Duchess of Evil

So, yesterday ariestess was offering free rune readings as a part of celebrating the Fall equinox, and I went ahead and asked for one. I couldn't decide how to frame my question, so I just asked for a general reading. I wondered at the time if I would be able to tell what in my life it was really addressing when she gave her answer, but as it turns out, it was blazingly obvious:


Your rune :: Kenaz [reversed]

In a reversed position, Kenaz indicates exposure and being laid bare. At the same time, this means that you will lose any sense of false hope about the situation plaguing you right now. This is the time for being practical and pragmatic about your options. You can continue to wallow in instability and a lack of creative spark, or you can take the initiative and find a way to turn this situation around to your benefit.

Tip It! rune :: Tiwaz [reversed]

In perfect connection to the previous rune, reversed Tiwaz points toward a major blockage in your creativity and energy flow. Don't allow yourself to be paralyzed by the negativity that seems so oppressive. Take a step to the side, tilt your head, and look at the situation from a different perspective. Think outside the box and find new ways to conquer this demon plaguing you.

I'm creatively blocked. I can continue to wallow or do something about it, basically. So.

I need to write, people. And I'm allowing my own self doubts to paralyze me in a ridiculous kind of self-fulfilling merry-go-round of negativity. I'm going to start small. Someone, anyone, please give me a fic prompt. Something where I can write maybe a short little character driven vignette. Unusual situations for the character are fine. The prompt can be something like a whole sentence to springboard from, or just a set of words.  People who know me know my tastes, but for those who don't, I tend to like darker characters or those with a bit of an edge best, but that doesn't mean I won't write about others. For example, Hook and Regina are two of my favorites on OUaT. Dark!Ward on AoS is awesome, but I also love Fitz and Simmons, and so on. Here are fandoms I feel comfy with for the moment:

Agents of Shield
Avengers (pretty much anyone)
(I have not yet watched the season opener for Sleepy Hollow, so for now, let's leave this one off the list.)
The Originals
Once Upon a Time
And of course, fandom of old:
Alias (I wrote Sark a lot back in the day)
Firefly

Fic: Shadows (fifth in the Illusions series)
Author: Rhien Elleth
Pairing: Syd/Sark
Rating: M
Words: 15,891

Due to LJ's wordcount limits, this one has to be posted in two parts.

( Part one: Crescendo )

On to Part two: Endgame

There's a funny background story to this one. I'd written Dreams and Illusions pretty much back to back, and wasn't planning on another intsallment right away. Then on the forums, there was this discussion in the Sydney/Sark thread about bathroom smut. If I recall correctly, I was sort of challenged to write some. I can do that, I thought. Short, sweet, to the point - or should I say, pointless except for the aforementioned sex.

Except apparently my characters don't do that. Noooooo. They have to have life changing epiphanies. So, Fantasies became the short, third installment of the Illusions series.

Fic: Fantasies (third in the Illusions series)
Author: Rhien Elleth
Pairing: Syd/Sark
Rating: M
Words: 2175


( Sark pays Sydney an unexpected visit. )

On to the next in the series, Revelations.

Apparently all of the old Alias fic sites are gone, and so is my old fic site. Huh.

It's been requested I upload all of my old fic somewhere, and here seems to be my default place at the moment. If this is new to some of you, just realize I wrote it back in 2003, when S2 of Alias was being aired. :)

Fic: Illusions
Author: Rhien Elleth
Pairing: Syd/Sark
Rating: M
Words: 8831

( Vaughn is dead. Sydney is broken. Sark is not what he seems. )

On to the next in the series, Dreams.

So, this is a drabble for gabby_silang, who stumped me with a line from my own fic, then requested: Iron Man, Pepper Potts taking a moment for herself.

And yeah, this was so going to turn out differently.  I meant for Pepper to take her moment for herself in the beginning of this drabble, but she flatly refused.  So, yeah.  More stuff happened, and about two thousand words later, Pepper finally fulfills the drabble request.  Sort of. 

Gabby, hope you like this despite that.  That Pepper, she's a stubborn woman. ;)

Fic: Beneath the Surface
Author: Rhien Elleth
Pairing: Tony/Pepper
Rating: PG-13
Words: 2600 words

This is un-beta'd, being a drabble.  Any errors are mine.

