( Read more... )
Not a dark night, though. The clouds aren't letting that happen. It's one of the nicer parts of nighttime snow.
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thevetia and I visited Shanghai Film Park! We lucked out with the weather and it was a cold but sunny day. I'm so glad we went. It was a wonderful pilgrimage. :D( Logistical stuff )
( Prelude to the pictures )
( Pictures! )
How are you doing?
I am OK
9 (69.2%)
I am not OK, but don't need help right now
4 (30.8%)
I could use some help
0 (0.0%)
How many other humans live with you?
I am living single
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One other person
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More than one other person
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Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.
Well, I’m getting paid every hour I’m here, at least.
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sid_guardian Feb. 23rd, 2026 11:47 am)
Hi, and welcome back to the Guardian drama Slo-Mo Rewatch. Watch half an episode a week, at your leisure, and then come and chat about it here in comments. Or you can just jump into the comments without rewatching, of course!
Here are the previous weeks' rewatch posts.
Episode 12, up to 22:18
Summary
Fourth Uncle drugs Zhu Hong; Guo Changcheng zaps himself unconscious. Wang Zheng is teaching Sang Zan to write (but hasn't shown him how to hold a pen). Zhao Yunlan confronts Shen Wei in his university office, ostensibly about the case but in fact seeking confirmation of Shen Wei's other identity. Tan Xiao breaks into the SID to steal the Hallows but is thwarted by Sang Zan's trap, followed by Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei's arrival. Zhao Yunlan catches the Awl, has visions and falls unconscious (feat. some lovely manhandling by Shen Wei); Da Qing wakes him by being catlike. Lin Jing wants to run some tests on a human; Zhao Yunlan fakes a headache, so Shen Wei volunteers. Shen Wei lies on the evidence bed in his undershirt. Fourth Uncle talks to tied-up!Zhu Hong, only it's actually Guo Changcheng in a skirt and wig. Zhu Hong drugs her uncle. (So much drugging!) Zhu Jiu is angry at Tan Xiao's failure to retrieve the Hallows; he's holding Zheng Yi hostage, promising to cure her. Zhao Yunlan doodles Shen Wei and the Envoy in his notebook. Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi ambush and hypnotise Zhu Hong as she returns from the Snake Village. She fights Chu Shuzhi, and Lin Jing has to sedate her. Zhao Yunlan tells Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi that they can't trust Zhu Jiu.
Quote
Shen Wei: Are you even listening to me?
Zhao Yunlan: I only want to hear you tell the truth.
Detail
Presumably Zhao Yunlan is already wearing protective earplugs when he apprehends Tan Xiao and Zheng Yi on his own.
Questions
Do you have a stand-out favourite scene or quote from the first half of episode 12? How is Zhao Yunlan hoping that the conversation in Shen Wei's office will go? Does Sang Zan have any other booby traps set up around the SID (and how many times has Guo Changcheng set them off)? Did Shen Wei put himself in a trance/stasis during Lin Jing's experiment? Any theories about what happened to Tan Xiao's sister? What's with all the drugging??
How many times has Guo Changcheng zapped himself unconscious before?
once
0 (0.0%)
a couple of times
1 (20.0%)
truly an alarming number of times
2 (40.0%)
Lin Jing is ~this close~ to confiscating the baton
0 (0.0%)
Chu Shuzhi bought a portable defibrillator to take to training practice
3 (60.0%)
other
0 (0.0%)
Does Shen Wei expect Zhao Yunlan to take him literally when he says, "To be honest, I'm just a normal person who happens to be unlucky"?
yes, he's determined to stuff the cat back into the bag
1 (20.0%)
he doesn't *expect*, exactly; but he hopes!
3 (60.0%)
no, he's implicitly asking Zhao Yunlan to play along
3 (60.0%)
other
1 (20.0%)
Why does Shen Wei volunteer to be a test subject?
he thinks he can fake a human field of consciousness
2 (40.0%)
he's no longer really hiding his identity; he just doesn't want to admit the truth in so many words
3 (60.0%)
other
0 (0.0%)
Did you see any parallels in these scenes with other parts of the drama? If you're familiar with the novel, any thoughts about how the drama adaptation compares, if at all?
(As usual, these are all just conversation starters - feel free to answer all, some, or none, and to say as much or as little as you like! You don't have to be keeping up with the rewatch to join in. We'd love to hear your thoughts!)
