miss_ingno | Entries tagged with fandom events

Another quick post to share more fanfics!

I wrote these for

candyheartsex

Fairytale Gone Right, a Grimm Nick/Monroe action, true love's kiss ficlet for

kalika_999

All's Fair, a Grimm Eve & Trubel action ficlet for empty_marrow

Toil and Trouble, a Grimm Henrietta & Renard canon-compliant convo ficlet for

trobadora

Two (Love) Birds, One Stone, a Guardian Weilan fake dating undercover while secretly dating ficlet for

china_shop

Off the Straight and Yarrow, a DC Comics Catherine Todd/Bruce Wayne & Jason Todd Royalty + Soulmates AU for

Inkwell1013

And! I got this one for

fffx, an exchange with a 10k minimum!

Caledonia, a Grimm Nick/Juliette/Renard (& Monroe/Rosalee) fic in which Juliette receives a mystical sword to turn her even more badass, including some wonderful medieval lore :D

Haven't posted in forever, RIP :') I forgot to share my

fandomtrees gifts! And I got such wonderful things for both fandomtrees and

candyheartsex, I've been so lucky with how many amazing people decided to write for me 💖

For

fandomtrees I got:

this lovely Anonymous Deja Vu MV Jiu/Yoohyeon (f/f) modern ballet AU ficlet

Rough Sailing, a Jane/Uma Disney's Descendants 300 words fic with a side of Harry complaining by

misura

choose how you see me and the future's easier, a Tim & Jason DC comics 2k fic in which Tim goes to Jason for help in dealing with Ra's by

ninthfeather

For

candyheartsex I got:

Construct's Dilemma, an Arcane x Detroit: Become Human JayVik & Markus crossover fic dealing with the themes of what it means to be human (for androids), 3k

Another Cog in the Wheel, 1.5k of Assassin's Creed x L'Oréal Time Engraver crossover fic, in which the Time Engraver enables Desmond to time travel

Putting the Intimacy into Intimidation, a 2k JayTim DC comics enemies to lovers fic

Three-Way Fray, a 12k fic of Nick/Renard/Juliette pre-OT3 canon divergence goodness in which Renard is there for the Hexenbiest reveal

I haven't sadly had time to read all of my candyhearts gifts yet, but from what I've seen of the tags/summaries/first glimpses, I am so excited to have some time off work to get to them this weekend!

I had the pleasure of creating three fics for this year's

ficinabox!

Title: Keeping Secrets for

kitsune_scribe
Fandom: DC Comics/Batfamily
Ship/Characters: Tim Drake/Jason Todd & Dick Grayson
Words: 2.4k
Tags: Secret Relationship, Cuddle Pollen, Oblivious Dick Grayson, Or Is he?

Summary: Hit with cuddle pollen, Dick crashes Jason's and Tim's date. Except he doesn't know that they're dating.

Title: Grave Mistake for

NobleDragon
Fandom: DC Comics/Batfamily
Ship/Characters: Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Words: 8.7k
Tags: Eldritch AU, Eldritch Tim Drake, Human Jason Todd, Revenant Jason Todd, Temporary Character Death, Jason Todd's Resurrection, Jason Todd's Attack on Titans Tower, Tim Drake's Hero Worship, All-Blades, Enemies to Brothers

Summary: Later, Tim would wonder if it wasn't his fault. Jason seemed to grow erratic after their encounter, and not much later he left the country after a fight with Bruce. If Tim hadn't tainted Jason's bright soul with his own, would he still have fought with Bruce? Would he have left in a fit of rage? Would he still have died?

In which Tim is a Lovecraftian horror determined to bring Jason back from the dead. It doesn't quite go as planned.

Title: Revolution (Resolution) for

Kalcifer
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Ship/Characters: Noah Kaiba & Mokuba Kaiba & Seto Kaiba
Words: 1.4k
Tags: Slice of Life, Return to life, School, Brothers, Character Study, Android Noah Kaiba

Summary: Noah Kaiba's miraculous return to life (and to school). At least he has his brothers by his side.

ficinabox revealed gifts last Thursday/Friday, and I for one couldn't be happier! Once again, FIAB is one of my favourite exchanges of the year. A big thank you to all of my creators for gifting me such wonderful fanworks 💖 I'm very lucky to have received a variety of mediums once more. I still can't believe I got fanvids two years in a row! AND gorgeous fanart this time around! And the fics are all great in both quality and content :D!

DCU - Batfam

an educational interlude (1.7k)

In which Red Hood!Jason has a lot of fun teaching the Crime Alley street kids classic literature, with a side of worldbuilding on how, exactly, Jason organizes his gang. It's sweet how much he cares, and how the kids are allowed to act their age despite their lives' circumstances.

a biography of a moment (1k)

A very sweet moment between Jason & Tim unearthing a piece of their shared past. I love that the writer chose to dig into the events of the The Diplomat's Son comic!

[ART] Let's go the distance

Very gorgeous shippy art of JayTim that worked so many of my likes into it (e.g. pinned to the wall, hand on throat). I love the art style, and the expressions on the characters speak bounds!

always on the tip of my tongue (7k)

An omegaverse undercover pre-slash JayTim fic that had all the best bits I love about casefics! Protective alpha!Jason and smart badass omega!Tim, with a bit of Red Hood Gang spice mixed in. Plus all the silent communication and competence, mutual pining, secrets and indirect crush confessions!

love4eva by Loona (MV)

[Fake Trailer] Life in Eden Changed

This amazing fanvid sets up the narrative of the MV really well, doing a good job summarizing the salient bits and leaving the viewer in anticipation for the full story that is to follow. The biographies of the characters really add flavour to the interpretation, and the vidder has chosen a great backtrack to really ramp up the tension.

for the sin of swallowing the sun (1k)

This fic explores the deterioration of the friendship between Olivia Hye and Yves, following the events of the MVs and giving colour to the character motivation. I love that the writer brought in the fan theory regarding Vivi, and the respective animals that represent Olivia and Yves respectively.

I'm excited for creator reveals on the 10th so I can check out what else my creators have made! You should give these a shot, too, it's very worth it :D

Current Music: Diamond by Dreamcatcher

I've been really busy recently between work and family, so I didn't manage to post about this before creator reveals... but guys!!!! I got 3 (THREE!!!!) gifts in fandom5k! I am Blessed 😍 (I *think* I was double- or triple-assigned??? since they're all 5k+. But that has to mean 3 people liked my prompts so much they gamed for only me to write? I am so incredibly _flattered_ I cannot even)

Title: uncool by

TechnicolorRevel
Fandom: Disney's Descendants
Ship: Jane/Uma
Words: 6.5k
Tags: Hair Dyeing, Insecurity, Pining, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Alternate Universe - Mal and Uma are friends
Summary: Jane has always known she's uncool. So what's she supposed to do when the coolest person she's ever seen comes to Auradon Prep?

I never expected to get this rarepair! That alone made me really excited (I've been shipping this ever since I wrote them as a bit of a joke and then I tricked myself into actually shipping them, they're barely even on screen together during the movies at all, I love them Your Honor). And it's written with such lovely attention to detail! Especially Jane's character development as her relationships with her mother and her crush grow are fantastic. It's very high school first crush vibe, with all that wallflower insecurity on Jane's side and that stand-offish "I've been hurt by the world and I won't let it again" vibe from Uma, it's very Grumpy/Sunshine lesbians in that regard. If you haven't read it yet and you enjoy those tropes, check it out! It should be easy enough to read canon-blind, the references to canon events are lowkey and only important in that they demonstrate Jane's character arc (and her self-image issues).

