...And some of us are in the gutter, thoroughly enjoying the view.

And - we're done.

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:09:41 GMT

*crashes*

(And now I have to go find out why the hell my credit card hasn't been paid off in full, despite me having three times that much in the bank. *grumbles* Catch me buying a bus ticket that way again...)

((EDIT: Ah - scratch that, sorted. It was because I hadn't used the damn thing for so long that the direct debit had expired. XD))

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 23:05:42 GMT

I have a new shirt! ...Okay, I houldn't really have bought it, but! It's long enough to go past my arse and has a tie-back thing for typing my sleeves back into the rolled-up-and-out-of-the-way position! ~~No jokes, you lot.~~ And it has POCKETS. Awesome!

(That and the sleeves actually cover my wrists. I am most put out that my nice blue ~~SOLDIER~~ rollneck thing is an inch too short at the wrists after I washed it all of once. -_- Why does that always happen? I washed it at 30, for heaven's sake.)

((And it's a size 12. Can I just squeal about that for a second? I know that every single size only had about a centimetre difference in it each way, since I also fitted into a 10 for crying out loud, but - squeak. Squeak.

And the goddamn saddlebags are gone gone gone. I only noticed today - how I only noticed today, I don't know. Seems eight miles on the bike every day is doing more good than I thought. *hugs self and bounces*))

And now I'm going to bed, since I seem to be breaking out in italics. *WHUMPF*

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:11:32 GMT

Just realised/was told something - Heartsease was really confused by films as a kid, 'cause he couldn't figure out where all the people's halos had gone. I don't know whether it's because they're pre-recorded or whether it's a processing/lense thing or what, but still - just tell the typist, the world will realign to make it make sense later. ;P

(Apparently he's sort of all right with things like Skype and the little monitor-comms, but he has to squint.)

How on earth did I manage that?!

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:42:14 GMT

I just managed to sew my sewing machine to the bit of material I was working on. I just - I don't even - what? I spent a good twenty minutes dismantling the thing and I still don't know how I did that!

...That said, six hours in front of a sewing machine and I'm not sure what planet I'm on, let alone what I did to prompt that. *blink*

I committed a cardinal sin today, too - I threw out a spool of thread when it was only half finished. *the horror!* In my defence, it was an awful slippery, horribly manufactured-feeling thread that was impossible to work with and not have it snarl up, tangle or - as happened today - bunch up and turn my nice row of sewing-machine-stitches into an aquamarine version of The Thing from the Black Lagoon. *growl* I had to re-do one bit three times and the wrong way around before I could get it looking halfway decent, rargh!

All in all, considering that I was crashed out in a heap fast asleep until lunchtime, I feel quite productive. ^_^; Wonder if I can get away with slipping my knitting into an exam...

ONOES

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:24:31 GMT

SEND HALP I'VE BEEN DISNEY'D

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:56:09 GMT

BWAAAAARGH SCIENCE DEPARTMENT DIEINNAFIRE. GAAAH.

O_O;

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:00:05 GMT

When you're grinding to a halt on your bike, you know you've got problems. When you're grinding to a halt because of how strong the wind is, I kind of want to stay in bed.

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:59:54 GMT

Okay, so everyone knows that I'm a sucker for mush and happy-ever-after stories even if I sit and snark my way through some of them. I've also always been a Disney kid - you know, grew up going to see all the films in the cinema, terrified by Ursula and traumatised by the whale in Pinocchio, that kind of thing - but I've never really liked the Disney princesses. (With the exception of Kida and Jasmine, mind, since say what you like but kissing Jafar takes guts.) The idea that all you have to do to get a gender-stereotype of a saccharine happy ever after is be Good makes me nauseous if it's just passive-Good rather than fighting for what you want Good, the behave-the-right-way good instead of the ideological alignment...

...Anyway.

Point I'm trying to wind my way to is that the sequels to Cinderella, by some amazing twist of fate, are actually fairly decent. A Disney princess figuring out that hey, going from a noble daughter in rags to being a princess with actual duties is difficult! And having to work to keep her happy ever after! And charging around on horseback having to fight her way out of a possessed pumpkin driven by a demon cat! ...Or maybe that part's just me. ;) ~~AND IT'S GOT THE GODDAMN FRANK WELKER IN IT.~~ ~~What am I saying, everything's got the goddamn Frank Welker in it.~~

So. Yes. Cindy 3 is actually pretty good. ^_^;; And they give the Prince some personality at last, poor boy, not to mention having people go O____O;; at the talking mice. I mean, wouldn't you?

