in restless dreams i walk alone

fortune8te @ 2012-12-06T22:37:00

2012-12-06T22:37:27Z

So, you guys. I know I've been posting a lot recently, but this time it's not just venting, I'd really appreciate some input.

I know a lot of you have been to university or college, or are currently studying, or involved in some way. The question I really, really need some responses for is this: what has your university told you about the risk of rape and how to 'avoid' it? Did they tell your guy friends any differently than they told you?

The reason I'm asking is that I was talking to someone who is at the same university as me, and the dialogue between the university or the student union and the students is misogynistic in the extreme. We want to try and set up something like this, or like this.

For someone who doesn't count herself a feminist, this is pretty damn radical.

AAR OMG (concert report)

2012-06-10T22:43:08Z

So. For those of you who don't know, I went to the Blink-182 concert yesterday, and guess who was opening? That;s right, our very own All-American Rejects! :D

This, obviously, means CONCERT REPORT. Because who else is going to squee with me? :)

I wasn't actually planning on getting tickets to this concert. They were too expensive and it was an arena concert, which isn't the best ever. But then R texted me on the day I finished exams, asking me if I wanted to go because a friend was selling her tickets cheap, and what do you say, under those circumstances?

I went down on the train from Oxford and then got the tube out to Greenwich to meet up with R, who was coming up from where he lives near Plym. That tube station looks like something from Nero's ship in Star Trek, I absolutely swear. It's so ugly. Anyway, I bought a notebook and pen in the station and sat down in Starbucks to wait for R and wrote some fic. He suprised me by coming up behind me, so I slammed my notebook shut as fast as I could. We had dinner at a lovely Japanese place, but the portions were HUGE, so I couldn't finish it all.

The queue to get in was BIG, and they searched everyone as they went in - the ridiculous rule about the bottle caps, in particular - but it was fairly easy to get past. I was challenged over my hayfever medicine bottle, but said it was medicine and they waved it through.

Here's the stadium as people came in:

First up were a band called Twin Atlantic. The name sounds familiar, but I haven't heard their music before. I'll be looking it up, it was good.

Here they are:

Their background was AWESOME.

Then it was the turn of AAR! They played a lot of songs in their 40 minute set, and it was way to short for my liking. Tyson was an amazing frontman. I was promised amazing things, and even though I could barely see them at the front and had to figure out who was who by mannerisms and Nicks guitar solos (see below, that's Nick playing to the crowd in the pit at the front, Ty in the middle and Mike in the red top), it's easy to be drawn into them.

Unfortunately, they were opening, and so not many people were interested in what they were doing (this is entirely predictable). Ty worked wonders with the crowd - at one point at least half of them were payng attention to the stage. He's wonderfully charismatic! :D And how did I not know how much of a whirlwind Mike is on stage? It is truly amazing to behold.

Have a setlist! :D

Dirty Little Secret
I Wanna
Swing, Swing
Beekeeper's Daughter
Walk Over Me
It Ends Tonight
Move Along
Kids in the Street
Gives You Hell

This seems like an appropriate place to talk about the slashy things, right? Just here he was singing at Mike. During 'I For You', he sung the 'It's I For You' line at Nick. Very obviously at Nick. You guys, we really don't need that tin hat order that we made the other day.

Cute Things That Tyson Did: There was one moment when Tyson was unbelieveably cute in the middle of a song. It was in the very last one, Gives You Hell, and he substituted 'you can take back your memories or have a cuppa tea' in. It made me giggle. Then there was the time that he picked one girl from the pit and made the crowd crowdsurf her to the front and then pulled her up on stage, flirted with her, called himself a pervert and then dedicated a song to her. I just about would have died laughing.

Youtube videos! Now, my videos are fairly awful and I give you fair warning that you can hear me and/or R in the background of some of them, but I thought I'd put them up anyway, cos you might like them, right? No? Not even a little bit? Ah well, scroll on past, then!

(Ironically, It Ends Tonight actually ends halfway through. Sorry. My card got full and I had to replace it.)

~~Others will be uploaded tomorrow. Its taking forever and I CBA tonight.~~
All done! Enjoy!

As Blink-182 were headlining, it only seems fair to say a little about them. I don't know a huge number of their songs, but the ones I do are fairly catchy. There are only three of them, and I;m still not sure what their setup is, but the music was nice.

Here's their setlist:

Feeling This

Up All Night

The Rock Show

What's My Age Again?

Down

I Miss You

Wishing Well

Happy Holidays, You Bastard (Performed with all the lights off)

Dumpweed

Always

Violence

After Midnight

First Date
Heart's All Gone

Man Overboard

Ghost On The Dance Floor

All The Small Things

Josie

Encore:

Reckless Abandon

Can a Drummer Get Some (Travis Barker Solo)

Carousel

Dammit

Family Reunion

The only other comment I have is that I thought the guy on the left looked like a young Chris Pike (Bruce Greenwood). IDEK why. I doubt anyone else would see it. :D

So, yes, it was a good concert, but the venue was too big, the music wasn't loud enough and I would have preferred to be in the pit. On the other hand, ALL AMERICAN REJECTS. THE OTHER ARGUMENTS ARE INVALID. And R enjoyed it, which was good.

Thoughts, people?

Fic [Alex Rider]: Fighting Shadows

2012-05-09T22:08:24Z

Title: Fighting Shadows
Word Count: 3,172
Summary: 'Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win.' Alex has Post Traumatic Stress. It's not just a plot point.

A/N: Immense gratitude goes out to many people for helping and reassuring me over this fic. I find fic that deals with PTSD hard to read, and apparently even harder to write. Thanks go to xaritomene, nuclearxsquid and whocares19_05, who put up with my foibles and my angst every single day, and reassured me that this was worth writing. Thanks also go to the lovely ladies who participate in Word Wars on the LJ comm , who not only made me hash out the actual words to this fic but also encouraged me to share fic in a fandom none of them even knew existed.

Thank you to nuclearxsquid for a sensitive and thorough beta!

Disclaimer: Don’t own it. Never have, never will. The Alex Rider franchise belongs to Anthony Horowitz and the quote in the summary is Stephen Kings.

Here on FFN.

fortune8te @ 2012-04-05T11:42:00

2012-04-05T10:42:33Z

On hiatus until next Tuesday. People who have my number can text me, and I'll try and reply until my phone runs out of power.

Bye bye F-list! See you sooon, so long as we don't all freeze to death in the meantime!

!!!SPOILERSSPOILERSSPOILERS!!!

2012-01-21T02:28:31Z

THIS. JUST SAYING. THIS.

AAR!Cartoon

2011-12-03T18:09:03Z

Title: Stickmen!AAR
Fandom: All American Rejects
Rating: Gen
Warnings: Zombies. Vampires. Ridiculous stick people. My abysmal drawing skills.
Disclaimer: Not mine, don't know 'em, if you sue you're the one who will look silly.
Summary: In which Stickman!Mike gets lost and Stickman!Tyson has an overactive imagination.

AN: So, er, this is what happens when you put me in an achingly dull lecture about the foundation of the EU and then turn the lights out so I don't get caught. In other words, this looks as if it was drawn in the dark because some of it was. The rest of it was drawn last night whilst I was tipsy. Please forgive me. I am also very sorry if you can't read my writing - let me know and I'll translate.Thanks go to nuclearxsquid, whose response to being shown very bad mobile phone pictures of the first part of this and asked where to go next with it was: 'ZOMBIES NINJAS PIRATES!'

