Rodo's Journal

Title: Triptych
Fandom: Outlaw King
Length: 978 words
Rating: PG
Genre: slice of life, family
Pairing/Characters: Robert the Bruce/Elizabeth de Burgh, Marjorie Bruce
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: Airheart
A/N: written for evewithanapple for Chocolate Box 2019

( Sunlight streamed through the small window and woke Elizabeth de Burgh. )

Title: Father and Son
Fandom: Indiana Jones
Length: 2816 words
Rating: G
Genre: family, relationship study, 5+1
Characters: Indiana Jones, Henry Jones Sr
Warnings/Labels: referenced canon character death and terminal illness
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: Hannah
A/N: written for pressdbtwnpages for Yuletide 2018

Summary: Five times Indiana Jones didn't get along with his father and one time he did.

( “Now, Junior, tell me about your day,” Henry Jones Sr said when he returned from his lectures that evening. )

Title: The Bastard Daughter
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Length: 3900 words (24k words in total)
Rating: 16+
Genre: AU
Characters: Sansa Stark, Ned Stark, Arya Stark
Warning: graphic depictions of violence, minor character death
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: Isis
A/N: This story is based on a kinkmeme prompt over at thekinksidoforlove that reads as follows:

"Due to plot, Arya and Ned are able to escape Kingslanding, but they had to leave Sansa behind. I would love to read something where Sansa is smuggled out of Kingslanding, and sent to Braavos, where she is able to create a successful sewing business. After the war is over, her family finally start to search for her, and they find her. How would her family react to knowing that she is completely independent of them? How would Sansa react to seeing her family again? Bonus points for Sansa irrationally resenting Ned, and the rest of her family."

So yes, this story is canon-divergent in more ways than one.

Summary: After Joffrey's death, Petyr Baelish tries to spirit Sansa away to the Vale, but fate intervenes, and she ends up in the last place anyone might look for her: Braavos.

Chapter I: Bloody Seas | Chapter II: The Bastard Daughter of Valyria | Chapter III: The Crane and the Pearl | Chapter IV: Weathering the Storm | Chapter V: Winter's End | Chapter VI: The Wolf of Braavos | Epilog: Home

( The shouting woke her. )

Title: Something to Aspire to
Fandom: The Musketeers (BBC)
Length: 3382 words
Rating: 16+
Genre: post-canon
Pairing: Aramis/Queen Anne
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: laced-with-fire
A/N: This fic was written for useyourtelescope during the third round of Chocolate Box.

Summary: Aramis settles into his new life as First Minister of France. It isn't easy, but he isn't quite as alone as he thinks at times.



( It was strange how different a room could look if only you stood on the other side of a desk, Aramis thought as he examined his new office. )

Title: The Black Wolf Lives
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Length: 2097 words
Rating: 12+
Genre: AU
Characters: Jon Snow, Sansa Stark, Rickon Stark
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: Isis
A/N: This fic was written for Chosenfire during the third round of Chocolate Box.

Summary: It was a stone that saved Rickon Stark’s life. - Battle of the Bastards AU



( It was a stone that saved Rickon Stark’s life. )

Title: Of All the Gin Joints
Fandom: The Defenders
Length: 1205 words
Rating: 12+
Genre: prequel
Characters: Jessica Jones, Matt Murdock
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: gem-care-ma
A/N: This fic was written for Chosenfire during the third round of Chocolate Box.

Summary: Jessica just wants to get drunk in peace, but that's complicated by the fact that most of the bars in Hell's Kitchen banned her at one point or another. Josie's hasn't, but it has other drawbacks.



( Jessica Jones had been banned from half the bars in Hell’s Kitchen at some point or another. )

Title: Arranged Misery
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Length: 2776 words
Rating: 12+
Genre: AU, arranged marriange
Pairing: Oberyn Martell/Lyanna Stark
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: Isis
A/N: This fic was written for l_cloudy during the third round of Chocolate Box.

