snapedom, always a wonderful place to hang out for all things Snape-related, is currently hosting a YULE PARTY here.
It's informal and relaxed - basically people are posting three wishes - for banners, icons, favorite Christmas Cake recipes, drabbles, peace and love, an amusing curse to lay on the in-laws, an illustration for their favorite fic, whatever.... You might find something to wish for - you might be inspired to fulfill a wish... Come and see!

P.S. I was joking about the curse for the in-laws. Really.

Sort of stolen from antares who had the "Indiana Jones" test posted. I noticed this one at the same site:

My arm is really fucked up today so I won't be typing much. Bill called from Italy. He's going to see Pompeii on Saturday. The Navy base he's staying on has regular bus tours that go there. Euro-to-Dollar exchange rate is teh suck, though. He's already had to hit the ATM again.

I'm off to watch my embroidery machine make things since I can't do much of that on my own with my arm in a sling. Hope everyone on my flist is doing well. Don't forget to post your wishlists!

Title: In Spitsbergen
Author: drachenmina
Word Count: 400
Rating: G
Snarry 100 Challenge#139: Myths and Fairy Tales
Characters: Severus Snape/Harry Potter. Sort of.
AN: Erm, it’s a bit odd, and it’s four times too long. So shoot me.


( In Spitsbergen )

Whoo, apologies for the complete lack of comment-replying or posting, I've been firmly stuck in lurker status for the past week and bit. My brain's all over the place at the moment - I keep writing tiny little snippets of multiple things, but not being able to focus long enough to do anything really. I'm being totally half-arsed. Can't even bring myself to read a book without skipping pages, backtracking, or attempting to read it back-to-front or upside down. I think the holiday mode has hit me right between the eyes this year - I've got pretty much no work to do, so now my head it trying to tell me to do twenty million things at once.

On the plus side, it made me tidy my room (I say 'tidy', but what I really mean is 'reorganize the chaos'), and stare at the floor for five minutes contemplating the idea of vacuuming. I'm not sure how useful the last one is, but hey...

hp_darkfest reveals are up! I really haven't read many of the fics, and I haven't commented on anything, which is completely terrible of me. So now I have to go tell people how absolutely wonderful they are <3 I'm quite proud of my fic for this fest, and it'll be posted/linked-to from this journal sometime soonish, if I can scrape up enough concentration.

In other news, have been spending my time reading Michael/Mahone, Haldir/Legolas, and Sparrington. And writing Lucius/Regulus, sloooowly, but, eh, I like the disconnected snippets I've got so far so something must be working, right?

ETA: Michael + phone(x2) + Mahone = phone!sex. Just... gah...

Title: Plan C
Author: drachenmina
Word Count: 1,100
Rating: PG15
Draco100 Prompt#17: Scheme
Characters: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
AN: Sequel to Plan B, for gin_tonic *smooches* because she begged so prettily for Draco to be Not Dead. And because I am now in a much better mood. *g*
Warnings: Contains attempted suicide and humour, a combination which will not be to everyone’s taste.

( Plan C )

Here's the first batch of Bill's photos from Uijeongbu, South Korea (better known as the former home of MASH 4077): Photobucket Slideshow

Title: Plan B
Author: drachenmina
Word Count: 100
Rating: PG15
Draco100 Prompt#17: Scheme
Characters: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Warnings: Highlight for warnings *Implied character suicide.* Fluffy, it ain’t.

( Plan B )

My victories may be small, but cool nonetheless.
( The latest saga under cut )
Long (very geeky) story short, I made Ubuntu install and work on my laptop. With no knowledge of the terminal interface beyond ifconfig (and my basic networking commands like ping).

In other news, Yule Balls has started. Next up for me is dear santa (research is underway) followed by Wizard Love (unless my email is lying to me and I've forgotten a fest). We're not going to discuss how possible that is.
Oh, and while doing research I finished my election scarf and took a really bad picture of it.

Rome may revive. And Vorenus didn't really die . . . news here.

I'd still rather see a Carnivale revival, though.

hd_holidays starts today. Big yays. The first fic to be posted is Master Work.

Harry's eighth-year at Hogwarts is going about as well as all the others. Someone is out to get him, Aurors keep questioning him about the final battle and, worst of all, Draco is determined to repay his life debt to Harry.

I am so very particular about HD fic these days. I've gone way past the I'LL READ IT ALL!! phase and settled stubbornly into the Only the Best Will Do stage. I don't rec this stuff lightly. This is a good fic, a nice long read with great characterisation and an interesting storyline. But the best part is the humour. It's funny all the way through with Draco exactly as I like him, sarcastic, slightly camp, completely capable of causing a scene without realising it, and witty. Great stuff.


And while I'm here: Whoops, Mr Barrowman. What's that cliche about making a mountain out of a troll hill?

Edit: John has now apologised Bad timing, honey, that was all. I for one squee at the thought of his fruit and nuts.

Recs first.

Compromise by sam_storyteller -- Jack/Ianto

After the Beacons, Ianto's inner censor is offline and Jack refuses to go home. German expressionism ensues.

Post Countrycide fics are among my favourites in this fandom and this is the one I feel I've been waiting for all my life. As always with this author, it's beautifully written with perfect character voices, bouncing dialogue and interesting narrative. Plus, it proper hits the H/C buttons.


