Lukoni's Lair of Lethargy

Wow, I've been running around like crazy for at least a week now and I'm still not sure where all the time has gone. I certainly haven't accomplished much despite all the buzzing about. But I have been earning some extra bucks on an editing job, which is waaaay cool. Cash in the bank and another notch on the CV. Who can ask for anything more?? And I went on a really good dive last weekend. Practiced my buoyancy at my leisure and managed to maneuver pretty well around the cheezy sunken boat with camera in hand. It was really nice having a shallow, stress-free setting just to practice. Usually I just have to go straight into work mode and hope I don't screw up.

So I'm supposed to be going at my thesis with both barrels these days. Which means any time spent writing should be NOT be spent on writing smut. Sigh. Stupid real life. :P (I bite my thumb at you!) We'll see how long I can hold out!

Speaking of fic, I've barely had time to shower let alone write anything lately. Fortunately since everyone at gw500 was at Yaoicon last week, the challenge was to haul something out of your odds and ends basket for posting. And there is this one story that I'm pretty sure I never posted anywhere. I wrote it a while back - about 2 years, I think - but I was never entirely happy with it. I think it's a little too standard and not particularly insightful. (Not that my other stuff IS, mind you.) But I figured I'd post it there anyway, with a copy here so I can at least make an attempt to have all my fic in one place. (On that front, other happy news - someone left feedback on a couple of superold stories over the weekend and I was completely surprised but mega happy. It's so cool to know people are coming across these and enjoying them! *warm glow of sharing my perversion with the world*)

Title: Bad Dream
Author: Lukoni
Characters: Heero + Trowa
Word Count: 620
Summary: Heero has a dream that is hard to shake.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Tad of violence; possible cliche!Heero
Notes: Set just before Heero’s duel with Zechs in Antarctica. (I'm crap at episode numbers!)

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Well, after all the bruhaha on LJ who's in the mood to write fic? Hmmmm... I see very few hands out there. I will admit I haven't been in the mood either, BUT - a) the best way for me to support fandom is by continuing to write, and b) it's lil_1337's birthday, and she really deserves fic for her birthday!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABE!!

I find it appropriate that the prompt for the week was 'low' and that's exactly how I've felt since this whole thing happened. But as they say - when life throws you lemons, make lemonade... of course I'm more partial to the positively brilliant Sanzo line from the Saiyuki fic Beyond All Limits: Running Hot and Cold by itainohime: "It was a truism: that whenever life handed him lemons, he was always careful to cut the lemons into neat slices, and squeeze the juice into someone else's eyes."

So, anyway, here is my somewhat rambling and inconsequential offering for the day.

Title: Bending Over Backwards
Author: Lukoni
Characters: Quatre+Duo (friendship), Quatre/Trowa
Word Count: ca 2900
Summary: While vacationing on a tropical island Quatre gets to watch two master showmen at work.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Humor, minors involved with illegal (but nonsexual) activities, adult sexual situations, gratuitous Trowa ogling.
Notes: In the wake of the fandom paedophilia witch hunt I decided to write a story with no artistic merit involving children performing illicit activities that yet manage to have nothing to do with sex. Fuck you, WFI. Right. Anyway.... Written for GW500 challenge #184: Low. Feedback/Criticism/Typo notifications welcome. Thanks for reading!

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Well, it’s official. I’m coming home. Grrrrrr. Stupid body. My arm is still acting funny after diving (and other forms of strenuous exercise) and my tummy is still not happy with me at nights, so my prof suggested perhaps it would be better if I went home where I could see a doctor who speaks my own language and has regular access both to me and to spiffy testing resources. I couldn’t disagree, but I was sorely disappointed to have to leave the project early. Still, it would only stress me out more to stay out there and wait, wondering if it will go away or get worse. And if it’s something easily treatable I’d like to get it treated asap.

So now I get to hang out in Bodrum for a couple days - cool (though really it’s very hot). Might go see Transformers just cuz. I was hoping to pick up an English copy of Harry Potter to send back to my friends at camp but local ex-pat assures me that I will never find one here. Izmir, yes, Bodrum, no. Whatever. It’s Harry freakin’ Potter. Surely there’s a kiosk on Mars selling copies in 25 languages as we speak! I’ll check a couple places anyway just in case. My own personal challenge will come in traveling all the way back to Texas without encountering any spoilers! Could be tricky - when in airports I will be sure to keep at least a 10 meter buffer between me and any 12-old-girl I see. And arm myself with headphones for the plane in case there’s one seated behind me (although it’s usually a 3-year-old boy with a penchant for kicking the seat in front of him...).

