LadiesBingo: Funerals and Wakes
Dec. 9th, 2025 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senmutChapters: 1/1
Fandom: Partners in Crime [TV - 1984]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sydney Kovack & Carole Stanwyck [Partners in Crime]
Characters: Sydney Kovack [Partners in Crime], Carole Stanwyck [Partners in Crime]
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Event - Funeral, Community: ladiesbingo
Summary:
Sydney and Carole are holding a second funeral for their mutual ex, mostly to preserve their business.
Useful Gathering
Sydney carefully adjusted her skirt as she stood up, hand not holding the handkerchief going out to catch Carole's.
"Why did we agree to hold a wake for him?"
Carole gave a reserved smile to one of the businessmen here to pay respects.
"To help us keep the business running," Carole answered after she was certain no one else would be listening. "Besides, were you ever any good at saying 'no' to Jeanine?"
Sydney made an indelicate sound at that, and covered by bringing the handkerchief up to dab at her nose. "Were you?"
Carole had to bite back the unseemly laughter that came with it. "We need his contacts, to get the agency in the black, and start paying off that mortgage."
"Can't just ask some of your old polo pals to lend a hand, oh wait, you just take their pictures now."
That lit Carole's temper, but she gathered it back in check, and squeezed Sydney's hand. "One way or another, Sydney, we can make this work for us. Neither one of us is the woman he married any longer, but I think we can find a place for ourselves anyway."
Sydney took a deep breath, then smiled sadly at another pair of suits walking past them. "You're right, and I'm sorry for the dig. We'll get through the speeches, cut to the meat of promising to help them for standard fees going forward, and make the agency solvent.
"Just, don't leave me alone with any of them? I'll point out the fanny-patters and lewd ones as we mingle."
"And if they're the older ones, I'll tell you how Raymond got his hooks into them," Carole promised in turn, steeling her spine for the possibility of dealing with 'old friends' from the failed marriage.
"We have each other."
Damn, I really have missed writing fanfic
Dec. 8th, 2025 10:07 pmtropicsbearI've finally finished this year's Saiyuki fic! Still has to go through a round or two of editing before I can post it, but I should have it up on the usual places before the end of the week.
The original plan was for the fic to be 100% lighthearted and/or funny. Some heavy backstory snuck in at the last minute, which shouldn't surprise me because it's happened multiple times before across different fandoms, and yet it did.
( Some thoughts about my writing style. )
All that to say, I almost took this year's Saiyuki fic in a completely different direction than I first wanted. But I decided to stick with the lighthearted vibe for this even if there is that one slightly heavier section. Personally, I think the slight deviation helps make everything else land better.
Linkage
Dec. 8th, 2025 12:51 pmtropicsbear⚠️ Discussions of complications related to childbirth, infant death, birth- and pregnancy-related medical issues
Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world
By 2024, it was becoming increasingly hard to deny how many babies were dying to FBS mothers. Deaths followed a pattern. First-time mothers – whose pregnancies are known to be higher-risk – attempting freebirths over many days, even a week, after wild pregnancies. Some women went to more than 44 weeks of pregnancy.
Most women who freebirth will have positive outcomes, and for healthy mothers the risks are low. But the radical version of freebirth Saldaya and Norris-Clark pioneered caused alarm even among freebirth advocates.
LadiesBingo: Teenagers
Dec. 7th, 2025 12:36 pmsenmutChapters: 1/1
Fandom: DC Comics (General)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Selina Kyle & Dinah Lance
Characters: Selina Kyle, Dinah Lance
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Post-Crisis, +Modern Age (1986-Present)
Summary:
Selina's in the neighborhood
Cat and Bird
"Hey there, little birdie," came a voice from above Dinah, and she looked up to see her friend Selina on the roof. That made Dinah's mood much better, and she hastily made use of the fire-escapes — and walls — to get up there.
"Hey yourself, tabby cat," she said with a grin, barely breathing hard for that exercise. "A bit out of your territory, aren't you?" She plopped herself down on the roof-edge next to the other girl.
"Hmm, came to check on one of the ones that got adopted out, make sure it was on the up and up."
"This neighborhood? It better be, or word will get around. Bunch of nosy people around. And Dad hears all the rumors like that."
"Nice older couple, and the kid was from their faith. How he wound up in a Catholic orphanage is anyone's guess," Selina said, giving Dinah the clues to keep her own ears out for the kid.
"Glad you decided to stick around when you got done," Dinah admitted, leaning over against Selina.
"Knew you'd be out sooner rather than later. Make any money today?"
"No; this tutoring is a trade. I help the blockhead learn, Mom gets her bad cooler fixed for free."
"You seem to be the one giving up time and effort a lot for these trades," Selina said, disapproving.
"Family business, Selina. Have to support mom somehow, and Dad uses it as an excuse to keep her off my back when I go out in the evenings." She slung her arm around Selina's shoulders and squeezed. "I get what I need."
