Abelina's Journal

Author: Abby
Title: Could Be You
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Sexual Situations
Summary: You know you wanna dance. Spike knew it, the fans knew it, and this time, Buffy knew it, too. Begins in the alley scene outside the Bronze during Fool for Love and moves swiftly off-canon.
Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em. I’m just borrowing them for a while. The characters herein are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. They are being used out of respect and admiration, and not for the sake of profit. No copyright infringement is intended.
Beta: dampersnspoons, who totally rocks and found the time to look over this chapter right after getting her new computer up and running. 
Banner: xtanitx
Word Count: 1753
Note: It's short, sweet, and to the point -- but it's here.
Chapter Four


( Chapter Five )

Still dabbling with making things in photoshop aside from my usual photograph editing and christmas cards.

I've been slowly building myself a website, doing the coding myself as a sort of a challenge.  I'm pretty much up to date with the Buffy pages and so I started working on the pages for my older Star Wars fics.  Now, after doing Buffy pages, many of which have pretty banners, I noticed that my Star Wars stories didn't look quite as nice without a piece of artwork to go with them.

So, I made one.

For you non-Star Wars fic friends (that would be all but four of you), this is for a story called Best Intentions that I started in 2004.  It's not finished (may not ever be), but it's probably my best work from that time, and it's a favourite.   Banner starring Josh Hartnett as Jag Fel and Michelle Trachtenberg-turned-blonde as Tahiri Veila.

( Banner! )( Read more... )

Stolen from a number of journals.  Fan Fic meme.

( Meme )

My little sister is in labour right now with her first baby ... a few more hours and I'm going to be an Auntie :D

Merry Christmas, everyone! I am working today until 7, but work is providing turkey dinner and everyone seems to be in good spirits. Hope all your Christmases are going well!

Hello, all!

Back from my trip!  We had a great time and now I'm working on putting together our annual Christmas card (better late than never, yeah?).  Photoshop-am-I for now, hoping to have a proper update with pictures and a bit about our holiday.

Hello, F-list and anyone else who happens to read this.

So, as you may have guessed, Real Life (in my old fandom, posts like these were about Darth Real Life) hasn't been such a great friend the last couple of weeks and I've not had much time to write or be online for any length of time.

Things were looking pretty bleak, but I managed 800 words yesterday on a Spuffy Christmas story, which brings me hope that I can get around the life issues and back to writing.

My little family is headed off tomorrow morning for a week at Whistler (Ski Resort) as our Christmas trip/present this year, and I will not be bringing my laptop, and therefore will be incommunicado until after I get back. So, sorry in advance to everyone, because I haven't had time and probably won't for the next little while to read and comment on all of the very important things you have posted in your own journals.

As far as updates go, I wouldn't hold out hope for anything on Could Be You until after the holidays, but I'm hoping to finish my little Christmas story before Christmas comes.

To those of you who responded to my last post, thank you. You helped, A LOT. But no more on that right now...

Last night at work, I was taking my break visiting with the staff on the third floor when one of the ICU nurses was about to get on the elevator. She wasn't looking when the door opened, and when she went to get on it, she was startled by the presence of a stretcher sitting there all by itself. This, of course, was at 3 in the morning and so it was quite funny, and led to one of the nurses saying something to the effect of "all of the sudden the beds started appearing". She said it sounded like the beginning to a story, so I wrote it for her.

What's beneath the cut is 3am nursing humour and it was something I desperately needed after the past couple of days I've had. So, please have a look and hopefully a smile or two.

( The Night of the Living Beds )

1. First of all, happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! Hope your day is filled with Turkey and pies and lots of things to be thankful for!

2. No update on Could Be You just yet. Still working on that...

3. I got a new camera today. I have my big DSLR Nikon, but it's huge, can't fit in my purse, and while I can take great pictures with it, it's not always convenient to just carry around. I have an old Kodak point-and-shoot, but it's bulky and almost five years old (and I seem to have misplaced its battery charger!). We don't have those nifty black Friday sales up here as they do in the States, but starting today, most of the stores seem to have a tax-free or 10% off type sales going on. The camera I've been looking at for a little while was already $50 off, and I got an extra $50 for the sale. It's this one, in this colour. It's lens is pretty wide for a point-and-shoot that's also compact enough to fit in my purse. Pretty much win-win! Plus, pretty!

