Grub Street

Fandom: Princess Maker

Dear Father
Author: xiuxi

Another thing that shouldn’t have been featured in my upbringing is Lucifon, Prince of Darkness. I swear, my life would have been so much better without Lucifon, Prince of Darkness. I would have been a much happier woman if I had never had to utter phrases like “Hello, Lucifon, Prince of Darkness! How are you doing, Lucifon, Prince of Darkness? Is there a lot of carnage in your cave, Lucifon, Prince of Darkness? Orgies again, Lucifon, Prince of Darkness!” My views of sin and morality will never be the same after those conversations. Hours of monotonous sweeping under the constant guidance of Sister Lee cannot eradicate the sights I have seen and the feelings I have felt. Next time you raise someone, Daddy, the Prince of Darkness has got to go.

Admit it. You were a terrible parent.

---

Fandom: Madoka Magica

Stop. Rewind. Repeat
Author: Steelneko

Mami smiles politely but coldly. Akemi is nothing but a nuisance. She doesn't understand the proper way of going about things, or what a magical girl's duty should be.

"I don't plan on letting you get hurt, but if you struggle too much, I can't promise that won't happen," Mami says.

Akemi glares at her. "You don't know what you're getting into. This witch is in an entirely different class than all others so far." Anger and annoyance creeps into her usually controlled tone.

Mami ignores the emotions. "If you sit still, I'll let you out on the way back," she says. She turns to her companion. "Let's go, Kaname-san."

"O-okay," Kaname-chan says.

"Wait!" Akemi yells. She grinds her teeth in pain as the ribbons cut into her.

In a quiet voice that Mami can only barely make out, she adds, "Don't make me redo this one too."

Mami ignores her.

Snapshots of Homura at various stages, as heartbreaking as you'd expect.

---

Fandom: Tiger & Bunny

Life in Gotham
Author: anon

She sometimes wondered whether she had some kind of unconscious NEXT power that attracted criminals to her. In her just her first couple months of classes, she'd had her rabbit backpack stolen by a man in a dolphin costume, been attacked by someone in a mecha suit with guns, been threatened by a NEXT who could manipulate cement like it was playdough, been frozen by accident while Blue Rose was trying to put out a burning coffee shop she had been studying in when an arsonist had attacked, been held hostage by a thug with a gun dressed as a clown, had part of her apartment wall destroyed during one of Wild Tiger's battles, been thrown off the Gold Stage sidewalks and caught by Sky High just before she splattered on the pavement, and had very briefly been turned into a cat by a seriously embarrassed adolescent NEXT who was still learning to control her powers.

Sternbild is rough.

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A Traditional Family Road Trip
Author: Kantayra

When Kaede had first learned that Barnaby would be joining them on this road trip, she’d thought that maybe she’d get a really cool autograph out of the deal.

She didn’t expect to get a picture of her and her dad looking really bored while Barnaby smiled in front of the world’s largest ball of string.

As the title suggests: Kaburagi family road trip. Kaede laments about the sheer uncoolness (but not too much) and tries to wrap her mind around things.

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Fandom: X-Men

Hide a Hundred Girls in Your Hair
Author: lilacsigil

She looked back over her shoulder. "Raven, why are you here? Not Scott or Ororo? Or even Logan? Can't the Professor find me?"

Raven stood up, the fire now well alight, and joined Jean at the shore. Her voice was tense, but surprisingly gentle. "Are you asking me because you don't know, or because you don't want to remember?"

"I don't know." The moment Jean spoke, she realised that she did know – her family was no more. The constant warm hum of their presence, near or far, was gone entirely. She didn't know if they were dead or alive – or if that even mattered – but they were no longer hers. Jean stretched her arms out again, more awkwardly, then twisted her hands together, and caught Raven watched her closely. "Stop staring at me!"

"Okay." Raven walked away in instant obedience, then shook her head, turned and glared back at her. "Don't start with the telepathy again. I don't need that."

I've seen the movies, but I'm not really an X-Men fan. However, without spoiling things too much, I love the idea behind this.

Oh my word how come I am the last person to know about the Engrish-tastic Tiger and Bunny pilot?

BRING YOU THE TEARS.

I'm unspeakably glad they didn't go with that costume design for Blue Rose. She looks like chorus girl Sonic the Hedgehog. (As opposed to her canon costume, which makes her look like, uh, a sexy waitress?)

Fandom: Discworld

Beginnings
Word count: 736
Author: Wasuremono

Death was not used to having no dominion.

It was one of the small perks of the job, after all: that wherever he went, there would be something for him to do. His work was everywhere, from the emperors to the lowliest crawling thing, and in every footstep he could find some small creature that had finally decided to make an end of its existence. It was strange to force himself away from it -- to take a holiday, as his son-in-law had suggested not so long ago, and as he had duly considered and discarded. It simply was not his way.

Thankfully, though, he had just made himself a small diversion. As the stove began to heat up, he set to work on the tiny lives swarming within the kettle's water, releasing them each as it came closer and closer to boiling.

It was easier to make tea when one considered all the deaths required.

Death becomes a grandfather.

