Birds can Fly

Title: Being Watched
Fandom: FFVII
Claim: Rufus/Reno, fics in an arc, 1000+ words each
Wordcount: 1866
Characters/Pairings included: Rufus, Reno
Rating: K+
Warnings: None
Summary: Confronting Reno yields answers Rufus was not expecting. (Picks up where Babysitting left off, albeit two years later.)

( Rufus positively could not stand the way that Reno had been watching him. )

This will be the space reserved for my responses to my claim over at mako_reactor on LJ. One drabble for each of 100 themes. I'll fill in the list as I finish them.

1. Starting out

2. Journey

3. Flowers

4. Church

5. Hot

6. Cold

7. Life

8. Death

9. Planet

10. Sacrifice

11. Black

12. White

13. Water

14. Ice

15. Fire

16. Electricity

17. Virus/poison

18. Fever

19. Meteor

20. Holy

21. Materia

22. Chocobo

23. Shinra

24. Rocket

25. Midgar

26. Wutai

27. Cosmo Canyon

28. Gold Saucer

29. Costa del Sol

30. Hand

31. Back turned

32. A friend in need

33. Smile

34. Joke

35. Hole

36. Missing

37. Snow

38. Bright

39. Dark

40. All the way

41. Weapons

42. Fit

43. Nerves

44. Holding on

45. Never mind

46. Magical

47. Wishes

48. Gently

49. Stars

50. Airship

51. Limit

52. Never

53. On and on

54. Me and you

55. Logic

56. Ties

57. Random

58. Fighting

59. Selfish reasons

60. Rock

61. Hard headed

62. Bang

63. Quick

64. Fall

65. Help

66. Sweet

67. Insult to injury

68. Honesty

69. Loyalty

70. Lesson

71. Tingle
72. ( Conversation )

73. Prayer

74. Effort

75. Party

76. Empty

77. Music

78. Big

79. Small

80. Crazy

81. Unsettling

82. Shiver

83. Whispers

84. Red

85. Mistake

86. Nearly there

87. Second

88. Kiss

89. Regrets

90. After

91. Yesterday

92. Unhealthy

93. Tiny

94. Puzzle

95. Escape

96. Sticky situation

97. Once more

98. Twice over

99. Peace

100. The end

Title: Babysitting
Canon: FFVII: Before Crisis
Challenge: Rufus/Reno, fics in an arc, 1000+ words each
Characters: Them.
Wordcount: 2755
Rating: T to be safe, probably more like K+
Warnings: None
Summary: Reno has the job of keeping an eye on Rufus. Neither are happy about this.
Spoilers: If you're not familiar with BC canon.
Note: This only counts as including a pairing because it's part of a continuity. The farthest they get in this is not entirely hating each other. And that's even iffy. But! It is part of the same arc, and thus I say it counts. The seeds of later relationship are here somewhere, but have a while yet before they take root. Meanwhile, the snarking is a lot of fun.

( Here Reno was, sitting in a room most people didn't know existed with a boy most people didn't know was there, babysitting. )

Title: Reno can Remember
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: Mostly Reno, briefly Rude, a lot of thoughts on Rufus, and brief mentions of Cloud’s group, and a random Shinra employee.
Wordcount: 1038
Rating: T
Warnings: Death? (except, you know, not really, because I’ve written later fics in this arc and Advent Children exists?)
Summary: Reno had a tough couple of days once he heard the news about Rufus...
Note: This is part of the ongoing saga of Reno and Rufus. I imagine that the flow of this is highly disjointed. If it is, I have succeeded in doing what I was trying to do with it.

( Reno can remember the day he gave up on his job. )

elbanigaminu

Elbanigaminu; Unimaginable;
To live you must prove that you can live;
To die you must prove that you are ready to die;
Are you the dreamer or the dream?

FAQ/Setting/Storyline. | Taken Characters. | Application

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

For kinkfest, due the 19th.

