Because there was some interest, here is the fic wot I wrote! I have been in one hell of a Bond/M hole since I got back into writing it.

Title: to beckon me in languages i’ve never learned
Fandom: James Bond (Craig era)
Pairing James Bond/M (Olivia Mansfield)
Rating: E
Length: ~8700 words
Summary After weeks of flouting her instructions and leaving a trail of bodies behind him in Bolivia, Bond knows he must return to M and beg for mercy. But there is more than one way to do penitence, and M is as creative as she is demanding.

Do you think this is a game, Bond?
--

Many thanks to kelly_chambliss for her beta efforts, and to Tayryn​ for her enthusiastic cheerleading, which helped me get this fic off the two-year backburner and into the world. The title of this fic is from this Sunset Rubdown song, from which I have also pilfered some imagery and a few lines for dialogue.

This entry was originally posted at https://featherxquill.dreamwidth.org/223102.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

So I made this post for tumblr yesterday, but it has occurred to me that this pairing may be way more in the wheelhouse of the DW/LJ peeps I know. So in the interest of trying to be a bit more present here, enjoy?





Listen on: Youtube | Spotify

There is also a fic coming soon. Should I post it here too?

This entry was originally posted at https://featherxquill.dreamwidth.org/222838.html. Please comment there using OpenID.

Hello, flist! I am alive! Basically, my soul has been devoured by tumblr as of late, but I do promise an update here once my life stops being so hectic. I have finished uni forever, but I still have to complete my school prac. I have 6 more days to do over the next three weeks, and then I will be finished and ready to be qualified (exciting!). I apologise for my absence, and I hope I can start being a better LJ-er soon, because I do miss all of your lives and would like to stay in them, even if I've sort of shifted my fannish focus.

Earlier this year, however, I did manage to complete A Thing, which happens to be the longest fic I've ever written, for Sanctuary Big Bang. My posting date finally arrived, so here it is in all it's glory, for anyone interested:

Title: A Sexual Awakening in Five Acts
Pairings: Helen/John, Helen/'Sally', Helen/James, Helen/Bigfoot, Helen/Nikola
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~ 21,000
Warnings: interspecies sex, minor character death, war themes
Summary: Four times Helen Magnus learned about herself through sex, and one time she didn't.
Author's Notes: This is quite possibly the longest ‘five things’ fic ever written *g*. Many thanks to Arwen for cheerleading me through it, to BecauseHerFace for her thoughtful feedback and encouragement, and to Katie, as always, for the edit. My love to you all ♥. Written for sfa_bigbang

A Sexual Awakening in Five Acts (on AO3)

Sooo I should be working on my sfa_bigbang fic, and I also have uni work out the wazoo, but then this happened. IDK. I am pleased with myself for finishing a fic, though (it's been, what, seven months?). Maybe that sound you hear is the drought breaking. Sorry, OLSBers, it's Sanctuary (but Lash, nothing that will spoil you with where you're at!). Not that Magnus!porn wouldn't qualify as OLSB, but it could be considered cheating.

Title: Scent Memory
Characters: Helen Magnus (with brief mentions of others, canon and OC)
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2,600
Summary: Smell is the sense most closely linked with memory. Helen Magnus has a lot of memories, and sometimes, she likes to let her favourite scents take her back to them.
Author's Notes: Thanks to Arwen for the encouragement, and for looking this over for me :).

( Scent MemoryCollapse )

I have a friend on tumblr who would very much like an AO3 account. Apparently the queue for invite codes is about 50 people long, though. I don't have any codes left, but I was wondering if any of you have one you aren't using and would be willing to give away? If so, PM me, please? ♥

So, I just learned that Mr Carson is married to Dolores Umbridge. In RL, that is.

*brain explosion*


Just re-watched A Bunch of Amateurs, which I thoroughly recommend. Imelda Staunton and Sam Bond being the primary reason.

Also, Imelda Staunton really needs to play a character who gets thoroughly shagged, sometime. She always seems to end up playing characters who are mumsy or prim or desperate (or a bit fucked up and evil), so I'd love to see her actually get some in a movie sometime. Not, like, in a pervy way, just it would be cool. Against stereotype, or something. Like middle-aged women who are not conventionally beautiful but who are actually super cute and awesome deserve romantic comedy roles too, y'know?

