☆❀☆

No brains once more! Oh, well.

- Had to dogsit for my brother this weekend. I am exhausted. The adult dog is lovely and chill, but the puppy is still very much a baby, and needs to be watched at all times to make sure he won't get into something he shouldn't. Fuuuuh

- Pride month coming up. My feelings are kind of a tired "ugh, don't feel like it", but that could be because I'm tired. There sure are a lot of things going on locally; it's gotten a lot bigger from the first one. Getting up motivation to do things is going to be hard, but I think I'll try to go to one or two events, just because it's important to show up. But ughhhh dragging my feet, as usual.

- raremaleslashex is in the nom stages. I enjoy this exchange and really would love to participate, kind of tempted to nom some things just in case I do bite the bullet, but... I think I'm going to have to skip it this year.

- ...Because I've been invited to participate in another Chinese Hetalia fanbook, and I need to write a thing for it! (WHAT) A bit of a surprise, but I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully whatever I come up with will fit with the zine runner's vision.

+ comment_bingo: A bingo challenge where the goal is to comment on fanworks! Fun! What a nice idea. I signed up, because why not. Though, whenever I participate in bingos, I just do a few squares and then forget about it, whoops. Maybe this one'll be easier to actually finish, since I don't have to create anything myself.

+ raremaleslashex is in the nomination stage! I love this exchange, but I'm going to have to sit it out this year. Still, I'm keeping my eye on the requests. And noms. (Somebody nommed Michele Crispino/Katsuki Yuuri for YoI, and I really hope they request it, because I'm super curious as to what they have in mind for that pairing. It's not one I've ever thought of!)

+ sunflower_auction fandom fundraiser for Ukraine: Offer signups are ongoing from now until May 10 2022 23:59 UTC. I'm really excited by how many signups we have so far - it's a good sign! (...Still need to put mine together, whoops.)

Haven't managed to read everything I wanted to read from this year's raremaleslashex collection, but in the meantime, here are some fics that I liked a lot! All of them are for fandoms that I usually don't read in.

☆ With Honey by Plastics. Psycho (1960) x IT Film crossover. Norman Bates/Eddie Kaspbrak. Rated E, 2.7k.

Author's summary: Over 3,000 miles and a new car later, Eddie needs a fucking break.

My thoughts: When I first saw this pairing + crossover, my brain went "What?!", but the author really makes this work. I will note, there is a bit of canon divergence from the IT film in order to make everything line up, but it's unobtrusive and the author pulls it off.

☆ A Foothold in the Flood by Verecunda. Arthurian Mythology with TH White influences. Kay/Arthur. 3.3k, rated M.

Author's summary: "They may call you whatever they like — High King, Penn Teyrned, Dux Bellorum, and all the rest — but you’ll always be the little Wart underneath it all.”

My thoughts: I love this pairing in general, so I was already primed to enjoy this. The dynamic between Kay and Arthur is lovely; the author really sold me on the loyalty and warmth of their relationship. Personally, I could have done without the TH White touches, but they're just a small part of it, and relatively unobtrusive.

☆ That's How the Light Gets In by colonel_bastard. The Exorcist (TV). Marcus Keane/Tomas Ortega. 10.1k, rated T.

Author's summary: They’re deep in the throes of their latest exorcism when he hears that same voice again, a man’s voice, rough and cruel— “Whatcha gonna do, Marky boy? Shoot me? Shoot me?”
Tomas closes his eyes and exhales. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s time for him to know.
“Marcus,” he says. “I want to ask you about something.”

My thoughts: The kind of fic to sink one's teeth into. Intimate and tense. This one is set between season 1 and 2, when they're travelling around together. The author has a good sense of the characterization for these two, I think. The shipping is relatively light - it's in the form of UST and intense feelings rather than anything more obvious - but I liked that because it was in keeping with their canon dynamic.

☆ Request Pending by Kryptontease. The Martian (2015). Vincent Kapoor/Mark Watney. 10.1k, Not Rated.

