rlyqueer

sunday snippet

2020-03-30T03:09:00Z

Writing is still a struggle, but I'm still trying, so that counts for something! Work has slowed down (briefly), but I've been pretty busy these last few days. My poor dog Wally had a scary bout of mysterious allergies, and it got so bad at one point that I searched for the nearest animal hospital ready to jump in the car. But somehow, I got it under control—or I just got very lucky—and he finally started recovering yesterday. We got our first full night of sleep last night in a small while, and he's fully recovered today thank goodness.

It resulted in me doing a ton of laundry, because I wasn't sure if something got something contaminated and so everything went into the wash. I'm still sore because the laundry room is on the fourth floor, and I live on the first lol. But we got through it and now everything is fresh and clean, and I also baked banana muffins from scratch which was a nice and grounding exercise. Here's the recipe if anyone is interested. They're super delicious.

Meanwhile today, I painted my nails and got some rewrites done on a few things that just weren't working. I'm feeling a lot better about two of my WIPs and hope to finish them soon! So here's a fresh little snippet from Telling Tails:

Ignoring him, Zhu Hong takes her chopsticks in hand and delicately plucks a thin slice of raw beef from the ochre-glazed plate that sits in front of her. “You owe me for hearing you out while you’re drinking my booze,” she says, and looks him in the eye while taking a generous bite.

It’s cute, and Zhao Yunlan hides his smile by picking up his drink to finish it off. “Of course, I intend to repay you for your wonderful hospitality!” he chirps after smacking his lips and setting down his cup. When he reaches for the bottle again, Zhu Hong moves to snatch it from him with a fierce glare, but he bats her hand away and refills her cup before setting it back down.

“Really, Hong-jie,” he chides, “Trust in your old boss a little more. Dinner’s on me next time, I promise!”

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it's a wild update!

2020-03-26T23:04:48Z

Guardian
2016 Zhu Yilong livestream has been subbed! (Edit: Mislabeled this as hotpot, but he's eating a different meal.)
A nice, soothing message from Zhu Yilong
520 Day Reverse Guardian Exchange—Signups end tomorrow, March 27th at 11:59pm UTC. (What time is that for me?) I don't think I'll be able to commit to this as much as I really want to, but I wanted to signal boost!

How do I name a character with a Chinese name?
I haven't published any of my WIPs that have original characters, but I've been pretty lazy on my naming conventions and have realized that due to the nature of the beast, I cannot be lazy lol. I need to go back and rename some characters, but I've got my process down now if anyone is interested! Helpful resources to start you off on the naming convention journey:

How to Choose a Chinese Name—An overview of the naming conventions.

Difference Between Male and Female Names—While I find gendering names annoying, this is a good article that explains the convention and also helpfully notes that gender-neutral names are gaining popularity. Guardian takes place in a fantasy world, so I'm interpreting this as basically do what you want with or without gendering.

List of 100 Most Common Chinese Surnames—Just as the tin says! Includes characters, pinyin variations, and meaning.

Pleco app—This Chinese dictionary came highly recommended from several members of the Guardian Discord crew and I can attest to that now. It's a fantastic resource that lets you switch between English and Chinese, switch between characters and pinyin searches, and shows characters, pinyin, and comprehensive definitions on a dictionary search. Very helpful when putting together names.

Feel free to add any other resources!

Astrology
This is a solid zodiac natal chart and it gives you tons of info on all your aspects if that's your kinda gig (sun, moon, ascendent, planets, houses, etc.) This resource will tell you the difference between your sun, moon, and ascendent signs.

Personal Update
slurps milk tea I splurged on boba and Korean takeout, since I got an UberEats gift card for my birthday—~~too bad it didn't work and I have to figure out why on my next order LOL.~~ I'm always happy to support one of my fave local places in these weird times, though. (Edit: I figured out the app and the discount was applied after checkout, even though it didn't appear on any of the digital or hard copy receipts. 😂)

On another note, I've started my annual TNG rewatch! It's incredibly soothing with all the stress and uncertainty lately (as usual, I just skip over the Unfortunate Episodes and ignore the yikesy aspects). My ringtone has been a Star Trek theme medley of all the themes and has been for a couple years, and now whenever my phone rings while I'm watching the show, I get a little tickled. :D

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rainy day

2020-03-20T03:42:32Z

Just Little COVID-19 Things
Starting tomorrow, LA county is officially in "Safer at Home" mode, which is basically a soft lockdown. That's a good thing.

