calic0cat

Status Update

2009-03-12T02:38:03Z

I've had a number of emails, etc., lately, wondering what's going on and why I haven't been around. The short answer is that I have, quite simply, been overwhelmed with so many RL issues that I simply haven't had the time or energy to post anything. I've occasionally read a few posts and I've got a few flagged in Read It Later (a Firefox extension that's absolutely irreplaceable), but that's been about the limit of what I've been doing online. I've done a bit of writing, off-and-on, but there's nothing that's had sufficient progress to be ready for posting.

The details of what's been going on are far too many to get into - just thinking about listing them makes me tired - but I will list a few, just to give everyone some idea why I've been (and will probably continue to be) so quiet.

October and November were busier than I'd anticipated but that was about it. December was when things started to get out of hand. I'd planned to do podcasts of a few of my fics for Christmas but unfortunately I ended up with a cough and cold that just wouldn't go away, from about mid-December through till New Year's. I then managed to get thrown by a horse (not one of my own) and spent several weeks drugged up with prescription anti-inflammatories/muscle relaxants/pain killers. The only thing that I actually broke was my helmet but I banged up my back and ribs pretty thoroughly; lots of soft tissue damage and most likely bruising or maybe even cracking of bone, particularly my lower ribs). There's still a fair bit of tenderness in some spots but thanks to chiropractic and massage therapy treatments, I'm healing up pretty well. Also in that late December-present time period, I became an aunt for the first time (my niece is adorable but she's been high-maintenance pretty much since my sister-in-law went into labour), our barn roof deteriorated to the point where heavy rain outside means a steady drizzle inside (right through the hay loft and down into the stalls below), my dad's heart problems worsened which, in addition to the stress and worry, meant that I had to take over caring for the horses, our refrigerator died on the Sunday afternoon of a holiday weekend, a cousin had major knee surgery, another cousin's kid had a bad tobogganing accident and ended up needing surgery for a badly broken leg, work got insanely busy and stayed that way (winter is usually a fairly slow season), and our area got more snow dumped on it than we've experienced in decades.

Yeah, so far, 2009 sucks - and definitely not in a good way.

So... I'd really like to be able to say that things are settling down and that I'll be around more but... I don't think that would be the truth. I'm going to have to come up with the cash/credit to either re-roof the barn (a huge, 70-plus-year-old gambrel-roofed monster that would cost $16,000-20,000 just to re-roof - and it needs new clapping (siding) too, plus electrical and plumbing work) or to build a new, much smaller, more modern barn (probably around $20,000-$25,000, if I'm lucky). The cousin's kid will have to have more surgery later this year. With some medication adjustments, my dad is doing better but he's still not going to be able to do nearly the same things that he was doing before, even after he gets his defib. implanted, which means a lot of changes around here. I'm pretty much permanently tired and overwhelmed and I can't see that changing until after I get the barn issue dealt with and my dad gets his surgery safely over with.

In summary: yes, I'm still alive and still interested in fandom (as much as I can summon up the energy to be interested in anything). No, I haven't given up on any of my writing but I haven't got anything ready to post, either, sorry. No, I'm probably not going to be around much for the foreseeable future. Yes, I do intend to come back just as soon as possible.

And, yes, 2009 does indeed suck. Big time. :P

P.S. My apologies in advance for the fact that I probably won't be able to find the time and/or energy to respond to comments. Sorry, folks.

The Sentinel slash zines for sale

2008-05-28T03:59:06Z

Rather than trying to keep two sets of "for sale" postings updated, I'm just going to link across to the posts on my LJ. Zines are $15 each or 3 for $35, with the exception of the Extra Touchy Frisky zines (which are $5 each) and the three volumes of Dene's "The Gift" series (which are $20 each).

Titles beginning with A through F:
http://calic0cat.livejournal.com/196928.html

Titles beginning with H through R:
http://calic0cat.livejournal.com/197286.html

Titles beginning with S through U:
http://calic0cat.livejournal.com/197624.html

Titles beginning with W through Z:
http://calic0cat.livejournal.com/197726.html

Doujinshi for Sale - Circles beginning with I through M

2008-04-08T03:07:59Z

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

50 pages

Printed 7/05/98 (Second edition 11/01/98)

Note: I believe that this is the second edition.

~~Juke Box~~ - SOLD - luel_exana

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 44 pages.

Megasaikuru IV ~MEGA CYCLE~ ("Megacycle IV ~MEGA CYCLE~")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

74 pages

Printed 9/23/99

Kotobukitei (Tohru Azumi) - reserved for chocobowings

Boo-Boo

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

32 pages

Printed 10/1996

Kuriharaya (Gotoshi Itou)

Dakara

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

52 pages

Printed 6/02/1996

Manga; Duo main, includes Heero x Duo and Trowa & Quatre.

Lunatis (??) - Min Haruno & Hiroka Kanan (??)

Jungle-Wing (Jungle-W Fourth)

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 42 pages.

Magnum 55

Noise

Printed 1995.12.29; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 67 pages.

Note: Approximately 17 pages are text. Also note that there are semi-explicit images in this doujinshi (positions are suggestive but no "bits" are visible).

Melt Down

~~Get Away Together~~ - SOLD - luel_exana

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

52 pages

Printed 3/03/96

Doujinshis for Sale - Mark Heart 1 & 2

2008-04-07T02:34:54Z

I'm listing these two doujinshis separately as I'm pricing them a bit differently, due to their size and the fact that I'm pretty sure I paid considerably more for them originally. I'm asking $15 each, or I'll let the pair go for $25. If the price is too high or too low, hopefully someone with a better idea of the values will give me a heads-up. *sweatdrops* Shipping will be the actual postage charges. Doujinshi scans are from my actual zines.

Please note that, while I have not posted any explicit pages from any doujinshi, both of these are yaoi in nature and Mark Heart 2 does contain explicit yaoi sex; please do not attempt to buy it if you are not above the age of majority in your country. Thanks!

Guardian

Mark Heart

Printed 1995.10.22; A4 size (8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches); approx. 138 pages.

Mark Heart 2

Printed 1995.12.29; A4 size (8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches); approx. 126 pages.

Note: This doujinshi contains sexually explicit yaoi images.

Doujinshi For Sale - Circles beginning with C through E (excluding Degital PaPa)

2008-04-07T01:19:34Z

Since I have no clue what I paid for most of these, I'm going to put a flat price of $10 each, or 3 for $25, on them for now. Other deals can be arranged if you want to buy a larger number of djs. If the price is too high or too low, hopefully someone with a better idea of the values will give me a heads-up. *sweatdrops* Shipping will be the actual postage charges. Doujinshi scans are from my actual zines; where available, detailed DJ info is copied from Mind Education: Kagenami Q's Gundam Wing Doujinshi Reference Digs. Please note that, while I have not posted any explicit pages from any doujinshi, many of these do contain explicit yaoi sex; please do not attempt to buy them if you are not above the age of majority in your country. If you wish to have the presence or absence of explicit images in a specific dj confirmed, please ask and I will check. Thanks!

Colors Club Jr.

Unknown Title, green cover, 2x1

Printed 1996.8.3; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); approx. 44 pages.

Note: This doujinshi is extremely explicit. NC-17 at a minimum. I literally had trouble finding several non-explicit pages to scan. It also has several pages that appear to be some sort of flashback to NCS involving a number of shadowy-faced men and a rather small, scrawny Heero (though it may be just an artistic representation of his helplessness, as his relative size and - well, scrawniness - compared to Duo varies from panel to panel in the remainder of the doujinshi and that variation appears to possibly be related to his emotions).

I repeat, this is an EXTREMELY sexually explicit doujinshi.

Crisis (Minase Yuina)

D (Gundam Wing Fan Book Vol. 4), 1x2

Printed 1996.1.21; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 32 pages.

Note: Has some semi-explicit (nudity & clearly suggestive positions but no visible "bits") content.

Eiri Asato & Etsuko Hattori

a priori a posteriori II, 3x4

Printed 1997.08.16; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 89 pages.

Note: No explicit content.

Free screen grab program at Giveaway of the Day

2008-04-06T12:53:25Z

Just a really quick heads-up for everyone out there who likes to grab stills from recorded video.

Today's free programs from Giveaway of the Day include Topaz Moment, a program for grabbing high resolution stills from less-than-high-quality video. I have yet to try it myself (that will have to wait till this afternoon) but the reviews on the site so far are very positive and it has quite a high "thumbs up" rating. Since it's only available for a single day, I thought I'd better go ahead and post while folks would still have a chance to go get it.

