Scribble Book

"Wheel of the Infinite" continues very interesting.

2016-03-23T12:31:07Z

“How did he become Celestial One? Was there a vote among the other chief priests?”

A vote? Maskelle thought, bemused. The Ariaden were a strange people. “He died.” Rastim and Rian both stared at her.

“Died?” Rastim repeated.

“To become the Celestial One you have to become so close to the Infinite, so at one with it, that you can merge with it and return at will. One morning he died, and later when they were preparing him for his funeral, he sat up and asked for tea.” She smiled wryly. “There are probably at least one or two other Koshans in the city who can do it and some very advanced penitents hiding out in the jungle. They just aren’t careless enough to let someone see them and force them to take on the duties of Celestial One.”

This book, ladies and gentlemen. This book.

In Which My Feet Continue a Little Sore

2016-03-21T22:06:58Z

The weekend was the big vintage sale run by a charity I volunteer for. It takes up several rooms, is the big earner for the year, and is still called, by old hands, 'the linen sale'.

Quite busy in the morning, calmed down in the afternoon. Only slightly overran my personal budget. It was a really nice hat, okay? And the embroidery kits were cute. And... Um.

A lot of ladies were wearing some really beautiful ornamented white blouses. I was the only one in period dress this year, but the 1920s afternoon-tea dress went down a treat. Very comfy, too.

What I'm Reading:

Wheel of the Infinite by Martha Wells.

The first chapter has the heroine, a semi-lapsed religious, trudging down the road in the rain with a caravan of travelling players and regretting her grey hairs. She cuts down to the riverbank to pick up some medicinal herbs, stumbles upon a den of bandits, and through guile, bravado, some judicious head-banging, and a slightly dodgy divine invocation sends them off into the storm, rescuing some guy while she's at it.

Chapter 2 has an evil self-motivated puppet.

You won't be able to pry this book from my cold, dead fingers.

It's non-European fantasy, and the visual flavours are interesting. The setting is developed enough that different kinds of theatre, and who likes what kind, and who laughs at the jokes,are apparent, for example. I... think Wells is informing her setting from a real-world culture, though I'm a bit clueless and can't pick which.

In any case, I'm looking forward to the rest of the book. Grumpy-but-kind badasses are kind of my thing.

EDIT: Not even an important evil self-motivated puppet. More of a Crap, that thing got out, quick get it off stage before the audience notice, argh it bit me kind of an evil self-motivated puppet.

Moments of unexpected delight

2016-03-03T12:13:30Z

I was listening to a collection of Fred Astaire songs for the first time, enjoying the clever lyrics, syncopated rhythms, tapping that was clearly the gent doing something physicality virtuosic - AND THEN THEY BROUGHT IN THE OOMPAH BAND. Go, tubas!

I don't think I'd heard his version of "Putting On The Ritz" come to think of it - it's got references to people going out to Harlem and spending their last two bits which I didn't recognise (or maybe I just didn't notice them in other versions). I think I like it better that way - feels less like watching a slick guy with too much money enjoying things I can't have, more earthy and fun.

In other news, I'm working on a 1920s drop-waist dress. Even though it's a Pattern? What pattern? style I notice that fit and tailoring is an issue - you want to know the difference between hanging like a sack and elegant-ish sack dress? One inch. We'll see how it goes. The fabric is, uh, well, it has a lovely asymmetrical print and comes in a wide width, and I decline to say further... Look, once upon a time people made clothing out of feed sacks and liked it I could have been using cloth that once had flour in it that's what could have been don't judge me, 'kay?

If it works out I'll post pics.

Well, at least it isn't literal crack.

2016-01-13T01:08:28Z

I've been playing around with the pretty new tablet (it was a gift, and is amazing) and I stumbled into the Visual Novel genre. It's... interesting. So here's some mini reviews, because I felt like talking about them.

Most of my experience with interactive romances is through the side stories of Baldur's Gate and similar adventure games: largely optional, text based, and almost always pure dialogue. Even the original tracks of BG2 had a lot of player choices in what to say, and some of the mods I've played are incredibly complex. But VNs have pictures!

So. Herewith some slightly spoilery reviews.

Enchanted By Moonlight, by Voltage.

The hook for me was the chance to hang out with a trickster fox. Eh, We all have our kinks. It's a Peach Girl plot - a fairly ordinary young woman wakes up one morning with mysterious ineffable spiritual powers which she cannot use on her own behalf in any way. Instead, she smells really good to any spirits and monsters around, who know that if they can eat her, they'll absorb her power. Better yet is if she marries them and (implied) even better if it's True Love. It feels like there's kind of a yin-yang dynamic going on. In any case, if you're a Peach Girl, your value isn't in what you do. It's in what you are. Also, I've never seen one of these plots where, however scary and boundary-crossing it gets, the PG's consent wasn't the ultimate dealmaker for the relationship. It's an odd kind of a power fantasy, I guess, As might be inferred from above, there's an element of coercion applied to much of the sexy-times.

The way Voltage structured the game, which seems fairly common, is to supply a common prologue free, plus teasers for every available character route. It cost me, what, $3-5 per route? Individually, pocket change. But remember what I said about crack in the title - the urge to buy just a little more... (I picked two routes, Miyabi the trickster fox and Shinra the young and brash oni.)

Soo, in this case PG spends the day narrowly escaping multiple hungry demons, then in the evening five handsome young demon clan-heads turn up, clear away the riffraff, and say they'll protect her from all comers, if and only if she agrees to marry one and bear them a super powerful child for the betterment of their clan. What can you do?

