Pinch Hitters' Prompts: Round 6
Jan. 14th, 2026 01:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
modzilla posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
fffxIf anyone has a pinch hit for this round of fffx but did not sign up at the start of the exchange to get both an assignment and a gift, you are welcome to leave prompts of your own here, in the comments. This round's tag set contains fandoms, characters, ships, and concepts that participants are already interested in, but you don't have to stick to what's already there - give prompts for whatever fandom(s) you want.
Please give your AO3 name and specify if you're interested in art, fic, or both. Please do not say whose pinch hit you are working on. Please make sure your AO3 preferences are set to allow you to receive unassigned gifts.
There is no minimum treat length - works submitted in response to these prompts may be shorter than 20 panels or 5,000 words.
Works for pinch hitters (including treats for past pinch hitters, at the tag) can be counted towards the achievements at
triplecrownofexchanges (should they be resurrected). Or, if you were considering a treat in this exchange (thank you) and the existing requests haven't sparked an idea yet, maybe a new prompt will.1980s Hacker Manifesto
Jan. 13th, 2026 12:09 pm![[syndicated profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/feed.png){kind=small}
bruce_schneier_feedForty years ago, The Mentor—Loyd Blankenship—published “The Conscience of a Hacker” in Phrack.
You bet your ass we’re all alike… we’ve been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak… the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We’ve been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.
This is our world now… the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn’t run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals. We explore… and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge… and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias… and you call us criminals. You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it’s for our own good, yet we’re the criminals.
Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. My crime is that of judging people by what they say and think, not what they look like. My crime is that of outsmarting you, something that you will never forgive me for.
Pinch hits #4, 18, 23, 28, 30, 32, 39-41, 45, 47-50
Jan. 14th, 2026 01:24 ammodzilla posting in fffxThe following pinch hits are due at 11:59pm EST, Saturday 7 February. That's a little under four weeks from this post, and two weeks after the main deadline. To claim, please reply with your AO3 name, and let me know which recipient/PH number you want. You're also welcome to claim by emailing mod.modzilla@gmail.com. You can swap from your current assignment to a pinch hit; if so, please say that's what you're doing - otherwise I'll assume you're picking up an assignment on top of any current assignments.
Minimum requirements: An art gift must be a completed comic at least 10 pages or 40 panels long; a fic gift must be a story at least 10,000 words long. You can also fulfil a pinch hit by giving two complete half-length works, if your recipient has opted into that for the fandom(s) you are creating in. Any work must be for a fandom your recipient has requested and one character/relationship/worldbuilding tag requested in that fandom, and must avoid their DNWs.
Pinch hits can now be claimed in 5k or 20-panel increments if the recipient has opted into receiving half-length works. Please say in your claim if you're claiming a pinch hit for 5k (fic) or 20 panels (comic), and for what fandom.
( Pinch hit #4 - art, fic [varies by request] - 전지적 독자 시점 - 싱숑 | Omniscient Reader - Sing-Shong, Natsume Yuujinchou | Natsume's Book of Friends, Thor (Movies), Hannibal (TV) )
( Pinch hit #18 - fic - Nantucket Trilogy - S.M. Stirling, Crossover Fandom x2 [Grimm TV/Guardian TV, Grimm TV/Christabel - Coleridge], 长公主在上 | Zhǎng Gōng Zhǔ Zài Shàng (Web Series), 绅探 | Detective L (TV) )
( Pinch hit #23 - art, fic [varies by request] - Shadow of the Leviathan - Robert Jackson Bennett, LitenVerse - Nino Cipri, Stellar Harvest series - Eleanor Arnason, Original Work, Crossover Fandom [Queen's Gambit TV/Man Who Fell To Earth 1976], The Breakfast Club (1985) )
( Pinch hit #28 - art, fic [varies by request] - Hazbin Hotel (Cartoon) x2, Overwatch (Video Game), Slow Horses (TV), Brew Solves - Fandom, Dangan Ronpa Series, Death Note (Anime & Manga) )
( Pinch hit #30 - fic - 人渣反派自救系统 - 墨香铜臭 | The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù, The Fall of the House of Usher (TV 2023), 成化十四年 | The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty (TV), Among Us (Video Game), F1 (Movie 2025), One Piece (Anime & Manga), 重启之极海听雷 | Reunion: The Sound of the Providence (TV 2020) )
( Pinch hit #32 - fic - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (TV), Murder She Wrote, Jem and the Holograms (Cartoon), G.I. Joe (Cartoon), Voltron: Lion Force (1984) )
( PARTLY CLAIMED - Pinch hit #39 - fic - Stargate Atlantis, Kolja | Kolya (1996), Cesta do pravěku | Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955), Jurassic Park Original Trilogy (Movies) )
This pinch hit can be fulfilled with one 5k story.
