The Bead Box

08 July 2031 @ 05:48 pm

Hi! Welcome! This journal is friends only for personal posts, public for fanfic and when-I-remember-to-fix-the-default-random-comment. Also, I like hyphens.

No need to ask to friend me, friend away!

I've had some recent very flattering requests to archive or podfic my work, so perhaps it would be helpful to post my policies.

1) Podficcing, especially Checkmate: No. I've turned down many, many friends and podficcers over the years. I am doing it, I will do it. I am very flattered, but no. No exceptions.

(I think there's ONE non-Checkmate McSmooch out there that

the_oscar_cat did forever ago; that's obviously grandfathered)

2) Archiving; Would rather you link to here. I will eventually have everything up on Archive of Our Own, but here is good for now. I've been having to chase down fics under an old handle and it's a bitch. I am trying to lock down things under one roof; please respect that.

3)Remix: I'm okay with that, just don't forget to link back to the source.

4)Again, fic posts are public, all(most all) personal posts are private.

5)Beta requests: As I am currently not pursuing writing, I have time! I am most familiar with All Jossverse but Dollhouse, All Stargate franchises but SGU (I even forget what the U stands for. Ungrateful for your fans? Unholy mess? I forget.), and am willing to give White Collar, H5O, Sherlock BBC and Star Trek reboot a shot. Caveat: I am a multiple assault survivor with PTSD, no non-con, dub-con, coercion or humiliation, period.

But seriously, no podficcing, y'all. Control freak actor-director-author, here.

Tags: checkmate 'verse, fic, me, podficcing, policies

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22 February 2014 @ 07:42 pm

(no subject)

One of the annoying things about writing fan fiction is that people keep asking, "Why don't you write a story of your own? You're so good, you could be published!!"
One, thank you very much, that's very kind of you to say.

Two, I'm HAPPY, just like this. And they can't seem to understand why I'm happy rewriting/revamping/putting my own spin on someone else's work that happens to be under copyright.

Uh, ever hear of jazz? Ever hear of improv? Two of my favorite things, and I can do it with fiction.

Also? I don't have a full story to tell yet. I just don't. I don't know why yet, quit making me feel icky and less than about it. The spark hasn't struck yet. I just broke out 5000K short stories this past year, and have begun to do my own world building. Stahp. I am developing my craft. Stoooop. I'm happy.

This has happened with several different creative endeavors, and truly it s humbling and flattering, but jeez, stop trying to weaponize me.

ETA: I have such smart, wonderful friends. There are MANY MANY responses worth reading.

Tags: me me me, writing process

54 comments | Leave a comment

24 April 2013 @ 11:45 am

Dream Report

Dream Report:
Before a medieval battle, at night and backlit by a fire, my companion (played by Richard Armitage a la Thorin) haltingly declares his wish to formally court me after the battle is over.

"So, this waiting in a freezing muddy ditch for six hours; is this a test for a patient wife?" I ask shakily.

He's horrified. "I would NEVER..."

"Call me patient? Good. Don't have me on a pedestal. That's very good."

"Putting you on a shelf when it was walking, living, fighting beside you that caused me to love you seems......remarkably stupid."

"Practical. I like that. You realize you just eliminated about two years of marital arguments, yes?" I wipe a smudge of mud off his cheek. "Very efficient."

His face begins to relax into a smile as he catches my muddy hand to kiss. "*Marital?* not just...your answer, then, is yes?"

I laugh shakily, glad he's not teasing me about skipping straight from "court" to "marriage", "Of course it's yes, you silly clot -"

I am jerked, literally, out of his hands, the image of his stricken face and wide eyes seared into my mind. Something large and smelly roars, and I am cast down into a narrow, deep hole, continuing to fall and fall and fall for ages, until suddenly the tunnel becomes a clear tube, the surroundings blindingly white, and I am dumped onto the floor of a modern house. A plump, pleasant-faced woman and a tall, thin, Sherlockish man, worried instead of haughty, stand, watching me.

"WHAT. THE. HELL?" I roar, jumping to my feet and drawing my sword.

"Oh dear," the woman grimaces, flapping her hands in distress, "oh dear, dear, that's just not necessary, we're friends here!"

Sherlockish rolls his eyes and smirks. "I believe she will want to know 'friends of whom?'"he says silkily.

"Damn right," I reply, still battle-ready, willing my voice not to shake, this time from fear. A large clump of mud falls off my elbow and plops onto the perfectly shiny white floor.

Tags: dream report, dreams

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10 April 2013 @ 08:32 am

Dream Report!

1. One of you lovely peeps had emergency heart surgery, and many friends were waiting behind a curtain in the operating room. When we were allowed to visit, the curtain was drawn back and the patient was there, dressed in street clothes, festooned with the regular monitors and IVs.

