where there's smoke there's--

AO3 month(?) long maintenance (me)

Thu, 29 Oct 2026 18:38:46 GMT

AO3 is down for up to a month(?!). Joke's on AO3 I've been so busy I haven't been able to work on anything. Also I'm not signed on to any exchanges active at the moment. Since I can't post stories on Dreamwidth because of my mobile IP pinging to Mississippi, I'm going to consider posting stories on Tumblr. I'm merryghoul there. I actually can post my last story, "The Curse and the Champ," there.

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update idk the number

Sat, 24 Oct 2026 16:47:13 GMT

Even though I don't live in Mississippi Dreamwidth is blocking me (for the moment? forever?) from accessing the site because of my wireless IP pinging in Mississippi for a few days. I'll still do the Doctor Who Newsletter but I think I'm going to spend less time on Dreamwidth unless I have to interact with communities on this site. I'll be hanging out more on the following platforms. Follow me at these places:

Tumblr: https://merryghoul.tumblr.com/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/merryghoul.bsky.social
Mastodon: https://fandom.ink/@merryghoul

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…

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 22:56:48 GMT

I use a wireless connection. For some reason the connection is saying I’m from Mississippi. Thing is I can’t tell you anything about Mississippi I don’t know through osmosis since I’ve literally never been there. So for a few days I have to use a (cheap, not great) VPN until my IP address changes (unless I can change my IP without a VPN). Will at least try to get the Who Newsletter out tomorrow but I may be delayed because of stupid internet stuff.

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The Curse and the Champ (WWE, Liv Morgan/Iyo Sky)

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 04:43:24 GMT

Just finished this fic hours ago because IRL piled up on me. This is my first fic I've written in a while. Liv Morgan/Iyo Sky and Danhausen and Adam Pearce. The Judgement Day and Sol Ruca come in and out of this fic. Dubious consent because of a sex pollen device and a winner's room. Other notes are in AO3 tags.

Title: The Curse and the Champ
Author: merryghoul
Fandom: WWE
Word Count: 5011
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: dubious consent
Summary: Liv Morgan pays Danhausen human monies to remove her curse prior to her match against Iyo Sky at SummerSlam. But she still owes Danhausen a curse.

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TDALORS 4: War Widow: River is far from a beginner

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 20:56:35 GMT

(I really could’ve posted this earlier but I’m a busy donut. Here it is now.)

War Widow premiered on Wednesday and the way I found out was seeing a Facebook pop up on Big Finish's website. I know, I know, I'm a bit in a cave when it comes to fannish stuff these days, but wow this story feels like it wasn't too heavily promoted. Anyway in this shorter installment of The Death and Life of River Song, the Time War encroaches on Stormcage. The Eighth Doctor saves River. Things get weird since this is the Time War.

( Some of this stuff has been hinted on Big Finish's website but here is a spoiler cut anyway )

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hi

Sun, 16 Aug 2026 23:02:36 GMT

I’m actually writing my iddyiddybangbang fic? I’ve found a way of writing things that works for me now. No relying on late deadlines or only using short bursts of time to write everything that comes into my head. I’m jotting down what I plan to write in the future and writing it whenever I can. Oh, and I’m not self conscious about some dork that isn’t brave enough to say how much they hate my fic to my face. It’s working.

The idea is Liv Morgan/IYO SKY winner’s room fic after SummerSlam 2026. You’ll probably see more closer to the publication date.

I’m actually here to drop something off I just posted to rewrite_a_fic: a little expansion of a Yuletide fic I wrote in 2013.

Title: Loose Ends and Hazy Reckoning
Creator: merryghoul
Fandom: Burn Notice
Relationship: Fiona Glenanne/Michael Westen
Characters: Michael Westen, Fiona Glenanne, Madeline Westen, Sam Axe, Jesse Porter
Rating: General Audiences
Word count: 1039
Warnings: none
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/90664526

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Bluesky

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 21:59:57 GMT

To help my mind, which I think is a bit disordered, I've decided to get one of those planner apps. With that said there are some things I forget to put on a list, and sharing a new social media account is one of them. I started Bluesky to help me keep track of fandom writing things. IDK, the pandemic and people being dicks over my fic caused me to lose track of what's happening in the fandom world. That said I started a Bluesky account. Still looking for other fannish follows there but you can follow me here if you'd like.

