#sharing knife

I was reading (rereading) one of my favorite fantasy series, and had a sudden inspiration for what I can do when my Best Auntie comes to visit later in the month. She lives in an urban area and always requires farm projects for her mental health (affectionate) when she visit us. Unfortunately, she also has dementia. And isn't able to walk as well (the dementia shuffle).

Tasks have to be simpler, now. I didn't harvest any walnuts last fall, I just didn't have enough spoons to deal with them. However, they're all still out there in the yard. I went out this afternoon and gathered a bag of them. Tried to rinse any small remaining amount of the yucky, black hull off, and set them by the woodstove to dry well. During her visit we can pick nuts and maybe bake a walnut cake.

Re: the above; this author KNOWS. Nutshells DO counterattack sometimes! Also, the dialogue about the relative importance of arrows vs pants for mounted fighters had me in stitches.

The Sharing Knife, Lois McMaster Bujold (this is in book two)

Rules: Pick five fragments from your unfinished WIPs and then tag five people to keep it going. Let’s have fun with it and help each other shape those fragments into published fics!

I had a hard time picking spots that I could TRY to keep short... I also have far more then 5 open wips right now. oops?

Witcher/One Piece

“These mountains are infested with them,” Eskel admitted. “The weather isn’t the only reason to get inside.”

“And you willingly live here?” Chopper asked, aghast, even as he got moving. Behind him, he could hear Sanji grumbling at Zoro not to get lost through chattering teeth.

“It discourages visitors,” Eskel grunted. There was more that he could say but… he was tired, and in pain.

Something howled and Chopper said dubiously, “I guess…”

Witcher/Sharing Knife

(Note, Fawn is talking to Jaskier here. The rest of the scene established that but this is out of context)

“You ever see Lakewalker groundwork before?” she asked, trying not to wince at the foul smells emanating from Geralt and the armor they were removing. Perhaps it was the smell of whatever it was that he had killed? Or perhaps it was the poison? Though she supposed it could be both. That or he hadn’t had a bath in a long time. She wrinkled her nose. That was an unpleasant thought.

“While I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Fawn, and wish it were under better circumstances, I – and I can’t believe I’m saying this, Geralt would never let me live it down if he heard me – hardly think this is the time for idle chit chat.”

Fawn blinked in astonishment, uncertain how to take that. One of her tasks as Dag’s assistant was to ease the minds of the farmers, who were afraid of Lakewalker magic, and explain what all Dag was up to while he did it.

Lost Boys (One Piece/Ranma 1/2)

(basically Zoro and Ryoga getting so lost they pass through other fandoms)

“C’mon, let’s catch up with Sam and Frodo,” Zoro said. Ryoga gave him a narrow look. “What, did you want to make friends with the orcs? They look like they’d try to eat you first. Or did you just want to wander around aimlessly for a while?”

Ryoga huffed, then jumped on Zoro’s shoulders again. Looking around quickly, Zoro tried to remember which way the other two had gone.

“Uh, this way, right?” He pointed to the left of the mountain. Ryoga bit his right ear and Zoro pointed in that direction instead. “That way?”

Ryoga nodded.

“Right.” Then went straight towards the mountain instead.

Incubus Jaskier

Vesemir hadn’t expected the bard to look so defeated, so… fucking resigned, his shoulders slumping once more.

“So, a Witcher,” he sighed. “Suppose it was inevitable. Here to kill me?”

Vesemir shook his head and stepped closer to the wary - and now confused - bard.

“You’re… not here to kill me?”

“And why should I?” Vesemir asked.

The man laughed, but it wasn’t musical the way it had been during his show. It was flat and short and pained. He raked his hands through his chin length hair.

“Uh, because I'm a monster and that’s what Witchers do?”

Supernatural/Old Guard

Cas sighed. “We are not your enemy.”

Yusuf spat at the ground. “You live in the halls of the people who captured me and my family, for no other reason than that we were different. They separated us and tortured us when they could not kill us. You think me an idiot?”

“Whoa…” Dean blinked at the man. “You’re saying the Men of Letters did this to you? You were a prisoner?”

“That is what they called themselves,” Yusuf conceded. His eyes narrowed at Dean, calculating. They shifted back to Cas, then behind them, towards the exit. “Are you not of the same?”

“Eh… we acquired the title… and the bunker,” Dean waved a hand around at the place he was daring to call home.

Fandom saved me. From myself, I guess.

Reading and rereading (and re-re-re-re-reading) my Pratchett and Bujold collections (and listening to the audiobooks when I couldn't read) until I had them memorized, that is what got me through my worst depressions for the last decade. Perhaps it was more obsession than fandom, though. It was a comfort to 'visit' (and occasionally draw) these much-loved worlds and characters, but it was an ultimately sterile experience, emotional maintainance without progression.

I found real fandom community in 2019 - the Good Omens "Ineffables" fandom specifically - with all the fic and art and aus and metas and chats that entails. And I'm old, there was a learning curve, but I love it. I love the mass-participatory aspect of it, the diy attitude, the gentle self aware humour. It triggered a surge of creative energy that I am still riding; my confidence as an artist has never been higher. For me it is both an outlet and an inlet, a seemingly endless wellspring of inspiration and encouragement, a platform to shout from, a door I can open. I love that in fandom, I can be a consumer, a creator, a student, and a mentor all at once, with no gatekeepers.

It's not hyperbole to say, my fandom got me through The Covid Times - but honestly, that might be the least of it. I've spent a long time just trying to "get through", and I want more than that. I want to become a better, more generous, confident, and compassionate person, in my selfimage, my relationships, and my art - through fandom, I am finding ways to practice.

I wrote a little comic about it 😁

Pakige!!

Ive had the four books* of the Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold for years, now. Somewhere along the way, though, books 2 and 3 vanished form my shelf? I must have loaned them out, but my efforts to track them down were fruitless. However, I started reading book one with K last month, so I MUST have all four books again. I ordered another copy of the ones I was missing.

Book two arrived yesterday, and I'm so tickled.

Why do I love them? Hmm. Well, for one thing, Bujold writes some of the REALEST characters I've ever read. For another, the complex family dynamics (his, hers, and other characters) are so damned good. Good folks inadvertently not treating each other so well. Good folks treating each other with heartbreaking tenderness. A few truly bad folks, but very few. A fresh, unique system of magic that has reasonable limits and is very consistent across all the books. GROWTH!!! A disabled protagonist (Dag's missing his left hand) with interesting accommodations. A book (3) all about pre-industrial river travel. A society that's on the brink of big change, and some people don't like it.

It has similar high points to the beloved Vorkosigan saga, but fantasy instead of sci-fi. And in no way is it a retread of those earlier books, it just has the same appeal. Ok, I could go on forever. I'm going to go curl up with my book.