"Oh thank God," her mother said, "we can go to yoga."

"She just had HEART SURGERY," I said.

The mom gestured impatiently; "But she's DRESSED!"

2. Tony Stark was enumerating his various attributes as a suitor. "Genius, billionaire philanthropist, no longer a playboy, privatized world peace, invented a clean energy source and I made this teeny tiny robot that cracks nuts."

Sure enough, he'd made a four-inch-tall teeny tiny Iron Man who would select a nut for you, fire his teeny tiny repulsors at it, and if that didn't completely crack it, would pick it up and bash it against the coffee table. Then it would brush away the shells and fly you the completed cracked nut.

"Incredibly charming," I said. "I'd be sold."

Tony did a double fist pump of victory. "Great! I just gotta get this wrapped."

The teeny tiny robot was flying me another walnut, and I curled my hand around it protectively, keeping it close. "Noooooo, my teeny robot, mine."

"But.."

"Miiiiiiiine. No. I love him."

The teeny tiny robot turned in mid air and pointed his hand repulsors at Tony, ready to fire.

"Dammit," said Tony.

~~~~~~~~

ETA: TEENY TINY ROBOT, EEEEE. He makes me so happy. I have smiled about him all day.m his tiny repulsor noises are SO CUTE.

Tags: dream report, dreams

Current Mood: blah

blah

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23 February 2013 @ 06:59 pm

Dream Report

Nap Dream Report: BBC's John Watson, attending to patients at St. Bart's hospital, is a bit taken aback when equipment in the ICU begins to communicate with him, as if he's some sort of mechanical Dr. Doolittle.

Dr. Watson learns which nurses are excellent, and which sneak a few pain pills for themselves. They also have opinions on the other doctors, too.

They also know of his association with Sherlock Holmes, since both John and Sherlock have been treated there, they always enjoyed watching Sherlock's experiments, and of course, they are able to monitor the TV news and have befriended the CCTV network. In other words, they've done their research.

They've made themselves known to Dr Watson because they think he's very decent for a human, and, well, they think some of the patients have been dying before their time. That someone is using them (the machines) to commit murder, but they're not always completely sure, because something mechanically mystifying happens. Not that they've had memory wipes or been turned off, but they record things in their secret memories during these suspicious deaths that they themselves were not programmed to do, and that cannot categorize or comprehend.

John, of course, thinks he's going mad, or perhaps that curry at lunch was a bit dodgy.

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Dr. Watson, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

".........and a heart monitor quotes Hamlet, of course." John presses his back against the wall and looks at the ceiling. " Someone's having me on. Must be."

"We saw Doctor Who playing Hamlet on the television," Heart Monitor says with what John can only imagine is shy pride.

(David Tennant, shortly after leaving Doctor Who, played Hamlet. Patrick Stewart played Hamlet, Sr.)

"Ah, right, well, actually the actor who..."

"The heart monitor interrupted him. " Doctor Who. Hamlet. We have discussed it much."

"Really."

"The play centers around The Doctor Hamlet's father being terminated wrongly."

"Yes, yes that's right."

"The Doctor is a Time Lord. His father was a king. Higher than a lord. Why did not the Doctor Hamlet's father regenerate when poisoned?"

~~~

Sorry to say that I wasn't asleep enough to get the explanation.

Tags: dream report, dreams

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16 February 2013 @ 02:05 pm

Wow, I thought I'd COMPLETELY lost it. (I wrote something! Fic! Sherlock!)

I haven't written a fic since.....April 27, 2010. Between my bipolar meds damping down my creativity, writer's block, beta phobia and losing confidence, it just....stopped.

This morning I was reflecting on my nearly nine years in fandom, and wondered if in a year's time I'd be able to have a ficathon, or take requests without freezing into a little ball of self-recrimination.

A tiny, tiny window opened in my brain. Through it, I could see BBC's Sherlock Holmes and John Watson locked inside their flat, John about to throw himself against the door. He stops before his shoulder connects, reorientes himself, and begins to methodically kick near the lock.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Surely you jest," Sherlock scoffs silkily.

A vein stands out on John's forehead. "Stop. (Kick) Calling. (Kick) Me. (Kick) Shirley. (Kick)"

Sherlock snorts and pulls out his BlackBerry. "Nice to see you enjoying yourself."

John stops, the set of his feet, tilt of his chin, and clenched hands betraying his irritation. "En-joy? EnJOY. Locked inside our flat, our fire escape unusable because someone dropped acid on it and you think I'm enjoying myself?

