Three Girls Writing

You Know What I Did Last Yuletide

2010-01-01T19:14:10Z

... well, no, but after reading this entry, you will.

To start with the shiny, awesome, fabulous and extremely glittery stuf: spiralheaven wrote Goes Nicely With Blue for Cassandra Clare's The Mortal Instruments - the pairing is Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood and if those names mean anything to you, you should go and read this - no spoilers for the third book whatsoever (looking at you here, everysecondtues).

Nowhere near as shiny were, of course, my own contributions, four of which were for my recipient, who defaulted and thus presumably has remained unaware of their existence:

for Sarah Rees Brennan's The Demon's Lexicon I wrote (in that order):

A Window of Opportunity - which derives its title from the fact that everyone and their ~~dog~~ pet-demon seem to be climbing through Jamie's window in this. I originally planned on a Gerald/Jamie type of ending, but then I chickened out and Gerald went all cheesy villainous on me, so it kind of turned into Jamie/Nick, with Alan and Mae pulling a deus ex machina. Except that it's not really Jamie/Nick either. *sigh*

Three Christmases Never Celebrated by Nicholas Ryves which I started working on before AWoO, but actually finished (and cut from four to three Christmases) at the last minute. Labeled AU for a reason.

With Friends Like These is probably the fic that feels most like 'my usual style' - it consists mostly of dialogue, and there's practically no Angst in it. Alan is 'the Nice One', Mae is 'the Big Sister', Nick is 'the Big Brother' and Jamie is 'the One who's living with his sister and her boyfriends who'd really like to get a boyfriend of his own'. (Keep dreaming, Jamie.)

From A to Z would be my most self-indulgent piece of writing - it's 26 one-sentence ficlets about pretty much every character except Anzu. I wrote it as a treat, but since it broke the word-limit, it got moved to the main-collection.

I also produced a handful of treats for Black Books, Steven Brust's Dragaera universe, Demon Diary, Diane Duane's Young Wizards universe, Pet Shop of Horrors, Samurai Champloo and White Collar:

[Black Books] Bernard and the Christmas Angel
and before you get your hopes (?) up: no, it's not a real angel, or a rewrite of A Christmas Carol starring Bernard Black. It's just a bit of silly dialogue.

[Steven Brust's Dragaera] Two Kinds of Insults or: A Brief Lesson in Courtiership as Offered to Morrolan e'Drien by Sethra Lavode
which has got me imitating Paarfi again and actually not failing completely this time, if I can trust the recipient. This request zipped by on the pinchhitters-ML and after a few days of brooding on it, I got the plotbunny to produce this ficlet.

[Demon Diary] All Raenef Wanted for Christmas (Was Christmas)
a complete rip-off of By the Book, I feel, but either nobody noticed or nobody wanted to say that to my face. Ahem. (Or maybe it's just that nobody who read this ficlet had also read BtB.)

[Diane Duane's Young Wizards] A Gift of Socks
because what else would Tom Swale be wanting for Christmas (except world-peace, which Carl just can't seem to find at WalMart)? Shorter than I'd have liked.

[Pet Shop of Horrors] Caught
yeah - no title that starts with a D, so sue me, I just couldn't think of one right there and then. Leon doesn't get anything in this - unless you count D kissing him. (Okay, so Leon gets cooties. But. Not. A. Single. Clue.) I feel I should be ashamed of myself for having written this, because Leon kind of deserves better?

[Samuari Champloo] No Business Like Show Business
shame, obviously, is wholly absent when writing this particular fandom. Because you know these characters haven't got any either - except maybe Jin. A little. And that's probably just what I want to believe, because I think he's kind of hot. Anyway. Low-rated ficlet, x-rated happenings. As usual, eh?

[White Collar] It's the Thought That Counts
strictly speaking, this is the first ficlet I wrote after the Madness had officially started - I got the plotbunny for it a few days earlier, so to some degree, it was a matter of finding the right recipient to write it for. It's not really OT3, but I want to pretend that it is. I also sort of want someone to write Elizabeth in a catsuit.

State of the Yuletide

2009-12-21T21:35:48Z

... There was a time when I'd finished my Yuletide-assignment in October. (Well, okay, that only happened once, but it did happen.) This time around though, my story was posted with oh ten hours to go. Ten hours! Eep.

Anyway.

For reasons I can't quite explain Karmically Close feels like it's the first Harry/Thomas fic I've ever written. It's got more romantic clichés in it than you can shake a stick at (although I have Mr Butcher himself to thank for Plot Device #62: Moving in due to Circumstances Resulting in Living in Close Quarters) and, well, it just feels like a first-time fic to me.

For a bit of ~~time-wasting~~ relaxation, I picked up Fairy Godmother Tycoon - the story starts with:

Once upon a time, in the land of Onceuponia (official motto: "Fairy Tale living at Nursery Rhyme prices!"), there lived a King. He was a nice King. One of those Kings where if, say, you had a dinner party and your jester called in sick, would totally loan you his.

... I think that 'where' should be 'who', but that's what it says. Golly. Is my understanding of English truly this poor, or uh is theirs? Can't be theirs, can it? I mean, people pay money for this game. Surely they've proofread it and stuff.

Ghostly Soccer Players and Sleeping Lions

2009-12-01T20:11:15Z

In case anyone was wondering what happened to those Trick-or-Treat prompts that were kindly offered to me by a bunch of costumed people on Halloween: I've stuffed them in a folder without having looked at them. The plan is to pick one at random every two weeks or so and attempt to catch a plotbunny for it. If I do, I write fic - if I don't, you've been 'tricked'. (As in: 'tricked into thinking I could actually write this-or-that fandom and/or pairing right now'.) My record thus far: two tricks, one treat. This does not bode well.

Meanwhile, I also wrote Whistle! fic for yaoi_challenge and with a pep-talk from kohl_eyed I rewrote the Susan-centered Doctor Who/Narnia crossover I promised be_themoon.

Reading-wise, I just finished Ilona Andrews's Magic Strikes, in which Kate Daniels continues to be cool and kick donkeys. And ride mules, of course. Mustn't forget the mules. I'll never quite look at M&Ms the same way though. (Not that I spend a lot of time looking at them anyway, or intend to do so in the future, but if you've read the book, you know what I mean. And if you haven't, I don't want to spoil that line for you.)

Lastly: a heavily disguised winter_ruins scared me witless and prompted me for: X/1999, Kamui/Fuuma (or Kamui/Subaru). (That last part was a joke, right?)

Post-series (any series), Fuuma/Kamui without implied Seishirou/Subaru, a shortie with an ending that might be called 'open'.

In the first year, Fuuma is the one to make the suggestion, weaving it into a conversation about holidays and trips (Hokkaiden is lovely this time of year, but very popular and rather expensive) and other things that may occur in the near future, now that the world's (probably) not going to end any time soon.

Kamui agrees mostly because to do otherwise would mean that they will discuss the topic again. It's not that he doesn't wish to pay his respects, or that the memories have faded - rather, it's that he remembers every day. He's never felt shame over loving as he does, yet there's a moment of guilt any time he allows the hands that killed her to touch him, hold him, soothe him ...

To heal, Kamui knows, Fuuma needs to forget.

To start to forget, Fuuma needs to leave - not 'be alone', Kamui thinks, just be gone from people who may remind him of the past that didn't determine the future.

Kamui doesn't want Fuuma to leave, though, and in this, as in almost everything else, Fuuma bends to his will. The price of their happy-ever-after is, it seems, that they can't have one.

When they go, Fuuma brings white flowers and sweet-smelling incense.

*

In the second year, things go much like the first; in the third year, likewise. By the time the fourth year comes around, it's almost become a tradition. Fuuma's team is playing a match on the same day - they get crushed, and the day after, Fuuma jokes that it's because he wasn't there. (It might, Kamui thinks, be true.)

They grow from being students to being adults in much the same way young people throughout Japan do; the normalcy is comforting, in a way, being turned down for the first dozen or so jobs they go to interviews for a mild annoyance.

Neither of them has ever been an exceptional student, and being a Dragon of Earth is not something one can list on one's resume. It's a relief though, at how low a price failure comes.

Eventually, they both find something - not something to build their careers and lives on, but enough to pay the rent. Fuuma gets a driver's license; Kamui uses some of the funds left to him by his aunt to buy a car and so, in the fifth year, standing before her grave, for the first time, Kamui feels like something has changed.

The sunlight on his face feels warmer, somehow. He thinks that, perhaps, remembering her may stop hurting after all. (He wonders if Fuuma feels it too, but doesn't quite dare to ask.)

