The Library

But I couldn't resist. A new, shiny fest, and one all about kinks, too!

So, why resist?

Plus, is this a sizzling hot pic or is this a sizzling hot pic?


I
I
I
I
V




Huh, suddenly got so warm in here ...

I am, I am! If I keep this up, I might be able to finish my hp_yule_balls fic either tomorrow or Saturday!

Gosh, it feels so good to just let the story flow through you instead of having to constantly struggle to get a few hundred words down. Who needs chocolate? *is on fic high*

Now, my progress, let me show it to you: yesterday, I wrote 3.233 words. Today, I got down even more, 4.921 words! And the really great thing about this is, I like what I've done! What's even better, I not only added a lot of words to the count but actually managed to move the plot forwards. Best, we're getting closer to the actual smut!

I'm very happy and also very hungry, so I shall now turn off the computer and eat something.

Oh, btw, fic now stands at 21k words and will end up 30k again. And because I'm feeling so good, I'm not going to worry about boring my readers to tears before we get to the smut.

Now, food!

Hehee, I can’t believe I forgot to post this! Oh, man. Seems my memory isn’t all that good after all, eh? To start from the beginning:

I passed my M.A. finals in July but haven’t been able to find a job. Crisis, and all that. So, being unable to pay such trifling things like rent or health insurance from no income, I applied to The Tax Payer to give me some money. They were very gracious and did so, but before they did, I had to attend the “Assessment Center” (say, is that a genuine English word, or another fabulous German creation like “Oldtimer”? [you guys would say vintage car]). There, psychologists observed and studied me to help me find my strengths and weaknesses, and to discover how they could help me find a job.

Certainly very nice, only, you know, I’m quite aware of my strengths and weaknesses and I know how to write a CV in MS Word. But I had to go, and so I went. And now here it is:

( The Assessment Center: An Adventure in Five Days )


Oh, well. It was worth the experience. Even if only to realise that there are still people who have no idea how to use a computer. And that there are also people who would never willingly touch a book. It was surreal.

Soooo, I have today successfully finished part two of my hp_yule_balls fic.

Which is good.

Given that I'd planned to be done with the entire fic by today, not so much.

At this moment, the story stands at 12,860 words. A cautious estimate sees the fic finished in 8-10k more. Yes, that's the fic I thought would be finished in 10k.

Stupid fic. Stop producing dialogue. You annoy me. *huffs*

But I'm still in a pretty celebratory mood. Part two ends in a way that is very entertaining for the writer and bloody frustrating for the reader. Not to mention the characters.

Allow me a cruel chuckle. Haaha!

*goes off to read pretty originals at Shousetsu Bang*Bang*

My hp_yule_balls fic is growing into an effing epic. 8,200 words, and I’m not even half-way through! The smut’s still light years away. And, knowing myself, said smut will be at least 2k. At least. If I keep it up, I'll have another 30k monster on my hands. Deadline’s in four weeks’ time. Argh.

And then I’ll still have to finish the Snarry Swap fic, which is beautifully plotted right up until the end and should be very straightforward. And only 15k, at the most.

It should. But the Yule Balls fic should have been done in 10k, too.

Argh.

On the plus side: have money, can buy books. Yay!

The other night, while I was trying to fall asleep, a bunny hopped unto my bed. It was a Harry/Scorpius bunny, and it was real pretty. If I weren't already working on a Harry/Scorpius epic, I'd write the fic. It began as the story of Scorpius having an invisible friend whose name is Bauko. ( Don't ask me where the name came from. I have no idea. )

I so need to write this bunny. The longer I think about it, the more I like it. Hm, hmmm ... Think I'll put it on the List of Bunnies to Write somewhere after Draco Dormiens. Or before? Decisions, decisions.

Though it's probably futile to even think about deciding what to write next. I mean, there's first my hp_yule_balls fic, and then the Snarry Swap fic, and after these are done, I want to go back to working on some of my many WIPs: Just a Fantasy, Blood Magic, and the aforementioned Harry/Scorpius epic. That's five fics between me and a decision.

Could someone please shoot all the other bunnies that I know are just waiting for me to not be paying attention to pounce?

I've been reading lots and lots of lomonaaeren's stories again. Some day soon, I'll have read them all. :)

As always, lots of reading made lots of tiny bunnies bounce around. Tiny bunnies become big bunnies that I don't need while writing fest fics that aren't H/D, so I set the bunny loose in case someone else wants to adopt it.