Have this as cheerleading for the Secret Santa! How is everyone getting on?

~~Also, you guys should be proud of me. I braved the scanners and the funny looks of every single person in the computer lab to bring this to you. :D?~~

Here

Crossposted to aar_capslock, sorry for any spam.

Mix: Hawaii 5-0 Steve/Danny

2011-11-03T19:09:33Z

You guys, I done made a mix! I am irrationally proud of myself for this, especially as the only thing I actually did was decide on the songs and upload them.

So, this is partly because I felt like trying to make a mix, and partly for nuclearxsquid, who is all kinds of awesome and also a wee bit sick this week. :( Get well soon, honey.

Cover made by the lovely akire_yta, cos I'm ridiculous with image manipulation. Thank you, aki!

The Ready Set – The Bandit

You take one step out a big black cadillac,
A bowler hat, and a pinstripe pair of slacks
He's got a cane but he's got no limp,
He does it for the image, oh it's for the image.

"Knife" is what they call him back home,
He's got a reputation, what he condones,
A practice common men consider quite unethical,
But I see it as questionable, I see a similarity, oh.

All Time Low – Do You Want Me (Dead)

Oh, give it up for at least a second
I'm getting sick of your bullshit attitude
And how you walk around like you shine brighter
It's killing me…
They’re trigger-happy in homicide
Taking shots at the strangers passing
There’s no such thing as a perfect crime
Do you want me or do you want me dead?

Fall Out Boy - Grenade Jumper

They’ll say its not worth it
So we’ll leave this town in ruins
Living like life’s going out of style

Jimmy Eat World – Firefight

It's firefight, I won't run.
They're spitting spite all in my blood
For you and me, there's nowhere left to hide
Except you and me, there's no one else alive

Good Charlotte – Alive

I've never felt so alive
Like I feel right now in this moment
I've never felt so alive
Like I feel right here standing next to you

Cobra Starship – Hot Mess

You’re a hot mess and I’m falling for you

The Academy Is… - I’m Yours Tonight

Forever alone, until I found you,
And now you’re always there,
Voice on the air, scent on my clothes
But when the sun exposes all my demons
Will you stay or run away?

My Chemical Romance – The Only Hope For Me Is You

I say it’s okay
I know you can tell
And though you can see me smile
I still think of the guns they sell
If that’s the best that I could be?
Than I’d be another memory
Can I be the only hope for you?
Because you’re the only hope for me

Fireworks – Geography, Vonnegut and Me

I’ll be your gravity and pull you to the ground
You’re running out of solid ground I’ll be your tectonic plate
That shifts and brings your head back to this place

The Dangerous Summer – Northern Lights

Taken by your words.
For once I found the cure
I'm sick of staying up late,
'Cause you're not here,
And I'm not there.
No, I'm not afraid to watch you change me.
I'm not afraid to watch you change me anymore.

John Denver – Leaving On A Jet Plane

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go

Download it here at Mediafire! (Download link courtesy of my darling nuclearxsquid

Please let me know if you take it!

Crossposted to mixshare, stevedannoslash , hawaii5_0slash, and my personal journal: sorry for any spamming.

Fic: Alex Rider: Mind Over Matter

2011-10-10T17:38:59Z

Title: Mind Over Matter.

Fandom: Alex Rider

Rating: T for swearing.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never has been, never will be. Not affiliated with Anthony Horowitz.

A/N: Okay! So, this pounced on me one night and wouldn’t let go until I wrote it down. At first, I thought it was going to be part of a longer story, but then it decided that it wanted it’s own spotlight and morphed into a story all of it’s own. Isn’t that nice?

This was beta’d for me by the lovely xaritomene, despite being an ocean away for some of it. I already owed her a million, I now owe her a million and one. Thank you darling. <3

Warnings: Um, my pottymouth? No, seriously, swearing. Alex being awesome. Not Scorpia Rising compatible.

Mind Over Matter

Sorry for spamming your f-lists with three posts in one day, people.

Fic: Alex Rider: Small Steps

2011-08-21T13:14:44Z

Title: Small Steps

Rating: Gen

Summary: Sequel to Due Consideration. Kay takes Alex to a university open day.

Fandom: Alex Rider

A/N: So. That sequel to Due Consideration I promised? It finally arrived, after spending five months languishing in a notebook whilst I panicked over exams. As always, thank you to pygmymeese for the wonderful beta(s); any remaining mistakes are my own and I would be eternally grateful if you would point them out for me. Thank you!

Disclamer: Not mine, don't sue. ~~It'll make you look like an idiot.~~

Ben answers the phone early in the morning. It isn't something he normally does, but Kay, although groggy (it really is early – she glances at the clock: half five), isn't particularly surprised. She recognises the special ring they've set up for Alex, and Ben would answer that at two o'clock in the morning if need be.

It's the school holidays and Kay doesn't need to be anywhere for – she glances at the clock on the bedside table again – at least four hours. The bed is warm and comfortable, and she's half asleep again before Ben wanders back into the room, looking stressed.

"What's wrong?" she asks sleepily, levering herself up onto one arm.

Ben runs a frustrated hand through his hair.

"Jack's really ill; Alex thinks she's got the flu. They were supposed to go to that open day today."

Kay's heart sinks. In his own quiet way, Alex has been looking forward to today. A time that he could spend around people his own age who wouldn't be able to judge him for anything, she supposed.

"He just phoned to let us know," Ben says. To be honest, Kay thinks that he's probably just as disappointed as Alex is. Kay hesitates, and then makes a decision.

"I could take him, if he doesn't mind me doing it. I'm not doing much today. Just lunch with Lydia." And shopping with her and Jess, and I was supposed to go out with the girls tonight as well, but that doesn't matter. This is important.

Ben's face brightens.

"Would you? I know you have a lot on." Kay shrugs, scrubbing a hand across her face in an attempt to wake herself up.

"I can always rearrange it. I mean, I know Alex isn't my biggest fan, but at least he'll get to go, right? I'll take loads of notes for Jack."

Ben shoots her a strange look.

"What do you mean, 'Alex isn't your biggest fan'? He likes you just fine."

"You sure? It's been a year and a half, and he's still wary of me. I mean, I understand that there are trust issues and stuff there, but-" Ben cuts her off.

"Kay, as long as I've known him, Alex has never been the demonstrative type. He refused to speak at all to the last girlfriend I introduced him to. Like I said, he likes you just fine."

"Oh, so you've taken a lot of girlfriends to meet Alex, then?" Kay teases, unable to stop herself. Ben snorts.

She still isn't convinced, but she rolls out of bed anyway and goes to get dressed while Ben phones Alex back to check that it's okay with him.

Ben sticks his head back around the door just as she shrugs on a jacket.

"Alex says that's great," he reports with a grin, standing aside to let her pass, "and to thank you very much. There was also some stuff about 'are you sure' and 'isn't she busy', but I won't bother to repeat that nonsense." Kay laughs as she grabs her bag on the way out of the door.

Alex is his normal taciturn self when Kay picks him up, but the quick smile he shoots her is genuine and friendly, if still a little cautious.

