goddess47: Emu! (Default)
[personal profile] goddess47 posting in [community profile] fancake
Fandom: Teen Wolf
Pairings/Characters: Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale
Rating: PG
Length: 12K for the first story; 35K for the 5 stories series
Creator Links: DiscontentedWinter on AO3
Theme: Arranged Marriage

Content Notes:

Canon-typical violence

Summary:

To honour a treaty with the people of a strange land, Derek Hale, prince of the kingdom of Triskelion, has to marry Stiles.

Reccer's Notes:

A beautifully lyric and almost mystical work about an arranged marriage between Prince Stiles and Prince Derek where they have never met before the wedding and do not speak each other's language. What could have been either slapstick or tragic turns beautiful in DiscontentedWinter's hands... she shows us the beauty in learning about others and how the power of belief can stop armies.

The additional stories expand the world-building and show how two very different peoples can learn to live together.

Fanwork Links:

The Light in the Woods On AO3

Green pants (trousers) saga

Apr. 17th, 2026 12:09 pm
cimorene: closeup of four silver fountain pen nibs on white with "cimorene" written above in blackletter (blackletter)
[personal profile] cimorene
Here's another fun ADHD story. I bought a pair of pants that are a lovely jungle green over two years ago from Freddie's of Pinewood (no longer there; they were limited run) (sorta-splurge, because they're "slow fashion" + customs fee from England). They close with a button but not a hook, and I immediately ordered a hook to sew in them, but then I didn't get around to doing that for the last MORE THAN TWO YEARS because I never planned an occasion to wear them. (They aren't dressy occasion pants. They're just cotton twill.) Today I thought to myself, "I might as well sew it in, or I'll never be able to wear them once I decide to."

Then I looked in my sewing kit, my spare needle and thread and button case, the sewing table in the living room, and the little basket full of embroidery tools, which was all the places I could think of where it might be. But no luck. I can't find the hook&bar. I'll have to order another because there's not a sewing shop in town (you can buy mending materials like thread, patches, low quality needles etc including regular hooks and eyes and zippers at supermarkets and the Finnish equivalent of K-Mart, but the larger flat hook and bar that goes on waistbands is apparently less in demand).

I am planning a trip to the big mall with rancid vibes next week, because Wax wants more fun socks and you can't get those locally; but I'm afraid I'm unlikely to find one there either. The last time I ordered from an online shop that would carry them was less than a month ago, because I finally started knitting socks to give to Wax's family next winter! But of course I had no memory of the issue then.

This is obviously not just an ADHD tax, though; it's also hardly having left the house in that time (burnout, depression?) and putting these pants on a pedestal (what a distracting metaphor... pant pedestal) because I'm so jazzed to have found pants in such a great color. And feeling that I don't have any tops that are as good, though I now know what I want to knit to go with them (a striped zigzag or ripple tee something like this, with lavender and green and blue).

the rain will never stop falling

Apr. 16th, 2026 10:15 pm
musesfool: girl with umbrella (rainy days and mondays)
[personal profile] musesfool
Almost forgot to post!

Shoulders
by Naomi Shihab Nye

A man crosses the street in rain,
stepping gently, looking two times north and south,
because his son is asleep on his shoulder.

No car must splash him.
No car drive too near to his shadow.

This man carries the world's most sensitive cargo
but he's not marked.
Nowhere does his jacket say FRAGILE,
HANDLE WITH CARE.

His ear fills up with breathing.
He hears the hum of a boy's dream
deep inside him.

We're not going to be able
to live in this world
if we're not willing to do what he's doing
with one another.

The road will only be wide.
The rain will never stop falling.

*

Shades of the same.

Apr. 16th, 2026 08:54 pm
hannah: (Jack Aubrey - katie8787)
[personal profile] hannah
It got sticky enough today to warrant the tower fan for cooling purposes. It's not even May. The day wasn't helped by the very little sleep I got last night, so between the fallout nausea and the heat, very little got done.

But, on the plus side, the home transcription gig's been given the go-ahead to more or less be a temporary full-time job, so I may take that as the smallest possible win.