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Tue, 14 Jul 2026 19:06:17 GMT

Keeping up with these fannish projects is so hard. Might have to start paying for Dreamwidth to actually track comms and threads on these projects. In the meantime I found an account I can try to get notifications on with Bluesky. But I don’t have a Bluesky account. Meh.

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…

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 16:41:51 GMT

And I’ve been off Dreamwidth so much that I didn’t even realize unconventionalcourtship DID run this year (with a different mod). I probably should have updates on these comms or a site where these comms advertise their stuff—I’m not seeing anything on my friends list when I check it out until it’s too late.

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Interview with Janet Fielding

Sat, 02 May 2026 18:34:42 GMT

Long time no post because I’m a clown. 🤡

Anyway: I wanted to repost this interview with Janet Fielding for The Hangin With Web-Show here since the video upload on Blogtor Who isn’t working.

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of course

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 23:46:20 GMT

Of course I’m late to the news that the mod of Unconventional Courtship has stepped down from the comm and as of now the fest isn’t running this year. Of course.

I had ideas for UC but then again I can use one idea to create a rewrite and the other for Iddy Iddy Bang Bang if that runs this year.

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…

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 04:33:30 GMT

I might start crossposting fics on my blog again. I do have some things I’ve written and downloaded from AO3 that I can look at but I have to wait and add the other fics.

Looking into Squidgeworld but tbh I feel if everyone that went to AO3 posted there it would suffer the same issues as AO3.

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The 2026 Big Finish Humble Bundle

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 23:49:45 GMT

Humble Bumble has on their site a Big Finish Doctor Who audio bundle for sale for the next ~20 days. The full bundle costs US $493 but can be obtained in full if you donate a minimum of US $18. The audios available in this bundle:

The Sontarans (minimum US $1 donation)
The Auntie Matter (minimum US $1 donation)
The Black Hole (minimum US $10 donation)
The Third Doctor Adventures Vol. 1 (minimum US $10 donation)
Night of the Vashta Nerada (minimum US $10 donation)
Empire of the Racnoss (minimum US $10 donation)
The Carrionite Curse (minimum US $10 donation)
Day of the Vashta Nerada (minimum US $10 donation)
Ravagers (minimum US $18 donation)
Infernal Devices (minimum US $18 donation)
The Eleventh Doctor Chronicles Vol. 1 (minimum US $18 donation)
Ravenous 1 (minimum US $18 donation)
The Diary of River Song Series Three (minimum US $18 donation)
UNIT: Silenced (minimum US $18 donation)
Theater of War (minimum US $18 donation)
Expiry Dating (minimum US $18 donation)
The Elite (minimum US $18 donation)

All proceeds go to BBC Children in Need.

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surprise Yuletide reveal post (Critical Role: Aramán [Campaign 4])

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 21:44:47 GMT

I really wanted to do more of a reveals post but I can’t say anything more than “Fallen London’s TTRPG and Dimension 20 lead me to Critical Role actual plays,” “haven’t done Yuletide in years because burnout,” and “changed my original idea of ‘how Pincushion [an undead fox] was created’ because there were already two stories like that on AO3, so stitched together some bits from the Soldiers’ Table to create an Occtis story.” So here’s my first Yuletide story in a long time, a pinch hit for euryydice. (Maybe you saw this accidentally revealed because I know I was hit with the Yuletide reveals bug. If so, pretend this is new to you.)

