but we ain't friends, we're just morons

Jan. 30th, 2026 09:18 pm
musesfool: drs abbot and robby of the pitt (you did not desert me)
[personal profile] musesfool
Ugh, this week felt like it was EIGHT WEEKS long, and everyone I spoke to at work today agreed. I did not get everything on my to do list done but I don't even care. There was no way I was focusing on much after a 2 hour team meeting. I logged off at 4:45 and took a glorious nap, and then put together the dough for everything bread, which I will bake tomorrow.

In other news, I was so sorry to hear Catherine O'Hara died. RIP. What a legend!

*

I really enjoyed last night's episode of The Pitt. Again, my brain is soup, so I'm not really up for saying much about it, but I did literally yell, "NO!" when the credits rolled. Sometimes I am okay with an episode ending (or at least it feels like it reached a good stopping point) but last night was not one of those times.

This weekend, I will watch the new episode of Shrinking, plus the new episodes of Bridgerton, and possibly I will continue with Pluribus, which I didn't love but kind of want to see why everyone else raves about it. It could click at some point or it could be like Severance, which I also don't love the way many other people do. *hands* Sometimes, that's just how it goes.

*
[personal profile] anneapocalypse

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Urianger Augurelt/Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, Urianger Augurelt & Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, Ardbert & Urianger Augurelt, Unrealized Ardbert/Urianger Augurelt, Pre-Urianger Augurelt/Warrior of Light
Characters: Urianger Augurelt, Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, Ardbert Hylfyst, Elidibus, Unukalhai, Tataru Taru, Minfilia Warde, Warrior of Light, Dewlala Dewla, Y'shtola Rhul, Yugiri Mistwalker, Thancred Waters, J'Rhoomale, Blanhaerz, Lamimi, Naillebert, Haneko Burneko
Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Angst, Religion, Isolation, Loneliness, Patch 3.4: Soul Surrender Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Elezen Warrior of Light, Female Warrior of Light, Canon-Typical Violence, Guilt, Emotional Repression, Child Neglect, Childhood Memories, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Series: With Lilies and With Laurel
Length: 34,805 / 92,000
Chapter: 6/15

Summary:

Heartbroken after the loss of his dearest companion, Urianger labors to save two worlds in which he has never felt more alone.

Notes:

If you're new here, please start with Chapter 1!

Final Fantasy XIV is owned by Square Enix. This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction.

( Read on AO3 )

...or below! )


Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[personal profile] althea_valara
Snowflake Challenge: A flatlay of a snowflake shaped shortbread cake, a mug with coffee, and a string of holiday lights on top of a rustic napkin.

Challenge #15

How Did the Fandom Snowflake Challenge Go? Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.


Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.


I think it went well!

There are people I "know" on Dreamwidth from seeing them around places, that I don't get a chance to interact with much myself. Therefore, I find [community profile] snowflake_challenge delightful because it gives me an excuse to interact with them! And also, find new, interesting people to interact with! It really helps with the sense of community. I mean, even if I end up not interacting with a particular person for whatever reason, it's still fun to see the same names pop up all the time.

I'm a little saddened that things seemed to peter out towards the end of the challenge. I'm not sure if that was the challenge's fault itself, or if we all got tired due to +gestures at the world+. It's probably more of the latter.

I did miss the "make a fanwork" challenge, because in the past I've worked hard on that. In 2023, I made a Crocheted Carbuncle which took a heck of a lot longer than I expected BUT I DID IT, and last year I launched my Neocities site. Not sure what I would have done THIS year, but odds are I would have gone overboard again, lol. I know me.

I've said in the past that I feel mostly on the outskirts of fandom. This year, I feel like I've at least put a foot in the pool? I don't feel so disconnected as I have in the past, and a lot of that has to do with the good people at the Final Fantasy Old Folks' Home, plus being more active in making fanworks myself, and yes, also because of [community profile] snowflake_challenge. So I feel I've had a positive experience this year. Thanks, mods!

you know together we're glowing

Jan. 29th, 2026 07:33 pm
musesfool: a loaf of bread (staff of life)
[personal profile] musesfool
As a post-Christmas treat, I bought myself this Emile Henry dutch oven and the instructions say to boil milk in it (and then clean it out) before using it the first time? I've never heard of that, but my other dutch ovens are enameled cast iron, not ceramic. Has anyone heard of this/done this?

anyway, mainly I bought it because I want to try this no-knead everything bread but didn't want to deal with my 6 qt cast iron dutch oven, which is extremely heavy and also tucked away in a closet somewhere. My plan is to mix it up tomorrow after work since it needs an on-the-counter overnight rise, and then bake it Saturday morning. We'll see how it goes!

I might also make garlic and bread soup again this weekend, and also maybe some version of citrus and soy noodles (it's a ramen recipe but I'm just going to use angel hair instead since I already have it) for dinner tomorrow. Oh, and those orange cranberry scones again - the cranberries are still taking up too much room in my freezer and must be used up!

