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UC-X-Men Prompt Meme: First Date

First Date (400 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Marvels [2023]
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hank McCoy/Maria Rambeau
Characters: Henry "Hank" McCoy | Beast, Maria Rambeau
Additional Tags: Drabble Sequence
Summary:

First Dates can be interesting.

First Date

Maria had spent time touching up her nails, dithering over which outfit to wear, deciding on the shoes that looked best with it.

Hank, for his part, had done all he could to tidy his appearance, currently stuck in 'blue', 'furry', and 'large', but he knew those factors didn't matter to her.

He showed up promptly — actually early but didn't approach the house right away — and rang the doorbell. She answered it, her smile lighting her eyes in a way that made Hank feel almost normal again.

"Shall we?" he invited, pointing to his car.

An explosion answered for her.

After dealing with the alien being chased by space cops — not Carol's set, thankfully — Binary and Beast sat up on a rooftop, drinks cups and to-go containers of food between them.

"For a date, it was a little rocky," she offered, smiling despite the bruise darkening her face.

"I promise you, I can do better," he replied, self-consciously smoothing singed fur on his arm.

She reached out and covered his hand. "Why don't you take me back to your place, and we'll see about the aftercare first?" Maria invited, and Hank had to suck in a deep breath of anticipation.

Treating each other's scrapes had led to their clothes being discarded, leading to a brazen challenge to see if they fit as well in a bed as they did in combat.

Hank was never going to feel anything short of awe for how easily Maria accepted his mutated appearance. He could only gasp and keep his hands on her lightly as she touched, petted, and kissed him. He laid back and let her have control… until she turned the tables, bringing his hand to her breast.

The half-slitted eyes gazing down as he touched her wrecked him, making her purr.

Maria could get used to the feel of Hank's body under her, the strength and dexterity he used in a fight leashed to their mutual desires. She might even welcome waking up with him… but she wasn't going to rush things. She knew he was struggling at times with who — what — he was.

She had experience managing that, and was still growing accustomed to her powers.

Now, resting in what was hopefully a brief respite, she ran a finger along his cheek fur, making him shift into the touch.

"Next date, fewer aliens."

He chuckled, and then saw to kissing her.

Written for uc_xmen drabble-a-thon/prompt meme on Dreamwidth, prompt: MCU - Hank McCoy/Maria Rambeau - (any), it was supposed to be date night

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rl: internet

Heads Up!

sylph_and_asp is members-locked access now. Just. I've got a lot of political posts over there from previous years, plus, as good as dreamwidth does try to protect us from crawlers, I feel better locking my writing down.

Current Mood: drained

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real life: d&d

Post-D&D Crash

Welp. The last few days were certainly exhausting.

Don't get me wrong, the long weekend of D&D was a ton of fun, and I'm very glad that we managed to pull it off. That said, it was extremely draining on me even after I spent as much time as possible prior to it trying to charge my internal batteries. By the time we ended yesterday afternoon, my spoons were long gone.

Since I had to get up early to catch the bus to E&Z's place (which was on the weekend schedule the entire time since Friday was a holiday) and then it was usually 1am or so before I made home at night, I didn't get nearly enough sleep pretty much the entire time. Especially since I record summary videos for this game, so I had to get that done at night before I could go to bed.

I ended up taking a nap after I made it home yesterday, and the only thing preventing me from doing so tonight is that I know it will be better to push through and go to bed early instead. If I nap now, I'll be up half the night.

And then work today made things even more fun, but that's a story for another post. 🙃

ETA: Or, you know, I could decide take a nap after all because it hit 7:30pm, and my brain had completely stopped functioning. I'm still tired, so hopefully I'll be able to fall asleep at a decent hour despite the nap.

Current Music: Chappel Roan - Casual

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No One Was More Surprised Than Me

So I’m hideously behind on my writing target for the year - even by the standard I was working to last year of having written more at the end of each month than I had the previous year I’m behind - so when I saw that

nafs was hosting write every day this month I decided that was probably exactly what I needed. And apparently I was correct? Most days I’ve only written a couple of hundred words but it’s adding up and in some cases it turned out that actually that half written draft article/post I had lurking actually only needed 240 words in the right places to be finished. Very satisfying.

