KJ

All written for prompts on Tumblr. Some on Tumblr, some crossposted to AO3.

Cinders:

Title: Untitled
Characters: Sophia/Prince Basile
Prompt: "Enamor Me: a fluffy drabble with characters trying to woo one another"
Notes: A ficlet rather than a drabble.

Three grand balls in a month? How long was it going to take Prince Basile to find a wife, anyway?
---

Dragon Age:

Title: Untitled
Characters: Marissa Hawke/Fenris
Prompt: "Remember Me: one character trying to get another to remember them"
Notes: Follows the AU ficbit "Desperate Times" (Marissa Hawke loses the battle with Danarius and he takes Fenris in exchange for her life; she follows them to carry out a rescue).

Marissa Hawke twirled her staff and let loose one final blast of raw power, lifting Danarius up and flinging him into the cave wall.

Title: Good Clean Fun
Characters: Bethany and Carver Hawke
Prompt: "Amuse Me: one character tries to cheer another up"
Notes: Warden Twins AU.

Carver Hawke is in a bad mood, and his sister Bethany knows just how to make him smile.

Title: One Last Drink
Characters: Alistair, Sten
Prompt: "Drink Me: two characters drinking together"

"Just one drink, before you go.” Sten had responded to Alistair’s request with a single nod; Alistair hadn’t really been certain whether to expect him, but here he was.
---

FFXII:

Title: Buttons
Characters: Ashe/Balthier
Prompt: "Zip Me: One character dressing another, or the other way around."

“Button me up, if you would?” Ashe leaned forward and swept her hair up off her neck.
---

BBC Sherlock:

Title: Telephone
Characters: Lestrade
Prompt: "Mourn Me: one character mourning another"
Notes: Not a fandom I've ever written before, and I may never write it again, but who knows? I've only watched the series once, so please forgive any errors.

Five months, one week, and three days later, Greg Lestrade sat at his desk.

I finally got to watch this week's episode of Top Chef: Seattle.

( Major spoilers. )

We also have most of Life After Top Chef on the TiVo, but... I don't know. I like Fabio well enough, and Jen, but I've never been too keen on Spike, and I soured quite a bit on Richard during All-Stars. I recently re-watched the Season 4 finale, and I'd forgotten how childish he came off with his whole "I choked" routine during the final Judges Table, when the judges were mostly complimentary about his meal. I didn't really notice at the time, but it seems to me now that he came in expecting to dominate that finale, and when the other chefs also did well, and better in some respects, it threw him off. That's the Richard that was on display during the first episode on Life After, and so I'm not exactly feeling compelled to keep watching. dagas_isa, any other Top Chef watchers out there, did you see the other episodes? Recommendations, or should we just let them go?

1. As of this week, I'm back on a Monday-Friday schedule at work (I've been mostly working Tuesday-Saturday since mid-April). I'm happy to get my traditional weekends back, sad to lose my nice laid-back Mondays, and overall just really confused about what day it is now. I'll get back in the swing of it soon, but it's going take some time to adjust back.

2. I seem to be whole-heartedly embracing Cinders as a fandom. At the moment, I'm in the midst of something I've never done before: writing a scene or two of a story every day or so and posting as I go. Originally I didn't care for Tumblr as a fic-posting venue, but for this mode it actually works pretty well. It will definitely need polishing before I put the whole thing together -- the seams between scenes, especially -- but I'm happy with how it's coming together so far. And it's a nice way to keep myself pushing forward on it rather than letting it drift into WIP limbo. If you want to follow the WIP, here's a link to the tag.

3. Also on Tumblr, I completed a 30 Days meme for Alistair, which was particularly interesting because a lot of other folks were doing it too, and it was fun to see other people's takes on the questions and on his character. I got some great new headcanon thoughts, and came up with some ideas of my own. Eventually I will probably post the character development interview I was writing up for Sereda Aeducan at about the same time, especially as my work on each informed my answers for the other.

4. I spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks vegging out in front of the Olympics, which was fun, but good god was the NBC coverage wretched. I should probably have given up and gone to the livestreams, but I much prefer to watch sporting events on my nice large television than on a computer screen. As a result, I found myself watching less and less, and skipped the closing ceremonies entirely. I had heard rumors that NBC was going to lose it stranglehold on coverage, due largely to the time delay shenanigans, but no such luck -- they've got the contract through 2020 at least. Sigh.

5. I gave in to temptation and bought the eARC of "Captain Vorpatril's Alliance", the new Vorkosigan saga novel, which isn't out in print until November. I haven't had a ton of reading time lately, so I've been working my way through slowly, but I've been enjoying an Ivan-centric novel every bit as much as I thought I would. This is one of the first novels I've read on my iPad, and it's... interesting. Not sure how I feel about the experience, overall. More thoughts on both the story and its ebook format to come, I'm sure.

I was waiting for T to finally finish Season 3 of Avatar: TLA, and he did. So we downloaded the free Korra episodes from iTunes and watched it tonight. Fortunately, it lived up to the very high expectations that had been set for me.

( Spoilers )

So happy this universe is back! I look forward to seeing the rest of the story unfold.

