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The Unaccounted Variable

2026-07-08T15:32:05Z

Title: The Unaccounted Variable
Fandom: The Locked Tomb
Characters/Pairings: Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Gideon Nav, an original character
Rating: G
Word Count: 400
Summary: Harrow and Gideon meet a Lyctor who is sent to Canaan House to oversee the competition.
Notes: Yippee! my writing course assignment literally asked for FANFICTION! Specifically, a scene between 2 canon characters and one original character. We aim to please XD It's my first attempt ever at a Locked Tomb fanfic. Pity that the word count limit didn't let me explore what happens next... yet.

( Read more... )

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Escape Directive

2026-07-07T12:09:23Z

Killing 3 birds with one stone. (Not really, no birds were harmed :) A writing assignment for Coursera, a game development assignment for Coursera, and a submission to Creative Court on DW.

Author/Team: Catness/Winter
Title: Escape Directive
Fandom: n/a (it's a background story for my own video game, the playthrough video is included)
Characters/Pairings: n/a
Rating: G
Word Count: 833
Summary: A corporate cleanup android enters a sealed disaster zone to erase the evidence, but finds something that changes her purpose forever.

( click here to read )

Member/Team: Catness/Winter
Number and Type of Works: 1 video
Warnings/Spoilers: It's a full playthrough of my game (which only has 1 level so far), so technically, it's all spoilers...

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Lies, More Lies and Cake

2026-06-11T19:07:56Z

A Portal fanfic, sort of. A Coursera Creative Writing course assignment. Damn these upper word limits (500 words), but it was still a lot of fun ;)

( Read more... )

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Digital necromancy

2026-06-01T13:32:16Z

In preparation for moving, I unearthed my old mini laptop (Dell Inspiron Mini) I totally forgot about. It got a lot of action back in the good old days, but now, with the discontinued Ubuntu 14.04, it couldn't be let out on the big bad Internet. Sadly, upgrade options are very limited, because it's 32-bit, and only has 1Gb of memory, and some CPU idiosyncrasies, so most of the distros do not even boot.

I found a super-lightweight Debian-based distro AntiX. It settled comfortably on the laptop, with IceWM window manager. It's minimalistic (didn't even support the desktop backgrounds by default, but I found a workaround), but reasonably easy to configure, and the laptop really flies (it was rather sluggish with Ubuntu). I installed Palemoon (a lightweight version of Firefox) and Lucid Emacs (a lightweight version of Emacs). With Lucid Emacs, it was a battle, as it requires a systemd dependency, and AntiX are anti-systemd out of principle. But Gemini assured me this dependency is not actually needed, and showed me how to create a FAKE systemd package, and a FAKE EMPTY libsystemd.so and it worked! LMAO, so crazy and unhinged.

The keyboard is really comfortable, but the question is, what I can actually use the laptop for, besides writing? Web browsing is a nope, because most sites use sophisticated Javascript, not supported by Palemoon (and neither by old Firefox). Then I had a bright idea to use it for gamedev prototyping, and generally messing around. So I installed:

1. Aseprite - there is a 32-bit version in the package, but it's compiled against newer GlibC so it doesn't run. Gemini showed me how to unpack a .deb package, and to get a standalone GlibC package and to bundle it together with Aseprite binaries, and it's mindboggling but it works!

2. LÖVE 2D, a simple 2d Lua-based gamedev framework, always wanted to try it out. Worked out of the box, just needed a Mesa env variable override.

3. Allegro, a low-level framework in C, I recalled the name from symbioid's posts. Most of the packages worked, except for the audio, which depends on pulseaudio which depends on systemd. Gemini assured me that Allegro works fine with pure ALSA, and showed me how to create a fake libpulse package, and the tutorial game works fine, sprites and sfx and all. (I'm becoming an expert package counterfeiter ;)

LibSDL didn't work, required too many dependencies besides systemd, and I didn't feel like encumbering my little beast with all this crap, but I might try to untangle the mess someday.

