walkingshadow | Reading

Fandom: Nail Polish (Industry) (the AO3 tag, probably worded to disambiguate from at least two bands by that name. I’m calling it Nail Polish Blogosphere, since the characters are using and reviewing rather than manufacturing the nail polish.)
Pairings/Characters: Gen; OCs
Rating: General Audiences
Length: Only Once: 449; Only Once Remix: 1,960
Content Notes: modern in-universe folklore, nail polish connoisseurship, possible unreality, the sad beauty of transience
Creator Links: (AO3)

Sineala; (Dreamwidth)

sineala; (AO3)

woodpusher
Theme: Uncommon Settings, Folklore & Fairytales, Friendship, Magic, Social Media
Summary:

Sinealla: The story of the most beautiful nail polish in the world.

woodpusher: Like a good manicurist, this story fills in some plot holes and smooths some rough edges from Only Once.

I was trying to boost my readership so welcome to the newly gifted.

Comments are welcome!

Author’s Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )

Reccer's Notes: ( Cut_for_length. )

Fanwork Links:
Only Once, by

Sineala for

Lysimache; Yuletide Madness 2011
Only Once Remix, by

woodpusher for

Sineala,

Meltha,

kuramas30,

Viridian5,

Qem, and

Lysimache.

torachan

1. I'm pretty much over my cold. Nose was a little runny this morning, but I'm not stuffed up anymore. Still tired from not getting enough sleep, but maybe tonight will be the night? (Maybe not, though, since I was so tired this morning I bought a coffee when I got to work and then a Coke at lunch. Even though that was early in the day, it still might keep me up...)

2. I'm very glad tomorrow is Friday and it's the weekend. We're going to see Adam Conover live on Sunday, so that will be fun. (It's at the same venue where we've seen Paul F Thompkins a couple times, and Carla was browsing their upcoming acts a couple months ago and spotted it.)

3. Speaking of Sunday activities, the last Sunday of the month is our Oogie Boogie night, so I just remembered to put in a PTO request for that Monday. It only runs until 11pm, not like some of the nighttime events on the Disneyland side (DCA ones always start and end earlier), so it wouldn't be terrible to have to go to work the next day, but it's just a nice excuse to have a day off. And I do need to use up some more of my PTO balance or it will max out again before we go to Japan next year.

4. Tuxie's challenging me.

china_shop

"Still Wishlisting. This will be super quick," she said three days ago, and then failed to post it.

Kdramas
Watched more of You and Everything Else and now feel I maligned it unduly based on the first seven minutes. The childhood scenes are excellent! Will definitely be watching more.

More of A Hundred Memories, which I'm loving, and two more episodes of Low Life.

And quite a lot more of Bon Appétit, Your Majesty (Netflix) with Andrew. We're both very much enjoying the cooking (schnitzel!), and surprisingly, both wishing the ship would just go away. (Normally I would be on board with romance storylines, and I can kiiiind of see what she sees in him, but this guy needs a LOT more redemption and power-differential mitigation before I'll like it.)

Other TV and films
More of The Newsreader, more Bluey. And at the cinema:

Prime Minister -- a documentary about our erstwhile leader Jacinda Ardern. This was really good -- very candid, brought up a lot of memories from the last 5 years, made me tear up.

The Ballad of Wallis Island -- an incredibly charming little film that hits all the expected beats but does it so well and with such specificity that it totally worked for me. I loved it! Made me cry. So very glad that I saw it at the movies, because the acting was amazing. Warning for gentle cringe humour. (Trailer.)

Writing/making things
alkjsdfhalkdjsfhalkdjsfhaskdljfhadslk BEARS!

Good things
Fish and chips and Low Life tonight. Cat and boy and internet. Writing, especially when it comes together.

Poll #33685 CNTW

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 42

View Respondents

When I see a fic tagged Choose Not to Warn

View Answers

sail on in
16 (38.1%)

approach cautiously
14 (33.3%)

avoid
2 (4.8%)

depends on the author
14 (33.3%)

depends on the fandom
10 (23.8%)

depends on the other tags
24 (57.1%)

other
3 (7.1%)

ticky-box full of delicious, delicious starch
14 (33.3%)

ticky-box full of native birds causing a ruckus
19 (45.2%)

ticky-box full of squid performing cirque du la marée
13 (31.0%)

ticky-box full of hugs
26 (61.9%)

torachan

1. The main downside of this cold is that I am fucking exhausted from lack of sleep. I did get more sleep last night, but still tossed and turned a lot. Today I am much less stuffed up, so hopefully it will be easier to sleep tonight. Carla was so miserable when she was sick, though, so I'm very glad I didn't get it as bad as her.

