Prodigy Wicked

NaNo ... timeline ... stuff.

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:04:02 GMT

NaNo is upon us and I was doing okay with my word-count until I finished the first story and moved onto another. Moving on means remembering the word-count on the first story so that I can add it to the other stories (okay, story, singular, right now) for my total daily wordcount.

Not cool. Actually: pain in my ass.

So I think I'll just put my word-counts here with the stories they correspond to. Means I can break up the stories and not make it all one big soap-opera of a thing, and if anyone wants to track my progress, y'know, it'll be here for you to do that.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

mistr3ss Quickly's NaNoWriMo Progress for 2008

• "Pharmacy" ------- 8,070 words
• "Daily Bread" ----- 8,471 words
• "The House" ------ 9,436 words
• "Settling In" ------ 7,443 words
• "Journey" --------- 1,004 words
• "John's Father" --- 8,215 words
• "Normal" ---------- 8,155 words
• "Paper Girls" ------ 5,743 words
• "Secrecy" ----------1,994 words
• "Girlfriend" ------- 6,536 words

All stories for NaNo 2008 will fall under the working title Mourning Dove and will span Jasen's story from age 10 to age 18.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Total so far: 65,367 words

Goal by 11/30: ~~50,000~~ ~~62,000~~ 74,000 words

Words left to go: ~~0 words~~ ~~0 words~~ 8,633 words

My corner on NaNo: Mistress Quickly on NaNo

Jasen & Taylor -- Timeline and Continuity

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:17:32 GMT

Hey, this seems to be a HUGE help with Toby and Jovial, and as I'm hoping to use Jasen and Taylor for my NaNo, I thought maybe I should make one of these for them NOW, so that I'll have a chance to figure out wtf I'm doing before November shows up.

... watch me say that and end up writing Greg and John for NaNo. Just watch. =_=;;

Anyway! Jasen & Taylor stories listed here in chronological order. If you want links for the ones that are finished and posted, that's kept here. Oh, and bear in mind that this is the Jasen & Taylor book. Stuff from the pre-Taylor (the John & Greg?) book will be listed ... elsewhere. Probably. *fails*

THIS BOOK NEEDS A TITLE

until it's got one, we'll just call it the Jasen&Taylor book

01: The Roommate (01-09) -> started
02: Call (01-09) -> started --> first draft
03: Visit (01-11)
04: In the Quiet that Follows (01-11) -> started --> first draft
05: Hit (01-01) -> started
06: Impulse (01-03) -> started --> first draft
07: Promise, Distraction, Promise (01-04) -> started --> first draft ---> second draft
08: Secrets, Lies, Truth (01-04) -> started --> first draft
09: Trash (01-04) -> started
10: The Way It's Not (01-04)
11: Perfection (01-04)
12: Goodbye (01-05)
13: Away at Home (01-06)
14: Reunion (02-09) -> started
15: Random (02-09) -> started
16: Ideal (02-10) -> started --> first draft
17: Idiot (02-11) -> started --> first draft
18: After (02-11) -> started --> first draft
19: Linear (02-11) -> started --> first draft
20: Stranded in Limbo (02-01) -> started --> first draft
21: Road Trip (02-02) -> started
22: Taylor's Home (02-02)

Others that I've written or have in mind but don't know where they fit into the timeline yet:
~Pious
~The Spaces Between
~Obnoxious like Christ
~Gift, Giver, Giving
~Yours, Mine, Ours

And then there's lots of stuff that doesn't have a title OR a place in the timeline, but that's okay, right? Plenty of time to fill that in. Also, as the book starts to come together, I'm sure I'll start combining these chapters, 'cause they're really not very long right now, any of them. So it won't be a 50-chapter book or anything, hopefully. *laughs*

... someone pester me if I don't update this list often, please?

Jovial and Toby -- Timeline & Continuity

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 02:18:13 GMT

Miss Myna said—and I agree with her—that critique is hard to give on stories that are piece-meal bits of a full novel, so with Toby and Jovial, I'm trying something I've never ever ever done before: I'm planning ahead. Le gasp, I know. XD

So here I'm going to keep—for my own reference and for the curiosity of anyone who has it—a record of what I've written and what's left to write. Partly so that y'all can yell at me if lots of time goes by and I don't mark off new stuff as done, or even touched, and partly so that I'll have my list handy for the (many) times I forget my notebook in the car/office/apartment/heaven-only-knows-where.