Sherlock points. "Kicking with your 'bad' leg."

~~~

I have to go sit in the corner, hands over my mouth, wide-eyed, because I WROTE SOMETHING, now.

Tags: fic, sherlock, writer's block

37 comments | Leave a comment

26 July 2011 @ 04:11 pm

What to do, what to doooooo

I'm very slowly putting my stuff up on Archive of Our Own, mainly because I'm giving it another once over for Crimes Against Grammar and Tight Story Telling and mainly because, YAY MORE FEEDBACK if I slooowly do it over time. Because I'm needy like that. And because too much editing/coding makes Bead's wrists/shoulders NOT HAPPY. So. Help me choose what's next!

Poll #1764910 What Should I Put Up Next on AO3?

Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All. Participants: 67

SGA

View Answers

The Slow Braille of Touch

20(29.9%)

When The Scales Fall From Our Eyes

2(3.0%)

PIlgrim's Hands Do Touch

0(0.0%)

The Bella 'Verse

5(7.5%)

GPFG Stories

6(9.0%)

Competition is Healthy

0(0.0%)

Take Out 'Verse

3(4.5%)

The Checkmate Appendixxessese

25(37.3%)

All the short ones that won't take much editing

6(9.0%)

Tags: ao3, me me me

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29 June 2011 @ 04:30 pm

THIS JUST IN

from the Fake AP Style Book

Replace the Oxford comma with the Yale comma. It's not as prestigious but still gets the job done.

Ha! Take that, former betas, oxford comma hatorz, and other group unspecified but used in order to be able to use Oxford comma here.

Tags: hee.

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01 September 2010 @ 10:01 am

Please don't cross the streams, man

Please don't link any comments to Facebook. I'd like this world and that world - the world full of people who haven't a clue I write slash fanfiction - not to collide. :)

Tags: facebook, oh john ringo no

5 comments | Leave a comment

10 August 2010 @ 01:20 pm

Thank you, Oh Anonymous Gifter!

For the bear hug. :)

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08 August 2010 @ 10:21 am

:;facepalms::

I kept thinking "Hey, it's that GUY!" about Dr. Grant from 1947 swanned about Eureka in his extremely suave and slightly sinister way, NEVER putting two and two together that he played ANOTHER suave/sinister guy Gaius Baltar in Battlestar Galactica until I looked up the actor. DUH.

Well, I do admit that I stopped watching BG early on because it was so terribly depressing and at the time, I didn't need the extra help.

I was catching up on White Collar the other day (OMG, guys you HAVE to watch it. I don't particularly feel the slash there, but I see the POTENTIAL for the slash, but to me, Peter is so palpably in love with Elizabeth. And Neal had that whole Kate obsession. I see it as just a really gorgeous unabashed deep bromance. I'm cool with that. Because they are both clearly having so much fun. Also, whoever thought of putting Neal in classic Ratpack vintage clothing? To show that he's slightly apart and slightly out of step in a fabulous way to Peter's world of suits? SOOO brilliant.

Let's also remember that I wasn't going to watch Merlin, either, because OMG, Merlin looked a bit like my nephew, so eww, but I quickly got over that because my nephew is not Irish a wizard and certainly wouldn't wear those neckerchiefs, so, you know, I might come over to the other side.)

What was I walking about? Oh. Eureka. Which, I think, is having it's best season yet.

No, wait, I was going to make a point about White Collar! The other day I was watching "By the Book" the episode where Mozzie's favorite waitress/potential love interest/stalkee is kidnapped, and she's played by the lady who was the psychologist on Numb3rs and a krav maga expert. I was having a hard time not thinking, "come on! you can kick their asses SO easily! There's an opening right there! And there!"

Tags: fannish glee

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17 July 2010 @ 12:45 pm

Don't use I Write Like

Point's to

mecurtin's post.

Also, via

nwhepcat, This excellent piece.

Sheesh, I KNEW there was something fishy about that thing. NO WAY do I write like Arthur Conon Doyle, Stephen King AND Douglas Adams.

Happy Saturday everybody.

ETA: To be clear, what I'm skeeved about is that
1)SUCH an incredibly poorly done quiz
2)Which is set up to lure people to a vanity press with skanky tactics.

Tags: signal boost

15 comments | Leave a comment

07 July 2010 @ 06:35 pm

::shakes fist at Tony DiNozzo::

Because of a stray remark in 's LJ, I am now singing Tony's surveillance song. You know, the reggae one that includes the line, "Oh, Jenny, I think I've been made..."

HOW IS IT SO CATCHY? Also, I think I might need to invest in some NCIS icons.

Tags: made of awesome, me me me, ncis

29 comments | Leave a comment

27 April 2010 @ 01:39 pm

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YIN!

I'm trying to work up to some birthday porn, but this is what I've got so far, based on a prompt by

perspi of "the last cherry cordial kisses in the city."

Title: More than Cordial
Author: Beadattitude
Rating: For all audiences
Spoilers/Warnings: None. Except for super-sweetness.