2. Gemma really loves this new box.

kingstoken posting in

fancake

Fandom: Our Flag Means Death
Pairings/Characters: Stede/Ed and Stede/Ed/izzy
Rating: G
Length: 2252 words
Creator Links: charlieloverboy
Theme: Uncommon settings, unconventional format & style

Summary: FOR PUBLIC RELEASE
Video title: “Blackbeard and the Gentleman Pirate Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions | WIRED”
From WIRED Entertainment

Reccer's Notes: This fic is written like it's the transcript of a WIRED interview, the ones where the celebrities answer google's most searched for questions about them. It's a modern AU where Ed and Stede are rock stars and its implied that Izzy is Ed's manager. I'm not sure how the author did it, but they got the tone and how most celebrities speak in these interviews spot on, while also telling us a narrative about Ed and Stede and heavily implying Ed/Stede/Izzy.

Fanwork Links: AO3

sage

( books (Dunnett, Aaronovitch et al, Mohamed) )

VAMPIRE SALE!
I've put all my Interview With The Vampire Art Dolls on sale for 20% off for the entire month of October! (I have a post on Tumblr that it would be great if you could reblog! Thanks!)

yarning
I've been crocheting a lot, making and selling more kickbunnies. (Enough that I may even get my Etsy star seller badge back!) I went to yarn group Sunday and had a nice time. I just finished a purple bunny & an under the door toy. Next is a yellow bunny, though I'm running out of boxes and am waiting on Prime Day to order more, oops. OH! AND! Niece LOVED her globe & moon! I'm so relieved. I still don't know what to make her for xmas, but I'm going to do a reversible octopus for her 2yo brother with a happy face on one side and a frowny face on the other. He's learning the basics of FEELINGS & this may help? I hope so. Might do a reversible rose doll for Niece (one side is a doll from waist up with a big skirt. Flip the skirt over her head and it's a rose. Though I wonder if she already has one. Hrm.

healthcrap
I had botox for migraines Friday & the skin clinic Monday. Boo: I've got a badly drooping right eyelid from the botox this time & it's so bad I'm having trouble focusing. Yay: Topical horse dewormer is incredibly effective for rosacea, I'm glad to say. I thought I'd never get rid of the spots on my face, but this works. (Note, it does NOT work for Covid.) Speaking of, I got my Covid & flu jabs today. Fasting labs tmrw, gah, but they have to be done. ( cut for discussion of weight loss )

#resist
October 18: No Kings Day 2

I hope all of y'all are doing well! <333

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Hilda the Plus-Size Pinup
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Hilda
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 100
Creator Tags: IN SPACE!, Drabble, wonder, Yuletide Treat, Yuletide Madness, Drabble Invitational
Creator Links: (AO3)

Missy; (Dreamwidth)

bring_me_sugar

Theme: Uncommon Settings, Drabble, In Space, Old Fandoms, Sense Of Wonder, Small Fandoms

Summary: Hilda makes it to space - the universe is vast, but she's one with it.

Author’s Notes: For Topaz_Eyes.

Reccer's Notes: Hilda takes her exploration of The Great Outdoors to the next level. This is a gift-wrapped illo-op; I’m envisioning her in a brilliant red Latex Space Suit with an emergency backflap—in homage to her winter longjohns.

Fanwork Links: Here I Am, by

Missy for

Topaz_Eyes, for Yuletide Madness 2020.

Current Music: ”The World Is Just Awesome”.

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Our theme for October is uncommon settings!

These are places you don't commonly see represented in fanworks, either in a specific fandom or fandom in general.

The tag for this round is: theme: uncommon settings

If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

( Rules! )

( Posting Template! )

( Promote this round! )

Reblog on Tumblr | Reskeet on Bluesky | Retoot on Mastodon

killabeez

Sign up here.

If you need an AO3 invite, please contact the mods.

