#Dawen Nightmaiden

[kalira]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last ten people who reblogged something from you. Spread the positivity!

🖤

Talking plots and tossing ideas around with friends.

Snug naps with my sweet kitteh. (Or any kitteh-snuggles.)

A fresh cup of good tea (or just sticking my nose in a tin of good tea leaves).

Baking and coming up with new baking experiments.

Brisk, crisp fall days with enough wind to billow but not buffet, and the energy to go running or hiking on them.

[anarchopuppy]

Hey, quick question for you! I'm thinking about joining Plume but I can't figure out how to browse instances. The link you gave in an earlier post has five, but unless I'm severely overestimating how long Plume has been up, that seems way too low to be *all* the instances on Plume. Do you know a better way?

I think you are overestimating how long Plume has been stable and how successful it’s been, tbh. It’s not like Mastodon, where you can find a homestuck instance or a kin instance or something. It’s still getting its footing and moving along quickly

I can tell you a secret though: sunbeam.city, the Mastodon instance I’m on, is about to start hosting Plume this weekend. We also doubled our character limit to 1000 the other day. I know I talk about sunbeam a lot, and I do want people to spread to a lot of instances to encourage broad federation, but like…. it really is nice there lol

[copperbadge]

dreamwaffles replied to your post “As a terrible online conversationalist - what kind of questions would...”

*squints* Are you friends with Captain Awkward?

I’m not (how I wish!) but my friend does READ Captain Awkward, so it’s entirely possible that’s where she got it! 

athousanderrors replied to your post “My blood pressure may be 130/89 (A NEW HIGH SCORE!) and I might have a...”

oh god dry food. I have two senior cats and one of them likes to take a massive mouthful of biscuits and then back up two steps and go 'pleh' onto the floor, and pick out which ones he wants to eat.

That might be one of those “whisker fatigue” things -- some cats don’t do well if when they eat their whiskers brush the ridge of the bowl. If you haven’t tried a flat feeding plate, that might help! 

Or he might just be an asshole. :D 

dawen-nightmaiden replied to your photo “FINE, APOLOGY ACCEPTED.[Description: Dearborn is lying on her side...”

Sam, I love your image descriptions

Thank you! I had someone specifically request description add-ons for the Cryptids because they like hearing about my upstart daughters but have trouble seeing the images. My immediate reaction was “I will do the thing!” with a side of “I hope I remember to do the thing!” but I have to admit my secondary reaction was “I really hope this doesn’t take away from the humor in most of the Cryptid posts.” 

So I sat with it and I asked myself, “Could I make this a curb-cutter moment, so that the descriptions improve the experience for everyone?” and my resolution was to give accurate but also amusing descriptions. Which then also convey the humor in the images when people can’t see the images, at least that’s the hope. And so far it’s been fun! 

[vaspider]

Hi, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I have a (non-Nerdy Keppie related) clothes question, and as another nonbinary person you were my first thought. Is there a difference/how can I tell the difference between being uncomfortable in certain clothes because of dysphoria vs being uncomfortable because they are Definitely Not My Style? I don't... think I've experienced clothes related dysphoria, but now I'm not sure

For me it’s a matter of ... scope? Like, okay, if I don’t like something because it’s not my style, it’s like ‘meh, I don’t like this.’ But for me clothing-related dysphoria is like my insides are reacting the way that my puppy reacts when he’s got his harness on and knows we’re going to The Place Where The Whipped Cream Comes From (aka Starbucks drive-thru). He will, and has, chewed through the straps on his harness to get out. That’s how I feel inside when dysphoria hits: I want to chew my way free from those clothes, at any cost. 

[the-queer-and-beloved]

My IDing as queer has been years in the making: I was an out ace when the Tumblr ace exclusion discourse started, and I always said "aces have the right to reclaim/ID as queer." Cuz at the time I didn't, for a myriad of reasons. Kept saying that as I realized I'm also aro + nb, which eventually slid to "aces are queer" because the first was too long, and now here I am. Queer. Cuz the exlusionists tried to say I wasn't.

