Rhyming and rhyming and reason.

Yuletide letter

2014-10-26T15:44:47Z

Dear Author,
hi! I’m really looking forward to your story. I adore all of these canons, and fic for them is extremely rare, so, seriously, anything you write will delight me and be a great service to society.

Some specific things I really enjoy:
- different setting AUs: both the mundane kind - coffeeshops! highschoolers! musicians! – and the fantastic kind – fangs! space! For some reason, I am particularly into gladiator AUs these days.
- rescue scenes, both by despairing friends/lovers and by kind strangers
- kneeling. Formal kneeling! Oral sex kneeling! Collapsing with exhaustion kneeling! Oh-no-this-is-embarrassing-we-are-all-equals-here thwarted kneeling!
- pain! I love it in both hurt/comfort contexts and kink contexts.

Some things I would rather not read for these canons:
- non-con, including past trauma
- jealousy, infidelity, extended unrequited pining
- contemporary prison or military AUs, or particular focus on military/police training

In general, I like fic that focuses on characters and relationships, or on the social aspects of worldbuilding. Character studies delight me, and so do tropefics. Porn is welcome but absolutely not required. I enjoy reading about intimacy – characters having a strong connection (platonic or romantic, doesn’t matter) which helps them resist whatever awful things they have to face.

My requests this year are:
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous(2005): Sam Fuller, Gracie Hart
Prince of Silk and Thorns – Cherry Dare: Alar (Prince of Silk and Thorns) Garrin (Prince of Silk and Thorns)
Werewolf Marines – Lia Silver: Dale “DJ” Torres, Echo (Werewolf Marines)
Chester 5000 XYV – Any character

1. Miss Congeniality 2 is the world’s femslashiest buddy cop movie.

Grace Hart is a graceless dork, who learns how to be feminine out of rage and spite and duty. Twice! She gets very good at it, despite the pratfalls and not-very-well-hidden rage issues. I love that she loves women in a respect-and-solidarity-and-protectiveness way. And, you know, possibly in other ways.

Sam Fuller is so hot and angry (for very good reasons) that I fell for her as soon as she came on the screen. She wants to be completely stoic and job-focused, but she’s all astute comments and rage and style and sickly woobie backstory. Part of her tension with Grace is that they both face similar pressures, and have very different approaches to solving them. And then, after they get over the self-defensiveness, they start really respecting each other’s skills and methods.

And then they save each other’s lives and snark off into the sunset. I really love this movie.

I would love anything about their post-movie relationship. Fluff where they share food or keep getting into each other’s personal space. Angst with kidnapping or scary-looking flesh wounds. It’s a great fandom for tropefic - sex pollen! sharing body heat! – as well as for AUs (ballgowns! broadswords!) . Basically, I just want them to be important to each other and care deeply for each other, in whatever way you think that will manifest.

2. Prince of Silk and Thorns is a slavefic erotica with a plot and fallen angels and just about every hurt/comfort trope known to mankind.

Alar is a regal, angelic jerk with a very angsty backstory. He’s also weirdly sweet, in a smug but devoted way, once he gets over himself. And he suffers v. beautifully and is very into self-sacrifice.

Garrin is the world’s most entertaining slavefic narrator. He is just so reasonable. He gets into all these very subby situations, he even obtains subby superpowers, but his narrative voice is always very dignified and practical.

My favourite parts of canon were the ones where Alar was hurt and Garrin took care of him. I loved the power reversal, I loved that Garrin took it all in stride. So I’d be delighted if you wrote me either:
a. Alar getting tragically hurt and then rescued
b. Alar and Garrin deciding to experiment with the kind of kink where Alar is the one subbing. It’s entirely possible the experiment would fail!

If you’re not into the power inversion scenario, I would also love reading domestic bliss fic for them, with horseshoes and learning to function in the community they chose for themselves.

3. Werewolf Marines is a series of romance novels about loyalty, clones, trauma, and all kinds of love.

DJ is MY FAVOURITE fluffy-haired werewolf. He is so kind, so attentive. I love that he’s overflowing with empathy for everyone he meets. I love his rambles and his love of music and the way he offers Echo an escape.

Echo surprised me so much – I expected her to be much more, well, cold and tragic, and less friendly. She is valiant and passionate and loyal to her sister, and so self-aware. Her life is tragic, and I love that she manages to fall in love anyway.

I would like fic set during or immediately after the book. I just really enjoy their dynamics, and the fact that they found a slice of happiness despite everything. I love that they’re both ready to sacrifice themselves for the people they love, and that they bond over this and respect each other’s choices and priorities. And their banter delights me completely, and I love that they’re having sex now and can combine snark with sex! Or snark with kink! (I was into the clothes-ripping thing; pretty sure DJ was also into it.)

Or, I would also really really love reading them in a different setting AU – would they have the same dynamic if they weren’t forced to work together by a creepy collection of governmentally sanctioned supervillains? Possibly they would!

4. Chester 5000 XYV is a polyamorous Victorian sex comic about an inventor, his wife, her robot, a widow, and her husband. There is no dialogue. There are really interesting power dynamics and character arcs, and a lot of beautiful and meaningful sex. You can read it here(NSFW)!

I requested Any character, because any subset of the OT5 appeals to me, including individual character studies. Or all of them together!

Chester is fascinating. I wonder what desire feels like for a robot! I love Priscilla’s courage and the fact that SHE ACTUALLY LEARNED ROBOTICS to get her love back. (That was my favourite panel possibly.) I hated Robert for a while after his jealous rampage, but he redeemed himself by being all repentant and humble and tragic. I love everything about Isabelle and George’s backstory, and the way everything came together and they all fit so well.

It would be very cool to hear internal dialogue during canon scenes, but fic set after the current storyline is equally welcome. This is a WIP with a not very predictable updating schedule, so don’t worry about about keeping up-to-date with new developments! You could also write about this world – orphanages, supervillains, robotics, I dig it all. <3

(Please don't write me Chesty though.)

we got fire cracker wishes that we can make

2014-09-07T19:54:30Z

OKAY there's new people in this bar and I wanted to be all profound and informative, but, you know, whatever, it's sunday and it's warm outside and let's just talk in the comments.

How is everyone, how was your week, and here's a meme I stole from boosette <3:

Give me a trope & I’ll tell you my thoughts on the trope you’ve asked me about and if I’ve written it myself, or if I ever would

Genderswap
Bodyswap
Drunk!fic
Huddling together for warmth
Shag or die
Undercover in a gay bar
Pretending to be married
First time together
Amnesia
Crossdressing
Forced to share a bed/fake relationship
Mind control
Handcuffed
Wingfic
Mpreg
Mistakenly assumed to be gay
Let’s play truth or dare
Mary Sue fic
Aphrodisiacs
Curtain fic
Hurt/Comfort
Apocalypse fic
Someone has a baby
Telepathic soulbonding
Circus AU
Language barrier
Historical AU.

the lucky fact of your existence

2014-04-28T16:38:30Z

Hi dear flist! Hope you are all doing well and enjoying whatever weather you're given. I also hope haven't had your soul slain by last week's GoT episode. I didn't either, but it was a near thing, and if anyone has a rant for me, I will gladly bask in it.