( Read more... )

Birthday Celebrations On Hold
A lot of people are dealing with big plan disruptions, but I procrastinated my birthday planning so I don't actually have anything to cancel on Wednesday.

( Read more... )

Car Troubles & Bad Ghosts
Months ago, someone came into the neighborhood and keyed a bunch of cars—mine included, on both sides of my windshield.

( Read more... )

Wri...Words...Writing Words is How?
I wish I was having an easier time getting back into my groove. Still experiencing troubles in this department. I've done a bit here, done a bit there, and I did fix a plot hole after at least a week of brainstorming (AKA head scratching).

( Read more... )

Adding to List of Good Things

Music—
Perfect tunes to start your morning with (cafe mix with jazz/bossa nova)
1-hour chillzone mix (chillhop/jazzhop)
Fly Me to the Moon but it's playing in a different room and it's raining

Binging—
The Great Pottery Throw Down, all the charm of Bake Off but with pottery instead of food
Portrait Artist of the Year 2020, where painters are challenged to paint a portrait in 4 hours with beautiful process shots and gorgeous results
The TRY Channel, just Irish people trying various things and being hilarious—I highly recommend any of the alcohol tries, but the Moonshine tries are my absolute favorite (bonus booze tries from their old channel)
Henry the PaleoGuy, who goes pretty in-depth about his paleontological topics

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some soft in these trying times

2020-03-16T17:05:34Z

Other people are posting some fantastic resources and distracting content, so I just wanted to slide in with a couple minor contributions of my own.

Don't forget to groom!
If you're practicing social distancing, self-isolating, and/or self-quarantining, try to maintain a grooming and self-care routine. This especially goes for if you aren't feeling well or if you're sick, like I was last week. My mental health took a dive when I let my grooming routine fall by the wayside, then bounced right back when I remembered to pick it up again. It doesn't matter if no one else is going to see you—keep doing the things that make you feel good and taken care of.

Some nice distractions.
Currently binging Junior Bake Off, and it's very charming! That's a playlist of the most recent season, which I started this weekend, and here's a larger playlist of the other seasons.

If you like soothing games, I'm plugging Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. You don't need a gaming device for it, just a smartphone—which was the big draw for me! I've been playing for almost a year now, and it's the perfect blend of constant new events and repetitive gameplay that keeps me engaged while letting my brain take a break. A solid distraction, and great for when I'm feeling fidgety.

And here are some of my favorite channels on YouTube:

Bon Appetit, starting with Gourmet Makes and It's Alive but most of the shows are solid.
PBS Eons, for those interested in the history of life on earth. Informative channel for the prehistory nerds.
Journey Through the Microcosms, a channel about micro-life. Soothing with stunning visuals.
TierZoo, a hilarious gameplay take on zoology.
OverSimplified, explaining historical events with amusing narrative and animation.
HidaMari Cooking, an ASMR channel with no talking and no music, just baking.
The Corridor Crew, particularly VFX Artists React.

I'm on Discord!
This is something I've been meaning to post for a long time, but I almost always have Discord open on my phone. I'd love to chat and get to know you better, fandom friends! You can add me at arie#8997 or drop me your handle. ❤️

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sunday snippet

2020-03-09T00:46:34Z

Been busy lately, and unfocused! But I finally circled back to my canon-divergent fix-it project this week, which means I have some very new and unedited morsels.

Naming the project has been a struggle! But I also have a working title now, so here's a snippet from Second Chances.

“You would abandon your men?” Kunlun shouts, striking at him weakly, boots dragging as he tries to twist in Shen Wei’s grip.

But Shen Wei doesn’t bother answering him, just tightens his hold as they stumble around corpses—more important to focus on the path ahead and the weight in his hands, the shadow-flicker of combat around them and the threat of earth-churned mud pulling at their feet.

