Falling Stars

Hikago Day

2026-05-05T08:59:25Z

HONDA:
Waya, d'you mind if I come to your Saturday study group?
My sensei doesn't have a group on Saturdays.

WAYA:
Sure. You can all come.

NASE:
Honda and Komiya are strong players, but I'd just slow you guys down.
I'd hate to do that...

WAYA:
How are you gonna get better thinking like that?

- Chapter 130 of Hikaru no Go

***

Some things I've been watching lately:

* Evangelion 3.0: You Can (Not) Redo - The third of the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. It's been so many years since I watched the first two, I have practically no memory of what happened. But this movie drops us into middle of the action along with Shinji, who also has no memory of what happened, so I guess it was fine. Anyway, it delivered exactly what I wanted from an Eva movie: dramatic action sequences, emotionally intense confrontations, even more emotionally intense silences, convoluted apocalyptic mythology, Eva Units unleashing their monstrous side, and lots of Kaworu. (There was even "Ode to Joy".) I could have used less of Shinji making bad choices, but I guess if you put a traumatised teenager into a giant robot, you can't be too surprised. I'm still not sure I understand the entire plot, but that's what I expect from Eva too.

* Star Trek: Starfleet Academy - Star Trek is one of the canons of my heart, but I've never been excited about the idea of a Starfleet Academy show. I mean, cadets go to classes? Maybe take exams? I was so wrong. It turns out how you hook me is to set it in the far future - a thousand years from now - when the galaxy is emerging from an era of chaos and destruction. Starfleet is trying to rebuild itself and the Academy is teaching a new generation, who are the hope of the future. I love the mentors who remember the best of how we can be, and the young people trying to discover who they are and what they stand for. It feels so relevant to our world today, which is a torch that Star Trek has always carried. I loved Season 1. I'm excited for Season 2. And I'm gutted Paramount has already decided there will be no Season 3.

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My Brilliant Career

2026-04-27T05:12:44Z

I always love a good Australian musical. And it's been pretty exciting over the past few years, to see more of them appear on the scene. This one is based on My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, a classic book by a literary icon. (I walk past her statue regularly!)

The musical premiered in Melbourne in 2024. On the weekend I saw it performed by the Sydney Theatre Company at the Roslyn Packer Theatre.

Previously

Even though I watched the movie and read the book when I was young, I remember very little of the story. Embarrassingly, for all these years, I've had the impression that the book was an autobiography. Because it's about a young woman growing up in 1890s rural Australia and dreaming of becoming a writer. Which is why I was mildly confused, watching the musical, that the main character's name was Sybylla. ("I thought her name was Stella? Because the Stella Prize is named for her? Or maybe it's a nickname?")

But no. It's a novel! (Which actually did attract controversy when published, because some people thought it had thinly veiled references to real people and incidents from her own life.)

Story

Sybylla is fifteen, hating her life of drudgery on a struggling farm in the middle of nowhere, and chafing against her only future being a wife and mother. Her dream is art, music, and writing. She wants to figure out herself and the world. We follow her through the next few years, exploring life beyond the farm, growing up into a young woman, and trying to carve her own path.

I love that Sybylla is dorky, passionate, rebellious, and outspoken. There are lines of dialogue and narrative that I assume are excerpts from the book, but Sybylla herself gets to drop in modern phrases as well.

It was surprisingly funny, but also emotional. It had a great energy to it, and if some moments felt a bit raw and unpolished, that made it feel more real. This is a musical that supports the need to express yourself, to make your voice be heard, even when it seems like the world isn't interested in what people like you have to say. It hit home about the importance of creativity to humans, because it's communicating what we think and what we feel, to someone else somewhere who might connect with it.

Casting

The performance I saw featured understudies, who were all excellent:

* Sybylla (Melanie Bird)
* Gertie/Blanche/Ensemble (Meg McKibbin)
* Harry/Peter/Ensemble (Jack Green)

Miscellaneous

Cast recording - An original cast recording was made in 2020, after a 2019 workshop, but the track listing differs a bit from the final musical.

Miniseries - Apparently Netflix is making the book into a miniseries! To be released in late 2026 or early 2027.

Video

"In the Wrong Key":

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Id Pro Quo letter

2026-04-26T11:37:17Z

Dear Id Pro Quo Writer,

Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me! I love all these fandoms, and the tropes I've nominated, and I'm really keen to see what you do in them! I've also provided some extra prompts in case you're looking for inspiration, but I'd also love to see whatever other ideas capture your imagination.

For me, it's about the characters and their interactions. I'm not a stickler about researching canon details, as long as the spirit of the characters and the flavour of their world is there. I want to see adventures that might have been, or missing moments from between scenes, or a slice of their daily lives, or where the future might take them.

LIKES: Some of the things I enjoy in stories are: undying loyalty, personal bravery, risking self to protect others, displaying cool competence, big damn hero moments, special everyday moments, banter, hijinks, confessions exposing emotional vulnerability, conversations loaded with unspoken meaning, tough people showing a soft side, and soft people showing a tough side. Some of my favourite tropes and genres are: amnesia, angst with a happy ending, animal transformation, arranged marriage, bodyswap, cosmic horror, curtainfic, fish out of water, five things fic, getting together, hurt/comfort, marriage of convenience, mystery solving, requited pining, road trips, sex pollen, slice of life, stranded together, and time travel.