~~~

Rodney dug through his drawer, dejected. "Dammit," he said, and heaved a mighty sigh.

"What?"

"The Hershey's Kisses are gone."

Tags: fic, mckay/sheppard, prompt requests

27 comments | Leave a comment

29 March 2010 @ 08:34 pm

Many thanks, everybody!

Thank you for the lovely birthday wishes and prezzies, very kind of you all. ::big love and hugs::

20 comments | Leave a comment

15 February 2010 @ 01:50 pm

Checkmate 'Verse: Body Language: Interpretive Dance

Title: Body Language: Interpretive Dance
Series: Checkmate 'Verse
Author: Beadattitude
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: AU, Animal Transformation, eventual slash (John/Rodney)
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
Beta: None, written on the fly in LJ, so, you know, if there's anything huge I missed, let me know.

Summary: Sometimes the best part of friendship is that you don't always have to spell everything out. Particularly when, at the moment, you don't have thumbs or a larynx that works the right way.

Author's note for Body Language: This is a series of vignettes, scattered throughout the story.

Author's note for this story: Wait for it. There's necessary build-up.

Tags: checkmate, checkmate 'verse, fic, john/rodney, mckay/sheppard

51 comments | Leave a comment

16 January 2010 @ 11:18 am

So, you know. Thingy.

Boy, I'm really tired.

I am
1) going to physical therapy for my arm 3x week. It's getting worse before it gets better and oddly wears the crap out of me.

2) Doing my Wii fit stuff with dedication. Also weary-making, but feeling strong and purposeful.

3) When I can, doing major reorganizing, cleaning of my house as I can, now that I have help for my various joint problems. There's stuff piled up in nearly every room, from the Great Office Move and from five years of declining mobility. It's going to take me a while, but I can do it. Finally.

4) Cooking more than I have in a long time, 'cause I can stand at the stove more.

5) Trying to get some earrings together to put up at the Haiti bid place when my shoulders are not so stiff. I'll get those up as soon as I can.

I was on a mission trip to Leogane, a villiage about a half-hour outside of Port Au Prince when I was sixteen. I was appalled at the level of poverty and malnuntrition and lack of basic medicines and health care. I saw some things - goiters and eleplantitis - that were straight from horror shows. We worked at the Methodist missionary compound surrounding a small hospital, painting and delivering medicines upcountry. I didn't eat a lot that week, once I found out the men and women cooking and serving us were taking the leftover food back to their families. None of us did. And we sang with the families who were waiting with their loved ones at the hospital. So I remember heat and hunger and joy and people who were almost afraid to hope.

So, I'm doing what I can. These are people who do not have much at all.

Tags: haiti, health

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04 January 2010 @ 02:08 pm

Best Fake Mic: Hairbrush or Lint roller?

So, I'm desperately trying to reboot myself after the holidays - coming home after a good time down home is more depression causing than a bad time, for some reason - so I'm listening to my sure-fire good mood lemmehearyousayyeah! (yeah!) play list and am currently stuck comparing Otis Redding's "Hard to Handle" vs. the same of the Black Crows.

What songs are sure-cures for the blues for you?

Oh, and here's the top ~~ten twelve~~ twenty of my currently ::checks:: 53-song, 3.3 hour playlist.

Tags: music

27 comments | Leave a comment

30 December 2009 @ 11:53 pm

I simply do not know how to even begin catching up on eleven days of LJ

So, please forgive me if, in the coming days, I don't know what's going on. I'm going to do the best I can.

Also, wow, I'd forgotten how lovely it is to sleep in my own bed.

10 comments | Leave a comment

17 December 2009 @ 02:08 am

Look Ma, I did a recording of Checkmate, the original story

Tags: checkmate, voice post

19 comments | Leave a comment

09 December 2009 @ 12:41 am

SGA: Checkmate 'Verse: Body Language, Part 1

Title: Body Language, Part 1
Series: Checkmate 'Verse
Author: Beadattitude
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: AU, Animal Transformation, eventual slash (John/Rodney)
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None

Summary: John doesn't have to speak, or need to, get his point across. Well, none of them do, actually.

Author's note: This is to be a series of vignettes, scattered throughout the story, and this is the easiest one. The rest are kicking my fanny, dang it.

Day 20 – A remote corner of the mess hall

Rodney glanced up at the shadow falling across his keyboard and rolled his eyes. John flicked his ears in agreement and studiously avoided looking up at Ronon’s hand, which was hovering over his head, fingers flexing in a taunting manner.

Rodney tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. John shut his eyes tightly. Ronon’s hand remained where it was. Rodney moved his coffee to the other side of his laptop.

