Discovered in a Box of Baubles - Day 4 - Snow and Sheep

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Bloody sheep!

Not a bullet or a bomb or the African bush in the eerie still between dusk and dawn.
Death was coming now, borne on hooves of slow moving sheep..

He wrenched the wheel hard and they were sliding, out of control and impossibly fast. The Capri hit the guardrail first, the narrow North Pennines road leaving no room and no options. He was rewarded with the sight of the sheep watching him, the sheep watching Doyle, the damned sheep watching his lovely Capri go up on two wheels and arc across the icy road.

Time slowed, long enough to hear the squeal of abused rubber and steel, to feel the harsh, cracking force of his chest slamming into the steering wheel, to hear Ray screaming his name.

Sheep.
Bodie lifted his eyes across the cabin and smiled.

The Capri tipped onto its top and crashed through the guardrail, end-over-top down the side of the mountain before finally coming to an abrupt stop in the snow-filled valley below.

White and empty and quiet.

(continues in the comments)

Comments

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Not with a bullet or a bomb.

His chest hurt. That should mean something, he knew, but he couldn't remember. His chest hurt and he felt warm. Not a bomb or the bush, or the deathly quiet of the Yorkshire Dales.

He fought his way up, up from a dream of sheep and snow, and Ray's scream cut short. He struggled to open his eyes, squinting against the bright snow.
Squinting against the dark. A room, a candle flickering just there, a bed beneath him, a warm duvet wrapped around him. Bodie squinted and pushed himself up and out of the strange bed. His legs held steady, as he walked out of the darkened room and toward the light.

"Ray!"

Beyond his bedroom was the living room. The wan candlelight illuminated the way. To his left was a solid wooden table surrounded by four solid wood chairs and the suggestion of a cooktop, an old fashioned kettle, a window. To his right sat two cozy and comfortable looking chairs covered with animal furs, a low table, a stack of books, a door. Ahead, opposite his room, another dark doorway.

On instinct, he reached for his holster. His missing holster, along with his clothes, all replaced by a loose-fitting nightshirt trimmed in soft fur that brushed against his bare ankles as he crossed the rooms. This, he realized, should also mean something but there were too many pieces missing between the border of snow and sheep and this warm flat. Ray was missing.

Bodie dropped his gun hand and strode barefoot and deathly silent over the soft fur rugs to the dark doorway ahead. There was no door framed up to the arched entry which opened up to a second bedroom, as dark and cozy as his quarters. Eyes adjusted to the dim light now, Bodie made out a window, a bed, a bare nightstand, and Ray.

He sat on the edge of the bed and nudged Ray's shoulder. His partner's skin was warm and his pulse strong but he did not wake. Bodie let his hand linger against Ray's skin as he settled in to think.

This was no shepherd's cottage nor quaint Dales farmhouse. The Capri had crashed down the side of the mountain and the windscreen had blown out. The sun was blinding bright against the virgin white snow. Upside down, the car slowly sank into the soft drifts. Deathly quiet as day turned to night.

But he didn't feel dead. Ray's warm skin did not feel dead. Anyway, it was a bit stupid to get in a change of clothes if he were dead. Logically, they had to be alive and they had to be somewhere. Somewhere that Cowley could find, and from which, someone could rescue them.

Bodie couldn't explain where they were or how they'd arrive, but Ray was alive and he was alive trying to connect those two facts with a blurred memory of them tumbling from the mountain path into the desolate valley below made his head hurt. He stroked his fingers over Ray's pulse. The tables turned, Ray would start looking for clues. So, reluctantly, Bodie pulled his hand away, resettled the heavy blanket over Ray's shoulders, and stood. In the outer room had been a window and a door, a tea kettle and books. A candle.

Clues.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

The first clue was that the candle was not tallow and flame. No power cord, so not exactly a lamp, and too dim and too ordinarily candle-shaped to be a battery-powered torch. Still, it offered light so he took it from the side table and guided his way to the front door.

