maybe I went a little overboard

Oct. 29th, 2025 12:04 pm
watersword: The cover image of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, a misty landscape with a small cottage (Stock: Arcadia)
[personal profile] watersword

As is tradition in this journal, I have a birthday cake for everyone: recs!

This year, it's Wimsey-flavoured. All of these should be read after reading Gaudy Night.

All Our Scattered Leaves by [archiveofourown.org profile] marycrawford. No archive warnings apply, rated G. "A selection of letters and diaries on the eve of the Armistice."

21 Oct 1918.-- Saunders has toothache and refuses to do anything about it, silly woman, walking around with her cheek swollen and smiling horribly at everyone like a perfect martyr, so tiresome of her and I have no patience with it -- have made appointment for her with Mr. Platt down in the village, whose ideas on sedation really quite modern, nothing like that horrible tooth-drawer my father had us visit when I was a girl, like something out of Hoffmann or am I thinking of Grimm?

That a Lover have his Desire by [archiveofourown.org profile] Nineveh_uk. Creator chose not to use archive warnings, rated G. "... because apparently it all happened quite late on Sunday evening, and they sat up half the night, kissing one another madly in a punt. From the Balliol hall to the morning after; at the end of Gaudy Night, Harriet and Peter take a punt on the river. Missing scene fic, the rest of that evening that DLS (curse her!) didn't give us."

'However did you do it?'

'Stood the porter a pint to 'phone Padgett and ask if Lord Peter Wimsey could be trusted with a punt. Don't worry: Padgett is as silent as the grave.'

'Is that the honour of the regiment?'

'Of course,' Peter continued, 'if you'd prefer the Daimler, an elderly and probably oil-stained Burberry, and to take your chances with the cow-pats...'

'Not on your life! I shall learn to live with luxury.'

'I certainly hope so.'

Peter and the Power of Suggestion by [archiveofourown.org profile] keswindhover. No archive warnings apply, rated G. "For once, Lord Peter Wimsey is at a loss. What on earth can a man buy his wife for Christmas that costs under a guinea? Harriet also has a one guinea budget for Peter's present, but she has had the good sense to ask for assistance from Miss Climpson. (And sometimes the best presents are the ones you make yourself.)"

She had mentioned a house and Peter bought it for her. Presumably if she had mentioned the desire for a tiger and some peacocks, there would now be a small zoo in the garage, along with Mrs Merdle. This time, she had felt, Peter needed a firm hand.

So for their second Christmas together she had stipulated, very clearly, that she required something small and modestly priced – no more than a guinea she had added hastily, realising just in time that Peter’s definition of modest was likely to vary from her own. Look on it as a chance to live within somebody else’s means, she had added, a little imp of mischief urging her on. And had been rewarded when she saw Peter’s eyes suddenly gleam behind his monocle, as he realised that a challenge had been laid down.

“Dulcius ex asperis,” he had declared, “Domina, I accept.”

Gentle Antidote by [archiveofourown.org profile] x_los. No archive warnings apply, rated T. "At twenty-one, Harriet Vane gets her Name. It's rather longer than she expected."

“Oh I don’t say that one can’t or shouldn’t love a man not one’s soulmate, of course, only that my husband could at times make himself quite difficult to like. So I quite understand taking care with these decisions, because heaven knows the lithesome limbs of youth and suchlike don’t long endure, nor does their memory adequately compensate one for the grumbling sulks of age."

Green Ice by [archiveofourown.org profile] Adina. No archive warnings apply, rated G. "Wooster has a reputation for pinching things--necklaces, amber statuettes, umbrellas--a reputation that becomes dashedly awkward when Lord Attenbury's emeralds go missing."

"Bertie, you blot on the family escutcheon!" the aforementioned aunt, my good and deserving Aunt Dahlia, cried. "What are you doing here?"

"I like that," I responded with no little heat. "Here I drove from the distant metrop. in answer to an ancient relative's urgent telegram, only to have her look at me like some battered corpse the cat dragged in."

"I sent no blasted telegram!"

I tut-tutted. "You most certainly did."

"I did not."

"You did."

