swordznsorcery | Elsewhere

As with last year, I won’t be doing the writing meme separately, because once again the only fanfiction that I posted in 2025 were three-sentence ficathon fills, all ten of them coming to a total of 1,108 words (which would make a respectable-for-me word count for one fic once upon a time.) Four were original works, two were from Mansfield Park, one the 2007 Persuasion adaptation, one Harry Potter, one St. Trinian’s and one for Wicked – Part 1. They can be found here. I don’t think I really wrote much else fictionwise over the year, perhaps some other drafts for the three-sentence ficathon, and some editing. Let’s hope 3SF inspires something and, ideally, something I watch or read sparks a fic.

I reposted seven fics (all ficlets), five of which are in the same collection, and there are still fics that need to be reposted here and at AO3.

My version of the fandom meme

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I have caught up on my circle, but barely commented. Still digesting national news (rage) and unofficial anecdata via work (grief concerning mortality in children and this "cold" that seems to be nationwide).

That said, I will leave the comments open to anyone who wants to prompt me for a drabble in a fandom I know or for original concepts. I will, however, screen them.

Format something like "Fandom/Character(s)/Simple Prompt" or "Original Genre/Character Archetype(s)/Simple Prompt". Include your name on AO3, SquidgeWorld, Ad Astra, or CFFA if it is fannish and you want it gifted.

We Will Persevere.

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Via

nanila

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Turn to page 126
3. The 6th full sentence is your life in 2026

“Switch out your blade every three shaves or so.” is from How to Heal Your BFRB by Lauren Inés Ruiz

There’s…going to be a lot of close shaves this year, metaphorically or literally? I need to make sure I keep sharp?

However, though it’s the first book I grabbed, it technically wasn’t the nearest book to me, which was ella minnow pea by Mark Dunn (and I must finish it because I’m really enjoying it). If we go with that, I have:

“The school says he was eight last month.”

Huh. Frankly, no idea what to make of that one! Given that I don’t think it was an accurate statement (I didn’t look too closely because I haven’t got there yet), perhaps it’s a warning about government or media propaganda and how I will be told a lot of things that I know aren’t true but that I don’t know how to deal with and which lead down a dark path, either for me or someone I love.

I think I’ll stick to my close shaves!

ETA

aunty_marion used an ebook and that made me think about what I’d get if I used the fanfic which was what I am actually reading right now. And… I think I got the most likely response from that, tbh.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/25233430/chapters/61166206
Siren Song (Merlin/Arthur) by Ally_Oop got me:

“‘Odd?’”

It is hilariously short and to the point and I am inclined to leave it there, since it is a sentence of its own in terms of the story. However, the next sentence merely corroborates where we’re going with this, since it’s “‘That’s an understatement!’”

But yeah, I’m inclined to believe that my life in 2026 is going to be odd, though I’ll keep you informed as to whether or not it’s an understatement…

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books,
meme

AO3 Link | In the Demon's Claws (2219 words) by Merfilly
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Forgotten Realms, The Legend of Drizzt Series - R. A. Salvatore
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Drizzt Do'Urden & Vierna Do'Urden
Characters: Drizzt Do'Urden, Vierna Do'Urden
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Typical Violence, Resurrection
Summary:

Things in the Hall went slightly different, but still Drizzt chooses the road, and learns of one more quest.

In the Demon's Claws

Drizzt Do'Urden gazed out over the lands, thinking about everything endured. If Regis had not escaped sooner — no, it didn't bear thinking about. What he knew had let them disarm the trap, though not without personal cost for Drizzt himself. He had caused his father's death, brought about the deaths of his House from afar, and now… personally slain his sister, both by dam and sire.

His only consolation had been seeing her less a zealot, more sane in her eyes even, as the light faded, letting him cast true blame upon Lloth once more. It had been Catti-brie who supposed the entire raid had been concocted as but one thread of a web, given how near it had been to losing Wulfgar to the yochlol, how strange that they had chosen to come for Drizzt inside the dwarven stronghold rather than upon the road some night when he would be alone.

