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This is a beautiful song by Allister MacGillivray. I'm thinking specifically about the SATB choral arrangement by the composer.

Quote:Small craft in a harbour that's still and serene
Give no indication what their ways have been.
They rock at their moorings all nestled in dreams,
Away from the roll of the sea.

Their stern lines are groaning a lullaby air,
A ghost in the cuddy, a gull on the spar,
But never they whisper of journeys afar,
Away from the roll of the sea.

Oh, had they the tongues for to speak,
What tales of adventure they'd weave.
But now they are anchored to sleep,
And slumber alee.

Come fair winds to wake them tomorrow, we pray;
Come harvest aplenty to them every day,
'Til guided by harbour lights they're home to stay,
Away from the roll of the sea.

Oh, had they the tongues for to speak,
What tales of adventure they'd weave.
But now they are anchored to sleep,
And slumber alee.

Come fair winds to wake them tomorrow, we pray;
Come harvest aplenty to them every day,
'Til guided by harbour lights they're home to stay,
Away from the roll of the sea.

Away from the roll of the sea.

Every 7 years Ireland gathers together to watch paint dry.

And occasionally elect a President at the same time. And while the current incumbent is well loved - we're required to get a new one after 2 terms of 7 years. (A constitutional referendum to nail him inside the Aras would take too long to spin up)

And yet, considering how utterly inconsequential the position of President of Ireland is, it tends to turn up some the most vicious of catfighting (Probably emulating the yanks) and usually ends up with one candidate being monumentally humiliated in the public eye by some utterly trivial 'scandal'.

After a nomination campaign which has been as electrifying as a dead battery, with the only spark being the establishment sending Maria Steen back to 1954 where she belongs, the race began with a shrug, and had been proceeding with all the processional drudgery we've come to expect.

Until it floated up that, about 16 years ago, Jim Gavin had once owned an apartment.

And he rented it to a tenant who paid the rent by direct debit.

And, of course, Jimmy could no longer pay the mortgage on that flat in 2009 - because very few people *could* - so handed the keys back to the bank and rolled the remants of the loan into his home mortgage. The tenant, unfortunately, kept paying him for several months, totaling about 3300k in rent. (About a months rent in 2025 terms)

And for 16 years, and even after a solicitors letter, that debt stayed outstanding. Washed under the carpet. Too much money to be dealt with summarily in small claims. Too little money to be dealt with in real court. Probably not actually owed in legality. So it was forgotten. One tenant agrieved by their own mistake. One landlord too busy to think about it - thinking it was all so long ago.

It lingered like an old German shell under a Belgian farm, waiting for it's opportunity to ruin someone's day with a bang

That day was Saturday. After receiving a bruising earlier in the week for flying a video drone without the proper permits - something someone who once worked for the aviation regulator should've known about, the final knife in the back came on Saturday.

A report of a disaffected former tenant floated up early in Saturday - a tenant who sent proof to the political party backing Jimmy of their complaint that they were owned a substantial sum of money - just in time for poor oul Jimmy to deny on a publically televised any knowledge or having any records of the 3.3k debt ever being owed in the first place. The party knew, and they didn't warn him. The knives were out.

So now, Micheal Martin who put him forward looks like a gobshite. Everyone involved in the whole affair looks moronic. And the entire thing is turning into a political omnishambles worthy of our Westerly and Easterly neighbours.

Reports that Bertie Ahern was seen huddled in Fagans with his circle of sheisters clustered around a mobile phone like witches around a cauldron, have yet to be verified. But if the cutest, most devious hoor of them all had put a knife in the Gavin campaign's back- I wouldn't be surprised.

Jim Gavin officially withdrew from the campaign last night.

Too late for his name not to be on the ballot on polling day.

Part of me thinks it'd be fun to vote for someone who now desperately wants not to be President. If we follow Hitchicker's logic, he's the perfect man for the job. Or we can cause a constitutional crisis for shits and giggles.

Now it's just Heather Humphries, and Catherine Connolly.

They each exist, and have a body temperature of approximately 37 degrees.

...since an Otaku first gooned to Rei Ayanami.

(And the first episode of Evangelion premiered on Wednesday, October 4th, 1995)

Imagine coming home from cram scool at 18:30 in the evening and whatching this thing for the first time. This weird mix of giant robot cliche and what-the-fuck? Would you have kept watching it without knowing what it was to become? 

Anyway - not only have we had the series - we've had the manga, the movies, the weird AU's, the merchandise and that one garage figurine of Asuka sitting on a cutaway toilet (Seriously, WTF?). And it still lingers, drawing fans like a siren. Once captured, you cannot escape.

