"I wish more aro or ace books were good" REAL. I'm not a huge reader these days (a victim of the "read several books a day as a kid to easily distractable ADHD adult" pipeline :/, I'm working on it though) but I stick to mostly nonfiction when I do read, because most fiction is too amatonormative for my tastes and most aspec fiction is. Well. I already struggle with reading books, I need to be able to actually get into them to have a hope of finishing them.

The biggest mood there. Kinda all of it :') Reading books takes so much longer and more Effort than it used to when I inhaled books when I was 12... and SO many books that market themselves on the Aro or Ace Rep are just. They just aren't good books. Most aren't Morally Objectionable or anything, they're just not good books.

I feel like it's normal growing pains for a Queer Identity... god knows how many books I read of high schoolers going "It's okay... to be gay, actually!" when I was in middle/high school--but I kind of wish we could hurry up to the point where there are plenty of good ace and aro ones to choose from. (There are some good ones! The Murderbot Diaries, Ancillary Justice, Michelle Kan's novelettes, Polenth Blake's work, Darcie Little Badger's entire ouvre... I love those. And I haven't read The Bone People but it won a bunch of Real Literary Awards, and Firebreak I've been told is really up my alley... but I have. also read a bunch of aro and ace books that were just mediocre-to-bad.)

i'd log in but i fully forgot my username and password since i left for college lol, but the first semester of college ended and i'm finally back home for my break. i'm doing a degree in history in a liberal arts university which has been my absolute dream since i was a child; everyone else in my class was an engineer/doctor aspirant and i was the labelled Humanities Child. so college was supposed to be The Dream for me and, in many ways, i have. HOWEVER, the issue is that i am now surrounded by The Humanities Child(ren) of every school, and now i have no personality? i also feel hopelessly out of place because im surrounded by people who seem to know sooo much more than me (i know this sounds like a very much grass is greener on the other side situation but i assure you i am hopelessly out of my depth here). i'm genuinely having a little bit of a crisis bc i used to be the child that Knew Things and Read, but now, so is everybody im surrounded by. i originally meant to send this ask to ask you for recs/resources on knowing more, but i'm not fully sure as to what exactly i need to know more of, so do you have any tips on how to inculcate a habit of learning more generally (subscribe to newspapers? listen to podcasts? but like, when, where, which ones, how do i find the right ones?). i desperately need to be the smart kid again, i don't know who i am without it lol

hello. i think you should be patient with yourself. college is disorienting because you go from being with people who didn't really choose to be in school and study what school makes them study to people who definitely chose the sciences or humanities or whatever. it's only logical that you feel out of depth, i know i did too. but trust me, however much it feels like people know more already, it's also that college is a leveller: you will be taught things, you will be taught how to think and much of what's coming in terms of academia is a fresh start for everyone.

i don't think the way out is to know everything and to always be up to date on everything under the sun. i also can't recommend what you should be reading or listening to, other than just standard news, which will then lead you to more finer material that's about the things you care about. the easiest way really is to be on the lookout for sources: your professors will tell you, ask your classmates if something they mention sounds interesting, find what you like in the library and so on.

also lastly, i don't think you're supposed to know who you are when you're in college. college exists for you to figure that out. don't worry about not knowing what your thing is (i'm 24 and i don't know what my thing is), but start small with things that are adjacent to either what you're studying or what you've conventionally liked. then you build on that and the next and so on.

hope this helps :)

The major win for me after this season is that fans are going to start writing horror/supernatural fiction for this fandom!

A genera or tone many of y'all probably haven't touched-but I assure you, it's SO much fun to write with the characters Canon has given us. May I tempt you with a few starting concepts I use to set the mood for pirate-specific horror? [Some spoilers for S2 OFMD]

Doldrums! A period where a ship gets no wind- can anywhere from a few minutes or potentially months at a time. unpredictable and impossible to plan for, as if you kept stock for doldrums, you're adding a TON of salted beef and green water to your stores. More supplies means less room for loot. During this time-on top of slowly losing food and water rations. Your crew could start to hallucinate, go sun blind, or grow bored of menial work. That and if your near the equator(where most took place)- the sun cooks the wood of your top deck.

It gets REALLY dark it night. Like. I don't think OFMD has shown a scene that really depicts how dark it is. The point of the night lookout is to have maybe one candle lit at night by the helm, steer the ship, and keep an eye out for any dots of light on the horizon.

I highly recommend watching videos of pirate battles. Assassins Creed 4, recreations, people reading off accounts of battle. Anything. That shit is scary as hell. A lot of praying the wind is on your side, or that a gust of wind wouldn't knock the ship out of line of fire. Many pirates were caught because they were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now- The psychological shit- Most first mates were chosen by their captain. While the Captain themselves were elected by the crew. If a Captain was mutinied, the first mate would be as well for fear of the first mate was more loyal to the old captain than the crew. This is why Ed's speech to Frenchie S2ep2 makes sense. Ed knows the crew was iffy with Izzy, but didn't want to risk Izzy staying alive to possibly start a mutiny against him. So Frenchie had to kill Izzy.

Most Pirates lasted *at most* 2 years at this point in history. Blackbeard lasted 15 months. Bonnet lasted AS A PIRATE from Spring 1717 to November 10th 1718. Being hung in December of 1718. Read up on how common it was to just...go overboard. Or get so drunk your crew couldn't fight back against the English. This is how Calico Jack, Anne Bonne, and Mary(Mark) Reed went down. People not ready to fight caught with their pants down. Play up how every feels like they're walking into their own noose.

Many diseases spread like wildfire among the lower crew. So crews took 'quarantining' measures very seriously for things like dysentery and malaria. Often throwing bodies overboard.

S2 ep5 (top 3 eps of the show for me) WAS SO RIGHT ABOUT WHY SUPERSTITIONS WERE IMPORTANT TO MANAGE. Again what I said about how easy it was for the crew to turn on a captain they didn't like. But any form of doubt tword your captain could be enough to start the brewing's of a mutiny.

At the time. Going overboard was a death sentence. Many sailors didn't learn to swim as trying swimming usually meant that 1.) Your ship went down in battle and your about to be captured by the authorities or 2.) You went overboard in a storm/your ship sunk. So either way your fucked. Many thought just drowning was a more peaceful death than trying to fight for your life, drowning once exhausted.

The only thing between you and the endless abyss at any point in time is a few layers of creaking, slowly rotting, wood

Ships would creak. They're made of wood and you know how houses shift? SO DO SHIPS. During rough waves or even just at random points in the day.

The sails had to manually be raised in/before storms by climbing up the mast, going out, stepping on a VERY thin peice of rope tied off at the ends of each yard(I always call them 'yard lines', but don't quote me) they'd then reach over and pull the sail up to then fasten down. This took a dozen men on a large ship. (You can see this person standing a thicker version of it in the photo below)

Masts are VERY heavy. A mast cracking and crashing onto deck could cause enough damage to sink a ship.

The Black Dot- a superstition that if you see a black dot left on your door/ or on your person (ie someone slipping it in your pocket) means you will die soon. Usually given to someone higher rank before a mutiny. We have no proof this was a real thing but a LOT of pirate media uses it.

