Elanor Gamgee's Friends

Better This Way -- Sorata/Arashi
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I have been looking forward to posting this one for a while. :smiles: And since I am working on a Sorata scene in Epic, it's especially comforting to put this piece up.

Title: Better This Way
Fandom: X/1999
Characters: Arashi and Sorata
Rating: Light R.
Words: 900

Takes place the ~~morning~~ night after, if you know them you know which night I mean.

Summary: "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

( They’d turned the sound on the heart monitor off, but the light had been blinking all afternoon )

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Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass?
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I was making cookies this morning, and the tines of the electric mixer got stuck for a bit. Vestiges of memory--I heard Oren saying, "two of them, two of us. Coincidence? I think not." I realized that just about whenever I'm sampling the batter off the tines, I think of Oren.

I started thinking of little incongruous things tied to constant people, constant voices.

Whenever I knead bread dough, I think of Marie.
Whenever my feet hurt and I go at them with my thumbs, I think of Jen.
Whenever I steep tea, I think of Marci.
Whenever I see a revolving door, Eric.
King crabs correlate with Lucent, Jon, and Jacob.
A 40 of beer means Pin and Dre.
The jamb of a door, Keri.
The compressing grating of an elevator, Neal.
Rubber-coated picnic tables, Mark.
Whenever I snap a tupperware lid, I will remember L and Kiwi -- whenever I'm reminded of the place under the oven, Cadence. And hopefully I'll learn something from that constant iteration.

There are probably more of these--inevitably, there are more of these, both warming and cautionary, just like those. I don't want to force them or contrive them, so I won't ask or won't try...but I did feel like I had to say some of this.

.

In other news:

So this kind of started as a joke when I realized one day that...well. There are few people on this Earth more different in temperament than Sakurazuka Seishirou and Tsuzuki Asato.

And yet, the visual and aesthetic similarities...well.

( 2 pictures under here )

Same suit, same wig (though that might change, and I altered the style quite a bit with pins and fluff). Different shoes (because Tsuzuki's pants ARE short), different treatment, new leather sleevestraps, and a different knot in the tie.

Oh, and I get to act like a different kind of dork.

That's it.

This goes beyond cheapskate/closet cosplay to cosplay highway robbery.

This shall be Otakon, Friday. With

puella_nerdii as Hisoka.

---

Tacit, for un_love_you
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Completed the 30 claims for

un_love_you as one big fic, akin to Crickets from back in the day.

Am proud of this. And think I needed it.

Title: Tacit
Fandom: Tokyo Babylon / X/1999
Characters: Seishirou, Subaru; Hokuto, Setsuka, Lady Sumeragi, Kamui, Fuuma, Sorata, Kanoe, Yuuto, Yuzuriha.
Rating: Hard R. Pain, sex, disturbingness.
Words: 3800

Contains shout-outs to

_leareth,

velvetpaws, and

akk_, by way of deconstruction.

Summary: Everything they are is built on words unsaid.

( Mother’s lips are always cold-the cosmetics must suck them dry. )

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Hokuto's Stuck In the Middle With You Cookies!
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eidolon_bird won my auction at

livelongnmarry and requested a shipment of the entire Tokyo Babylon Trio--which meant writing a new recipe for Hokutocookies.

Far be it from me not to jump at the chance.

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Sumeragi Hokuto's Fabulous "Stuck In the Middle With You!" Cookies

I got clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right

All right! So you want to make a cookie that's not for the faint of heart? Something sweet, tart, sexy, and IN YOUR FACE? Well Look to further! These clingy, crazy cookies'll are love at first bite!

( Recipe under here~ )

Well, eleven sandwiches, to be precise:

And there you a--Sei-chan, what are you doing to Subaru with that plastic wrap? Pervert!

--

Dragons? Dragons!
So, there's this thing. That I've been doing.

See there's this website where you can pick up dragon eggs. And you have to get people to click on them or they die. (I may have possibly killed my first two by forgetting to put them up anywhere...) It's a little addictive, in that you know when they're going to put out new eggs for adoption, and you sit there, trying to get the eggs you want-- of course you can't have more than a handful of eggs at a time anyway.

I don't really like spamming my flist, so I haven't posted about them at all, but my first three have hatched, so I though you all might like to see!

Also, I have a fourth egg that hasn't quite hatched and three new ones I just picked up.

Now that they're hatched, I can name the hatchling dragons, so... POLL!

Poll #1229056 McShep will never happen, you delusional freaks
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What should I name the white one?

View Answers

What should I name the grey one?