Title: Syncretization by

Trobadora
Fandom: Guardian (TV) x Grimm (TV)
Ship: Shen Wei & Juliette Silverton & Henrietta
Words: 6.5k
Tags: Crossover, outsider pov, Episode: s04e12 Maréchaussée, Canon Divergence (for Grimm), Post-Canon (for Guardian), Hexenbiest Juliette, transformations, Wesen origins, Worldbuilding
Summary: "No," Juliette says again, "no," and then lashes out - wogeing, her Hexenbiest mien coming to the fore on instinct as her emotions surge. Her frustration and fury shake the house.

Shen Wei has planted his feet solidly, standing firm in the shaking. Most who aren't themselves Hexenbiests tend to find their woge both off-putting and frightening, and even those who don't know enough to be afraid have a visceral reaction. A living bog body, Elizabeth had said once, wryly, who wouldn't be frightened? But not this man.

This was such a fantastic crossover!

trobadora and I were chatting about how these two world might mix when we both went and nominated this, and I love how we both settled on the same relationship to focus on 😂 I love what she did with Henrietta's PoV and character, she's such a fascinating person in herself and so rarely in fics! And the worldbuilding of how the Guardian world influences how Wesen came to be is A++. Spoiler for season 4 of Grimm, but if you love Shen Wei being sciency and badass, you should check it out canon-blind, too!

Title: Expectancy by

tinypinkmouse
Fandom: L'Oreal Time Engraver Commercials x Deja Vu - Dreamcatcher (MV)
Ship: Time Engraver & Jiu & Yoohyeon
Words: 10k
Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Time Travel, Worldbuilding, Time Loop, Alternate Reality
Summary: He can recognise the signs of his own work, if he closes his eyes, he can still feel the chisel in his hands, the patterns his hand had moved in. But this is not the face these marks belong to. He didn't carve them into this person's skin.

Ngl, didn't expect to get this crossover, either! I was gushing about how these two canons might weave together in a discord

tinypinkmouse and I share, and I'm so happy she decided to give it a shot 🥰 It can easily be read canon-blind, and you should give it a shot if you like any sort of time travel or other time shenanigans! As you can see from the tags, all sorts of timey wimey nonsense happens in this fic, and it's so fun to see it develope and evolve :D

Links to Canon: Deja Vu MV (3:46 minutes) and Time Engraver 2019 (3:40 minutes) Time Engraver 2020 (6:28 minutes) commercials

All you need to know is that the Time Engraver character has at least a little bit of control over time, stopping it or winding it back to see what happened so he can then carve wrinkles and other signs of ageing into people's skin. And Deja Vu tells a (nonlinear? very open to interpretation) story of a Royal and her Servant who used to be close but then one of them betrays the other (or they both betray each other). The fun thing is that we see two separate betrayals, one in which Jiu is the princess/queen and is stabbed in the back by her loyal servant!Yoohyeon, and one where the roles are reversed. Tinypinkmouse picked up on the different ways to interpret what is happening in the MV and wove them all together into a single narrative that is fun to discover!

Title: Fractal
Fandom: Guardian (TV) x Grimm (TV)
Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Juliette Silverton
Words: 5.5k
Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s04e18 Mishipeshu, Episode 35, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Established Weilan, Juliette Silverton Has A Temper, minor Hexenbiest worldbuilding, Shen Wei is Overpowered what else is new, Mentor Shen Wei (Guardian), dark energy evolution, the evolution of Dixingren and Yashou
Summary: After Zhao Yunlan's trip to the past, he and Shen Wei are spit out of the wormhole in Portland. Waiting for their flight back home, they run into people different from the Yashou and Dixingren they know.

Meanwhile, Juliette is on her downward spiral of losing control when she meets something far more dangerous than a Grimm.

And that ^ is the fusion I wrote for

trobadora :D Set a little later in season 4 of Grimm, having Shen Wei and Zhao Yunlan run into a out of control Juliette and offering her a new way out. Spoilers for season 4 of Grimm, please check it out if you'd like!

Happy (belated) 520 Day! After a busy week, I'm finally getting around to exploring the collection :D

I got a lovely time travel fix-it set in mostly YOHE for a gift, in which Shen Wei's post-death memories get flung back into his younger self and that changes things.

Title: Battle Couple by

melusineofanjou
Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Words: 5.6k
Tags: Time Travel Fix-It, Battle Couple, Rating: PG13, Hand-Wavy Dixing Powers
Summary: Shen Wei transmigrates back ten thousand years and makes some changes, but can fate be cheated?

And I got to write my recip one of my favourite new rarepairs - Zhu Hong joining Weilan in their relationship. I went with an arranged marriage plot and had the political situation force the three of them into a wedding :D I'm grateful to my recip for allowing me to explore this ship and I hope they enjoy it!

Title: colours that touch white emotion
Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan/Zhu Hong
Words: 11k
Tags: Post-Canon Handwavey Fix-It, Arranged Marriage, Political Marriage, Political Alliances, The Treaty Made Them Do It, Yashou Politics, Yashou Culture & Customs, Established Weilan, Developing Relationship, Zhu Hong's unrequited crush, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, PoV Zhu Hong, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Summary: Once, Zhu Hong dreamt of the day she would marry Zhao Yunlan.
Now, forced to marry her crush and his lover to keep the peace between their nations, she dreads the day she'll ruin his happiness.

bit late since I've been busy but here goes

I had the honour to write for the awesome

trobadora for

fffx :D! And got a wonderful Grimm fic from her in return <3

Title: Green-Eyed Monster
Fandom: Grimm (TV)
Ship: Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton with current Sean/Juliette and past Nick/Juliette
Words: 29k
Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence (diverges mid-season 4), Relationship Status: It's Complicated, Getting Back Together, Hexenbiest Juliette, Endezeichen Grimm, Case Fic, Kidnapping, Murder, Hurt Nick Burkhardt, Protective Juliette Silverton, Protective Sean Renard, Juliette is no Damsel in Distress, BAMF Juliette Silverton, Jealousy, Sex Dreams, Minor Character Death (no worries it's the villain OC)
Summary: When an Endezeichen Grimm comes to Portland, Nick has to face some uncomfortable truths about his own feelings.

Digging his nails into his palms wasn't nearly enough distraction. "I said, don't."

But Juliette wasn't done.

"What I’m doing with Sean, that isn’t about you and me," she insisted, and Nick whirled around to glare at her.

"You're fucking my boss. But sure, it's got nothing to do with me."

In between the deadline and with the generous help of my beta, I managed to add several scenes and rewrite the ending. Part of how I accomplished that was by promising myself I'd get to post the outtakes - which I figured, here is as good a place as any ;)

Earlier Ending Outtake

Noises in the hallway alerted Juliette to her incoming visitor. Tossing the third splinter she’d broken aside, she moved up to the door and picked up the chain’s anchor, getting ready to bash Jake’s head in. The door opened slowly, and Juliette tensed, then swung around with all her might—only to be met by air.
Jake was a tall guy, so she’d aimed high, hoping to do some serious damage to his nose or jaw. Instead, the figure ducking into her cell was slight and feminine.

“Jesus!” Rosalee gasped, eyes wide on the massive piece of chain that missed her head by an inch. Then she shook herself and turned to Juliette, dropping any questions she might have in favour of focussing on the situation at hand. “Are you alright?”

“Well, aside from this ball and chain,” Juliette joked, tossing her head to get her hair over her shoulder without having to let go of said chain. “Never been better.”

“Right.” Rosalee’s gaze zeroed in on the manacle, and she knelt down next to Juliette. “You’ve made some lockpicks I see.”

“I hate sitting around doing nothing.” Juliette shrugged, holding her ankle out for Rosalee’s inspection. “Not that it did me much good. I’ve got no experience with picking locks.”

“I do,” Rosalee said, throwing her a quick grin before grabbing a new splinter and setting to work. “Part of my misspent youth. Did I ever tell you about my last ex before Monroe?”

“Don’t think you did.” Juliette watched as Rosalee swiftly unlocked the manacle as if by magic. “You should teach me how to do this.”

