delphi | Network

soc_puppet posting in

What's that on the horizon? Why, it's Thursday Recs!

Do you have a rec for this week? Just reply to this post with something queer or queer-adjacent (such as, soap made by a queer person that isn't necessarily queer themed) that you'd, well, recommend. Self-recs are welcome, as are recs for fandom-related content!

Or have you tried something that's been recced here? Do you have your own report to share about it? I'd love to hear about it!

soc_puppet posting in

moodthemeinayear

Here we are, the final week of Part 1!

This week's Minimum, Medium, and Maximum moods are: Relaxed, Silly, Uncomfortable

These three moods help diversify your mood theme; if you want maximum different images with the fewest possible graphics, these are good to include.

But what do you think about the moods themselves? Relaxed and Uncomfortable are almost polar opposites here! Hopefully, once you figure out the one, the other will come easily. Silly is always kinda fun, IMO, but if you're working with a serious character, you might have a bit of trouble with it. Do you put them in clown makeup, or a funny hat? Or maybe there's a scene where their drama is being crashed by a much more unserious character that you can draw from? Let's talk about it!

pattrose posting in

halfamoon

Title: Tough as Nails
Fandom: Firefly
Character: Zoe Washburne
Prompt: Day 5-Outlaw
Rating: Teen (Just because she’s tough as nails.)
Summary: After reading CMK418’s little story, I couldn’t help but make a moodboard for Zoe Washburne.

Click here.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/78979996

dialecticdreamer

Midmorning Meeting and Musings
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 2 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1608
[Wednesday, May 13, 2020, 11 am]

:: The meeting with Win isn’t anything that the older Teagues could have anticipated. Part of the Edison’s Mirror (Teague Family) story arc. ::

Back to part one
:: Thanks for reading! ::

Deirdre looked away sharply, staring out the plate glass window with unseeing eyes. “If she comes home with me, that’s how it has to be.” The words scraped out.

Win’s brows steepled downward, tugging closer together the longer she stared at the other woman. “Why?”
( Read more... )

Current Mood: busy

svgurl

My bingo card from the

buddie-bingo-events

petra

I was despairing of the 73% of American Republicans who are on team GO ICE in a poll NPR just published asking whether ICE has gone too far -- and the 7% of Democrats and 29% percent of Independents who are with them.

hannah talked me down by pointing out that, as discussed in the linked conversation, 27% of Illinois voted for Alan Keyes over Barack Obama, which was patently bananas.

I remember a certain male role model in my life talking up Alan Keyes. This does not increase my faith in his understanding of politics, or indeed his inhabiting of the same planet I do.

Current Mood: fuck all that noise
Current Music: You can sing a different song

shadaras

On Sunday I was like "I am dragging myself to aikido out of obligation and habit" and my friend C was like "yeah you look beat". Aikido was good, though, two of K-sensei's students who mostly only show up to her Tues/Thurs morning classes were at weapons class, and showed up early to learn some more basic weapon stuff, which meant that when I showed up my typical ~15min early I got pulled into immediately demonstrating an exercise and then practicing in with the others.

Also went "yeah, the absolute hardest thing to do when practicing ma'ai with weapons is for uke to not flinch" to one of those students, prompting sensei to pause class so that she could more formally talk about how difficult yet important a practice this is. Because, well, the natural instinct when someone is stabbing at you with a weapon is to move out of the way. This is an excellent survival instinct! However! That is not the practice when nage is supposed to be learning how to enter in such that they can properly stab through uke.

On Monday I woke up and was like "I feel like shit!" and have proceeded to spend the entire week thus far dragging myself to work because Capitalism while keeping myself vaguely person-shaped via cold medicine. This has worked out alright mostly because for the majority of this week I haven't had to do anything particularly cognitively difficult at work. (Tasks included: "Put up linears on this floor", which was interrupted by "Be firewatch for the person doing welding", before I was allowed to return to that first task, and then told to do various other things that meant putting up one set of linears that should've taken a few hours took like three days.)