Me-and-media update

Apr. 17th, 2026 10:05 am
china_shop: An orange cartoon dog waving, with a blue-green abstract background. (Bingo!)
[personal profile] china_shop
Previous poll review
In the Stoic hurt/comfort poll, 44.2% of respondents prefer the stoic character stoically/reluctantly/awkwardly providing comfort, vs 41.9% who prefer them receiving comfort (pretty sure that's within the margin of error, though); and 27.9% said it depends. Three people (including me) checked "I'm not into hurt/comfort." <3

In ticky-boxes, appreciating being able to breathe through your nose came second to hugs, 62.8% to 79.1%. Thank you for your votes! ♥

Reading
I finished The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley, read by Sid Sagar, a m/m clockpunk fantasy novel set in ancient Thebes. I especially enjoyed the Theban POV, and I grew increasingly more engaged as it progressed. Might read it again sometime in text.

Still making my way through Refuse to Be Done by Matt Bell. I'm up to the advice for third drafts.

Andrew and I finished Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold, read by Grover Gardner, while polishing off a jigsaw, and have started The Vor Game, in which Miles is instructed to learn to respect authority, and immediately sets out to manipulate everyone around him.

Kdramas
The same four as last week: Phantom Lawyer, You're Beautiful (ahhhh!), Love Scout, and Lovely Runner. The latter involves the female lead time-travelling 15 years into her past self, and she seems weirdly unaware of the age gap between her and the school-age male lead. Maybe this isn't a romance? (Writing this made me consider an alternate version where her contemporary self just sends her diary or something to the past instead, so her teen self would be armed with all the knowledge but still age-appropriate.)

Other TV
Finished Paper Girls (argh, permanent cliffhanger ending!) and Connections (BBC). Still watching The Pitt, Rooster, and Scrubs. Zoomed through all of Big Mistakes, a Netflix romp starring Dan Levy, which ended with a set-up for season 2.

Fringe (which is losing the plot, wow) and Bluey with my sister.

And we saw Hoppers at the cinema, and had a great time with it. Aww! Such an optimistic view of the world.

Audio entertainment
Dreaming Against the Machine (new podcast by Adam Becker, author of More Everything Forever), episode 1: "Futurists, with Reo Eveleth". The podcast is about "envisioning a realistic and hopeful future", and this episode was really great. I found it via the Better Offline episode "More, Everything, Forever with Adam Becker".

(Aside: something about DAtM made me think that podcasts are the blogs of today: thoughtful people making their ideas and conversations public, very voicey and intimate in a way. And presumably just as hard to break into (in the English-language sphere) if you're not a confident user of the English language...)

Writing/making things
Getting back into the swing of writers' hour now it's moved to 8am for the winter -- which is timely, because I have a 520 Day assignment fic to write. (I was aiming for short, but it's already over 1500w 2300w, with at least two scenes to go. Which is what happens when you mostly read novels, I guess.)

Life/health/mental state things
We've had a few days of gorgeous weather (and next week is looking dire), which has meant a lot of biking. Plus I have builders working on reputtying some of my windows, which is disruptive and dusty, so I've been out a lot; yesterday I worked on my 520 fic at our newly re-opened central public library. All of which is to say that my arms are pretty mad at me. Bluetooth keyboards are great, but so is my home ergonomic setup. And I can only handle so much biking atm.

The window work is in a race against the weather, and weather forecasting has got less accurate since some @#$#*ing incompetent shitheads @#(*ed up the US Weather Service. So who knows if my house will be weatherproof next week? No one!

I'm not as cranky as this sounds. Just a bit stressed, and my house is covered in a fine layer of dust. Guess I'm looking at a thorough spring autumn clean once this is all done.

Had a flu jab on Wednesday.

Link dump
Get your Letter to the Editor published. Every. Time. | AO3 admin post about Spambot Comments on AO3 (different types, and what to do about them) | Remarkable survival after hawk trapped in car grille | Mom cat shows her kittens the German shepherd is safe (Youtube, via [personal profile] starandrea).

Good things
Lovely weather. Mobile technology and ebikes. Writing!! Friendly builders. Andrew and Halle and friends and Dreamwidth.

