Liz

Dear Yoda -- thank you for stopping by! You've seen my general likes/DNWs in my signup already, but here they are again, for the sake of having everything in one place:

Likes: bantering and bickering; moments of humor even in dark situations; pining; mutual pining; hurt/comfort; action, adventure, rescue missions; casual relationships; relationships that were supposed to be casual but didn't stay that way; "undercover as a couple" tropes; "actually a couple, undercover as something else" tropes.

Sex & Kink Likes, if you go in that direction: light bondage; lots of talking during sex, both sweet and dirty; laughing during sex; roleplay; roleplay that goes off the rails a little; inappropriate use of Force powers; "foreplay" activities as the main event; overstimulation. If you're writing about teen characters, I'd rather not have anything explicit on-page (as noted in my DNWs), but I'm fine with offscreen or fade-to-black sex.

DNWs: rape/non-con unless specified; incest; explicit scenes with underage characters; detailed description of bodily fluids; setting change or mundane AUs (coffeeshop, high school, etc.); omegaverse; infidelity (consensual non-monogamy is fine); pregnancy, miscarriage, or infertility; unrelentingly dark and grim stories (I like a glimmering of hope); Wedge's new-canon background.

Canon preferences: I'm sure you can tell from my request list that I love and miss the old EU/Legends content -- for any character that has both Legends and canon versions, I'm probably thinking of the Legends version. (Although I also really liked TLJ and new-canon Luke; I know prickly withdrawn hermit Luke was not everybody's jam, but he is mine.) I also love gluing the loose ends of Legends continuity into the loose ends of sequel trilogy continuity, and some of my prompts are mix-and-matchy -- please do feel free to mix and match! (Wedge's backstory is the one place where I do have a strong preference; Legends Wedge only, please.)

My main requests are for fic, but if you've ended up here because you're considering a treat, please know I'd be delighted to receive an art treat!

Now: prompts and details!

( Prompts by ship )

Hi -- thanks for stopping by! You've seen my general likes/DNWs in my signup already, but here they are again, for the sake of having everything in one place:

Likes: bantering and bickering; moments of humor even in dark situations; pining; hurt/comfort; rescue missions; casual relationships; "undercover as a couple" tropes; "actually a couple, undercover as something else" tropes.

Sex & Kink Likes, if you go in that direction: light bondage; lots of talking during sex, both sweet and dirty; laughing during sex; inappropriate use of Force powers; "foreplay" activities as the main event; overstimulation. If you're writing about teen characters (since some relationships I'm requesting would lend themselves to that), I'd rather not have anything explicit on-page, but I'm fine with offscreen or fade-to-black sex.

DNWs: rape/non-con unless specified; incest; explicit scenes with underage characters; detailed description of bodily fluids; non-Star-Wars-setting AUs; A/B/O; infidelity; pregnancy, miscarriage, or infertility; unrelentingly dark and grim stories (I like a glimmering of hope).

Canon tastes and preferences: I'm sure you can tell from my requests that I love and miss the old EU/Legends content. I also love mixing and matching timelines, and gluing the loose ends of Legends continuity into the loose ends of new-canon continuity. I've requested multiple "versions" of some ships, and even where I haven't (usually because there was only the one version in the tagset), some of my prompts are mix-and-matchy -- of course, feel free to ignore those or focus on whichever version of the pairing you like the best, but if the mix-and-match approach does appeal to you, please also feel free to mess around! Write a canon pairing in a more Legends-influenced setting or bring a Legends pairing into the new-canon timeline, write a pairing in a different era than they're listed under in the tagset, whatever. (The one thing I do feel strongly about is Wedge's backstory -- I like Legends Wedge, and I have stuck to requesting Legends versions for any pairing with Wedge in it. Even if you write in the new-canon timeline, please give Wedge his Legends background.)

My main requests are for fic, but if you've ended up here because you're considering treats, please know I'd be delighted to receive an art treat!