Bruenor had thundered, and Wulfgar had pledged support, with Regis managing advice based on his studying Artemis Entreri while the human consorted with drow. Aid had come from the region, and it would be a long time before Menzoberranzan could stir from its cesspool of hate and anger.

Catti and Wulfgar needed to work upon their relationship. Regis still had much recovery to make from his ordeal. Bruenor had a much expanded clan to lead to prominence.

Drizzt?

He looked back to the road for salvation from that which ate at his soul. A passing remark from one of the Harpells had reminded him of unfinished business concerning a crystal… and a demon that had been defeated once.

There had never been any chance of an ending that led anywhere but to the Demonweb Pits, Vierna had known. Either she would arrive in favor, and become one of Lloth's own servitors in some form —

— or she would arrive in full disfavor to be tortured.

She had learned three things as she endured the torture, and then the bartering deal with the balor.

Her father was not in the Demonweb Pits. This had been clear while she was still tortured under the servants of Lolth. He would have been an instrument in those tortures, as she had, again, fallen into that strange emotion surrounding Zaknafein, on seeing how true to himself her brother had remained.

There was the fact that Lloth had never been worth her devotion. This point — she'd had sight of it in the fall of her House — had clarified when the religious madness fell from her eyes even as her brother was lowering her body to the floor. If she had only managed to learn it earlier, and used her power to protect the two males she'd felt strong emotions over!

And, somehow, this balor intended to use her against her brother. Errtu could not keep himself from alternately salivating over his plans against Drizzt Do'Urden or raging in a froth of madness over what the impertinent drow had done to him.

She would just have to help her brother beat the demon at his own game. Vierna was looking forward to his death at Drizzt's hands.

Drizzt's concerns about the demon had proven too correct. He finished cleaning Icingdeath, his mind turning over the words spit at him by the fiend before its death. The gloating, brash taunts of what Errtu meant to do with him — after Errtu finished rending the soul of one that Drizzt cared for — had been too in line with what he knew of the balors. They were incapable of getting over a defeat that had been meted out to them.

Only? Errtu had an advantage over him. The only person's soul that could possibly be at risk to the demon was his own father. Drizzt would no more leave the soul in peril than he ever would have risked the man in life, had he but been a little wiser.

He didn't dare not follow up on this, no matter the source. Since Drizzt had left Mithral Hall, burdened by the suffering, deaths, and his own actions, he'd been seeking a purpose. He would recover the damnable crystal, and trek to a land known to hold the knowledge of the ages. Surely he could learn what was needed to save his father and destroy both threats if he but tried hard enough.

With resolve etched in every line of his body and soul, Drizzt plunged into the frozen north once more, intent on his goals.

The Crystal Shard couldn't be tricked by Drizzt. Nor could it offer him what he wanted, not in a way that ever tempted the drow. The psychic effect of merely carrying it in a quiescent state was enough to make Drizzt constantly question his own mind as he traveled. Guen, on her visits to the Material Plane, also kept a watchful eye on him.

It was a necessary evil, bait for the demon that was seeking vengeance. After the not-so-minor trouble of getting back to it, finding it, Drizzt was just as relieved to find his next destination after a stop in Longsaddle. He'd kept the artifact's presence carefully hidden, indulged Harpell curiosity as some were in residence now that he had not met before.

"If you're dead set against leaning into the alliances you've made in Silverymoon," Bella began, the brighter eye rolling with what she thought of that and the dull one fixed on him, "you need to head for Tethyr, a small kingdom down there with a cathedral being built.

"The priest of Deneir, Chosen they say, will point you to the knowledge you need to deal with this demon you need to be rid of."

"It seems I should see if Captain Deudermont will aid me in my journeys, then," Drizzt said, not keen on going so far south once again, but he was no priest nor wizard, to be able to banish the demon for good… and with luck, this cleric might well know how to rid the realms of the Crystal Shard.

With the right tools, Drizzt Do'Urden would be willing to wager against the evil ones, and try to reclaim his father's soul from the Abyss.