(For the record, though, Little Mermaid 2 is creeping me out juuuust a little bit. Plus bonus WTF sea wall right around the edge of the little spit of beach next to the castle? Fior is both having nasty flashbacks and critiquing the construction.)

EDIT: ...I don't think I like Melody very much. HELLO. PRINCESS. Do not have an angst about zomg everyone's laughing at meeee when they all think it's hilarious that your insane head chef is going all Crocodile Dundee on Sebastian. SAVE THE CRAB-FRIEND. WHERE IS THE EMPATHY AND THE MUST-RESCUE. Yeesh.

...Oh for crying out loud. CONGRATULATIONS ARIEL YOU'VE TURNED INTO YOUR FATHER. GUESS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN NOW.

Well, that was random.

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:08:36 GMT

I just spent ten minutes on the phone with some poor sod in a call centre doing surveys for some company affiiated with the NHS. At nine o'clock at night.

I thought the guy was another automated call and nearly put the phone down on him. XD He's lucky I was more amused than irritated, though I did call him out on asking for my first name for reference purposes - fair enough, it's a common name and there's plenty of the same one around here - and then asking for my last name as well. Uh, no. ;P

Still, out of all the things he listed off questions about, I only actually use the dentist's. I might have more insight into the maternity wards later on depending on how a friend of mine gets on, but that's a way away yet. (She was always so tiny! Little bitty Christmas-fairy-bodytype girl! How the hell can she be pregnant? ...Aside from the obvious before anyone says it. ;P)

EDIT: ...There we go. In colour this time! Well, in one colour, anyway. ;P Yes, 'Doom, we know you like red.

wraps in blankets

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:41:14 GMT

COLD. At least it's stopped raining, but yeesh, it got wintry fast. Trying to get a load of kids in out of the rain is actually harder than you'd think. *facepalm*

For the first mock exam of the lot, it didn't go too bad. I had one boy shuttling between the three rooms because he came in half an hour late and I didn't have my list of who-does-what to hand, but he ended up in the right place - another boy was supposed to have a laptop and didn't, but again, that got sorted thankfully quickly.

I must have been really out of it last week. My list of access arrangement rooms was totally wrong and I've just rewritten it, gah. *head in paws* I kept waking up last night - the one time I checked my watch was 4am, and that was the third time that night so far.

Oh well. One down, twenty-four to go...

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 17:32:14 GMT

The birthday party last night was admittedly more awesome and less flail-inducing than I was expecting, one moment aside, but today all I've been good for has been sleeping til lunch and poking a couple of bits of knitting. And, y'know, the usual standby of 'flop on the sofa and read old logs'. Hence this, which came from reading one of the old Triadchat logs about another party entirely.

***

In amongst the splendour of a richly bedecked mansion, party guests long since gone home and the detritus of their leaving pushed to one side for the morning, those with license granted to stay slept like the proverbial dead.

A single redheaded figure lay flat on his front in one of the smaller guest bedrooms, arms stretched out under his pillow; his weary trek homewards had been forestalled by a sharp smile and the offer of breakfast the next morning. A liberal spattering of bruises over his hips and thighs would make sitting down painful the next day, pride chafing under that night's duties and unwelcome attentions, but company like enough to that of his home would soon restore his usual good humour.

He slept alone, but dreamed of wings and fangs.

Two tired bodies curled close together in another bed, the smaller blonde youth wrapped protectively around his taller lover; their hair tangled together on the pillow, mercifully not catching between them though one's nose was nuzzled close against the other's shoulder. They were bone-weary after a long day and a longer night, the first they'd spent away from home or a hospital bed in a long time - their other partner would worry over them when they came home still tired the next day, but a sound night's dreamless sleep cures most ills.

