Sing me a story, laugh me a lullaby

Christmassy Stuff

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:16:40 GMT

We put up the tree tonight. Adam and Ama came over and there was meatloaf and friend potatoes and yummy dessert. Ama and I painted a new house for our village (which we've done every year for the past few years), but we didn't get entirely done with it. It was much fun.

In other news, my fandom_stocking is here. Please, post a link to yours if you have one as there are a lot posted and it's hard to sift through to find the ones of those you know.

More Memeage

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:45:17 GMT

From joyfulfeather:

Please comment with one word. (Scrabble rules do not apply - the word can be a person, place, or slang.)

I will write a drabble-ish length reply. It might be fic, it might be original, it might be memory, might be, I don't know, a definition? A recipe? A made-up word origin?

Guess what this is, children?

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:23:50 GMT

Answers up now, so utah_yoda doesn't go insane.

From joyfulfeather:

1. Put your iPod/iTunes/music on shuffle
2. DO NOT write down the lyrics of the first 10 songs to come up.
3. Describe what the song is about. Be creative.
4. Cross out the songs when your friends guess them in the comments.

If you like, when you guess correctly, I'll make you an icon or graphic of your choice.

I've tried not to include anything too obscure and nothing in a foreign language.

1. I'm feeling nostalgic and thoughtful, but give me a moment or two and I'll be fine.
Older Chests by Damian Rice (Listen)

2. Screw you. Why did you change and ruin everything?
Complicated by Avril Lavigne (Listen)

3. Life moves so fast and I get lost. I need you to help me stay centred.
Slow Me Down by Emmy Rossum (Listen)

4. Everyone is looking for a perfect love and it's so hard to find.
Love Supreme by Robbie Williams (Listen)

5. You treat me bad, but you know I'm going to fall for you over and over again.
Mamma Mia by A*Teens (Listen)

6. You're sad, but remember I know who you really are and I love you for you.
True Colours by Eva Cassidy (Listen)

7. This guy is a total mess and I don't get him, but he's still intriguing and I'm going to stick around.
Beautiful Disaster by Kelly Clarkson (Listen)

8. I'm driving around, trying to figure out what went wrong and why we aren't together.
Someday We'll Know by Mandy Moore (Listen)

~~9. Life is a beautiful fairy tale and someday love will find you.~~ Ever Ever After by Carrie Underwood (guessed by bookblather)

10. This is life, it's not perfect, but there is a purpose and you can find it if you just start looking.
Dare You To Move by Switchfoot (Listen)

PSA

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:14:32 GMT

Gentle readers, I warn you:

Do not watch Up when you are in a hormonal state. I am currently attempting to rehydrate myself. Good Lord.

- Tay

Wishlist Meme 2009

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:35:08 GMT

From joyfulfeather. This is always fun. Don't forget to post your own so that I can gift you.

Step One

- Make a post (public, friendslocked, filtered...whatever you're comfortable with) to your LJ. The post should contain your list of 10 (or however many you like) holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything at all, from simple and fandom-related ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing is, make sure these wishes are things you really, truly want.

- If you wish for real life things (not fics or icons), make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you.

- Also, make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your LJ, or link to this post (it'll be public) so that the holiday joy will spread.

Step Two

- Surf around your friendslist (or friendsfriends, or just random journals) to see who has posted their list. And now here's the important part:

- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where you could get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

My Wishlist

1. Fics about/including the supporting characters that I love:
- Ramirez (Dresden Files bookverse)
- Major Lorne (Stargate Atlantis)
- Major Davis (Stargate SG-1)
- Det. Flack (CSI:NY)

2. Art (of any kind) for one of my fics.

3. Music! I love music! In foreign languages, with really pretty lyrics, nice instrumental pieces, I love all that stuff.

4. Book recommendations. I find the 'grown-up' book section extremely intimidating, so I'd love some suggestions for good books to seek out. I like Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mysteries and Historical Fiction.

