends the throne Chengji 1st Year 7th Month(3rd month since Jingnu's enthronement) Qi Yan aids Jingnu with the Sifang bank revenue 9th Month Qi Yan tells Xiao Die to confess about her identity 10th Month Qi Yan goes against the masked person's orders Her identity gets exposed

Chengji 2nd year 2nd Month Qi Yan's malicious crimes get exposed Jingnu divorces her 4th Month Qi Yan returns to the palace Gets thrown into jail for treason 5th Month Qi Yan officially becomes Qiyan Agula She is sent back to the north of Luo 7th Month Agula becomes "missing" Qi Yan returns to the palace They have their first time

Chengji 3rd year 3rd month Jingnu 's grand enthronement 9th month Masked person schemes activated

(Qi Yan lived in the restricted part of the palace for over a year)

Chengji 4th Year 4th Month Qi Yan resumes the position of Imperial Husband 5th Month Qi Yan learns of her parents' death 10th Month Qi Yan's memories start to relapse

The reason why (I think) Qi Yan starts to be amnesiac 1) Her mental health was already degrading which had am impact on her critical thought process 2) The red pill which Ding You gives her to remove the poison (the water disease + her womanly features) but it had a side effect which gave her a state of amnesia

Chengji 5th year 2nd Month They meet each other for last time before Qi Yan's death She paints a portrait of Jingnu (age -27) 3rd Month Qi Yan takes the death faking drugs

Chengji 6th year Jingnu crowns Shangyuan Fu as the Crown Prince Ding You successfully treats water disease

Qi Yan however has no past memories of past..

Chengji 7th year Jingnu takes care of Qi Yan's business Goes and digs Qi Yan 's grave too To find its empty

Chengji 8th year Jingnu started to travel in disguise(in search for Qi Yan in this vast world) Meanwhile Ding You suggests Qi Yan to go teach in a private school

Chengji 10th year Jingnu (Age -32) retires from the throne

1 year later of retirement They meet again with Qi Yan meeting her for the "first" time after Jingnu's 4 years of searching There is some hope as Qi Yan hugged Jingnu back Qi Yan (37) Jingnu (33)

My speculation (added with author's info) Within the next year Jingnu moved here, bought the school where Qi Yan was teaching Qi Yan moves in Jingnu 's estate

and they get married again! and this time its a love marriage! They drink the ceremonial wine which they didn't 20 years ago

Happily Ever After

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from The Guardian:

Governments risk another decade of failure on biodiversity loss, due to the slow implementation of an international agreement to halt the destruction of Earth’s ecosystems, experts have warned.

Less than two years ago, the world reached a historic agreement at the Cop15 summit in Montreal to stop the human-caused destruction of life on our planet. The deal included targets to protect 30% of the planet for nature by the end of the decade (30x30), reform $500bn (then £410bn) of environmentally damaging subsidies, and begin restoring 30% of the planet’s degraded ecosystems.

But as country representatives dig into their second week of negotiations at Cop16 in Cali, Colombia – their first meeting since Montreal – alarm is growing at the lack of concrete progress on any of the major targets they agreed upon. An increasing number of indicators show that governments are not on track. They still need to protect an area of land equivalent to the combined size of Brazil and Australia, and an expanse of sea larger than the Indian Ocean to meet the headline 30x30 target, according to a new UN report.

Weak progress on funding for nature and almost no progress on subsidy reform have also frustrated observers. At the time of publication, 158 countries are yet to submit formal plans on how they are going to meet the targets, according to Carbon Brief, missing their deadline this month ahead of the biodiversity summit in Cali, where governments are not likely to set a new deadline.

The world has never met a target to stem the destruction of wildlife and life-sustaining ecosystems. Amid growing scientific warnings about the state of life on Earth, there has been a major push to make sure this decade is different, and that governments comply with targets designed to prevent wildlife extinctions, such as cuts to pesticides use and pollution.

Leading figures in conservation and science have raised concerns about the progress governments are making towards the targets in Cali. Martin Harper, CEO of Birdlife International, said meaningful action on commitments was vital.

