On my website..."Unattainable"
Of the stories that I've written lately, there is one that will be new to anyone who isn't on the FKFIC-L mailing list: "Unattainable". Sadly, as it doesn't fit any of the prompts posted to fkcommentfic, I couldn't include it in that collection. Still, ideas come as they will, don't they?
Once "Phases of the Moon" was safely uploaded to AO3, I happily returned to making more faction icons-in between reading fkficfest stories on AO3, that is. Among the icons I had already made were pretty well all those for character-based factions, including quite a number invented for the occasion. So my focus was on completing the rest of the icons for couple factions.
Mind you, from a logical perspective, there are quite a few couple factions that could be described as "missing", for, although there are an enormous number of potential couple factions, the truth is that only some of them actually exist.
Of course, quite a few of these "missing" factions are of the least-likely variety. Such factions tend to exist because someone decided to issue a challenge-or, at least, saw a semi-plausible scenario and decided to challenge themselves. Thus we have the Unmentionables (Natalie/Screed), which were invented by Libratsie, who wrote one or two stories in that vein; but we do not have factions for Nick/Screed, LaCroix/Screed, or Janette/Screed-or even Vachon/Screed (which, I think you'll agree, is one that is quite logical, given their long connection). Similarly, we have the Unsuiteds (LaCroix/Schanke); in fact, given that it was a popular challenge, we have quite a remarkable number of Unsuited stories. However, we do not have faction names for Janette/Schanke or Vachon/Schanke or Natalie/Schanke.
Curiously, there was a short-lived discussion some years ago about the creation of a Nick/Schanke faction-not gen, like the newly factioneered PotM, but slash. A few names were bandied about, of which the most popular seemed to be the Unspeakables. It won't surprise you, I'm sure, to learn that I promptly made an Unspeakables icon. After all, I know of at least one exemplar.
However, although I recently tried to interest people in a little "couple factioneering", no enthusiasm could be whipped up. Janette/Miklos? Miklos/Urs? Schanke/Myra? No takers. Nor did anyone want to suggest a name for the trio of Nick/LaCroix/Vachon. (I have seen a few names factioneered for that trio in old FORKNI-L digests; but none of them particularly appeals to me. Nor to others, clearly).
I kept returning to Janette/Schanke, though. To me, there was an obvious name-and an obvious scenario. The bunny seemed easy to catch, but then slipped out of my grasp for a while. Eventually, though, I did get the story revised to my satisfaction, and posted it to FKFIC-L on the 16th of August. It is also up on my website: you can find it here.
Of course, I had to design it a webpage. The result is not, alas, quite what I had hoped for: I'd wanted to do something evocative of a nightclub scene. However, I simply could not find a background graphic that hit the spot.
What I did find, though, was an animated red background that I immediately realized was too overwhelming for the page as a whole, but which provided a very appropriate "throb" to the border around the panel containing the story. With that in hand, therefore, I designed the nest of tables before picking my background-which is not the way to do it! A final search came up with some sparkly wine-red bubbles.
The nature of the story made its presentation difficult. There are sudden changes, which are significant to its interpretation. In the posted version, which had to be text-only, I indicated them with asterisks. Here, though, I decided to interpolate graphics. One of them was simply the wine glass that I had composited using two screen captures from "For I Have Sinned". It's a graphic that I've used already in a number of the faction icons. The other is a close-up of Janette. It's from "Close Call"; indeed, it comes from the scene in which she hypnotizes Schanke. I had to refinish a bit of her face that had been cropped by the closeness of the camera, but only a touch was needed.
Of course, both "For I Have Sinned" and "Close Call" are episodes in which Schanke does actually interact with Janette. However, this lends the images a spurious appropriateness: it is really only coincidence. The scene with the wine glass could have been written into any of the early episodes; and a shot of Janette hypnotizing someone could have been found elsewhere, if the director had decided to shoot her close up.
Once "Phases of the Moon" was safely uploaded to AO3, I happily returned to making more faction icons-in between reading fkficfest stories on AO3, that is. Among the icons I had already made were pretty well all those for character-based factions, including quite a number invented for the occasion. So my focus was on completing the rest of the icons for couple factions.
Mind you, from a logical perspective, there are quite a few couple factions that could be described as "missing", for, although there are an enormous number of potential couple factions, the truth is that only some of them actually exist.
Of course, quite a few of these "missing" factions are of the least-likely variety. Such factions tend to exist because someone decided to issue a challenge-or, at least, saw a semi-plausible scenario and decided to challenge themselves. Thus we have the Unmentionables (Natalie/Screed), which were invented by Libratsie, who wrote one or two stories in that vein; but we do not have factions for Nick/Screed, LaCroix/Screed, or Janette/Screed-or even Vachon/Screed (which, I think you'll agree, is one that is quite logical, given their long connection). Similarly, we have the Unsuiteds (LaCroix/Schanke); in fact, given that it was a popular challenge, we have quite a remarkable number of Unsuited stories. However, we do not have faction names for Janette/Schanke or Vachon/Schanke or Natalie/Schanke.
Curiously, there was a short-lived discussion some years ago about the creation of a Nick/Schanke faction-not gen, like the newly factioneered PotM, but slash. A few names were bandied about, of which the most popular seemed to be the Unspeakables. It won't surprise you, I'm sure, to learn that I promptly made an Unspeakables icon. After all, I know of at least one exemplar.
However, although I recently tried to interest people in a little "couple factioneering", no enthusiasm could be whipped up. Janette/Miklos? Miklos/Urs? Schanke/Myra? No takers. Nor did anyone want to suggest a name for the trio of Nick/LaCroix/Vachon. (I have seen a few names factioneered for that trio in old FORKNI-L digests; but none of them particularly appeals to me. Nor to others, clearly).
I kept returning to Janette/Schanke, though. To me, there was an obvious name-and an obvious scenario. The bunny seemed easy to catch, but then slipped out of my grasp for a while. Eventually, though, I did get the story revised to my satisfaction, and posted it to FKFIC-L on the 16th of August. It is also up on my website: you can find it here.
Of course, I had to design it a webpage. The result is not, alas, quite what I had hoped for: I'd wanted to do something evocative of a nightclub scene. However, I simply could not find a background graphic that hit the spot.
What I did find, though, was an animated red background that I immediately realized was too overwhelming for the page as a whole, but which provided a very appropriate "throb" to the border around the panel containing the story. With that in hand, therefore, I designed the nest of tables before picking my background-which is not the way to do it! A final search came up with some sparkly wine-red bubbles.
The nature of the story made its presentation difficult. There are sudden changes, which are significant to its interpretation. In the posted version, which had to be text-only, I indicated them with asterisks. Here, though, I decided to interpolate graphics. One of them was simply the wine glass that I had composited using two screen captures from "For I Have Sinned". It's a graphic that I've used already in a number of the faction icons. The other is a close-up of Janette. It's from "Close Call"; indeed, it comes from the scene in which she hypnotizes Schanke. I had to refinish a bit of her face that had been cropped by the closeness of the camera, but only a touch was needed.
Of course, both "For I Have Sinned" and "Close Call" are episodes in which Schanke does actually interact with Janette. However, this lends the images a spurious appropriateness: it is really only coincidence. The scene with the wine glass could have been written into any of the early episodes; and a shot of Janette hypnotizing someone could have been found elsewhere, if the director had decided to shoot her close up.