Miyabi's route was very peach-girly, and he had a lot of difficulty with relationships that weren't Fight or Fuck. His level of handsiness is something I have to be in a particular type of mood to enjoy, and that mood soon passed. Interestingly, M's story arc got him caught up in PG's vortex of helplessness - she gets poisoned and he's reduced to asking his friends to help by fetching medicine while he sits with her as she gets sicker and sicker and feeds her peaches. It would have been moving, but to be honest I don't enjoy having the character I'm supposed to identify with reduced to an object, even a teaching tool object. And PG's limpness annoyed me. Also, I'm never going to think that constant insults towards someone not able to insult back is romantic.

I did like Shinra a lot. He turned out to be a forgotten childhood friend who several times seemed uncomfortable with the contract. A sweetheart with issues about his big brother and whether he was the leader his clan needed. There is a point where it looks like PG would be happier with another guy and he releases her from the contract. The weariness with which he walked away legitimately moved me. The heroine actually made some meaningful decisions here, including running into a burning building because looking after library patrons was her damn job. (It was a trap, and she needed to be rescued. Of course.)

There wasn't a lot of player agency involved - about two dialogue choices per chapter on such riveting topics as, "you're making your love interest his favourite snack: do you tell him that or claim it's just dinner?" And I checked out the two endings for one character route, there's very little difference, except you get a nicer picture.

There's really not a lot of PG agency involved either. It's just... passive heroines aren't my thing, okay? It's not a question of being an Action Girl - pacifists who take on monsters and armies with nothing but wits and words are Bad Ass. PG was not Bad Ass.

I guess my overall impression of the game was... sparse? The character sprites were nice enough, I vaguely remember the music as pleasant. The prose felt a little bland, though that might have been an artifact of translation. We didn't see much of the other characters on a given route. I know from experience how time consuming truly interactive text can be, but it felt like, well, like they had a strictly limited time budget for each product they produced on their production line and once it was spent that was it. And if they have a customer base happy with that, more power to everyone concerned I say. But the game didn't make my heart sing.

WANTED: Dragon by Visual-Wordplay

Okay so there's this Evil Princess, Chrysandra, who's temporarily embarrassed with banishment. However, she knows there's a magical tower that holds two dragons imprisoned in human form. The terms of their release are True Love or a reasonable facsimile (just go with it). If she can fake a whirlwind romance she could come out with a powerful ally to take over the kingdom, and then the world. Mwa haha.

Character agency: very high. Chrysandra makes plans, wheels-and-deals, and follows through on her decisions with nerve and bravado.

Player agency: also very high. There are nine possible endings and the two I found were very different, and emotionally satisfying in an evil kind of way. I did feel a bit of a heel deceiving the puppy-love-struck mage, but eh, we got to fly off as dragons and he seemed happy enough at the end. Balrung the sneaky dragon was SO MUCH FUN to spar with.

Art and music were on the basic side but appropriate to each scene, with some cool Ending pictures. This was a free game.

Will play again.

Our Personal Space by Metasepia Games

Your viewpoint character starts by getting married! Then she and her husband head off to a young colony on another planet and you spend the next two years juggling your love life, your work, the needs of your community, and your own health.

Character agency: very high - she can easily become a pillar of the community.

Player agency: I've only played this through once, but I got the impression that it's through the roof. You get a lot of choices every month about what you learn and how you spend your time and they affect how you cope with what happens.

Art was basic but everything had a lot of character. The soundtrack was nice. I really got a feel for the community - the people and their relationships felt very real. Incidentally, it's a very multicultural cast.

I had a ball with this. I'm a little afraid to play again because I got an almost perfect ending first try and I'm worried the only way from here is down. Probably will, though. :-)

I picked through a few of the demos of NTT Solcorp's Shall We Date series. Two of my general observations are a) the story ticket social networking dress up platform some of their games use is freaking annoying, and b) their art is uniformly gorgeous. Fortunately, they have quite a few pay-by-the-character formats. Anyway, I settled on:

Shall We Date: Scarlet Fate

Historical fantasy set in Heian Japan.

...

...

Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn...

It's probably a bug but but I could get no sound. Just as well, because now I can imagine the full orchestra that would make an appropriate soundtrack.

It's definitely a lurid story. There's a hidden shrine that guards a magic sword of evil that could end the world, and every month the head priestess chips away a piece of her soul to keep the seal strong. That's where the story starts. It's also not the worst part of the priestess' job.

I'll note that the sword did not start that way but became so after absorbing the accumulated hatred of the world. It's part of a theme - several characters feel massive guilt for actions they were literally forced into, or the terrible things that happened because someone else wanted what they could do and would commit atrocities for that. Several characters are filled with entirely justified rage, but, if they act on it, they'll do worse than what was done to them. And if they don't act on it, isn't that a betrayal of everyone they fought for and with? And anyway - however can they stop? If the sword were unsealed, it would end the world, and that justifies terrible things done to bind it. Lots of characters are forced into impossible decisions and then have to live with them, is what I'm saying.

There are armies and duels and heroic last stands, true friendships forming under fire and allies turning on each other, corrupt court officials, idealistic court officials who've cracked a few too many eggs for their world peace omelet, historical oppression of ethnic minorities informing the fantasy plot in an integral way, getting lost, injured and desperate, in the snow at night, and a love story (in the route I played) that skips over "I would die for you" as too easy. "I would live for you," now that's where it's tough. All this with big hair and elaborate outfits. Yeah, that's the stuff.

Character agency: high. On the one hand Shiki is explicitly Fate's Bitch, on the other, her varying choices on whether she fights for or against it are much of the plot. She's got power and skill levels that let her keep up with the master swordsmen, black ops exorcists, and gods that make up the rest of the cast. While young, she's inherited some serious responsibilities, and fulfills them as best she can.

Player agency: I was on a railroad, but it wound through the Mountains of Awesome. Decisions were about half which character do you choose to talk to at this point in the plot, and half, how do you react to what was just said in this important conversation. I think the choices influence the ending you get, from happy to whatever. There was a bad ending that could be reached by a fairly clear dialogue choice. My 'Sweet Ending' was pretty damn sweet.

