chocolatepot | Network

nanila posting in

It's challenge time!

Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.

Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished! Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!

Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.

Go!

zwei_hexen

Welcome back to Writing Every Day in March 2026!

Taking over from

sakanawords, we,

sylvanwitch and

ysilme, are going to host the challenge together this month in this joint account.

If you're new to the challenge and want to know what this is about, unsure if you want to join, or are just curious, please check out our intro post. There's also a hosting list if you want to check up on older rounds, check who's currently hosting, or if somebody already volunteered for hosting in the future.

The joint hosting works just like your regular challenge with daily tally entries, with

sylvanwitch usually doing the commenting and

ysilme doing the daily posts. We'll also both put our personal tallies into the main post but at different times due to different time zones, as we're in the U.S. and Germany. So if you're curious how our respective writing days went, we invite you to check again later. :o)

Please always check in on the most recent post, no matter for what day(s), and state the date/day you're checking in for to avoid timezone-related confusion. Thank you!

There will be a rec-your-fic post at some point. You can find the older ones by the links in the link list of the journal on the top right.

Posts are usually going up around 11 p.m. Central European Time, with the first one going up tonight for our timezonely-early birds.

Sylvanwitch & Ysilme

NB: A note on subscribing and access to and from this account: You don't need to give access to

zwei_hexen; we don't expect it and would come visiting your journal with our personal ones each.

sholio

So I'm still on a Jason Pargin kick. This is definitely a Jason Pargin book (bizarre, convoluted, funny, much sweeter and kinder than you'd expect). Unlike most of his other books, there are no horror or SFF elements; this one is more of a straightforward(ish) satirical action/thriller/comedy. Also, Jason Pargin continues to have the best titles around. (The next book in the John Dies at the End series is There Are No Giant Crabs in This Novel: A Novel of Giant Crabs. I cannot wait.)

Anyway, back to this book.

Abbott is a 26-year-old Twitch streamer, incel, and part-time Lyft driver who shows up on a call to a parking lot, where he finds a girl about his own age with a mysterious black box, who introduces herself as Ether (clearly not her real name) and offers him $200K in cash to drive her across the country, on the condition that he a) does not ask her what's in the box, b) does not open the box, and c) leaves his phone and other electronics behind. Abbott, who still lives with his emotionally abusive dad, agrees on the principle that this will give him the ability and agency to move out (failing to realize that the money isn't really the issue; wherever you go, there you are, etc).

However, before he leaves, he broadcasts one last Twitch stream in which he tells his followers that he'll be gone for a few days on an errand. Since this is wildly out of character for Abbott, his followers and online friends immediately conclude that he's been kidnapped or is otherwise in trouble, and start a Subreddit to track him. Abbott, phoneless, is blissfully unaware that he and his companion are the subjects of an online media frenzy, or that they're being pursued by a growing number of people who are after the box and/or them, including a homicidal biker, a disgraced FBI agent with a specialty in online conspiracies who is convinced the box contains a nuclear bomb, and Abbott's dad, as well as a lot of online wannabe heroes.

It turns out that "black box of doom" refers not just to the box that is the book's Pulp-Fiction-style maguffin, but also (and perhaps foremost) online echo chambers that isolate people and turn their entire world into a popularity spiral in which they are terrified to voice their real opinions, and any controversy can blow up into a literally life-ending scandal.

I think the thing that makes this book work for me is that it's not terribly ham-handed and mostly just lets the characters be people (and genuinely isn't afraid to let them be terrible people now and then). The point is that we're all flawed; the point is that the world is better than you think; the point is that the people who think the only real world is offline and the ones who live completely within a screen are equally right and wrong. Abbott's online friends are real friends (one of them is one of the most helpful and resourceful people who gives them a hand on their increasingly bizarre and problem-prone road trip), and the people who say they're not, including Ether, are wrong; Abbott's dad, who is at least 50% of the reason why Abbott is Like That and thinks his son is wasting his life online and failing at Life, while successful by real-world standards is just as isolated, miserable, and emotionally repressed as Abbott is, but is also a Big Damn Hero when he has to be. Ether has embraced the ethos of living off the grid and insists that people are wasting their lives in the electronic world, but it was the online world that shaped her and created her biggest success and failures. You can make real connections online, but you also need to get offline and touch grass once in a while. It's not either/or.

