the deep moans round with many voices

Here are the results of my latest mini-ficlet prompt meme, in case you missed any of them. :D

1. Kiss the Bride: Corin proposes to Susan. Prompt: Susan Pevensie as Queen of Narnia, coping with marriage proposals. 425 words, for madamehardy. [Tumblr; journal]

2. In Sure and Certain Hope: Does a funeral really count if you know the person it's for will resurrect tomorrow? Beta kid friendship. Prompt: Dave, John, Jade: somber but hopeful. 275 words, for shinyrock6498. [Tumblr; journal]

3. Under Pressure: Sakura will survive until her teammates dig her out. Part of the Tides AU. Prompt: How about some Naruto: Sakura, building pressure. 400 words, for branch-and-root. [Tumblr; journal]

4. Literal Interpretation: John has some questions about the repercussions of going God Tier. Davesprite and Jade are less than helpful. Tales from the Yellow Yard. Prompt: Jade, John, Davesprite, god worship. 675 words, for asukaskerian. [Tumblr; journal]

5. Freedom Ride: Aradia and Kanaya, in the moments before a guerrilla raid on Battleship Condescension. Prompt: Kanaya, Aradia, Prompt word: whoops. 425 words, for gracefularchitect. [Tumblr; journal]

6. Tall Ship of War: Shezan and Ilgamuth discuss types of watercraft as the Narnian delegation arrives in Tashbaan. Prompt: How about Shezan and/or Ilgamuth, and boats? 225 words, for autumnia. [Tumblr; journal]

7. My Sorrow's Share: Arwen's view of her uncle's choice changed over time. Prompt: Arwen and the pro/con of choosing humanity. (I'm on a Silmarillion kick.) 125 words, for mmarycontrary. [Tumblr; journal]

8. Crowning Glory: Edmund combs Susan's hair. Prompt: How about Susan Pevensie, combs or haircombing? 625 words, for cat_i_th_adage. (Also a Cotton Candy Bingo fill!) [Tumblr; journal]

9. Picture Perfect: Davepetasprite takes up an old hobby in a new medium. Prompt: Karkat, Dave, Davepetasprite, likeness. 150 words, for primtheamazing. [Tumblr; journal]

10. Pay It Forward: Yukiko and Iruka discuss educational opportunities and the lack thereof. Part of the Apartment Manager AU. Prompt: Ayakawa Yukiko and educating the next generation, please. :) 1,150 words, for wistfulmemory. (Also a Cotton Candy Bingo fill!) [Tumblr; journal]

11. Mischief Night: The night before they return to Konoha for real, Team 7 blow off some steam by reversing their old genin missions. Part of the Tides AU. Prompt: Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke; "strangely satisfying". 550 words, for eos_joy. (Also a Cotton Candy Bingo fill!) [Tumblr; journal]

12. Necessary Measures: Kanaya takes steps to end a recurring argument. Prompt: Rose, Jasprose, and Kanaya, bickering. 200 words, for primtheamazing. [Tumblr; journal]

13. In Abeyance, In Arrears: If Bro had smiled, even once... Prompt: Bro, Dave, dour. 150 words, for anonymous on Tumblr. [Tumblr; journal]

14. Broken If Revealed: Karen discovers Foggy's catastrophe contingency plans, and a number of secrets come out in the process. Prompt: Daredevil: awkward reveal, "This is- it's not what it looks like...?" 2,150 words, for shinyrock6498. [Tumblr; journal]

15. An Unorthodox Pedagogical Approach: Naga and Kakashi take their genin teams on a joint D-rank mission. There is no way this can possibly go wrong. Part of the Apartment Manager AU. Prompt: If you’re willing (and can without spoilers), I would love a future fic showing Naruto, Shinnin, and Sakura working together as a team while on a mission. 300 words, for wistfulmemory. [Tumblr; journal]

16. Part of Your World: Rose asks Jade to move in with her. Jade/Rose, sequel to New Roots. Prompt: Jade, Rose, prompt word: adventure. 675 words, for gracefularchitect. (Also a Cotton Candy Bingo fill!) [Tumblr; journal]

"Tides" is a Naruto AU series, which currently contains one finished multi-part fic, one long one-shot, and a fragment of another, mostly unwritten multi-part fic. It goes AU from the manga shortly after the timeskip. The basic idea is that Gaara was rescued before his tailed beast was removed, Kakashi wasn't wiped out by the mission, Sakura didn't learn about Sasori's spy, and Team 7 promptly kidnapped Sasuke from Hidden Sound before Orochimaru's plans matured, with no involvement from either Sai or Yamato.

Then things get complicated. *grin*

I wrote the first story on the assumption that Itachi was a villain, though my outlines for the unwritten parts have been adjusted in an attempt to at least pay lip service to the idea that he's a double agent for Konoha. I still think he is incredibly fucked in the head though, and nobody is ever going to convince me otherwise.

( Tides AU - Table of Contents )

*declares victory, at least for now*

I didn't get any writing done on Tuesday (boo!) but I went to bed around 10:30pm and slept until 11am (with one half-hour break to read a couple chapters of background research for Yuletide when I woke at 3am), so I figure I will excuse myself on the grounds of obvious exhaustion. And today I wrote about 500 words, which is pretty good for me, so eh, it averages out.