In the sixth year, there's someone waiting at the grave.

[Edit: removed the last three lines]

Dear Yuletide Writer

2009-11-13T09:10:18Z

Dear Yuletide writer,

first of all, thank you very much for signing up to write one of these three fandoms - all three are special to me, and I'm thrilled at there soon being an extra piece of fanfiction in one of them.

[the TV fandom]
Chuck, Bryce Larkin/Sarah Walker
They're canon. They're a team. They totally kick ass. I'd love to read something about /them/, pre-series, maybe on a job, or maybe not, Angst-free and happy. Make it Christmas, if you want, or not. But please, please tell me a Bryce/Sarah story. Would prefer a lower rating.

One of the reasons I've requested pre-series fic is that I've only seen the first season. The other reason is, quite simply, that I love these two characters and would very much like to read fic for them.

As mentioned in my request, the one requested element is not-Angst. I want to see these two happy or, if on a job, not unhappy. Also, I'm slightly inclined to say I'd like to see them in an established relationship, but if you feel like writing a get-together fic, go for it! (I suspect my inclination is 100% due to me not feeling like I could write one.)

[the book fandom]
Cassandra Clare - The Mortal Instruments Trilogy, Alec Lightwood/Magnus Bane
I'd love to read something set during the time they were dating and not telling anyone about it, with Magnus knowing he's in love and willing to let it show, while Alec's not quite there yet. I'd prefer something light and happy/silly over something sad and Angsty. Any rating.

Basically, I want to see a warlock in love, and going to some lengths to convince the object of his affection that his feelings are sincere. Preferably (I say with a slightly evil grin) in ways that may be experienced by said object as slightly embarrassing.

I'd love to see flirting, or UST, or RST, depending on your preference - a hint of requited romance.

[the manga fandom]
Lost Boys, Captain Vanity/First Mate Al
Gay pirates are always fun to read about, especially when they're hot and stuck in a fantasy world with faeries, buried treasure and let's not forget the Indians. Plus, the manga was a total tease with these two - just once, I'd like for Air /not/ to interrupt them. Or, yanno, just send them on some adventure. I'm easy here; I just want someone to play around with these two characters some more. Any rating.

I've never read Peter Pan or seen the Disney-movie or anything, so any references made to these will likely go straight over my head. That said, I requested two side-ish characters, and I'll be perfectly happy to see them in any setting - which is to say: not completely AU, but, well, they are pirates with a ship and everything, so there's no reason why you'd have to keep them in the same location as the manga puts them. Then again, there's no reason why you'd have to move them, either.

I love the dynamics of their relationship (well, the hints we get to see) and any adventure or non-adventure you chose to plunge them in will make me quite the happy fangirl.

Best of luck and thank you again!

[Edit 12/23: added request details]

Noooooooo ... and yes (2x)

2009-11-08T20:16:11Z

Why is it that my computer crashes when I'm only about two-hundred words away from finishing a fic I hadn't saved at any point? I mean, hey, my computer is a nice computer. Yesterday, I'd have told you I couldn't remember the last time it crashed on me.

I've still got fragments floating around in my head, so I may try to recreate the fic but ... ARGH. Worse things have happened and are happening right now, I know, I know. *sigh*

In case you were curious: the fic in question was a Narnia/Doctor Who crossover with Susan as the Doctor's companion, which I'd pledged to write for be_themoon in the Fall Fandom Free For All. Which makes the ARGH even worse, because there's no way I can pull off a second plotbunny for that set-up.

On a more cheerful note: thanks to paperflowered, I'm signed up for Yuletide.

Also: daria234 wrote me crackalicious Psych-fic for the prompt: Shawn/Gus, Gus gains actual psychic powers.

Dear Sailor letter for 3_ships

2009-11-02T16:19:20Z

Dear Sailor,

you may have noticed I've requested one fandom twice. Before you read on, I'd like to assure you this does not mean I'd like a story for that fandom more than one for the others; it merely indicates that I could see more than one threesome happening in that particular fandom.

So. Generally speaking, I'll take fluff, romance or general they're-together-and-in-love-hurray! fic over porn any day when it comes to threesomes. I'm not too keen on Angst (although all three fandoms possess the potential for it) and I enjoy happy endings. In one case (you know which one, I'm pretty sure) that means yes, a wedding. Although you could also have it take place after the wedding, of course.

For the fandom I've requested twice, I've only seen the first season. Spoiling me is all right, but any references to things happening in the second season will go straight past me. For the book-fandom I requested, I've read most of the books. Again: don't be afraid to spoil, but er, assume a familiarity with the general plotlines only. For the last fandom, I've seen both the TV-series and the movie - but I don't believe the movie happened, and I'd like you to pretend the same, especially if you go for a story post-wedding.

Three of my requests involve female characters. I'm firmly convinced they kick donkey in a major way and that they both are more sensible than the male characters involved. Except, yanno, for the guy whose first name starts with a B. You may have signed up for his fandom without expecting to see him pop up, in which case I apologize for having strange tastes.

I hope you'll enjoy writing the story as much as I will enjoy reading it.

Happy Halloween

2009-10-31T21:39:43Z

Give me a fandom, characters and/or a pairing, and a prompt, if you dare, and say the magical words: trick or treat?

Fandoms that I may (or may not) respond to by actually, y'know, writing something include (but are not limited to): Alice 19th, Bleach, Cal Leandros, anything by CLAMP, Dragon Knights, Eyeshield 21, Faeries Landing, Fullmetal Alchemist, GetBackers, Gorgeous Carat, Gravitation, Love Mode, Miles Vorkosigan, Nightrunner, anything by Tanya Huff, Weiss Kreuz and Yu-Gi-Oh!

fic: Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosiganverse

2009-10-28T13:57:56Z

Title: Welcome to the Jungle
Written for: spook_me
Characters/pairing: Byerly Vorrutyer and Ivan Vorpatril - not yet kissing, but give them time and a hint or two, and they'll get there
Warnings/notes: semi-AU - my creature-prompt was 'Giant Snake' and thus forced me to abandon my fantasy of dropping Ivan and Byerly in a haunted mansion. My general, 'get inspired by the title of a cheesy novel' prompts were 'The Living Idol' and 'Dwellers in the Mirage'.

As will soon become a tradition (one more year), this fic isn't scary, spooky or creepy in the slightest. Not even if you're scared of snakes, like me.

The crash-landing, Ivan felt, had been a work of sheer genius - especially the part where nobody actually got killed, although not landing in a river, swamp or tree also seemed worth a 'well done, Ivan!' at the very least.

"Next time, I think I'll walk," Byerly said. "Or better yet: learn how to fly one of these myself."

"Thank you, Ivan, for saving my life by your brilliant flying." All right, so Byerly was actually kind of good at mixing-and-mingling, and he was really good at recognizing gross food (although he usually only shared that information with Ivan after Ivan had already taken his first bite). "Oh, don't mention it."

"I wasn't," Byerly pointed out, not smiling. "Mentioning it."

"Not too late yet." The medkit seemed well-filled and mostly complete. Trekking through the jungle to the nearest civilized place should be doable, Ivan reckoned. He was almost looking forwards to it; Byerly might be good at the part where he talked smoothly and kept a straight face when he was offered snails-on-a-stick, but Ivan was the one doing the footwork, carrying the luggage and, occasionally, crash-landing the shuttle.

The way Ivan saw it, people were better off sticking to doing things they knew how to do. He'd been tagging along with Byerly for close to three years now and he could count the number of times he'd been shot at or kidnapped on one hand. Without using any fingers. And it had all been a misunderstanding, anyway.

"You've just landed us in the middle of a jungle, with only minimal supplies and no idea which direction we should head in order to rejoin the civilized world - inasfar as a society that considers snails an appropriate partysnack can be considered to be civilized."

"We're not dead."

"Really? I hadn't noticed."

*

Of course, Miles had never thanked Ivan for much either - not out loud, anyway. Ivan'd known though. Deep down inside, Miles knew what he owed Ivan. Miles wasn't ungrateful; he just didn't let it show. Much. Ivan assumed that was what family was for, anyway: you took them for granted and then, at some point, you let them get out of your sight for two damn seconds and wham, they got married. Or killed, sometimes, which Ivan supposed was worse than married, but only marginally.

"So, what's around here, anyway? Any large predators I should know about?"

