thedeadparrot

A Manifesto of Sorts

(posted by on Jan. 21st, 2017 05:55 am)

I hate New Year's Resolutions because I think any changes you want to make in your life should happen as soon as you think of them. So here's a sort-of list.

1. Survive.
2. Help as many other people survive as I can.

Also, because I've seen this a lot: It's okay if you can't do things! I spent like all of December in a fugue state reading and writing fic because I could deal with any of it. That's okay! I called my various reps about the ACA last week.

Almost every day, I remind myself that it's okay to set your own boundaries about activism. Forgiving yourself for stopping makes it easier to go back to doing the thing. We figure out what we can do. We do what we can. Just because some of us can do more doesn't mean that what little we can do is meaningless.

Also, shout outs to all of you guys. Thanks for being here with me. Love you all. <3

fic: Wild Magic (Hockey RPF, Carter/Richards)

(posted by on Jan. 18th, 2017 05:22 am)

Wild Magic (3587 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hockey RPF
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Jeff Carter/Mike Richards
Characters: Mike Richards, Jeff Carter
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Hunters & Hunting, Animal Butchering
Summary:

On the ice, he careens into opposing players, he fires off slapshots, he wins faceoffs, and he gets into fights. He does it all with the taste of the lake's water on his tongue, the feel of its winter ice underneath his skates. Some of the other witches chirp him for cheating, for using his magic where it's not allowed. But they don't get it. Mike's magic has never been something he does. It's always been something he is.

In case you really wanted to read about deer butchering today or something.

this is not a real post about parkour

(posted by on Jan. 14th, 2017 04:02 pm)

I went to a parkour workshop today, and it was super great. My back and arms are sore because I went to class yesterday, and I have an ugly bruise on my right knee from screwing up a jump (which is exhibit D of a future post entitled 'Athletes have disgusting bodies'). I do have a longer post that I would like to write about why I love this sport so much, but I have not had enough time to gather my thoughts.

The rest of my weekend will probably involve sitting on my couch, working on a third fic that I will write and never post, and hunt down authors to bid on for

fandomtrumpshate. (There's a very long list of people offering things if you want to try to skim it to find authors you might recognize.)

I am thrilled that I have the cash to actually bid for things in one of these big fandom auctions. I'm eager to get into bidding wars over some of the ones that I've already bid on (so yeah, if you are at all hesitant about hurting my feelings by bidding against me, I am actually really excited to tangle with you).

And I dunno. If I'm feeling mostly recovered by Monday, I might go ice skating. That could be fun. Maybe I'll even learn how to stop like a real skater instead of just running into walls.

you can make me write 5k of the thing you want

(posted by on Jan. 12th, 2017 09:45 pm)

I'm offering up fic for auction as part of

fandomtrumpshate! Bidding starts now and runs for about a week (Jan. 19).

If you're confused about this, there's an FAQ for the auction with tons of information.

I have a contributor profile over on Tumblr.

If you want to read any one of my 200-odd fics that I've managed to write over the years to know what you're getting into, you can check out my AO3 page.

As for the specifics of what I'm offering up:

Type of fanwork: fic
Fandom(s): X-Men Movieverse, MCU, Star Wars (but not only these ones, see below)
Rating(s): G, Teen, Mature, Explicit
Length/size: up to 5k words, 5-10k words
Will not: A/B/O, MPreg, Steve/Tony
Notes: I’m willing to negotiate on the specifics of the story if there’s a fandom and/or pairing that I have written in the past or you think I may know but I haven’t listed here. I’m pretty flexible about that sort of thing, and I’d like to make you (the bidder) happy.

I know I'm kind of winging it by saying I can offer between 5-10k words, but if the original fic I write isn't long enough, I'll write another to make up the difference.

Helpful post about bidding in this auction

I've got a bidding spreadsheet where you can see current bids and a bidding form if you want to place your own bids.

I basically stole the format of this post from

bironic, who is offering up a vid! (and who links to other awesome people who are offering things up in her post)

Hidden Figures

(posted by on Jan. 8th, 2017 08:54 am)

So I went to go see it last night, and A+, enjoyed it quite a bit, but I also had a lot of thoughts about it that I figure I might as well articulate here, while I'm trying to be more active on DW.

( spoilers? )

Oh god, maybe I should write a post now

(posted by on Jan. 6th, 2017 08:53 pm)

Hi, new people! I have mostly used this journal to talk about fandom, complain about petty bullshit, and sometimes mention what sorts of physical activities I've been doing.