Add more if you think of them!! [I might do a tropes based on the more supernatural elements of horror later, but for most tropes (mermaids, ghost ships, poltergeists, selkies) I think the fandom has it covered]

hi!! Your art is incredible and awesome... not sure how to say it otherwise but it's super tasty looking lol 🫶

I was wondering if you have ever posted what brushes do you use ? I am always on the lookout for nice brushes! Also if you've got any tips for inking, I'd appreciate it enormously. No worries if not! 💕

hi, thanks so much!

i mostly just use whatever defaults came with clip studio paint. for inking, my go-to is the the default marker pen brush (under the marker tab in pens), but sometimes i'll swap to the calligraphy one (should be in the pen tab), or this brush but with the pen pressure turned off. just depends on how i'm feeling about whatever i'm inking. when i want to add some texturing when toning, i use stuff like the spray or diagonal line brushes (again, should be included in CSP), i just make an eraser version of them so i can also use them on layer masks.

as for inking tips ... i don't have any hard and fast "always do x for y" advice but i rambled a little about how i approach it.

this first point is actually pretty straightforward, it's just to look at inking techniques by artists you like, think about what makes them work so well in their context, and try them out for yourself. this isn't about plagiarizing art styles but more about understanding how other artists choose to stylize certain things in their work, and seeing what works and what doesn't for you personally. sometimes it's through looking at other people's stylizations that you get a better understanding of how you want to approach translating this actual 3d object (people, clothes, background details, whatever) into your own art as well. as you try out various techniques, maybe you find that some of them work well with your own style, and some of them don't and you stop incorporating those. it's all a constant work in progress. over time you can adjust how you use them in a way that fits your own drawing methods and workflows and they just start to come more naturally to you. of course, they may and should change a lot along the way because now it's something that's part of your own style. in essense, work on developing a good eye for these things and be thoughtful about what you want to convey and how.

just as an example, daiya no ace by terajima yuji definitely has to be up there for me in terms of influences, the way he approached body lines and clothing folds as a way to convey movement and posing made a lightbulb turn on in my head back when i was still reading it.

not a comprehensive list, but other manga i just like looking at off the top of my head - rookies (morita masanori), anything by yamashita tomoko but i really recommend the night beyond the tricornered window for something that's easily accessible, anything by asada nemui (please check for content warnings for their works first though!), all-rounder meguru (endo hiroki), urasawa naoki's works, dungeon meshi (kui ryoko), witch hat atelier (shirahama kamome), yotsuba&! (azuma kiyohiko), a bride's story (mori kaoru), i recollect love (moegi yukue), the later works of tojitsuki hajime (unfortunately a lot of is now out of print and not accessible online but i managed to get all their books bc their commitment to crosshatching shaved heads each time impressed me so much LMAOSJDsd) etc, etc.

this second thing is much vaguer and harder to quantify but ... honestly just draw a lot and see what feels good to your hand. inking and art styles in general are fluid things. so much of what inking comes down to, to me, is just drawing the lines that in a way that feels good to me. that only really comes from doing it a lot (not saying i'm a hardcore artist or anything lol just that i've been drawing on and off for a while now) and, well, getting a sense of what you like doing. sometimes you might look at a detail you finished that looks really good but feels like a happy accident, and it kinda is, but it's also just as much of the things you've internalized over time. combining the first point (developing your eye and a sense of thoughtfulness about inking) and the second (getting experience through developing your muscle memory) is basically it.

idk if any of this made sense lol but hope some of it helps!!!!!

Hey! Curious if you're currently into any great shows. If so, mind sharing your recommendations? Always on the lookout for some good TV suggestions!

I imagine you've seen everything I have. I spend more time gaming. Not into anything great at the moment, but I can dig deep and see if I can remember what shows I've watched since Hannibal aired and give my opinions. I binge TV series with my mom who is in her 80's and has Parkinson's and macular degeneration and can't really do activities or read anymore, so I rewatched some old ones with her here largely to torture her with them, so they'll be in here also.

S-Tier (Winners)

My Brilliant Friend. Probably the best thing I've watched since Hannibal. If S4 is out I haven't seen it yet, no spoilers.

Better Call Saul. Possibly tied with My Beautiful Friend. Better than Breaking Bad. Much better ending. So good, no complaints. Nailed the ending. Did I mention the ending?

A-Tier (Runners-up)

Black Sails: God, there were some parts of this that were so gratuitous and tedious, especially early on, and I hated Eleanor Guthrie and not in the kind of way that means good things for a show. Some of the dialogue was just really on the nose too. This sounds like a lot of complaints, but the things it did well, it did SO WELL that it really does make up for the negatives. The acting was sooooo good and the Flint and Silver dynamic was AMAZING and the show looked great, and over all that, it really had something thoughtful to say, and that stays with you when it's over.

Stranger Things: Some parts of this show hit better than others, but I'm squarely in the bullseye of the target audience and get the vast majority of the references and nostalgia, and I love David Harbour. I appreciate their exploration of various types of horror, attempting a new style each season, and I like the charm and humor and cheese, and it's a show that knows its voice and its tone and commits fully to those things. It's trying to be a fun show and it is, and it wants to deal with real fears and real grief, and it does.

The Handmaid's Tale: Speaking of shows that are committed to their tone, this one definitely is that. It's too heavy and relentless for most people, I think, but I don't mind that at all. Parts of it do drag, but it has a lot of the same qualities (for good or bad) as Black Sails: great acting, powerful character dynamics, the things that it does well it does so well it makes up for the shortcomings, imo.

Breaking Bad: Famous show, not much to say here. Rewatched it recently and don't think it's as good as Better Call Saul, so I put it here.

B-Tier (Can't complain but will anyway)

Good Omens: Can't get into it, can't find anything particularly wrong with it. I'm into the ship. I guffaw out loud while watching it yet am thoroughly bored most of the time. Love Michael Sheen and David Tennant on screen together. I know the show can't be that all the time but I wish it was. Aziraphale ftw. I feel like people missed the point of the ending of the last season.

Mad Men: Show could give Seinfeld a run for its money in terms of being about nothing, but definitely had its charm. Watched it with my mom so her nostalgia and appreciation for how historically authentic it felt went a long way. Good performances. God, it could be boring sometimes though.

Vikings: This one was a lot like Black Sails for me. They had a bit of a struggle for a season or two but once going, they really got going. Many great acting performances and characters. Loved Ecbert and Ivar especially. Didn't have Toby Stephens and Luke Arnold, so you know...can't quite make that tier. And didn't have as much to say, or didn't say it as well, and it doesn't stay with you.

C-Tier (Can complain and will, but were good enough to stick with)

LOST

The X-Files

His Dark Materials

Downton Abbey

BBC Sherlock

Game of Thrones (I think most people have misdiagnosed this show's problems, but it sure did have them)

D-Tier (Tried but could NOT, though many people will like these...they were just Not For Me)

Bridgerton

Dark

The Good Place

The Gilded Age

Outlander

The Crown

Outer Range (what even the fuck with this show)

I tried to think of more shows I've watched in this time, but this about sums it up. But here are a couple YouTube channels I really like:

Beau of the Fifth Column

Bistro Huddy

6, 12, and 25 for the mcytblr fic author asks?

6. Do you like using the mcyt multiverse as a concept? (all SMPS and MC content exists in the same universe)

Yes!! To the point where it will bother me if I can't make them all fit, lol. Usually I like to keep the Dream SMP, Hermitcraft, Evo and Life Series all within the same universe. I like MCC as an event where people from these servers can intersect. Empires though is a problem to me, as it often contradicts things quite heavily due to the characters' lore. So whether or not Empires (S1 or S2) is canon sort of depends on what I am writing. I also often disregard random one-off SMPs as well--I'm not going to try to figure out how Rats SMP fits into Hermitcraft fits into Empires, it's just a nice little series in its own right.

12.Funniest comment you've ever gotten in a piece of work?