And uh, on Friday I opened my prompt file and stuck its associated playlists on and umm, wrote like 600 words of a fic. I’ve been picking away at it over the weekend and, while it’s not my best work I don’t think it’s terrible. (One of my re-watches the other month was Ocean’s Eight and apparently I had a bunch of Daphne Kluger feelings lurking. The original prompt for this fic was Casual by Chappel Roan but it kinda drifted.) So yeah, first finished fic in almost exactly two years, go me.

Someone You Couldn’t Lose (1341 words) by Glinda
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Ocean's 8 (2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Daphne Kluger/Lou Miller, Daphne Kluger/Debbie Ocean, Daphne Kluger/Lou Miller/Debbie Ocean
Characters: Daphne Kluger, Lou Miller (Ocean's), Debbie Ocean
Additional Tags: Friendship, Friends With Benefits, Planning Adventures, Less casual than anyone wants to admit, Thirty-something problems
Summary:

The thing no one tells you, is that it’s kinda hard to make new friends in your 30s. (Daphne Kluger would far rather plan a heist.)

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Now Collected in One Post

Unwanteds (41367 words) by Sharpest_Asp
Chapters: 30/30
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Original Universe, Superheroes, Post-Apocalypse, Rebuilding, Asexual Character(s), Queer Relationships, Magic-Users, Future Technology, Age Difference
Summary:

In the aftermath of the Collapse, life finds new ways, making new paths, and there are heroes rising from the ashes --

-- just as villains remain to tear it all down again.

Content Notes: Fascism as history and antagonist, liberty with cultural mythology, comic-book level violence

Author's Note: This universe has been built from the ground up with many influences of pop culture and history. It was began in 2005. I posted the last main part of the story in 2023. There is a prequel and sequel both forming in my plans for the future. When I began crafting it... we were not so far down the fascism slide in real life. I very nearly did not touch it again after 2016. Ultimately though, I needed to let the good guys win.

On Dreamwidth, must join comm (Click and scroll to the bottom for the beginning. SqWA account needed to read it in chaptered format at link above)

Current Mood: accomplished

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d&d: aurendor

Aurendor D&D: Summary for 7/6 Game

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

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Our Problems Will Still Be There In The Morning.

I've finished Clair Obscur: Expedition 33!

( Spoilers up to the end of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. )

Overall verdict: what a game! The concept is interesting, the scenery is gorgeous, the battle system is fun and the soundtrack is absolutely extraordinary. I don't think it's a perfect game, but I think it comes very close.

Current Mood: tired

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d&d: aurendor

Aurendor D&D: Summary for 7/5 Game (Evening Session)

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up tomorrow.

Current Mood: accomplished

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d&d: aurendor

Aurendor D&D: Summary for 7/5 Game (Afternoon Session)

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up later tonight.

Current Mood: drained

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d&d: aurendor

Aurendor D&D: Summary for 7/4 Game (Evening Session)

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up tomorrow.

Current Mood: cheerful

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d&d: aurendor

Aurendor D&D: Summary for 7/4 Game (Afternoon Session)

In this afternoon's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up later tonight.

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Fanfiction: who you are and what you want (Deltarune, Kris/Noelle)

whooooo wants DISTRESSING SNOWGRAVE FANFICTION

For the moment, this fic is exclusively available on my blog! I'm holding off on posting this to AO3 until tomorrow, because a) AO3 is currently sorting out some bookmarking issues, and b) I suspect Americans are going to be Fourth of Julying instead of reading fanfiction. Consider this a sneak preview!

Title: who you are and what you want
Fandom: Deltarune
Rating: 14
Pairing: Kris/Noelle
Wordcount: 1,400
Summary: The soul can't take any action that hasn't crossed Kris's mind, apparently. So why does it keep treating Noelle like this?
Warnings: Spoilers for the Snowgrave route in Deltarune, up to chapter four. Intrusive thoughts. Deals heavily with consent issues, although there's no sexual contact in this fic.

( who you are and what you want )

Current Music: Last Summer Effect - Leaves

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June Album Choice

June’s album is Last Summer Effect by Last Summer Effect. This album feels a bit like a cheat, but it is an album that came out last month, and I did have it on heavy rotation for the rest of the month because I liked it. The reason it feels like a cheat is that one of our freelancer’s at work is a sound engineer and worked on it, and the reason I even heard this album is that he dropped the Spotify link in our team group chat the day it came out with a plea to share it about/give it a listen. (By his own admittance they were the band he was in at eighteen, so he might even be playing on it too.) So I stuck it on in the background while making brunch after a night in the pub, to do a colleague a solid on the stats front and ended up really liking the vibe.

