Jem's Journal

Robina's Cheese "Cake"

2010-03-20T07:18:13Z

Robina's birthday cake, made of cheese. Hosted on DA here.

Abe Lost At Sea

2010-03-15T07:43:21Z

Oh noes!!!!!!!

WHOI has confirmed that Abe was lost at sea Friday, March 5, off the coast of Chile. He'd reached the ocean floor when all contact was lost early that morning. Researchers remained in the area, hoping that he could still return to the surface, but searches for his lights and attempts to make radio contact didn't find anything. They suspect one of the glass balls that helped the submersible float imploded; under the pressure at that depth, the rest would have followed, wiping out on-board communication and surfacing systems.

Abe, one of the first successful independent submersibles, helped to revolutionize his field of deep-sea exploration and research. He had returned from retirement to help out the Chile Triple Junction research, as his replacement was already booked on another expedition. [More info on Abe's achievements, as well as the paragraphs I paraphrased this info from, can be found at the WHOI link.]

Poor little dude. He's probably going to be eaten by the continental plate.

TMNT Drabble: When in Rome

2010-03-07T19:08:59Z

TMNT Drabble
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: violence, death of animal, animal fighting, violence/death as a spectator sport, blood; I'm still iffy on Renet's characterization
Prompt: When in Rome...
Prompt From: tmnt_tuesdays

“Everyone alright?” Leo asked, picking himself up. All three brothers responded in the affirmative, with various shades of annoyance coloring their voices. It had not been one of Renet's better time-transfers. “Renet?”

All four turtles looked around for the familiar figure. “She ditched us!” Raph growled.

“No, there she is!” Mike pointed as he scrambled to his feet, then took off running, his brothers on his heels. Renet was getting to her feet in front of a large door across the pounded sand in what might have been some sort of arena, if any of them had taken the time to notice. In front of her was the tawny form of a large cat.

“Is that a lion?”

“It could be,” Don answered.

“No mane!” Mike objected.

“It could be female.”

“There's two,” Leo said urgently. Mike was already skidding to a stop beside Renet, nun-chucks whirling. The lions paused to look at him, and were joined by a third. The gate slammed closed behind it. Leo and Raph came to a stop just in front of Renet; Don took the place on her other side.

The first lioness feinted at Raph with a paw. He slashed it with his sai, and she flinched back, wary of this prey with claws. The third lion, also female, joined her; the second, its mane as full as Mike had expected, hung back, studying them.

“Why do we always end up in front of something with sharp teeth?” Mike asked.

Raph lunged, cutting into the lioness's side; her sharp claws scraped across his shell, but did little damage. Leo stepped in to guard his back against the second lioness.

“Come on, work!” Renet urged the scepter.

Mike stepped towards the remaining lion.

“Whoa!” A blast of light narrowly missed Mike and slammed into the lion in front of him. Mike jumped back. Where there had been an adult male, there was now a lion cub, awkward on feet that looked a little too big for it. “Sorry, Mike. I didn't know it was going to do that.”

Mike was getting out of her way before he ended up a small, non-mutant turtle.

“Renet,” Don said, “Are we in the Roman Coliseum?”

“We could be. We're somewhere in Rome.” She looked around; spectators, part of the background roar that had been going on since they arrived, were now quiet, looking at Renet and the lion cub.

Leo wiped his katana off on a dead lioness. “Don, get that gate open. We have to get out of sight.”

Don was already moving towards it; Mike steered Renet after it, staying on the side that she wasn't holding the scepter on.

The lock was placed to keep those inside the arena from reaching it, but the hinges were not, and the five were soon moving in the twilight of a passage lit by torches.

Unknown Character List Questions Meme

2010-03-02T09:07:06Z

From micaturtle and geaven :

1) Make a list of fifteen characters first, and keep it to yourself for the moment.

2) Ask your f-list to post questions in the comments. For example: 'One, nine and fifteen are chosen by a prophecy to save the world from four. Do they succeed?' 'Under what circumstances might five and fourteen fall in love?' 'Which character on the list would you most want on your side in a zombie invasion?'

3) After your f-list has asked enough questions, round them up and answer them using the fifteen characters you selected beforehand, then post them.

So -- ask away! All characters are TMNT, but I used a random integer generator to assign characters to numbers, so that they wouldn't be in a predictable order. :)

Writer's Block: My word

2010-02-27T22:20:29Z

If you could have the writing ability of one author, who would you choose, and why? Would you exchange writing styles permanently?

Submitted By horrifically

View 1085 Answers

Myself, from about thirty or forty years from now; that way, when I'm practicing and adding to my writing ability, I'm adding on to an extra three or four decades of practice -- and since the baseline for which I attained that skill will keep increasing as I increase my current ability, it should create a temporal loop that will consistently increase my ability by increasing factors. If I practice consistently enough, I could be the best writer in the world by the time I catch up with the end of my loop....

...or I might just cause the space-time continuum to crash.

TMNT Drabble: Peanut Butter and Jelly

2010-02-16T21:28:39Z

TMNT Drabble
Prompt: grape jelly
Prompt From: tmnt_tuesdays
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: mild violence, song-fic, weird puns (some of which are probably bad), musical threats, threatening of sibling, implied smacking of sibling, narration by inanimate object, suggestions of suffocation although object in question actually doesn't have to breathe and therefore can't be suffocated.
Wordcount: 226
Copyright Note: I'm not finding a definite source for "Peanut Butter and Jelly". I first heard the song on PBS Kids, but only the chorus stuck with me. There are several versions, but these two have the chorus I remember: lyrics version one and lyrics version two. Anyway, I don't own the song. If someone does, it belongs to them. And, the music in this version belongs to the Barney owners.
Author's Note: Only slightly late! I forgot to post it last night.

It’s hard being a knife. You spend most of your life lying around in a dark drawer with a bunch of other knives. You’d think it be fun laying around with a bunch of sharply-dressed dudes and dudettes, nothing to do but hang out, but really, knives are pretty stiff. It’s like lying around with a bunch of corpses. We don’t even have any body heat.