I feel like this ended up being oddly adorable.

Title: Beer is Not Enough
Fandom: FFVII
Characters: Rude, Reno, mentions of Rufus
Wordcount: 1,045
Rating: T (a lot of alcohol, and scattered cussing)
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII – Rude/Reno – barhopping – He was like, the God of Beer!
Notes: Part of my ongoing saga of Reno and Rufus, with this being more friendship than anything else. That said, it does focus on Reno and Rude, and involves snuggling.

( Given the circumstances, Rude would have expected Reno to go for something that would get him very drunk very quickly, but he seemed to be sticking with beer. On the other hand, he was making the most valiant attempt Rude had ever seen to get drunk quickly off of the stuff. )

For kinkfest, due the 11th.

Title: In the Moonlight
Fandom: FFXII
Pairing: Balthier/Fran
Wordcount: 100 (drabble!)
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: Final Fantasy XII - Fran/Balthier - skin - Under the moonlight, it almost seems unreal.

( There is something about the moonlight that makes all places seem private. )

For kinkfest, due the 11th. I was going to make this a double drabble since it almost seems like cheating to write a 100 word fic that includes the prompt word for word, but I wasn't sure what else to write, checked the wordcount, and it happened to be 100. So it stays.

Title: Ivory and Gold
Fandom: FFVII
Pairing: Rufus/Tseng
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 100 (drabble!)
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII - Tseng/Rufus - kiss - The world is changed because you are made of ivory and gold. The curves of your lips rewrite history
Note: It must be lonely at the top...

( Ivory and Gold )

For kinkfest, due tomorrow.

Title: Painting
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters: Basch, Vossler
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 189
Prompt: Final Fantasy XII - Vossler/Basch - body paint - “ I never knew you were an artist”
Note: For me to look at the prompt and come up with this... I swear something in my mind is just wired wrong.

( Vossler’s fingers left trails, warmth of flesh turning to cool and wet of paint... )

Crossposted from my LJ in an attempt at meme initiation. Read mine, then post yours!

( Ten Series/Games/Whatever I Love to Bits )

( Ten Pairings I Love to Bits )

( Ten Characters I Love to Bits )

For kinkfest, due the 9th.

Title: The Man in the Mirror
Fandom: FFVII
Character(s): Rufus (and his reflection?)
Wordcount: 100 (Actually a drabble! For once.)
Rating: PG
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII - Rufus - vanity - You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte.
Note: I don’t think this precisely fits the prompt. But it was what my mind wanted to do with it.

( The man in the mirror is dressed in white )

For kinkfest, but I highly doubt this is what the prompter intended.

Title: It's the Thought that Counts
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 595
Prompt: Loveless - Youji/Natsuo/Ritsuka - dirty talk - "lessons in topping"
Note: Blame my twisted sense of humor.

( It's the Thought that Counts )

For kinkfest, though not due until the 10th. This started as a tentative claim on my part, and somehow became monolithic. At over 3000 words, this piece is done, and related pieces want to be written.

Hopefully there aren't any typos or anything in here. I didn't proof it too closely. Title also wanted to involve coffee somehow, but I couldn't come up with anything I liked. I have no idea how coffee ended up turning into a recurring theme, anyway. XD;

Title: An Unexpected Visit
Fandom: FFVII
Pairing: Rufus/Reno
Rating: T
Wordcount: 3,561
Timeline: Shortly after the end of the original game.
Prompt: Final Fantasy VII - Rufus/Reno - reminiscing - You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive. Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair and that you would never leave. But you gave away the things you loved, and one of them was me.
Note: I want to thank whoever put up this prompt. I took it tentatively, and ended up with a new OTP. I guess my next challenge is to write them in a situation that doesn’t make both of them act a bit odd. Haha.