This is fantastic and I love it :)

-Kiwi 🥝

We’re Here, We’re Queer

[lightningbenders]

@dawen-nightmaiden I actually was just talking to a friend about this and yeah, actually, I probably would? Though polyships are so hard to come by in general, let alone ones that aren't just an equilateral triangle/relevant polygon and actually has that specific dynamic arrangement :/

Anyone who follows my other blogs probably knows my multishipper ass is a huge supporter of ot3/4s and polyships in general but like for some reason, despite my deep love of both Zuko/Sokka and Sokka/Suki, and the fact that I can definitely see Zuko and Suki becoming good friends down the line, for SOME UNKNOWN REASON I just CANT get behind the ot3. Like it just sparks zero interest in me. There’s nothing wrong with it and objectively it’s great but like. Zero emotional interest. And that’s so WEIRD for me??

[whumpprompts]

So I wrote some ridiculously self-indulgent drivel the other day which is probably out of character, and I have been describing it as such. Today, re-reading it in the hopes of working towards FINISHING it, I realized: most people's self-indulgent drivel is tooth-rotting fluff, or sappy soulmate aus, or - well, not mine. MINE is a prison break on multiple broken bones, blindness semi-compensated with magic, right after a rape where the victim bites the rapist's cock off. I pull no punches.

It’s great you’re writing what you want to write! I don’t think you should pull any punches with writing and art in general, unless you’re getting paid to do a certain kind of thing. Why else would we do what we do? It’s supposed to be creative, fun, and probably for most a way to express ourselves as well. We shouldn’t have to restrict that :)

[tj-crochets]

An aroace bee! As suggested by @dawen-nightmaiden

[kalira]

...I've GOT to ask about Bender-Banging Burdens. Even though it probably involves a ton of sex, from the name. (WAIT THERE'S MULTIPLE. Pick one and/or all, then.) Also I am morally obligated to ask about Near-Death Zuko Whump. ...Also Baby Thor and Loki Learn Their Powers. ...And I think that's it. For now.

Fun times!

Bender-Banging Burdens

. . .yes it does indeed involve lots of sex, it is pretty much a quartet of smut pieces. Although I only have parts of two of them written yet, and the others noted down. Also the alliteration is totally sticking around for the individual piece titles, but I haven’t decided what the final titles are yet.

The working titles in the list of course were Amorous Airbending Accident and Fucking Firebender Flare-Up - those will be the first and fourth in the series respectively, because obviously I have to stick to the cycle of the elements. ;)

The stories are pure smut pieces only focusing on the disasters that can come along with sex with benders (particularly powerful ones), although I’ll be rescuing each disaster with teasing, laughter, and good sex in the end. (Also have to say it feels really weird to be writing sex featuring Aang, who I write as grown older not infrequently but still with my brain insisting he’s twelve forever.) Also trying to stick with canon as much as possible for this one, ships included.

Obviously I had to use Aang for airbending, I could maybe have used someone else but . . . I mean I have to use Katara for waterbending (so that ship will get to come around twice), Toph for earthbending which has proved tricky ship-wise both personally and canonically buuut she may get a threesome *coughs*, and Zuko for firebending (with Mai, naturally).

Near-Death Zuko Whump

Well this one, as you know Dawen, was a request XP one of quite frankly a large number of hurt/comfort ones I’ve gotten and/or filled. (Apparently Zuko isn’t battered enough canon? Or perhaps I just do it particularly well? I do love H/C.)

Requested specifically in this one was terrible, whumpy, oh-shit-he-might-not-pull-through Zuko ouches (ship optional but I know me and I assume it’s not a surprise I went for the ship).