And then when you finally get taken out, what happens? You get your head dunked in some sticky substance.

Mmm, tastes like grape. Which is small consolation.

And of course, you never know what the people around you are talking about. Take this conversation from this morning, for instance:

“Peanut, peanut butter... and jelly! Peanut, peanut butter... and jelly! Peanut, peanut butter... and jelly!”

And then, from the other room: “Mikey, Mikey smacked... right now!”

“Dude, you could have just asked me to stop singing.” I was able to breathe momentarily, the jelly deposited on a slice of bread, before I was dropped back in the jar.

“Do you ever listen?”

“No. Peanut, peanut butter... and- Ahhh!”

And finally, a long while later:

“Hey, who left the jelly out?”

And only then did I finally get to breathe again.

Let me tell you, being a knife just isn't all it's cut out to be.

Secret Questions Meme

2010-02-15T06:10:15Z

1. There are 30 questions.
2. Next to each number, write only the names of the people (from your friends) who fit.
3. Don't tell the questions to anyone who isn't doing the meme.

I'm skipping some, so I'll have robina1984 send you the complete list if you want to do this meme; just let me know in the comments.

1. aloneindarknes7

2. robina1984

3. I like being me.

4. aussiegirl17 , kinectra , greenwillow27

5. robina1984, but not on the internet, for some reason.

6. All of us?

7. raphaelslover

8. Uh... robina1984 ... but we went to school together.

9. I don't necessarily want to, but time flies.... robina1984

10. robina1984 , reijiro75 , greenwillow27 , aloneindarknes7 , uh... probably some others but those are the ones I can think of.

11. No one. They all like turtles.

12. Everyone, in their own unique way. ^_^

13. ... you mean, who ends up on magazine covers for being high in public? O.o I hope nobody.

14. Everyone seems pretty balanced to me.

16. reijiro75 and greenwillow27

17. micaturtle

18. Every girl is a princess. ^_^

19. Why "seems"? Why not "is"? O.o

20. Lol, everyone.

23. No one on LJ.

24. Nobody? Please?

27. I'm not sure I actually know someone who doesn't. Or is that sentence missing a word?

28. ...uh....

29. O.O I do believe that's cheating, thanks anyway.

30. Hi!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day

2010-02-14T09:12:14Z

Or Happy Singles Still Have Money (HaHa!) Day, whichever.

♥ ♥

♥ ♥

♥ ♥

♥ ♥

♥ ♥

0.0 LJ just converted all my numerical character entity codes to keyword codes. Don't the numerical ones have better cross-browser support? Why is LJ editing my HTML?

LJ: Spam Comment Public Service Announcement

2010-02-14T07:38:34Z

Watch out on your comments; I just got one from an anonymous user where the LJ commands [freeze, delete, track, etc] were included as part of the comment (I think it might have been image-based; it's the only way I can think of for them to overlap the real LJ commands with it) and linked to doubleclick (an ad company that my tracking-site blocker, popup blocker, spam filter, and 'bot blocker all flag as unsafe).

I'm thinking this might have something to do with me having checked the journal of Robina's spammer a few weeks ago. *sigh* Well, now I know not to check out journals to see what a spammer's journal looks like. Curiosity spammed the Jem? Not much of a ring to it.

Eighty-Question Quiz/Meme/Thing

2010-02-13T08:31:20Z

Taken from a quiz on evilsherbear's DA account, but slightly modified for LJ.

1.What does your LJ name mean and why?

Jem, short for Jemima, plus a lot of zeros; Jem without numbers was taken.

2. What fandom where you obsessed with when you joined and what are you into now?

TMNT. Joined to have a place to post fics, mostly, as I wasn't happy with DA's interface as far as writing went - it's sorta counterproductive to put the notes/warnings at the bottom.

3. How many friends (watching you) do you have now?

O.O Why?

4. Name 3 of your favorite artists or writers?

Uh... I don't think so. This place has enough drama.

5. Do you comment?

I try to.

6. Do you participate in groups' contests here on LJ?

Not typically, except for the TMNT_Tuesdays challenge.

7. What is your most popular fic or artwork?

I have no idea.

No, wait. I got the most comments on "My Donatello", so that's probably a candidate for 'most popular fic'. But I don't keep up with the stats on my art, so I don't know there.

8. What are your favorite non-anime TV shows?

TMNT, Scooby-Doo.

9. What are the things you wish you could draw better?

Figures, expressions.

10. Summer or winter?

Winter

11. Rain or Sun?

Rain! :D

12. What's your favorite type of music?

Celtic.

13. PC or Mac?

Depends on what you're using them for.

14. Anime or Manga?

Uh... neither?

15. Coke or Pepsi?

Yuck. I can has water?

16. Read or TV?

Books!

17. How many hours a day do you spend on LJ?

Three or four, usually. Not always doing stuff, tho; sometimes it's only up in the background.

18. Name a hidden talent.

Uh... my feet in winter could single-handedly (single-footedly?) reclaim all that global-warming-melted polar ice. ^_^

19. Flash or traditional cartoons?

Prefer traditional, but some flash ones are good.

20. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?

Wendy's.

21. What are your top 3 favorite books?

I can't choose!

22. Wii or Playstation?

Um. I'm not sure I know how to turn either one on, but I own a PlayStation.

23. Name 3 of your favorite bands.

Gaelic Storm, Bob and Darlene Puffer, um... I can't think of a third.

24. Are you a fast, slow, or medium typer?

Medium. Fast enough to have to stop and wait for the keyboard buffer on old computers, but too slow to make a good secretary.

25. Do you like Denny's?

Uh... which one was that again?

26. What is your favorite emoticon?

=^_^=

27. What is your favorite type of pie?

Tie between Pecan and Vanilla Pudding.

28. Have you ever stayed up for 24 hours?

I think so, but I'm not sure.

29. Do you go on YouTube a lot?

I've been using it for music, because I'm too lazy to upload mine onto my new computer.

30. Are you a member on any other sites besides LJ?

DA.

