mistressofmuses

Fandom: Original Work, Christmas Tales & Traditions, Barbie
Pairings/Characters: OCs; a child & her faithful dolls.
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 612
Content Notes: No Content Warnings Apply
Creator Tags: Barbie Dolls, Christmas, Christmas Tree

Creator Links: (AO3)

Rubynye; (Dreamwidth)

minoanmiss; (Tumblr)

rubynye

Theme: Amnesty, Female Relationships, Action/Adventure, Comfort Fic, Female Friendships, Folklore & Fairytales, Teams

Summary: All around her spread the magnificent brilliance of the shining tree, its decorations alight and glittering.

Author’s Notes: Merry Christmas to my dear friend Amaebi!

Reccer's Notes: A little girl’s Barbie dolls come to life to keep her company on Christmas Eve. The author maintains a keenly lived-in sense of scale; acting as a team in the fashion of the Madagascar Penguins, the dolls scale the California redwood heights and marvel in the celestial lighting of the Christmas tree (while remaining vigilant against the approach of the Parents—or, worse, the Kitty!)

A nostalgic snapshot of the fierce Velveteen Rabbit Reality of our imaginary friends.

Fanwork Links: How to View a Christmas Tree, by

Rubynye for

amaebi.
Part 18 of How To Indulge Your Writerly Soul.

Fandom: Chen Qing Ling; A Christmas Carol
Pairings/Characters: Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao, Jin Guangshan, Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji, Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin, Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Wen Ruohan, Background & Cameo Characters
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Length: 7,500
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, (although Jin Guangshan is his own content warning.)
Creator Tags: Minor Lan Zhan | Lan Wangji/Wei Ying | Wei Wuxian, Inspired by A Christmas Carol, Crack, Christmas Crack, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Jin Guangyao is gonna soften his dad's heart if it kills him, Jiang Cheng wasn't even supposed to be here today, Lan Wangji is only here for the snacks, (Wei Ying is the snack), Daddy Issues: The Play, It's WangXian but that's not the focus here

Creator Links: (AO3)

Mikkeneko; (Tumblr)

mikkeneko

Theme: Amnesty, Uncommon Settings, Crack, Crossovers/Fusions, Humor, Research, Trope Subversion & Inversion

Summary: It's Christmas Eve in the Jianghu, and Jin Guangyao is determined to show his father the meaning of charity and generosity and the brotherhood of man if it kills him.

(It will.)

Author’s Notes: You know, throughout this fandom I've seen fans extend grace towards all sorts of morally grey characters. There are Xue Yang stans, Su She truthers, Wen Ruohan fuckers and Meng Yao apologists, I've even seen Jin Zixun have something like a redemption arc! But the one thing I've never, ever seen is a redemption story for Jin Guangshan.

This fic isn't one either.

… Thanks for reading! I'm so sorry.

I referenced this copy of Charles Dickens' ACC while writing this fic. How come nobody told me Dickens was such a fuckin' comedian? The adaptations only ever quote the dramatic lines.

Reccer's Notes: This is one of the most meticulous, erudite, and considered pieces of crack I’ve ever read; the characters themselves are constantly lampshading the incompatibility of the crossover. Mikkeneko manages, somehow, to keep everyone in character while shoehorned into the Christmas Carol roles and to transpose this Christian morality play into the context of a Xianxia China unbothered by missionaries—demonstrating a thorough understanding of both the canons she’s Frankenstitched together. There’s a smidgen of Shakespeare in there too; the Christmas Carol scenario is a stage play, presented by Jin Guangyao in a Hamletesque ploy to lay a ruler’s sins bare.

Fanwork Links: https://archiveofourown.org/works/35699251

Current Music: “We’re Despicable”.

I hope that everyone who celebrates has had (and is still having) a merry Christmas! (And if you don't celebrate... I hope it was a great Thursday!)

Maybe it's our record-breaking heat (71° today!), but it really hasn't felt terribly Christmas-y. Last year I got hit with the Christmas spirit atypically hard, but not so much this year. Not feeling un-Christmas-y or anything, just... not feeling a ton of hype.