“Sure,” Rosalee agreed, setting the manacle down. Juliette rotated her ankle, trying to get her blood flowing properly. “Once all of this has died down, you should come by the spice shop.”

Juliette hesitated. She remembered the last time she’d gone, how she’d unexpectedly run into Nick. She had avoided going since. “You’re sure?”

“You’re my friend, Juliette,” Rosalee asserted stubbornly, her expression filled with determination. “You’re always welcome at my shop.”

But not her home, Juliette couldn’t help but notice. So Monroe was still feeling a bit… sensitive, about recent developments. Understandable, she supposed, even if it left her feeling a bit raw at the implied rejection.

Gunfire from further in the building tore her from her thoughts. Rosalee Woged, ears pinning back.

“We should leave,” she urged, sticking her head out into the hallway. She gestured down the hall, where a heavy door stood open by a foot. “While Monroe and the others are distracting the Endezeichen Grimm.”

Juliette tilted her head. On the one hand, sneaking out the backdoor seemed sensible. On the other, she still owed Jake for her headache and the hours stuck in this cold cell. More gunshots echoed through the halls, and Juliette turned into the opposite direction.

“Juliette! Don’t,” Rosalee hissed, soft footsteps following her.

“No. I’ve had enough of men trying to control me.” She bared her teeth. “This Endezeichen bastard thinks he can mess with me? Think again.”

***

It turned out she’d been kept in the basement of an office building. Juliette wondered how Jake had gotten access, then pushed that thought away as unimportant. She stalked up the stairs, a nervous Rosalee on her heels, to find the ground floor an open office plan with dozens of cubicles. The overhead lights illuminated everything, eliminating the option to sneak up on the Endezeichen Grimm. Well, good. Juliette wasn’t in the mood for sneaking.

Movement caught her eye. There was Nick, ducking in and out of cubicles as he made his way towards her. On the opposite side of the office, she caught a glimpse of Monroe doing the same. Wu and Hank were stationed at the entrance door, cutting off the Endezeichen Grimm’s escape; that only left the basement for him to go. Briefly, she wondered where Sean was at, it was unlike him to miss the action. But then, perhaps he was simply better at staying out of sight.

“It’s over, Otis!” Hank called out, taking cover behind a partition. Just in time, as Otis—Jake? The Endezeichen Grimm—shot his gun again, once, twice, three times in rapid succession. His clip must be emptied, Juliette noted clinically, because she saw him duck around the corner ahead of her, crouching as he swiftly changed magazines.

He hadn’t noticed her.

Nick, however, caught sight of her as he moved to the next cubicle. His eyes went wide and he swerved, changing his path from going after Jake in favour of coming to her aid—aid that she had no need of. Abandoning caution in favour of speed, Nick left himself open in the path of the Endezeichen Grimm… and that, Jake did notice.

Everything slowed down. The Endezeichen Grimm raised his gun, aiming at Nick’s exposed back. Juliette could feel her heart beat with the rhythm of time passing, a double staccato for every second. The Endezeichen Grimm pulled the trigger, the bullet shooting out from the barrel with a loud bang!

At the same time, Juliette screamed, "NO!"

Juliette wailed her heart out, fuelled by desperation. No, no, no! She couldn't lose Nick, not like this, not with all the things hanging unresolved between them. She would not, could not confess everything left unsaid at Nick's grave. She refused.

Power exploded outwards from her, the air distorting from the energy. Juliette could feel it, every molecule floating around her, like ants under her skin. A twist of her fingers, and their path shifted.

More importantly, she could feel the bullet.

Eyes flashing black, she forced the bullet to stop before it could reach Nick.

"He's mine," she snarled, voice rough and distorted as it always was when she Woged. Juliette got to her feet, stalking forward until she stood in front of Nick, shielding his body with her own. "Don't you dare touch him.”

The Endezeichen Grimm stumbled backwards, eyes wide with fear.

"You, you— you're a Hexenbiest," Jake stuttered, gaze darting between her and Nick. "B-but. You… he…"

Hexenbiests and Grimms are natural enemies. Everyone told her that, over and over and over. Juliette had never cared less.

"What, afraid?" She sneered and twisted her fingers, feeling her power pulse.

Jake shook his head, scrambling for a weapon. He lifted his gun, but Juliette waved her hand and it flew right out of his hand to clatter down the stairs. Stalking forward, she raised her hand as if she were choking someone, and Jake rose into the air, feet kicking uselessly beneath him. For the first time in weeks, Juliette felt in control.

“This,” she snarled, pushing her hand forward and banging a struggling Jake against the wall, forcing him to hit his head like he’d hit hers, “is for kidnapping me.” Then, she tightened her grasp, watching as he fought for breath without success. “And this is for going after Nick.”

Jake gurgled, his movement slowing. However, Juliette refused to let go, stringing her power tighter around his throat. His hands dropped, his feet stilled, and still she couldn’t let go. It wasn’t until Monroe shook her shoulder, red eyes wide with fear, that she felt her power slipping out of her grasp. Jake’s body crumpled to the floor like a ragdoll.

Monroe swallowed under her intent gaze. “It’s over, Juliette. He’s dead.”

“Is he?” she heard herself ask, her voice dull and distant. Wu stepped forward, gun first, to crouch down at the unconscious body. Only once he gave a thumbs up did she dare to take a shaky breath, stumbling back a step. Monroe and Rosalee caught her, and Juliette allowed them to hold her up for one long heartbeat. Then she pushed herself upright again.

Just because it was over didn’t mean there wasn’t work left to do.

She turned towards Nick, meeting his wide, blue eyes. Swallowing her pride, she suggested, “We should talk.”

“We should,” he agreed, mouth quirking up at the corner, hesitant but real. “You, I, and Renard.”

That surprised her, but she supposed it shouldn’t. Sean was an integral part of the Hexenbiest side of her life, it made sense that Nick would want to include him… if he was finally starting to accept this new aspect of her life to be permanent.

Tears springing to her eyes, Juliette managed to press out a breathy agreement, clutching Nick’s hand.

As you can see, this is a less bloody or involved ending. I needed a good cut-off point in case I didn't have time to write more. I always intended to write the ending fight to be more "epic" (and bloody), with the intention of getting Nick hurt, to make Juliette's outburst of protective rage make more sense. And I also just really liked the idea of Nick leaving that place in an ambulance when Juliette had been the kidnapping victim and he the rescuer, a quick little role reversal to emphasize who the dangerous one is in this relationship (spoiler: both. it's both, but Juliette flew under the radar, so :D)

I'm glad I found the time to flesh the ending out and add more scenes (like Renard's little ritual! That was one of the last scenes I added because I could work around it, but I had to lead up to it satisfactorily first).

All in all, I had a lot of fun and am pretty proud of what I managed to produce! ^^ Thanks for signing up with me,

trobadora, and for (re)watching Grimm with me!

Current Music: I need a Grimm icon... hmmm...

I found a couple things I really enjoyed in the

fffx collection, so I thought I'd share!

I turned around and saw the sky., a Hinata/Sasuke Naruto AU fic set in the Edo period, in which Sasuke survives the Uchiha massacre and arrives on Hinata's doorstep with amnesia. Fantastic exploration of both characters, their relationship and the worldbuilding.

Hostage; War-Prize; Consort; Spouse, an Original Work M/M with a Northern Shan conqueror/disabled Second Prince of Jiang. Amazing worldbuilding and misunderstandings built into translations between their languages, while still keeping the characters clever and valued.

The Curious Incident at Oakwell, a M/M Bully/Nerd Original Work fic with an interesting relationship development. The bullying happens primarily on social media andd makes the high school setting feel modern, and the best friend character is my absolute fave.