"If you say so." Selina shrugged. "C'mon. I know who's working the door at the Regal. We can catch a movie and be irresponsible teenagers for once."
Dinah considered, then grinned broadly. "Sounds fun!"
December 7, 1941
Dec. 7th, 2025 09:00 ambradygirl_12"Sunday, December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy..."
On a quiet Sunday morning, the bombs fell, and the United States entered World War II, 84 years ago today.
Cross-posts: https://bradygirl-12.livejournal.com/1601844.html
Various Links 11/30 - 12/6
Dec. 6th, 2025 11:52 pmsenmutJane Siberry has a new song free to download - Very Political, called "bailout" and it hit hard
Scarpetta, the Patricia Cornwell series, is getting a TV Show.
Latest Doctor Who BluRay release short film
Sheriden/Delenn gif set with Tolkien words
A "Punny" photo
SarahSeeAndersen cartoon about cats and hot pads
Kermit the Assassin and further commentary
Sissy Spacek Photo set
The Restorer and the Butler - haunted house story
The Kents and the Pediatrician - DC Comics fanfic
Human and Alien - a story of Uncanny Valley
Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus in their later years - Fic and art
Good Wicked! meta
Mood board for the original Thrawn Trilogy
'Tis The Season! 🎀
Dec. 6th, 2025 12:46 pmbradygirl_12Well, I'm ready for Christmas: the tree is and the decorations are up, the presents are wrapped, and tweaking Christmas stories to post soon. Hope you're able to keep stress low and indulge in the Christmas spirit. Enjoy! 🎄 ☺️ 🎀
Cross-posted: https://bradygirl-12.livejournal.com/1601729.html
Thirty Six Years
Dec. 6th, 2025 08:19 ammuccamukkThe names of the women were:
Hélène Colgan
Nathalie Croteau
Barbara Daigneault
Anne-Marie Edward
Maud Haviernick
Maryse Laganière
Maryse Leclair
Anne-Marie Lemay
Sonia Pelletier
Michèle Richard
Annie St-Arneault
Annie Turcotte
Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz
CBC: Montreal to honour 14 victims of Polytechnique massacre at ceremony.
Globe & Mail: Progress on combatting intimate-partner violence stalling under new government, advocates fear.
(no subject)
Dec. 6th, 2025 02:09 pmtropicsbearThis was also discussed over at ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
anime_manga, but I wanted a link here for mirroring reasons as well.
Crunchyroll is destroying its subtitles for no good reason
There is only one conclusion that can be drawn from that: the Funimation-turned-Crunchyroll executives still do not have any respect for anime as a medium. In addition, they seem to be treating Crunchyroll and its ways of doing things as the ways of pirates – which isn’t entirely incorrect, as Crunchyroll’s use of Aegisub and ASS did originate from the ways of pirate fansubbers. But fansubbers deeply care about anime as medium (they wouldn’t be illegally subtitling it for free as a hobby otherwise), which in turn means that the ways fansubbers have developed to subtitle anime are in fact extremely efficient for the job – much better than basically any “industry standards” for subtitling, even.
Like the anime_manga OP says, I do remember a time when Crunchyroll was a piracy site. It's why I made an account over there in the first place 😂 (An account I promptly forgot about in favor of torrenting, only to log in again after so many years and be surprised to see that the site was now legit.)
If I were running Crunchyroll, I'd hire a bunch of fansubbers and have them use their preferred software to make high-quality subtitles then use that as my selling point versus other streaming platforms.
Fandom Fifty: #41
Dec. 5th, 2025 11:05 pmsenmutFurious 7 - So my late partner and I had fallen in love with this crew in the first movie. She LOVED Brian. And... well. Paul Walker died before completing this one. And then they released it on her anniversary with me. So Yeah. Saw it twice in theater.
Jurassic World - This looked interesting, was okay, but wife and I both had Issues with it. And then, of course, Pratt lived up to his name, and I let the franchise go away. Still kinda want to see the one with the original trio.
Carol - I don't do arthouse style films, I protest mightily. AND YET. I decided to see what the fuss was about, and FELL IN LOVE. Cate and Rooney sold the story. (and having read up about the author, wow it's toned down from the inspirations / she was a helluva bitch it looked like)
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - such characters! such potential! Shame they never made more after it to explore Finn and Rey and Poe in a way that highlighted EVERYTHING THAT MADE THEM INTERESTING! (It did however set me on the SW track of writing, so I can't complain too much)
LadiesBingo: Sacrifice / Letting Go
Dec. 5th, 2025 06:05 pmsenmutChapters: 1/1
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Willow Rosenberg & Buffy Summers
Characters: Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers [Buffy & Angel Universe]
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Post-Canon
Summary:
Willow left a letter...