I think the funniest is when I posted a Firewatch AU chapter and @ivi-prism sent me a screenshot of her fake-buying plane tickets to Texas on an actual airline website to come kill me

Also I do find it pretty amusing that I am so loudly fixated on fire lookouts that I am aware of more than one person who have started reading my fanfic without even being familiar with Hermitcraft LOL

25.What works and/or authors in the fandom do you recommend?

Well, I've got to rep some of my friends first! Ivi is the creator of this ask game, and you should definitely check out her works -- Off-world vacations is a sweeping dsmp x hermitcraft crossover that has been in the works for years, great for Fundy fans. chrysalizzm is one of the most talented writers I've ever met, and I've seen firsthand the incredible research and depth and soul he's poured into the wasteland series. another excellent writer is prismartist, who probably has something for everyone since they've written life series, hermitcraft, dream smp, qsmp, and empires.

Really though, I need to get better at actually bookmarking my favorite works. I often kudos and then lose them oops

I have to recc definitelynotshouting's hunger au, although I feel like that's quite well known in the fandom already (for good reason)

sunlight over me no matter what i do by odaigahara is a GREAT oneshot, but mind the gore and body horror (grian cuts off his own wings to get rid of watcher influence)

I'm pretty fond of a specific subset of Watcher!Grian stories where the old Grian died and a Watcher/something else just kind of uhhhh took over his body with his memories? So I must recommend tempering by sixteenthdays, as well as You Say You Feel Hollow (and you know it's 'cause you are) by writing_and_worrying. still slightly similar in concept but not quite the same is the body is an object by ruffboi. And it's probably distinctly different enough that it shouldn't even be grouped here, but I also adore Covet by Oceanbreeze7 for a good Creature-y Watcher!Grian.

I like Enderwoah's Jimmy/Bad Boys fics. The two I have in my bookmarks is i've got problems (not just the ones that are little) and i can see the pattern (but i don't know what i can do)

Finally, I don't always blog about hermitshipping but I do sometimes read it, so I'll leave you with a scarian fic that has killed me like three separate times: Baby, just let me bleed in peace by mossman_mothman

Hii, do you have any recommendation for games the take place in a magic school?

THEME: Magic School

Hello! I certainly do! These recommendations are meant to give you options that allow you to explore new ways of playing in magic school settings, especially pushing the boundaries when it comes to playing in magic schools. Even better, these games don't line the pockets of influential bigots!

To Teach Their Own, by Mousewife Games.

To Teach Their Own is a game about a small group of grown-up witches teaching student witches valuable lessons about magic. It pulls from things like The Magic Schoolbus, The Wizard of Earthsea, Little Witch Academia, Strixhaven, and more, to tell classroom-adventure stories from a new point of view.

Instead of retelling the same stories of plucky students in a boarding school with the world on their shoulders, this game invites you to witness and play from a different point of view: you'll play teachers who have come together to take a group of magically-adept students on a field trip to remember, where everyone has the opportunity to learn something new.

To Teach Their Own is a Forged in the Dark game with some significant twists. You build your instructor by writing Expertises, which stand in for stress and quirks from other Forged in the Dark games. To refill your Expertises in-play, you'll pick two triggers specific to your playbook, each of which you'll hit during the course of play, like the keys in Lady Blackbird. For me, the mechanics plus the motivational keys are what really stands out - and on top of all that, you have a new way of looking at a magical school. Rather than children, you’re adults in a magical world, with responsibilities and consequences that make every decision that much more important.

Magical Pets, by Plotbunny Games.

"Magical Pets" is a cute little game where you are the pets of students or staff members at a magic school. Since your humans are busy all the time, it falls to you to take care of various problems that befall the school...

Be a gruff miniature unicorn who can read, an elegant sheep with an excellent nose, an eccentric cat who can levitate small items, a clumsy raven who specializes in fluffiness or any other talented, magical pet you want to be.

This rules-light game (a hack of Lasers & Feelings) is ideal for a no-prep/low-prep one-shot or few-shot. You can also use it as a starting point for a longer campaign and just keep playing to find out what happens next.

Magical Pets is a great way to explore a magic school from a point of view outside that of the student’s! What do the pets get up to while their caretakers are in class? What areas of the school might be off-limit to students that the familiars can get into? What adventures happen around the school that none of the magic-users are aware of? This is also a perfect little game if you need a pick-up game on a week that everyone can’t make it, or even to tell a new story in a magic school setting that you’re already invested in.

Adiotopia, by Minakie.

Adiotopia is a micro TTRPG (for 3+ players) about collaboratively telling the stories of a group of young Protectors in training, who travel between their world (Sanubari) and Fäerie with their mentor in order to help both Saubi and Fae deal with their everyday problems, enforcing the law, mitigating conflicts, protecting people, studying the indigenous fauna and flora and potentially solving mysteries, while always being on the lookout for the dangerous darklings and the unpredictable undead. If you're lucky, you might befriend the dragons or the elves, or even learn a magic trick or two along the way.

The premise of the game is that the world is full of creatures and mysteries worth investigating and that, while some of them might have a simple and rather ordinary explanation, others might not be what they seem at first, and be somehow connected with the multitude of mystical creatures that inhabit the land. 

This is a fundamentally different kind of magic school game, in which magic is connected to another world, rather than your own. Your school isn’t inherently steeped in magic - rather, your characters are being trained to interact with items, creatures, and people who are magical, without having any inherent magical powers yourselves. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have any magical powers - but rather that uncanny abilities are few and far between. This represented by the special number you see in many Lasers and Feelings games. Rolling over or under a predetermined number is what’s required for basic success, but hitting your number exactly? You get a moment of sudden clarity, and are able to use a magical ability to give your character an edge.

Magic School Mystery, by Tannerjwil.

You’ve been accepted to wizard school!

Can you solve the mystery before it’s too late? 

Become a student and investigate the mysteries of Magic School Castle. Solve clues, cast spells, and cause mischief in this genre-focused and rules light tabletop role-playing game!

Magic School Mystery takes notes from games such as Apocalypse World, and Damn the Man, Save the Music. It follows player characters over the course of a school year, as they attempt to uncover a mystery. The mystery itself isn’t set out by the GM - instead, it’s discovered collaboratively, with a rough concept established by the GM and questions answered by the Players as they investigate.

Apart from the basic rules and character creation, this book also comes with an outline for spell creation, GM advice, and example NPCs and mysteries to put before your players. If you enjoy the idea of discovering the nature of a mystery together, Magic School Mystery might be worth checking out!

Tailfeathers, by Jimbozig.

In Tailfeathers, you play as a student at a magical school. Your character is part of a group of friends at the school, and together you will through curiosity, bravery, greed, and tenacity find yourselves in over your head entangled in the machinations of older wizards. 

You will also play Kazzam, a sport of spellcasting and tactics with a capture-the-flag element and dangerous monsters. Based on the tactical combat of Strike! RPG, Kazzam brings the feeling of real competition with unexpected combos, wild comebacks, the thrill of victory and the sting of defeat.

Tailfeathers works in a cycle of play, where your characters will move from a match of Kazzam, to a series of Investigation actions, to a Downtime. Kazzam is a structured mode of play similar to combat, with easily defined goals and a special separate rulebook that details the goals, obstacles and character options available for your characters on the field. Investigation is a combination of social role-play and shenanigans, with graded levels of success and a special result called a Twist. Downtime allows for you to do character upkeep - resolving injuries, managing their social life, working on projects, and advancing your character. 

This is a game with a lot of pieces that put your game together, but the result is structured play with a lot of potential for a rich, complex campaign.

