Some of my arms may have fallen into Xeron hands but I'm totally sane!

January books!

2017-01-31T19:44:16Z

Despite the fact that I totally failed last year, once again, I'm determined to keep a record of the books I read, just because I always enjoy reading other people's! This year, I have a goal, in that my Tanith Lee collection has reeled out of control with 25 that I hadn't read at all and giant chunks that I've only read once (this is not all that surprising, I own 97 of her books) So in an ideal world, I'll get through most of them, in a slightly less ideal world, I'll manage just the ones that I haven't read but chances are, it'll end up a mix of both, given that there's other things that I want to read!

Also, I finally have a Kindle. I forget if I mentioned this on here before but I got it for my birthday. It is great but does mean that I keep downloading free/cheap books and this is ... distracting sometimes!

A star means I haven't read it before.

1) Mr Galliano’s Circus – Enid Blyton
2) The Mirror Sisters – Virginia Andrews *
3) Hurrah for the Circus! – Enid Blyton
4) Circus Days Again – Enid Blyton
5) Malicious Pursuit – KG MacGregor
6) Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims – Toby Clements *
7) Holiday House – Enid Blyton *
8) L’Amber – Tanith Lee *
9) Scheherazade’s Facade – ed. by Michael M. Jones *
10) Pride/Prejudice – Ann Herendeem *
11) Faces Under Water – Tanith Lee
12) Tempting the Gods – Tanith Lee *
13) His Grandfather’s Watch – N. R. Walker *
14) Hunting the Shadows – Tanith Lee *
15) Palace of Spies – Sarah Zettel
16) Dancing Through the Shadows – Tanith Lee *
17) Nimona – Noelle Stevenson *
18) Dangerous Deceptions – Sarah Zettel *

Kingmaker: Winter Pilgrims - Toby Clements.
I picked this up on holiday (they had one of those bookshelves where you could take random books) and devoured it in about two days. It wasn't the best thing ever but it was a great of fun in places and I do find that I want to know what happens in the next one - there were interesting threads and it dodged various things that historical fiction that annoy me. Also, he writes battles really well and I admire this, as I am shite at it.

L'Amber - Tanith Lee.
This is one of her few non-fantasy/sci-fi novels and I was very tense all the way through because it was doing a plot that I normally hate. But Tanith Lee had a dark twist to play on it and I liked that a lot. Not destined to be one of my favourites but it was interesting.

Pride/Prejudice by Ann Harendeem.
This was a lot of fun if you wanted Pride and Prejudice with a gay/bisexual/lesbian spin and since that's what I wanted, mostly, I was happy. It did annoy me a little in places, I liked it best when it felt like it slotted into the original book and the bits where it clearly didn't jarred more, I found. Also, the afterword was really, really BLEH. It was good fun though!

Faces Under Water - Tanith Lee.
This was the third time I've read this one and I find it ... oddly unmemorable. Which is a shame really because there's some really lovely imagery and ideas and the setting is great but the story seems to slide from my head really quite rapidly. It's probably worth reading for the imagery and stuff alone but my memory is ...

Tempting the Gods & Hunting the Shadows – Tanith Lee
Short story collections, published by the same people as the collected best so it seems good to review them together. They were a pretty great set too, they were excellent collections. I think I prefered Hunting the Shadows but only a little, a good mix of dark and vaguely fun.

Dancing Through the Shadows – Tanith Lee
Another short story collection. I did like it but it was nearly all about death and I have death-fear so sometimes, it was a bit uncomfortable to read. Good though, once again, some really striking ones.

Nimona – Noelle Stevenson.
This was a really cute comic, although it didn't quite go to the places that I was expecting and not totally in a good way. There was nothing wrong with it in any way and it was quite clever in many places but I didn't quite buy some of it, I think. But it was fun and pretty and made me laugh.

Dangerous Deceptions – Sarah Zettel
I really liked Palace of Spies so I got the second one for Christmas and re-read the first before reading that one. I found that I didn't like it quite as much as the first one, although I'm not sure why. Possibly because I found myself a little less certain of the relationships and if they felt right somehow and a few of the tropes were more obvious this time around. Still, it was great fun and I'll definitely buy the third at some point.

If there's any I didn't talk about that you'd like to, just ask, I'm always happy to discuss books!

I am hoping to get back to being more active in LJ this year, although it depends on how things go - one of the reasons that I've faded is my anxiety has been high and well, the world news is always anxiety feeding. But I shall do my best!

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/170261.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Oh hi. Oops?

2016-12-24T17:37:23Z

Oops, I haven't updated since October. Well, nothing really important happened in November did it? ;)

I've been meaning to update for ages because I've seen all sorts of things in a vaguely fannish way but somehow never got round to writing the proper posts. So I'll go for short summaries!

Confessions of Dorian Gray Season 5 - horribly disappointing, has already become a minor meme with some of my friends due to my terrific flaily fury. NOT OVER IT.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them - eh, it was okay. I remember bits annoyed me at the time but mostly now remember it affectionately, bar the TWEEST at the end which is the worst.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - my sister got tickets because she's the best. And it was AMAZING! It was beautifully staged and really exciting and the acting was wonderful. So that was a total delight.

Star Wars: Rogue One - I liked this one a lot, although it wasn't quite what I expected from a Star Wars movie. It was however, quite good for a Blake's 7 movie, something I thought half-way through which meant I didn't get so much of a horrid shock at the end! I was sad though, they all had potential as characters.

I spent a lot of time shouting "DON'T TRUST HIM! HE EATS PEOPLE!" at Hannibal though. I did this all through Dr Strange too (which I also quite liked) Obviously some actors are just one part forever ...

So that's me really! (with a chunk of anxiety missed out, it's been a year of worries for me really!) I hope everyone is having a good Christmas Eve - or a peaceful day if you don't celebrate!

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/170128.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Beach Balls ...

2016-10-04T21:25:25Z

So, I was having a brief burst of random anxiety for no reason and so decided to deal with it in one of the ways I know - your anxiety is a beach ball bobbing on the ocean and you just let it bob there peacefully till it drifts off.

That's it brain! I say encouragingly to myself. Picture that beach ball!

And so my brain obligingly pulls out a vision of the white ball from The Prisoner exploding to the surface of the sea ...

Um ... thanks brain. You're always here for me ... ???

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/169827.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Thinking and overthinking ...

2016-10-03T20:51:31Z

First off, thanks so much for the lovely birthday wishes guys! I wasn't expecting them, particularly since I've been so quiet lately and it really made me smile. Thank you!