Speaking of writing, I am bored and kind of "meh" about most of my current projects, so...

Let's try an experiment! Leave me a comment with one to three characters, a fandom (or two fandoms; I'm game for crossovers), and some kind of additional prompt -- a line of dialogue, a scenario, a mood, whatever -- and I will write you a ficlet of at least 100 words.

(It does have to be a fandom I know and have written in, mind you. You can check my master fiction list if you're unsure whether any given fandom is available. I am also game to write ficlets for any of my original stories and settings, but since I haven't written any original fiction to speak of for several years, I suspect there won't be much interest. *wry*)

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And now the results!

1. Film Noir, Alternian Style -- Homestuck, 1,375 words. Terezi makes Dave watch ashen porn. Written for anonymous on Tumblr.

2. Career Advice -- Harry Potter, 875 words. Bill Weasley didn't pay much attention to goblins until his fifth year at Hogwarts. Written for lady_songsmith.

3. An Alternate Solution to the Problem of Madara -- Naruto/Chronicles of Narnia, 1,450 words. The wilds of Sound Country are the next best thing to the middle of nowhere. Travelers are few and far between. Unexpected meetings are thus narratively inevitable. An AU to the "Tides" AU. Written for sabriel

4a. Set a Thief -- Chronicles of Narnia/Naruto, 1,250 words. In the aftermath of Anvard, Edmund attempts to hire a trio of assassins to guard Susan from potential Calormene retaliation. Susan accepts their contract. Written for branchandroot. Fragment.

4b. Take Deeper Roots -- Chronicles of Narnia/Naruto, 2,250 words. Sakura spends a year in Narnia. Susan watches, and does her best to help. Written for branchandroot.

5a. Ancient Lands -- Chronicles of Narnia, 475 words. Aravis and Cor return to Tashbaan. Written for rthstewart. Fragment.

5b. Silence at the Proper Season -- Chronicles of Narnia, 1,800 words. While in Tashbaan, Cor and Aravis receive two invitations from Shezan and Ilgamuth: one to a ritual, one to a conversation. The latter is more dangerous. Written for rthstewart.

The meme is now closed.

Two of my betas were clobbered by life this past week, so I used the one and a half responses and did some fine-tuning of my own. (Thank you for the reactions and for trying, lurker_lost, valles_uf, and baka_mazoku!) But I am still iffy about the ending sections -- seriously, if you are unclear on who is playing what role at any point, tell me -- and I would love any and all constructive feedback. The more detailed you are, the better!

(I would also love squeeing, but I think that goes without saying. *grin*)

So. "Undertow" is a semi-sequel to Tides, which is a Team 7-centric story that departs from manga canon during the rescue Gaara arc. Basically, they catch up to Gaara before Akatsuki get him into the cave and yank out his demon; this means Kakashi does not wind up in the hospital, and he, Naruto, and Sakura then go kidnap Sasuke from Hidden Sound. The events of "Tides" follow, ending with Team 7 working as missing-nin and accepting an assassination contract in River Country. That is all you need to know to make sense of this story.

"Undertow" is the story of the assassination mission, told from a target's POV. It contains cold-blooded, pre-meditated murder for money, the implied past sexual abuse and murder of several young women, familial dysfunction, and coercion into a sexual relationship. (There is, however, no rape within the actual story.)

[The slightly revised final version is now up on ff.net!]

( Undertow )

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In other news, today was the third week of Stories of the Sacred, the RE unit I am teaching this year. I am theoretically part of a five-person team, but one of our members has been completely and utterly AWOL -- our emails to him are not bouncing, but we have yet to get a single response from him -- so we're still in process on hashing out a schedule through New Year's.

Anyway, I taught on the first day (and had to abscond early to get to work), dropped by last week to deliver some supplies and then went to the adult service with the intention of leaving early should it run late (miraculously, it ended on time!), and taught again this week. The first week was orientation, the second week was Ramadan, and this week was Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I liked the lesson except for one thing: it came with a designated snack, apples dipped in honey, which I was unable to eat because of my allergies. *pout*

So we are still spending the year learning about every religion except our own, but at least this year we are attempting to frame the chalice lighting and opening ritual more explicitly as a UU tradition, and to keep reminding the kids that we learn about other religions because UUs believe in searching for the truth wherever we can, and in trying to understand other people. It's not perfect, but it's a definite improvement in my mind.

And at long last (or at short last, really, considering my usual writing speed on chaptered WIPs), "Tides" draws to a close. With Sakura, of course, since she started the whole thing, and my long-awaited scene on a boat. Take a wild guess which image it is. :-)

The rice paper, I think, comes from The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon, which I've been reading recently. There also seems to be a wee bit more description here than usual for me (still very little), but I will also lay that at Sei Shonagon's door.

( Tides 09 - Wings )

And I do really mean END OF STORY.

There will be a sequel, "Undertow," that follows their mission in River Country, and I might write a second sequel, "Leaves," in which they confront Akatsuki and Itachi, attempt to go home to Konoha, and possibly go after Orochimaru and Kabuto as well... but my inspiration is currently going toward other stories. Just, y'know, take it as read that they kill Itachi and have some sort of happy ending. :-)