DISLIKES: I generally prefer optimistic stories in exchanges, so I'm not keen on anything that is brutally violent or hopelessly bleak. However, I don't mind darkness during the story, as long as there is a glimmer of light at the end. Endings that are bittersweet or ambiguous are also fine.

DO NOT WANT: Noncon, underage, bleak endings, crossovers, setting change AUs like high school, coffee shop, or omegaverse (but canon divergence AUs are fine).

RATING: I've requested some gen and some ships in this exchange. For the latter, I'd enjoy anything ranging from unresolved sexual tension, to getting together, to established relationship. I'm fine with explicit sex, but it's usually not the most important part of the story for me.

STYLE: I'm fine with first, second, or third person. I'm fine with past, present, or future tense. I'm fine with stories of any length, including stories that start in media res or consist of a scene that implies a larger plot.

POV: I'm open to stories from the point of view of a different character from the ones requested, especially if they provide an interesting perspective on the requested characters.

INTERACTIVE FICTION: I like interactive fiction and would welcome it.

AO3: I have gifts enabled and am open to treats.

I've listed more details under each individual request.

I hope this helps. Have fun writing!

Yours sincerely,

meteordust
(AO3 name Serenade)

***

( Request 1: Haikyuu!! - fanfic )

( Request 2: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett (TV) - fanfic )

( Request 3: Tekken (Video Games) - fanfic )

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Julius Caesar

2026-04-24T15:50:40Z

Last month - incidentally on the day before the Ides of March - I watched Julius Caesar.

It was actually the fourth time I've seen it, because it's my favourite Shakespeare play. But each time, it feels less like history and closer to reality, and that's kind of depressing. I went in thinking, maybe this will be the last time I feel up to it?

2011
2018
2021

Anyway, this production was by Bell Shakespeare at the Sydney Opera House.

Casting

Not the first time I've seen Brutus played by a female actor. (The character was genderswapped, rather than just cross-cast.)

I really loved the tender and emotional scenes between her and her wife Portia (who was played by a nonbinary actor, but whose character was not genderswapped). It was great to see same-sex relationship rep! But kind of sad to then realise it's all going to end in tears.

Lucius was also genderswapped.

Octavius was cross-cast but not genderswapped.

Staging

The set was simple and versatile: a courtyard with red walls and a concrete floor, with weeds sprouting from the cracks. Furniture was moved around from scene to scene: tables, couches, shade umbrellas, potted trees.

Costuming

The senators and conspirators wore very sharp white suits. Calphurnia and Portia wore gorgeous flowing white dresses. The ordinary people of Rome wore modern casualwear.

Intermission

Halfway through the play, when the conspirators have casually surrounded Caesar, and right when Casca raises his dagger to stab Caesar in the back, we cut to black. The curtain falls. Very dramatic choice of break!

When we return from intermission, the stage lights go up on a bloody scene. Everyone is frozen in tableau, but in the aftermath. Caesar's dead body on the floor. Bloodstained daggers held in bloodstained hands. And all the white suits, splattered in blood. (I guess that was the reason for that costuming choice!)

Very effective at highlighting the pivotal scene.

Speeches

Sometimes genderswapping characters is just really cool and gives more opportunities to talented performers. But I'm always interested when it also brings a new dimension to the story. When Mark Antony says, "Brutus is an honourable woman", I couldn't help but get vibes of all the times women in politics have been subtly (or blatantly) undercut by male rivals (or colleagues).

During the course of his speech, Mark Antony picked up the mic from its stand, I guess to indicate that this was shifting into deliberate performance. I wondered if he was actually going to do a mic drop at the end, but I guess that would have been a bit too much.

Miscellaneous

A favourite moment, that I don't think I've paid much attention to before: when Caesar tells the soothsayer, "The ides of March are come." And the soothsayer says, "Ay, Caesar; but not gone." Ooooh, burn.

Another favourite moment: the triumvirate are sitting at a table. Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar have their heads bent, working on notes and reports. Lepidus is stirring his cup of tea and clinking the spoon. The other two look up at him slowly. A hilarious way to illustrate the cracks in the alliance.

Thoughts

I used to be Team Antony, ride-or-die loyalty. I thought now I would be Team Brutus, fuck all tyrants. But the aftermath of the assassination, when the conspirators are joyfully telling each other how happy all the people will be at this news, while everyone is still drenched in blood - it feels appallingly illusory, born of horrifying violence.

From the program book:

If we do our job, we hope you are conflicted. Shakespeare is a political philosopher who creates a thought experiment from history, and his genius is to be able to lay out the events deliberately and clearly, yet we find no easy answers.

The theatre is a place where we can hold opposing ideas in our heads at the same time. We can appreciate the nobleness of Brutus and her thoughtfulness while lamenting her naive assumption of these qualities in others. I hope we feel some pity, even if we wish her honourable nature did not cloud reality.

We can be appalled by Antony's willingness to incite chaos while understanding his shock and grief at the death of his friend, and his single-minded determination. His willingness to risk it all is thrilling.

But the central question Brutus debates in soliloquy proves elusive: can one commit murder and retain any moral standing? Is there any such thing as an honorable assassination?