It’s kinda…It’s kind of an emo album I think. A bit Hundred Reasons I think, all crunchy guitars and soulful emoting singing. It’s not really my taste in music any more, but twenty years ago it would have been absolutely my jam and I’d have loved this album. (This album came out last month, but the only reason it couldn’t have come out twenty years ago is that the band would have barely been in double digits at that point, but my point stands, it should have come out on Chemical Underground some time between 2005 and 2009 - which is not far off given that the band were officially together between 2010 and 2013!) It feels like stumbling across an album released by a tiny band I saw at a gig when I was twenty, that I saw twice, followed on MySpace and bought a hand-burned EP off the band at the back of the gig. If one of those bands had miraculously got hold of some decent production values, the harmonies and production are pretty lush - Steve does know what he’s about. It sounds like sunny hungover mornings in friends flats after gigs, or big nights out. (The smell of stale sweat, flat beer and other people’s dead cigarettes hanging in the air.) I’m really not sure if there’s actually a market for this that isn’t millennial nostalgia, I probably wouldn’t have listened to it if they weren’t friends of friends, but that could go for a great number of bands I listened to from that actual period of time too. I keep putting it on to listen to while I do other things so nostalgia or not, so clearly present day me rather likes it too.

Current Mood: hopeful

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ficathon: black emporium

Dear Black Emporium Creator,

First of all, relax! I'm far from being picky, and I can pretty much guarantee that I'll love whatever you decide to create for me. These are nothing but guidelines, for you to take to heart or ignore to your heart's content. Also, hey! You're writing me fic or drawing me art! That's automatically a good reason for me to love you, no matter what. So, please, keep that in mind. Trust me, you can pretty much do no wrong.

( More details under the cut. )

Rebuilding journal search again

We're having to rebuild the search server again (previously, previously). It will take a few days to reindex all the content.

Meanwhile search services should be running, but probably returning no results or incomplete results for most queries.

Current Mood: cheerful
Current Music: This Is The Kit - This is What You Did

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Dust if you must, but the world’s out there…

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Current Mood: accomplished

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d&d: pyra cantha

Pyra Cantha D&D: Summary for 6/27 Game

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off.

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Fanfiction: Communication (Deltarune)

Please let us talk to Kris, Deltarune. It's all I want.

It's very weird to write a fic in which one of the central characters is the player of the game! Obviously it's not possible to write a representation that reflects every player, so how do you approach it?

I've ended up writing someone who's not quite me, but who played the game in a similar way and holds similar attitudes towards it. Hopefully it'll ring reasonably true for other players, or at least not outright ring false. (With the possible exception of the part where I push my 'Kris has an unrequited crush on Noelle' agenda, because I could not resist.)

Title: Communication
Fandom: Deltarune
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 2,000
Summary: Kris has a conversation with the soul.
Warnings: Alludes to events and revelations from chapter four of Deltarune.

( Communication )

Current Mood: sleepy

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d&d: aurendor

Aurendor D&D: Summary for 6/25 Game

In tonight's game, ( the rest under a cut for those who don't care. )

And that's where we left off and will be picking up next week for our in-person weekend.

Current Mood: hopeful

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On the fannish front...

Okay, I just have two more days of work to get through, and then I have an entire week off. Nine whole days. The first five of which will hopefully be spent not leaving the hotel if I can manage it, because I desperately need to recharge. I'm even going to try to wash clothes either tomorrow or Friday so that I won't have to leave my suite unless there's an emergency of some type. A complete removal from all human interaction will do me so much good.

I'm hoping to set aside at least a few days to curl up and properly lose myself in video games, probably Baldur's Gate 3 or Dragon Age: The Veilguard although I might try something new. Or maybe something old, like a new Mass Effect playthrough. There are a lots of options. Whatever I go with, I keep saying that I'm going to play video games on the weekend, and then I don't manage it, so I'm really going to try during this break.

I also want to attempt to do some fic writing just for myself. I've had a bad habit of only writing for exchanges lately, but I have a ton of WIPs so it would be nice if I could set aside at least a few hours here and there during the break to work on getting back in the writing habit.

My Wednesday night D&D group is going to be getting together in person to play next weekend. Everyone's flying in on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning, and then we're going to jump in around lunchtime on Friday as soon as the last person arrives. Then plan is that we're going to play pretty much the rest of the day on Friday, all day Saturday, and until mid-afternoon on Sunday.