Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches, Trashy Books (![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png)
smartbitches_feed) wrote2026-02-18 09:00 am
smartbitches_feed) wrote2026-02-18 09:00 am
Cher (TW) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thawrecka) wrote2026-02-18 07:13 pm
thawrecka) wrote2026-02-18 07:13 pm(no subject)
新年快乐！
I meant to post yesterday but I've been feeling a bit tired and rundown this past week. Hopefully better by the weekend - I have lunar new year celebrations and a friend's birthday to get to. Not to mention my book club tomorrow night!
Things watched recently:
• Seven episodes of Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, an isekai BL anime about an accountant accidentally ending up in a fantasy world, reforming the royal accounts department, getting hooked on magical energy drinks it turns out he's allergic to... and being saved from an overdose by a handsome young knight in the world's silliest fuck-or-die scenario. And then continuing to make political waves with his accounting!!! power, which is just so satisfying to watch. DAMN THAT MAN LOVES TO ACCOUNTS. The subtitle of the show is correct, the other world's book do indeed depend on the bean counter, and not everyone is happy about him tracking their spending... I'm having so much fun with this! It's funny, but also in a strange way an office worker power fantasy, but also there's political fallout for everything and that feels right, too. Once the season's over I'll have to track down the books.
• All of season one of Lord of Mysteries, first in Chinese, and now I'm watching the English dub. I really will have to track down the novels, the first of which is already out in translation here (apparently the second is out elsewhere in the world but doesn't arrive in Australia until next month?? sigh). I'm hoping to track down that book tomorrow night, if the book store that claims to have a copy really does.
This is also a transmigration story, but it's a steampunk-y horror transmigration fantasy. The main character ends up in a world where people take potions to cultivate into eldritch monsters, basically. He spends the first episode bewildered (and so did I hahaha) but pretending he has any clue what's going on, and I think one of my favourite things is how both his Chinese voice actor and English voice actor give him the kind of voice that can trick you into thinking he's almost a totally normal guy... and then you step back and look at the facts and you're just like, wtf, Klein! He's a great character, but I also like a lot of the supporting cast; my favourite character is actually Leonard, a guy who once fell down a flight of stairs because he was distracted reading a book (relatable). Leonard regularly tries to act cool and mysterious at Klein, who keeps calling Leonard a weirdo instead of being impressed, and I'm very entertained.
I do have... extremely mixed feelings... about the evil secret sect of people who take potions that make them women which gives them more powers to do more evil things, and by mixed feelings I think that has very unfortunate implications but they are all unfortunately also so sexy.
• I watched the remaining episodes of Betrothed to my Sister's Ex, a really charming cinderella story type anime I started last year. Which is actually really good. I appreciate that it doesn't just have the charming romance of Marie coming to be loved by rich handsome dweeb Kyros and everyone else in the castle, as well as slowly learning to love herself, it also deals with how she and her younger sister were abused by their family in different ways, and the ending is a happy escape for both of them. I really liked it!
• I also finished This Monster Wants to Eat Me, a subtly yuri-flavoured anime about the main character's suicidal depression, and the monsters that would prefer her not to die, actually. And like, it really is very good, but it is also so heavy so it makes sense it took a while for me to finally get to the final episodes.
• Cosmic Princess Kaguya (2026), truly the superior of the animated lesbian space princess movies I've watched so far this year. It does zip through plot very fast, so it's not without flaw, but I loved this lesbian sci fi take on the tale of the bamboo cutter, and the scissoring handshake is just an A+ detail. Great songs, a lot of fun.
• Which means Lesbian Space Princess (2025) is the lesser animated lesbian space princess movie I've seen this year. The songs are okay. I was stunned to learn after the fact that the homophobic blokey spaceship was voiced by Richard Roxburgh. It is sometimes funny. The best joke was the Maliens and the thespian. I don't regret watching it, but like... eh.
• Scarlet (2025): Wow, it's amazing how IMAX can make a bad film worse. I didn't realise before going to see it that this was an AU version of Hamlet where Hamlet is a girl who meets a handsome Japanese man from the present day in the afterlife, so that was... strange. It's uh not good. Some of the emotional stuff would have worked better if those scenes had not been dragged out, and a lot of the animation is TV quality limited animation. Morally incoherent, which is a feat because it's so thin and slight. The bit with the imagined Shibuya dance sequence is uh... I don't even know. That sure was a film I watched.
I meant to post yesterday but I've been feeling a bit tired and rundown this past week. Hopefully better by the weekend - I have lunar new year celebrations and a friend's birthday to get to. Not to mention my book club tomorrow night!
Things watched recently:
• Seven episodes of Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter, an isekai BL anime about an accountant accidentally ending up in a fantasy world, reforming the royal accounts department, getting hooked on magical energy drinks it turns out he's allergic to... and being saved from an overdose by a handsome young knight in the world's silliest fuck-or-die scenario. And then continuing to make political waves with his accounting!!! power, which is just so satisfying to watch. DAMN THAT MAN LOVES TO ACCOUNTS. The subtitle of the show is correct, the other world's book do indeed depend on the bean counter, and not everyone is happy about him tracking their spending... I'm having so much fun with this! It's funny, but also in a strange way an office worker power fantasy, but also there's political fallout for everything and that feels right, too. Once the season's over I'll have to track down the books.
• All of season one of Lord of Mysteries, first in Chinese, and now I'm watching the English dub. I really will have to track down the novels, the first of which is already out in translation here (apparently the second is out elsewhere in the world but doesn't arrive in Australia until next month?? sigh). I'm hoping to track down that book tomorrow night, if the book store that claims to have a copy really does.
This is also a transmigration story, but it's a steampunk-y horror transmigration fantasy. The main character ends up in a world where people take potions to cultivate into eldritch monsters, basically. He spends the first episode bewildered (and so did I hahaha) but pretending he has any clue what's going on, and I think one of my favourite things is how both his Chinese voice actor and English voice actor give him the kind of voice that can trick you into thinking he's almost a totally normal guy... and then you step back and look at the facts and you're just like, wtf, Klein! He's a great character, but I also like a lot of the supporting cast; my favourite character is actually Leonard, a guy who once fell down a flight of stairs because he was distracted reading a book (relatable). Leonard regularly tries to act cool and mysterious at Klein, who keeps calling Leonard a weirdo instead of being impressed, and I'm very entertained.
