Find the Horcruxes (crack/au)

All right, I have finally slept some and I feel like writing Christmasfic. SO. Give me:

1. Characters.
2. A year.

And you get:
1. Fic.

It may be AU, it may be FTH-canon, but it will be Christmas-themed in some manner or another. If you have any particular requests from this fic, go on and throw them in.

Okay, so, it turns out I'm not quite ready to let go of this little world yet. Since it sounds like some of you still want to play with it too...I have an idea.

I'm considering the idea of a PSL open just to FTH players (or to our few Podmore P.I. readers who aren't in the game, if they want to play), set in the Podmore, P.I. universe. I would run it essentially like one of those Murder Mystery Party kind of games. Somebody will die at the beginning, everyone will get some pieces of information but not all the information, and characters will have to interact in order to solve the mystery.

( The Basics on this Idea )

...and that's basically all I've got so far. Any questions, comments, suggestions? Leave 'em in the comments. And if you want to play, just comment here and tell me which characters you'd like to play, and I'll start working things out. Probably looking at a mid-to-late-January beginning.

( Character Claims So Far )

Chicago, 1926. A new day dawns, new lives begin, and a story ends. I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have.

( Even if it wasn't enough, it was a start. Sometimes a start was all anybody needed. )

Chicago, 1926. The sun has gone down, but the day's not done yet. As another hot summer night settles on the city, the smell of dust and sweat and lake water fills a warehouse by the docks. This place is the battleground, the home of a last stand.

Preparing to make that stand is Sturgis Podmore, Private Investigator. When we last left our detective, he had just watched Meredith Watkins successfully drop her fiance. Now he's on his way in to find out what's happening to the rest of the players.

( The place was huge, dusty, with half the lights in it burned out. It obviously hadn't been in use for a while - ideal for a massive operation somebody wanted to keep quiet. )

Chicago, 1926. The sun is coming down on another day in the dirty, gritty town that is the center of American industry. Time is running out, not only on this day, but on last chances for a whole lot of people.

Among these is Sturgis Podmore, Private Investigator. When he took Celeste Lestrange's money, he didn't have a clue what he was getting into. By the time he did know, it was too late; he never had been willing to give up once he took on a case. Up to his eyebrows in danger and intrigue, there's no telling now whether he'll keep his head above water or not.

When we last left our detective he had just gotten information (and pancakes), handed off Betty Braithwaite's pilfered file for decoding, and promptly discovered that both Chloe Wilkes and Meredith Watkins were nowhere to be found. Now...a little more on that.

( Neither Snape nor Celeste had a clue where she was gone, and every minute Podmore spent not finding her was time that he needed for other things, like keeping her alive. )

The buildings loom tall and gray, making and covering the city of Chicago. The year is 1926, and nowhere do the twenties roar so loudly as here in the Windy City. They say the name comes not from the icy gusts that race around every corner in the winter, but rather from the hot air blowing out of all the local politicians.

Down in the gutters, it doesn't really matter. Everybody's just trying to scrape by, and who's in charge doesn't amount to a hill of beans when it comes to making a difference. That doesn't stop a precious few from trying to make a difference anyway, though, and among these is Sturgis Podmore, Private Investigator.

When we last left the detective, he was heading out to drink off the loss of an old friend. Now the light's coming through the window with a vengeance, and like every sunrise, it's bringing us closer to another sunset.

( The white pawn was key to the king. Keep her safe, and that was game. But there was something in his way, one more piece in the path. )

It's still summer in Chicago, but after nightfall it cools off a little. The wind blows off the water, and while it carries a hell of a smell, at least it's a breeze.

In some places, however, it's just heating up. Sturgis Podmore, Private Investigator, is still on the trail of a web of intrigue and murder that unravels a little more with every passing day. When we last left the detective he'd just finished getting Chloe Wilkes in to visit Regulus Black at the Cook County Jail (with some assistance from Officer Snape at the front desk) and was on his way to ask a few questions of one Miss Betty Braithwaite, muckraker extraordinaire. She had a gentleman opening the door for her, however...and now, we discover why.

( Came by to ask her some questions. She knows some people on a case I'm working. She's a friend. Knew she'd be up late, so I dropped in. )

Chicago, 1926. The twentieth century struck this city with a vengeance, bringing the whirl of the cars and factories, the mob and the hookers, the cops and the lawyers, the smoke and the speed. Prohibition didn't slow it down - if anything, telling Chicago "no" just made it shout "Yes, yes, yes!" even louder. It rolled over and showed its underbelly, and it thrived.

There's one man who's determined to get some of the fleas out, though, and it's Sturgis Podmore, Private Investigator. An honest man in a town full of crooks, a good cop who thinks he's a bad cop, he took Celeste Lestrange's money with every expectation that he wouldn't find a damn thing. Now the more he finds, the less he likes...but justice hasn't got much of anyone else on her side these days.

When we last left our detective he'd finally managed to shake some answers from Detective Pete Pettigrew (with a little help from department secretary Alex Savage) and ran into ace reporter Betty Braithwaite on her way out of a little conversation with banker Patrice Nott. Now, time to have a look in on Bones and Moody's investigation, and pay a visit back to 738 Burrow Street.