It's also been about 20 years since I started *that bloody fic* and maybe ten years since I lost any ability to create. So it goes. Time and the world move on.

This is a little something I've been working on, on and off, for a few years now. It's nowhere near done, but there's enough here to serve as a tasty teaser.

I walked by a bar and video rental place when I took a break from traveling tonight and their front display got me me thinking: Do specific drinks pair well with specific movies?

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Hello all! I’m limping back to being more active on this forum since I still like it as a digital space. I kinda faded from being here a whole lot after I fell off of working on my one Ranma / AMG fic Divine Patronage. But I’ve been doing plenty of other really cool stuff. And since I got permission from Bob to do a thread like this, I’m gonna shill completed projects, half-active projects I’ve been struggling to chug along on, and projects I keep kicking around. I don’t remember which of these projects I’ve brought up before but what the hell. Hoping people find them cool, that's all.

I'm starting to get my screenwriting groove on, actually, so I might just let fanfic fall by the wayside and focus on that. We will see, I guess.

Back in 2022 I lost interest in Divine Patronage and decided to go back to BGC. Two things I wanted to do were a) establish a fic that could be seen to take place in an AU that would constitute a second reboot of the franchise, with a timeline that could take off from the present and not feel wreathed in the retrofuturism of 2032 or 2040, and b) save Sylvie, as so many fics have, but then do something with her. The result was the only fic I’ve really, truly finished, after a little less than a year. Anatomy of a Lovedoll is about cybernetics and humanity and freedom and yuri angst and epic mecha fights. One of its key plot points will, I suspect, have to be retconned in an awkward way sometime soon but it’s no biggie.

Later that year, I got really into Cyberpunk: Edgerunners despite not really liking the release version of 2077 for a multitude of reasons, and then into a fic that got big in the embryonic phase of the fandom called Group Chat by Arrow S. Morgan. I ended up on the author’s Discord, hung out there a lot, made some friends of dubious merit, and went on to help write a pretty significant chapter in the fic’s back half. The fic starts off as horny screwball comedy and then becomes a bit more action-packed, and, yes, crosses over with the original Marathon trilogy in amazing ways. Very few longer Edgerunners fics hold up, to me, as more than pulpy adventures; Group Chat is one of them.

In early 2023, I started watching the Madhouse Black Lagoon anime. Oddly enough, I’ve never finished all of it because of how unpleasant I find some arcs, but I love the characters, the world, the unhinged action. The pseudophilosophical monologues lack panache to me, but there’s some really excellent fanfics birthed by it (and more than a few atrocities against good taste). So as Anatomy wound down I quickly spun up Bubblegum Black, which is the longest thing I've ever written by a country mile, an unhinged crossover in Roanapur, November, 2069, where the Knight Sabers are hired on by Sylia's sexy ex Balalaika to help her fend off a megacorporate takeover of the city, only for things to spiral out of control in true mecha-hyperviolence style. I love this fic, I want to do so much more with this fic, I have not updated this fic in nine months, I need to winnow this fic's ambitions down significantly. (And I'm envious of those who can sustain other fics longer and with more hits, even if I don't really enjoy their content. I have opinions! Judgements! Complaints!)

Same with something I spun up a year ago with a pal. I Will Show You Fear In A Handful Of Dust does a lot of very odd things as far as Edgerunners fanfic goes. It uses the BGC206X (The all-new, all-unhinged continuity for Anatomy and Black) timeline more than it does Cyberpunk's but still takes place in Night City; It's a pre-Sabers prequel involving Celia; It's also a 'Gloria lives and gets to do things' fanfic, since I seem to have an attraction to turning fridged heroines into badasses. I think the cowriter and I are onto something, but, again, time! The foe of all beautiful things, the high-octane fuel in the engine of entropy!

Let's see, what else... Nene Romanova god of the internet is a two-part atrocity against good taste where Nene and company deal with cyber-future 4chan and also Knight Saber real person fiction. The New Wave Empress uses interview format to imagine what it's like to talk to Sylia's public persona as a fashionista, especially when you're getting on her nerves. I like those shorts. They're pleasant chunks of nonsense. I think that's about it.

The one idea I'm having if I can't justify keeping up with writing big serialized fanfic is rewriting an old OVA episode or two, or just writing something that could fit in an episode and has tight structure. Revenge Road sticks out in particular; I just finished the original The Warriors novel, the Sol Yurick one, the one far more freaky in the best ways than Walter Hill's movie (which is itself a forerunner spiritually to streets of fire, then to Megazone 23, then etc etc etc), and I keep thinking about the world it crafts and how well it gets inside the heads of its protagonists. There's something there.