So, I'm 31. I had a good birthday, I have finally got a Kindle (well, I will when it arrives) It may simply end up as pretty shaped technology but hey, I may learn to love the Kindle! Perhaps the amount of paper books will shrink (but I doubt it!) I suspect life will just be filled with more books but oh well!

My usual birthday party was great fun and I think they had a lovely time too, so that's always good!

While the party was happening though, one of my friends asked me how I was apart from work and I kind of had a long pause. I have been noticing lately that when people say "How are you?" my answer tends to be "Work has been okay." or "Work was annoying." or "Work was good." Which is fine, that's okay but it's made me realise that I'm feeling quite a bit stuck in a rut. I seem to mostly be doing the same things and that's not necessarily bad but ... it's leaving me feeling a bit hollow lately and I've been fretting about it (this is one of the reasons I've been totally absent again, I keep convincing myself that I have nothing to say which is stupid)

(also, it's having the negative effect that when I'm doing something that's not part of my rut, I'm worrying about it more than I need to because "OMG I don't do this WHAT IF IT'S HORRIBLE?" I mean, I do that anyway, I'm that type but I think it's been worse lately)

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do about it yet. I will be doing some new stuff soon (I always take some Open University classes so they'll hopefully be a bit inspiring) Maybe I need a new hobby? I wouldn't mind trying to learn something new, something creative, although I'm not quite sure what (I worry about buying something expensive and then totally ignoring it forever ...) I don't know. I'll think of something though.

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/169677.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Oops, I have been gone

2016-09-02T20:50:00Z

Oops, I disappeared for all of August. Not very surprising, Summer Season at work eats all our souls and there's very little room for anything else. I may re-enter the world a bit now (possibly!)

Anyway, not very much has happened except for work. It's just been rather busy!

- I have a new TV! It's huge and impressive and a bit alarming (I swing between thinking Hi-Def is great and finding it really a bit weird?) It's cool though, it has a Netflix button and all the things to take you to the TV apps and YouTube and stuff. So now I can watch everything on a super-big screen and it's pretty cool!

- used Netflix to watch the first two seasons of Skins. I have this weird idea that I used to know people who were very into it but all I remember is that people used to have feelings about Effy which is nice but I have no idea what those feelings were. I too have feelings about Effy but mostly have them about Tony, which is probably unsurprising, given that I started watching entirely to admire Nicholas Hoult's beautiful face. Skins was a gift for this.

- I have been reading stuff! I will make a post soon about this, for sure (okay, I've been meaning to do that for three months but I will, I promise!)

- I signed up for ladiesbingo. I may regret this but I'm sure I won't. It looked like fun!

Beauty	There's a first time for everything: First times	Oaths / Promises	Season of Mists (Autumn Colours, Sensations, Activities and Festivals)	Past, Present, Future
Epistolary fic: Emails, letters etc.	Poetry	Justice	Personal Space	The Mind's Eye
Bright Colours	Tombs, Graveyard and Memorials	Wild Card	It Wasn't Meant to Be	Sleeping arrangements
Everything Changes	Something Useful	In Public	A Terrible Solution	Urban Spaces
Sphinxes and Chimerae	Three Wishes	Artist	Coffee Shop AU	Orgasm

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lycoris @ 2016-08-03T22:06:00

2016-08-03T21:06:14Z

Heh, I made the checkout guys day today in the bookshop when he saw I was buying books 2 and 3 of the Captive Prince trilogy. He was all "Have you read the first one?!" and after I told him that, yes, I had (devoured would be a better term, I bought it on Monday, finished it yesterday and went "WELP, IT'S FINE, I'M BACK IN TOWN TOMORROW, I CAN BUY THE OTHERS THEN.") we had a happy chat about it with him clearly dying to spoiler me on everything ever. Bless his heart, he was just so pleased, it was lovely. I like bookshop people that get actively excited at you when they see the books you're buying!

I am midway through book two and still enjoying. They are deliciously tropey fun (as long as it's your kind of trope, anyway) and easy to read and I'm really involved now so I'm happy and dying to find out how it all ends and if my guesses about stuff are right or not!

Although I really shouldn't be buying any more books currently because the book pile is looking like it might actually kill me, I haven't got a clue where to put anything and there are creepy book stacks beginning to appear against the walls as I try to work things out. I wonder if I could fit another bookshelf in the living room ...?

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/169080.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

WASPS.

2016-07-31T20:48:02Z

So, you may remember my howling post about a wasps nest not too many weeks back. Well, I called a man, who called another man and this man came and killed said wasps. ("Don't go out there for a bit," he said. "They'll be a bit cross." I look out of the glass door, admired the enraged swarm and then go and lock all my windows because NO.)

A week later, Dad comes to the door and asks if I still have the number because they have a wasps nest under their house. I hand said number over, guy comes, wasps are killed, we win!

At work this week, we think there might be a wasps nest in our building. I wail about how everything happens in threes this year and that I'm sick of it. Then wasps magically disappear (that was weird ... I guess a load of them must have got inside and all buzzed round the same place or something? It's not usual but they aren't there now, there's no nest so ...) I think I'm safe from the Curse of Threes.

Today? Mum tells me they have found ANOTHER wasps nest under their house in a different bit (right by the front door in fact, aaaaagh) NO. MORE. OF. THIS. FUCKING WASPS!!!!!!!!

(my sister thinks it's me and that I am the wasp queen. A vengeful queen that keeps calling people to KILL ALL MY PEOPLE ...)

In other news, I've now written three hc_bingo fics ... all of which are in a sort of line ...

Title: Powerless
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Pairing: En Sabah Nur/Charles Xavier
Rating: R
Word Count: 6315
Summary: Charles expected a meal with his irritating boss to be either be boring or aggravating. He didn't expect it to end with En Sabah Nur fulfilling desires he didn't even know that he had ...
Link: Here

Title: Chilled to the Bone
Fandom: Victor Frankenstein
Rating: PG
Word Count: 708
Summary: Victor hates the cold more than anything else.
Link: Here

Title: To Learn to Fly Again
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 10,966
Summary: Angel survived Cairo and the plane crash. But surviving and living are two different things and now that he's lost everything, Angel has to decide what he wants and who he wants to be ...
Link: Here

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lycoris @ 2016-07-28T21:10:00

2016-07-28T20:10:45Z

Went to visit two friends in London last weekend! (apparently, wherever I go this year, I will be mildly unwell. Fine body. Whatever. I don't even care that I had a cold!) Met K in a bookshop. Hugs are exchanged, we are excited to see each other. Conversation begins.

