Scales and Tales

I had a wonderful time hanging out with some FMA fans this weekend in the MEATSWORD ( Massively Entertaining and Transformative Slash Writers Online Retreat & Discussion) chat! Our wonderful host provided a bevy of 5-sentence fic prompts for Saturday's hangout, and although I didn't manage a ficlet for all of them, I still came out with a generous handful.

All are FMA, except for the "Night and day" prompt, which is NiF.

( Prompt: Hint of vanilla )


( Prompt: Careless Whisper )


( Prompt: What the hell is that smell? )


( Prompt: Something old, something new )


( Prompt: I didn't know it would be this hard. )


( Prompt: Night and day )


( Prompt: That's not supposed to go there )


( Prompt: Love in an elevator )


( Bond(age) of love )


( The sun isn't the only thing going down. )

So yesterday I accidentally started rewatching Nirvana in Fire. (Oops?) I'm at Episode 7 and thoroughly enjoying myself, so I guess now I know what I'll be doing for the rest of the weekend. :D

I happened acrosss some useful links and information on historical housing, cities, and bathing in China that I want to remember, so I'm dropping a link here. It could come in handy for anyone writing fanfic for Cnovel/Cdrama fandoms.

How is it that it seems like forever since my last post, and yet somehow when I look at my DW I have an immediate, "It can't have been that long!" reaction to the last post date. Oy.

My fannish life seems to be something of a muddle right now, as I'm flitting through fics in various small/old fandoms (Weiss Kreuz, Silmarillion, Nirvana in Fire, Witcher. I've picked up the first manga volumes of FAKE, and they've been making for good lunch-break reading: fluffy and about as realistic as a Disney movie, but entertaining and easy to consume in 30-minute bursts without losing plot threads.

The last few days have given me a temptation to poke my nose into Mo Dao Zu Shi (Modao Zushi?); I've seen some things that make me think I'd like it after all, though my initial impression - back when it first became a thing - wasn't favourable. Given that it seems to exist in two dozen different forms, though, it may take me a while to figure out how to approach it if I do decide to take the plunge; right now, the webnovel and the animated version are what I'm leaning toward. If you're a fan, suggestions and pointers would be welcome! Be sure to check out these beautiful icons by yeonmo, too. /driveby rec

Outside of fandom, I've been rereading some Georgette Heyer romances (The Convenient Marriage, The Grand Sophy, & Devil's Cub so far). Yesterday I finally got around to the long-overdue vacuuming, but did not accomplish any of the other major household tasks I need to do. (Sigh.) For a while I had some genuine Real-Life excuses, but those are wearing rather thin, and I'm once again faced with the fact that, in fact, I actually just really hate doing laundry. *guilty* It may be time to look at my accrued PTO and take a day off for Dumb Domestic Stuff That Needs Doing. First I should probably make a list of said tasks, though, or I'll forget half of them when I do have time! :D

I keep meaning to post, but there's not a lot going on in my life, fannishly speaking. It's more 'nebulous plans' than 'actual activity.'

I have been reading a bit of Homestuck fic, for whatever reason; a sudden nostalgia trip that came out of nowhere, but it's been fun. What a huge and creative and wonderful fandom that was, overall, and a delightful experience. ♥

Beyond that, I just finished a rewatch of Weiss Kreuz, and I really need to get back to my Nirvana in Fire rewatch plans, and I keep toying with the idea of trying an actual Cnovel at some point, and my brain is still full of Horrible Murder Elves (aka Silmarillion) thoughts that I either can't find fic for, can't write fic for, or just want more fic for.

I've also been doing some gardening - bought some strawberry plants and some flowers, including a Songbird Blue Columbine that I absolutely couldn't resist; I hope it thrives! My love of weird alien plants is delighted by its blue tentacularity. :D

This week is Nirvana in Fire Appreciation Week!

The nirvana_in_fire community has an informational post, and participants are encouraged to post things to the community or to link things they're doing in their own spaces!


There's an official schedule, found in the community post ( or below the cut )

Today's theme is fanart, gifs, and graphics. I don't have a lot of content to share, but there are a couple of fanart recs in my NiF tag, along with fic recs and episode discussion.

I just ran across Four seasons of promises by spaceArtie, a set of four seasonally-themed images for Nirvana in Fire's Jingyan and Lin Shu.

Beautiful and evocative, and the emotional progression hits as hard as the show's did.

Welp. More than a month ago, I said I wanted to post about some tropes I enjoy, and asked for prompts. schneefink suggested time travel.

It turns out... I don't actually have a lot of thoughts about time travel. :D I'm not drawn to time-traveling plots in canons. Ficwise, I could only think of a handful of stories I've enjoyed that used the trope, and my primary enjoyment wasn't the time travel itself, but the tropes that sometimes accompany it.

Mainly, time travel is a great vehicle for identity porn, or setting up pairings that would otherwise be impossible in canon. :D

Edit: dancing_serpent mentioned the Fish Out of Water trope, and that's definitely a trope I love, as well! I can't think of any time-travel stories where this is co-starring trope, except perhaps H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, but I'd love suggestions.



Anyway, have some fic recs

In My End is My Beginning by Lilith Sedai. The first time-travel fic I really remember reading! A nice blend of the two reasons for time-travel tropes: identity porn (because Obi-Wan can't reveal that he knows Qui-Gon), and smut (featuring adult!Obi-Wan and knight!Qui-Gon). :D

This time travel threesomes Yuri on Ice Yuuri/Victor series by seventhstar. I'm not sure what I enjoyed more, the porn or the little hints about how time travel is a regular phenomenon in this world. More AUs like this, please?

To Memory Now I Can't Recall MCU Bucky/Steve fic by Etharei - excellent weaving of actions and timestreams, which can be tricky.

If the bad time are coming let 'em come MCU Bucky/Steve by Suzukiblu. Winter Soldier does the time-travelling, runs into tiny!Steve.

Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square MCU Bucky/Steve fic by Speranza - The Avengers find a time portal. Steve jumps right in. This proves to be a dumber move than jumping out of a plane without a parachute, and the team has to go in and find him and get him out to undo the damage he's done to the present day.

It's Not Nostalgia by Zekkass - MCU Bucky/big!Steve/little!Steve threesome porn.

All that You Need to Say Nirvana in Fire Jingyan/Mei Changsu fic by Kitsunealyc. Jingyan travels years into the past in a desperate attempt to cure Mei Changsu's mysterious illness. Identity porn abounds, as Jingyan has to pretend he doesn't know Mei Changsu, while Lin Shu pretends he doesn't know Jingyan.



If you have a favourite time-travel fic or canon, please share!

This is an interesting episode! 50% heartfelt conversations, 50% bloodshed. :D

( Below the cut due to length. )

There are so many good, tense, double-layered conversations in this episode! There are also lots of suppressed emotions, and the deeper elements of the show are beginning to surface.

Yujin shows up convinced that Sir Su is on death's door because gossip in the city says he's so ill he's turned away all his visitors. Sir Su looks suitably pleased that his trolling worked:


Clearly a man too ill to have guests.

( More below the cut; did my best omit major spoilers for those who haven't watched! )

Edit: There are no major spoilers beneath the cuts, but the comments do contain some spoilery discussion!