Even so, I had a lovely day. I never sleep well the night before Christmas (or the night before any big event, like vacation, or a big show we're going to, etc.), even though I'm well beyond the "kid at Christmas" excitement phase, haha. I especially can't say I sleep well on my mom's tiny loveseat, though Jaspurr was a pleasant sleeping buddy, and even let us sleep in until there was light in the sky!

Mom and Taylor and I exchanged gifts: I mostly got books, haha. (I also mostly gave books.)

Alex came and joined us a few hours later, and we all hung out for a while. He made some delicious chocolate crinkle cookies and a pan of gingerbread blondies, which are SO GOOD.

Alex and I then came home and exchanged our gifts. Then I fairly quickly fell asleep. Just as I was waking up from my nap, Alex fell asleep, haha.

Highlights of my received gifts. <3

I got lots of books from my mom and Taylor! All are books I'm very excited to read. What Moves the Dead (which I did have an ebook of, but wanted a physical copy), What Feasts at Night and What Stalks the Deep. The Scholomance trilogy. Hell Bent. The Strange Bird. The Ballad of Black Tom.
From Alex, I got Sinners and Late Night With the Devil, which were two of my favorite horror movies from the last couple years, and that I wanted copies of. He also got me a couple nice blank notebooks. (I'll have to psych myself up to use the nicer of the two, haha.) He also got me some candy, the cute spider plush keychain, and the fluffy blanket that everything is sitting on.
Not pictured: A shirt, some hot chocolate, and some bubble bath stuff from Alex. My mom bought us a seat cover for the truck.
And of course, Bella got a million treats, haha.

Our remaining plans for the evening are eating a frozen pizza (er... we will bake it first), since we're both very tired of making food, and then maybe some sort of holiday movie. We meant to try and watch a few before today, but never got around to it. My vote is for The Muppet Christmas Carol, but Christams Twister (sic) is truly our longest movie tradition, and he's more likely to vote for A Christmas Story or It's a Wonderful Life. So we'll see which one we land on!

ETA:

Christams Twister is the winner again! A misspelled title card is truly the best indicator of quality that I can imagine.

Current Mood: content
Current Location: my apartment

Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairings/Characters: F/M; Emily Prentiss/Spencer Reid, Aaron Hotchner/Jennifer "JJ" Jareau; Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Emily Prentiss, Penelope Garcia, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau, Henry LaMontagne, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid
Rating: Teen and Up
Length: 50,833
Content Notes: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, bittersweet ending, canon-typical violence, colorism, period-characteristic prevalence of smoking, period-characteristic attitudes toward mental illness, PTSD, war-typical gore
Creator Tags: Alternate Universe - Historical, Everybody's Looking Sharp, Get Some Benny Goodman on the Radio, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Author is a Research Nerd, And Not Ashamed of It Either, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Period-Typical Sexism, Alternate Universe - 1940s
Creator Links: (AO3)

mosylu, (Dreamwidth)

mosylu, (FF.net)

mosylu, (Tumblr)

mosylufanfic

Theme: Amnesty, Mystery & Suspense, Uncommon Settings, Casefic, Characters of Color, FANCAKE IS FIFTEEN, Fandom Classics, Historical AUs, Research, Women Being Awesome

Summary: Historical AU. In 1947 New York, a motley group of strangers are about to come face-to-face with the idea that you can catch a criminal from within his own mind.

Author’s Notes: Honestly, this came about because of Garcia's hair. Yes, Garcia's hair. Follow me here. There was an episode where she was wearing it in this marvelous retro-40's do, and I started picturing how she'd look in a whole 40's ensemble. And then I started picturing the entire cast in 40's styles. (Boy howdy, would it suit Reid, and Morgan would rock a fedora like nobody's business.) Then I started thinking about how different their lives would have been sixty years ago, and then the social and cultural upheaval of an entire nation coming back from WWII, and . . . well . . . enjoy.

