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Hello, Dreamwidth. I seem to be having trouble keeping up with you lately. Everything is more or less fine in my own tiny corner of the world, there's no emergency that's been keeping me away, it's just... really sad knowing how much isn't fine, and isn't going to be fine any time soon.

But have some Wednesday things.

READ

( Three painfully good DA:I fics, emphasis on "painful". )

I also enjoyed the Witcher longfic Meet Death Sitting by bomberqueen17, as well as some of its sequels. It takes place after the Netflix series, I think? It's got the tiredest, most resignedly altruistic Jaskier, and eventually some Jaskier/Geralt, and a really lovely brave Ciri, and also a sequel where Yennefer sort of dubcons Jaskier (just, not in a way he seems to greatly mind?) into letting her peg him and it's incredibly hot. It's so hard waiting to read the installments that are still in progress! But I've been brave so far!

Also, this ficlet about Finch and Reese and a pomeranian puppy by argylepiratewd for sholio's Happy Distracting Comment Fest is incredibly adorable, with spot on character voice, and I love it. ♥

PLAYED

Mostly Stardew Valley these past couple of weeks!  My astonishingly gullible vestibular system apparently finds the charming pixel art so convincing that it gives me motion sickness if I spend too much time walking around in the game, but I get really invested in these fetch quests, so I do my best.

It's funny, because when I first picked up this game a couple of years ago I had no opinion on any of the love interests, and that's still nearly true -- but somehow since coming back to it this month, I've grown wistful about Robin and Demetrius not being romanceable in a polyamorous fashion.  This is so completely on brand for me.

WATCHED

The Expanse through the entire first season! I really wasn't sure I was going to like it after the first episode, given ( spoilers ). But I actually ended up really glad we kept watching it! There's actual plot that actually kind of holds together, the space politics and environments are pretty interesting, and most importantly, there's a character who makes my id extremely happy.

( Amos-centric spoilers. )

( Other spoilery comments. )

I wouldn't recommend this show without qualifications -- it's fairly heavy on white dudes, and it's got some mild to moderate sexism going on, in that it's got some genuinely interesting female characters, but the narrative can get kind of weird about them. There are also several applicable content warnings: lots of violence, death, and despair, a scene with some really gross attitudes about sex workers, and a fair bit of body horror. But I've ended up enjoying it, and I'm looking forward to watching more!

Sym-Bionic Titan through episode 1x10, "Lessons in Love". Animal harm warnings for "Tashy 497", but this show really seems to have hit its stride. Octus is so adorable? A teenage girl got to have emotional complexity? I really enjoy things so much more when they aren't just all fight sequences all the time!

In the brief window left by a Snowflake challenge that doesn't involve posting anything, have some belated Wednesday things!

READ

( Many fanfics, mostly short. )

In the world of origfic, I (28M) created a deepfake girlfriend and now my parents think we're getting married by Fonda Lee is exactly what it says on the tin, and basically amazing.

I'm also reading Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (previewable here), and it certainly makes a bold impression! Necromancy, spaceships, impassioned teenage rivalry, a heroine fond of the longsword and of disreputable comics. In addition to the general atmosphere of biting sarcasm and abusive hazing, there is ( a grisly detail worth warning for ). But I've been enjoying myself so far!

PLAYED

Seedship, a lovely poignant little game where you're an AI trying to find humanity a new home among the stars. I don't seem to be very good at that job yet, but maybe someday?

WATCHED

The last two installments of Parallax by Adam Westbrook (mentioned previously). I'm glad I watched this; it's entertaining, thought-provoking, and not a minute longer than it needs to be.

This Is My Story, which is introduced here by LeVar Burton. Six short personal accounts of racism in America, five from black men and one from a black woman. I think Burton's own story hit me the hardest.

The Witcher 1x01, "The End's Beginning". ( I don't think this is my kind of show. )

Sym-Bionic Titan 1x06, "Shaman of Fear". The enemy monster in this episode had a really cute design. Apart from that, still a low-investment watch, which is sometimes exactly what I want.

( The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel through the end of season three! )

( Fleabag 1x01. )

( Stumptown 1x10, "Reality Checks Don't Bounce". )

( The Good Place 4x10, "You've Changed, Man". )

I have what I thought was a pleasantly mild-mannered cold, but it's clung on for something like ten days at this point. I wonder if you can get a watered down version of the flu if you were vaccinated against it?

Looks like the CDC thinks yes: "Flu vaccination has been shown in several studies to reduce severity of illness in people who get vaccinated but still get sick." That's cool to know! I'm definitely happier now than I remember being while sick with the full-strength version.

Anyway, have some belated Wednesday reading and watching.

READ

I finished Castle in the Sand DesdemonaKaylose and neveralarch, which was just as much of a dysfunctional delight as you'd expect from a story where Megatron and Rung get conjunxed while Starscream, the third in their triad, organizes the reception, and yes, that does include violence as foreplay. But in a kind of adorable way?

I also read the tiny and lovely My Hogwarts Will Be Intersectional Or It Will Be Bullshit by swingandswirl, written in direct response to JKR being unpleasantly transphobic on twitter this past week, and skimmed through Magical Metamorphosis by EontheDragonMage, which is a lovely Goblet of Fire rewrite in which Harry Potter realizes she's a girl, and a lot of other little injustices in the stories are worked out along the way as well. As of this writing, it's also a WIP, but it's just reached the end of the school year, so I didn't feel too unsettled when I got to the end of chapter 17.

( And then there's the very strange historical omegaverse hockey RPF... )

VIEWED

I don't usually think to include works of visual art in these posts, but Honk by vass, which comments very wryly on the ongoing drama regarding the AO3's Hugo award, merits an exception.

WATCHED

( Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. )

( The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel through episode 3x01, "Strike Up the Band" )

I'm still hard pressed to categorize this show, but it hasn't stopped me nominating it for Chocolate Box.

( Sym-Bionic Titan through episode 1x05, "Elephant Logic" )