4. My hubby is going to dye my hair for me tonight. The red-gold colour I have in there right now has faded to an ucky blondish colour that REALLY shows my dark brown roots!

5. And that's it I think!

So, working tonight and then on to days off. I have (FINALLY) finished writing chapter five of Could Be You, and it's in the hands of my beta as of yesterday morning. (I'm SORRY Beth, I have a feeling it's total crap). Ahem, anyway, there should be an update within the week, as soon as Tuesday perhaps so long as I don't need to do a complete overhaul on it. This chapter took far too long to write *grumbles* and things got to the point where I could no longer look at it critically.

I'm sitting here on the love seat in my bedroom, writing on my laptop and listening to my husband and two of my four cats snoring. It's ridiculously adorable.

And...that's all. Just felt like sharing.

Well, nothing, really. I worked all night, so I'm in that weird dead-tired state of fuzzy headed-ness that means I'm not firing on all cylinders but not quite ready for bed, either.

But, today, I like night shift. And do you know why?

Because I think I've finally got past what was blocking me for chapter five of Could Be You. I don't know what it is about night shift that sometimes lets me write like a fiend, but I think maybe it's because when I'm tired, but have to stay awake, and maybe my brain isn't over thinking anything and I just...write. Like a mad person. Scribbling in my little notebook.

It needs more detail, but I think I'm now satisfied with how I have the scene playing out. One more night, then, with any luck, some uber writing, and...maybe? Maybe I'll have an update? *pets betas* Are you ready, ladies?

Stolen from amyxaphania

1. Pick 10 of your favorite books or series.
2. Post the first sentence of each book. (If one sentence seems too short, post two or three!) 
3. Let everyone try to guess the titles and authors of your books.

One of these I'm sure there are only two people on my f-list that might possibly know what it is.  At least one is painfully obvious.  One of you will likely guess another one pretty quickly.  Aside from those, I'm not sure that many of these are terribly well-known, but here goes:


1. Clare: The library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble.  I sign the visitor's log: Clare Abshire, 11:15 10-26-91  Special Collections.  The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Neiffenegger, guessed by amyxaphania

2. Three children lay on the rocks at the water's edge.  A dark-haired little girl.  Two boys, slightly older.  This image is caught forever in my memory, like some fragile creature preserved in amber.  - Not guessed.  It's Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier.

3. "A god cannot die," Charat Kraal said.  "Therefore it can have no fear of death.  So who is braver, a god or a mortal?" - Not guessed.  It's Rebel Dream by Aaron Allston.  Only two on my f-list might have known this and neither one of them played :(

4.  The naked child ran out of the hide-covered lean-to toward the rocky beach at the bend in the small river.  It didn't occur to her to look back.  Nothing in her experience ever gave her reason to doubt the shelter and those within it would be there when she returned.  Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel, guessed by hobbituk .

5. Smoking opium is an art.  I look at my tray and its contents -- the pipe covered in finely worked silver, the small spirit lamp, the long blunt needle, the container of chandu, and my row of pea-size balls of the dark brown paste. - Not guessed.  It's The Linnet Bird by Linda Holeman.

6. The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling, guessed by amyxaphania

7. Aaa-rooo!  Aaa-rooo!   Distant, yet carrying, the wolf's howl broke the late-afternoon stillness.  In the depths of the forest, a young woman, as strong and supple as the sound, rose noiselessly to her feet. - Not guessed.  It's Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold

8. It was November.  Although it was not yet late, the sky was dark when I turned into Laundress Passage.  Father had finished for the day, switched off the shop lights and closed the shutters; but so I would not come home to darkness  he had left on the light over the stairs to the flat. - Not guessed. It's The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

9.  The pirate's head had disappeared.  William heard the speculations from a group of idlers on the quay nearby, wondering whether it would be seen again.  An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, guessed by amyxaphania

10. I  have always been told I was wicked.  This is my story, then: full of my wickedness and my attempts at goodness, of power found, lost, and found again. - Not guessed.  It's the Moonlit Cage by Linda Holeman

to the wicked awesome ms_scarletibis !  I hope you have a great day!

