edenfalling: headshot of a raccoon, looking left (raccoon)
Ladystuck reveal!

Mad Science Family Reunion: Rose made sure Roxy's lab would be waiting for her at the end of the world, but she needed a bit of help to set up the equipment. Who better than Jade English, whose explorations of the Medium have given her a better understanding of Sburb's technological artifacts than any other human, to lend a hand? (And maybe steal a kiss in the process.) 3,300 words, written for [archiveofourown.org profile] whilst.

[This story has also been crossposted to ff.net.]

...

So, thoughts.

First of all, the title has next to nothing to do with the story. It was a working title I stuck on the file when I thought I was going to combine two prompts -- Alpha!Jade & Alpha!Rose interacting in a positive fashion, and Alpha!Rose meeting Beta!Roxy in a relatively canon-compliant fashion -- into one. (This is the reason for the little comment about Jade potentially causing a strange inter-universal paradox if the transmaterializer's power had been on when she sat on one of the buttons, btw. Alas for missed opportunities!) Then Rose changed the story's tone and direction on me (in other words, she got melancholy), so the combination of those prompts became unworkable at anything less than, say, twice the current length, but I was unable to think of anything that usefully described the story as it currently exists and so the title sits there, awkwardly out of place. :-/ Oh well, such is life.

Second, "Mad Science Family Reunion" uses the same background continuity as Every Child a Wanted Child, Food and Cheer and Song, and The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship. Probably also Hollywood Shenanigans, come to think of it; at any rate, there is certainly nothing in that story that contradicts the others. I think I should maybe collate them into a series on AO3 and call it Alpha Timeline Fluff or something to that effect.

Third, the story was basically ignored by readers at large. I am not sure if this is because I was not on-theme with the "deep long!fic" tone of the exchange in general (and did not qualify as crack!fic either), or because I tagged the story Jade English/Rose Lalonde instead of Jade Harley/Rose Lalonde and/or Alpha!Jade/Rose Lalonde and thus got left out of searches since "Jade English" doesn't seem to be a properly wrangled tag. (Which is stupid. It's her name, she's been a known character for ages now, why is she not a drop-down option???) Anyway, I don't think it's because the story is badly written (because, while I am obviously biased as the writer, I think it's a perfectly fine story), or because Jade/Rose is an unpopular pairing (particularly in the context of Ladystuck), so... who knows! Some stories just softly and silently slip into obscurity and no one can ever give a truly satisfactory explanation for why. *shrug*

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P.S. I should mention that after I made my post about my main gift (My Only Daughter a Smoking Gun, by [archiveofourown.org profile] shellfishDimes, which you should go read because it remains wonderful!), I also received a treat (which had multiple recipients, but I am pretending it was all for me because I love it that much). Just, by [archiveofourown.org profile] Farla: The first time they meet, Vriska saves Terezi's life. (800 words)
edenfalling: colored line-art drawing of a three-scoop ice cream sundae (ice cream sundae)
Ladystuck fics are live!

I got the most amazing gift. It is so amazing, you don't even know. No, seriously. *bounces like a rabbit on speed*

Okay, so I made one prompt to the effect of Jade English in the alpha timeline. Growing up, working on her tech company, discovering things about Lord English and the game, meeting Dave and/or Rose (because she MUST have met them), finding Jake, building her home on Hellmurder Island, stealing Jack Noir's fourth wall, her last confrontation with the Batterwitch... anything, really! She never seems to get written about and that is a horrible, terrible crying shame that needs to be rectified ASAP... and got a fic that deals with ALL OF THOSE THINGS. All of them! In one story! Plus also lots and lots of amazing historical details, like Amelia Earhart, the Manhattan Project, the space program, early television, etc. Also it is a wonderful portrayal of Jade and John as siblings, fighting both against and for each other, and a deliciously creepy horror story about their time under the Condesce's thumb before Jade ran away from home.

My Only Daughter a Smoking Gun: (by [archiveofourown.org profile] shellfishDimes) Jade Crocker's childhood memories were a collage of red and white. Red like mixing bowls and spoons, like the hairband their mother always wore to keep her long, raven hair pulled from her face. White like flour and starched aprons that their mother wore, white like the icing her brother piped on the cakes their mother had baked. Red like the cocktail cherries Jade put on top while her mother held her over it when her legs were too short to reach the top of the counter. (16,000 words)

AND! And there is also MUSIC! Did I mention the music? Because there is music!

So yeah.

Go read and listen and heap praises upon my writer [archiveofourown.org profile] shellfishDimes for lo, they are GREATLY DESERVED.

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ETA: And then look! Another person [archiveofourown.org profile] Farla wrote Just: The first time they meet, Vriska saves Terezi's life. (800 words)

This one is for a whole bunch of people, because I guess we all asked for something to the general effect of "Vriska and Terezi, the early days," but I don't care, I will pretend it is all for me because it is exactly what I wanted from my version of that prompt. Seriously. It is awesome. Go read it and agree with me. :-D
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
I finished my Ladystuck fic last night and got it posted with six minutes to spare! Victory is mine! (...And then I edited it extensively a couple hours thereafter, where 'edited' is defined as 'added another thousand words,' since the original version had an abrupt cut-off as opposed to a proper ending. *sigh*)

The stories, however, do not go live until New Year's, and having written this in such a rush, I am somewhat doubtful of how well it hangs together. So.

