blacksquirrel | Reading

pedanther posting in

Fandom: Tangled
Pairings/Characters: Flynn Rider/Rapunzel
Rating: General Audiencees
Length: 714
Creator Links:

lalaietha
Theme: Amnesty, Old Fandoms, Comfortfic

Summary:
"You know," Eugene's voice comes from the side of the tower, "I am really out of practice in climbing up sheer rock-faced walls and across rickety shingles. D'you think I should start a workout regimen again? I mean, I'd kind of let it slide because these are skills commonly associated with thievery and I'm all reformed, but - "

Reccer's Notes:
In which Rapunzel is feeling overwhelmed by her first birthday celebration that involves more than one person and a chameleon, and Flynn offers sympathy and helpful(?) advice.

Short and sweet, and seemed appropriate for Fancake's birthday.

Fanwork Links: The Next Birthday on AO3

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Photograph of a grinning Shiba Inu dog wearing a pink party hat with a 15 on it. Text: Happy Birthday, Fancake. On this day in history, jerakeen made the very first post to this comm. Happy birthday to us!

To celebrate fancake's fifteen years of operation, we're taking a two-pronged approach, with thanks to full_metal_ox for suggesting the second prong:

post recs to the comm for fanworks published in 2010 for amnesty (if all else fails, theme: old fandoms should probably cover you, but consider also theme: favorite fanworks, theme: fandom classics, and theme: underloved fanworks)
comment on this post with what you were into when you were fifteen—or what you were into fifteen years ago—what you're into today, and how your tastes have changed—or not!—over the years, or share your thoughts in your own journal and leave us a link here in the comments
a secret third thing???

Happy birthday, Fancake! Thank you for making this comm a community. 🎂

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Night at the Museum
Pairings/Characters: Jedediah/Octavius
Rating: T
Length: 10,180
Creator Links:

liviapenn
Theme: Amnesty, Cultural Differences, Enemies to Friends (to Lovers), Enemies Working Together, Missing Scenes

Summary: There are secret articles in our treaties with the gods, of more importance than all the rest, which the historian can never know. -- Henry David Thoreau

This hour I tell things in confidence,
I might not tell everybody, but I will tell you.
-- Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

Reccer's Notes: This is so much fun, charting the growth in these boys' friendship starting from their trek through the snow in the movie to their awkward, gradual romantic advances post-canon ❤️

Fanwork Links: if this was a cowboy movie (i'd give you my boots)

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3
Pairings/Characters: Wyll/Astarion
Rating: T
Length: 25,638
Creator Links:

partingxshot
Theme: Amnesty, Black Characters, Characters of Colour, Character Development, Established Relationship, Family, Just Plain Fun, Marriage, Outsider POV, Politics, Post-Canon, Unconventional Format & Style, Working Together

Summary: You are ULDER RAVENGARD.

Your son is completely besotted with his fiancé, but you can’t figure out the appeal. He’s spoiled, and petty, and seems chiefly concerned with draining the Ravengard coffers. You are, frankly, at your wits’ fucking end.

Surely the only solution is to declare an INSANE SECRET WAR on him before he can ruin the MIDWINTER'S EVE BALL. This cannot possibly backfire.

[A choose-your-own-adventure Astarion son-in-law simulator. Happy Holidays! Or possibly the opposite of that.]

Reccer's Notes: This is just so much fun 😄 The notion of how Astarion would fit in at Wyll's childhood home is a common topic for Wyllstarions, and this is such a fun take on it!! It's remarkably coherent no matter which paths you take, and there are so many fun running jokes or weird endings to find! (And also, if you enjoy the writing style... Might I have a particular webcomic called Homestuck to recommend? Because it was very clearly an inspiration :D)

Fanwork Links: Glad Tidings

I need a Baldur's Gate fandom tag please, mods!!

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: Blackadder Goes Forth
Pairings/Characters: Blackadder/Darling
Rating: T
Length: 20,605
Creator Links:

nomadicwriter
Theme: Amnesty, Casefic, Cuddling Snuggling & Bed-Sharing, Enemies to Lovers, Enemies Working Together, Forced Proximity, Historical Settings, Just Plain Fun, Old Fandoms, Rare Pairings, Pretend Couple, Small Fandoms, Time Travel, Uncommon Settings, Undercover as a Couple

Summary: Darling's remarkable resemblance to French traitor the Duc de Darling - no relation - sees him unwillingly sent to infiltrate a German-occupied château. Blackadder accompanies him even less willingly, especially when he learns exactly what it is they're looking for.

