schneefink

Of the many pre-Christmas stressful things this year, an unexpected one is ficinabox. And I didn't even participate this year! But I usually try to read and comment widely before creator reveals and this year the timing was not great for me.

I did find many fanworks to enjoy and loved many of them, and here are some of my favorites. Several of them can be enjoyed fandom-blind.

This Ao3 Author's Curse Has Got Hands by antimony_medusa
Dream SMP, 5.6k, Phil & Techno, urban fantasy AU, A/N format
Summary: Fanfic author Technoblade has been pre-writing and is excited to start posting his whumptober longfic, his trusty beta Philza at his side. Unfortunately for his posting schedule, the Ao3 author's curse hits him hard, fast, and with an intensity never before seen. Really it's starting to seem like he's cursed.
Does this mean that he gives up posting his fic?
Nah nah nah nah nah he's got this handled. Don't even worry about it. Chapters will be posted come hell, high water, hospital visit, house invasions, eviction, mob action, emergency road trip, or kidnapping. Technoblade never dies, and he never misses an update.
Why I love it: A story told entirely in author's notes: the format works fantastic, the character voice is impeccable, and most importantly it's hilarious.
Canon knowledge required: Definitely not (tested on my gf.)

( More FIAB fics: 3x Hermitcraft, 1x original, 1x All For The Game, 1.5x Nirvana in Fire, 1x Nirvana in Fire 2 )

I found out I have iron-deficiency anemia (again.) Looking at the list of possible symptoms explains a lot about my last few weeks: I thought it was stress at first and then started to get concerned after the exam. Mostly it's reassuring because it's treatable with simple iron tablets, but a little frustrating too because it'll take a while and I would like to be cured immediately, thank you, I'm getting really sick of being so tired and struggling to focus.
And I'm feeling a bit extra whiny today because I got vaccinated and my arm hurts.

The MCSR Midoffs s2 have started and are live right now: the first match was already absolute cinema, so many plot twists in one match. I watched the first two and I definitely want to watch Cub play later, but I took a break to play more Silksong (and other stuff.) I'm practicing the final boss rn a few attempts at a time, very cool fight.

Tomorrow season 11 of Hermitcraft starts! I'm excited. Can't wait to find out what new gimmick they've come up with, who bases with who (fingers crossed for a few neighbors I'm hoping for - mostly Buttercups tbh), all their plans...
(come to think of it, didn't Joe want to post more s10 videos at some point? ^^)
Side effect, this is not going to help my "too many things and never enough time" problem at all.

I finally managed to read a book that's been on my to-read list for a long time: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
( Thoughts with spoilers )
Another book in the category of "if I hadn't had high expectations because I saw so many recs I wouldn't have felt disappointed." I still enjoyed it overall.

battleshipex had author reveals. I wrote six works for team Grape: 4x Hermitcraft and 2x Hades II (under an extra spoiler cut jic. I can hardly wait for the full release of the game.) The Hermitcraft works are all rather short, mostly written rather quickly to target specific tags we needed right then, while the two Hades II fics are longer.

Overall I'm quite happy with what I wrote! Significantly more than last year for Battleship, too. By the end I was quite stressed and tired (it certainly didn't help that it was shortly after MCYT Battleship. Next year MCYT Battleship will be earlier, fortunately.)

Thieves' Bonds, Hermitcraft
1k, Grian & Cub (/Scar), fantasy AU heist
Summary: Grian and Cub are forced to work together to steal a dragon's hoard.
Notes: Inspired by the tags "dragons," "heist," and "soulbonds." Pre-Convexian in my head. It was more beautiful in my head but still, not bad.

Reckless Charge, Hermitcraft
0.5k, Tango/Etho, SF AU
Summary: Tango crashes his spaceship into Etho's greenhouse.
Notes: For the tags "spaceship," "genius," "meet-cute," and "battlesheep." I really like how this one came out.

pesky bird, dreaming, Hermitcraft
0.3k, Grian, inspired by this is about a stuffed bird
Summary: Some days it squeezed the toy over and over.
Pesky bird. Pesky bird. Pesky bird.
Notes: Like last year, a "birdification" tag hit featuring Grian. Short ficlet set after one of my favorite Hermitcraft fics, I think it came out well.

moving in, Hermitcraft
0.6k, Scar/Cub/Grian, sugar baby/fantasy AU
Summary: Scar and Cub share a mental connection. Grian doesn't mind.
Notes: Written very quickly to finish off "sugar baby AU," "mental link," and "moving in together." Silly fluff.

