I'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.

tropicsbear

⚠️ 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.

senmut

AO3 Link | Cat and Bird (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 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!"

bradygirl_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

Current Location: U.S.A.

senmut

More Joy Day announced

Jane 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

bradygirl_12

Well, 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

Current Mood: artistic
Current Location: Home

muccamukk

Thirty-six years ago today, a lone gunman murdered fourteen women at Polytechnique Montréal, before taking his own life.

The names of the women were:

Geneviève Bergeron
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.

tropicsbear

This was also discussed over at 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.

senmut

2015 - A decade ago! Oh right, I was dirt poor by the end of the year because I remember thinking I wasn't going to get to see the new Star Wars film in theater.

Furious 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)

senmut

AO3 link | Her Turn (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 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.

muccamukk

Watch on YouTube

smilebackwards

Snagging from

sweettartheart!

( 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 ♥

tropicsbear

✒️ 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 😆)

tropicsbear

( Don't mind me, I'm a test entry )

smilebackwards

Today for

rec_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.

me_ya_ri

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: hopeful

mekare

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

erinptah

I switched my Fic Updates DW Journal over to “entries are displayed in the journal-specific style” mode, realized for the first time how glitchy it looks on mobile, and spent a good chunk of today fussing with borders/margins/font sizes until I finally felt better about it.

The journal has mostly been “crossposting links from AO3” for a decade now, but in the past couple years I had a resurgence of using it for “behind-the-scenes about the writing” posts (all for Cover of Knight reasons). Finally came around to thinking, you know what, I want them to look customized.

—

Sometimes you post a thing and it just hits, huh? I put that art of “Lydia Deetz singing Gravity” on DA, and overnight it became the most popular thing I’ve uploaded there in years.

“DA doesn’t want live-action superheroes, it wants Cartoon Ladies” isn’t exactly news, but still. Watching those numbers zoom upward sure was something.

—

This mural of a giant kitten is amazing. (By Oriol Arumi at Torrefarrera Street Art Festival in Torrefarrera, Cataluna, Spain.)

Fund artists! Think of how many other cool things they could do!

—

Speaking of support for artists:

Anyone reading this who makes Clip Studio assets? I have points that need to be spent/gifted before the end of the year, so drop a link to yours (here’s a link to mine, for comparison) and I’ll send you some.

I have over 6,000 Clippy to burn, so please share this around. I’ll give some to everyone who responds, until/unless I run out.

senmut

10trueloves - prompt table and claim one character to do ten relationships with

Claiming Dinah Lance

01.	Surprise.	02.	Trust.	03.	Noise.	04.	Tears.	05	Mask.
06.	Fight.	07.	Accident.	08.	Overprotective.	09.	Broken.	10.	Loss.

senmut

AO3 Link | Remember Who You Are (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sinners [2025]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Annie Moore & Mary [Sinners]
Characters: Annie Moore, Mary [Sinners 2025]
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Female Friendship, Community: ladiesbingo
Summary:

Annie and Mary say good-bye before Little Rock

Remember Who You Are

It wasn't that Annie didn't like Mary. Far from it, given their lives kept tangling. Annie was one of the only ones who didn't think the girl should be pushed to be white. Every time she thought about Mary and Elias, she did feel uneasy, as something lingered in the dark of the night about the pair.

"Mary."

"Annie."

Now why was the girl already on the defensive, unless…

"Are you needing my special tea, honey?"

Annie watched the defensive give way to worry, then embarrassment, before Mary shook her head.

"I know what not to do, thank you," Mary said firmly.

"Good." Annie beckoned her to come into the house so she could keep working. "Was surprised to see you out here."

"Wanted to say goodbye, given you've been around for so much of my life. Mama — I don't suppose you'll keep an eye on her for me?"

"I'll do the best I can, but she's always thought I was a devil tempting her milk-son."

Mary laughed, bitterly. "She's got too much church in her, but it would mean a lot."

Annie nodded to all that, trying to ferret out if the shadows on their lives, cast by the twins, was all that had ever unnerved her about Mary. Nothing was stirring in her second sense of people, so maybe she'd have to try harder with a ritual later.

"I try to keep an eye on all of our people, Mary. Even when they shun me for being what I am." She then tipped her head to the side. "Little Rock calling?"

Mary looked down, then back up with resolve. "Stack thinks it's for the best, fresh start where no one ever knew me in the black community."

"You keep yourself safe, Mary, and remember, always, who you are."

mithen

Damn, I really have missed writing fanfic

Linkage

Influencers made millions pushing ‘wild’ births – now the Free Birth Society is linked to baby deaths around the world

LadiesBingo: Teenagers

December 7, 1941

Various Links 11/30 - 12/6

'Tis The Season! 🎀

Thirty Six Years

(no subject)

Crunchyroll is destroying its subtitles for no good reason

Fandom Fifty: #41

LadiesBingo: Sacrifice / Letting Go

Some Bottled Joy for a Friday

Elf Meme Wishlist

(no subject)

Do not perceive me, please

Fic Rec Ask Game

Let's see if this works...

DMBJ Calendar: January

four nice things make a December post

New Comm

Ladies Bingo: Shadows / Darkness

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June 2023

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