Tag: fun stuff

Amortentia: Talk about 3 things you love. / Babbling Beverage: what kind of person are you when you’re drunk/hyped up on caffeine? / Cure for Boils: Write about three pet peeves. / Invigoration Draught: how do you wake up in the mornings? / Wolfsbane: What’s the biggest change you’ve experienced in the past year?

aww, thank you friend! and thank you particularly for copy/pasting the questions – clearly you understand what “brain going fzzt” means!

Amortentia: Talk about 3 things you love: I just – really love Tolkien’s works, you know? I remember seeing and reading The Hobbit when I was about 12 or so and just falling in love completely and that never went away. There’s just something about that world that feels right and good and that I just understand better on some level than the one I live in. idk – I think 12-year-old me heard the dwarves’ song and went “welp, guess I’m ruined then.”

I also love music. For someone who gets overstimmed from noise as easily as I do, that’s kind of odd, but it’s true – I’m an absolute snob about harpsichord vs the wrong kind of piano music (Schubert, I’m looking at you, pal). Generally I’m really just all about instruments from before the mid-18th century or so – which of course makes my love for Black Sails all the more fierce because hurdy. fucking. GURDY.

A year ago I probably would have said that I love books and to some degree it’s still true, but honestly I’m starting to wonder if I love books or if I was just a spectacularly lonely child looking for something to cling to and landed on it in the form of books and their worlds full of people I could pretend to be who weren’t lonely or ignored, so… yeah, there’s that. Um – I love pizza? Kind of a lot. Kind of probably too much but man – cheese on bread with delicious tomato sauce in between. With mushrooms. That. Delicious.

Babbling Beverage: what kind of person are you when you’re drunk/hyped up on caffeine? Well, I’ve never actually been drunk. I’ve most definitely been hyped up on caffeine though and I can say categorically that the more caffeine I have, the less friendly I become, probably because that much caffeine tends to go with lack of sleep. I also develop a nice eyelid twitch. I genuinely have no idea what I’m like under normal circumstances having chosen actively to consume too much alcohol or caffeine – although the one time I did get possibly a little tipsy while on vacation recently, it was kind of a gigglefest

Cure for Boils: Write about three pet peeves – oh woof. Um – I live in the US, so there’s… so much opportunity for people to be annoying in little, stupid ways here. Particularly though, I really hate being asked “why are you so quiet? Are you ok?” Yes, I’m ok. No, I don’t feel the need to talk all the time. It’s an irritating question for any introvert. For some reason I hate people leaving the dishwasher door open, and I get kind of peeved when people pile laundry up outside the hamper instead of putting it in, but only if it’s going to block a path to another room. 

Invigoration Draught: how do you wake up in the mornings? – I used to answer this with “badly, with a great deal of grumbling.” I’m getting a lot more sleep these days though, so now the answer is “in stages, with a great deal of rolling over and going back to sleep involved.” Really, though, I usually turn my lamp on, get my chromebook, and scroll tumblr until I’m ready to face leaving my bed.

Wolfsbane: What’s the biggest change you’ve experienced in the past year? This has been a year full of nothing but change for me. In the past year, I’ve changed jobs, I’ve changed towns I work in, I’ve met someone I now consider nothing less than a sister, and I’ve plucked up the courage to go on international travels on my own. it’s funny what happens when you get to the age of 29 and realize that you’ve been miserable for ages and things need to change.

Get to know me tag

Tagged by @xpityx. Thanks!

Rules: Answer 30 questions then tag 20 blogs you’d like to know better

Nickname: Meg McGraw

Gender: Cis Female

Zodiac: Virgo

Height: 5’6

Age: 29

Time: past my bedtime o’clock 

Favorite
Bands/Solo Artists: Oh gods – there are a lot of solo artists and bands both. Loreena McKennitt, Damh the Bard, Heather Dale, the Jolly Rogers, Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird, Gaelic Storm, Wardruna, Show of Hands, basically any soundtrack by Basil Poledouris, Hans Zimmer, Howard Shore, or Ramin Djawadi

Song stuck in my head: The Ballad of Three Kings by Leslie Fish

Last movie I saw: I honestly don’t remember – I feel like it was something I didn’t expect to enjoy as much as I did though

Last thing I googled: The Favorite trailer

Other Blogs: I really don’t blog elsewhere

Do I get asks: not very often – I feel like I’ve probably got a few sitting on the back burner I should have answered ages ago.

