Sing about the dawn in the middle of the night

[brigdh]

Mmmm, I am so happy, y'all. Not sure why, but I am.

It's been raining here for days; mostly not very hard, but a constant steady drizzle. I forgot my umbrella at a coffeeshop on Wednesday, and then couldn't go back for it yesterday because I was busy with homework and going to meetings, but luckily they still had it when I made it over there this evening. I'd been wearing a hoodie the last two days, but the rain's really too heavy for that: the cloth just gets wet and cold and jeans soak water up to your knees, and then it feels like you'll never be warm or dry again. The forecast says it's supposed to keep raining for another week. Normally rain does not bother me. I'm not at all one of those people who get depressed by it, and in fact, I think it makes a very nice sound for sleeping. But people. I haven't seen the sun since Tuesday- I am not going to last for another whole week.

Regardless, I have tea with honey and a toasted bagel covered with melted butter, all runny and greasy and good, and food on its way from Taco Ninja. Isn't that the best name for a restaurant? It's all Mexican food, but with bizarre Japanese names: the four levels of spiciness for the salsas are geisha, katana, kamikaze, and seppuku, for instance. Food makes everything right with the world. Even if I have been bizarrely losing weight for the past week, what the hell, body?

Claims have started for stagesoflove. I really like to watch claims posts; I get so excited when I see people taking pairings I want to read. Of course, it often turns out that I won't like the author's style at all, but it's fun to be excited for now. It looks like the community will be huge this time around again; there's already so many people signed up. So, um. People are willing to convince me that I don't want to write paired Seven Virtues/Seven Vices stories featuring the Gaiden group and the Sanzo-ikkou, right? Because, oh man, it would be such a cool way to compare and contrast, and since virtues=heaven and vices=earth it works out so well, and then you portray the virtues as negative qualities and the vices as positive and- But I shouldn't. I have so many other things that I need to write, that I've already made commitments to, and anyway the end of the quarter is coming up, so I'll have to start writing papers (...shit. I haven't emailed my professor yet about a paper topic, and that was due two days ago. I need to do that as soon as I finish this post). I really, really can't. And yet it is so tempting.

Today I mailed off my security deposit for where I'll be living next year. I can't believe I'll be moving to New York in August. It seems so soon.

Comments

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Normally rain does not bother me. I'm not at all one of those people who get depressed by it, and in fact, I think it makes a very nice sound for sleeping.

Which is why I'm going to bed now, rather than pulling an all-nighter, so I get to listen to it. :D

So you're definitely going to New York? Cool!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. I love sleeping while it rains, especially if you're near a busy road: the shhh, shhh of the cars going by is so relaxing.

Heh, yep, I guess I forgot to post about that, huh? But yes! It's all confirmed and arranged now, I'm going to New York.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Rune says she wants to eat lunch at the Taco Ninja when she's out there.

Also, you totally want to write Vices/Virtues for stagesoflove. Yes, you do.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. We'll have to go, though my friend from Arizona always complains that there's no Real Mexican food in Ohio, so it might turn out disappointing.

Hey! You're not supposed to be encouraging me.

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

People are willing to convince me that I don't want to write paired Seven Virtues/Seven Vices stories featuring the Gaiden group and the Sanzo-ikkou, right?

Do iitttttt!!!! You know you want to!

Also, damn, that's a really cool idea and I wish I thought of it first ;). So you should take advantage of the coolness!

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

I almost jumped in to try to snag Zuko/Sokka but, you see, I have this little problem with smooshing them together when there isn't much interaction to go on in canon, no matter how much I like them. -_- Though after making my nifty Seabiscuit icon, I'm tempted to apply for George/Red, though I haven't watched the film in a while and I'm sure nobody will read it.


Besides, I've looked at the community several times and I'm still kind of confused about the premise. -_-

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Well, you could always give them more interaction if you write them in a story. I mean, you don't have to start with the porn- you can let things build up over a while.

And people keep telling me they're confused by this community, but I don't get it. Why is it confusing? It seems simple to me.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Heh, thank you. I've been wanting to write a seven virtues or vices story for years, ever since I read an amazing one in the BtVS fandom. And this would be such a neat use of the concept.