Still not convinced how usable is the Mini in the long run. Surely it makes much more sense to bring a proper laptop on vacation, or an iPad... But I have LOADS of fun tinkering with it, much more than expected... and this alone justifies the waste of time ;)

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The Scarlet Eye

2026-05-27T13:59:26Z

I thought to skip it, because this assignment puts a hard upper limit of 200 words on the story, damn, I hate these limits... But I have such a *perfect* icon for it ;) Maybe I'll expand it into a proper story someday (though most of my WIPs remain in limbo forever...)

( Read more... )

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Coffee Battleground (Nothing's Going to Explode This Time)

2026-05-25T18:05:05Z

Against my better judgement, signed up for a Coursera creative writing course. This is the 1st assignment, which had to follow some very specific requirements, but discussing the scaffolding is boring for anyone but the author, so here's just the raw result. Seriously, it was too much fun, just being silly and spontaneous without worrying that you might fail... (Heh, maybe my attitude to homework is fundamentally wrong ;) but you can't argue with something that works ;)

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The most useless leaderboard ever

2026-04-29T07:04:09Z

In addition to streaks, Coursera just added leaderboards, LMAO.

You are automatically added to newbies board, but you can also join other boards, according to your specializations / interests. But what's the point? You can't actually connect to fellow learners as you can't see their profiles, and can't interact with them in any way. Your nickname is automatically generated and you can't edit it (the hell I am Gentle Koala... Crazy Cat would be more like it ;) and it's even different on different computers. You don't get any bonuses (in-game coins, avatars, certificates etc) for the leaderboards, and neither for the streak.

Surely Coursera has access to many gamification experts, why can't they do it professionally?

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Hygge Cat Tarot

2026-04-17T13:13:46Z

For the_creative_court challenge of this month. Whimsical and cozy Major Arcana cards using stock cat photos, mostly from Pexels. Frame border is from Vecteezy, and the font is Cozy Space from Dafont.

( Hygge Cat Tarot, Major Arcana: 22 images, 300x430 )

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Translate

2026-04-12T07:19:16Z

Discovered Kagi translate from human to LinkedIn. LMAO! https://translate.kagi.com/


Yesterday was all about strategic recovery and exploring innovative storytelling. 🚀

After a productive morning, I prioritized a high-impact rest period to recharge my creative batteries. 🔋 I spent the evening deep-diving into a cutting-edge indie point-and-click adventure, analyzing unique UX/UI mechanics and immersive world-building. 🎮✨

Investing in downtime is the ultimate productivity hack. How are you leveling up your perspective this week? #WorkLifeBalance #Innovation #GamingIndustry #StrategicRest #ContinuousLearning

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A peek into the Hidden World

2026-04-05T09:55:54Z

The Hidden World by kalium is a browser-based hypertext adventure combined with adopting virtual pets, which you encounter during your travels. It's a relaxing experience, focused not on puzzles but on exploration. Writing style is very classic and gives off retro text adventure vibes.

Here are two of the cute creatures I found and adopted; there are many more, click on them to find your own :)

Thank you, kalium, for creating this whole world from scratch, and sharing it!

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A season for creativity

2026-03-16T16:29:43Z

My recent discovery via the Snowflake Challenge: seasons_of_fandom

It's a community where users are divided into 4 teams (Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn) and complete various kinds of creative challenges like writing, art and even playing puzzle games. Despite the name "fandom", original works are allowed. It's super organized with lots of rules (I'm still trying to get the hang of it all) so it should appeal to fellow fans of spreadsheets, lists and similar obsessions ;) If you enjoy a bit of external nudging to stay creative, check it out! The sign up post

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February Top 10, challenge #4

2026-02-25T19:36:37Z

A challenge by Dreamersdare.

