For all you shatter is our seeming, And in breaking we are free

You know sometimes you have a thought, and it's an excellent thought, but you don't know what to do with it?

I was just thinking, Irish Mythology and the Tuatha Dé Danann, a couple of my favourite figures are Nuada Airgetlám (because he's fairly sensible and humble as conquering kings go) and Lugh Lámhfhada (because he's a trickster king), and I was thinking idly that if you anglicised and modernised the names a bit, taking into account that Lugh's dad is Cian, what you might come up with is Ned Silver and "Longhand" Lou McKeane. Which ... I mean, tell me those aren't the protagonists of a western here. Or bankrobbers during the Great Depression or what have you. Especially considering that Lugh is one of the best shots in Irish Mythology (knocked Balor's eye through the back of his head with a slingshot and all), and a calm, soft-spoken man with a metal hand (Nuada's called 'silver hand' for a reason) hidden by a glove is never out of place in a western.

I just ... I kinda want to do something with it, but I'm not sure what. All I have is a pair of names. Ned Silver & Longhand Lou McKeane. They just sound like they should be in a western, you know? A pair of reincarnated Irish gods wandering the old west, one calm and level-headed with a prosthetic hand and a hell of a haymaker, the other kinda arrogant and hotheaded but with the pistol skills to back it up.

Eh. Western AU of Irish Mythology. Maybe I'll get around to it someday.

These are just about 1700 words of rough notes, mostly outlining, research and associations, that I did in preparation for the Walpurgis Nacht story. Normally I wouldn't post these, but the stuff about the Harz and the Piper is really kind of interesting, so I thought I'd throw them up as well. The actual story shifted a bit from this outline as I was fighting with it (seriously, there were five separate drafts and two months of fighting involved), but since they're only rough notes I figured I'd leave them.

I was sort of absent and unconscious yesterday, due to a crushing migraine. They're getting more regular again, but I suspect that's partly due to increased stress lately (my mother is deteriorating a bit the last couple of months). I think I've forgotten to reply to some people: I'll try and find them later, yes?

However. Just for a random sideline into things my migraine-fried brain decided to think about:

- I tend to get a shower when I've a migraine, because I like to crouch and press my head into the tiled corner of the stall so there's cool pressure around my head while the water keeps the rest of me warm. I usually lean all my weight on my head, but when it gets too much I bring my knees up against the wall too. For some reason, this made me wonder if this was how they originally came up with the idea of flying buttresses in gothic architecture? Because you can really feel the different in weight when you do that.

- Completely random, but you know in daemon AUs? The ones based on the His Dark Materials trilogy? I kind of want to see a fic where someone has a hippopotamus for a daemon. You know: "Yes, I'm a big, stupid-looking herbivore, but honey, when I walk in a room there are apex predators who get the hell out of my way". Like that? I'm not sure who'd have that kind of daemon, though. The only person I can think of off the top of my head is maybe Bruce Banner? I'd also like to see a female-female human-daemon pair where the daemon is a hyena, signifying a leader and an apex hunter (hyenas have something like a 70-80% success rate when hunting, compared to things like 30-40% for wolves and lions). Again, not sure who'd have that, but Wonder Woman/Diana might be a candidate?

I also had a kind of fever-dream type thing where something started out as a Downey!verse Holmes daemon AU and rapidly became some weird, fae, avian-shapeshifter style story. It was ... very weird, and I think I don't tend to think in straight lines when I'm in pain -_-;

*shakes head* Anyway. This post was brought to you by random migraine imaginings. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Following on from Southwark Babble Post II: Geography and Politics, this post in on the major characters/people of the Story Arc.

Well. Not so much a fic as a concept piece. I've been wanting to play with Thor, Tony, magic vs technology, and the issues with the Allspeak for a while now. This scene was the only thing that came out. Um. Apologies in advance?

Title: With Only A Lexicon
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Avengers movieverse
Characters/Pairings: Tony, Bruce, Thor, JARVIS, original non-human character, mention of Natasha. Tony & Bruce & JARVIS & Thor
Summary: Tony, Bruce, Thor and JARVIS examine what seems to be an alien golem that attacked New York, and slowly realise they may have made a small mistake
Wordcount: 3453
Warnings/Notes: Experimental. Sci-fi, AI, magic vs technology. Captivity and fear, reverse alien abduction.
Disclaimer: Not mine

A fantasy/historical AU set in an alternate Europe (think high medieval Venice). Essentially, Tony-Pepper-Rhodey set in an alterate medieval city state, wherein they scheme and take turns saving each other. It wouldn't leave until I did something with it -_-;

