(61) 2010.
Well! Well. Things Julia has failed at: self-expression, commenting on things (I've been reading, but that's no excuse for anything), making progress on some gestating fics...
It's a new year, though. I should better myself. New layout! No new profile pic yet; I think I like this one too much. I'm wondering if I should make a scrapbook for this year given all that's going to be happening. Yes? No? Could someone help me make it look pretty?
Some fics I want to pimp out:
1. Miscommunication by pebblegosling. Aiba/Ohno is hard. It's hard to find a conflict in the pairing that'll make a fic interesting while still staying realistic, but this fic is so sweet and them and it definitely worked.
2. In A Yellow Wood by miscetera. This confused me in some places, but it's like a lovely outtake from another world. Like a warm blanket, I guess.
3. Your Home Is Your Castle! by __sine. Only Ohno seemed to stay in the same place, not so much tethered as he was the anchor, both home and harbour at thirty years of age, kept in position by the close gravity of missing Arashi. Um, fantastic. I like everything about this.
4. In the Interest of Group Relations by primroseshows. Because we all missed Primrose, and she brings a humour to her fic that's rarely found elsewhere. Besides it being comedic, it brings out recognisable parts of all five of them.
5. Spica by myjulien. I kept meaning to comment on this, but my oddly recurring shyness and how amazing it is led to me repeatedly running away. But seriously, if you haven't read it yet, please do! myjulien always shows talent in putting real emotion in her stories that readers can identify with. You feel wretched with them, and when things get better you feel endlessly glad.
Oh, by the way, here are some 25-word drabble things (extremely difficult, I didn't realise how small of an amount that was!) kind of adapted from this prompt. I shuffled things around where it suited me, but you know, they're all 25 words on the dot. Here are the first five! I guess they'll all be posted to pogonipky when I finally finish.
First Time, Ohno & Nino
“Budge over,” Nino grumps, yanking a pillow towards him.
Ohno leans closer. “Why?” The Shukudai-kun set’s new couch is big enough for both of them.
Angst, Ohno
The mix of clay and resin stays stuck under his fingernails through a bath and two showers. He lets it; it’s a life left behind.
AU, Aiba
Sleeplessly hot nights, Aiba’s brain thinks, toes snuggling under the kotatsu, kisses, apricot-scented curtains... none of that where I’m going.
His lifepod blinks in statis.
Threesome, Nino, Ohno, Sho
It’s hot for Sho in between Ohno and Nino. They burn him from both sides until he’s slick with sweat, gasping achingly into the sheets.
Hurt/Comfort, Sho & Jun
Sho and Jun revolve around each other in biting, frustrated stumbles of words and endless cycles of apologies. They’re not happy until they stop talking.
And here's a schmoopy Sho-centric prompt from the prompt table I've been chipping away at. I'll post it over at the fic comm when there's other stuff to accompany it.
Prompt: 32. Open
Characters/Pairings: Sho
Notes: Depressingly stolid realists can, nevertheless, be pretty cool.
Where others perceive walls, Sakurai Sho has created doors.
It's not that he's an overly optimistic person. Actually, Sho thinks himself a depressingly stolid realist; for example, if he falls from this height there are approximately 10 bones he's likely to break and about eight of them seem useful.
But determination and desire have always been in him - from a small kid with a frown who'd yelled and tackled down the wrong kid who didn't even have the rugby ball, to a teenager who'd scrunched his nose and sat through club activities he hated, frustration building until he wanted to hit things and scream - to an adult who could smile freely and laugh deeply without even looking back at the doors he'd opened. It's not necessary.
For Sho, it's never been I can't do that; it's always been, How can I make it so it's possible? He'd created a door entering the agency, he'd created a door being enrolled in the university (which wasn't difficult at all for his high school friends, but Sho never got to sleep more than two hours a night); he'd sat down when he was twenty and written a whole proposal for a news program which could explain news to the masses, and then he'd waited by the door he'd created for his chance.
The biggest door he's created has been Arashi. This door is special. It's not just his; the others have made and opened it along with him, their efforts visible in the way it's slightly patched together, stitched and streaked through with different colors. It's not a door that's only opened once.
He walks up to it and stands by the knob, waiting for them to catch up. When they do, they always open it together.
Working two sets of glasses, yeaaaah.
Yeaaaaah.
Topic 1:
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Has Sho's art improved?! Or is he doomed to draw worse than my kindergarteners forever?!
Topic 2: I think I caught a cold running around freezing Manhattan with some friends. I honestly thought it'd be warmer than Iowa, but I guess it's freezing everywhere because now my nose is stuffed and I feel all warbly. Soup-super.
Topic 3: Google Chrome beta for Mac has had problems loading animated gifs since I installed it, despite being awesome in pretty much every other way. The problem still isn't fixed completely, but it seems gifs do load now - and don't freeze up the whole browser while doing it. G'job, auto-updating system which was apparently broken and being worked on before this.
Topic 4: I'm ronery! Where's my natural bouncyness? :(
I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year's. ♥ I'll try to have more of a presence...