And here is our schedule -- if you can, please sign up to host a post!
( 2. The Book Eaters - Sunyi Dean ) Definitely not my jam.
( 3. Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us - Joe Palca and Flora Lichtman ) Very light, sometimes questionable, but packed full of fun anecdotes (and a surprisingly good examination-in-passing of how scientific research works).
( 4. Ocean - Colin Butfield and David Attenborough ) Not life-changing, but well worth a read.
( 5. Common Goal, 6. Role Model, and 7. The Long Game - Rachel Reid ) I wasn't keen on CG, but I liked the other two a lot - and I'm looking forward to the seventh book coming out later this year! More Ilya and Shane: give it to me.
( 8. The Fifth Form at St Dominic's - Talbot Baines Reed ) Worth a read! But it's not going to shoot up my list of favourite school stories.
( 9. Time to Shine - Rachel Reid ) Not brilliant, but sweet.
( 10. Identity - Nora Roberts ) Mostly you know what you're getting with Roberts! This was very heavy on the wealth porn, but despite all my mockery I did enjoy reading it.
( 11. Persuasion - Jane Austen ) A delightful story as always.
( 12. Strange Pictures - Uketsu ) Short, weird, and interestingly different.
( 13. The Snow Tiger - Desmond Bagley ) This has aged much better than I expected; I was genuinely gripped.
( 14. Swallowdale - Arthur Ransome ) These are just such good books.
( 15. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo ) Interesting to read the original after all the cultural osmosis, but actually I disagree with her quite a lot! I'm not sorry I read it, though.
( 16. Sassinak - Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Moon ) I did still quite enjoy this, but it was a distinct let-down from my much-better remembered version!
Reading. Finished The Rose Field (Pullman)!!! I am Making Arrangements for it to Leave My House. ( Read more... )
ANYWAY. I finished it. It Is Done.Then read the first few pages of Dead Hand Rule (Gladstone; latest in the Craft Wars) before deciding that actually I need to reread at least the end of Wicked Problems in order to remember what's going on...
Writing. Progress continues both glacial and extant.
Listening. My relisten-while-actually-awake of the first chunk of The Hidden Almanac continues, slowly.
Playing. We have finished an Exploders run on Hard in Inkulinati. I am contemplating, given how smoothly that went, whether I want to have a try at Very Hard...
Cooking. It's not quite "this week's breakfast dal, and a loaf of bread", but it does sort of feel like it was. Partly because for reasons we did not get our usual box of veg on Monday last week, which meant that we were scrabbling around using up Shelf Things and the occasional Supermarket Discount Item...
NO WAIT, I also DID make buckwheat pancakes, and inspired by lnr combined Tinned Pear and Stem Ginger with Vanilla Essence and also Ground Cardamom to go in same. V good. Will repeat.
Eating. My mother acquired for us, as A Special Treat, a variety of Baked Goods from The Fancy Bakery In Eddington: my favourite is still the fig-and-?ricotta, but the blueberry-and-?ricotta is also very good, as is the fougasse. A was extremely pleased with the pain aux raisins. AND my mother made some excellent baba ganoush, eaten with said fougasse.
This week also feat. rainbow bagels (which we got to watch some of the manufacturing process for!) as well as misc other foodstuffs from Shalom Hot Beigels.
A has some coffee and butterscotch cake (leftovers from a test bake!) from Flour Arrangements; alas by the time I got my act together to actually collect Excess Test Cake the apple pie and lemon had both all gone...
Exploring. I got to spend a little time in the City of London Cemetery, which is currently ablaze with (among other things) purple crocuses; we also (on our second attempt) managed to go on A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey (with thanks to aldabra for reminding me that it is That Time Of Year still!). Snowdrops excellent. May or may not get around to sharing some photos. (Our first attempt at A Snowdrop Walk Around Anglesey Abbey wound up mutating into a poke around the back of Churchill and Astronomy to peer at bulbs and other plants misc, which was also very enjoyable even if I did once again fail to take A to see the Barbara Hepworth.)
Growing. ... I bought a bag of snowdrops In The Green at Anglesey, to go into the ground around the cherry tree at the allotment? The lemongrass seedlings haven't all died?
