Currents of Time

Awesome: I have 31 hours next week (and despite this, I am only closing once! Which is very exciting) and the first two days of November off! I did not ask for them, they were just GIVEN TO ME. So I at least have the option of getting a good start on NaNo. And I am feeling a lot better than I was! AND WE GOT THE NEW GLOVES AT WORK YAY YAY YAY they are so much nicer than the ones we've been using oh my gooosh.

Less Awesome: oh god nanowrimo. Also, apparently there are no interesting Halloween events anywhere near me, so I guess getting out from work early on Monday (and not working at all Saturday) doesn't really make any difference. And my NaNo region has absolutely nothing planned for write-ins or even a pre-November meet up. EVERY SINGLE TIME I DECIDE I WILL FIND SOMETHING TO DO TO BE SOCIAL... see, this is why I don't bother. Well, that and the fact that it never comes to anything anyway, 'cause I'm a loser.

EVEN LESS AWESOME: Square has apparently hit the bottom of their coffer for FFXIV, and so, sometime next month or perhaps in December (there is no information on this anywhere, other than that it is happening), they are going to start charging for the game. How much will they be charging? WHO KNOWS! THERE IS NO INFORMATION ANYWHERE! Hopefully not the full $13, because it is not worth that yet, and are they going to stick with their original plan of cutting fees if you play FFXI, as well? Basically I am really kind of freaking out (like, unreasonably so) because NO NO NO I don't want to have to pick one or the other and damn it, considering their plans for FFXIV v2.0 next year, I really, reaaally don't want to miss this once in a lifetime storyline (APOCALYPSE!! Or CATASTROPHE, anyway, since part of the plan for 2.0 includes completely reworked maps, so the entire world is going to be redesigned. And characters won't be reset, so it's not even like they're ending the world and starting a new one, this is really an actual thing that is going to happen in Eorzea. WANT TO SEEEE). So, uh. Damn it, what do I do? Other than cry over my current inability to afford both games, I mean.

LEAST AWESOME: I know I said I was done talking about the Family Drama, but adskjflgbfjdbhs my cousin's mother-in-law has had to quit her job and move in with him because she was the best option, and he's got to go back in for another round of spinal fusion surgery and either something else is going wrong or it's just psychosomatic but his vocal chords are beginning to not work so I DON'T KNOW I am resisting the urge to throw things across the room only because I know it wouldn't do any good. BUT I have her address, now, so I can write her letters, if I want.

OFFERED AWESOME: oh right speaking of letters - I do have a couple people on my mailing list WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT they probably know who they are, but I feel like bombarding the post office again (every time their state of NO MONEY AT AAAAALL makes the news, I remember I am supposed to be single-handedly reviving them), so if getting snail-mail interests you, check out this entry, here, please.

Wait, this isn’t what I sat down to write... oh, no, not another one of you. (Alternately, apparently there’s a limit to the number of times one can walk to work in the rain before one’s brain goes… here, I guess, I don’t know, that sentence kind of fell apart halfway though. I’M OUT OF MY HEAD WITH ALLERGIES AND ALLERGY MEDICATION WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME.)

Title: "With A Chance of Rain"
Author: Jecca Meitahn / twilit_wanderer’s allergy meds-addled brain
Fandom: Transformers / Top Gear crossover
Rating: K+
Characters: Mirage, Jeremy Clarkson
Pairing: As always, take it as you will.
Wordcount: 656 (short!)
Warnings: none?
Summary: Mirage doesn’t like storms. What’s the big deal? It’s just water.
Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or anything (or anyone) related to Top Gear, and this probably didn't happen.
Notes: This will not make sense if you haven't read "GT." Placed shortly after Mirage comes crawling back.

This is completely unbeta'd and I am not British, so if I've made some stupid mistake or another, please let me know. I have some concerns, seeing as how allergy meds make me weird and skew my worldview slightly. (SOMEDAY I WILL WRITE SOMETHING THAT ISN’T 95% DIALOGUE I SWEAR.)