I haven't really posted in a while, but here's a list of things I am currently into (or could be into, maybe):

Mike Richards sad feelings. IDEK, you guys. His life is so sad. Except for the parts where he wins a whole bunch of things with his best bro, which is more than a whole bunch of NHL players or hopeful players can say. Maybe he's actually happy in his hometown fishing all the time and hanging out with his dog(s) and being mostly retired? I can only hope.

Midnighter and Apollo. I've been fond of them for a while, but of course, I didn't care until they had relationship drama and broke up. They're back together and doing some sort of Orpheus and Eurydice storyline that involves a whole lot of punching people in the face, and I am here for this.

Critical Role. I haven't talked about this mostly because convincing people that no, really, I do enjoy 3-5 hour episodes of voice actors playing D&D. It's a thing! It's great background noise because you can drift in and out, which is/was always my problem with podcasts.

Yurio/Otabek from Yuri on Ice. This is apparently the big new shiny fandom, and I understand why. I enjoyed the show when I watched it, but I didn't have any desire to read/write the main ship of Yuuri/Viktor, mostly because the show gave me enough feelings about them and their relationship. But Yurio and Otabek do seem like an interesting secondary ship that could use some fleshing out, which is what intrigues me about them. How exactly do the two of them work it out? How does it progress over the years?

Climbing & parkour. Things I am doing! I love doing them. So much of it is about focusing on your own body and what it's capable of and figuring out how to improve it. I could (should?) write entire posts about this later, so I won't ramble on too much about it here.

Hexcells. Soothing puzzle game. I've been playing the daily infinite levels, which are super hit or miss, but which are still soothing. The main constructed levels are really excellent.

You Must Build A Boat. Kind of a match-3 game that I also find soothing and goofy and fun. I have played through it a countless number of times over different devices.

Anyway, I am going to see Hidden Figures tomorrow, and hopefully I can add it to this list.

Yearly Fic Wrap-Up: 2016

(posted by on Dec. 31st, 2016 05:45 pm)

I did not do Yuletide this year, and I spent a good 6-7 months not writing anything. But I wrote two 20k+ stories in two separate fandoms. And that is really fucking weird. Anywho, here's what I've got.

Star Wars

The Galaxy Is Not a Cold Dead Place (21019 words) (Poe/Rey/Finn) - I grew up with so many Star Wars feelings. I still have shelves and shelves of EU books. I enjoyed the characters introduced in TFA, but I was frustrated that they got saddled with a plotline that was a bizarro carbon copy of A New Hope. This is my attempt to write a fun sort of space adventure-y story, filled with plot and feelings. Also, it was my attempt to answer 'why did Luke even leave in the first place?' Because I wanted to know.

Sing It Loud, Sing It Strong (1786 words) (Poe/Rey/Finn) - I liked the kinkmeme prompt, so then I wrote it. Porn didn't quite fit into the long Poe/Rey/Finn story, so it was nice to get a chance to write it elsewhere.

Come Together (Over Me) (3266 words) (Poe/Rey/Finn) - Feelings! I wasn't sure what to do with the prompt 'rivals to lovers' but I thought it might be fun to make Rey and Poe rivals. They thwarted my attempts to pit them against each other, though, because they were too nice and friendly.

MCU (Iron Man)

L’esprit de L’escalier (7032 words) (Tony/Rhodey) - I have been a huge fan of Tony/Rhodey for a long time, and Civil War was awful/great for them. The movie gestures to Rhodey's recovery, but there's still a lot of gaps there. I wanted to explore that time period and how they felt about it. Plus, I wanted to write about Tony pining. I am so predictable.

Just a Wrinkle (2589 words) (Tony & Rhodey gen) - My favorite thing about Tony and Rhodey's relationship is all their messy history together as friends. So naturally, time travel. I tried to Google historical info on MIT, but then I remembered that being vague works the best.

X-Men

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (1169 words) (Charles/Erik) - If I was more dedicated, I would probably write a million words exploring what brought Charles and Erik back together in the future of Days of Future Past and all of the messy emotional work they'd need to do to get them to the point they are at when we see them. But I am not that dedicated, so I keep chipping off these tiny slices of that world, just to see what they look like.

How to Get Away with Murder

all the things left unsaid (1767 words) (Connor/Oliver) - Band AU! I still have a boatload of Connor/Oliver feelings, because they are such a disaster that juuuuust might work. It was fun trying to translate all of that messy disaster into a different sort of context.

The Good Place

Breaking Bread (622 words) (Eleanors Shellstrop gen) - I loved getting to come up with weird details in the same vein as the show.
Writing in sitcom fandoms is difficult, yo.