Doujinshi For Sale - Circles beginning with F through (includes Finder W, Gokujo, Gum Aida, Hexagram

2008-04-06T03:31:51Z

Since I have no clue what I paid for most of these, I'm going to put a flat price of $10 each, or 3 for $25, on them for now. Other deals can be arranged if you want to buy a larger number of djs. If the price is too high or too low, hopefully someone with a better idea of the values will give me a heads-up. *sweatdrops* Shipping will be the actual postage charges. Doujinshi scans are from my actual zines; where available, detailed DJ info is copied from Mind Education: Kagenami Q's Gundam Wing Doujinshi Reference Digs. Please note that, while I have not posted any explicit pages from any doujinshi, many of these do contain explicit yaoi sex; please do not attempt to buy them if you are not above the age of majority in your country. If you wish to have the presence or absence of explicit images in a specific dj confirmed, please ask and I will check. Thanks!

Finder W

Virus Program

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
88 pages
Printed 8/25/96

Genesis

Gundam Wing Book 1

Printed 1995.6.11 or 1995.9.3 (has one date on outside back cover & the other inside); B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 82 pages.

Note: This doujinshi is over 50% text stories - but that still leaves quite a few pages of images, which are gorgeous.

Gundam Wing Book 2

Printed 1995.7.23 or 1995.9.3 (has one date on outside back cover & both inside); B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 130 pages.

Note: This doujinshi is over 50% text stories - but that still leaves plenty of pages of gorgeous images.

Gokujo (??)

Fakefar (??)

Printed 2000.8.11; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 32 pages.

Gum Aida (Tanukigoya Gum Aida)

Comrades

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); printed in 1996; 44 pages.

Hexagram (Sakuya;Syuho+Kazui;Yukiji)

Collection No 12

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches) ; printed 1995.10.22; 61 pages.

Hisayoshi Sakaki

GundamW

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches) ; printed 1995.11.3; 44 pages.

Note: Gen, therefore no explicit images.

Doujinshi For Sale - Degital PaPa

2008-04-05T23:15:54Z

A4 size (8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches), 46 pages.

An Hour of Love is 10 Centuries of Loneliness

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

52 pages

Printed 1/15/1996

Love is Blind

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

36 pages

Printed 1995

Love You Only

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

44 pages

Printed before February 1997

Okusama Wa Bishounen 2

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

50 pages

Printed before December 1996 (undated)

Tsuminaki Tenshi-tachi He No Rekuiemu ("Requiem For Innocent Angels")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

56 pages

Printed 3/31/1996 according to later DEGITAL PaPa doujinshi "Koi No Ousama"

Tsuminaki Tenshi-tachi He No Rekuiemu II

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

72 pages

Printed before August 1996 (undated)

Tsuminaki Tenshi-tachi He No Rekuiemu III

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
48 pages
Printed before October 1996 (undated)

Tsuminaki Tenshi-tachi He No Rekuiemu 4 ("Requiem For Innocent Angels 4")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

80 pages

Printed 10/10/1996

Tsuminaki Tenshi-tachi He No Rekuiemu 6 ("Requiem For Innocent Angels 5")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); approx. 70-80 pages; printed March 1997

Tsuminaki Tenshi-tachi He No Rekuiemu 6 ("Requiem For Innocent Angels 6")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)

72 pages

Printed August 1997

Doujinshi For Sale - Aijou Bank, Atsumi Anikees, Arashi No Prelude-Sha, Azzurri, Bank Holiday

2008-04-05T22:08:43Z

Due to the number of cover scans & page samples, I'm splitting the doujinshis that are for sale into several separate posts.

Sales are on a first come, first serve basis. Since I have no clue what I paid for most of these, I'm going to put a flat price of $10 each, or 3 for $25, on them for now. Other deals can be arranged if you want to buy a larger number of djs. If the price is too high or too low, hopefully someone with a better idea of the values will give me a heads-up. *sweatdrops* Shipping will be the actual postage charges. Doujinshi scans are from my actual copies; where available, detailed DJ info (the bullet-point lists) has been copied from Mind Education: Kagenami Q's Gundam Wing Doujinshi Reference Digs. Please note that, while I have not posted any explicit pages from any doujinshi, many of these do contain explicit yaoi sex; please do not attempt to buy them if you are not above the age of majority in your country. If you wish to have the presence or absence of explicit images in a specific dj confirmed, please ask and I will check. Thanks!

Aijou Bank

Aim My Heart

Printed 1995.8.18; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 82 pages.

Atsumi Anikees

Blue File 03

B5 edit (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
72 pages
Printed 8/03/96
Collects Mellow Yellow and EXIT

Blue File 04 - Anthology Remix

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
70 pages
Printed 2/23/97

Note: the cover is a textured metallic gold which did not scan well *at all*. Those wavy lines are actually the texture pattern.

Blue File 05 - Anthology Remix Vol. 2

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
44 pages
Printed 8/16/97

Blue File 07 - Operation Wing Endless Waltz Anthology Remix Vol. 3

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
44 pages
Printed 8/15/98

Kanzen Duo x Heero Sengen! ("The Complete Duo x Heero Declaration!")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
38 pages
Printed 10/10/96

Maybe Blue

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
48 pages
Printed 11/03/95 (second printing 12/29/95)

Note: This is the second printing.

Arashi No Prelude-Sha

Love Hysteria

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
56 pages
Printed 10/27/1996

Note: No explicit images are present in this dj.

True Colors

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
32 pages
Printed 12/28/1996

Azzurri

Baby, I Don't Forget You

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
56 pages
Printed 5/03/97
Given the top "S Rank" rating by the Japanese doujinshi anthology monthly Comic Box Jr.!

Bank Holiday

Regret: The Other Side Stories of Gundam Wing

Printed in 1995; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 50 pages.

Gundam Wing Doujinshis For Sale

2008-03-31T04:24:12Z

My collection of "stuff" has gotten seriously out of hand. In the interests of freeing up some storage space - and incidentally helping to pay for my next laptop replacement, as my current one just isn't handling the demands I'm putting on it lately - I've started sorting through my Rubbermaid bins full of doujinshi and zines. I'll be posting the first batch of The Sentinel fanzines under a separate post sometime tomorrow, probably.

There will be more GW djs posted in a week or so, when I get around to sorting through the next bin full.

For now, here's the first batch of Gundam Wing doujinshi that I'm offering for sale on a first come, first serve basis. Since I have no clue what I paid for most of these, I'm going to put a flat price of $10 each, or 3 for $25, on them for now. Other deals can be arranged if you want to buy a larger number of djs. If the price is too high or too low, hopefully someone with a better idea of the values will give me a heads-up. *sweatdrops* Shipping will be the actual postage charges. Doujinshi scans are from my actual zines; where available, detailed DJ info is copied from Mind Education: Kagenami Q's Gundam Wing Doujinshi Reference Digs. Please note that, while I have not posted any explicit pages from any doujinshi, most of these do contain explicit yaoi sex; please do not attempt to buy them if you are not above the age of majority in your country. If you wish to have the presence or absence of explicit images in a specific dj confirmed, please ask and I will check. Thanks!

Aijou Bank

Aim My Heart

Printed 1995.8.18; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 82 pages.

Atsumi Anikees

Blue File 03

B5 edit (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
72 pages
Printed 8/03/96
Collects Mellow Yellow and EXIT


Blue File 04 - Anthology Remix

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
70 pages
Printed 2/23/97

Note: the cover is a textured metallic gold which did not scan well *at all*. Those wavy lines are actually the texture pattern.

Blue File 05 - Anthology Remix Vol. 2

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
44 pages
Printed 8/16/97

Blue File 07 - Operation Wing Endless Waltz Anthology Remix Vol. 3

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
44 pages
Printed 8/15/98

Kanzen Duo x Heero Sengen! ("The Complete Duo x Heero Declaration!")

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
38 pages
Printed 10/10/96

Arashi No Prelude-Sha

Love Hysteria

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
56 pages
Printed 10/27/1996

True Colors

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
32 pages
Printed 12/28/1996

Azzurri

Baby, I Don't Forget You

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
56 pages
Printed 5/03/97
Given the top "S Rank" rating by the Japanese doujinshi anthology monthly Comic Box Jr.!

Bank Holiday

Regret: The Other Side Stories of Gundam Wing

Printed in 1995; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 50 pages.

Degital Papa

A4 size (8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches), 25 pages.
Note: There is some yellowing of the edges of the pages, especially along the top and the binding.

Finder W

Virus Program

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
88 pages
Printed 8/25/96

Gokujo (??)

Fakefar (??)

Printed 2000.8.11; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 32 pages.



IHATOV-honpo

~~Get Lost~~ - SOLD

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
50 pages
Printed 7/05/98 (Second edition 11/01/98)

Note: I believe that this is the second edition.

