Shinigami's Lair

Been busy crafting... :)

2014-07-22T16:15:40Z

I have re-discovered my love for Polymer Clay. ^___^

Actually, never before have I worked so much with this material as now. I'm watching a lot of tutorials on YouTube and have also bought a few (those that I could afford). It's such an incredibly versatile material - and kind to my hands... :)

I've put my finished things up for sale in my Etsy Shop, so come on over and see whether there's anything there that you like. ^__^

Just to entice you, I'm sharing a few of my more recent things here...

Of course there's more in the shop. There are pendants, too. :) So just take your time and look around. :)

Selling Manga Collection Part 4

2014-06-05T18:39:35Z

See first post for info. // Siehe ersten Post für Infos.

English:

~~186-205: Death Note 1-11 - EUR 1,00 each/je // Complete set/Komplettes Set: EUR 9,00~~ RESERVED!/RESERVIERT!
206-208: Gundam- The Last Outpost - EUR 1,00 each/je
209: Saihoshi 1 - EUR 1,00
210: Saihoshi 2 - EUR 1,00
211: Surge - EUR 1,00
212: Anima - EUR 1,00
213: Cain 1 - EUR 1,00
214: Dark Prince 1 - EUR 1,00
215: Dark Prince 2 - EUR 1,00
216: Dark Prince 3 - EUR 1,00
217: Winter Demon 1 - EUR 1,00

Deutsch:

218-225: Yami no Matsuei 1-8 - EUR 0,50 each/je
226-231: Bleach 5-10 - EUR 1,00 each/je
232-234: Bleach 14-16 - EUR 1,00 each/je
RESERVED!/RESERVIERT!

235: Domicile 1 - EUR 2,00
236: lime law 1 - EUR 2,00
237: Paper Theatre 6 - EUR 1,50
238: Trigun 1 - EUR 2,00
239: Trigun 2 - EUR 2,00
240: Trigun Maximum 1 - EUR 2,00
241: Trigun Maximum 2 - EUR 2,00
242: Trigun Maximum 3 - EUR 2,00
243: Chiralty 1 - EUR 1,00
244: Chiralty 2 - EUR 1,00
245: Vampire Master 2 - EUR 1,00

246-249: New York New York 1-4 - EUR 1,00 each/je
250: Get Backers 1 - EUR 1,00
251: Get Backers 2 - EUR 1,00 Reserviert / Reserved!
252-256: Get Backers 7-11 - EUR 1,00 each/je
257: Naruto 1 - EUR 1,00
~~258-262: Naruto 2-6 - EUR 1,00 each/je~~ Reserviert/reserved!
263: Naruto 7-10 - EUR 1,00 each/je
267: Naruto 38 - EUR 1,00

English:

268: Prisoner of the Immortal - EUR 1,00
269: Dark Hunger - EUR 1,00
270: Desire of the Gods - EUR 1,00
271: Yaoi Hentai 1 - EUR 1,00
272: The Aluria Chronicles - EUR 1,00

English Novels:
273: Only The Ring Finger Knows - EUR 1,00
274: Don't Worry Mama - EUR 1,00
275: Paradise Lost - english Gundam Wing Doujinshi - EUR 2,00

Selling Manga Collection Post 3

2014-06-05T18:17:24Z

See first post for info. // Siehe ersten Post für Infos.

Japanese:

130: Naruto 40 - EUR 1,00
131: Naruto 38 - EUR 1,00
132: Naruto 39 - EUR 1,00
133: Naruto 41 - EUR 1,00 Reserved / Reserviert!
134: Conan 1 - EUR 1,00
135: Planetes 1 - EUR 1,00
136: Loveless 1 - EUR 1,00
137-141: Black Cat 1-6 - EUR 1,00 each/je

142-153: Silver Diamond 1-12 - EUR 1,00 each/je // Complete set: EUR 9,00
154: Koori no Mamono no Monogatari 1 - EUR 1,00
155: Koori no Mamono no Monogatari Gaiden - EUR 1,00

156: Ikoku Irokoi Romantan - EUR 1,00
157: Finder 3 - EUR 1,00

Japanese Novels:
158: Zodiac Stories - EUR 1,00
159: ? - EUR 1,00
160: Chiaki Kunou: Cadenza - EUR 1,00
161: Chiaki Kunou: Tightrope Dancer Stage 2 - EUR 1,00

*****

Deutsch:

162-167: Demon Diary 1-6 - EUR 1,00 each/je // Complete set/Komplettes Set: EUR 4,50
168-174: Ayashi No Ceres 1-7 - EUR 1,00 each/je // Complete set /Komplettes Set: EUR 5,50
175-181: Banana Fish 1-7 - EUR 1,00 each/je // Complete set / Komplettes Set: 5,50
182: Chonchu 7 - EUR 1,00
183: Rebirth 1 - EUR 1,00
184: Rebirth 2 - EUR 1,00
185: Trinity Blood 4 - EUR 1,00

Selling Manga Collection Part 2

2014-06-05T17:55:00Z

See first post for info. // Siehe ersten Post für mehr Infos.

