snow on the sahara

And it isn't Bleach or romance! How about that. I actually started out intending to write an entirely different Phoenix Wright fic, but this jumped up and down and screamed until I wrote it first. I love Mia madly, and college!Phoenix cracks my shit up, so of course I had to start wondering how their actual mentorship started...and boom.

I'll post it to one of the PW comms later, but if you want to feed my ego and validate me, feel free to go ahead and start.

Title: First Steps and Second Chances
Genre: Gen/friendship
Characters: Mia and Phoenix
Rating: PG
Summary: Mia Fey never expected to hear from her acquitted client again, but when she got a surprise phone call about his future, she had to investigate. Takes place post case 3-1; various spoilers for the flashback portions of Trials & Tribulations.

Thanks to incandescens for giving it a look-see!

( One thing Mia had learned from the Dahlia Hawthorne cases was that things from the past didn't always stay there. )

I could post on LJ's latest clusterfuck, but it just makes me tired to think about. So here's a post of mishmash instead.

Did I tell you guys I witnessed a car accident on Sunday? It freaked me out a bit, enough to pop a Xanax. In the right line just behind me (I was in the left) I saw this car get cut off by a van that had been following me. It then appeared that the cut-off driver tried to speed up to pass the van on the right, swerved, and then overcorrected to end up swooping in a soft L-shape to slam nose first into the pylon across the road, coming to a halt perpendicular to the left line. Yikes. I'd be surprised if there weren't injuries there. I dug my phone out and called 911, but someone else already had, which is good. I'm really glad I wasn't a bit further back or I'd have been caught up in it. Lesson to drivers: if someone cuts you off, call them an asshole and let it go.

Saw an interesting post on kidfic via metafandom today. My initial reaction was "blech, no" but then I thought about it and really, it's not fic about characters' kids that I really hate; after all, scathachdhu wrote a hilarious and adorable one about Rukia and Renji's kid. It's the fact that 99.99% of kidfic is SO BAD. It doesn't help that there are lots of fics about my OTP's kids, and not a single damn one of them has been worth a horse's patoot. Pavlovian conditioning, I guess. But there was this adorable and sweet fic that I read today, so that's good.

Good animal article: Dolphin saves whales.
Bad animal article: 800 dogs removed from a triple-wide trailer. 800 OF THEM, HOLY GOD.

I really want this shirt.

The Fanfic-Writer's Meme

I'm just doing Bleach fics for this one, since they're about all I've written for the last couple years.

1. Which is your favorite fic?
Undertow. It was a tough subject with a difficult goal: could I make adultery sympathetic without justifying it? I think I did. The writing is some of my best, because I was just in that zone where it's flowing and the only reason I didn't finish it faster was because I couldn't type fast enough. It's a rare thing. And if I may be egotistical for a moment, I think I fucking nailed how a romantic relationship could've actually happened between Kaien and Rukia.

2. Which is your best-received fic?
Possibly Undertow for the depth of sincerity and emotion in comments, but in volume, it'd have to be Setting Sun, Rising Moon, because it was a romantic, angsty, melodramatic fic and that always attracts people. Plus it's common sense that a serialized 12-part fic will get more comments.

3. Which is your worst-received fic?
Blood Roses, probably because Hinamori-centric character introspection doesn't exactly light the world on fire. And I don't think it was that good, so I don't really mind.

4. Which is your angsty-est fic?
All We Know of Heaven, because despair was the name of the game for a lot of the people surrounding Renji and Rukia in their formative years. We know that they eventually get out all right, but I wanted to play with that sense of trapped frustration that they'd have felt at the time.

5. Which is your funniest fic?
It's a little rougher because I'm improved since I wrote it, but probably Hair of the Dog. When is drunk Renji ever a bad thing?

6. Smuttiest?
In the Midnight Hour, as it's my only PWP in Bleach. I don't think it's my sexiest, though. (In Trigun, it's probably Daily Special, in which Vash and Meryl have sex on top of a bar.)

