Mouse's Crappy Journal

On turning 30

2007-10-10T03:35:38Z

I don't feel any different than I did on my 15th birthday. So there, universe.

Three things about Severus Snape. (From the Corvus Fallere universe)

2007-09-29T20:31:40Z

Three things about Severus Snape. (From the Corvus Fallere universe) written for dixiebell12

Spoilery for Corvus Fallere books one and two. :D

1) Snape has become a morning person.

It happened gradually. Before the Lord's victory, he would have hexed anyone to suggest such a thing. His classes never started before 9 am, and, even then, it was all he could do to drag himself from his bed to pour knowledge into the cracked and broken vessels of his student's heads. Even the comforting darkness and comparative silence of the dungeons shattered into a hundred thousand echoed shouts and bouncing laughter, of thunderous bookfalls and rushing bootsoles by 9 am, and the peace of his sleep was irreparably shattered.

No one ever commented about his bad moods in the morning, however; whether from fear or from the fact that his mood never actually improved as the day wore on, he couldn't be bothered to discover.

But now the castle rang only with silence for most of the day. His laboratory, the massive re-purposing of the main hall and some of the larger classrooms, was active at all hours, and the soothing sounds of chopping, grinding and bubbling cauldrons overlaid the hushed voices of his workforce. He often took a mug of tea and walked the floor, asking questions and correcting mistakes. They worked in shifts, carefully noting progress on various potions on the clipboards attached to each workstation, so that the next shift would know where to pick up the work. Even the experimental section was scrupulously laid out, with protection charms separating each section, and frequent safety barriers to dive behind if the need arose. The lab was never silent.

Nor were the workers' dorms quiet, he supposed, tucked into the old Hufflepuff area, though he respected their privacy and rarely went there. The Ravenclaw dorms, filled with his Coraxis, rang with laughter that only he and the Coraxis could understand, and he went there when he couldn't stand the sound of human voices any more. Nearer still, in the Slytherin rooms, his Corvatica slept and studied, close at hand and protected. The large window into the belly of the lake absorbed any noises they made.

The Gryffindor rooms held no one at all.

His late night skulks through the castle from Before were to find some peace and quiet. Now, he found himself waking earlier and earlier, throwing back his blanket and stalking the castle in robe and bare feet, trying to convince himself that the only reason he couldn't hear the sound of children's feet was because of the unholy hour.

Somedays, he almost could do it.

2) Snape has a hobby.

He doesn't consider it such, of course. Merely a collection of like items, kept and held in a cabinet. Mementos, of a sort. Once a month, he sends his caretakers away, despite their clicking and ruffled displeasure, and takes out his collection, one by one, to clean. The Coraxis don't like seeing him do what they consider 'bird work', but these are his alone, and he alone will care for them.

Each fragment of shell is carefully dusted and inspected for new cracks. He checks that the gold numbering hasn't rubbed off against the wooden holder, and that the small portriate spelled inside is still moving. It takes him all day, but all 1200 shells are cared for. The oldest, the ones inscribed with only two digits, are curved sharply, and he can remember the first attempts. Many of them failed, and he touches those shells softly, apologetically. Numbers 20 through 25, his first success, and he remembers them, small enough that they could still fly, just different enough from real crows that he had to hid them. He didn't weep when they failed, all of a sudden, one of them falling from the sky with a gasp and the others plummeting down, 1,2,3,4. He didn't weep, but there were no more shells in the cabinet for almost a year.

When he tried again, he did not fail.

3) Snape doesn't have sex for fun, anymore.

Not that he every really did in the first place. But the concept of sex for fun, for pleasure and no other purpose, was there as he grew up. His painful schoolboy crush had certainly caused him to dwell on it. But he hadn't so much lost his virginity as bartered it away for a practical purpose, and after that he could see little practical use in it. It could be a commodity, or a tool of control, or a beginning chip, but to squander it for no reason, for the paltry and sorted reason that it was fun was ridiculous.

Like any tool at one's disposal, however, it was dangerous if one didn't know how to use it. Any tool could be turned against you if you didn't know how to use it properly. And as time went on, he learned that others didn't know how to use it, and turned it against them. The pleasure he gained from that was what he supposed others got from the act itself. He learned how to turn others against themselves without them even knowing it, and reveled in that power.

