#I'm most proud of NHS and MY

[ghostysword]

The Gusu Summer Camp kids (and siblings) would make such a dramatic and awesome Sburb session. Classpects and thoughts below the cut:

Wei Wuxian, Mage of Time. A lot of dead Wei Yings pile up early on in the game, but that's fine! Once he finally creates Chenqing in his exploration of the Land of Graves and Turnips, he invents new ways to summon alternate timeline ghosts to his aid.

Jiang Yanli, Maid of Space. She's a very talented frog-breeder: with her brothers, she had a head start on the frog-handling skills.

Jiang Cheng, Heir of Blood. In a different world, he built a sect from nothing but devotion and stubbornness; in this one, he grows into a vital anchor binding the party together. (Sometimes literally, since he will happily use his whipkind specibi to keep Certain People from running away before plans are fully made.)

Lan Wangji, Knight of Light. He's Hanguang-jun, motherfucker. His Consorts are rabbits, and if anyone hurts them he will kill everyone in the room and then himself.

Lan Xichen, Seer of Heart. Absolutely a passive class, in the best and worst ways. At his best, Lan Xichen uses his insight into other's true natures to help them become their best selves. His struggle is learning not to look away from the dark.

Nie Mingjue, Prince of Rage. Anger is his weapon. Anger is destroying him. He's the most powerful offensive force in the party, but he'll need everyone else's support to not break himself before he can even fight the Black King.

Nie Huaisang, Thief of Void. Our know-nothing boy is great at ripping void away from secrets that need to be revealed, and wrapping the shroud of secrecy around himself. He gets deeep into Derse shenanigans, although everyone else thinks he's just drinking with his favorite locals.

Wen Qing, Rogue of Life. She's really good at moving vital force from one person to another: what else can I say? Also needlekind is a great strife specibus for a rogue.

Wen Ning, Page of Doom. In a kinder world he'd be a Heart player. In this one he still ends up as a fierce corpse. Sorry, Wen Ning.

Jin Zixuan, Sylph of Hope. He starts out grandiose and unrealistic, but grows into his role. Elsewhere he would have created a garden to renew Jiang Yanli's hope, or sent an invitation to Yiling to give Wei Wuxian a glimpse of a path home. Here, he finds his way to a similar support role, bringing hope to heal when it's most needed. His new brotherly relationship with Meng Yao will be one of his greatest tests.

Meng Yao, Bard of Mind. Meng Yao is exceptionally skilled at getting people killed in a domino chain of decisions. By the time he dirties his hands himself, his target is already good as dead. He and Xichen make up the mind-heart duality. They work closely throughout the game, teaming up to understand the game and influence political systems, with Xichen a Prospit dreamer and Meng Yao on Derse. He almost betrays the party: are they able to pull him back?

Luo Qingyang, Witch of Breath. Decisive, independent, and on the move, she's ready to give her team a little shove (and her enemies a big hurricane.) Helps Jin Zixuan grow into his destined Wife Guy role.

[bil-daddy]

Salutations Mr Bildad, Bildad the Shuhite, Bildaddy sir.

I'm so so sorry to bother you, or be a nuisance, but everything is getting on top of me lately and you give excellent advice.

Basically, the last 12-18 months have been awful - I'm acutely aware that in terms of what's happening in the world I'm pretty blessed 🙏🏻 However within around 12 months experiencing; a miscarriage, 4 bereavements, one parent being rushed into hospital, the other needing surgery (both are doing Ok now thank God 🙏🏻), two surgeries of my own within six months - neither of which have improved what they should have, chronic pain, multiple diagnoses - most of which were unexpected & should have been diagnosed a looonnnnggg time ago, reactions to any& all medications, finding out physio will be necessary for the rest of my life, a very upsetting break up, discovering people who were supposed to be friends can't be trusted...... Let's not forget financial issues due to being unable to work as result of illness etc .... I am losing hope that things are ever going to get better 😔

I'm so so sorry for offloading all this on you but work said they could no longer offer counselling which is infuriating because the counsellor was amazing! Sadly she isn't taking on any private patients for several months so we had to discontinue sessions for the foreseeable 😔

I'm so sorry but I don't really have any other people to talk to right now, my fiancé was my best friend so in a sense it's almost a double loss? Sorry this is pretty pathetic 😪

Yikes. And here I thought @blameless-job had it bad.

So, first off, let me tell you how sorry I am for all your losses. Any of which on their own are extremely painful, but all at the same time? Nobody should have to weather a storm like that. I am so proud of you, just for being here. You're incredibly strong for what you're surviving, even though you shouldn't even have to survive it in the first place.

So don't apologize cause there's nothing pathetic about reaching out for help when you're going through something--or multiple somethings, in your case. In fact, it's exactly the thing you need to do. A lot has been dumped onto your plate, so it makes sense you need to offload it.