I also went to bed at like 8:30pm last night (due to being at work from 6:30am-2:30pm and class from 5pm-7:45pm... not counting commute time for either, of course...) and woke up this morning like "wow I feel like a person!" until I got up and was like "oh we have CHANGED kinds of feeling ugh, not removed it, rip".

Things I have spent time doing:

- Catching up on the Great Gundam Project (podcast), by which I mean I have now caught up to like last autumn/the end of the Dragonball Z season (which is about the Gundam adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which is apparently surprisingly good, but they spent more time talking about DBZ, their backup/non-Gundam show) (considering that this is a podcast I listen to in large part for going "please let me gain knowledge of anime people talk about but which I am only occasionally interested in watching", learning more about DBZ is genuinely a delight.) There is still so much more GGP to catch up on. xD This is a great podcast for listening to during work so long as I'm working alone, because I think it's generally entertaining and also I don't care if I miss a bit due to NOISE or BRIEF CONVERSATION, since I'm not invested in the details of the anime. (I am invested in The Episode Number Pokemon Name Game, though. I do not care about Pokemon. I do not know Pokemon. I think making the host who did not grow up playing Pokemon guess what Pokemon the episode number belongs to is a very funny game because I also do not know Pokemon and so listening to someone go "uh it looks like this, maybe it's called [something related to what it looks like]?" is very fun.)

- Watching FatT's Outward letsplay (which is technically a patreon bonus for their side podcast about videogams xD), by which I mean putting it on as background noise and looking over at the video every time Jack and Austin start going "oh no" or "what's THAT". The idle noise of people playing a videogame I don't have specific investment in but do enjoy seeing progression for is such a particular form of entertainment that usually I only like as background for doing chores, but hey if I'm feeling meh it works well more broadly.

- Thinking about, but not writing, story xD Like. How does one make it impossible to know what happened to someone who got kidnapped when "you can magically communicate short messages to known people over distance and get a response" is a given? The answer is magic warding, which is Deeply Concerning when other states that get No Connection (rather than No Response) would be, like. Unconsciousness/death. (Sleep probably feels different.) (This isn't even going to come up until I get through another few things!)

- I have also been keeping up with FatT: Perpetua, FatT: Realis, and CR: Araman and am enjoying them all. xD No deep thoughts, they're all fun but in very different ways/genres.

nanila

[phone rings in my hotel room]
Me: “Hello?”
Concierge, sounding very uncertain and slightly bemused: “Um, hello, is that Nanila, who just checked in with us today?”
Me: “Yes, that’s correct.”
Concierge: “Um…I have a gentleman on the line who would like to speak to you. I…I think he’s your father? I’m so sorry, I’m really not sure.”
Me, chuckling: “That sounds like him. Did he say his name was [Firstname Lastname]?”
Concierge: “I couldn’t understand him when he said his name. I think it’s my phone line.”
Me, drily: “Please don’t be sorry. That will be one of two things: his accent, or he hasn’t got his teeth in.”
Concierge, now relaxing a bit and giggling: “Would you like me to put him through?”
Me: “Please do, thank you.”

*pause*

Me: “Hi Dad, how are you doing?”
Dad: “I tried to call you but I kept getting the prison! Where are you? Are you in XX hotel?!”
Me, patiently: “Yes, Dad, I’m in the hotel.”
Dad: “What room are you in? I need to write it down. Are you sure? Are you okay?”
Me: “Dad. I’m in Room NN. I am fine. And if this is the prison then it’s had a tremendous facilities upgrade.”
Dad: “Oh, okay. Was the traffic awful? Are you very tired? When do you want to meet for dinner? Should we go to the sushi place? Do you remember the sushi place? I need to put my teeth in!”
Me: “Yes, yes, whenever you want to eat, yes, yes, and yes, you do.”

For anyone who has met me in person and has thought to themselves, “This woman has no idea how to hold a conversation like a normal human being,” this is 100% where I got it from. Thanks, Dad.

chanter1944

That's not hyperbole. This one's truly gasp-worthy.

