Fragment: Negotiations (6 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Pre-Canon, and pre-Alive)
Genre: ...
Rating: T
Why: You'll see.

Notes: This was the chapter I had to be dreadfully careful with. I wasn't sure if this was the right place for it to be, but even that seemed to add to it. (The YaibaXKiyotaka glitter is blinding me with its tastefulness... It turned out so...careful, and so fruitless it seemed just RIGHT.)

Also, I know exactly when this fic will end. I jsut left in the question marks so YOU all don't know~
It has an epilogue, too. Which needs work, come to think of it...

Kiyotaka's plan was the only one which made sense to me considering the "neanderthals versus cro-magnons" idea from the canon Spiral chapters. Either you have to tell all the blade children what they are, and have them all agree not to have children (patently impossible even under the economic laws of collusion), or you follow with the plan given here--in secret--and ensure the curse ends within a single generation.
Brutal, but subtle, and certainly logical, assuming you run the risk of being discovered with the very genius populace you're working on.
So it should fit in well with Kiyotaka's character, I think. The brutality of a plan, or the alteration of a life isn't something he'd really be too worried about, after all.
But technically, the blade children aren't even Kiyotaka's problem.
Hm.
Spiral makes you run in circles if you think about it too long...

The series end doesn't really solve THAT particular problem unless the future generations of blade children aslo make choices to hold back. In the end, I think Ayumu gives in a little to it. (But I suppose the long-term's not his fight.)

Hm...The pretense you bring them all in on is the trick, I think. Haven't come up with one there...
On some level that encourages me a little. *sweatdrop* I feel like a huge jerk when I can think something that nasty with perfect logic. It makes sense and all, but it doesn't make it that nice.

( I am terrified. I think too much. I get emotional--when I drink too much. )

Fragment: Negotiations (5 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Pre-Canon, and pre-Alive)
Genre: General (Some humor, and some odd...darkness...er...)
Rating: T
Why: For air-mail fingers, mean!flirting, weird!flirting, and danishes straight out of your nightmares

Notes: Kiyotaka knows just where to hit you so it hurts... And then can befriend you and charm you anyway.
(Do NOT approach this man or attempt to use magic on him, instead call the wizarding police and tell them there's a frog gone wild in your front yard.)

Poor Yaiba. He's all angsty last chapter because he has no friends. Obviously. Er... Well Hizumi's more like his son than his brother, um. THIRTY YEAR AGE DIFFERENCE, MUCH?

Then again Kiyotaka and Yaiba are such crazy friends... It's like hanging out with upper-social-ladder women and watching the backstabbing and lip service all around in astonishment.

And Yaiba's got an unexpectedly nasty streak. (Or maybe not so unexpected.) Even his flirting is mean.

Oh...and there is a bit of weird flirting this chapter, I think. Yaiba was just being unexpectedly perverse. I bet he's already having trouble getting those test-tube babies together with Kiyotaka running around. Er... And Kiyotaka seems to have a masochistic streak...uhh...I blame Madoka. Really. She's the one who sent him to the hospital before, supposedly. (Someday, all of us need to get together and write fics about the possibilities there... We could get sappy and think he took a bullet for her, or we could let our imaginations run wild with sweet, sweet violence... ♥ Also, I need an excuse to write het. That's...totally not my only excuse, honest!)

Uh...and sending someone your little finger is supposed to be a mark of utmost sincerity in Japanese Culture. Usually as a sort of apology. Ouch.
Then again, American culture has a more highly developed view of the self than most if not ALL the other cultures of the world...we tend to have a pretty high view of free will and self governance and therefore less of a feeling of guilt. We like to justify our actions. (I usually notice this when I try to talk about religion. Even people who "share my faith" get into massive arguments with me about how my amazing beliefs screw up their notions of free will and therefore I'm wrong. *smile* Tremendous fun. I won't get into it here, but I have devestating logic. Hoo.)
I suppose the Japanese model comes from a culture less steeped in the ideals of "forgiveness" or "innocence". But I don't really know for sure. What I DO know, is you're less likely to walk away without any remorse whatsoever when you're minus a finger...
Kind of a long-term thing, there, after all... WHY am I thinking "the Subtle Knife" at a time like this?

For the record, I can't bake. I can cook just about anything else (except a decent white sauce, and I make a great fake alfredo sauce anyway, so nobody ever knows), but I can't bake to save my life. (I'm even a champion with the grill, might I add. My Churrasco is legendary.) I DO know some people use mayonaise when they make cake from a mix instead of oil, but aside from that I'm clueless. Most things I try to bake have something horribly wrong with them. And even if they taste fine, they look like something you'd scrape off the bottom of someone else's boot. So Kiyotaka's ability to bake is running to the edge of the theoretical things that I know divinely-touched people like my mother and younger sister excel at with their epic from-scratch baked-goods and all, but these are things that remain theoretical because I can never seem to do them myself.
(I'm far better at the wonderfully imprecise art of soup-making, and at making homemade marinades so delicious that the steer's glad it's died.)
In short, I don't know a thing about danishes firsthand.
My last attempt was quite a few years ago. You don't want to know what the oven looked like when I was done. I've mostly given up on ever learning how to bake. In hindsight I should consult with my male friends. (Most of them bake, ironically enough. It turns out I'm surrounded by people who make tiramisu the gods would die to taste while I can't seem to manage making sugar cookies out of a tube. I'd say it's a culture thing, but I don't think Hispanic men are reknowned typically as champion bakers, and technically with all the europe flowing through my veins, I should be able to manage something edible if that were how it worked. So, it's a mystery...)

Japanese dishes are usually something of the art of arrangement, too. So I'm a little intimidated by japanese cooking. Kiyo's going to stick to pastries. Not my fault if they happen to be mostly "europeanized" and all that. (I mean, what with his eating of doughnuts and Ayumu's lemon cream tarts, I should be able to get away with european pastries.)


( It's bad enough we get along so well--say goodnight and go )

Fragment: Negotiations (4 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Pre-Canon, and pre-Alive)
Genre: General (brain-play and banter and sweets, oh my!)
Rating: T
Why: A smidge of Yaiba!angst, I guess.

Notes: I redid bits of chapters one through three. Admittedly, while half-listening to, and smirking at episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
I haven't posted the redoes yet because I'm too busy saying "I'm back! ^^"

But this new stuff shouls be good stuff aside from my abysmal tendency to type high-speed gatherings of typos.

At this point, we've begun to realize Kiyotaka is an absolute dastard. It seems to have surprised Yaiba a bit last chapter, too. He's not really used to losing... Also, having Hizumi would have been the closest he was to having...oh...possibly a son? A "worthy" person to be near, anyway. Yaiba's interesting that way. (And I'm as surprised as you to see Kiyotaka being that ruthless, but I suppose he is, after all...)

I think Yaiba's starting to see Kiyotaka's plan, or at least, his "capacity" now. So now he wants to fight back. Whether or not he's able to is another story. Or...actually, it's this one.

I said this before on gunwithwings. I'll say it again if nobody minds.

