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Current Mood: curious
Current Music: Felt So Free (Shawn Christmas)

Hello!

Name: Star/Soda

Age: Late 20s

I mostly post about: Fanart, fanfiction, character/story development, personal ramblings

My hobbies are: Illustration, writing, collecting figures, plushies, and other merchandise (both official and fanmade)

My fandoms are: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003, IDW, 1990, Splintered Fate), Pokemon, plenty of other animated TV shows and video games I won't bother listing

I'm looking to meet people who: Share my interests, are open-minded and respectful, and otherwise pleasant and chill to be around.

My posting schedule tends to be: Aiming for at least once a week, possibly more frequently depending on how chatty I feel or if I have art/writing I'd like to share

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: I do not tolerate any form of bigotry. AI "art" and "writing" is also a major no-no, and I have a few major squicks on the shipping front that I prefer to avoid as much as possible. In addition, I will not subscribe to or add users to my access list who are under the age of 18.

Before adding me, you should know: For the moment, none of my entries are locked and anyone is free to subscribe. If an entry has potentially sensitive/triggering content, there will be a warning beforehand. Anyone is free to comment on my posts as well; however, I prefer to interact with others who are at least 20 or older, and will not be responding to comments by minors.

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Polyship Week 2025

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A Speedy Equinox: A Day For Mia Dearden

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Subject: New Community Community: Community TV

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Current Mood: hopeful
Current Music: Distant Worlds (FF9) - You're Not Alone

Huxleyenne's Theme Hits

Name: Risa

Age: 36

I mostly post about: I ramble briefly about writing, wrestling, people, whatever I'm feeling. I try to save my most crude and raunchy language/ideas for the fanfiction that I write. As a person who's been on the Internet long enough to know what it's like to run a Geocities site, I've seen... oh god. I've seen things. We've all seen things we cannot unsee. Sometimes I can be a little sardonic and grumpy about it, but I have a sense of humor. I'd always rather laugh, even when I'm crying. Not in a toxic positivity sort of way, but more in a way that I don't burden people with too much emotional baggage.

My hobbies are: Writing fanfiction, reading books and wrestling fic, watching emotionally damaged pretty people in tights get into stage fights, cooking and baking, and walking/jogging/hiking as my antidepressant (I've lost 95lbs. I am a weight loss advocate, but I'm neither fatphobic, nor do I view weight loss in an of itself as fatphobic. Let's respect each other, OK?) I'm not nearly the gamer I used to be, but I have dabbled enough in JRPGs, D&D, and Magic the Gathering that we can have conversations about all of these things.

My fandoms are: World Wrestling Entertainment (the superstars, particularly Dusty's kids ~~f*ck the company, though!~~), South Park, Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon, Final Fantasy (in general, but 9 and 8 are overwhelmingly my faves) Stardew Valley, and gosh. Take me back to 90s/early 2000s Nicktoons and anime all day.

I'm looking to meet people who: I'm looking for chill friends who do their own thing, but take the time to say hello every now and then. I will try to do the same. I've been showing up to DW every day since I registered, so I dare say I'll be around. The only other social media site I use is Tumblr, and I don't do much there other than like and occasionally reblog wrestling stuff. AO3 is the site I'm most active on. I go where the fic goes.

My posting schedule tends to be: I'm aiming to update 3-4 times a week about any thoughts relevant to writing, but I won't force it. If I got nothing to say, then that's that. IRL, my life is super boring. I work. I exist. Not much to say about that. Carving out a little writer life on the Internet is my excitement.

When I add people, my dealbreakers are: People under 18 is a hard no. MAGA is a harder no. If you are an existential threat to my people in the LGBT community, I don't respect that and never will. I will fight this prejudice until my dying breath, including any random internalized sexism/queerphobia that may still linger inside of me.

Before adding me, you should know: I'm just a writer, guys. The current flavor is kinky wrestling yaoi, which you can read on AO3 if you're interested. Other than that, I'm cobbling together a collection of original work. My favorite DW community is

fic_promptly, and I plan on posting a lot of fills. I'm still getting used to being back on DW. Apologies if I'm not always consistent.

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Island of apples, baskets of pears

Fruit trees have very much been the theme of this weekend. Someone was giving away pears from a box in their front garden on my return walk from the gym yesterday, and another person was giving away apples when I passed on my way back from the pool this morning. Yesterday afternoon Matthias and I scrambled around on a ladder, and even in the tree itself, picking all the bramley apples from the tree in our back garden. Now two shelves, plus the vegetable crisper in our fridge are entirely filled with apples. Last year they lasted us from August to March!

Everywhere in our house, there are little scattered clusters of fruit — a trio of pears and two large tomatoes ripening on the front windowsill, bowls of apples on the kitchen table, a handful of black cherry tomatoes on the kitchen windowsill in between the indoor plants — like votive offerings to household or harvest gods.

In general, the garden is making me very happy.

