amedia | Reading

Welcome to Topic Tuesday! Right away I want to stress that discussion posts are always welcome to the community, you don't have to wait until a Topic Tuesday rolls around, and then maybe be disappointed by the current topic of discussion. Whenever you want to talk about something, please simply make a separate entry to this comm, no matter the week, the time, or the topic. All right? *g*

The topic I picked for today is Favorite mom/dad characters. This is another prompt that was suggested to me on a post I made on Bluesky, asking for ideas. Do you have favourite mom/dad characters in c-ent? If yes, who are they? Tell us all about them!

As usual, if you want to talk about spoilers, please use one of these codes to hide them.

or

settiai

Welp. The last few days were certainly exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, the long weekend of D&D was a ton of fun, and I'm very glad that we managed to pull it off. That said, it was extremely draining on me even after I spent as much time as possible prior to it trying to charge my internal batteries. By the time we ended yesterday afternoon, my spoons were long gone.

Since I had to get up early to catch the bus to E&Z's place (which was on the weekend schedule the entire time since Friday was a holiday) and then it was usually 1am or so before I made home at night, I didn't get nearly enough sleep pretty much the entire time. Especially since I record summary videos for this game, so I had to get that done at night before I could go to bed.

I ended up taking a nap after I made it home yesterday, and the only thing preventing me from doing so tonight is that I know it will be better to push through and go to bed early instead. If I nap now, I'll be up half the night.

And then work today made things even more fun, but that's a story for another post. 🙃

ETA: Or, you know, I could decide take a nap after all because it hit 7:30pm, and my brain had completely stopped functioning. I'm still tired, so hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep at a decent hour despite the nap.

Current Mood: drained

james

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devilc

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dinogrrl posting in

little_details

Hello wonderful people!

I've got a fantasy story that's set in early 18th-century Venice. I don't speak Italian, and definitely don't know the difference between the various regional dialects, so I'm looking for some help with a nickname in Venetian.

I have a priest who can use magic, who is not exactly a nice guy. Nobody likes to be around him, he's the kind of person you can just tell will erupt like a magic-spewing volcano the moment something doesn't go his way. My main character is ten when she first meets him and has a very visceral Do Not Like reaction to him, comparing him to a pack of rabid dogs. She is not told his name at the time, so in her mind she dubs him Father Mad Dog (creative, I know).

Several years ago I tried to parse "Father Mad Dog" into Italian/Venetian, and I don't know where I came to the conclusion that it'd be "Don Can' Pazzo" but that's what I've been using. I guess somewhere along the line I was under the impression that cane would get shortened to can when used like this. Is any of this correct? Or do I need another phrase entirely?

settiai

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Current Mood: accomplished

grayswandir posting in

c_ent

This isn't directly C-ent related, but yesterday I visited the Hong Kong Palace Museum (a partner museum of the Beijing Palace Museum in the Forbidden City), and thought I'd post about it here. It just opened in 2022. There are nine galleries, seven of which were filled with displays from Chinese history, mostly things from the imperial palace. The vast majority of the items on display were from the Qing Dynasty, mainly from the time of Qianlong's reign (1736-1795). But there were also some displays from earlier reigns and earlier dynasties, and even one display of pottery dating back as far as 4,000 years.

( To connect this at least slightly to Cnovels/Cdramas... )

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of what's on display. This is nowhere near everything, just a selection; there are hundreds and hundreds of objects in the galleries. (Er, also apologies for the low quality. My phone is old and the museum has very low lighting. :P)

( Museum exterior )

( Entering the Forbidden City )

( Life and Art in the Forbidden City )

( The Art of Armaments: Qing Dynasty Military Collection )

And moving backwards in history:

( Ming Dynasty Ceramic Treasures from the Palace Museum, 1368-1644. )

And the last gallery I visited, ( the Founding Donations gallery, which had some even older items on display. )

( A couple of scenery shots outside. )

(I'm not sure how best to tag this! Let me know. :)

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up tomorrow.