31. Do you cosplay?

No. I have allergies. :(

32. Fruits or sweets?

Sweets? But I like grapes. Only the purple seedless ones, tho.

33. Buttered, plain, or salted popcorn?

Buttered and salted.

34. Have you skipped school?

I don't think so.

35. Have you been on a plane?

Unfortunately, yes.

36. Have you swum in an ocean?

Yes. My hair likes it better than pools. :)

37. Have you been ice skating?

Yes! :D

38. Favorite vacation spot?

Anywhere my mother isn't.

39. Ever been on TV?

I might have. Not sure.

40. Favorite salad dressing?

Ranch.

41. What do you do to relax?

Write, read, internet, computer gaming.

42. What is the last film you saw in the theaters?

Either Sherlock Holmes or The Princess and the Frog - I don't remember what order.

43. Favorite Sandwich?

Turkey and cheese. ^_^

44. If you could go anywhere in the world...

Ireland. But only by swimming; boats and planes both make me sick.

45. Favorite time of the day?

Anytime I have nothing constructive (like work or otherwise leaving the house) waiting for me to do it.

46. What did you want to be when you were little?

A giraffe.

47. What do you want to be now?

Happy.

48. If you could eat with one person, who would it be?

I dunno, who?

49. What character would you hate to be stuck in a room with?

My mother.

Oh, a fake person? Um... something tells me any character from TMNT will dislike me greatly if they find out about fics.

50. What is your favorite day of the year?

...uh....

51. Favorite type of ice cream?

Um. Cookies and Cream?

52. Last book you read?

Currently re-reading Pray for a Brave Heart by Helen MacInnes. Good book, great author. Suspenseful without being scary or gross, well-written, with nice action scenes. The gender roles are slightly stereotypical, but the female characters are strong nonetheless.

53. Which store would you max out a credit card at?
Uh... is this card mine or someone else's?

'Cause if I don't have to pay the bill, I think I'll max it out at a whole lot of stores. But I'd probably hit the local used bookstore first, followed by the craft store and then a department store.

54. Do you buy / sell / both on eBay?

No, but sometimes Robina will act as a go-between for something I want.

55. What is the most annoying thing people ask you?

Why are you [wearing that/talking in that voice/frowning]? (The last is usually said while I'm smiling. Apparently my smile is in serious need of being fired, as it doesn't actually look like one and therefore is clearly slacking off on the job. I'm trying to cultivate an expression that looks more like what I see on everyone else's face, but it's not in the least natural and apparently looks just as fake as it is. Joy, an expression that actually means what it says. Why did it have to be the one I wanted to mean something else?)

56. Favorite all time TV show?

Uh... Scooby? (At the risk of being tomato'd by her TMNT friends.)

57. What was your favorite show as a kid?

No TV.

58. What are you listening to right now?

My computer is humming to me. ^_^

59. What is the last thing you ate?

Cookie. Before that, snack cake for desert; before that, pizza for dinner; before that, cashews. And before work, freezer meal (some sort of round thing pretending to be breaded chicken in gray, with actual corn and something white and runny pretending to be potatoes).

60. If you were a crayon what C O L O U R would you be?

Blue. ^_^

61. What is the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?

Whether or not I'd card them. Actually, after three years as a cashier, the first thing I notice about either gender is whether or not I should card them for beer. The second is whether I should card for cigarettes, and the third is whether they are actually purchasing beer.

62. Favorite sport to play?

Ice skating.

63. Favorite Holiday?

Christmas or Easter.

64. Hugs or Kisses?

Neither? I'm actually not a physical-affection person, even tho I love virtual hugs.

65. Chocolate or Vanilla?

Both?

66. Favorite Board Game?

Clue.

67. Favorite smells?

Peach.

68. What inspires you?

Beauty and tranquility.

69. Do you have any piercings?

No

70. How many siblings do you have?

3

71. Bacon Bits or croutons?

Neither.

72. Favorite Day of the Week?

Day I'm off.

73. Favorite phrase?

...I'm not sure.

74. Favorite Restaurant?

N/A

75. Favorite animal?

Cat

76. Favorite thing to do outside?

Nature trail.

77. Favorite thing to do when it's raining?

Drink something warm.

78. Favorite Disney character?

Marie or Duchess, from the Aristocats, followed by Mulan.

79. Do you like coffee? If so, what is your favorite brand?

Yuck. But, it smells good! Too bad it doesn't taste that way.

80. Tag 6 people.

Okay, 6_people; you heard the meme. You're tagged.

TMNT Drabble: Mike's Movie

2010-02-09T11:15:39Z

TMNT Drabble
Prompt: Mikey fic; fangirls are scary!
Prompt From: Micaturtle
Word Count: 455
Rated: PG-16
Warnings: weirdness, violence, inappropriate suggestions, homophone pun, Mighty Morphing Rainbow Shredder, not a serious fic.

Note: Mica, I think I owe you a fic with the prompt "fangirls are scary", but the only other thing I can remember is that it was Mikey-centric, and I can't find where I recorded the prompt or the entry where you originally gave it to me. This seems to have been the fic, but from the date on the file it's been sitting around since December, so I'm wondering if there was supposed to have been more to it. Do you remember what you asked for?

Mike walked into the theater and dropped into a chair. Strange, they really should be showing previews right now; was he to have no future dreams for a while? But the big screen was dark.

He scooped some popcorn out of the box sitting on the arm of the chair to his right, and wished for red plush seats, the way they had in that other theater across town. Or was that Leo’s theater? Strange, Leo didn’t seem the sort for plush seats; he was actually more of a rock-in-front-of-the-guru person.

A handful of women, ranging from colorful, bubbly teens to gray-haired, cane-carrying senior citizens, walked in just as Mike’s guru waved his magic wand at the screen to start the show. They giggled and “Shush!”ed their way into seats around him.

Onscreen, the credits were rolling as Shredder hummed over a vat of boiling water. Mike ate a few M’n’M’s. Shredder held up an evil-looking bottle, and the camera zoomed in on the label: “Dye.” Shredder’s cruel laugh filled the theater as he poured it into the vat.

