fabrisse | Reading

FROM BLOSSOMS
by Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
in the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

neotoma

NY strip steak, sweet Italian sausage, soft goat cheese, goat's milk caramel (cajeta), bell peppers, anaheim peppers, 4lb of yellow peaches, apricots, sesame apricot cupcake, fingerling potatoes, yellow plums, dragon's breath cheese, tavern blue cheese, black beans, whipple beans, jacob's cattle beans, and black rice.

I'm going to sear the strip steak and top it with slices of the blue cheese for dinner.

The peaches need a few days to finish ripening and then I will make them into salsa.

fic_in_a_box_mod posting in

ficinabox

Hello friends! Below is the schedule for FIAB 2025, which will run Late July-November instead of August-November.

Schedule changes, in brief:

We've added in extra time for mod admin tasks such as tagset clean up and request checking.
We've given you a full 2 week sign up period
We've added a couple days of extra time to the creation period.

This extra time will help us utilize our helpers better because we won't have such tight scheduling! It will also allow for the possibility that the swaps puzzle will take longer than in previous years – we don't want to punish swappers with less creation time if it takes us longer than usual to get swaps out, so just building a little extra time into the creation period seemed best.

The rest of this post will cover:

Updates to several specific medium tags and medium rules.
A slight change to the way OCs can be nominated.

Discord server reminder! Fic In A Box is a complex exchange even for exchange veterans, so we thought that if we were going to invite a bunch of new people to the exchange we should provide a space where they can ask lots of questions throughout the process. This server is open to everyone (we won't kick you out if you've been doing FIAB for years already) but its purpose is to help people participate in the exchange, so it will probably be most useful/enjoyable if you're kinda confused about the exchange. Like FIAB itself, the server is an 18+ Choose Not To Warn space.

Join the FIAB Newbie Discord! (link)

2025 Schedule:

July 24th-August 2: Nominations Pre-Gaming (participants can load tags from last year’s tagset into this tagset)
August 3-12: Nominations
August 13-16: Nominations Cleanup
August 17-August 31: Signups
August 20: Swap requests open
September 6: Assignments Out By This Date
September 7: Swap requests close
October 19: Assignments Due
November 9: Last Day To Submit Makeup Assignments
November 15: Work Reveals
November 29: Creator Reveals

All deadlines are at 11:59 PM EDT except for those in November, which will happen at 11:59 PM EST

New In 2025

Mediums Rules Updates

Art Ruleset

We'll be adjusting the language for the ruleset to make it clear that if multiple characters are requested they must all be visibly within the artwork.

We will also be adding "Papercraft" (creating an image using layered paper cut into the necessary shapes) as a style to the ruleset. This will be a possible style for any art tag that doesn't specify another style (such as "Drawn") and can be requested specifically by nominating the desired art tags with at "Papercraft - " prefix.

Multimedia Works

We'll be adding more guidance for the requirements if combining two different requested medium tags into a multimedia work in the Posting Guidelines.

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Printable Sticker Page Layout

We are changing the rules for stickers to clarify a medium-checking issue we had last year. New rules will set a minimum number of stickers per sheet (five unique stickers per sheet), for an equivalent of 2k per sticker sheet.

Medium Opt-In: Audio - Fanmix
Medium Opt-In: Audio - FST (Fan Soundtrack)

These tags will be merged into the tag "Medium Opt-In: Audio - Fanmix/FST (Fan Soundtrack)"

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Cross Stitch Pattern

We will be updating the rules for this medium to clarify that you can't auto-generate a cross stitch pattern from pre-existing art.

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - Web-based choice-based IF not hosted on AO3
Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - Twine
Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - Ink
Medium Opt-In: Writing - Interactive Fiction - AO3 style Choose Your Own Adventure
Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Visual Novel

We will be restructuring all of these tags into the following four tags:

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - AO3-style Choose Your Own Adventure
Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - Choice-Based IF Not Hosted On AO3
Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - Illustrated AO3-style Choose Your Own Adventure
Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Interactive Fiction - Illustrated Choice-Based IF Not Hosted On AO3

Length Opt-In: Drabble
Length Opt-In: Double Drabble
Length Opt-In: Triple Drabble

These are being changed to the following:

Length Opt-In: Drabble (100 Words Exactly)
Length Opt-In: Double Drabble (200 Words Exactly)
Length Opt-In: Triple Drabble (300 Words Exactly)

Length Opt-In: Drabble Series

We are removing this tag because it caused some confusion last year. If you'd like to request drabble series please mention it in your optional details. Drabble series of over 1000 words are opt out (similar to other fic formats such as 5+1 things), and for drabble series of under 1000 words you may opt-in within your optional details while requesting a drabble tag.