~~Juke Box~~ - SOLD

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 44 pages.

Kotobukitei (Tohru Azumi)

Boo-Boo

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
32 pages
Printed 10/1996



Lunatis (??) - Min Haruno & Hiroka Kanan (??)

Jungle-Wing (Jungle-W Fourth)

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 42 pages.



Melt Down

~~Get Away Together~~ - SOLD

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
52 pages
Printed 3/03/96

NATTSU

Wow Wow 2

A4 size (8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches)
40 pages
Printed 12/29/95

Wow Wow 3

A4 size (8 1/4 inches by 11 3/4 inches)
32 pages
Printed 1/21/96

Ringo-Zaidan

Baby Baby Baby

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
30 pages
Printed 3/31/96

VESPA

Mint
B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches)
58 pages
Printed 8/03/1996

Miscellaneous Others

Beatnic Gift (??)

Printed in Summer 1997 (??); B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 32 pages.

Comrade

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 34 pages.

~~Operation Imekura - Official Name: Operation Maid~~ - SOLD

B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 26 pages.
While it doesn't say it anywhere, I'm tempted to say that this is actually a Degital Papa zine - the art style is certainly similar.

Unknown Title, pink cover, Duo x Heero

Published 1996.10.27; B5 size (7 1/4 inches by 10 1/8 inches); 52 pages.

Updated sold items & added zines by Aijou Bank, Atsumi Anikees, Arashi No Prelude-Sha, Azzuri, and Kotobukitei (Tohru Azumi).

Tor Publishing Running a Free eBooks Promo

2008-03-07T13:02:08Z

I've been meaning to post this and keep forgetting. Doh!

Tor (the sci-fi & fantasy publishing company) is running a promotion right now where you sign up for their email list and get the chance to download a total of twelve free ebooks (one per week). US Residents get entered in their "Watch the Skies" sweepstakes as well. So far, they've had Brandon Sanderson's "Mistborn", John Scalzi's "Old Man's War", and Robert Charles Wilson's "Spin". This week's download is "The Outstretched Shadow" by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. "Mistborn" was only available as a PDF but the others have been available as PDF, HTML, or Mobipocket. If you need to convert to an alternative format for something like the Palm or Sony Reader, HTML is probably your best bet. You can sign up for the email list and free ebooks at http://www.tor.com/ - happy reading!

Fic Downloaders & Offline Fic Reading

2008-02-06T14:59:47Z

I originally typed this up as a comment for someone's flist-locked post. Having done so, it seemed like rather a waste not to share the info more widely, especially since I've been half intending to do so ever since I got my beloved new Cybook ebook reader just before Christmas.

For the sake of everyone who wants a better/easier way to grab stories (especially from sites like adultfanfiction.com and fanfiction.net) to read offline, here's three good (free) options (the best, IMHO, is the last one):

First, there's an online fic download helper site which supports 19 sites available at http://www.ficsavers.com/. Haven't used it myself, but I've heard it works pretty well and can make it much easier to get stories as nice clean HTML that can be easily converted to any other desired format. From the site: "FicSavers.Com allows you to easily save stories from many fan fiction archives to plain .html files with customizable font & background colors and font faces."

The first freeware program - which I used for quite a while before finding something even better - is DeFFNetizer. Just give it the story id and it will download & save all of the stories chapters in individual HTML files. It works for Fanfiction.Net and TTHFanFic.Com (Twisting The Hellmouth), plus has either limited current functionality or planned future functionality for FicWad.Com, LOTRFanFiction.Com, PortKey.Org, HarryPotterFanFiction.Com, and PhoenixSong.net. DeFFNetizer is available for Windows and Mac, plus Python source code is available if anyone's particularly adventurous.

The third option, Fanfiction Downloader, is my favourite. It's available for Windows only; I'm not sure whether the developer would be willing/able to compile a version for Mac or not. The current release (3.8) supports the following sites:

- fanfiction.net
- fanfiktion.de
- checkmated.com
- portkey.org
- adultfanfiction.net
- Animexx.de (test)
- Fictionalley.org (schnoogle, astronomy....)
- Fictionpress.com

Fanfiction Downloader will save as individual chapters or as a single file. The developer originally wrote it for his own convenience in transferring fanfiction to his Palm for offline reading. It now supports saving in your choice of RTF, HTML, and PDF format.

Now that I have my Cybook, I generally convert the HTML files to Mobipocket format, but when I just had my eBookwise 1150, I used to convert HTML to its native IMP format.

Anyone who wants to read on a mobile device should go check out the forums at MobileRead. If you have any doubts over how to best get your stories on your device in a convenient format, or even over which device is best for your purposes, it's the perfect place to ask. There's advice and links to software to help get reading content onto pretty much any device that you can imagine.

And the HP bunnies escape their pen again... sigh

2008-02-04T18:45:24Z

I swear, HP bunnies must be able to apparate because they keep ending up in other fandoms' bunny pens and crossbreeding. :P Finished this late last night and held on to it till I gave it a once-over at lunch today.

Let's see if anyone figures this crossover out before the last line gives it away.

Self-executing wills were rare.

They were time-consuming and difficult to compose (every condition had to be precisely and explicitly spelled out with careful attention to detail), magically draining (in addition to embedding the individual’s magical signature in the document, sufficient magic had to be stored to execute the will in future), and outrageously expensive to have witnessed and stored (both services offered solely by Gringott’s at the discretion of individual account managers).

On the other hand, self-executing wills were, quite literally, uncontestable and unbreakable, both in practice and by law. Their execution could not even be delayed; it began quite promptly within forty-eight hours of death (determined by the will itself). For those concerned about the prompt and accurate execution of their final wishes - guardianship of children, for instance - they provided true peace of mind.

James and Lily Potter were well aware of the danger in which they - and their friends, including their son’s godfather - lived. Before Harry was a month old, their joint self-executing will had been filed in absolute secrecy. They and the goblin witnesses were the only ones aware of its existence, let alone the conditions laid out within it.

That same group, with the addition of his godfather, were also the only ones aware that Harry had a godmother who was neither a friend from Hogwarts nor a relative. Instead, she was a free-spirited young single mother, met and befriended by Lily during a post-NEWTs trip to the Stonehenge Free Festival. Most people had assumed that the two lovely redheads were sisters and, by the end of the festival, they had proclaimed themselves “sisters in spirit”. They’d kept up a steady if somewhat irregular correspondence and had met up at the Festival again every year thereafter.

If anything were to happen to herself and James, Lily knew that her friend would be a wonderful guardian for Harry. She wasn’t part of the wizarding world but Lily was certain that she would greet its revelation with fascination rather than the fear and repulsion displayed by Lily’s own sister. Any accidental magic would almost certainly be praised, cherished, and kept well-concealed from any authorities. Also, although her friend occasionally visited the United Kingdom during her world travels, she was an American and spent most of her time in her home country. Harry would be safe - from the Death Eaters and from the meddling of both the Ministry and the Order - there.

Perhaps the other woman was a bit flighty (though James had been forced to admit that Sirius, his choice for godfather, wasn’t exactly a model of level-headed practicality either) but she was raising an intelligent, loving, open-minded son who was surprisingly mature for his age. Lily had faith that, if it became necessary, her friend would do an equally good job of raising Harry.

Besides, having a big brother like Blair should more than make up for any of Naomi Sandburg’s maternal shortcomings.

calic0cat @ 2008-02-04T00:51:00

2008-02-04T05:51:51Z

...I finally have a tiny bit of something to post. *checks journal* Good grief, I can't believe it's been well over a year since the last part of this went up. Yikes. *eyes posting dates of other WIPs and winces again* Still working on other stories as well. Frustratingly enough, the muses were cooperating this weekend but my mom kept interrupting me to rescue her from computer problems. *head->desk* Argh!

Anyway, here's the next (somewhat short, sorry!) part of that untitled HP/BtVS crossover WIP. Let's not discuss how many times I've re-written this in order to get things to fall in place for the following parts, shall we?

“Oi, why’re we stopping here?” Spike demanded, leaning forward over the back of the seat. “Thought those Dursleys lived on Privet Drive. Looks like the Little Whinging train station to me.”

“Ah, yes. Well.” Remus cleared his throat and shifted in the driver’s seat.

Xander was pretty sure that, if he’d been wearing glasses, the man would have been quite busy polishing them. Huh. Xander had always wondered if that behaviour pattern was a Brit-thing, a Watcher-thing, or just a Giles-thing. Watching this guy’s reactions, he was leaning towards it being a Brit-thing. Or maybe a Brit-teacher-thing; Remus had mentioned something about having taught at Harry’s boarding school for a while. At any rate, what Xander was seeing now was classic uncomfortable-Giles, with maybe just a touch of fudging-the-truth Giles on the side. His Hellmouthy-senses were starting to tingle.

