#it’s pretty good- only con is how many puzzles there are but I���m also really stupid so

[thebibliomancer]

Shadows of the Dark Crystal liveblog pt 14

Shadows of the Dark Crystal by J. M. Lee because a new challenger approaches.

Last times on book: Naia is on a journey to Ha’rar with Kylan to clear brother Gurjin’s name and warn the All-Maudra about all these dark crystals. Due to bad life choices, Naia and Kylan went through the Dark Woods at night, saw all kinds of spooky nonsense, and then Naia dreamfasted with a tree which unspooked the woods. Then a four-armed figure with a mask burst out of a tree.

Chapter 16

A weirdo four-armed guy called urVa has Naia and Kylan for supper. I’m sorry, I mean to supper.

Why would healing the Dark Wood end in releasing a dangerous monster?

Asking the real questions, Naia.

The four-armed possible purple Gelfling-eating monster moves slightly so Naia immediately hucks a bola at it.

It shot from her hand, on target toward the monster’s narrow-set eyes - but quicker than she could see, the thing’s hand darted forth, snatching the center bola stone before it could make its mark. The counterweights flailed uselessly, spinning in open air, striking nothing.

Wow!

Reflexes!

The creature just kind of chuckles at this and finishes the slight movement, removing the wooden mask from its face. Reveaing whorled skin.

!!! Definitely an urRu, yup.

“Sounds like Gelfling breathings,” it mumbled in a voice that sounded like many tones all at once, speaking the Gelfling tongue with an unfamiliar accent. “That Gelfling urVa sees there? Two? Ah! The one who healed Olyeka-Staba.”

! The Archer! Hey, Naia, its cool. This guy is friend-shaped.

Apparently, urVa had come to the Dark Wood to try to help the Cradle-Tree but “seems the Cradle-Tree could be healed by Gelfling hand, or else by none.”

Hmm. That keeps happening. You have a funny way about you, Thra, making Gelfling the only ones who can clean up the messes the urSkeks leave.

Naia is still suspicious that there’s something vaguely Hunter-ish about this guy. Weird but good insight, Naia.

urVa tells the Gelfling that the wood is dangerous and invites them to come with him, in the most ominous way possible, for some reason.

“Come with urVa, for supper. Been a long time inside that tree... Very hungry.”

Surely you know how you sound, dude?

Naia even goes ‘hey supper sounds great but what d’you suppose are the odds that we’re going in the pot?’ to Kylan. And asks him if he thinks urVa is the Hunter.

The boy gets sassy.

“Since when do you believe the songs?” he asked. Naia felt her cheeks warm, but Kylan went on. “The Hunter is ruthless. He isn’t a trickster. If urVa were the Hunter that took my parents, he wouldn’t have given us a false name... He wouldn’t have spoken with us.”

Good points, Kylan.

Besides, they’re both exhausted by traveling and Naia especially by dreamfasting with a tree.

“Maybe... we should see where he’s going. Just to find out.”

Kylan hugged himself with a shiver.

“Do we have a choice?”

“Yes. Our other choice is to sleep here in the wood and see what other monsters come crawling out of it.”

Well, when you put it that way...

So they hurry after urVa through the Woods Formerly Known as Dark which is already making up lost time by sprouting a whole buncha new green plants. They’re able to catch up to urVa without too much effort because as an urRu he has one travel speed and that’s ‘i’ll get there when i get there’

He takes them to a dirt hovel covered in a curtain of “frothy”? vines in a smal glen that urVa has simply littered with chimes made out of every given thing strung up between all the trees.

He has an Aesthetic and I appreciate that.

The hovel itself was hardly more than a few ancient stones holding up a mound of earth. The dusty rocks that made up the entryway were dream-etched, reminding her of the doorways in Great Smerth, back home. urVa entered without a word, leaving the two Gelfling to follow of their own will.

Naia also sees “a satchel full of thin spears with feathers on the ends, each stick longer than Naia was tall” oh my god! She doesn’t know what arrows are!

Although, in fairness, Gelfling as a whole seemed to have skipped past archery in favor of throwing rocks.

“Hmm... Left the door open too long and time came in, I see. Ha-ha.” He waved a hand, clearing some of the dust but stirring up just as much in the process. “Apologies, little Gelfling, for the time inside. Had I been meant to be found, I would have been more prepared.”

I like urVa. He’s fun.

He busies himself boiling a kettle of water and adding stuff to it and basically making soup. Vegetable soup I guess.

“A Drenchen, aren’t you?” urVa said suddenly. “I remember Sog... yes, ah! And that little sapling, what was it? Smerth. I suppose it’s grown enough now to climb, hmm? Do the younglings dangle from its branches like alfen fruits?”

The thought was nearly comical. Naia said, “Not exactly.”

Little sapling? urVa, how long have you been treestuck??

urVa mentions that the great trees like Smerth-Staba and Olyeka-Staba are supposed to be pillars of the world and protectors of Thra but inevitably the shadows of the crystal (oh! Almost a title drop!) have fallen upon them.