Maybe I will end up watching it again next time. Will there come a day when it feels more fictional and less relevant? Not so far.

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Just a club

2026-04-05T13:23:11Z

One of my favourite arcs from Haikyu!! is the Tokyo training camp. Everyone in the Karasuno team is working on different ways to level up their game. Except for Tsukishima, who's always been kind of detached and cynical in his attitude. (We find out why when we get his Traumatic Backstory Reveal.)

But even he starts to wonder, what makes everyone else work so hard, at something that's just a high school extracurricular?

Cue the entrance of two of the Tokyo team captains, Kuroo and Bokuto, who mentor him in different ways - and kick off a character arc that pays off so satisfyingly later, in one of the most awesome moments of the story.

Anyway. It was really cool to see this sequence brought to life in the stage play!

Engeki Haikyuu!! Bokuto and Kuroo teach Tsukishima - feat. Kosaka Ryotaro (Eng subs)

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Hyper Projection Engeki: Haikyu!!

2026-03-28T11:39:47Z

So when I got into Haikyu!! last year, I read the manga and watched the anime. But I also discovered there was a stage play! Or rather, a series of eleven stage plays that covered pretty much the entire story.

They were performed in Japan from 2015-2021, and have recordings on DVD and Blu-ray. Sadly I don't have a region-free player anymore (why are they so hard to find now?) so I've been browsing video clips online.

I love seeing how things get adapted into different formats. But you might wonder - how do you portray a volleyball match onstage?

Physically - with the use of projection screens, sound effects, and - when you have a dramatic slo-mo sequence - a volleyball on a stick moved like a puppet.

Metaphorically - with dance battles!

So these are stage plays, not musicals, ie nobody sings. But they dance! And do acrobatics. Some of the volleyball matches are like dance battles, and the different teams have their own dance styles. Which is pretty cool.

It's also pretty cool to see live action versions of these characters. The actors do a great job of capturing their essence.

Anyway, the opening sequence below (from the second stage play) gives a good sense of the vibe:

Opening Sequence (Karasuno, Revival!)

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Zombie! The Musical cast recording

2026-03-16T12:16:36Z

Previous posts:

* Zombie! The Musical
* Into Her Brains: How Zombie! The Musical Came To Life

The cast recording is out! So excited that everyone in the world can listen to the songs now.

There's also an album booklet available for download, with synopsis, lyrics, and credits. Which is useful because this isn't a sung-through musical, and plot happens between the songs.

* Cast recording links

My favourite songs:

* Meaty Part - The "I Want" song! Three very different women, fighting against typecasting. Wanting the chance to be the hero, the star, or just remembered.

* Heroes and Monsters - Your head says, "Definitely a villain origin song." Your heart says, "But did Magneto have some valid points?" Definitely shows why that argument is so terribly tempting.

* Ensemble Player - Saving the day through the power of friendship! (Or maybe the power of love. I mean, someone willing to sacrifice themselves, and someone else unwilling to let them? Ships have been built on less.)

I also wanted to mention the songs for each zombie encounter, since they're so different:

* Into Your Brains - My least favourite track to listen to. Not because it's bad, but because it's too real. The creator has said that the zombies are psychological, and they target your weaknesses and anxieties. Felicity's worst fear is being objectified.

* Take After Your Old Man - Pub rock vibes! George's worst fear is being a disappointment to his dad. For a song that's slamming him for being who he is, it's remarkably catchy.

* Carol's Last Dance - So lovely, like a music box. Carol's worst fear is that her glory days are over. The imagery in this is gorgeous.

* Insignificant - Retro flashbacks! (I am forced to admit that the nineties are retro now.) Sam's worst fear is being disliked by everyone and ruining everything she has. Even though she is a total sweetheart.

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Babylon 5 - S2E01 - Points of Departure

2026-03-02T12:18:57Z

A new year, a new season - and new faces.

( Spoilery reactions )

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The Third Noman

2026-02-12T13:36:48Z

This year was the third time I made a Noman in Fallen London. I hoped to keep it around long enough for it to achieve enlightenment and pass on an Elemental Secret.

I admit I was probably too casual about it. I just used whatever Pails and Vials I already had on hand, instead of farming them in advance. And I was a bit haphazard about logging in to check for the Noman's Progress card, instead of doing it whenever the deck refilled.

Getting to 12 out of 15 wasn't bad, but it wasn't enough. Maybe next year.

Goodbye, Frostflower. You got so close.

( Stats )

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Yuletide meta

2026-01-13T05:32:57Z

Notes on Safe Harbour (Alliance-Union - CJ Cherryh)

( Notes )

Notes on Ubiquitous You (Fallen London)

( Notes )

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Yuletide reveals

2026-01-02T05:28:42Z

The story I wrote for Lavender Threads was:

Title: Safe Harbour
Fandom: Alliance-Union - CJ Cherryh
Relationship: Damon Konstantin/Elene Quen/Joshua Talley
Characters: Joshua Talley, Damon Konstantin, Elene Quen, Signy Mallory
Rating: Teen
Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Getting Together, Post-Canon
Summary: Josh is not good at dealing with truths.

