My First Yuletide and last night's adventure

[thrihyrne]

This was the first year I participated in Yuletide, and I was alerted to my story last night! The writer selected Pullman's His Dark Materials to write for me, so if you're a fan, go here to read "Last Ounce of Courage" written for me. It focuses on Balthamos, which is even better; I'd selected him as one of the characters I would be particularly interested in reading about. I'm about to write a review for my author. I forgot to note that before all the snow came, I saw two of what I consider to be my own dæmon, or animal that represents my soul, up close and personal eating the cat food on my friends' porch. Raccoons! When I first read the series, I spent loads of time wondering what my dæmon would be: finally it came to me. A raccoon, as I am indeed a night-creature and very clever with my hands, and his name is Gymnopedie. But I'd never seen raccoons up close; they really are pretty cute, even if they're scavengers.

I got to the Christmas Eve service at the Episcopal cathedral in NW Portland last night, but very nearly didn't get home. I am so glad that I went; I've been waxing a bit melancholy about not singing, so this was my opportunity to sing hymns, at least. It was a reasonably high-quality choir (having sung in semi-professional choirs pretty much the entirety of my adult life, yes, I am a choir snob) and I only felt badly that they didn't get to sing the many anthems lined up during communion. There weren't that many of us in attendance due to weather!! But I left with a very light heart and then... had to back out over a snow burm because I'd had to park on the street, and very nearly didn't get over it. My wheels were spinning and there was that awful "tire spinning" stink, but eventually Bianca the Power Subaru™ was a hero and I was able to back out onto the road and get home.

I'm readying myself to return to my other home as Yvonne's son returns today. I'm washing the sheets and will move my things so he feels like it's his room and I'll go back to the other house this evening after I pack up my computer. Right now the house is very quiet so I'm going to drink coffee and write, then when he house livens up I'll take a few more pictures of the inside of the house this time and make some phone calls. Much of my family and some of my dearest friends are on the east coast, but the day is young. At least here in the Pacific time zone!!

For all of you who are celebrating today in particular, I hope that you gain new pleasant memories. This has certainly been a memorable first holiday season for me. Oh! And in what may be the best gift for me, the new friend Julia I mentioned a post or two ago, three houses down in the huge house? Has now suggested that I move in there as my next residence. Aside from needing to get internet since she doesn't even own a computer (and I'd need a space heater as she keeps the house cold, though with another person hopefully I could convince her to change), there are NO downsides. In fact, it rocks. A lot.

Comments

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

I also did Yuletide for the first time this year! I am enjoying looking through the stories more this time, since I wrote one and had one written for me. I love His Dark Materials and look forward to reading your gift.

I love singing, but haven't been involved in choirs as much as you have. I would love to read about you finding a new place to sing. It seems like a perfect metaphor for everything--finding a place for yourself, finding your voice, finding people to sing with you.

I'm glad you are doing better and are finding a community of people there. I hope you have a wonderful holiday as a result.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Yuletide is great!! I'll definitely participate again next year. I'll have fun looking through the stories, though it is rather daunting. I may write down the primary fandoms I was interested in and see if anyone wrote for them. There seem to have been 11 stories written for HDM this year; not bad!! I'm thrilled there's such a good search engine. ;)

I am very much at peace this morning, and was pretty euphoric last night on my drive home, especially after I'd managed to get out of my parking space!! I've certainly learned a tremendous amount about myself this past year, full of geographic moves and internal terra incognita. I believe that now I have a map and guides.

(((warm hugs to you for your friendship)))

[evannichols.livejournal.com]

Raccoons are adorable! When I lived in the Woodstock house, we'd see a mother raccoon and three babies wander through the yard in search of food. They are mischievous, though, and will consider pet doors an invitation to come inside. And never, ever give one your car keys.

Glad you got home safely! :-) Merry Christmas!

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

They are awfully precious, especially when these two stood up on their legs (!!!) right next to each other, then dropped down, both acting in tandem. I don't think I'd trust them to drive, however. ;)

I am safely home! Merry Christmas to you as well!!

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Nice new icon, lololol!!!

[nathaniel-hp.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a fabulous gift!

Merry Christmas, love!

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

It is an incredible gift!! One from the more benevolent powers in the universe, I do believe. ;)

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

Woo hoo, 1st yuletide?! Then I'm very glad it was a good experience for you! :D

I got marvelous stories; I feel I can hardly do them justice.
And in turn, my recipients, the 2 out of 3 that have answered at this point - man, that was some feedback. If all my reviews were like that, it... might go to my head. :)

Btw, love, there's something in the mail, and something else to follow (in answer to your wonderful letter! - and to explain why a certain item couldn't be included in your package...).

Have a wonderful Christmas, dear.

How about you prompt me for a small Ron/draco thinggie?

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Hi sweetie!!! Yes, my first Yuletide, and I really loved my story. My recipient said she was brought to tears by my prose, so, yeah! I could get used to reviews like that. ;)

I'm so glad to hear that that one letter did get to you; I know you were in the process of moving, or had moved, and I wasn't sure whether or not you'd received it. I'll very much love to get a package from you, they're always full of lovely things. :D

You want to write me a wee R/D!! ::squee:: Okay. How about prompts of fringe and sandalwood. May I do the same? Give me a prompt and I'll write *you* a R/D drabble. :D

((((massive, grateful hugs))))

pt 1

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

Happy New Year, love! Oh goodness, this is... I dunno when it turned into the drabble that wouldn't die. (Perhaps it's my meditation on three extremely different types of sandalwood I've had over the years. Ummm.)

