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Prompt: #491 - Pun

This week's prompt is pun.

Your response should be exactly 100 words long. You do not have to include the prompt in your response -- it is meant as inspiration only.

Please use the tag "prompt: #491 - pun" with your response.

Please put your drabble under a cut tag if it contains potential triggers, mature or explicit content, or spoilers for media released in the last month.

If you would like a template for the header information you may use this:

Subject: Original - Title (or) Fandom - Title

Post:
Title:
Original (or) Fandom:
Rating:
Notes:

If you are a member of AO3 there is a 100 Words Collection!

Current Mood: cold

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FIC: Cultivating a Greater Work (Star Wars: Andor, 1/1)

TITLE: Cultivating a Greater Work
FANDOM: Star Wars: Andor
RATING: PG
PAIRING: Mon Mothma & Luthen Rael
CHARACTERS: Mon Mothma, Luthen Rael, Kleya Marki
SUMMARY: Mon Mothma and Luthen Rael in the earliest days of their collaboration.

NOTES: Written for

colls for

space_swap 2026.

This story references a character and storylines from The High Republic novels, but it isn't necessary to have read those to read this story.

AO3 link

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my desk

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Apart Challenge: Babylon 5: Set Apart

Title: Set Apart
Fandom: Babylon 5
Author:

badly_knitted
Characters: Byron.
Rating: PG
Word Count: 200
Spoilers/Setting: Early season 5.
Summary: Telepaths are feared and distrusted.
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 513: Amnesty 85 at fan_flashworks, using Challenge 463: Apart.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Babylon 5, or the characters. They belong to J. Michael Straczynski.
.

( Set Apart... )

Arthur & Merlin | 3.12 “The Coming of Arthur - Part 1”

https://fy-merlinxarthur.tumblr.com/post/814497799730348032

fan-a-tink:

Arthur & Merlin | 3.12 “The Coming of Arthur - Part 1”

https://fy-merlinxarthur.tumblr.com/post/814497799730348032

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The Queen of Air and Darkness and Other Stories by Poul Anderson

How much of the universe does *science as we know it* open to us?

The Queen of Air and Darkness and Other Stories by Poul Anderson

Current Mood: annoyed

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More cowardice in politics

Public

I have really had it with the pretence among our political class that the effects of the Iran war aren't worth fronting up about. I strongly suspect most people still think petrol and diesel being expensive are the extent of what's coming down the line at us – but even if by some miracle the Strait of Hormuz opens properly tomorrow, the lag means disruption is already baked in. There is no escape route from here that keeps everything running fine without a break.

Yes, it's true that the likes of people at airlines have been talking publicly about the shortage of jet fuel we have in this country – but nowhere near loudly enough. They need to say things like "We might be cancelling your holiday flights by next month." And they need to talk not in industry journals, but in places where people actually look. The same goes for the vast areas of the economy which rely on diesel for logistics. Again, now, not after it's already a visible disaster.

But the politicians are the ones who most deserve the "cowardice" brand. They're simply pretending things are fine when anyone who scratches beneath the surface can easily find that they aren't. You don't need access to commercially confidential information to grasp that. (Though I strongly suspect leaked info from energy companies will also devastate at least some of them reputationally in the months ahead. "You knew. Why didn't you tell us?" is brutal PR as it will be seen as a cover-up, and it may come.)

Just because we're not all going to starve doesn't change the fact that the supply situation in the UK is going to get worse, and that ordinary people in huge numbers will find they can't, or at least can't afford to, do things they still currently assume that they will be able to. That's the truth, politicians. Stop pretending it isn't. Today.

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Interesting Links for 21-04-2026

1. The Types of Board Game: (tags:games boardgames funny ontology )

Current Mood: disappointed

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Gravity Challenge: Star Trek Prodigy: wallpaper: without you by my side

Title: without you by my side
Fandom: Star Trek: Prodigy
Rating:
Length:
Content notes: Planets background is from wallpaper access (artist unknown, not credited by source), Star Trek: Prodigy screencaps used are my own from Observer's Paradox, Last Flight Of The Protostar and Cracked Mirror. The text is selected lyrics from You & I by Rayne, working from Rob IYF & Meakz cover of it with the title Gravity, both versions are still hitting my J/C feels hard. Font used is SaltTruckToTheStars.
Author notes: This is my first time working in Pixelmator Pro on Mac and I'm still very much learning how to use it including any tips and tricks not included in Apple's documentation and I’m more used to working in Photoscape X.
Summary: Chakotay’s loneliness while on Ysida.

( without you by my side )

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FANFIC: wildflower (Marvel 616)

Another drabble I wrote for the snowflake challenge in 2025, this time for for

muccamukk.

Title: wildflower.
Fandom: Marvel 616.
Character/Pairing: Natalia Romanova.
Rating/Warnings: T, none.
Summary: For the prompt: "Black Widow + Flourish."
Word count: 100.

read more

-

Tasha is a girl. She dances, standing gobbly yet proud on her tippy-toes. In the stage, she opens like a fresh flower, colourful, calling attention amidst her sturdier companions.

