Pronoun Trouble

I've got a very rough outline for the story of how these two met and got together, but there is some more research I want to do first.

Unfortunately, some of that research is about IT specialist jobs and what they're like, which makes this not an ideal time to ask anyone questions about that 😅 Thanks, CrowdStrike.

Still, that won't stop me from fixing up the outline and getting it into proper shape! Writing that first story about those two really helped me figure out a lot of what I want the background to be/how I want their story to go in general, so I should end up with a much better outline than I have now.

New tag for stuff in this universe is Mershark Madness, if only because the series doesn't have a proper title yet. I had one I was leaning towards, but then I learned more stuff about the story, and now it doesn't work as well. Current iteration is something like "Tech Support in Another World", because the story is very blatantly riding the recent isekai trend, and is not ashamed of it. Definitely not 100% the final title, though; we'll see how things shake out.

Mood Theme in a Year and/or Mood Theme in a Hurry and/or Minimal Custom Mood might be things I actually end up making.

For MTiaY, it would be maybe 3 moods a week, with several "break"/"catch-up" weeks interspersed, because 3 a week is only 44 weeks. (Technically 43 and 2/3, but still.) So that's a week off from new moods listed every other month?

For MTiaH, ~10 moods a week would make it 13 weeks, so maybe a break/catch-up week in the middle somewhere? Maybe two week-long break/catch-up periods and it might be close enough?

For MCM, I sorted out the moods into 18 categories, so 6 general moods a week makes an extremely minimal custom mood theme in under a month, and maybe the last week can be for any moods that feel "out of place" listed under other moods. Might be good for February?

Some sort of NaNo Mood Theme or Mood Theme Inktober would be around 4 1/3 moods a day, and I for one am not up for that. But someone might be!


I have very good ideas, clearly 🙃

List of Dreamwidth's "moods"

accomplished
aggravated
amused
angry
annoyed

anxious
apathetic
artistic
awake
bitchy
blah

blank
bored
bouncy
busy
calm

cheerful
chipper
cold
complacent
confused

contemplative
content
cranky
crappy
crazy

creative
crushed
curious
cynical
depressed

determined
devious
dirty
disappointed
discontent

distressed
ditzy
dorky
drained
drunk

ecstatic
embarrassed
energetic
enraged
enthralled

envious
exanimate
excited
exhausted
flirty

frustrated
full
geeky
giddy
giggly

gloomy
good
grateful
groggy
grumpy

guilty
happy
high
hopeful
horny

hot
hungry
hyper
impressed
indescribable

indifferent
infuriated
intimidated
irate
irritated

jealous
jubilant
lazy
lethargic
listless

lonely
loved
mellow
mischievous
moody

morose
naughty
nauseated
nerdy
nervous

nostalgic
numb
okay
optimistic
peaceful

pensive
pessimistic
pissed off
pleased
predatory

productive
quixotic
recumbent
refreshed
rejected

rejuvinated
relaxed
relieved
restless
rushed

sad
satisfied
scared
shocked
sick

silly
sleepy
sore
stressed
surprised

sympathetic
thankful
thirsty
thoughtful
tired

touched
uncomfortable
weird
working
worried

Dreamwidth's "moods" divided into categories

accomplished
artistic
busy
creative
determined
productive
working

aggravated
angry
annoyed
bitchy
cranky
enraged
grumpy
infuriated
irate
irritated
pissed off

amused
awake
bouncy
cheerful
chipper
drunk
energetic
giddy
giggly
high
hyper
rejuvinated

anxious
? cold
cynical
discontent
distressed
frustrated
intimidated
lonely
moody
nervous
restless
rushed
worried

apathetic
blah
blank
bored
calm
complacent
indifferent
numb

confused
contemplative
curious
pensive
thoughtful

content
full
good
happy
mellow
okay
peaceful
pleased
refreshed
satisfied

crappy
crushed
depressed
disappointed
drained
gloomy
listless
morose
pessimistic
sad
stressed

crazy
ditzy
dorky
geeky
indescribable
nerdy
quixotic
silly
weird

devious
mischievous
naughty
predatory

dirty
nauseated
sick
sore
uncomfortable

ecstatic
excited
hopeful
impressed
jubilant
optimistic
relieved

embarrassed
enthralled
flirty
grateful
thankful
touched
sympathetic

envious
guilty
jealous
rejected

exanimate
exhausted
groggy
sleepy
tired

lazy
lethargic
recumbent
relaxed

horny
hot
hungry
thirsty

scared
shocked
surprised

(My decisions for this were really arbitrary, and if I go through with Minimal Custom Theme, this is just going to be a "suggested" division. I'm good to hear any arguments about mood placement here as well. For example, "Hungry" and "Thirsty" in particular could definitely go in their own category, or just somewhere else.)

