Xray the Enforcer

I mean I could also be very wrong and you both are correct. I read the book pretty quickly.

One thing that's been bugging me in Nona:

very mild spoilers for Nona

@Caligula_K3 -- Karaddin posted a recap earlier in this thread. It's under a spoiler tag, but let me see if I can find the posts. Here's where that conversation starts -- because I realized that I had probably missed or forgotten a bunch of stuff. Anyhoo, the next few posts, especially by Karaddin, can get you up to speed on what happened in the prior two books (esp HtN) to prep you for what's going on. I will say that Nona the Ninth is much more straight-forward, narratively. Very little of the (spoilers for Harrow the Ninth):

Necromancing this thread because skin care is an ongoing endeavor! So I learned something over the last six or so months: My skin has changed so much that mineral-based sunscreens are now too drying for me to use. I've tried 15 or 20 of them at this point and none of them are suitable for long-term use. So I went back to the drawing board and have now landed on using a moisturizer with chemical sunscreens and I found one that works with whatever the hell is going on with my skin these days and LOL it's not even that expensive: La Roche Posay Tolerain 30SPF. My skin is stupid as hell.

It really is. I kind of want to adopt a dog now just so I can name it that. Or adopt a really grumbly cat.

@karaddin I'll dig up the quote, just a sec. Also thank you for the run-down on the necros and their cavs. All of that makes sense. One thing about why Augustine hates Cristabel: And regarding Ulysses:

oh and and re: Pyrrha

Some more questions about Lyctors

Spoilers for AIM/the Angel through the end of the book and also for Nona

LOL

I started in on Nona the Ninth, but I feel like I need a post where we summarize everything we know so far before going in. Because having to dig through this thread during my re-read is going to frustrate me to no end. What we know so far (spoilers only up to the end of Harrow the Ninth):

Living dangerously, I see

Aaaaaand I've already finished the first Wyndham-Banerjee book and started on the second. Enjoying the hell out of the first one -- thank you again for the rec @Hereward!

I picked up the first book based on this rec and while I haven't finished it yet, I've been enjoying the heck out of the novel thus far. If this book can even moderately stick the landing, I think I'm going to enjoy this whole series. Thank you for the rec @Hereward! Oh yes -- I mentioned this in the What Are You Reading thread, but the book fits thematically here too. Will just copy/paste: I also recently finished The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (in the United States she got an extra 0.5 deaths due to similarities with another title) by Stuart Turton. I went in completely uninformed, aside knowing that it was a murder mystery with a spec fic twist, and I'm glad that I did it that way. Anyway, in the spirit of that last sentence, I won't get into any detailed descriptions, but I will say that I enjoyed the journey -- the writing and characters are very engaging (even when they're awful human beings) and the book's ending works well enough if you don't interrogate it too much.

oh wow, that was stressful even reading about it, @Isis My skin would freak TF out. So I think I may have finally found a replacement for my previous daily SPF -- Biossance zinc sheer suncreen. It's still missing a bit of the mattefying quality of my last one but the texture otherwise is pretty good and it blends easily. Also been using Deciem's Sensitive Fix -- a serum that's supposed to help with redness and sensitivity (thanks, retinol). It's been about a month and I'm pretty sure my face is less red than it used to be, so that's good. Finally -- decided to get a tinted moisturizer to try to even out my skin tone, since right now it's a bit of a mess. Eventually settled on Colourpop because I didn't want to spend $30 or more on something that I'd hate (also difficult to find them without SPF). Seems good so far. My business mullet is growing out into something closer that I had envisioned when I asked for this haircut, so thank god for that. It's still a ridiculous haircut, but I'm enjoying it.

hahaha close -- with enough product I could definitely create something approaching that look, but I'm lazy so instead I look like the 3rd-string catcher for a mid-80s Kansas City Royals farm team. It is, undeniably, a business mullet.

I got the ugliest haircut the other day and I have nobody to blame but myself because I asked for this hideous thing. Going to invest in some hot-pink hammer pants and white high-tops because the only way out of this is through.

thanks for the confirmation on that one -- I was thinking spiro was going to be my next step. If everything stabilizes, I might stick with Differin, just because one more doctor/prescription to manage is not something I'm keen to take on. But it's definitely on my radar. [insert obligatory rant about how it's relatively easy for cis women to get spiro for acne, but doctors make it difficult as hell for trans women to get the same goddamned drug for reasons.]

Been fighting an epic battle with hormonal acne lately. I switched to Differin back in December and it seems to be helping. I'm not loving the skin sensitivity or the fact that my face has become redder, but I suppose those are acceptable payoffs. Now looking for a good skin tint without SPF (I've found two acceptable daily-use sunscreens to replace the Shiseido, although neither are particularly great at shine control).

oh wow! Congratulations on taking that step. I hope that your family will be supportive of who you are Also want to acknowledge that coming out can be really stressful or scary (or it can be totally mundane -- it's a totally individual thing), and I want to acknowledge all of the feelings you've been going through during the process.

Looking at my people IYKYK

It's not over but still ugly crying for this win https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/03/11/tx-transgender-aclu-hearing/

Thank you @Ran for the info, as aggrieved as I am to hear it. @timmett My knitting is as terrible now as it was when I chaperoned you two young lovebirds all those years ago, but your eloquence is as delightful now as it was then, possible more so. I am so incredibly sorry for your loss, but I am deeply grateful that you had as many years as you did together. Sending you an ocean of love.

Wanted to follow up -- I might be misremembering, but didn't Lillith's partner also occasionally post here @TrackerNeil? I seem to remember them both living on a large piece of land in Wyoming and her partner being a woodworker? If my deeply faulty memory is not lying to me, and if you are in contact with him, please send him my deepest condolences. If it's who I think, I also really enjoyed chatting with him and I am heartbroken for him, and for you.