So the fic I'm writing, it's a Good Omens fic for Nanorimo, and heaven wins, the apocalypse comes to pass, it's not a great time (until it gets better). 

Jesus is a minor character.

And I'm just trying to characterize this guy, and I can't figure out if I'm supposed to be writing him from the Jewish perspective (because Neil Gaiman is Jewish and Terry Pratchett was an atheist) or the Christian one (because this is very Book of Revelation heavy), and also I know that whichever one I choose, I'm gonna be executing it wrong.  

Well, I've got about a chapter of buffer before I need to figure this out. 

Yay! And, just a few weeks til my designation finishes processing... 

 I have some new creative pursuits on the horizon.

First of all, the BSG finale WRECKED ME BIGTIME. I started crying when the opera house dreams started aligning with the present, except that everyone was wearing TACTICAL VESTS and I couldn't handle the CONTRAST and the SOUNDTRACK and then ughhhh

AND THEN THEY FOUND EARTH, and a bunch of main characters died, another main character clearly hasn't got much time left! And then the characters I was rooting for this entire time got such a MESSY ending, and I guess toilet paper isn't even going to be invented for another hundred thousand years??

So I sobbed messily for half an hour after the end credits rolled while Krogoth ordered sushi. Which is EXACTLY the sort of reaction that four seasons of TV should wring out! So don't misread me here - I don't care that the last season veered from SPACE SURVIVALISTS to RELIGIOUS ROBOTS and then ROBOT MARITAL COUNSELLING, because when the finale hits like a frakking truck I WILL FORGIVE ALL THOSE SINS but also I will cry about it.

AND THEN, because I can't find that angsty post-canon Lee/Kara fic, I guess I'm gonna have to write it myself

Second order of business is to get my act together and really get the 5e space campaign rolling.

But, story first. Really. 

Of the six people in my Saturday D&D group, at least two of us are poly, at least three are not heterosexual, and at least one is nonbinary. I don't know how this happened, or what the chances of this are, but I guess it's cool it did.

I also let the DM know of the overall plot arc for my paladin, but why does it now feel like I've signed her death sentence? At least I get inspiration for next week, so I probably won't die immediately...

In other news, I'm DONE MY THIRD STORY (except for the author's notes, which shall come next week.) I like it... less... than my second. It has its good moments, but the third act is not earth-shatteringly amazing, there's a mildly contrived second-act plot device, and imo it's pretty clear I started running into mad writer's block and struggling with putting words on screen around Chapter 8. Shivani assures me it's good, at least because the writing is polished and stuff, but for such a wonderful person her taste tends alarmingly towards the fluffy and cute. 

And here are the classes we've determined for our favourite mythological characters: 

Odysseus: Mastermind Rogue
Gilgamesh: Paladin of Glory
Enkidu: Storm Herald Barbarian? 
Achilles: also a Paladin of Glory
Cu Chulainn: either the angriest Moon Druid or a Paladin of Conquest
Perseus: Champion Fighter

I dreamed that I was playing dominoes with Carrie, Gorick, Rosie, JLam, Mandy, and Kristie. I guess when you spend four years staring at the same people five days a week, ten months a year, you dream about them for ten years after. Anyways, it was drinking dominoes, and Mandy asked me why a someone had been crying on prom night. She was laughing when she asked, in a way I hadn't seen her laugh in years. Does she still laugh that way, or have I just been away for too long?

Anyways, I answered her question.

Who will I be dreaming about in ten years?

--

In other news, 

I have an idea for the sequel to OMwP, which hit 92k words last week. Tenochtitlan at its height of glory under Monctezuma I. Floating gardens. Con artists. Sort of a twist ending. Possibly multiple schemes going on to postpone the arrival of Cortes. Then after that... well, I really want to write something in Ancient Greece, because I've started playing Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

Also, wow, Halsey's new single ("You should be sad") really goes for the jugular, eh? It went straight into my Brutal Breakup Songs playlist. That pre-chorus --

No, you're not half the man you think that you are
And you can't fill the hole inside of you with money, girls, and cars
I'm so glad I never ever had a baby with you
'Cause you can't love nothing unless there's something in it for you

Good:
- There are actually at least TWO ember tetra babies!
- Fixed wonky doors on aquarium cabinet
- Finished rewriting chapter 12
- Beat FTL on hard, using the Crystal B Cruiser

Bad:
- I'm unhappy enough with chapter 12 that I've sent it off for another round of betaing, which ruins my update schedule. 
- First failed to beat FTL on hard using the Lanius B Cruiser, a half dozen times
- Thought I bought extra chrome door knobby knobs from Ikea. I did. But I used them on the bookshelf, and I don't have another set of extras for the aquarium cabinet.

Ugly:
- Price of a junior chicken at McD's went up fifty cents, the price of 'making it a meal' is up 25 cents, and getting the weird fancy drink upgrade is now a dollar :(
- Still need to study for the PPE

This weekend: 

- Yoshi puked on my glasses. 
- I finalized my favourite chapter of Once More with Pharaohs
- Justin and I finished a playthrough of Divinity 2
- Scully got abducted and unabducted on the X-files
- I need to get my update schedule in order and put chapters 13/14 (out of 17) out for beta. 
- I think I'm going to start a playthrough on tactical difficulty for Divinity 2
- Need more red plants for the aquarium, I'm thinking AR mini. I like to get my livestock/plants from angelfins because it's local, they've got the best selection of in-vitro plants in a 50km radius, and none of the fish I've gotten there have died themselves dead yet. 