Thesis (1747 words) by merryghoul
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Critical Role: Aramán (Web Series)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Occtis Tachonis & Vaelus
Characters: Occtis Tachonis, Vaelus (Critical Role), Primus Tachonis, Murray Mag'Nesson, Pincushion (Critical Role)
Additional Tags: Canon Backstory, Childhood Memories, University, Necromancy, Ghouls
Summary: While hiding out in the Dvalmar Pass with the rest of his allies Occtis talks to the only other person in his party that doesn’t need sleep about how he came to his thesis at the Penterval.

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this might actually be a retroactive 52 days a year post: Stranger Things post-finale ideas

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 17:54:08 GMT

Writing this here for, say, if I find these things on AO3. Or if I want to write them, but two things: I’ve never written for Stranger Things and I have two ideas for new fic ideas. I also am looking at rewrite_a_fic this year as well. TL;DR do I have the time? IDK.

( Read more... )

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(Imgur)

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 12:24:21 GMT

I just learned about Imgur going down in the UK? I was so confused because I found someone being very dramatic over the site going down in the UK and made it sound like the site was all the way dead instead of blocked in one country. I’ll probably slowly transfer over all my images to Postimages. I mean, not like Reddit went on one a while back and said you can’t use Imgur images outside Reddit anyway.

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wrote some things for Spook Me

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 19:22:18 GMT

Sweetbreads (200 words) by merryghoul
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Cooking Lessons, Organs, Ficlet
Series: Part 13 of Spook Me Ficathon
Summary: An excerpt from a cooking show on how to prepare sweetbreads.

We Could Die Like This (4743 words) by merryghoul
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Charlotte/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox/Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Finn Balor | Prince Devitt/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox & Lyra Valkyria, Bayley | Davina Rose/Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Sasha Banks & Bayley | Davina Rose
Characters: Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Finn Balor | Prince Devitt, Lyra Valkyria, Bayley | Davina Rose, Sasha Banks, Seth Rollins | Tyler Black, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Inspired by Final Destination (Movies), Inspired by Irish Mythology, Little Black Dress, Surreal, Tokyo (City), Car Accidents, Homophobic Language, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, WWE Clash in Paris, Accidental Death, Hotels, Reality TV, Electrocution, WWE SummerSlam 2018, Podcast, WWE Wrestlepalooza, Airports
Series: Part 14 of Spook Me Ficathon
Summary: Becky Lynch is living her best life when a raven suddenly appears.

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Review: The Death and Life of River Song: The Dissolution of Time

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 21:53:36 GMT

This is probably a very unique review for me. So on Tuesday 19 August Big Finish released (exclusively on their website) the third audio drama in The Death and Life of River Song series, The Dissolution of Time, fully written by Big Finish writer Rochana Patel. There's a general audio blurb on their website but not a summary of what each individual chapter has. So I'm going to try my best to summarize each chapter (with some spoilers, but this won't be a full summary of everything in the audio drama) before talking about my thoughts about the whole audio drama.

But in short this audio drama finds River teaming up with a seven foot panther-like alien trying to stop a time disturbance in Tudor England. And even that's not a straightforward look at the audio. (Dust was described in Big Finish's magazine Vortex, issue 197, so I'm not considering that a spoiler.)

( Read more... )

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Playground After Dark (WWE, Alexa/Lilly/Becky, for rewrite-a-fic 2025

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 05:24:01 GMT

I honestly had no intention of revising and expanding an exchange fic from a few years ago. I felt like I needed to rewrite this fic I wrote in screenplay format or I clumped some discarded drafts together. Instead a more recent kudos led me to A Night in Alexa’s Playground. For some reason I actually was motivated to rewrite the fic instead of thinking “oh maybe I need to introduce Vampire: The Masquerade lore in this What We Do in the Shadows homage. Anyway, the fic (original linked on AO3):

Playground After Dark (3454 words) by merryghoul
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Alexa Bliss/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Alexa Bliss/Lilly | Alexa Bliss's Doll/Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox
Characters: Alexa Bliss, Lilly | Alexa Bliss's Doll, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: WWE Money In The Bank, WWE Money In The Bank 2018, WWE Money In The Bank 2022, Las Vegas, Dubious Consent, Hotel Sex, Therapy, Flashbacks, Femdom, Mommy Dom Alexa Bliss, Pony Play, Pegging, Spanking, Riding Crops, Frottage, Butt Plugs, Age Play, Masturbation, Voyeurism, Subspace, Rewrite
Summary: After Money in the Bank 2022 Becky Lynch insists she doesn’t need a friend. Alexa Bliss insists Becky needs a friend. Alexa becomes more than Becky’s friend for one night.