“Hey, is that Mikey?”

“Mikey!”

“Mike!”

“Michaelangelo!”

“Can I have your autograph?”

The new Turtle Titan swung onto the screen, waving a rapier. “Die, Shredder!”

Mikey cheered him on as he signed leather-covered journals with his picture taped to the covers. “Go, Klunk! Get that Shred-head!”

“Of course I shall!” Shredder grabbed Turtle Titan Klunk and tried to drop him into the pot, but Turtle Titan brought the rapier slashing across his hand and flipped away to make a perfect landing on the pointed toes of his boots.

“Can I have your bandana?”

“Can I have a kiss?”

“Can I touch you?”

Turtle Titan threw Shredder into the dye vat. The splash was a brilliant, multi-hued rainbow, although the dye remained bright orange.

“I get his tail!” Suddenly, the women were all over Mike, except for a handful who seemed to be trying to cover people’s eyes – the teens’ eyes, the other women’s eyes, Klunk’s eyes, the sock-puppet playing Turtle Titan’s eyes, even Mike’s eyes.

Mike reached for his belt sheaths and pulled out a pair of sock puppets. They swung in ever-faster circles as he backed against the movie screen.

The women chanted something that might have sounded a little like Japanese, and swirled together into a huge Rainbow Shredder. He dodged their hands and stepped back through the movie screen just in time for a smaller Rainbow Shredder to attack.

Just as he froze into place, unable to run or lift a weapon against the doubled Rainbow Shredders, he felt a hand shaking his shoulder.

”Mike! Wake up!”

TMNT Drabble: Escape from Raphael

2010-02-02T07:57:22Z

Prompt: Escape
Prompt From: tmnt_tuesdays
Wordcount: 100
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: impending violence, prank

Lungs burning, feet churning, Mike ran down the sewer tunnel at top speed. His legs were cramping, but he didn't dare stop, not even long enough to shake them out. Behind him, the echo of footsteps followed even closer than the panting breath, still gasping expletives every few turns. Mike saved his own breath for running.

Who knew Raph liked that color of leather so much? If Mike had just known that, he certainly wouldn't have changed the leather strips on the grips of Raph's sai to yellow. It wasn't like he needed the red ones for anything but scrap.

Interview Meme, Part II

2010-02-01T09:27:36Z

Leave me a comment telling me you want questions.
• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions.

These are from micaturtle :

1. Before you met robina and got introduced to the AWESOMENESS that is ninja turtles, did you have anything else that you REALLY fangirl geeked out about?

Actually, no. Before I met Robina, my favorite show was Scooby-Doo, but I never collected toys or even videos of any TV show. Even now I limit what I collect to things I really, really like, and I get more things as presents than what I would actually buy for myself.

2. How did you and Robina meet? Why did you decide to become roomies?

We went to high school together; I transferred in from another school the first week of classes, totally lost. My last class was math, and Robina read through it, so was late heading out the door because she had to put her book away. The teacher asked her to walk me to the buses, as I couldn't find them on my own. We started chatting about her book, realized we had the same bus stop, and the rest is history.

Oddly, despite having been in the same neighborhood for I-don't-know-how-long, it was the first time we had met.

I left the state for college, but Robina and I kept in touch. Her dad got remarried a couple months before I graduated and moved to his new wife's place; my family had already left town. I wanted to go back to the town I grew up in, and Robina needed a roommate for the two-bedroom place that she was now the sole renter of. Her dad graciously offered to pay rent through July to cover me moving back and finding a job, so that was that. ^_^

3. How old are you anyway?

That's top-secret classified information. I'd tell you anyway, but I'd have to kill you then, and I always try not to murder my friends. ;)

4. You said you believe in God. Are you into an organized religion? What are your beliefs when it comes to God? (please don't tell me that you're one of those crazy fundamentalist who say that every word in the Bible HAS to be completely and literally true *worry*)

Yes, I'm a fundamentalist Christian. Actually, if you really want all the labels - I'm Protestant, Independent Baptist, conservative (in terms of Christianity; politically I'm difficult to label and tend to average out to moderate), and a creationist.

I believe God exists, and that He is all-powerful, all-present, not bound by time or space, and always both True and Just. I believe that He is both the Creator and the Sustainer of all life, present, past, and future. I believe that He is loving, but that by His very nature injustice and untruth are anathema to Him. (I also believe He's really, incredibly tolerant. But that's personal opinion.)

I do believe in the absolute truth of the Bible, and that whenever possible it should be interpreted literally. I believe that the non-literal passages are either self-evident or indicated as such by accompanying verses. I also support relating historical references and events to the passage, since quite a few of the meanings are considerably easier to see when they're in context.

5. What is your favorite book and why? ;D

I assume you mean fiction? ('Cause if I can have non-fiction, I'm picking the Bible. ;) )

Ummmm.... I have a whole handful of favorites, depending on what I'm in the mood to read. I like Tolkien's Lord of the Rings Trilogy for the landscape, the epicness, and the whole good-vs-evil thing. I like Tamora Pierce's Trickster duo for the spunky female heroine, the cool spy things, and the intrigue. I like Lillian Jackson Braun's Cat Who series for the engaging mystery and wonderful kitties. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgsen (spelling?) Burnett is my favorite children's book. And I'm always on the look-out for books with cat pictures. :D

"Why" is a little easier. I'm drawn to stories with both strong, personable characters and a solid plot. I prefer stories with set "good" and "bad" guys but where they're not always obvious. I also like stories that make me think. And, I really like cute kitties. =^_^=

"Love for Christmas" by Shadowwolf13

2010-01-30T07:46:22Z

Everyone needs to check out this entry: http://shadowwolf13.livejournal.com/788144.html

DO NOT READ

2010-01-30T06:53:28Z

1. Make an LJ-cut post with "DO NOT READ" as the text.
2. Do not select a 'mood' for this post.
3. If anyone clicks the cut, they are to comment and admit to doing so.
4. Anyone who reads this also has to do the same in THEIR journal, thus continuing the never-ending madness!

