"Four Times Hardison Told His Nana He Was Sorry, And One Time He Said He Was (But Totally Wasn't)" for
"Making Book" for
"The Dangers of Champagne and Shrimp Puffs" for
"Mórrígan" for
My original assignment was
1. I'd openly discussed that plot several time over the years and since we're on each other's flist and I'm probably one of the only Jake 2.0 fans she knows, she'd know it was me immediately
2. I re-read the outline and, erm... yeah, that's a 40,000 word story, and I'm occasionally prolific, but I'm not that prolific.
So.... I scrapped that idea, and started trying to figure out what I could do, and the first paragraph about the Chivas Regal popped into my head and I started giggling maniacally, and then I decided I had to know why Jake was barefoot, and how he and Lou ended up locked up in a panic room, and from there the story was born.
(I also am a freak who actually set it in 2007 because December 13 there really was both a Knick's Game and an Ice Storm that night.)
I picked up
What I of course neglected to take into account was that I needed time to re-read all my books. In the end, I drew mostly on Lady Gregory, Michael Scott, Ulick O'Connor, Wikipedia, and the Oxford Dictionary of Irish Mythology by Peter Berensford Ellis. It was beta-read by the lovely
And speaking of Shell Game...
So, funny story... See, I guessed
Cos as soon as her request had come up on the pinch hit list, I'd saved it, thinking "I could write her a madness treat". And in the 45 minutes before the archive closed, I dashed off "Four Times Hardison Told His Nana...", giving pretty much Hardison a huge chunk of my own fannish backstory. I figured it would be a dead giveaway, and everyone who read it (I was thinking, you know, maybe 10 people) would know it was me, and it would be a huge laugh.
I had no idea it would end up getting more feedback than anything I had ever written for Yuletide ever in the history of ever. Seriously. And the only person who guessed was
But see, Boosette was SNEAKY, and I had no idea she'd written both my Yuletide pressies, as she'd also written my Bang Bang treat What Shadows See.
So in the end, SHE TOTALLY GOT ME.