P.S. I have finished part one of three of my hp_yule_balls fic. Today, I don't like it one bit. Tomorrow, I think, I might be okay with what I wrote today. And anyway, I'm looking forward to writing the next bits, because they'll be all dialogue and no angsty UST. :) And part one is only 1,700 words longer than I meant it to be. Yay! I still might be able to finish this in 10k! *ignores niggling doubts that she won't*

You are The Star

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Star is one of the great cards of faith, dreams realised

The Star is a card that looks to the future. It does not predict any immediate or powerful change, but it does predict hope and healing. This card suggests clarity of vision, spiritual insight. And, most importantly, that unexpected help will be coming, with water to quench your thirst, with a guiding light to the future. They might say you're a dreamer, but you're not the only one.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

The most fascinating thing is: I can really see myself in that. It fits my situation inf life at the moment. Wow.

Feeling mildly stunned.

This time it's the books, though. After watching the movies last weekend, I thought it would be nice to read the books again. And it is.

It's also giggle-inducing. Because the hobbits of Buckland are quite convinced that the hobbits of the Shire are queer. Of course, the hobbits of the Shire think the same about the hobbits in Buckland. And all of them think that dwarves are queer. The Elves, though, aren't queer. They are gay (among other things, such as old and young and sad).

Yeah, I know that Tolkien used "queer" in the sense of "odd", and "gay" in the sense of "happy". But it still makes me giggle every now and then.

And this time, all I had to drink was a pot of tea. ;)

Or, How Being A Slasher Girl Can Corrupt Enlighten Your Friends And Add Humour At Inappropriate Moments.

Like during the Battle of Helm's Deep, for example.

But the moment kind of asked for it. Really. Especially when you're the best friend of a slash-reading fangirl and her company tends to make you pretty silly.

So, setting the scene: I went to visit one of my best friends from uni last weekend, and - as is our custom - we enjoyed a bottle (or two) of red wine and watched The Lord of the Rings. When we reached the Battle at Helm's Deep, we had already emptied one bottle and were commenting more than watching the movie. As my friend put it, 'We're kind of sort of not really paying attention to the gravity of the situation.'

Additionally, for some reason of format or whatever, the subtitles didn't show up to translate the Elvish parts of dialogue. We made our own. Or ignored what was going on to bitch about Arwen.

The Elves show up at Helm's Deep.

Cira: Whee, look, here come the gay elves!
Friend's SO: What? Gay Elves?
Cira: Yep, they're all sooo gay!
Friend's SO: Hehe, it's Christopher Street Day!
Friend (comments Haldir): Wow, you're right, he really is gay! (when Aragorn embraces Haldir): Go on, kiss him!
Cira: He only kisses Legolas.

A little later, Aragorn strides along the wall and instructs the Elven archers. He's shouting, all Leader of Man, and we don't have subtitles. Suddenly, my friend starts laughing and submits a translation of Aragorn's words: 'I'm going to fuck everyone who survives!'
Friend's SO: Elf Orgy!

I'm kind of proud to have converted these two firm heterosexuals to the Slash Way of Thinking. :D

Especially those for santas_lap. I only went to look because I was curious about what prompts people submitted, and now I want to write #11 and #28 and #43. Evil, I tell you.

I'm sitting on my hands to resist claiming one of them. I don't think I'll have the time and energy to write for three fests.

Yep, three. hp_yule_balls, and then I had to be crazy and sign up for the Daft Day Snarry Swap. So no more crazies for me, and no Santa's Lap either. Though #28 would make a lovely Harry/Lucius fic ....

And I'm nervous about the Snarry Swap. Snarry is my OTP, and I read way more Snarry fics than is probably healthy for one single fangirl, but I've never really written Snarry. There's "Need", but that's from Ginny's POV. And "Slytherin Love", but that's a threesome with Draco, and from Draco's POV. No pure Snarry yet.

And I hadn't meant to sign up, anyway. I blame alisanne - one of her prompts did the killer!bunny thing (and it hasn't let go of my throat yet), and I couldn't resist.

Allow me to repeat: prompts are evil.

EVIL!

*goes back to sitting on her hands*

And so I don't get my books. It's really annoying. Each time I try to pay, I get a message about "payment stopped". What? I checked my credit card details; all's fine. I logged off and then on again. Still the same. WTF??

I wonder if the voucher is the problem. But they gave it to me! As an incentive to buy from bol, of course. But whatever, a voucher is a voucher, and I want books. I wouldn't be trying to buy those books without the voucher. It's 5 Euro off. And I can buy one or two ebooks from Torquere for 5 Euro.

I'm not going to try Amazon, because they are more expensive than bol. Perhaps I should look at prices over at booklooker. Only, I don't have a voucher for them. *sighs* It's really, really annoying. I want books. Real books. Stuff I can read while lying in bed. I can't do that with my laptop.