They don't talk on the way down; Alex spends most of his time staring out the window at the passing countryside, and Kay concentrates on the road as the sky lightens outside. The radio – set to some talk show – is loud in the silence between them. Neither of them make a move to break it; it's not uncomfortable.

Eventually, Kay pulls into the car park, switches off the car and turns to Alex.

"I haven't been to one of these since I was your age," she confesses. Alex shrugs and gives her another small smile.

"It's not hard. They all basically follow the same sort of pattern. Jack says it's even the same in the US. What did you study at uni?"

Kay smiles ruefully. "English Lit. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with my life at the time. You want to study French with International Relations, right?"

"Yeah. I figured that since I'm fluent, you know? It makes sense." Alex doesn't sound particularly enthused about it.

"Alex-"

"Come on, we'll be late if we don't hurry."

They sign in – "Alex Rider plus one?" – and are directed out to the lawn for a tour of the campus.

It's a nice university – a mixture of modern and old fashioned. Kay pulls out her phone and takes some pictures for Jack. She'd love this place, she thinks.

Next, they visit the drop-in session for Alex's chosen department. The displays look very impressive; Kay doesn't understand a word of it with her rudimentary O-level French, but Alex seems happily absorbed in the course requirements, so she wanders around to a table covered in pamphlets (thankfully in English) and begins to read about the course. Apparently, the students get to spend two terms of their second year in France. Fascinating.

It happens about ten minutes later.

The drop-in session is good for asking specific questions about the course, and Kay has definitely thought of a few after picking up a leaflet entitled "FAQs for Parents,". She resolves to give a copy to Jack whenever they meet next, and after a moment of hesitation, takes another one for Ben. It never hurts to be prepared.

Alex has been, eyeing the door and the window nervously for a while now, looking uncomfortable. Kay wonders if he thinks it's going to rain.

"You okay, Alex?" she asks, coming up behind him at the window. His whole body tightens and he inhales sharply, but his face remains unreadable. Kay steps back hastily, wondering if she has somehow invaded his space, but he immediately relaxes again.

"Sorry, you startled me," he says, but it's a lie and she knows it. Although she's never been able to work out Alex's tells, he's more conscious of his surroundings than anyone she knows. She frowns slightly. "I'm fine," he insists with a thin smile, and Kay knows to drop it.

"What do you think of the course?" she asks, and he flashes his small smile at her, gratefully. For a minute, they talk about the relative merits of taking double honours, touching on the trip that Kay had read about in the pamphlet, and Alex tells her what attracted him to the university: the top of the range sports facilities on offer to all students. Kay rolls her eyes. Boys. Alex catches her, of course, and grins, good-naturedly defending himself. It's the most animated Kay's ever seen him.

She is just about to ask if he is ready to leave when there is a friendly voice behind them. Absorbed in their conversation, Kay jumps. Alex doesn't.

"Is there anything I can help you with before the talk?"

They turn. It's one of the professors who has been running the session, standing there with a friendly smile on his face.

"Of course," Kay says afterit becomes clear that Alex is not going to answer. "I was wondering about the course content? We're interested in the French with IR course; I think it's double honours?" She glances at Alex who nods absently. He's looking out the window again.

"What's the ratio between the two courses in terms of teaching time?"

"Well," the professor replies, "if you look at this sheet, it shows you the core modules for the language side, and this sheet will show you…" Kay keeps the professor engaged with questions that she knows Jack will want answered when they get home, watching Alex out of the corner of her eye. Alex eventually relaxes, starting to ask questions of the professor and Kay makes a mental note to ask him what the matter was later, even though she knows he'll brush it off as he always does.

It comes closer and closer to the time of the lecture, and Alex begins to wrap up his questions. There were quite a few, once he got started, and the professor looks reluctantly impressed.

"You've obviously done a lot of research into this sort of thing, Alex," he says, after some particularly intense questioning on the current state of Libya and the situation in the Middle East. Alex shrugs, impassive, but the glint in his eye suggests he is amused.

"I learned it on the job," he says. Kay shoots him a sharp look. And just what did he mean by that? she wonders. The professor laughs.

"I wish all my students were employed there, then!" The professor grins. Alex doesn't. "This has been a truly fascinating discussion, Alex and I'd really enjoy continuing it some day. Unfortunately, I have to give a talk now, so if you and your mum would like to come this way…"

Alex's face shutters. Kay hesitates; she has no idea what to do in this situation. She sees how the mistake could be made – she and Alex perhaps look a little alike if you didn't know, if you assumed... But she doesn't know what happened to Alex's family, and she's not even sure where she stands with Alex herself, so how can she explain it to the professor?

The professor looks a little disconcerted at their hesitation. Kay doesn't blame him. Alex is hard to read at the best of times, and this is certainly not.

"Kay isn't my mum," Alex says after the uncomfortable pause goes on for far too long. "Just a good friend."

Kay's head is spinning so much she doesn't hear a word of the lecture. Beside her, Alex is paying close attention and making furious notes, but he hasn't met Kay's eyes since the professor's faux pas in the seminar room.

She'd meant what she'd said to Ben that morning – Alex never had warmed up to her the way a normal teenager might have. But then, she thought, as a slide at the front of the lecture hall changed with a loud click, Alex has never been a particularly demonstrative teenager.

After the talk, Kay and Alex head out for lunch, choosing a café in the student union– it looks nice and has healthy options as well as the customary burger and chips. Alex hesitates as they enter, scanning the tables and then makes straight for the widest view of the room, as he always does. Kay supposes he likes to people-watch.

The food they order looks delicious, and they tuck in in a rather uncomfortable silence, the words from the seminar room hanging heavily between them. Alex breaks it, eventually.

"Kay." She looks up. He takes a deep breath. "I just… I want to say thanks. For bringing me today. I'm sorry it was so last minute. I know you had stuff on." His expression is inscrutable. Kay waves a dismissive hand.

"Anytime Alex, seriously. And I didn't have that much on, anyway."

Alex raises an incredulous eyebrow. Kay suddenly remembers a conversation she'd had with Ben a couple of months ago. Take my advice: don't ever try to lie to Alex. He can always tell, and it makes him really… jumpy.

She laughs and admits, "Well, nothing that couldn't be pushed back 'til later. It's fine, honestly."

She hesitates then, wondering quite how to phrase what was on her mind, if she even should.

"What?" Alex asks. He really is a little too observant, a little too perceptive for someone his age. Kay has taken a long time to get used to that, and it still caught her out on occasion.

Her courage fails her. She doesn't want to sound overbearing, after all. What if he didn't attach the same importance to his thanks that she had?

"It's nothing, don't worry about it." She smiles at him.

"What?" he persists. Kay is surprised; it's unlike Alex to be so pushy. He must be reading something into this. It's a reassuring thought.

"Alex," she says hesitantly, "I know you're a little wary of me, and I think I understand why. I'm an intruder into your world and that isn't really very fair on you- " She breaks of with a nervous laugh. Alex smiles encouragingly.

"I'm sorry, this is really awkward. I suppose what I wanted to say is that I'm sorry for upsetting your life like that." It was hard to put her thoughts into words.

