"This is your universe. This, is your universe on wormholes." - John Crichton

SGA Reverse Bang 2016

rinkafic — Mon, 02 May 2016 01:06:35 GMT

Title: Earning Wings
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Characters: John Sheppard, Rodney McKay, Evan Lorne, OFC Celia
Pairing: Sheppard/McKay - Bromance - if you squint
Word Count: 14,586
Rating: Gen
‘Verse: AU Angel Verse

Challenge: SGA Reversebang 2016 - Based on artwork by theeverdream. I took liberties, dropping Sheppard into my not so AU Angel ‘verse

Story too big for LJ, posted to A03: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6720829
Link to the full sized art by theeverdream: http://archiveofourown.org/works/6606322

Stuff

rinkafic — Sun, 03 Apr 2016 03:37:57 GMT

So, things were good, for about a month. Got a job, then lost the job, for reasons I am still uncertain of. Theories run from:
1) Manager never wanted a person there in the first place, wanted to job herself but HR said "Nay, Nay."
2) It was a union shop, people found out I was non-union, and a fuckus was raised.
3) Manager figured out I could DO her f'ing job, given another 2 months of on the job training.

The wimpy ass excuse given was that my Excel skills were not up to the manager's standards. (I made 1 mistake, pasted a column in the wrong place, which I caught and asked for an assist correcting before making it worse) I had received no other feedback, direction or correction, in an entire month. So, yeah, my presence was not desired.

So, yeah, job hunting again, with no unemployment.

Finished my Reverse Bang story! Yay, Rinx! 14k of McShep. McShep, GEN.

As of this week, I am still doing well with full time school. I'm at 100 average in Computer (Oh, wait, isn't that the EXCEL f'ing class I'm taking, BitchManager?) 98 in Accounting, 94 in Economics and 90 in Statistics. I expect that to change with the next round of tests this week, but for this brief, shining moment, yes, I have an A average, damn it!

Went to the Museum of Natural History today. I saw DumDum, and Bronze Outside Teddy and the T-Rex. Cool exhibit about Dinosaurs evolving into birds. Spent time with my friend that lives 9 hours away in Virginia now.

Hello out there, if anyone is still there.

rinkafic — Mon, 29 Feb 2016 03:24:03 GMT

Wow, you know it's been a while when the date on the post you stuck to the top of your journal has passed and it is no longer the first post anymore. (Change that to a later date, self)

All is going okay. I say okay in order to not jinx it.

IRL: I have found a new job, which after my first week I am happy with. So far, it seems very much like my old job used to be, back when I loved what I was doing, for that ever-so-brief period before everything went to hell in a handbasket. I'm a staff accountant for an appliance buying co-op. So far, so good, a slight pay cut, but I was honestly overpaid before, and the benefits at the new place more than make up the difference. Medical/dental/optical and 401k matching. Whoot!

The dog is well. I have a hyper-needy, clingy loving pitbull on my hands, uhm lap, most of the time.

I'm back to school full time, I love accounting, tolerate business computer, muddle through economics and I'm in a tailspin over statistics. I hate the maths, my precious, I hates it.
And then God made math, and Satan laughed and added the alphabet to it.

WRITING: I've nearly finished my Reverse Bang Story. Yay!
A few surprises:
It is Gen \0/
It is McShep
It is McShep canon bromance - thus far, I'm only 9,300 words in.

The good news is that the process of researching my own 'verse for this particular story (and yes, it is set in one of my other 'verses that does not currently have a McShep storyline contained within) is that I got writing again. Then once I had to throw Lorne in there, I felt this need to revisit the 'verse and see whatsup wit my boyz there.

So that's where I'm at. Things are on the upswing. My benefits kick in soon, and I wonder how life will improve when I'm back on my meds and can sleep through the night?

My Muses Died.

rinkafic — Fri, 08 Jan 2016 06:12:36 GMT

*flails*

Having many issues. During which, my muses either died or deserted me.

Nanowrimo came and ppfffttt, nada, zilch, nothing. I ended up reworking an old story just to have something to do in November. I am not proud of this.

New year, new starts.

I'm currently unemployed. January 22nd, I am going back to college, full-time. I have a Bachelor's in History, which is doing me little good in my job hunt. I plan to get a Bachelor's in Accounting now. I need 21 more classes to do so, I just need to take the required stuff for the major. *sigh*

I'm scared shitless, I have not taken a math class since 1984, and I have to start with college algebra. I foresee tutors.

I have an idea for the Stargate Reverse Bang, so I'm going to try to force some muses to work between now and January 21st. Ha! (Public humiliation of muses commences, please laugh and point at them)

Hurt Comfort Bingo

rinkafic — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 00:56:09 GMT

deadline / time bomb	cursed	orphans	rape / non-con	hugs
loss of hearing	accept injury to protect someone	job-related trauma	counseling	cuddling
tyranny / rebellion	toothache	WILD CARD	phobias	taking care of somebody
electrocution	witch hunt	food poisoning	confession in desperate situation	estrangement
suicide attempt	fighting	healers	rejection	bullet wounds

I Am, Actually, Alive

rinkafic — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 16:02:59 GMT

Hello to anyone still out there.

I have not written a word since the last Reverse bang in 2014. While the body lives, the muses are still in stasis. What I did attempt to write was so dark and morbid, I couldn't continue.

Long story short, in April of 2013, my boss was indicted for defrauding the banks of 90 million dollars, he got 30 years. Since then, I have been sitting at my desk every day, collecting a dwindling paycheck, as the company was forced into bankruptcy and slowly dismantled around us.

