Have been writing and reading for years; returning now after a long hiatus from my first story. I keep the story in question, my first published one here, up only to remind myself never to write such Mary Sue poor quality stuff ever again, to remind myself of how far I've come.

My second published story, Half-Breed Lifemate, is something I will perhaps return to someday. Until then, it is on official hiatus.

Finally, my recent story, after years of not posting. I may continue if interest is displayed, or if my own interest goes further. Would prefer a couple reviews for it, if you can take the time for it.

Now posting on ao3 under DeerShifter

Quotes to live and write by:

And therefore let me beg of you, my lords
If you should think my story ill accords
With the original…
Or if the words I use are not the same
As you have heard, I beg you not to blame
My variations; in my general sense
You won't find much by way of difference
Between the little treatise as it's known
And this, a merry story of my own. - Geoffrey Chaucer

Topics I Cover/Bibliography of Controversial issues:

Sometimes I feel a story needs to cover an important issue. If I cannot explain the full extent in my author notes, I will occasionally post a link here to explain the topic more fully. Especially if it's an ethical issue, or one that carries a lot of myths attached. Expect more links in the future.

Sexual Violence Basics: Power And Control. http :// www . consented . ca / basics / power-and-control / Links to the ConsentEd website, and includes definitions of what constitutes sexual violence, sexual assault, the reasons behind it, the myths -- actually, a lot of information. This particular link explains the power dynamics and control stealing involved at the root, with sex itself limited to the method used to gain it. Let's debunk a culture that accepts sexual violence as the norm.

How to explain Consent: Consent Metaphor Explained With Tea http :// www. theloop. ca/ this-woman-just explained-consent-with-the-most-perfect-metaphor/ Replace 'Do you want to have sex' with 'do you want a cup of tea?' It covers the issues of consent, when someone is capable or incapable of giving it, when they are no longer capable of giving it, and every other possibility of situation changes. Stand up for your rights as an individual, and do not presume that another person wants it and continues to want it.

Other sources

The beginning two chapters from Merlin's POV, translated from Garden of Avalon, can be found at yakourinka tumblr com

Current Stories Status:

Uncertain Love: Complete.

Half-Breed Lifemate: on official hiatus.

Fire and Ice: Chapter 11 and 12 done and up in a double Thanksgiving update. Chapter 13 up in a surprise addition to the double update. Chapter 14 posted January 3. Real life is school, so no promises on updates before spring break, though I'll try. Hiei's thoughts and emotional issues are not playing nice, and neither is the Human world transition. Would love reviews with questions about the characters and plot details - sometimes that triggers a chapter that I wouldn't think to write otherwise. Those that have already done so, you've been very helpful. Please keep it up. In planning stages for chapter 15. (Note: As of 7/20/15, this story is on hiatus until further notice -- i'm having trouble maintaining interest in either of its fandoms.)

Contractual Obligations: Prologue thru Chapter 6 posted -- will start planning next chapter tomorrow. Still planning overall arc map and middle for this story, but I have a firm idea of much of the end. Suggestions and comments welcome. thanks for the reviews, guys!

x…x…x…x

Current Status: 6/13/15 In summer college classes starting on Monday; don't expect updates for a month at least.

7/5/15 Class ends later this week. Hope to have the next chapter up by the 15th, but no promises.

7/12/15 Last Class and final finished, story in progress. First scene done, four to five scenes to go on the next chapter.

7/15/15 Scene two mostly finished and with my beta. three scenes and a coda to go. sorry this is behind schedule!

7/18/15 Scenes 3 and 4 drafted and under my beta's eye. One more scene and a coda. Should be there soon, guys!

7/20/15 The current chapter of CO is way too long. I have accordingly split it and published the first half while I work on finishing the second. Hopefully will be up in a few days. Enjoy, everyone!

7/23/15 Second part of the double upload is almost finished. However, my doc manager isn't cooperating at the moment, so I just hope it fixes itself so I can upload this when it's done.

7/25/15 Second part finished except for editing. Hope to upload tonight or tomorrow. Uploaded!

7/31/15 In planning/drafting stage for chapter VII.

8/14/15 Chapter VII planned, mostly; 1/3 of draft complete.

8/25/15 Slow progress, very slow. Nearly 2/3 complete. Villains are hard, and so is setting up for action scenes.

8/31/15 Back to college. Expect slower updates, hope to get the next one out by the end of september.

9/15/15 Sorry it's so slow, guys. Again, hope to update CO by end of september.

9/30/15 No dice, guys -- hit with a load of assignments. But I hope to have this out by Halloween.

11/1/15 Alright, 2/3 done, and last third begun. I will finish this before another month goes through, blast it.

11/30/15 So much for my promise, it seems. Still, I am now at least a third of the way through that last scene. and I hope to finish it in the next couple weeks.

12/16/15 All done with exams. Now I actually can write. Huzzah!

12/27/15 I swear I am making progress on this, okay guys? If I can't finish in time, I might try splitting the chapter again, so I can post what is ready.

1/10/16 Progress is being made. I am finishing up an action section in the last scene, and then I need to wrap up a bit of the drama to tie it all together.

1/14/16 A great deal of progress. I estimate less than two pages of writing left before final edits begin.

1/16/16 CHAPTER POSTED!

3/10/16: Temporarily pausing fan fiction progress (currently less than the first scene into the new chapter, though overall structure is planned) in order to finish a very long real life college paper. Expect me to get back to work in April, including answering all new reviews.

4/26/16: Finals are coming up -- but I'm free of all major assignments. Reviews backlog is answered, and I'm heading back to writing. Will let you know how progress goes.

5/25/16: 2 of 3 scenes for next chapter are planned and written out in draft form. The third scene has a basic outline; research in progress. Hopefully will finish by end of June.

