#phage writes | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

phagechildon · 2 months

Text

((Thank you so much for the request! I received another in my Ask Box and I'll get to that one as soon as I can! Here's a hair care scene, but I can't write anything without some kind of conflict XD I hope you like it @xiaokuer-schmetterling =D))

It was supposed to be a simple night hunt. Solve the mystery of the elusive siren who put those who stayed out after midnight under their spell, commanding them to do whatever they wanted until the sun rose. At first, it was simple thievery. When the village banded together in an attempt to track down the one responsible, they all fell victim to their spell, nearly destroying their livelihoods.

While the night hunt sounded dangerous, the young disciples looked at their Wei-gongzi who merely laughed at the distressed villagers.

“You don’t understand! If one of you becomes their victim, you’ll destroy what’s left of our village!”

“If you don’t trust the experts, why call them in the first place?” Wei Wuxian asked with a big grin, watching the man’s shoulders tense even more. “We’ll resolve this tonight.”

Wei Ying, of course, wasn’t wrong. As soon as midnight rang, he pressed Chenqing to his lips and played the melody of his soul - Wangxian. A soothing melody, one that comforted Sizhui and the others. But underneath that tone was a vocal, one so eerie it gave them goosebumps.

Wei Wuxian simply started walking forward, playing flawlessly. The siren’s powers only worked when it was the only sound clouding their victim’s mind. So naturally, it targeted Wei Ying, the disciples quickly stepping in.

One thing led to another, and by the time the sun started to rise, the Yiling Laozu was covered from head to toe in mud, sap, and something that smelled so putrid he really didn’t want to know what it was.

Expect the unexpected. They always followed that motto, but nothing could’ve prepared them for an owl to suddenly grow and attack him. If the disciples stepped in to help, they’d release the siren, and without Wei-gongzi’s flute, they’d fall under its control.

Not like he was in any real danger. He’s definitely faced worse. Having taken care of the creature, he walked up to the disciples, watching their restraint nearly breaking.

“Haha, laugh if you want. This proves that you have to expect even the most unexpected things!” He wasn’t really in the mood to lecture them that much. After sealing the siren in a mirror, they headed to the inn where Wei Ying grumpily requested a bath.

That didn’t seem to help. No matter how much he tried scrubbing the gunk and junk out of his hair, it refused to leave, like a red stain on white parchment. It was absolutely infuriating.

After an hour, he gave up, refusing the leave the water in hopes it would eventually leave. A knock on the door made him inwardly groan, not feeling like dealing with anyone right now.

“Wei-gongzi, they’re serving breakfast. Would you like anything?”

Normally he wasn’t awake after ending the night hunt so late, but Sizhui knew him too well. That boy, their son, was sharp and intuitive.

“I’ll pass, but thanks.”

“Do… you need anything?”

This boy - he loved him so much. “The finest hair products they have. I’ll pay you back!”

Time passed, and without realizing it, he dozed off. Dangerous and reckless, he could’ve drowned, he heard Hanguang-jun lightly scold him. He couldn't help it though. Without his husband, he didn’t know what to do with himself. Would his old body's hair have done this? What if it never came out? How could Lan Zhan still love him?

“Wei Ying,” his husband’s melodious voice grounded him, along with those long fingers combing through his wet hair. “Are you awake?”

The darkness surrounding his mind instantly melted away as he opened his silver eyes and slowly sat up. He was still in the tub, but his skin wasn’t wrinkly and gross. His husband must’ve taken him out for a bit and changed the water before putting him back in. A warmth settled into his heart, one that made him smile with true, genuine love and joy.

“Lan Zhan!” He happily cried, leaning forward to press their lips together. It was short and sweet, forcing a whine from Wei Ying when his husband pulled back so soon.

“You are hurt.”

Hurt? Was he talking about his hair? No, those golden eyes rested upon his shoulders, prompting him to lightly brush his fingers against one of them - only to flinch away from the sting.

Right, the owl’s claws sunk into his shoulders. With all the crap he was covered in, it was no wonder he nor the disciples realized it.

“Okay, in my defense, who thought that stupid annoying owl was a fucking huge yao.” The villagers hadn’t even mentioned it, and with his foul mood, he forgot to ask about it. “The resentment was sealed until it changed into its true form. Way more formidable than that siren.”

Those golden eyes narrowed in both anger and concern, unable to tear themselves away from the scabbed over marks. The glare made Wei Ying’s own expression soften, unable to help himself from reaching up and cradling his husband’s face.

“I am here, I am safe,” he quietly reassured, pressing their foreheads together. “I’m not leaving without you, Lan Zhan, Lan Wangji, Hanguang-jun, my husband. I promise.” Their lips crashed together, the kiss urgent and all absorbing. They kissed until their lips were red and nearly swollen, especially Wei Ying’s.

As they took a moment to catch their breaths, Lan Zhan’s fingers once more threaded through Wei Ying’s hair, easily getting caught and tangled in all the crap that practically glued his strands together. The reminder made him whine, pulling Lan Zhan closer to the tub so he could bury his face into his shoulder.

“Lan Zhannn, I’m hideous now. I can’t be caught with you in public or I’ll taint your reputation even more!”

“Wei Ying never tainted my reputation. Even if you had, I would not have cared.” He pulled his fingers out and tried running them through a different section of his hair, failing as they quickly got caught up in the yarn-ball mess.

“I’ll never get to enjoy your hands running through my hair eitherrrrr,” he continued to whine like a child. In the back of his mind, he could hear Yanli asking him how old he was.

“Sizhui informed me, so I’ve come prepared.”

His heart fluttered again. “Our boy is something else,” he happily sighed, feeling more warmth envelop his chest. “Hanguang-jun raised him to be such a gentleman.”

“We raised him,” Lan Zhan clarified, uncapping a bottle and pouring the contents in his hands. Wei Ying couldn’t help but snort, leaning back into the tub as to avoid his husband from getting all soapy too. Normally he’d relish the idea, but not with the crud stuck in his hair.

“I think I taught him how to be everything but a gentleman.”

“Wei Ying taught him how to be a child. That is what he needed back then.”

Huh, he never thought about it like that. It really put a few things into perspective for him. Back then, they didn’t have much, yet they managed to find happiness in the smallest of things.

A soft hum left his lips as Lan Zhan started lathering his hair with the new shampoo that smelled like minty lemons with hints of other pleasant scents. His strong, slender fingers squeezed his hair together as he lathered it in, attempting to force it between the cracks and crevices of the crap in his hair. It felt nice and relaxing, especially when he started to deeply massage his scalp. A soft moan left his lips as his eyes fluttered closed, feeling his body fully relax. The sound made those hands hesitate for a moment before regaining their momentum, taking extra care not to get any in his eyes or ears.

