Fandom Snowflake Challenge #1

[axael]

Fandom Snowflake Challenge — January 1st

❄ Challenge #1 on snowflake_challenge.

---

Updating My Fandom Info

With the prompt so free-form, I've decided to do a bit of a fannish overview, and then update the bits and pieces in my journal stickies and profile. :) So, without further ado:

Hello! I primarily go by Desiderii while on the greater internet and in fandom spaces, so named after one of old lunar maria, Mare Desiderii, the Sea of Desire. Mare Desiderii does not actually exist, but was an artifact of the tech used to photograph it in the 1950s, which I find deeply romantic. On Dreamwidth and Plurk, I'm Axael, mostly because the 'desiderii' journal was taken, and Axael was the name of my WoW character at the time, short for Axael Roxe. Elsewhere, I've also been Jazz and Zel and a handful of others, depending on what I needed a name for. I joined tumblr with Desiderii, however, so that's the name I've stuck with for fandom.

I primarily fangirl on Ao3, nowadays, reading fic and posting with desiderii. When I do go on social media, I have spent most of my fan-related time on tumblr (fandomentanglement and desideriific) and plurk (axael). I also like to drop into conventions, especially local ones. I may-or-may not cosplay for them, but I love window-shopping the Expo Hall and poking around Artists' Alley.

As for my 'fan backstory,' beyond the usual accumulation of merch and a bit of fan art, my being a fan mostly came out through writing. Specifically, I did a great deal of roleplay in canons where it was very easy to create an in-world Original Character. I was very enthusiastic on Neopets (*fond*) and found many an Avidgamers (and later Proboards) forum site. My most fervent love in rp platforms, however, will always be MUD/MUSH/MOOs (Mu*). On various Mu*, I dipped my toes into Tolkien, Wheel of Time, and--above all--Dragonriders of Pern. I played on Harper's Tale, a Pern MOO, for years. I spent most of my college years on there, puttering about as a dragonrider. My character's dragon is still on the HT site, even, so even just recounting this is making me feel deeply nostalgic.

With most of my fannish behavior being poured into RP, I pretty much stayed in my own little fandom niche, moving from Pern to Black Jewels RP, until about... Well, somewhere between June 2010 and January 2012, according to the creation dates on my various tumblrs. I discovered Doctor Who during that time and devoured as much of it as I could. Became a little obsessed, hunted for more, found fic, then Ao3, and then threw myself into the fandom community right during the 2012 tumblr heyday. My fandom before that was mostly quiet and personal and of limited interest to anyone else. Posting up fic and engaging with other fans about the stuff we liked (outside of rp) just about blew my socks off. It was so much fun. I ended up writing a handful of various fic, did a BBC Merlin Big Bang in 2013, and that clinched it. Fic was my new fandom niche.

Nowadays, because I both write relatively slowly and also split my time writing original fiction and/or editing others' original fiction, I post a new fic only a handful of times a year. I do, however, read just an absolutely ridiculous quantity of others' work. Back during the plague, I began just always having a fic to read open on my phone and at this point it's habit. When I need a moment of downtime, I'm more likely to read a little snippet of fic than I am to open a phone game.

Although my fandom contribution focus is mostly written, I often dabble in creating song playlists that revolve around characters, themes, or narrative storylines. (Here's a character-focused one from my Marvel phase, Aw, Tony, No (Youtube Playlist).) I especially love creating playlists for others--for fics or just because. Further than that, I also knit (I've knitted two 16ft 4th Doctor scarves), and do a bit of cosplay (I've attempted a She-Hulk, and I'd love to work up a proper Xena).

I also do still RP sometimes, though I haven't in a couple of years due to my focus on original creative writing. When I do, I mostly do so here on DW as part of the DWRP community. I'm still faintly bemused that people mostly RP canon characters here, since I came up in the Pern RP tradition where it was highly encouraged to RP a fandom OC.

My current fandom of choice is Batfam, which, I think, as a genre of fics, could generously be called canon-influenced. DC's comics canon is a disaster wrapped around sparks of brilliance and fanon has, IMHO, codified things into a more-or-less stable scaffolding. I do also write Black Jewels fusions, BBC Merlin, MDZS/Untamed, and Marvel. Also Books of the Raksura, Stargate, Leverage, The Sentinel, and Teen Wolf. Adding to that, I read a lot of Star Wars (a lot of Star Wars), ATLA, and anything from miscellaneous canons that catches my fancy with Time Travel, Mutual Pining, or Crack Treated Seriously.

I have a bookmark collection on Ao3, since the other places I was keeping my reclists are defunct. It's here at Desiderii's Panfandom Recommendations. I'm a multi-shipper and a polyshipper with only a handful of squicks, so I do have some smut recced, but my tastes in fic trend towards action/adventure and gen. Even with my last bookmark being from two years ago (and I definitely need to update, there is no recent Batfam or Star Wars in there...), I rec everything in that collection.

Of my own stuff, I'd recommend, Newest to Oldest:
• The Blessing of Decay (Batman, Gen, 19k)
• The Messenger (MXTX Polyamory Flash Exchange 2020, MDZS/Untamed Frankencanon, 3Zun, 14k)
• A Landslide Begins With A Single Pebble (Yuletide 2013, Books of the Raksura, Gen, 2k)
• Candle, Cup, and Casket (PaperLegends 2013, BBC Merlin, Merthur, 234k)
• The Unexpected Key (Kinkmeme fill 2013, BBC Sherlock, Johnlock with a rule63!Sherlock, 66k)

Currently, I'm working on a handful of Batfam fics, and some very self-indulgent fusions and crossovers. The next thing I intend to post is the third installment of my Cryptid Batfam series. I also have a Batman/Stargate crossover fic that I'm actively working on and a healthy handful of WIPs in a range of fandoms that I stare at wistfully every few months before getting back to my original fiction. If I can manage it, though, this year I'd like to finally figure out how to rewrite the last chapter of Fire Safety (the Avengers + a Dragon Egg). It's only been ten years. It's fine.

I think that's mostly it! This has been an incredibly fun walk down memory lane for me, and I'm half-inclined to go see how Harper's Tale is doing. Either that or program my own MUSH, just for fun. If you've any fic recs in any of the fandoms I've mentioned, please hit me up. I love getting links passed my way. <3