Snippet:

The council meeting wasn’t exactly short, but it didn’t drag on at least,and Sokka held his tongue with difficulty from harrying them on when theylingered over closing remarks. Eventually they did all begin to shuffle awaypapers and rise. Sokka hurried to do the same. He had plans to intercept Zukofor at least a break before he triedto do anything else on his normallist of duties.

Zuko rose, and Sokka dropped his notes and startedtowards him immediately, because Zuko was neverso unsteady. He didn’t make it to his lover’s side before Zuko gasped softlyand crumpled, nearly toppling into a brazier near his throne.

Sokka cursed quietly under his breath - orperhaps not quite so quietly, he realised as he passed by one of the councilmembers looking scandalised - as he darted over to Zuko, catching his shoulderand rolling him onto his side, further away from the brazier.

Zuko was ashy-pale, flushed, and sweaty,his eyes definitely glazed now. Sokkacursed again. “Zuko, can you focus on me?” he asked, waving a hand over Zuko’sface, not too close.

Zuko groaned and shuddered, but didn’t reallyanswer.

I actually worked on this one some more this morning, after getting this ask, and I may be continuing that today - if I can keep it along the rough outline and figure out beyond it, perhaps I’ll finish it before putting it away again! >.>

It took me a while to work on it at all because for a while near-death sick really only made me think of my near-death sick escapade last year. Only I don’t think I could give Zuko what I have in a non-modern-AU without killing him. (Even assuming I wanted to write about it; which I may . . . when/if it gets further away from my ‘now’.)

Baby Thor and Loki Learn Their Powers

Started this one on a whim and with a bit of an image in mind, not sure yet how far it will go based on both that image and just where I want to take it.

Snippet:

“Loki? Loki what are you doing?” Thor demanded, impatient andwheedling.

Loki’s eyes narrowed and he glared at thebook he had set in front of himself, ensuring it knew what was required of it.“I,” he said, drawing himself up and looking at his big brother, “am testing aspell.”

Thor looked surprised, and then grinned.“Really? Magic? Like Mother does?” he asked, bouncing a little as he hurriedcloser. “That’s amazing! What will it do?” he asked, leaning over Loki’sshoulder like he would be able to make sense of the book anyway.

Loki still preened a little at hisbrother’s surprise and the impressed air about him as he spoke. “You’ll see.”he said, though, keeping his face calm, like Mother - like Father.

“Show me, show me!” Thor begged, bouncing alittle more, and there was a low rumble that most people might have missed, butLoki’s sharp ears made outas a low rumble of thunder.

Loki smiled and held up his hands, thenincanted, the old, old words heavy on his tongue but light as quicksilver inhis veins. Heat sparked in his wrists and poured up through his hands and it hurt but it also felt good, and Lokiwasn’t quite sure but he hung on because he wassure of his determination, and he poured focus into it and-

“Whoa!”Thor shouted, falling backwards as Loki staggered, a green-red-blue tangledball of flame streaking from Loki’s hands across the room to impact a pillar.It left a large scorch mark and a small maze of cracks in the stone.

I’ve also written Odin and Frigga’s reactions (diametrically different) in another scene, and one of Frigga who is pleased and also very reasonably a bit worn, considering one of her sons now throws fire and the other calls down lightning. XD

(Ask me about my WIPs!)

[badolmen]

Tagged by @kansascity-elffriend, thanks for the tag!

“list 10 favorite characters from 10 different things and tag 10 people”

1. Bones from Star Trek

2. Hondo Ohnaka from Star Wars

3. Hordak from the new She-Ra

4. Carl Semken from SOMA

5. Billy Hope from Outlast

6. Jasmine from Secondhand Lions

7. Weiss from RWBY

8. South from RvB

9. Lacey Rawlins from All the Pretty Horses

10. The Dag from Mad Max: Fury Road

I’ll tag... @flicker-serthes @terra-normal @laughingdarkdreams @princeoflife123 @what-breaks-my-heart @boundtorain @soundlessdragon @apparently-i-am-an-adult @superfan163 and @dawen-nightmaiden! 