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Craftwork

These tags will be adjusted to have an equivalent of 2k.

Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Recipe book
Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Cocktail Recipes

For clarity these will be singularized into:

Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Recipe
Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Cocktail Recipe

In addition it will be clarified in the rules that recipes are required to be the original creations of the poster.

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Sheet Music - Arrangement of Music From Canon
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Arrangement/Cover Music
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Song Parody
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Commentary Track
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Commentary Track - MST3K Style

It's been brought to our attention that someone received a warning from AO3 for posting an arrangement of sheet music from a canon song. The last thing we want to do is risk anyone getting a copyright related warning from AO3 due to a medium in this exchange, so since all of the above tags involve copyrighted music or audio in some way, we're removing them from the tagset.

Nominations Rules Updates

Original Character(s) nominations will not be accepted. This is because "Original Character(s)" is meant to mean either Original Character (singular) or Original Characters (plural) but we've seen some evidence that people who want just one or the other are selecting this phrasing simply because it's common in canonicals.

Tentatively, we will try out simply editing these nominations to be singular if they come up on the AO3 interface, but if that's too burdensome we will reject like all other incorrect tags.

Click here to view tag examples!

Elmo & Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)
Solo: Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)

Not allowed per this new rule.

Elmo & Original Character (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Character (Sesame Street)
Solo: Original Character (Sesame Street)

Allowed! These tags will get you a work with one OC, plus other listed characters if there are any.

Elmo & Original Characters (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Characters (Sesame Street)
Solo: Original Characters (Sesame Street)

Allowed! These tags are phrased as plural, but per our other nominations rules "Original Characters" counts as an ambiguous group so requests with this phrasing could be filled with 1 OC or 2+ OCs.

Note that you can't limit the number of OCs if you pick a tag like "Big Bird/Original Characters (Sesame Street)" so if you're really only interested in a threesome but not a foursome, you should instead nominate like…

Elmo & Original Character & Original Character (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Character/Original Character (Sesame Street)

Allowed! These tags need to be filled with as many OCs as are listed in the tag. Per other nominations rules, you can list up to 6 characters in a relationship tag.

If Big Bird and five other characters isn't a big enough orgy/polycule for you, you can A) list the last character as the plural "Original Characters" to leave yourself open to more than 5 OCs, or B) use your optional details to opt into more OCs at your creator's discretion. (We suggest you do this in the AO3 optional details box so it's easy for us to find, rather than buried in a letter.)

duskpeterson

There is much to look at in the sanctuary, but let us start with the altar. It recreates the altar where drugged captives were once placed before undergoing the Rite of Death, which represented their entry into a Living Death. It was at this stage that new slaves had iron masks locked securely onto their heads, which could not be removed except in the unlikely event that they survived long enough to be freed.

Here on the altar, if you wish, you may place a piece of the jackalfire tree, representing your wish that the evils of the past may be transformed by all of us in the present, bringing about rebirth.

[Translator's note: Yet again, Death Mask is the place to learn more about such matters.]

glitteryv posting in

recthething

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fanart/fanvids/fancrafts/podfics/fics/other kinds of fanworks have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

summerofhorrorexchange posting in

yuletide

Summer of Horror could use your help! We have one pinch hit left, due July 11 at 11:59 PM EDT or negotiable. Minimums are 500 words or a piece of original art (no manips), either digital or on unlined paper. For claiming and more details, go here.

PH 3 - FIC, ART - Psychonauts (Video Games), Higurashi no Naku Koro ni | Higurashi When They Cry, Umineko no Naku Koro ni | When the Seagulls Cry, Mortal Kombat (Video Games 1992-2020)

Thank you!

mecurtin

We were on the sofa together watching Murderbot so Purrcy had to come supervise. Not shown: how he was thwapping me with his tail to make sure I knew he was there. This shot makes it looks like he was watching the screen with us but I'm pretty sure he wasn't.