This book also includes a chapter written by a conspiracy nut on a wall, lot of subreddit posts, and a climax that made me keep having to put the book down because I was laughing so hard. It's absolutely not going to be to everyone's taste, but I really liked it.

A brief, spoilery comment on pairings in the book:

about Abbott and Ether mostly

While Ether is definitely the first girl Abbott's ever had an emotionally intimate relationship with, they do not fall in love and in fact don't even really *like* each other for most of the book. By the end, they've risked their lives for each other a few times and are tentatively friends, but that's as far as it goes. I really liked that. (Abbott's dad and conspiracy theorist FBI agent Joan Key are definitely banging, however, and more power to 'em.)

$radiantfracture: a gouache painting of a turkey vulture head on a blue background, painted by me (vulture)$

radiantfracture

Did you know vultures are sexually monomorphic? Females and males look so much alike that it's difficult to sex them unless you personally watch one lay an egg (and even then bird genes are delightfully unpredictable). Just another awesome vulture fact I learned from the raptor centre insta.

Further, condors (aka Really Big Vultures) can reproduce via parthenogenesis. Here are some excellent queer bird stickers. I have ordered the asexual condor and the trans kookaburra.

§rf§

pattrose

I love this recipe. These are melt in your mouth good.

Homemade Caramels

🛒 Ingredients :
(1 Can) Sweetened Condensed Milk
(2 Cups) Light Brown Sugar, firmly packed
(2/3 Cup) Unsalted Butter, cubed
2 Tablespoons Liquid Glucose or Light Corn Syrup
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1.5 Teaspoons Flaky Sea Salt
👩‍🍳 Easy Steps :
🥣 Prep and Combine
- Line an 8x8 inch square baking tin with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides for easy removal.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the condensed milk, brown sugar, butter, and glucose syrup over low heat.
🍳 Cook to Stage
- Stir continuously until the sugar has completely dissolved and the butter has melted into a smooth liquid.
- Increase heat to medium-low and bring to a gentle simmer for 10-15 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture reaches the "soft-ball" stage (115°C/238°F) and turns a deep amber.
🔥 Finish and Fold
- Remove the pan from the heat and vigorously stir in the vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of the sea salt flakes.
- Continue to beat the mixture with a wooden spoon for 2-3 minutes until it loses its high-gloss shine and starts to feel thick and heavy.
🍽️ Set and Serve
- Pour the warm fudge into the prepared tin, smoothing the top with a spatula, and sprinkle the remaining sea salt flakes over the surface.
- Allow the fudge to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours until completely set before slicing into neat squares with a sharp, warm knife.
💡 Beginner Tips :
- To achieve a creamy texture rather than a grainy one, ensure the brown sugar is fully dissolved before the mixture begins to simmer.
- Avoid "scraping" the sides of the pan too aggressively while pouring the mixture into the tin, as any crystallized sugar on the sides can cause the whole batch to become grainy.
- For the best flavor profile, use a high-quality flaky sea salt (like Maldon) rather than standard table salt to provide that specific textural crunch.

pattrose

How did you prioritize your time today?

Let’s see. I gave myself two hours to clean my kitchen and my bathroom. I didn’t need that much time, after all. But boy does my kitchen look great. And that’s basically what I did. I could have done so much more, but I just wasn’t in the mood for cleaning today. Then I sat on my butt and watched a bunch of episodes of Major Crimes. I love that series. I watch all seven seasons at least once a year. Something to do now and then.

