winter_elf | Reading

Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Hermione/Harry
Characters: Hermione, Harry, Hermione's father and mother, Harry's mother, other canon characters
Rating: Teen
Length: 31,500 words
Creator Links: CatsAreCool / Rachel500 / TrekCat
Theme: Marriage of convenience, AU: Fork in the road, Working together

Summary: Lady Hermione Granger needs to get married in order to secure her inheritance and everybody agrees that the best candidate to help her is the Earl of Gryffindor, Defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter.
There's just one problem: they're not friends and Hermione may have once told him, thanks to some meddling Weasleys, that she'd never get involved with him.

Reccer's Notes: Excellent story. AU - Hermione never cared much for Harry, but when she's required to marry, he's the logical choice. I love how they discuss it like adults, reach a mutual agreement, and then find themselves gradually falling for each other. And all of this adult attraction goodness is nicely interwoven with an intriguing mystery. It's a well-told story with a thoroughly satisfying ending.

Content Notes: Canon-typical violence including attempted murder via spells, mention of old-fashioned patriarchal approaches to women including conc.ept of ownership and arranged marriages, use of love potions. Mildly anti-Dumbledore, anti-Ron and Ginny Weasley

Fanwork Links: A Convenient Arrangement by TrekCat at AO3

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

garryowen posting in

fancake

Fandom: Star Trek Reboot/AOS
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Length: 10,103
Creator Links:

magneticwave
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary: What kind of an idiot would try to explain magic to a Vulcan.

Reccer's Notes: I wouldn't be a good Trek fan if I didn't rec a bonding story for this theme! (I'm going ahead and equating a Vulcan bond with marriage.) Punk actually recced this story six years ago for the magic theme, but it is FANTASTIC for this theme, as well.

As Punk wrote, this is not a Trek/Harry Potter crossover. Rather, facets of the HP universe (magic, legilimency, occlumency) are imported into Trekverse, where Jim comes from a wizarding family. The mental aspects of wizarding are a perfect fit with Vulcan telepathy and bonding. This fic makes excellent use of the commonality.

Much of Trek canon is exactly the same: Jim meets Old Spock in the way he does in canon, but, in this story, a spontaneous bond forms between them. When Old Spock dies (at what seems to be the same time he does in canon), Jim's mind is nearly destroyed by the loss of the bond. He uses his wizarding mind powers to heal the wound somewhat, but he's in danger of dying from the trauma. The logical action to save his life is to have Young Spock bond with him.

What makes this story shine is the writing and characterization. Jim is mouthy, emotionally stunted, in denial, afraid of intimacy, yadda yadda. Spock is repressed, has a huge chip on his shoulder, and is filled with rage and jealousy. It is delicious and vivid and charming. I'm making it sound like this story is all cheek and levity, but it's also emotionally resonant with glimpses of Jim's grief and the depth of his friendship with both Spocks. A+ on so many levels.

Fanwork Links: you will see what it is to be overcome

ranalore posting in

fancake

Fandom: The Untamed
Pairings/Characters: Lan Wangji/Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, Wen Ning, Wen Yuan, Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang, Jin Zixuan
Rating: Explicit
Length: 205K words
Creator Links:

giraffeter
Theme: Marriage of Convenience, Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies, Fork in the Road AU, Fix-It

Summary: When Jiang Yanli joins Jiang Cheng in visiting Wei Wuxian at the Burial Grounds, the two brothers are on the verge of cutting ties forever — until Jiang Yanli has a better idea. Wei Wuxian doesn't need to leave the sect. He needs to get married, and she has the perfect Sect Leader in mind.

When Lan Wangji is invited to come along on Wei Wuxian's visit to the Unclean Realm to spend time with his new betrothed, Nie Mingjue, he agrees — even though his heart is breaking. How else is he ever going to see Wei Wuxian again?

When Nie Mingjue welcomes Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji into his home, he realizes two things very quickly: 1.) They clearly want each other so badly they can barely stand it, and 2.) Nie Mingjue is Into That.

