schneefink

mcytrecursive had author reveals. I wrote three fics! I have periods of feeling very insecure about my writing, so it was especially nice that I had a good time writing all three, felt very positively about them, and then got very nice comments.
The first two are probably readable without knowledge of the fic they are based on, but all of those are great and you should read them anyway.

cut your chains in shining blue for strifetxt, Hermitcraft
Recursing: Untamed Beasts by WhisperNorBury
1.6k, Cub & Scar gen, prequel
Summary: Five times Cub killed Scar's summoner.
AN: My assignment, and the hardest one to write. Especially to settle on the five things, for a good progression and to make each of them different and interesting. I think it turned out very well! I was almost done when I remembered that Minecraft has respawns so now most of it takes place on hardcore worlds.

Etho's Escort Service From Hell for alice_not_alice, Hermitcraft
Recursing: MailDemon AU by azzayofchaos
1.5k, Cleo & Etho gen, demon AU
Summary: Cleo has fallen into Hell again, and this time she might need the help of a friend to get out.
AN: I wanted to write a treat for Alice, discovered this AU in the prompts, and wrote it basically in one go. Cleo and Etho are so much fun together, and I was reliably informed that I did achieve "funny."

(watch) where fears and dreams come true for Odaigahara, Hermitcraft/Life series
Recursing: lost in the dark (he's got a heavy heart) aka Hunger AU by definitelynotshouting
2.2k, Grian & Scar & Cub gen, canon divergence
Summary: Scar came with Grian when he left Hermitcraft and figured out a different way to keep him fed.
Cub finds them.
AN: Tagged as "downright fluffy compared to the original (a low bar)," but it does still have some angst, it would not be Hunger AU Grian otherwise (at least not without changing the premise.) Hunger AU is very angsty which is great but also made me want fix-it fic (at least partially...) and when I remembered that it's set in season 8 and thus pre-Scarland I got the idea for this, and I think it works.

I also got a fantastic gift:
star of the west horizon by Odaigahara, Hermitcraft
Recursing: a rare talent indeed by these_godforsaken_halls
6.7k, Grian & Cub & Scar gen, fairy AU post-canon
Summary: “I’m leaving for a while,” Grian tells Xisuma, who goes very still indeed at the suggestion that a fairy might spend the night outside of the hollow. “Just for a few days, now that I’m healed– I won’t be going far, and I’ll be extremely careful, I swear it, you don’t even know careful until you’ve seen how careful I’ve been, and Scar’s saying I’m much better at hiding than I was, anyway, so there’s no need to worry on that account.”
“Goodness, er, well–”
“And I’ve already packed, including all the pixie dust I’ll need,” Grian says firmly, “but you can look through what I’m bringing with me, if you’d like. To be sure I haven’t taken anything I’m not supposed to.”
“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Xisuma says, and this is good, because it means Grian successfully diverted him from the main thing he was likely to object to. Grian can fly circles around Xisuma if he’s devious enough. He used to dodge scouts all the time, before–
Before.
He used to bait hawks.
Why I love it: Gorgeous. Fantastic character voices and relationships, perfect post-canon road to recovery, beautiful backstory flashbacks, wonderful atmosphere, just, so good.

I had such a good time with this exchange, I already look forward to mcytblraufest, which is doing a Battleship format this year and I'm excited.

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.

I'm back home from Scotland! The flight back was delayed and I arrived at 2am and had to go back to the office the same day, but at least unlike on the flight there they didn't leave my baggage behind this time.

Worldcon was fantastic, and traveling through Scotland with LB afterwards was also great. I have so much to talk about!
Sadly on the second to last day I tripped and fell while running to catch a bus, scratching my glasses (not bad fortunately) and scraping up my chin, knees, and hands, so now typing is uncomfortable and the long con & travel report will have to wait. But battleshipex revealed while I was away and I want to finally post about the four fics I wrote for it.

Shiny Things For Your Bird (Hermitcraft)
Mumbo/Grian/Scar, 862 words, fluff
Summary: Three weaknesses Grian's boyfriends take advantage of and one they don't.
Author's Notes: Look, "buttons," "birdification" and "volcano" were all on the board, of course I had to write about Grian. Not something I would have written otherwise most likely but I think it's sweet.

