alexseanchai | Reading

AO3 link | Her Turn (300 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer [TV]
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Willow Rosenberg & Buffy Summers
Characters: Willow Rosenberg, Buffy Summers, Dawn Summers [Buffy & Angel Universe]
Additional Tags: Triple Drabble, Post-Canon
Summary:

Willow left a letter...

Her Turn

This one, it's not for you. You get that, right? This time, it's about me. It has to be me. You can't… you can't keep reaching. I know you love me. I know you would want to step up, to take my place. You've always been the one making the sacrifice. That's who you are, the One. You changed the game to begin with, and then when that wasn't enough, you changed the whole playing field.

Okay, maybe I had something to do with changing the gameboard up. But I was only able to do it because of you, because you had so much faith in me. I need you to have that faith in me now. I need you to be the stronger one, the one who has to live, to keep facing the evil.

Hopefully it won't be as bad, not once I do this.

All my love.

Dawn wasn't used to seeing her sister frail, not even after all the losses they had faced. She'd guessed, though, that this one might be the breaking point, and hurried to get to Buffy's side. She saw the paper crumpled in a fist, but ignored it, just turning her sister to hold her.

At first, Buffy was stiff. The grief broke to Dawn's coaxing, a howl of pain and denial. Dawn just held on, petting her hair, tears streaming on her own face.

"Maybe… maybe it didn't end her?" Dawn suggested once the crying gave way to the heavy silence.

Buffy pushed the crumpled paper to her sister, letting Dawn read Willow's own words. It made Dawn swallow hard, as the pain and finality gripped her all over again.

She couldn't give into it, though. Buffy needed her. Buffy had lost Willow, and Dawn needed to step up even more.

kingstoken posting in

fandomtrees

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tielan

I'll get through Georgia by Christmas, I'm sure!

Leaving Sighnahi

Trying to remember how it all felt nearly two months later isn't easy. I'm going off the photos I took, the impression of memories. All a bit blurred by 'ordinary time'.

The bus trip from Signahi to the Mshketa region was a couple of hours long and we had one of those giant 'caterpillar' buses. Everyone had their own double seat and by the time we took the long trips it was fairly settled who was where. Some women wanted to be able to ride in the front and see where we were going, while others wanted this side or that side.

I had a woman from Alaska in front of me - there were three of them on the tour, and this one was probably the youngest of the three. She wasn't chatty, but we had a few great conversations about politics and society over the course of the next few days.

The (closed up and not used) toilet was behind me, and woman from California across from me, a woman from New York behind her, and another California woman in front of her - the photographer of the trip.

It was a pretty easygoing group of women, as I've said before. We were almost universally older, perhaps a little more jaded in our outlook than the women I met on the Naples tour, and more cosmopolite than the women of the Pride and Prejudice tour.

Out in the villages and towns, away from the cities, the country felt very different to the tourist spots. I don't know if this is typical in countries and areas where primary GDP is from tourism, or if it's just former USSR states.

We drove past spaces that felt very run-down, a lot of places and spaces were overgrown. Houses were abandoned, no glass in their windows. Gates and pergola frames were rusted and overgrown with...well, mostly grapevines, although occasionally there were other flowering vines. And the people working the spaces were all old. Almost all of them were forty and over. I didn't see any really young people until we got to the cities: Kutaisi, Tbilisi.

When we went to the markets, there was a lot of 'selling the same things'. Like, a dozen stalls are all selling the exact same thing, no difference. I feel like this happens less, even in the markets in Australia, like Melbourne's Queen Victoria Markets. Maybe in the tourist shops with the trinkets and whatnot - those are all the same, but I don't go into those. But I had the same feeling in Vietnam and in Naples and even a little in Porto. There's not enough differentiation of product, just everyone selling more or less the same thing. And, somewhat cynically, I suspect most of them come from China...