While the Tailfeathers Core Book is available for Pay-What-You-Want, there’s also the GM’s Toolkit, a supplement that contains Kazzam content, a mystery map, GM advice, items, and a first-year framework to get your campaign up and running!

Kids on Brooms, by Renegade Studios.

You pull your wand from the folds of your cloak, and its glowing blue end illuminates the door in front of you—the entrance to the banned books section. You watch as the copper snakes twist and turn around the lock that keeps students like you out. But you’ve been left with no choice. Your barn owl hoots softly upon your shoulder as you raise your wand to the knob and whisper the unspoken words.

Kids on Brooms is a collaborative role-playing game about taking on the life of a witch or wizard at a magical school you all attend- a place full of mystery, danger, and thrilling adventure. From dealing with strict professors to facing down mythical beasts, players will get the opportunity to ride brooms, brew potions, and cast powerful magic as they uncover the incredible secrets their school and its inhabitants hold. Built using the ENnie Award-Winning Kids on Bikes framework, it is a rules-light, narrative-first storytelling game perfect for new players and gaming veterans alike!

Kids on Brooms provides you with a chance to collaboratively build a magical school, which means that everyone has a chance to contribute to the kind of story that you’d like to tell. You get to decide where you school is, what kinds of rumours surround it, and the activities your kids get involved in together. Does your magic school have mermaids? Robots? Does it teach necromancy? Is it well-known or a well-kept secret? You get to decide!

One of the things I like the most about this line of games is the character connection questions - your characters will have some kind of connection, whether it’s a positive one, a negative one, or just a rumour they’ve heard about each-other.

Academies of the Arcane, by Melsonian Arts Council.

Academies of the Arcane is a role-playing book and the next official release for Troika! Numinous Edition. While it is intended to support Troika!, this new book is a comprehensive toolkit—it will work as well with any game where you might need magical schools, students possessing horrifying cosmic powers, and manipulative and petty faculty members. Within you will find robust tools to create your own magical school: locations, classes, staff and student body, as well as new tables for calamity and magical overload. How you choose to use these items to define your game’s tone and setting are entirely up to you—the book even includes advice for changing around the terminology, descriptions and structures to fit your preferred wizarding world!

If you like Troika, this is probably the easiest way to pick up and play a magical school game - you’ll already be familiar with the rules and you can go from there. If you aren’t familiar with Troika, the rule system is easy to learn and works great for players who don’t want to limit their creativity, but do really enjoy keeping an inventory. If you have another system that you like, this is still a great option for giving you locations, NPCs, events, and other set pieces to make this feel like a fantastical, weird, slightly horrific magic school! Definitely worth checking out.

Pigsmoke, by potatocubed.

Step into the shoes of the faculty of Pigsmoke School of Sorcery, America's finest learning institution for the magically gifted. Teach classes, publish research, and try to navigate the cutthroat world of academia when the demons are real, the auditors are constructs of pure order, and imposter syndrome might just mean you're a doppelganger.

Students exist to make your life difficult. Your department head is an arch-conservative taskmaster who leans on you to make their department look good. The Dean's Office wants to ensure you're following all of their ridiculous rules. The bursar won't give you any money, your peers want their names ahead of yours on your latest paper, and your personal life is a garbage fire. Chase tenure, avoid burnout, and try to resist the urge to go adventuring: like all get-rich-quick schemes, it'll probably just end with a humiliating death.

Pigsmoke doesn’t just give you a new take on magical schools; the designer also points you towards magic school media that may not be the first thing you think of when you think “magic school,” such as the Unseen University of Discworld, or the video game Ikenfell. The game is Powered by the Apocalypse, so expect actions that push the story forward regardless of success or failure, and a sliding-scale of tone that can lean towards humorous misadventures or a thoughtful representation of academia and how it treats its workers. 

Books of the Summer: May-Aug 2024

I'm back baby! These little blurbs at the top are usually where I put my disclaimer that these books are the ones I recommend, but not necessarily my favorites, and that particularly holds true for this summer when I consider a few that didn't make my list below: I read 20-something(!!) of the Hamish Macbeth mystery series, by M.C. Beaton, over June and July, and obviously I liked them because I just. kept going, but I also have several quibbles with them (e.g., twenty books and several years into the series, the main character is still "about 35"). I enjoyed them as something mostly brainless. Then in August, I read and very much enjoyed the Windrose Chronicles, by Barbara Hambly, a particular type of 80s portal fantasy, but in this case although my enjoyment was unalloyed, I feel like they're a rec for very specific circumstances or specific people. Anyway, thought both these series deserved some sort of honorable mention, but my official Books of the Summer are:

May

Giovanni's Room (James Baldwin): This is one of those tragedies where no one could have done anything different because of who they are as people, but even as you know what will happen from the beginning of the book, it's still worth reading to understand how. Also Baldwin is so good at writing. Not a happy book, but worth it.

June

Last Call at the Nightingale (Katharine Schellman): I'm recommending this one because it seems like I've seen (at least a few) people on the lookout for a good mystery set in the 1920s that is (queer) female-centric and not entirely trusting of cops, and this is definitely that. (Also the other book I saw being recced for that kind of thing was Dead Dead Girls, and I read it a little while ago and tbh was unimpressed with the writing.) I also read a few in another series by Schellman this summer, and I generally enjoy her mystery plots and attention to historical detail, while she also always makes sure she has a diverse cast of characters.

The Bellamy Trial (Frances Noyes Hart): A classic mystery (as in, published during the Golden Age), interesting in its trial formatting - the murder has happened, we're hearing everything in the courtroom sort of from the point of view of a pair of newspaper reporters. It's fun the way details are revealed.

July

The Ropemaker (Peter Dickinson): Did you know that Peter Dickinson was married to Robin McKinley? True power couple. I love The Ropemaker, I think I originally found my copy in a used book store with absolutely nothing to go on but the cover (it was years ago), and have read it several times. I particularly like that the main character doesn't have magic (and magic isn't entirely common in the fantasy world, though several other characters can do it), and she starts out feeling reasonably upset and left out, and then starts to realize that her own lack of magic is a particular, specific strength.

August

The Documents in the Case (Dorothy L. Sayers with Robert Eustace): I think I found this book by poking around the "Mysteries" section in a used book store, which is always a good way to find odd anthologies and Detection Club collections. This standalone mystery is, as it suggests, a collection of documents (mostly letters) meant to illuminate a mystery: handily, the son of the murdered man is collecting them and writes a little bit of analysis for us/the official to whom he is sending them, so we eventually get gaps in the story filled in. I particularly like the way that the nature of the medium means that every character is an unreliable narrator to some extent, and it takes a little reading before you can start to figure out who to trust more. I have read this a few times and always forget that it is kind of a chilling little story, in the end, but also really good!

Jealousy (RRR fic - Bheem*Jenny*Ram)

Hey all, as promised, here is the new RRR fic. Plot is very simple - Bheem gets jealous of Ram and Jenny.

Words - 2,045

Sentiment - jealousy, fluff, and angst

...................................................................................

(Just Bheem carrying Jenny's bag as she shops)

Bheem, Jenny, and Ram were in Ram’s house. Earlier in the day, Jenny had come over to Bheem’s shop, and he was showing her around the local market. She had loved all the crystallized and colorful accessories - had bought quite a few for her and her friends. Bheem had helped her select the best ones - the ones he thought would look the best on her. She had tried on quite a few, only deciding to go ahead once he had approved. That brought a smile to his face - she was sweet like that. He happily carried the packets and reveled in her delight. As they were crossing the street, he saw Ram waving to them. They both walked over to greet him. Ram invited them over to his house, and that’s how they ended up in his living room.

