#hi dillin

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I was reading up on the prompts for the UC Celebration next week and the prompt go Day One (Favourite Arc/Roll for AU) did get my mind percolating on something which I find deeply amusing:

Arc 11 Off the Rails: Coffeeshop AU

Does this count as an AU? Yes but like only *barely* and that’s what makes it so funny to me.

Some highlights of this concept that make me smile:

- They work at Albion Coffee Roasters. It’s just ✨Fantasy Starbucks✨ including shitty union busting tactics. This is still fantasy world with magic but also with like… cars and cell phones and shit.

- Foq is (obviously) not an employee. He is a trust fund baby who makes everyone else’s life difficult in the best possible way, as usual. Still always dressed in something fabulous but incredibly over the top. Pretends to be a college student, no one believes him.

- Suds was fired for tinkering with the various coffee machines. He was trying to make them better, and probably succeeded but like… it’s a shitty corporation.

- Piper is a harried appliance repair tech because I love her.

- Chet is an employee but no one is actually sure what his job title is because he never seems to do anything that an employee would be required to do. Yes, I know this is not particularly different from the arc. It is just Who Chet Is

- Rian and Atelut are exactly the same in every way as they were in the arc because working as a bartender and middle manager on a train owned by an evil corporation is essentially the same as working as a barista and middle manager in a coffeeshop owned by for an evil corporation. Probably fewer demons and plane shifting at the coffee shop tho. But not like… none.

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I did it!

Happy UC Celebration Week! I finished a little bit of fic... I hope y'all enjoy me being shamelessly indulgent over my favourite ship.

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

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Ive been listening to selected arcs of Unprepared Casters with my 12 year old and it’s been fun time. We’re listen to Arc 11 Off the Rails right now and again I am simply overwhelmed by how I love the Train Gang so goddamn much. They are my little darlings and I love them.

Also, on the ré-listen I do catch things that I didn’t necessarily notice the first time, or things that feel so much more significant now that I know the ending. That’s one of the things I love about revisiting different books, movies, podcasts, etc.

Today I am appreciating Atelut and their character development over the arc. Dillin just did such a fantastic job with her. We’re on episode 3 and just listened to the bit where Atelut, Rian, and Chet are having a bit of a team cementing and Chet and Rian are quite bluntly being like « we are so fucked, this is bad, Albion is going to kill us, the boss called you that means things are going to be so bad. » (They have absolutely correctly assessed the situation.) And Atelut is just absolutely fucking cruising down the river of denial. And then Rian asks her if she’s happy.

And the thing that stands out in their response is that she says « I’m successful » not « yes » and in fact weasels their way very hard around to avoid admitting that she is extremely unhappy. Because she is, it’s glaringly obvious.

But by the end of the arc (and also the follow up three shot), it’s clear that Atelut has reached a point where she actually is happy, at least most of the time. Obviously shit still happens because that is life, especially in a story, but there’s clearly been a change in their attitude.

My kids interrupted me while I was drafting this post so I sort of lost exactly what I was trying to say but to summarize: I love the difference between Beginning-of-Arc!Atelut whose devotion to the train and the company is slowly killing her, and End-of-Arc!Atelut whose devotion is bringing her new life and new purpose and joy. I love it so much.