paialovespie

[paialovespie]

Mystrade Monday Prompt #14

For December 2, 2024

It’s that time of the year when Character A starts wearing their favorite sweater and Character B absolutely loves (or hates) it.

The game is to write a flash fic this weekend and post it here (or with a link to the fic on AO3) on Monday with the hashtag Mystrade Monday.

Flash fiction is a complete story that is less than 1,000 words. 360mg is complete fic of 360 words with the last two beginning with “M” and “G” in any order. Please spread the word.

Hot tip: if you tag @mystradepromptsandscenarios , we’ll reblog it.

Don’t forget to add your fic to the Mystrade Monday Collection on AO3.

[paialovespie]

I've seen a number of people worried and concerned about this language on Ao3s current "agree to these terms of service" page. The short version is:

Don't worry. This isn't anything bad. Checking that box just means you forgive them for being US American.

Long version: This text makes perfect sense if you're familiar with the issues around GDPR and in particular the uncertainty about Privacy Shield and SCCs after Schrems II. But I suspect most people aren't, so let's get into it, with the caveat that this is a Eurocentric (and in particular EU centric) view of this.

The basic outline is that Europeans in the EU have a right to privacy under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), an EU directive (let's simplify things and call it an EU law) that regulates how various entities, including companies and the government, may acquire, store and process data about you.

The list of what counts as data about you is enormous. It includes things like your name and birthday, but also your email address, your computers IP address, user names, whatever. If an advertiser could want it, it's on the list.

The general rule is that they can't, unless you give explicit permission, or it's for one of a number of enumerated reasons (not all of which are as clear as would be desirable, but that's another topic). You have a right to request a copy of the data, you have a right to force them to delete their data and so on. It's not quite on the level of constitutional rights, but it is a pretty big deal.

In contrast, the US, home of most of the world's internet companies, has no such right at a federal level. If someone has your data, it is fundamentally theirs. American police, FBI, CIA and so on also have far more rights to request your data than the ones in Europe.

So how can an American website provide services to persons in the EU? Well… Honestly, there's an argument to be made that they can't.

US websites can promise in their terms and conditions that they will keep your data as safe as a European site would. In fact, they have to, unless they start specifically excluding Europeans. The EU even provides Standard Contract Clauses (SCCs) that they can use for this.

However, e.g. Facebook's T&Cs can't bind the US government. Facebook can't promise that it'll keep your data as secure as it is in the EU even if they wanted to (which they absolutely don't), because the US government can get to it easily, and EU citizens can't even sue the US government over it.

Despite the importance that US companies have in Europe, this is not a theoretical concern at all. There have been two successive international agreements between the US and the EU about this, and both were struck down by the EU court as being in violation of EU law, in the Schrems I and Schrems II decisions (named after Max Schrems, an Austrian privacy activist who sued in both cases).

A third international agreement is currently being prepared, and in the meantime the previous agreement (known as "Privacy Shield") remains tentatively in place. The problem is that the US government does not want to offer EU citizens equivalent protection as they have under EU law; they don't even want to offer US citizens these protections. They just love spying on foreigners too much. The previous agreements tried to hide that under flowery language, but couldn't actually solve it. It's unclear and in my opinion unlikely that they'll manage to get a version that survives judicial review this time. Max Schrems is waiting.

So what is a site like Ao3 to do? They're arguably not part of the problem, Max Schrems keeps suing Meta, not the OTW, but they are subject to the rules because they process stuff like your email address.

Their solution is this checkbox. You agree that they can process your data even though they're in the US, and they can't guarantee you that the US government won't spy on you in ways that would be illegal for the government of e.g. Belgium. Is that legal under EU law? …probably as legal as fan fiction in general, I suppose, which is to say let's hope nobody sues to try and find out.

But what's important is that nothing changed, just the language. Ao3 has always stored your user name and email address on servers in the US, subject to whatever the FBI, CIA, NSA and FRA may want to do it. They're just making it more clear now.

[paialovespie]

In the spirit of encouraging people to comment on fanfics while also making it easier to do so, I feel obliged to share a browser extension for ao3 that has quite literally revolutionized the comment game for me.

I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!

From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!

I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.

The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.

(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)

If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.

The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.

insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box

add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box

delete -> self explanatory

on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic

The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.

Comments are what keep writers going, and as both a writer and a reader, I think it's such an easy way of showing support and enthusiasm.