There'd been a briefing. What Ivan remembered from it could be summarized as: don't touch anything that's not been offered to you, don't talk to anyone you've not been formally introduced to and don't go anywhere alone. Don't look too interested in anything, but don't look bored. Don't smile. Don't weep in frustration at not getting to do anything except stand around and look pretty without looking interested, bored or smiling. That last part had actually only been implied, but Ivan prided himself on being a good listener.

"You may recall the briefing they gave us? With the map?"

Ivan generously decided the heat was probably making Byerly cranky. Crankier. He nodded.

"The area we're in now was the one with the big red cross in it."

Ivan considered this. "As in: dangerous, don't crashland your shuttle here? You'd rather I'd kept on flying until we'd exploded mid-air?"

"As in: stay out. Visitors not welcome."

This was not, Ivan decided, good news. "As in: visitors will be shot on sight?"

"They probably know we didn't reach our destination by now," Byerly said.

"It was an accident. I sent out an SOS - well, I would have sent out an SOS, except that the radio had already stopped working by then." And that was when the first inkling of a suspicion came tiptoeing into Ivan's mind. "We both attended the same briefing, didin't we?"

"As you said: it was an accident."

With Miles, Ivan'd have known. Miles'd be grinning at him like a lunatic, happily trudging through the jungle with a backpack close to half his size and weight. Miles would share. It was an ego-thing; Miles simply couldn't live without people knowing how brilliant he was.

Byerly had been complaining since they'd left the shuttle. And they'd left the shuttle, instead of sticking near it, because Byerly'd said it would put them in a disadvantageous position to be rescued by the locals.

"There's accidents and accidents."

Byerly sighed and stared at the sleeve of his shirt. "Ruined. And I paid a small fortune for it, too."

Ivan wondered if he could get away with giving Byerly a black eye by claiming it had been 'an accident'.

*

"You never answered my question about there being anything dangerous around here."

Ivan was armed and reasonably certain that, given the right motivation, he'd be able to climb a tree, but in the holovids he'd seen, that didn't mean much. There might be large cats capable of climing large trees, for example. There might be poisonous mosquitoes, whose bite would cause him to go temporally insane, or make his hands swell to three times their normal size. There might be flesh-eating plants - although Ivan thought that whole idea was a bit ridiculous. Still, he wasn't in a holovid adventure. Reality probably didin't care as much about realism or likeliness.

"You attended the same briefing I did."

Ivan rather doubted that. At least, he doubted that the briefing he'd attended had been the only briefing given. "It wasn't very informative. I thought you might have picked up something more ... somewhere." Never let it be said Ivan couldn't do 'vague' along with the best of them.

Byerly sighed. "I'm afraid not. The subject of local flora and fauna is as mysterious to me as it is to you. Just try not to shoot any people. That'd probably cause a bit of an incident."

"I won't shoot at anyone unless they're shooting at me." It was a philosophy that might have served Ivan better if he'd spent less time in the company of people who seemed to attract trouble as well people perfectly willing to fire the first shot and not differentiate too much between their target and the guy standing next to their target. "Or look like they're going to shoot at me."

"Thanks, Ivan."

*

It took a while for Ivan to catch on to the fact that Byerly had been ironic.

"You're armed, too, aren't you?"

"Why would I be armed?"

Ivan felt a headache coming on. He told himself it was the heat. "Why wouldn't you be?"

"Because it was a diplomatic mission."

"And our shuttle had a technical failure right above an area the locals didn't want us to see."

"As always, you have grasped the situation perfectly."

Ivan clenched his teeth. He liked it when people underestimated him. It was so much preferable to the alternative. He hadn't signed up for ImpSec, or for working for ImpSec. But.

"We're in the middle of the jungle. Do you really expect there's anyone listening in on this conversation you need to fool? And what happened to us being on the same side? That was my life you risked there, too, you know, sabotaging the shuttle. I could be dead right now. I have a right to know what's going on around here."

"That's what we're here to find out. Well, me, mostly," Byerly amended.

"I'm just the guy you need to act like an idiot."

"Aren't you always saying you want to get a job that fits your abilities?"

*

"Watch out, I think there's a snake near your left foot."

It was the first time Ivan'd seen Byerly lose his composure. Which was to say: Ivan realized that, until that moment, all the times he'd seen Byerly lose his composure, he'd only thought he'd seen Byerly lose his composure.

"Not that it would be much of a threat, given that you're wearing boots," he added, giving Byerly his best impression of Ivan-the-idiot-who-never-notices-things.

Byerly looked at him suspiciously. Ivan smiled. "Sorry. Still, I guess snakes probably don't like being stepped on. Kind of like humans."

"Next time you happen to notice a snake near me, don't say anything," Byerly said tightly.

"If that's what you want." Ivan shrugged.

"Just shoot it."

Ivan blinked. "I could hit you. By accident. I mean, really by accident."

"Accidents happen."

Ivan narrowed his eyes.

"For example," Byerly went on, "someone could accidentally decide to give you a new job. A really important one. With lots of responsibilities, and a staff of advisors and everything."

"Don't tempt me," Ivan snapped. And felt a flash of satisfaction as Byerly looked utterly surprised for several seconds.

*

The incident stuck with Ivan. It wasn't so much that he thought less of Byerly for being afraid of a type of animal that could, under the wrong circumstances, kill someone - it was, quite simply, that he'd at last found something that got under Byerly's skin.

It was the promise of revenge, served on a silver platter.

"Given your mission, shouldn't we try not to draw any attention?"

Byerly frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If I start shooting any time a snake comes near you, all it takes is one moment of bad luck for someone to notice and find us. And given that thus far, all we've seen is trees, plants, trees, snakes and did I mention trees?, I'm guessing that's not what you want."

Byerly looked decidedly less than happy.

"Just a thought," Ivan said cheerfully.

"Fine. Just warn me then."

"To your right," Ivan said promptly. He was fairly sure it was a treeroot, actually. It was quite possible that first one had been a treeroot as well, or some other entirely harmless part of the flora.

*

" - so I walked up to her and said - to your right - 'I've never seen you here before, are you new in town?' and she said - "

"Ivan," Byerly said, "I'm getting the feeling you're considering this a joke."

"Well, maybe I am. Consider it payback." Ivan grinned. "Any time you want to check if it's really a snake, feel free. Now, do you want to hear the rest of the story?"

"Not particularly."

"I listened to your story," Ivan reminded him.

"Mine was actually interesting and funny. And what do you mean: maybe you are?"

"You're always bugging me about my weaknesses and short-comings. Well, what you see as my weaknesses and short-comings, anyway. Why shouldn't I get to do the same?"

"Because it's perfectly sensible to wish to avoid animals that can kill you."

"We don't know that," Ivan said.

"It's an educated guess."

"To your left."

*

They found a clearing to set up the tent when it was near dusk. The tent seemed rather too small for two people who didn't like one another all that well, although Ivan admitted to himself that if he'd been alone, he might have begun to feel a bit lost and lonely by now.

It was strange, being surrounded by non-human noises. Barrayar had its wilder places, and Ivan had visited some of them, but even those had felt ... civilized, in a sense. He'd carried the means to have someone come and pick him up, if he got in trouble. He'd known what to expect.

He hadn't particularly enjoyed the experience. Ivan liked being around people - even when those people included people like Byerly and Miles and his mother.

Miles was all right, really. Getting married had slowed him down a bit. It hadn't slowed down Ivan's mother - sooner the opposite - but Ivan supposed that was kind of all right, too, even if it was weird.

Byerly ... well.

"It's utterly impossible for anything larger than a grain of sand to have slipped into this tent unnoticedly while we set it up, Ivan. So unless you mean to indicate an interest in more than sleeping together, I suggest you keep your hands to yourself, on your side of the tent."

"Are you?" Ivan wasn't sure where that had come from, really.

"Good night, Ivan."

Well.

*

The thing was: Ivan was reasonably sure he liked girls - well, women, really, given his age. He dated them (though not so much anymore these past years), he looked at them (without much hope of touching them) and he fondly remembered sleeping with them, in the sense of doing more than just sharing a tent in the jungle and dividing it in two.

And Byerly was Byerly. Even if Byerly had been a woman, and attractive, and interested, Ivan rather doubted if he'd have been interested.

Of course, Gregor seemed to think they made a good team. They did, really, most of the time. When Byerly wasn't being an utter pain in Ivan's behind.

Anyone wondered sometimes. What it would be like, with another man, or with a man and a woman, or with more than two women. (That last, Ivan didn't think would really work - two was quite a handful already, and not something he'd feel up to nowadays.)

Byerly was quite open about his interest in people of his own gender.