( Podmore was well aware that he was paranoid. He was fine with being paranoid. Being paranoid kept people on their feet and off the coroner's slab. )

Chicago, 1926.

The heatwave that grips the city still hasn't let go, and neither have the competing forces of the PD and the Mob. It's tough for an ordinary Joe around here, and that's made awfully clear in the way they seem to keep turning up dead. A few forces for good remain, though, and one of them is Sturgis Podmore, Private Investigator.

When we last left our detective (quite some time ago, I know) he was just coming off a nasty gunshot wound sustained in a raid on the local Southside speakeasy known as the Hogshead. He rattled his ever-capable secretary, and he even managed to make a major break in the case. In today's special two part episode he pushes forward with a little help from his friends, and goes tracking down Detective Peter Pettigrew of the Chicago Police Department...and with a little bit of luck, he just might get somewhere.

* * *
Part 18
( You're lucky I didn't just shoot your feet out from under ya and slow you down that way. )


Part 19
( I thought you and money weren't on speaking terms! What brings you to this institution of it? )

Ready? OKAY!

Who would be your (your as in PLAYER) top five picks of the characters that you would be in a significant, long-term relationship with?

Aaand go!

Chat has spoken!

Who are the top five blokes/women that your character would shag?

Rules! There are always rules.

1. You cannot say only your significant other because that is cheating. They can only take up one slot. (Slot. Har har.)
2. They don't necessarily have to be played, but that's a bit more loltastic.

OKAY GO.

ETA BECAUSE BRANDI IS A DORK

3. NO ONE CAN TAKE UP MULTIPLE SLOTS GOD

So, I have been sitting here and just dying to do some sort of meme for the past couple of days. And seeing as it's been about two months since the last Truth Serum meme and we've gotten all sorts of new characters, it just seemed right. And I'm going to go right ahead and C&P what Dawn happened to write the last time it was played because I'm a big copy cat.

---

Here's how it goes! Someone has dumped Veritaserum in the water. If you wanna play, pop each character in a separate comment (to make it easier to find said character later!). Anyone who wants to ask a question can do so! Your character MUST answer truthfully. Don't forget to ask other people questions too!

ALSO: remember all of this knowledge is OOC, but I bet it might help with some plotting down the road! FUN TIMES.

That's all!

Hey guys!!

So I've been busy making soundtracks, and I've finally finished Regulus's! Those of you who enjoyed Barty's (or those of you who were too frightened to download Barty's) might want to head on over to my unlocked CDJ post here to check it out!

If you enjoy, give me love. I do so love love. WHO DOESN'T?

I had every intention to do Christmas fics, but my Christmas spirit is basically :P right now, so! Instead, I'd like to do the lyric fic meme.

Long story short, give me some lyrics or a song and one/two/some character(s) and I will write you a fic! I don't care how many you request - go batty if you'd like. Just know that I'll be writing them in no particular order outside of the ones that I am inspired by first will, of course, be written first.

:)

Dragging out an old meme and switching it up a bit for some cracky goodness!

Comment with your characters! (separate comment for each character, plzkthnx!)

Anyone who wants to write a personal ad for your character can comment with it! The crackier the better, people!

But since we were tossing around pictures earlier...

Evan and Chloe

ETA (after this excellent suggestion): Anyone up for a game?

( do you want to know a secret? do you promise not to tell? )

Who: Miriam Strout, Edward Watkins, Nora Alderton
When: the day of John Dawlish's funeral
Where: Three Broomsticks
What: Three friends are drunk and trying not to think on the state of the world. There are secrets spilled (as well as drinks), shore chasms, Madog's penis, and then Nora realises she is way too drunk and forgets to tell her friends she's leaving. This actually IS canon, but it was written super fast, and with less internal stuff, thus the crack comm!
Rating: Definitely a hard R. There's talk of Madog's unmanageable jackhammer. COUGH.

( SHORE CHASMS. That's all I'm saying. )

Story time!

So, in my educational psychology class, we just read this book that's all about gut reactions and instincts and "thinking without thinking" and things like that. And so tonight a book response essay was due, but my prof gave us the option of, in place of the essay, doing an "aesthetic representation" of the book (interpretive dance, artwork, sculpture, music, collage, poetry, short stories). I opted to do an "aesthetic represenation" in the form of a short story. More specifically, a Sturgis & Persephone fic, which has been Americanized and modernized to make it easier to read for my not-Harry-Potter-literate professor. Because I didn't think that littering it with "hitwizard" and "hexes" and "dark magic" and such would fly very well.

We had to include two quotes in the "Artist Statement" that were influencing on the work, or something like that. So, here are the two quotes, and then behind the cut is the story I writed. :)

Our unconscious is a powerful force. But it’s fallible. It’s not the case that our internal computer always shines through, instantly decoding the “truth” of a situation. It can be thrown off, distracted, and disabled. Our instinctive reactions often have to compete with all kinds of other interests and emotions and sentiments. So, when should we trust our instincts, and when should we be wary of them?

- page 15

“When we make a split-second decision,” Payne says, “we are really vulnerable to being guided by our stereotypes and prejudices, even ones we may not necessarily endorse or believe.”

- page 233

( The story! )