“We cannot accept inaction as the new normal. This means more action to bolster efforts to recover threatened species, to protect and restore more land, fresh water and sea, and to transform our food, energy and industrial systems. We have five years to raise hundreds of billions of dollars. If we don’t see it materialise, I dread to think where we will be in 2030,” he said

[gaystan]

nobody knows the context for any of this but craig gets a intense short lived infatuation with stan during the month he and tweek are trying being open and it makes him want to die so badly it starts with him cyberstalking stan and not understanding why he’s doing it until he catches himself grinning too hard at a mirror selfie and he’s like oh no. from there he’s constantly sending anons to smarshrares.tumblr.com begging for gym selfies they haven’t posted he’s stalking kylebroflovski on instagram and staring at 2019 posts of stan playing on his nintendo switch shirtless backstage he’s submitting “stan marsh needs to kill himself” to crimsondawnconfessions and not understanding why he gets instablocked bc he meant it in a horny way it’s an all around TERRIBLE situation for him he’s so disgusted with himself. but he can’t stop.

he’s fucking terrified that kyle is going to find out and bring it up on fireside (catg has significantly more dirt on fireside than fireside has on catg and craig KNOWS they’re itching for something to say) and one day craig wakes up to a message from kyle that says “do you find my boyfriend attractive, craig?” and realizes in horror that he’s liked a picture of stan that kyle posted on instagram THREE years ago and didn’t realize it. oh it’s SO OVER. he blocks kyle but the deed is DONE and the next episode of fireside comes out THIS WEDNESDAY. craig listens to the entire next fireside episode and he’s biting his nails waiting for the moment kyle decides to bring up craig liking his old instagram post. but he never does. and craig breathes a sigh of relief thinking maybe he’s going to let it go. and then two weeks later Episode 158: The Talented Mr. Tucker drops and it’s ALL about craig having a crush on stan and craig is looking up Where to buy a gun los angeles legal AGAIN

[m34gs]

2024 Fic Review

I was tagged by @kimium (see her post here) and thought this sounded fun to do!

Statistics:

My Top 5 Fics by Hits:

Obviously We are Engaged VS I Wonder if Silver Likes Me? - Twisted Wonderland Silbek fic co-written with @kimium

Inconvenience Store - Blue Exorcist haunted convenience store au

It's Because of You - Haikyuu merfic from forever ago that I finally felt up to continuing!

Everything is Perfect - Link Click Cheng Xiaoshi wears a dress fic :D

Cheka's Big Adventure - Twisted Wonderland birthday fic for Kimium

My Most Bookmarked Fic:

Obviously We Are Engaged VS I Wonder if Silver Likes Me?

How Many Words I Wrote in 2024: 158 050

Question Stuff:

What was the most surprising thing about writing in 2024? Hmm, honestly I would have to say the amount of Diasomnia in my Twisted Wonderland fics this year. I don't have a bunch that are Diasomnia-centric, but I do have them featured a lot more in fics this year as compared to last year. I'm not disappointed by that; I'm actually really happy because I really love writing things from Sebek's perspective (when he will *let* me) and I'm wanting to become more comfortable with writing both Malleus and Silver; as I find I struggle more with them.

What was the most enjoyable to write? I had a TON of fun writing the single Whumptober fic I did this year. Your Black and White needs a Little bit of Red is a Haikyuu! cannibal fanfic featuring my fave couple: Bokuto and Akaashi :D. It was so fun to write Akaashi becoming worse and worse the more he frets about staying close to Bokuto. I love reading and writing cannibalism as a metaphor for love, and I love love love the imagery of red on white. I'd have to say that my favourite parts are the scenes where Akaashi is bleeding in the tub.

Which fic is the most underrated? Well, when I consider fandom and how popular a ship is as well as how long each fic has been posted, I feel like my underrated fic this year is My Little Vampiress, a Link Click Halloween fic where Lu Guang dresses up as a Vampiress and Cheng Xiaoshi dresses up as a Vampire Thrall. I had a lot of fun writing it and I put a lot of work into it. I posted it on October 31, of course, lol. The Christmas shopping fic for that same series that I posted in December (Shopping in a Winter Wonderland) has already flown past that one in hits, kudos, and bookmarks. Of course, it's not that I'm really upset over that, because I wrote both those fics and I love them both! And, I am so happy anytime someone leaves a kudos, comment, or bookmark! I just really love Halloween and really worked hard on the Halloween fic too, so I would be overjoyed to see it get more attention and love :) That being said, I totally understand not everyone likes Halloween, and I would never want to force people to read something they don't like!

Which fic(s) had something "cut" or an idea that never happened? We'll Light up the Dark, the Twisted Wonderland fic I gifted Kimium for Christmas, was originally going to have Yuu walking Sebek through each step to putting out the grease-fire. I decided to scrap that version because 1. I figured Sebek would know at least a little fire safety and be able to think enough to turn the heat off and know the difference between a grease fire and a regular fire, and 2. it felt far too clunky for the scene. I also toyed with the idea of another scene in Don't Take These Beautiful Things That I've Got, a Blue Exorcist BonRin oneshot. I thought about adding a small flash-forward to the wedding, but in the end I liked where it ended and decided to discard that idea. I also considered describing their night out more, but it wasn't so pertinent to the story so I left it vague.