He'd never expressed an interest in Ivan that way though.

And Ivan wasn't interested either, was he?

It was just the heat getting to him. That, and this tent. It really was far too small.

*
[one month later, give or take a few days]

"Snakes?"

"Got it from a very reliable source," Ivan said smugly. "All kinds of useful stuff in the venom. And according to my source, that jungle you and I traipsed through for two weeks is crawling with them."

Byerly shivered.

"Funny, eh? We searched for two weeks for some sort of building or installation, and all this time, it was right there."

"Very funny."

"Guess all those treeroots weren't treeroots after all."

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't remind me. Stop talking about it. Why don't you finish that story you started telling four weeks ago?"

"You said it was boring."

"I'm willing to be convinced otherwise."

"Right," Ivan said. "Well, the problem is, I've kind of forgotten how it ends. It was a while ago."

"It ends with you getting the girl. That's how all your stories end, Ivan."

"Funny how they never seem to stick around for very long." Ivan sighed.

"Some people might take that as a hint."

"Yeah," said Ivan. "And some people might have dropped one when we were spending the night in a crowded tent in the jungle, surrounded by snakes."

Byerly grimaced and snatched a small snack from a platter on the table. "Touché."

"You do know what it is you're eating, don't you?"

"Don't tell me."

"A giant snake." Ivan grinned. "They caught it last week - put it on ice just so they could serve it tonight, to impress the ambassador."

"Oh well, it's dead. Doesn't taste too bad, either."

Ivan's grin faded.

"So," said Byerly, "want to distract everyone from the fact these people are serving a dead venomous animal to their guests by dancing with me? I can take the woman's part, if you want."

"By all means, let's."

First Lines Book Meme

2009-10-25T09:01:10Z

~~stolen~~ borrowed from chomiji, because I'm curious.

1. Pick 10 of your ~~favorite~~ books or series.
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!)
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books.

1. ~~Hanging by his heels and twisting slowly in the draught that slipped beneath the crimson door, Detective Inspector Chen tried desperately to attract the demon's attention.~~ Snake Agent by Liz Williams, as guessed by theodosia21

2. ~~It begins, as most things begin, with a song.~~ Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, as guessed by alice_montrose

3. The year Janet started at Blackstock College, the Office of Residential Life had spent the summer removing from all the dormitories the old wooden bookcases that, once filled with books, fell over unless wedged. Tam Lin by Pamela Dean, as guessed by beccadg

4. ~~I didn't know how long I had been in the king's prison. The days were all the same, except that as each one passed, I was dirtier than before.~~ The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, as guessed by alice_montrose

5. ~~I'd been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar.~~ Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, as guessed by crsg

6. ~~It was starting to end, after what seemed most of eternity to me. I attempted to wriggle my toes, succeeded.~~ Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny, as guessed by alice_montrose

7. ~~Michelangelo Osiris Leary Kusanagi-Jones had been drinking since fourteen hundred. He didn't plan on stopping soon.~~ Carnival by Elizabeth Bear, as guessed by calanthe_b

8. Everyone knew he was dying. By rights, he thought irritably, the bedchamber ought to be filled with hangers-on and low-voiced mourners waiting to catch his final words and pass them on to the packed waiting rooms outside.

9. ~~Cat Chant admired his elder sister Gwendolen. She was a witch.~~ Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones, as guessed by crsg

10. It wasn't difficult to tell visitors from 'eighty-sixers. Visitors were the ones with the round mouths and rounder eyes and steadily decreasing bankrolls.

fic: Avatar: the Last Airbender

2009-10-16T15:00:04Z

... This is getting a bit much, isn't it? Honestly, what's with the flood of posts I've been making recently?

Title: The Gangs of Ba Sing Se: an Introduction
Written for: findmyantidrug
Characters/pairing: hints of Zuko/Toph and Zuko/Aang
Warnings/notes: The request was for a gangster!AU and, well, this is the result. I'm not sure what happened, really. A potpourri-fic.

Once upon a time, in the great city of Ba Sing Se, four Houses fell from grace - the House of Fire, the House of Water, the House of Earth and the House of Air. The city came to be ruled by a council, instead of by a king, and the council consisted of people that had been chosen to rule by everyone, rather than of people who'd simply been born to the right parents.

Naturally though, it wasn't possible to really let everyone vote. Besides, some people simply lacked the intelligence to entrust them with the responsibility of selecting a government. People in the Upper Ring were allowed to elect five members of the Council, people in the Middle Ring were allowed to elect two and people in the Lower Ring were allowed to elect none.

Members of the four fallen Houses settled mostly in the Middle Ring - over time, some of them managed to return to the Upper Ring as members of Families, while others failed to adapt and were moved to the Lower Ring, from which they rarely returned.

*

There's a term people in the Lower Ring use for the kind of fire that burns down buildings and it's this: the Fire Lord's vengeance. They don't use the term lightly, exactly - the Fire Lord is not, as a person from the Middle Ring might assume and someone from the Upper Ring would believe, some creature out of myth, hailing from the stories of ancient times when Avatars still walked the world.

His name is Zuko, and he lives in a building that used to be a shrine. It's said that anyone in the Lower Ring who commits a crime more than once is given the choice to either join the ranks of his gang or to be burnt to death. It's said he's richer than the two council members of the Middle Ring combined. It's said that the fire that killed his parents wasn't an accident, and it's said that any time a building burns down, it's his way of saying 'I told you you'd be sorry'.

At least one those rumors is false, but this aside.

*

Although Zuko's parents have both died in a fire, he still has two living relatives to whom he occasionally talks, one of whom runs a popular tea house in the Middle Ring, on the corner of 42nd and 56th street. During the past five years, the tea house has been closed six times by the Dai Li for 'cultural crimes', and an estimated total of one-hundred-and-four people have attempted to burn it down or blow it up or otherwise demolish the building, usually with its owner and sometimes with the owner's nephew still inside.

Forty-nine of them have been killed by Zuko personally, twenty-eight by members of his gang, and thirty-one by his sister, Azula, who intensely dislikes both tea and her uncle Iroh, but who feels it's simply poor manners to put up with someone interfering in family affairs. Four of them have vanished without a trace and are listed in the city's registry as 'presumed death'.

Nobody who's ever met Iroh could believe the man capable of harming someone, even in self-defense, so it's a matter of much speculation what may have happened to them. The most popular theory in the Lower Ring is that the four were Dai Li, and that someone in the Upper Ring has made sure that this fact would never become known by arranging their disappearances.

*

Very few people have said that Zuko's sister Azula is insane, but nearly everyone thinks so. It's the way she acts as if the world is her empire - and the way she reacts when people try to prove her wrong.

When she was thirteen years old, it's whispered (because you don't say Azula's name out loud, unless you're either one of her chosen companions or suicidal) she rode one of the abandoned railroads all the way to the Upper Ring and kidnapped the twelve-year-old daughter of a family that used to belong to the House of Fire. The girl's name nowadays is Mai, and it's said that the city's registry of the Upper Ring lists her as 'pronounced dead by her family'.

Azula's other chosen companion carries the name of Ty Lee and is said to be 'not from around here'. As far as the good folks from Ba Sing Se are concerned, that really says it all; they don't need to know anything more.

*
four rumors about Azula:

- Mai and Ty Lee are her lovers of long standing; their relationship is exclusive, but every now and then, a man may find himself in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time) and be invited to join in - to refuse means certain death; to accept means they'll give you a sporting chance.

- Azula and Zuko used to be bitter rivals for the position Zuko now holds; for the moment, Azula has accepted her defeat, but anyone seeking to overthrow him would do well to seek her out.

- the only reason she's kept Mai and Ty Lee by her side is because she hopes either of them will manage to seduce Zuko, thereby making sure the bloodline of the House of Fire will continue.

- anything Zuko is too squeamish or too sentimental to do, Azula does for him, usually without asking him first; the one time Zuko asked her for something, it was to protect their uncle, and she refused.

*

Nearly everyone who lives in the Lower Ring is either an idiot or a cunning criminal, as far as those of the Upper Ring are concerned. This begs the rather obvious question who the criminals in the Lower Ring have got to steal from, given that there's no wealth to speak of in the Lower Ring.

The official answer is that it doesn't matter. Lower Ring petty criminals prey on other Lower Ring petty criminals, like the rabble that they are. The unofficial answer is that even with the Dai Li policing both the Upper Ring and the Middle Ring, crime has become too well-organized to keep it in check completely.