That’s all I did.

pattrose

28. Do you own many notebooks? What do you use them for?

I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say I have about 30 of them in my office. I collect notebooks , pens, and pencils for writing. I take them on trips, for using around the house, and one is always in my oxygen backpack. You never know when you’ll need one. I use them for story ideas, journal type input, and anything else I can think of.

How many do you have? How many pens? Or pencils?

rfemod posting in

rarefemslashexchange

Creators have now been revealed!

Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed and helped make this exchange possible! We finished with 161 works in 119 fandoms!

Please remember that commenting is mandatory in this exchange. You must comment on your gifts before nominations open in the next round (dates TBD) to be eligible to sign up.

The collection will continue to remain open indefinitely so late treats are always welcome and accepted.

If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them on this post (anon is on, screening isn't) or reach out via email at rarefemslashexchangemod@gmail.com.

Thank you again! Hope to see you all for the next round! :D

pattrose

Things I Miss

There are a lot of things I miss. I’m going to make a list.

1. My Grandparents, and my parents
2. When my children were young
3. My old job. I worked with developmentally disabled adults. They were all angels.
4. My younger days
5. All my dogs through the years
6. My old house that had a pool. I really miss the pool.
7. Driving
8. My healthy days before I got sicker
9. Our country before it was insane
10. Old friends that I no longer see

That’s a pretty good list. How about anyone else?

torachan

1. It's the weekend!

2. We've been having another heatwave, but I think today was the peak. Tomorrow's supposed to be pretty hot, too, but then cooling off again from Sunday.

3. Another cat enjoying the new lounger.

hannah

Based on the size and the chirps, I'm pretty sure the bird I saw perched on the rooftop structure earlier today was a peregrine falcon. I didn't have anything to take a picture, and I didn't see it fly off to be able to check the silhouette, so I'm only working off what I got from the ground across the street.

It was hard to miss. At least, I found it hard to miss. There wasn't enough noise to drown out the chirps, which were distinctive enough I knew something had to be around. I deliberately stopped a little while to look at it, in case anyone walking by would stop to see what I was looking at, or ask me what I'd noticed. There weren't many people, and of the people that came, neither of them bothered. I don't know what was on their minds.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: nothing now

senmut

fth2026offerings is open for browsing!

My first auction has:
Doctor Who: Classic Doctor Who (1963-1996)
New Doctor Who (2005-present)
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Wars: Original Trilogy / Prequel Trilogy / The Clone Wars, EU Legends / Rogue One

My second auction has:

Any fandom I've created for before
DC: Birds of Prey / Justice League / Justice League International / Teen Titans / Young Justice
Legend of Drizzt - R.A. Salvatore

Offering 5-10k words, minimum bid $5

mossy_bench posting in

recthething

I've just shared 12 fic recs for the ship Helly R./Helena Eagan from Severance over on my journal. Please note that most are NSFW and deal with dark topics. If that sounds good to you, come get your toxic yuri!

psocoptera

Hi! This is a big post of what I've read and am reccing so far, combining stories that I read during the year and liked, stories I picked up from other people's rec lists/eligibility posts/etc, and stories I read from the Locus list. I have not yet read everything on the Locus list, nor have I gone through the TOCs of all my favorite magazines looking for stuff, so hopefully I'll have a few more posts. But I wanted to post these to get started. These are vaguely alphabetical by magazine, and I've divided out stuff that's on the Locus list and stuff that wasn't, so that people who have already gone through the Locus list can easily find the other ones. A few standouts or likely nominees in bold.

Short stories on the Locus list:

Wire Mother, Isabel J. Kim, Clarkesworld. I think this is my personal frontrunner; this is really good.

Missing Helen, Tia Tashiro, Clarkesworld. Divorce and clones.

The Year the Sheep God Shattered, Marissa Lingen, Diabolical Plots. A small fantasy about art and magic and growing up.

35/F/Lane's Creek, Oklahoma, Hans Ege Wegner, Escape Pod. Remote work and connection.