I know your former counsellor isn't able to help you at the moment, but maybe they can refer you to someone else, because you deserve a professional (in psychology, not shoemaking and obstetrics) to help you through these tragedies. They might be able to get you a referral.

(If you want to try to find a counsellor on your own, there's NHS Therapy Services in the UK, and SAMHSA National Helpline in the US.)

In the meantime, though, I'll do my best.

If you're worried that things are never going to get better, you shouldn't be. I mean I understand why you are, but the fact is, as dark as this is to say, you might actually be at your lowest point right now. Which means, as awful as things are right now, things can only go up from here.

You got some new diagnoses, which suck to have, especially when they should have been caught earlier, but now that you have a diagnosis, you can start getting treated.

You're six months out from two surgeries and haven't gotten better, but in six more months, or even six weeks, you might start to see some improvement. Plus, once you start the phsyio therapy you now know you need, you can troubleshoot with the physical therapist on how to make more improvements on the issues you had surgery for, as well as the chronic pain. The physical therapist might also be able to refer you to a counsellor as well, if your previous counsellor isn't able to give you one.

But that's just the physical stuff.

It's the emotional stuff that hurts more. Losing loved ones, be it to death, breakup, or just realizing your friends aren't really friends. That kind of pain is even more difficult to deal with.

For the bereavements, it might be helpful remember the good times you shared with these people and the things you loved most about them. They may be gone now, but those memories aren't and they're even more valuable now that they are the parts of your loved ones that are still with you.

And when you're living your life, and you see or hear something that reminds you of them, like a favourite song, or the kind of car they used to drive, that's another way they're still with you.

You might cry the first few, or few hundred times you remember them, but after awhile you'll start smiling more and crying less when you think about them.

For the miscarriage, it's a bit tougher, since you're grieving what could have been, rather than what was. But it's still a loss as valid as any other loss of a loved one, so you have every right to grieve it as such. You have my deepest sympathy for the loss of your child. And the miscarriage is why your fianc�� and you are no longer together, you have my deepest sympathy for that, too.

It would be easy for me to say "the trash took itself out" when it comes to ex-fiancés and fake friends, but much harder for you to actually feel that way.

You have the right to grieve the friendships and your relationship ending. To miss them even though they hurt you. To feel hurt, and betrayed, and angry, and still love them anyway, even if you can't be around them anymore. It's okay to hate them, too, if you need to. Not forever. But in the short term, it can be cathartic and exactly what you need.

It'll take time for all these overwhelming and conflicting feelings to fade, and it's possible they'll never completely be gone. But you will learn to live alongside them until you forget they're even there.

You will feel better, I promise you. Een if the light at the end of the tunnel looks like a distant star right now, you'll reach it.

So have an ox rib (platonic) for the journey

Hope this helps, even just a little. Mutuals, feel free to send good vibes @ashbunny2027's way

[bespectacled-bookwyrm]

1, 10 and 12 for the writing ask meme!

1: Of the fic you've written, which are you most proud of?

I'm most proud of Language of Botany, the prequel to A Funeral of Flowers! It was the first multi-chapter fic I've ever completed, and I'm really proud of that!

I'll also add the entirety of my 2023 Whumptober series, because it was my first attempt at the event, and I'm really proud of managing to write something for each day!

10: What are your strengths wrt writing?

Hm. . . I'd say descriptions, which is as actually pretty ironic! My eyesight is terrible, but it's descriptions I seem to excel at!

I especially like to use sound and smells in descriptions, but I like to think my physical description skills are pretty decent too!

12: What's your favourite place for writing resources?

It really depends on what resource I need. Typically, I tend to go to wikipedia for general info, Bulbapedia for Pokémon info, and the NHS website if I'm ever writing about something medical, like sicknesses.

I also refer to books sometimes, but I don't do that quite as often.

Thank you for the ask! :)

[happyocelot]

Fic Author Self Rec! When you get this reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, or some snippets from upcoming WIPS. Let’s spread the self-love! Love ya and thank you for all you do!! 💖

Thank you, sweet anon. 🥰

I don't have any WIPs at the moment, but these are the five fics I am most proud of:

The End of Winter

This is my angsty NH Hanahaki AU. I had another NH Hanahaki AU but it's a cute and fluffy thing, so I decided to go for super extra pain and suffering in this.

Here are some lines I like from it.

"Naruto-kun...Naruto-kun was straightforward," she protested, eager to defend his honor. Even when he wasn't there. Especially when he wasn't there. "Whenever he spoke, it was from his heart. That was how he showed his regard for others."

***

Laughter bubbled forth from Hinata's throat, like fresh water from a stream, gaining force and vigor, rushing down a cliff.

***

Forever.

That was what happened when the sky met the sea and they spun off into infinity. The horizon, forever and a day away.

***

She caught his crinkling eye.

He caught hers.

And she turned away to hide a smile.

