Trismegistus

It's Friday. I am deeply, deeply thankful that it is Friday, and that I have taken a great deal of time off. ( Cut for griping. ) I'm just ready for the pendulum to swing back.

And so in the spirit of replacing irritating things with delightful things, here's a photo I took while sitting outside enjoying our unseasonably warm weather.



I just really like this shot: the colors, the lighting, the fig half bee-eaten on the branch.

In other news, I finally signed up for Yuletide( . )

So, uh, I'm now committed to writing a rather large letter. Dear Author, it's coming. Please be patient.


これで以上です。

My fic this year was:

Entry for the seventeenth day of the eight month of the second year of the Eien era, Onmyouji, Abe no Seimei/Minamoto no Hiromasa, 4222 words, rated M.

I also received three delightful fics, which I posted about here, now enhanced with author names. Seriously, I make out like a bandit every Yuletide and this year was no different.

これで以上です。

...and I am deeply pleased.

Now to finish my Dear Author letter so I can get started ficcing.


これで以上です。

My Yuletide gifts are always pretty fantastic, and this year was no exception. I got the following fabulous gift and two treats:

Unbroken
Baldur’s Gate; teen
I asked my Yuletide author for something examining the tension between Anomen Delryn’s paladin vows and his actions over the course of the game, and my author provided in spades. And not only that, they set it the Underdark. And oh my, it is excellent.

There’s so much going on in this fic it’s hard to know what to mention first when reccing it. There’s the premise itself, which is a ridiculously perfect way to make Anomen reflect on his vows, his actions and treatment of others, and where he’s fallen short (as well as where he thinks he has). There are amazing descriptions of Ust Natha—the spot-on descriptions of drow culture, and the absolutely gorgeous depictions of the Underdark itself. There’s the dialogue between Anomen and another major character, whom I didn’t explicitly request in my prompt, but whose inclusion here has me over the moon, and their dialogue, which is by turns snarky, philosophical, and surprisingly poignant. The fic does an amazing job of keeping a high fantasy tone with surprising moments of lighthearted humor throughout. Every Baldur’s Gate fan should read it.


In Dulci Jubilo
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street; gen
A lovely slice-of-life look at the Mori household following the novel’s conclusion, and featuring (among other delights) Six, and a new clockwork companion therefor; further hijinx on the set of the Mikado, and as much snarky, poignant, and playful banter between Thaniel and Mori as anyone could ask for.


Fetish
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street; explicit
“It's just been killing me that this fandom doesn't have any tentacle play in it yet,” says the author of this treat in their notes. And oh my. This is some A+ tentacle porn—hot and sensual and freaky all at once—and the non-porny parts are excellent too. This fic has spot-on characterizations, amazing banter, and bonus callbacks to one of the original Japanese masters of the genre. Even if you’ve never read the novel, you should still read this.

これで以上です。

I'm so happy you'll be writing a fic for me! I say this every year, but Yuletide is one of my favorite fandom events and I get very excited about it when it rolls around. I love all the fandoms I've requested fic in, and I also love surprises, so if you have an idea or two you've been looking for an excuse to write, feel free to run with it. And if not, I've included some prompts with each request if you'd like to consider any of those. (Just please stick to the DNWs in my AO3 sign-up.)

In general, I like all genres (e.g., humor, drama, slice-of-life, mystery, horror, or any mix thereof) and am happy with any rating from G to explicit (but if you're going to write romance, please do so between the requested characters).

Kinks: Angst, banter, bickering-as-flirting, bonding, camaraderie, comedy of manners, established relationships, found families, humor, hurt/comfort, language (and how characters use it to enforce or transgress social status), loyalty, misunderstanding and reconciliation, pining, relationships crossing or transgressing social mores and social status, sarcasm, wordplay, worldbuilding

So without further ado, my requests:

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Thaniel Steepleton, Keita Moori; gen to smut
I picked up this book knowing nothing about it beyond the fact that it had an octopus on the cover (I love octopuses) and it became one of my favorite books of...ever. I love everything about Watchmaker - the beauty of Pulley's language, the way the plot switches from crime procedural to subtle social commentary to steampunk/historical novel to romance, the way the characters are deeply amoral but you cheer for them anyway. I love that Mori is someone who both sends people to their deaths if they threaten him but washed Thaniel's dirty dishes before they met.

Some ideas for prompts, if you'd like them:

• What was Mori up to after he came to England but before he met Thaniel?
  
• Thaniel tries to read Mori’s journal as his Japanese improves. What surprises him most? How much does he understand (versus thinking he understands), and does the gap between intent and ability lead to any unintended consequences?
  
• What would Mori tell Thaniel if Thaniel asked him about his brothers?
  

Feel free to include Six, Grace, Matsumoto, or any other characters from the novel if you are so inclined.