Alex takes a deep breath. "You aren't the one that should be sorry, Kay. I'm sorry that you felt the need to apologise." He shrugs. "I'm not the easiest person to get to know. Thanks for being one of the few people who actually tried." Alex looks terribly, awfully sad for a moment, and Kay remembers Ben telling her that Alex had to switch schools after his GCSEs, his reputation meaning that his old school was unwilling to let him carry onto sixth form with his friends, even with his outstanding grades.

Alex glances at his watch and gets to his feet. He smiles tentatively at Kay.

"C'mon, or we'll be late to that finance talk Jack asked us to go to. Can you believe what Cameron's doing to the tuition fees next year?"

It's late by the time Kay gets home. So late, in fact, that for once, Ben has gotten home before she has.

"How was it?" he asks expectantly.

"Not bad at all!" she replies with a grin. "Alex definitely liked the university, anyway."

"You got on well, then?"

"You could say that. We had a good talk. You were right about him not hating me anymore"

"He never hated you. And I hate to say it, but I told you so."

A few miles away in a house in Chelsea, Alex Rider goes to bed with a rare smile on his face.

fortune8te @ 2011-07-24T09:40:00

2011-07-24T08:40:37Z

On Semi-hiatus until the 9th of August. If you need to contact me, I will still be reading this, but I don't promise replies, and there will be a delay in replying to my email inbox as well. Wish me luck!

x

Hiatus

2011-06-23T17:53:36Z

I'm doing this now because I have no idea if I'm going to be able to get on the computer tomorrow.

From Friday 24th June until Sunday 10th July, I'm on hiatus.

I'm at Kentwell and as such won't be able to get to a computer to check the internet. My primary email account will have an 'automated vacation message' set to bounce back to anyone in my contact list, but I'm not sure if it'll work through the automatic forward my secondary email address has, so anyone who emails the account that starts with 'solsaid...' might not get it. Given that most of the people who use that email a) have my primary email address too, b) can see this, or c) won't notice anyway, I can't imagine that it'll be much of a problem.

From Sunday 10th July until at least Monday 18th July I will be on semi-hiatus.

dalarnahorse123 is coming to stay with me for a week (\o/!) and so I'll probably be able to check my emails and F-list but that's all.

See y'all in three weeks time!

Spare ticket!

2011-05-18T18:10:10Z

I have a spare ticket to see The Summer Set in Birmingham (UK) next Monday night. Doors open at 6.30 and the ticket is completely free. Anyone want to come in my very limited F-list? Outside it? This'll be public, so please comment if you do. Lets not waste it! :D

Ticket's gone, sorry!

Cheering up post for nuclearxsquid. Also, anyone else who wants a laugh...

2011-05-18T16:50:45Z

Does this thing work? *Taps it* It seems to! Excellent.

This is a massive post for nuclearxsquid , because when she is sad, I send her pictures of William Beckett like this and they cheer her up. And the other day, she was VERY sad indeed, and so here is a massive post for her. Because I love you very much, Hailey, and I'm on the wrong side of the pond to give you a huge hug.

If you think you need cheering up, this post is for you. Warnings: Image heavy. SLASH. If that offends you, you probably shouldn't click the cut.

CRACK. CRACK. UTTER CRACK. THIS NEVER HAPPENED. (I hope)

Once upon a time, there was a boy named William Beckett...

And another boy named Gabe Saporta.

And Gabe and William were in LOVE.

And everyone was like: AWWWWWW, and their bands were instantly friends (if they weren't already).

One day, Gabe dissappeared! William had no idea where he was!

So he went off to search for Gabe. He looked on the street...

...(and in the coffee shop *points*)...

He looked in the concert venue...

He looked in the school (dodging all of the fangirls because he is secretly a ninja!)...

But Gabe was nowhere to be found! William sat down and thought for a bit.

Aha! William had it!

Gabe was a big fan of NEON.

They had passed a shoeshop earlier. Gabe had liked the shoes very much.

William hurried back to the shoe shop and sidled in, guiltily. Who knew what Gabe had gotten himself into before William had gotten there to stop him?

He looked around. Where was the chaos? Gabe always created chaos when there was no-one to supervise him around neon...

...but everything was peaceful. He rounded the end of the aisle of shoes... and there was Gabe.

He was sitting on the floor, hiding behind the stacks of shoes, watching one of the sales girls. No, William corrected himself. Gabe was watching the girls SHOES. And drooling. They were very NEON.

William cleared his throat, loudly.

'Gabe,' he asked, 'What are you doing?'

Gabe looked guilty. '...Nothing...' he said shiftily.

William hauled him to his feet. 'I saw you!' he hissed. 'You were staring at that poor girls shoes!'

'They called to me!' Gabe wailed. 'The Cobra says all neon should belong to me!'

William hauled him out of the shop just as the girl turned around.

The next day, William bought Gabe some REALLY neon shoes off of the internets - making sure to stay away from any sites that might scar him for life...

...and they all lived happily ever after!

...until the next time.

******

And just to leave you with THIS:

And Cobra Starship's take on the FIC:

http://maryborsellino.com/cobra2.html

Appeal for help!

2011-04-27T09:59:33Z

I am aware I don't have many Alex Rider friends, so this'll be a public post.

Anyone out there looking for some beta-work? My normal beta and I are collaborating on a story and we finally have enough to actually merit a beta for now. It's mopstly fluff and will probably end up as a sort of K/K+ rating, and is the sequel to The Report.

If you can help, you'll win eternal gratitude and a cyber cookie.

Thank you!

Fic: Alex Rider: The Report. GEN

2011-03-17T20:22:32Z

Notes: M’kay, so this isn’t the Due Consideration sequel that I promised, but that’s definitely in the works, promise. :) This is a little ficlet I wrote as a present for Pygmymeese halfway through February, because she was busy and stressed and there was nothing else I could do, stuck on the wrong side of the Atlantic! This is the first published fic from The Rider Family ‘Verse, which is the product of the combined madness of our heads sometime in late January. I’m so glad she liked it!

She also beta’d her own present, whilst she was so busy, so doubly thank you - your beta skills put ninjas to shame and leave me in awe every time!

The biggest thank you shoutout ever to nuclearxsquid , who looked this over and told me that she didn’t know what I was talking about when I said it was awful, despite being mostly out of this particular fandom. And who posted this for me on Fanfiction.net when I couldn’t, and sat patiently on the other end of the MSN connection whilst I changed my mind about summaries. The compass is for you, darling.

Summary: A teacher's thoughts about her most unconventional pupil: Alex Rider's son.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never has been mine, never will be mine.

Miss Smith loved her job, she really did. There was something so rewarding about seeing the children’s faces as they left her classroom at the end of the day, clutching the masterpieces that they’d created during craft hour, still sticky from the glue or the paint. They’re all such darlings, she thought to herself, smiling down at the reports she was writing. So innocent.

Her smile slowly faded to a frown as she paused over one report. It was the last one, the one she’d left until last because it was the hardest to write. She would have to pick her words carefully.

She sighed and picked up her pen.

Joshua Benjamin Rider she carefully printed in the ‘name’ box.

Joshua’s attendance has been exemplary throughout the year…

It was Miss Smith’s first day in her new job, and she was, understandably, a little nervous. But the tables were all laid out neatly with jam jars filled with pencils, and laminated name cards placed in front of each little seat. Her register was on the desk, and she’d memorised the placements of each name, even if she didn’t have pictures to remember the faces as well. It was all ready.