I take a lot of pictures of three classes of things:
- Cats: This pictures are good on any camera, including my agéd single-lens SE.
- Birds: These pics are shit on the aforementioned handheld phone.
- Moss and lichens and bugs: These pics are fine on the phone, but could be much better.
My real constraint is my hands and arms. I can't hold my arms above my head, I can't hold a phone still very long, the non-ergonomic controls and shape of a phone are shit, I realistically can't carry a tripod on a hike, and I can't bear weight on my shoulders or the back of my neck for any length of time. (I recognize that this collection of constraints means my pictures will never be great, and that's okay.)
So, questions:
- Are there any cameras that have particularly good ergonomics, are particularly light, or have a good reputation for accessibility?
- I believe I could get a remote shutter trigger & a remote focus, so I could prop the camera somewhere and get a good pic from a less painful angle; do you know how to choose a hand-friendly one? (Not finger-fiddly, easy to attach & detach, easy to click buttons.)
- On a modern camera, is it possible to get lenses good enough for bird pics that are not, you know, heavy? Last time I had an SLR I was taking pictures on film, so that tells you how out of date my knowledge is.
- What's the lightest tripod that works well for people with shit fine motor control and no finger strength? I can sort by weight on hiking sites, but hikers put up with a lot of fiddly controls that I can't handle.
(I'm only looking for advice from your experience or from the experience of people you trust. Please don't GoogleKagiGoPT it for me!)
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etymologynerd_feed Feb. 22nd, 2026 08:25 pm)In 1957, the American psychologist Harry Harlow conducted an infamous experiment where baby rhesus monkeys were given the choice between two different “mothers”: one made of wire and one made of cloth. The wire mother held a bottle of food, while the cloth mother held nothing, and yet the monkeys overwhelmingly chose the cloth mother every time.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Harlow monkey experiment as the internet obsesses over Punch-kun, a socially anxious Japanese macaque that returns to his stuffed monkey whenever he struggles to interact with the other macaques.
It’s easy to see why Punch is captivating people’s hearts. We’re literally monkeys ourselves. Everybody can project their own stories onto him; all of us have sought out comfort in difficult situations.
However, the Harlow experiment is a warning about how our monkey instincts can be used against us. When I look at the photograph of the wire and cloth mothers, I see the physical and digital worlds we’re moving toward. One is stripped bare of everything but the basic resources for survival, while the other is an ersatz source of comfort.
The cloth mother is an AI chatbot or a social media influencer. She looks real enough to comfort your monkey brain into feeling a minimum amount of social connection. We turn to her when we can’t find any actual monkeys.
The wire mother is the self-checkout lane in a grocery store, or the sleek grey fast casual restaurant. You get what you want, without interacting with anyone, and then the space practically begs you to leave.
The more our physical spaces are optimized and transactionalized, the less the real world will look like the real world. At the same time, the better our technology gets, the more our digital world will appear like it’s the real thing. We’ll increasingly find ourselves clinging to it in anthropomorphic consolation while everything else withers to wire.
Following the surrogate mother experiment, most of Harlow’s monkeys turned out severely socially impaired, struggling to bond with other monkeys. I worry the same will be true for us, because artificial connection can never replace actual connection.
Punch, meanwhile, symbolizes how things could still go right. His stuffed animal helps him develop social skills and learn to interact with the other monkeys. The zoo is carefully designed for him to thrive; resources aren’t separated from community.
It’s a basic human instinct to seek the cloth mother. We need to feel connected to people and things. Arguably, this is what makes us human in the first place. But the things don’t have to come at the expense of the people. It’s possible to develop both our real world and our technology in a way that cultivates warmth and meaning.
This starts with carefully building our environments to augment the best in ourselves. We can’t focus on just the online, or even just the offline. Society now depends on both, and neglecting either would lead us into Harlow’s dystopia.
Cute animal videos will always go viral, but I’m sure there’s a reason Punch resonated so much in this current moment. He’s a lonely monkey, and we’re in the middle of a loneliness epidemic. We’re all drawn to the “stuffed animals” in our own lives, but we should recognize that these are means to an end, rather than the end itself. Instead, we must use our tools to build community where we can, understanding that we are monkeys as well.