Over at Love And Hisses, they have a male tortoiseshell foster kitten! Yes really, a male tortie! They're also fostering his equally tortie sister, plus two sweet tabby boys, all of whom are being treated for or monitored in their recovery from a medical issue. Things are looking better every day over there, and oh my goodness, a male tortie...!

I've never met a rare male tricolor cat. The closest I've ever come is one fictional representation purring in Adrien Agreste's ear, and one childhood misunderstanding of a sweet brown tabby's coloration. Someone in the old livejournal tortielove community had one, which was amazing enough, and there were a couple stories of others around - one calico, one dilute calico with extra toes. Maybe some day I'll actually meet one, and then someone will have to pick me up off the floor! XD In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the adventures of Ollie the male tortie and his friends in north Alabama.

suzume posting in

halfamoon

Title: High Kick of his Life
Fandom: Suikoden III
Character(s): Queen & Aila
Rating: PG
Summary: Queen is bragging about one of her past accomplishments.

( Melon soda vs. Queen's braggery )

mecurtin posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Thursday, February 5, to midnight on Friday, February 6 (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34187 Daily check-in poll

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 26

How are you doing?

I am OK
14 (56.0%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now
11 (44.0%)

I could use some help
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single
10 (38.5%)

One other person
10 (38.5%)

More than one other person
6 (23.1%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

case posting in

fandomsecrets

⌈ Secret Post #6971 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 06 secrets from Secret Submission Post #995.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

stonepicnicking_okapi

For Black History Month, I am reading This is Honey: an Anthology of Contemporary Black Poets edited by Kwame Alexander. This is the first poem in this anthology. This is the first stanza. It is a long poem and the formatting (which I can't do here) is important.

Here is the whole poem formatted properly: https://issues.org/quilting-the-black-eyed-pea-going-to-mars-poem-giovanni/

Here is a video of her reading it aloud in 1994: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMKSSlaqTLE

Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea by Nikki Giovanni

We're going to Mars

for the same reason Marco Polo rocketed to China,

for the same reason Columbus trimmed his sails on a dream of spices,

for the very same reason Shackelford was enchanted with penguins,

for the reason we fall in love.

It's the only adventure.

mecurtin

Sometimes as I head to the bathroom for my bedtime rituals Purrcy comes racing to the windowsill outside the door for Wild! Shenanigans! Who can spot such a creature?!?

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is crouched on a wide windowsill, peering around the edge with a single wide eye showing, tail waving wildly. He is truly a ferocious predator!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby is crouched on a wide windowsill, peering around the edge with a single wide eye showing, tail waving wildly. He is truly a ferocious predator!

Comfort and self-care are SO important In These Trying Times, says Purrcy. Don't you agree? You, too, can combine sprawling with personal hygiene, if you're a cat!

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby lies splat on his back on the bed, furry tummy up, stretching out one arm and cleaning it with his large pink tongue in a way that is both efficient and very relaxed

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby lies splat on his back on the bed, furry tummy up, stretching out one arm and cleaning it with his large pink tongue in a way that is both efficient and very relaxed

This week in books (up through yesterday, because I completely blanked on that's what Wednesday is for).

#21 There Is No Antimemetics Division, by qntm
It's very mind-bendingly creepy, but it fundamentally doesn't work for me because there's an underlying premise that the only minds on Earth are human. I spend too much time reading science where we deduce the existence of things we can't see to be convinced that there could be things that would be that good at messing with human minds without leaving 2nd or 3rd-order effects on the physical world.

#22 Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz
An extremely cheerful post-this-apoc story about robots & humans clawing their way out of war and societal collapse to make good-tasting food, dammit. A love note to San Francisco. I described the vibe as "you're wet now, but you're going to get dried off and have some delicious noodles to warm up while you hang with your friends".

#23 The Poet Empress, by Shen Tao
Such a relief to read a book based on Chinese imperial harem/court politics that reflects the power-driven, unromantic historical reality. Also a relief to read a book about *any* royal-level struggle where the protagonist understands how much and how little royalty are truly important.

#24 Asunder, by Kerstin Hall
The cover represents this book *extremely* poorly: it implies the subject is a contemporary young woman (judging by haircut & clothing), which is 100% not the case, and the grasping/entangling hands are very hard to see.

