After a couple of years of really struggling with mood and creativity, between burnout and family issues and god knows what (and I know I've been hard to deal with in fandom, at times), things are suddenly ... good! I can write again, I'm signing up for exchanges, whatever has been blocking me has gotten a whole lot better.

July is my birthday month, therefore Best Month, obviously, and I would really like to try to do some kind of "post a short fic every day" thing if I can make it work. Unfortunately I'm suffering a dearth of appropriate challenges, because of course now that I want one and have the mental bandwidth to do something with one, daily month-long prompt challenges and/or bingo card challenges for July are nowhere in sight. The closest thing is July Break Bingo, but I've asked for cards for this before, and I just ... never really do anything with them; I appreciate that it exists, but I think I need more of a - I don't know, social element to it, I guess? Less open-ended, more directed? Their cards just don't really click with me somehow. And I can't find a Tumblr prompt/whump/whatever themed promptfest thing for July.

So I'm kicking around a few different ideas. Why not throw it out to a completely nonbinding poll?

Poll #33243

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 15

View Respondents

What should I do for July?

View Answers

A custom bingo card/prompt list created (by me) from all my favorite tropes
8 (53.3%)

A personal challenge to finish older inbox prompts/unwritten prompts from past fests
6 (40.0%)

Find a prompt list from a previous (non-July) fest that I didn't do at the time, and use that
3 (20.0%)

Ask my flist for new prompts until I get 31 of them for fresh inspiration
5 (33.3%)

Run a comment fest over at the Biggles comm
3 (20.0%)

Something else that I will suggest in comments
0 (0.0%)

dine

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syzygis

Over the years
I hear people say
Yesterday's tomorrow
Is tomorrow's yesterday
Where has it gone,
The world that I knew?
I'd think I had broken,
But you see it too.
This beautiful porcelain
Country in shards --
Just piecing them back
Will be ten times as hard.
Perhaps we can dream
Of a molten gold glue
To mend all the cracks
To better than new.
When we all get through this,
As we're going along,
We must "Never Forget"
If we want to stay strong.

weofodthignen

A few days ago, I was walking and noticed what looked like a clump of oak flowers. I forget what made me turn it over, but it proved to be this girlie:

(Maybe 3" high)

I propped her up against the base of the nearest lamp post. When I next went by that spot, I looked and she'd disappeared, so I figured whatever little girl had lost her, had found her again. But today I was there again and noticed a clump of oak flowers in the ivy next to the pavement/sidewalk ... so second best happy ending, home she came with me.

This is pretty clearly a girl bear. Not only is she very petite, she has two hair ornaments, and one of them, plus the tuning end of her guitar, feature hearts. There's a flower painted around the painted hole in the guitar body. One of the hair ornaments is an ice lolly; the other is an even smaller critter, with a circular body and rabbit-like ears. The guitar and the ice lolly are multiple plastic pieces fitted together: the plate at the base of the guitar strings as well as the tuning block, the white bottom half of the lolly, even the front of its stick is a yellow piece. The hairpiece animal has black painted eye-dots and a raised dot nose; the bear herself has two eyes and a slightly smaller nose, affixed in the traditional manner for small stuffed bears' eyes, but the nose is just a little below the eyes, a snub-nose effect.

Very carefully designed to be irresistably cute, to extract pocket money from little girls—or adult collectors. I suspect she's part of a Japanese line of collectible plushies being sold at Asian malls in the Bay Area. Or maybe she's just a very cannily designed tchotchke produced in such bulk that the detailing doesn't cost too much at all.

Certainly works. Anyone with any nurturing instinct would be drawn to her. But the economic implications make me wince. Remember, she's tiny. (See the book and onions in the background.) She's small enough that she might be meant for a backpack zip or a keychain, but I don't see any sign of a torn-off attachment. And her legs and arms are rudimentary, stiff shapes under the fuzz, probably a plastic frame. This isn't a bear to hug and take to bed, but something to covet, and amass, and leave sitting on a shelf.

She'll go on my shelf now.

emrinalexander

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enchanted_jae

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Current Mood: amused
Current Music: "All-American Bitch" ~ Olivia Rodrigo

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Hilda the Plus-size Pinup; Fixing a Flat (Norman Rockwell illustration)
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Hilda; three Norman Rockwell characters, two female and one male.
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2,356
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, women solving their own problems
Creator Tags: magazine illustrations, Norman Rockwell - Freeform, Fluff, Plot
Creator Links: (AO3)

moon_custafer; (DeviantArt)

mooncustafer; (Dreamwidth)

moon_custafer; (Instagram)

mooncustafer; (LiveJournal)

moon_custafer; (Tumblr)

mooncustafer
Theme: Female Relationships, Crossovers/Fusions, Female Friendship, Gen, Old Fandoms, Small Fandoms, Stranded

Summary: Hilda’s fishing trip is struck by rain and then by two new acquaintances in need of assistance.

