mischiefmagnet fan fiction

Yes, the day has finally come! Chapter 18 of The Night Before actually got posted!

It's called Sunshine and Starlight, which I guess is kind of representative of the difference between Yugi and Seto. The chapter has a little bit of everything, at least I think so...

Hell, I'm just giddy that it's finished and typed and posted! Hope you guys like it!

An awesome reviewer from my Terra/Shadow fic was able to dig up probably my favorite story ever posted to fanfiction.net under the FFVI category... Terra's Shadow.

I have been searching for a remnant of this story for so long... it got deleted from ff.net when they purged all the NC-17 stories a couple years back. I'm so excited to be able to read it again! Credit goes to relmneiko for being an even more obsessive fan of Terra's Shadow than I was and carefully tucking a complete copy of the story away on her hard drive.

Hopefully I'll produce a couple more updates in the week coming; chapter 18 of The Night Before should be up on Friday, and now that I've got some potent Terra/Shadow inspiration, I should get a jump on Elemental Forces as well. For now, I'm going to lock myself away and read until my eyes burn (or until I get really hungry....which will probably be soon)!

I can only say one thing...

...which is that I hope it doesn't take me a year every time I want to add a chapter to The Night Before.

Yeah, I've been working on it this week, and I actually have enough to publish if I decide to break it where I am. I might push a little further and add one more segment onto the chapter, if it fits the way I hope it will.

Obviously, life has been weird and crazy as usual, in such a changeable way that my brain hasn't settled down enough in quite some time to continue any of my stories. Writing again is a very satisfying feeling. When I first got the impulse, I wanted to tune up my fic skills before I dove into an update for TNB. This story is very important to me, and I didn't want to turn in a substandard entry, or anything that would sabotage my plot or the tone of the story. I did a lot of reading, a lot of contemplating, and some writing in other areas (began a Final Fantasy VI fic called Elemental Forces, a character driven romantic study starring Shadow and Terra) and lighter tales (such as Blindsided) that needed updates. Hopefully, I'm back in the swing of things...

I think I had a bit of writer's block going on, mainly because I was getting to the point where I needed to start writing Yugi very thoughtfully and carefully- maybe I haven't been ready to do that.

I thought about it for a week or two, and did a somewhat irritating re-read of my entire story (so many nuances and small errors I wanted to fix). I felt like I needed to get pretty far into Yugi's thoughts, and make sure to express a certain level of maturity with him that would begin to make his feelings for Anzu feel genuine; the last thing I wanted was to make it seem in the story that he was merely infatuated with her and didn't understand the concept of love in any sense that would threaten her relationship with Seto.

So, slowly, it begins.

After some pretty rigorous editing and tyranical re-workings (by none other than myself), I think I have something I'm pleased with. I've got Yugi doing some soul searching as he arrives in New York, and he gets a flashback of his own from the night of that infamous graduation party where all of this began. It's about courage, deep feelings, and the ability of the mind to be both right and wrong about something at the same time.

Considering the response I got to my very long-in-coming update to Blindsided, I'm hopeful that someone might even read it when it comes out!

::::: s i g h :::::::

Just thinking about perfecting the new chapter makes me energetic and exhausted all at once...

...mostly exhausted, though.

Zzzzzzzz.....

Hahaha, it's true! I actually wrote Chapter 17 of The Night Before, and posted it this time instead of claiming to have written it and subsequently disappearing for countless months.

I don't know why such a busy couple of weeks produced an update; I'm not exactly running a surplus in the free time department. Of course, that may be exactly the reason why I was finally successful. ::shrug:: Who knows? I'll try my best to keep working on the story, and perhaps get back to the edits I had begun to engineer awhile back.

At present I'm carefully re-reading my whole story, and find myself returning to some old favorites as well. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, hoping to update The Night Before again, and perhaps add to at least one of my other unfinished stories before my focus gets mercilessly derailed by the Harry Potter express...

For the moment, however, I feel that sleep is immediately neccessary. I just watched the men's Wimbledon final, which was approximately four hours long.