( “With A Chance of Rain” )

- END -

DAYLIGHT SAVING TIME IS APPROACHING, BRAIN, you have picked a terrible time to reset our own internal clock to, what is this, Tokyo time? I WILL STAB YOU. With, uh, a cotton swab or something, maybe, anyway, I don't know. If only my brain really were a completely separate entity that I could punch or lock away somewhere (this originally read "in the closet", but considering the closet here only has half a door, this wouldn't be an entirely effective course of action) when it acts stupid.


I am totally working on fics! Hooray! PROGRESS! Only, uh. I'm writing literally everything in ... shorthand? It's not really shorthand, but it's not really story, either, because it's written with a lot of all-caps and ridiculous sentences and summaries of action and... stuff. It's like - hrm. I don't want to post any of it because the scenes I'm working on at the moment are all either supposed to be closer to the end or part of Important Plot Stuff and if I ever finish anything and then actually post it (publicly, I mean. Not just under private-lock. YES, I HAVE DONE THIS. SORRY GUYS, I KNOW IT'S LAME OF ME. The first step is admitting the problem?), then it's not stuff I want people going in knowing (this assumes anyone would READFGIKHLME BAD BRAIN STOP BEING SELF-HATING) (totally unrelated, aside from the fuck you, brain thing, but apparently now some are thinking depression is actual brain damage and not just blarhg chemical imbalance, which is kind of interesting and kind of makes sense, but is also kind of even more ARGH!-inducing) and I have completely lost track of this paragraph because everything I write is coming out ridiculous these days.

RETRY: I don't want to post any of it because the scenes I'm working on at the moment are all either supposed to be closer to the end or part of Important Plot Stuff and if I ever finish anything and then actually post it, then it's not stuff I want people going in knowing, and apparently right now I am too lazy to change character names and strip out the one or two actually relevant sentences. ...Also it is probably not actually that interesting and then you would all feel cheated by my idiocy or something.


Ugh, this is stupid. I can't decide if I want to delete this entry (which I have been doing a lot of lately YES EVEN ON THE THREE ENTRIES DAY) or just suck it up and post it.

Also I have changed my mind and locked it.

...ALSO IF THIS ENTRY DISAPPEARS LATER, I GUESS YOU WILL KNOW WHY. Unlocked again now.

I was thinking about writing and characters and fanfiction versus original fiction and all that sort of stuff this evening while waiting for the dishes to dry so I could cook dinner! And. I was going to go into some wordy back story here, but really it was only ever one person, wasn't it? I don't know. I know other people's original characters/universes are generally not that exciting! TOO BAD I'M TALKING ABOUT IT ANYWAY. Anyway. One or two people have, on occasion, asked something about Okame-verse (which still needs a better name) and the timeline and overall storyline and I... generally don't have an answer for it! And I (finally?) put the why behind that into words. A lot of the time when you've got characters that you write about, you write, you know, a story. And, the thing is, with those two, there isn't really one. There's no big, overreaching ... thing. I mean, when I write about them, it's just an incident in their lives. That's all.

I do have a universe or two with, you know, actual plots (I've pretty much never posted about them, though), but this isn't one of them.

And sometimes I feel kind of bad, or weird about that? I dunno. Like, how does Okame freaking out this time relate to wherever you're eventually going with this? And I'm not eventually going anywhere with any of it. I mean, yeah, sure, depending on when in their lives I write them, they act different, or stuff has changed, but they're (probably) never going to do anything special or, uh. Interesting, even, haha. I just like them. Even if they won't ever solve the world crisis of doom or save the whales or anything.

I was going to make an allcaps-y sentence about how they're both weird and dysfunctional and totally not girlfriends shut up Jade will kill you, but I feel like I've been seeing a lot of internet drama lately and don't want anyone to jump on me for accusing [x] group of people of being completely mad. Or socially inept. Or dysfunctional. Or ... whatever. So, uh, I guess I won't.


Good sign you've been spending too much time pounding away at a word doc (EVEN IF YOU AREN'T GETTING ANYWHERE ARGH RAGE): you keep reflexively hitting ctrl-s every paragraph or so. I've attempted to save the update page five or six times now. Good job, self!

