Flutterings

100 words. Prompt: the pet from next door


Bikky named the kitten “Putin” after he spotted it peeing on Ryo’s sunflowers. The French retiree on the balcony below thought he was addressing it as “Putain,” which was also appropriate. Dee’s names for it were equally rude. Ryo said nothing, but he didn’t include sunflowers in his next bouquet.

But it was Bikky who scooped the critter off the pavement, damaged but not dead. It was Dee who slipped a fifty to Bikky to help cover the trips to the vet. And the little beast remained with Celeste even after—“P” to outsiders, but forever “Putain” in their circle.

100 words. Prompt: unboxing and finding something from the past

The flimsy carton literally fell apart in Bikky’s hands, with relics of Carol’s girlhood spilling to the floor as the ancient cardboard gave out: frilly-headed pens and pinwheels with aluminium folds and fronds, barrettes with empty sockets that rhinestones and other imitation gems had been dislodged from during games and fights, report cards, frayed friendship bracelets, snapshots and--

Wait. Why was there a bullet here?

“You don’t remember that one?” Carol said. “They dug that out of Ryo when you were 12.”

“What’s it doing in this pile?”

“The one from the next year is the one around my neck.”

FAKE: I made some tiny revisions to the bit of "Not as Dumb" chapter 5 I posted, and I reckon I'll manage a couple new scenes by April 7, which is the deadline for posting under the Crack the WiP umbrella. Realistically, I doubt I'll be done by then -- work and workshops aside, there's old canon to review, new canon and "behind the scenes" bonuses that I may or may not look at (much less incorporate), and assorted notes. I dipped a bit into all three today. It's all progress, even if I don't finish baking it all until July. That's more hopeful than I felt about it a year ago.

England Series/Green Men/Dark Is Rising: I've added a handful of drabbles to "Difficult" since Chocobox. Mrs da Silva feeds soup to Archie, Sam Caldwell invites Will Stanton to explain himself over drinks, and more.

Gardening: one of the local nurseries posted an IG story today, encouraging the setting out of perennials and sowing of leafy greens. As documented in the home journal, I am feeling both battered and accomplished after today's hour-ish of yardwork. Inside, we are enjoying a white rose in full bloom and assorted pink, purple, and orange Christmas/Easter cacti flowers.

Rhea34 over at LJ has recorded my little futurefic (700 words) about Bikky, "Forward." *bounce bounce bounce* If you enjoy it, please let her know. The link to download it is at
http://amplificathon.livejournal.com/1143462.html

...and, if you click on the amplificathon tag for FAKE, you'll see two other podfics she's recorded. "Shrapnel" was a Yuletide gift written for me by paperuni three years ago, so I'm extra-excited to find it now exists in audio as well. :-)

From photoblogging

My birthday was excellent. I sang at two services; helped make sandwiches for delivery to flood survivors; took a long nap; read parts of the New York Times; and went to a local bar for a cocktail and steak tartare. I wore a silk dress I'd found via eBay and earrings from xanthophyllippa.

There were funny cards and lovely messages and notices of donations to Second Harvest and other charities. And there were poems and fic, too!

maribella008 sent me "Phantom Yardstick," a Safin/Berdych drabble. (For you non-tennis people: think Sirius Black and, uh, the love-child of Viktor Krum and Luna Lovegood? *ducks* Put another way: Marat has a reputation as one of the hottest and craziest elite players. Tomas is five years younger - practically a generation in tennis-years - is arguably attractive, looks bug-eyed when he wears his damn caps, and has a reputation as a flake.) (For you tennis slashers: yes, there's literally a long story behind this. No, I'm not going to explain or share it right now.)

brit_columbia posted a poetic portrait of a bull in celebration of our Taurean-ness

geri_chan dedicated episodes 13 and 14 of Unmasked (her Haru wo Daiteita series) to me, giving my favorite character (Yoshizumi) considerable screen time and goosing along my OTP in her Comeback-verse (Yoshizumi/Kenzaki).

*happy flailing*

Oh, and I finally finished the FAKE one-shot I'd started as a one-nighter nine days earlier: The Ties That Do Not Bind. (Dee/Ryo, 2300 words, NWS, handcuffs)

Monday morning, microcosms tweeted one of my poems.

The rest of the week has been a blur of volunteering, working, coughing, scrubbing, and plotting (Snupin remix assignment; the next scene of Not as Dumb; other poems and stories I have no business teasing into existence until I finish the ones already in progress). There's been a little bit of tennis-watching (the end of Gulbis-Federer and most of Murray-Ferrer) and some poetry-dipping (A.E. Stallings's Seasonal Anxiety reminded me of the academics among you).

The game plan for next week: edit like a fiend and take a walk every day. That's it. (There will be paperwork I can't ignore and poems I'll want to draft, but this is me telling my hamster-wheel brain to take a break from its ceaseless self-badgering about Things That Will Still Be There To Do/Make/Encourage a week from now.)