Hockey RPF

Living in Salt (24347 words) (Carter/Richards) - The first time I saw Pacific Rim, I predicted that there would be a ton of AUs, starting in hockey. Three years later, I am my own cliché. I ended up with a ton of sad Mike Richards feelings, and then read every single Carter/Richards fic on the internet that I could find. And then I wrote 20k words of it myself because that wasn't enough sad feelings. It did help.

( meme/superlatives )

Bonus round:

A year in fic 2006 - My first year writing House fic! Damn, I can't believe that House/BSG series I wrote is ten years old. WTF, life.

Fic: Living in Salt (Hockey RPF, Pacific Rim AU, Carter/Richards)

(posted by on Dec. 27th, 2016 04:29 pm)

I AM NOT IN HOCKEY FANDOM, I SWEAR.

(shut up. shut up. shut up.)

Living in Salt (24358 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hockey RPF
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Jeff Carter/Mike Richards
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, Career Ending Injuries
Summary:

Pacific Rim AU. Jeff opens his eyes, and Mike opens his eyes. It's both his eyes and Mike's eyes. Their eyes.

trope bingo complete!

(posted by on Nov. 30th, 2016 03:42 pm)

Last two stories on the list:

Breaking Bread (622 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Good Place (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Eleanor Shellstrop & Real Eleanor Shellstrop
Additional Tags: Cooking, Community: trope_bingo
Summary:

Fake Eleanor and Real Eleanor bond in the kitchen.

all the things left unsaid (1767 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: How to Get Away with Murder
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Oliver Hampton/Connor Walsh
Characters: Michaela Pratt, Asher Millstone
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Community: trope_bingo
Summary:

"Well, something is going to break eventually," Michaela says, chin out, pushing through the awkwardness. "I'd rather it not be the band."

Fic: Come Together (Over Me) [Star Wars, Poe/Finn/Rey]

(posted by on Nov. 13th, 2016 08:14 pm)

Come Together (Over Me) (3266 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey
Additional Tags: Community: trope_bingo
Summary:

Rey's not jealous. She's not.

so i guess this is my election night post

(posted by on Nov. 9th, 2016 02:14 am)

I have always loved my country, even when things are difficult, even when elections didn't go my way.

I remember going to bed on election night 2000 with high hopes that Gore would win the presidency with Florida safely in his pocket.

I remember being furiously angry that Bush managed to win re-election in 2004, hopeless and sad in the face of more war.

I remember celebrating in college when Barack Obama became our first black president, rushing out onto the green of my super-liberal campus in the middle of the night into a crowd, a feeling of pure joy.

I don't know how I feel right now. I'm awake at 2am because America has elected an actual monster as president because racists felt empowered to vote. I've seen some of the breakdowns. We minorities turned out. We waited in long lines. We donated. We put out a massive ground game. We called people. We canvassed. We did all the right things.

But the racists still won anyway.

We have always been surrounded by racists, sexists, the worst of human nature, but it's rarely felt as visceral as it has tonight. This is the ugliest of America, come to show its face in the voting booth.

We have voted in as president a man who can't be trusted with a fucking Twitter account. Even worse, the Republicans control all three branches of government, including both the House and Senate. Things will get uglier for so many people.

I live in a liberal bubble. I and my parents are US citizens. I have a comfy, bleeding heart liberal job in an industry that is always in more need of people like me. This only goes so far when it comes to federal policy, of course, but it helps soften the blow.

I can only hope the accelerationists are right. The ones who thought a Trump presidency would usher in a 100 years of light or whatever because he would burn it all down and we could start all over again. I thought the accelerationists were full of crap, because their ideas would mean that a lot of people would be hurt along the way. I can only hope that they are right, because now, a lot of people will be hurt for no reason with no light at the end of the tunnel.

The better people on my social media networks have been gearing up for a fight. Not like an armed revolution sort of thing, but the long slow slog of a political fight for the soul of America. I want to be like them, to put today (yesterday?) behind us and focus on what we can do to make our future better, brighter, safer. A future that I want America to have.

Maybe tomorrow I'll have the strength for that fight. I want to have it. But for now I'm going to go back to bed. It can wait until morning.

election night

(posted by on Nov. 8th, 2016 09:20 pm)

Well, I've cared a lot about politics for a long time. I voted today for the (I hope) the first female president of the United States.

I wanted to write something warm and awesome and uplifting, reflecting back on the many presidential elections I've lived through, the ups and downs that I've felt.

But mostly, this is the part of the night with a lot of misery and panicking and crying. So. I might just go to sleep and wake up tomorrow morning to whatever fate awaits me.

