Are You Game?

Shameless self-indulgent kissin' drabble. :D

Just the Same
Watchmen. Nite Owl/Rorschach. PG. ~550 words.
The city's reduced to gritty neon swimming in puddles of murk and Rorschach is an event waiting to happen.

( Read me. )

Time spent: 38m
Calories burned: 185
BMI: 29.10
Feeling: tired

I am le tired tonight, so short workout. And since I'm off meds but my throat is still acting up (I'm gonna make an appointment again before I leave for vacation), I decided pushing it too much would be a bad idea. On the plus side, I did the really high level punching game--it's ten minutes long, so my arms kind of want to fall off...but I did better at it on my first try than I have the other punching games--I got a four stars. I think it's because it's twice the tempo as the first one, so it's a lot faster--I tend to rush, so the faster tempo worked for me. :D

Also, the trainer's hairstyle went back to the old one. Eh? :(

Now to call my mom (about my trip back to the US) then hit the bath. I learned the hard way, that i I don't take a nice, long soak after I work out, I hurt, hurt, hurt the next day.

Today's advent calendar offering is fic from me, something I've been mulling over for a long time: a bit of resolution for two often-forgotten figures from a famous legend.

It's not our usual fare (i.e., not from an anime or videogame), but then again, I did write Chaucer fic and Bible fic, back in the day. If you read, I hope you enjoy. ♥

Cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The fics that I wrote and posted using fanaticalone on LJ back in the day are slowly being imported into my AO3 account.

Just for fun:

Number of stories on the archive as of now: 64 (some of them only show if you're logged in.)
Number of fandoms that I've been the first to post in so far: At least five (Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth, Star Ocean 2, Skies of Arcadia, Final Fantasy V, and Dragon Quest VIII.)
Number of the above fandoms that I'm still the only author in: All. :(
Number of fics that I've discovered that are lost due to community deletions: One that I'm sure about (an FFVI fic that I particularly liked, too) and possibly a few more SoA fics, all from the same community.) Although, to be fair to the community, it's as much my computer's fault for crashing and dying; I had backups, and they're gone now.
Current most popular tags in various category:
Rating: General beats out Teen by one (23 to 22.)
Category: Gen wins at 21.
Fandom: Star Ocean: The Second Story and Skies of Arcadia are tied at 20 (the latter mostly thanks to 30_kisses. Of course, I haven't gotten all of my SO2 claims added yet.)

Communities I've finished digging through to find my old fics (all on LJ):

antiotpficathon
user=5trueloves
esper_cave
springkink
30_kisses
temps_mort
100_leitmotifs

Other notes:
- I miss 100_leitmotifs and temps_mort. Both were great ideas for writing communities, and they're both pretty much dead now.
- I... I've written a lot of fic on LJ. Good grief.

...yes, I am going to get back to writing original stuff soon. This is just what I do when I'm too sick to think about it. Stupid cold.

Let me preface this by saying that The Beatles are my favorite band. Ever. They are the best band. Ever. I could on for ages, complete with jumping up and down and waving my arms wildly and probably convulsing on the floor, about how phenomenal they are, how they invented modern music, how important they are not just to rock and roll, but to the entire musical industry. HELL THE ENTIRE WORLD.

John Lennon.

Paul McCartney.

Are awesome.

Their relationship. Christ, I don't even know how to articulate the beautiful complexity of Lennon/McCartney.

Lifting Latches by thinkpink20
Pairing: John Lennon/Paul McCartney
Rating: NC-17 for sex
HOLY SHIT JESUS CHRIST THIS IS THE BEST STORY EVER WRITTEN. When Beatles Rock Band came out, I started joining Beatles communities on LJ. I worked my way through them all and eventually ended up reading RPS of the lads. It was mostly for the lol factor; I'd never been a fan - or even really interested by the concept - of RPS. For shits and giggles I started reading fics, though and I found "Lifting Latches."

So, this is a review coming from someone who has a thorough knowledge of and love for the Beatles; and while is a slasher and is interested in homosexuality, bisexuality, and sexuality in general, was never a John/Paul fan (am now, of course; partially converted by this fic). SERIOUSLY, READ IT. Paul's shyness and desperation to impress the older John; John's need to maintain his influence over Paul coupled with his own insecurities... AWESOME. The natural fluctuation of teenage desire during a conservative time period, and the fears of social rejection for an "unnatural" interest... AWESOME. The bond between John and Paul and their need to strengthen and explore it... SO AWESOME.