( And now boring real life whining )

For your daily dose of is she really still talking about that?, San d'Oria took Sarutabaruta in conquest this week, which is pretty awesome! We've claimed Gustaberg quite a few times, but we've only rarely taken Saru[tab] and, to my unending frustration, those times have always been during weeks I haven't logged on for whatever reason. (Oh, yes, this is FFXI-talk now, if you didn't know what any of this was about.) BUT THIS WEEK - haha! So now I've run supplies to the outpost by Windurst and so now I have finally done the supplies quest for every outpost (on Hisime, and that I have access to, anyway. No Sky yet, but that's the only one, now). I took Aya and Ki out, too, since, you know, Windurst? FAR AWAY. And Ki can't airship it, so, uh, yeah. Long trip for her no matter how you go about it. (EXCEPT NOT ANYMORE i love op warp)

Also, it's been over a year and a half since my brother started trying for the m.kris and all it's got him so far is a couple hundred thousand gil down the drain. He's considering giving up and, since that would mean he can't go anywhere (or going to gt a Joyeuse, which he doesn't have time for), quitting. So right now he's trying to come up with a way to make 3.5 million, because the thought of fishing for more marlin (only for, again, absolutely none of them to give a chart, and even if they did, for the fight to them only give us another fuscina or piece of oxblood and a dwarf pugil) is too unbearable. Dear SE: it would not kill you to be just a little nicer to your playerbase on occasion!


To end on a random note, here's an amusing article on why the US Life on Mars was STUPID. Or at least not as good as the original. Reading that has had the perhaps unfortunate side effect of making me want to rewatch the original again.

So I just put up a hugelong rantramble that directly involves my mother and something she said to me in a place where she’ll see it (I probably won't be cross-posting it, so it's here on Facebook, mostly about asexuality, if you're curious. ...yes, my mother joined FB). Kind of hoping this doesn’t turn into drama! I don't mean for it to, I just don't see the point of hiding it from her. Been in a bit of an inexplicable rage all day, though, so maybe I do mean for it to cause drama? I can't tell. Anyway. Yeah. This was going to be the Dissidia post, by the way, but I got distracted and sidetracked myself halfway through and so I have cut it down to just this, instead. The other stuff's all saved in a word doc, anyway.

Fic. Apparently I'm actually considering plot. Not any more confident about it, but I feel obligated now that other people have prodded me towards the fact checking I needed. (Turns out what I'd thought was right, but I managed to misspell my own name twice today and then lost track of when it was to a point of years, which probably says enough about my mental state and why I really do not trust my brain at all these days.) I have t-- two? Three? Days off after tomorrow, so assuming I don't get called in (and that the oven does not explode - hey, we have a new heat sensor that we attach inside the door and that rests on the door handle, so you drop it on the floor every time you open or close the oven, and the sensor pad on the wire that goes inside the oven is missing, so really it's not effective, either), I should be feeling marginally more functional (coherent is probably too much to hope for) by the weekend.

I am making a poll. It does not, for the curious, have anything to do with the fact-checking I needed to do (those were, you know, facts, and what I'm asking about is more opinion, unless I am forgetting things, which is entirely likely), but I was poking around the fanbase - oh, I'm talking about FFVIII again, here - earlier this afternoon and, you know, stuff, train of thought jumping all over the place, I don't remember where I was looking that this jumped back into my brain, but I'm just wondering what other people think about it! Because I've seen a lot of different thoughts on it (and given it a fair amount of contemplation myself. It's one of the things I always wish they'd addressed more in canon, even though I know there was not really anywhere to work it in), though I think I narrowed it down to the ones I've seen the most? And actually since this will probably end up playing at least some role in the fic I am at least going to attempt to write (no guarantees) (it would be set post-game), if most everyone has different ideas than mine (or if there's stuff in canon), I might work with some of that instead?

(Also, late edit: it is probably better to consider the third question as relating to events post-game.)