The treat I wrote for BubblyishYoshi was:

Title: Ubiquitous You
Fandom: Fallen London
Relationship: Player/Master(s) of the Bazaar, Player/Mr Pages, Player/Mr Veils, Player/Mr Wines, Player/Mr Fires
Characters: Player, The Masters of the Bazaar, Mr Pages, Mr Veils, Mr Wines, Mr Fires
Rating: General
Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Alternate Identities, Non-Traditional Courtship, Railway Statues, Second person POV, Yuletide Treat
Summary: The Player wears too many hats. The Player likes too many bats.

Meta to follow.

Thank you again to Chronograph for Adventure! Romantic couple's activities! Rubbery lumps! and BubblyishYoshi for To Take Tea With an Ostensible Stranger, two beautiful explorations of one of my favourite storylines in Fallen London.

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The year in review

2025-12-31T03:18:31Z

Last year, I said, "It certainly has been A Year. A lot of family health stuff, and everything going on in the world." Well, it's definitely still all that.

( My fandom year )

( 2025 in review )

Happy New Year! Wishing you peace and joy in 2026.

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Building the reality we can live with

2025-12-30T06:46:21Z

Normally Estival is the highlight of my Fallen London year. It's an annual event held in the northern hemisphere summer, and unlike the other regular festivals, it's a unique storyline every time. This year was the fifth one:

2021
2022
2023
2024

I haven't had as much time this year to play Fallen London, and I'm behind with some of the major storylines like Firmament. But I was still keen to take part in Estival, and I just hoped the scavenger hunt didn't require access to areas I hadn't unlocked.

For more details, including a day-by-day recap of events:

Timeline of events (on the wiki)
Gameplay guide (on the wiki)
Estival: Hell is Missing (official promo post)

It was a lot more experimental this year, and I didn't really get as hyped about it. It started off wild and interesting, with your character waking up to find the laws of reality have started going out of control. But after that initial fun exploration, things got a lot harder and less appealing.

On a mechanical level, some of the puzzles were so difficult or obscure, they felt impossible to solve unless you burned up a lot of actions trying different things. Though apparently, if you were on the Discord solving them together with other players, it was a good time.

Normally I'm fine with lagging behind the early adopters, and being guided by hints or even looking up solutions. But there's still a feeling of logic and choice. This time, it felt like I was glued to a walkthrough, jumping through arbitrary hoops to get a desired result.

There were also time limits on some stages, which meant if you took too long getting to that stage, it wasn't available anymore. For example, I missed out on doing the quest for the Book of All Hours, because I wanted to complete the quest for Pinning Down the Corners instead of skipping that activity.

And on a story level, it didn't really seize my imagination or get me deeply invested, the way past Estivals have. The emotional core of the story was about the Bishop of Southwark, one of the veterans of the war of 1868, and his survivor's guilt about his fellow soldiers who were imprisoned by Hell. And the plot climax of the story was when we were able to free those prisoners - sort of - by carving out a bubble of reality for them as their enclave, outside of the reach of Hell but also apart from the rest of the Neath. So a kind of bittersweet ending.

But more than that, even though I'm sure it was cathartic for Southwark, it felt like we were experiencing that catharsis secondhand. I don't know why freeing the prisoners from the Sixth Coil felt so emotional, and freeing the prisoners from Hell didn't.

There were things I enjoyed. I liked searching for the Urchins disguised as the Masters. I liked meeting Milton the Devil. I liked visiting the tutorial version of New Newgate Prison again. I liked the new activities of hunting rogue laws and forging new laws. I liked taking on the challenge of getting Scathless the hard way. But overall, it didn't hit the heights for me that past years have. But maybe that's too much to ask for every time.

Further discussion:

HELL IS MISSING had potential, but the execution was a mess
Thoughts on this year's Estival?

Failbetter Games has announced:

We're taking a break from Estival in 2026.

You'll be able to get Estival tokens and to spend them, and we may include a few other things as well. But there'll be no big overarching storyline. And given the nature of Estival, it seems right to emphasise – we're not being coy, and this isn't a fake out. There will be no falling stalactite. No broken law engines. The citizens of London will not need to come together to fend off some surprising threat to their fair city. For we have looked upon our spreadsheets, and reluctantly accepted that next year we cannot do everything we might wish in Fallen London while making adequate progress on Mandrake, which we're working to bring to Early Access.

It's obviously a lot of work to put together a brand new Estival every year, and have to meet the high expectations for the event, and manage the pace of player progress in real time. And you don't want to burn out. So a break sounds like a good idea.

(Of course the playerbase is like, "But this is what they would say if it was a fake out!")

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Murder For Two: Christmas Edition

2025-12-28T13:38:25Z

I saw this musical at the start of December at the Hayes Theatre. I'd never heard of it before. I hadn't even planned on seeing it.

What I had planned on seeing was Merry and Bright, a play about a department store Mrs Claus, who gets sacked from her decades-long job right before Christmas, and decides she won't give up without a fight. Starring the legendary Nancye Hayes, for whom the Hayes Theatre is named. It sounded fun and heartwarming. Unfortunately the run had to be cancelled due to actor unavailability. So this show was the replacement.

The premise is a classic locked room murder mystery. The twist is that there are only two actors: one playing the detective, and the other playing all the suspects.