*

A city aflame fought fire and ice

Jan. 28th, 2026 10:44 pm
musesfool: image of a snowflake (nothing but winter in my cup)
[personal profile] musesfool
In case you haven't listened to it yet: Streets of Minneapolis by Bruce Springsteen.

It's in my bsky feed and my tumblr dash and I saw it here on DW first (in a locked post), so I needed to have it here too.

And since I've been listening to it a lot lately, here's Help Save the Youth of America by Billy Bragg. Unfortunately always timely.

*
[personal profile] musesfool
Today was super annoying because I had a very weird internet outage. Spectrum acknowledged that there was an outage in my area even! But it was only partial? Or intermittent? Just fucking weird. I could get to my work-related sites fairly frequently (outlook, sharepoint), but literally nothing else would load except for some reason gmail. Like, no news sites. No bank. No shopping sites. Bitwarden timed out trying to log into my password vault. I couldn't get anything at all to load on my personal laptop until I plugged in my phone to use it as a hotspot, which was greyed out and not allowed on my work laptop. Finally, around 4 pm when Spectrum said the outage was over but I still didn't have full service, I chatted with them and somehow their reboot of everything worked (even though I rebooted the modem and router several times on my own without any luck), so I was able to get full access to the internet on both laptops and on my TV. *hands*

In other news, I found that a stint overnight in the fridge greatly improved those cupcakes. I wasn't impressed by them at room temp (texture was super spongy), but they're really good with the extra time in the cold! So if you need vegan cupcakes, the KAB recipe is recommended, especially if you make them ahead of time.

Meanwhile, it looks like we might get a nor'easter this coming weekend? A big storm potentially, though with less snow and more wind. No warming of temperatures anyway. Oy.

*
[personal profile] althea_valara
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #14

In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it and include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Let me meme at you:

HAVE YOUR HEARD OF THE
CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED MMORPG
FINAL FANTASY XIV
WITH AN EXPANDED FREE TRIAL
WHICH YOU CAN PLAY THROUGH THE ENTIREY OF
A REALM REBORN
AND THE AWARD-WINNING
HEAVENSWARD
EXPANSION
AND ALSO THE AWARD-WINNING
STORMBLOOD
EXPANSION
UP TO LEVEL 70
FOR FREE
WITH NO RESTRICTIONS
ON PLAYTIME?


Final Fantasy XIV is a fantastic game - but it wasn't always. Its first incarnation was considered a critical failure, so what did they do? They rebuilt the game from the ground up while simultaneously releasing updates for the original version. This way they kept the current fans happy while building something BETTER for everyone.

If you want to know more about the history of FFXIV, I can highly recommend watching the NoClip documentaries; the first one is here: https://youtu.be/Xs0yQKI7Yw4?si=s0qkn8zXX-9agX96

What they ended up doing was creating a calamity ingame that gave them the excuse for a branching off point for the new version. The final scenes of version 1.0 can be seen in the trailer for "A Realm Reborn", version 2.0 of the game and its new "base game":



As A Realm Reborn starts, five years has passed since the calamity, and the city-states of Eorzea have rebuilt - but threats still linger. There's the Garlean Empire which tried to take over Eorzea in the past at the Battle of Silvertear Lake, and has a new plan to invade Eorzea now. But there's also the Primal threat - primals being summoned gods of what's then called the beast tribes. One of the threats of the primals is their ability to enthrall subjects, so that the person only does what the primal wants.

As you start the game, you're just another adventurer - but one with a mysterious power called the Echo, which allows you to glimpse past scenes from others' memories. You start off doing things for your local city-state, making a name for yourself, but soon attract the attention of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn - an organization that works to prevent the primal threat.

Will you make the choice to join the Scions? What's in store for you if you do? That's the story of A Realm Reborn. Now, there are those who say ARR is weak story-wise but I personally feel it's a solid story with enough OMG! moments to keep you interested. And it sets up SO MUCH of the future of the game, so it's well worth playing on its own.

When you first start playing FFXIV, you may find yourself overwhelmed. The HUD (heads-up display) will look rather busy at first, and they'll be a lot of NPCs with quest markers to talk to. The most important ones will have this symbol over their heads:

The Main Scenario Quest Marker in FFXIV.

This is the Main Scenario Quest Marker. If you follow these markers one after another, you'll play through the game's main story. Note that the last marker of each individual quest will be green in color, letting you know that talking to that NPC will complete the quest.

Blue Plus Sign markers unlock things, like extra dungeons or jobs, and are usually good to check out, too. Any other markers can be ignored.

Gameplay is... well I'm not entirely sure what to call it, but you'll have a bunch of actions, abilities, or spells on your hotbar. Pressing certain actions will open up others for big damage, etc, and often, actions have cooldowns before you can use them again. There's an optimum rotation for each job, in which pressing certain buttons one after another will be the most effective. The game helps you though, by highlighting the next proper action(s) to do.