Traces Through Time by [archiveofourown.org profile] brutti_ma_buoni. No archive warnings apply, rated T. "Katherine Climpson explores the documentation of an unusual example of medieval matrimony."

Climpson, K., The Wimseys of Bredon: a textual study in marital relationships among the 14th century English high nobility (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), [xi, 439pp].

Introduction

Peter, second son of Mortimer Wimsey, 5th Duke of Denver, is well-known as an exemplar of unconventional medieval noble life. His bibliophily, cultural patronage and prominence in jurisprudence have been examined by, most recently, Pharos and McLellan in their illustrated biography, and challenged by Jones, who sees the Wimsey reputation for charitable giving as a typical example of high-status fourteenth-century power politics, rather than an exceptional personal commitment. This work does not attempt to reappraise the life of Wimsey alone. It contends, on the contrary, that his relationship and eventual marriage with Harriet (also Harriott, Henriet) Vane is a genuinely enlightening and exceptional case. With parallels to the John of Gaunt-Katherine Swynford marriage, its successor by half a century, the relationship transgressed social norms and was subject to censure and comment within high-status circles. These will to some extent be examined within the present volume. The focus, however, is on the reconstruction of an emotional relationship from the surviving records.


And if you would like to make my birthday extra awesome, please donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds or your local food bank, or tell me something you like about me. ♥

Critical Role: Campaign 4, Episode 4

Oct. 29th, 2025 01:16 am
settiai: (Critical Role -- settiai)
[personal profile] settiai
Okay, I have some specific timestamps to avoid, so I'm going to give last week's episode of Critical Role another chance now that I'm spoiled for some things. I'm still not particularly thrilled with the way they handled a certain storyline, especially since they knowingly don't provide content warnings of any type, but we'll see how it goes on attempt #2.

As with previous posts, it's a combination of quotes, random thoughts, and some speculation. And it's obviously full of spoilers (albeit vague ones in places).

Spoilers under the cut. )

Complicated feelings? Check. But I at least made it through the episode.

Write Every Day: Day 29

Oct. 29th, 2025 05:28 pm
china_shop: New Zealand painting of flax (NZ flax)
[personal profile] china_shop
"…if you have a fear of failure, you’re never going to learn how to cook. Cooking is one failure after another. That’s how you learn. You’ve got to have what the French call ‘Je m’en foutisme’, or ‘I don’t care what happens.’ The sky can fall, and omelettes can go all over the stove… If you’re not going to be ready to fail, you’re not going to learn."

– Julia Child

My day 29: I added 558 words to a WIP. And then the sun was out, so I went for a walk along a shared pedestrian/mountain biking trail through the trees. (Posting this a bit earlier because my sister's coming over for Fringe tonight. :-)

The tally
Tally )

Day 27: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

Day 28: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

Neopets

Oct. 28th, 2025 08:32 pm
settiai: (Neopets -- settiai)
[personal profile] settiai
Oh, hey! My Neopets account has officially turned 25 and 1/2 years old! My profile shield updated yesterday without me noticing!

... on that note, fuck, those are words that I never thought I'd ever say. I feel very, very, very old right now.
but_can_i_be_trusted: (Paranormal Distribution)
[personal profile] but_can_i_be_trusted posting in [community profile] 100words
Title: 'Necessary Evil'
Fandom: Original Fiction
Rating: R (Warnings for gruesome imagery and brief implication of serial murder)
Notes: Crossposted to [community profile] ficlet_zone

Necessary Evil )
ride_4ever: (due Diligence)
[personal profile] ride_4ever
[personal profile] petra has posted that if you donate at least $25 in cash or food to a food bank at any point between now and the end of the Trump Administration, and you either share a fandom of theirs and want a drabble or poetry for that fandom, or if you want original poetry, comment to [personal profile] petra about your donation and they will write for you.

For full details, including where to post your comment-of-donation and your writing request see their Dreamwidth post.

Once more with Yuletide...

Oct. 28th, 2025 07:30 pm
settiai: (Yuletide -- liviapenn)
[personal profile] settiai
The last of the IPHs has been picked up, so [community profile] yuletide_admin opened up requests for everyone to see earlier today.

