#blossoming love zine

[papayaayaart]

Very overdue, but thank you SO MUCH to the @blossominglovezine for giving me the opportunity to illustrate the cover art and printable stickersheet for Blossoming Love: A Susato Mikotoba WLW Zine!! 🌸💕🌸

If you love Susato Mikotoba and the tgaa/dgs girlies, then this FREE to download zine is for you, so please check it out here! 💕

[thelocalmuffin]

Hello everyone! My part for the @blossominglovezine is ready. @angomay and I did a collaboration for nikosusa. Due to the font, I also have an ID below if you have trouble reading it. Thank you again for doing this for me, May. Also thank you to @sunnysidemage for making the lovely graphic! Here’s May’s Piece!

If you’d like more sapphic content, please check out the incredible zine here.

[ID: Two letters written in dainty, purple lettering. Large text next to them reads, “Two Letters Through Time by Ellory.” The letters appear to be aged and have been placed beside one another. The first is dated June 1902 and reads, “Miss Mikotoba, It has taken me a long time to write this letter. I want to start with an apology. Even after I was told the truth of what happened and was relieved to hear I didn’t take Mr. Asougi’s life, the guilt still lingered. I lied to get out of trouble. It was wrong of me. Yet, I find myself thinking of you often. Your passion and drive have not left my mind once. I have never met anyone so confident of themselves… It’s something I aspire to be one day. Now that I have been told you know the truth of what happened that day, I wonder if it would be too much to ask if I could somehow make it up to you. Perhaps it may be too early to ask now, but maybe one day. If you can at least response to let me know this got to you, that would be appreciated. Sincerely, Nikolina.” The second one is dated January 1903 and reads, “Miss Pavlova, I apologize for my late reply. I was stunned to receive a letter from you. I thought we would never cross paths again. Though, to hear from you is a blessing. I was always curious about how you fared after that fateful day. I hope that America is treating you well. I heard it is a wonderful yet difficult place to adapt to. I have come to understand your reasoning. I have grown as a person and met many people just like you: backed into a corner and having to lie for their own safety. Fearing the consequences of telling the truth will lead them into something worse… As for your offer, I am open to it. For now, I am afraid I am not in a position to travel right now. I am very busy with going to university and pursuing my own path in life. Perhaps, one day you can show me around America. I have always wondered what it was like. Best Wishes, Susato Mikotoba.” End ID]

[sunnysidemage]

Realizing this was in my drafts and have not posted yet (it’s been a crazy few months and I’m finally getting a chance to more or less catch up 😭) My full page for the @blossominglovezine, that was released this May (and still available for download)! A companion piece to the lovely fic “Dear Love” by Digitaldreams (AO3 @/digitaldreams and Twitter @/__digitaldreams).

[zukkaoru]

[ID in alt text]

a preview of the fic i wrote for @sk8cherryzine !! featuring teen kaoru & oka friendship 💓

pre-orders are open through october 30 - you can grab your copy here!! we're also running a share campaign on twitter to add a halloween-themed sticker to all physical orders 🎃🌸

[kerolina]

Winter Cherry Blossom🌸💫

My piece for @opchopperzine I loved being part of this zine, if you love Chopper make sure to check it out🥹💖

[grayseeker]

JetPack: A Seeker-Centric Zine

Seekers have been a source of fascination for me since the beginning - and by 'beginning,' I mean when I first started watching G1 in 1985. I mean yes, I fell hard for Starscream, but I also couldn't help noticing his many colorful look-alikes, who always seemed to appear in groups of three. This was, of course, well before I knew the term 'Seeker,' or that those aerial trios would one day be known as Trines. But even then, it seemed that these jets had a distinct culture all their own, and I wanted to know more.

Today, my love for Seekers has blossomed into a full-fledged zine project, JetPack. I'm hoping to make it a deep dive into every facet of Seeker life, from their food and religious practices to their hobbies, sports, nesting habits, myths and legends, and interpersonal relationships. I also hope to highlight some of the lesser-known Seekers, bringing characters often left in the background into the spotlight. My aim is to broaden our appreciation of these iconic fliers, and spread Seeker love throughout our fandom!

