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Podfic!

[Podfic] Beginning, Middle, and Continuing (18 words) by peasina
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Deanna Troi/Tasha Yar
Characters: Deanna Troi, Tasha Yar
Additional Tags: Developing Relationship, Slice of Life, Podfic, Podfic Length: 10-20 Minutes
Summary:

Deanna has an encounter with Tasha that sets in motion a slow slide to more.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: We've Got You (i - Spark) - Vienna Teng

Entry tags:

work

you're keeping calm, you're aiming higher

Today at work, they announced that we will be getting a COLA, retro back to July 1! My boss also floated a potential promotion for me (really, the work would mostly stay the same, but the title and money would be better) for after the new CEO is in place. We'll see if that ever happens. It would be cool if it did, but I won't hold my breath.

I thought I had other things to say, but I fell asleep on the couch after I logged off work and now I'm all fuzzy-headed.

*

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TLOZ:BOTW in a nutshell (spoilers)

The main plotline of the video game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (2017) alone -- with no sidequests, exploration, minigames, or collections -- takes ~50 hours. So, roughly, 2 old-fashioned US TV seasons of 22-26 episodes or 3-4 epic Peter Jackson movies. Here's that plot, summarized:

( Massive spoilers )

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videogames: inazuma eleven

SAKKA YAROUZE

In a shocking turn of events, the new Inazuma Eleven game has finally officially released. With "only" a seven year delay!

(I'm busy with Pokémon right now, so I might not get it for a while... seven years late and with such awful timing.)

Entry tags:

!fic,
fandom: dcu

30 in 30: DCU Live Action [BoP(atFEoOHQ)]

AO3 Link | Not Babysitting (100 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) [2020]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Renee Montoya, Dinah Laurel Lance
Additional Tags: Drabble
Summary:

With Dinah hurt, Renee keeps watch

Renee played with the beer bottle in that way she had when she really didn't know what to say.

Dinah turned her head that way, one eye still shut. "Don't have to babysit me. I'm not nine anymore."

"Ain't about that, chica," Renee rasped out. "It's about standing with my chosen family, and yeah, maybe it's about picking up the pieces I dropped then."

Dinah closed the eye that was still working. "You couldn't have protected me this time, either. I chose it."

"Maybe. Doesn't mean I'm willing to step out on you."

Dinah half-smiled. "Alright then."

"Damn straight, alright."

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what are you playing wednesday

What Are You Playing (Thursday)

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

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!thursday recs,
bts

Community Recs Post!

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fanvids/fics/fancrafts/fanart/podfics/other kinds of fanworks have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here

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Review: Buzzing by Samuel Sattin with Rye Hickman

Buzzing
Written by Samuel Sattin with art by Rye Hickman

Description
A moving middle grade graphic novel about friendship, belonging, and learning to love yourself despite the voices in your head.

Isaac Itkin can't get away from his thoughts.

As a lonely twelve-year-old kid with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), everything from studying to looking in the mirror becomes a battle between him and a swarm of unhelpful thoughts.

The strict therapy his mother insists on doesn't seem to be working, but when a group of friends invites him to join their after-school role-playing game, the thoughts feel a little less loud, and the world feels a little brighter.

But Isaac's therapist says that exposure to games can have negative effects on kids with OCD, and when his grades slip, his helicopter mother won't let him play anymore. Now Isaac needs to find a way to prove to himself, to his mother, and to the world that the way to quiet the noise in his head may have been inside him all along.

Review
This book has the best depiction of intrusive thoughts I've ever seen. Issac's OCD is represented by cartoon bees that swarm his head, saying awful (and often repetitive things). The bees can become fewer in number when Isaac is interested in something and if something (or someone!) is really engaging they can disappear completely. Or if things are going badly, they can swarm Isaac and drown out almost everything else.

Isaac's friends are a great comfort to him and he's most animated and engaged when he's with them. In contrast, he shuts down when he's with his overbearing mother and hateful sister. The art does an amazing job of reflecting it, with the colour literally leeching from the panels when Isaac's family are present. As someone who grew up with a mental illness in a shitful Family of Origin, this all feels so real and believeable. The mother especially is a hall-mark 'doing my best' but actually ignores the emotional needs of both her children, constantly criticises them and has a sour comment for every interaction.

Unfortunately its this strong identify I have with Isaac that makes the ending fall really flat for me.

Spoilers here

After spending half the book despising Isaac, his sister suddenly decides to help him connect with his friends after his mother bans him from hanging out with them. And then at the end the mother puts aside her over-bearing self-absorbtion and starts taking an interest in Isaac and his hobbies, letting him hang out with his friends again and is generally a totally different person.

If you've ever dealt with schemas in Family of Origin you'll know that those roles don't just get thrown aside on a whim. So... I didn't like the ending. But it's a middle grade book. Isaac growing up, moving out, finally getting therapy and going no contact was not an option. Shame though, because I would read the hell out of that.