I'll start posting after I've got at least half the story finished. Or whenever someone asks me to post. You know me, I'm a whore. ;) ♥

THE SLOW ASCENT AFTER THE SHARPEST DROP

Toby and Jovial edition
01: At First Sight (09-1st) -> started --> first draft (2,029)
02: Eyes of the Dead (10-1st) -> started --> first draft (2,132)
03: Tender Loving Care (02-2nd) -> started --> first draft (2,346)
04: Anticlimax (02-2nd) -> started --> first draft (2,213)
05: London (03-2nd) -> started --> first draft (1,229)
06: Deception (03-2nd) -> started --> first draft (2,260)
07: Celebration (11-3rd) -> started --> first draft (2,112)
08: Toby's Girl (12-3rd) -> started --> first draft (2,497)
09: Temptation (12-3rd) -> started
10: Frank -> started --> first draft (2,164)
11: Marilyn -> started --> first draft (2,112)
12: Protection -> started
*13: Call
*14: Alone in the Dark -> started
*15: Visitation Rights -> started
*16: Homecoming
*17: Mirror, Mirror
*18: Pity
*19: Whore
*20: Cohabitation
*21: Introduction
*22: Reunion
*23: Returning by Another Road

Total Word-count so far: 21,094

Stuff I need to know for continuity:
~Jovial's birthday is March 2nd.
~Toby's birthday is July 22nd.
~Toby and Jovial are 4 years and 4 months apart (huh, totally unintentional).
~Suzanne's birthday is April 8.
~Suzanne is 14 years younger than Toby and 9 years younger than Jovial.
~Marilyn is 18 years older than Toby and 32 years older than Suzanne.
~Frank is 8 years older than Marilyn.
~At the start of his freshman year, Jovial is 18, meaning Toby is 22/23.

... someone pester me if I don't update the list often, please? ;_;

~mQ

Fun, pointless meme

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:52:36 GMT

So pockygirl linked me today to a really fun quiz for your OC's. If you think you don't have 10 OC's, ~~you're probably wrong~~ you can pick fandom characters or real people or whatever, instead, but do make your list first, before you look at the questions.

I made my list based on age. Any characters listed as being born in the same year are listed based upon when in the year they were born. For example, Jasen and Gwen were both born in '85, but Jasen's birthday is 2 January, where Gwen's 23 May, making Jasen the older of the two.

Choose 10 of your OC's.
1. John (born 1961)
2. Greg (born 1962)
3. Toby (born 1983)
4. Nika (born 1987)
5. Taylor (born 1986)
6. Jasen (born 1985)
7. Gwendolyn (born 1985)
8. Jovial (born 1988)
9. Finnegan (born 1990)
10. Kaleb (born 1990)

1) 4 invites 3 and 8 to dinner at their house. What happens?
Nika inviting Toby? Considering Nika can't cook and Toby's scared of loud women, I'd say dinner wouldn't happen. Toby would have a good excuse, and politely Nika for the invitation, though. He does have some manners.

2) 9 tries to get 5 to go to a strip club.
Finnegan taking Taylor? Yeah that'd work, except Finny'd be all "bewbs!" and Taylor'd be all "ooh, horny guys looking at bewbs!" and when Jasen and Kaleb show up, they'd see this and be all "yeah we don't know you two" and leave. Which would suck, because Jasen's the only one out of the four with a car.

3) You need to stay at a friends house for the night. Do you chose 1 or 6?
Ha, funny, since for most of the story, they live in the same house. But if I had to choose, probably John (1) as opposed to Jasen (6), during the time he spends living in the flat above the Dove. I imagine he's got a nice comfy sofa up there, and that's where I'd be sleeping.

4) 2 and 7 are making out. 10 walks in...Their reaction?
So that works out to be Jasen's father and best friend making out, with Jasen's little brother walking in on them, which is beyond weird, but for the sake of the meme, we'll go for it. If I were going to put this into story-form, I'd say Greg passed out (probably not drunk, maybe he was just tired?) and Gwen mistook him for Jasen. She's got a big crush on Jasen for a few years, which really kinda sucks, for her, as Jasen's pretty much not interested in anyone, but especially not girls. Also, since it's Kaleb walking in on them ... weird again, he's the only witness to the first kiss Gwen steals from Jasen. First and last, I might add.