Mshketa and the history of Christianity in Georgia

In the morning, the bus took us towards Mshketa, which is in fact quite close to Tbilisi, where the tour had been on the weekend (while I recovered from COVID). The city is built at a kind of three-way intersection of various legs of the river, and overlooking it is the Jvari Monastery which was built in the 6th Century by the last vestiges of the Roman Empire.

In the 4th Century, the patron saint of Georgia, St Nino, brought Christianity to Georgia, converting the king at the time, and setting up Christianity as the main religion. Cue the churches, temples, and monasteries. Also, as later seen in the Uplistsikhe rock village, the conversion of old "pagan" temples into Christian worship spaces.

Anyway, the Jvari monastery dates back to the 6th Century and is magnificently still standing, all the stones firmly in place:

In comparison, the wall in the last photo - half-torn down, with only segments of it remaining - was built in the 17th Century. But why have the monastery and chapel survived a thousand years while the wall lies in ruins?

The 6th Century structures were built to Roman Standards. The worksmanship was precise and careful and everything was designed and put together just so. The wall? Was pretty much slapped together with some mortar and various stones. It's entirely possible to make really solid walls out of stones, it's just that the 17th Century builders (I think they were Templars, for some reason? Maybe? Don't quote me!) didn't bother with all that.

I would have liked to explore more inside the monastery, but I don't think there was much public access. It's not used as a monastery any more, obviously, but it still looked very solid. Anyway, we moved on after only about 30 minutes. It was a very brief stop, but interesting. I love histories and architectures, the movement of people across continents and lands... well, you know me!

On the way to Svetitskhoveli Cathedral, our guide talked a lot about St Nino, where she came from and what she did. I tried to pay attention, but got lost a few times because her accent was fairly thick.

Svetitskhoveli Cathedral

The Cathedral was really interesting, architecturally. The present version was built in the 11th Century, and the story I was told was that the architect got into trouble for not making the inside symmetrical. Outside, though, it's very imposing and the sky was suitably dramatic for it!

The church's significance is primarily attributable to the legend of the buried mantle of Christ, brought to the region in the 1st Century by a Georgian Jew. It's also allegedly a site of great miracles, and is a major pilgrimage site for the Georgian Orthodox Church. There were a lot of priests and members of religious orders there, as well as a number of pilgrims. They were decidedly distinct from the tourists.

Some beautiful stonework there, and beautiful historical murals.

One of the notable things about the church is that when the Soviets came in, they tried to eliminate all religion. So they plastered and whitewashed over a lot of the murals, which dated back hundreds of years and had some beautiful iconography and design. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as just peeling the plaster off; they've been able to get some of it off, but they had to stop because they were damaging what was underneath.

There was a small market through which we had to pass on our way up to the Cathedral from the carpark. A restaurant had a fig tree in full fruit and while I was tempted to pick and eat, I thought it might not be polite, so I passed. But I did buy a pair of very beautiful cloisonne earrings at the markets there!

Lunch, wineries, winemaking

Lunch (somewhat late) was at Ateni Vineyards. The property had been in the family for generations, and Nino had pictures of her grandfather and grandmother down in the cellar under the house, where wine had been produced for generations. Unfortunately, her paternal line were perpetrators of domestic violence, and she herself had escaped a domestic violence situation before deciding to return to the family property and renovate it from the ruin it had been.

The women she employed to assist in making the lunch are displaced women from Ossetia. My notes only have 'Ossetia' but some research shows that that Ossetia is considered an ethnolinguistic region (common ancestry and culture, and common language, I believe) and there's 'North Ossetia' and 'South Ossetia' which are more or less divided up by the Caucasus mountains. North Ossetia is under Russian control, or counted part of Russia, while South Ossetia lies within the current borders of Georgia. And takes quite a bite out of the middle of it.