Besides that, this story is incredibly well written. thinkpink20 walks the delicate line between action and exposition. Her Paul is thoughtful and observant, but the story never slows under too much emotional analysis. At the same time, her action scenes are perfectly paced.

And the sex scene is HOT. A lot of slash - hell, a lot of romance - falls into one of two categories: 1) too impersonal, insert-tab-a-into-tab-b sex, and 2) overwrought, over-fraught purple prose sex. Then there's the weird clinicalness that some sex scenes take on, where I feel like I'm reading the minutes from a physical exam, and it's counterpart the author-is-actually-a-virgin stuff where manroots pulsate into love canals. In short, writing convincing sex is hard. But thinkpink20 MASTERS it. Paul and John's scene together is smoking hot. Paul's desire underlines the whole story, and by the time they get into bed, the passion practically palpitating through the lines.

Also, Paul is PERFECT. Fictional!Paul often suffers from acute weepy uke syndrome. This Paul is shy and uncertain, but he's often wiser than John, and while he's not as forward as John, Paul still knows what he wants and when they meet, they do so as equals.

And what's best about this fic?

IT HAS AN EVEN HOTTER SEQUEL: Sending Postcards.

This. Story. Is. The. Fucking hottest thing. Ever.

All the amazing things about the first story carry over to the second: great characterization, awesome Britishisms, flawless pacing. While the sex scene in "Lifting Latches" is incredibly satisfying, it can be (as Paul himself in the story reflects) interpreted as "just getting off." He - and the audience - worry that he/we read too much into it.

But wow, the climax (hurrrrr) of this story blows (durrrrr) everything away.

Again, the sex is perfect. Steamy and sensitive, it's both sexually arousing and emotionally satisfying. The first, second, and third times I read that part, I actually blushed. I won't spoil it, but John has a line that sets off Paul (and the reader, by extension) and it's so bloody perfect I want to tattoo it on my forehead. thinkpink20 deftly twists everything with that one little line - it's so perfectly John-like. The words aren't really profane, but the choice to use one term in particular is so effective: it's dirty and personal and raw and wow.

I was explaining it all to Pete last night - or at least trying to; this rec is evidence that I'm barely lucid: Part of the reason I'm interested in slash is there's the conflict of man vs self, man vs man, and man vs society. Will man choose to put into danger his place in his world for love? Is his love strong enough to be tested by the illegality of his relationship with his lover? Slash stories don't always explore that; a lot of the time, I find that the whole social consequences of sodomy stuff is ignored. Which is fine, not every story needs to try to dismantle (or even acknowledge) the heteronormative establishment. And sometimes slash stories get too involved with it, so that I'm not reading romance as much as I am a dissociation. But once again, thinkpink20 does it perfectly. Toward the end of "Postcards," Paul stops himself from fantasizing a certain something because of how "queer" it could be. (And then, because thinkpink20 is a genius), he immediately worries about John.

THIS SHOULD BE REQUIRED READING FOR EVERYONE.

Title: Sebastian and the Beast: Ch2, pg 23/?
Rating: Pg-13
Beta: yume_no_kage
Summary: Beauty and the Beast with a twist (and a wriggle)
A/N: Daaah, drawing waaaaaalls. XD But that's okay.

( Sebastian and the Beast Ch2, pg 23 )


[Cover]
Ch 1: 1&2, 3, 4, 5, 6&7, 8, 9, 10, 11.
Ch 2: 1, 2, 3&4, 5, 6, 7, 8&9, 10, 11, 12&13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

Colour Pages
Field Promotion

1:06
275
29.14

I know I should weigh myself in the mornings, to avoid the "my belly is full of food" thing, but yeah right. XD

Anyway, yeah, my belly is still omfg SO FULL from the Korean ramen and real Korean kimchee my friend M stuffed my full of that I'm frankly amazed that I can even move. It all feels like a leaden in my stomach, so color me unshocked and my weight going up. XD I feel plumped. XD;;;