For those who may be scared of playing with others: there is now Duty Support! This is a system in which you can enter dungeons with NPCs rather than other players. You'll still need to do trials with players, but a large part of the game can be "soloed". But really, most players in FFXIV are pretty nice to play with. For instance, there is a "ready check" mechanism where a party member can ask everyone to indicate they are ready to go ahead with the fight, and this is used a LOT in Raids when you may have newcomers watching cutscenes. The vast majority of players will wait at least a little bit for the newbies to finish the scenes before progressing onto the fight.

The following list is my "starter guide" of resources, originally posted on Bluesky but now posted here as well.


FREE TRIAL - Includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn, the award-winning Heavensward expansion, and the Stormblood expansion, and allows you to play up to level 70 with no restrictions on playtime. There ARE some other restrictions, though! https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/na/

SERVER/DATA CENTER - choose a data center close to your region, then choose a server that's open for new characters. Those are indicated by the green person icon next to the server names on the Server Status Page: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/worldstatus/

NEW WORLDS - indicated by "New" on the Server Status page. They offer bonuses such as a leveling buff, FREE GIL!, and more: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/option_service/world_transfer_service/population_balancing/#anchor__001

WORLD VISIT - Couldn't get an account on the server you wanted to? You can visit other worlds and data centers using the World Visit System: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/contentsguide/worldvisit/

STARTING CLASS - pick your Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic starter class. Make sure to do the class quests as you level, and definitely unlock your job at level 30: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Class

STARTING CITY-STATE - This depends on what class you start as. The city-states have slightly different stories to start off, but eventually merge into one grand story line. It really doesn't matter which you start in!

WIKIS - you'll have questions, where to get help? I prefer ConsoleGamesWiki for how fast it loads on my mobile devices: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/FF14_Wiki

WIKIS 2 - The other major wiki is GamerEscape, which I turn to for more indepth guides or to research dialogue/lore: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Main_Page

DUNGEON/TRIAL/RAID GUIDES - Mizzteq (MTQCapture on YouTube) makes wonderful, entertaining guides for the duties. Highly recommended! (Note: it appears she has retired in the past year but her past guides are still available!): https://www.youtube.com/user/MTQcapture

CONTROLLER GUIDE - Do you play on controller? It's a bit outdated but Squintina's controller guide has LOTS of good tips: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q_i5_X01hecbCOZOIN_71zceuSjWSuaN-OJdU6ZPV6s/edit

(C)HOTBARS - oh gods where do I put all these actions? Let XIV bars guide you! They have layouts for both Keyboard/Mouse and Controller: https://www.xivbars.com

TIMERS - FFXIV has a "weekly reset" and other events. Want to know when exactly that is? Check here: https://xenoveritas.org/static/ffxiv/timer.html

CHALLENGE LOG - Unlockable at level 15, this is a great way to get bonus experience and gil: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Challenge_Log

RETAINERS - At level 17, you get access to retainers, which can sell items on the marketboard for you or go out on ventures to retrieve random (or not-random) items: https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Retainers

EUREKA TRACKER - for the Stormblood Relic Weapon farming zone - https://ffxiv-eureka.com

RELIC TRACKER SPREADSHEET - I love a good spreadsheet, and really like Wyn's relic tracker - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11N-u7o2-0cbL4E61rfpXHgAPK2X8S_lwyFUigKAQb08/edit?usp=sharing

RELIC TRACKER SITE - I've played with this, too! https://ffxivrelictracker.com

PVP MALMSTONE CALCULATOR - Calculates how many games you need to play to get all the malmstone rewards: https://belthesar.github.io/MalmstoneXPCalculator/

SQUADRON CALCULATOR - figure out how to train your Adventuring Squadron to level them up and complete missions: https://ffxivsquadron.com

FALOOP! - A website to track hunt marks and World Boss FATEs: https://faloop.app

CENTURIO HUNTS DISCORD - A discord server that can ping you for Hunt Trains, S Ranks, and World Boss FATEs: https://discord.gg/centuriohunts

HGXIV - A discord server for player housing enthusiasts: https://discord.gg/hgxiv14

If you're thinking of playing or returning to the game, do let me know! I'll be glad to assist in any way. <3 And if you're thinking, "This sounds great, but I have no time/money to play; can you tell me about the story?" -- LOOK NO FUTHER: https://altheavalara.neocities.org/ffxiv/
[personal profile] althea_valara
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #13

TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn’t need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it’s even one that you’ve barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.


Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.


I kind of did this in Challenge 12! I listed communities and websites that I'm grateful for.

One other community space I must mention is Best Bar. They know who they are and where we hang out. They've been very supportive of me the past few years and I'm very grateful for that.

But really: Dreamwidth is one of my internet homes, and there's all sorts of great communities here! It's about time I post my list of DW community recs again. It was last posted in 2024, after all. Some of these may be dormant now but I'll include them anyway because I loved the idea of the community. HERE WE GO!!