"You could become a cleric of sufficient rank in the decades you have left. Or a wizard of strength," Cadderly mused at Drizzt, even as the wizened Chosen walked beside Drizzt in the garden, aware that Pikel and Ivan both were still keeping an eye on the solitary drow.

"They say time stretches in the Abyss, and I feel that taking the time to do so would further torment the one I seek to rescue. Likewise, I will make no bargain with a Power to become a warlock."

Cadderly looked at Drizzt then, leaning on his staff as they paused. "And yet you refuse your goddess Her offer?"

Drizzt flushed, looking down, and Cadderly knew the ranger had not expected that to be known. When he looked up, it was with an expression of sadness. "She has been good to me, and I will serve Her so long as She walks the path I view as right.

"But I do not trust myself with a spark of who She is."

"Which is of course why She would most want it to be you, for that very distrust, but. You have closed that door — for now — and having a pressing need to save one you care for. The vile artifact's destruction is what you seek, but not before you are able to barter with and defeat the balor.

"A complicated task you have set yourself, but I will set people to the research of it."

"Thank you; it is all I can ask."

Vierna felt something change in her captor. He was eager, close to success of some kind? She felt weaker than she had even in the moments after Lloth forsook the House. How could she aid her brother like this?

When the demon back-handed her for daring to spit in his direction, she lolled in her bonds, feigning unconsciousness and made the choice to reach out to a different power. Never again would she submit to the divine… but bargain with one? That she could — and would! — manage.

~Vhaeraun son of Araushnee and Corellon, god of drow,~ she prayed, all of her singular focus on inviting the Named One to take notice of her. Even now, out of favor and having renounced her former goddess, the names burned in her mind, invoking pain.

Pain that she further used to fuel her call to the one that could make her plans work — she would not fail! Her brother, the boy she had taught and raised, needed her, and this time, she was embracing that.

Little did she know that her very need to aid a male sibling was the right spark to bring the god's attention to her.

"As long as your darkness holds," Danica coached, "the thing will be destroyed."

Drizzt looked past her to the rather unassuming man with them, very little giving away his draconic nature.

"And Icingdeath will guard me from the flames," he reminded himself.

"Yes, a superb frostbrand," Vaeros said, having inspected the magic on the blade to be certain.

"The breach of magic has made it possible for the balor to come to a simple summoning," Drizzt recited. "I will offer the artifact, and then we will be 'attacked', at which point the crystal will burn while I hold darkness — and evade the enraged demon while protecting my father."

"Presuming that the captive is brought, and that it is your father," Danica agreed. "Should be simple for the drow that decimated Menzoberranzan's might."

Drizzt stared at her, then saw the twitch of her lips, and gave into the laughter at that outrageous elaboration of his part in the war of Mithral Hall.

"We will do this, Ranger, on our shared love of the Wilds," Vaeros said, once the laughter had worn off, with the effect of living Drizzt lighter in spirit.

"So we shall."

It was not Zaknafein.

That small fact half-broke Drizzt's willpower at first. He wanted to angrily decry that he didn't care about Vierna.

His heart knew that for a lie.

She looked mangled in the grasp of the demon, and trickles of blood had formed where the clawed hand pierced flesh.

She was conscious, and her eyes locked on his.

Distantly, he could remember the plan even as the sealed case with Crenshinibon hung from an outstretched hand, the demon gloating within the summoning circle.

His mind toured over early, harsh lessons. He recalled the gentle touches that had been rare and treasured. He remembered that someone had to have told Zaknafein of his speed and skill with both hands. He recalled the look of sanity in her eyes, at the end of her life, blood spilling from a wound he'd made in her.

Something in her eyes told him she trusted him, and that she was ready for whatever came next.

"Let her go, and you can have what you want."

"You think I am unaware of the treachery lurking in your soul, drow?" Errtu demanded, hand closing more —

— and Vierna uttered a quick phrase in formal drow, one that called upon Vhaeraun, god of the male drow. The next moment, she was small, transformed into a bat that eluded the demon's grasp, fluttering valiantly into the hood of the cloak Drizzt wore.