Want to join the fun?

JetPack is currently in the interest-check phase, and your feedback is crucial! Fill out our interest check survey and let us know what you’d love to see included. Share your thoughts, express your interest, and help make this project soar!

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Lostcauses Fic: 2023 Wrap Up

I thought I hadn't written very much this year, but I didn't do too badly and I also posted my 100th Eruri fic! Enormous thanks to everyone who has read, commented, recced and made the Eruri fandom such a creative and joyful space. Happy New Year to you all! ♡

Taller

Anon asked: Do you have any headcanons for that one time Levi wished he was taller?

Just Like It Always Is 

"The man sat motionless for a few moments, dark hair falling forward, obscuring his face, slender hands hovering over the keyboard. Erwin held his breath, then he laid his hands on the keys and a soft chord blossomed, warm like a breath of wind on summer’s day."

Erwin is entranced by a strangely familiar man playing the piano in a railway station.

No Regrets

Written in response to the devastating shot of Levi in the Final episode trailer. I thought I was prepared for the emotional damage. I was wrong.

Orbital 

"Levi leafed through the newspaper as he waited in line at the bus stop. The front page was dominated by a large photograph of three men in military uniform, the headline blaring “The Best of the Bravest”. Beneath, in swaggering prose, the story read, “Paradis Space Program has selected its first astronauts from over 100 prospective candidates from all branches of the military, aviation and naval forces. Following a rigorous testing and selection process, Commander Nile Dok, Commander Erwin Smith and Lieutenant Commander Mike Zacharias have achieved the highest honour of being chosen as Scout Project astronauts. One of these brave men will be the first Eldian to orbit the earth in a manned space capsule…”

A space exploration period piece featuring Erwin as a pioneering astronaut and Levi as his CAPCOM.

The Tale of Erwin and Levi  - The Song of Parting

With profuse apologies to Beren Erchamion and J.R.R. Tolkien. This is a shameless rip off of Beren's Song of Parting from The Lay of Leithian.

That And So Much More

"They toil together through all weather; clearing the ground, preparing the soil, digging the pits, planting the precious saplings, nurturing their fragile hope for a better world."

A side story of sorts to The Permanence of the Young Men, inspired by the release of the cover of volume 35.

Buenos Aires Hora Cero 

"Erwin had never considered himself to be a sentimental man but something about the tango stirred a melancholy buried deep in his soul; romantic sorrow tinged with bitter regret, yearning for fleeting intimacy, nostalgia for a love he had never known."

Erwin finds himself alone in Buenos Aires seeking solace from a broken heart. My collaboration with @seitsen-sarvi for the Paradise Zine.

A Good Man 

"Turning to the centre pages of The Eldian Herald, Falco finds a double page spread titled “Heroes of the Eldian Nation: Commander Erwin Smith, 13th Commander of the Survey Corps.” At the head of the page is an imposing picture of a handsome grim-faced man mounted astride a rearing white horse, holding his sword aloft as if poised in mid charge. The caption beneath reads: “Dedicate your Hearts! Erwin Smith, the last great commander of the Survey Corps”. Curiosity piqued, Falco sits down to read."

Intrigued by an article he reads in a newspaper, Falco questions Levi about what the 13th Commander of the Survey Corps was really like.

[thenightpool]

rinharu wrapped 2023

We almost can't believe it's already time to bring out the kadomatsu again! 2023 just raced by, didn't it…?! Let's take a moment to look back on everything Rin & Haru (and their fans!) have achieved this year.

🌸 Archive of Our Own

The Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka tag on AO3 now holds 3,674 works!

That means 173 new fics were posted this year. (There might've been more than that, but it's hard to keep track of creators privatising their older fics!)

And the Night Pool's AO3 collection is up to 90 works!

.