View Answers

What should I name the mint one?

View Answers

Edit: In case anyone's wondering why you can't see the last three eggs-- if they get too many views in too short a time-span they get sick, so I'm hiding them until they're feeling up to company again.

Current Mood: amused

Both the local comic book shops here are completely sold out of copies of Watchmen. And these aren't little hole-in-the-wall shops, either. Just the damn trailer was enough to get everyone crawling out of the woodwork to buy the damned thing.

To be fair, I definitely am one of those crawling out to get it. I got tired of reading it in Barnes and Noble or borrowing it from friends. Guess what I'm buying for my birthday, haha!

One of these days I will actually write a fic with Match in it, instead of pouting that fandom does not bow to my wishes and provide me with Superboy-clone porn. That is, pron about Superboy's clone/brother. Not porn between Superboy and Match. Superboy is far too straight for sex with any male ~~except Tim~~.

Current Mood: geeky

Relevant to your interests, RI!
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In all likelihood, if you're coming to con, you're getting some of these cookies. I'll try to make three whole batches--price of butter is a bitch, but:

Pick three! Yes you can answer if you're not going to con, it'll give me ideas anyway...

Poll #1228477 Otacookies 2008!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

What cookies should Mith make for Otakon 2008? Pick three (3)!

View Answers

Misa-Misa's Quintuple-Chocolate Friendship Cookies (chocolate/chocolate/chocolate/chocolate/chocolate/caramel)
20 (54.1%)

Subarucookies (anise/almond)
14 (37.8%)

Seishiroucookies (chocolate/almond)
12 (32.4%)

Hokutocookies (chocolate chunk/black currant)
9 (24.3%)

Solcookies (dark chocolate/cayenne/pumpkin)
4 (10.8%)

Youkocookies (adzuki/vanilla)
6 (16.2%)

Atolicookies (white chocolate/lime)
6 (16.2%)

Akihikocookies (chocolate truffle surprises)
7 (18.9%)

Shinjirocookies (cocoa/cinnamon)
9 (24.3%)

Heatcookies (cherry/cinnamon/chocolate)
6 (16.2%)

Lokicookies (maple/hazelnut)
4 (10.8%)

Lyoncookies (oatmeal/honey/golden raisin/white chocolate)
7 (18.9%)

Nokorucookies (butterscotch-chocolate / chocolate-butterscotch twotones)
9 (24.3%)

Other! (see comments)
1 (2.7%)

Five down, three to go...
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This one's for

graymm, for her prize in the SSU!C. She asked for Keiichi + Kamui. Epic makes me love writing them both. :grin:

Title: Hanging Posters
Fandom: X/1999
Characters: Kamui, Keiichi
Rating: PG, theme.
Spoilers: re: Keiichi's reolcation to CLAMP.
Words: 325

In Short: breaking off little pieces of fun-tac.

( Four months ago, Kamui would’ve just told anyone straight: )

Job get~
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I start 12 August--right after Otakon--as a private music teacher out in Ronkonkoma! 22 students so far with more projected, half hour each, $10 per student. It's a solid arrangement, lets me look for more and other things--transportation is a bit of a bitch, but yes. Job. Get.

It is a good morning.

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Epic is epic
current word count: 20758.
outline quality: Filled in the first Tuesday, I think it's outlined...fuck this is getting HUGE.

scenes worked on most recently: "Why Ueno" and "We've got to stop meeting like this."
character who has an unhealthy relationship with doors: Sorata
character who has an unhealthy relationship with escalators: Kigai
character who has cancer in her ear: Kanoe

scene to be worked on later: "We've got to stop meeting like this."

research of the day: More fun on the Hibiya line, hinges, X-TV episode 3, far too much tvtropes, Tokyo Babylon 1999, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, sorting algorithm of mortality
quote of the day: "Force-choking looks a lot cooler than it feels."

Incongruous Rex.
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Mana Khemia is an adorable game so far--three hours in and the saccharine hasn't killed me! It accomplishes this via catchy but not abrasive music, a fun battle system and an even more fun alchemical system, characters who make fun of their own archetypes and a swathe of genre-savvy, and an assault of bright colors that makes sense.

Just getting that rec out there.

