Language is a River

Sing--and singing--remember, your song dies and changes; and is not here to-morrow, any more than the wind blowing ten thousand years ago.

[in-tua-deep]

I saw a murderbot daemon au where ART built murderbot a drone to act as a daemon and implies constructs are severed and yall know im a sucker for daemon aus?? But also like. daemon au where every secunit automatically comes with a minimum of one (1) drone, and at least one drone is essential to functioning. why? folks don’t know, maybe it’s storage or something. If units have multiple it’s usually as decoys for the important one

anyway obviously this drone is a daemon by another name. they don’t change shape partially bc they don’t know they can, partially bc the gov module will zap em dead if they change

It is making me think that after murderbot goes on the run it discovers its beloved drone has like. Idk. Multiple settings? Little spider drone that can skitter. Little lizard drone that can stick to walls. It can even do things like, lil cat drone that can claw up someone’s face real good (:

Ignore the people who think that this apparently means murderbot’s drone is a daemon. those people are stupid bc humans have daemons and murderbot is a CONSTRUCT and this is its DRONE thank you

but anyway yeah in a daemon au murderbot has the best and coolest drone and has its hands over its ears and is LALALALAing at top volume whenever anyone suggests it might be a daemon

[whetstonefires]

.....given murderbot generally treats its drones as being even more disposable than its own body (which it's been getting better about but still) while contrarily protecting your daemon is one of the basic governing impulses of human life, because you can't generally survive its destruction afaik,

be very interesting to see how the 'primary drone as detached part of construct, which goes in the repair bay with it,' unlike all those other drones that get trashed all the time, is handled conceptually. both by the companies that make and use constructs, and by murderbot personally.

like, humans in a daemon-having society would to some extent treat that drone as filling the societal niche of daemon! a lot of people would assume it was there for their comfort. some people would get a huge kick out of toeing the line of taboo by interacting with the construct's pseudo-daemon in ways that would be socially inappropriate with a real one.

nicer clients would sometimes get weird and apologetic if a situation required them to touch the primary drone, just because they were instinctively extending normal societal courtesies to the secunit. in the same awful kneejerk way people sometimes do when they see its face, and start processing it as a 'person.'

possibly everyone who works with secunits a lot systematically ignores that a construct's primary drone mysteriously collapses into nothing when it's fully deactivated, and probably anyone who works in manufacturing is ignoring even more that they don't actually. make those. they just show up.

or maybe they do make those, because constructs just don't work right otherwise, and no one is willing to examine why, because souls are not the business of any corporation.

[kiragecko]

I only got 1 chapter into The Golden Compass (got scared by the religious vibes as a preteen) so apologies if something about this doesn't work, but:

Constructs are part flesh, part robot, so what is their daemons need robotic parts, too?

For ages, it was impossible to make constructs that were more than ineffective robots. Until one day they were trying to see if a swarm intelligence could boost the effectiveness, and the construct ... worked. It was showing MUCH higher performance than any previous construct had, even though it didn't seem to actually be part of the swarm intelligence. It interacted with the other bots, but seemingly not in any special way? But it immediately stopped working when they isolated it.

So, constructs need to have some sort of network they're part of, and it can't be with other constructs or humans. It needs to be bots. Drones are cheep, replaceable, and useful to secunits and combatunits, so that's what they get supplied with.

Nobody makes the connection with daemons, because a daemon that's a construct makes no sense. Daemons show up, they aren't manufactured things!

Daemon constructs may even be able to survive separate from their drone host for short periods of time, as long as they separate before the host is injured. The main construct immediately has a huge drop in performance, and will continue deteriorating until the daemon can rebond, but since constructs usually only risk their last drone when they're already injured and in extreme danger, most people haven't noticed.

Maybe most of the constructs haven't noticed, either! Some drones getting damaged are a LOT more distressing and painful than other drones, but as long as those drones make it back to other undamaged drones, everything will be fine, eventually. Pain is normal.

Basically: would it work for the daemon to merge itself with a drone at creation? Daemons echo their human, so maybe the daemon of a construct would need to echo their construct, and be a merging of spirit and tech.