I kind of flunked on completing the last two memes I posted; in my defense I was battling a deathcough and a venomous history exam, in that order. I still did not defeat the latter, but, you know, whatever, let's do another meme, this one stolen from wordsofastory

Choose numbers!

1. of the fic you’ve written, which are you most proud of? FILLED
2. favorite tense (past/present/future)
3. favorite POV (first/second/third/etc) FILLED
4. what are some themes you love writing about? FILLED
5. what inspires you to write? FILLED
6. thoughts on critique FILLED kind of self-consciously, oh well
7. create a character on the spot..... NOW! - FILLED, I am pretty proud of the ficlet that happened, I might post this later actually and then FILLED AGAIN with a Leverage thing
8. is there a character you love writing for the most? the least? why? FILLED but kind of flakily
9. a passage from a WIP FILLED IN TRIPLICATE
10. what are your strengths wrt writing?
11. what are your weaknesses wrt writing?
12. what’s your favorite place for writing resources?
13. who are your favorite writers?
14. anything else that you want to know XD

I have had a fairly successful writing streak lately, so this meme pleases me particularly!

bringing sexy back

2014-03-05T01:03:18Z

Because this was the best meme ever and also I have so many glorious new fandoms (Ben January! Sleepy Hollow! Seirei no Moribito! bits of Teen Wolf apparently, god help me. and lots more) , and also because wordsofastory has the best ideas

1. Comment with any character you know I've written.
2. Receive three bits of trivia about their sexuality: practices, preferences, experiences, fantasies, kinks, etc.
3. Profit!

it's a melody; it's a battle cry; it's a symphony

2014-01-08T00:41:23Z

Hey flist! / dcircle! There is nothing I love half as much as a writing meme - so I have stolen this one from moetushie ! I've randomised 10 songs and chose lyrics from each - your job is to pick a number and a character (or ship) (or friendship) (or assortment of characters) and receive a drabble! Some of my fandoms are listed here and any character or ship from them is welcome.

1. You can tear her temple down / But she'll be back and rule again (Tito and Tarantula: After Dark)

2. Excuse me sir, am I your daughter? (Pretty Reckless: Under the Water)

3. Come unstrap your broken wings / And tell me of your favourite things (Noe Venable: Alcina's Things)

4. And I can be cool, soft as the breeze, / I'll be a hurricane, ripping up trees! (Grace Jones: Hurricane / Cradle To The Grave)

5. To be victorious / You must find glory in the little things (Janelle Monáe: Victory)

6. I'm not the man I used to be / And what you see is not what it seems (The Stranglers: See Me Coming)
[Note: I've heard it lots of times but I literally just realised this is a song about the Count of Monte Cristo???? Goddammit Stranglers.]

7. All my friends are fuck-ups but they're fun to have around (Whitlams: You Sound Like Louis Burdett)
Fill: Lord of the Rings; Merry & Pippin

8. A heart of stone, a smoking gun / I can give you life, I can take it away (Bloc Party: Banquet)

9. In your hair there is a symphony / Your lips, a string quartet (Janelle Monáe: BaBopByeYa)

10. The drawing in my binder every picture I put a halo on your head (Frank Ocean: Standing Still)</user>

the stars came falling on our heads

2014-01-04T22:08:43Z

Dearest flist - happy 2014!! Hope you are all well and will have a better (or even better) year than the last one.

My New Year was phenomenal. I saw the Desolation of Smaug and adored it beyond all reason (I love Tauriel and her lovelife and may - juuuuust may - kinda ship Freeman's semi-evil tax-collector Bilbo with Cumberbatch's drama queen Smaug) (like) (my teenage purist self would shiver in horror) (if any of you have seen it - I'd love to discuss it). I also spent most of last week swimming in a sprawling volcanic thermal lake with soot and waterlilies.

Before that was a truly beautiful Christmas. Flist, flist, I got seven stories. And they are all glorious and thus I shall link them for your pleasure. [my extremely insightful and not at all biased commentary in brackets!]

Metropolis Suites - Janelle Monáe fics:
105.5 Alive (500 words) by jessalae
Summary: A few words of wisdom from everyone's favorite robotic hypnotic psychotic DJ.
[SUCH a glorious exploration of a dystopian DJ's morality and politics - and written by a friend! She was sneaky and I had no idea. This is basically the fic I wish I had the skill to write.]
it ain't our fault if we never heard it (472 words) by kristin
Summary: There are rumors now, whispers passed in subconnections too low from humanoid ears. They say she is coming.
[This one is about the messiah Cindi and the effect she leaves on the people she passes by. Haunting and grand!]

Subnormality (Web Comic) fic:
Last-Minute Gift Shopping (1187 words) by Aris Merquoni
Summary: Ethel takes a look in the No Bullshit Emporium. It's Christmas Eve and they're open until midnight.
[A Christmas story about friendship, social anxiety and courage and compassion. Read it! Even if you don't know the canon! It's beautiful.]

Boy Meets World fics:
Risk Perception (1112 words) by jenbug
Summary: Shawn gets an unexpected surprise when he shows up at Cory and Topanga's house for Riley's birthday party.
[A really bittersweet lovely future fic, particularly great if you're fretting about Girl Meets World and how it may affect canon.]
Heart of the Sunrise (801 words) by WickedWonder
Summary: It's been years. Shawn and Angela are ready.
[The one with jackets and ducks and dashing fistfights; for the saps out there (like me!). I cannot stress the dashing fistfights enough.]

Untamed - Anna Cowan fics:
The daughters of d'Artagnan (1789 words) by Aja
Summary: And this is how we come together.
[A hilarious and fascinating (and very warm/sharp) story about crossdressing and one of my favourite Regency families. ♥ Also great if you're looking for a fic about sisters.]
All the Daughters of My Father's House (3103 words) by Brigdh
Summary: After their marriage, Kit and Jude find they need to bring Lady Rose back.
[This fic is beautiful and sensuous and all about compassion and self-image and patience for the people we love. And orgasm. Also written by a friend and all my friends are apparently genius stealthy sneaks and I love them for it.]

I'm just your average evil meteor from outta the sky.

2013-11-04T23:52:27Z

Oh my flist!

I come bearing an extremely fun meme - stolen from wordsofastory

1. She explained that His Majesty couldn't afford to employ anyone but the best, and Ballister could never be the best now.
2. "Don't you dare say you're not scared of me."
3. "After all we did for him, all the men we killed and all the lies we told, he almost died on this stupid ship, fighting for people he doesn't even like."
4. He thought of her smile: airy and entirely convincing, if you didn't know her well enough to look for the rage beneath.
5. "I don't know if souls exist - don't really care either - but I know it's not possible to sell them, because if it was, my father would have found a way to mass-produce them."
6. "Some women," Rose said, very carefully, "can never be entirely happy with their marriage."
7. One of her hands was lost in his hair, the other was holding a book - Centaur Struggles, by Fable.
8. He wants to be loved, by someone strong and brilliant, but that desire is often eclipsed by his desire to be liked - by anyone he meets.

How are you? What new or old fandoms are you into and are you writing things?

Dear Yuletide Writer!

2013-10-14T13:05:26Z

Hi. I am so so glad you're writing for me! These are canons I am passionately in love with - and, for the most part, they're canons with very little fic. Thus, you can basically do no wrong! I shall give you my general and specific preferences, and will blather about what I love about each of the canons. Disregard at will! I'm also leaving anon commenting on, so you can always contact me if you'd like to know somehting.

