Reading

The Friday Five for 25 July 2025

This week's questions were suggested by

stauros.

What is...

1. one place you volunteer (or would like to)? Why?

2. one book you'd like to see made into a movie? Why?

3. one creature (living, extinct, or mythical) you'd like for a pet? Why?

4. one place on Earth you'd like to visit? Why?

5. one talent or skill you'd like to develop? Why?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!

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Hero Complex [Renji+Byakuya; PG]

Title: Hero Complex
Fandom/Pairing: Bleach - Renji + Byakuya
Summary: Sometimes Renji rushes into things a little carelessly...
Rating: PG
Content: Injury
Disclaimer: The world and characters of Bleach are not mine, they all belong to Kubo Tite. I just play with them, using them as paper dolls. No people, either real or fictional were hurt in the writing of this story.
Notes: 350+ words. Written for the prompt protection. Many thanks to

zabimitsuki for beta-reading this for me! :)

Read it here: DW | AO3

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Personal + Fandom Update, July 24, 2025

Playing: Wish I could say anything more than Uma Musume but... it's Uma Musume. It's so much fun, I love raising my girls and getting them to be the best they can be! The designs are so cute, and the universe they've made is ridiculous and sweet in the best of ways. I've hit a wall with raising Symboli Rudolf though - I'm getting RNG screwed to a comical degree which makes it hard to keep raising her, but there's no way to cancel a career when it's tanking badly from what I can tell.

Reading: I finished The Children's Blizzard the other day - deeply harrowing and enlightening. Learned just as much about weather pattern formation as I did history and how to avoid dying in blizzards that go below 50 degrees F! Still working my way through Winter of Ice and Iron but think I might drop that - the rest of the house is getting into Mistborn and I don't want to be left behind, haha.

Watching: Hubby bought a year's subscription to DropoutTV so we've been watching that now that we've finished Season 6 of Dr. Who. It's hilarious, 10/10, best 50 bucks you'll spend. also sam reich is cute.

Listening: Mostly listening to music lately, but I am almost done with the Zer0es audiobook. I would have dropped this if it was a physical book, but the narrator does such a phenomenal job reading these lines, even the cheesy or very-male-author-y ones!

Writing: I wrote 2k of my IddyBang project, then... promptly ignored it. Oops. Need to go back and do some more writing. Maybe writing The Scene will inspire me more? I'm a bit stuck on how to get Takumi and Francis from awkwardly flirting with each other in an ice cream parlor to running for their lives from monsters. Maybe one of the monsters will come crashing through the window.

( Personal stuff (religion mentions) )

Gotta dash and continue doing all the things! Hope you guys are having a fantastic week and you've got something fun planned for the weekend!

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Pet Toy [Kau/Akira; R]

Title: Pet Toy
Fandom/Pairing: Togainu no Chi - Kau/Akira
Summary: Arbitro enjoys drugging his guests, and Akira is no exception...
Rating: R
Content: Canon-compliant awfulness, loss of consciousness, non-con, hurt/comfort...
Disclaimer: Togainu no Chi and all the characters in it are owned by Nitro+CHiRAL. I'm only borrowing them. No disrespect intended and I'm not earning any money from writing this. No people, either real or fictional, were hurt in the writing of this story.
Notes: 300+ words. Written for the prompt unconsciousness. It's a little something I wrote during a drabbling session on my birthday together with my friend. Many thanks to

zabimitsuki for beta-reading this for me! :)

Read it here: DW | AO3

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SGA: Long Ago (and Far Away) by Kristen999

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: Genfic. John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Evan Lorne, Ronon Dex, Carson Beckett, Teyla Emmagan, Original characters
Rating: Teen
Length: 79,623
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply. Grim at times, as it depicts an aspect of WWII.
Creator Links: kristen999 on AO3, everybetty on LJ
Themes: Working together, Action/adventure, Teamwork, Friendship, Genfic, AU: historical, Novel-length

Summary: WWII-based AU. The Team as we know it has been transplanted to the South Pacific.