[community profile] nacramamo is National Craft-Making Month, and is gearing up now to kick off in October. The challenge is to work on some kind of craft every day for 31 days.

[community profile] 100words is a drabble community for fiction of all kinds. They post weekly challenges there.

[community profile] birdfeeding covers everything to do with birdfeeding, gardening for wildlife, and related topics.

[community profile] crowdfunding connects creators, patrons, and fans of cyberfunded creativity. Watch for the mid-month Creative Jam with a new theme each time.

[community profile] reddit_refugees offers resources for newcomers to Dreamwidth.

[community profile] snowflake_challenge runs in January, and is a way to celebrate fandom and meet interesting people on Dreamwidth. There's also [community profile] sunshine_challenge that runs in the summer, but I'm less familiar with that one.

Newly added to the list since I last posted this:

[community profile] allkindsofdolls is what it says on the tin. If you love dolls, check it out.

[community profile] ladiesbingo is a bingo challenge to make works focused on the relationship between women, whether gen, femslash, or familial. I'm currently having great fun trying to fill my bingo board!

[community profile] getyourwordsout is a writing challenge community where you can challenge yourself by wordcount of number of days written per month.

[community profile] 10trueloves is a writing challenge where you pair a character with ten others (IIRC, they don't have to be romantic pairings, but I'm not sure; check the comm for more info!)

[community profile] 1character is a writing challenge where you choose a character and prompt set, then write one line sentences to fill each prompt.

[community profile] everykindofcraft is what it says it is.

[community profile] inspiredby posts writing prompts monthly.

[community profile] makezines is for folks doing just that!

[community profile] threesentenceficathon is happening RIGHT NOW. People leave prompts, other write short fills of 3 sentences or longer.

The past list of community recs:

[community profile] communal_creators is a community for creative types! A mini-round for time pledges will be happening this spring. ANY kind of creativity is welcome! We have people writing (both fic and original), knitting, crochet, vidding, storyboarding, baking, making websites... if it's creative, you're welcome here.

[community profile] ffprompts posts monthly prompts for the Final Fantasy video game franchise. As a big fan of this series, I'd love to see more fills for the prompts happening!

[community profile] addme_fandom is a place to find friends who share your fannish obsessions.

[community profile] lyricaltitles is a bingo fest for fanfiction and original fiction centering around using songs for inspiration!

[community profile] fan_flashworks is a multifandom comm that posts one prompt for the week you use to write a short fanfic.

[community profile] c_ent is for Chinese Entertainment, and comes highly recommended by a few people.

[community profile] booknook posts a weekly Read-in-Progress check-in posts on Wednesdays.

[community profile] reference_library is a place to gather helpful links and share them, run by [personal profile] senmut.

[community profile] sweetandshort is a low-pressure community for creating small fanworks / original works each week.

[community profile] moodthemeinayear is what it says on the tin: the folks there are working on creating custom Dreamwidth mood themes over the course of a year.

[community profile] 1word1day posts a vocabulary word a day!

[community profile] finalfantasy - of course this would be here, if you know me. It's been very slow there lately, but I'd love to see more activity there.

[community profile] awesomeers - they make a post for each day of the week in which they challenge the members to comment with Just One Thing you did today that you're proud of accomplishing. Of course you are free to post more than one thing if you'd like! I love the idea of this community, though I haven't been very active in it lately. I hope to change that, if only to congratulate other people. Also: we celebrate all accomplishments there, so something as simple as "I got out of bed" would be acceptable!

[community profile] do_it - A community for posting to-do lists to make yourself accountable to others.

[community profile] readingtogether - has seen some activity the past few months. It's not like a normal book club where everyone reads the same thing - instead everyone reads their own thing and posts their progress.

[community profile] justcreate - has weekly check in posts where you can update everyone on your creative progress. All kinds of creativity are celebrated there, including fiber arts, drawing, writing, and more.

[community profile] get_knitted - is similar to [community profile] justcreate but posts daily check-ins. The folks there are GREAT about commenting on each other's comments. It's not just for knitting, either - there are people there who do scrapbooking and jigsaw puzzles.

[community profile] drawesome - has drawing challenges. I haven't taken part yet because I am a very sucky drawer, but I hope to start there in the future.

[community profile] genprompt_bingo - for the writers! They generate bingo cards of prompts, with all the prompts being gen. You can, of course, write a shippy fic from the prompt; it's just the prompts themselves aren't meant to be shippy. I'm currently working on a bingo for my last card, wish me luck!

[community profile] allbingo - They do all sorts of bingos, mostly writing-related but I think they've had some crafting ones as well. There's new challenges monthly!

