Riku's Character Design Change

Jan. 17th, 2026 05:57 pm
bedes: An icon of Bede from Pokemon, smirking towards the camera. (Default)
[personal profile] bedes
Now, if I were writing the Kingdom Hearts series, I would make it so that Riku cut his hair while undercover at the Organization, so that his hair would grow out again and go down to his upper back by the time Dream Drop Distance comes around. Instead of cutting it short and then associating his longer hair with "Dark Riku" and his flawed past and such.

I mean, the writers can do whatever boring shit they're doing too I guess. All I'm saying is that every time a queercoded male villain is made to cut his hair during his redemption arc, an angel loses its wings.

Jan 22nd update: My feelings on this matter have only intensified since learning that the sole reason that Riku's hair was changed was because ""fans"" kept complaining about it.
bedes: (ivan)
[personal profile] bedes
But jokes aside, I’m pretty sure that The First Cookies are the Beast’s “mothers” in the same way that God is “the father”. It’s meant to mean that they are their creators in a religious context, not their literal parents. Especially since The First Cookies were once witches that are now in cookie form, and witches are very clearly worshiped as religious figures. (Shadow Milk even refers to them as “gods” quite blatantly.)

The implication is intended to be that The First Cookies made the Virtues when they were witches — thus, why First Milk is still a human when depicted with Fount of Knowledge.

Anyways, Shadow Milk’s creator being a healer and his other half being a healer and the Beast he’s arguably closest to being a healer is so funny because that freak has never healed from anything in his LIFE

Plural Shadow Milk Headcanon

Jan. 17th, 2026 04:52 pm
bedes: Icon of Kangel from Needy Streamer Overload whistling (kangel)
[personal profile] bedes
System: OSDD-1b (lacks amnesia between alters). Unaware that they are a system. They all believe that they are Shadow Milk, who has different “mindsets” he takes on.

Shadow Milk Cookie: Current host. Originated as a protector, now a persecutor. Initially split when Fount was attacked by the angry mob depicted in Dominion of the Beasts 2.

Fount of Knowledge: Ex-host and core. Infrequent solo-fronter, occasional co-fronter.

Young Shepherd Cookie: Syskid and innocence-holder. Only fronts when by himself. Initially split during their imprisonment in the Silver Tree, partially to make up for the system’s lack of a childhood.

Birdfeeding

Mar. 19th, 2026 11:44 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and mild. :D

The stump grinder guy has come and gone. He did an excellent job. The stump in front of the garden shed is gone and the hole mostly filled, though I'll add some top soil to smooth it out more. The east path is nearly smooth, might need a bit of raking. I'm particularly impressed that a ring of daffodils around the plump stump is still there! I had expected to lose those, so the precision is noteworthy. The parking lot is also nearly smooth. He got right up to the edge of the sidewalk and rock wall, although he advised there are some buried rocks and concrete that we didn't know about. I may need to rake some areas, and certainly need to see about removing the last stubs from the sidewalk to recreate that defensive zone. My partner Doug plans to drive over the parking lot to press it down some before ordering a load of fresh gravel to top it. Progress!

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches. Cardinals are singing.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I put about half a bag of topsoil into the hole in front of the garden shed to smooth it out. That may need more later after it settles, but it'll do for now.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I filled a flat of 12 pots with potting soil and in each pot I planted 5 seeds of short landrace marigolds. These are similar to Shithouse Marigolds but shorter. If I can get them growing well, I can save money buying nursery marigolds. I covered them with a plastic tub to serve as a greenhouse. I still need to label them though.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I labeled the marigolds.

I checked the east path. It doesn't really need anything but grass seed. We'll need to buy a big bag of that. Recommended time for spring sowing is late March to mid-April.

I checked the parking lot. I picked up a few pieces of junk that were churned up, but it's also pretty good. I do need to work on clearing more of the sidewalk, but a lot of that will just be brushing dirt off it.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I started working on the sidewalk again. Much of what covers it is just loose dirt that needs to be scraped off. Some is still packed dirt and roots.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I watered the seeds under tubs.