For whatever reason or another, however, these women were 'internally displaced people', and they were working for Nino and assisting in cooking the feast that we ate:
- purslane and ajika brusquets
- cheese and georgian endemic wheat bread
- cucumber tomato salad with walnuts
- cornelian cherry soup
- black-eyed peas
- spinach and beet leaves pie
- squash
- cherry tarts

The cherry tarts were absolutely amazing. But, again, so much food and we simply couldn't do it justice!

We were each given a candle like the one below, and I ended up gifting this to

alphaflyer's daughter in Canada, because I'm seriously not a candle person at all.

Nino's philosophy was very 'new agey' to me, not my style. She tended to rhapsodise about 'feminine power' and the uniqueness of women, which...yes, I am for women being people and respected, but not so much for gender essentialism.

The slightly blurry photo is of the winemaking cellar in the house - the sort of thing that every household once had: a buried qvervy (Georgian wine-making vessel) into which the juice from the grape pressings would go. Apparently she'd made a very traditional-style vintage a few years back, including the foot pressing - although we weren't served it! Also, those things are hellish to clean to modern standards...

Some of the women like the wine and the winemaker so much, they bought boxes of wine and got them shipped back to their homes in the USA!

It was a really long afternoon in the end, and by the time we left, we were more than ready to head to our stay at a retreat up in the mountains...with a 10 minute walk to get there!

kaberett

Previously: uk.bookshop.org were selling a Tor ebook with DRM applied, which I only noticed after I had bought it, because all? Tor ebooks? are DRM-free? at the request of the publisher? Like, Hive applies DRM to them, but given that bookshop.org lets you filter for DRM-free, this... was surprising.

My initial support request for (1) an explanation and (2) any chance of a refund, realise this is totally on me though, ... got me an almost-immediate refund, which I was not expecting, and a very entry-level explanation of What DRM Is, which I sort of was. So I wrote back saying thank you very much, and also, Tor went famously DRM-free in about 2012, and they're definitely supplying this specific ebook to other retailers without DRM applied.

There was A Pause.

A day or two later I received a response from someone with "Senior" in their signature, thanking me for my patience and saying they were Investigating.

A few days after that I noticed that the ebook in question was now marked DRM-free: hurrah! ... but when I bought it, and clicked on the "yes please download my DRM-free ebook" button, nothing happened.

I did not write back in because I have been. preoccupied.

But a few days after that I tried again and this time the download did work! So hurrah for bookshop.org needing me to do much less assertive escalation than I'd been expecting, and also for noticing that something was still broken and Fixing It without me needing to get around to e-mailing in about it.

... the quick part of this note was going to be: I know there were Questions on my first post about Hey They're Doing Ebooks Now, about how you actually filter for DRM-free. As far as I can tell this isn't actually possible from the ebooks landing page, which seems A Pity, BUT when you search for something (which can absolutely be as vague as "science fiction"), the FORMAT dropdown lets you filter for DRM-free ebooks only. Obviously this is Not Ideal, in that one might actually like to browse All DRM-Free Ebooks, but it does exist as an option, where as far as I can tell it doesn't, at all, on e.g. Kobo. Hopefully this knowledge is helpful! And certainly The Above Saga has caused me to think sufficiently positively of them that I'm likely to default to them for my ebooks in future.

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Hey all, it's December and that means it's time to share your suggestions for next year's themes!

You can comment on this post with up to 10 suggestions. Comments will be screened, but I'll unscreen mine so you can get a feel for how it goes.

Suggested themes should be new to the comm and broad enough to sustain a month of recommendations, and I'm going to be more particular than I have in the past, as I'd like to focus on general themes that make it easier for everyone to participate. To give you an idea of what this means, I'm aiming for themes that have at least 5,000 completed works on AO3. I've also preloaded the list with some common genres that, surprisingly enough, we haven't done yet, like fantasy.

I'll drop by your comments and let you know which of your suggestions meet these guidelines. As part of this process I may offer slight alterations or rework themes to make them more inclusive.