“... but I must stay out of such things. Have for a long time, will for a long time yet...”

Darn urRu passivity.

urVa serves Naia and Kylan some sopu.

“Now, eat, eat, little Gelfling. Gelfling like to eat. Yes.”

Yes, exclusively Gelfling like to eat as a unique trait to them =P

Those powerful urRu brains, amirite.

Since Neech seems relaxed, Naia decides she won’t worry either and she consumes soup.

And the more time they spend hanging with urVa, eating soup, the less worried Naia becomes about the other shoe dropping. Because it would be a really long con for urVa to secretly be sinister at this point, right? I mean, I know he isn’t because show and because urRu but Naia doesn’t but it has to seem like this would be a really long way to go ‘haha foooooled you!’

“Do you live here all alone?” Naia asked. “In the wood?”

“No, no. Plenty of trees and rocks.”

I adore urVa.

Naia couldn’t tell if urVa was being intentionally obtuse, so she clarified: “I mean, are there others like you...”

urVa tilted his head and rubbed his chin with a big hand.

“Yes. But we all went our separate ways... after the separation. Divided, then divided again.”

Huuuuh so I know that the urRu would sometimes come to the Valley of the Mystics because the Wanderer was famous for spending more time wandering widely rather than popping back in. But it sounds like the urRu just all fucked off to do their own things most of the time. And the situation with them living together in the Valley was primarily for Jen’s benefit? To give him a stable upbringing of ten dads and minimize the Skeksis deciding to pop in.

Naia was mostly asking because she doesn’t want to be surprised by another four-armed monster showing up so she’s tentatively satisfied with the vague answer.

Kylan has been staring at the markings on the wall this whole time pops in to ask about a triangular emblem with three concentric circles within.

“It is a time, I suppose?” he asked, as if Naia or Kylan might be able to answer him. “Or a door? A time or a door or an awakening. Yes. Something like that.”

“Those aren’t nearly the same thing,” Kylan muttered under his breath. “Perhaps he’s not the Hunter, but he certainly may be mad.”

“He makes a good pot of stew, even so,” Naia replied with a yawn.

Its a tightrope to write a character who is not only incredibly wise but also kind of lost in their own mind because they’re missing half of it.

I also appreciate the dramatic irony where the readers, if they’re familiar with the movie, understand more or less what urVa is getting at.

I also appreciate Kylan’s annoyance with not getting a solid answer. And Naia’s more practical consideration. Good characterization. Best boy Kylan just wants some solid deets to write down. Naia is soup-somnolent.

She watches Kylan try to puzzle out the symbols while also wondering if she could get seconds.

Whats also interesting is that this symbol isn’t known to the Gelfling apparently. Its a hugely important symbol in the lore but the Skeksis have managed to keep it out of public knowledge.

“The Great Conjunction,” Kylan said, and then he stopped. Naia didn’t know what he was referring to or what the words meant, but she shivered. “When single shine the triple suns.”

“Mm,” urVa agreed, though he added nothing despite Kylan’s querulous expression.

Hah.

Instead urVa points Naia and Kylan to a pile of robes so they can get some sleep.

urVa is a good host because the Gelfling nod off pretty much as soon as they lay down.

[whiskeycherrypie]

I was tagged by @zmediaoutlet and @saintedevote , thank you so much for thinking of me guys even tho I’ve only written a couple of fics in this fandom so far :D I really wanted to do it but having only 4 fics would probably make most of the questions pointless so I will be using both my spn account and my older thorvaenn account and somehow make it work, idk

1. What’s your first and second most common work ratings? wcp:

Explicit (2) Teen And Up Audiences (1) Mature (1)

tv: Explicit (69) Mature (16)

Well. I do it for the booty.

2. What’s your most common archive warning? Least common? Do you consider yourself an adventurous writer? wcp: No Archive Warnings Apply (4) Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (1)

tv: No Archive Warnings Apply (63) Graphic Depictions Of Violence (3) 

I tossed in one chose not to warn to my latest wincest fic because I included a bdsm scene that wasn’t negotiated but that was such an overkill when I think about it. As for mostly being able to avoid the major warnings, it’s likely because as much as I actually like dark fic, I’m not that great at writing it. And I have such a low amount of the violence tag because when I do write violence, it’s usually sex adjacent and so the non con tag works better.

3. How many fics have you written in each relationship category? Is this more accidental, or do you have preferences? wcp: M/M (4)

tv: M/M (92)

That’s pretty obvious stuff here, I’m all about the bros.   

4. What are your top 4 fandoms by numbers? Are you still active in any of them, and do you tend to migrate a lot? wcp is all SPN of course.

tv: Thor (Movies) (87) Marvel Cinematic Universe (13) The Avengers (Marvel Movies) (6) Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat (6)

So yeah basically this is all just the Thor fandom, but ao3 has seriously messy tagging system for the MCU, they consolidated some of the MCU tags but when you’ve years ago tagged something as the Avengers, you can’t properly edit it and make it MCU and so on, I’ve tried because this looked needlessly complicated. So there’s the Thor movies with a dash of Captive Prince, yay. I don’t tend to do more fandoms at once. I do consume stuff on my own, but I can’t see myself running a multifandom blog ever again. Captive Prince was kind of the exception to the rule for me, partially because I believed it was right up the alley of many thorki shippers and wanted to show it off. 