The actual setting is extremely interesting & deserved to be conveyed by the cover: it's a fantasy landscape inspired by South Africa, which took me a while to pick up. Just like our South Africa, the world has a complex, layered history -- in this case of magic, invasion, gods and their deaths, and of how most people are just trying to make their lives among the machinations of the powerful. The *feel* of the history as well as the landscape isn't the usual pseudo-Euroasian, but I don't get the feeling that it maps to the history of southern Africa in any direct way. But it's definitely *different*, which is good.

Karys Eska is bound twice, once to the terrifying eldritch entity Sabaster who gives her the power of a deathspeaker by which she earns her living, and now to the spirit of Ferrian, a wealthy young man who promises he can pay her all the money she needs if she can carry him to safety--inside her head. Her journey to try to release herself from these two bindings is vivid and increasingly complex. The ending is not completely satisfying, and I see that's because she's writing a direct sequel.

mrkinch

This morning between recycling a bag of wire hangars and picking up two bottles of picaridin from REI I spent an hour at Lower Codornices Creek. It's a beautiful bit of riparian habitat, with water in the creek and everything green. Not so very many species, but almost all the locals were in pairs and many seemed to be engaged in pre-nesting activity. A pair of Dark-eyed Juncos, ground nesters, were poking around along the creek bank, not seeming to be foraging but perhaps looking for a good spot. Bushtits were collecting spiderweb and the Bewick's Wren may have been doing the same. Even two Black Phoebes were hanging out together. ( The list: )

There weren't any surprises, not even a pair of Mallards in the creek, as I've seen before. The only less common bird, at least for me, were three American Goldfinches, heard but not seen.

cmk418 posting in

halfamoon

Title: Big Damn Hero
Fandom: Firefly
Character: Zoe Alleyne Washburne
Rating: Teen
Word Count: 155
Summary: They're no longer on the battlefield, but they still fight for something

( Big Damn Hero )

pensnest

Lovely rehearsal this evening, with lots of singing, though we did spend a little while working on the new song. When we sang Good Vibrations, we danced!

I didn't go to rehearsal last week because on Wednesday I had to leave my lentil soup and chips rather hurriedly in order to do some highly dramatic vomiting. My ribs hurt all the next day, so I didn't want to sing. Neither my homemade lentil soup nor chips has ever had that effect on me before, and I didn't care for it.

*

Yesterday, funeral for one of my chorus members. The chapel was gratifyingly full. I had to stand, not because I was too late for a seat but because a fellow chorus-member was standing next to me and I knew she has back problems. Managed to sing two of the hymns more or less convincingly, but the third I did not know at all. It has been a very long time since I was in church for anything other than tourism or a funeral.

*

I have been listening to The Wordsmiths of Gorsemere, the fabulous BBC Radio 4 production featuring Simon Callow as Colerick (or possibly Cholerick) and Miriam Margolees as Stinking Iris. It is very funny indeed. Dorothy Wordsmith is so devoted to William, and his fiancée/wife Mary never gets to finish a phrase. Several literary associates have dropped in to Vole Cottage with varying degrees of success, but Quinine is currently resident there.

It's old but I have been wanting to listen to it for years, and Beast got it for me for Christmas.

yhlee

Wanted y’all to hear it from me: CROWNWORLD (book 3 of the Moonstorm trilogy) is canceled. I will not be completing the book (the trilogy). I’m very sorry to readers who were hoping for the conclusion.

This was a mutually agreed, amicable decision between the primary/US publisher (Delacorte), the UK publisher (Rebellion Publishing - Solaris Books), and myself.

Between sales and publishing realities (MOONSTORM sold poorly and its prospects are unlikely to improve for political reasons you can guess), this was a rare situation where this benefits both publishers and myself. I could not announce the cancellation earlier for legal/contract reasons, and can't "simply" release the partial draft of CROWNWORLD for same.

I didn’t plan on MOONSTORM being a market failure. But novel-writing is a career with baked-in instability and career risk. I knew that going in.