No, I didn't get it from ignoring LJ-cuts; I track the person who posted it, and it arrived in my inbox LJ-cut-free.

Dear Anonymous: Thanks for Gift

2010-01-27T08:13:34Z

Dear Anonymous:

Thank you for the Valentine's Day gift-in-a-box. It is very pretty and suspenseful and stuff! I will enjoy waiting for it to hatch.

I'd have told you on your journal, but it says it's not been updated since 2005.

Jem

File Extension Quiz

2010-01-25T19:02:27Z

Which File Extension are You?

Okay, I can live with that.

A List of Fanfictions on my Journal

2010-01-22T12:34:14Z

Fic List:

Title [rating, word count, genre]: summary. Warnings.

TMNT

50 Sentences: Leonardo [PG-13, 1004, General]: Fifty sentences involving Leo. No plot, death, violence, unnatural abilities.

50 Sentences: Michaelangelo [PG-13, 936, General]: Fifty sentences involving Mike. No plot, implied death, missiles, violence.

Act of Kindness [PG, 325, General]: Splinter is gifted leftover food by a stranger; pre-beginning. Homelessness, hunger.

The Answer Is No [PG-13, 338, Action/Contemplation]: Can Karai keep Leo out of her world and in the safety of his own? Violence, death, destruction, light romance, "Same As It Never Was" spoilers.

Answering Machine [PG-13, 523, Action]: This is why the turtles do not have answering machines on their shell-cells. Violence, annoying jingles, death, implied bureaucracy.

Anti-Gravity Idea [PG-13, 100, General/Adventure]: Mike has an idea for Don. Implied violence.

April's Wedding [G, 834, Romance/Contemplation]: A Christmas gift fic for Kinectra in which Donatello thinks about his relationship/friendship with April as he waits for her wedding to begin. One-sided romance, romance, wedding.

Bath Time [PG-13, 755, General]: Raphael has a rather one-sided discussion with a stubborn bar of soap. Language, implied violence, peeping-Tom Mikey.

Best Served Cold [PG-13, 280, Comedy]: This is what happens when you train ninjas with post-it notes. Implied violence.

The Better to Get You With [PG, 350, General/Comedy]: Mike and Raph put Shadow to bed. Implied violence.

Bittersweet Hope [G, 144, Romance/Contemplation]: Don and Leo discuss Karai. Implied one-sided romance, implied romance.

Cat's Prey, Turtle's Surprise [PG, 234, Action/Adventure]: Klunk chases a small animal into Raph's room; Raph does not approve. Spider.

Commentary [PG-13, 247, Action]: Mike runs an internal commentary on the fight. Violence, probable bad-guy death, probable bad-guy injury.

Compromise [PG-13, 186, Action]: Talking never seems to stop the Foot. Violence.

Coping [PG-13, 1649, General/Contemplation]: Splinter is dying. Death.

DVD Extra: Deleted Scene [R, 1364, Comedy/Romance]: Leo falls into Karai's shower; AU. Nudity, fourth wall breakage, suggestions of violence, suggestive language/innuendo, implied torture, romance, and implied voyeurism.

Escape from Raphael [PG-13, 100, Action/Comedy]: Mike runs from Raph after pulling a prank. Impending violence, prank.

Fatalistic [PG-16, 401, Horror]: A normal day can be anything but. Mind-control, fatalism, blood; additional warnings located here.

Forty Shades of Green [PG-16, 252, Comedy]: Mike sings about a "girl turtle". Lyricide, suggestive language.

The Future In the Past [PG, 130, Action]: Leo looks for Karai; movieverse. Implied violence, reference to previous canon death.

Halloween Night [PG-16, 103, Comedy]: "Karai" teases Leo. Suggestive language, flirting, implied soon-to-be violence, romance, cross-dressing.

Head and Heart [PG-13, 256, General/Contemplative]: Leo and Raph patch up a quarrel; fourth movieverse. Violence mentioned.

His Own Kind of Responsible [G, 680, General/Contemplative]: Michaelangelo and Raphael discuss responsibility. Implied violence, name-calling, Mike likes pizza.

The History of Thanksgiving [PG, 572, Comedy]: Mike explains the correct origin of Thanksgiving within the ranks of patriotic football teams.

Homemade Ice Cream [PG-10, 211, General/Comedy]: Don and Mike make ice cream. Minor namecalling.

Hope Deferred [PG, 320, General/Comedy]: Mike tries to talk Raph into being Nightwatcher for Halloween. Implied violence, casual psychotherapy, attempted blackmail.

Houston, We Have a Lovebird [PG-13, 163, Romance]: Don thinks about a lovely new friend of April's named Irma. Romance.

I Want to Be a McDonald's French Fry [G, 114, Comedy]: Younger turtles tell Splinter what they'd like to be when they grow up. Implied potential cannibalism.

Icon Meme: Fairy Rock [PG, 264, Fantasy]: Mike finds a rock that looks like a fairy. Fairy.

Icon Meme: Leo [PG-13, 80, Action]: Leo prepares to enter the Foot headquarters. Violence, injury, revenge.

Icon Meme: Rabid Fangirls [PG, 205, General]: Lily runs into a handful of fans while taking her turtle home. Rabid fangirls, no canon characters.

Icon Meme: Rejection Letter [G, 130, General]: Mike receives the response to his manuscript.

Icon Meme: Turtles [G, 140, General/Family/Comedy]: Mike attempts to convince Shadow that a turtle is a turtle.

Icon Meme: Zombie Bear [PG-13, 152, Comedy/Action/Horror]: Mike and Leo play a Halloween joke on Don that goes slightly different than planned. "Zombie", attempt to scare.

If Only [PG-13, 205, Action/Contemplation]: Leo fights Karai. Violence, implied one-sided romance.

Just a Scratch [PG-16, 434, Action]: A fight with the Foot ends in injury. Violence, injury, blood.