Me: Blah blah stuff about life I really liked X-Men: Apocalypse.
Her: *sadly* I didn't get round to seeing it.
Me: Oh, that's so sad, I liked it, I went five times, it' going to be weird seeing Ghostbusters and breaking my X-Men streak ...
Her: *idly googles on phone* Oh hey, this local cinema is still showing it ... *looks hopeful*
Me: ... WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO ME?

And that is how I ended up seeing X-Men: Apocalypse for the sixth time. I HAVE NO REGRETS. Not even the ridiculous London prices. Because it was still a happy, happy fannish experience for me and I was pleased. Also, I've now seen it enough that I'm noticing random things about the background and having thoughts about comparisons (this time around Cerebro has those twisted metal wires coming down from the helmet that basically match what Apocalypse wears ... )

We also went to see the more recent Ghostbusters (then breaking my X-men streak! ^_~) and it was really fun, to my great relief (the original was part of my childhood and I was one of the people who watched the first trailer and went "... oh. This isn't actually funny to me.") It took me a little while to get into it, partly because I was doing a bit of a "HOW DOES THIS MATCH UP?!" but somewhere along the line, I stopped doing it and just enjoyed it. It was hilarious and cute and I loved the cameos. Holtz was my favourite new buster, she is awesome but they were all lovely and it was nice to see how it all went. I will definietely go to all the sequels (they will make them right? RIGHT?) and buy the DVD when it comes out so that's nice.

And I bought books. I really need to allocate time to read my books, the pile is now ridiculously large. And had lovely chats with my friends and that was terrific so I am happy.

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/168701.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

hc_bingo card, heat and happiness

2016-07-20T19:55:38Z

HOLY SHIT, the BBC store has Elidor available on their downloading/streaming site! TAKE MY FUCKING MONEY NOW!!!!! (well, in a few days when I have a new laptop that will be able to cope with streaming stuff well) I'm not normally one for downloading, I prefer DVDs but they've certainly found my gateway drug! (release Archer's Goon, BBC. Reeeeeelease it. I need it in my life, damn you!) Elidor was part of my childhood and has kind of shaped stuff I like in fiction ever since. I don't give a shit about the "hokey" effects, it's part of the charm and I am super-excited that soon, I can watch it properly and not on my not-entirely-complete video or YouTube copies.

In other news, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate the heat. HATE IT. *sighs* It's been horrible these last few days (and I've been ill!) I've been so hot that all I've been doing while not working is lying around and thinking about X-Men fics to write. Luckily, I have a hc_bingo card so something to work on. I like using it as an excuse "Oh, I have to write this modern AU, I have a bingo square!"

(which reminds me, I haven't posted it here ...

imprisonment	ostracised from society	washing / bathing someone	substance addiction	serial killers
destruction / natural disasters	forced soulbonding	invisibility	corporal punishment	side effects
heart attack / heart trouble	orphans	WILD CARD	lost childhood	alien abduction
bullet wounds	arrest	survivor's guilt	phobias	forced to rely on enemy / rival
burns	hypothermia	restrained	near death experience	bites

Of course, so far, all the ones I'm writing aren't in lines but never mind ...)

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/168311.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Holiday! (again)

2016-07-15T20:01:26Z

So, have come back from a holiday! (yeah, I'm suddenly having all the holidays at the moment!) This one was up in Yorkshire, between Scarborough and Whitby. It was a really gorgeous place, lots of beautiful rolling hills and fields and stuff.

I also had a great deal of fun on this holiday because the day we went, I read Robert Swindells Room 13 which takes place largely in Whitby. It turns out Robert Swindells has the knack of capturing places perfectly, I spotted every single thing that he mentioned and it was just right. This made me VERY HAPPY.

Some of the stuff we did ...

- went to Pickering. This had a church with the one of the best examples of Medieval Wall Paintings in the country and they were incredible, really interestingly done and strange stories picked (church paintings are normally predictable so it was nice to see some different ones) I particularly liked the one of Jesus going down to the mouth of hell and taking people out of it.

Also, really close to it was a proper chocolate shop where they make their own chocolates on the premises. Hmmmm. The smell was delightful and the chocolate was very good too!

- went to Scarborough. We started the day with the Sealife Centre which was amazing, perfectly laid out with some gorgeous fish. Mum and I both really liked their part about jellyfish, it was just beautifully done and the jellyfish were gorgeous. They also had an octopus, my very favourite marine animal and she was wandering all over her tank so we got to watch her doing things.

We then went up to the castle, stopping at Anne Bronte's grave on the way. Her gravestone is pretty damaged but they've laid out a little plaque so you can read the words properly (and to tell you she was 29, not 28!) The castle was very cool and gave you a great look at everything around you.

- went to Robin Hood's Bay. We accidentally went at full tide so couldn't enjoy the beach very much but what was saw was lovely. It's a great, twisty, windy place, had a beautiful collection of jet jewellery and a fascinating little shop/museum filled with fossils and rocks. And a great second hand bookshop. Would recommend.

- went to Whitby Abbey. It was gorgeous, a great ruin (with quite a bit still left of it really, there was this gorgeous old rose window at the top, no glass but all the stone intact) The museum bit was really good too.

One note though (left out of the cut because I am still angry) DO NOT GO TO THE ABBEY TEAROOMS. They were vile. I am really very patient about simple food, I'm fussy, I mostly only eat simple food and sometimes, you have to shrug and go "Oh well, plain but fair." This? This was shit. The bread was stale, nothing tasted very nice and the service was rubbish. It was a real disappointment and I'm still pissed off about it because it was more disappointing than almost anything else I've had anywhere. Truly lousy.

- went to Whitby. I liked Whitby, my parents both hated it deeply which made me rather sad because I would have enjoyed a little longer in the town. I mean, it was clearly quite touristy and also very busy. I was sorry we couldn't go up to the Whalebone Arch but we were on the wrong side of the town so I had to live with that. Nearly screamed with glee to see that The Dracula Experience actually exists, thank you Robert Swindells! I think I shall try and go back to Whitby and let myself tourist ridiculously at some point because I want that and it might be more fun with people who aren't so grumpy about that!

Also, they had a great cut-price bookshop and I finally found the sequel of a book I've wanted for ages. And made Mum happy by finding a truckload of sci-fi books she wanted. I win!

- went to Helmsly. They had the best castle and an amazing audio guide, it gave you so much information that I ended up informationed-out and had to stop listening! It was a really cool one though and had some great history and pictures and some fun cellars to go down into.