I am a big fan of love stories or strong-friendship stories. Also stories that are about how the setting/events in canon influence the lives of minor or original characters. Also porn (especially if it's kinky somehow - I like basically all kinks? As long as everyone involved is enjoying them), and fluff (particularly for characters who lead difficult lives), and banter in any situation. So you have a lot to work with! In general, I tend to care more about characterisation than plot, and more about details than overall coherence.

Some further things that please me particularly:
- physical hurt/comfort: bruises! scars! dashing rescues!
- kindness: particularly when society discourages it, particularly when it leads to unexpected/forbidden friendships or romances.
- AUs and trope-fics: particularly space opera AUs, fantasy AUs, different eras - I love the character-exploration you can do when you change the setting.
- rebels!
- kneeling: I don't care if it's incidental or formal, it always makes me happy

Some things I'd rather not read:
- unrequited love, jealousy and miscommunication
- contemporary military or prison settings. (I am okay with dungeons! Knights! Space captains! Pirates! But contemporary prisonfic and armyfic just do not do it for me.)
- characters who're supposed to like each other being unnecessarily nasty or condescending toward each other

I have no triggers, but I'd appreciate warnings for character death and non-con. It's cool if your fic gets dark, but I'd prefer happy or ambiguous endings rather than entirely hopeless ones.

Untamed - Anna Cowan: Lady Rose | Jude | Duke of Darlington, Katherine Sutherland, Lydia Sutherland

This book is just so dashing. I fell in love with it about the time Lady Rose appeared. Lady Rose is glorious, the happiest of all Jude's presentations - genuinely self-confident, and so charming that she is actually kind, and I'm pretty sure Kit would never have fallen for Jude if she hadn't seen the way Lady Rose interacts with Kit's family. Thus, if you could write me Jude being Lady Rose again after the novel is over - either as an identity thing or a kink thing- I would be overjoyed.

I also love Jude-as-Jude though! I am not a big fan of him trying to play the chilly rational nobleman, since he is so very bad at it. I like his honesty instead, and his frailness. His attention to detail. His random acts of magnanimous benevolence delight me, and so does his sense of whimsy. And wow do I love him with Kit.

Kit is fascinating to me because usually I go for characters because of their kindness but I love Kit most because she doesn't do everything for the people she loves - if she did, they'd use her, because they're all that particular kind of broken. Instead Kit trusts in her own pragmatism and makes them respect her boundaries, and that is what makes it all work. I love how brave she is, how hard it is for her to go through the necessary self-exploration. I am also made so happy by her confidence once she does solve her issues. And when she does, well, wow she's hot. I spent the entire dramatic climax of the book just really really smitten by her confidence.

Lydia is gloriously complicated. I'm not all that interested about her marriage with BenRuin - I am not sure if I enjoy their dynamics or not - but I am fascinated with her perception of herself as a public figure, with her act of defiance in cutting her hair. I'd also love to know more about her relationship with Kit and Tom or her friendship with Jude!

I absolutely don't mind reading about trauma flashbacks, but I'd prefer fic set during or after the novel, when everyone's abuser is safely dead! Or you could play around with the setting - a modern AU could be really cool (would Jude be less of a dick? More of a dick?) Or a crossover with any Heyer if that's more you're thing!

Subnormality (webcomic): Any

I love Rowntree's discreet optimism and the fact that his characters are complex and fallible but so undeniably likable. I adore the Pink-Haired Girl and the fact that she has made two very different friends and cares deeply for them both. Write me bonding fic where Ethel tells her a very scary story about buying groceries, or where the Sphynx tells her a not-that-scary story about eating people. Or write what happens when Ethel meets the Sphynx. Hell, write me Sphynx/Pink Haired Girl/Ethel fic if you're so inclined; it's not a ship I ship, but it might be fascinating and/or hilarious.

Or you can write about any of the other characters. I love Zoe Muggs; I love the adorable philosophically-inclined lesbians; I love the demon chick and her girlfriend. I love so many one-shot characters, especially Jon and Synthia and Eunice and Bruno Menderes. Or I'd enjoy reading about any of the reoccuring characters visiting No-Bullshit Emporium or trying Dating Roulette.

I feel like this is a canon better suited for short fics - despite the walls of text - so if you want to write a collection of drabbles rather than one fic, feel free to do that. Longfic is also welcome, of course!

(The somewhat-outdated wiki says the philosophically-inclined lesbians are called Marie and Anneliese. Who knew!)

Metropolis Suites - Janelle Monáe: Any

I've been fascinated by this world for a while, but Electric Lady was the album that made me fall in love forever. I love the complex themes that Janelle Monáe explores in her lyrics and clips, and the way she melds worldbuilding and emotion, plot and politics. I am fascinated by the mythology of the ArchAndroid, and Cindi's role as a folk hero and a martyr and an entertainer. I am so curious about what happened with Anthony Greendown. I'm also way curious about Mary - is Cindi falling in love with Mary? What does Mary choose? (Sally Ride is my favourite song and I was so delighted when I figured out who the title is a reference to). Is this the Mary in question? What does 'true love' means to Cindi?

So write me a big mythologically significant story, or a slice-of-life story about Cindi being on the run. (Does she gather disciples? Does she perform miracles? What would happen if she met one of her stoned college-student fanboys?)

Or write about other androids - and about humans and clones and the way this society was built and the way it will be brought down. Write me about the role of music in this world and in the way Cindi's message is spread. Write me things about DJ Crash Crash - what is his story? Why did he become a DJ? What does he want and what does he fear? Write me about love and gender and chrome shoppes - what body modifications do androids do? Is there a particular kinship between androids of the same model?

Or you can always just take one song or one line and write about that, disregarding the ArchAndroid context altogether. I would like it if you kept the original futurism setting though - Cindi is so closely intertwined with the world she wants to save.

Boy Meets World: Angela Moore, Shawn Hunter

Lately, I have been watching this compilation of clips about Shawn and Angela's relationship. Apparently they were a formative shipping influence: the scenes where Shawn does his flourishy bows, where she reduces him to a giggly flustered mess; the scenes where they slam each other against lockers and horizontal surfaces, the scene where they both call Cory 'darling' with the same inflection, and particularly the scene where Angela rescues him from being handcuffed in the basement, oh my god.

I love the way they were always just a little less dramatic and more self-contained than Cory and Topanga - they observed, they snarked, they had so many defenses but they both worked on trusting people and sometimes got hurt because of it. I loved their clothes and their body language - the way they moved like a team, shared chapsticks and possibly lipsticks. (Crossdressing Shawn holds a special place in my heart.) I loved that Vivaldi and Van Damme pretty much accurately describes them throughout the series.

So! I would like fic about either of them. Future-fic where they get back together is very welcome, and so are missing moments. So are AUs of any kind - maybe you can make use of one of those alternate universe episodes! Or whatever other setting you can think of. If you prefer, you can write character explorations of either of them - I loved their complicated relationships with their families and I ADORED their relationships with their friends, although I wish we'd been showed more about Topanga and Angela. So, really, you needn't write shippiness to make me happy.

(It's also cool if you want to ship them with other people! I will be very happy with Shawn/Cory/Topanga or Angela/Topanga or Angela/weirdly-named-European-men-and-women, as long as the focus is on Shawn or Angela. Hey, you could even write Shawn/Cory/Topanga/Angela sedoretu fic, if you are a sedoretu-fic-writing kind of person.)