KaraisBoyToy [PG-16, 91, Romance/General]: Don sets up April's network. Suggestive network names, suggestive implications, one-sided light romance with strong wishing.

The Kitten in the Kitchen [PG, 147, Comedy]: Klunk has an accident with the plumbing. Implied violence, flooding.

Leatherhead [PG, 116, General/Contemplation]: Leatherhead tries to pick up a dropped tool. Implied mutation.

Leo in the Snow [PG-10, , Action]: A gift-fic for Aussiegirl in which Leo tries to escape through snow without leaving footprints. Minor name-calling, implied violence.

Leo's Kata [PG-13, 105, Action]: Leo performs a kata. Potential/implied violence.

A Lesson in Post-It Notes [PG-13, 222, General/Action]: Splinter shares a new lesson plan. Violence.

Listen to the Wind [PG-10, 363, Action/Contemplative]: Leo tries to teach Mike the value of listening. Animal fight mentioned.

Love and Flowers [PG-13, 300, Romance]: Mike asks April about love. Violence, romance, implied romance, Mike is meddling.

Mike The Cross-Dresser [PG-13, 370, Comedy]: Mike uses a fake identity crisis to tease Raph. Non-politically-correct humor, cross-dressing, discussion of gay vs. lesbian wordage, suggested gender-switch, violence.

Movie Night [PG, 148, General/Comedy]: Mike considers the "narrator" of the movie he just watched. Implied violence, implied dimension travel, cheesy horror flick.

My Donatello [R, 146, Erotica]: Someone has a crush on Donatello. Warnings: Erotica, appliance/person one-sided heavy romance, slight possessiveness, double meaning of words, person neither knows about nor consents to romantic aspects of the appliance/person relationship.

Ninja [PG-13, 351, Action]: Leo practices well above the city. Don't try this at home.

One-of-a-kind Genuine Raphael Sighting [PG, 77, Comedy]: Mike teases Raph about being out late. Auction of sibling, threatening, harsh language.

Out of Gas [G, 146, General/Adventure]: Raphael has run out of gas.

Pro-Turtle [PG, 304, General]: Mike has trouble with his absentee ballot. Voting, civic responsibility.

Puppy, er, Footie Love [PG-13, 418, General/Romance]: Karai's son has a new friend. Implied violence, implied death, light and implied romances.

R.C. Dino [PG-13, 191, General/Comedy]: Raph threatens Mike's remote-controlled dinosaur. Threats, implied violence, language that is apparently suggestive?, hints of mafia.

Regret [PG-13, 75, General]: Raphael reflects on his actions. Spoilers for 2k3 episode "Meet Casey Jones", violence, regret, attempted injury to sibling.

Sounds of the City [PG-13, 217, Action]: Raph listens to New York. Implied violence, implied prostitution.

Stars [PG-13, 125, General/Contemplation]: Don joins Leo in stargazing. Implied star death.

Super-Soldier Day-Care Center [PG-13, 243, Action/Adventure]: Bishop attempts to unload a miscalculation on Leo. Genetic manipulation and cloning, implied potential violence.

Superstition [PG-13, 137/97, General/Contemplation]: Shredder considers a basis for tetraphobia. Tetraphobia, implied violence.

Taking Out the Trash [PG, 335, General/Action]: Mike takes the trash out. Implied fictional violence, cat scratch.

Team Effort [PG-13, 179, Action/Contemplation]: Leo thinks about the fight completed. Implied violence, songfic.

The Twelve Days Before Christmas [PG-13, multichapter, Romance]: Rookie newspaperwoman Irma journals her life as her online friend Don (cybershell) counts down to Christmas, presenting her with gifts based on the carol "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Romance.

Two Roads [PG-16, two-part Minific, Romance] Raphael makes a decision after meeting a cute green mutant named Mona Lisa. Romance, kissing, flirting, suggestive language, violence, explosion.

Voicemail [G, 218, General/Comedy]: Don tries to acquire voicemail for the shell-cells. Phone companies, customer service.

Weapons and Warriors [PG-13, 558, Action]: A (non-comprehensive) comparison of each turtle to his chosen weapon. Violence.

What a Girl Wants [PG-16, 339, Action]: Karai has a dream about killing Leo. Death, minor gore, violence, blood, romantic implications.

X-Games, Mikey Style [PG, 277, Action]: Mike decides to super-ninja-skateboard and lands on his head. Injury, minor name-calling.

Crossover

TMNT/Tiny Toons: Elmira Sent to Rehab! [PG-16, 409, Comedy]: This star is addicted to cute bunnies, judges rule. Addiction, peeping into windows.

Other

King Richard's Daughter [PG-13, 168, Heroic Fantasy]: The princess's fate has been read; poem. Magic, kiss, implied violence, poison.

Merry Christmas, Aussie! (TMNT MiniFic: Leo in the Snow)

2010-01-20T19:42:49Z

TMNT Minific: Leo in the Snow
Rating: PG-10
Warnings: namecalling, implied minor violence
Genre: action
Characters: primarily Leo, some Mike, Don, and Raph

For Aussiegirl17 - Merry Christmas!

Leo moved silently down the branch, pausing when it began to dip under his weight. Another tree nearby looked to have been blown free of snow, and he leaped to it. It wasn't big enough to walk along the branch more than a step or two, but a quick flip took Leo across the small cleared space and into another clump of trees.

He was slowly working his way farther into the forest, hampered by the thick snow underfoot. His footprints would show up easily in it, and their strangeness would be a neon sign to his pursuer.

Actually, their strangeness would be a neon sign to anyone, but after the “green man” incident Leo suspected that people would be inclined to disbelieve anyone else claiming strange beings inhabited these woods. It would be easy to smudge the tracks in some way, too.

Smudged or otherwise less-than-pristine snow, however, would alert the tracker who followed him. Leo didn't want to make this easy for him. Leo didn't intend to be caught at all.

He glanced up at the sky, briefly, between jumps. It was moving towards late afternoon, but not near sunset yet. The coming of darkness would give him shadows to hide in, and he could return to the farmhouse.

