In personal news, I have a personal trip planned, and one thing led to another, so I am back on Pokemon Go! I haven’t touched it since basically 2016, but I just went on a walk and fought Team Rocket – I think I’m sold. Once I figured out how to turn off All The Sounds so that I can fling Pokeballs while listening to my audiobook, it was real hit.

What I’ve Read

The Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison (narrated by Liam Gerrard) – This book is like a bento box – you get a few bites of everything, all complementary. Some murder investigation, some magic rituals, some family strife, some opera, some queer people … all delightful. This is easily the third time I have read this and while I went for the audiobook and was not paying strict attention, there were so many points where I had to stop and let the words hit me. The Goblin Emperor is a great introduction to the life of the court of this world’s nobility – this is a fantastic examination of the world of the working class people who live and make their lives here. Both books are from the perspective of a person who wants to make the world better and kinder, and is actively working to do that, to the extent of their means.

Oddbodies by Toffeecape - https://archiveofourown.org/works/5209922 – Hannibal TV AU with Sentinels! Will Graham is not quite a Sentinel, Hannibal Lector is not actually his guide…. But! It’s one of those stories that I really enjoy, where Will figures out that Hannibal is, ya know, eating people, and just has to sit on that knowledge for a while. The plot of things proceeds differently that the show and probably for the best – these people are having more sex and more fun over all. A happy ending!

What I’m Reading

Moon Blooded Breeding Clinic - C M Nacosta -audiobook.- 25%- Sigh. I needed an audiobook that I didn't care much about to fall asleep to. But I forgot that the real reason I bounced off Nacosta's work is that these romances have more than a little touch of racist tropes, retooled with fantasy species. Not an unknown issue for me with this genre but like, play it off a little better, please. Also, one of the voice actors is annoyingly rough - reading each sentence like it's the first time thru, with very bland intonation. I think I'm bailing on it.

Style: Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams – 1981 book on writing clearly. 20% - No movement but not because I didn’t like it, just have been on audiobooks.

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma – 50% - Audiobook - A habesha-focused YA vampire novel. I will admit, I am finding some of this writing style a bit grating.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol 2 – Emil Ferris – 50ish% - Oh, this book is hard. Each of the two volumes has a prolonged section in the voice of a dead woman, talking about how she survived the Holocaust and what it cost her, and by god, the sections set in 1960s Chicago somehow are not that much easier. It’s definitely profound, I am just not sure if it coheres.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky – 5% - I have known robot valet Charles for 5 minutes but if anything bad happens to him, I will fly to England and beat Tchaikovsky’s mailbox with a bat. 


What I’ll Read Next

The Deep Dark
Track Changes
Alien Clay
Service Model
Monstress, Vol. 9: The Possessed
Navigational Entanglements
The Butcher of the Forest
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right
The Brides of High Hill
The Tusks of Extinction
“Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics”
“Signs of Life”
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars”
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video”
“Loneliness Universe”
“The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion”
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”
“Lake of Souls”

Batfamily

Ebb and Flow. by orpheusaki
The recurrent pattern of coming and going, decline and regrowth, of Bruce Wayne. Oh Bruce...

Every Beginning is a Promise by Zahri
The conclusion of five first patrols of Bruce with his Robins, and one first patrol with a Batgirl. Exactly what it says on the tin. Oh heart. #the batdad his batkids deserve

Identity Theft by TaraLaurel
Tim Drake puts together a very realistic Robin costume for Halloween and gets mistaken for the real deal. Oh Tim... this is a good read.

Individualized Education Plan by cowboysorceror & deadchannelradio
Damian pulls out his phone and dials Richard's number- his chauffeur has been unfortunately painstakingly instructed to answer no calls whatsoever from Damian, and Alfred has begun to pretend that phones do not exist during school hours. Unsurprisingly, as it is eight in the morning, it goes to voicemail. Damian waits impatiently for the beep. "Richard," he says, in tones of the deeply suffering, "this place is a hostile environment. I must be collected post-haste, as after this latest indignity I am dropping out. Come at once, or I may die here."