.

This is brilliance. Ah, I love HISHE so much.

It's like 47 degrees here today (that's around 116, F). The air con at work is barely keeping up, but outside, dude. It's like being punched in the face when you walk out the door.

*melts into a puddle*

Maybe I'll go swimming in the dark when I get home at 11.

This is usually fic only, but this year, I branched out a little. Also, the list of fic only looks way pathetic, so including the two others is better :). Also, they took time and effort and I'm quite proud of them, so they definitely should count.

Comparison with previous years: In 2011, I wrote six fics (and drew one piece of art that I forgot to add to my end of year list), and in 2010 I wrote 9. Going down by increments of three? But, well, I will definitely be writing fics this year, so I'm unlikely to go lower than three, since I achieve that by writing for Dysfuncentine, Beholder and Hoggywarty, which I will always participate in.

In other fannish and non-fannish pursuits: in 2012, I joined quibbler_report as an editor, and also I went back to uni, where I wrote several awesome essays that earned me High Distinctions (>90%). So even if I write less fic than usual, that didn't mean I stopped writing anything.

This year, I am posting list, and I'm going to try my hand at the meme and see if I can do it, even if it might be weird with only three fics. And I thought I might also put up a list if the WIPs on my hard-drive, because I have a tendency to never finish something once I stop writing it, but these three ideas/partially completed works are things that I really would like to get done at some point.

So, the list:

February 28 - Never Hearts and Flowers - Rita Skeeter, R

May 8 - Chosen and Accepted - Andromeda Tonks/Augusta Longbottom, PG

September 3 - Podfic, The Secret Language of Cats by thistlerose - Remus, Gen, PG

October 19 - Need - Amelia Bones/Bellatrix Lestrange, PG-13

December 28 - Art, Mistletoe - Rosmerta/Rita, PG (possibly nws? idk)

And that would be it. This year, I intend to participate in yuletide again. Took a year off because of not completeing last time, and also I could not bear the thought of another deadline after all the uni stuff. Hoggywarty was enough, and quite late as it was. Turned out well, since it seems I used up all my writes on those English essays.

But, now, here's the meme!

( In which Angie talks about herself a lotCollapse )


( And for the curious, a list of the WIPs I want to finishCollapse )


Annnd now my stepfather is snoring again, so I'mma go watch the rest of Firefly, which is fucking awesome, can I just say.

It's belated, because I suck, but Happy New Year, flist! I hope your holidays were awesome. Mine were great. Christmas Day here was rainy and even a bit thundery (which was lovely, since I worked until midnight on Christmas Eve and then went out a drink with workmates, so spent until midday on Christmas curled up in bed enjoying the sound of thunder rumbling outside while I was all sleepy and cozy). Had lunch with the family, made an epic three layer chocolate and raspberry mousse cake for dessert, then hung out with my Dad Christmas night. For New Years, I went into the city with some friends, and watched the fireworks at midnight. It was pretty amazing. I've been into town on NYE before, but never right by the harbour, and omg THE PEOPLE. We arrived around 6pm and secured ourselves a nice windowsill spot in a pub, which wasn't a great vantage for the firworks later, but it was an amazing vantage point for watching the all the people pouring along the street. They estimated something like 2.6 million in Sydney CBD, and I don't doubt it. About quarter to twelve, we pushed our way through the crowd to get a better position for firework watching, and were literally packed in amongst all the other people like sardines. It was great, though. Fun to be there, and we got home surprisingly easily and quickly when we were done.

So yes. There's my holidays in a nutshell. I have been reading all of your posts, but more frequently on my phone than on my computer, which makes commenting often not very likely to happen. My laptop is currently in the thankfully-under-warranty-shop for repairs, so I am on the family PC, which is less fun than being on my laptop in bed. Also I'm right at the bottom of the stairs, and can hear my stepfather snoring, which sets my teeth on edge a bit, so I've been doing a lot of reading things on my phone from in bed, and also watching movies. So apologies for all the comments I haven't left, lately. I will be getting on that very soon. Hopefully I'll get my computer back soon, too, but I'm not holding my breath just yet, since with all the public holidays since they picked it up they probably haven't even had it two weeks.

