Laughter Through Tears

I thought about doing it before, I don't remember who recommended it to me and when, and I've definitely run into it multiple times in my browsing, but... yesterday I finally sat down and started reading Trash of the Count's Family.

Now, first of all, the very first chapter features a fairly lengthy (PG-13) bath scene of the male lead. Some of the fan websites feature gaggles of straight dudes gently losing their marbles over this (largely positive). As a first impression, it definitely gives the vibe that "this one is for the girls and the gays", and I can understand why the fic fandom for this book is huge.

Second. No one warned me? Clyde Trashcount or whatever his name is? Is a fucking princess. Like, this character is a princess who just happens to be of the male gender but yeah, otherwise, a princess. No, I can't really explain it any better than that.

Third or whatever, cats and dragons, so yeah, those are both good reasons to read a book, for sure. Cats and dragons. Catlike dragons, also.

A minor quibble is that, as far as I can tell, every single character has eyes the exact same shade of gray-black. To the point that I briefly entertained the idea that the hero is the bastard half-brother of the protagonist. But no, this appears to be simply a stylistic art choice.

I obviously had a bad couple of nights in terms of sleep etc., but I'm coping mainly by trying to distract myself.

Distractions I've indulged in:

1. Palia. Still very heavily playing this, especially this weekend, making up for the fact that I didn't play much over the week.

2. Reading the tagset/request summary for justmarriedexchange. Probably gonna sign up today or tomorrow, and yes, I did nom Palia, too.

3. Over the last week, I've watched enough Kruggsmash Dwarf Fortress videos that I had to talk myself down from getting the game (for reasons).

4. Finally watched the last season of Community. It sure is a bunch of television episodes.

5. Also catching up on the most recent season of Leverage: Redemption, and yes, there was a moment that made me scream at a pitch audible only to dogs.

6. When I fail to do these things, I read the news, which depresses me.

I formulated this post originally for the lore channel of the official Palia Discord server. It got a pretty positive response, so I decided to post a backup copy to Dreamwidth.

I know there's been a lot of chatter about the connection between ancient humans, Flow, and the emergence of Majiri people. I haven't read all the threads (so many!), so I probably missed a bunch of important stuff, but it's made me think. Especially in the context of Subira's temple quests, the consoles, and the "protocols" that they mention.

IIRC, two protocols are mentioned: the "Cosmos" protocol (here) and the "Mirror" protocol (which apparently predated it). Mudan personally enacted the Mirror Protocol, as per his letter to his wife (here). We have reason to believe that both protocols were attempts to fight whatever mysterious "shadow(s)" brought about the downfall of Mudan's golden age.

( More lore and speculation )

Alternatively, I could be full of it. That's always a distinct possibility.

I realize that I've been mostly radio silent on here for a while.

Alas, now is not a time when I can fix that, because my tendinitis is flaring up, and I promised myself that I would do zero typing for at least a week.

For various reasons, I spent (almost) the entire weekend playing Palia. Normally, I'm not an MMO person, but the cozy vibes reeled me in.

T. Kingfisher binge in the summer, K.J. Charles binge in the fall. Would write more, but I'm avoiding typing to protect my hands.

I made it up to the very last holiday dinner of the month (a comprehensive affair, with various young cousins) before I was overtaken by some kind of upper respiratory tract infection. First it was chills (no one else was cold), then I briefly had a sore throat and difficulty swallowing, and eventually, my nose just became so congested I could barely sleep. Like, last night, I was up for about 3-4 hours (in the middle of the night) because I kept having to get up to blow my nose.

I took advantage of the opportunity to catch up on some old chapters of Gunnerkrigg Court, which I had read devotedly (about a decade ago) before it fell off my radar for reasons I can't explain. For some reason, I was lately thinking of it again. So I went back to some chapters that I dimly remember reading.

Of course, because of my cold, I still haven't started my Yuletide assignment. I'd only just scratched the surface of my canon review.

Yuletide! An exciting year for me this year, since many/most of my requested fandoms are ones I nominated, also.

General wants: ( general wants )

( Opt-ins )

General DNWs: ( Read more... )

Fandom-specific prompts and preferences:

( The Saint of Steel - T. Kingfisher )

( Their Majesties' Pleasure (Interactive Fiction) )

( Wylde Flowers (Video Game) )

( Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel) )

( A Sorceress Comes to Call - T. Kingfisher )

Last year was pretty hectic, and most likely, this one will be, too. All the same, I've made my nominations for Yuletide 2024, and I plan to sign up, as well. Barring any unexpected complications.

In the midst of my carpal tunnel and trigger finger both flaring up (my fault, for playing too much Wylde Flowers on the weekend), it's fun to discover that my topical painkiller might be interfering with my thyroid test results.

Love this. Love the juggling act. Love to have three thousand balls in the air at all times, which represent all or my organs and tissues and conditions and prescriptions and specialists. Love to be able to think about everything *except* the work I want to be doing right now.