(Baldrick is also there, but no one bothered to find out if it was willingly or otherwise.)

Reccer's Notes: This is just so fucking good. It has been an age since I last watched Blackadder but this fic brought me all the way back immediately: the character voices are just chef's kiss! It really feels like it could've been a special episode, except with added totally in-character shippiness! 10/10, perfect characterisation, perfect dynamics, perfect silliness, no notes ❤️

Fanwork Links: General Relativity

22degreehalo posting in

fancake

Fandom: The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System
Pairings/Characters: Luo Binghe/Shen Qingqiu
Rating: Explicit
Length: 18,992
Creator Links:

benwisehart
Theme: Amnesty, Book Fandoms, Domestic, Established Relationship, Humor, Trauma & Recovery

Summary: The System gives Shen Qingqiu the ability to exchange B-Points for items, and what better way to earn points than by raising the satisfaction level of Zhongdian's favourite protagonist?

OR: The one where Shen Qingqiu starts seducing the fuck out of Binghe in order to enable his caffeine addiction.

Reccer's Notes: This one seems like it'd be just a fun kinky romp (which it also is!), but it's also very thoughtful about why Shen Qingqiu was reluctant to indulge in some of these things to begin with. Sometimes it's just his self-conscious personality, and sometimes it's because he was too quick to judge, but he's also his own person with his own preferences and traumas and those deserve to be respected, too! Really, the ultimate benefit out of this whole sequence of events might just have been allowing these two a sliver of genuine open communication, even if that's sometimes a hard-won lesson.

Fanwork Links: The Scum Villain's Sex and Pleasure Catalogue

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Lord of the Rings; How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Pairings/Characters: Gen; Sauron, the Mouth of Sauron, Pippin, Sam Gamgee, the Hobbit community
Rating: General Audiences
Length: (Fic) 957 words; (Comic) 30 panels
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply
Creator Tags:
Erisif | Valarhalla: #i could have done something useful today #instead i wrote this #i hate myself
english-history-trip: #lotr #nonsense #well that was my day how was yours #why is sauron in a cave and then a tower #go to hell that's why #why is frodo bartholomew cubbins instead of a who #the answer won't surprise you

Creator Links:
(Fic): Elisif: (AO3)

Elisif; (Tumblr)

valarhalla
(Fancomic): english-history-trip: (Tumblr)

english-history-trip

Theme: Amnesty, Crack, Crossovers/Fusions, Just Plain Fun, Non-Fic Recs: Fanart, Non-Fic Recs: Fancomic, Poetry, Tumblore

Summary: Every being in Eä liked peacetime a lot…
But Sauron, who was also in Eä, did NOT.

Reccer's Notes: Elisif’s retelling of The War of the Ring in Seussian rhyming verse, firmly informed by The Lore, maps the Shire onto Whoville without introducing an anachronistic Christmas (that’s for Narnia.)

And then, in proper cumulative Tumbloric fashion, english-history-trip proceeds to remix Seussian illustrations to match. (Spoiler: Sauron does not experience redemptive cardiac enlargement; another character gets to preside over the grand climactic celebration.)

Fanwork Links:

Fic: AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26135110
Tumblr: https://valarhalla.tumblr.com/post/190955320437/every-being-in-eä-liked-peacetime-a-lot-but

Fancomic: https://english-history-trip.tumblr.com/post/636994579930939392/english-history-trip-english-history-trip-part

brokenframe posting in

vidding

Title: Sirens
Characters/Pairing: Philip Swift/Syrena
Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Music: Sirens by Fleurie
Length: 3:08
Streaming/download at: DW | Tumblr

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Hey all, it's December and that means it's time to share your suggestions for next year's themes!

You can comment on this post with up to 10 suggestions. Comments will be screened, but I'll unscreen mine so you can get a feel for how it goes.

Suggested themes should be new to the comm and broad enough to sustain a month of recommendations, and I'm going to be more particular than I have in the past, as I'd like to focus on general themes that make it easier for everyone to participate. To give you an idea of what this means, I'm aiming for themes that have at least 5,000 completed works on AO3. I've also preloaded the list with some common genres that, surprisingly enough, we haven't done yet, like fantasy.

