Discovered in a Christmas Card - 9th December - Old Friends Day

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

If you've hovered over the Discovered in a Christmas Card Calendar, you may have seen that today is listed as Old Friends Day. There are four of our old Pros friends missing from this year's calendar, taverymate, probodie, minori_k and moonlightmead would all contribute to our Pros fandom, either with stories or pictures (and sometimes both!), or by commenting on Pros posts, and encouraging us all along, and I thought it might be nice this year to remember them.

minori_k
I was going to post Minori's calendar post from last year, which she made for discoveredinalj for our 10th anniversary, but someone has beaten me to it at another comm (!), so I shall post her pic from the year before, and there will two gorgeous memories of her in our flists today. *g* Minori's post from 2014 full of her gorgeous art, can be found here. She first posted to a Christmas challenge in 2008, and you can find more of her posts by wandering around the comm. She made banners for our Christmas challenges too, of course, and if you nip into the closing posts, you'll see them re-posted up.

moonlightmead
Moonlightmead first posted to the Pros Christmas calendar in 2011, full of enthusiasm, as she always was, and chatting away about Pros zines. I had met her not long before, when she very bravely not only agreed to meet two holidaying Pros fans, but invited us to stay for the night! Her first ever fic for Discoveredinalj was Raid, for the Discovered When You See This challenge, and of course she wrote many more stories for Pros, which I'm sure many of us know!

probodie
Probodie was another of the very first people I "met" in Pros, way back in 2005 - and then one of the very first people I met in Pros! I came across her first at the the_safehouse, where she had been posting since this post in 2004. She wrote stories and drabbles, made icons and banners, and generally joined in everything that was going on - including the very first Pros Christmas calendar - a feast for our eyes and icon collections. Her fic is to be found in various Pros comms, over at the Circuit and Hatstand archives (under "Zoe"), and of course here.

taverymate
Taverymate was one of the first people I got to know in Pros fandom, in 2005. She saw me asking about zines, and talking about stories, and fandom history, and she emailed saying she had some duplicate zines that she was getting rid of, and a few that she was selling, and was I interested...? From there we had some fab chats, and when a box arrived at my wee cabin in Alaska from her, not only was it full of zines and loose-leaf Pros stories, but she had sent me these three lads... - Cowley bear (with his tartan scarf, of course), Bodie bear (with his smart tie) and Angelfish! I've still got them, looking after my zines and fic, and reminding me of how generous taverymate was with her enthusiasm and memories and time for Pros. She didn't post much herself, but she posted to our Christmas Tree in 2012, and you can see the fantastic things she was doing. It was also partly thanks to Taverymate that www.palelyloitering was founded, and a great deal of the original information there came from her.

I thought it might be nice, this Friday evening, if anyone who wanted to join in remembering our much-missed Pros friends made a post here, perhaps with your favourite fic or pic or memory (or if you see this after midnight GMT tonight, then do leave a comment, of course). Re-posting other people's pictures and stories a la Tumblr and so on was never a Livejournal thing (though worlds change, of course), and we usually include links, but perhaps just for today, it might be nice to see the imaginings of taverymate, probodie, moonlightmead and minori_k re-posted here, if anyone has a moment. And for people who never had the joy of meeting our Pros friends, I hope that my introduction might take you off to explore new old corners of Pros. *g*

Sweet dreams and new worlds to you all, old friends - your hearts are still with us here in Pros, thank you for lending them to us!

Comments

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this.
It's so sad, I can't say more...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It is sad that they're not with us any more, but I hope you have happy memories of them too, because they all did some lovely things in Pros...

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

I met Moonlightmead at the first Bistocon, particularly since we had a panel together. She was so funny, enthusiastic and excited about Bodie and Doyle. With her bright red hair, rainbow, gyspy clothes and a cup full of mead (which I also happen to love), you couldn't help but have a good time with her. (she and I also had a mutual fondness for Bodie and Doyle kink.) I had hoped to meet up with her again at Escapade the following year, but unfortunately, she'd learned of her diagnosis the day before. She couldn't fly to California, but that evening, MsMoat, SCFossil and I introduced her to skype and talked to her from the con. Raising a cup of mead to her!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It's great that she got to go to Bistocon, and met people there - I seem to remember her writing a report, and it sounded like she had alot of fun (and everyone else!)

*Clinks mead with you*

(And there are definitely not enough people around with a mutual fondness for Bodie/Doyle kink! *g*)

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I remember chatting with her. It was great fun and she was so enthusiastic about the con and Pros.

The one thing I remember about Mead that makes me giggle is during the Dead Dog at Escapade she commented that there wasn't enough smut for her! The next time the comm con promised a smutty panel. Sadly she didn't make it but that panel was down and dirty in honour of Mead!