The dynamic duo attend a parent-teacher conference. No one has a good day. Poor Damian! It's not his fault everybody wants Dick. Hee!

Innocence Died Screaming by Chemical_Processes
Fascinating AU where Tim ends up being raised by Shiva and then the League, where he's Damian's bodyguard.

Made for Bad Things by Calculatrice
Dick picks Damian up from school, and they pass by a murder on the way home. Surprisingly, this isn't the most stressful part of their commute. oh my heart... #we were the best richard

mechanically up all night, though by a_alene
"I should toss you off this fucking roof," Jason mutters.

"Bitch," Steph says cheerily. "You are welcome to try."

Steph hangs with the Outlaws. Hee! I enjoyed this one.

Normal Things by ManURonaldo
When stopping a bank robbery becomes unexpectedly complicated, Dick and Jason find themselves in the past with a very drunk, very concerning, very teenage Bruce Wayne. *sobs*

a ripple in the wound and wake by countrycoleslaw
Batman dies saving Red Hood.

Jason Todd doesn't agree with this outcome and wishes for more time.

He wakes up, thirteen and earnest, in his childhood bedroom in Wayne Manor. Bruce is knocking at his door in an attempt to rouse him. Jason remembers this day. They're going to a Gotham Knights game later in the afternoon. Bruce's blood is still warm and criminal on his hands.

Or, the one where being Robin never gave Jason magic—he was a little magic all along. Jason decides to do things a little differently the second time around. This time, he's determined to save Bruce—soul and all. Long, engrossing read that broke my heart several times before finally putting it all back together. Highly recommended!

Resurgo by Trisdani
"You can't participate in the Olympics, Dick."

Dick blinked. "Oh…" He tried to sound casual. "Uh, yeah, no, that wasn't even– It was a joke." He shrugged. "The Olympics are lame."

Bruce watched him for a long moment. "You know why, right?"

Dick forced himself to meet his eyes. "Robin, for obvious reasons."

or, Dick goes to the Olympics as an act of teenage rebellion. Oh Dickie… oh heart...

stray marshmallows by brandywine421
Adorable scenes from the early days of the Dynamic Duo in the Battinson 'verse.

Todd Peter's Bestseller by saniiiiitizer
Jason hadn't expected much when he published his book. At most a few people might buy it and that would be it.

What he hadn't expected was people would go crazy for his book, and it would end up becoming a best seller.

What he also hadn't expected was that people around him would read the book and recommend it to him.

Who would Jason be, if he doesn't take this God given opportunity to mess with his family? Hee! This is fun!

Wherever I Am, I Am What is Missing by carolinaa
Damian's father has returned to the present day, and things should feel normal now. Instead, they feel more fractured than ever before. When Damian notices that someone's actually checking up on him, specifically, he drops everything to try and return that contact.

Why doesn't Talia want to talk to him? Tense, compelling read. Oh Damian...

✭

Crossovers

Percy Jackson/Batfamily

Lost in Gotham by N0t_Sketchy
Percy Jackson survives Mount St. Helens—only to wake up in Gotham. Injured, exhausted, and completely out of his element, he has one goal: get home. Between criminal empires, lurking monsters, and one very persistent Bat, that's easier said than done.

OR: Olympus meets Gotham. Percy just wants to leave, but the city—and its vigilantes—aren't so keen on letting him go. I enjoyed this a lot!

the ship of theseus by zipadeea
Poseidon once told Percy he was his favorite son.

But he's not the only one. Really interesting AU where it turns out that Jason (Todd) and Percy are twins separated at birth.

✭

Lord of the Rings

where no storms come by arriviste
At the end of the Third Age, Maglor finds his way to Rivendell, and must decide whether or not to sail West with Elrond. This is really lovely.

✭

Since the DM and her wife are currently on their long-delayed honeymoon in France, the rest of us are playing a Daggerheart mini-campaign set in the same world as our main campaign. It's set in a different part of the empire and features different characters, but the world state is the same.