Unlike other musicals with actors playing multiple characters, there were no costume changes! The actors conveyed the different characters with changes in voice and posture, often switching between characters several times in the same scene.

This was done in a broad comedy way. There were cheesy accents (the wife was played with a Southern accent, and the psychiatrist was played with a German accent) and visual shorthand (like the niece standing with her hands on her hips and her feet planted apart, or the ballerina posed in a plie with a duck face expression). Some of it was a bit panto, but it was effective.

This is very much a theatre production that has to be a theatre production. Pretending other characters we couldn't see were in the same scene, made it feel like a game of make-believe the actors and the audience were playing together, where we're all suspending our disbelief.

It led to surprises like the sudden introduction of a boys' choir that had been in the room all along. Or the fourth wall break where the detective was speaking to one suspect and demanded to speak to another, but the first suspect refused to yield way and let the other suspect appear.

I enjoyed the genderplay of the actors playing characters of different genders. It helped make some of the noir detective tropes feel less cliched.

The mystery had its share of red herrings, everyone with a motive and a secret to hide, and a satisfying resolution.

The songs were reasonably fun and entertaining. But what I was most impressed by was the music. As the promo said of the two actors: "Together, they play every character. They also play the piano." The actors play the piano! Usually taking turns to play the background music while the other person is acting in the foreground, but sometimes playing a duet.

And the Christmas Edition thing? Apparently, it's just the standard version of the musical, but with festive season references shoehorned in, which they lampshade up front.

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Yuletide collection opens!

2025-12-27T06:06:08Z

Ahhh, how is it almost the end of December? The last few months have been a blur. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were hectic in a good way with family celebrations, and now there's the chance to settle down with the Yuletide collection! This time I was lucky enough to receive two amazing gifts. Both for the same fandom, but taking different angles.

Title: Adventure! Romantic couple's activities! Rubbery lumps! [archive-locked]
Fandom: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Player (Fallen London)/Your Lover Returned (Fallen London), Player (Fallen London) & Your Lover Returned (Fallen London), Player (Fallen London), Your Lover Returned (Fallen London), Fruits of the Zee Festival (Fallen London), the joy and agony of reconnecting with someone you love but no longer know
Summary: A new ship rests in the marina. A ferry, headed to Mutton Island for their annual festival, you gather by the yells of its zailors. When you make the mistake of catching one's eye, their cries get much louder in your direction. Adventure! Wholesome family activities! Romantic couple's activities! Rubbery lumps!
You and your companion share a glance. A smile tugs at their lips, and they tilt their head invitingly in the ferry's direction. Well, it's not like either of you have something better to do today. You scrounge payment and gallantly help your companion aboard.

A lovely and wistful adventure together. Gorgeous and atmospheric.

Title: To Take Tea With an Ostensible Stranger [archive-locked]
Fandom: Fallen London | Echo Bazaar
Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Player/Your Lover Returned (Fallen London), Player (Fallen London), Your Lover Returned (Fallen London), Original Fallen London Character(s), This is tagged f/f because one of the characters is a he/him butch lesbian lmao, Spoilers for Ambition: Nemesis (Fallen London), Third Person POV
Summary: Joaquín didn't remember her. He didn't remember a lot of things. Maybe Petunia could help him sort a few things out.
Contains major spoilers for Ambition: Nemesis. Written for Yuletide 2025.

All the exploration of aftermath I could want. Beautiful angst with a hopeful ending.

Thank you so much, dear authors! You've really made my Yuletide.

Sometimes I wonder, is this nomination too niche? Too obscure? Do I need to make an evidence post? Is anyone else even interested in this weird corner of the canon? To find out that someone else is - it's just so good.

Exchanges can be exhausting or frustrating or unpredictable. But this is the kind of thing that keeps me coming back: the magic of releasing your requests out into the world, and sometimes them returning with a brand new story that would never have existed otherwise.

1538 stories in 1075 fandoms in the Yuletide collection, and 226 stories in 194 fandoms in the Yuletide Madness collection. Happy Yuletide!

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Dogsred (volume 1) (ongoing)

2025-12-21T12:44:54Z

After Golden Kamuy, I would have been open to anything else Satoru Noda wrote anyway.

But finding out his new manga series is about a figure skater who goes into ice hockey? That sounds like the kind of fish-out-of-water story I love.

Dogsred (Dogsled) is actually a reboot of his first manga series Supinamarada! (Spinorama!), which was cancelled for not selling well enough. But after the wild success of Golden Kamuy, why not take this chance to revive it?

Rou Shirawaka is a 15-year-old figure skater, who loses his mother in a car accident right before a major competition. He still manages a brilliant performance and achieves the winning score, which should get him sponsorship and put him on track to the Olympics. Instead, he has a public meltdown and starts trashing the skating rink, which horrifies spectators and gets him banned from competition.

One news commentator says, "If he wants to be rowdy, he should take up ice hockey!"

Without means of support, Rou and his twin sister Haruna have to move to Hokkaido to live with their estranged grandfather. Hokkaido has bears, no cockroaches--and a lot of ice hockey.

I love that Rou is melodramatic as anything, but also has a strong sense of fairness, and is willing to stand up for other people. This leads him into an unfortunate encounter with one of the local ice hockey champions, who is probably going to be the main rival but is currently a huge jerk. It also gets him dragged into being a temporary member of an underdog team, which desperately needs minimum numbers to play their next match.