Hades II spoilers (barely any, mostly character appearances, but still)

A Concoction of a Certain Potency, Hades II
2.2k, Melinoe/Medea, pre-canon, dubcon, explicit
Summary: Melinoë is wearing a very short dress. Medea decides to teach her a lesson in self-control.
Notes: It is a very short dress! I really wanted to write Hades II for magic/sorcery/necromancy/mentor-mentee dynamic et al, and then somehow I got inspired and wrote my first smut fic in almost ten years. Obviously I'm a novice, but overall I like this, and I really like the scenario.

What Would Change This Time, Hades II
3.2k, Melinoe & al, time travel
Summary: „Well. Far be it from me to save you from making your own foolish mistakes," Hecate said finally.
After her ritual to travel back in time didn't take her far enough to prevent Chronos' conquest, Melinoë continues the fight.
Notes: I originally was inspired by some tags on the first board ("time travel," obviously, but also "katabasis", "secret identity" etc.), but I didn't finish this fic until the third one because I got a bit stuck after the first chapter. Writing time travel for an unfinished canon is tricky. But then I got the idea to have her meet

spoiler

Patroclus

and I loved that so much that I had to finish writing it.

I've decided not to do ficinabox this year, which on the one hand is sad because the different formats etc. are very cool, but the main creation period is in the busiest time of the year for me (work and studying) and it would be very unwise.

Maybe I'll try to reach my very vague goal of writing at least one fic for every season of the Life series this year: I'm missing Last Life, Wild Life, and Past Life (and Real and Simple Life.) Definitely doable. Or some rare Hermitcraft pairings I would like to see more of. I'll see what inspires me, no pressure.

I wrote eleven fics for MCYTblr Aufest Battleship. Eleven! And I actually like all of them and am even proud of some. Go me!

A Cast of His Face for Kaesa, Hermitcraft
1k, Bdubs/Etho, fantasy AU
Summary: Twelve days, five hours, and twenty-two minutes after Etho died, he walked into Bdubs' office.
Author's Note: The first fic I wrote for this event. I had the idea for a story combining Major Character Death + cloning + paperwork and this came out. I tried for a combination of funny and heartbreaking, and from the comments I succeeded :)

Undeath Certificate for salemoleander, Hermitcraft
0.3k, Cub&Cleo, afterlife
Summary: There's been an error with the paperwork regarding Cleo's afterlife.
Author's Note: Another case of "I looked at a tag combination and got an idea I really liked," in this case immortality + deity AU + paperwork. Perfectly suited for ZombieCleo, of course, and manager Cub.

In the Oldest Cell for januarymorning, Hermitcraft
1.6k, Grian/Cub/Scar, fantasy AU outsider PoV
Summary: I'd been alone in my cell for fourteen years when they finally threw someone else in with me again. An avian, with red and purple and blue feathers.
Author's Note: Same thing again. I loved coming up with stories for specific words even back in school. And writing low pressure first person outsider PoV was fun and surprisingly easy.

The Last Task in Grumbot for Kaesa, Hermitcraft
0.9k, Grian & Mumbo & Scar, among us mech AU
Summary: Mumbo had insisted on checking on Grian's mech one last time.
Author's Note: We were getting closer to the end of the board and needed more hits on Major Character Death, among us AU, mech AU, darkfic, and a few others, so this happened. Also featuring tasty betrayal.

Who will you eat tomorrow so we can rule together for zoewinter1, Hermitcraft
0.3k, Docm77, Among Us AU
Summary: The massive solar storm that made it necessary for all planetary bases to evacuate to the orbital station was the best thing that could have happened for Doc's cover. The dragon was a nice bonus.
Author's Note: We were close to clearing the board and needed more Among Us AU, iirc I wrote this on my way to work on public transport. Did not expect to write vore tbh ^^ and I had never written Docm before but I think it came out well.

