silveradept | AO3 Output, January-June 02024

This cycle's output is a little shorter than usual, because some of the works that I would have in it and that would have been revealed at this point are still managing their pinch hit requirements, and therefore their reveal times are still unknown. And there are some exchanges that aren't running this year, for very good reasons, so the output might also be lighter than usual. Anyway, let's get into what we have.

Sakeru Gummy vs. Long Sakeru Gummy, Sakeru Gummy & Long Sakeru Gummy (1466 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Sakeru Gum "Long Long Man" Commercials
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Chi/Long Long Man/Tooru (Sakeru Gum Commercials)
Characters: Chi (Sakeru Gum Commercials), Tooru (Sakeru Gum Commercials), Long Long Man (Sakeru Gum Commercials)
Additional Tags: ♫Long Long Man♫, relationship insecurities, You're A Good Man Tooru-san, feeling like a third wheel, Gratuitous product placement
Summary:
Tooru attempts to navigate the unconventional relationship he is one-third of, while battling the feeling that he's not the important one in the triad. The other two do their best to convince him of how essential he is to the success of all three.

If you've never seen the Sakeru Gummy commercials, please go watch them. They're fun, they're funny, and they tell a complete story in a short amount of time. And then, when you've done that, you'll also be primed for reading the fic. I tried very hard in this one to keep to the same spirit as the commercials themselves, and I was extremely thrilled to find that there is an HTML escape code that produces musical notes, so even in a textual medium, I could trigger the understanding od where the ♫Long Long Man♫ musical cue happened. Which was a lot. (Also, I decided that Chi-chan likes strawberry because the Chi in her name is the same one as in ichigo.)

It Used to Feel Like a Fairy Tale (1035 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Nimona (2023)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gloreth/Nimona (Nimona)
Characters: Nimona (Nimona)
Additional Tags: POV First Person, Minor Ballister Blackheart | Ballister Boldheart/Ambrosius Goldenloin, Post-Movie, Regrets & Recriminations, wishing you were somehow here again, To Crash The Party or Not To Crash The Party
Summary:
The end of the wall and the Director should be the beginning of the happily ever after, but it's hard to feel like you finally got your happy ending when the person you most wanted to have spent it with is no longer here.

This was my Poetry Fiction offering for this year, and it seemed entirely appropriate to talk about the relationship that Nimona and Gloreth could have had, if they'd been allowed to have it. And the way that Ambrosious and Ballister's relationship has echoes of the same, and the same issues of religion and monstrosity getting in the way of a successful partnership. What could have been, and the ghosts of the past, and the part where Nimona has long since outlived Gloreth and still carries the pain of what happened with her. What could have been.

Attempted Artifact Apocalypse Aversion (1087 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: The Chosen One's Best Friend/The Dark Lord's Trusted Adviser
Characters: The Chosen One's Best Friend | Xan, The Dark Lord's Trusted Adviser | Sasha
Additional Tags: cursed artifacts, Someone Else Got the Curse, Trying to Avert the Apocalypse, The Conspiracy of Best Friends
Summary:
Xan and Sasha give each other status updates and encouragement as they try to keep their best friends, Mina and Kate, from enacting the Final Battle that their specific cursed artifacts would like to usher in against each other.

I like a certain amount of silly in my stories, even in situations where there is also serious that has to happen. Even though they're facing the very real possibility that their friends are going to be consumed by the cursed artifacts, Xan and Sasha have time to joke with each other and keep their relationship going. I felt, in this case, that it would work better for the prompt if the two advisors are best friends and dating and get dragged into the situation where they end up on opposite sides, rather than trying to have to bridge that gap.

The Way Ahead Is Long And Cold, But Preferable (1535 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Into the Woods - Sondheim/Lapine
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Baker's Wife/Cinderella (Into the Woods)
Characters: Baker's Wife (Into the Woods), Cinderella (Into the Woods), Narrator (Into the Woods)
Additional Tags: Pragmatic Decisions, An Eddy Off The Narrative, Fantastically Wealthy Cinderella, The Promise of Refuge, Admitting What You've Always Known
Summary:
A slight touch to the narrative has Cinderella and the Baker's wife, along with all the infants, planning their next steps. The baker's wife must choose between the world she knew and the threats outside or staying with a former Princess who promises she can take care of them all.