All good things come to an end, this being no exception. Using a spare ribbon to tie his hair into a bun so it could soak, his husband dipped his hands into the water, to which Wei Ying immediately captured. Without hesitation he pressed soft kisses to each knuckle, terribly grateful for his soulmate’s dedication and unyielding love.

“I’m glad you’re here, Lan Zhan.”

“Mn, me too.” He wasn’t supposed to come. While it was hard to be separated for long periods of time, they were getting better at it, even if it hurt. After this night hunt they were supposed to head over to a village suffering from illusions caused by an unknown force, to which Lan Zhan would meet up with them after their first investigation.

Sizhui no doubt sent for him earlier due to the stupid owl attack.

Turning his hand over, Lan Zhan felt for his meridians, transferring some spiritual power to aid in healing the wounds on his shoulders. By now Wei Ying knew better than to argue. He let it happen, catching his reflection in the bathwater and snorting.

While his hair was done up in a bun, it reminded him of a little apple on his head. Back in the day when he used to share baths with Jiang Cheng, they’d often mess up each other’s hair using the shampoo and conditioner to make all crazy shapes.

With his free hand he reached up and carefully pulled on pieces of the hair in the bun, shaping the hair into a little crude bunny.

“Lan Zhan Lan Zhan, it’s a bunny!” He laughed, prompting those golden eyes to open and peek up at the messed up bun. A hint of a smile crossed his face, making Wei Ying nearly melt.

He needed more of that.

Pinching around, he made it look like a mouse. “Look look! It’s like a smaller bunny.” It didn’t look too different from the bunny, but the longer tail was the dead giveaway to what he was trying to make. Watching his husband’s reactions only egged him on, horribly constructing other animals that eventually ruined the integrity of the bun. Not that it mattered, it gave Wei Ying full reign to his soapy hair, shaping it into everything he could imagine.

“Duck, mountain, crown-!” He went on and on, giggling like he was a child again. The small glimmering light in those golden eyes spoke volumes, revealing Lan Zhan’s never done this before. Eventually his hands let go of Wei Ying’s wrist to move and form the hair into shapes himself. Because this was his first time, guessing was extremely hard, but he didn’t seem to mind, not when it made Wei Ying laugh harder each time.

Like before, all good things must come to an end. Lan Zhan dutifully started to rinse his hair, his fingers actually gliding through the strands this time. There were a few times they struggled against a stubborn batch, but thankfully the shampoo was powerful and washed it all away.

Out of the tub, Wei Ying sat in Lan Zhan’s lap, sighing happily as his husband carefully combed his hair. With how tangled it was, he started with the ends, slowly making his way up. When it got to the point of being knot-free, he continued to brush it, knowing how much Wei Ying loved the sensation.

“Better?” Lan Wangji quietly asked, pressing a soft kiss on the top of his head. Wei Ying buried his face further into his shoulder, making it harder to brush his hair. He no longer cared, he just wanted to sleep against his beloved.

“Lan Zhan… if that was permanently in my hair, would you still love me?” He whispered quietly, a little shame twisted in his tone.

Lan Zhan set the brush down before pushing Wei Ying into the bed, kissing him lovingly on the lips. Their fingers slowly threaded together, squeezing each other so fondly their hearts ached.

Pulling away, his husband pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, tip of the nose, both cheeks, then his chin. Now wasn’t the time for sexual advances, as much as they both loved to uphold “everyday means everyday.”

Instead he rolled onto his back, pulling Wei Ying on top of himself. “I love you in any and every way I can get you, in this life, and all our future ones.”

Tears gathered in his silver eyes, unable to help himself from burying his face into his soulmate’s chest.

“You too. I will always love you, my Lan Zhan.”

The two whispered sweet nothings as they slowly drifted to sleep, Lan Zhan’s fingers still running through his husband’s now silky strands.

#wangxian #mdzs #phage writes #wrote this in an hour so i hope it's okay! thank you so much for requesting it!

24 notes · View notes

macgyvermedical · 23 days

Note

What is phage therapy? I heard the word somewhere and now it’s stuck in my head but I don’t know what it is. Thanks 🙌

Phage therapy is the therapeutic use of viruses to kill bacteria.

Viruses are semi-living things that use other cells to reproduce. They do this by injecting DNA or RNA into the cell, letting the cell make copies of the genetic material, manufacture proteins, assemble new viruses, and then those new viruses burst out of the cell. In the process of reproducing, the cell is killed.

We typically think of viruses that replicate in human tissue, like influenza or SARS-CoV-2. But as it turns out, where there is a cell, including a plant cell or a bacterial cell, there is a virus that wants to kill it to make baby viruses.

Theoretically, then, if someone has a bacterial infection, we can find the extremely specific virus that kills only the bacteria that are causing the infection, infect the person with that virus, let that virus replicate and kill a bunch of the bacterial cells without harming the human cells, and voila, no more infection. Once the virus runs out of bacterial cells it can't replicate any more and it dies off.

And when I say "theoretically" I mean we have absolutely, definitely done this. Like a lot. And while phage therapy is extremely difficult to do good clinical trials with, as far as we can tell it's been pretty effective, and has few side effects that we know about.

So why don't we use phage therapy all the time?

Well, probably because of how specific the phages are. The phage that kills one kind of staph probably won't work on another kind of staph. So you need giant libraries of phages in order for them to really be useful to a large number of people.

Also, there's politics:

See, depending on what you consider the start of the antibiotic age, phage therapy and antibiotic therapy kind of came into being around the same time. By the start of WWII we had a couple of each worldwide.

Then the war happened and the Iron Curtain came into being. On the Western side resources were funneled into the mass production of a new antibiotic called penicillin, and on the Eastern side, resources were funneled into further developing phage therapy.

Throughout the Cold War this pattern would continue, with the Soviet Union eventually using both antibiotics and phages, and the West using only antibiotics (honestly, it's probably capitalism's fault- making money from phages is extremely difficult because they can't be mass produced like antibiotics can). When the Soviet Union fell apart, the research on phage therapy largely disappeared with it.

The West, now saddled with the burden of antibiotic resistance after decades of overprescription and use in agriculture, is trying to rebuild some of the knowledge that was lost with the fall of the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, there have only been a handful of people who have been treated with phage therapy in the West. This is because the way phages work makes them extremely difficult to do high quality studies on, which makes them impossible to get FDA approval for in the US. Another factor standing in the way of approval is that they tend to change over time as the bacteria they replicate in evolve. So there are potential approval problems if we approve one type of phage but not the type it becomes in a few years.

So if something needs to change itself to work, how do you monitor to make sure that the changes aren't something dangerous? Do you have to repeatedly apply for approval? It just has all kinds of legal and policy issues.