Current Mood: tired

settiai

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up later tonight.

Current Mood: accomplished

facethestrange posting in

sid_guardian

Hi, and welcome to this week's installment of the Guardian novel readalong! ♡

Here are last week's chapters, and you can find all previous discussions in the schedule posts (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5), or via the !readalong tag.

This week's chapters:

Chapter 17: Guo Changcheng can't get ahold of the rest of the team, and drives alone to the nearest town. An angry crowd is begging the police to find their loved ones who went missing at Spring Harbor Resort. Guo Changcheng manages the crowd and promises them that the SID is already on the case. Zhao Yunlan's sacrifices some of the true Soul-Guarding Order to save Shen Wei. Shen Wei defeats the Chaos shadow that chased them, but Ghost Face stabs him in the heart with an icicle and takes him away, demanding that Zhao Yunlan brings him the Soul-Guarding Lamp in exchange.

Chapter 18: Zhao Yunlan asks the Magistrate to take him to the Reincarnation Cycle in order to awaken Kunlun's spirit. Lin Jing regains the use of his senses and finds himself imprisoned at the Seal, surrounded by youchu. Ghost Face brings Shen Wei there too, and shackles him to the Merit Tree. Shen Wei is in pain, but he mocks Ghost Face and reveals that he's always had the power over the Mountain-River Awl, and that he has tracked Ghost Face and manipulated his actions. Ghost Face attacks him with the icicle again and Shen Wei passes out.

The corresponding chapters in the Chinese version on JJWXC/the fan translation are 98-99.

Excerpts:

( 1) Xiao Guo manages the crowd )

( 2) Zhao Yunlan's burns the Soul-Guarding Order )

( 3) Ghost Face kidnaps Shen Wei )

( 4) Lin Jing talks to the youchu )

( 5) Shen Wei mocks Ghost Face )

Questions:

Are you as surprised by Xiao Guo's bravery and competence as he is? What do you think about Zhao Yunlan's decision to sacrifice the Soul-Guarding Order? What's your favorite comic relief moment? Favorite angsty moment? Any thoughts about the many parallels between these chapters and their drama adaptation?

You can answer as many or as few questions as you like, or just comment without answering any of them at all! And if you see this post and you're not actually reading the novel, I would love to know what you think about any of this with limited context. :D

And here is the schedule, where you can sign up to host a post!

dancing_serpent posting in

c_ent

The weekly chat posts are intended for just that, chatting among each other. What are you currently watching? Reading? What actor/idol are you currently following? What are you looking forward to? Are you busy writing, creating art? Or did you have no time at all for anything, and are bemoaning that fact?

Whatever it is, talk to us about it here. Tell us what you liked or didn't like, and if you want to talk about spoilery things, please hide them under either of these codes:
or

settiai

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up tomorrow.

Current Mood: drained

aurumcalendula

I'm at the annoying vidding stage where I have an idea but not a song yet (and all the potential ones I've listened to feel not quite right).

china_shop

I wrote a self-indulgent Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan treat for

idproquo and a post-canon Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan domestic-fluff flashfic for the

fan_flashworks Amnesty round. Thanks to

trobadora for beta on both of them! <3

Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:

They were halfway to the Allied Forces’ southern boundary when the sun came out. Shen Wei pulled back his hood and looked around, conscious of the breeze on his bare face. The heavy clouds were finally breaking up.

Meanwhile, Kunlun had dropped his bag and flopped onto his back on the grassy slope. “Let’s rest here a while.”