Author's summary: Mark Watney broke two ribs during the rescue. Not ideal, but not the worst possible outcome. It will take 211 days for the Hermes to reach Earth. What does a man do when all he has is free time?

My thoughts: If you like atypical fic formats like mission logs, emails, and chat logs, read this fic, because the author employs that really well. I read the novel quite a while ago, so my memory of it isn't fresh, but I have the sense that this fic is a good match for the general feeling of the book, which is really nice even if it isn't actually book fic. (From what I remember, the differences between film and novel are minimal, but anyway). They do a really good job of building up the relationship and chemistry between the characters; it's really nice. It's also a really light and fun fic, and sexy but not graphic (hence the NR rating). Definitely an enjoyable read, with a cozy, sweet, feel-good happy ending.

☆ Have been watching Dark; up to s1e9 now. Really enjoying it so far. It's not my typical genre (I'm not much of a sci-fi person, not much of a time travel person) but it's so atmospheric, and I like the acting. I'm glad that there's a lot of it - two seasons, and a third coming out soon. Though at the same time I'm a little surprised about that; it seems like the kind of premise that works best as a concise single-season. But I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with all of it.

☆ I was going to make banana ice cream, because we have a ton of frozen sliced bananas. But alas, we forgot to buy cream, and I'm not about to go out and do that. Maybe I should make chocolate chip cookies instead.

☆ Working on my resume continues to be a pain in the ass. I've been doing it in small pieces to ensure I won't get too frustrated. It's hard to describe everything in a way that's both concise and understandable. And... not to get too into it, but I have difficulty presenting myself and my qualifications as outstanding/remarkable.

☆ It's been rainy and gloomy and miserable for the past few days, and I have had enough of it. We do need the rain, though.

☆ Today I included some brief bursts of running in my morning workout! And managed not to hurt myself. Hooray. For quite a while, I ruled actual running out because of some old injuries that I didn't want to mess around with (my knees suck, among other things) but today's experiment worked out really well. I'm going to keep this up and see what happens. As long as I make sure to limit this in a reasonable way, I bet there will be some improvement eventually.

☆ I received my assignment for raremaleslashex yesterday, and I've already hit the minimum wordcount on it. :D I'm very pleased about this. And I have a real actual outline and everything! If I manage to pull this off, my recip is going to get something totally awesome.

☆ Meanwhile, I've also been working on auction fics. Draft for fic #2 is close to being finished, I... think. It is going to need so much editing, good gods. Though weirdly enough, I'm actually looking forward to that; certain parts of it need to be condensed rather than polished, and that's always an interesting challenge.

☆ Upcoming exchanges that some of you might be interested in:
+ parallelsfic - Exchange centred around small fandoms for Asian canons; currently in nom stages.
+ multifandomdrabble - Exchange with 100-word fic limit; no rarity requirements. Noms start June 07.
+ everywoman - Character-based exchange centred around female characters. Noms from now until June 08.
+ fandomgiftbox - Not really an exchange; you list things that you would like to receive in your 'box', and then fill other people's giftboxes. Like fandom_stocking but in summer. Signups open now until June 21.

These are all ones I've participated in before, but this year the only one I'm going to sign up for is Multifandom Drabble, I think.

☆ raremaleslashex is in nom stages right now, and will be until May 19th. I've had fun with this exchange in the past, but looking at the schedule... man, I don't know if I'd be able to squeeze this in. Is anybody thinking of doing this one?

☆ parallelsfic is an exchange for fic/art of rare fandoms from Asian sources. The schedule is up now; looks like the ball will get rolling in June. Had a good time with it last year, but I don't think I'll be able to sign up this year... Going to keep my eye on the requests, though. Maybe I'll be able to treat somebody?