[community profile] agonyaunt - critiques letters to advice columnists and the answers the letter writers get. I love this community because it is filled with smart people that I am learning a lot from. I'm a person of a certain age, and I know because of the timeframe I grew up in I have a lot of inherit biases and whatnot. I try to be above those biases, but sometimes I don't recognize them. Reading the other commenters to [community profile] agonyaunt helps me recognize those biases and better myself.

[community profile] holiday_wishes - active in the last two months of the year. People post their holiday wish lists there, and others fill them! I really was blessed one year - I got a bunch of cards, some yarn, some chocolate, and some other sweet treats. ♥ I couldn't do much in return but I did send back cards to everyone who sent me things.

[community profile] thisfinecrew is a social justice community focused on the USA. It doesn't get as much action as it once did but there are still informative posts there once in a while. [community profile] thissterlingcrew is the UK equivalent.

[community profile] 3weeks4dreamwidth is a thing in which people post/interact more on Dreamwidth, to show love for the platform. ♥

[community profile] your_favourites is an icon making community that migrated over from LiveJournal. Looks like they have themes for members to create icons for, and then take a vote for best icon. I've joined it in hopes of finding more icons to add to my own journal.

[community profile] addme and [community profile] findingfriends are communities to help you find people to add to your Dreamwidth circles. The latter has a set questionnaire to use, and asks that if you use it elsewhere you include a link back to the community.

[community profile] journalsandplanners - what it says on the tin: for those who use a journal or planner to organize their lives. There's also [community profile] bujo for bullet journalers.

[community profile] anime_manga has seen some activity lately!

[community profile] fandomtrumpshate raises money for charity by creating fanworks.

[community profile] getting_started is a community with resources for those new to Dreamwidth.

[community profile] indie_games sometimes sees activity, and in the past, we did a play-together of A Short Hike which was really fun.

[community profile] common_nature is a photo community to share nature pics from your area, and has been active recently.

[community profile] followfriday recommends people/communities to follow each Friday.

[community profile] iconthat is another icon challenge community.

[community profile] signalboost is for getting the word out to others about people needing help in some way.

[community profile] twitter_refugees is for folks migrating to Dreamwidth from Twitter.

[community profile] bnha_fans is for fans of Boku no Hero Academia. It's modded by [personal profile] vriddy who I got to know during a [community profile] snowflake_challenge!

[community profile] comment_bingo is a bingo challenge community for commenting on all those fanfics you read.

[community profile] womansplace is a community that holds dual purpose: 1) Celebrate characters who identify as women or who are aligned with womanhood in transformative fan works. Events include community recs, a prompt fest, and a vid exchange. 2) Raise funds via a vid auction

[community profile] kittens_and_spitefic's goal is to prompt fan content by acting like a total troll and pretending to bash what you want to see up one side and down the other. Commenters then engage with the supposed "troll" by spamming them with cat (and other animal) macros and/or content that caters to everything the original poster professes to hate.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I think that's it! If there's any interesting communities you know about that I've missed, feel free to drop them in the comments! And also feel free to share this post, I'll make it public so you can pass it around.
[personal profile] althea_valara
Folks! The last time I worked on this was April of 2024. I kept putting it off because I was too busy playing the game. But I've been toying around with my Neocities site again, and that made me want to get back to this.

This is incredibly long because I've faithfully transcribed ALL the dialogue that happens during this part of the game (with the exception of a mini-game and some dialogue choices; I only have the answer for one choice, not both. I'll fix that later.) Get a drink and something yummy, then get cozy because you'll be reading a while.

Previous posts in this series:

* A Realm Reborn recap
* Patches 2.1-2.55 reflection
* Heavensward Recap
* Post-HW Recap
* Stormblood Recap!
* The Crystal Tower synopsis
* Post-Stormblood Recap
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 1
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 2: Holminster Switch and the Aftermath.
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 3: Il Mheg, the Faerie Kingdom
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 4: Meeting Emet-Selch and the Night’s Blessed
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 5: Yx’Maja, in the Rak’tika Greatwood
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 6: Rak'tika Lightwarden & a History Lesson
* Shadowbringers Recap Part 7: Return to the Crystarium

Recap from last time! SPOILERS for ShadowbringersDuring our last recap, Vauthry had sicced his sin eaters on Lakeland. The battle was fierce and there were quite a few casualties. The Scions regroup in the Crystarium’s Ocular to discuss future plans, all in agreement not to give up the fight.

Alphinaud has had no luck finding the Lightwarden of Kholusia, while Alisaie has heard a few rumors about Amh Araeng’s Lightwarden but dare not investigate on her own. Still, Alisaie’s information is not concrete, leading Minfilia to suggest traveling to Nabaath Araeng to call back the original Minfilia, as her powers would allow the Scions to easily find the remaining Lightwardens.

Thancred is dead set against this course of action, but Minfilia is persistent.

Sensing your concern, Minfilia reaffirms her commitment to her chosen course of action, and asks that you trust her judgment with an earnestness worthy of her namesake. She then departs—presumably to make her preparations before joining Thancred at the gates.