🌸 The Night Pool

Here at TNP, we revived @sakurathon, a cherry blossom-centric event! This year, the event received 40 works by 19 lovely participants.

Since it was such a big success, we're bringing the event back on April 27th & 28th 2024.

°•. ✿ .•°

We also held the aquatic-themed Unleashed Blue, during which 20 participants created 51 (!!) otherworldly works for us.

With permission of the creators, we lovingly collected them in a 400+ page commemorative zine. You can download it on linktree

°•. ✿ .•°

Writers filled an impressive 35 prompts during our prompt meme Make a Splash! that we held in honor of Haru's birthday.

Read the fills on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

Rin & Haru's Big Warm-Up, our monthly prompt event, received 16 new works on AO3 across the year & more on socials.

Check out our collection on AO3

°•. ✿ .•°

We also kicked off rinharu fandom's very first bang: MEDLEY!, a mini + reverse hybrid bang that will start posting in March!

(Psst. Sign ups are still open for a few roles!)

°•. ✿ .•°

We held 3 training camps – super fun writing retreat weekends – over on our Discord. We have 4 more retreats planned for 2024!

If you'd like to join us for the next one(s), here's the info

°•. ✿ .•°

We posted 33 new fanart translations!

Here's the link to our masterlist

°•. ✿ .•��

And finally, The Night Pool beat out Harurinralia to win our Ultimate Rinharu Moments Tournament that we held back in April on both Twitter and Tumblr!

.

🌸 Other Fandom Events

It's been a busy year!

In July, @starstarfairy hosted Wave Of Memory (@rinharumemories) to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Free! The event ran in two wave on tumblr and Twitter and combined polls, fan memories, and all types of fanworks.

@sweetheavenfics helped us run the RH-friendly @soumako-week in September!

@ryu-outsider hosted the month-long daily prompt event Free!cember here on Tumblr. It welcomed the entire fandom. The event was promoted by eleanorenchanted and run via hashtag.

And @rinharuweek ran for a full 10 days this year in celebration of the show's anniversary! They are just wrapping up.

.

🌸 Official News

Free! turned 10 in 2023. Omedetou gozaimasu!

Free! The Final Stroke Part 2 broke all of the series' previous records in the box office, bringing in over 1 billion yen

It also finally made it to Crunchyroll.com for the US & select others

Miyano Mamoru & Shimazaki Nobunaga fed us (+ fanartists' inspiration) well by shouting "HARU!!" and "RIIIN!!" at each other before hugging passionately during the 10th anniversary event at the Saitama Super Arena

We got tons of amazing new art; including a cover illustration for Free! The Band Live's Ever Blue performance in Yokohama, Animedia's July W-cover, Sweets Paradise's promotional art, and Kyoani's 10th anniversary event's illustration

Rin's ripped jeans (+ THE ANKLETS) in the Matsukiyo & Cocokara's Top Of Summer collaboration launched a thousand fanworks

Matsuoka-senshu, Nanase-senshu, Kirishima-senshu & Yamazaki-senshu represented Mizuno at the World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka

Spoon2Di recently restocked volume 78 & 85 on their webshop, and Akiba Pass Shop opened pre-orders for some gorgeous tapestries featuring said art

Karatz, Bikkuriman Choco, Iwami & DECOL all bumped Rin up to 2nd place in character listings (where he belongs!!)

Last but not least, KyoaniShop bankrupted us all by releasing amazing new merchandise (and also did not try to hide that Rin is the Free! series' 2nd protagonist, either…)

--

Thank you so much for being here with us in 2023. We hope it has been a wonderful & creative year for you. Here's wishing you an even more rinharu-filled 2024!

[kinglazrus]

Beep boop hello to you! Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love 💚

I adore whoever made this ask game. Thank you for sending me one, Lexx! This was so hard to choose, so these aren't in any particular order.

