while they did live happily ever after

ALRIGHTY LJ

NOBODY IS POSTING (INCLUDING ME)

who actually still visits this site on a regular basis? And what, exactly, is that regular basis? This is just me being curious I'm not going to go anywhere and half of us are also Facebook friends but you know.

ALSO if you are not spending time here, are you spending it on another site, or are you too busy being consumed with ~*~real life~*~?

also I am trying to decide which project I should work on over this whole nine-month deployment thing. I am slowly getting more settled and accepting that This Is My Life ("yeah! I spent the majority of my first year of marriage apart from my husband! so much for 'alone time before having children'" mostly I jest but it is partially true sob) and so once I beat ME2 and then ME3 and Kaidan comes back and tells me he's sorry and he loves me and I can say IT'S OKAY, I LOVED YOU ALL ALONG much to Quark's disgust as that happens and I get on a schedule (studying Old English? Who has to study for a...language course...sob) I will be WRITING and I have to finish Godbaby fic

(snippet NO STEALING: The pounding grows quieter. I am afraid to look over the wall, and I do not know why. I have only ever spoken to Mother and to the elves. Mother taught me a greeting, but I do not know if the girl—if it is a girl—will understand me. And she is only one person, and Mother told me to find a town. I think that if I wait, she and the animals will go away. I am good at sitting still for hours, at hiding from the sight of those around me. I will wait.

The grass itches at my hands, but I do not move. The smell of the animals is strong and unpleasant, but I do not cough. The sun becomes brighter and brighter in the sky, and sweat drips into my eyes, and I barely blink. I am not here, I think. I think of nothing else.)

but also I want to work on a novel so that WP has something to read that is my fanfiction. Top choices are Goblin Novel (probably he would like it best, but it needs serious serious work because I wrote it during first semester senior year which was INSANE and Pictash spends a lot of time in a library doing research) and 2010 NaNo That Went Nowhere (the two main characters don't have names, also they are basically a younger version of Nevalle and Tanithar) (her name is either Theresa or Tabitha, but Tabitha is too close to Tanithar and I don't like the way Theresa looks, though I like the sound of it) (anyway it's my Generic Fantasy Novel in the same way that the Goblin Novel is my Subversion of the Generic Fantasy Novel). SUGGESTIONS WELCOME.

okay okay time to go eat lunch and borrow Quark's shower and pay my rent and get a library card WOOT.

♥

eta: MY UPSTAIRS NEIGHBOR IS WATCHING SLEEPING BEAUTY is it wrong to want to knock on their door and tell them how cool they are. (Actually I think they have small children, but still. This has made my early afternoon.)

1) AH I'M A WEEK BEHIND IN KORRA I need to fix that tomorrow morning before the next episode airs. SO, A WEEK BEHIND.

But shipping-wise I'm pretty neutral (I don't mind the apparent endgame ship but I'm not rabid about it) and so I'm able to just sit back and enjoy EVERYTHING, and EVERYTHING is so freaking awesome. Uh I haven't watched it in three weeks so I don't have anything specific in mind to talk about, but, you know! Korra! WATCH IT.

2) I finally read The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, which led to a conversation between beth_shulman and myself that led to my realizing this:

So is it sad? Yes. Did it make me cry? Oh yes, though I mostly managed to keep it to sniffles. Did it occasionally frustrate me or seem a bit impossible? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. In the end, I really like his books--they deeply connect with me on an intellectual level, so while I'm not always emotionally invested as deeply as I might be, I'm definitely challenged and entertained. And this one slipped through and hit some emotional spots too.

If, uh. Any of that made sense. IT DEPENDS ON HOW YOU INTERACT WITH JOHN GREEN? It was definitely better than Will Grayson, Will Grayson. I need to reread Paper Towns. I want him to write more kickass female characters. I think that bit above about me saying that I connect intellectually if not emotionally actually is an epiphany for me re: John Green's books. (Like, I didn't really like the main character of Paper Towns all that much, but I LOVE what [John] [Green] [what do I even call him] did with the deconstruction of the woman-on-a-pedestal trope.)

and Beth said I wouldn't say I have very specific taste, but I do tend to like books if they're strong in writing and in characterization, and to me, he isn't strong in characterization. So maybe that's why I keep reading him.

and I thought these were good points. Granted, it's been a very long time since I read a book for fun, and I'm just dipping my toes in the water here, but, yeah, those were my thoughts.

Also reading it I couldn't help thinking about philia_fan especially because Hazel has to drain her lungs and yeah.

3) So I just remembered that finishing TFIOS is why I started watching Big, which is in the process of airing, and despite the fact that it seems to be heading into student/teacher relationship land, she was really only his teacher for like two days, and ANYWAY the student is trapped in the body of Gong Yoo of Coffee Prince fame, and they are not only showcasing his marvelous acting skills but also his post-mandatory-military-service physique. So. You know.

Anyway it's adorable so far and I hope to keep watching it.