...Kiyotaka's such a sadist, or perhaps a masochist, too, because he kind of despises his ability ot be sadistic... But then again, Yaiba's a less repentant sadist himself, I guess, so maybe it figures. The wonderfully furry designated rival just manages to put his sadism in a more harmless looking package. Deep down those two are pretty equal, though... It's a pet theory of mine, but it seems to be supported by Eyes Rutherford's outlook on Kiyotaka, "In the end, from the view of the world, he'll be standing in the right, no matter how many scapegoats have been cruelly sacrificed." Which, if you think about it, is a very scary thing indeed. Kiyotaka's so socially savvy, so knowledgeable about the face he puts on things, that he can make anyone believe he's righteous. For that reason, he probably has a potential feel of villainy around him, but hides it extremely well, which would be...especially unsettling to notice. Which in turn, is what I think Kanone notices about him--Kanone's pretty socially able himself, but that's a hearse of a different color, entirely...*shot for making puns*

You kind of have to reconstruct Kiyotaka beneath the surface in a lot of ways, by what others say about him. As long as nobody takes him seriously, he can hide how unsettling he might really be. Yaiba on the other hand, doesn't hide himself at all. He relies on pure power, and fear to get what he wants in the name of greatness, and maybe acts a little like he's harmless, but he loses his patience with acting and resorts to fear. Really, he's a lot more childish for that and the childishness kind of softens him in a few ways, and makes him more cruel in others, but he's probably trying (and suceeding in a way) at being nastier than he really is. (Because deep down, Yaiba's essentially Hizumi.) Superficially he's acting just as much as Kiyotaka is, probably.

...But Kiyotaka loves children. You can be sure of that. So maybe he's softened in a way, too. Regardless of his hands-off policy in letting people prance off to their deaths, he seems to genuinely enjoy children. He just...doesn't let that matter in the end balance.

...Interesting thought shared by people working with pregnant women--no matter what a woman's done with her life, she always has hopes that her child will surpass her, or suceed where she failed.

Just a thought.

Even if the parent turns out being "manipulative" or "controlling" and dominates their child's life to fulfill their own, they still rationalize it out (selfishly perhaps) as being to fulfill their dream for their child. Even if they resort to fulfilling their own dreams through their children without realizing how far they stunt the act.

That said, Kiyotaka probably isn't actually a "villain", because in the end, he does keep his word and save people, but he does some pretty shady things along the way, and really, if actions are all you go off, he does give the word to let people even kill other people without hesitation to reach his goals. Even if his goals are "righteous" while Yaiba's are more clearly "selfish" or perhaps, if you want to be fair, more "pessimistic", it's all that really seperates the two of them. (Because Yaiba would be fine if he just were able to have faith in humanity. And ah, there we go for Spiral, again with FAITH...)

Yaiba's problem, as I can figure it, is he has a view of himself and his abilities. Over time, instead of being able to build what he wants, how he wants, with his own "limitless potential" he feels held back by the "inferior" humans around him, and idealizes a world in his image. And so, his long-long-long-term end is to benefit the world by creating a place where everyone has his potential without the drawbacks. (And by drawbacks we mean "humans" to muck things up.) In short: Evolutionary change, and advancement--the greater "good" perhaps at a higher cost. He's really just Kiyotaka on a larger scale, unable to have faith in gradual change, unable to put any investment in a pawn he doesn't pick out by hand.

...Aaah, I love having messy definitions of good and evil. Must be because I myself believe in absolute values there...

Hoo. Religious-philosophical stuff. Yaaay.

Tell me how you guys see Kiyotaka and Yaiba yourselves. I'm curious. Both characters seem to take a bit of careful thought when fleshing them out...

That aside, trying to ape how a character's voice sounds once he's been translated makes dialogue demented but very canon-sounding. Ergh.

Also: Yaiba's getting sharper and sharper chapter by chapter, I'm noticing...Hmm... (I mean his manner of speaking, not his mind. In the first chapter he's all smug and dry about stuff, now he's starting to get kind of sarcastic and caustic because he's getting agitated... He's dropped a lot of his external self with Kiyotaka, and gets plain mean sometimes because he wants him to get away. Sorry, Yaiba. It's not that easy.)

( Every time one falls away, another one's returning... )

Anthologies (or at least collections) seem possible lately. Weird. (I can never remember writing so much short stuff before.)

This one's actually entirely original. I write poetry on occasion--for the challenge, as well as a way to kep my english-muscles in training. My specialty's the sonnet. It's not the only thing I write poetry-wise, but my freeverse is crap, just like most people's. It's usually pretty trippy crap, too, on unusual subjects. (compared to my sonnets, which are on some pretty odd subjects themselves.) So what actually sounds good, and I'm comfortable with as a medium, is the sonnet.

Maybe someday, the villanelle or the pantoum or the ballad will be my bitch, too, but for now It's just the sonnet. (Thank Heaven for small favors...)

Lately I've been breaking my informal oath and writing sappy ones, too. Before I used to just reserve the thing for wierd topics outside of love. Now I'm just being a moron. (A melodramatic, prosey moron, though...)

This is a dump of MOST of the sonnets I've written and thought passed muster. Some are left out until I get them into either a better form, or I'm less embarassed by them...which...implies I want them in a better form, come to think of it. (They'll have dates afterwards--aren't I so helpful?) The dates are for the initial completion of the poem--it's pretty rare I don't write a sonnet in one sitting when I do it, but usually they go through two or three revisions. Sometimes they even go through sub-types where I save the major reforms. So some sonnets will have the date of completion, then primary edit dates besides.

One in particular is left out because it'll identify me immediately to anyone in that particular class. Even the title was fairly memorable. That first sonnet's not left out because of poorness of quality. It's left out because it is what it is. (It's about Lucifer, incidentally.)

I've also left notes for what STYLE of sonnet the things are. There are several differnt rhyme schemes for Sonnets, after all, and not all of mine are the same variety.

Small disclaimer: If you steal my sonnets, and I catch you, I'll have to close off my journal, at the least. So if you're a person I don't know and are desperate to have an assignment for your english class, please give me a poke? (Or if you're a person I know, too.) I'd love nothing more than to help you. I want to be an English Teacher so badly it borders on psychosis.
Think: free tutoring on pentameter domination tactics.
Ooh.
Seriously though, I don't have patience for cheating. It's one of the few things I don't have a scrap of patience for. Take an 'F' if you need to, but keep your honor.
...My A's were in English, usually. And...Biology, Advanced art, and...well...Weight Lifting. I usually hated small homework assignments, and liked big projects on my own, so I graduated with something like a 2.3 GPA. (Everyone's usually shocked.)
But I still had an 102% A+ in my Junior Honors English class.
So if you have a deadline coming up, come and ask me, and I'll puzzle it through along with you.
My grammar's not the greatest, but I can write at least.
Also, my email is: sweet_jumpin_jillybeans@yahoo.com if you prefer privacy. I usually check it a couple of times a week.