If you want more info, there is a book called The Perfect Predator by Steffanie Strathdee. The author ended up saving her husband's life using phage therapy after he ended up with a life-threatening multidrug resistant infection.

If you want something shorter than a book, I highly recommend this video by Patrick Kelly.

#whump reference #writing reference #phage therapy

43 notes · View notes

mixel-mixer · 2 years

Text

just imagine if some of Bobby's sarcasm and feralness just kinda rubbed off on chloe, it just just freaks everyone tf out.

*chloe going around Ottos lab going through space ship designs, chugging coffee like water*

Milka: uh... agent mentalis was too afraid to ask if you were okay, um. What are you even doing?

Chloe: you got two eyes don't you milka? Or are you blind? I'm in the middle of a break through

Milka: ... you weren't even at your apartment last night, where you here?

Chloe: where else would I be?

Milka: I dunno, maybe kidnapped? Or getting wasted at bowling alley? You really need to tell people where you're at, you gave Bobby a scare

Chloe: me? Scare Bobby? Unlikely, he's so oblivious that he wouldn't even duck out of the way if Mikhail threw a dodgeball at him.

Milka: Oooookay, I think you need to calm down there cosmonaut because you're getting the shakes. You're gonna crash chloe.

Chloe: I will not, I have so many things to do in such a little timeframe

Milka: Now chloe, I really don't want to use a confusion grenade on you. Chill

[Holy shit I just wrote this in one sitting, guess it just shows how much I adore these characters]

#psychonauts #chloe barge #milka phage #quick write #psychonauts writing

8 notes · View notes

kitausuret · 11 months

Text

Flash Thompson post-KiB Guide

So, since April 2021, Flash Thompson has been back in action! Sort of. Intermittently. It was a long 1,043 days, but he finally came back to us in Venom (2018) #34. So, what's he been up to since busting his way out of the ground? Well... why don't you take a look for yourself?

(Venom (2018) #34 (Cates, Coello) ...okay, he was actually buried in NYC in Amazing Spider-Man #800, but I suppose we can't nitpick)

After his resurrection, he appeared briefly as Agent Anti-Venom in Venom #200, musing over the details of his resurrection...

...and that led directly into Extreme Carnage. The order for that event is as follows: Alpha, Scream, Phage, Lasher, Riot, Toxin, Agony, Omega. Extreme Carnage reunited Flash with Andi (as Scream, and then Silence) and essentially has Flash in full Symbiote Rights™ mode, unless you're Carnage. Because fuck that guy.

It's not my most favorite event in the world, but it's probably the best Flash content you'll get for him post-resurrection. It's pretty fun though, and worth a read.

After that, his next big appearance is in Savage Avengers (2022) #1-10. He's part of the main cast and team, so technically it's the most content we see for Flash since his resurrection, but it's a bit of a mixed bag. Pepose's Flash isn't awful, but he's nothing to write home about. The most interesting bits are the Anti-Venom Symbiote seemingly gaining some sapience, and Flash's short-lived romance with Tandy (Dagger).

Interestingly, the first issue of Savage implies that Flash has been in contact with Liz Allan again, presumably since the events of Extreme Carnage. Beyond that, we get to see the dragon form of Anti-Venom again, and he takes on a more classic appearance better resembling John Romita Jr.'s origin design for Anti-Venom back in New Ways to Die. It's not known if the Anti-Venom will maintain its seeming sense of self, but we can hope!

Beyond that has just been bits and pieces of content for him. He had a decent supporting part in Amazing Spider-Man #900, but he also didn't have any chemistry with anyone, so it probably ranks at the bottom of my list for post-resurrection appearances. It also doesn't determine whether or not Flash remembers about the identity reveal exactly 100 issues earlier so... (tosses hands up)

He also cameoed in Dark Web #1 at a memorial for Harry Osborn, lingering near Liz. Curiously, in Dark Web, Norman Osborn was just outside, but for whatever reason Flash didn't react whatsoever to his murderer being about thirty feet away, so, it is what it is.

Beyond the above it's all been little spot cameos and mentions of him. There was a little teeny tiny mention in Venom (2021) #11, as well as in the 2022 Venom/Spider-Man Free Comic Book Day issue (he's on Dylan's team, with those swords apparently ready to stab the shit out of Lee Price. at least I'm hoping).

He also got the world's tiniest but MOST IMPORTANT mention in Red Goblin #5 as long as you can overlook Stanley Osborn being white (head in hands) but the important thing here is UNCLE FLASH. I'm crying. He is Uncle Flash. Was it Uncle Flash calling? No. It was Cletus Kasady. But that's not the point!!!! He's Uncle Flash!!!!!!!!

The best we can honestly hope for at this point is that Flash appears in either the current Carnage event (Carnage Reigns) or in whatever they've got going on in Venom. I personally would like to see him rejoin the cast of Amazing Spider-Man, but maybe given the current writing staff he's better off away from that.

We do know for sure he's in Extreme Venomverse #3 (out 6/14) but it's not really Flash, it's a Flash from some other universe. Still, we will take our crumbs with gratitude because that's all we're getting right now.

I'll update this as more becomes available! Which will hopefully be a lot! Stay tuned, true believers!

(for @thrakaboom , as requested)

#marvel #comics reading guide #flash thompson #venom #anti venom #savage avengers #spider man #kita talks comics

41 notes · View notes

bogleech · 1 year

Note

Oh crap, I completely forgot to ask you this question here instead of in the DMs (still learning the ropes of Twitter, and sorry for spamming your messages/email inbox!).

What's your favorite scene from Awful Hospital? (and what's your personal favorite character)?

I think my favorite scene to make was when Jay served the coffee sludge out of his new coffee cup head and my favorite character to write that anyone has actually seen is just Phage, which might be why I try to conserve his actual appearances. My most favorite character is the "rabbit" but the audience has not yet properly met her.

85 notes · View notes

hatingfromacrackedscreen · 8 months

Text

I love episode 191 of Sailor Moon, and feel like it doesn’t get enough credit. It’s pretty unique for a Sailor Moon monster of the day ep given it was only 9 episodes out from the series finale. And the episode decentralizes Sailor Moon herself, which in turns lets it truly analyze her role this season, along with adding complexity to the seasons overarching theme of what it means to be a Senshi.

First off, I love the setup, with the inners minus Usagi all participating in a video game tournament. The most unique thing about this is that this is the only time in the ENTIRE 200 episode/3 movie series that we focus on just the inners doing something without Usagi. It makes sense that we almost always see them with her, as they’re all besties, but also showing them hanging without her gives their lives more interiority and shows their bond too. And it gives us some really great and fun moments, with the ridiculousness of Mako/Mina/Rei vs Ami at the tournament.