Locked.

The kitchen then.

Skirting the table to the far wall, Bodie confirmed that the familiar shape was indeed a teapot, heavy and solid set atop a large, 4-hob cooker. The window that he'd noted earlier was a wide-paned affair above the sink.

Running water.

A view of trees and snow and a star-filled sky but the window had no latch, no handle, and no obvious way to open it. Bodie contemplated the kettle. The snowy vista on the other side of the glass decided for him.

"Christ," he whispered to the quiet. He was coming around to the idea that they just might have a real cause for concern.

The unease that had dogged him ever since waking up in the strange bed spurred in on. Taking up the candle, he walked back through to Ray's room to try the window there.

It was shuttered tight from the outside.

It would take some time but the kettle might do.

Setting the candle on the sturdy little table at Ray's bedside, he used the soft light to check for injuries first. After that, he would bundle Ray up and move him across the house into his room before the battering operation let the cold swept inside.

With the weak light, he could see the steady rise and fall of Ray's chest under the cover, could hear the soft sniffles of his breath. He brushed aside unruly curls to check for cuts. Quick and clinical, he pulled the duvet aside and ran his hands over the loose cloth that covered Ray's arms, chest, and legs. No blood, no disturbance of his partner's sleep.

Turning back for the candle, Bodie found a new clue -a telephone with a rotary face and, thank fuck, a dial tone!

Trembling, Bodie stuck his finger through the dialer and called 9-9-9.

There had not been a phone there ten minutes ago. Concussed, dead, whatever, he'd have noticed a fucking telephone!

"Operator. What is your emergency?"

"I need to place a call to London, 496-"

"This is the local exchange, sir. Do you need medical assistance?"

"Where am I?"

"Sir?"

"I asked you, where are we," Bodie roared. "Where are you? Where is your office?"

"Southeast Branch exchange, sir. You're also calling from Southeast Branch. Do you need medical assistance, sir?"

"Can you trace this call? Can someone come here? Yes, I need medical assistance."

"Of course, sir. Just a moment."

Bodie listened, dumbfounded at the rapid sound of clicks coming through the handset. "What are you doing?"

"Dispatching a healer, sir. Please stand by."

A pounding knock sounded from the front door.

"Sir?"

"Yes," Bodie answered, a wary eye on the open arched doorway.

"Are you physically able to come to the door or would an emergency entry be more suitable."

"Bloody hell! Tell the doctor to come in!"

"Of course, sir."

If the emergency dispatcher or healer meant to do them harm, god knows they'd already hand ample opportunity. So, Bodie set the handset down on the nightstand and took up his candle, positioning his body between the open doorway and Ray. He heard the faint clatter of keys and felt the cold, crisp air that rushed through the open door.

"Hello?"

Bodie stepped out into the living room where he found the next clue.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

"Ah, there you are! Up and about too, that's good to see." The weak candlelight didn't quite reach the far end of the room. Bodie could only hear the voice and the faint outline of a small shadow crossing the now closed door.

And then there was light.

"The two of you gave us quite a scare, I must say. Nicklaus shall be glad to know that you're on your feet again."

"On my…" Bodie's attention was divided between the revealed room and the small man- no, that wasn't the word at all- talking to him. The healer stood, a worn leather bag in his hand. He couldn't be more than three-foot-tall. A bewhiskered, hale, and friendly face, the healer was dressed in a warm looking ted tunic and matched cap that did nothing to cover his oversized ears.

"You're a gnome?"

The little man laughed as he offered his hand. "I'm Tomten."

"You're a doctor?"

"In a manner of speaking," the gnome answered. "And you? Do you have a name?"

"Bodie. I'm Bodie and in here," Bodie said, already walking back towards the dark bedroom, "this is Ray, my partner. I can't wake him up."

"It's a wonder you're up already. It seems you are a bit heavier than I calculated." The gnome prattled on as he set his bag on the bed and started removing a series of instruments that Bodie could identify in the specific but had the general sense that they were medical despite their odd appearance.