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dreamwidth: community thursdays

Community Thursday

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted & commented on bnha_fans.

Commented on booknook.

Signal boosts:

Via dw_community_promo, a new werewolvesden to chat about all media involving werewolves/wereanimals/shapeshifters! :D Inspired by vampiremedia and both great ideas.

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today was a very stupid day but I have faith tomorrow will be stupider

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: sore

Entry tags:

Just a memory of your face

Frankenstein made me sick! Not because of the gore or anything, but for the first time in six years, I caught a freaking cold. I mean I knew it was a matter of time before I picked up covid or a cold or the flu if I was insisting on going to the movies, because I cannot go to a theatre and not eat popcorn. It's simply not possible. So I end up unmasked for most of the running time. But I had forgotten how terrible a cold can be, and it's lingering and lingering for me (yes, I've tested many times, and while I know that home tests show false negatives all the time, I'm pretty sure the tests are right and it's not covid). I'm so sick of the coughing and snot.

All that on top of surgery on my back for melanoma (a word I've dreaded my whole life, what is it with me and cancers starting with M?) in situ. Which isn't as bad as it could be, but is still fairly bad and scary, and the biopsy site on my forearm is "something we have to watch" and got infected, so that was fun. I have to go in to the dermatologist tomorrow before chemo because I have a "spitting suture" on the back. But otherwise, she said the surgery margins were good and they got all of it, so I just have to cross my fingers that the spot on my forearm doesn't get worse. Cancer just stalks me.

Anyway. I thought I'd try to do that alphabetical list of fics that's been going around as a distraction. I just picked things mostly at random, not for any real reason, I guess. (And following the rule that A and The don't count as first letters.) I have learned through this that I have an inordinate amount of stories starting with I and L and W. I should work on that.

A: And the Whirlwind (Logan, Laura)
B: Better Left Unsaid (Buffy, Spike/Buffy)
C: Cellies (MCU, Captain America, Thor, Bucky & Loki)
D: Dipping Toward the LIght (Sunshine (2007), Mace/Robert Capa)
E: Every Picture Tells a Story (Captain America, Steve/Bucky)
F: Five Cakes Marcus Thought Were Bombs and One He Knew Was Fire (The Bear, Marcus)
G: The Gift of Forgetfulness (Pacific Rim, Herc Hansen/Stacker Pentecost)
H: Heliotrope (Buffy, Spike/Buffy)
I: I can't remember how this started (but I can tell you exactly how it ends) (Captain America, Steve/Bucky)
J: Just Passing Through (Schitt's Creek, Captain America, Bucky Barnes, David/Patrick)
K: Knight-Errant (The Expanse, Amos Burton/Chrisjen Avasarala)
L: lucida/ obscura (Captain America, Steve/Bucky)
M: The Moon Cannot Be Stolen (Life (tv series), Charlie Crews & Ted Earley)
N: Not My Cross to Bear (The X-Files, Skinner/Scully)
O: On Beds of Sorrow (The Fast & the Furious, Dom/Brian)
P: The Perfume of Kismet (Buffy, Spike/Buffy)
Q: nothing!
R: Reverie (Captain America, Black Panther, Steve/Bucky) OMG I'm almost finished finally
S: The Sun Was the First Star We Knew (Sunshine (2007), Mace/Robert Capa)
T: There Must Be a Joke In Here Somewhere (The Middleman, Captain America, Wendy Watson & Bucky Barnes)
U: Urban Legend (Captain America, Steve Rogers)
V: The Valorous Vampire (Buffy, Angel & Buffy & Spike)
W: Welcome to the Party, Pal (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Captain America, Steve Rogers & Jake Peralta)
X: x=y (The X-Files, Mulder/Scully)
Y: You Can Have the Town, Why Don't You Take It? (What's Your Number? Ally Darling/Colin Shea)
Z: nothing!

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In-Person Escapade 36 Price Increase and 2nd Panel Suggestion Party

Hello Escapaders!

Registered for Escapade 36? Check!

If not, get your reg in soon as the price increases from $135 to $150 on Sunday, Nov 23rd.

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-36-registration-in-person/

Hotel reservation made? Check!

If not, head over here:

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-36-hotel-and-registration-information/

Now the fun part, tell us what you want to see for programming!

https://escapadecon.net/panels/panel-nomination/

We promised that if you’re one of those people who loves to bounce ideas off of other folks, we will have panel submission brainstorming parties, and we weren’t kidding!

Panel Suggestion Parties will be on Discord, in the atrium voice and chat channel, on these dates/times:

Saturday, November 15, 2025 1:00-4:00 PM Pacific PST

Saturday, December 13, 2025 1:00-4:00 PM Pacific PST

If you want to participate in one of the parties and aren’t on Discord (yet), email info@escapadecon.net for an invitation.

If you’ve never made panel suggestions before, the parties are a great way to see how ideas end up as panels and to get inspiration from what others are saying.

For the Escapade “Old Timers” among us, come to the parties and share what fannish fun is keeping you going these days.

