flash'd as they turn'd in air.

[damkianna]

YAY I DIDN'T FORGET TO POST YAY. \o/ I put a reminder in my calendar and everything, ugh, I was so nervous. :P Though the general drift of the story is, um, my usual (male character bites it, ladies everywhere, happy endings all around), it's kind of different stylistically - more serious, and probably more pretentious. D: But I think it turned out okay, and, bonus, I really like the title. (I hate titling things.) idriya is making absolutely BEAUTIFUL art, which I temporarily have all to myself because she's a perfectionist and insists that it's not done yet. But it should be up soon, and I will definitely link to it (less likely) or post it myself (far more likely, because idriya is lazy that way unless it's my birthday).

... **starts planning for ladiesbigbang Round 2.5**

And thelittlebang is having another extension! It's awful that the mods are having RL difficulties, but I can't say I'm not grateful for the extra time to prod my draft, because this story's sort of huge and I'm still not sure the pacing's quite right.

But! I watched the pilot of Once Upon a Time. And I am cautiously optimistic! I am a sucker for fairy tale retellings, I really like Emma, and I'm looking forward to next week - this week was very setup-y, which I get, and which is better than rushing it and ending up with a mess like The Cape, but all the same I am looking forward to more substantive plotful things happening in realtime instead of in flashbacks.

I'll admit that it annoys me for the evil queen to be mayor and an adoptive mother - I mean, evil queen = authority figure = mayor, I get that even if I don't like it, but associating adoptive single mothers with evil is going to make me look at you pretty askance. But I am really, really grateful that they didn't have Emma all sweeping the kid up in her arms at first sight and ~knowing he was her kid before he even said anything and all that, and if they end with her taking up guardianship of him, well, here's hoping they do it with a modicum of care. **crosses fingers** I set the TV up to record this one, so even if I forget when it's on I should be able to keep up pretty easily.

... I really will try to get a chapter of LttE out before Christmas, I swear.

Comments

[mercredigirl]

I loved the story! When the notification arrived in my email, I was dancing with joy, and then I saw the word count, and the cast list, and it was fantastic and I love how you save Alia from the trope of Too Much Knowledge, Bad for the Womenfolk that she gets in canon.

[damkianna]

\o/ I'm so glad! I always get so anxious about these fics that are SO CLEARLY my tendency toward self-indulgence on display - why yes, all my favorite characters do become BFFs who are in charge of all the things! - and it is such a relief to me when other people enjoy them, too. :D And, ugh, yes, I hated that; Alia is so awesome and complicated and REGENT OF THE UNIVERSE, and then ... the power is too much and she loses it and turns evil and stabs herself. :/ Blargh.

[havocthecat]

I love that Emma was freaked the hell out constantly by Henry. It was realistic! (As was Emma staggering after taking off her heels, and not running in them. As also was Snow staggering and walking doubled over just after giving birth. You literally cannot walk straight after that.)

I'm frustrated by the evil queen being an evil adoptive mother. I would have preferred her being the mayor and having Hansel and Gretel's stepmother running an orphanage or something. That would make more sense to me.

LttE: Win!

[damkianna]

Yes! I so utterly hate things where people who had no idea they had a kid, or gave their kid up to adoption a really long time ago, are somehow ~drawn to their kid, or suddenly are very PARENT PARENT PARENT - not that it can't ever happen that way, but it feels like it's every single time. :P Emma taking off the heels was great - I don't usually wear heels, but I know that when I do, I definitely look exactly like that the second I get into the hallway at home.

Yeah, I am not super pleased about that. :/ Honestly, there were a lot of things they could have done that I would have preferred, it would not have been difficult.

:D I know it's been forever, but I really am still working on it!

[havocthecat]

I love that Emma had good, valid reasons for giving Henry up for adoption, and that he understood them. (I mean, it was awfully mature for a 10 year old, but he's a 10 year old fairy tale boy, which means he's going to have some mature reasoning.)

I do love that Emma hadn't made up her mind until she heard Regina's answer to whether or not she loved Henry, and (yay, superpowers!) then she decided to give Henry the week he asked for. I mean, I wanted her to leap into it and give him that chance right away, but that's me, and I ultimately did prefer the realistic way the writers went about it and waited.

[damkianna]

Omg, yes, this exactly, how do you always say what I'm thinking??? - despite the evil adoptive mom fail, I feel like someone on the writing team must have actually been thinking about this, because they really did do some things right. And yes, while my secret squishy heart-of-hearts would have liked her to jump in, it's kind of big to suddenly take a week to go off to Maine to an incredibly peculiar town because your kid you thought you'd never see again asked you to. So it made sense for her to take a little time deciding.