Of the dead and the living, an Original Work comic in which a human/ghost couple finally get to touch via use of a medium's body

Convergent Evolution, an Origina Work comic about a female scientist studying a gigantic, spooky, deep-sea mermaid. Left me shivering reading it!

Have you found any fun gems in the collection? I'm open for recs!

Dancing

Dance class has been really fun! We're probably performing as part of a dance show in 2-ish months, and I signed up to be part of the group (it's voluntary). We've recently done the pre-chorus and first chorus of Zerobaseone's "In Bloom" (starting with the ground part where the lyrics go "cha~ange"), and we're now practicing Twice's "One Spark" the last chorus + bridge + dance break. The performance will likely consist of a mix-up of these two choreos, possibly a third, and I'm excited! Those are two very fun dances and I've been so eager I started practicing at home again 😂💖

Exchanges

rarefemslashexchange revealed authors this weekend, and it turns out the person I was writing for (

vendettadays) is also the one who wrote for me! :D That was a fun surprise! Here's the fic I wrote for her:

Title: Tea Leaves
Fandom: Naruto
Ship: Haruno Sakura/Hyuuga Hinata
Words: 3k
Tags: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Pining While Dating, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Sakura, Singer Hinata, Movie Star Sakura, Talk Show Host Ino
Summary: Hyuuga Hinata has an announcement for her fans: she is engaged, to action movie star Haruno Sakura.

And Sunday,

fffx revealed the collection. I got an absolutely incredible giftfic I cannot recommend highly enough!

Title: Blut ist im Schuh
Fandom: Grimm (TV)
Ship: Nick Burkhardt/Sean Renard/Juliette Silverton
Words: 23k
Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s04e14 Bad Luck, Hexenbiest Juliette, Complicated Relationships, Developing Relationships, Physical proximity, Intimacy, UST, Getting Together, Learning To Communicate, Learning to trust, Wesen of the Week, Bondage, Undernegotiated Kink
Summary: Juliette doesn't fit into this glass slipper anymore, and she won't cut off her toes to pretend.

I'm pretty sure I know who my writer was *hearts* and I'm just as convinced that who I wrote for is an open secret, but I'll let y'all in on it in two weeks at author reveals 😉

I'm going to take a break from exchanges (at least until or unless Guardian Reverse Exchange happens) and focus on some of my languishing WIPs. Definitely gonna try and finish In This, As In All Things, finish and post the Weilan Vampire AU sequel, as well as some Grimm, Castlevania and GYADL fic I have lying around 👀 and get back to work on the Weilan Arranged Marriage AU 😂 been working on that for over 3 years now, it's about time I get to it!

Personal Life
I've been really busy with work! I meant to update this blog a lot over the last two weeks, but something always came up. But things finally are starting to slow down, so hopefully, I'll be around more <3

Also, on a personal note, I visited my baby niece and she is the cutest baby eVAH. I may have caught baby fever. Looking into potentially signing up for dating apps or similar to get my love life started up again - I work in a women-dominated field and the town I live in is unlikely to provide me with someone of the right age range/same goals for life.

I showed my parents 开端 | Reset, which I'd watched with my brother before - they loved it! Gonna finally write up that review I promised over a year ago soon.

Exchange Scene

FFFX
I'm hard at work editing and rewriting bits of my

fffx assignment, and it's starting to come together as a better version than what I originally submitted at deadline. Fingers crossed I'll get the rewrites done before Saturday! My beta's been very helpful in clarifying some things I needed to rethink and is very generous with the tight schedule we now have. If I sign up again, I'm going to do less other exchanges surrounding this one so I can actually get a decent chunk of fic done in November.

Candy Hearts

candyheartsex revealed both fics and authors while I was busy! I got a lovely fic about Shen Wei teasing Zhu Hong about her dating life, which was utterly adorable and a great take on their post-canon dynamic <3

Title: like family by

teaotter
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Ship(s) Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Zhu Hong
Words: 487
Summary: Zhu Hong had long since grown accustomed to hiding her dates from her family.

I also had way too much fun diving back into my original fandom :D I started my fandom life in YGO! (the original run) and Bakura Ryou was something of a blorbo for me back then. So it was really awesome to dip my fingers back into that canon and see what I could come up with. Time travel is always a favourite trope of mine, but I went with the version canon gives us. A lot of dramatic irony which had me giggling while writing! And my recip seems to appreciate all the canon parallels and left an amazing comment, so score :D!

Title: Welcome To My World for

seerofrage /

TereziMakara
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Ship(s) Yami Bakura/Bakura Ryou, Thief King Bakura/Bakura Ryou (note: Thief King Bakura is the ancient Egyptian version of Yami Bakura)
Words: 8.5k
Tags: Memory World (time travel), getting together, possessive Bakura Ryou, BAMF!Ryou, (mutual) protectiveness, Shadow Games
Summary: AKA Memory World Reprise: Tendershipping edition

Bakura Ryou wants his other half back and he's willing to risk everything to do it.

Thief King Bakura has no idea what to do with this pale stranger, whose secrets seem to be the key to his plans' success.

Rare Femslash Exchange
Just 4ish hours ago,

rarefemslashexchange revealed! I'm very excited to dive into my gift (possibly tonight, depending on how work allows - I'm on night shift today). Someone tackled a rare canon for me! Excited to see what they did with it :D (I was already flattered by how fast I got snapped up from the pinch hits list, which seems like a good omen imo). Ngggh, I wish I didn't have obligations and could dive right in!

Title: from now on I’ll see nothing but you (from now on I'll love myself instead of you)
Fandom: love4eva by LOONA (Music Video)
Ship(s) Yves/Olivia Hye
Words: 4k
Tags: Abandonment, Angst with a Happy Ending, Friendship/Love, Pining, Reconciliation, Reunions
Summary: From the stone balcony, Olivia watched three figures run from Eden and into the maze that was part of the only place she had ever known.

(A story of how Olivia Hye escaped Eden and reunited with Yves and her friends.)

Current Mood: excited
Current Music: Good Girls in the Dark by Yena

I got three fantastic gifts under my tree! What a great season of

fandomtrees <3

Title: Breakage and Repair by

china_shop
Fandom: Guardian TV
Ship: Chu Shuzhi/Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Words: 5.2k
Tags: Post-Canon, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives (Eventually), Angst with a Happy Ending, Presumed Dead (actually dead but comes back to life), Forgive me I killed Da Qing (temporarily), Loyalty, Chu Shuzhi’s self-worth issues, Getting Together, sharing is caring, food as a love language
Summary: The Envoy is back, he’s alive! Everything is better—brighter—as it should be. Regrets on Chu Shuzhi’s part would be an utter betrayal, unworthy. Chu Shuzhi knows the score. He was only ever first aid for Zhao Yunlan. Only a prop to keep him going. They’d never talked about what they were doing, and Zhao Yunlan’s heart had always been faithful. He’s worn the Envoy’s pendant twenty-four/seven.

Title: Till You Make It by

trobadora
Fandom: Guardian TV
Ship: Shen Wei & Zhu Hong
Words: 3k
Tags: Handwavy Post-Canon Era, Everyone lives, Yashou Politics, Yashou High Chief Zhu Hong, Mentorship, Networking
Summary: Who else could she ask? Not Zhao Yunlan, who was part of the whole mess. Not the elders of any of the three tribes, when they were the ones who needed convincing the most. Not the Haixing minister, who had every interest in fostering good relations with the Yashou but no experience and no standing with them yet.

Title: fallen/saved by

MistressKat
Fandom: Deja Vu by Dreamcatcher (Music Video)
Ship: Jiu/Yoohyeon
Words: 300
Tags: Character Study, Introspection
Summary: The dream demands a price.

All of these are amazing, absolutely nailed both my prompts and my id, and then added so much more on top I wouldn't have dreamed of <3 I cannot recommend you check them out enough!

