💯

Here are my recommendations (including the gifts I received!) for battleshipex 2024's round! I loved all my gifts and was very fortunate to receive almost 20 spanning fic, art, and podfic! There are so many fantastic works in the collection that I have and haven't checked out (mostly due to canon blindness) so please have a look at the collections! If you enjoy something, please consider giving it a kudos and leaving a comment!

My gifts are highlighted as so: GIFT

My list is in fandom alphabetical order. I didn't go as far as to list the works in chronological order via word count or ratings because I am not that dedicated and I haven't done a wrap up post in two years and actually wanted to get this out before we are all dead.

Collections: Mermaid • Volcano • Tunnel • Crystal • Main Collection


( BUFFYVERSE )

( CHALLENGERS )

( DISNEY )

( GAME OF THRONES )

( GRISHAVERSE )

( HARRY POTTER )

( HOUSE OF THE DRAGON )

( THE HUNGER GAMES )

( MCU )

( “MYSTERIOUS FOG NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT” SAYS WEATHERMAN WHO DIED 20 YEARS AGO - MARY GILLIS )

( ORIGINAL WORK )

( POKEMON )

( READY OR NOT )

( THE UNTAMED )

( WARHAMMER 40.000 )

( YELLOWJACKETS )

Letter Status: Completed as of 13-Aug AEST. ♥

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Dear fffx Creator,

Thank you for creating something for me! You can find me at buries and finnicks. I reblog a lot of stuff I like about the canons/ships I've requested, so please feel free to use my Tumblr for inspiration if you like.

In this letter, you will find an expansion on my likes (including art likes, smut likes, aus, tropes, and other random things) and dislikes (explaining a little more in detail in case you want more information on what I'd like to avoid), and some tl;dr blabbering about the canons and ships I've requested and prompts. Everything but the canon/ship blabbering and prompts are in my sign-up (although, the info in my sign-up is condensed because of character limits).

I'm open to receiving treats and I'm more than happy to receive fic or art as a gift and/or treat. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask via the mod! I will answer as quickly as I can.

Lastly, have fun creating! ♥

( tl;dr )

fandomtrees has taken root and I don't know tree metaphors well enough to make this work (despite doing a lot of work with trees in my day-to-day job which just makes this confession all the more embarrassing), but it's open! This is my second round participating, and the big theme of this year is "Let's get her to actually read" because damn, did I get a lot of book recs.

Me before Fandom Trees:



Me after Fandom Trees:



I'm super ecstatic because the books sound fantastic, I got a range of genre suggestions, and I now have no excuse to not renew my library membership and go explore my local library. :) One of my goals for this year was to read more books and try different genres, and I feel very, very encouraged to take the plunge.

My tree is here if you'd like to check out the book recs!

*

I also got a few drabbles and ficlets covering a span of fandoms, which was super amazing.

the hunger games drabble by obscure_ramblings
finnick & katniss | gen; 100 words

This really captures the adrenaline of fighting side by side. Finnick and Katniss are a well-oiled machine, and this captured their dynamic, their ability to work together so well, and their resilience so effectively within the structure of the story.

-

Hot Ass Cookie Monster by bring_me_sugar
abbott elementary | janine, gregory, ava, melissa, barbara; gen, 100 words

All you need to know is that Janine is Janine and tries to fix Gregory's dislike for the foods we all love. I could see this being an episode of the show. It just captured the spirit so well (and the last line is hilarious).

-

The Salt Road dolorosa_12
six of crows | inej/kaz; gen; 1,997 words
Five times Inej Ghafa left Ketterdam, and one time she didn't.

One of my favourite things about the Inej/Kaz relationship is their emotional intimacy, and that's captured so beautifully in the progression of Inej finding herself on the sea and returning to Kaz for safe harbour. Even after all the heists, I love that Kaz is there for Inej even when she's chosen to fulfil a mission that he was never involved in. What I also really love is that even though they're not physically intimate i.e. hand touching, kissing, etc., they are still physically intimate in the non-conventional understanding where Inej always physically returns to Kaz and Kaz always, always welcomes her back.

-

Playdates by southernmedicine
hawkeye | fanny & lucky (+yelena/kate); gen; 593 words
Just a couple of small snippets from the POV of the dogs. If Kate and Yelena are going to be getting along, it only makes sense for their furry friends to be close companions as well.

Anyone who knows me knows I love animals and this captures everything that's so special about having an animal in your life. Fanny and Lucky's perspectives are believably sharp and I really loved the language chosen to keep you situated in their POV. This was so beautiful. A big woof from me.