As mentioned above, the soundtrack wouldn't play, and there were a few typos that I could live without. The prose was often very vivid. The art was exquisite. It's a season for pollen where I live, which was why I blinked hard so often while reading it. Allergies, yeah, that's the ticket. Seriously, I had a lot of buy-in to the characters and plot.

Would I play again? Yes, definitely. There were scraps of the other characters' stories that I wanted to know more about. What was Kuso's deal? What was Furutsugu's deal? I wanna know!

And hey, if you've played any of these and have an opinion, to agree or disagree, come drop me a line...

That is fun.

2015-11-30T22:29:49Z

(Thanks, janetlin)

For celeste9 (Temeraire, Laurence~Temeraire, reading)

It was an aged book, heavy, with gold-edged pages and thick board covers under the embossed leather, and might almost be granted, Temeraire could admit with some pleasure, the status of 'tome'. Irregardless his opinion of the printed material, and his justified pride in the bookbinder's skill, this volume had a special value to him provided by later hands.

Too well bred to sigh, Laurence opened the bible to the front flyleaf and once again read out his entire family tree.

Fic: "At the Siege of Ungar"

2015-11-30T02:26:41Z

Gifted to rachelmanija

Content notes: fantasy, wartime, magic and magical creatures, youth endangerment equivalent to a Gundam series.

"At the Siege of Ungar"

It was never meant for a fortress.

But the shifting front of a long war meant that Ungar Summer Palace, a toy-box of pearlescent stone perched in the hills, had been retasked into, first, an outpost, and then a strong shoulder of the war. Toiling up the winding hill road, recently widened and all-over mud in the autumn weather, Jain eyed it thoughtfully: the delicate arches, the eggshell dome, the curling ornamentation of the walls blended jarringly with the heavy beam-and-stone of the extensions. She had a sudden vision of a maiden in a dancing gown, arms solid with wiry muscle, brandishing a battle axe.

She was alone in the caravan of supplies and troops: her class of drafted specialists had mostly wangled positions elsewhere, in the cities and command posts, somewhere, at least, that would be warm for the winter. But promotions relied on connections, money, combat experience. Jain lacked a surfeit of the first two and had come here for a guarantee of the latter, with a crisp new commission in one pocket and transfer orders clutched in her sweaty hand. The short, wide logistics officer at the gate raised bushy eyebrows reading them and said, "Better you than me. Good hunting." Huh? As she followed a page to - the dome? - Jain hurriedly flicked through her transfer orders and reread the codes. She hadn't been attached to the fort after all, but -

"Mage-Specialist Jain?" A black-haired youth saluted crisply. "I am Sergeant Aariquel, 95th Airborne, Green Division. My squad has been assigned to your support and protection." Her flight leathers had been altered - the sleeves removed entirely and what remained buckled tight over a slender torso and hips. Aariquel had made a concession to the cold and allowed an olive-drab knit jersey and leggings underneath. She stood at ease, lightly balanced with the weight on the balls of her feet, very still, though the dappled-fawn wings that sprang from her back rustled slightly. Jain towered over her - she fought the urge to curl in her shoulders, to apologise for her height and her beaky nose, the length of bone in her arms. She pulled herself straight.

"Have you worked with flyers before?" The sergeant's voice was improbably deep for her size; she sounded herself like a drum.

Jain shook her head. "The university at Anjo, then I apprenticed in the desert hub. It was very flat: no crows - ah, I mean flyers."

If the sergeant was offended by the nickname, she did not show it. "It is very safe, travelling with us." She furrowed straight black brows and clarified. "We never drop anyone."

"There's been a break!" somebody cried, as a bell began to ring. "South-east!"

The sergeant's head came up, like a dog scenting blood. Her clear grey eyes strayed to another squad of flyers tumbling through the aerie built out of Ungar's central dome. They chattered and jostled each other, still buckling their jerkins and stringing their recurved bows. One yellow-haired youth yawned and scratched the back of his head as his darker sister sprang onto his shoulders and then into the air, her ivory wings opening with a crack.

Aariquel said, finally, "Two days of training manoeuvres are mandatory. To protect valuable military personnel. It is the Regulation."

Jain considered. "We could... perform mandatory training manoeuvres in a south-easterly direction?"

Aariquel tipped her head. "We could, Mage-Specialist." The corner of her mouth curled up.

Which is how Jain found herself wrapped in a voluminous leather coat and strapped into an observer's trapeze drawn into the sky by a quartet of winged teenagers. She prayed that she would not turn out to be prone to airsickness. It was cold in the air, bitter, and either quiet or loud. Or perhaps the roaring in her ears was just her breath, and the beat of her heart. They gained height over the hills rapidly; Jain's ears popped and she swallowed hard.

After a time the sergeant dropped down to Jain's eye-level, and hovered, wings working furiously. Ten minutes, her hands signed. All well?

Well, Jain signed back, her hands stiff still with the military signs. Aariquel frowned and reached for Jain's hands, peeling back the mittens to check each finger. She frowned again at the heat that came from them. Jain grinned sharply. Mage. Aariquel's eyes widened, enlightened, and she beamed. Then she reached in and adjusted Jain's high collar to cover her nose and mouth better. The veteran of nine pitched engagements was a mother hen, apparently. The sergeant signed Well herself and shot upwards. Jain followed the flight and realised that her carriers had switched shifts while she was distracted with the sergeant. They were smooth, well-practiced at this.

She should, she knew, be rehearsing her spells, turning over in her mind's eye the glyphs of vermillion and azure, but she was, frankly, distracted by the view, the green of the hills among the rocks, the tumbling water!

