sage: image of the word "create" in orange on a white background. (create)
sage ([personal profile] sage) wrote2025-09-24 12:52 pm

What I'm Doing Wednesday

books
Pawn in Frankincense (The Lymond Chronicles #4) by Dorothy Dunnett. 1969. cw: graphic violence, child abuse and murder, slavery, animal harm and death, going cold turkey off opium. Quite the adventure drama.

The Summer War by Naomi Novik. 2025. Novella. Would have made a pretty amazing novel, tbh. I loved the first 2/3rds, though I wish, as always with NN, that there had been more to the ending. I hope YT brings some fic for it.

yarning & etsy & usps

I went to yarn group Sunday and had a good time. Also, I cut my hair right before yarn group and I got nice comments on it, so that was extra happy-making. Then I showed off pics of my soccer ball-sized globe (and complained about the pattern not giving accurate Mediterranean or Australia, doh). Also worked on a navy blue kickbunny, which sold Monday afternoon right after I got back from the post office, where I was shipping a tan kickbunny to a customer, a blue bunny to Kitten Academy, and the globe to Niece, along with a moon and a bday card with a bright happy sun on it, so it was all of a theme. But dear god the increase in USPS prices! Nearly $3 more, and (since they moved to PA) KA isn't even as far! At least one was a business expense and another was prepaid by the customer. (This is why I don't offer free shipping on kickbunnies.) Anyway, I'm working on a turquoise kickbunny now and feeling super grateful that my shoulder is functional again. Knock wood.

yuletide FYIs
Here is the link to the Noms Coordination Station. And here is the Noms Spreadsheet, where you can skim fandoms to see what's been nommed while we wait for the tagset to open. I replaced my nom for Katee Roberts' Dark Olympus series with Shakespeare & Jacobean Theatre RPF bc Will/Kit(/Annie) still owns my heart. And I changed my character noms for The Shadow of the Leviathan series by Robert Jackson Bennett. Noms close in the wee hours of Friday, US time. I still have no idea what I want to offer/request, but at least I've done my nominations?

#resist
October 18: No Kings Day 2

I hope you're all doing well and enjoying Fall/Spring wherever you are! <333
china_shop: Donghee standing in the rain, in a peach-orange sweater, grinning in delight. (TTOF Donghee grinning in the rain)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote2025-09-24 10:41 am

Writing/making Goals for the rest of the year

  1. keep up [community profile] fan_flashworks streak
  2. finish current wishlist gift (quickly!) and write 3 or 4 more (so many tempting prompts!!)
  3. finish two WIPs that are more than 4 months old, especially the Zhu Hong one)
  4. Yuletide & treats?


Speaking of Yuletide, I think it's okay to post what you've nominated? I've nommed a handful of Kdramas: The Time of Fever, Unintentional Love Story[*], Good Manager, While You Were Sleeping, and Family by Choice (the dads).

[*] I'm never sure if it's okay to nom The Time of Fever and Unintentional Love Story? The pairing is the same for both. Ot1h, the shows have very different vibes, and ULS has different other characters as well. Otoh, you could reasonably write "ToF" fic set during ULS, or "ULS" fic informed by ToF... Mostly I nommed them both because I didn't know what other people in the (tiny, tiny) fandom might offer/request if they signed up, and I didn't want to mismatch if they only offered/requested one show or the other.
tl;dr: Umbrella fandoms solve a lot of problems! ;-p
minoanmiss: Bull-Leaper; detail of the Toreador Fresco (Bull-Leaper)
minoanmiss ([personal profile] minoanmiss) wrote2025-09-22 12:34 pm
mergatrude: (cat print)
mergatrude ([personal profile] mergatrude) wrote2025-09-22 12:32 pm

Riddle me this

Why is it necessary to label cat litter as 'vegan'?

I mean, it's made from either cellulose (paper, corn, rice, soy) or clay. Most common additives are baking powder or charcoal. Most fragrances are plant-based. Is there a type of non-vegan cat litter available?
china_shop: Chu Shuzhi wearing a black face mask with a cat mouth and whiskers on it. (Guardian - CSZ cat mask)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote2025-09-21 04:49 pm
Entry tags:

Guardian fic: Experiments in Dynamic Translation (CSZ/SW, CSZ/SW/ZYL)

I posted my unexpected-kink fic for the Riddle round of [community profile] fan_flashworks, and today I archived it to AO3. It's part of my Breakage and Repair 'verse which is Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives (mostly), Canon Divergence, but all you really need to know is that it's early-relationship Chu Shuzhi/Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan.

Title: Experiments in Dynamic Translation (9003 words) [Explicit]
Relationships: Chu Shuzhi/Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan, Chu Shuzhi/Hei Pao Shi
Additional Tags: Established Relationship, Relationships with complicated history, Being closeted in some spheres, Domestic, Unplanned/Impromptu Kink, Identity Porn (literal), Dom/sub, soft D/s, Dom!Shen Wei, Envoy!Shen Wei, Sub!Chu Shuzhi, (Zhao Yunlan enjoys the show), Fealty, Orgasm denial/delay, Dark-Energy Sex Toys, Low-key impromptu bondage, Dixing-Powers Powered Sex, Anal Sex, Voyeurism, Frottage, Long Hair
Summary:

It’s been just over ten weeks since his and Da Qing’s return to the land of the living, and in that time, Shen Wei has not yet had occasion to don his robes of office in front of Shuzhi—or indeed, to conduct any Envoy business at all in his presence. He’s visited the SID once or twice on official matters, but only in Haixing clothes, and he’s been sure to keep his manner light and casual in the public areas. Formal liaising is for the privacy of Zhao Yunlan’s office.

