Sliding in with one last rec_cember post! Some canon divergent fics and vids I really loved reading/watching post-season 4:

✰End of the World Express by Electra_TUA (Electra_XT), Rated Mature, Diego/Lila/Five

In Diego’s defense, he didn’t expect the inter-dimensional terminal they were talking about to be a subway station.

The dialogue is so crisp and well-done. Scenarios with characters getting lost on the time subway is RIPE for fic. I loved the characterization of all three of them, but especially Diego, and how they all re-acquire their joy together by the end.

✰that would be okay by achilleees_tua, Rated Mature, Diego/Five

Six years, five months, and two days into his ill-advised solo subway adventure, Five finds a greenhouse full of strawberries.

Okay so maybe this isn't my usual ship, but I was craving even more subway fic and this fic delivers! So much introspection and even though Diego and Five know each other so well, they manage to get romantic and surprise each other.

✰Empty [Anniversary Video] by FanVids (JustBWilde), Lila/Five, *WARNING for fast flashing lights*

This summarizes the growth of their relationship so well. I like how the voice overs highlight how they started with white hot hatred towards each other - but then came all the way back around to hatred again with the way s4 ended. I think the main theme of the show is that time is a flat circle for Five. The tragedy of it all!!

✰Finally, this vid was posted in 2020 but it was new to me. It captures all of the Hargreeves' powers and their ride-or-die dynamic, plus the song is super fun:

Ready, Steady (Fanvid) by chiiyo86 (Gen)

Me: Oooh this new Mountain Goats song Cold At Night is so good!

Me, on repeated listens: hang on, who is that person doing backing vocals?

Me: That sounds like Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Me: That cannot be correct.

Anyway. Yes, it is Lin-Manuel Miranda.

God, what is it about the Mountain Goats and making me ache to write poetry. They really took up that space vacated by Leonard Cohen.

Yuletide reveals! I wrote a Galaxy Quest fic! I'm kind of blown away at the lovely reception my fic got this year - more than I ever expected in terms of comments and kudos, and several very kind recs. I love writing for tiny fandoms-of-one-or-two, but writing for a widely beloved movie for this year was surprisingly fun.

Galaxy Quest: The Journey Continues: Season 1 Gag Reel (AO3 | DW)
Galaxy Quest | Gwen, Jason, Alexander (+ the rest of the ensemble) | 1867 words | rated T | no archive warnings apply
Tags: Post-Canon, Humor, Filming, Canon-typical shenanigans

"Sorry!" Guy said, flustered. "Shit, sorry, guys. As Crewman Number 6, I barely had any lines!"

---

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

Today's the first day of the snowflake_challenge! I enjoy this event, but I rarely manage to keep up with all of the days - so I'll keep any intentions to participate very low-key for myself, including not having expectations to share my posts on the comm itself (which sometimes makes me feel overwhelmed or self-conscious). Anyway, I've done some light clean up on my profile, access list, and sticky post, so I'll call that complete.

This year for Yuletide, I wrote one fic:

The Doorway to Home (3677 words) by genarti
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Changeling - Zilpha Keatley Snyder
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Martha Abbott/Ivy Carson
Characters: Josie Carson (The Changeling)

I'd never actually read The Changeling before, so it wasn't what my recipient and I matched on. But when I saw it on deifire's requests, I suddenly remembered seeing Author of The Changeling! on the cover of Zilpha Keatley Snyder's The Egypt Game as a kid. I loved and reread The Egypt Game multiple times, EVEN THOUGH it had betrayed me on the first read by not actually being about ancient Egypt, so that's a mark of its quality, and I thought, "Well, these prompts sound interesting and I do like Zilpha Keatley Snyder, so maybe I should take this as impetus to read it!" And I did, and I loved it to bits, and here we are.