Another annoyance is that even after getting my tickets changed I still have to get up at 3 am to go catch my flight to Istanbul just so that I can get from Istanbul to Frankfurt by 10:30 am so that I can catch my connection to the states at .... yup, you guessed it, 8:30 am the next day. WTF???? Grrrrrr. Can the travel agent honestly tell me that that was the only option available? And to top it all off, I planned to stay over in Mainz so I can go to the ship museum there which was a great idea when this was planned for August, but now I will be there on a Monday, which we all know is universal Museums Are Closed Day. FUCK ALL. Though apparently the Gutenberg Museum will be open. Not as cool (or useful to my research) as Roman ships, but I guess it will have to do. Sheesh. I must have pissed off someone big time to incur this much karmic retribution!

And so, in order to cheer myself up last week, and, inspired by Raletha’s lovely 2x3 tattooing fic (The Artist) that I encountered on my last trip to town, I went back to an old unfinished 2x3 that I’ve been writing off and on (mostly off) for almost two years now and started working on it again. Woohoo! It’s still not done of course (boo!) but I did come across a chunk that got completely cut out since it veered off in a direction that was totally not in line with the story, but..... I kinda like as a stand-alone snippet. So I figured I’d post it as a special thanks to raletha (not that she wrote it for me personally, but still, such a hawt fic deserves thanks) and also as thanks to all you guys who have read and replied to my whiny posts over the last few weeks! You all totally rock!!! I really appreciate everyone’s support!

Title: Random Snippet
Pairing: 2x3
Rating: PG or less.
Word Count: 740.
Summary: Duo tells his lover a story in a time of crisis.
Warnings: Sappy, sappy, cheezy and sappy. Oh, and did I mention corny? Also, in the story from which this developed Duo has some hard feelings toward Heero who rejected him rather coldly - things get resolved later on in the story, but at the point when this snippet was supposed to take place Duo’s still not too happy with him. No mindless character bashing is intended!

( Tallyho! Onward to Saptown )

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've posted. **Whinge Alert - feel free to skip ahead to story at end of post.** I was in something of a panic after my last post - it led to a slew of really, really amazing feedback and I was completely overwhelmed, and a bit unnerved to think that all these people were reading my stuff. Totally scary. Silly, I realize, because why the hell else does one post to a journal and make it public?? But still, I've been reasonably anonymous so far, which is actually kind of a comfortable place to be.

Knowing people read your posts is great, because it's wonderful to have friends who share similar perversions interests, but it also changes slightly the audience for whom I write my posts - which has for the most part been, um, me. But as my audience gains more of a face I feel more pressure to be careful what I say so I don't offend anyone. Which is a little restricting. But everything comes with a price, I suppose. And then with so many people saying such wonderful things about my stories - it's so exciting but also gave me one hell of a case of writer's block. Or, rather, performance anxiety! The thought that people expect certain things from you is kind of terrifying. Guess I'm just used to blending into the background. (Maybe why I'm so fond of Trowa?)

I have a friend I met in a summer program once - she, one other guy and I were older than most of the other students there and had some work experience under our belt, while everyone else was fresh out of their undergrad lives, so we didn't really have much in common with them. So the three of us hung out together a lot for meals and such, and called ourselves the Island of Misfit Toys. It's usually a small place to be, but I'm used to it. But I guess the entire internet is filled with them - an Archipelago of Misfit Toys!

And there's another friend I made during my current program and she is completely and totally popular. Not that bitchy Queen of the World popular, but the geuinely nice completely thoughtful and fun popular. I've never had a friend like that. I used to find myself feeling jealous every now and then of everyone else trying to claim her time, until I realized what the problem was. Now I mostly admire how she handles people and wonder at how she seems to care about and for so many people. It would be too stressful for me. I'd always be worrying about making everyone happy and needing things from me and it would drive me out of my mind. Literally.

All of which I find a bit amusing in the light of the story I just read on love_trowa - Just Might Break by taigne. Some of the thoughts rolling around in Trowa's brain in that one are just a little too close to my own. CREE - PEEEE. Still, nice to know I'm not the only to have had thoughts like that. *goes to yellow pages to look for therapist*

So now that my brooding sulk is over - for the time being at least - I finally conquered my fear of writing enough to scribble down this one. An idea which has been kicking around in my head for a while now. Since I still seem to be blocked on the Fresh New Idea front, I figured I'd better just go raid my backlog of Weird Old Ideas. And if any of you have followed my ramblings this far - God bless you, and sorry for being a whiny baby!

