tangerine's dream

I actually finished and/or caught up on some things!

• The Magicians 1.01 to 4.12. Very good, liked it a lot. I probably need to re-watch it, because I binged it in a daze of fannish euphoria.
• Star Trek: Discovery. I swear, this season hit every button I have, so yes, good. Looking forward to the last episode of the season.
• Game of Thrones 7.01 to 7.07. I was pretending I wasn't going to watch season 7, and therefore not season 8, but screw it, I did.
• Fruits Basket. Weeeeeeee, I am enjoying this so much so far. I still have to finish the manga, but the first two eps of the anime, A++.
• Dororo. This anime consistently blows my mind. I love it. Brutal and thought-provoking. I basically think about it all the time.

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I decided this weekend was my weekend to Get Shit Done. In that, I went to the library to pick up some holds, cleaned a little and got several of my ducks in order for upcoming fannish conventions. Things I am attending for sure: CrossingsCon, FanWorks and Escapade.

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I watched The Dirt on Netflix earlier for exactly one reason. Sometime in the early 2000s, it was discovered that a random person had taken several popslash stories and plagiarized them by basically replacing the names with various metal bands. A few of my stories were taken and turned into Metallica or Mötley Crüe stories. I was a fan of Metallica, but hadn't really known anything about Mötley Crüe and ended up reading The Dirt because the book had just been released and I was curious. This whole event remains one of my weirdest fannish experiences.

Friend from work (who is also a giant geek) texted me (from home, where he was sick) that Crunchyroll will be streaming Fruits Basket! PHEW. I was not looking forward to subbing to yet another streaming site (CR, Prime, Netflix and Crave are enough-- I have so much to watch I'm probably cancelling cable, because I honestly cannot keep up).

I was just thinking today, sadly, that I didn't have any anime to watch this week, since Run with the Wind is over (WEEEEEEEEEEEP) and Dororo is on a break week (someday I will talk about this show, it is amazing). But FRIDAY! Yaaaaaaaay!

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I really gotta stop looking at Tumblr. My logical brain loves The Discourse, but my anxiety brain REALLY does not. Also, I can't stop my fingers from clicking onto links, which usually leads me down a dark path of Wrong Opinions. But then someone posts an amazing guide to swords and all my best intentions go out the window.

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I pinched a nerve in my left ankle on the way home from work today, so I spent a good fifteen minutes standing in the middle of an empty parking lot, waiting until I could walk again. I basically contemplated the ending to my pirate AU-- there are two options, and I don't know which one is the actual ending yet. I hope, by the time I get there, one of them feels right.

It's still a long road to even get there, so I'm not worrying about it. Yet anyway.

After some sweet advice from paintedmaypole, my story is finally moving again and moving well even, and I'm so pleased with it. I can't tell if it's a 20k or 30k story, but considering I only promised 3k, I think I'm doing all right. I clearly can't write short AUs.

I ended up not signing up for fandom5k this year, even though I loved it last year. Not enough time in the day! Fingers, type faster. Brain, stop procrastinating. Stuff to write! I would like to write a square for both of my outstanding bingo cards, and I still have my Hurt Comfort Exchange story to write (I matched on the one I REALLY wanted, so yeah, wee!).

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I am so done with winter. It's been snowing AND raining all day. And you think the rain would melt the snow, but it's evidently freezing rain, so nope. Next Thursday is supposed to be mid-teens Celsius, but let me voice my doubts. At this point I would settle for sunlight and dry.

I moved here ten years ago, but I will never get used to the winters here. Never, ever, ever.

~~

I started watching The Magicians (entirely because of Escapade and all the discussions about it). I'm mid-way through season 2. I really like it. I can see why people warn about some of the content. It also makes me want to read fic about it, so that's good. I'm trying to pace myself because a) I really need to finish this story and b) uh, I basically only had one reason.

Ahhhhhhhh. Hill Country Comic Con 2019 had an X-Men: The Animated Series cast reunion panel (the actors for Rogue, Gambit, Wolverine and Beast were all there) and posted the entire thing online. And it is such a delight. I don't think there will ever be another show that was as important to me as this one was.

Yes, hello, I am still alive. More or less. I have been sick more times this winter than I have been in ten years, but eh, this winter is bound to end eventually, right? (looks outside, sees more snow falling, screams internally). But hey, I went to Escapade!

It's always lovely hanging out with kerithwyn, and I definitely talked to more people this year than last year. Vid show was great. Panels were great. Weather was great. Food was great. Other than the fact I had to sprint through Pearson to make my connection with strep throat, flights were great. I love Escapade so much. It's worth flying across the continent for.

~~

chocolateboxcomm also went live while I was in Cuba.

arduinna wrote me the most wonderful Walt/Bruce from Dead Zone (TV). I am having major Dead Zone nostalgia feels right now, so this story was exactly what I wanted and needed.

Peace even in the storm (2000 words) by Arduinna
Fandom: The Dead Zone (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Bruce Lewis/Walt Bannerman
Characters: Bruce Lewis, Walt Bannerman
Additional Tags: Snowed In, Huddling For Warmth, First Kiss, First Time
Summary: "Strip," Walt said, turning back to the wood and sorting out a few pieces that he hoped would catch quickly.

"'Scuse me?"