Title: Pages for You (1762 words) [Teen and Up]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Established Relationship, Domestic Fluff, Fade to Black, Community: fan_flashworks
Summary:

Over the course of the evening, an impulse had taken root, and now Shen Wei submitted to it. He switched on his desk lamp, laid out several large sheets of paper and quietly ground some ink. If Zhao Yunlan wanted to read of their time together through the eyes of a Dixingren soldier, who better than Shen Wei to write an account—to show Zhao Yunlan exactly how much his arrival had meant to the war effort and to Shen Wei himself.

china_shop

Previous poll review
In the Routine poll, 84.2% of respondents voted for tooth-brushing, 50.9% for locking up and switching things off around the house, and 33.3% for tending to pets. Night-time routines taking more than half an hour got 24.6%, and "sometimes it takes me an hour or more" got 7%. *high fives*

In ticky-boxes, hugs won with 75.4%, followed by "how stressful it is to ask tradespeople to change things they've done" with 57.9% and "sitting on a mountain ledge in the moonlight, listening to owls" with 56.1%. Thank you for your votes! <3

Reading
Incandescent by Emily Tesh, read by Zara Ramm, who sounds exactly like Emma Thompson. I spent the middle third of this being unsure what the plot was (or if there even was a plot; "is this a cosy magic-school story?" I asked nobody in particular). Things stirred ominously under the surface, but the tension relied on the reader being more worried about them than the mostly oblivious POV character -- which was interesting. Overall, I enjoyed it very much.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (Chronicles of Prydain). A few more chapters. I'm past halfway and it still feels like setup, which I guess is a function of it being the first book of five.

A tiny bit more of Neurotribes. I'm bored with the case studies/anecdotes and ready for some theory.

Two more chapters of Guardian by priest.

My Whimsy binge stalled after bouncing off three different narrators for The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club. None of them hit the humour right. I suppose I'm going to have to read in text, but Prydain first (and I still haven't finished my reread of Werecockroach, note to self).

Kdramas
I finished Our Unwritten Seoul and enjoyed it very much. It's about 30yo identical twins, one who works in a corporate office in Seoul, and one who lives in their hometown and does a series of temporary and part-time jobs. The office worker is miserable from being bullied at work, so they decide to swap lives. Contains some pretty good (in my inexpert opinion) disability rep, and

I approved of both the morals (spoilers)

1) if you bottle things up and don't let people see your vulnerability, you can't feel their love; and 2) love isn't about winning or losing, or whether you're a burden; it's about being on the same team, staying together, and supporting each other as you win or lose. <3 <3 <3 (I was so happy when Ho-su stopped pushing Mi-ji away, and with the ending when they used sign language sometimes. <3 <3 <3)

I cancelled my VIKI subscription earlier this week because I wasn't using it, so of course I immediately started watching My Dearest Nemesis, as recced by

adore. It has a bit of a "based on a webtoon" feel, but I'm fine with that, and it's a neat twist on the Obnoxious Repressed Chaebol Exec trope. (The leading man is leading a double life: he's a closet fanboy, but his family and position require him to present as a 100% bland, respectable businessman.) I'm obsessed!

Note to self: check out First Night with the Duke next. And maybe renew your VIKI subscription.

Other TV
Poker Face and Murderbot continue to be enjoyable (we're an episode behind on each of them). I found the second half of Andor season 2 a lot more engaging than the first half (and might like the first half more on the rewatch; yet to be determined). Another episode each of Étoile and Krapopolis. The Old Guard 2 on Netflix.

Tiny spoiler for the very end.

Andrew was disgusted that, at the end, as [redacted] leave the secret archive full of ancient texts, they turn out the light but leave candles burning. "What about the ancient books?!" LOL!

A rewatch of French film Rosalie Blum, which I love.

Guardian/Fandom
The continuing delights of read-alongs and polls.

Audio entertainment
A little bit of Heather Cox Richardson's Letters from an American (US constitutional-law context for current developments), a little bit of Midnight Burger (audiodrama), most of the first season of Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones (which I'm enjoying despite not being familiar with DWJ's earlier books).

Writing/making things
I wrote a flashfic for the

fan_flashworks amnesty round and am poking at a couple of WIPs. My brain seems to be in recovery mode. My only current deadline is the

fan_flashworks Science round.