I wrote these first five fics in four days btw. Something in the lava down in the Nether.

Soulmate Bond (Homebrew) for ggumdrop, Hermitcraft
0.6k, Cub & Scar, D&D AU
Summary: "Cub, I need you to listen to me."
"Who are you?“"
"I'm your soulmate. That's why you can hear me even in the antimagic field."
As soon as the voice mentions being your soulmate, you recognize where it's coming from: there's a tug inside of you, an invisible string connecting you to someone else. (Don't worry about it, it's homebrew.)
Author's Note: I rested during the first boss fight but came right back for the second board, and I think the idea of using 2nd person PoV for a D&D-style narration was cool. (I wrote parts of this during my lunch break at work. Seriously what was in that lava.)

Sounds So Splendid for zoewinter1, Life Series
0.3k, Gem & Scott & Impulse, space opera AU
Summary: “Impulse. We're a rock band on a space station. Why in the never-ending event horizon have you signed us up to be background musicians for an opera?"
“Because of the tax break, of course."
Author's Note: Iirc someone mentioned hitting space opera by having an actual opera in space somehow and I could not resist. I was also glad to get a hit on "taxes," I would have been disappointed otherwise. And I was particularly happy with the title for this one.

Teammates for Life for Sharo, Hermitcraft/MCC
0.8k, Cub&/Scar, canon divergence
Summary: Scar is anxious to meet his MCC teammate Cubfan135 for the first time.
Author's Note: I thought "canon divergence" and "different first meeting" would go very well together, thought of Convex, and then of MCC. I had fun with this one, especially making up a history for AU Cub (yes he won Minecraft Monday together with Techno, because I said so.) I had to do research!, look up MCC records and stuff, that was fun too.

A Dangerous Prize for Alice_not_Alice, Hermitcraft
4.2k, Etho & Cleo, fantasy AU
Summary: King Ren gives Cleo to General Etho as a war prize, not knowing that there are plans in motion.
Author's Note: Alice likes fae!Etho, fey bargains, power imbalances, situations where Character A is compelled by outside forces to hurt or bind Character B, and a bunch of other tasty things, and I was planning to write them something from the beginning. It took a while to finish because I had to figure out the ~scale, but I was happy with the roles I found for the characters. My one contribution to the grand battle against the Wither Storm.

The Upside of the Downside for Odaigahara, Hermitcraft
2.9k, Grian/Cub/Scar, Pyre fusion
Summary: As the Nightwings' Reader, Grian has a difficult choice to make before his first Liberation Rite. Who should have the chance to be freed from their exile? Cub and Scar would make the decision easier, if he could believe them.
Fusion with Pyre (Video Game)
Author's Note: Speaking of fics that I planned early, took me a while to figure out, and where I was happy with the roles I found for the cast: this one. I saw "video game fusion," looked at my Steam library, saw "Pyre," and could not get the idea out of my head. And it seems like I succeeded in making it understandable for people without knowledge of the game, which is good. I really like how the fusion turned out and might even be thinking of writing more in this AU one day (will probably not happen but who knows.)
I was very efficient with tags on this one considering how long it is (I got 27), that also felt good.

Potato Blossom Magic for im_always_stressed, Dream SMP
0.4k, Technoblade/Philza, sex pollen aftermath
Summary: Admittedly, out of everyone to get caught in a potato blossom cloud with, Philza wasn't the worst option.
Author's Note: We were very close to finishing the third board and sex pollen was one of the few tags still needed. I don't remember how I got the idea for this Techno/Phil snippet (which I wrote on my phone during my commute) but it was fun. It's been a while since I watched either of them so I rewatched parts of Techno's turtle stream and was reminded just how great they were together.

Aand that's it! 11 works and 13.469 words in total, over 17 days. I had such a great time. Hermitcraft is now my most-written fandom on AO3 with 20 works, followed by SGA with 17.

And I could not resist signing up for multifandom Battleship, which starts this weekend. I'm planning to take it a little slower, and I still need to add more prompts, but I also wasn't planning to do this much for MCYT Battleship so who knows.

