[Fic] "That Perches in the Soul" -- The Darkangel

Summary: Hope is the thing with feathers. Erin and Aeriel, post-canon, 225 words.

[ETA: The AO3 crosspost is now up!]

( That Perches in the Soul )

---------------------------------------------

You know, one day I will manage to write a fic in this fandom that includes actual shipping rather than obscure implications. I don't even care what ship it is at this point! Just, the canon is so entirely about love (in all sense of the word), and I would like to reflect that a bit more directly.

[Fic] "Wash Us Clean" -- original, Firsthome

Summary: Ekanu spends the summer on the shores of the Inner Sea in Nivenos. (350 words)

Note: This ficlet is set when Ekanu is in her late thirties, after she's attempted to settle down in Pythas and start a family with Ain Taylak. That fell apart for various reasons and she's been doing University chapterhouse inspections again, this time in Nivenos rather than Yanomy, until she got shipwrecked in a spring storm near the western coast of the Inner Sea. Jou Shaha Vagyu found and saved her, and they've been living together while Ekanu heals.

( Wash Us Clean )

---------------------------------------------

I have been wanting to write these two together for years, and ha! I finally managed it. :-) The actual full-length story may end up being from Jou Shaha Vagyu's POV -- I have an opening paragraph to that effect, written longhand a few years ago -- but for the moment I'm just glad to plant a little signpost toward future goals.

I needed a good laugh today, and I got one

I woke up to this in my email this morning:

Story: Summer Camp and Politics
Chapter: 4. Zero-Sum Fallacy

From: [redacted] (Guest)
-------------------

[redacted]:You're story WAS brilliant, until the last chapter. I loved the 2nd chapter the most. It really brought out team 7's personalities nicely. I loved the chapter with Hinata too! I'm a big Hina fan and I liked how at the end you gave her a voice. She's so timid and shy and I like how you finally made her speak for herself. I just hate the last chapter! NaruSasu DO NOT GO TOGETHER! Bad Fanfiction Writer! BAD!

-------------------

What an adorable and utterly pointless little tantrum. :-)

December Talking Meme, Day 31: New Year resolutions

December 31: New Year resolutions - yes, no, absolutely not ever never? (for rthstewart) [Tumblr crosspost]

Kind of! For example, my resolutions this year are to lose fifteen pounds and to get a decent job. (Also to write and post a minimum of 100,000 words of fiction, but I make that resolution every year so I'm not certain it properly counts anymore.) My resolutions last year were to reapply to college and register for a course, which I did, and to get a crockpot and start cooking real food more regularly, which I also did and will continue doing since I am now in the occasional-cooking habit.

The key points, I think, are to pick one or two reasonable goals, to plan a few simple things you can do to reach those goals, and to be willing to give yourself the entire year and accept that your commitment and progress will be fitful. The more goals you have, the more divided your time, attention, and motivation will be. People have limited stores of those things; don't overstretch. The more complicated your plan, the less likely you are to stick to it. It's a lot easier to change two habits than seven. Lastly, life does not proceed in an orderly line. You have to allow for setbacks and bad days and interruptions and so on. If you expect perfection, any minor problem may serve as an excuse to give up and not try to reach your goal at all. But if you keep slogging along, however winding the road, you may not reach exactly where you thought you were aiming, but you will at least get somewhere new and interesting. :-)

So if all I can find at first are cruddy part-time jobs, that's okay. They are steps on the path to an eventual good job, not signs of failure. And if it takes me a whole a year to lose that weight, hey, that's about how long it took me last time I decided to lose fifteen pounds, so I won't get discouraged en route.

And on that note, I have finished this meme. Happy New Year to you, one and all!

-----

December Talking Meme: All Days

[Fic] Yuletide reveal day post

Today is Yuletide reveal day! Here are the stories I wrote this year:

---------------
---------------

( 1 )

Happily Ever After Requires Negotiation: Elections are coming around again, and the Neo-Radicals want Sophie and Dorcas to make a public gesture in support of their ideals. Sophie, meanwhile, is more interested in whether Dorcas likes her, and Dorcas will never pass up a chance to make a bargain. Sophie/Dorcas. (2,125 words, written for theblueescapist)

For the past several Yuletides, I have offered to write for Kenneth Lillington's An Ash-Blonde Witch. I kept getting matched on other fandoms instead, but this year, I got to revisit an obscure (and out of print) childhood pleasure. It is a classic Yuletide-style fandom, in that I think I may have just written its first extant piece of fanfiction.

