pigeon talk

Jul. 1st, 2025 08:06 pm[personal profile] sideways
sideways: (►a one woman man)
Title: Pigeon Talk
AO3: Link
Rating: PG
Series: Widdershins (Jack O'Malley, Ben Thackery)
Wordcount: 3,478
Summary: One week he's the bastard second cousin of the king long kept in hiding, a rumour so far outside anything Mal's ever had hurled his way before that it's almost funny. The next, he talks to pigeons.
Remarks: How did this end up as long as it did. Good grief. Anyway, deeply hypocritical for Mal of all people to complain about Being Perceived on a discomfiting level, but also he totally would.

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what's a pigeon got to talk about anyway? )

Battleship Overflow Letter

Jun. 30th, 2025 03:06 pm[personal profile] sheliak
sheliak: A ship with decorated sails and elaborate prow, on a turbulent river. (ship: bilibin)
I wasn't going to have one of these, but... I needed more room. This is going to be messy and will not have my usual formatting.


DNWs
    General DNWs:
  • Time loops (including both stable time loops and Groundhog Day style time loops)
  • Rape/noncon
  • Hopeless endings
  • Unrequested setting-change AUs (as opposed to canon divergence, which is pretty much always welcome)
  • Porn without plot
  • Mundane AUs
  • Omegaverse
  • Hanahaki
  • Soulmates
  • Characters begging to come/for sex acts

  • DNWs specific to 7 Seeds
  • Ango playing a major role (mention is fine).

  • DNWs specific to Akatsuki no Yona:
  • Yona/Hak, except as part of Yona/Hak/Soo-Won or Yona/Hak/Jae-ha.

  • DNWs specific to Chronicles of the Kencyrath:
  • Jame/Tori as a central part of a story, except as requested.
  • Harm to bonded creatures (e.g. Addy, Jorin, Drie's fish; also applies to original character creatures).

  • DNWs specific to the Dark Crystal universe:
  • Original Skeksis, urRu/Mystic, or UrSkek characters. (Original characters of any other species are fine, as are "nothing to work off of but the name, but the existence of an UrSkek/Mystic/Skeksis by this name is canon" characters.)

  • DNWs specific to Six Ages:
  • Any variant of the "Are Elmal and Yelmalio the same god or not?" mess.

  • DNWs specific to Star Trek: Rihannsu:
  • The Rihannsu becoming or evolving into the Romulans of TNG.

  • DNWs specific to Star Wars:
  • Jedi Order or Council bashing - I have a lot of affection for them, both as people as and a a culture/institution.
  • Tattooine Slave Culture (the specific fanon).
  • The Mando'a conlang, or Mandalore stuff in general.

  • DNWs specific to X-Men:
  • The Phoenix Force being portrayed as an intrinsically evil being.
  • Trevor Fitzroy.
  • Selene, the Shadow King, or Mojo playing a large role (exception: if I'm requesting Spiral, Mojo is okay then).
  • Any romantic pairings involving Empath.
  • Ororo/T'Challa--please don't even mention the marriage, even to say they're divorced.
  • Mutant!Moira.

    Battleship Tag DNWs
  • ABDL
  • Abusing Heat Suppressants
  • Accidental Knotting
  • Age Regression/De-Aging
  • Assgasm or Nogasm
  • Awkward Boners
  • Belly Kink
  • Biological BDSM AU
  • Boot Kink
  • Breast Expansion
  • Breeding Kink
  • Cheating/Infidelity
  • Cigarettes
  • Cock Warming
  • Come Inflation
  • Coming In Pants
  • Coregasm
  • Dry Humping
  • Eating disorders
  • Edging
  • Glory Hole
  • Hanahaki
  • Heat/rut
  • Hole Training
  • Inflation
  • Knotting
  • Makeover
  • Objectification
  • Omega/Omega
  • Omegaverse
  • Omorashi
  • Oral Knotting
  • Piss Enema
  • Plugged in Public
  • Red String of Fate
  • Rimming
  • Ruined Orgasm
  • Serial Killers
  • Sexting
  • Spanking
  • Somnophilia
  • Soulmate-Identifying Marks
  • Submission Pissing
  • Time Loop