Four Double Victories (Life Series – Third Life)
Grian/&Scar, 893 words, canon divergence AUs
Summary: Three universes in which Scar won Third Life, and one in which he didn't.
Author's Notes: There was a prompt for Scar/Grian, 3+1, and desert, and then I added betrayal and wrote some Third Life finale AUs, that was fun.
Also, my fic #100!

Once More, With Fewer Secrets (Life Series – Secret Life)
Etho & ZombieCleo, 1k, time travel
Summary: At the start of Secret Life, Cleo offers Etho some insight into the future.
Author's Notes: I've wanted to write Etho & Cleo Secret Life fic for a while (THEM) and I'm glad I finally did. With bonus outsider PoV on time travel, too, and I think it came out well. (Next step: fic ft. the full Roomies.)

Claw Out Your Eyes And Devour You (Hades 2)
~Scylla/Melinoe, 1.4k
Summary: The witch lady is Scylla's favorite fan.
Author's Notes: I saw "mermaids" on a board square and wondered which of my fandoms have canonical mermaids and then what kind of prompts there were, and, well. Another fic I didn't expect to write but I had a lot of fun with it and I'm happy with how it came out.

Happy New Year!

Together with several friends I spent New Year's Eve at an AirBnB a few hours from Vienna, having raclette and playing board games and making tiny animal good luck charms for each other and others out of colorful modelling clay. I also brought one of those ~wire-looking head massagers, which was a big hit. It was raining lightly at midnight but we went to the lake for a toast and to watch the fireworks anyway, and then we continued playing games until 3am.

We'd booked an extra night, which was great because it meant we could have a very relaxed brunch the next day and then two people left but the rest of us had a nice stroll around the small town and more games and then raclette again because we had so many leftovers and then I wanted a reading break so D and F tried out a card game for two people and we also just sat around and chatted and cuddled, a very nice evening.

It was a wonderful way to start 2024. Today the travel home went well and now I will meet up with LB for a spontaneous dinner+movie night at his place so that is even more good things.


I wrote Yuletide fic:
Dreaming of a Rainbow (A Day of Fallen Night – Samantha Shannon)
1.2k, Kuposa pa Nikeya/Noziken pa Dumai, 5 things
Summary: Five times Nikeya dreamed of Dumai.
Canon knowledge required: Yes

Notes: I enjoyed getting more into Nikeya's head. My recipient asked for that and to see how Nikeya fell in love with Dumai and tbh I could have included more of the latter but by that point I was already attached to the five moments I'd chosen and I think it turned out fine.

I told my boss today that I want to switch back to 30 hours starting in August and it's a big relief. I don't know if working full-time caused my current *vague gesturing* but the timeline shows a strong correlation.


I wrote two Hermitcraft fics recently for hermitcraftguesstheauthorevent:

Memories Of A Life Not Lived
Hermitcraft/Life Series SMP, 1.5k, post-Limited Life Cleo&Etho ft. fake memories
Summary: Cleo hadn't asked Etho yet if he too had somehow acquired memories of an entire life they'd never lived during Grian's latest death game. She was not going to walk up to him and ask "just checking, do you remember when we got divorced? Worse, do you remember when we got married? Because I do."
Notes: I have so many feelings about the Clockers family, I couldn't get this idea out of my head so I had to write it. In my head this takes place in the same continuity as Voices From Beyond Life's Limits. Originally I ~planned to have a fic in-between detailing Cleo's changing memories but that turned out to be a lot harder to write, and I might leave it out idk.

And as a bonus:
Best Friend Summoning
drabble, season 9, Grian & Mumbo
Summary: What if Grian's summoning circle had worked?
Notes: They both canonically try to summon each other, I had to play around with a what-if for that. Writing an actual drabble is always difficult because I have quite high standards for what makes a good drabble; I'm not completely happy with this one but finally decided it was at least decent enough to post.

The reason why I haven't managed to write detailed notes about the Limited Life finale yet is because I wrote fic instead. As far as reasons go, one of my favorites.

Voices From Beyond Life's Limits
2.2k, Clockers family during the finale
Summary: Etho's family died. Sometimes he can still hear their voices. (Most of them don't like him very much, but that's nothing new.)