The Moment It Breaks

Description: After months of lies and secrets, it finally happens. His identity is revealed in the worst of ways—in the middle of a ghost fight. Now everyone knows that Tucker Foley is the Tech Hunter

Reason: I made this AU for the Danny Phantom au zine, Reality Trip, and I have had so much fun playing with it. It started as a throwaway wondering "what if Vlad approached Tucker instead of Valerie?" and grew into something huge. I've always adored no one knows aus, and this one takes it a step further. I'll be posting the fic to Ao3 soon, and I've got big plans for the rest of this AU.

The Haunting of Danny Fenton

Description: Valerie knows Danny Fenton, everybody does. Youngest of the family, son and heir, future owner of Fenton Works. Notable for all those reasons and infamous for none of them. Where Maddie and Jack are the local quirks, Danny is the tragedy. And, for the next week, he's the Red Huntress' newest client.

Reason: I adore writing Valerie's point of view. She's my favourite character, so it's a bit criminal that I don't have more fics focused on her. I've also used some different narrative techniques in this fic playing with perspective, which has been a lot of fun.

The Punishment Fits the Crime

Description: Ghosts are naturally drawn to death. Danny, however, finds himself drawn to those who have wrongfully died. He always said he would never hurt someone who doesn't deserve it. It's not his fault that he keeps finding people who do. Or: Danny is a vengeful spirit.

Reason: My darkest fic, tonally. I got the idea to turn Danny into a vengeful spirit and immediately decided to push it as far as I could. There's only a couple of chapters up right now, but the tags tell you all you need to know about the direction this fic is going.

The In-Laws

Description: Harriet and her son, Kwan, meet each other's boyfriends through a family dinner. Hopefully, Vlad Masters and Danny Fenton can get along for one meal.

Reason: Because it's fun! This is a very light-hearted, humorous fic, and I had a great time with it. I like to write all kinds of pairings, and this was a great way to explore two I hadn't yet: Vlad and Harriet, and Danny and Kwan. Bad News shippers come get your juice.

Blossoms On Her Tongue

Description: Years after Undergrowth’s attack, Sam’s ghost powers from that day are slowly returning. Sam is excited at first, both at the chance to grow closer with Danny, and the opportunity to use her own powers for good. But things aren’t as great as they seem. After all, plants don't mix well with the cold.

Reason: I can't actually say because that would be a spoiler! But there's a specific dynamic I wanted to explore for the trio and this fic was what came out of it. I've got three parts planned for this series, each one focused on a different member of the trio.

Honourable mentions that I almost picked for this:

The Survivalists (of course)

Prince Before King. Genius Before Fool.

Not Your Danny

Deep Wounds

Dead Man Walking

Until Death Do We Part

[mappingthemoon]

For the past several years (can’t remember if this attitude predates the pandemic), I’ve been kinda “meh”/side-eye re: New Year’s Resolutions. I am a very goal-oriented person and feel existentially unmoored when I don’t have something that I’m working toward, be it a class, a trip, a concert, a zine or other artsy project. But I also tend to have very unrealistic expectations, namely of how much time it will actually take me to complete tasks and how much energy I will still possess after I get home from work every day. So I don’t want to put all this abstract pressure on myself for the new year and then get burned by my, idk, ENORMOUSLY OVERWHELMING CAPACITY FOR HOPES AND DREAMS (or inability to accept reality or whatever, I guess, depending on your viewpoint lol).

Last year, I got a faculty librarian job and I was able to finally quit doing part-time transcription work, a (second) job I’d held for over 11 years. I thought the sudden influx of “free time” would result in a flood of creative projects in 2023, but I didn’t get nearly as much done (or started) as I’d hoped. My new job duties brought increased stress – I supervise someone now and received zero training for this so I’m having to figure out all this soft skills work relationship stuff on my own, I’m one of only two special collections catalogers in a large academic institution and ofc our backlog is a million miles long, I have to deal with so many more dang emails and meetings as a faculty person than I did as a staff, our institution is grossly underfunded and understaffed and people keep leaving bc our wages are comparatively Bad; many of my colleagues and I are burnt out af. SO ANYWAY due to all that, instead of blossoming into a creative powerhouse now that I have only one day-job, I instead found myself sinking into the couch after work, watching youtube on the big tv screen and transforming into a sad amorphous blob.