After the Dark Lord's victory, he carved a place for himself. His potions were needed, of course, but he saw others clumsily wielding sexuality against the newly fallen, and could hardly stand to watch it. He went to one of the actions and, just to spite that imbecile Hystrix, bought an angry young man.

It took him a while, but he taught the young man, whom he named Odín, to use the only weapon he had left. Other young men, other weapons taught, and slowly his organization grew, and he realized that he had a chance, just a chance.

And then, just when he was starting to place the players for his plan, they showed up. Caught, and penned like so many hogs, and, all of a sudden, his plan changed. This was like being given a rusty sword by your jailer to use to cut bread without him realizing that you would stab him with it, and for weeks after he snatched him up he waited for the reprisal, the punishment. It had to have been a trap, because no one, not even the dark lord, could be this arrogant, this sure of his own invincibility.

But no reprisal came, and he began the task of sharpening his sword. It took a long time, and he was unsurprised that he cut himself on it, unsurprised that he was bleeding as he shaped him, shaped them, and he grit his teeth and finished his task. He had done his best to make sure they wouldn't break, wouldn't snap and splinter under the final blow, but you could never tell. He did his best.

And afterward, as he watched them flee into the forest, he wondered who else they would cut. A sword, once sharpened, takes a long time to dull.

Sheeplike

2007-09-25T04:29:35Z

Name a character and I'll tell you three (or more) facts about them from my own personal pseudo-canon.

More bear stuff.

2007-05-07T00:00:25Z

People wanted pictures of the Old Lion I made, and somebody else wanted a before and after.

Sir Rufus is retired, but still has all his lion pride. I had to do some major surgery to restore his tail, as his time as a bear ("I was never a bear, young lady," Rufus informs me, "I was serving my queen and country, and was incognito as a bear.") had robbed him of it. He's about 9 inches tall seated. Just behind him you can see Pluck.

Pluck is stubborn and a bit petulant, but a good lad. He likes to hang out with Sir Rufus and hear his stories of his time undercover. Here's a before and after picture of Pluck.

They both go on Etsy tomorrow. I don't know if anybody is going to buy any of my bears off Etsy (no nibbles yet), but it's fun to put them up there, anyway.

I are ashamed...

2007-05-03T05:29:17Z

Couldn't resist. I go hell.

Made with the LOLcatbuilder.

Second Chance Bear: Bartell

2007-04-30T22:24:35Z

Another bear, listed at Etsy. This sad little guy is Bartell. He's got a brand new face, and new footies, too! He wants a new home... (ok, fine, I want 30$ worth of ramen, but still...)

:D

I've got more bears. One that looks like a decrepit old lion, too...

(Sorry if this is off-fandom for some people. I have some Fandom Bears as well.)

Second Chance Bear: Alphonse

2007-04-30T15:53:02Z

So, in an effort to actually EAT this month, I've started to sell my Second Chance bears.

These are bears I've rescued from second hand stores and remade their faces (and sometimes paws). Their new faces are all wool, and sometimes not as cutesy as they started out...

Here's the first one, Alphonse:

He's listed at Etsy. Even if you don't want him, I'd love comments.

Couldn't resist... Just like the concept so much.

2007-04-29T23:39:56Z

Ok, so the embeddy thing didn't work. This was a cool entry at one point, I swear.

Blame harusamemosuke

2007-04-21T04:33:27Z

I couldn't resist getting a bit of fic from harusamemosuke , so I obligated myself.

I will write a drabble for the first ten people who comment with one request of 100 words (more or less). In return, they ~~have to~~ can post this in their journal.

These are the fandoms you can choose from:

Harry potter
SGA
Doctor Who
Torchwood
Due South
Hellsing (Heck, silly hollywood movie OR kick ass anime! I'm easy.)

Original fic (give me some kind of prompt)

Other things, if you are reasonably (or unreasonably) sure I'll write them (I wrote Rocky Horror fic, Beatrix potter fic, Disney fic... try me!)

I don't promise I will stick to 100 words, but there ya go.

I've been DMCA Notice'd!

2007-04-19T04:58:45Z

Well, I guess I shouldn't be surprised!