Author’s Notes: For moonlight69.

I needed to introduce a few additional characters to Hilda’s mainly single-panel world, so I did a mash-up with Norman Rockwell’s “Fixing a Flat.” Think of it as the Illustrationverse.

Reccer's Notes: A rec posted in honor of the U.S. Full Strawberry Moon, for reasons that will be apparent in the fic.

Moon Custafer constructs a story from several Hilda panels (plus a special guest Norman Rockwell work), in which Duane Bryers’ zaftig hillbilly wood nymph comes to the aid of two travelers stranded in the boondocks—a predicament complicated by a less friendly local. (A temporary problem-solving alliance (particularly against a common enemy) can count as a relationship, right?)

Hilda as portrayed in Bryers’ artworks seems to embrace solitude, and the scant fanfic I’ve seen doesn’t tend to show her interacting face-to-face with much of anyone but her animal friends and the odd Authorial Proxy; it’s fun to watch her socializing, and to see her given family, friends, enemies, and a history. (As well as actual clothing that she presumably wears now and then to pick up her crackers, trashy novels, and repurposable-as-clothing floursacks.)

Fanwork Links: Fixing a Flat by

moon_custafer for

moonlight69, for Yuletide 2018.

kick_back_80s posting in

unconventionalcourtship

Title: haven't been home lately (why keep a room?)
Rating: Explicit
Fandom: Justified
Relationship: Raylan Givens/Tim Gutterson
Additional Tags: Masturbation, Getting Together, coworkers with benefits, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex

Summary:
Thoughts circling like the fan blades, Tim comes back to the same frustrating reality. He's been working with Raylan for months now, and each infuriating habit is growing increasingly endearing. The way Raylan carries himself doesn't help, and when Tim's eyes close, Raylan's swagger plays on repeat against Tim's eyelids.

"Stupid cowboy," Tim mutters, although there's no one around to overhear — he's not back in the barracks, isn't trying to keep quiet in a hostile household.

A/N: For Unconventional Courtship. The Harlequin Romance I picked was Never Tempt A Lawman by Lauri Robinson

Book Summary

Western Kansas, 1866

Steady, wealthy and oh-so-safe—that's the kind of husband Bess Trundale wants. Someone like the local banker's son. Someone unlike Sheriff Kirk Landers. The lawman's confident swagger gets right under her skin…and into her fantasies. And though she's tried to ignore the chemistry surging between them, one night is about to change everything.

Kirk isn't planning on being anyone's husband ever again. But months of living under the same boardinghouse roof as quick-witted, feisty Bess have stirred desires he can't ignore. Together they could put their pasts to rest and claim a bold, passionate future—if he can tempt her to break all the rules with him….

AO3 (Archive Locked) | Dreamwidth

sakuramod posting in

yuletide

sakuraexchange is a spring exchange for relationships in Japanese media, run on Dreamwidth and AO3.

We have several pinch hits (unfilled requests) currently in need of creators. If you might be able to fill one of these requests by the current due date (June 20, 11:59PM UTC / 7:59PM EDT), please comment on the pinch hit post with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you'd like to claim.

The minimum requirements are 1000 words for fic, or clean lineart on unlined paper for art.

Available pinch hits (click through for details):

PH 1 - ワンパンマン | One-Punch Man, Gundam Wing, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… - 山口悟 | My Next Life as a Villainess - Yamaguchi Satoru (Light Novels)

PH 2 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, 殺し愛 | Koroshi Ai (Manga), 2.5次元の誘惑 | 2.5-jigen no Ririsa | 2.5 Dimensional Seduction (Anime)

PH 4 - 爆上戦隊ブンブンジャー | Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger (TV), 魔法つかいプリキュア！ | Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! | Mahou Girls PreCure!, 仮面ライダーギーツ | Kamen Rider Geats, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (manga), Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (Anime)

PH 10 - わんだふるぷりきゅあ! | Wonderful PreCure! (Anime), Crossover Fandom, Show By Rock!! (Video Games), 美男高校地球防衛部HAPPY KISS! | Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Happy Kiss!, Tokyo Mew Mew Olé (Manga), Fairy蘭丸~あなたの心お助けします~ | Fairy Ranmaru: Anata no Kokoro Otasuke Shimasu (Anime)

PH 14 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime), Senjou no Merry Christmas | Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence | Furyo (1983), Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Thank you very much!

sakuramod posting in

anime_manga

sakuraexchange is a spring exchange for relationships in Japanese media, run on Dreamwidth and AO3. Participants create a fic or art piece for one of their assigned recipient's requested fandoms and relationships, and receive in return a fic or art piece for one of their requested fandoms and relationships. Detailed exchange guidelines are here, at our DW community.