We never thought we would still be here over 2 years later. I was holding out for a severence package, but it ain't happening. I also still had my benefits, but that ends August 30th, so, out the door I finally go, taking a layoff. I already feel lighter of spirit. Without the insurance, I'll make more money sitting home on unemployment, and there will no longer be people cussing me out and screaming at me for things that are not my fault and that I cannot do anything about.

My hope is that once I get my head together, the muses will wake once again. I'm going to force the issue and do the SGAReverseBang this year. I also want to continue Broken!John. And perhaps a little trip into Keri, to check in there.

We (Mom, brother and I) have a rescue fur child that we adopted at Thanksgiving. Her unconditional love has kept me going through some extremely Dark Days. I love my pitbull, Pepper.

Don't Hate the Rain - SGAReverseBang

rinkafic — Sat, 31 May 2014 02:12:29 GMT

Title: Don’t Hate the Rain

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis

Characters/ Pairing: Lorne/Parrish, Sheppard, Stackhouse, Cadman

Rating: PG

Warnings: None

Word Count: 10,728

Based on the lovely artwork by my friend Calcitrix. I know I speak for us both when I say that we dedicate this story and art to our dear friend, Claire, CLWilson2006, who sadly passed in February 2014. She will be missed. I've lost a muse. Here we go with one more Botanist story for Claire.

Too big for LJ, posted to Dreamwidth and A03

Title: Rain

Medium(s): Digital Drawing

Rating: G

Character(s) and/or pairing(s): Lorne/Parrish

Warning(s): none

Preferences: gen or slash

Notes: I thought of Claire (clwilson2006), as always, when drawing Lorne and Parrish. She inspired me not only in fandom, but to be a better person (except in Mafia), and I miss her.

For a fuller experience, open www.rainymood.com in a separate tab.

Link to full sized artwork

Requiem

rinkafic — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 16:45:34 GMT

I joke that I have muses, personified, named and mocked constantly.

Yesterday I learned that I have lost one of my living muses.

Rest in Peace, clwilson2006. Your pain and illness are over, and now there shall be a hole in the world where you were.

The large majority of my Stargate fanfiction is due to Claire, and in many cases, written by her command [insert sad smile] I ship Lorne/Parrish entirely because of her influence.

Since learning of her passing, the constant thought that passes through my mind is; the botanist is gone. I am so sad.

My thoughts and prayers are for her family, the ones left behind that will not have her in their daily lives.

Dragon*Con, Anyone?

rinkafic — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 02:50:51 GMT

It looks like I've got a whole extra bed at the Airport Hilton, not a con hotel, but it is an overflow with shuttle service.

If anyone is looking to share a room, last minute obviously, PM me.

ChiCon Photos

rinkafic — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 02:07:50 GMT

Here's some of the pictures I took. I was having issues with the camera, again. I miss my old SLR manual.

1st, a doodle by calcitrix ... Kavan Smith cancelled:

Cabaret:
Gary Jones

Alex Zahara and Dan Payne

Alexis Cruz

Torri

Alex & Dan

Technical difficulties with mics
Fuzzy pic, but I couldn't ditch this one:

Kate got an assist from Dan Payne reading her play:

Then he jumped on the question line to ask her a question

Weird double exposure on this, but I liked Kate's expression:

Gary Jones

ChiCon PhotoOps

rinkafic — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 00:36:33 GMT

Spamming here. Some of the PhotoOps

Project Time

rinkafic — Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:23:42 GMT

I hauled out the scrapbook stuff and started putting together my "Con Book" - all the photos I have from conventions and photo-ops and autographs.

I've been immersed in paper, paper scraps and photos for the past week. My dining room looks like a paper factory exploded!

My goal is to get the photos I have done before I head to Chicago in two weeks and get more. :) I'm making good headway. I worked on Ben Browder last night, I think tonight I'll tackle Jamie Bamber and Jason Momoa. Teeheehee. I like that sentence.

Before I knew I was going to be unemployed, I purchased a die cut machine (Cricut) to do lettering, because of my OCD, I need all the lettering in any particular book to be consistent, or it makes me nuts. I'd started cutting out letters at a scrapbook crop I went to, which is how I found out about this machine. I've run out of the names I cut out already, and need to get this thing set up so I can continue on in my consistent pattern of unhealthy obsessive behavior. That's tonight's project.

When I get done, I'll take pictures of some of the pages and post them, because I can use the scrapbook as a fill for the pictures prompt on my kink bingo card - yes, I broke down and requested one.

Mondays Suck

rinkafic — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 15:02:14 GMT

Ok, here we go, a little Muse-bait:

I have the urge to go play with Broken!John for a bit.

trust issues	therapy	job-related trauma	substance addiction	slaves
sensory deprivation	torture	time travel gone wrong	sacrifice	bruises
abandonment issues	lost childhood	WILD CARD	homesickness	loss of home / shelter
humiliation	fighting	self-harm	moving	group support
culture shock	falsely imprisoned	head trauma	motion sickness	falling

Camp Nano Magor - Chapter 4 - The Spell

rinkafic — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 21:30:45 GMT

First Draft - 4955 words

It was not long before Celila had settled into the routine of the house. She learned quickly. Tev was not an easy teacher; he gave an abundance of reading assignments and he expected full attention and retention. He was fair with his lessons and he always made sure that Lila understood everything before moving on to the next. Not once had he ever made Lila feel inadequate or belittled her for coming into this, Tev’ s world, as a grown woman rather than a prepubescent child, as was the norm. Nor was she treated as a poor relation, she was simply another person living under the roof, with the freedom to do as she chose, for the most part.

Unable to live with the complete mess the rest of the house was in, Lila set herself to cleaning it, little by little. The Magor had not asked her to do so, she did it for her own peace of mind. In the process, she found quite a few things that had ‘gone missing’ in the past - much to Tev’s delight. She was allowed to keep a very fine jewel-crusted wand that had been misplaced and subsequently replaced by the Magor years earlier, Tev was unsure of how long it had been. The rare smiles from her Master were a treat, and encouraged Lila to continue surprising him. Sometimes the most innocent things Lila found, for instance, a half-knitted scarf - still on the needle - made her Master practically giddy. As a reward for finding that, Tev presented Lila with a different scarf. As usual, Tev didn’t explain anything about the scarves. Knowing there was probably something behind it since the scarf had the slight tingle of magic about it, Lila folded the gift and placed it in the trunk in her room to save for the coming winter. Winters were long and cold, the scarf would be welcome.

Tev pronounced her perfectly capable of controlling her abilities and warding herself within the first moon she was there. He rolled his eyes and snorted when she confided her fears that she would have to be stripped of her abilities. He patted her arm and told her she was the best apprentice he had trained in centuries. He didn’t bother to tell her she was the only one he had trained in centuries.

The summer passed quickly, and by the time the mild Autumn Storms were nearly upon them, Lila was adept enough to reinforce the trees around the house. She worked diligently to strengthen the branches to withstand the worst of the winds. Learning control and warding had been a chore. Exploring her element, learning what she could do with Earth magic was a joy.

Using her newfound magic, she coaxed a late crop of summer squash and a field of grain to bloom. Her happiest accomplishment was when she was able to ‘push’ a nearby fallow orchard and gain them a late season harvest of apples and pears, which now filled the corners of the cellars. Her magical efforts helped provide them with an abundant stock of food for the winter. Lila had a good hand in the kitchen, and was able to put up preserves enough to last a long time, without using magic. She had, unfortunately, tasted some of Tev’s magically preserved foodstuffs; and she had no intention of surviving on her Master’s cooking all winter.

Tev allowed her to take a cart to the market and trade the late harvest crops for meat that could be cured and stored for the cold season to come, as well as some new, badly needed robes and under clothing for them both. She traded apples for molasses and honey, pears for salt and spices. The villagers of Hilldown were polite and kind to her, going to the market was nothing like it had been back home. An old woman that was trading woolen goods called her over to her stand and went through a stack of folded shawls, coming over to her with a soft, fuzzy scarf made of a lambswool that had been dyed bright green. Lila tried to decline buying it, for it was a luxury she did not feel comfortable spending Tev’s coin upon, and she had nothing left to trade. The old woman smiled and pressed it into her hands, insisting it was a gift and Lila should have it because the green matched her eyes. She returned from her marketing with a light heart.

She learned very early on that Tev would often work through meals. He became quite single minded about his work and if she did not interrupt him, he would only stop when he ran out of ink, needed a new quill or needed more paper. At that point, he would look up and around, blinking as if coming out of a daze. At first, Lila waited for him to stop before suggesting that it was time to eat, but quickly stopped doing that. She prepared meals for both of them, sliding breakfast and midday plates onto the worktable beside Tev and clearing away later after he had picked at the meals.

With regular, decent meals, Tev’s face began to lose some of the gauntness Lila had noticed when she first arrived. His skin was less sallow, his eyes less sunken, he generally seemed healthier. Lila suspected that Tev had spent many, many nights working away without stopping for food or sleep. Having Lila in the house forced the Magor to stop periodically to teach her, and since he had stopped, he also ate, bathed and slept with a new regularity. One evening, while they were discussing a lesson, she had him sit on a stool by the fire and she trimmed his ragged and unkempt hair.

Tev put up with her without complaint. Knowing she was a burden and a distraction from the Magor’s paying workings, Lila tried to keep to the shadows as often as possible. She read, voraciously, and saved her questions from the readings to discuss as they ate. The Magor forced himself away from his work for a time each evening, usually without prompting from Lila. She wasn’t certain if it was his duty to teach her or the meals that brought him, but either way, it became their habit to dine and talk at sunset each day.

Every once in awhile, Tev would get in a dark mood and ban Lila from the workroom while he stayed within. On those occasions, Lila always made sure to grab an armload of books to take to her bedchamber, the window seat in a small unused study at the front of the house, or to the practically abandoned kitchen, which she had appropriated as her own space. Refused entry to the workroom, she left trays for Tev at the door, and eventually, Tev took them in and ate whatever Lila brought him.

The arrangement worked for them. With practice and Tev’s guidance, Lila had quickly learned control and basic warding. With all the reading she was doing, she learned a lot of history too, things she had never been taught in the conservative schoolroom back in her village. She learned about the Redanni Arch, the energy source the Magors had worked with to start the Storms. Before it had been destroyed, many had believed that the Redanni Arch might have been used as a gateway to other realms. But no one could go near the Redan Plains where the Redanni Arch stood or had once stood. Death waited there for any foolish enough to try. Those who attempted to go there did not return to report what they had found. She read about an Obelisque near the Forbidden Lands that had once been a source of great power but was now simply a stone monument, all energy burnt away by some great working in the past.

On her own, she learned a lot about mirrors too, a subject Tev adamantly refused to discuss after her first days there. There were no mirrors in the house. All the mirrors were kept in the iron lined drawer in the workroom. There was one on the wall in the workroom, but it was always covered by a heavy black cloth. Not once had Lila even seen the surface of it. In an old book that frequently mentioned Zesdan magic, Lila read that a mirror could be used like miniature Redanni Arch, if a proper working could be done upon it. A passage from one place to another could be made from a mirror. Not knowing why the topic was forbidden, Lila was nevertheless fascinated by it, her curiosity roused, and she tried to find everything she could in Tev’s vast library on the subject. Tev didn’t forbid her the study; he merely refused to discuss it.

~*~

“Stance, Lila.”

Looking over her shoulder, Lila asked, “Is my starting position really so important? Is it part of the casting?” She tried to remember if there had been accompanying diagrams in the book that this spell had been written in.

Chuckling as he rubbed his chin, Tev replied, “No. It doesn’t really matter where your hips are in relation to the spell.” He walked over and kicked Lila’s foot in; which caused her to fall back into the pose she had been in before Tev’s reminder caused her to move. Tev stood in front of her, between Lila and the fire pit. “Move your arm, as if you’re throwing the alsweed into the fire.”

Doing as she was told, and feeling a little silly, Lila swept her arm around. With a mischievous grin and a roar, Tev hurled himself forward, catching Lila around the waist and rolling her backwards. She landed on her bottom with enough force to rattle her teeth. “I’m the sneaky, wicked beastie that got through the spell and broke the ring. Knocked you right over, didn’t I?”

“I was hardly expecting to be tackled.” Lila sighed and flopped down in defeat as Tev smirked at her and rolled to the side, sitting up.

“One never expects their callings to go wrong. But it pays to be on guard. If I was a real rogue creature, you’d be my midday meal by now.” Tev picked up Lila’s bare arm and bit her, on the fleshy underside of her forearm. He pulled a face, dropped her arm and pretended to spit. “Bleh! You need salt. More sweat! Now, start again, stance!” He jumped up and offered a hand to Lila, yanking her to her feet.

As she resumed her position, Lila thought that at times, Tev was rather peculiar.

~*~

Lila knew that Tev was heavily marked. She’d seen his left arm, the day she arrived, when Tev had shown her his scars, and then his right when he had cast the spell to detect the worm spell in the library. She had glimpsed another on the back of his neck, the only bare skin she’d had occasion to view as she had trimmed his hair. Now that she had a few months of study under her belt, Lila knew that most of the markings she had seen on his body were wards. Wards and protection were Tev’s primary focus, his specialty, his area of expertise. He did not just cast upon his home and workroom, he was constantly walking around within the protection of his own skin. She wondered at his past, the experiences that he had been through as a Battle Warlock and later a Magor that had made him go to the extreme of permanently marking himself with ink as he had.

She understood now why the Council had sent an Earth potential to study with an Air adept. At this stage of her life, Lila needed to learn how to protect herself and others from what she was capable of wielding. She wasn’t looking to make her fortune or even her living at magic. For her, it was about control and safety.

Tev was the best person in the region to teach that to her.

~*~

Flipping through the pages of a kitchen spells book, Lila found one that seemed like it might work to preserve fresh meat without giving it a charred, sulfuric taste. Bored of a steady diet of smoked meat, and dreading a menu of more of the same through the imminent winter, Lila thought to try the working.

She brought the book to the workroom and asked Tev if she might give it a try. Distracted with his writing, Tev had barely looked up from his paper, waving an ink-stained hand over his shoulder in tacit approval. It warmed Lila to know that she had earned her Master’s trust in such a relatively short time. He no longer stopped to read through any spell she brought to him to check if she should be able to do it or not, he left it up to her to choose her challenges.

Perusing the pantry and storeroom, Lila collected the ingredients she would need. She fetched a freshly butchered and cleaned hen, as well as the dried herbs listed in the book from the kitchen. She wandered around the shelves in the corner of the workroom, carefully gathering each of the other ingredients and lining them up on the table where she was preparing to do the casting. She double and triple checked the names of the ingredients, just as she double and triple checked the measures of each one. Needing a vessel to mix into that would be safe to heat over a flame, she spied a large glass jug in the basin. Retrieving it, she gave it a quick rinse with water and took it over to the worktable.

Humming to herself, she measured out and tossed the components into the jug. Then she mixed the ingredients with a wooden spoon, stirring in the prescribed manner; shins and then widdershins, first one way and then the other. She glanced over at Tev, hunched painfully on his chair over the tome he was writing. She’d learned a lot from the Magor since coming to his house, she feared what he had taught her was more than she could repay with a little housekeeping, cooking and assistance with workings. She wondered if she would ever be able to find a way to show her gratitude, not that Tev ever asked her for anything. It sometimes seemed that he was satisfied that Lila was soaking up everything he taught her, taking pleasure in getting ideas and skills across to his apprentice.

The concoction had to heat up to boiling before she could pour it over the hen. The small burner on the table wouldn’t heat a vessel as large as the one she needed to use. She would have to work very near to where Tev was sitting, at the fire pit. She didn’t want to irritate him and be a bother while Tev was writing, but the other fireplace wouldn’t do to heat this, and she wasn’t allowed to cast on the kitchen stove. “Excuse me Tev, may I use the stand over the pit for a short while?”

“Yes, of course,” Tev grumbled, rubbing his eyes. He’d been writing equations for hours; Lila didn’t know how he did it sometimes. He worked constantly. Lila’s hands would have cramped into claws if she tried to do half the amount writing her mentor did each day.

She set up quickly, starting a fire in the pit. Soon her mixture was steaming, she would be able to do her casting as soon as the potion was ready. She leaned over, stirring, keeping a careful eye to see that it didn’t boil over. That was an important rule when working with potions. There was to be no bubbling over, that would be bad for everyone and everything, it made a lot of work and clean up and unexpected consequences which required more work and cleanup. It was better just to watch the pot, or in this case, the glass jug. She snorted as she imagined what her mother’s reaction to what she was doing might be. When she had moved back to the farm after her grandparent’s deaths, her mother had always criticized her kitchen skills, banning her from the kitchen. Here she was, for all intents and purposes, cooking.

Tev turned slightly on the high-backed chair and asked, “What is that song you’re humming?”

She hadn’t realized she’d been noisy. Feeling guilty, she fell silent and apologized quickly. “Sorry.”

With an indulgent look, one brow raised and a small half smile, Tev said, “I didn’t say you had to stop; I just wondered what the tune was. I’ve heard it before.”

“Oh. It’s one my grandmother used to sing. I knew the words when I was a child. I’ve forgotten most of them since then, I only remember the melody.”

Setting his quill aside and waving his hand around in a circular motion, Tev urged her to continue. Lila hummed, a little subconsciously now that Tev was paying such close attention. Eventually, after nodding in time to the tune, Tev closed his eyes and then began to sing in a language Lila didn’t recognize. “Dashnir cletentos, morgoso fizente. Amil logetli, hensh nenente.”

Completely entranced by Tev’s singing voice, which she had never heard, Lila forgot to continue stirring the glass jug. She heard a quiet crack an instant before the jar exploded, showering Lila and Tev in glass and the remnants of the heated potion. Lila yelped and jumped back, holding her hand where it had been cut and burned. She was wearing a skirt, shirt and apron, her sleeves rolled up as she worked, leaving her arms bare. Tev was better protected by the heavy robe Lila had never seen him without. The Master jumped up, hurled a protective ward around the fire and went to where Lila was huddled in a crouch, cradling her injured hand in her lap and whimpering in pain.

“Come over to the pump, we need to rinse that with cold water quickly,” Tev’s arm was strong around Lila’s shoulder as he helped her up and walked her to the corner. Lila held one violently shaking hand under the stream as Tev pumped the water. She bit her lip to keep from crying out against the pain.

After the majority of the potion, blood and glass had been rinsed off, and the worst of the pain had subsided, Tev held Lila’s hand up to the light coming from the window. “Not too bad. A little scalded but I don’t think it will blister. I can stitch the cuts closed. I have some salve. Let’s get the glass out and wrap it up. I’m sorry, I’m not a true healer, I can only do a casting to alleviate some of the pain and ward you against infection, I can’t heal the wounds completely. Do you want me to mark you with a healing spell? I know a few of those. Then you could heal yourself, from the inside out.” He touched a mark on the back of his hand, a stylized sun with ancient glyphs around it.

She shook her head, permanent spell marks were a serious step, one she was not yet ready to make. “I don’t think I’m up to that. The pain isn’t too terrible, I think I’ll be fine when it is cleaned up and bandaged. I can heal the ordinary, mundane way.”

He gently pushed Lila over into the window’s light near the end of the small worktable against the wall and went to fetch a stool, a tiny metal tong and a jar of salve. He dampened a clean wash rag, dropped it over his shoulder and came back to Lila. He put the stool behind Lila, pushed her onto it, dragged over a second stool, and held a hand out as he sat down. “Let me have your hand.”

It hurt, but Lila put up with it as Tev bent over her hand to tend to the damage. Using the metal tongs, Tev got a number of small shards out. Lila gasped as Tev poked and squeezed at the cuts to clean them out. She wasn’t used to him touching her, he so rarely did, and usually only by accident, a brush of hands or a careless bump. His hand was warm around hers, distracting her from the pain. Staring at the top of Tev’s head as he worked, Lila willed herself not to blush.

She had not noticed that Tev was also hurt until he sat up and Lila looked at his face for the first time since the jug had exploded. “You were cut too, Tev.”

“Hhmmm?”

With her uninjured hand, Lila gently tugged at the edge of a shard of glass that was embedded in Tev’s cheek. She held up the bloody piece. “Didn’t you feel that? It’s huge.”

Apparently he hadn’t. Tev shrugged. Lila grabbed the washrag from Tev’s hand and pressed it to the cut, which was now bleeding profusely since she had removed the glass. She felt a slight tingle run through her hand and up her arm. Pursing her lips and frowning when he began to protest and pull away, she snapped, “Just let me clean it.”

With a heavy, put-upon sigh, Tev let her press the wet rag to his face to soak up the blood. His eyes shifted over to the fire, back to Lila, and then to the book that was standing open on the worktable beside him. He tilted his head to read the spell. “Did you use fresh alavar root?”

“Fresh enough, there was some in the kitchen; I picked it three days ago when I made the spicy stew.”

Distracted, Tev mumbled, “Fresh alavar root, there’s something about fresh alavar root.” Lila dropped the blood soaked rag into her lap and scooped a bit of the salve onto her finger, smoothing it over the slice in Tev’s cheek, the same way Tev had covered the cuts on Lila’s hand after cleaning the glass out.

“What were you making?”

“A simple kitchen spell, a meat preservative. I was going to put up that hen.” She tilted her head in the direction of the poultry on the table.

Tev’s eyes drifted over to the sink basin and his eyes widened slightly in alarm. “Lila, did you take the glass jug from the sink?”

“Yes, it was thick, I thought it could stand the heat. I apologize, I was wrong, apparently. I didn’t expect it to shatter like that. I’ll go to the village and see about getting a replacement at the glassblower’s stall on market day.”

Tev began to shake his head. “That wasn’t properly cleaned. I used it last night. I meant to get to it today, but I got involved…” He ran a hand through his hair, pushing it off his face, but it immediately fell back into place, as tousled and messy as it always was.

Leaning away in silent refusal when Lila started to fuss over a second, smaller cut on his neck, Tev pulled the book Lila had been working from closer to him, running a finger down the list of ingredients. He occasionally looked up at the ceiling, his lips working as he recited parts of spells silently. “Bat nuts!” Tev exclaimed, looking over at the fire, then back at Lila. His eyes were a little wild. “It should be all right. I was the only one singing, you were just humming, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed, beginning to wonder at his mood. “I was just humming. What were you singing?”

“Amrol Gestin, it’s a shepherd’s love song. But I wasn’t casting, you were casting, you hadn’t even started casting, you were still making the potion.” Tev pointed to twards the fire pit and made a stirring motion with his hand, miming Lila stirring the potion. “And there was no blood involved in the working at all.” He looked relieved and began to smile, until he glanced over at Lila.

Lila spotted it at the same time Tev did; the bloody rag in Lila’s lap. Tev touched his fingers to the slice on his cheek, where Lila had thoughtlessly pressed the damp rag soaked with her own blood.

Tev breathed out, “Your blood, mingled with mine.”

Lila stroked a finger along the back of Tev’s hand, coming away with the herb-encrusted remnants of the potion. “It was on us both, the potion was on both of us, it was on the glass that cut us, it got inside both of us on the glass.”

“Co-cast and blood sealed! Oma’s eyes, we’re in a bind,” Tev blurted, tangling his hands in his hair.

In all the months Lila had been here, she had never seen her Master so upset. Tev went out of his way to hide his emotions from Lila, to maintain the illusion of being one of The Heartless, taking it as far as locking himself in the workroom when he was angry. Tev threw himself off the stool and began pacing around in circles, muttering and waving his hands when he wasn’t yanking on the ends of his collar-length hair.

“I don’t understand, Magor. Please, explain to me what has happened,” she deliberately used Tev’s rank, which she had rarely done since the first day here. She needed to catch Tev’s attention, distract him from the panic she thought she saw rising in her Master.

Tev looked at her, a flash of anger briefly crossing his face. “It might be nothing. It’s probably nothing.” He laughed hoarsely. “Just elements, pieces and parts, none a whole, nothing with intent. An accident. I’m of The Heartless; it can’t possibly hold. It wasn’t deliberate enough. Magic is deliberate!” He had walked over to stand in front of Lila, his eyes now looking a little desperate as he clasped her by the arms and repeated, “Magic is deliberate!”

“Tev?” Lila reached up with her good hand, needing to sooth the trouble she saw. She touched her palm to the uninjured side of Tev’s face and made a hushing sound. “What have I done? Tell me what I’ve done.”

“We! It’s what we did! Both of us together,” Tev released her and waved a hand between them. “Separately, we mixed portions and elements of a spell, a major working, a banned spell,” he was breathing heavily as he looked into Lila’s face, his eyes wide, the pupils very dark.

Lila was finding it hard to concentrate. But she was starting to catch on to what might have happened. She stared at Tev, clapped her hands onto his arms and coaxed, “Breathe, Tev. Take a moment to gather your thoughts. Talk me through it so that I understand. What kind of spell?”

Taking Lila’s advice, Tev spoke slowly. “The jug had everleaf in it from last night. The leaf is a binding agent; it has to be cleaned with a special acid mixture to remove all of it from any surface that it touched. That means there were traces of everleaf in your mixture from the vessel. Fresh alavar root is potent. Whichor use it when they make love charms. But they don’t chant, they don’t use words. It isn’t dangerous when they use it, because Whichor never do blood magic.”

Lila touched her fingers to Tev’s face, tracing the red, salve-smeared line of the cut. “I added blood.”

“And I added the words, while you stirred, I sang lyrics. Lyrics charged with emotion from both of us, me from a memory the song brought back, you no doubt remembering your grandmother singing it to you.”

“It wasn’t intentional,” Lila said, her fingers moving across Tev’s cheek, over his eyebrow.

“No, not at all.” Tev shook his head as he stared down at Lila. “Magic is deliberate.”

Relieved, Lila smiled. “I have read that over and over and over in the books, Tev. Love potions aren’t real. You cannot make someone love someone else with a spell.”

“Exactly.” Tev breathed out a slight sigh of relief and gave her a tremulous smile. “You cannot manufacture an emotion that wasn’t there at the start.”

Lila stood up, the motion bringing her even closer to Tev, her skirt brushing against Tev’s robe. He was close enough that she could feel Tev’s breath on her cheek. She could feel each heavy breath, warm on her skin. Tev’s hair had fallen down over his face. Casually, naturally, as if she did it all the time, Lila reached up and tucked it behind his ear. “And you cannot bind someone to another with an emotion that doesn’t exist,” Lila concluded.

Shifting closer, Tev nodded, but said nothing as he looked at Lila.

“But what if it was there?” Lila whispered raggedly in a small voice as they came to the surface, the feelings that had been growing for months, deep inside her. “What of if the emotion was there, if it were, could it be bound? Can one be bound to another if the emotion were strong enough?”

The noise Tev made was halfway between a groan and a whimper. He bit his lip and nodded and stared straight into Lila’s eyes.

“Well, then one of us might be in trouble,” Lila whispered. Unable to stop herself, she went up on her toes and pressed her lips to Tev’s. The noise Tev made was a full groan as he leaned into it, opening his mouth and kissing Lila ardently in return.

He suddenly pulled back and turned, heading for the door. Lila was certain she heard her Master mumble, “I think we’re both in deep trouble.”

Rolling along

rinkafic — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 15:00:16 GMT

The muses are recuperated.

I wasn't sure how they would handle Camp Nanowrimo, but I bought them all new sneakers, wrote their names on the collars of their t-shirts, packed a care package of goodies and made them go to Camp.

The project is the re-write of the Magor 'verse to a Het/original fic - I rolled over 40k last night. I wrote all the way through the four day weekend.

When the 1st draft is done, I promised the muses they could have a bingo card to play with. But not until the story is in the hands of my beautiful ~~victims~~ uhm... beta readers.

How's everyone else's summer so far?

I'm not quite dead

rinkafic — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:07:58 GMT

I picked up the novel I started last summer and gave it a dust off edit and actually wrote 1,740 words and progressed the story. I would have kept going but I had to work today and sleep trumps writing at the present time.

I had woken up Sunday with muses chattering in my ear for the first time in months, and I thought I had a hook for the story, but upon re-reading it, the idea won't work. This did not please Helga. Dingo came back at me with ninja pirates. Instead of throwing that right out, I realized that I could possibly make ninja pirates work in this story. Helga is doubly disgusted, as she liked the whole 'nobly letting the lover go so that he could become rich and famous with his music' idea. Dingo wants ninja pirate kidnapping instead.

Oh, and for the record, seasickness is not sexy!

The uppy-downy thing on my desk chair at home is broken and I'm practically sitting on the floor. I can get it up for a few moments, but then it's right back down... hey, sounds like my ex-husband! *snort*

I am still in work limbo. Paid through Friday the 21st, no clue what happens after that.

Signed up for Camp Nanowrimo, not sure if I am going to be able to do Pennsic, so I figured that is a nice distraction for July, and might even get me writing again. I even have... a plot! \0/

Feh!

rinkafic — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:53:45 GMT

I am watching the clock. 5pm cannot get here soon enough.

There are bottles of vodka and cranberry juice chillin' in my fridge. That is the extent of my plan, which commences at 5:15 when I get in the door.

I think the muses are comatose.

Anyhoo

I went and played cards (Magic the Gathering) with da boyz last night. We did a sealed case thing, we each got nine packs and had to make a 40 card minimum deck. They were shocked that out of a case, there was 1 Ogre Slumlord and 1 Pack Rat, and they both ended up in the Rat Queen's (my) hands. Muwahahaa. Come to me, my little skittering minions!

It was a fun night, cool because we all started more or less equal and had the same amount of time to construct a deck. I built a red & white deck and a black and green deck, both of them will make a nice base for a little tweaking.

I know that I have some big bangs to work on, and I have a reverse bang story to write, but I can't seem to string words together. Maybe a firm application of vodka will help.

I've been reading. I finished book three and moved on to book 4 of the Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) series. What a roller coaster!

Twesdayness

rinkafic — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:57:39 GMT

I'll be over here, watching House.

It's race_the_ace's fault. Although he DVDs were mine, she pointed out that I had them and we started watching season 1. I'm halfway through S2 now. hahahaa

I pulled out and cleaned up an original fic with the hopes of sending it out to be published.

TGIF!

rinkafic — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:09:46 GMT

Juggling the bills around.

I'm employed through May 10th for now. Working paycheck to paycheck.

No clue what I'm gonna do in the future. Jobs very scarce on the east end of Long Island where I live. I might end up having to take something in the city and commute. Feh!

I'll be writing query letters and sending stuff to publishers all summer.

Happy Friday. Let me out! Me go home now!

Dragon*con update

rinkafic — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:05:39 GMT

Ok, my Stargate flist-ies

RDA & Teryl Rothery added

also Eve Myles from Torchwood :)

I still have room to share at the airport Hilton, one of the overflow hotels :)

Is it Friday yet?

rinkafic — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:34:48 GMT

Me@ work: "I need to get back on my walking kick. I should find my pedometer. Epcot is gonna kill me. I think I'll steal the treadmill out of No Man's Land and put it in front of my TV. No more deli lunches, I need to eat healthy."

*15 minutes pass*

Mali@ work: "I'm going to the council thing to get Girl Scout Cookies, what do you want?"
Me@ work: "2 Samoas and 2 Savannah Smiles"

*sigh*

*hugs my Flist*

Here's a cheery up picspam!

Planning My Con Book

rinkafic — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 03:06:36 GMT

I'm making a list so I can attack this project logically. After looking at it, I think I need to buy a printer, or else I'll be giving CVS a fortune to use their Kodak printer.

Personalized Photo-ops:
Peter David - Doctor Who - NYCC 2012 - Personalized photo-op

Chuck Campbell - Stargate Chuck - Creation Chicago 2012 - Personalized photo-op

David Nykl - Stargate Radek - Creation Chicago 2012 - Personalized photo-op

Robert Picardo - Stargate Woolsey/Star Trek Doctor - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op

Colin Ferguson - Eureka Jack Carter - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op

Jamie Bamber - BSG Apollo - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op (With Bear Bear too)

Richard Dean Anderson - Stargate Jack O'Neill - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op

Connor Trinneer _Star Trek Trip/Stargate Michael - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op

James Marsters & John Barrowman
Buffy/Angel Spike & Torchwood Captain Jack - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op
Torri Higginson & Joe Flanigan
Stargate Weir & Sheppard - Dragon*con 2012 Personalized Photo Op

Paul McGillion - Stargate - Carson Beckett Creation Chicago 2012 - unsigned photo-op (wasn't done in time)

Joe Flanigan - Stargate Sheppard - Creation Chicago 2012 - unsigned photo-op (we both have goofy faces)

Personalized Autographed Photos:

Michael Shanks - Stargate Daniel Jackson - Personalized autograph photo

Paul McGillion - Stargate Stargate - Carson Beckett - Personalized autograph photo

Jewel Staite - Stargate Keller/Firefly Kaylee - Personalized autograph photo

Jason Momoa - Stargate Ronon - Personalized autograph photo

Torri Higginson - Stargate Weir - Personalized autograph photo

Cliff Simon - Stargate Ba'al - Personalized autograph photo (Also have table photo-op pic)

Tony Amendola - Stargate Bra'tac/OUaT Gepetto - Personalized autograph photo

Peter Kelamis - Stargate SGU Adam Brody - Personalized autograph photo

Charisma Carpenter - Buffy/Angel Cordelia - Personalized autograph photo

Julie Benz - Buffy/Angel Darla - Personalized autograph photo

Paul McGann - Doctor Who - 8th Doctor - Personalized autograph photo

Niall Matter - Eureka Zane - Personalized autograph photo (Also have table photo-op pic)

Tembe Locke - Eureka Grace - Personalized autograph photo (Also have table photo-op pic)

Kai Owen - Torchwood Rhys - Personalized autograph photo

Gil Gerad - Buck Rogers - Personalized autograph photo

Kate Hewlett & David Hewlett
Stargate Jeannie & Rodney - Kate personalized autograph
Michael Trucco & Katee Sackoff
BSG Sam Anders/Starbuck Personalized autograph photo (Also have table photo op of Michael)

Cast Photos:

Star Trek Next Gen 1st Season Cast Photo Denise Crosby Autographed

Star Trek DS9 Last Season cast photo - Michael Dorn and Nana Visitor Autographed

Eureka Cast Photo Time travel 40's - Colin Ferguson and James Callis Autographed

Generic Autographed pictures

Ben Browder - Farscape Crichton/Stargate Cam Mitchell - Autographed photo

Joe Flanigan - Stargate Sheppard - Autographed photo

Chris Judge - Stargate Teal'c - Autographed photo

Lou Diamond Phillips - Stargate SGU Telford - Autographed photo

Tim Russ - Star Trek Voyager Tuvok - Autographed photo

Marina Sirtis - Star Trek Troi - Autographed photo

Jensen Ackles & Jared Padelecki - SPN - Sam & Dean - Autographed photo

Misha Collins - SPN - Castiel - Autographed photo

Richard Speight Jr - SPN - Trickster/Gabriel - Autographed photo

Stargate Atlantis Season 5 Cast Photo - unsigned

Warehouse 13 Season 2 Cast Photo - unsigned

Stargate SG-1 Season 6 unsigned photo

Chuck Campbell - Stargate Atlantis - Unsigned photo

David Nykl - Stargate Atlantis - Unsigned photo

*I'm missing an autographed picture from Sean Astin, it will, of course, turn up when I finish the project so I will work around it

Autographs on Con Badges:
Rob Benedict - Nashville Creation 2012
Matt Cohen - Nashville Creation 2012
Kim Rhodes - Nashville Creation 2012
Gabriel Tigerman - Nashville Creation 2012

Denver Starfest Scheduled Guests:
Ben Browder Farscape/Stargate
~~Amanda Tapping~~ Nicole DeBoer Stargate/Star Trek Voyager
Seth Gable - Fringe
Melissa McBride - Walking Dead
Avery Brooks - Star Trek Voyager
Cirroc Lofton - Star Trek Voyager

Chicago Creation scheduled guests:
Amanda Tapping
Ben Browder
Joe Flanigan
Kavan Smith
Chris Judge
David Hewlett
Kate Hewlett
Torri Higginson
Dan Shea
Dan Payne
Alex Zahara
Gary Jones

Dragon*Con Scheduled Guests of interest to me (so far):
Wendy & Richard Pini
Nicholas Brendan
Gigi Edgely
Paul Goddard
Erin Gray
Jasika Nicole
John Noble
Tamoah Penikett
Anthony Simcoe

I have a sketchbook of comic book sketches from the 80's and 90's with a ton of autographs. But that is a whole other project.

Love Bingo

rinkafic — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 21:10:30 GMT

So, I won a prize last year and was able to pick 3 that I wanted and 10 that I didn't from the love list. Anyone that guesses one of the three I picked gets a custom story for that prompt. :) so that's 3 custom stories

Oh, dear.

rinkafic — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 19:24:40 GMT

I'm not even sure which muse it is, but I've got one back. The problem is, she wants to scrapbook and not write. Could this be yet another muse? Did they send me a replacement when they abandoned me?

Though seriously, I do need to do some pages. I want to have at least the people appearing in Denver and Chicago done so that I can get them to sign the page or photos.

I've been away from scrapping for about ten years. I should probably fess up to two things:

1) I was an art and art history major in high school and college.

2) I made money teaching scrapbooking and rubber stamping when I was married.

I attended crops to get away from my ex-husband and keep me out of the house for entire weekends as my marriage was collapsing. I spent many, many, many pennies on paper and tools and stamps. We're talking thousands here. It was a refuge at the time, one I don't need anymore, so I haven't been so into it. It still reminds me of those times. But I do like the end results very much.

I have a heritage album in progress, with the original snapshots my grandfather gave me of photos from the 40's and 50's.

My nephew is apparently into journal and scrapbooking, so I might have to drag the "stuff" out.

Geeking Out

rinkafic — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:26:43 GMT

Hey Chicon friends!

I'm taking another day to go to the Art Institute, it was awesome last time! I was an art history major, so I kinda have a thing for art museums. I'll probably go on Thursday, that way I can go back again after the con if I don't get to see everything I wanted to.

Of course I need to visit Sunday on La Grand Jatte:

There's an exhibit I want to see, I'm kinda psyched about it:
Undressed, the Fashion of Privacy
It's a companion exhibition to the one I just saw at The Met - Impressionism, Fashion and Modernity, which will also be there in Chicago at the same time we're gonna be there! It's an awesome concept exhibit, they showed paintings as well as some of the actual gowns worn by the women in the paintings.

There's also an exhibit of Late Roman and early Byzantine stuff from the British Museum.

Oh dear, my nerd is showing.