Toothpaste Feelings, Sharang Biswas, khōréō. Symbiont, adjustment.

Tell Them a Story to Teach Them Kindness, B Pladek, Lightspeed. AI in the classroom. Sadly probably prescient.

Courtney Lovecraft's Book of the Dead, Sam J. Miller, Nightmare. A drag queen medium does a podcast.

Woodpecker, Warbler, Mussel, Thrush, Ruth Joffre, PodCastle. Extinction, birder grief.

Pandora's Formula, Hannah Yang, Strange Horizons. I don't think the world would last a day in this scenario but I thought the story was good.

Short stories not on the Locus list:

Autonomy, Meg Elison, Clarkesworld. Self-driving cars.

In the Shells of Broken Things, A.T. Greenblatt, Clarkesworld. Disability, community.

Laser Eyes Ain't Everything, Effie Seiberg, Diabolical Plots. The superhero union building isn't ADA compliant.

The Repairers of Reality, Shaenon K. Garrity, Drabblecast. Art and humanity and meaning.

Question 3, Cliff Jerrison. Democracy!

All That Means or Mourns, Ruthanna Emrys, Reactor. Fungal symbiosis and human connection.

Murder in the Clavist Autonomous Zone, Rich Larson, Strange Horizons. This is about a small intentional community inside a techno-dystopia we only see secondhand; some nice worldbuilding and character work in a small space.

10 Visions of the Future; or, Self-Care for the End of Days, Samantha Mills, Uncanny. This one has a lot of buzz and I would have said was the frontrunner except for its surprising omission from the Locus list.

Novelettes on the Locus list:

A Random Walk Through the Goblin Library, Chris Wilrich, Beneath Ceaseless Skies. NOVELETTE. Like fantasy Godel Escher Bach.

The Twenty-One Second God, Peter Watts, Lightspeed. NOVELETTE. Hive minds.

Regarding the Childhood of Morrigan, Who Was Chosen to Open the Way, Benjamin Rosenbaum, Reactor. NOVELETTE. This one is weird and I have mixed feelings but it's interesting to see what Rosenbaum is up to.

After the Invasion of the Bug-Eyed Aliens, Rachel Swirsky, Reactor. NOVELETTE. Vignettes from various different perspectives.

Phantom View, John Wiswell, Reactor. NOVELETTE. Illness and care and ghosts.

Novelettes not on the Locus list:

The Girl That My Mother Is Leaving Me For, Cameron Reed, Reactor. NOVELETTE. Sort of a Cyteen riff.

primeideal

I had read a few reviews of "Back to the Future: the musical" when it opened on Broadway, and the reviews boiled down to: 1. the DeLorean is great, 2. they tried really hard to stay faithful to the movie and not cut anything important, but they also added a bunch of songs, so it's lengthy, 3. reviewer didn't care much for the movie because it didn't flatter their preconceptions, and the musical isn't any better, we have to be more edgy instead of just nostalgia bait. I figured 2 and 3 would not be big drawbacks for me, and it was in Baltimore, so sure.

It was...fine? I didn't dislike it in an "didn't flatter my ideological preconceptions" way, but the intro felt rushed (trying to establish Marty's siblings as characters, over-the-top hamming, etc.) This is just based on the original movie, not the sequels.

Anyway, here are some things that I think they could have done differently, especially because it's an adaptation. I'm not sure I'd necessarily enjoy all of these, just things that might be interesting to try.