Although Fire is most notably involved, Earth, Air and Water have also found that it's more profitable to break the law than to obey it; thus, to some degree, a crime is not so much a crime as it is a strike against those who have usurped the places of the four Houses.

Shops and other businesses who openly support the Houses, or indicate they belonged to one, suffer from thefts and burglary remarkably less often than establishments owned by the Families - although, of course, the Dai Li inspects the former far more sternly and diligently than the latter.

*

There is only one member of a House who has been accepted into the Dai Li. He belongs to the House of Air and in spite of what one might expect, it's nearly only people who've never met him who dislike him merely for what he is.

Rumor has it he once tried to bring in the Fire Lord for questioning.

While some people say the fact that he's still alive proves the rumor to be false, others say it merely proves what a strange fellow he is - not bad, mind you, just not quite like most people.

And then they'll tell you that he can fly.

*

Perhaps six years ago, there was a female member of the House of Earth named Toph, who lived in the Lower Ring whose family worked the land their ancestors had worked. During a particular dry summer, the house she and her family lived in caught fire.

Of the seven people who'd lived in the house, only Toph managed to get out in time. She wandered around the Lower Ring for a few weeks, but most people avoided her, as she was a survivor of 'the Fire Lord's vengeance' and people were afraid that helping her might offend the Fire Lord.

After having vanished for eight months, she walked into the Shrine of Fire and challenged Zuko to a duel for having killed her family.

He informed her he was not, in any way, responsible for what had happened to her family, given that he'd never even heard of them.

She replied that even if he hadn't set her family's house on fire, he hadn't done anything to prevent it from happening, either. Or to put out the fire, once it had started.

It's not known what reply he made in return, but if you look carefully, you can still see the scorch-marks on the floors and the walls of the Shrine.

And from that day onwards, the Lower Ring had a fire-brigade and Zuko had a bodyguard.

She'd been blind from birth.

*
three pointless questions Toph feels she's asking far too often:

- "Are you stupid?" (the answer is invariably 'yes')

- "Are you blind?" (the answer is invariably 'probably')

- "Are you in love with Aang?" (once was too often, really - never might have been just enough)

*

The thing is (Toph thinks) that when people assume you're less able than they are just because you're blind, it's kind of insulting; she's got hands and feet and brains, after all - which is more than she can say of some other people she's met during the five years she's been hanging out with Zuko now.

It's also kind of insulting when people can clearly see you're blind, and yet still act as if they don't, either because they think it's more polite or because they're idiots, or both.

She spends a lot of time feeling wonderfully annoyed with people.

*

Zuko's not sure at which point the girl who wanted to kill him for something he didn't do became his girlfriend. (He does know when she became his bodyguard, although he'll be damned if he understands why and his uncle's entirely too amused by the whole thing to talk to.)

He likes her, true enough - she's neither insane (like Azula), nor boring (like Mai) nor an airhead (like Ty Lee). Sometimes, she's very serious and sometimes, she can't seem to be bothered to take an interest.

She's never, ever going to need him or anyone else to take care of her.

*
two people Zuko will protect at all costs (even if he knows they won't thank him for it):

- Uncle Iroh, because he's old and foolish and the only person Zuko can really talk to without needing to worry about what he's saying.

- Aang, because ... well, just because he /can/, and Aang can just go and die if he's got a problem with that, except not really, because Zuko's decided that Aang dying isn't going to happen so there.

*

In the Dai Li, prestige is gained by numbers; justice is gauged by the number of pages in a report, the number of people arrested and convicted. A list is published monthly, and great importance is set on one's ranking.

Aang has been coming in last ever since he joined.

He doesn't care. He smiles a lot, and sometimes he does things that really can't be called anything else but 'stupid', even if the rules state that Dai Li of equal rank may never criticize one another. When chasing suspects, he trips over his own feet, or his shoelaces, or whatever is there to trip over, and sometimes he trips over nothing at all - he submits pitiful reports that barely span one page, and that only because he's illustrated them with drawings of a rather poor quality.

Simply put, he's a joke, only nobody's allowed to laugh.

It takes a while before the first time someone looks at the rankings and thinks that maybe, just maybe, it doesn't really matter all that much that she hasn't come in first, but it happens. The second she becomes aware of what she's thinking, she reminds herself of her duty to her family, and how her uncles are going to nag about her ranking, and she almost convinces herself she never thought it might not matter all that much.

*
one thing Aang wonders almost every day:

"Why me?"

last minute Yuletide fic: Here is Greenwood

2009-10-14T12:29:43Z

Probably, I'll be trying to write one last fic for the New Year's Resolutions challenge this weekend (and fail miserably) but at least I got the second one done and posted:

Rendez-vous at Devilwood, an Here is Greenwood fanfic taking place in the author-created Devilwood-AU. I had entirely too much fun writing it.

Also: having watched the first two episodes of the third season of the new Doctor Who, I feel entitled to declare: (1) Martha is cool, and (2) old ladies with straws are kind of scary. (Seriously, that part was kind of supposed to be humorous, wasn't it? *sigh*)

wanted: Chuck fanfiction / offered: Merlin fanfiction

2009-10-11T11:52:20Z

So ... I don't suppose anyone might know of some piece of fanfiction with Sarah Walker and Bryce Larkin sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g in it?

Because I think I kinda sorta really want to read one. Or two. Or as many as there are. There must be some, right? I mean, I think I spotted a few Casey/Ellie fics while browsing, and unless things got really weird in the second season, that's er, not very likely to ever happen in canon. Which, I guess, is rather the point of writing it in fanfiction, but ...

Anyone? Please?

... Maybe this'd be a good time to start making my wishlist for Yuletide? Assuming, of course, that Chuck still qualifies.

Oh, and if you like Merlin, you should read Wherein Arthur Learns that Sometimes the Answers are Worse than the Questions by anoyo - it's got time-travel and magic and other cool stuff in it.

Chuck vs. the Pie-maker

2009-10-08T17:21:45Z

... And it's Chuck by a landslide - no offense to all Pushing Daisies fans reading this, but somehow, it's as if I can see the appeal of the series, only I don't actually feel it.

(Why yes, I did get some new DVD-sets off eBay again recently. The Middleman is still in my To Watch-pile, as is the fourth season of the new Doctor Who.)

On that note: is there anyone who'd like to own the first season of Pushing Daisies on DVD? It seems a shame to just keep it lying around, knowing I'll never watch it again - I don't care where you live, so long as there's mail-people who'll deliver stuff to you. (DVDs are soon to be en-route to jelliclecat.)

If I claimed one of your prompts over at springkink, please don't get too excited; my muses seem to think it's drabble-time, so thus far, I've not written anything of over 150 words for any of my claims. *sigh*

Did post one late fic for the New Year's Resolution-challenge: Chocolate Cigarettes - a post-movie Constantine fanfic wherein John somehow ends up in bed with Chas (who's an angel) and Midnite (who's er not). Not that there's any sex, of course.

reading books and taking bets (insert a bookie joke here)

2009-10-02T06:50:04Z

If Steven Brust (Vlad series), Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files) and Roger Zelazny (the second five books of Amber) were to team up to write a book, the result might well be something like Kelly McCullough's Webmage.

Proof:

(1) In the first chapter, the main-character almost gets killed by three members of his family, who were sent to kill him by a fourth, before getting intimate (in a non-explicit way) with a fifth.

(2) The main-character has a familiar with whom he banters. A lot. Also: this familiar's probably smarter than he is. Often.

(3) Plot! Treason! Backstabbing from relatives! Plots-in-plots! And, in case there was any doubt as to my feelings on the matter: awesomeness!

Also in booknews: I've just realized that when I bought Suzanne Brockmann's Otherwise Engaged, I did so for 75% because I thought the main-character, Molly Cassidy, was related to my favorite character from another series of hers (Jules Cassidy). Discovering that, in fact, there's no relation between the two has dropped OE from the top of my To Read-pile to er somewhere near the bottom.

Yes. I really am that shallow.

yuletide will be starting again soon, which is ... not all good, given I'm still working on two fics for the New Year's Resolution challenge. Would anyone care to bet whether or not I'll finish them in time?

View Poll: Poll!

Ficbits

2009-09-16T15:26:54Z

All written for comment_fic - on average, I spent about an hour on each, so they're not all as fleshed-out or polished as they might have been.

prompt: House/Wilson, House went to jail, Wilson takes him in when he gets out

"I was expecting you to pick me up in a helicopter and something like, oh, let's say six months ago? You're late."

Wilson had been imagining this - he'd dreamt about House as a humbled, remorseful person. He'd had nightmares about House breaking out and turning up on his doorstep or in his bedroom somehow.