Anyway, yes. Since it's now January, I have dusted off dysfuncentine for its third round. You'll find my Mod post with dates over here, and of course, here is the pimping banner so you can tell your friends if you want :)


dysfuncentine dysfuncentine dysfuncentine!


Another thing I've been meaning to do, since it's New Year, is a list of all the books I read in 2012. I've often wondered how many books I read in a year, so at the beginning of 2012 I created an account at Goodreads to keep track (I also got the app for my phone, which is an amazing thing for one who likes to keep track when someone says 'I read this awesome book and you should read it too', because you can look it up and add it to your list like a boss). And so, here's the list. Of course, I'm not sure how indicative this is of an average year, since I did so much reading for uni this year, but whatever. It'll be interesting to compare to the list I make this year, when I won't have books to read for English class (sadface). The count was 41 altogether.

( Titles behind the cutCollapse )

So, you guys, I have a somewhat bizarre confession to make. I appear to be becoming a Sherlock Holmes fangirl.

No, really. No one has hijacked my journal. This is me, professing my ever-increasing fascination with a canon that has very little in the way of Awesome (Old) Ladies (though, Mrs Hudson, yay I love you, predictably).

I blame this entirely upon Awesome Teacher, who is a blatant Holmes fangirl (I suspect not a fannish one, though I'm sure if she was, she'd rather set herself on fire than admit it to her students/colleagues, like most of the fannish academics on my flist). She set 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' as part of Gothic lit last semester, and 'A Study in Scarlet' for Victorian lit this semester, and geeked out like a geeky thing in the former lecture, and, well, I suppose enthusiasm is catching? Because, inspired by said enthusiasm, I tuned in to Elementary a few months ago, and now I am also watching the first two seasons of Sherlock. And I may have also bought All The Books on ebay last night (for like ten bucks, seriously wtf awesome).

Whaaaat. But yes. Sherlock Holmes! Apparently, I am a fan. Though I think really it's Watson that I like more (though more fascinated by Sherlock, IDEK). I am absolutely loving Elementary, and quite enjoying Sherlock (problematic depictions of women notwithstanding), and, just yeah. I have no idea if this is an Enjoyment Only sort of fannishness, or a Will Eventually Lead to Fic fannishness - I tend to be fairly monogamous as a fic writer, and I don't think my long-term relationship with HP fandom is through, but you never know. I have dabbled a little outside of HP, and maybe I'll do so again. Currently, I find myself fascinated with Sherlock's sexuality in Elementary, and his characterisation of himself as a sociopath in Sherlock, which I think is bullshit but an interesting thing to think about yourself, both of which I could potentially explore in fic. I also possibly have some Mrs Hudson/asexual Sherlock feels, which may or may not ever want to become fic.

Of course, the possibility or not of writing Holmes fanfic is not something I am thinking about right now, because I have ten days to write a hoggywartyxmas fic, and need to get on with that. And after I've done that I think I'd like to try and finish the story I started writing for minerva_fest. Although possibly somewhere in there I'd like to write some Yuletide treats, since I didn't sign up this year (felt bad, not finishing last year, and dear god I didn't think I could face another deadline after my uni stuff and then hoggywarty), so there could maybe be some tooling around in Elementary requests for that, we'll see.

Anyway, yes. Ten days to write hoggywarty, so I should be writing right now. Therefore, have a meme.

( i-tunes MemeCollapse )

2000 word English essay on consciousness in contemporary literature: DONE
3000 word English essay on masculinity in Victorian literature: four days late, but FUCKING DONE (thank god my teacher is so awesome).

Sleep? Very little. Caffeine? Oodles. Cigarettes? Far too many.

BUT IT'S DONE OMG DONE DONE DONE.

and now I have to work all weekend, but IDEC. when I get home I can watch mindless tv and omg sleep, and enjoy Skyfall on Monday night. And then do some study for my education exam on Tuesday, I guess, because 1 hour multiple choice pfft whatever.

OFF TO WORK I GO.

