Title: You get what you give Fandom: Torchwood Characters: Owen, Ianto Author: m_findlow Rating: PG Length: 1,363 words Content notes: None Author notes: Written for Challenge 481 - Charity Summary: Ianto has charged himself and Owen with a less than ordinary Torchwood assignment.
I just had an interesting question from a reader, who asked what actor or famous male I was thinking of when I was visualizing my OC. I don't! I mean, I do visualize people, but they are people of my own invention (I believe). I don't think they are real people, just features I come up with.
How about any writers out there? Do you choose actors or people you know? Or do you make up your OCs in your mind palace?
Theme Prompt: #261 - Schemes Title: Something in the water Fandom: Torchwood Rating/Warnings: PG Bonus: Yes Word Count: 1,000 words Summary: Jack is having a hard time convincing the team of his plan to keep Cardiff’s alien problems under wraps.
June is Pride Month! This month-long celebration is an opportunity to celebrate the very human and very beautiful spectrum of gender and sexuality, all while coming together to fight for widespread equality and justice in the LGBTQ+ community.
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Sunday, June 8, to midnight on Monday, June 9 (8pm Eastern Time).
communityactionusa is set up now. As you can probably tell by the name, it's intended as a place to help guide action, and the sticky is referencing "Project Mailstorm". Go look, see if it's your cuppa.
My brain reward cycle is fucked, and the longer I think about it, the more I recognize that it's always been this way.
Case in point: I performed recently after preparing for 5 months.
My mother said, "It went well! That must feel good."
Me: "..."
It didn't. It never really does, not unless someone else gives me external validation.
Whenever I do something hard, my brain's response is, "Well, I did it, so how hard could it have been?"
This applies to excelling academically (which I have done frequently), excelling at my job (which I have done on occasion), every type of performance I've ever undertaken (and there have been a lot), every form of art/craft I've ever done (writing, knitting, crocheting, etc.), and helping friends.
Mostly I just feel relief that it's over, and my brain isn't going to give me the constant round of "You should work on [thing]!" anymore. Nah, the shoulds will switch to something else, but at least it'll be new at first.
Current Mood:exhausted
Current Music:Everyone can see that he's a wet Marvin boy
fkficfest '25 has concluded! We had lovely, diverse stories, and lovely, kind interactions, all around. Forever Knight fandom has always been such a jumble of approaches, with its mishmash of genres and themes attracting wildly dissimilar approaches and interpretations. It's touching and heartening that we can play together at all, much less this successfully. Thank you.
Some years, I feel that being the game's moderator should block me from making story recommendations, and I hold my peace. This year, I feel that it's okay to go ahead and point out a few stories that happened to offer particularly distinct elements to me, personally, subjectively, as a reader and not moderator.
"A Duty to Serve" by Calliope24 (G, gen, ~2K words): Set during the tumult of "A More Permanent Hell," a uniformed Tracy tries to serve while her father orders her off the streets, and Stonetree steps in. I found the efforts of all the characters to endure and serve the common good during this civilizational collapse powerful, and Stonetree's measured optimism -- not just about the ultimate end, but faith in people -- invigorating. I also admire the imagination and depiction of this canon bubble; of course the third-season characters lived second-season, and of course Stonetree knew Commissioner Vetter.
"Unpacking" by SwitchbladeEyes (T, gen, ~11K words): Set immediately after "Sons of Belial," Nick's reaction to the demon incident brings all of Natalie's undealt-with feelings about Richard's death in "I Will Repay" roaring to the surface. I found this story's cadence, tone, and voice so resonantly third-season that it felt -- for better and for worse, for familiarity and for discomfort -- like it could indeed have been the next canonical episode after "Sons of Belial," if such continuity had been a thing in those days, and also that it could then have broken third-season's fall and climbed back up onto a more promising path by dealing with pain and not only piling it up.