The moment Jenny entered the place, she was amazed by all the books lying about. She had always been fond of reading and was perennially on the lookout for new content. She had practically devoured everything in the palace library - from history to fiction to biographies. Her expression was that of a child in a candy shop - she didn’t know which one to pick first.

‘Ram, are all of these books yours? This looks like such an amazing collection’, she said excitedly while trying to read the covers of a few.

‘Oh yes, these are all mine. Amassed over years. I love to learn about different things; it keeps my mind fresh and keen’, he smiled back.

‘That is just amazing. There are very few people like that. Reading is becoming a lost art - most of my friends find it tedious. I pity them honestly’, she replied, smiling at him.

‘Would you mind if I borrow a few? In fact, would you be so kind as to actually recommend a few to me? I would love to learn as well. I love reading about literature, history and of course all the classics too. Jane Austen and Shakespeare are my absolute favorites.’ She was beaming now, like a child about to unlock a treasure.

‘Of course. Here - look at these ones.' Ram pointed her to a pile on one side. ‘If you love classics and history, you would love these.' They sat down on the nearby chairs and started going through the pile. Ram was picking up each one, explaining the plot briefly to Jenny, who was listening with rapt attention, eyes only for him at the moment. She had momentarily forgotten that Bheem was in the room too. In fact, both of them had forgotten about him and were busy in their chatter. She looked so happy right now - clapping her hands with excitement at every detail Ram was sharing with her. Ram also enjoyed the conversation - he liked people who genuinely wanted to broaden their horizons.

Bheem kept looking between the two, suddenly feeling like a third wheel. There was something about that situation he didn’t particularly like, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. He placed all of Jenny’s packets on the table and told Ram that he would bring them some samosas. They both looked up at him then - Ram nodding and Jenny adding cheerfully that she would love to have a samosa. Her eyes were shining - Ram had done that, and Bheem had noticed that. He again felt a bit unpleasant, unable to fathom why. He walked out hurriedly, just wanting to get away.

As he was walking down the street, his mind kept going back to the way two of them were engrossed in each other. Jenny was also leaning close to him, trying to follow everything Ram was pointing at. Bheem hadn’t seen her be so open & excited around any other man before. Other than himself. She had always been easy and comfortable around him, from the word go. Even at the party, she had mostly been with him. Not with Ram. Not with any other man. She had also only danced with him, just him. First when she was teaching him her dance form, and later when he taught her some desi moves. Yes, Ram had been around as well but her beams were only reserved for Bheem. That wasn’t the case today and it was bothering the hell out of him.

Come to think of it, he shouldn’t really find it so strange. Ram was fluent in the language she spoke and was also extremely intelligent and well-read. And charming. And well-dressed. And well-mannered. He understood her world and was a part of it. Of course, she would like that and admire that. Of course, she would find common ground with him. They made sense together. On the other hand, Bheem couldn’t even speak to her properly, let alone share her excitement over all the things she loved - books, paintings, and whatnot. He was so lost in thought that he ended up taking a much longer way back to the house.

When he entered, they were still chatting animatedly, almost as if they hadn’t realized that he was away for a while and had taken longer to come back. He had never seen Ram this excited and smiley - he was always composed and restrained. It was like something was not right with his face - it was doing this thing of not frowning and actually being freely happy.

He was making some illustrations on a whiteboard for Jenny, who was standing right next to him, arms nearly touching. When she drew a figure not exactly to his liking, he covered her hand with his and guided her to get the illustration right. He had never seen Ram being this candid with a woman. Actually, he had barely seen him interact with any woman. Bheem wanted to run right back and not be around these chatter-birds anymore. They hadn’t even noticed that he had come back. He cleared his throat loudly, and they turned around, Ram withdrawing his hand instantly.

Jenny walked to him excitedly, showing him the illustration she had just drawn, trying to explain the stars and the constellation. He smiled back at her. She then pointed to Ram and started singing praises of how he had helped her with this. Bheem pretended to smile again, this one not reaching his eyes. Ram had brought out some plates by now, and he served the samosas to them. Jenny ate hers happily, unaware of the change in Bheem’s mood. Ram still had a ridiculous smile plastered to his face and it was irritating the hell out of Bheem.

Once they were done eating, Ram collected the chosen books, placed them in a large bag, added all of Jenny’s accessory packets to it, and moved to hand over the bag to her. Bheem cut him off midway, taking the bag from Ram, saying that he would walk her to her car. Jenny smiled at him, her usual infectious smile. But then she gave Ram the same smile as she shook his hand and thanked him.

Bheem’s face fell - he just wanted to get out of there and he walked ahead. Jenny followed him but tripped over one of the books lying on the floor. She yelped. By the time Bheem could turn around and catch her, Ram was already there. He had caught her in time with an arm around her waist. Her hand clutched his shirt as she balanced herself and got back on her feet. The whole scene played out in slow motion in front of Bheem - his mood had turned from sour to horrible. His fist clenched, and he had to remind himself that this was Ram, this was his Anna. The two men briefly looked at each other, and Ram quickly snatched his arm away from her. Jenny also looked a bit flustered, her fingers twisting in the hem of her dress. She broke the silence by greeting a goodbye to Ram and quickly walked over to Bheem, holding his hand and softly caressing the back of his knuckles with her thumb. Bheem looked at their entwined hands, then at her - she was looking at him tentatively. He tightened his hold on her hand and led her out of the house. Her car was parked some distance away, and they walked towards it. Jenny had regained her cheerfulness quickly and was chattering away. Bheem was still slightly off, trying to make sense of his irritation. He thought her cheerfulness and beautiful smiles were only for him or when she was around him. Clearly, he was mistaken, and he didn’t like that realization one bit.

As they reached the car, Jenny pulled out a large envelope from the back seat and looked at him nervously. Bheem put her bag in the back seat and eyed the envelope curiously. She handed it to him, asking him to open it.

‘Akhtar, I couldn’t stop thinking about your dance at the party. It kept playing in my head over and over again. I have tried to capture it all in my painting - I know it’s not great, but I really tried. I don’t even know whether you like paintings, but I sort of..well, I thought it may be a nice thing for you to have. To remember the party. To remember ummm..me,' she rambled on.

Bheem opened the envelope and was stunned at the content. It was a large piece of paper on which there was a sketch cum painting of him from the party. He was wearing the same dress, with a big smile on his face and his eyes twinkling with excitement. He was doing the step that Ram and he did multiple times and had also beaten everyone else while doing so. But there was no Ram in the painting (he was pleased to note); there was no one else actually. Everything else was a background, and the image was just of him. This is how she remembered him. This would have taken a lot of time to make, and she had taken the effort to do it and then gift it to him. She thought about him too, and this realization warmed his heart.

He was so happy, and this happiness reached his face and eyes like it usually did. He smiled from ear to ear, looking at her gratefully. Her face lit up instantly, extremely delighted by his reaction. She wasn’t too pleased with how the painting had turned out - she felt she couldn’t do justice to his sheer exuberance and sweetness in that image. But she was glad that he liked it. They both stood there for a bit, looking at each other. Finally, when it was starting to get dark, Jenny kept her purse in the car. Before walking away, she leaned close to him and held his arm with both hands, fingers playing with the fabric of his kurta.