On to the ship-specific prompts and details! I usually try to group these by theme or timeline, but I kind of gave up this year -- the organizing principle here is Ships With Mara In 'Em -> Ships With Wedge In 'Em -> Everything Else.

( Read more... )

This letter is finished! Thank you for your patience, if you stopped by and saw it in its unfinished state :)

Dear Yoda -- thanks for stopping by! You've seen my general likes/DNWs in my signup already, but here they are again, for the sake of having everything in one place:

Likes: bantering and bickering; moments of humor even in dark situations; pining; hurt/comfort; rescue missions; casual relationships; "undercover as a couple" tropes; "actually a couple, undercover as something else" tropes.

Sexy Likes, if you go in that direction: light bondage; lots of talking during sex, both sweet and dirty; laughing during sex; inappropriate use of Force powers; "foreplay" activities as the main event. If you're writing about teen characters, I'd rather not have anything explicit on-page (as noted in my DNWs), but I'm fine with offscreen or fade-to-black sex.

DNWs: rape/non-con unless specified; incest; explicit scenes with underage characters; detailed description of bodily fluids; mundane AUs (coffeeshop, high school, etc.); A/B/O; infidelity; pregnancy, miscarriage, or infertility; unrelentingly dark and grim stories (I like a glimmering of hope).

Canon preferences: I'm sure you can tell from my request list that I love and miss the old EU/Legends content. For any request that features Legends characters, I'd be very happy with a purely Legends-based fic, but I also love gluing the loose ends of Legends continuity into the loose ends of sequel trilogy continuity; please feel free to mix and match! (One area where I do have a strong preference: if you're writing Wedge for me, I like Legends Wedge best. If you're not really a Legends person, just go easy on details from his new-canon backstory and I'll be happy.)

My main requests are for fic, but if you've ended up here because you're considering a treat, please know I'd be delighted to receive an art treat!

On to the relationship-specific prompts and details! These are grouped by "category" in the same way they were grouped in my signup, so hopefully easy to sort if you're looking for a specific pairing...

( Family Stuff )
( Mentors, Good/Bad/Hard to Say )
( Wraith Squadron )
( Threesomes, Various )
( Just Wanna See Where You're Going With This )
( Miscellaneous )
( Son of Miscellaneous )

Hi! Thanks for checking in! You’ve seen my general likes/DNWs in my sign-up already, but let me restate it here so it’s all in one place, and then we’ll get to the ship-specific stuff…

Likes: adventure and action; bantering or bickering; moments of humor even in the darkest situations; misunderstandings that turn out all right in the end; poly relationships; casual relationships; hurt/comfort; rescue missions; "undercover as a couple" trope.

Sexy Likes, if you go in that direction: light bondage; lots of talking during sex, both sweet and dirty; realistic funny or awkward moments; inappropriate use of Force powers. If you’re writing about teen characters (since some relationships I’ve requested would lend themselves to that), I’d rather not have anything explicit on-page, as noted in my DNWs, but I’m fine with offscreen or fade-to-black implied sex.

DNWs: rape/non-con unless specified; incest; explicit scenes with underage characters; detailed description of bodily fluids; drastically different AUs (what-ifs and canon-divergent fics are fine, this is about coffeeshop AUs, A/B/O, etc.); infidelity; pregnancy, miscarriage, or infertility; unrelentingly dark and grim stories (I like a glimmering of hope).

Star Wars canon preferences: I’m sure you can tell from my request list that I love and miss the old EU/Legends content. For any request that features Legends characters, I’d be very happy with a purely Legends-based fic, but I also love gluing the loose ends of Legends continuity into the loose ends of sequel trilogy continuity; please feel free to mix and match Legends and canon material. (One area where I do have a strong preference: if you're writing Wedge for me, I like Legends Wedge best.)


On to the relationship-specific prompts!

( X-Wing Division )

( Other Original Trilogy Ships )

( Other Legends Ships )

( Uncomfortable Power Dynamics Division )

It's 2019! New year, new goals!