They slept in each others' arms, and dreams passed them by

Another room, larger still, and a larger bed - four curled together, pale hair and dark caught up between tangled limbs and tangled bodies, too tired tonight to leave for their own beds at the end of the party. Soft skin against hard muscle, battle calluses and manicured nails, full lips and metal fangs, nail varnish and scars, warm and winding together purely for the love of closeness. The next morning, of course, would be another matter entirely.

They slept in a comfortable knot of limbs, and dreamed their own dreams.

***

...it's half past five, dark as midnight outside and all I want to do is go to bed. Bah, I say.

EDIT: ...Don't look at me, I just put down what they tell me. *sigh*

"Scarlatti, dear boy..."

"Hmm?"

"That costume."

"Yes? What about it?"

"Don't you think it's a shame to hide your assets that way?"

"What do you-" ..... "Blackout, if you think I am leaving my aft exposed to any more bruises than I can help- Why do you think I added the cape in?!"

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:04:29 GMT

Oh, for crying out loud. I thought I'd lost a list of Stuff I had to apply for, and where do I find it after five minutes of frazzled searching?

Stapled to the other list of stuff I'd just printed off and put aside.

And this is after continually missing the big red 'TICK HERE' tickybox on three successive applications in a row.

...

I am so very glad it's the weekend.

And if the wannabe supervillains in the headspace could SHUT THE HELL UP for five minutes it would greatly improve my concentration. I'll draw your costumes out ~~again~~ later!

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:53:44 GMT

Y'know, this is really, really adorable. I know, I know, I'm behind the times.

Also! O hai Lupie, do you still want an enormous knitted blanket for the artshare thing from ages ago? I never did find out what colours you wanted. ^^;

In other news, I think I've got another 'verse percolating. *tugs braids* Dreadmoon and Starscream are tearing around dressed up as supervillains. ...Well, I say 'Dreadmoon and Starscream'. Starscream's charging around laughing maniacally and having way too much fun while Dreadmoon's sticking his fingers into computers and replacing various limbs with super-toughened acrylic. And also thoroughly enjoying himself, if being rather quieter about it. *facepalm*

......Oh good lord. Mum's just emailed me that a girl I was friends with in school is pregnant. O_O I don't know why that's quite so omgwtf inducing, possibly because she was an absolutely tiny little thing herself, but - zomg, srsly.

EDIT: AAARGH. The one thing, the one long, laborious, boring thing I have to do today, and thenwebsite I need to do it has seized up and died. ASDFHJKLSQUALLPALM.

Spawn of EDIT: FOURTEEN APPLICATIONS IN AN HOUR THANK YOU THANK YOU I WAS HERE ALL WEEK. *...boompf*

..Wow.

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:58:41 GMT

Of the nine year 11s I need to catch to talk to about their upcoming mocks, only two of them are in school. The rest of them are 'unauthorised missing'.

O_o

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:18:39 GMT

Because I'm freezing cold, wheezy and nostalgic, dammit. Won't make any sense unless you remember the RP, of course.

***

He was so, so cold.

Buried to the eyebrows in a thick duvet, divested of the remnants of his rain-soaked human garments, the decidedly ex-Decepticon shivered until his teeth clattered like tin sheets in an air strike and startled himself with a throaty, wheezing sneeze.

He'd been in deep space before and felt nary a tremor - praise be to sensor shut-offs, indeed - but right then the Chevalier Cardoom muzzily reckoned his chances of surviving so much as a pat on the head as currently being minimal. His nightmarish flight from Latveria replayed itself over and over in mind and muscle, his strained and aching body abused well past the point of shutdown, and still he was too cold and shaken to sleep. Decepticons react poorly to failure, and failure was all this felt like to him.

He coughed into his blankets and grimaced at the noise he made. One of the safest places in the world to come to recover, his inner drill sergeant taunted him, and you too damaged to sleep!

He groaned and painfully curled up closer under the duvet, hiding his cold and stuffy nose in the pillows - then let out a cut-off curse and pushed himself up on his elbows to cough again, loud and rasping in the dark. Thrice-cursed human construction, let him breathe...

'Doom had barely managed to catch his breath, dropping weakly down onto the offending pillow and vainly trying to stay under the warmer covers, when the door to his guestroom-come-sickroom swung noiselessly open.

"My dear boy," his host murmured, "you sound absolutely dreadful."