5) 3 falls in love with 6. 8 is jealous. What happens?
This meme's getting creepy on me. For this one, it's Toby falling in love with Jasen, with Jovial jealous. (Note, I made my list before I read the questions, and I put the muses in order by age.) So let's see ... assuming this is after the accident, Jovial probably wouldn't know his guy was even around another man a lot until someone slipped up and mentioned it to him. But really, I can't see this happening; Toby wouldn't go for a guy like Jasen, even if he were the type to cheat on his lover. Which he isn't. *shudders*

6) 4 jumps you in a dark alleyway. Who comes to your rescue? 10, 2, or 7?
If Nika jumped me in a dark alleyway, I'd be screwed. Greg (2) would probably make a valiant effort to save me, because he's a dad and that's the kind of stuff he does. But, he'd get his ass kicked. Nika's just awesome like that. :D

7) 1 decides to start a cooking show. 15 minutes later what is happening?
Dude, that's John. 15 minutes later, everyone's at the table eating something delicious. Healthy, too. Lucky muses. ;_;

8) 5 is in a car crash and is critically injured. What does 9 do?
This is the second 5+9 question, guys. What would Finnegan do if Taylor were in a car accident? Huh. Probably let Kaleb copy his homework, because Kaleb wouldn't've done it the night before, too worried about his big brother, maybe staying at the hospital with Jasen until Taylor was released. Dunno. But I'm sure it would affect Finny in some way: he and Kaleb are very close, and since Kaleb is so close with Jasen ... you get the picture.

9) 3 has to marry either 8, 4, or 9. Who do they chose?
Oh Jovial, of course (8). I don't really see them as the marrying type, though. Even if marriage were legalized. They're rare for me in that I went with the less cheerful, more realistic outlook where they're in love with each other, sure, but nobody around them approves. So they'd probably just stay lovers, claim that they're roommates. *sniffle*

10) 7 kidnaps 2 and demands something from 5 for 2's release. What is it?
Gwendolyn, who is tiny and scrawny and blind, kidnaps Greg, who isn't terribly tall but is taller and heavier and stronger and older than she is ... yeah right guys! *laughs* And then she thinks she'll get something out of Taylor for Greg's return? My bet is that, instead, she calls up and says to Taylor, "If you don't get that lousy boyfriend of yours to come out here and see his dad—" (we'll assume they've fought and aren't speaking to each other, or something) "—I'm gonna do something awful to him, see if I don't." Which she wouldn't, but then again, I don't think some little fight would get Jasen to stop talking to his dad, either. So let's just move on.

11) You get to meet either 1 or 6. Who do you chose?
JASEN (6). He's my favorite OC. I've tried to deny it, but there's no point, it's obvious he's my baby. Not that John (1) wouldn't be cool, but ... but! ;A;

12) 10 challenges 4 to a chariot race. Why?
Out of a desire to see her boobs bouncing or something, I don't know. (Kaleb (10) is dating Nika (4) whose breasts have a tendency to distract him. Not that he minds.)

13) Everyone gangs up on 3. Does 3 have a chance in hell?
Toby is 3. No, he doesn't have a chance. Good lord. *laughs*

14) Everyone is invite to 2 and 10's wedding except for 8. How do they react?
... um, Greg (2) is Kaleb's (10) father. So they're not getting married. And I don't think Jovial (8) would go to it anyway because a) he doesn't know them and b) he doesn't do very well with crowded places. They make him very uncomfortable.

15) Why is 6 afraid of 7?
*SNERK* For many very good reasons. Gwendolyn (7) is loud, opinionated, and has the creepy tendency to be right most of the time. As a teenager, she's pretty well hell-bent on getting Jasen (6) to fall in love with her, and then when she learns that Jasen and Taylor are together, she decides that neither of them is good enough for the other. Think of her as the opposite of a fag-hag, more along the lines of a big sister to both of them. Without the blood relation. *laughs* I'd be scared of her, too! Also, I just today learned the pun behind this. The real reason, apparently, is because 7 8 9. Say it out loud if you're like me and haven't heard this one before. Then roll your eyes. XD

♥16) 10 gathers everyone around to tell them a fairy tale. How does it go?
Oooh, now this one I could actually work into a short story! Kaleb (10) is my little actor, he's into the summer theatre program in his hometown, becomes a high school drama/English literature teacher after college. If he were to tell a fairytale, it would be really good: hand motions, different voices, dramatic pauses. Note-to-self: write this into the time when Jasen's injured playing rugby. Kaleb comes to cheer him up, inadvertently gets himself a fanboy (Taylor) because of his storytelling skills. :D

17) 1 arrives late for 2 and 10's wedding. What happens? And why are they late?
John (1) is late because he was busy having a quickie with Greg (2) in the bathroom. And they're late for something—ANYTHING—other than a wedding because fathers should not marry their sons. Jeez. Ew. (10 is Kaleb, Greg's younger son, by the way.)