5. What are your top 4 relationship tags? Does this match how you feel about the characters, or are you puzzled? wcp: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester (4)

tv: Loki/Thor (83) Damen/Laurent (Captive Prince) (6) Loki & Thor (Marvel) (2) Chris Hemsworth/Tom Hiddleston (1)

I’m a little surprised that I only have one hiddlesworth. I think I did more, but it’s all under one kink challenge work. I think what shows the most here is that I really am a serial monoshipper.

6. What are your top 2 most used additional tags, and your bottom 2? What would happen if you combined all 4 of these into a fic? wcp: Season/Series 14 (3) Episode Related (2)

Anal Sex (1) Schmoop (1)

Well this doesn’t say anything apart from the fact that for the past couple of months I really have been managing writing codas for nearly everything new and good that comes out and I’m pretty proud of that :D

tv: Alternate Universe - Human (23) Oral Sex (19)

Established Relationship (8) Bondage (7)

... so many human AUs? I didn’t realize that. Kinda makes sense that I’ve moved on to the brothers who are human in the first place. And the oral sex tag doesn’t surprise me, I find myself so often not actually going through with writing anal because especially for emotionally charged, strung out first times I find it almost unrealistic..? The comparatively lower amount of established relationship doesn’t surprise me either, because I looove first times and pining and all that. On the other, in context the bondage tag number is still pretty damn high and well, yep :D Combining those tags is very easily imagined too.

7. How many WIPs do you have currently running on AO3? Any you don’t plan on finishing?

All my SPN fics are completed and I’ve left 8 WIPs behind on the thorki account, which, yikes, and some of those are like 5+ years old and none are getting finished. The one I’m probably the most sorry about is if this is hell (then let me stay), because I’m proud of that fic and it’s the one thing that I’ve written that makes me wanna try hand in original fiction, because that’s basically what this was. And also making wishes in the dark, I loved the set up, but honestly most of the aesthetic and style choices i made there were already telling me to move to a piece of media that actually does utilize trashy small town america as its background without me having to invent it.

i’m tagging @rocksaltshotguns @pathossam @hellhoundsprey @silver9mm @madbadandplaid if you’re interested <3

[azuregold]

＿( ᐛ 」∠)＿ *slides directly into the "all questions" button*

Ehehe HEY! :D

ask me about anime…

   1. My first anime

That’s kind of a tricky question, because I know I watched some (edited dubs of) anime when I was really little without having a clue that it was Japanese (like this one), but I have a hard time counting those as my first real anime. I guess Pokemon? Though I think I still didn’t really know what anime was until I started watching stuff like Yu Yu Hakusho, Inuyasha, and Rurouni Kenshin on Cartoon Network.

   2. My favorite anime

This is such a hard question. But I’ll stick with my usual answer of Princess Tutu. There are series I like more overall, but most of them were based on manga and changed/removed stuff and/or didn’t animate the whole story, which makes it harder to wholeheartedly love them as anime. BnHA is pretty promising so far, though.

   3. The first anime character I was obsessed with

Um…hmm. Probably Kenshin? I think?

   4. My anime OTP

There are pairings I like a lot, but not really one I can point to and say “Yes, that’s THE OTP for me”. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   5. An anime I can’t stand

Hmm…no specific titles are coming to mind, because how can I say I can’t stand it if I’ve never seen it? And I’m pretty good at picking things I at least think are okay (and when I don’t, I usually drop them before it gets further than “Eh, this isn’t my thing”). But in general, harem/ecchi anime. I’ll roll my eyes and put up with fanservice if the rest of the series is interesting, but when it feels like the only point is boobs and panty shots and how many girls will be fawning over the MC, I stay far away.

   6. An anime I want to watch

Hmm…I think I’ll go with Hunter × Hunter for this one. With all the streams available these days, it’s so much easier to try anything I’m interested in that I don’t have nearly as many “I really want to see this someday!” series as I used to. I’ve deliberately held off on HxH though, because I don’t want to be left hanging or forget about it if it goes on hiatus again. I’ll definitely get to it someday, though.

   7. An anime I never finished

Ahaha…most of them, especially in the past. And not even because I didn’t like them! Either I got distracted and just never came back to them (this happened a lot while waiting for the next DVD release), or I loved them so much I didn’t want them to be over so I could never bring myself to see the ending.

   8. The most recent anime I finished

Death Parade! A bit darker/creepier in places than I normally go for, but I really, really enjoyed it. I may or may not have reblogged this meme just because of this question >.>;

   9. An anime I never thought of watching but fell in love with

I’m going to say Tokyo Ghoul for this one, even though I went for the manga first rather than the anime when I finally gave it a try and am really disappointed with how the anime was handled. Please give us a FMA Brotherhood-style reboot? Please? ;-; I avoided it for a long time because it seemed too dark and gorey for me especially with the whole…eating people thing. I’m so glad I did eventually check it out, though. It’s an amazing series and it really helped keep me going last year. I haven’t enjoyed it quite as much lately as I used to, but I think it’ll always be a bit special to me.