***

But that was a different kind of forever, the kind that she used to anticipate with sweaty palms and racing heart. The kind of forever that seemed like the slow blink of an eye and the warmth of a smile.

***

"There's...there's so much I still have to tell you." The dense mass in her lungs expanded and she fought down a wave of nausea once more. "But...you remember what I said to you that day? That day I faced Pain? That I'm doing this for my own self-satisfaction? You saved me so many times, and I wanted to save you too. But I...I can't tell you e-everything yet, b-because..."

Her Byakugan wasn't activated tonight. The world faded into a watery, crystalline blur.

Foolish, crybaby ninja.

"Because...I'm not satisfied. So please forgive me. Again."

She put her sunflowers into a vase and bowed deeply to the person who'd changed her, inside out, upside down.

"A...anyway...please keep waiting for me."

Frogs croaked somewhere off deep into the night, and Hyuuga Hinata was gone.

***

Hinata could never escape his name and presence, could she? Ever.

[...]But then, he always made her feel brave.

[...]That forever that she used to anticipate with sweaty palms and racing heart. Him and her and a bowl of miso ramen, extra large, with a helping of naruto.

He'd thrown away that forever.

For this.

I'm happy with Chapters 9 and 10 too. The last lines:

She touched the sunflower petal in her pocket, smiled, and wrote a name.

For some reason, this isn't my most popular fic. No, that would be

Let's Switch Up

and/or

Telephone Game

These are the most popular and most reviewed NH I've written.

Oh God, it's been two years and the mood whiplash is so severe. I can't believe that I am the same person who wrote both The End of Winter...and this.

***

Gaara was trying to be a better sibling now. He was.

And if it meant contacting this...Hinata and asking her to donate a harem for his big sister, then...then he would do it.

It was all part of his journey as the Kazekage.

***

"...Hyuuga's harem is old news. You should get out more and read fan magazines like Awesome Assassins from Across the Five Great Nations."

***

"Yeah!" Naruto cracked his knuckles right back. "Kikurage is UGLY. And so are Menma, Nori, Wakame, Tamanegi, Aonegi, Shiraganegi, Takana, Benishoga, Mitsuba, Shijimi, Kamaboko, Wonton, and Yuzukosho! We all know that the BEST is me, Naruto. No other ramen topping can COMPARE. Hinata would agree!"

"What did you say, brat?" snarled one of the bystanders. "Aonegi is an ikemen. He has amazing blonde hair and eyes as blue as the summer sky. He's an orphan with a tragic backstory, and – "

***

...It wasn't like he was obsessed with her concubines or anything and could recite their names by heart because he'd read that Awesome Assassins article over and over.

He just wanted to see her. And tell her that Naruto was better than Menma, Nori, Wakame, Kikurage, Tamanegi, Aonegi, Shiraganegi, Takana, Benishoga, Mitsuba, Shijimi, Kamoboko, Wonton, and Yuzukosho.

And tell her that if she really wanted, he could do Reverse Harem Jutsu.

***

What was I doing? I can't believe I wrote a long story in which the whole world believed that Hinata was carrying on polyandrous relationships with ramen topping guys who sounded exactly like Naruto.

And this time two years ago, I wrote this:

Teuchi had seen a lot during his decades as Konoha's Number One Ramen Chef.

***

Until now. This was the Number One Most Bizarre Incident he'd ever witnessed in his long, long years as the owner of Ichiraku Ramen.

Did those kids really think he wouldn't notice that something funny was happening, just because he wasn't a ninja?

I wrote...a chapter titled..."Why Don't You Wear Bras?"

When I said those were crack AUs...those were crack AUs. I suppose I was far too influenced by "I Am NOT Going Through Puberty Again!" by EvilFuzzy9, the (extremely funny) time travel NaruHina SasuSaku crack fic.

Besides these, I'm particularly happy with

The Moon Sure Is Beautiful Tonight

Facing the Sun

When I Look At You

Heliotropism

Where the Heart Is

When Your Blood Type Is B

Sunny Days

and some others.

Thanks for the question!

[jaimebluesq]

Not tagged but gacked from @ibijau because I thought it would be fun.

Post the following:

top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular)

your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year

and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this (last) year!

top 5 works you’re most proud of that you released in 2022 (not necessarily your most popular): So, in chronological order...

Reality is Overrated - NHS stuck in the 'perfect' dream world and Jin Zixun has to get him out

Another Man's Grief - after Jin Rusong's death, JGY lies in wait to find out the answer to his biggest question - who actually fathered his 'son'.

Lover, Please Stay - WangSang for the Mixtape exchange that turned out so well

Maybe if the Stars Align, Maybe if our Worlds Collide - NHS/Jinzhu smut but with tons of world-building that I might want to revisit

He's no Bully, He's my Friend - SangCheng but where JC is a dog and NHS is a homeless man on the streets who finds him, and they save each other along the way. This just gave me such warm fuzzied and I felt so proud with how I handled it.

your top 4 current WIPs that you’re excited to release in the new year

After the Hallmark Movie Ends - SangCheng, JC and NHS have just been dumped by their significant others for small-town childhood sweethearts at Christmastime (sound familiar to anyone? lol) and meet over drinks at the airport while trying to get home.