Japanese:

65: Haru wo Airen 1 - EUR 1,00
66: Haru wo Airen 2 - EUR 1,00
67: Haru wo Airen 3 - EUR 1,00
68: Haru wo Airen 4 - EUR 1,00
69: Haru wo Airen 5 - EUR 1,00
70: Haru wo Airen 6 - EUR 1,00
71: Haru wo Airen 7 - EUR 1,00
72: Haru wo Airen 8 - EUR 1,00
73: Haru wo Airen 9 - EUR 1,00
74: Haru wo Airen 10 - EUR 1,00
75: Osakabe Mashin: Yokubou to Koi no Meguri 1 - EUR 1,00
76: Osakabe Mashin: Yokubou to Koi no Meguri 4 - EUR 1,00
77-84: Fire Emblem 1-8 - EUR 1,00 each/je
85-88: Trinity Blood 7-10 - EUR 1,00 each/je

Gundam Wing Manga Doujinshi
89-100: EUR 1,50 each/je

101: ? - EUR 1,00
102: ? - EUR 1,00
103: Enomoto Tsubaki: Hizamazuke! - EUR 1,00
104: Enomoto Tsubaki: Dangerous Magnum - EUR 1,00
105: ? - EUR 1,00
106: Gakuen Heaven 1 - EUR 1,00
105: Aya Yoshiki: ? - EUR 1,00
106: Kai Namase: ? - EUR 1,00
107: Bronze 12 - EUR 1,00
108: Bronze 13 - EUR 1,00
111-115: Gensosuikoden 1-5 - EUR 1,00

116: Boy's Anima 1 - EUR 2,50
117: Boy's Anima 2 - EUR 2,50
118: Boy's Anima 3 - EUR 2,50
119: Boy's Anima 4 - EUR 2,50
120: Boy's Anima 5 - EUR 2,50
121: Boy's Anima 6 - EUR 2,50
122: B's Anima 2 - EUR 2,50
123: B's Anima 3 - EUR 2,50
124: B's Anima 4 - EUR 2,50
126: B's Anima 5 - EUR 2,50
127: B's Anima 6 - EUR 2,50
128: B's Anima 8 - EUR 2,50
129: Zack x Angeal / Angeal x Zack only Manga Doujinshi: Hon no chotto to dake - EUR 5,00

Selling most of my manga collection // Verkaufe einen Grossteil meiner Mangasammlung

2014-06-05T17:14:39Z

Since I cleared out a lot of my mangas and other anime/manga related stuff, I have a lot of stuff that you might like to pick up... :)

I am listing the books by language, so that you can choose what you prefer to own/read. There will be several posts, because I have so much available. ^___^;;

All book prices are as listed (in EURO!), plus shipping. I will, of course, try to find the cheapest shipping for you, but I can't afford to ship free... sorry... ;__;

*****

Da ich den Großteil meiner Manga- und Animesammlung auflöse, habe ich ziemlich viel zum Verkaufen. :)

Ich liste die Bücher nach Sprachen, so dass man sich aussuchen kann, was man am liebsten hätte. Es wird mehrere Posts geben, da ich ziemlich viel aus meinen Regalen rausgeräumt habe. ^___^;;

Alle Preise sind so wie angegeben, zzgl. Porto. Ich versuche natürlich die günstigste Variante zu finden, kann aber leider nicht auf das Porto verzichten... sorry... ;__;

**********

Japanese

1: Youka Nitta: Otodama 1 - EUR 3,50
2: Youka Nitta: Otodama 2 - EUR 3,50
3: Corsair 1 - EUR 1,00
4: Corsair 2 - EUR 1,00
5: Futaba Aoi: PLATINA 1: Kimi wo Mamoru Ude - EUR 1,00
6: Futaba Aoi: PLATINA 2: Yakusoku no Basho - EUR 1,00
7: Yasashii Ryuu no Koroshikata 1 - EUR 1,00
8: Yasashii Ryuu no Koroshikata 2 - EUR 1,00
9: Yasashii Ryuu no Koroshikata 3 - EUR 1,00
10: Yasashii Ryuu no Koroshikata 4 - EUR 1,00
11: Yasashii Ryuu no Koroshikata 5 - EUR 1,00

12: BexBoy 6, 2005 - EUR 2,50
13: BexBoy 10, 2002 - EUR 2,50
14: Chara Selection 1, 2011 - EUR 2,50
15: Chara Selection 1, 2006 - EUR 2,50
16: Chara Selection 5, 2006 - EUR 2,50
17: BexBoy 10, 2002 - EUR 2,50
18: Lyx 10, 2004 - EUR 2,50
19: Junk!Boy 2005 - EUR 2,50
20: ZERO - EUR 2,50
21: Chara Selection 5,2005 - EUR 2,50
22: June 2, 2007 - EUR 2,50
23: Boy's Love! 12, 2004 - EUR 2,50
24: June 10, 2004 - EUR 2,50
25: Boy's Love 3, 2005 - EUR 2,50
26: DVD June - EUR 2,50

