Tae

It's been a loooong time, but the FFVII Remake has rejuvenated me, and I'm back! And I have some fics:


Venting: set during the vent-crawling scene in FFVII Remake. On AO3 or FF.net
Evil Duck: A bit of post-ACC crack. On AO3 or FF.net
Cravings: A humorous piece in my Ulfhednar AU. On A03 or FF.net

I also now have a twitter account: https://twitter.com/SekiharaTae

I haven't managed to play either of the Dissidia games, but from what I've read, this fic strikes me as both (a) hilarious and (b) appropriate. There's even a hint (if you squint?) of cloti at the end:

Cyclic Dilemma

Enjoy!

Title: Pen Pals, Fan Clubs, and SOLDIERS
Words: 950
Note: This is set in the Fidelity universe. I'm not sure why, but my brain insisted I write it. Just how did Tifa find out about Cloud's fan club?

( In which Tifa receives an unexpected letter... )

Title:  Most Precious, Part 1/?
Pairing:  Kenshin/Kaoru
Rating:  T
Length:  7500 Words
Betas:  jane_drew_, quoth_the_ravyn,  and yuenmei.  Thank you all, you were immensely helpful! <3
Prompt:  Written for dylynnr, the winning binner on my RK fanfic help_japan  auction.  Request was for a fantasy-themed Kaoru/Battousai
Note: This is a slightly edited version -- roughly an additional 1000 words -- from the one I posted, oh, two years ago.

( In which Kaoru and Misao are *still* taking a trip... )

Title: Language Drift
Characters: Cloud/Tifa, Barret, Reno
Word Count: 1500ish
Rating:  T
Warnings: Crackish silliness and a little bit of language
Prompt: Written for emory (hakuen on livejournal), who had the winning bid on my FFVII Help Japan auction.  No specific prompt was given, I was just told to keep doing what I do... so I hope this works.  (I owe you another 1500 words, too.)

( Language Drift )

Normally I would f-lock this entry, but considering my writing commitments -- and the utter lack of any apparent progress on them -- I thought I would share why that is.  Hopefully the extent of the treatment I was prescribed today will be sufficient explanation.

On February 12th, I finished the latest in a string of 30-day courses of antibiotics. (I think it was the 3rd 30-day, and the 5th prescription overall since the end of August.)
On February 13th, I saw my doctor, and she confirmed what I already knew:  my sinuses showed no improvement.
On February 21st, I had my first appointment with an ENT.  He did a CT scan of my head, seemed impressed by the degree and extent of infection revealed, and referred me to an allergist.

Today I visited the allergist.  After making me breathe in a tube to test my breathing, turning my right arm into a field of hives, and making me blow my nose on some sort of special tissue, he sent me away with the following instructions:

(1) A 30 day course of prednisone (steroid), starting with five pills a day for five days and tapering off from there.
(2) A 30 day course of Augmentin (antibiotic)
(3) An 8 week regimen of nasal washes using a saline-and-bactroban solution (this would be similar to neti-pot, except using an antibiotic)
(4) A prescription for rhinocort aqua (nasal steroid) which I am to use for the foreseeable future.

In four weeks I go back for a check-up, at which point if I'm not any better, sinus surgery will be the only remaining option.

So... clearly, there is a lot going on in my head, and none of it is condusive to writing.

I'm not an adventurous person, and I don't particularly like to travel.  However, since I'm writing about characters traveling from the US to Wales I'm having to learn things that other people already know.

For example, I'm absolutely stunned at what constitutes first-class travel on a commercial Emirates Airline or Oman Air flight.  It's like your own personal little travel pod!  Seriously, it's practically a cubicle with a pull-out in it.  However, I only discovered the first-class amenities because I was trying to find out about in-flight internet on trans-Atlantic flights.  Surely, I thought, in this day and age someone offers such a thing.

As it happens the answer is both yes... and yet also no.

Back in 2001 we were there.  Delta, American, United and Lufthansa all partnered with Boeing to develop Connexion, an in-flight internet service which was based on leased satellite service.  However, after 9/11, all but Lufthansa backed out of the agreement.  Boeing continued to offer the service to the European and Asian markets, but Connexion eventually shut down at the end of 2006 due to a lack of sufficient customers. 

Somewhat ironically, Row 44 -- a company formed in 2004 as a competitor to Connexion -- is still in operation.  Customers include Southwest Airlines, Alaska Air, and Norwegian Air Shuttle.  That's good news for customers who want a broad-band in-flight internet connection... but means nothing in terms of trans-oceanic flights as none of these airlines make them.  (i.e. These airlines could offer it... if only they flew from here to there.)

Then there is the satellite company Inmarsat.  Inmarsat offers a communications service called Swiftbroadband.  Other companies then bundle the service to provide internet on commercial flights -- kind of like very focused ISPs.  OnAir is one of the biggest of these, but there are others such as Panasonic's eXConnect and ARINC's Cabin Connect.  (Lufthansa actually uses Panasonic's eXConnect to provide internet using their original Connexion by Boeing equipment; the end product is called Flynet.)   In addition, Inmarsat is currently working -- in conjuction with Boeing, which again smacks of irony to me -- to build the next gen of Inmarsat satellites.  The three satellites together will comprise a new network dubbed Global Xpress.  Inmarsat has tapped both OnAir and GoGo/Aircell to distribute the service beginning in 2013.

So the technology is there, and has been for some time.  Since 2010 at least, even if you don't count Connexion in 2001.  What's holding things up today is that the airlines -- in direct contrast to the gung-ho attitude of 2001 -- are being slow to adopt it.  OnAir has a list of about 25 customers, but most are only using the service in a very limited capacity (British Airways, for example, only offers it on flights from London to JFK) or are for providers that primarily operate domestic and/or international flights outside the English-speaking world.  It's been especially big in the Middle East -- Oman Air's claim to fame is that it was the first airline to provide the service back in March of 2010, and Emirates' entire fleet is supposed to be using the service as of June of this year.

Which is all really impressive to know, but was a lot of work and techno-babble to wade through in order to determine that there really isn't an airline, right now, that offers in-flight internet access between the US and Cardiff.  Therefore, Kaoru will not be working during the flight, which was the sole reason I wanted to know if internet were available.  ~.~ 

I am SUCH a geeky nit-picker.

However, maybe someone else will need to know in the future, and now you won't have to hunt so much for the info.

When you stare at the word 'relict' and can't figure out how to say it or what it means -- when you go so far as to think it's a type of plant (as in the relict bush or some such) because of the sentence context, then you know your brain is too tired to be doing research and you should just stop.

Most of what's going on with LJ doesn't directly impact me -- I don't really use the comment preview or subject lines, so the current changes don't bother me much.  Mind you, I'm not particularly sanguine about the upcoming layout changes, but I'm happy to 'wait and see' how it goes.  That said, however, if the bulk of my f-list jumps ship, there's not a lot of point in staying here by myself.  Plus, I'm not terribly impressed with the way staff members are responding to the uproar, and I'm definitely less than happy that my paid account was switched over to auto-renewal unbeknownst to me. 

Given that dreamwidth is currently offering accounts without requiring an invitation, I decided to go ahead and get myself setup.  Livejournal is still, at least for the present, my home (I'm just posting this on Dreamwidth to try out the crossposting feature) but all of my entries are now available on both sites.  I've also granted the same permissions to your open ID accounts -- so if you can read locked entries here, you'll be able to read them on dreamwidth if you login with your livejournal open ID.

Feel free to add me to your circle, or to comment and let me know who you are over here (if you're over here) if you'd like me to add you to mine.