Life & Health

CW for Health Issues

So I and my family caught covid for the first time this Christmas. We've managed to avoid it until now by being extra cautious. The symptoms are mild to moderate, but I'm worried about how this'll interact with Mom's and my MCAS in the long run. Worse, my grandparents caught it from us over the holidays, and they're not in the best of health even without this virus on top. It's made for a pretty subdued Christmas overall. At least we had the positive rapid test before we went to visit my newborn niece over the holidays? Though my aunt made questionable decisions in that regard just because she was symptom-free (Without testing. Ugh. I love my family but sometimes you just gotta disagree with their choices.)

My parents, my brother and I have taken turns taking care of each other, so it's not the worst way to spend Christmas. But I don't like being sick, I've caught enough flus and viruses in 2023. Here's hoping 2024 will be better.

Exchanges
Due to above mentioned health issues, I haven't made it far through the Yuletide collection, and I doubt I'll have time to make a rec post before the new year. There's a couple tabs I've got open with interesting looking fics, though, like the Time Engraver one or the Detective L one!

My gift was pretty awesome, someone took me up on the Jet Rocks Lives Instead Of Ruby AU prompt for Dimension 20: A Crown of Candy. It makes for a good character study by seeing how the interactions between Saccharina and Jet differ from Saccharina and Ruby's canon drama! I'm curious who my creator is, this is the second awesome D20 fic I got in exchanges recently :D

crumbs enough for everyone, D20: A Crown of Candy, Saccharina & Jet sibling bonding, rated T, 7k

I've also signed up for

rarefemslashex and I'm pretty happy with my assignment! I got some ideas where to go with it, I'm going to sleep on them and see which one crystallizes.

Watching
Being sick always lends itself to binge-watching random stuff I hadn't considered before! Most of it was spend on catching up on Ninja Warrior Germany 2023, ngl, and I did the traditional family group watch of godawful reality tv dating shows. But I also spend some time catching up on Netflix.

One Piece (Live Action)

I've got mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, it's another nostalgia show and that wins it a lot of bonus points. On the other, both the manga and anime did it a lot better and with more emotional impact.

The streamlining in this one just didn't work for me, the pacing was way off. I get that they were trying to stuff as much crew-get-together into this with as many backstories as possible, and I don't fault it for that, but it hobbled the pacing something awful. The animanga starts slow and ramps up over time, whereas the Netflix show is much more constrained. And even then they spent a ludicruous amount of time on the stupid Marines subplot and ngl that just left me exasperated. They kept mixing up the message of what the Marines were supposed to stand for to the point I got whiplash inside the scenes. While I agree that Luffy's relationship to his grandpa is interesting, it just felt weirdly hamfisted and incongruous with the Shanks backstory. That's not even mentioning Ace and how he fits in! By giving Garp so much weight in the story, it felt like it muddled the actual message of the animanga and what Luffy stands for, especially since it needed to keep Garp vaguely sympathetic. If Garp is the authority Luffy is rebelling against, making him a sympathetic antagonist with wildly inconsistent messaging is... not the best choice. I appreciate the idea of Garp's character, but it just doesn't work, and imo it ruins Kobe's arc, too. Because Kobe is the good marine within a corrupted system - Luffy's counterpart in many ways, because Luffy is a Good Pirate amongst many Bad Pirates. And all of those great themes and comparisons were usurped because Luffy's grandpa was throwing a tantrum.

While I'm glad they cut Don Krieg's appearance short (he's such a borigng villain), I feel like the show didn't pull off the Baratie arc nor the Arlong Park arc. The cooks got too little screentime, especially for their relationship building with Sanji, and that undercut the emotional tension of Sanji leaving the Baratie behind to pursue his dreams. His fighting with Zeff also felt like it pulled the punches compared to the animanga. The whole "You should go." "Fine!" "Fine!" barely scratched the surface of their complicated relationship and made Sanji the weakest of the crew characters introduced, imo. And Arlong being suddenly interested in Luffy just because Buggy mentioned him bugged me. I don't recall it going that way in the anime/manga. Luffy should be beneath Arlong's notice until he shows up to punch his face in, but in an attempt to raise the stakes, Netflix had him attack the Baratie and it just doesn't work for me. Maybe if they'd cut out the Marines subplot, they would've had time for Nami's betrayal and fleshing out the tension and fights. The way it happened, Arlong didn't feel particularly dangerous, just another in a long row of minor villains.

Though I have to say, the show did a good job of highlighting the kindness of each crew member and how Luffy notices and values that trait. It's the most important theme of the Straw Hat Pirates, and that's one message the show managed to nail. They did surprisingly good with the outfits and crew banter, too - I wish we'd gotten more of those quiet crew moments, those were A+ - and the CGI and creature customes worked really well. They sold me on those fishmen being weird half-fish creatures rather than cosplay, e.g.

Yu Yu Hakusho (Live Action)

It's been ages since I read the manga, but watching this felt like it absolutely nailed everything: the characters, the plot, the vibe. I guessed that it had been streamlined from the common shonen animanga meandering in early episodes, and I thought they did a great job of tying the first season together into one singular plot. The one change I could tell immediately was the whole escaped demon insect thingie, to give us stakes quicker, but I thought it was all really well done.

And then I went to watch (rewatch? I cannot for the life of me remember if I ever watched the anime. I know I prefered reading the manga back then, but fuck if I can recall) some of the relevant anime episodes and I was blown away by how much unnecessary detritus they cut out. The Netflix series did a great job setting Yusuke up as a reasonably misunderstood but well-intentioned protagonist, and I'm *relieved* that they skipped over the typical shonen anime comedy of up-skirt shots and female violent responses. Making Keiko and Yusuke childhood friends and centering that relationship worked much better than having Keiko be the class president in charge of Yusuke.

And despite all the changes, they stuck surprisingly close to the original canon, as far as I can tell. The major shift was a fantastic bait-and-switch in having the bad guys pretend to be Hiei when kidnapping Keiko, rather than have Hiei actually kidnap Keiko. It set up Hiei with a different start to his character, but I am honestly glad they skipped the villain-demon characterisation for the more emotional stakes and motivations of a kidnapped Yukina. Imo, that did a lot to smooth the early team-up, and changing the dark sword into a way for Hiei to gain his abilities rather than turn humans into demons was a clever choice. It makes sense to streamline the story like this and it worked really well for me! The Hiei we see here resembles his later incarnation in the manga more than his earlier, what with being more of an anti-hero.

The one thing about the Three Thieves mini arc that could've used another draft was the explanations (or lack thereof) of those three teaming up to steal the artefacts from escaped yokai (???) that were supposed to be Yusuke's next enemies. Nice way to raise the stakes, I guess, but it just falls apart the moment you take a closer look and doesn't do shit all to explain what the items are and why they're so dangerous to be lose in the human world (aside from Goki's orb, they do a good job showing that). Unlike the rest of the plot, that all just felt to be very out of nowhere.

My major complaint is that they did done dirty to poor Kurama with those wigs, both of them lack the proper flair Kurama deserves. Mostly it's in the bangs, imo, the straight fringe just does *nothing* for him. At least make it an uneven or fluffed up fringe!

And a minor complaint, I honestly would've preferred if they'd dropped the pacifier. Koenma's actor is hot af and I get the comedy value and wanting to stick close to the source material, but c'mon. Just let him be a hot teen, it's not like Enma-sama was even mentioned as plot pressure and thus irrelevant.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this reimagining of a favourite old fandom. Maybe it's nostalgia goggles, but it was fun to watch old, beloved characters go on adventures again. The CGI was decent, too, and the plot and stakes surprisingly emotional for what I mostly fondly remember as a fight-centric manga with interesting characters.