It's 71°F now. Over the next few days, it's supposed to reach 80°F. 0_o

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I started the process of topping up troughs on the new picnic table. I want to finish those first six with the self-mulching potting soil.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 3/19/26 -- I finished topping up the troughs. I'll need to get more American Countryside potting mix. I like how it self-mulches. Soon I'll be planting peas in these. My plan this year, instead of putting the peas in their own container, is to space them out so they fertilize other plants. We'll see how that works.

While the deep freeze killed a fair amount of things, much has survived. Crocus have already put out new flowers. The bluebell leaves weren't as damaged as I expected. More squills are blooming.

It is 7:20 PM and not quite full dark. This was my first after-supper yardening session. :D

I am done for the night.

Wednesday What I'm...

Mar. 19th, 2026 12:00 pm
reeby10: the lower half of a person laying on grass and reading with the words 'time to escape' and a ripped looking border (reading)
[personal profile] reeby10
Reading
  • Read some more of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. It largely seems to be just a collection of little stories, which are interesting, but it does feel like slow going.
  • Read some more of Demon Fish by Juliet Eilperin. The stuff about shark calling was very interesting, especially because I was surprised to have not heard of it before!
  • Ficwise, I'm all over the place. Read quite a bit for Private Property and Never Let Me Go, with some PondPhuwin RPF in the mix. Currently rereading a JunDylan fic again because I needed some comfort food lol
Watching
  • The roommate and I finished MuTeLuv. I enjoyed the Dew in Japan story, though once again, the het romance did not work for me. But the SurfJava story was just as good as everyone had been saying! Possibly my favorite one in the bunch. It was nice to see Surf getting to do more than he did in Head 2 Head, as well as Java playing a much less pathetic character. (I just had to ignore that this was supposed to be the OhmLeng story...)
  • The roommate and I started watching Century of Love. The production value is a bit iffy, but Daou and Offroad are delightful so far. Very interested to see where it's going.
  • The roommate and I watched more of Running Man Thailand. Well, attempted. Idk what's going on, but the app we stream it through keeps freezing up a few minutes in and won't load anymore. It's just for this show, none of the others we watch there, but it's happened on episodes 2, 3, and 4! We're waiting for episode 3 to make it to youtube so we can actually finish it.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Cat for Cash. Very sweet episode! And Winny did show up just like I'd seen spoilers for, which was kind of sad considering he and Satang recently broke up. So this is their last role together. We'll see if he shows up in any other episodes.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Duang With You. It's getting steamy! I was surprised that kind of scene was happening already, which makes me wonder, especially with the preview for next week, if things are going to start falling apart for them.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Only Friends: Dream On. Some machinations happening that seem to be heading in interesting ways, both positively and negatively. Looking forward to more of the fallout. Especially with Rome seeming so disappointed with Raffy's choices, which didn't even work out for him.
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of Yesterday. I am refusing to believe Lalit is dead lol But ooh, Kelvin! I hope he goes insane over thinking Vier's dead. The preview for next week is very puzzling in that regard though...
  • The roommate, best friend, and I watched the latest episode of My Romance Scammer. And it all comes tumbling down! Poor Tim and poor Pai, they really went through it. Excited to see how they manage to rebuild things!
Listening
  • Still making my way through the LYKN tour videos.
Writing
  • Started on my fic for [community profile] songkranexchange . Not sure if I love the concept, so we'll see if I finish it or try something else.
  • Wrote more on the omegaverse ArmTae fic. I think maybe I'm about halfway through? Maybe? They're taking their sweet time...
Learning
  • I took my laptop to the cafe to write on Saturday, but it ended up not being charged and they don't have outlets, so I worked on Japanese since the roommate had her workbook with her! I practiced hiragana, which was honestly a lot more longhand writing than I've done in a long time lol

Community Thursdays

Mar. 19th, 2026 12:13 am
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This year I'm doing Community Thursdays. Some of my activity will involve maintaining communities I run, and my favorites. Some will involve checking my list of subscriptions and posting in lower-traffic ones. Today I have interacted with the following communities...

* Posted "Tutorials" on [community profile] getting_started.

* Posted "Gaming" on [community profile] girlgamers.

* Posted "Ostara" on [community profile] goddessfolk.

* Posted "Birdfeeding" on [community profile] birdfeeding.