( originally posted here )

*

As for me, I dropped a lot of icons beneath trees, which was a lot of fun considering I hadn't been in Photoshop to make icons in many months. I really enjoyed looking up animal and scenery photos.

I also wrote my first ever fic for Fandom Trees and it was for southernmedicine! (It only makes sense to inflict this torture on a friend.)

you kept me close
hawkeye (mcu) | yelena/kate; teen; 2,900 words
Five times Yelena and Kate wore one another’s clothes.

*

Because Fandom Trees is structured very differently from the typical exchange I do (it's a fest, I suppose), a very kind nonnie on FFA compiled a list of all the gifts under categories to make it easier to view the trees. You can find that list here and the AO3 collection here!

Not everything is cross-posted to the AO3 collection. I've used the list to go around and check some things out and leave some comments, so if you see something you like, consider letting the creator know!

I've finally finished cross-posting all of my three sentence ficathon fills—and just in time for 2022 to end! If you're a poor soul who has subscribed to me, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you won't be getting any more daily notifications.

I won't be listing them all individually here because there are 39 of them (it kills me that it's not even, curse past me!) and that's too many, but you can find them all in my three sentence ficathon series. They're not sorted by fandom because that's too logical.

Stories include Kaz/Inej (Shadow and Bone + Six of Crows), Kaz & Jordie (Six of Crows), Jesper & Milo (Shadow and Bone), Alina + Darkling/Alina (Shadow and Bone), Jaskier/Yennefer + Geralt/Yennefer (The Witcher), Yelena/Kate + Yelena & Kate (Hawkeye), Bucky/Natasha + Bucky (MCU), Elena + Katherine/Elena (The Vampire Diaries), Jess/Rory (Gilmore Girls), Clark/Lois (Smallville).

Some of my favourites include:

sankta
six of crows/shadow and bone | kaz/inej; mature; 67 words
"Sankta Inej," Kaz murmurs and chuckles as she hides her face beneath the cover of her hands.

one of the crew
six of crows | kaz/inej; gen; 87 words
Inej is exasperated when Kaz refuses to act like he's a guest on The Wraith.

i hope when i die, you barely survive
six of crows | kaz & jordie; mature; 80 words
Kaz looks for Jordie in the canal.

she herself is a haunted house
the vampire diaries | elena; mature; 90 words
"I’m sorry," she whispers to the chipped and discoloured tombstones.

flirting
the witcher | jaskier/yennefer; teen; 116 words
Jaskier flirts with Yennefer through song.

grey
shadow and bone | alina; mature; 77 words
Sankta Alina reclaims what the shadows had thieved so brutally from her.

get your shit together so i can love you
six of crows | kaz/inej; teen; 101 words
She watches soundlessly as Kaz sheds all of his armour but his gloves.
—
Or: Kaz takes off his armour, except for one piece he leaves for Inej.

braiding hair
six of crows | kaz/inej; teen; 77 words
With bare hands, Kaz braids Inej's hair.

together we're lost
six of crows | kaz/inej; teen; 141 words
Kaz chooses the sea over Ketterdam.

to be loved and love at the highest count
six of crows | kaz/inej; mature; 95 words
When Inej bumps into a previous Menagerie client, Kaz comforts her before planning his revenge.

when i'm alone with you
six of crows | kaz/inej; teen; 89 words
It's in the shadows where they're able to touch.

fairytales
the witcher | jaskier/yennefer; teen; 131 words
Jaskier writes a song for Yennefer. She, of course, has some edits.

singing like a bird
six of crows | kaz/inej; teen; 131 words
Kaz confesses his love for Inej and enjoys her embarrassment.

you bear your fangs and drink me
the vampire diaries | katherine/elena; mature; 85 words
Elena's no longer afraid of the big bad vampire.

we’re slaves to any semblance of touch
six of crows | kaz/inej; mature; 183 words
Inej glides her naked fingers against the bared skin of Kaz's neck and shoulder, down the muscle of his bicep and to the crook of his elbow.
-
Or: Inej studies Kaz without his armour.

*

I might have a Kaz/Inej problem.

If you like any of them, please leave a comment if you like! Feedback is always appreciated. :)

I'm finally getting around to slowly posting a backlog of exchange fic.

I wrote a treat for the hurtcomfortex earlier this year for svgurl410.

[FIC] dancing with skeletons
marvel cinematic universe; natasha/bucky; mature; 3573
When Bucky has to pretend to be the Winter Soldier on a mission, neither he nor Natasha expect it to almost cost her life.