For those with a need to review AO3 processes:
HLH Shortcuts AO3 Signup Guide by @teratornis
HLH Shortcuts AO3 Submission Guide by @teratornis
How to Default

Your mods strongly encourage the use of betareaders, whether affiliated with the exchange or outside the exchange:
Betareaders Wanted/Betareaders Available

In case you need to review the 2025 dates:

Sign Ups: October 1 to October 11, 2025 11:59PM CDT on AO3
Assignments handed out: no later than October 14, 2025
Default deadline: November 20, 2025
Submission deadline: December 15, 2025
First story posted: December 20, 2025

Please share far and wide.

siria

( Adoptable )

( The Gilded Age, S1-3 )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser/Ray Kowalski, Diefenbaker
Rating: Teen
Length: 1929
Creator Links: seascribble on AO3
Themes: Food and cooking, First time, Friends to lovers, Domestic

Summary: Ray is actually starting to like oatmeal.

Reccer's Notes: Set towards the end of the quest to find the Hand of Franklin and afterwards, once their relationships's established, this story weaves together scenes featuring Ray Kowalski, Fraser, Dief, and food of various types - some delicious, some less so, and all telling the tale of their relationship. Lovely.

Fanwork Links: A Balanced Diet (or, Four Vaguely Interrelated Vignettes about Ray, Fraser, and Food)

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Madison Miller, Jeannie Miller
Rating: G
Length: 1552
Creator Links: Punk on AO3
Themes: Food and cooking, First time, Humor

Summary: Rodney doesn't know whether he should go for the ice cream or Sheppard's mouth.

Reccer's Notes: A charming first time story where Rodney's lust for a real-vanilla ice cream cone is transmuted into lust for John, with Jeannie berating and cheering them on from the sidelines. Fun, and an excellent outcome for everyone except the ice cream!

Fanwork Links:
Text on AO3: Vanilla
Podfic read by Punk: Vanilla [podfic]

torachan

1. Finished another puzzle!

This is from the same new series as the Stitch one, but this one has proper square corners. Carla is actually the one who finished it (and worked on it a lot throughout), though I did do about half of it.

2. I continue to feel very stuffed up but otherwise not sick? I guess I'll take that over being properly sick, but it's not a lot of fun. My lips were so chapped today from breathing through my mouth and I only got about an hour, maybe an hour and a half of sleep last night because I was tossing and turning. Though if I felt properly sick I'd also feel like I could take off work, but since I feel otherwise fine and there's a lot of work to do, I've still been going in (masked).

3. Friday afternoon I was feeling really stressed and anxious about work, which caused me to just keep obsessively running over things in my mind all that night and through Saturday, which is not great when I just want to enjoy the weekend and not think about work, but this week has felt better, like we are making real progress and can meet the deadline and that things will be okay. It just feels like there's a lot on my shoulders at a very late stage in the game, and I don't love that.

4. Chloe's got the right idea.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Jiang Cheng, Wei Wuxian, Wen Chao, Wen Zhuliu
Rating: Mature
Length: 1,113
Content Notes: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Anonymous Author, Cornetto body horror, Cornetto torture, Cornetto autocannibalism, Cornetto necromancy
Creator Tags: alternative universe, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Cornetto gore

Theme: Food & Cooking, AU: Anthropomorphic, Crack, Humor, Horror

Summary: Jiang Cheng is an oreo cornetto who had his flavor core melted by the Flavor-Melting Cornetto, Wen Zhuliu. To save his brother, Wei Wuxian gave his flavor core to Jiang Cheng. Somewhere out there in a Chinese convenience store cooler is an oreo-topped cornetto with chocolate flavor inside, an example of false advertising.

After being thrown off by the second-rate kornetto, Wen Chao, in a place where other cornetto fears to be dumped in - the public park trash can- Wei Wuxian learns a forbidden cultivation, the power to recycle discarded and melted cornettos.

With an army of broken wafer cones, torn cornetto wrappers and puddles of melted ice cream, Wei Wuxian makes a name for himself as the Founder of Recycled Cornettos.

Watch him as he calls on all the discarded cornettos to exact revenge on the Wens.

Reccer's Notes: The atrocities of the Sunshot Campaign…if everyone were sapient Cornettos. (Presumably inspired by the donghua’s jarring and anachronistic injections of Product Placement into the narrative, which became a running gag among the fandom.)

