straightforwardly

► The prompt for Day Ten of this year’s fandom_snowflake is to make a list of five things. Within like five seconds I went from “having no ideas as to what I can make a list about” to “having too many ideas”. Then I almost went into overkill mode (aka: making five different lists of five things each), but was saved by the fact that I couldn’t settle on which of my list ideas should be the “fifth thing”.

So now, I’m simply sharing the only one which I actually got around to writing during this whole progress, namely, a list of five exchanges that had a particular importance to me of some kind at one point in my life or another.

Or, in other words, it’s basically an abbreviated history of me + multifandom exchanges in the form of a five things list. ( beneath the cut )

► In other news… Femslash February prompts! I can’t remember quite where I came across this (the EAD discord, maybe?), but someone somewhere shared this bingo card mixing the “dark” and “light” prompts. Original tumblr post here. ( and the image beneath the cut )

Idk if I’ll end up writing anything for it, but the prompts (and especially the prompt combos) are quite good. It doesn’t even need to clash with my “finish WIPs” goal for the year, since I do have a few beloved f/f WIPs that would match up with some of the prompts…

As always, I haven’t finished commenting, but here are my recs for this round of Trick or Treat! ( beneath the cut )

Finished my first run-through of the 2018 Trick or Treat collection! There's still quite a few works that I want to go back and comment on later, as always, but for now, here are some recs.

( beneath the cut )

► The Trick or Treat collection is open! It’s massive (only one fanwork away from 900!), so I’m still making my way through it . I’m planning on making a full rec list when I’m done, but I don’t know when that’ll be, so I’d like to take a quick moment to rec my gifts, because they were all fantastic. (I don’t know what gods I pleased to have such great luck in my exchange gifts lately, but whatever I did, I hope it keeps on working. *_*)

[art] Dryad (0 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Forest Spirit - Character, Moss-Covered Unicorn
Additional Tags: Nymphs & Dryads, Unicorns, Autumn, Ridiculous Disambiguation, Extra Treat, Art
Summary: A forest spirit, just chilling with her moss-covered unicorn.

Art! I got art! I was so excited when I shook the collection and realized I’d be getting art, and it definitely did not disappoint. Plus, it has the Moss-Covered Unicorn of my dreams! ♥ Go look at it—it’s an original piece, so you really don’t need any outside knowledge to fully appreciate it.

Sleep in the Arm of a Lonesome Rock (2815 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Stand Still Stay Silent
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Lalli Hotakainen & Onni Hotakainen & Tuuri Hotakainen, Team (Relationship)
Characters: Lalli Hotakainen, Tuuri Hotakainen, Onni Hotakainen, The Crew (Stand Still Stay Silent)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Trick or Treat: Trick, Major Character Undeath, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Family, ToT: Monster Mash
Summary: “You people can’t make me come with you!”

Except, clearly, they could.

This is amazing. *_* It’s a ghost story, but also packed full with Hotakainen family feelings and Emil & Lalli feelings and some lovely creepy moments, which means that it’s basically made for me. (...I say, about a fic which was literally made for me.) And that ending was just… Stars in my eyes, forever.

When You Wake (1041 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Stand Still Stay Silent
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lalli Hotakainen/Emil Västerström
Characters: Lalli Hotakainen, Emil Västerström
Additional Tags: Fluff without Plot, Cuddling & Snuggling, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary: Lalli falls asleep in Emil's dream and wakes up on the floor of some Old-World building. At least Emil is there too, even if there's no cake.

This, on the other hand, is pure fluff. <3 Which is something that I’m always up for when it comes to Emil/Lalli. (As well as horror...and angst...and okay, I’m basically always wanting Emil/Lalli in any form I can get it in.) It’s not canon-compliant anymore, but that doesn’t matter, because it’s still a sweet, cozy read. ♥

Then, as though I didn’t have enough things to be overjoyed about, I got a message on tumblr on Halloween from someone telling me that they’d drawn me something for Trick or Treat, but since they hadn’t managed to figure out how to post something to AO3, they posted it to tumblr instead. (So I got two pieces of art! Truly, my cup runneth over.)

It’s Emil/Lalli (!!!), and focuses on hands, and can be found here. :D

So those are my gifts. Go forth, and pour comments and kudos and love down on them all. <333

► Speaking of Stand Still Stay Silent, and in regards to the latest updates (810-11): ( very slightly nsfw? )

Dear Writer,

Hello, dear writer! I’m ridiculously excited about this exchange, and I hope that you are too!

Before I go any further, though, I should mention that for real-life reasons, I might not be able to immediately read/comment on my gift when the time comes. I do promise that I’ll try to get to it as soon as I possibly can!

I should also mention is that I do believe that optional details are optional. Please do pay attention to my DNWs, and treat my requested characters with love and respect, but other than that, everything else is simply meant to inspire.

I’m equally interested in tricks or treats. When it comes to tricks, I’d really love something creepy, dark, or otherwise unnerving— though not violent. Subtlety is always key. With treats, I’d just like anything that gives me warm, fuzzy feelings. It doesn’t have to be uncomplicated fluff— there can be hints of complications and darker issues— but in the end, I want it to leave me smiling.

This year, I chose not to divide my prompts into “tricks” or “treats”, mainly because I ended up having quite a few that I thought would be interesting either way. Do feel free to take a fluffy-seeming prompt for a “trick”, or carve out some fluff in a darker-sounding scenario for a “treat”, if you so desire!

AO3 Handle: straightforwardly
Previous Letters: 2015

( cut to spare the flist )

How is it already November? And, on a somewhat-tangential note, how is it already almost time for reveals for the Trick or Treat Exchange?

This was my first year doing this exchange (I just watched from the sidelines last year), and, overall, I really enjoyed it! I’ll talk a little bit more about it once reveals hit, but for now, I want to talk about my gifts! I received a pair of excellent fics this year.

A trick:

The Full Moon Never Comes (409 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Characters: Darkrai
Additional Tags: Isolation, Prequel
Summary: Darkrai found a trainer that didn't fear it.

And a treat!

I'm Just A Dreamer (1395 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Characters: Hikari | Dawn, Darkrai, Jun | Barry, Bippa | Bidoof
Additional Tags: Recovery, Trainer Pokemon Bond
Summary: When a pokemon joins you, you've made a commitment. Dawn will fulfill that commitment.

They haven’t gotten many (or, well, any, other than mine) comments yet, so if you’re fond of the Pokemon games, I’d suggest checking them out!

I have to say, reading them made me feel so nostalgic for my time in that fandom. All of my Dawn feelings just came bubbling up again. And it's not just the canon— I feel really nostalgic for the fandom itself, too. There were so many great people and writers, and there was such a wonderful sense of community. ♥ I do miss it.