“The Dursleys are, ah, not fond of Harry’s parents’ friends,” Remus offered somewhat uncomfortably. “Things will undoubtedly proceed rather more smoothly if I am not present. I’ve written out directions from here to their residence; you should have no difficulty in finding the house on your own. Once you offer to take Harry off their hands, I’m quite certain that his aunt and uncle will be quick to sign those papers turning his care over to you.”

Frowning, Xander said, “Okay, pretending not to notice that his relatives would happily sign over his custody to a complete stranger, then what? Harry’s just going to leave with said complete stranger, no questions asked? Can I just say - what the fuck?!” Mentally, he revised his estimate of the Dursleys to at least on a par with Tara’s miserable excuse for a family. Maybe worse.

“Harry may be a bit suspicious,” Remus admitted. “Just tell him, ‘I solemnly swear that I’m up to no good,’ and that Moony’s managed Padfoot’s mischief; he’ll know who sent you.

“I’ve booked rooms in your name at a hotel in London. There are a few outstanding details to be arranged regarding your longterm accommodations before I join you, but I should be able to meet you there tomorrow or the day after.”

Okay, forget tingling. Xander’s ‘something’s Hellmouthy’ radar was going off like crazy.

Meeting Spike’s sharp gaze in the rearview mirror - and oh, boy, was *that* ever a handy little bonus of the Gem of Amara, ‘cause the whole ‘no reflection’ thing would definitely have been a major pain to deal with on this trip - Xander accepted the scrap of paper bearing the hotel information and gave Lupin a carefully vague “Mmm” in response before the man exited the vehicle. Something around here stank worse than a sewer-dwelling Klavvert demon, and it wasn’t his socks. It looked like they’d be needing to use Giles’s contacts for more than Glory-research in obscure libraries after all.

Maybe they’d be seeing Lupin at the hotel. Maybe they wouldn’t. That would depend on what, if anything, they could find out about this whole situation before then - and on what happened at the Dursleys. If things were as bad there as Xander was beginning to suspect, he was going to have a serious bone to pick with Lupin and every other responsible adult who *should* have been looking after Harry’s welfare.

But first, he needed to make darn sure that the kid was properly looked after from now on.

“The Three Scoobateers to the rescue!” Dawn chirped from the backseat, her cheerful tone sounding a bit forced.

Raising his eyes to the rearview mirror once again, Xander caught the concerned and suspicious expressions of both of his fellow Scoobies - and how weird was *that*, thinking of William the Bloody as a *Scooby*? - and corrected his previous thought. *They* would make sure that Harry was properly looked after, and heaven help anyone who tried to stand in their way.

Previous bits here: 1, 2, and 3.

The Best Laid Plans...

2007-10-29T05:27:50Z

I'd truly hoped to have several things ready to post by now. I had vacation booked last week and had planned to spend most of it writing and dealing with other fandom-related things such as updating the guest stories on my site. Unfortunately, those plans were rather abruptly changed.

My favourite uncle was, unexpectedly and shockingly, diagnosed with terminal cancer late last week, was given the choice of hospice or home, and chose home. He spent a single day at home, held on until the relatives made it there, and passed away within hours of the last arrival.

Understandably enough, my fandom-oriented vacation plans were rather abruptly abandoned. I'm not making any predictions or promises regarding when I'll be getting things back on track again, as my thought processes at the moment are extremely scattered.

Just posting so that people will know that I am still around, just possibly taking a bit of a break from fandom in general while I try to get back on a more even keel. Even without challenging the power of "worse", it seems like every time that I start to think I'm getting things under control in Real Life, something comes along to swamp me again. Right now, it feels like the score is Real Life: 5000 - Calic0cat: 0.

Disabling comments here as I'd only end up feeling guilty for not having the time, energy, or interest to respond to them. I'm feeling a rather urgent need to focus on Real Life - and family in particular - for the next little while.

DRM (Digital Rights Management) and DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Debunked...

2007-10-04T02:43:18Z

For all the fans out there - be they fans of a show or a book or whatever the case may be - I'd like to recommend that you go read Salvos Against Big Brother, an ongoing series of articles by author Eric Flint. Published in the Jim Baen's Universe online sci-fi magazine over the past year or so, they're a thought-provoking look at just how free distribution of music/books/etc. actually benefits authors/singers/etc., contrary to the hogwash touted by the RIA (among others, including certain authors, studios, and publishing companies). The whole concept of "fair use" comes up repeatedly, along with the idea that copyright has become far too restrictive. Flint doesn't just offer rhetoric, either - he offers hard facts to back up his statements (such as the fact that, directly contrary to normal book sales, several of his own novels sold (and have continued to sell) more copies after he made them available in the Baen Free Library than they did before).

Go, read, and soak up the arguments. Methinks they apply to fanart and fanfic just as well as to the topics that Flint is addressing directly. If only more authors/singers/artists felt this way and banded together to force the publishing/recording/TV & movie companies to fall in line... *wistful sigh*

HP drabble/ficlet - gen, AU, xover, FRC (Fan Rated Suitable for Children)

2007-09-05T03:55:25Z

Why, oh why, does HP seem to spawn so darn many AU xover drabbles/ficlets for me when every other fandom spawns long stories? And why won't the darn muse let me concentrate on my WIPs instead of providing me with these annoyingly persistent new plot bunnies? *sigh*

For the first time in centuries, the warning of a direct assault on the Potter clan head’s home shrieked through the family’s magic. Ancient wards and charms shivered and flared, the magic of long-forgotten Potter holdings and possessions struggling to respond to their master’s desperate need. Far from the devastating attack on Godric’s Hollow, the desperate call reached the crumbling hulk of an abandoned ancestral castle and sank into its very stone. Dormant defences activated, stasis spells released, and, all around the castle’s moonlit ramparts, weathered stone grated and shattered. The Potter clan guardians roared into furious life for the first time in over five hundred years and instantly launched into the night sky, powerful wings beating with frantic speed.

A mere handful of wingbeats later, a shock of magic signalled the passing of the Potter headship. Soon after, another burst bore the message that the Potter family had been reduced to a single, defenceless infant. The guardians pressed grimly onward, landing only when forced down by the rising sun. At sunset, they once again took to the air, adjusting course to follow their link to the Potter bloodline as the child’s location changed.

The sun rose on an empty doorstep at Number Four Privet Drive and a statue-filled clearing in the nearby forest. Cradled securely in stone arms, sheltered within granite wings, Harry Potter spent his first of many days yet to come in magical stasis-sleep. Henceforward, he would of necessity be as nocturnal as his guardians, the gargoyle defenders of his ancestral home.

Anybody got a Time Turner that I can borrow?

2007-09-05T03:49:13Z

Urk. Sorry to everyone that I owe email or journal replies to; I'll try to catch up on at least the emails/posts that require a response sometime over the next week or so. If you really need an answer and I don't get back to you before the weekend, drop me another line and I'll make sure that I get a response out.

Just when I thought things were settling down a bit in RL, everything got very hectic all at once. A community group that I'm involved with suddenly needed a website built from the ground up in a matter of days, after the rather grandiose plans (why use popular open source software when you can re-invent the wheel by coding your own photo gallery/forum/etc. from the ground up!) of the volunteer in charge of it failed to materialize. I'd never used Drupal before but it was the best option for their requirements, so I spent a few days rather frantically familiarizing myself with the system and its plugins.

Then, three different major technology projects at work hit major glitches at the software/service supplier's end that left me scrambling to cobble together workarounds that would give us something remotely approaching the promised functionality.

There were four - no, correction, five - equine-related events (2 plowing matches, 2 horse shows, and 1 parade) in less than four weeks.

And, on top of all that, we have well water and the pump quit working; between trying to find parts and tracking down exactly what was actually wrong with the darn thing, it took a whole week to get it fixed. With hot weather and two horses in the barn, that meant a lot of buckets had to be hauled from the garden hose (all five hundred or so feet of it stretched across the field from my brother's place) to the barn, another hundred plus feet away. Then, of course, there was more water to be hauled an even longer distance to the house in order to flush the darn toilet. Plus laundry had to be done and showers taken next door at my brother's as well. :P Not fun.

And this week isn't getting off to a very good start, either - I had a dead UPS waiting to greet me at work this morning and the tape backup hardware also appears to be dying. A brand new server needs the operating system reinstalled because it came with the 64-bit version installed and the software that needs to go on it isn't compatible. Oh, and my immediate supervisor (who places the hardware orders and was supposed to be getting an experienced tech out to look at the backup hardware) is on vacation all week. And, just before I left the office for the day, I was informed that we need several laptops completely reconfigured for use at a convention - oh, and they need them ready tomorrow. (But, of course, no one actually knows exactly what needs to be reconfigured, so I have to try to contact someone and find that out first!) ARGH!