[in-tua-deep]

It’s okay I read them as a preteen and have never reread them so I have forgotten probably more than I actually remember of the source material lol

But ooooh these concepts make me think

What if construct daemons are more like, well, Murderbot 2.0? Killware. Something that exists separately from a construct but can “inhabit” something else - in this case, usually a drone, but it would be able to “hop” between available bodies if necessary which would also help with the misunderstandings on what it is tbh

I’m imagining that not being separate/being hosted in a constructs code in case of emergency is uh. Costly. Think “Murderbot post exploding its brain via mind melding with the gunship” levels of costly. Like DOABLE but only in a very technical and very temporary sense because it’s kind of like running the same software on top of software you are already running and it glitching all over the place as they’re basically clipping through each other

I like the swarm idea… Maybe people assume that constructs need bonus tech to boot up as part of them initiating their ability to interact with the world? To “turn them on” so to speak. I’ll be honest I doubt people thought too much into it beyond “if it works it works” - the load bearing pineapple jpeg of the construct world and I mean, hey, drones are pretty useful anyway so why not. Maybe they think that not being connected to something outside them causes a feedback loop that leads to catastrophic failure idk

Now I’m picturing construct daemon shifting looking like transformers sequences lol

“Wait how the fuck did the drone change shape in a way that somehow gains mass this ain’t animorphs”

And I am blaming that on ✨ dust ✨

Probably comfortunits would have drones designed to look more like animals to simulate human daemons I bet, but tbh I doubt other people associate non-creature-looking-drones with daemons (especially if a secunit has multiple) and that’s probably what freaks people out about Secunits so bad, that they “don’t have daemons so they CANT be people blah blah blah”

[problematic-character-tournament]

ROUND 2 — Match 22 of 138

Garak (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Problematic because: "worked for the space fascist lizard KGB" Propaganda: "there is truly so much going on with him. he was exiled from his home for mysterious reasons, he's gay, he kills people, they put a chip in his brain, at least 2 regimes want him dead, he is determined to escape exile and he wants to die but the twink doctor he's involved with won't let that happen. i don't want to spoil more than i already have"

vs. Kyubey (Puella Magi Madoka Magica)

Problematic because: "manipulating young girls into contracts that force them to kill monsters until they themselves turn into monsters" Propaganda: "This behavior was ultimately not based on any form of malice, as they supposedly have no emotion(considered a rare mental illness for their kind) and they needed to harvest human girls to stall out the heat death of the universe. Plus they're just this unkillable little freak that will just consume their corpse as soon as they get into a new vessel, just to bother one of the girls that they're talking to."

Who should advance?

Garak

Kyubey

Remaining time: 1 day 15 hours

(Disclaimer: All text above was sent in by submitters and not written by OP.)

[tj-dragonblade]

Propaganda for Garak: He lies. He manipulates. He assassinates. He obfuscates. We assume a past full of atrocities but maybe he's just letting us make assumptions. It's all true, especially the lies. Willing to do whatever it takes to further his goals, and possibly yours, particularly if they're in alignment. Attempted genocide at least once. Cannot believe a word he says, except when you can. Cannot trust him as far as you can throw him, except for when you can. Will feed you insane amounts of half-truths and bullshit with a smile on his face and sincerity dripping from every word. Is he telling the truth this time? That's up to you to decide, my dear. Moral compass is wildly askew, except for when it's not. His rampant patriotism is outstripped only by that pesky nagging insistence that sometimes one must do The Right Thing, regardless of what your country's loudest voices are telling you. A dangerous man to have as an enemy, and a dangerous but invaluable ally. Easily one of the most richly complex and memorable characters to ever grace the small screen

[lazuelazuli]

We can’t Kyuubey win. Babygirl’s lead is very slight. So allow me to provide my own Garak propaganda.

Tumblrinas who aren’t already in the Elder Fandom, allow me to be bold. Remember Loki? One of the pillars of our webbed site? I submit that without Elim Garak, perhaps there would be no MCU Loki in the form(s) we’re familiar with.

He feels as if he were born/molded into a monster. He’ll do anything to make Daddy proud. Lie, cheat, steal, attempt a genocide. He is a weapon and a tool for the greater good of his homeworld.

Much like (Variant) Loki, he is a good guy’s silly rabbit. And said good guy seems to rub off on him. Sometimes he can be compelled to do the right thing, he’ll just couch it in a way where he makes it look like it benefits him. But sometimes he’ll get a bit stabby. Variety is the spice of life!

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, he is a delightful cunt.

Tagging as many DS9blrs/Trekblrs as I can think of. Sorry not sorry for being obnoxious, but babygirl is winning this come hell or high water!