- went to the Ryedale Folk Museum. This looks like it's going to be expensive, until you get out into it and realise that basically, they've got about twenty houses built behind them, each set out the way houses would have been in various eras. They also have gardens and keep chickens that you can feed (they all ran up to me very hopefully, with lots of clucks. And a growl. I swear that chicken growled!) It was really amazing and another thing that really could information-you-out if you weren't careful.

- I bought some books. A few. Eighteen. Or was it nineteen? I like books!

- I wrote quite a lot of fic. Most of it is long fic so won't be posted for a while but I feel that I am achieving. :)

So I have had a very good time and am now back. Quite tired but now back! :)

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/168023.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

These things better not happen in threes!

2016-07-06T20:39:15Z

So, the gardener came today. I went out the back door to let him in and thought "Huh, there's a wasp hovering near the wall. Shoo, nasty little wasp. Shoo. Nothing for you here"

Gardener gardens. Then knocks on door for money. I come out, see a wasp is still hovering by the wall. By an old pipe thing, in fact.

Me: That was there before ...
Gardener: I think you've got a nest there.
Me: No, no, it's just ... *briefly goes up on tip-toe to look into pipe, sees papery patterns of a wasps nest* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

*quiet sobbing* Fucking wasps, man. I don't like wasps! Now I'll have to pay someone to make the wasps go away! (garderner was all "Don't try to get rid of them on your own." It was kind of him to give this advice but completely unnecessary as I'm practically taping the back door up and trying not to think terrified thoughts about where the fuck that pipe goes or what it's even for ... we are 99% positive that it doesn't go anywhere and that's long been blocked off but WHY IS IT THERE BURN IT, BURN IT ALL ...)

Ugh, all my old fears back with a vengeance. I thought I was really much better about wasps (I used to be really scared of them for years) but now it appears that I am still really easily freaked out by them. At least it wasn't by the front door, I guess!

This is my second displeasing insect encounter this week too, at work I saw what I thought was a hornet. It was MASSIVE, bigger than my little finger and scared years off my life. My boss says it might have been a sawfly but having now googled both, it didn't look much like either of them so clearly it was a SIGN OF THE END OF DAYS.

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Paris!

2016-06-30T19:43:46Z

So, I went away to Paris for five days, only got back on Monday. Apparently, leaving the country was a mistake, given what happened while I was away! (yes, I voted, postal votes are excellent inventions. It did no good. I don't want to talk about Brexit any further than that, it's too much like an unfunny dystopian sitcom. Insert Benny Hill theme over our lives here ...)

So, tallulahgs and I went together on the Eurostar together. She was excellent, did a LOT of the arranging and I am very grateful. We arrived, found our hotel in the baking heat and promptly fell in love with the air conditioning, which we lovingly named Thor. And less lovingly because the only real disadvantage of that hotel was the air conditioning screamed at you every five minutes or so and this proved to be something I could not sleep through very well so my sleep has been ... dodgy. Catching up a bit now though.

Anywhere, here's some of the stuff we did (not all, we did a lot of random bits too and saw little fun things but these are bigger things)

- we went into the Catacombs. This was a good choice because it was HOT and the catacombs were not - but bad because we had to queue for two hours in the blazing sunshine and we both forgot to put suncream on before leaving the hotel. Oops. Luckily, a lovely Australian couple in the queue behind us shared their umbrella and we spotted a pharmacy to buy more water and some suncream! I got a little burned on the back of my neck but it wasn't very painful so we won there. The catacombs themselves were amazing. They are very deep and a little eerie and, of course, filled with six million sets of bones, give or take a bit! The only famous name I knew of people down there was Robespierre but obviously, you've got no idea if you saw him or not, so that's how that goes. But it was fascinating and macabre and excellent. However, maybe buy advance tickets and skip the line if you can because apparently, sometimes it's four hours long!

- the Louvre. I saw the Venus de Milo and it actually really moving, I had emotions everywhere (normally, I like art but not have FEELINGS about it so it was nice to have some!) Mona Lisa was excellent too, I whispered the words "It's a faaaaaaaake." at tallulahgs and she laughed (Doctor Who reference. ^_^) (I also spent a lot of the Louvre looking at pictures and going "That looks like so and so." and they were always inappropriate but right. Hee.) There were, of course, all sorts of other amazing stuff there and I saw lots of things and they were beautiful and amazing. Found their audio-guide very frustrating though, it was all bells and whistles and took me ages to work out how to work.

- the Effel Tower. This one was terrific but slightly tainted by the fact that they made us bin our water bottles. >:( The security was super-tight everywhere, unsurprisingly but dude, plane security? Really? BAH. However, the view was incredible, we did very well at identifying the landmarks and it was excellent (it was also the only day that we really found the football as the Paris Fan Gathery thing is right next to it. They were loud and happy because the Welsh won.)

- The Notre-Dame. We did this twice actually because when we arrived on Saturday, they were doing what we think was an ordination for Priests ... lots of them, it looked like a graduation ceremony except with a guy with a red hat giving a speech and epic amounts of Priests. So we came back the next day to actually see the INSIDE! Which was awe-inspiring and had a little section for some beautiful relicaries. I enjoyed that.

- The Saint-Chappelle. Oh, this was beautiful. So much wonderful stained glass (and I got to show off my Biblical knowledge by remembering that the chap with horns was Moses because of a mistranslation back in the day in the Bible. I am excellent and filled with knowledge!) Absolutely amazing. We went to the old castle/prison next door too which was very worth seeing. And had protests outside it, although I don't know what they were protesting - we're pretty sure it was labour laws of some description.

- The Arc de Triumph. We climbed all the steps for this one which has given me slightly sore knees! It was another great view though - and we did it on the last day so we could identify all the places we had been, pretty much!

- Oscar Wilde's grave. We visited a lot of interesting graves here but this was the one I particularly wanted to see. Despite signs on it, it still had lipstick marks left very deliberately everywhere. It was very nice.

(slightly less nice here (potential warning for sexual assulat type content? Feels wrong to call it that but I can't think of another set of words for it. If you're not sure, just skip this paragrah) was the Almost Certainly Masturbating Man. This didn't actually upset me, tallulahgs and I were busy talking about Dorian Gray and had walked past before it kind of hit me that the heavy breathing and hand around the crotch probably meant that he was wanking. I'm not sure if he wanted to upset us or if he just really liked that particular grave or something else but amazingly enough, we didn't go back to check!)

I was pretty worried about food (I am a fussy eater, it is one of the banes of my life, quite frankly) but luckily, we managed to find restaurants I could eat in with relative ease, tallulahgs didn't suffer too much (I don't think!) and I even tried some new stuff and didn't hate it so that was good.