</a>

27: Complete set of Get Backers 1-22, incl. 2 extra Mangas: EUR 15,00
28: BexBoy 1, 2006 - EUR 2,50
29: BexBoy 4, 2005 - EUR 2,50
30: ? - EUR 1,00
31: All about J/J no Subete 1 - EUR 1,00
32: All about J/J no Subete 2 - EUR 1,00
33: All about J/J no Subete 3 - EUR 1,00
34: When I was Thirteen/Barairo no Hoo no Koro - EUR 1,00

Gundam Wing Doujinshi Mangas
35-49: EUR 1,50 each / je

Gundam Wing Doujinshi Mangas
50-64: EUR 1,50 each / je

New Products in my Etsy Shop!

2014-05-22T16:55:37Z

Hi all! :)

I've had a real bit of inspiration this week!

I've created something called 'Wuenschlis' (German: 'Wünschlis' - from 'wünschen' - wishing). They're meant to help you manifest wishes that you're sending out to the Universe (like in Law of Attraction, or 'The Secret').

The first set of Wuenschlis is done and in the shop. Click on the picture to get to the shop category, where you can see them separately. A complete explanation is given in the description! :)

Hope you like them! ^____^

Re-opening my Etsy Shop :)

2014-05-11T17:07:17Z

As some of you have already seen (on Facebook), I've re-opened my Etsy Shop.

Right now, most of what's in there are my fabric products. I'll be moving my polymer clay things over from DaWanda in the next few weeks (it's a bit of a slow process to re-write all the descriptions... ^^;; ). Then I'll close the DaWanda Shop, because it's just not getting enough traffic.

If you want to follow my shop on Facebook, you can do so here.

Look at some of the stuff I have online:

I would, of course, be very happy if you take a look (and maybe even find something you like... ^__^ ).

More to come...

Playing at carpentry

2014-01-31T13:54:33Z

For the last few weeks, I've been sharing my home office with my cat, Yuuki. The poor dear had great problems with her gums and couldn't eat, was getting sicker and sicker and the other cats picked on her something terrible. So I put her in my home-office, so she would have peace and quiet, especially after she'd had her gums treated at the vet clinic.

On the whole, I don't mind having a cat in my office, though the hairs and the little bits of cat litter all over the place aren't quite what I wanted. I don't mind it in the rest of the house, but so far my office had been spared. Oh well.

Nevertheless, this presented another problem: She loves to join me when I'm working, sprawling right across my entire desk, pushing all the (previously sorted) papers off to the floor, occupying the space usually taken up by my keyboard and so on.

I needed a new desk!

I had a definite idea of how large I wanted my desk to be, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. So I decided to build it myself. ^^;;

Went to the local home improvement store. Found that they didn't have boards the size that I wanted. So I bought two boards of each size, instead, along with small beams and lots of screws. ^^ At home, I placed the boards next to each other and joined them using the beams. Now I had one large piece and one small piece.

I primed both boards, because I wanted to paint them later and the boards were just raw wood.

After priming, I had to sand, of course.

Then I started the painting part.

First, the basic color:

Yes, that's pink. ^^

Two coats of each color, then came the ornamentation:

At last, a finishing coat of varnish:

Then I lugged it all upstairs, took apart my old desk and made room for the new. Of course, the new one needed legs first...:

And then I joined the two sections with flat metal connectors, adjusted the legs and put everything where it's supposed to be.

And that's what I have now in my office:

My very first, completely self built piece of furniture! It's not a very sophisticated piece of carpentry, but it's all mine! ^_____^

Spamming you today... ^^

2013-06-29T16:48:11Z

Before one of my best friends died at the end of February, she had been gifted a lap harp by her children, to accompany her while she spent her last weeks at the hospice.

After she'd passed on, one of her daughters received the harp, because she wanted to try her hand at it.

Last weekend, it was gifted to me, because she realized that the harp wasn't for her.

I confess that I've wanted a lap harp for a long time, and I would have much preferred to have my friend, rather than the harp. But since the harp has been passed on to me, I will treasure it and do my very best to learn how to play it - despite my arthritic fingers. The harp and I have already become aquainted a bit, and I'll be tuning her later today and working on the first finger exercises.

Doesn't have a name yet, but that will come... ^^

Time management is not happening... :)

2013-06-29T14:58:04Z

I was so hoping that I would have more time to post in my LJ, but it's not happening somehow. By the time I get home, do dinner, take care of stuff around the house and so on, it's almost time for bed.

