2023 Stocking: nostalgicatsea

[stevetony_elf]

Please leave stocking stuffers for nostalgicatsea here as a comment. Comments will be screened until reveals date!


Username: nostalgicatsea

AO3 Username: nostalgicatsea

Comics Steve/Tony: 616, Civil Warrior, MA:A, Noir, Ultimates

Other Fandoms/Ships/Characters:
MCU:
- Ships: mainly Steve/Tony, but also Bucky/Nat, Sam/Bucky, Tony/Wenwu
- Gen: Rhodey & Tony, Nebula & Tony, Natasha & Tony, Steve & Natasha, Steve & Thor, Tony & Thor, Steve & Tony & Thor, Steve & Peggy, Tony & Wenwu, Natasha & Yelena, Carol & Nick Fury, anything Kamala-related

AvAC:
- Ship: Steve/Tony
- Gen: Tony & Jan

EMH:
- Ship: Steve/Tony

Succession any gen focused on the Roy siblings, Kendall/Stewy

Mob Psycho 100 any gen

Samurai Champloo Fuu/Jin/Mugen

Likes: I’ll throw a whole list out there because I’m very open to a lot of things!

- AUs (gangster, magic, sports non-powered, high school or college, supernatural, horror, sci-fi, etc. You name it! I love AUs)
- canon divergence
- character studies
- parallels/similarities between characters
- angstttttttttttt (if it's a longer fic, preferably a happy ending, but I like bittersweet and sad endings too)
- soulmates
- found family
- outsiders finding companionship with each other
- family issues/difficult family relationships
- war-forged bonds
- disillusionment in a belief system
- grudging respect turning into something more
- slow burn
- mutual or one-sided pining
- multiverse
- telepathy
- self-sacrifice
- amnesia
- time travel
- reincarnation
- fake relationship
- relationship of convenience
- hurt/comfort
- de-aging
- dream world
- presumed dead
- temporary or permanent death
- post-breakup
- getting together or getting back together
- miscommunication or bad communication
- explorations of emotional/physical trauma and substance abuse/recovery
- grief/mourning
- parental/child relationships
- dark Steve
- the weight of the Captain America mantle and Steve's relationship to it
- road trips
- love/hate relationships
- enemies/friends-to-lovers
- identity porn
- betrayal and forgiveness
- protectiveness/possessiveness
- legacy
- witty humor
- truth serum
- repression
- hiding injuries
- Skrullsssss
- any horror tropes or prompts on this list or this one

Dislikes: Partner abuse, infidelity, or sexual assault between characters in the same ship (unless you’re referencing a canon plot point. I’m also fine with infidelity and abuse involving a villain as long as it’s not OOC); PWP; Hydra Steve; OOC (crack is fine as long as the characters retain their personalities); pregnancy; incest; adult/minor romantic relationships; Avengers fics with Darcy in them.

Non-fandom related requests/anything else?:
- Anything cute, interesting, or funny related to animals
- Fic recs of any of the ships, characters, or fandoms mentioned above (also open to Naruto because I feel like those are very hard to find. I’m in the mood for good worldbuilding or relationship studies, something with good emotional beats, or something very plotty)
- Fanart, fanvids, graphics, fanmixes, edits, gifsets of my ships, favorite characters, Chris Evans, or RDJ
- Your favorite recipes or easy, healthy recipes and any cooking/baking tips
- The most useful tools or life hacks you would recommend to everyone
- Links to favorite non-fandom or fandom shops on Etsy, Society6, etc.
- Things that comforted or distracted you in a good way this year
- Really cool/niche cultural or scientific facts, discoveries
- Best longform articles you read this year
- Computer and Nintendo Switch game recs for casual gamers
- Book recs (all-time favorites or your favorites of the year)
- Poetry recs
- Movie and TV recs (I'm open to a LOT of genres and topics so I'm not picky. I like non-English stuff too so if you have any to rec, please do)
- Cool/unusual/"hidden gem" places (landscapes, favorite spots in your hometown or place you've traveled to, restaurants, shops, architecture)
- Self-learning language tips and resources
- Resources to learn more about film, writing, photography, interior design, art

Comments

some recs for you <3

[lets_call_me_lily]

Sea!! Another year of stockings, and hopefully some more things for you to enjoy in the coming year :) (I hope that you have gotten to some of the ones I left last time, and liked them - I'm always happy to have you in my DMs btw so if you feel the urge to come say what you enjoyed - or what you didn't!! - I'm always keen)

So, this time, I am reccing you:

2 anthologies of short stories:

- The Djin Falls in Love and other stories
- The Mythic Dream


2 graphic novels

Verse Book One: The Broken Half by Sam Beck (written and illustrated!) - fantasy world. Caveat - I haven't finished it because the library only had it in e-book and I just CAN'T read graphic novels on my phone. But what I read was good and the art was gorgeous.

Sentient by Jeff Lemire, illustrated by Gabriel Hernandez. This one's a darker scifi - when a separatist attack kills every adult on board a colony ship in deep space, it is up to VALARIE, the on-board A.I., to help the ship's children survive.


Some books!

The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams. Space war shenanigans including children with special abilities and a courier who gets them to base safely after searching them out. post-apocalyptic that had tech iimplications, space-faring races.

Chris Wooding's Poison - twisted fairy tale fantasy about a changeling - and also his Tales of the Ketty Jay series, which is about spacefaring pirates! getting up to shenanigans in space!

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher was a pretty cosy fantasy read (if you are okay with the ~14 yr old gotta save the city trope, which T Kingfisher very much acknowledges, and this one has a MUCH better support system than most of the teen saviours you read about). If you like that one, then Minor Mage (farming village and wild forest setting) and Illuminations (olden days could-be-magical-Italy) should also be just your cuppa, too. If you like her style but want more romance, then try her Paladin series (including Swordheart and the Clocktaur Wars duology, which don't follow the Paladin's X title convention that the rest do, but are part of the same universe). Fantasy setting with brooding paladins, the books have different main characters rather than being a continuation of one story.

I know I've mentioned them both before, but:

Martha Wells; her new book Witch King was excellent (found family! loyalty! awesome worldbuilding with different systems of magic!), plus the newest and last in the Murdurbot series also came out this year.

And, if you want some cosy hopepunk, Becky Chambers Monk and Robot duology (so far) do a great job of that, with mostly tech-free self-sufficient communities spread out across the place and a tea-making monk travelling by solar-caravan and bike between them to give solace to people. Till they go on a trip and meet a robot. Also the novella both have gorgeous covers.

___

May 2024 bring good tidings and fulfillment and some restfulness to you. Also if you ever decide to visit Aotearoa NZ hit me up, but otherwise it's so far there's not much point reccing you places to visit haha.

Re: some recs for you <3

[nostalgicatsea]

Hiiii, lore! Wow, I've read a grand total of zero of these so I have a lot of things to add to my reading list! :D Oh wait lol no, I read A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking. Excuse my forgetfulness. I got a bit too excited for a second there haha.

And I'm embarrassed to admit that I forgot about revisiting my stocking last year, but I'm going to make a reminder until I get through everything.

Thank you so much for putting this together. It's so thoughtfully curated and your descriptions intrigue me!

I hope that 2024 gives you the same as well. You certainly deserve it.<3 And one of these days, I'll make my way to NZ!

Re: some recs for you <3

[lets_call_me_lily]

Aww, thanks 🥰

Don't even worry, TBR lists are there for a reason and also sometimes the right mood has to strike! I hope that you give yourself grace and enjoy them if and when it suits :)

Glad that they pique your interest and also, hiiii! Can you even believe it's March?!