[Rec] "Life & Space" -- Homestuck

Ladypalooza authors were revealed today, which reminded me that I never posted about the opening of the archive or my gift. *headdesk*

So let me do that now.

Life & Space (1249 words) by GracefulArchitect
Fandom: Homestuck
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jade Harley, Jane Crocker

Summary: Jane visits Jade on her island.

This is a lovely fic about Jane and Jade spending time together post-game, nominally because Jane wants some technical advice on pieces of Crockercorp technology she's trying to safely decommission, but also because she wants to know her ecto-relative a little better. The background details are perfect, and the slight awkwardness of two people who share a bunch of friends (and an interlude of mind control) but haven't interacted much on their own comes across clearly, as well as the first steps toward a more proper friendship.

Go read it!

[Fic] "Wear Your Finest Hour" -- Homestuck

Today is Ladypalooza reveal day! I wrote two fics this year: my assignment and a pinch hit. I will talk about each in a separate post.

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Wear Your Finest Hour: Rose and Jade go dress-shopping for prom. Jade/Rose. [1,350 words]

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This is my assignment, written for casetrippy!

Casetrippy made a number of interesting prompts, most of which I felt unqualified to write for varying reasons. So I went for the cute and slightly ridiculous prom fic instead. :D I was originally going to include a scene from the actual prom, but the (tiny!) character arc wrapped up so neatly at the end of the dress shopping scene that I couldn't figure out how to extend the story without tacking on some kind of action/adventure or mystery plot, which didn't seem like it would quite fit the spirit of the prompt, so I quit while I was ahead.

I had a small struggle wrapping my head around a version of Jade who displays a strong Indian/Southeast Asian cultural identity in her everyday life, since her canon cultural background (insofar as she displays any) comes from Colonel Sassacre and the Condesce via Jake Harley and is kind of generic rich American plus weird sci-fi and survivalist influences (regardless of what racial identity you go with), but I eventually came up with a backstory wherein Grandpa Harley, on his quest to see the world, wound up working as a railroad telegraph operator in British India and falling in love with a local woman who became Jade's grandmother. This is loosely referenced in the paragraph where Jade explains how she found her own prom dress in her grandfather's attic.

The dresses described in the fic are based on one of casetrippy's lovely pictures, which you can see either via that link or embedded at the end of the story. The title is from Steeleye Span's "We Shall Wear Midnight," a song from their Wintersmith album based on Terry Pratchett's work. The song has no thematic relation to the fic; I just liked that particular line in conjunction with Jade's description of the two dresses.

[Fic] "Let the Water Take Me" -- Homestuck

Today is Ladypalooza reveal day! I wrote two fics this year: my assignment and a pinch hit. I will talk about each in a separate post.

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Let the Water Take Me: You've known since you were a wiggler that one night Meenah Peixes will set you free. You've known for almost as long that your death will only draw her further into the trap of your Master's schemes. And it only took one sweep in your Master's active service before it occurred to you that she is the only other troll in the universe who will live as long as you, with all the loneliness and loss that implies. It would take a far stronger person than you will ever be to not love and pity her a little, if only in the abstract. (You will destroy her anyway.) Handmaid/Condesce, depression, suicidal ideation, attempted suicide. [2,450 words]

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This is a pinch hit, written for Burgundyrose!

The prompt was for a version of Handmaid/Condesce that leaned toward red- or palerom rather than blackrom, which I leapt at because I'd been wanting to write something along those lines for a while but didn't have any framework for such a story. Burgundyrose's suggestion of a scene where the young Handmaid tries to drown herself, only to be interrupted by the Condesce, immediately gave me ideas. :D

I've always liked this ship, and while my first impulse in 2012 was to categorize it as a kismessisitude gone wrong (one of them kills the other), I later rethought my stance and decided the Handmaid would be much more likely to hate the Dolorosa, the Signless, the Disciple, or the Summoner. See, what would piss her off most is hope, since she knows in her bones how futile it is to expect any change to the system she's helped build at Lord English and Doc Scratch's orders. And by the time the Condesce is an adult, I think she shares that fatalistic, nothing-changes worldview. She comes at it from a different direction -- her core assumption is that she's always going to win and always be in charge -- but that can easily get wearing and pointless in its own way. She and the Handmaid also share an assessment of other trolls as toys/game-pieces.

And when you come down to it, after all, the Handmaid wants to die. She makes a genuine suicide threat to Doc Scratch as a child, and I can't think eternity in Lord English's service was any kind of pleasure. The Condesce, in effect, frees her by killing her.

"Let the Water Take Me" is a small exercise in radically divergent character perspective. For Meenah, it's almost a meet-cute (aside from, you know, the 'I rescued you from attempted suicide' thing), whereas for Damara, it's several small tragedies bound together because she knows exactly how their story is going to end, hates what that's going to do to Meenah, hates herself for looking forward to it, and would probably go through with that final assisted suicide attempt even if she did think she could change the outcome, because she wants her freedom more than she wants to save Meenah from Lord English's service. (And she hates herself for that, too.)

I used the characters' Beforan names for simplicity's sake, because Meenah at this point in her life is too young for an adult title (and might have used a different one at first anyway).

wherein Liz kills a mouse

I have had, off and on, a minor problem with mice in my kitchen -- or, more specifically, with mice in precisely two cupboards and one drawer, because those are the ones with holes in the back to let the water pipes reach the sink, and they don't offer access to any other storage area, let alone the open floor. (Well. Assuming the doors are shut, which they always are unless I'm actively using them, in which case a mouse would probably be more interested in fleeing back into the walls than in bravely exploring.)

I don't store anything edible in those particular cupboards and drawer, but the mice do nibble at any plastic or rubber components of my utensils and containers. They also poop. And having mice wander over one's measuring spoons, corkscrew, and potato peeler really is not sanitary.

So a week ago, I finally remembered to buy a four-pack of mousetraps and a candy-bar to use as bait. I use snap traps, partly because they are vastly cheaper than poison stations, partly because they are reusable, and partly because unless you get a horrible rotting stench inside your walls, you never really know if poison works -- you may not see any more mice, but absence of proof is not proof of absence -- whereas a snap trap provides incontrovertible evidence of effectiveness in the form of a dead mouse. (Live traps are a nice idea but not practical.)

On my first attempt, I didn't put the trigger on a sensitive enough setting; a mouse ate the bait and got away safely. I made the requisite grumbling noises, and yesterday afternoon I rebaited and reset the trap.

This evening, I opened the cupboard door and found a dead mouse. Said mouse is now gently freezing on one of the yard waste piles in my back yard, where it will either be eaten by an enterprising scavenger or slowly decompose. Either way, it will be useful, and either way, it is no longer contaminating my kitchen.

...

I doubt it was the only mouse. I will set another trap.

wherein Liz grows a narcissus

So I mentioned that as part of my church's solstice ceremony on Dec. 21st, every participant received a small, partially-sprouted narcissus bulb to remind us that spring will eventually arrive. I couldn't plant mine immediately since I'd used up all my potting soil moving my snake plant to a new home in November, but I borrowed a bag of my mom's potting soil between Christmas and New Year's, and stuck the bulb in a flowerpot that my friend Susan, completely coincidentally, made for me as a Christmas present. (Isn't her work pretty?)


my narcissus on Dec. 31, 2015


my narcissus on Jan. 18, 2016

I am so pleased to have this proof of life and growth in my apartment during the dark and cold of winter. :D

(link to original post, in case Tumblr breaks the embedded images)