She was so lost in thought, trying to think of anything that she had forgotten that she almost missed the first knock on the door. It was the first of the parents, a mother whose harried expression clearly said ‘my au-pair has the day off and I have no idea what to do with my child.’ She rapidly settled little Clarissa, helping her to read her name plate and showing her where to sit.

More children poured in until the twenty seats were nearly filled. Seeing just one left, Miss Smith’s eyes flickered to the register. Joshua Rider. I wonder where he is…

There was a tentative knock on the door, which opened to her soft ‘Come in.’ A little boy with floppy blonde hair and bright blue eyes poked his head around the door and swiftly glanced around the room.

“Is this Miss Smith’s classroom?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes, that’s right,” she replied gently.

He nodded decisively and stuck a thin hand out. “Josh Rider. Mummy says sorry I’m late.”

Joshua was late that day, but it was the only day he had been late to school since.

Joshua is an enthusiastic, if occasionally disruptive participant in class discussions, and is always ready to debate key issues with the class. His reading and writing skills are surprisingly developed for his age…

Miss Smith was speechless. Truly speechless. She had felt that the homework assignment (find out three interesting facts about the Spanish Armada) was rather a hard task for a class of five-year-olds, and she was certain that they would have needed help from their parents. She was not expecting Joshua Rider to hand in a three page essay on the social and political effects of the failing of the Spanish Armada, all written neatly in his childish scrawl, including a thorough list of resources at the bottom. There were facts there that she didn’t know, although her search for information hadn’t exactly been exhaustive. It was possible that his parents did it for him – that would be the simple answer, of course – but Miss Smith had met his mother and didn’t think that she was the type to do her child’s homework for him.

Really, she wasn’t surprised that he was disruptive. The poor kid must be bored.

Josh is always ready with an interesting and engaging story in Show and Tell. His speaking and listening skills have improved over the year; he is often less than hesitant about sharing the stories behind the objects he brings to talk about…

It was far enough into the term that Miss Smith probably shouldn’t have been surprised by Joshua Rider’s contribution to Show and Tell. Last week, it was an army-issue rations pack, and the story had included something that sounded horribly like survival training:

“...and then they gave us our rucksacks, and Uncle Ben and Daddy left us there! But it was all okay, ‘cause Zach was there.”

Zach, it transpired, was “Uncle Ben’s” eighteen-year-old son. Miss Smith had been a little worried when she heard the story, but when she confronted Josh’s mother about it, she had laughed a little nervously and explained that ‘the adults were camping… ah… on the other side of the campsite. Josh just wanted to share a tent with Zach for the night. Pretend to be independent, you know.’

This week, she wasn’t quite sure whether she wanted to know what he had brought. It was quite small, but he’d carefully wrapped it in …something, so it was impossible to guess what it was.

The children sat in a circle around her and came up one by one to show their object to the class and tell the story behind it. Miss Smith grew tenser and tenser as Joshua’s turn came closer and closer. What would he show to the class today?

After Sarah proudly displayed her new Barbie doll, Josh came up to the front of the class, carefully unwrapping the …object. It glinted in the fluorescent lighting, and when Miss Smith leaned closer, she could see it was a compass. She relaxed. It looked relatively harmless.

“Where did you get that, Josh?”

“I went to work with Daddy on Saturday for a while, ‘cause Mummy and Marianne went to dance class, and Mr. Smithers gave it to me. He makes really neat gadgets for Daddy; he showed me some of them! He’s really old, but really clever.”

Miss Smith supposed that Mr. Smithers was some sort of technical support wherever Mr. Rider worked. That would only make sense.

“Compasses are supposed to point North, right? Daddy said so. But this one doesn’t. It points towards this.” Josh produces a pound coin from his pocket and shows it to them. And, indeed, the needle that normally points North is pointing South-West, towards the coin in Josh’s hand. It follows the coin when he moves it.

“If you look through this part, right, an’ put your thumb underneath it, it’s really close up. Me and Mummy looked at a leaf under it, an’ she said we could see the cells. Uncle Ben said you can see your molly-cules, but Mummy smacked him, so I reckon he was joking. An’ if you get a light and shine it through this bit onto some paper, the paper lights on fire! I showed it t’ my Uncle Wolf when he came over to my house on Monday, an’ he said that the compass is a very good compass a bit like the ones he uses in the army an' he’d have to ask Daddy where he got it, an’ I told him that Mr. Smithers gave it to me and he was surprised, but I dunno know why. Mr. Smithers is nice.”

Miss Smith wonders, not for the first time, exactly what Josh’s father and his friends teach Josh at the weekends.

His enjoyment of art and colouring time is very apparent and his pictures are definitely unique.

Normally, Miss Smith prided herself on being able to decipher her children’s drawings accurately. She could, for example, take a look at Melanie’s paper and deduce that she was drawing a puppy and a kitten in a garden, and that next to her, Sam was industriously colouring in a train that looked suspiciously like Thomas the Tank Engine. She could not, however, make out what Josh was drawing. Whatever it was, it involved a lot of red felt tip pen and black smudges.

“What are you drawing, dear?”

Josh looked up. He had a smudge of red pen on his cheek.

“It’s Daddy defeating the baddies, see?” He pointed at a particularly large black smudge. “That’s Daddy, an’ those are the ninjas, an’ those are the guns, an’ that’s a dead ninja with lots of blood comin’ out of him, an’ that’s one that Daddy made unconscious, an’ that one just has broken legs…”

Miss Smith noted with faint horror that quite a large amount of the page was red.

“…An’ that one has his guts hanging out from where Daddy used that knife on him…”

Her eyebrows rose. I know children can idolise their parents, but surely this is a bit far?

His ICT skills are certainly above average for his age group.

Miss Smith was annoyed. While the children were chattering quietly, happily getting on with their Numeracy, her computer was repeatedly switching itself off and on again, the screen was flickering and was generally behaving very peculiarly. Annoyed, she pressed Ctrl-Alt-Delete, only to have the computer screen freeze. Again.

There was a slight rustle as Joshua Rider came to stand by her chair, exercise book in hand.

“I’ve finished my sums, Miss. Hey, is your computer broken?” Miss Smith sighed.

“I’m afraid so, Josh. It looks broken, doesn’t it?”

“Can I look at it?”

Miss Smith hesitated, but moved her chair back a little, to make room for him. What more damage could he do? Josh looked at the flickering, flashing screen, fiddled with the mouse for a bit, and then pronounced gravely,

“The computer looks like it’s ill.” Miss Smith was startled. She had expected him to glance at it and then get bored quickly when nothing happened; she had certainly lost interest after a few minutes of frustrated tinkering.

“Ill?”

“Yeah, it’s got a v- v- like Marianne had last week. She was all sniffly and cried a lot. Like a cold.”

“Your sister had a virus?”

“Yeah! A virus. I know what to do. Can I try and fix it? Daddy showed me how the other day.”

“Your Daddy showed you how to destroy a virus?”

“Well, first he showed me how to make one, but then he said I had to know how to get rid of them before I started infecting things, or Mummy will be upset.”