One of the weirdest things for me was walking around, minding your own business when suddenly you were walking past soldiers with MASSIVE GUNS. Or policemen with MASSIVE GUNS. Or sometimes policemen with small guns. As a Brit, that simply doesn't happen very often and it freaked me out like anything.

But that was Paris! And I survived and enjoyed it and it was lovely. And now Darth Real Life is here. Bother.

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/167510.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Little bit about life.

2016-06-19T21:27:40Z

Family reunion happened this weekend (my Dad's side of the family try to do one once a year) and went pretty well, great relief, hurrah, well done me, etc. I'm always pretty nervous but I think I acquitted myself well!

(also, the advantage of befriending the small child in the group, you get to sit next to them at dinner and if they are generous, you get to help them with the coloruing book. I was VERY well behaved and coloured in boring things like trees and plants, not the pretty princesses. I was deeply offended by the pencils which were the scented kind, except the colours did not match up with the scents - so the "orange" smelling one was a GREEN pencil and the strawberry was white! Do not approve.)

Most bitter to discover that London Euston's WHSmith has stopped selling doughnuts though. NO, THEY WERE MY FAVOURITE THING ABOUT PASSING THROUGH THE STATION, YOU GO AND GRAB A DOUGHNUT AND NOW YOU'RE SELLING BORING COFFEE? YOU CAN GET COFFEE ANYWHERE ON THAT STATION! BETRAYAL. *sulks about the lack of Dunkin Doughnuts*

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/167413.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Fic post!

2016-06-10T09:31:16Z

Title: The Honeymoon Arragenment
Fandom: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Pairing: Charles Xavier/Hank McCoy
Rating: Teen
Length: 20127
Summary: Hank Mcoy has bagged the honeymoon trip of a lifetime. The trouble is, after his world imploded two weeks ago, he’s now desperately in need of a husband! Depressed ex-party boy Charles Xavier needs to get out of the country and away from painful family memories – fast. Accepting Hank’s honeymoon arrangement is the perfect escape plan! He might have to pretend to be a loved-up newlywed, but it’s a strictly no-strings agreement. Except one knee-weakening, brain-melting kiss from Hank later Charles’s already struggling to remember what’s fake and what’s real. And that’s before they’ve even started their ‘honeymoon’… !

OR Charles and Hank both have problems they want to get away from so why not get away from them with each other on a fake honeymoon? Only there are some things you can't run away from and some things you can only work through with others ...
Link: Here

And the six X-Men: Apocalypse fics that I've written and not got around to posting here. Under a cut because, well, six of them ...

Title: Safe House
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Rating: G
Word Count: 1414
Summary: It's the first night after everything and it's hard for anybody to sleep after what's happened.
Link: Here

Title: Nothing But Hope
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Rating: PG
Word Count: 837
Summary: What if Kurt didn't arrive in time? Charles tries to fight Apocalypse's invasion of his mind ...
Link: Here

Title: Drawn into Fire
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalpse
Rating: G
Pairing: Charles Xavier/Jean Grey
Content Notes: Age Difference, Teacher-Student Relationship
Word Count: 1082
Summary: Post-Apocalypse and Charles is trying to get his power back under control. Jean helps him.
Link: Here

Title: Holding On
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Rating: PG
Pairing: Charles/Hank
Word Count: 626
Summary After the events of Apocalypse, Hank takes care of Charles.
Link: Here

Title: The Message
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Rating: R
Pairing: Apocalypse/Charles
Word Count: 1793
Content Notes: Contains rape.
Summary: Apocalypse tries different methods to convince Charles to obey him. Charles resists.
Link: Here

Title: Hands Like Stone
Fandom: X-Men: Apocalypse
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Apocalypse/Erik Lehnsherr
Word Count: 869
Summary: Erik lets Apocalypse seduce him.
Link: Here

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Books I read in the last three months ...

2016-06-09T20:29:25Z

Terribly behind on posting books I've read - so here's everything from March to now! (fortunate really, I've read almost nothing in May, boo. I'm really very badly at the moment.)

1) Touchwood – Karin Kallmaker
2) The Picture of Dorian Gray – Adapted by Neil Bartlett *
3) Thunderbirds: The Vault – Marcus Hearn *
4) All the Wrong Places – Karin Kallmaker
5) The Cuckoo Child – Dick King-Smith
6) Noah’s Brother – Dick King-Smith
7) Lady Daisy – Dick King-Smith
8) Speed of Dark – Elizabeth Moon *
9) (April) Step by Wicked Step – Anne Fine
10) The Just City – Jo Walton *
11) Fringe: The Comic Book *
12) In the Labyrinth of Drakes – Marie Brennan *
13) Chalet School World – Helen Barbar *
14) The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers *
15) No Sister’s Keeper – Jeanne G’Fellers *
16) (May) No Sister of Mine – Jeanne G’Fellers
17) What I? – Randall Munroe
18) Sister Lost, Sister Found – Jeanne G’Fellers
19) The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August – Claire North *
20) Watership Down – Richard Adams

I was reluctantly struggling with Speed of Dark (it wasn't actually that bad but I don't need a hundred pages to tell me that it's hard to live with autism, I already know that. And yes, it is for other people that don't but I found it uncomfortable so kept delaying getting on with it. Once the story started, it improved hugely but I still don't think it was really very good in the end. It had it's moments but ... I don't know. It was a bit weird.

The adaptation of Dorian Gray was really, really interesting - I'd love to have actually seen the play, I think it would have been cool. Neil Bartlett mostly captured the stuff I would want caught by a play of that book (plus with none of the aggravating cutting of any gay hints whatsoever that a lot of versions decide to do, I can't stand that.)

Thunderbirds: The Vault was really interesting, filled with cool pictures and bits of knowledge and background. At the same time though, in a weird way, I'm not sure it totally worked for me. I feel quite a bit that it should have stopped when Thunderbirds did, rather than catalogue what happened to everyone afterwards because whether the author meant it to or not, it became less a celebration of Thunderbirds at that point and more a suggestion that the success of Thunderbirds was almost a millstone around everybody's necks that could not be repeated or matched. Which was most likely true but to say it felt ... rather uncomfortable and sad, to be honest and left me leaving the book unhappy rather than feeling pleased at the success of it all. I'd rather not think about how one of my favourite programmes depressed the hell out of a whole bunch of people, thanks!

(it apropriately acknowledged that the films were terrible though. Because they were. But weirdly when talking about the few times people actually die in Thunderbirds, deciding to totally ignore The Uninvited. I mean, yes, The Uninvited is a truly bonkers episode but it's pretty relevant if you're discussing the time bad guys die since as far as we can tell, Scott's actions kill every single person in the pyramid civilisation ...)

