Be my undoing, be my slow road to ruin...

Holiday Hangover Thing the Second: Yuletide, the time of greatest mirth and joyance among men, and also the time for writers to exchange fanfic gifts in rare fandoms (ranging from Goodnight Moon to Top Gear RPF to Terry Pratchett's Discworld) hosted on the Archive of Our Own. This was my first year participating, and I have cincodemaygirl to thank for holding my hand and speaking very slowly and calmly when she talked me through the rules and offering and requesting and whatnot.

I might have been initially intimidated, but I had the best experience! I requested stories in Guy Gavriel Kay's Sarantine Mosiac and Lions of Al-Rassan fandoms, vintage Battlestar Galactica, and Gabriel Knight adventure game.

And I received the most incredible story:
What Lies in Books, by prolific profic writer russian_blue
Gabriel/Grace, Gabriel/von Glower, [Mature], 4,064 words.

This was the Gabriel Knight story I most desired when I signed up for Yuletide 2010, a story that discussed the relationship between Gabe and his nearest and dearest, that let us see how far Gabe had come, post-The Beast Within while staying true to his canon self. It has everything I loved about the game: a historical setting, an intricate plot that was the perfect framework to explore Gabe's hopes for Grace, his desires for Friedrich and the darkness within, and, at the heart of it, his own strengths and weaknesses. Oh, and cameo by Silvio Berlusconi :)

The reason didn't matter, only the result. He was learning to control it. Bit by bit, starting with the medallion, until he could touch it without screaming, as Friedrich had done. There had to be truth in the hunting club's philosophy, the notion that the beast within could be a source of strength. That he could master it, and not become a monster.

...Gabriel forced his lips into a smile. Ludwig had done it, the pansy-ass bastard, at least for a while; a Schattenjäger could surely do better.

In another corner of Yuletide, I wrote this Cook/Archie friendship fic:
Fairytales Can Come True, It Could Happen To You for poppetawoppet
David Archuleta, David Cook, [Gen], various pairings, [PG-13], 11,110 words.
Davids Archuleta and Cook go to extremes with impossible schemes: life's more exciting for them with each passing day, with love either in their hearts, or - thanks to their own judicious plotting - on its way. All-singing, all-dating, multiple pairings, crossover with Country Music RPF and Kris Allen Band.

And I also wandered out to Bruce Springsteen fandom, to make this:
Cars & Girls for twistedchick
From Springsteen's Born to Run (album), various pairings, [PG-13], 767 words.
Life's a highway: these two lanes can take us anywhere. Three stories about cars and girls.

Sending much love to my Yulegoat, my gracious recipients and betas frackin_sweet, cincodemaygirl and likeadeuce!

Various other amazing Yuletide stories which I think my non-Yuletiding f-listers might enjoy: ( Hunger Games, Discworld, Cormac McCarthy's The Road, Pundit RPF, Kris Allen Band )

This entry was originally posted on dreamwidth; you can choose to read it there.

...ours is a stormy kind of love.

Don't mind me, guys, I still haven't come down from my U2 kick and rediscovered adoration of the lads.

So I'm totally shipping B and the Edge, but HOW CUTE ARE B and his wife of 28 years, Ali? It seems he forgot her birthday in 1987 while in the recording studio, and he gave her this song, The Sweetest Thing, as an apology gift.

AND HOW ADORABLE IS THIS vid for "The Sweetest Thing"? It features Bono taking Ali on a carriage ride along Fitzwilliam Place and Fitzwilliam Street in Dublin. Along the way, he enlists the help of various performers and friends in an effort to apologize to her, including Boyzone (!!!), Riverdance and the Chippendales, together with the other U2 lads. OMHADORABLENESSWATCH. (duckgirlie, I assume these streets are familiar to you...)



BECAUSE NOTHING SAYS SORRY LIKE AN ELEPHANT WITH A SIGN THAT SAYS "SORRY". (And a fire truck full of hunky gyrating semi-naked men.) HAHAHAHAHA.

Other U2-relatedly, I've been mainlining "The Ground Beneath Her Feet" post Two Roads Meet. Here's is the acoustic version of the song from the Bono and the Edge show in the San Remo (I am getting to the slash, slowly!). Here, they pair it with "All I Want Is You" - if you skip past the first minute or so of Bono's passable Italian (and message to Italian policitos), the double bill is just ridiculously gorgeous, and you only get backing vox like that when you've 30 years of touring together (though I've every confidence Dave and Andy will get there).