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Epic is epic
current word count: 20096.
epic stance is epic: New estimate--60000, up from 45000.
outline quality: Unchanged, still needs WORK.

scenes worked on most recently: "Bare back against the steering wheel"
character who has redefined "guilty pleasure" at this point: Seishirou
one of chekhov's many guns appears in the form of: a black overcoat

scene to be worked on later: No idea? "Why Ueno?" should really come next, but knowing me I'll wind up somewhere else.

research of the day: "What's the compartment between the driver and passenger seats called? The one with the gearstick and the parking brake and--oh. Thanks~"
quote of the day: "ah. Practicality. It’s a reasonable thing to laugh at, practicality in the face of decadence; if one can’t laugh at serious matters, one can’t acknowledge the extent of their severity."
slightly more tantalizing ~~image~~ quote of the day: "--but then, you smell like sex, so maybe they can't tell the difference."

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yet another champagne room joke
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Will have a Jerry for the next few days, so writing may be sporadic. But it will be good to have a Jerry.

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Epic is epic
current word count: 19181 (OVER TWO TIMES NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAANNNND!)
epic stance is epic: There is no sex in the epic. Oh, there's epic in the epic, but you don't want epic, you want sex, and there is no sex in the epic--
outline quality: --but afterglow is perfectly okay.

scenes worked on most recently: "Fuck you too, Iraq" and "Ok that is SO NOT KAMUI".
character who is, apparently, refreshingly human: Kusanagi
character who hates his wife a lot right now: Daisuke

scene to be worked on later: "Bare back against the steering wheel" or "Why Ueno?"
character who can't control showing off his self-control: Kamui
character who "benefits": Sorata
character who can't control showing off his self-control in an entirely different scenario: Seishirou
character who "benefits": Subaru

research of the day: X/1999 vols. 2, 3, X-TV ep. 2, 3, Ryokan charges in Taito, Camp Zama (again), parking garages in Kasumigaseki and, er, one of the cars that's parked in it.
quote of the day: "He is not alone on the tower—he and his Dragons wear cloaks of neither brown nor grey, the color that is both—of hair and hide. They are tattered. They stand on the beams and the beams run red, as if the metal is more alive than they."

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It's too late at night for this crap
You know how most cats, when they have a dead animal they want to offer as a present because they love you so very very much, they take the animal and carefully place the dead carcass where you will find it and/or step on it? Yeah, apparently my cat has to be special. I get home at 12:30, and wander down to my room. Since I'm sleep deprived, it takes me a minute before "dark splotches on my brown carpet" resolve themselves. Into heaps of feathers. And a head. And a few internal organs (I'm pretty sure I found the heart somewhere next to the couch). And one wing. Yeah-- my cat? She tore the damn bird apart and strew the remains across the front half of my room, thus ensuring I would have to spend at least 10 minutes dealing with her gift.

I'm not even sure where she GOT the bird. The windows were all closed today! They've been closed for the past two or three days. There were birds on our windowsill when we had them open a couple of days ago, but what would she have done with a bird corpse for three whole days? And I haven't seen any signs of birds in the house in the past couple of days. I mean, there's an outside chance the bird got into my room somehow and spontaneously exploded, but...

What in the hell, cat?

Finished.
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Watchmen has succeeded in sucking nearly all of my inspiration out through my ears and replacing it with a mantra of

yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did yes ozy yes you did for the love of god, DO IT.

...So yeah. Found an emotional hook after all. Took me until issue 11 and I think it might have been the wrong hook anyway, but I found it. It's still mostly an intellectual excercise--I found myself looking at the first few pages of issue 12 and going, "oh, yeah, way to use meta for dissociative purposes, I'll bet you--yep, right there, The Day the Earth Stood Still, good choice, irony is the new black, and whoo, ketchup." Could not get over the hurdle of the style but that's probably just a lack of experience. I think you can tell where what sympathies I have lie--strongly disliked most of the cast, which was, I believe, Moore's aim, but found myself outright insulted by Laurel's character and her posturing. Also, overall, I fould the appendices more effective at conveyance than the story itself. Make of that what you will.

My first thought after finishing the story was "I need a glass of water."

I can now say that I have read it. I can also say that I forfeit any claim I had to the hours spent reading it, I don't want that time back.

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I do, however, want my inspiration back. Like, now. This feeling of frightful impotence is driving me nuts. Ideas?

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Vague rage-iness here
( Dr Horrible, spoiler-type thing )

Please note: I have not actually watched it the whole way through. Horrible struck me as too much of a Nice Guy, and it annoyed me. But this is just one more reason why I'm not planning on finishing it. D:

Current Mood: annoyed

About friggin' time I finally read Watchmen.
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In addition to the other things I did today, I watched Enchanted and read the first two issues of Watchmen.

...Eclectic Mith is eclectic.