"Still, you don't look any worse for wear for having come out a bit early," Tomten continued, chatting away as he moved one of the instruments, a small video screen sort of device, over Ray's chest. "How long have you been awake?"

"It doesn't matter how long I've - Look! Why won't Ray wake up?"

"Shhh. Have a seat, Bodie." As if an afterthought, Tomten looked up from the device and waved his hand.

Warm light filled the bedroom. A sturdy chair draped in rich brown furs was set on the opposite side of Ray's bed, just in front of the shuttered window.

"Ray needed time to heal, as did you," Tomten said, his attention returned to his readings. "You lads took a nasty fall. Lucky for you both, one of our mapping teams was in the area."

Bodie dropped down into the chair. "Do you work for a mining company? Is this place a mine shop?"

Tomten chuckled. "A shop of some sort, yes. I'm going to listen to his lungs now. No more questions for a moment."

Bodie leaned forward. Tomten didn't use his video screen, instead, he tipped his white-bearded head to the side to rest his large ear against Ray's chest. After a moment, the gnome raised off and nodded. Bodie did recognize the next item the healer pulled from his bag of tricks.

"What-"

"You didn't answer me earlier," Tomten said, cutting off the question with one of his own as he plunged the hypodermic needle into a small brown vial. "How long have you been awake?"

"What are you shooting Ray up with?"

"So now you're a doctor too?" Tomten snapped. "How long, man?"

The sharp tone caught Bodie off-guard but in the gruff words, he sensed the importance of his answer. "About an hour or so I'd guess."

"Thank you." Tomten depressed the plunger and voided about half the amber liquid from the needle. "How do you feel?"

"Good enough to wring your neck if you hurt Ray."

"Ah. Well, that wouldn't do at all. Come stand beside me, please. Your Ray will be disoriented when I bring him out. It will be good for him to see a familiar face and, if I got the dosage wrong, you won't have to crawl over him to get to my neck."

The dark joke put Bodie at ease and he complied without question. He took hold of Ray's hand and watched his face closely while Tomten administered the shot. Ray winced at the needle prick. His eyes moved behind their closed lids. His tongue, quick and pink, darted over his lip. He squeezed Bodie's hand and then sneezed.

"Can you hear me, Sunshine? It's Bodie. I'm right here."

Ray's grip did not slacken when he finally opened his eyes. He licked his dry lips again and his voice came low and raspy, but it came. "Did we die?"

Bodie squeezed his hand as a bright and ridiculous grin lit his face. He opened his mouth to reassure his partner then closed it just as quickly. Bodie turned to Tomten who was packing away his bag. "Did we?"

"Die?" Tomten paused as if thinking it over, then gave a small shrug. "I doubt it."

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

The little healer snapped his bag shut and stepped away from the bedside. "I've left you something that should knock the rest of the cobwebs off soon enough. Both of you take one with water now." He waved his hand to Ray's cluttered nightstand to indicate two glasses of water and a small white pill bottle, all set in front of the telephone and a curiously shaped red and white striped lamp. "I know you both have questions. If you two feel fit enough, I'll take you to meet Nicklaus so that you can get your answers."

"Do you have clothes for us?"

Leave it to Ray, practical as ever when it suited him, Bodie thought.

"In the wardrobe, of course," the doctor answered, offering them a benign smile before scampering out of the bedroom.

"Of course," Bodie muttered. He waited until he heard Tomten moving about in the kitchen. Still holding Ray's hand, he helped his partner sit up. "You okay, Ray?"

"Yeah, well enough." He plucked the pill bottle from the table and turned it, looking for the non-existent label. Meeting Bodie's eyes for a moment, he popped the cap open and shook out two pills. "Doctor's orders."

The medicine had a surprisingly pleasant taste of ginger and spice, and they both felt better after drinking the cool water.

