discoveredinalj, posts by tag: slantedlight - LiveJournal

Happy New Year everyone! Let's hope it's much improved on the old one, and here's to it being full of love for everyone.

Today is open posting day in the Dialj Calendar, so please fill your boots spreading Pros joy to start the year! *g*

Happy Boxing Day! Must admit I neeeearly forgot I said I'd cover today, but phew, made it in time!

Some of you have seen this story, I'm afraid, in this year's FandomCards, but people who haven't... here's a wee fic. *g*


A Christmas Card for Ray Doyle
by Slantedlight
It was the worst kind of Wednesday. Grey skies drizzled grey rain, and the wind made it proper brass monkey weather. Doyle pushed himself away from their office window - tiny and cracked across one corner, but at least a window - and turned around to stare at his partner’s bowed head. He’d barely glanced up when Doyle burst in like a bored thunderstorm, and had given him the briefest of nods. He was writing what looked like a letter, which was strange enough, but he also had a pile of envelopes beside him, each one neatly addressed in Bodie’s oddly tidy handwriting. It almost looked like…

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Okay, I have a confession - my story isn't quite finished, so this is kind of a place-holder post. It would have been finished, except that about twenty minutes ago my other laptop, the one I was writing on, completely black-screened on me, and I lost the last five minutes of writing I'd done. So I had to mess around, and thank goodness got it to start up again and rescued the rest of my story and sent it fast to myself by email, but... now it's quarter to midnight, and not only do I not have time to finish before midnight, but I have work tomorrow morning, so... Waaaah!

So I have posted all but the last few paragraphs (which are only written in my head) below, and I really recommend that you don't read them yet! I will try and finish tomorrow, and then remove this header from the post so that you can see it's done and ready to read.

And I was having a perfectly good winter solstice day until that happened!

It's finished! Sorry for the delay...

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o0o

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Happy Winter Solstice, northern hemisphere!

I'm not quite ready to make my main post for today, but I wanted to post this first, for various reasons. *g*

I hope my lovely sender doesn't mind, but I am going to start by sharing a Pros FandomCard that I received this year!



It combines all the things I love about this season. *g* It also reminded me very much of some fic I wrote, which seemed fitting.

Perfect Alignment

A Crook in the Path

and... *g*

What a fun game for today's Discovered in the Wassail Bowl! tinturtle invited us to post our coloured-in pictures here to the comm, so that's what I'm doing. I wasn't clever enough to work out digital colouring, so mine is coloured in with pencils, and a couple of other bits and bobs. Unlike Doyle, I'm not sure I should have been artistic, but it was fun - thank you! *g*

This is a wee gift rather than specifically Christmas-y, originally written for the 2025 Write Time con, but I hope you like it anyway. *g*

Looming Danger
by Slantedlight

Doyle took a last hard look around the yellowed grass of the lawn, and gave up with a long sigh. He could hear Cole now - Doyle’s always dropping his! - and he wasn’t wrong. He’d dropped himself right in it this time, an’ all.

Cowley was still talking to Bodie over by the house, and there was a solitary vehicle left in the driveway, so they were obviously expected to chauffeur their boss home. He was well and truly done.

Bodie looked up and raised an eyebrow as he sauntered over to them - or tried his best to saunter, but he could feel the nervous energy thrumming through him.

“Ah, Doyle - about time.” Cowley frowned, and started to turn away. “Come on - we’ll stop off at that pub by the crossroads. You might even deserve a pint on me.”

Bodie was already rubbing his hands together - Doyle shook his head minutely, scrunched his face in self-rebuke.

“Uh… Sorry sir - I’m not quite finished here.”

“Not finished?” Cowley looked back at him. “What do you mean, not finished? There’s not a loose end left - I made sure of that!”

“Sewn up tighter than a Scotsman on Burns Night.”

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Happy solstice everyone!

I'm on the non-lads' side of the world this year, where it's summer solstice, and so I'm posting early for a change (well, the sun's going to set here soon, but it's early by my usual standards).

This was an experiment - chaospuppy4537 asked me if I knew of any Pros AU Coffee Shop fics, and I couldn’t think of/find a single one. We talked about how it could only work in a modern setting, because they didn’t have that type of coffee shop back in the lads’ time, which meant they’d definitely be modern AU lads, and of course it got me thinking I might give it a try. So I did. I had a slightly longer plot than I had writing time of course. And whether I pulled off modern-lads who are still our lads is up to you to decide… or even the whole coffee-shop trope in general! I’m not convinced, but I hope it’s close enough to be okay. And if it’s not - sorry chaospuppy4537!

Coffee in Five
by Slantedlight

Monday
A cold grey fog had settled over London in the night, shrouding the Thames and clinging to skyscrapers, so thick in the air that Doyle was sure he could taste it. It tasted of the river, and the distant sea which had crept up to her overnight, touching her with salt and mingling with her sand and ancient mud. It settled in a thousand droplets over his hair, his clothes, his face, as he walked his lonely 5.00am path to work, and he pulled his jacket closer against the chill.

When he finally reached the door, the shop was just as cold and dark, as if sulking that it had been abandoned all night, everything cast in shadows and mysterious shapes by the streetlight outside, like something from The Third Man.

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Happy Christmas day, everyone! The 25th of December is free for anyone to post Pros-y Christmas messages, extra stories, drabbles, artwork - anything that might not have made it to your own calendar day, or that you just fancy posting can go up today. It's a busy day, but if you need a few minutes of peaceful lads-time to catch your breath - here they are. *g*

This story has been several years in the making, although you might not think so when you see it. I was hoping it would be longer - and it still might be if it takes people's fancy - but I decided that it really had to be posted this year, in case it never ever was at all!

Its also unusual in that I have to give you a link to the story. I can't post it here, which is what I ask everyone to do, because this is a community, where we can gather to comment and chat in the comments and so on. We can't do that if we're scattered in hundreds of other sites instead. But - you'll see why it's impossible to post to discoveredinalj if you decide to read this story. Stories. Story. *g*

I am going to create a paper version of the story, and work out a way to offer it to people. Again, you'll see why this is more complicated than it sounds when you see the fic!

Finally - I think I've managed to clean it all up properly, but if you come across any broken links or anything that looks odd (or typos - my keyboard has been playing up... or maybe my fingers... *g*) then do let me know. I am not only me, but also ci5chooseastory of course!

But without further ado... *g*

All the Days of December
by Slantedlight

(Solstice pic by empty_mirrors aka Josey)

I'm hoping to make a proper post later today (possibly much later today...) but to start with - Happy Winter Solstice (and of course Summer Solstice for anyone down under *g*)!

It's still dark, as I write this at 7.29am, but the sun will rise soon on the shortest day of the year, and then it's all returning light after that! *g*

For this first post at the start of the shortest day, I have found some Winter Solstice stories, for a Winter Solstice Story List!

Holly Golly by Asymphototropic (in ProsLib)
In Hot Water: an Idyll by JM (in ProsLib)
The Longest Shortest Day by Slantedlight
Ordinary Magic: A Tale of the Winter Solstice by Mizelle (in ProsLib)
Perfect Alignment by Slantedlight
Red Christmas by Cassie Ingaben

This was just a quick search, and I'm sure there must be more, so please do suggest stories, and I'll add them to the list. And otherwise - happy reading! *g*