‘I will see you again soon, yes? Take care of yourself. And thanks for the wonderful selection; I will try to wear some the next time I see you. And I…I will miss you.’ One of her hands moved from his arm and softly caressed his cheek. Bheem leaned into her hand and sighed - she had touched him like that for the first time, and he simply loved it. But she withdrew her hand quickly - they were on a street after all, and there were people around. She hesitated, not wanting to leave. He didn’t want her to go either, but it was starting to get dark. He wanted to drop her back on his bike, but it would be strange for her to enter the palace like that. So, unwillingly, he let her go, opening the car door for her. She got into the car, waved back at him a few times, and then drove away. Bheem looked at the painting in his hand, smiling at his dancing form, and walked back to his shop. All his irritation from earlier had vanished - his mind was busy picturing her in her room as she drew this painting. Of him. Of only him. And his heart was trying to relive the feeling of her hand caressing his face…

...............................................................

Hope you like this one :)

@irisesforyoureyes @rambheem-is-real @thewinchestergirl1208 @eremin0109 @eenadu-varthalu @rorapostsbl @anyavaramyr @yehsahihai @voidsteffy @budugu @burningsheepcrown @chaotic-moonlight @alien-chicken-baby @rasnak2 @darlingletshurttonight @fadedscarlets @foxglovedforest @jeonmahi1864 @kafkaesquebestie @hufhkbgg @how-is-it-in-london @idk-abt-life @hissterical-nyaan @maraudersbitchesassemble @fangirlshrewt97 @juhiiiiii @justmeand-myinsight @kalavathi @mikabilis @seherie @rambheemisgoated @rosayounan @jrntrtitties @obsessedtoafault @stanleykubricks @rambheemlove @jjwolfesworld @alikokinav @iam-siriuslysher-lokid @bromance-minus-the-b @ramcharantitties @dumdaradumdaradum @lovingperfectionwonderland @the-gayest-tree-you-ever-did-see @annieginny @komurambheemudo @chaanv

For the book ask thing — favorite book (or books, I can never pick just one), and what you’re currently reading? I’m always on the lookout for queer sci fi and fantasy recs!

For favorites, here’s one fantasy and one sci-fi:

I have to give A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske a round of applause. It’s wonderful. Joy in a box. It’s an Edwardian English missing persons/murder mystery with magic and complicated families. It also uses one of my fav magic-user tropes - the magician who does a lot with very little power. It is also rather sexy, which is often a surprise to bookclubs.

For sci-fi, I’m going to pick Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. It’s technically the third in a series, but the stories are only loosely connected by shared characters. They’re all worth a read, but this one is full of thoughts about memory and purpose and belonging. I’m planning a reread of this one soon.

And for what I’m currently reading:

I’ve been rereading The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard, which is massive and lovely - like a trusted friend holding your hand and saying “sometimes we can change the world with compassion and bureaucracy, and the people who love us will understand us and it will be good.”

I’m also reading From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg for the first time right now. I found it in a used bookstore and am enjoying it. I know it’s a classic for a lot of folks, but I’d never read it before.

I hope you enjoy any of these! And I’m always happy to offer more recommendations 📚🌊

Genuine question, how do you improve your fanfiction writing skills? I got a new special interest recently and I want to write about it. I haven't worked on anything in a decade and it feels like my skills have regressed. I miss writing fanfiction (especially femslash) so much and I want to get back into it.

There are probably as many different approaches to this are there are people who write, but here's what works for me!

One thing I do think is universally true is that the only way to get better is to keep putting words down, even if you're frustrated by the quality of them. (And it is so frustrating to come back to writing after a long break and feel like you've forgotten how to string words together. I have been there! It's the worst!) So Step One, I think, is to figure out what you need to do to make it easier to brain dump. Skip over scenes you're not in the mood to write. Use placeholders like "[Witty reply]" or "[does something to show she's angry]" if you get stuck. Don't worry about using too many adverbs or repeating yourself.

If you're someone who struggles with anxiety when you sit down to write (hi, it's me), take steps to relax yourself so that your brain's filter won't get in the way too much. Maybe you put on some motivating music. Maybe you exercise your way into some endorphins first. Maybe you're me and you've mastered getting high enough to chill out without chilling out so hard you end up staring at the ceiling for an hour. "Write drunk, edit sober" doesn't have to be literal advice, but I like the spirit of it.

Once you've got a bunch of words to work with, pat yourself on the back! Maybe later you can revise your brain dump into something you want to show other people. Maybe you hate it and just want to do an autopsy to understand why. Either way, you've done something valuable just by getting those words out. Go through them and make notes, even if your notes are as vague as "This character's voice sounds a little off" or "This scene doesn't fit here." I like to highlight chunks of text I feel especially iffy about in green. And on the flip side, even the biggest mess is probably going to have something you like enough to repurpose somewhere else. I write in Scrivener, and all of my projects have a "Bits and Scraps" file for this purpose. 10/10, would recommend.

Speaking of which, "Kill your darlings" is terrible advice. Stash your darlings away for later. I have written a truly ridiculous number of words that never ended up turning into a story I could be satisfied with, and being able to reframe my thinking from "Ugh, what a waste of effort" to "Wow, that was a lot of great practice, and now I've got a document full of turns of phrase and jokes and plot points I can recycle" has made a huge difference for me.

My other tip is to spend time deconstructing other people's writing in your brain to understand why it works. Some people don't enjoy doing this when they're reading for fun, and they're probably better off trying this on a reread; I am the kind of weirdo who will stop in delight when I come across something I find effective and rotate it in my mind like a 3-D Tetris block. (As a messy bitch who loves writing out of sequence, I'm always on the lookout for especially smooth pacing and transitions that I can try to emulate.) When you read fics with characterizations that you like, try comparing the characters' speech and actions to their canon selves and see if you can trace how the author extrapolated from them; when you read fics with characterizations you don't like, see if you can articulate to yourself why they feel off to you.

Hopefully at least some of that wall of text is helpful, lol. Good luck, anon! I am rooting for you to make the girls kiss!

out of curiosity, what's your recommended reading for Rex Tyler?

REXY MY FRIEND REXY!!!! they're not too many but more than half of these are coincidentally some of my all time favourite comics:

secret origins (1986) #16 -- a rare gem from roy thomas and definitely some of his best work, this is precisely what it says on the tin but rex's realization that the rats he'd tested miraclo on had died a little after he'd already taken a first dose himself is as viscerally horrifying as ever and the beginnings of rex's addiction are explored in no uncertain terms

sandman mystery theatre (1993) #29-32 -- this is nearly a direct adaptation of rex's first appearance in adventure comics (1938) #48 and while the art has none of bernard baily's charm, there's few things i love like rex's manic episode after taking miraclo and the way he hysterically declares "nothing can hurt me anymore!" minutes after being hit by a car. turns out things do hurt him, he just can't feel it! this arc is like a best friend to me

hourman (1999) #5, #24 -- it's no secret i'm not a fan of rick or the android hourman but both these issues explore the superior hourman and we get my absolute favourite characterisation of rex ever published as well as a more in-depth look at his addiction to miraclo. #5 is more or less an origin issue that circles through rex's entire life ("he grew up poor! he grew up poor! rough edges... no social validation whatsoever! his whole life, he had to accomplish miracles just to feel adequate!" is maybe the one comic book moment i think about the most on a weekly basis) and #24 is a middle-aged rex grappling with what miraclo has done to his life, his inability to be a good father to rick or husband to wendi due to the little matter of blacking out every weekend, and we even get poor kent nelson dragged along into a marital argument between the tylers. most of all time

smash comics (1999) #1 -- this is part of the 1999 one shots collected under the 'jsa returns' title and while the overarching story can be understood via all-star comics (1999) #1-2, i think it stands well on its own. this particular one shot sees known odd couple rex & charles mcnider sent on a mission together and it's genuinely one of the funniest comics ever published as far as i'm concerned. you won't believe the sheer number of people i've seen take as literal fact the story rex tells when fucking with mcnider by saying he became hourman because someone threw a clock through his window ("yes, father, i shall become a bat" year one style!)