Nie Sect Murder Tortoise-verse - There is one big fic "Tortoise Shells and Wedding Bells" that will be split into 2 fics (Part 1/Part 2) because another fic will take place in the middle of it time-wise - this one will involve... the Wen :D

A very kinky scenario featuring Nie Huaisang, a blindfolded and oblivious Jin Zixun, and an 'educational session' for soon-to-be bride Jiang Yanli.

A Peacock that rests on his feathers is just another turkey - I'm really crossing my fingers that I get this one completed, it's my "Jin Zixuan plans the Phoenix mountain hunt and accidentally changes everything" fic

your top 3 biggest improvements in your writing over the past year

I've been more open to taking chances with new ideas/pairings

I've been able to get myself to write regularly even when I'm not always in the mood

I've become a little more aware of when I'm doing certain things (like always talking about emotions in someone's eyes) and trying to see if there are other ways I can word them

your top 2 resolutions (ways you wish to improve your writing/blog) for the new year

I want to be more aware of when my Western/white POV might be inadvertently interfering with my portrayals of either ancient China or Chinese diaspora people in modern day AUs

I want to work on my art as well as my writing - am trying to get back into my acrylic painting and am using fandom as an excuse (will have 1 piece for the Reverse Big Bang and might have one or two more)

and your number 1 favorite line you’ve written this (last) year!

I'm going to cheat and do 2 because one's comedic and the other is serious.

Serious (from "Another Man's Grief") - "Jin Guangyao would never, ever kill his own child for any reason... but then, Jin Rusong had never been his."

Comedic (from "A Well Intentioned Blocking") - “Because I can't make my own decisions.” -- Nie Mingjue waved over at Jin Zixun. “Apparently not.”

I will tag @fortune-maiden @pbaintthetb @dual-domination @artsy-alice @kaz3313

[evanox]

hi sara!! some quastions for the fanfic writer ask game: ✏️ The first fanfiction you ever wrote? (doesn’t have to be a posted fic) 👀 What’s an idea you had for a fic that you never did anything with? 📃 Ever written something inspired by someone elses fic? ✍🏽 How much do you plan your fics beforehand? 🌈 Your favorite tropes to write about? 😊 The fic that you’re the most proud of?

thank u sara ily <33

ooo zeke ur too sweet ilyt <33 also love the new pfp ;)

✏️I think it was a Jack Will x Summer (from Wonder) prom-dance-kinda fic; extra deets: back then I was part of this group of fanfic writers on tumblr including a friend and some of her friends/mutuals and we all contacted each other on kik (wauw the memories). We once got a request for a fic featuring the Stoll brothers from PJO specifically directed at me because they liked my Wonder fic so much and that meant soo much to me. I remember writing away on my lil notebook back in 8th grade because I was so motivated sffgdf. Eventually the group became too much drama for my taste and I just stopped writing until they kicked me out bc I didn't have the heart to leave by myself.

👀Hmm I did have many og ideas that I eventually discarded; as for fanfic... I think there's a ton of drafts (both tumblr drafts and mental drafts) for Last Legacy hcs that I ended up not doing anything with because *gestures vaguely at everything that happened in the last year* that you can find on my WIP list on the pinned masterlist

📃If you mean by "inspired" as in "hated the writing so much I had to write my own thing to heal" then yeah. It was an LL rewrite thing featuring different routes and MCs so I was writing my own thing, not trying to "fix" someone's writing before anyone makes assumptions lol.

✍🏽Define plan... I think I usually roll ideas in my head for a while before spilling on paper until I run out of stuff then letting it marinate in drafts for a while, then adding stuff and editing until I'm satisfied. The only time I "planned" a fic was for my Sage x Maehwa LL rewrite, which included replaying the route, watching the official NH youtube playthrough of the old prologue to integrate the bits I liked, then throwing ideas and random lines into a google doc so I don't forget them.

🌈Besides character exploration I'm not sure I have preferences tbh... I think I'm more familiar with what I don't like than what I do like. One trope that I really disliked getting requests for (or reading tbh) is "character saves character/reader from their abusive partner" bc it's giving the same vibe as that one tiktok meme that's like "can you drop me off at my bf's house" *crashes car* "you flinched... he hits you doesn't he?"

kinda vibe... No offense to anyone who does enjoy it lmao... However I do enjoy character saves their lover from some villain or dangerous situation uwu can't really put my finger on why I like it better than an abusive partner situation, though, or maybe I can but I don't feel like getting into the intricacies.