5. Read me a story! Do a voice post or record with your microphone. I love to be read to. Read me one of your stories, one of my stories or any other stories you'd like.

6. In a similar vein, sing me a song! I love Christmas carols, or any other songs you might wish to serenade me with. I don't care if you can sing or not, it'll make me thrilled that you tried.

7. Watch one of the following movies and think of me (and let me know what you thought if you haven't seen it before):
Babes in Toyland
Blackadder's Christmas Carol
Bon Cop Bad Cop
Emma (1996)
Kate & Leopold
Love Actually
Men With Brooms
Mrs. Santa Claus
Newsies
Pride & Predjudice (either the mini-series or the Keira Knightly version)
Sense & Sensibility (Emma Thompson version)
Singing in the Rain
Sliding Doors
The Slipper and The Rose

8. Tell me about a fun game to play online that you like. I'm always looking for new ways to waste time on the computer. I especially like time management and brain puzzler games.

9. Anything from my RDNA wishlist or Renderosity wishlist. I'm stage_rose on both those sites.

10. Have a safe, happy and wonderful holiday season. Don't drink and drive. Hug someone you love. Eat lots of chocolate.

Hey guess what?

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:31:57 GMT

It's another meme! From the lovely joonscribble (again).

Pick a paragraph (or any passage less than 500 words) from any fanfic I've written, and comment to this post with that selection. I will then give you a DVD commentary on that snippet: what I was thinking when I wrote it, why I wrote it in the first place, what's going on in the character's heads, why I chose certain words, what this moment means in the context of the rest of the fic, lots of awful puns, and anything else that you'd expect to find on a DVD commentary track.

You can find my fics via memories (not up-to-date) and tags (links to the left).

Another Meme (of the awesome variety)

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:06:24 GMT

From the lovely joonscribble.

1. Write down the names of 10 characters.

2. Write a fic of fifteen words or less for every prompt, using the characters determined by the numbers. Do NOT read the prompts before you do step 1.

The Characters
1. Harry Dresden (Dresden Files TV)
2. Malcolm Reynolds (Firefly)
3. Tony Stark (Iron Man)
4. Cal Lightman (Lie to Me)
5. Ray Kowalski (due South)
6. Anna Murphy (Dresden Files TV)
7. Kaylee Frye (Firefly)
8. 10th Doctor (Doctor Who)
9. Rick Castle (Castle)
10. Captain Jack Harkness (Torchwood)

You might want to choose your characters now, if this meme interests you. Otherwise you'll see the prompts when you read the fics.

1. First time, 4 and 6. (Cal Lightman, Anna Murphy)
She was the first 10-year-old natural he'd ever met.

2. Angst, 7. (Kaylee Frye)
It was a very, very bad day. Then, the engine broke down.

3. AU, 1 and 8. (Harry Dresden, 10th Doctor)
Harry waved goodbye to Malcolm Dresden, steppping through the TARDIS door after the Doctor.

4. Threesome, 3, 6 and 9. (Tony Stark, Anna Murphy, Rick Castle)
They both agreed she was going to be a ball buster when she grew up.

5. Hurt/Comfort, 5 and 10. (Ray Kowalski, Jack Harkness)
Jack put his long coat over a shivering Ray. Sirens wailed in the distance.

6. Crack, 1. (Harry Dresden)
When the pink bunny slippers started to attack , Harry decided enough was enough.

7. Horror, 10. (Jack Harkness)
Ranked #5 on the list was watching his own leg grow back. Creepy as hell.

8. Baby fic, 5 and 9. (Ray Kowalski, Rick Castle)
Castle caught the baby. Working with the NYPD was as weird as working with Mounties.

9. Dark, 2 and 8. (Malcolm Reynolds, 10th Doctor)
The Doctor gently shook his head and Mal knew no one was coming back.

10. Romance, 4 and 7. (Cal Lightman, Kaylee Frye)
The mechanic's head was cocked to the side. She was definitely flirting.