Tags: checkmate, fic, john kitty is teh awesome, mckay/sheppard, mcshep

71 comments | Leave a comment

07 December 2009 @ 08:47 pm

Bwahahahaha! ::snort::

I mentioned I'd need something to wash down all my snowflake cookies and someone sent me some cocoa. Heee. Thanks!

Tags: grateful

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07 December 2009 @ 02:21 pm

Let it Snow Baked Goods!

At this point, if those virtual snowflake cookies were actually real cookies, I'd need a quart or two of milk and a couple of bags of lettuce and a walk around town to counteract the carbs. Because you know I'd eat them. All of them. And crack the little sugar bee bees/ball bearings in my teeth.

It's gotten way too out of hand for me to respond individually, so THANK YOU VERY MUCH, EVERYBODY ::smooch, smooch, smooch::

Really, seriously, having a mumphy few days with J pulling two all nighters, or was it three? (He's only been home twice in the last five days, and man, when he comes home, he's very stinky and not very cogent. Deadline + ad guy no call/no showing = very bad week for newspaper editor.

So, thanks. Y'all are awesome.

Tags: grateful

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06 December 2009 @ 04:49 pm

Oh my goodness!

Many thanks to

sterlingirl,

geeklite,

bitter_crimson,

frantic_allonsy and a couple of anonymice, for the gorgeous LJ gift cookies. I dunno what prompted you, but I'm very touched and grateful. Thanks, y'all. ::blushes::

Tags: grateful

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02 December 2009 @ 11:37 pm

Ummmm. That fanfic love meme.

Okay, yes, I'm having a pretty crappy nearly crazy with hormones and stress week, so you know, little boost? Maybe it'll spark a plot bunny? You're 'sposta talk about which fics you enjoy or what parts of the stuff wot I wrote you like or maybe how I did the thing with the.... ::toes ground shyly:: thing.

Thanks, guys.

Tags: me me me

21 comments | Leave a comment

11 November 2009 @ 08:33 am

Veteran's Day in the US

Thank you to all the armed services veterans and their families today. Thank you so very, very much.

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10 November 2009 @ 11:36 pm

Yes, because I want to spend my winter looking like a puffy Iratus bug

Why would you make a puffy, shiny down coat with distracting exoskeleton-like quilting for plus sized women? Perhaps because you hate them???

Well, to be completely honest, I think whoever designed this hates everybody. Or regrets doing fashion design for the common folk instead of the movies, because clearly he wants us to look like we're vacationing on the Hoth Riviera or something.

::obligatory taunton gargle::

Further excellent descriptions: cold weather bondage fetish wear, by julia_here and the latest in winter stillsuits a la the Fremen from Dune, and I also opined it was quilted thusly in an homage to backfat.

Tags: gofugyourself, plus sized fail

56 comments | Leave a comment

09 November 2009 @ 12:48 pm

Reccing this so hard I think I sprained something....

I'm not sure if it's got a formal title, but it's a John/Teyla series by

artaxastra and it starts here and here's the most recent entry, which has links to all the stories. It's beautifully written and not easy and they're flawed and wonderful and it starts in season 1 and she's just at the part where Teyla is trapped on Michael's trip. The story weaves in and out of canon so skillfully; so much happens behind the scenes of what we saw on the screen and what we do know of, the little moments like when Teyla goes to John after Kate Heightmeyer's death and there's that awkward hug will have all sorts of lovely, different significance.

Rodney and Ronon aren't forgotten, but are minor players in this story, but still pitch-perfect when they do appear. The delight is her interaction with Radek, who becomes a dear friend, a sometime yenta, and always fabulous.

And the love scenes are incredibly, incredibly hot, and boy, does

artaxastra have John Sheppard's number. And the grace and strength and burning unperfect but striving Teyla is just...everything I wanted for her but did not get in canon.

It's a WIP, but really, the language and story is just gorgeous, the kind of stuff I wish I could do, and really, I'm pretty sure it's going to be worth the wait. She has a criminally low number of comments so go, shoo, encourage a great writer.

And thank you to

tielan for posting a rec on her LJ

Tags: rec

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06 November 2009 @ 10:01 am

That Fic Meme

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

I'll do, say....an even dozen of these. Yeah.

Buffy and Angel'Verse Fic.
Non-series Stargate Atlantis (McShep) Fic Man, there are some, if I were smart, that I'd go back and edit.
Checkmate Master List (John's a kitty! \o/)
Gay Porn For Girls Master List (John and Rodney; porn stars!)
Bella 'Verse (John and Rodney, married earthside, have a baby girl.)
Take Out 'Verse John and Rodney living together in New England
New (10.5) Ten and Rose

Tags: meme

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30 October 2009 @ 12:33 am

Checkmate: Crazy Cat, part 2

Title: Crazy Cat, part 2
Series: Checkmate 'Verse
Author: Beadattitude
Spoilers: None
Warnings: Animal Transformation

Summary: John will take a win any way he can get it.

