There's a Mirror On the Wall

It's been a decent weekend for writing so far, even if I haven't worked on the stories I'd intended to. Instead, I've had a very awake Kronos muse since sometime very late Thursday night, who was in a Mood Friday morning, and has been strangely (or maybe not so strangely) cooperative since. Him, Alysse, and Caspian. The last of those three, though, is chafing because the story he's currently quite fond of is co-written with auberus, and she's not currently online.

However, I've written just over two thousand words between two stories so far, my Joe Dawson and Methos muses have shown up, and I've had someone respond to the beta-request post from last night. Although, I'm still rather anxious that the story in question isn't going to squick someone out too badly. *crosses fingers* It is, after all, a story involving Kronos and Methos very, very early in their association.

The other two stories I've been working on as a distraction for the muses are the story of how Kronos and Alysse first meet - particularly in the same AU as the above story - and the story of Alysse's reaction after Kronos dies at MacLeod's hands in the dark variation of her AU.

The first is just over half the length of the second, and is going pretty well. It's a still young and more passionate than angry Kronos that's gone hunting down this tale of a goddess, before he's met Methos and been a Horseman for a millennia.

The second. Has some serious imagery going, and more angst than I'm sure I know what to do with. Distraction for the muse is all well and good, and coaxing out Joe and Methos is a good thing, but I'm starting to seriously look for the end point of the story, because the angst level is starting to wear on me. *sighs* If she doesn't find some end-point soon, I'll find one for her, and be damned if the story isn't actually all told.

Particularly since between the three stories I've just babbled about, I'm starting to think (a) Alysse has a bone-deep inability to empathize, and (b) a seriously unhealthy relationship with Kronos. Something that's probably equally as dangerous as what's between Methos and Kronos, only without that level of even vaguely perceived equality on either side. And something that, in the Alysse Dark AU, might well result in her death. She's not balanced, she's not coping well with change, and she's just had the one bright thing in her life cut out of it.

I'm starting to miss her lighter version, for all that even then, she has some issues with empathy. At least then, the worst she's inclined to do is things like demand a Stargate Atlantis crossover, and go sneaking off to Atlantis to get away from the rapidly changing modern world as best she can. Or strand Methos on a tropical island with no room for an airstrip.

When she's with Kronos, though, he brings out the underlying capacity for cruelty, the playfulness can become malicious and vicious, and she's more off-balance. It makes for a great way to explore her character, but it scares me. Perhaps in part because Alysse is one of my older characters, and one of those I've been very fond of, despite her risk of pinging *my* Mary Sue radar, regardless of if she does the same for anyone else. And I don't want to risk losing hold of that lighter side of her.

I think I need to prod more at some of the lighter variation on her AU. If I can find the prompts that elicit the right sort of stories, and can keep Kronos from intruding on the story.

Though there is something in the darker ones that isn't in the lighter ones that I like, and that's the way Alysse treats the ocean - in the lighter variation, the sea is her best friend, but still not an animate, living thing. In the darker variation, she treats the sea as a living, sentient thing, and calls it Mother. Which probably says something about the differences in personality between the two variations, but I haven't quite figured out what.

Anyway. I'm going to go back to actually writing, and seeing what I get out of the muses and leave the update as it is.