( All I'm saying, Mr. President, is that if you're looking for a place to stay, you might be out of luck. I only have one bed here and I'm not too anxious for you to be in it. )

Title: Midnight After
Fandom: Lost Odyssey
Pairing: Actually gen, but with Jansen/Ming in mind
Wordcount: 1590
Disclaimer: I do not own Lost Odyssey, its characters, nor the highly amusing scene that spawned this fanfic.
Summary: An extension of the scene in which Jansen convinces Ming that trying a alcoholic drink is a good idea, and Ming responds by doing so and passing out. Not my best writing, but I suspect writing from Ming's perspective is difficult anyway. I think it came out cute, regardless.

( Midnight After )

As a note to myself, and a list for whoever's interested in seeing what I have claimed. These are the official claims thus far. I have about 100 other maybes that I might add if the mood strikes.

Nov. 3

Revolutionary Girl Utena – Juri/Shiori – Obsession - She's your cocaine

Nov. 4

Final Fantasy XII - Basch/Ashe - facing duty - for all the points of the compass, there's only one direction, and time is its only measure.
Naruto - Orochimaru/Kimimaro - underage - I love you because you can give me what I want

Nov. 5

Loveless - Youji/Natsuo/Ritsuka - dirty talk - "lessons in topping"

Nov. 10

Final Fantasy VII - Rufus/Reno - reminiscing - You had me several years ago when I was still quite naive. Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair and that you would never leave. But you gave away the things you loved, and one of them was me.

Nov. 11

Final Fantasy XII - Fran/Balthier - skin - Under the moonlight, i t almost seems unreal.

Nov. 12

Star Ocean: The Second Story - Leon/Rena - crush - not scientific at *all*

Nov. 16

Star Ocean: The Second Story - Ashton/Celine - gossip - tea and sympathy

Nov. 18

Final Fantasy XII - Fran/Balthier - age difference - "still so young to travel so far, old enough to know who you are"

Nov. 20

Final Fantasy XII - Ashe - feeling alone while being surrounded by people - On holding the faith, hopes, and strength of a nation in the palm of one's hand

Nov. 21

Final Fantasy XII - Ultima (and the other espers) - becoming one flesh - She infects them, like a blessed, beautiful disease. -

Nov. 24

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Juri/Shiori - thorns - prick your finger

Nov. 25

Final Fantasy IX - Black Waltzes/Vivi - animal instinct - "Why do you exist, little doll?

Nov. 29

Final Fantasy XII - Basch/Penelo - status affects - deaf, dumb, and blind


No idea yet what I'm going to do for most of these, but I have time.

Porn Battle is coming to a close, and I think I'm done with the last minute oh-yeah-I-wanted-to-write-thats, so here's a link list. As is characteristic of porn battle fics, all are short and none are worksafe (though some are less explicit than others). Anyway, here's the list.

Bleach, Uruhara/Yoruichi, cat toy
Final Fantasy IX, Eiko/Vivi, awkwardness
Final Fantasy XII, Basch/Gabranth, voyeurism
Firefly, Kaylee/Simon(/River), staring at the ceiling and watching her watching them
Fruits Basket, Akito/Shigure, always the villian in this play.
Loveless, Natsuo/Youji, can you feel this?
Loveless, Seimei/Ritsuka, the only clean thing
Naruto, Sai/Naruto/Sakura, together, It works if you don't count the random violence and anything Sai says
Prince of Tennis, Mizuki/Yuuta, matters of taste
Shadow Of The Colossus, Wander, needs, "out on the prairie"

So ten total. I wonder how that ends up in the overall ranking. I'm sure I didn't write the most. Or I would be surprised, anyway. But I got through all the ones that I looked at on the prompt list and knew I wanted to write (plus a few others), so I'm happy. I was kind of frustrated by the FFXII prompts, since I kept looking at them and not being inspired. Except for the one that I wrote, but it was mostly that I thought up an inventive way to interpret the prompt and had to write it.