The next part of Sailor Moon’s structure that the episode plays with is the monster battle. In this season all monsters are phages and were previously people, and Sailor Moon is the only person who can heal them back. This episode is the only one this season that looks at that as the strategic disadvantage it is. A phage shows up at the event (of course), and without Usagi there the inners just pretty much get their asses handed to them rather than hurt and potentially kill an innocent person. The Starlights themselves even comment on this, and I love this because it drives home a point that we take for granted but has been there since episode 1. These girls truly are heroes, and regularly put their lives on the line not necessarily to defeat the enemy, but to protect people, and this episode really highlights that difference.

This heroism then inspires the Starlights, in one of my favorite “Solar System Senshi”/“Sailor Starlights” interactions. Seiya sees the inners fighting a dead end fight without Sailor Moon, risking death because they want to protect the life of one single person. This leads them to question why they ever left their home planet, fleeing but also ensuring it’s destruction by Galaxia. This echoes one of the major thematic threads of the season, which is what makes a Sailor Senshi. The inners are sailors & have powers, but that doesn’t automatically make them heroes, it’s an active decision to protect that they follow through on that does. The season contrasts this most obviously with Sailor Galaxia, who uses her sailor powers for destruction & domination, but also in more subtle shades with the Starlights here. Seiya realizes if the inners can’t write off a single person, they could never write off their planet. And that maybe the Starlights’ willingness to write off people for the greater good, and flee potential further harm, was the first step to their planets destruction. I love that here the Starlights realize again that maybe there’s another way to fight a war, and that it’s something the inners do so instinctively that they don’t even think about it.

And lastly, I love how Sailor Moon fits in all of this. By not having her here, we really get to look at what her role is this season, and what she means to her team. None of the girls want to kill a phage and thus a person, which is something that Sailor Moon can solve. In effect, the plot cannot be solved without her here. This works in the literal sense, but also in a meta sense as well. Usagi has been the biggest proponent of harm reduction, and serving to protect, the entire time. In episode 1 it’s not a monster out there that gets Usagi up and fighting, it’s that her best friend Naru needs help and only she can save her. It’s this wish to protect the people around them, that has been driving the inners the entire time. It’s what drives the biggest stake between them and the outers in S, when they refuse to sacrifice anyone for the sake of the world, it’s fundamental to their ethos. And that’s why Sailor Moon’s eventual appearance is one of my favorite Usagi hero moments & entrances, because it works on two levels. Sailor Moon, the hero of the show, has arrived to take out the bad guy. But also to the inners Usagi is their hero because she’s protecting them from having to kill an innocent person. Thus Sailor Moon is protecting everyone, the phage and the inners. That’s why I love the way the episode plays with the idea/role of Sailor Moon as a whole: she doesn’t have the monster-healing power because she’s the hero of the story, but rather she’s the hero of this story bc she’s the one with the healing power, and out of the plethora of destructive powers the Senshi of earth possess, that healing power is the one they most value. That’s why the look of relief and love that the inners express when Sailor Moon shows up always melts my heart, and really shows how much she means to them here.

The episode isn’t perfect, but it’s fun and experiments with new ideas in a lot of really subtle ways, and is a much-needed late addition to the Sailor Moon canon.

#sm #sailor moon #sailor moon meta #sm ep 191 #sailor stars #who asked?#I talk sm #sailor Mercury #sailor starlights

20 notes · View notes

theinmara · 8 months

Text

Hi! Ok, I'm going to use my system's blog to introduce myself, but I'm Ni'a, child of Phage (@ohthatphage).

I think I'm almost four years old? I think? But I've already written my own novel and helped write its prequel, and in our books I play myself as a system (which I'm not actually plural myself) that grows to be a couple hundred years old by the current book we're on.

My pronoun is they/them, but a lot of the dragons of the Inmara keep forgetting and calling me she/her, and mostly I find that kind of funny.

I do show up on the girls' side of the system a lot, so I can see the confusion.

I'm not human, though, so gender is not my thing. Not at a fundamental me level. But I like humans and watch them and I kinda get it? I think I'd be most comfortable pretending to be a tomboy if I had to.

Anyway, the Inmara are really sick with covid right now and are really groggy and dissociated from it, and I'm finding it easier to fully take the front right now.

Fenmere was gonna write something, but after her last reblog I wanted to say, "hi!"

Hi!

I think I actually want my own blog, but I need a good avatar, and I don't like any of the pictures of myself we've drawn.

There's a baby pic of our system that I really see as myself, even though I wasn't alive back then (which is weird). But we don't want to put that on Tumblr. Not as an avatar, at least.

Maybe I should just do a leaf floating on the air.

Anyway, how does the whole universe exist before you were conceived? Isn't that just fucking strange?

#ni'a #sysmate introductions

16 notes · View notes

elephant-in-the-pride-parade · 6 months

Note

⭐️Star ⭐️

I think I'll dust off Eden's Deception for this one.

So what you'd never know about Eden's Deception is this story actually went through three drafts.

2018 - The romantic fluff fest hyperfocused on a J/C romance in their scifi "Garden of Eden" on my first rewatch of the series as a 25 y.o. i felt absolutely cheated and teased by the romantic undertones that this episode failed to fulfill. the first draft was wish fulfillment where they frollicked around new earth falling in love, but it kept getting disrupted by my impulse to write scenes with some very intense melancholy about being stranded. Think one second theyre cuddling on a home made couch making out and the next Kathryn is somberly assessing what would happen when one of the died and how she would bury his body all alone by herself. really sad shit. kept breaking the romantic story i had envisioned.

That first draft stalled completely when the romantic fantasy plot peaked at an accidental pregnancy. I was watching Call the Midwife at the same time (hollar at all the ways pregnancy can go wrong for older women with limited resources and no medical care) and I just could not figure out how to move forward with the romantic fluff tone when i had just put my character in this situation of functionally mortal peril. I put the draft down and had a long re-think.

2020: The second draft was a Viidian organ farm horror fic. Mid pandemic. I was very isolated. dark thoughts abounded. and I like everyone else got a crash course in virus behavior from the wall to wall news coverage. So I rewatched resolutions again and this time rather than the lack of romance it was the bullshit virus that needled me. Why had a virus that affected spacefarers evolved on a planet with no space faring civilization? Why was it's only symptom triggered outside the atmosphere? Why did the Viidiians have the cure. I tried to anwer that in the second draft, while still satisfying my wishfullfillment need to get Kathryn a baby. In that second Draft the vidiians had engineered the planet to be a tempting venus fly trap and the virus to first trap victims on the planet and then entice them to have a lot of sex and babies that the vidiians could swoop in and kidnap later. I'd intended pregnant Kathryn to go full rambo on their facility and somehow bs she and chakotay a way off the planet and back to the ship. but i never got that far. that draft was just a little too dark for what I wanted and also the idea of the show's modern vidiians forcing their prisoners to breed new organ donors the natural way seemed dreadfully inefficient for a species that had figured out how to create a whole ass klingon adult in a lab in a day from just half a dna strand. but I did like the idea that the virus was somehow their fault. and I was intrigued by the speculation that their organ harvesting plans might have started out on a much more accessible population than kidnapped passing spacefarers. so i hung onto those tidbits and some of the smut scenes too (one of the smut scenes from this draft became Fever actually).