I do have... extremely mixed feelings... about the evil secret sect of people who take potions that make them women which gives them more powers to do more evil things, and by mixed feelings I think that has very unfortunate implications but they are all unfortunately also so sexy.
• I watched the remaining episodes of Betrothed to my Sister's Ex, a really charming cinderella story type anime I started last year. Which is actually really good. I appreciate that it doesn't just have the charming romance of Marie coming to be loved by rich handsome dweeb Kyros and everyone else in the castle, as well as slowly learning to love herself, it also deals with how she and her younger sister were abused by their family in different ways, and the ending is a happy escape for both of them. I really liked it!
• I also finished This Monster Wants to Eat Me, a subtly yuri-flavoured anime about the main character's suicidal depression, and the monsters that would prefer her not to die, actually. And like, it really is very good, but it is also so heavy so it makes sense it took a while for me to finally get to the final episodes.
• Cosmic Princess Kaguya (2026), truly the superior of the animated lesbian space princess movies I've watched so far this year. It does zip through plot very fast, so it's not without flaw, but I loved this lesbian sci fi take on the tale of the bamboo cutter, and the scissoring handshake is just an A+ detail. Great songs, a lot of fun.
• Which means Lesbian Space Princess (2025) is the lesser animated lesbian space princess movie I've seen this year. The songs are okay. I was stunned to learn after the fact that the homophobic blokey spaceship was voiced by Richard Roxburgh. It is sometimes funny. The best joke was the Maliens and the thespian. I don't regret watching it, but like... eh.
• Scarlet (2025): Wow, it's amazing how IMAX can make a bad film worse. I didn't realise before going to see it that this was an AU version of Hamlet where Hamlet is a girl who meets a handsome Japanese man from the present day in the afterlife, so that was... strange. It's uh not good. Some of the emotional stuff would have worked better if those scenes had not been dragged out, and a lot of the animation is TV quality limited animation. Morally incoherent, which is a feat because it's so thin and slight. The bit with the imagined Shibuya dance sequence is uh... I don't even know. That sure was a film I watched.
Vriddy (vriddy) wrote2026-02-18 08:03 am
vriddy) wrote2026-02-18 08:03 amEntry tags:
New Wind Breaker fic: Acting on instinct (Sakura/Nirei/Suou/Kiryuu/Tsugeura)
Astute readers with excellent memory (or better than mine anyway XD) may remember when I lost my shit over Wind Breaker's volume 22 back in June. I basically immediately started writing this fic afterwards, which is just That Scene written from different point of views and every character individually losing it, just like I did... Lol. I'm a bit sick of trying to find an ending that is The Best Possible Ever so now that I have one that's probably good enough, let's go with it. Especially since that polyship doesn't have a ton of fic for it either, so it's nice to add one more either way.
On the plus side of going back to this story then dropping it again, the first chapters are decently edited already 😆
Acting on instinct | Wind Breaker | Sakura/Nirei/Suou/Kiryuu/Tsugeura | 800~ words (WIP, 1/5) | rated T
Summary: Something shifted for them all in that moment at Kiryuu's house. They all felt it. But Kiryuu was missing for it, so they can't do anything about it.
Not yet.
Read it on Dreamwidth or on AO3.
On the plus side of going back to this story then dropping it again, the first chapters are decently edited already 😆
Acting on instinct | Wind Breaker | Sakura/Nirei/Suou/Kiryuu/Tsugeura | 800~ words (WIP, 1/5) | rated T
Summary: Something shifted for them all in that moment at Kiryuu's house. They all felt it. But Kiryuu was missing for it, so they can't do anything about it.
Not yet.
Read it on Dreamwidth or on AO3.
Delphi (they/them) (delphi) wrote2026-02-17 11:41 pm
delphi) wrote2026-02-17 11:41 pmEntry tags:
What I'm Reading: The Whole Truth (2011) + And Nothing But the Truth (2012) by Kit Pearson
✓ kingstoken's 2026 Book Bingo: Figures Without Facial Features on the Cover
✓kingstoken's 2026 Book Bingo: Set at a School/University
The Whole Truth by Kit Pearson and its sequel And Nothing but the Truth are a pair of middle grade historical novels set in British Columbia in the 1930s.
The main character is Polly Brown, who begins the story age ten, relocating from Winnipeg to the Gulf Islands to live with her grandmother following the death of her father—an event that's the subject of secrecy between her and her older sister Maud. Shortly after arriving at their grandmother's, Maud leaves for boarding school on the mainland, leaving Polly to adjust alone to her new life on a small island and deal with the carrying the secret by herself. The second book picks up a couple of years later, when Polly also needs to leave the island for secondary schooling and struggles to adjust to being away while more big changes come to her family.
I read a few of Kit Pearson's books as a kid, and when she came up in conversation recently with a friend, I decided to check out some of her more recent novels. I don't know how her older books would hold up to a re-read for me, but I ended up having a mixed reaction to these two.
They were largely pleasant reads. They're well-written, and if spending time in upper middle-class circles in 1930s western Canada appeals, there are a lot of detailed descriptions of clothes, food, and rural seaside life to enjoy. As someone with an interest in that part of the world but who doesn't have family history there, I appreciated this look into the period.
These books feel like they're in the tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, A Little Princess, Heidi, etc.—stories I associate with girls changing the world around them, whether through action or because of their positivity. But that's not really the deal with Polly, who's a very passive character and doesn't seem to bring anything unexpected to her new community. It's also not a Secret Garden or Goodnight, Mr. Tom situation where it felt like Polly herself was changed by her new home, aside from benefiting from more money and opportunities. Things just kind of work out for her while the least dramatic version of eventful situations unfold around her.
I think what particularly didn't land for me was this sense of complacency with regard to the arc of the moral universe. Polly is shown recognizing injustice and then just...never does anything about it. Her grandmother racially discriminates against a neighbour, and Polly disagrees but then lets it lie. We don't see her ever interacting with the neighbour, or even with the neighbour's son, who's a schoolmate. She has the instinct to give money to a homeless man, but then stops when her teacher scolds her and doesn't help anyone again. She never takes a stand or makes any sacrifice, aside from the one time when it's strongly self-serving, but other characters praise her for seeing the world clearly with her artist's eye, in a way that implies that just seeing is enough and that things will work themselves out over time (at least for those who happen to be the loved one of someone with money and property).