11. Death fic, 2 and 3. (Malcolm Reynolds, Tony Stark)
They nodded, agreeing that they were going out kicking ass. They charged through the door.

Memes (2 for the price of one, act now!)

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:01:38 GMT

First, from joonscribble

Comment with what you believe I should write next. A drabble? A oneshot? An epic? The next chapter of a WIP from ages ago? Want to see me write in an old tried and true fandom or dip my toe into a different fandom I've praised but have yet to fic? Specific character? Specific genre? Give me your suggestions and poke my Muse.

Next, from joyfulfeather

Give me a fandom I'm in, a character or pairing (or threesome/whatever), and a prompt (word, image, phrase, poem, reference, whatever) and I'll give you something creative made of words. (Meta? A line of fic? A paragraph? A drabble? A ficlet? A full story? We'll see.)

Because these are all I pose these days...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:59:41 GMT

From the lovely joonscribble:

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

1. Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or toy when you were a child?
My Grandma knit me this doll. It was pink and had brown hair and, retrospectively, probably quite ugly. I named her Saskatoon, after a song on the Canada version of Seseme Street which nobody remembers but me. She unravelled. I then had a doll I found at a second hand store, who, I've only realized recently, was black. She was a typical rag doll, noted for her large size which enabled me to put her feet in my roller skates and roll her around the room. I named her Saskatoon II. My brother pulled her leg off and then her hair fell off. After that, I renamed my Raggedy Ann doll Saskatoon III.

2. What is the oldest item of clothing you still own?

I get rid of clothes a fairly regular basis, so I don't think I own anything particularly old. The oldest thing currently in my closet is probably my first proper theatre-going dress, which is only, maybe five years old. Unless you count the smocked dresses my grandmother made for me as a child, which are in the cedar chest.

3. Any plans and/or desires to pursue higher education beyond college?

I have many desires, but no plans. At the moment I'm taking an ASL course at the CHS Office and just trying to decide what the hell I want to do. It took me so long to finish high school, due to my illness, that I sometimes thought I'd never achieve it and now that I have, I just want to chillax for a bit. I'd like to do creative writing or theatre or languages.

4. If you could trade places with anyone, who would it be?

Uh...alive, probably...Sutton Foster, maybe. She has my sort of dream career.

Dead, some sort of Regency lady of leisure who embroidered all day and went to balls and was courted by handsome young men of means.

5. Do you have a favorite drink? (alcoholic or non)

My favourite drink is chai tea from Shopper's Drug Mart's organic line of food.

Pseudo-Meme

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 03:23:49 GMT

From joonscribble: what TeeVees I'm watching this fall.

Mondays
DVR House and Lie to Me, watch Dancing With the Stars with my mum. We are way behind on watching House together, but I watch Lie to Me while making/eating lunch on another day of the week. Oh! And I forgot Castle I definitely watch Castle and DVR it for Ama to watch later on.

Tuesdays

NCIS night. Both shows. I was watching them and DVRing So You Think You Can Dance Canada, but that finished up on Sunday, so now it's just NCIS.

Wednesdays
America's Next Top Model, followed by Glee, followed by CSI:NY.

Thursdays

Thursday is ASL class night and nothing is on that I wish to DVR. Usually I catch the last half hour of Grey's Anatomy, which I have a like/despise relationship with. I mainly watch for Dr. Hunt. Then I watch The Mentalist.

Fridays

I was watching FlashForward (which I guess was a repeat of Thursday night?), but now they show Ugly Betty in that slot, which I don't watch. Usually I search around for anything interesting and fail, until Flashpoint at 10:00.

Saturdays
Nothing.

Sundays
Mum and I watch Classic Gospel on PBS (we like the music) and then Battle of the Blades. I've also been watching Three Rivers, which has been seriously preempted by football. It's meh, but it's on while I cross-stitch.

PSA

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 03:44:23 GMT

I just literally spent two and half hours combing/brushing/coercing a knot out of my hair. Two and a half hours. Literally. And there is a still a large portion of it left untangled because I cannot reach it. This is a warning to all those people out there who say 'Oh, you're so lucky, I want curly hair.' NO YOU DON'T. You do not want curly hair.