Now, faced with the prospect of a Dixing state dinner, Shen Wei discovers he’s slipped into—not so much keeping secrets, as compartmentalising. Again.




As I said in my end notes, it’s hilarious to me that my first E-rated fic in this ‘verse is something I usually DNW (D/s, especially when it leans into existing power dynamics). For some reason, it worked for me in this specific scenario.
china_shop: Close-up of Zhao Yunlan grinning (Default)
The Gauche in the Machine ([personal profile] china_shop) wrote2025-09-19 10:07 am
Entry tags:

Me-and-media update

Just a quick one today, because I'm trying to write half a dozen other things. :-)

Previous poll review
In the phone poll, 61% of respondents hold the phone to their ear, 40.7% put the call on speaker, and 28.8% wear an earpiece or headphones.

In ticky-boxes, cats with resting blep face came second to hugs, 61% to 69.5%. Thank you for your votes!

Reading
More of Inventing the Renaissance by Ada Palmer, read by Candida Gubbins. Andrew has started listening with me, so I needed a solo listen and, accordingly, am trying Black Water Sister by Zen Cho, read by Catherine Ho, which is great so far. (I've heard it contains one of my DNWs, so I'm approaching with caution.)

Kdramas
Finally finished Nothing But Love (it's so good!). Also finished Aema, which was fantastic, dramatic, pacy, with tons of complicated female relationships and femslashiness (fair warning: gets very dark in places). Two more episodes of Mystic Pop-Up Bar, which continues to be delightful, I did not see that romantic pairing coming!! (It's doing the Gobin "who is the reincarnation of whom??" mystery thing.)

In theory I'm still watching My Youth in the hopes it develops some/any dramatic/romantic tension... but now You and Everything Else is out, who knows. Viewing time is limited.

More Low Life this evening, yay!

Other TV
Mostly Dark Winds and Bluey. We would have watched more Chief of War and Prehistoric Planet, but my Apple app is refusing to stream, grrrr.

Guardian/Fandom
So much is happening! It's great! The Slo-Mo Guardian Rewatch is delightful, [community profile] guardian_wishlist is in its creating period (which is always much too short, argh), and I still haven't caught up with [community profile] fan_writers comments. Also, omg, my tabs!!!

I nominated for Yuletide and am having some earnest conversations with myself about signing up. Last year was my first year; it was a blast, but it was a lot. I could always just treat...

Writing/making things
I'm very close to finishing the unexpected-kink fic (still needs a title), but most of my focus is on [community profile] guardian_wishlist. I've finished one gift and started another, which is threatening to get long (the joy and curse of rarepairs), and I have a laundry list of things to write after that. I'm aiming for, like, six or eight in total, by 6 October, but it will depend on whether I can write short.

Anyway, the current one is at least doing that delightful thing of occupying my brain when I'm not at my keyboard, making me jot down notes and dialogue when I wake up. I've missed this level of engagement.

Life/health/mental state things
Andrew's taking some time off work, which is an adjustment for both of us, and also great and much deserved.

Good things
Tuesday was a glorious sunny summery day. My new glasses are nearly ready. So Many Kdramas! TV-watching dates. Biking again. Bluey! Writing. Fandom and you all. <3

Poll #33633 Muppets
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 54


It's time to play the music, it's time to light the lights

View Answers

Kermit
22 (40.7%)

Fozzie
10 (18.5%)

Gonzo
16 (29.6%)

Miss Piggy
11 (20.4%)

Animal
20 (37.0%)

other / none / what?
13 (24.1%)

ticky-box full of I keep biting my lip, ow
9 (16.7%)

ticky-box full of paper tigers prowling stripily through their 2D jungle
26 (48.1%)

ticky-box full of Yuletide nominations
15 (27.8%)

ticky-box full of so many WIPs, so little time
18 (33.3%)

ticky-box full of hugs
39 (72.2%)

sage: a white stag on a black background, captioned "Yuletide" (yuletide)
sage ([personal profile] sage) wrote2025-09-17 05:10 pm

What I'm Doing Wednesday

books
still reading Pawn in Frankincense by Dorothy Dunnett. I haven't had the time to really focus on it, so I've been reading Kirk/Spock longfic.

yarning
I finished the crocheted globe for Niece and it looks pretty good. Definitely good enough for a child turning 5, though it's a little unevenly stuffed in a couple of places & I can't get it to shift. Am sad I had to miss yarn group this week, but yesterday I made a 3in diameter moon to go with the Earth. Hopefully it'll all fit in the box.

Yuletide
I nommed:
- The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty. (Amina, Dalila, Raksh, and Jamal)
- Shadow of the Leviathan by Robert Jackson Bennett (Ana, Din, Kepheus)
- A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher (Cordelia, Hester, Richard, Penelope)
- Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher (Anja, Snow, Grayling)
- Dark Olympus series by Katee Robert (Icarus, Poseidon, Hades, Penelope)

sadly, Batman: Wayne Family Adventures and Rivers of London both look too large to nom this year, if I'm gauging them right. Drat!

#resist
October 18: No Kings Day #2

I hope you're all doing well! <333
mergatrude: a skein, a ball and a swatch of home spun and dyed blue yarn (Default)
mergatrude ([personal profile] mergatrude) wrote2025-09-16 03:02 pm

New doggo

After Torin died, the lad swore off owning a dog until a couple of months ago when he started whining about missing having "a mate" to hang out with. *sigh*

the tl;dr )
Bailey-with-duck

This sweet goofball's name is now Bailey. more tl;dr )