♥18) 5 and 9 get roaring drunk and end up at your house. What happens?
Jasen shows up and yells Taylor's (5) ear off for allowing Finnegan (9) to drink when Finny's obviously underage. Unless it's something like Finnegan's got really bad poison ivy, so Taylor's taking care of him after doping him up on Benadryl while Jasen goes out to pick Kaleb up from something in town. In which case, Jasen would wait until he's sure his little brother won't see, then kiss Taylor in thanks for being a part of the family and taking care of his little brother's friend. Mmm. May have to make this one into a story, too. *wibble*

19) 3, 8, 6 and 4 all go to the zoo for 8's birthday party. How does it go? What presents do they get 8?
Huh, weird. If it's Jovial's (8) birthday, I'm not sure the zoo would be the best choice, unless it's before the accident. In which case Toby (3) makes sense, because they're good friends for several years before the accident. But Nika (6) and Jasen (4)? Maybe they're there already, with Taylor and Kaleb of course, and as a present to Jovial, since he's the birthday boy, they move aside so he can see the trained sea lions doing their routine? I dunno. Next question!

20) Everyone gets together and start protesting something outside of your house. What are they protesting? What do you do?
They're clearly protesting my very existence, which does actually happen quite a lot, and I would respond as always by simply ignoring them, or perhaps filling out a random pairing generator meme like this one just to freak them out. They're quieter when they're freaked. :D

21) 9 murders 2's best friend. What does 2 do to get back at them?
I don't think Finnegan (9) could murder John, let alone would. And if he did, I think it would probably just destroy Greg (2), leaving Jasen and Kaleb to take care of it in Greg's place, which would suck because Finnegan is Kaleb's best friend. This question is making me emo. Onwards.

22) 6 and 1 are in mortal danger. Only one of them can survive. Does 6 save him/herself, or 1?
What the hell is wrong with these questions all of a sudden? Jeez. And this one's really hard, too, because Jasen (6) loves John (1) like a parent—John is his godfather, and in later years, is his father's domestic partner—and John loves Jasen like a son, so it'd be one of those gut-wrenching both-trying-to-save-each-other situations. But it's okay, because Greg's got a sixth sense for stuff like that, and would show up in time to save them both, so NYA. }:P

23) Which one of them is most likely to fail at life?
Oh that's just mean. I don't think any of them really fail at life ... Taylor fails at growing up, Toby fails at growing a spine, Jovial fails at growing to look the age he actually is, and Jasen fails at controlling his temper, but really, they're all at least happy. Right?

24) 5 is trapped in a cave. 10 comes to rescue them. What happens?
What would Taylor (5) be doing in a cave in the first place? He hates the great outdoors! But I suppose if Kaleb (10) came to rescue him, there'd be a lot of "KAY-BABY!" and Jasen staying with the car, trying not to act super-relieved to see his lover alive and well, bringing Kaleb back to the car piggy-back style.

♥25) 3 starts a day camp. What happens?
Aww, Toby (3) wouldn't be very good at starting a day camp, but I can see him working at like a community health awareness thing, or doing a first-aid demo for a day camp. He's got a younger sister, Suzanne, so he's good with kids, and likes being around them.

26) 4, 6, and 7 are doing the Hokey-Pokey. 8 walks in. What happens?
The mental image accompanying this one is really very good; I wish I could draw. Might draw it anyway. Nika'd be jiggling out of her top, doing the hokey-pokey (she's a well-endowed young woman >>;;) which Jasen would be doing his best NOT to see, because ew, she's his little brother's girlfriend, but that would end up as massive fail because Gwendolyn's blind, so if Jasen's not careful, he and she will likely hokey-pokey right into each other. And if Jovial (8) walks in on them ... he's going to want to know what all the noise is about, because he's blind too and won't know who's in there doing what. He'll really just want the music turned down, because frankly, that song is ANNOYING.

♥27) 1 starts to write a fan-fiction where 9 and 10 are going out. What is 2's reaction?
Just so we're clear, that's John (1) writing fanfiction about Kaleb (10) his godson and Finnegan (9), his godson's best friend, going on. And you're asking me for Greg's (2) reaction, and as Greg is Kaleb's father and John's lover ... *shudders* Awkward! But I could see this happening, John trying to rationally decide if perhaps Kaleb and Finnegan are more than just friends (logical for him to wonder about, as Jasen and Taylor turned out to be more than just roommates). Note-to-self, write this; it'd be hilarious to watch Greg fret and John pretend to be completely undisturbed by it, while really he's freaking out just as bad as Greg is. *laughs*

28) 7 makes an apple pie. Is it any good?
Hmm. Maybe? I don't really know. Gwen's got talents, but I don't see them as including cooking talent. Maybe she's tasting an apple pie for John. I could see that happening. *shrug*

29) 8 and 3 go camping. For some reason they forget to bring any food. What do they do?
Meme-san, you are creepy. Jovial (8) and Toby (3) are the type of couple to go camping and forget food, really. They'd end up in Toby's car, Toby driving into town for pizza or takeout Chinese or something. At Toby's insistence, because Jovial's the kind of person who doesn't care about skipping a meal or three, and Toby's a nurse who flips out if his lover's ribs are at all easy to find.