It was miles away right now, and Leo was leading his pursuer even farther from it.

Briefly, he wondered where his brothers were. They had scattered in different directions, to make it harder, and Leo knew the pursuer had followed him uphill towards the trees. Then he had turned in a different direction, though, and Leo had lost sight of him as he ducked and weaved through the lower branches to get off the snow. He had been careful to confuse his trail by walking on mittened hands – mittens were great for leaving human-looking handprints in snow – but there weren't exactly a lot of people strolling through the forest this far from anywhere, whether by hands or not.

Hand-strolling through the forest? It was a thought worthy of Mikey, one which could only distract him from the swift economy of motion that would keep him moving until he reached the denser pine woods he was aiming for. There he would be able to hide.

But only if he got there ahead of his pursuer.

Leo was close; already a few pine trees were scattered through the forest, and he zigzagged around them on the empty branches of other giants. Where the wind had cleared branches of snow, it had not always cleared needles. Even where it had, the scent of crushed pine would carry if Leo broke one of the needles.

He paused, surveying the forest ahead for clear paths. The clumps of snow on branches were getting smaller as he made his way into thicker cover, but some of the trees no longer had lower branches. It was time to climb higher, and with that in mind he flipped to a branch above his current position before jumping to the next tree.

A flash of movement out of the corner of his eye caught his attention, and he froze.

Had that been something green? Whatever it was, it was gone now, hiding. Leo searched the trees with his gaze, knowing that if he had not yet been spotted it would be best to remain still.

Whether it was the pursuer or a brother wondering if he was still uncaptured, Leo didn't know.

And he didn't intend to wait around and find out. Calling on the stealth and invisibility that was part of his training, Leo melted around to the opposite side of the tree from where he had seen the movement and quickly put some distance between it and himself.

He came at the pines from the side, and considerably higher up than he had been. They were short, stunted little things, clustered together in a clearing where one of the huge old pines had crashed to the ground, taking at least one smaller tree with it. Leo had been here before, with his brothers; Don thought the tree was probably a casualty of a storm, and Mike thought it was great for trying to skateboard down. Raph hadn't seemed to think much of anything about it.

Leo had thought of the location as a good hiding place, if they ever needed to disappear near it, and had filed it away with the other spots scattered through the woods near the farm. Knowing the terrain helped him train ahead, whether in field exercises with his brothers or skirmishes with any of the many things they had run across that wanted to kill or capture them.

The largest trees were in their center, and that was where Leo intended to hide – once he got through the needles to the hollow he thought was likely to have formed under them. Branches near the ground tended to die out in favor of higher ones – Don had attributed it to the lower amount of sunlight near the ground.

It was a tricky task; Leo had to be able to touch the smaller trees, to bend their flexible branches aside so that his body wouldn't bend or remove needles. It was these telltale signs of passage that his pursuer would be looking for.

The old giant, stretched from its stump just at the edge of the clearing through the clearing itself, gave him the snow-free spot he needed. It was a small one, and Leo felt exposed standing on the slanting trunk trying not to cause the tree to move enough to dislodge any of the snowdrifts elsewhere on its length, but the branches bent easily enough and he was able to walk into the younger trees quietly.

He was silently grateful that there was no ice, and that it was warm enough that the sap in the tree branches hadn't frozen. Stiff branches would have made this more difficult.

Where the tree had caught on another one and still hung higher than the ground, there was a space underneath. Leo dropped into it, silent on the carpet of needles under his feet.

“Hi!”

The voice came from above him, and Leo's gaze jerked up as Mike landed lightly on the fallen tree.

“Mike, shhh!”

“It's okay – he already found me.” Mike had Don's heat-sensing goggles on. “You know, I'd win more often if he'd let me borrow this again.”

“You'll lead him to me!”

“Thanks, Mike.” Don stood at the end of the tree, bo staff firmly planted in the ground and one foot neatly balanced on it. Leo groaned softly as his ingenious brother stepped onto another snow-free patch of tree. Like Mike and Leo, Don had mittens, but unlike his brothers, he wasn't wearing the mittens at the moment.

“Don, we agreed no heat-sensing goggles this time,” Leo objected.

“I didn't. I didn't even have to bribe Mike; he asked to borrow them on his own.”

“Have you ever heard of the word 'no'?” Raph grumbled from a branch behind Don. He, too, had mittens, but was only wearing one. “Give me back my mitten, numbskull.”

Mike grinned. “Lost your mitten? Then you shall have no pie!”

Raph's eyes narrowed. “Move over, Don, I need that tree.”

Mike stuck his tongue out and darted farther along the branch, headed into the forest around them. Raph followed, slightly delayed by having to circle around the deadfall and small trees, since Don hadn't moved.

Mike yelled something Leo didn't quite catch as he climbed onto the fallen tree, but he heard Raph's shouted, “I am not a cat!” clearly and raised an eyebrow.

“Nursery rhyme,” Don clarified. “Mike said April quoted it to him yesterday when we were all looking all over the house for Mike's mittens.”

Leo nodded his understanding. “Well, I guess they'll be getting their sparring practice before they return. You want to go back to the barn and have a match?”

Don shrugged. “Sure.”

Bechdel's Test Meme

2010-01-16T19:42:05Z

Bechdel's Test fic meme

1. Name two ladies. They can be from the same fandom, or different fandoms.
2. Give a topic of conversation or other plot that does not involve a man.
3. I will write this fic.
4. Copy this meme into your journal.

In order of preference: April, Karai, Angel (TMNT - 2k3 or movie)... Velma, Daphne (Scooby Doo - What's New Scooby-Doo? or Scooby-Doo Where Are You?)... Odette, Euberta (Swan Princess - movie)... Tanya, Mallory (Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series)... Raven, Starfire (Teen Titans - animated)... Marie, Duchess, Abigail, Amelia (Aristocats)... Rogue, Kitty, Boom-Boom (X-Men Evolution).

I think I'm forgetting a few, so if you have someone in mind from one of the canons listed, go ahead and ask. I can't write everyone, but usually when I think I forgot someone I have.