*growls*

But, hey, talking about books and annoying. I'm still - and always - looking for a really good book. Slash, of course. I've got no trouble finding good books that aren't slash, but when it comes to m/m romance ... Well. I could do with some recs. Do you know any really, really good m/m romance novels? And I mean really good. Books with some plot, well-drawn characters, preferrably even character development, some romance, some humour. Something intelligent, and intelligent not only because the author said so.

You see, I'm a picky reader. Very picky. And I can't rely on the majority. I tried that. It's no good. ( For example, Evangeline Anderson, or Books I Do Not Like At All - something of a rant )

Okay. Enough book ranting. ( Now for some books that I enjoy reading )

So, now that I've bored you to tears, I'll go and see whether bol has decided they want my money. And if you have recs for some really, really good m/m novels, please, gimme!!

Dear flist, I need your help. I'm stuck and I hate feeling that way. I want to write but I don't know what.

The problem is that I have too many WIPs languishing on my laptop. I can't decide between them, and every time I start having trouble with one, I go off to the next, and end up getting nothing done. But if I spend one more day whining about wanting to write without actually doing it, I might do something painful and lasting to myself.

So I turn to you to help me decide. Which of the following stories should I concentrate one? (For as long as I have time to do so before the hp_yule_balls assignment arrives.) Which one would you like to read? Pick any one (or two if you can't decide):

HP fanfiction

1. Just a Fantasy: Draco and Severus help turn Harry's fantasy into reality. (Draco/Severus, Harry/Draco/Severus, also mentions Draco/Astoria and Harry/Ginny).

1. Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus: the ninetenn-years-later sequel to The Dragon and the Pygmy Puff. Young, gorgeous, and self-confident, Scorpius sets out to seduce Harry Potter. (Harry/Charlie, Harry/Scorpius, Harry/Charlie/Scorpius).

3. Blood Magic: my first ever Snarry, still unfinished. The trio's raid on the Ministry takes a different turn. (Harry/Snape, will also at least mention Harry/Ginny and Harry/OMCs).


Original fiction

1. Bitter Blue: John gets a promotion but has to move to the other side of the country for the job. What will his lovers Suzy and Alex do? (Obviously M/M/F at the beginning.)

2. Invocation: Two wizards Summon and Bind a demon to protect them from being drawn into a wizarding war. Unexpectedly, the demon becomes fond of his human life and his human masters. (M/M and M/M/Demon).

3. Elain: Prince Elain loses the war and becomes the slave to the new lord. (M/M)


Once I have a story to focus on, I plan to set myself an amount of words to be written a day. Maybe that will work.

I've been a very bad fangirl. I got the most wonderful fic and I didn't immediately start squeeing over it. Bad Cira! No spanking for you. Allow me to do some squeeing now.

SQUEE!!! :D

So, on August 28, I innocently started reading my friends list and saw my name on that day's hp_sas fic. It made me very happy because I was desperately looking for a good fic to read.

Then, there was the summary: Harry’s a natural Dom looking desperately for a sub. He is directed to a delightful ‘restaurant,’ where anything you crave is in the offing. But Harry isn’t sure his order, when it arrives, is what he actually wants. It’s up to Scorpius to convince him he picked the right dish. Harry resists, but who could say no to such a treat? No one, indeed. And me least of all. squeee!!

And then there were the warnings which totally should read enticements: D/s, semi-public sex, chan, dom!Harry, threesome (Harry/Scorpius/OC), cross-dressing, bondage, spanking, blow jobs, a little rimming, very brief mention of foodplay, partially-clothed sex. This had little Cira bouncing in her seat and half-melted into goo already. squeeeeee!!!

Afterwards, I needed about half an hour to write a coherent comment. Happy goo cannot write coherent comments, and I totally was happy goo because the fic is totally, absolutely brilliant. *insert incoherent squeeing*

It's hot. No doubt about that. Brain-meltingly hot. You saw the kinks, right? But it's more than that. It's got a little plot with a nice twist. It's got some angsty moments. It's got humour. And it's got some real sweetness under all the hot smut. Not fluff, but sweetness. I loved how Harry at first went to the restaurant for fulfiment of his sexual needs and eventually found fulfilemtn of his emotional needs as well. And the glimpses of Scorpius's emotions were lovely. Most of all I adored his reactions to Harry complimenting him.

Oh, and the idea of the restaurant? Brilliant! So much room for future playing. :)

The icing of the cake for me was finding out that the_con_cept had written the fic. Squee! I mean, how often do you get a wonderful fic tailored to your requests written by one of your favourite writers? I'm a very happy little Cira and I think I'll just go an re-read the fic. Again. (No, I haven't counted how many times I've read it so far. Often.)