Benjamin January Mysteries - Barbara Hambly: Benjamin January

I adore the complete cast of these books, but I decided to just ask for Benjamin this year, since he is my favourite character - as in, anywhere, ever. I love his wit and compassion; the way he is so honorable and so very good at lying; I love his love for his family and even his occasional blind spots and prejudices. I love his rage, his humility, his confidence. His gracefulness and patience and thirst for gossip. You can basically write me character-exploration gen about how Ben January prefers his morning tea and I will love it.

If tea isn't your main interest, you can write me about his messy relationship with Livia, his surprisingly smooth relationship with Minou. Write me about him and Olympe as kids and then as adults who finally understand each other. Or you can write about him having intimate gym sessions with Mayerlings, or body-heat-sharing sessions with Shaw, or gathering-herbs-and-experiences with Marie Laveau. You could write about him and Ayasha - although I would prefer no death-fic or immediate grief fic in this canon. You can write me about his feelings on fatherhood, on religion, on why his family seems so very fond of cats.

Or you can write me my OT3! I ship Ben with Hannibal and with Rose in equal measure and with great intensity. I love that they all have such respect for each other. They're all mature but passionate; they recognise each other's grief and suffering and are careful and respectful about it. And yet! they're also snarky as fuck. You can write them as they are in canon - married, with Hannibal their ever-present platonic best friend - or any two of them getting it on with the third's knowledge of approval. Or just all of them together, since they all fit so well.

What they do together is entirely up to you - they could have thrilling adventures with scars and dungeons and disguises, or do science or poetry readings together. Or combining any of the above with sex. If you're writing something plotty and actiony, I'd particularly be pleased if it was set after Good Man Friday - sometimes after Rose is once again ready to have adventures.

AUs are very welcome too, so long as all the main cast is present. Give them magic powers! Put them in spaaaace! Put them anywhere else in history, or in the same setting but with Ayasha still alive. (Ayasha would love Rose with a particular passion, I imagine. She would like Hannibal - everyone likes Hannibal - but Ayasha in canon seemed protective of women in particular, and Rose would win both her admiration and her (not-as-overwhelming-as-Ben's) protectiveness.)

dancing with the freaks in the trees

2013-10-04T12:47:57Z

HI MY DEAR FLIST AND/OR DCIRCLE.

My birthday was a while ago, and apparently being 24 means you get the best combination of gifts and greetings in your life.

Now, the gift that is relevant to your interests is the three-obscure-canons crossover fic that my egelantier wrote me. It's titled When True Colors Will Bleed, and you can read it here. It's about forgiveness, sacrifice, grief, morality and loyalty, and it's completely beautiful, and surprising, and grand in a way that is rare in fic. There is whipping scene, also. The two main characters are Eliot from Leverage and Nezumi from No. 6, so if you care about either of them (or like the idea of Parker and Hardison as righteous royalty), you should read this. You should also read it if you're unfamiliar with any of the canons, because it works perfectly well as original fic.

I'd intended to write meta on it - IT IS SO GOOD, OKAY, and has themes that interest me a lot - but instead I wrote a short coda, which is here. It's about Shion and Nezumi. I think I will eventually add a chapter about the Leverage cast as well.

At the moment, though, I'm trying to write Sleepy Hollow fic. Sleepy Hollow is made of joy and loveliness, and I keep daydreaming of writing long tropey fic in its honor. I'm working on Crane/Jenny at the moment (I ship basically everybody with everyone? Except Luke, nobody likes Luke. Well, Captain Irving might like Luke, actually, I'd be okay with that, but only if it was the kind of D/s where Captain Irving tops him in a strict and sarcastic kind of way.)

Sheep of Autumn

2013-09-21T21:13:50Z

O dear flist, how are you? I have been away, and will for the most part continue to be away. And autumn, for the most part, sucks. But I've missed talking to you! Tell me all your random happenings, your hopes and dreams and your feelings about Sleepy Hollow. As an ice breaker, I've stolen this meme from wordsofastory

The Last Thing meme.

1. thing that you read - Untold by Sarah Rees Brennan. It was gloooorious. Well, I mean, there were more romantic mishaps than strictly necessary, and there's one character - *cough*Ash*chough* - whose continued presence in the series defies explanation. But there was also:
a. journalistic rebellion
b. mutual protectiveness and awkward teenage love with D/s elements
c. a really creepy torture scene
d. the best misanthropic yet well-loved and well-loving lesbian
e. Kami Glass reminding me of myself to a somewhat creepy yet oddly gratifying extent.

2. thing that you watched - The first episode of Seirei no Moribito! egelantier's heroic mission to get me to watch things continues apace. (A very slow pace.) I LOVED it; the art is breathtaking (THE CLOUDS, OH GOD) and Balsa is a really enticing heroine, both because of the female-bodyguard-on-a-path-to-redemption thing and because she seems to have a really complex and fascinating way of reacting to authority. She was respectful, there was no unnecessary swagger (I mean, I like swagger a lot sometimes, but there was something really, well, hot, about how she accepted local customs with no fuss), but she also made it VERY VERY clear that she only does things on her own term. I'll keep watching (very slowly, as I do), and I'm very curious about how her relationship with her princely ward will develop.

3. thing that you listened to - "Poor mouth", by 16 Horsepower. Dreaming of fanvidding it to Sleepy Hollow. Not that I CAN fanvid, you understand, but I can certainly dream.

4. thing that you wore - Orange pyjamas. Currently wearing blue pyjamas. It's that kind of day.

5. thing that you ate - I honestly can't remember. Oops. Might be time to eat again.

6. thing that you wanted - Sleepy Hollow fanfic, with a lot of dungeons and heroism and banter. Possibly kissing as well. Mostly dungeons though.

7. thing that made you happy - hearing from an old fandom friend (hi Rosie <3). She'd like people to sign up for hp_holidaygen! Relatedly, I'm v. happy with the slow but firm reawakening of HP fandom. Also I love the last three Hermione posts on http://livesandliesofwizards.tumblr.com/

8. thing that made you sad - maybe the fact that Husbands S3 has been out for a while but I can't watch it because it's streamed on an American-only place. What was wrong with youtube, I ask you? Well, presumably Bell and Espenson are making more money this way. Which I approve of. But waaaah, still wanna watch.

9. thing that made you worry - Death Cough IV: Death Cough Strikes Again. In general, I am not a fan of coughing, and I've sure been doing a lot of it lately. I have an Icelandic moss cough syrup here, which is kinda cool though.

10. thing that you're looking forward to - Yuletide! Examlessness. The next episode of Sleepy Hollow. Lack of exams. A long-awaited ever-slipping post-exam state.

even angels have their wicked schemes

2013-05-25T10:01:30Z

Day Three: A female character you hated but grew to love

For hatred read annoyed indifference - there are few fictional characters I truly hate and they are secure in their place of loathing. Today's theme seems to be Stoic Professional Liars, which makes sense, because, as priorly discussed, I tend not to connect with inscrutable, emotionally closed-off characters. Except when I do! Which now follows.

