Works included for this card:

me, proudly watching my new sprinkler, perfectly calibrated with pressure and arc and width not to waste a single drop past the new installs: truly i am the water master, look at the beautiful droplets catching the golden sunlight like tiny ethically-sourced diamonds, caressing the jasmine leaves like a lover as they fall in graceful arcs, i am truly in awe of myself,

me, standing stock still and getting blasted in the face by a slow moving full force water stream: GARGLESHARGLTEGOD

a tiny PSA

I didn't realize until this post made the rounds recently that organizers of AO3 collections had certain powers over the fics they include. While it looks like collectors can no longer peremptorily hide someone else's already-published work, it made me realize I've been careless about what collections I've permitted my stuff to be added to in the past. I also didn't realize that the name of the collection showed up so prominently in the work's info at the top of each page, and I'm not particularly interested in advertising someone else's personal favorites list.

I'll be going through my archives over the next few days and likely removing my work from any individual & non-challenge collections. Sorry!

[Fic] Make This Heart a Shield [1/1]

Rating: T Characters/Pairings: Astarion/Tav Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3 Word Count: 8.6k Summary: Astarion is fatally wounded during the battle with Sarevok. With no healer in the party, there's only one way Tav can save him, even if that means ripping open all their vulnerable places in the process. Notes: While this fic wasn't begun with @sweetspicybingo in mind, it was finished with it. My bingo masterlist so far is here. Mild warnings for dissociation, self-injury to facilitate vampiric drinking, and typical Cazadoresque implications.

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“It’s the right thing to do,” Tav hissed to herself. Sarevok’s great two-handed cleaver swept down like a mountain. “It’s the right thing to do, the right—oh, gods!”

No right to be so large and so fast at the same time. They’d been fighting for what felt like hours and still the sword whistled on the backswing, sharp enough to cut wind. She barely threw herself into a tucked roll in time. She came up on the other side of Sarevok on her knees just as Karlach smashed her fiery fist into Sarevok’s face, and with a little luck she managed two deep, incisive strikes to the small of his back. He threw his head back in a yowl that sounded like two boulders crashing together, and then that great horned head turned to stare down at her in unblinking, glowing fury. His mouth still bled from an earlier blow; his chin was wet and red.

“Are you lot finished dithering about, or are you going to kill him?” That was Valeria, still chained near the pool, her nasal whine jangling over Tav’s nerves.

“The right thing,” Tav gasped, and scrabbled back just as the tip of the sword slammed into the stone floor between her feet. The paver cracked into a thousand jagged lines. “I swear to Hoar, shut up or I’ll shut you up myself—”

The last of the ghostly, bloody women near the back wall let out a shriek of laughter. Jaheira was harrying her as a panther, snapping and snarling at her edges, and as those long white teeth sank into the echo’s arm, the woman cackled again. A half-dozen wounds bled across Jaheira’s flank, but none badly, and Astarion—where—

An arrow streaked through her periphery. Sarevok seized his side with a bellow of pain, and a second arrow thudded next to the first. Long white fingers clamped down on her shoulder from behind and Astarion’s voice singsonged in her ear. “Come along, darling. This is no place for you.”

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Links: FF.net, AO3

A (late) state of the garden, part 2!

This year I was determined to get blues and purples for my annuals, so naturally I came home with a sea of oranges and pinks. I'm also going to get blooms this year on all! three! hydrangeas!! in the front, which hasn't happened...ever! The first one I bought the year I got the house, and it's crazy to me it's as high as my chest now. One I bought the year after and it's not grown more than a few inches, so I'm wondering if I accidentally got a dwarf variety. The third (white) one I planted two years ago (and much too close to the big hydrangea), but with last year's terrible late frost of course I got nothing and was terrified it had died, but this year it's put on about a foot of growth already and has half-a-dozen buds on it. 🤩 I may move this one eventually a few feet over, but I'm going to enjoy this year's blooms first.

In the back box garden, I planted white salvia, some salmony zinnias, and some bronze and pink Liberty snapdragons that Hamlet keeps stomping on. Not sure what to do about that, but for now I've added some stakes and tied them loosely upright to hopefully deter him, though I have no idea how to protect the zinnias. I also planted some purple towering salvia that I'm completely in love with and will definitely pick up again--this box is about twenty yards from the house, so the height is perfect when I'm looking out!

In the front brick garden I planted more Liberty snapdragons (bronze, pink, and white), some Flamma twisted red celosia, and red calladiums. I used to pooh-pooh calladiums so much (why bother if they don't flower?) and now they're one of my favorite accent plants.

At the end of the driveway I planted two pots of red pentas since they always do so well there, and in the taller pot I did some white cleomes, which are new to me but doing well. I finally replaced the janky soaker hose there with a proper sprinkler, and both the pots & the jasmine are much happier. (The honeysuckle still looks like trash, but what can you do.) (Tear it up and plant more jasmine, that's what I can do.)

The hostas in the same area continue to be annoying princesses. Again, one hosta has come up and completely taken over the end of the lane, while the other five (all purchased at the same time! all planted at the same time and depth!) can barely be coaxed to put up a leaf or two until late May. Finally, my own tea olive in the front did also survive the frost (although it's going to look pretty weird for a few years, I think), and has put out a respectable number of blossoms this year, although I was hoping for more.

A (late) state of the garden, part 1!

After a very terrible year thanks to frost, the perennials seem to be coming back with a vengeance. The encore azaleas in the front bloomed for what felt like ever, and the viburnum I planted last year seems to be overjoyed in its current location. I'm considering going back to get two more for the same place, since it's a little bare. (The red camellia I bought at the same time died hard over the winter, tragically.) The golden azalea Mom planted the year I moved in has also done well; after six years it's finally getting some real body to it!

The pink azaleas next to the house and my neighbor's massive Japanese privet both also had good years; I set up a patio table and chairs where the privet overflows my fence so I could sit out there some mornings with coffee and just bask in the smell.

Mom planted several heritage irises in the front a few years ago, and this year I got my first very purple bloom! Neither she nor I could remember what color they were, ahaha. Hoping for more blooms next year.

The confederate jasmine I planted last spring has done incredibly well and is trellising wildly over the fence. I planted a honeysuckle vine in the left corner next to it at the same time, but that thing looks worse than a weed & I'm considering tearing it out.

Finally, all four trees in the backyard are doing well. Two years ago, I sourced and planted two Shumard oaks myself, start to finish. They both did pretty badly & one had bad root girdling, so last year I asked a different company to come out (no way I was digging more of those holes myself, thanks), replace one of the oaks, move one of the current oaks to a different spot, and add a fresh oak & a magnolia in the back corner to eventually provide some privacy for my backyard neighbors. All four trees are doing great, even the relocated Shumard, and the magnolia even managed half a dozen blooms this year, which I completely forgot somehow that magnolias did and which literally made me shout when I first saw them. Here's hoping they put on some major height and body this summer!