Summary: Oberyn Martell never wanted to get married, but after the death of his sister and her children, his brother didn't leave him much of a choice. The new Queen Regent needed a husband, and Oberyn just happened to be the most suitable candidate.



( The Red Keep loomed over the Saucy Maid as she pulled into the harbor of King’s Landing. )

Title: Scott-Free
Fandom: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Length: 720
Rating: 12+
Genre: fluff
Pairing: Sara Ryder/Vetra Nyx
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: CelticKnot
A/N: This fic was written for Panny during the third round of Chocolate Box.

Summary: A snapshot of Sara and Vetra settling into their new life together after Meridian.



( Sara Ryder groaned when she entered her new apartment on the Nexus. )

Title: Daeneria-in-Westeros
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Length: 674
Rating: 6+
Genre: gen, crack, fusion with Horrible Histories
Characters: Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, Varys, Missandei, Jon Snow, Ser Jorah Mormont
Disclaimer: Not mine, of course
Beta: ValeriaAnne
A/N: This fic was written for the following kinkmeme prompt: "Inspired by a Horrible Histories sketch featuring Alexander the Great, which irritatingly seems to have been taken off youtube. Dany keeps naming the cities she's conquered after herself, to her advisor/s confusion and frustration."

Summary: Daenerys has finally conquered the Seven Kingdoms and can shape them in any way she pleases. Her advisors are not as impressed with her vision as she thinks they should be.



( The great queen finally stood in the city her ancestors built with fire and blood, in the realm they conquered on the backs of dragons, the greatest city of the Seven Kingdoms. )

I vanished again. *sigh* I don’t even have a good reason for it, only the weather and a decline in mental health. But to be honest, mostly it was just a number of small distracting things like

☞ Dusky being sick. I just can’t deal with sick kittens, even when the sick kitten in question knows how to deal with herself. She mostly wanted to sleep and cuddle but when I saw the pus (OMG, so much of it), I sort of freaked and became a bit overprotective.

☞ the finale of the third season of Game of Thrones. Predictably, I cried my eyes out. I dealt with it by reading every light!AU I could find – which is not nearly as many as I would like, but I think I might have lost a month or two that way. Seriously, that is one fandom that needs more X-did-not-die AUs.

☞ the subjunctive. I thought I was done with it when I ditched French, but no, Spanish has it too. At least I now understand somewhat what the point is. In school it was mostly “use it with these phrases, just because” and that did not help.

I was supposed to meet friends today, but when I went to the train station, it wasn't there. Well, it was there, the platforms, tracks and trains, however, were not. And so I had to trek back on foot, which gave me the opportunity to take photos of the wild flowers blooming right now, and a blister.

*

* Some of these names might not be accurate - I had to look up five of the flowers.

( More under the cut )

PS: Should I finally kick myself in the ass and write the meta post about AUs that has been on my mind for a while now?

It is really astounding how long it took me to write this post. For some reason I feel anxious about posting, which is a first for me. Stupid neuroses.

Anyway, I took that photo at the end of March. The crocuses and snow drops are still blooming in other people's gardens and my mother saw a left-over patch of snow today. Which is crazy - we're about two months late with everything and nature is going nuts. My body goes nuts along with it.

In other news: I have a mini-job. It consists of overseeing a gallery exhibition on Sundays and yesterday afternoon was my first day of work. I learned Spanish instead of paying attention to the guests and hopefully nobody stole anything. It was also at least 25°C inside because the people working in the museum apparently didn't expect warmth and thus locked the windows and left the heating on. I can't really fault them. I got unexpectedly wet last week while doing the groceries. My brain sort of forgot that water falling from the sky can make you wet.

Fandomwise, I've played a lot of video games and not much else. And I've continued reading Hobbit fanfic, even the slightly crappy one's. I miss being totally crazy about a fandom. It used to help fighting depressing thoughts - the euphoria and love could help during the bad patches.

... anybody know where I could learn Khuzdul? That might be sufficiently geeky and obsessive.