( Poll. Contains spoilers for FF8! )

RANDOM COMMENT: it actually makes me really (and irrationally) angry when people say that Final Fantasy XI “doesn’t count” for [insert reasoning here]. Because it’s stupid. Because you have to pay for monthly access. Because it’s online. You’re allowed to not like it! You’re allowed to not want to play it, or to think the MMORPG format isn’t a good one, but it counts. It has a story. It has characters (beyond you and the other players you meet) that you care about. Sure, you’re along for the ride a little more directly than usual, but you’re still not the hero. That role still goes to the NPCs. IT’S CALLED FINAL FANTASY XI. It is a number in the sequence! And I just get kind of upset when people dismiss it (as they often do). Really. You can say “I’ve played all the games in the series except XI” WITHOUT tacking on “because that one doesn’t count” at the end. If it doesn’t count, why do you feel obligated to mention it? No one is judging you. You don’t have to put it down like that. I promise.

Sea Monks.

I don't know. Maybe it's my shampoo (hidden effect: +Sea Monk Notorious Monster emnity?).

WHY DO YOU ALWAYS SPAWN WHENEVER I GET ON A BOAT. I am sick of hiding in the cabin!


(UTSUSEMI: NI IS MIIIIIIIIIIIINE. LOOK AT THIS: THIS IS ME BEING DONE WITH NINJA FOR EVERRRRRRR. omg. finally. Our very last BCNM run was kind enough to grant us a third scroll, so my brother and I each got what we needed, as well as a... teeeeny little bit of gil, at least.)



Finally went and poked around on the BotCon page, possibly because I wanted to rub salt into my own wounds. $175 for non-toys package seems a bit steep (assuming you want to register with the club, but seeing as it saves you 25 dollars, why wouldn't you, if you can?), but I WANT TO GO SO BAD.

UGH!


I HATE NOT HAVING A JOB/ANYONE TO GO WITH! (If I had a job, I could afford to go alone. As it is, I can only pay for two of the three necessities - those being air fare, hotel, registration.) I'd go register on some forum somewhere and beg for a roommate, but we all remember what happened last time I signed up at a forum BY WE ALL I MEAN ME. And also rooming with complete strangers is kind of not something I'd be comfortable with. And also they'd probably feel the same way.

*goes to sulk in the corner*


Also, I dislike Daylight Savings Time. Whyyy do you do this to me?


And, just so you know, despite the apparent general tone of this entry and the fact that my ankle still freaking hurts (you know what would be lovely? HEALTH CARE, so I could go see a doctor), today was pretty good and I'm actually fairly content. Aside from whenever I check the forums and see all the BotCon talk, which prompts the QQ.

... QQ

Oh, and, uh, probably obviously, I'm back from visiting my brother.

AND. I am having a bizarre bout of NEED TO WRITE NEED TO WRITE RIGHT NOW, which mostly prompts me to wonder what I'm forgetting about doing, because this is usually a sign of subconscious procrastination. Oh, well~

Classes are over for the year! (Excluding this Saturday, when my weekend class meets again. But then I'm done until Mexico. So it's all good.) I focused on all the wrong subjects for my A&P final! Yay. NOW I SLEEP FOR A WEEK. Or at least a good twelve hours.

But first! Here is the first of the things I wrote during/for the November prompts I was given! I wrote most everything by hand that month because I am a lunatic, so I've been slowly typing it all up. Aniko wanted this one first, so blame her. (It was her prompt, anyway.)

Title: Never Enough Defense
Author: Jecca Meitahn / twilit_wanderer
Fandom: Final Fantasy XI
Rating: K+
Characters: Onai, Aniko, guest appearances by Hisi Mehlota (Hisime), Ayarei, Ki Harahno (Kihara), Nabiki, and others
Pairing: None, unless Onai/MOAR DEFENSE counts
Wordcount: 6044
Warnings: None
Summary: Something's wrong with Aniko, and Onai thinks he might be the only person who's really worried.
Disclaimer: I don't own FFXI, but I do pay for my account. I do not pay for Aniko's account, but she's checked my portrayal of her characters.
Notes: Prompt provided by Aniko / ineptmagicuser (I'd post the original prompt here, but it was over AIM, so it's kind of fragmented and full of both of us musing on it.)

( Never Enough Defense )

- END -

Will catch up on flist entries, uh. Tomorrow or something? I dunno. Maybe it's the excessive cold in my house. Being too cold for too long makes me be weird sometimes. Just quiet now.