Beyond them, dark against the clouds, the grey shoulder of a mountain moved, heaved. Even in the air she felt it as a great clawed foot stretched out to the ground, a leathery wing darkened the sun in its opening and the eye, the eye - no topaz as yellow no forest fire as burning -

Aariquel dropped to eye-level again, blocking the sight. Her hands shaped the very prosaic, Vanguard sighted; engage/disengage? Jain drew in two shuddering breaths, and then signed back, Engage on discretion.

Flocks of the flyers were already moving in, tiny dots against the sweep of the sky, their arrows mere specks. Distract and deflect, Aariquel had explained as they moved out, bait and move. Flyers were skirmishers by nature, unable to take a dragon vanguard head on. But they could annoy it enough that it would not think to fly; they could buy time and ground for the defenders of Ungar to deal with it and what followed. And now, of course, they had a warmage.

This is what I came for, thought Jain to herself. This is why I was made.

She reached her hands into the sky and pulled down thunder.

fin

... hunting the wabbit, hunting the WABBIT...

Of the prompt, I focused on: Slim petite women with wings; soldiers and warriors; people with powers who aren't costumed superheroes; long flappy leather coats; DRAGONS.

As an aside, I'd labelled them the 95th before I noticed Sharpe was on your list. What can I say, I like that series too.

The visual that sparked this setting is several years down the timeline. Jain is in a garden convalescing from a bad injury while Aariquel perches on a fence proffering an oblong box wrapped in a cloth. "I brought you ice. From Mount XXXX. So you can make a sorbet." I may get to that story sometime.

Calling on your recipe-fu

2015-11-25T08:56:04Z

I have been asked to supply quote sinful baking unquote.

I am not actually much of a baker.

If you happen to have any tasty/favourite recipes that have negative virtue, I would appreciate any suggestions.

I mowed a lawn; I brought home groceries

2015-11-24T05:02:00Z

I am excused from further duties today.

I also shoved in a handful of lobelia seedlings acquired at the supermarket into the awkward front flower bed in one more bid to get something to grow there that isn't weeds. The problem is the clay, I think. It's hard to find a plant that says, 'Clay? Give me more!' Sigh. At least with the new hose it's easy to keep them watered as the weather heats up - just poke it over the fence.

The... I think peppermint seeds I've been keeping in a covered seed-raising box are sprouting in a way which I suppose is nice, but it happens so veeeeeeryyyyyy slooooooowllyyyy that it really is no wonder I've been two-timing with supermarket seedlings. The daisy cuttings I snuck into the same box seem to be doing quite well, though one of the lavender sprigs died and the other isn't looking so great. Oh well. The circle of life and all that.

I also have a dilemma, in that yesterday I acquired a shirt for gardening, because it was long-sleeved and airy and the print was busy enough that it wouldn't show the dirt, and, having tried it out, I'm a bit in love with it and don't want it to fade too soon. The print is made to look like a patchwork of gingham and cheque and houndstooth, all in shades of red and burgundy and it should be loud and busy and horrible - it is - but it is also strangely pleasing. Ah well, I'll work something out.

**

I've been experimenting with cooking. The Chinese Broccoli/Gai Lan stir fry did not turn out so great, mostly because I'd substituted a couple of key ingredients, but the potential for greatness was there. I have plans for celery-and-tofu. (Marination will occur! Oh boy!) but not tonight, because I am excused from duties. (There were salmon fritters at the cafe on the way home: edible, but not something I'd actively seek out again.)

**

As to Yuletide, I have completed my Canon Review, and have the inklings of an idea that should please my recipient and myself. I may have to go back and review some portions of the canon again a few times. To get the details right, you understand. It will be a terrible trial.

I HAVE A NEW RELATIVE

2015-11-14T02:59:30Z

I HAVE ROSES

2015-11-08T23:55:17Z

Two bright yellow blooms from Robert, a slightly lopsided pink effort from Midge (Midge is a rescue rose and needs a bit of encouragement), and Margaret, and Abaddon off in the corner, have buds well on the way.

Woo hoo!

On repotting Little Cthulhu the baby kowhai, I discovered that it had been reaching beyond the trammels of its mortal shell, and sent tap roots well down into the ground underneath, which made things awkward because I couldn't exactly leave it there indefinitely. I had to break the root in the end and the new pot turns out to be deeper but not wide enough for LC's expansive roots. I'll have to repot very soon, or finally admit that LC doesn't need me any more. (That would hurt.)

**

My current policy of antihistamines plus swabbing my sinuses out with castor oil on the regular seems to be helping me not get a clogged up nose at night when I'm trying to sleep. It often feels a (very) little blocked in the morning, but then, I'm not waking up in the wee hours because the difficulty breathing was pulling me out of sleep either. This... actually may be why I have the spoons to pull so many weeds right now. Hmmmm...

EDIT:

Yes, yes I do name some of my plants. What of it?

I can't call it virtue

2015-11-08T03:54:33Z

The weather is currently such that it is pleasant to be outside, so that's what I do, and meanwhile there are all these weeds to be pulled and lawns to be mowed.

Yea, I have moved on to the front flowerbed against the fence, on the slope, that's so awkward to work at and I never see unless I'm walking into town (hence its position at the very bottom of my list of chores). The grass, the grass got high, oh my.

A friend and I visited the Power Station Open Day this afternoon which was mildly interesting, especially when they started up the engines with some rapid banging. On the way home we picked up a new hose, a ground cover plant which I rather hope will take over the awful front flower bed, and a new blue-glazed pot for Little Cthulhu the baby kowhai tree. When Little Cthulhu first came into my care, it was about the length of my finger, having somehow taken root in a bare pinch of sand in a pile of stones my sister was moving about, consequently nursed into something resembling health and passed on to me. I am immensely happy to graduate the little sapling to a taller pot. LC's old pot is quite nice (red-glazed), and I might reuse it for a young pepper plant in my garden.

