mixed habitat & densely vegetated hiding places

Oh yeah, I actually did write some fic this year! It was mostly in the first half of the year so I sort of forgot. I wrote 9 things in 9 different fandoms, for a total of 6,050 words.

( and here they are )

So, I realized two things this year about where I am with writing:

1) There are times in my life when I write a lot of fic and times when I don't, and I've become okay with that. I am done with feeling like I've failed if I don't do it. I would rather write a few fics here and there when I feel moved to do so than push myself to do more out of a sense of obligation.

2) Writing reviews is writing. In 2024 I wrote a combined total of 71,000 words of book and game reviews. Writing reviews is easier for me than writing fiction, but that doesn't mean it takes no effort or time, and it doesn't mean I have to value it less or feel like I am "not writing" when many thousands of words are in fact being written, edited, and posted by me.

So there's that.

In this extremely fast-paced minimalist action game by Irish developer Terry Cavanagh, your only goal is to guide a small triangle through a geometric maze of abstract obstacles which constantly rotate as they come at you. If the leading tip of your triangle touches a wall, you die and return to the beginning of the stage. The longer you survive, the faster everything goes.

A still screenshot really doesn't do anything to convey what the game is, so here's a video of me playing the first stage:



This is a monstrously difficult game, and at first it seems impossible. Within seconds of starting the first level, you're dead. It's so fast, it feels like there's no way you can do it. And yet, if you keep trying, you start to learn how to get through the gaps in the first few walls. You survive for five seconds, and then, thrillingly, ten. As your attempts improve, you realize the obstacles come in sets and patterns that repeat. Some of them are a little less crazy than others; once you know them, they almost feel like "downtime" in between the more frantic moments. And then, at last, you make it to the end of the stage! Sixty whole seconds, incredible! That wasn't so bad after all.

( Then the next stage starts. It's faster, and the patterns are new. Within seconds, you're dead. It's so fast, it feels like there's no way you can do it... )

Super Hexagon is available on PC, Mac, Linux, and mobile devices for $2.99 USD. I would recommend it for anyone who likes a twitchy challenge. Or if you need to get yourself psyched up for just about anything, you can just listen to the soundtrack.

I did not write a lot in 2023, but I did write a few things, so this will have to be a celebration of small victories!

World of Warcraft

Sisters' Reunion (M, Alexstrasza/Ysera, 100 words)
The day Alexstrasza dreamed of has come.

Remembrance (T, Koltira/Thassarian, 100 words)
What Koltira remembers of life, and when.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

For a Thousand Summers (I Will Wait For You) (T, Guinan/Jean-Luc Picard, 283 words)
So many times, Guinan thinks she sees him.

Quantum Leap (2022)

The Mandela Effect (G, Ian/Rachel, 200 words)
Brains play tricks sometimes, but other times things really do change. Ian is acutely aware of that.

The Telling (Hainish Cycle)

Soft and Supple When Alive (M, Pao/Sutty, 1733 words)
What happened before Sutty danced in the street, and after.

Original Work

Iris (T, F/F, 200 words)
Iris means rainbow in Greek, you remind yourself.

Sisters' Reunion (100 words) by pauraque
Fandom: World of Warcraft
Rating: Mature
Relationship: Alexstrasza/Ysera
Additional Tags: Drabble, Dragons, Established Relationship, Sibling Incest, Past Character Death, World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Spoilers
Summary: The day Alexstrasza dreamed of has come.
Notes: Epilogue to The Dreamer chapter of the Dragonflight campaign.


Hey look, I wrote something that wasn't for a fest! It's been a while since that happened.

I haven't had much time to play lately, but yesterday I fired up World of Warcraft to participate in the annual Running of the Trolls, a community-run charity event benefiting the Trevor Project, an organization which operates a crisis hotline for LGBTQ youth in the US. (The "trolls" are an in-game species, chosen here for their bright colors, not a reference to trolling!)

It works just like a real life charity walk/run. The group gathers where new troll characters are created and takes about an hour to run across the game world and through the cities, raising awareness and collecting donations for this good cause. This year we raised over $3500 USD!



Hundreds of players turned out for the event. This was the crowd at the starting line. (Sorry for the potato-quality screenshots; I had to turn the graphics way down or else that many players in one place would have made my PC explode!)

( More screenshots )

It's not too late to make a donation if you're able!

Woo, barely getting this in before the next one starts. This one is Fanwork Recommendations. I'm just going to do a few recent, short ones here, all under 1000 words.


Harry Potter

we two boys together clinging (PG-13, Harry/Draco) by writcraft
Excerpt: Secrets. Quiet, like two boys kissing against dusty bookshelves. Hidden, like queerly beating hearts.

Themes of books, storytelling, love, and queerness spiral round each other in this exquisitely written ficlet. Books, secrets in books, secrets of the heart. Literature, stories, love stories. They intertwine like a braid, tight and strong.