“Shen Wei!” screams Kunlun, and breaks off into a fit of wet coughing that nearly unbalances them both.

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stars & moon, sword & onyx

2020-02-23T01:55:19Z

Ya boy's been having a weird time. My workload said "nah" when I asked it if I could finish my spicy fic, then I stumbled through a 2-month death anniversary midweek, ended up getting three new piercings, got stared at by a kiddo who was probably wondering why I looked like I was about to cry face-first into a bowl of fresh ramen, and finally grabbed a nice Saturday brunch with the gang.

I tried to put pressure on myself by saying I'd finish the spicy fic on Tuesday (my busiest day?!) because I am a fool. Naturally it backfired, so I've been avoiding DW and AO3 even though I know that no one else cares about that other than me. Oops! Lesson learned.

These piercings though... I've only had my single lobe piercings, and for years I've been wanting to deck my ears out. So I decided to treat myself to two new lobe piercings and a conch. I'll get more once these heal, but I really like them!

( Queer game level-up: )

( And a bonus selfie: )

Anywho. I want to get back to writing, so I'm taking my foot off the YOU SHOULD gas pedal which has been totally crushing my vibes. And we'll see where that gets me! I'm also uhh still behind with comments/replies...but. I'm trying to stay chill about it and just respond as I can. Blanket apology to basically everyone! 💦

And I know I'm doin' my best, I just wish my best was better sometimes. But I'll get there.

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cry emoji

2020-02-18T05:07:12Z

It's officially a minute past the Pornday deadline and I'm so sad I couldn't make it in time! My contribution is very much almost done, and I'll post it tomorrow once it's properly finished.

I'm still really happy that the deadline spurred me on, though! I got more writing done in two days than I have in two weeks, so it still feels like a big win for me.

And I can't wait to read everyone's contributions heheh!

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i like deadlines

2020-02-16T21:06:48Z

I've gotten soft in my bid to recoup from my Sundial Exchange (self-imposed) crunch and haven't really found my writing groove. Been working on WIPs very little on-and-off—and while that's still very much working and I'm stoked I haven't altogether fallen off the wagon—I was just thinking about how good deadlines actually are for my productivity...

And then glymr posted today about pornday and I was like oh?? WELL THEN.

So the rest of today is being dedicated to finishing at least one of my saucy WIPs to post in time for the 36-hour deadline. A few hours have passed since, but my goal is to finish something by tonight because lately my weekdays have been bananas.

I've brewed some coffee and put on my fucking playlist, so I'm ready. cracks knuckles

Also I'm giddy with excitement to see what everyone contributes to this thing. WHEW.

EDIT: Added link to the fucking playlist!

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sunday snippet

2020-02-10T05:40:58Z

I've enjoyed a nice and relaxing weekend! Even got some writing done.

Here's a (very) fresh snippet from Telling Tails:

“It’s suspicious,” Zhao Yunlan grunts as he slams his cup down on the table, liquor sloshing over the rim to wet his fingertips. “So damn suspicious!”

Zhu Hong scowls and sets her own cup down, sweeping a stray leaf off the table's lacquered surface with an irritated click of her tongue. “And why did you come all the way here to complain to me about it?”

“Because you’re the most perceptive of the bunch, obviously,” Zhao Yunlan says, impatient. “Even if you’re only with us part-time now, I can still count on you to give me your valued feedback, can’t I? One leader to another?”

“I don’t get in the middle of lovers’ quarrels,” Zhu Hong says flatly.

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sunday snippet

2020-02-03T01:11:30Z

Pain and fatigue are slowing me down, but sometimes you just gotta sit and force yourself to churn something out to re-establish some flow. And I'd very much like to, so that's what I'm doing! 💪

Here's a snippet from Telling Tails:

Zhao Yunlan’s appreciative hum cuts through his thoughts like a warm, welcome blade. “You should wear it more often,” he says with a wide smile, all soft at the edges.