Children of Time is a relatively new Doctor Who/Torchwood fic archive run by our very own shannon730. Clear, well orgainised and thought out, it rivals and, in my opinion, betters A Teaspoon and an Open Mind.


It's Spander comm bloodclaim's 5th birthday coming up (tomorrow?) and in celebration of this, the gorgeous and talented literati has posted a big batch of Spander icons. Lit is a good friend of mine, but putting that aside for a brief moment, these are the best Spander icons I've seen in a very long time.


Now on to the chatter.


I took my iPod to work yesterday and I have now therefore listened to John Barrowman's new album, Music, Music, Music twelve trillion times. Along with the two tracks I mentioned last time, What About Us? and I Know Him So Well, I am now completely in love with the grand campness of I Am What I Am and the quiet Angel which I'm positive will make me cry if it catches me at the wrong/right moment.

Does anyone else find this news story about Gay Penguins Stealing Eggs absolutely heartbreaking?

Title: Invasion
Author: drachenmina
Word Count: 200
Rating: G
Snape 100 Challenge#258: Truly, Madly, Deeply
Characters: Severus Snape/Harry Potter
Warnings: Canon character deaths mentioned. Will make more sense if you have seen the film.


( Invasion )

…

Obviously I haven’t been reading the newsp’s properly. I happened on ‘The Statesman’ of the 16 Nov. last evening, and it’d been reported in that of a terror alert for blasts and whatnot at 6, 7 different major points in Calcutta sometime between the 25 to 30 Nov.

I’ll reply to the comments as soon as I can. Not quite up to it yet, sorry. Take care, everyone.

…

Okay guys, since I have been remarkably uninteresting of late, I offer a challenge. Dark_fest has finished posting, and I am curious to see if anyone can identify my fic. Reveal is up on Wednesday, so you have between now and then to guess, and the one who gets it (or comes closest) gets a fic. You pick the pairing, you pick the prompt, and I'll even wander outside HP fandom for you.

If multiple people guess right, then I'll do my best to write something for all of you! Please leave guesses in comments to this post (comments will be screened).

Well, I really have been crap at keeping track of my scribblings lately, haven't I?
( So here is my List of Stuff from Sept to end Nov. )

The Pimp Cane Christmas Calendar
Characters: Teh Pimp Cane & Lucius (a bit of Narcissa, Draco and Snape and a Ferret on the side).
Rating: G
Media: Traditional, digital. #15+19 are collages.
Use: Free, with credit.
Disclaimer: No actual ferrets were damaged during the drawing of this calendar.
Notes: It has become a bit of a tradition with Snakey. I had promised myself I'd draw a new batch of calendar icons this year, but no. I haven't even had time to switch the dates, so they fit with Sundays. Blame my sudden willingness to actually study.



( Oh, NOES! It's Snakey again... )

Come on, my little pretties, you're so close!

Lifted from snapelike



The description pegs me as "incidentally homosexual." LOL @ phrasing.

Impossibly, this show gets slashier every week. I know I mostly see things through gigantic homemade slash goggles, but I put them on deliberately. As much as I've been spoiled by Jack and Ianto in Torchwood and as much as I joke about all men really wanting to do each other but just not admitting it, I do actually know when something isn't gay.

This. Show. Is. Gay.

Or at least it's as close as it can be without ever crossing the line.

Seriously, for those of you yet to see the show, you're probably thinking that I'm reading too much into things. But there is no reading. There is no subtle, underlying subtext. It's so blatant.

And side from the writers clearly paddling us all up the gay river, this show gives us a wonderful glimpse of male to male friendship, and that's something you don't see too much of.

Another great episode. In just eleven weeks, Merlin has already carved out a place for itself on British television, and it's going nowhere for a very long time.

Also, THAT UNICORN HAD NO EYES, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

----

Clicky dragon eggies?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Arrested_terrorist_says_gang_hoped_to_get_away/articleshow/msid-3771598,curpg-2.cms

And just as I had feared -
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/relief-in-grief/391928/

And now, I wonder what the aftermath of the hostages-killings will be. The targeted peoples are not those who sit and swallow things quietly or try to resolve stuff through political means. So, the aftermaths will not be nice. Even through recession. And so it goes on.

John's album arrived today. Yays! And it's very good! It's actually better than Another Side. Music, Music, Music seems to have more energy. It's more poptastic. My favourite tracks so far are What About Us? which is the song Gary Barlow wrote for him, and the duet with Daniel Boys, I know Him So Well, which is just utterly fantastic.

For any one interested in hearing the duet here's John and Daniel performing it live. I Know Him So Well

In other news, my dragon eggs developed soft shell and had to be fogged. But they're okay now and sitting happily on my profile page awaiting some love.

it's still not over.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hz0C0SXcxgP0NxzlqGA_EI57FBkQD94NKB801

Title: Defenceless
Author: drachenmina
Word Count: 100
Rating: G
Challenge 184: Expelliarmus
Characters: Severus Snape/Remus Lupin


Wherever he went, Severus commanded fear and respect – well, fear, at any rate. When he strode impassively through the corridors of Hogwarts, children scattered like startled mice.

He was the foremost Occlumens of the age: he had fooled the Dark Lord himself for years. As a teenager, he had mastered Avada Kedavra; there were few Dark curses at which he was not expert. With Dumbledore and Voldemort dead, there was no wizard living he feared to face in fair fight or foul.

So how was it, then, that one smile from that wretched werewolf could disarm him at a stroke?