Miss Smith watched in growing concern and astonishment as Josh brought a complicated programme onto the screen and tapped a few lines of what looked suspiciously like gibberish into it. A screen came up, loading something, and then went blank. Josh stepped back.

“Can you turn it off and on again, Miss? Daddy said that that should do it for little viruses like Marianne, and if it doesn’t, then it’s a big virus like Daddy and I should call him to get rid of it instead.”

Disbelievingly, she did as he said. The login screen came up quickly and looked completely normal.

“How did you do that, Josh?” Josh shrugged.

“I told you. Daddy taught me. It isn’t that hard. We didn’t even need a steth’scope.”

I look forward to seeing you at Parents Evening, where we will be able to discuss Joshua’s progress in more detail and I can answer any questions you might have on the subject.

“...And maybe get some answers in return.” Miss Smith thought back to the only time she had met Joshua’s father. Josh had been the last one waiting to be picked up that day. It was almost four o’clock and she had taken pity on the child and given him some paper and crayons to draw with almost half an hour ago.

Finally, hasty footsteps echoed through the corridor and the door opened quickly. The man who entered was a stranger to her, but Josh’s excited ‘Daddy!’ told her what she needed to know.

Mr. Rider expertly caught Josh as he ran to him and settled him on his hip with a grin. He scanned the room automatically, the same way Josh did. Miss Smith had wondered where Josh had got that particular habit.

“Hey, buddy! I’m so sorry I’m late. That meeting with Mr. Cameron took longer than I thought it would. How was your day today?”

“It was great! Miss Smith taught us all about Russia, an’ I told her all about Animal Farm!”

The man laughed. “I bet you did. Poor Miss Smith. Why don’t you go and get your bag while I talk to her for a bit, okay?” The man carefully set Josh back on the ground and came forward to shake her hand.

“Miss Smith, I presume? I’m Alex Rider.” His handshake was firm. As she looked more closely, Miss Smith could see the resemblance to Josh in his brown eyes, the set of his jaw. Alex Rider was astonishingly attractive, and it was clear that one day, Josh would be the same.

“I’m so sorry I’m late. There was a bit of a crisis at work, and I couldn’t get away. Hopefully, it won’t happen again.” He smiled, and Miss Smith shook herself out of her daze.

“Quite understandable, I’m sure. We’re all slaves to our work occasionally.”

A light laugh. “Some more than others, I’m afraid.”

Josh came up to her desk at the front of the room to take his father’s hand. Mr. Rider glanced down at him.

“Time to go, eh? Mummy will be waiting for us to get home so that she can put Daddy in the doghouse for not picking you up on time. It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Smith.”

And as they turned towards the door, Miss Smith couldn’t help but smile at the tall father and tiny son walking hand in hand, ready to go home at the end of another long day.

The British Education System For Dummies...

2011-02-12T20:59:15Z

...And For Not So Dummies.

This was actually suprisingly hard to write

Following Nxsquids awesome American Highschool Primer, I was bored and wrote this one for England and Wales. Scotland is really different. Feel free to link it to people/tell me I’m wrong.

Please bear in mind that this is in no way a comprehensive overview of the education system, rather used to debunk the non-British stuff people think we have. I went (go) to a middle class, kind-of-just-outside-the Home Counties rural state comprehensive and I know nothing about public/private schools. Or grammar schools: there aren’t any where I live.

Primary school starts at aged 4-5, with Reception (changed to Foundation in the last decade sometime) year. It goes up to Year 6, when you are 10-11. Primary schools are generally much smaller than Secondary schools, and lots of Primary schools feed into one Secondary school.

Secondary schools start with Year 7 (11-12) and go up to Year 11, when you are 15-16. There are a larger number of subjects at Secondary school than at Primary. Compulsory education ends at 16, whatever grades you achieve.

School starts in September, with a weeks half-term holiday in October/early November, February and May. We get 2 weeks for Christmas and 2 weeks at Easter. The summer holiday starts in the third week of July and is usually about 6 weeks long.

GCSEs

When you are in Year 10 (14-15) you start studying for your GCSE exams, which used to culminate in exams at the end of Year 11. Nowadays the exam parts are usually modular – exams every six months (in January and June) for two years. Each module is about 20% of the overall grade. You usually study 11 GCSE subjects, only four of which are optional, although the top students often get the opportunity to study 12.

Compulsory subjects (for me, at least) are: Maths, English, Science (and Additional Science, both compulsory, worth 2 GCSEs), ICT and RE (worth half a GCSE each, although I think this was unique to my school) and PE. Then you could choose four choices, usually a language, a technology, a Humanities and an Arts subject, although that was not mandatory.

Grades are between A*-F, with U (Ungraded) below F. A* is the best.

Non Compulsory Education

Post-16 education is optional, and you are much more responsible for your own success and failure. If you screw up, you get chucked out.

If you want to continue your education after GCSE’s, you can get an apprenticeship with someone like a plumber or carpenter, you can go to College or you can go to Sixth Form. The only one I’m really qualified to talk about is the last one – someone help me out?

Sixth Form

Sixth Forms are usually connected to a school, and are basically two more years of the same sort of thing as you got at GCSEs, except a little different. That isn’t much help.

Sixth Form is two years, the first being called variously AS (for the qualification you get at the end of it), Year 12, or Lower Sixth; the second A2 (again, the individual qualification), Year 13 or Upper Sixth. At the end of Year 13 you get a qualification called an A-level, which is made up of an AS level and an A2 level. These are examined with modular exams (and coursework) again.

There are interviews and a process of selection for a Sixth Form. The entry level for mine was 7 A*- C graded GCSEs, although it’s recently gone up.

You would normally take four subjects (usually ones you have also taken at GCSE, unless it wasn’t offered) in year 12, and gain 4 AS levels at the end of the year. Then you would decide which one you wanted to drop for year 13, where you would gain three full A-levels. So, at the end of Sixth Form, you would come out with three A-levels and an AS level.

The Sixth Form students in a school get more freedom than the rest of the students. They often have Free Periods in which they are supposed to study, but more often can be found chatting to their friends/mucking about. In my school, they are also allowed to sign out if they do not have a lesson and go into town, or home if they can get transport.

A Sixth Form tends to be for the more academically minded students, and quite a few find that they can’t stand the heat and leave at the end of year 12. This means that most Upper Sixth years are smaller than their Lower Sixth counterparts.

Grades are between A* - E, with U at the bottom again. Getting an A* at A-level is hard – all your exam results in all the two years have to be above 90%, with no retakes.

Further Education College

This is for any one over the age of 16 who wants to continue with further education.
However, some courses may have 14 and 15 year olds attending during school hours.
Attendance is part or full time. Can be during the day or in the evening. "Leisure" courses are also offered (the kind that don't necessarily attract an actual qualification).

The kinds of qualifications that are offered include:
Childcare; Health and Social Care; Uniformed Public Services; A Level courses; Practical course such as Motor Vehicle; Construction; Engineering; Brick Laying; Performing Arts; Hairdressing/Beauty; Catering (Front of House and actual cooking); Travel & Tourism; Sport. Also "Access to Higher Education" which is aimed at adults who may not have achieved any qualifications in the past but now want to study at Degree level.