On the plus side, though, Korean instant ramen is pure win for spiciness, and the hottie working at the Starbucks we went to (I'm drinking so much coffee now, OMFG. Blame M and the yumminess of Doutour's caramel marron latte and Starbuck's gingerbread latte) made the trip out to study with her totally worth it. :D

The obstacle course still vexes me. I'm getting closer--I was yelling, "So close! I was SO CLOSE!" at the screen because I was a jump away from the end of the level I was on. *screams* I would have tried it again, but the game decided, "Oh, hey, it's tomorrow, so let's erase your time and calories burned! :D"

Yeah. ,|,,

Also, totally random, my "trainer"'s hairstyle changed. I was doing jackknifes and all of a sudden went, "Wait a minute, her hair wasn't pulled back before, was it?" and was so confused and trying to puzzle it out when I was coming up on the exercises and cold see the screen, until I realized yeah, the game had randomly given her a new hairstyle. I thought maybe she always had that hairstyle during the jackknives and I never noticed before because I was usually working on not dying during those. But when I jumped over to yoga, I realized, yeah--new hairstyle.

This is why I like Nintendo--the little touches. Last month, there were fall leaves blowing around one of the menu screens, and this month it's snowflakes. And if you "poke" your Mii on that menu, it trips the hell out. You poke its feet and it starts stomping and jumping; poke its belly and it flails, and poke its head and it starts trying to swat it away like a fly. XD

• 03:47 Wow, MSI did a cover of Tom Sawyer. Nice. I'm late to the game, but still, nice. #ringring
• 20:45 New Claire Wendling book?? Maybe if I survive tomorrow I will buy it for myself.
• 21:10 @bizarrejelly I had braces for like 5 years, you're in good company!

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OKAY. So, Black Friday was actually pretty anti-climactic, which was just fine with me. However, EVERY DAY AFTER IT HAS BEEN NOTHING SHORT OF HORRIBLE OMG. People, seriously. Just. Just go away. GO AWAY. :|

Also, I wasn't able to get a lappytoppy like I had planned, which was a downer. I was bitter, not gonna like. Still, it ended up being a good thing. I mean...I really don't have that kind of money to spend.

So I bought a PSP (whaaaaaat, I said I didn't have that kind of money to spend - the kind of money a PSP requires is much lower okay!) and one little game.

( Spoilers for Cloud, Tidus, and Cecil's Odysseys, as well as general DISSIDIA gameplay )

In other news, I have been quietly freaking out over Yuletide (WHAT WAS I THINKING) and wrangling tags (ugh, wait, why did I choose a fandom where everyone only has a first name?!). LIFE IS EXCITING.

Oh, hey, fic recs.

Allure of Honey, FF: Dissidia fic by Sinnatious. Cloud winds up in an outfit he swore he would never wear again. Crossdressing. Everyone/Cloud.

This fic. THIS FIC. I lol'd A LOT. Poor Cloud. <333333


Made for Much, FFXII fic by Original-Elfkin. Balthier is tired of the Westersands. Tired of the heat, tired of the sand stuck in every place, tired of his itchy 5 o'clock shadow. But a puzzle involving Vaan presents an entertaining distraction from his troubles. Pre-slash BalthierXVaan.

Another one that made me laugh, plus I really, really like the characterizations. I guess lulz are my main source of entertainment, what can I say.

This post originally made at Dreamwidth.

Skepchick has a fantastic article that pretty much sums up my distaste for Twilight.

If you don't have the time to read the whole article, here is the short run down:

"The messages behind Twilight? Be weak, let your man protect you. Be careful, don’t get him angry. If he hurts you, it’s your fault. Abuse is part of life. Accept it. If he really loves you, he’ll try not to hurt you but don’t be surprised if he does. You probably deserve it. You are nobody without your man, so don’t bother trying."

Ew Moon: Why Twilight continues to hurt America…

Twilight fans beware...there are spoilers for New Moon. But I am sure that everyone has probably already seen it, right?

Things learned:
1. One edit is never enough.
2. Reading things aloud really does catch errors, even if it takes a half hour to read one 3,000 word chapter (that's 100 words a minute).

But, it's done. I finished my first multichapter fanfic in years -- I have a few, but the closest to done any of them are is 'rough draft'. Yes, I take this as Serious Writing, for all that it's fun stuff on the Internets.