Historical Note: Shell shock was the World War I term, and battle fatigue the WWII term, for what we now call PTSD.

Reccer's Notes: A post-WWII noir mystery AU in which an oddly assorted bunch of cops, academics, veterans, and civilians, masterminded by neighborhood reference librarian and gossip networker Penelope Garcia, band together to solve some violent local crimes—and proceed to pioneer criminal profiling in the process.

(When this fic debuted in October 2010, the mystery of Reid’s chronic migraines was an ongoing canon subplot; this setting provides a ruthlessly plausible explanation. That’s all I’m going to say.)

Fanwork Links:
AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3161369
Fanfiction.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6391786/1/War-Crimes

Happy Thursday Recs to all those who celebrate! And I guess anything else that might be going on, IDK.

Do you have a rec for this week? Just reply to this post with something queer or queer-adjacent (such as, soap made by a queer person that isn't necessarily queer themed) that you'd, well, recommend. Self-recs are welcome, as are recs for fandom-related content!

Or have you tried something that's been recced here? Do you have your own report to share about it? I'd love to hear about it!

Without the Santa Clones

⌈ Secret Post #6929 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

( More! )

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 08 secrets from Secret Submission Post #989.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Today is cloudy, cool, foggy, and wet. It rained last night and water is still dripping from the trees today. Also the thermometer-hygrometer peripheral for our home weather station has died, so we need to see if that's available as a replacement part. :/

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I hauled the last large branches to the ritual meadow. Then I started the long process of raking the parking lot.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more raking in the parking lot.

I've seen two squirrels in the trees. I've seen several cardinals flying around.

EDIT 12/25/25 -- I did more work around the patio.

It's drizzling again.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Current Mood: busy

Happy Christmas! My fingers still smell of oranges (real oranges, not a Terry's Chocolate Orange this year :-p)

May your plots prove fertile and your characters spring to life!

( You're about to view content that a community administrator has advised should be viewed with discretion. )

Hung out with my friend Nikki today! We met for the first time at a get-together for polerinas that my instructor put together. And we were comfortable with each other right away. Today, she had the day off for Christmas. We had lunch at a cafe, a hummus platter and a vegan banana walnut cake. She has similar gut issues as I do so we enjoy ordering food together; neither of us feels like we're making the other person miss out on something else they'd rather eat.

Afterwards, we went to the library. I finished reading the book I'd borrowed, and she browsed for a while before picking out a pile of books and then flipping through them to decide what she wanted to borrow. I borrowed Butter by Asako Yuzuki, and it's the specific edition that I'd been eyeing in Shelfish ever since I worked there and wasn't allowed to read the books. (You know, when you're not allowed to do something you want to doubly do it.) Is the fact that the library had it a Sign? Anything's a sign if you want to give it significance. I'm healing, so it's a Sign.

Nikki had wanted to go to Spinebreaker or Shelfish initially. I told her that both places had traumatised me and that it was a long story. She thought I was joking at first, but I didn't want to go into the whole history of both places and why I wasn't welcome at either. I told her that it was awkward telling people that I was traumatised by bookstores because, when I tell them I was traumatised by school for instance, they instinctively understand, but when I say I was traumatised by bookstores, they think I must be joking.

The part I didn't tell her is that when people react like this, it feels like they're laughing at what I experienced or trivialising my hurt, even though they mostly don't know enough to react aptly in the first place. It's just such a difficult thing to talk to people about that I wish it never came up in the first place. The emotional labour of explaining it and making them understand the impact it had on me just sucks, as a process. For a while, I've been thinking that they can't understand me as a person without knowing this about me, but maybe this isn't as big a part of my self as all that. At one point it defined everything about the way I was, but thankfully that time is behind me. As the heroine of the manhwa Not Your Typical Reincarnation Story says, people heal with time and people are more resilient than they think.