I pulled them up in the app and have bookmarked anything and everything that I feel as if I could even potentially try to write a treat for. It's... a lot. Which isn't unexpected considering the ridiculous number of offers I made sight unseen, but still.

Seriously, it's 240. And these are just the ones that I really felt that I could write without trouble. There were definitely more if I'd added the ones that I felt a bit iffy on.

I'm going to do my best to get my assignment(s) posted early so that I can A. pick up some later pinch hits (as the odds are high at least something that I could write will show up) and B. try to pull off some treats. We'll see how that plan plays out. I wrote 10 fics for Yuletide in 2023, and I'd love to try to beat that number.
[personal profile] pitchblackrenegade posting in [community profile] 100words

Author: Audrelite Title: For One Person's Eyes Only Fandom: Date Everything! Prompt: #466 — Collection Rating: G Characters: Player Character, Daisuke Word Count: 100 Summary: Sensing your surprise, he elaborates. "This poetry collection is too beautiful to keep hidden away. The world deserves to read it."

AO3 Link

luminious: A highly edited, purple saturated screenshot of a CG of Kohaku from the Tsukihime visual novel remake. (Default)
[personal profile] luminious posting in [community profile] 100words
Prompt: #466: Collection
Title: Memoria
Fandom: Little Witch Academia
Characters: Ursula Callistis aka Chariot du Nord & Croix Meridies
Pairings: None.
Rating: G
Notes: None.
Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia, nor am I or will I ever profit from this work.


NOCTU ORFEI AUDE FRAETOR… )


yuletidemods: A hippo lounges with laptop in hand, peering at the screen through a pair of pince-nez and smiling. A text bubble with a heart emerges from the screen. The hippo dangles a computer mouse from one toe. By Oro. (Default)
[personal profile] yuletidemods posting in [community profile] yuletide_admin
All Yuletide requests are now visible:
-at karanguni's app
-at the Yuletide 2025 collection on AO3
-in a spreadsheet
-in a text doc

Please check back later for pinch hitter prompts.

Enjoy!

Both the main Yuletide 2025 collection and the Yuletide Madness 2025 collection are open for posting works. Before posting your assignment, or posting a treat to either collection, please read the notes below.

Posting, and to Which Collection )



Bonus!! Decoy questions/author questionsA few weeks ago, we made a post about the questions we send to recipients when authors need to clarify something about their recipients' preferences.

As a result of that poll, in a situation where an author has a fandom-specific question, we will now send questions for at least 3 fandoms in a person's requests, but will not generally make up extra/decoy questions for their full set of fandoms.

You suggested that curious authors could make up (some of) their own extra questions. While that could be helpful - if you want to - we ask you to keep the following things in mind.

  1. Clear questions are the best questions. Several times in the past we've received extremely confusing questions and it turned out a participant thought they needed to disguise what they were asking from the mods. Please do not.

  2. Avoid excessive detail, especially about plots you don't plan to write. Don't ask your recipient "Would you be interested in a story where they time-travel to meet five different generations of their ancestors, and also there are capybara zombies?" unless you are contemplating such a plot (and maybe not even then) - because you may make your recipient hopeful about something that won't arrive.

  3. Avoid being disingenuous about things that are actually clear to you. Try to ask about points of reasonable ambiguity. If you ask your recipient things like "You said you don't want any mention of hospitals, but is it okay if a character has a headache?" you could stress them out by making them wonder if they need to re-write their DNWs, or by making them wonder if you have wildly misinterpreted other parts of their requests. Decoy questions require a little creativity… but not too much. Save most of your creativity for the actual writing.


And again - you are not obliged to provide decoy questions! If you need to ask your recipient something, all we need from you is: 1) what information you need, and 2) who you are. That's great! We can take care of the rest.



Schedule, Rules, & Collection | Contact Mods | Participant DW | Participant LJ | Pinch Hits on DW | Discord | Tag set | Tag set app

Please either comment logged-in or sign a name. Unsigned anonymous comments will be left screened.

#466: Collection: BBC Sherlock: Gen

Oct. 28th, 2025 02:02 pm
stonepicnicking_okapi: after the funeral (afterthefuneral)
[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi posting in [community profile] 100words
Title: Could be worse
Fandom: BBC Sherlock
Rating: Gen
Notes: Also for Whumptober 2025 day 2 prompts: You've got a lot of nerve to dredge up all my fears & sewer.