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some recent recs I’d like to share 1

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 00:15:22 GMT

Title: Claudia de lioncourt
Creator: haflacky
Prompt: colored art
Fanwork Type: fanart
Fandom: Interview with the Vampire (TV)
Character: Claudia de Lioncourt
Rating: G
Warnings: none

( Read more... )

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two things I meant to do last week

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:49:34 GMT

1) write for iddyiddybangbang before the fest started
2) post my tardis_bingo comment bingo chart 😑

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tardis_bingo comment bingo

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 05:47:01 GMT

Locked in/trapped	Huddling for warmth	Tea	Accessory	Master
Sound/Vision	Injury/illness	Reunion	Bodyswap/Genderswap	Aliens made us do it
Spies/secret agents	Angels	WILD CARD	Sonic	Companion
Wings	Multi-era	Age difference	Mystery	Date
Daleks	Fashion	Science	Soul mates/soul bonding	Monsters

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The OTC's commercial promotion post

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 04:11:18 GMT

So I read this post from the OTC. I totally understand why OTC needs a non-commercialization policy. On a petty level I've been annoyed at, for instance, someone writing fics in a kink meme and then linking to a site like Ko-fi at the end. And for copyright reasons I get not monetizing works. But part of me feels like their rules are a wee bit draconian.

I've been linking to the summaries of books I use as summaries for unconventionalcourtship to prove that they're real books since the goal is to alter a romance novel summary for a fic. I'm not advocating people to actually buy the book. I don't even know these authors. I haven't read their books. 🤐 I guess in the future I may just leave the links to the comm announcement posts and on DW but I'm a bit annoyed I'm being lumped in with people who actually are "please go to my Patreon for more!" when I thought I was doing a good deed.

Also: The OTC mentions Twitch but I want to clarify that getting a Twitch account is free. I would assume under their TOS that asking people to get Twitch subscriptions (with or without Amazon Prime) is against their TOS. There is no such thing as "Twitch Prime." And technically I think X actually can't be allowed to since you can subscribe to individual creators on X.

IDK, I think this policy needs a little bit of hammering out because to be fair it's thorny to enforce their commercial promotion policy as is.

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Fic recs (WWE, AEW, Doctor Who)

Fri, 20 Jun 2025 03:19:23 GMT

These were all fics meant for an earlier comment_bingo round but I'm reccing them in a different post. Why? Because 🙃 and 😑.

Please let me know if I've accidentally recced something made with AI as I'm so used to fics not made with them and I'm not the greatest judge of something made with AI.

Also please let me know if AO3 locked fics aren't okay because I do have some recced below.

( Read more... )

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Post 7: actually doing Comment Bingo again

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 03:41:34 GMT

Here is my table for this year. Probably will see if I can rescue some fics (no comments obs) I was planning to do for other tables and migrate them here.

a work posted in the past month	a fic that's under 1k	a work from your first fandom	art on AO3	a work posted in 2024
a work by someone who's given you a kudos or a comment	a work with an impressive/eye catching title	a fic that's over 20k	a work by someone you've come across recently	a work from an event from 2014
comic with no dialogue	a fic not on AO3	FREE SPACE	a work about your first 'ship	a fic with multiple chapters
a work posted in 2014	a work posted in 2025	coloured art	a work that made you sad	a fic you reread often
a work from a Big Bang	a work in a series	a oneshot	a fic with more than 5 additional tags	a work from your newest fandom

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