Likes
    General Likes:
  • Time travel, including: time travel fixit; time travel with the glorious angst of knowing you're overwriting your future to give the past a chance; time travel that results in forming new kinds of relationships with people, like becoming friends with someone who was an enemy in the old timeline.
  • Seers (in the absence of predestination) who know what may happen and use that knowledge cleverly.
  • Strict honor codes.
  • Worldbuilding.
  • Alien POV.
  • A sense of wonder.
  • Loyalty.
  • Characters temporarily putting aside their weapons or sources of power as a show of trust.
  • Best enemies, who might kill each other someday but fundamentally respect and trust each other, perhaps more than they do their nominal allies. Rivals and enemies becoming friends, or allies, or lovers, or swearing loyalty to one another.
  • Kneeling. Physical gestures of loyalty or affection.
  • Unexpected mercy. Mercy in general, too.
  • Heroism in desperate straits, characters choosing to be heroic even in a dystopia or doomed world.
  • Magical abilities/superpowers in daily life.

  • Time Travel Likes
  • Time travel fixit.
  • Time travel with the glorious angst of knowing you're overwriting your future to give the past a chance.
  • Time travel that results in forming new kinds of relationships with people, like becoming friends with someone who was an enemy in the old timeline.
  • Crack pairings that suddenly make perfect sense due to time travel!
  • Characters gaining a new perspective--on other people, history, themselves, etc.
  • Characters who were neglected in canon getting to shine, including but not limited to those characters using their knowledge of the future to achieve great things.
  • In action series, characters using their future knowledge to become totally badass (especially when it's a female character doing this).

  • Worldbuilding Likes:
  • Culture! I really love a piece that gets into the POV of the culture it's depicting.
  • Family structure. How do people see their relationships? Which ones do they prioritize?
  • Craft details!
  • Clothing, cloth, fibers, weaving, spinning... Also jewelry. Who wears it? What does it indicate (e.g., gender, status, ...?)
  • Architecture, how homes and public buildings reflect a culture.
  • Food! What do people eat? How do they store food for the times when they can't farm/hunt/forage for more? Do they trade for food?

  • Hurt/Comfort Likes:
  • Leaders slowly earning the trust of traumatized people who have every reason to fear the worst from the world in general and possibly them in particular.
  • A character is disparaged by their own allies, but an unlikely person (such as an honorable enemy or captor) recognizes their excellence and tells them so.
  • I already mentioned unexpected mercy, but it goes here too: I love a buildup of fear and then relief, mercy from someone who (as far as the character knows) has absolutely no reason to be merciful.
  • Characters who have no mercy for themselves, but can have it for others, or whose friends and lovers disagree with their self-judgement.
  • Characters pushing themselves to their limits and beyond, and others being there to catch them when they do.
  • Characters going to great lengths to help one another.
  • The less-hurt person also being in some distress, and struggling with it, and perhaps taking comfort in their own ability to help others.
  • Characters who are convinced that they don't matter and no one cares learning that actually someone does care and does think they matter.
  • Rescues! Rescues where the rescuee is convinced no one's coming, implacable rescuers overcoming terrible obstacles to save their friends/lovers.

  • Art Likes:
  • Pen and ink. Watercolor. Charcoal.
  • Use of light and shadow.
  • Limited color palettes can be very lovely!
  • Flowing lines.
  • Stained glass, decorated pottery, tapestry, art that evokes any of these.
  • Body language.
  • "Royal ease" position, when appropriate (for gods and rulers).
  • Favorite artists: John R. Neill, Ivan Bilibin, Leo & Diane Dillon, Alphonse Mucha, Thomas Canty, James Gurney, Jan Pospíšil, Michelle Lockamy. On the comics side of things, Dave Cockrum for character designs & clothing, John Byrne for body language, Alan Davis, David Aja (his Scarlet Witch covers especially).