BUT! One reason I am risking feeling slightly more hopeful about 2024 is that this year, I am scheduled to have two out of four credit card loans paid off! (I had five but already paid one off this year too :D) This will put like… nearly $400 back into my pocket each month. I hate complaining about my money situation bc I do make what would be a decent living wage for my ~lifestyle~ (2 very frugal working adults, no kids in the home), but nearly 25% of my income goes to debt (not including mortgage lol). (The reason I am carrying so much debt is because I didn’t make anything even remotely close to a living wage for the entirety of my working life until I got the librarian job last year and I had to use credit cards for things like groceries and travelling home for funerals and then I’d transfer the credit card balance onto a loan and then I’d be like “okay, as long as we have no more emergencies for 18 months, we’ll be good,” and then there’d be another emergency and I’d have to borrow more money again 🇺🇸) So the TL;DR is I strongly suspect that when I have a bit more of a financial cushion and don’t have to deprive myself of most material pleasures (such as the occasional deli sandwich or vinyl record! I have simple desires!) and white-knuckle it through the last week of every month, I might be a bit less exhausted and stressed out on a daily basis?

So based on that completely speculative hope, here are my goals/resolutions for 2024:

Start a monthly one-pager photozine (my intention is for this to be a simple project to keep me active in the zine community and more ~intentional~ with my photography). Finish writing Moonshot #3 (Summer 2024) and #4 (Fall 2024). Start outlining (at least) Phases of the Moon #7. Maybe: Think abt starting a new art/literary comp zine. [I used to do tons of comp zines when I was younger and I’ve been revisiting them in my zine digitization/archiving project and feeling inspired!! Love bringing a variety of people together to collectively work on an amazing goal! ♈]

Do something analog with photography – maybe cyanotypes? [I’m despondent that I’ve been dragging an enlarger around for over 10 years but still haven’t built a home darkroom. This can still happen someday, but in the meantime, I know there are other analog photographic processes I can do without a full darkroom!] I also want to get back into photographing concerts. [I was a little disappointed that my Quintron pics {still forthcoming sry} didn’t turn out fantastic but it was my own damn fault for falling out of practice with my DSLR, and also forgetting to turn on autofocus lmao.] AND, I think it would be fairly easy to turn my bedroom into a camera obscura, which would be TOTALLY AWESOME and SWEET.

Redesign my website/portfolio: selenographer.info. Try to actually post some newsletters once in a while?

Finish at least one cross-stitch!

Leave the house more often for social activities?????

Better daily health routine [I already do this stuff, but I’m not always consistent]: Meditate & do yoga, preferably in the morning. Teeth care at least twice a day [sry if it’s TMI gross but brushing before bed was never part of my childhood and it has been a constant struggle to solidify this habit as an adult, ugh] and actually use the dang waterpik & electric toothbrush that I bought. Wear the sleep apnea device every night. [This thing works. But I fucking hate wearing it and I skip nights which makes me feel like a big dummy since I borrowed an additional $3000 to treat this problem.] STOP TAKING GOODY’S POWDER. [This should follow if I am consistent in wearing the apnea device bc I won’t get morning headaches if I am not waking up in a state of oxygen deprivation!]

Buy a new bed! [We got one of those cheapo internet mattresses in 2018 and man is it killing me. If I ever won the lottery the first thing I would do is completely redesign the bedroom into the ideal sleep environment.] Also need to buy 1 or 2 new bookcases bc I now have 3 storage bins full of unshelved books and it makes me anxious.