Title: Family Ties
Author: Lukoni
Characters: Mariemeia Kushrenada, Trowa Barton (references to 3x4)
Word Count: ca. 2700
Summary: Mariemeia wants something from the man who bears her uncle’s name.
Rating: G
Warnings: Minor peril. Humor. Mild hair abuse.
Notes: Set post-EW. Written for gw500 challenge #166: Comb. This idea came to me a while back after reading a slew of stories that involved T&Q dealing with their own children or those of Quatre’s sisters (especially the most excellent ‘Favorite Uncle’ stories by Windsor Blue) – this is a sort of irreverent response that is in no way intended as a criticism of any of those stories and should not be construed to actually take place in any of those universes. I hope no one will be offended. Feedback/Criticism/Typo notifications welcome. Thanks for reading!

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I've been a busy little beaver lately - actually doing things I'm SUPPOSED to be doing. But today's gymnastics involved in translating Pliny the F*#&%ing Younger has put me in a rather fuzzy-headed, overloaded frame of mind. It hurt my brain. So I whipped up a quickie fic for the latest GW500 challenge. It probably sucks lemons, but I tried. What the hay.

Sorry to post and run - Wednesday night's bar night here in the Armpit of the Universe. There's a Newcastle calling my name as we speak. Weeehaaaaaa!

Title: Interwoven
Author: Lukoni
Characters: Trowa/Quatre
Word Count: ca. 380
Summary: Trowa is at a loss for words at on an important occasion.
Rating: G
Warnings: Introspection. Ruminations on death.
Notes: Written for GW500 challenge #160: Prompt. Feedback/Criticism/Typo notifications welcome. Thanks for reading!

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So I'm back home, much to my disappointment. I had an unexpectedly good time back in my old digs. Really miss it up there. Want to move back to Boston SOOOOOO badly. But I really need to follow through on this school thing. I'm a bit at loose ends with my studies, which has been bringing me down. I'm hoping to garner some energy or motivation this semester but I'm not sure I can do it. Feeling very burned out.

Spent the weekend avoiding reality. Couldn't even write - even though I am very delinquent on the story I owe dentelle_noir - So sorry, my friend! Thank you for being so patient!! My muses have been on strike since I got home. Stupid bastards. (I think Duo ran off with Heero at that last rest stop in Louisiana, and I need him, dammit!) So I spent the weekend reading. Read the first three Mark Manning mystery novels by Michael Craft. An interesting look at a stable gay relationship written by a gay man - of course with murder mystery thrown in. I need action with my romance or I get completely bored. I must admit that two of the three mysteries I figured out pretty early on, but it was okay, because the character/relationship side of the story was satisfying enough. Also "read" via audio CD on my way home a Myron Bolitar mystery by Harlan Coben - didn't care much for the author's reading (his voice was a tad too Ray Romano-ish and he tended to swallow words) but the mystery was fun, and the hero's best buddy is this fastidious, womanizing, upper-class WASP/borderline psychotic who could kill you with a stale pretzel. My type of guy!! According to the text he was beaten up by bullies as a kid and swore never to allow that to happen again - and he made good in spades. He totally needs his own spinoff series, cuz he rocks, but, alas, his lack of moral code probably relegates him forever to the sidekick role. Still, I may read another just to hear more of him.

So after a weekend, and some portion of last week, devoted to reading, rather than writing, (okay, and watching old episodes of Relic Hunter) I was feeling rather low and uninspired but aching to write something of my own. And this morning, as I lay drowsing in bed in my heatless apartment (some sort of sequencer malfunction apparently), I was struck with an idea for the latest GW500 prompt. I haven't been able to come up with anything there recently, so I figured I should go with it, and write what I was in the mood to write - better than getting increasingly frustrated by writing nothing. So I did. It's a little sappy, but I hope reasonably realistic and not too boring. And now that it's out of the way, I may be able to finish off my overdue new years fic. After all, classes start tomorrow, so I will be in some serious need of procrastination projects. : )

Oh! Oh! News flash!! My heat just came back on. Yes, I'm from New England, but that doesn't make a 57-degree apartment any more enjoyable. Now I just have to worry about how long it will deign to stay on. My roommate suggested we try to include it in more of our conversations so it won't feel so lonely and left out, and then it may be more cooperative.

So here's today's insipid ramblings... (I swear, Dentelle, back to Trowa in his skimpy kilt soon!)

Title: Restoration
Author: Lukoni
Characters: Quatre/Trowa
Word Count: 1920
Summary: Quatre tackles an important repair job on a lonely night.
Rating: G
Warnings: Introspection, slight angst, violin analogies.
Notes: Written for GW500 challenge #155: Bridge. Feedback/Criticism/Typo notifications welcome. Thanks for reading!

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