Many courses are offered at different levels:
Foundation; Intermediate; Advanced; BTEC; National Vocational; A Level and GCSEs and there may also be course which are delivered at the FE college but are actually Degree courses.

Students are deemed to be "adults" (so the FE college could be made up of any group of ages from 16 onwards) so get a lot of freedom - they can come and go as they wish. It is almost impossible to "expel" a student.

In practice, the demographic of many FE colleges has changed in the past few years to a distinct burgeoning of the 16 - 19 age group. These can be a "problem". Many are at the college because they did not achieve much or anything in the school system. The last few years, many are at FE college because they get "paid" to be (Educational Maintenance Allowance), but that will not be paid from September 2011 so it will be interesting to see what that does to the demographic!

Leisure courses used to be a distinctive offering of FE College - these are the kinds of courses that people will just learn because they want to. Such as Furniture making or Embroidery or ICT for beginners. Usually held in evenings and for a few weeks at a time. Usually no formal qualification at the end.

College is not the same thing as it is in the States. The equivalent would be university.

School Days

This is different for each school. For me, school starts at 8.40, with Tutor time. This is a time where your Tutor takes the register and reads the notices for the day. It’s also the time where any assemblies take place. We have two per week. At 9.00, lessons start – 50 minutes each. There is a break at the end of second period, which is 20 minutes, and lunch is 45 minutes at the end of 4^th lesson. School ends at 3.05, although I have friends who don’t get out until 3.30, and the local public school doesn’t get out until 4.

Most students are bussed in from their homes (this also applies to Sixth Form, who have to pay for the privilege). You can also walk, or bike, or whatever. Only Sixth Form can drive though – the leaving age for school (16) is before the legal driving age in Britain (17) – but most don’t have their own cars.

Break and Lunch times

The entire school has Break- and Lunch-times at the same time. Classrooms are usually closed, and in the summer students are encouraged to sit outside. The main hall is open, with chairs and tables in it, as is the canteen and the library, although you can’t eat in there. It’s not uncommon to see kids sitting in the hallways talking and eating.

What is a Public/Private/Independent school?

All these are in the Private/Independent system. This means they are privately owned by individuals/charities/groups. They do not receive any government funding.

Public

In the medieval and Early Modern period, children from wealthy families would have their children educated by scholars. These men would be paid for their work. The students would get (usually) a well rounded liberal education (grammar, rhetoric, religious instruction, history, latin/hebrew/greek, possible a "modern" foreign language; astronomy; music/dance; later on arithmetic/mathematics and science).

Most towns and large villages would probably have a Dame school where very young boys AND girls from families who could NOT afford a private tutor would learn the basics of reading and writing (more likely just reading! Writing was taught from around 7 years old but Reading was taught from age 3. Hence why many people in the past could only write a cross in lieu of their name. They COULD read but not write.) Age 7 meant that children were taken out of schools and put to work within the family.

Some boys would be identified as being brighter and could be offered a place at Grammar School. Note - girls would not have this opportunity regardless of how bright they were). The local parish or the local gentry/noble may/would pay for their education.

Those who were VERY able could then be offered a place at a Public School. This would be a much more formal establishment run on and maybe linked to either University colleges such as at Cambridge or Oxford or with Monasteries/Cathedrals. Many were founded from money left by noble patrons in their lifetime or on the death.

An example of such a school is Eton which were originally founded many centuries ago for students (boys) to have a formal, well rounded education but could not afford to have a private tutor.

Very quickly, wealthy parents decided they wanted their sons taught in such formal schools - Eton in particular still to this day has a two tier system of entry. Those who can pay do (but the students STILL have to pass they entrance exams/interviews) and then the Scholars who can only apply IF their families cannot afford to pay for them to attend a private/public/independent school AND they pass the requirements.
If they do, they will receive a scholarship which I think lasts their entire education life (from entry at age 13 through to end of 6th form).

Independent/Private Schools
These schools are very similar to Public schools, they are just much younger. I think a law was passed in the Victorian period which brought they name into place.
Point is, pupils attend because their parents can pay for them to do so but, like Eton, they usually STILL have to pass an entrance exam (usually called Common Entrance). Entry can be at age 11, 13 and 16 (for 6th form).

Scholarships (full and part) can be won. Some can be specific for Music or for sport.

These schools (public or independent/private) can be full, part or week only boarding. Many have their own "primary" school or some are primary only.

'I once attended two private schools. The first when I was 3 and a half going on 4. That school has a Lower School (the one I was in) which started at 4 (I joined half a year early due to my advanced reading ability) and you left at age 11 to go to the senior school which you remained in till 18. Unfortunately for me, I contracted scarlet fever and was seriously ill for 6 months and my parents had to withdraw me from the school. They did not know whether I would ever go BACK to school because I was so seriously ill. When they found I could go back to school they decided to find another one.

This one was a Convent School. Again, I was in the Lower Juniors (age 3 to 7) and if I had stayed there, I would have moved up to Upper Juniors (7 - 11); Lower School (11 - 13) Middle School (13 - 16) and Sixth Form (16 - 18).' from myladyswardrobe

Grammar schools are something quite different. In England, Educational Authorities differ from county to county, and so do the school systems. Most are like the system described above, but there are a couple that still have the old Grammar/Comprehensive system. You take an aptitude test aged 11, and if you pass, you go to a Grammar school. If you fail, you go to a Comprehensive.

After school activity

There are a few clubs on after school – mainly sports, and the library is open for an hour after school, but my school doesn’t have much of an emphasis on after school activities. After year 9, you can join public speaking things like MUNGA (Modern United Nations General Assembly) or Bar Trials, but the preparation for that is generally done in your own time and has little to do with the school. Sixth Form students can work towards their Arts Leaders or Sports Leaders Awards. The biggest organisation in the school is the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, which is a LOT of work and pretty prestigious as a result. You can attain Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards. To attain all three is four years constant work and some pretty hellish expeditions, but it looks great on your CV.

Parents Evenings

You get appointments from the teachers during the preceding days at school – usually at 10 minute intervals – and then give the paper to your parents. It's a personal decision as to whether the student goes. I go: my sister doesn't. The teachers are sat at tables grouped by subject in the main hall, and you go to each one at the respective time. It necessitates some rather awkward shuffling and hovering, but works on the whole.

Uniform

Every school has a different uniform. Ours is black trousers (no Jeans), blazer, v-necked sweatshirt with the school crest on it, white shirt and a tie. Skirts for girls are optional. Sixth Form don’t wear uniform, but business dress is mandatory.

Everyone in the area knows what the uniform looks like, and that makes it pretty hard to skive school – if you’re seen, people will phone the school and they’ll know your skiving.

Things we don’t have that people think we do (at least, I don’t)

Graduation: We don’t really graduate, at least in terms of a graduation ceremony. We just leave. It’s very anticlimactic.

Prom: This isn’t as widespread as it is in the US. We have one (aged 16, after exams), but not everyone goes and it isn’t particularly lavish.

Extra subjects: The selection of subjects you do, especially at A-level, isn’t broad. You pick 3/4 subjects, and that is all you study in the 2 years. At university I think it’s much the same (someone correct me on this…).

Lockers: Everyone carries a bag around with them with their books for the day in it. No-one has a locker.