Writer's Block: Horoscope and expectations

2010-01-01T18:16:20Z

Do you believe in Chinese horoscope? What do you expect from the upcoming year of Tiger?

View 76 Answers

Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, fun fun fun fun fun!

...what do you mean, "Not Tigger?" Didn't you just say Tigger? Tiger? What Tiger? You mean... there's no Year of Tigger????

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T10:06:09Z

Happy New Year to everyone who begins a new year at this time, and Happy Normal Day to everyone else.

My computer just reloaded a page I commented on before the comment I sent had registered with LJ. Should I worry about LJ's servers or just appreciate the extreme load speed?

Happy Holidays

2009-12-25T23:28:30Z

Merry Christmas!

Also: Happy Chanuka, Happy Kwanzaa, and Happy New Year's.

(Did I forget anyone's?)

Fanfic Journal-Tags Guide

2009-10-30T09:27:42Z

It occured to me that, as it is primarily for fanfics, my journal should really have more fanfic-specific tags. So I made some. This is a general guide to the new tags, and why something is tagged the way it is, designed to be comprehensive without becoming bogged down in specifics.

FANDOM TAGS:
Aristocats, Lord of the Rings (LotR), Mighty Ducks: The Animated Series (Mighty Ducks), Scooby-Doo, Swan Princess, Teen Titans, TMNT, X-men, and No-Fandom Works. Not all fandoms have fics.

FIC STYLE OR LENGTH TAGS:
Drabble is a catch-all tag for short or non-chaptered works; works labelled as "minific" use this tag, as well as those labelled as "drabble". Fanfic denotes all fanfictions regardless of length. Poetry denotes works intended to be poetry or of an obviously lyrical style. Sentences denotes sets of sentences, usually based around a single character. Multichaptered works are tagged by the title of the work, or in the case of long titles, by a "short title" which will be specified in the chapter guide (for instance, The Twelve Days Before Christmas is tagged with the short title Twelve Days).

RATING TAGS:
Ratings are designated by the tag "rating: " plus the rating itself.

Rating:	Description:
G	Safe for general audiences. No language, typically no romance and no violence.
PG	Most of the way safe for general audiences, although younger children may require supervision. No language, only very subtle light or implied romance, no specific violence although mild violence may be implied.
PG
PG-10	Intended for persons ten and older, although some minors may require supervision. No language, only subtle light or implied romance, mild playful or cartoony violence.
PG-10
PG-13	Intended for persons thirteen and older, although some minors may require supervision. Only minimal canon language, light or implied romance, mild or implied violence, no specific or onscreen torture or dark themes.
PG-13
PG-16	Intended for persons sixteen or older although some minors may require supervision. Canon language, minimal other language among bad guys, light innuendo, light romance, non-graphic or implied medium romance, non-graphic non-frequent torture, violence, non-graphic non-frequent blood and gore, non-graphic dark themes.


R	Intended for adults. Canon language, other language among bad guys, minimal or implied other language among good guys, innuendo, medium romance, implied or non-graphic heavy romance, graphic non-frequent torture, non-graphic frequent torture, blood, gore, graphic violence, dark themes.


Low	Fics rated PG-13 or lower.
High	Fics rated PG-16 or higher.

GENRE, HOLIDAY, AND SEASONAL TAGS:
Genre tags are designated by "genre: " followed by the genre. Fics may have more than one genre; the genre system is not so much a hard-and-fast designation as a way to choose a subject matter. Genre tags apply exclusively to fanfic entries. Holiday tags are Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Birthday (primarily denoting giftfics). Currently, the only seasonal tag is Winter, although that will probably change. Holiday and seasonal tags also apply to non-fanfic entries.

CHARACTER TAGS:
Character tags are denoted by "character: " and the character's name. In the case of X-men, characters are tagged by a single name regardless of whether the fic involves the character costumed or uncostumed; in the case of TMNT, Mike's alter-ego Turtle Titan and Raph's alter-ego Nightwatcher both have their own tags. Not all character tags denote fics; some lead to memes which involve writing about or to the character so tagged.

Suggestions for new tags are welcome; this more-detailed tagging system is still new to me.

TMNT Drabble: Act of Kindness

2009-10-29T07:50:23Z

TMNT Drabble

Prompt: “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop
Prompt From: tmnt_tuesdays
Rating: PG
Warnings: Hunger, homelessness.
Word Count: 325

Splinter scrabbled through the trash, his small paws pushing aside odds and ends of not-food. It was amazing, the amount of things that the humans threw into the place-that-has-food that simply weren’t food.

Like this: a metal can that smelled something like coffee, but was empty.

It was the perfect thing to store food in. Grabbing it, he worked it back out of the dumpster and pushed it over to fall on the ground. He could put any extra food he found in it for later.

For now, his stomach was telling him that it would gladly store anything he found.

A door clanged open suddenly, and he darted under a piece of crumpled paper. There was a thump, and some panting, and a bag hit the trash so close that it knocked the paper aside.

“Hey!”

Memories of humans trying to kill him surfaced. Splinter darted under something else and began worming his way farther into the trash.

“Hey, rat. Come on out, I won’t hurt you.” There was a long pause; Splinter waited. Ninja were always silent. “Come on, I have a pet rat at home.”

That brought thoughts of Yoshi and Teng Shen, and Splinter couldn’t have seen through the tears in his eyes to walk if he had wanted.

“Alright, then. Well, I bet you’re hungry; there’s some old pizza crusts in here….” Splinter heard the bag rip open, and some shifting. “There you go. I gotta get back inside, okay? I hope you get this pizza.”

The door banged open and closed again. Splinter waited.

Finally, when every sense told him the human was gone, he came out, sniffing cautiously.

There were more than just the promised crusts: nearly an entire slice of pizza lay by the ripped bag, surrounded by crusts and mostly-eaten pieces, and there was some salad just visible still in the bag.

More than enough for both stomach and can.

Silently thankful, Splinter set to eating.