Portrait of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby gazing soulfully off to the left, as he sits on top of a brown sofa with a green pillow in the background. His pupils are quite dark, his whiskers very faint.

Portrait of Purrcy the tuxedo tabby gazing soulfully off to the left, as he sits on top of a brown sofa with a green pillow in the background. His pupils are quite dark, his whiskers very faint.

I've been watching Moon Embracing the Sun with

feklar42 and

libitina, which is my first kdrama. I have a question. I know that double eyelid surgery is extremely common in South Korea. Do we assume that most Korean actors/actresses have had this surgery, the way we assume that most (all) Western actors are on diets?

neotoma

Bacon-cheese wheel, almond croissant, apricots (!!), red plums, strawberries, yellow raspberries, black raspberries, sour cherries (pie!), donut nectarines, strawberry lemonade, a gallon of herbal lemonade, brown sugar kettle corn, caramel kettle corn.

Next week I will buy red sweet cherries (for ketchup) and peaches (for salsa), and actually enter my canning in the county's agricultural fair this year.

Fun fact, red currants used to be illegal to plant in the United States -- they are the second host for white pine blister rust disease, and that is a threat to the lumber industry as white pine is very susceptible to it. This is why purple candy in the USA is grape-flavored, while in Europe purple candy is currant-flavored; we didn't *have* currants (or gooseberries) legally for almost 100 years.

Current Mood: lethargic

sakuramod posting in

yuletide

sakuraexchange has one pinch hit still in need of a creator! If you might be able to fill this request by the current due date (July 18 at 11:59 PM UTC (7:59 PM EDT), or negotiable), please comment on the pinch hit post with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you'd like to claim.

The minimum requirements are 1000 words for fic, or clean lineart on unlined paper for art.

Available pinch hit (click through for details):

PH 16 - 終ノ空 remake | Tsui no Sora Remake, Tsukihime (Visual Novel & Anime), Kara no Kyoukai | The Garden of Sinners

mecurtin

There was a brief but dramatic thundershower yesterday evening, & afterwards when Purrcy came out of hiding he DEMANDED pets, regardless of where I was or what I was doing. As you can probably tell.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands on a light green bathmat on a terracotta tile floor with glossy green accents, looking back up over his shoulder with an adorably demanding face. His tail is a thwapping blur. A white person's naked foot is barely visible behind him, as though they're sitting down in the bathroom for some reason.

Politics has of course been super stressful, I'll write up something under separate cover tomorrow or something.

Today, all afternoon, I attended the first session of the WSFS Business Meeting, which was as almost as emotionally draining as attending one in person but much more convenient. The Chair, Jesi Lipp (they/them) is a *master* at running a meeting and parsing rules quickly & logically.

Result for me: the Hugo Process Committee is continuing for another year (including me by default), and also stuff that I insisted on digging out & including in our report conforms to the second part of C.2 Dude, Where’s My Motion?, even though it wasn't required yet & wasn't even aware it was under consideration, just because it seemed so obviously necessary. So I definitely can bask, feeling like I made a real & meaningful contribution.

I've pledged the family not to overdo it for Hugo Process Committee 2.0, but I *am* going to maybe be the one insisting that we have regularly scheduled meetings & an agenda.

redbird posting in

thisfinecrew

It's been another busy month, with:

A post about spreading the word about the June 14 protests

chestnutpod posted links to two grass-roots jail-support organizations
Link to a Republican congressman's op-ed against Trump's big bill
Contacting the Department of Energy about section 504"
a guide to writing to ICE detainees

toastykitten posted several links to anti-war stuff
Organizing a Congressional district office visit
Some ideas to block the horrible reconciliation bill

Thanks to everyone who posted.