The main gameplay phase of mcytblraufest Battleship is over. Team Nether! *raises fist in triumph* We finished third (out of five teams), and we fully cleared all three boards, before work reveals even. I had such a great time on my team, with our two strider mascots Dirk Slow and Aragorn Steady. Massive props to the mods, everything ran very smoothly. In the first board every field had very cool flavor text even, and the bosses were very cool (we defeated the Wither Storm!)

I ended up with ten (!!!) gifts!
And I'm proud to say that despite that I reached my semi-serious goal of creating more gifts than I received. Though if I get more treats after this I'll give up. I've never received so many comments on one day as I did yesterday, it was great.

My wonderful gifts:
Sharp teeth and spring rain by Anonymous, Hermitcraft SMP
3.4k, Mumbo & Etho, fantasy AU, platonic kink
Summary: That anticipation, now cooled, mingled with fresh dread as the blank, flat space on the horizon tore open.
A thousand-year old dragon emerged from the void and blocked out the sun with his wings.
Mumbo gulped.
“Oh, Gem!” he fretted. “You expect me to dom that?”
Why I love it: Excellent premise, very cool worldbuilding, great character voices and development of their relationship.

Careful People by Kaesa, Hermitcraft SMP
1.3k, Cleo/Etho, cyberpunk AU post-divorce
Summary: "We'll be careful," says Etho.
"We're not careful people," Cleo reminds him.
"Maybe we know better now!"
Why I love it: I love the banter. Them. So divorced and yet.

( seven more shorter ones and one piece of art under the cut because this got long )

The three weeks of the event were very intense. Multifandom Battleship starts soon and I don't think I'll sign up for it even though I had a great time last year, but that'd be a bit too much. Unless...

And now, off to read more from the collections! All Ages and 18 Plus, almost 1.200 works in total already, and there are still almost two weeks of the anon period.

Catching up on reviews:

The Monday after it came out I went to watch A Minecraft Movie with six friends. I really wanted to watch it relatively early because I know I am bad at avoiding spoilers, and the plan mostly worked. I had a fun time! Was it a fantastic movie, eh, but was it entertaining, definitely, and it was a lot of fun to see so many Minecraft things as live action.

( Spoilers )

I also enjoyed Mumbo's video about his consulting work on the movie, with all of the unused ideas. And Scar and Grian interviewing the director during the Hermitcraft charity event (timestamp) and the director being so enthusiastic about Mumbo's work. Tall drink of water indeed.


Back in February I played Iron Diamond, a game that I saw recommended on r/metroidvania as "not very long, very good exploration, colorful, and cheap (especially on sale)," and all of that was true. The map and upgrades were great. The boss fights ranged from fun to too easy (to be fair I was playing on casual) to dumb (stupid yeti), the story was okay, the controls took me a while to get used to and I still didn't love them by the end, but overall I had a good time. The graphics weren't the best but that didn't really bother me.
I got to the end credits at 85% completion in 11.5 hours.


More Astalon: Tears of the Earth: ( Spoilers )

For March recs, four of my favorite fics from fffx.

( Hermitcraft, Harry Potter, original work, Assassin's Creed )

First Hermitcraft fic of the year, but almost certainly not the last:

In the Reign of Queen Pearl
2.6k, gen, season 10, The Deepfrost Court
Summary: Hermitcraft has a new queen and a new royal court. They do their best. Etho wishes he could resign.

Notes: This was meant to be a secret FIAB treat for a friend - and I wished even more that I had managed to finish it on time when I found out that she'd secretly written a treat for me, too. But better late than never! The first three parts were written back in October but I struggled putting the pieces together at the end, until I somehow finished it yesterday at 2am. I had fun with this, it features many of my favorite characters hanging out.

ficinabox had author reveals. I wrote a Hermitcraft/HGCZ fic, and I wrote a Hermitcraft/Decked Out 2 game!!!