And by way of a thank you, I will now list the ones that responded to prompts I put up, because people wrote lovely things and it made me happy. This may have some things added to it if anyone submits one for any of my prompts in these last few hours.

Final Fantasy VII, Reno/Reeve, hiding, by ladynero
Fruits Basket, Haru/Rin, secretive, by shiegra
Loveless, Soubi/Kio, art, by farasha
Prince of Tennis, Mizuki/Yuuta, ten years later, by lysapadin

You know, speaking of old fics...

This is something I was cowriting with logistika_nyx for the_sandsea on LJ. It has been my turn to write a chapter for, oh, a good six months now? I don't think I would have ever gotten back to it except I was scrolling back through the sandsea stuff trying to see if I had missed any of my fics while updating fanfiction.net, and found the older chapters and thought, "Hey, I should write that."

Links!
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Written in alternating parts with logistika_nyx.

Title: Those We Know and Those We Don’t – Part 5
Claim: Basch
Rating: PG
Themes: 10. Flying, 17. Gamble, 31. Duty, 32. Laughter, 79. Black sheep
Summary: Ashe has been rescued, and Basch wonders about other people wondering about him.

Looking back on his recent reunion with Ashelia, Basch realized that he should have expected the slap on the face. ( Read more... )

So, having been brought back to my attention by various recent conversations, I've decided to pick up Running again as a writing project. I've spent the past couple days editing the parts I had already written, and will probably post them up on ffxii_fic pretty soon, so I wouldn't suggest reading much from the link I just posted. It's almost the same, but the new one has a few more paragraphs and a few less typos.

It amazes me how much my writing style has changed since I wrote that (largely due to heavy influence from logistika_nyx and sarasa_cat, wheras my style in this particular fic probably shows the most influence from Terry Prachett). Going back through it, I discovered that it was not nearly as bad as my mind had made it seem after I had dropped it the first time. I think it was more that it was getting into a semi-pointless area of amusing fluff and I was having trouble working up a conflict, therefore it really felt like characterization was getting lost. The last chapter I wrote will need some serious reworking, but up until then, I was surprised by how much of my revisions ended up just being adding a comma or picking a different word. Though I have to say that when I reread it, Balthier's hi-I'm-a-17-year-old-boy-ness in that last chapter amuses me to no end. And the travesty that is Chapter 16 is still a travesty, but far too amusing to trash.

But things really need to get darker in this, and quickly. Amusingly enough, this leads me to the conclusion that a new Balthier breakdown is in order. I'm not obsessed. Really. (I am a horrible person). But I've given Balthier over a year worth of mostly happy and carefree, and I know that's not how his life goes. In the next five years of his life, he needs to get to the point where he can calmly deliver the line, "Relax, it's only a corpse." I have yet to decide whether Ba'Gamnan comes into the picture in the scope of this story or not.

I've also been oddly tempted to write a story from Ba'Gamnan's point of view, just for the hell of it.

Alright, let's see what I can do with this...

This came to me in a dream last night. I kid you not.

Title: In Memory of Dr. Cidolfus Demen Bunansa
Note: For the_sandsea on LJ with these themes: #5 The Past, #8 What can I say?, #33 Tears, #58 Story, #59 Truth
Word of the day challenge: Supernumerary- Exceeding what is necessary or desired; superfluous.
Characters/Pairings included: Balthier, Fran, Dr. Cid
Rating: K+
Wordcount: 1270
Warnings: Spoilers through the Pharos.
Summary: Balthier finds a newspaper article about the esteemed Dr. Cid. [I don't know if Ivalice has newspapers. It does now.]

( It was only on rare occasion that Balthier found himself in the city he once called home. )

Because the first was a yes, and the second made me giggle too much not to add it.

Final Fantasy XII, Drace/Gabranth, 54. who will save your soul after all the lies that you told, boy/who will save your soul when you won't save your own?
Final Fantasy XII, Drace/Gabranth, 75. You'd never guess she wears the pants.