This is a birthday drabble/ficlet for hrymfaxe, who gave me the characters Illvin and Arhys and the prompt wishes. Happy (much belated) birthday. :)

Wishes (500 words | PG)
Arhys gives Illvin something new to wish for.

( 'Peace, at last,' Illvin muttered... )
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BEFORE YOU CLICK:

If you haven't read The Thief and the rest of the series, by Megan Whalen Turner, you need to do two things:

• Go read the series. Now. The books aren't very long, and they are very, very good.
  
  
• Do NOT read any Thief fic UNTIL you have read the series. Don't even read fic summaries. You really don't want to be spoiled for this series -- the shocking plot twists are half the fun. I mean it -- don't spoil yourself. In the words of the Queen of Attolia: "Go away."

If you have read the series, of course, then you are allowed to click. ;)

( 'The Thief' stories )
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Once upon a time, there was a meme. Months ago, now. I don't even properly remember what it was... But there was a challenge component, and mrstater challenged me to write some Cazaril/Betriz.

Anyway, I hope this counts -- even though dy Ferrej elbowed his way into the story and insisted on having a whole scene to himself!

Balance of Power (1350 words | PG)

A single decision by Ser dy Ferrej once changed the course of Cazaril’s life. Now Cazaril must ask an even greater favor of the only man who knows just how close he came to having nothing at all.

( Cardegoss, on the evening of Cazaril’s return from Taryoon )
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I'd been planning for a week to make a gleeful post tonight about how I'd finished off a work project (that accursed book chapter) that had been plaguing me all winter, and managed to post a fic at fandomfusion.

...Unfortunately, the book chapter is NOT DONE. *sigh* I can't imagine in the grand scheme of things it will matter all that much to the editor if he gets the chapter on June 2 instead of June 1, but I'm still feeling all bogged down and wishing it were over. One more day. Tomorrow I'm sending it in, no matter what.

At least the fic is done! :/ (And lest this make you question my priorities, heh, it was mostly finished a good three weeks ago, and just needed some final tweaking over the weekend when I was too tired to be working on the book chapter.) I'd been wanting to write another DH fic set at Hogwarts after having so much fun with The Sorting in 2007(!), so I was glad the fandomfusion prompts sent me in that direction.

• Stumbling in the Dark (PG | 1450 words)
  Dumbledore set the wheels in motion, but he left no map. All they can do is hold on tight and hope that someone knows where they are headed.

Congratulations to my fellow deadline-stalkers, especially duck_or_rabbit, gilpin25, and hrymfaxe -- we made it! And you'd better believe that I will be celebrating with a big ol' dose of fic-reading and graphic-novel-viewing as soon as that book chapter goes out. Tomorrow. Yes. (And you're first, zia_montrose. ;) )
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For fandomfusion's Harry Potter genfic challenge, "Beware the Ides of March."

Title: Stumbling in the Dark
Author: shimotsuki
Rating: PG
Warnings: mild profanity
Word count: 1450 words
Characters: Snape, McGonagall
Prompts: #42 (Ovid); #54 (Tom Waits)

Summary: Dumbledore set the wheels in motion, but he left no map. All they can do is hold on tight and hope that someone knows where they are headed. (Part of the DH-at-Hogwarts series Under the Long Shadow.)

( Stumbling in the Dark )
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I haven't had as much fic-writing time as I would have liked, lately, but working on this one in tiny little pieces has at least been a stress-reliever!

As always, I intend this as a stand-alone story within the Kaleidoscope series, but it's also part of the same story arc as Breaking Point and Messages -- what I'm thinking of as the "in-laws sequence," heh.

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Porridge (2638 words | PG)
Andromeda finds that the loss of her husband and the imminent arrival of her grandson have changed the way she views her son-in-law. But she has built her share of the walls between them, and it may be too late for her to pull them down.

( A soft knock on the half-open study door made Andromeda start and look up. )
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There's a new seasonal drabble/drawble event underway at metamorfic_moon. The last one was a lot of fun, so it's great to see another.

I've sort of cheated this time, actually -- I decided to post an excerpt from a "Kaleidoscope" update I've been working on sporadically this winter. It's kind of a sequel to Messages, in that we see the mirrors again and it deals with the dynamics of the relationship between Remus and Andromeda.