Grimm (re)Watch with

trobadora

It's still fun! We're getting into the Hexenbiest!Juliette arc now and I'm very excited to see how that goes (and how things go wrong for Nick/Juliette). I love Theresa, she's a fun apprentice character. Sean's mother was a nice surprise, too, I love how Renard is such a momma's boy :D I'm sad she had to go again, though I understand the plot reasons, she was fun in how she interacted with everyone. The Wesenrein subplot is scary but fascinating for worldbuilding, poor Monroe and Rosalee deserve better. I wish they'd handled Adalind better, and I can't believe the show runners chose to ship her with Nick later, like wtf. After all these lies they told her about who took her baby and all the gaslighting that's happening and honestly they all handle that baby subplot horribly, no wonder Adalind blows up at them. (Not that Adalind is a cinnamon roll herself, I get why they distrust her, but jeez. The show runners clearly present our protagonists being in the right and so clever for doing it this way, I'm flabberghasted.)

ficinabox just revealed who the creators are, so I can finally share which works are mine! I wrote 3 fics, two of them epistolary, and created a Logic Grid Puzzle for the first time :D!

Title: Gossip Mango for

BookKeep
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Ship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan & Shen Wei's students
Words: 1.9k (though about half of that is coding)
Tags: Social Media, Episode Related, Canon Compliant, Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 8, mentions of canon suicidal ideation, mentions of canon murders
Summary: Not only does Dragon City university have a great and sophisticated study program for many different majors, it also has a flourishing social media site for students to discuss ~~their studies~~ ~~social activities~~ recent events.

Title: Return To Sender for

BookKeep
Fandom: Assassin's Creed
Ship: Desmond Miles/Claudia Auditore, Claudia Auditore & Ezio Auditore
Words: 3.5k
Tags: Epistolary, Time Travel, Marriage, POV Outsider, as in Outsider on the Time Traveller PoV, In-Universe Documents
Summary: Over the years, Ezio and Claudia exchanged many letters. These are the ones concerning Claudia's husband, then-stranger, Desmond.

Title: Adventitious for

Bee_4
Fandom: Naruto
Ship: Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto & Uchiha Sasuke & Haruno Sakura
Words: 5k
Tags: Team 7 Dynamics, Developing Friendships, set after the Wave mission but before the Chuunin Exams, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, in which Team 7 grows closer and Sasuke doesn't defect, Team 7 Have Issues, (don't worry they're working on it), Mission Fic (sort of), no literal geese were involved in the making of this fic, in which Team 7 accidentally topples several villains' plans
Summary: To keep Team 7 busy, Kakashi-sensei sends his students on a wild goose chase. Much to his dismay, they actually find a golden goose.

And my first attempt at a logic puzzle! Big shout-out to my little brother for helping me tighten up my clues and creating a whole-ass logic map of paths it could be solved. It was an amazing sibling bonding exercise <3

Title: Where In Mentopolis Are The Prefrontal P.I.s? for

Brachylagus_fandom
Fandom: Dimension 20 - Mentopolis
Ship: Worldbuilding, gen
Summary: It’s the Grand Opening of Daniel Fucks’ new Emporium of Exquisite Pleasures, but none of the other Prefrontal P.I.s have shown up! However, through his criminal network, Daniel hears some rumours about what they’re each up to. Can you help him find them and drag them away from whatever they’re doing for this most important of all events?

Current Location: home

I made myself a new icon! That's Siyeon from Dreamcatcher, from the BEcause photoshoot. I think it looks appropriately dramatic :D

Fandom

Exchanges

I signed up to

rarefemslashexchange! I kept mulling it over, but now that I finished my Yuletide assignment, I think I can do it? It kinda depends on what requests are out there - there's two with minimal details in there rn I could imagine filling, and it is just 500 words minimum, so I might be able to push myself for fandoms I write/read less often in 🤔

It's looking like Chocolate Box might not run again this year, and the

candyheartsex mod seems to be back to sub in one more year. Not sure yet if I'll sign up! It's a big exchange, meaning I'm more likely to find someone to write one of my more niche fandoms/ships, and it is also just 300 words minimum, but that'd be two assignments to get done at the same time while also dealing with work and having to finish my FFFX assignment... Idk yet. It was definitely fun last year! But I also wanna do less exchanges this year and focus on my WIPs again. BUT! Exchanges are fun! Much dilemma, such angst.

Speaking off, I really do need to sit down and work on my

fffx assignment 😅 I have a decent idea, but the deadline is January 20th! 😬 I have to work without much time off from the 27th of December onward until then, and am starting to sweat about it a little. (Might even secretly be hoping for a one week delay ahahah ^^"). I'm going to try and finish the key scenes during my tiny Christmas break, tho considering how much of it I'll spend with family, I doubt I'll get all that much done OTL

Writing

Working on my RFSEx letter got me back into Disney's Descendants headspace xD but instead of picking up the nearly finished Juma future fic I've got languishing in my WIPs, I went and started a new one inspired by one of the prompts I put up :')

His gaze landed two blond teens around his age and a familiar brunette. Gil relaxed. It was just Jane, talking to two of her… classmates? Friends?

She was smiling as always, and Gil stuffed a croissant in his mouth before picking up the tray and making his way over to Jane. One of her friends—the guy, looming over Jane but smaller than Gil by maybe half a head and definitely less built, Gil could take him in a fight if he had to—leaned in, his lips twisting up into a smirk. Jane's smile slipped, wobbled, and recovered. Gil paused mid-step, his brow furrowing.

Something was off.

Without a second thought, Gil lengthened his stride, long legs eating up the distance between them. He swerved to set his tray down on a table and approach the teens from behind, in case he needed to take them by surprise. Jane wasn't looking his way, her gaze dropped to the floor, her shoulders hunched, and Gil didn't like it one bit.

I just love love love friends (or maybe-friends, not-yet-friends) being protective of each other *squishes characters* And writing up why I love the Jane/Uma ship gave me so many Jane & Uma & Gil & Harry friendship feels - I want them to adopt the mousy lil wallflower! Like I said to my friend Kays, she'd work as a great addition to the group, in an almost similar function as Gil does (he's such a golden retriever puppy, ready to play attack dog when necessary, but generally good-natured and so, so loyal) and Jane would add a moral center to the group :D

promo picture from Disney's Descendants 2 with (left to right) Harry Hook, Uma, and Gil

promo picture from Disney's Descendants 2 with (left to right) Harry Hook, Uma, and Gil

I mean, look at his big happy smile! (Gil's the guy on the right, the dark-haired boy is Harry)

Honestly, I was so tempted to go off about how I imagine all their dynamics playing out in the letter, but it's not really too relevant since if anyone matches me, it'll be on Jane/Uma, and not their whole collection of friends? x'D Ahhhh, but! I have SO MANY feels about these characters!

Like, look at Harry's little smirk up there! He's such a smug lil bastard boy, and he loves playing up the unhinged angle to keep his enemies and allies alike on the back foot. He's someone who pushes and pushes and doesn't take no for an answer. He takes, and takes, and that's such a terrible combination with Jane! Because Jane is a people-pleaser and a giver and so easily taken advantage of? There's no way Harry would respect her at first, not with that first impression. She's a push-over, and if Harry's interested in anything about her, it's to see just how far she'll let him push (which, imo, would be pretty far and until she reaches her breaking point, probably). The thing is, Harry doesn't care about a lot of people - his family to some degree, but which of these kids doesn't have parent issues?, Uma, Gil, and what Uma wants. In that sense, Harry is the hardest for Jane to win over: if Jane is what Uma wants, Harry will fold her into their little group, but that doesn't mean he has to like her. I do think though that with time these two could grow to understand each other, if they get to a point where Harry stops distrusting Jane (the last of these three VKs to do so, imo) and starts opening up. Probably after Jane opened up about a lot of things. In the meantime, however, he's going to be snide and mock her and prod at her boundaries to see if he can make her lash out (and be delighted if he actually manages to push her over that line!)