The proud Decepticon warrior groaned aloud over the click of his chattering teeth, gave up on his dignity and pulled the blankets over his head.

...Ow...

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 08:31:34 GMT

Dreaming of family feuds and creeping rain does not for a restful night make. Waking up was almost physically painful. *whiiine* And it's really, really foggy today. *curls up under the table and ~~hides from the oncoming Hurricane J~~ doesn't come out*

EDIT: ...And I'll just be over here screaming with giggles. And listening to one of the teachers outside asking a noisy kid why he's "being a pain in my royal backside." XDDD

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:19:57 GMT

...I just re-found the logs where 'Mis and Turbo watched New York go dark when Riker's Island got cracked open. We never did have them actually run into Blackout and Deathwatch...

Me and my bright ideas.

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:32:35 GMT

Whyyy did I think colouring this in would be a good idea... I can never, ever stay inside the lines for the life of me! *wails* And it all has to be the same in each one and my colours are always streaky and I am officially completely nuts.

...

Well, at least I'm nuts with a casserole on the go to distract myself with. *sigh* And Fior is perched at a desk in the harem working away on some old bits of paper, so at least someone's getitng somewhere in their projects.

No wonder he's happier there than he was at home. His family never would have let him just sit and scribe all afternoon if he wanted to.

EDIT: ...All hail the aloe vera plant on my windowsill. I just missed out on having a really, really horrible burn thanks to that. *flops in a heap*

Right. Where's the pie, dammit, I'm due the last bit I was saving.

Raaaath! :D

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:22:51 GMT

D'you think little-Ashley ever watched Sesame Street when he was a kid? (I'm mostly trying to figure out whether Uncle Blackie would be horrified or keel over laughing. ;) )

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:19:26 GMT

On the one hand, Mischa's restlessness seems to have tamped down a bit and isn't making my skin prickle anymore. On the other, Hurricane J is apparently hair-trigger pissy, complaining endlessly about her fridge-freezer (and anything else she can think of) and moaning about having to come over here when she's sooooo busy back at P-campus!

RRRGH.

.......On the other-other hand, I may be mollified somewhat by the thought of a two-day conference where we get to stay in a posh hotel, fed three-course dinners and can use the pool for free. *blinks at advert*

EDIT: ...Pfnerk. Tweak just commented 'Don't mock the princess!' XD

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:23:41 GMT

Wow, going to bed late for three days running must be doing something right. I actually slept through the night for a change. XP

...And dreamed that I was hanging around in an enormous rambling flat with guiltyred and yoshideranged that was way, way bigger inside than it was out and all old wood and varnish, in a city that was half-flooded Venice style and contained a few inflatable buildings, but that's neither here nor there. Ahem. Whatever it was, I actually had to be woken up by my alarm instead of waiting for it.

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:31:10 GMT

...Um, Rath? Mischa's been looking suspiciously distracted all day, occasionally touching his lips and not even dignifying 'Mis peering at him with a hair-swish.

It's quiet. Too quiet. XD Apparently I need to get him laid more often!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:10:11 GMT

All right, all right, it's official - I am fed up and bored out of my tiny little mind. I can't settle to anything, the headcast are racketing around the place like fractious bears (which doesn't help the not-settling), I can't concentrate on a book and my sole bit of productivity has been another almost-page of Pepper's birthday present. Or rather, Pepper's late birthday present.

GAH.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:11:47 GMT

Yes, yes, I know, three-plus times in one day, but this is really, really pretty.

EDIT: Argh, I suck. Just have the link. XP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1CtiI3SZJI

Um.

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:09:08 GMT

I am mildly perturbed.

Apparently Mischa and 'Mis had a stand-up fight at one point - well, I say a stand-up fight; it was more like a knock-down-drag-out-try-to-throttle fight - about whether or not Seph would go the way of Daddy Dearest and...dispose of his harem when he got married. It seems Mischa was around when the last harem got rather nastily killed off just before he married Lucrecia...

Speaking of Mischa, I'm getting recurrent mental images of him in an outfit that looks alarmingly like the one from Assassin's Creed, and I don't think he's just wearing it for Halloween. O_O

Yes, yes, I know it looks far too like Assassin's Creed. Give me five minutes when he's actually standing still and a better lump of paper and maybe it won't. XP