The Just City was weird. Interesting and fascinating but weird. It was kind of like a philosophy textbook but into fiction, which is in some ways what it was aimed for but it was a funny sort of thing. Also, the ending freaked me out in a way that I can't really articulate - I'm not sure why it bothered me so much but I felt really ... weird about it. I'll pick up the second when I find it but I'm not sure it's something I'm exactly looking forward to, more something that I'm really curious and interested in.

In the Labyrinth of Drakes was just as good as I was hoping it would be. I love this series so very much and I'm really enjoying the developing mythology and story and ideas that's going on. Really, really looking forward to the fifth book (which will apparently be the last, which I am sad about but also think is probably right, there is a limit after all, however much I'm loving the ride.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was great, great fun and incredibly readable and contained a brilliant slow build romance between alien woman and human woman which I was really into ... and yet by the end, I found that I was a tiny, tiny bit disappointed. It was utterly readable and yet it was also really kind of bitty. Stuff had to keep happening and all this stuff needed to develop and sometimes I was all "No, no, we don't need this too, let the story breathe a litte!" There's going to be a sequel so maybe that's why but it wasn't quite as perfect as I thought it was going to be when I started. I also felt in a little way that it was ... kind of inconsequential. Which I think was on purpose, I think that was what it wanted to do and in some ways that's so cool but in another way, I was disappointed. I feel there should have been a little bit more somewhere along the line. Still loved it though and know a lot of people who'll really like it too. And will pick up the sequel with excitement but I might wait for the paperback.

No Sister's Keeper suffered The Great Prequel Problem - that moment when you're trying to make things link together that you established in book one and then somehow don't. To be honest, I'm puzzled as to WHY this is always a problem, re-read your book and work through it but as always, this didn't happen so there's bits where you're going "Is that quite how they described that happened in the first book?" and "I'm pretty sure she didn't behave like that in the first book." (and this was being said having not read the first book for literally years.) It also suffered from having far too much happening and ended up picking the "wrong" story in some places (there were at least two emotional moments that should have happened on-page and didn't, which was frustrating for me.) I wasn't exactly disappointed but it wasn't quite as good as I hoped it would be.

I liked The First Fifteen lives of Harry August very much - up to a point. It had a great premise and was interesting and dense ... but it was absolutely the wrong thing to read when I was feeling depressed and anxious. One huge, terrifying crisis about life later, I decided that I might not revisit this one any time soon ...

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/166671.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

McFassy ...

2016-06-03T16:41:38Z

Dear The Chase, (British quiz show, aired in the late afternoon)

When people are actively talking about "McFassy" I think VERY VERY FEW OF THEM are thinking "bromance." Usually more "romance." Just saying.

(mind you, bromance as a term might have moved on in a way that I don't understand since Big Finish keep using the term about an actual gay relationship so perhaps they are all thinking bromance, who knows? I just can't believe that they just asked a question based on the smushname of James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender! I am laughing my ass off over here, the streams have well and truly crossed ... )

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I return!

2016-05-31T20:32:29Z

So I went quiet for a while. What have I been up to?

- watched the first four episodes of Penny Dreadful and am now giving up. I thought I would really like it but somehow, I realise that I only care about Frankenstein and everyone else is vaguely annoying/boring and I can't remember the names of the other main male characters and no. Clearly not working. Ah well.

- went to see The Merry Wives of Windsor which was a fabulous farce and very well done. Falsaff is much more palatable to me while in a farce (I didn't actually find him funny in Henry IV Parts 1 or 2 but maybe they just weren't quite my thing anyway, it was difficult to tell.)

- went to see The Night Watch, an adaptation of the Sarah Waters book. I read the book years ago and had forgotten a lot but I think it was faithful and it was certainly well done and acted and beautiful.

- went to see X-Men: Apocalypse. Again. And then again. My parents mock me, I do not care, I am very happy to have seen it three times! (and the third time, I was taking tallulahgs so really, it doesn't count, I was helping! ^_~)

- having tallulahgs to stay. Which was lovely, it was great to have her around, we talked and watched TV and discussed X-Men things and Death Note things and she was incredibly helpful and it was good. :)

- trying to deal with bursts of extremely unpleasant anxiety. Still surviving, trying to identify root causes and develop healthy coping methods (I am currently trying to make friends with it. "Oh, hello, you're here are you, that's nice, want to come to a play with me? I'm sure it'll be a very good play!" So far, it's worked okay ...) This is the real reason I've been quiet lately. Hoping that I will continue to cope and will be around a bit more - sorry if I've missed anything important!

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X-Men: Apocalypse!

2016-05-18T20:44:56Z

So, yesterday, I went to an X-men Triple Bill ending with X-Men: Apocalypse at five past midnight.

And it was AWESOME. :D :D :D

Well, most of it was anyway, Let's start with what I wasn't so fond of to get that over it.

- Our first shot of Raven, an upwards pan of her in a short skirt and skimpy top. Yes, thank you guys, veeeeery nice, for a moment there, I thought we were right back in all the worst bits of First Class (didn't happen though, phew!)

- Jean and Logan's meeting. That was ... I don't know. It's not necessarily as skeevy as it felt to me - after all, the future is now totally different, we've no idea that the relationship will actually be like in this future but given what we have, it felt a bit creepy and wrong to me. I liked that she was able to help him a bit, I liked the amusement of Scott going "Welp, we'll never see him again!" but overall, I would rather we hadn't had it go down quite that way. It just didn't work for me.

Then things that I didn't dislike but had complex feelings over.

- Quicksilver's rescue of everyone in the mansion was brilliant - but at the same time, it was too much trying to recreate a scene that was awesome in DoFP and it therefore felt a bit self-indulgent and a bit too long. It wasn't terrible or anything and there were some great moments but it grated on me just because I was all "Yes, you did this, it was great then, it's good now but ... you did this ... " (I may have been alone there, the rest of the cinema was laughing a lot!)

- Erik's dead wife and child. It's one of those things - I automatically wince because it's very much a trope and it's very much a trope that I hate - but at the same time, if you're going to do this trope, this is how to do it, in my opinion. I knew they were going to die the minute I saw them and yet it worked thematically and they felt right somehow and good and Michael Fassbender's devastation sold it, in my opinion.
(also, it is a comic book movie and I'm pretty sure this happened in the comics somewhere.)

And then stuff that made me very, very happy. :) (okay, actually, most of it made me very, very happy but this is stuff I felt like babbling about!)