Which fic(s) did you want to write but didn't get around to? I wanted to write a second Whumptober fic, for the Body Horror prompt. I love horror, and I love body horror. I had an idea involving an ominous garden (again) and was thinking about using Haikyuu boys (again) but I ended up not having the energy and then my will to write the idea kind of died after November. I think that's the only one I didn't get to working on this year that I really really really wanted to do. Other fics may not have been published but they definitely got some work done on them, so I won't count them here.

Any WIPs that never got published? Oh, a few! - Pomefiore Poison fic for the Saw AU Kimium and I write. I have put a substantial amount of work into this one, but unfortunately it is not ready for posting yet. I am hoping to have it done and posted before the end of January, as I now have a few less other projects going on and can focus more on it. - 2 of my 3 merperson AUs for Link Click have multiple chapters written but nothing posted yet. (I need to be able to bounce between writing projects when my brain won't brain for certain ones, so when that happened I would write a few paragraphs for those wips and then bounce back to my other ones). I want to keep those ones not posted until I have my Inconvenience Store finished because posting too many multichapter things at once makes it hard for me to keep up with what I'm doing and make sure I'm working on them both instead of favouring one over the other... - my vampire Idia x human Kalim fic. There are, again, a couple chapters written, but I haven't gotten to posting it and I do want to wait because as I said, too many multichapter fics at once is more stress for me than it's worth, lol.

Share a snippet from a WIP fic? From my Pomefiore Poison fic:

               Silence greeted her. She glanced around again, looking for any hint of movement or any sign of a hiding place. She ignored the ringing in her ears and the tiny voice in her head that whispered none of her friends were the prankster type. She tried again. “Really, guys, I get it. It’s a good one! Lock the reporter in the murder trap. But, I have things to do. Let me out, kay?”                No one answered. Nothing moved. Jessica’s heart sped up and the room started to spin. She stumbled over to the table and sat in the only chair in the room.                The chalices were tall and elegant, like something from a themed dinner. She looked around again, for something – anything – that would give away who had done this. There was nothing.                With trembling hands, she set the tape recorder on the smooth table. “Alright, fine,” she mumbled, trying her best to sound annoyed rather than scared. “I’ll play your little game. This is an escape room thing, right? You guys know I hate puzzles. Fuck you.” She pressed ‘play’.

8. Which fic was the one you were most excited to write? I'd have to say I was most excited to write Stay With Me, Darling, a Link Click wing-fic oneshot; based on the sheer fact that it was less than 24 hours that I saw the inspiration, had the idea, and wrote and posted the fic. Like, I don't know if I've ever been that possessed by an idea. Kimium showed me the promotional music video 'Break' since I hadn't watched it yet, and within 16 hours of watching it with her, I went home and wrote that wingfic, lol. Definitely felt like I was but a vessel for the story, hahaha.

9. Fic hopes for the New Year? I want to write *more*. I didn't write/post as much this year as I have in past years, and that kind of made me sad, even though there were a lot of external factors impacting my abilities this time around. I just love writing so much and I have so many ideas I want to put out there and I have so many fic ideas that I'm in the planning stages on. I have so many fic ideas that I've started. I just want to write them all so much. Maybe I should start a spreadsheet...

Tagging: @thestorieswesay, @voxofthevoid, @queenarahbo, @the-positive-area, @honeii-puff, @kyanako5972; no pressure my friends, but I thought maybe this might be something fun you would enjoy!

[dykekingofhell]

it’s a little silly, but i love when anne rice spells out her out books in the sequels

“Jesse was puzzled. "The fact is, I have read it," she said. "It was a couple of years ago. But what does a novel like this have to do with us?"

Jesse had picked up a paperback copy at the airport and devoured it on a long transcontinental flight. The story, supposedly told by a vampire to a young reporter in present-day San Francisco, had affected Jesse rather like a bad dream. She wasn't sure she liked it. Matter of fact, she'd thrown it away later, rather than leave it on a bench at the next airport for fear some unsuspecting person might find it.

The main characters of the work-rather glamorous immortals when you got right down to it-had formed an evil little family in antebellum New Orleans where they preyed on the populace for over fifty years. Lestat was the villain of the piece, and the leader. Louis, his anguished subordinate, was the hero, and the one telling the tale. Claudia, their exquisite vampire "daughter," was a truly tragic figure, her mind maturing year after year while her body remained eternally that of a little girl. Louis's fruitless quest for redemption had been the theme of the book, obviously, but Claudia's hatred for the two male vampires who had made her what she was, and her own eventual destruction, had had a much stronger effect upon Jesse.” (qotd 157-158)

you’re so right jesse reeves! really it is all about claudia! fuck these other guys and their quests for redemption!