Focus on sports: At my school, hardly anyone could tell you anything about the school teams in sports. I vaguely think we have a Hockey and Rugby teams, but they never have enough players. There is more focus on other stuff, really. This is probably not universal though.

Punishment

Detention: You get a break-time detention if you’re told off twice; Lunch-time detention if you’re told off three times; after school detention if you are told off four times. After schools go on your permanent records and could result in you not getting into Sixth Form/College.

Suspensions are pretty hard to get. Someone broke my nose (not during a fight) and they were suspended for a week.

You’d have to have drugs on school premises or something equally awful to get expelled. We are a very law abiding school, so I can’t think of anyone who has actually been expelled.

There's a lot of stuff here that is just personal experience. Mine is very limited. Don't take it as kosher!

Thank you to myladyswardrobe for the sections on College and the differences between Public and Private schools, both areas in which my knowledge was sadly lacking.

Fic: Alex Rider: Due Consideration

2011-02-02T16:55:12Z

Summary: The girlfriend of an intelligence worker. A boy-spy. A first meeting. Oneshot, Gen.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, never have, never will.

(Follow the fake cut...)

Cut goes to FF.net.

Fic: Alex Rider: The Nature of Friendship

2011-01-20T16:36:57Z

Summary: Alex and Tom and their friendship from the outside. Crossposted to Fanfiction.net (link goes to my authors page).
Gen, Tom/OFC
Disclaimer: I don't own it, I've never owned it and I never will.
This was written a while ago, to work through some RL issues that are now kind of obsolete.
Thank you to pygmymeese for the beta and the convincing me to post this. Enjoy!

She’d never met Tom’s best friend when they first started talking, though she’d certainly heard of him – at Brookland Comprehensive, who hadn’t? Friendship didn’t come up; there were much more interesting things to talk (and flirt shamelessly) about. It must have been about three weeks after Tom and Lia started to talk that she first met Alex properly. Even then it wasn’t much of an introduction. Alex had tagged along when Tom came to see her in the library one day – with a quick nod and a mumbled ‘Hi,’ after Tom’s quick introduction, he trudged off to the opposite side of the room to do some work. Lia didn’t think much of it; at once, Tom claimed her attention.

Lia didn’t see Tom much over the next few weeks - he and Alex were joined at the hip. But when Alex disappeared once again, Tom began to spend a lot of time with Lia and her group of friends. She began to like Tom more and more, and when he asked her out, she said yes.

As his girlfriend, Lia obviously spent a lot of time with Tom. Of course, this also meant spending a lot of time with Alex when he finally reappeared. When Tom sat with Lia’s group of friends, Alex would sometimes come and sit with them, too. He wouldn’t actively participate in the conversation (and Lia’s friends made no effort to include him; they’d all heard the rumours), but he’d sit there quietly with school work of some sort. Eventually, Alex became the regular photographer of their stupidity, and proved to be surprisingly good at it (this was after his flat refusal of Tom’s encouragement to join in – he always refused to allow people to take photographs or videos of him, the refusal accompanied with a strangely ironic twist of the lips).

After a few weeks, Lia began to wonder at their friendship. Alex and Tom were polar opposites– Alex was quiet and serious with a tendency to flinch at loud noises and (if the rumours were to be believed) a weak immune system. In contrast, Tom was loud, cheeky, sarcastic, and generally willing to do anything for a dare and try everything once. She began to understand their strange friendship the day Alex disappeared again. He didn’t reappear for nearly a month and Tom grew quieter and brusque as the days passed. After a while, the rumours and the bets on “the length of his absence this time; I mean, honestly, its getting ridiculous – soon he’ll be put back a year, you know?” died down and were forgotten. The day Alex finally came back up to the field to find his friend during lunch, he looked awful. There was a bruise on his cheekbone, his arm was in a sling, and it looked as if he hadn’t slept since he went away. Tom took one look at him and gently extracted himself from where he had been sitting with Lia.

That lunch, Alex and Tom sat under a tree on the far side of the field, oblivious to the stares of Lia’s friends. When the bell went, Tom had red eyes and Alex looked even more drawn than usual, but they were smiling and joking with one another. It was the most carefree Lia had seen Tom in a long time.

This time around, Alex remained in school, and as she got to know him better, Lia’s view of Alex began to change. He proved to be just as sarcastic as Tom and found it impossible to back down from a dare. She began to see why the two boys were such good friends.

More than once, she’d watched the two boys exchange a look and then burst out laughing. Tom told her that they had entire conversations that way, although he refused to tell her what they were about. (When she’d asked about Alex himself, all the questions that the entire school wanted the answers to, Tom’d clammed up. “We’ve been friends since primary school. He has a hard life.” ‘I’m not going to betray his trust, not even for you.’ remained unsaid. Lia knew better than to ask again.)

Then there had been that time when Tom had arrived at school sporting a black eye and the same clothes he had been wearing the day before (still covered in grass stains from that flying tackle in football). When confronted about it, he shrugged it off.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “Things just got a bit rough at Mum’s last night. I crashed at Alex’s. Jack doesn’t mind, and she has the best first aid kit – she’s got plaster-of-paris and everything.”

Lia had worried, but there was nothing to be done. Like Alex, Tom was proud (although not proud enough to refuse to hand in the clearly forged doctors’ note Alex handed him in PE). She had been even more worried after break, where a year nine had bumped into Tom, talking backwards over his shoulder to his little friends. It had been a gentle bump, practically a brush-past, but Tom had doubled over as if he’d been punched in the stomach. Lia, horrified, had no idea what to do, but suddenly Alex was there. He helped Tom to the nearest chair, glaring at the unlucky Year Nine, who went white and stammered an apology before running off.

Tom gasped his thanks, but Alex just shrugged and handed him a water bottle and some meds from an unlabeled bottle. After that, Alex didn’t leave Tom alone for the rest of the afternoon. He was there in the corridors to ensure that Tom wasn’t jostled, there leaning against the wall at the end of any of Tom’s classes that he wasn’t already in to ensure he wasn’t hurt in the stampede of teens. After school that day, Lia saw Alex help Tom gingerly into an unfamiliar blue car driven by a harassed redheaded woman, who fluttered over Tom with the kind of concern that Lia knew his mother never displayed any more.On the surface, the two boys were so different – chalk and cheese. But beneath the surface (and there were no illusions about how deep they’d let Lia in – she’d barely scratched the surface of their friendship) there seemed to be an unspoken pact between them. Alex would lean on Tom, and in return, Tom would rely on Alex. It wasn’t perfect, but it was all there was, for now.

This Journal: Semi-Friends only

2011-01-06T14:02:47Z

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This journal is F-list only.

If you want to see my locked posts, please, please comment in this stickypost, or (by my own rules!) I can't friend you back even if I know you already, and that makes me feel rude! :D

I just like to know who I'm letting into my journal - I post some fairly identifiable stuff on here, so I'm not trying to be unfriendly, in fact, I'll friend pretty much anyone so long as you tell me why I'm doing so.

All my posts come with a warning for serious angst, PTSD, depression and lately, eating disorders. I'm having a rough time of it right now so this is a place for me to vent, and if you aren't willing to see that, please don't friend me.

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Writer's Block: Countdown

2010-03-24T21:42:21Z

My Books. I can't live without them. Practical stuff - food and water.