*sigh*

I've also decided to reduce the communities that I've been a part of on LJ. I just don't have time to read through their posts, and most stuff just isn't interesting anymore. I've noted a strong shift away from manga and anime - mostly because it's starting to bore me. I've been a fan for over 35 years now, and there's not really much new coming out that I want to watch or read. I guess I'm getting old(er). ^^

Most of my time is spent in the office, as it should be. Since I commute, the evening hours have become very reduced. They only leave time for quick peeks at Facebook and a few fun pages like the Dragon Cave, but that's it. A bit of gaming, a bit of watching movies, and the day's done.

Do I mind?

Not really. I am sad that I'm no longer able to be as free with my time as I used to. But investing it into my future, instead, is where I want to be.

Took a few pics of flowers in my garden yesterday. We haven't had much of a summer (or spring, for that matter), so there isn't much blooming yet. Instead, we had floods the like of which haven't been seen in this country in a hundred years. Since I don't live near a river, I didn't have a problem, but lots of people that I know, did.

It's still cold and rainy. Temperatures in the fifties. Doesn't sound like summer, does it?

Makes me look forward to my Italy vacation even more this year.

But... here we go, a few flowers for you. :) Enjoy. :)

Today is the 97th of January, 2013

2013-04-07T21:57:51Z

What...?

You don't believe me?

First... my garden today:

This is a daffodil. It should have bloomed weeks ago:

And this is what is actually blooming today:

I've seen the sun once this month. That was two days ago, on Friday, for about three hours in the afternoon. I don't recall the last time before that.

The highest temperature we've had today was 5° C / 41° F. In the morning, there is ice in my water troughs.

The last warm spring day (and only one of two that we had all March) was on March 8th.

It snowed this morning.

We can expect to see the sun again on Monday, the 15th of April. For two days. I think I'll take those two days off, so that I can do nothing but sit in the sun. All day.

I am *sooo* tired of cold and grey and winter!

Can I move to the Bahamas? Now?

Please?

peeks around the corner

2013-02-18T20:32:44Z

Oh... Hi!

Ahem... yes... well... guess what?

It's been a long, strange road and it still isn't done.

Can you imagine that today was the first day that I've decided that I'm going to try to take back some control over my daily life?

Yupp. There it is. ^^

I've been doing nothing but working and working and just *reacting* to things for the last year.

I wake up early, run around like crazy, trying to get done in time to catch my train(s) to work. Then I work. All day. Without a break. I come home late, drop everything, make dinner, eat and by the time I'm done, the only thing I have energy left over for is playing a bit of WoW. Or reading. And then I fall into bed and the whole cycle starts again. Weekends have turned into cleaning-up-doing-laundry-sleeping-in days.

This is not the way to do things.

So here, now, today, I have decided to change this. Not the work part, that just needs to be done the way it is at the moment. But the private part. The part where I come home and *do* things that are good for me.

One of those things is losing weight, again. I've finally caved and joined Weight Watchers. My business partner has been doing the online program for a month now and she's really happy. And she's losing weight, doing it. Not fast, but steadily. And eating healthy at the same time. So I joined up. I'm doing it online, because that's a lot easier than trying to go to a group. I *don't* have time for groups.

And then I've decided that I would do one thing that isn't WoW every evening. Either something creative, or housework stuff, or doing my filing, or whatever. But something that requires more effort out of me than just turning on the computer and running around virtual worlds for hours.

I did the filing part this evening.

One of those things that I will be doing is checking into LJ again more often. Though I'm on Facebook most of the time now (not that I *post* anything there, but since we use it for business purposes, I have an account there) - you can find me here - I will be adding LJ to my open tabs at the office. I probably won't be posting any more often than so far, but I'll be *reading* again.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to catch up with all your posts, so if there's anything particular that you think I should read, just let me know.

I have more to share - and will in the next few days - but I have to get it sorted in my head, first. :)

I missed you all... *HUGS*

Keeping you in my thoughts...

2012-10-29T15:55:29Z

To all on my FList who are, have been, or will be affected by the storm, stay safe! I will keep you all in my thoughts!

*HUG*

One goes, the other comes...

2012-10-23T18:35:12Z

I know I never posted this, but in July my oldest and dearest cat, Eule, was hit and killed right out on the main road passing by our house. It happened about 5 or 10 minutes before I got home, because everything was still... fresh.

As you can imagine, that hit me pretty hard. She'd been a very special character and I loved her very much. Not, that I don't love the other ones, too, but occasionally you have one that you're just closer to.

And it seems that life insists on my having four, instead of three, cats. ^^

So when I drove from our office to the next town to look at a trailer that we might buy for our trips to cons and book fairs, I lost my way. It's not really far, but I needed to go to a small village that was beyond the town and I'd decided to go around to avoid traffic. And kind of got a bit sidetracked out there in the countryside.

I was driving and driving and you know how it is: too much coffee, too much tea... nature calls at some point in time. I finally found a spot to pull over and parked. There was the Amper canal (from the river that flows through the town where we work), lots of bushes and grass, just perfect to disappear behind for a moment. It was pouring rain like the flood was coming again, but I didn't have a choice. So I hopped out and ran behind the bushes and did my thing.