   10. My favorite genre of Anime

Supernatural. 8DDD Especially if it takes place in the modern world.

   11. Shonen or Shojo

Both. I think I watch more shōnen overall,  but I’ve seen a lot of good series in both and I wouldn’t want to give up either.

   12. My favorite anime character of all time

Can’t pick just one. Nope. Impossible. I can cut it down to five at best. (A year ago I might have gone with Kaneki, but these days they’re all tied again X’D)

   13. An anime that I introduced to a friend

I…can’t really pick one? I mean, any friend I could possibly introduce to anime gets shown as many series as I think I can get away with without annoying them, so there isn’t really one…oh wait! There was one coworker at my old job; she knew nothing about anime, but she loved dark/horror/thriller movies. I gave her the first DVD of Death Note for Christmas one year. We didn’t talk about it all that much, so I’m not completely sure what she thought of it, but she at least liked it enough to borrow the rest of the series from me, so… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   14. The anime that I am currently watching

Right now I’m keeping up with at least nine series weekly. I watch other things while I wait for new episodes, but I just finished a couple series (one with my mom, one on my own) and haven’t decided what to watch next.

   15. An anime that never gets old no matter how many times I watch it

I don’t actually rewatch things that often, especially these days. The closest I usually come is reading the manga myself, then watching the anime with my mom (going by that definition, I’ve enjoyed the hell out of Boku no Hero Academia and Ao no Exorcist even knowing what’s going to happen). I’m going to be rewatching Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works soon, so we’ll see how that goes. I’d get tired of anything if I rewatched it too often, though.X’D

   16. If I own any anime merchandise

Oh boy do I. (°∀°) I collect figures, playing cards, and keychains more than anything else right now (especially figures), but I have a ton of plushies and charms and more wallscrolls than I could possibly put up in my room, plus a bunch of other stuff (mugs and glasses, a fleece throw, a couple pocketwatches, a lighter, a beach set, puzzles, magnets…I pick up a lot of different stuff at cons X’D).

   17. Yaoi or Yuri

Neither, if we’re talking about them as genres/tropes. I’ve tried to watch a couple “typical” yaoi series, and I couldn’t get farther than an episode or two. If we’re just talking two men or two women in a relationship, then I still couldn’t choose one over the other because it’s about the individual characters and their relationship for me, not what gender they are. (That said, more of my favorite characters are guys, so I usually wind up with more m/m pairings I’m interested in.)

   18. If I’ve ever been to an anime convention

Yes! (≧∇≦)/ I’ve gone to my local con every year since 2005 (wow, I feel old), and there’s another one I’ve been to a couple times as well.

   19. Who is my favorite anime voice actor

Suwabe Junichi. (*ﾟ▽ﾟ*) I love his voice so much (；ヮ；) (and it doesn’t hurt that he’s done some of my favorite characters, haha). I’ve checked out series I might otherwise have passed over just because he was in them. ^^; I have a shortlist of super favorite VAs but he’s at the top.

For English VAs, probably Chris Patton or Vic Mignogna.

   20. Sub or Dub?

Sub, though I don’t hate dubs and even prefer them for a few series. Usually I get attached to whichever cast I hear first. In the past, that was more often dubs on TV and DVD; these days I watch a lot of streams/simulcasts so I mostly see subs (I also enjoy trying to pick out words in the Japanese dialogue; sometimes I can understand a line without the subs and I’m very proud of myself X’D).

   21. If I could have any anime character’s hair style, who would it be

Why can’t I think of anything for this, I know I’ve seen some I really loved. ;OTL Uh…something long (at least waist length, if not knee) and thick, probably pulled away from the face in a ponytail or braid. Which isn’t too far from my RL hair aside from the “thick” part. ^^;

   22. Manga or Anime?

I can never properly answer this question, haha. Story-wise, I usually prefer whichever came first. Most of the time, that means manga. I also love the art for a lot of manga. But having color and motion and sound really adds to the experience for me. So…both. X'DD

   25. If any of my friends or family watches anime

My mom watches almost everything that I do.

   26. If I listen to any anime music

It’s pretty much all I listen to. X'DD Not because I don’t like other music; I just wouldn’t even know where to start with it. I tend to be more a fan of individual songs than bands/singers, so I just go about my life and when I hear a song I like I add it to my list. And I get more exposure to anime than anything else, so…¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   27. If I’m following any ongoing anime series

Yep! I’m watching nine this season. X’D Some more enthusiastically than others.

Not going to list names unless someone really wants to know. ^^;

   28. If I’ve ever been to an anime club

Yes, a friend of a friend tried to start one in our local library. I went to most of the meetings and a good chunk of the anime we watched were from DVDs I brought. X’D We just watched them, though; there wasn’t a whole lot of discussion or “club-like” atmosphere, and it kind of stopped happening after a while.

