So, er, hey. Trying to catch up, speeding through all the Racefail and Mammothfail posts, so I follow a link over to The Angry Black Woman and find this post: Dear Hollywood, Gypsy Curses? NOT Okay., which points out the absolute fail of Sam Raimi's film Drag Me To Hell for reinforcing the racist stereotype of the scary old gypsy lady using her scary gypsy magic to curse someone. Should be all YAY!

Except. The comments.

( I'm still reeling. Seriously. Just...yeah. )

Ack, I'm *seven* weeks behind in answering comments, but I took a gander at the prompts over at sb_kink. So yes, still with the Bruce/Clark thing here. Some great comment fic there, yay! Which I need to feed. *cough*

So I see a prompt for "grudge sex" (okay, I'm *slightly* paraphrasing). But my brain only turned up "grief sex" which is something completely different. Kind of. So nothing big, 1300 words, post-Final Crisis and completely dependent on *that* plot point (DCU and sortamaybe Bruce/Clark), bleak, nothing super-explicit, and something to offend just about everyone. Or not. Also, I unashamedly abuse the second person because someone has to.

( You should hang it up, you think. The cowl stands in the middle of that pile, empty and accusing. You never would have, before. Never. But now you have and it's done. )

Will I never just go away? *g* Behind, apologies, same old. Just a few things before I attempt to catch up again:

Dreamwidth. What? Not again.

Someone posted in sv_inquiry looking for a fic of mine. No one responded. Just the resounding silence of "Dude, I have no clue and don't care." Ha! How's that for humbling, Ms. Rom? You're forgotten! Heeee.

Ended up in the emergency room at the lovely hour of 3:30 a.m. a bit ago from *stress*. I need to calm down. *g*

I have not seen Star Trek, watched television, or done anything much. But Rom, how will we talk to you? you say. I don't know, but it's kind of damp beneath this rock that I live under now. Plus there are bugs. Hopefully, the rest of you are enjoying sunshiny spring.

Yes, I've been away. And I owe many comments, so ridiculously behind. My apologies and promises to catch up.

Title: Otherwise It Won't Come True
Author: Romany
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Bruce/Clark
Rating: Teen/PG-13
Length: ~4000 words
Spoilers: none really
Warnings: slash, ridiculous analogies (Alexander/Hephaistion)
Disclaimer: Not mine, seriously. All belongs to DC Comics. Except the parts that belong to Oliver Stone

Summary: Some analogies are loose at best.

( Clark let out a soft breath, the lash fluttering in the air, filtered sunbeam from the garden. And his wish both great and small. Four hours he'd been here, selfish, since the world didn't make for such allowances. Please. An hour more, maybe two. Let the volcanoes sleep, the earth not rage up, flood waters hold back. Peace, for a short time, and just this place. )

Well, it seems I haven't posted anything in 2-1/2 months. Sofia sent me an email that simply read:

WOMAN, ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!?

Yes, I said, after several days, I am.

Currently, I'm at my mother's - who is rather more than poorly - and have an hour or two since she's resting.

During my absence, someone(s) nominated a few of my WF fics for the WFA (World's Finest Awards). Thank you, someone(s)!

Also, my very belated thanks to chrisleeoctaves, dakinigrl and netweight for the lovely holiday cards, and to discord26 for the v-gift.

Although I've been horribly negligent, I've missed you all.

No, it really isn't. I have no clue who or what this icon is. Is LJ randomly swapping out icons? Old news for the rest of you, I'm sure. But yes, I've been away again and horribly negligent, owe comments.

I missed my LJ-versary too. Five years!

In other words: HI!

Wow. I *just* finished reading through skip=zomg! on the flist. And it only took me a week and a half! \o/ No fic, and I didn't comment on most of them, but I *read* them. (I don't filter anything/anyone out but comms.)

Please, oh please, never let me fall that behind again.

I just drove Mr. Romany to the airport so that he can cavort with fellow fanboys. This is a big deal for him - he's not the biggest social butterfly in the world. He doesn't even like going out to the movies because there are *people* there.

And I promised the littlest Romanita that I'd take her to go see HSM3 this weekend. The things I do. *g*

This is the only Jossverse/Smallville crossover icon that I have. Not that there are too many of them. *g*

So...Writercon 2009 will be in Minneapolis. I reallyreally want to go since I've been to 2004 (Las Vegas) and 2006 (Atlanta), but I need to see how many nickels I can rub together to do that. Also, time is more of a factor for me now. But Jossverse is my first fandom love, and I treasure the friendships that I've made there. Convince me that I have nickels and time!