Notes: This is intentionally vague on backstory/history/world mechanics because of story scope. Where are they from and why are they in a death game?, who knows. (I want all the angsty fake memory fic but I don't want to have to write it myself, woe.)
Draft title was "Clockers ghost chat." This is not very polished and I'm still learning the voices but I'm happy with what it is.

Happy New Year!

I spent New Year's at my aunt's holiday house in a small town near mountains and it was very relaxed and very nice. (Too warm for early January, so I didn't even need to sit next to the oven.) The food was delicious. I ended the old year playing boardgames and then started the new one with a nice walk in sunshine with a great view and then a day of doing barely anything but nap, read, and go for another walk, in the dark that time.
Now I'm back home watching silly videos, trying to catch up on commenting, and working on my end-of-year summary, which somehow gets longer every year. Sadly DD still isn't home but maybe we'll watch something together later.

Fic I wrote for Yuletide:
New Sword in a New Era for Elemental
Fandom: The Misfit of Demon King Academy
3.4k, gen, post-canon
Summary: When he was four years old, Shin remembered his name.

Notes: I watched this show because of my recipient's prompts and I was glad I did. It's fun! It reminded me quite a bit of of "That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime," the fandom we actually matched on: both of them have an overpowered protagonist where "will they win the fight" is rarely even in question, both of them have devoted followers that they protect and try to take care of, both of them are genuinely kind. "Misfit" has fewer politics so far but I suspect that that's a "yet" and that there will be more in the future. (I haven't looked up what happens in the light novel yet.) It's also, contrary to my first impression, as silly: I laughed a lot when seeing the fusion xD
I wrote about a character with less than five minutes of canon screen time and gave him an OC family on top of it, but I enjoyed it and more importantly so did my recip.

My parents are currently on vacation, so like last year DD and I are at their place enjoying the garden and the nearby river. We collected three bowls of plums so far and the tree still looks full.

In a display of spectacular timing I got sick. At least according to the symptoms and the quick test it seems to be not covid but it still sucks. To cheer myself up I'm posting the first chapter of the fic I've been working on: originally I wanted to wait until the first draft is done but it's about 90% done, good enough.

Speaking the Other Language
Fandom: Dream SMP
WIP, chapter ¼, 5.7k
Summary: Breaking the cycle of revenge and violence is hard.
Pre-Doomsday AU: Tommy finds out that Technoblade wants to destroy L'Manberg. He tries to find a different solution.
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It, Pre-Doomsday War, solving problems with communication, which requires a lot of talking, Reluctant Allies to Less Reluctant Allies, Enemies to Enemies-But-Ceasefire, accidental diplomat Tommy, nuclear standoff except Techno has withers and Tubbo does not have nukes yet

I really should get an icon for this fandom…

I knew I wanted to write fic for Phoenotopia: Awakening before I had even finished the game, and then when I did even more so. bethefirst was the perfect motivation to write something soon.

Go About Your Business, Act As If You're Free
2.1k, gen, post-canon
Summary: Lisa has a few questions for Bart about Gail.
Canon Knowledge Required: I don't think it makes sense without canon knowledge. I probably wrote this for an audience of one and that's okay. And this is made of spoilers so if there's any chance that I could persuade you to give the game a try definitely don't read this.

Notes: I have so many post-canon thoughts and feelings and ideas – I crammed (maybe too) many in this fic and I want to write several more. The title isn't a perfect fit, but I decided on it after realizing that the series name for all my PHOA fic should be "Rise Like a PHOENIX."

I also finally made myself an icon for the occasion. It's not great but I'll find a better one later.
ETA: Now with improved icon.

I was idly going through my fic snippets folder and came across a Dice Disasters fic from November 2020 that was 90% finished, I had just meant to listen to a few episodes again to double-check some NPC names. I thought about finally doing that, only to find out that the podcast episodes are no longer online :( And I had forgotten to download them. I miss that podcast, it was so much fun.
So I decided to post the fic:

In the Dream Grove
1.9k, gen, Jasmin & Cody
Summary: Jasmin and Cody can't sleep and keep each other company.
Author's notes: I have feelings about Jasmin and Cody and the inevitable heartbreak of leaving one world behind for another, and also about panther!Jasmin. Have I mentioned I miss that podcast.