Poll #34482 Fanfic vs Profic
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 38


Do you have different prose standards for reading profic vs fanfic?

View Answers

no, I'm pretty relaxed about prose quality if other aspects of the story capture me
8 (21.1%)

yes, I'm more picky about fanfic
0 (0.0%)

yes, I'm more picky about profic...
17 (44.7%)

... with the exception of certain genres
3 (7.9%)

no, I'm picky across the board
13 (34.2%)

other
5 (13.2%)

ticky-box of to read makes our speaking English good
19 (50.0%)

ticky-box full of podcasts
4 (10.5%)

ticky-box of how many rivers must an otter swim down before you can call it an otter
23 (60.5%)

ticky-box full of 42
17 (44.7%)

ticky-box full of hugs
27 (71.1%)

Round 186 Theme Poll

Apr. 16th, 2026 08:36 am
runpunkrun: combat boot, pizza, camo pants = punk  (punk rock girl)
[personal profile] runpunkrun posting in [community profile] fancake
Poll #34481 round 186 theme poll
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 72

Pick the next theme of fancake:

Collaborations & Remixes
20 (27.8%)

Journey/Travel
31 (43.1%)

Whump
21 (29.2%)

dswdiane: Mick and Keith (Sweet Mick and Keith)
[personal profile] dswdiane
 Too many patients were upset and stressed out today. Only one because of taxes and money. All the rest about relationships. As per usual. Even had to see a patient in crisis this even after 7:00. But he was so upset that I'm glad he called and I was able to talk him down.

But I'm wiped out and exhausted. My eyes are actually burning from tiredness. So, I'm going early to bed. As soon as this song is over. Duncan, Methos, and Connor, I promise I'll get back to you tomorrow. Promise. I just need sleep tonight. 