"I couldn't find a pilot crazy enough to take the job." The first thing that popped into his mind, really. So much more appropriate than 'I missed you'.

"You had six months." The way House moved, he seemed unharmed. Undaunted. Not changed at all. "You didn't even send me a file - or a hairclip."

"Do those things really work outside of the world of fiction?"

House gave him a look. "We'll never know now, will we?"

prompt: House MD, House/Chase, after Chase's father dies, he goes back to Australia. When he doesn't return to America, House goes to bring him back

Chase doesn't know why he's surprised to come back to his apartment one day ('We'll be sure to keep your resumé on file') and find House there, waiting for him.

Not, of course, that House actually acts as if he's been waiting for Chase. He's sitting in Chase's favorite chair, reading a medical journal as if he belongs there.

Idiotically, Chase wonders for a moment if he's stepped inside a different universe - one where he actually went to see House before he left, and asked him to come along. ('I don't think I can do this alone, will you come with me? You could use a vacation.')

"What are you doing here?"

Just once, he tells himself. Just this once, he wants to hear House admit that it means something, what they have.

"Actually, the question is: what are you doing here?" House tosses the journal onto the table. "Because frankly, I'm confused."

"I live here." He's survived here, anyway - all the people who knew his father, wishing him well, so sorry I can't do anything to help. He's surviving, and House knows him far too well.

"Got two tickets to see the Yankees this weekend. You wanna come?"

"Maybe." He knows it's a 'yes', and House knows it, too.

prompt: Weiss Kreuz, Crawford/Schuldig, coordination

Getting dressed with Schuldig in the same room had always been a trial.

"You're really planning on wearing that shirt with that suit?"

"It's the same combination I always wear."

"Because all your clothes look exactly the same. Even your socks and underwear." Schuldig made a disgusted sound. "No sense of adventure at all."

Crawford shrugged. With a meeting in half an hour, there was no real need to keep or put Schuldig in a good mood - and by the time the meeting would be over, Schuldig would have forgotten this conversation as likely as not.

"Why don't you try something new, every once in a while?" Schuldig browsed through his closet. "Like this one. Really brings out my eyes, doesn't it?"

"That's why it's your shirt."

"You could wear it, too. I don't mind."

Crawford started buttoning his shirt. "No, thank you."

"You're no fun at all."

"You didn't think that two hours ago."

"Well, you were naked, then." Schuldig tossed the shirt onto the floor. "And it was two hours ago."

Getting dressed with Schuldig in the same room had always been a trial.

Getting undressed, on the other hand, usually happened both quickly and easily.

prompt: Antique Bakery, Chikage/Ono, Chikage manages to accidentally dump whipped cream all over himself

Ono could have wept, because there was a God and for some reason, He'd been listening to Ono's prayers and chosen to grant them.

Naturally, Ono had actually wished for Chikage to be covered in whipped cream in a slightly different environment (such as his bedroom) and he'd have surely stipulated for the whipped cream not to be required for that day's baking, but when it came to these sorts of things, Ono thought he shouldn't be too picky. He hadn't actually donated anything to any kind of temple since New Year's, after all.

"How do you manage to get yourself into these kinds of messes? It's unbelievable! Didn't I tell you not to bother Ono? How are we supposed to serve any customers now?"

Chikage looked miserable. "Terribly sorry, milord. It won't happen again."

"Damn right it won't! And what are you all standing around for? Our first customers will get here in less than an hour - and we don't have any whipped cream!"

"I could - " Ono started.

"You think you can fix this? Great. I'll leave you to it, then. Meanwhile, I'll take Chikage home to get him cleaned up. I shouldn't be too long."

"Y-yes," Ono stammered. "Of course."

Foolish, really, to think that Tachibana might understand him. Or perhaps, Ono reflected as Tachibana led a still apologizing Chikage to his car, Tachibana had understood his intentions far too well.

prompt: Firefly, Kaylee/Inara, smells so pretty

At first, Kaylee thinks it's the incense Inara burns in her shuttle - part of Serenity and part of something else at the same time. Most people who don't spend most of their lives in spaceships smell different; Kaylee couldn't quite find the words to describe it, but she knows what her nose tells her.

There's people like her and Zoe and the Captain, and there's people who are different. Who don't understand wanting to spend your life aboard a spaceship, and loving (almost) every minute of it.

Only Inara doesn't fit in either group. She doesn't smell like a mix, either - Inara just smells like ... Inara. The way Serenity smells like Serenity, except not quite, because Serenity's a spaceship and Inara is human - both persons, both dear to her.

And lucky for Kaylee, she never has to choose between the two of them, or so she thinks.

(When Inara's gone, Kaylee burns incense in her cabin every now and then, telling herself things will be all right.)

prompt: Firefly, River/Kaylee, engine grease

"You keep me going," River tells her, "Keep me flying, keep me in the air," - I am a leaf in the wind, watch me soar, and Kaylee whispers "Yes", as if it's a promise.

There's engine grease on both of them, and once they get back, there'll be knowing looks (can't fool the Captain; he always just knows) and tactless questions (Jayne's such an idiot) and, of course, Simon, but for the moment, it's just the two of them and Serenity.

prompt: Eureka, Vincent, Eureka is one big family and Vince is the 'mom'

The way to a man's heart goes through his stomach, Vince knows - so when Fargo assures him with a bleary look that he just wants coffee, Vince slips him a breakfast muffin as well, and when Dr. Stark (a rare visitor, but never an unwelcome one) asks to have his lunch 'to go', Vince badgers him into sitting down and eating his food like a civilized person.

Jo is as bad as Dr. Stark, really - except that she adds a taste for junkfood (cops and doughnuts) to the sin of wanting her food 'to go', so Vince seduces her (platonically and proverbially, of course) with platters of healthy snacks - perfect for eating-while-having-a-conversation-or-reading-a-magazine-at-the-same-time.

Taggart presents a challenge, with his tall stories but (Vince figures out eventually) simple tastes; as long as it looks outlandish and tastes familiar, Taggart is happy. He never wants to rush a meal, either, although the stories he tells over lunch or dinner sometimes rob other people of their appetites, which is a great pity.

Allison goes in for elegance - she likes her food with a touch of beauty, but simple at heart. Anything that can drip off her spoon or fork and leave stains is a no-no.

If Vince tries to win people's hearts by cooking for them, it's only because every dish served at Café Diem is made with love as much as fresh ingredients of the highest quality science can attain.

prompt: Psych, Shawn/Lassiter, after a case gone wrong, Shawn leaves town. Lassiter follows.

"Let's face it, Spencer, you messed up."

Lassiter sounded smug. For him, this was probably a dream come true, Shawn reflected bitterly.

Not for Lassiter the long-distance phonecall with the funny echoes, or the postcard with the sad smiley - Lassiter was a man of confrontation.

"You're a hard man, Lassie. I mean, most guys, they'd be happy to just know I'm miserable but oh no, not you."

Lassiter actually looked a little abashed. Not much, mind, but Shawn knew what that nine-tenth of a second blink meant.

"Well, it's your own fault. I told you the pineapple was irrelevant to the case."

"Can I at least have a hug?"

"We're in public. And you messed up. Big time. I'm not going to just forgive you."

"Mm. Does your idea of scolding involve spanking? Creative use of handcuffs? Angry 'I hate you but I can't live without you and I think you're superhot' sex? All of the above?"

"Spencer ... "

"Angry 'I hate you and I can live without you but then I'd have come all this way for nothing' sex?"

"Let's just go home, all right?"

prompt: Smallville, Clark/Lex, if you want people to take you seriously as a supervillain, you're going to need a costume

"You know, all supervillains have got their own costumes, except you."

Normally, Clark wouldn't be this blunt, this direct - because they don't talk about who they are outside of Smallville; they're just Clark the farmer's son and Lex the billionaire. Still, he tells himself, it's just about clothes.

It's not as if they're discussing those times Lex came close to killing him, or those times Clark felt tempted not to save Lex.

"That's because I'm not a supervillain, Clark."

With the sun on his and Lex's face, and the memories of sweet, gentle sex still fresh, Clark could almost believe that. He wants to believe it, really; wants to believe that Lex is just being obnoxious and unreasonable and wrong, yes, but not bad. Not evil.

"Also: unlike you, I have a sense of style."

"What?"

"Your costume's a total joke, Clark." Lex is lying back, smug and smiling. "You should let me hook you up with a designer. One with actual taste."

"I don't think so."

"Your loss."

