I misunderstood the point of this ride

Hi! Thanks so much for creating for me.

I was excited to learn about this new exchange, because while I enjoy all kinds of kink, it’s often hard to find stories that scratch my itch for the kinds of kink practices, protocols and history that you find in a lot of IRL BDSM communities. Whether or not those kinds of communities are explicitly included in the story—it doesn’t always fit with the canon—I enjoy things like negotiation (talking about hot things can itself be so hot - it doesn’t have to be rote!), characters checking in with each other, taking care of each other when things don’t quite work as planned or there is emotional aftermath … very very much. I’m very into things like honorifics, defined scenes (in the kink sense) when people take on roles/fall into headspace within those delineations, and so forth.

I also have a huge thing for cathartic kink, for characters (especially strong/stoic/leader characters) getting a chance to let go, give up control, process emotions and trauma, and feel protected/under the control and care of someone else, through the medium of bondage, pain or submission. There’s a lot of that in here.

And, I enjoy non-sexual and non-sex-centric kink quite a lot! I also love hot, filthy porn! Basically, with most of these requests, I’d be equally happy with a focus on the one as the inclusion of the other.

I won’t ramble further, I think, at least in general terms … I’ve offered a mishmash of prompts and ideas below, to varying degrees of specificity, for you to play with if you would like (but as always, that’s up to you). I have some general thematic and smut likes over here in a separate post, but I’ve put together some DNWs specific to this exchange. Thanks again, so much. I hope you have fun with this!

( DNWs, requests and prompts! )

Whoops, Chocolate Box reveals are here already! I have so many comments to leave, which I intend to do today. But first, I'm excited to share my all-X-Men slate of contributions. I've been feeling such a fannish resurgence for the last few months, so I ... pretty much could not resist.



( Mutant gal pals, and more! )

Also, the rarefemslashexchange archive is open now, and worth a look! I do believe I'm going to enjoy wrapping up my much-needed three-day weekend with a lot of fannish appreciation.

This has been an absurdly long month, even for January. I'm ready to move forward with this whole 2022 thing already!

Work is trying to eat me alive with busy--new job continues to be an adventure!--but I have finally convinced my boss to let me have (all of) one day of remote work every week, starting with this Wednesday. I'd have given anything to be able to do it today instead (10 degrees Fahrenheit, unshoveled sidewalks galore, and the buses running 20 minutes late), but she claims the Dean of the College is very against Monday and Friday telework (presumably because of the general atmosphere of suspicion the entire administration of the College has towards staff actually working if we're not under the gimlet managerial eye at all times, because this is such a healthy workplace). Whatever. It's a bit frustrating to feel locked in to this place for another 2-3 years, but I figure it's a reasonable price to pay for the soft career change I was able to make; moving from a purely administrative role to a creative/marketing role with nothing like that on my resume (except education), because I've been with this office for years and they knew I could do it. Now I just have to rack up enough portfolio material and solid career time and I'm out of here. Not sure where to yet, but somewhere else, and quite possibly our of higher ed altogether.

Er, anyway. On the fun and fannish side of things, I'm finally well into my Chocolate Box assignment (which is good, as it's due in a week) and pondering potential treats; I'm also really looking forward to once_upon_fic sign-ups! Writing-based challenges are harder for me than exchanges where I can draw, but I had such a brilliant time adapting Bluebeard last year. It's such a delightfully small, niche exchange. This year I nominated an old favorite obscure story from my favorite class in college: Belle-Belle, ou Le Chevalier Fortuné, by the Countess d'Aulnoy, who is also credited with coining the term "fairy tale" (contes de fées). Also that creepy unattributed tale about the woman who wore a ribbon as a choker that she never, ever took off (you know the one; it's retold as "The Green Ribbon" in In A Dark, Dark Room, among other versions).

Also, today marks the end of my month of X-Men recs over at fanart_recs! ( Click here for eight-ish works of rather (ahem) x-ceptional X-book fanart. )

I'll be doing a month of Sailor Moon fanart recs for February!