I also have a covered seed-raising tray full of peppermint sprouts and a handful of cuttings on my kitchen window sill. I have my fingers crossed that the cuttings take, and am waiting impatiently for the sprouts to get all big.

**

I've been playing Neverwinter Nights I recently. The Original Campaign (which had a boring start but got a lot better; Lord Nasher and the elderly pirate king were a particular favourite), and for the second time the expansions Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark. I've been running a halfling Rogue/Shadowdancer, which is occasionally awesome (Balor Lord: meet Sneak Attack) and occasionally a big ball of suck, such as running into a very hitty fallen paladin who has True Sight and has you trapped in one room... It does make for an interesting game, being a puny Rogue. And - I'd forgotten that Valen Shadowbreath blushes. Oh my.

Epic is All in the Spin

2015-10-30T05:52:07Z

Dear Diary,

Today I mowed the lawn as an expression of MY PERSONAL MIGHT.

(Within certain limits, that is - while I was away it appears the grass hit a sweet spot of sun and rain, and got real tall. I did a lot, and will do more tomorrow.)

Am cooking some more cheerful fish pie; I hope it works out as well the second time.

And a friend dragged me out to the monthly Night Market that the library runs, and I staggered on out with fancy soap and a pretty clockpunk hairclip. It'll be fun to wear.

Good day.

Dear Yuletide Goat

2015-10-16T19:58:22Z

Bless you, Yule Goat, for coming to write me something. I hope you have a lot of fun with it.

AO3 Handle: Thimblerig

General Likes and Dislikes

I like japes and humour and swashbuckling, snark and banter, bitter-sweet stories where things aren't ever really going to be okay but there's a moment to sit in the sun right now so we'll do that, and also - simple happy stories where nothing bad ever happens. I have a strong kink for non-sexual intimacy, whether that is established lovers sharing a quiet moment, two buddies forgetting that personal space is a thing, or even frenemies having a shitty argument while matter-of-factly making each other breakfast (even down to the peculiar mustard on the eggs) because they just know each other that well.

As far as sex and violence go, my comfort levels top out at about PG13. If it's part of the story then mention it, but I'd prefer it to be off-stage or suggested rather than graphic. Cleavage not nipples, as it were. I really don't like non-con.

I've read some awesome AUs in the past, so if the story you want to write takes you to canon divergence or the characters as Film Noir detectives or Space Pirates or whatever, I am down with that.

If you only want to write one of the characters I listed, or bring in a few others that you like, that's just fine.

Baldur's Gate

Phaere, Solaufein

Things I Like About the Canon

Things I've had fun with in the game - the way it can bounce from high tragedy to inane comedy and back again. The way there were hundreds of tiny stories going in the background, if you went looking. The banters that the NPCs threw at each other, full of sharp edges and flavour, that always told you a little bit about both characters. The way I could create a different PC and watch the story play out a bit differently every time.

Possible Prompts

What does life look like where the sun never shines and everybody (who counts) sees in infrared? Where children can grow well into adulthood while their parents never visibly age? Where being mean and aggressive is (probably) taught as a survival trait, and simple niceness looks like appeasement looks like weakness... By drow standards, Phaere is the admirable person - upwardly mobile, hard working, fabulous, and Solaufein is somewhere between a namby-pamby twit and a Traitor To The City That Nurtured Him. How do people speak of those two, then? How did Solaufein come to the worship of Ellistrae? How's it working out for him now? What's he going to do after quitting the city - is he going to try connecting with surface elves, or set up his own little community of dissenters? Or, if you feel like it, give me Phaere and Solaufein when they were young and foolish, when they were two plucky kids against the world; give me Phaere and Solaufein when they loved each other.

The Invisible Library, by Genevieve Cogman

Irene, Kai, Lord Vale

Things I Like About the Canon

I like the tongue-in-cheek tropiness of it and the mannered, arch dialogue that most people use. Dirigibles. The way alligators can just come through the door! It's that kind of story! The way that Irene has so many issues with Bradamant and Bradamant has them right back, but in a different way. That characters come with expansion pack pasts and, as of the end of the first book, have many mysteries yet to be plumbed. The guiding avocations of the Librarians ("'Give' books away? How very... frivolous.") That Vale flat-out called Irene on her ethics, and she didn't... really... have a good answer. The way Irene dresses so discreetly, in grays and browns to blend in, but also so neat and careful, that she's carrying a lot of badassitude under the neutral colours. That Kai slides from Streetpunk With A Heart to Courtly Gent (is the first just a disguise he was wearing? For how long and why? Or is it a true part of his nature?) The way Vale juggles sharp eyes and deduction with his weird intuition and a core of sword-steel ethics.

Possible Prompts

Given what we eventually learn about Kai's background and his feelings on family, what the everlasting frack was he doing on Shadowrun World? What's up with Lord Vale's dreamcatcher? Maybe some hurt/comfort with Irene's injured hand. Or a book retrieval caper. Several time we see Irene consciously put on her Leadership Face in a stressful situation - how does that look to the others? I was getting subtext that Irene and Kai badly want Lord Vale to like and respect them. Do they ever get competitive about that? Possessive? Do they start waxing poetic about his beautiful collections and then catch themselves with awkward coughs? On Vale's side: several times in the first book he seemed very wary of those two and the forces they represented - has he decided to trust them now, or is he still keeping a reservation about it all?

Ladyhawke

Isabeau, Navarre

Things I Like About the Canon

The gorgeous period costumes, and the wonderful landscapes and sets. The eeriness of the magical realism vs. the practicalities of keeping each other fed and clothed. Navarre's grim duty playing off the comedy of Phillipe and the priest. Man, Isabeau was pretty. The intense loyalty Isabeau and Navarre held for each other whatever shape they were in. The fear and the beauty as Isabeau fell from the tower and her screams turned to a hawk's cries. Swordfights and adventures and a mounted duel! In the church! The desperation when Navarre couldn't stop the bell ringing and he thought he'd gotten Isabeau killed. That epic, epic spinning hug that played over the end credits...