   29. If I’ve ever cried over an anime

Yes, a few times.

   30. What my last anime wallpaper was

This one (really big image, sorry ^^; ).

[imaginemycroftholmes]

Mycroft Submission Form, the new one

Mycroft Submission Form

Name: Raija

Nationality: Finnish

Age (note that if you below 21 your scores may be lower until age of legality): 31

Personality Type: Cheeky fucker, trying to tone it down, but it’s there. I am an outgoing introvert, social hermit. I like people and being social, but I need silence and time with myself.

Level of Education: Bachelor’s degree

Best Subject: History

Worst Subject: Math and Chemistry were pretty much tied in the worst subject category.

Favorite Subject: History and English (also tied)

5 Hobbies (if applicable): Books, Internet (yes, it is a hobby), Writing.

Favorite Genre of Music/Movies/Books: Music, Gothic rock in almost all of it’s forms. In movies I like all kinds, as long as they manage to entertain me. Books, all kinds, but latwly I have been drawn to vampires and werewolves.

Last song you listened to on repeat: Vaya Con Dios – Neh Nah Nah Nah

Last phrase you said to another living person: I don’t quite remember, I chatted with the shopkeeper.

How many blankets do you sleep with: One, Two or three if I am sick or it gets cold (over -25 degrees of Celsius)

7 note worthy skills: I can laugh at myself when I screw up, I can make people smile, I can keep secrets, I brew a kick ass cup of coffee. You know I don’t think I have 7 note worthy skills, which is kind of disturbing.

7 noticeable sins: I am lazy, well we can pretty much put all the seven deadly sins in here and call it a day, because I am guilty of all. Not all the time, but enough.

Allergies/impairments/illnesses: I am allergic to mushrooms, which is a tragedy since I love them. I am also obese.

Level of Intelligence on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being dumb, 2 being below average, 3 being average, 4 being above average and 5 being genius): I am no more and no less than a 3.

Level of Fitness on a scale of 1 to 5( 1 being obese, 2 being overweight, 3 being average, 4 being fit and 5 being skinny): 1, but I try to get better, mostly because I don’t want to die before I am 50.

Level of Attractiveness on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being Anderson, 2 being below average, 3 being average, 4 being above average and 5 being Mycroft): Depends on a day, on a good one I’d say 3 or 4, on a bad day 2.

Feline, canine or both: Both is good. I have a cat, but I love dogs as well.

Confidence Level on a scale from 1 to 5 (1 being nonexistent, 2 low, 3 average, 4 above average and 5 Sherlock): definitely 3.

Position in the Family (oldest, youngest, middle): Now this is where it get complicated. If you want simple, then I am the middle one. The complicated version is that I am mum’s youngest and dad’s oldest biological child. But since he pretty much adopted my older brother, then I’s day middle there as well.

Eye Color: hazel brown

Hair Color and Length: The colour varies, but I have been a brunette for a while. And I like my hair long.

Height: 1.68-1.69 m

Combat level on a scale 1 to 5 (1 being useless, 2 being somewhat capable, 3 being average, 4 being more than capable and 5 being expert): 1, but I guess I could hit something or someone with a frying pan.

Your normal dress: Black jeans, black shirt and high heeled boots.

How well you take rejection on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being temper tantrum, 2 being vindictive, 3 being average, 4 being can take it like a man, and 5 being like water off of a duck’s back): 3, of course it would sting and I would feel awkward and I would escape the place or rejection as soon as I could and avoid the person until I could act normal again. But I would not make a scene. I really wanted to say 4, but in all honesty that is not true.

Languages known: Finnish and fluent in english. I also know some Swedish, Russian, Spanish and French. I also studied Latin for a while.

Cleanliness of your bathroom on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being a crime scene, 2 being messy, 3 being average, 4 being pretty clean and 5 being perfectly spotless): I’d say 3

How big is your circle of friends on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being nonexistent, 2 being very small, 3 being average, 4 being large, and 5 being a massive social network): 3, only a handful of true friends (the kind that would help me hide a body and give me an alibi)

How would you rate your mental health on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being very poor, 2 being poor, 3 being average, 4 being good, and 5 being prefect): These days 4, been a 2 as well and got the help I needed.

Opinions on the current Holmes family members ( Siger Holmes, Violet Holmes, Sherlock Holmes and Eurus Holmes): Siger, cute older gent, perhaps a bit submisseve to his wife. Violet, very domineering and since the last time I saw her, I really am not very impressed with her. I actually would love to have some words with her. Sherlock, annoying and hilarious, loveable asshole. Eurus, slippery as an eel, don’t really know her.

Please bold the following below that applies toward your submission:

Friendship I would love to be his friend, because as much as I want to be the SO, I don’t think we are that compatible.

Mentorship

Relationship

Partnership

The Question portion:

Please note that you do not have to submit the pictures within your submission (save the puzzle)  but you must answer them honestly and do so without cheating.