☞ I have a new haircut. It's the shortest it has been since ... well, since before I had enough hair for a haircut. I'm not sure if I like it yet, but it sure feels nice that it's not in the way at all for once.

☞ Tomorrow, I will visit sevilemar in Leipzig and stay for a week - if any of you want to meet up or anything, don't be shy. I might not be on time, though, because I have no idea if my trains will be on time in Bremen. A train derailed there yesterday and it's even more annoying than stubborn WWII bombs, it seems.

☞ I finished The Old Man and the Sea! This is an epic achievement, even if you won't believe it, because I've only been trying to do that for fifteen years. I just didn't want to admit defeat in the face of something that's not even a novel. It was the baseball that was the most tedious. Oh, and I also read North and South and was reminded that I like it so much more than Pride and Prejudice. I don't get why everyone makes so much fuss about the latter and not the former.

☞ I swear, I took photos with my new camera and wanted to post them, but I would have to edit and upload them and it seems I am just too lazy.

January so far has been a weird month. It started with a week of respite from my mother's crazy alcoholic friend, who finally agreed to go into detox on January 1st. She's out now, but so far she hasn't relapsed. Also, my daily dose of bupropion has been doubled and it's starting to work, kind of. I have more of a drive than before but unfortunately no interesting things to do. I guess I'll have to start tidying up soon. I already managed to read four books and if I continue like this, I'll be through my unread book pile soon(ish).

One of these books I'd like to rec: Grotesque by Natsuo Kirino. I really liked it and it spoke to something in me - most likely because I know what being a failure feels like. The first person POV takes a bit getting used to, but it's amazing how unreliable all the narrators are and in the end, you have no idea what is truth and what imagination. The novel is also based on a real life murder case, which was why I initially bought it. Well, that and the fact that I already read Out by the same author and liked it. Her books are focused on women in Japan, or more precisely why it sucks to be a woman in Japan.

Fandom-wise, I have been reading a lot of Hobbit genfic (and started a lot more that were labelled gen but turned out not to be gen at all), mostly about the family of Thorin, Fili and Kili. When did my id decide that fluffy family fic was it for me? I have no idea, but there you go. I've been thinking about writing some myself, but a) I don't have any specific ideas and b) I would have a lot of trouble writing Fili. I know the actors of all three dwarves from other series, but most of their roles don't cause any confusion. Dean O'Gorman, on the other hand, plays Anders/Bragi in The Almighty Johnsons and is just so awesome at that, it left quite an impression. For some reason I think I wouldn't write Fili as Fili but as Bragi, and I don't think Fili would be quite in character as a womanizing jerk.

Fucking dwarves. Seriously, I should have expected it. LotR did not make me super fannish, despite the fact that I loved the books (and Aragorn, and Eowyn and Faramir ...), probably because the elves just didn't do it for me and from afar it always seemed to me that the fandom was hardcore about elves. The only thing I shipped was Legolas/Gimli, but when I mentioned that once the reaction was pretty much "gross". So of course now I am ridiculously invested in these dwarves. My favourites die in the end. I didn't like the book. I don't have time for it, but still, I am rapidly sliding down the rabbit hole no matter how much I try to stop it. Before I disappear completely, my Yuletide recs of 2012:

( 18 fics in Being Human, City Hunter (Kdrama), Elementary, Gargoyles, Homeland, Kings, Le Pacte de Loups, Lost Girl, Pushing Daisies, Rome, Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi, Sharpe, Sky High, Sungkyunkwan Scandal, The Hour, Warehouse 13, Young Avengers )

2013 started in a sucky way, so it can only improve from here, right? CAF of my mum's is in detox, which means a few days without drama, I hope, and a chance to read the last of the Yuletide stories I still have open in tabs.

As for my story:

Not Quite a Bond Girl (9401 words) by Rodo
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Spy Myung Wol
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Choi Ryu/Joo In Ah, Kang Woo/Han Myung Wol
Characters: Joo In Ah, Choi Ryu, Han Myung Wol, Kang Woo, Yu Da Hae
Summary: Ryu must build a new life. In Ah copes with the changes in hers. Both succeed to varying degrees until fate reunites them.