See you on the other side?

Unless I can't sleep, of course.

Fic: Just a Wrinkle (Iron Man, Tony & Rhodey)

(posted by on Nov. 1st, 2016 07:49 am)

I wrote more fic.

Just a Wrinkle (2589 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Iron Man (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Rhodey" Rhodes & Tony Stark
Additional Tags: Time Travel, MIT Era, Community: trope_bingo
Summary:

"So, to get all the obvious questions out of the way: yes, the future is great, no, we don't have flying cars, yes, I do get to bang a lot of hot chicks, and the internet does transform the world by making it easier to watch videos of cats. Anything that I miss?"

Fic: A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Charles/Erik)

(posted by on Oct. 23rd, 2016 05:33 pm)

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (1169 words) by thedeadparrot
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Additional Tags: Reunion, Darkest Timeline, Community: trope_bingo
Summary:

Charles and Erik after the Sentinel program is announced in the darker future of Days of Future Past.

exercise update

(posted by on Sep. 19th, 2016 09:04 pm)

( for the usual )

Boston FIG: Highlights

(posted by on Sep. 10th, 2016 06:08 pm)

I got to go to the Boston Festival of Indie Games this year, and it was a blast as always. I love how weird and messy and diverse it is. There was, as always, a great mix of tabletop and digital games to mess around with, but here are a few standouts that I'd like to call out.

Tabletop:

No Regerts (yes, it's supposed to be spelled that way.) - On Kickstarter now! It's a card game based around getting tattoos. And screwing over your friends. I played two different rounds with two different groups of people, and it was a blast both times. Plus, the art is great, and both the 'good' and the 'bad' tattoos were hilarious. I came home and Kickstarted it immediately.

Digital:

One of my friends was manning her brother's booth, and it was a super cool game idea that wasn't quite refined yet, but I can see something brilliant in it already. Don't want to say too much just yet, but I'm definitely going to see what it is going forward.

Floor Kids - A mobile game about breakdancing. Gorgeous art, lovely animation. It's not out yet, but I'm so ready for it. Oh, and I discovered that it's based on a digital short, also called Floor Kids, which gives a decent idea of what to expect.

Mind Flock - Co-Op trivia game. You can trade categories with other people on your team in an attempt to get all of them right. Apparently, my teammate and I managed to kick serious ass with a high score of 27. I need to find out if M and I can rock this long distance.

Sad Hill Cemetery - super simple game where you try to prove you're the quickest draw in all the land. Almost no graphics to speak of, but still amazingly put together.

The Beginner's Guide (video game)

(posted by on Aug. 19th, 2016 08:31 pm)

So I played The Beginner's Guide, which I will need to spoil in depth to talk about with any sort of coherence, but if spending 1.5 hours on a loosely interactive experience that tries to talk about the relationship between the creation of art and the consumers of art told through a very odd metatextual story about a guy who makes video games through a bunch of small video games, well, you should pick it up (in the latest Humble Bundle!) and then come back and read this.

Or you could read this and spoil yourselves. Either way.

( Thar be spoilers )

(no subject)

(posted by on Aug. 14th, 2016 07:44 pm)

*peeks in*

Um, hi. I haven't been around as much as I want to/hope to be. It's not any major life stuff so much as it is an accumulation of tiny decisions mostly around doing too many things and not feeling connected to fandom lately, partially because I'm creatively stymied, and partially because I'm too busy doing parkour all the time. (This is only a slight exaggeration.) Also, it is too hot this summer.

And this election is the biggest, most beautiful/ugly dumpster fire ever, and I can't look away from it.

Anyway, I signed up for

trope_bingo. I kind of want to make a parkour vid, except for the fact that one of the tools in my vidding workflow no longer works. The Olympics are on, which is fun as it always is. Er, and I've probably done some other stuff? Maybe?

Fic: L’esprit de L’escalier (Tony/Rhodey, MCU, post-Civil War)

(posted by on May. 30th, 2016 11:52 am)

Title: L’esprit de L’escalier
Fandom: Iron Man (MCU)
Pairing: Tony Stark/James Rhodes
Word count: ~7000
Summary: Post-Civil War. Tony opens his mouth, but he can't find the right words. His version of therapy sucks.
Notes: Thanks so much to merisunshine36 for the encouragement, the beta, and for sharing of all my Tony/Rhodey feels.

On AO3 | On Tumblr

a year in exercise

(posted by on May. 28th, 2016 08:09 pm)

So, it's been kind of year since I started going to yoga classes. I thought it might be a good time for me to reflect on it.

( discussion of food, bodies, weight, exercise to follow )