Suddenly there was this "meep". A very high and very lost and very *plaintive* "meep". It switched to "meep, eep, eep, meep" as I climbed up the banks of the canal again.

So I went searching. I didn't see anything, just heard the crying. I finally crouched down and dug into the underbrush and there, shivering and crying was a tiny black cat. Her eyes and nose were all gummed up, she was wet all through and just fit into my hand.

Yes, you can guess what happened next... ^___^

I took her to the trailer place, walked in and asked the ladies at the reception desk whether they would be so kind as to help me out with a carton, while I talked with their sales rep. By the time I picked up the little stray from the front desk again, she was all snug in a big carton, filled with soft paper towels. ^^ On the drive back to the office, I stopped off at a pet store and picked up everything that might be useful for a little cat like that.

In the office, we fed her some of the milk and kitten food, which she already tried to eat. Then, on my way back home, I made a detour to the vet clinic.

To be honest, the vet didn't believe that she had a chance. She had cat flu, was totally infested with fly eggs, underweight and chilled all the way through.

Then again, he didn't count on our determination to prove him wrong. ^^ Thank the Gods that this had been a Friday, and we had all weekend to pamper her. And Cilli still had vacation, so she could take over on Monday, when I had to get back to work.

So here she was, having her first dinner:

Several more trips to the vet, lots of good food and now... we can has cat:

She's become our Emmily-Joy:

^____^

The one eye is going to remain damaged. It's like a film over the pupil, but the eye itself is functional. I guess she has some impaired vision, but she does react to movement and light and shadow. So all in all, one happy and growing kitty...

^_____^

Short original fic...

2012-10-11T19:53:27Z

I'd asked an artist over on DA to do a commission for me. It was just a scene that had suddenly popped into my mind.

She did the commission, and it came out *perfect*! (Go look at it here...) ^^

As sometimes happens with these things, it didn't leave me alone. Instead, the scene insisted on actually being written out.

Now, I've gotten *terribly* out of the habit of writing... So this might be a little... bumpy, where the writing's concerned.

No warnings.

*************

You should have listened to me...