Okay, okay, I'll be quiet now and slink back to the U2 slash ;)

Dear Yuletide author,

I'm new to the glories of Yuletide and internet fandom, but I've amassed many fannish yearnings over my thirtysomething years and am so excited to be able to give some of them voice ;)

So, if we've been matched on one of my requests, please be assured of this: I will adore anything you write for me. I've been carrying these fandoms in my heart for years and years, and I am just grateful you are willing to write one of these fandoms and characters for me. I’m a diehard shipper, so I’ve left suggestions of that nature in this letter, which you should feel free to ignore, as I will equally love the gen/friendship fic you make for me!

Thank you so much!
( Guy Gavriel Kay’s Lions of Al-Rassan and Sarantine Mosaic, Gabriel Knight (computer game), Battlestar Galactica (1978) )

This entry was originally posted on dreamwidth; you can choose to read it there.

So, this is the funniest damn thing - Ensign Mary Amethys Star Enoby Aiko Archer Picard Janeway Sue and her beagle puppy enter the Trek rebootverse! How will the Enterprise survive?

(Please note, however, that even Ensign Sue can't stop The Slash :))




Pot Luck Comics - Ensign Sue Must Die! www.interrobangstudios.com. Site contents, characters, and all-related material ™ and © Interrobang Studios.

Two posting days in a row is unusual for me, but then I saw the pics from david-daily.com which mitsurudemon posted, from Archie's Independence Day concert rehearsals at Capitol Hill.



Is that our boy, over whose (lean, tousled) ramparts those broad stripes and bright stars never looked so attractive? There's that brilliant, gleeful smile we all recognize, his unfettered excitement in singing for his nation on the 4th of July.

( More Independence Day pictures and bad Star-Spangled puns )

This entry was originally posted on dreamwidth; you can choose to read it there.

"Just hold me now and let it be; shelter me, comfort me..."

...Also known as, guess who's signed up for hc_bingo?

I'd ask someone to write me Valjean/Javert (♥), but I might write some myself if I get a suitable au_bingo prompt :)

ETA: Blackout!

assault	heat stroke	headaches	strippers	burns
alcoholism	sexual extortion: to protect someone else	embarrassment	build-up of job-related trauma	-fever / delirium
drowning	disappearing	WILD CARD-drugs	zombie apocalypse	fallen angels
old school medical treatment	character is shown the error of his or her ways	seizure	ritual sacrifice	blood loss
telepathy (sudden onset)	grief	motion sickness	hunger / starvation	loss of vision

"This rain...will wash away what's past/And you will hold me safe, and you will hold me close - I'll sleep in your embrace, at laaaaaaaast..."

This entry was originally posted on dreamwidth; you can choose to read it there.

Title: (Wishing) That Such Heights Were Lower
Beta: My smart, geographically astute and always insightful otherbella
Pairing: Neal Tiemann/OFC, past Neal/Andrew Cook, past Cook/Archuleta
Rating/Warnings: PG-13 for adult themes and substance abuse references.
Summary: On 20 December 2015, Neal gets word that his best friend needs him. From All I Really Need is You, Part 9.
Dedication: For lire_casander. Happy birthday, darling. You asked me for this part of AIRN from Neal’s perspective, ages ago – I hope I did him justice. I love you and I love that you’re happy. I want all your dreams to come true.
Also for my frackin_sweet - when I imagined Neal’s kickass Lin, I saw a blend of Kara Thrace and you, because you’re just that awesome!

Not-for-profit work of fiction, no libel or intellectual property violations intended. Will remove without prejudice if cease and desist validly issued. All publicly recognizable characters belong to themselves; Neal’s new puppy and OFC belongs to me ♥. Title taken from MWK song “Anodyne”, awesomely, seamlessly written by Neal and Dave, which I may have been listening to on repeat as I wrote this.



(Wishing) That Such Heights Were Lower
[Neal Tiemann, David Cook], [PG-13], 3,500+ words

( On Cook’s thirty-third birthday, Neal fucking Tiemann showed up unannounced at the rehab institute, pierced and tattooed and wearing what looked like the ugliest parka in the entire world. )

…and now at least I know I know him well…

Hi, f-list! Check out the awesome new layout which the amazingly talented ciudad made for me! I was really excited to win her services for help_haiti, and she is not only gifted but a real sweetheart (she also provides tech support!). In addition, she’s gonna make me a surprise thing – how is that not sheer win? *dances around*

Thank you so much, my dear! XDD (She wants me to credit the_fulcrum for the style sheet, and viola!)