[awkwardmoanascreencaps]

Yo, your about page asked people to tell you how to quote tags, I don't know if this is the right way but it's how I do it! I click onto the blog that has the tags, open the reblog in a new tab, then I copy-paste the tags themselves into the reblog and then just put in (via [name]). Then I highlight the name I put in and click on the little link symbol - kind of like an infinity sign? And link to the post I took the tags from. That way people can click on the link and read the tags themselves.

oh my gOD tysm !!! tysm i didnt think anyone would actually tell omg ! bless

edit: ohhhhhh btw does sm1 know how to both @ the person AND include a link w/out it being awkward? i definitely wanna @ the person to let them know i used their tags but having the link there too would be nice

[vaspider]

I just downloaded the shinigami eyes extension after learning about it from your recent posts, and the very first thing I saw that was changed was your handle coming up green. While not a surprise at all, it delights me that your name specifically was the first one. Thought you might like that too :)

It was really nice when I installed the extension and all my social media was already lit up green. The NerdyKeppie facebook is, too. ;) 

[kedreeva]

@dawen-nightmaiden I can’t speak for others, but for me, that’s perfect. I exclusively use a screen reader if I’m going to read fic, and I prefer for there to be a single (or just a couple) mark(s) to mark breaks between scenes. This is because my reader doesn’t recognize horizontal rules or images, so without SOME kind of interrupt in the text with actual text for it to read, it just continues reading as if there was nothing between one paragraph and the next. Sometimes this is very confusing! I will understand, mostly because I am used to it doing this. But a single mark like that is probably the friendliest way to mark scene breaks for the screen readers I’ve used (and “tilde” imo is a prettier work than “asterisk” to hear, so there’s that going for you too).

If your story has different points of view, is it annoying to switch between them in a single chapter? Thank you!

I do that all the time, so I hope not! lol

seriously, though - as long as the switches are clear and don’t cause confusion you should be fine. I find it helps to use the horizonal rule in between viewpoints to show the flip in perspective. 

Note: don’t use stylistic breaks between viewpoints (or scenes) like a series of asterisks or tildes etc. If someone is using a screen reader, it will read out each symbol that you use. Also using indicators like “Character A’s POV” tend to break up the story and take people out the narrative. Or at least they do for me.

[whumpprompts]

Oh, I'm not ashamed of it! ^.^ I'm still working on it, I intend to post it on AO3, the whole nine yards. It just struck me as funny that my "self-indulgent drivel" is not what most people would call "self-indulgent drivel." Maybe this is just Entry 4322 of "You May Be A Whumper If..."

Ha yeah, the ”you may be a whumper if…” list is long! But man am I glad I am one, and that I’m not the only one. So many amazing whump fics to choose from!

[maulanayusuf2011]

from Health & Balance https://ift.tt/2GeyGwk via Healthy Exercise

vivaciouseats: dawen-nightmaiden: vivaciouseats: vegan Reese’s...

vegan Reese’s peanut butter cups! made with natural peanut butter freshly ground from my local food co-op this morning, and 70% cacao chips (with extra cacao powder added to make them darker), sprinkled with sea salt

[father-lion]

@dawen-nightmaiden in a lot of places they refer to sprite as "lemonade" and dont have what Americans call lemonade (sugar, lemon, water)

‘pop’ is pretty heinous but like, I’ll accept it, yknow? it’s just the other half of ‘soda-pop,’ like how ‘cab’ and ‘taxi’ are the two halves of ‘taxicab.’ it’s fine. it’s chill.

but coke? that’s a fucking brand name! of a specific drink with a specific flavor! that shits RUDE, it’s CONFUSING, it’s DOWNRIGHT NONSENSICAL! fuckin misusing the art of language to confound your fellow man! the gall! learn some fucking respect