Title: Champion
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Avengers movieverse
Characters/Pairings: James Rhodes, Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, mention of Obie, Jarvis (as Jarveth), Happy and Steve Rogers. Tony/Pepper, Tony & Rhodey, Rhodey & Pepper
Summary: The Lord and Lady Stark of the city state of Lengelos want the ex-mercenary knight Sir James of Rhodios to serve as their champion at the Ten Kingdoms Tournament. James ... may take some persuading
Wordcount: 5392
Warnings/Notes: this is a test piece because the idea would not leave until I did something with it. This one is NOT guaranteed (or even particularly likely) to go anywhere. *shrugs sheepishly* Also, some warnings for pseudo-medieval views on race and gender, but only vaguely
Disclaimer: Not mine

I'm not sure yet if this one is worth continuing, so consider it a test piece, yes? *shakes head at self* And my apologies for not replying to earlier entries yet, it's ... been one of those days.

Title: The Long Line Of Locks
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Avengers movieverse
Characters/Pairings: Bruce, Tony, JARVIS, General Ross. Gen, so far
Summary: Behind the long line of locks, Bruce waits for a chance to escape. Collared, imprisoned, property of the army. Until Lord Mage Anthony Stark ... decides he's not having that
Wordcount: 3049
Warnings/Notes: Fantasy AU. Warnings for imprisonment, slavery, violence, implications of experimentation
Disclaimer: Not mine

I'd forgotten, I think, how good buses are for quality story-plotting time. Two days spent in transit, with nothing to hand except an actual paper journal (*grins*), watching the world go by the windows. Truly, there is nothing better for thinking time than (long distance) public transport.

The past two days on said buses, therefore, have resulted in two primary thoughts:

- The first is that my major problem with writing original fiction is that I have problems holding things over a longer term. Long stories and me are famously ... hit and miss -_-; I'm better at one-shots and sequential fics. So. Posited solution? Write something that is designed to be sequential. An episode-structured story, that can build a universe over a deliberate series of one-shots. This ... might work, yes? Well, it worked for Lord Dunsany, anyway. *grins faintly* Worth a try.

- The second was ... well, possibly such a story. Heh. I've been reading The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi on and off over the past few days, which is prompting my mind down strange paths, where it bumps into things like Inception, and Irish Mythology, and the concept of psychopomps, and Weregild, and Neil Gaiman, and Catherine Webb ... *grins* Maybe I might try my hand at a modern myth cycle, is what I'm saying. I have some ideas for the construction of a multi-myth universe, based in Irish mythology for a change. Heh. Sort of. Partially. I might try and work up a concept sketch in the next couple of days, see how feasible the thought is. But, the thought of being able to play with certain mythological figures in a universe of my own construction is ... tempting. *grins*

Specific figures that have been skirting the edges of my thoughts on the matter, at least in concept, being Manannan Mac Lir, Anubis, Yahweh, Odin, Janus, the Ghede ... Psychopomps, I think is the theme. The between gods. There's a reason for that. Heh. I have the shape of this thing in my head. Not sure how much of it will work, but ...

*thinky thoughts* Be nice to play with mythology off my own bat, yes? *grins* Which might be more a slightly older style of fanfiction than original work, but ... *shrugs, grins*

Researching stuff for possible AUs leads you to some truly fantastic places, you know that?

For example, researching Persian names. A lot of them had in the 'meanings' section the explanation 'character from the Shahnameh'. I had never heard of the Shahnameh, so I looked it up. And now I really, really, really want to know if there are any reasonably decent english translations, or, failing that, how hard it is to learn Modern Persian.

I also got potholed into reading about Zoroastrianism (which might have been useful for Highlander fanfic) and the Islamic conquest of Persia, which was an interesting half an hour (nowhere near enough time to do the subject justice, obviously, but I have to get back on track sometime).

Also, random-but-slightly-related question, as an Arabic version of 'Aziraphale', which of these names sound the best?
Ashraf - most honourable
Azhar - ,most shining, luminous
Azzam - determined, resolved

I went looking for names that sounded vaguely similar, obviously, but those three had meanings that pinged, too. Personally, I sort of like 'Azhar', because it fits really nicely with an image I have in my head plus the whole angel thing, but 'Azzam' too, because ... well, 'Zira's a stubborn SOB when he wants to be. *grins*

Crowley is much harder to find, since arabic as a language doesn't seem to be fond of 'c' names, but 'Karim', meaning generous, is interesting ... of course, Crowley might not actually need a name, beyond ...

Anyway! Enough rambling for the day ...