Gil is the easiest to win over, since he's a very easy-going sunshine boy. He's like a puppy who is happy to play with anyone who wants to play, and I think he would take to Jane immediately. He's not dumb or oblivious exactly (you can't be, growing up on the Isle) but he's happy to live in the moment? He doesn't have to worry about Jane attacking him since she's physically weaker and her magical status is unknown, but she doesn't use it regardless, so he knows he can fight her off if he has to. That allows him to relax, and he's probably the first to trust in her kindness and general sincerity. Besides, he has Uma and Harry to worry about others faking niceness, so he can have fun befriending Jane in the meantime. And I think Jane would find him good company to be around, once she realizes he's not like the other jocks she knows? He's no Chad Charming, and despite his impressive and intimidating physique, he's the least dangerous of this VKs trio. He's the least likely to hurt her emotionally, too.

And Uma... well. She needs to assert herself as the leader, and Jane wouldn't challenge that, which is a plus point in Uma's book. But Uma would probably be a bit manipulative and push at Jane's boundary to see what makes her tick (very similar to Harry in that way, but with a slightly different vibe?) Like all the VKs, she carries her own trauma from the Isle and its way of survival, and for Uma this is expressed in a need to be on top of everyone else and in control, to ensure her own freedom. She doesn't like being dependant on others, and I don't think she would trust Jane's kindness to be genuine (too used to seeing it as a trap or a trade). There's a lot of parallels between Uma and Mal, they're narrative mirrors, and I think some of Uma's early interactions with Jane would go similar to how Mal's went in DD1. But I also think Jane could challenge Uma in a way that is non-threatening and still forces Uma to face the consequences of her own behaviour. Possibly Uma would be so focussed on figuring out what Jane's hidden motive is that she doesn't realize they've gotten close and things have gotten real between them (and then Uma panics and backpedals and hurts Jane in the process, which is even worse because now Uma feels guilty and that's something she *shouldn't* feel, she's a villain ffs, she doesn't do guilt. But now she went and tricked herself into caring for this baffling girl, and well. Once Uma gets over herself, there's no one that can stop her from taking what she wants.

...aaaaaand I'm rambling again, RIP :') I just love these characters so much? I have a lot of thoughts about Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos and Ben, too, but I'm gonna save that for another time.

K-Pop Dance Class

I haven't talked about it much, but I've been learning kpop choreos since... mid-late 2020s? I needed some type of music-focussed workout to replace my ballroom dance classes during the pandemic, and ended up finding MV's with dance choreography to copy. I honestly wasn't much into kpop at that point, but an acquaintance kept recommending the band LOONA to me so I checked them out and fell for the interwoven and complex narrative their songs told. And then I eventually discovered Dreamcatcher, and started doing their choreos too, and well, now I'm here. In this household we stan Dreamcatcher #Insomnia

But with my new job, I don't find the time and motivation to do my practice regularly enough. So instead I found a class in a nearby dance studio! It was a stroke of luck that they offer kpop classes. We usually practice a new chorus across 1-2 courses before moving on to the next, which is incredibly fast-paced and I don't usually have the technicalities or precision down by the end (nor do all of them stick well in my head), but on the upside we don't linger on songs I dislike for long either and it's a great way to turn off my mind after work and just follow the flow (and mirror what the teacher is doing in the front).

List of Choreos

...that we've done since I joined. I'm probably missing one or two, and I've missed class for health reasons for two choreos (again, fast pace) at least, but these are the ones I remember, in no particular order:

Killin' Me Good by Jihyo (0:48 to 1:15)
Fast Forward by Jeon Somi (0:41 to 1:11)
Aya by Mamamoo (0:09 to 1:23) - tbf this one I already knew beforehand (and in its entirety :D)
More by K/DA (0:44 to 1:24)
Home Run by Seventeen (0:47 to 1:15)
Sacrifice (Eat Me Up) by Enhypen (0:52 to 1:23)
Go Hard by Twice (0:43 to 1:04) (link to song for better sound quality)
Agassy by Soojin (0:46 to 1:09)
Guilty by Taemin (0:55 to 1:32)
Chill Kill by Red Velvet (1:04 to 1:17)

Listing them all out make me want to re-practice them and learn more of some of these, ngl 👀

Hello dear RFSEx Creator! First of all, thank you for creating for me <3 I'm very excited!

My prompts are the same on here as in my sign-up, I've just added thoughts on characters, character guides, etc. in my letter :)

Also! I am open to treats, fic or art both :3

General Likes:

what ifs/canon divergences, alternate identity reveal, time travel (fix-it), canon aus where the canon setting remains,
fluff, domesticity, banter, found family, family dynamics, friendship, developing & established relationships, intimacy,
UST, misunderstandings, miscommunication, character conflict, conflict-rich dialogue, (emotional) hurt/comfort, secret identity, secrets and the slow reveals thereof,
fealty & loyalty, devotion, protectiveness, protective possessiveness, mutual possessiveness, (public) claiming of some sort (jewelry, bitemarks, verbal, etc.)
characters being competent at their jobs, Battle Couple, teamwork, nonverbal strategy communication,
casefic, canon-style plots, mystery, action/adventure,
outsider PoV, first/second PoV, epistolary, multimedia and experimental formats (fictional socmed, letters, snippets from history books, text books, mission reports, etc.) that fit the canon setting
The intimacy of your lover being able to kill you but choosing not to: knife to the throat (for shaving or during a fight enemies-to-lovers style), human!partner being vulnerable in monster!partner's grasp, strong person who trusts no one being vulnerable with their partner, etc.

General DNWs: breaking up requested ships, genderswap, anything related to cannibalism, body horror, graphic gore, zombies/undead, hanahaki, sickfic, permanent character death for canon characters (Deja Vu excepted), mundane AUs, smut with no mentions of plot/relationship or character complexity

Descendants (Disney Movies)

Fandom-specific DNWs: focus on anything that happens in the 3rd movie (mentions are fine, pretending it never happened is also great)

Character Guide

Left: Uma, daughter of Ursula (The Little Mermaid) - Right: Jane, daughter of the Fairy Godmother (Cinderella, in the Descendants-verse she's the headmistress of Auradon High)

And here is one of the only times these two share screentime (THE only? I'd have to rewatch the movies to make sure, but I don't think they're on screen together in the same cut of DD2) Probably the only one they are seemingly next to each other, though!

final dance sequence from Disney's Descendants 3

Prompts:

any of the other characters finding out that bad girl!Uma is dating goodie-two-shoes!wallflower!Jane
Uma asking Jane out and Jane assuming it's on a dare/a pity date/a prank, but still saying yes
Jane drunkenly confessing her crush to Carlos and swearing him to secrecy the next morning
Uma assuming Jane keeps staring at her because she's gawking at the Sea Witch's daughter/scared of her/trying to keep an eye on her because surely she'll do something awful soon and confronting her about it, only to be taken aback by a flustered Jane blushing and asking her out
Jane and Uma going to prom together with their very contrasting fashion styles (Jane all in high-neck, long-sleeved pastel blue dress barely showing skin? Uma with a more punk-rock pleather aesthetic? But feel free to ignore me and go wild!)
Jane being assigned as the Auradon guide/mentor for Uma (possibly also Harry and Gil) and having to deal with their boundary pushing, trying to see what it takes for her to retaliate (with Jane learning to set boundaries and the VKs being impressed when she finally does draw the line)

Jane/Uma

For me, this started as a crackship - which characters are so different from each other that no one would suspect they're dating? And then have their future selves show up and have the canon kids react to that reveal.

Somewhere along that journey, my brain really latched onto this ship. It makes so much sense. They complement each other so well, being near entirely opposites. Uma is brash, in your face, unapologetic about being a villain. She knows what she wants and won't hesitate to get it. Meanwhile, Jane is shy, a push-over and people-pleaser, barely knows what she wants for herself, and if she does, she doesn't dare speak up about it, in case it burdens the people around her. She's everyone's friend but no one is her friend (before Carlos. Ben tries, but he's busy and believes her when she says "It's fine.")