Here's a poll to tell us what you've been doing:

Poll #33322 June check-in

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 14

View Respondents

This month, I

View Answers

called one of my senators
8 (57.1%)

called my other senator
8 (57.1%)

called my congressmember
6 (42.9%)

called my governor
2 (14.3%)

called my mayor, state rep, or other local official
1 (7.1%)

diddid get-out-the-vote work, such as postcarding or phone banking
1 (7.1%)

voted
0 (0.0%)

sent sent a postcard/email/letter/fax to a government official or agency
5 (35.7%)

went to a protest
5 (35.7%)

attended an in-person activist group
2 (14.3%)

went to a town hall
0 (0.0%)

participated in phone or online training
1 (7.1%)

donated money to a cause
8 (57.1%)

worked for a campaign
0 (0.0%)

did textbanking/phonebanking
1 (7.1%)

took care of myself
7 (50.0%)

not a US citizen, but worked in solidarity in my community
1 (7.1%)

did something else (tell us about it in comments)
2 (14.3%)

committed to action in the coming month
5 (35.7%)

As always, everyone is free to make posts about any issues and actions they think the comm should know about. You can also drop some information into a comment to our sticky post if you'd like the mods to do it.

If you're looking for information on anything else, you can use our tags to check for any ongoing actions or resources relevant to the issues you care about. I try to keep the tag list up-to-date. If you need a tag added, you can DM me.

maevedarcy posting in

recthething

In preparation for @hextechtrioweek, the blog is hosting #FanRecFriday to spread the our love for MelJayVik and I decided to join with a post of my own.

Medium: art, fanfic

Fandom: Arcane

Relationship: Mel/Jayce/Viktor

See the rec list at my journal.

glitteryv posting in

recthething

Every Thursday, we have a community post, just like this one, where you can drop a rec or five in the comments.

This works great if you only have one rec and don't want to make a whole post for it, or if you don't have a DW account, or if you're shy. ;)

(But don't forget: you can deffo make posts of your own seven days a week. ;D!)

So what cool fanvids/fancrafts/podfics/fics/fanart/other kinds of fanworks have we discovered this week? Drop it in the comments below. Anon comment is enabled.

BTW, AI fanworks are not eligible for reccing at recthething. If you aware that a fanwork is AI-generated, please do not rec it here.

mecurtin

I finished taking the laundry out of this basket & put it down on its side for Purrcy investigation. It was worth snooping in, but not really good for long-term use, he found.

What's that in the sky? he wondered, after several days of rain & thunder-growler attacks.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in a brown cloth laundry bin lying on its side. He peers out and up at the sunlight coming from the skylight above, his whiskers looking long but rather doubtful.

Purrcy the tuxedo tabby stands in a brown cloth laundry bin lying on its side. He peers out and up at the sunlight coming from the skylight above, his whiskers looking long but rather doubtful.

My back continues to be better, while not being anything like *all* better. Prednisone has the reputation of being Side Effects City, my biggest ones so far are dry mouth making my voice all scratchy, and a certain amount of ADHD/mania type behavior, trouble settling & sleeping. Only 3 more days of tapering to go, though.

Amid all The Horrors ramping up & up, here's something that's given me active joy in the past couple of days: Sir Ian McKellan joining Scissor Sisters onstage at Glastonbury Festival:

Watch on YouTube

My god, he's still got that full Royal Shakespeare voice.

It makes me cry a bit with joy at the end there, seeing Sir Ian being able to lead his people in a public celebration of being out & proud. And to see an old man being *venerated*, for once, admired for achievements but in this case also as a symbol of what people like those in the audience can have with age: a *full* life, a *long* life, a life with everything in it, despite what they may have been told. You don't have to be young to be queer, it's not a phase, it's part of a complete human life.

fabrisse posting in

thisfinecrew

There are 17 medical professionals in the current House of Representatives. 11 are Republicans. Trying to argue on most issues with the bill is difficult with such a tight deadline, but the one item most people -- including Congressional Representatives -- are reacting to negatively is the closure of Rural and Regional hospitals. This should be a negative for all of the Republicans, but the ones who understand what lack of medical provision can do should be especially ripe to listen, perhaps even be persuaded.

I live in Georgia. Rich McCormick is Georgia District 6, and I live in District 1. But he's more likely to respond to someone from the same state, especially if he has Senate or Gubernatorial ambitions in the future.

The list I found is through The Patients Action Network. If you are in a District with one of these Republican representatives, particularly if they specialize in Emergency or Family medicine, start calling and/or emailing. If you are in the same state, email them and let them know you have a long memory if they're thinking of statewide offices.