I'll drop by your comments and let you know which of your suggestions meet these guidelines. As part of this process I may offer slight alterations or rework themes to make them more inclusive.

If you can, check out our spreadsheet of past themes before commenting to make sure your suggestions aren't already on there.

If you need some inspiration:

Last year's suggestion post
List of Fic Kinks, Tropes, and Clichés at Fanlore
Cliché Bingo's Big List of Clichés (Wayback Link)
Hurt/Comfort Bingo Prompts
Kink Bingo's Kink Wiki (NSFW)
Trope List & Definitions at Trope Bingo
TV Tropes

I'll add the suggestions to this post once they've been confirmed, but I still, somehow, don't have all the past themes memorized, so if I make a mistake or if I accept a suggestion that is hurtful or badly worded, let me know.

Theme suggestions will be voted on later this month and the most popular will advance to the monthly theme polls in 2026.

( Confirmed Theme Suggestions )

If you have any questions or need help, come find me!

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Chen Qing Ling;
Pairings/Characters: M/M; Lan Wangji/Wei Wuxian; the Cloud Recesses bunnies
Rating: General Audiences
Length: 2:26
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, anvilicious rabbit symbolism, canon-typical blood, canon-typical phallic sword symbolism, corporal punishment, fluff (figurative and literal), innuendo, societal homophobia (in-story and real-world), sparring with subtext, Xiao Zhan’s A+ rabbit handling, (not you, Wang Yibo, you’re fine.)
Creator Tags: vid, Bunnies, Pining, i'm sorry lan wangji, no really a lot of pining
Creator Links: (AO3)

soupytwist, (Dreamwidth)

soupytwist, (Tumblr)

soupytwist (locked); (YouTube)

twistedsoup

Theme: Amnesty, Angst With A Happy Ending, Animals, Humor, Non-Fic Recs: Fanvid, Canon LGBTQ+ Characters, Pining

Summary: If you look inside the heart of the mighty Hanguang-jun, you might find... bunnies.

Author’s Notes:( Continue. )

Reccer's Notes: A rec in celebration of the 4 December 2025 Full Supermoon. Stephin Merritt’s wryly anguished anthem of gay pining gains not only an unironic tenderness but the hope of a happy resolution when juxtaposed with CQL’s literal rabbits (and their pervasive symbolism as tokens, symbols, and allegory of Wangxian’s relationship, as well as allusions to a Rabbit God who’d bless a gay union.)

Nor does soupytwist’s pitch-perfect syncing of visuals to lyrics hurt one bit.

Fanwork Links:
AO3 (locked): [FANVID] Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits; Part 2 of Gusu Love Songs.
Vimeo: Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits
YouTube:Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits

Current Music: Implicit in the subject.

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stranger Things
Pairings/Characters: Steve Harrington & Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
Rating: Explicit
Length: 11,087 words
Creator Link:

thefourthvine
Theme: Amnesty, Just Plain Fun, Platonic Life Partners, Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies AUs, Canon LGBTQ Characters, First Time

Summary: As soon as Eddie gets to the counter, Steve turns to him and says, "Back me up here. Kissing is no big deal, right?"

Steve Harrington is talking about kissing. Eddie's brain shorts out. "Uh," he says.

Reccer's Notes: Steve accompanies Robin to a gay bar where he discovers his skills with the ladies are transferable to guys. Robin and Eddie both have a crisis over it, though for different reasons. Very fun and very hot, with Steve at his himbo best.

Fanwork Link: We Better Make a Start

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

Fancake's Themes in 2025

January: (Not Really) Unrequited Love
February: Ambiguous Relationships
March: Non-Sexual Intimacy
April: Outsider POV
May: Angst (With a Happy Ending)
June: Female Relationships
July: Working Together
August: Marriage of Convenience
September: Food & Cooking
October: Uncommon Settings
November: Mystery & Suspense
December: Amnesty

{Reblog on Tumblr}

runpunkrun posting in

fancake

As always, our theme for December is amnesty. This month you can post recs for any past round—from any year—as long as the work hasn't already been recommended for that theme. Refresh your memory with a spreadsheet of previous rounds or search the comm for past recs.

Be sure to tag your recs with theme: amnesty in addition to the relevant theme(s).