Current Mood: uplifted

Fandom: Metal Gear Solid
Pairings/Characters: Snake/Otacon
Rating: G
Length: 13,779 (1:33:04)
Creator Links:

thelonebamf
Theme: Amnesty, Ambiguous Relationships, Angst (With A Happy Ending), Hurt/Comfort, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Trauma & Recovery, Pre-Canon

Summary: Snake returns from Operation N313, lauded a hero and finds the latest shipment of Foxhound recruits already at the camp. Still struggling to sort out his thoughts about the mission, he finds his attention drawn to one rookie in particular, a scrawny, unassuming runt who can't seem to stay out of trouble.

Reccer's Notes: This just works so damn well as an alternate first meeting for these two! It's such a dismal, pessimistic setting - as expected with this canon - but the way these two forge a connection, finding some degree of comfort and caring and hope - makes me really emotional! And I love the use of the book, as well! (Also somehow even though I always knew the Hal connection to 2001: A Space Odyssey I never noticed how Dave fits in to it, too?! 🤦)

Fanwork Links: Rat in a Foxhole [podfic], Rat in a Foxhole

Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu
Rating: T
Length: 4,491
Creator Links:

boomchick
Theme: Amnesty, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Magic, Mythical Creatures: Demons, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Spells & Curses, Trauma and Recovery

Summary: Luo Binghe's healing powers falter in the shape of the wounds Xiu Ya once gave him. He does the only logical thing--HIDES IT.
Shen Qingqiu knows something is wrong with his husband, but finding out what is going to hurt...

A sweet little post-canon fic about healing, plotted with and illustrated by the incredible Falcities for the SVSSS Gotcha for Gaza

Reccer's Notes: This is such a sweet, thoughtful fic! Binghe always tries so hard to be strong, and never really quite escapes the trauma reaction that he doesn't deserve help or that suffering is just something to be endured. In this post-canon fic, his husband gets the opportunity to tell him otherwise and show him just how much he loves all parts of him, including the demonic parts!

It also has quite possibly my favourite (and very appropriate to the themes!) no beta tag ever: No beta but we live regardless

Fanwork Links: blood, leave no stain

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

Wow, vriddy wrote a fic? Wonder what fandom it could be about...............

Good luck, Yuu-san | K-9 | Fujimaru Jin/Hizuki Ren/Kagari Yukito/Oboro Yuushirou | <700 words | rated T

Summary: Fujimaru accidentally discovers a new weakness of Oboro.

Read it on Dreamwidth or AO3.

I spent much of the last two days doing my holiday baking!

I am always torn between my love of the end result and the frustration I experience while actually doing it, haha. This year, the enjoyment did win out, which is nice!

It helped that I split some of the labor-intensive parts up, as much as I could. A lot of what ends up frustrating me is just how much my back ends up hurting after I've been standing for long enough.

Yule logs!

These were more cooperative this year than some. The dough is really stiff and a bit of a struggle to get together, but it actually rolled out a lot better than it often does. This year we also had higher-quality spices, and the flavor is really good!

Kolaches!

Alex picked peach and raspberry for the flavors this year. This dough is definitely the worst: it's so extremely sticky and elastic. The recipe calls for 2.5 inch squares... which you can actively watch immediately shrink once you cut them out, as the dough contracts. (It made for a very ugly first batch, haha.) I ended up having to cut the squares and then re-roll them, which did turn out nicer, but was an annoying extra step.

Kahlua truffles!

The last time I made truffles, I swore I would not be making them again, because they were such a pain. But that was years ago, and I decided to give them another go. While not perfect, they were far less frustrating than I remember. I wore gloves instead of rolling them with my bare hands and that was a game-changer, ha.

Today, my mom and Taylor made one of our classic family holiday cookies:

"Bird's nests!"

(I was at work, so did not help with these.) We call them bird's nests, though they're just a type of thumbprint cookie. I can't ever make them at home, because Alex is allergic to nuts. I'll enjoy them while I'm here! (And they are always careful to use separate pans and utensils for anything containing nuts.)

And this evening we all made:

Molasses cookies!

Possibly my favorite of all. Warm, soft, delicious... It was a group effort, and well worth it.