If that wasn't enough, after breakfast today, Matthias and I walked out to Little Downham, past hedgerows laden with sloes, rosehips and ripe blackberries, until we got to the community orchard, and filled his backpack with yet more apples and pears. The leaves are yellowing at the edges, and the air has that slightly crackly, woody autumnal scent, although it's still as warm as ever.

Last night, Matthias and I rewatched Casablanca, which I had last seen about twenty-five years ago. It really is that good, and I cried buckets, of course (although about the politics, more than the interpersonal stories). It's extraordinary to me that it was made not post-WWII, but in 1942 — an incredible act of hope and optimism, and faith in human effort turned collaboratively towards an existential struggle. It is of course incredibly emotionally manipulative, but sometimes I just want to see a bunch of traumatised exiles stand up to totalitarian bullies, you know?

( This week I finished three books )

In the time since I started writing this post, the UK government sent me its (scheduled, warned-for) blaring, vibrating phone test emergency alert, and the sky outside has turned from burning blue to cloud-covered grey. The weekend is winding down, and gathering itself in, like a blanket thrown over tired legs.

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Multi-Fandom: 10 Items or Less Exchange - SIGN UPS OPEN

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Grab-bag linkpost

Let's close some tabs:

In my country of origin, Australia, sun protection is serious business, and testing requirements for sunscreen are very strict (in Europe, sunscreen is classed as a cosmetic product, but in Australia it's classed as a medical product) — that's why there's a massive scandal brewing as a number of Australia's most popular sunscreen brands have been found to be making false claims about the protection they offer.

One of the journalistic newsletters to which I subscribe has elected to put all their material behind a paywall for the month of September, and they lay out their reasons in a clear, compelling way here. As they point out, if no one who cares about credible, responsible, independent journalism, especially from foreign correspondents on the ground, is prepared to pay for it, the gap will be filled by nefarious entities that have the funds — authoritarian states, disinformation networks. I'm not saying this to suggest everyone should fund this specific newsletter, but I am saying that (if you have any money set aside for non-essentials), you should be paying for some form of journalism.

One of the journalistic outlets which I do fund is Byline Times, and this piece they published, by historian Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute London, is just an incredible piece of writing, weaving together personal history, contemporary politics and geopolitics, and literary analysis with searing clarity.

This essay from Rebecca Solnit is another way of describing what I've long been calling '(geo)political abuse apologism.'

Did this kid use AI to fake research about how great AI is? — basically what it says in the title.

Speaking of extractive AI, this is basically where I'm at right now.

I liked this essay on fanfic as a form of literary criticism.

I really love instances of people with niche jobs or interests who are able to communicate to interested non-experts in a way that conveys a sense of wonder and curiousity, like an invitation into a hidden world — and I'm very much enjoying

boisdejasmin's posts on perfumes and all things fragrance-related.

As always, Yuletide is abruptly upon us, and as always, it feels as if it's arrived without warning (despite being the same time every year). If you're planning to participate, the schedule and other requirements can be found at the

yuletide_admin comm.

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REMINDER: Fandom Empire offers Bingo

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Book Report & Media Roundup, September 7th Edition

The pile got too high again...

Gundam SEED Destiny (Original Version + Final Plus) - watched pretty much as canon review for war-gaming and there were a lot of things I kinda forgot or found more interesting this time around. Anyway, Freedom only makes sense with Final Plus and now I'm wondering if they just edited it into the remaster. Actually, I think I started with the Remaster but switched to the original because I like the old English dub (and British!Arthur) a lot.

Char's Counterattack - again, canon review for war-gaming, I swear. It's been some time and I both love and hate everyone and Gyunei is such a jealous boyfriend, lol.

Natsume's Book of Friends (Season 1 & 2) - delightful, though it seems like only a couple more seasons are on disc and the rest streaming-only.

A Magical Girl Retires (Park Seolyeon) - enough people talked about this that I got curious and oh, it's an entire journey and then some in like 150 pages. At it's heart, it is very much a magical girl story and the route to the ending is never entirely obvious.

Jianghu (L Si X Xi Y) - baihe short story, interesting and delightful in weird ways. (More Info)

Broken Controller #4 - zine about retro-gaming. I wanted to like Broken Controller but it became very image-heavy with difficult to read layouts. I know the group doing it are still doing zines and I wish them success but they just weren't for me.

Samurai Pizza Cats - this was a stupid lot of fun; I can't say I paid close attention to every episode but this was great to have on in the background in general. Absolute kudos to the writing team. If you don't know the story, Kyatto Ninden Teyandee underperformed in Japan and a lot of the production materials weren't kept. When it was licensed for an English syndication, it arrived with partial scripts and audio. The writers literally just made everything up and dialed the ridiculous to 11. It does not 100% hold up, but it's very very good.

Twittering Birds Never Fly - a BL movie that kept catching my eye on Sentai's sale page. It was okay to watch but that's about it.