Ray steadied himself then swung his long legs over the side of the bed. His nightshirt was trimmed in a rich reddish fur. His own, Bodie could see now, was trimmed in black. Ray's eyes were on him again when he looked up. Bodie shrugged. He didn't know any more than Ray.

"Right. So we get dressed and we meet Nicklaus."

"And we find out how we get ourselves back home. The Cow is probably throwing a fit. We were due back…"

They'd been on their way back from two-week-long obbo at Bernard Castle, industrial espionage at SmithKline. They'd been expected back on Thursday the 4th.

Right. Bodie stepped aside as Ray got to his feet. A few unsteady steps later, he was at the open wardrobe. Again, neither of them said it aloud.

"This looks about your style, Sunshine. I'm off to check on the gnome and then see if I have one of these magic wardrobes in my room." He left his partner to dress but paused at the open doorway. "Ray?"

"Yeah?" Ray was already digging through the full rack of velvets and furs.

"Don't fall through and land yourself in Narnia. We've had enough adventure as it is."

He heard Ray's soft chuckle and for the first time in… a long while, Bodie knew that they would be all right.

The lights were on in the living room and kitchen. Tomten sat in one of the two chairs with a hot mug of something in front of him as he packed his pipe. "Do hurry, Bodie," he said. "It's almost dinner time and my missus isn't likely to keep my share hot should I be late."

"Running all the way," Bodie muttered as he passed through. It was hot chocolate, Bodie's nose knew its sweets. There was hot chocolate somewhere in that damned kitchen and the gnome hadn't had the decency to make a cup for him and Ray. Bastard.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Stepping into his own brightly lit room, Bodie wondered what the missus had on tonight's menu. Bodie's stomach knew its deprivations. He ignored his empty companion and flung open the wardrobe. He was not surprised to find the hand-carved antique full of warm clothes, and not a single piece something he would have chosen for himself.

He quickly tugged the long sleeping shirt over his head and away then slipped on clean pants, vest and socks. It took a bit longer to select his outer layers. Thick and baggy wool trousers, overshirts of brightly dyed soft fleece. What he would give for a decently cut pair of cords and a proper black polo neck.

And his holster, and a cuppa', and a hot meal, and a phone call to London.

He started drafting his list of questions as he pulled on the strange clothes.

Returning to the living room, he found Ray and the doctor waiting. While Bodie felt ridiculous in his oversized costume clothing, Ray had somehow created a look that was authentic to him. The dark fleece trousers - no, those were tights, dark blue tights that clung to his long legs, a deep green tunic belted at the waist, fur-trimmed boots, and a warm, wooly cap to complete the outfit.

"Ready?" Ray asked.

"Always, Sunshine."

Tomten gave them both a once-over before alighting from his chair. Ray reached the door first. They were away.

Bodie was not prepared for the twilight world that he stepped into.

The view from the kitchen suggested that they could still be somewhere in the Yorkshire Dales but whatever hopes he'd placed on that truth were quickly stripped away. This was a city, a strange and overwhelming city strung with fairy lights and baubles. People, some taller than him and Ray, others small as the Tomten, and all bundled in wool and furs, bustled along the cobbled footpaths, many of them loaded down with gaily decorated bags and baskets.

Instinctively, he moved closer to his partner because the rush of blood in his ears had quieted down and now he could hear them. The low murmurs of conversation, the bright peals of shared, easy laughter, and somewhere up ahead singing.

And the smells! Chocolate and roast meats, puddings, and spiced cider.

"Where are we?" Ray's question was a soft whisper.

"Southeast Branch, 221 Sugarplum Lane. But, I suspect that's not the answer you want and I'm only a healer. Come along, Nicklaus is waiting."

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Tomten hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and led the way down Sugarplum Lane. Despite his size, the small man walked quickly, and Bodie and Doyle, shoulder to shoulder behind him, had to put in a bit of effort to keep up. The air was brisk and cool. The street was clear but heavy blankets of snow adorned every roof eave and window sill they passed. It was hard to gauge the time. It was dark out and Mrs. Tomten had dinner in the oven. Early evening, perhaps? Bodie guessed though it had been dark when he looked out the kitchen window, now almost two hours earlier.