Upcoming speaking events:
This Wednesday 2/25 at CU Boulder - details here
This Thursday 2/26 at UC Berkeley - details here. Event is currently full but they might move to a bigger room
March 13 at SXSW, Austin - details here
As always, if you liked this essay, please consider buying my book Algospeak! Thanks for your support :)
5. The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem (audio)
( Non-mythology-based Egyptian-based fantasy, m/f, New Adult/Adult )
6. Listen, Slowly by Thanhhà Lai (audio)
( Middle grade; Vietnamese-American girl must travel to Vietnam and discover her roots against her will. )
7. The Takedown by Lily Chu (audio)
( Modern Chinese-Canadian m/f romcom with themes of willful ignorance on DEI topics, toxic positivity, and the plot of taking down belligerent, predatory, and ignorant managers from the inside. )
8. Driftwood by Harper Fox (audio)
( In Cornwall, England, former Army doctor with PTSD rescues a former helicopter pilot from a surfing accident, they fall in insta-love, and then doctor tries to rescue former pilot from abusive ex. )
9. Cafe Con Lychee by Emery Lee (read-aloud)
( YA; an out Asian-American boy dislikes closeted Hispanic-American boy because their parents run rival cafes and both cafes are struggling. They reluctantly team up together to try to boost sales, and in working together, start to fall in love. )
10. The Charm Offensive* by Alison Cochrun (audio)
Needed a comfort re-read. I'm pretty sure I've read this book at least once a year since it came out. <3
11. Blood at the Root by LaDarrion Williams (audio)
( YA/New Adult What if Hogwarts was university-level and specifically for Black American youth? MC is straight but book is queer-friendly. )
12. Perfectly Imperfect Pixie by MJ May (audio)
( In fantasy-based America, giant pixie helps werewolf uncle retain custody of his niece/nephew and away from evil mobster grandpa. Pixie and uncle fall in love somehow, despite NEVER ACTUALLY TALKING TO EACH OTHER )
13. Scythe by Neal Shusterman (audio)
( YA: In a future where death and even injury have been conquered through internal nanobots, Scythes serve as an exalted calling, to kill with compassion and help keep the global population growth balanced. Two teens are apprenticed to a single, highly-principled Scythe, but when he dies, they are separated and complete their apprenticeships under two HUGELY different mentors. A++ book )
14. The Disillusionment of Nick and Jay by Ryan Douglass (read-aloud)
( Billed as a queer, Black retelling of The Great Gatsby, but it really ... isn't. )
I have not yet managed to get hold of her memoir, but I deeply appreciate being notified of the existence of E. M. Barraud, who identified herself with chalk-cut hill figures, candidly described her relationship status as "technically single, but 'married' in a permanent homosexual relationship with another woman," published under her assigned initials and was known in Little Eversden where she worked for the Women's Land Army as John. She gave her wartime responses for Mass-Observation as both a man and a woman: "People are people, not specifics of a gender." I had never even encountered her poetry.
The background: last year MCR announced the second US leg of the Long Live the Black Parade tour, with the city/date closest to me being Oct. 24 in L.A.. The Stroppy One sighed at the inevitable, and cass404 braved the Ticketmaster queue to get us tickets. the Ticketmaster online queue to get us tickets. Then MCR announced the final two shows of the tour, both in L.A.: Oct. 30 & 31. Cue much wailing from me, because there was no way I could afford to stay in L.A. for a week.
Last weekend, the Stroppy One suggested I ask Cass if I could stay at her place for a week, and the we head back to L.A. for the concerts. I stared, asked if he was okay with me missing our anniversary to go see MCR. He pointed out that he wouldn’t have suggested it if he wasn’t, just see if tickets were available you silly head.
So! After conferring with Cass, I’m going to see if any tickets are available. Because spending time with Cass is something I desperately miss, and omg my precious cupcakes of bombast.
This week's bread was a Standen loaf, strong brown/buckwheat flour, maple syrup, malt extract - but due to electric scale going weird and giving strange readings, the proportions got very odd and it turned out larger and a lot denser than usual, if still edible.
Friday night supper: Gujerati khichchari, with pinenuts.
Saturday breakfast rolls: adaptable soft roll recipe, 4:1 strong white/buckwheat flour, a touch of maple syrup, dried cranberries, turned out rather well.
