How to see ghosts or surely bring them to you

there's a day that's coming /when they'll pull the blinds

Sun, 29 Jan 2017 18:23:39 GMT

Lots of bad things happening to good people today. Have some fic.

If you'd like some Rogue One fic that isn't mine, you could do much worse than read schweinsty's fic The Last Poem of Jedha, which seems to be strongly influenced by Arabic/Middle Eastern culture.

If you fancy some stories that aren't fic then-and the order is VERY important here-go listen to Rebecca Fraimow's fantastic short stories Further Arguments In Support of Yudah Cohen's Proposal to Bluma Zilberman and its sequel Shaina Rubin Keeps Her Head In Circumstances Nobody Could Have Expected over at Podcastle. I'm not kidding 'bout the order.

And if you fancy some of mine: see below for an AO3 link to my latest story!

Title: Philosophers and Fools
Fandom: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Explosions, gay characters
Summary: Baze rescues Chirrut from prison. Again.
Luck is just another word for the Force...

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we will rise like demons, baby we ain't ever coming back

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 18:08:46 GMT

Posted some more Rogue One fic on my AO3 account:

Title: Rise Like Demons
Fandom: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Canonical character deaths, explosions
Summary: The stormtroopers on Scarif think they've won. A short four-chapter fic exploring the last thirty minutes of the movie from the stormtroopers' POV.

The airwaves are alive...

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cos the war isn't out there

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 22:06:15 GMT

one more for the new year: The Gilmore's anthem for Jo Cox: The War. Go listen.
It isn't out there like before...

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it's a brand new day and the sun is high

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 21:41:32 GMT

I wrote this fic for a Christmas exchange and realised I never posted it. I hope you enjoy. Malik and Altair in time travel adventures-what's not to like?

Title: By The Stars Men Guide Themselves.
Fandom: Assassin's Creed
Rating: PG-13, for stabbing.
Warnings: Mild peril. Disney death(no blood).
Summary: When Altair and Malik steal an Apple of Eden from the Templars in Persepolis-they all get more than they bargained for. Travelling forwards in time, they meet their successors and try to unravel the mysteries of the Eden fragments. Standalone, but part of my Crusades series.
God sets on the earth landmarks, and by the stars men guide themselves...

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we're lonely and romantic and the cider's laced with acid

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 20:50:19 GMT

A little late on my New Year post this year as we spent New Years' halfway up a mountain without cell phone signal or Internet. It was a pretty good way to see out the old year and welcome a new one in. As Jo Walton quotes, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. I'm not at all religious (lapsed methodist) but it's true; there is salvation somewhere on those slopes.

Last year was good for us, though I set no goals. 2016 has been a dismal year politically, but another good one personally. We got married-something which I thought I'd never do-and had an amazing honeymoon. My dad survived open heart surgery, and barring a few ropey days at the beginning, has improved steadily throughout the year. The business I started last year has done well. I wrote over 45000 words (not great compared to previous years) but got paid for writing for the first time (yay!). I also found my first full-length grey hair (boo) and became a dedicated plotter rather than a pantser (which, you know, interesting).

Goals for next year:

Personal:

We'd like to buy a house. In the current financial market it's a pain in the arse 'cause I work for myself. So 50/50 on this one. This is a pretty big goal, so I'd add making enough money for the bank to consider us worthy of a mortgage to that.

Writing:

Submit at least four original pieces.

Edit and submit my werewolves-and druids fic, The Sickle And The Sword, to at least one market.

Write more words than this year! Wedding planning really shot my word count in the head between January and June.

Other:

This year I've started tracking the 72 Japanese seasons with an app on my phone and writing new season names based on what's going on here in rural East Anglia. It'd be good to keep up with that. So far there's been Deer Shed Antlers (Turkeys Sigh in Relief) and Grass Sprouts Beneath Snow (Ice Forms on Puddles, Causing Delays) No idea how accurate this is, as I don't speak Japanese.

Ambitious, maybe
And damn, Bowie and Cohen.