Anyway, I present a Fullmetal Alchemist Space Opera AU focusing on Winry and Sheska. Because clearly I don't care if anyone actually reads stuff I poured blood, sweat and tears into.

Moar origfic! Because...it's here, though part of it's not very exciting. ;P Goes some time after Devil's Bargain. Proooobably makes no sense unless you've read that first, too.

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Betel HATED coming out of stasis. Hated it with the burning passion he reserved for people who underestimated him or backplanet knuckledraggers who talked over Till because she was a woman or Inner World aristocrats who thought that because Stine was strong and quiet that he was DUMB. ( Read more )

I'm still irritated about my "friend", and what's got my goat today is remembering how in her e-mail, she bitched about me "drinking her beer and her chuuhai." That's pissing me off because she offered them to drink. (And her whole thing was I apparently guzzled her booze, but oh, when she wanted to go out for a beer, I was too tired. Yeah. Fever? Sick? Breathing problems? Pshaw, I'm just being self-centered and ruining her fun. Oh, and yeah. One beer. I don't even remember drinking a chuuhai, and also, I'd have rather had juice or tea. -_-)

Bitching at someone for taking the drinks you offered...yeah. That's a great host, right there.

I still haven't read her e-mail back.

So, I've had Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days in my possession for a little over twenty-four hours now, and my left thumb is already threatening to shrivel up and drop off. Which probably means I'm Doing It Wrong, but eh, what else is new. ...I think I like this game. ^_^ (Xion is a badass.)

Also: I got these 5Q's from jlsigman a long time ago and am only now getting around to answering them. One step at a time. XD

( You know the drill. ) Question me or my headcast, at your pleasure.

From wannasmile.org, I bring you Kitteh News Anchors!

Title: Differing Views
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII (post AC)
Pairing/characters: Rufus, Denzel, others.
Rating: G
Warnings: None.
Word count: 1500~
Prompt: For areyougame. Dec 2nd, Final Fantasy VII, Rufus and Denzel: "You don't look as scary as everyone says"
Summary: Rufus visits a bar...

( 'I think this is a fool's errand, sir.' )

Time spent: 1:03
Calories burned: 280
BMI: 28.90

I skipped yesterday because I wasn't breathing well and also, yeah, I was too ragey for it. ^^;; But I definitely was going to exercise today. My throat is still kinda bleh, which is why I was, I thought, completely off on the rhythmic boxing thing--so imagine my shock when I got my second highest score.

I also got a "Perfect march!" on the marching-band game--a major step up from one time when I did it and the cable from the wiimote to the nunchuck thwapped me in the face and knocked my glasses off (I got l33t m4d SK1LLZ, y0~). I also tried the obstacle course, again...three times. There is something to be said for sheer, unbridled determination to not lose. I finally figured out how to work with the ice, so that's a major hurdle cleared, and I am very, very close to beating the bastard of a game.

I also noticed that jackknifes do not kill me as much as they did a week ago--oh, I still laugh at the game for even thinking I'm ready for even thirty, much less "challenging" the trainer--AHAHAHAHA, no--but I got up to fifteen before I wanted to die. Before, it was around ten. So, yeah, much improvement. I might bump it up next week. :)

The big thing, though, was my weight went down, quite a bit--I'm finally under 29 for my BMI! No more giri-giri obese! Just firmly overweight!--and it doesn't feel like the times when I would look at the lower BMI it spat out and go, "You lie like a lying thing. LIES!" The last few days, I have actually had that same "getting into better shape" feeling I had when I first started. So this lets me know my reassessment was right, and I'm on the right track. I do want to add more yoga in, but I think that's going to wait until the obstacle course is no longer rubbing my face in the dirt. XD

Harry Potter Redesign - The Harry Potter book covers to look like classic Penguin Books.

I love the one for the Philosopher's Stone and Deathly Hallows. :)

• 04:54 "I like cats, so sue me." "You know what, I think I could." God I love Home Movies.
• 17:29 @BabyGates666 you are too kind, lady :"D
• 17:34 @bonewings Twilight boyfriends enjoyed this little experiment. bit.ly/6pvqxw Girl at the end is freaking hilarious.
• 20:48 Baffled at how little information about illustration sales tax there is. I have the Guild book but I'm still confused. #ihatemathandtaxes

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