I come to the internet with my (metaphorical) hat in hand to ask if anyone is willing to beta-read between 2,000 and 5,000 words of Homestuck fanfiction, centered on some of the many awesome female characters in the comic. Knowledge of canon would be appreciated, since canon is fiddly and complicated in the extreme and I want to be sure I'm not actively contradicting anything we've seen or been told, but even a basic check for general story flow and mechanical issues would be helpful!

Unlike a lot of my fanfiction, this story is... um... less than accessible if you are unfamiliar with canon, due to extensive discussion of esoteric aspects of canon, but I think I can summarize any necessary background information in a paragraph or less. Also the emotional throughline should be clear without any real need for context. (In fact, if the emotional throughline isn't clear, I screwed up and need to fix it, so any comments on that aspect would be extremely welcome.)

If you are willing and able to look over the fic, please tell me so I can send it to you. (And if not, well, my quirks and flaws will just be a bit less curtained. Which is not exactly a new experience for me. *wry*)
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
I returned safely to Ithaca -- Mom and I drove up and arrived around 1pm, well before the storm hit. She left at about 1:45pm (the delay was so I could get to the grocery store, which was ridiculously busy with people stocking up in case of in case) and did not arrive back in Madison until well after 7pm -- she was driving through a bunch of snow, then sleet, and then miserable rain.

Meanwhile in Ithaca the snow began at almost exactly 4pm and has not actually stopped. though it has slowed down. I think we are at five inches and counting. I closed the smoke shop tonight, and we did not have a single customer between 7:15pm and 9 o'clock... which was fine by me, since it gave me time to get some useful chore-type things done and also shovel the front walk several times.

Then I slogged home -- and let me tell you, walking a mile through 4 or 5 inch deep snow is not fun -- and shoveled the entirety of my house's sidewalk. It is a corner house. It has a lot of sidewalk.

Ow.

And now, having rested and eaten dinner, I am going to get back to working on my Ladystuck fic, which is due tomorrow night and which I am absurdly behind on. Time management failure compounds, you see -- this is the knock-on effect of my troubles with my Yuletide fic. *sigh*

Oh well, at least I am not mired in existential ennui like I was last week. Onward!
edenfalling: colored line-art drawing of a three-scoop ice cream sundae (ice cream sundae)
Joy and happiness!

My recipient provided five prompts, of which three would be fairly easy to write, the fourth would be trickier but still doable, and the fifth is... frankly not something I'd ever thought about, but which is now giving me all kinds of ideas. Not a single one is a thing I would never and/or could never write. So yay for that!

Now I am off to stalk the Dear Ladystuck letters spreadsheet in search of more information. *steeples fingers, plots evilly*
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Note: I am repurposing my stock Yuletide letter here, which is why some of the sections may seem slightly off-topic for a single fandom exchange.

Hi, and thank you in advance for creating a story or artwork for me! I'm pretty easy to please -- unless you write a context-free sex scene or draw explicit porn, I'll be thrilled just to get something in response to one of my prompts. Optional details are optional, after all! *grin* But I realize that's not terribly helpful, so here's the (very!) long version. (I am sorry for the tl;dr, but I like to talk about things I love and I figure more details are better than fewer.)

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

ExpandGeneral Information )

Okay. On to specific prompts.

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ExpandJade English )

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ExpandTerezi Pyrope & Nepeta Leijon )

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ExpandTerezi Pyrope & Vriska Serket )

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ExpandRoxy Lalonde )

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ExpandMindfang )

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*rereads torrent of words*

...If I were in Homestuck, I'd be a Light player, wouldn't I?

*headdesk*
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
So I signed up, and even got in on the first round despite the participation cap. Yay! (Ladystuck was popular enough last year that, in recognition of their own time and energy limits, the mods have capped participation at 300 this year. The first signup window -- which just closed -- was for 100 people. The second will open on Sunday and run until the cap is reached.)

This was probably an unwise life choice, but I don't care. I made prompts for some stories that I want to read very badly, and have offered a bunch of stuff that may hit me exactly in my writing comfort zone, or may stretch me in interesting ways. Both of which are fine outcomes!

So yeah, assignments go out on Oct. 25th, and between this and Yuletide I guess I will have my fandom marching orders through the end of the year. :-)
edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
I am debating whether to sign up for Ladystuck when signups open tomorrow night. It doesn't seem like it would conflict too badly with Yuletide (which I am of course signing up for, though I haven't nailed down any details yet; I am being terribly lackadaisical this year and didn't even bother nominating anything, since I know I will easily be able to find four tiny fandoms of my heart out of the giant hodgepodge everyone else nominated), since it's a New Year's exchange rather than a Christmas one, and also I DO work fairly well under pressure (even if I have a love/hate relationship with external deadlines and cannot budget time worth a damn). And since Femgenficathon doesn't seem to have run this year, and I am currently madly enamored with Homestuck anyway...

*ponders*

Then there is always the possibility that the Narnia Big Bang may run again this winter, in which case I will of course attempt to write the sequel to "Out of Season" that I can't seem to get started on without external impetus. But I haven't heard anything on that front.

*ponders some more*

You know, all this is very hypothetical. What I should do tonight is get back to rereading "Secrets" so I can finish chapter 15 already and get that whole mess off my back. That will be a tremendous psychological relief after all these years (even as it will also be a wrenching loss to close the book on that story and part of my life).

Yes. I will go do that now.

*opens story, clicks to chapter 4*

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edenfalling: stylized black-and-white line art of a sunset over water (Default)
Elizabeth Culmer

May 2025

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