Natalia is a child. She follows when she can swallow the commands; when she doesn’t, she’s punished. In the Red Room, she wilts, grey petals falling and being torn alike at others’ will.

The Black Widow is an agent, an Avenger, a one-woman army. In the field she blooms, she freezes, she blooms again. She flourishes, she hurts. In constant transformation, never still or static, forever changing, is where she thrives.

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!pinch hits,
2026

Assignments due in just over 4 days; existing PHs 1-2, 6, 8, new PHs 12-13

The mail carrier will arrive for pickup (assignments are due) in just over 4 days, at April 25, 11:59PM UTC (countdown)! Please drop your correspondence in the mailbox by then.

Please ensure that your work:

is posted, not saved as a draft

is for a fandom, relationship and epistolary type your recipient requested

does not contain any of your recipient's DNWs

is at least 1000 words, of which at least 500 are of the requested epistolary type

We have 4 existing pinch hits and 2 new ones:

PH 1 - Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's x2, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Metal Fight Beyblade | Beyblade Metal Saga, ベイブレードバースト | Beyblade Burst (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime 1997-2023), ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
https://autoao3app.fandom.tools/#/UnsentLetters2026/user/Audrelite

PH 2 - Minecraft: Story Mode (Video Game) x2, The Protomen x2, Bionicle (Generation 1) x2
https://autoao3app.fandom.tools/#/UnsentLetters2026/user/bluerosekatie

PH 6 - Bugsnax (Video Game), Crossover Fandom (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles / Keroro Gunsou), Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon), Keroro Gunsou (Anime)
https://autoao3app.fandom.tools/#/UnsentLetters2026/user/malachiical

PH 8 - Dune (Movies - Villeneuve), Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson, The Worst Journey in the World - Apsley Cherry-Garrard
https://autoao3app.fandom.tools/#/UnsentLetters2026/user/primeideal

PH 12 - CLAIMED
PH 13 - CLAIMED

These pinch hits are due 1 May, which is six days after the assignment due date and 24 hours before scheduled collection opening.

To claim a pinch hit, please comment on this entry (all comments are screened) or e-mail unsentlettersexchange @ gmail with your AO3 name and the pinch hit number or recipient name.

I've been made aware that at least one pinch hit claim by email never reached me, so if you write in about a pinch hit and do not receive a reply within 1-2 days, please check back again.

(no subject)

Some days, I'm so very very grateful folks stopped trying to convince me I'd want kids some day when I came out as gay. It was a constant refrain as I was growing up, that of course I'd want kids, and that sure I said I didn't now, but I'd definitely change my mind.

This, naturally, was the worst thing to say to a kid with a stubborn streak the size of Montana. When I was four, I said my favorite number was four; my brother scoffed and said it was only because I was four, and that it'd change when I was five. Well guess who has pink hair and whose favorite number is still four? When I was in middle school, my best friend went vegetarian. I went vegetarian with her in solidarity. Again, my brother said I wouldn't last a week. Well, guess who was vegetarian for ten years?

So yeah, call it spite, call it stubborn, I definitely wasn't going to have kids if everyone kept telling me I'd change my mind. It was only when they stopped and I was given room to actually think about it that I went "okay... maybe...?" And when I met my SIL's baby for the first time, I had the space to go "I get it now."

And I'm grateful for that because dang, I love these kids. CG cackling after telling a bad joke and all of us groaning. 5yo giving me a blanket when I'm lying on the couch, sick. The two of them playing so well together that I can actually have space and time without having to close myself in a back room. CG frustrated because she's already worked ahead through all the extra fraction math her teacher gave them. 5yo excitedly showing her the new dinosaur series he found in the library. The two of them geeking out over Dog Man together.

Babies were cute, but hard. Kids, though. Kids are great. I love watching them grow, watching them become more and more who they are, watching them make their own choices. So many times, I just watch them and can't help but smile.

...I wrote all that on Saturday and then on Sunday we went out to the lake and CG and I had a fantastic time flipping the kayak. ^^() Life skills, I guess? But again, her cackling as she jumped off the end of the kayak, flipping me into the water, was golden. And then working together to flip it back over again. Ugh, I love this age.

Current Mood: nervous

Entry tags:

Plans and Arts (and Some Maybe Other Things)

Was thinking that, for

3weeks4dreamwidth, I should host ficathons over at my communities. All three of them. Oop.

Under the cut, there's some art.

( Read more... )

And now for some interesting links:

Scripts from the Crypt #19: Der Januskopf (1920), Apparently a full script of Der Januskopf was found, but whoever found it has been sitting on it for months. Hoping they actually get to release it to us peasants. I shall refrain from complaining about these guys' "amazing" opinions.

How missing episodes from ‘The Daleks' Master Plan’ were found, an interview with Sue Malden, former BBC archivist.

TCM's Classic Film Festival (2026) will premiere a new restoration of Letty Lynton, the "forbidden illegal", as the hotvintagemod on Tumblr put it, Joan Crawford movie. At this point, I should just embrace I quite like her work. Johnny Guitar was the last one I saw and it was mesmerising.