I am so tempted and you people are not helping me resist at all!

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

It's a really good idea - you should do it.

*tempts*

[animadri.livejournal.com]

OMG! You must! Zuko/Sokka is my Avatar OTP. Did you catch Zuko Alone last night? OMG! *coughs* Ahem yes, it would be lovely if you'd write them.

[animadri.livejournal.com]

*nudges* Do iiiiitttt! *g*

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

There's almost no way to get them together to begin with is the problem. It's easy when you're slashing friends who presumably already hang out and... you know... are friends, not enemies.

I think it's because the challenge isn't well explained in the userinfo. Is it a drabble a week or what?

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

Yes! OMG Zuko is ULTIMATE SEX.

He's also so gay hahahahaha.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

But temptation loves company. And I too am being tempted by the Virtues, even though I am so much later than you are with a yaoi_challenge story that it may have finally gone beyond embarrassing and into funny.

You should totally do it! It would be great! Well, it would be totally great for us, at least.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

It's all confirmed and arranged now, I'm going to New York.

And there was great rejoicing on the East Coast. You should post about it some time, and tell us roughly where you're going to be living (did you get into student housing? do you get to live in the Village?) so that we can babble excitedly to you about it all.

You're moving in August? There are many ways in which New York is at its worst in August, but since you like hot weather they probably won't bother you. And everybody who can leave town in August does, so that it can be the best month of the year for having places that are normally painfully crowded almost to yourself.

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

As I was telling Brigdh, I couldn't think of any way to squoosh them together, but I'll be damned if I didn't puzzle over it at work and figure something out.

It's a bit Brokeback Mountain actually. I'm kind of embarassed, but I'm not sure if I'm embarassed that I thought of it or that I didn't think of it before.

Now I just need to figure out which stages I'll be doing... at the moment I'm leaning heavily toward 4, but I can figure out how I could do 1 and 6 as well.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Yep: a drabble or flashfic (story of 500 words or less) a week, whichever you'd rather do.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee, Brokeback Mountain? They go off to become shepherds?

And I like both 4 and 6, but I'd think 1 would be pretty hard to do with a pairing instead of a single character.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. You people are not at all good at helping me resist. But I give in! I've gone and made the claim now.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've given in to everyone's urging and signed up for it. Now I just have to hope that I can follow through with the commitment. *grins*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! You should do the Virtues too. Now that I've given in to people's urging and signed up, I feel fully qualified to tempt others. Who were you thinking of writing it about?

And heh. I didn't realize you also had a yaoi_challenge overdue. When is it from?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I should write up a post, though I'll wait until I have more details. There was a big confusion with deadlines and my having somehow accidentally not gotten sent a set of papers I was supposed to, and so though I know I will get student housing, I have no idea which of the three places they'll manage to fit me in. Which is still far more positive than earlier this week, when I thought I was going to somehow have to find an apartment by myself, despite being several states away.

August 27th is when the housing opens up, which is unfortunately probably too late in the month to take advantage of the heat.

[shes-unreal.livejournal.com]

Nope, they're stranded somewhere bereft of human contact and so resort to humping.

Though Sokka and Zuko attempting to herd some sheep (pigsheep?) would be pretty amusing. I don't think it would last long, though. Zuko would get annoyed with the pigsheep wandering off and set them all on fire, and then Sokka would holler, "HOG ROAST!" and eat them.

Hey why don't you use AIM anymore? I was gonna ask you earlier if you wanted to see Poseidon tonite and/or go to the derby match tomorrow.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, I get it.

Hee.

*SIGHS* Because it keeps turning itself off, and then I don't realize it, and then when I try to turn it back on it acts all freaky. It's driving me crazy. Hang on, I'll turn it on again.

[redshoeson.livejournal.com]

So your housing situation in NY was resolved? ^^

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Eh, sort of. At any rate, they're letting me send them money and submit forms, so I'm supposed to have someplace to live, though I don't know where yet.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

And heh. I didn't realize you also had a yaoi_challenge overdue. When is it from?

