🎃 One thousand hands that pull from the underworld

Three centuries later, I finally updated A Storm Above the Sea. Chapter 2 on SWG and AO3

So far so good. Nothing really happens except that Sauron takes a bath and meditates, and Mysterious-Character-From-Harad is sentenced to prison and escapes shortly after.

Isildur and Elendil will come back next chapter.

Watch on YouTube

Meeee. But not Bernard Hill neither Reita. :( All hail the victorious dead.

Life's less hectic, meaning I have more time to dedicate to fannish activities. Boy, do I miss that. It's like I'm recovering a part of myself whenever I come back to fandom.

To quote CBC News:

Montreal expected to see rain for much of the day Wednesday and temperatures of 13 C. At night, temperatures will plummet to –13, with a wind chill of –24.

(...)

Violent westerly winds of up to 90 km/h are also expected Wednesday evening and heavy rain warnings are in effect for certain regions of Quebec.

To add fuel to the fire: It's the middle of winter, and more than 100 wildfires are still smouldering:

There are still 92 active fires in British Columbia and another 54 in Alberta — holdovers from last year — according to the latest figures from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. Others are also active in the Northwest Territories, experts said.

(...)

Research suggests such fires are becoming more common as the climate warms. The hot, dry conditions that contribute to powerful wildfires during the summer can lead to deep burning in carbon-rich soils like peat.

(...)

"The dice are loaded, the deck is stacked — whatever phrase you want to use, there is a high likelihood of a very active spring."

...malade.

I finished Turn: Washington's Spies, a historical drama on the American Revolution based on Alexander Rose's Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring.

I started the series last year. I didn't finish it because I then got distracted by my life. And then, I wasn't in the mood for it. I tend to take forever to finish a show. Anyway, I was immersed in it after a few episodes. It's only four seasons. I wished it was longer, but there's an advantage to series that don't last forever: we can rest assured that the quality of the story is maintained throughout the show. Or, at least, we can hope so.

It's gritty; there's humour; characters are insufferable; yet I found myself attached to many; costumes and decors are realistic; CGI is minimal. The other aspect I noted was how familiar the nature and sounds were. It felt like home. It's not a feeling I get watching Vikings because it was filmed on the other side of the Atlantic, so obviously, there will not be the same trees or birds.

Now, I'm upset. Post-show depression. Kudos to the actors who made me want to punch their characters in the face many times. Especially Owain Yeoman who played Benedict Arnold. Arnold annoyed me more than John Grave Simcoe and Robert Rogers did. Other than that, I'm a George Washington and Edmund Hewlett enjoyer. I grew fond of Mary Woodhull as the show went on.

John André is played by JJ Feild. He sounds like Thranduil and looks like the lovechild of Loki and Thranduil. See it for yourselves under the cut.

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You heard that right: I. Want. To. Kiss. Myself.

I had started to feel the inspiration tingles my skin this afternoon. Finally, the desire to continue a fanfiction I started three years ago was back. I didn’t publish this fic. Three years ago is around the time I took the resolution not to post new stories unless I have ¾ written. This is why this story I’m going to talk about is nowhere to be seen.

I may or may not have respected my resolution when I was bored and asked people from Discord to assign me prompts two years ago. It took me a little over eight months to finish them all. In my defence, I intended to write 2-3k words per prompt. Intentions of the sort never work right. Next thing I knew, I had two short multi-chaptered stories in front of my eyes (one of 12k words; the other 8k). I’m satisfied with how the fics turned out.

Anyways, the fanfic in question is a tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE story that takes place in the Tokyo Revelation arc (btw I’d highly recommend the manga. I read mixed reviews on the anime—never watched it. The OVA is said to be fine. The OST, composed by no other than Yuki Kajiura, is darn good). It’s canon compliant for the most part because I’m boring, and the OG storyline is complicated enough on its own already. It focuses on Fai and Kamui. Kamui’s the guy of my icon, btw. He’s a vampire in tsubasa. I prefer tsubasa!Kamui over X-1999!Kamui, if you’d like to know (if you’re a CLAMP fan and can follow what I’m babbling about).

Earlier this afternoon, I vaguely remembered I had typed 3-4k words of said fic in the past. I couldn’t recall if Fai, Sakura, Kurogane, Syaoran and Mokona had arrived to Tokyo where I left the story at. The fic starts with Fuuma and his first years in Tokyo. Fuuma is somewhat important in the story because his sole role is to annoy Kamui, a vital character. Which eventually becomes important because of a semi-secret-plottwist-that-leads-to-another-semi-secret-plottwist-before-les-BIG-revelations. I don’t know why I’m spoilering myself because, as I said, canon compliant. You know tsubasa, you know what’s coming. (Lemme feel sneaky and important mkay (~￣³￣)~)

Only the realisation dawned on me that… The fic is in my older pc!!! That is dead!!! Nooooooo!!! That put me in some sort of contemplatively grumpy mood for a few minutes.

But then- guess what? I purchased my current pc before I started the fic. The fic’s still there. In my files. Lol. And, good news: it has 8.5k words. I’m going to read it later to see how good or bad it is. ETA: I read the last two pages. I left it at a cliffhanger. Stupid me weaseling my way around cool semi-canon divergent elements. I have no idea what I had in mind. Euargh.

All of this was triggered by tsubasa soundtrack that I’m listening to while working on a silly Tolkien story. Back to writing, I am. Under the cut, an excerpt from The Strongest Laughter of Eä to be featured in The Parchment of Secret Valian Tales.