7. Fluffiest?
Hush Little Baby, in which Ichigo plays reluctant father to Nell back in the living world. Fluff doesn't always have to mean romance!

8. Have you ever made someone cry with a fic?
I'm told I have. I think a few people mentioned it in comments to Undertow. I consider it a badge of honor.

9. Which fic frustrates you the most?
After School Special. It's not awful, but the comedy could have been a lot sharper, and I wanted to produce something better for sophiap since it was an exchange.

10. Which fic was the most fun to write?
Undertow for that feeling of being in the zone I mentioned, Setting Sun, Rising Moon for the extended plotting process, and Notes on a High School Scandal because getting to write pre-Soul Society Arc Ichigo and Rukia was really refreshing.

11. Who is your favorite OC you've ever created?
Of unposted fics, Yoshi the tipsy priest in (tentative title) A Less Perfect Union. Of posted fics, Yuko, Ichigo's live-in girlfriend from Setting Sun, Rising Moon. She was awesome, but I ended up not being able to show that due to the constraints of the flashbacks I went with.

12. Are you better at oneshot or mulitpart?
Oneshot. Oneshot oneshot oneshot. I'm better at sprinting, not distance running.

13. What character do you think you're the best at portraying?
Mmmmmrukia? I know I'm fairly comfortable writing her.

14. What character is the most difficult to portray?
Chad, because while I think I get his character pretty well, getting his voice down is harder, whether it's dialogue or POV. Orihime is even harder for me, but that's why I avoid the problem by not writing her much at all.

Tagged: scathachdhu, donna_c_punk, sophiap, tenebris and hallowd (unless you don't wanna, in which case ignore this.)


I also left a comment in startramp's 7 interests meme, so:

two-fisted monkey style
I don't remember where I first heard this expression, and I don't know what it means, but I find it hilarious anyway.

nac mac feegle
ACH! CRIVENS! NAC MAC FEEGLE! These little blue guys are like violent Scottish smurfs from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. Technically they're pixies (or, "pictsies"), but they're not your average army of fairies.

quincy archer hates you
The title for one of Ishida Uryuu's introductory chapters in Bleach as well as the name of his cover volume. Good for paraphrasing, parodying, and generally twisting about for mockery. One of my favorite Bleach chapter titles, possibly even beating out "Nice to meet you/I will beat you." Bonus hilarity comes from watching people realize his name is not actually Quincy Archer.

positively reinforcing sociopathic traits
I don't remember which wank it was, but someone accused Fandom Wank members of reinforcing sociopathetic traits or something, and people took it and ran with it.

characters named spike
Spike the Cowboy Bebop lead = awesome. Spike the vampire = awesome when not written by Marti Noxon. Spike my Trigun avatar that Becky created for me = awesome. And I just like the name.

throwing controllers at walls
It's not so much that I like throwing the controllers as it is I like playing video games, which ineevitably leads to throwing the controllers.

tiny guns
Trigun's Meryl Strife carries 50 little derringers in her cape. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE THEM, AND HER?

Round two of this meme: If you make up titles for stories I didn't write, I will respond with details of those non-written stories.

The previous version

This year, I decided to do a recs list of what I found to be the most enjoyable fics I read in 2007. I'd like to call it a best of the best list, but I'll be honest and say hey—I'm not totally impartial and objective. If your taste is the opposite of mine, well, flee now! Plus my fic exposure is pretty limited to what comes across the flist, what gets recced to me and what I see on The Pit, so this isn't all the good stuff from 2007. Also, some of these were written for me in bleach_flashfic so I'm even more biased there. But I think these are pretty damn good reads. Spoilers within for various canons.

( The list )

OOPS. I have no idea if anyone cares about these anyway, but just in case, here's the Links to Fic What Jai Has Been Posting at the Fic Journal, June-July edition:

Blood Roses "It's her first day as a full-fledged shinigami, and Momo is as nervous as she has ever been." June entry for bleach_flashfic. Aizen +(/) Hinamori. The progression of a relationship that wasn't. Shockingly, people seemed to like this some.