Science

Mar. 18th, 2026 04:12 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Earth's changing climate is harming crop diversity exactly where the security of global food production needs it most

A new study warns that if global warming surpasses 1.5°C, vast regions could lose critical crop diversity, heightening the risk to worldwide food security.

Researchers predict that about one-third of global food production may be in jeopardy due to higher temperatures, underscoring how climate change is expected to reshape agriculture, especially in vulnerable low-latitude countries.



You know what? I think they're barking up the wrong tree here. Humans have done FAR more damage to the foodstream than climate change has so far. I'm sure climate change will get around to that, but it's late to the party. Humans have already discarded many traditional crops because they don't lend themselves to commercial growing, drastically limiting the typical diet.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Mar. 18th, 2026 01:39 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is sunny, less cold, with a light breeze.  This is a huge improvement.  :D

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I did a bit of work outdoors. 

The mower has been picked up for its spring tuneup.

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I picked up more junk from the parking lot.

I've seen a lot more sparrows and house finches, plus a fox squirrel.

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio. 

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I started trying to unearth the edge of the sidewalk bordering the parking lot on the south side.  It is exhausting, and must be done before the stump-grinder guy arrives early tomorrow. D:

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I hacked away at the east end of the sidewalk.  There are still several feet of the middle buried.

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I continued hacking at the sidewalk edge.

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I did more hacking at the sidewalk edge.  I think it's about as good as I can get it.  There's a big patch in the middle that I couldn't clear due to roots and brush, but at least the edge is more-or-less visible at both ends.

I've seen a male cardinal at the hopper feeder.

EDIT 3/18/26 -- I did more work around the patio. 

I am done for the night.



Cuddle Party

Mar. 18th, 2026 12:05 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Poem: "Who Once Knew Better Words"

Mar. 17th, 2026 11:12 pm
ysabetwordsmith: (Fly Free)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is today's freebie, inspired by a prompt from LJ user My_partner_doug.

Read more... )

10trueloves: broken

Mar. 17th, 2026 06:00 pm
senmut: All five Justice League members standing in a circle (Comics: JLA YO)
[personal profile] senmut
AO3 Link | Not Alone (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Justice League (Franchise)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: J'onn J'onnz & Dinah Lance
Characters: J'onn J'onzz, Dinah Lance
Additional Tags: +Modern Age (1986-Present), Post-Crisis, Triple Drabble
Summary:

After everything with the White Martians and his brother, Dinah is there



Not Alone

The next time J'onn woke, it was no longer Bruce with him, but Dinah. He closed his eyes once more, strangely loathe to have her be the one to see him this reduced.

He knew he would be just as bad with Arthur.

There was an unspoken bond between the three of them, the last of the five original that had faced the Appellaxian warriors, leading to the formation of the Justice League in its original incarnation. For one of them to be reduced nearly to destruction —

"You mean like when Arthur's entire world was brought down around his ears and we nearly lost him to grief-madness? Or when I got myself stupidly caught and died at least twice on the hospital table?"

He had to open his eyes, chagrin among his emotions as he realized the telepathic connection had not been shielded at all. She moved from the chair and got up in the recovery bed with him, careful of the tech monitoring his status.

"You were upset that neither of us reached out, that we locked you out of being able to help us then. And we got the point. We three, we have each other, among the many we've brought in since then.

"Let me in, and Arthur as soon as he gets free, so we can help you recover."

J'onn didn't trust his mind or his voice to express any of what he was feeling, but she reacted, bringing a hand up along one angular cheek as she settled her head on his shoulder.

"You're not broken. You had to make a very harsh, hateful call against a man you shared a genetic pattern with. And you did so at great cost to yourself.

"But you will heal. And we are with you the whole way."

Birdfeeding

Mar. 17th, 2026 02:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and cold.  At least the howling wind stopped.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

Many of the plants that were sprouting have died from the hard freeze.  :/  Some still look fine though.  At least some of the sprouts in my jug and tub greenhouses have survived.

EDIT 3/17/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 3/17/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I've seen a large flock of sparrows and two male cardinals.

EDIT 3/17/26 -- I did more work around the patio.

I am done for the night. 

Poetry Fishbowl Open!