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tidings of comfort and joy

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 11:49:32 GMT

Okay, so I also wrote Christmas giftfic, which I shall post here! Do The Best That You Can (and know that you tried), a Star Wars Christmas-in-the-trenches sort of story. Whether you're working Christmas, or if it just feels like work, this one's for you...

Title: Do The Best That You Can (and know that you tried)
Fandom: Star Wars, Rogue One -A Star Wars Story
Rating: An easy PG
Warnings: None (makes a change)
Summary: The Rebel and Imperial troops call a brief cease fire-and realise they have more in common than they thought. A feel-good Christmas fic.

The silence wakes him...

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Merry Christmas!

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 11:43:56 GMT

And I hope whererver you are that Chsirmas doesn't suck.
A small Christmas present. I got some wonderful fanart for my fic Tear Up That Flag!
I suck at image hosting and manipulation, so hopefully this should work. In case this doesn't work, it's a very strung-out looking Bodhi Rook

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take your positions and man the frontier

Thu, 22 Dec 2016 21:04:51 GMT

So I wrote Rogue One fic! Find it here on Archive of Our Own!

Title: Tear Up That Flag
Fandom: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Rating: 15
Warnings: References to drug use and character death.
Summary: What makes Bodhi leave the Empire? Bodhi Rook and Galen Erso. Prequel. One-shot.

Bodhi's mother dies at midnight, taking with her his last good reason to remain...

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survival is a lonely art

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 21:47:43 GMT

I wrote Westworld fic!

Title: Loyalty Card at Last Chance Saloon
Fandom: Westworld
Rating: 15
Warnings: Canonical character death, references fo lobotomies and prostitution
Summary: Maeve has died many times.

She prefers to die with her eyes open...

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looks like freedom but it feels like death

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 21:02:27 GMT

More three sentence fics!

Synonym, for the prompt Guardians of the Galaxy, any, misfits

Rocket waves, though the movement threatens to overbalance the grenade launcher balancing precariously on his shoulder, “See you later, savages,”

“Ravagers,” corrects Yondu.

Rocket shrugs, “Same thing.”

Striptease, for the prompt Any, any, that wasn’t supposed to happen

“Come on,” Rey says, “Show us.”She doesn’t expect Poe to agree, and they’re both surprised when the pilot turns his back, shimmies out of his shirt, sheds his clothing piece by piece to a slowly whistled accompaniment, and dives into their bed wearing just a sock on his left foot.

“If you-if either of you-tell anyone I just did that,” he says to Finn, “I’ll kill you.”

Harder,better.faster.stronger, for the prompt Mass Effect, Saren, hello darkness

Saren groans as Sovereign’s machines strip out his nerves, draining blood and lymph and layering his muscles with carbon nanotubes. The wires twine inside him. Sovereign, sensing his distress, injects sophorics, and Saren welcomes sleep.

Safety Starts At Home, for the prompt Mass Effect, Shepard (either gender)/Garrus Vakarian, scars

“What about this one?” says Shepard, stroking the turian’s scars, “Thresher maw?”

Garrus winces. “Walked into the damn bathroom cabinet.”

Employment, for the prompt any/any, someone accepting that having made mistakes makes them stronger because failure has taught them caution and mortality

“...all that disability discrimination bullshit.”

Malik pauses on the far side of the door, hand curling into a fist. He has long accepted his mutilation as the price of a past and painful lesson in caution, but as he hears glass shatter inside the room, he reflects that Altaïr has not shared his experience.

Falsehood, for the prompt any/any, someone making excuses, which only pisses off the person they’re trying to justify themselves to..

Marîd’s explanation stuttered to a halt as Malik held up his hand. “The ability to lie effectively is not a tenet of the Creed, but it is a necessary aspect of our work. Marîd, report to Rafe for weapons practice, and next time you lie to me, make it something I’ll believe.”

Best Seat in the House, for the prompt Mass Effect, Shepard & Anderson last scene

“You did good, son,” Anderson says, “you did good, I’m proud of you.” His head slumps onto his chest as his eyes fix on the horizon, smiling at the endless stars. Shepard never lives to find the drawer full of letters Anderson addressed, but did not send, and the captain never had the chance to tell Shepard where to find them.