You can find the collection here. If you enjoy something, consider leaving kudos and a comment for the creator.

multifandomtropefest has come to a close for 2022.

I ended up pinch hitting this year:

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE

[FIC] i'm going to leave you shivering
for flipflop_diva | natasha/steve; explicit (sexual content); 5,027
While on mission to find the Winter Soldier, Steve and Natasha hide out in one of Fury’s safe houses in the middle of nowhere. When the snow settles in and their heat goes out, they have to rely on one another to keep each other warm.

I enjoyed a couple of works in the collection:

ORIGINAL WORK

[ART] Seaside Summoning by denpring
gen

This is a really beautiful artwork that has a really calm and bittersweet feel to it. I love the details and how the colour palette connects the elements.

*

BUFFYVERSE

[FIC] Scarred by RoselynnThornwood
faith/wesley; mature; 2,003
Wesley gets injured after breaking Faith out of prison, and together they heal old wounds and new.

The Faith voice in this is so good. My favourite Faith is Angel era Faith and this story captures her emotional maturity, guardedness and soft gooey centre so well. It also really sold me on Faith/Wesley. The writing, character voices, and emotional journey explored in this are excellent.

*

While the collection is on the smaller side, there's still a great assortment of fandoms and tropes. If you see/read something you like, give it kudos and consider leaving a comment so the creator knows how much you enjoyed it!

I've completed my comment_bingo just in time for the deadline! While I was hoping for a full blackout, I'm still really happy that I got reading and eye-feasting (in the case of art).

There are a lot of works that I've left comments on since the start of this challenge that I didn't include for my card. The way I approached this was reading the work(s) first and then seeing if they had a spot on the card. (The only time I viewed the card first before finding a work was for the ones with specific timestamps, which was a lot of fun!) I'm hoping to continue filling it, especially with the works that have timestamps on them.

This challenge was really great in encouraging me to leave a comment, even if the work was old or had a lot of comments already. I try to leave comments on the works I enjoy, but this gave me more incentive to ensure I did because I wanted to include it in my rec list by the end of the challenge!

I completed a diagonal line. The card is under the cut. The recs are beneath the card and outside of the cut.

( card )

Here are the works that I commented on for this challenge. I've included a little reason of why I enjoyed it in the hopes of encouraging others who like those ships to leave a comment, too.

[ FIC ] burn bright (burnout) by noun
Prompt: 3 different works from the same challenge [ fairytaleinspired ]
Fandom: avatar: the last airbender.
Characters/Pairing(s): zuko/mai.
Word Count: 1.3k
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: For the three years that it takes between Mai’s mark to appear and his, everyone has to live a polite lie.

Zuko’s name is written out in bold strokes along her forearm, plain as ink on virgin parchment. The morning it appears, around Mai’s sixth birthday, her father drops his bowl at breakfast and her mother (pregnant, again, with the son that will live three months) prays aloud at the table.

Then she is taken to her room and redressed in something with long sleeves.

I love Mai/Zuko for so many reasons and this captures Mai's love and understanding and knack for seeing Zuko as a human being.

[ FIC ] Offer Me Your Hunger by calenlily
Prompt: 3 different works from the same challenge [ fairytaleinspired ]
Fandom: fairy tales: little red riding hood.
Characters/Pairing(s): little red riding hood/the wolf.
Word Count: 805.
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: Ruby puts on tight jeans and tank top, leather boots and leather jacket, and does her makeup like she’s going to a club before heading down the forest path.

I really enjoyed the characterisation of the wolf and Ruby and the exploration of their toxic relationship. The wolf offers her freedom, and it's up to Ruby as to whether or not she takes it. It's short but packs a punch.

[ FIC ] Once Upon A Dream by Ultra
Prompt: 3 different works from the same challenge [ fairytaleinspired ]
Fandom: mcu.
Characters/Pairing(s): bucky/natasha.
Word Count: 4.1k
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: When Nat finds herself returned to life after Vormir, the battle with Thanos is over, but there's always another fight to face. Bucky's mind has, once again, become unstable, and to save him, Nat will have to go somewhere she never would've dreamed was possible…

I will always love fairytale retellings that have the women as the knights in shining armour and the men as the damsels in distress. Toss in WinterWidow, exploring Bucky's brainwashing and him using fairytales and romantic cliches and narrative tropes to try and cope with losing himself over and over and you've got yourself a real treat. This humanised Bucky in a way that reminded me of his character's potential in Captain America: The First Avenger.