Title: Secrets
Author: Rhien Elleth
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Derek/Sarah
Word Count: 9,950
Spoilers: through season one
Disclaimer: Don't own them, don't profit, just fun and entertaining, nothing to see here, etc
Beta: Thanks to mspooh for the awesomely fast beta! Plus, she's been a beta for me since my first fic days, which is nostalgic and fun. :-)

Summary: After the events of the season one finale, the weight of secrets between Derek and Sarah creates tension between them.

As usual, this thing is too damn long to fit in a single LJ entry.  I've waffled a bit with how to post it, but for now, I think I'll break it down into two entries. 



On to Part 2.

Wow, so apparently I am nominated for the 2007 Stargate Fan Awards.  To whoever nominated my Shep/Weir fic Dark Reflections, thank-you so much!  I have no idea how long voting is open for, given that it's February now, but you can still go read and vote now, from what I can tell.  I'm in the SGA ship category of Drama, but you should be able to click the banner and go to the appropriate page.

Holy crap.  I am most certainly not writing Illusions fic.  No.  Absolutely.  Not.  *re-reads drabble*

OMG, I am. 

*facepalm*

I so lose at drabble writing. 

Dude.  I think this might end up becoming that long ago toyed at post-series wedding fic.  Just...not in the way I ever expected.  Because Sarkney could never get married in some nice, normal fashion. 

...

Most mornings, they didn’t bother with an alarm.  Years of catching a few precious hours of sleep here, a scant few moments there – one mission bleeding into the next – had left an indelible mark.  Neither Sydney nor Sark slept deeply.  Not now, not ever.  And even retired, both of them went to bed with the butt of a pistol near to hand, fully loaded and chambered.  Just in case. 

They slept as though men armed with submachine guns could burst in upon them at any moment.  Peace was something neither of them had quite grown accustomed to, yet.

Usually, the first hint of light behind the bedroom blinds was enough. 

Sydney liked to pretend that faint brush of dawn hadn’t woken her.  She kept her breathing even, steady, and deep, her limbs languid, her eyes closed.  She waited.  Felt him shift and move beside her, the silk sheet sliding down her body as he sat up.  The weight of his gaze settled on her skin like the warmth of the morning sun, and she couldn’t stop the faint smile from touching the corners of her mouth.  Still, he pretended not to notice.  They both liked this game, this morning ritual they’d adopted during these long months of quiet and unfamiliar tranquility.

His fingers grazed her shoulder, traveled lightly down her arm, slow and lingering.   He leaned down, his breath fluttering her hair, making her shiver, and pressed his lips against the back of her neck.  Her breathing deepened, quickened, and as abruptly as that the game of pretend gave way to other things, familiar longings rising up and eclipsing the morning.

...

Ow.  I woke up this morning with a migraine.  That hasn't happened in awhile.  And I got a massage this week, which is supposed to help prevent them.  Still, three advil migraine + coffee proved a potent enough combo to beat it back to levels that don't include nausea and wanting to cry from the horrific pain, thank goodness.  Not an auspicious beginning to my Friday.

And what, there are people who get today off?  For what, Easter?  *so jealous*  You would think the gov't would take every holiday they could, wouldn't you? 

I'm going to break from posting about jewelry today.  Mostly because the amethyst necklace I'm working on (with very big, sparkly, gorgeous lavender amethysts) is not coming together like I wanted it to yet.  In fact, I have to scrap everything I did on it last night.  *winces at all that silver* 

I'm going to talk about writing, instead.  I was talking to a friend last night, and the subject of fanfic came up - don't ask me how, it was a complete tangent in the conversation - and she said how she doesn't read fanfic, and there was something about writing it, I don't remember what, exactly, and I said "I've actually learned a lot about writing from writing fanfic", and she was very surprised, and said she thought I should post about that.  So I am. :)

So, there's that meme going around where you pimp your own fic.  Pick your five favorites that you've ever written, etc.  I don't exactly have a huge body of work to draw from, so I wasn't going to do it.  But hey.  It's Friday, the fight scene I'm in the middle of is fighting me, it's a really slow work day, and I need a distraction.  Which means, meme, and variations on this one are all that's making the rounds on my f-list.

Sometimes it's ok to pimp yourself out. Post a list of your top five fics favorite you've written, regardless of fandom or the reason you love them. This isn't about the BEST things you've written, but what you LOVE most. Then tag five other people to do the same.