On top of that, my muse has been demanding my attention throughout the entire time period that I haven't been able to spare any time for writing! Very frustrating, especially considering how long I've been battling writer's block. I've squeezed in a few minutes here and there to poke at a couple of things but the only thing ready for posting is a little HP xover (yes, another one :P ) drabble/ficlet. I'll post it separately in a few minutes. I haven't quite decided what to do with these tiny HP drabbles as far as posting them anywhere other than on my journal. I may have to create a new category on my site just for the teeny-tinies, as I hate to clutter up the main categories with them, especially since I know a lot of people don't like to read the real short stuff.

I will try to get around to a site update this coming weekend, as we don't currently have any horse shows or anything scheduled for then. *crosses fingers*

The one good part of the weekend...

2007-08-08T04:52:40Z

windsorblue was one of the authors who offered to write fics for donations to the tsunami relief effort. I took her up on the offer, and requested a 1x2x5 story. She's finished it and posted it here on her LJ. She did a terrific job of fulfilling my request. Go, read, enjoy!

GW WIP Contest Nominations as of August 21 2004

2007-08-08T04:51:08Z

Here's the current list of nominations for the contest (keep in mind that I have not verified that these fics actually meet the requirements as of yet so if anyone has any comments to make regarding that, please do so):

Fics with one nomination (need one more):

A Class Act by Alana A Winters
Divide and Conquer by Arigatomina
Red Moon Rising by Ebonydove
The Morning After by Koyote
When All the Laughter Turns to Sorrow by Kwycksylver
Perfect Prey by Natea
Of Cats and Wolves II by Sol
Parallel by Stormy
Vampire Hunter Duo by Stormy

Fics with two nominations (no more needed):

Vivid by Ais
"Scar Tissue" by Amanda02
And Never the Twain Shall Meet by Steve Parker

Fics in the "Discretionary Category" (they have one nomination each so far):

Bridlewood Manor by Mitsugi
Edification (part of the Tales from Shinigami's Basement series) by Steelsong

Remember: you do not have to send in all ten of your nominations at once.

"Knowing" - 3/4

2007-08-08T04:48:24Z

***

I slipped silently - despite the damn cane that I didn't dare discard quite yet - through the darkened halls of Preventers HQ. Dispatch and Holding were the only departments open at this time of night. Getting into the building without being spotted had been easy. Breaking into the Armoury and Medical had been even easier. The pack on my back now contained all the supplies that I needed except the bulletproof vest. I was wearing that because it was too bulky to squeeze in the backpack. Now the only thing I still needed was transportation. And for that, I was heading out to the Service Hangar.

I knew damn well that I'd be through at Preventers when this was done; hell, I'd count myself lucky if all Une did was yank my badge. But the longer I could delay them finding out what I was up to, the better. I didn't want to take the chance that they would somehow manage to stop me. So I was taking every possible precaution to hide my actions as long as possible.

I'd managed to "trip" over Rain's purse before the afternoon was over and had spent what little remained of the workday complaining about how much my leg hurt. No one would be the least bit suspicious to discover that I'd called Human Resources late in the evening and left a message that I wouldn't be in because I had to go get my knee checked. If I was lucky, no one would even realize that I was missing, let alone that I'd "requisitioned" a whole shitload of supplies without going through proper channels. I'd been careful not to leave visible gaps when I'd grabbed those supplies; with any kind of semi-decent luck their absence wouldn't be noted until the next inventory.

The tricky part of keeping things quiet till it was too late for anyone to stop me, however, was the transportation. If I took a shuttle from the fleet, the lack of proper authorization would turn up right away in the morning. A missing shuttle was a little hard to overlook.

Unless, that is, the shuttle was one that they *expected* to be missing. Such as one that had been sent over to the Service Hangar.

I'd searched the Service database for shuttles that needed really minor repairs. Things that I could repair myself, quickly. There weren't any. But there *was* one that only had a dead radio. Since I had no intention of *using* the radio even if it had worked, that wasn't a problem for me. That repair hadn't been assigned to a mechanic yet, so I simply deleted it from the repair queue. Now the shuttle was essentially non-existent. Service had no electronic record of it but the fleet scheduling database had it logged out to Service. It could be days before anyone realized it was gone. I only needed *one* day.

Picking the lock to the Service office took seconds. Grabbing the shuttle's passcard and paperwork took a few more. I was out of the office and had the door relocked in under a minute. Now there was no physical record of the shuttle being in Service either. Another few minutes had me onboard and running systems checks. Other than the radio, everything passed.

I smiled grimly and prepared to take off. No need to worry about air traffic control; with no flights scheduled, the Preventers airfield was shut down for the night. Airstrip lights remained on in case of emergencies but the control tower was unmanned. One more reason that I'd waited till after midnight to get the hell out of here. With the flick of a few switches and a pull on the control yoke, I was in the air.

Hang on Heero, I'm on my way...

***

"Preventer Shade?"

I nodded in acknowledgement and closed the shuttle door before holding out one hand in greeting. "Detective Jackson?" I inquired.

"Yes," he replied as he shook my hand. He eyed the cane in my other hand with a certain degree of surprise.

I met his questioning look calmly. Shrugging slightly, I told him, "I can get by without the cane when I have to but the doctor made me promise to use it as much as I could." And he had. Except that he'd meant to use it instead of the crutches, not instead of doing without entirely.

The very best bullshit inevitably contained at least a kernel of truth. It sounded a hell of a lot more convincing that way.

Except that it evidently wasn't enough to convince Jackson. Damn. Okay, time for Plan B.

I sighed heavily and admitted, "Okay, so I'm really not supposed to be on field duty yet. But it's *my* damn partner that Preventer Stone left behind. And the only reason he was stuck with Stone in the first place was *this*." I gestured disparagingly at the cane. "If I'd been back on duty, things would've gone down a hell of a lot differently."

Jackson nodded warily. "You mentioned on the phone that Stone had blown the case and you were going to have to fix his mess." He cleared his throat and observed, "I suppose that I shouldn't ask if he's officially off the case or whether you're officially here."

I could see why Jackson had been Officer of the Year in his district for the past three years running. And why he had the best goddamn solve rate in the region.

"Probably not," I said blandly.

He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, then blew it out slowly, looking off into the distance. I waited patiently. If he decided that he didn't want to get involved, there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop me from going ahead with the rescue alone. I could take him down without causing any serious damage and be back on the shuttle in ten seconds or less.

But if I was reading him right, that wasn't the way things would go down. He wanted that narcotics operation shut down and he wanted it to happen *now*. If his department was going to get credit for it, so much the better.

I really couldn't fault him on that. This operation was producing a damn nasty designer drug that was addictive from the first hit but took a long time to show its ugly side effects. Its users would truly be "feeling no pain" while high yet they could function *almost* normally. It was virtually impossible to overdose on it. In short, it *seemed* the ideal drug. And from a seller's standpoint, it was. "Freebies" resulted in virtually guaranteed repeat buyers. And buyers could keep taking the drug for a very long time with no immediately apparent negative effects. They would gradually build up a slight resistance to its effects and would need larger and larger hits but that was about it.

But tests had proven that as the addict's liver worked to breakdown the drug, the liver itself was damaged. Not to the point of immediate failure - but enough that it couldn't repair itself as quickly as the damage was being done, especially as the size of the hits increased. And as liver function deteriorated, the kidneys were inevitably affected too. Eventually, equally inevitably, one or both would fail.

This was *not* the sort of operation that any law enforcement operation wanted in their backyard. And we had enough evidence to shut them down. What Une was still digging for was proof of something beyond the narcotics operation. Despite all evidence that this was strictly drug-related, she kept looking for ties to rebel groups or weapon smuggling. After reviewing everything that the Preventers had on the case, I honestly didn't think there was anything there to find.

Jackson sighed heavily and turned his gaze towards me. "So, what's the plan?"

I couldn't stop the grin from spreading across my face. "The plan is simple. You tell me *your* plan, then I make suggestions."

He gave me a decidedly startled look.

"I told you on the phone, Stone and I don't do things the same way. I've got a plan if you don't have one ready but I'd rather see yours.

"You're the locals. You're the ones with the knowledge of the area and the way these people operate. You're the ones who can tell me where they're probably holding my partner. I'll help you as much as I can but getting him out is my primary objective." Assuming, of course, that Heero was in any condition to *get* out. All I had to base that assumption on was a gut feeling that he was alive and the knowledge that he was the most damn stubborn, hard-to-kill man I'd ever known.

