coaltide | Coal Rivalry

Post works that don't work at all.

I'm not reading this fic because this A/N put me off enough to close the tab so I don't know if it's coal but woof

Hello, and Happy Yuletide 2025 😊
It's been some time since I participated in this exchange and I confess I was a bit rusty, especially in the 'offers' part 🙈 I didn't remember how specific one had to be to avoid receiving prompts one is not ready to fill...
The fact is, Lina and Xellos have never been a pairing in my eyes, even though I like them both a lot. So I did my best to write a piece about them - from Lina's pov - as a gen one shot, toeing the line between the pull of rationality and the fascination of power.
I hope you like it 🙏🏻
Also, please know that I haven't watched Revolution and it's sequel yet.

That's so unselfaware it tips into funny for me, though it also seems weirdly well-meaning, just because it's too naive to be spiteful. "I hope you like this story, even though I refuse to see your shipping vision and haven't consumed the canon."

it's this one btw: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2025/works/75834576

da

To me it's like saying hey, I had no idea what I was doing, and when I got something I didn't want to write, instead of doing us both a favor and defaulting, I plowed through and wrote you something you might not like much, my bad. Enjoy!

ODAO, so they could have just written something without the explanation/justification. I don't think they're being spiteful either, but I would have very little hesitation about rejecting that if I didn't love it. The fact that most paragraphs are one sentence would probably help that along.

I wonder why they insisted on spelling his name like that in the story only to spell it the way the recip requested in the author's note...

Re: Actual Coal (or, what were they thinking)

(Anonymous) - 2025-12-29 10:44 (UTC) - Expand

I don't know this fandom, but I skimmed the fic and it seems to end on a note that reinforces a different pairing from what was requested. That feels a bit spiteful, or at least extremely thoughtless.

Re: Actual Coal (or, what were they thinking)

(Anonymous) - 2025-12-25 12:54 (UTC) - Expand

Well, author, maybe if you'd watched the entire canon you might see the shipping potential.

To be fair to them, Revolution and Revolution-R are kinda mid and nothing like the classic Slayers anime, and I genuinely don't recall if Xellos even appears in them. In theory I watched all of it but I have no memory of it. "Only" watching the 90s anime for this canon is perfectly acceptable.

I haven't seen any Disney Lady and the Tramp material after the first movie, but isn't this just recapping movie events? Is the second half the second movie or is it different?

https://archiveofourown.org/works/75931221

If not for the marked lack of author's notes, that almost looks like Bean10 got a beta.

Nah, that isn't Bean10 at all. It's more like Biblioscribler.

Re: Actual Coal (or, what were they thinking)

(Anonymous) - 2025-12-25 03:01 (UTC) - Expand

It's not that the fic is especially bad, but I'm confused by the decision to genderswap the crane in the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute RPF fic, given that the recip doesn't seem to have requested that. The recip was nice about it, though.

Gotta dodge that crane het, I guess

It is not necessary to read alfgifu's brilliantly funny The Situation in order to understand my little fic, but you should do it anyway. The Situation - Chapter 1 - alfgifu

Or maybe you prefer a podfic? Rhea314 has got you covered. The Situation by alfgifu [Podfic] - Rhea314 (Rhea)

I feel like the first note is pushy but fine and the second turns it into - is this fic of the canon or fic of the other fic?

Ummm yeah. I hope the recipient is already familiar with the other fic and has said so somewhere, because if not that is super not cool.

There's no recip listed, so I have to assume this weird fic for the HP Key&Peele sketch was rejected. I don't blame them.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/73902471/chapters/192761641

What the actual fuck was that endless ramble of an author's note and why did it go on forever. Oh god there are two chapters with even more notes. Yeah, I would've also rejected this so fast.

Oh, this is bean10. For sure.

Re: Actual Coal (or, what were they thinking)

(Anonymous) - 2025-12-26 15:04 (UTC) - Expand

What a baffling fic.

Oh my word. I'm so glad that wasn't their main gift

Unbelievable that someone would gift this. I would’ve also rejected with haste.

I keep wondering when the mods will finally decide to ban Bean10 from flinging their crap at unsuspecting recips. There's a point where it becomes less 'let's be understanding to the less talented writers' and more 'let's be shitty mods and ruin someone's exchange' and that point has come and gone.

I just came across this in the wild and had to check coal to see if anyone else had seen it. Glad it wasn't just me! What was the author thinking with this note??