I’ve tagged this as Humor, because some readers will receive it thus, but there’s a quote by

glorious-spoon on Tumblr that I think summarizes my own reaction:

i don't usually go for crack fic, but there's something really beautiful about fic that takes a cracky premise and plays it utterly straight, to the point of genuine human pathos that's only enhanced by the sheer ridiculousness of what's actually happening

(Source (glorious-spoon’s own Tumblr is locked): https://phoenixcatch7.tumblr.com/post/795027167614550016)

Fanwork Links: Grandmaster of Recycled Cornettos, by Anonymous.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; Jiang Cheng vs. Lan Wangji; Jiang Cheng & Lan Wangji; Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian; Jiang Cheng, Lan Wangji, Wei Wuxian
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 2,024; 19:36
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, Jiang Cheng the F-bombardier
Creator Tags: Post-Canon, Humor, brother-in-law-ly bonding, jc is an angry grape who won't admit he and lwj are friends, but (and u didn't hear this from me) they kinda are
Creator Links: (Fic)

chinxe; (Podfic):

GodOfLaundryBaskets

Theme: Food & Cooking, Fandom Classics, Humor, Podfics, Post-Canon, Working Together

Summary:
Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji cannot stand each other on the best of days, which is why them being forced to work together can only end in disaster and/or attempted murder.

Right?

Author’s Notes: For Bendisa.

This was written as a thank you present for mei (marimoflower on twitter)!

… if you couldn't tell, jc + lwj is one of my favourite dynamics to write...love me a pair of emotionally constipated dumbasses...

Reccer's Notes: Jiang Cheng, sneaking into the Cloud Recesses kitchen to cook for his ailing brother, finds Lan Wangji there with the same intention; in a glorious duel/duet of sniping pettiness, Wei Wuxian’s brother and husband contend, and then cooperate, to commit lotus rib soup.

Fanwork Links:
Fic: proof by contradiction, by

chinxe for

Bendisa.
Podfic: [Podfic] proof by contradiction by

GodOfLaundryBaskets for

sisi_rambles.

Current Music: “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)”, by Tony Orlando and Dawn.

the_shoshanna

While I was in Wales, when I wasn't hiking, collapsing after hiking, drinking local beer after hiking, or blogging, I read Emily Skidmore's True Sex, and I recommend it highly to those of you who are interested in queer history! She traces the lives of eighteen American trans men in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, which is fascinating in itself, but part of her focus is that, while queer history has tended to focus on cities and the development of queer communities in them, these men pretty much all lived in small cities, towns, or rural areas, and clearly did so by choice in most or all cases. I mean, many of them moved around a lot; they could have moved to Chicago, but they stayed in Nowheresville. And they could sometimes be welcomed and treated as men there even when their communities knew they were AFAB.

Also, of course, a significant number were only publicly revealed as AFAB after years of living as men, sometimes only after their deaths. Skidmore doesn't spend a lot of time on this, but to me that means that there were a lot more stealth trans men who never got found out at all.

I did want her to dig deeper into racial issues, She often ties the ability to live as a man to white privilege, but I think that tie is weak without a discussion of the experiences of, and community acceptance of, black (or other nonwhite) trans men, which she doesn’t really offer.

Her research is impressive, and it's smoothly readable, not jargony. I recommend it highly!

muccamukk

Just looked up Dalgliesh on Wikipedia to see if there's more forthcoming TV that I'll forget to actually watch.

No word on if/when season four.

So I clicked over to Bertie Carvel's page to see if he was busy. ( negativity about the HP show )

cimorene

I had covid once, in April 2022 I think, and I had restless leg syndrome for the first time in my life during that infection. It was EXTREMELY uncomfortable - I couldn't sleep properly, and I mostly couldn't feel comfortable at all sitting up, but I also could not stop moving my legs almost constantly. I think I settled on weakly bicycling them. But since the rest of my symptoms approximated a severe flu, it also sort of blended into the background nightmare and I don't remember it very clearly.

That was the first time I ever had RLS, and I only know the name because I was googling the symptom at the time. Apparently it was a known symptom of that variant, or that's what the net told me at the time.

Well, I just had it for the SECOND time ever last night!

I fell asleep at midnight, and I guess I was awake with physical discomfort, verging on actual pain, from about 2 am to 7 am when I got up to give the cats their breakfast. It was a bit like the discomfort of a limb that's going to cramp or go to sleep in a bad position, but moving only eased it for a moment, so I was tossing and turning and only managed to sleep fitfully once during that, dreaming that I had RLS. After I fed the cats at 7 I microwaved a wheat pillow and when I went back to bed I put it on my thighs, which enabled me to fall asleep finally. Then, of course, I overslept.

Wax says that she gets RLS sometimes, but a mild version that doesn't bother her as much, and that it's apparently a known symptom of menopause?! Wow, I hate that.