Separately, I do realize this LJ has been pretty much all American Idol all the time, but I actually do enjoy several other fandoms, including that of the original good Doctor (not you, Tiemann). While Eleven does intrigue me, and I have actually always loved Eccleston, my favorite Dr. is the delectable Ten, played by a David! Tennant’s older than our beloved Dave Cook, but as gorgeous, even more articulate, elegant, and at the same a time total geek. He might not have the Cookster’s guitar-playing biceps, but he is as utterly shag-worthy, ahem.



( Who/Torchwood and Barrowman/Tennant squealing, contd, which not-so-subtly builds to my conclusion, yo. )

Finally: ah, David, David – Archuleta, not Cook or Tennant, and a much younger, less sophisticated and more conservatively religious one. Still love him, and I think he needs love and support – certainly not validation, but not condemnation, either. (Of course people do feel disappointed, and worse, and with good reason.) I am just saying: my wish is for him to grow from the kind, considerate, generous (sheltered, rigidly brought up) teen that he is into the strong, loving and accepting man we know he can be. Okay, that's all.

It seems cookleta is officially two years old this April!

In celebration of this momentous event:

* Arch shows up in L.A. to perform "Imagine" on the Season Nine Top 9 Results Show, Cook tweets him about meeting up, and fandom explodes.

ETA: The boys in fact meet at some restaurant with a picture of a matador in it! Plus chaperones Drew Cook and Brooke White, who look in rather fine fettle! Photographic evidence appended.



* The annual fic train extravaganza makes its appearance! This is my first fic train, and I seem to have kind of worn out my welcome, committing a quantity of fic of varying quality:

01: Discussion, Decision, Cook and Arch reunite after Cook's Idol Gives Back trip to Addis Ababa, [PG]
02: Table A Deux, Part Un et Deux, Public sex involving coming in pants, [R] (which likely owes much to frackin_sweet's Don't Keep Your Hands To Yourself. Sorry, babe, I am kinda derivative, but I credit!)
03: Applesauce 2 Happy domestic babyfic, [PG]
04: Un, Deux, Trois Three conversations that can only be had in the dark, [PG] to [R]
05: A Fighter By His Trade Cook as a boxer, Arch as Marisa Tomei [PG-13]
06: X-Men Cookleta Where David has superstrength, and Cook has claws, [PG]
07: Arms of the angel BtVS!Cookleta: Cook watches Archie sleep, [PG]

All comment ficlets not for profit works of fiction. Real persons depicted belong to themselves. No libel or breaches of privacy intended. Will remove on without prejudice basis if valid cease and desist is received.

People awesomely fill my fic requests! See Sex toys by orochi_kitty and again by cerrad / Middle Aged Cookleta by soverignthorn / Foreign Language Cookleta by pretendhappyend / S&M Cookleta with Cook as sub by odi_et_amo53. (Pls to read warnings on individual stories.)

Also: there are puppies by cincodemaygirl, desert island fic by epicflailer, and ciudad writes her first NC-17 ficlet (which she blames on ice skating - a likely story)!

Hijinks ensuing as we speak - everyone should totally go check it out ♥.

This story was the joint winner of the cookleta_hols Post Valentine Jittery Challenge 2010, organized by the lovely lire_casander!

The challenge gave rise to all sots of amazing fic, including this one by my awesome co-winner leici, one of the very best Anthemic writers out there, bar none ♥!

You might know I usually fail at short, so this under-1,000 word challenge, based on the prompt “Answer”, was certainly challenging! I was ridiculously pleased with the end product, though.

14


Cook/Archuleta. PG-13. 979 words. Beta by frackin_sweet.
The most important questions can’t be answered right away.



"What's the story behind your new tattoo?"
David Cook doesn't answer. ("I gotta keep some secrets from you guys.")

Not-for-profit work of fiction, no libel or copyright infringement intended. Cook and Archuleta belong to themselves; plot belongs to me. Picture of Cook’s “14” tattoo courtesy of zoe_angel_bear, reproduced with permission.