Whatever happened to that Smallville con that was supposed to happen in 2007, then got postponed to 2008? Did it die an ignoble death?

Speaking of, guess what happened on season premiere night for SV and SPN? My DVR hates me! We get the kidlets snuggled down, turn on the tv and...2 hours of infomercial! What?!? But! I finally saw the first ep of SV, so yay! I'll catch up with the rest soon. I haven't been able to get my hands on the first ep of SPN however, so boo!

Rumor has it that nwhepcat is now writing SV! I'm not back to fic-reading mode yet, but I look forward to diving into those.

Catching up slowly: I've filtered out all my comms and am at skip=eleventybillion, just reading the personal posts to see what you've been up to while I've been offline.

Also, I've finally seen Iron Man!

ETA: Slight spoilers for SV 8x01 in comments.

Wow. I think this is the longest that I've ever been on radio silence, so to speak. Real life is taking *all* of my time. Nothing exciting, but stressful anyway. My glass is half-empty! Not only is it half-empty, but the rim is chipped so I'll cut my lip if I take a drink. And look, there's a fly floating in it. Poor fly. Yes, I'm one of those. *g*

But I'm grateful and *so* late in thanking the people who remembered my birthday (over a month ago now, eep!).

Thank you...

entrenous88 for the lovely e-card.

jeannev, morganichele, mskatej, roya_spirit, svgurl, talitha78 and tmelange for the shiny v-gifts.

baggyeyes for the great icon that I'm using for this very post. Determined Bat!

and zeldadestry for a fantastic 3:10 to Yuma fic - Devils and Pilgrims, All in Accord. It's Ben/Dan and wonderful. Harsh and subtle at the same time. The voices!

Sofia, when asked her age, loved to say, “Mas sabe el diablo por viejo que por diablo.” The devil knows more because he’s old than because he’s the devil. A man lived enough, he saw all manner of suffering. A man lived enough, he gave in. A man lived enough, he stopped trying.

Also, thank you to everyone who wished me well on my birthday. My apologies for not thanking you individually.

I've a few comments to catch up on as well as email (over the next few days). Someone must have recced my Mad Men fic after I disappeared into the ether because it's had some play that I need to acknowledge. So I thank you too.

I am now 42 and should be the answer to life, the universe and everything. Alas, I am not.

Also, HI!

Thank you so much to the shy, anonymous people who gifted my user page with a cute polar bear and penguin! *feels loved mysteriously*

The polar bear's looking at the penguin kind of funny - hungrily, in fact...*g*

Seriously. You know, LJ has this option where you can set your journal so that it's public but only friends are allowed to comment. And when does LJ *tell* you that the comment you just typed for a *publicly* available fic is *not* acceptable? That's right! *After* you type the freaking thing! And then LJ *eats* your comment. Bye-bye! Poof!

ROM SMASH!

Just WHY? You know, if you only want your *friends* to comment on your fic, LOCK that PUPPY down. DO NOT WASTE MY *FREAKING* TIME!

No *freaking* love for your fan-dance there. No love.

GRRRRR!

So I've been away. Vacation. And I'm hopelessly behind. I've two fics that I need to get out *now* and er, that's not going to happen. I thought, hey, notebook, you know? I'll do it longhand. HAHAHA! I just can't compose that way anymore. Plus, busybusy, no time. So I'm going to be late on the lynnevitational. *hangs head* But I'll finish up "In This Room, The Quiet" (sorry, tmelange!) soonish.

Also made of fail: What kind of irresponsible person lets a seven-year old apply their own sunscreen? Oh, that would be *me*. Sunburn! I told her that the white handprint on her iodine color shoulder is quite the fashion statement. She does not believe me above the OW! But, hey, it could be the new body art. Er, yeah, I'm reaching. *sigh*

Even my olive-skinned child turned a lovely shade of rose. And she *never* burns. She does not appreciate the new experience. She couldn't understand why she felt so horrible this morning. I told her, "It's the sunburn, hon. Your body's trying to heal." She only glared at me and tried to drown herself in her bowl of cereal.

So she asks me the other day, when she sees me wringing my hands and muttering something about deadlines: "Mommy, why aren't you a writer?"

*pause and blink*

"Well, I do write," I said. "A writer is someone who writes."

"No," she said, "Why aren't you an author?"

"You mean as in books?"

"Yes. You write so why aren't you published?"

*headdesk and flail*

You see, I've managed to tune out my family and the people I know when they frown at fanfiction and tell me that I'm wasting my time and that I'll never be a real writer if I keep up this nonsense. You're a thief, they say, and a hobby's a hobby but this is ridiculous and degrading. Grow up. And so on.

