#lightdescending

[lilolilyr]

Creator's wrap 2020

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2020. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

Wow, time to do this one before it's not 2020 anymore!

I was tagged by @lightdescending, @banashee, and I think a few others, completely lost the overview with all the tagging memes I've got saved and still haven't done xD

5. Alright I couldn't possibly decide because they are so similar, but my Andy Regains Immortality stories are all vry close to my heart. Cling To Life, No Longer Drowning, Life Leans Our Way... oh and of course If We Go, We Go Together, my Andromaquynh Vampire AU that's still a WIP, I'm really proud of how I worked Vampire lore into TOG canon here!

4. Inevitable Beginnings (Milippa), I've only just gotten into the fandom thid past month or so and have written comparatively much and coherent content for it already xD

3. The 3d finished Podfic to @aeternumregina's sweet Harry Potter AU Leo Inter Serpentes!!! These were fun to do, and I think I've really improved my podfic game lately :)

2. My photo stories for Andromaquynh and Milippa, specifically this one as I actually made some nice photo edits for it! I never really made photostories like this before the Old Guard fandom and specifically @justqueeerious got me into it!

1. In Your Stead, no question about it! This beautiful fic took quite some work and I absolutely love how it turned out! Also thanks @jackwolfskid for the lovely illustrations and @thidwicktails @prose-n-scripts for letting me use your art! And to everyone who commented on the fic!!! You guys are the best and really kept me going <3

Tagging who I've already tagged above as well as @cookie-sheet-toboggan @cryhardanddanceharder @alessandramortt @daniwouldnever @nomi--sunrider @onaperduamedee @miss-nixy @bookerandy x @loved-the-stars-too-fondly @unstatedmartini @nicky-olives @mariapurt @kayivy x & everyone else who sees this and wants to have a go :)

[imetyouonljpodcast]

Awkwardly messaging on anon with my fandom sideblog username! I LOVED "Better Together"; it was such a great listen, and I really love that you complement one another's writing styles. It reminded me very powerfully of some of my closest friendships too! I actually met the person who'd become my wife through fandom - they and I bonded over shared analysis of each other's fanworks and are still each other's primary beta-readers. (lightdescending, 1/?)

@lightdescending ✨

Awkwardly messaging on anon with my fandom sideblog username! I LOVED "Better Together"; it was such a great listen, and I really love that you complement one another's writing styles. It reminded me very powerfully of some of my closest friendships too! I actually met the person who'd become my wife through fandom - they and I bonded over shared analysis of each other's fanworks and are still each other's primary beta-readers. 

But it also makes me think about how some of my closest / most intimate fandom friendships are with people who I only have one fandom in common (or none!). I have one friend who commented on some of my fics with an essay that made me realize she was picking up on everything I was trying to do and appreciated it - it was a very experimental, niche femslash pairing in a larger fandom - but I don't overlap with her fandoms at all. We became friends because we love analysis and kind of a more academic approach to fandoms? 

I also have another fandom friend who just turned 50 and is REALLY well-known in some fandom circles, but we became friends because of another femslash fandom. She and a 3rd person and I became really close friends and have a discord with "beta-read" in the title, because we vibe with each other's style and trust the feedback we'll get (on top of having lots of common ground in other ways). 

We also vibe-check each other in very compassionate, useful ways - each of us has different concerns about trends in fandom and online spaces wrt community standards, dealing with drama, and so on - and so since we trust each other we know that we can vent, feel heard and respected, BUT also be challenged in useful ways to consider other viewpoints? And it's so cool what you said in your episode about finding someone who's a better writer than you because when I think about my closest fandom friendships, whether we share fandoms or not, whether we have a primarily one-way or reciprocal reading/writing relationship, there's a LOT of intimacy AND we also often recognize each other's strengths while helping each other grow with things that we want to grow on. 

Anyways, sorry for this rambly kind of essay - I just loved what you shared in your episode SO MUCH and it made me feel very seen / reflective / fond of the cool, incredible, talented people in my life. Another new fandom friend of mine called it a virtuous cycle, which I love? When you're hyping or helping someone you care about in their own writing goals, and encouraging or celebrating what they've made, and they're in turn helping you grow the ways you need and solve the writing problems you have, and then it's a positive feedback loop of awesome. Again, this was great and it gave me the warm fuzzies! 