I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish the rest of this story and post it here -- work is really, really crazy right now, and I know I'm always saying that, but I really mean it this time, heh. (This is the first evening I haven't spent working since last Thursday, including the weekend.) But maybe having posted this excerpt will motivate me to finish the story. Especially since the title has nothing to do with this part of it! ;)

Porridge (PG)
( A soft knock on the half-open study door made Andromeda start and look up. )
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Work has been really, really busy -- pretty much ever since the winter holidays. I had high hopes for fic writing during my time off two weeks ago, but not a lot got done.

So this is neither (1) my new "Order" chapter, (2) a "Kaleidoscope" update, (3) my contribution to the Ides of March HP event at fandomfusion, or even (4) the tiny Cazaril/Betriz ficlet I'm writing as a challenge response for mrstater. No, this is a completely random plotbunny that took over my brain yesterday morning on the way to work, and has nothing to do with any of my "real" projects.

But posting something is better than posting nothing. ...Right?

Clean Slate (712 words | G)
A bath boy recognizes a face and discovers that he once made a grave mistake indeed.

(Warning: Major spoilers for my very favorite plot twist in all of Curse of Chalion. Do NOT read this ficlet if you haven't read Chalion yet but plan to someday.)

( Gomo poured clean hot water over the last of the customers... )
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The "Spring is Sprung!" drabble event at metamorfic_moon (which you might like to check out, if you haven't already -- it's been accumulating a good number of drabbles, and even a drawble) inspired me to write a drabble in the Warp and Weft ficverse. But then the drabble wouldn't leave me alone until I figured out how to expand it a little. I think it wanted to have slightly more of a point... It's still a fairly fluffy AU denial-fic in honor of Remus's birthday, though. ;)

Natural History Lessons
1345 words | PG

( 'Okay, Dad,' said Teddy. 'I've finished.' )

The Matthias who gets a brief mention here is an OC werewolf from Greyback's pack, first introduced in Out of Sight.

Here's wishing a most excellent -- not to mention very lucky -- birthday today to tegdoh! This is a very short little something that I hope will give you a bit of a smile in the middle of your busy day.

Suspicious Activities
(332 words | G | Marauder-era)

( Minerva strode into the Transfiguration classroom... )

ETA: And be sure to have a look at the "prequel" contributed by zia_montrose in the comments!
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Well. I never expected to write much (any?) fanfiction outside the Harry Potter universe, but other things seem to be creeping in. Which, I suppose, is an excuse to make a new index...

( Chalion series stories )
( Vorkosigan stories )
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There has been some discussion lately about how we could all do with a little more Chalion fanfic in the world. So here's a little ficlet -- no major spoilers, except for the ship itself, which you can see coming in the book from about chapter 3 anyway, hee.

• Illumination
  (541 words | PG-13 for intimate situations)
  The sum total of their time alone as husband and wife so far was all of maybe fifteen minutes. Still, they had made a striking amount of progress in that quarter of an hour.

( Cazaril finished a kiss and pulled away, just a little. )
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The drabble meme is popping up all over my f-list again, which is great fun. But it also reminds me that I never quite finished the last one, from August(!).

This is one of the non-HP fandoms that I most wanted an excuse to try. Except that when it came down to it and I had prompt in hand, I discovered I was all intimidated, heh. But now, without further ado, let me present:

( For gilpin25 — Discworld: Carrot/Angua and 'child'. 350 words. G. )
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I finished my submission for metamorfic_moon -- almost ten whole hours before the deadline this time. Imagine! I've only just started getting caught up with reading/viewing the other fic and art entries there, but as usual, there is a lot of fantastic stuff.

• Messages (3541 words | PG)
  Tonks has a lot to worry about as Christmas approaches -- her decreasing usefulness as an undercover agent, her father's fate as a Muggle-born wizard on the run, and the fact that her parents and her husband still don't seem to understand each other.

This is probably also a good time to try to get organized. Just what did I actually get up to this year?