While I was reading, I often found myself thinking how glad I was that the author was avoiding the most predictable conflicts I kept thinking were coming, but by the end of the second book, I looked back and felt like something critical was missing. I don't need big culminating moments in historical coming-of-age novels—I absolutely love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and could write a whole essay on how it shares a sliver of the same flaw but how all of its positives outweigh that for me—but I needed just a little something more to care about these characters and their fortunes.
( An Excerpt )
kingstoken's 2026 Book Bingo: Figures Without Facial Features on the Cover✓
kingstoken's 2026 Book Bingo: Set at a School/UniversityThe Whole Truth by Kit Pearson and its sequel And Nothing but the Truth are a pair of middle grade historical novels set in British Columbia in the 1930s.
The main character is Polly Brown, who begins the story age ten, relocating from Winnipeg to the Gulf Islands to live with her grandmother following the death of her father—an event that's the subject of secrecy between her and her older sister Maud. Shortly after arriving at their grandmother's, Maud leaves for boarding school on the mainland, leaving Polly to adjust alone to her new life on a small island and deal with the carrying the secret by herself. The second book picks up a couple of years later, when Polly also needs to leave the island for secondary schooling and struggles to adjust to being away while more big changes come to her family.
I read a few of Kit Pearson's books as a kid, and when she came up in conversation recently with a friend, I decided to check out some of her more recent novels. I don't know how her older books would hold up to a re-read for me, but I ended up having a mixed reaction to these two.
They were largely pleasant reads. They're well-written, and if spending time in upper middle-class circles in 1930s western Canada appeals, there are a lot of detailed descriptions of clothes, food, and rural seaside life to enjoy. As someone with an interest in that part of the world but who doesn't have family history there, I appreciated this look into the period.
These books feel like they're in the tradition of Anne of Green Gables, Pollyanna, A Little Princess, Heidi, etc.—stories I associate with girls changing the world around them, whether through action or because of their positivity. But that's not really the deal with Polly, who's a very passive character and doesn't seem to bring anything unexpected to her new community. It's also not a Secret Garden or Goodnight, Mr. Tom situation where it felt like Polly herself was changed by her new home, aside from benefiting from more money and opportunities. Things just kind of work out for her while the least dramatic version of eventful situations unfold around her.
I think what particularly didn't land for me was this sense of complacency with regard to the arc of the moral universe. Polly is shown recognizing injustice and then just...never does anything about it. Her grandmother racially discriminates against a neighbour, and Polly disagrees but then lets it lie. We don't see her ever interacting with the neighbour, or even with the neighbour's son, who's a schoolmate. She has the instinct to give money to a homeless man, but then stops when her teacher scolds her and doesn't help anyone again. She never takes a stand or makes any sacrifice, aside from the one time when it's strongly self-serving, but other characters praise her for seeing the world clearly with her artist's eye, in a way that implies that just seeing is enough and that things will work themselves out over time (at least for those who happen to be the loved one of someone with money and property).
While I was reading, I often found myself thinking how glad I was that the author was avoiding the most predictable conflicts I kept thinking were coming, but by the end of the second book, I looked back and felt like something critical was missing. I don't need big culminating moments in historical coming-of-age novels—I absolutely love A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and could write a whole essay on how it shares a sliver of the same flaw but how all of its positives outweigh that for me—but I needed just a little something more to care about these characters and their fortunes.
( An Excerpt )
Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksSmart Bitches, Trashy Books (smartbitches_feed) wrote2026-02-18 07:00 am
smartbitches_feed) wrote2026-02-18 07:00 amThe Shots You Take by Rachel Reid
I’m not even going to pretend that I picked this book up by chance. I had meant to read it last year when it came out, but didn’t. I don’t know why. I don’t have a good reason. Post-Heated Rivalry TV show obsession, I remembered I had this novel waiting for me on my Kindle. I started it last night when I got in bed. I read it while I was pumping milk in the middle of the night. I read it when I woke up at 4am because it was hot already. I read it through my work day, ignoring the furious pings from my work computer. I just finished it now. It’s 11:35 and I’ve sent one work-related email today. Otherwise I have been reading. Such is the power of it.
Adam and Riley both played professional hockey for a Toronto team. They were best friends with benefits, but Adam always shied away from them being more. Adam married a woman and had kids. Riley moved to another hockey team and went decidedly off the rails thanks to a problem with alcohol and an undiagnosed mental illness. Riley left professional hockey behind and moved home to his small town in Nova Scotia. Adam carried on playing for Toronto. When the book opens they haven’t spoken to each other in 12 years. But have they been in love with each other the whole time? YOU BETCHA!
Second chance romance is tough to get right because the reason that it didn’t work out needs to balance with the love that pushes them back together. For the first 50% Riley is mad at Adam and he needs to be. Through his cowardice (not saying “I love you” back even though he felt it, etc.), Adam really let Riley down, but it was Riley who ultimately severed ties with Adam (to save his sanity). So both have some blame but it is Adam that has to do the grovelling. And he grovels beautifully.
The character development for both is great! In the intervening years, Riley has worked hard to reach stability, but growth rockets for both of them when they’re in each other’s lives again. Adam has to learn to be an out gay man and Riley has to learn to trust again.
Incidentally, while Adam spends a decade married to a woman and has two children with her, when he does decide to speak freely about his sexuality, he describes himself as gay.
These are giant emotions and as a reader, those emotions put me through a workout, in a good way.
Everything about their history and their past and present is a mess. The particular nature of the mess is revealed in bits and pieces as you read and you only have the full picture of the breakdown in their relationship after the halfway point, so I won’t go into specifics here.
Given how badly messed up things were between them at the end and how much ground they have to cover, is there a third act break up?
No! Instead there is a steady, inexorable, exhilarating build of emotion until they confess their endless love for each other. It’s glorious!
The sex is hot and in keeping with the kind of breathless besottedness they both feel. The way they love and explore each other’s bodies, bodies that have changed and not changed over the twenty-odd years since they first had sex, well, it’s mesmerizing.
There is so much emotion packed into this book. Big ones (the size of their love is extraordinary), overwhelming ones (predominantly around Adam getting to grips with his sexuality), messy ones (“you hurt me and I still love you and I want you to go away but I also want you to stay”). All of them!