Arguably the relationship at the core of the movie is Marty & Doc's friendship! Let them sing a duet together!
The character of Jennifer (Marty's girlfriend) could easily be cut. At the end of the movie it's like "come quick, your kids are in trouble!" and then that actress didn't want to do the sequels, so they just...awkwardly wrote her out. Jennifer in the musical doesn't do anything useful either.
I understand that we kind of need Marty's siblings to set up the photo as a symbol of temporal paradoxing, but again, they just showed up in the intro song to establish one-note characterizations, then were different in the alternate timeline of the ending. I feel like the first few scenes in 1985 could have been more streamlined/less ludicrous "And Now We Are Breaking Into Song" moments.
Doc has a song called "For the Dreamers," where he talks about his scientific heroes--he has pictures of Edison and EInstein on his wall, etc. But he's also like "yeah, some people fail a thousand times before they get it right, some people just...fail a thousand times." IDK, I kind of like the idea, but the execution of "the people who weren't successes matter too" could have been better.
The lampshading of "don't tell me about the future, I don't want to know, don't create a paradox" being resolved with "oh what the hell" is underwhelming plotwise. Maybe an adaptation where Doc actually dies? Or instead of Marty getting the message to him, someone like Mayor Wilson or Biff inadvertently changes the future based on Marty's meddling?
Sometimes people interpret the ending as fridge horror--Marty is the only person who remembers his original timeline, his family can't understand why he's not "their" Marty, etc. What if instead it doesn't change, but Marty is like, "hey, Dad, did you ever write science fiction books?" or something. Then we learn that George has been keeping up his hobby the whole time, he's just too embarrassed to share it with anyone, but Marty gives him a nudge to be a little more assertive in the future?
My mom's review of Wicked when we first saw it in 2008 was "this is going to be the best high school musical because both the lead roles are women and there are so many more girls than boys of high school age who want to do musical theater." What about always-a-girl AU for Marty and Doc? I like the idea of eccentric spinster Emily Brown still going by "Doc," but facing a little more side-eying/social awkwardness in Hill Valley. Is the love triangle different with girl!Marty in 1955? Does Biff flirt with her and get out of Lorraine's way? Is her alias "Victoria Secret" instead of "Calvin Klein"? :D

( Ending spoilers )

blotthis

Several folks requested texts about which I don't have too much to say... We didn't think it was possible.... Perhaps it's better this way... Anyway! Collected for your pleasure and my peace of mind:

The Lady's Not For Burning for

nextian

Wow. The language is good in this one, huh??? I'm afraid I read it right after finishing Tam Lin, which ended up being an interesting experience... Couldn't help comparing it to Dean's interests--beautiful language, the marriage of minds alive to the world surrounded by idiots, particularly of a depressed man and a life-hungry woman--and the pacing flaws in Tam Lin... Lady, I think, might echo them. Not that Lady is too long, but the ending... we rise to a pitch and then we--don't. This could work on stage, I think, if you played the silences right. Worked less good in TL.

Damn it was delicious to read, though. And I'll always happily read about people getting their belief systems shaken. And they're foils? How fun.

Fleabag, Ep. 1 for

queenlua and

osprey_archer

I liked it! I like watching people make expressions. I Love to See Olivia Coleman. I'm interested in the fourth wall, and I'm especially interested in reading the play that birthed the tv series, and comparing the choices. It's depressing, and the narrator sucks, but I was surprised and interested in the Friend Situation Reveal at the end of the episode, and the control of tone that reveal ... revealed. I'd love to hear why you each bounced off!

It's worth noting that I've only seen the one episode, and that I saw it on Dracula night, so I'd watched, in order, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and then Gatiss/Moffat's Dracula ep 1, and then topped it off with this. At that point, I was thrilled to watch a whole cast act. Also it was midnight by the time it finished. I do plan to watch the rest of the series, though!

The Freelancer's Bible for

genarti

I read this for my Business of Copyediting class. It's very good. I'm certain it was helped by the context, which forced me to Actually Do Things with the Information, but I really was impressed by this self-help book, alas. The writing is clear, the advice specific, the resources relevant, and the tone is cheerful and excited about the opportunities freelancing can afford people while being extremely clear-eyed about the difficulties of being a freelancer, both on the individual level and the systemic. The main author is the founder and former president of the Freelancer's Union, and so she brings a fiery labor organizer's point of view to a very entrepreneurial topic that I Appreciated. The book's a bit outdated in some respects--not everyone has a cellphone! you might consider getting wireless internet! AI doesn't exist!--but the overall guidance I found as helpful as ever.