Friends don't let friends want curly hair.

RIP, dear computer

Sat, 10 Oct 2009 03:41:58 GMT

My brother identified the problem with my computer as being motherboard related and my dad went to buy me a new one today, only to find that my computer is so old, it's obsolete. They don't make parts for it anymore. So, I'm getting a new computer. Which is, in the long run, awesome and probably much needed. He's going to get it tomorrow.

A moment of silence for Shelby, the computer which kept me sane during all those years I was sick and house-ridden. I love you.

In other news, it's Canadian Thanksgiving on Monday. There will be sugar-free pun'kin pie. And dinner rolls. Also, I'm going to a baby shower for my friend tomorrow, which will be fun. I've never been to a baby shower before. And finally, I had my second ASL class last night and I am enjoying it supermuch. Also, Zip sent me Spaced, so Ama and I watched Series 1 today. There will be iconage. When the new computer arrives.

So, all in all, things aren't that bad. Hope everyone else is doing well!

More memes!

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 05:33:55 GMT

From joonscribble:

Take a few of your original characters and tell us...

1. How you thought of their name
2. What made you create the character in the first place
3. How the character has changed over time (if they have changed)
4. Any random fun fact about that character

Characters Playing:
Miranda Dresden
Dr. Forrester
Fay Dresden

Miranda (Faintree) Dresden
1. I may have mentioned this earlier, but Miranda comes from the Tempest character. "Oh brave new world that hath such people in it," being her view of Harry's world. Mira means 'peace' in Slavic, which I thought was appropriate since she would be the calming element in Harry's life, until her death. Faintree is a name I used for throwaway character in a Harry Potter rpg. I found it by looking up Medieval England Surnames. I thought it was cool, so I recyled it for Mira.

2. Honestly, Mira was a barely mentioned character in Family Dynamics. I knew I wanted to give Harry kids and I knew I wanted to make his life similar to his father's experience, so his wife/partner would have to die. I didn't want to kill Murphy and I thought I would just toss a random name in there, never expecting the story to spawn such enthusiasm from the readers. So, then I had to come up with who the heck she was.

3. Aside from her originally only being a name, Mira has changed from originally being a nurse in my mind to being a musician. That was after I read Ama 'Her Kind of Magic'. She assumed the violinist mentioned in it was Mira and that struck a chord (no pun intended) with me. I scrapped the idea because I wanted her to be a one night stand for Harry, but the musician idea stayed with me. I liked the thought of both her and Harry having a sort of 'magic' that they can do, that the other doesn't fully get. I added more details to Mira as the stories demanded, trying not to make her too much of a Mary Sue. Though, as Ama pointed out, 'she's dead, make her as kickass as you want'.

4. There's a picture at GettyImages that I love, which makes me think of Mira and Fay it's here.

Dr. Darcy Forrester

1. He introduced himself as Darcy Forrester when he was speaking to Harry and so I assumed that's what his name was. I think that he must have named himself, since Forrester is the last name of a teacher I loathed in high school and I don't think I would choose the name of my own accord.

2. I needed someone to guide Harry and Murphy, and the readers, through the medical aspects of the sleeping sickness and Forrester volunteered himself for the job. He became a larger part of the story when people (and I) really liked him.

3. Not a lot has changed with Forrester, other than my developing him. He arrived with a name, personality, nationality and appearance and I just let him go to it.

4. Forrester looks like Clive Owen in my mental theatre. Samara, his wife, is based on Aishwarya Rai's appearance. For the record, Clive and Ash would have gorgeous children.

Fay Dresden

1. I knew I wanted her to have several names, since names have power in the magic world and I thought Harry would give her a bunch to lower the chance of someone finding out all of them. Lefay is the maiden name of Harry's mother in the books and I always thought that was pretty cool, so I tossed that in there. My personal canon makes it Harry's grandmother's maiden name. Julianna I put in as a long name that would be too big and fussy for someone as small and fiesty as Fay. Margaret is for the Harry's mother. Out of all the possible nicknames, Fay is what stuck. It's French for fairy, which I think suits her.