Guided them along the side streets, past shops with elaborate window displays of cakes and sweets, fur coats, and model train displays. Bodie fell behind when they came to what he could only call a sporting goods shop. A carved wooden bear dominated the window, while all around it was a display of bright metal hunting knives, bone hunting knives, bone smoking pipes, ivory tipped harpoons, and beautiful worked-leather sheaths.

"Bodie!" cried the little healer, "do keep up!"

Far ahead on the footpath, Tomten and Ray rounded the corner and disappeared. Bodie jogged to catch up and ran straight into his partner's backside.

"My god..."

As busy as all the streets behind them had been, this was obviously High Street. A wide canal of deep blue water and festooned with brightly colored pleasure boats. The canal was crossed, as far as his eye could see, by a network of sparkling footbridges that connected to doubled-laned roads in both directions and finished with cobble paved footpaths running down both sides.

Unbothered by the slowness of his two charges, Tomten turned at the first bridge to cross the canal.

"We're definitely not in the Dales anymore," Bodie whispered, unease beginning to seep through the ugly woolen clothes to send a chill up his spine.

"Not at all!" Ray answered with a wide, joyous grin. "Nowhere even on the island if I've got the measure of this right."

Bodie's lips thinned. Of the two of them, Ray most likely did have the full measure of things. "We should move," he said, placing a hand at Ray's back. "I don't want to lose Tomten in this crowd."

"Alright."

They jogged up the stone steps to the footbridge and across. Tomten was waiting impatiently on the other side. His thick white beard did nothing to hide his upset. "Food's never quite as good when it's been warmed over," he muttered.

"What's she making?" Bodie asked. His stomach growled. "Maybe we should get you home first before we meet Nicklaus?"

"No, no. I'm to take you there straight away."

They walked for another ten minutes or so. Ray's head swiveled to and fro at each passing delight. Bodie kept his eyes straight ahead and his hands jammed deep into the miserably bulky tunic pockets. No matter how you measured it, none of this was natural and Bodie wanted nothing to do with it.

Tomten made one last turn which brought them to a set of open golden gates that marked the boundary between the busy road outside and the fantastical house that now stood before them.

Bodie refused to believe that this building was actually made of gingerbread. Beside him, Ray gasped.

"Do hurry! If I hail a sleigh taxi, I just might make it home before she packs everything away for the night."

Kicking at the cobblestone under his enormous boots, Bodie followed his two companions inside.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

"Tomten!" The great door of the not-gingerbread house flew open and on the other side, they were greeted by a smiling man, tall and dark-skinned, dressed in rich brocade with a smart cap perched atop his curly head. "Is this them?"

"This is them, Piet, and I shall be happy to hand them off now."

"Roast duck night, eh?" the man asked sympathetically.

"Aye," Tomten answered sadly.

"Rupert is in the stables. You shall have him prepare a sleigh for you now, my friend. I will take our new friends through to Nicklaus."

"Thank you, Piet." Tomten offered his hand first to Ray, then to Bodie. "I'll stop in tomorrow to check on you both. In the meantime, after you leave here, get some food into your bellies and some good sleep under your heads. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Ray answered for both of them. "And thank you."

"Sure, go enjoy your roast duck then. Ray and I'll pop down to Maccies and order ourselves up some burgers and fries to take back to… What was it, Ray?"

"Southeast Branch 221 Sugarplum Lane."

"Yeah! So don't worry about us!"

"Oh, I shan't, Bodie. I have faith that you can take care of yourselves." Tomten gave a half bow. "Until tomorrow."

Bodie could barely contain his outrage as he watched the gnome practically race down the steps and around the back to the stables.

"Calm, my friend," Piet said. He shut the great door and closed out the cool night air. "Come with me, friends. And keep a watch underfoot, it's the busy season."