But I must have internalized some of that, *believe* it somewhere, because I don't even know what to say to my own kid. She just wants to understand what I do, be proud of me. And yeah, I've got nothing.

*bleeds inside*

Well, there doesn't seem to be any Mad Men fic out there. Maybe I wanted an excuse to use this icon.

Title: Click of the Latch
Author: Romany
Fandom: Mad Men
Pairing: Don/Pete, Pete/Trudy, Pete/Peggy implied
Rating: Adultish/R
Length: 1810 words
Spoilers: S1 only
Warnings: slash, het, obsession
Disclaimer: Not mine, seriously. All belongs to AMC.

Summary: Pete doesn't believe in hero worship. Except when he does.

( You either work for Don or against him. It doesn't have to be this way. )

Still busy and behind. I see that it's porn battle time again and I thought, "Okay, I'll do that." I ended up with a story instead. And schmoop. Yeah, me. Go figure. *g*

Title: Nor the Rain
Author: Romany
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Bruce/Clark
Rating: Adult/NC-17
Length: 2507 words
Spoilers: early career, pre-Robin
Warnings: slash, Russian poetry, unrepentant schmoop
Disclaimer: Not mine, seriously. All belongs to DC Comics.

Summary: Bruce decides it's time.

( You come to me, hands empty, and speak of art and how things were when you were a boy. We speak of the dead. The body needs, but the heart does what it wants. )

You may have already seen this in a gazillion places, but I'm passing it along because certain things should NOT be DONE.

Such as publicly linking a fan's name with their RL info. In several places. In order to generate wank so that the visit count goes up on your site. So that you can generate more ad revenue and make said site (and info) saleable.

Yeah, I didn't get my fandom rulebook either, but I think I'd find that under FAIL! and SHUN! if I had the hardcopy.

Because when the pro- and anti-OTW people hold hands and sing kumbaya over this? We're talking serious breach.

Posts with all the details are here and here.

ETA: I'm speaking of Laura Hale and her fan/fandom wiki. Someone pointed out that while I shouldn't link her site, I should mention her name because this is far and away from her first strike and many might not know who she is and her role in fandom for the past ten years.

Apparently, there's such a thing as gingerism in the U.K. I'm just sort of baffled. What?

Okay, I lied. This is actually the second part of three. Turns out this is a bit longer than anticipated. My plans, they go awry!

First part is here.

Title: And In This Room, The Quiet (2/3)
Author: Romany
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Bruce/Clark; Bruce/Ollie and Clark/Lois implied.
Rating: Adultish, R/NC-17
Length: 5022 words
Spoilers: Superman/Batman Annual #2
Warnings: slash, angst, surprises and uncertainty
Disclaimer: Not mine, seriously. All belongs to DC Comics.

Summary: Bruce visits Metropolis. He and Clark end up talking.

( You always remember your first. )

Well, over at wfslash, tmelange organized a contest based on the recent issue of Superman/Batman Annual #2. 1000 - 5000 words. Easy, right? Ha! I'm now at the 11,000+ mark. Heh. Me and directions. You should go and check out the stories that did.

Title: And In This Room, The Quiet (1/3)
Author: Romany
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Bruce/Clark, Bruce/Ollie, Clark/Lois
Rating: Adultish, R
Length: 5584 words
Spoilers: Superman/Batman Annual #2
Warnings: slash, language, territoriality
Disclaimer: Not mine, seriously. All belongs to DC Comics.

Summary: Bruce visits Metropolis. He's not there to see Clark. Ollie has other ideas.

( And if Bruce had any friends then, yes, he would claim Clark. )

Okay, this might be a little bleak. Or something.

Title: Bring Me Some Water
Author: Romany
Fandom: DCU
Pairing: Bruce/Clark
Rating: Adultish, PG-13/R
Length: 3058 words
Spoilers: no real spoilers, semi-current continuity
Warnings: slash, angst, disturbing imagery, surreality
Disclaimer: Not mine, seriously. All belongs to DC Comics.

Summary: Some nightmares are worse than others.

( They need you to bring the guitar, Bruce. )

So I haven't been online much. Stress. The writing is all fits and starts and *blarg*. But!

Today, out at the park, my girls were doing/attempting cartwheels on the grass. So I decided to demonstrate. Heh. I'm nearing 42, out of shape, and haven't participated in such tomfoolery since I was *their* age.

But I did one. Knees straight, toes pointed, decent spread and landing. So I did several. Even did five in a row without stopping. And then I did a headstand. Whee!

Funny, what the body remembers. Muscle memory, it's a thing.