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Summaries:


I-- Taphos (3-1-08)
Rhyme Scheme: ?
HA! You won't believe it, but THIS was written in an RPJ. Yes, yes, yes. (I know--you're going "Whaaat?") See, when I RolePlayed Yami Bakura of the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom, he was obsessive over becoming modern and culturally astute, and generally proving himself better than everyone else so he could sneer about it. One of the really weird ways he showed it was by writing a sonnet-epitaph for Yugi's Grandfather, Solomon Motou. (In the official storyline, he lives, but over time he died in said RP) Strangely, Baka-kun up there had a bit of respect for Yugi--he seemed to think the reason he was there was because Yugi botched something up. (Because the end of Yu-Gi-Oh technically means a post-canon RP shouldn't have any of the "Yami" characters in it...) So he edged carefully around Yugi while detesting Atem ("Yami Yugi") in true Lawful-Evil fashion.
So, oddly enough, this was written by "Bakura".
By which I mean, I wrote it because I'm weird. (And I wrote it from his POV of what was noble to do. Which is clearly what anyone should do when they get carried away writing in the POV of a soul-fusion of a five-thousand-year-old bedouin-king-tombrobber-turned-evil-god-thing-with-a-snake-for-a-penis. Clearly. The sonnet is most obviously the perfect medium for having an borderline-nuts anime character address another dead anime character... *funny look* It's all so clear now...)
The rhyme scheme mystifies me even now. It seems to be a modified Petrarchan-Shakespearean, but I'm not sure, myself. It's three quatrains of ABBA, CDDC, EFFE, with a couplet GG. No rhyme scheme I've ever heard of. (I say it's modified Shakespearean because it only needs two pairs of rhyme each. Still...it's weird I didn't realize this before. I probably thought I was doing a Petrarchan withotu remembering exactly what a Petrarchan entailed.)
"Taphos" is the greek word referring to either a funeral ceremony, or a tomb. It's the root of the English word "Epitaph", which in turn is either the engrving on a tomb, or a short speech commemorating a dead person.


II-- On the Fruitless Fount Immortal (8-5-08)
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
This was dedicated to a goth-muffin friend of mine. I don't think I've ever actually bestowed it on her, though. (Chances are she doesn't pay attention to my creative journal long enough to even know I'm doing it now. *sigh* She doesn't pay much attention to me outside of RP, I guess...^^;; She's got a fairly busy life.) On the off chance I did give it to her, it would have been one of the old versions. This poem's really come into its own over time. It's had three major edts and overhauls--more than any of my other poems, I'd imagine. It's a bizzare little piece. Lately I've been thinking it actually might make a good original story--a vampire story of sorts, but with my definite irony thrown in.
In short, A vampire falls for a river nymph, only to try to drink blood from her and be ironically trapped in the river by the running water forever. (Vampires supposedly are made powerless by running water. Plus there's the idea of a more ancient "magical entity" overwhelming something with the urge to drink. I think it's just too much of Skunky's Dark Humor in one place to be passed up...)
The sonnet's subtitle should explain a little better what's going on. It'll take me forever if I try to explain why every symbol and every irony just seemed to fall into perfect place.
It has a bunch of weird literary puns, too. *sigh* Which...might make it better than some of my others for that alone. (Or worse, because it's my crack-pot humor at work.)
And really: what better present to give a goth? Though I suppose she's not a goth anymore... Mm, teenagers are so fickle... I tend to dedicate things to friends of mine if I think they would have liked them. It's part of the reason why my subjects get so random half the time.


III-- On Secondhand Experiences (9-4-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
Well...this was the third and most informal part of a three sonnet blast I wrote in the span of about two hours while I was busy being an emo little puddle of piss, whining about how the miraculous being I've set my eyes on as some sort of ideal of humanity hadn't show up for ages, and how much I missed him. (Luckily, all of you missed that. That ended up being one of those entries I wrote up, then didn't post because I felt better the next day and didn't feel the need to subject the world to my whining just then. ^^;;)
For those of you who don't know about my pining after a wheelchair-bound, smoking, tattooed darling a year younger than me, who draws like an angel, sparks creativity off like a lightning-rod, and otherwise serves as muse to this sad waste of skin, uh...consider yourselves informed. That's pretty much it. I've been infatuate for six years over the same guy, and there doesn't seem to be much I can do about it except mutter about it. (Because despite the way I talk, I don't know the first thing about revealing one's feelings to men, and when I'm around said glorious individual, all I do is act roughly the same way I usually do, if not a little less coherent.)
These aforementioned three sonnets actually made up the first occasions I used the sonnet for it's mundane "romantic" purposes.
They were the mark where I broke my unwritten rule of keeping personal romance out of the sonnet. But, in my defense, by that time I hadn't seen him for more than two months and was more than a little nuts off it.
I usually see him as my carcinogenic little "air freshener." I feel better when I'm around him. That's just the way it is. I owe him the fact I can even speak to people at all, to be honest. I learned how to love people from him, that's it in simplicity. If it weren't for him, I'd still be stuck inside my own skull. So I owe him, even if I didn't like him so much.
That's pretty much what this poem's about--his air-freshener-ness.
Somehow, though I'm not a smoker, the smell makes me nostalgic now, because I think "him", and comforts me a little.
For someone without a sense of romance, I guess I'm a pretty sentimental sop, sometimes...


IV-- On the Wondering on His Craft and Making (9-4-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Terza Rima
The second part of the three-sonnet spree above. It's almost stuntedly formal and kind of dumb in hindsight, with its epic Genesis metaphor... (A pretty exalted metaphor for watching a guy roll up a character for a tabletop RPG, if you ask me... o_o;;) The reason I put it up was the form. This is the first terza rima sonnet I've ever written. Terza rima is a fairly obscure sonnet form--the italian form actually favored by Dante. (It goes in little triads in this general rhyme form: ABA BCB CDC DAD EE)
I still feel all dopey for talking about the lump of meat in the left side of my chest in all exalted terms.
(Uh...It does its job, I guess, my heart--generally doesn't cause much trouble and all...It's a slimy little thing.)
But it can't be helped.
It took me almost two weeks even after writing sonnets to text message him and figure out what was going on with him...
...I'm an idiot. *snorts*
(Seriously, anyone have a spine for sale?)
I expect this one to get rediculed by anyone aside from the most misty-eyed romantics...
Also: The puns, the puns. Do I ever not make senseless literary puns and double entendres? Do I ever?


V-- On the Building of a Dynasty (11-3-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
Ah, finally the fun stuff!
This was a poem specially written for a dear friend, and a phenomenal writer. She had a prompt for a very special little college relating to how one thought the perfect sandwich should be constructed, and the answer either had to be a flowchart, or a form of poetry, and she picked the sonnet without having studied meter. Actually, I shouldn't say that. She's Indian, and English is the only language which seems to use a stressed-unstressed poetic meter. Most other languages use pure syllables. She's STILL the fastest learner I've ever seen for iambs... So! In my paltry attempts to instruct her in one of the few things she didn't know (and still grasped admirably fast...) I wrote this sonnet as an example on my view of the best sandwich.
...Clearly, the best sandwich is one you can use to sharpen your sword when you're out with the horde.
Grilled cheese.
Oh yes.
(I still think her sonnet was better, though. Anyone who uses the line "beef and ham are lily pads of meat" or...it was something like that anyway...they deserve to be elevated to semi-divine status in my book, anyway. Automatically.)
Also, this particular dear is one of the people who follows my tradition of having a "V for Vendetta" party every fifth of November.
She gets "V" for a reason. Just for the record. (Never mind that I'm going chronologically...)