Challenge 4:

Make a Top Ten list for your favourite relationships in media and tell everyone what you love about them. This covers all kinds of relationships - romantic, sexual, platonic, professional, rivals, acrimonious, family, found family, something else not mentioned here. So, bring out your friends, lovers or enemies, whether canon or fanon. If it involves two or more people interacting in some way, it counts, so go wild!

Here is a link with more details, and to post the link to your answers.

I went with relationships between video game characters. Not romantic, but friends, coworkers, family, reluctant allies, chaotic duos. Not necessarily the best of the best (who has time for analysing and sorting all the games you ever played?), but each of these dynamics stuck in my head and it warms my heart in some way. The games are loosely sorted by most recently played.

1. Pokémon GO: Arlo and Candela
Okay, I lied. I totally perceive this as romantic, even though canon only mentions they went from friends and colleagues to enemies, and it's probably one-sided. But Arlo definitely cannot get Candela out of his head. There is tension, the unresolved rivalry, the bittersweet memories. I even wrote a poem about it for my Pokémon GO bingo challenge, based on Arlo's message to Candela.

2. Nine Noir Lives: PI Cuddles and his assistant Tabby
They routinely insult, mock, and prank each other. But when things get dangerous, they don't hesitate for a moment, but jump straight into trouble to save one another. Beneath all the snark, there's unwavering loyalty. I'm always into "we bicker constantly but I would die for you" dynamic.

3. OneShot: Niko and the Player
This one goes beyond characters. It's between the protagonist and YOU, the player. The game is heavily meta and breaks the fourth wall in a way that makes the connection feel intimate and personal. You're not just guiding Niko, but are responsible for her, and she's aware of you, relies on you and believes in you.

4. Randal’s Monday: Randal and Matt
Randal is rude, obnoxious, and openly kleptomaniac (like most adventure game protagonists, except he doesn’t even hide it ;) But behind the sarcasm and selfishness, he genuinely cares about his only friend. Watching him struggle through increasingly absurd and difficult challenges just to fix his mess and save Matt reveals the feelings of true friendship.

5. Rusty Lake: The Past Within: Albert and Rose
Albert is not a good person by any stretch. That's what makes this relationship so striking. His daughter Rose dedicates herself to bringing him back to life through elaborate and deeply unsettling rituals. And he trusts her with this impossibly sensitive task. It's disturbing and emotionally complicated.

6. Chicken Police: PIs Sonny and Marty
Two cynical former friends and partners with unresolved history. There's tension, sarcasm, and old resentment simmering under the surface. But when the case gets dangerous, they reconnect, and once again they're working in sync. The bickering never stops, yet the trust is still there.

7. Lair of the Clockwork God: Ben and Dan
A friendship built into the game mechanics. Ben is a point&click adventure character, while Dan is an action platformer character. They literally operate under different genres, yet they have to cooperate constantly to progress. I'd never believe it could work, but it works brilliantly. Watching them cooperate and compensate for each other's weaknesses feels both clever and wholesome.

8. LIMBO: The unnamed Boy and his sister
We don't actually see their relationship, but it's implied through purpose. The boy silently endures a terrifying, hostile world and countless gruesome deaths to reach his sister. He is incredibly determined, and his almost mystical journey is a message of love and devotion.

9. Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons: the two brothers
They are inseparable. The player controls both of them, and they physically cannot stray far apart. Their bond is embedded in the game controls. Without spoilers, the ending is one of the most emotionally powerful and brilliant uses of game design I've ever experienced.

10. Portal: Chell and GLaDOS
They begin as enemies. GLaDOS taunts, manipulates, and repeatedly tries to kill Chell. (Not for personal reasons, but following her programming.) But over time, their dynamic evolves. There’s sarcasm, grudging respect, shared survival, and eventually, not exactly friendship but partnership and trust.

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February top 10, Challenge #3

2026-02-16T11:54:53Z

A challenge by Dreamersdare.