Work-related goals: Reclaim as much time as possible from the workweek. Try to have at least a half-day of work-from-home time per week. Actually use the professional development time I am privileged to have as faculty! Try to detach from the stressful sense of urgency other people (inexplicably) bring to the table and don’t let that shit get to you. Figure out a better way to handle emails? [My current modes are either complete avoidance so I can hyperfocus on a task, or checking my email every 30-60 mins and spiralling into the distraction zone for hours.] Hopefully take another class at Rare Book School. Help with more outreach events (aka teaching people about ZINES! :D)

GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY <3

[noragamizines]

👑Art Preview!👑

It's a lovely cherry-blossom filled spring day in this beautiful page created by @edealgard! Grab those springtime outfits and head to the picnic!

✨View the rest of this page and more by preordering now! Find the link below and in our bio. Closes 6/8!✨

[blossominglovezine]

Happy Holidays from the Blossoming Love Zine Team! The lovely art is from @angomay​

There are two more weeks to apply for the zine!

Artists can apply here

Merch artists can apply here

Writers can apply here

[marzipanparty]

Here’s the full piece i did for the Blooming Panic: All Year Round zine!! Physical copy preorders are over but you can still get a digital version of it here! Blooming Panic is my favorite 90s shoujo anime 🌸💖 i loved the episode where Toaster takes us out on a cherry blossom viewing date 👀

[smallpapers]

Updated profile pic!

Thanks to everyone for your support through the past year <3 I can't believe TOH has ended...

Some updates/ personal notes under the cut!! Like, its really personal its almost narcissistic!

PRONOUNS: I go by she/they now!!! I've always had a lowkey gender crisis (fueled by an existential crisis really) so I am FINALLY trying this out. Feel free to refer to me with they/them pronouns :) (I guess I should have seen something coming when I made my first proper OC over a decade ago as an aro ace agender lol)

TOH ENDING: I'm really sad that the owl house is over...but I'm so glad I got to meet so many cool people in the TOH fandom!!! I even had the pleasure of sending a few friends stickers as a small token of appreciation. I'm like super grateful for all the encouragement and notes! I don't talk much here but I do read the reblog tags :) The brainrot was so serious that it made me draw basically everyday the past year (even if its a small doodle) and i really feel like i grew as an artist, and I honed my skills although I still have a long way to go! I can see improvement in my framing and colouring skills :) I think I might do some funny compilation video in the near future...

A BREAK/MINI-HIATUS: I am considering taking a small break from fandom. It might be a few weeks or maybe less, depending on how quickly I get out of this slump. I am guessing its a burn out from all the negative news regarding AI 'art' and being tussled round by the twitter algorithms. Also maybe because i did two epic pieces back to back... I have a lot of ideas and I really don't want to stop posting art online! I want to do sort of a post-WAD/pre-epilogue HW comic series, as well as a grom animatic :)

THANK YOU HUNTLOW ugh they mean so much to me... I know its silly because its a silly little fictional ship. But its really unlocked some creativity in me that I lost? Along with such a lovely community, it has really inspired me to keep drawing! Maybe its a right place at a right time thing, but after watching ASiaS, it gave me brainrot so much that it kicked my other bad habits out the window! I got to do so much cool stuff i always wanted to do including making an animatic, comics, being in a fan zine, epic pieces, making stickers... I can't believe they are canon now its been such a journey to watch this ship and the shippers blossom :)

THANK YOU!!!! If you've ever liked or reblogged any of my drawings, especially leaving funny tags, I just really want to say thank you <3 I really do cherish all the comments I get!!!! and if you've read this far, I'm super impressed!

That's all from me for now!!

<3 papers

[uss-genderprise]

You should read AOSR because it's really good and also free

I can't stick to my usual titling scheme because this zine is genuinely good and I want you to read it.

AOS Renaissance (or AOSR for short) is a digital zine published earlier this week (8.3.2023) (there goes my plan to do these reviews chronologically) to celebrate the 14th anniversary of Star Trek (2009) and is free to download here. Some of the works are also available on AO3, and I'll link to those individually so you can leave nice comments, but I do recommend reading the zine as a whole. The art in it is stunning, and I personally really like that zines are collected and curated in a way that works online generally aren't.

Disclaimer: as usual, this review is entirely my opinion.