This fall ended up being very busy, between assorted travels and illnesses and upheavals, and so what I actually did was read the book and then let it marinate in the back of my head for a while, and then do a reread as I put together a timeline of what happened when throughout the book, and then write the entire thing in a frantic rush right before the deadline. But I had a wonderful time nonetheless! It was one of those experiences where you start writing and it just flows. skygiants as usual was a last-minute rock star about betaing, DESPITE AS I HAVE JUST LEARNED WRITING AN INCREDIBLE GIFT FIC FOR ME IN A SNEAKY NINJA WAY--

I wanted to post again earlier, but the end of the year turned out even crazier than I expected </3 so here I am now in 2026! I hope things were less hectic for you who's currently reading this!

Usually, I make a big end of the year post where I go over everything I made in the year, fic and exchange-wise... but to be honest, I don't feel like doing it this year, lol. Writing was so hard for most of 2025, I think looking back will just make me sad... and I've already come to the conclusion that I should take a soft exchange break, so I don't need to look over my exchange stuff for that.

At the very least, here's my art summary!


You can open it in a new tab to see it larger!
Kind of same old same old, but I'm excited for new opportunities to draw my blorbo... >:)

I will say, I'm still really proud of all the webdev stuff I did this year, and I'm hoping 2026 will be a web-intensive year for me again! I want to start new projects... I want to actually finish my personal site... I want to keep updating Lysandre Labs...

I'd also like to maybe make a post reflecting on 2025 more generally and figuring out what I'd like to get out of 2026. I think that'd be more encouraging than looking back on everything I didn't manage to write or draw o7 Speaking of, I haven't drawn anything yet in 2026... Looking forward to finding out what my first art of the year will be... (Probably Corbeau and Lysandre lbr...)

Anyway, just a quick post so I can stay in the habit! I'd love to know what you hope 2026 has in store for you! <3

i lied before, we're doing 2025 retrospectives after all. tagged by commanderspock and fake-monalisa on tumblr <3

🎧 music

albums

(2025 releases only)

• SPELLLING - Portrait of My Heart
• Sophia Kennedy - Squeeze Me
• Anna von Hausswolff - Iconoclasts
• Sorry - COSPLAY
• Leon Vynehall - In Daytona Yellow
• Haru Nemuri - ekkolaptómenos
• Bria Salmena - Big Dog
• Jane Inc. - A RUPTURE A CANYON A BIRTH
• ganavya - Nilam
• Deradoorian - Ready for Heaven

... and some runners-up to the top 10 list:

• Wet Leg - Moisturizer
• Lucrecia Dalt - A Danger to Ourselves
• Circuit des Yeux - Halo on the Inside
• Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying
• Debby Friday - The Starr of the Queen of Life
• Automatic - Is It Now?
• Faetooth - Labyrinthine
• Lady Gaga - MAYHEM

singles & standalone tracks

• "Toxicity" - Fionn
• "Mine or Yours" - Hikaru Utada (& its various remixes)
• "SLIME is BESTIE [Sega Bodega + JT]" - Shygirl
• "Foundry" - Yu Su
• "Koko (Sun's Signature Remix)" - Goldfrapp

📚 books

(fiction only & as usual, some of these were started in 2024 because I'm an insane person who reads 20 books at the same time and takes forever to finish any of them)

• Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
• Gormenghast - Mervyn Peake
• A Wizard of Earthsea & The Tombs of Atuan - Ursula K. Le Guin
• Beowulf: A New Translation - Maria Dahvana Headley (translator)
• Perfumes: The Guide (2018 edition) - Tania Sanchez & Luca Torin
• By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept - Elizabeth Smart
• Margery Kempe - Robert Gluck
• Spinning Silver - Naomi Novik
• Ballad of Sword and Wine (vols. 1-3) - Tang Jiu Qing
• Marilou Is Everywhere - Sarah Elaine Smith

🎥 movies

• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)
• Sinners (2025)
• Carnival of Souls (1962)
• Basic Instinct (1992)
• Night Tide (1961)
• Strange Days (1995)
• John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017)
• Conclave (2024)
• Vampire Hunter D (1985)