not won any literary awards? give yourself literary awards. book of the year. best book of all time. best writer of all time. literally nobody can stop you
Just me complaining for a bit, I’ll delete it later.
There are so many shitty things about Genai art but how it penalizes basic human mistakes is one of things that worries me. There is an instantaneous flurry to critique and look for the tiniest mistakes. God forbid you have a few extra sketchy lines or left some weird blob in because you don’t actually have a handy sword hilt to reference and didn’t feel like spending hours on google looking for one that’s at the right angle. And god forbid you misdraw a hand despite hands being the fucking worst (find me an artist that got their start drawing in fandom who doesn’t have a couple of early works that are ‘decent except for the mitten hands’…)
Sharing any kind of creative endeavor inherently means opening yourself up to criticism but especially when you’re doing something for fun, the “I must make this absolutely perfect and scour every inch in case I made a mistake” perfectionism can be such a motivation killer. And it’s weird to me because I remember back when perfectionism was a mark of artificiality (2000-2010 “airbrushed/photoshopped” magazine cover debates and impact on self-image, anyone?)
And it’s everywhere. Like even my favorite authors, who have vocally and consistently spoken about their concerns regarding: Genai and their commitment to hiring actual humans to do their book covers faced a flurry of people immediately shouting about their latest book covers and like. Idk. It’s so, so, SO easy to condemn. It takes seconds. It takes a hell of lot longer to create. And if we kill the motivation of the few folks out there still willing to do so, won’t that just make ai even more prevalent?
Idk y’all. I think I’m just too old for fandom, which is what brought me back to tumblr over Reddit, and is, incidentally, a thought that’s depressing as hell.
Can you imagine a world where Freida was adopted and raised as a noble by Henrik (said adoption and life as a noble being funded by her grandfather probably) rather than in a contract with him? Even if just for the hilariously destructive dynamic that would have been “Uncle Damuel” and his bold-as-brass, profit-savvy niece (who, at least as of P1, had more mana than him). Commoner background working against her or not, she’s definitely got the scheming required for success.
I will forever cheer for this academic-slacker-turned-fanfic-writing-shipper to get a happy ending. Preferable with Laurenz since he voiced the stuffed shumils that brought her such joy, but hey.
Apprentice Archscholar Lueuradi of Jossbrenner from Ascendance of a Bookworm by Miya Kazuki
Today on “the rarest of rarepairs”, I give you….Laurenz and Lueuradi (the archscholar from Jossbrenner who got Bluanfah’s divine protection and wrote Mestionora/Erwaermen fanfic) from Ascendance of a Bookworm.
HEAR ME OUT THOUGH
SO. Points in favor of this pair:
1. Lueuradi is from a ‘bottom of the middle’ duchy (I think they’re somewhere around 10th) and adores the love stories published by the Ehrenfest archnoble ladies, to the point where she wants to marry an archnoble from Ehrenfest, but as of her third year, her parents are against her marrying into Ehrenfest because they still remember it from its time as a bottom-ranked duchy. However, because he’s name sworn to Rozemyne, by her fifth year, Laurenz is a sixth year slated to be an unmarried noble in Alexandria, a former and current greater duchy, led by the avatar of the goddess and all that. Lueuradi could possibly swing this as forging a connection between Jossbrenner and the home duchy of the avatar of the goddess.
2. We have Lueuradi to thank for being so enamored with the Royal Academy Love Stories-quoting shumils that she actually listened to them all, thus playing the Ehrenfest advertisement that scored points against Fraularm and Detlinde and Laurenz is the voice who delivered those lines.
3. Lueuradi wrote her own manuscript, and you know Rozemyne is all for collecting authors (even if she probably is less enthusiastic about romance as a genre).
4. Lueuradi is friends with Muriella, who is in extremely similar circumstances to Laurenz (namesworn child of criminals) who now works for Elvira, who unlike Rozemyne, actually knows how to maneuver through politics and has a matchmaking streak. Muriella might not be willing to rock the boat, but if she was (kind of ‘one of us should get a fairy tale ending’ kind of vibe…), that potentially loops in quite the ally.
5. Laurenz does not want to end up like Mathias and be escorting another retainer’s mom to his graduation 🤣
Where things get….challenging….
1. Laurenz is a mednoble, and Lueuradi is an archnoble. However, we’ve seen Rozemyne’s compression method raise mana capacities up a rank, and we’ve seen with Lieseleta (and Damuel’s doomed erstwhile first romance) that marriage can move rank up or down, so it’s both conceivable that a) Laurenz could match a middle-ranked duchy’s archnoble in mana capacity and b) could marry up as an archnoble or Lueuradi could marry down as a mednoble (probably a harder sell for her fam though)
2. Thiiiiis is the biggie. In one of the Q&A’s it came up that getting married as the child of criminals was basically an impossible ask. I don’t remember all of the details of why but I do remember reading that Sylvester would have to give his permission. But Laurenz no longer lives in duchy with the people who would be upset about it, and you know Rozemyne would rampage for her retainer’s happiness (/author acquisition) and if Muriella can get Elvira to support them as well, she’d easily find the right levers to press for leverage.
3. Laurenz is namesworn. But given that Lueuradi is practical enough to accept her dreams of romance will stay dreams and has resigned herself to a political marriage arranged by her parents, I think she’s practical enough to accept this.
EVEN IF marriage isn’t in the cards, I like to think they could at least pull off a Lamprecht/Aurelia “you can escort them for the sake of a fond memory” right???
I mean come on, they even have coordinating hair/eye colors! MEANT TO BE.
I took a deep breath, fixed my gaze on the narrow window directly in front of me, and launched into a double pirouette to pick up momentum. One, two, fouette turn, another, another, another, pirouette, pirouette, what the hell, let’s go for eight, fouette, fouette, seven, eight, pirouette, fourth position, arms open.
Botched that last pirouette a bit. It had been awhile.
Saiman and Curran stared at me.
“Do you need a shovel to help you pick up your jaws off the floor?”
Kate & Curran, post-sparring (post flirting? It’s the same thing either way I suppose)
I’ve listened to the innkeeper audiobooks enough times to practically recite them alongside the cast, so I figured it was probably time I give the Kate Daniels series a go to scratch the itch while waiting. I’m enjoying it! Binged through the first four, just started Magic Slays. My two favorite innkeepers are still incontestably ranked in the top spot, but I can appreciate a couple that considers violence foreplay, so here ya go.
Non-croc post for a change of pace
Since it came up in a conversation I ended up googling if the rhinos in the Salzburg Zoo get out in Winter and not only do they, it also makes for some impressive photos Images by Manuel Bukovics
I highly recommend going to the zoo when the weather is "bad" i.e. raining, snowy, cold, windy etc. not just because the crowds are way smaller, but because different animals are active in different kinds of weather, and not necessarily the ones you'd think. Most critters take it easy during summer so they don't over heat, which is when most people go to the zoo, but are way more active the rest of the year
In Colorado the big cats, elephants and hoofstock LOVE when it snows and are out playing instead of taking an all-day heat siesta. The primates, birds and for some reason the anteater eally like the high wind days. Bears, hippos and a lot of the smaller mammals like porcupines and red pandas love the rain.
I also recommend going to any nighttime activities or zoo sleepovers for the same reasons: many of these animals are straight-up nocturnal. Bigs cats, hyenas, wild canines, hippos, rhinos and a weird number of birds including penguins tend to be more active at night.
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