"Daylight" by Nicholas_Lucien (T, gen, ~2K words): This songfic goes around and around, like the verses of a song with a refrain, in a way that made my brain react to it more like poetry than prose. It makes an interesting choice, to call Nick/Nicolas/Nicholas by those different names as it shifts through Nick's, Janette's, and Lacroix's perspectives regardless of the historical era, creating prism-like views on each situation. The reader may interpret the cyclical structure to indicate that Nick will never win. I choose to interpret it, for myself, instead to indicate that Nick will never stop striving.
Separately, the story that I contributed myself is "Reconcilable Differences" (T, gen, ~5K words). Thank you, batdina, for beta-reading! Set early in the long hiatus between the first and second seasons, it pokes at the trope of Natalie treating a badly injured Nick by dosing him with the blood that she otherwise insists is the barrier to all his hopes. Both Nick and Natalie, of course, want Nick to both live and become human, but when something happens to make Nick believe that he can have only one or the other, he and Natalie are not necessarily in harmony on which and why and how. The story addresses the game prompt "I’m going to tell you something you don’t want to hear;" I think that it goes both ways between them. I definitely found it easier to put Nick and Natalie into this mess than to get them out again, but I like to think that I did so in the end.
Apparently our particulate pollution levels are officially unhealthy for sensitive groups, which explains not only the light brass tint to the afternoon but the rather massive asthma attack I had instead of sleeping for the entire morning. The day before, I couldn't enjoy the rain because it came with a headache so skull-crunching, I actually sort of passed out from it at a terrible hour to the rest of my schedule. I was under non-joking doctor's orders to rest up this weekend and it has not vaguely happened. I keep being light-headed, ear-ringing, unfocusable. My brain feels like a flickering commodity and I don't like worrying about false flags.
Today is mostly sunny, humid, and warm. It rained yesterday and last night.
I fed the birds. I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.
I dropped the Java moss into the trough pond. It floated. If it doesn't sink after absorbing water, I may need to find a rock to put on it.
I put out water for the birds.
EDIT 6/8/25 -- I did a bit of weeding in the septic garden and new picnic table.
EDIT 6/8/25 -- I did some work around the patio.
EDIT 6/8/25 -- I sowed cypress vine seeds around the support wire and in the septic garden. Some of the earlier ones have sprouted, but I plant extra because they often get eaten.
Short reminder: You can post unlimited works, but the total weekly regular points are 15. You don't have to use both prompts, but you can reach maximum points by using one prompt only. The lucky color can bring some extra points when following some special rules (optional!) The color is always connected with the given prompt (color 1 belongs to prompt 1 / color 2 belongs to prompt 2) You can earn extra points once for each prompt.
Color blue = write a fic in first person or create three icons with a plain blue background Color orange = write a crossover or create a graphic work based on two different fandoms Color yellow = write a 'dialogue only' ficlet or create two 'text only' graphics bigger than an icon Color white = write an poem (haiku is fine) or create two icons based on any RL character(s) Color green = Joker: you will earn five extra points for free Color red = Zonk: you won't earn any extra points for the connected prompt
If you want to participate in the team challenge (even if you didn't sign up, feel free to join as a joker at any time), go H E R E
Don't forget that you have three wildcards to swap a prompt for any from your prompt list. The lucky number remains unaffected!
Catch up Some participants have missed posting last week. They are marked with 'catch up' in the list. For this week your maximum points increase from 15 to 30. You can use each lucky color twice to earn some extra points (Joker excluded!).
Hiatus List Participants who have missed more than three weeks in a row will be moved to the hiatus list. Don't worry, this is only to keep the playlist easier to handle. You are more than welcome to jump back into the game at any time.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
m_findlow posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fan_flashworks
Calliope24 (G, gen, ~2K words): Set during the tumult of "A More Permanent Hell," a uniformed Tracy tries to serve while her father orders her off the streets, and Stonetree steps in. I found the efforts of all the characters to endure and serve the common good during this civilizational collapse powerful, and Stonetree's measured optimism -- not just about the ultimate end, but faith in people -- invigorating. I also admire the imagination and depiction of this canon bubble; of course the third-season characters lived second-season, and of course Stonetree knew Commissioner Vetter.
![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
verushka70tumblr_feed