[paialovespie]

Rated E - 28 chapters - Complete & posting weekly(ish) - Banner art by @keirgreeneyes

Mycroft has always done everything right. This is not hyperbole. He has attended the best schools, taken the broadest courses of study, achieved the top marks, engaged in the most suitable extracurricular activities for developing a network with all the ideal people. He has said the right things at precisely the right times, and excelled in every one of his endeavours... From this vantage point he can see how this belief in his own brilliance concealed the flaws in the architecture.

A story about losing a job, making a friend, and deciding what defines a life.

When Mycroft's career nosedives after the events at Sherrinford, he doesn't cope as well as he might have expected. Greg Lestrade has known Mycroft for years as Sherlock's brother and the British government. He'd never have guessed they'd get on so well, but Greg's not one to deny a good thing when it follows him to the family cabin. But when his past comes back to haunt him, Mycroft will have to defend himself while protecting the man he loves.

Chapter 1  ⚙️  Chapter 2  ⚙️  Chapter 3  ⚙️  Chapter 4  ⚙️  Chapter 5  ⚙️  Chapter 6  ⚙️  Chapter 7  ⚙️  Chapter 8  ⚙️ Chapter 9  ⚙️  Chapter 10  ⚙️  Chapter 11  ⚙️  Chapter 12  ⚙️  Chapter 13  ⚙️  Chapter 14  ⚙️  Chapter 15  ⚙️  Chapter 16  ⚙️  Chapter 17  ⚙️  Chapter 18  ⚙️  Chapter 19  ⚙️  Chapter 20  ⚙️  Chapter 21  ⚙️  Chapter 22  ⚙️  Chapter 23  ⚙️  Chapter 24  ⚙️  Chapter 25  ⚙️  Chapter 26  ⚙️  Chapter 27  ⚙️  Chapter 28  ⚙️

I try to post here when I add a chapter but I was having trouble keeping track. So, master post it is! Thank you to all who reblog my posts and updates.

@totallysilvergirl, @copperplatebeech, @the-toad-in-your-piano, @blue-posey, @ewebie, @helloliriels

[paialovespie]

Mystrade Monday Prompt #13

For November 25, 2024

“I didn’t think I was good enough.”

The game is to write a flash fic this weekend and post it here (or with a link to the fic on AO3) on Monday with the hashtag Mystrade Monday.

Flash fiction is a complete story that is less than 1,000 words. 360mg is complete fic of 360 words with the last two beginning with “M” and “G” in any order. Please spread the word.

Hot tip: if you tag @mystradepromptsandscenarios , we’ll reblog it.

Don’t forget to add your fic to the Mystrade Monday Collection on AO3.

[paialovespie]

An adaptation of Sherlock Holmes set in a world in which the fictional character/literary juggernaut Sherlock Holmes, and all the subsequent adaptations thereof, still exist.

Sherlock Holmes (pronounced Holl-mess, as he is constantly reminding people) just had the misfortune of having parents who really liked the books, and his attitude towards his fictional counterpart is pretty much the same as that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Sherlock runs a Youtube Theory channel called Mysteries Unwrapped with Sherlock Holmes. He has received no less than seven cease and desist letters from the Conan Doyle estate, all of which he has so faded managed to rebuff by pointing out that that's literally his name.

(No he won't change his name. He's Sherlock Holmes the real live human person. Let Sherlock Holmes the non existent fictional character change his name.)

John is Sherlock's flatmate. Sherlock almost refused to live with him once he realised that it would mean staying with a medical student named John, and only gave in once John pointed out that: a) he's a biomedical student, which is completely different from an md, and b) his surname isn't Watson.

It's now been three years, which is long enough for them to have developed a genuine friendship, and for John to have a) started working towards his PhD in biotechnology, and b) for him to start dating somebody with the surname Watson.

Sherlock can feel the narrative closing in.

His Youtube channel is meant to be focused on lost media, fan theories and stuff like that, but he keeps accidentally stumbling upon and then solving genuine crimes.

His brother Mycroft may or may not have chosen that name after he transitions specifically to annoy him.

He doesn't even live in London, but somehow the only flat they could afford was on a street named fucking Baker Street.

Sherlock Holmes and the Unescapable Power of the Narrative.

[paialovespie]

Mystrade date but they are both dummies and workaholics, so they BOTH are almost falling asleep at the table

[paialovespie]

Almost here...