( Pinch hit #41 - fic - Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen, DCU (Comics, Numb3rs (TV) )
( Pinch hit #45 - art, fic [varies by request] - Dragon Age (Video Games), Breaking Bad, Succession (TV 2018), The Owl House (Cartoon), Falsettos - Lapine/Finn )
( Pinch hit #47 - art, fic - Hetalia (Anime & Manga), Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Star Wars Original Trilogy, The White Vault (Podcast), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV) )
( Pinch hit #48 - art, fic [varies by request] - Final Fantasy XII, Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility (1995), Original Work x2, Vampire: The Masquerade, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Video Game) )
( Pinch hit #49 - art, fic [varies by request] - NoPixel (Web Series), Crossover Fandom [various], 文豪ストレイドッグス | Bungou Stray Dogs, Video Blogging RPF, 薬屋のひとりごと | Kusuriya no Hitorigoto | The Apothecary Diaries (Anime), Sakamoto Days (Anime), Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (Video Blogging RPF) ここは今から倫理です。| Koko wa Ima Kara Rinri Desu | From Now On We Begin Ethics (Manga), 吸血鬼すぐ死ぬ | Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu | The Vampire Dies in No Time (Anime), Bandom )
Click for links to CLAIMED pinch hit requests!
Pinch hit #40 - art, fic - ダンジョン飯 | Dungeon Meshi | Delicious in Dungeon, The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells, Superman (Movie 2025), Original Work, The Amazing Digital Circus (Web Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series)
Pinch hit #50 - art, fic - ヲタクに恋は難しい | Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii | Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku (Anime), Digimon Adventure Zero Two | Digimon Adventure 02, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), Haikyuu!!, 月刊少女野崎くん | Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, Dramacon (Comics), And Another Lovely Day (Webcomic), SK8 the Infinity (Anime), 逆転裁判 | Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney, Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Interesting Links for 13-01-2026
Jan. 13th, 2026 12:00 pmandrewducker- 1. The 8 ways that all the elements in the Universe are made
- (tags:matter physics space )
- 2. Hormone therapy reduces suicidality in trans teens
- (tags:children suicide transgender hormones LGBT )
- 3. Behind the scenes with an artist from Zootopia 2
- (tags:Disney art animation technology )
- 4. Estrogen increases gut pain
- (tags:estrogen pain )
- 5. Google removes some AI health summaries after investigation finds dangerous flaws
- (tags:ai google health misinformation OhForFucksSake )
- 6. New research explores ecological and social roots of same-sex sexual behaviour in primates
- (tags:primates homosexuality lgbt )
- ai,
- animation,
- art,
- children,
- disney,
- estrogen,
- google,
- health,
- homosexuality,
- hormones,
- lgbt,
- links,
- matter,
- misinformation,
- ohforfuckssake,
- pain,
- physics,
- primates,
- space,
- suicide,
- technology,
- transgender
Did Tim Walz change Minnesota's flag to resemble Somalia's? We have the real story
Jan. 13th, 2026 11:00 amsnopes_feedRadiators
Jan. 13th, 2026 12:47 pmcimoreneThe individual thermostats on our radiators don't do much, because they're all controlled by the electronic thermostat on the geothermal pump. There's only one sensor and it's on the tenant side, which is already more insulated because it was built in the 70s and not 1950, so our side is always a bit chilly in contrast, since they would be roasting over there otherwise. And the bedroom loses more heat because of its location right under the roof. But normally in winter it's been more like 14-15° (58-59) in there.
In the last week I've been sleeping with three duvets (mostly under two though; the third one is sideways over the feet). This is actually not inconvenient enough to stimulate the executive function to try to fix it promptly though. We are at "Oh, ugh, I guess we have to do something at some point?"
2026/007: Aberystwyth Mon Amour — Malcolm Pryce
Jan. 13th, 2026 09:22 amtamaranth
I sat in the corner and gazed through red throbbing eyes at the lurid pageant: drunks and punks and pimps and ponces; young farmers and old farmers; pool-hall hustlers and pick pockets; Vimto louts, card sharps and shove ha’penny sharps; sailors and lobster fisherman and hookers from the putting green; the one-armed man from the all-night sweet shop, dandies and dish-washers and drunken school teachers; fire-walkers and whelk-eaters, high priests and low priests; footpads and cut-throats; waifs, strays, vanilla thieves and peat stealers; the clerk from the library, the engineer from the Great Little Train of Wales … it rolled on without end. [p. 31]
Wales is independent, and has fought a colonial war in Patagonia: the veterans haunt Aberystwyth and its environs. The town is pretty much owned and run by the Druids, as corrupt and wicked a crew as any mob. Private detective Louie Knight is engaged by local chanteuse Myfanwy Montez to investigate the disappearance of a schoolboy -- the first of several to vanish without trace. Louie, with his teenaged sidekick 'Calamity' Jane, unravels a heinous plot involving an ark, an antique Lancaster bomber and a forensic knitting expert.
I'm not sure why this didn't work for me. ( Read more... )
Artificial Intelligence
Jan. 13th, 2026 03:18 amysabetwordsmithResearchers affiliated with universities in China and Singapore have devised a technique to make stolen knowledge graph data useless if incorporated into a GraphRAG AI system without consent.
I'm reminded of how alchemists would leave out a critical detail, or make a substitution, so that nobody could steal and reproduce their work.
