Pronoun Trouble

IDK if I'll ever put it in a fic or anything, but the words "Eight-Legged Spider Hawk" spontaneously generated themselves in my brain as I was preparing for my evening ablutions.

My first reaction to this thought was that Peerless Cucumber absolutely roasted Airplane in the comments when this monster made its debut, because he thought that "Eight-Legged" and "Spider" were redundant. Airplane retaliated by introducing Six-Legged and Ten-Legged Spider Hawks in the next chapter, including important distinctions between the species.

I don't know about the six- or ten-legged varieties, but here's the lore I came up with for the eight-legged ones:

Appears very much like a very large spider with hawk's wings, it is often mistaken for one in flight or while hunting. Its movement on the ground, however, is unmistakable. These creatures line their nests with a particular type of silk that makes exquisite bondage rope.

The ten- and six-legged varieties probably have somewhat different venom or are more prized for their feathers or something.

Currently amusing myself with the notion of a System Failure AU, in which Shen Yuan still gets transmigrated into SQQ as usual, and has access to and can argue with the System, but someone else also has access to his System logs, and they're the one that gets to call the shots.

So it'd be a closer experience to a video game or visual novel for the other person, just that SY!SQQ has a bit more agency when it comes to getting the System to do what he wants than a player character might have.

Amusing options for which character gets control:

Ning Yingying; she gets a wakeup call about her own social fuckups, especially regarding Luo Binghe, but also gets an insight into what happened to SJ!SQQ, what he was doing to and planning for LBH, etc

Shang Qinghua; he hates dealing with his own System, and now he has a second one to contend with?! And it's somehow nicer than his own?! WTF is this bullshit! (Early Airplane reveal for extra shenanigans)

Liu Qingge; just for the sheer WTF factor involved. He would have no idea what was going on, and figuring it out, as well as everything else involved, would be... very interesting, IMO.

Yue Qingyuan; there would have to be some way of rigging it so he'd get Shen Jiu back if he managed to "help" Shen Yuan "fix" PIDW, or he'd probably find a way to be self-destructive about it and/or kill SY!SQQ or something

Luo Binghe; honestly, probably the least interesting option of the ones I listed so far. He would be better with just System chat log access, not decision making access, IMO. Still, he is an option!

Ming Fan, probably; I've already got NYY on the list, so why not? He can start learning about the consequences of bullying LBH and maybe start thinking about what it means to be a righteous cultivator

Gongyi Xiao; I mean, if I put Ming Fan on there, I may as well. He has no idea what's going on for most of this, except for a passing familiarity with the Xiu Ya sword, and is now going to get an inside look at how dysfunctional all the cultivation sects are, HHP included

Of these, I think that NYY and/or YQY are the two I'm most likely to actually write (GYX is tempting, but I've got the start of a fix-it AU thing already kinda planned for Sot69), but even then I can't imagine doing more than an outline at the moment. Still, very amusing to think about!

And There Was Only One Bed, Chapter Four is now available to listen to!

If you liked the fic (or if you haven't gotten to it yet but it seems like something you might like) and listening to stories is a thing you enjoy, go do so! gwogobo did a fantabulous job 💖

In better news, today I realized that one of my longest standing plunnies would be a perfect fit for a modern day SVSSS AU: Subversion of the "going undercover as a couple (at a gay bar)" trope. There's a lot of details I have yet to work out, but in the meantime, it's excellent pondering fodder 👌

(Seriously, this plunny has been nibbling at me for more than ten years. I'm so glad it finally has a potential home!)

Edit: I found the post where I talked about the trope before! I should 100% write the fic. But first, I get to must outline... 👀

The first of many posts of Stuff I'm Preserving from art-deco-shrimp.

( Headcanon that Bingge got The Talk from Meng Mo (plus speculation about sex pollen flowers )

School stuff: I have an in-person appointment with my advisor on Tuesday afternoon. It's at the farther away campus, but that also puts me in proximity to the farther away Joann's, so I can do a raid there on the same day. Hopefully I'll be able to get my degree stuff sorted to my satisfaction there!

Health stuff: Whoops, caught a bug! I suspect it's from Younger Nibling, who had to go home from preschool early twice this week from running a fever, and who my parents and I ended up watching so my brother and SIL didn't have to take more time off of work. Love that kid, but they're still learning to cover their mouth when they cough, and are very enthusiastic about sharing food and drink. Admirable! But, uh, not when you're sick.

SVSSS: No new progress since my last post 😅 I may try to power through the end of the Jinlan City arc at least tonight, and possibly through the Water Prison arc, depending on how long I have to go on each of them. Buuuuut I might also just get to the end of whatever chapter I'm on and switch to a podfic for tomorrow at work. (Rassa-frassa emotional dysregulation...)

Edit: I got to the end of the Jinlan City arc and have started the Water Prison arc! Interesting to note that LPM was the head of the harem in PIDW. Right now LBH is having his conversation with SQQ right after kicking her out, and I think I'm gonna leave it there for tonight. (And read a water prison fix-it before bed...)