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SVSSS: the future is a foreign country by marquisguyun

Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu
Rating: T
Length: 3,248
Creator Links:

marquisguyun
Theme: Amnesty, Character Development, Domestic, Happy Endings, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel

Summary: Luo Binghe had suffered through numerous life-changing revelations since waking up on the floor of the woodshed. First he had thought he was dead and a ghost, then he'd been informed he was in the future, then they'd tried to tell him that he was a demon. But still, the most unbelievable thing this strange future version of his shijie had tried to convince him of was that he was married to their shizun.

Reccer's Notes: This was written for the prompt 'Time Travel - Character discovers future self is apparently happy in the MOST unlikely relationship', and truly I cannot think of a better canon ship for that than this pair 😄 This is so sweet, and baby Binghe's POV is so perfectly young and hurt and yearning and protective-instincts-inciting...! And then the canon couple themselves are just so very sweet and perfect... <33 Such love!!!

Fanwork Links: the future is a foreign country

Current Mood: jubilant
Current Location: Bamberg

Entry tags:

yuletide

Yuletide!

What a great thing to wake up to in my part of the world - the Yuletide archive is open! (Usually here in Germany it's noon before that happens.) Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, and peaceful holidays for everyone. I will do my annual pic spam later, but for now, here are the two lovely Foundation stories I got, both Demerzel-centric, the former from her pov, the second from Cleon XXIV's - last season's Day, in other words - , and both superb in their characterisations.

Remembrance (3416 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Foundation (TV 2021)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Characters: Demerzel (Foundation TV 2021), Hari Seldon, Cleon XXIV
Additional Tags: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, mix of book and tv series canon
Summary:

Demerzel wanted to scream back at him, to explain how this was all his fault, Cleon the First damning them all to this nightmare fate that none of them could escape.

But she said nothing, and walked away. Like she always did.

standard deviation (4805 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Foundation (TV 2021)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cleon XXIV & Demerzel (Foundation TV 2021)
Characters: Cleon XXIV (Foundation TV 2021), Demerzel (Foundation TV 2021)
Additional Tags: Character Study, Artificial Intelligence, Complicated Relationships, Mother-Son Relationship, Loyalty, Yuletide 2025, Yuletide Treat
Summary:

He can’t get a rise out of her, and can never push hard enough that she pushes back. Human mothers eventually raise their voices, yell back, get upset. You can fling hurtful words at a human mother. But as far as he can tell, it never lands with Demerzel; there’s no heart there to twist the knife into.

(Relationship study for what slowly went wrong between Cleon XXIV and Demerzel. Spoilers for all of season 3.)

Entry tags:

meme,
nora

hope you have a Christmas, and a very New Year

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Raid

Posted by David M Willis

https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-16/02-im-the-problem-its-me/raid-3/

https://www.dumbingofage.com/?p=20878

https://www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/book-16/02-im-the-problem-its-me/raid-3/

https://www.dumbingofage.com/?p=20878

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: nothing now

The joy of not setting an alarm.

This hasn't been a week of tremendous productivity. I haven't minded. I finished a couple of fics and went back to editing an original work, I've been going to the gym, and I've done a fair bit of cooking - following recipes closely, modifying recipes slightly, sweeping the kitchen to follow a basic template. It's one of those weeks the world shrinks down somewhat, but given what's out there, I don't mind staying within narrow confines. Come Friday, I can go outside without much worry, but for tonight and tomorrow, I'd rather avoid what I can.

It's true I'll need to head out to buy flour, and it's also true there's a grocery store in my neighborhood that doesn't play music. As such, I'll happily give them my business throughout the year, and especially during December.

Entry tags:

yuletide

Yuletide 2025 gift

Happy Yuletide! I got an excellent Impromptu fic from my Mystery Writer!

la femme comme il (en) faut (3283 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Impromptu (1991), 19th Century CE RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: George Sand (1804-1876), Franz Liszt, Eugène Delacroix, Duchess Claudette d’Antan, Pauline Viardot, Gustav Courbet
Additional Tags: french romantic era, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary:

“That Duchess, what’s her name, is at your door,” remarked Liszt, looking down into the street. It was a nasty, windy November afternoon, with rubbish scudding down the avenues and rain threatening in the east, terrible for making calls. “The one with a thing for artists.”

“Oh, balls,” George said, and threw down her hookah pipe.

A story about hanging out with artists, highly recommended for anyone who likes hanging out with artists. Thank you so much, mystery writer!