[macklingirl.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding us of them.

I never met one of them, but I have some nice letters from minori_k (http://minori_k). And I had a nice chat with moonlightmead (http://moonlightmead) about english and scottish people on honeymoon in Cyprus.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that it can be happy memories for people today! I thought it might be nice to see their stories and pictures posted again, but I think I left it too late to post (rats to work!) I had some lovely letters from Minori too - I still have her last ones pinned on my board, and I don't want to take them down... and that's partly because they're so fab to see, too!

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

I recently came across a comment on AO3 from Minori saying she wanted to draw a picture of Verity--but never did, that I am aware of. ;-(

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

I never met taverymate, but I was lucky enough to meet probodie, minori_k and moonlightmead a fair few times - damn the embuggerance that has robbed us of them so bloody young.

Thank you for sharing these memories! I can think of, well, some tiny snippets - a drink in the GNRT with probodie, a coffee in Kentish Town with minori_k and a ride all across central London on the top of a double-decker with moonlightmead - sitting right up front, of course! :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I didn't meet Taverymate either (she was unwell for a long time, I remember), but when she was feeling well she was a wonderful person to chat with - she'd suddenly pop up and talk about authors or zines or stories in fandom, and you could just feel the long line of Pros writers behind her, still with us because they were remembered...

I mostly remember Probodie in pubs! Or else at the cottage in Derbyshire (and both at once!), and a Thames barge in Maldon, and at the seaside at Looe. She always joined in!

And yes, I remember Minori in London, twice, and being so glad that I'd met her the first time, and so pleased that she had come to see us the second... *g*

[unbelievable2.livejournal.com]

This is such a lovely reminder of them. Thank you.
I still cant believe they are gone. And that there is no Minori to send a card to, this year. Or to send me a card. Such a loss.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It seems so strange not to send a card to Minori, and hear her all excited about what she's drawn, and the lads...

I hoped it would be nice to think of them on a spare day in the calendar, because it should have been a day that at least three of them fought over!

[unbelievable2.livejournal.com]

It was a lovely idea, and beautifully put together. I was two days away for a funeral so couldn't participate, but Mead and Minori are never far from my thoughts.

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

A terrific idea! I only ever had conversations with minori and mead - but it was a sad year for Pros Fandom to lose 4 such dedicated fans. I did get to meet mead once, at the first Bistocon, and I still cherish that opportunity. They are all missed. It is a good to remember them.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It seemed like it might be a nice thing to do this year - its been a lousy year all round, but there are happy things to remember about them too, and it is good to remember them, isn't it. *g*

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

I met moonlightmead twice, once at Escapade and another at Bistocon. Both were fabulous but Escapade makes me smile because she has two bottles of mead with her which I tasted. Didn't like it but she sure did! We sat together in the "rowdy" vid room and had a great time.

I knew the other fen from LJ and I enjoyed everyone's contributions to the fandom. minori_k was so generous about sending little Pros bits to me.

They will always be missed and remembered fondly.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember drinking mead with MLM once too - late at night, after much excited Pros chatting... And Minori's wonderful envelopes of treats... They will be remembered fondly, our girls!

[sw33n3y.livejournal.com]

That's a great way to remember each of them. I think they'd all love to know their presence is still felt, here.

Thank you! :D

[freetraveller15.livejournal.com]

Lovely tribute! I never met, or chatted online with, moonlightmead, probodie or taverymate, but from their posts and people remembering them they sound like such lovely people. Minori, I met twice and I found her as lovely and generous in person as she was online. I miss her so much (I'll probably post a little bit about her later this month at ci5hq)

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for this.
It's so sad, I can't say more...

[msmoat.livejournal.com]

This is a very nice idea. We miss them all so much! I'm too late for joining in, but it was lovely to read the comments and see the posts. Thank you!

Lovely, lovely post.

[fiorenza-a.livejournal.com]

Sorry I nicked your pic idea - although, if the upshot is two of Minori's lovely works being posted, it's probably a case of all's well that ends well :0).

I never had a chance to converse with Taverymate, what a generous thought to include Angelfish and his friends. And likewise Probodie, who I know is very much missed by those more fortunate in that respect than I.

I do miss MLM and Minori's input - as you say, they would have been front and centre this time of year. Radio silence from them seems so unnatural.

I'm so busy just now with changing job/Christmassy stuff that I don't really have much quiet time - but I thought I would revisit some of Mead's works after Christmas. I still haven't read them all.

[smirra.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing these memories! I worked together for the BB with moonlightmead, I was glad to work for her beautiful story and to chat with her! I remember all four of them as "regulars" in Pros fandom. I had the pleasure to exchange some gifts with Eriko, she was such a positive and nice young lady.
Very sad, that we don't have them anymore but the memory is there!