My eyes are ready to pop out of their sockets. My nerves are also a bit frayed from the suspense. 0_o

...ZZZZZzzzzzzzz...

Yo!

Apparently I am still breathing. Better yet, I just figured out that I can still write!

Chapter 17 of The Night Before is fully drafted and in the process of editing, hopefully to be published to ff.net within the next couple days. I know, I'm just as shocked as you are.

I must warn anyone who cares; the chapter is probably not so fabulous. Transitional, at best. but I'm hoping it will serve as a jumping board for the rest of the story to flesh out... preferably before I get sucked up into a Harry Potter craze, or spontaneously pick up and move to Sao Paulo (a possibility, oddly enough).

I'm so excited that I'm almost ready to post something! Hope there's still someone out there reading!

Almost derailed, as it were. And there's one thing to blame:

Final Fantasy XII.

::sigh::

I got so excited about updating that I failed to remember this giant spectre lurking upon the horizon. I am absolutely LOVING this game right now, and there's hardly any time between work and gaming for anything else.

Still, though, I have started my next chapter, and I have a personal conviction demanding an update by Christmas. I rather hope for two, but that may be wishful thinking.

I am a bad author!!

...incidentally, if anyone else wants to start up some FFXII fic discussion, don't hesitate to throw something my way. Might at least get me to post SOMETHING.

Sorry to anyone out there who was anticipating an update. I'm practically the queen of false summits...

Hello Hello!

I probably need to yell louder, to see if anyone is still out there. HELLO!

I'm really back this time, not like the false start I seemed to get off to back in June. I'm armed with notes for chapter 17 of The Night Before, as well as a slightly shaky rough draft of the first part of the chapter!

I don't know. I suddenly felt motivated. And ready. I guess I also wanted to have a chance of getting to the Christmas parts of the story before...well, before Christmas is over? I know it doesn't seem like this should be a factor yet, but keep in mind-- I work retail, and am therefore already surrounded by Christmas trees on a daily basis. I have a feeling that Q4 is going to blow by...probably faster than I can come up with a reasonable analogy for just how fast it is going to blow by. So I'm getting a head start, I guess. Christmas is only a few chapters away!

I'm hoping to get the chapter ready to post by Saturday morning. It's probably going to be moderately short and somewhat transitional feeling...I hope you guys can cut me some slack on the stylistic elements due to my long hiatus. Any ambiguities in tone should clear themselves up after I have a chance to re-read the whole story and really get back into it. I'm pretty excited, actually! I hope somebody will still read. ^_^

Now it's time to go swoop around and jam out to this old-ass Sisters of Mercy album. I guess you can just go ahead and blame the DARK 80'S night I went to last weekend... not that any amount of your blame is going to stop me from running out and buying a Bauhaus album!

::Hovers by monitor in black clothes::

Yes, it's true.

I'm still out here somewhere. Sorry to say that it's nowhere near fan fic writing at this time.

I've been to England and had an amazing trip...I'll try and post or link to some photos if I can. Otherwise, I have no excuse beyond work, distraction by other fandoms, and an inexplicable resurgance of my love for DOCTOR WHO. Not the new one, mind you-- I still haven't seen it. The old stuff. The GOOD stuff.



Yeah. I'm still mulling over updates for Blindsided and The Night Before, but thinking doesn't actually accomplish much (SHOCK!).

That's pretty much it. Maybe after I finish Final Fantasy X (yes, I'm just playing it NOW) I'll be able to focus a bit better. Off to Montreal this weekend, and also about to see the Arctic Monkeys and Nine Inch Nails over the next week... but I really do hope people are still interested in an update or two...!

Yummy yummy, I had eel for lunch. I love a day off. I hadn't purchased any type of sushi at a grocery store in quite awhile, so I wasn't really expecting much. Thus, I was pleasantly surprised by both the texture and flavor of the cooked eel I just munched down. Eel, definitely one of my favorites! I even went to the trouble (oooh, a whole 3 minutes worth of trouble, big deal) of making a really excellent cup of green tea. I don't know what I shall do if the tea shop I get it from ever goes out of business, because I don't think I can live without my Genmaicha now. So toasty and delicious. Loose teas are just...the absolute best. Hands down.

