galaxysoup

About two months ago, I adopted a new cat. I had one already, named Kierra (not named by me, as will become relevant later), who is elderly and lonely, and I wanted to get her a friend.

The process of integrating New Cat into the household has been lengthy, which I was prepared for - she started life as a feral kitten, and has a lot of trust issues to work through. I was planning to get to know her a bit more before I gave her a name, and... well, now all the names that were in the running don't seem to fit her very well, and I need suggestions.

Her personality: shy, mostly? But also very sweet, and she'll be very affectionate once she works up the courage to get within my petting range (we're working on it). She's an excellent hunter and also just a fricking huge cat. Seriously, she's a tank.

Her hobbies: hiding under the couch, having a tiny meow, playing with toys, dismembering beetles with joyful abandon

Naming precedents: her shelter name was Nellie, which I don't hate but am not married to. Kierra's last housemate had a literary name, so something literary could work. The last cat I actually named myself, at the age of seven, was Oreo, so pastry/dessert names have precedent too. And, of course, anything that goes with 'Kierra' or just seems to fit her personality. Given her size and temperament, I feel like she could carry off cutesy and tough equally well.

Does anyone have any suggestions? It's been so long since I actually named a cat myself (mostly I just wind up inheriting other people's cats instead) and I've now overthought it to the point where nothing seems right any more.

( Pictures of New Cat beneath the cut )

SIDENOTE I have now finally replaced my ancient computer and the new one does astonishing things like connect to the internet! and load images! Truly, it is a revelation.

The angsty romcom is currently in a plot area that is 95% angst and only 5% romcom, and given the world right now my brain has decided it doesn't really want to do that. Instead, much to my surprise, for the first time since college my brain has handed me an original story. It's such an id fic it's a little embarrassing, but I've decided it's self-care and consequently this fic is turning out to be just a laundry list of favorite tropes. Magic! College AU! Found Family! Platonically sharing a bed! Powers Overload! Bucket loads of Hurt/Comfort, with about a 1:6 scale of hurt to comfort! Also the main character is sort of the avatar of death? Look, sometimes a girl has needs, and right now a sweet and kind avatar of death is apparently it.

Tl;dr: a week ago I had 'what kind of a writer can't write' frustrations, and today I have five pages of character and worldbuilding background and 2k of fic. Here is a snippet of the scene where Theo, painfully shy avatar of death (??? it's unclear what exactly he is, especially to him), trips and makes a friend while trying to avoid some anti-magic protestors.

He should say something comforting. Maybe, ‘the protesters will leave soon’? But they both know the protesters will be back at some point. So... ‘bad roommates are the worst’? Or ‘I wish you didn’t have to deal with that roommate’?

That’s probably a good one.

“I have a spare room,” Theodore says out loud.

What.

Spoiler alert: and then they were roommates

So, I've been mostly fine during this whole lockdown - I'm safe, my family seems to be safe, all of us have been able to socially distance and stay pretty isolated, and my job, at least thus far, is secure. The one area I've noticed that I've been definitely affected is when it comes to communicating with people. I'm okay with the level of interaction required on tumblr, and I've been texting memes to my friends and that sort of thing, but I've been very bad at Dreamwidth-levels of communication. I'm sorry!!! The times that I have come on and posted something people have been really lovely about responding to it, and I have not been very good about responding in turn. I'm going to try a few different strategies, because I want to keep checking in and interacting with people!

I have, at least, been getting a reasonably decent amount of writing done. I have three chapters and about 12k of this so far! So I can share bits of that at least.

He wants to believe that Zhao Yunlan has surrounded himself with people who will protect him and look after him. He wants to be able to think, in the long stretches of night, that Zhao Yunlan is safe and happy and will continue to be loved and never betrayed. That Zhao Yunlan will never have to look back on the choices he’s made and be able to pinpoint the ones that made everything collapse into smoking ruins.

Zhao Xinci looks around this station, at the things his son has built, and sees: Criminal. Mobster. Delinquent.

The foundations of his son’s life are so terribly fragile.

That's right, ladles and jellyspoons, I am attempting DAD ZHAO POV! o.0

It's a day late, but technically I had written this by Sunday! Also who knows what time is anymore anyway.

A… kissing friend. Is ‘boyfriend’ a weird word to use? He’s pretty sure they’re dating, even if they haven’t gone on any actual dates yet. Is he too old for the word ‘boyfriend’, and is it presumptuous of him to want something like it?

If only someone had published a scientific study on the matter. But no, his brief foray into the Anthropology and Psychology sections of the library had been simultaneously overwhelming and deeply unhelpful.

Guess whose POV this from.... :D

So naye posted an announcement on Tumblr about Lock Down Fest, which runs from the 20th-30th of March and is a non-anon, self-posting, multi-ship and multi-fandom mini fest which offers the prompt getting stuck in/isolated together, and/or quarantine-inspired.

While I'm not quarantined (yet) or adequately socially distanced (here's hoping the city government comes to their senses and shuts us down soon), I thought this would be a cool thing to take part in. I didn't have an immediate prompt fill idea, though, which meant I had to come up with a way to bunny myself.

In an attempt to narrow my fic subjects down from 'every fandom I have ever known' to 'only a few of the fandoms I know', I decided to add to the challenge and try to answer the prompt in a fandom I've never written in before. I went through my bookmarks on AO3 and noted down each different fandom I'd saved a story in, and then I eliminated all the ones I'd written in already, whether the fic was fully posted or forever unfinished and eternally languishing on my harddrive. If I then cut out the fandoms that I do not, for whatever reason, feel like I'm capable of writing a fic for, I'm left with:

The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., American Gods, Angel, Avatar the Last Airbender, Big Eden, BTS, Disney Princesses, Fruits Basket, Good Omens, Hawaii Five-0, Hot Fuzz, Knives Out, Lord of the Rings, The Losers, National Treasure, Parasol Protectorate, RED, seaQuest, Sleepy Hollow, Teen Wolf, The Untamed, Tintin, What’s Your Number

The challenge, now, is to write one or more stories involving any number of these fandoms, either as solos or crossovers (because come on, what's a more classic crossover setup than 'and then these strangers got quarantined together'??). Looking at this list, I think I need to let things percolate a little bit to see what inspires me before I pick an actual story.

At the moment, I am a little worried that the answer may be a Knives Out/Disney Princesses crossover from Marta's POV, because omg. What.

AND SO WE HAVE REACHED THE END. I may do a final reflections/look back kind of post this weekend, now that I’ve seen the whole series and am finally able to appreciate the naivete of my earlier comments, but until then:

( DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNN )

( Also some fic recs: )

This was equal parts hilarious hijinks and desperate tragedy, which i am starting to realise is just how this series rolls.

( I want to see a whole show about Wei Wuxian being in charge of the baby cultivators )

Are you ready for this show to keep amping up? BECAUSE I WASN'T

( Welcome to the calm before the storm )

I had to default for the first time during last year's Yuletide, so this year I only allowed myself to pinch hit. Imagine my delight when trobadora's name popped up! :D

Discidium, Reparandam (10670 words) by galaxysoup
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
For: Trobadora
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shěn Wēi/Zhào Yúnlán
Characters: Shěn Wēi, Zhào Yúnlán, SID Crew, Assorted Students and Bystanders
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Found Family, Canon Divergence, Post Season/Series Finale, Fix-It
Summary: The corner of Professor Shen’s mouth tightens slightly in the specific way that means he’s embarrassed but too reserved to show it, but it does put a halt to his efforts to make sure Zhao Yunlan has his gun, a backup gun, a warm enough jacket, a snack, and a willingness to preserve himself in the face of danger.