My Code Monkey SGA vid got pulled from youtube. It's funny; most vids have 'infringing' music AND video... mine just had video. Jonathan Coulton puts most of his music out under a CC license that lets you play with it.

If any of you left comments there... I'm really sorry, but I've lost them. :(

I still have the vid, though. Guess I use Imeem from now on.

Random things, post 1.

2007-03-24T19:18:33Z

First, here's a slashy comic, from www.biggercheese.com, a very strange, very amusing webcomic.

OMGF, Batman!

Next, here's a random meem I did:

Your Silver-Age Superhero Career

LJ Username

Your alias first-name is:

Your alias last-name is:

You can turn....

...into:

You team up with...

allusory_tea

...to battle:

werewolf lobbyists

You petition to join:

the Legion of Doom

Their response:

incessant cackling laughter which you eventually take to mean "no"

You are best remembered for:

referring to Alex Trebek as a "wooly-headed mountie-humper" on Superhero Jeopardy

Your heroic level: - 2%

This quiz by sigma7 - Taken 1194 Times.

Take Surveys and Get Cash!

IS there trebeck/Fraser slash? :: shudders::

Third, everyone should go play the games at Orisinal. Sweet, relaxing, beautiful webgames. I particularly enjoy A Dog for all Seasons (which I suck at), Floats, and Wake UP Calls.

Fourth... I miss everyone.

Fifth, I'm going to Sakuracon, and working on my cosplay outfit today. You'll get pictures when I get done.

Sixth, I WANNA HAVE SPRING BREAK OFF TOO! :: whines::

Photoshop CS2 for sale.

2007-03-13T04:57:05Z

Anyone interested in a NEW, never been opened copy of Photoshop CS2? Windows version, full retail, TOTALLY LEGAL.

I'm selling it for 300$, which is slightly less than what it goes for on ebay. I got one as a work incentive, and I don't really need it, as I already HAVE photoshop CS2. What I don't have is a spinning wheel. And if somebody gives me money for this, I WILL have a spinning wheel. Like this one:

New Photoshop, in box. Ooooo, LEGAL version! ;D

Feel free to post this/tell people you know/fight to the death (or to the pain!) for it.

So, I did something nutty today...

2007-03-05T05:33:47Z

Caution: under the cut you will see my very purple hair. And also, my purple bra and my big white boobs because I"m an idiot and didn't think to put a shirt on before taking a picture I knew I was posting on my LJ.

What?

New Songvid: Mandelbrot Set, Doctor Who.

2007-03-03T03:07:46Z

Song: Mandelbrot Set
Artist: Jonathan Coulton
Fandom: Doctor Who (9th and 10th Doctors)

I made another vid. This one is Doctor Who. Not particularly slashy (other than one moment. I couldn't help myself.), but rather spoiley if you haven't seen the show.

9th and 10th Doctors, and a variety of companions.

Feedback is adored.

[ETA direct link, in case it won't play: http://mousewrites.livejournal.com/124692.html]

Evil ram!

2007-02-27T04:12:30Z

I have bad ram. How much of a bitch is that?

Computer started 'eating' programs, (like virus protection, TCPIP, and small, unimportant things, like THE BOOT SECTOR), so I think it's a virus (logical, yes?) and scan, but the system keeps shutting down. REALLY shutting down; blink, restart.

I format the whole thing. I lose 80 gigs of media files that I can't burn to disk because the SYSTEM IS RESTARTING. SGA, Dr. Who, Torchwood, SPN, I-man, Smallville (hubbies) and 15 MST3K movies, including Manos, Hands of fate!

GOD DAMNIT.

I spend about 10 hours working on this.

The problem starts up again, not as bad, but...

Look up some stuff, find a ram tester, WHAMO. Instantly. Some part of my ram is blown. Son of a bitch.

:: grumbles while dragging her tiny paycheck to the store to get ram, and, while she's at it, a new motherboard and processor.::

Win some, lose some.

2007-02-14T06:11:17Z

Well, we have a dvd burner for my computer now. This is good. However, now the sound won't play. Speakers are plugged in, on, computer not muted... but no sound. This is bad.