We Hold Each Other Tonight, Eyes Full of Constellations

by spidey_kirk

Jim thinks he and Spock are dating but taking it slow, but Spock is beating himself up pining for Jim, thinking he only wants to be friends. What a great premise, I love fics like these! My only gripe is a lack of breaks between time skips which made it a little confusing at times. 4/5

Whiteout

by Bradley Martin

A little weird to see a Christmas fic published in the middle of May but I'm not complaining because it is CUTE. Considering the usual contents on this blog you might be surprised to hear how much I love McKirk, since I tend to keep it on the DL, but I'm so so soft for them, and this fic perfectly encapsulates why. I love it. 5/5

The Way Their Fingers Touch

by remylebae

Leonard says he's over Jim, only to ask Spock out, find out Spock and Jim are together, and realise he never actually got over Jim in the first place. Where do I even start? I love this fic so much. The pining! The way they all care so much about each other! Great fun. 5/5

Forget-me-nots

by Maria

Spock's life flashes before his eyes and we get the shortest memory loss fic I have ever read. The visuals are beautifully described and very sweet. 4.5/5

Kiss Her You Fool

by captainkaseykirk

I think this might be the first Scotty/Uhura fic I've ever read, and I don't regret that at all. I love Jim and Scotty's friendship, I love how awkward Scotty is about his crush, I love how sweet he is about Uhura and I love their first kiss. Great introduction to the ship. 5/5

Cornflowers and Peach Blossoms

by USS-Genderprise

Disclaimer: I'm biased about this one, for obvious reasons (I wrote it). A hanahaki fic in the year of our lord 2023? (That's what everybody keeps asking me) Yes. It's also major character death, but personally I think it's one of my best works. Compared to the rest of the fics in this zine, it's incredibly depressing. I do like it, though.

A Brief History of Family and Domestic Life on Starships

by spocko

I don't usually like miscommunication in fics, but this one was fun. All the different character interactions were on point, and I do love seeing Spock with a cat. 5/5

Binary Stars

by asoulofstars

How do Kirk and McCoy fall in love? Everyone's favourite oh moment, one for each of them. Very cute. 4/5

Shine A Little Brighter

by KnightAniNaberrie

I love seeing Spock grow as a person, grow in his relationships. I also love some good Spock and McCoy banter, especially when it's clearly a sign of affection. Wonderful fic. 5/5

Unwritten Rules and Regulations Excerpt

by asoulofstars

Saavik in AOS? It's more likely than you think. She keeps a running list of all the things that should not be done on the Enterprise, and shares two of her points with us. Great fun, though clearly incomplete. 4.5/5

Restorations

by stanzas

Absolutely adorable. Everyone but Jim is good with children and I am here for it. 5/5

Jealousy is a Green Blooded Alien

by QUEERTASTIC

Spock? Jealous? No way! /s. I love a good jealous Spock fic. The descriptions of his emotions were great. A little disappointed by the ending, though. 4/5

Final thoughts

Honestly, I think this might be the best zine I have read to date. Every fic was a joy to read and each piece of art was stunning. I can honestly recommend each and every story in this zine, even if I do have my favourites. You should read it! It costs you nothing! Literally!

[snapdraqons]

Belonging

ao3 link

Rating: Teen

Relationships: Courtney Sithe/Lady Baskerville, background Lady Baskerville/Klint van Zieks

CWs: DGS2 spoilers, referenced misogyny and homophobia, referenced past death

Preview:

The other woman furrows her brow. "Ah, perhaps I worded that incorrectly," she says, more to herself than to Courtney. "I suppose what I meant to ask was… do you ever feel… isolated? Like you don't belong?" "At work?" "At all." -- In which Courtney Stevens gets to know Lady Baskerville, finding far more in common with her than she first realised.

...

happy dgs wlw day!! to the like 3 baskersithe shippers out there, enjoy your food. to everyone else, have a sapphic rare pair <3 and shout-out to the blossoming love zine mods for organising this event! I'm looking forward to the zine itself! @blossominglovezine