If you're just joining us, be sure to check out our policy on content notes. Content notes aren't required, but they're nice to include in your recs, especially if a fanwork has untagged content that readers may wish to know about in advance.

( Rules! )

( Posting Template! )

( Promote this round! )

Reblog on Tumblr | Reskeet on Bluesky | Retoot on Mastodon

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: due South
Characters/Pairings: Benton Fraser, Ray Vecchio, Diefenbaker, Harding Welsh
Rating: Teen
Length: 4590
Content Notes: The author chose not to warn. AU from the end of Victoria's Secret as Fraser wasn't shot and he left with Victoria on the train.

If you'd much rather know about major AO3 warnings and be spoiled for the reveal at the end, click the arrow at left. SPOILERS

Ray doesn't realise until near the fic's end that it's Fraser's ghost meeting with him, as Victoria killed him then ran for the US border. But with Fraser's and Welsh's help, they catch her.

Creator Links: MSSalieri on AO3, Salieri's old website
Themes: Mystery and suspense, Friendship, Cops and Crime, AU: Fork in the road

Summary: He’s in a booth around the corner, hands folded on the Formica table. It’s his jacket, the one he had on when he jumped onto the train, so Ray believes it’s him. But it’s not the guy Ray knew. His hair hangs to his collar. His eyes are dark with exhaustion, his face gaunt. He’s been gone nineteen months. It might as well be nineteen years.

Dief’s whine is thin, a little panicky. He’s shivering against Ray’s knee.

“Hello, Ray,” Fraser says.

Reccer's Notes: This is a tough story, but I keep going back to it from time to time because it's just so good. Set more than a year after Ray Vecchio stumbled and missed the shot so that Fraser left with Victoria on the train, Ray meets up once more with a very changed Fraser in a motel at the ass end of Canada, in a blizzard. It's sad, spooky, and wonderfully written. Powerful and haunting, and very much worth a read.

Fanwork Links: Dysmas on AO3, Dysmas on Wayback

full_metal_ox posting in

fancake

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi
Pairings/Characters: Gen, background M/M (Everything implied no specifics); Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao & Nie Mingjue; Song Lan | Song Zichen/Xiao Xingchen, Meng Yao | Jin Guangyao, Nie Mingjue, Song Lan | Song Zichen, Xiao Xingchen, A-Qing, Original Character
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Length: 6,330
Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply, OC POV, Outsider POV, Neurodivergent Character POV, disability as a communication obstacle, heavy verse-specific content
Creator Tags: Communication is hard when you're dead, We ain't afraid of no ghosts, We've been dead for years, Bad jokes because writer is in a mood, NaNoWriMo Breaktime, ghost hunt - Freeform, mystery haunting, Undead Investigation Team

Creator Links: (AO3)

JustAWanderingBabbit; (Tumblr)

justawanderingbabbit

Theme: Mystery & Suspense, Casefic, Just Plain Fun, Outsider POV, Post-Canon

Summary: The Vermillion Peony Tree has stood for two hundred years... It might stand for two hundred more.... Given no one's stupid enough to annoy its guardian.

In which a possibly familiar Original Character meets a group of very familiar Night Hunters, attempting to clear a haunting from an inn built maybe a bit too close to the Burial Mounds.

(Part of the Mending the Pieces Universe.)

Author’s Notes:

* Not every monster or ghost you go after is a real monster. Sometimes the ones you have to worry about are the living people.
* Which, of course, was the message of the early Scooby Doo Adventures. Wish they hadn't lost that later on.

Reccer's Notes: A post-canon Halloween Scooby-Doo homage in which sapient fierce corpses Nie Mingjue and Song Zichen and demi-undead Meng Yao, incognito and under aliases, have become a wandering occult investigation trio. (Or, to the inn stableboy who can see ghosts Xiao Xingchen and A-Qing, a quintet.)

(JustAWanderingBabbit is the sort of author who maintains a repertory company of sorts; POV character Ah Bai is an OC who recurs in several of her MDZS works.)

Fanwork Links: House on Haunted Hill (AO3-locked).

