Obviously, I got a shitload of writing done today. This makes me very happy for many reasons. Not least of which is the fact that the story is kind of swinging into action now, and I've introduced one of the princes of the Ventris Empire and I think I'm in love with him. Nicki drew a lovely picture of him, as well as two other members of the family. Sort of. One is a prince, the other is his bodyguard. Anyway, here's Thane Ventris, West Greene, and Penn Ventris. And here are a few bits of story.

Claire is silly, and Amelia is the girl Simon rescued.

“I understand,” he murmured, directing his gaze at the floor. That may have been a mistake, as his eyes were inexorably drawn to Amelia’s feet. They were bare against the floor, surprisingly delicate, and she had lacquered her toenails bright red. Simon flushed and pinned his attention instead on a spot near the ceiling. “There’s no line here, though. You’d have to go down to the mail office.”

“And they’re closed,” Claire chimed in. “Who do you need to contact? Perhaps we can think of another way to get hold of them.”

Simon considered chiding her for offering to aid a fugitive, but for the life of him he couldn’t do it. There was nothing malicious about Amelia and if what she said was true – and he was inclined to believe her – this was all a misunderstanding involving her parents. Personally, he felt it might be wiser to simply go to the Guard and explain what had happened, but it wasn’t his place to tell her what to do.

“Another way?” Amelia seemed amused by the offer.

“Yes!” Claire’s face lit up and Simon sighed. There was a light in her eyes that was unmistakable; she looked the same when she reached a particularly exciting place in one of her horrible novels. “We could pay a street urchin to carry a secret message! Or I could dress up like a fishwife and take it myself! Or Simon could get one of his friends at the university to—“

She might have kept it up all night had Amelia not held up an imperative hand, interrupting her. She stopped with a little huff and a wounded frown, but Amelia was focused on Simon. “You have friends at the university?” she demanded.

This is Thane. He's not having a good day and his aide, Arthur, is mean to him.

“Arthur,” he said, closing his eyes as the door shut on yet another useless status report from yet another contrite airman. “Arthur, where are you?”

“Here, Your Majesty,” came the soothing tones of his aide. Arthur Maines had been his servant for going on thirteen years now, having obtained the position the same year that Thane turned seventeen and proving so invaluable that he rarely left the prince’s side these days. He was the only person that Thane really trusted, wholly and without reservation, and if that did not speak to the sad state of affairs that the Prince found himself in, he didn’t know what would.

“What in the bloody hell is going on here, Arthur?” he asked, tipping his head back. A hot towel was applied immediately to his aching eyes and Thane let out a long breath. “You send well-trained men to perform a perfectly simple task, and this is what you get.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Arthur replied. Thane made a rude noise in his throat and flicked his fingers.

“Stop calling me that, for Circle’s sake.” They were of an age, and the formalities between them had not lasted long. Arthur only used honorifics now when there was an audience or when Thane was in a particularly vile mood. “I’m only tired, not angry.”

There was a short pause, then the sound of a chair scraping across the floor. Thane peeled up the corner of the towel and fixed his gaze on Arthur. He was a small man, short and slim and neat, perfectly dressed even at this hour in a tailored black suit, complete with his customary pair of gloves, dove gray with a winking pearl at each wrist. “Why on earth are you dressed like that at one in the morning?” Thane demanded.

“The pressures of my position,” Arthur answered, smiling thinly. “One of us has to look presentable, after all.” Thane growled, but the sound soon turned to laughter. It was not something that he indulged in that often, and then only in Arthur’s presence.

“I ought to throw you in jail for being cheeky,” Thane said.

“You ought,” Arthur agreed. “And then take me back out an hour later when you utterly fail to find someone else as adept at babysitting you.” The two men stared each other down for a moment, then Thane shook his head and dropped the towel back onto his eyes.

Also, I have decided to warm up every day with a short fanfic or a little work on my big bang or Yuletide fics. Because I don't want my fannish stuff to suffer. So here's some Firefly fic that I wrote for fic promptly today! Yay! Also, if anyone knows any friendly communities for me to post this in, I would be much obliged, because I don't think I'm actually in any Firefly fic communities. O_o

Title: Innocence & The Lack Thereof
Fandom: Firefly
Pairing/Characters: Jayne Cobb
Rating: PG-13 for some cussing and references to violence
Summary: Jayne tries to remember what it was like to be innocent and fails.
Notes: Written for fic_promptly.

( Innocence & The Lack Thereof )

As you can see, I haven't managed to write a whole lot lately. Boo to me! I tacked on a few paragraphs today, but I was mostly too cranky to bother because I wrote a prompt for fic_promptly and when I went to post it, it was already filled and also, had nothing to do with the theme from that week. Feh, I suck. So I think I'm going to hang onto it and expand it out a little because it's pretty promising. But yeah, that made me cranky and I failed to write as much as I should have.

But the story is coming along pretty well in spite of all that. The supporting cast is mostly fleshed out, and I've been adding and subtracting characters. And Nicki is doing a wonderful job of drawing everyone for me! Here's the entry with Luthor, here's the one with Ewan, here's Mercy and Navrotska, here's a random woman from Janvey, Simon, Claire, Amelia, and Father Gabriel, and here's Danya and Stuart. Go look at them and tell her she's awesome! Because she really, really is!