I have an epic fuckton of things to do, but whee! Whatever! Have some fun Downton Things:

Downton Abbey Impressions -- Seriously, your life will be happier for watching this (contains S3 spoilers)



Also, check out these awesome 'episode recaps' by Awesome Tumblr User raphmike. They are full of win and lulz. Also spoilery, obviously:

Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episodes 5 and 6 missing due to creator's busy | Episode 7

Seriously amusing.

Also on the fun Tumblr things: check out Dog Shaming, a blog of dog-related shenanigans, which has brightened my reading list considerably :).

Random tidbit of the day:

Am sitting in traffic on my way home from uni, behind a rather dusty white work van, on the back of which someone has used a wet finger to write the words I wish my wife was this dirty.

Gross? Yes. But it's 34 degrees in my car and traffic is tedious. I have to admit: I lol'd.

I haven't been around much lately (though I'm still reading, and commenting when I can!), because uni uni uni. Will be done for the summer in a few weeks, so yay for that. Just two English essays to write that are both 3K and both due on the same day, 12 days from now. Awesome. Guess I'd better get started, huh? And then a stupid 1 hour multiple choice exam for Education that I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do in my sleep, and then I'm done 'til next year.

Anyway, yes! darkwitches reveals have happened, so I can now reveal that I wrote for fluffyllama, whose sign-up contained several awesome prompts that made me think 'ooh! I could do dark(ish)!Amelia'. Of course, I couldn't see her ever being dark dark, but it intrigued me where a good person might go when pushed to the limit, so I had a tremendous time writing this. It's not really (read: at all) shippy, but I think it worked in the spirit of the fest anyway (I think it would be gross to shoehorn sexual assault into something in the name of making it 'femslash', because, well, no). Sooo yes. My identity is probably not a surprise to anyone who read this who has also read my other Bones fics, because I am completely incapable of changing a character's backstory to retain anonymity, but thanks for pretending, people who reviewed *g*.

Without further ado:

Title: Need
Pairing(s): Amelia Bones/Bellatrix Lestrange
Word Count: ~3000
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, references to rape and character death.
Summary: Amelia Bones is the consummate Auror: stoic, professional, moral. But even the most dependable individuals have their moments of madness.
Author's Notes: Thanks to my wonderful beta, an_fhanai.

( NeedCollapse )

So, after nearly a decade at this site, LJ finally does something that makes me actually rage. No popcorn and laughing as the masses storm to news posts complaining, this time I'm actually worried.

A while back I was invited to help out with BETA testing new LJ services (I got this invite via lj_releases).

They have just announced BETA testing of a new friendslist.

LJ is planning on redoing everyone's friendslists in the style of the new comment page and update page. They want to copy tumblr and make your friendslist into a dashboard-like system page (infinite scrolling and all). It's also been renamed to "feed" (this I don't mind too much, though). In fact the whole dashboard idea with infinite scrolling wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that everyone will be locked to one specific layout. The system style comment pages are bad enough, but now I'll have to strain my eyes reading my flist? That defeats the purpose of this entire site. The font, use of whitespace, oversized boxes and UI elements ... all contribute to making the page difficult to read, on a site where all you do is read. Aaaah. Even just the possibility of adjusting the font (style and size) would make this suggestion easier to swallow, but it's still not something I'd want for my journal. It would not improve my LJ experience in any way (in fact it would most likely make my daily LJ activities more time consuming).

Now, I wasn't able to make the BETA page display my own friendslist, so I apologise to the random users who are featured in the screenshot, but to give everyone an idea, the below image shows you what your friendslist probably will look like in a couple of months.


(Click for big)

[A couple of more screenshots]
I never switched over from Dystopia, so that adds to the weirdness. You're going to have to picture this with the standard LiveJournal drop down navigation + no blue sidebar to the left. Click the screenshots for bigger versions.

Top of page with links to journal, archive, profile


Example of text heavy post as displayed on friendslist


New buttons to the right replace the navigation strip. One tab for filters


One tab for Archive/Calendar, you can filter your feed to display posts from one specific date. These buttons follow along as you scroll down the page (infinite scrolling).



All friendslists will look the same.