(In which arranged marriage to Nie Mingjue solves just about everyone's problems)

Reccer's Notes: In the normal course of things, I'd say LWJ/WWX is my OTP. This story, however, has made me feral for LWJ/NMJ/WWX. More than that, though, this is a brilliant, carefully constructed fix-it. Giraffeter takes the time to set up every way this reality is changed from canon by the single decision to solve the friction between Wei Wuxian and the rest of the cultivation world by marrying him to a Sect Leader rather than cutting him off in the Burial Mounds. It's a long, immersive story that's well worth the time investment. The sex scenes are also some of the best I've read in my nearly thirty years in online fandom.

Fanwork Links: An Elegant Solution

garryowen posting in

fancake

Fandom: Star Trek Reboot/AOS
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Length: 7,701
Creator Links:

tardigradeschool
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary: When getting legally married to Spock is the only way to keep him on the ship, Jim is more than willing to do so. (In fact, upon reflection, it turns out that there are very few things he wouldn't do for Spock.)

Reccer's Notes: Okay, normally, I would not rec a story with 9,000 kudos. First, because that story does not need any help. Second, I usually hate stories with 9,000 kudos. But guess what. I love this story THAT MUCH, and, as our mod, Punk, helpfully pointed out, MAYBE SOME OF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS. It was posted in 2016, long after much of the Reboot fever had passed (at least for me); I feel glad to have discovered it. Therefore, let me tell you about it.

In this story, Spock is offered a captaincy, which he can't refuse without suffering career consequences. Jim is devastated by the thought of losing his first officer. Fortunately, Spock has a proposal involving a loophole: Starfleet won't separate married crew members.

The Jim in this story is wonderfully Jim, getting his mind stuck on the regulation about public nudity because the reg number is similar to the marriage reg number. He's also delightfully clueless. In fact, this story has all the good Reboot Trek tropes and appearances by the supporting cast. I don't want to give away all the hilarious details that come up, but, despite the hilarity, there are lovely moments of emotional truth that really make this story happen for me.

I like marriage of convenience stories where the characters are already very close friends at the time of the marriage. That is the case here, with the depth of the friendship revealed to the reader in small ways throughout. And, as you might guess, this story also fits the theme "everyone thinks we're dating."

Fanwork Links: the warp and weft of your being

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Poll #33498 round 178 theme poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 98

Pick the next theme of fancake:

Food & Cooking
41 (41.8%)

Manners & Etiquette
26 (26.5%)

Whump
31 (31.6%)

garryowen posting in

fancake

Fandom: Sherlock (BBC)
Pairings/Characters: Sherlock/John
Rating: Teen
Length: 2007 words + companion stories
Creator Links:

waketosleep
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary:

"We should really get married."

John stared at the red mark on his wrist. "I'm sorry, what?"

Reccer's Notes: I almost never revisit this fandom, but when I recced waketosleep's Trek story for this theme, it came to my attention that w2s was a little obsessed with marriages of convenience and had a fantastic and charming gem of a fic where Sherlock co-opts John's life (again), and John (again) doesn't mind at all.

I don't know if I've ever seen hospital access as a reason for a marriage of convenience, but I am here for it! It's practical and a little grim, typical of Sherlock. The interactions between Sherlock and John are spot on and hilarious. In 2000 words, we also get Mrs Hudson, Lestrade, and Mycroft, all contributing to the comedy gold in their understated way.

This story belongs to two different series. The Intellectual Intercourse series is the easiest way to navigate everything if you want to read beyond this fic.

Fanwork Links: Declarations of Mutual Devotion

sholio

Bookverse-compliant except for Pin-Lee's TV pronouns, written for a Tumblr prompt.

Title: Natal Day Gifting
Word Count: 1400 words
Characters: Gen, Murderbot & Gurathin, PresAux in general
Summary: Murderbot gets dragged along on a birthday present shopping expedition. It enjoys this surprisingly somewhat more than expected.
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69306156

( Notes and Prompt )

( Fic under the cut )

snycock posting in

ts_bluejungle

Please join us for the weekly TS chat on Saturday, August 16th, at 7 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/19:00 UTC. That could be as early as 12 pm if you’re on the west coast of North America, or 3 pm if you’re on the east coast, or 8 pm in the UK, or early Sunday morning in Australia or New Zealand.