The Goblin Emperor
Deret Beshelar, Maia Drazhar, Cala Athmaza; gen to smut
I'm omnivorous in this fandom and you aren't going to go wrong with whatever you choose to write, so please feel free to run with any preexisting plot bunnies you may have. If you're looking for initial ideas, how about:

• Maia saving the character(s) from your tag(s) of choice from danger they didn't see coming
  
• An exception to my AU DNW: How would events play out differently in a world where either Beshelar or Cala is the emperor, and Maia is one of his nohecheris? Feel free to set this alternate reality either before, during, or after the events in the novel.
  
• The characters from your tag(s) of choice are on an airship. What happens next?

Feel free to include any other characters from the novel if you are so inclined.


Doctrine of Labyrinths
Felix Harrowgate, Mildmay Foxe; gen to smut

This series is so damn good, due in no small part to the strength of Monette’s two main protagonists. I love how they support each other through thick and thin, even when they don't see eye-to-eye or even understand where the other's coming from. I love how they’re both so intelligent but that that intelligence manifests itself differently due to their differing backgrounds, and how those backgrounds let them help the other through trials they couldn't survive alone. Some prompts for this pairing include:

• An account of Felix and Mildmay's doings in Corambis, as recorded by a historian in Melusine (I leave it up to authorial discretion whether said scholar has ever been to Corambis or just heard these tales through travelers, and how many years after the events in question s/he is recording this account).
  
• One or both of our heroes must return to Melusine. For what reason? And what happens during that journey, or once he (they?) have arrived?
  
• Felix and Mildmay attend a winter festival, ceremony, or rite in any of the cities or nations mentioned in the novels.

I do ship these two, so if you’d like to put them in a romantic relationship, please do.

Baldur’s Gate
Anomen Delryn; gen to smut

Anomen takes a fair amount of—largely deserved—criticism. But here’s the thing: although they didn’t wholly succeed, I think the BG dev team was trying to subvert the horrid fantasy and romance tropes Anomen’s character gets called on. Think about it. In the romance arc, he ( cut for spoilers ) anything that looks in general at the tension Anomen feels between his paladin vows and ideals and the fact that they don’t fit into the messiness and shades of grey that make up real life.

As with my other prompts, please feel free to include other BG NPCs should the mood strike you.

これで以上です。

I only wrote one Yuletide fic this year, but at 5k+ words it is the longest thing I wrote all year and the second longest Yuletide fic I've written ever. It is:

A Theory of Reversals, Doctrine of Labyrinths, Felix Harrowgate/Mildmay Foxe, rated M, AU set after Melusine.

I also received two phenomenal fics. Seriously, I make out like a bandit every Yuletide and this year was no different.

The first was Every Sundown by neveralarch, Imperial Radch, Breq/Seivarden, rated Teen. It's an ingenious AU/roll swap where Breq is a captain and Seivarden a ship/ancillary with the same dire thing for her. It's 10k+ words of great descriptive language, lots of neat setup, action, humor, and nifty worldbuilding, and just hits all of my buttons.

Also hitting all of my buttons was Silently, Invisibly by doreyg, Blake & Avery Series, William Avery/Jeremiah Blake, rated G. It's hot and sweet and heartwarming, with really great interplay between the two leads that also hits all of my buttons. The author's written a bunch in this microfandom and it was lovely to be treated with this fic.

これで以上です。

Thank you so much for writing a Yuletide fic for me! This is my favorite part of the fandom year and I'm always super excited to see what fic I've received. Aside from my short list of DNWs, I like pretty much everything: slice-of-life ficlets to long epics, gen and slash, humor and angst, G to PWP. So please let your imagination run wild.

Kinks: Angst, banter, found families, humor, hurt/comfort, language, loyalty, redemption arcs, relationships crossing/transgressing social status, wordplay, worldbuilding

DNWs: Eroticized rape, heavy duty AU (e.g., high school, space travel), mpreg, violence for its own sake

Some brief fandom musings and prompts should you like them are behind ( the cut. )

これで以上です。

I got two (two!) amazing fics this year

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Cetho by DachOsmin in The Goblin Emperor fandom. Oh man, this gift. Social mores! Earnest-and-conflicted-and-grumpy Beshelar! Cala being badass! Oblique backstory! Loyalty! Devotion! Like Addison, the author does a bang-up job of hinting at things and letting the reader work through the implications. So good.

Shine by cerch in the Captive Prince fandom. What I love especially about this fic is the look we get at Our Heroes learning how to be hopeful and content after everything they've been through, but without glossing over the lingering uncertainties and concerns. And there's some ripping good banter into the bargain, too.

And for those who are interested, my Goblin Emperor story, "A Tale Concerning the Emperor's Wedding," is here.

これで以上です。

And my fic, also for Watchmaker. I'm so pleased to have matched in this fandom in both directions this year. I wrote the whole thing on a Nexus, which in addition to having size 2 font, features a text input/autocorrect system that was clearly developed by a sadist. There were long stretches when I would have given up in despair except I love this novel so much, to the extent that half a year ago I swore I would write the first fic in the fandom. And I did, and this is it:

Title: Revisions
Fandom: The Watchmaker of Filigree Street
Summary: Love and friendship, like learning another language and everything else in life, require practice to perfect.
Written for: loneraven.

これで以上です。

( So assignments are out... )

これで以上です。