And like so many problems, unfortunately, the most effective recommendations for managing it are all stuff like regular good sleep hygiene and good exercise habits, and it's like yeah I know, I'm TRYING! That, and maybe iron might help.

torachan

1. We had homemade nachos for dinner last night and they were so good.

2. I tried to go to the post office this morning, but even though it was a few minutes past when they were supposed to open, the doors were still locked and there were about ten other people outside so I just skipped it and figured I'd try again on the way home from work (this location is just down the street from work, so it's very convenient). Thankfully the second time was the charm, and there was only one person there before me.

3. I seem to have caught Carla's cold after all, but it seems much lighter than what she had. I'm just a little sniffly and stuffed up but don't otherwise feel sick, so I did go in to work today but just stayed masked the whole time I was out so as to not get anyone else sick.

4. Molly has discovered a new way to maximize fur distribution on the towels.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Hilda the Plus-Size Pin-up
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Hilda, Hilda’s animals, Hilda’s viewers, Hilda’s kindasorta personified sourdough strains.
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2,947
Content Notes: Author Tract (COVID hygiene); canon-typical near-nudism; COVID-19 quarantine and the stresses thereof; Food Porn; music and instrument care nerdery; social media; some of Hilda’s chickens are for meat; sourdough nerdery; vintage textile nerdery.
Creator Tags: Epistolary, Pandemics, Recipes, Yuletide, Yuletide 2020
Creator Links: (AO3)

ellen_fremedon, (Bluesky)

ellenfremedon, (Dreamwidth)

ellen_fremedon, (Tumblr)

fremedon

Theme: Food & Cooking, Epistolary, Gen, Modern AU, Old Fandoms, (Secret) Hobbies, Small Fandoms

Summary: Welcome to Off the Grid at Chez Hilda, updated every Friday or whenever I feel like it. My artwork is at the Patreon link, and I don't need to remind lovely folks like you to like and subscribe, now do I?

Reccer's Notes: Hilda in 2020 is a rural lifestyle vlogger, addressing her audience from COVID quarantine and coping with lockdown in her characteristic down-home resourceful fashion (chaining canon illustrations into a storyline.)

The modernized context turns her repurposable-as-clothing floursacks into a vintage estate artifact, rhyming two historical periods of struggle and make-do as she renders them into masks. In the course of her expositions on things like feral cat rescue and wafflemaking, she casually drops evidence of an impressive and wide-ranging education; this is a woman who, in her witty conversational folksiness, gladly learns and gladly teaches. (Wonder if she and Manly Wade Wellman’s John the Balladeer ever met?)

This Hilda lives in a community, though; as the quarantine grinds wearily on, she grows increasingly fretful in her seclusion, mounting the soapbox to rant about neighbors who refuse to mask or isolate (this is 2020, before vaccines became available), and the parasocial companionship of her audience becomes increasingly precious.

Oh, and Hilda shares a recipe for her hybrid sourdough/baking powder waffles, complete with considerate substitution suggestions for various dietary limitations. (“This batter keeps in the fridge for a couple days, allegedly. I’ve never managed to test it.”)

Fanwork Links: Hilda Shelters in Place, by

ellen_fremedon for

Topaz_Eyes, for Yuletide 2020.

October 2021

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the company i keep

Reading

Nail Polish Blogosphere: Only Once-verse, by Sineala and woodpusher.

Daily Happiness

Me-and-media update

Daily Happiness

Blackbeard and the Gentleman Pirate Answer the Web's Most Searched Questions | WIRED by charlielover

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Hilda the Plus-Size Pinup: Here I Am, by Missy.

Round 179: Uncommon Settings

Highlander Shortcuts signups are open!

2543 / Adoptable; The Gilded Age, S1-3

due South: A Balanced Diet by seascribble

SGA: Vanilla by Punk

Daily Happiness

Mo Dao Zu Shi: Grandmaster of Recycled Cornettos, by Anonymous.

Mo Dao Zu Shi: proof by contradiction, by chinxe; podfic by GoLBPodfics (GodOfLaundryBaskets).

book rec: Emily Skidmore's True Sex

sighs (Harry Potter thoughts, sorta)

I had restless leg syndrome as a symptom during Covid

Daily Happiness

Hilda the Plus-Size Pin-up: Hilda Shelters in Place, by ellen_fremedon for Topaz_Eyes.

October 2021

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