Looking up, Shen Wei wets his dry lips and says, “I—Ah—Thank you.” He swallows, and promptly side-steps Zhao Yunlan to get started on something quick for breakfast. But he’s stopped by an arm hooking around his waist, and he is very careful not to freeze, not to stiffen unnaturally, but to simply adjust himself so that Zhao Yunlan’s touch slides ever so slightly up and out of danger.

He turns with a fond smile and says wryly, “I thought we were going to be late?”

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migraines & bloody noses

2020-01-31T05:49:19Z

I've been struggling lately with more frequent migraines and a gnarly toothache, but the abysmal root canal I got today hopefully takes care of that. Ohhh it was a rough one, y'all. I'll spare on the details, except for the fact that my dentist was working so close to my sinus cavity that he nicked it a little. So, bit of blood in my nose. It's still showing up when I blow into a tissue, but hopefully that heals up quickly.

Besides the stress of financial strains, I'm also bummed that I have to go back next week! There was too much blood to finish the RC today, so I'll be back in the chair to finish that up next week. :'(

Anyway, enough of that. Now that Sundial Exchange is over, I really want to get back into my WIPs! ...But. It's been hard? Is exchange fatigue a thing?? I guess it hasn't even been a full week, so I probably just need to let myself chill lol. But I'm itchyyy.

I'd love to finish Telling Tails since it's a short fun thing, then return to working on my still-unnamed series—which is now ready for more brainstorming after some feedback from my beta. Hopefully my writerly brain reboots soon.

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Sundial Exchange & New Year

2020-01-25T16:23:15Z

Happy Lunar New Year, everyone! I hope you all enjoy the festivities and that this year is a fantastic one for you.

I'm really excited and proud to have participated in my first ever exchange this year at sundial_exchange. The collection has been revealed here and it's full of goodness! Everyone worked so hard and all these gifts are amazing. A big thank you to the outstanding mods for organizing this gorgeous Guardian exchange and making it happen!!

Borrowing frith_in_thorns's share format, because it's super tidy—

tsubame_17 made me a stunning paper doll gift and included the craft blueprints:

Time engraver paper doll (art)
Fandom: L'Oreal "Time Engraver" Commercial
Tags: Fanart, Paperwork, Paper Doll, Paper Child, Paper Craft, Chibi, Graphig
Summary: Paper doll cut out.

And I contributed two works, both for the lovely clevermanka:

A Paradise in Snow (moodboard+poem, 56 words)
Fandom: Thermos "Magic Cottage" Commercial
Tags: Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong Character Combinations, Moodboard, Snow, Magic, Kissing, Poetry
Summary: Above hangs a pallid sky, an unremarkable reflection of the pallid earth below. But closed doors don’t open themselves, and boots on thresholds are more divine than any prayer. Within a breath is a halo of green—life begins again in the petals that catch between his eyelashes, that smiling mouth, a chorus singing. Home, home, home.

No Matter How Long (fic, 7192 words)
Fandoms: L'Oreal "Time Engraver" Commercial, 镇魂 | Guardian (TV)
Tags: Alternate Universe, Gods, Amnesia, Smoking, Accidental Alcohol Consumption, Dancing, Romance, Happy Ending, Bai Yu/Zhu Yilong Character Combinations
Summary: How many has it been again? Time isn’t sure—as much as he tries with his clocks and his calendars and his notebooks, keeping count of things has always been a struggle. It’s such a human disposition, as inconsequential to him as it is significant to them. But he knows, with certainty, that there have been many so far.

Enough to capture his attention, anyhow.

I'm extremely proud of my contributions, as they mark the first moodboard I've ever made (is that wild for a web designer?) and my now-longest fic completed & posted. I was super inspired and taken by clevermanka's prompts! And shoutout to glymr, who introduced me to The Time Engraver with her wonderful fic Time Enough, which definitely inspired me to write for the fandom some day. And now I have!!

I won't say it wasn't difficult getting these both done in time for the reveal, but it's also incredibly gratifying and I did exactly what I set out to do.

It's party time!!

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triumph

2020-01-25T11:57:00Z

After guzzling coffee into the wee hours of the morning, I'VE DONE IT.