Anyway, to be honest, probably wouldn't have wandered over at all (sorry - just feeling so blah these days...) but have a bit of a request?

s'almost November, and we probably all remember what that means... (WRIST PAIN, is what that means.) Wasn't planning on signing up again, but received a threatening email from them. They knew I was thinking of backing out, and that's not allowed. So. Appear to have registered again. .....

But think I'm going to go about things a little differently this year? I'll still be writing, but I don't have a story - no stories, I've gone completely brain dead this semester, and I'm pretty sure I won't magically think anything up in the next ten days. Never know, maybe I will, but for now am working under the assumption that I won't, so here is my plan (and request):

I'm going to try and write a bunch of short stories. I'm collecting prompts. So. Prompt me/request things? They can be fandom-specific or things you want to know about my original characters/universes (though I don't talk about those much, so I think the only one you guys'll even know about is the Jade/Okame set), I don't care. I'm not guaranteeing I'll write everything I'm given, but I'll at least consider it all, and I'll try. So give me a fandom (or multiple, because I'll do crossovers), and some characters or a general story idea you might wanna see me try and tackle next month! I'll post up everything I actually finish.

If you're not sure whether or not I know the fandom, suggest anyway. I get into more than even I think I do, and asking never hurts, anyway.

Already got a few - like, ten or so - from Aniko, including a few fandoms I've never written for before (House and Heroes), as well as some more familiar ones (lots of FFXI, potentially another Top Gear/Transformers crossover thing...), but would like more? Thanks in advance?

Minding my own business and working on some schoolwork, when I'm suddenly aware I've been musing on the universe dynamics of what I've dubbed "Alt-verse," but which might be better known as "GT"-verse, since that's its only public appearance, for the last who-knows-how-long.

I've always thought of it as alternate universe G1 with stronger aspects of that "robots in disguise" bit than original G1 (in that they actually try to keep low profiles, so maybe a bit like IDW's G1-reboot, or something like the movie), if I've not made that clear, and if the stuff I've posted on it hadn't made that clear, either.


Unfortunately, all of this thinking on the subject has Alternators Mirage rattling at his cage bars again, and right now I'd rather shoot myself then try and write a blasted sequel. That story ended. Please leave me alone, or at least focus on something other than a direct continuation. Or at least come up with an actual, workable plot that we can map out and then shove in a corner and forget about, or something.



Though I am glad what functions as my inspiration appears to be back. I'm a bit fed up with making no progress in anything.

In the past two days, I've come up with at least six greatly differing reasons for PlotPoint K-and-a-half to happen. It all leads to (mostly) the same result, but with the surrounding situation completely changed.

And three for another idea, as well as a couple completely new ones.

Some of these take place in the beginning and some take place in the middle, and none of them affect the intended ending by too much, but obviously has an impact on the stor as a whole.


This is the reason I don't post solid parts of things prior to completion.


(For a shining example of Jecca's Inability To Pick One Idea And Stick With It, I point you to the changes to the Decepticon line up for "GT."

A lone ">" indicates only a short consideration, each added "-" represents a longer time.

Seekers > Stunticons ---> Swindle --> Random Assortment? > Stunticons -> Combaticons-> some of the Combaticons, including Swindle ----> Decepticharge -> Never directly address it? > Combaticons -> False Information, there are no Decepticons actually stationed there -> Battle, ie Corvette, Ravage-> Battle, ie Corvette, Ravage and Rumble --> Ravage and Battle Ravage ---> Ravage and Rumble ---> Ravage, changing to or from Battle Ravage at some point, and Rumble -> Ravage and Rumble -> Rumble and Battle Ravage drone -> Ravage+Battle Ravage drone -------> Ravage+Battle Ravage drone and Rumble.

I WENT FROM JETS TO CASSETTES. Admittedly, it took me how long to write? And some of those choices - once I'd decided to just toss G1 completely and go AU-Alternators Universe - were based strictly on, "but they do/n't have an Alternators toy..." The final call was a last minute change to put Rumble back into the scenes I'd pulled him out, either by find-and-replace or a complete rewrite.)




... This makes three times in one day that this song has suddenly appeared in my life. Linkshell, a voice post (which wasn't entirely a surprise because I read the comments first, but whatever), and now the radio.

I should have seen the radio one coming. They're going through their playlist alphabetically and they're in the "N" section.