Reccer's Notes:
This tour de force is a novel-length story by

kristen999, assisted by everybetty, an historical AU set in Papua-New Guinea, in WWII. It's pretty male-centric because of that, but does include Teyla as a local liaison with intel about the enemy. It's got lots of plot, great action and adventure, and an excellent sense of place - you can almost feel the tropical heat making you sweat and hear the mosquitoes whine. The story is illustrated throughout with lots of period photos from the time. It's told from all of the team's POVs, particularly John's (he's a pilot, of course, with Rodney and Ronon on his flight crew). Naturally, John gets thoroughly whumped, in the best genfic tradition. There's tons of atmosphere, friendship and teamwork, and it's a really great read.

Fanwork Links: Long Ago (and Far Away)

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Fake (Challenge # 459 - going to pot) Passion Flower 4

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marvel

misc. icons

stock (birds, flowers), rings of power, thunderbolts*
50 icons HERE @

sousaphone

Current Mood: tired

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A cock and bull story

Public

Cock and Bull mural, Stourbridge, 23rd July 2025

173/365: Cock & Bull mural, Stourbridge
Click for a larger, sharper image
Another of those days where there really isn't a whole lot for me to talk about. I was in Stourbridge, and anyone who knows that town will know that you have to work fairly hard to find interesting things there. Even those that do exist, such as the Glass Museum, tend not to be in the town centre. However, this mural is -- in fact, it's in the High Street itself. It's on the side of the Cock & Bull pub, appropriately enough. I see some of the mural fairly often, but there are delivery vans and the like parked in front of it so often that it's actually relatively rare to be able to see the whole thing like this! The piece is by Midlands street artist Title, and it certainly brightens up a slightly drab part of Stourbridge.

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LoZ - TotK: When It All Goes To Pot... well, you know [Challenge #459: Going to Pot]

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[fest] 37

SFFest37: Fest Nearing An End!

I can't believe it's almost the end of July already! There’s just over a week left to get your fanwork submission or pimp posted this round! (Or make another claim. *g*) Good luck!

Current Mood: hopeful

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The Future Seems Far, but I'm Looking Ahead Anyways

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One More Week To Sign-Up For VOXTEK Gift Baskets!

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Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Waterfalls Coming Out Your Mouth - Glass Animals

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pokémon presents thoughts & z-a musings

So, about that Pokémon Presents, huh..!!!

There's a lot I want to talk about, although I also don't want to get too scattered, so I'll do my best to keep to a few key points. I also have some fanart I made to share, as an ending note, so you can also skip directly to that if you don't care about all the silly thoughts rattling inside my brain.

Onward!

( Z-A News & Impressions )

( The Search for Pokémon Z )

( (New) Apprehensions & Fears )

( Closing Words (+ Art!) )

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Thick As Pleasure [Saga/Jack; PG-13]

Title: Thick As Pleasure
Fandom/Pairing: Visual Prison - Saga/Jack
Summary: The ritual of blood drinking between vampires is one of Jack's favourites...
Rating: PG
Content: Vampires, blood drinking, blood play, age difference
Disclaimer: The characters and world of Visual Prison belongs to A-1 Pictures studio. I'm just borrowing them for some transformative fiction for my own pleasure. No people, either real or fictional, were hurt in the writing of this story.
Notes: 200+ words. Written for the prompt blood loss. It's a little something I wrote during a drabbling session on my birthday. Many thanks to

zabimitsuki for hanging out with me and beta-reading this for me! :)

Read it here: DW | AO3

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beverages

Peach Wine

Peach Wine
Serves: 4 Prep Time: 20 Min

Ingredients

3 ripe peaches, or 15 ounce can of peaches
1 bottle pinot grigio
1 bottle peach sparkling wine
1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions Step-By-Step

1 Place peaches in blender. If using whole peaches remove pit, but leave skin on.
2 Pour in wine and blend until smooth. Can store up to this point overnight in the refrigerator.
3 To serve fill glass with ice. Fill about 2/3 full with wine mixture. Top off with sparkling wine. Squeeze lime wedge and serve.