Hope this is interesting to someone!

Yeah, it's over a dozen years old now. It took Best Comedy at Nekocon X.

Skip the first 20 seconds or so to get past the vanity clip and to the AMV itself.



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(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)In 'Eyrie Thread 2: Overtech Boogie-Shoes', Bob Schroeck Wrote: Thirding the advice on being hard on your SI.  Actually... I have a whole list of advice for Self-Insert characters in my fic writer's guide... let me go grab the relevant section to save you some time and effort.  (Although, if you want to read the whole, incomplete thing, a not-quite-the-latest version can be found here.)

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: xx.  Rules for Self-Inserts

• Your SI should be there to *supplement* the plot, not *supplant* it.  Help the other characters achieve their goals, do not achieve those goals for or instead of them.  Don't steal their awesome -- help them get *more* awesome.
  

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

• No one likes a show-off.  Even if you are far more competent or powerful than the other characters, do not run roughshod over them.  Complement them.  (*Not* "compliment".)  If necessary, give yourself a valid and believable in-story reason why you can't just wave your hand and fix everything, even if that's actually in your power to do.  This is not to say you can't give your SI the occasional set-piece that shows off how powerful or competent they are, but don't do it too often, and *never* at the expense of the setting's heroes.
  

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

• At least some of the characters your SI meets and interacts with should *not* like your SI.  And I don't mean the bad guys -- that's a given.  Some of the *heroes* should find him suspicious, or too mysterious to be trustworthy, or just plain annoying (*especially* if he acts like a typical SI).  Conflict drives a story, and conflict among the good guys makes it *interesting* -- what good is knowing the entire plot if no one wants to listen to you?  And what I said about the bad guys a moment ago?  What if some of the bad guys *like* your SI regardless of his opinions on the matter?
  

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

• Similarly, your SI shouldn't automatically like all the heroes and hate all the villains, even if he's coming in with full knowledge and awareness of what's going on.  He may *want* to, but frankly, I can think of a dozen protagonists from as many genres whom I love to read about or watch but whom I would find incredibly irritating in person.  (I'm looking at *you*, Ranma Saotome.)  Let your SI dislike anyone who deserves it -- and when appropriate, *like* anyone who deserves it, as well -- regardless of their "side".
  

Spoiler

Because of a bad first impression and Mamoru's reaction to the warnings he received from the future, Robu-san thinks Mamoru isn't good enough to be Usagi's boyfriend. And Mamoru has picked up on that.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

• Even if your SI is deliberately there to get involved in the plot, don't drop him right in the middle of the action.  A self-insert story will play better if your character arrives on the outskirts of what's going on, and has to find his way to the fun -- or accidentally stumbles over it.  Your SI should also have interests and priorities that have nothing to do with the main plot -- like, for instance, *leaving* the story's world if he was sent there involuntarily.  If the only thing he does while there is dog the main characters' steps, he's going to look like a creepy stalker to them -- and maybe even to your readers.
  

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

• If your SI is allegedly unaware of what he's getting into, don't write his reactions with *your* knowledge.  The prime example of this is someone dropped into a whole new (and unfamiliar) world automatically sussing out who the good guys are and who the bad guys are without any thought or effort.  Only in the most black-and-white worlds should this be believable.  (For a great example of an SI ignorant of the world he's been dropped into feeling his way through it, check out the "Revolutionary Girl Utena" fic "Ma Vie et Roses" by Scott Johnson and Scott K. Jamison.)
  

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote:

• No matter how powerful or capable your SI is, *someone* will at least *try* to get the better of him -- and you know, they should succeed at least once.  If you can't be beaten, you can't be truly challenged, and if you can't be challenged, you have no conflict to drive a story.  And remember -- they don't have to challenge you where you excel.  Just because you're invulnerable, can lift mountains, and can waltz invisibly into the bad guys' headquarters doesn't mean you can't be out-thought or out-planned.
  