2. She was made for Family Dynamics, which was written for the Morningway challenge at flashfic. I love father/daughter relationships, so I made her a girl and she proceeded to write herself.

3. Fay was another character who came as is. I gave her more of a personality as I wrote more about her, but she hasn't evovled much since she hasn't grown any during timeline of the stories. One day I will probably write both her and Mal older, but I have this weird fear that if I make them older, I can't make them younger again.

4. Several of Fay's thoughts and comments come from my own childhood, or stories of family members. She's a mix of myself and my brother. Personality-wise, Mal's is much more similar to my own.

Character Meme

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:02:21 GMT

Memes soothe a frazzled soul, so I went looking for one to help ease my computerless pain. I am typing in Notepad on my 'rents' computer and it doesn't look right! The font is wrong and the screen is stretched out. But I will persevere for the good of meme kind.

1. Choose a few of your own characters. Five at the most.
2. Make them answer the following questions.
3. Then tag three people.
4. Feel free to go ahead and add some questions yourself!!

Characters playing:
Dr. Forrester
Fay Dresden
Dylan Cartwright

1. What's your favorite food?

Forrester: Vegetarian lasagna. My wife's, specifically.
Fay: Cheezy Rice! It's rice with cheese in it.
Dylan: I really miss proper American hot dogs.

2. Are you a virgin?

Forrester: Ahem. No.
Fay: What's a 'virgin'?
Dylan: Not since Suzie Chen in eleventh grade.

3. What kind of movies do you watch?
Forrester: Anything that's on at two AM when I'm too wound up from work to sleep.
Fay: I break movies. So does Daddy. At school we watched one about crossing the street. It wasn't very fun and I don't know why everybody likes them so much.
Dylan: At the moment it's either romantic comedies with Katrina or kids' flicks with Graylin, when we can get the DVD player going.

4. Are you married?
Forrester: Yes, happily.
Fay: No, I'm just little!
Dylan: Engaged. If the piles of wedding magazines don't topple over and crush me to death, I should be married by next spring.

5. Have you ever gotten drunk before?
Forrester: Far too many times. More so during my med school days. That I managed to pass my exams is a minor miracle. Also that I escaped without permanent brain damage.
Fay: No, I'm just little!
Dylan: Yes. Not a lot. Someone has to be the designated driver and it tends to be me.

6. Your best friends?
Forrester: I still keep in touch with Andrew Cross, who was my best friend growing up. We e-mail back and forth. My best friend in America is Jamie Hennesey. He lived next to door to me when I first came to Chicago. Or, I lived next door to him? In any case, he was my Best Man at my wedding.
Fay: Daddy and Murphy and Mal and Bob. And Mouse. And Gramma.
Dylan: A few guys at work. Katrina, too.

7. What is your favorite word?
Forrester: Phlebotomy.
Fay: Octopus.
Dylan: Cacophony. Especially the way the Brits say it.

8. What song was sung to you when you were a child as you went to sleep?
Forrester: My mother always sang 'Morning has Broken'. Which I suppose is somewhat of a paradox, but I never noticed when I was a child.
Fay: Mommy sang lots of songs. My favourite is the one about golden slumbers.
Dylan: Lavender's Blue. Mom sang it to all of us. Graylin says Tamsin sang it to her, too.

9. How would you describe your voice?
Forrester: British. Far too Northern when I go back home. Perhaps a bit gravelly.
Fay: I sound like me!
Dylan: American to the Brits, British to the Yanks. Kat says I mumble. I say she doesn't listen.

10. What was the best day or moment of your life?
Forrester: The first time I really saved a patient. That's a rush you can't get from anything else.
Fay: When we have cheezy rice for dinner! Or my birthday. Or...no, my birthday.
Dylan: The day I got the job at the newspaper. Made me feel like I was a real writer.