Ray fell in step with their new guide as they all made the journey down the not-gingerbread hall, lit by not-lemon gumdrop lamps, while dozens of absolutely not-elves darted in and out of the various rooms that lined the hall.

At the end was a door of highly polished wood, skillfully carved with scenes both familiar and terrifying. Bodie did not want to go beyond this door. Ray nearly tripped over Piet's heels in order to get inside.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

The door opened up to a great hall. The hall was brilliant with light; tiny colored lights strung through the heavy wood support beams overhead, delicate fairie lights that twinkled against the walls, and an enormous roaring fire in the hearth at the far end.

In the center of all of this sat Nicklaus, a pipe in one hand, a sheaf of papers in the other. He looked up from his work, peering over the top of his reading glasses as they entered.

"Ho! Our visitors have arrived! I'm glad to hear of your good health and pleased that you could join us!"

"You know us then?" Bodie asked defiantly.

Nicklaus graced them with a benevolent smile, all rosy cheeks, bushy brows, and long white beard. "Indeed I do. Raymond Doyle. 31d Uttoxter Road, Derby. Top bedroom overlooking the garden. Inquisitive." Nicklaus paused for a second, eyes closed. "You're in London now - Care of George Cowley, CI5?"

"Yes! That's it!"

The jolly man, not quite as old as Bodie would have imagined, laughed. "It's good to know that our records are up to date. And now you: William Andrew Philip Bodie, 56 Dovey Street, Care of the Sisters of-"

"Okay, okay!" Bodie's outburst cut the man short and even Ray, long used to his partner's temper, took a step back. "The parlor tricks are a real treat, but let's say we get to the real business. Everyone says you're the answer man around here. So tell us, what is all this about?"

"Bodie…" Ray placed a stilling hand over his partner's arm. "We're guests."

"Honored guests, no matter which list your name is on," Nicklaus added with a pointed look at Bodie. He straightened his paperwork and set it aside. "Come and make yourselves comfortable. It's almost dinner time and I understand that you might be hungry?"

"We'll get food after you tell us what's going on."

"Or we can enjoy some good lamb chops and veg with Swiss rolls for afters - while I answer your questions, and I imagine you have many. Would that suit you, Bodie?"

Deny it all he liked, Bodie knew just as well as his partner the measure of this thing. And he was hungry to boot. He nodded and Nicklaus let loose a hearty, good-natured chuckle.

"Piet, please ask Cook to prepare two extra settings for tonight, and bring up some bottles from the cellar. We may be in for a long night amongst friends."

The End

[sc-fossil.livejournal.com]

The End? Darn. Okay, then. This was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. Thanks for posting.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Consider this as my Bauble, but yes, there is more to come :)

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm so glad to hear there will be more! :)
Really enjoyed your story!

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

*gggg*
I never knew, my icon would fit so nicely. :-)

I love your story!
Absolutely unusual, but thrilling and surprising.
And anyway so 'them'.

*bows*

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Yay! It's the only Seasonal icon I have (thank you!), and it does look lovely with the story.

I put the credit in the LJ interface but I notice only the icon name comes up when I hover over it "in the wild" so I think I need to add the credit text to the actual name so all of that info comes up on-hover. I'm rusty on LJ functions, LOL!

[firlefanzine.livejournal.com]

No, it's ok the way you did the credit! :-)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Pros fic! And hee - what Pros fic! *g* Where can the lads possibly be (*g*)... but more importantly are they really there, or....?! Eeep! I love how cosy it all feels, even while it's slightly menacing through Bodie's eyes, and after that car crash...

But... of course you can't stop there, right? That's not the end of the story! More eep!

(Also intrigued about why you wrote in the comments rather than making a longer post - is that so that you can add more parts as you go along (she asks hopefully)?)

Thank you!

[tinturtle]

I agree with byslantedlight. Eep and more eep.

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Writing it in comments was a pain and was not on purpose, LOL!