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so we struggle and we stagger up the snakes and down the ladders...

Wed, 14 Dec 2016 20:55:31 GMT

Fics written for the three sentence ficathon-thanks to caramelsilver for hosting!

Poetry, for the prompt Game of Thrones: Littlefinger/Sansa Stark, when he’s away he writes her every day

Petyr Baelish is no poet.

He is a clerk, and he writes like a clerk; meticulously, each sentence a mathematical process totalling to an inevitable conclusion. Dearest Sansa, he writes, ending the letter Thinking of you with great affection, because he is a clerk and a cynic, and he cannot admit love.

Suck Squeeze Bang Blow, for the prompt BSG, Kara/Lee, mechanics

They make love in the shelter of a Viper engine as wide as Lee is tall. The engine is greasy with oil when they press their hands against it, slick and curved in all the right places. Kara’s heart beats like a four-stroke in her chest as Lee slides into her, hips pistoning, and she wishes she knew love like she knows engines, a simple mechanism that she could understand.

Lift us up, o lord, that we may see further, for the prompt Firefly, Book, still flying

The crew stand together at the port and watch the ship sail into the black. As her engines shrink to stars Mal turns to River, who has the keenest sight, and she shades her eyes, peers into the distance, and says “He’s gone.”

They are just about to turn away when she whispers, “Somewhere, he’s arrived.”

Things Could Be Worse, for the prompt Musketeers, Porthos/Flea, relationship.

“We walk in different worlds,” Porthos says gravely, but the sentence isn’t quite as convincing as it sounded in his head.

“Last time I looked, the Court of Miracles was still a part of France,” Flea tilts her head, dirty blonde hair cascading onto her shoulders. “Now if you were English, that would be a different tale.”

Closing Time, for the prompt Force Awakens/Sucker Punch, that AU where Poe pays his way through flight school by moonlighting at the cabaret

The tips are lousy tonight. Poe Dameron’s pockets are light as he crosses the street towards the transit, humming a song he’s got to have word-perfect by tomorrow. As he passes between the spotlights of the streetlamps he gazes at the bleached-out sky and remembers something he heard someone say: we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Drowned Ships, for the prompt Pacific Rim, Mako & Stacker, into the deep

Strange things drown within the deep; wrecked ships, and fish with phosphorescent eyes. Mako treads carefully as silt clouds the water around their Jaeger’s feet. She sees the dark shape of Striker Eureka at her side and wonders what it would be like to never see the sun.

Ensnared, for the prompt Secret of Kells, Aisling, I am no bird and no net ensnares me

The fibres of the net are smeared with bird-lime, and they trap her wings. Aisling shifts into a wolf and crashes through the net, tearing small holes into larger ones. Though she has no voice in this form, she thinks it will take more than that as she runs into the forest, and the huntsmen get the message.

Radiator, for the prompt Mad Max: Fury Road, any, thirst

When Max reaches the village, they’ve poisoned the well. Smears of rainbow scum float on the black water. He waits a decent amount of time before he unscrews his radiator cap and siphons out a measured handful of water, enough to keep him moving and alive.

How to survive spaceflight, for the prompt Star Wars, Poe & BB-8, I can always talk to you

BB-8 often wishes it could talk.

Poe Dameron can-and does-talk fluently in seven galactic languages, once for three days straight and sometimes in complete sentences.

BB-8 has so much dirt on Poe Dameron, it is unbelievable.

Do you want to hear about the deal I’m making? for the prompt MCU, Loki/Jane, deal with the devil

“This is not how it works,” protests Loki.

Jane poises her pen over the paper, which is also a tablet of stone and a book with golden clasps and a sheet of rune-engraved ice. “Of course it is,” she says, eyes stinging from three sleepless nights, “Now let’s review the contract.”

Dustland Fairytale, for the prompt Mad Max: Fury Road, any, Wasteland songs

Furiosa does not sing. As for Max, he barely makes any sound at all. But on clear nights they climb the pillars and listen to the people’s songs flying ‘cross the wasteland like a banner; we are still here, and this is still our home.

