Purimgifts Again!

[opalmatrix]

I got two lovely stories about Maree Mallory from Diana Wynne Jones' Magids series (Deep Secret and The Merlin Conspiracy) and very special Astronaut RPF about Judy Resnik, who died in the Challenger disaster. I think the Resnik story really helped heal something deep inside that I didn't realize still hurt from her death all those years ago.

Top of the World (Astronaut RPF, rated G) Never Believe It's Not So (Magids Series - Diana Wynne Jones, rated G) Up to My Neck in Magic and Muck (Magids Series - Diana Wynne Jones, rated G)

My author was Vera (a/k/a copracat), and I thank her very much.

I wrote Lymond Chronicles for marina. This was an interesting challenge because she had only finished The Game of Kings and had just started Queen's Play - she hadn't read any of the rest of the series. I stalked checked out her DW account as well as her Dear Author letter for ideas, which was helpful in avoiding any spoilers about the rest of the story! smillaraaq was my Beta (I need to go back and edit my headers on AO3).

• With an F (rated G)
• Hazard (rated PG or T)
• Taken (rated G)

Comments

[opalmatrix.livejournal.com]

... yeah. I guess we could do that. Thank you, sis. Would you believe I've never been? All my grandparents were buried near NYC, and there was never that much of a grave-visiting tradition in our family. I haven't seen my own parents' graves since we did the unveiling for Dad's marker (which is traditionally a year after the burial). I really should go there, too.

(We don't usually put flowers on graves, either - we put rocks.)

[smillaraaq.livejournal.com]

I still haven't seen more than bits of Arlington myself, it's just too big; and the Challenger Memorial's one of the many parts I've not seen yet. It's a very lovely, peaceful, contemplative place to wander around in once you get away from the tourist crowds at the entrance, though, and this is probably the best time of year for hiking the grounds. (Well, the weather would be about as cool and mild in fall as well as spring, but falling leaves and departing birds give a much more melancholy atmosphere IMO than the returning flora and fauna of spring...)

And if you want any company for support when you're thinking of visiting your parents' graves, and your crew aren't keen on the idea, just say the word and I'd be happy to head out to meet you -- you know cemetary visits aren't a weird or morbid thing in the way I was raised. *hugs*