Title: Spring of Drowned Troublemaker
Fandoms: Bloody Jack, Ranma 1/2
Summary: Jacky and Jaimy are reunited, but Jacky (as usual) has a surprise. Set following “The Mark of the Golden Dragon” and contains spoilers through that book.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Bloody Jack of Ranma 1/2.
Author’s Notes: I was giggling like a fiend while I wrote this. Poor Jaimy. But really, this can’t possibly be weirder than anything Rumiko Takahashi has done to her characters.

( Now Jaimy, I swear it wasn't my fault )

Even though I'm still anxious to finish my original novel, it seems that writing and posting my first fic since Yuletide flipped my "must write all the fic now!" switch. And I'm glad of it. Turns out the other switch that got flipped is "must give the world more Jacky Faber fic!" So here are excerpts from all my Bloody Jack stories currently in progress.

Bloody Jack/Ranma 1/2 crack crossover:
As much as he loves her, Jaimy has to admit that Jacky is not always good for his mental health and emotional well-being.

Amy getting her inner journalist on after the events of "In the Belly of the Bloodhound":
One does not try to argue what Jacky Faber should or should not have done. That way lies madness. More pressing are the facts that Amy’s classmates appear ready to wage war upon England and Amy would like to join them.

Bloody Jack/Zorro crossover:
“Black is a good choice,” Jacky says to Don Diego. “It melts into the shadows when necessary and is dramatic enough to help steal the hearts of young ladies—isn’t that right dearest?” she adds to her husband.

“It was an unintentional result,” he says dryly.

THAT'S IT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

( massive spoilers )

Despite my gripes, I had a lot of fun watching. This isn't my favorite show ever but I was practically bouncing in my seat during the commercials. I'll probably watch the second season but I'll be impatient for it. At least I have Korra to keep me entertained!

There needs to be more Jacky Faber fic in the world, so here is my contribution.

Title: Look in Thy Heart, and Write
Fandom: “Bloody Jack” – L.A. Meyer
Summary: Amy Trevelyne in the aftermath of “Curse of the Blue Tattoo”. Set in between “Curse of the Blue Tattoo” and “Under the Jolly Roger”.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from “Bloody Jack”. My title comes from Sir Philip Sidney

( Jacky never intends to be a harbringer of chaos but chaos happens all the same )

Alrighty, I've seen some movies and caught up on some TV recently so it's reaction time.

I saw Mirror, Mirror recently. For the most part, it was a lot of fun. One of the parts I really liked is when the prince and his servant are riding through the forest and the prince says, "The trees are just wood." And then I had Into the Woods stuck in my head. My other favorite part is when the prince is talking about "prince saving the princess" stories and saying, "We've focus grouped it! It works!" That made my day. I could have done without the "spanking" bit but I do want Snow White's robber outfit.

I also saw Wrath of the Titans. It was all right but I do have one quibble with a major element of the plot. ( mild spoilers )

Once Upon a Time, 4x21
( spoilers ahoy )

I'm going to try and save up reactions to Korra a few episodes at a time. I meant to get through another episode first but I can't wait any longer. Even though I love to catch this show as it's coming out, I miss when I was able to marathon The Last Airbender because it was on DVD.

( spoilers )

Just a couple of immediate reactions to "The Return":

The Blue Fairy has the worst costume of anyone on this show.

Sidney is the world's worst liar.

( spoilers )

I would like to start this off my stating that I refuse to spoiler for historical events that happened 100 years ago.

Yesterday my parents were to a musical about the Titanic. When they got home:

Me: How was the play?
My mother: It was really good.
Me: Did everybody still die at the end?

Secondly, I loved the first two episodes of Legend of Korra but I'm not always going to be around the TV at 11 on Saturday morning and so I missed the 3rd episode. Does anybody know if this series is playing online? (I had hopes that Nickelodeon would be at least briefly posting episodes on their website like other stations are doing, but I couldn't find anything more than clips.)

ETA on Korra: Never mind, just found out through white_lotus that Nick is posting episodes for North American viewers; I just happened to look too early yesterday! I also have a plot bunny for a brief humor fic in which Korra meets King Bumi.

I'm starting to catch up on episodes of Once Upon a Time I've missed that are still online for free (sadly, "Red Handed" isn't one of them). Spoilers ahoy!