😊Not to toot my own horn but I'm proud of most of my LL ficlets but if I had to choose... sage and the baker and the one chapter I managed to write for my SagexMae rewrite

[mengyao]

4 for strike dear mistress, 12, 17, 22 for fowd, and 46!

4. What detail in strike, dear mistress are you really proud of?

oh jeez. there are a fair amount in there tbh, since it was me trying to cram all of my headcanons about JC pertinent to foowd that couldn't come across naturally via NHS POV into one piece of PWP, but i liked getting to dwell a bit on JC's whole concept of marriage and how miserable he imagines it must be if it's not with someone he's already actively in love with… If he did put effort into looking for candidates, he can’t imagine anyone angling their daughters at him for any reason besides his name and position. Not with his reputation. He’s not compelled by the prospect of being politely—or impolitely—tolerated under his own fucking roof. He remembers his parents. How difficult it is to share a life. he's not even really wrong because i can't imagine that marrying some random 20 year old at this point in time would be emotionally fulfilling for him lol. he's framing it in this scene as being about his Perverse Sexual Desires but that's not really the issue… tfw you got promoted to authority figure as a teen but you're a baby brother to the core :( and you just want someone to genuinely like you for you, not just respect and defer to you out of social obligation :(

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

i think the opposite experience is more common for me lmao but i'm sure this has happened before. let me think. hnmmmmm i'm still very picky about amnesia fics but kitsch's bingqiu amnesia fic you are who you love outsold!

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

[shaky deep breath] Beefleaf. Madoka Magica. Fusion,

i litchjerally don't have more details about this concept than a very vague moodboard about um. girls who become witches (who pretend they're girls). cosmic entropy. does this make shi wudu kyubey or is kyubey jun wu? who can say. this is all part of my compulsion to assign all of my faves with "homura akemi vibes" regardless of if this is a real thing that they have

22. Who is your favorite character in flight of a one-winged dove and why?

[rihanna mario tweet voice] nie huaisang baby! nie fucking huaisang!!!!!

the reasons i love nhs (and foowd nhs specifically) are manifold so i shant elaborate on them here besides to say that for me personally, the characters i feel the most affection for are the ones who have a lot of problems that they didn't create but then who go on to create a bunch more problems for themselves and others, and you understand why they did so and they probably think they had no choice but it's like hmmmmmmmmm girl but did you really. did you really,

i like to pity my favs. just a bit. but also i want them to be happy whether or not they deserve it. you know how it is

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

i hate writing on my phone because it's so un-ergonomic and i have an on-and-off repetitive stress injury so i try to minimize the amount of typing i do on there BUT i do find that i often make different connections or get different ideas about how to write things when i'm on a phone, just because you're physically looking at the words in a different way, they end up arranged on the screen differently, etc… the "shape" changes… you can see much less words at a time vs. opening up a page on a computer screen… so i often do nitpicky little line edits on my phone, especially if i'm just reading a draft/wip file over idly on the train or before falling asleep etc (both of which i do a lot.)

my desktop computer in my room is where i do either my best or my worst writing, because i either get super in the zone or i'm sitting there totally distracted by everything else i can do on my computer/in my bedroom and have no sense of the external accountability that i'd have in a public place, or even out at the desk in the living room where my roommates can pass back and forth (i'm pretty good at writing deranged stuff in a small font stonefacedly which is the only way this is able to work)

[screechfoxes]

1, 4, 8 for the writing meme!

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

answered here, but since it's nearly done, i'll talk about the companion fic. that's kind of part of the same project, right?

the companion fic is a Nie Huaisang/Mo Xuanyu fic in which NHS paints MXY's portrait (yes, there's a theme). it's probably about half-way written; i've got everything pre-painting written, but i need to write the very angsty second half.

what i love most about it... it's hard to put into words. i like reading all the different takes on what the relationship between MXY and NHS could have been - from the harsh, to the soft, to the possibility that they never even met. this is somewhere between harsh and soft: Nie Huaisang cares, but no amount of caring will change his mind. there's honesty to it, which is a fun situation to put this era of NHS in

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

i struggled with this one! not because i think i'm a bad writer, but just because i couldn't find one specific sentence or paragraph that stuck out to me from my recent writing 😔

so instead, let's go back to 2019, with the last line from the fallacy of forgiveness, which i'm proud of because of how many people have yelled at me in the comments about it >:)

“I forgive you,” Tim hisses, vindictive, and Jon wakes — really wakes — knowing just how much of a lie that is.

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

in some ways! i usually write things i'd want to read - although there are exceptions. i definitely read more widely than i what i write, both tropes-wise and fandom-wise.

[somuchtostudysolittletime]

I'll start studying pharmacy. I didn't expect this my whole life. I'm so depressed.. can you help me? Idk how.. just could you tell me i gonna love it

Hi Anon

I am so sorry I did not reply to you sooner! Tumblr did not notify me about this message!