4. Tara Cole from Leverage
Tara is a professional grifter who owed Sophie a mysterious and very intriguing debt; when Sophie left the team to go Eurotripping, she summoned Tara to replace her. This was a very thankless role, because the whole team resented her for not being Sophie. And so did I! I also objected to her amused disdain of the team's altruism. I loved her amused disdain of Nate's theatrics, but unfairly assumed it was a lead-in to a brief and unpleasant condescension-based romance between the two of them.

I was so, so wrong. Tara did not have a romantic relationship with any of the team - but she had relationships with them! She was charmed by Hardison, felt protective/avenging when Parker was hurt, she had beers with Eliot. She was, well, amused and disdainful of Nate, as one should be. And they were impressed by her, welcomed her skill and her cheesy one-liners with friendly professionalism. She was still an outsider, but a well-liked and trusted one - an ally. And, to Sophie, a friend, cheerful rivalry and instinctive cooperation and all.

Still! Tara didn't join the team. She did not open up to them - she'd talk about her past and then stop, presumably before she got to the painful parts. She totally accepted their altruism and enjoyed partaking in it (after she saw that they were neither naive nor condescending) - but when Sophie released her from her debt, she went on her merry mercenary way and did not make any signs of wanting to become a leverage-provider herself.

And this? Is okay. It is never punished by the show. It's acceptable for Tara to be a rational, practical mirror to Sophie's caring artiste. It's okay for her to prioritise personal gain over a life of charity (which, let's face it, all of the Leverage team became multimillionaires before they devoted themselves to a life of charity). She still gets to have her moments of heroism - helping powerless people she meets accidentally - but she doesn't seek them out. She isn't a villain, she isn't a hero-as-such, and she's still a perfectly lovely person. Who knew!

[actually, Tara's morality reminds me most of Bond girls - the inscrutable but well-meaning independent entity kind. And she does get to have sex with an English spy! And she initiates it, she enjoys it, and she gets to walk away alive and happy.]

5. Natasha Romanoff from MCU Avengers

In Iron Man 2, Natasha plays a secretary while spying/bodyguarding, and she is remarkably bland. Which, I mean, is the point of a spy! I was still bored. In Avengers, she's still hard to grasp at first - whereas Thor is settling family business, and it's entirely clear why Steve, Tony and Bruce are there, and why they don't want to be, Natasha is following orders. Why? How does she feel about them? Is her loyalty to SHIELD or to Fury personally? We have no idea. It's implied she wants her Clint back, but we have no idea what Clint is to her and whether anyone is doing anything about retrieving him.

Then she gloriously beats Loki at lying (beats Loki at lying!) and we find out she's on a path of redemption! But, and I just figured how to put this, Natasha isn't Angel. She is Giles. She joined an organisation, because being a vigilante is ultimately less effective. Loyalty to SHIELD isn't her primary motivator, it just gives her a framework in which to operate, but she totally ignores the framework when she needs to:

"You're a spy, not a soldier. Now you want to wade into a war. Why?"

Because this is what she needs to do for revenge and redemption, and whether Fury or SHIELD approve doesn't ever enter the conversation.

Oh! And in further Gilesiness, Natasha's self-presentation is a lot like his in the first season of Buffy. I think she whittled her personal style into unremarkable/sorta-stereotypical because it is easier to keep hold of her I-am-a-spy identity that way. (Though, I kind of want to write a story about her deciding to present as a tweed-prone Latin nerd rather than a catsuit-wearing deadpan snarker.)

6. Azula from Filial Impiety by Lizbee, an Avatar: the Last Airbender fanfic
In which Toph and Azula are dating, and Azula manages Toph's deplorable parents magnificently. I have mixed feelings on "my lover is a sociopath and they'll hunt down everyone who hurts me" ships - only a very specific dynamic works for me, and this fic is a perfect example of that dynamic. Azula doesn't hurt anyone, because Toph wouldn't want her to, but she uses her specific skillset to make her girlfriend happy. She's devoted to Toph but she still chooses her own actions - it's a romance of equals which still changes her enough to keep her from harming people.

the next time I create the universe I'll make sure we communicate (at length)

2013-05-22T01:01:02Z

Okay, this is becoming fun!

Day Two: Favourite Supporting Female Character

and the theme of the day is Sharp and Compassionate Brunettes Who Bring Clarity And Perspective To An Isolated Community.

4. Hermione Granger from, obviously, Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

Hermione is the humanist skeptic in these books. Whereas Ron is there to introduce Harry to the wizarding world, Hermione is the one who questions it. And she can't really do that without constantly questioning herself.

On the edges of Harry's perception, Hermione keeps sculpting her identity. It's a conscious, complex process. In the first book, she honors friendship above cleverness. In the second book, she sneaks around and breaks rules for truth and justice. In the third, she seeks and finds the limits of her academic potential. Throughout the whole series, she keeps embracing and discarding bits of feminity - sometimes she stands up for other girls, sometimes she feels superior, sometimes inferior to them, sometimes she washes everyone's socks and most time she is the most rational and heroic person around.

But what I love most is the genesis of her identity as a Muggle-born witch. The wizarding world is REALLY DIFFERENT - different mores and expectations, different power structures. It takes her a while to understand them enough to be able to change them, but she definitely gets there.

[I find it kind of sad that the things she's most criticised for in fandom are her SPEW efforts (in which she tries applying Muggle methods to a magical problem and it doesn't work) and her jinxing an official document and endangering Umbridge (in which she does exactly what is expected of a witch - because, you know, the magical world is batshit and misdeeds get punished disproportionately all the time - and readers feel betrayed).]

So, what I need in my life is a story about Hermione taking all she learned and changing the world in a grand, lasting manner, with her lover and her best friend supporting her this time.

5. Shae from Game of Thrones

Shae is by far the show's greatest success. Like in the books, she is a camp prostitute who follows Tyrion to the capital and gets threatened by his evil father. Unlike in the books, she is an adult who is capable of making choices - and is, at any point, free to leave without having to sacrifice her entire financial security. Also unlike the books, she has a strong sense of identity - she is an immigrant, and it's implied that she'd lost someone.

From her very first wry one-liner, Shae's thing is her sarcastic plain-spokenness. It is part of her charm, her sex worker persona - but it is also her defiance against power and etiquette and destructive hypocrisy. She rolls her eyes at the queen's all-women-are-whores melodrama, and she adopts adorable lost listless Sansa and tries to keep her safe by bossing her around. She yells at Tyrion when she thinks yelling is called for (which is often) and definitely doesn't consent to sex unless she feels like it.

Basically, while Shae doesn't forget about power differences, and doesn't let Tyrion forget about them either, she builds microcosms where they don't matter. It's partly refuge in audacity, and partly that she is a human being who has emotions and chooses to love people who are worthy of them. (Which is rare among the women of GoT - so many of them suppress all their feelings, to achieve safety or power or both. I understand why this is necessary, but also tire easily of robotic mysteriousness.)

None of it would work without her strong sense of identity, and her constant awareness of how hilariously dangerous and harmful the society she'd entered is.

"But I am Lord of Casterly Rock," Tyrion says, when she points out that they should flee while they can.

"And I am Shae, the funny whore," she says, because titles don't actually matter, because equality is where you make it, and because it is still possible to escape the looming doom overhead - and I really wish/hope the show will acknowledge that she's right.