"I said strip." Walt looked at him again. "Look, there's no way this wood gets this cabin warm enough to dry out you and your clothes at the same time. The only way you're getting warm again is without wet clothes on. So strip."

And then, for roseargent, I wrote in a manga fandom whose source I hadn't read since the mid-2000s, but damn, do I still love Goh and Taki.

The Purple Pill (3025 words) by Tangerine
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Yellow - 立野真琴 | Tateno Makoto
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Goh/Taki
Characters: Goh (Yellow), Taki (Yellow)
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Drug-Induced Sex, Aphrodisiacs, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Torture, Canon-Typical Violence, Piercings
Summary: Goh and Taki are living a peaceful life in Stockholm when they're called to action once again. Together, they work to stop the people behind the drug that has cast a grim shadow over their adopted home. As usual, it doesn't go exactly as planned.

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My Marvel Trumps Hate story is moving right along, which made me convinced I could sign up for hurtcomfortex. I didn't do any nominations for it, but thankfully, other people had me covered. Thanks, random strangers. I nommed for smutswap, but ended up not signing up for it... I had a lot of fun last year with it, but I'm also trying to be careful to manage my writing time a bit better.

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I saw Captain Marvel. It was great. I will see it again.

On the off-chance my chocobox writer checks this journal at some point: due to circumstances beyond my control, I will likely not have internet access again until the 18th. So if I don't comment when the stories go live, that's why! Poor planning on my part! I apologize!

Related, my story is done and posted. I have tweaked, added a bunch more words, tweaked again, pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

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Loving tropes as I do, I was unable to resist the siren song of the trope meme. Also, I just generally love taking quizzes. Clearly, some tropes missing, but this is a pretty accurate list for me, tbh.

Rank | Name
1 Snowed-In Cabin/Isolated Together For Extended Period of Time
2 Supernatural Creature/Human Romance
3 Friends to Lovers
4 Fake Dating/Fake Marriage Accidentally Turns Into Feelings
4 Soulmate Identifying Marks (Tattoo, Red Thread of Fate, etc)

( The rest of the list... )

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Escapade in a week and a half! The schedule is out and so many good panels! Excitement!

I have watched several things recently. I have thoughts -- well, tbh, more feelings than thoughts -- but I feel like there are things to be said.

( Roma )

( Star Trek: Discovery, Season 2, Episode 1 )

( Run With the Wind )

In other news, evidently Marvel is getting the rights back to Marvel Gets Rights Back to Raina Telgemeier’s X-Men: Misfits for 2019. This is legit the only universe where my secret-heart-ship of Angel/Longshot makes even a remote amount of sense, so I contemplate it often. The whole book feels very Ouran High School Host Club to me, though I've seen people bring up Fruits Basket as well (which I have not read... yet!). All this to say, I'm very happy because maybe there might be more! Wouldn't that be fun!

fandom_stocking has gone live. My stocking is here and it contains a lovely selection of goodies -- a Klaus/Dorian (HANDCUFFED TOGETHER) ficlet, a hearty selection of beautiful Star Trek: Discovery icons, lots of recs for historical romance novels, and a verifiable bakery of bread-making recipes. This was my first year doing it, and I really loved it!

I also managed to get two ficlets done in the end, despite my time mismanagement skills.

Always Smiling (1242 words) by Tangerine
Fandom: X-Men (Comicverse)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jean Grey/Ororo Munroe
Characters: Jean Grey, Ororo Munroe
Additional Tags: Friendship, First Kiss
Summary: Jean Grey takes some time to decompress. Storm, looking to spend time with her newly resurrected friend, joins her.

A Little Comfort (1078 words) by Tangerine
Fandom: X-Men: The Animated Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Remy LeBeau/Rogue
Characters: Remy LeBeau, Rogue (X-Men)
Additional Tags: Food, Feelings, Happy Ending
Summary: Gambit decides a little comfort food is exactly what Rogue needs.

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In other news, local convention was kinda lousy this year. The most interesting one I went to was one entirely in French, which... is not my strong suit, but I think I got most of it? Like the gist anyway? It was a two-hour panel on Japanese humour, and I very much appreciated the accompanying PowerPoint. I did, however, buy some bunny earrings that are mega cute. So all's well that ends well, I guess. 

I accepted colls's challenge from Snowflake Challenge Day Twelve to talk about three of my icons!

1.

So, like, ages ago, for Yuletide 2012, I wrote Heartlines, about the epic love of Monet and Terry, and the pairing name "Moneterry" (which is, ahhh, still so clever) sprang from some discussion of the story, and I love them. Like, 90% of the relationship drama would have been solved by these two getting together. They had a very underrated friendship, and I just... I really love them. This icon fills me with joy.

2.

I love Jin. I love Mugen. I love their antagonistic relationship. I love how they're completely different, but they united under one purpose and helped Fuu in her journey. The mix of hip hop and Samurai lore and amazing characters all came together to make an amazing show that I love. The dynamic of Mugen's relaxed style against Jin's more structured one is captured by this icon.

3.

MY BOYS. I have grown up with these guys. (Seriously, I was 13 when I got into X-Force, and Shatterstar was my immediate favourite on the team). Watching their friendship develop over the course of my teenage years, culminating in what I thought was its height in 1999, when I was just about to enter my 20s, was amazing. And then to have them go canon a decade later. And then, a decade after that, knowing they're still growing together and KISSING is truly amazing.