I took some questions I didn't like out, so you can find the original meme here if you want to add more to your own meme. I'm not tagging anyone, but feel free to play if you'd like!

Not good, not good, not good....

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 02:51:27 GMT

I am typing this from my parents' computer because mine will not turn on. At all. And, it being nearly 11:00pm, we can't call my brother the computer guru to come fix it. I'm not too worried about file loss, since a quick Google suggests it's rarely a hard drive problem. Unless it got fried during the power outage we had this afternoon. cleolinda has just gone through a huge fiasco under similar circumstances, so I am a bit worried about my poor computer. It's mostly just annoying. I will not be able to get the WOW Brewfest achievement, since I won't have enough tokens. Plus, I have to post an icon challenge tomorrow and all my coding is on the computer I can't access.

This is not a pleasant way to start the week.

Fingers crossed, people!

Oh dear

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 21:20:50 GMT

Poor Shilling. I forgot to take him for a walk yesterday, and I was going to take him for a walk a few minutes ago. He's so cute when you put his leash on:

"Oh,arewegoingforawalk?Canwegonow?Doyouneedhelpgettingready?MaybeIcouldgoaheadofyouandyoucouldcatchup?OrIcouldjustgoandtakemyself,youdon'tneedtocomeatall!"

So, I put the leash on and go to find some walking shoes. In the time it takes me to go down the hall and back, it starts to rain. I think, 'well, it's not that bad, I could just take an umb-' and it starts to pour.

I apologize to Shill and take his leash off. He's like:

"Oh,areyoutakingmyleashoff?Dadusuallykeepsiton,butIguessthat'sokay!Canwegonow?Doyouneedhelpgettingready?MaybeIcouldgoaheadofyouandyoucouldcatchup?OrIcouldjustgoandtakemyself,youdon'tneedtocomeatall!"

I take my shoes off and he's still dancing around. I go the basement and he's all:

"Oh,areyougoingtothebasement?Isthereanalternateexitdownthere?Canwegonow?Doyouneedhelpgettingready?MaybeIcouldgoaheadofyouandyoucouldcatchup?OrIcouldjustgoandtakemyself,youdon'tneedtocomeatall!"

So, now I'm at the computer, typing this tale and Shilling has come downstairs and trotted up to me.

"This is a weird place for a walk, why are you sitting down, can we go now? No? We aren't going are we?"

Poor Shilling.

Memes, how I've missed thee

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:53:25 GMT

From joonscribble:

Give me the title of a story I've never written, and feedback telling me what you liked best about it, and I will tell you any of: the first sentence, the last sentence, the thing that made me want to write it, the biggest problem I had while writing it, why it almost never got posted, the scene that hit the cutting room floor but that I wish I'd been able to salvage, or something else that I want readers to know.

For anyone needing clarification: you make up the title of this fic I never wrote and what you liked about it. I'll take care of the rest. (thanks to joonscribble for the clarification, too)

Firefly: Distractions

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:10:45 GMT

Title: Distractions
Characters: Kaylee, Wash
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Word count: 408
Summary: When the crew goes out on a mission, those left behind have to entertain themselves somehow. Pre-Serenity Pilot.
Author's notes: A little ficlet written for bringthehappy. The prompt was 'Kaylee and Wash, puzzle'.

“I need the whirly one with the whoosh,” Kaylee said, gesturing nonsensically.

Wash peered around the collection of puzzle pieces before him and found the whirly one with the whoosh. Kaylee snapped it into place triumphantly.

The puzzle had been done so many times that the image was starting to peel up from the pieces. Neither Wash nor Kaylee really cared about that, though. It was the only puzzle they had and it had a history. Every time they had to wait for the crew of Serenity while they were off on a mission, they pulled out the tattered box and started to assemble it. It kept them from worrying about what danger the people they cared about were in.