6. Ekaterin Vorsoisson Vorkosigan from The Broken Sword by hedda62, Vorkosigan fic
In which the Emperor comes to Ekaterin with a confession, weeds her garden and endangers her life. I love the trust and warmth and hilariousness between Gregor and Ekaterin (and they're so delightfully platonic too!), but mostly I love that the fic examines Ekaterin's role as an outsider to the Vorkosigan/Vorbarra conglomeration - someone who is analytical and unbiased and compassionate enough to help without being overwhelming.

for I have longed to love deep water

2013-05-20T23:38:57Z

And so, even as graduation gradually approaches, I shall now engage in Thirty Days of 90 Women.

Day One: Favourite lead female character.

Even with my ~three favourites~ stipulation, this is hilariously difficult, and I dithered a lot. So I settled for choosing three characters who fit a theme, and the theme is, apparently, Self-Assured Curiosity-Prone Jokesters. 1 and 2 are from canon sources, 3 is from a fic, and I believe this pattern shall continue henceforth.

1. Kami Glass, from Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan.
Free online prequels: The Spring Before I Met You | The Summer Before I Met You
Kami is a teenager, an aspiring reporter with a telepathic bond with Jared, a bookish bad-boy she thinks doesn't exist. (Spoilers: he does.) She lives in an isolated village and she's that girl, the one who wants to uncover the creepy feudalistic mystery that everyone else is happy to ignore.

I love that Kami performs pluckiness consciously. She's instinctively brave, but she also enjoys the role of being the loud, intrusive, reckless reporter - and she does it well! She also makes use of her sense of humor - which really is great, imaginative and wry but also cheerfully dirty-minded - both because wise-cracking is necessary to plucky reporterism and because she loves making people happier by getting them to laugh. Sometimes at herself! Sometimes at themselves! She is a Helper but not condescending about it, which is very rare.

But kindness is truly her most important, most fascinating trait. Unspoken is the first book in a trilogy, and we don't know yet whither Kami's arc shall bend, but she already had a really twisty moral dilemma and I love that she tried very hard to be kind to everyone but had to face the fact that that's not always possible.

2. Venetia Lanyon, from Venetia by Georgette Heyer.

Venetia is a 26-year-old Regency heroine who pretty much defined herself as Practical Old Maid Older Sister. It's really cool actually, because, while she does love her misanthropic baby brother who "needs her" (he really does, he's a petulant teenage bookworm who abhors practicality and would probably spend the family fortune on books and die a defiant hermit in a museum somewhere) - but Venetia also enjoys the relative autonomy of running his household and being isolated from society. She spends her time reading lusty Classical texts and traipsing around picking berries and thinking up investment plans.

Then she falls in love and realises that she has all the relationships she has based on benevolent amusement and exasperation. Her love interest, while emotionally dim, is at least an intellectual equal. When she's around him, she can be as whimsical, as sexual and as sarcastic as she pleases, and this is a new and intoxicating experience for her. And when the Patriarchy (TM) tells her she can't have it, she rises up in glorious rebellion, and wins.

The best thing, I think, about Venetia's story, is that it's about a woman who is happy with her life but finds out she can be happier. She chooses the family and the lifestyle that suits her best, she works, and then orgies happen.

3. CJ Cregg from Aishet Chayel by Arsenic, West Wing fic

This is the fic where CJ gets breast cancer, and gets by with a little help from her friends. It's my go-to fic for friendship-solidarity - this CJ has a great support network, who do exactly what a support network should. There is also awesome, mature romance. But mostly, there's CJ's characterisation, which is dearer to me than that on the show. Her idealism and snark and passion are true to canon. But in this fic she gets to be vulnerable, gets to think about herself and the way others relate to her, and I love every moment of it.

whether you're high or low, you gotta tip on the tightrope

2013-05-08T23:40:36Z

It's a really Mixed Bag of a week for me, how are all you?

I wish to talk Game of Thrones impressions, if anyone has any! Mostly I am like OMG OMG OMG EVERYTHING IS PERFECT FOREVER, but the last episode quite upset me. So, 95% of things are perfect, and I'm deathly excited about Bear and the Maiden Fair.

I'm writing a zillion essays for uni, which offends my mathematician's sensibilities - I have to drag up long-forgotten skills like bluffing and punctuation! - and I am going to need a reliable source of procrastination!

So, lo, I am doing a modified meme thing, and I humbly present 30 Days of 90 Women.

I'm using fictional women from any kind of medium - ideally, I'm going to do 2 canonical woman and 1 fanfic heroine per question! That's the idea anyway. It is highly unlikely the 30 days will be consecutive, of course

The questions are below! I have striked out the ones which are not applicable or which I thought were quite obnoxious. Please suggest possible alternatives!

Day One: Favorite lead female character
Day Two: Favorite supporting female character
Day Three: A female character you hated but grew to love
Day Four: A female character you relate to
Day Five: Favorite female character from a male-driven story
Day Six: Favorite female-driven story
Day Seven: A female character that needs more screen time
Day Eight: Favorite female character in something comic
Day Nine: Favorite female character in something dramatic
Day Ten: Favorite female character in a scifi/supernatural story
Day Eleven: Favorite female character in a story for children
Day Twelve: Favorite female character in a movie
Day Thirteen: Favorite female character in a book
Day Fourteen: Favorite older female character
Day Fifteen: Favorite female character growth arc
Day Sixteen: Favorite mother character
Day Seventeen: Favorite warrior female character
Day Eighteen: Favorite non-warrior female character
Day Nineteen: Favorite non-human female character
Day Twenty: Favorite female antagonist
Day Twenty-One: Favorite female character who would flourish in a different story/setting
~~Day Twenty-Two: Favorite female character you love but everyone else hates~~ I'm pretty sure there is no female character whom everyone else hates!
Day Twenty-Thre: Favorite female platonic relationship
Day Twenty-Four: Favorite female romantic relationship
Day Twenty-Five: Favorite mother/daughter and/or sister relationship
Day Twenty-Six: Favorite classical female character (from pre-20th century literature or mythology or the like)
Day Twenty-Seven: A female character you have extensive personal canon for
~~Day Twenty-Eight: Favorite female writer (television, books, movies, etc.)~~ wtf, why the random slip into real-people history
~~Day Twenty-Nine: A female-centric fic rec~~
Day Thirty: Whatever you’d like!

storytelling

2013-04-19T20:01:49Z

eeeeek. I've written a thing, for my dear birthday-having egelantier . It's original fic, and I am extremely happy with it, both because
a. yay, I finished an original thing
b. it's good, I think, if you're into this sort of thing.

It is very very vaguely inspired by Vikings, but there is a lot less gore, and a lot more bathing.

après moi, le déluge (4903 words) by somebraveapollo
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Additional Tags: Slavery, Duelling, Rescue, Married Couple, Disabled Character
Summary:

In the carriage, his owners slept soundly.

Adrian had time to study them by the moonlight. His mistress - she was an enigma, a dangerous one. She was the most powerful fighter he’d ever seen, but she seemed content to let Rhys dote on Adrian - even allowing him on the seats of the carriage. She had looked so sweet and lost, in the pub, but now she seemed powerful to him, with her regal braids and the hidden lines along her forehead and beside her eyes. She did look benevolent in her sleep, but so did most people.