1)   Angle C is the sum of Angles A and B at least according to my fancy ruler.

2) And apparently the Sudoku is a bitch and didn’t copy. Sorry.

I like sudokus, but this has me baffled. I don’t even know where I can find the beginning. So after 15 minutes I gave up and risk you thinking that I am moron.

3)   This really made me want to start chain smoking. But I am guessing that it is the May 15 option.

4)   Black should shoot White.  Honestly I have absolutely now idea.

5)    I had to google it, because I just didn’t get it and now I feel like an idiot.

6)   The man wants to enjoy the good weather alone and get some cardio in as well.

7)   left one On, others off. That’s the way I would make it and I hope that’s the way it is.

8)   To me this task is impossible and makes me want to curl into a corner andcry and eat my hair. Happy now?

9)   John should just send it in a package and lock it and Mary after receiving the said package should either pick the lock or buy a bolt cutter.

10)              the car is parked in the spot #87

11)               Percy Jackson the son of Poseidon. I don’t know. Logic isn’t my strong point and I am getting tired.

12)              Go as fas east as he can manage and wait for death to claim him.

13)              C

14)              52

15)              100

16)               I didn’t nderstand this is school which is probably the reason I almost failed maths, so no. And yes, I will risk sounding like a 12 year old Sherlock, but I am tired and this list of questions is ridiculously long.

17)               I’d say Sally, just a hunch

18)               Scotland?

19)              copper I think and something else, but I can’t remember what it was.

20)               One of the Ninja Turtles I am sure.

21)               No, I cannot. That is the truth, I could spend hours thinking and I would still be lost, so no.

22)               guessing 11, well actually just pulling random numbers from my head and hping I am correct.

23)              had to google it so sorry

24)              blue and black

25)              There might be some unusual about the paragraph, but I find myself lacking the brain capacity to work it out.

Mycroft’s answer:

I see that at least this form garnered your interest Raija and I am pleased. It shows that you were willing to put forth effort into catching my attention. I don't expect very many people to be on par with me intellectual level but I do recognize people that try despite their handicaps or limits that strive to complete what could be for  them Herculean tasks. Now while most of your answers are incorrect they do show practicality and expresses how the masses commonly address such problems. This is fine.Throughout the test your personality came out when you tried to tackle these logic based problems which is also a sign of interests and humility.  Traits, that make a very humble colleague and a worthwhile friendship. You are more than welcome to stop by the house for tea or a walk around the property (god knows that I need it) and they do say that life is more enjoyable with friends around does it not?

Friends: 8.1/10

[victorian-creepshow]

Finished Andromeda today. 

Pros:

Like I already said, the combat’s fun. Still not sure that the profile system was necessary, but I can understand some people enjoying it.

The main story was pretty good. I like how the Ryder twins worked together at the end, that was pretty cool. I just kinda wish we would have gotten a little more interaction with our twin. 

The worlds/scenery are v pretty. Voeld and Kadara are my favorite. Elaaden made me think of Borderlands. Part of me was expecting to find a Handsome Jack billboard somewhere rofl

I really like how they included more of those special friendly bonding moments with squadmates, whether you’re romancing them or not. V nice touch pls give us more of this in the future

Peebee and Drack ended up being my favs and I’ve never been a Krogan or Asari lover lmao. I mean, there wasn’t anyone on the squad I outright hated, but them two... definitely my homies.

Loved the little pathfinder cool kids gang that happened. I want to see more of them all. I’d love for them to all go on a mission together, pathfinders only no squares allowed

Kesh. Kesh is a positive all on her own. Love her. Vorn too. I like that they showed more variety in personalities within all the species. Krogan scientist 4tw

Kudos for ethnic diversity this time. They actually look like what they’re supposed to be! And it doesn’t look weird!

I never felt that overwhelming feeling of Hinterlands 2.0 on any of the maps. I’m not really interested in exploration, and I didn’t find any of the worlds too ridiculously huge like I thought they might be. Though they were all huge compared to Inquisition’s. It makes sense though, since they were clearly made to be used with the Nomad. If not for that, I think I would have been gritting my teeth trying to get from one side of the map to the other

More than two nice looking hairstyles for men, even if they were all a little bland.

Liked the color wheel on clothes, although I would have given it up in a heartbeat in favor of better physical feature customizations

Cons:

 At certain times the writing felt a little rushed to me.

There were still too many pointless quests, Bioware. chiiiiiiiiiill

Should I even bother to say it? I can hear the boos already. No imma say it anyway. DEAL. Some of the facial animations were nightmare fuel aight. Even for Bioware. Be real. I’m still clutching my rosary. But then some expressions felt much more natural than in previous games, too. I feel like they could easily build on that and refine it without too much hassle if given more time. Some walking and running animations felt a little less stiff than before, at least to me.

I’m still irritated at the CC. It’s pathetic, and using Alec as the reason it ‘has to be that way’ is ridiculous and cheap. That feeling of playing a pre-established character never went away and I was never able to fully connect with Ryder because of it. It took away from my enjoyment of the story. That, combined with the fact that it seemed like there were less dialog options this time around. And sometimes those dialog options seemed... bizarrely inappropriate to the situation. That’s nothing new, and sometimes it is just a matter of opinion, but ehh.