@imadoctornotanescalator @simptasia @last-of-the-independents @theoldgvard @garaks-padded-cell @codenameregnar @knivesandteeth @tinsnip @kewsi3542 @ds-90210 @runavik @subspaceshenanigans @sixtiesgogobootz @forgotten80sfilm @exlibra @junkdrawertales @aphrostiel

Spread the word! Vote Garak: Grandprev Loki!

[lokuro]

Vote Garak for the best life advice! You ever heard the story of the silly boy who cried wolf? You wondered what the moral of that foolish little tale might be?

Garak is there to enlighten:

[nopizzaaftermidnight]

[nopizzaaftermidnight]

June 26, 2014

What the heck! As of this reblog, this comic has 21 notes. Apparently a little reblog chain happened, but I don’t really remember noticing. Much higher numbers than my usual 0 or 1. My first taste of success, and I totally missed it!

[nopizzaaftermidnight]

honestly, if I had a comic take off I wouldn’t mind this one. I still like the joke.

[senkkeidraws]

the things i would imagine running alongside the car when i was a kid

[neolithicsheep]

This is gorgeous and I need a pack of them so we could run through the woods together hunting.

[probablyfunrpgideas]

The Runalongs are rare in worlds without fast transportation. It seems they are brought into being when someone, bored by a journey, looks out to watch the countryside go by. They daydream of a creature that follows their path (guarding? Or hunting?) and suddenly, without fanfare, it appears.

Runalongs have little in the way of ecology, but they are known to eat other dreams. Sometimes if the one who called them is particularly lonely or afraid they will get closer and even speak in humming voices without opening their mouths. But the second you stop moving, the creatures turn and vanish behind themselves, disappearing to wherever fantasies come from.

A Runalong can also have other forms; a humanoid figure (without distinct features) is common, and these may also ride things that are supposed to be horses. If only we were better at imagining, then they might not look so terrifying.

[headspace-hotel]

WAIT

OTHER PEOPLE DID THIS

???????!!!

Mine were large cat-like creatures

[goldwerewolf]

I forget what mine were but I imagined this too! I like the name Runalongs.

[lnicol1990]

Please, I’m nearly 30 and I still have Runalongs join me on long, boring car journeys. They must be able to sense people who are in need of their presence, for company, for entertainment, or are just so used to them being there.

[hollowedskin]

when you put your hand palm down out the window and it jumps and sways in the speed, the pressure you feel, not quite solid but not quite air is the ghostly backs of the runalongs arching up for a pat.

[veradragonjedi]

@airlocksandaviaries

[tiktoks-for-my-besties]

[alexaloraetheris]

My favorite brand of people are musicians who hear Rush Fucking E, which isn't technically meant to be played by a human at all, and immediately picking up their instrument and going 'bet'.

[gay-jewish-bucky]

this was submitted as a one sentence horror story, but it feels like it could be an old jewish joke, like the one about the two rabbis proving g-d doesn't exist or the saying 'people plan, g-d laughs'

[sal-absinthii-deactivated202311]

This is a thousand times better as a dry Jewish joke than it is as a fake-deep edgelord ‘horror’ story

[18kgold]

Even more, it sounds like the beginning -- the set-up -- of the joke. Can’t you hear Carl Reiner opening a bit with this line, or Shalom Aleichem using it to kick off a story?

[captain-acab]

Well I'm not quite an old Jewish man just yet, but let me give it a shot...

Losing confidence in Himself, G-d became an atheist. He decided to go down to Earth, to walk among humans and see how they found meaning.

He wandered the world until he came to a town, where he happened upon a pastor. "Come to our church this Sunday!" said the pastor. But G-d shook his head. "I don't believe in G-d anymore," he told the pastor sullenly. "And besides, I really shouldn't be working weekends." . . .

He continued wandering, and as night fell, he realized he had no money for a hotel. Walking down the darkening sidewalk, he passed many shivering folk, some young and thin, others old and worn and grizzle-bearded, looking not unlike himself. Just as the rain began to fall, he happened upon a priest. The priest looked him up and down, and said, "You look cold, my son. We're hosting a men's shelter at the church tonight; you can sleep there, and come to Mass tomorrow." This time G-d agreed. He slept well and was warm, and in the morning sat for Mass. They blessed him in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but he felt beside himself and decided to leave.