We have several pinch hits (unfilled requests) currently in need of creators. If you might be able to fill one of these requests by the current due date (June 20, 11:59PM UTC / 7:59PM EDT), please comment on the pinch hit post with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you'd like to claim.

The minimum requirements are 1000 words for fic, or clean lineart on unlined paper for art.

Available pinch hits (click through for details):

PH 1 - ワンパンマン | One-Punch Man, Gundam Wing, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, 乙女ゲームの破滅フラグしかない悪役令嬢に転生してしまった… - 山口悟 | My Next Life as a Villainess - Yamaguchi Satoru (Light Novels)

PH 2 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, 殺し愛 | Koroshi Ai (Manga), 2.5次元の誘惑 | 2.5-jigen no Ririsa | 2.5 Dimensional Seduction (Anime)

PH 4 - 爆上戦隊ブンブンジャー | Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger (TV), 魔法つかいプリキュア！ | Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! | Mahou Girls PreCure!, 仮面ライダーギーツ | Kamen Rider Geats, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (manga), Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (Anime)

PH 10 - わんだふるぷりきゅあ! | Wonderful PreCure! (Anime), Crossover Fandom, Show By Rock!! (Video Games), 美男高校地球防衛部HAPPY KISS! | Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Happy Kiss!, Tokyo Mew Mew Olé (Manga), Fairy蘭丸~あなたの心お助けします~ | Fairy Ranmaru: Anata no Kokoro Otasuke Shimasu (Anime)

PH 14 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime), Senjou no Merry Christmas | Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence | Furyo (1983), Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu | Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Thank you very much!

cakewrecks_feed

Posted by number1

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/paper-view-2025

Edible paper. Edible paper. EDIBLE PAPER!! Amaze your friends! Astound your coworkers! All you need is...EDIBLE PAPER!!!

(The following message is brought to you by the National Board of Edible Paper and Non-edible Babies.)
Hey there, baker! Lonely sheet cakes got ya down?

[defeated trombone slide]

No worries. Now you can turn this:

"Boo! That's so BORING and PHOTOLESS!"

...Into THIS!

"Wow! Is that paper? That you can EAT??"

Yes, it is! And now your bakery can make literallytrillionsof dollars with a little help from this fabulous product, known as...

EDIBLE PAPER!!!
With Edible Paper (and our conveniently included vehicle clip-art starter pack), you can...

Cut costs!
---What better, more cost effective way is there to celebrate a bride-to-be's journey than with...

...recreational vehicle clip-art?

With a few roses and a stick figure bride, this shower cake is ready to roll!

Save time!
---Why waste precious hours fumbling with piping bags when it takes only a second to hit "Print?"

And it's still just as meaningful.

It's EASY!

---No artistic talent? No problem!! Hearts are difficult to draw, but an edible hearse is just a keystroke away!

Death becomes it!

Yes, with Edible Paper, you are only limited by your Imagination*!

*Imagination clip-art packs sold separately.

Now, don't put away that "Eternal Rest" photo pack just yet; when a customer asks you to "just make it nice ," it's really your time to shine!

You can rest in peace knowing your customer is happy.

Do you love fried chicken? I mean, LOVE love it? But not so much that you want to eat anything that actually tastes like fried chicken? Then you're in luck!

It's finger lickin' great!

Edible Paper!

EDIBLE PAPER!

EDIBLE PAPER!!!

Edible Paper. Transforming your baby shower cakes from this...

Into this:

You're welcome.

Thanks to Susan H., Liana E., Nathan S., Dana H., Taryn, Kerry M., Adam D., Wendy M., Mollie B., who think these cakes look pretty tearable.

*****

P.S. You know what's better than edible paper? EDIBLE CHEESE PAPER:

Prank Gift Box: Cheese Printer

No, it's not a real cheese printer (booo), but with these prank gift boxes you can make your friends and family THINK it is. There's also an "ear wax candle kit" and an especially cruel 12,000 piece puzzle box of a solid blue sky. DASTARDLY.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

https://www.cakewrecks.com/home/paper-view-2025

minoanmiss posting in

agonyaunt

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yarnandglue posting in

beautifulmechanical

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senmut

Filing Flirtations (300 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Marvel's The Avengers [2012]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Natasha Romanov, Ensemble
Additional Tags: Avengers Tower, Flirting, Triple Drabble
Summary:

It's a lazy day in the Tower and Nat's just taking it all in.

Filing Flirtations

Nat just sat back and watched the beer-laden flirting going on, listening with half her mind as alcohol lubricated more honest impressions of one another. She didn't really get it sometimes — Tony wanted everyone but Pepper was being far choosier — yet it made for good intel on who she could push and manipulate that way should it be needed.