dc 2000 (2000) #1-2 -- not a rex-focused story per-se but a great look at his dynamic with the rest of the jsa and great fun in general. highlights include wes & al bullying rex into taking his miraclo cause he's "pretty dull company" otherwise

solo (2004) #7 -- he's wired, baby! he's gonna get the shakes! what's a guy supposed to do when he's taken his super coke and there's no crime to stop? this little story will tell you!

all-star squadron (1981) #34, #44, #49, #50 -- there's some great rex action in squadron as a whole, by far his best ongoing, but the issues i've linked are basically a highlights reel of rex's various miraclo-induced heart attacks. as far as i'm aware, this is the earliest comic to have explicitly acknowledged rex as an addict and to have dealt with the consequences of it in a realistic manner, something i'm always on the lookout for and greatly enjoy here

the golden age (1993) -- the quintessential rex comic. the rex manifesto, even. robinson's clearly very inspired both by adventure comics and by roy thomas' work on squadron but on both counts he manages to elevate the very concept of hourman to another level entirely, and evidently the mature tone (and themes) of the book work in rex's advantage like few things do. his vivid hallucinations in #2 make for one of the most memorable sequences in the entire medium and that end note of "one day, maybe, rex will tame his inner demons. maybe" is a gut punch to me every time. a magnificent book as always

starman (1994) #11, #37, 77-79 -- see: the golden age above. rex's starman appearances are in effect just more of what robinson had already previously established but they're an endless delight to me and i enjoy the varying time periods as even with rex's addiction and his untimely end (we were still on zero hour territory here after all), there's still glimpses of rexy at his very best

justice society of america (1992) #1, #5-6, #8-10 -- the series is a must-read for any jsa fan, of course, but it's especially important on the rex front. #5 marks the first time we see rex go to a NA meeting and as this deals with the then-present day jsa, we also get the pleasure of seeing rex slowly and awkwardly try his hand at repairing his relationship with rick

these are roughly in chronological order (in-universe chronological order, that is) and i'd also like to give a special shoutout to elseworlds jsa: the liberty file 2000 and jsa: the unholy three 2003 -- which have some of the most fun rex appearances in history, as well as confirmed socialist leanings -- and dc: the new frontier 2004 #1 -- which doesn't actually include the jsa in a real sense but does feature a wonderful article about rex's death and the public's attempt to reconcile hourman the hero with rex tyler the addict, really great stuff in there.

rex's golden age stories are great -- bernard baily's art is just entirely something else -- but they're often hard to find and even more so in readable quality, hence their absence from this list. i wholly recommend them though, even if rex's evolution as a more mature character had obviously been a wholly necessary one. enjoy! :)

I was tagged by @saltedpin and @yamcat! Thank you! <<<333

tag someone you want to get to know better! Or just check in with.

favourite colour: Blue-greens! But like @yamcat, I have a weakness for things that have a variety of colors that somehow look harmonious together. Like fields of wildflowers, for example.

last song: Probably one of the many Mars Volta songs that fill my YouTube My Mix playlist. I should listen to other things more often, but 1.) laziness and 2.) it's the Mars Volta, i.e., the band that sounds like my brain would look if I were a more interesting person. Though I have tickets to see them on Saturday, so I should be listening to them, right? I hope I don't spend a lot of the concert bawling my eyes out like I did last year -- I was just overwhelmed with joy at seeing them again, when I genuinely thought that was a thing that would never happen, since they hadn't released an album in ten years and had broken up.

last movie: I can't remember, honestly! I'm one of those awful people who is like, "Oh no, I certainly don't have time to watch something for two hours!" and then either stare at a wall for two hours or watch two or more episodes of an hour-long show.

currently watching: Not much! I was watching the new series of the Arthdal Chronicles but haven't got back to it yet. It's kind of corny, but it reminds me of the fantasy shows my dad used to watch.

other stuff i watched this year: Lost You Forever! Which I really enjoyed in the moment but am now totally not looking forward to watching the second season of because the script leaked and there are a lot of really unfortunate and downright stupid changes to the original novel. On the plus side, it introduced me to Tan Jianci, who is a fantastic actor and looks really beautiful in a long silver wig. Also, he has really cute dogs. Other than that, I can't really remember anything I watched this year. I guess I watched the second half of The Glory, which was OK, though the main romance seemed tacked on. I also watched the latest season of Golden Kamuy, which was brilliant at times but sadly over too soon.

shows i dropped this year: A lot! The problem is that I really enjoy cdramas and kdramas, but I also really enjoy multitasking, which I can't do while I'm reading subtitles. It's a stupid problem to have! The most recent show I dropped was My Journey to You, which I watched two episodes of and found visually stunning, but none of the characters interested me very much, and I haven't any desire to go back to it.

currently reading: Some pretentious, obnoxious book about food by Michael Pollan (is there any other type of Michael Pollan book?) that I really should DNF. I'm also reading a novel about the mistress of James II to my brother, which is an odd choice for both of us, really. It's OK.

Tagging anyone who's interested and has the time! I'm nosy and also always on the lookout for TV and book recommendations!

Hiii! Can I have a matchup for blue exorcist and star rail please 🖤

She/they

Pan

Personality: I tend to keep to myself unless someone comes up to me and starts a conversation (a lot of people say I'm very intimidating when they first meet me for some reason 😂). I tend to be slightly reserved with someone until I'm comfortable with them, then I'm a massive dork (I love to joke around and make people laugh). I am very empathetic, always trying to keep the people around me happy (even if I'm not in the end) I hate disappointing people so I can over work myself sometimes. If someone is rude or annoying me I tend to get very sassy and sarcastic. I am very protective of my friends and love ones and get very angry if someone hurts them. I'm also a very calm person and it takes a lot for me to get angry/snap. I also sleep a lot....like a lot, unless it's during the school year then I tend to get like three hours lol (it's a running joke in my friend group that I never sleep). sometimes I stop in the middle of talking because I think I talk to much (I've been told many times that I do so I just try not to really talk in a way)i play with my hands a lot, I have a really high pitched (idk sorta cute?) sneeze, I can be very clumsy (I literally tripped on air once😂) when I do something scary my hands shaky after I've done the scary thing (if that makes any sense)

Aquarius, infj

I like reading books, writing, listening to music (mostly kpop). I love love to dance (again mostly kpop). And even though I hate being in front of crowds I do like doing shows where I dance (I've done it multiple times with my friends at school events😊). I love doing my makeup especially crazy colored eye shadow. I love to be outside also. I also like to go on car rides in the middle of the night (I love going to get food then sit in a random parking lot).

I dislike rude people, heights (I have a fear of falling from them) and peaches (I hate peaches)

Hi Em! Thank you for your request! I hope you like your matchups!

In Blue Exorcist, I match you with...

You and Shiemi are the definition of sweet and "scary dog" at first glance! But as soon as people get to know you both, they realize you're both a lot more similar than they first thought.

Shiemi is also very empathetic and she knows first hand how that can affect you sometimes. She'll always check in to see how you're doing. She would be flattered and grateful if you would do the same for her.

Clumsy buddies. She's always got some Band-Aids with her though so no need to worry!

Shiemi would love reading with you. She finds it relaxing and is always on the lookout for new books to read. She'd love it if you would give her recommendations and will always read anything you suggest.

She's a bit more shy with dancing but she would enjoy dancing with you in private. She's still not sure about dancing when there are other people around.