Ivor Novello: A Story of the London Fog, a very short article, but Michael Williams wrote an entire book about Novello, his movies and his persona (plus him being a gay icon, which at the time was largely ignored, and without a doubt some today still make an effort to straightwash him). Good little intro and a taster.

In other news, I'm becoming obsessed with The Rat trilogy. Why do I think it's slowly becoming a commentary on Novello's fame and how the critics, erhm, critisised him for being too pretty (and not of the marrying kind)?

(no subject)

Happy birthday,

lexin!

Current Mood: disappointed

Entry tags:

books,
read26

2026/058: Hidden in Snow — Viveca Sten (translated by Marlaine Delargy)

2026/058: Hidden in Snow — Viveca Sten (translated by Marlaine Delargy)

All these fucking men, exploiting vulnerable women. [p. 386]

First in a new series of crime novels set in the Swedish town of Åre, a quiet ski resort surrounded by mountains and forest. Hanna Ahlander's life has imploded, both professionally and personally: her boss has 'sent her home to think things over' and clearly wants her gone, and her boyfriend has broken up with her -- leaving her homeless.

( Read more... )

Entry tags:

2026,
pinch hits

Consolidated IPHs & 5 New Pinch Hits

Thank you to all our volunteers! This is the list of still-open initial pinch hits, as well as five new pinch hits from swaps or defaults.

If you can claim one of these, please comment with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you want. All comments are screened.

Like main assignments, these pinch hits are due on 5 June, and they require a check-in during the week of 8-15 May.

You may ask to exchange your assignment for an open pinch hit. If you are given that pinch hit and fulfill it, this won't count as a default. Please tell me in your comment requesting a pinch hit that you are asking to swap.

( IPH 1 - Mononoke-hime | Princess Mononoke, Soul Eater (Anime & Manga), ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon, ちはやふる | Chihayafuru (Anime & Manga), 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney, Arcane: League of Legends (Cartoon 2021) )

( IPH 2 - Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Bad Batch (Cartoon), Crossover Fandom, Star Wars: Resistance (Cartoon), Star Wars Original Trilogy )

( CLAIMED - IPH 3 - Young Sherlock (TV 2026), Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse), Fallout (TV 2024), Hades (Supergiant Games Video Games), Andor (TV) )

( CLAIMED - IPH 8 - Generation Kill (TV), Justified, SAS: Rogue Heroes (TV), The Pitt (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017) )

( IPH 10 - 杀破狼 | Stars of Chaos: Sha Po Lang - priest, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), 镇魂 | Guardian (TV 2018) )

( IPH 11 - The Pitt (TV), 鬼滅の刃 | Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Anime & Manga), Crossover Fandom )

( IPH 13 - Stranger Things (TV 2016), The West Wing, 9-1-1 (TV) )

( IPH 15 - Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga), 僕だけがいない街 | Boku dake ga Inai Machi | ERASED (Anime & Manga), 炎の蜃気楼[ミラージュ] | Honoo no Mirage | Mirage of Blaze, John Wick (Movies), Sneakers (1992), The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023), Father Brown (2013), The Queen's Gambit (TV), Squid Game (TV 2021), Death Note (Movies 2006-2016) )

( IPH 18 - Gran Hotel (TV), 무빙 | Moving (TV), 설강화 | Snowdrop (TV) )

( IPH 19 - The Amazing World of Gumball, Osmosis Jones (2001), Dandy's World (Roblox), Dandy's World (Roblox), Dandy's World (Roblox), Osmosis Jones (2001), The Amazing World of Gumball, The Amazing World of Gumball )

( IPH 22 - 獅子の踊り子 | Shishi no Odoriko (Manga), Noctilucent: Before Dawn (Video Game), Tekken (Video Games), 龍が如く | Ryuu ga Gotoku | Yakuza (Video Games) )

( PH 25 - World Trigger (Anime & Manga), 京騒戯画 | Kyousougiga, Crossover Fandom, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, Horizon (Video Games) )

( PH 26 - Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Dragon Age (Video Games), Doctor Who (1963) )

( CLAIMED - PH 27 - The Queen's Thief - Megan Whalen Turner, The Queen's Gambit (TV), Original Work, Temeraire - Naomi Novik )

( PH 28 - Annihilation (2018 Garland), Crossover Fandom, Moon Knight (TV 2022) )

Entry tags:

This Rough Magic: chapters 20-22

So that's all over, bar the shouting? No! Three chapters is plenty of space for more trouble.

Lucy comes around at the opening of chapter 20 ( Read more... )

I feel that we can all agree with Phyl's assessment of Godfrey as a "stinking twerp".

Chapter 21, and there's nobody at the Castello. ( Read more... )

Chapter 22 takes the action all the way to the end. ( Read more... )

And that's the end! Thank you all for reading and commenting along. Comments are open for your thoughts on the last three chapters and/or the book as a whole.

wychwood, what are we reading next?