By this time G-d was quite hungry. He stopped by a deli, but still had no money, so all he could do was watch the fresh steaming bagels be made. On a bench outside the deli, a man was eating a bagel with lox. As he finished eating, G-d noticed there were still some scraps of food on the waxpaper. Unable to help himself, he asked if he could have the scraps, before the man threw it away. "Please sir, I'm so hungry. I'd just like that crumb of bagel there, and that little shred of lox. I think I could make a bisl of fish last quite a while." The man shook his head. "I cannot in good conscience give you my trash," he said, "But come inside, I'll get you your own bagel. I'd offer to get you coffee—but that's trash too."

So the man bought G-d some breakfast and sat with him on the bench. "Thank you so much," said G-d. "How can I ever repay you?" But the man just shrugged and said, "I'm a rabbi. Buying bagels I don't get to eat is part of the job description."

G-d thanked the rabbi again, and ate in silence. "Rabbi, can I ask you a question? I feel I haven't been on this Earth too long, but already I've seen much misery. How do you do it? How do you still believe in G-d?"

The rabbi pondered this. "I believe in joyful things. I believe in kindness, and people choosing to help each other. And isn't that a kind of godliness?" (G-d suspected there was a bit more to godliness than that, but he let it slide.) The rabbi continued: "I've prayed to G-d every day for the last 30 years, and I will every day til I die. And if He answers my prayers, all the better! But tell me, my new friend, what's your name?" G-d hesitated and said, "It's a little hard to pronounce..." The rabbi chuckled and said, "No matter. Say, it won't be anything like Shabbos dinner, but my wife is baking a delightful fig pie today, and I'd like to have you over for dinner to enjoy it." G-d nodded. "I do like figs..."

That evening, G-d sat for dinner with the rabbi, the rabbi's wife, and their four children. The meal was delicious, the rabbi's family was incredibly welcoming. Their conversation was friendly but never prying, and the children laughed and played with each other. Several times, the youngest child tugged on G-d's sleeve for his attention before her father motioned for her to go play with her siblings. G-d began to see what the rabbi had meant about the joyfulness of life.

At the end of the night, G-d stood up to leave, and felt renewed. The rabbi said, "My friend, don't leave us so soon!" And G-d replied, "I will always be with you, for I am the Lord Your G-d." And they understood it to be true.

He had done this sort of thing a few times before and generally knew how it went. As expected, the rabbi and his family fell to their knees, weeping with joy and awe. He did not expect the youngest child to walk right up and tug G-d's sleeve again. He smiled graciously down at her, and she looked up with the wonderful bright eyes of a child who understands nothing but the urge to play. In a high voice, she said, "Knock knock!" G-d couldn't help but laugh. "Who's there?" He replied cheerfully.

Suddenly from across the room, the rabbi swore loudly and rudely. Dismayed, G-d asked, "What troubles you?" He saw the rabbi was trembling, half in rage and half in embarrassment. "I'm sorry Lord! Thank you for this, thank you so much for gracing us with your light, Baruch Atah and so on, it's just..." The rabbi swore again. "Thirty years of daily prayer, Lord, and a KNOCK-KNOCK JOKE is what you'll answer?"

[squeeful]

it’s sort of funny that the current cultural idea of the flapper dates not from the 1920s, but the 1950s when costume designers took the radical, gender-fluid, sexual, sexually liberated ideas and fashions of the 20s and made them sexy.  as in sexual objectifying.

because 1950s and fuck female agency.

[nightguardmod]

If you would like, I would love to hear more about this. What, exactly, happened, and what was the true 1920s aesthetic, untainted by 50s views?

[squeeful]

hokay.  so it’s the 1950s and it’s the heyday of the studio system and writers and movie makers (and audiences) want rom coms and frolicking films and lighthearted fun, but there’s just one problem.

WWII

but that was the 1940s! you say

you’re right.

but in order to set a film in the 1950s, writers and film makers have to establish what the male lead character did during the war or risk it coming across like he didn’t, well, serve.  can’t have a shirker or a coward and rejected for medical reasons really doesn’t fly in the 1950s.  and there’s only so many times you can write about soldiers and sailors and airmen and the occasional spy before it starts to become stale.  and it doesn’t terribly fit with the fluffy writing because, well, war and death and tens of millions of people dead.  contemporary films more fall in the line of what we now call film noir.  men and women who have been damaged by war, but that’s another topic.

sooooo, you do period pieces.  no one wants to do the 1930s because that’s the great depression.  so 1920s.  frolicking and gay and fabulous!