What Needs to Be Done (To Make a Difference), for Odaigahara
2.5k, HotGuy Comics Zinethology missing scene, Pearl & Soup Group & Scar
Summary: The Soup Group is plotting against Hotguy. Pearl thinks about her friend Scar.
Canon knowledge required: Yes.
Author's notes: When I first read HGCZ and got to "What Needs To Be Done" I paused to go "wait, what??" Grian working with the Soup Group? That came out of nowhere. And Pearl plotting against Scar like that? I wanted to see how that happened. So when one of the requests mentioned the Soup Group and the sculk bug storyline it was the perfect opportunity. I think it came out well and worked for what I wanted it to do :)

A Farewell to Rusty, for captainschaos
Twine game with multiple endings, ~9.5k, Etho & Tango
Summary: Decked Out 2 has closed - but Tango lets Etho do one last run in the dungeon, to say goodbye to his buddy Rusty.
A Choose Your Own Adventure game where you control the dungeon run.
Canon knowledge required: Recommended, but just watching the intro to Decked Out 2 is probably enough to understand it. Rusty is an imprisoned iron golem in the dungeon that gives players treasure if they bring him a repair kit that can be found in the dungeon. (I don't actually know how well it works without fandom knowledge but I'd love to know so let me know if you give it a try! That would make me very happy.)

Author's notes: I made a game!! An actual game! I'm delighted.
Interactive fiction has long been on my "would in theory be nice to try one day"-list; when I got a FIAB-assignment that asked for Etho&Tango, Decked Out 2, and said "I love anything interactive, and adore games!!" it suddenly became a lot more concrete. I started actually looking at different programs, quickly landed on Twine, did a few quick tests and decided that I would actually do this.
This is definitely one of the fanworks I made that I'm proudest of, and I'm so happy that people played and enjoyed it.

( More detailed notes, with vague spoilers )

( Map and guide, with detailed spoilers )

I'm definitely not using the monthly rec post to procrastinate on finishing my last FIAB fic and/or making dinner. Ahem.
4 warm Hermitcraft fics, canon knowledge required for the first three.

tall enough to reach the branches by springbeetle
4.8k, Grian&Mumbo & Grumbot, Hermitcraft s7 kidfic
Summary: “Maybe we should go through it again,” Mumbo said. He abandoned his own project, an attempt to diagram an automatic dispenser so a baby player could memorize it, and wandered over. Grian batted him with the top of a wing on principle. Mumbo sputtered and stepped pointedly out of range. “Right, take a gander at this, yeah? Watch me extremely carefully.”
He crouched next to Grumbot, suit jacket crumpling a bit, and started explaining what he carried with him all over again, slowing his cadence like he was giving a redstone tutorial to a clueless builder. Grumbot inched closer and pressed against his side, peeking up at Grian like he was making sure he was still there.
Grian’s heart flipped in his chest, making a good faith effort to crawl up and block his throat.
Why I like it: Grumbot turned into a baby player. Grian and Mumbo struggle because they have never seen a child before, usually players come into existence as adults, but they care so much and they try their best. I love this as worldbuilding and the fic is very sweet.

Washed Up Together by buildinblocks
2k, Etho & Gem, Hermitcraft early s10 slice of life
Summary: Gem and Etho discuss the merits of being washed up.
Why I love it: Great character voices, and such a good side-by-side of their experiences with reputation, very touching and warm.

special delivery by vexcraft
1k, Pearl & Scar & Cub, Hermitcraft s10
Summary: Pearl was fairly certain this was not in her job description.
She supposed she had agreed to do special deliveries – this was still something she would have called Scar for. If he was available that was. Which brings her to the next problem.
Scar was currently very small, very gray, and a little feathery. And also in her mailbag.
Why I like it: Adorable.

a pesky bird in the hand by Odaigahara
2k, Grian & Mumbo, Borrowers AU
Summary: Mumbo looked at the sticky note saying I want to see you burn the world for a long, long moment, blinking in mustachioed astonishment, before saying flatly, "Absolutely not."
"Aw, come on," Grian muttered to himself from his vantage point atop the display shelves. He scribbled out another sticky note and crouched, waiting for Mumbo to turn around, then got tired of waiting and sneaked to the side to place the sticky note just to the right of him.
It took some effort. The sticky notes were three-quarters of his height, and they kept sticking to his hands.
Why I like it: Very funny and sweet.