Do some kind of exercise every day -- 90% target success rate

• This is a recurring goal for the last 3 years! I think my highest success rate is like 85%. Onward and upward!
• I don't ask very much of myself in this respect -- a gym workout counts, but so does a 10-minute walk, doing some stretching and PT exercises, anything really.
• Walking I would be doing anyway (around the grocery store, etc.) does not count, unless it's an unusual Extra Walking situation like going to the Renaissance Festival.

Weight goals: deadlift 300 lbs, bench 155 lbs, squat 220 lbs

• I hesitate even to list these, because I am also working toward Outside My Control Goal: Produce Baby, which has reached the "let's solve this problem by applying science" stage and might suddenly blow up any other bod-related goals at any moment.
• Counterpoint: Operation Produce Baby is fixing to enter its third year and I am fed up of putting other bod-related stuff on hold for it.
• WHATEVER WE'LL SEE WHAT HAPPENS
• SECONDARY GOAL: LEARN TO COPE WITH UNCERTAINTY AND LACK OF INTERNAL LOCUS OF CONTROL
• Anyway, these are kind of ambitious but probably achievable goals -- I'll have to get past a stuck point on deadlift (working on some form improvements), and I'll be moving slowly and gently on squat as I'm still coming back from a knee injury

Write 25,000 words of finished material

• In 2018 I wrote 19,155 words of finished, posted fic, between three exchanges and two rounds of tinyfic prompts
• Last year's goal was just "do writing," which I did okay but not great at; since the goal was something like 100 words per day, it also produced a whole bunch of really short semi-usable scraps of like 15 different fic ideas, which doesn't feel really valuable to me.
• This year's goal is more focused toward finishing stuff -- it doesn't have to be posted, published, submitted to anything, etc., but it has to be Done to my own satisfaction -- which will hopefully keep me focused on adding to what I wrote yesterday instead of starting from some new random point every day.

Send every work email on the day I first plan to

• I am a BAD EMAIL PROCRASTINATOR
• This mostly means "on the day I first think of it," except that occasionally there's an actual reason to delay; in that case I am allowed to calendar the email for a later date, but then I gotta send it ON THAT DATE

Cook dinner at least once a week

• I am extremely fortunate to have a stay-at-home spouse who does the vast majority of cooking and cleaning, which is great, but if Operation Produce Baby succeeds anytime soon, he will be a stay-at-home parent and I will need to start pulling my weight
• I'm honestly not sure how best to keep track of this. Weekly? Monthly? Just total count of meals cooked, averaged over number of weeks so far?

Track the books I read

• There's no compelling reason to do this! I just wanna.

I’ve spent most of the weekend reading through the May the Fourth Be With You 2018 collection, and I want to share some of my favorite fics I found!

First, a special mention for my two gifts:


Mem, Aurek, Resh, Aurek

When the Emperor had taken Mara from her family, he had promised to teach her about the Force. But he was a very busy man, so Mara spent most of the time stuck in a boring room playing with blocks.

A scene from Mara Jade’s childhood, as she tests her fledgling connection to the Force and waits for the Emperor to find her useful. (Unsurprisingly, this fic is kind of grim! I really enjoyed it, but use caution; maybe one to avoid if you’re very sensitive to child neglect, in particular.)

Love is Touching Souls

“You can feel Luke?”

“He’s here. On the other end of our bond.”

Eight years after Luke Skywalker goes missing, he comes back. In a way.

A Wedge/Luke/Mara fic that melds the Legends and sequel trilogy continuities beautifully, and something of a fix-it for TLJ. I loved this fic SO MUCH, and it’s so exactly what I wanted that I think the writer read my mind somehow.


And then, the rest of my faves from the collection, sorted more or less by chronological order:

In Another Life

At eighteen, Syal Antilles leaves her home -– a refuelling station above Gus Treta -– to train as an Imperial Pilot.

Thirteen years later, she flies in the skies above Yavin.