Possible Prompts

For this movie I'd be very happy with just a slice-of-life scene during the curse. But also - when they were young, what was it about those two that caught each other's eye? How was Navarre different from a hundred other knights? How was Isabeau different from a hundred other ladies? Did they do all the conventional courting things like walking in the gardens and writing poems and songs? There's a scene where Isabeau was running through the woods trying to catch rabbits - clearly she'd been picking up feral instincts. Are they going to stay once she's all the way human? Has Navarre picked up wolfy characteristics, and just hides them better? (Or maybe they pass under the traditional mannerisms of a knight.) What's the first real conversation those two have, post-curse?

Thank you again, Goat - may you have an enjoyable Yuletide.

The Internet is For...

2015-10-07T04:16:18Z

Recipes, obviously. Also, pictures of cats.

Today I'm trying fish and leek pie! It's... loosely... inspired by this recipe from Jamie Oliver (http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=the-happiest-fish-pie), modified by my available ingredients. So my greens were silverbeet (fridge), rosemary and lemon-balm (herb garden), with a few additions from dried, and I'm using mushroom for the umami flavour instead of bacon.

I diced a couple of spuds, boiled and mashed them, with a bit of salt, butter, and milk for the topping. On Mr Oliver's suggestion, I added a pinch of nutmeg. Mmmm. Thanks, Mr Oliver!

The start of the filling was saute-ing some sliced up leek in butter and then throwing in the silverbeet, rosemary, lemon-balm, and a couple of bay leaves to gently cook down. (I got a whiff not long ago - so fragrant.) I'll soon be throwing in some mushrooms, and adding a couple of teaspoons of mustard powder to 100-200 mLs of full cream and stirring it over a low heat for maybe five minutes. Then I'll pour the filling into a casserole dish, add the fish (salmon from a tin), and smear the mashed potato on top. Mr Oliver's recipe wants some cheese added here, but I don't really keep that in the house anymore, so I'm going to mix more mustard powder and milk and glaze it over the top to help it get brown and crispy.

We'll see how it goes.

EDIT:

Ding ding - we have a winner!

The greens kept all the lovely herbal fragrance and contrasted beautifully with the creamy sauce and the savoury mushrooms and the fish. My only pout is that the topping wasn't quite as crispy as I'd like.

Thoughts on the ingredients: well, it's gluten free, not even corn starch for thickening. It does have a lot of butter and cream in it, so be careful if you're lactose intolerant. Also, I suspect there's a fairly high fat content. Otherwise - lots of green-and-leafies, lots of protein, whatever's so good for you about fish, and a bit of carbohydrate from the topping.

Will make again.

Excuse me, I'm off for another bowl.

It's hayfever season

2015-10-04T07:41:22Z

And also, kind of coming on for rain. Merde.

I did get stuff done today - I cleaned the tannin of all my teaspoon with baking soda and water (whoah, some of them qualified for Prufrock duty), and did some darning (even if it takes ages, that sock's a merino-possum fur marvel that I'm not letting go of easy). Mostly I holed up on the couch feeling sorry for myself...

What have I been reading lately? Apart from spluttering about the d'Artagnan Romances...

Adijan and Her Genie, by L-J Baker

Arabian Nightsy Fantasy (as the title indicates) - Adijan, a poor messenger girl, has grandiose dreams of creating a business empire and keeping her wife Shalimar in oranges, all the oranges, but is hampered by her tendency to spend all her money drinking instead of working or actually spending time with The Love of Her Life(TM). It is a problem.

Then, shortly after Shalimar was repossessed by her brother, who wanted to marry her instead to Really Rich Guy, Adijan came into possession of a Genie who, for rather sad reasons, had no ability to grant any wishes and some important business to settle.

It's a good solid read - likable, slightly flawed characters, the plot moves forward at a decent clip and makes sense, there's some impressive finagling on Adijan's part near the end. There's a strong theme of family and friendship going on (and Fakir's part of the story turned out to be entirely relationship driven). Also, loving someone even when it's difficult (and how that works out for various people).

Content warnings - nothing explicit, but there's some frank talk about sex work, voluntary and otherwise, a bit of violence, alcoholism and drug use. I'd be comfortable giving it to a teenager.

It Happened One Midnight, by Julie Ann Long

There are romances that take the plot of pretty people getting together, and then they hang in all sorts of interesting detail about colour-printing and child labour laws and financial details and I get really engrossed in the setting as well as the plot. This would be one of those.

Jonathon Redmond has a pressing need of money - he's just acquired the rights to a colour-printing process that has a lot of potential for future projects, but doesn't currently have the liquid funds to get it off the ground. (Does that sound boring? Sorry, it really isn't.) His dad thinks he's a flibbertigibbet wastrel and won't help out. Thomasina de Ballesteros also has a pressing need of money - her position as a demimondaine/saloniere isn't as lucrative as one would suppose, and she has a lot of... private expenses. She does, however, have current possession of a very expensive pearl necklace that could supply the immediate funds. They become business partners! Their first project is almost pornographic playing cards!

I liked the story a lot - there's a very slow-burning romance with a lot of early scenes of 'I don't need to like you, you don't need to like me, so we'll just cut the crap and be honest - gosh, this is so refreshing'. Their business deals were interesting - not just the finances, but how they worked High Society to create a demand for their pilot project. I liked that they were friends before they were lovers, and their reasons for wanting be rich, rich. And, while not everything resolves to the main characters' satisfaction, there's a lot of happy at the end of it.

My trip through the d'Artagnan Romances continues

2015-09-13T21:46:25Z

I am seriously wondering whether Dumas was trolling his readers.

So there's this kid. He gets turned out of the house by his uncle after his mother dies, left to fend for himself without a single friend in the world - and losing what should have been a substantial inheritance, which goes to the uncle. This happens when is five years old.