Now you all want to read it as well, I'm sure. Right? ;) So follow me to Valentino's!

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ^__^

Reveals went up on Saturday, so here's the fic I've been slaving over. From all the fest fics I've written so far (*coughs*three*coughs*), this for some reason was the hardest to write. Though the smut was fun. And it reads okay. :)

Title: Curse-breaking and Dragon Tears
Recipient: lijahlover
Rating: NC17
Pairing(s): Harry/Scorpius
Age Disparity: (51/25)
Summary: This wasn’t what Scorpius expected to happen once he finally got the Head Auror alone, with nothing trying to kill them.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction set in the Harry Potter universe – all recognisable characters and settings are the property of J. K. Rowling and her associates. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made from this work. Please observe your local laws with regards to the age-limit and content of this work
Warning(s): BDSM (as in bondage, D/s, spanking), rimming, a smidgen of angst
Word Count: 8,400
Author's Notes: lijahlover, your request gave me a wonderful plot bunny, but I had an incredibly hard time wrestling the story to the ground. First, Scorpius would not cooperate, and then Harry got away from me. I’m afraid, light BDSM has become something more like not-so-light BDSM. I really hope you’ll enjoy the story nevertheless.

Many thanks to awrence and the flic for the beta!



( Curse-breaking and Dragon Tears )

Title: Dumbledore's Men
Rating: PG13 for some swear words
Word Count: 3,609
Characters/Pairings: Harry
Warnings: not beta'd
Disclaimer: Harry Potter & co belong to JKR. I make no money from this, and mean no offence by any scene depicted within this story.
Summary: When sitting down to plan his Horcrux hunt, Harry discovers a secret.
Author's Notes: ( Are cut short for rambling )
Set after Harry returned to the Dursleys after HBP. Goes AU in chapter 2 of DH. Also, this might be the first chapter of something that has the potential to turn Snarry.


( Dumbledore's Men )

This morning, I signed up for hp_yule_balls again. I seriously need a deadline to get anything written. I'm very cross with Muse. *glares*

Back to the fest. Just now, I went to have a look at who else had signed up. And, on reading through softly_sweetly's request, I was pounced on by a plot bunny. Just like the Pygmy Puff did last year. I wonder if I can perhaps engage sweets as my Muse? She's apparently very inspiring. :D

It's a pity I won't get to write for her again this year. It's such a lovely bunny. Could work as many-years-later-sequel to "The Dragon and the Pygmy Puff", where Auror trainee Scorpius attempts to seduce Head Auror Harry Potter, not knowing or caring he's still in a relationship with Charlie. And then there's Charlie spanking Scorpius for hitting on his lover, with Harry tied up ... or, better, Charlie spanking Harry for thinking about shagging Scorpius, with Scorpius tied up and watching ...

Very nice bunny. I don't suppose I get it written without a deadline and the threat of modly people being angry with me for not finishing on time. Writing without a deadline stopped working after the thesis. It makes me very annoyed with myself.

Hmmm, but that bunny is tempting ...

Title: Watching Him
Author: CiraArana
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 6,515
Warnings: awkward first time sex between two sixteen-year-old boys
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characterst etc. are the product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Also, hands off, mine.
Summary: I don’t know why I keep looking at him. I don’t usually do that kind of thing, staring at other guys like that. But I keep watching him.
Author's Notes: Has not been beta'd. When reading, please keep in mind that I'm neither a native speaker of English nor a boy nor 16 anymore.


( Watching Him )

I was cleaning my files and found these two. I wrote them last year in December, while I was struggling with my thesis.

Title: Celebration
Pairing: Bill/Harry
Rating: NC17
Word count: 100
Warnings: infidelity
Disclaimer: All fictional work/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No offence is meant by the actions of any characters portrayed.

( Celebration )


Title: Wild Night
Pairing: Bill/Fleur/Harry
Rating: R
Word count: 100
Warnings: threesome, het, infidelity/open marriage, perhaps even femmeslash
Disclaimer: All fictional work/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No offence is meant by the actions of any characters portrayed.

( Wild Night )


*

Title: Firecall
Author: CiraArana
Pairing: Harry/Scorpius
Rating: a very mild R
Word count: 100
Warnings: accidental voyeurism
Summary: Ron realises he should have listened to Harry.
Disclaimer: All fictional work/artwork is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No offence is meant by the actions of any characters portrayed.
Author's Note: Written for harryscorp100's challenge #23 - stunned.

( Firecall )