(Great War, what Great War?)

but the thing is, the 1920s, especially in Paris and Berlin, were a massively transgressive, reversal, and experimental time period in art, fashion, society, and all over.  but only a little bit in america because honestly we were barely touched by wwi so it’s not like we’re partying to forget an entire generation of young men killed off and entire towns wiped off the face of the earth using weapons the likes of which had never been seen before.  the us as a whole mostly heard about sarin gas, not see it poison entire landscapes and men and animals dropped to the ground and die in truly horrific ways.

the europe that emerged from wwi was massively shell shocked, angry, and living in a surreal dream of everything being upwards and backwards and live now because tomorrow you may die and it’s all nonsense anyway.  it’s a world in which surrealism and dadaism and german expressionism make sense because fuck it all.

you get repudiation of the old, experimentation, deliberate reversals, transgressive behavior, and if there’s an envelope to push, you tear it open.  France calls the 1920s “Années folles”, the crazy years.

the things we’re doing now, with fluidity and experimentation and exploration of gender and sexuality and presentation?  the 1920s did that already.  it’s drag and androgyny and blatant homosexuality.  it’s extramarital affairs and sex before or without marriage, it’s rejection of marriage as an idea and an institution, it’s playing with gender and gender roles and working women and unrestrained art and

it’s everything the 1950s hated.  or more accurately: absolutely terrified of.  

the flappers of the 1920s went to college and cut their hair to repudiate a century of a woman’s hair being her crowning glory.  they wore obvious makeup and makeup in ways that are not terribly appealing now and weren’t terribly appealing then, but they signaled you were part of the tribe.

they were women who wanted independence and personal fulfillment.

“She was conscious that the things she did were the things she had always wanted to do.“

so the 1950s didn’t want that.  they wanted films with dancing and chorus lines and pretty girls to be looked at.  they wanted spaghetti straps and fringed dresses that moved pretty when the chorus girls danced.

1920s fringe doesn’t.  1920s fringe is made of silk, incredibly dense, incredibly heavy, sewn on individually by hand, and rather delicate.  the all-over fringe dress didn’t exist until the 1950s invention of nylon and continuous loops that could be sewn on in costume workshops by the mile on machines.

(this is before “vintage” exists.  to the 1950s, the 1920s (or earlier) wasn’t vintage, it was old-fashioned.  démodé.  out of style.  last last last last last season.)

1950s 1920s-set movies have clothes that are the 1950s take on it.  the dresses have a dropped waist, but they’re form-fitting, figure-revealing.  the actresses are pretty clearly wearing bras and 50s girdles under them a lot of the time.  they’re not

the woman on the far left is basically wearing a man’s suit with a skirt.  la garçonne.  some women went full-out and wore pants.  you could be arrested for that.  they were.  still wore pants.  and pyjama ensembles in silk and loud prints.

or class photo of ‘25

or even

not that 1920s dresses could be sexy or sexual; they often were.  i’ve seen 20s dresses that were basically sideless and held together with straps.  but it’s sort of like how the mini skirt went from being a thing of sexual liberation to an item of sexual objectification.

it’s ownership and it’s agency and it’s hard to put a name or finger on it, but you just know.  sex goddess versus sex icon.

[impossibletruths]

#wait sentinel aus are based on an actual show???#I thought they were just one of those inexplicable Fandom Things - im WHEEZING, i love this so much

never Once have I ever seen a reference to an actual extant intellectual property, it’s always “what if we had this super complicated codependent pseudo-magic sci-fi thing going on” and then just running with it OTL

[theroseandthebeast]

i do not have the spoons to FULLY get into it, as it demands, but the one with the military haircut (he’s a cop, a “protector”, c’est la vie) is Jim Ellison, former Army Ranger, repressed fool. curly haired bb is Blair Sandburg, an anthropology grad student who realizes Jim is a Sentinel of legend, latches onto him like a remora, and Jim basically leans on Blair like a crutch all the while pretending he doesn’t care for him in a very “I made you a friendship bracelet” “ugh gross” “well you don’t have to---” “shut up I’m gonna wear it” way

they were handsy 

HANDSY I SAY

they STARTED handsy 

they moved in together in like. ep one. 

they become partners in the cop sense, they do a lot of gift of the magi shit for each other, every time I start to think of the stupid shit they do for another I remember More Weird Shit, codependent fucking weirdos 

[drunktuesdays]

Okay, I absolutely MUST chime in For The Sentinel which NEVER gets the respect of its peers just because "the plots were a little convoluted" and the "central premise wore a little thin as the seasons went on." those men were in love. THOSE MEN WERE LOVERS!!!!!

