starwritesficsandstuff

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Forgot to share here yesterday, but I've been writing some things for 13 Cards because I'm currently OBSESSED with this show! This is kiiiinda a character study to get the clones down, but it's about the Jacks and Kings of each suit getting two short little stories with each other. Each one from a different clone's perspective so I can capture their voices for future, longer fics. It was a lot of fun to write, so I'm confident it will be fun to read as well!

Like Minded

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Okay, another little lesson for fic writers since I see it come up sometimes in fics: wine in restaurants.

When you buy a bottle of wine in a (nicer) restaurant, generally (please note my emphasis there, this is a generalization for most restaurants, but not all restaurants, especially non-US ones) you may see a waiter do a few things when they bring you the bottle.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it

The waiter uncorks the bottle in order to serve it

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle

The waiter pours a small portion of the wine (barely a splash) and waits for the person who ordered it to taste it

The waiter then pours glasses for everyone else at the table, and then returns to fill up the initial taster's glass

Now, you might be thinking -- that's all pretty obvious, right? They're bringing you what you ordered, making sure you liked it, and then pouring it for the group. Wrong. It's actually a little bit more complicated than that.

The waiter presents the bottle to the person who ordered it so that they can inspect the label and vintage and make sure it's the bottle they actually ordered off the menu

The waiter uncorks the bottle so that the table can see it was unopened before this moment (i.e., not another wine they poured into an empty bottle) and well-sealed

The waiter hands the cork to the person who ordered the bottle so that they can inspect the label on the cork and determine if it matches up; they can also smell/feel the cork to see if there is any dergradation or mold that might impact the wine itself

The waiter pours a small portion for the person who ordered to taste NOT to see if they liked it -- that's a common misconception. Yes, sometimes when house wine is served by the glass, waiters will pour a portion for people to taste and agree to. But when you order a bottle, the taste isn't for approval -- you've already bought the bottle at this point! You don't get to refuse it if you don't like it. Rather, the tasting is to determine if the wine is "corked", a term that refers to when a wine is contaminated by TCA, a chemical compound that causes a specific taste/flavor. TCA can be caused by mold in corks, and is one of the only reasons you can (generally) refuse a bottle of wine you have already purchased. Most people can taste or smell TCA if they are trained for it; other people might drink the wine for a few minutes before noticing a damp, basement-like smell on the aftertaste. Once you've tasted it, you'll remember it. That first sip is your opportunity to take one for the table and save them from a possibly corked bottle of wine, which is absolutely no fun.

If you've sipped the wine (I generally smell it, I've found it's easier to smell than taste) and determined that it is safe, you then nod to your waiter. The waiter will then pour glasses for everyone else at the table. If the wine is corked, you would refuse the bottle and ask the waiter for a new bottle. If there is no new bottle, you'll either get a refund or they'll ask you to choose another option on their wine list. A good restaurant will understand that corked bottles happen randomly, and will leap at the opportunity to replace it; a bad restaurant or a restaurant with poor training will sometimes try to argue with you about whether or not it's corked. Again, it can be a subtle, subjective taste, so proceed carefully.

In restaurants, this process can happen very quickly! It's elegant and practiced. The waiter will generally uncork the bottle without setting the bottle down or bracing it against themselves. They will remove the cork without breaking it, and they will pour the wine without dripping it down the label or on the table.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

https://archiveofourown.org/works/65400232

"Bertie Found"

An alternate take of the events of Bertie Unbound

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Update: Site is back to normal!

Looks like AO3 is going through it again. Mobile looks all squished and is nearly impossible to navigate, and desktop is...

...Yeah...

They'll probably have this all sorted out by then, but just in case, if this isn't fixed by Sunday, the Nails From a Fence update will be pushed back. It's not impossible to post like this, but I'd prefer not to.

Some have said that changing the workskin you have enabled helps. Unless this last a long time, I'm just going to wait because c'mon. I shouldn't have to change my workskin to have a working website.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Looks like AO3 is going through it again. Mobile looks all squished and is nearly impossible to navigate, and desktop is...

...Yeah...

They'll probably have this all sorted out by then, but just in case, if this isn't fixed by Sunday, the Nails From a Fence update will be pushed back. It's not impossible to post like this, but I'd prefer not to.

Some have said that changing the workskin you have enabled helps. Unless this last a long time, I'm just going to wait because c'mon. I shouldn't have to change my workskin to have a working website.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

New Fairly OddParents: A New Wish one-shot after 3475687463 years. Finally getting over my burn-out, hopefully, since I managed to write it in one sitting. Baby Dev headcanon/Dale backstory.

