#tarysande has a birthday

[wolverineproportions]

@tarysande happy birthday, my birthday twin! this was an incredible surprise 💖

[loquaciousquark]

I wanted to get this post up yesterday but didn't for a number of reasons, primary among which was my own poor planning, but yesterday was a Very Important Day - @eponymous-rose's birthday!

Not a day goes by where I don't count my lucky stars @tarysande introduced us all those years ago. I still remember reading your blog start to finish and thinking to myself, oh golly, I need to be friends with this person! And now, all these years later, here we are and sure enough, you were indeed every bit of the funny, kind, generous, smart, and clever person your posts showed!

You are SO good at your job. Not just because you're an amazing scientist, but because you CARE. You want your students to succeed not because it makes your life easy but because you want them to love science the way you do and do good for the world the way you do. It's not easy to be excited about some of these equations, but I've seen your lectures--you manage it anyway, and you do it clearly and cogently and FUNNILY, which is insane to me. (Put THESE panegyrics in your promotion packet: unsolicited positive written feedback from outside professor regarding quality of lecture materials.)

We've talked about this before, but it's just so rare to find friends as adults, and even rarer to find one with so many similar interests and hobbies. I truly treasure our watch parties, even when we're mostly just hanging out and doing our own thing and listening together. D&D with you has been an even greater gift--it's SO FUN to run scenes with you, every time, and your DMing is an absolute treat.

You are so patient, even with me when I'm being a pill, even with your students when you KNOW I wouldn't be. You model an example that I strive to match every time, and I hope you know just how much it's meant to have this twinned career path with you. I am a better teacher because you have shown me how you teach.

Anyway speaking of teaching I'm technically grading practicals right now, so I will wrap up, but please just let me shout one more time from the rooftops about how much your friendship and unceasing support has meant to me. You are a rare jewel in this sea of humanity, and I treasure every minute I get to spend with you in it. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

[laurelsofhighever]

Writer’s Year-End Roundup!

I was tagged by the lovely @asaara-writes and I’m going to cop out and tag anyone who wants to do this and hasn’t already XD

Overall, 2022 was a good year. I finally sorted my ideas out enough to get back to longfic. Mostly it was about planning but since that came easily in places I’ve also started proper writing, and as of today, I’m 12 chapters into my Prince Alistair AU and just about ready to start posting.

Outside Dragon Age, DOTA; Dragon’s Blood season 3 gave me some lovely inspiration and I’m pretty proud of te work I did there. The Wayhaven Chronicles also gripped me tight and would not let go, and aside from some solid oneshots I’m now pretty much halfway through the first murder mystery story I’ve ever attempted, complete with vampires. It’s been a lot of fun reconnecting with all the characters I’ve written about in this last year, especially since 2021 was still mostly spent in a nice creative primordial soup waiting for ideas to coalesce.

Special mention to the print version of Falcon, which is a project I started last year and hope to get finished this year so it can sit and look pretty on my shelf.

Words written: 75,307, of which 29,562 has been published. This isn’t as much as I was expecting considering how many hours it feels I’ve put in, but 1) it’s still the length of a pretty hefty novel and 2) I haven’t counted all the words that are just planning or notebook scribbling, so it’s actually a heck of a lot more.

New things I tried: The biggest new thing is the venture into the murder mystery genre with Like Glitter And Gold. Having to work backwards from the crime to the clues meant the whole story has had to be much tighter than I’m used to in terms of detail, which meant having a much more invested plan and many, many conspiracy board diagrams before I could actually start to write. It’s been fun, though. Apart from that, I’ve learned that I’m most efficient when I plan out a rough script for a chapter first and then try to fill it in, instead of writing a detailed draft on the first try. I’ll definitely use this going forward and hopefully it means I’ll have a bigger wordcount for next year.

Fic I spent the most time on: My Prince Alistair AU for sure. Partly because I’m having to replay the game to refresh my memory of the events and transcribe then rearrange a lot of the dialogue, but also because it’s given me a lot of problems with the structure. It’s also how I found out I don’t so well trying to make a polished first draft. Also also, Dragon Age: Origins is a ridiculously long game, with so much talking - 35k words in, and they’ve only just left Lothering!