An unexpected roleswap AU – this time it’s Wedge Antilles and his sister Syal who have changed places, and this fic follows Syal through her service to the Rebellion and her slow-burning, complicated romance with Leia. Full of treats for Legends nerds, but (I think) equally enjoyable if you aren’t already a Rogue Squadron expert. I liked it enormously.

Lessons in Diplomacy

Leia, Han, and Luke have all been assigned to participate in a tour of diplomatic missions for the new Republic. There’s only one problem – Han and Luke are most definitely NOT politicians, and one free morning isn’t nearly enough for Leia to teach them everything they need to know.

This is a SUPER charming fic that really has the feel of some of my favorite classic Legends stuff. Do you like the chapters in the Thrawn trilogy where Leia, Han, and Luke are making a bunch of diplomatic visits that inevitably go wrong? You’ll like this fic.

Minor Counterintelligence Operations

Ben Solo knows three things: he loves his parents, they are weird, and they have a lot of secrets. He intends to find them out.

Sweet and funny and a little sad, and does a great job of subtly planting the seeds of Ben’s future.

out of the dust

He drops by Jakku for a steal on old engine parts and leaves with a half-starved, more than half-feral child.

This is FANTASTIC, featuring absolutely perfect interplay between Han, a young teenage Ben, and Chewie as they try to wrangle the furious, Force-powerful orphan they’ve picked up and make some sense out of how she came to be alone on Jakku. It’s an absolutely gorgeous fic. If you take none of my other recs, please, please read this one.

Signal to Noise

Rose always figured she’d go out like Paige—blown into atoms on a ship under fire—not at the hands of a crazed Dark Side user. But as it turns out, Kylo Ren might not be trying to kill her.

An EXTREMELY good Rose – practical, funny, clever, compassionate – forced to deal with an extremely creepy, moderately unhinged Kylo Ren.

Situation: CAPTIVE

Solution: SEDUCE

BB-9E is in a difficult situation, and is pretty sure it’s found a way out of it. A just plain hilarious fic told entirely through BB-9E’s analysis and decision-making systems.

Things That Have Happened Lately:

1. Today I got my ears pierced! I did this once before, and a year later they still hadn't healed right and eventually, when I took out my earrings for all of twelve hours, they closed up. Hopefully this time they will not do that. One side is pierced straight through the old hole, so it doesn't show, but the old hole on the other side is very visible and looks a little goofy. Oh well. Also, apparently both of my earlobes are drama queens in their own special ways: one side bled like a stuck pig, and the other one was much thicker-skinned than expected and really put up a fight vs. the needle. Also, they hurt. So far the only advantage I see to getting them done at Claire's, like I did before, rather than by a Serious Piercing Dude, like I did this time, is that the girl at Claire's gave me a lollipop to take my mind off my hurty ears. (Which totally worked, because I am 5.) (For the record, I was actually 18 at the time.) The Serious Piercing Dude was much too serious for lollipops.

2. Last night I woke up at 2 a.m. and was unable to get back to sleep because an epic roleplaying plot, for a character I played three years ago and have not touched since, had inserted itself fully formed into my mind. I couldn't ever possibly have actually enacted it -- it's way too melodramatic, I'd be embarrassed, not to mention that it would require the dedicated cooperation of like ten other players -- but I have been enjoying turning it over in my mind. I really miss playing that character.

3. The night before that, I had a dream that a tiny cute hedgehog walked into my house through an open door and acted friendly. My mom and I had an argument about whether it was a pet or vermin; I pointed out that it was cute, friendly, and had used the cat's litterbox without prompting, so was obviously a pet. Then I took it on a walk (of course), we ran into Seth Rogen (of course), and it ran up his pants leg and bit him on the junk, which I thought was hilarious. Apparently my subconscious feels very hostile toward Seth Rogen.

In other news: okay, I was being humorous a week or two ago about how registering for classes is such a chore/puzzle that it ought to unlock a special ability, but now I'm just getting pissed. The saga so far, below the cut:

( A Saga )

If I don't get 50,000 bonus experience points and a free puppy at the end of all this, I will be so ticked.

