a++ would smuggle into space again

CHAG SAMEACH, EVERYBODY.

In a weird way, this is as much my thesis as my actual thesis, considering I've been working on some form of this story for four years, and this iteration since August. So, so many thanks to aria for beta and for telling me to get over myself and post it already.

This is eleven thousand words long (I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO I AM ANYMORE); it's eyai fic (primer is here, masterlist is here). Contains abuse of power, governmental collapse, journalistic excellence, murder, and no hansom cabs at all.

ETA: Oh, god, I'm actually sticking an ETA on this because it's freaking me out so much. YOU GUYS, I APOLOGIZE SO, SO MUCH FOR ONE PARTICULAR PLOT POINT IN THIS. SO MUCH. I WOULD CLAIM IT WASN'T MY IDEA, BUT THAT WOULD ONLY BE ONE TINY, TINY FRACTION OF THE TRUTH.

girl in the war

( We aren't in the business of sitting around and making small talk, we're in the business of making the news. )

I'm not sure this is the actual purpose of International Women's Day, but considering I started it out with reblogging a Rugrats/Gold Digger/99 Problems mashup, I think I will take this baby step. XD

Name a female character I have ever written (or one I haven't and you think I can!) and I will attempt a drabble about her.

If you give me a keyword, lyric, or picture I will use it if it sparks something for me.

Also, Today In Research: Henry B. Hawes, you're a nice guy and all, but in 1933, you probably should not have told the Philippines that "no it's totally cool Japan will have its hands full for generations with Manchuria."

This is for poor, poor astridv, who bought me in help_pakistan, back in August. Her request was for Riza rescuing Roy. I hope that this somewhat qualifies, and that she does not hate me for all of ever, though I would in fact understand.

Credit to schellibie for my favorite joke, and to prodigy for ... uh ... this.

in between the apples and the chloroform, ~600 words, Fullmetal Alchemist manga/Brotherhood. No warnings. Roy/Riza.



( It's all a little fuzzy, really, not that he is going to admit it out loud; he is a military man and does not break under coercion, even such impressive coercion as her extended and eloquent silence. )

What is this doing here, this is none of the fics I have ever wanted to write.

and the dreams grow teeth, Fullmetal Alchemist (manga/Brotherhood), ~1200 words. AU, spoilers through episode 49/chapter 89. Warnings contain spoilers, highlight to read: possession, sexual assault, threat of suicide.

( The thing wearing Roy's body fools her for thirty-five seconds, the time it takes for a man to walk down the stairs of Central Command, stop in front of his lieutenant, and smile. )

I'm off to Boston till Sunday! Have fic for Homestuck. folk etymologies, 4600 words, Rose and Terezi Vs. The World.

(I wrote it for femgen, forgot that I'd signed up, posted it to the forums, remembered that hey maybe I should post it to that challenge I signed up for, started reading through the rules, and realized they don't allow trans women. WHOOPS. You know what? Not the day after Judge Walker hit a motherfucking grand slam for rights.)

(Finding out about said grand slam for rights in a legal aid office:

LAWYER #1's EMAIL, THIRTY SECONDS BEFORE THE NEWS BREAKS: It's on Twitter!!
THE WHOLE OFFICE: *cheers*
LAWYER #2: Ah, shit, who cares, it's going straight to appeal anyway.

SO JADED.)

(ANYWAY BYE)

You guys, you guys! I got podficced! By the EXTREMELY excellent luzula, whose voice is just so crunchy and wonderful. She did On the Initial Conditions of a Partnership (Amram/Zelikman) and Lovelace and Babbage vs. the Christmas Death Spider from Beyond the Atlantic, a title I regret making up now that I have to type it out one more time (Lovelace and Babbage). They're both wonderful. I love the first one best, partially because of the way she says "Amram" and partially because she has this lyrical style and it works very well (see also: her reading of fahye's Tempest fic "Genesis" and sinope's Ravens in Winter.)

I signed up for dark_agenda's chromatic character fest, where you rewrite a canonically white character as chromatic and then deal with the consequences. It's 500 words or more and low-pressure, so y'all should sign up.