Author's note: This has been kicking around my brain. I'm not sure if it's apocryphal, but here you go.

~~~

Rodney can hardly believe his eyes. Or his ears, but....

Bantos sticks and towels are scattered everywhere, and Ronon is standing in the middle of the floor, John hanging off one of his arms like a tree sloth, biting at Ronon's arm band/brace thingy, while Ronon is giggling. Giggling. He tries to smother his laughter when Rodney looks in, but it's hard going.

John glances at Rodney, eyes crazy crazy crazy with mischief, then with a yowl, renews his attack on Ronon's wrist. Ronon, looking a little crazy around the eyes himself, slowly moves his arm back and forth, causing John to swing gently. He makes threatening noises around his mouthful of leather and Ronon starts snickering again, and the more Ronon laughs, the more outrageous sounds and crazy faces John makes.

Ronon's laughter turns into guffaws, and he has to lean over and rest his free hand on his knee. John scrambles up Ronon's arm to his shoulders and starts tugging hard on a dread. Ronon crashes to his knees and then all fours, keening with laughter. John makes a particularly vicious yank and Ronon slaps the floor and manages to grit out, "Second father, m-male relative..."

"Uncle," Rodney offers.

"Uncle!"

John ceases immediately and clambers over to perch on top of Ronon's head, satisfaction radiating from every whisker.

"I want to say 'pick on somebody your own size,' but I can't figure out which one of you needs it the most."

Ronon, still faceplanted on the floor, raises a hand and points at his head and John on it. John sets his teeth around Ronon's finger and growls. Ronon's shoulders start to shake again and he slowly starts to pull his hand away, then darts forward, obviously trying for a blind grab. John has the hand trapped atop Ronon's head in a flash. He sits on it. He makes a noise that puts the hairs up on Rodney's neck, but it somehow manages to crack Ronon up even more. He beats his free fist against the floor, voice gone all high-pitched and breathless.

John looks up at Rodney, ears twitching, so happy.

"So, you're gonna be awhile?"

"Marrrp!" John chirps.

"Okey-dokey," Rodney replies lightly. "Try to leave him in one piece."

~~~~

Tags: checkmate, fic, john kitty is teh awesome, mckay/sheppard

74 comments | Leave a comment

27 October 2009 @ 07:07 pm

Things I'm thinking: KITTY

1) Kaatskill me love, I don't think you'd be as Flirty McFlirt with me if you knew I'd scheduled a day of testing at the vet's for your bladder issues. Sorry, buddy. Trying to keep you around. You're pretty cute.

2) Goldberry, come sit with me. Please? Please? ::sigh:: Honestly, get a girl a fluffy kitty bed and she never needs her two-legged mom again.

3) During a week where I'm feeling distinctly underaccomplished and in pain and skittish and blerugh, going over Checkmate chapters and reading comments, especially the ones that say it's a go-to for comfort, or a favorite series or, well, they're all fantastic comments....you guys don't know what a charge that is for me. Thanks, y'all.

I mean, why would writers post anywhere else BUT on the internet with the instant feedback and all? Oh, yeah, the money thing. But, you know, still.

ETA: Er, I actually meant to be thanking you, so further comments are like...I dunno. Vitamins of awesome. Either way, thanks for the boost.

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23 October 2009 @ 10:52 pm

Um. Hi. Here's a bit of Merlin fic musing. I blame Glimmy.

So,

glimmergirl was contemplating fic, and she said, "No, I won't write the Arthur/Lancelot mpreg I seem to want for some stupid reason."

And my brain went, "ping!"

Because it would be Arthur pregnant, right? He'd be the super-whiniest pregnant person ever, because he keeps having to have his chain mail let out and he's wanting to train and do normal things when he can't see his feet and he can do this because he's just fine, just FINE, and yelling about not being a delicate flower and then passing out and coming to and yelling some more and Merlin would be laughing his ass off and Lancelot would be so earnestly sorry, he thought his great uncle Pierre was just joking about The Curse That Led To His Family Leaving France, though now that he thinks about it, Uncle Pierre had that large scar on his belly....and now that he *really* thinks about it, Uncle Pierre and Uncle Louis lived together and he never was clear on where Jean-Pierre's mother had gone off to.

And someone would make an ill advised joke about "lances" that Arthur loves "a lot" and Arthur would go absolutely ballistic and whup the joker and all the knights on the training field while seven months pregnant and quip sarcastically, "With jokes like that I'd say keep your day job, but clearly, you're rubbish at that, too."

And Uther is equal parts horrified, horrified and GRANDBABY.

Morgana is out of commission for quite a bit laughing until she cries and it makes her all red and blotchy and she hates that and besides,it seems to cause Arthur to aim his morning sickness at her shoes.