Departures "It's a long walk to the train station." Post-war futurefic. Rukia's been exiled; both she and Ichigo have a lot to learn. Part of the 12 Days of Torture challenge from ichi_ruki but this one's long enough it gets its own story.


Look, ma, I earned a pretty banner!

12 Days of Ichigo Torture
Guilt Trip / Whipped / Water
The Rack / Silent Treatment / Domination / Brainwashing / Humiliation
Intimidation / Deprivation / Bondage

Setting Sun, Rising Moon "Ichigo died." Finally, finally I got off my ass and began posting the fic known to all and sundry (or maybe just sundry) as Dead Ichigo. Chapters 1-4 of 12 currently posted.

Someday I'll learn to art of making weekend update posts not halfway through the week. It was a fun weekend--I got to hang out and have dinner/unnecessary but yummy ice cream with lovediamond on Friday. Much Bleach chatter ensued. On Saturday morning, I drove down to join irenak for an afternoon at Wizard World Philadelphia. It was pretty fun--not really much panel stuff going on while we there, so we mostly just wandered around the dealers room, browsing for purchases and gaping at exhibitors' booths. (The Witchblade anime is JUST short of being actual hentai. Ick.) I picked up a couple of Alias trade paperbacks for $10 each, which made me happy. Also bought some licorice and fudge at Reading Market, most of which irenak's dog ate later, along with the plastic packaging. I didn't actually mind much, as I really don't need to be consuming a hunk of fudge. At home, we watched 6 eps of Dr. Who (I'm hooked) and talked all things fandom and fic. I always walk away from our weekends hanging out feeling really inspired to write, but there's never enough time. Then on Monday, I got to have lunch with the always delightful roserevolution, who was buying spiffy new outfits at Palisades for her spiffy new job.

So the weekend was good--the subject line of this post refers to the insomnia I had again last night. How long can this go on?! I was exhausted when I went to sleep at 1:30, slept for about an hour, then popped awake. Got a bit of fitful sleep, was awake again around 4 and got up to say good night/good morning to lovediamond on AIM at 5 AM. So the only really uninterrupted sleep i got was 5-8ish. I feel like a zombie today.

I'm going to cut out caffeine in the form of my beloved Lime Diet Cooke entirely in the evenings, but I don't even know if that's what's doing it. I've been having minor anxiety attacks about my breathing--I don't remember if I mentioned it here, but I'd gone to the doc for persistent chest tightness that could potentially be adult-onset asthma, could potentially be something else. Ironically, the tightness has gone drastically down since I got back from dialogue's wedding, so it's not like I even have anything to worry about. But I keep feeling like I need to take deep breaths--sort of like when yawning, except it's not yawning--until I stop thinking about it, then it pretty much goes away. So I'm thinking it has to be in my head. But knowing that doesn't DO anything about it. SIGH. In any case, I'm thinking it's a good idea to go to the walk-in x-ray place to get the chest scan the doctor referred me for just in case. It'll check out the asthma thing and if everything checks out all right on the scan, maybe I'll stop going mental. Ugh.

In happier news, I finally FINALLY have a title for Dead Ichigo, my big mclargehuge Bleach fic I've been working on for like a year. Should be able to start posting it in a couple weeks if hecatehatesthat keeps up with the awesome beta. YAYS. I am not awesome at titles on my best day, but this one took extra gnashing of teeth and rending of garments. hallowd was not wrong to refer to the brainstorming period as the "Iliad of Woe." utenatai, tenebris and hecatehatesthat all had a hand in molding the title. Lo, they rule.

Next weekend is Anime Expo, which kicks off my month of ASHALKJGDSADKHGJAGDSAD. sarcasticval and utenatai, I know how to hook up with you there, but banfennid, we need to sort stuff out. I'm not leaving California again without getting to hang with you. :) I don't know what our work schedule is for the con but we should know before we leave. I hope this time we don't have an emergency landing in fucking Denver again.