Kaylee had even constructed a special portable table that they could bring into the bridge to work on. That way, if Wash had to get Serenity moving quickly, he was already in place.

Sometimes they challenged each other to see who could assemble the puzzle the fastest. They were about even in wins and losses. Kaylee could notice the intricate slopes and knobbles and things on each piece, just like she could assemble an engine full of little pieces. Wash could see the big picture and how the colours fit together, just like he could plot the best course and navigate through asteroid fields and busy ports without crashing into anything. Together, they were ‘unstoppable puzzle-doing...people’ (Wash’s words.)

Over the years, they had looked for another puzzle in markets, but hadn’t found one. Most people preferred the electronic kind these days. But Kaylee and Wash were both more hands on types.

“Oh, we are so good!” Wash said, after he snapped the last piece into place. He and Kaylee high-fived each other. “Seriously, if there was a title for people who could do jigsaw puzzles really fast, we would have it.”

Kaylee beamed and sat back to admired their work. The picture was of Earth-That-Was, all blue and green and sitting amongst the stars. Looking at it made her happy.

The radio crackled and Wash pounced on it. “Wèi?” he said.

“Wèi,” Mal’s voice crackled back. “We’re on our way back. No hurry. Everything’s good there?”

“Everything’s shiny, captain!” Kaylee called.

“Good, be there soon,” Mal said.

Kaylee and Wash smiled at each in relief, then got to work taking the puzzle apart and putting it back into its tattered, falling-apart box. Just like everything on Serenity, it was worn and used and loved.

And that suited them just fine.

Star Trek (reboot): Study Break

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:58:04 GMT

Title: Study Break
Characters: Uhura, Spock
Rating: PG for brief swearing
Spoilers: None
Word count: 679
Summary: Spock discovers jelly beans. Spock/Uhura. Pre-movie.
Author's notes: A little ficlet written for bringthehappy. The prompt was 'spock/uhura, jelly beans'.

“Is this seat taken?”

Uhura looks up from her PADD to find Commander Spock standing in her front of her. She looks around at the completely empty library and the hundreds of available seats, then back to him. With anyone else, she might expect a question like that to be flirting, but with him, she suspects he’s quite serious.

“No, please, sit down,” she says.

She scoops her things in closer to her to give him some room to work across from her.

“Thank you,” he says, with incline of his head. He sits down and begins to look at his PADD.

She takes it as a sign he doesn’t want to talk and gets back to studying. At first, she keeps looking over through her lashes at him, watching him work. She wonders if he ever relaxes that posture. She wonders if it gives him knots in his shoulders. She wonders what it would be like to massage his shoulders. And maybe his ears. Maybe -

Shit! He’s looking at her. She reaches into her bag and tries to find something she could pretend she had been looking for all along. She pulls out a bag of jelly beans. Those will have to do.

She dumps them out on the table, earning an eyebrow raise from Commander Spock.

“I believe food and drink are forbidden on the library premises,” he says.

“I believe you are correct,” she says. She pops a green jelly bean into her mouth.

“But you intend to eat them anyway?” he says.

“At’cha,” she says. It’s a Sarassian word that can’t really be translated into English, but its rough meaning is ‘just try and stop me’. She uses it a lot.

He seems to know what it means and he nods, apparently not going to attempt to ‘at’cha’ her. He returns to his PADD and she returns to hers, absently sorting the jelly beans into groups by colour.

After a few minutes, she steals another look at him. He’s watching her finger push each jelly bean around. His brow is furrowed in thought.

“Do you have a purpose in grouping them, besides organization?” he asks.

She smiles. “I like to eat them by colour,” she explains.

“I see,” he says, in a tone that expresses that he doesn’t see at all. “I thought perhaps you were attempting to make a Fibonacci sequence.”

She looks down at her groups. One pink, one black, two yellow, three orange, five white, eight purple. “No, that’s a coincidence,” she says. Only a Vulcan would think to sort candy by an ancient Earth mathematician’s theory. “I just like to eat the orange ones first and the red ones last.”