30) While they are camping, they run into The Blair Witch. What do they do?
*laughs* Toby would start crying, Jovial would stand there with his hands on his hips and inform the Blair Witch that she needs to go away, because he's enjoying his camping trip with Toby, damnit ... but if she'd like to have a seat and have a spring roll, she's welcome to. It's a very nice spring roll, and even better if you dip it in sweet 'n sour sauce, and would she maybe like to taste some of the green tea he got to go with his dinner? (Jovial's got a tough streak, but mostly, he's just a sweet little gentleman.)

31) The quiz is over. What does everyone go to do now?
Run from me in utter terror, because now, I'm going to go back through and decide what's good short story material. *rubs hands together and cackles*

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Now, if anyone else has a question, hit me! They can be questions with numbers in them, if you promise not to cheat and look at the list for who's who ... :D

Also, the questions marked with "♥" are ones I plan to make into full short-stories someday. Someone get on my ass about them and make me write those stories, please? *puppy eyes*

Maybe a new direction for Jovial & Toby?

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:16:11 GMT

So I've been thinking, lately, about Toby and Jovial and why it is that Al/Danny was such fun to write, where Toby/Jovial seems to bore the almighty tears out of me.

Here's what I'm thinking:

With Al and Danny, the fun lay in two general themes: one, the over-protective-older-brother-can't-stand-the-younger-brother's-love-interest tension, which was fluffy and funny and sometimes poignant; and two, the we-can't-do-stuff-because-I'm-your-bodyguard tension, with the guilt and resistance and giving in, mixed with Al's utter loneliness over losing his brother and his resulting mental instability and emotional vulnerability.

Blech, what a mouthful.

So I'm thinking this:

I love Toby as a nurse. Danny, whatever. Love that. He's such a nurturing, caring guy, right down to the core, which is part of why Al opens up to him and trusts him. But I also love him as the protector, the man whose job it is to protect Al, both from others and from Al himself. The thought of Danny carrying a gun, putting his hand on it with complete readiness to fire if it means saving Al, just ... mmmdowant.

I love Jovial as screwed up. Really screwed up, not just issue-ridden like Jasen. I'm talking fucked up, psychotic, maybe a little bit delusional. I mean, look at canon: human!Al swears he spent four years as an empty, animate suit of armor. Sure he can't remember it, but he's certain he did it.

And Danny goes right along with him on it.

So I'm thinking that it might be kind of neat to, instead of having Al be the cute little undergrad who charms his way into Toby's life and bed and undershorts, have Al be a patient in the clinic where Toby works. Make it a student clinic, maybe. Anyway, Al's delusional, convinced that he had an older brother before he was old enough to remember well enough to have proof of this brother's existence. Comes in three times a week to talk to his therapist (this would be the Roy character, likely), and meets Toby when Toby runs a blood test on him, or something.

I don't really plan out my fiction, mind you. This is more planning than I've ever done before, I think, except maybe for Greg's backstory, which would explain why his novel is making no progress, where Jasen's novel, which I've planned about as much as I've planned my thesis (read: not at all *emo*), is flying around being prolific.

... *emo*

In short, Toby feels sorry for Jovial, Jovial attaches himself to Toby, thinking that Toby might know something the doctor's hiding from him, and things spiral from there.

Does that sound good? Sound like something you might want to read? Sound hackney'd and stupid and I should go write something else?

Please let me know what you think! ♥

[EDIT]: I went with it, gave it a try. See the result here!

HALP.

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 01:39:36 GMT

So I'm working on a piece of Jasen's story, and I've hit a snag. Let me know what you think I should do with this story, please?

------------------------------------
Okay, situation: You're a man in your late thirties, father of two boys, ages 14 and 10. Your wife passed away four years ago; you've recently rekindled a romantic and sexual relationship with your best friend and former lover, a man.

Tonight, your older son walked in on you sharing a relatively innocent kiss with your male lover. He reacted very badly. You've now sat him and his brother down and told them about your relationship with your lover. Come clean, told them that you're in love with him, that he's going to be that part of your life, now.

Your older son is disgusted and makes no attempt to hide it. Your younger son is fascinated.

After a few awkward-but-answerable questions, he asks you if you and your partner ever kiss. You tell him yes.

He asks you to prove it by kissing the guy right there.