And all of them were handled with such care. As a reader I felt safe letting my own emotions run with the story, knowing that they would be managed capably and my heart would glow by the end of it. And it did!
If you’re looking for a book that packs an emotional punch but is going to have you beaming with your whole body by the end, then this is the one for you. I heartily recommend it to the Bitchery.
starandrea (starandrea) wrote2026-02-18 12:53 am
starandrea) wrote2026-02-18 12:53 am"I don't need food, just a rifle and as many bullets as $200 will buy." (Oregon Trail player meme)
I did not realize "Xennials" referred specifically to the Oregon Trail microgeneration. The internet seems to largely define them as, "analog childhood, digital young adulthood."
♥ Psychology of Xennials (1976-1985), youtube vid by Psychology Simplified
Commenter: "Too feral to be Millennials, too optimistic to be Gen X. The generation of Oregon Trail."
I remember Sarah showing Steve the Oregon Trail game, and him being like, "Wait, so you always die? This game is really morbid."
♥ Psychology of Xennials (1976-1985), youtube vid by Psychology Simplified
Commenter: "Too feral to be Millennials, too optimistic to be Gen X. The generation of Oregon Trail."
I remember Sarah showing Steve the Oregon Trail game, and him being like, "Wait, so you always die? This game is really morbid."
The Gauche in the Machine (china_shop) wrote2026-02-18 05:29 pm
china_shop) wrote2026-02-18 05:29 pmEntry tags:
Me-and-media update
Pandemic Life
Just had my Covid booster.
Previous poll review
In the Oxford comma poll, 44.4% of respondents have firm opinions, 34.9% have moderate preferences, and 6.3% are officially neutral. (I worded the poll badly, because actually what I have is a firm preference, which is to weed out unnecessary commas for cleaner prose. Yes, I realise I used an Oxford comma above. ;-p) The "always use it!" contingent makes up 39.7% of respondents, while 15.9% said "only use it when necessary!"
In ticky-boxes, 39.7% of respondents selected "buying a random bargain bin product, imprinting on it, and spending the rest of your life trying to track down replacements", and I'm very glad it's not just me. I recently bought 18 toothbrushes online, which should theoretically keep me going until I'm 60. Naturally, hugs won the ticky-boxes, with 69.8%. Thank you for your votes!! ♥
Reading
I can't remember what prompted me to, but I listened to the audiobook of The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan, read by Mary Jane Wells, and loved it all over again. (Last time I read it in ebook.) It's a British historical het romance with leads of Chinese descent, and they and their supporting cast are delightful.
I've now started the next in the series, The Marquis Who Mustn't, in ebook. (It's the first ebook I've bought in ages. I'm proud to say that, after some technical hitches, I managed to load a Kobo book onto my Kindle, so that'll be my plan from now on.)
While waiting to see if my Covid jab would importune me, I was allowed to go hang out in the library for the 15 minutes. I not only picked up my reserve, but also two random contemporary romance novels and a Japanese coffee shop book with cats. Given my recent rate of (not) reading hard-copy books, I should clearly not be allowed to browse.
Kdramas
Still going on One Spring Night. It's finally picking up. The cast is amazing, and they have excellent chemistry, which is what's been keeping me watching. The plot is, in essence, woman dumps her long-term high-status boyfriend for someone nicer of lower status; everyone has a hard time accepting this, especially the long-term boyfriend. Personally, I'm like, "The new guy is Jung Hae-in! Look at his smile!! How could you not??" Anyway, it felt like they were all having the same conversations over and over for seven episodes, which got a bit wearying, but hopefully the latest developments will stay developed. (FTR, this drama feels like an obvious descendant of Something in the Rain, with many of the same cast but (thankfully) no subplot about workplace sexual harassment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one will stick the landing better!)
Other TV
Watching our way through the extended edition of Lord of the Rings, plus many of the extras. What a blast from the past! Frodo actually made me tear up at the end of Fellowship. We're on the second disk of Fellowship extras.
Also, still, The Pitt and SurrealEstate, and my sister and I started season 4 of Fringe. (I would totally watch this show if it were always Olivia and Lincoln as partners. Who even needs Peter? ;-p)
Audio entertainment
Letters from an American, The Shit They Don't Tell You About Writing, Runaway Country with Alex Wagner (part of Crooked Media), and a whole bunch of episodes of Better Offline, including "Openclaw with David Gerard" (as recced bysabotabby), four short, angry episodes titled "AI Is Worse Than The Dot Com Bubble", and a fantastic rant with Cal Newport about AI reporting (spoiler: the vast majority of it is hype), which also, towards the end, explained (in words small enough for me to understand) how AIs are made/trained. Highly rec. I'm now working my way through Better Offline's series "The Enshittifinancial Crisis" and greatly appreciating his invective.
Online life
The Guardian slo-mo rewatch is still my happy place.
Writing/making things
I've been working on the sameYuletide New Year's Resolutions treat for, like, forever. It's only a couple of thousand words, it's just taking a while to come together. That's okay. I've also been noodling at a post about adverbs in speech tags for ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fan_writers, but there's too much to say; I need to rein it in.
Still intermittently practising drawing. Telling myself that one day I'll be able to do expressions and poses. That would be nice.
Life/health/mental state things
( Grumbling, feat. local politics )
Cats
Halle keeps bringing cicadas into the house and crunching them, nom nom nom.
Goals
I wrote a list of goals for the year and have not looked at it since. La la la.
Good things
Podcasts, kdramas, DVDs, audiobooks, media generally. Fandom and Guardian specifically. Sunshine again, yay! My roof did not blow off. Andrew and Halle and friends and biking out to meet someone for lunch.
Just had my Covid booster.
Previous poll review
In the Oxford comma poll, 44.4% of respondents have firm opinions, 34.9% have moderate preferences, and 6.3% are officially neutral. (I worded the poll badly, because actually what I have is a firm preference, which is to weed out unnecessary commas for cleaner prose. Yes, I realise I used an Oxford comma above. ;-p) The "always use it!" contingent makes up 39.7% of respondents, while 15.9% said "only use it when necessary!"