Any Fandom I've Requested Before
1: Any Character I've Requested Before (AFIRB)
Any & Relationship I’ve Requested Before (AFIRB)
Any / Relationship I’ve Requested Before (AFIRB)

Medium: Fic - Character

Tags:
Teaching/Mentorship
Time Travel Fix-It
Unexpected Mercy
Grief/Mourning
Hurt/Comfort
Interactions with Gods
Katabasis
Loyalty
Memories
Mirrors
Exhaustion
Blood
celestial
Experimental
Apocalypse
Mental Link
Shapeshifting
Dimension Travel
Peggy Sue Time Travel
Fealty/Devotion

For this fandom, you can see my other exchange letters, the fandom's tag on this journal, or my Everything page on the app for old prompts.

List of Fandoms (... I'm probably leaving something out):
7 Seeds
A Matter of Profit - Hilari Bell
Age of Apocalypse
Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Bleach
Books of the Raksura
Casey Jones the Union Scab - Joe Hill (Song)
Cat-Eye Willie Claims His Lover
Chronicles of the Kencyrath
Crossover Fandom (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy x Star Wars Legends, Star Trek: DS9 x X-Men Comics, Chronicles of the Kencyrath x War Gods, X-Men Comics x Age of Apocalypse, Dark Crystal comics x Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance), Transformers Generation One x Transformers Shattered Glass
마왕의 고백 | The Dark Lord's Confession (Webcomic)
Dreaming of Sunshine
Glorantha (sometimes as RuneQuest)
Heartstrikers Series - Rachel Aaron
Heer Halewijn (Traditional Ballad)
Homestuck (only the Eldritchfuck Roseworld AU from FFA)
John Barleycorn
King of Dragon Pass
Liavek
Long John Moore (Traditional Song)
Marvel Comics/Marvel 616 (X-Men, always)
Mesopotamian Mythology
Monstress
묘령의 황자 | Mystic Prince (Webcomic)
Naruto
New Mutants (Comics)
Original Work (mostly femdommy het, some gen with mostly similar power dynamics)
Otoyomegatari | The Bride's Stories
Planet of the Dragons - Richard Brightfield
Revolutionary Princess Eve (Webcomic)
SCP Foundation
Six Ages: Ride Like the Wind
SCP Foundation
Star Trek: Crossroad - Barbara Hambly
Star Trek: Rihannsu
Star Trek: The Entropy Effect - Vonda McIntyre
Star Trek: Various Authors
Star Wars Legends: Republic (Comics)
Star Wars: All Media Types
The Dark Crystal tie-in comics
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
The Sun Sword - Michelle West
Transformers (Skybound 2023)
Vespertine Series - Margaret Rogerson
The Vicars of Lower Squashby - Jared Pechacek
Vampire: The Masquerade
Warhammer (also as FFA Warhammer AUs )
X-Men (Comicsverse) (sometimes as Marvel 616/Marvel Comics)
Yona of the Dawn

Any Fandom I've Created For Before
Ships:
1: Worldbuilding (AFICFB)
1: Any Character I’ve Created For Before (AFICFB)
Any / Relationship I’ve Created For Before (AFICFB)
Any & Relationship I’ve Created For Before (AFICFB)

Medium: Fic

Tags:
Hurt/Comfort
Antiques and Relics
Arranged Marriage
Bets & Wagers
Blood
body of water
Bodysharing
celestial
Dimension Travel
Dragons
Enemies to Lovers
Exhaustion
Experimental
Fealty/Devotion
Forehead Touching
Found Family
Grief/Mourning
hair petting
Hand/Wrist Kisses
Historical Fashion
Huddling For Warmth
Hurt/Comfort
Interactions with Gods
Katabasis
Loyalty
Medical Exam
Memories
Mental Link
Mirrors
Peggy Sue Time Travel
Politics
Polyamory
POV Outsider
rococo
Role Reversal
Scar Kissing
Second marriage
Shapeshifting
Sharing Clothes
Teaching/Mentorship
Time Travel Fix-It
Unexpected Mercy
Wings

