Playing with words

It never rains but it pours and I'm really loving this, universe; keep it coming! 😁🙌

The holiday_wishes comm is just amazing - I've gotten some points towards my account here from two people now, and I didn't even get to thank them because DW doesn't send you a link when they do that! So thank you very much, kind elves! 🙇‍♀️

And I won another nitro giveaway a couple of days ago! So I will have Sweet Emoji Powah for another month after this one expires! *dancing* I can't believe I won - I'm only in that server because they have cute emoji, so it was a totally unexpected windfall! 😅

The lovely person fantranslating my B^2 fics into Vietnamese contacted me yesterday and said they had put up chap 1 of An Exchange of Kings (Openings and Tactics). Link is here! I really wish I could understand the nuance of the language - I am dying to understand how they translated the title, since it's actually an impossible concept in chess (but I wanted that metaphor of them both resigning at once and then playing out a new, unfamiliar kind of game instead).

Finally, this morning I got a notification that somebody had gifted me a Tedbecca fic as a prize for participating in a comment-a-thon last month! I started late and only got out 7 comments, so I didn't expect anything, actually, I just wanted to contribute to the fun! 😅 But one author whose fics I love still wrote me (and two others) a story with that kind of perfectly pitched angst of getting what you desperately want and knowing it might get snatched away at any second. 🥺🥺🥺 It hurt so good and feels so hopeful in the end and Ted is such a beautiful person in it and I love it to bits. 🥰🥰🥰


Anyway, I hope you guys are all doing well! Work is craaaaazy for the next two weeks for me and I've committed to 8 things (probably mostly B^2 holiday fics, although one prompt is dying for a Tedbecca set) for newyearcntdown. First fic is here for the prompt Snuggle (Huddle for Warmth):

Icons from both seasons! GIF icons should work on both DW and AO3, stills will work everywhere. Please credit me if used!

 

 

Stills:
 

Thank you for whatever you make for me! I lean more towards wanting sweet, heartwarming or sexy treats, but if you have something that gives wonderfully angsty pangs based on the pairings below, go for it! Angst with a happy ending is my #1 favorite thing and I love it when it hurts so good. 🥰

Art: Anything shippy is going to be awesome and make me squee! Hugs, leaning on shoulders, brushing hair - anything where they are showing affection and/or attraction, please! Reinterpretations of scenes from canon are a fave too!

Some general DNWs:
Graphic gore, Scat/Watersports, A/B/O, Mpreg, Cheating on a partner, High School AUs, misogyny, major character death, non-con sex, character bashing or humiliation, incest (unless it's already established in canon), non-requested pairings, hurt without comfort, unrequested pairings, owner/slave, teacher/student or employer/employee dynamics. No oral sex where one partner is choking/gagging either, please. 

Things I love:
canon-AU, 5+1 and missing scene type fics, worldbuilding details, female characters acting with agency and awareness, badass couples being badass together. I love action, angst with a happy ending, fluff and soulmate AUs, fairy tale/literary/mythology references/AUs, epistolary formats. More loves: humour, witty banter, pining, family bonding, everybody lives!, respecting boundaries, sexytimes, feminist themes, competency, respectful relationships.

Canon specific prompts:

( Ted Lasso, TQG, GoT, MCU ) too!

I was still reeling from something that happened in July, so I wasn't able to read much (books or fic), therefore Ted Lasso and Rom-communism were the gist of my media consumption last month. 

S2 thoughts thus far: 

I really trust these writers? They write in a way that's both emotionally honest and funny, with homages aplenty, which is smack dab in the middle of my sweet spot. And there's unexpected twists, but not the Shitty Shock Value variety. That and a series about people being thoughtful, kind and accountable for their actions is really what I need right now. 🥰 There was so much griping on Reddit and twitter about how S2 was too positive until things started taking a darker turn in the last eps, and now it's gone the other way (F- this character! I thought this was a feel-good show!) And um. LOL Ok fandom. Like, no,( Cut for TL S2 spoilers ) It is still absolutely the highlight of my week, and I am already bummed about how our free Apple+ is going to run out just before the last ep drops. 😭 While we all loved and needed Ted's #BELIEVE philosophy during COVID, I think his arc this season is about the limits of "just being positive", which I think is really cool? 

Anyway, since there were a metric tonne of rom-com references, I also re-watched:

You've Got Mail (Did NOT age well - Tom Hanks plays a creepy jerk in this and by the end I was actively rooting for him NOT to get the girl, although I already knew the ending and I love Tom Hanks as an actor. Very weird to have a totally different perspective this time around.)

Sleepless in Seattle (LOVE THE KID IN THIS! Also the depiction of Sam's grief was so poignant.)

When Harry Met Sally (CLASSIC FOR A REASON. Also I forgot Carrie Fisher was in this, which.😍)

Jerry Macguire (A sports agent who wants to do ethically better things for the sake of his clients - really seeing the Ted Lasso inspo in this!)

Notting Hill (Okay, great casting but the story was so ??? Princess Anna insisting IT'S TRUE LOVE *swing a flaming brand* kind of forced? Forgettable.) 

Love, Actually (Hahahaha baby TBS is so baybee I can't wrap my head around how he was actually 12 when he did this role. Like no wonder he still looks like a teenager.)

Book-wise this was the only thing I finished, but it was AWESOME. 

 Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

I love how the author made a minor character from Theseus' myth her main character and that this follows Ariadne's little namedrop mentions in other myths completely from her POV. Canon compliant, so it ends up tragic/bittersweet, but it gets there with such empathy and understanding for her choices. I might buy this one.  

 TED LASSO SEASON 2 TRAILERRRRRR


SO EXCITED! I'm also intrigued by the pairing they are teasing! I wasn't feeling it in S1, but I'm seeing it now! 😍 I need to make my husband watch this with me, hehehe



Also! Sometimes fandom spite can produce The Most Delightful things! 😁😁😁 actually 😝😝😝 is more apt

I don't know if anybody else has been following the pussy eating twitter discourse but this winning comment from DC:



has now led to the creation of the comm heroes_dont  and its fic/art exchange!!! Please join in! I am nominating allll my favorite het pairings because I'm sorry, but if your man don't, HE AIN'T NO HERO. I don't make the rules, those are JUST FACTS. 😋

Their profile icon, BTW, is AWESOME: