. g e e k . i n . t h e . p i n k .

Last call to sign up for a house pride fest

slumber — Mon, 26 May 2014 01:09:45 GMT

hh_sugarquill presents:
Houses of Hogwarts Fest

Sign up here!

Just wanted to pimp this again since sign-ups end tonight and some of the spots are still open!

Particularly, I'm hoping for:

2 Gryffindors
1 Hufflepuff
3 Ravenclaws
2 Hogwarts

Writing about Hogwarts could pretty much be anything that includes house unity themes or maybe just something that involves at least one member of each house. Or maybe it's a study on Hogwarts itself!

Fic requirements is only 700 words minimum, and art needs to be complete/finished.

*bats lashes*

Art Dump: Cho, Pansy, Ginny (2x), Luna, Hermione

slumber — Fri, 23 May 2014 03:54:29 GMT

It's been a year since I last drew -- maybe spring is just drawing season?

I had way too much fun coloring her hair.

Because the one she wore in the movies just did not really translate well in PS tbh >.>

I loooooved the texture of her dress but alas, it does not come larger than that.

CLOTHES ARE SO HARD.

One of the prompts in hh_sugarquill is Costumes, and immediately my thought went to Disney.

Still on the costumes kick. Imagine Hermione watching Beauty and the Beast -- she'd have been 11/12 when it came out. IMAGINE IT.

Fest Announcement: Houses of Hogwarts!

slumber — Fri, 16 May 2014 19:54:36 GMT

hh_sugarquill presents:
Houses of Hogwarts Fest

A fanworks showcase honouring the witches and wizards
of bold Gryffindor, sweet Hufflepuff, fair Ravenclaw, shrewd Slytherin
-- and Hogwarts, where it all began.

Oh, Livejournal.

slumber — Thu, 15 May 2014 18:31:35 GMT

You really enjoy pulling the rug out of everyone, and I bet you wonder why everyone hates you. Minus the supremely slick hipster site vibe I'm getting from the design, so far I'm actually liking all these changes.

There's a section that makes Communities easier (possibly) to advertise and browse, which is great because LJ needs its users to use LJ to survive. For a while my LJ usage was floundering until I found hogwartsishome, and with Community Directory so front and center in the nav bar, I think that could be a really good thing for the site.

The Feed tab will take some getting used to, but once I'm on my flist I'm back to the layout I know and love, so the majority of my actual user experience doesn't change. I won't really need Shop or Help, but My Blog leads to some interesting (new? previously hidden?) sections, like statistics. The Tags link there is actually super useful since I've just started working with that section for hh_sugarquill, so I like that it's easier to access now. It felt buried before.

The Post In Blog tab was too far to the right for me (but my monitor is also pretty wide) and not as intuitive as it would have been had it just been placed under My Blog, but the Inbox link is a nice addition. Again, it surfaces previously hard to find links based on, I'm guessing, what people primarily use.

From a cursory look, the rest just looks like it's been given a facelift. I'm meh on the design -- I really wish we as a society can move away from this whole 'light grey text on sterile white background is AWESOME' web design aesthetic; for fuck's sake, I can't read a damn thing -- but the old site was really old. From playing in InsaneJournal (which took LJ's opensource coding and never really added much more to it) I'm not so sure that I'd trade in the ability to edit comments just so I could have subject lines in my comments anymore. It would be good to have both, for sure, but editing comments has been really great for LJ.

But of course, no matter how much LiveJournal improves the site, it will never be able to stop angering its users. Is an email to every registered user so hard to do? Fuck knows I get emails from everyone else for the smallest tweak. Just warn us that shit like this is happening, and maybe, even better, tell us why you're doing it. What user experience pain points are you addressing? What hasn't changed? What can we do better now? What about the features you know we love?

If Livejournal acted like it thought of its users before it did anything, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't annoy so many people as much as it did. But the time to start reaching out was not last week. It was not even last year. It was years ago, when they did this first. Maybe even the second time they did this. But they've done it so often and so unapologetically that the reaction, by now, is Pavlovian. LJ changes something? Fuck, they don't know what they're doing; Of fucking course they did; etc etc.

Oh well. Right now, that's just the way it is. If LJ had had just one competition early on, instead of the five that popped up, it wouldn't be here today. They got lucky.

Us, not so much.

Because the Harry Potter fandom will never die!

slumber — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 23:51:07 GMT

Yes, the Harry Potter fandom is still alive! Come make new friends and relive old moments! Going on now!

my high school education: VALIDATED

slumber — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 21:52:01 GMT

Today I used algebra to solve a super minor, totally unimportant, tangential-to-the-actual-point task for a work-related project.

It's been six hours and I am still so proud of myself. (Perhaps prouder of remembering how to find two unknown variables than I am of powering through the project in one morning.)

Carry on.

NaNoWriMo 2013

slumber — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 19:52:25 GMT

I hadn't really planned to after last year, but I got a premise and I figured why not. Much, much more slow-going than last year's, which isn't all that surprising because I am pantsing this NaNo instead of planning it.

It's frustrating in some ways because I can't time myself the way I did last year. There's no plot, characters appear out of thin air, and I only have word count goals instead of outline goals. I might very well have 50,000 words at the end, but just the third of a novel. Whether this is better or worse in terms of motivation remains to be seen.

I'm also writing in first person POV, which I kind of prefer not to read and definitely haven't written for a while now, but urgh, for some reason I can't write it in 3rd person limited?

Whatever, I guess. As long as I am hitting daily goals, I think I'll be okay with how this turns out.

Welp

slumber — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 01:50:15 GMT

Thanks to this, now I ship Sansa/Brienne.

Hogsmeade Haul

slumber — Tue, 15 Oct 2013 12:42:48 GMT

I'm procrastinating filling orders for my shop but for the uninitiated, I'm part of hogwartsishome, which is a sorting community (you fill out an app, you get voted into a house) that turns into a landcomm filled with tons of procrastinate-y things to do. Among the procrastinate-y things it does is hogsmeadewkends, which basically stuffs Friday-Sunday with all kinds of activities (puzzles, writing challenges, graphic challenges, social, etc).

Well, one of the activities is a fic and art (and manip) exchange, and I'd not put any requests in until the last minute, but now I wish I had, because I had some of the best presents.

My prompts:
- Harry and Ron are drift-compatible. Draco and Lucius pilot Striker Eureka. READY SET GO
- Remus Lupin is a teen wolf
- Luna's mum: former Night Vale resident
- Sherlock investigates an incident regarding the disappearance of hundreds of students every first of September at King's Cross.
- Bellatrix found four horsemen. Harry and Luna go to Sleepy Hollow to stop her.
- Hermione Granger: Doctor's companion

caitriona_3 gave me Sherlock investigates Platform 9 3/4:

caitieness gave me Remus Lupin: Teen Wolf:

"You need to join the pack, Remus. A wolf alone never survives." The ominous, bearded man was rather disturbing, Remus thought. He wasn't even sure how this guy got in here.

"I'm okay, though," Remus tried to tell him, again. "You know, I have a bunch of friends I hang out with. They're all cool with the werewolf thing."

"That's not how it works," the stranger insisted. "You were meant to be part of this pack. I'm trying to protect you!" Obviously he was getting frustrated.

"Listen, no one really is coming after me. Hogwarts is pretty protected so I think I'll be fine here. Maybe you should just leave."

The brooded stranger gave Remus a withering look before giving up and fading away into the night.

interchanges wrote Harry and Luna in Sleepy Hollow:

After touching a surprise portkey, Luna and Harry found themselves in Sleepy Hollow. They encountered the Headless Horseman and Luna began to think he was a Heliopath. In order to stop him attacking innocents, Luna cast Reducto. The Horseman retreated and Harry and Luna followed to find out what was really going on.

Hiding behind a tree, Luna and Harry looked on as the Horseman met up with a tall, cloaked figure. "You were hit with magic? I knew there was something fishy about this town but I swore it was only full of muggles..."

"I know that voice," Harry whispered to Luna. "It's Bellatrix."

"Lestrange?" Luna replied, wide-eyed. "What is she doing here?"

"Whatever it is, it can't be good."

"Especially when there's heliopaths involved."

"Heliopaths?" Harry asked, emphasizing the s. Luna nodded and Harry leaned out and saw Bellatrix was standing with 4 Horsemen.

"What do we do?" Luna hissed.

"What can we do?" Harry replied, as he stood up and pointed his wand at Bellatrix. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, causing Bellatrix's wand to go flying.

Bellatrix just laughed. "I should have known it was you. No matter." She nodded toward the Horseman, who came at them, scythe swinging. Then Harry's and Luna's worlds went black.

gryffinwhore made Remus Lupin: Teen Wolf:

flipflop_diva wrote me Harry and Ron, Jaeger pilots:

“Okay, errr, yeah, so this is just going to be like Legilimency, but it’s you and not some whack job, and then, errr, we get to kill crazy scary monsters. Sure, I see nothing wrong with his. It’ll be fine. It’ll be fine …”

“Ron …” Harry started, but it was no use. He had explained to Ron practically a thousand times already that he was pretty sure the drift was nothing like Legilimency and battling these creatures — whatever they were — was going to be nothing like they had ever seen before, but Ron was staunchly refusing to take anything Harry said to heart.

Harry found himself wishing for probably the thousandth time as well that he had been drift-compatible with Hermione or Neville or even Luna. Ron was his best mate, but he had a way of making Harry nervous, and this was not a time to be nervous.

Ron finally stopped rambling long enough to actually glance over at Harry.

“We’re gonna be okay, right?” he said. “We’re not going to die out there.”

Harry forced himself to smile. “We’re not going to die out there,” he said. “We’re a great team. We know that. No monster can match us.”

“Yeah,” Ron said. “Yeah.”

They both looked at the clock, almost as if on cue.

“I guess it’s time to go find out,” Harry said.

“Yeah,” Ron said again. “Are you ready?”

“No,” Harry answered truthfully. “But that’s never stopped us before.”

And from blackestbird...

Cackling with so much glee. Everything but Night Vale was done, SO doing the same crack crossover thing next Hogsmeade. \o/

FIC: no need for nervousness (it's just a little turbulence) -- Teen Wolf, Stiles/Danny, PG13

slumber — Wed, 09 Oct 2013 01:53:43 GMT

Look I did a thing

Title: no need for nervousness (it's just a little turbulence)
Creator username (LJ or tumblr, etc.): slumber (Tumblr user slumber-at)
Pairing(s): Stiles/Danny, Scott/Allison, Ethan/Danny
Rating: Teen and up
Word Count: ~19,000
Notes: Many many thanks to my beta wasureneba, theaeblackthorn for encouraging me to sign up, lautre_m for the awesome prompt ~~that launched almost 20k words~~, and the mods for running this amazing fest!
Summary: In which Stiles is a conman for hire, Danny is the hacker of his dreams, and Argent Industries is their target.

( 'This is not what I signed up for,' Danny reminds Stiles for the umpteenth time. Stils is tying Danny's tie in the worst possible way, but Danny feels awkward enough as it is so he just lets him mangle it. He's nervous as fuck and he can't figure out if it's because of what they're about to do or because Stiles's hands are on him. )

Celebrity Similarity Test

slumber — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 22:06:43 GMT

a) it was going around and b) I haven't updated this month. <.< >.>

Take the test here.

Samantha Stephens: Samantha Stephens is the sweet and loveable main character of the show Bewitched. A witch who has decided to marry a mortal husband, Darrin, Samantha endures rejection and ridicule by much of her magical family. She is remarkably patient with the difficulties caused by her magical relatives, is a loving wife and mother, and is also very clever. She often cannot resist using her magical powers to get her family out of the problems that they face, despite her promise to Darrin that she would live as a mortal.

You are most similar to:
Samantha Stephens
Dr. Donald Mallard
Chandler Bing
Jim
Pam

You are least similar to:
Betty Draper
Bart Simpson
Michael Scott
Dwight
The Skipper

...I wish I knew these half of these fandoms. :|

Superheroes: Spiderman
Game of Thrones: Tyrion Lannister
Lord of the Rings: Legolas (...lol)
Harry Potter: Albus Dumbledore
Scifi: Yoda

...IDK.

Anyone here interested in an HP storybook RP?

slumber — Thu, 04 Jul 2013 03:48:13 GMT

I probably owe you an actual update, but distractions are funner:

Caroline and I are running The Last Station over on IJ (See here for info) and it's basically a light post-Hogwarts rebuild that's also set in Hogsmeade, so there's a lot of opportunity for interaction with pretty much anyone in the game. Somehow we've gotten pretty Hufflepuff-heavy (a surprise for me, tbh; most games I've been in had more snakes normally) so there's a temporary cap on them, but everyone else is fair game. We would REALLY appreciate more Ravenclaws, though. Like. We have a grand total of one, how did this happen.

The concept is a live-work community, so any shop owners (in particular, we need more dining options; no one wants to keep eating at The Three Broomsticks, yo) or shopkeepers are welcome--there's room for developing employee-employer or coworker lines. There's also a Quidditch team starting out (yes, yes, I can never resist Quidditch) but it's new and probably not very good, so washed out players and the like would be fun to add too.

For more info, visit the comm, or ask me questions. It's still pretty new but so far so good, so come and join if this is your kind of thing! :)

Weird thing about being the one Blackhawks die-hard at work...

slumber — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 04:17:44 GMT

...is the number of "Congrats, Evy!" texts I have been receiving.

Um....????

C'mon guys I didn't win the Cup I just cheer for the team?

~~BUT OMG WE WON THE CUP WE WON THE CUP~~ WE WON THE FRIGGIN' CUPPPPPPPPPPPP JAS;LKDFJA;KLSDFJA;KDSFJA;SDFJA;KSDFJA;KDSFJ;ALFD

(BOLLAND!!!!!!)

Art Dump: Hermione in dresses, Margaery, Sansa

slumber — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:47:59 GMT

Experimented with how these two Hermione pieces were done. Much trickier than I thought. >.>

Meh. Not pleased with this. Her hair was a bitch and a half to sort out and wow, depressing image much? It's hard to find a Sansa picture that's iconic enough to make her stand out as clearly being Sansa without me having to tell you who she is. I did like how her lips turned out but that's probably just me.

Hair's always fun to work with, but IDK if I like her lips as much here. There's always something!

Cersei Lannister

slumber — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:25:50 GMT

Though I'm not a fan of her clothes. Anytime I attempted something more regal-looking, though, just didn't look good.

Playing with her hair was the best part.

I want to do Sansa next, but lbr I'm probably gonna cave and do Margaery first.

More art dump: Bellatrix, a Viking, and Daenerys

slumber — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:49:56 GMT

More art that I've been doing lately. Still nowhere with my fic-writing mojo, although I signed up for a team at mating_games which means at least a 500-word thing every week \o/ buuuut that's about it, oops.

Ummm ArtRage has been great, but in terms of coloring I've been finding Photoshop easier to work with. I do love the way the oils work on ArtRage, but I'm not quite getting the hang of manipulating those. And I've always preferred to work with watercolors (like, you know, back when I was taking 6th grade art classes, lol) and the adjustment to digital is just kind of iffy for me.

Drew this for Lorraine//gamma_x_orionis. Used this as my reference. I don't understand how bodies work. Or how they should be proportioned. I also hate drawing hands but I'm pretty okay with how her fingers turned out.

This I drew for Allison//pinksonia. In hogwartsishome, where we are both Ravenclaws, each house has a ~mascot~ so on top of being a Ravenclaw and an eagle we're also Vikings. IDK, it's one of the HiH things I don't quite understand but it's all in good fun, so why not? (Hufflepuffs are Knights, Gryffindors are Pirates, and Slytherins are Vampires, in case anyone outside of HiH was curious.) Anyway, a few months back there was a Viking dollmaker going around and Allison made this to represent her Viking self, so, yes, you guessed it, that was my reference too. Someday I might learn to actually use references as references and not just copy everything I see, but whatever, I'm still learning. Or something. >.> I'm not as fond of her fingers here, but I really enjoyed coloring her hair.

And then yesterday I learned how to make vectors!

Well, not quite. Because you really kind of need Adobe Illustrator for that, and I just don't need it enough to justify a purchase. BUT there were a few Photoshop tutorials for how to make vector-like images, so I went and got my favorite image of Daenerys Targaryen from this season and did this:

It isn't the cleanest, and I tried to use the mouse for the Pen tool first, and then my tablet for the free-form Pen. I think I prefer the latter, especially since the former means a little bit of time for mastering anchor points and the manipulation of the bezier points, which, yes, I would eventually like to figure out, but look, I JUST found out WHAT they were yesterday. That's already a big step imo. Every time I tried to play with the pen tool before yesterday it has ended in tears. I'll take my victories where I can. XD

Art: Fleur Delacour

slumber — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:42:46 GMT

The lines aren't super clean but I'm actually really happy about how this turned out in terms of shading/coloring and stuff. Still not quite sure how to manipulate the tools in Photoshop and ArtRage but this weekly practice is useful, I guess.

Art dump

slumber — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 19:12:25 GMT

So I'm not entirely sure what's happened the last few months, but doodling is coming easier than words to me lately. Oops? But I really do love the drawing tablet I got-- I feel like I've been using it more than my Kindle, even, but because most of my things are being posted directly to hh_sugarquill it occurs to me I should probably be posting some of them here too. For posterity or something. :D

Behold, my forays into fanart (from earliest to newest):

One of the first things I did. The tablet came with a drawing program, ArtRage, and I was playing with one of the settings.

ArtRage had an oil paint setting and I liked how the strokes showed, but this is pretty messy. >.>

In my head canon, the student's tie changes colors as soon as the Sorting Hat announces your house. ~~It has nothing at all to do with the fact that I had to convey "sorting" and "house" in one image. Not one bit.~~

Doctor Who crossover, based on the Princess & TARDIS series.

A portrait of Helga Hufflepuff. Tried out the gloop pen setting, not sure I like it. I also did a Rowena portrait but didn't like that as much.

Another crossover-y piece, sort of. Maybe fusion is the right word. It's Luna as Danaerys from Game of Thrones, pose shamelessly stolen from the Birth of Venus. >.> Also let's pretend that's what nargles look like.

Saw this image and thought Pansy would look great in the dress. \o/

GoT/Princess Bride mashup

slumber — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 15:58:00 GMT

As seen on coffee_n_cocoa's LJ:

Just simultaneously made me laugh and cry. I haven't gone past maybe 15% of the third book, so a lot of the specifics of S3 I don't really know yet, but I've basically been spoiled for all the major events so I'm well aware of the fates of most characters thus far.

And let me tell you, between S2 and S3 is probably the best and worst time to accidentally* develop Robb Stark feels.

It took me a full year before I could watch the finale of Tudors** S2. I still haven't seen the S2 finale of Skins***. News from filming have already pretty much confirmed that the Red Wedding is happening this season, possibly as a finale, and alsjdfhaksjdfhalsdj someone hold me oh god. I don't think I can handle ittttttt.

* When I say "accidentally" I really mean I blame Caroline and Tumblr.
** Margaery Tyrell I have great hopes for you.
*** So GoT is where my beloved go after terrible things happen to them in other shows? YOU DUMBASSES THAT SHOW IS NOT SAFE. <.< >.>

Valentine's Day food for thought

slumber — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 21:09:32 GMT

Source

I don't necessarily agree with the all of the quotes listed in the source, but this actually crystalizes a couple of thoughts I've had lately.

There are always things that are out of your hands-- things you can't control, things you can't change. Worrying about them too much distracts you from working on the things you can control and the things you can change. I can't manage when the world goes to shit, but I can manage what I do about it.

Which, I realize now, isn't exactly about love, but whatever. XD Hope you all are enjoying today. <3

<.< >.> Graphics Tablet Update

slumber — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:44:24 GMT

After posting this and reading what everyone had to say, trolling Tumblr for reviews, watching YouTube videos, reading Amazon reviews, I bit the bullet and ordered it. I figured, if I couldn't get a lot of use out of it, I could always just sell it on eBay -- it's not going to be at the same price, but at least I wouldn't lose all ~$65 on it.

It came in yesterday, because I chose local delivery (which was the same price as standard delivery, which would have taken 3-5 days), and I have to say, I kind of love it.

Following some techniques from this tutorial. Good Finished at hh_sugarquill?

Drawing on the tablet while looking at the screen takes some getting used to, but I already work with a mouse in general and I don't think the difference is all that huge, actually. Hovering to do things hasn't been hard to do either. The only thing that's been annoying me is sometimes it'll switch from brush to the grabby little hand that moves your canvas around, but I figured out that might just be the little buttons on the stylus, so that's corrected itself for the most part. Definitely need to work on cleaner lines, though. And shadows. Urgh. How do you shadow?

I think what I like best is, in Photoshop and using layers, this is such an easy way to sketch something out, draw the line art in, and then move on immediately to coloring. I haven't tried Art Rage yet (the software it comes with), but I'm excited to because it looks like it works with coloring media (oil paints, for sure, but I hope there's watercolor) that's a lot more natural-looking than any other program does, so I'm gonna give that a go.

On drawing

slumber — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:26:45 GMT

Sooooo I have been thinking, for Christmas I got a $100 Amazon gift card, and I could either spend that on Kindle books until it runs out, keep it in my account until I find something else later, orrrrr get a Wacom Bamboo Splash Pen Tablet for ~$65. It's supposed to be the "get started with art" model and is thus the cheapest of the product line.

I used to draw a bit before, but I don't really have much experience with digital art, except for that one time I tried coloring this. I'm not interested in entering fests as an artist, but I WOULD like to start drawing again, learn how to color in Photoshop, etc, at least as a hobby.

But is it a $65 hobby?

The Year End Meme

slumber — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 03:00:11 GMT

This'll be the 9th time in 10 years I've done this meme, so here we go:

What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before?
Bought an apartment! Rode a helicopter! Participated in and won NaNoWriMo! Make gifs! XD Kind of a big year holy shit.
Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really make resolutions, but I have goals for next year, sort of. 50 books, 50 movies, and 50 fics (or I guess maybe 50k words at least).
Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not that I know of! >.>
Did anyone close to you die?
No, not close to me, thankfully.
What countries did you visit?
No countries still. :( I went to-- gosh, I can't remember what states I've gone to visit either. Oh! Michigan, and Nevada, and California, and I went to New York and Texas too. Oh, and Florida!
What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012?
The ability to travel to other countries. A better understanding of how to best manage my monies. I've got a 401k but I want to be a little bit more proactive in how I handle savings and stuff.
What date from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Derp. May 13, 2012. That's the ~official day I bought my place.
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
NaNo, tbh. 113k in 30 days! Now to get back to editing it... >.> I mean I guess the big girl house is another one but it feels less like an achievement and more like a "welp, you have a MORTGAGE NOW GOOD LUCK WITH THAT" sort of a deal.
What was your biggest failure?
I wasn't proactive enough in sticking to healthier eating, and I haven't really done as much exercising as I wanted to.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nope, nothing major.
What was the best thing you bought?
BEST thing? It's probably this bag because it's REALLY USEFUL FOR TRAVELING and I love it. Ooh, and also the tickets to Universal!
Whose behavior merited celebration?
My family's! Since they came and visited me. XD
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Internet trolls, the NHL AND THE NHLPA COME ON GIVE ME HOCKEY BACK ALREADY *sobsobsob*
Where did most of your money go?
Like all of it went to the apartment, lolololol.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My family visiting. :) Seeing my brother again, even though he was still a grade A jerk. Going to Universal!
What song will always remind you of 2012?
Titanium, haha.
Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? happier
ii. thinner or fatter? fatter
iii. richer or poorer? richer?
What do you wish you'd done more of?
Read more books. Did more things on weekends instead of being lazy and staying indoors.
What do you wish you'd done less of?
Faffing about. It's always faffing about I do too much of. XD
How will you be spending Christmas?
I spent it with my cousin and his family for Christmas Eve (they had a party the Saturday before, which was fun because the kids all danced and sang and there were parlor games), and then Christmas Day I took the train back to the city and had an early Christmas dinner with Caroline and her family. Spent it all eating amazing food lbr.
Who did you spend the most time on the phone with?
I don't really use it to call and text so much as I'm on it accessing my email. XD Probably Caroline.
Did you fall in love in 2012?
I don't think I've had a year in here where I didn't fall in love. This year it was with Teen Wolf. XD
What was your favorite TV show?
Um, Teen Wolf, no doubt.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nah.
What was the best book you read?
This assumes I've read a lot of books, and honestly, I didn't. :\ I did read Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan, and it was mildly entertaining, but not exactly brilliant. Oh I guess I read The Hunger Games and Divergent this year too. Those were decent series.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
I WISH I HAD SOME. :(
What did you want and get?
Lots of things! I think the ~most that I wanted that I wasn't sure I was gonna get was that helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon, but my parents are awesome so yay. XD
What did you want and not get?
HOCKEY GDI.
What was your favorite film of this year?
Shit, I don't know, there were a lot of fun ones that came out this year, and I never like being too committed to a movie that it's my ~favorite of the year. >.> I liked Pitch Perfect a lot. And The Amazing Spiderman.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 26 and I actually went to The Girl and the Goat the eve of my birthday with Caroline and my parents. My birthday fell on a Saturday so then one of my mom's friends came by and took us out to lunch and dinner.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Um, I'm not sure. Immeasurably? I think security.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2012?
Dress jeans and cute tops. Cute flats. Semi-professional, lol, bc we're never going to be a business casual workplace but we're not exactly casual-casual either.
What kept you sane?
I mean, there weren't a lot of things to drive me insane, but I guess fandom's always around to help. XD
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
If I say the entire cast of Teen Wolf will people judge me? (Will I care?)
What political issue stirred you the most?
Probably Sandy Hook.
Who did you miss?
My friends and family back home.
Who ~~was~~ were the best new ~~person~~ people you met?
hogwartsishome folks, always! Also the new dudes and dudettes at the office seem pretty aces including the two new ones at the Chicago office. :D
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012:
Prioritize.
Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Man I hate this question always. :|

Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
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Woo hoo woo hoo hoo

Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
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Woo hoo woo hoo hoo

Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
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Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
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Woo hoo woo hoo hoo

Oh, yeah

Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
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Woo hoo woo hoo hoo
Woo hoo woo hoo hoo

FIC: Playing Favourites (Oliver/Cho, PG)

slumber — Sat, 15 Dec 2012 16:07:49 GMT

Title: Playing Favourites
Characters: Oliver Wood, Cho Chang
Word Count: ~2800
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Summary: From the prompt: Cho's first patient as a Healer is Oliver Wood, fresh off a Quidditch injury. He wants to get back to the pitch as soon as possible. She wants to get him completely healed. They disagree. A lot.
Disclaimer: JKR owns the characters, and the plot is nessismore's. :)
Author's Notes: I ficced for interhouse_fest. kalisgirl did a great beta job on this one! <3 Any mistakes are due to my post-beta meddling.

The first time Cho catches Oliver Wood wandering St Mungo's ward nowhere near his own, he at least has the grace to look embarrassed.

"Last time I checked," she tells him, clipboard clutched to her chest and fingers kneading her temple, "you were told you needed to rest, avoid extraneous activities, and not roam the ward without anybody knowing where you went."

"It got stuffy," came the Puddlemere Rookie of the Year's brilliant defense. "Sorry, Cho."

"Healer Chang," she says immediately. "It's Healer Chang, Mr Wood."

He looks at her like he has no idea what she's playing at, and she has to draw up to her full five feet, two inches (even then, she only manages to stare at his chest -- she remembers him being tall, but he had never been this tall, had he?), shoulders squared. "I know we went to school together, but you can't curry favours from me just because of that."

It's also her first year since moving from the residency program into full-time attending status at St Mungo's, so if a little bit of pleading slipped into her tone she hopes Oliver ignores it.

"Fine," he says instead, flashing her an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Healer Chang."

"It's fine," she replies, and they stand like that for a few more moments before she raises her eyebrow. "Did you need to be escorted back, Mr Wood?"

"Oh! Right. Uh. Probably?" He runs his hand through his hair. "Might make a wrong turn somewhere, you never know."

"Oh, honestly," she huffs, shaking her head, but they do walk side by side until he's back at his ward. "Have a good night, Mr Wood."

***

"These potions have been prescribed to you for a reason, Oliver," Cho says. Her hand is balancing a colourful mix of small vials, none of which had been opened.

"I thought it was Mr Wood?"

"Your case has been transferred to me--" and in those instances healers were encouraged to foster some sort of familiarity with their patients, the textbooks said. Cho catches herself before she spouts the text verbatim. "You're trying to divert the conversation, don't think I can't tell."

"Can I call you Cho now, then?" Oliver asks. He's lying in his hospital bed, too large for the slim metal frames, too casual, almost. Not a limb is broken or cast or bandaged, but they're wizards; broken bones are the least of their worries.

It's his head that's been acting up, thanks to too many bludgers and quaffles to the skull and at least three concussions more than any one wizard should experience in his lifetime. Unlike Muggle doctors, the St Mungo's healers have some potions that can help, but even so, the more Oliver gets hit in the head, the less advisable his return to Quidditch becomes. Some things magic has yet to thoroughly figure out.

"Still Healer Chang," Cho says, "and you still need to take these potions."

"They're foul."

"They aren't meant to be liked; otherwise we'd be selling them at Florean's."

"Oh, you must think you're funny."

"No, but I do think you're throwing quite a large fuss over something that shouldn't bother a grown man such as yourself. Drink up, or am I going to have to make you?"

He chuckles then. "One," he says, "did you just call me a baby? And two, whatever happened to bedside manners?"

"I reserve them for my favourite patients," she allows herself to lob back before trying for another tactic. "Come on, Ol, you're going to make me look bad."

"Alright, alright," Oliver sighs, opening up his hands for the potions. And because he is, deep down, a decent person, he drinks them all in front of Cho, opening his mouth wide and showing her his tongue he's done.

Cho beams. "Thank you," she says, truly grateful. "You know you're supposed to be taking these every four hours, every day... Am I going to have to send a Mediwitch over each time to make sure you are?"

"That depends. Are they going to be as pretty as you?"

Cho smacks him on the shoulder with a pillow and pretends the flush on her cheeks is embarrassment.

***

"Oliver!" The word comes out more as a screech than anything else, but Cho barely notices, her wand drawn out and a quick Accio leaving her lips. "What do you think you're doing?"

