coprime

Thing the First: I'm not planning to do snowflake_challenge this year, but I was pondering Day 1 and came up with something.

In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

CrunchyRoll recently put up two Haikyuu!! two movies that it said I hadn't watched, so I did! And it turned out the movies are just the third season repackaged, which I had watched, but I watched them again because I was enjoying revisiting the Karasuno boys. And then I was thinking about this question, and the thing that brings me joy is fandoms, especially revisiting old ones. Rewatching Haikyuu!! was like, "Ahh, what sweet volleyball-obsesses idiots. Noya! ♥ ♥." Then I came across links to a couple new-to-me Bashir/Garak fics, and it was like, "Ahh, yes, Bashir/Garak, so good and banter-y ♥ ♥." And I was reminded how I'll sometimes get hit by nostalgia and go searching for old beloved pairings or fandoms I don't frequent much anymore and how delightful it is to find something new-to-me or even something old that I enjoy just as much this time around as the first.

(Thinking about this made me go see if Chrome & Gunmetal and File 40 were still around. Chrome & Gunmetal, yes; File 40, not so much! So then I had to do my best to update any links in my bookmarks or coprime_recs that linked to File 40, and "Ahh, Napolean and Illya ♥.")

So I think that's my happy place? I love adding new fandoms, but there's something so nice about revisiting an old one somehow, like snuggling down in a warm blanket with something relaxing playing while wearing your fuzziest jammies.

Thing the Second: A couple friends came over today, and we played Takenoko, which was a Christmas present for me from Husband. He thought I would like it because of cute pandas, and he was totally right. We played a couple times ourselves after the friends left too. You and the other players build a garden and grow bamboo in it while the panda goes around eating the bamboo you just grew, and along the way you are trying to complete different card objectives (like, have the panda eat two green bamboo or grow three pink bamboo that are three units high), and whoever has the most points at the end wins. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Playing a game does not feel like it takes as much time as it does, which is good, and there didn't seem to be a ton of time between turns even with four people, which is also good. And it's just fun going around growing bamboo and then having the panda eat it.

Thing the Third: I feel like there is a different thing the third I was intending to blather about, but I can't remember what it was, so instead I'll blather about something that I keep intending to blather about but haven't yet: Pokemon Go.

( Cut for talk of health/weight stuff )

I really enjoy Pokemon Go! It's gotten me walking nearly every day. (The past couple weeks have been rough with the holidays and then immediately getting sick after.) And I really enjoy getting the fresh air even when it's cold. I've rediscovered the bundling techniques to stay warm outside I used to use for my college job. I'm like a serious casual player? I try to put myself in situations where I can join people doing raids or maybe get an EX pass, but I don't raid every day or go out because someone posted on Discord. (Although I will say I'm in if I happen to be out and someone else says something.) But it's so much fun for me to go out and see what I'll find. Maybe it'll be something new, or maybe it'll be another Hoppip! I have found many Hoppips, but Hoppips are cute and fun to throw pokeballs at, so it's all good. I do not think I would enjoy this game so much if I did not like pokemon designs in general. Husband is like, "Oh, you hatched another Trapinch? I'm sorry," and I am like, "Trapinch, yay, Trapinch is so cute!" It probably helps that several of my friends also play it turns out, so I had people to answer questions when I first started. And the community where I live is pretty friendly. Or at least, if there is drama, I am far enough removed from it to not know it exists, haha.

Canon: Final Fantasy VII
Pairing: Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Canon Level: Friends

Somewhere about halfway through Final Fantasy VII, I was so thoroughly confused by what in the world was going on with the plot that I decided to go read fic in the hopes of clearing things up. (It certainly wouldn't have been able to make my confusion any worse.) And promptly fell down the Cloud/Zack hole but good. I like Zack's friendliness and general happy-go-lucky attitude, but it's his complete devotion to the people he cares about that really gets to me--and Cloud is definitely one of those people. I feel like it's only natural that Cloud would be drawn Zack's bright spirit. And the thing that makes them work for me is that Cloud has just as much devotion as Zack, only it's a little harder to see at first. I feel like Zack was able to see a smidgen of that (one of the few who did see Cloud's true strengths), was intrigued, and determined that he had to get to know Cloud.

Suggested reading:
Too Good To Be True by Miko
Revisit by Cephy
I Promise by puella_nerdii
It Rains Ashes On Golgotha by Harmony
In Your Hands by sister_coyote

Canon: Night at the Museum
Pairing: Jedediah/Octavius
Canon Level: Enemies to Friends

They are two tiny people in a world of giants who have been enemies in the past but are now friends. It's practically a grand romance already. Okay, not really, but enemies to friends to lovers does have a long tradition, and I think they'd enjoy turning their us vs. each other rivalry into an us vs. everybody else thing as they explore the museum together and make a place for themselves in the wider, larger world of the museum.