Yes, it seems we are rather well pleased with ourselves this afternoon. Plans for the remainder of my day off include a nap (tired after lots of cleaning and laundry and errands), dinner with friends (cooking sun dried tomato and baby spinach risotto. grub a dub dub), and maybe some fan fictiony stuff if I make it home in one sober and moderately sane piece later on.

My current fan fic distraction is a sort of gift piece for twilight eyes 8120. She recently had a birthday, and the flu, so she certainly deserves it-- but I was compulsed to write it before I knew either of these facts, so let it be understood that I'm being a little selfish here, too. It should be a riot, though; it's simply an alternate ending for chapter 7 of her story, Mixing Business With Pleasure.

Anyone who has been reading the story probably knows what chapter I'm talking about (the most recent one, as it were). The author is certainly one of the masters of sexual tension and reader torture, and I absolutely LOVE the way she ended the chapter...but that doesn't mean I didn't want to give the cauldron she'd thrown Seto and Anzu into a little stir and throw in a few extra spices. (evil grin)

Anyway, whenever that remix-y little one shot is finished, I'll be sure to post it in here. It should hopefully be very entertaining for fans of Twilight's story.

(smiles sleepily) Man, that eel put me in a happy mood. I'm going to have the best nap...

Ehehehe!

Yes, it really has been accomplished. Chapter 16 of TNB is. Finally. Up. Up, I tell you!!!

::huge sigh of relief::

Now all I have to worry about are the minor edits for chapters 1-15 and the completion of chapter 17...though I must say, in actuality, I won't be worrying about ANY OF THAT right now. I'll be drinking a beer and doing the traditional read-thru of my new chapter. Bet I'll find at least one screw up!

>_< Gad, those screw ups drive me up a wall. But whatever-- that's why I decided to overhaul the entire story. But for now, all I have to say is "WHEEEEE!"

Well, time to listen to Queen and drink beer.

Just a little progress report for anyone who's paying attention. Chapter 16 of The Night Before is finished. It has also received a preliminary edit. It would have gotten typed today if I didn't feel icky, and if it weren't so DAMN COLD in my room.

All I have left to do, then, is type it up and quickly fact check it against the rest of the story to make sure I haven't included any boo-boos or contradicted myself anywhere along the way (sigh). The fact checking I shall do tonight, but the typing will have to wait until tomorrow after work...which is the night after I originally stated as the latest possible publish date for the chapter. -_-

Yes, well at least I'm not promising anything I can't deliver. I've even started Chapter 17! The content of 17 was originally supposed to be part of 16, but-- as usual-- the chapter traveled to some unexpected places and spent more time than originally intended in others. Oh well; it's still almost twice as long as chapter 15 was...not that anyone should be impressed by that!

So yeah. Look for the new chapter tomorrow evening. I was thinking of putting up a teaser on here, but I don't want to spoil anything. All I'm willing to give away is this: the title of the chapter is "A Promise". So put that in your contemplative pipe and smoke it!

Yeah, so I thought I might finally do this little listing of Christmas fics that I said I was going to do...oh...probably about a month ago. Possibly more. What can I say? Work got busy around the holidays, and since I got promoted I've had a lot less time. But now that I'm getting used to it, I can make more of the time I DO have! ^_^

Before I proceed, an update on the progress of chapter 16 of The Night Before . I wasn't kidding when I said this would be done soon. I'm taking my time with it a little, because I want this chapter to be really good. Sunday at the very latest; hopefully sooner than that.

Now then, on to business. This list is shorter than I had originally intended, but I haven't had time to do a more thorough search. If I missed anything major, be sure to leave a comment and let me know. Also, anything that was published this season as a result of challenges or communities isn't included here. A mention should be given, however, to the highly enjoyable yuugiouxmasfic, which provided some admirable little interludes during the holidays this year.


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A Hastily Assembled List of Seto x Anzu Christmas fics... Delivered a Little on the Late Side.