Challenge 3:
Make a Top Ten list for your favourite music picks and share what you love about them. This can be in any format - songs, artists, albums, music videos, soundtracks, scores, something else not mentioned here. If it's vaguely related to music, it ticks the box, so go with whatever you like!

Here is a link with more details, and to post the link to your answers.

For this challenge, I picked video game soundtracks. I usually include old Sierra and Lucasarts classics in such lists, but it's time to give the ancient ones a break.

It's hard to figure out what makes a soundtrack appealing. For the Portal song, it's definitely the lyrics, the irony, and the robotic presentation. But for the others? Haunting melody, rich harmony, not too monotonous... Some of them are also with lyrics, but I don't include them here for lyrics. Funny that when listening to regular songs, I prefer a very different kind of music - fast, loud and high energy (rock / heavy metal). My main use of soundtracks is background music while working, so they should be unobtrusive (but still not background noise!)

(One more factor is nostalgic memories of the games where the soundtracks came from :)

I'm sure there are many more wonderful soundtracks around, but I mostly play point&click adventures and puzzle platformers. I know I miss a lot. Open for recs!

( YouTube spam )

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Educational privilege meme

2026-02-15T10:05:54Z

Stolen from my f/l. Not sure what's its purpose - collecting statistics? developing the feeling of gratitude? but I suppose it proves that my childhood was not as crappy as I imagine. And it's a lot of nice questions, not depressing / invasive like most of the Friday Five questions.

( TL;DR: I'm privileged, I suppose )

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Guitar - new workflow

2026-02-14T17:01:58Z

Today I learned that I've been using my electric guitar incorrectly this whole time! Well, not the WHOLE time, but since mustering the courage to connect Tom's Focusrite Scarlett audio interface to the computer. I needed it for the mic, but there's also input for the instrument cable. But I thought why would I need it if I already have the amplifier?

So, just discovered that with Ableton, I can bypass the amp entirely. When I connect the guitar directly to Focusrite, and run Ableton with the input monitoring, I can use all these FANTASTIC audio effects, like my beloved Hybrid Reverb, which do not exist on my simple amp, and Ableton is so much more user-friendly anyway.

I don't even have to sit in front of the screen, because the cables are long enough to reach the bed ;) But sitting in front of the screen is good for practicing with backing tracks and all kinds of digital tools which I can now use through the same headphones, and without delay.

I hope it will boost up my guitar practice, which has been regrettably neglected lately...

[EDIT] I just realised that I used "Ableton" and "user-friendly" in the same sentence. ;)

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Divergent quiz

2026-02-12T18:13:13Z

I came across a Divergent faction quiz on Wikihow and got Dauntless. It's very flattering, of course, but totally incorrect - I'm definitely Erudite. But most Erudite-related answers in this quiz are either too uninspiring or too impractical. Like, what goal would you have rather accomplished 5 years in the future: climbed Kilimanjaro or read all of the classics? Would you rather have to complete a new terrifying challenge (shark diving, sky diving, etc.) on every birthday, or be forced to read 200 nonfiction books per year for the rest of your life? (I think the quiz author slipped their own opinion here, using the word "forced" ;) And this one is hilarious: what would you bring to a deserted island? a weapon so I can fight off predators, or an encyclopedia set to keep me entertained? LMAO!

So I think this quiz is rigged in favour of Dauntless... but maybe I do have a hidden aptitude towards it? Tris also could never imagine herself in Dauntless until it happened... Also, that's what I would choose if it was only a matter of choice and not personal qualities.

Btw I wonder if anyone would ever want Abnegation or Candor. They seem to be such crappy options. I can imagine some people would enjoy Amity.

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Roleplay

2026-02-09T13:28:24Z

Finally trying out this "work safety issues" AI roleplay stuff everyone's talking about.

( It was an intense session, but I still don't understand why people are so obsessed with it... )

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February Top 10, Challenge #2

2026-02-08T19:02:07Z

A challenge by Dreamersdare.