He had to get away! Only three more blocks! His boys should be waiting there with the back-up car. All he had to do was to get there.
Tossing several strands of long, sweat-soaked black hair out of his eyes, he stumbled on. His side throbbed and burned, the pain spreading down into his leg. He gritted his teeth and pressed his hand harder over the bleeding gunshot-wound.
Just this alley, and he was almost free. Something clanked and bounced away, as he staggered on. Only three more blocks! He could make it, he just knew it! He spared a tiny thought of gratitude for his hired muscle, shooting it out with the FBI back in the warehouse by the river. They would keep the feds off him long enough to -
„You should have listened to me."
Giuliano jerked around, putting his back to the brick wall. He threw out one hand to steady himself, leaving smears of blood on the brick. A new wave of pain almost brought him to his knees. The edges of the bricks scraped against his back as he used the wall to hold him up. Dizzyness grayed out his vision for a moment. He shook his head lightly to clear it, which only made him dizzier. He was losing too much blood.
"I tried to warn you, but you just wouldn't listen."
Damn! Why now? Why here? Giuliano pressed his right hand against his side. It didn't really help. His silk dress shirt was soaked through, the blood hot under his palm. He'd made it this far. Why did his luck have to run out now? For a moment, he closed his eyes, letting the pain in his side and in his heart wash over him.
The scuff of leather soles on concrete alerted him that he was no longer alone. He opened his eyes and his heart constricted even tighter. Right in front of him, looking as handsome and delicious as ever, stood Lars.
But instead of his mechanic's overall he was wearing tight designer jeans, a white T-shirt that hugged his toned torso, and elegant beige leather shoes. A far cry from the supposedly naïve car mechanic that Giuliano had taken into his home and into his heart. But even more jarring was the black shoulder holster and the sleek automatic that Lars pointed unwaveringly at Giuliano.
Understanding dawned. And with it, hate and anger.
"You betrayed me," Giuliano hissed. He looked up, locking eyes with the man who was suddenly his enemy. Lars' clear, hazel eyes were half shuttered, his expression one of regret. For a moment, Giuliano even thought to see pain in them.
Suddenly, a lot of little things that Giuliano had ignored before, made a horrible kind of sense. "How could you betray me, after all I did for you?" He hitched himself a bit higher against the wall, wincing as his dress shirt pulled at the still bleeding wound.
"I'm sorry…," Lars answered softly. "It's my job. I tried to warn you. Why didn't you listen?" Lars's heavy black automatic never wavered from where it was pointed straight at Giuliano's heart.
"So. You belong to those FBI dogs? I never would have thought you'd stoop that low."
"No." Lars shook his head in denial, opening his left hand. Something gold and blue glinted there. A badge, but not one that Giuliano was familiar with. "No. I am an agent of Interpol."
"Interpol?" Giuliano's blue eyes widened in surprise. What did Interpol have to do with…? Oh, the ivory smuggling. Yes, he remembered Lars warning him off that venture.
"Yes. We've been investigating you for a long time. It's…" Lars hesitated, his gaze flickering to the side, as if in embarrassment. "We needed to get close to you. This," and he waved vaguely at Giuliano and himself, "was the only way."
"So you lied your way into my home. Wormed your way into my heart. Gave me your body and lulled me with your words of love. Traditore!" He spat on the floor between them, wincing when the slight movement pulled against his wound. He could feel even more blood seep through his fingers. If he didn't finish this soon, he would faint from blood-loss. Wouldn't that be ironic? Giuliano Ferrara, heir to an old and powerful Mafia family, bleeding out on the floor of a dirty alley, because his lover had betrayed him? Had all the makings of a soap opera. Giuliano chuckled darkly.
"So now what? You're going to arrest me? Have them lock me away forever? Maybe even get me a death sentence? Will you watch, when they fry me?" Every word was a blow aimed at Lars.
"Don't…" Lars' eyelids fluttered as if Giuliano had struck him physically. "Don't be like that, Giulio…"
"Stop! You don't deserve to call me that anymore! That was for the man who loved me, not the man who betrayed me!"
"I… I'm sorry, Giulio – Giuliano. I had no choice." For a moment, Lars closed his eyes, trying to push down the pain threatening to break his heart. Yes, he had betrayed the man that he loved. But there had really been no choice. He was Interpol. It was what he was. More than just a job, it was his vocation. Even if this vocation threatened to tear the only person he'd ever loved as deeply as Giuliano, from him.
The scrape of shoes on concrete pulled him out of his musing. Immediately, he raised his gun again and pointed it at the Italian.
"There's always a choice," Giuliano said, straightening up slowly. "You just made the wrong one."
"I'm sorry. I have to take you in. You know that." Lars shoved his badge into his back pocket, pulling out a set of plastic binders. "Turn around, hands on your head."
"Or what? You're going to shoot me?" Giuliano said, mockingly.
"I already did." Lars admitted.
"What?"
"I was the one that shot you," Lars said, his voice trembling with suppressed pain. "I wanted you out of the action right away. To make sure nothing happened to you."
"And you thought shooting me was the only way to do that?" Giuliano's voice cracked slightly with disbelief. Not only had Lars betrayed him, he'd had the audacity to shoot him!
"I don't think you would have responded to a polite request." Anger and frustration seeped into Lars' voice. "Dammit! Don't make this any harder! Let me take you in. You need a doctor. They'll make sure you get one. Please…." Lars reached out to Giuliano. His gun never wavered, but the hand with the plastic ties trembled slightly.
"You're too trusting, you know," Giuliano said, his voice very quiet.
"What…?
The sound of the shot wasn't very loud, but in the closeness of the alley it sounded like a small explosion. A small spot of red appeared on Lars' chest, rapidly spreading across the front of his white T-Shirt.
Lars grunted, then looked down at his chest. Then he looked up again at Giuliano, disbelief and surprise in his eyes. Fingers opened and the gun dropped to the ground, bouncing once. Slowly, Lars folded. There was no other way to describe it. First to his knees and then, not even holding out a hand to slow him down, his upper body. He landed on a pile of old newspapers that immediately began to turn red.
Giuliano watched Lars fall. He tried to tell himself that the pain in his chest was only the bullet wound, but he knew better.
"Sir, we have to leave! The FBI isn't far behind!" A large man, dressed impeccably in a black suit and tie, holding a automatic down by his side, stepped out of the shadows behind the fallen Interpol agent.
"Luigi! You came just at the right moment!" Giuliano pushed away from the wall. He crouched down painfully next to Lars. "Pity I couldn't pull the trigger myself. This is better than you deserve, Traditore! A quick death. Had I known earlier, I would have made you suffer a long, long time."
"Giul…" Lars breathed, struggling to hold on long enough to let the man he loved know just how much. And how much he was sorry that it had to come to this. But the words refused to come and his outstretched hand only twitched. Heat was leeching out of him, making him shiver.
Giuliano saw. But he refused to acknowledge Lars' efforts. Instead, he hardened his own heart, thrusting away all memories of love and sex and making himself see only the traitor.
"Farewell, Traditore," he whispered, relishing the pain and remorse on Lars' face like it was the finest Montepulciano. If only he wasn't in danger of bleeding out. He would have loved to watch the light fade from Lars' eyes. Instead, Giuliano reached out to Luigi with one blood-stained hand. The big man helped his boss to stand. Looking down one last time at his dying lover, Giuliano smiled. Then he turned and limped away, leaning on his henchman.
Behind him, on the cold alley floor, Lars' eyes began to close.

Simone in Dirndl ^^

2012-10-02T12:41:11Z

In case you ever wondered what I look like in a traditional Dirndl , here you go:

And no, I didn't buy it to wear to the Oktoberfest. I avoid that event like I'd avoid a plague of locusts mixed with vitriol.