In the meantime, send support to the few Republicans in the House who have already voted against it and continue to oppose it. At the very least, let's make them miss their deadline for vacation.

delphi posting in

recthething

Continuing with my goal to make fifty rec posts in my journal this year, here's a roundup from May and June.

( 3 x Our Flag Means Death Art (Izzy Hands/Edward Teach; Jim Jimenez; Izzy Hands/Roach) )

( 2 x Our Flag Means Death Gifsets/Edits (Frenchie/Izzy Hands) )

( 1 x Our Flag Means Death Fic (Stede Bonnet/Izzy Hands) )

( 1 x Severance Art (Harmony Cobel/Asal Reghabi) )

Profile

fabrisse

June 2025

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30

Page Summary

sef1029 - A poem for summer
neotoma - Farmer's Market -- 13 July 2025 (Guineafowl Day, 25th of Harvest, Year 2
fic_in_a_box_mod in ficinabox - 2025 Schedule & Rule Updates
duskpeterson - FIC: The Royal Sanctuary: The altar (Tempestuous Tours)
glitteryv in recthething - Community Recs Post!
summerofhorrorexchange in yuletide - Post-deadline pinch hit for Summer of Horror
mecurtin - Purrcy; kdrama
neotoma - Farmer's Market -- 5 July 2025 (Red Currant Day, 17th of Harvest, Year 233)
sakuramod in yuletide - Post-Deadline Pinch Hit for Sakura Exchange (Due July 18)
mecurtin - Purrcy; WSFS
redbird in thisfinecrew - (no subject)
maevedarcy in recthething - FanRecFriday: #hextechtrio edition
glitteryv in recthething - Community Recs Post!
mecurtin - Purrcy; Pride
fabrisse in thisfinecrew - Ideas to block the current bill
delphi in recthething - Fandom 50 May + June Roundup (7 Recs: Art, Gifsets, Fic)

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Page generated Jul. 15th, 2025 11:22 pm

Reading

2025 Schedule:

New In 2025

Mediums Rules Updates

Art Ruleset

Multimedia Works

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Printable Sticker Page Layout

Medium Opt-In: Audio - FanmixMedium Opt-In: Audio - FST (Fan Soundtrack)

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Cross Stitch Pattern

Length Opt-In: DrabbleLength Opt-In: Double DrabbleLength Opt-In: Triple Drabble

Length Opt-In: Drabble Series

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Craftwork

Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Recipe bookMedium Opt-In: Instructions - Cocktail Recipes

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Sheet Music - Arrangement of Music From CanonMedium Opt-In: Audio - Arrangement/Cover MusicMedium Opt-In: Audio - Song ParodyMedium Opt-In: Audio - Commentary TrackMedium Opt-In: Audio - Commentary Track - MST3K Style

Nominations Rules Updates

Elmo & Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)Big Bird/Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)Solo: Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)

Elmo & Original Character (Sesame Street)Big Bird/Original Character (Sesame Street)Solo: Original Character (Sesame Street)

Elmo & Original Characters (Sesame Street)Big Bird/Original Characters (Sesame Street)Solo: Original Characters (Sesame Street)

Elmo & Original Character & Original Character (Sesame Street)Big Bird/Original Character/Original Character (Sesame Street)

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

Medium Opt-In: Audio - Fanmix
Medium Opt-In: Audio - FST (Fan Soundtrack)

Length Opt-In: Drabble
Length Opt-In: Double Drabble
Length Opt-In: Triple Drabble

Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Recipe book
Medium Opt-In: Instructions - Cocktail Recipes

Medium Opt-In: Unique Rules - Sheet Music - Arrangement of Music From Canon
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Arrangement/Cover Music
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Song Parody
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Commentary Track
Medium Opt-In: Audio - Commentary Track - MST3K Style

Elmo & Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)
Solo: Original Character(s) (Sesame Street)

Elmo & Original Character (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Character (Sesame Street)
Solo: Original Character (Sesame Street)

Elmo & Original Characters (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Characters (Sesame Street)
Solo: Original Characters (Sesame Street)

Elmo & Original Character & Original Character (Sesame Street)
Big Bird/Original Character/Original Character (Sesame Street)