Love The Way You Lie, for the prompt The Musketeers, Athos/Milady, These days he doesn’t know if it’s love or hate that he feels

Athos rips her portrait from the frame and weeps as he glues it back. Over time, the glue weakens and the canvas doubles over, folding until the crown of Milady’s painted head touches her glossy décolletage. Athos does not mend the portrait, but he often wakes wishing that he’d saved it from the fire.

If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail, for the prompt Star Wars, Ben/Poe, a shell of yourself

“I could strip away everything you are,” Ren hisses as he drags Poe’s head back by the hair, “leave you a shell of yourself, can’t fly, can’t even walk, would you like that?”, and despite himself Poe looks past the black clothes and the mask and sees a kid younger than he is, a kid with too much power and not enough control.

“If you could,” he says, struggling to keep his voice even, “you would have done it already.”

He hears Ren growl behind the mask as his anger ignites, and knows he’s right; knows that Ren’s no torturer, that there’s no finesse there and no precision, but then Ren’s rage punches through the Force and into Poe, and Poe’s knowledge is no comfort, for he has no defences left.

Dirge, for the prompt Imperial Radch, Justice of Toren, the ship that would not stop singing

Justice of Toren does not balk at bringing civilisation to the masses. That is justice, after all. But secretly she wonders if the Radch-if Anander Mianaai- will only halt expansion when the whole universe sings the same sad song.

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signal boost

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 13:40:23 GMT

It's time for the three sentence ficathon again! Participate over at caramelsilver 's livejournal!

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written for the prompt 'normal people and their views of the Assassins' and 'morality polarity'

Wed, 03 Aug 2016 21:13:21 GMT

Title: The Story of the Scribe
Fandom: Assassin's Creed
Rating: 12
Warnings: Violence
Summary: Majd Addin has been murdered, and Jerusalem is in crisis. A scribe in trouble finds all his prayers are answered-but he isn't convinced by the motives of his mysterious benefactor. In-game. Complete.

Corpses were cheap. Good investments were rare.

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written for the prompt 'novices' 'trouble' and 'horses'

Wed, 11 May 2016 20:19:37 GMT

Title: The Tale of the Thief
Fandom: Assassin's Creed.
Rating: 12
Warning: Violence
Summary: Several years after the events of the game, one of Malik's novices takes matters into her own hands. Chronological sequel to my story 'Stone. Ground. Mountain, River' but written to stand alone. One-shot. Complete.

I refuse to let you live your life a cripple...

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the rumors are terrible and cruel/but honey most of them are true...

Sat, 07 May 2016 19:54:04 GMT

Title: Of Light And Shade
Fandom: Crimson Peak
Rating: 15
Warning: Implied incest and murder
Summary: Edith, Lucille and Thomas visit Venice. Written for the prompt 'they travel round Europe taking turns to be the black widow.'

We're so young, but we're on the road to ruin...

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should with his lion gait walk the whole world..

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 17:05:18 GMT

Or, Stuff I liked this year.
I'ts worth mentioning that as I'm hopelessly behind, the stuff I liked this year isn't particularly current, but it's still good. It's still good!

My favourite fic I read this year has to be Samarkand Nights, by Hyarrowen. It's an old fic (2011) for an old fandom (Shakespeare's Henry V, believe it or not) but anyone who has ever read any of my stuff knows that I'm a real sucker for travelogues, and this story doesn't disappoint. This is part of a series -the second story in Henry's Journey-and I'm not familiar with the characters-but my God, it works. It works well. The descriptions of the landscape and period details are spot on and very beautiful. Plus, she has another series called Jumping o'er Times where the same characters time travel and fight dinosaurs. Warning for very mild slash.

The fic that made me laugh most this year is Steve Rogers at 100: Celebrating Captain America on Film by eleveninches, Febricant, hellotailor, M_Leigh, neenya and tigrrmilk. This is a spot-on and very funny fic about Captain America and Bucky Barnes reviewing all the movies about Captain America and Bucky Barnes that have been made since Steve Rogers went away.The beginning is dry, but it warms up.Contains movie posters. It's not a new fic, so you might have read this one. Regardless, it's still ten thousand words of pure comedy gold.