VI-- the Invention of the Wheel (11-21-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
Oh THIS. Uh...it's another addition onto my soppiness.
I'm not one of those people who thinks "rims" are an instant chick-magnet, for the record. I've just...had a thing about wheelchairs since I was about eight--long before I could get any weird kinks or sexual things. I just...really like them for whatever reason. I was infatuated with the idea of having one for the longest time. My first OC ever was wheelchair bound, as it turns out. (And a rediculous Mary-Sue, for the record.) If you'd asked me who my favorite character was, I would have screamed "Hari Seldon!" (Wheelchair-bound psychohistorian, and driving plot-force behind Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" series...) And I seemed to want to put a golf-cart engine in a wheelchair for some odd reason. (The idea of zooming around in a twenty MPH wheelchair sounded incredible. My slighty more logical mind these days acknowledges that yes, that WOULD be incredible--for steering alone if nothing else.)
All things considered, though, it's no real wonder if I have "odd tastes" twelve years later.
...I've never seemed to see the appeal in those gleaming "storybook princes", though. (It probably comes with growing up as the sort of blond girl people love to stick up towers. It certainly means I have an irrational loathing and paranoia over Disney-Affiliations...)
I can't seem to leave conventions alone when I write something like this. I seem to like telling conventions of rugged manliness to kiss my chariot.


VII-- The Viking to His Kitten (11-23-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
This one is undying proof that I am a special kind of moron.
I actually challenged HIM to give me "jaunty verse" to write. His prompt was simply "A Viking who's lost his Kitten."
I then endured incalcuable wrath for putting in the word "damn" from the other idiot I was later crowing triumphantly over this endeavor with.
HE showed up scant days later, though... Kittens do it every time
Indirectly, this sonnet has done wonders for my morale. (Despite, or perhaps because it's rediculous.)
What am I saying? The whole endeavour's rediculous--I can write a sonnet like this, but I can't ask a person out.
That's the face of "FAIL" right there...
...But funny fail, anyway.
Basic plot of the sonnet is thus: Viking's off doing cheerful pillaging, raping, and looting, with his trusty kitten stowed in the front of his loincloth like a mascot. (And a biting codpiece, at that.) He runs into a bear, being none too bright, and somehow doesn't notice that he's running around free of loincloth after the fact until some hours later, and so he scribbles out a message into the beach for the kitten (like it can actually read) beseeching its safe return or lack of return.
He IS a Viking after all.
(Between you and me, kitten is picked up by some soppy woman somewhere, and probably lives in front of a nice warm hearth for the rest of his life, and never so much as goes near a longboat ever again.)
This was another sonnet I had a lot of fun with, obviously.
It also suffers from my sense of humor.


VIII-- On a Rediculous Gesture (11-29-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Petrarchan
Every morale boost has a low. Obviously this was me calling myself an idiot in a Petrarchan fashion. I wrote an entry about it, actually because I suddenly had a lot on my plate.
This sonnet is probably a bit closer to my "informal" voice, too. (That is, how I normally sound.) It even gets all unhappily sarcastic in places.
It's also subtitled the Invention of the Wheel, II because it follows the downside of loving on Chariots, too much.
...Don't pine after men who are ancient superweapons, kids.
"The Invention of the Wheel" might be ongoing as a sonnet theme. Wheels are pretty universal symbolically, so I can probably supercharge the theme with all sorts of ulterior meanings--and what else does one do in poetry, anyway?
I was also glooming myself up by listening to spoken poetry, and some twit or other was reading Dylan Thomas to me, hence the line in the front. (Unfortunately, most of my stuff reads like his "a Visit to America" essay, so I don't think I can really keep up gloom for long without heartily self-mocking. It's rediculous.)
The petrarchan rhyme model follows perfectly, (ABBAABBA CDECDE) except I've perhaps put the volta in a different place (That's the "turn" of the poem's theme--it's an essential part of the sonnet.) so I have seven lines and seven lines on either side rather than the normal eight and six. There was some deep, burning existential reason for that in my soppy female feelings at the time, and I don't remember it, because I often don't remember my soppy, feminine feelings of the time.
Italian sonnet models like terza rima and the Petrarchan are supposed to be more difficult. I was almost unpleasantly surprised to find it was only just a little bit trickier. Not as much as I'd hoped, even. I still felt lousy enough to finish writing a rather long entry, after all.
Which I didn't post, because Mushy-sama came in and let me vent. Thank you, Mushy-sama~
(The idea that it was easier than I'd expected gives me some hope for the eventual villainelle, though. Finding four pairs of rhyming words is a little trickier than finding just two...)


IX-- Dirge of the Loose Cannon (12-1-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Petrarchan
Wrote this after aforementioned profuse whining to Mushy on subjects related to the sonnet before this. I think he meant it as a fic prompt rather than a sonnet prompt, but I did ask for sonnet prompts, and he gave me this and another, so I wrote him a sonnet. It's a Spiral sonnet, too, at that--meaning it features the POV of the Character Kanone or variably "Kanon" Hilbert, from the manga Spiral: the Bonds of Reasoning. (If you like a series where genius children duke it out with guns, logic, piano, and plot-important kitty ears, this is a series for you. I don't recommend the Anime--though there is one--it doesn't do justice to the books after a certain point.)
Mm. Sonnets. With more kittens.
...Why do all the men I know seem to have a thing about kittens? (Argue all you like, Mushy-sama, but it looks pretty bad on your end, no matter what you say about Kanone's character. XD)
The prompt was technically something like "Write how Kanone rescues a bunch of kittens and brings them home, and Evangeline Hilbert gets mad at him."
It didn't turn out exactly according to prompt. It turned into a Petrarchan sonnet where Kanone rescues kittens because it's one of the good things his murderous self can do. Kanone's so very cheerful for a perfect assassin with no blind spots who's doomed to lose his mind if he doesn't watch it. (There wasn't room for his mother in the fourteen lines.)
This brings me up to two sonnets I've written in the guise of anime characters.
Well done, Mushy-sama.
(All those who are jealous, can give me prompts of their own like real men.)
"Loose Cannon" is just another pun. Those familiar with the slang know a Loose Cannon is an unpredictable, wild, and often dangerous person. Azalee pointed out that Kanone's name in german, literally is "Cannon". And a Dirge is a mourning song.
Still, writing angsty killer anime characters is an improvement on being a sop.


X--Easyvac
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
Another fun prompt from a dear individual. His exact words were, "How about a man who spends his whole life vacuuming a beach?". For that reason, it doesn't really have the most pithy of titles. I'm still waiting for him to give me a better name for it.
What this sonnet does have is a plethora of weird poetic references, and more than a generous helping of weirdness.
It makes at least two definite references--One to Lewis Carroll's "The Walrus and the Carpenter" with the bit about a walrus strolling down the beach with a carpenter, obviously. And another murkier one to T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock". Less obviously, that's the bit about old men and peaches-- "Do I dare to eat a peach?"; plus the mersong. "I have heard the mermaids singing"...and...being Eliot, he was actually making a reference to John Donne's "Song" with the line "Teach me to hear mermaids singing..."
Aaaaand, "Life's a beach" is obviously a play on "Life's a Bitch" if you look at it right.
The "dumb diver" is Jacques Cousteau. (Bless his soul. I took and was good at Marine Biology.)
So...
It's symbolism laden, but what does a guy with a menial labor job care about symbolism, singing mermaids, or the fantastic? The tone of jaded cynicism and sarcasm comes over pretty well overall, not to mention the meaninglessness of the task. Plus, I myself have need of a higher paying job so I can feed my college habit. Insert subliminal griping.
Notably, I live in an area laden with beaches. My house is a mile at best from the water--a fact I've never seen reason to take enthusiastic advantage of. I've never quite seen what poets, or vacationers see in the idea of a beach. If they all used the same beach for their little musings and wistfulnesses, I'd imagine it would get highly crowded and sufficiently less picturesque. Nobody needs to see a Walrus in a thong, thank you, but there are plenty in the Miami area.
On the other hand, I DO seem fairly fond of freshwater bodies.