List of Fandoms (complete going by AO3 posting; see [archiveofourown.org profile] sheliak for characters/ships):
A Matter of Profit - Hilari Bell
Aladdin (Cartoon 1994)
Amalgam Comics
Astronomy (Anthropomorphic)
Avatar: The Last Airbender (Cartoon 2005)
Battleship Exchange
Bleach (Anime & Manga)
Books of the Raksura - Martha Wells
Chronicles of the Kencyrath - P. C. Hodgell
Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Elemental Logic - Laurie J. Marks
Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Homestuck
Mrs. Pollifax - Dorothy Gilman
Naruto (Anime & Manga)
New Mutants (Marvel Comics)
Original Work
Otoyomegatari | The Bride's Stories
Oz - L. Frank Baum
RuneQuest (Roleplaying Game)
SCP Foundation
Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel)
Six Ages (Video Games)
Star Trek - Various Authors
Star Wars - All Media Types
Star Wars Legends: Republic (Comics)
The Chronicles of Chrestomanci - Diana Wynne Jones
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
The Heartstrikers Series - Rachel Aaron
Warhammer 40.000
Watersong - Mary Caraker
X-Men (Comicverse)
Yuri's Palace (Webcomic)
天使のたまご | Tenshi no Tamago | Angel's Egg (Anime)


Icon — Runaway to the Stars

Jun. 30th, 2025 09:39 pm[personal profile] sheliak
sheliak: Handwoven tapestry of the planet Jupiter. (Default)
Tail end of the month, didn't icon, busy with Battleship signup, so: have a single icon of Talita from RTTS being relatable. (Text could use some work, ah well.)
chomiji: An image of a classic spiral galaxy (galaxy)

The Earth is ruled by the authoritarian Mandate, which like all such governments is constantly alert for threats to its stability. This extends to its scientific research: although the Mandate has explored space and discovered a number of exoplanets (a few of which have some form of life), it still insists that scientific discoveries must support the philosophy of the Mandate, which holds that human beings are the pinnacle of creation and that other life forms must all be in the process of striving to achieve that same state of being.

Ecologist and xeno-ecologist Arton Daghdev chafes against both these mental manacles and the Mandate in general. Some time before the story opens, he becomes part of a cell of would-be revolutionaries. After discovery of his improper views and rebellious actions, he is sentenced to what is meant to be a short life assisting research on the planet Imno 27g, casually known as Kiln for the strange clusters of pottery buildings scattered over its surface.

Life as a prisoner on Kiln within the research enclave is brutal in all the ways any such prison can be, when the prisoners are nothing but human-shaped machinery to accomplish the goals of their jailers. The Mandate's leadership has absolute control over who among their prisoners lives or dies, and if anyone should harbor the intent to escape, the environment outside the base is all too lively. The death rate among the workers is appalling, but new shipments of convicted crooks and malcontents arrive all the time, so it hardly matters.

None of the weird aliens seem to be builders of the sort needed to create the clusters of mysterious structures or indeed intelligent in any way beyond, perhaps, the level of social insects on Earth. Yet somehow the small, dysfunctional cadre of scientists on Kiln must serve up the desired tidbits of discovery to keep their commandant happy with them: evidence that there once were intelligent humanoids on Kiln.

Cut for more, including some spoilers )

I am an emotional person, and I want to like at least some of the characters about whom I'm reading. Daghdev is prickly, snarky, and fatalistic — but then, he has cause. He's also an unreliable narrator who only reveals to the reader what he wants, when he wants. The situation is really excruciating: people with a deep dislike of body horror might want to avoid this book. And there is not, in fact, a happy ending (at least not IMO).

On the other hand, this is very well written. For me, it moved along at a fantastic clip, and when I went back to check some particulars for this write-up, I found myself reading far more than I had intended because the story caught me up again. Some of the scientific ideas reminded me of other works (Sue Burke's Semiosis surfaced in my thoughts a couple of time), and sometimes I was reminded of something more elusive, a source that I can't recall. Does anyone else who has already read this have thoughts on the book's likely ancestors?