Why
I chose my username: Because – I mean, have you seen James Flint’s hair? 

Following: 317

Average amount of sleep: 6 hours. I’m trying to change that though – I need more

Lucky Number: Don’t really have one

What am I wearing: PJs

Dream Job: Um… I’m close enough to it, I guess? I’m a lot closer to it these days at least, but ideally – idk, liaison librarian instead of user services?

Dream Trip: I’d really love to do a bit of traveling in the Mediterranean area

Favorite Food: Spaghetti

Play any Instrument: I had classes on the autoharp but it’s been years since I’ve so much as touched one

Favorite Song: That’s like asking me to pick a favorite pet – can’t do it

Play(ed) any sport: Nope. I’m a sometime archer, but that’s not playing a sport, that’s mastering a skill, since I don’t compete

Hair Colour: Dark brown

Eye Colour: Also dark brown

Language you speak/are learning: Speak English, have basic proficiency in French, and three semesters of Latin, with smatterings of Sindarin and a few other things – look, I’m a language geek, ok?

Random Fact: I don’t drink soda unless I’ve had a really rough day, so if you catch me with a coke in hand, it’s usually wise to steer clear

Describe yourself as an aesthetic/things: um – Bilbo Baggins meets Evelyn O’Connell except I know not to poke at Suspicious Magical Objects? Books, tea, swords, ink, candlelight, and soft pillows.

Tagging @la-tarasque, @kun-is-my-daddy, and whoever else wants to do this, as I’m way too lazy to tag twenty people. 

James/Miranda and Charles/Madi for the meme thing please? (I’m saving your chapter for on the train home today)

oooh, thank you! I hope you like the chapter when you get the chance to read it!

Send me a ship and I will tell you:

James/Miranda:

  • When I started shipping them: I didn’t ship them really until I started to understand just what Miranda had given up for her men and how much she really loved James – so, as of the middle of s2 or so, because up to that point I kind of had misgivings about her but I repent. I was wrong. 
  • My thoughts: They just… they love each other so much, in whatever sense you want to take that, although I do tend to interpret it in a “they’re pretty much common law married and what they have isn’t the fiery, passionate love that James and Thomas have but it’s comfortable and it’s warm and it’s just as real for all that.” James says it himself – he lost Thomas and has never been the same since but Miranda’s death ruined him in so many ways. She stayed for him, she tucked herself away in the interior so he wouldn’t face the prospect of losing her too, so she’d be safe and he could sleep at night, and for her he burned a city and started a war and killed Alfred Hamilton, because she asked/ordered him to do it. And yes they do things to each other that are not great but by the end of s2 they’re so CLOSE to being back on the same page, hell, they’re there – they’re united in their rage, finally, and in what they want to do about it. 
  • What makes me happy about them: He brings her books, she patches him up when he’s gotten injured, her house is quite clearly where he allows himself to be James again instead of Flint – they’re just so. fucking. cute together, in London too. They start off with laughter and teasing and by the end of s2 we see them starting to do that again – starting to laugh together, and cry together, and starting to be ok again.
  • What makes me sad about them: they spend so much time together but apart, hurting and snapping at one another and missing Thomas so very much, and by the time they start to come back together and help each other cope – by the time they start to be united again – it’s too late and Miranda dies. 
  • Things done in fanfic that annoys me: fanfics where James and Thomas are together and don’t so much as think about Miranda. she was a huge part of their lives, and as much as they are true love personified, she was so very important to both of them and both of them loved her in their own way. 
  • Things I look for in fanfic: Miranda being present, and involved, and allowed the full range of emotion that we see her express in canon. I love her, and I also love that her patience is far from infinite, her temper is fiery as hell when roused, and she’s got a distinct tendency to mock people when they’re being awful – or silly. Let Miranda be the political manipulator and all ‘round badass that she is, damn it!
  • My wishlist: So much more Miranda lives fic. Fic that centers on her and James in London. Miranda reincarnation fic where she gets to write music and be famous and have her men and be happy. AU fic where Miranda survives Charlestown and James and Thomas get her back. Miranda and Thomas time travel fic where both of them find themselves back in London before The Fall and together they kick Alfred’s ass with a singleminded focus that’s absolutely terrifying because they are both DONE, and then they go and find younger James and proceed to be happy forever.
  • Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: hmm. Miranda and Gates? Maybe? James and Thomas obviously, that’s not in any question. 
  • My happily ever after for them: Is yet to be written. I’m working on it – I’ve got a fic in the works, but it’s taking a back seat to some other things at the moment. Basically, though, Miranda lives, joins James in making England pay, and then they find Thomas and take care of him