XI-- On The Frightened Disciple (One of Many) (12-14-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Shakespearean
Ah. The Autobigraphical sonnet. (Also known as "a case in point for being a sop.")
For those who don't know: I'm religious. It seems particularly ironic in that light that I have no qualms about writing slash fiction, or things with sex. It embarasses me, but no moreso than most other things. Yes. Well. The thing is, not everything one writes is what they approve in a nice society and all... I'd be a real villain if everything I wrote happened to be things I thought were 'good'.
And yet I have no consideration of ever censoring the behaviors of my friends, either. Whatever they are, be it bipolar, or bisexual, or broken in any way, shape, or form. They're my friends. Which...is another odd point. (Somehow one just simply CAN'T be a good christian unless one applies to the stereotype of being a close-minded stupid bigot. Naturally, naturally. *eye roll*)
Hah. Here's the thing--if I waited for everyone to be "good people" before hanging around them and trying to help, commiserate, or enjoy their other features, I'd have a really shitty "ministry." (And half of you are probably more preoccupied with the fact I used the word "shitty", and the other half are cringing at the word "ministry". Both are loaded terms.) And anyway, what's worse? Sodomy? Or being an Apostatic Hypocrite, hm?
Christians aren't typically any better about having less nasty urges than your average person. We just have a reason to hold them back, and try to do better where other people don't see a problem in the first place. (It's not like denying it makes things any better, I find, though it makes you feel a little better, maybe.)
For the record, I AM an Apostatic Hypocrite. But then again, isn't everyone?
Well...Double Apostatic Hypocrite in this case. I've done a full 360 with my faith in my lifetime. (I probably haven't gotten into it much with people because religion is sort of an "impolite" topic to bring up most of the time, but Witchcraft definitely ranks up there insofar as labelled sins go, in short. Much less, leaving Christianity FOR Witchcraft and lying consistantly about it through the act of still attending a church, etc.)
One doesn't need to be spotless before they go on their knees--There's no polishing the insides with human hands after all.
It isn't a matter of thinking God is "loving" and "looks past it", because that's just another excuse--it's more a matter of wanting more than anything to do better even if you can't do it on your own steam, and even if it means giving up what you want.
But...that doesn't make sense to a lot of people. ^^ ("Who would willingly choose that?!" XD)
To be honest, I wasn't sure I should have included this one, but in the end I did because it's not really "offensive"--it's simply mine as much as the love-sonnets are for roughly the same reasons.


XII--The Voyeur Courts an Inspiration (12-15-09)
Rhyme Scheme: Chiastic
Important Note: There's actually no such thing as a Chiastic Sonnet for all I know. It's...my invention, actually. This is me, starting to play with my medium.
So...what is a chiastic sonnet?
Well...Since it has exactly fourteen lines, the sonnet can divide evenly in a number of ways without ruining its trademarks. I've gone into it a little, above. The rhyme schemes, and such are all different ways of dividing up, and through the ages, the sonnet's often been tailored a little, which is why it's sometimes so hard to find a decent teaching example for some of the models.
So, I thought 'Wouldn't it be interesting to turn the volta into the couplet and put it right at the end of the octet?' (Effectively turning the poem into two mirrored sestets, surrounding a couplet.) In theory, with fourteen lines, instead of eight-and-six, the sonnet could divide into seven lines on each side: ABCDEFG GFEDCBA with a couplet wrapped around the volta. And for another twist and a challenge, the couplet could be cleaved symmetrically by the change in subject, making the first and second "argument" equal groups of seven lines.
After the volta, instead of mounting into the stinging epithet of the final two lines, like Shakespeare would, this structure would wind down and relax and come to a gentler conclusion on the other side, more like Hebrew Poetry. Though Hebrew Poetry's mostly repetition, it follows chiastic structure--anyone studying Shakespeare will remember Frietag's Pyramid Though in my case, I disgracefully don't remember how it's spelled with steps going up around a central act? Chiastic structure is like that--symmetrical, with buildup and winding down afterwards.
It's very English to build up and up and up, and then suddenly stop at the very end, and wrap everything up. It's also very much like most arguments to come heavily on the first point in English. I think there's a beauty to symmetry which is worth exploring, though. So...I'm exploring.
As for this poem itself, I wish it turned out less erotic, but it can't be helped. There was a lot of erotic subtlety around the idea of courting a muse in antiquity insofar as greek muses would have children with mortas they really liked. (Naturally, since I'm female, the muse should be male. For all my attempts at understanding, I still can't seem to put myself into a position where I could imagine loving a woman. It's just...not at all interesting to me. Somehow because I'm pretty strange looking, though, lesbians seem drawn to me, thinking I'm one myself. Urk.) There's a lot of erotic idea in some of the references, too. Bathsheba and all...
It's likely channeling Neil Gaiman's "Calliope" from the Sandman series, too, but in a less brutal way.
I think this one turned out as more of a "there's a story in my head" than an "I'm pining, I'm pining, and I just have to speak about the rigors of loooove" It shares more with the Sonnet on the Fruitless Fount Immortal there.
I hope to write more Chiastic Sonnets in the future.


------------------------------------------------------------------


Poems:


( I )

-o-O-o-

( II )

-o-O-o-

( III )

-o-O-o-

( IV )

-o-O-o-

( V )

-o-O-o-

( VI )

-o-O-o-

( VII )

-o-O-o-

( VIII )

-o-O-o-

( IX )

-o-O-o-

( X )

This post is really here just so I can se if I've enabled anonymous commenters. (Poor Samwise-kun from gunwithwings couldn't comment on some of the stuff here. I like to keep things open, so this was totally accidental.) I think I've got it down, but it usually takes me a while to find a site feature. *Is surprisingly bad with computers for a twenty-year-old*

Negotiations has hit completion status in my own files. So I'm going to try to post all the remaining chapters later, as I manage to HTML them properly. (HTML gives me headaches.)

I also have a Hizumi and Ayumu (MILD) collection coming up, too. Borderline fluff in some cases--which I virtually NEVER do. (Mocchan should be proud of me.~)

Ah...and I've rewritten the Leftovers story, with great embarassment. It's still going to get a warning label when it goes up, but it should be a little clearer--thanks for the frank pointers about...um...pointers, Mushy-sama. (I just get embarassed about the mechanics of ANY sort of sex.)

the Language of Flowers Has close to three new chapters, but it also needs HTML treatment. It'll be up here as soon as I handle that.

I'm still trying to pull together the gathered one-shots and such for eventual ff.net posting, and therefore an "official debut" into the Spiral fandom. (Not that half the fandom hasn't already read my stuff here...) The HTML-check is becoming a sort of "final check" on the process.

So far, I think Stagecraft is set to come up first on ff.net. That was the first Spiral fic I wrote, technically. (Though there was a lot fo voice-testing backgabble before that.) I don't think I've put that up here yet--it's a doubleshot of setting oriented stuff, just after Kanone leaves the blade children, a sort of take on what Kiyotaka actually said when he was supposedly "pursuading Kanone not to leave." (Yeah right.) The second chaper is Kiyotaka adressing Eyes after he "fails" at it, and more or less molding him into leadership.
Probably a few timeline problems. I think I set up up a little too early for Kanone to be leaving just yet, so I might have to edit it.