-Con Com

https://escapadecon.net/escapade-36-price-increase-and-panel-suggestion-parties/

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Lake Lewisia #1329

Those who enjoyed the lofty views from the tea house as it strutted about were disappointed to find it quite flat to the ground, chicken legs tucked under it and shingles all puffed out, looking more like a sprawling ranch house than an animate cottage. “Is it brooding?” one regular asked over a pot of Darjeeling. “Only in the sense of sulking,” the proprietor tutted as she served forth a plate of scones, “all because I resealed the roof before the rains start, the big baby.”

---

LL#1329

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2025: 10

All Pinch Hits In, Collection Opening Nov. 15

With all pinch hits now in, we can confirm that the collection will open this Saturday, November 15, 1:00pm Eastern Standard time (Countdown)! A huge thank you to our pinch hitters <3

Expect several waves of work approvals today and in the coming days. Don't worry if your fic has not been approved yet: If we have a question about a fic you posted, we will contact you via the email associated with your AO3 account.

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fandom: quatermass

why I love Quatermass and the Pit

I’ve been rewatching Quatermass and the Pit for the last week, which is apparently something I do every few years and then never write anything about. It’s a black and white BBC serial from 1958, to our eyes science fiction horror though a massive leap beyond genre in its own time, and I love it very much. I honestly think it’s perfect. There isn’t anything I’d change except put more women in it and even so at least it does have one brave 1950s lady scientist academic trying her best. Could be worse if not by much.

So the Quatermass in the title is a person – named by writer Nigel Kneale with what he called the weirdest name in the phonebook; he’s Professor Bernard Quatermass, a restrained, charming British academic in charge of something called the British Experimental Rocket Group. By the time we meet him in the Pit, there aren’t so many rockets; Quatermass the pacifist is in the middle of being told the military are taking over his research; that his planned moonbase is going to be used as a place to build up armament. No one mentions Sputnik or the USSR, but no one has to. This was absolutely on-the-minute current when it was made. Quatermass is furiously angry and kind of heartbroken; then he discovers an old friend of his has a very similar problem, and decides to be a dick to his new employer while he solves it.

There really aren’t a lot of rockets in this story! Matthew Roney, Quatermass’s old friend, is a paleontologist, who has discovered an ancient site of prehistoric hominids in… Knightsbridge. (There’s been construction, ok.) But deep down in the pit there’s also an unexploded bomb (!) left over from 1944, so the military have taken over. Quatermass plays silly buggers with the army folk until they leave Roney alone, and then hangs around to see what happens next. That’s the set-up. And I love it, largely because Quatermass is incredibly charismatic (he was played by five different actors, but this one is my favourite) and also just… you can see here how the series was an influence on every SF, horror or fantasy thing to ever be on television. It’s so fucking interesting and intelligent.

But then. Everything that happens next is creepy in the best way. ( creep creep creep - rather than cut tag the most horrifying bit of the serial, I have simply not included it so this is cut for length not horrors )

I wanted to finish off this extremely long post about a seventy-year-old piece of television by posting a snippet of it, but I actually couldn’t find anything. Perhaps even better: this was the noise the Martians made inside people’s heads, courtesy of the Radiophonic Workshop. And Hob’s Lane, where the Pit was dug, is in my icon.

Entry tags:

!fic,
fandom: dcu

30 in 30: DCUA (TimmVerse)

AO3 Link | Measurements (100 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Justice League & Justice League Unlimited [Cartoons]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: J'onn J'onzz | Martian Manhunter, Clark Kent | Superman
Additional Tags: Drabble, Episode Tag
Summary:

Ma wants to make a better one

"Ma wants the measurements this year," Clark said as he sipped a cup of hot cocoa and peered over at J'onn.

The Martian chuckled. "I still have the previous sweater, and wear it on occasion," J'onn pointed out.

"She wants to make one that fits you, in the form you are most likely to wear one," Clark rebutted. "Please?"

"Do you have a measuring tape handy?" J'onn asked with good humor, setting his empty glass down. His form shifted to that of a nondescript average guy in a fedora and trench coat when Clark produced it, so they could measure.

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birthday

Happy Birthday, Squidgie!!!

Happy Birthday,

squidgiepdx!!! You are a joy to behold in fandom and a delight to your friends! Here's to another wonderful trip around the sun. \o/

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recs: movie recs

Movie rec: Professor Marston and the Wonder Women

I recently watched this movie about the Wonder Woman creator and assumed most people except me had heard of it, since the Wonder Woman franchise is generally well known? So far 0% of the people I mentioned this to had heard of it though, so I thought it warranted a post since I quite enjoyed the movie!

Honestly the main reason I picked it up is because I was told this is inspired by the bdsm poly triad the creator, his wife, and their lover were involved in, and how much that inspired the character and adventures of Wonder Woman. It makes me happy to hear about IRL poly relationships, and to see them represented in mainstream media as well! I take all recs always.