"It's been weeks, Cho," Oliver tells her, and any other time perhaps she'd find the pleading look on his face forgivable. Any other time, but certainly not when he wears it after attempting to mount a broom and fly before he's even been given the go-ahead for even the most basic physical activity patients in his condition are usually allowed.

"Yes, and it'll be longer if you try to push yourself. Are you an idiot?" she hisses, too consumed by anger to watch her words.

"Mean. Guess you could say I was acting like a concussed idiot, yeah?"

His attempt to diffuse the situation falls flat. She only crosses her arms and glares at him. "I cannot believe you thought this would be a good idea."

"I didn't," he says, nearly wilting under her glare. "In my defense," he adds after an awkward pause.

"Then why did you even--"

"It's been weeks," he repeats. And she knows, on some rational part of her brain -- the one that isn't completely consumed by the thought that Oliver could have been hurt, or made his situation worse -- that Oliver hasn't been out of action this long before.

For all that he is dutifully taking his potions and doing as the Healers tell him, this is one of those concussions where the effects insist on lingering. The first time they'd tried to get him to do an easy work-out, just walking the length of the hospital, he'd become inexplicably dizzy on the way back to his ward. They haven't tried anything since then, choosing to err on the side of caution, and Cho knows, understands, that it can be frustrating. Oliver is hardly the first professional athlete that she'd had to take care of through an injury, and he's certainly not been the worst.

"I know," she finds herself saying, her breathing returning to a calmer, steadier pace. "I know. But all the same, what you've tried to do was utterly, inexplicably moronic."

"I know." His shoulders slump, and he looks longingly at the broom that had been Summoned to Cho's hand. "I'd just rather--"

"Rather what?"

He shrugs. "Better to go while I'm flying than to never get to fly, I guess I was thinking," he mumbles.

Cho doesn't know what to say for a moment. "You'll recover eventually," she manages after a few beats. "Okay?"

He nods, but she knows the thought has not left his mind: that he's likely played his last game. It's ridiculous to imagine, when he's barely past his third year in the league, but that's the nature of the sport, isn't it? That's what her parents had told her when they asked how seriously she was considering pursuing a professional Quidditch career.

The walk back to his ward is quiet. Cho doesn't want Oliver lost in his thoughts but she comes up with little to bring up that won't seem pitiful or overly cheerful, certainly nothing remotely helpful. Instead she clocks out of her shift, changes into her regular robes, and comes to knock on his ward door.

He looks confused until she holds up a game of gobstones.

"The trick is to find something to distract you that won't hurt your head," she explains.

"It's gobstones," comes his response. "I'm already coming down with a headache."

She shakes her head and stifles a laugh. "Shut up and play."

***

Cho forgets to knock.

It isn't that she has to -- she's his attending, she checks in all the time, nowadays even when she isn't on shift. She doesn't knock because he usually knows to expect her, either with potions to drink or physical tests to take or a new game to play that isn't as deathly boring as gobstones or just, as she's been doing more and more lately, to check in.

So it isn't that Cho forgets to knock, really, it's that she doesn't think she has to.

But she really should have.

She walks in without knocking, wondering what Oliver might think of the new game she has tucked under her arm (Cards Against Humanity -- a recommendation by one of the Muggleborn Mediwitches). It isn't until she's almost by his bed that she realises he's cut-off mid-laugh, that there is a tall and very pretty brunette on the other side of his bed. Her mouth is open like she's in the middle of telling Oliver some story, and both of them are looking at her.

"Cho!" Oliver says with a smile.

"Sorry," she says. "I didn't realise--"

"No, no, it's okay, come sit down, this is--"

"You're not supposed to have visitors past six," she says, jaw tightening and a clenching, gutting sort of feeling settling at the pit of her stomach. "Just so you know. Someone else could come in and see."

"Oh, we thought--"

"It's fine, but I thought you should know that," Cho interrupts, giving both of them a perfunctory smile. "I hadn't meant to interrupt, I'm sorry. I should go, though."

She hurries out the room (and does not flee, no matter what anyone else says) before Oliver can say anything else.

***

The next time Cho sees Oliver on a broom, he is actually supposed to try flying. It's been a few weeks more since his previous foolhardy attempt; he's spent the last few days easing himself into a physical routine of exercises, pushing himself further and further each day. Or so his physical therapist tells Cho; it's been the same amount of time since he was transferred from Cho's care to Healer Hilliard's.

"You ought to come and look," Hilliard tells her. "He's a bit nervous about it and it would be nice to have a familiar face cheering him on."

Cho thinks there's something pointed about the way Hilliard suggests visiting, but she ignores it. She hasn't visited because Oliver isn't her patient anymore; she never should have started in the first place, anyway. They were warned about making mistakes like that in Healing school, and through their internships and residency. She should have known better, and now she's got a former patient acting like some kind of oversized pup who's lost his favorite chew toy.

"Fine," Cho tells Hilliard, mortified when she realises she's just compared herself to a chew toy. That's how she comes to find herself out in the field behind St Mungo's, waving tentatively at Oliver, who grins back nervously as he mounts his broom and hovers a few tentative feet above the ground.

Hilliard lets him hold that height for a few minutes before he signals for Oliver to land himself. "Should be good enough for today," he says. "Good job."

"That's it?" Oliver asks. "That was barely anything!"