Snippet from the locked post at lj_releases:

The friends page has been redesigned as a system page for all users, and is now available for Beta testers. There is a link at the top of your friends page allowing you to switch between the new and old versions, and will later go into public beta testing. You can switch back and forth between both versions throughout beta testing.

PUBLIC POST AT lj_releases ABOUT THE NEW FRIENDSLIST: http://lj-releases.livejournal.com/79480.html.

You can also see the proposed changes for yourself by enabling the BETA on your own journal (instructions from ruljautonews):

It's trivially easy to test beta features.
1) Go to lj_ru_beta and request to join.
2) Wait to get confirmation that you've been accepted into the community (this could take a few hours.)
3) Go to this page and choose Go To under Beta.
4) That's it, you're now testing the beta release. All site-scheme pages should now display a big "BETA BETA BETA BETA BETA BETA" in yellow letters across the top.
5) You could make comments in the lj_ru_beta post, but if you do please keep this in mind: the majority of commenters there don't speak English and if they do it's not their primary language. Machine translation of Russian is lousy. "My hovercraft is full of eels" lousy. While you can engage in basic dialogue and get a feel for what the other person is saying, don't get too hung up on anyone's phrasing.

You can easily switch back to the old version.

Make sure you let LJ know what you think of these proposed changes, I can't be the only one who thinks this is a horrible idea.

ETA: It's nice to see that I'm not the only one worried about the proposed changes, but please direct your feedback through the proper channels. This is a private journal, I have no affiliation with LJ. Please also be respectful when addressing the LJ staff. They are just doing their jobs. Thanks!

ETA2: Russian news post about the BETA test: http://lj-ru-beta.livejournal.com/7013.html

ETA3: Added more screenshots.

ETA4: Additional info at ruljautonews: http://ruljautonews.livejournal.com/27964.html

ETA5: An update on the new site scheme.

ETA6: Public beta has now been announced. Official announcement.

ETA7 (really?): RUSSIAN NEWS POSTS CONFIRM PAGINATION AND ABILITY TO CUSTOMIZE FONT AND BACKGROUND IN THE FUTURE, ruljautonews HAS MORE: http://ruljautonews.livejournal.com/28207.html

I'm starting to accumulate tabs again, which means I should probably post and share thins with you! I've been snowed under with uni this week, and it won't be letting up until next week. I have a 2000 word Victorian Lit essay to write by next Tuesday, and the only day off I have between now and then is Saturday. Hilarious! But my Sunday shift is a short one, and I'm only at uni for two hours on Monday, so it should be doable Saturday/Sunday/Monday. Just have to try and get some reading in before I write, ahdghsghhsjs. Only I've been up since 9:30am this morning and it's now 1am, and while I don't feel precisely tired - I didn't eat my dinner until midnight, so I'm still digesting, I think - I am either in class, travelling or working or getting ready for those things for about ten hours on a Thursday, so I kinda just want to veg right now. And tomorrow I work until 1am, and you can guess how many fucks I'll give about doing uni reading when I get home at that time. Still, I'll have to try and get some background stuff in my brain shortly. I suppose I could go to bed soonish and then get up early tomorrow and do reading, but lol no.

Anyway, yes. That turned into a long-winded whinge. On to more fun things!

i. AHFSSFGSHSFSGHSHS cranky__crocus reading my fic 'How to Catch a Unicorn' for hp_podfic_fest! This is so wonderful! And it was such a surprise! (don't be fooled into thinking I knew about it by the fact that I made the cover art; I made about half-a-dozen generic covers for the fest mods to use for fics that were submitted without arts, and this was one of them -- how amusing, though, that I couldn't have created a cover more perfect for this fic if I'd been doing it deliberately). I am so chuffed to have my fic podded, and so wonderfully! Kiwi has included music! And deep Wilhelmina voice! And brisk Minerva voice! And and and. Go listen!

ii. My recording of thistlerose's 'The Secret Language of Cats' (Remus, gen), has also been posted. It was the fest opener! That's never happened to me before I guess because I'm ususally on extension by the end of a fest, so, shiny! It's a wonderful story, and it was my absolute pleasure to be able to read it for the fest.