Good Luck, Kid

[starwritesficsandstuff]

How would you imagine Vanessa getting together with Kelsey and Stacks? As in who would ask who and what would be the initial reaction before settling down together.

I imagine that Kelsey and Stacks talked about it together for a long time and then approached Vanessa to ask her out. Vanessa would be surprised but happy, and they'd go on a few dates as a throuple. Nothing dramatic, just a cute story they tell friends sometimes.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Think you might like this https://www.tumblr.com/heyitstwids/762826208201359360/ok-ever-watch-craig-of-the-creek-because-i-had

It's an interesting idea for certain! I don't know much about amphibia tbh, but I know enough about the main characters to think that the swap works very well.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

I haven't posted anything new all year beside new chapters of my Time and Time Again series aaaaaaaa! I have so much to share but I'm so behind on posting and requests! Going to do my best to play some catch-up, but things have been all over the place. Gonna try to knock out some drabble requests, and then I might not be taking requests for a while to focus on my current work, but I'm definitely going to try posting more stuff because I have a bunch of stuff that's finished that's just been sitting in docs while I've been busy with Life (TM). Just gotta make time to get it all done.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

COTC is ending soon and I got some ideas from it for a farewell. When the final episode airs, can I ask for a Drabble?

Haven't watched it for a while and am super behind, but I can attempt to write something as a send-off.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Have you seen the newest Craig of the creek episode?

I'm really behind on cotc. I've had some other hyperfixations since then, especially the new Fairly Odd Parents and Invincible Fight Girl. I'll catch up one of these days when the feeling strikes me, but lately I haven't been able to focus on it very well when I put it on because I've moved on to other things. It's just how things go, sometimes.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Biffy sketch because your amazing fic is the sole reason of why I came back to this fandom and I would like to thank you :) 💚

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OMGGG Thanks so much!  It looks great!

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Losing my mind. I HAVE to write a fanfic for Invincible Fight Girl because I keep looking for fics on AO3 and finding nothing so like, if no one else will, I WILL. But I have had 0 ideas on what to write besides, like, this kinda shitty character study on Mbrandon, of all characters, and I really want to write about the main trio instead because they are so precious. WHY have I been CURSED to have NO IDEAS when I'm SO into this show right now???

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Hey based on your COTC future headcanon?

Who would you imagine wearing a dress, suit, or something androgynous amongst Kelsey/Isabella/Vanessa?

Example they go on a fancy date, what kind of clothes would they wear?

I'd say Stacks wears a dress, Vanessa could go either way, and Kelsey would prefer to wear a suit. Didn't put too much thought into this one, just working off of vibes.

[starwritesficsandstuff]

I have officially started posting drabbles for Epithetober this year! One drabble every day for the last 15 days of October, leading up to Halloween!!!

The epithetober prompts were created by @pazdeflore and you can find the prompt list for yourself here!

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Was thinking about this AU again randomly and realized I never elaborated, so I feel the need to say that Pilgrimtale was a Scott Pilgrim and Undertale crossover where the characters (for the most part) were human/monster hybrids that all had names that mashed up their names, except it didn't really exactly the plot of either Undertale or Scott Pilgrim. It was a secret third thing. And that secret third thing only makes sense to my partner and I lmao. It was so far removed from either property my partner said she wanted me to just rename the characters and write something new, but I don't want to do that because I want to utter the words "Sansayagami Twins."

My girlfriend and I have been working on the worst AU ever (Pilgrimtale).

[starwritesficsandstuff]

Okay, the site seems to be down now, I think that's why. Probably no big deal, in that case. Hopefully, it will be back up soon so I can continue reading fics because there's this one author I found with over fifty fics for one of my current hyperfixations and I wanna read them all.

Idk if this is a site-wide problem (doesn't look like it, but it might be?), but AO3 has logged me out, and when I try to log back in, it tells me that "my session has expired," and I tried clearing my cache and clearing my cookies like they advised, and I tried logging in on multiple devices, it's just not working. As far as I can tell, technical difficulties locked me out. I guess that's just life, huh?

This has happened before, and usually, you just gotta wait, so we'll see if this continues until tomorrow, but if not, I'll contact AO3's support. Hopefully, nothing will be affected too badly, but if I'm still having technical difficulties, Right Place, Wrong Time might not update this Sunday (It'll have two updates next weekend to make up for that).

Is anyone else having a similar problem?