Rou can skate like a dream. But he has no idea how to wield a hockey stick, and no idea of any of the rules. It's kind of hilarious to see him learning them one by one, by inadvertently breaking them and getting sent to the penalty box over and over. (Which is a really good way to deliver a tutorial to the audience.)

But--Rou can skate like a dream, even though it's weird skating for ice hockey. And this underdog team cares so much, about getting to play and about each other--even though they've been losing all their matches--it starts to move Rou.

Interestingly, the manga is set in 2010, which is when its original version took place. I'm sure it makes things easier, since the reboot doesn't have to update the ice hockey rules or other relevant plot points.

Six volumes have been released so far.

(Crossover ideas: Since Dogsred is set in 2010 and Yuri!!! on Ice is set in 2016, this means that Rou would have overlapped with Yuuri during their high school competition years! This would normally make a perfect crossover request for upcoming exchanges, except I feel like I shouldn't if I've only read one volume. Oh well, maybe later.)

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What will you become tomorrow?

2025-12-14T10:59:26Z

Still obsessing about Haikyu!!

Some random thoughts about the back half of the manga. Kind of turned into an essay.

( Spoilers )

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The party's over

2025-11-21T12:17:38Z

You know the feeling you get? When you desperately want to keep reading, to find out what happens next? But you also desperately want it to never end?

So I finished the final volume of Haikyu!! last night.

ALL THE EMOTIONS.

I'll write up all the spoilery details later. But right now I just want to get out some of the feelings.

There was a moment in the last few volumes when it hit me how close to the end we were, and I just felt so sad. Knowing that all the things that happened have happened, and we're not going back to that time again.

I think it would feel even more intense and nostalgic if I'd been following it as it came out. If I'd experienced the journey over eight and a half years instead of four and a half months.

On the other hand, I feel incredibly lucky I got to read it all at once, and not have to wait for each volume or even each chapter. To have the greedy delight of knowing, it's already all there.

(Shout out to my wonderful local libraries, who (1) saved me from dropping a chunk of cash on 45 volumes at once, and (2) forced me to limit my consumption to a reasonable pace.)

Even though the manga is over, I'm excited I can now go read all the discussion and fic, without fear of running into any more spoilers.

I really had no idea I would like it this much. Oh, this hugely popular manga, that launched an anime and spawned a megafandom? Surprise, you care about volleyball now!

***

"Knowing that an end must come is all the more reason to begin anew.
Let's keep giving it our very best."

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Phar Lap: The Electro-Swing Musical

2025-11-10T12:29:36Z

Tagline: The musical that stops the nation.

One thing I love about the Hayes Theatre, is the chance they give to new Australian musicals. Especially ones that tell Australian stories. A musical about Phar Lap? I'm in!

Just look at this promo:

If you're thinking elaborate life-size puppetry and dazzling special effects, you couldn't be more wrong (we don't have the budget). Suspend your disbelief as an actor swaps his horseshoes for tap shoes to play one of Australia's most beloved icons.

When an awkward, gangly horse from New Zealand meets a hapless, down-on-his-luck, trainer, they embark on a classic underdog story to win the Melbourne Cup, and Australians' hearts and minds. The road isn't easy – there are gambling scandals, double-crosses, an attempted shooting, and a career-threatening addiction to sugar. It's high stakes, high drama, and highly historically accurate.

Sometimes you just want to see how they're going to pull it off.

In summary. I loved it! Like a lot of Australian musicals I've seen, it was quirky, irreverent, and affectionate.

Some highlights below.

Cinnamon roll

We all know Phar Lap as a great champion, so how do we get invested in this as an underdog story?

Phar Lap is about to arrive in Australia from New Zealand, as his new trainer, Harry Telford, is waiting at the docks with his new owner, David Davis. Davis is extremely sceptical about this unappealing prospect. Harry is convinced of his potential, talking up his bloodline, his great-grandfather being the legendary Carbine.

And then Phar Lap gets off the boat, carrying a suitcase, with a cheery "Kia ora!" (And a really strong Kiwi accent.)

Like all the horse characters, he's wearing a hat with pointy horse ears, and a long braid to represent a mane. But he also looks adorkable in his woollen vest and checked shorts. And the first thing he does is drop his sandwich, and then try and fail to pick it up with his hooves, while the owner and the trainer look on incredulously. It is the saddest and funniest thing.

Phar Lap: "It's my dream to race in the Melbourne Cup!"
Davis: "Do you think someone like you can win the Melbourne Cup?"
Phar Lap: "No. But I want to participate!"

He is so earnest and endearing. Forget saving the cat - this is how you imprint an audience on a character, and make them say "YOU ARE MY BLORBO NOW."

Bro

At his first race, Phar Lap says to Harry accusingly, "You didn't tell me my brother was going to be here!"

Nightmarch, who is already a champion and a favourite, has the same sire but a different dam. He hates Phar Lap's guts.

Nightmarch: "He knocked up your mum and left us for his new family!"
Harry: "That's not how horse breeding works."
Nightmarch: "I waited at the gate for him to come home! But he never did."