He prayed that was enough to protect her, as he gave himself over to the Hunter, Icingdeath more than eager to drink the blood of this balor once more. Errtu had no chance to evade, or even dispel the darkness, as Drizzt furiously fought for his life, the crystal's end, and for the daughter of his father.

Vierna awakened at the feeling of healing being pushed into her, the kind that traced fire in her veins, counter to her very nature but helping abate the last tortures' marks upon her.

She found herself looking into the purple eyes that had entranced her since his birth.

"We're in a small cave. I didn't want to impose on my allies," he told her softly. "You turned back to drow after the fight ended."

"I did not ask for it to be a permanent change," Vierna said, but she reached for his hand on her shoulder. "You can heal?"

"If my patron agrees, yes," he said, taking her hand and shifting so he could sit more comfortably and hold it. "Vhaeraun?"

"I promised Him I would become a potent cleric for Him, if He let me aid my troublesome little brother against the balor."

Her smile on those words provoked one from him.

"I thought it was my — our father."

"And yet, you still pushed through with the plan you had made." She squeezed his hand. "We will have peace, Drizzt. I swear it on my continued life."

He contemplated her words a long moment, then laid down on the bedroll, sliding an arm under her neck, tucking close to give her the warmth he had.

"Good. There's been enough strife for us both, I think."

She closed her eyes, shifting a little to be comfortable, and decided that he was still strange to her.

But she had become something different and wanted to embrace the strangeness with him.

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Episode 1

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Episode 2

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I’ve spent all my time thinking I’d be a boring Beta only to look today at my nest of seven pillows, a bed wedge, and a squishy bed pillow; and remember my habit of nudging people with my head and purring at them when I’m happy; not to mention the way I used to hide under the sofa when my sisters had raised voiced arguments and my liking for soft, touchy-feely materials, and…yeah, I’m an Omega, aren’t I?

When I was a kid I regularly used to make literal nests out of the duvet and my pillow and cuddly toys and curl up in it, as a comfort thing on nights when I was sad. (It wasn’t wildly warm as too much of the duvet was round the edge and underneath, but oh well. There were enough cuddly toys to help.)

Huh. Sudden perception change of self! lol. (And come on, fandom folk, if you read omegaverse fics, you must have considered your orientation at some point?!)

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Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

Dear fandom,

Thank you for welcoming me, whatever age I’ve been and whatever age the rest of you have been around me. I’ve been the younger one in a group (despite coming to interactive fandom comparatively late) and the oldest one; and yet everyone has accepted me. And when I say that, I mean you’ve accepted me, the autistic, really crap at people-ing, anxiety-ridden mess of a bisexual enby.

I remember the first mini-con I went to. There were only about ten of us max, but there was this moment, surrounded by people I’d never met, when I suddenly realised I’d found “my kind”. All the things I usually bit back and stopped myself from saying out loud, I could say and people would appreciate them, or at least not act as if there was anything wrong with saying them.

Online or offline, fandom friends have been some of the best friends I’ve made. One of my long time close friends originally friended me because I was the only other person with Chalet School as an interest on LJ, many many many years ago. We’ve seen each other through a lot of things. Fandom folk, you are my people, and I love you. Thank you for everything you’ve given me.

Love,

Sabethea

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snowflake challenge

I continue recovering very slowly but at least pretty steadily - and my things are gradually getting out of boxes too. In the meantime, I thought I could probably manage to do the end of year meme, so here it is:

The usual writing meme for the year. (Last year's post is here.)

( Cut for length )

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Character/s: Third Doctor, Delgado Master
Rating: G
Summary: Up shit creek with no TARDIS.