🎁 Mystrade Holiday Collection 2024 📚

Just two weeks to go, November 30th, and the collection will open! Like the previous collections it’ll be open and unmoderated, so you can add your own fics and art to the collection. ⛄️

The only rules are that it be Mystrade fic or art, written/created in 2023 and holiday (Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Chanukah, Christmas, New Year's, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, etc.) themed. So if you wrote a Christmas fic in July this year you can add it starting November 30th. The collection will remain open until January 6, 2025. 🎄

[paialovespie]

Deleting my Ao3 Fics (sussexbound)

Hey all, if you have ever read my Sherlock, Good Omens or Word of Honor fanfic on Ao3 (written under the pseud sussexbound), please be aware that I will be deleting it all from Ao3 Dec 31st, 2024. So, do with that info what you will between now and then.

[paialovespie]

[paialovespie]

In search of Fandom Ambassadors!

There's a lot we don't know yet about FTH2025 in part because there's a lot we don't know about what 2025 will look like in the US. But one thing we do know is that this next auction -- our ninth! -- will definitely be happening! No matter who the next US president is, there are progressive causes that need our help and support. And we also know that we're hoping to pick up some new fandom ambassadors for a handful of specific fandoms.

(What is Fandom Trumps Hate?)

Hey, what's a fandom ambassador? A fandom ambassador is someone who helps raise the profile of FTH within a specific fandom, especially fandoms that have small showings in the auction. (FTH is way more fun when there are at least half a dozen fanworks being offered in your fandom!) We the auction organizers can make all the general posts we want asking people to get involved, but those kinds of appeals hit different when they're coming from a friend or from a recognizable name.

So if you're someone who:

a) has roots in a specific fandom with small FTH turnout OR a new fandom that you want to see in the auction

b) has participated in the auction in the past, and

c) is interested in helping drum up interest among your friends/communities in that fandom

...we'd love to hear from you! Please fill out this quick form and let us know that you're interested. Fandom ambassadors will get support from FTH in making posts aimed at your fandom in the weeks leading up to the auction.

we are especially interested in recruiting FAs for the following fandoms:

Honkai Star Rail

Hazbin Hotel

Dungeon Meshi

Agatha All Along (which gets classified under a general MCU heading for us, but which we know has a distinct fanbase of its own!)

Blue Eyed Samurai

Shogun

Merlin

Bungou Stray Dogs

Dead Boy Detectives

We'd also love to recruit someone to reach out to the vidding community!

[paialovespie]

I fully understand why "character A is astounded at the sight of character B's penis" is a specific kink that gets tagged for, but the fact that some platforms choose to tag this kink as "penis awe" is unintentionally very funny. Now I'm picturing penis experience kink tags for all those other allegedly transcendent emotions in the glossary of your Philosophy 101 textbook. Penis faith. Penis Weltschmerz. Penis apprehension of the absurd.

[paialovespie]

And they look out so hard for the well being of the spiders AND the dolphins

[paialovespie]

I must say, sad middle aged men being a little less sad in one another's company is the bespoke ship dynamic of all time

[paialovespie]

some lil part of me wants Anthea to be somewhat close to Mycroft because she's his assistant. For many reasons, but especially for COMEDY

I mean, I'm 100 percent sure Mycroft Holmes doesn't know how to flirt properly and doesn't really know how to..casually talk to people. Or how to casually message them. He simply doesn't understand what should he write to Gregory. Communication face-to-face is easier but well, now they're in different countries.

So I just need a bit of crack with a very confused by personal relationships Mycroft and Anthea who's been watching these two like it's the best series she ever saw and well, who else can help her boss with that?

Anthea: ask him how was his day

Myc: Anthea, i already know how it was

Anthea: no, you know facts, and he will tell you his emotions

Myc: Again, I-

Anthea: Jesus Christ help me

[paialovespie]

27th October

"Favourite Enemy"

[paialovespie]

Mystrade May 2025

Hello, Friends! Mystrade May is ON for 2025 with a theme of "Meet Cute". Let's see all of the adorable, mishap-filled ways that our Detective Inspector and the British Government meet.

[A meet cute is a scene in which two people meet for the first time, typically under unusual, humorous, or cute circumstances, and go on to form a romantic couple.]

Note: The collection will be hosted on AO3. As in past years, Mycroft Holmes and Greg Lestrade should be the primary featured couple in this story, and the fic cannot have been posted online elsewhere prior to the beginning of the event. All writers are welcome. More info to come as I set up the official Collection page and FAQ.

Please share online wherever the Mystrade kids live these days :)

Stay safe and well <3