Fic I spent the least time on: I always feel miserable on my birthday, so this year I channelled that energy into Once More Around The Sun, a Nate x Detective Leah oneshot that I pushed out in a day. Except for the epistolary chapter of Falcon, it��s the most I’ve ever written in a single day, so I’m pretty proud of it. Happy Birthday to me.

Favourite thing I wrote: I’m pretty pleased with everything I’ve written for TWC this year, in particular So Let Us Melt, And Make No Noise, a fluffy, angsty oneshot, and Like Glitter And Gold, the murder mystery longfic, because it’s been something new for me.

Favourite thing I read: New Year’s Resolution: actually bookmark fics when you like them! I have binged works by @serenpedac (TWC), @tarysande (Shakarian), and @viciously-witty (Labyrinth), and very early in the year I finally got around to The Revelation In All Things by @ellenembee, which is one of the most we thought out Cullen x Lavellan fics I’ve read. In terms of published works, I actually read published stuff this year! Highlights include The Lies of Locke Lamora, Nightwatch, Sistersong, and Ivanhoe.

Writing goals for next year: Finish the remaster and print version of Falcon so I can finally put it on my shelf, finish LG&G, finally start a proper first draft of my Post-Blight story, make separate masterposts for Dragon Age and everything else to pin to each of my blogs, and streamline the way I plot for the Prince Alistair AU. Should be simple enough...

[ferociousqueak]

I AM A BAD FRIEND OMG HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY (my weak justification is that I haven't been on the computer much the past couple of days as I hyperfixate on organizing and tidying ALL THE THINGS). I love you lots and hope the year brings you only good things and happy surprises.

THANK YOU, MY DARLING WHO COULD NEVER BE A BAD FRIEND

Yesterday was a very good, peaceful day, and I’m taking that to mean the rest of the year will follow suit. I can’t wait to see what 33 has in store for me :D

[bloomingjellies]

Thank you, guys! I currently have a sweet cat curled up in my lap and am about to get repeatedly slaughtered in Overwatch because I’m grouping with people three times my level and thus playing against people three times my level.

[tarysande]

30 Questions

The lovely @ferociousqueak and the lovely @thunderheadfred tagged me for this!

RULES: Answer 30 questions. If you want to pick up the tag, please do.

Nicknames: My name is so short it doesn’t lend to nicknames. My husband calls me honey bunny?

Gender/pronouns: she/her

Star sign: Scorpio sun/Cancer rising/Sagittarius moon

Height: 5′8″

Time: 3:54 p.m.

Birthday: October 24

Favorite bands: Sigur Ros, early Mumford & Sons, the National ... these kinds of favorites are too hard for me.

Favorite solo artist: I dunno man. Is it a girl and an instrument singing sad, melancholy songs with good lyrics? Is it a boy and an instrument singing sad, melancholy songs with good lyrics? Or someone just making sad, melancholy instrumental music? Then I probably like them.

Song stuck in your head: The War by SYML (whom I am seeing in concert tonight!)

Last movie you watched?: (at home) Pane e Tulipani (Bread and Tulips). For the 20th time. (in theatre) The Shape of Water.

Last show?: I can’t remember if I watched Lucifer or The Expanse last. 

Why did you create your blog?: Because fandom was moving away from LiveJournal. I thought I would just lurk. Ha ha.

What do you post?: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, fic, writing stuff/advice, positivity, pretty dresses, foxes, a bit of Wonder Woman, Lucifer, Iceland...

Last thing you googled?: The name of a drug from the paper I’m editing (they had capitalized it wrong, as I suspected).

Other blogs: A certain blog related to a certain gift exchange (and its host). A writing blog with nothing in it (I keep meaning to post writing things there with better records and tags but I don’t). I squat on my firstnamelastname tumblr. A dead LJ. A dreamwidth I don’t use. A defunct Mass Effect blog that did appreciation weeks. A couple of dormant blogs I meant to use when I was living abroad.

AO3: Indeed.

Do you get asks?: I do. I did? I used to get more, back when I was BETTER AT RESPONDING.

How did you get the idea for your URL?: I’ve been tarysande on the internet since the internet was a thing. Tarysande is a character I created when I was 14. If you see a tarysande on the internet, it’s probably me.

I follow: 277 but I feel like a lot of them have gone quiet. I keep meaning to add more. (I can only follow people who tag, though. It’s amazing how many people don’t tag.)