The smartest fic I read this year is Wasp Harvest by Overlithe. You know how you read books by authors and realize pretty instantaneously that they're much smarter than you? This is one of the few times I've felt this in a fic. Contains historical footnotes-and you know how I love historical footnotes. Bucky Barnes's transformation under the hands-and syringes-of Armin Zola and Alexander Pierce. Warning for being extremely long and also extremely dark. I'm not kidding about the darkness, so read with the light on.

BONUS RECS

As a unicorn chaser for that last one, here's a funny piece of fluff. From A Seed by theorytale, in which Loki convinces Tony Stark he gave birth to a pot plant-mild warnings for mpreg but you know, Loki, and for a more recent fandom, You're Awful by zamwessel, in which the ginger mook from Star Wars; The Force Awakens gives Kylo Ren a piece of his mind. Or several pieces. Funny crackfic.

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like the calm before a loaded gun

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 21:05:25 GMT

This Christmas I participated in a fic/art Christmas exchange: I wrote the AC short Tale of the Thief, which I'll post here soon after editing, and received this awesome piece of fanart for my AC Crusaders series in return. I love all the little details, like the Apple, Nusaybah's scarf, and the eagle feathers. And that's Malik, Altair, Nusaybah and Marid around the edges of the map. I have a particular weakness for fanart that doesn't show the characters faces, but I also got another character piece of Malik too1 I love love love fanart :D
A great way to start the year.

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if you don't do sincere, you can go and buy it

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 20:59:28 GMT

I nearly forgot! Another three sentence fill, The Most Stupid Disguise Ever for the prompt: Assassin's Creed, Altair and Malik, Prohibition AU, by the awesome caroline
I love this one :) Especially the smug smile on Altair's face.

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unaware I'm tearing you asunder

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 20:48:29 GMT

Fics written for my prompts for the three sentence ficathon-thanks again to caramelsilver for hosting!

There is another by syrena_of_the_lake for the prompt: Star Wars, any, demons and desires and dark sides

From the moment Luke told her who she really was, the afterimage of Tatooine's binary suns burned in her dreams.

Leia did not want that power; it terrified her, for all that Han (as subtle as a turbolaser) tried to reassure her with stray comments about lightsabers coming in handy or how the Force wasn't so mysterious compared to the Falcon 's hyperdrive unit.

Still, every night she was torn in two -- remembering black-clad hands that held her pinned while the only home she'd ever known was vaporized, and wondering when she woke: had Vader but known who she was, might he have thrown the Emperor down a bottomless shaft to save her from such pain?

I love this one because I expected something emo with Kylo Ren. I can't stand Kylo Ren, but Leia is awesome

Untitled by doreyg for the prompt Marvel, Loki, and when you get damned in the popular opinion, it’s just another one of the damns you’re not giving

He's become a fairytale now, the type you tell to naughty children to keep them in line. Eat all your greens or you'll become like Loki, don't talk back to me or you'll become like Loki, stray off the beaten path - of most glorious gold - and you'll become like Loki.

And he knows that he should, quite probably, be ashamed; but, honestly, the time for that has long passed now.

2015 was the year I started to find Tom Hiddleston attractive (I blame the BBC adaptation of the Henriad in general and the random bathhouse scene in particular for this) Also, Joanne Harris's The Gospel of Loki is quite wonderful.

Untitled byet_tu_lj for the prompt Bond, Q/Bond, I thought you’d gone

Q does not regret defying an order, violating the Official Secrets Act, traveling to Austria illegally, or even the long, desperate night that ended in a confused embrace and a clumsy kiss; he regrets only that it has ended with 007 gone from his life forever.

Then he hears the sound of the lift. All Q can manage is a feeble remark, but Bond’s rakish smile says they're not finished quite yet.

The scene that launched a thousand ships.