"Baby steps," Hilliard reminds him before glancing at his watch. "I've another appointment in five; I'll see you tomorrow then? Same time? Maybe we can let you stay on the broom a bit longer."

Hilliard is gone before Oliver can argue. "Unbelievable," he mutters, glancing up at where Cho is sitting. "Can you believe that?"

"Sounds about right, really," she says. "But he'd know more about it than I do. You should listen to him. Give him a better time of it than you did me."

His face falls and Cho swallows the urge to apologise. "Yeah, guess I should."

"Do you need an escort back?" she asks before she can talk herself out of it.

***

The Quidditch season is nearly over, but there are still a few games left when Oliver is cleared to play again. Hilliard makes this pronouncement after an afternoon spent flying around the small pitch they'd set up behind the hospital. He manages to stay upright for a while, and is even able to block the Quaffles Cho lobs his way, laughing when she increases the strength behind each throw as per, and only because of, Hilliard's instructions from the ground.

"Congratulations, Oliver," Hilliard says with a satisfied grin. "You're ready to play. I'll let your team manager know the good news. You can report to the pitch as early as tomorrow."

Oliver hoots and hollers an embarrassing amount, Cho thinks, but even she can't help smiling. She turns to ask Hilliard a question but the man has inexplicably disappeared.

"Hey," Oliver says, nudging her shoulder with his. Or at least she assumes that's the intention -- in reality it's his arm that knocks into her shoulder. He's really bloody tall, she thinks with some irritation.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I was a right pain in the arse," he mutters, cheeks pinking. "Didn't mean to be, but you were -- you didn't clock me on the head, that was nice of you."

"I try to be professional," she says.

"Yeah, I know." He runs his hand through his hair, looking everywhere but at her. "Listen--"

"You should make sure to follow what regimen Healer Hilliard recommends to keep you in top condition."

"You should come to my game."

"Oh."

"As a thank you, I mean. You like Quidditch, right?"

The corner of her lips curls up. "Did you not play against me in school?"

"S'what I meant," he says, grinning. "Giving Hilliard tickets too, to thank him. You should come to my game. Puddlemere box seats. Very exclusive."

"I don't care about--" box seats, she means to say, but when Oliver looks crushed she shakes her head and cuts herself off abruptly. "When is it?" she asks instead.

***

Cho thinks about turning and running. She really, really does. The match is about to start and she's frozen in place, running through her possible escape routes because really? Pretty Brunette is waving her over and patting the seat beside her (box seats, and Pretty Brunette looks right at home in them) as though she's been reserving it just for Cho. Which she probably is. Then she says, "Healer Chang, come here. I've been holding this seat for you!" like Cho hadn't been utterly rude to her the last time they saw each other.

It doesn't occur to Cho to be surprised that Pretty Brunette knows her name until she's taken the seat and forced a smile to her face, a small "Thanks" slipping past her lips.

"We haven't been formally introduced," Pretty Brunette says, because of course Cho had fled. She's regretting that decision very much, now. She's regretting taking the seat, too, because it apparently is one of those seats that doesn't have the "swallow you up whole" option.

"I'm Cho Chang," she says with a weak smile.

"I know, I'm Madeleine Wood," Pretty Bru-- Madeleine Wood-- says, and if there is a lump in Cho's throat she chooses to swallow it. "Oliver's sister. But you can call me Maddie."

"Nice to meet yo -- sister?" Cho blurts out, flushing as soon as Madeleine smiles, because her smile doesn't look innocent, it looks knowing, and that is a whole different level of embarrassing. Cho's cheeks are warm, she's sure she's red as a tomato, and Madeleine just giggles. Giggles.

"Mm," Madeleine says. "Not surprised Oliver hasn't mentioned me. He usually claims I live to terrorise him."

Cho does not doubt this one bit. She's known Madeleine two minutes and she already feels terrorised. She bites her tongue, though, and just laughs along. "So," she tries, angling for a casual conversation starter, "you go to his games often?"

It's enough to get Madeleine -- who over the course of the game becomes Maddie -- talking. By the time the game ends Maddie's dragging Cho to the player locker rooms, marching her past the media and the United players in various states of undress.

"Hey Ollie," Maddie says cheerfully. "Guess who showed up?"

And maybe they should have waited until after the players are done showering, because not only is Oliver very tall, he's apparently also very broad. A towel is slung low over his hips as he dries himself off. He beams at them and suddenly Cho's mouth goes very dry.

"Oh there's Patrick; let me go say hi," Maddie says, there one moment and gone the next. Cho wonders if maybe she should introduce Maddie to Hilliard; they both seem very adept at leaving her alone with Oliver.

"Hi."

"Hello."

"You gave Healer Hilliard regular seats," Cho feels compelled to point out. "I mean they were first row seats, so that was nice, but you didn't--"

"I wasn't trying to ask him out," Oliver says.

Cho can't help returning the grin Oliver flashes, and if her cheeks are red, well, so be it; his are likely redder. "I guess I shouldn't tell him you were playing favourites?"

And that's all she wrote

slumber — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 02:35:40 GMT

FINISHED THE ACTUAL STORY TOO which, thank fuck. Not sure about how it ended but I am so glad the month is over.

*curls up and sleeps foreverrrrr*