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Raise your hand if you're extraordinarily gifted and managed to fall while taking your boots off, landing in a way that scraped the fuck out of your left foot (both the side and the heel) when it slammed into the bedside table.

... just me, huh?

The timing is about as good as it can get at least. Monday and Tuesdays are my days in the office, and this whole mess happened after I made it home tonight, so my shoe wearing the next few days will probably be limited. And, hey, I'll take a scraped up foot over a sprained ankle any day.

But still. Oof. Only me. 🙃

(Up for adoption, if anyone wants it.)

We were just rewatching the last two episodes, and ( Spoilers for 1x09 )

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Let's try for an actual, proper fandom-related post for once, huh?

Critical Role had a panel at SDCC yesterday, and they announced all sorts of new details about The Legend of Vox Machina and the upcoming animated series The Mighty Nein (which is based on Campaign 2 of Critical Role like TLoVM is based on Campaign 1). I'm feeling properly fannish for the first time in ages, so let's see if I can keep up the momentum.

With TLoVM, they confirmed that Season 4 will be airing next year in 2026. It's also been renewed for Season 5 as its final season, which should give them plenty of time to properly cover the Vecna arc from the first campaign. They also shared a sneak peek of the upcoming season, which gave us our first look at the one and only Taryon Darrington and Doty. ( Video embed under the cut. )

On the M9 front, Season 1 will start airing this year on November 19th. In addition, the episodes will be a full hour instead of a half hour like TLoVM, although they didn't mention whether or not the total number of episodes in the season will drop because of that fact. They also shared a sneak peek of what will presumably be the first episode. ( Video embed under the cut. )

In addition, they shared some names of actors who will be guest starts on the first season of M9. There's definitely a couple that have me excited, and I can't wait to find out just who on earth they're going to be playing.

Spoilers under the cut in the form of actors' names but no details about who they're playing save for one who's already been in TLoVM. Some speculation on my part, but nothing official.

Robbie Daymond isn't much of a surprise, considering he was practically a full cast member for a huge chunk of Campaign 3 of Critical Role (with an implication he'll be back for Campaign 4). Plus, you know, he also was in TLoVM. I wonder if they'll have him playing the Gentleman? It would make sense since that's one of the few characters who's introduced early in CR2 and then pops up repeatedly going forward, and they'd probably want someone they could guarantee would definitely be around to voice the character in later seasons.

Mark Strong isn't unexpected either, since we already saw him playing Trent Ikithon in TLoVM during the flashback scene with Ripley. I think it's safe to say that's who he'll continue to be playing in M9.

I was very excited to see both Alan Cumming and Jonathan Frakes on the list, although I'm not certain just who they'll be playing. If Robbie Daymond isn't the Gentleman, Frakes would be my next best guess, but on the other hand I feel like that's leaning too far into Xanatos territory and they probably wouldn't want to re-tread that. Maybe Alan Cumming will be Ludinus? That could be very interesting to see.

Tim McGraw definitely wasn't a name I was expecting to see on the list, and I'm curious who he'll be playing. My best guess would be Lorenzo based on his accent, who I presume will pop up at the end of the season, but if they have flashbacks then he could possibly be Vandran from Fjord's backstory.

I'm amused that they have Ming-Na Wen, Anika Noni Rose, and Auli'i Cravalho are all playing roles. I suspect that Sam Riegel's ties to Disney very much played a role in that, but still. I wasn't expecting to see Mulan, Tiana, and Moana all appear. Personally, I suspect that Ming-Na Wen will be playing Dairon, but I'm not sure about the other two. Maybe Anika Noni Rose is playing Marion? It's not unlikely there will be some flashbacks and such featuring her. I have no idea on Auli'i Cravalho, though.

Rahul Kohli was the only one of the announced guest cast who I'm not that familiar with. I mean, I know who he is, but I don't think I've ever properly watched anything with him in it. The only thing I personally know him from is Stray Gods.