We’re in the usual place: http://us25.chatzy.com/81935648447483. There’s nothing to download or install, just choose a name and a color and click on “join chat.”

It’s time for our feedback session. We’ve got four pieces to read and comment on, which you can find here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-ByszdikuKEFCJ2VDBZcC0i7Xf_FnloF

See you there!

sholio

Cross-posting a couple of ficlets I wrote for Tumblr prompts earlier in the week.

***

1. A prompt for Murderbot and Gurathin undercover in the Corporation Rim. Originally posted here.

( 1000 words or so )

2. A request for de-aged Gurathin. Originally posted here.

( About 1100 words )

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Patrick Sheppard, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan
Rating: M
Length: 11,758
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: WonkyElk on AO3, cookiemom6067 on AO3, cookiemom6067 on the Audiofic Archive
Themes: Marriage of Convenience, First time, Hurt/comfort, Complete AU

Summary: “Damn it, John, you’re thirty-six, and you’ve never had a stable relationship.”

Patrick Sheppard adjusted his tie and gave him that familiar look, that 'I’m trying to love you, son, but you just keep on disappointing me’ expression, which had started somewhere around John’s eleventh or twelfth birthday - just as soon as he got an ounce of healthy rebellion - and had rarely left his dad’s face since.

Reccer's Notes: Ronon plays matchmaker in this marriage of convenience, recommending Rodney to John, who's undertaking the marriage mostly to piss off his father, but also to strengthen his place in the company hierarchy. Rodney seems the perfect spouse to annoy Patrick Sheppard, being brash, and, most importantly, male. But then it turns out they get on remarkably well, and eventually Rodney encourages John to be himself, not continue to try to please his (impossible to please) father. There's angst, character development, romance, and some action/adventure, until they work it out. An excellent read!

Fanwork Links: Always Crashing in the Same Car and there's a podfic by cookiemom6067 here

garryowen posting in

fancake

Fandom: Smallville
Pairings/Characters: Clark/Lex
Rating: Explicit
Length: 16,262
Creator Links:

lenore
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary: Clark’s illegal, and Lex makes him a green card proposal.

Reccer's Notes: Here with another Smallville rec! This time, it's Clark who, ostensibly, needs to get married because he has no social security number, no legit adoption papers. Lex is the mayor of Metropolis in this story, and Clark is a reporter at the Daily Planet. Lex knows the secret of Clark's/Superman's identity, and he doesn't want to be the bad guy who has to deport a beloved superhero. Solution: marriage!

What I love about this story is how absolutely befuddled Clark is by Lex's proposal and the actuality of the marriage. It's SO CLARK. Lenore touches on another of my favorite Clark traits, which is his loneliness and his inability to sustain a relationship because of his secret. I don't recall the story explicitly stating Clark's age, but I think he's in his late twenties, maybe almost thirty. Those added years give more emotional weight to the (of course) eventual romance and falling in love.

Lois and the Kents feature in the narrative, and it never fails to delight me when Lois makes coffee or Mr. Kent talks farming with Lex.

Fanwork Links: Red Tape. This story was originally posted on LJ/Smallville Slash Archive and later moved to AO3, which resulted in a duplication. I was told by the author that this is the correct version.

mrshamill

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

Current Mood: frustrated

cesperanza

I am still here! <3. I'm just so seriously middle-aged, I've got everything on the boil rn. But I'm here if anyone needs me and still contributing to fandom in all the ways I can. You can also reach me at all the places you've always reached me--or other me, or any of the mes you may need.

Things I have enjoyed/am enjoying lately include:

* Killing Eve - I know, I'm super late to Killing Eve, but my sister loves loves loves it and so she asked me to watch it and so I'm watching. First two seasons obviously the best IMO, but she's asked me to see it through so I'm seeing it through.