Spirited Away for

genarti,

osprey_archer, and geestellar

Stares into the middle distance. It's a good movie, Brent. No. Sorry. I watched it at a friend's place with a ton of friends, and my takeaway was, "Don't watch good movies with friends." Bless 'em. Nobody would shut up.

It was kind of an interesting experience, in that before we got started, friend H said it was one of his least favorite Ghibli films, because it doesn't have a plot. This was a shocking statement to me. Of course it has a plot. It's about Chihiro... not growing up, exactly, but becoming More Herself. We argued about this a bit to start, and friend Z brought up that it has a Japanese-style plot, and Z is of course right. The movie's a bit episodic. There's a whole near-silent sequence on the ocean train. (Beloved.) But I also just think friend H is wrong and didn't grow up reading books about practical heroines who learn to Be Themselves. Or appreciate the soot sprites enough. Or Chihiro running down the stairs. Or my wife. Or---

Spirited Away doesn't pry me open with an oyster knife the way Kiki does. It doesn't have the evil lesbian capitalist foil to a hot feral wolf girl that Mononoke does. But it's my favorite.

blotthis

As requested by

passingbuzzards,

skygiants and door, it's.... Dracula!

I'd never seen any Dracula adaptation at all ever--unless one counts Buffy as a Dracula adaptation, in which case I've seen Hush and the singing one--and may I just say, I would not recommend starting with any of the three adaptations I saw this month!

I've a longstanding interest in adaptations, though, so when some friends decided to go see Luc Besson's Dracula (2026), I joined them. Now, none of us knew that in other markets, this movie was subtitled "A Love Tale."

Me: Between... Mina and Jonathan?
Besson: Mais non! Dracule et Mina!

( Oh dear. )

I had a great time. What a series of swings. My takeaway was "Terrible movie. Everyone should see it." I laughed so much that I made friends with the folks on the other side of our group. I haven't even mentioned the gargoyles, which ended up being one of the funniest things I've seen in a movie in recent memory. Do not spend 20+ dollars to see it, but if you're hanging out with buddies, eating snacks, and ready to yell delighted disparaging comments at a Bad Movie with A Huge Budget, put it on the list.

I mentioned seeing Dracula (2026) to a Media Professional friend, and when she learned I hadn't seen Bram Stoker's Dracula, she was like oh, we should get high and do that. And I was like can we please, actually. So last weekend, we did. Minus the getting high, plus another Media Professional friend, whose apartment we invaded. (He has a TV and a couch.)

( New astonishments )

Ok. So, after we finished BSD, we tipsily decided it was early (10pm) and we could watch!! the first episode!!! of BBC's Dracula! They did not tell me it was an hour and a half and a Gatiss/Moffat production!!!

I'm not going to write this up in as much detail. I had fun with it, actually. There are parts in it that Gatiss and Moffat Simply Cannot Stop Themselves, of course, but overall I liked the Jonathan, Mina, Van Helsing (a Religiously Troubled but Very Self-Confident nun), and Dracula. Claes Bang, who plays Dracula, has more fun as he gets younger and sexier, and absolutely homosexually tortures Jonathan to pieces. Loved that. (Oldman and Landry Jones both become wooden as hell as they get younger and sexier, which was homosexually torturous for me---) I also adoooored Dolly Wells as Sister Agatha Van Helsing.

My understanding is that the third episode absolutely blows shit. From Gatiss and Moffat? Shocking. But the first episode, at least, felt more interested in the book's specific death-dread than the two movies, even as it turned much of the plot on its head. I've been told the second episode is even better. It's unlikely I'll watch it on my own, but I'm happily passing that information on to you.

torachan

Recently Finished
The Murder at World's End
The first book in a new historical murder mystery series. I liked this one a lot. A young male servant teams up with an eccentric upper class older woman to solve mysteries. Looking forward to the next one. I listened to this as an audio book and enjoyed the narrator a lot, too.