( and now, a painting what I did on the computer )

Last night I finished an erasure for erasureathon. It was fun! I ... sort of cheated, I guess, in that I didn't make a poem but instead a new fic, but it was cool to try a new thing. ("What, Emma? A new thing?" you say, and I say: stfu, I'll write a million stories about power dynamics and troubled boys if I want to.)

I also made oeufs a la neige. The directions at the link above are clear, lucid, and beautiful ... if you have some experience with whipping up meringues, which I didn't. I knew only that there was an evil secret that lurked in their manufacture, so that most of those who tried perished on the slopes. So I googled "how to make a meringue." And I found this site.

WEB 1.0 KNOCKOFF MARTHA STEWART: God, whatever you do, don't make them in a plastic bowl. That's social suicide.
EMMA: *looks at plastic bowl* Okay, well, that's not--
MARTHA STEWART: I wouldn't even think about making them by hand. It's far too much work.
EMMA: ... Is that why beating these with a fork is making my forearm feel like someone's run it over with a bulldozer?
MARTHA STEWART: Also, do not stop halfway to take a break. Wait, let me say that again in bold.
EMMA: But I need this arm for my line of work!
MARTHA STEWART: The tiniest bit of fat or egg yolk will wreck a meringue.
EMMA: FUCK.

Etc. But as it happened, Knockoff Martha Stewart is a big liar, or else oeufs a la neige are a lot less intense. I was able to make soft peaks very nicely, and while they didn't puff up to massive fat blimps during the poaching, they held together and sat deliciously in the custard sauce.

They're way too sweet for me. But that is heavily outweighed with the sense of triumph I get from having successfully done something that involves separating eggs. And they are surprisingly good if you put a pinch of salt on each oeuf and have it for breakfast, moaning occasionally, "boil faster, coffee, bring me my sweet morning lifeblood." (That last part is crucial.)

I'm going to miss this icon.

Reveal time! I wrote:
parthenogenesis, the Girl Who Owned a City, for dictator_duck,
Lovelace and Babbage vs. The Christmas Death Spider From Beyond The Atlantic, The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, for hradzka,
On the Initial Conditions of a Partnership, Gentlemen of the Road, for giddygeek, and
Five stories the Reader never began, If on a winter's night a traveler, for me livrelibre.

Under my cut are a lot of thoughts on the process. Yes, I wrote this ages in advance. As an apology for tl;dring all over everywhere, here is a pdf of Gentlemen of the Road formatted for ereader (courtesy of elf, who betaed for me) and here is the CD "Elvis Perkins in Dearland," which contains Doomsday, which is my favorite song of the moment. Think "Holland 1945" meets "Prenzlauerberg."

( four stories, three-day deadlines, two turtledoves, and a chatlog about crack crossovers. )

Today, and this is a true story, I was on the phone to pushingmetaphor while she walked back from a rickety alley in the middle of the night, and as I got on the highway to go further into the San Gabriel Valley, a car merged in front of me with two feet hanging out of the trunk. I am choosing to believe it was a blow-up doll, but in honor of the event, have the next part of A Beginner's Guide to Practical Engineering. This is still all based on the eyai universe. And LA Confidential.

AND YOU THOUGHT WE'D FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT.

Warning for content, language, and a Google Maps knowledge of Los Angeles geography.

~~~

"You know," Katya says conversationally, "I like this apartment. Nice view."

She hears Irina snort behind her. "The elevator's broken. I'm less than impressed."

"Well," says Katya, "he has to be able to afford it somehow. Isn't that right, Sammy?"

( Officer Sam Tilden doesn't seem too interested in discussing the price of his real estate. )

First, go vote here! It's the 32-character round of the Home Team Awesome Ladies Vote-Off. It is full of hard decisions.

Second, I put my fic up for grabs at dvd_commentary. Though I have written almost nothing and cannot imagine the Deep Emotions other people would want to wring from the literary FONT that is my fiction, I feel I should let you all know: Commentate away.

Third: 1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.
2. Turn on your music player and put it on random/shuffle.
3. Write a drabble related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it’s over. No lingering afterwards!
4. Do ten of these, then post them.

I picked reboot Trek. I also cheated a little, mostly on the punchlines. Most of this is gen, although there is some Spock/Uhura and Chekov/OFC. There is also a lot of crack.

( neon heart, day-glo eyes, a city lit by fireflies )