MAGGIE AND V: We keep hearing about people getting married who met in fandom, and we ship every single one of them! Never apologize for a rambly essay, we love it. The term "virtuous cycle" is great and we might have to steal it from you and your friend. We're so glad that the episode made you feel seen -- that was totally our intention and thank you so much for reaching out. 🥰

[imetyouonljpodcast]

I LOVED episode 30 and now I can't wait to hear about the Matrix fandom - I'm so jazzed!! - and also? Now I feel the need to watch the Eagle which I haven't seen yet? But also, thank you a million times for talking through these thorny and frequently contentious issues with so much nuance, esp. re: the Old Guard. This was a really refreshing episode to putter around the house / do quilting to. Cheers to you both. - lightdescending

Thank you! We try to acknowledge that fandom is made of people, and that means that sometimes you can’t just turn your brain off and watch beautiful people, huge (even though that’s a lot of fun). The Old Guard brings a lot of great things to the table and the fandom does a lot of great things, too, but it definitely has a canon that requires introspection and questioning.

And V had a good time seeing The Eagle for the first time for the episode, so do recommend! We’re sorry this took a little while to answer -- hope you enjoyed Going To The Matrix!

[imetyouonljpodcast]

I loved, loved, /loved/ your most recent episode on Ex Machina and Zenon (even though my wife has seen Zenon, and I somehow never did!). I also really appreciated hearing both of you talk about identity-building and identity maintenance so candidly. Your podcast has been keeping me good company in recent weeks so thank you both for creating it! -lightdescending

@lightdescending

MAGGIE: Thank you so much! We were so excited to release that episode and it was a lot of fun to record. We’ve had Supernova Girl stuck in our heads for the last month. And man, identity is TOUGH right now when we're all in sweatpants and speaking to no one. Good company is absolutely the intent and we're so glad that you're enjoying the podcast! 🥰💖✨

V: This ask makes me think of that Amy Adams gif with the fingers and the cheeks! Even though it's definitely tough right now to feel like there's opportunities to build identity, it's been really helpful for me to have this podcast (and fandom) as a reminder that COVID-19 hasn't actually put our identities, or our personhood, or whatever, on hold. We're all still fully realized people, even in this Difficult Time(TM), and building an identity is something that is constant, even when you can only do it on videochat or through fanfiction. This ask really means a lot! 

[aimmyarrowshigh]

Is anyone in contact with @lightdescending? Are they okay?

[scorchedhearth]

@lightdescending asked: Also can I please get an angsty headcanon for Andy (solo)

sure! here's one about young andy

the first time andy felt totally helpless was watching her mother grow old, and die in front of her eyes. that's the first time she felt the weight of time and of her ability, and the first time she felt alone despite standing in the midst of her people

Come get your angsty headcanons

[scorchedhearth]

@lightdescending asked:

Cardinal, carmine, and pomegranate if you like!

cardinal: what is the first song that made you cry?

breaking the habits - linkin park, still remember beind curled up behind my room's door with my earburds in

carmine: do you prefer having or not having a schedule?

So it's this weird blend of yes I need a schedule but not too much of schedule. Because of reasons I am now allergic to any strict regime that must be followed at all cost and dictates your life to the minute but I also need somewhat of a set frame to function, so it's both don't tell me what to do but also this vague routine that I set up and try to follow to be productive, not at the hour but more in a "you need to do this then this when you wake up and that at night" way

pomegranate: favourite and least favourite fruits?

Fav fruit has to be either nectarine and mandarine (and its sisters tangerine and clementine) because they both taste like my childhood and holiday. Least favorite is pear because I cannot handle the texture in my mouth, it's too weird.

Shade of red asks

[theflesheatingreadingbacterium]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Welcome to Night Vale Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer Characters: Carlos (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil (Welcome to Night Vale), Cecil Palmer Additional Tags: Chronic Illness, Massage, Erotica, Physics, theories of time and space, Post-Episode: e029 Subway, Questions about the afterlife, Fluff, Intimacy Summary:

It is theorized that from a perspective external to our present universe, time occurs simultaneously at all points; it has no linear structure, no sequence. It simply is. “Keep me here.” Cecil whispers into Carlos, murmurs soft into the creased point where jaw and earlobe and neck and skull meet.

Spoiler level: Vague spoilers through 38 - Orange Grove (related to the relationship progression)

Reccer's notes: One of my absolute favorite things is scientific concepts interpreted in a way that brings comfort, or meaning, or feeling, and this fic is absolutely chock-full of that. I also love fic dealing with the realities of what's implied by Cecil's Lyme disease. This is such a sweet hopeful look at, in one sense, a single evening; and in another sense, the whole of the universe.