Mar. 17th, 2026 12:27 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Poetry Fishbowl is now CLOSED. Thank you for your time and attention. Please keep an eye on this page as I am still writing.

Starting now, the Poetry Fishbowl is open! Today's theme is "anything goes." I will be checking this page periodically throughout the day. When people make suggestions, I'll pick some and weave them together into a poem ... and then another ... and so on. I'm hoping to get a lot of ideas and a lot of poems.

Stuck for ideas? You can find prompts by ...
* browsing planned poems for Aquariana and the Maldives, The Big One, Broken Angels, Calliope and Vagary, Officer Pink and Turq, Pips and Joshua, or Shiv. (Some of these I've already done, so they're not all up to date, but others I haven't done yet.)
* browsing my Serial Poetry page for favorite threads or characters.
* browsing series with recently created landing pages: Artists of Destruction, Coracle Shores, Crystal Wood, Strike of the Thunderbirds, The Wandering (on the Serial Poetry page), Iron Horses, Peculiar Obligations, Not Quite Kansas.
* browsing my QUILTBAG list, Romantic Orientations in My Characters, Sexual Orientations in My Characters, Gender Identities in My Characters, or My Characters with Disabilities for favorites.
* naming a poetic form you'd like to see written.
* picking a prompt from my current bingo cards: National Crafting Month Bingo 3-1-26
* picking some from the Bingo Generator prompt lists.
* looking up fun tropes on Fanlore.
* choosing an unusual word.
* plugging a favorite topic into your search engine and choosing a picture that looks interesting.
* anything short. I could especially use short poems today as other prompts are likely to run long.
* standalone ideas, if you're a fan of that rather than series.

What Is a Poetry Fishbowl?

Writing is usually considered a solitary pursuit. One exception to this is a fascinating exercise called a "fishbowl." This has various forms, but all of them basically involve some kind of writing in public, usually with interaction between author and audience. A famous example is Harlan Ellison's series of "stories under glass" in which he sits in a bookstore window and writes a new story based on an idea that someone gives him. Writing classes sometimes include a version where students watch each other write, often with students calling out suggestions which are chalked up on the blackboard for those writing to use as inspiration.

In this online version of a Poetry Fishbowl, I begin by setting a theme; today's theme is "anything goes." I invite people to suggest characters, settings, and other things of any type. Then I use those prompts as inspiration for writing poems.

New to the fishbowl? Read all about it! )

10trueloves: overprotective

Mar. 16th, 2026 08:25 pm
senmut: a bright blue tribal seahorse (General: Tribal Seahorse)
[personal profile] senmut
AO3 Link | Reasons (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) [2020]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dinah Lance ~ Renee Montoya
Characters: Dinah Lance, Renee Montoya
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Canon Typical Violence, Complicated Relationships
Summary:

Dinah can't handle being the reason... but can see why.



Reasons

"What the fuck was that?"

Renee looked at the singer turned vigilante and didn't have a great answer for her, Dinah just knew, seeing it in the woman's fading fear — for Dinah — and the drop of her eyes.

"Got a little nervy is all," she decided to say. "Cop reflexes, all that."

Dinah's eyes went narrow, before she sucked in a breath and spun away, unleashing the full Cry on the alley, stopping the gang advance, pinning several with trash bins and debris from the sheer force of it.

Her gaze flicked to the rapist-murderer laying there, dead from a single shot through his forehead.

"Let's get outta here." She stalked off, knowing good and damn well no one would look too close into the death, that Renee wouldn't pay the price for the killing —

— but Dinah would have rather never have been the reason Renee squeezed off the round.

Renee followed; Dinah hadn't told her not to, and they really needed to hash this out without Harley or the kid or anyone else butting in.

"You held your mom's death against me for years."

The quiet words, spoken three blocks over, threw cold water on Dinah's temper.

"I don't. Not now. She… she made choices too."

"Yeah, but… I knew what those choices cost you, and I hate it. I can't… you… I need you to make it out of this shit alive."

Dinah took a breath, then another, before she put a hand on Renee's forearm. "Goes both ways, now. I need you to keep breathing, kicking ass with me, and make it count when we finally decide we can walk away.