The Da Vinci Code - was given this, after being asked if I'd seen it. I promptly described what I think is actually the plot of American Treasure and then realized that. Anyway, nothing about this felt original but this was an entire genre for awhile, too.

American Graffiti - a loaner that shoot, I need to give back. Didn't get into at first, enjoyed it by the end. Nice cars, good music. I think I'm the wrong generation to really some of the nostalgia, though.

Bastard!! (S1, new anime) - a surprisingly good adaptation! Apparently quite a few of the voice actors went uncredited because it is a horny, mature show. But it's a different actor doing dub-Darsh which is a little disappointing because I still hear OVA!Darsh in my head from time to time. (dub!Darsh sounds a smidge young, which is kind of interesting all around) Spends the entire season telling a thorough version of the story that's raced through in the OVAs.

and then last quarter's JFF titles:

Ito - about an awkward introvert who goes to work at a maid cafe and everything that happens along the way.

A Handful of Salt, The Genealogy of Sake - two documentaries.

Three Sisters - family drama, where I never quite worked out how every single bit of the drama but there was a lot, but also a lot of good moments between the sisters.

Love & The Grand Tug of War - another family drama, also centered on a cultural festival that culminates with a city-wide tug of war.

Nabbie's Love - family drama, and all of these family dramas are set in specific parts of the country so also cultural dramas, with a wall-banger of an ending. This one had a lot of traditional musicians in various roles so there was a lot of music and song.

Of these, I probably liked Ito the best. I enjoyed watching all of them, as well as all the little cultural shorts explaining more about music and food and festivals and art, but none of them really hit the same spots as some previous JFF films.

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cemeteries,
gunpla

Randoms

fandomgiftbasket has all the baskets posted now, so I'm skimming through to see what I might be able to fill.

The folks who made the mobile game Grimlight are about to launch a TCG, Echoes of Astra on Kickstarter. I don't need another TCG but I'll definitely watch and see how things go for them and probably end up with a starter.

Still deciding on Wares Blade (TTRPG) but there's time. I'll probably just get the basic hardcover.

I've possibly either finished Starfall, or finished him for now. He's on his shiny base and while I feel like I have a lot of leftover parts, some of them are because I cannot make him look as cool as some of the promo stuff and some are because of how runners work. I suppose I'll figure out where he's going to get displayed and go from there with packing the rest up. He does have a lot of decals but honestly, his stark darkness is a big part of his draw.

Visited a trio of cemeteries earlier, two on purpose and one on accident. The latter was very small, in extreme disrepair, and managed to be an absolutely overwhelming liminal space without feeling in any way creepy, scary, or upsetting. Of the other two, one was an old but active township cemetery and we darted out quickly when suddenly a couple dozen cars arrived for a service. The other was possibly also a township cemetery. It, too, was old but still active. And somehow surprisingly difficult to find, which was how we ended up at the small, liminal space cemetery. (Except getting back was very easy! Looking at the notes and book I was working from, the addresses were hysterically incorrect, maps drawn wrong, etc. So I wrote in some new notes but wtf. At least the farmers we kept encountering were all friendly.)

Semi-related,

spook_me is open for sign-ups. No clue what I'm going to write, but something.

100 Alexander Hamilton (Hamilton 2015) icons

I'm not throwing away my shot!

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Communal Creators Full Round: A Multi-Fannish and Original Creative Month

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All-Inclusive Promptober 2025

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150 Jinu KPop Demon Hunters Icons

You did, you gave me my soul back. And now, I give it to you.

Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: nothing now

Digital communication.

My phone's inability to hold a decent charge is starting to grate on me. I don't use it for a whole lot of things or for many minutes throughout a given day, and based on the stats provided by said phone, the things that I use it for the most - the phone function itself for calls, the CitiBike app, and the home and lock screen - are fairly baffling that they're taking up the most energy. I can't claim to understand the details of the technology involved, but I can claim to be confused that using this phone as a phone is a major drain.

I'm not replacing it, though, not unless I can get the exact same model in the exact same color. I'm holding out until I've got no choice in the matter. Hopefully by then, technology's going to have advanced to the point I can replace the battery myself.

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Multifandom: Be The First

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friday open thread

Friday open thread: ridiculous fictional deaths

Today's prompt is a somewhat silly one: tell me about the most ridiculous, absurd fictional deaths you can think of.

I feel I don't even need to be specific in my answer: I could just say 'any episode of Jonathan Creek or Midsomer Murders' and it would fit the bill.

Obviously I'm looking for examples where the tone is lighthearted or cosy, rather than serious or grim.

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괴담출근 (GSGW): GSGW Reverse Big Bang 2026

Jin Nasol of GSGW, with text saying 1 Day Reverse Big Bang. Credit to happ13unni

Description: A collaborative fan event between Artists & Authors for
Even If I Fall Into a Ghost Story, I Still Have to Go to Work (GSGW)
by Baek Deoksoo.
Schedule:
Artist and Writer sign-ups begin September 6
Posting Begins March 13
Links:
Carrd
Tumblr
Twitter