Happy Christmas Eve (minutes before midnight)!

Current Mood: tired
Current Location: my mom's house

Community Thursday challenge: every Thursday, try to make an effort to engage with a community on Dreamwidth, whether that's posting, commenting, promoting, etc.

Over the last week...

Posted and commented on bnha_fans. The comm is really active in all sorts of good ways, which is LOVELY! :D

Commented on goals_on_dw.

Posted & commented on getting_started about whether image links also get redirected when using a rename token. The answer is YES which is pretty cool and good to know :D

Signal boosts:

Someone is asking about the kind of CSS allowed on Dreamwidth over at newcomers, in case any of you have more tips and paths to share.

A Chorus, Divergent anthology by Reckoning Press

A special issue featuring reprints by neurodivergent creators from Reckoning’s first decade.

Essays, poetry, fiction, and art by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe, E.C. Barrett, Kaye Boesme, Offor Chidera, Jacob Coffin, Kelsey Day, Tania Fordwalker, Abbie Goldberg, A.P. Golub, Ruth Joffre, Taylor Jones, Laura McKnight, Kat Murray, Micah Nemerever, Mari Ness, Ellis Nye, Maria S. Picone, T.K. Rex, Ariadne Starling, and Adam Stemple, with new cover artwork by Abi Stevens.

I read quite a few anthologies this year and this was one of the best. It has some real stellar stories that I'll be thinking about for a long time, and some new writers that I definitely want to see more from. The stories are all speculative fiction and many dance with the climate apocalypse in its many forms and stages.

The real knock-out of the whole book was SQUAWKER AND DOLPHIN SWIMMING TOGETHER. I am a sucker for animal communication stories, and dolphins, and climate disasters and finding glimmers of hope amongst the rubble. There was so many cleaver plot threads dropped in here and there, the story felt like a much longer and fleshed out novel. (I've already preordered their upcoming anthology!)

Also shout out to The Blackthorn Door and Fixing the System in Tilt Town, both with really interesting worldbuilding. And a nod to Icediver, which started off strong but I feel like the wheels fell off halfway through.

I didn't dip into the poetry but if it's of the same quality of the fiction than it's pretty good too.

The entire anthology is free to read online or follow the links to support through an indie bookseller.

The goldfinches finally showed up. My winter visitors are:

sock - nyjer seed - goldfinches and the occasional junco

platform feeder - safflower seed - house finches and cardinals (the cover is too low for the doves)

squirrel-proof column feeder - mix of safflower and black oil sunflower - house finches, chickadees, sometimes a nuthatch. I get woodpeckers when I use a better mix of seed (downy and red-bellied, occasional hairy).

ground - safflower and sunflower - mourning doves, juncos, cardinals, squirrels. Saw some goldfinches there today.

I should get some suet.

I just received a feeder/webcam as a gift. I'll have to figure out where to put it. I want to put it on the side of the shed, but I'm not sure it gets wi-fi signal out there.

https://xkcd.com/3185/

https://xkcd.com/3185/

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mistressofmuses

December 2025

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mistressofmuses

Reading

Original Work; Barbie: How to View a Christmas Tree, by Rubynye

Chen Qing Ling; A Christmas Carol: An Accurate (Anachronic) Jianghu Christmas Carol, by Mikkeneko

Merry Christmas!

Criminal Minds: War Crimes, by mosylu.

Thursday Recs

It's not Christmas...

[ SECRET POST #6929 ]

Birdfeeding

CHECK IN: Day 25

Fic: "Inevitable" and "Good luck, Yuu-san" | K-9

(no subject)

MGS: Rat in a Foxhole by thelonebamf

SVSSS: blood, leave no stain by Boomchick

SVSSS: the future is a foreign country by marquisguyun

New K-9 fic: Good luck, Yuu-san (Ren/Oboro/Fujimaru/Kagari)

Holiday baked goods!

Community Thursday

Review: A Chorus, Divergent anthology

goldfinches

Sauropods

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December 2025

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