Juvenile Orion fiction's going slowly, again, but it's going again at least. I keep writing chapters out of order for the epics. *Sigh* And Wrath's Opening chapter at least seems to be a little long for posting here. (And all the HTML I'd have to hand-code...ugh...)

Sorry if I've been "ignoring" comments, lately? (generally) My RPJ habits keep kicking up, and I can't multitask to save my life. I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just forgetful. Sorry, sorry, sorry~ (RPJ is doing well, too. Some of those entries are spawning fiction here and vice-tersa.)

I may be posting a few random sonnets soon, too. (The only poetry I actually write is all sonnets. I'm not much for freeverse about angst and my lacking love life, y'know?) Which means you'll probably have to slough through a dump of random crap to get to the ones about Vikings, Kittens, and Sandwiches. (those of you who care about verse at least.)

Those of you keeping up with my normal journal might have noticed the "sonnet tutorial" I put up over there. I might cross-post it if needed, so more people like me can write jaunty verse about odd topics, like well-muscled hindquarters, devastating wit, and eyes the color of thunderstom-struck grass.
(I need to get out more...)

Upcoming projects are generally coming as they come, but I might be cleaning up an Old Yu-Gi-Oh fic snippet for posting. Rerunshipping. (With side bronzeshipping and warshipping.) Loosely based on the old RP3 stuff, but probably jsut given a Skunky revamp.
Told from Noa Kaiba's perspective, too.
(I have GOT to stop writing bodysnatchers fiction...)

Fragment: Negotiations (3 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Pre-Canon, and pre-Alive)
Genre: General (I don't know how to class it--but I think this chapter has some angst.)
Rating: T
Why: Yaiba always proves to need the T rating for some reason or another. In this case he's being blunt and swear-y. (He's not having a good day...though I doubt Yaiba ever has a good day. It seems to be difficult to have a good day when you're a villain.) Also, for the wonders of glance-by autopsy skill, referencing from last chapter's tabletops.

Notes: Tenser chapter, this one, but it's starting to fall into a little better. Er...don't really know what else to say about it. It has a different feel from the others. If I actually knew how long this would be, I'd be able to say for sure how pivotal it is. (Naturally I have an end in mind--that's usually not the problem. I can imagine a million different ways to sidetrack myself along the way. That happens to be the problem.)

Mushy-sama, if the timeline you've given me is accurate, and Hizumi doesn't remember his brother in canon Spiral, this should work. Not to mention, it feels in-character for Kiyotaka, and would make sense for him strategically. Yaiba's reaction should make sense, too, assuming I'm on-track at least.

Hoo. Assumptions.

I should just cross my fingers, I guess.

( Do you know what my chopping block's for? )

Fragment: Negotiations (2 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Pre-Canon, and pre-Alive)
Genre: General (some humor)
Rating: T
Why: Because Yaiba is a vicious bastard even if he has a horrible sweet-tooth. Beware of tables. Also for "bad habits".

Notes: Iknew Yaiba was a narcissistic little bitch. This proves it. The instant I give him any time in my head, all he wants is more. Hopefully his greediness doesn't manage to screw up my timelines again. (I'm going to work on fixing that, Mushy-sama. NICE CATCH. *Robertson'd* This is what I'd pay you for if I actually paid you!)

*sighs* I'm still not sure what direction this can possibly go in, but it's tremendous fun. Somehow...

That said, I still do want to draw Yaiba and Kiyotaka...but I'll have to find a shot with Yaiba's hair, so I can even attempt it. (Fortunately he has the same face as Hizumi, and I have plenty of Hizumi considering I RP him and I know I have no sense of visual things, so it shouldn't be too hard for me to find a reference...)

Ack. Yaiba.

What a primadonna.

I'm disgusted with him on some level. He's scaring away all my Tracer ideas in a haze of diabetes-inducing nastiness. He reminds of nobody so much as Akito Sohma for some odd reason... But I'm going to pretend I didn't like Akito better before the infamous "chapter 97" incident, for those of you who know what I'm talking about. XD

Well...at least Kiyotaka and Yaiba have an interesting sort of chemistry. *sigh* Even though it doesn't really make up for half of the trouble they're putting me through.

Short chapter. XOMG. Must be because I write normal amounts if only given a few days to work on it...Who knows, maybe I'll be able to train myself to keep it up. Would it be weird to say despite everything my stamina seems limited? Or maybe not my "stamina", maybe it's more of my end package... Is there any way for me to put this without making it sound absolutely and totally wrong?


( Sometimes we all...black...out... )

Fragment: "The Language Of Flowers" (1 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Post-Canon)
Genre: Shades of Tragedy, Angst, and Drama
Rating: T
Why: Anything with really rough emotional stuff gets rated high with me. Kids wouldn't want to read this anyway. Kinda morbid.

Notes: Mocchan will want to murder me. And Aza-pon will probably go "d'aww" and sniffle. And Mushy-sama's already heard me muttering to myself about it, and seems to think it's a good idea. (Until he reads it, but that'll be another story.)
But it HAD to be done. I realized after careful study that all the HizzuXAayu fanfiction (ahh~ marvelous stuff) if it shows Hizzu going off and nearly dying, it's always only NEARLY. So I knew I had to write this.

Aah. You'll see what I mean.

I think it's melodrama. My brain clearly needs to write melodrama on some special kind of level. But pseudo-Eyes-POV is like a cause for melodrama all on its own. And I have my period. (Somehow this should explain something. "Skunky is bleeding, therefore the whole world needs to suffer" or something like that.)

Oh, and spoilers for what Aayu is. Hizumi. Kanone, etc. More or less, everything the old hands should already know. Get far in your manga, then accelerate it forward about two years, and you have The Language of Flowers.

I'm putting up what I have done so far so I can get some feedback on how it sounds so far. Skunky's version of Tragedy is probably as weird as Skunky's version of anything. But that's what you get. (It seems to be a kind of mixed plotbaby with many fathers...er...lesbian mothers?)

I seem to write tragedy and angst whenever something odd happens, and currently, I'm financially pressed enough to seriously consider withdrawing from school, and working until I have funds enough to complete my schooling without the added stress. Therefore, I'm writing tragedy of sorts. (Those of you who believe in prayer might send a little in my direction.) I made an entry on it on my normal journal, but I don't want to get into it more. Over here, it's about writing. All I'm saying is this thing has motivation, so there may be more of it in the future if it isn't killing someone's happy kitten.

Mushy and Azalee. I'm sending you a bucket of crack in an email. Get to it whenever you like. It's just pretty much to save time HTML-ing.
Aza-pon, you're responsible for at least ONE of those funky ideas, so you'll have to sit through it and take it like a manly magician. (The other bucket of crack is the infamous octagon, so both of you can get to that whenever you feel like torturing yourself. I haven't looked at it in over a month. Sections of it are probably terrible, but it's just supposed to be amusement.)
Also, there are manly tears in at least ONE chapter of that plotbunny, Aza-pon. You should be well pleased.

Everyone else? My brain hurts.

So please give me swift and brutal concrit.