She got the impression Bruce was more like herself. Something in the total package had to be there for that kind of fireworks to happen. On cue, Betty warded off a very cute pass from Darcy, and settled more firmly in Bruce's space. Those two — they had that look of having a true orbital lock on each other.

She let her eyes shift briefly to Clint, who gave his tiny hitch of a shoulder, then raised an eyebrow before his eyes roved Thor's well-built form. Nat gave him a go-for-it nod with the nuance of 'not both of us'.

Thor didn't meet her particular points of interest enough to spark anything, but it was always fun to watch Clint does his mix of shy and blatant flirtation.

She wondered how Jane was going to handle it, but Jane moved closer to Bruce and Betty, talking science and leaving Thor on his own. Darcy nudged her once to look over. When Jane did, she rolled her eyes, and went back to the discussion at hand.

That nudged her up in Nat's books. They were all, now, part of a very intense way of life, and being weird about who slept with whom was going to make friction.

Tony dropped into her space, and she arched a look his way.

"Checking."

"No."

He grinned. "Her?"

"Maybe."

"I'll have her schedule a date to figure it out."

Nat smirked over at Pepper, who smiled.

conuly

As always, Evil!Janeway is hot, though less so than the Living Witness version. It's the eyes - our main characters all have huge eyes, so the somewhat more realistically animated adult human characters look slightly uncanny valley, even though their eyes ought to make sense.

Also, damn, Chakotay has got some arms! Is this true IRL? I don't remember ever seeing the live actor ever without sleeves....

Also also, I honestly love every time Gwen gets a moment of happiness, no matter how small. She really has had a miserable life. Every second chasing replicated pie over the ship, or squirting whipped cream into her mouth, or, one hopes, finally spending some time playing goofy holodeck games, is a second worth living. And so, I will say, I appreciate that the animators took the time to let her smirk a little when Evil!Chakotay proposed starting his torture session with "the cute one", aka Murf the Indestructible. You gotta find those moments of joy when you can, sweetie!

(Question: Are mirror tribbles... nice? What about their new team pet, Bribble? Would Bribble have a goatee and be evil in the mirror verse? How sapient is that thing, anyway?)

********************

( Read more... )

sholio

whumpex revealed tonight! (And H/C-ex is supposed to in a few days, if it's not delayed. All the hurtcomfort all the time.)

I got:

Staying Power (Babylon 5, Londo & Vir, 4200 wds)

I asked for (among other things) Londo reacting to something bad happening to Vir, or Vir taking a hit for him, and my Mysterious Gifter took me up on it most delightfully!

As usual, there is a fic or two of mine running around loose in the collection as well.

conuly

I don't want this getting lost in the links: A Journey Through the Dystopiaverse (some of those poems hit hard)

In personal news, how many nos is one expected to get before they get a yes?

********************

( I managed to find some non-doom-and-gloom links to shove in here as well )

dine

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conuly

Watch on YouTube

conuly posting in

agonyaunt

Dear Pay Dirt,

My brother and his wife recently bought a broken-down house. They asked my husband, who runs his own construction company, for a quote to fix it up. My sister-in-law brightly chimed in, “and we expect the friends and family rate.” Well, my husband immediately drew a hard line.

He responded that he would prefer not to engage in a business agreement with family, as it can lead to misunderstandings, and he recommended another company. Well, my sister-in-law completely lost her mind.

She screamed at him and said that they would never have bought the property if they knew he wasn’t going to help them. It seems that they, without any encouragement, expected him to offer his services at a significant discount and are now in a bind because they cannot afford the reconstruction and will make a huge loss if they sell.

Now my entire family is being drawn into a massively acrimonious discussion. My brother and sister-in-law are claiming we “betrayed them” and left them bankrupt. I get daily calls from my weeping mother begging my husband to reconsider, while my father has threatened to beat him up. It’s insane. I don’t want to lose my family, and I can’t ask my husband to change his mind, so what do I do?

—Built on Sand

( Read more... )

Mind's Eye

Contemplating July activities

the failure mode of 'clever' is 'asshole'

Kintsugi

Found in the street

(no subject)

Hex on the Ex

Hilda the Plus-size Pinup; Norman Rockwell: Fixing a Flat, by moon_custafer.

haven't been home lately (why keep a room?) (Justified; Raylan Givens/Tim Gutterson)

Post-Deadline Pinch Hits for Sakura Exchange (Due June 20)

Pinch Hits Available for Sakura Exchange

Paper View

Edible Paper!

EDIBLE PAPER!

EDIBLE PAPER!!!

Ask a Manager: May I Roundfile Male BYU Grad Applicants?

Addison Rae - "Times Like These" (2025)

PRIDE 6: Natasha/?

Oooh! Prodigy has a Mirror Universe episode!

Whumpex reveals!

Why do things always go from bad to worse? Why can't they go from bad to somewhat less bad?

our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter

(no subject)

(no subject)

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