I will briefly summarize the book, since I'm quite sure most of you haven't read it. Sophie Oakroyd accompanies her father to study the tiny country of Urstwile, which is so isolated (and carefully preserved that way by the outside world) that it's stuck back in ye olde generic European medieval/renaissance era. A local farmer (Simon) falls in love with her, while the daughter of a local tax collector (Prudence) falls in love with him, and meanwhile Sophie is mistaken for a witch because she can use applied psychology and also some psychic powers (which apparently are common in the 21st century). This attracts the attention of Dorcas, a real local witch, and a comedy of errors plays out from there, which has drastic and unexpected effects on the world beyond Urstwile.

Also there is some delightfully ridiculous poetry.

The Blue Escapist asked for a story about what happens to Dorcas after the book. I ended up writing a story focused more on Sophie, but since they are friends, housemates, and business partners by the end -- and since The Blue Escapist said femslash was fine -- Dorcas is still very present and important. She just isn't the POV character.

This is a sillier story than I often write, but I was working from a deliberately absurd canon, so that was intentional. Hopefully the jokes work!

I would like to thank cat_i_th_adage for beta-reading on short notice -- the story is better for her advice. :-)

---------------
---------------

( 2 )

The Starlady and Her Shadow: A Folktale of Avaric: This is a tale told on the plains of Avaric, in the dark before the dawn when Oceanus wanes and only stars shine faint in deepest heaven. For though the stars see all, they keep their silence and carry no rumors to the jealous Powers of the world. (1,125 words, written for Aishuu)

I told aishuu I was going to write her a Darkangel Trilogy treat this Yuletide, and then I wrote it. Occasionally I manage to follow through on my commitments in a timely fashion!

This fic is a combined response to two of her suggestions. The major one, which set the format of my fic, is about storytelling:

I'm fascinated by the creation of myth and legend, and the lines between truth and propaganda. I'd love an outsider piece about how Aeriel and Irrylath's story is passed down through the ages (since Aeriel was a singer, it would be interesting to see this worked in). Aeriel had some really bad rumors about her in the third book, so it could be interesting to see her image rehabilitated or further altered. Since Ravenna is gone, Aeriel should take that place in the culture, but it might not work out that way. Aeriel is going to be around for a long, long time, so she may eventually not even be able to recognize what happened in the stories that are told.

And then this one decided what KIND of folktale I created:

I am fond of Sabr, and while I don't ship Irrylath/Sabr, I would like to see her as an outsider perspective on Irrylath, Aeriel or Irrylath/Aeriel. I would like to see her as a character in her own right, but as part of Irrylath and Aeriel's world.

Basically I selected a handful of canon elements and rearranged them until they told a story that recognizably describes the same general arc of events as what "really happened," but which starts by casting Aeriel as a villain and gets sketchier from there, at least from a historical accuracy perspective. As a standalone folktale, it's perfectly coherent -- or at least I devoutly hope it is. The problem is as much in what it leaves out as in how it twists and spins the people and events it describes.

I love imagining the way stories get mangled down the generations. That happens even if people aren't actively trying to emphasize and deemphasize certain aspects, but once you toss propaganda into the mix... heh. That's fun. *evil grin*

---------------
---------------

My conclusion, based on this year and the year we visited Vicky in Spain, is that extensive holiday travel is not conducive to writing Yuletide treats. I only got this one done because I was fiercely determined to do so, and because it uses a style/voice/format that I have practiced a lot. (If you don't know that I like fairy-tales, you have not been following me very long.) I think this may be my least productive Yuletide ever, going by wordcount. But hey, I got my assignment in on time and wrote the treat I said I'd write, and I think both stories convey what they're meant to, in an entertaining fashion.

I will take my successes where I can. *wry*

[Fic] "Worth It, After All" -- Homestuck

Summary: In the woods near Rose's house, Dave braids Jade's hair and helps her avoid talking about John's refusal to join their rebellion against the Condesce. Alpha Timeline Fluff, implied Dave/Jade/Rose. (1,150 words)

Note: This ficlet falls between To the Lees and Every Child a Wanted Child.

[ETA: The significantly revised and extended final version is now up on AO3!]

( Worth It, After All )

---------------------------------------------

Last fic of 2014, in under the wire by five whole minutes!