They could be so good for each other. For Uma, Jane gives her someone entirely lacking in deceit. Jane is earnest and genuinely kind without ulterior motive, which Uma (and the other VKs) are not used to (nor would they trust it at first, I don't think). Jane could teach her to open up, to make herself vulnerable and come out of the other end whole - give her a person she can *trust*. Because the only people Uma trusts is herself (and to some degree Harry, but even there she knows it's because she's top bitch; Harry is devoted to her and her trusted second in command but on the Isle showing weakness leads to betrayal. I think they too could learn to relax and allow their friendship to grow into something more outside of the Isle, but I'm degressing.) The last time Uma trusted someone to any degree she got betrayed (by Mal in the books), which is the way of the Isle and growing up in that environment shaped her.

On the other hand, Uma could teach Jane to stand up for herself. Once Jane earns her respect, she would be protective of her, as part of her crew. Uma pushes boundaries and takes advantage of anyone she perceives as weak, and likely would do so to a push-over like Jane in the beginning. But Jane can learn to set boundaries in this relationship, and it's important for her to grow a backbone - and when she does, Uma respects her all the more for it, which works in a feedback loop to make Jane more certain of standing her ground and holding her own opinions. She can learn saying "no" from and to Uma, and with Uma's backing to others (especially Mal lol).

Also, Uma is pretty powerful magically, having inherited Ursula's sea witchery (in DD2 she turns into the same giant half-kraken Ursula does in The Little Mermaid). Meanwhile, we don't really see Jane use magic, but Fairy Godmother's wand is a powerful tool everyone is fighting for in DD1 and it does make Jane at least half-fairy. I feel like she could be a good match for Uma with the right training or incentive :)

TL;DR they both have fascinating insecurities and trust issues, and their relationship could go either fantastic or fantastically wrong, depending on how willing they both are to work on it :D

Background ships: I personally ship Jay/Carlos and Ben/Mal/Evie, with Uma & Harry & Gil being an inseparable trio and Jane & Carlos being gay besties (who tried dating but figured out they weren't right together).

Granting You A Dreamlike Life

Prompts:

post-canon friends-with-benefits or get-together where they keep meeting on the anniversary of Luo Fusheng's death to get drunk and grieve him together, remniscing on past interactions with him, missing him, laughing about the one-sided rivalry caused by Hong Lan's jealousy
enemies-to-lovers in either a canon divergence or a canon au with less death, in which Tianying confronts Hong Lan about the earlier bullying (maybe at a movie premiere party they're both invited to? In the bathroom at some event?
the media picking up on the animosity between these two and both of them being depicted as bitter rivals, even as in their personal lives they both grow up and find more of an understanding between them
movie directors constantly wanting to cast them as love rivals for various love triangles, only for a heated jealousy scene to turn into a kiss between them that opens both of their eyes
Tianying coming to Hong Lan in Hong Lan's capacity as the Hong family's new head to request an illegal favour to help her deal with something the police refuse to handle because of corruption
Hong Lan and Tianying uniting to deal with the threat Xu Xingcheng (Hong Lan's reluctant husband and Tianying's ex-boyfriend) poses to both their lives as the new corrupt police captain (possibly in an AU where (they think) Luo Fusheng is dead)

Tianying/Hong Lan

I really enjoy the one-sided rivalry these two have in canon, with Hong Lan's jealousy pushing her to pick on Tianying and try to prove herself better by underhanded methods. Hong Lan doesn't hesitate to use her powerful connections to bully Tianying, and yet Tianying gets everything Hong Lan's ever wanted handed to her on a silver platter - Hong Lan's fiancé and later husband (even if she hates him) picks Tianying as his girlfriend and remains obsessed with her even after the wedding, Hong Lan's crush chooses Tianying over and over again, the movie producers and her co-star lift newbie Tianying up until she becomes a movie star to outshine Hong Lan herself. And then the one person who loves Hong Lan and always picks her side turns out to be Tianying's older brother when they learn Tianying's birth identity. Those are hard pills to swallow over and over and Hong Lan is a spoilt brat and sore loser. It's only when everything goes wrong for her (being forced to marry Xu Xingcheng, her father's death, etc.) that she starts growing up and confronting reality.

Meanwhile, Tianying holds no illwill towards Hong Lan. She doesn't exactly let Hong Lan roll over her, but she's at her core an empath who prefers kindness in a world full of violence and corruption. She's the bending grass in the wind, enduring but not breaking. I find the potential of their friendship (and more) fascinating, either after XXC's and LFS's deaths or in a canon divergence where things go differently. I can see Tianying being the listening ear Hong Lan needs to endure her unwanted marriage to a corrupt police chief, or in a world where they both get to continue living their lives without too much interference becoming known movie star rivals - who bond behind the scenes over time and become close.

Deja Vu by Dreamcatcher (MV)

Fandom-specific DNWs: using the Real People's full names, please stick to either stage names (Yoohyeon and Jiu respectively) for the characters or a title (e.g. The Betrayer and The Princess)

link to canon - 3:46 minutes MV

Character Guide

Yoohyeon
Jiu
Sua - Siyeon - Dami
- Handong - Gahyeon

The two timelines: the one in which Jiu kills Yoohyeon

the one in which Yoohyeon kills Jiu

While my own interpretation shines through here, I'm interested in other people's interpretations, too! What stood out to you in the MV? What vibe did the characters give you? What sense of the world they inhabit?

Prompts:

What if Yoohyeon and/or Jiu are stuck in a time loop, forced to kill the other or be killed until they find a way to break the cycle?
What if it's Jiu having the Deja Vu experience of having killed Yoohyeon and that's why she drops the sword during the second timeline?
What if the first timeline is all in Yoohyeon's head, nightmares and paranoia of secret hints of a conspiracy... What if Jiu's secretly planning to propose to Yoohyeon, and Yoohyeon only learns of it with Jiu's blood cooling on her hands?
What if these are two separate timelines with a role reversal? What happens if Jiu and Yoohyeon meet their alternate selves?
Something based on the lyrics: As long as I can breathe/I can’t let go of you again/We'll be together for every moment and/or Even if I bet all of me for you/And the painful wounds deepen/As though every moment is a dream/I won't move away from you — to me, these lines read as if one timeline happened, and the person remembering (Jiu? Is this why she drops the sword?) cannot go through the same again, clinging to the other no matter how much the other hurts the one who remembers
anything that emphasizes the unequal power dynamics would be great! Especially if the imagery involves the throne and/or kneeling, fealty feels, loyalty/betrayal, etc.
Jiu or Yoohyeon holding the other close as they die, despite being the one who killed them

Jiu/Yoohyeon

This ship is full of fealty and betrayal, of intimate trust that is broken. I love that we see both Jiu and Yoohyeon in the respective roles, and see them being swapped constantly throughout the MV; it's just a trick of fate who ends up in which role. It is Jiu who raises the sword to Yoohyeon first, both when Yoohyeon is a princess fallen at Jiu's feet and when Yoohyeon is the servant kneeling before her princess. And yet in the memories, it's always Jiu who turns to Yoohyeon first with a smile on her face. And it is always Yoohyeon who remains behind, alone, closing her eyes and opening them to see everyone/no one around her. Yoohyeon who misses Jiu, despite being the one who decided to go through with killing her.

I love how they clearly loved and trusted each other, yet both started doubting at some point. They grow colder over time, confronting each other, both distrusting what the other was doing, both struggling with the need to strike first before they are betrayed (and in the end, Jiu drops the sword and Yoohyeon picks it up and goes through with it). There are so many possible nuances in their relationship, and I'd be happy with anything at any point during it (or after!)