Today's lunch: Scottish salmon tail fillets baked in foil with butter and lime slices; served with La Ratte potatoes boiled with salt and dill and tossed in butter, buttered spinach and baked San Marzano tomatoes.
So I'm going to try to sell a few things and hope for the best. 🤞🏻
First, I have a few Nintendo Switch games for sale:
Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! (example on Amazon)
Spyro Reignited Trilogy (example on Amazon)
TemTem (example on Amazon)
And then a few TTRPGs that were Christmas presents so they're still in basically like new shape:
Candela Obscura Core Rulebook (example on Amazon)
Daggerheart Core Set (example on Amazon)
If you're not interested but know someone who might be, please point them my way. It would help a lot if I could manage to sell at least one or two things from this list.
For payment, I have CashApp ($Settiai), PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle (nancy.lynn.foster@gmail.com).
brithistorian Feb. 22nd, 2026 12:50 pm)I was reading this morning's edition of Dan Rather's Substack newsletter, where he was writing about the song "Stand By Me". (Apparently he writes about a song or musician every Sunday.)
Anyway, he mentioned that "Stand By Me" was "numbered among the Recording Industry Association of America’s 25 Songs of the Century." This naturally got me curious: A ranked list of things? That's like catnip to me!
So I went to look for it. Turns out that there's no such things as the RIAA "25 Songs of the Century." What there is is the "Song of the Century" list, produced by the RIAA in conjunction with the NEA and Scholastic Inc. It's a list of 365 songs. So where did Rather get this idea of "25 Songs of the Century"? Because "Stand by Me" is #25 on the list, and the Wikipedia entry for "Songs of the Century" only includes the top 25 songs on the list. Apparently Rather (or, more likely, one of his research assistants) looked at the Wikipedia entry, didn't read the text carefully, and based on the table of songs assumed that it was a list of 25 songs.
If you read the text carefully, not only do you get the correct number of songs. You also start to question the RIAA's methodology for creating the list. According to the entry, "[h]undreds of voters, who included elected officials, people from the music industry and from the media, teachers, and students" were asked to select the songs. These voters were selected by the RIAA (and one is forced to ask "how many students does the RIAA know?"), and of the 1300 voters selected, only 200 responded. Seems kind of sloppy and haphazard.
Then, if you read the list, you see that the voters were rather sloppy and haphazard in their definition of a song: #7 on the list is the entire album of West Side Story, which is not "a song." Altogether there are 18 albums on the list: 11 Broadway shows, 6 jazz albums, and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Obviously I don't have a copy of the instructions that the RIAA sent to the voters, but I think we can all agree that (with the exception of Thick as a Brick and possibly a few others) an album is not a song.
Also, just as an aside, I think 2001 (when this survey was conducted) was a bit premature to be choosing the most impactful songs of the 20th century.
All that being said, I think any other such list would be just as subject to being haphazard and subjective, and on skimming over the list I do think it would be an enjoyable and/or interesting list to listen to. Plus, unless you were born on February 29, you can figure out what day of the year you were born on and then look at the complete list and see what song your birthday corresponds to. (Mine is "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy.)
Title: LOUD
Author:
goddess47Character(s): John Sheppard, Rodney McKay
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay
Rating: PG
Length: 100 words
Warnings: none
Notes:
For
mcsheplets prompt #137 - silenceFor
romancingmcshep 2026For Fluffbruary 2026 prompt day 22 - sound
Summary:
John decided they needed new mission equipment.
LOUD on AO3
Hello to all members, passers-by, curious onlookers, and shy lurkers, and welcome to our regular daily check-in post. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your current projects are progressing, or even if they're not.
Checking in is NOT compulsory, check in as often or as seldom as you want, this community isn't about pressure it's about encouragement, motivation, and support. Crafting is meant to be fun, and what's more fun than sharing achievements and seeing the wonderful things everyone else is creating?
There may also occasionally be questions, but again you don't have to answer them, they're just a way of getting to know each other a bit better.
This Week's Question: What is your favourite thing to make?
If anyone has any questions of their own about the community, or suggestions for tags, questions to be asked on the check-in posts, or if anyone is interested in playing check-in host for a week here on the community, which would entail putting up the daily check-in posts and responding to comments, go to the Questions & Suggestions post and leave a comment.
I now declare this Check-In OPEN!
This is gonna be my day. Or I'll take a nap. Still hard to say which way it will go.