Refuge (G, Percy & Snape gen) by torino10154
Excerpt: "I find myself unwelcome within the castle walls." Snape studies him for a moment though Percy feels no brush of Legilimency. "I thought you might understand."

This tense post-HBP moment gets Percy's character down cold and suggests an intriguing catalyst for his journey back to his family. Feels like you could slip this right into canon.


Warcraft

The Quel'dorei Loaf (Mature, Sylvanas Windrunner/bread) by mcaulfield
Excerpt: Life was simple then, even with her duties as Ranger-General, for she and her Rangers, no matter how coolly she referred to them in the company of authority, enjoyed the simple company of one another around a fire with good drink and good bread.

I have a thing for cracky prompts taken seriously, so this ficlet was a delight for me. You might not need to know canon for this? Sylvanas is... well, she's dead. Queen of the undead, in fact, at least those who have free will. She no longer needs to eat, but through the sensuality of food, she holds onto the thread of a connection to her former life.

Oh man, I haven't posted in a while, have I? Real life was doing a number on me, not in a bad way, just in a busy way. I am going to get to all those December meme prompts, too, but first... the Kinky Kristmas reveals post is up at daily_deviant, so I can say that I wrote this, to songquake's delicious prompts:

Pomona Sprout and the Five Points from Hufflepuff [AO3]
(NC-17, school-age-but-probably-legal Pomona/Minerva, kinks including tickling, teasing, and embarrassment)

Speaking of which, I found an embarrassment of riches in my fandom_stocking! There seems to be a glitch right now where I can't comment there without it being screened, but rest assured I love my gifts and deeply appreciate everyone who took the time to make something for me, including but not limited to:

- State-Transition Function by sineala (ST:TOS, Uhura gen with linguistics!)
- Your Move by moontyger (WoW, Anduin/Wrathion with UST!)
- For the Horde by walgesang (WoW, Thrall & Vol'jin gen with barely-subtextual D/s!)
- An Introduction by smallbrownfrog (HP, Luna/Minerva pre-femslash with Gilbert & Sullivan references!)
- Outstanding by chokolattejedi (HP, Hermione/Septima with power play!)
- Krycek and Scully art from ani_bester and another Krycek art from tarlanx! *rolls around in XF nostalgia*
- Uhura art from trobadora! Uhura! ♥♥♥

I really meant to do all kinds of things for this fest, but what actually happened was I signed up for it and then promptly forgot about it until the deadline had, in fact, passed. I suck, I know. Next year I'll do better. But due to the technical problems that delayed the fest going live, I managed a few icons for people, at least, and one ficlet, which is so tailored to walgesang's interests that it might be incomprehensible to anyone else, but here it is anyway:

The Terrible Secret of Warsong Gulch
(G, Venture Bros., 21 & 24 friendship)

Still working on that double line, as we hurtle alarmingly toward the end of the round. This one is for the exposure/exhibitionism and plushie/furry squares.

Gear is a Crutch
World of Warcraft, female pandaren, watercolors

( Nudity, though you can't really see anything but fur )

I settled on attempting a simultaneous double line with rows three and four of my card. (What can I say — piercings and blood were right next to each other!)

This one is for pain and emotion play.

The Warlock
G-rated & worksafe, World of Warcraft, original character
colored pencil on paper


( The Warlock )

For those who are wondering how this fits the prompts, the spells she's holding are Searing Pain and Fear. What she plans to do with them is left to your imagination. >:)


And now I get to go to the dentist to have a crown put on. Hopefully this will not be a work of performance art on the same themes. >_<

I've updated my first round of recs with author names. If you're here because I friended you and you're wondering who I am, it's probably because you're on that list!


I wrote three treats, which are so wildly different in style and subject matter that you'd almost think I was doing it on purpose just to see if I could.

August and Everything After (Teen, Quantum Leap, original characters) for bcgphoenix
Three people wrote for this prompt, which is unsurprising because it was a good one: What happens to the people Sam leaps into after he's gone? I really enjoyed reading the other fics, which each approached the question from a different angle.

The Good Old Days (Teen, World of Warcraft, original characters) for voleuse
Three people wrote for this prompt too! The recipient asked for fic about different factions reacting to the pandaren, and she got stories about a Stormwind human, a Bilgewater goblin, and a Forsaken, which was mine. Good times.

Acted Over (Mature, Julius Caesar, Brutus/Cassius) for bettef
The request here was for kinky Brutus/Cassius, which had me falling all over myself to write it even though it was somewhat last-minute. So, it's about that, and it's also about my sort of intense feelings about this play and its eerie, self-conscious obsession with time and performance. What can I say — when I get weird, I get really weird. I wish I'd seen the prompt earlier because I didn't feel like I had time to make the story as good as it was in my head, but bettef seemed to like it, and that's what matters most!