Her Turn
This one, it's not for you. You get that, right? This time, it's about me. It has to be me. You can't… you can't keep reaching. I know you love me. I know you would want to step up, to take my place. You've always been the one making the sacrifice. That's who you are, the One. You changed the game to begin with, and then when that wasn't enough, you changed the whole playing field.
Okay, maybe I had something to do with changing the gameboard up. But I was only able to do it because of you, because you had so much faith in me. I need you to have that faith in me now. I need you to be the stronger one, the one who has to live, to keep facing the evil.
Hopefully it won't be as bad, not once I do this.
All my love.
Dawn wasn't used to seeing her sister frail, not even after all the losses they had faced. She'd guessed, though, that this one might be the breaking point, and hurried to get to Buffy's side. She saw the paper crumpled in a fist, but ignored it, just turning her sister to hold her.
At first, Buffy was stiff. The grief broke to Dawn's coaxing, a howl of pain and denial. Dawn just held on, petting her hair, tears streaming on her own face.
"Maybe… maybe it didn't end her?" Dawn suggested once the crying gave way to the heavy silence.
Buffy pushed the crumpled paper to her sister, letting Dawn read Willow's own words. It made Dawn swallow hard, as the pain and finality gripped her all over again.
She couldn't give into it, though. Buffy needed her. Buffy had lost Willow, and Dawn needed to step up even more.
Elf Meme Wishlist
Dec. 5th, 2025 11:12 amsmilebackwardssweettartheart!( Guidelines )
1. Red Robin trade paperbacks! These have been out of print for awhile and I constantly scour the graphic novels section of used book shops to no avail. I'm looking for Red Robin vol 2: Collision and Red Robin vol 4: 7 Days of Death. They look like this.
2. Ideas for family blind gift swap. Something with mass appeal for approximately $20.
3. Fun, delicious cocktail recipes that use rum or vodka.
4. I'm in a classic literature reading phase. Recommend me your favorite classic book.
5. Music recommendations. Preferably artist or album level. I'm dropping streaming and reverting to old school CDs and hoopla. I mostly like alternative/pop/rock but I'll try whatever!
6. Rec your favorite Stargate fics on
stargateficrec!7. Plant advice. I'd like to plant some cheerful but very low maintenance flowers and/or get a few indoor plants next year. Like the easiest possible things you can think of. I have an extremely black thumb.
8. Comments on my fics! I am having a struggle of a writing year and would love the encouragement of comments.
9. Play my fic rec ask game :)
10. Visit your local library ♥
(no subject)
Dec. 5th, 2025 11:47 pmtropicsbear✒️ I know I've said multiple times that I want to delete my FF.net account ... but now I also want to start cross-posting stuff between AO3 and SqWA because of the fear that one of them might suddenly disappear one day. The urges directly oppose one another, but I think the main difference is that AO3 and SqWA give me control over my account—I can delete it if I want—while FF.net doesn't. I'm holding off for now because I'm not even done emptying my FF.net, but we'll see.
❓ Is the tiny AO3 username icon not working for anyone else? Or is it just me?
💄 I've cleaned out all my expired lipsticks (donated them to a funeral parlor) and now I don't have a nude lipstick anymore. I poked around the department store for a replacement and decided to try GRWM's lip booze sheer balm in the shade Whiskey and omg. It's so good! Not sticky, made my lips feel super hydrated, and it looks so nice! Now I want to nab the Weng-weng shade.
🐏 I decided it was time to switch up my journal layout again. There's some things I'm trying figure out with the spacing of list items, but other than that, I think it's the perfect layout for TadaAi. Creating the custom layout layer wasn't as difficult as I thought it'd be. Opens up a whole new avenue of layouts for use. (I've been avoiding the ones using custom layers because I was scared of the implementation 😆)
Fic Rec Ask Game
Dec. 4th, 2025 05:40 pmsmilebackwardsrec_cember I am bringing back a fic rec ask game I made this summer! Would also love to see people post to their own journals and give their own recs if so inclined :)Comment with a number and I will give you a fic rec.
1. Recommend a fic that lives in your brain rent free.
2. Recommend a fic that is not posted on AO3.
3. Recommend fic that is less than 5,000 words.
4. Recommend a fic that is over 50,000 words.
5. Recommend a gen fic (no pairings).
6. Recommend a fic that does something cool with format or structure (epistolary, social media, 5 things, non-linear, etc.)
7. Recommend a fic that uses a trope you love.
8. Recommend a fic with an interesting premise/concept.
9. Recommend a fic from a book fandom.
10. Recommend a fic that is more than 10 years old.
11. Recommend a fic you think is a hidden gem/deserves more reads.
12. Recommend a fic that formed or changed your opinion on something (characterization, backstory, relationship, etc.)
13. Recommend a fic you've re-read multiple times.
14. Recommend your favorite fic.
15. Recommend any fic of your choice.