I fucking hate that fucking Sudoku wannabe decryption bullshit minigame oh my godddd. They can DIE. FOREVER. Ok this isn’t a legitimate complaint since technically you could skip most if you had a key thing, and I’m sure plenty of people out there enjoyed that hell. I’ve never had the patience for complex puzzles. Why couldn’t we just stick to matching lines of code like in ME2? cries  

The Kett story was a little predictable imo. And the Archon, I expected more out of him. As in, I was kinda hoping he’d be the sort of antagonist that you could empathize with. That maybe his motivations were less black and white than a certain other I AM A GOOOODDDDDD MWAHAHA bioware villain. 

Bugs. Buuuuugs everywhere. I couldn’t settle Elaaden because of a bug that prevented me from completing the mission. I had to replay several parts including a portion of the final mission. One time I lost about five hours of play. It was bad. Though, recalling what Inquisition was like on it’s initial release... it wasn’t completely unexpected.

Still doing that thing with Asari I see. Lmao. Like, I love Peebee, but I pulled a muscle rolling my eyes at the fact that I can’t be friendly to her without her trying to grab my junk. A whole new galaxy and we still hypersexualizing all the blue not-lady ladies. Nice. Can you imagine the meltdown hets would have if Gil had a cutscene that involved him rubbing up on Scott unprovoked? And the only reject option is along the lines of “Eheh.... well... I’m sorry, but I just... c-can’t... please don’t be mad your undeniable sex appeal isn’t working today...”

There was a very minor trans character, a side lesbian character, one gay/bi alien who’s love is dead, one bisexual human male and one possibly??? gay?? human male. The bisexual male is better written than the ONE other m/m romance, and one can only assume it was only given decent treatment because it’s also a potential fem!Ryder romance. Gil’s endgame if not romanced is to have a child with a woman? Lol. Also never explicitly states he’s only interested in men even when rejecting fem!Ryder. I could just sum all this up by saying “do better” but from where I’m sitting, this specific group of writers and developers aren’t interested in hearing it. So I’ll just say, fail. Fucking fail. No gold star for effort. If you want credit for being so ~*~progressive~*~, do the work. And for god’s sake, don’t treat it like someone twisted your arm to include it.

All in all, it was a fun game. I may play the DLCs if/when they come out. The main game doesn’t have a whole lot of replay value imo though, at least not for me. 

The problematic writing everyone foresaw going in turned out to be well-founded, and no, there is nothing here that would even begin to make up for it. They could do better if they wanted to. They’re aware of the issues. This was their chance to fix that and all they proved was that they really don’t care. Simple as that. So yep, I’m still extremely disappointed in that respect.

On that note, let’s not dwell on it. At least we all know what to expect now. On to what really matters... DA4~ And if they fuck that up, there will be hell to pay. 

[thedoctorishereguys]

Stole this from @hawkland

Go to your works page, expand all the filters, and answer the following questions: 

1. What’s your first and second most common work ratings? Any surprises?

·         Explicit (48)

·         General Audiences (39)

Okay, so, uh… Not sure what to make of that. Either I write porn or I write the exact opposite, apparently. I’m not entirely surprised so much of it is porn – frequent readers will remember that I have a long list of making Munch and Fin do kinky stuff together. I am honestly way more surprised that so much of it is so firmly in the G area. (And a lot more of my fic these days will wind up there – lately I’ve had zero interest in writing porn. Suggestive is about the best I can do. So, idk, T? Let’s go with T).

2. What’s your most common archive warning? Least common? Do you consider yourself an adventurous writer? 

No Archive Warnings Apply (110) 

Major Character Death (5)

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (2)

Yeah, not surprised. I generally dislike deathfic, so I don’t write much of it. The ones I do write tend to come when they’ve lived long lives (not always, I’ve written a suicide fic, but that’s not on AO3, and I’m not a fan of that one for many reasons). I have two tagged with the chose not to use warnings, and for one, I’m not even sure why I tagged it that way – I read it and have zero idea why I chose that. Coming Around Again definitely should be tagged that way, I think, since it involves canon-typical violence and potential non-con that others may find objectionable, but it is canon-typical. And that’s absolutely clarified in the tags, although by now, the tags are a paragraph!

And what the fuck do you mean by ‘adventurous writer’? I write out of my comfort zone all the time – pairings I wouldn’t normally consider, kinks I wouldn’t normally think of, issues I wouldn’t always tackle. I write kinky smut as a pastime, isn’t that adventurous? God, I have at least five fics where Munch dresses up in women’s clothes to seduce Fin, and several where Fin whips Munch before fucking the life out of him. Is that adventurous? Or are we just classifying it based on using those tags? Because I don’t care for deathfic, and rape/non-con is not something I particularly write into my pairings. I’m not against it; I just don’t see it happening in my pairings.