Your older son is sitting right there. You know he has a big problem with you being involved with a man. Your younger son is watching you expectantly. You don't want him to think that kissing a man on the lips is somehow shameful; he saw you kissing his mom plenty, when she lived.

What do you do?

------------------------------------
Feedback with reasons or concerns or thoughts would be greatly appreciated! ♥

~mQ

Timeline

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:45:09 GMT

A place where the stories I write will be placed in order, chronologically. Please be aware that: a) I will be putting stories under lock where only I can see them after they've been up for about a month, so these links won't always be accessible to everyone; and b) the order is likely to change. A lot.

I don't know when things happen, relative to each other. I haven't read this book yet. *laughs*

Timeline

Mourning Dove
Fight, Flight (17 March 2008)
Jasen learns of his father's romantic relationship with John and reacts. Badly.

Expected, Unexpected (18 March 2008)
Jasen is forced to face reality and the aftermath of running away from home.

Together, Alone (14 April 2008)
Greg and Jasen have a "talk" regarding Greg's relationship with John.

Compare, Contrast (19 February 2008)
Jasen, age 14, spends an afternoon at the Dove after getting grounded.

Normal (9 May 2008)
Jasen's perspective of things change in the face of familiar normalcy.

Obnoxious Like Christ
Call (13 July 2008)
Early on in his first year of college, Jasen's father calls him. Frequently.

In the Quiet that Follows (1 April 2008)
After the yearly visit to his mother's grave, Jasen is comforted by his roommate.

Impulse (28 February 2008)
First sexual encounter between Jasen and Taylor (ages 20 and 21), their first year as roommates.

Promise, Distraction, Promise Version 2 (16 July 2008)
Version 1 posted here. (11 December 2007)
Jasen decides that yes, he does want and can handle a romantic relationship with Taylor.

Secrets, Lies, Truth (14 December 2007)
Taylor decides to "help" Jasen tell his family the truth about their relationship.

Stranded in Limbo (21 December 2007)
Jasen's reluctance to return to his life with Taylor after spending winter break at home.

Ideal (2 March 2008)
Taylor makes a comparison between himself and John, and everyone comes out traumatized.

Linear (3 March 2008)
Taylor gets Jasen drunk, and Jasen wonders about mortality.

Idiot (27 February 2008)
Jasen gets injured playing rugby, sometime either his first or second year of college.

After (1 March 2008)
Taylor and Jasen, the morning after Jasen's injury.

Random (4 April 2008)
Jasen and Taylor together at the start of Jasen's second year of college

The Spaces Between (18 June 2008)
Taylor comes home in his Halloween costume. Jasen decides to dissuade him from wearing it ever again.

Christmas Arc Version 2, 8 parts. (16 September 2008)
Version 1 posted here. (31 December 2007)
Jasen's and Taylor's first Christmas together, six months after graduation.

Jasen/Taylor Memes
Writers' Meme (20 February 2008)

Inkswitch Meme (24 March 2008)

Lovers' Meme (3 April 2008)

Stuff that Didn't Fit
Yours, Mine, Ours
Again, Taylor's and Jasen's first Christmas together, after graduation. Needs to be put into second-person and edited.

Zhem1x5's Writer Meme
Snippets that are slowly worming their way into Jasen's and Taylor's twisted little story

Taylor and Jasen, "Burn," R

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:12:42 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS MYNA! *glomp*

*cough*

Written for my dear friend faerie_speak, for her twenty-third birthday. She read Howl's Moving Castle when she was younger and loved it just as much as I did, so I thought I'd draw her a picture. But you know my muses, they weren't satisfied with that, so here's the story that goes along with it.

Cheers, and here's for a great Year Twenty-Three! ♥

Burn

by Mistr3ss Quickly

You don't mind the maroon lounging pants Taylor gives you when he gets home, Friday night. They're pretty nice, as far as lounging pants go, a good color and weight, and they fit you better than the ones your dad got you at the start of your sophomore year because you've grown and the old pants have been washed way too many times. Sure, it's a little weird for Taylor to be giving you a present in the middle of January—too late for your birthday and too early for Valentine's and Taylor himself dressed in nothing but a skimpy pair of underwear with flames printed on them even though it's freezing cold outside and not much better in your drafter second-floor bedroom—but still.

"Thanks, Tay," you say. "They're nice."

Taylor grins at you. Never a good sign.

"There's more," he says. "Here."

He holds out a robe, dark blue satin with wide silver quilting on the cuffs and collar and hem. It's not as nice as the pants, in your opinion: more something you'd think of your grandma wearing.

Or a drag-queen. But you try not to think about that.