I also wonder if any of the guest stars from the actual campaign (hello, Khary Payton, I'm mainly looking at you) will be making an appearance, and they didn't have them on the list just to make people speculate. Shakäste is such an interesting character, and it would be a shame if they cut him even though it would probably make sense plot-wise.

Overall, I'm very much looking forward to both shows, and I hope it helps bring me properly back into fannishness. With Critical Role on hiatus for months and months now while they do other things leading up to Campaign 4, it's been a little too easy to slip out of being properly fannish about, well, anything. It would be nice to have something airing weekly to draw me back in.

What I’ve Read

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison – easily my fifth time thru this book. Love how this just unfolds slowly. Maia is such an isolated character but with a deeply firm sense of justice and care for his actual subjects – it’s a bit nonsense as a political system (an emperor from fucking nowhere with no real power base getting the throne and it not turning into a bloody mess? Unlikely!) but as personal journey, it was great. Read it with a book group for the first time and lovely to talk about it with a group.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In – (2024) by John Wiswell – This is a good book! Experimentally gooey and weird first person monster narration, solid set of social and romantic conundrums, solid emotional base, and the story unfolds at a good pace. Overall, a great first novel! At one point, the gooey monster uses the word “allosexual” in their mental narration and I had to put the book down for a minute, but, well, it’s otherwise a pretty good romance and a pretty good adventure. I think I’ll read John Wiswell again. He’s doing interesting things with body horror that is also just… a nonhuman person navigating disability in a convincing way. Some rosemary slander.

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym – (1952) I picked this up at the suggestion of a friend whose favorite writer is Max Beerbohm, which I think tells you something about her general reading – usually she’s reading much earlier books than me! This book is one of those English novels of manners that feels like a comedy poised on the knife edge of tragedy – if the author were any less adept at navigating social folly, it could veer into a giant mess, but she keeps dancing on that edge, and I kept laughing! Our main character is Mildred Lathbury, shabby and respectable and a reliable help to her community, observing the world of the more dramatic and more careless married neighbors who somehow keep involving her in their nonsense. Mildred is too sensible and too English to let herself get totally swept up in their drama, but is nevertheless too kind and too accustomed to ‘being useful’ for other people to totally divorce herself from the awkwardness of it all. The end of the novel reads as a bit wistful to me – Mildred seems to be veering towards an existential crisis, wondering if there’s every going to be more to her life than being one of the ‘excellent women’ whose time is at the disposal of every social need but their own happiness. I *think* from context that the end of the novel, where she agrees to help a pushy academic edits his papers, is meant to be a step towards romance and a more fulfilling life, but it’s 1952 and it’s England and Mildred is too smart to not see the trap she’s in and too accustomed to it to balk and run. It’s not quite Austen but it’s not not Austen.


What I’m Reading

Witness for the Dead by Katherine Addison – 50% - Audiobook – A Re-read inspired by the Goblin Emperor. This novel follows an investigator introduced in Goblin Emperor in his life after that case. It’s a great example of mystery plots and worldbuilding working in tandem – not every petitioner who comes to Thara Celehar for help asks for help with a mystery that is mysterious to them. Sometimes the case is an opportunity for Addison to show the reader something about the world that is totally everyday for them and wildly strange to us – allowing the story to unfold the world as a mystery itself!

Style: Toward Clarity and Grace by Joseph Williams – 1981 book on writing clearly. 20%

Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma – 25% - Audiobook - A habesha-focused YA vampire novel. I’m having a little trouble squaring the idea that vampires formed a pact with humans to limit their predation and the end result was… a university? But the book comes highly recommended and I do like the main character, Kidane Adane (whose name is roughly Amharic for “hero protagonist”). She’s a bit stressful at this point in the narrative, vengeful and grieving by turns.

My Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol 2 – Emil Ferris – 30% - I gave up on the hard copy of this book because it’s a behemoth and I simply cannot hold it comfortably.