And now, a few snippets.

( Clicky dis cut!!Collapse )

Now tell me how awesome I am!! ;)

So I ate my feelings. And then I wrote them. So here's that Thrawn smut I've been promising. This is part one of many, and just for the record, my Pellaeon isn't Captain Mustache, it's more the way Timothy Zahn described him (lean, blonde, middle-aged). And there's some confusion over his age in the sourcebooks and books and comics, but I'm going with middle-aged (so between 40 and 55) because that seems to be how he's most often described in the actual books.

Just to clarify. In case anyone is confused. I am also going off of the pictures that Nicki has been drawing me like this one (SFW in that there's no nekkidness, just a suggestive pose) and this one (NSFW, although there are no naughty bits).

Whatever, just read the porn.


Title: Devils & Gods
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing/Characters: Thrawn/Gilad Pellaeon
Rating: NC-17 for explicit sex (handjob)
Summary: When Grand Admiral Thrawn decides that he wants something, he gets it.
Notes: I'm gonna warn you right now, this is pure, unapologetic smut. Don't read this looking for space battles or politics or any semblance of a plot. This is just a series of sex scenes with the occasional mention of stuff that happened in the Zahn trilogy. SMUT!!

( Devils & Gods )

APOCABIGBANG GARBLE WARBLE *collapse*


Title: An Echo, A Stain
Fandom: New/Dark Avengers
Characters: Captain America (Bucky), Black Widow, Mockingbird, Ronin, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, Venom, Moonstone, Daken, Bullseye, Iron Patriot, Sentry
Pairings: Luke Cage/Iron Fist, Venom/Moonstone, Daken/Bullseye, Cap/Black Widow, Ronin/Mockingbird
Rating: NC-17
Wordcount: 17,056
Warnings: Slash, cursing, violence, disturbing imagery
Summary: What happens when a hero of god-like power loses control?


Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five


FANMIX BY oneangrykate

I know there's some kinky people on this here friends list, so here's a link for ya! Fetlife is awesome, and they're doing a holiday give-away called Sit On Kinky Santa's Lap.

DO IT.

So I've done my initial read-through of the Yuletide archive and there are so many ridiculously awesome stories, and I can't wait until I have the energy to actually dig through it and read everything in the fandoms I like instead of just skimming for characters that I like. Heh. ANYWAY. Here are my recs so far, but first...

MY FIC!! The present I got this year was for Chronicles of Prydain, and I could not be more excited about it. It's just absolutely wonderful and made me tear up a little and now I have to read that series again. So here it is, and Anon, if you're reading this, THANK YOU!!! <3

The Truth of It (Chronicles of Prydain, Lloyd Alexander)
Doli, Gwystyl
Doli wouldn't say that he MISSED any of his old companions. Still, he couldn't help wondering how they were getting on.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. If you've read those books, you absolutely have to read it. And now, the rest of my recs!

The King's Hand (A Song Of Ice And Fire, George R. R. Martin)
Stannis Baratheon/Davros Seaworth
Davos Seaworth had been the King's Hand since long before either of them had held the title.


The True Death of Frank Gardiner (Cthulhu Mythos, H.P. Lovecraft)
Original Characters
I have seen things under the water that no laughing sailor's tale, no matter how gruesome or exaggerated, could ever fathom. And the most fearful thing I have ever seen is the death of Frank Gardiner.


Changing Places (Dollhouse)
Adelle DeWitt, Topher Brink, Priya Tsetsang
Whatever false memories she's been imprinted with, Priya still wants to do the right thing.


He of the House (Hellboy (comic))
Hellboy, Kate Corrigan
Kate and Hellboy investigate the disappearance of a young boy that is more than what it seems.


Staged (Metalocalypse)
Nathan Explosion/Charles Ofdensen
Nathan copes with Charles' departure in stages; Charles contemplates his next move.


The Master Cat (Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman)
Marquis de Carabas
It was entirely the cat's doing and that's one thing the Marquis would never stop believing.


Headstone (Neverwhere, Neil Gaiman)
Hunter/Serpentine
Many people have fallen through the cracks - only one became Hunter.

Like I said, there aren't that many just yet, but these are all super awesome and you guys should read and comment. <3

The Black Tower

What They Say: A sepulchral, desolate scent. Long-dead soldiers, oath-bound; the perfume of their armor, the chill wind that surges through their tower, white bone and blackened steel: white sandalwood, ambergris, wet ozone, galbanum and leather with ebony, teak, burnt grasses, English ivy and a hint of red wine.

In The Bottle: It's a very dry, sharp smell in the bottle, and it's hard to pinpoint any particular scents.

On My Skin: It stays dry and sharp, but the sandalwood warms it up quite a bit. It isn't exactly a sweet scent, but it is kind of spicy and very rich, with a very earthy background. So not exactly desolate and sepulchral like the description claims, but delicious nonetheless.

Verdict: Not what I was expecting, but amazing.