After a short wait, Minfilia arrives at the appointed place and declares her readiness to depart. But before proceeding, you give her one last opportunity to abandon her chosen course. Her emphatic reply leaves little room for argument, however, so the group turns its attention to the question of how best to pass through Amh Araeng unnoticed. At Alisaie’s suggestion, you decide to split up—sending her, Alphinaud, and Y’shtola to the east to distract the Eulmoran Army while the rest of you take the western route to Nabaath Araeng.

As you near the gate to Amh Araeng, you realize you are not the only one contemplating the ordeals that may lie ahead. Hearing Thancred’s quiet plea for assistance in protecting Minfilia, his trepidation could not be more obvious.

You speak with Hardyss, who grants you passage through the gate—perhaps against her better judgment.


MORE SPOILERS WITHIN! )
[personal profile] musesfool
I would guess we got about 7-8" of snow today before it either stopped or turned to rain (I'm not sure which), and my phone lit up with work chats because they did not make the choice to close the office and make everyone remote on Friday like they should have (in past years, these big forecasts have sometimes turned into duds in reality), so they had to do it today. I was wfh regardless, so it didn't matter to me.

I hope all of you in the path are safe and warm.

More delightfully, I also got pics of Baby Miss L in her Minnie Mouse snowsuit with big smiles on her face - and a video from earlier when she was all, "go in the snow, Mama!" and her mama was like, "We will, but not yet." But Baby Miss L insisted, "But snow, Mama!" Super cute! 🥰🥰🥰

I spent the whole weekend in pajamas, and today I finally tried out a couple of recipes I'd had my eye on for a while: vegan chocolate cupcakes (always useful to have) and whipped ganache (not vegan but delicious) (pics). The cupcakes are okay - a little spongier, texture-wise, than I like, so I'll probably stick with my preferred recipe unless I have a need for ones that are vegan - but the whipped ganache is delicious. It also has butter in it, which I haven't seen before - previously when I've whipped ganache, it's just been the chocolate/cream/vanilla version. As for the cupcakes, I made minis instead of standard, and I swapped in coffee for the water, but otherwise followed the recipe. I got 40 cupcakes out of it, and probably could have gotten a few more, but 40 was more than enough, since I am not taking them anywhere.

*

Greetings!

Jan. 25th, 2026 03:58 pm
lupine_dreaming: (Nancy 1)
[personal profile] lupine_dreaming posting in [community profile] addme
 

So, I made a DW a few years ago, but fell off posting on it pretty quickly. I’ve made this new account in hopes of being more active!


Name: Eclipse


Age: 31


I mostly post about: So far, I’ve mostly been posting my writing as well as fandom meta. I post a mix of fanfic and original writing. But I anticipate also making posts about the books I read and the movies I watch. We’ll have to see how things evolve!


My hobbies and interests are: Drawing, writing, houseplants, reptile care, and dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures.


My fandoms are: I’m in the horror fandom at large. However, my two main niches are the Alien franchise and the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise (minus the shitty remake lol). I’m also in the following fandoms: Ghost the band, Beetlejuice, Phantom of the Opera, and the monster romance community.


Other fandoms I enjoy but that I’m not posting about a lot at the moment are: the Stargate franchise, Batman villains, and Once Upon a Time.


I'm looking to meet people who: Basically, I’m just looking for nice, chill people who share some of my interests!


My posting schedule tends to be: I only recently made this blog, so I don’t know what exactly my schedule will look like, but I anticipate it being fairly sporadic.


When I add people, my dealbreakers are: People who are oddly aggressive and rude, conservatives/MAGA types, people who are anti-LGBT, people who are strongly pro-GenAI, and people who generally participate in fandom purity culture.


Before adding me, you should know: I am in my “cringe but free” era, and as a result, have been writing more OC/self-insert x Canon Character fic — specifically OC x horror villain stuff. If that’s not your thing, this probably isn’t the right blog for you. ^^’ 


Also, while I generally do not care what people ship, I am very uncomfortable with lolisho, so if you like that kind of thing, we won't mesh well.

Let's try this again!

Jan. 24th, 2026 08:20 pm
lupine_dreaming: Credit: LJ user sallymn (sci-fi 1)
[personal profile] lupine_dreaming posting in [community profile] addme_fandom

So, I made a DW a few years ago but fell off posting on it pretty quickly. I’ve made this new account in hopes of being more active!

Name: Eclipse


Age: 31


Country: USA


Subscription/Access Policy: My blog is 18+, as I only feel comfortable interacting with other adults, and I do sometimes discuss mature topics. Right now, all my journals are public, but it’s possible I may post some more personal stuff that I might feel more comfortable friends locking. We’ll have to see!

I like to post about: So far, I’m using my journal to crosspost my fanfic and original writing, as well as sharing some of my own rambly thoughts on fandom. My writing tends to focus on monster romance, horror, supernatural stuff, villains, or some combination thereof.