In ticky-boxes, 39.7% of respondents selected "buying a random bargain bin product, imprinting on it, and spending the rest of your life trying to track down replacements", and I'm very glad it's not just me. I recently bought 18 toothbrushes online, which should theoretically keep me going until I'm 60. Naturally, hugs won the ticky-boxes, with 69.8%. Thank you for your votes!! ♥
Reading
I can't remember what prompted me to, but I listened to the audiobook of The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan, read by Mary Jane Wells, and loved it all over again. (Last time I read it in ebook.) It's a British historical het romance with leads of Chinese descent, and they and their supporting cast are delightful.
I've now started the next in the series, The Marquis Who Mustn't, in ebook. (It's the first ebook I've bought in ages. I'm proud to say that, after some technical hitches, I managed to load a Kobo book onto my Kindle, so that'll be my plan from now on.)
While waiting to see if my Covid jab would importune me, I was allowed to go hang out in the library for the 15 minutes. I not only picked up my reserve, but also two random contemporary romance novels and a Japanese coffee shop book with cats. Given my recent rate of (not) reading hard-copy books, I should clearly not be allowed to browse.
Kdramas
Still going on One Spring Night. It's finally picking up. The cast is amazing, and they have excellent chemistry, which is what's been keeping me watching. The plot is, in essence, woman dumps her long-term high-status boyfriend for someone nicer of lower status; everyone has a hard time accepting this, especially the long-term boyfriend. Personally, I'm like, "The new guy is Jung Hae-in! Look at his smile!! How could you not??" Anyway, it felt like they were all having the same conversations over and over for seven episodes, which got a bit wearying, but hopefully the latest developments will stay developed. (FTR, this drama feels like an obvious descendant of Something in the Rain, with many of the same cast but (thankfully) no subplot about workplace sexual harassment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one will stick the landing better!)
Other TV
Watching our way through the extended edition of Lord of the Rings, plus many of the extras. What a blast from the past! Frodo actually made me tear up at the end of Fellowship. We're on the second disk of Fellowship extras.
Also, still, The Pitt and SurrealEstate, and my sister and I started season 4 of Fringe. (I would totally watch this show if it were always Olivia and Lincoln as partners. Who even needs Peter? ;-p)
Audio entertainment
Letters from an American, The Shit They Don't Tell You About Writing, Runaway Country with Alex Wagner (part of Crooked Media), and a whole bunch of episodes of Better Offline, including "Openclaw with David Gerard" (as recced by
sabotabby), four short, angry episodes titled "AI Is Worse Than The Dot Com Bubble", and a fantastic rant with Cal Newport about AI reporting (spoiler: the vast majority of it is hype), which also, towards the end, explained (in words small enough for me to understand) how AIs are made/trained. Highly rec. I'm now working my way through Better Offline's series "The Enshittifinancial Crisis" and greatly appreciating his invective.Online life
The Guardian slo-mo rewatch is still my happy place.
Writing/making things
I've been working on the same
fan_writers, but there's too much to say; I need to rein it in.Still intermittently practising drawing. Telling myself that one day I'll be able to do expressions and poses. That would be nice.
Life/health/mental state things
( Grumbling, feat. local politics )
Cats
Halle keeps bringing cicadas into the house and crunching them, nom nom nom.
Goals
I wrote a list of goals for the year and have not looked at it since. La la la.
Good things
Podcasts, kdramas, DVDs, audiobooks, media generally. Fandom and Guardian specifically. Sunshine again, yay! My roof did not blow off. Andrew and Halle and friends and biking out to meet someone for lunch.
Poll #34237 Fourth walls
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15
Which fourth walls are important to you?
View Answers
the one-way glass that stops TPTB seeing fannish activity
9 (60.0%)
the one-way glass that stops fans from seeing how the show/BSO/sausage gets made
2 (13.3%)
the wibbly-wobby physics-defying thing that means celebs and fans exist in separate universes that just happen to occupy the same space-time
9 (60.0%)
the one that stops celebs/TPTB from seeing us on the internet
8 (53.3%)
the one that shields fandom from public/media attention
11 (73.3%)
other fourth walls
1 (6.7%)
I love ALL the walls
4 (26.7%)
no! smash them all!
0 (0.0%)
ticky-box full of swooshy cloudscapes forming punctuation marks
6 (40.0%)
ticky-box full of reading in hard copy
6 (40.0%)
ticky-box full of chinchillas chilling their chins all over the place
6 (40.0%)
ticky-box full of ballooooooons and golden sparkles
7 (46.7%)
ticky-box full of hugs
9 (60.0%)
kaffy_r (kaffy_r) wrote2026-02-17 08:37 pm
kaffy_r) wrote2026-02-17 08:37 pmEntry tags:
Dept. of Remembrance
Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Servant
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84. We were driving north on Ashland Avenue when the word came over the radio. I gasped, and did that "Nooo!" thing that's so cliche, but proof that cliches have their roots in truth.
I knew he was old; I knew he had progressive supranuclear palsy; I knew he could no longer walk or speak, this man whose oratory raised the hopes, dreams and resistance of so many black, brown, and marginalized people. I knew he was going to die. But I didn't want it to happen.
I knew he was a complex man. I knew he was vain. I knew he was a little apt to enlarge himself in many instances. I knew he'd made antisemitic comments years ago; I knew he felt sidelined by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, after doing the hard work of paving the way for a black president with his own two surprisingly successful campaigns in 1984 and 1988. I knew he'd had a child out of wedlock.
But he didn't let his vanity outpace his love for others. He relearned humility and other lessons after each misstep. I knew he acknowledged and supported his natural daughter. I knew he was a gifted organizer as well as an orator, I knew he visited Cook County jail every Christmas when others might have - indeed had - forgotten those men. I knew he walked the walk as well as talked the talk. And there's another cliche that has its root in truth.
I met him three times. Once, on the street, heading for Grant Park, the night Obama won the presidency in 2008. He took my questions, brief as they were, and answered me in as thoughtful a way as one can in about 30 seconds. I met him a second time when he spoke to students at Niles West High School in Skokie, a significantly Jewish community. I met him a final time, at a Wilmette synagogue, where he spoke, his voice already being conquered by his illness. He would never have remembered me, but I remembered him.
I'm not black. I'm not really poor. I have privilege that he never had. But I remember his "I am Somebody." I remember. And I cry.