What you need to know about The Sentinel is that the very first episode is about Jim Ellison acquiring mystical powers. YES I want to be clear, the way he acquires these powers is "problematical" and "not great, respecting indigenous cultures wise" but okay, so he's got these powers that make all of his senses amped up to dangeous levels. he can hear things no one else can hear, he can see things like he's fucking legolas, you get the deal.

so he goes to the doctor to be like "i feel weird" because of course, and Blair Sandberg, twink anthropologist to the stars, BREAKS SEVERAL LAWS to get in Jim's exam room and say—i know how to help you. i know what's wrong with you. i know how to make life better. and jim ellison looked at the little twink man and said yes....YES to love YES to life YES to living in a 1 bedroom LOFT apartment together. YES to being soulmates and life partners! YES I'LL MARRY YOU!!!!!!

This is the ORIGINAL big gruff german sheppard/lil yapping chihuahua pairing. And fandom looked at this show and said "this is good. i will build a kingdom upon this land. from now on, these are the two genders: big, angry, powerful, forced to their knees by circumstances beyond their control AND small, jokester, has skills INVALUABLE to Big, bad self worth. And then so the sentinel/guide aus RULED the pervert community, and everyone rejoiced.

And then SPN looked at this, and said "but what if the guides also had wet butts" and u kno what? innovation is CRUCIAL.

[crimsonclad]

my friend had Sentinel VHS tapes acquired from someone on the internet and basically every episode featured tough military man Jim being driven to his knees in agony verging on madness bc of his mystical senses being overwhelmed and tiny commie academic Blair soothing him and healing his agonies by touching him (and communicating with him via psychic leopards????) so they could save lives and the show wasn’t GOOD but my god it was something

[meret118]

It's also the little black dress of AUs for other fandoms - Mulder/Scully, Clark/Lex, Derek/Stiles. It goes with everything! :)

[fritokal]

So today I learned that The Sentinel was a show, and so what is the term for when you get un-Goncharoved?

I THOUGHT IT WAS A FANDOM TROPE LIKE OMEGAVERSE

[cesperanza]

God this was such an important fandom to me. My Sentinel friends are my family now, more than a quarter of a century later. Merryish, who first offered my fanfic a home* in —1997? 1998?—taught my kid to snorkel 20 years later. Flummery are my kid’s fairy godmothers. I basically married astolat 25 years ago. And every time I see one of you Sentinel people online (waves to a bunch of you who reblogged this) I feel like I’ve run into someone from the old country! That fandom literally changed my life.

But also, fannishly, so inventive! Some of the first vids I ever saw back before there were computers –VHS vids, wonderful ones. (Shout out to GloRo!) Great great fanfic and art. I still have gorgeous zines from this period. And the loft tape! Go to fanlore and look up the loft tape you guys!!

*before the AO3! When you needed someone to host your fic! This is part of why we built the AO3! So many (so many!!!) Sentinel people involved in building the AO3! Astolat built the Sentinel archive, 852 Prospect, a decade before the AO3, that was our first practice archive software. That software was adapted and used in other fandoms like due South. Seah and I were both DS archivists. This is all part of the story of how the AO3 came about. The sentinel/guide trope is the least of it. The Sentinel’s impact on fandom is totally outsized considering what a minor show it was. But it had a great concept that it did not fully exploit, which I think is in fact, what an amazing fandom needs.

[fanlore-wiki]

Yes, The Sentinel was a real show in the 1990s, and gave us one of the classic fandom tropes, please check out The Sentinel, Jim/Blair, and Sentinel AU pages on Fanlore!

[ba-sing-saying]

I just finished reading The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold yesterday and I can honestly say I’ve never read a book that felt like that.

It’s like a combination of the morbid fascination of watching a car crash in slow motion layered with the upbeat thrill of a heist movie plus politics intrigue and spy-movie style paranoia, all in a gigantic blizzard swirling around this one little guy. I didn’t know how I would be able to become attached to a character in this series after reading Shards of Honor and Barrayar, because I loved Cordelia so much as a protagonist, but Miles Vorkosigan did the job. Truly the character of all time.