I assume from your message pharmacy isn't what you wanted to study - but if you wanted to be in a healthcare environment, you should be able to love pharmacy. If you wanted to do art or something, I'll be honest, pharmacy probably isn't for you.

It is super intense, but so interesting! I love learning about how medicines work and how they affect receptors, and how they affect other things. Depending on how your career path goes, there is also opportunity to branch out and specialise - you can become a prescriber within an area (diagnosing and treating conditions), an advanced clinical practitioner (so taking bloods etc!), you can go into drug development and so many other paths.

If you are at the start of your pharmacy journey, I also want to reassure you. Everything I thought I wanted, it turned out I actually prefer the opposite. Until third year of uni, I was adamant that I wanted to be a community pharmacist - now I am firmly committed to working in hospital. I thought I wanted to be in a big hospital in a city, I did that and hated it. I sure as hell didn't want to specialise in palliative care, but the longer I work in it, the more I realise it is exactly what I love. You never know what you really like until you get to experience it, so there is a big chance you'll like pharmacy. There are so many options available to you as well!

On the other hand, some of my uni friends decided in the end not to become a pharmacist. One went to do postgrad medicine, because the health knowledge from pharmacy really helps, one works in student experience at uni - because his degree helped him learn how to make the most of being a student, one is studying for a PhD in a drug development company. There is a lot you can do with a solid science degree - which at the end of the day, is what pharmacy is. There is a lot of science (but when you qualify you don't have to think about science much thankfully!), which makes you employable in most companies.

Personally, I love pharmacy. I lowkey hate the stress of working in the NHS - today on my day off I have been on my emails making sure things get actioned, which is bad I know, but actually doing pharmacy is great. Sometimes you have patients so grateful for your input that it makes your day. Sometimes you see patients with rare diseases that are absolutely fascinating. Sometimes you notice a great intervention to make on someone's drug chart, and you are really proud to have spotted it. There is endless learning you can do, which I quite like (but not the assignments!) but it is so great to be able to expand your knowledge and skills. I really really hope you end up loving pharmacy as much as I do, because it is a brilliant career.

[fortune-maiden]

2, 4. (for "Standing Alone"), and 16 for the fic writer asks!

(there were so many good ones I didn't know which to pick oop)

Thank you!! :D

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Humor (77) Hurt/Comfort (39) Fluff (34) Tumblr Prompt (16) Friendship (15)

Sounds about right for me xD Although I am shocked at how much humor outnumbers everything else! I would have thought it'd be fluff or h/c honestly. Where did all these humor fics come from? ._.

What detail in [insert fic] are you really proud of?

Standing Alone - I'm really proud of the section where NHS reveals to LXC that he somehow learned the Song of Clarity and implies that someone is leaking sect secrets. This was the scene I had sharpest in my head when I came up with this fic and the one I was most excited to write. I'm really proud of the end result!

I also like this line:

“Da-ge, forgive me. I think it’s best if Huaisang doesn’t come to the Cloud Recesses for a while.”

LXC, as polite and diplomatic as he can be, declares that he wants nothing to do with NHS for a while... it has a certain punch to it imo

16. What’s an AU you would love to read (or have read and loved)?

I've read so many amazing AUs! >.<

A few standouts (please don't ask for links because I'm not sure all of these are on AO3)

The one where Wen Qing travels back in time and becomes Baoshen Sanren

The one where the cultivators of the past kill the god of death and this has Consequences

The one where WWX & WQ unlock their full mad scientist/doctor potential and bring their findings to the Nie sect

The one where someone (I think JC?) travels back in time and goes to NMJ for help.... only for NMJ to learn how much of a mess the future is because people didn't listen to him and decides that he will not be helping JC fix things. JC will be helping him.

The one where WWX's inventions/spells wreak very silly havoc and young plucky demonic cultivator MXY is tasked with investigating them!

The one where TGCF & MDZS exist in the same world, and Pei Ming joins the Sunshot Campaign incognito to investigate his temples being burned

Something I would love to read would be.... maybe something with dark LXC? I like the idea of NHS dying before he could finish his revenge, and LXC takes up the mantle.

No more Mr. Nice Er-ge!

[cuckoo-among-beasts]

4, 5, 6, 8, 16, 17, 19 (mun & muse <3)

mun and muse questions || @pctaldrunk

Questions for the Mun about the Muse

4. Whats your favorite thing about your muse? That he has no problems with making himself a fool. He has no problems with people seeing him as weak or useless. Quite the contrary, actually. Being underestimated is something he often prefers, even before his revenge.

5. What’s one thing you wish you could change about them? Hmm, I wish I could change the fact that he felt he couldn't go to Xichen with his findings. I understand why he didn't, but I think that if he could put out some proof, and also make Xichen swear to not tell anyone before telling him what he'd found, that Xichen would've been unable to just let it slide. His Lan sense of justice is too strong imo. And then, then maybe Huaisang might've not ended up so alone. (yes wwx would not have been resurrected, but sorry, I care more about my boy)

6. Do you think you would get along if you met in person? That's a tough question. I'm more like LQR than NHS (though according to personality-database, the one I share most personality traits with is Sizhui, which is absolutely not true imo). However, we do share some things, like love for art and rather preferring peace over conflict. I think we'd probably get along.