It's from last December. My excuse, such as it is, was (and is) that I hedged on the commitment in the first place -- I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn't be able to get it done, and I even went and officially released the prompt to any other takers when this round started up again under the new rules.

Still, that doesn't seem to make any difference to my own sense of responsibility to and for the thing. Plus, I have a beginning that I like. So I can't quite bring myself to walk away from it, no matter how late it is or how much I officially don't have to do it at all.

See? Compared to me, you're so timely that you might as well have been exactly on deadline.

Now that I've given in to people's urging and signed up, I feel fully qualified to tempt others.

And you can do it more effectively, too. It's always harder to resist these things when your friends are playing, and you can tell that you're going to be sorry if you don't sign up, and then you have nothing to say while they're all posting panicky little notes about the next deadline. I'll probably do it -- I just want to make sure I have actual ideas for at least some of the prompts before I commit, lest I come to my senses in the middle of the thing and realize that I can't do it after all.

It's Muraki. Again. The vices would be obvious and redundant, at least in my hands. But the virtues could be interesting, because it's not as if he doesn't have them.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's from last December.

Ah, that's not so terrible. It's only May, after all, and I've definitely had stories sit around for years. Besides, you took such care to warn people that this might happen that I hardly think anyone can blame you for it.

I'll probably do it -- I just want to make sure I have actual ideas for at least some of the prompts before I commit, lest I come to my senses in the middle of the thing and realize that I can't do it after all.

That is such a very, very good idea. Because I'm doing exactly that right now, and going "Justice? Hope? Faith? What the hell am I going to write for these?" Possibly I should have at least glanced at what the virtues actually were before signing on.

But the virtues could be interesting, because it's not as if he doesn't have them.

I agree; I'm really looking forward to seeing it, if you decide to write it after all. I think my favorite versions of this challenge always use characters or situations you wouldn't normally associate with virtue.

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

And just to make things more complicated, it's only just dawned on me -- like, this very minute -- that while the original Stages prompts handed us a narrative line, in the case of the virtues and vices, it's going to be necessary to arrange the themes in the right order to produce a coherent story arc ourselves, and furthermore, we've got a lot less guidance about what that story arc is going to be. So this round requires a lot more in the way of upfront thinking things through than the previous one did.

Unless on this round we're invited to come up with a series of related vignettes, rather than being asked to build a continuing narrative with each installment? Hmmm, maybe one or more of us should seek clarification on this.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Unless on this round we're invited to come up with a series of related vignettes, rather than being asked to build a continuing narrative with each installment?

I think you've always been allowed to do either. The five stages of love tends to naturally give a sort of storyline even if the author wasn't trying to establish an overall plot, but I've read ones that were simply vignettes, also.

I'm more curious to know if we're allowed to rearrange the order of the prompts. Someone's already asked in regards to one of the other prompts- the five rooms one, I think- so I've been waiting to see what Spren says to them. The sins apparently have an 'official' ranking that puts them from worst to least, but the virtues don't, unless you want to try to match them against the sins. And I've been poking at the order anyway, to see if anything more interesting happens with other rankings.

[weirdquark]

That's what I did when I did the vices last time -- the related vignettes, but not worrying about building a continuing narrative. I'm not sure if it just worked that way for the characters, or if it was because I don't really write in the Buffy fandom.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Eh, Rune went to college in Ohio, she can cope. *G*

Of course I'm supposed to be encouraging you! I'm the Root of All Evil for a reason. *G*

[animadri.livejournal.com]

Unless on this round we're invited to come up with a series of related vignettes, rather than being asked to build a continuing narrative with each installment? Hmmm, maybe one or more of us should seek clarification on this.

Dude, of course it's welcome. I just want you to tell us a tale. *g*

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. But I had never thought to see your evil turned against me!

Though really, anything that brings more Sanzo/Gojyo/Hakkai/Goku porn into the world probably isn't completely evil. *grins*

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

And I see from the Rules post that we can indeed arrange the prompts in any order that we think works. You are an evil dangerous tempting person. You know that, don't you?

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

It's the fun kind of evil. Which is the only kind I endorse, natch.