Shiemi loves to listen to you talk. She always encourages you to go on when you stop in the middle of a sentence and will reassure you that she enjoys listening to you.

All in all, a relationship with Shiemi is a sweet and caring one.

In Honkai Star Rail, I match you with...

March is the extrovert to help drag you out of your shell! She's so outgoing and that brings out your best qualities.

No need to worry about talking too much with March around. She talks just as much if not more. Anyone who's around won't be able to get a word in. Poor Dan Heng...

Appreciates your empathetic nature. She's got a complicated past and she really values having someone caring to listen to her problems.

March is also pretty clumsy. She tends to forget to being anything to patch herself up with but thankfully Dan Heng is there with Band-Aids and sanitizer.

March would love dancing with you! Whether it's just you two or with a group of people, she's having a great time. She'd love to invite Caelus/Stelle sometime. It's always a wild time when the three of you hang out and there's music involved.

I see March as a fan of K-pop music as well so any song you put on is an instant like from her. She's got her favourite songs of course but she's always looking for new songs to dance to.

Late night car rides and food stops are something March loves! She doesn't mind where you end up, just as long as the vibes, company, and food are good. And with you there, at least two of those things are guaranteed.

Hey Kiyaar, I know we haven't talked too much, so I hope I'm not bothering you during a low spoon period, but I'd been getting a little bit into astrology when you posted your 'calculating natal charts for blorbos with maximum traumatic impact' post and it was really clear and straightforward and I really enjoyed reading it! So I figured maybe I could take a chance and message you to see if you could point me in the direction of astrology resources you've found useful (book or web)?

Because it turns out my latest bout of health issues that have completely kicked my ass, (and have still not recovered from in 6 years,) started on my Saturn return and uhhhh I just learned Jupiter returns are also a thing and my Jupiter is in Taurus so mine is about to start in May, (followed by my north node return in Pisces in 2025,) and I keep trying to look for ways to make it hopefully kick my ass less because honestly I am beyond exhausted right now. But all the sites I keep looking at are very froo-froo three-sentence-paragraph-summaries useless when it comes to advice for dealing with a Jupiter/north node return and the lack of useful information is starting to make me into a ball of anxiety, (or more of one than normal). If you have the spoons to spare to in order to pass along any resources you'd recommend I'd be incredibly grateful. If not, I hope you have a better day soon. I'll send you some good vibes either way.

@loving-that-officey-feel I am SO SORRY i took a year and a day to answer this HI, please do not worry, I very much love this question, I have several resources for you and my favorite one and the most comprehensive is my go-to Just Forks resource, and it is The Astrology Podcast w Chris Brennan. You can listen on any platforms or directly on the website, or I guess you can watch the eps on Youtube because sometimes they will show you visually the chart they are talking about and that's helpful if you need ref visuals. I listen to a lot of these while I have migraines. The eps range from very accessible to incredibly advanced topics, and it's been running for years so there is a wealth of knowledge there. Check out the ep on the nodes (290 + also 127). Like sometimes I am like. I don't really understand [concept] that keeps getting mentioned. I wonder if there is an ep on that. There is. I like this podcast because his approach is incredibly scholarly (he is very Saturnian and I like that) and he brings tons of people on and he generally has v good taste in guests. They're all super weird and interesting. If you want to learn the landscape, he has a series on each planet and on each sign and even just listening to those one by one gives you a framework. You're asking me about a specific transit and I really like Robert Hand's books, I have one of them (Planets in Transit) but there are several; I am always on the lookout for a copy of Planets in Aspect at my used bookstore. He is like. An old man who I believe has a background in Hellenistic Astrology, so his books don't include the Nodes and are speculative about some Uranus transits because most people only experience Uranus transiting into a new house once per lifetime and he wrote it in the 70s. But it's great ref for looking up transits as they happen/what they are specifically doing in my chart. ETA I have, since writing this, listened to an ep of the astrology podcast that indicated that Robert Hand wrote this book and it then ended up becoming like a cornerstone text and held up remarkably well esp considering the stuff about Pluto (newer discovery). The nodes are a thing from Evolutionary Astrology, which is some new age stuff and people most commonly ascribe the NN/SN to current life path/past life baggage/gifts, which isn't like. My favorite. I I think maybe it can be useful to think of the South Node as a representation of stuff you're naturally good at/fluent in, and the North Node as stuff that you need to work consciously to lean into more because it will help you if you do. Mostly the nodes just tell you where the eclipse cycles for the next few years are gonna be and help you situate that in your chart. On Jupiter return - this is general because I can't see your chart or know what's aspecting your jupiter/other taurus placements, etc, but generally Jupiter returns are nicer (unless you have a really debilitated Jupiter for some reason), I would worry more about that Saturn return! How Jupiter in Taurus is gonna be really depends on what house it's in (it's not a bad Jupiter placement), and how it's aspecting your chart ruler/malefics in your chart. I hope this helps! Other books I've been wanting to look at but haven't include Chani's You Were Born For This (I like her app too) Anti-recs: Co-Star (app), Jessica Lanyadoo (i'm tired of hearing her tell everyone to try mindfulness), most tiktok astrologers (they all pass around the hot transit content every 3-4 days) If i missed anything or didn't answer to your satisfaction my box is open!

Hi 9wing! If I remember correctly, you're not native from Japan, right? Did you learn Japanese growing up because it was part of your life? Or later on? If so, do you have tips on how to go about it or what helped you? I have some very basic notions and I'd like to become a speaker, even if I can't write it.

hi! yea so i started learning in the US from a pretty young age, studied through high school, then went to university in japan for my bachelors and got a job here out of college and just have continued living here since.

if any part of this kind of route is available to you i would recommend it, but here are some general tips i hope you can apply in some way to your journey:

try to find a way to learn (at least partially) from a teacher native to japan. this can help you nail down pronunciation.

if you’re really aiming to become fluid try to learn to write. it seems daunting but i really think it helps illuminate the language in your brain when you’re speaking it.

kanji is intimidating but i absolutely recommend learning it! japanese has a limited set of sounds used, and there are plenty of words that sound exactly the same but use different kanji or can only be figured out through the context of a sentence. having a knowledge of kanji goes a long way in assisting your listening comprehension. after coming to japan i took a kanji drill class where we learned 80-100 characters a week in order of their frequency of use, and i studied around 2100 characters total. it was hell but i completely recommend it.

find a motivation that compels you or even forces to study. for me, as a kid that was stuff like wanting to be able to read or watch new manga or anime, but as a young adult my motivations were things like having a job where japanese was required, or having to use the language in my daily life because i lived here, and befriending or dating local people who didn’t speak english. i always aimed to put myself in sink or swim situations. i think this is important if you struggle with self motivation (like me haha)

this is a drastic piece of advice but.. if you’re looking for a job, maybe look for a job at a japanese company’s subsidiary! you will be able to work in your native language but will probably be exposed or have access to a lot of japanese language information related to your work. a lot of people pick up the language this way in their adult life.

a more mild version of the above points is to incorporate speaking in your daily life, outside of your studies. make it a part of your daily routine. this could start off by listening to japanese music or watching an episode of a tv show. even scrolling japanese language tiktok or instagram videos!

keep on the lookout for any irl cultural immersion or exchange opportunities, especially in the city where you live. i might contact your local japan embassy and see if they have any information. you might be surprised! there might be language clubs or events or services in your area. community colleges often offer open courses as well!

never give up! it’s cheesy advice but it’s so true. even small progress over time will lead to a stronger foundation for understanding of the language. and second languages need to be exercised like a muscle. if you don’t use the language, in time you will forget. so get ahead of yourself and find ways to keep pressing on!!