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fanfic, The Green Hornet (2011), Britt/Kato, Britt decides to teach Kato how to swim

Title: swimmingly
Author: misura
Fandom: The Green Hornet (2011)
Pairing/Characters: Britt Reid/Kato
Rating/Category: PG13/slash
Prompt: Britt feels regret and decides to teach Kato how to swim.
Spoilers: most of the movie
Summary: Britt gets the genius idea of teaching Kato how to swim.
Notes/Warnings: posted to the AO3

Current Mood: blah

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Mild grumbling

Public

Jubilation sculpture, Jubilee Gardens, Bewdley, 22nd July 2025

172/365: Jubilation, Jubilee Gardens, Bewdley
Click for a larger, sharper image
Other than everyday boring things, all I really did today was to go for a couple of walks in town. Irritatingly, it rained just enough to be annoying, and when I took shelter in a coffee shop I discovered -- after paying, when it was too late -- that the seating area contained both a group of middle-aged women fairly loudly discussing their liver biopsies and the like, and a cheerful young family whose kids could not keep still for more than about 20 seconds. It really was not that restful, and as I'd already been served with a ceramic mug I couldn't change my mind and have the coffee as a takeaway!

My photo for today is the Jubilation sculpture in Jubilee Gardens, Bewdley's small town park. Because of its design it's not the easiest thing to photograph, but I hope you can make it out if you enlarge the picture, at least. It was created by Lucy Unwin a little over a decade ago as a way of marking Bewdley Festival's silver jubilee.

Current Mood: amused
Current Music: Free - Kpop Demon Hunters

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Nagisa Kamishiro, Cat Whisperer 😸

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Sunshine Revivial Prompt #6: The Building Blocks of Games Past

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Current Mood: anxious

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*web

bracing for impact (normal way)

We are around 20 minutes away from the Pokémon Presents and so I'm making a Dreamwidth post to occupy my mind and not be needlessly anxious about it (also it's longer than the video I was watching so I can't keep watching it until I've seen the Presents </3)

What are the news?

I finished making a new, fancier (and proper) index page for my website! This was one of my goals for a while now, and with Rentry finally starting to put ads everywhere, I decided to focus on it at long last. I followed the vision I showed in my response to the first

sunshine_revival challenge here, except I ended up not having everything stuck inside a centered div because I wanted to try something else out for once. I'm really happy with the result! In the process I also discovered Victor Mono and kind of fell in love with it, lol. I love that it's two fonts at once, so handy! Speaking of, I need to switch my Google Fonts on Lysandre Labs to Bunny Fonts instead...

Webdev has been rotting my brain from the inside out hard at this point, because I'm up to three different layouts I've worked on in like a week, lol. The latest entry is a layout for a fanlistings/shrines/etc collective! I have so many ideas for those, I thought it'd be fun to work on a place to display them all (once they've been created...) and also to have a place to display all the ones I'd like to join in the future. There are so many...

Here's what it looks like so far:

Speaking of

sunshine_revival, I started working on something for the creative prompt of Challenge 5 but haven't managed to finish it yet. T_T To be honest I'm kind of tempted to discard it and go for the journaling one, even though I'm not sure what to talk about... I don't know. I guess I'll see how I feel post Presents. (Less than 15 minutes now... I have DJ Pikachu up on the TV to keep an eye on it, lol.)

My next immediate project is to finish my creepypasta page just so that's out of the way, and then I want to at least come up with a layout for my personal website. It's probably going to be the trickiest to design because I expect I'll be extremely picky about how it looks and displays, especially if I end up using it for everything... We'll see how it goes.

I've also been contemplating signing up for

enemiestoloversex for real this year, but I think my energy is better saved up for

ficinabox, to be honest... So I probably won't. I was pleasantly surprised by how many requests I could create for though, heh. Maybe I should get into treating :P

Well, there's less than 10 minutes left, so that'll probably be all for now. Maybe I'll edit this post later with my Pokémon Presents thoughts... It'd be funny if there ended up not being that much for me to be excited about in the end. At least I got to enjoy (?) the anticipation!

(I don't think this post is long enough to warrant a cut, but feel free to let me know if you disagree and I'll add one. I've been subscribing to more people, especially people I see around small web circles; if you read this, hi! Nice to meet you!)

( ETA, under cut to not spoil the Presents )