And I wrote one story this year. I will make my usual offer of a drabble to anyone who guesses it before reveals, but this is basically me offering a drabble to everyone, because boy howdy is it obvious which story is mine.

Deep Loathing Resentment

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The Eliopoulos Elves 2025 , 2 – DORK TOWER 24.12.25

Posted by John Kovalic

https://www.dorktower.com/2025/12/24/19848/

https://dorktower.kovalic.com/?p=19848

HEY! Want to help keep DORK TOWER going? Then consider joining the DORK TOWER Patreon and ENLIST IN THE ARMY OF DORKNESS TODAY! (We have COOKIES!) (And SWAG!) (And GRATITUDE!)

https://www.dorktower.com/2025/12/24/19848/

https://dorktower.kovalic.com/?p=19848

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Five Things on Xmas Eve

1. Work load at dayjob has been low this week; we got out at noon yesterday, and today I can log off at 12:30 pm. We are then off through January 2 for winter break (yay, academia). I had a couple of small things I was able to resolve this morning, go me!

2. I did not send out Xmas cards this year, but I appreciate every one I received. I hope to be back to it next year.

3. I am thawing out a chuck roast to cook later this week, probably Friday. My tamarind-sauce-flavored vegetable soup from Sunday, which includes silken tofu, grape tomatoes, carrot, potato, and green beans, is very delicious, especially with a couple tablespoons of congee dumped in. Last night, I finished off my bag of post-surgery chicken nuggets and baked sliced golden potatoes at 425 degrees F with olive oil and salt.

4. I have been listening to a ton of Xmas music, so at least I am somewhat in the holiday spirit. I did not have energy to pull out my ornament tree and dress it up, but we have a smaller one downstairs so I moved it from the corner onto the dining room table--the ornaments were still on it from last year! We have some cards propped around the base, and I have more on the little desk in the guest room. I didn't use my usual space in the back room because it would block my DVD screen, which I need for the Blake's 7 watchalong and possibly even some Shakespeare.

5. I have tentative plans for Xmas afternoon with local friends. I want to get started on my fancy wooden turtle puzzle (which I have had for several years), and also to do some mending of clothing. I especially want to try needle-felting a hole in a very old black cashmere cardigan (commercially knitted); I was wearing it when I broke my elbow years ago, so couldn't wash it for weeks, and it got a moth hole under one arm before I was healed up. I am not sure if the hole is too big for felting. We shall see. I have washed it after its long storage!

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Rec-cember Day 20: Heated Rivalry

I already recced my fave Heated Rivalry fic on Day 5 when I focused on hockey romance more broadly, but since Heated Rivalry has taken over fandom by storm, I thought some more recs would go down well. Everything is Shane/Ilya because duh. Also, they were written before the show, but since the show is such a faithful adaptation of the book, it shouldn't be a problem.

Ilya Rozanov Gets Railed by GlitterCity 13K

“You didn’t like it the last time we tried it,” Shane said.

Ilya gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Was years ago. Maybe it is an acquired taste, like licorice.”

“You also don’t like licorice,” Shane pointed out.

“Yes, but I keep trying it because Luca likes it so much.”

“And then you make a face and tell him how awful it is.”

“When have I ever told you your dick is awful?” Ilya said, looking mildly offended. “I am its number one fan.” I kinda dislike the title because while there's of course quite a lot of smut in this, what makes this story is the amazing characterisation and the fantastic banter (see the quote). Podfic available!

you'd rather die than take your eyes off me by princebutt. 6K, Ilya is in a car accident. Shane hurries to be by his side, and outs them in the process. Set during the year Ilya is playing for Boston. AU.

there's no pretending by moonsock. 13 K. The term, he’s told, is temporary retrograde amnesia. Ilya doesn’t need the direct translation to understand: he forgot things. Ten years of things.

The Pitt

singing in unison by dotsayers. AU. Gen. Leah's sick the night before Pittfest. Robby gets his ticket back. I love a good ensemble piece. And an AU. Two of my fave things rolled in one.

Current Mood: cranky
Current Location: the living room of the Devil Girl House
Current Music: Grandaddy, "Allan Parsons In a Winter Wonderland"

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weeknight sneakout failure

I went to the Blue Moon for some house music and got mid-20th century Christmas music & jazz instead. Yes, I like jazz and yes, Brit was running things, and yes, the local house heads started to show up shortly before I left around 2000. And why would I leave so early?