- Moira got her memories back! And Charles said he was sorry and mostly knew that he'd been a dick (it didn't get rid of all the plotholes around this - in fact, it added one, in First Class, the implication is that Moira remembers meeting them all, she just doesn't know where they went when they left the CIA (which also doesn't make sense because Trask has Charles's dissertation which they know is by a mutant and will have Charles's name on it and his last name is Xavier and his school is called Xavier and I JUST THINK THEY KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE, OKAY?!) But who cares, Moira has her memories again and when they're in less of a bad place, she'll give Charles a good talking to and he'll apologise some more and WOO!)

- Apocalypse was brilliant. Oscar Isaac gives him a magnificent presence, he plays it with just the right dark, seductive, creepy vibes and it was perfect, I thought all of it was excellently done.

- I actually liked Erik. In fact, I liked him and felt wrecked for him, I ended the film wanting him to have supportive cuddles and love. He made some good choices and he did it brilliantly and dramatically and without abandoning everything he's ever believed. It was wonderful and I felt so sorry for him and like him much better overall.

- I loved that Quicksilver did not tell Erik he was his father. I thought that was so much better than if he had - it wasn't about a replacement family, it was about the family Erik already had and has always been building.

- Hank's expression when Raven is all "I am here about Erik." You can practically see him going "The field of fucks that I give about Erik is barren. Look at these fucks I don't give. Look at them, Raven." Which is not even remotely surprising really and was just brilliantly done. Also, he was happier and was so pleased when Scott called him a genius and he was epic and brave and mostly chill about his blue fuzziness and oh, he was great and I was so pleased.

- Scott and Jean and Kurt. AAAAAAAAAAAAH ADORABLE ADORABLE ADORABLE. I loved how they did Scott and Jean, it was a beautiful slow-build without trying to ridiculously big-up a relationship they couldn't possibly have formed in the short period of time and they were both fun and charming. And Kurt was BRILLIANT. I always forget how much I like him till I'm watching him and he was a BLESSING and I would like to think that they have a happy threesome later on.

- Raven's depression - which is what it kind of was - worked so well for me. It's that feeling, that the world moves so slowly and there's so much to do, of course she's slowly burning out (particularly as she's been on her own for so long) I was so happy she stayed at the end, I think she could do really good things in

- CHARLES. Charles was lovely and nice to Scott and funny and goofy and then he suffered terribly. Pretty much all I needed (and you know, he talked to Hank a lot and they were affectionate!)

- Shallowly, this fulfilled all the needs I have for a canon I'm currently writing fic for. Space to fill in my own things? Check. Ships still sailing? Check. Possibility of new lovely ships? Check. Angst? Yep yep yep. Happy ending? YEEEEEEEEEEEEEES.

I actually kind of hope they don't make any more. I felt they wrapped up the story so well and it ended so positively that I just almost don't want a sequel (I know we're getting Wolverine 3 but they're kind of separate entities.) I'm just ... really, really happy with this as a finish. It wrapped up the plot, it wrapped up the story and I'm content.

Oh, but Jean Grey is wrong about Return of the Jedi. So there. :)

One thing though, whoever decided to shoot a shot through a wire fence and then allowed it to be a 3D film needs to be killed. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT, WHY, NOW ALL I CAN SEE IS WIRE FENCE!!!! (although 3D sucks anyway, I give up on being nice to it. No, it sucks, no more of that!)

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Star Wars!

2016-05-16T21:32:48Z

So, I finally watched The Force Awakens today. I didn't want to before, I didn't want a sequel (Return of the Jedi is a beautiful, beautiful ending, okay? I like the glowing happy party, I didn't actually want to watch them all be no longer glowing and happy.) But finally, I was all "... yeah, you know, I am in the right mindspace to see this." So I did.

And it was fun. :) And it's so useful to suddenly understand all the bits and pieces that one has picked up by osmosis. Like, five minutes in "Oh, that's why everybody likes Poe Dameron so much!" and then about ten minutes in "Oh, that's why people are shipping Poe Dameron/Finn!" and then about twenty minutes in "So, Finn and Rey can get married too, I'm sure they can live in a happy threesome!"

(also, somewhere in there was "Poe might be dead? That is sad!"
Sister: Of course he's not dead, how could someone dead this early on have such a big fan following?!
Me: You were not in the Death Note fandom, please allow me to explain the character of Matt's four panels before his death to epic epic amounts of fic ...
Sister: ... oh.)

All the main characters were really good though - Rey and Finn are both great, I like the different things they bring to the mix and will be interested so see where they go with that. And hee, Poe was hilarious, I approved so much.

Kylo Ren is kind of fascinating. I love how ... pathetic he is. Like, he's super-dangerous and horrifying but he the two wild temper tantrums and the obvious implication that he does this all the time - and then how utterly unthreatening he is when he takes the mask off ... it's interesting, I'm not quite sure where they're going with him but he is different. I like to picture the force ghost of Anakin Skywalker wandering wearily behind Kylo Ren going "No. No, kid, no ... no, look, why don't you try cake? Cake is a very good, very calming. Kid? Kid? You're talking to my dead head, oh for the love of the Force ..."

There are ... occasional questions to be asked about the plot. Luke, why did you make a map to where you were hiding? Why? Is this a Jedi thing? But really, I enjoyed it ever such a lot and am happy. Although still in a certain level of denial though. Very nice story, yes but REALLY LUKE, LEIA AND HAN LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER SO THERE (also, I want to know what happened to Lando, who also lived happily ever after. Although I guess if he doesn't appear, he's really living happily ever after ...)

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Fic: Welcome Change

2016-05-16T19:08:50Z

Title: Welcome Change
Fandom: X-Men: Days of Future Past
Pairing: Charles Xavier/Hank McCoy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1448
Summary: Charles has a question for Hank regarding their past - and their future.
Link: Here

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/165601.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

lycoris @ 2016-05-13T21:43:00

2016-05-13T20:43:56Z

Managed to get the filter out of washing machine and found it contained two small buttons and a tiny bit of fluff. I removed them and then ran another wash and the water drained properly! It's weird though because I don't own anything with buttons like that so they must have been rattling around in that machine since 2012 (when my grandma was using it!) I guess they just shifted into position to make it impossible to drain? Anyway, it seems to be back in working order. So yay, that makes me very happy!

In other news, the plants came! My Mum got a bit over-excited this year and I found myself presented with twelve begonias, twelve snapdragons and six lobelias. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS, ALL THESE PLANTS, I AM NOT PREPARED etc, etc.