My Sundial Exchange treat has been posted, and I'm so happy ahhh—! It ended up being over 7k, which now makes it my longest complete & posted work to date.

As a treat, I know that I could've taken more time with it, but my BIG goal was to get it up in time for today's reveal. And I actually did it! I'm so proud!!

glances excitedly at my giftee

The real partying will probably start once the wonderful amazing brilliant mods accept it to the collection, anddd after a sleep. Now that I've finished, I'm going to leave all of the fantastic gifts for tomorrow, an exciting reward for my own little victory lap. For now, I go, to pass out among many a soft pillow and comfy blanket.

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faces & paces

2020-01-22T02:03:56Z

Every Tuesday morning, I go to a business networking meeting—which means that I've been up since 5am! But it also means that I'm all done up, which is otherwise infrequent because I work from home and I'm kind of a hermit.

Suffice to say that I was really feeling myself today, so I snapped my first selfie of 2020.

( Selfie time )

On another note, I'm feeling a little delirious at this point but my Sundial Exchange treat is singing that siren call. Things might get weird tonight but you can bet I'm going to ride this wave into Writing Town.

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accomplishments

2020-01-19T17:11:00Z

Watching the works count tick up yesterday on the Sundial collection was very exciting! Mine is in there somewhere, which I'm super jazzed about as my first exchange participation, and I'm also working on a treat!

I'm trying to be proud of myself for doing this much in spite of all the recent hardships. When I list everything out, it's pretty unbelievable actually. It's been a period that if I summarized it all to someone, it would sound more like the sad intro to a mediocre movie instead of a person's real actual life.

It's pretty clear that I'm being kicked in the pants to put the focus on me for a while—I'm figuring myself out and adapting to some big changes.

I'm also digging back into my projects, and first to finish is definitely this exchange treat. I think I'm about halfway through, and the creative juices are flowing (knock on wood!), so my goal is to get it submitted by midweek and have a couple days for final edits. I'm on a mission today to dive in as deep as possible and get as much done as I can before the work week starts tomorrow!

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sunday snippet

2020-01-06T01:21:45Z

Getting back into the swing of things, with determination! Happy New Year, friends.

I'm so relieved 2019 is over. It ended with a bang, spent in the hospital with my brother after he had a skydiving accident. But he's doing fine now and he's on the mend—got him discharged on NYE, and I welcomed the new year with him and friends at a much-needed party (well partially with him, then partying while he rested in another room ofc).

Returning to work has been pretty odd, but the feeling is mutual with my whole team, and clients have been slow too. Things will probably pick up starting tomorrow, which is a good thing because I indulged a LOT during my vacation (very necessary, no regrets) and I'm ready to start making that cash money again lol.

I'm mainly working on my Sundial Exchange piece, but in the meantime I can share a snippet from a massively indulgent WIP.

Ash to Dust to Starlight

A loud knock on the door startles him from his thoughts and he freezes, eyes wet and breath short.

“Professor Shen?” asks a woman's voice, and oh, it’s Ya Qing. At least she hasn’t just barged right into the men’s facilities—something that wouldn’t have surprised him even if she had.

“—still in there? Shen Wei?”

He’s missed something, and there’s a shadow of uncertainty in Ya Qing’s usually-confident voice. Perhaps his escape from the group hadn’t gone as unnoticed as he’d planned. Shen Wei doesn’t know how long he’s been in here.

“I’m fine,” he manages to squeeze out of his throat. “I’ll just be another minute.” He can’t let them see him like this, not when he’d made it through the funeral without once losing his composure. Not when he'd sat poised and blank through the long vigil as he held onto the picture frame with numb, white knuckles. Not when he'd ushered their friends into venue after venue for the wake, his smile forced and his stomach churning.

A part of him thinks he can’t do it anymore, but Shen Wei knows that he has to hold on. He just has to make it through the rest of the wake, and this is their final stop.

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sunday snippet & exchange hype!

2019-12-15T19:16:18Z

There's so much going on today and I'm stoked!