Also I can't believe I haven't posted any pictures of Daphne in a year. I just spent an hour looking at photos, so I can't make up for it now short of sharing my entire library. But here's a particularly funny sequence from last spring, when her friends came to the back door looking for her.
( Daphne and friends )
Right now everything is covered in snow and ice, except the back patio, so that's nice. I still go out and sit in my rocking chair and look out over where the gardens will be in the spring, and admire the sparkly beauty of a frozen river.
Luckily the dogs love the frozen river, so now the play groups look more like this.
( Daphne and snow )
trobadora posting in sid_guardian Feb. 22nd, 2026 08:18 pm)Word count: 4,233
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: Mature
Content tags: Blind Zhao Yunlan, First time, Hand-Feeding, Finger-Sucking, Clothed Sex, Zhao Yunlan's oral fixation, Episode Related, Episode 21, Missing Scene, Blindness Arc
Summary:
Zhao Yunlan woke to the smell of citrus, sweet and strong in the air. Without fully turning his face out of the pillow, he slitted open a sleep-heavy eye - to complete, unchanged darkness. Reality came crashing down like a landslide. Right: still blind.
I also read a few more volumes each of Hikaru no Go and The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service, but I'm still in rereading territory with both. (I think I've already read up to vol. 12 of Kurosagi, but for Hikaru, I think the odds are against me really realizing when I've hit new territory until I go to enter a volume in Goodreads and find it's not already on my Read list there.)
Watching:
scruloose and I are caught up on both The Pitt and Frieren, and we finished Midnight Mass last weekend (a very solid, intense ending).With my crunch time at work starting, it's not an ideal time for us to start a show that's a significant time commitment or that's going to leave me desperate to see a next episode when work is eating most or all of my evenings. It's possible this will result in me just showing
scruloose Heated Rivalry, since it's apparently our key cultural export of the decade and all. *g* Only six episodes and I don't have to worry about being impatient to see what happens next or about being spoiled.(I still don't feel actively fannish about HR at all, but am enjoying being adjacent to it and seeing all the fannish excitement and meta and such. I have saved many fic recs to my read-later list on A03, but have yet to actually read a single one [and may never, given how slowly I go through fic--there's still a steady stream of Guardian fic I haven't read that also goes on that list].)
Weathering/Working: We have what sounds like a significant nor'easter blizzard arriving at some point tomorrow, with heavy wet snow. Will this be where our luck fails for the season and we lose power for the first time? (I'm completely astonished that it hasn't happened yet. Probably it's not really because the generator and backup power are warding that off, like carrying an umbrella around...)
And of course the spring crunch is set to start tomorrow in the late afternoon, right around when the storm is likely to be in full swing. Will the weather have much impact? (Mainly, I guess, in terms of Those Who Speak all being able to make it there safely; I kinda hope that there's some kind of backup power in their actual building, but I don't know for sure one way or the other.)
trobadora Feb. 22nd, 2026 07:47 pm)candyheartsex author reveals have happened! And here's the fic I wrote for facethestrange:**
Title: in the darkness with you
Word count: 4,233
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Rating: Mature
Content tags: Blind Zhao Yunlan, First time, Hand-Feeding, Finger-Sucking, Clothed Sex, Zhao Yunlan's oral fixation, Episode Related, Episode 21, Missing Scene, Blindness Arc
A/N: Many thanks to
china_shop for beta-reading.Summary:
Zhao Yunlan woke to the smell of citrus, sweet and strong in the air. Without fully turning his face out of the pillow, he slitted open a sleep-heavy eye - to complete, unchanged darkness. Reality came crashing down like a landslide. Right: still blind.
Since I last wrote, I started my new job as the leave-replacement librarian at our elementary school. I officially started on Jan 20 (Tues), with two days of overlap with the outgoing librarian, and then I was officially "on" by Thursday. ( Brief overview )
( The Monday Blues )
In the rest of my life: I've only been getting an average of 1 TKD lesson per week; it's been hard to find days that work with my schedule, my exhaustion level, their availability to do live streaming, etc. This past week I missed it entirely, although that's partly because I attended the NJ School Librarian Assn/NJ Library Assn conference in Atlantic City on Wed, necessitating my driving there on Tuesday night and back on Wed night, so no TKD class on either night. And in general I'm still working on doing more constructive things with my free time other than games or doomscrolling on my phone. I HAVE managed to watch all of Heated Rivalry (SO GOOD), and am midway through Bridgerton S4 (not done yet with the half that was already released). I have not gotten to see ANY of the Winter Olympics, because I'm usually doing something else when I DO get to sit down, and don't have time to just sit and WATCH something. *sadface* (The only way I watched Heated Rivalry and Bridgerton was when I was on the exercise bike/treadmill.)