Charles/Madi:

  • When I started shipping them: Just after s4, actually. 
  • My thoughts: these two would be so. fucking. good together. 

    They had a lot in common – parental figures they don’t always listen to but that love them, backgrounds as former child slaves, a burning hatred of slavery and those who perpetrate it, respect for James, leadership styles based on respect and strength rather than shame, willingness to lay down their lives for their cause if necessary, former partners who betray and use them for their own gain. They could talk each other through some of their issues – Charles has been through the “someone I loved turned on me” thing and Madi has lived her life among people who have been through what Charles has been through in terms of recognizing that some part of him has had it forcibly beaten into him that orders are safe and good and following them is better than having ideas of his own. Also he could learn to braid her hair and she could do his and he could teach her to fight and she could read to him. 

  • What makes me happy about them: they’re just… so right for each other? They could be an amazing King of Nassau and Maroon Queen together. They could give the empires of the world such an ass-kicking they’d never recover from it. They’d understand each other’s commitment to their people and their ideals.
  • What makes me sad about them: That they never actually share a scene together or got to know each other. It’s a serious waste of what could have been one hell of a power couple.
  • Things done in fanfic that annoys me: um, nothing really? I’m literally the only one writing these two together.  
  • Things I look for in fanfic: literally I would LOVE to see anyone at all other than me give these two a try as a pairing. 
  • My wishlist: again – anyone aside from me writing them. at all. in any scenario. but if I get to actually make wishes – a fic where they’re together from the beginning, or a slow burn fic where they spend the series making cow eyes at each other but come together really as a couple when the war starts in s3. that and just fluff with the two of them having lazy mornings and getting to laugh and tease and be cute together.
  • Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: Madi/Eme is my other ship for Madi (and I don’t care, the ship name is Meme, damn it!), and for Charles, Charles/Jack.
  • My happily ever after for them: Charles lives through s3. Madi realizes that Silver’s angling for her to give up everything for him, tells him where to get off, and goes to be with Charles instead. The two of them proceed to run the war together and win and then settle down to rule together.

Lotr and Black Sails

Thanks, Anon! I’ll do Lotr first:

