(no subject)

[skygiants]

I wrote two Utena fics for Parallels this year. The reason for this is that the inevitable finally happened and I was assigned to write for genarti (aka my usual first reader on anything I write, also my girlfriend).

'OK,' I thought, 'I will be EXTREMELY CUNNING and write a decoy fic for somebody else, ask her to beta that so she doesn't get suspicious, and meanwhile write another secret fic for her!'

Then of course the decoy fic that I made her read for me ended up being twice as long (also twice as incomprehensible) as the secret one, so in fact I ended up giving her more work than actual gift. I'm sorry, Gen! I'm not a very good secret writer girlfriend. But I did save you as a secret fic the one that was actually written with your fictional tastes in mind.

The Monster At the End Of This Fairy Tale

Utena gets dressed as quietly as she can, pulls on her borrowed running shoes, and jogs to practice. The usual route to the school track seems more complicated this morning. The campus has developed dozens of half-built walls and proto-buildings, blockaded off with red tape and signs warning 'SIDEWALK CLOSED' and 'ALTERNATE ROUTE.'

This was the decoy fic that ballooned -- an attempt at tackling the Utena postcanon fic in a variation on Ikuhara-esque surrealism, success levels questionable.

Let's Hurry Up, Spiritual Perfection

“If you say 'believe in miracles,'” Juri said, sharply, “I swear I'll --” She stopped herself, with an effort. She wasn't going to slap anyone, especially not Shiori. It was easy to lash out, but it wasn't worth the cost. Ruka had taught her that too. Leading by the opposite of example. “Shiori,” she said, instead. “Did you ever think that a person could believe in miracles, and still not want one?”

And this was the fic I actually intended to write for Gen! Much less surreal, mostly Juri character study, set sometime in between the Ruka duels and the end of the show.

Meanwhile, I received this AMAZING Capital Scandal artwork:

Transience

PLEASE GO ADMIRE IT, IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Comments

[kalloway]

I had posted a short-ish reclist on FFA at one point and should go back and find it properly. I ended up writing two treats, one of which ended up being an actual gift because of a last-second default.

Or I could just roll around in the collection again, because this was a lovely, lovely year for Parallels.

[skygiants]

It's a great exchange! I'm very glad it exists.

[aquamirage]

THE THING I TRIED SO HARD TO PREVENT DURING TWO LADYFESTS

truly the inevitable

[skygiants]

This is the first time in about ten years of knowing each other, so I'm hoping this has now staved off it happening for another ten years! I MADE THE SACRIFICE

[genarti]

Au contraire, you are the VERY BEST of secret writer girlfriends! I'm still cracking up. A+ SNEAKING, right down to the prose disguising! (Or... punctuation disguising, anyway.) Both of these fics are fantastic, but the Juri one delights me extra.