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1073: shelter

Fanfic Projects

Dreams of Her Own - https://archiveofourown.org/works/71432751

Sequel prompts from

ukiacatdragon - Eilistraee, the shroud of Lolth, Corellon, Arvandor's overwhleming goodness, plotting to nullify Lolth's plots via Sharr, the raid being brought up, Tall Ones finding Ellifain early, closure for drow and elf child, quest

0 words

Something for Rex/Fives/Echo:

save Fives from his fate, save Echo, Rex throwing himself into helping them adapt.
~ Potential angst - "I'm the last one of my batch standing. You just got one back. Don't throw that away because you can't help but see what's lost instead of helping find a future."
~ Other idea is Ahsoka doesn't make it out of the Citadel but Echo does. Evolution of the trio with guilt over losing one of their Jedi. (Side note of Tarkin died there, Ahsoka isn't dead)

450 words

Padme and the Force Baby

Anakin's visions send HER to the temple where she declares there is no father, must be the force, cue shenanigans.

0 words

HLH shortcuts sequel - https://archiveofourown.org/works/74116516

Joe and Rachel meet in Seacouver

0 words

Exchange Assignment

REDACTED

0 words

10trueloves - ~~2/10~~ 3/10 written /

genprompt_bingo 0/25 written

Original projects

No progress on the original projects

Myth of Man - https://sylph-and-asp.dreamwidth.org/tag/universe:+myth+of+man

"it's dangerous they've advanced so much" / "The reasons were grave" / "We are merely protecting our many peoples"

Unwanteds - https://sylph-and-asp.dreamwidth.org/tag/universe:+unwanteds

~ Decide if the two bits I managed to write so far for the sequel work, continue if so
~ prequel dammit, for the crystal and the Bright Flames origin story

Finished from list

Vierna Resurrection:
Wulfgar not die, it's Vierna in Errtu's grasp, Passage to Dawn plot
almost 1700 words READY FOR POSTING

Poetry Fiction entry: Set against Legacy of the Silver Marches - https://squidgeworld.org/series/1870
Drizzt and Alustriel, under their disguises, before they reach Silverymoon.
350 words - READY FOR POSTING

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rl: projects: writing

The Night Manager 2.1

I reread my posts about the show from when it aired in spring 2016 (I was very nitpicky!) in lieu of rewatching it, and then watched the show live. I’m probably not going to follow the schedule, but rather catch up with it in rotation with the other drama shows I’m watching. It was gripping enough, even though there’s a strong whiff of it not being based on a book, and so basically televised fanfiction.

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tv in 2026,
uk

Happy New Year!

Welcome to

dw100! Challenges are posted approximately once a week.

Challenge #1073 is shelter.

The rules:

All stories must be 100 words long
Please place your story behind a cut if it contains spoilers for the current season
You don't have to use the challenge word or phrase in your story; it's just there for inspiration
Please include the challenge word or phrase in the subject line of your post
Please use the challenge tag 1073: shelter on any story posted to this challenge

Good luck!

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1073: shelter

cultivativity is a new kind of comm for cultivating your creativity. Posts are member locked, but we have begun exploring.

This is the welcome and FAQ post

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recs,
rl: internet

Okay so my kids were here ALL week, and I am shocked I know what today is.

~Gregory Peck in Spellbound - gif set
~Children of Blood and Bone - link to wiki about the upcoming film
~I am a Librarian - Evie Carnahan art

~Stephanie Brown Art - Picture
~Better than Waffles - Six of Crows art
~Crochet Ghost Crew - photo

~Moments of Whimsy - Screencaps of text posts
~Het to Yaoi to Yuri - text and pics of an animation couple
~Sneaky Engagement - video, sapphic

~Zelazny's Amber A-Z poem - text
~The end of MTV - Link to the reddit post, video for a song, text

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recs

Challenge #1

The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

Hi, I’m Sabethea, often known in fannish places as iamisaac. I’ve never done the snowflake challenge despite being in fandom for upwards of 25 years (which gives you a sense of how old I am) so it felt in a way as if it were time.

I used to write a lot and I’d like to write more but these days I’m more of a reader. I read an awful lot of fanfic - if you’re in the Merlin fandom and write anything long, you’ll probably have had a comment from me, as will a lot of Teen Wolf writers, though not for a while. I try and comment on every long fic I read, unless I didn’t really like it (but if I liked it enough to finish it, I’ll kudos it anyway because if you’ve written 40k words and I’ve read them, you deserve some recognition of that).