3. How many fics have you written in each relationship category? Is this more accidental, or do you have preferences?

M/M     (116) 

F/M     (5) 

And that sums that up. There is literally nothing accidental about that. I prefer m/m ships by far. I’m more comfortable, for god only knows what reason, writing men having sex than I am writing women having sex (even though I’ve had sex primarily with women and am myself biologically female. Go figure). I find male characters far, far more developed and fleshed out on screen than females, and that is not a coincidence – they are written that way for fuck’s sake. I’m absolutely not against f/f or f/m ships, provided they give me an interesting female character, but I don’t hold my breath waiting for the primarily male writers of such shows to do so. (The only show where I could see myself writing F/F or F/M would be Doctor Who, and I don’t write Doctor Who fic. Or not much, anyway.)

4. What are your top 4 fandoms by numbers? Are you still active in any of them, and do you tend to migrate a lot?

Law     & Order: SVU (91) 

House     MD (16)

Doctor     Who (5)

Jeeves     & Wooster (4)

I migrate a lot. I’m not active in House, haven’t been for years. God, about… 8 or 9 by now. Law & Order I still write some for, but I’ve been withdrawing more and more as the show spirals rapidly downward and the fandom wank goes crazy (yes, I’m looking at you, Barisi fandom. *sideeye*). It’s hard to keep coming up with ideas and wanting to write for something when the new canon is so consistently disappointing. I honestly feel like I’d be more invested if they had just cancelled it and let it be.

Doctor Who is one of my all-time favorite shows, but I rarely – if ever – write fic for it, because it’s a little too special, if that makes sense. I don’t like adding to that fandom. I don’t even partake in that fandom at all. People don’t understand don’t spoil or tag for spoilers, so I stay the fuck away, because I hate spoilers. The fics I have read for that can be wonderful. They can also be horrendous, though.

Jeeves & Wooster is one of those I barely write for – the ones I wrote were all Doctor Who crossovers. It’s very, very hard to mimic that style! However, that’s a fandom I go back to time and time again to read the stories!

And my new one, which doesn’t show up on the list but should soon – Sherlock. That’s one I’m throwing myself into whole-heartedly. And that’s really the way I do it. I find a new one and give it basically my all, and if the fandom is really good, if the canon and the fic is excellent, I’ll keep a part of it when I move on. If not, I’ll let it go completely. (So yeah, serial monogamist is a good way to describe me too, ha)

5. What are your top character tags? Does this match how you feel about the characters, or are you puzzled? 

Odafin     “Fin” Tutuola (68) 

John     Munch (68) 

The rest aren’t even worth mentioning – the next one is Olivia with 27 mentions. And yes this matches how I feel about the characters. Munch and Fin were the only reason to watch the show in the 1.0 and early 2.0 days. Lack of Fin these days makes the show dull, and while I adore Sonny, that partnership between Munch and Fin is irreplaceable. (And Olivia may be mentioned often, but it’s not always with kindness. Elliot Stabler, when he’s mentioned… well, that’s never nicely. Mentioning is not the same as treating well).

6. What are your top 2 most used additional tags, and your bottom 2? What would happen if you combined all 4 of these into a fic?

Established     Relationship (82) 

Humor     (31) 

Semi-Public     Sex (2) 

Roleplay     (2)

Uhhh… Pretty sure I did write this. Okay, no, I checked, and I didn’t. But please, that would be supremely easy to do. I checked the ones with semi-public or public sex, and those tended to be funny-ish fics. Roleplay ones are easy enough to write funny. And most of those are established relationship. Yeah, this would be literally the easiest one to pull off.

7. How many WIPs do you have currently running on AO3? Any you don’t plan on finishing?

Only one. Coming Around Again, cowritten with the wonderful @hawkland! (And, to be strictly truthful, due to many, many reasons, I have bowed out of the writing process after a long discussions of where we’re going with this with her. It is for the best, and I still have a hand in the planning process, if not the actual writing. And she has been gracious in that if a specific scene appeals to me, I have the option of writing it. It is for the best! I’m assuming she plans on finishing it!) Anyway, that is my only one, because I loathe posting WIPs. I’ve found far, far too many WIPs that I fell in love with, started reading, and went… fuck, where’s the rest, then found out that it was posted 2 years ago with no updates.

Also, I’m an inveterate meddler when it comes to my fics. No matter how good I think something sounds when I’m writing, I end up changing bits. Something doesn’t work later with bits I end up writing. A bit of canon occurs to me that I realize I should mention. Something gives me an idea that I want to add in, but first I have to set it up. (For example, in my current WIP – not posted – I wanted to poison someone, and to have someone else have the antidote on hand. First I had to set it up that the other someone carries a medical kit with poison antidotes, and why, otherwise it’s a bit Deus Ex Machina that said someone else just happens to pull out physostigmine right when the first someone ingests belladonna. Had I started posting when I first wrote the fic, I wouldn’t’ve been able to do that, because that idea occurred far later, and I had to go back and set up the medical kit with the poison antidotes).

I’m not tagging anyone, so feel free to take it & answer it if you wish!