* Strange New Worlds - its like 100% actual Star Trek! Also it's so fannish - like, look, there are episodes where I can tell the entire reason for the plot is to make sense of one weird moment in ST; TOS and you know what: I RESPECT YOU!! I SALUTE YOU!! YES, GO AHEAD AND FIX THAT ONE MINOR PLOT POINT in TOS, I AM YOUR AUDIENCE, I TOTALLY SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE, GET DOWN WITH YOUR BAD SELF. Also, honestly, I will never be tired of Pike cooking, which is a bizarre characterization that I didn't see coming and which nobody I'm trying to pimp to this show ever believes until they see it. Also I would die for Number 1 and La'an. Also Pike cooks with cast iron and open flame in a spaceship. Really: I salute you, show. I am glad you are back! (Especially since no more Disco.)

* Bridgerton/Queen Charlotte - late to QC also, after watching Bridgerton, and thought it was actually really a notch above Bridgerton. (Which I did enjoy - I mean, I respect their commitment to the pleasure principle.) Glad to be caught up there.

* House - yes, yes, I know, I'm really kicking it like it's 2004 around here, but Tiberius, now a teen, had seen bits of it on the interwebs and was like, "Mom, do you know anything about this show House?" and I was like YESSSSS. YESSS I DOOOOO, and your aunt made a great vid of it! Whereupon I showed him astolat's "Bukowski" and we settled in for a watch/rewatch: we like to have a show we're watching together. He's into Trek also so we watched Discovery and Lower Decks and we'll watch SNW as a family now its back, but there's a lot of House to go through and that's a nice option too.

(Side note to those of you who don't have teens: what I did not expect is that Gen Z basically is getting culture in bursts of 10 seconds or less. He's seen literally BITS of House. He will tell me "I know that song--or well, I know 7 seconds of that song." Remember how there would be kids who wouldn't read a novel, they'd just watch the movie? My students now are like--THAT MOVIE IS TWO WHOLE HOURS? I seriously fear for the future, it makes previous claims of attention span deterioriation look PREPOSTEROUS. Holy shit. I swear, I spend so much energy trying not to be too judgy! But I am very judgy! Then again: this moment, this decade, really provokes judginess!! )

(Additional side note: Tiberius is super eye rolly because since middle school all the girls he knows are like "Wow, your mom is SO COOL," --because of course I am! I am really fucking cool, plus I helped to found the AO3 and all of that, so I am a high school rock star, and Tiberius is like, "please God save me from this hell" lol. Cause honestly there really is nothing worse than having a cool mom, I do get that, but I tell him he'll appreciate it later, when I'm dead.)

celli posting in

fancake

Fandom: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Pairings/Characters: Choi Soobin/Kang Taehyun, side Choi Beomgyu/Choi Yeonjun, unrequited Soobin/Beomgyu
Rating: Teen and up
Length: 21K words
Creator Links:

ratherunnecessary
Theme: Marriage of Convenience, Alternative Professions

Summary:
Choi Soobin: Korea’s hottest leading man—who’s secretly nursing a broken heart.

Kang Taehyun: heir to the legendary Kang Entertainment—but only if he gets married first.

Reccer's Notes: I love Soobin in this - he goes from broken-hearted to agreeing to help an acquaintance (by marrying him, of course) to a devoted husband. He comes into his own as a partner over the course of this, and is more solid in himself at the end, too.

The other characters are also great. Yeonjun, in particular, just shines.

Fanwork Links: promise not to promise anymore on AO3

sholio

Working on belatedly writing up some books I've read lately.

A new Ben January book came out in July, and I had tremendous fun with it! This is one of the books in the series where Hambly goes Full Pulp with the plot, and she is delightful at it - buried treasure, pirates, abandoned houses crumbling in the swamp, identity shenanigans, long-lost relatives ...

( Spoilers )

melagan

First: pimping!

Graphic in the style of a wedding invitation with flowing script: You are cordially invited to a... Marriage of Convenience (at) fancake.dreamwidth.org, August 2025. The color palette is white with dusty rose and muted pinks, and there are flowers—what looks like dogwood and lenten rose—in the upper right and lower left corner.

Second:

I saw an actual honest-to-god working pay phone. It has been years since I've seen one.

phone

Where did I see it? I had a tire issue and had to take my car to the local garage. The phone was on the wall in the small customer service area. I kinda wanted to fondle it, it's been so long since I've seen a working one of these.

mrshamill

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

Current Mood: sad

sholio

Stole this from

muccamukk.