Jackson gave me one last considering look before starting towards a blocky van parked at the edge of the landing field. "Follow me. There's a map of the area in our mobile command unit. I'll show you what we had in mind."

***

Given an excuse to move and move fast, Jackson wasted no time getting an operation underway. He had the respect of his superiors and that meant that what he asked for, he got. Not without a certain amount of bitching and moaning, but he got it. Watching him interact with his superiors - and his fellow officers - made it more than clear just how fucked up a situation Heero and I had been putting up with. Our solve rate was just as damn impressive as his but in our case, we didn't get either the support or the respect that should have warranted. Not from our fellow officers and sure as hell not from our superiors.

Commander Une had no compunctions whatsoever about using our abilities but that was the only value she placed on us and every other agent. She still thought in military terms. Black Ops terms, at that. Everyone under her command was just another soldier, all equally expendable in the course of achieving whatever goal was being pursued. Every case, every mission, no matter how nonthreatening, was equally critical. Be it gunrunning or gambling, if it was of sufficiently wide scope to be handled by Preventers, each and every case was treated as a threat to peace. That was the kind of thinking that had led to Une's decision not to send a rescue mission after Heero immediately. A full investigation of the narcotics operation was more important to her, despite the fact that there had been no evidence that the key suspects were using their ill-gotten fortune for anything other than the personal indulgence of living in the lap of luxury.

I made up my mind. The Preventers was, by and large, a good agency. They fulfilled an important role. But with so much ex-military brass at the top, it was less of a paramilitary organization and more of a military one. One that was in danger of perhaps becoming a bit - overzealous - in its fulfilment of its purpose. "Quis Custodiet Custodes Ipsos?" I murmured softly as I pulled three sealed and addressed envelopes from my pack of supplies. The age-old question. Who guards the guardians...

"Detective Jackson?" I handed the envelopes to him. "Just... in case," I shrugged in response to his questioning look. He leafed through them, his eyebrows rising higher at each successive address revealed. Not surprising. While Chang Wufei wasn't exactly a household name, he *was* in the news occasionally thanks to his role in the L5 revitalization project. And it would be tough to find any reasonably well-informed adult in the Earth Sphere who didn't know who Quatre Winner and Relena Darlian were.

"If I don't reclaim them - mail'em," I told Jackson simply. If Heero and I didn't make it, someone was going to have to make sure that Preventers came under some careful scrutiny. We might not be close to any of those three personally at this point but I knew where they would stand on the less-than-ideal conditions at Preventers. The agency needed someone to take a serious look at its priorities. It wasn't a case of actual *corruption* - not yet, anyway - but this last incident - Une's decision to treat Heero's mission as if it were Black Ops and essentially abandon him based on Sorenson's opinion that he was either dead or dying - was one hell of a warning flag. Preventers needed some long, hard looks directed at it and its daily operations; those three had both the position and the drive to make damn sure that it came under that kind of scrutiny.

Jackson nodded slowly and turned to place the envelopes somewhere safe. I finished reorganizing my pack, shifting the first aid kit to the bottom and placing the smoke and gas grenades on top. I rechecked my bandaged knee, making sure that it had enough support, then downed a precautionary painkiller. I knew damn well that my leg was going to hurt like hell in no time flat; there was no fucking way that I could use even the cane once we started to move in.

"The last units are moving into position now. You ready, Shade?"

I gave Jackson a rather grim Shinigami grin in response. "Let's get this fucking show on the road."

Apparently, the winery we were moving in on was producing something other than wine. It had been a legitimate business up until a few years ago when the owner died and his son inherited the place. Now, there was no way that the vineyards produced enough grapes to be responsible for the heir's income. Nor did the vats produce nearly enough wine to fill the extensive underground cellars. They would make an ideal location for a drug lab.

I was hoping that they also made a virtually ideal location to hold a prisoner.

"We move in fifteen minutes," Jackson told me. "Make the most of it."

I nodded once, sharply, and adjusted the headset he'd provided me with. Jackson had offered one of his men to partner me on this but, even with my bad leg, I'd move far faster alone than with a partner unused to working with me. So while they were busy presenting warrants and starting the official search in the winery's main building, I would be searching the cellars for any sign of Heero. They were giving me a fifteen minute headstart to get in position and start my search before they made their move. Other cops would be watching the perimeter to stop any escape attempts - or attempts to dispose of an inconvenient prisoner.

Slipping out of the command van, I froze in mid-step as a quiet, "Good luck, Shade," came over the com channel. It had been a long time since anyone other than Heero had directed those words in my direction. Just as long since anyone other than I had directed them in Heero's. It brought home to me yet again just how fucked up of a situation we had been living in for far too long. Something was going to have to change. Heero and I deserved a better life than the one we'd been living.

But first, I had to get Heero back.

***

The loading dock in back of the facility provided my way in. I headed straight for the access door alongside of the big bay doors. It was locked but only with a standard commercial passcard-based lock and alarm, nothing that provided even a modicum of challenge. I had the cover off, wires yanked and shorted, and door open in under a minute. I then spent a few more precious seconds cramming the wires back inside and wedging the cover in place again. It would pass a casual glance and with the raid beginning in less than fifteen minutes, I wasn't worried about it holding up to a more careful examination.

The winery accepted deliveries and loaded trucks in the early morning hours only. *Very* early morning. That meant that at this point in the late afternoon - almost early evening - there was no one in the loading area. Just stacks of boxes waiting for tomorrow morning's shipping schedule. Probably at least some of the cartons contained more than the bottles of wine that they appeared to. I didn't waste my time checking; that would be up to the local cops.

Slipping through the access doors leading towards the wine cellars, I visualized the blueprints I'd memorized of the winery's interior. They dated back to the previous owner's time so there would doubtless be some discrepancies. It was highly likely that a portion of the cellars had been sealed off to prevent visitors from stumbling across the winery's real primary operations. Health inspectors and buyers from various stores and restaurants would be in and out on a fairly regular basis; the public areas would have to be kept completely innocent in appearance.

Once I was within the cellars themselves, I had to keep a careful ear open for any indication of workers. The vats themselves were aboveground, thank god, or I would be dealing with a *lot* of employees since there were grapes being processed right now and that involved constant monitoring. That did not rule out the presence of workers - legitimate winery employees - in the cellars entirely but it reduced the probability of encountering very many this late in the day.

Though there were certainly a *few* people around... I ducked quickly into one of the storage rooms and hid in the shadow of a rack of casks as I heard footsteps approaching. I held my breath as the individual passed the doorway, the light from the hallway momentarily darkened as it was blocked. I waited while the footsteps receded before cautiously peeking around the corner of the doorway. A brief glimpse of a coverall-clad back was all I saw as the worker headed back the way that I had came in. Despite my impatience and sense of urgency - my lead-time was slipping away rapidly - I forced myself to wait a few more moments before resuming my search.

There had been considerable debate over the timing of the raid. In theory, it would have been better to hit the place either in the early morning hours while a pickup or delivery of questionable nature was being made or right in the middle of the day, while the maximum possible number of employees were onsite and could be detained for questioning. Both times were ultimately ruled out due to one simple fact: the probable imprisonment of a Preventers agent, one who was believed to be injured, possibly critically. Instead of delaying the raid until the next day in order to hit at one of the optimum times, the operation went into action absolutely as fast as the necessary units and equipment and warrants could be scrambled.

A distinctly different decision from Une's. And even more proof that the Preventers agency was seriously overdue for a reality check.

Glancing at my watch, I grimaced. Nearly two thirds of my lead-time was gone and I hadn't even located the drug lab. I was certain that Heero would be held in its general vicinity, well away from the possibility of casual discovery.

I picked up my pace, ignoring the immediate protest from my knee. Once the raid began, Heero would become a major liability. Hell, the whole lab would be and the quickest way to destroy the evidence would be to blow it. There would be more than enough chemicals in there to incinerate the actual lab equipment and any existing stock of drugs as well. If an inconvenient prisoner were to be taken care of in the process - well, there wouldn't be anything left to prove it.

Five minutes left. I pushed myself into a run, gun in one hand and smoke grenade in the other. Caution wasn't an option now. I had too much ground left to cover. Best guess said that the drug lab would be in the furthest portion of the wine cellars. Rather than wasting time checking the rooms opening off of the corridor I was running through, I headed straight down it. Abruptly, the corridor ended. Considerably sooner than it should have according to the blueprints.

I swiftly checked the wall for any sign of a hidden switch or release. Nothing.

Reviewing the blueprints in my mind, I realized that there should be wine storage rooms on both sides of the hall here. There weren't. One side had a closet labelled "Cleaning Supplies". I gave the closet door a cursory check for alarms, found one, and shorted it. An instant later, I was inside and searching for a way out.