Oh well. I have planted them all anyway and currently they all still live! Charles, Hank, Raven, Jean, Scott, Nightcrawler, Alex, Sean and Moria are begonias and hanging out together. Then there's Apocolypse, Erik, Storm, Psyclocke, Angel and Quicksilver the snapdragons (yes, Quicksilver doesn't really belong there but someone had to fufil a snapdragon role, he can hang out with his Dad and mutter about Erik's terrible life decisions) Wolverine, Rogue and Jubilee are lobelias. Then there's Shaw, Emma Frost and Angel the begonias and Azazel and Riptide the lobelias. The other snapdragons are Tony, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Thor and Hawkeye (I was a bit worried about them, they looked very droopy but they are still fine, except that for some reason, Black Widow and and Hawkeye are sort of falling over.)

And finally there is Lobelia Sackville-Baggins. :) She's a lobelia. Obviously.

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/165217.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Water-based disaster!

2016-05-11T19:41:25Z

So today, my washing machine broke.

Annoyingly, I didn't realise it had broken at first, I thought I'd fucked up by trying to open it before the cycle had ended properly (no, that was it being broke) so just went "I guess it'll have to run a whole other cycle before I can reach my clothes, bah." Hahahahah, idiot. Second cycle finally ends, I tug the door.

Door: No! ^_^
Me: ... please? Please give me my clothes back?
Door: OKAY! ^_^ *opens, spewing water everywhere*
Me: NO NO ABORT MISSION ABORT FUCKING MISSION!
Door: Hee hee hee.

Luckily, a bit of brain actually kicked in and I had the sense to hurl a bowl under the door, catching about half of the water. And instantly did a towel dash and so soaked everything up pretty quickly and well. Then I ladeled out my sodden clothes, wondered if you can break dryers by putting in clothes that are too wet, decided to risk this as both my sets of work uniform were being washed (note to self, don't do that again!) and quietly whimpered as I realised that my adulthood had probably reached its limits.

Rang the parents but they were out, as is apparently the law when Disasters Happen (it turned out that they were having a mini disaster of their own, my aunt isn't very well.) Still, there probably isn't actually anything else they could have done - I did a google after getting rid of the water and there is a "check the drain" thing but my washing machine does not appear amenable to such a task. I guess one rings a plumber or an electrician or something? I probably do have to get a new one but it seems sensible to check if it's just, you know ... a glitch or a clog or something first ...?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Still, it could have all been a lot worse and hopefully nothing has been damaged (I keep thinking that my clothes will be horribly wrecked by all the drying, even though it seems unlikely) So it'll be fine! But bother anyway!

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/165057.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Fic: The Results of a Sleepless Night

2016-05-11T16:02:01Z

Title: The Results of a Sleepless Night
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Pairing: Alex Summers/Hank McCoy
Rating: R
Word Count: 2501
Content Notes: Ducious consent, pheromones, rough sex, knotting.
Summary: When Alex can't sleep, he tends to go wandering. He doesn't expect to find himself smelling something irresistible. And certainly didn't expect to end up having sex with Hank ...
Link: Here

This entry was originally posted at http://still-lycoris.dreamwidth.org/164747.html. If you want, you can comment there instead.

Captain America and Jane Eyre

2016-05-06T20:32:54Z

So this week, I to see Captain America: Civil War.

Ahhhhh, I really liked it! Which I wasn't totally expecting because well, I enjoyed the first two but they were mostly just okay for me and the action scenes were a bit "well ..." and Winter Soldier did not contain enough Bucky for its buck (someone's made that joke before right?) but I actually had a really, really fun time. Also, the battle scenes were better because there was a lot of "cool power display" which always makes me enjoy battles more and the big punching fight was all emotional so I was basically there going "AAAAAAAAH." at it. So this was all good. And of course, our longest fight contained Spiderman and Ant-Man and they were hilarious and beautiful and magnificent. And then Ant-Man was really big and Spiderman talked about "that really old film Empire Strikes Back" whereupon everyone just went "WHY?!" Beautiful. :)

I was pretty impressed with how they did the actual flesh of the movie - I could see Tony's POV and Steve's POV (and the actual answer probably lay somewhere between the two, yes, incredibly powerful beings do need moderating but at the same time, sometimes governments are super-wrong and sometimes, you do need to jump into superhero stuff.) (and everyone decided to shoot on sight with Bucky was appalling, somebody did need to go "Er, no." Likewise, all the prisons for these people are rubbish in ALL these films, someone give these people fucking BOOKS what's wrong with you?!) T'Challa was THE BIGGEST HYPOCRITE IN THE WORLD though. He came good in the end (and was pretty cool, I liked him) but woooow, seriously, the leap from "Yes, these people must be regulated it is good OMG YOU KILLED MY FATHER I'M FUCKING COOOOOOOOOOOMING." was a bit hilarious. Yes dude, well, you are kind of proving your own point right here so that's nice, I guess?

Lots of funny, funny moments and packed a good punch for me so I enjoyed it!

The other thing I have watched this week was the 2011 film of Jane Eyre which was much better than I expected it to be. In fact, my biggest criticism was that it was almost too faithful, it was so determined to hit all the important notes that everything happened bizarrely quickly because they had to amalgamate scenes and so Jane and Mr Rochester fall in love in about four seconds, as opposed to the much longer time in the book. Actually, if I had been them, I would have edited out Helen Burns entirely because she's very important in the book but filmwise, she's just kind of there and it doesn't mean very much. Better using that time to flesh out Jane and Mr Rochester a little more - or rounding up the ending because while they stopped in a perfectly reasonable place, I secretly feel that since they'd spent time building up the Jane and Adele connection, it was a bit rotten for us not to see her again at the end! Couldn't Mrs Fairfax have mentioned her or something?

But quibbles aside, the acting was great (and Michael Fassbender was really hot as Rochester, which was kind of embarrassing but aaaaaaaah beautiful, KISS HIM JANE!) They did really well with St John who is a knob but needs to be done right and they managed that. And they also handled Bertha Mason really well, they got that really nicely, I thought. And I liked the little addition they gave Mrs Fairfax, it rounded off her and Jane's relationship beautifully. It was just really rather good.

Although faint lol at them deciding to cut the fact that Jane was definitely not cousins with St John. Nope, nope nope. :)

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Fic: Opening New Doors

2016-05-05T20:13:37Z

Title: Opening New Doors
Fandom: X-Men: First Class
Rating: R
Pairing: Hank McCoy/Raven
Word Count: 3164
Content Notes: Accidental voyeurism, shapeshifting
Summary: After an accidental encounter with Charles and Erik, Raven and Hank both find themselves curious. Raven decides to act on it.
Link: Here

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