Nightmarch too has a strong Kiwi accent, and calls Phar Lap "bro". But not in a friendly way. (But they have a relationship arc! It's really rewarding.)

Rider

After Phar Lap finishes his first race dead last, Harry decides Phar Lap needs someone disciplined and dominant. Enter jockey Jim Pike, wearing a red silk shirt, but also black leather pants, leather jacket, and leather cap. "Ride You" is basically him singing sexily about "I'm gonna ride you" and wielding his riding crop, while Phar Lap looks both stunned and entranced.

It's kind of like someone thought, "Are there going to be weird sexual vibes with this riding thing?" and going, "YES, DEFINITELY."

The Don

I had not realised Phar Lap and Don Bradman were contemporaries! But it's a stroke of genius to have them cross paths, and the Don to deliver some wise life advice to Phar Lap, right when he needs it most.

If you ever wanted to see Don Bradman do a big song and dance number, with his cricket bat and his baggy green, then this is the show for you. "National Treasure" is about the importance of heroes to a nation in need of hope, during the dark years of the Great Depression.

Other thoughts

The songs were great. Catchy in themselves, though a lot of enjoyment was from their performance on stage and the comedic timing.

The show used tap dancing to portray the racing. It worked really well, as the horses furiously tap danced in a very competitive way.

Phar Lap's journey ends with his sudden death, right after a huge victory in America. But because this is a musical, Phar Lap appears again with angel wings on his back, and has a last conversation with Harry, who had promised to spend his prize money on an estate where retired horses could live out their lives in peace, instead of being sent to the glue factory. It was really sweet.

So yeah. Musical biopic of an Australian icon (who was technically from New Zealand). Who just happens to be a horse.

( Videos )

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Everyone In This Bank Is A Thief

2025-11-07T12:45:11Z

By Benjamin Stevenson.

The fourth book in the Ernest Cunningham series, which are love letters to the Golden Age murder mystery, but set in modern day Australia. (Reviews of one, two and three.)

Ernest is at a bank when a bank robber shows up and takes everyone hostage. Then a murder happens and everyone is a suspect. It also turns out that multiple heists have been planned for that day. Everyone has a secret to protect and something they desperately want. Possibly enough to kill for. (It always feels kind of improbable that this many people with motives happen to be in one place, but it's a staple of the genre, and this is what we're here for.)

This book is set in the fictional town of Huxley, which used to be a gold rush town in the 1800s. I was pretty happy to see a Chinese-Australian character show up: Felix, who works as a security guard at the bank, and whose ancestor has history with the founder of the bank, way back on the goldfields. It was pretty cool to see that part of Australian history and the role of Chinese miners acknowledged.

There are also references to Ernest's first book being made into a movie, and all the ups and downs of that, which makes me wonder how the real life HBO production is going.

But. Something happens halfway through the book that really annoyed me. I mean really annoyed me, to the point where I wondered if this is where the series jumps the shark.

( Spoilers for halfway )

Anyway. The reveals of the various secrets, and the solutions to the various mysteries, were satisfying. (And the author knows we all love a good parlour scene.)

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Barton Welch, who does a great job. (And I really enjoy hearing the Australian accent.)

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Once On This Island

2025-10-31T14:54:21Z

I'd never come across this musical before, but the promo material said it was inspired by the Little Mermaid. I'm always interested in fairytales and adaptations, so I went along to the Hayes Theatre to check it out.

Plot

* On an island in the Caribbean, a peasant girl saves an aristocrat boy, and the gods make a bet about whether love is stronger than death.

* The girl is Ti Moune, an orphan taken in by a kindly couple, all of them darker-skinned peasants who live in the villages. The boy is Daniel, one of the lighter-skinned upper class descended from the French colonists and their slaves.

* The gods are Asaka (mother of earth), Agwe (god of water), Erzulie (goddess of Love), and Papa Ge (demon of death).

Production

* While the story is set in the Caribbean, this production mingles in elements from Indigenous, Pacific, and Asian cultures. It was very cool to see that kind of fusion, like the Filipino traditional clothing, or the brief glimpse of a Māori haka.

* The set was simple but atmospheric, with wooden walls decorated with bamboo leaves to evoke the island.

* I loved how the car was mostly a steering wheel with lights and a hint of framework.

Favourite songs

* "Rain" - Dramatic and cool. The god Agwe sending a storm to make Daniel crash his car off the road, and setting in motion the test of love versus death. (The actor for Agwe reminded me a lot of Ares from Xena.)

* "Mama Will Provide" - Energetic and upbeat. The goddess Asaka looking after Ti Moune on her journey to find Daniel again, by showering her with the natural bounty of the island.

* "Some Say" - I love that this is a telling by the villagers of Ti Moune's journey, that has become legend, and no one actually knows the truth of what happened. It makes it feel mythic and epic. (I love the bit about Ti Moune having to wear shoes in the city, and how they're so tight they hurt her feet. A nifty bit of adaptation.)

( Spoilery reactions )

Apparently Disney has the rights to do a movie version.

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Yuletide letter

2025-10-17T11:12:35Z

Dear Yuletide Writer,

Thank you so much for offering to write a story for me! I love all these fandoms, and I'm keen to see what you do in them! I've provided some prompts in case you're looking for inspiration, but I'd also love to see whatever other ideas capture your imagination.