6/28/16: Chapter posted. Again, remember that updates every six months are the general norm, though I do try to go quicker than that.

NEW UPDATE: As of January 2, 2017, progress is definitely being made on the next chapter. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's only half done. I hope for speedy progress, though.

VERY NEW UPDATE: As of July 21, 2017, I am extremely embarrassed to say that this chapter has stalled for a year now. But, good news is that I have cut a scene that was giving me trouble, completed another, and am finally making firm progress. I have a plan for the rest of the next scene, it's mapped out even, and a plan for the remaining portion of the chapter. I won't make promises, but I am hopeful for something sometime during august.

9/3/17: Chapter is finished and published. Will try to post monthly updates on progress here so you know I'm not dead.

9/14/17: Racke has posted an omake to Contractual Obligations, set sometime after the currently unfinished Vortigern Arc and featuring a visit by Rin Tohsaka. Check it out; it's hilarious! Link at /s/8534217/11/Fate-Stay-Unfinished

10/1/17: Chapter progresses slowly but steadily, to this moment -- with one scene completely drafted, and some idea of the order and content of remaining scenes. However, further progress will have to stall for a bit while I do some research on castles, and how to storm and defend them, and the number of men you need for it. Camelot needs a floor plan.

11/10/17: Chapter progress is stalled currently while I focus on schoolwork, but I hope to get some work done over thanksgiving break. Just have a lot of papers, and a lot of research, in real life right now. I'm reading castle defense when I have free moments.

12/7/17: I have one paper down. I have another 20 page paper to go, plus an exam. And gift shopping. I therefore make no promises to update within the remainder of 2017, but I hope for one to happen in January. Still, no promises.

1/2/18: New Year, and next chapter is progressing fairly well. I have drafts for two scenes complete, drafts/outlines for the two scenes following in progress, and something of a plan for the content for the remaining scenes of the chapter. Battle scene will happen.

1/13/18: Fight scenes progressing. One is done. One is done except for the end. And one remains completely unfinished/undrafted. Chapter is nearly 30 pages long.

1/20/18: One last scene to write, I think, and then it's off to my beta. But it's the final fight scene in this chapter, so… it could take a bit. Still, we've been making good progress, so I'm hopeful.

1/31/18: I take that back; this will definitely take a while. Revising fight scenes from earlier, still trying to draft final one.

2/26/18: Fight scene and story progress at a crawl for the team. I have midterms coming up, and the week after that spring break. Maybe we can get something done then.

3/6/18: Halfway done with midterms.

3/15/18: Split chapter due to length; publishing first part.

4/22/18: Have stalled on a fight scene in the next part. It's blocked, but needs to be written, and several attempts have failed to be mutually satisfying to myself and co-author UniverseCreator.

5/21/18: Finals done. Summer Job begins tomorrow. Progress on fight scene is reoccurring. No promises on update schedule.

6/5/18: Fight scene is stalled and slow. Trying to work on it.

7/4/18: Fight scene is still slow, so I'm trying to work on what remains in the chapter after it ends. Hopefully when I've finished that I'll have more luck with the fight scene.

8/2/18: Some progress on the scene after the fight - written by Universe. slowly but surely, we are getting there!

9/1/18: Back at college for my final semester. Do not expect progress for another few weeks while I get used to school again.

10/2/18: School very busy.

11/2/18: There's been some significant real life issues for myself and my co-author recently - by the way, she's gone through a name-change on her account, so be aware of that. As such, while we keep progressing, it might be a while before the next update. On the other hand, I am close to graduating college, so there will be more free time to write soon.

12/2/18: I am about to sit my final exams for college graduation. As such, I do not expect there to be any more progress until late this month, and because of this, I cannot promise another chapter before the year ends. Sorry everyone.

1/8/19: Sorry this update is so late - I've been very busy, I'm afraid. Only just now realized I hadn't done it already. No news, guys.

2/7/19: No news, no progress. Real life has been hard, and lack of writing progress depresses me. Will let you know if we make any progress, but I haven't seen any recently.

3/6/19: Still no progress, though we are trying.

4/6/19: Sorry, guys, things are crawling and near non-existent. Stuck on a last couple scenes. And the ending scenes. Most of the combat sections are done, aside from one piece, but things are slow. Will try to work on it more.

5/1/19: Job search on my end going poorly, and cutting into writing time. But the good news is, we have acquired another beta for the team, who's working on what we have finished so far! I hope the feedback stimulates our muses.

6/1/19: I think at this point it should be clear I can't predict updates. Sorry guys. I *am* trying, but real life has a lot of stuff going on right now. We'll try to work on it.

7/1/19: Going over and editing what's already written. planning ahead. looking for a job in real life.

8/1/19: Progress - nonexistent. Looking to change that.

9/3/19: Progress - non-existent. Grad school has started. I'm kind of wiped. Progress attempts will depend on how much free time I have.

10/4/19: Guys, right now I'm so busy I don't know when I'm going to have time for progress. I'm sorry. I feel bad about this.

11/1/19: Happy Halloween everyone. Things are crazy busy in this next month, but sadly with real life things. Looks like my first real opportunity for progress will be december. I'm not even going to try to work until then.

12/6/19: Close to getting out of school. Hopefully will have the mental creative energy to work on things.

1/4/20: Alright. I think it's fair to say at this point that my once-planned update schedule won't happen. That doesn't mean the story is abandoned, but it also doesn't mean I'm going to be able to work on progress any time soon because my creative energy just isn't reappearing. Sorry everyone. we will do this. at some point.

7/5/20: See January message. Still alive, best wishes to all with the virus, no inspiration currently despite much work time available.