There is a part of me that wants to jump in with the rest of the Avatar fandom and scoop up every bit of information that I can about this show. Watch ALL the things! Read ALL the things! Speculate about ALL the things!

Then there's another part of me that wants to go into the show knowing as little as possible, having as few expectations as possible. I don't need to know tidbits to get excited about Avatar: Legend of Korra, because I don't think it's possible for me to be more excited! But I don't want to be spoiled, and I don't want to have expectations set impossibly high, or learn things that might annoy me.

So I've been kind of half-scrolling past Korra stuff, and half-looking, and half-longing to take a closer look, and half-wanting to ignore it all. I haven't even watched the latest trailer yet.

I don't know, am I just being weird about this? Should I give in to the squee, or should I stay here in my lonely (mostly) spoiler-free corner?

Ganked from madzilla and jessicajones_1.

Your main fandom of the year?
I think that would have to be Dragon Age, the fandom I discovered in April and which then proceeded to EAT MY BRAIN for the next nine months. So far, no signs of stopping.

Your favorite film watched this year?
The Muppets. Between the humor and the nostalgia factor, I left the theater feeling warm and fuzzy, and the glow still hasn't fully worn off.

Your favorite book read this year?
I didn't read a lot this year, sadly, especially not once I finished the Vorkosigan Saga. Maybe it's just the proximity, because I finished it yesterday, but The Kingdom of Gods is at least a strong contender. Other possibilities: Un Lun Dun by China Mieville, Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold.

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
I don't know that I could pick a favorite, but the following were on heavy rotation: Coldplay's "Viva la Vida", the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, the Game of Thrones soundtrack, "Cartographer" by E.S. Posthumus, other moody writing music.

Your favorite TV show of the year?
Mad Men. We watched the entire series, through the most recently aired season, and now I'm waiting impatiently along with everyone else for the next. Really compelling, well done, and I've finally learned to love the characters, even the ones I hate.

Your favorite LJ/DW community of the year?
I haven't really been active in many communities this year, sadly, although I've started nibbling around the edges of some of the Dragon Age comms, and this new ff_meta looks really promising!

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
Dragon Age, hands-down. I am meeting and finally getting to know some really awesome people, and I hope that continues even in the lull between games.

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
The Delicious migration. We had such hopes for the site when it found a buyer, and then the changeover wreaked havoc with so many sites and communities I depend on, and created so much stress and aggravation for people I care about. Very frustrating. There were so many Internet fails that affected fandom this year. Let's just hope this isn't the start of a pattern.

Your fandom boyfriend of the year?
Alistair. Alistair Alistair Alistair. I could fill the screen with so many more words but I will restrain myself. I'll save it all for boring you to death when I finally get around to doing that 30 Days of Dragon Age meme.

Your fandom girlfriend of the year?
Marissa Hawke, my aggro!mage PC from my second time through Dragon Age 2. She was so much fun to play, and I'm looking forward to writing more about her.

Your biggest squee moment of the year?
This. Seriously, my happy squeaking noises were truly something to behold. Still not over it. :D

Second place: finally, finally, FINALLY finishing Aftermath. Because seriously.

The most missed of your old fandoms?
Final Fantasy X/X-2. I wrote hardly a word of FFX fic this year, unless Aftermath counts, which I guess it kind of does, but not really. And I haven't done much for X-2 either -- just the one ff_exchange story, and my essay of doom. Although I have to say, I'm really proud of that essay. Sometimes I feel guilty, as though I'm cheating on my first love, but the pull of a new fandom crush is strong. But I won't be gone forever! I swear it.

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
I owe renay Veronica Mars fic. She thinks I have forgotten, but I have not. ;)

Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
The return of Mad Men and Game of Thrones. KORRA. Oddly enough, also The Hunger Games movie -- I had a mixed reaction to the book at best, but the trailer really grabbed my attention. And, of course, The Avengers. There's also Final Fantasy XIII-2, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much for that one.

I don't have anything exciting to post about, really; it's only that I realized it's been a week since I've done so. So, what have I been up to? Not a lot, really. Let's break it down:

Work: Stuff going down that I don't want to say too much about; personnel changes, mostly, for good, for ill, for big scary unknowns. It's been a really busy quarter, the kind where I feel like I'm just keeping my head above water. The Tuesday-Saturday schedule would be fine if I could settle into it, but it seems like there some exception every other week that keeps it from becoming routine, and now it's almost over -- possibly at the beginning of September, definitely by the end of the month.

Media: After getting it recommended by tons of friends over the years, I finally started watching Friday Night Lights last weekend. I've seen the first four episodes, and it's good so far, if a bit predictable. I look forward to seeing where it goes. I've also seen the first four episodes of Game of Thrones, which will definitely get its own post when I'm done. Current book is In Ashes Lie by Marie Brennan, which is good so far, although it's the second in a series and I've forgotten too much of what happened in the first volume. More later, I hope. Also, we went to see Captain America today, and it gets the thumbs up. Steve Rogers is so adorable in his earnestness. I just want to give him a hug and tell him that everything will work out.