4) I STARTED VIRMIRE LAST NIGHT. Yes I am very slowly playing my way through Mass Effect 1. I am enjoying it immensely and I am afraid to see what they change between 1 an 2 but oh well.

Anyway I'm a femShep, although this is the first Bioware game where I have actually wanted to go through the trouble of trying to play a male character for the sake of romancing one of the het female characters. Most of them (Bastila, Dawn Star, Morrigan) I haven't wanted to romance (didn't like, didn't care about, found the female friendship to be so satisfying that a romance couldn't possibly complete), but omg I am in love with Ashley Williams I love her so much. I love her family and her belief system and her tactical analysis and she's a badass and I love her. She is my femShep's BESTFRIEND, although obviously they both understand rank and regulation and all that jazz.

And then there's Kaidan.

For those of you who are skipping this section anyway, here's a comparison of Ashley and Kaidan:
[SCENE: Inside a very fancy tower with lots of decorative water features and plants and impressive staircases leading up to the Galactic Council's meeting chamber.]
Ashley: THOSE STAIRCASES AREN'T JUST DECORATIVE, THEY'RE HIGHLY DEFENSIBLE. THIS WOULD BE A HARD PLACE TO LAUNCH AN ASSAULT ON.
Kaidan: I like the fountain. It's very soothing.

basically I am romancing him because he is SpaceCarth and his voice is so soothing and I love it. I tentatively know why femShep is interested in him (i.e. why it's not one-sided because it is obviously that he just thinks she hung the moon and would do anything she asked), but she's having serious issues with the whole rank regulation no-fraternizing thing. Which is also part of why he's opened up so much to her but she hasn't felt she can reciprocate; all she can do is be quietly attracted. Anyway, at the moment he doesn't seem as damaged as Alistair or even Carth was--I mean, yeah, sad backstory, but it was fifteen years ago--Alistair is young, and Carth's tragedy was fresh. (Other Bioware romances to compare to include Sky--who was just a wimpier version of Carth I thought--and Anders--who doesn't count because it felt less like romancing him and more like manipulating him just for the sake of controlling him did I mention what a horrible person Thistle Hawke really was.)

What else. I like the battle mechanics I think. I LOVE the space travel and I love the Mako the way everyone loves the Mako and I'm SO CLOSE to finishing all the survey quests (side note: Goose finished ALL THE SIDEQUESTS. She only looked at the internet for help ONCE. My sister, ladies and gentlemen, has beaten the game before me).

PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL ME FOR ANYTHING. ANYTHING. I LITERALLY AM JUST BLOWING UP GETH OUTSIDE THE VIRMIRE OUTPOST THINGIE. I HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING YET.

5) You know this is my LJ and so I'm going to babble about twinfic for a moment. See, back when I was playing Dragon Age, I had an impossible headcanon character, because I enjoy coming up with that sort of thing, and anyway it was an AU thing where Elissa Cousland was a mage, and so at age five she got sent to the Circle, but since her father is, I dunno, the Teyrn of Highever, her family did come to visit her occasionally and she was allowed to be in contact with them, the idea being that once she passed her Harrowing she would become Mage in Residence at Highever under the watchful eye of several templars, etc. etc. etc. AS IF THIS WAS NOT AU-Y ENOUGH Elissa also had a twin brother named Aidan who grows up normally at Highever. When the Blight started, Elissa got recruited into the Grey Wardens and Aidan escaped Highever by the skin of his teeth, went to Redcliffe, and proceeded to get roaringly drunk and occasionally help fight zombies. Shenanigans ensue in which each sibling thinks the other one is dead, eventually Aidan gets found and recruited to help join the team, Elissa falls for Alistair much to everyone's chagrin, etc. etc. etc.

The point of all that is that I have a history of this sort of thinking, so the fact that while I was figuring out my femShep's name I realized she has a twin sister should not be surprising. The difference here is that I never actually did an Elissa/Aidan playthrough, whereas Emma Jane Shepard totally has a twin sister named Catherine Elizabeth. (Their dad was deployed and their mom named them after Jane Austen heroines.) Both girls are biotics (Emma's a Vanguard), and they both enlisted (or whatever it is you have to do in order to become an officer in the Alliance) and went through training together and all that jazz, and then Emma went off to become a Marine and Catie went into Naval Intelligence, and while Emma went off and became a galactic star, Catie got buried so deep in Intelligence that they ended up wiping her from all official records. Basically, they've got a perfect Shepard analogue that they can send off if they want to and no one would know it's a twin and not the original because even those who know that two of them exist can't tell the difference.

And of course Emma is the ~*~serious~*~ one and Catie is an expert mimic/the outgoing popular one and yes they're almost thirty but WHO CARES, I JUST WANT TO WRITE MISTAKEN IDENTITY FIC ALL OVER EVERYTHING.

NOT EVEN BOTHERING TO CUT, OFF TO SAVE THE GALAXY.