I'm not a Christian believer, not really, not for years. But I can hope that if the God he tried so hard to honor is there somewhere, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson reaches the seat of the Lord, that Lord will look to him and say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Here is what an excellent Chicago writer, Neil Steinberg has to say about Rev. Jackson, who was, and is, quintessentially Chicago. And here is a link to a local CBS News special on him.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84. We were driving north on Ashland Avenue when the word came over the radio. I gasped, and did that "Nooo!" thing that's so cliche, but proof that cliches have their roots in truth.
I knew he was old; I knew he had progressive supranuclear palsy; I knew he could no longer walk or speak, this man whose oratory raised the hopes, dreams and resistance of so many black, brown, and marginalized people. I knew he was going to die. But I didn't want it to happen.
I knew he was a complex man. I knew he was vain. I knew he was a little apt to enlarge himself in many instances. I knew he'd made antisemitic comments years ago; I knew he felt sidelined by Barack Obama's presidential campaign, after doing the hard work of paving the way for a black president with his own two surprisingly successful campaigns in 1984 and 1988. I knew he'd had a child out of wedlock.
But he didn't let his vanity outpace his love for others. He relearned humility and other lessons after each misstep. I knew he acknowledged and supported his natural daughter. I knew he was a gifted organizer as well as an orator, I knew he visited Cook County jail every Christmas when others might have - indeed had - forgotten those men. I knew he walked the walk as well as talked the talk. And there's another cliche that has its root in truth.
I met him three times. Once, on the street, heading for Grant Park, the night Obama won the presidency in 2008. He took my questions, brief as they were, and answered me in as thoughtful a way as one can in about 30 seconds. I met him a second time when he spoke to students at Niles West High School in Skokie, a significantly Jewish community. I met him a final time, at a Wilmette synagogue, where he spoke, his voice already being conquered by his illness. He would never have remembered me, but I remembered him.
I'm not black. I'm not really poor. I have privilege that he never had. But I remember his "I am Somebody." I remember. And I cry.
I'm not a Christian believer, not really, not for years. But I can hope that if the God he tried so hard to honor is there somewhere, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson reaches the seat of the Lord, that Lord will look to him and say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Here is what an excellent Chicago writer, Neil Steinberg has to say about Rev. Jackson, who was, and is, quintessentially Chicago. And here is a link to a local CBS News special on him.
Travis (torachan) wrote2026-02-17 07:20 pm
torachan) wrote2026-02-17 07:20 pmEntry tags:
Daily Happiness
1. I got my hair cut this morning. Nice to get that out of the way before my trip.
2. I'm all packed for tomorrow except for a few last things I can't pack until the morning. Hopefully I can get to sleep with no issue and early enough, because I have my alarm set for four tomorrow. D:
3. The rain was much better today. It rained a little here and there, but mostly was dry, and none of the times it was raining interfered with anything I was doing.
4. Gemma's helping pack.
2. I'm all packed for tomorrow except for a few last things I can't pack until the morning. Hopefully I can get to sleep with no issue and early enough, because I have my alarm set for four tomorrow. D:
3. The rain was much better today. It rained a little here and there, but mostly was dry, and none of the times it was raining interfered with anything I was doing.
4. Gemma's helping pack.
hannah (hannah) wrote2026-02-17 08:48 pm
hannah) wrote2026-02-17 08:48 pm
What changes came.
The day's major activity was sending out some emails and texts to try to coordinate future plans. I'll probably have to send them again in a day or two, given the track record of trying to get some of these plans together - especially my brothers in regards to setting a schedule and keeping to it. My parents are presently traveling and my younger brother offered to host Friday night dinner this week, but beyond the offer, nothing's been said so far. I sent out a message this morning and all I got was a promise there'd be some coordination.
It doesn't fill me with hope, especially not without a timetable. It's not that I have anything else going on so much as I'd like to know what little might be happening so I can at least figure out what kind of nothing I might be doing.
It doesn't fill me with hope, especially not without a timetable. It's not that I have anything else going on so much as I'd like to know what little might be happening so I can at least figure out what kind of nothing I might be doing.
Asp (senmut) wrote2026-02-17 07:58 pm
senmut) wrote2026-02-17 07:58 pmEntry tags:
SW:PT/R fic
AO3 Link | Anakin's Not So Imaginary Friend (1636 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace [1999], Star Wars: Rebels
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Timey Wimey Stuff, The Force is Weird [Star Wars], Ensemble Cast
Summary:
"If someone was whispering poison in his ears all those years, shouldn't he have a different point of view?"
The bird and the woman stared each other down, before Morai fluffed all of her feathers, and Fulcrum smiled, winning the debate.
~You will give up your place here/now and all you became. The girl will be different.~
"That is not a drawback. If I do this well, he will make true choices, not be played out in the game as a pawn."
~So certain he did not choose his destruction.~
"Maybe he did, but did he do it with enough knowledge?"
Morai remained silent, and Fulcrum touched the last rune in the circle, imbuing it with all she was, letting existence change.
~How have you survived so long, Skykid?~
The amused, gentle voice that Anakin had been hearing for the last year was actually something to steady him as he came down from the high of winning.
~I do understand that people said I was like you a little better.~
That was almost sobering. Anakin had realized the ghost in his head had lived a life, but come to him as a protector. Already, she had helped him recognize his 'luck' and 'sense of things' was actually the Force, that thing that Jedi had. She was coaching him in how to use it more actively.
She liked Mom, a lot, and she never asked him to do anything he didn't want to do.
When Master Jinn said he'd only been able to buy Anakin's freedom, she was the one with the words.
"If you take me from Mom, with Watto so poor, she's got nothing, and might be sold," he said firmly. "Can't the Jedi do something about that? How can you expect me to learn how to be a Jedi if I worry about her being here, alone, maybe bought by a mean master?"
Master Jinn frowned, considering. "When we get to the ship, I will send a comm to someone in the Temple that I trust, about what happened here. Will that be enough?"
~He will ask a good person. We can make sure it happened, later.~
"Okay, Master Jinn."
Anakin was afraid, even with Master Jinn and Padmé both promising that his Mom would be saved. None of these people — he hadn't even seen some of their species before! — liked him.
~They didn't always like me, either. Yoda doesn't get on the best with anyone but the little kids. Master Windu has some very bad things in the Force hanging on him. Master Plo is grieving a man that was his partner in all ways. Master Mundi has to analyze everything through logic.~
Anakin felt that knowledge, realized that his friend in his head was still with him, still able to give him pieces of information. That… that made things a little better. He drew himself up as tall as he could, considered navigating this as to be like a pod race course with explosives, and focused intently on how they asked their questions.