Holiday Blues by me, mischiefmagnet: Yes, it is somewhat lame to start by mentioning my own fic, but I might as well just get it out of the way. A fluffy and comedic little tale. Fun if you're not looking for anything too...involved.

The Gift by aphrael21: One of my all-time favorites, even if there is a little OOCness floating around. Sheer genius in a few spots, and pure delight in lots of others. Also boasts a sequel, Christmas Chaos.

( Click here to see the rest of the list... )

I hope you guys enjoyed my little list. Keep your eyes peeled for Chapter 16 of TNB!

beep beepbeep beep beep (this is supposed to sound like 'the latest news' coming across the wire) beep beep!!

Well, guess what? Chapter 16 of The Night Before is approximately half written. That's what. Yay! Maybe by the time I go to bed, it'll be alllllllll done and just waiting to be mercilessly edited and typed in the morning before I go to work. Wouldn't that be nice?

When I got up this morning, the morning of this lovely DAY OFF, my left arm felt like it was going to puke words. Sorry for the gross imagery, but that's the only way I can describe it. Hmm, maybe I did have writer's block after all. Now the dialogue is writing itself quite briskly and the paragraphs are forming almost faster than I can get them down. I figured I'd just take a break and announce this information for the benefit of anyone who cares.

Oh, and yes, I DO know that I never posted that Christmas fic listing like I claimed I was going to. I'll do it tomorrow or the next day, even though Christmas is a little out of style at this point in time. Feh, I promised I was going to do it, so I'm going to damn well do it!

Man, I'm in a good mood. I got rid of the flu AND managed to start writing again. If nothing horrible happens in the next 11 minutes, I will have had a truly excellent day.

Well, I have two things to report.

Firstly, I got a promotion at work (heaven help us all). Congratulations and/or Severe Pity are now being accepted due to my unexpected venture into the frightful world of retail management. ::shudder::

Secondly, I have been thinking these past few days (whilst most pointedly not working on Chapter 16 of my story) about all the excellent Seto x Anzu CHRISTMAS FICS that I've read over the last couple years. There are more of these out there than you may believe...trust me--I've been compiling a list.

I already have 6!! If you know of any, please inform me immediately. I intend to assemble a fun little collection for the holiday pleasure of anyone who bothers to glance at my journal!

Damn, this time of year seems to put a lot of people down in the dumps, but we'll all recover soon. Right? Let's all do our best!

Someone needs to stop me from using MSN messenger while drunk. SERIOUSLY. I think I've now alienated, angered, insulted, hurt, and/or whined at two people that I consider special to me. Ones that don't live anywhere nearby and therefore can't see that I'm really not that much of an emotional fuckwit on an ordinary basis. Well, they should know me well enough to realize that, but still...

I'm just like drunken Seto when he called Anzu on the phone in my story-- except I'm not cutely inquisitive or fiercely affectionate. Well, I am affectionate, but in a somewhat abusive manner. Ugh, truly horrid. I really do just want to smash my face against the screen repeatedly.

There's something about this time of year that makes me want to talk to and see people that I miss, but unfortunately I seem to convey this to them by sending them drunken messages and then accusing them of ignoring and/or hating me if they don't reply posthaste. (sigh) I hope I'm not the only person in the world that has done something this completely and totally retarded while drunk and armed with the far-reaching and dangerous weapon of internet based communication devices.

Someone PLEASE say that I'm not the only idiot on this planet!

Yes, fear not. I haven't fallen off the face of the planet as yet. I've been experiencing a strange sensation of late; I've been so busy and energetic at work and with friends that once I get home I turn into the laziest non-updating fan fiction bastard ever to walk the face of the earth.

Shameful, really. I've ben gifted with two days off right in a row, and unless I use the rest of my day quite productively I probably won't get anything updated now, either.

I did go and join up over at Dragonfayth. It'll be nice to have a new place to post, and who among us proud Seto x Anzu freaks (waves flag) wouldn't jump at the chance to contribute to a fan fiction archive just for us? We should all try our best to post lots of stories and make it the best collection of S x A that we possibly can! Whew, thus ends the enthusiastic plug.

