Arrant Nonsense

...edited the BeagleFic for pro-publication. I sent it off to my (published) Mom for perusal, and she hasn't gotten back to me with it yet, which of course makes me wonder if it sucks big green mossy rocks. *is insecure*

So, what have I been doing with my time today? Well, this game is addictive. Yay for a cute dragon and setting off fireworks. Did I icon him? Yes, yes I did. Me =


That being said, I have other icons to post too. Which I will procede to do. A bunch of Illyria, a couple of AtS general ones, a House, a kitty, several Firefly. (Yes, I know about the Special Hell for the Zayne ones. Shut up.) Without further ado:

Teasers:


More this way...
( Eight Firefly )

( Six Illyria )

( Seven Angel the Series )

And wrote a sort of meta essay about her and vulnerability:

Something someone said in a review the other day sparked some thoughts about Illyria: "You write her surprisingly vulnerable." Of course, the paranoid part of my brain went "Oh, gawd, am I writing her out of character?" She's Illyria, God-King of the Primordium. "Vulnerable" and "God-King" don't go together.

Or do they?

In the universe I generally write her in (not the drabbles, which are usually light and kind of funny, but the longer stuff), she and Spike are the only survivors after the events of "Not Fade Away." Her powers are diminished by Wesley's ray gun, Wolfram and Hart's assassins are after them, and her only companion is an insolent half-breed who doesn't respect her nearly as much as he should, while taking liberties he shouldn't. But he likes her, and hasn't abandoned her...which is something.

She showed flashes of vulnerability when she was with Wes in the final episode. "You would never ask me to [be Fred]." Her grief for Wesley in the alley showed she was capable of human feelings, although they confused her. And who better to bring them out of her than the guy who wears his heart on his sleeve (even if he makes a sorry attempt to hide it)--Spike?

Our world is odd to her. Overrun by vermin, in her eyes, and yet these vermin control everything, from government to commerce and everything in between. She realizes that she doesn't understand the nuances of human society, and most of our rules must seem arbitrary and foolish to one who is used to taking what she wants with no repercussions. She can't function in our world by herself; she needs an intermediary. She's good at hitting demons and breaking things, but human interaction is beyond her.

And this is where part of her vulnerability comes from. If Spike dies, or, worse (from her point of view), leaves her, she will be completely alone. And while our Illyria will never admit to any emotion so base as fear, even to herself, the possibility has to make her uneasy--and thus vulnerable.

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In other news, is it just me, or is there no open_on_sunday challenge this week?

ETA: Duh. It's Saturday... *runs off, gibbering into the night*