It was time for me to finally own one. I haven't had one since I was a child and since we had an event in July where it just *fit* for us to show up in Dirndl (all three of us ladies who manned the booth at the convention), I finally bought one. It's a long one, as befitting my age and station. ;P

Please ignore the fact that I'm not wearing shoes - I just wanted to show off my newest possession. ^^

I'm still alive...

2012-08-30T19:28:25Z

... and I can't believe that my last post was back in February.

O_o

By the Gods! Where did the TIME go? >.>

It's like... it just got sucked into this huge, black hole. Never to be seen again.

*sigh*

I confess, I've been very, very busy. Finally getting an office for the company has proven to be an interesting experience. We're still learning to switch our thinking from the "I" to the "we". My business partner and I simply spent too many years working out of our homes, alone, to be able to slide into a smoothly working whole with ease. Especially, since we've added our first employee just in the middle of July. And then we had one of our big conventions. And then I went on vacation.

Somehow, there just hasn't been time to think, to reflect, to start setting up routines and work patterns. We've just been reacting and running full out. More or less.

We have one more *big* anime convention coming up in two weeks, and then fall is upon us. And with it, time to finally get down to working out all the kinks and nitty gritty details that running and working within a team environment entail.

One thing that's been cutting *terribly* into my free time is the commute. I confess that I'd underestimated just how much time is lost when commuting by train. On the other hand, gasoline prices have gone up to almost $ 8 for a gallon (or $ 2,10 for a liter) of lead free gas, so taking the train is *definitely* the only alternative. However, it means that I'm often not home until 8pm, or even later. And by then I'm too tired to still do much stuff on the computer.

So LJ has borne the brunt of my loss of free time. Though, just so you all don't feel *too* slighted, WoW hasn't fared much better... ^^;;

I *AM* on Facebook almost every day, since I use it for work - so if you want to hook up with me there, feel free to do so: Raven's Facebook page

There's also no way that I can catch up on all your posts, so if there's something that you think I should know or see, please drop me a line...

So. I'm still here. Still alive. Still working my butt off. ^___^

And missing you all....

About to embark on a bit of a computer adventure...

2012-02-18T09:49:05Z

I bought a new hard disk drive for my computer. It's an SSD and I want to have my operating system and the main programs on it, because it works faster and is more effective.

But...

I don't want to reinstall everything because... Ye Gods! All the programs! All the settings! All the little stuff that makes my computer, *my* computer.

So I'm going to try something I've never done before.

I'm going to *migrate* my entire C: to the new SSD. O.O

I checked out several migration programs and have finally decided on one: Paragon Migrate OS to SSD
Before I start migration, I'm going to make an image of my system partition and burn a rescue disk. And then I'm going to do this...

Wish me luck!

If I don't show up again, then my computer blew up... ^^;;;

Oh, look! My Valentine's Day eggs hatched! ^___^

Thank you!

2012-02-16T22:17:34Z

Thank you so much, merith, for the lovely glass heart! It really brightened my day!

*HUG*

The trains, the trains...

2012-02-15T19:36:44Z

I never realized just how *interesting* it would be to commute by train. ^^

This morning, we had one hell of a snowstorm. Only made it to the train station by driving more or less at walking speeds. Snow everywhere, with large drifts right across the road.

So, of course, the entire train system breaks down. I get to the station, park my car, then fight my way to the platform through the wind and there I read: "trains delayed up to 80 minutes". O.o 80 minutes? Okaaay... However, since today I'm attired in proper winter wear (thick thermal trousers over my normal ones, my thick down coat, gloves, boots and woolen hat), I wander on through to my platform. I was just thinking that I'd see what I could see.

And what I saw was a sign saying that a train heading for Munich was supposed to show up soon. So I waited.

Then the train came in, almost at the time that my usual train arrives. I get on, after making sure that it stops at my change-over point. I say to the conductor, oh, it's great that you're so on time. And he says, sorry, we're not the 8:52 train, we're the *7:52* train! >.> It was an hour late... It seems that my regular train hadn't even left it's starting point yet.

I didn't mind. It got me to work on time. ^^

Returning home in the evening went better. There are still some delays, but only 5-10 minutes or so...

Hm... I think I need a snow/train icon now... ^^

Dragons... ^__^

2012-02-14T13:12:37Z

I've managed to snag one of the new Valentine's eggs. ^___^

Here are my lovelies, please give them some love...

(being silly here, I know...)

Passing it on...

2012-02-13T20:34:28Z

Originally posted by rsasai at Do me a favor?

There is this poll, you see. I know a lot of you guys aren't Supernatural fans, but this is something I'm hoping you guys would be willing to help us with.

Supernatural has this pairing, called Destiel. The two main characters are Dean and Castiel. Not to give too much away, it's an angel and a hunter who really do love each other, even if it's not said out loud. They're passionate and they save the world. Needless to say, it's beautiful. Their relationship with one another tears at your heartstrings.