  • Favorite character: The prize has to go to Boromir, I think, for a whole host of reasons, but I particularly love that he’s the voice of reason and caution in the Fellowship, and also just an awesome character in the movies.
  • Least Favorite character: you know, I’m not sure I have one? I love them all for their own reasons, and I mean – even Gollum is a good CHARACTER. um…. can I say Wormtongue? There’s just nothing redeemable there, really, and he’s creepy to boot. 
  • 5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Faramir/Eowyn, Aragorn/Arwen, Legolas/Gimli, Frodo/Sam (because OH COME ON), and Eomer/a good night’s sleep
  • Character I find most attractive: Has to be Aragorn. I mean – speaks god alone knows how many languages, highly skilled with various types of weapons, AND canonically soft-spoken and gentle? sign me up please
  • Character I would marry: Again – Aragorn, if he weren’t slightly massively in love with Arwen and she with him. So, barring that – idk, Eomer seems pretty decent.
  • Character I would be best friends with: I feel like Gimli and I would get on just fine. And probably Eowyn – similar interests, and we’ve both gotten saddled with the burdens of older relatives who don’t have their shit together (voluntary or not). 
  • a random thought: my random thought of the day is that Thorin Oakenshield saved Frodo’s life and in the process the entirety of Middle Earth by giving Bilbo that mithril shirt
  • An unpopular opinion: idk if I have any of those really? I’m not involved at all with any fandom drama I see happening. I don’t see Aragorn/Legolas, I guess? idk
  • My Canon OTP: Celeborn/Galadriel
  • My Non-canon OTP: Legolas/Gimli
  • Most Badass Character: let’s be real it’s Eowyn
  • Most Epic Villain: the Witch King. Sauron is an eyeball, Gollum just likes that juicy fish, and then you have the Witch King riding a dragon-thing and getting shit done. Of course, then too, you have Khamul his lieutenant who nearly murders everything in Mirkwood off-screen so… toss-up?
  • Pairing I am not a fan of: Merry/Pippin oh my gods they’re COUSINS stop
  • Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): none of them, they’re all good. ask me about the Hobbit and I’ll go on a rant for you
  • Favourite Friendship: there are so many good ones! there’s Aragorn + Legolas, Bilbo + Aragorn and Eowyn + Merry and Pippin + Faramir and… ok you can’t possibly make me choose, they’re all amazing, it’s what the whole trilogy turns on
  • Character I most identify with: Eowyn. Been there, darling, done that, good gods hand me that sword because let me tell you I get the frustration
  • Character I wish I could be: honestly? you couldn’t pay me enough to have Aragorn’s life, Boromir’s life is equally shitty, good gods no I do NOT want to be Faramir or Eomer or Eowyn, Elrond’s life is a whole pile of fuck no, Galadriel’s life is also filed under “too much drama in the early years” – um. I guess what I’m saying is that I’d rather be Treebeard? Gets to sleep for long periods of time, wakes up for long enough to fuck up everyone’s shit, and gets to live in a forest. Or maybe Tom Bombadil – again, seems to have it pretty cushy despite living at the edge of a Very Scary place.

Black Sails:

  • Favorite character: James Flint McGraw, hands down, no question
  • Least Favorite character: Alfred Hamilton, closely tied with Peter Ashe and Silver. they’re the unholy trio of straight white men who just don’t get it
  • 5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): James/Thomas, James/Thomas/Miranda, Madi/Vane, Featherstone/Idelle, Max/Anne/Jack yes as an OT3 wherein the first two are lesbians but Jack is there in the relationship as part of the throuple in whatever context they’re comfortable with 
  • Character I find most attractive: James Flint McGraw but Thomas Hamilton is a close second and Max comes third with the proviso that I’m ace af so this is all at an aesthetic level
  • Character I would marry: um… speaking realistically? Jack. He’s probably the most well-adjusted of the bunch with regards to actually making certain he’s taking his partner’s needs and feelings into account.
  • Character I would be best friends with: Probably Idelle? She’s just.. she’s cool, ok? and protective and loyal and smart
  • a random thought: I need to write Idelle at some point because I have not yet and that is a shame
  • An unpopular opinion: um… anyone who’s been following me knows that I have lots of those. I am a fount, if you like, of unpopular opinions in this fandom, the chief of which is that Silver isn’t worth the air he breathes and that Madi and Vane should have gotten together
  • My Canon OTP: James/Thomas
  • My Non-canon OTP: Madi/Vane
  • Most Badass Character: James Flint McGraw, there can be no other, although the runners up are Charles Vane and Madi, they are my darlings and I love them
  • Most Epic Villain: Hmm. Are we measuring in terms of “damage done”, or are we measuring in terms of being memorable? Because I’d say in terms of “good gods you just… you just absolutely fucked up everything completely what the FUCK dude?” that’s Silver and Alfred Hamilton. They both just… just completely betrayed the people closest to them for their own gain and I’m sorry but they’re both villains on a scale I can’t forgive. Ever. If we’re talking in terms of being memorable as hell – that’s got to be Ned Lowe, because seriously wow talk about being sadistic and standout in terms of just sheer brutality. And also a great reminder that there are pirates and then there are Pirates and that there’s a reason society cast all pirates as monsters. 
  • Pairing I am not a fan of: S*lver/fl*nt. sorry, just can’t. similarly Madi/Flint is just not my jam, even though I love both characters individually. 
  • Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): um… they slightly did not do a good job of Vane’s character arc, in that it took me several months after the finale of s4 to figure out wtf was going on in his head in s1 because it just does NOT match the rest of the character after that point at all. There’s coherence to his arc, there really is, but it’s just not telegraphed very well at all, and they could have done better, I think. Also Julius was underused – you have this badass ex-slave freedom fighter with his own agenda and then he gets what – three, four scenes at most? 
  • Favourite Friendship: Madi and James. They’re just so fucking good for each other throughout s4, I have so many feels
  • Character I most identify with: depends on the day, but I seem to have found my inner Flint since the finale. Prior to that I would probably have said Miranda or Thomas. 
  • Character I wish I could be: let’s face it – at the end of the day, Anne’s got it pretty good. She’s got Jack, she’s got Max, she’s got a command position on their ship, and she still gets to stab people when necessary. Yeah – I could stand being Anne.

