#themed tuesday

Welcome to Themed Tuesday - where I take two stories with a similar theme and compare them to one another.

I don’t know about you, but once in a while, I read a story that makes me fall into a mood, where all I want to read is a certain topic/theme (be it a trope, motif or plot) over and over again until I feel ready to try something different.

This week’s theme:

A currently updating story about fem!Harry x Tom Riddle, with Harry accidentally traveling back to the 1940s.

When Harry Met Tom by The_Carnivorous_Muffin. Harry accidentally attracts the attention of Tom Riddle and very quickly derails his path to becoming Voldemort. It's loosely based on When Harry Met Sally, which I haven't actually seen, but I will say that this story is addictive, full of plot twists and very genre-defying.

Metamorphosis by Lojuba. Harry and Tom are both at Wools Orphanage, and the premise suggests it goes from enemies to friends to lovers. This story is a lot shorter than the first but it's a premise I haven't seen as much and seems promising. TW: sexual assault is discussed and attempted by a character in one scene.

These stories are hard to compare, because aside from the fact that they both qualify for the week's theme, they have wildly different takes on their characters and their general plot. As far as similarities go, both stories have Tom and Harry start out as reluctant friends, with Tom being curious and initiating more interactions.

Work got a little nuts, and I fell behind.  I’m catching up now!  

I decided to do a season theme for this week.  I chose a Caryl oneshot called “Winter.”  As always, you can find it in any of my accounts, but I’m putting the FF link here, just in case you want to read it.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10703397/1/Winter

I really liked this one, and I don’t even know that I can fully explain why.  Maybe it’s because I really love the idea of Caryl loving each other until the absolute end of their lives, and I’d like to think that they could have each other for a long time before that comes.  

Anyway, here’s a little excerpt.

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Whether the winter was inside him or without, it was the dead of winter and he knew it was his last. The spring this year would see him in a different place…a better place…a place he longed to be. And he was anxious, if for nothing else, to get his trip underway.

When the morning came, far too cheerful for the frozen season, he pulled himself up out the bed. And he followed, just the same as he had every morning for as long as his ever shortening memory allowed him to recall, added just one stick to the fire, drank bitter coffee black, and polished off the heel of bread left over from the meal before.

Themed Tuesday

Welcome to Themed Tuesday - where I take two stories with a similar theme and compare them to one another.

I don’t know about you, but once in a while, I read a story that makes me fall into a ~mood~, where all I want to read is a certain topic/theme (be it a trope, motif or plot) over and over again until I feel ready to try something different.

This week’s theme:

A short story about Harry Potter stuck in a time-loop

Prelude and Fugue by shes_gone. Post-War fic. Harry x Ron. If this is the only HarryxRon fic I read in my life, I would be just fine. Beautifully written, the entire cast was characterized so well that it felt like an extension of canon without being canon. The romance lived up to its build-up.

(honey) there is no right way by Sincere_Lies. Goblet of Fire fic. Implied Harry x Cedric. Harry relives the day of the third task over and over again. Brief mentions of greek mythology. Cute story, and fun to see a time loop that focuses on a younger protagonist. Enjoyed the depiction of all major characters.

In catching up with my week, I wanted to choose something for Themed Tuesday.   I’ve been in kind of an autumn/fall mood today since the “Liberty and Justice” update for today had some fall highlights.  That made me think that today’s theme should be something about the fall.   I chose the little oneshot “Autumn” for the Themed Tuesday pick for this week.  It’s a Caryl fic, and I really enjoyed writing it for the fact that I liked the including all of my favorite fall “feelings” in the story.   Here’s a little snippet.   1111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Autumn had always been Carol's favorite time of year. It brought cool respite from the suffocating heat of summer. The world cooled down. People seemed to cool down. With the cooling, there came a natural slowing. The world prepared to go to sleep for the winter—each to hibernate in their own way. The sudden bursts of chilly air that rode in on the breezes and pierced through the lingering heat that summer left behind sent random chills through a body and urged the wrapping up in blankets and sweaters that felt like wearing gentle hugs.

The chill also brought a change in feeling toward other people. The sticky hot summer urged for separation and distance. Touch only made the heat worse. Autumn was a time for pulling closer, though. It was a time for craving that touch and the nearness of others. It was a time for holding hands and sharing warmth in preparation for the cold to come.

Autumn smelled different. The scent of everything seemed to travel for miles on the cool, dry breezes. It smelled like fire and smoke—like meaningful, wanted, purposeful, fire and smoke. It smelled like tea and coffee and cider brewed, for the first time in some time, to warm a body from the inside out. It smelled like stews and baking and heavy meals meant to prepare the body to remain warm and settled in the coming winter. It seemed to Carol that the smell of autumn could even overcome the smell of Walkers that sometimes hung a little too heavy in the air.

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This week’s Themed Tuesday is an Easter themed Caryl one shot.  If I’m not mistaken, it might be the only Easter thing I’ve done.  It’s called “Forty One Eggs.”  

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11889525/1/Forty-One-Eggs

Here’s a snippet, but don’t forget to check out the whole thing if you’re interested!  

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It wasn't Easter. Easter had been last week. Daryl had grilled steaks and they'd had something like a family dinner to celebrate. Nothing special. It had only been that night when he'd discovered, through talking about holidays passed with Carol, that Sophia had never been to an egg hunt in all of her eleven years. And so, Easter or not, Daryl had determined that that particular fact needed to change. He'd packed the eggs with candy and goodies—most of which Carol didn't even know about—alone and he'd gotten up early to come to the park and hide them while Carol got the lunch ready to meet him there with Sophia.

Carol knew that Daryl saw something of himself in Sophia. He'd been raised with a father that had been very much like Ed. His father, in fact, had been a great deal worse but Daryl wasn't interested in dealing in comparisons. Suffering wasn't a competition. His father had denied Daryl and his brother, in a number of ways, a normal and healthy childhood. As a result, Daryl held very few fond memories of the old man and very few fond memories of his life before he left his parents' home.