8. What is your favorite random headcanon? Ok, let's go with silly hc. Then it's either that the Unclean Realm still have drawings on some walls after toddler Huaisang or a 3yo A-Sang overeating on plums and he now can't stand plums (not funny, but still such a silly thing for my brain to come up with).

Questions for the Muse about the Mun

16. What’s one thing mun does that you’re grateful for? Huaisang taps his folded fan against his chin before answering. "All his research. I don't know how he does it, but he has literally researched everything, from the historical economy of the area to the different types of fans and the life of noblemen. I get exhausted think about all the hours of research."

17. What is one thing you wish mun would let you do? Huaisang looks at Jiang Wanyin, smiling a little and licking his lips before hiding behind his fan. "Not sure I should mention that here." (Me: Absolutely fucking not.)

19. Do you have any suggestions for mun? "Tell him to rest and relax once in awhile. Not everything depends on him. It's fine to be useless no matter what he was told growing up. There's nothing wrong with resting or being 'weak'. I've tried telling him that, but he just won't listen." Huaisang sighs and rolls his eyes in a way that would make Wanyin proud.

[fluffairy]

I may not know Noah Kahan but I am so fucking proud of him. he's approximately my age and from the same area of VT/NH where I grew up -- I worked in a coffee shop in his local university town, he mentions our specific "mini Target" in one of his songs.

it sounds corny af but when I was growing up in Vermont, it didn't feel like I could have a lot of big dreams. It didn't feel like big things ever happened to anyone. I went to a failing high school in a dying industrial town which was the butt of everyone's joke -- no one had gotten into an Ivy League university in a decade, the farthest most people went for college was Boston. I had big dreams, and I was scared of everything -- mostly, of them not coming true.

Last weekend I drove to the local coffee shop in my VT hometown (recently opened in a bid to revitalize the downtown area) and listened to his remix of "Call Your Mom" featuring Lizzy McAlpine and looked at the surging river next to the abandoned iron factory against the gray cloudy sky and just felt all of it -- the love, the hatred, the feeling that this is just home, forever, and there's nothing that can change that. Noah gets all of this so exactly right and I'm so, so impressed by him and his songwriting and his insight into this weird fucking place where I grew up and where I never wanted to live and which is still a huge part of who I am today and which I do love, in my own way.

And now here we have an Upper Valley boy who is going to be playing Madison Square FUCKING Garden and all because he went back to his roots and put out music he actually liked and told the whole fucking world about his small town in Vermont. and it just makes me :') not much more to say except :')

proud of u, Noah <3

[marquisguyun]

for the questions for fic writers ask game, 7 and 49?

7. Any worldbuilding you’re particularly proud of?

I really like my worldbuilding from diplomacy (and other fun things to do with strangers) which is a post-canon Scum Villain/post-canon The Untamed crossover. I already knew going into it that it was going to be an interesting one to write bc the requested ship was YQY/NHS, but then in order for me to actually write it I decided I needed to figure out how these two worlds were combined.

I settled on two mostly separate worlds (partly established as a measure to keep PIDW's flora/fauna from bothering the people in CQL land, with CQL not having any direct contact with the Demon Realm.) And in the fic Chief Cultivator LWJ is reestablishing diplomatic contact with the other side. (Writing this now makes me wonder what Jin Guangyao's policy/thoughts about the SV world had been. Since the fic says they hadn't been in contact for centuries, maybe he was happy to keep that status quo while he got his own house in order with the watchtowers, etc.)

What I really liked about it too was that we got our views about the names and differences of the two cultivation societies from Yue Qingyuan, with the implication that if you talked to someone from CQL you'd probably get different answers.

49. What are you currently working on? Share a few lines if you’re up for it!

As ever, most of what I'm writing these days is for exchanges, but I do have something that will be posted soon for the Bingqiu Minibang:

"He’d gotten a good education, if one that was a tad haphazard. His calligraphy was excellent, his weiqi was passable, and his knowledge of flora and fauna was the result of years of obsession. He even dabbled in cultivation studies, which noticeably improved his poor health, but without a sect or even a master he wasn’t going to be winning any awards with his skill any time soon. Really, he was lucky he hadn’t misstepped, qi deviated, and died. But if he did, there wouldn’t be anything he could do about it anyway, so he mostly just didn’t think about the possibility."

Thank you so much for the ask!! 💜

[theabigailthorn]

hi! I have a q abt parasocial relationships - how have they evolved since your coming out? Surely the pandemic and its isolation plus your channel’s growth (as well as good ol misogyny) have affected this, but I know you’ve also taken steps to help create some healthy distance like getting rid of your PO box. As a viewer, I’ve noticed more Discourse about you online popping up in any case (but also lol that’s just being Trans and Online TM, no?). So how has it looked from your side?