Notes will follow after the story on the victorian-era language of flowers itself, and secret plotting.

NOTE---Fic includes: Past!KanoneXEyes (At this point unmentioned), Past!HizumiXAyumu (Quite thoroughly mentioned), and eventual AyumuXEyes (Not yet reached). It also has implied KousukeXRyouko, and KiyotakaXMadoka. And cake. And KirieXLollipops, probably. And I still don't know what I'm doing with Rio.

Ah, and I owe an idea for Madoka and Kiyotaka to someone, but I can't remember who first used the idea. Drat. (Madoka's current situation, that is. I know there was another fic which had it first, and I'd like to give credit where do. Chances are, one of you wrote it. So speak up.)

And stay tuned for talk after the work if you will.



( Divine and Conquer )

Fragment: Negotiations (1 of ?)
Fandom: Spiral (Pre-Canon, and pre-Alive)
Genre: General
Rating: Lighter T rating
Why: Because the weird genetics-things are mostly implied, but are implied, so there has to be a warning. (Not even any swearing, I think. But clinically sexual and reproductive stuff.) Also some spoilers for Kiyotaka, the blade children, and Hizumi and Ayumu. But only sort of. And a little drinking at the end.

Notes: I'm on a roll for writing odd fragments this weekend. This one's more because I was glancing through, and I realized not only had nobody written anything with Kiyotaka and Yaiba, but that the one fragment on the gunwithwings forum came with a question from Samwise-kun about how other people saw or interpreted Kiyotaka and Yaiba around one another. So...I made THIS on Sunday evening.

I'm actually pretty pleased with it. And that's rare, even for me. Usually I have to edit things before I find them satisfying. This one on the other hand seems to be another potential From the Pond, From the Nest. (Nobody will understand what I'm talking about unless they read Juvenile Orion fiction, too. That was one of my fics. One that had a kooky takeoff on a russian fairytale, and featured a very obscure pairing. It was finished in a record-breaking three days. I was very impressed with myself.)

I think I realized why I like writing my fanon!Yaiba. He reminds me a little of writing Lafayel. I always like writing bitter, dry, arrogant, and slightly sarcastic-ironic people who act prickly, then I seem to invariably have some cheerful (Or at least persistant) person come along, and reassure them that no matter how hard they try, there's something fluffy in there somewhere. (Yaiba: Dammit. No there's not! I don't know where my brother gets it from, but it's certainly not from me! *denial denial*) Plus he seems to have given Eyes Rutherford his characteristic insomnia...

I seem to like those sorts of characters for some odd reason. Must be my thing for villains again. (It's usually villains who have those sorts of personalities.) The exception to this sort of appeal for me is if they do something undeniably cruel just for personal gain. (Rare in manga and anime, but it happens.) So I'm not sure what direction Yaiba-kun intends to take, but at least he's enjoyable to write. ♥ (Yaiba: Don't you ever touch me again, and kindly get the Hell out of my office before I shoot you.)

That aside, I've realized there's NO KIYOTAKAxYAIBA IN THE WHOLE FANDOM. This clearly had to be remedied...
...But because I'm evil, it seems to be ending up as eventual Yaiba-onesided-after-Kiyotaka, and with implied KiyotakaXMadoka pre-marital in the background, which...may or may not actually make any sense. It depends on how old Kiyotaka's supposed to be. Also, there are vague mentions of Hizumi and Ayumu existing, but nothing else at that point. (And possible spoilers there...)
I also seem to be the sadist who enjoys making Kiyotaka straight, and therefore simply heartily amused when men and boys are inexplicably gay for his furry ass. Hah.

I'll probably add more on later, but this is the fragment so far, and it's in a good stopping point, assuming I remember enough of my Spiral Alive stuff to make it make sense. (And to be obsessed and ironic with very odd things some people will recognize and flip out over.)

Note: Fic includes dry humor, attempts at dignity, eugenic villainy, laughably idiotic disguises, misogyny, manly sewing, and more sugar than should ever be consumed in one sitting. (Because...well...if Hizumi and Yaiba are related in the way they are, Yaiba should have some taste for junk food, yes? Tell me I'm not the only one who sees it...)

And come to think of it. I have no idea if it's even plausible chronologically speaking.
Oh well, it's fun.

Read at your own risk, and feel free to concrit like anything. Oh, and let this be inspiration for people to join the "Original Sin" bandwagon here. (As opposed to Clone!sin, which I wrote some of earlier this weekend, and needed to get out of my brain...)


( We're not questioning God, just those He chose to carry on His call. )

Fragment: "Death From Above"
Fandom: Spiral (general)
Genre: Angsty Fluffies! (Ie: senseless mind!candy)
Rating: T
Why: Due to explorations of one's tonsils with another's tongue.
What's going on: Not much. It's pretty self-explanatory.
Other notes: So recently I started RPing Hizumi over at KKMRPgame... And Mocchan's been doing amazing things to my brain as Ayumu. (But she's not feeling so well. T_T GET BETTER, MOCCHAN!) I've had to really start in on AyumuXHizumi fiction, and that's only something I've skimmed the surface on before, so... after the dust settled, I had to run off and go home and get the plotroaches out of my head somehow, and this was the result.

It's fairly mindless. But Ayumu alaways manages to be emo under my pen. *sigh* Mocchan probably does a better job with him...

( Do you know what my chopping block's for? )

Teaser: (Opening for “Wrath”—a fic in nine parts 1:9)
Fandom: Juvenile Orion
Genre:Rating: PG maybe for this part
Why: Some implied violence. (gunshots, etc.)
Notes
I’m not sticking it behind a cut because LJ is messing with the rich text functions at the moment. It’s fairly short, though. (I can’t stick up more because the other stuff is a) long, and b) has content because chapter one is Tracer talking all about his epic and exciting life in first person. I’ve had to HTML-up this version by hand before posting. Tedious.

I’ve been working on this since I was in high school. Sad but true. Because I’ve been RPJ-ing Tracer recently, I came back and discovered it, and cleaned it up a little.
I didn’t want to post it until it was written up in its entirety. I’m still working on the last chapter, but that’s it.

Super special awesome.




-o-O-o-
"Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a moment there is time
For reflections and corrections
which a minute will reverse."

-from the love song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot

-o-O-o- Prologue: Nihil -o-O-o-

Deep in the night echoed the click of a bullet being slid into a chamber, and a faint sound of something metal shifting slightly on a chain.

"You know," said one of the men, "I can tell you the world's shortest horror story. Guaranteed." He grinned as he tossed away the cigarette, "It's pretty good."

His companion remained silent, kneading the length of chain, measuring it out like a penitant with his prayer beads.

...Another silken metal sound, of a bullet being loaded, and then another...

"The last man in the world, sits by himself in a room," Began the first. Click. "There was a knock at the door."

Silence reigned for a moment, broken only by a series of several more clicks, then a much louder noise as the barrel slid back into place.

"And?" Said the other finally.

The first looked at his friend and pulled dark hair from his face. "'And'? That's the end of it. I told you. It's the shortest horror story in the world."

The other seemed to think on this. "...hm."

The first gave him an insulted look, tucking away his gun and slapping a pack of cigarettes against his palm. "You don't sound impressed, father."

"Shouldn't you say what's at the door?"