Games: We made a little progress on Dragon Age 2, although not as much as I would have liked, and I logged a good chunk of time on my third DA:O playthrough, this one with M!Surana -- I've been wanting to play as a mage, I haven't tried out being an elf yet, and I was definitely curious to see how a male Warden affect things. (And, as long as I'm making true confessions, I'd like to branch out on my romance options, and I just know that if I play as female, I will be unable to resist Alistair's charms. It's hard enough to resist them when I know they can't go anywhere.)

Writing: I didn't get anything else written for the Porn Battle. A few ideas, but nothing that gelled for me, and I ended up spending most of the week's writing time on yet another DA:O conversation, a new one. I think it's almost finished, so look for that soon. And then I really, really need to get cracking on my Mega Flare. Anyone up for some Larsa-related brainstorming sometime soon?

The Rest of Life: It rolls merrily along. One week will be crammed with social events and the next will be quiet, which works okay for me. The whole "offset weekends" thing is fortunately not wreaking as much havoc with my social life as I was afraid it might, although I am having to skip a weekend trip I would have really liked to take. But not much to report, really. Except that I am still in love with my MacBook Air. So, so in love. I bought a new laptop bag for it, a smaller, classier one, and I am ridiculously excited for it even though it's backordered until mid-September.

And now, bedtime. Goodnight, moon. Goodnight, DW, Goodnight, LJ.

I just spent the evening engrossed in an excellent series of essays on Deep Space Nine, written by a fan of the series who went back to rewatch with a critical eye.

Asking the Wrong Questions: Back through the Wormhole

Recommended, especially the Ode to Kira. It's a fairly unflinching look at the series, and I don't agree with all of it (I liked Season 5 much better than the author did, for one), but it's an excellent overview of what DS9 did right and where it could have been better. Note: full of spoilers.

Last night, at 1am, with a great deal of enabling from renay, I created my first Tumblr.

http://fuckyeaholdspiceguy.tumblr.com/

Not... exactly how I expected to get my start with a new online service. And maybe I'm a little behind the times, but I don't care. More Isaiah Mustafa in the world can only be a good thing, really.

Another recent foray into uncharted waters: writing for Babylon 5. I can't quite believe it myself, but there you are. Two stories posted yesterday on AO3!

Title: Anniversary
Rating: R
Characters: Susan Ivanova
Pairings: Marcus/Ivanova, Talia/Ivanova
Spoilers: Yes, through the end of Season 4
Notes: Written for Porn Battle XI. I was browsing the prompts, looking for Final Fantasy mostly. But I always check B5 prompts on multi-fandom projects, just in case, and the prompt "Susan Ivanova, memory" jumped out at me and worked on my brain for a couple of days, until I just couldn't not write it. So I wrote it in one day, posted it on the Battle page, then cleaned it up a little and put it on AO3.

All alone in the night, Ivanova remembers. AO3 version / Commentfic version

Title: The Living and the Dead
Rating: PG
Characters: Susan Ivanova, Marcus Cole
Pairings: Marcus/Ivanova
Spoilers: Yes, through Season 5
Notes: Alternate Universe. It was probably inevitable that I would write this story someday. ( Cut for major spoilers. )

Also written in one day. Mostly because I was afraid I'd lose my nerve if I sat on it for too long...

Ivanova gets a visitor on the Day of the Dead. On AO3 only.

I finally watched Tron today. Not the new movie; the original, which I'd never seen. Getting my hands on it was surprisingly difficult. Apparently, Disney yanked the film from circulation about a month ago -- pulled the DVD from inventory, set its status to out-of-print, even got Netflix and iTunes to remove it from their services. Seems an odd decision to me, when they could capitalize on the interest in the upcoming sequel and make a few bucks, but I guess that's why I'm not a studio executive.

Fortunately, the library has a copy, and after a few weeks of just missing it, I got my hands on it a couple of days ago, and we watched it this afternoon.

Before I get into the details of the movie itself, I must confess my amusement at watching a much-younger Bruce Boxleitner in action, wearing bad 1980s glasses. Being a Babylon 5 fan, Boxleitner will always be Captain John Sheridan to me, and it's much more in my mind right now because I picked up my rewatch and am currently in early Season 2. ( Quick B5 digression, includes spoilers. )

Also, Peter Jurasik was in it, which is just amusing.

Where was I? Oh, right, Tron. I went in expecting that the special effects and animation were going to look cheesy to the modern eye, and I was not surprised. I'm sure the compositing and computer animation were state-of-the-art in 1982. I would say that the computer animation has held up pretty well -- the style is a bit blocky and outdated, but the animation itself is seamless, and by now it feels more retro than anything. The composite shots, though... not so much. Everyone's eyes and teeth are this scary shade of blue-gray, and there were many places where the blue screen was obvious. I have to wonder how it will look if they ever do a BluRay release. The story wasn't much to write home about, either. Still, it was fun, and I enjoyed finally getting to see scenes I've seen referred to in many other places. (Especially Kingdom Hearts II, which makes much more sense to me now.)

( Given the movie's age, we're probably past the statute of limitations for spoilers, but I'm going to cut for them anyway. )

And now, to see the new movie, probably sometime this week. Hooray!