Gwen mentions that she remembered her mother bragging to her pregnant sister about how Gwen's dad used to rub her feet when she was carrying Gwen, Lancelot takes the hint and does it, and Arthur is so grateful he nearly cries, but Merlin distracts him by making pointed comments about stinky feet.

Tags: fic bits, i don't even know, merlin

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13 October 2009 @ 09:39 am

Works, baby

I've found that instead of checking a little "done" check on my to do list, writing BOOYAH is far more satisfying. ::nods::

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08 October 2009 @ 01:10 am

Finally

I have

mcsmooched after a long long long dry spell.

Tags: mckay/sheppard, mcshep, mcsmooch, sga

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27 September 2009 @ 09:33 am

Bzuh?

I don't know what's going on down there, but I'm pretty sure that making cheesy eggs does not include whirring and grinding sounds.

I am most curious to see what the outcome will be.

Tags: adventures in cooking, mawwage

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26 September 2009 @ 11:45 pm

It were a good compy, hard worker, the wee thing.

Pretty sure this laptop is on it's last circuits. I cannot get it to reboot at all, not even a little whirr. Checked all the connections, took the battery out and put it back to make sure it was seated properly;nada.

I'm thinking it's not the power supply, not entirely. I can still use it as a very large charger for my iPhone.

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24 September 2009 @ 04:34 pm

Because X-Ray Vision is Soooo 1950

So, I was reading the news and saw this headline. "Can Obama Deliver on Nuclear Vision?"

I had one of those punchline log jambs in my brain. And then the phone rang and I lost it all. Crap.

Tags: that west wing feeling

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24 September 2009 @ 04:26 pm

::insert Drucilla icon here::

Soo, today, my therapist was asking me to, you know, make a happy place, like Rodney's blue skies.

When she said, "So, what do you see?" In popped Drucilla with "...a burning baby fish swimming all around your head."

Ahem. Pretty sure that's not what she was looking for.

Does this mean my happy place is fandom? Because, really, you people need to dust or something. Um. No pun intended.

Tags: adventures in therapy

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24 September 2009 @ 04:13 pm

Didn't know that.

Whoa, cannot stand and put together birthday boxes for my niece and nephew, then stand in the line at the post office for as long as I thought I could. I maxed out at about the 15 minute mark. I was there for 45.

Thankfully, my house painter guy and his assistant were at my house and they helped me up the stairs and put my groceries away. I gave them the leftover brownies, which, by the way, are freaking AWESOME. Nice guys.

Here's the recipe:

Tags: back pain, health, ow

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24 September 2009 @ 12:23 am

A man who really does listen.

Wow. Me = slightly aphasic from percocet. J = pooped, which tends to bring out more of his ADD symptoms, but also gives him a great facility to free associate.

Me: Can you hand me the thingy? I keep, uh...
J: ::looks around blankly::
Me: That's in the drawer right there? ::points::
J: ::looks through drawer and gets the cranberry pills for my bladder, which, I did not name or describe::

No lead up, while we're reading.

Me: And can you put the thing in the thing?
J: ::looks mildy confused::
Me: The thing? ::mimes motion of drawing an accordion shade, which frankly could also mean paint the house or ring the train's whistle or milk a cow::
J: Yep. ::goes and futzes with window shade that's fallen down::

Just now.

Me: What do you call the thing....whoooooooo. (whoo fades.)
J: Train whistle.

Yay!

Tags: mawwage

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21 September 2009 @ 06:41 pm

Note to self

Group water therapy sessions are not competitive.

::twinge::

Other than having to face gravity again, it was awesome.

Tags: getting better, health

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17 September 2009 @ 08:30 pm

Oh, my.

Once again, I bring you... John Sheppard's mouth.

::stares::

Feel free to discuss.

Tags: thinking important stuff

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15 September 2009 @ 05:10 pm

(no subject)

You know, I hate it when someone dismisses fanfiction as "not real writing," since it's inspired by another source. I'm proud of my writing. But there's that inference that I'm not a good enough to come up with something on my own.

I hate it more when I start to think it might be true. Heck, I'd give my eyeteeth to come up with any fic ideas right now.

Tags: writing process

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12 September 2009 @ 02:54 pm

Grammarians Untie!

Hallo, hive mind!

My husband is hiring a brilliant high school intern for his newspaper. He says she goes really well verbally, but her emails are riddled with tiny grammatic mistakes. She's 16 or 17, and will be able to work online at school on the projects he assigns her.

I've got a copy of The Transitive Vampire but does anyone know of books, online sites or podcasts that might help and be of interest to a high schooler, and most importantly, ones that you recommend or use. He doesn't want to throw journalistic style rules at her right off the bat.

Thanks!