Challenge 2:
Make a Top Ten list for your favourite series and tell people exactly why you love it. This can be in any format - tv series, book series, radio plays, movie sequels, something else not mentioned here.

Here is a link with more details, and to post the link to your answers.

I went with TV shows, starting with a few newer ones.

* Squid Game

A Korean drama about a secret contest involving children's games, except these versions are deadly, and the last surviving player is supposed to receive a huge prize. In a cramped dormitory-like environment controlled by merciless masked guards, there's a lot of tension, intrigues, alliances and conflicts between the players.

* Alice in Borderland

Based on a Japanese manga series (loosely inspired by Alice in Wonderland). It's also about deadly games, but the action happens in an alternate reality. The games are represented by playing cards, they're more varied and dynamic, and the atmosphere is more relaxed overall, as the characters are not confined to a single area but wander all around alternate Tokyo, with its gorgeous abandoned urbanscapes. (I just started the 3rd season, which is said to be the final one.)

* Wednesday

The newest addition to the Addams Family lore. Wednesday (and later, Pugsley) attends a high school for students with special abities. While not exactly a magic school and not focused on lessons, it fits the "magic school" trope for me. Nevermore has this lovely Dark Academia vibe, and Wednesday herself is perfect, with her extraordinary abilities, skills and willpower, and relentlessly morbid attitude.

* Black Mirror

A sci-fi series emphasizing and extrapolating the possible dangers of computer technologies, resulting in dystopias of varying degrees of horror. Episodes are mostly unrelated, although several episodes mention the same technologies. As a fan of cyberpunk and dystopia, I enjoy these creepy glimpses into our possible futures. (I saw seasons 1-5, will continue with 6 and 7 after I'm done with Alice.)

* Westworld

A sci-fi series about a Wild West theme park featuring AI-powered androids created for the entertainment of rich guests who are free to abuse and murder the "hosts" any way they want. It raises many questions about AI, ethics, consciousness and reality. "Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality?" (I admit I quit during the 3rd season because the quality of the show declined dramatically, but the first season was amazing, and the 2nd was still good.)

* Death Note

An anime based on a Japanese manga series. A high-school student finds a notebook belonging to a God of Death, which allows to kill people by writing down their name and cause of death. He realizes it's a great opportunity to rid the world of bad people. Somehow, the police are not amused, and assign the smartest detective to track this secret vigilante. Following the mind games between two brilliant Chessmasters, Light and L, is incredibly exciting. (Note: there's also a Netflix film but it mangles the story and characters beyond recognition, and is a shame.)

* Breaking Bad

One man's journey from a timid and shy school teacher to a ruthless crime boss. Despite the story taking place in the real world, no magic and no puzzles, it's somehow extremely engaging. Watching Walter White's transformation, step by step, makes you wonder where the boundary between good and evil lies, and how far someone can go even when starting with the best intentions. There are several strong and alluring characters (especially Gus Fring: a quiet, perfectly composed villain with impecable style) and a lot of humour.

* Hannibal

The early years of Hannibal Lecter, the serial killer, cannibal and psychiatrist, before he became famous in Silence of the Lambs. It's fascinating to watch the development of a close bond between Hannibal and a man who's supposed to be his mortal enemy: FBI agent Will Graham. I'm not a shipper but this is one relationship where the chemistry shoots through the roof. Hannibal is so quietly menacing and sexy. Also, food porn.

* Game of Thrones

The epic history of a medieval-like fantasy world. Not something I'd usually watch, as there are so many plot threads, the story is extremely complicated and there are too many characters to keep track of. But it's so atmospheric and beautifully depicted and dynamic, and so much weird shit keeps happening, that it just draws you in, I guess...