Rhys was a different puzzle, one of perception. In his fever dreams and daydreams, and furtive desperate sex dreams, Adrian had altered Rhys into someone taller and darker and always somber. It was difficult to reconcile that image with the man who was drooling onto his wife’s shoulder, who had boomed with laughter as he told Adrian the gossip he was supposed to remember if he wanted to make his way around the village.

this bridge was written to make you feel smitten

2013-03-21T20:41:18Z

1. I watched a play last night! Disco Pigs, all about self-destuctive bonnie-and-clyde claustrophobia and identity crises and karaoke. It was grim and fun and depressing, with excellent actors who interacted a lot with the audience. The heroine delivered her closing monologue keeping direct eye contact with me, which was very upsetting, because she was yelling and crying and asking "where am I supposed to go?" a lot. I had to fight hard against offering her my couch.

2. It left me in an Irish sort of mood, so I watched Breakfast on Pluto at last! It was sad! I cried! And beautiful! I cried again! To be fair, I was in a soggy mood to begin with. Have any of you seen it?

3. I am listening to this cover, and it's the creepiest thing in the world. If I were the sort of person who does things, I'd totally make an Angel(us) fanvid to it.

4. I did do a thing though! Or rather, I accidentally spilled a Muggle AU Ron Weasley headcanon thing all over the comment section of wolfgenes .

1. ... basically the exact same thing, but with futebol and computers! So, he's lonely in his little Devon highschool, commuting to school and wearing hand-me-down universe and bringing bad lunch (no huge feasts for Ron in this universe :( ). He takes up soccer as a way to keep himself away from home, from Molly's sighs and Arthur's fallow magic trick hobby and perpetual overworkedness. He gets good at soccer - and moderately popular - but always with a kind of distance from his friends - no going over to each other's houses, no shared sandwiches or secrets. So, soccer takes him to an inter-school competition in Surrey, where they lose horribly because there's a bruised little skinny kid who is JUST. THAT. GOOD. Ron kind of hates him for breaking their winning streak but also sees how THIN he is and something protective makes him follow the kid home and help him when he gets ambushed by local bullies. Then they go out, share beers and get drunk for the first time in their life. Harry gives him his email address - he inherited Dudley's old computer - and Ron doesn't want to leave it at that.

So, at home, he first uses a library computer, then gets Bill's old desktop. He and Harry start corresponding. It's awkward at first, because: boys, but they get better at it and soon they know everything about the other all the time. Ron even manages a few long-distance phonecalls. It's this weird thing where Fred and George ask him if Harry is his boyfriend - not even teasingly, just, like, what the hell - and Ron yells no but actually isn't sure at this point.

Meanwhile, he gets good at the internet; he starts playing a MMORPG and drags Harry into it (Harry is good at every game except long-distance chess) and there meets a very very bossy guild leader. He makes her cry; then he saves her from a troll raid; they all become friends and then she starts helping them with their homework and suddenly O levels look like a possible option and then there's a car heist and Hermione taking them on a roadtrip to forests. And then they all get married, the end.

5. Also from wolfgenes, and because I cannot resist, a meme!

You comment & ask me up to three questions about one of my fandoms, or three different fandoms.
I answer it and then ask you three questions that have some thematic relevance to the questions you asked me.

IN WHICH ELIOT KNEELS A LOT.

2013-02-04T00:35:21Z

I GOT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING EVER, DEAR FRIENDS.

Come Closing In For A Kill (1321 words) by egelantier
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Leverage
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Alec Hardison/Parker, Alec Hardison/Parker/Eliot Spencer
Characters: Alec Hardison, Parker (Leverage), Eliot Spencer
Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Loyalty, Kneeling, Sacrifice, chilla made me do it
Summary:

On the day King and Queen leave, Her ex-Majesty looks at him and says with a surety of knowing her answer: "Promise me you'll keep them safe".

Eliot says, "Until my dying day," and knows it to be the easiest truth he ever told.

It's all mine, and it's glorious, both uplifting and canon-true and totally honest (which, egelantier doesn't write often, but when she does she does it with utter, professional devotion and trueness and humility).

Go! Read! Love!

pitch corrected computed emotion

2013-01-26T01:13:06Z

Lo, I have new friends! I had plans for you, dear newcomers, like entertaining party games and making a list of my fandoms for you to marvel at.
Instead, as is often the case, you get a meme!
ask me my top five [whatevers, fannish or otherwise]. any top fives. doesn't matter what, really! i will answer them all somewhere at some point!

And tell me if I can ask you your top fives!
Further, I am still writing things on my previous post, so, if you desire a drabble, come ask!

What kind of math do Snowy Owls like?

2013-01-13T21:52:15Z

Owlgebra.

(never google "jokes about snow", it shall only dampen your spirit)

Further memeing! Now in a weird yet intuitive order, as justified by the snowflaky nature of the challenge itself.

Day 5: try something new!

I wrote LJ/Tumblr antropomorfic. The new thing I am trying here is not the ficlet itself, it's the fact that I properly saved it among my documents, and may even post it on LJ (oooh, or AO3!) at some point. [I have myriad commentfic haphazardly strewn across the internet, which is a pity because I usually love rereading my work but I am forgetful and often cannot find it.]

Day 7: share something non-fannish about yourself

I love maths. I mean, I am a mathematician, or going to be one, or studying mathematics anyway. And it's frustrating sometimes, because I get so tired and overwhelmed, and maths require a lot of effort, and also instinct, so when I am otherwise tired or sad or preoccupied, doing maths is painful.

[It actually feels precisely the same as writing does. The same occasional block, the same resentment, the same "fuuuck I am awesome" positive feedback when you do do it. And the same humility when you see something grand and clever and true done with the tools you're slowly learning to use.]

But, regardless of my mental state, I love (some) maths. I mean, I get annoyed by the persnicketiness of analysis; I kinda hate probability for mysterious reasons; I hate statistics because of academic osmosis. But there's functional analysis, where everything becomes kind of aristocratically elegant. There is the smirky self-sufficiency of geometry. I love algebra, everything about algebra with its cheery abstraction, its don't-even-give-a-fuck constructions and the way it provides utter, stark clarity.

I do love maths. I love dreaming in equations - it rarely makes sense when you wake up but it does make perfect sense at the time. I don't know if I want to do it forever, but I hope I will never stop feeling the complicated but honest joy it provides.

Day 8: set a fannish goal

1. post at least one more thing on AO3
2. do Yuletide again
3. ??
4. ~~profit~~ keep on meeting and collecting awesome people!

Day 9: create something

Taking a leaf out of arsenicjade 's book, and inserting a meme into my challenge:

Please ask me questions about my OTPs* in the comments! Any questions! All questions! Deep questions! Silly questions! Ship questions. (It doesn't even really have to be OTPs. Basically, anything you know I have ever shipped.) I will write a drabble-ish length fic/scene that responds to the question.

*also characters I like or have ever heard of. Or, like, your OTPs. I am pretty flexible.

snow(flake)

2013-01-08T16:31:56Z

Lo, there is a snowflake_challenge going on and I shall try to participate!

Day 1: In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Hah, this took me a hilariously long time to gather, mostly because I have lots and lots of commentfic spattered around the internet, which I shall track down and index... soon. But here's three fics I am quite proud of:

1. the season of eyes meeting over the noise - my first-ever Yulefic, written for Saved! (the 2004 movie with all the earnest teenagers battling oppressive dogma) I absolutely love the canon, and was very nervous about finding the right tone of depression/warmth/honest-discussion-of-faith. But I think I did well! It's about Mary and life going on, and Cassandra, and hugs.