-

Verity Pushpram's Diary
Word count: 3326
Author: Virtuella

My back has been itching like crazy today. Had to resolve to rubbing against a lamppost when nobody was watching. Fortunately not terribly busy today. Nobby Nobbs came round in the afternoon, not like he ever buys anything. Trying to stick his hand into the cashbox again, more likely. Strange little man. Asked me to choose a cobble stone, then squeezed one of his spots and hit that cobble. It was really disgusting, I don’t know why I laughed so much about it. Had to hit him with a haddock to get rid of him.

Nobby Nobbs/Verity Pushpram. YES.

---

Fandom: Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Stay, Don't Go
Word count: 4487
Author: thereisafire

Kyouko's finishing the last of the demons off when she feels the presence of a new magical girl. There aren't many that hunt for demons in this area - they're either too scared of Kyouko to stay, or they've disappeared. It suits her fine, anyway, she isn't here to make friends, and less competition means there are more demons to hunt.

She turns around, and it's a blonde girl. She looks a bit older than Kyouko, but it's hard to tell, with magical girls. She's wearing a frilly white and yellow outfit, and her hair is twisted into corkscrew curls. She doesn't look like much of a threat, but she's holding a rifle in her hand and staring at Kyouko, so Kyouko decides to test her skills.

"What's your name, newbie?"

"Tomoe Mami." Mami's perceptive enough to detect the shift in the air and prepare herself for battle - most magical girls would assume that they could talk things out, but Mami seems to be perpetually on guard. Good instincts, for someone new. A pity that Mami will have to leave the district after this fight.

"Tomoe Mami, when you lose, you leave this district to me. Got that?"

Lovely Kyoko/Mami fic set after the series, with just the right amount of sad and sweet.

---

Fandom: Ex Machina

Nothing Man
Word count: 8587
Author: destroythemeek

Mitch himself only visited once. The conversation was stilted, awkward; Mitch had never done sentimentality well, and neither had Rick. They both knew what Rick had sacrificed, but it wasn’t something they were going to talk about. Mitch told Rick that he was a hero, that when he got out of there he’d have people lining up to meet him. That he deserved the praise and the limelight that Mitch had been hogging. Rick just let him talk, pressing his hand to the glass between them. Mitch mirrored the motion with his own hand, mumbling some bullshit about Star Trek that he had to know Rick wouldn’t get. They said goodbye, and Rick knew he wouldn’t be back.

Oh goddammit Rick Bradbury. This fic. I have something in my eye.

This is practically canon okay.

Title: RTFM
Characters: James Garret/Fisto.
Rating: Mature, explicit. Contains a brief dubcon-y moment.
Word count: 1131
Summary: Written for the Fallout kinkmeme: James Garret tests Fisto. For science.

( James triple-checked that the bedroom door was locked )

I finally caved and created an Echo Bazaar account after seeing people sing its virtues in numerous places for the past few months... And good god, considering that the game limits the amount of time spent playing each day, it still manages to be addictive. For example: to play, I need to spend action points. I can only spend a maximum of ten action points at any one time, and the points are replenished at a rate of one every seven minutes - so, once all of my action points have been depleted, I find it very tempting to just sit on my ass and tool around on the internet until they've regenerated.

The thing I find most compelling about Echo Bazaar is the setting. It feels like a mix of gaslight romance and Neverwhere, with a cheeky bit of Lovecraft Mythos thrown in for good measure. It's baroque without being over-written, and silly without being twee. The game itself plays out like a Choose Your Own Adventure story, although it's rather difficult to explain beyond that. There's more focus placed on exploring the world than fighting and/or teaming up with other players, and difficulty levels are very gentle. (PvP is optional.) If I remember correctly, the skill levels are currently capped at 100, but the worldbuilding is ongoing. If you want to play a specific sort of character, then the choices presented in the game allow you to RP in a way, although I'm currently winging it. (My character is a magnanimous yet hedonistic detective searching for a man who murdered her true love.)

If you like campy Victorian gothic fiction, then I'd recommend it - it manages to keep the charm of the genre while scrapping the frilly prose.

My account is rosethouartsick @ twitter, although I'm not much good for hearing confessions of fear right now, as my nightmares are at 5. I need to buy a goldfish.

During my Fallout UK post, I forgot to mention that, instead of giant scorpions and molerats, there'd be giant foxes. (The Daily Mail says foxes are getting bigger, so it must be true.) I might be more worried about the big mystery cats, though.

Uhhhhhhh...



( Actually, I choose Sander Cohen. )

Evil Zone.

I don't know if Evil Zone should really be a guilty pleasure, admittedly, because it was awesome. It was cheesier than a bag of mouse farts. When you played it in story mode, the cutscenes were presented like episodes in a (badly-dubbed) anime series, and the characters all resembled expats from different genres. The voice acting was wonderfully terrible, and every attack was completely OTT and required the characters to shout nonsense at the top of their lungs in order to make it as EPIC AS POSSIBLE. Playing Evil Zone was like having an entire library of shitty 90s anime fall on your head, although mercifully without the godawful harem 'comedies' included.

( I cannot be defeated. Absolutely. Positively. For the sake of the WORLD! HERE GOES! THE POWER OF THE SUPREME RULER DESTROYS EVIL! THE ULTIMATE HERO! DANZAIVER! )