Abbreviated version of what happened on my end:
I have 66,000 words of a near-finished draft that I don’t plan on resuming. The breaking point was when I had a concussion in March 2025.

You might ask why I don’t “just” yeet the last 10,000 words to have a book for release to readers even if the print publishers are no longer interested in publishing it. After illness and family crises, I’m exhausted. More than one person close to me nearly died; I set writing aside for months to do caretaking. I have peripheral neuropathy (among other things); my hands and feet might recover, or they might get worse and curtail my ability to do the things that bring me joy.

Both my publishers extended incredible grace and kindness to me during this period. This is not on them. The trilogy existence failure is on me.

I’m moving on. I’ve spent the past several years writing ~three books every two years (or 1.5 books per year - releases won't line up because of production/publishing variables). This probably sounds slow/leisurely but was not sustainable with my health as unstable as it is. There would have been a breaking point down the line even if it hadn’t happened with this specific book. I'm going to spend some time on endeavors just for the joy of it.

I hope y’all have many books you’re looking forward to reading, by other writers.

Note: I’m not in financial distress at present. Please don’t worry on that account.

Best,
YHL

luminousdaze posting in

capspiration

via cap-that

jacquelee posting in

halfamoon

Title: Finding Yourself in a New World – Chapter 5: The Outlaw
Day/Prompt: Day 5 / The Outlaw
Fandom: Warrior Nun (TV)
Character/Pairing: Yasmine, Camila, Ava
Rating/Warning(s): T / None
Word Count: 2484
Summary: The team is about to go on a mission that goes against the law and Yasmine can't stop herself from reading too many things about it, spiraling into anxiety. But thankfully, the others are there to reassure her that they would never let anything happen to her.

Here on AO3

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Delphi (they/them)

wax-and-wings.carrd.co

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February 2026

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Page Summary

soc_puppet in queerly_beloved - Thursday Recs
soc_puppet in moodthemeinayear - Part 1, Week 6
pattrose in halfamoon - Fan Art: Day 5, Zoey Washburne
dialecticdreamer - #74 Midmorning Meeting and Musings (part 2 of 2, complete)
svgurl - buddie bingo card
petra - US Politics - The Crazification Factor - a very old John Rogers post
shadaras - pretty sure I listen to podcasts more when I feel unwell
nanila - Conversations with my father
chanter1944 - Exceptionally rare cuteness afoot!
suzume in halfamoon - Day 5 - Fic - Suikoden III - Queen & Aila
mecurtin in fandom_checkin - Daily Check-In
case in fandomsecrets - [ SECRET POST #6971 ]
stonepicnicking_okapi - Poet's Corner: Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (We're Going to Mars) by Nikki Giovanni
mecurtin - Two Purrcies; This week in books
mrkinch - 2/5/2026 Lower Codornices Creek
cmk418 in halfamoon - Day 5 - Fic - Firefly - Zoe Alleyne Washburne
pensnest - giving me excitations
yhlee - for anyone wondering: CROWNWORLD publication (book) canceled
luminousdaze in capspiration - Stargate Atlantis
jacquelee in halfamoon - Day 5 - Fic - Warrior Nun - Yasmine

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Sock It to Me

Network

Thursday Recs

Part 1, Week 6

Fan Art: Day 5, Zoey Washburne

#74 Midmorning Meeting and Musings (part 2 of 2, complete)

buddie bingo card

US Politics - The Crazification Factor - a very old John Rogers post

pretty sure I listen to podcasts more when I feel unwell

Conversations with my father

Exceptionally rare cuteness afoot!

Day 5 - Fic - Suikoden III - Queen & Aila

Daily Check-In

[ SECRET POST #6971 ]

Poet's Corner: Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea (We're Going to Mars) by Nikki Giovanni

Two Purrcies; This week in books

2/5/2026 Lower Codornices Creek

Day 5 - Fic - Firefly - Zoe Alleyne Washburne

giving me excitations

for anyone wondering: CROWNWORLD publication (book) canceled

Stargate Atlantis

Day 5 - Fic - Warrior Nun - Yasmine

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