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: To re-emphasize the first point above, a quote from elsewhere in my guide: 

The First Commandment of Interventions:
"Thou shalt not cockblock someone else's torrid affair with awesomeness."  -- Alistair Young

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: And after that, I had this pasted in as something to draw inspiration from.  Several of its points already echo things I've said above, but there's other good advice here, too:

PsyckoSama's Rules for Self-Inserts

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/285562/PsyckoSama

The Ten Commandments of Writing an SI:

I: The SI is not you. It’s a character based on you. Remember this and maintain a degree of emotional detachment at all times. Treat your SI like you would any other character.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: II: Know your strengths and flaws. If you can’t think of any, invent a couple. It’s only based on you after all.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: III: Have a couple prereaders with good bullshit detectors who are willing to smack you upside the head when you approach the Sue Zone. Even just having someone to bounce ideas off of can do a world of good and help kill some very bad ideas.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: IV: You are not an ironclad badass. In most of these series you’d be the extra who gets eaten by the aliens/demons/zombies and write accordingly. People are paranoid, panicky creatures and chances are you are no different. Remember this. Things can change with time but that’s what character development is for (See Rule VII).

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: V: Life is a mixed bag. Shit happens and it happens to you, don’t be afraid to torture yourself a bit. That said, remember, the good comes with the bad.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: With that in mind remember the following two sub-rules.

Va: Avoid wish fulfillment. Good things can happen to you (see above) but your SI should never be an engine created specifically to allow you to be awesome, loved by everyone, and get all the chicks. If that’s what you really want, I’d suggest putting down the keyboard and reaching for a kleenex.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: Vb: Avoid wangst. While it's necessary for bad things to happen to create tension, drama, and to propel the plot forward, avoid throwing yourself a pity party. Someone who only has bad things happen to them is just as annoying as someone who only has good things happen. When you go too far it becomes obnoxious cartoonish.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: VI: Life goes on, with or without you. Do not make the universe wait on you, for life waits for no man. This is especially important in video game SIs. If you’re actually in the universe, treat it like a living breathing world. It’s not a magical playground that sits on its hands while you randomly run around and do awesome shit.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: VII: Balance your flow of time. Don’t rush what you write. While you might want to skip to the good stuff, doing so can be jarring and make your character look like a Mary Sue. Show us your character is growing and making friends, don’t just tell us. On the same note, be careful not to get bogged down in the minutia. There is such a thing as too much detail. We don’t need to see everything. If you’re training, you can show a montage. If you’re looking at a long span of time where nothing out of a ordinary is going to happen, consider a time skip. Things are permitted to happen in the background.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: VIII: Throw curve balls at yourself. Even if you’re in a rather tight setting, your presence can create butterflies. In a loose one, you don’t know what’s around the bend. Good or bad, better or worse, do you find something or don’t you? I suggest the use of a randomizer. Flip a coin, roll some dice, pull pieces of paper out of a hat. Don’t let this do you thinking for you, but it can point you in directions you’d never have considered, and having a good chance to standing tall or fall flat on their face will do much to keep your character honest. But remember, you're not slave to the dice. Just let it point you in a direction, think about it, and see what comes out. You can sometimes come up with some amazing ideas that you never would have considered this way, even if it in no way resembles the original dice result.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: IX: Be careful with the use of meta-knowledge. Meta-knowledge should stay that. Meta. Be careful who you tell, and only tell those you trust. If you make what you know common knowledge, you will attract all sorts, and mostly for ill. No one likes a know it all, especially evil wizards, secret societies, and evil military dictatorships bent on total domination.

(09-15-2025, 12:44 PM)Bob Schroeck Wrote: X: This rule is related to rule IV and Vb in many ways, but deserves restating. In most cases you are not the main character of the universe. Events don’t revolve around you. There are others for that. You are a secondary character, if not background extra. To make yourself a main character, either hang with the mains, or do something, stand up and make the universe pay attention to you. But do remember, being a member of the central cast is a mixed bag. It often means you have the protection of plot, but on the same note, it means your life is always going to be interesting, and there is a very good reason that the ancient Chinese used it as a curse.

1. BL: This quote is attributed to St. Ambrose, which should make it old enough for Saber to have known. We're assuming that Artoria comes from sub-Roman Britain, c. 500, rather than the time of high chivalry c. 1100.
   
2. BL: The Argonauts sailed before the Trojan war, a few centuries before "ab urbe condita" reckoning. Even if you accept the theory that Romulus was Aeneas's grandson, Rome would still be founded two or three generations after Medea's time, c. 1150 BC. That said, the archaeology indicates still earlier settlement, most continuously on the Capitoline Hill — but still only amounting to an unremarkable backwater set of hilltop villages outside of the Greek sphere.
   
3. BL: Britons were once known to paint their skins with woad, mixed from a dye which makes the same pigment as indigo. Today, the same dye, produced synthetically, is mainly used to dye blue jeans.