iii. An OLSB-adjacent rec for you all! Advanced Style, a blog about fashionable Old Ladies (and sometimes men) spotted on the streets of New York. I first came across this blog some years ago, and thought it was just wonderful, but I had forgotten about it recently, until someone on tumblr posted a video trailer for their upcoming documentary. Check it out:



Now, go look at the blog. These ladies are fabulous and awesome, and just so I don't forget again, I've now added the RSS feed of the blog to my flist: advancedstyle

iv. New Downton Season 3 trailer! AJSGSFHSGGS I NEED THIS IN MY EYEBALLS RIGHT NOW. Seriously. Nownownow.

v. And speaking of awesome things I need in my life, apparently a live-action Captain Planet film is in the works. OMFG my childhood is screeching with joy. Seriously, Captain Planet was like, THE SHIT, when I was about 7. Until Power Rangers came along and became the new THE SHIT. But yes. CAPTAIN PLANET. OMG. Apparently there are fans who feel the same way, because, not content to wait for an actual trailer, they went out and made an unnoficial fan trailer themselves. Which is awesome. And I would be quite happy to watch all these awesome people if they made the actual movie. Seriously though, quite a side from OMG MY CHILDHOOD joy, we need a superhero movie that is this racially diverse, and I hope that when it is made officially, they keep the cast as diverse as it was in the cartoon version and is in this fan trailer.


Peace out. Starting to flag now, so I'll go make more tea and do a wee bit of beta work, and then probably fall into bed without doing any uni reading, because I'm awesome like that.

The first Sunday in September is Father's Day in Australia, so naturally, at work, we have various Dad-related specials, like lots of alcohol specials, and gift-chocolate specials, and the Avengers DVD for an awesome price, and and and. The bakers also get in on the deal, and put fancy icing and piping on the standard issue store-bought mud cakes. I happened to walk past the place where they were stacked this evening, and remarked to one of the produce boys (for that is where they were stacked, on a spare table in the produce department - I guess bakery didn't have any more space, but awesome! Cake is now a fruit!) that some of the bakers obviously didn't have super-steady hands, because some of the piping was a wee bit dodgy.



And he said yeah, they'd been having a bit of a laugh about them earlier, because the little underlines on those blue ones - well, they look a bit like question marks, don't they?

I'm tempted to buy one for my Dad now, just for the lulz.

Sometimes, I listen to interviews or DVD commentary about movies, in which actors talk about how long it takes to film scenes, and how they might be doing a sex scene that lasts only a few seconds, but they kind of have to lay there half-clothed for hours and do takes over and over again. And I wonder what you must talk about, with your fellow-actor/co-worker, who you might barely know or not really like or whatever, when you are half-clothed and on top of each other and have to keep simulating sex.

And then I wonder whether my fanfic characters share the same akwardness if I leave them hanging in the middle of it to go do something, or procrastinate, or whatever. And then I kind of want fic of that.

So tired. Omg. Bed, very soon. Just a quick update before I hit the sack.

Was doing my education reading for the week earlier and I came across this line: "Criticism of these inequalities by those who have the 'rough end of the economic pineapple' is discredited...". Props for the inclusion of an amusing metaphor in an otherwise dull as hell article, but I do have to wonder... aren't both ends of a pineapple, economic or otherwise, rather rough?

Also, this week I am reading Wuthering Heights for Victorian Lit. Enjoying it so far (there are so many classics that I am ashamed to never have read before, that I thoroughly enjoy when I read them for class - two weeks ago we read Oliver Twist, which was also great), but I am having the slightly distracting experience of hearing Kate Bush music in my head whenever I read the name 'Heathcliff'. I wonder if there's any cure for that?

Our lecture for the book is on Thursday. I'm trying to decide whether it would be inappropriate to send Awesome Teacher an email that says something along the lines of 'This comic. Thursday's lecture. I dare you. *runs away*'

Annd just before I go, have a few videos. Somehow, I ended up on some weird corner of Youtube this afternoon, where there are a whole bunch of weird Voldemort videos. Check it out:





And possibly he weirdest of all:



IT GOES FOR AN HOUR. WHAT EVEN. I love that there are places on the internet where weird shit like this and don't be a strudel 007 can exist.