He seems to be having trouble with that logic – or lack there of. He stares at them, apparently fascinated. She’s trying very hard not to laugh.

“Would you like one?” she asks. “The red ones are raspberry, the orange are orange, the green are apple, the pink are cotton candy, the purple are grape, the yellow are lemon, the white are coconut, and the black are licorice.”

“They reflect the colours of their natural counterparts,” he says, almost to himself. She half expects him to start recording his observations in a lab report. He looks over them and then selects a red one. “The flavour is not entirely accurate.”

“It’s close enough for me,” she says, grinning as she pops an orange one into her mouth. “You can have some more, if you want.”

He’s reaching for an orange one when there is a cry of dismay and the librarian descends on them.

“I have never before been forcibly ejected from a public building,” Spock says, a few minutes later.

Both he and Uhura are on the library steps, Uhura barely hanging onto to the things she gathered up in haste.

“Congratulations!” Uhura says, cheerfully.

“I did not intend it to be an accomplishment,” he says.

She laughs openly at that. His lips quirk in a slight smile. Maybe. She could be imagining it. “Do you want to get a coffee or something?” she asks, hoping to catch him off-guard.

“Would that be appropriate?” he asks.

“At’cha,” she says, with a grin.

She continues down the steps. He hesitates for a moment, then follows.

A favour

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:08:00 GMT

Hello f-listites! My icon challenge over at still_epics could use some votes, so if you have a minute, could you wander over and put in a vote? The theme is Miyazaki films and it's a pretty straight forward process of voting for the ones you like. The voting post is here. Thanks muchly!

Top Five Meme

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 03:37:39 GMT

Stolen from joonscribble:

Ask me my fannish Top Five [Whatevers]. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! And I will answer them all in a new post.

DVD Commentary

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:28:31 GMT

dvd_commentary is having another around and I've given permission for my stories to be commentaried, should anyone get the urge.

Stories can be found through tags, at The Archive (DF only), and FF.net.

Bring the Happy roundup

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:34:28 GMT

Don't forget to come play at bringthehappy! There's lots of fun to be had. Here's what I've written so far (for my own organizational purposes):

Coffee Table Science (Eleventh Hour, G, Rachel/Jacob 'experiment' prompt)
Study Break (Star Trek (reboot), PG, Spock/Uhura 'jelly beans' prompt)
Good Different (Doctor Who/Torchwood, G, Ianto & Rose 'jam' prompt)
Expectant (Star Trek (reboot), G, Kirk 'acting like a real captain' prompt)
Distractions (Firefly (pre-Serenity pilot), G, Kaylee & Wash 'puzzle' prompt)
Untitled (Iron Man, G, Pepper 'vacation' prompt, Drabble Tree drabble)
Untitled (Stargate SG-1, G, Major Davis 'promotion' prompt, Drabble Tree drabble)

TV Titles Meme

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:28:37 GMT

Meme from _medley_

Choose your genre show, answer the questions using episode titles from that show--if possible, don't repeat any.

Are you a male or a female?
JULIET IS BLEEDING

Describe yourself:
I COULDA BEEN A DEFENDANT

How do you feel:
RED, WHITE OR BLUE

Describe where you currently live:
NORTH

If you could go anywhere where would you go?
HEAVEN AND EARTH

Your favorite form of transportation:
DEAD GUY RUNNING

Your best friend is:
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

What’s the weather like:
MOJO RISING

Favorite time of day:
HUNTING SEASON

If your life was a TV show, it would be called:
ASYLUM

What is life to you:
AN EYE FOR AN EYE

Your fear:
A COP, A MOUNTIE, AND A BABY

What is the best advice you have to give:
DEAD MEN DON'T THROW RICE

Thought for the Day:
THEY EAT HORSES DON'T THEY?

How I would like to die:
LETTING GO

My soul’s present condition:
BIRD IN THE HAND

My motto:
SEEING IS BELIEVING

Still not getting comments. How can I be a comment whore if I don't know when I have comments?