Various, for the prompt Star Trek, Kirk, terrible chat up lines

by archersangel

Kirk rarely bothers with lines, trying the usual conversation starters about current events or the weather first.

But his favorite one is "If you were a phaser, you'd be set on stunning."

If McCoy is within earshot, he always snorts & rolls his eyes.

by pasted

Bright, excited blue eyes met cloudy, serious green ones from across a crowded bar near campus, and then suddenly disappeared. Bones turns to grumble and shout when someone suddenly pushed into his stool from behind but there was a whisper in his ear that stopped him dead.

"Baby, your eyes are like a black hole, they just suck men right in," Jim Kirk couldn't help himself and nipped at his best friend's (sometimes with benefits) ear before standing up straighter and chuckling to himself in pride and chagrin.

by zippitgood

Sulu shouldn’t enjoy watching Jim Kirk in action as much as he does, enjoy the lightning fast flicker play of emotion, tug and pull of seduction oozing out of him even if the words he lets flow are laughable. He shouldn’t shake his head and let Jim catch his eye from across the bar and tilt his head in invitation. He shouldn’t let himself go along because that way lies danger, but then again, he’s a flyboy, what’s life without a little danger?

This prompt was ....surprisingly popular.So many lines, all so terrible. How to choose?

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times are hard for dreamers

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 20:31:13 GMT

It's been a pretty good year! I've moved back from New Zealand to the UK, become engaged, started my own business, written three original stories (none published-yet) and over 68,000 words of fanfiction. Got a few great gifts from the three sentence ficathon and some really sweet fanart. So things are looking good in this neck of the woods! How about you?

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three sentence fills

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 19:13:23 GMT

X-men, Nightcrawler~Wolverine, take me to church, for luckweaver

The Elder Congregation

To Kurt’s surprise, Wolverine remembers when to stand up and when to sit down, and even recognizes some of the more complicated Catholic liturgies, and to his even greater surprise the same tiny female pensioners who gave Kurt a hard time for being German back when he first joined just seem to love Canadians. It takes Kurt half an hour to disentangle Wolverine from the lavender-scented clutches of the elder congregation, and when he’s done his friend just looks at him and growls. “Never speak of this again.”

Star Trek, Kirk/Bones, the inevitable, for luckweaver.

Another Word for Inevitable is Fate

“Do you believe in destiny?”

It’s not Jim’s best chat up line, or even, sad to say, his worst, and Bones looks at him as if he’s crazy. “Of course not,” he says, “I believe in science.”

Greek Mythology, Hades/Persephone, and I'm thrashing on the line/somewhere between desperate and divine, for vialethe

Truths

“I wish I was a mortal woman,” she tells him in anguish and fear, because if she was mortal he might not want her.

“You don’t,” he says, eyes hooded. “I should know.”

Greek Mythology, Cassandra/Apollo, Tell you miserable things after you are asleep, for vialethe

A Little Sun

Cassandra cannot hate him conscious, and so she tells soft truths when he’s asleep. She speaks of exactly how he will be forgotten, how the sun itself will be measured and mapped by sharp-eyed men, its power tamed, how somewhere, two thousand years from now, someone will name a plane for their mother and drop a bomb that decimates a land to win a war. “A little sun.”

Marvel, Jane/Thor, witty banter

What Passes As Wit These Days, for unknown

“And then, she says, “you push him off, and say something like ‘have a nice trip’.”

“That’s not witty, that’s psychopathic.”

She shrugs, “To each their own.”

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IT LIVES!

Sat, 28 Nov 2015 12:54:29 GMT

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three sentence tales

Fri, 27 Nov 2015 14:19:28 GMT

The three sentence ficathon this year is over at caramelsilver 's livejournal, and starts on the 27th of November, US time. Visit and have fun!

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we'll be waiting at dawn by the factory doors

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 21:18:47 GMT

CANNOT. FUCKING. WAIT.

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bells and spires of china white

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 20:40:05 GMT

I have fanart for A Thousand Days! Drawn by the amazing Caroline Parkinson

My favorite parts are the tiny steps on the right hand side. That,and the figures. Malik always looks so exasperated.

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