As a young man, he's been going around looking for the facts in his mother's death - her murder to be precise - trying to work out who is involved, and to wreak appropriate vengeance. He's probably, by this point, worked out that there's some irregularity with his birth: he might not be the genetic son of his legal father, but that of one of her murderers, to whom she once was married. Awkward. (Said murderer has killed a lot of people in what he says are the course of his duties, and used to be a terrible drunkard who beat his servants. He hangs out with thugs and killers, and is engaged in shady politics.)

On the face of it, that's a hero's story right there.

But Mordaunt is the bad guy, apparently.

There's been much discussion among the Inseperables and Lord de Winter about whether a child of Milady would automatically inherit her Evil Nature(TM) and therefore should be put down out of hand or let to make his own mistakes. I don't think it matters? He was abandoned when he was five. That's not a way to grow an ethical adult, or do anything but cause a massive, massive grudge. It's not going to teach kindness or compassion, just a terrible urge to hit them before they hit you. (Hang on, I think I'm pressing the case for villainy here. Oh well.) And don't get me started on how they easily justify their own awful behaviour but if a woman, Milady, does anything aggressive, She's Evil. (Women are scary, don't you know? If they ever sit you down and say, 'Hey, I was wronged and I need your help,' this is a deceitful ploy that will end badly for you.)

So... what makes a hero? Their actions? Or just whether you hear it from their point of view?

EDIT:

Just got to the bit where Athos' kid Raoul, in a flush of enthusiasm-and-duty, helps the musketeer regiment arrest a guy (there's some civil disturbance going on). And d'Artagnan, who is vaguely in charge of this, promptly hauls him out of there and gives him a very confusing talk about how he shouldn't be helping the faction to which d'Artagnan belongs, his ~~dad~~ guardian would be furious and he should totally hang out with the rebelling people. "I ask you, Athos left you in my care, what kind of mentor would I be if I let you associate with my people?"

Raoul's a bit of a moppet. I don't think he has a clue what d'Artagnan is on about.

My House Is Too Quiet

2015-08-30T00:38:02Z

I have a kowhai sapling sitting in my back yard; pretty soon I'll be planting it to memorialise my cat Parsnip, who got hit on the road a few nights ago.

The last time I encountered Parsnip I was half asleep, when he tapped me on the ear so that I'd roll over and he could crawl under the covers for his regular goodnight cuddle. There was a lot of purring, as I recall. He was a big plush teddy-bear of a cat, with a creak instead of a miaow, whom I sometimes called Te Puku-nui for fairly obvious reasons, fond of hugs and food. Sometimes when I patted him and pulled away too soon he'd reach out a paw and hook me back in: You're done when I say you're done, Human.

He liked to hang out in the sun of the back yard - he liked to hang out in the sun with me, and would badger me until I got my arse up and out into the fresh air. He used to run up trees when the wind was blowing, and hang there with his ears wild and his tail lashing. He gentled the heart of my sister's tiny angry cat. He thought resting in my arms was the best place in all creation.

I miss him.

My house is too quiet.

Adventures in cuisine

2015-06-24T09:10:25Z

I'm going to make a try for some real cooking tomorrow, with a slow-cooker borrowed from a friend and plans to portion it out and freeze some. Lamb saag is the plan, otherwise known as, that green goop from the local curry shop that smells like forest and tastes like the breath of god. I don't expect my own attempt to turn out that cool, but hopefully it will be spicy and edible and such. Also, with half a kilo of red meat and another half of spinach, it will undeniably be rich in iron and nutritional goodness.

Most of the recipes on-line for saag are really, really complicated. The one I'll be using, http://www.ditchthecarbs.com/2014/06/26/lamb-curry-spinach-saag-gosht/, is more - throw it all in the pot and come back in eight hours, which is a bit more my speed.

INGREDIENTS

1 red onion quartered and sliced

2 cloves garlic crushed

2 tbsp ginger crushed

2 tsp dried cardamon

6 whole cloves

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp tumeric

½ tsp chiili powder

1 tsp garam masala

2 tsp cumin

500g cubed lamb

500g packet frozen spinach

400g chopped tin tomatoes

INSTRUCTIONS

Defrost the spinach in the microwave, then squeeze handfuls to get out the excess water (don't squeeze too hard and make it dry).

Place all the ingredients in the slow cooker, stir.

Cook on HIGH for 4-5 hours or LOW for 8 hours.

I'm short a couple of spices, and might have to double up on the garam masala (which seems like a blend of several). I couldn't find any stewable lamb at the supermarket so I'll be using chuck beef instead (I picked some with a bit of white tissue on it, because apparently that's good for slow-cooking as it dissolves and thickens the mix or some such). In deference to the more complicated recipes, some of which insist on ghee (which I lack), I'll be browning the meat, and cooking and blending the onions with the spice and a bit of butter before they go in the pot. And I'm adding in celery leaf, because apparently a saag isn't exclusively spinach, either.

Time to buckle up: I'm going in.

EDIT:

Not bad, and not much work, even with the extras I did. Turns out cumin is also known as that flavour I don't really like in curry, so I'll be using it less next time. The meat was tender, the goop was fragrant, though not as much as I would have liked. The celery I added near the end was quite strong. Next run: include the cloves and chilli, less tomato, maybe add the spices later in the cooking period. Don't think I'll bother with a 'red' onion.

All in all, it was tasty, nutritious, and sits comfortably in my stomach. Will make again.

Holy moly - I just made curry from scratch!

Not exactly canon

2015-05-22T11:53:25Z

In which I give a superficial and incomplete review...