Title: Not As Dumb, part 4 of 6
Author: bronze_ribbons
Rating: M/NWS (majorly Mature, seriously Not Work-Safe)
Wordcount: 6,900+ this part, adding up to over 20,000 total so far. And to think I thought this was going to be a fluffy little drabble when I started it.
Warnings: handcuffs, bowel movements, fisting, and consent/privacy issues
Sweet, perspicacious, and unbelievably speedy beta: maribella008
Disclaimer: Ryo and Dee belong to Sanami Matoh. Their beliefs and opinions do not always correspond to mine.
Notes: Still striving to finish my springkink sign-up from (ack!) November 2008. I'm as red as a mega-mortified Ryo for taking so long with this. I hope you find it worth the wait, and yes, there'll be more in (I hope! man, do I hope) far less than another year from now. (*thunks head against own shower tiles*)

All four chapters now at Archive of Our Own

The recs (both by currently anon):

Open Hand
Nc-17, Snape/Lupin, 6000 words
Author's summary: After the war, Severus must decide whether or not he wants to pick up where he left off with Remus, and Remus helps him make up his mind.
Author's warnings: not canon compliant in that Snape and Lupin survive the war and Teddy isn't Remus' biological child, mutual masturbation, use of Legilimency during sex, desperation, established relationship
Ribbons's reaction: Superb hurt-comfort, dry humor, a Remus equal to Severus
Excerpt:

"...the media are portraying you as a redeemed anti-hero," Remus said, amusement lacing his voice. "A wizarding version of Heathcliff, if you will."

Severus rolled his eyes at that and gave an annoyed huff.

"Well, you are tall, dark, and broody," Remus pointed out. "I dare say you'll have women flinging their knickers at you after this, eager to help you forget the lingering memory of your doomed and tragic love for Lily."

Remus was giving him a pointed look, and Severus tried not to appear sheepish as he glanced away and picked idly at the bed sheets, grateful he couldn't talk at the moment.

"Admit it: you were trying to rattle Harry even in your almost-dying moments."

Severus grimaced and nodded, silently damning Remus for knowing him too well.

Amor Vitae
Rating: PG-13, gen, 5K
Character(s): Flitwick, McGonagall, Snape, Moody, Lupin
Author's summary: "Some people wonder why Filius Flitwick is always so cheerful at Christmas"
Ribbons's reaction: I have a soft spot for fics that give Flitwick his due, and this one does so in a way that's both heartbreaking (I was in tears by the end) and hopeful (as befits the season). The author is deft with both characterization and revelation, and rereading it, I keep admiring how s/he shows you what's just happened without over-detailing or over-dialoguing it, if that makes sense.
Excerpt (and yes, I'm conscious this bit doesn't mention Flitwick at all, but it's the first, short, non-spoilery part that best illustrates why I'll be rereading this story):

"Anyone else for tea?" Minerva snapped her book shut and got up from her armchair by the fireplace.

"Not me, thanks," Remus said as he slumped down on the lumpy sofa.

"What you call tea should be a Class A tradable substance," Alastor Moody growled. "But I'll have some if you're making it anyway. And how often have I told you to take your wand with you, even if you go to the kitchen?"

Minerva pursed her lips and shoved her wand between the folds of her robes.

"TIP DOWN! You wouldn't be the first witch to lose a..."

He was reduced to silence by the arched eyebrow that every British witch or wizard under the age of thirty-eight knew to interpret as a danger sign. "Thank you for your concern, Alastor, but not everybody handles their wand with such brute force that they blow off their..."

"I think I may have some tea after all," Remus said and got up from the sofa. He was still rather new to the Order of the Phoenix.

A side-note: I learned about both these fics through the recs of other fans (in this case, lore and pale-moonlite respectively). Please, please comment on the ones you enjoy (even a one-word YES! warms the cockles of most writers' hearts) and rec if/when you are able (even if it's months later) - it means so much to the creators, and it is, in the end, our only means of rewarding them for sharing their gifts.

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The outright squee: LJ: opalmatrix's Appetizing: FAKE, Ryo/Dee, PG-13, 675 words. Prompt was "kissing someone to shut them up - eggplant." GLEE!

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The moan:

Saints and saeurbraten, the fic-I-am-not-really-working-on-yet is ALREADY being a mejorama epic PAIN IN THE ASS. (And that's without a single mention of cows. Or cream. Yet, anyway.)

Ok, back to work now. *shoves out-of-control outline into duffel bag and slams the locker door shut, panting*

Musigneus has written Not About You, which is Ryo/Dee (FAKE, NC-17), and it is AWESOME.

[For those of you newer to Snape/Lupin: Mus is one of THE classic writers of the ship (you don't have to take my word for it -- six other people have rec'd her work on crack_broom; here masterlist is here (including translations in Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Czech). Hie thee to her stories if you are not yet acquainted with them!]

Today's NaPoWriMo prompt from Poetic Asides was "travel." I started to write about Amsterdam, but somehow ended up with this:

Souvenir

( Last summer, while in Chicago, I gave away )

Oh, and I've got two cinquains in the new issue of AMAZE. One of them was inspired by the Japanese Festival of Seven Herbs.

In other news, all y'all can go ahead and laugh at me: I have indeed been staying up until stupid hours with part 3 of "Not As Dumb" -- and I think it's on the verge of done. (The smut's been deferred to part 4, however - there's a reason I've mentally labelled this fic "The One Where the Characters Will Not Shut Up"...). I'll post it in a day or two (i.e., after I finish this Sunday's sermon, and provided I don't find anything unspeakably irreparable when I go tidy it up).

Dear Detectives Maclean and Laytner:

Guys, behave already. Enough of your straying into the universe of my Embracing Spring ficlet. I'm aiming for less than a thousand words, so there won't be enough scenes for you to steal (even if the darn thing balloons to two or three K), and it's a Nitta fest, so I'm not about to indulge in an Exposition of Doom to explain how the hell you ended up staking out Roppongi clubs in the first place (especially considering that, in my fanon, neither of you speaks Japanese).

Do me a favor, please: get yourselves back into the story that IS about you and get on with yelling at each other about what you've each been holding back. I mean it. There's some majorly kinky sex ahead for you, but until you come clean about some of the things you haven't been telling each other, your clothes are staying on and the Crisco's staying in the kitchen.

[Don't give me that look, Ryo. It'll be worth it. You'll see.]

Exasperatedly yours,
Ribbons