If you can, check out our spreadsheet of past themes before commenting to make sure your suggestions aren't already on there.

If you need some inspiration:

Last year's suggestion post
List of Fic Kinks, Tropes, and Clichés at Fanlore
Cliché Bingo's Big List of Clichés (Wayback Link)
Hurt/Comfort Bingo Prompts
Kink Bingo's Kink Wiki (NSFW)
Trope List & Definitions at Trope Bingo
TV Tropes

I'll add the suggestions to this post once they've been confirmed, but I still, somehow, don't have all the past themes memorized, so if I make a mistake or if I accept a suggestion that is hurtful or badly worded, let me know.

Theme suggestions will be voted on later this month and the most popular will advance to the monthly theme polls in 2026.

( Confirmed Theme Suggestions )

If you have any questions or need help, come find me!

marina

So, I've been stuck at home for 3 weeks now with a broken ankle. I've watched so much TV. SO. MUCH. TV. Some of it utterly delightful ("The Summer I Turned Pretty", "Queen of the South"), some of it utterly forgettable. Then "Heated Rivalry" came out, and due to the tragic circumstances of being stuck at home, I've watched the first 2 episodes. Let us acknowledge this up front: I should have only watched this show after it finished airing. Like, week-to-week is a very bad format for me with this show.

However, episodes have been consumed, this show is already doing numbers in fannish circles for obvious reasons, my guess is that that trend will continue, and so I need to get stuff off my chest I guess. Think of this not as a public statement but more as a private space where I process stuff, just for the sake of framing the below.

( thoughts in no particular order )

dialecticdreamer

Strained Resources
By Dialecticdreamer/Sarah Williams
Part 1 of 2, complete
Word count (story only): 1304
[Sat, Dec 17, 2016]

:: A week before Channukah, Genna is settling back into LaPlace when a new neighbor arrives to ask if they have any candles to spare for the menorah. Genna offers to teach them how to dip their own. Part of the Strange Family series, in the Polychrome Heroics universe. This story was written for the December 2025 event, from a suggestion made by

readera, with my great thanks! ::

On to part two

Genna rarely spoke with the neighbors in LaPlace. When they realized that the family spent part of the year in two different places, the neighbors retreated. A few still waved and smiled, but inviting the neighbors to a barbecue at the end of summer had proven how few of them considered the family their neighbors. Genna focused on the bookshelf in front of her, determined to spend as much of the afternoon in the tub as possible. Saul and Dom had taken all the kids to do holiday shopping, which was very much a gift to her as well.

Halfway through the stack of library books, two of which were in danger of needing a renewal, again, someone rang Genna’s front door bell. She dusted her hands and hurried to greet them.
( Read more... )

Current Mood: amused

princessofgeeks

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Current Mood: pleased

merrileemakes posting in

dw_community_promo

voiceinmyear, a community to share any kind of audio-based narrative entertainment. Here you can recommend, critique, signal boost or otherwise enthuse about:
- podcasts, both fiction and non-fiction
- audiobooks
- podfics
- audio essays - YouTube or other video formats are fine as long as it can be enjoyed without visuals
- apps, platforms or websites to access or discover any of the above.

Just created and I'm keen to post some content soon, but also thrilled if anyone else wants to jump in and share some aural joy.

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Location: Bed
Current Music: The chickens wot want to be let out but I'm busy chillin'

luzula

Home all day, still busy, but definitely an improvement! I only got an alibi sentence, though. I'm at a scene transition and not quite sure what comes next.

Tally:
( Read more... )
Day 4:

goddess47,

badly_knitted,

sanguinity,

sylvanwitch,

garonne,

alightbuthappypen,

china_shop,

chestnut_pod,

trobadora,

cornerofmadness,

carenejeans

Day 5:

china_shop

Bonus farm news: We have excess pumpkin. Things made so far: soup, grilled in the oven, fried patties, sweet pie, savory pie, grilled in the oven with different spices, gnocchi, and wine.