2. Come Along and Take That Ride - written for Fire's Stone (the Tanya Huff novel with the canon queerness, arranged marriage and the volcano). It's a modern, roadtripping AU. It's meant to be a prequel to a longer story, with knife fights! And catharsis! And jazz! but even if I never write that I am very happy with my characterisations and dialogue here.

3. not everyone knows to love (a man like me) (there are no men like me) - written for Game of Thromes - or rather, I wrote it for ASoIaF, but later decided the characterisation fits that of the show more than the book. It's a twisted, kinky Jaime/Brienne drabble. This actually isn't the future I would wish for them, it's more like the dark underbelly of everything I love about this ship, and I surprised myself with it.

+1. Avengers of Amber! this is only a fanwork in the loosest sense of the word; it's just me blathering about an Avengers/Chronicles of Amber crossover. But I love it, because UNICORNS!! (Also, Prince Steve, heh heh.)

Lo, my Yuletide!

2013-01-03T22:07:45Z

You know, as it turns out, writing cool things for cool people is not actually the scariest thing in the world.

the season of eyes meeting over the noise (2456 words) by somebraveapollo
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Saved! (2004)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mary Cummings, Cassandra (Saved!), Roland (Saved!)
Summary:

She couldn’t flee the thought, the dizzying thought that nothing could help - not God or crystals, because she wasn’t even sad for any good reason.

Yuletide Is Amazing.

2012-12-25T20:40:31Z

Guys, why didn't anyone bribe me into doing this before? THIS IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD.

I GOT A FIC. It is about cockroaches and the power of 50 Shades of Grey.
Entomology (3465 words) by Derek Des Anges
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Black Books
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bernard Black/Fran Katzenjammer/Manny Bianco
Characters: Bernard Black, Fran Katzenjammer, Manny Bianco
Summary:

One as-good-as-morning, as Bernard L Black was waking with an absence of haste or grace from dreams that were possibly anxious, he found that in his bed he had been transformed into a monstrous verminous bug.

It has the best flourishes ever and I am going to learn it by heart at this rate.

Also? I GOT A TREAT. It's about Egyptian gods and the power of memory.

It's Never Too Late (To Rewrite Your Story) (2000 words) by Jedi Buttercup
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hancock (2008)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mary Embrey/Ray Embrey
Characters: Mary Embrey, John Hancock, Ray Embrey
Summary:

"So, hey. You never said," Hancock says out of the blue one night, after an especially busy evening in New York that had played out on the six o'clock news while the Embreys were eating dinner.

It is full of love and heartbreak and mythology, and it's an awesome supplement to canon.

welcome fishies to my hook

2012-10-31T23:30:58Z

It is, honestly, an absurd relief to see my friend have dutifully followed my ~mercurial shift!

In honor of The Day After All Hallow's Eve, I'm inviting trick-or-treaters to my 'door.' Comment "trick-or-treat" to this post and...well, you know the drill. Treats can be anything that strikes my fancy (pics of fave actors or pairings, one sentence fics, graphics, a few words why I'm glad to have you on my flist, etc. etc.).

The more "houses" to visit the more fun it'll be, so go ahead, open your journal and help spread the fun.

Also, tell me about your Halloween shenanigans or opinions, if you've any. I missed out, again, but I also have no idea what I would have gone as. Probably something overthinky and ~ironic, because that actually requires less effort than a sincere costume.

but my rolling days are ending

2012-10-31T11:31:14Z

Hi, it's Chilla.

I'm abandoning laeria / laeria - not for any particular reason, just wanted a change of identity (as one does). I wonder if this will bring about a change of habits. Maybe I'll start gathering my commentfic now! Or writing more actual fic!

... probably not. But, adorably, I am using tags.

Happy Halloween!

Yuletide Letter

2012-10-26T19:27:27Z

Dear Yuletide Writer!

Lo, this is my first year doing Yuletide, and I am excited beyond words. Thank you, thank you, for writing for me. I know you will do it excellently!

I am currently changing livejournals - I've been meaning to do so for months and somehow Yuletide seems like an incentive - but you can find my previous online identity here: laeria . You will notice that I am a sloppy journal-keeper but I like talking about my preferences, so I am conveniently stalkable. In particular, you can check out this post for further info on my feelings about both Amal and Augustus.

Things I like:
Kindness - kindness as a motivator, unexpected kindness (coming from teenagers, enemies, bosses), people letting themselves accept kindness gracefully.
AUs - all kinds, from "what if X had taken the phone call" to werewolf cowboys in space. I like it especially when the existing dynamics are heightened or clarified by dramatic changes in the social setting - like slavefic and Regency AUs and such. (I am... kinda hopeless at noticing worldbuilding, so don't fret over the details, I just want interaction!)
Kink - sexual or non-sexual, fun or formal, team-worky or experimental. Go wild!
Epistolary fiction - diaries, memos, newspaper articles.

I dislike:
Jealousy, love triangles, unrequited pining
Unfair relationships - I love power difference, as long as the person in power is as kind as possible. I don't enjoy romances where anyone involved seems to dislike their partner(s).

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On my canons:
Please note that this will contain SPOILERS for The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Black Books - Obviously I love the hilarity of this show, but also the warmth and the dysfunctional-chosen-family. What I'd like best is an AU of some sort. (Fran Katzenjammer, pirate captain!) I see their three-way friendship as basically gen, but if you want to do a "they experiment with sex" fic, that would rock too. Just please do not ship any two of them while leaving out the third.

TJ and Amal - this is my favourite comic in the world, and I love each and every piece of it. I adored TJ's backstory in the Smut Peddler, but any version you have of it would fascinate me too. Or anything about Amal and his family and friends. I love them together, with all that warmth and trust (well, ish). Shippy future fluff! Shippy future angst! Highschool AU! Anything your heart desires will delight me, as long as there is some form of happy ending.

Hancock - my favourite thing here is probably the mythology. I absolutely love divinities with human desires (Tenth Doctor fan here!) and the whole mortality-as-a-personal-choice thing. My other favourite thing is the canon OT3. Hancock had sizzling chemistry with Mary and Ray - I liked Ray as their well-meaning, fully consenting proxy, but a more equal future relationship is even better. Or, if you like historical fiction, you could write me about John and Mary's grand past romance. Or something about the other demigods and the various ways two people can be ~soulmates.

The Fault in Our Stars - My favourite thing about the canon is the way it combines honest tragedy with black humour. I love all the kids. And all the friendships. I fervently shipped Kaitlyn/Isaac in the books, but also either or both of them with Hazel. Or anyone with Augustus.

I didn't ask for Gus, though I love him - it's entirely up to you whether you want to include him or not. Sacrilegiously, I would not mind an Augustus-survives AU either, if that's what floats your boat, just please don't dwell on the cure - just write him alive and cool.

EDITED on 5th Nov: this part of my letter seemed kind of lacking, but, honestly, any genre you like is good here: futurefic or past, fluff or mourning, sex or introspection.
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In conclusion: this will be awesome. Anonymous commenting is on, so ask if you need something. I have no triggers, but appreciate warnings for death and non-con.