Trabia Garden

Oh, wow, it's so strange to write fanfiction for Glee after two years of nothing but tiny fandoms. I haven't received this much feedback since writing for Supernatural in 2008. It's lovely, but it does make me worry that I may have trouble motivating myself to return to smaller fandoms afterwards. (Also, I'm trying to reply to all the reviews, but after a while it becomes really difficult to think of things to say.)

Minor concerns aside, hearts for the Kurt/Blaine fandom! Never before have I seen a fandom so given to the bizarre point-missing habit of saying 'Spoilers: only for the fact that Kurt becomes a unicorn in episode γ.π' in fanfiction headers, but the people are delightful and so is much of the fic.


Here, for those of you looking for a means of procrastination, is an entry of Flash games I find intriguing! All of them are fairly short; you'll be able to complete most of them within ten or fifteen minutes. None require too much skill; I've chosen them more because they're interesting than for gameplay reasons. A couple of them could fairly be described as 'a bit pretentious', because, whilst I generally have little patience for pretension in books or films, I seem to have an odd fondness for it in games, but they're all worth playing.

Well. Apart from Steamshovel Harry.


loved is a fascinating, haunting little game about submission and obedience. One to play through more than once. May be triggery for people with experience of emotionally abusive relationships, though, and the opening may be upsetting for trans or genderqueer people, so bear that in mind.

On a vaguely related note, FreeWill, a choose-your-own-adventure-if-you-can game. I'm amused by how entirely some of the comments miss the point.

The Company of Myself is a clever little puzzle game, if perhaps a little heavy-handed with its story. The only game on this list for the actual 'game' aspect. (littlemoose has pointed out that the ending may be upsetting for some people; close it when the screen says 'Are you really leaving?' if you don't want to risk it.)

Steamshovel Harry is just a massive troll. Telling you this rather defeats the purpose, but I like you too much to let you go in blind. The background music for the tutorial is my favourite part. It's time to learn about astronomy!

You Have to Burn the Rope is another one you'll want your sound turned on for, particularly during the ending credits. It may be a little tricky to work out what you have to do to succeed, but I have faith in you.


Not included on this list on the grounds that nobody should play it is Desert Bus, in which the aim is to drive for 360 miles along a straight desert road, in a bus, in real time. If you drift off the road, you will stall and be towed back to the beginning, also in real time. It takes eight hours to complete. I don't know this from experience. Also not included are games in the 'strangely compelling but ultimately unsatisfying' vein of Achievement Unlocked and Upgrade Complete; the games above either have some sense of achievement or are too short to make you feel you're wasting your time.

Well. Apart from Steamshovel Harry.

This is an entry of many unconnected things!

- Here is a rather well-done Flash version of Portal (for those who aren't familiar with Portal: it's a puzzle game in which you try to reach your goal by creating portals that lead to each other and harnessing THE POWER OF PHYSICS). It works surprisingly well in two dimensions, and there is a real sense of achievement when you work out how to get past a tricky point. The portal controls (mouse to aim, Q to fire the blue portal and E for yellow, or the left mouse button for whatever isn't the last colour you fired) aren't as intuitive as they could be, I feel, but perhaps that's because I'm using a trackpad. (Use the arrow keys to move and jump.)

- I actually rather like the Eleventh Doctor's outfit. Possibly this is because I can easily envision the elder of my brothers wearing it, and the idea of one's younger brother being the Doctor is rather cool. Well, until one remembers that the writers are probably going to blow up his siblings in a supernova for the angst potential. I'd better stay away from any supernovae until Twelve appears. (Actually, it's probably not a great idea to wander into a supernova no matter what the Doctor is wearing.)

- DEAR ELEVEN: PLEASE GROW SOME EYEBROWS. Perhaps your eyebrowlessness is supposed to emphasise how alien you are (although the actor himself doesn't appear to have eyebrows, so unless he's a Time Lord...), but I find it really disconcerting.

- I really, really want some Derren Brown hetfic, and I don't know why. Is it just because there isn't any? Is it because he is so very, very charming to the women on his shows (just before he ties them up and throws them into a lake)? Is it because I am contrary enough to want a pairing just because it contradicts a character's established sexuality? I hope it's not some sort of subconscious self-insertion desire; that would be very embarrassing. Whatever the reason, whenever Derren Brown strays anywhere near a lady in anything I am writing, I immediately want to pair him up with her. (Then again, more or less the same thing happens whenever Derren Brown is near a man. Apparently I just want to pair him up with everyone.)

- I think there should be fanfiction in which Derren Brown and Misha Collins meet. What would happen? I have no idea, but it needs to be written. One mocks his fans incessantly; the other sends them to sleep, then kidnaps them and abandons them in Morocco. They could get on marvellously.

- I've started rewatching Fullmetal Alchemist, and it seems I'd somehow managed to forget how soul-crushingly depressing the anime is. The manga isn't the happiest thing in the world, certainly, but the anime just piles eight million bricks on the viewer's chest. The third episode makes me cry so much.

- Somehow, I managed to come away from Sunday's episode of Top Gear with the impression that Sienna Miller/Jeremy Clarkson would be sort of cute. I don't know.

- Help, help, I think I 'ship Mitchell and Webb.

I try to avoid random links, but I don't think I can resist telling people about the Psychiatrie für misshandelte Kuscheltiere.

Basically, you have to cure stuffed toys of mental disorders.

No, I'm not kidding.

It's a completely insane concept, which is part of the reason for my loving it. It helps that Kroko is adorable and Lilo is ridiculously cute. (I WANT TO WRITE INCREDIBLY ANGSTY LILO FANFICTION. IT WILL BE GLORIOUS. I can send him through Silent Hill, because hooray for the happy joyous town of Silent Hill! I envision an epic of woe and sadness, with Lilo being constantly attacked by shadowy equations.)

Dolly, however...

"Okay, um, let's try this. Here you go, Dolly, here's some knitting kit - what are you doing, Dolly? Are you going to - oh, for Hyne's sake. STOP STABBING YOURSELF WITH THE NEEDLES. STOP IT, DOLLY, YOU STUPID SHEEP."

I thought that the way they worked the physical aspects of the toys into their problems was very clever. It's all a little disturbing, actually. I'm going to end up looking at my soft toys (mock me all you like!) and wondering what issues they might have.

EDIT: Oh, and you know the bit in the Half-Blood Prince when Sirius comes back from the dead and the Whomping Willow falls in love with him and traps him up in its branches, and Harry runs across the grounds yelling "SIRIUS!" and the Willow kills him out of jealousy, and then Neville saves the world? Wasn't that awesome? Whoops, spoilers.

(Also, I've now written twenty-five Doctor Who fics. That's more fic than I've written for all my other fandoms put together on fanfiction.net. Um, what the hell?)