The Decagon House Murders
This is the first in the House Murders series, but the third I've read in novel form, as I had originally read this one as a manga. It's been a while since I've read the manga, though, so I thought I'd check out the novel as well. The manga seems to have stuck fairly close to the novel except for two big changes: the MC who doesn't go to the island with the others is a girl in the manga, but was male in the original, and the way the girl whose death triggers the revenge killings died is totally different in the manga. I can see why they'd change the gender of the one character, since it is otherwise all guys except two minor female characters who both die fairly early on, but I am baffled as to why they changed the death.

Boxers & Saints
Two volume graphic novel series about the Boxer Rebellion, a period in history about which I knew nothing at all previously (I had only vaguely heard the term and did not even realize it happened in China). Very interesting.

Yes, I'm Hot in This: The Hilarious Truth about Life in a Hijab
Collection of (I assume) web comics about life as a hijabi woman in the US. I enjoyed it, but collected all together the comics were often repetitive in a way that wouldn't feel as obvious if read spread out as a web comic.

Kinou Nani Tabeta? vol. 25

Ki ni Natteru Hito ga Otoko ja Nakatta vol. 4

stonepicnicking_okapi

Day 27: Ecstasy

I can't believe February is almost done and I've not posted any art. The image my mind conjures at the word 'ecstasy' is paintings of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian.

The caption to this [Circle of Girolamo Siciolante, St. Sebastian Receives the Palm of Martyrdom, 1570s] is:

As is usual, St. Sebastian has been stripped, tied to a tree, and shot with arrows. The headless trunk at the base of the tree refers to the previous beheading of Tiburtius, son of the prefect of Milan, whom Sebastian had recently converted along with the prefect and 1,400 others.

Not to split hairs, but in the legend the saint did not actually receive martyrdom when he was shot with the arrows shown. He died four days later, beaten to death by the servants of Diocletian and Maximian. And it is not just a palm that the angel in the painting brings, but a golden diadem as well.

Being beaten to death would not be as sexy a subject for portraiture! But that beheaded body is not exactly sexy, either! Hmm.

saint sebastian

davidgillon

... had me competing in the Olympics.

Dream-brain seemed somewhat hazy on whether this was summer or winter games, and normie or paras.

I'm not sure of the event either, possibly the Biathlon? Though skis seemed an afterthought and I don't recall any rifle showing up.

However in a firm nod to real life I was late for my race by way of being unable to negotiate athlete registration.

Current Mood: Seriously, brain?
Current Location: Milano-Cortina?

Profile

Enchanted

January 2026

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

Style Credit

Base style: Blanket by sforzinda
Theme: Sand and Seaweed by dancing_serpent

Page generated Mar. 2nd, 2026 12:07 am

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page Summary

nanila in awesomeers - Just One Thing (28 February 2025)
zwei_hexen - Write every day! - March 2026 - Welcome!
sholio - I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom - Jason Pargin
radiantfracture - important vulture updates
pattrose - Recipe. Homemade caramels
pattrose - 2026 60 questions meme
pattrose - Not quite 365 days questions meme February
rfemod in rarefemslashexchange - Creators have been revealed!
pattrose - Topics for talk February
torachan - Daily Happiness
hannah - Spotted.
senmut - It is TIME!
mossy_bench in recthething - 12 Helly R./Helena Eagan fic recs
psocoptera - 2025 Online Short SFF Fiction - Post One
primeideal - I'm gonna rise to glory in/my stainless steel DeLorean
blotthis - (no subject)
blotthis - (no subject)
torachan - Weekly Reading
stonepicnicking_okapi - February LOVE-fest: Day 27: ecstasy
davidgillon - The Most Ridiculous Dream Ever ...

Fashion's been a Passion

Network

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

Page Summary