Read more... )

October recs: 4x Vorkosigan AUs

Oct. 28th, 2025 05:30 pm
schneefink: River walking among trees, from "Safe" (Default)
[personal profile] schneefink
Canon divergence AUs are my favorite genre of Vorkosigan Saga fics, here are some I enjoyed a lot.

3 series with additional children and 1 isekai )
runpunkrun: Dana Scully reading Jose Chung's 'From Outer Space' in the style of a poster you'd find in your school library, text: Read. (reading)
[personal profile] runpunkrun
It's 1993 and Kimberly Keiko Cameron (aka "Skim" because she's not [idk, the reference doesn't really land for me—like skim milk? so, not skinny? not white?]) is sixteen and goes to an all girls school in Canada. She's learning to practice Wicca, has a cast on her dominant arm, a crush on her drama teacher, and doesn't seem to like her best friend very much.

Ah, teen angst. Rendered here in a flat, sketchy greyscale with a lot of attention to faces and hair, which makes the main characters easy to identify, especially as the smooth, delicate rendering of Skim's face evokes ukiyo-e, a style of Japanese art popular during the Edo period (1615–1868). It makes her stand out and even seem out of place, like something from another era. It's an interesting contrast to the swoopy bangs and hoop earrings of her peers, all of whom appear to be white.

The story's pretty low key for its content—an inappropriate flirtation, the suicide of a popular girl's ex-boyfriend, the tension between Kim's divorced parents, a growing realization of what it means to be queer—and the central interest is the conflict between Kim and her best friend, though it's not clear if they're growing apart or were never really suited for each other, and being in love in a way that makes it feel like it might destroy you. It's clear it's slowly destroying the teacher, even as Kim seems blissfully unaware of this, a disparity that's handled with skill and that hints at the full size of the adult world while simultaneously rendering the hyper-specific compressed world of a teenager, allowing both to be true.

Contains: f/f; teacher/student romance; frequent references to suicide (including jokes) following one off screen; use of gay slurs.

Prompt: #466 - Collection

Oct. 28th, 2025 12:45 pm
sweettartheart: Ink text on paper (100 words on paper)
[personal profile] sweettartheart posting in [community profile] 100words
This week's prompt is collection.

Your response should be exactly 100 words long. You do not have to include the prompt in your response -- it is meant as inspiration only.

Please use the tag "prompt: #466 - collection" with your response.

Please put your drabble under a cut tag if it contains potential triggers, mature or explicit content, or spoilers for media released in the last month.

If you would like a template for the header information you may use this:

Subject: Original - Title (or) Fandom - Title

Post:
Title:
Original
(or) Fandom:
Rating:
Notes:




If you are a member of AO3 there is a 100 Words Collection!

Write Every Day: Day 28

Oct. 28th, 2025 08:07 pm
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
You've got to work on something dangerous. You have to work on something that makes you uncertain. Something that makes you doubt yourself. You shouldn't feel safe. You should feel, "I don't know if I can write this." That's what I mean by dangerous, and I think that's a good thing to do. Sacrifice something safe.
– Stephen Sondheim

My day 28: Still taking it easy-ish. I spent writers' hour and some of the morning writing meta comments, so that's my writing for the day. And then I tried out some Youtube how-to-art videos for kids (results), and now I'm going to rest. Hoping to get some actual fic-writing in tomorrow. 🤞🤞

The tally
Tally )

Day 26: [personal profile] alightbuthappypen, [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] luzula, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] the_siobhan, [personal profile] trobadora, [personal profile] ysilme

Day 27: [personal profile] badly_knitted, [personal profile] brithistorian, [personal profile] china_shop, [personal profile] cmk418, [personal profile] cornerofmadness, [personal profile] goddess47, [personal profile] sanguinity, [personal profile] sylvanwitch, [personal profile] trobadora

When you check in, please say what day(s) you’re checking in for. You can join in or take a break at any time; you’re always welcome back. And please let me know if I’ve missed you.

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