* Star Trek

Doesn't need an introduction ;) Actually, I'm only familiar with the first 4 series: TOS, TNG, DS9 and Voyager. I tried watching the next one but couldn't stick with it for some reason. My favourite is DS9, because it's darker and has more continuity in its story arcs (or maybe just because it was my first one...) Honestly, TOS feels so cheesy in comparison. Even so, I especially enjoy episodes like Mirror Universe, where the characters behave in atypically evil ways.

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Cats inside

2026-02-04T15:39:54Z

Today I learned: 内有猫腻 (nèi yǒu māo nì) is a Chinese slangy/idiom-like expression meaning: "There’s something fishy going on inside.", "Something shady is happening."

This is a street sign from a cyberpunk-style drawing by a Singaporean artist Zannen.Pixel, whose course I'm taking on Coloso. He said that he likes to use puns in his street signs. So I was immediately curious. I could translate the first 3 characters as they are the same as Japanese: "inside", "have" and "cat". The 4th one was a mystery, apparently it doesn't exist in Kanji, I found it in a Chinese dictionary by drawing, it means "grease".

ChatGPT explained that "cat grease" 猫腻 (māo nì) is not literally cat grease, but a set expression which means a hidden trick / shady business. Something like "there's a cat in it" - something sneaky is hidden. A fitting sign for a shady night club or store.

Why it is a pun? Because the drawing is about cats! It depicts a giant fierce cyber cat, and a woman samurai trying to be friendly with her :) (Just when I thought it could not be more perfect, Zannen revealed that the cat is a mother cat protecting her kittens.)

This particular course is not great as a learning environment for lazy bums like me, because there's no graded homework, no pushing, and too much "do your own research". But as for motivation / inspiration, Zannen is after my own heart! I absolutely love his style, and here is a quote from his personal site : "I bring our existential dread, eldritch nightmares, Asian horror and many other things, terrible and romantic, to life. One pixel at a time." And in his lectures, he casually mentions stuff like "When you encounter a stray cat in a back alley, of course you want to get closely acquainted with it, right?" RIGHT? (Even when the cat is a killer robot 10x bigger than you, and her claws are the size of your arm ;)

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February Top 10, challenge #1

2026-02-02T09:01:38Z

A challenge by Dreamersdare.

Challenge 1:
Make a Top Ten list for your favourite standalone media and tell people exactly why you love it. This can be in any format - movies, one shot dramas, novels, short stories, plays, something else not mentioned here. Whatever you like!

Here is a link with more details, and to post the link to your answers.

I don’t watch a lot of movies, so this list is pretty random. In no particular order, 10 movies that stayed in my memory, chosen specifically because I’ve rewatched each of them more than once, and I can remember the details without consulting the Internet ;)

* The Prestige – a mystery/drama about the feud between two stage magicians, each of them inventing brilliant tricks using really unconventional methods. The ending horrified me, and I spent many hours pondering how that trick worked and felt for everyone involved.

* eXistenZ – a pre-Matrix movie featuring virtual reality. A game developer and her sidekick get trapped in a fully immersive VR game. The technology is biologically based and looks very creepy. A kind of motivational movie for me because hey, it’s about game development ;)

* Mulholland Drive – a mystery/drama with a dreamlike atmosphere, where the same events and details repeat and recombine in different ways. The story has a puzzle-like feel to it, with the pieces slowly matching together by the end. But even after you know what it’s all about, there are still new details to notice on a rewatch.

* Cabin in the Woods – a comedy/parody of horror movies, incorporating many genre clichés and combining them in dark, weird and hilarious ways. I like how we get a bigger view of the story several times (i.e., this is not what is really happening…).

* The Truman Show – a comedy/psychological drama about a man who is the star of a reality show but is completely unaware that every detail of his daily life is broadcast to the world. His environment is artificial, and all his friends and family are actually actors. When he starts noticing weird things that don’t quite add up, it’s eerie and relatable. (Warning: may exacerbate paranoia... ;) Amazing soundtrack by Philip Glass.