And back to Sondheim we go, for someone that I did Into the Woods for some time ago. This time, I just have to drop the Baker out of the relationship, which in and of itself changes the story significantly. But in this case, I had a more calculating Cinderella who made off with plenty of wealth instead of just leaving a slipper behind, and a baker's wife who could be convinced to help raise children and enjoy a slightly more easy life, especially when she becomes a baker's widow in the story. And then turns out to have one of those names that nobody listens to, even though they should. (Which also seems to be a good idea in line with other myths and stories.)

Discouraging the Curious and the Mischievous (1848 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Final Fantasy X
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Keeper of the Temple of Besaid | Yola (Original Character), Keeper of the Temple of Djose | Majay (Original Character), Belgemine (Final Fantasy X Series), High Summoner Neeta (Original Character)
Additional Tags: Epistolary, The Calm, Temple Politics, Canon-typical Al Bhed prejudice, Cloister of Trials, The Truth of the Final Aeon, Blitzball (Final Fantasy X Series), Keeping the Summoner in Line, Keeping the Populace in Line
Summary:
The head of the temple at Besaid sends a letter to the head of the temple at Djose, hoping for a long Calm and detailing plans to build temple structures around the chamber of the fayth to ensure that only people in a properly pious state of mind get to pray for the fayth's gifts.
Also, a small digression about blitzball.

Final Fantasy X is one of those stories where there's absolutely an entire world and history sitting behind the narrative, which the protagonists only get glimpses into as they interact with those parts of the world. Since this was the Worldbuilding exchange, and the trials that are part of every temple in the game was one of the topics, I thought a letter describing how such things came to be would be a useful thing, and it could provide insight into petty politics, power struggles, the problems that come with trying to maintain an entire religion that needs someone to essentially sacrifice themselves every ten years at the least, and have a digression into the worldwide sport, because even when you're plotting out ways to be racist to others and to provide protection for the conspiracy at the heart of your religious practice, you'll still needle someone about the teams they support. It makes people more human that way.

Grant Me Clemency (4039 words) by silveradept
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Bertilak de Hautdesert & Gawain
Characters: Bertilak de Hautdesert, Gawain (Arthurian), King Arthur - Character
Additional Tags: time loops, A Game of Questions, Rash Actions Lead to Rash Consequences, Ruminations
Summary:
Sir Gawain is trapped in an endless cycle of repetition, from Arthur's hall to the green chapel, attempting to find a way out of his predicament, but he has no earthly idea what he is supposed to change, or who is responsible for this cycle. So he plays the game again, hoping this time might be the one that finally breaks it.

Gawain and the Green Knight is still one of my favorite pieces of Arthuriana, and the recipient letter had time travel and time loops as one of their liked plot devices, and so the idea sprung into my head as to what Gawain and the Green Knight might be like if the story that we have is the last iteration of a time loop as Gawain goes through it over and over again until finding a solution that is satisfying to whomever set him up. So then all I had to do was describe one of the earlier time loops, one based on long suffering, and the friendship that Gawain and Bertilak would have developed as they each go through all of these iterations, finding new ways to tease and torment and try something new. I really liked how this one turned out, on both a storytelling and a technical matter. It feels right to me in a lot of good ways.

Subverting the Lockdown (1535 words) by silveradept
Fandom: RWBY, Calvin & Hobbes
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Penny Polendina (RWBY) & Rosalyn (Calvin and Hobbes), Calvin & Hobbes (Calvin & Hobbes)
Characters: Penny Polendina, Rosalyn (Calvin and Hobbes), Calvin (Calvin and Hobbes), Hobbes (Calvin and Hobbes)
Additional Tags: Walk Into A Bar, Dimensional Travel, Faunus Hobbes, Almost Causing A Riot
Summary:
Rosalyn went through a door and into another world entirely, one where Calvin and Hobbes being themselves seems ready to start a riot. Thankfully, she meets a useful and powerful robot in the bar who will help make sure the kid and his tiger don't actually cause violence.

I continued to request a RWBY character for Into A Bar, and this time, I tried to match Penny with others who would take her robotic nature in stride or otherwise have robotic or mechanical friends or characters of their own, so that Penny would not be seen as odd or out of the ordinary. And then the dice picked Rosalyn, Calvin's babysitter, as the character to meet in the bar, and instead of two robots having a commiseration, instead, we have a case of chasing Calvin and Hobbes as they create chaos and problems on a world other than their own, and enlisting the help of the local robot protector to keep the kid and the tiger safe. And then possibly considering having a drink, even though Rosalyn wouldn't be old enough for it in our world. Not that she particularly cares about that by the end of the story.

There we go. It's a short set, because of other exchanges not running, but we'll be back in a few months all the same for what hasn't been caught here and whatever happens in the interim.