I feel like I'm reading Watchmen like music. I can't immerse or connect and I don't know whether that's intentional on Moore's part or not. I have been generally spoiled--I know who the big bads are, whose fathers certain people are, the mastermind reveal and what motifs to watch out for. But there's something that's keeping me reserved and apathetic throughout. It's probably fear. Either that or just not having the area knowledge.

(I think it says something that I opened the files and wen "oh! Left to right! Like English. Wait, this is English.")

Frankly, I think it could benefit a lot from panels that aren't square. I like the design but not the art, if you know what I mean.

Of course I'll finish it. Probably tomorrow or Sunday morning. Trouble is that I keep getting The Beginning is the End is the Beginning in my head when I so much as gloss over the idea, and that song is setting up to be nightmare fodder. I'm depressed enough as it is, seriously, I don't need that hissing ostinato and I really don't need that one measure of 2/4.

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Hopefully that last changes, though. Have a job interview out in Ronkonkoma on Tuesday--private voice and piano instruction, and aside from the asshat commute it's a really good fit. and J is coming up on Sunday~ so that should relieve some of this funk.

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Epic is epic
current word count: 17652
epic news is epic: All the events that make up Day One total 8000 of those words.
outline quality: The gift that keeps on giving.

scene worked on most recently: "A little less conversation, a little more Arashi" parts 1 and 2
character who has sent me into a Do I Kick the Dog quandary: Daisuke

scene to be worked on later: "Fuck you too, Iraq", "Ok that is SO NOT KAMUI", or "So wakashudo really IS in vogue..."
character who wants the first: Kanoe
the second: Hinoto
the third: Everyone else
character responsible for lampshading: Sorata. Always.

research of the day: Hibiya line, nerve damage, X-TV ep. 2
quote of the day: "Make me."

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The Dark Knight
Just got out.

I can't stop thinking about it. This film absolutely blew me away.

( Thoughts and Spoilers )

Current Mood: satisfied
Current Music: Filmspotting

...couldn't be anything more different from that last piece.
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Title: Associations
Fandom: X/1999
Characters: Kakyou, Hokuto
Rating: Lyrical-worksafe
Words: 400
Dude, what the heck: Mith wrote something cute~!

This is yoru_yume's prize for the SSU!C.

In Summary: Kakyou doesn't know what to make of her. So he does.

( When he puts his hand on her cheek, he doesn’t know whose skin she feels like. )

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Oh, kinkfest.
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This is one of those "I'm a horrible person" fics, I think. Doesn't help that I wrote it on the plane and bus back to Pittsburgh during that whole Penguins thing.

Title: Declining Resource
Author: Mithrigil
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica 2004
Characters: Felix Gaeta, Gaius Baltar
Rating: NC-17, rough play and power issues
Words: 1400

Spoilers for the end of season 2.

For the prompt: 7/17 -- Battlestar Galactica - Baltar/Gaeta - ink - equations without solution

Summary: Frak you, Mister President.

( Oh, these wings are a privilege, but freedom's a right. )

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HURM! HUUUUUU~UURM!
I was going to make a rambly post about So You Think You Can Dance, conspiracy theories, and the hierarchy of dance. Comfort's going to get kicked off again, woe.

But I can't think about that right now.

The Watchmen trailer is up.

I think I need a cigarette, HOOOOLY FUCK.

ETA: The trailer was intended to go live on Friday, and someone must have leaked the URL ahead of time, so the video's been taken down now. Try it again tomorrow. I'm glad I watched it three times in a row when I had the chance!

~~If you absolutely have to see it today and don't mind the lesser quality, it's on Youtube here. For now, anyway.~~ Gone.

ETA2: Sparkling clean LIES! Here is another copy of the trailer, at better quality!

Current Mood: satisfied

Hoarding awesome.
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Have been watching Gurren Lagann, on the reccommendation of several. It's not my thing, not by a long shot--I'm convinced that the men at Gainax have no penises, not even in jars under their beds. I don't like most of the cast (ESPECIALLY not Nia), nor the designs, nor the heavy-handedness, volume, bombast and general transparency.

Nevertheless, I will concede that episode fifteen has something awesome in it. Dude, he punched it. In the face.

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I wrote a poem about how much I am hurt by this past round of kinkfest, to the tune of "Another reason why I don't keep a gun in the house."

Well, I thought it was funny.

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Today: more shit-job hunting, because this hostess thing is not reliable at all.