So here goes, my five favorites of my own fic:

1. The Illusions Series - (Alias, 2002 - 2003) Is this one really a surprise to anyone?  Technically, I suppose it could take up all five slots here, being five separate fics written over a two year period.  But they're not, really.  I wouldn't recommend reading Shadows, for instance, if you've never read the first four.  This was my first real foray into fandom.  It was my first and probably still my strongest experience with having my name recognized for a fic I'd written.  It will probably hold a sacred place inside me no matter how much time passes, or how much my writing changes over the years.  Sure, I read it now and have the urge to rewrite bits of it, edit others, but hey, what author doesn't look back at something they wrote years ago and feel the same?  For the most part, I love these fics to pieces, and there are moments, images from them that I cherish as a writer.  A hotel room in Rome, filled with blood and feathers.  Sark, coldly killing a man while uttering the line "You shouldn't have touched her."    The moment when Sydney first realized she'd fallen in love with the enemy, which, coincidentally, was the exact same moment when I realized it.  Jack, figuring it all out and confronting Syndey, then later Sark.  And, finally, that moment in a hospital waiting room that spun my Sark's life in a new direction.  *sigh*  Absolutely, positively number one on my list.

2. Fated - (King Arthur, 2004) I love the legend of King Arthur and his Knights.  I adore the triangle between Arthur, Lancelot, and Guinevere.  I have yet to be satisfied by any of Hollywood's renditions of it.  I was so deeply disappointed in the 2004 movie which actually killed off Lancelot before the story even really got started, I had to "fix" it in my own head.  Fated was my way of doing that.  It pretends that Lancelot never died, and delves into that triangle and how it came to be.  I loved writing it, and I've always intended to write a sequel.  I don't know that I ever will, but this fic remains one of my favorites, even though I didn't really like what the movie did with the Arthurian legend, other than the cool relationship between all the knights.

3. Dark Reflections - (SGA, 2006) This fic began as a passing comment by mspooh that became the plot bunny that wouldn't die.  I can't remember the exact phrase, but she mentioned something about "wouldn't it be cool to see John as Pirate!John in a fic", and my brain went "Yeah, that would be awesome!"  And lo, one quantum mirror, a pair of leather pants, a beard, and a gold earring later, Evil!Pirate!John was born.  I had so much fun writing it, I've got several related plot bunnies spinning around in my head still. 

4. Alias Drabble, Part 1 & 2 - (Alias, 2006) - It's no secret that I suck at drabbles.  SUCK.  They're supposed to be, like 100 words, right?  I think the shortest drabble I've ever written was 400 words.  These were even less successful than that, sitting at over 2000 words each, for a total of 4500 if you count parts 1 & 2 as a single fic (which I do).  Sark and Sydney remain my favorite 'ship to write, and Sark (mine, anyway) will always be a favorite character, period.  This was the kind of fun, decadent fic that I don't write very often.  I tend more towards slightly dark, complicated, emotionally traumatic things in my writing.  But I enjoyed this one for what it was - short, hot, and sweet in a dark chocolate kinda way.  :)

5. Midnight Meetings -  (Firefly, 2006) This one was a tough choice.  I don't dislike any of my fics, really, and once I've picked my very "favorites" the remaining ones kind of hover around the same level of fondness for me.  I can't say with any honesty that I liked this one any more than my LOTR fic, or my Charmed fic, or the rest of my Alias fic.  But this one stands out for another reason.  I don't usually write fic in fandoms that fulfill all my fannish needs.  Farscape and Firefly are two of those fandoms.  I tend to write fic because something is missing, and I want to add it to that world.  But I love Firefly just as it is.  Still, when carmen_sandiego needed a pinch hitter for her Mal/Inara ficathon, I volunteered.  And truthfully, I had a great time writing it, finding the voices for these character that I love so much.  And I did get to deal with two things I wanted the show/movie to do, that never got the chance.  Zoe's grief over Wash, and Mal/Inara.  But the funnest part, by far, was purely the cast of characters.  Even though they only got to make brief appearances, for the most part, I loved writing them.

And I'm not going to tag anyone.  Mostly because I think almost everyone already has.  But if you haven't, and you at all want to, consider yourself tagged.