Been working on a multi-part story and this morning, my beta sent back Part 1's second pass. It's basically done! I've already gone through with my edits, and now I'm getting back into brainstorming mode. Part 2's outline is underway, and the overall story still needs a name, too. I'm not sure how I'll work out the posting schedule, but things are moving forward!

I have a few other projects in the works that keep me busy and focused on writing (one story at a time just doesn't hold my interest, I definitely need to jump between a few at a time). The first is a one-shot that I actually started well before Part 1 of the Thing, but it got sidelined when Baby Thing grew into Monster Thing. I'm finally making headway on that again, plus I'm having fun with a silly fluff piece on the side!

sundial_exchange assignments have been sent out! I'm super excited about mine and I can't wait to start.

In the meantime, here's a snippet from the fluff piece, Telling Tails.

“You’re wearing that to class?” Zhao Yunlan asks when he looks up, eyebrows climbing up toward his hairline.

Shen Wei glances down at himself. Then back up. “I felt like it,” he says.

Admittedly, it’s more traditional than what he usually wears to work. However, it’s also loose and comfortable and perhaps most importantly, it keeps certain things discreetly hidden away. Certain things that would be very difficult to explain to bright-eyed Haixing undergrads and keen, meddlesome police chiefs.

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last-minute as usual

2019-12-14T04:52:31Z

Life has been uhh BANANAS lately and kinda in the worst way, but writing has been keeping me sane.

I'm really excited to have just sent off my down-to-the-wire sundial_exchange submission, glad I could squeak through by the skin of my teeth! This will be my first exchange and I'm totally stoked about about it.

Looking forward to all the incredible, diverse works that are going to come out of this! And the community excitement is so infectious. :D Can't wait!

A Chinese New Year multi-fanwork exchange at sundial_exchange. For Guardian and Guardian-related canons.

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traitorous muses / snippet

2019-12-08T19:46:19Z

I thought I could go in on a simple flashfic prompt and produce a little something nice, but nahh. Two months later and I'm still trying to finish up the first part of something that's turned into a complete BEAST.

The rest of it needs plenty of brainstorming and outlining, but I've finally accepted what this fic wants to be. cries This is baptism by fire and I am full of fear, but there's really nothing to do but forge stubbornly ahead at this point!

Today's frustration is the copious amounts of head-scratching I had to do before rewriting part one's conclusion. How do people end fics? This is wild, man. It's done, though, so one holistic read-through to go before I send it off for its second beta round.

Don't know when it'll start getting posted (nothing else has even been outlined, let alone drafted!! ahh!!!), but I wanted to share a snippet:

“Zhao Yunlan?” Shen Wei tries to keep the uncertain waver out of his voice.

When Zhao Yunlan straightens up again, he smiles at Shen Wei, but it isn’t... It doesn’t reach his eyes, and the way he bares his teeth looks more like a snarl. “It’s good to see you awake!” he says with false cheer. “You really gave us a scare. How are you feeling?”

How is he...?

Shen Wei stares, and Zhao Yunlan tilts his head, sliding his hands into his pockets. It’d look casual if Shen Wei didn’t know better. “I—Zhao Yunlan, what’s going on?”

Something flashes across Zhao Yunlan’s face, but it disappears so quickly behind that sharp gaze that Shen Wei isn't sure he’s seen anything at all. Zhao Yunlan shifts his weight onto one foot and asks, “What do you remember?”

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a whole new world

2019-12-03T03:12:32Z

Dreamwidth is obviously such a simple platform, yet I'm mystified! This is what I get for missing out on the earlier journal-type platforms. But I'm hoping an old dog can learn new tricks, because there are tons of cool people on here.

So hi, I'm new! A transplant from mainly Tumblr, then Twitter, then a social media no-zone until I stumbled onto a certain fandom and catapulted myself head-first into the world of fic writing. With no water-wings! What am I doing! Ahh! Which is how I ended up here for the first time, sniffing around like a half-drowned rat and going, "Dang, there are awesome people here, it'd be silly to engage without an actual account."

And here I am!

But I am also here:

AO3 for writing
Twitter for art
Discord for chat (hmu on pm for this one!)

Current fandom: 镇魂 | Guardian

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