I've been watching a BBC series called The Musketeers. It has little similarity with the original books except character names - instead of d'Artagnan trying to join the regiment to make his fortune and sorta-kinda-by-accident challenging three different men to a duel (who happen to be best friends), he goes to the city to avenge his father's death, for which Athos was framed. Things go on from there. Think of it as an AU fanfic and you're good.

It's got some pretty good chiaroscuro plots, cinematography is picturesque, and the action scenes are nifty. Costuming is occasionally a bit... strange, especially for the female characters. (Asymmetry, weird layering, um, not enough layers for a respectable matron - the costume designer was keeping things flexible, I guess.) The four main characters had the ill grace to all have dark hair, with three of them having similar haircuts (don't you realise I keep track of people on the screen by their hair (Too much anime in my youth, I guess.) d'Artagnan and Porthos at least are a straight and a curly, respectively, but Athos and Aramis still make me squint sometimes.

The main antagonist, Cardinal Richelieu, is ruthless, smart, occasionally kinda likable and then he does something really awful and I remember why he's the villain, so he's doing his job in the story well. There are some interesting female characters. (And some of them are stunningly, believably bad-ass while they're at it. The Duchess of Savoy, holy s***).

So far I like Porthos's moustache, Athos's voice (come read me poetry, big boy), Constance's pluck, and Aramis whenever he talks to a woman. Or is in the same room, really. There's a sweetness about him when he flirts - less 'player' and more 'falls in love a lot', generally for somebody horribly inappropriate. I suspect his buddies keep whacking him upside the head.

EDIT:

Just saw episode 7, the one with the trumped-up trial that didn't, as such, end happily for the innocent victim.

ARAMIS!!! YOU ARE MY FAVOURITE!! SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE A GOOD GUY AND DESERVE TO BE LOVED.

EDIT:

Have finished season one. Aramis is indeed loved, now, but I don't think it's going to make his life easier. But, awwww...

Can't sleep

2015-05-16T11:35:36Z

Hey ho, at least the cats are adorable.

cat_i_th_adage @ 2015-05-16T15:16:00

2015-05-16T03:16:01Z

Making a push to finish one of the many projects I've got floating around half-finished like floating bad-tempered snakes.

I think can, I think I can...

The Thing With the Roses is currently resting comfortably in my hot water cupboard.

There have been a few stray moments of sunlight today, though the lawn is still extremely squishy. Risked a small run of laundry. There was... a slight misunderstanding with a red scarf in my washing machine. For the most part, the whites ended up quite a fetching shade of pink which can stay or go as it pleases, but my club gear is now in a bucket of bleach, hoping that it can detox itself. (It was a red and black Jolly Roger scarf! I couldn't say 'no' to it! And then it had to be all piratey with the other garments... sigh.)

I know my cats like me because every time I head outside they follow and inevitably drift closer until they are lounging no more than a half metre away. Any feline can be your friend when there's food or a warm belly in the offing. I'm a Useful Garden Fixture.

I must confess, I am in a certain state of anticipation regarding tomorrow morning...

My kitchen smells of roses...

2015-05-12T10:53:45Z

My kitchen smells of roses, by reason of a half-finished craft project. It might not work out so wonderfully (never tried it before), so be prepared for me to Never Mention This Again. Still: roses, mmmmmm...

I've also been playing with an old blouse + dress pattern. You can tell it's old, because it's expected to fit accurately without oceans of ease plunked in. There are a lot of darts. The waste-fabric toile I made turns out to be too small by at least an inch, alas, but it fits so very nice at the front, all smooth and curvy and elegant, that I'll keep on with it.

Chimera looms on the horizon, and Steph and I are running a game. Time to gird our organisational loins...

It is Easter, and I have a cold

2015-04-05T07:36:55Z

Baaaaaahhhhh....

(Food happened today; clothes and bed-linen are in a state of recent launderment; apart from that I'm just napping when I feel like it and feeling sorry for myself when I'm awake. Should probably take some more pain-killers, I guess.)

Enjoy your Easter Eggs, ladies.

EDIT:

I did some grocery shopping today and picked up a lot of stuff that's easy, nutritious, and tastes good, so that should help. And I cooked up some mince gorp this evening, with lots of vegetables and garlic, enough to cut through my dead sense of smell. Went back for seconds! I'll portion out the leftovers in the fridge and the freezer - should help things along over the rest of the week.

The trouble with the cooling weather

2015-03-18T07:11:56Z

Is that the cats have gone from, Lap-sitting is rather pleasant, what? to I need your warmth comfort me NOW.

This does have its bonuses, I'll admit (I feel the cold, too), but frustrating when I'm trying to work on something and they keep shoving themselves in the way - furry purring handicaps, the both of them. So then I get pissy, and they pick up on that, so they try to cram themselves on my lap in a conciliatory, self-effacing, or occasionally just plain sneaky way. Very slowly sneaking, in plain sight, each foot slowly manoevring to its new footing.

It would be hilarious, if it were not also intensely annoying...

Lawn-mowing happened! Bwahaha.

Ahaha

2015-02-16T23:32:04Z

I mowed a lawn today.

That is all.

~~(Soon I will rule you ALL)~~

Ahem.

Scribble Book

"Wheel of the Infinite" continues very interesting.

In Which My Feet Continue a Little Sore

Moments of unexpected delight

Well, at least it isn't literal crack.

That *is* fun.

Fic: "At the Siege of Ungar"

Calling on your recipe-fu

I mowed a lawn; I brought home groceries

I HAVE A NEW RELATIVE

I HAVE ROSES

I can't call it virtue

Epic is All in the Spin

Dear Yuletide Goat

The Internet is For...

It's hayfever season

My trip through the d'Artagnan Romances continues

My House Is Too Quiet

Adventures in cuisine

Not exactly canon

Can't sleep

cat_i_th_adage @ 2015-05-16T15:16:00

My kitchen smells of roses...

It is Easter, and I have a cold

The trouble with the cooling weather

Ahaha

That is fun.