( 2008 Fic In Review )

And I suppose I should also consider making some ( writing resolutions... )
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Here's wishing the happiest of happy birthdays to duck_or_rabbit! I'm so glad I've gotten to know you, and it definitely feels like I've known you a lot longer than I actually have. Your insightful, quirky comments add so much to any discussion. I love the vivid and original language in your writing, and I always enjoy your take on Sirius, Regulus, and Sirius/Rosmerta. And you leave such supportive and thoughtful reviews!

I have to say, though, that meeting you last month wasn't as much fun as I expected. Because it was more. (Erm, that's a Gricean-maxims joke, for the philosopher of language.)

Let me add my voice to the chorus at the birthday comm that the amazing train_lindz has set up, duckbirthday, to wish you many happy returns and leave you a Sirius double-drabble (200 words, G).

( For the Sport of It )
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hrymfaxe has done an amazing watercolor illustration for Chapter 1 of "All Will Be In Order," where Remus is philosophizing over his used teabag. I am incredibly excited to have been given an illustration for a story -- and hrymfaxe has absolutely seen right inside my head to draw/paint this.

You can see her art post here. And she has kindly allowed me to insert the image right into the chapter, so you can see the Greatly Improved Ch 1 here.

Thank you so much, hrymfaxe!

(ETA: And now, the icon version!)
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Believe it or not, this fic was originally inspired by the last rt_challenge ficathon, back in March (although I've forgotten what prompt it was supposed to be for). I've been working on it off-and-on ever since. Tonight, I decided to celebrate the end of a nastily busy work week by hauling it out and polishing it up to post.

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Title: Breaking Point
Author: shimotsuki
Word Count: 2821 words
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Torture (but no more graphic than the graveyard scene in GoF); mild profanity

Summary: In the dark hours after Bill and Fleur's wedding, Andromeda begins to think a little better of her own new son-in-law. But even an Order veteran who can stand up to a Death Eater's Cruciatus Curse has his limits.

Author's notes: Many thanks to tegdoh, mrstater, gilpin25, jncar, and katyhasclogs for discussions about canon timeline and character motivations that directly or indirectly influenced my approach to this story.

( Andromeda lay crumpled on the living-room floor... )
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Whew! Writing the fic for October's "Autumn Moon Jumble" event at metamorfic_moon has been a wild ride. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out what I wanted to do with my prompts, and then of course as soon as I had the thing outlined, I suddenly had a lot less writing time -- culminating in this week, when I had a work-related houseguest for three days, which was truly fun but definitely didn't lead to lots of fic writing.

Last night was the deadline -- at 3am my time -- and the guest had an entirely legitimate need to be on the internet connection, using my laptop, from nine until midnight. (!!!) I still had half a scene to write, and was almost driven to writing longhand (which I almost never do -- I think much better with a keyboard). She went to bed at twelve, though, leaving me to power through the rest of the fic in two hours, and then edit/HTML-format/post at the speed of light.

I'm just glad it did get posted, in the end! Even if I am very sleepy today. ;) And now I can catch up on enjoying all the new fic and art posts at metamorfic_moon myself.

• Changing Minds (4980 words | PG | genfic with background Remus/Tonks | post-war AU)
  The members of the Order of the Phoenix finally receive the thanks they deserve, but Remus finds that Harry is a lot more optimistic about the prospects for change in the wizarding world than he is. (Set in the Warp and Weft AU ficverse.)

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Here's wishing the very happiest of birthdays to gilpin25! I hope you've been having a lovely day, and that there was chocolate involved (or something just as nice).

There's a certain Discworld drabble sitting around half written, but it hardly seems fair to use that as a birthday post when it's really from something else. (Besides which, it's stuck...) So maybe we can drop in at Grimmauld Place for a moment instead?

( Ficlet: 'Surprise' )
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The madness at work continues! I owe an "Eight Things" meme, and lots of comments on interesting posts, and I haven't even read the tantalizing, tantalizing Jumble post I know is waiting at metamorfic_moon. Let's hope that this weekend -- in between events related to the fact that my little cousin, whose diapers/nappies I have in fact changed, is getting married (!?) -- I will have a chance to hang out around the f-list a little more.

But for now: I was wondering if I could ask the Britspeakers for some help with slang.

( The details )

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and good luck with the Jumble posts to all of you who are writing/drawing them -- hope they're going better than mine is at the moment. ;)
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