From my viewpoint, this was one of the most "science fictional" of this year's finalists. I think it might be my first choice in the vote.

neotoma: Neotoma albigula, the white-throated woodrat! [default icon] (Default)
2 quarts of yellow sweet cherries, 1 quart of blue berries, 1 pint of black raspberries, 1 pint of apricots, 1 lb of black beans, 1 lb popcorn, 1 strawberry lemonade, 1 quart of chocolate milk, bacon-gruyere wheel, almond croissant, and a lemon tart.

The fruit stand that I usually buy from saved me an apricot from their limited selection today -- the benefits of being friendly, remembering everyone's pronouns, and occasionally wearing one of my ace flag pins.

Hugo Novels Write-Up Poll

Jun. 24th, 2025 10:33 pm[personal profile] chomiji
chomiji: Doa from Blade of the Immortal can read! Who knew? (Doa - books)

I've now read all the finalist novels for the 2025 Hugo Awards. The trouble is, I read some of these books when they first came out last year. Still. I'm happy to share my impressions if people are interested.

Poll #33287 cho's Hugo Novels 2025 Write-Up
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15


Which of the 2025 finalists are you most interested in having me write up?

View Answers

Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
9 (60.0%)

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley
4 (26.7%)

Service Model by Adrian Tchaikovsky
4 (26.7%)

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
6 (40.0%)

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
5 (33.3%)

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
5 (33.3%)

(no subject)

Jun. 24th, 2025 09:58 pm[personal profile] sideways
sideways: (►plant begonias)
This month I have managed to make three fanworks for my three teeny-weeniest fandoms. Feels like putting offerings down for minor gods largely forgotten outside your own hearth. (This is a joke.) We'll never turn hurricanes aside, but I hope you enjoy my humble scone sacrifice, etc etc.

ouch

Jun. 21st, 2025 08:33 pm[personal profile] esteefee
esteefee: chibi Rodney kissing John on the head with a little red heart (crankychibijohn)
note to self: do not purchase children's bandaids. children's bandaids were invented by an unlicensed sadist. sure, they're cute. but there's a reason kids hate having them removed, and that is: they don't come off! not without taking your skin with them.

boycott children's bandaids. even if they have SpongeBob on them.
neotoma: Bunny likes oatmeal cookies [foodie icon] (foodie-bunny)
Brown sugar kettle corn, a quart of strawberries, a pint of blueberries, 2 pints of black raspberries, 3 cups of saskatoons, 2 quarts of sour cherries, a half-pint of black currants, almond croissant, bacon-gruyere wheel, lemon tart, and then I picked up my friend's CSA share as they and their spouse are out of town for the weekend and got: garlic scapes, bunching onions, sugar snap peas, mini romaine (broken romaine leaves in a plastic bag), red leaf lettuce, kale, and red beets.

under your skin

Jun. 22nd, 2025 09:23 am[personal profile] sideways
sideways: (►city lights start falling)
Title: Under Your Skin
AO3: Link
Rating: PG
Series: A House of Many Doors (Char Dvetistek/Kinetopede Captain)
Wordcount: 1,100
Summary: Char doesn't worry. Except when she does, a little.
Tags: Mild Spoilers for Canon, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied Sexual Content, Body Horror
Remarks: I've been playing HoMD again and delighted to find that since my last delving the creator launched a HUGE patch that has cleared up many bugs, including Char's romance! Hilariously, it so far seems to be about what I'd already headcanoned. Nobody here has an emotional IQ worth squat. Honestly, most of this fic was just an excuse for me to muse on how Ira lost her hand.

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don't think I haven't figured it out - you're hooked on something )

she who is great

Jun. 22nd, 2025 09:15 am[personal profile] sideways
sideways: (►wish the wild was alive)
Title: She Who Is Great
AO3: Link
Rating: G
Series: Moon Knight (MCU) (Layla El-Faouly, Taweret)
Wordcount: 326
Summary: Layla is going into this Avatar thing with her eyes open.
Remarks: Realised I'd forgotten to cross-post this drabble from earlier this year. I like it when gods are... discomfiting. Even (especially) the 'nice' ones.

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