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Epic is epic
current word count: 16641
outline quality: No changes, but am filling things in. One more scene to be writ will complete day one.

scene worked on most recently: "The Battle of Nishi-Kasai"
character with a pimpin' ride: Fuuma
pimpin' ride: is pimpin'
pimpin' ride: is not Sorata
Yuuto: is amused

scene to be worked on later: "A Little Less Conversation, a Little More Arashi"
character whose POV is strangely fun: Daisuke!
pimpin' ride: is not Kamui

research of the day: conductive properties of glass, voting rights and partisanship of monks and nuns in East Asia, especially the whole Cambodia thing, oh and did you know that Kouyasan was kind of like San Francisco for clergy?
quote of the day: "They negate the repercussions, undo the consequences--however can they expect to learn from them?"

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Gr.
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Razzafrazzing body, godfuckingdamn it, razzafrazzing mother making me hate it even more. Gym at 4. Going to go every fucking day until I get it right.

Every day I spend here is another day I'm convinced that I'll never recover. I'm convinced that mother feeds me to make herself feel thinner. I will never believe anyone who tells me I look good when I feel this crappy. So don't. Doesn't help that someone reminded me of the existence of /cgl/ the other day. At least the three times my pics have come up since, no one has complained.

Thing is, I weigh and measure the same as I did last Otakon. And my head still says it's never enough.

Every morning for the last two weeks I have woken up feeling shitty about myself and how I look. The last two WEEKS.

Does this have to happen every fucking July?

Sigh. Back to writing. Writing and job applications and gym later and being glad at least that half of this where the fuck did my hipbones go is hormone-related.

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Epic is epic
current word count: 14797
outline quality: Spread a few things out in week one.

scene worked on most recently: "The Call Knows Where You Sleep"
character who wins for simile: Kakyou
character who wins for chutzpah: Kanoe
reader who wins for Kanoe:

zombie_fetus

scene to be worked on later: "The Battle of Nishi-Kasai"
character who is an adorable drunk: Fuuma
character who is avoiding ethnic stereotypes, except not: Yuuto
character who is so far in over his head he can feel starfish climbing up his pants: Sorata

research of the day: TB vols. 1, 3; X/1999 vols. 2, 3, 14, 15; maps of Edogawa and local police boxes; Tokaido schedule; minor characters of Death Note; didn't have to research the time it takes to put on a shikifuku because, heh, got that shit covered?
quote of the day: "Forget the damned tree. You're back. That's what matters."

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Randomly, a Runaways assertion:

Xavin being male does not make Karolina any less of a lesbian.

Sex, gender and sexuality is more complicated than that.

Current Mood: aggravated

I always think of the best things in the shower.
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I ask myself, "self, why has no-one made a Berserk AMV set to Enormous Penis?"

And then I doublecheck youtube and sure enough, someone has. Full of That Kind of Spoilers and DISTURBING AS FUCK IMAGERY, though, don't click if you don't know what you're getting into.

God bless the Internet.

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Badass Longcoat
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My

livelongnmarry cookie auction was won for $65 by

eidolon_bird, who requested Hokutocookies! I look forward to this. A lot. I'm saying blackcurrant and dark chocolate chips, for that decadent tartness.

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Re:

x2009 thing (SIGN UP SIGN UP PLEASE~), I swear to god Subaru is getting revenge on me for the hell I put him through in Timestamp. Seriously. Revenge. Because out of the 12000+ words this thing is so far, at least 25% is Subaru being thoroughly badass. Not to mention the stuff I've only written in my head. He's resolved to get what he wants (by his own definition) this time around and he's going to do it.

Epic is epic
epic news is epic: Epic can has title nao!
current word count: 12419 . New estimate, 45000 words, up from 30000.
outline quality: Have wrangled and paced out from Sunday to Friday of the first week, haven't filled everything in by a long shot. Less has to happen per day in the middle, though.

scene worked on most recently: "Well excu~use me, Princess."
character who hasn't been this turned on in months: Seishirou
character responsible for that: Who do you think?
characters who will never be able to look at that elevator the same way again: anyone who was in the Diet lobby that evening.

scene to be worked on later: Either "The Battle of Nishi-Kasai" or "Paved Paradise, Put Up a Ferris Wheel"
character who is itching to make that wakashudo joke: Sorata
character who wants to scratch it: Kigai
character who is not as think as you drunk he is: Kamui

research of the day: X-TV episode 2, Kasai Riverside Park, the title.
quote of the day: "If any practitioner of onmyoujutsu claims affiliation to the Seven Seals or the Seven Angels, whether by intent or action, he will be judged as an abuser of the art and subject to reprimand from the Sakurazukamori. Without exception."

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