Followers: About 2700 (ha ha ha) but only about 50-100 show any indication of actually engaging. (You guys can talk to me, I don’t bite.)

Average hours of sleep: 8-9. Yeah, you read that right. As someone who has spent most of her life as a raging insomniac, it’s like some kinda magic.

Lucky number: 7, 9, 3 and their iterations.

Instruments: My voice. I’d like to learn piano and cello.

What are you wearing?: Teal dress, navy leggings, reddish camisole, teal-and-fox scarf, white petticoat (floofy!!). No shoes. I’m still at home. Teal watch band on my Apple watch. @dragonsworncosmetics Mr. Ibis and Technical Boy nailpolish.

Dream job: Professional novelist who brings in enough that I don’t need a second job. Unless that second job also involved creating things I’m interested in: graphic novels (as a writer), film, TV, theatre, mentoring other creators.

Dream trip: Basically, I’d like to be traveling all the time. I might take my next dream trip later this year: England, Scotland, Ireland, with a possible stop in Iceland.

Favorite food: How dare you make me choose? I love everything. For comfort, probably a gooey grilled cheese and rich tomato soup.

Significant other?: Indeed!

Last book I read: One Dark Throne, by Kendare Blake

Top 3 fictional universes: Mass Effect, Dragon Age, my owwwwwwnnnnnnnnn

[mystery-moose]

Had a good long day today, seeing movies and eating trashy fast food (War for the Planet of the Apes is fantastic, Baby Driver is very good and Spider-Man Homecoming is much better than it has any right to be) so this will go down as a quality birthday. But I really wanted to sit down at the end here and take time to thank all y'all, new friends and old, for the kind birthday wishes! In all honesty, they really meant a lot. @servantofclio @sekritjay @probablylostrightnow @bettydice @tarysande @fistfulofgammarays @epersonae (and if you didn't get around to it it's cool we're still friends ilu

[thunderheadfred]

Rules: List 10 songs you’re currently vibing to + tag 10 people.

Tagged by @orangeflavoryawp - thank you, lovely! Oh man, there’s too many! Almost all of these are linked to my fics in some way or another (pretty much all the music I listen to ends up feeding into my brainstorming sessions, haha) 

Links all lead to rebloggable posts, because I post way too much music on this blog, and now I'm going to make use of all that frivolous posting, pfff. Ordered vaguely from least to most angsty...

Man on the Moon - Zella Day (cutesy Kallo/Sara sexual awakening?!)

Les Voiles - Poom (jazzy, poppy Kallo/Sara junk, this time in French!)

Pep Talk - De Staat (Garrus Vakarian’s m’fuckin’ theme song, imho)

Everything Black - Unlike Pluto (Kasumi stealing ur car, in black)

Can’t Keep Your Mind Off - Data Romance (cute Mordin feels)

Feel It - Only Girl (somber Mordin feels)

You’ll Never Know - Just a Gent (Garrus has a bad night)

Down - The Birthday Massacre (Garrus has a bad LIFE)

When I Was Young - Neo Noir (heart-stabbing Shep feels)

Sleepwalker - AWAY (heart-obliterating Jane+Alba feels)

(This is cheating, but the playlist I made for Garrus’ visor is my ultimate stress-reliever go-to, when I need to get rid of all that angst I just built up)

Tagging @theherocomplex, @meggannn, @tarysande, @damalur, @yourlocalpriestess, @bethadastra, @stormcallart, @turians, @stellarisjay, @notasushibar and anybody else who wants to!

[thewollfgang]

Could you recommend me fluffy or hurt/comfort short deckerstar fics?

oh boy can I

SHORT FLUFFY + HURT/COMFORT FICS

some of these are fluff, some are h/c, many are both. All of these are under 6k words (or near enough) but please note the ratings and tags for each!

Post-Midnight Guests by BurningUpASunJustToSayHello aka @lux-i-fer

Lucifer isn’t exactly sure how he got to the Detective’s house but, he does know that his back is killing him.

Persephone by sanctuary_for_all ( @sanctuaryforalluniverses)

Persephone had known exactly what she was doing with those pomegranate seeds. At least, that was how Chloe had always seen it.

how long will i love you? as long as the stars are above you (and longer if i can) by wollfgang ( @thewollfgang )

“Such bright coloring, Lucifer.” Amenadiel teases, gesturing to Lucifer’s suit.