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Chen Qing Ling;
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; the Cloud Recesses bunnies
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2:26
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, anvilicious rabbit symbolism, canon-typical blood, canon-typical phallic symbolism, corporal punishment, fluff (figurative and literal), innuendo, societal homophobia (in-story and real-world), sparring with subtext, Xiao Zhan’s A+ rabbit handling, (not you, Wang Yibo, you’re fine.)
Creator Tags: vid, Bunnies, Pining, i'm sorry lan wangji, no really a lot of pining
Creator Links: (AO3)

soupytwist, (Dreamwidth)

soupytwist, (Tumblr)

soupytwist (locked); (YouTube)

twistedsoup

Theme: Amnesty, Angst With A Happy Ending, Animals, Humor, Non-Fic Recs: Fanvid, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Pining

Summary: If you look inside the heart of the mighty Hanguang-jun, you might find... bunnies.

Author’s Notes:( Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: A rec in celebration of the 4 December 2025 Full Supermoon. Stephin Merritt’s wryly anguished anthem of gay pining gains not only an unironic tenderness but the hope of a happy resolution when juxtaposed with CQL’s literal rabbits (and their pervasive symbolism as tokens, symbols, and allegory of Wangxian’s relationship, as well as allusions to a Rabbit God who’d bless a gay union.)

Nor does soupytwist’s pitch-perfect syncing of visuals to lyrics hurt one bit.

Fanwork Links:
AO3 (locked): [FANVID] Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits; Part 2 of Gusu Love Songs.
Vimeo: Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
YouTube:Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits

Current Music: Implicit in the subject.

petra

I don't actually ship Rex/Echo, but that doesn't stop me from wanting a Lord King Bad Vid to For Good for the very simple reason that Rex is going to be with Echo like a handprint on his heart.

I feel like this needs a good bunch of Bad Batch, which I have not seen, in much the same way that I have only seen Wicked on stage once, and haven't seen the movies.

I also can't listen to the song without tearing up because I've sung it at too many funerals.

Clearly I am highly qualified to care about this vid. I must've gotten someone else's inspiration particle.

Current Mood: ludicrous
Current Music: Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun

tielan

There is definitely something in my study that makes my throat sore.

There's been various molding spots on the wall for several years now, but I'm really noticing the issue lately. It's going to be a hot dry summer, so maybe this is the time to tackle it?

smallhobbit posting in

fan_flashworks

Title: You're the Boss
Fandom: Spooks (MI5)
Rating: G
Length: 400 words
Summary: Harry Pearce tells Adam and Lucas their Christmas plans will have to change

( Harry Pearce called... )

petra

Back in the day, the 213 things Skippy is no longer allowed to do in the U.S. Army made the rounds of the internet.

The one that stuck with me hardest:

87. If the thought of something makes me giggle for longer than 15 seconds, I am to assume that I am not allowed to do it.

This came to mind because I thought of a great tag that will baffle the good wranglers at the AO3, but which I will apply to the story forthwith, despite its having made me giggle for longer than 15 seconds.

Then I started wondering.

These are the fanworks on AO3 tagged with Skippy's List. Happily, various people have written Clone Wars versions so I don't have to.

Current Mood: giggly
Current Music: The next day he saluted a Good Humor man, an usher, and a nun

ysabetwordsmith

Today is cloudy and cold.

I fed the birds. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus two mourning doves.

I put out water for the birds.

.

Current Mood: busy

rydra_wong

Largely the same as before:

Currently trying to support a friend in a Very Bad Situation and it's desperately anxiety-inducing and my brain is trying to eat itself, which also makes me less useful as support, which is bad.

So if anyone would like to ask or discuss anything about Prophet or Dark Souls or IWTV or climbing or, you know, any of the somewhat cheering topics I sometimes ramble about, PLEASE DO. "More of a comment than a question" questions also very welcome.