You arch your eyebrow at your boyfriend instead. "What's that for?" you say.

Taylor's grin widens, showing teeth. "As thanks," he says.

"Thanks?" you echo.

"Yup," Taylor says. "For telling me to read that book."

(Taylor's been your boyfriend for over five years, now. You know where this is going.)

"What?" you say, anyway. Then, as an afterthought: "Do I even want to know?"

Taylor nods, curls bouncing. "Sure you do, mister Howl," he says. "Don't you want to see just how hot your fire demon can burn?"

You groan and cover your face with the palm of your hand. You should tell Taylor that you think his sense of humor is purely awful. You should remind him that he's making lewd innuendos about a book your dad used to read to you and your little brother at bedtime, when you were a kid. You should yell at him for wasting money on stupid stuff, insist that it is a waste of money to buy clothes that are vaguely reminiscent of characters from one of your favorite books, just on the off chance that wearing said clothes will get him laid.

But you don't do any of those things. You peek at him between your fingers and sigh and drop your hand and grab the robe and put it on and kiss him before he's had a chance to register that you're willing to play along, and by the time he's got that figured out, you're on your back on the cold bedroom floor with him on top of you, grinding his flame-patterned underwear against you and growling because the pants he got you are in his way.

The clothes don't stay on much longer, after that. You don't mind, and neither does Taylor.

Your fire demon burns damned hot for you, all the way until bedtime.

~*~*~*~

Two versions, which do you like better?

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:33:58 GMT

Okay, ladies and gents (do I have any gents reading this journal, yet?), here's the situation: I'm doing a story that I've had in third-person past-tense for quite a few months, now. It's just not flying in TPPT, but then again, none of my Taylor/Jasen stuff really ever has, 'cept for "Thinking" and "Obnoxious Like Christ," but those are a different matter.

ANYWAY. I've got the story started in first-person past-tense (Jasen's usual mode of storytelling, I've noticed. Everyone else keeps their first-person to present-tense.) and in second-person present-tense, and I ... kinda like them equally. So what I'd like would be, please, for you to read both and tell me which you prefer, and why. Or, if you don't prefer either, tell me what you like and dislike about each, so that I can compare that to what I think of them.

Appreciate your help muchly! ♥

~*~*~*~
Second-person, Present tense:

It doesn't take Taylor very long to break his promise.

You're at home, the day he breaks it. Visiting your dad and brother because it's been a few weeks and you've missed them, and they've probably missed you, too. And because you're at home, you're not in your dorm room, and either because you're not there or because you're where you are, Taylor decides it's a good idea to show up and make trouble, breaking his promise in the process.

That's the thing, with Taylor: He never does anything halfway. It's either a huge mess, or it's nothing at all.

Just look at how things were when he kissed you, the first time. Really.

He shows up on the front porch of your dad's house about an hour after lunchtime and he knocks on the door, but you don't hear it because you're downstairs with your dad and Kaleb, hiding from the smell of lemon-scented furniture polish, which John has been using on all the furniture in the living and dining room for about an hour since lunchtime. It's a horrible smell, artificial and strong like it's trying to cover up the smell of something else, but it makes the furniture look good, so John uses it, every so often.

Yuck.

John opens the door for Taylor and lets him in. He knows Taylor from the Dove, your dad says so, and he probably knew that Taylor was your roommate, even before Taylor told him, but Taylor tells him anyway.

Tells him he's here to talk to your dad, too. Doesn't say what about, probably doesn't think it matters if John knows or not.

So John tells him to sit and goes to call for you.

Someone here to see you, he says.

You come up to see who it is, what they want.

Should've stayed downstairs.

~*~*~*~

First-person, Past-tense:

It didn't take Taylor very long to break his promise.

I was at home, the day he broke it. Visiting my dad and brother because it'd been a few weeks and I kinda missed them, figured they'd probably missed me, too. That might've been why Tay broke his promise that day, because I was at home that day, or maybe because I wasn't in the dorm room to remind him, just with my presence, that he'd promised not to tell. I don't know.

All I know is that, for whatever reason, Tay decided that it would be a good idea to show up and make trouble, breaking his promise in the process.

That's the thing, with Taylor: He never does anything halfway. It's either a huge mess, or it's nothing at all.

Just look at how things were when he kissed me, the first time. Really.

So anyway, he walked from our dorm to my house and knocked on the door, but I didn't hear him because I was downstairs with Kay and my dad, hiding from the smell of the furniture polish John had been using on the living- and dining-room furniture. Stuff smells awful, really artificial and strong like it's trying to cover up the smell of something else, and it gives me a headache and makes Kaleb itch, so we'd gone downstairs and Dad had told John he wasn't allowed to come down and join us until he'd put the stuff away and taken a shower.