I would say it's a mixed bag haha.

The highs have gotten higher! It's always nice when people reach out and say they've been moved or inspired by something I've made and it seems that's happening a bit more now - in particular from younger trans people which is lovely! (Although there is sometimes a note of sadness to that for me, because they tell me how they've been hurt by their families or the NHS and I feel powerless to do anything that will help, and a bit guilty about my relative privilege as a white trans woman.)

On the flipside, the lows have gotten rare - but lower. Nasty people are a tiny minority I'm happy to say, even tinier than before, but when people are mean about me now it's a lot more venomous. It seems like people have gotten more comfortable framing criticisms in a hyperbolic way, like before they might have said, "This show isn't for me," now they might say, "This is the worst fucking shit I've ever seen." Whereas before they might have said, "I don't vibe with the host's screen presence," now I do just get people libelling me - like, actually accusing me of horrible crimes - which is obviously distressing. It seems like they don't think I have feelings because I'm a woman. It also seems like there are things I did before that didn't bother people, but which suddenly bother them now? If I talk about my work and what I've been up to and what I'm proud of people are a lot quicker to chalk that up to arrogance, even though I talk about that stuff to the same extent I ever did? Only again, because people have gotten comfortable with hyperbole it gets much more extreme - I saw someone say the other day that I have "narcissistic personality disorder" and I'm an "inhuman" "master manipulator" based on the fact that I tweeted about a TV show that I was literally in as my job! I spoke to a friend about it like, "It seems like some people don't like seeing me do well anymore?" and she was like "Yeah lol welcome to womanhood." So, people seem a lot more willing to believe that I'm a villain now, which is odd. I can brush off that sort of thing when it comes from transphobes; it hurts more when it comes from other trans people.

I dunno, that's all just how it seems to me. Before I even came out I wove a digital net around myself with strategic blocks and automatic muting of certain terms, which has held up pretty well - for the most part if people are negative about me I don't see it but the constructive criticism still gets through!

I don't wanna give a mopey impression either haha, the vast, vast majority of the interactions I get are really positive!

[jaimebluesq]

Fic Writer Ask: 2, 17, 37 :D

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

Those would be:

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence (12)

Fluff (10)

Humor (7)

Alternate Universe - Modern Setting (7)

Gift Fic (6)

I think it's pretty accurate :D

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

A Princess Bride inspired fic about NHS/NZH with NHS as Buttercup, NZH as Westley, and NHS ordering him to do something and him responding with "As You Wish." The rest of the Princess Bride doesn't even have to happen, just the beginning and those two in those roles. I just want it, damn it! I won't ever write it, but I'd read the hell out of it.

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

Yes! Thank you :D I recently took part in the Smut Roulette and wrote something I'm really proud of - Maybe if the stars align, maybe if our worlds collide - but it hasn't gotten that many hits (compared to others in the fest -but then the WangXian fics always get tons). And the thing is that while the smut is there, it's not my proudest part of the fic nor does it even make up half of what I wrote (thus easily skippable to understand the story) - what I love the most is the worldbuilding I did in this Reverse Nie universe where NHS is Da-ge, married to Jinzhu with a secret alliance with Madame Yu trying to take down Wen Ruohan because no other sect leader wanted to help him after his father died, and he has definite opinions about the way other sect leaders treat their wives and would totally adopt them all into a harem if he could (not even a sexual harem, could be completely platonic, he just wants to appreciate them the way their husbands should). I just really like it and am happy with how it turned out.

Thank you for the ask! :D

[nopoodles]

Not me coming into the Daily Dracula thing late so trying to catch up with the backlog of journal entries and reading it aloud to my wife (who has read Dracula before but not for about 14 years) and coming across a new and strange word: goitre.

So I do what any logical person reading on a tiny pocket computer would do. I look it up.

And I tell my wife, "according to the NHS website it's a medical condition characterized by a swelling if the throat and most cases (90%) are because of a lack of iodine and thyroid issues."

Then idly wondering as I swap back to the text of Dracula, "why do all these people living near Dracula have Iodine deficiencies?" Piecing things together for sure, just not the right things.

"So," I summarise aloud for my wife, "they've all got swollen throats." Relocate myself in the text and freeze.

"Ohhhhhhhh!" With dawning realisation about the fact that peasants living near Dracula's castle all have swollen throats and knowing what I know, that Jonathan Harker does not know, about Dracula and his penchant for necks.

And my wife smiles that slow smile, the one she does when she's proud and amused all at once. A smile that reads like "I think it's hilarious that it took you so long but I'm also really glad I got to see you figure it out, you smart little oblivious bean."

And maybe I'm a bit like Jonathan Harker actually...