#but I did it with the first installment

[victorluvsalice]

AU Thursday: How's "Londerland Bloodlines: Downtown Queensland" Going?

Been another fairly lengthy gap between updates -- our last being in August -- and just as that one hailed me starting Chapter 6, this one hails me ending it -- and thus COMPLETING THE FIRST DRAFT! *blows party horns* Yes, Alice has made it through the trials and tribulations of Downtown --

-->being attacked by the Sabbat the minute she first stepped foot down there and saved by Nines once again (though she didn't appreciate him just speeding off afterward)

-->being sent back to Santa Monica to investigate the Elizabeth Dane (with the inadvertent help of Officer Heinz)

-->meeting up with Victor again and taking him on as a roommate (and quickly growing to really like his company)

-->taking down a plaguebearer cult (which became VERY PERSONAL after no less than two people died from their disease right in front of her)

-->stealing a briefcase for good old Fat Larry (and helping to set off a gang war in the process)

-->helping Venus with her Russian Mafia problem (and accidentally freaking out Venus when she had to admit to being under twenty-one)

-->having the ABSOLUTE WORST NIGHT OF HER LIFE at Grout's little hellhole (seriously, it is so bad)

-->dealing with the local Nagaraja (and not the way you may think)

-->and then infiltrating the Museum Of Natural History almost perfectly -- only to discover the sarcophagus LaCroix wants was no longer inside (though a Beckett was)

I've left it with Alice -- having just discovered how fucking rich Victor is, and with Victor insisting he wants to get her something to show his appreciation for her -- letting Victor take her on a shopping spree for some new clothes before they head over to Hollywood. :D We'll let this sit while I deal with the December gift fics, then next year, it'll be time to start editing and posting! I hope you're all looking forward to it. :)

[floccinaucinihilipilificationa]

[quintessenceofdust88]

(you guys this just came to me while I was almost falling asleep it's unbeata'ed and unedited and I'll probably cringe at it in the morning but 3am me doesn't have that filter so)

Tommy's not sure what wakes him up; at first, he thinks it's the light of Evan's screen, but that can't be it. He has slept many a time with that light upon his face when his husband gets caught up in a research binge.

Then Tommy realizes it's the soft sobbing that's making Evan's shoulders shake slightly, and he's sitting up in bed and alert in seconds.

"Baby" He calls urgently, placing a hand on Evan's shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Evan turns around to face him, also sitting up, and the knot in Tommy's chest loosens slightly when he sees the smile on his tear-stained face. Happy tears, then. A common thing for Evan for the last few months, but still quite unexpected at 3 in the morning.

"Did... Did you know they have fingernails already?" Evan asks, his voice thick with emotion as his hand moves gently on his bump which is already starting to stretch the old T-shirt he's wearing (and Tommy knows it's only a matter of time until he switches for Tommy's slightly larger ones).

"They do, sweetheart?" Tommy whispers in awe, his hand coming down to join Evan's over his belly. He knows that twelve weeks is too soon to feel anything; even if there are two babies, but he likes to know their babies are right under the joined hands of their dads.

"Y--yeah. And eyelashes too. I... I was just reading about fetal development and twins and... Fingernails, Tommy. I... I don't know why, but it made them seem so more real for me. There are two little people growing up inside of me. We made them!" He says, his voice filled with awe, and the tears start running down his face again. "Ohh, come on, that's not fair, the irrational crying was supposed to have stopped already!" He whines, and Tommy more than quickly pulls Evan to his embrace.

Evan drops his head unceremoniously in Tommy's shoulder, and Tommy runs a comforting hand on his curls, the other one still protectively draped above the bump.

"Well, if you ask me, crying over our babies' fingernails is not completely irrational" Tommy quips, gaining a wet chuckle for his efforts. "I... I get what you mean. It makes them... It makes them tangible. More than an idea"

Evan nods against his shoulder, and Tommy has to hold back his own tears as the thought fully enters his mind.

As he gently kisses Evan's forehead and convinces him to drop his phone and actually get some sleep, Tommy can't keep a grin from his face.

Two little people. Growing inside Evan. And they made them. What a wonderful idea to fall asleep to.

[not-an-atla-blog]

Elrond chirps when he's happy and it breaks Durin's mind every time he hears it.

[nots0nu]

Cedric week:

•Day four

•JAN 8TH• magical mishaps!!!!

[munchboxart]

Finished the last few Polaroid commissions

[asexualbookbird]

25 in 2025

Sigh. I've been bullied. I guess. I did a big swing and a miss on last years list, but I have a Plan this time. A Theme. A Goal. This will be mostly comprised of my Illumicrate books so I can decide if it is in fact worth it to keep my subscription going until the Alecto edition gets announced. If I don't actually enjoy the majority of the books in these boxes then what's the point, yknow?

So here's this years color key:

Green - Carry over from last year (not carrying over every missed book, which probably means I should just get rid of them huh)

Purple - Illumicrate books

Blue - I own these in physical form, but they're not from Illumicrate

Labyrinth's Heart by MA Carrick

The Faithless by CL Clark

The Art of Prophecy by Wesley Chu

The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

City of Bones by Martha Wells

Witch King by Martha Wells

After the Forest by Kell Woods

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White

Of Jade and Dragons by Amber Chen

The Phoenix Keeper by SA Maclean

A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft

Until We Shatter by Kate Dylan

Mistress of Lies by KM Enright

Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T Kingfisher

The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso

The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

He Who Drowned the World by Shelley Parker Chan

All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault by James Alan Gardner

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett

The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne

In the Ravenous Dark by AM Strickland

A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab

PHEW. Okay. A fw things to note. A Dark and Drowning Tide is an Illumicrate book, but I didn't pay for it. A friend gave it to me after I skipped that month because she wasn't interested. I always look up book spoilers and skip if I'm not interested and if I'm uninterested in any of the stuff I'll skip even if the book seems neat. That month the box was full of fandoms I didn't care about, so my friends said "here, take my copy" and I said "yay! Free book!"