"Not for mom. For me."

"Yeah, I get that. I'm going to try harder to remember you make your own choices, but it's hard."

"Always is."

Fossils

Mar. 16th, 2026 05:30 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
The Kotlin Crisis: Earth’s first mass extinction may have been far worse than previously believed

Fossils of the first sea creatures, long assumed to have vanished before a major mass extinction about 550 million years ago called the Kotlin Crisis, have now been found and are providing new details about that time period.

This discovery transforms what once looked like a routine species decline in Earth’s early history into what may be the first catastrophic extinction in animal history.



Second, actually, after the Great Farting Oxygen Event changed the atmosphere from reducing to oxydizing -- almost everything died, except a few archaea that found anoxic refuges and a few organisms that figured out how to use oxygen. But most people forget about that one.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Mar. 16th, 2026 04:29 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is cloudy and frigid, spitting snow and howling wind. :/  It stormed last night.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a small mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus several cardinals.

I put out water for the birds.

Monday Update 3-16-26

Mar. 16th, 2026 11:16 am
ysabetwordsmith: Artwork of the wordsmith typing. (typing)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "Colorful Opportunities"
Tool Use
Cyberspace Theory
Birdfeeding
Science
Today's Adventures
Urbana Free Library Seed Exchange
Wildlife
Creative Jam
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Pictures
Communities
Safety
Today's Adventures
Gardening
Birdfeeding
Crafts
Follow Friday 3-13-26: Love
Friday Five
Crafts
Birdfeeding
Ethnic Studies
Community Thursdays
Poem: "To Understand Water"
Cyberspace Theory
Science
Today's Adventures
Safety
Birdfeeding
Science
Prairie Moon Order
Select Seeds Order
Hard Things


Linguistics has 44 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 60 comments. Safety has 54 comments. Wildlife has 48 comments. Food has 67 comments.


There will be a Bonus Fishbowl on Tuesday, March 17 with a theme of "anything goes." Think back over your favorite ideas that haven't fit a prompt call yet; you can suggest whatever you want in this one.


March Meta Matters Challenge banner

[community profile] marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.


The weather has been erratic here. We've had warm days. Yesterday was cold with howling wind, then pouring rain; today it snowed a bit and is still howling wind. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a mourning dove, and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops, winter aconite, miniature irises, daffodils, squill.

Poem: "Colorful Opportunities"

Mar. 15th, 2026 10:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: A paint roller creates an American flag, with the text Arts and Crafts America. (Arts and Crafts America)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This is the freebie for the March [community profile] crowdfunding Creative Jam. It was inspired by the "tape" square in my 3-1-26 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Arts and Crafts America.


"Colorful Opportunities"


Tape is a material
that is always full of
colorful opportunities.

It can make borders and
frames on scrapbook pages.

It stripes the handles of
tools for easy identification.

It flags pages for future reading.

It makes cute cutouts for
decorating boxes and books.

Tape holds hobbies together.

Tool Use

Mar. 15th, 2026 04:17 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today my partner Doug asked me to remove a bunch of staples for him.  I first looked for my staple remover but couldn't find it.  Instead I grabbed the tiny screwdriver that I got from Power Plus at the Home and Garden Expo.  It actually worked better.  Because it's swag, the screwdriver tip is very thin and narrow.  That made it a lot easier to slide under the ends of the staples to open them, then slide under the wide part of the wire to twist it loose.  Staple removers typically have very thick teeth that can be difficult to get under the wire.  So this is now my staple remover of choice, and will live in my office drawer.  :D

What most people call luck or opportunity is, in my observation, largely situational awareness.  I needed a tool; I thought about what would work; I used what I had.  And then I noticed that it worked better than a dedicated tool from the past.  A small discovery, but it makes my primate brain very happy. 

Cyberspace Theory

Mar. 15th, 2026 01:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
AO3 BS

AO3 is apparently crashing out again... Le sigh, do NOT get me wrong I do adore that site (for reading... I've yet to use it as a writer) but damn this just keeps happening.

Frequent service outage is one of the later signs of platform degradation heading for collapse. Always stay alert for warning signs, because they help you save your data and shore up contact with friends before it is too late.

Read more... )

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