Finding the latch for the concealed door was easy. Too easy. I couldn't find any sign of an alarm but the inconveniently located broom holder - no one would ever hang a broom or mop or anything else in that corner, it was too awkward to reach - was just too damn obvious. I didn't much like the fact that I had no way to know what was on the other side of the door either.

No choice. I had to trigger the latch and hope that Shinigami's luck hadn't quite deserted me.

Before I could do so, however, there was a sound and the door began to move. Crap. Nowhere to hide.

I stepped back as far out of sight as I could get and waited. I didn't want to use the smoke grenade then find out there was only one person there; the smoke would undoubtedly set off detectors and draw a whole lot of attention that I really didn't need. On the other hand, if there were more than two or three people coming through... I was going to regret not having already tossed the damn thing.

As the door slowly opened, voices became audible. Three for sure. Fuck.

I yanked the pin on the smoke grenade, counted, tossed, counted, then sucked in a last deep breath and dove through the narrow opening, door jamb scraping shoulder and hip painfully. I didn't care, I'd overcompensated to make sure that the opposite knee *didn't* hit anything; it was giving me enough trouble already.

Rolling to my feet, I came up with one shoulder blade pressed against the wall and kept moving forward. I had to get clear of the smoke before I ended up handicapping myself as much as my opponents by getting too much of it in my eyes or inhaling it. I caught a split-second, hazy glimpse of motion before one of the men was on me.

This was where being a Preventer really sucked. I couldn't shoot the guy except in defense of myself or an innocent and even then, I couldn't do so until he indisputably proved he deserved it. And if I *did* shoot him, I was still supposed to try to keep him alive for questioning. Things had been a hell of a lot simpler during the war.

It was a foregone conclusion that when the guy slammed into me, my bad knee would twist and give out. I knew that. Was prepared for it.

It still hurt like hell.

I decided that as far as I was concerned, having his hands around my neck and trying to throttle me was pretty indisputable proof that the guy was indeed trying to kill me and I was therefore entitled to use deadly force to stop him. By some miracle I had *not* dropped my gun in the scuffle and I managed to bring it up against his side. I don't think he even registered its muzzle pressing into his gut. I couldn't afford to wait for him to notice it; I was already seeing spots. I pulled the trigger. His hands tightened for an instant in reaction then slackened and I managed to shove him off of me.

Before I could drag myself to my feet, another gun went off. I instinctively rolled even as it fired and the shot ploughed along the surface of the Kevlar vest before striking the wooden floor of the cellar. I kept rolling until I was facing the shot's source, then returned fire without taking the time to aim. While the woman was ducking in reaction to my first wild shot, I took aim and fired again, a solid heart shot that dropped her instantly. I looked for the third person but the door back into the closet was closing.

Suspect number three had gotten away. Crap. And after all of this noise, any chance of sneaking through the place was shot to hell.

A glance at my watch confirmed that sneaking wasn't going to do much good anyway. The raid had started by now. I was certain that it wouldn't take long for word to get down here and then all bets would be off as to how things would go down. I didn't know whether it was just paranoia that made me so sure they'd decide to blow the lab or if that was a legitimate evaluation of the situation but I was pretty damn certain this place would be going up in a fireball.

I switched my headset mike on and warned, "Shade to Command. Come in Command. Over."

"Command to Shade. Go ahead. Over."

"Shots fired. Two suspects down, one at large, headed into main winery. Drug lab entrance through cleaning closet at end of hallway in wine cellars. Broom hanger in northeast corner probable latch release. No sign of Sky. Continuing search. Over."

"Acknowledged. Primary team sweeping main building. Secondary entering cellars in two. Over."

"Acknowledged. Shade over and out."

Two minutes before the team would be entering the wine cellars. It would be another five to ten, depending on resistance, before they reached my position. That was too long; I couldn't wait.

Gathering my nerve, I cautiously tried to rise. It hurt. A lot. And I could feel the swelling puffing out around the edges of the support bandage which was definitely *not* a good sign. But despite the pain, the knee bore my weight. Speed and agility had definitely taken a nosedive but I was mobile. Though I intended to keep that side next to the wall if at all possible; I doubted that the knee would handle another fall. Best to keep support in easy reach.

Site update

2007-08-08T04:46:04Z

Just updated the Guest Fics on my site. Chapters 46-48 of Sol's "Drums of Heaven" are now up, as are Chapters 15 & 16 of "Of Cats and Wolves" (now complete). Also added four fics by a new author, Joosetta (aka Cat).

Enjoy!

Site update...

2007-08-08T04:45:49Z

Just updated the Guest Fics on my site. Chapter 45 of "Drums" and "Of Cats and Wolves" Chapter 14, both by Sol, as well as Part 9 of Casey Valhalla's "Glory" are now up.

That's it for tonight...

Fragments #39

2007-08-08T04:45:40Z

Updated my website with Chapter 42 of Sol's "Drums of Heaven" and Chapter 30 of Nomi's "DC Saga" on the Guest Fics page. Also posted Chapter 39 of "Fragments" in the usual places. Only one more chapter to go, folks...

*****************************
Title: Fragments
Chapter: 39/40
Author: Calic0cat <calic0cat@fastmail.fm>
Story Started: June 3, 2003
Genre: Shonen Ai/Yaoi, Adventure/Ops, Drama, Romance
Pairing: 1+2, 5+S
Rated: R(?)
Warnings: AU(?), OOC, Swearing
Archives: At Lev's Lair http://www.gwaddiction.com/levlair/ and at http://calic0cat.freeservers.com/ (my site) and at Mediaminer.org under Calic0cat. Anyone with archive permission for my other fics can help themselves.
Disclaimer: Duo and Heero and the rest of the GW gang aren't mine. This story is. Nuff said.

Notes: First person POV switches between chapters.

'Thinking'
"Speaking"
*** Time passing or scene change

Author's Notes: *mutters about pushy muses and rabid plot bunnies* I did research the medical info for this so it's not too terribly off-base but I do not guarantee complete accuracy by any means. Feedback is appreciated.

#################################################

Zechs Merquise as a co-worker in the Preventers I could live with; he was a perfectly competent agent. Being partnered with him, no matter *how* temporarily, was another story entirely. Partners were supposed to cooperate, not compete, but with our past history that simply did not happen. Merquise was constantly trying to outdo me. The man annoyed the hell out of me when I was forced to be in contact with him on a regular basis. Three days of stakeout duty, trapped in a car with him for twelve hour shifts, had left me falling back on every concentration trick and shred of control that I'd ever used during the war just to keep from knocking him out and locking him in the trunk for the duration.

Sally and I had worked quite well together; I'd hoped to remain partnered with her until Duo was given clearance to return to full field duty but unfortunately things hadn't worked out that way. Wufei had been cleared for field duty over three weeks ago, Sally had returned to her usual partner, and I'd been stuck with Merquise since Noin was now on maternity leave.

I just hoped that their son took after *her* family, not his. Noin didn't deserve to be stuck with *two* men like Zechs in her life.

Pulling up Merquise's report on the stakeout, I gritted my teeth and forced myself to plow through his version of events. Despite the fact that *his* report was at least three times as long as my own, it *did* actually match up in every important way. 'If he thinks I'll be impressed by his vocabulary and style of writing, he's definitely on the wrong track. All of this excessive verbiage is just making me even more annoyed...'

It wasn't like there was a whole hell of a lot to *say* about the damn stakeout. We and another team spent three days in total sitting and watching a warehouse. And *nothing* happened. No deliveries, no pickups, nothing. Fortunately, the teams watching the *other* target location had better luck; they actually caught the suspect in the midst of a narcotics transaction, which brought the operation to an end, thus eliminating the need for a *fourth* day on stakeout with Merquise. Thank god. Now if only Duo's shoulder would heal up enough for him to get off desk duty and back in the field with me. Preferably before I got stuck working with Merquise again...

Scowling at the screen, I checked through my list of cases, hoping to find something to justify staying in the office for at least a few more days. A case heading to trial, maybe. I focussed my concentration intently. There had to be *something*. *Anything*...

"Heero. Hey, buddy, what's so da... darn interesting?" The voice barely penetrated but the file folder that slid between me and the monitor definitely broke my concentration.

'Oh *shit*.' I turned my head and guiltily met Duo's gaze, realizing that there had been a background rumble - probably his voice - for at least a few minutes. "Sorry..." I sighed. After three days of steadfastly tuning out Merquise, I'd backslid and ended up tuning out Duo again. Shit.

But instead of finding irritation on his face, I realized that he was grinning slightly and shaking his head indulgently. "S'okay, Heero."

I blinked in confusion. "You're - not upset?"