We're in a poll online right now, against the Glee fandom. While I've had really bad experiences with the Glee fandom, this takes the cake. The original poll was pulled down because the Glee fandom cheated (There are links all over tumblr with proof) and they've only just recently put it back up.

I know most of you follow me because of Final Fantasy VII. But the Supernatural fandom deserves to win this and with the rampant cheating that went on with this earlier, it's hard to think they won't do it again. That's why I'm asking you to take an hour, a half hour, fifteen minutes, anything, to vote for Dean/Castiel. This mostly has to do with proving that M/M relationships are accepted by fandom and that being passionate doesn't mean you need to cheat to win.

As most of you guys write or read m/m fiction, you know the stigma against it. How admitting that you write slash is some sort of stain against you as a person. While we're against another slash ship (this one being Faberry (two girl) from Glee) M/M writing has always been considered less good, less important, less canon. We're not fighting to make it canon, we're fighting to at least get the same amount of respect as all other fandoms and ships.

If you could spread this around your livejournal, do a little voting, we would really appreciate it. Not just the Supernatural fandom, but all slash/yaoi writers. We can use this to prove to the entertainment industry that homosexuality in television is okay, that men who have profound bonds with other men won't be completely rejected.

http://www.eonline.com/news/watch_with_kristin/tvs_top_couples_tournament_vote_winner/293863?

Long time, no see...

2012-02-12T17:15:58Z

Most of my posts lately seem to be of the "yes, I'm still alive" variety. >.>

I never thought that finally getting my company moved into new offices would mean such a huge reduction of my free time...

See, so far I'd been working out of my own home. That has advantages: refridgerator not too far away, nice comfy blankets to wrap up in when it's cold, cats to pet, time to do the laundry in between writing letters and so on.

Now I commute.

That's... taking some time to get used to.

I take the train now. Not the subway, but the regular overland train. After doing comparing the costs of using the car and taking the train, I decided to go for the public transportation version.

In winter.

So far, I've missed several trains, spent hours waiting on freezing platforms for trains that are late and actually forgot to switch trains once, because I was reading. And I'm not as flexible, time-wise, as I would be if I went by car. On the other hand, I've avoided all sorts of pile-ups on the highway, that happened because of the weather. And even if I'm dead tired from work, I don't have to worry about driving safely - the trains do that for me. So I guess it's been a positive experience so far.

As to why we moved? Well, my partner and I finally wanted an office where we worked *together*, rather than out of our respective homes, separated by a distance of 80 km. So we picked a place that's almost exactly half way between her place and mine. And we both commute. Now we have a two-room office where one room is the actuall office and the other is our store room. Which is already becoming too small, since we received the first of several book deliveries last week. We'll probably have to look into booking some self-storage space in the area soon.

It's certainly a change of pace to get up and go to work every day, after spending years at home. ^^ I don't mind (not really...). Actually, it's really nice to be working together with someone, rather than always on my own. And it gets me out of the house, which is good, too. ^^ I'm convinced that we're a lot more efficient, now that we work out of the same office.

On the home front, I've managed to catch a cold. All that standing around on drafty platforms, I think. I'm not used to that, yet. Currently I'm coughing to rival my chain-smoking mother, but it'll pass. I just can't seem to put on enough clothes to actually stay warm. I think I'm going to invest in some heavy thermal underwear soon. You know, the type they use when they explore the north pole, or something like that. >.<

I think the biggest change is really the lack of time. I haven't quite adjusted the rest of my life around the fact that I'm out of the house most of the day, lately. Since I also still do my tutoring twice a week, my schedule's even more cramped. Or maybe it's the winter. It's still dark by the time I get home, so it feels like there's nothing left of the day. But I'll get it worked out... ^^

So that's it in a nutshell.

As you can see, I've picked up a few new dragon's eggs. I'm especially happy about the valentine's one, so if you would be so kind as to give them some loving attention by clicking on them, I'd be much obliged. ^__^

Interesting LJ post...

2012-01-29T23:15:29Z

On piracy and copyright and file sharing and free speech by Juliet E McKenna

For more information on ACTA...

2012-01-27T15:34:11Z

Originally posted by electricdruid at The fiasco continues

ACTA in a Nutshell –

What is ACTA? ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.

Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”

What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.

Essential ACTA Resources -

Read more about ACTA here: ACTA Fact Sheet
Read the authentic version of the ACTA text as of 15 April 2011, as finalized by participating countries here: ACTA Finalized Text
Follow the history of the treaty’s formation here: ACTA history
Read letters from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wherein he challenges the constitutionality of ACTA: Letter 1 | Letter 2 | Read the Administration’s Response to Wyden’s First Letter here: Response
Watch a short informative video on ACTA: ACTA Video
Watch a lulzy video on ACTA: Lulzy Video

Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA.

Via Tumblr