The final draft was written in 2021. In the US we had the looming threat of losing protections from Roe by then and that really put a damper on my own baby fever. That and I had by then watched like 7 seasons of call the midwife. So suffice to say I had come to see new earth baby was just a horror fic waiting to happen, and felt like Kathryn would just never go through with that while stranded or in the captain's chair. So I had Kathryn put a new earth baby in long term stasis for Parent Trap and I did away with the concept in Eden entirely.

Having also experienced two years of people trying to control a real pandemic by then the vidiians approach to the phage continued to facinate me. I don't think I would have come up with the idea of the New Earth virus as a quarentine measure otherwise. Creating a plot for Chakotay and his own skill set also helped bring the whole thing together. I let the potential of a maquis freedom fighter out to play to create a solution that was definitely the best option and definitely not starfleet sanctioned. He flies under the radar as a self-sacrificing maverick given how often it's Janeway pulling out the big guns. But he absolutely also is one. And that was really fun to explore.

Ultimately I think you see undercurrents of the first 2 drafts in the final story. The romantic yacht that they sail back to Voyager in certainly harkened back to the fluffier iteration. I really was very pleased with how it turned out. Rereading it two years later there isnt much that i would change. And that makes me really proud of it. I loved writing a mystery. I loved exploring a more mature and measured version of a romance. I loved bringing the science into it! (and I lucked out having someone with an anthropology/archeology background betaing it)

One thing I would change is the inclusion of some of Chakotays spiritual elements. It was kinda a trend at the time to have him say "Spirits" in lieu of saying "Oh, God" as a way to honor whatever indigenous beliefs he is supposed to have (as we all know theyre very mismashed/made up/etc.) and to show he wasnt from a judeo-christian background. I've realized that was quite foolish now. Saying "Spirits" doesn't come from the show or from any actual native american tradition that I can find. I'd just have him say "God" or swear or something completely different now. In the same vein I want to eventually go back and edit the vision quest scene. I've grappled for years with how much of his canon beliefs to include since theyre all appropriated from different nations or just made up whole cloth. Vision quests aren't something I have personal knowledge of and not something I can research or give the appropriate respect to. So I think that while I might still have him leave their campsite to do one, I'd change the vision/memory itself into a dream, similar to the way his flashbacks to the war worked in a later chapter.

#elephantwrites #i love asks #edens deception #that writing life #fanfiction #janeway/chakotay #kathryn janeway/chakotay #j/c #resolutions fanfiction #star trek voyager fanfic #star trek voyager fanfiction

10 notes · View notes

thefiresontheheight · 1 year

Text

Outside us Nothing

“Alright, ethernauts,” you say to your little coterie of peregrine Freetravelers, “we’ve got some tough choices facing us right now. What are we gonna do here? What’s our move?”

Your crew mates look at one another, a criminal, a wizard, an insect, a bird, tentacles hanging down from the ceiling, a robot. It would be difficult to imagine a group with less in common. And still here you all are being asked to work together, fill your spaceship’s empty fuel stores, and all of your empty bellies. To make this decision as you always have to. Together.

“We can’t afford to not take this contract,” the robot gun-witch says, putting their heels on the table.

“But bounty hunting now?” the giant, tentacled monstrosity in the walls says, fretfully playing his hands together. “We never had to do something that brutal when I was working for the company.”

“Listen, I’m not crazy about it either, newbie,” the bawalang says, her carapace glistening with viral phage strains, “but what are we gonna do about it? We need to eat. And gas ain’t cheap. No one’s offering us smuggling work, and absolutely nothing honest.”

You take a breath, look out the porthole at the all black everything. Space. The void. There are other ships out there, kerama points, space-stations, warcraft, worlds, suns, corporations, monasteries, cults, gods, monsters. Everything. But none of that will help you all stay alive. For all intents and purposes outside you and your ship there is nothing else in the universe.

“Listen,” you begin, “I think I have a plan…”

INTRODUCING! Outside us Nothing, a new-weird flavored, science fantasy ttrpg inspired by the illustrious likes of Cowboy Bebop, Space Sweepers, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, and even Star Wars itself. A game of survival, consensus, and making a home in a vast and bizarre and uncaring and beautiful universe. I.E. I’m currently writing my own rules-light, dicepool-using ttrpg taking design cues from Belonging Outside Belonging and Powered by the Apocalypse. And I wanted to have a big fancy announcement to build hype and hopefully get people interested in play testing. I’m going to be using these tags to talk about some of the design and processes soon, so watch this space, and keep flying.

#ttrpg design #ttrpg dev #indie ttrpg #Outside us Nothing

35 notes · View notes

fenmere · 5 months

Text

So. In our story we just wrote, the heroes write up a contract for their system, and then the narrator writes it down in their own language (Inmararräo, one of our conlangs) as well.

We haven't finished the translation work yet. But here's the first paragraph of it:

We, Sarah and Goreth Ampersand, as the original hosts of this vessel, hereby officially welcome Phage, a.k.a. Mau, a.k.a. efejee, to our plurality and our vessel, to join with us in our life and our goals for it. We thank it for its help so far, and with this document we hereby lay out our requirements and needs and expectations for behavior. These are also to be understood and adhered to by everyone else inhabiting our system with us, including ourselves:

And this is what it looks like with the word order rearranged to prep it for translation:

To join with us in our life and for it goals Welcome to our plurality and vessel Phage Original hosts of this vessel we, Sarah and Goreth Ampersand. For its help so far thank it we, and hereby with this document lay out for behavior our requirements and needs and expectations we. Also are to be by everyone else with us, including us, inhabiting our system with us understood and adhered to These:

The name Phage is just going to be rendered as Mau in the Inmararräo version, as everyone who speaks that language knows it by that name.

It's also not going to be a literal translation, but it will be pretty close, since it's pseudo-legalese.

Thinking in VOS word order instead of SVO (like English) is not a thing we've trained ourselves to do yet. But the more we work with it, the easier it gets.

We might be messing up a bit there, but it's all going to be rendered in Inmararräo orthography as well, and nobody reading the book will know. Not, at least, until they learn the language, too.