Doesn't seem to be a software thing (Nero was installed with the dvd rom, but I can't find any conflicts.

Anyone out there have any hints?

On fandom interest.

2007-02-11T22:37:07Z

So. Been thinkin' a lot about fandom trends; how one fandom will eat the hearts and minds of fandom at large, and how some fandoms come and go quickly, and how all of this effects the output of fic.

I made a chart. (Yes, yes, I know interest is misspelled. And I know that the vertical axis is mislabeled. The Graph making site is cool, but I didn't catch the errors until after I output it.)

If I look at that chart, and look at the amount of feedback I received (on average), the spikes in feedback pretty well match the spikes in my own reading interest. IE, in 2005, when I posted some chapters of CF, I got 70+ comments, but when I posted in late 2006, I only got 20 or so. Now, some of that is because of the length of time it took me to finish that damned fic, some of it might have been because the latter chapters just weren't as good as the the previous ones, but some of it, I think, was because so many people had stopped having interest in the HP fandom altogether.

Thoughts?

I wish we could make a large, fandom collaboration chart, showing trends in fandom.

For instance, it looks like SGA is starting to burn out (those that burn the brightest?) and Doctor Who/Torchwood is heating up. Some of that, I think, is because the shear mass of GAY that the shows represent; SGA was pretty subtexty, but Torchwood is TEXTY without the sub (unless you count Ianto, who is pretty subby in my eyes.)

Any of you college edumeacated statisticians out there know of a way we can make a chart with lots of people adding data sets?

Random Picspam: What I look like. + Porny wallpaper.

2007-02-09T05:28:27Z

I actually took a picture of me I don't hate.

Click for the squishy brighteyed mouse..

This is mostly for the people I haven't seen if months. Look, it's like i'm giving you a big, virtual hug!

And a porny, bdsmy, 'arty' wallpaper, in two sizes:

Preview:

1280x1024
1024x786

This, I find amusing.

2007-02-08T07:12:15Z

Read My Result
Take the Test

For the whole result (including why I'm totally awesome and worth the 600$,)

The Playstation
Random Gentle Sex Master (RGSMf)

Easy to turn on. Hard to beat. You are The Playstation.

You're a nice girl, and you have lots of sex. It's therefore highly likely that you're attractive, and you're certainly outgoing & friendly. Plus, this healthy physical attitude of yours indicates deeper emotional well-being and stability. Unheard of. When guys dare to dream, they dream of you.

You don't get attached too easily, and, to wit, you're not necessarily looking for something long-term right now. That's a bigger asset than you know. Though, physically speaking, you're open to anything, you're keeping your emotional side well-protected. This means there won't be a lot of wreckage to clean up whenever you decide to settle down.

Your exact opposite:
The Priss

Deliberate Brutal Love Dreamer

In the meantime, the men you share yourself with actually respect you. Like them, you enjoy sex for its own sake and don't need any other validation for pleasure than pleasure itself. Hopefully, you have the good sense to blow off anyone who thinks less of you for that. Usually, this is the part of the description where we offer some life-correcting advice, but honestly, we can't think of anything about you we'd change. Keep on fucking, partner.

ALWAYS AVOID: The Mixed Messenger

CONSIDER: Anyone else

Link: The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating.

In other news, I bought a camera and will be picspaming you all shortly.

[eta the rest of the cut]

Ganked from Elf

2007-01-28T20:14:59Z

I am:

Octavia E. Butler

A voice truly unique in all of literature.

Which science fiction writer are you?

That makes me happy in ways I can't tell you.

I'm alive, y'all. Just... hanging on.

The Everchanging Book of Names.

2006-12-24T19:06:37Z

I know most of us don't need to generate many names because the characters that we use are already named. But when you DO need a name, sometimes it's damn hard to find them. A few people have asked me where I got the names for Corvus Fallere.

Well, I did two things. First, I used the Everchanging Book of Names (Ebon). Ebon is a shareware program that generates names on a template. So what, you say. There's 100,000 of those online.

Yes, but Ebon is diffent. For one, it has MANY, MANY options. There are 'books' of names, grouped by relm, world, region, or historic period. And then, INSIDE those books, there are chapters. Chapters with specific generation patterns.