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Another fanfiction archive gone. I’m currently reading Elladan’s Biograph Script by Darth Fingon for the 64545th time. I discovered the fic about 4 years ago and loved every bit of it. I’m also a huge fan of Darth Fingon myself. He doesn’t know I exist. It’s good with me (hey Darth, you got a random fanboy here *points at self*). I can’t shut up about him on Discord in a private server. It’s a miracle my friends aren’t done with me yet. I also can’t shut up about ‘Bloody Silmarils’ by petite_dilly that you all should read (oui, c’est de la publicité gratuite, mais j’ai effectivement parlé de « Maudits Silmarils » hier). Anyways.

There was something I wanted to check that I knew was in another fic of his, but not in his Lauron-nama series because I’ve read it for an unorthodox number of times too (I went from being severely annoyed at Fingon (the character, not Darth) to liking him. He's an arse, but a hot one at that, and a misunderstood Elf. Misunderstood hot ass, how about that). So it had to be part of another fic that takes place within his world building. For some reason, I remembered what I wanted to find about the Glorfindel – Oropher reunion + Glorfindel meeting Thranduil for the first time wasn’t on AO3 neither on SWG, but on a website with a blue and gold layout. I knew I wasn’t dreaming/making things up because I did read fics from that archive in 2022 ish. It did look blue and gold from the best of my memory.

So, after some furious googling, I realised the archive in question, LotR Gen Fics, shut down in July 2022. It was just my luck that I consulted it in early 2022! I went on a semi-fanfiction hiatus later and forgot about the archive. Not all of LotR Gen Fics was archived on Wayback Machine. All I can do is sob and lament (grunt and complain is more like me than shedding tears, in all fairness).

And start a very stupid fanfiction that involves Thingol and Melian, inspired by AO3’s removal of characters’ Quenya names (like Maedhros | Maitimo (Tolkien) becomes Maedhros (Tolkien). Those with only Quenya names are not impacted by this change. The whole obviously made people talk on tumblr). Edit: my ao3 must be broken because I don't see the changes.

After a year on Dreamwidth (happy anniversary to me! a week late), a bit on and off, I realise my favourite feature of the site is the late 00s feeling. I started being active online on fandom forums when they were still a thing in the late 00s/early 10s. I sulked (other) social media for a long time. Discord is somewhat forum-like but the fast pace of certain servers throws me off. I never had Xanga, MySpace, Skyrock or LiveJournal. 9yo me, however, found Dramione fanfiction on Skyrock.

I like DW's display. It's easy to use. There are certain customization features I'd rather have otherwise but I don't 'speak' CSS, so it is what it is. I can manage with what we have! I recently discovered the explore random journals and random communities option.

At the beginning, I wanted this blog to be music and fandom-centric. Now, I'm less sure exactly what direction/purpose I want to give it. I realised I enjoy reading about people's personal lives, and I don't entirely disdain blabbering about mine. Anyhow, it's my blog, I can do what I want and talk about different topics. Tags exist for a reason!

Do you think there'll be a resurgence of blogs and forums? There are a few tumblr refugees and youngsters like me who use DW. By youngster, I mean mid-twenties, which is old enough to have had a taste of the late 00s internet. I wonder if the 18- population will eventually tire from the reels and youtube shorts frenzy and opt for something less fast paced (or seemingly less fast paced. I encountered crazily active forums 10 years ago and that scared me).

Theme of the day: red and warm colours

Theme of the day: desert.

My entertainment nowadays is following Japanese rockstars and metal artists on their social medias.

Hiro from Nokubura (Nocturnal Bloodlust) doesn't post enough shirtless selfies. The guy is swooole. Otherwise, he enjoys the gym life (and his career).

Gackt philosophises a lot on his instagram. He's a kinda boomer (not necessarily in a bad way). Not sure why his account his private, but his team is quick enough to accept requests (it didn't take me long before I could follow him).

Yoshiki must think that we believe George Washington's ghost controls his socials because he always signs his name at the end of his captions. All of them.

Hyde's instagram is professional with selfies every now and then. He recently graced us with a shirtless pic. Yes, there's make up, but the man is in his 50s. I wanna be toned like him at his age, too.

Jaejoong seems to know all the big names of Japan. His instagram is candid and fun to follow.

Sugizo always takes selfies under the same angle. He has two expressions: mouth open and mouth closed. Even the professional shots are under that darn angle! (Funfact: I was a few days ago old when I found out he's part German (1/4))

Miyavi never grew past the fratboy stage. He's 41, father of 3, yet looks like he was born yesterday. He and Jaejoong must reveal their skincare secrets (and procedures I certainly can't afford).

Toshiya always provides an English translation to his captions. My Japanese is fairly limited, so this is much appreciated.


Now, the KPop side of things: guess what's trending on twitter? Respect BTS; NCT Apologize to BTS; BTS paved the way. All of this because of silly misunderstandings. That obviously derailed to a point fans were saying it was identity theft and NCT should be taken to court. NCT's fans jumped on the occasion to make memes (NCT in Jail Era). NCT 127's shenanigans on Roblox created more commontion for NCTzen than Army's cries. It all started yesterday. I'm not on Twitter (I only lurk and check Hiro's twitter in the hope of seeing shirtless pics, and Bambam's twitter because the man never fails to crack me up) but I follow this in real time. Everything escalates quickly. I've been a casual KPop listener since 2009-2010 and things were wildin' then already, and yet, I'm amazed.

The poor Bang Chan was rumoured to have undergone a Brazilian buttlift. That's one of my favourite rumours, alongside crazier rumours such as SHINee being former gang members (13yo me believed it for real. I had heard of street casting, so it made sense to me. I found it dangerous to recruit from street gangs, but whatever) and Jay Park that got virtually everyone from the KPop industry pregnant (at the beginning, it was only HyunA).