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky – 5% - I have known robot valet Charles for 5 minutes but if anything bad happens to him, I will fly to England and beat Tchaikovsky’s mailbox with a bat. This is, oddly, a nice companion to Excellent Woman by providing a POV character who is actually completely devoted to taking care of a single man, as a programmed robot, instead of a coerced woman. Charles is having a bit of a crisis.


What I’ll Read Next

The Deep Dark
Track Changes
Alien Clay
Monstress, Vol. 9: The Possessed
Navigational Entanglements
The Butcher of the Forest
The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
Speculative Whiteness: Science Fiction and the Alt-Right
The Brides of High Hill
The Tusks of Extinction
“Charting the Cliff: An Investigation into the 2023 Hugo Nomination Statistics”
“Signs of Life”
“By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars”
“The Brotherhood of Montague St. Video”
“Loneliness Universe”
“The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion”
“The Four Sisters Overlooking the Sea”
“Lake of Souls”

Choosing to change my bus route slightly to avoid assholes who won't take "no" for an answer was definitely the right choice. I hadn't realized just how stressful it had been getting until today when I avoided the transit center, and the difference was very much noticeable.

The extra walk once I get off bus #1 to get to a bus stop where I can get on bus #2 is a bit annoying, admittedly, but I think it's well worth it. It was so much more peaceful waiting for the bus at a random bus stop with one or two other people than it is waiting at the transit center with dozens and dozens of strangers all around.

Now, it's not going to be fun the next time I take the bus when it's raining, since the bus stops don't have any type of roof over them like the transit center. Considering the alternative, though, I think it may still be worth it.

I think that I'm going to shift my bus route to/from work a little bit. I've been getting on the bus outside the hotel/near work, taking it to the transit center, and then switching to the bus that goes to work/the hotel (depending on if it's morning or evening, obviously). It's relatively painless, although the schedules almost never match up so I always end up having to wait a bit for the next bus once I get to the transit center.

There's been a growing issue the past few weeks, though, where a few of the jobless and/or homeless guys who hang out at the transit center all day have been giving me trouble. Some of them hang out there because they don't have anything better to do. Others stay there because it's a good place to pick up odd jobs from people, sell snacks or bottled water to raise a few dollars, easily bum a cigarette from time to time, etc. Most of them are fine, and even a little protective when they see people giving the "regulars" a hard time, but there are some who... well, aren't. It's aggressive flirting and not wanting to take "no" for an answer, for the most part, which isn't great but I can deal with it since it's a crowded, public spot.

This afternoon, though, one of them grabbed me by the arm hard enough to leave red marks when I tried to get to my bus because he wanted me to stay and talk with him. Despite the fact that I'd been pointedly ignoring him for a good ten minutes at that point. A couple of the other guys pulled him back so that I could get to my bus, and it sounded like they were giving him a pretty good tongue lashing, but no. Just, no.

What I think that I'm going to do is in the mornings start getting off four stops earlier near the library. I'll have to walk a block-and-a-half or so, but I don't have to cross the street or anything, and if I get off there I can make it to another bus stop that the bus that goes by work stops at without having to go to the transit center. Then in the afternoon, I'll do something similar and get off several stops early, although it's a little more of a pain as I'll have to not only walk a block or two but I'll have to cross two decent-sized roads in the process.

I think it will be worth it, though, to avoid the assholes.

For over a week straight, the DC kept being hit by storms in the late afternoon, and it's been absolutely killing my head. I've always been sensitive to weather fronts moving through, and the older I get the worse it seems to be getting. (Although there's a definite possibility that some of that might be stress related too, considering the current state of everything.)

There were so many things that I needed to get done this past week that just didn't happen because I got off work and immediately curled up in bed for several hours until the storm had passed through. And by that point it was late enough in the evening that I didn't have time to get everything I needed to do done (or it was too late to start it because of noise-related reasons).