Snowflake Challenge: day 6
Jan. 13th, 2026 07:43 amshewhostaples
Top 10 challenge
I'm onna train, so here are 10 railway stations I like. In no particular order, and for various different reasons.
1. Frankfurt Hbf. This was where my international rail travels began. Standing on the concourse, looking at the departure boards (getting slightly earwormed by Stuttgart and Fulda), realising that I could get pretty much anywhere from here...
2. London St Pancras. It's beautiful. It's not actually a terribly pleasant experience getting a train from here (maybe the East Midlands and South Eastern platforms are better) but from the outside it's a fairy tale castle.
3. Stockholm. Rolling in, bleary eyed, off the sleeper from Malta, through dingy orange lights, and then suddenly you're in this marble palace. (I got chugged in Stockholm station. I don't know what I was doing to look like a Swede with disposable income rather than a discombobulated tourist, but there we go.)
4. London King's Cross. Never mind all that wizard nonsense, it has a fully functional platform zero. Also the toilets are free these days.
5. Liège Guillemins. Just glorious.
6. Ryde Pier Head. When it's operational and when you don't just miss the train because the catamaran was thirty seconds late. But there's still something fun about a station in the sea.
7. Dawlish. Train to beach in under a minute (your mileage may vary, as may mine considering I haven't been there in about a decade).
8. York. Never mind a pub in the station, it has one on the platform. Lovely stained glass, too.
9. Norwich. Light, gracious, makes you glad you've arrived.
10. Luxembourg. Stained glass again - and just time for an ice cream before the train.
Writing status, sorta, a plan update at least
Jan. 13th, 2026 07:52 amvriddyWhere am I at with all the projects? Definitely nowhere I thought I'd be in early December. Let's have a look at the "vague current plan" back then:
- Let [the Cursed Witch] Rest - I've sure been doing that! Though not the "not too long" bit.
...Actually that's it I did nothing else on that list, and half the rest will have to change. In fairness, I knew all the sequel-related stuff would have to be temporarily shelved about a week later: I was deep in the kn8 edits, and could tell it would take longer than anticipated. I wanted the time away from the witch so my subconscious could ✨ work its magic ✨ about the remaining problems, but once most of the story left my "active" memory, outlining or planning a sequel felt nearly impossible.
Then K-9 happened. Lol. I mean, this was and continues to be fun, and I'm surfing that delightful fandom wave for as long as I can. 🏄 Did I mention our fandom tag was canonised? Teeheehee.
I'm writing a lot of short fics in too many fandoms and I think that's doing me good for now. Mostly because I want to keep myself distracted away from *waves wildly*. It means I'm rereading manga chapters here and there, rewatching episodes bits. I'm still reading a lot of new manga at the moment, and unfortunately feeling fannish about more and more of the tiniest, non-existent fandoms. It's just!! There's so much awesome polyship potential everywhere!!!! They just huh write themselves, or should!!!!! Or I wish someone else did so I could just read it... XD At least, a few of them have English translations out there so maybe some readers will have the same vision and eventually find the fic, but there's also a BL horror manga (the true monster isn't really the creature...) that doesn't, despite calling my name and whispering OT3 into my head louder and louder....... Ah well. Fan does as fan must.
But anyway! Writing short is doing me good, I think, and writing varied too. But I still have plans for the big original projects:
- I want/must do the pacing check for the cursed witch in January. At the very, very least, do the full re-read and take notes on where to break down the new chapters. But ideally I'd like to do that work itself, too, because...
- ...I signed up for an editing course/workshop/cheeralong in February and I plan to begin
againthe structural edits for the soul thief then. I'm hoping the peer support/challenge will help me get past the "blergh I already did 2/3 of this before but stopped at an awkward point." It's been a year now, so hopefully the reset will work out ok...
But I'd really like to have this round of Cursed Witch edits feel like they're a better shape, with chapters properly broken down and cliffhangerised. Also I hope to keep writing ficlets as a pressure valve for launching myself into yet another MASSIVE EDITING/BIG LENGTH round.
That's the current plan! Let's see in a month how it totally didn't work out that way!! XD
Communities
Jan. 12th, 2026 10:47 pmysabetwordsmithpluralquestions -- Discussing plural existenceWelcome to the Plural Questions community! A lot of existing plural communities on Dreamwidth are inactive. We all have a lot to gain from talking to each other, so Plural Questions was created to encourage community discussion around plural experiences. Interactions are encouraged- please comment, post to the community, etc! Get your voice out there! Discussion questions will be posted every now and then, but please feel free to add your own questions or post about your lived experiences.
If you've been following
lb_lee and pluralstories then you might like this new community.Daily Happiness
Jan. 12th, 2026 08:06 pmtorachan2. Although the rain is gone, it's so windy that we're still getting a ton of berries coming down from the tree out front, so I took the car in for a wash again and once again there was no line, so when the guy offered to let me go through twice, I took him up on it. The car looks much better!
3. We had a meeting at work today to get approval for some expenses on the project we're working on and I was expecting it to be difficult but it was super easy!
4. Ollie has also been enjoying Carla's new suitcase.
sigh
Jan. 12th, 2026 10:27 pmjames_davis_nicoll"What's a slide rule?"