The first's face broke into a slow smile. "What do you think is at the door? That's what makes it the horror story after all." He said, as he flew into action, whipping out the gun-

The sound of the shot was lost in the traffic, as was the sudden sound of chained-metal piercing flesh.

"Well...it's a horror story so long as you don't do something cheap like put something nice at the door." He added as he pulled the hair out of his face with a sigh. "Or something boring. Like a Jehovah's Witness."

"Boring is in the eye of the beholder." The other said with a thin thread of wry amusement in his voice.

"Why does it not surprise me that you think Jehovah's Witnesses are great?" The other said with a sigh and a snort. "What is it? The cut and thrust of debate?"

There was a pause and the noise of a cloth wiping down metal before the cross was replaced with a clink, and a quiet word, "Nothing's boring. How can it be? Anything's better than the possibility that you open the door and there's nothing, absolutely nothing at all..."

The other paused. "You're as depressing as ever...but it makes you yourself, I guess...Tomonori-kun."

"Don't call me that."

"Call you what?"
-o-O-o-

wrath [rath] n:
1. great anger: fury often marked by a desire for vengeance
2. religion divine retribution: God's punishment for sin
3. vengeance: the vengeance, punishment, or destruction wreaked by somebody in anger (literary)
adj: furious: full of anger (archaic or literary)
Old English. From wrāþ “angry” (see wroth).

-o-O-o-O-o-

I've finished formatting the first four chapters (and teaser) of Wrath! <3 <3

Tracerliciousness....

^________^

Haa~ So accomplished.

Fragment: Just a bit I've had in my Juvenile Orion folder for a while...
Fandom: Juvenile Orion
Genre: Just general humor and lightheartedness
Rating: Uh...it's pretty safe, I think. Shiba might swear once or twice. I don't remember. Itsuki mentions sex once, but...well...he's an E.G.O. so they're big on "breeding". he doens't mean anything by it. (Also, he's Itsuki. Enough said)
What's Going On: Kuro Sakurai, the world's one and only pacifistic mindbreaker meets the main cast with great enthusiasm, plush stuffed animals, and the occasional DeathNote reference... overkill tension ensues.

Notes: Okay...so this is just sort of a joke. (Only sort of?)
I haven't really had a joke fic in a while (not one that I've finished at any rate), and I came across a discarded and utterly melodramatic angst scene I'd written a while back, and thought to myself that it would work fairly well on its own turned on its head as a humor fic.
So here we are, hanging out on my new writing-LJ-thing, watching me break it in with a Journal warming.

...MOG will probably love this... (it's like a belated birthday present for her, plus a cheer-up while she's stuck with bronchial-tubes-a-whining. I wanted to get it in before I got out for the summer, but it didn't work out for...various reasons...)

This is basically a re-written scene that I discarded from the Control-and-GraciousWings stories, so a couple of my weird fandom assumptions are still in place. But I've tried to take out all the old pairing implications and a couple of other things. Most of the "history" is still intact, but anyone familiar with my stuff probably can guess where it's going. *shrug* (And. uh. Just about anyone in the fandom IS familiar with my stuff, so... *sheepish laugh*)

Oh...uh, and I tend to use both character names for the same guy, so...
Factions are in parintheses, people with stars don't show up but may or may not be mentioned. Also, since Juvenile Orion isn't good for details, anyone outside the main cast (the first block of names) is likely to be tainted by strictly fanon stuffs. You've been warned.

Dramatis Personae:
Kaname Kusakabe (Darklore--"Bael")--Mana's boyfriend, Naoya's best friend, possessed by the demon "evil god" Bael
Tsukasa Amou (Eraser--"Israfel")--housemate ("son") to Tomonori, possessed by the angel of judgment "Israfel" but knows nothing of his past.
Tomonori Nakaura (Wiz-Dom)--Tsukasa's guardian, catholic priest, math teacher, and tennis club organizer at Seika high (--the school attended by Mana and her "soldiers"), secretly half-psychic, apprenticed to Tracer.
Yi-Xin "Isshin" Shiba (Arayashiki)--Senior student at Seika high and Kaname's basketball captain, arranged fiance of Tokiko but loves Mana
Naoya Itsuki (E.G.O.)--Haruna's twin brother, Kaname's best friend
*Haruna Itsuki (E.G.O.)--Naoya's twin sister, previously bedridden due to her powers
*Mana Kirihara (their Mindbreaker) --Childhood friend and girlfriend of Kaname, master of Kaname, Tsukasa, Tomonori, Isshin, Naoya, and Haruna.

Gabriel (Eraser--"Gabriel")--Friend of Israfel's from the Eraser fleet, soldier of Kuro's
Kuro Sakurai (Ex-E.G.O, Mindbreaker--fanon identity: "Kuro Sakurai") --Rogue but pacifistic mindbreaker, master of Gabriel, You Hiyami, and White Rabbit.
*Yuki Usagi (Darklore--"White Rabbit" personal fanon identity: "Yuki Usagi")--low level rabbit Darklore with the body and mind of a small child
*You Hiyami (E.G.O.--note: fanon entity)--a teenage athelete who goes to a rival high school, Kuro's cousin twice-removed, Second cousin once-removed to the Itsuki twins

*Tracer (Freelance mercenary--Fanon identity: "Kurai/Tsuki Arisugawa")--Half-Wiz-Dom,Half-Arayashiki mercenary. Tomonori's associate and information source. Disowned cousin of Tokiko.

*Tokiko Arisugawa (Arayashiki)--Shiba's arranged fiancee who likes him quite well despite the fact he loves Mana.

...Oh my first fandom...So many years of my life are consumed by you... 
Apologies for redundancy--I wrote a good portion of this this morning.


( Dedicated to the G.E.E.K. Faction. )( Dedicated to the G.E.E.K. Faction. )( Dedicated to the G.E.E.K. Faction. )( Dedicated to the G.E.E.K. Faction. )( Dedicated to the G.E.E.K. Faction. )

Get better soon, MOG!

Yesterday's victim of choice was the growing scarp piece called "the killer afghan"--one of my Spiral backgabble pieces. I went through in fuschia and painstakingly noted out all the minute changes in theme, and the flow and transition of such. In my head it's already accumulating the name, "Killer--Fuschia Minor Edit". It's interesting what I can see in analyzing my own work in such a  painstaking way.

Still gives me headaches to think about too carefully, though--the fact that I can finally get a piece with a subject like that to work that smoothly. Kinda creeps me out...

Worked on a Dubbiel scarp, too. I always come back amazed by how much fun Dubbiel is to write. He's increasing in exponential nuttiness by the moment. (And to think that the only reason I even started developing him out was because Desert.Illusion LIKED him. Back when he was just a background character...)

Ran over Stagecraft twice, and spellchecked chapter one (as is obvious here.) And I picked a bit at the Evangeline HiblertXLydia Rutherford piece. I really need to research the nineties if I'm going to continue there. I was barely alive at the time after all...

Asthmatic!Eyes is a nice touch, I think... it has the right feel to it... (It helps explain why he's always having these nasty violent rib!pain attacks while the others seem to go on as planned...)

Ha. So...I wrote this a while back for Mentu-rin. (Deathless being a Loveless and Deathnote crossover pairing of KioXMello). And last night I went back and tweaked it a little more.

The random scarp from out of nowhere in its finest and truest form.

( What's so bad about combining lollipops with chocolate anyway? Isn't that a tootsie pop? )