Too cold

Monday, 5 January 2026 13:06
cimorene: A drawing of a person in red leaving a line of blue footprints in white snow (winter)
[personal profile] cimorene
We've had a cold snap, and we also were dogsitting for four days, which is a hassle because we still have to keep the cats separated from each other and they're both afraid of the dog (who is a sweetheart, but very anxious and clingy), and the dog always has a persistent smell of artifical perfume from my BIL's house that threatens to overwhelm me if it gets too close to my face.

The dog left yesterday, though, and the cats are both extremely relieved. It's still below freezing outside (-13° C/+9° F), so I'm just moving around the house from blanket to blanket basically. Like the cats, actually. And it's still January and every day is a depressing struggle for that reason, although the sun did break through the clouds today.
gravemind: Green symbol white background (Default)
[personal profile] gravemind posting in [community profile] little_details
Hello! I have three questions, all about the work of trauma/critical care/acute care surgeons in the US:

1) Would it ever be feasible for a TACS attending at an academic Level I trauma center to take semi-regular lunch breaks when on day shift (obviously assuming there’s no major trauma needing resuscitation and/or immediate operation, and assuming they have adequate support from residents, etc.)? What if it was decreed necessary by their doctor or their psychologist?

Narratively the goal here is to get the character outdoors near the hospital at a regular-ish time for ~30 minutes at least a few days a week, on at least some weeks. Judging from what I’ve read from people in this specialty on reddit it sounds as though this might (???) be achievable at some hospitals, especially if their setup happens to be rotating weeks of ICU / non-ICU trauma / EGS / admin-and-research, but given the apparent prevalence of hospital workers in acute care specialties not getting any breaks whatsoever I really can’t tell.

2) At what point is the TACS attending no longer involved in a patient’s care if the patient ends up requiring a long-term (at least several months) hospital stay to recover? Would it be as soon as the patient is stable enough to be out of the ICU? My understanding is that since trauma surgeons are largely doing non-surgical critical care and may often be in charge of the ICU they might be managing an operative trauma patient for a while post-op, but I’m not clear on at what point that patient stops being their problem.

3) To whom would a TACS attending (again, at an academic Level I) report to within the hospital hierarchy? Would it be the chief of the trauma service(?) (And would that person be the same or different from whoever they would need to clear FMLA leave or vacation time with?)

Any information or corrections on any of this greatly appreciated! Thank you!

[#285] NOTHING CHANGES (TORCHWOOD)

Monday, 5 January 2026 11:32
m_findlow: (Gwen)
[personal profile] m_findlow posting in [community profile] fandomweekly
Theme Prompt: #285 - Fresh start
Title: Nothing changes
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1,000 words
Summary: Gwen is excited to see the unveiling of the brand new Torchwood hub, but it isn’t what she expected.

Read more... )

CHECK IN: DAY 4

Sunday, 4 January 2026 20:53
igenlode: The pirate sloop 'Horizon' from "Treasures of the Indies" (Default)
[personal profile] igenlode posting in [community profile] writethisfanfic
It's Sunday! How did the weekend go, writing-wise (or non-writing-wise)?

Question of the day: what is your process for creating original characters in fanfic?

Monthly Theme: Rain

Sunday, 4 January 2026 08:13
tfmegaratchmod: (Default)
[personal profile] tfmegaratchmod posting in [community profile] tfmegaratch
January's theme is "rain." In some parts of the world, the onset of winter is less about a bitter cold and more about the start of a rainy season. This can lead to the early months of the year being the beginning of blooming greenery amidst downpours from the heavens. Whether stuck in the rain and risking rust or being caught in rain of some other kind (such as hydrocarbons) on an alien world or serving as a metaphor, what effect could rain have?

This is a low-stress, low-commitment prompt system.

Rules
  • Please follow usual tagging & posting requirements.
  • Please include the tag for the prompt: "monthly theme: rain"
  • Interpret the theme however you want; follow your creativity wherever it takes you.
Please note:
There is no minimum for the fill in terms of length or complexity.

Any fanwork type is welcome. If we don't have a tag for your type, please PM the mod to have it added.

There is no time limit. While a new theme will be posted every month, the old themes don't expire and there are no deadlines. Fill the theme prompt whenever you'd like.

There is no fill limit. Fill the prompt once or as many times as you want.

You're also welcome to bat ideas around in the brainstorming post for this or any other prompt at any time. That space is open for the community to use.

Have fun!

Monthly Theme: Solstice

Sunday, 4 January 2026 08:12
tfmegaratchmod: (Default)
[personal profile] tfmegaratchmod posting in [community profile] tfmegaratch
THEME: SOLSTICE

December's theme is "solstice." Many cultures of the world have assigned meaning to astronomical events such as solstices and equinoxes when the tilt of the planet and its orbital position around the sun are just right. These astronomical events happen on other worlds as well, but with different parameters affecting weather and climate. What do these events mean for Cybertronians, whether literally or figuratively?

This is a low-stress, low-commitment prompt system.