* Memento – a detective story in which the main character, who investigates the murder of his wife, suffers from short-term memory loss. He has to leave himself notes to retain the clues. The story is told in reverse. Even though we start at the end and move toward the beginning, the mystery works just like in a regular story, and it ends with a twist that changes everything... so you immediately need to rewatch.

* Alice in Wonderland (by Tim Burton) – an adult version of the famous children’s tale, so everything is darker and edgier, with more angst and sadness and gorgeous scenery. I was especially taken by the menacing, long-suffering Knave of Hearts.

* Galaxy Quest – a comedy/parody of Star Trek, very smart and meta. It’s about a group of actors from a sci-fi TV show who are suddenly forced to relive their screen adventures IRL. It's funny and witty but also has some genuinely touching moments. Plus, a brilliant performance by Alan Rickman.

* The Usual Suspects – a crime thriller focused on the mysterious and terrifying criminal mastermind Keyser Söze. The action alternates between a police interrogation and flashbacks. TBF, the crime stuff was a bit boring, but the ending was so shockingly unexpected that I immediately went to rewatch the whole thing (and not just once!) to check all the details I had missed.

* Idiocracy – a comedy/satire that provides a bleak but hilarious view of a dystopian future, where humankind becomes so drastically dumb that an average Joe from our time appears to be a genius. There are so many funny moments. I really liked the character of President Camacho, a former wrestler - an attractive, reasonably smart and an overall cool guy.

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Snowflake Challenge #15 - conclusion

2026-01-30T08:51:27Z

Challenge #15. How Did the Fandom Snowflake Challenge Go?

Pretty well. I've completed all the challenges timely, did a couple of creative things (icons, mood boards), got to ramble about the Locked Tomb, interacted with a few peers (not much, but I was already pushing my socializing limits ;), even made a new friend! Joined a new creative community, got some great recs for games, books etc. (Thanks again to everyone who recommended Stray - I started to play, and it's truly an amazing game! and a prime example of Environmental Storytelling, which had turned up in one of my gamedev courses and apparently it's one of my favourite game design techniques.)

My DW posting definitely got a boost this month. Hopefully not crawling back under my rock in the end. (It's hard for me to do anything creative and even journaling without a structure of challenges... ;)

Big thanks to all the mods, and to all the participants! See you next year, I guess ;) Or maybe in other communities. While snooping around, just discovered a summer counterpart of this challenge, sunshine_revival, it sounds cool :)

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Stream

2026-01-28T19:17:19Z

Wrote this kinda poem for the Creative Court prompt "Birthday", I guess I can post in my own journal as well.

(It had originated on the night of a thunderstorm when our building was hit by lightning, and we had a power outage, and I couldn't sleep.)

the year falls down like heavy rain
crashing into the ground
the thunder of memories crushing my brain
drenched and dazed
I stumble around my maze of disquieting voids
avoiding the vortex of voices
incessantly drowning my mind from within
and without
you
another year runs out
another year streams in

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Snowflake Challenge #14 - fandom promo

2026-01-27T18:41:10Z

Challenge #14
In your own space, create a promo and/or rec list for someone new to a fandom.

I don't know how to do promotions / convincing, so here are my entirely personal reasons why I love The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir. (Currently a trilogy: Gideon the Ninth, Harrow the Ninth, Nona the Ninth, with the 4th book forthcoming.)

* It's set in a world where high technologies, such as space travel, coexist with magic, specifically necromancy. The necromancy is not an old-fashioned "raising the dead through obscure occult rituals" - there are many different types of necromancy, described in precise technical details, and this magic is actually an essential base for all the scientific progress. And then, there are also sword fights!

* The story is complex, richly detailed and always intriguing, with crazy mind-boggling twists. Curiously, each book is written in a different genre! The 1st one is simultaneously a Locked Room Mystery and a Deadly Game, set in an eerie semi-abandoned space station, which reminds me both on Hogwarts and the Portal game labs. (I'd love to see a computer game based on it!) The 2nd one is a psychological horror mindfuck thriller which puts everything you know into question and makes you doubt your sanity. The 3rd one is a character drama in a hardcore dystopian world, with a charming child-like protagonist whom I absolutely adore even though I'm usually not into easygoing and optimistic characters.