He’s a strategic genius. He can figure out a solution to almost any problem. He’s in love with his childhood best friend and gets shut down repeatedly. He serves as the officiant at her impromptu wedding to a guy he saved through another random act of kindness, and plays out the roles of three different people in it like some kind of vaudeville comedy act. He makes people laugh. He inspires everyone around him to genuine loyalty and trust. He was playmates with the current emperor of his home planet when they were kids and is the heir of an aristocratic family. He refuses to get anything by nepotism and uses his mother’s maiden name when he meets people so they won’t know who he is. On a whim, he decides to help a random stranger and has to lie to do it. He commits to the bit so hard that he ends up faking his way into running a mercenary fleet whose existence was initially a complete lie and stopping a war he had nothing to do with. He has stomach ulcers from how stressed out he is. He refuses to break a promise, even when doing so would allow him to escape the web of lies he’s woven. His house of cards is always one gust of wind from toppling and he’s somehow able to keep it standing by sheer force of character. He will not stop because if he does he’ll have a nervous breakdown.

Genuinely the most fascinating and lovable combination of wet rat energy, goodest boy ever, and rogue with a heart of gold. No one is doing it like him. I’m going to read all seventeen books in this series or however many there are, and then everything else Lois McMaster Bujold has written.

[scp-1296]

"I can fix him," thinks girl who has only ever solved problems with fae magic and a tattoo gun (it works btw)

Lesbian discovers that having a massive woman try to murder you because of mind control is actually kind of a turn-on

Two men fail at honeypotting each other so badly that they accidentally adopt several cats together

Worlds most insane woman uses her malewife's alchemy tools to brew meth

[asinglebluefeline]

Family lore

(Yes, Dick was in full clown makeup and outfit when Tim found him in A Lonely Place of Dying.)

The New Titans (1988) #60

[bidet-of-evil]

really loved this shot of "Yan Zheng" in the first ep of Pursuit of Jade, so i painted it

[adobe-outdesign]

Pokemon but I gave them IRL common names

[makiruz]

"Oak's cat"

[baldbean]

This is such a fun idea

[theoldbone]

Great eared nightjar

[navoika]

this is a dragon

[after-the-raven-deactivated2022]

How is it possible for an animal to resemble a bird, a mammal, and a reptile simultaneously?

[rhube]

Those ARE great ears.

[daftpatience]

okay okay listen okay listen. i finished reading fugitive telemetry and i had to draw my favourite part SO BAD. skip this if u dont want kinda spoilers for that idk

[smoothandroid]

study of a screencap from Waltz

[pangur-and-grim]

it is so stupid and evil that you cannot romance the spider

[pangur-and-grim]

oh my god. oh my god, I just realized, I’m an author. I can just write a book where this is the love interest. holy shit.

[pangur-and-grim]

ONE YEAR LATER! The Ignoble Invasion of Prince Proculo is available for pre-order worldwide (links below)

US: Bookshop.org, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Rarewaves.com

UK: Waterstones, Forbidden Planet, Amazon.uk, Hatchards, Bookshop.org

Canada: Amazon, Rarewaves.com

Germany: KulturKaufhaus, Thalia

Luxembourg: Ernster

Poland: ritso.eu

France: Fnac

Denmark: William Dam Boghandel

Spain: Casa del Libro

Sweden: Adlibris

Switzerland: Orell Fussli

Lithuania: Knygos

South Korea: yes24

[pangur-and-grim]

the story behind this book is actually more complicated than this. because first, I watched a video essay on isekai narratives where the guy claimed that generic protagonists work best because people want to project and achieve max escapism. and I thought, that's really stupid. so I wrote a first chapter about a body-stealing alien space slug who gets hit by a truck and isekaid mid-way through invading the Canadian parliament, because I thought that was the most specific and least relatable isekai protagonist possible.

and then I was like fuck, my publisher is going to want a romance from me. who would the slug even kiss?? so I tucked the chapter away for a few months, until I went to reblog this old post of mine about how Kar'niss should've been romanceable, AND REALIZED! THE SOLUTION TO MY PROBLEM! of course, the slug would kiss the spider, it all makes so much sense!

after that, the writing got a bit frenzied. and now it's available in Barnes and Noble

[pangur-and-grim]