For me, it's about the characters and their interactions. I'm not a stickler about researching canon details, as long as the spirit of the characters and the flavour of their world is there. I want to see adventures that might have been, or missing moments from between scenes, or a slice of their daily lives, or where the future might take them.

LIKES: Some of the things I enjoy in stories are: undying loyalty, personal bravery, risking self to protect others, displaying cool competence, big damn hero moments, special everyday moments, banter, hijinks, confessions exposing emotional vulnerability, conversations loaded with unspoken meaning, tough people showing a soft side, and soft people showing a tough side. Some of my favorite tropes and genres are: amnesia, angst with a happy ending, animal transformation, arranged marriage, bodyswap, cosmic horror, curtainfic, five things fic, getting together, hurt/comfort, marriage of convenience, mystery solving, requited pining, road trips, sex pollen, slice of life, stranded together, and time travel.

DISLIKES: I generally prefer optimistic stories in exchanges, so I'm not keen on anything that is brutally violent or hopelessly bleak. However, I don't mind darkness during the story, as long as there is a glimmer of light at the end. Endings that are bittersweet or ambiguous are also fine.

DO NOT WANT: Noncon, underage, bleak endings, crossovers, setting change AUs like high school, coffee shop, or omegaverse (but canon divergence AUs are fine).

RATING: I am open to gen or ships for these characters. For the latter, I'd enjoy anything ranging from unresolved sexual tension, to getting together, to established relationship. I'm fine with explicit sex, but it's usually not the most important part of the story for me.

STYLE: I'm fine with first, second, or third person. I'm fine with past, present, or future tense. I'm fine with stories of any length, including stories that start in media res or consist of a scene that implies a larger plot.

POV: I'm open to stories from the point of view of a different character from the ones requested, especially if they provide an interesting perspective on the requested characters.

INTERACTIVE FICTION: I like interactive fiction and would welcome it.

AO3: I have gifts enabled and am open to treats.

I've listed more details under each individual request.

I hope this helps. Have fun writing!

Yours sincerely,

meteordust
(AO3 name Serenade)

***

( Request 1: Chronicles of Amber - Roger Zelazny )

( Request 2: Foreigner Series - CJ Cherryh )

( Request 3: Fortress Series - CJ Cherryh )

( Request 4: Fallen London )

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Updates

2025-10-07T10:33:33Z

Been away for a few weeks. But I'm back now!

* Dreamwidth - Way behind on reading and posting. Hoping to catch up soon. (Also behind on the news generally. I know I should catch up. But it's hard to summon the will to dive back in.)

* Haikyu!! - In that weird limbo of waiting to get hold of the next part of canon, and in the meantime trying to dip into fic without getting spoiled. (Probably playing with fire.)

* Yuletide - Watching the nominations queries posts go by, and always feeling amazed at the snapshot of fandoms they offer. (Mod query: "Can you confirm if the polar bear is a character?" Nominator response: "Here is a link to the polar bear.")

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Hooked on volleyball

2025-09-05T14:12:38Z

Here I am again rocking up to the party ten years late.

So several weeks ago, I started reading the manga Haikyu!! I'd seen mentions of it around for ages, and decided I should finally check it out.

It was pretty good. I was really liking it. Then it got to a point where it got epic, and I was thinking about it a lot, and then I was like, "You know, I think I want to watch this too."

So that's how I ended up marathoning 60 episodes over 9 days.

And I'm not done yet! With either manga or anime. I want to devour it all, but I also don't want it to end. I guess the advantage of coming in late is not having to wait for each chapter or episode to come out? I think the last sports manga I was this obsessed with was Hikaru no Go? It's such a lovely feeling to sink into a canon that right now is your happy place. And to be reminded of the difference between something you enjoy and something you're super excited about.

It kind of snuck up on me though? I mean, I liked the setup of the shounen protagonist with more passion than skill but also amazing natural ability, and of course the destined rival who actually has all the skill except maybe people skills. And I liked the slow unfolding of what volleyball is and how it works, as we meet new characters by twos and threes, and learn the next stage of complexity of the game. Like a really good tutorial! Beautifully paced.

But what hooked me are the two big themes: teamwork and evolution.

I've read sports manga about teams before, but not one that emphasises teamwork so much. Everything is connected: all the plays and all the players. Everyone has their role, and every role is vital. An individual who wants to do it all themselves will just end up with trauma flashbacks of a ball hitting the floor behind them. You have to figure out how to work together, and trust your teammates, and really get that everyone relies on everyone else.

And lots of sports manga is about levelling up. But scarier than striving for excellence, is achieving excellence and then throwing it away, so you can evolve. If you decide to stick with only what you're already good at, you're never going to get any better than that. Having the guts to look at yourself and work out what you need to change to improve - you're going to suck at it for a while, but that's an inevitable part of trying to do something new. And when you finally get there -

When it all comes together - the teamwork and the evolution -

Epic and satisfying.

So yeah. Late to the party, but very happy to be here.

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Babylon 5 - S1E22 - Chrysalis

2025-08-16T12:11:33Z

The last episode of Season 1! We open with a date stamped on the scene like a countdown. Well, that's not ominous at all.

( Spoilery reactions )

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