Clark decides he has no choice but to kiss Lex, to distract himself from thinking about what a costume designed for Superman by someone with Lex's taste would look like.

Can't Take the Sky

2009-09-04T11:04:13Z

This weekend, I watched all thirteen episodes of Firefly, which led me to conclude:

(1) I need to watch the movie. Even if I've already read some spoilers for it, and so I know there'll be Bad Things happening in it. I want to know things, darn it.

(2) Torture is still one of my major squicks.

(3) Fanfiction is a pretty, shiny thing. (Not that there's anything new about that.)

In regards to pairings: during the first few episodes, I was halfway tempted towards Mal/Simon, but by the fourth episode or so, my mind had been made up in favor of Mal/Inara. Wash/Zoe/Mal seems a threesome begging to happen (in fanfiction, if not in canon, War Stories notwithstanding) and Inara/Kaylee is like spun sugar. Simon and Kaylee ... they just don't seem to have 'it' to me. Wash and Zoe have got 'it' in spades, Mal and Inara feel like they could have 'it', and Mal and Zoe have got 'it' in a different way, but not Kaylee and Simon.

What is 'it' anyway? What am I talking about? And does anyone even remember this show?

Eleanor K tricked me into buying Mal/Jayne long enough to enjoy it (granting Mal the dubious honor of being the Character I Could See Paired With Most Other Characters), and as a bonus, grey_bard turned out to have written a Firefly/Vorkosiganverse crossover wherein Ivan gets himself aboard Serenity (no direct link, but you can find the story here, if interested).

It's not a small fandom, as such, so I'm happy browsing around. (Oh, and of course I also downloaded the fan-novel Steven Brust wrote.) Still, recs are always welcome.

Brief Notes

2008-11-11T20:02:18Z

Dear Secret Yuletide Santa,

as I've squealed enough in my requests, I have only two words left that I would like to say to you: you rock. For participating, for offering one of these fandoms, and for undertaking to write me a fic.

Love,
me

*
Dear self,

ah-ha! Caught you! Because there you were, counting and guessing at what your assignment would be, based on the numbers of requests and offers and (admit it, you shameless person-who-spends-too-much-time-staring-at-the-Requested-Fandoms-page) you were wrong. Completely.

No love,
me

*
Dear f-list,

Magical x Miracle. Tell me you've read it, know it or love it, for I am desiring to exchange squealy comments with someone about this series. Alternately, give me squealy books to look for over at BookMooch, because I've got enough points to get a hundred books, but not a single book on my wishlist that someone's offering right now.

Love,
me

Six volumes of cuteness in moderation, fantasy in abundance, and politics in the background - yes, cairnsy, I'm looking at you here, because Yue and Vaith? Completely reminding me of Charon and Pain. (Mind, there are considerable differences in personalities; mostly, it's the whole vibe of their relationship that's causing me to make the connection.)

Fic or Treat With Me?

2008-10-29T20:48:35Z

Note: if you come knocking, please have some fandoms I know in your interests. No, this does not include Supernatural - I don't watch that show, because I'm a scaredy-cat.

'twas a dark and stormy night,
upon which good souls stayed inside,
yet wicked souls did soon take flight,
to knock on doors, with all their might.

While sitting by the fireside,
I cannot help but take some fright,
at strange sounds coming from outside,
and thus pick up a pen to write,

What dreams may come, what fancies bright,
afore the dawn, tomorrow's light?

I know it not yet will abide,
by the rules of this Hallowed Eve's rite.

Knock at your own risk. ~_^

Edit: comments are now enabled

N.Y.R., she wrote

2008-10-26T16:47:55Z

Okay, so I didn't keep my resolution to ~~spam~~ inform you all about what new fics I wrote. Still, last year I sort of ended with a list of the fics I posted for the New Year's-challenge at Yuletide, and since I've just come back from uploading the last two I'll write this year ...

In 2007, I wrote 7 fics in 5 fandoms (I wrote three fics for Eureka) which netted me a total of 11 comments (9 for the three Eureka-fics, two divided among the other four). Two of the comments were by original requestors.

This year, I wrote 13 fics in 12 fandoms (two for Eureka this time) which netted me a total of 24 comments, of which eight were by original requestors (and given that two stories were posted ten seconds ago, that number may yet improve).

In conclusion, I'm a happy, happy writer. The NYR-stories I wrote this year are, in order of posting:

On the Other Side of the Fence (Dick Francis - Rat Race) Matt/Colin
Smart, Shirtless and Single (Eureka) Jack/Nathan
Straight Guys (Jennifer Crusie - Welcome to Temptation) Phin/Davy
Desipere (Catherine Jinks - Pagan-series) Jordan/Pagan
A Brief Guide to Dragon Courtship Rituals (Steven Brust - Dragaera universe) Morrolan/Vlad
Game to the Max (Bus Gamer) gen
My Brother Vitaly (Lord of War) Yuri/Vitaly
Layla Williams, Empress of the Universe (Sky High) Will/Warren
Coffee Magic (Eureka) Jack/Henry
Like Gilbert and Sullivan (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip) Matt/Danny
Painted Love (Suzanne Brockmann - Troubleshooters Inc) Jules/Robin
Ten Moments (Tanya Huff - The Fire's Stone) Darvish/Aaron/Chandra
Fifteen Moments (Whistle!) Mizuno/Shigeki/Shou

... huh. Next year, maybe I should resolve to write something not-slashy?

Five random things that made me happy this weekend:

1. nasdack
2. Whistle!
3. nasdack
4. nasdack
5. downingjones (which won't make sense unless you're reading nasdack)

Two things that would make my day even better:

1. Directions to Katsuro/Seiji-fic
2. New stuff at nasdack or downingjones All right, consider day half made already.

(If you like Final Fantasy and/or financial news and/or hot guys, handcuffs and fast cars and/or a combination of all the aforementioned things, you should go take a look.)

It Ain't Halloween Yet / Things That Scare Me (Dresden Files)

2008-10-11T10:07:47Z

Haven't done the Trick-or-Treat one yet, but spotted this one at mishagirl's lj, and had to try it for myself.

Halloween Meme

acchikocchi puts real eyeballs in your gerbils

alighiera shows up with burning torches, pitchforks and dip

aramis_chan eats sakru909's spicy, spicy brains.

cairnsy TPs trixie_chick

cheeky_duckie tries to pick up Phantom Hitchhikers

gangstavidel puts apples in your razorblades

jenab calls alighiera to let them know the psycho killer's in the Miss Knifey Pageant 2008

karanguni runs around screaming for hours until abruptly silenced by obabscribbler, wielding a sharpened Wings album

mishagirl devours the entire neighbourhood's brains

obabscribbler dresses up as gangstavidel

sakru909 sacrifices karanguni's Bank Manager's lunchbox

skyrat13 puts fake eyeballs in your candy

sparkysparky haunts your pumpkin

toriko_roller swoops on aramis_chan and drains their Wings Greatest Hits

trixie_chick TPs your cutlery

LJ Name

Also: why is it that when I look for coms interested in Jim Butcher, I find a com dedicated to the pairing of Harry Dresden/Johnny 'Gentleman' Marcone and one to Harry Dresden/Bob, but not one dedicated to, say, Harry/Thomas or (although I know this one's a little risqué, it being canon and all) Thomas/Justine? I mean, Harry/Bob? A wizard and his familiar inhabiting a skull? That's kind of breaking my brains. On the other hand, a romantically-challenged wizard and the sex-vampire who's sharing his apartment? Seems a perfect set-up to me. (But, seriously, Thomas/Justine is my One True Pairing in these books - if you know of fic for them, pleased to be letting me know?)

Fun, Fun, Fun in the Sun

2008-09-28T08:49:52Z

Well, one way to look at it would be that there's way too many write-a-fic-for-a-prompt-and-post-it-on-this-and-this-day coms having a round coming up or being in the middle of a round right now, but another way to look at it would be er, that it's fun.

I've signed up for slashfest and rounds_of_kink, I'll sign up for Yuletide (obviously) and springkink (duh), and I still owe people fic for several other projects/memes/whatnots, but ... I'm enjoying myself. For a pretty long time, I was a one-fandom type of person and then for a while, I felt like I was a no-fandom type of person. Now, I feel a multi-fandom type of person, and I'm enjoying it - even though I still have trouble writing characters with the same name (like Jack, of whom there's one in Eureka, one in Studio 60, one in Lord of War and two in Torchwood, or Danny, of whom there's one in Ocean's Eleven and sequels, and one in Studio 60). It doesn't matter how different they are; they're just ... slippery.