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

( Big annotated list of movies/shows )

( Some nostalgic nattering about that )

Code if you want to do it yourself:

Bold = Watched Entirety
Italic = Watched Part
* Watched more than once.
† Watched in the first few weeks of release (at least initially, for TV shows).

Phase One:
Iron Man (2008)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Thor (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
The Avengers (2012)

Phase Two:
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV 2013–2020)
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
Ant-Man (2015)
Daredevil (TV 2015–2018)
Agent Carter (TV 2015–2016)
Jessica Jones (TV 2015–2019)

Phase Three:
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Luke Cage (TV 2016–2018)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Iron Fist (TV 2017–2018)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
The Defenders (TV 2017)
The Punisher (TV 2017–2019)
Inhumans (TV 2017)
Runaways (TV 2017–2019)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Black Panther (2018)
Cloak & Dagger (TV 2018–2019)
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)

Phase Four:
Black Widow (2021)
WandaVision (TV 2021)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV 2021)
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
Eternals (2021)
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Loki (TV 2021-2023)
Hawkeye (TV 2021)
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)
Moon Knight (TV 2022)
Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
Ms. Marvel (TV 2022)
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (TV 2022)

Phase Five:
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)
Secret Invasion (TV 2023)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)
The Marvels (2023)
Echo (TV 2024)
Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)
Agatha All Along (TV 2024)
Daredevil: Born Again (TV 2025-2026)
Captain America: Brave New World (2025)
Thunderbolts (2025)
Ironheart (TV 2025)

Phase Six:
The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025)
Wonder Man (TV 2025)
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026)
Vision Quest (TV 2026)
Avengers: Doomsday (2026)
Avengers: Secret Wars (2027)

snycock posting in

ts_bluejungle

Please join us for the weekly TS chat on Saturday, August 9th, at 7 pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)/19:00 UTC. That could be as early as 12 pm if you’re on the west coast of North America, or 3 pm if you’re on the east coast, or 8 pm in the UK, or early Sunday morning in Australia or New Zealand.

We’re in the usual place: http://us25.chatzy.com/81935648447483. There’s nothing to download or install, just choose a name and a color and click on “join chat.”

Our topic this week: while watching Flight last week, there was a discussion about how Blair’s spirit animal was theorized to be a lizard, until season 3 and SenToo. What other spirit animals do you think would work for Jim and Blair? And how about Simon and the rest of Major Crimes?

Don’t forget, next week we’re going to do a feedback session. You can submit any piece of writing that you want feedback on, 1000 words or less. Upload it here by Thursday, September 14th: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-ByszdikuKEFCJ2VDBZcC0i7Xf_FnloF Drop me a line at snycock@gmail.com if you have any problems.

See you there!

Profile

winter_elf

January 2014

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Page Summary

starwatcher in fancake - Harry Potter: A Convenient Arrangement by CatsAreCool (Rachel500) (TrekCat)
runpunkrun in fancake - Theme Reminder: Marriage of Convenience
garryowen in fancake - Star Trek AOS: you will see what it is to be overcome by magneticwave
ranalore in fancake - The Untamed: An Elegant Solution by Giraffeter
garryowen in fancake - Star Trek AOS: the warp and weft of your being by tardigradeschool
runpunkrun in fancake - Round 178 Theme Poll
garryowen in fancake - Sherlock: Declarations of Mutual Devotion by waketosleep
sholio - Murderbot fic: Natal Day Gifting
snycock in ts_bluejungle - Weekly chat reminder
sholio - Murderbot promptfic from Tumblr
mific in fancake - SGA: Always Crashing in the Same Car by WonkyElk
garryowen in fancake - Smallville: Red Tape by Lenore
mrshamill - ...And the hits just keep on comin'
cesperanza - Where the fuck is my life going?
celli in fancake - TXT: promise not to promise anymore by ratherunnecessary
sholio - Murder in the Trembling Lands (Ben January #21)
melagan - Pimping and phone calls
mrshamill - Cinnamon has died.
sholio - MCU meme
snycock in ts_bluejungle - Weekly chat reminder

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