* The language is sophisticated and witty and sharp, incorporating biblical references and pop culture references and Tumblr memes. From elaborate to silly to morbid to technical to poetic, it covers everything.

* The 9 Houses fall into the Grouped For Your Convenience trope, although it's not Sorting by personality traits, but rather, people's personality traits are largely determined by the House they grew up in, and the kind of necromancy they had learned. But of course the sorting addicts can play with the sorting quizzes ;) I sort myself into the 6th House - the Emperor's Reason, the Master Wardens. Their planet is a big library, which contains most of the Empire's knowledge and research.

* There are numerous characters, and it takes an effort to learn all the names (there is actually a list in the beginning ;) But almost every character is memorable and has their own unique personality and voice, and some of them are extremely relatable. Their relationships are complicated and dynamic, often horribly twisted. I appreciate the lack of explicit romance, though there's enough romantic tension, and fanfic writers have plenty of material to work with ;)

* The common tagline for the series is lesbian necromancers in space. Though I'm not much into any kind of romance, queer or het, one thing I admire about these books is that sex and gender are so completely unimportant and irrelevant for the story. Any character can pursue any profession, job, position, hobby or relationship. Well, of course it depends on their abilities, their House, their affiliations etc, but never sex. There is no concept of men being better warriors or women being better scientists etc, and also, there's no preaching about gender equality, discrimination and such - these issues are just never mentioned! Same for a physically male character hosting a female's conscience and vice versa, it's simply not a problem and not an issue. That's the world I want to live in...

* And on a more personal note, these books are big on the themes of grief and loss, and I found a deep, multifaceted and inspiring concept (Lyctorhood) to provide a powerful metaphor for an actionable approach to coping with grief.

So, if you're unfamiliar with the series and think that they might be your thing, get Gideon the Ninth and dive in! The 9 Houses await.

"Two is for discipline, heedless of trial;
Three for the gleam of a jewel or a smile;
Four for fidelity, facing ahead;
Five for tradition and debts to the dead;
Six for the truth over solace in lies;
Seven for beauty that blossoms and dies;
Eight for salvation no matter the cost;
Nine for the Tomb, and for all that was lost."

~~ Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth.

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Snowflake Challenge #13 - communities

2026-01-26T08:29:50Z

Challenge #13

TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn’t need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it’s even one that you’ve barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.

I don't participate in communities much, I'm mostly a lurker. Lately my preferred lurking space is Reddit. I like the way you follow not people but groups (subreddits), the slightly old-fashioned interface, the convenience of threaded comments, and most of all, the variety, breadth and depth of the content.

There is an active (or relatively active) subreddit for almost any interest, mood or app!
( linkspam )

and that's just a tiny bit of what's out there. (Not all of the listed above are fandom-related, but heck, whatever keeps your creative gears spinning ;)

Also, it's easy to group subreddits into your own themed lists, and browse a specific theme whenever you feel like it. Actually, I mostly just drop to my main page and scroll for a while.

Perhaps Reddit is not a proper "community", as the atmosphere is not always warm and friendly and supportive, and some users are rude and obnoxious, and the interaction is mostly on specific subjects and not with specific people, but I suppose this is my personal usage pattern as a lurker. And TBF, real communities take a lot of time and effort to participate in, and I usually just don't have so much energy in my mental space. (Snowflake Challenge is pushing me in the best way though ;)

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Snowflake Challenge #12 - appreciation

2026-01-24T17:06:19Z

Challenge #12

Make an appreciation post to those who enhance your fandom life. Appreciate them in bullet points, prose, poetry, a moodboard, a song... whatever moves you!

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