I could ramble a bit about the end of The Expanse, the cover reveal for Nona the Ninth, and so forth, but this endless pile of work is calling, so I guess I will leave it there for now. Egad.

I'm so delighted that you could stop by! I love this exchange to bits. I hope it's a fun time for you, too. <3

I'm keeping some lists of general likes over here, and more fandom/character specifics below the cut. Please feel free to use them as much or as little as you like! I get ... enthusiastic, but this is supposed to be a low-pressure exchange, so please take that to heart and follow your bliss; I'm going to love finding out where that takes you. (I appreciate you avoiding my DNWs in the process, of course!)

( A plethora of prompts! )

I haven’t done an all-fanart exchange in ages and I’m psyched about this! It’s supposed to be low-pressure and I want to honor that. Whatever your skill level or experience is (and these things are super relative anyway), whatever your style(s)/medium(s) of choice, I’m looking forward to seeing what you make! Let’s make stuff!

I want you to draw whatever you want based on any of the characters, groups and/or ships I’ve requested (taking DNWs into account, please). But given that I, personally, really love to have prompts and likes to play with, I’m providing some below! Feel free to use them as much or little as you feel like, yeah?

General Likes | DNWs | Sailor Moon | The Locked Tomb | The Snow Queen
DCU | Marvel 616 | The Wicked + The Divine | Labyrinth | Farscape

( In here! )

Hey there! First of all, I am so sorry that I flubbed the deadline and didn't get back to my AO3 sign-up in time to enter the link to this letter. (I misremembered the time! It was a very silly thing to do!) Hopefully, it's easy to find?

Anyway. Thank you so much for making something for me! All these multifandom f/f exchanges are making me feel positively spoiled, in the best way. <3

I tend to be an enthusiastic prompter; please don't feel locked in, as my ideas are mainly there to offer inspiration if it's needed (or desired). I'm going to love whatever you do, especially if you avoid my DNWs.

Regarding the fest's theme, I've mostly requested consensual sexual content, though in a few cases I've also included "Other M/E Content" for potentially dealing with topics like trauma and death/grief. I haven't requested "Violence," but canon-typical violence is always fine by me in the service of the story - I just am not interested in a heightened focus on it, if that makes sense. Also, I'm a fan of both plotty stories and PWP and would be thrilled with either (and with either an M or E rating, too).

General Likes | Art Likes | Smut Likes | DNWs |
Fingersmith | The Locked Tomb | Wayfarers | Sailor Moon | X-Men

( All the details are in here! )

chocolateboxcomm creator reveals were more than a week ago, but my pandemic brain fog/disjointed awareness of the passage of time has been a lot, lately. I had a ton of fun drawing for the exchange as usual!


( My contributions! )

My GIFTS, though. likeadeuce wrote me The Only Hell Ma Guthrie Ever Raised, a deeply delightful piece of classic New Mutants comics gen that was exactly the kind of balm I needed. The best kids! Shenanigans! Magneto and Emma Frost being, respectively, stern and snarky! And then there was this intriguingly tropey piece of Locked Tomb smut, Fingerbones, by DachOsmin. D/s-inflected necro/cav ritual sex set at the very start of Gideon the Ninth, my gosh.

Cabin fever shows some signs of breaking, as the weather has been warming up (I got to go back to commuting to work by bike last week, which was such a relief). At least, to a point. Semi-quarantine continues to be painful and lonely, and there was an awful scare in my family (non-COVID-related) last week that has me even more shaken right now, which I didn't even really realize was still possible. So I've buried myself in a reread of the Murderbot Diaries over the last few days. I'm excited to write my first fairy tale retelling in years for once_upon_fic (and my goodness, aren't I grateful for the generous writing period, in this time of deeply unpredictable creative energy/exhaustion). And the BFF has convinced me to try and take up Tumblr again, luring me with talk of upcoming The Expanse fic. I hadn't been back over there in three years, so it's a bit surreal.

Speaking of both Murderbot and tumblr, I'll leave you with this truly stunning Murderbot animatic/fanvid which gave me ALL THE FEELINGS, good lord. Made by a 20-year-old, I have wasted my life.

