Oy vey!

I am utterly appalled at the trouble I've had trying to post cosplay pictures. It's taken me ages to try getting up some of my Rouge the Bat cosplay pictures, and then when I finally get around to trying, they won't qualify into CosplayLab's strict rules, and Cosplay.com only lets you post an icon of the costume! WTH?! I was sure they used to allow galleries! Or at least, one full-length picture!

I didn't feel like wrestling with DeviantArt after the trouble I had trying to post a picture a couple of weeks ago, so instead in disgust I created a Cosplay album here on LJ. I added a few pictures each of the Rouge the Bat and the Riddler costumes.

http://insaneladybug.livejournal.com/pics/catalog/2622

And I've been writing my Scarecrow fic for The Batman. I have chapter 3 just about ready to post. I'm really excited about this fic. I think it, more than the others I've done, really captures the feel of the series. And it's kind of a season 2/season 3 feeling, with lots of Batman and Alfred interaction, Yin, and the Riddler, while feeling kind of darker the way season 3 does. I bought season 3 and have been watching some of it, and aside from Batgirl setting my teeth on edge, I really like it. It has kind of a more "comic book" feel, for those who felt the show didn't have that, but Alfred is still vitally important to things, instead of fading more into the background like he does in season 4. The stories do take place in season 4, as mentioned, but I prefer capturing the older seasons' feel.

Currently I have Dick away with friends for Halloween (since Halloween was the perfect time for Scarecrow to make his first strike, especially since the fics already take place during autumn) and Batgirl's absence is not explained. She wasn't in about half the episodes after she came in, with no explanation, so I figure I can get away with that. But it will be harder to keep Dick in the background for the whole fic, I think. Although there were episodes of The Animated Series without him, he was older there and it was more understandable for him to be missing from some of the storylines. I ... really kind of don't want the kids in this fic, if at all possible. It's a dark fic, with what Scarecrow's up to, and I already have such a big cast, with Ethan, Penguin, and Joker also along for the ride, that I think the kids would crowd it unnecessarily.

I've also kind of been bouncing an idea around in my head for some future fic, which would be very dark as well. I don't know if I'd really do it, but the basic idea would be that it would be set after Yin and the Riddler have become very close, either platonically or romantically (and I still lean towards platonically). Yin and Batman are trying to stop a crook, and somehow a situation gets set up where Batman has to choose between rescuing Yin and the city, and although he tries not to have to make the choice and find another way to defeat the crook, he isn't able to do that and is finally forced to choose the city. Yin is seriously hurt or even apparently dies (of course I wouldn't really kill her), and the Riddler blames Batman and flips out. He sends Batman a coded message and gets him into one of his riddle obstacle courses. Batman tries to reason with him, initially to no avail, but at the end of the course, as they fight, he finally gets through to the Riddler by telling him that he hates what he had to do but he had to do it anyway and that the Riddler is dishonoring Yin by doing this. Robin would wonder if Batman would have the Riddler arrested and sent back to Arkham, but Batman says No, as the Riddler was only targeting him (as opposed to Robin or Alfred or the whole city), no one was hurt, and he was grief-stricken and angry, as many people would be in the same situation. Yin would be alright at the end and she and the Riddler would reunite. He would probably tell her what he had done and they would have a long talk.

I don't know if I want to do it because it would be so dang depressing and sad. I originally thought of it because while the Riddler is trying to go straight, Yin has observed that there's still a darkness in him, and even though I think he has a greater chance for redemption than some of the others (especially since he regrets being a criminal, unlike most of the rogues' gallery), I think that darkness could flare up if someone he cares deeply about is harmed. And I kind of miss the thought of him never doing any more riddle obstacle courses (although he's probably doing them to catch the crooks he goes after in his consulting/troubleshooting business). The fic would definitely be introspective and soul-searching, exploring the concept of the greater good and how Batman would handle things if he had to make a choice like that, and my intrigue over the idea might win out over how depressing it sounds.

Once vignettes

So last week I was finally exasperated enough with canon Once Upon a Time that I actually started that vignette series I've talked about. Tonight I wrote another one. It's kind of fun, as long as I stick with characters I like to write about. I'm still not sure I really hear them as well as some other writers do, and I'm very shy about posting them off of LJ because of that, but I do kind of like how they're coming out. I've been posting them at 31_days, as the prompts have been really good and workable.

I may have tweaked the time of year a bit, as the first fic (the one from last year) is set sometime before Christmas. However, I don't recall mentioning Thanksgiving, so now I've decided that this is happening before Thanksgiving, too. After all, some radio stations start playing Christmas music right after Halloween, and most have started by now, so Belle could have very well heard the song Please Come Home for Christmas playing without Thanksgiving having to have passed. She would probably focus more on Christmas than Thanksgiving, since Christmas was celebrated in their original world too. (I assume.) And I decided I liked the idea of a Thanksgiving piece. I don't know if I'll actually get a second one written within the week, but maybe it would be some sort of cracky piece where the whole mismatched family is trying to celebrate Thanksgiving. I remembered David's cracky comment about how ridiculous it would be to try to have the whole family there and started to giggle.

I also actually had a brief moment of considering buying the DVDs, at least of the first two seasons. I don't know if I actually would, as I've always felt that I didn't like the show enough to actually buy it, but who knows what the future might bring.