☆ multifandomdrabble is going to have a round 2 starting in June (according to the schedule). If I do this one, I'll probably just copy my signup details from the previous round, honestly. I still like the same things as I did a few months ago. ;p

☆ NedDen Week will be in July; the prompts are already up. I feel a little bit discouraged, because these seem to lean heavily toward AU-flavoured; not my style. So, I think I won't bother trying to do all of them, not like last year. Probably just the historical prompt. Which is fine, because I will probably need to research for it anyway. (I mean, sure, I could do Battle of the Sound for the Nth time, but I should... probably try something different. ;p )

☆ As far as currently-running fests go... Nordipalooza closes submissions on the 20th and I'm scrambling to get my submission done before the deadline. I have a feeling that most people are going to submit their work on the last day, as usual, but it would be nice if I, as the mod, could at least get my own thing in earlier than that. At least somebody else has managed to finish something! What a relief. xD

☆ Ahh I saw the first wild rose blossoms of summer. :) I should go in the woods some time this weekend, maybe see if I can find more. Perhaps I will even see some deer if I go at the right time of day. Who knows!

☆ raremaleslashex is closing signups June 02, so if you've been thinking about that exchange... get your signup in so that I can stalk your request, haaa. I have my eye on one that looks REALLY interesting, but I don't know if I could be capable of writing it. (But maybe I should try to write a treat anyway?)

☆ parallelsfic is in the nom stages from now until the 15th, and signups open on June 16th. This one is a fanwork exchange for rare/small fandoms from Asian sources. Minimum is 500 words. It requires 4 offers, though, and that's the hard part - even if I can partition enough time to participate, I'm unsure if I have enough fandoms to do this one.

☆ I just realized that I have 12 poem drafts in the digital wip folder. Uh. I should... work on some of those. This weekend. I guess. And hopefully finish at least one or two. xD Rundown: 7 are NiF, 2 are DWGL, 1 is original, and 2 are devotional. And I think I might have some SSSS in the works as well? But those are in the physical wip folder, not the digital one, so who knows. щ(◉Д◉щ)

Now that authors for raremaleslashex are revealed, I can de-anon the SSSS fic that I wrote:

Reconciliation. [DW crosspost]. G/0+, 2.1k, Emil/Lalli. Emil tries to reach out, and Lalli decides that maybe he forgives him.

A few people guessed this one when it was still anon... I didn't think that my style is that distinguishable, but apparently my friends are good at picking it out. xD

I'm starting to think about what to nom/offer/request for trickortreatex... Hmm!

( More about that )

✿ Exchanges: Signups for the M/M exchange raremaleslashex are open from now until June 12th, if anybody's interested in that. My signup/exchange letter is already finished (Voila). I might add art prompts, but still undecided... (I like receiving fanart in exchanges, but I don't feel like adding more to the wishlist. Hm.)

✿ More exchanges: Setup/noms period for rarepairfest starts June 1st. I won't be doing this one, since I generally can't handle two exchanges at once, but I might throw something in the tagset just in case. Might be one to consider for those of you who prefer F/M or F/F in your rarepairs. I'll be keeping an eye on it for treating, anyway.

✿ People (in person, not online) keep bugging me about what I'm going to do for my vacation time and... oh, honestly, it's still the busy season at work, I don't even want to think about it. I have no earthly clue. At this point, all I want to do is go to some city I've already been to, and sit in the sun and read and drink good coffee and do absolutely nothing. So it sounds like Victoria again, but I don't know when, and I really wish people would stop asking.

✿ It turns out that I have written far more this month than expected... Almost twice what I intended. Most of it isn't published/finished, of course, but that's not the point. Turns out, my method of estimating wordcount for handwritten pages completely falls apart for anything with zero dialogue. It's just that I didn't discover this until now because I typically don't compare the WIP estimates to the final typed count. In the end, this doesn't really matter, but I find it kind of interesting that I might actually be writing more than expected, at least in terms of raw content. (Now, if only I could finish, like, everything....)

✿ I feel really good lately. After the fire last year, I was an absolute mess, not just mentally, but in other ways too. All this time I've been spending outside lately has been so good for me; every day, I can feel myself getting a little bit stronger. It sucks that this happened, but at least I know things are going to be okay eventually.