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Word Forge

@steelblaidd / steelblaidd.tumblr.com

Post place for my stories. Engineer, Author, Latter-day Saint
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Fan Fiction Year in Review

My Friend @kasienda tagged me in her Year in Review and inspired me to take stock.

1 List of fics completed this year in the order they were finished:

None of my multi chapters finished this last year but I had a bunch of one shots. 

I Never Knew Me a Better Time: Nino figures out how to let Adrien jam with the band, even when he cant get out of the house.

Just One Person: Adrien talking to Chloe about how she treats others.

These final hours: Adrigami breakup

Flash of Insight: Alya’s PoV of the last five seconds of Gang of Secrets

Something There That Wasn't There Before: Nino PoV of post-reveal, post-relationship Adrientte.

Would You Dance If I Asked You to Dance: Adrigami Royalty AU Masked Ball

Waiting for Morning: My serious angst fic for the year. Adrien and Marinette grieve the loss of a child to cancer.

The  Eyes Have It: Published in the Miraculous Fanworks Discord Sever Zine 

Small Moments at The Biggest Wedding: my contribution to the @alwaysandforeverzine being an interview with Rena Rouge and Carapace at the LadyNoir Wedding. 

Last Chance: My entry in @project-25913 documenting chance 25913.

Jump Around: Alya PoV of post-reveal, post-relationship Adrientte.

2 Number of words written:

This is a hard thing to calculate

Published on Ao3: 34301 

Zines: 3317 Submitted. Includes essays for the @miraculousfanworks Quarterly Newsletter that haven't been put on A03 and one that’s just on tumbler

Unpublished: 4079

Total:41697 provided I haven't missed or double counted anything.

3 Your most popular fic:  Something There That Wasn't There Before (2036 Hits 292 Kudos) though  Jump Around (547 hits 81 Kudos in less than 24 Hours) Is a close contender. I notice there are a few commonalities between them. XD

4 Your personal fav: This is soooo hard.

Have to be Square Dance even if it isn’t quite finished yet. I’ve been building to a reveal all year and I’m just so pumped. Now I just have to get it written >.<

5 Your fav scene: 

End of  the Fight in  Square Dance, I managed to get  Adrien to quote the opening to The Man Your Man Could Smell like.

6 A fic or scene that challenged you: Akuma battle in chapter 6 of Square Dance. Making it feel dynamic and interesting, figuring out the Akuma powers and method to win. Then describing it all well.  

8 A comment that touched you:

@kasienda‘s comments on Waiting for Morning. I am always most moved to know I have captured an experience that is real for someone else but only imaginary for me  in a way that feels right to them. 

Also, pretty much any comment by Talik_Sanis given that we each seem to believe the other is the better writer. 

This one was especial heartening at a low point.

“Anything that you produce is an earnestly appreciated gift to the fandom, Steel.”

9 Something that inspired your writing: I am so grateful for being a member of the writers group on the Fanworks Discord. We do monthly reward prompts for server boosters and other things as well as an annual  Anniversary prompt challenge. 

10 Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc): The Eyes Have It was selected to lead off the Server Zine and I was selected for the @alwaysandforeverzine 

I also passed over 100,000 words published and two of my stories have more than 2000 hits.

11 Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

Post at least twice a month.

@graaythekwami, @sing-in-me-oh-muse, and anyone else who wants. 

How was your year?

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reblogged

Been thinking about Nightfall wanting to "awaken the heart buried within Twilight" and I'm like... how exactly is she planning on doing that? It doesn't look like she really understands Twilight, she only sees the idolized image of him that she's built in her mind.

Her only ambitions driving her to perfection (and, to her credit, she does actually achieve a great level of physical discipline that a spy needs to survive) are the ones of her ending up as Twilight's real wife and life partner. She doesn't seem to share any of his dreams, she doesn't even seem to appreciate a possible world where children are happy - which is Twilight's core motivation, so ingrained in him that he kept fighting for it even when he hadn't actively thought about it for a long time.

The reason Yor and Anya are the ones awakening his feelings is because they are way more connected to his ambitions and motivations. Anya reminds him of himself and how important it is to him to protect children's innocence and happiness. Yor has similar motivations, and he actually, canonically thinks of her as someone suitable to inherit the world he wants to create, and maybe I'm taking a bit of liberty here by saying he probably wishes he'd had someone like her to protect him when he was young and defenseless.