It's the Chinese Year of the Horse! Both MiniPlu and Will are horses; in fact, Will is a fire horse, like this year. (Nina's a water horse.) ( In sadder news: an orphan is re-orphaned )
And speaking of death - this Thursday will be the one-year mark for my dad. Still doesn't feel real sometimes.
It's been a year since we left for NZ as well, and I wish so much I could go back. We're going to Europe over spring break this year, so it's not like we don't have something to look forward to, but still - NZ! *more sadface*
I think that's about it from here? Will do a separate post for books.
candyheartsex had creator reveals, so here's another portion of fanworks. :D Weilan drawing and 2 fics, a Chuguo fic, and a (non-Candy-Hearts) Zhubai drabble. :)Underneath by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Undressing, undergarments, Kneeling, Mild Sexual Content, no sex just touching and vibes, Black-Cloaked Envoy | Hei Pao Shi (Guardian), Long-Haired Shen Wei (Guardian), Fanart, Drawing
Summary: Zhao Yunlan discovers what's under the Envoy's robes.
meet me where the hours bend (I'll do it again) (524 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Episode: e008 Zhao Yunlan Fails at Impressing Shen Wei, Canon Compliant, Pining Shen Wei (Guardian), Caretaking, Hurt/Comfort, Stomach Ache, Sick Zhao Yunlan, Memories, Tenderness
Summary: Zhao Yunlan whimpers in his sleep, and Shen Wei doesn't do anything.
The Envoy and the Cat (549 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Da Qing & Shen Wei & Zhao Yunlan, Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Characters: Da Qing (Guardian), Shen Wei (Guardian), Zhao Yunlan
Additional Tags: Ye Olde Haixing Era, Tree Climbing, friendly teasing, Da Qing Being a Cat in Human Form
Summary: "Really? Really, Damn Cat? You had to get the Black-Cloaked Envoy of all people to help you down from a tree?"
It Takes a Village (369 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian - priest
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Guo Changcheng
Characters: Chu Shuzhi, Guo Changcheng, Xiaomi the Dog (Guardian), Special Investigation Division | SID Ensemble (Guardian)
Additional Tags: Fluff, Dogs, Domestic, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Minor Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Team as Family
Summary: "Who will feed Xiaomi when we're away?" Guo Changcheng asks, and Chu Shuzhi blinks.
"Everyone?"
See Nothing (100 words) by facethestrange
Fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) RPF, Chinese Actor RPF
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong
Characters: Bai Yu (Actor), Zhu Yilong, Li Yan (Actor)
Additional Tags: Beard Burn, Innuendo, Silly, Light-Hearted, No Homophobia, POV Outsider, Drabble
Summary: "Hey, what happened to your chin?"
The first update is we have opened up signup access for Squidge Images. Instead of having to leave us a ticket for an image hosting account, we have decided that it's been long enough, and the folks who were abusing image hosting have most likely moved on. So all that is done.
Second, and most important, Squidge Image Hosting will be down starting at 8am Pacific on Sunday, March 1st for an upgrade. Read that again. I say this because we will inevitably get 8,000 tickets asking us why image hosting is down, and when will it be back up again. Seriously. We've seen this with FenRecs.com posts - they are completely ignored and people will log tickets asking when it will be back (later this week, we hope!). This upgrade is important because will be transitioning from on-site hosting of images to remote hosting of images. Oh, and the upgrade should bring video support as well! So if you have videos you need hosting and, like us, hate Youtube, you'll be able to host your videos on Squidge Images.
Again, Squidge Image Hosting will be down starting at 8am Pacific time on Sunday, March 1st for an upgrade. We hope to be fully upgraded and back up within four hours, but we all know technology can be a giant pain sometimes.
Questions? Leave us a message here, or leave us a trouble ticket by clicking here.