Judging from my daily perusal of the Seto x Anzu stories over at fanfiction.net, I'm not the only one who has been slacking off in the update department. This makes me feel marginally better, but still guilty. I hope to have a new chapter of The Night Before ready by the end of the week. Keep your fingers crossed!

I've also acquired some more YuGiOh subs, which I shall undoubtedly imerse myself in for a portion of the afternoon. Maybe if we're lucky they'll give me a little inspiration, too! I hope whatever I write doesn't come out too melodramatic or sad feeling. I'm always a little melancholy this time of year, and I must admit that I am wretchedly homesick for Montreal in winter. (sigh) Perhaps later this month I'll be able to head up there and recharge the old creative batteries. Wander the snowy sidewalks in beat up old Doctor Martens and then go drink a really excellent café au lait... (dreamy expression)

Lalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaa... <--- CHRISTMAS MUSIC????

Yes, that's right. I work in a shopping mall. At a large national department store. What relevence has this, you ask?

Well, basically you can bet I won't be getting anything written this week. My hours have been bumped up from a very leisurely and part timey 25 hours to a somewhat gruelling and frightful 36 hours plus (depending on when they beg me to work more)...this might not be so horrifying, except that at least two of the days I work begin before 6am. O_o

Yes, so assume a probable delay of updates at least until I get past Saturday. The people I work with are so frightened and sweaty over Black Friday that I just KNOW it's going to be fun. I'm not even joking. I'm totally sadistic, so I'll probably enjoy it.

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In other news... I'll reserve final judgement for now, but I'm thus far feeling somewhat cold toward fanfiction.net's new review reply service. I admit it's nice for them to offer the option, but the niceness starts to wear off once you get to the part where they say:

" Putting 'review responses' within story chapters is now unncessary and more importantly, not allowed."

Now, I'm sorry, but what's the big deal about putting review responses in your chapters? It kind of makes me mad that they're 'forbidding' the practice, and I don't even DO it! I always kind of enjoy seeing the author's responses to people's comments (will I be able to see these under the new system? i don't know). If it's an attempt on their part to decrease the size of chapters or stop people from trying to pad their word count, well, that's pretty lame too. In my opinion. that is. Frankly, I don't care about the word count of a story when I read it, and it's not like most people that do review replies are getting 40 reviews per chapter or writing extensive missives to every single reviewer... if they want to decrease the size of people's entries and the posting volume in general they might as well just ask half the authors publishing there to just leave the site.

I'm probably overreacting, but those guys really do ruffle my feathers sometimes. I almost joined the exodus when they did away with NC-17, and I'm probably a little bit too disinclined to see their side of any argument that arises. (shrugs) Who knows-- maybe the new system will work out great. I guess I really shouldn't complain since it doesn't affect my stories anymore. I'm such a brat that if they'd asked people nicely not to put review replies in their chapter anymore instead of saying it's 'not allowed' I probably wouldn't have any problem with the concept whatsoever. I am curious to know what other people think.

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Lastly, I saw the new film version of Pride & Prejudice a few days ago, and found it surprisingly enjoyable. Quite honestly I've never been too hot on the whole Jane Austen thing, but I've always had a soft spot for the whole Darcy and Elizabeth romance. The story translates remarkably well to film (certainly more fun than reading the novel), and the fact that the new Darcy had BLUE eyes (oh, the scandal) didn't really hurt.

This reminded me of a very silly and most likely foolhardy idea I had a long time ago. I don't think anyone's ever done it, but I would just LOVE to see someone try to write a Seto x Anzu version of Pride & Prejudice. Hahaha, I don't know if you'd call it a parody or an adaptation, and I've never been able to decide whether it would be best to set it in the Regency period or keep it modernised-- I've just always been intrigued by the concept. It's something I might consider trying to do in the future, but I think I'd have to co-author it with someone. It's certainly too scary a project to undertake (shudder) all alone.

Anyone have comments or ideas about it? Does such a story already exist? Let me know!