John hadn't finished or showered yet. Which means he was the one who was upstairs—the only one upstairs—when Taylor showed up.

Now it's not like he didn't know who Tay was or anything, even though he wasn't there when I moved in and met Tay for the first time. They know each other from the Dove, according to Dad, and Tay probably told him flat-out that he's my roommate, so John let him in and told him to sit down and called down the stairs for me to come up, because I had company.

~*~*~*~
Cheers!

~mQ

New Comm! Join! Ask! Answer!

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:23:27 GMT

The lovely Miss pollinia and I have started a new community called ask_a_muse. Everyone should go and check it out!

In the community, you can either post information about one of your original characters (using the template in the user info), or you can read about others' original characters and ask them questions. Serious questions, silly questions, questions based off of answers they've given others ... it doesn't really matter, so long as you don't ask anything they've expressly asked readers not to ask.

Geeky, yes? Of course! But it's incredibly fun, and I'd love for a bunch of people to go and check it out.

Oh, and if you'd like to "interview" any of my muses, I have two of my originals up, so far. Go here if you'd like to talk to Jovial (my original Alphonse), or here if you'd like to talk to John (my original Belsio).

Join the comm and spread the word!

~mQ

Stuff!

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 02:50:39 GMT

So today I had a very bad experience at the doctor's office (really, do I ever have a good experience with doctors? No, the answer is no) and to combat the anxiety that comes along with that, I wrote a ficbit. Just a little something to give anyone who reads this journal a taste of what Toby and Jovial will be like, once I get around to posting up long chunks of them.

Also, some pictures and a blueprint of Toby's apartment, because I'm a geek and like to make my own fanart? Yeah.

First, the "cast." In the middle, you've got Jovial and Finnegan, fraternal twins. Flanking them are their respective partners, Mandy and Toby (Amanda and Tobias, call them by their full names at your own risk).

In the story that follows, Toby and Al are very much an established couple, but they do not start out that way. Toby takes a bit of time to adjust to the notion that he's got a sweet young man for more than just a friend.

<--Second floor of Toby's apartment
<--First floor of Toby's apartment

There's also a porch outside, and the house is actually a duplex, sharing its righthand wall with the other half of the house. I'm pretty sure, at this point, that Akil is living on the other side with his girlfriend, Jesse.

And now, the ficbit:

Unwind

by Mistr3ss Quickly

Toby sank down beside his lover on the sofa and sighed, head tipped back and eyes closed.

"There are days," he said, moving his mouth only as much as was absolutely necessary to form the words, "when I'm glad I'll never have my own kids. So very, very glad."

Al stared at him for a second, then laughed and snuggled up to Toby's shoulder, nuzzling him a little. "Good day at work, huh?"

"Oh just the greatest," said Toby, lifting his hand to rub at his temple. "I got yelled at by a mother for making her son cry—big surprise he cried, I was giving him a shot, for heaven's sake. Then Mary, the new receptionist, messed up on scheduling so we had people double-booked almost all day. Meant the waiting room was full of screaming children, which put our older patients in a really bad mood. Got to listen to their complaints for the entire afternoon. Oh, and I got puked on. Last patient of the day ... he was stressed out by the noise or something, and just—"

He took his hand away from his eyes and gestured. Al winced.

"Explains why you're in your civvies, then," he said.

Toby nodded. "Yup, my scrubs had to go out with the bio-waste, today. Too bad, too ... I liked that set."

"Scooby-doo?" said Al.

"Donald Duck," said Toby.

Al chuckled and sneaked his hand under the hem of Toby's T-shirt, rubbing the man's belly in slow, soothing circles. "You're so cute, Toby," he said. "I love you."

Toby opened one eye and looked down at his lover, turning to kiss the younger man on the forehead. "Love you too, sweetheart," he murmured.

Glad I have you to come home to.

~*~*~*~

So that's that. I hope you enjoyed it! ♥

~pW (mQ)

Prodigy's prodigious first message?

Sun, 08 Jul 2007 17:45:12 GMT

Hiya.

I'm mistr3ssquickly, working here on my fourth Livejournal account. You know, I used to make such fun of people who had multiple journals, and now, here I am with four of my own. For shame for shame.

Anyway, this is where I will post my NaNo projects, friends-locked, for people to discuss, nitpick, etc. Yeah, it's probably ridiculous for me to use this journal for that, but I like the name and don't want to delete it where nobody can use it.

If I come up with a better use, I'll let you know.

Cheers, I'm off for a nap.

~pW