Charles

Ah, Anon, I do believe you’ve guessed what I’m working on! There’s a decent amount of Charles in this chapter:

Charles starts, and she sits down next to him.

Charles bows his head.

Charles nods.

She has just enough time to shake her head before Cornelius walks back through the door, and then there is only the washing, and blood, and Charles’ hand on her own, squeezing until it is over.

Miranda, frustrated, sausages. For the WIP thing

Miranda: 

He takes a brief moment to thank whatever God has made them both that he has provided such infinite means of satisfying their urges, then recalls that such a prayer is probably sacrilegious at the very least, which reminds him of something he had meant to tell James – something he had thought on, in the interminable years without him, that his lover and Miranda would have – appreciated –

Frustrated:

Frustrated doesn’t appear but frustration does, so here you have it!

His lover’s skin gleams with sweat- his chest is heaving, his eyes are screwed shut, and then they flutter open, and he looks up at Thomas, frustration flickering over his face.

Sausages does not make an appearance, but oddly enough another breakfast food that’s related does, so I’m stretching the definition a bit:

“I don’t know about you,” James says, leaning closer and speaking quietly, “but I intend to go and see if the cook can’t be prevailed upon to liberate a few eggs and slice some ham since they saw fit to butcher three pigs not long ago. I’d imagine they’ll need the room in their stores. Care to join me?”

3, 5, 9 :)

thanks for the ask! I’ve answered all of these here: http://flintsredhair.tumblr.com/post/164579332807/3-5-7-for-the-writer-ask-meme and here: http://flintsredhair.tumblr.com/post/164578915827/9-and-10-for-the-writers-ask-meme but let’s answer number 9 again for some other stuff I haven’t done yet since I’ve got a lot on my plate:

9: what’s the aesthetic of your current work?

Reclamation (aka that fic where Vane lives past canon): muggy, humid days. Anger. Shouting and hands gripped around coat fronts to shake some sense into someone. Conversations had over a decent amount of alcohol, weeping, grief-stricken silence. Glances shared between odd allies, hands meeting for the first time, unexpected laughter, books opening and closing, relieved hugs.

Fluff fic: the aftermath of an attack on a merchant ship. Pained groans, coins clinking, arguments behind closed doors, wood splintering. A noisy tavern, the smell of rum, a flash of red hair and relieved, happy sobbing.

9 and 10 for the writer’s ask meme?

10 I answered here: http://flintsredhair.tumblr.com/post/164578475347/10-for-the-writers-ask-meme

9!  what is the aesthetic of your current project?

Hmm. Cup of their Deserving: Sunlight. Soft blankets. Comfortable quiet. Comfort. Healing. That feeling you get when you wake up after a long, hard night with the knowledge that the day marks the end of it.

Full of Grace: Darkness. Cold. Snow, and tension, and crackling fire in the hearth but no comfort to be had off of it for what’s being discussed. Half-drunk glasses of whiskey and whispers. Breathe hanging in the air and screaming, tears and angry shouting. Blood spilled and horses rushing over cobblestones.

And the Sea With Its Deepness: Sea. The sound of wooden ships creaking and groaning, sails flapping in the breeze, cannon fire, swords clashing, tense meetings in alleyways, insects chattering and a breeze blowing through an open balcony door. Maps spread over tables.