Well, I have figured out my schedules for summer and fall. And I'm inordinately pleased with myself about it!

I would have had to do this by next week anyway, but I was spurred on by something totally unexpected: an email from the director of the creative writing department, saying I'd been nominated for a special summer poetry course. Which included a weeklong workshop conference, which I'd wanted to go to but had actually emailed the directors of to point out that a huge percentage of UH students take summer courses, and the vast majority of those courses are in the first six-week term, and so if they wanted to attract serious students from the UH community at all they might do better not holding their conference over the last week of that most-popular summer term. And now I have been specially invited to it! And I have no idea why! (I mean, obviously, it's because I'm awesome. But in terms of a specific accomplishment that could have gotten me the nomination, I am mystified.)

So, if I did that, I couldn't take another class during the first six-week term (I had planned to take 2), because I'd be at the conference for the last week. So I got to add that restriction to the whole puzzle-solving dimension of picking my classes -- I'm very close to finishing my degree, but the last few classes I need are all for fairly specific requirements, and so finding an arrangement of classes that meet those requirements, don't call for prereqs I don't have, and don't require me to be in two places at the same time does start to seem like, by solving this puzzle, I should unlock a new special ability of some kind. (Technically I will: it's called Graduation.)

Anyway, what I ended up with was this:
Summer 6-Week One: fancy poetry class; Institutional and Organizational Psychology (online, so I can take it in spite of the last-week conflict)

Summer 6-Week Two: Elements of Algebra and Number Theory (lower-level survey-type class)

Fall: Medieval Literature; Grammar and Usage; Number Theory

Which is: two remaining English electives; a "Writing in the Disciplines" course, which seems to mean "a social sciences course where you have to write a paragraph or two at some point"; an English course that fulfills the British lit requirement, thus allowing me to shift Irish lit from "British lit" to "minority lit"; a 4000-level math class to complete my math minor; and an extra math class to bring me up to 23 hours of math, in case I decide to do the No Child Left Behind emergency teacher-certification plan. And, miraculously, it's almost all classes that I'm excited about taking -- the fancy poetry class! Medieval Lit taught by the same awesome professor who's teaching my Chaucer class this semester! (At Rice, the resident medievalist was, hmm. Let us say, widely renowned for not being a professor you want. The one at UH is awesome. Now that I've transferred I can take ALL THE COOL CLASSES AHAHAHA.) Grammar & Usage! Number Theory! You see why I am so damn pleased with myself!

I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm taking Abstract Algebra this semester. Which means, basically, every homework problem I do involves writing proofs. I was worried about this at first. I always thought I sucked at, and therefore hated, proofs; the only time I've done them before was in the 8th grade, in geometry, and it was miserable. Turns out I love proofs; I just sucked at geometry. I am also inordinately pleased with myself about this!

Also, about my American lit midterm! I got a solid B overall, and for the two essays I got an A-, with the comment "Good essay," and a B-, with the comment "Not as good as Essay #1." (I feel this is not a 100% helpful comment, but oh well.)

So, this post is way too long and kind of pointless. But hey, that's what Livejournal's for! Right?

Y'all, I have the plague.

Last night a couple people in my class, including me, seemed a little sniffly and run down. This morning more than half my class, including me (and the instructor), was coughing and sneezing and in general seemed fairly forlorn. Now I feel like death warmed over (I can't speak for the other victims of Campus Crud at this point, but hopefully at least a few of them are better off than me).

I don't know if I've made this clear before, but as you can now see: when I am sick I am an enormous baby about it.

Now I'm off to go wake up the cat because I begrudge her her happiness.

Flickr mosaic meme, seen first at cleolinda.

1. Answer each of the questions below the cut; search for your answer on Flickr.
2. Pick a photo from the first three pages.
3. Copy the photo URLs here.
4. Post.

( Mosaic Meme )