I had an idea for a gambling scene in Chapter 6 based on this comment (https://archiveofourown.org/comments/250112765) but then I spent a week trying to figure out who was gambling what, in what game, with what stakes... 

Chapters 5 and 6 are out for beta now, and the draft has officially hit the 40k mark. 

 - Went to BBQ
- At 26k words, chapters 1 and 2 out for beta


10. Dancing With Our Hands Tied
Ironically, the brightest part of Reputation was the slew of dark, atmospheric songs like So It Goes, Dress, Getaway Car, and this one. 

9. Sparks Fly
This is peak country Taylor. 

8. Out of the Woods
This is kind of a weird, cheesy song, but the energy just carries all the weirdness and cheesiness. I'll take it. 

7. Miss Americana
Taylor channels Lana, feat. Halsey. Is it too early to put this on the list? I really appreciate the inclusion of the line, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." 

6. Love Story
A well-deserved starmaker. I get giddy when the key changes and she sings, "he KNELT to the GROUND and PULLED out a RING and said, MARRY me JULIET, you'll NEVER have to BE ALONE" 

5. Style
I don't relate to it at all but it just sounds so lush and dark and beautiful. Style is my platonic ideal of synthpop. 

4. All Too Well
Some lines are just SO GOOD - "So you call me up again just to break me like a promise, casually cruel in the name of being honest," for one - others are too specific for me to really latch onto it. 

3. Enchanted
"Please don't be in love with someone else, please don't have somebody waiting for you." A sentiment with hefty memories attached. 

2. The Archer
Is it premature to have a song from an album released a day ago in the penultimate slot? Pretty much every lyric here is eminently quotable. "Who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?" 

1. Treacherous
I just really like the structure, the way the song tumbles over itself in the bridge, and the way it tumbles over itself. I appreciate she never names love in the song at all. 

I'm done! Eight out of eight chapters done! At last, I can allow something else to take over my life. 

Title: In the Face of Fear
Rating: R
Fandom: Good Omens, by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Characters/Pairings: Aziraphale/Crowley
Warnings: A bit of swearing, violence, and minor torture
Word Count: 27k
Summary: Hastur spies Crowley and Aziraphale switching bodies after their tribunal, and plots his revenge. The two are forced to find their courage and confront the truth between them. Featuring angsty mistaken identity shenanigans, two beings who can't seem to talk about their feelings, Denial as a river in Egypt, and the sword Excalibur!

Aziraphale raised his hands to his temples, sweeping the square for prying eyes and ears. “Nobody,” said the angel. “Right. Swap back, then.” They grasped each other’s hands. In a fluid sweep, Aziraphale became Crowley, and Crowley became Aziraphale again.

Unfortunately, that is where Crowley - who had been wearing Aziraphale’s face - had been wrong about the state of surveillance in Berkeley Square. Hastur, Duke of Hell, lurked behind them, near the refuse bins. His fury blended in perfectly with the malodour of decomposing food waste and dog shit, like maggots on a choice bit of roadkill. Noticeable if you prodded the corpse in the appropriate places, but why would you? Crowley’s sweep had slid right over Hastur, like a tourist’s eyes over a tramp.

Title: A song for two voices (starting with In your arms I shall not fear the night)
Fandom: The Heralds of Valdemar
Pairing: Canon pairings (Vanyel/Tylendel)
Categories: AU
Length: 350k and counting
Rating: T for canon-level violence
Author: swimmer963
Author's Summary: This is a rationalfic take on "The Last Herald-Mage", inspired by HPMOR and other works. Accessible regardless of whether you've read the original series. Though far from perfect, the characters are trying to do their best with the information, intelligence, and skills they have. Unfortunately, their enemies are also doing that, and sometimes even reasonable decisions can turn out badly.

Ashamed of him, Vanyel's father sends his disappointing son to live with his strict aunt, the Herald-Mage Savil. Although he knows things will change, Vanyel dramatically underestimates just how different his life is about to become. Sparks fly as he discovers both love and magic.

My comments: I don't often have the exquisite pleasure of recommending an actively updating fic in progress and holy shit, I think the author updates weekly. 

Anyways, I know it's hard to tell but I've had my head buried in Valdemar for a long time and once I'd hit the end of the available chapters I couldn't believe that 350k words and counting had garnered fewer than 200 comments. Suppose it's not a particularly popular fandom, and I can understand why - I love Mercedes Lackey's worldbuilding but she can get preachy and her villains are silly and moderately incompetent. This author remedies both of those flaws. Swimmer963 says that the series is a "rationalfic" inspired by Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality, but the story's "rational" properties are subtle (apart from some gentle discussions of, I think, deontology vs utilitarianism and Hobbe's social contracts?), characters have realistic levels of knowledge and awareness. Also, Leareth is definitely more complex, more relatable, and more sinister in Swimmer963's incarnation (pun intended). 

Anyways, this is the longest and best Valdemar fic I've ever read.