( What Happened to Frederick )

( Heart of Darkness )

Last night I saw the original Dracula movie, starring Bela Lugosi for the first time. Some thoughts:

The atmosphere in this film was great, although I thought some of the pacing stunk. After Renfield arrives at Dracula's castle the brides turn up almost immediately, Dracula leans over Renfield (but not seen biting him; according to imdb trivia, the studio wasn't allowed to film an attack because of perceived gay subtext), in the next scene, crazy!Renfield and Dracula have already boarded the boat for England. Also, I think Dracula attacking Lucy was a "blink and you miss it" scene because I have no memory of it whatsoever.

Interesting detail: wolfsbane is constantly used as vampire repellent and garlic is never mentioned.

The actors who did the best job were Bela Lugosi and the actor who played Renfield. Lugosi exudes atmosphere and Renfield absolutely nails the insane facial expressions. I have to say that the main characters are stupid: Renfield escapes from the asylum on a regular basis and turns up at the heroes' mansion several times, just wandering around while they make no attempt to stop him! Also, in one scene a maid who sees Renfield's leer faints dead away (very funny when you see it) and he starts crawling towards her, implying to the audience that he wants to attack her. Just as he gets close, the scene changes to the other characters. We never find out what happened to the maid!

( I do not believe in putting up spoiler warnings for a book this old but I will do it for part of the film conclusion )

On a lighter note, I was surprised to hear one of the themes from "Swan Lake" used during the opening credits. Since I now automatically associate Tchaikovsky with Princess Tutu, I kind of want vampires in Princess Tutu.

Hey, all. I'm going to be doing some minor editing of my f-list for people I don't chat with often or at all.

I'm doing a marathon read of the Ranma 1/2 manga and I'm through Volume 5 so far. I love the fact that Rumiko Takahashi made up a martial arts tea ceremony. It's seriously awesome and hilarious.

Oh, lord. While typing the above, I was smacked with a desire to write a fan fic that's a fusion of the martial arts tea ceremony with Downton Abbey. They certainly drink enough tea. Or Avatar: TLA!

I don't read many tumblr accounts but recently I discovered Revolutionary Girl Utena: Texts From Last Night. The creator takes texts from a website called "Texts From Last Night" and pairs them up with screenshots from Utena.

I can't get enough of it; I zoomed through the whole archive in a couple of days. Most are hysterically funny and a few are so bittersweet that I almost started tearing up.

One of the reasons why I love the Bloody Jack series so much is all the references to and interactions with historical figures of that period, both real and fictional. This brings us to:

Characters and Historical Figures I Want Jacky Faber to Meet:
(This list is very much European/English language-based as well as literary, as those are the areas of early 19th century history and literature I am most familiar with.)

--Zorro (he's active a couple of decades after the events of the current Jacky books, so I maintain it could totally happen)
--Brothers Grimm
--Louisa May Alcott (She wrote potboilers! Alcott also lived in New England and I am sure that a fictional version of her would have read Amy Trevelyne's Jacky books.)
--Jane Austen/her characters
--Mary Shelley
--Washington Irving/his characters

I may make additions to this list in the future. I wanted to include Casanova, but according to the official Bloody Jack timeline, she was born only eight years before he died.

I also have fun imagining Jacky ending up at the Jusenkyou Springs from Ranma 1/2. (Is there anybody here who hasn't heard of that anime/manga? The basic context you need is that it is a set of cursed springs and whoever falls into one, takes the shape of whatever died in the spring. Cold water activates the curse and hot water changes the person back to normal.) Jacky could fall into the Spring of Drowned Boy, which would make it easier for her to crossdress! Although I worry that it would do even more harm to Jaimy's remaining mental stability.

I have an idea for a Downton Abbey AU but there's one detail I need to figure out first. At one point during Season 1 Cora tells the Dowager that she's been thinking about sending Mary to her relatives in New York (to find a husband). Can anybody tell me what episode and/or year this takes place in?

Opened my inbox this morning to find that an anonymous reader(s) had left kudos on four of my stories at AO3. A good way to get the morning going.

white_lotus has a link to the first 2 episodes of Avatar: Legend of Korra streaming online!

General reaction while watching: !!!

( reactions involving spoilers )

Today is Stephen Sondheim's birthday and there's a quote from him that says, "I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface."

I feel this explains a lot about Into the Woods.

The crap going on with laws about women's rights lately makes me want to scream. On a happier note, I have two recs about awesome women:

One is a vid of suffragettes set to "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga, that I first saw through meganbmoore It is so great!!! I'm particularly impressed with how well the women dance in period clothing.

dollsome has started this:


THE TOTALLY IMPROMPTU FESTIVAL OF AWESOME LADIES