Because I got paged for work. I'm on call into the new year. I did manage to get home in half an hour, handle the stupid* situation, do stuff that I hope will make a recurrence less likely, and go to bed late.

Mayunn, I feel like I deserve a Christmas break at this point.

Oh: I stopped by Scarecrow Video for the first time in over fifteen years to rent "Sinners" on DVD. I now have an account there under my current name. What took me so long?

*Stupid because our service uses an vintage 2010 open source queueing system that sometimes makes jobs just disappear. Or get stuck. The fix has so far taken nine calendar months of one or two developers' efforts on average. The worst of it should get fixed early next month, and the whole thing should be done by spring. Le sigh.

Entry tags:

brian,
money

Payment Overdue

Invoice still has not been paid.

Client has responded to my tactful emails by saying (a) accountant has received the invoice and (b) things are slow due to the holiday season and most of the staff are off.

Do I believe them?

No.

I think they are having cash flow issues.

I am trying not to see this as a referendum on my worth as a human being on Planet Earth, but I gotta say it's difficult: Their cash flow situation has now become my cash flow situation! The interconnectness of all human beings is not always a blessing (cf. bubonic plague & corona virus epidemics.)

Resilience! I counsel myself. 80% to 90% of all freelance invoices get paid—eventually. (I made that number up.)

Resilience is a hard sell, though. I've always had such a hard time with uncertainty that often, I find myself sabotaging situations because a negative outcome feels better than an uncertain outcome.

It's a good thing I took that tax position with Soul-Sucking Company.

I was hoping it was going to supplement my freelance income, but this morning I am thinking it will have to replace my freelance income: Assuming the invoice does get paid (which is still the most likely outcome), I don't think I can deal with the post-invoicing anxiety anymore. When I lived in Dutchess County, my living expenses were a lot lower, and I had a small savings account that gave me some peace of mind in situations like this. Now, I don't.

###

Anyway, I must figure out a way to offset the anxiety because I have about 500 pages of the U.S. tax code to memorize—well nigh Talmudic in its abstruseness—& then I will be toddling off to the gym, and thence, to NYC for Flushing Chinese and Hamnet with Flavia & Betsy. Chinese food & movies are the traditional Jewish Xmas celebration.

I really, really miss Brian. He is the one person I could talk to about this. He would enfold me in his warm and magnetic personality and give me wise counsel. Instead I am writing it here & picturing invisible people shaking their heads: Gawd! She's such a trainwreck.

Girl Genius for Wednesday, December 24, 2025

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251224

The Girl Genius comic for Wednesday, December 24, 2025 has been posted.

http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20251224

Current Mood: impressed
Current Location: Bamberg

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Pluribus 1.09 (Season Finale)

In which Buffy Summers already knew that the hardest thing in this world is how to live in it, Carol.

( Spoilers have to choose between the girl and the world )

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games

So, 1000xResist

I was too tired to have the focus for Dark Souls-ing in the last few days, so binge-played 1000xResist and now I feel like I'm been punched in the head.

Basically a walking simulator/visual novel, so don't go expecting complex gameplay, but HOLY FUCK.

For all of you looking for fiction with fucked-up complicated women who are somewhere on a spectrum from "morally grey" to "evil but sympathetic" (with the odd dip into "idealistic but destructive") having fucked-up dynamics with other fucked-up complicated women: 1000xResist has SO MANY of them. It has almost no characters who don't fit that archetype, in fact.

(I considered whether it passes the reverse-Bechdel test -- i.e. two male characters have a conversation that's not about a woman -- and I think it may juuust scrape past in a 5-second exchange in one of the flashbacks, but barely. There are very very few men in this story, for plot-related reasons.)

Watch on YouTube

I found out afterwards that the development team were a devised theatre group who decided to start making a game when everything was shut down during the pandemic, and somehow this fully checks out (complimentary).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1675830/1000xRESIST/ (you can even pick it up in a bundle with Slay The Princess for bonus visual novel headfuck)

Do note the content notes from the devs: Photosensitivity Warning: Flashing Lights, Cursing and Crude Language, Generational Trauma, Acts of Violence and Terrorism, Disease Outbreak, Mention of Suicide, Mention of Animal Cruelty/Pet Death, Blood, Body Horror, Emotional Abuse, Bullying, Dead Bodies, Vomit, Drowning, Fire, Gore, Needles, Racism and General Mature Content.

(I would also add a specific note for torture, and for fucked-up mother-daughter and sister-sister relationships, that being one of the core elements of the game, along with the aforementioned generational trauma.)