***

Sandalwood. Bay Rum. Spanish Leather. A dead man's smell, preserved in a dead man's room.

They both avoid it; Ron with a healthy revulsion, Draco with an unhealthy fear- as if, through some mysterious osmosis, through scent and sense alone, Lucius could return.

They leave the manor to the ghost of his smell, buy a Thames view glass affair instead. Crystal Palace, Draco calls it. They're in their jeans and tee days (Draco has to be brought around to those, but oh boy does he catch up fast), and their scents of choice, heady when they mingle, are Mago Armani and YSL Noir.

But give them a few years. Ron, the fêted Quidditch coach, he'll grow a little more staid. Draco will turn quicksilver and black, growing his hair out: no fringe, all sleek white Renaissance forehead, and he'll use something complicated and prohibitively expensive like Serge Lutens to fight Ron's Cool Water kink. They don't go well together, and they know it.

It's later, post-separations, fistfights, and a broad range of hexes-later, during a time of numb détente in Milan, in a hotel room so large it allows them to politely weave around each other, that Ron smells it.

Sandalwood. Ron squeezes shut his eyes as if they harbored his sense of smell. It's still there when he opens them. And there's Draco, in ambassadorial dress robes, perched on the edge of the mattress. Very upright, very pale, gloved hands in his lap.

"Oh god," Ron mumbles. "What. What now."

Draco's brow is furrowed in that way of his. "I thought," he says, smoothing down kid gloves, "I thought perhaps you're free this afternoon."

"Why?" He is, as a matter of fact. His contract negotiations have gone well.

"Come with me to Lucca?"

Ron looks up at him, wondering. Draco in his prime, Draco come into his inheritance... why should he ask, not order? Because he knows your arse is out of here, the moment he gets bossy, a voice in Ron says, but he quells it. "Fly or Apparate?" He doesn't want to go, not really; he's too comfortably parked here.

"Whichever you prefer." Draco's smile grows a little strained, sensing Ron's reluctance. Probably hoped for a different reaction.

Don't destroy this just because you can. It's another voice, one that prompts Ron to lean over and pat Draco's thigh and give those cool, dry hands a squeeze. "Apparate then." His instinct says fly, if only to get that smell out of his nostrils, but Draco hates flying when he's dolled up like that.

pt 2

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

It's not really in Lucca. It's a small villa in the foothills, tucked between rocks and vineyards, and the scent of honeysuckle is overwhelming. When Ron steps out on the loggia, there's a sea of blossoms: oleander, jasmine, and lavender, plus an undulating wash of flowers he's never seen before. "Sweet," he says, going for noncommittal. "Yours? When did you buy this?"

Draco doesn't answer immediately. The bees are really loud, Ron notices. "Some time ago." Draco doesn't meet his eyes. "The day Milan made their first offer." He looks a lot less imposing like this, shuffling his heel against Palladian stone.

"Why?"

"I thought... I thought you might like a get-away. Milano can be cold in winter."

That's what warming charms are for, Ron almost replies, before hearing the unsaid please. So he nods and slips his fingers around Draco's. "Thank you," he says, and flounders when Draco twists his grip to pull Ron close.

The move lands him nose first in sandal, face buried against Draco's neck. It smells different here, under a warm Tuscan sun. Mixed with Draco's salt and sweat, the miasma of cognac and power is gone: there's more iris now, and nutmeg, and something Ron can only describe as silk and velvet.

It should unnerve him more. But after a while of resting his head in the crook of Draco's neck, his perception shifts. He doesn't know why it's taken him so long to understand that it's a different smell: that, among the many shades of sandal, this is another nuance - something finer, gentler, with a hidden glow like rosewood.

Draco's hands move over his back; restless, hopeless strokes that turn feeble in the end. "It's yours, no matter what happens now." With us.

But. But, don't say that, he whispers in his heart. Eyes closed, he holds on. He can't remember when Draco started using the damned stuff. Can't say when it happened, without him even knowing. But sandal isn't sandal. And Draco isn't Lucius. "Why don't you show me around," he says. You could start with the bedroom. He doesn't say that; he kisses him instead.

Re: pt 2

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear heart. This is absolutely gorgeous. You took such a wee prompt and just ran with it! As always, your imagery and workcraft is breathtaking; the short, snappy sentences, Ron's inner thoughts and struggles, their relationship over time encapsulated so poignantly without being overdone or coyly.

Beautiful! I'll be linking to it to share with the other R/D fans on my flist! Thank you so very much!!! ♥

Re: pt 2

[liriaen.livejournal.com]

Dear, so glad you like it. It's a bit untidy; so much going through my head while writing. Heavily edited (which is errrm certainly hard to notice...) and rewritten a few times. I find myself obsessed with themes of ageing and shifting and changing, this growing out of something and into something else.

[mrsquizzical.livejournal.com]

i do hope that living situation works out well. it sounds very positive.

*HUGS*

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I hope so as well. Seems very much win/win/win/win all the way around. (((hugs)))

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

Wonderful! & yes, a sober, queer home sounds like a blessing!

Glad you got to sing, and to leave after! ;p

*HUGS*