"Nope."

Why wasn't he upset by this? I'd ignored him again, albeit unintentionally...

Duo leaned over and, in a voice too soft to be heard by anyone other than me, murmured, "Realized there's another way to look at that concentration of yours." He smirked and continued huskily, "I'm looking forward to having all that intensity focussed on *me*. In, oh, say six-seven months or so..."

It took a moment for the implication to sink in but when it did, my cheeks abruptly became very warm. Duo winked at me and left the office again before I had a chance to find a suitable response.

Suddenly, those months between now and our wedding seemed *very* long.

***

"Well?" I demanded eagerly as Duo joined us at the cafeteria table.

He grinned broadly and answered, "Medical gave me the all clear. I'm back on full field duty starting Monday."

"Thank *god*," I breathed in relief.

The others all laughed.

"Why Yuy, one might almost think that you didn't want to have to work with Merquise anymore..."

I gave Wufei an irritated glare. "One might be correct," I growled. I'd had two more missions with the damn man since the stakeout; I wasn't sure whether I could restrain myself from doing something - drastic - if I was stuck working with him again.

"Yeah, well I'll be glad just to get out of the office," Duo said as he looked suspiciously at his lunch. "Une gave me *filing* to do yesterday and I spent the entire day before *that* doing *photocopying*. Whatever happened to 'a paperless society'?" He gave the pale coloured lump on his plate a tentative poke with his fork. "What the hel... - darn Une and her no-swearing-at-HQ rules - What the heck is this stuff supposed to *be*, anyway?"

"Lasagna," Sally said drily. "Couldn't you *tell*? Just because they seem to have forgotten the tomato sauce..." She shook her head in mock disappointment.

Duo wrinkled his nose and shoved the plate away. "Okay, I am *not* a picky eater but when I can't even cut it, I think that's a pretty good sign that it's inedible."

"The garden salad is passable today," I told him. "Not great, but passable. Just don't try to eat the tomatoes; they're - somewhat less than fresh." I surveyed my salad unenthusiastically. We hardly ever ate in the cafeteria but there was a new cook so we'd thought we'd give the guy a chance. Well, he'd had his chance. I for one had no intention of giving him another one.

"Passable is good. I can actually *eat* passable," Duo decided. He picked up his plate gingerly and headed off to brave the order counter again. I watched his movements, glad to see no sign of him unduly favouring his previously injured shoulder even after all the tests that he'd undoubtedly been subjected to before receiving his all clear. There was some slight stiffness there, yes, a hint of hesitation when he extended his reach, but that was only to be expected. There had been too much muscle damage for every trace to be eradicated in just under five months.

Damage that I was ultimately responsible for, no matter how much Duo insisted that he didn't blame me. No matter that Internal Affairs had cleared me with respect to the "unfortunate incident" as they termed it. *I* still blamed myself. Even after going through the mandatory counselling sessions that went along with any shooting.

Yes, it was a unique set of circumstances, and no, it wouldn't have happened if my memory hadn't been so damn full of holes at the time - but none of that changed the fact that it *had* happened and I *was* the one who pulled the trigger. That was the simple, unchangeable truth and I just had to live with it. I understood all too well why Duo's eyes darkened any time that he happened to catch a glimpse of the scars I carried from our first meeting. The whys and wherefores, the justification, none of that mattered. None of it stopped the truth from hurting, the guilt from biting. You just had to accept that it happened, accept the guilt and self-blame, and live with it.

***

Almost four whole months had passed since our engagement and we'd *just* finally announced it to our friends. We'd had to tell Commander Une a bit earlier in order to book time off for our honeymoon. We'd asked for two weeks; she'd given us a whole month. We'd both hit the ceiling for accumulated vacation days and literally *had* to use at least that much time before the end of the year.

Commander Une had been politely pleased at the news of our engagement and had readily agreed not to mention it to anyone else. We'd delayed telling the others both to give us time to get used to it ourselves and to give us time to arrange the wedding itself the way that *we* wanted. We had known perfectly well what would happen once the initial congratulations were over with, at least in one particular case.

"Thanks for the offer, Quatre, but we've already made the arrangements," Duo said gently. "Just a civic ceremony with our closest friends in attendance."

It was nice of Quatre to offer to arrange and pay for the wedding as his wedding present to us - he'd done the same for Sally and Wufei and theirs was going to be absolutely perfect - but Duo and I wanted something simple, private, and very personal. The list of invitees was *very* short. The other Gundam pilots and Sally. Commander Une was a good boss but not really a personal friend and none of our other co-workers met that criteria either. We had debated inviting some of the Sweepers and Maguanacs but the question of which ones was far too complicated and we weren't prepared to invite them *all*; neither of us had really had a lot of contact with either group since the war ended.

"Oh, but Duo, there's no need to cut corners like that. I can easily..." Quatre protested.

I stepped up closer beside Duo, moving more fully into the vidphone's pickup range. Sliding my arm around his waist, I interrupted firmly, "Quatre, we do appreciate the offer. But we're not 'cutting corners'. This is what we want. Exactly what we want."

I felt a little guilty about refusing Quatre's gesture - he looked *very* disappointed. But Duo and I were in complete agreement on this. We did *not* want a big wedding. Neither of us wanted the important part of the wedding - the commitment between us - to be obscured by all that fuss and formality.

"Hey Quat, y'know, we haven't actually arranged our honeymoon yet..." Duo suggested hesitantly, giving me a questioning look.

I nodded slightly and tightened the arm around his waist for a moment. "We've got a few general ideas but that's all," I contributed. "Commander Une's promised us a full month because we have so much accumulated vacation time..."

Quatre's disappointment turned to a brilliant smile. "What did you have in mind?"

I took a deep breath and hoped that he wouldn't get *too* carried away. "Absolutely *no* resorts..."

***

I tapped Sally's shoulder lightly. "May I cut in?" I barely even heard her surprised, laughing agreement. I was too busy enjoying the startled but delighted grin spreading across Duo's face. He stepped into my arms for the fourth time ever and for the first time that I knew exactly what I was doing and why. For the first time that a mission had absolutely nothing to do with it. And on this occasion, like on the very first, we danced as one without even having to think about it. It was nothing at all like the two thoroughly miserable dances that we'd suffered through during that disastrous grand opening at the resort.

Ignoring the attention that we were drawing from the many friends and acquaintances who were also guests at Sally and Wufei's wedding wasn't as difficult as I'd expected it to be. I was even able to give Duo a loving if rather small smile and received a radiant one in return. He had finally truly accepted that I wasn't going to deliberately close myself off from him again and had completely dropped his guard around me. It had taken weeks - months - for us to reach this point but now that we had I was finding it much easier to be open with Duo, especially in private. Every small bit of honestly expressed emotion from me was so generously rewarded that it became more and more natural to show him how I felt. I was still uncomfortable with displaying too much of my feelings in public but I was gradually getting a little better at it.

The music changed, one song ending and another beginning. I simply pulled Duo a bit closer and kept dancing. His duties as best man were over for the evening, at least until it was time for the newlyweds to leave. I saw no reason why we shouldn't spend the time until then in each other's arms. After all the time that we'd wasted between the war and now, I had no intention of letting an opportunity like this go to waste.

#################################################

Another site update...

2007-08-08T04:45:37Z

Just (finally...) added Sol's "Of Cats and Wolves" to my site. Also added the latest part (Part 7) of Casey Valhalla's "Glory".

calic0cat

Status Update

The Sentinel slash zines for sale

Doujinshi for Sale - Circles beginning with I through M

Doujinshis for Sale - Mark Heart 1 & 2

Doujinshi For Sale - Circles beginning with C through E (excluding Degital PaPa)

Free screen grab program at Giveaway of the Day

Doujinshi For Sale - Circles beginning with F through (includes Finder W, Gokujo, Gum Aida, Hexagram

Doujinshi For Sale - Degital PaPa

Doujinshi For Sale - Aijou Bank, Atsumi Anikees, Arashi No Prelude-Sha, Azzurri, Bank Holiday

Gundam Wing Doujinshis For Sale

Tor Publishing Running a Free eBooks Promo

Fic Downloaders & Offline Fic Reading

And the HP bunnies escape their pen again... *sigh*

calic0cat @ 2008-02-04T00:51:00

The Best Laid Plans...

DRM (Digital Rights Management) and DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) Debunked...

HP drabble/ficlet - gen, AU, xover, FRC (Fan Rated Suitable for Children)

Anybody got a Time Turner that I can borrow?

The one good part of the weekend...

GW WIP Contest Nominations as of August 21 2004

"Knowing" - 3/4

Site update

Site update...

Fragments #39

Another site update...

And the HP bunnies escape their pen again... sigh