[ FIC ] sing the body electric by magpiemountains
Prompt: a canon compliant work.
Fandom: enola holmes.
Characters/Pairing(s): tewkesbury/enola.
Word Count: 8.1k
Rating: mature.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: The problem with having an eidetic memory, Enola discovers, is that she can recall with perfect clarity the sounds Tewkesbury made in that thin, hazy half-dark.

This is just... perfect. Perfect voices, perfect situation, perfect chemistry. I love an Enola who is clueless and then bowled over by her realisations, especially when it comes to Tewkesbury. This captures everything I love about this relationship. I hope magpiemountains delves into this ship again because this is one of the best fics in the fandom imo!

[ FIC ] A Fresh Start by badassbutterfly1987
Prompt: a work set in an AU.
Fandom: YOU.
Characters/Pairing(s): love quinn.
Word Count: 164.
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: She loves Joe, she really does.

But that doesn't mean he's good for her.

A really fun look into an au where Love wins and Joe loses. It really captures her psyche and Love's obsessive way of loving.

[ ART ] We must unlearn the constellations to see the stars by anonymous
Prompt: a work from a challenge from 2015 [ rarepairfest ]
Fandom: justice league cartoon.
Characters/Pairing(s): shayera hol/john stewart
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: Post-battle rest.

The artwork is a feast for the eyes. I'm not even familiar with the canon, but it looks like it came straight off the tv.

[ FIC ] tale as old as time by svgurl410
Prompt: a work from another challenge [ fairytaleinspired ]
Fandom: mcu (thor).
Characters/Pairing(s): thor/sif.
Word Count: 7k
Rating: gen
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: Beauty and the Beast AU; When her dearest friend is taken captive by the Beast of Asgard, only known by name and feared by those around, Sif ventures to the castle and ends up volunteering to take his place. Initially resigned to her fate, she finds out more about the Beast and sees that there is indeed more to this provincial life.

The character voices are spot on and so true to who they are in canon. It's a really enjoyable story that has a fun rhythm to it and a great Sif voice.

[ FIC ] Pack Spring Break by Impala_Chick
Prompt: a work by someone who's given you a kudos or a comment.
Fandom: teen wolf.
Characters/Pairing(s): allison/isaac.
Word Count: 867.
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: The McCall pack goes on spring break together, and Lydia very purposefully assigns Allison and Isaac a room with only one bed.

Isaac/Allison was one of my favourite ships on Teen Wolf, and while I may not have stuck with the show, I absolutely adored them nonetheless. impala_chick captured their mature dynamic so well. I love Allison's compassion towards Isaac's previous trauma and how well these two jive together. It fondly took me down memory lane (and I may have gotten on YouTube to remind myself of why I love these two so much!).

[ FIC ] so what are you reading? by girlsarewolves
Prompt: a work from 2016.
Fandom: batman returns.
Characters/Pairing(s): bruce/selina.
Word Count: 1k.
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: Two damaged people with double lives have a (relatively) normal phone call.

I absolutely adored the way that Bruce is written. He gives Selina space and seems so satisfied with a morsel of her attention despite wanting so much more from her. The idea of these two starting a book club just for a reason to keep in touch is the best thing to walk away with.

[ FIC ] In Their Own Time by lionessvalenti
Prompt: free space.
Fandom: ready or not.
Characters/Pairing(s): daniel/grace.
Word Count: 2.1k
Rating: teen.
Warnings: see ao3 tags.
Summary: When Grace makes a deal with Mr. Le Bail to resurrect Daniel, it comes with a some stipulation.

This offers a satisfying ending to Daniel and Grace's stories, especially Daniel's. It ties Le Bail in with another deal, but in doing so, the author allows Grace to do so on her own terms. I really loved that this fic explored consent, especially for Daniel, and ends on a hopeful note that implies the tides are turning for them both.

Dear fffx creator,

I'm buries and finnicks.

I've written this letter to give you tl;dr level of detail regarding my likes, dislikes, and prompts. I've included prompts to help you have an idea of what I like, but please take what you like from this and don't feel like you have to take my prompts at face value. As long as it doesn't hit a DNW, I'm going to enjoy it!

If you find one section smaller than the others, please don't think I want it any less! Sometimes, I have a lot to say, and other times I (thankfully) say it concisely. Some of the sections have been built over time (particularly with prompts).

My prompts are in no particular order and the canons have been categorised via their mediums and alphabetised. I have opted into every additional tag (fanart and fanfic) and have provided prompts for both.

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them via the mods. I welcome treats (art and/or fic). :)

Thank you for creating for me! ♥

( tl;dr )