(Also I found out I missed transcribing a mood when selecting one for this post, so while All Moods is mostly divided into groups of five, there's one group of six there. And it's entirely possible that I missed other moods as well. It did not occur to me until much later that it might be possible to copy-paste the moods from the "select a mood theme/see all moods" area rather than copying them out individually from the mood drop-down menu.)

I've got an origific plunny I've been sitting on for nearly six months now, just kinda prodding now and again for fun, and tonight I finally realized that the main character is probably autistic, and one of the reasons he really wants a familiar is because they can act as service animals/emotional support animals. I'm not sure that he realizes that's why he wants one (he really wanted one just to have a lifelong companion), but it's definitely a thing.

Meanwhile, the main character's love interest is probably also autistic and/or ADHD and already has a familiar, and is doing pretty dandy if you ask them. I don't know if they realize that their familiar is totally a service animal, but their familiar is totally a service animal (in addition to being a working animal for their job).

Comments on the Autistic!Grinch fic that I wrote for alexseanchai are really reinforcing the fact that "Disabled person gets their happy ending not by being made to do things the abled way, but by getting accommodations" is a story that really needs more telling. (Important note: For people with chronic pain, for example, "accommodations" is allowed to take the form of a magical cure of some variety, whereas for autistic folks, by contrast, accommodations might be neurotypical people doing things their way for once.) Naturally, my ADHD brain took one look at "happily-ever-after", and, of course, rushed to connect it to fairy tale retellings 😛

My first thought was a Cinderella who can't walk unaided for very long, and for whom climbing stairs can mean being stuck in bed for at least the next day. ( More spaghetti throwing under the cut, with a Content Warning for ablist dipshittery )

Other ideas so far are not nearly as well-developed.

* I'm thinking Beauty and the Beast where Beauty is either blind or Deaf? (I'm leaning towards blind, gotta be honest, but Deaf has potential as well.) Her dad picked the rose because it smelled heavenly, and was a very pretty color that he hadn't seen on a lot of roses. (Maybe Beauty has a gardening hobby and her dad stole an entire clipping?) When he tells her what happened at the Beast's castle and that the Beast is going to make him stay there forever as repayment for the theft of the rose/clipping, Beauty's like, Pfft, fuck that! I'll go. It won't matter to me how hideous this beast is, I can barely see more than blotchy colors anyway! While at the castle, she finds out that the castle's magic is very accommodating to her blindness, and the spirits or whatever are great at helping her navigate, and the magic can even read books to her! The Beast catches her attention when he stops being so much of a jerk and starts doing what he can to make it even easier for her to get around the castle, etc. (I'm kinda tempted to make the Beast autistic? But I'm very worried about the whole "Love is a cure for his beastliness!" thing and how to approach it so that it's not gross.)

* Snow White with chronic pain. Maybe the queen gets rid of her because negotiating with the country that supplied one of the chief ingredients for her pain meds was getting in the way of her agenda? Snow White somehow makes it to the home of the seven dwarves, who are pharmacists experimenting with various plants; they've got an apple tree whose fruit is even better for Snow White's pain than whatever the previous thing was. Wipes it completely out as long as she has one a day! And that's how it keeps the doctor away 😉 Not sure why the queen would target Snow White again, but she swaps out one of Snow's regular anti-pain apples for one that is supposed to kill her or something, only the dwarves are able to wrangle something at the last minute to put Snow in magical stasis instead. From there they work on a cure, possibly getting into contact with the country that supplied Snow's previous pain meds for help. Snow wakes up and makes the dwarves the official kingdom pharmacists, and makes sure that the anti-pain apples are available far and wide. Maybe also the apples also have a very slow curative effect, so after a few years of eating one a day she might not need them at all? And maybe not knowing to account for that is part of why Snow was not outright killed by the poisoned apple? Hmm.

* An alternate Snow White option might be Diabetic!Snow White, who gets put into a diabetic coma by the queen. Super Pharma Dwarves stay, though.

* Food Intolerance/Allergies Sleeping Beauty, maybe? In this case, she's not cursed, but the fairies reveal her intolerance at her birth, and the specific foodstuff is banished from the castle. Like Snow White, her sleeping ailment strikes when some appears at the castle and she takes a bite of it. (Assassination attempt, maybe?)

*I'm passingly aware of an actual, extant fairy tale about a girl who is fitted with magic silver prosthetic hands and marries a king, but it's been an age and a half since I read it.

Anyway, lots to think about.