And, to add at least some substance to this post and to give you all an opportunity to find out that I'm nowhere near as multi-fandom as I'd like just yet:

Give me a first line in the fandom of your choice and I'll write the next little bit.

gacked from jenab

Look, Ma - No Cable!

2008-08-31T09:15:36Z

I HAS A LAPTOP!

And for those of you still reading after that Caps Locked grave grammatical error: er, so, yeah. I finally got a laptop (well ... finally) but more importantly: I finally got Internet at home (because hey, taking a laptop with internet home equals having internet at home, right?)

Mmm. So I didn't really keep that resolution to post at least once a month and I didn't quite write a NYR-story every month either. On the other hand, of the seven I've posted thus far, five were commented upon by their recipients, so if you were to assume a commenting recipient is a happy recipient, I did a whole lot better in that department this year than last year. And I hope to write at least one more before the archive closes.

Still haven't gathered enough good karma to have someone write me a NYR-story it seems. Ah well, maybe next year? Or the year after that?

Because I'm nosy like that: if you participated in Yuletide last year, are you by now busy thinking of what you're going to ask for this year and couldn't you care less about the requests you made almost a year ago, or are you still hoping someone'll pick them up?

Personally, I guess I'm in the middle - I already know three of the requests I'm going to make this year, but I'd still be really, really happy if someone picked up either my Eureka or my Dragaera-request from last year. (Is it more obviously a hint if I'd bold it? Naw.)

I Know What I Did Last Christmas

2008-01-23T12:09:53Z

... It's too late for New Year's wishes, isn't it? Well in spirit I wished all of you the best on January 2nd, but in writing (typing?) I'm way behind, as usual. (Still, eleven months and a bit left, aren't there?)

Somewhere, people are watching the second season of Eureka Somewhere else, people are watching the second season of Torchwood And somewhere else again, there's me. Oh well, I've got Dzur (and Steven Brust is still brilliant) and lots of other shiny new books to read, so I'll cut the whining now, and move on to -

- New Year's resolutions! I've got two, namely (1) to update this journal at least once a month and (2) to write more NYR-stories for yuletide than I did last year. I plan to succeed in the first by keeping track of what I post (but not necessarily write) fanfiction-wise and posting the resulting list around the fifteenth of every month. (Consider this a spam-warning, if you wish.)

Speaking of yuletide: I received Six Vignettes of Cerberus (Black Cat), in reply to a 'pleasepleaseplease give me anything with Jenos in it!' request, and I wrote, in chronological order:
14 (Vampire Game: It's a tough job, but he wouldn't trust anyone else to do it right. [pre-series Darres-centered gen] PG)
When Hiruma Met Mamori: Not a Love Story (Eyeshield 21: Haruto Sakuraba confesses! Ai Kago strips! Yoichi Hiruma grovels at your feet! (Ahem.) All this and more! PG-13)
When Hiruma Met Mamori: a Love Story (Eyeshield 21: There's no real romance in it (or fake romance, for that matter) but all the same, this is a love story. PG)
Looking for the Boy (Neil Gaiman's Murder Mysteries: I always find him, but then, I always look for him, too. [Raguel-pov] PG-13)
Down and About (Neil Gaiman's Murder Mysteries: Angels don't fall. (That's why they've got wings.) [Raguel-pov, hints of Raguel-Lucifer and Azazel-Lucifer] PG-13)

If you look at it in a certain way (squinting, so to speak), I got six fic(let)s for the price of five - not a bad trade at all, if I say so myself.

Of the seven NYR-fics I posted last year, two were commented upon by the requester, two more were commented upon by other kind people, and three have yet to receive any comments by anyone. Statistically, those are not good odds for actually managing to please someone by picking up his/her left-over request. (For the record: I'd be delighted if anyone wrote me a NYR-story.) Of course, I did post most of them August/September-ish ...

Also: Santa (you know who you are) gifted me with two gorgeous, gorgeous Kaiba/Jounouchi-doujinshi. <3 Thank you so much! (I guess that means I'll be making 'to take up writing Kaiba/Joey again' my third resolution.)

And Jules Cassidy? I love you, in that giddy-fangirlish, platonic kind of way. Even if you're in a series of romance-novels which I'd feel slightly embarrassed to be caught reading, I still really, really love you.

My Own Private Yuletide

2007-12-14T17:20:00Z

Yes, I nicked this idea from alighiera, who nicked it from ariss_tenoh. I did adapt some of the text, though.

Her idea, which is being appropriated here, is a one-sided private Yuletide, i.e. you get a story without having to write one in return. (This is a quote.)

1. If you're on my flist, you get to play. If you're not on my flist but are reading this post, you also get to play.

2. You can request up to four different fandoms (or the same fandom four times, or whatever you want) - but please give me at least a character or pairing to work with and, if you wish, a phrase, setting, theme or whatever you want me to put in the story.

3. If there's something you absolutely want (or don't want) to see in your story, tell me.

4. You don't need to limit your requests to the fandoms I have listed below. Feel free to request any fandom at all, but keep in mind that the odds of me picking up a book are a lot better than the odds of me acquiring six seasons of a TV-show or a complete anime-series.

5. I will earnestly try to write at least one of your requests before the end of 2008.

6. The deadline for me to finish writing at least one of your requests is December 31st next year. (Ahem, yes, well, I know I can be a slowpoke.)

Comments are screened so you can't peek at each other's requests, and so I can work at some discretion.

[books]

Steven Brust (Vlad), Trudi Canavan (Black Magician-trilogy), Diane Duane (Young Wizards), Dave Duncan (any), Doris Egan (Ivory-trilogy), Lynn Flewelling (Nightrunner, Tamir), C.S. Friedman (Coldfire-trilogy), Simon R. Green (Deathstalker, Blue Moon, Hawk & Fisher), Tanya Huff (any), Fiona Patton (any), Melanie Rawn (Exiles)

[TV]

Eureka, Torchwood

[manga - not anime]

.hack//Legend of Twilight's Bracelet, Alice 19th, Angelic Layer, Basara, Back Cat, Bleach, Bus Gamer, Cantarella, Category: Freaks, Ceres, Clover, Chobits, Crossroad, Death Note, Demon Diary, The Demon Ororon, Dragon Knights, Eerie Queerie, Eyeshield 21, Faeries' Landing, FAKE, Full Metal Alchemist, Fushigi Yugi, Get Backers, Ghost Hunt, Godchild, Gorgeous Carat, Gravitation, Gunslinger Girl, Hana-Kimi, Hands Off!, Imadoki, Juvenile Orion, Legal Drug, Liling Po, Love Mode, MeruPuri, Petshop of Horrors, Planet Ladder, RG Veda, Samurai Deeper Kyo, Suikoden III, Tokyo Babylon

[anime - not manga]

Noir, Samurai Champloo, Weiss Kreuz (original series only), YuGiOh (Duelist Kingdom/Battle City only)

Dear Santa ...

2007-10-21T10:57:44Z

(Below you'll find the letter to my anonymous Santa at yuletide. Please do not read unless you are this person.)

First of all, thank you ever so much for signing up in one of these three fandoms. I love all three of them, and it's cool to know there's more people who feel that way. In my requests, I pretty much said it all already, but ... well, no harm in babbling a bit more, I guess.

Fandom number one has got both an anime and a manga version - I've never seen the anime, but am an ardent read of the manga. I finished reading vol. 9 and 10 yesterday, which means that someone I liked a lot has just been declared dead.

Aside from the part where this makes me a little sad, this also means I'll receive team-fic of happier days with even more glee.

Fandom number two is a series of books, of which I have not yet read the last one. I may have done this by the time I read your fic though, so don't let that hold you back. Although some (most) of the books were written in first pov, a fic in third pov would be shiny - in fact, it'd be pretty hard to write a first pov-fic for some of my suggested pairings or scenarios.

If you're wondering about my preferences as to slash/het/gen - I don't have them. In fandom number one, I feel slash wouldn't really work for my favorite character, but in this one ... well, A/S is practically canon, I feel. If you can't choose, flip a coin or something, or put up a poll, or whatever you want.

Fandom number three - a TV-series of which I haven't yet seen the second season. Then again, my request is for something pre-series, so I don't foresee any trouble there; if you use something mentioned in there, I might not recognize it as such, but basically, this request is based on The Episode With The Mandatory Hugging. Also, J/N seems such a very popular pairing, and ... I just don't feel the love there. It's not a matter of me not liking slash, it's just that ... I can't see it.