So yeah, I did end up posting an update to my Seto x Anzu fic that was supposed to be on hiatus, Comfort Me. (sigh) Go ahead and shake the 'naughty author' finger at me! I simply can't help it. What wants to get written just...gets written.

I wasn't sure how I liked the new chapter at first, but in its posted form it turned out better than I originally thought. This particular story is very dramatic and angsty, and I'm really looking forward to putting the characters through the paces, hurling them through a very abnormal situation while trying to keep them essentially in character.

Not sure when I'll update that one again. Probably not right away, because I need to devote attention to my other stories if at all possible. Gotta say, though. I hardly care if the second chapter gets any more reviews whatsoever after the one I got this morning from the lovely twilight eyes 8120. There was enough satisfaction in reading that review to fuel my smile for the rest of my (what I suspect will be very LONG) day.

In other news, yeah. I kinda lost my mojo on that one shot, but I'm hoping to get it back quickly and finish it this week. I want to get that strange piece of silly naughtiness out of my system so that I can move on with my life! UGH, I've got to leave for work in TEN MINUTES...

Since a couple people asked, I'd like to confirm that the eye that I have as my user picture is indeed MY eye. It was borrowed out of a picture I took of myself a few years ago in the forest on a sunny day. I was at a picnic. There may have been trace amounts of alcohol involved, judging from my 'more-insane-than-usual-and-that's-saying-a lot' expression. I just kind of randomly camera-ed myself in the face from arm's length. When I developed the photo, it got slightly overexposed. Man am I ever glad, because it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures that I'd ever taken. Click here if you'd like to see the whole picture.

In news of a (probably) more interesting nature, I have not finished my story yet. I probably won't have time this weekend, but you never know. I'm supposed to either go to a hockey game with my brother or go down to a restaurant by the riverside and harrass one of my oldest friends tonight after work, and I've got to work tomorrow as well (sigh).

I'm not sure exactly what my current fic plans are, but I've got a strange urge to update the fic that lost the 'angst vs humor' contest I experimented with awhile ago. Some of you might remember Comfort Me. It's the angsty story I came up with that lost to the much fluffier and more humorous S x A blind date adventure, Blindsided.

I may edit the first chapter to remove the author's note that explained my intention to prize fight the two fics against each other and then add a second chapter. I still plan to finish my one shot quickly. Feh, can it even be called a one shot anymore? Maybe 'short story' is a more appropriate term. I still don't have a good title-- as soon as I do I'll probably bite the bullet and post at least part of what's done over at ff.net. When my writing whims are as unpredictable as they've been lately, why bother waiting?

Well, I wasted a significant portion of my morning talking about hockey and reviewing other people's fan fiction (which I have the most insane urge to start referring to as OPFF), but the second part of this story still got typed just like I promised.

As with the first hunk of the story I posted, I shall certainly appreciate input. This is tame compared to some of the things I have planned for the rest of the story, but it's still pretty naughty. And a bit kinky, actually. In a way. You'll probably see what I mean.

I wish someone would invent a "smut meter". You know, like that color coded numerical system they use to determine just how spicy a hot pepper is? (sigh) It would make describing fic content a lot easier.

Anyway, here.

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Part 2 of 4

The following day was Saturday, and a visitor to the Kaiba mansion might have come across the most rare of sights. Less than 24 hours after his slightly unsettling encounter with Anzu Mazaki outside the café, Seto Kaiba had fallen blissfully asleep on the leather couch in his home office.

The CEO had worked all night. There weren't exactly problems at Kaiba Corp, just a lot of busywork that needed to be done which he didn't trust anyone else to do correctly. He hadn't bothered making time for sleep, and therefore it should be taken as read that he also didn't spare any thoughts for the blue-eyed girl who had tried to make 'friends' with him.

Mokuba had gone camping for the weekend with a few of his little friends, so Seto was all alone in the cavernous mansion-- he'd even given most of the staff a couple days off. Which was the only reason why he was currently sprawled face down on the expensive couch, mouth slightly open, shirt untucked, legs that ended in sock-clad feet thrown into a configuration of maximum comfort...

He was not drooling, though. Let that be made perfectly clear.

( Read more... )