I sometimes have ideas for fics, which I post on tumblr, because I don’t have the energy to write them myself and no one runs feats where you offer prompts in the same way they used to, these days. And occasionally I will read one of those one word prompts on tumblr and write a ficlet, but usually I’m too tired and disabled. Even writing this post has exhausted me.

I love fandom, though, and have met some of my best friends through it, one of whom I was chatting with just this morning, even though we’ve both left the original fandom well behind us. :)

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Hotel Portofino - 3.4 Experiments

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I watched this last year!

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tv in 2025

Click the banner to join us and make some new friends!

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rl: internet

Since I want to write more frequently this year, I'm considering doing

shivver 's plan of one or two fics a month.

So here, have a thing.

Take a pairing (or two or more characters), and put them in this random generator, then post your favorite resulting prompts (as many as you wish) in a comment below and I will try to oblige you by writing at least one of them.

https://www.seasip.info/Misc/genremixer.html

awake
living room

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yuletide is now over for another year! I did, in fact, have the misfortune to turn up at the exact wrong moment to catch the reveals bug on the 24th, so I saw the identity of my gift-writer, although as they were someone that I only had the vaguest idea of having seen the name around AO3 somewhere before, it didn't really spoil anything, thankfully.

I had hoped to do some little treats, as I got on and got my fic done as soon as I could, but I moved instead. However, as I cut out one section from my assignment and posted it separately in Madness, I did technically still post a treat as well!

I wrote The Winslow Boy for

edwardianspinsteraunt, so I was not super anonymous really, for anyone who actually looked that far, but I had a lovely time spending a month or so rewatching the film and coming up with different scenarios from their prompts and my head for a 5 + 1 Times fic. By the end, I decided, though, that the "+1" just increasingly didn't sit right with the rest, so I split it off, hence the Madness treat.

Passing Acquaintances (8985 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Desmond Curry
Additional Tags: 5 Times, Post-Canon, 1910s, World War I, Trains, London, Smoking, Politics, Cars, Suffragettes, Yuletide, Edwardian Period
Summary: Five ways Catherine and Sir Robert might have met again, after the trial.

( Some writerly blathering )

I wanted to include the Winslows lose the case AU if I could, as I knew

edwardianspinsteraunt was keen on that idea - and as I thought would it might rather put paid to any Catherine/Robert, at least for quite some time, it fitted well into the format as the "one time they didn't" (meet again) (although never at any point was that categorical). It did work out well and was maybe the most Rattigan section in the end, I thought, so I had to post it even after I cut it. (Although had I realised sooner I was going to set it loose alone, I'd have found a way to make the start a little less in media res, although tbf, it's an unlikely one to appeal to anyone who doesn't know canon).

Anyway, here it is:

and watch the things you gave your life to broken (2799 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Catherine Winslow, Desmond Curry, Arthur Winslow, Violet (Winslow Boy), Dickie Winslow, Robert Morton (Winslow Boy)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, 1910s, Edwardian Period, The Winslows lose the case, Yuletide Treat
Summary: The Winslows lose the case.

With the usual thanks to

persiflage for the beta!! <3<3<3

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Xenon's Seventh Circle

Light years away from the morning

Combined writing and fandom memes for 2025

Apologies, and More Joy Day (tomorrow the 8th)

Book fortune telling meme

Fic: In the Demon's Claws

The Masked Singer (series 7 starts)

Alpha Beta Omega Dynamics

Snowflake 3

End of Year Writing Meme 2025

My top 9 movies of 2025

1073: Shelter

Project Round Up

A return to glamorous spy action

Challenge #1073: shelter

New Comm

Various Links 12/28 - 1/3

Snowflake Challenge #1

Washed down by booze (not by me)

Friending Meme

Meme-ness

Yuletide Reveals 2025

Links

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Style Credit

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