I don't know how many words it is but on my first try, I posted the whole thing with a teaser and LJ-Cut, hit POST then left the computer because I was also trying to post it before I had to leave the house for a few hours.

Oh no! When I came back to put the computer to sleep, I saw that my thing had not posted and LJ said I was over the word count.

OK, I have *just* enough time, I think, to visually try to put half of it in the main post and the rest as a comment. That didn't work and I ran out of time. When I came back a few hours later, I just went the route of least resistance and posted it in chunks that sort of made sense.

What I learned for next year: It's probably a good idea to actually have a workable plan when you sign up for things. I had a sketch for a whole other story in mind when I signed up. The merest of sketches, something short that I figured I could write in a day or so. That story idea stalled hard! While procrastinating with Christmas "research" (aka - doing everything but writing) I found a greetings card ad with a gorgeous version of the North Pole - and 1 day before the thing was due, I had a completely different story, fully fleshed, in the brain.

Still, I had a deadline, so I wrote up what I could. End Part 1 is a more apt end message because you are correct, there is much more to this!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for persevering through all that - what a pain!

It's also really weird that lj told you this was too many words, because I know I've posted longer stories than this one in a single post - in fact I've just checked and my first The Waters and the Wild post was nearly 10,000 words, compared to your story at about 4,500! I've even just done a test post with your story and it posted to the comm just fine as a single post... The lj limit is supposed to be about 65,000 characters.

Hopefully there was just some glitch when you were posting (it's usually pretty quick, too) and you'll be able to post more stories (*vbg*) without having to faff around in comments...

If it helps, I open up the 25th December for anyone at all to post in the calendar... you know, if you happened to have another installment of your story... *g*

And hee - I remember way back when I first joined lj and Pros, I took part in a secret santa fic exchange as extra content. I wrote almost all of a story and then got soooo stuck. I had a day to go before I needed to send something in, and suddenly thought of another story entirely, so I ended up writing that on about two hours sleep... and then I realised that my problem with the first story was because it was basically finished as it was, and it only needed the last sentence tweaking! So I ended up with two stories. And the comm mod didn't end up posting either story for Christmas, but that's a whole story in itself... *g*

So maybe we'll still get your stalled-hard story too... *vbg*

[hagsrus.livejournal.com]

Enjoyed this - thanks!

If you'd like this included in Proslib would you please send me the whole story as a doc, or txt, or rtf attachment, please? Or if you're still working on it, whenever!

Frances
Proslib business: proslib at gmail dot com
groups.io/g/proslib
hagsrus at livejournal / dreamwidth / AO3

[jat-sapphire.livejournal.com]

This is fun and intriguing! I want more!

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

And more you shall receive!

[jat-sapphire.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

Hello! Your entry got to top-25 of the most popular entries in LiveJournal!
Learn more about LiveJournal Ratings in FAQ (https://www.dreamwidth.org/support/faqbrowse?faqid=303).

[ali15son.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading this

Thankyou so much.

[krisserci5.livejournal.com]

This was wonderful. Thank you!!!!

[merentha13.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed this! And I'm glad to hear there is more to come :-)
Thanks for sharing.

[macklingirl.livejournal.com]

Great idea of a Nicklaus story. But that can't be all, can it? What will happen to them after lunch with Nicklaus?

Oh, and I could see an unhappy Bodie in his pants and tunic.

Looking forward to part two.

[cim3745.livejournal.com]

I am still grinning about our lads being at a special place :-)
Thank you for sharing and happy about getting more of them.

[sw33n3y.livejournal.com]

This was so much fun! ...The comment posting may have been not have been intentional, but I think it added to the magical theme. ...It was like Alice going down the rabbit hole.

Enchanted, gingerbread spiced Lads for the win!

Season's greetings! :)

[jinkyo.livejournal.com]

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

[dawnebeth.livejournal.com]

Bodie and Doyle at the North Pole! I love all the elaborate details. Great Fun.