Yes, I wrote a fic with actual chapters and such. It is, as far as I know, the only story written for that series, which is a shame, because not only is it one of the dramas that doesn't kill off half its cast by the end, there are also still unresolved plot elements left, mainly regarding Choi Ryu and Ju In Ah, the secondary leads.

Okay, so I promised photos - which I was about to post when the memory chip of my new camera malfunctioned. Lesson learned, the new one cost four times as much as the old one and has a proper warranty. Also, I bought myself a present: a puzzle. 3000 pieces and I am making progress, but now I also have sore muscles in my legs (yes, I know, I am the least sporty person ever). Other than that, it has been an okay Christmas so far, although that might change because of my mother's CAF, who might or might not visit and might or might not whinge at us for the rest of the day.

ETA: Okay, CAF did not visit but did whinge and ruin the day.

But on to other things: Yuletide! This year's experience was pretty much a lesson in "never doing that again". I didn't get around to properly work on the story until the last two-ish days before the deadline and the story got so freaking long, I barely managed to finish and upload the draft before the deadline. The editing was done during the next two days. Unfortunately, those days were the first of my period and by the end I had the worst brain fuzz since I started taking my meds. Until about yesterday evening, I was pretty much out of it and on pain pills for a head ache that wouldn't end. And all that for a story in a fandom of two. I hope my recipient appreciates the work, although it could have been better had I actually been running at more than 30% brain capacity. Hopefully, I learned my lesson.

My present:

Changing Colors (1925 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Three Musketeers (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Olivier d'Athos de la Fère/Milady Clarick de Winter
Characters: Athos, Milady Clarick de Winter, Porthos, Aramis, d'Artagnan
Summary:

The airship battles brought a dangerous prisoner.

This is me, procrastinating on finally starting my Yuletide fic. If I don't get that done soon, finding a beta will be a bitch.

( Arang and the Magistrate, A Gentleman's Diary, Nice Guy, Queen In Hyun's Man and To the Beautiful You )

Sorry for the long silence, but I’ve got reasons:

☞ A month ago, Rani was killed by a car. Writing this sentence hurts and I still love my little monster like crazy and miss her. She was just over a year old, dammit, and she just didn’t get along with the cat from across the street, so when that cat intruded on her territory, she chased her out, and on this day, over the street. The driver was speeding, and the other cat got away. Okay, I’ll stop writing about this now, I’m tearing up again.

☞ Afterwards, I was constantly ill. I just got over my cold, but the other thing is still a mystery. My left jaw joint ached for two weeks, I had to take ibuprofen daily and right now there’s still a slight pain. My dentist is stumped, and while I have a theory, it’s pretty hard to fix if it does turn out to be because my mandible, teeth and skull don’t fit together. I blame the orthodontist who did my braces.

☞ My mother has one of her renovation bursts again. She can’t do it all at once or spread it evenly, so she dragged me into furniture shops and wanted me to look at wallpaper and so on for the third time this year. At least this means that if I am lucky, I’ll have a room for my books soon, where they can be alphabetically shelved and I don’t have to dig through piles whenever I want to re-read something.

Titel: Wahrheiten und andere Lügen
Fandom: Highlander
Länge: 300 Wörter
Rating: 6+
Genre: Tripledrabble
Charaktere: Methos, Joe, Richie
Warnungen/Labels: keine
Disclaimer: nix meins, nicht mal die historischen Tatsachen.
Beta: sevilemar
A/N: Diese Geschichte ist Teil von Et in Arkadia ego geschrieben zum Stichwort "Wer's glaubt wird selig".

Inhalt: Seacouver, ca. 1996. Methos erzählt Richie vom alten Rom, doch niemand will ihm glauben.



( „Also wenn du schon keine Ratschläge zu bieten hast, könntest du wenigstens hin und wieder erzählen, wie es so ist, fünftausend Jahre Geschichte zu erleben“, lallte Richie. )