Hey there! So first of all, thank you so much in advance for making something for me. I’m so glad to be starting one of my favorite fandom exchanges … it feels like an oasis in this awful year we’ve all been living through. I’m super excited to see what you come up with!

I am a wordy letter-writer who tries to provide lots of info/prompts because I find that sort of thing helpful and fun as a creator, but I definitely don’t want you to feel fenced in by it all! I hope you’ll have fun making whatever you make, and run with your own ideas if you have some that grab you.

( likes, DNWs, fandoms & pairings )

Oof, okay, putting my teal deer back in their pen. Thanks so much, and happy fanworking! Yay.

Egad, I am so sleepy.

This ... is an unusually and especially intense holiday season in many ways. My partner had top surgery two weeks ago, so I've been spending a great deal of time a few towns over at their place, caring for them and helping my metamour around the apartment. (I also cooked half our Thanksgiving meal, but that's standard!) This weekend, one of my dearest friends is having a baby shower (my second nibling is coming soon), and the weekend after that, I'll be attending (and briefly cameoing in) an unusual theatrical production which will have emotionally high stakes for my entire family of origin. And I mean, you know. Yuletide, Christmas and Hanukkah presents and a lot of cross-state travel.

Is it 2020 yet?

Really, all of this (hopefully including that performance) is good stuff, it's just ... so much. All crammed together. Gah.

Anyway, I did want to share my femslashex piece! It's post-film Edith/Lucille from Crimson Peak, and I had the most splendidly self-indulgent time with all the crosshatching.


Click here to see the whole thing at the AO3!

I also received a lovely bit of Rachel/Kitty futurefic from Sheliak, A Future, Brick by Brick. My forever OTP. <3

And now it's back to what is totally my dream Yuletide assignment! If only I can stay awake!

I've generally felt that I'm pretty lucky among trans and nonbinary folks, in that I haven't needed or wanted to change my (real) name, or at least not the version of it I already use with everyone I care about, and have for my entire life. It's relatively neutral, and I like it. Maybe people would have an easier time adjusting to new pronouns if they came with a new name, but ah well.

But my fandom names, the ones that have stuck for a good 15 years now, are Lilith and reflectedeve (occasionally Eve), and it's only striking me in the last year or so how confusing that is. Two very specific and powerful cultural symbols of womanhood! Good job, college me. But really, when I think about it, those choices largely came from an attraction to the idea of challenging norms and institutions, specifically around literature/religion (my academic subjects of choice), gender, and sexuality. So honestly, they still feel right, especially Lilith? (And also there's, you know, continuity and that. I've been Lilith since the very first year of Yuletide, jeez.) Ah well.

In other news, I am very upset that just as I've made a decision to back off fannish commitments again for a bit, I find out about this very intriguing xeno exchange for which nominations open tomorrow: close_encounters. It's so ME. :( Just look at that tentacle icon! Maybe I can grab a pinch-hit or make a treat ... anyway, if you're less overcommitted, check it out!

Also, and most excitingly, the chocolateboxcomm archive opened today! I have barely been able to look yet, BUT. I got two fabulous fanart gifts and I am so thoroughly pleased! <3

A Lesson In The Folly Library (Rivers of London, gen; Abigail, Varvara Sidorovna, Toby)
I have been wanting more fanart for these books so badly and this is a gorgeous mid-story sort of image with lovely background details and characterization. Fabulous and inspiring. Makes me want to go out and draw some in this fandom immediately, myself.

Austria, 1912 (X-Men, Mystique/Destiny)
SUPER cute shippy pin-up image of the two of them in the early days of their relationship, complete with lovingly-rendered period-appropriate outfits! Eeee so adorable!

Have I mentioned how happy I am that multi-media fan exchanges are becoming more common, even if they are still overwhelmingly fic-based? (I mean, I love fic, obviously. But I love ALL THE THINGS.) I am totally going to have to work on those guidelines/suggestions for prompting for fanart. At some point. Soon.