It’s the grey one with the purple lining, one of her favorites. Lucifer had abandoned his jacket and rolled up his sleeves when they’d hit a snag in the case. Chloe had left him poring over the files while she made a quick coffee run.

Amenadiel is grinning. “One would almost think you’re courting, brother.”

Lucifer freezes.

The Steadiness of Small Things by Grym ( @grymwolfen )

Recently resurrected, Lucifer stumbles back to Chloe’s hospital room with the antidote formula. Amenadiel stands his ground. Trixie somehow sees matters more clearly than the grown-ups–even the celestial ones. A missing moment from the winter finale, “A Good Day to Die.”

Aftermath by Weisse_Rose 

Chloe’s reaction to finally learning the truth. 

(check out the author’s The hugs that we deserved  series of h/c standalones)

What Dreams May Come by Pellaaearien ( @pellaaearien )

Fears seem much larger in the dark. Luckily the Deckers have a guardian Devil.

Family Mangrove by PixelByPixel ( @pixelbypixelfanfic )

“How is it my fault?” Lucifer protested. “I don’t even know your science teacher!”

Trixie took a folder out of her backpack and put it on the table with a thump, then opened the folder to take out a paper. Thrusting the paper at Lucifer, she accused, “You married my mom!”

Falling Stars by theleafpile ( @theleafpile )

Lucifer may be the Devil, but that doesn’t stop his light-bringer power from building. Over time, he’s found a way to safely dispel it.

This time, he invites Chloe along to watch.

It would be for this by dreamline

But if she were being truly honest, cross her heart and hope to die serious, all she really, really wants is for her mum to be happy.

(And it’s child)

heaven and hell were words to me by nosecoffee ( @nose-coffee )

Chloe had looked at him with sadness and veiled excitement and the kind of comfort he never expected from her after everything. Lucifer didn’t expect her to stay, much less take him back to her home, pour him a drink, kiss him, and take him to bed.

In the Half-Light by autumnstar ( @mareyshelley )

Chloe listens in on a brotherly conversation she really wasn’t meant to hear, and tries to work out what’s actually going on with her partner.

(and it’s sequel) Something Real 

Chloe can’t keep pretending she didn’t overhear Lucifer and Amenadiel talking. She has to know if her partner is okay.

Better Than Goats by tarysande ( @tarysande)

The creature was small enough to curl into a tiny ball in Lucifer’s large palm. An obnoxiously tiny pink tongue emerged to swipe, like very fine-grade sandpaper, at his skin. Lucifer cupped his other hand over it to create a small cave of warmth.

Lucifer did not like cats.

That’s How You Know by NotOneLine (here’s her twitter)

How do you know he loves you?How do you know he’s yours?

The Perks of Being Human by FearTheSpork ( @fearthespork )

It’s Trixie’s birthday and unless Chloe can pull a bike and a dad out of thin air, it’s going to majorly blow. Meanwhile, Lucifer is taking some sound advice.

Believer by Praemonitor ( @praemonitor )

First things first, Lucifer had wings again. 

[loquaciousquark]

HEY, HEY. HEY. If you didn't know it already, today is the birthday of the extraordinarily inimitable @eponymous-rose!! It's not just because she's one of the kindest, most generous people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting in my ENTIRE LIFE, but because she's had just a year of years in a heck of a year and GOSH darn it, she deserves it!

I still remember @tarysande's post that pointed me towards her blog so many years ago, and the deep dive I ended up accidentally taking into it has started one of the most meaningful and precious friendships of my entire life. To find such a critical relationship as an adult is rare and beautiful enough; to gain a sister I never expected has been even more important. You have truly changed my life and every possible way, babe, and whether it's one of the endless shows we're working through or one of our endless runs in some game or another, every single second of our friendship has made me a better person for getting to share it with you. I love you so much, and HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS.

[bloomingjellies]

tarysande replied to your post “@thisonelikesaliens , @vorchagirl , @tarysande ,...”

For what it's worth, this particular season often has a situational exacerbating effect on depression/anxiety for a lot of people. It could be that it's not a meds issue. *hug*

Very true, which is part of the reason I haven’t gone to the doctor already. I've never really had seasonal depression before and this winter has been unseasonably warm and sunny but brains are woefully unpredictable. 

I knew something was up since I have zero excitement about my birthday next Friday. I’ve always been excited about my birthday.