I cannot guarantee replies in a timely or consistent manner (because of the Situation and also the bad state of my brain) but it would be deeply appreciated nonetheless.

Except that THANK FUCK my friend is now out of the Very Bad Situation (and please let him remain so, please please please).

My brain is just trying to eat itself because it's prone to doing that and it's been a very very hard year (and I'm having yet another IC flare-up, joy).

nanila

If you had to participate in one Olympic event, what would it be and why?

Curling. It looks delightful. And there's no way I'm running long distances, contorting myself into weird shapes, flinging heavy things, or hurling myself off high platforms.
What is the one song you always sing along to?

Just one? There are loads. I have no shame. The ones I belt out loudest are Evanescence “Bring Me To Life”, Joan Jett's “I Love Rock n Roll”, and Guns n Roses “Paradise City”.
Do you wear a seatbelt in the car?

I'm sorry, what?! Apart from this being the law, I don't want to die or suffer horrific disfigurement from being in an accident, the chances of which wearing a seat belt has been exhaustively demonstrated to reduce.

So yes, I do wear a seat belt in the car. Always.
Car, SUV or truck and why?

I favour a car. Preferably something small and fast. I like being able to accelerate quickly, and the less time I have to spend getting from A to B, the better. Much as I enjoy going fast, I also find long drives really damn boring.
Are you a good/bad driver? Explain.

I think I'm okay. I'm careful about keeping my distance and I always make sure I'm well rested when I get behind the wheel.

prisca posting in

fic_promptly

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minoanmiss

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Current Mood: amused

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let me hear your voice tonight

Never Unmindful

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Page Summary

senmut - LadiesBingo: Sacrifice / Letting Go
kingstoken in fandomtrees - zooey_g's Tree
tielan - Georgia Day 3: Jvari Monastery and St Nino
kaberett - quick note re bookshop.org
runpunkrun in fancake - 2026 Theme Suggestions
marina - 10 things about the gay hockey show
dialecticdreamer - Strained Resources (part 1 of 2, complete)
princessofgeeks - VBG
merrileemakes in dw_community_promo - New community: Voice in my ear
luzula - Write every day: Day 5
full_metal_ox in fancake - Chen Qing Ling; The Magnetic Fields (band); Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits (fanvid) by soupytwist
petra - Vids that will never be: A Clone Wars ship I don't ship but I would watch this vid
tielan - ugh breathing things
smallhobbit in fan_flashworks - Spooks (MI5): Fanfic: You're the Boss
petra - It's not Rule 34 if it's not porn - Skippy's List, Clone Wars edition
ysabetwordsmith - Birdfeeding
rydra_wong - Please give me excuses to talk about my hyperfixations (again)
nanila - The Friday Five on a Friday
prisca in fic_promptly - Friday, December 5 - Parental Figure
minoanmiss - Mighty Harvests

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Theme: Shallows by dancing_serpent

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Page generated Dec. 6th, 2025 12:18 am

if you trust your rebel heart, ride it into battle

don't be afraid, take the road less traveled

Reading

LadiesBingo: Sacrifice / Letting Go

zooey_g's Tree

Georgia Day 3: Jvari Monastery and St Nino

quick note re bookshop.org

2026 Theme Suggestions

10 things about the gay hockey show

Strained Resources (part 1 of 2, complete)

VBG

New community: Voice in my ear

Write every day: Day 5

Chen Qing Ling; The Magnetic Fields (band); Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits (fanvid) by soupytwist

Vids that will never be: A Clone Wars ship I don't ship but I would watch this vid

ugh breathing things

Spooks (MI5): Fanfic: You're the Boss

It's not Rule 34 if it's not porn - Skippy's List, Clone Wars edition

Birdfeeding

Please give me excuses to talk about my hyperfixations (again)

The Friday Five on a Friday

Friday, December 5 - Parental Figure

Mighty Harvests