Title: The Edge of Conviction (Formerly As Yet Untitled Spuffy Fic)
Author: Abelina (Abby)
Summary: England, 1750.  Nineteen-year-old slayer, Buffy Summers of Bath, travels to London on orders from the Council of Watchers to deal with a newly arrived vampiric threat in the area.  While the threat proved easily dispatched by the Council’s most able slayer, Buffy becomes aware of a new and unpredictable presence in the area that seems to be fighting on her side.  Meanwhile, London’s upper class is suffering from a seemingly random but cunningly orchestrated string of robberies, which have increased steadily over the past several years.  And just who is this charming Duke of Edgewater everyone is talking about?  Full of questions that only grow in number the longer she’s in London, Buffy unwittingly tumbles headlong into the answer, and it’s not at all what she expected.
Story Rating: NC-17 (likely ~ most chapters PG-R)
Beta: xtanitx
Notes: Written for taboo_spuffy ’s Forbidden Fairytales Challenge.  This is not an all-human fic.  Buffy is still the Slayer and Spike is still a vampire.  I have been unable to come up with any sort of idea for a title for this fic, so suggestions are most welcome and also very much encouraged!   Thank you to  rebcake, whose title suggestion led to this one! This is a WIP and will remain so for some time, since it looks like it’s gonna be a long one, folks.  I needed another WIP like I needed a hole in the head, but when the muse bites, I write, and when the challenge has a deadline, I post!

The first awesome banner was made by xtanitx, not specifically for this story, but I fell in love with it and she kindly personalized it for me.  The second awesome banner was a gift from amyxaphania.  Thanks, ladies!  You're both amazing! 

( Chapter One ~ To London Town )

These were written for good__evil , and their October Monster Madness! Each day of the month belongs to a different monster, and authors post their drabbles on the designated day. I've managed one for each day so far.  These are from October 26th to 31st, and represent selkie, bigfoot, poltergeist, creature from the black lagoon, sea serpent, and wight.

 

( selkie, bigfoot, poltergeist, black lagoon, sea serpent, wight )

And this is the last of them!  It has been a blast writing these daily monster drabbles!

Well, Halloween, obviously!

But more importantly, it's my husband's birthday!  Wishing him a great day :D

These were written for good__evil , and their October Monster Madness! Each day of the month belongs to a different monster, and authors post their drabbles on the designated day. I've managed one for each day so far.  These are from October 21st to the 25th and represent troll, Medusa, banshee, cyclops, and centaur.

 

( Troll, Medusa, Banshee, Cyclops, Centaur )

 

These were written for good__evil , and their October Monster Madness! Each day of the month belongs to a different monster, and authors post their drabbles on the designated day. I've managed one for each day so far.  These are from October 16the to the 20th and represent orc, giant, gnome, gryphon, and golem.

 

( orc, giant, gnome, gryphon, golem )

Title: Easy Riding
Authors: abelina and ms_scarletibis
Summary: Takes place during Spike and Andrew's ride on the motorcycle in Empty Places.  You know--where we learn about onion blossoms.

*~*

 

"Uh...Andrew?"

 

"Um, yeah Spike?"

 

Spike shifted slightly forward on the seat. "Please tell me that's a stake back there."

 

"Um..." Andrew let out a nervous giggle.

 

"Oh goody,” Spike said dryly.  “Ol' Spike's what gets you going.  Look, it's a compliment, if not a tad creepy.  Just be sure to keep it away from me, and it won't be a problem.  Got it?"

 

Andrew nodded, and scooted back a bit.

 

But his grip around Spike's perfect abs remained just as tight.

*~*