The Last Hour Between Worlds I think was also an Illumicrate book? They do fanart for it so I assume it was at some point. I did not get it. This is not the IC edition. I was not thrilled about The Tethered Mage so I was going to get this out of the library. Then my mom bought it for me for the holidays. So yay! Free book!

I think I would also like to keep track of books I purchase this year. I'd like to cut down on buying books that I won't love. So I'd like to utilise my library more. Win win, I think! And that seems easier than a full out ban since yeah sometimes I do enjoy little treats! Books purchased for other people do not count, obviously.

There are also some books I'd like to reread this year, mainly The Bone Maker because I've been saying that since I read it the first time. And honestly, I've been chasing the same vibes and haven't been able to match it (Godkiller got close!).

As usual, I reserve the right to pretend this post doesn't exist, but I think I've set myself up for success here :)

I don't know who hasn't done this by now @logarithmicpanda ? Have you?? Consider yourself tagged >:3c

oh right I was bullied tagged by @bigcats-birds-and-books

[laylakeating]

IT'S ALL OVER NOW, ALL OUT TO SEA. @thetroubletones, i love you!

[sapphire-weapon]

so while it is a cool little attention to detail thing that one of leon’s idle (and sometimes running) animations in RE4make is him stretching out the shoulder where he was shot in RE2, it does add an extra layer of fucked up to his character lmao

like. that gunshot wound happened six years ago. if it’s still bothering him, that means that there’s some kind of permanent damage there -- and it’s probably nerve damage. and since it was a government doctor who patched him up in the first place, it’s not like they don’t know that that’s a thing. so the federal government is basically like “hey leon we’re going to send you into the most dangerous combat situations on the planet by yourself. hope your shoulder doesn’t lock up and/or your arm doesn't go numb at the worst possible moment and get you killed. good luck!”

and then you keep thinking about his nerve damage and remember that las plagas specifically attack the body’s nervous system and it’s like lmao oh that’s why leon’s plaga progressed so quickly, and why it was on par with ashley’s despite her having been injected with one days, if not weeks, earlier than he was -- and why he didn’t have to go through any of the additional “rituals” that she did in order for saddler to take over his shit.

it’s like the RE4make devs looked at leon and were like “so how can we make him even more pathetically miserable” and the animator who’d already decided to retroactively break his nose was like “hey i got another idea”

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2025: ADRIFT IN CURRENTS CLEAN AND CLEAR by Seanan McGuire.

Ah, yes, my favorite January tradition: heartbreak in tiny series installment form :)

This one is about a turtle-obsessed disabled Russian girl who gets adopted by an American family and fitted for a prosthetic she doesn't ask for, want, or need, and then she splashes through her Door.

I love Russian language and culture things (shout out to accidentally double minoring in college), so I was excited for a Russian protag and a Russian-coded Door world! Excellent enrichment in my enclosure. Neat cultural expansion on the Wayward Children universe (multiverse? cosmos?? insert appropriately scaled setting word here).

I also liked the aquatic nature of Belyyreka--terrifying giant frogs and delightful giant turtles and delightful talking foxes on the riverbanks were all lovely, and the worldbuilding about different weights of water was neat! Very mind-bendy kind of setting, I dig it.

This installment felt very slim (146 pages in my copy), and Our World Heavy--the first 46 pages were in Colorado, and the last 100 were in Belyyreka, but it felt like we did More Frequent and Larger Time Skips in Belyyreka compared to Earth? Kind of speedrun mode, sans Quests, really (this one was a lot more oriented toward Finding/Building Your Family, which was signposted pretty clearly upon our arrival in Belyyreka). Mostly a quieter installment up until the, y'know, Typical Impending Tragedy of Return at the end. (Did I almost put it down at 1AM last night with 30 pages left so everyone could Be Happy? perHAPS,)

Overall: I had a good time! But, ow, my heart (once again and forever).

[sallykie]

I think GOTNF somehow fell out of the Good Timeline and into this one.

[glitchytrait]

just thought i'd leave this here

thanks to this wonderful video, i learned how to get access to all of the sims 4 expansions totally legally. if you don't wanna go through all those steps, you might just be able to get them, too, if you follow this link...

instructions can be found in the video or in the tags. i will make my own video for my process in the future. when i do, i'll edit this post and link it here.

[harbingerofsoup]

actually you know what, im still not over infinity war and endgame systematically undoing all of the plot progression and character development in thor ragnarok, a movie that many people presumably worked very hard on and managed to successfully push its characters in new and interesting directions, none of which matters now because, again, the fucking russo brothers and whoever the fuck else was involved decided their vision was more important than the work of others

[kobbers]

:]

now, he's not *actually* sparring - it looks like he wandered into the path of a charge between training soldiers, but that's extremely Cat and I love it.

I wish he would adopt someone :'1 guess he's content fathering all the kittens in my fortress.

[ratatatastic]

[shadow-von-vamp]

got a new laptop that actually works and the first thing i do is try to play animal jam