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09 September 2009 @ 09:33 pm

Oh, SWINTON

You know, for a flash of a second there, I thought that SWINTON was wearing a hat that looked like a meat cleaver sticking out of her skull, but thankfully, it's just a billboard. A billboard *behind* her, just to clarify, not, in fact, one used as a hat.

Tags: fugging it up

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29 August 2009 @ 09:03 am

McShep Awards Thanks!

I didn't know my story Midnight (or later) Confessions had been nominated in the humor category. Many thanks for the nomination!

Actually, since some of the sleep-talking is direct quotes from my husband's sleep talking, he deserves a lot of the credit, and is mightily chuffed.

Tags: awards

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26 August 2009 @ 05:23 pm

Senator Kennedy

I was looking at a list of the things Senator Ted Kennedy has championed over the years, and here are just a few of the ways he helped impact our lives:
Civil Rights Act
Voting Rights Act
Minimum Wages
Mental Health Parity Act (so you could use your health insurance to pay for mental health)
Americans with Disabilities
Family and Medical Leave Act
Title IX (requiring schools to offer sports to women)
There are many, many, many others....
And he's been trying to get health care reform for about thirty years or so, and has been working from home as he could to keep things moving.

Evidently, he helped out with the talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 in Ireland that helped end sectarian violence there, and just recently, the UK made him a knight. Not that he needed a title and shining armor, exactly, to be one.

He had a vision for what needed to be set in place so that everyone had a shot at that "life liberty and pursuit of happiness," thingy and a seemingly tireless drive to make sure we had it. That shouldn't be a miracle, but if a guy does that for 50 years, keeps doing it, keeps fighting, is still fighting when he's also fighting a battle for his life, then yeah, I guess it is.

I keep thinking about the story about him being stuck in the hospital with a broken back, after a plane crash that almost killed him, and he started wondering, "how does somebody that's not from a family like mine pay for all of this?" And that started him on the road to make sure everyone had good health care.

It takes a certain kind of soul to make lemons into lemonade for someone else.

He stood for us, a lot of us, before we were even born or aware that he was doing it, fought hard and kept fighting, despite what went on in his personal life (have you seen how many of his family died tragically?) despite his own frailties and limitations, and often despite what his party would prefer, he was a champion. Ours.

Tags: rip

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25 August 2009 @ 12:23 pm

Dang, I don't have a Supernatural icon!

Every time I see the word "idjit," (idiot) I hear it in Bobby Singer's voice. Or, okay, Yosemite Sam, sometimes,but mostly Bobby.

Hee!

ETA Now I do, thanks to lawyergirl15, artist iwantpie and spn_icons YAY!

Tags: my brain, silliness, supernatural

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23 August 2009 @ 12:13 pm

Rant about regional stereotypes: The South

Every once in a while, I pick up a book or magazine or watch a tv show or movie and here it comes again; outmoded southern stereotypes tossed off as if this is the way things really are, and if you cross the border into the Deep South, it is all going to be magnolia blossoms, hoop skirts, crooked preachers, politicians and cops, Southern Belles, and Tennessee Williams. No. No more so that any New Englander is still right out of Arthur Miller, John Irving, or Nathaniel Hawthorne. Lord have mercy, people. Time Has Not Stopped.

Lengthy rant follows.

Stop tarring everybody with the same brush! Not all New Englanders "pahk the caaar in Haaaavad yaad," not every Texan is a cowboy or girl, not every Californian is made mostly of plastic parts, not all mid-westerners are bland cornfed innocents and, not all Canadians say, "eh" and wear flannel.

7) Lastly? Y'all is second person plural. Sometimes we say "all y'all," which means "all of you", like "all of you people right here" as opposed to "some of y'all". This does not mean y'all used by itself is singular. If I saw you, and you were by yourself, I'd say, "Hey, you!" but never "Hey, y'all." Because there is no all, there is only you. Y'all need to get that straight.

Letting stereotypes remain in place is lazy, fosters prejudice and helps no one.

If you got this far and read all that, which was certainly tl;dr, bless your heart.

Tags: rant grade 3 (spitting mad), take me take a southerner

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20 August 2009 @ 11:46 pm

What on earth?

I swear Sienna Miller swiped this dress from my Aunt Ruby's toilet paper doll. Somewhere there's a sad Barbie stuck in a role of Charmin, nekkid as the day she was molded, or extruded or whatever.

And poor Anna Wintour. She looks like she might have broken something inside while trying to force a laugh out of her gullet. And it's too bad she had to patch up her charming Aztec tablecloth frock with bits of her semaphore cheat sheet. She also has some sort of tragic bedjacket/part of my dress is simulating having a cardigan around my shoulders sleeve/cape thing going on that's just confusing.

Tags: fugging it up

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