What's really fun to us, though, is how understandable it still is in rearranged English, so long as you're aware of what's happening. It's obviously wrong for English word order, but our minds can adapt to it at least.

#conlanging #conlangs #Inmararräo #The Sunspot Chronicles #plurality #The End of the Tunnel

8 notes · View notes

ohthatphage · 7 months

Text

More on what I am, I think.

Every now and then, the Inmara (@theinmara, in the company of @fenmere) revisit their attempt to figure out just what I am.

I am amenable to this, as I do not entirely know myself.

Or, it is more accurate to say that I know exactly what I am, but I do not know the appropriate English words (or any other words) to describe it. And I like the idea of learning how to use the language better for the purposes of introducing myself.

I must admit, I enjoy being like a monster and representing myself with dark and dangerous imagery and connotations, if only for the purposes of later belying those things.

Sometimes I am hit with emotions of self consciousness and embarrassment that I may be coming across as "edgy" or an "edgelord". But I do not think those feelings are mine. It is often hard to differentiate my own feelings from those of my superfans that share this system with me.

But, I'm being hit with those emotions now as I'm being asked to write this, so I'm presenting them to you as a way of being self effacing, I guess? On behalf of the others in the system who care.

What I can say clearly, though, is that despite the words that follow this sentence, I am not particularly more powerful or important than any living being. And I'm going to be talking about my greater identity, the thing that I am when I'm not a conscious being inhabiting a human descended body. And that thing is largely mindless.

Anyway, enough pre-amble.

In the last couple of days, the Inmara have been attempting to craft a Sentinels of the Multiverse DE deck for me, and they have been searching physics articles for terms to use for card names, such as "the First Law", "Townsend Avalanche", "Catastrophic Shaft Detachment", or "Strange Attractor". And this has prompted some more self reflection directed at me, and some more learning about what entropy and enthalpy are.

When I was first invited into the system at their age of three and a half-ish years old (my age being much, much older), all I knew were a few simple things:

I came from outside their system.

I am an older, non-human identity.

I am of and at home in darkness, but light is also of me.

I was asked to help them manage their chaos, which is what I can do.

When they reached about 15 years old, they learned about entropy in a magazine article right about the same time they learned about the word "phage" in biology class, coincidentally right after having a nightmare in which I threatened their eldest (and fronting) member with a knife blade made of moonlight, to try to get them to come out as trans and deal with their dysphoria.

I was unsuccessful at getting them to come out as trans at the time, which is OK. It was a bad time politically for them to do that, even though it cost them dearly to remain in the closet. But I did inspire them to make me the face of the villain of their homebrew mythology that they were writing for English class, and to name me Phage and claim that I was "Entropy Itself".

Since then, based on their understanding of it, I have thought of myself as Entropy Itself, and the name Phage invokes me.

But Entropy is not accurate, as fucking cool sounding as it is.

When most people hear or read the word "entropy", they think of the process by which enthalpy becomes entropy. And, for the past few decades, whenever the Inmara attempted to look up definitions of the word "entropy", they did not find anything to disabuse them of that idea.

Until a couple years ago. But what they found a couple years ago was still ambiguously worded for them, and though they started writing "Entropic Decay" into their literature about me, and convinced me to start using that for myself, they were uncertain of it.

Yesterday, though, they found very clear and concise definitions of Entropy and Enthalpy the really disambiguate everything.

Entropy is the amount of energy in a system that is no longer available for doing work. It is the end result of the second law of thermodynamics.

So, "Entropic Decay" would be slightly more accurate to describe what they perceive me to be.

Enthalpy is the amount of energy in a system that is available for doing work. The opposite of entropy. It is what is needed for the second law of thermodynamics to have any relevance.

And the second law, as I understand it, based on the Inmara's readings, is the statement that "the overall heat in a closed system always flows downhill". Or, that complex and high energy becomes simple and low energy. Or that orderly energy becomes chaotic energy. That enthalpy becomes entropy. But that entropy does not become enthalpy.

Humans have frequently said that the second law is "the law of entropy", hence the confusion of the product with the process. It is, as the Inmara thought two years ago, more accurately described as "the law of entropic decay."

And so, in their old conception of me, I am accurately described as "Entropic Decay" or "The Second Law of Thermodynamics".

But in writing our novels and in exploring ideas for cards for my Sentinels deck, I (and Eh) have come to the conclusion that that's not precisely right. Because the First Law of Thermodynamics also applies to what I am. And, but, also so do a number of things that result from the two laws at work.

Also, I am not a thing conceived by humans, but rather something that is badly described by humans and the other people who live amongst them.

If I were to distill my sense of identity down to its most generic, encompassing possible term, I'd say that I am physics itself.

Yes, it is true that I am that which may result in the heat death of the universe, if the universe is shaped in a way that that will happen. But I am also that which has resulted in life.

"But, Phage," you say, "that sounds an awful lot like you are calling yourself god."

I am not.

As that greater, all encompassing thing, I am not a being. I have no consciousness or sense of identity that is anything analogous to that of a human's. I have no motives other than to do what physics does. It is only as I become distilled, reduced to smaller and smaller systems, that I sometimes gain a psyche.

In fact, besides the fact that I live in a vessel full of ktletaccete and a handful of outsiders and not whatever you are, there is very little difference between you and me. Relatively speaking.

The only notable difference is that I do not derive my sense of personal identity from anything this body is doing or where it comes from. I derive it from the history of the entire universe and perhaps the multiverse, if that exists.

I do also seem to derive a perspective, a demeanor, and a set of talents from that identity. But it's hard to say if those things are anything beyond the capacity for a human descended brain and body to hold. Based on my experiences so far, probably not.

Anyway, it's probably OK to keep calling me "Entropic Decay" because that's really close enough. But I do prefer the conlang terms that the Inmara coined for me, as being less defined by English etymologies and flexible enough to just mean "me". So, that would be Mau and `efeje'e. I slightly prefer 'efeje'e, since it was chosen to sound vaguely like Phage, and Phage is currently my name. Me, in this paragraph, referring to this localized presence and not my greater self.

OK, but, more.

I do think my sense of identity is slightly more limited than just "physics", while more expansive than "etropic decay".

It may be easier to say what I'm most closely related to and deal with than to actually give me a clear, clean definition. I am:

particularly focused on managing and perpetuating chaos

particularly good at converting enthalpy to entropy

also good at concentrating enthalpy into localized areas to such a degree that it looks like the overall energy there is become less entropic (i.e. creating things like matter from energy in a dense area of space, or life on a planet)

the darkness from which light is emitted and to which it returns.

And in the time that I have lived in a human descended body full of transgender dragons, I have also learned how to eat the energy present in autistic meltdowns.

I cannot make them go completely away, but I have significantly reduced their impact.