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Elrond
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: leucisticpuffin on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: This is a lovingly detailed depiction of the garden at Imladris (Rivendell), with a somewhat younger Elrond sitting, reading. The notes are interesting as well, giving additional detail. I like the warm tones, and of course the amazing gardens and scenery.
Link: Elrond in the flower garden at Imladris

denise posting in

dw_news

Hello, friends! It's about to be December again, and you know what that means: the fact I am posting this actually before December 1 means

karzilla reminded me about the existence of linear time again. Wait, no -- well, yes, but also -- okay, look, let me back up and start again: it's almost December, and that means it's time for our annual December holiday points bonus.

The standard explanation: For the entire month of December, all orders made in the Shop of points and paid time, either for you or as a gift for a friend, will have 10% of your completed cart total sent to you in points when you finish the transaction. For instance, if you buy an order of 12 months of paid time for $35 (350 points), you'll get 35 points when the order is complete, to use on a future purchase.

( The fine print and much more behind this cut! )

Thank you, in short, for being the best possible users any social media site could possibly ever hope for. I'm probably in danger of crossing the Sappiness Line if I haven't already, but you all make everything worth it.

On behalf of Mark, Jen, Robby, and our team of awesome volunteers, and to each and every one of you, whether you've been with us on this wild ride since the beginning or just signed up last week, I'm wishing you all a very happy set of end-of-year holidays, whichever ones you celebrate, and hoping for all of you that your 2026 is full of kindness, determination, empathy, and a hell of a lot more luck than we've all had lately. Let's go.

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan, Sam Carter
Rating: Unrated. I'd say, Teen.
Length: 8260
Content Notes: The author chose not to warn.

If you'd much rather know about major AO3 warnings and be spoiled for the reveal at the end, click the arrow at left. SPOILERS

John has died and it's his ghost or semi-ascended self keeping the team company on their memorial road trip. He's kind of in denial about this until the end, after which he ascends.

Creator Links: vain_glorious on AO3
Themes: Mystery and suspense, Road trips, Team, Friendship, AU: fork in the road

Summary: Following the events of 5X01, Team Sheppard goes to Earth and takes a roadtrip across the US.

Reccer's Notes: The team, plus newborn Torren, are back in the USA, travelling across the country and stopping at all John's favourite attractions. It should be a fun time, but they're all in unhappy moods and John can't get them to perk up at all. As the story progresses, we become aware that something's off, but it's hard to figure out what. The mystery's finally made clear in a possibly hopeful ending, depending on your point of view. It's not for those who don't like any darkness in their fics, but there's great characterisation and it's very well written, surprisingly funny at times, and the ending is powerful.

Fanwork Links: Unmanifest Destiny

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Tolkien: Lord of the Rings
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Boromir
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: traditional art (pastels)
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: electracution on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: A lovely pastel drawing of Boromir. I love the use of minimal colours, and the few very effective white highlights. Aced the likeness, too.
Link: Boromir

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blacksquirrel

October 2018

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Page Summary

pedanther in fancake - Tangled: The Next Birthday by lalaietha
runpunkrun in fancake - Fancake is FIFTEEN
22degreehalo in fancake - NATM: if this was a cowboy movie (i'd give you my boots) by Liviapenn
22degreehalo in fancake - BG3: Glad Tidings by partingxshot
22degreehalo in fancake - Blackadder: General Relativity by Nomad
22degreehalo in fancake - SVSSS: The Scum Villain's Sex and Pleasure Catalogue by benwisehart
full_metal_ox in fancake - Lord of the Rings; How the Grinch Stole Christmas: How Sauron Stole Eä, by Elisif.
brokenframe in vidding - New Vid: Philip Swift/Syrena Fan Video - Sirens
runpunkrun in fancake - 2026 Theme Suggestions
full_metal_ox in fancake - Chen Qing Ling; The Magnetic Fields (band); Let’s Pretend We’re Bunny Rabbits (fanvid) by soupytwist
runpunkrun in fancake - Stranger Things: We Better Make a Start, by thefourthvine
runpunkrun in fancake - Fancake's Themes in 2025
runpunkrun in fancake - Round 181: Amnesty
mific in fancake - due South: Dysmas by MSSalieri
full_metal_ox in fancake - Mo Dao Zu Shi: House on Haunted Hill, by JustAWanderingBabbit
mific in fanart_recs - Elrond in the flower garden at Imladris by leucisticpuffin (SFW)
denise in dw_news - Look! I remembered to post before December started this year!
mific in fancake - SGA: Unmanifest Destiny by vain_glorious
mific in fanart_recs - Boromir by electracution (SFW)

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