"Yes, Masters. I am afraid," he said calmly. "My mother is a slave, owned by a man that lost everything in Master Jinn's attempt to get things done. But I can't help her there. I can only trust that people who have the ability handle that, since I was taken from her to live free. It would be fair, after all, to give something back to her with value.
"I may be older than the ones you accept, but I can learn. I like learning. And I do want to help!"
~Oh good job, Skykid. You just needed a little support, but you did that all on your own!~
The absolute joy of being able to help, the exhilaration of taking the droid control ship down mingled and made Anakin feel like he was walking on air when they all landed.
~Just, remember. We survive. That means we must remember those who don't.~
The words were gentle, but laced with a pain that knew loss, and Anakin looked, mentally tallying how many ships had landed against how many he'd seen earlier.
~You lost lots; I can tell. How do you remember?~
~I say their names, when they're close to me. I remember what they did to live, how they lived outside the fighting. When I didn't know them well… I live harder, for the ideas they held strongly.~
~Then… I'll have to ask Captain Olié to tell me about the ones that don't make it back,~ Anakin decided, still up on a pilot's shoulders in their shared joy at living.
Anakin kept his smile on his face, but he was worried. Why, with all the good things happening, did he feel empty inside?
He didn't want his ghost friend to leave him! She had helped him so much!
All through the rest of the events, he kept hoping to hear her, kept wishing for her to give him something to go by when the Jedi elders said he was not a padawan yet, but he would be.
It wasn't until he was in his room that night, with Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi talking so quietly in the main one, that he could feel her again.
~You left me!~ he accused, fear and worry mingling in the words.
~I cannot be present when my enemy is near, apparently,~ she said, all apology and a feeling of being nettled by the restriction.
~Who?~
There was a long pause, but he could still feel her.
~I don't think I can tell you that without putting you in more danger,~ she said, raw honestly in the words, and the feeling of a hug all around him.
~Maybe when I am older, stronger? More able to protect others and myself?~ he asked, having caught worry for the Jedi in those words.
~I think so,~ she said softly.
~Tell me something about you,~ he said, changing tactics, not liking the sadness he could feel in her.
~How about a name? They used to call me Fulcrum.~
~That's an engineering thing! The point you balance on to shift heavy weights!~ Anakin told her, before his quick mind raced ahead. ~The weight of why you are sad, and you want me to be the lever?~
~No, I want you safer,~ Fulcrum said, rejecting the idea that Anakin Skywalker was a tool to be used. ~I want you to make your own choices, but with a little advice that others don't know how to give to you.~
~What makes you sure you do?~
Her presence grew lighter, playful and teasing, at that. ~Because, Skykid, I knew you in a different life. Now rest; we're leaving tomorrow for the Temple.~
He started to protest, but it had been a long day, and now he had a name for his friend.
Anakin's skin was crawling as he came back to the Temple after the meeting that Master Gallia had arranged at the request of the Chancellor. He'd been doing so well in his classes, and Knight Kenobi was actually considering him as a padawan.
But.
He was way too smart, running over who had been at the Naboo celebration versus who had been present in that meeting. The Chancellor had been kind, speaking well of Anakin's daring and skills —
— and Fulcrum had been silent, no longer sitting in his mind. He wondered how long it would take her to come back (she had to come back, she'd promised to be there and keep helping him with his lessons and his temper!) this time.
There was something he could do, as he reached out to lightly tug on Master Gallia's sleeve hem.
"Master, may I speak with you?"
She ushered her friends along, and crouched to be more on a level with the Initiate. "Go ahead, Anakin."
"I don't want to meet with him again." Seeing her begin to muster all the reasons for trying to be their diplomatic gesture, he shook his head firmly, and she held them back. "I am just a kid. I might have done some big things with the Force, but where I am from?
"People with power only reach out to those with skills but no leverage when they want to use them for something. I have a bad feeling about this, and want to focus on my lessons, so I can be a good padawan."
She let her face show her acceptance, and nodded. "Very well. I hope Obi-Wan makes that choice soon, once you have all the basics down, Anakin."
~How do we beat him?~
It was three days past that meeting and Fulcrum had been back in his mind for two of them, when he finally asked, and she could see who he meant.
~Patience, observing everything, fixing as many little things as we can,~ she answered honestly. ~I wish you did not know, but at the same time… now he can't take all you are and push it into his plans of destruction.~
Anakin's lips thinned to tight line of anger, glimpsing the future in the Force, the one she had lived, the one where he hadn't thought of motive before pride.
~I have you, you have me, and we're going to make sure he doesn't win.~
Fulcrum gave him her love, her pride in him making that choice, and settled back to teaching him, going over his lessons, to draw him away from the kindled anger for now.
Later, once he had more training, they could try to push. For now, Fulcrum intended to help Anakin ground in the here and now of learning how to be a Jedi that wasn't so mistrusted, or too far on the outskirts.
That, and his knowledge of who the enemy was, just might set them on a better path for all.
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace [1999], Star Wars: Rebels
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ahsoka Tano
Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Timey Wimey Stuff, The Force is Weird [Star Wars], Ensemble Cast
Summary:
Ahsoka makes a choice to give up embodiment and become a shoulder angel.
Anakin's Not So Imaginary Friend
"If someone was whispering poison in his ears all those years, shouldn't he have a different point of view?"
The bird and the woman stared each other down, before Morai fluffed all of her feathers, and Fulcrum smiled, winning the debate.
~You will give up your place here/now and all you became. The girl will be different.~
"That is not a drawback. If I do this well, he will make true choices, not be played out in the game as a pawn."
~So certain he did not choose his destruction.~
"Maybe he did, but did he do it with enough knowledge?"
Morai remained silent, and Fulcrum touched the last rune in the circle, imbuing it with all she was, letting existence change.
~How have you survived so long, Skykid?~
The amused, gentle voice that Anakin had been hearing for the last year was actually something to steady him as he came down from the high of winning.
~I do understand that people said I was like you a little better.~
That was almost sobering. Anakin had realized the ghost in his head had lived a life, but come to him as a protector. Already, she had helped him recognize his 'luck' and 'sense of things' was actually the Force, that thing that Jedi had. She was coaching him in how to use it more actively.