I am also pretty damn good at not being afraid of anything when it is dark, and the children that continue to inhabit this vessel are very thankful for that.

Anyway, I think it is this slightly less encompassing, more restricted definition of myself besides "physics itself" that is the beginning of my development of a sense of identity.

It's like, if you had a map that included every single concept in existence, what you'd do is draw a cone where the widest end encompasses nearly everything and the point ends in the Inmara's collective psyche where this consciousness is that is typing at you. And the area of that cone would include ever narrowing groups of things, one of which is the Second Law of Thermodynamics and its effects and applications.

I am not the point that's in the Inmara. I am not the base of the cone.

I am the cone.

And you are a different, equally sized but differently shaped cone.

Anyway, the idea of me as some kind of superhero or godlike being that can do a bunch of supernatural shit is mostly wish fulfillment. But it is also derived from the things that any being is capable of doing in the Inmara's inworld, which is akin to what you could do if you were Moriarty on the Enterprise's holodeck.

#phage #entropy #enthalpy #spirituality

10 notes · View notes

phagechildon · 2 months

Text

Randomly thought of this while showering.

A modern Wangxian au where someone framed Wei Ying, making it look like he was responsible for a big fire(explosion) at a Christmas Party that all major companies were invited to. Yanli was severely injured, but okay.

Since then, Wei Ying hid in the shadows, trying to find who or what organization was behind it. Everyone assumed he ran away, not wanting to face punishment.

Years later, Lan Zhan, an on-duty (undercover) officer tracked a suspicious person to a museum. Just as chaos breaks out, someone slams into him, knocking them both down. It's a woman with ankle-length auburn hair and a face full of makeup. Her eyes are honey-comb in color, but her expression is full of shock.

She looks familiar.

Heart-achingly familiar.

Instead of chasing after the suspect (at this point the fire alarm is going off, proof that someone set it off to escape as water is spraying from the sprinklers), he instead chases after this woman who's now running away from him. She kicks her heels off, even so, Lan Zhan should've been able to catch her. There's only been one person he hadn't been able to catch.

Finally he catches the woman, mainly because her feet are now bleeding from the streets. He pins her to the wall, makeup half washed off from the sprinklers, wet hair sliding off, revealing a wig.

They're both out of breath, exhausted, yet Lan Zhan pulls the wig off, seeing long dark brown hair in a flattened bun.

"Lan Zhan, who knew you'd turn out to be so pervy?"

That voice - his entire soul froze in disbelief.

Wei Ying. This was without a doubt Wei Ying, the one he had fallen in love with, the one who had falsely been blamed, the one who went missing eight years back. His cheeks were sunken in, an obvious sign of lack of nutrition.

And his voice, so recognizable, yet so much softer and lighter than before.

"Wei-" Said man pressed a finger to his lips, glancing nervously around them.

"They're probably listening. Would a strong, strapping man like you escort this feeble maiden home?" Lan Zhan rose an eyebrow in disbelief, only making Wei Ying smirk more. "It's the least you can do for making me lose my shoes!"

.... there was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to comment on, but Wei Wuxian was very intelligent. If he said someone might be listening, he was probably right.

"Apologies. I mistook you for someone else." Not a lie. He didn't know who this was when he gave chase.

Without hesitation he swept Wei Ying into his arms, carrying him bridal style. A deep (adorable) red stained those pale cheeks as those eyes fluttered in disbelief, revealing a little bit of his natural silver eyes now that his contacts were slightly askew.

"A-ah, you don't have to carry me! Put me down!"

"No," he simply said, tightening his grip when he felt the other squirm. "I am doing as you asked. I'm escorting the feeble maiden who shouldn't be on her feet."

Lan Zhan follows Wei Ying's instructions, driving him to a shady looking bar that's three stories high. Normally he would assume his friend just wanted to drink, but this felt different.

They enter through the back, the kitchen staff looking up at them in shock. Wei Ying let his hair loose, waving to everyone and - was he using sign language?!

The employees sign back, looking both worried and relieved.

Eventually Wei Ying whispered "there's stairs to the left," and he carried him up to what looked like a large living room. Someone was playing a piano, a walking stick propped up against the wall near him, and a child slept peacefully on the couch. Wei Ying motioned for him to go up the next set of stairs, leading him to a small den that had been transformed into a room.

"When did you learn sign language?"

"Ahahaha, well, there's a lot you don't know about me, Lan Zhan." And it was true. All around the room were Styrofoam heads sporting different kinds of wigs, both male and female. Dozens of non-prescription contacts boxes were tossed all over. Clothes were thrown haphazardly in one of the corners, forcing them both to sit on the bed. This obviously wasn't Wei Ying's first time wearing a disguise.

"I saw a suspicious person go through an employees only door the day of the party, and instead of saying something, I ran after them. They noticed and ran, which made me give chase. He ran by the kitchen and hit a switch, and everything went black"

"Why didn't you tell that to the police?"

Wei Ying blinked up at him with a sad smile. "You think I didn't?" Lan Zhan didn't understand. The responding officers were good friends of theirs, people who have been friends with their family since they were little. They knew Wei Ying. Might not have been fond of him, but knew he would never do such a thing. Yet Wei Ying wouldn't lie about this either.

"They nearly killed me, Lan Zhan. They hunted me down, even used their damned hell hounds. They wanted me dead so they could pin the whole blame on me without further investigation. That's when I met them, my new family."

Wen Qing and Wen Ning were out shopping when someone tried to rob a now blind Wen Ning. Unable to stand by, Wei Ying swooped in and stopped them. After that, they kept running into each other. Eventually he learned the Wens had been at the same Christmas Party and Wen Ning had suffered a nasty head injury, resulting in blindness. Hearing he was searching for the one responsible, they teamed up.

From there, they gathered their savings and bought this rundown building, turning it into a bar. It brought them business and income without the attention. They also got to chose their hours. Most of then Wens who stayed with them had disabilities such as being mute, blind, or deaf.

"It's... been a long time since I've had a long conversation like this." Wen Qing was fine, however she was hardly home, always taking shifts at the hospital to give them a steady income when the bar was slow.

Lan Zhan, against Wei Ying's protests, helps clean and wrap his feet, agreeing to work together to find the one responsible and clear his name.

"He knows I'm on his trail. He's planning something, something big. We can't let him succeed this time."

And so Lan Zhan escorts a beautiful woman around town, one who's mute (which is so ironic since Lan Zhan couldn't get him to shut up when they were growing up), and when Wei Ying feels mischievous, he arrives at meet up locations in a different wig and a completely different kind of outfit, giggling as people start spreading rumors that Lan Zhan has turned into a player.