The sweetness of that Mick and Keith pic always makes me smile. 
med_cat: (cat and books)
[personal profile] med_cat posting in [community profile] agonyaunt
Greetings, everyone! I have been enjoying reading the entries and discussion in this community, and came upon this article today that I thought I'd share:
~~~
Link: wapo.st/4csfhDU

Dear Miss Manners:

I was invited to a brunch as the only guest. The hosts live in a 6,000-square-foot mansion, of which all of the rooms could be photographed for a slick architectural magazine.

Brunch was delicious, but the rub of the situation was that the house was 54 degrees in temperature, and it was 15 degrees outside.

I am on blood thinners and I am very cognizant of cold. When I inquired if they were having heating issues, the reply was that the house is too expensive to warm up to 68 degrees, and that they do not like large gas bills.Read more... )

Update

Apr. 16th, 2026 11:19 am
mergatrude: eucalypt flower (eucalypt flower)
[personal profile] mergatrude
Reading: I finished listening to the audiobook of Stone and Sky by Ben Aaronovitch, after having read the text version last year. I'm wondering which almost unintelligible accent Aaronovitch is going to make Kobna Holbrook-Smith do next. ('Straya, please! We have so many ancient places the genius loci would be amazing!) I thought Shvorne Marks did an amazing job, and it was fun to hear Abigail's version of Nightingale's accent as compared to Peter's. cut for possible spoilers and self-indulgence )

Currently, I'm listening to the audiobook of Project Hail Mary, and I'm glad I saw the movie first. I think I would have struggled with the amount of maths and science without the context of the film, and without my pre-established fondness for the characters. It's a reminder (to myself) that the 'book vs film' debate is mostly wind as both mediums have different strengths.

Watching (and listening): I haven't been watching anything with intent recently. We bought a huge-ass TV with our leftover christmas fund (we put money every fortnight into a christmas club account which can only be accessed in Dec/Jan) and I find it kind of repelling. Dude has been playing me a bunch of Gorillaz videos on youtube, catching me up on the lore following the release of The Mountain. I love the album (I've always had an interest in Indian music) and have been listening to it quite a bit. Dude is currently into collecting CDs and has bought a couple of earlier Gorillaz albums, which have been fun to listen to.

Making: I've been slowly working on a sweater for my brother, but it's lots of boring knitting. I'm itching to spin something, but I don't know what. I used up some leftover multi-coloured yarn with some white Cormo to make fingerless mitts for a colleague and they turned out well. The (free) pattern is Prisma Mitts and is great for a gradient yarn.

fingerless mitts for Amy

I need to do more two-colour knitting rather than trying to dye all my colours into a single yarn. *g*

Other: We're upgrading our solar system, adding more panels and a larger battery which we hope will zero-out our electricity bill. The feed-in tariff has dropped to 4 cents/kW and we expect it to drop further, so more storage is our goal.

Work is still a schmozzle. The Uni featured heavily in a recent Four Corners exposé about governance in the tertiary sector, however I don't see them rolling back the (ridiculous, terrible) organisational changes any time soon. Sigh.

Autumn is finally here. After a long summer the nights dropping to below 5C is a bit of a shock. The cat is unimpressed and insists on being wrapped in her blanket.

ashah in grey blanket

What I'm Doing Wednesday

Apr. 15th, 2026 07:09 pm
sage: two polar bears embracing (bear hug original)
[personal profile] sage
gnu MinoanMiss/Rubynye/Ny
The memorial was so lovely. I cried a lot. I miss her so much.

books
Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer. 2006. Imperialism is so gross.

The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles & Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer. 2013. These guys were such jackasses. I only knew about their Latin American horrors, not the rest of it.

Right Ho, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse. 1934. My Wodehouse is all over the place and I didn't keep track of what I read when, so I'm rereading. This was cute and fast-paced.

The Jeeves Omnibus Vol. 1 by P.G. Wodehouse.
Thank You, Jeeves: Really pissed off at Bertie's repeated "n-word minstrels", and the disaster blackface, augh, though Jeeves at least uses "negro." SIGH. I guess it was 1934, but GAH.
The Code of the Woosters: a bit tedious. Needed more Dahlia. 1937.
The Inimitable Jeeves: Needed more Jeeves and less gambling. 1923.

healthcrap
Had an allergy shot Monday and I need one more to get back on maintenance after falling behind.

taxes
I tried twice today to free-file my taxes, only to get to the end of the long long long process and have then say, no, this isn't free after all. So I paid a semi-random amount and got an extension. I think I got an extension. Did I get an extension? Now I need to double check. Gah.

#resist
May 1: No Kings 4

I hope you're all doing well! <333

Down the path.

Apr. 15th, 2026 07:21 pm
hannah: (Claire Fisher - soph_posh)
[personal profile] hannah
I got the date wrong on an appointment. I knew I had something on the 22nd, as well as the adjacent week, but I'd forgotten it was the week of the 29th, not today. I understand how I made that mistake and I'm not sure what to do to keep it from happening again, other than writing it down in a dedicated weekly planner instead of on a post-it note.

But, I ran a couple errands I'd wanted to get done. I found that swings got installed at Lincoln Center for the summer and rode one for a few minutes, and now I know they're around for another sunny day sometime soon. I was able to visit a grocery store near where my appointment would've been held and got a few things there on discount - a couple dollars less than the prices at my usual store, and while the leftover dollars went to fancy coconut water, it about balanced out. Walking downtown, someone I met at a party recognized me from the street and called out my name and we had a nice little chat. I took the time I would've spent at the appointment, went home, and got some good writing done ahead of going out tonight.

So all in all, I'm not upset about how things went today.

i am the throat of the mountains

Apr. 15th, 2026 02:36 pm
musesfool: mel king from the pitt with a smiley face (happy to be here)
[personal profile] musesfool
I knew Isa Briones was on Broadway, but I had never heard her actually sing until yesterday when I saw this on tumblr: Isa Briones sings "Who's Sorry Now" from JUST IN TIME | Now on Broadway. What a set of pipes!

*

Today's poem:

Fire

a woman can't survive
by her own breath
               alone
she must know
the voices of mountains
she must recognize
the foreverness of blue sky
she must flow
with the elusive
bodies
of night winds
who will take her
into herself

look at me
i am not a separate woman
i am the continuance
of blue sky
i am the throat
of the mountains
a night wind
who burns
with every breath
she takes

—Joy Harjo

*

March 2026

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