She liked Mom, a lot, and she never asked him to do anything he didn't want to do.
When Master Jinn said he'd only been able to buy Anakin's freedom, she was the one with the words.
"If you take me from Mom, with Watto so poor, she's got nothing, and might be sold," he said firmly. "Can't the Jedi do something about that? How can you expect me to learn how to be a Jedi if I worry about her being here, alone, maybe bought by a mean master?"
Master Jinn frowned, considering. "When we get to the ship, I will send a comm to someone in the Temple that I trust, about what happened here. Will that be enough?"
~He will ask a good person. We can make sure it happened, later.~
"Okay, Master Jinn."
Anakin was afraid, even with Master Jinn and Padmé both promising that his Mom would be saved. None of these people — he hadn't even seen some of their species before! — liked him.
~They didn't always like me, either. Yoda doesn't get on the best with anyone but the little kids. Master Windu has some very bad things in the Force hanging on him. Master Plo is grieving a man that was his partner in all ways. Master Mundi has to analyze everything through logic.~
Anakin felt that knowledge, realized that his friend in his head was still with him, still able to give him pieces of information. That… that made things a little better. He drew himself up as tall as he could, considered navigating this as to be like a pod race course with explosives, and focused intently on how they asked their questions.
"Yes, Masters. I am afraid," he said calmly. "My mother is a slave, owned by a man that lost everything in Master Jinn's attempt to get things done. But I can't help her there. I can only trust that people who have the ability handle that, since I was taken from her to live free. It would be fair, after all, to give something back to her with value.
"I may be older than the ones you accept, but I can learn. I like learning. And I do want to help!"
~Oh good job, Skykid. You just needed a little support, but you did that all on your own!~
The absolute joy of being able to help, the exhilaration of taking the droid control ship down mingled and made Anakin feel like he was walking on air when they all landed.
~Just, remember. We survive. That means we must remember those who don't.~
The words were gentle, but laced with a pain that knew loss, and Anakin looked, mentally tallying how many ships had landed against how many he'd seen earlier.
~You lost lots; I can tell. How do you remember?~
~I say their names, when they're close to me. I remember what they did to live, how they lived outside the fighting. When I didn't know them well… I live harder, for the ideas they held strongly.~
~Then… I'll have to ask Captain Olié to tell me about the ones that don't make it back,~ Anakin decided, still up on a pilot's shoulders in their shared joy at living.
Anakin kept his smile on his face, but he was worried. Why, with all the good things happening, did he feel empty inside?
He didn't want his ghost friend to leave him! She had helped him so much!
All through the rest of the events, he kept hoping to hear her, kept wishing for her to give him something to go by when the Jedi elders said he was not a padawan yet, but he would be.
It wasn't until he was in his room that night, with Master Jinn and Padawan Kenobi talking so quietly in the main one, that he could feel her again.
~You left me!~ he accused, fear and worry mingling in the words.
~I cannot be present when my enemy is near, apparently,~ she said, all apology and a feeling of being nettled by the restriction.
~Who?~
There was a long pause, but he could still feel her.
~I don't think I can tell you that without putting you in more danger,~ she said, raw honestly in the words, and the feeling of a hug all around him.
~Maybe when I am older, stronger? More able to protect others and myself?~ he asked, having caught worry for the Jedi in those words.
~I think so,~ she said softly.
~Tell me something about you,~ he said, changing tactics, not liking the sadness he could feel in her.
~How about a name? They used to call me Fulcrum.~
~That's an engineering thing! The point you balance on to shift heavy weights!~ Anakin told her, before his quick mind raced ahead. ~The weight of why you are sad, and you want me to be the lever?~
~No, I want you safer,~ Fulcrum said, rejecting the idea that Anakin Skywalker was a tool to be used. ~I want you to make your own choices, but with a little advice that others don't know how to give to you.~
~What makes you sure you do?~
Her presence grew lighter, playful and teasing, at that. ~Because, Skykid, I knew you in a different life. Now rest; we're leaving tomorrow for the Temple.~
He started to protest, but it had been a long day, and now he had a name for his friend.
Anakin's skin was crawling as he came back to the Temple after the meeting that Master Gallia had arranged at the request of the Chancellor. He'd been doing so well in his classes, and Knight Kenobi was actually considering him as a padawan.
But.
He was way too smart, running over who had been at the Naboo celebration versus who had been present in that meeting. The Chancellor had been kind, speaking well of Anakin's daring and skills —
— and Fulcrum had been silent, no longer sitting in his mind. He wondered how long it would take her to come back (she had to come back, she'd promised to be there and keep helping him with his lessons and his temper!) this time.
There was something he could do, as he reached out to lightly tug on Master Gallia's sleeve hem.
"Master, may I speak with you?"
She ushered her friends along, and crouched to be more on a level with the Initiate. "Go ahead, Anakin."
"I don't want to meet with him again." Seeing her begin to muster all the reasons for trying to be their diplomatic gesture, he shook his head firmly, and she held them back. "I am just a kid. I might have done some big things with the Force, but where I am from?
"People with power only reach out to those with skills but no leverage when they want to use them for something. I have a bad feeling about this, and want to focus on my lessons, so I can be a good padawan."
She let her face show her acceptance, and nodded. "Very well. I hope Obi-Wan makes that choice soon, once you have all the basics down, Anakin."
~How do we beat him?~
It was three days past that meeting and Fulcrum had been back in his mind for two of them, when he finally asked, and she could see who he meant.
~Patience, observing everything, fixing as many little things as we can,~ she answered honestly. ~I wish you did not know, but at the same time… now he can't take all you are and push it into his plans of destruction.~
Anakin's lips thinned to tight line of anger, glimpsing the future in the Force, the one she had lived, the one where he hadn't thought of motive before pride.
~I have you, you have me, and we're going to make sure he doesn't win.~
Fulcrum gave him her love, her pride in him making that choice, and settled back to teaching him, going over his lessons, to draw him away from the kindled anger for now.
Later, once he had more training, they could try to push. For now, Fulcrum intended to help Anakin ground in the here and now of learning how to be a Jedi that wasn't so mistrusted, or too far on the outskirts.
That, and his knowledge of who the enemy was, just might set them on a better path for all.