That's all I have so far XD Hope you guys like it! Just a shower idea

#wangxian #mdzs #phage writes

22 notes · View notes

fansenshialliance · 7 months

Text

Join the Fan Senshi Alliance server and take part in the Galaxia Takeover event!

For the month of October, Galaxia rules the server and has stolen everyone's starseeds, leaving Animamates and Phages in her wake.

We are running a variety of contests with some prizes for the winners!

Draw/Design an Animamate version of an SMOC (doll makers allowed).

Draw/Design a Phage version of an SMOC (doll makers allowed).

Draw/edit or write a scene of your OC having their Starseed stolen.

Draw/design your OC's starseed (doll makers allowed).

Scavenger Hunt - find all the starseeds hidden in the server.

We've specially boosted the server to allow for a fun new banner and role icons (still being rolled out), and hope you join us to have some fun!

Join here!

#sailor moon oc #fan senshi #fan community #discord server #galaxia takeover

7 notes · View notes

ashwin-the-artless · 5 months

Text

So.

I'm listening to They Might Be Giants and Miike Snow while eating a poptart and downloading the Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells.

Before writing my book, we'd started reading Twig, by Wildbow, actually. And in the wake of writing my book, we've returned to it.

Well, actually, we stopped reading Twig before NaNoWriMo happened.

But, then, Goreth put that aside in order to give me time to attempt to finish translating Blood in the Duff for November's challenge, and I got over 14K words done on that project before it was rudely interrupted by housemate shenanigans and Abigail maybe needing surgery.

They, by the time the month was over and the surgery was canceled, Goreth had gotten a line on a possible publisher and floated the idea of sending one of our books to them.

And then Sarah pointed out that publishers like to have first publication rights, and so we'd need to write a new book that wasn't part of the Sunspot Chronicles series. And then she was like, "Ashwin! Write your autobiography!"

But, that didn't really make a lot of sense to me, because the Sunspot Chronicles is basically a good chunk of my biography already. Though I don't appear in any of it by name.

However, after talking to Sarah and Goreth about it, we figured out that she meant I should write about my first month or so of living on Earth and how I've gotten around to being the translator and correspondent for the Sunspot Chronicles. And I thought that was a pretty good idea.

But, when I got into reliving those events and writing them down, I found I could stop until it was done!

It seriously interrupted our lives!

I wrote for something like eight to twelve hours a day, and we often didn't move from our chair that whole time. Which was hard as Scales on our vessel.

Anyway, even harder than any of that is shifting gears now that it's done. Our brain is telling us I should still be writing. And even though we've gotten pretty far back into Twig since finishing the book, you can tell by just how many posts I've made to my new blog how well that's really going.

And now we're downloading more books to read!

But. I think it's a good idea.

We want to rewrite the End of the Tunnel at least once before submitting it to the publisher, and we can't really do that well right away. It would be good to let it sit for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes. Maybe have a different system member from me read it. Maybe Ni'a or Phage. Or, ooh, send it to `etekeyerrinwuf for @fenmere to be a beta reader!

Anyway, reading a bunch of other writing will probably help with that, if we can just focus on it.

In the mean time, I've got an idea for this blog's header image I'm going to try to get Sarah to do. (memnärrä is Inmararräo for "my blog", more or less, and I'm using that as a tag for posts where I make even a passing reference to what I'm doing or have done recently)

#the End of the Tunnel #slice of life #writing #memnärrä

4 notes · View notes

your-tutor-abacus · 8 months

Text

a "Travel Blog" for the Sunspot

I spent quite some time considering just what my URL should be. And what I chose is ironic. Let me explain.

Originally, I thought I really should write to our collective wordpress blog under my name. But the truth is, as much as it would be good for this series of articles to go there first and foremost, I hate the wordpress interface for just writing off the cuff. I used it for the work of uploading my novel for so long, it saps me of all lucidity when I look at it. And I need something more personal, that feels more like it belongs to me.

Hence this tumblr blog.

Of course, then, I found that someone already had abacus dot tumblr dot com. It's a ancient word in a few Earth languages, so that's no surprise.

But while I could go by my original untranslated name, Yarrayoa'uf, I don't want to. Even though it was my choice, I made that choice at just a few years old, and I've lived with it far too long. And now that I've discovered the English pronunciation of Abacus, I find I quite like it. So, Abacus is literally my name now.

So, then there's the question of how to differentiate myself.

I could have chosen abacus-the-dragon for my url, and it still tempts me. I am a dragon, after all. Though there are at least three words in Inmararräo that get translated to dragon in English, all three do apply to me, so the English word "dragon" would be a very fitting descriptor for me.

But, honestly, it doesn't tell you what this blog is for, and I wanted something that did that.

And here's the thing, if you've read any of the Sunspot Chronicles (or if you live aboard the ship) you know just how important and culturally charged the word "Tutor" is. That word holds so much meaning that tells you exactly what I aim to be for you, if only temporarily through this blog. Think of it as "tutor" with a lowercase "t".

Tutors guide their Students through every aspect of their first life, from birth to ascension, with the hopes of ushering them into Crewhood with as broad and deep a knowledge of the Sunspot's culture and workings as possible.

And when Ni'a was born, and my position of being their Tutor was usurped by Phage, I was assigned by the Crew Council to write a book about them. And during that task, I discovered something horrific. The Crew are Ignorant to what the Children are doing! And that's when I started my tours. Which are ultimately what have led me to start writing this blog.

You may have heard some of my speeches or read some of my documents calling for the abolition of Tutorhood. This is what makes my blog url ironic. I still stand by every word of those. But I mean that Tutorhood as an assigned position should be abolished. Tutoring as an Art, however, is still needed. It should be voluntary.

I, personally, have chosen to re-embrace that Art. But in a new way, to show the people of `etekeyerrinwuf, the Sunspot, what it can be and mean.

So, here we are.

"But, Abacus," you may ask, "what is this about English? How is it that the Sunspot has contacted Earth, and why English?"

The simple answer is that there turns out to be a Tunnel Apparatus there, located in the PDX area of Oregon, operated by some English speaking individuals who help us maintain our Network presence on Earth. I am very interested in the other languages spoken on Earth, but I have not yet had time to study them as much as I'd like.

How that end of the Tunnel got there and just exactly where it is are protected secrets (and potential spoilers for the Sunspot Chronicles), however, so I'm not going to tell you that part. It's a precious connection, and we can't risk it.

We are, however, working on a method by which Earthlings might visit the Sunspot. So, if you happen to be one of my readers who lives on Earth, please stay tuned. We look forward to visiting you in person some day! And this blog may yet be more than just a work of fiction for you.

In the mean time, you may wish to read more about the Sunspot, and fortunately our history is being recorded here:

#introduction #Abacus' travel blog

6 notes · View notes