Rules
  • Please follow usual tagging & posting requirements.
  • Please include the tag for the prompt: "monthly theme: solstice"
  • Interpret the theme however you want; follow your creativity wherever it takes you.
Please note:
There is no minimum for the fill in terms of length or complexity.

Any fanwork type is welcome. If we don't have a tag for your type, please PM the mod to have it added.

There is no time limit. While a new theme will be posted every month, the old themes don't expire and there are no deadlines. Fill the theme prompt whenever you'd like.

There is no fill limit. Fill the prompt once or as many times as you want.

You're also welcome to bat ideas around in the brainstorming post for this or any other prompt at any time. That space is open for the community to use.

Have fun!

Monthly Theme: Frost

Sunday, 4 January 2026 08:11
tfmegaratchmod: (Default)
[personal profile] tfmegaratchmod posting in [community profile] tfmegaratch
THEME: FROST

November's theme is "frost." This could mean a light crunch on the ground in the mornings before the sun melts it away, a portent of winter's arrival, or the chill of a damaged relationship or any other interpretation of "frost" that captures your imagination. 

This is a low-stress, low-commitment prompt system.

Rules
  • Please follow usual tagging & posting requirements.
  • Please include the tag for the prompt: "monthly theme: frost"
  • Interpret the theme however you want; follow your creativity wherever it takes you.
Please note:
There is no minimum for the fill in terms of length or complexity.

Any fanwork type is welcome. If we don't have a tag for your type, please PM the mod to have it added.

There is no time limit. While a new theme will be posted every month, the old themes don't expire and there are no deadlines. Fill the theme prompt whenever you'd like.

There is no fill limit. Fill the prompt once or as many times as you want.

You're also welcome to bat ideas around in the brainstorming post for this or any other prompt at any time. That space is open for the community to use.

Have fun!

Snowflake Challenge 2026-2: Pets Of Fandom

Saturday, 3 January 2026 12:51
stardust_rifle: A cartoon-style image of of a fluffy brown cat sitting upright and reading a book, overlayed over a sparkly purple circle. (Default)
[personal profile] stardust_rifle
Because I don’t have any pets personally (on one hand I love cats, but I also love being able to display things on my bottom shelves,) I will be talking about pets from some works I enjoy that I feel like talking about.

Latte and Bakin- Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

I had to talk about a Jojo dog, given my fandoms, and while I could discuss all of them, I chose to focus my attention on two Spin-Off Dogs which I personally feel like don’t get nearly as much love as they should.

Bakin is the pet dog of mangaka Kishibe Rohan, appearing in the Thus Spoke Kishibe Rohan spin-off manga and adaptations thereof, and is either a Lab or Golden Retriever depending on whether we’re talking about the manga or the live-action adaptation. In the typical fashion of those breeds, he seems to have the personality of an Absolute Angel, though in typical Jojo fashion, his first appearance involves him suffering horrific torment at the hands of an antagonist, though happily he survives and grows to adulthood and has escaped Spin-Off Jail (he briefly appears in the Jojolands, proving once and for all that Rohan is the only universal constant). Good for him, even if his adult proportions are a little jank. (Or perhaps he’s getting too many table scraps from Rohan…)

Now, even if you’re a hardcore Jojo fan, this might be the first time you’ve heard about Latte. Their* first (and so far, most likely only) appearance is in the short story Cioccolata Adotta un Cane (Cioccolata Adopts A Dog), where they, a German Shepard and former police dog, are adopted by the serial-torturer-killer-experiementer duo of Cioccolata and Secco after Cioccolata kills their owner. Cioccolata fucking loves Latte, but Secco is jealous that his position as Favorite Pet may be stolen. Eventually, Latte and Secco bond after Latte reveals that they can sniff out drugs, resulting in a fucking hilarious scene where Secco is petting Latte and Cioccolata is petting Secco.

While reading the summary, I was like “Latte is totally going to die, aren’t they? The authors have to explain why this dog never shows up in canon and this is Jojo. Dogs aren’t allowed to live in Jojo.” But nope! The story ends with Latte sitting and waiting for Cioccolata and Secco to come back from the fight where they canonically died, which might be even worse! I am now headcanoning that Giorno and Mista searched Cioccolata and Secco’s house and found Latte, and Mista adopted them. He seems like a good Dog Dad.

*The wiki calls Latte a he, the summary I read calls Latte a she, as someone with no access to the Japanese text I will just assume that Latte has no established gender in the text.

The Catcakes*- Honkai Star Rail

Now, these guys. I can not say anything intelligent or meaningful about them other than that they are cute and adorable and precious and I would die for them in a heartbeat. Introduced in the Critter Pick event as creations of Ruan Mei, The Best Character, they are weird little creatures that jiggle like Jello while looking cute and begging for their mother to not abandon them, which is futile as Ruan Mei graduated from the Victor Frankenstein School Of Science Parenting and gives zero shits about them, but that just leaves them up to be adopted by other characters in-universe and eventually take over the entire world.

*Canonically, they’re known as “critters”, but the whole fandom calls them catcakes because “critters” is stupid generic and “catcakes” is descriptive.

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