So, without even trying, just by being themselves, Yor and Anya connect with him and awaken all the emotions that have motivated him as a spy from the very start. Nightfall has literally dedicated her entire existence to becoming the perfect partner for Twilight, but in her effort to become perfect she has completely lost what actually matters to the man behind the Twilight spy persona. In fact, she may have actually ended up at the opposite side. She believes that after the war Twilight will want to reminisce over old times and tour old battlefields with her when we as the audience keep getting hints that he finds no pride or happiness in being a spy, other than having the chance to protect the world.

Nightfall is hard to relate to not only because she's mean and selfish. It's also because she has dedicated herself to a false, empty promise that was based on Twilight's fame. I'm guessing Twilight never shared his inner feelings and motivations that drove him to become a spy, so Nightfall has no idea how much of a sensitive person he really is, beneath all the masks he puts on. And she's doing all that in an effort to make him notice her, praise her, and eventually choose her as his romantic partner, but everything about it is hopeless.

In a way it's a very interesting way to present her character, as she's willingly becoming a Satellite Love Interest, and everything about her plan, to mistaking Twilight's motivations and personality, to treating Yor and Anya horribly, to reaching for a goal the audience knows is unachievable shows why you can't be like that in reality. I could even say it's a commentary and satire of Satellite Love Interests, making a brilliant example of how such characters can work if they're consciously written that way.

(Anime only fan here, don't spoil me for the manga)

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steelblaidd

For both Twilight and Yor their job is a tool to accomplish their goal. For Nightfall being a spy is the goal.

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reblogged

Dracula voice: I would have gotten away with it if it weren’t for my lawyer, his wife, his wife’s girlfriend, his wife’s girlfriend’s fiancé and their extra boyfriends the Cowboy and the doctor and the doctor’s thesis advisor who knows how to kill vampires for some reason!

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At the gate for my flight home from visiting friends and there's a woman here with a service Shiba Inu. No pics because he has a Do Not Disturb vest and taking pics of strangers is illegal but I need to stress how ON DUTY this animal is. Ears up. Eyes doing Lazer scans of everything. Examining everyone who passes within 10ft like a security guard. Ass planted on her feet. I have never seen a dog with such intense chivalric guardian energy before. He has tiny eyebrows and they are FURROWED with concentration.

Man behind me having unhinged phone conversation. There is an internationally famous dairy in the area I was visiting and he was commissioned by the lady on the other end of the phone to collect specific cheeses from there. The lady is very high strung about the type and condition of the cheese.

The man does not know from cheese. The man "ain't never seen no cheese but orange before" and "I showed ya list to the cheese lady so if it's wrong it's her fault ok?"

I am 80% sure she sent him there for a really specific bleu cheese, 40% sure he does not have the very specific bleu cheese, and 100% sure he's done with her shit.

Our flight is delayed.

He does not have the cheeses in a cooler, just a regular backpack.

I need to emphasize that there is no cooler bag in the backpack. He has Jansport backpack that is jam-packed with cheeses. There is apparently $405 dollars worth of cheeses in that backpack, which I know because he has been trying to get the lady to venmo him the expense, which she has failed to do. It is unclear whether his relation to the lady is romantic, familial or what, but I'm leaning towards "what".

Two more people have joined us. One is a very elegant man with a perfect manicure in a tailored business suit, the other is a neon-haired person of indeterminate gender wearing a fox kirigumi. The Shiba Inu has been staring at the latter for three minutes now.

Uh oh.

Cheese man has been demanding payment because apparently he went like six hours out of his way and paid with his own money and between the cheese and price of gas, he is pretty sure he does not have enough money in his account for an Uber home.

The lady is FLABBERGASTED that he is demanding payment at all, as she was under the impression he was doing this for her out of the goodness of his heart.

He's not having it. He's insisting she told him she would pay him back- he would have gotten her maybe one cheese somewhere closer to his business in the area out of love, but he went out of his way because she agreed to pay him costs+ extra to cover it.

HE RECORDED THE CONVERSATION IN WHICH SHE PROMISED TO PAY FOR THE CHEESE, SHE'S THAT MUCH OF A FLAKE.

I am about to offer this man cash for some of these cheeses because our flight is now more delayed.

"YOU ALWAYS DO THIS! YOU ALWAYS DO THIS AND I FALL FOR IT EVERY TIME! NO! NO! FUCK YOU! IF YOU'RE NOT GONNA PAY ME, YOU DON'T GET FANCY CHEESE."

"OR ELSE WHAT?"

"I'm gonna-? THE BABY SHOWER? MONICA CAN'T EVEN HAVE THIS CHEESE SHE'S PREGNANT!"

"The cheese lady asked if it was for someone because the mushrooms or whatever in the cheese are dangerous for the baby or something?? You wanna poison Monica?"

"WHY WOULD I LIE ABOUT THAT?"