I’m sure I will continue posting my writing and talking about my fandoms, but it’s possible I may also post book reviews or movie reviews. 


Main Fandoms: Horror fandom generally, but specifically the Alien movies and the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. My other main fandom interests are: the band Ghost, Beetlejuice, and Phantom of the Opera, as well as the monster romance community.


Other Fandoms: The Stargate franchise, Once Upon a Time, and the Batman villains fandom. I don’t talk about these things quite as much right now, but I still enjoy them and would be happy to follow you if you enjoy these things!


About Me/Other Info: I am in my “cringe but free” era, and as a result, have been writing more OC/self-insert x Canon Character fic – specifically OC x horror villain stuff. If that’s not your thing, this probably isn’t the right blog for you. ^^’

Also, while I generally do not care what people ship, I am very uncomfortable with lolisho.


[personal profile] althea_valara
two log cabins with snow on the roofs in a wintery forest the text snowflake challenge january 1 - 31 in white cursive text

Challenge #12

Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life. Appreciate them in bullet points, prose, poetry, a moodboard, a song... whatever moves you!


Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it.

Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Also, feel free to entice engagement by giving us a preview of what your post covers.


If you've read any of my [community profile] snowflake_challenge posts by now, you'll know I'm a huge Final Fantasy in particular, and a video gamer in general. Therefore, my #1 thanks has to go to [personal profile] lassarina, who's been doing a weekly "What Are You Playing?" post on Wednesdays. I've been commenting (long, I can't write short about my passions) nearly weekly there for years now, and I really enjoy it. It gives me a chance to blurble happily about a topic that well, my family doesn't understand in any way but HERE IS SOMEONE WHO DOES.

[personal profile] lassarina and her dear friend [personal profile] seventhe have run a Final Fantasy Kiss Battle in the past (and Rina and Sev, if you're reading this and need help this year, let me know, I'd be glad to help out in any way!) and really, that was my first step into producing fanworks. Well okay, no it wasn't, my crafts were, but that feels less real and valid than writing fanfic, which is silly because I know there's people out there who really like my fandom crafts! But I think the crafts are more solitary pursuits, whereas fanfic--especially for a prompt challenge!--is more of a community thing. I'm forever grateful that they graciously allowed me to prompt one year, which led to me reading a prompt and Getting Inspired and writing a fic.

I'm grateful for everyone in the Final Fantasy Old Folks' Home. We don't get a ton of activity, but there's usually talk about fanfic writing at least a few times a week, and that alone makes me feel more connected to the fandom, even if I'm not really participating in the conversation myself.

I'm grateful for R51, who runs Caves of Narshe, a Final Fantasy fan site. I became a member there years ago and am one of the few who still posts on the forums there (remember forums?). I hang out in their Discord, too, and have helped out with the site itself. That makes me feel connected as well!

I don't know if crafts can be considered a fandom, but I'm also grateful to [personal profile] badly_knitted for running [community profile] get_knitted, a community for creative types to post daily status updates. I haven't been posting there in a while because I'm currently going through a fallow period, but I still love the community and how supportive everyone is there.

I would not be me with Nerdopolis on Ravelry, so I'm grateful to blackpebble, LisaJedi and the rest of the Council of Nerds for keeping the challenge running all these years. They'd probably say, "And we can't do it without you!" because I captain a team, am Rogue Leader, and do other things for the community. It is definitely my home on Ravelry, and I love it.

I still feel mostly on the outskirts of fandom, but I've got a small circle who GETS IT, and for that, I'm really grateful.
[personal profile] anneapocalypse

Fandom: Final Fantasy XIV
Rating: Mature
Archive Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light, Alphinaud Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, Unrequited Minfilia Warde/Warrior of Light, Unrequited Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light, Pre-Urianger Augurelt/Warrior of Light, Alisaie Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, Warrior of Light & Thancred Waters, Y'shtola Rhul & Warrior of Light, Midgardsormr & Warrior of Light, Hydaelyn & Warrior of Light, Urianger Augurelt & Warrior of Light, Minfilia Warde & Warrior of Light, Ardbert & Warrior of Light
Characters: Warrior of Light, Haurchefant Greystone, Alphinaud Leveilleur, Urianger Augurelt, Y'shtola Rhul, Thancred Waters, Emmanellain de Fortemps, Artoirel de Fortemps, Edmont de Fortemps, Alisaie Leveilleur, Minfilia Warde, Midgardsormr (Final Fantasy XIV), Tataru Taru, Ardbert (Final Fantasy XIV), Warriors of Darkness (Final Fantasy XIV), Scions of the Seventh Dawn, Unukalhai (Final Fantasy XIV)
Additional Tags: Grief/Mourning, Survivor Guilt, Elezen Warrior of Light, Female Warrior of Light, Healer Warrior of Ligh, Angst, Suicidal Thoughts, Religious Angst, Depression, Patch 3.0: Heavensward Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Patch 3.4: Soul Surrender Spoilers (Final Fantasy XIV), Canon-Typical Violence
Series: With Lilies and With Laurel
Length: 28,192 / 82,000
Chapter: 6/15

Summary:

A heartbroken Warrior of Light struggles to come to terms with loss, and the world she has been left to save.