Suggested reading:
A Classical Education by mtgat
Playing Nice by doorrepairgirl
Malak by Kantayra

Canon: Homestuck
Pairing: John Egbert/Karkat Vantas
Canon Level: One-Sided Crush

There is just something super adorable that happens when you combine Karkat's eternal rage with John's complete inability to take Karkat's bluster seriously. Karkat could use some of John's goofiness in his life helping him to chill out a bit, and I think John would find Karkat and his all his differences endlessly fascinating.

Suggested reading:
Pitch by perculious
Enforced Cultural Exchange by Miko
But I'm a Friendleader! by Cephied_Variable
Kismessitude Does Not Raise Your Prankster's Gambit by vikki

Canon: Final Fantasy VIII
Pairing: Rinoa Heartilly/Squall Leonhart
Canon Level: Dating

There is something about the immersion you get with video games that gets to me so that I often end up shipping the canon couple despite myself. Rinoa's annoyingly peppy, Squall is trying real hard to earn his Angstiest Teenager Trophy, and yet I think they're super cute together. Rinoa refuses to let Squall wallow in his pessimistic attitude and drags him out of his shell in a way that none of his other friends can manage on their own. She has a core of tenacity that's easy to overlook but which hooks Squall and drags him into her orbit. They act as good counter-balances to each other with different strengths and weaknesses.

Suggested reading:
Play by Ear by Abbykat
Driving Lessons by ChelesNoir
Beautiful Day by celeste9

Canon: Aria
Pairing: Akira Ferrari/Alicia Florence/Athena Glory
Canon Level: Friends

Oh, Aria, I am never sure quite what to make of you. The show itself has lots of female characters who are friends and work together and go on adventures together, and then I occasionally venture out to see if I can find fic for it...and it's all het. I get that all the main characters have a designated male interest, but I find the dudes so boring in this series. I really wish there was something for the older generation of Alicia, Athena, and Akira! They're all still friends, and there are so many teases in the canon with them telling the current generation main characters some of their exploits from when they were younger. I want them organizing a night out for themselves with Akira and Alicia convincing Athena to do karaoke so they can hear her sing, and Alicia teasing Akira and Athena in a flirty way as she tries to fluster them, and all of them just enjoying each other's company.

Suggested reading:
None, sadly. I had one but it got deleted.

Canon: Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories
Pairing: Adell/Rozalin
Canon Level: In Love

I got really invested in Adell and Rozalin after however many umpty hours my husband spent playing it. They're so different, and I really enjoyed seeing them grow and start to care for each other over the course of the game. Rozalin starts out so sheltered and stuck up and stubborn, but she makes friends and learns how to care about other people with Adell at her side as she finally gets to experience the world at large. And rough-and-tumble Adell's just as stubborn as Rozalin and eventually he stays by her side and protects her because that's where he wants to be, not just because he feels it's his duty. They're both so stubborn and set on disliking each other at the start that it makes the good ending really satisfying.

Suggested reading:
Dying Embers by The Genius Mage
It Take Two to Tango by pizzapality

Canon: Angel
Pairing: Charles Gunn/Wesley Wyndam-Price
Canon Level: Colleagues

Gotta admit, I first got into this one because of the Two Hot Guys factor. But then I stated with it because Gunn and Wesley are fun together and generally not too broody. They come from different worlds with correspondingly different world views, so they clash occasionally, but they're united with a common purpose so their clashes don't devolve into fighting. Which makes for fun reading! Gunn encourages Wesley to be less staid, and Wesley is a fun challenge for Gunn.

Suggested reading:
Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson by shrift
Wesley's Liberal Guilt by Jessica Harris
Contrapuntal by mimesere

Whoops, I seem to have missed a week. No time like the present to get back in the swing of things though.

Canon: Ranma 1/2
Pairing: Hibiki Ryouga/Saotome Ranma
Canon Level: Rivals

Hah, I read so much with these two way back when. Most of it, sadly, seems to have disappeared. They were a lot of fun to read about in the bicker-bicker-kiss sort of way. Ryouga was closer to being equal to Ranma in fighting skills than several of the other characters, and he was just as obsessed with Ranma as all the girls fighting over him. So it always made sense to me that maybe Ryouga was in the category of "secretly wants to date Ranma but won't admit it."

Suggested reading:
What the Cat Dragged In by Stariceling

Canon: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Pairing: Jean-Luc Picard/Q
Canon Level: Antagonists

Q seems to take a lot of joy from antagonizing Picard and delights when Picard manages to beat his challenges. And while Picard is certainly irritated by Q and the deadly games he plays with Enterprise crew, I think Picard has too much curiosity to not be fascinated in Q and what he can do and all the potential that's wrapped up in Q's being. Could Q manage a romance with a mortal? Eh, maybe, maybe not. But I do think he'd enjoy making the effort at a serious something even if it's not a traditional romance.

Suggested reading:
A Kiss Before The War by AlaraJRogers
Past Duties by astolat
The Indomitable Picard by jedibuttercup