Theoretically the rain is supposed to finally be gone, so we'll see if this week goes better than last week on that front. 🤞🏻

The power went off again for a bit but, once it turned back on, everything was working correctly again.

Well, mostly. My AC was still making the odd grinding sound, but I did some googling and opened it up, and I was able to get it fixed. The sudden power outage while it was turned on basically knocked a couple of things loose, but I was able to get them all screwed back in properly so that it's working properly again.

We'll see if it lasts?

ETA: The power went out for another half hour around 7pm, with the fire alarm going off when it went out and again when it came back on. Our guess is that the fire alarm is being triggered for some reason when it transfers to the emergency back-up battery and back. No updates from Pepco about what's actually causing the outages (which is par for the course for Pepco), so everyone is assuming it's because the network is so overloaded from everyone using the AC 24/7.

Okay, so apparently the sister hotel and the 7-Eleven next door are having the same issue where about half the lights/plugs in the building are working and the other half aren't. So it looks like it might actually be an issue with the power company rather than some of the wires specifically in this hotel getting fried like we were initially suspecting might be the case.

My AC still won't cool, but I have managed to get it to at least have a weak fan blowing which is better than nothing. And the AC in the hallway just outside my room is working, which is helping a little with keeping the temperature from going up too quickly in here.

Both the power company and the fire department are wandering around trying to figure out what the fuck is going on, especially since two extended stay hotels full of people without working AC (in some rooms, not all - the AC is working fine for some people, although most of the rooms with working AC don't have working lights) in 90+ degree weather is... not great.

The temperature in my room is slowly edging upwards, but it's not too bad yet at least. When the power went out at 11am, it was about 68°F in my room as I turn the AC down low at night to sleep so it hadn't had a chance to start warming back up yet at that point. A little over three hours later, with no AC that entire time, it's gone up to 74°F, so it's averaging about 2° an hour. Which, you know, could be worse.

Now, if they don't get it fixed within the next few hours, it's going to start being a problem. My fingers are desperately crossed that they'll figure it out before then, though.

ETA: It only went up to 75°F by 3pm, so it looks like the temperature might not be rising quite as quickly as it gets warmer. We'll see what happens.

The power in the hotel went out a little while ago and, while it came back on after about twenty minutes, the plugs for my fridge and microwave are dead and my AC won't blow cold air. And it's definitely not the circuit breaker, because I already checked it and tried flipping everything on/off to be certain. 🙃

While the plugs for the microwave and fridge aren't working, there are three more in the kitchen that are working fine (two on the wall over the counter and one for the oven). I was able to move the fridge to another nearby plug that was working, and I'm pretty sure that there's one close enough that I can do the same for the microwave if I need to use it. Or I can move the microwave to on top of the stove top long enough to use it if the cord won't reach.

It's not a great option, but it's at least an alternative until they can figure out what the fuck went wrong.

The temperature in the room is quickly ticking upwards a little at a time without a working AC, though, which is definitely not a plug issue since it's turning on but is just not cooling anything off. I turned the AC completely off, flipped the breaker off/on, and am letting it sit for half an hour to see if that helps. I know sometimes that can be enough to reset it, so my fingers are crossed it will work this time. Luckily, I had the room cool enough that it will take a while before it gets too hot in here, but still. It's supposed to hit 90°F today, so a working AC is kinda vital.

The lovely part is that the person at the front desk has no idea what to do, because a ton of people are having similar issues where some things came back on but not others. Half the lights in the hallway are still dead and a lot of us are having issues with some things working but not others (although it seems to vary from person to person per the person at the front desk who I spoke with), so it's gotta be some type of wiring issue where plugs that are piggybacked off the same failed wiring are the ones not coming back on for anyone. The maintenance guy doesn't even work on weekends, though, so.... yeah.

ETA: And now the fire alarm is going off, presumably due to the same wiring issue as there's definitely no fire. Today's great, y'all.

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

Look at these amazing emotes that the DM commissioned for the group to use on Discord!




The artist is WillowPotato on Bluesky.