Notes:

If you're new here, please start with Chapter 1!

Final Fantasy XIV is owned by Square Enix. This is a non-commercial work of fanfiction.

( Read on AO3 )

...or below! )

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

3 sentence fics

Jan. 23rd, 2026 10:25 pm
sideways: (►happy being someone)
[personal profile] sideways
Managed a few fills for 3 Sentence Ficathon season! I feel like I managed to almost have a theme here. 1 Jurassic Park, 1 Scavenger's Reign, 2 Finisterre, and 1 TMNT.

and mostly only 3 sentences. mostly. )
[personal profile] muladhara
Holy fuck, where did the last two weeks go???

That's rhetorical - I know where it went. Work. And I have just been in work for seven days straight, and feeling ill for some of it! I think I had a mild cold (I was snotty and sneezing, as were some of my coworkers), but I also had what I'm pretty sure was a fibromyalgia flare \o/ It was fucking awful. My main memory of it is that I felt very stiff, like all my muscles had seized up, and my ligaments/tendons were on their way to join them. It got better after a decent night's sleep but ooooh boy it was not fun while it was happening.

I still don't feel 100% now, but I definitely feel better than I did then.

Luckily, I'm on holiday again soon, as it is leading up to my birthday!! I have zero plans, as always. I will probably lie in bed playing video games and snuggling up with the cat.

I don't really have anything else to say - I've been in work more often than not, and therefore nothing remotely interesting has happened.

(no subject)

Jan. 22nd, 2026 10:12 pm
sushiflop: (dolphin; HAY U GUYS)
[personal profile] sushiflop posting in [community profile] addme
Name: Senri

Age: 30+



I mostly post about: A smorgasboard of things! Lots of book reviews, discussion and chatter about different fandoms, links to interesting things I've read or looked at on the internet, recipes I've cooked and whether I liked them, writing memes, and I'm trying to get more into posting short life anecdotes.



My hobbies are: I write both original work and fanfic, I'm playing more videogames these days, and I'm easing my way back into doing art and being outdoorsy. I like working out, going for walks, and listening to crickets, moving water, and birdsong. I'm athletic and specifically enjoy swimming, weightlifting, yoga, and spinning. I was into dwrp for a long time and still enjoy doing private storylines with friends. I love trying new things and will do almost anything once!



My fandoms are: Attack on Titan (I do not like the ending or think it was well-written, and because you can find those types in this fandom: I do not think Eren was right), Animorphs, Naruto, TWEWY, Tanith Lee's books esp the Unicorn Triology, Gravity Falls, Eyeshield 21, Blade of the Immortal, Dungeon Meshi, D.Gray-man, Lilo & Stitch. If I liked something once, I will probably have a soft spot for it just about forever.



I'm looking to meet people who: are chill and kind and value being kind to others. Nerdy types who like writing and book talk. Thoughtful people. Shared fandoms are far from necessary; I don't fanpost that much. I enjoy getting a small window into lives different from mine and my goal is to make friendly connections with others and be kind c:



My posting schedule tends to be: sporadic. I check my reading list regularly and do try to comment.



When I add people, my dealbreakers are:
No:

  • Purity wankers/purity police, if this is your choice for how to engage with fandom as a hobby we aren't meant to be friends. My own journal content is quite milquetoast overall and I warn for more extreme content when my writing involves it, so you won't blindly click your way into extreme content you aren't into if you add me, and I generally try to avoid this kind of discourse in my journal other than making my stance on this clear at the outset.
  • Conservatives/MAGAs
  • I don't want racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism etc on my friendslist and will unfollow and block commenting on my journal over it
  • I'm not a fan of genAI at all



Before adding me, you should know: I will probably not grant you access for a long time if we follow each other. It's not personal, I just like to know a person well and know that we mesh before I grant access. You won't be missing a whole lot as I don't post under access filters often.

the grand facade so soon will burn

Jan. 22nd, 2026 07:59 pm
musesfool: Dot & Phryne from Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (i think it's 'cause we're awesome)
[personal profile] musesfool
Over the past few days, I finally watched the most recent season of Only Murders in the Building and I enjoyed it tremendously. I feel like I laughed a lot more than I did last season. The thing that is so great about this show, other than all the other things that are great about it, is that the cast is so stacked that you can't play the "most famous guest star is the murderer" game. I mean, this season alone, we had spoilers )

In other news, we are - and possibly you are too - supposed to be getting a big winter storm this weekend so I'm thinking about baking plans. I will definitely post if I make something good. *g*

*

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muladhara: (Default)
well-informed doorstop

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