Life/health/mental state things
My thumbs/hands/wrists are not in great shape. My body is working hard to metabolise ambient stress. (*hugs to everyone*) I'm feeling a little under siege by winter and ~the state of things~, but I saw my sister for the first time in weeks (she's had a cold), a friend came over for lunch on Thursday, and last night our tv-watching friend joined us for Rosalie Blum.

Good things
Chocolate. Andrew and Halle. Fandom and all of you. Polls. Kdramas. Books. Podcasts. Eminem. Writing when it happens. AO3 (*clutches*). Love, kindness, and diversity.

Poll #33324 Crowd-sourcing randomness

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 36

View Respondents

Crowd-sourcing randomness

View Answers

heads
7 (19.4%)

tails
8 (22.2%)

edge
9 (25.0%)

zero-g (the coin never falls)
14 (38.9%)

ticky-box full of grumbly cats in search of treats
24 (66.7%)

ticky-box full of being protective of your blorbos
18 (50.0%)

ticky-box full of surviving AO3 outages
25 (69.4%)

ticky-box full of soft, bright-green moss nestled at the base of a tree, glittering with beads of dew
22 (61.1%)

ticky-box full of hugs
27 (75.0%)

ranalore posting in

chenqing_100

Since here in the US, the night will be disrupted with fireworks (I'm an animal lover, and while I like the sparkle of professional fireworks in the sky, I loathe the noisy ones that yearly traumatize millions of animals across the country), I decided to find something good in the situation. So, this week's prompt is: signal flare.

You have until midnight your time on Friday, July 11, to answer this prompt. Please post your fills of the prompt as separate entries to the community (i.e. not replies to this entry), tagged with the prompt tag. You may post multiple standalone drabbles per entry in addition to drabble sequences and series.

As a reminder, this community has no official presence elsewhere. You are encouraged to share the prompt on social media, if you so desire. It may take me a bit to create the AO3 collection, so please be patient.

Also, I'm going to go ahead and drop a link to the prompt suggestions post here. New suggestions are always, always welcome.

settiai

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up later tonight.

Current Mood: cheerful

james

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tentaclemod posting in

raremaleslashex

Due to AO3 downtime slightly late but open. You can now sign up here!
Signups will remain open until 20:00 UTC on Sunday, 13 July. View the countdown here.

- Signup form
- Tagset If your tag isn't here, please send me an email at tentaclemod@gmail.com with the fandom and relationship you are missing, and a link to the pairing on ao3 with the eligibility filters applied.
- Requests summary
- Signup summary
- Rules Post

You can request 3-10 fandoms and offer 4-10 fandoms with 1-20 ships and 1-3 media (fic and/or art and/or podfic) in each.

You are only guaranteed to match on one fandom/ship/medium.

You can only request fandoms and relationships that have been nominated and appear in the tagset.

You can request a fandom more than once (if you want to request more than 20 ships, or you want to request a particular medium for some ships and not others). However, you must still request at least 3 unique fandoms.

You cannot offer a fandom more than once.

Only reasonable Do Not Wants (DNWs) listed in your signup will be enforced.

Do not list "unrequested kinks" as a DNW as this frequently causes confusion. Please be specific to avoid disappointment.

Do not indicate that you prefer one of your requests over the others; do not rank requests in order of preference. Your gift creator is only guaranteed to know one of your fandoms.

If you request or offer Original Work: matching does not differentiate between this and other fandoms; it is not to be considered a "backup" and you might match on it even if your other fandoms have requests/offers.

Any questions, feel free to comment here or email me at tentaclemod@gmail.com.

china_shop posting in

sid_guardian

I wrote a treat for

idproquo and another

fan_flashworks flashfic. :-)

Title: Sunshine and Honey (4126 words) [Mature]
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Outdoor Sex, Feeding, Finger Sucking, Oral Fixation, First Kiss (for one of them), First time (for one of them), Treat
Summary:

Meanwhile, Kunlun had dropped his bag and flopped onto his back on the grassy slope. “Let’s rest here a while.”