For instance, in the book "Europe, British Isles" there are the chapters Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Celtic 1, Celtic 1 tribes, English surnames, English/welsh, Gaelic, Irish, Irish surnames, Scottish.

Each chapter can generate an almost unlimitless supply of names. And you can control things like prefexes, suffixes, inital letter, and all sorts of other stuff.

World of Greyhawk - Exegesis of Linguistic Usage...

58 chapters, covering all nations of the Flanaess.
Duchy of Urnst - Names for the Duchy of Urnst.

Forgotten Realms - Names for the many races inhabiting Faerûn, including humans, drow, orcs, kuo-toa, beholders... and more!
Warhammer Fantasy - Names for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying: dwarfs, dark elves, goblins, orcs, elves and skaven.
Wheel of Time - Names from the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.
World of Glorantha - Names for Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha, for use with the Hero Wars roleplaying game (www.glorantha.com).
Old World - Names for the ancient peoples of the Earth: Franks, Goths, Lombards, Mongols, Picts, and Romans.
Africa
Far East
Middle East
British Isles
Eastern Europe
Northern Europe
Southern Europe
Western Europe
Americas
Oceania, Australia & NZ
Airica
East European Gods
Fae
Midwrathe
Oddities & curiosities - god/goddess names, medical names, tavern names, insults...
Pokémon
Seventh Sword
A Song of Ice And Fire
Star Trek
Worlds of Fantasy
Fantasy - hobbit, lovecraftian, drwarf, elf...

It's totally cool. Without the registration, you create things one at a time. Afterward, you can make lists of 100. :D

That's how I get a LOT of names.

But for corvus, I did something differnt. For the trio's names, and ALL of the Coraxis, I used this: http://www.zompist.com/numbers.shtml Numbers in over 5000 Languges.

... They were all numbers 1-5. Every one of them. Some of them spelled a bit differetly, but that's what I used.

Ebon is cooler, though.

ARG!

2006-12-17T19:12:59Z

I feel like an idiot.

To those people whom I gave a "Christmas Porn Request form" to LAST year (you know who you are): I totally was going to write all your stories, starting RIGHT NOW, but I can't find the folder I so carefully put the requests into! It's here, I've seen it, but... Stupid moving! ::kicks remaining boxes and then hops around the house, cursing.::

Ok, so, here's the deal. I need you to re-send them. I know, I know, I suck. But if I could get an email from you guys with the following info:

Het or not or both or any
1some, 2some, 3some, orgy
Genre (Space opera? old west? Steampunk? D&D type fantisy?)
Kinks you WANT.
Kinks you OMG don't want.
Fandom (if that's your thing and I KNOW IT"S NOT ALL OF YOUR THINGS.)

Any other notes. I'll probaly do them in the order I received them.

And no, this ISN"T your only present (because that would make me cheep.)

(I'm also emailing this to the One With Red Hair, so that she can distribute it to those who don't use LJ.)

:D

Well, it's about damn time!

2006-12-10T20:26:54Z

I remade a home page for myself. It's been about a year since I gave up on Earthlink and their 21$-for-a-10-mb-webpage and Rodentia Litterarus (or however the fuck I spelled it) went away.

My new, tiny, newborn googlepage website is here: Mouse's Homepage.

I warn you, it's little. Like tiny. Like... baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaby webpage! tiny. But it's there.

:)

(and thanks go to khirsah for unintentionaly showing me google pages.)

Note about Google Pages: if you have a google account, you can make a page. I didn't see at first how you could change the name on the URL, so I made a SECOND google account. THIS IS NOT NESSISARY. If you click manage page - or preview, I think - you can publish to another account. That way you won't have two accounts, like me. ::headdesk::

At the Archive...

2006-12-03T20:37:22Z

Corvus Fallere book II is now posted at the Archive, as well as on LJ. The Archive's got slightly better formating, but there's some typos there that I haven't fixed yet. Up to you. :)

Thank you again, to everyone who's left comments (and even to those of you who didn't!). I feel... well loved.

Trying out LJ Talk

2006-12-02T21:42:47Z

This is actually pretty cool. I'm posting from the client (assuming this works), and looking at my flist. Of course, none of you are ON lj talk, but still...