"YEAH OF COURSE I GOT THE CHEESE, THATS WHY I DON'T GOT MONEY FOR UBER!"

"YEAH, GO TELL! GO TELL MOMMA I STOPPED YOUR STUPID ASS FROM KILLING MONICA OR THE BABY! FUCK!"

*hangs up phone*

*head in hands, borderline hyperventilating*

The man in the three piece suit is in the chair next to him. He waits a moment, then reaches into his carryon and pulls out an entire bottle of wine with the TSA pre check sticker on it, and taps cheese guy on the shoulder.

"If your friend doesn't want it, would you be amenable to having it right now?"

Naturally, I have volunteered my box of wheat thins and offered to buy one of the harder cheeses which should be fine if it makes it home.

Meanwhile, Kirigumi has noticed that the Shiba Inu is staring at her and is correctly intimidated.

1. This is some fucking great Camembert. I have compensated cheese guy accordingly. So have like six other people. He's recouped like half his losses.

2. Cheese guy is crying a little about the cash and opening up about his problems. The cheese lady is his younger sister. Suit guy is being very generous with his Pinot Blanc. We are having a picnic/improv family therapy session.

3. This is apparently the latest in a long string of his sister asking for something and then flaking when he asks to be paid back. Started with paying him back only some of what he was owed, then claiming something she paid for him was of equal value when it was not, then recently telling him his memory is wrong and he said it was a gift or that he'd do it for free.

"Yeah, the specific thing of trying to convince you your memory is unreliable is called gaslighting and it's really fucked up." I say

"yeeeeah. The other stuff I forgave because she's never really had a good job so she can't pay me back all the time but at least she was making an effort y'know? But that was. That was over the line."

"If you haven't already, check on the rest of your family's finances. My brother started trying to gaslight everyone when he started stealing from our parents." Says Pinot Blanc.

4. Shiba Inu Lady has purchased a cheddar. Apparently, the dog's name is Donut, and he's her service dog because she's severely visually impaired.

"Oh, he's a guide dog?" Asks cheese guy.

"oh, no." She laughs. "He's too short, and the way my eyes are, it's easier for me to navigate with a cane. No, the problem I have is that some morally impaired people see the cane and think they can get away with stealing my bag or assaulting me because I wouldn't be able to give a description- which is wrong, but rather than deal with that I got Donut, and he helps me by howling at anyone who gets in my personal space and biting anyone who grabs me!"

"Uh." Says Kirigumi. "He's been staring at me do I need to back up or..?"

"Ohdear! No, no- He wasn't looking at you! He loves cheese but he knows he's not supposed to beg so he decided the way to deal with something he wants but can't have is to stare in the other direction."

"OKAY!" Says Kirigumi. "I'm wearing fox pajamas and thought like. He thought I was another dog or something."

"No, no- he doesn't care about dogs, and you get a warning before he goes for the calves. Very helpful, when I was living in Italy!"

"Oh what part? I have family in Tuscany." Says Pinot.

"Does he want a cheese? There is still so much cheese." Says cheese guy.

Plane may be arriving. I am paying for in flight WiFi to keep y'all updated.

1. Cheese guy has sold all but two or three cheeses that he an Pinot are going to eat on the flight.

2. I know they're planning to continue because Pinot talked to the gate agent so he and cheese guy can sit together and talk about family drama and cheese.

3. Pinot has been teaching him about different types of cheese and how to enjoy them.

4. Cheese guy apparently repairs computers and other technology devices for a living and is currently doing the software version of scraping barnacles and other crap off Pinot'macbook.

5. Pinot is now convinced that cheese guy is the smartest and most interesting man in the world.

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reblogged

We BUILD strength and TEST strength in slightly different ways.

Especially with bodyweight exercise, the difficulty difference between two progressions is often substantial. While we can make micro adjustments to ease this transition, it can often be demotivating if we have trouble going from, say, knee push-ups to full push-ups.

The good news is that while our "gains" in ability aren't immediately obvious, we might still be making good progress!

Have a wonderful day!

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delgrosso

If you’re building a finished basement and you don’t put a plastic skeleton with a note taped to it that says “I was told there would be Amontillado” behind the drywall for someone else to discover in 50 years, are you even really doing home remodeling? Just asking questions here.

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zobb

christmas eve what about christmas adam

happy christmas adam to all men’s rights activists

Please stop pestering us with things like this. This has nothing to do with men fighting for their rights. Eve is short for ‘evening’. Please don’t turn activism into a joke. Thanks.

Someone isn’t having a good christmas adam

Christmas Adam: December 23rd. Comes before Christmas Eve and is generally unsatisfying.

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shojo

Happy Christmas Adam everyone

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