Happy Autumn Equinox

[byslantedlight]

I've been feeling distinctly un-autumn-y, or even looking-forward-to-autumn late-summer-y this year, which is weird because autumn is perhaps my favourite time of year. The weather around here just doesn't seem to have got there yet, although there are a few leaves on the turn.

Today though, I'm feeling a bit more autumn-y: looking forward to crisp cold days (yeah I know, this is England, we'll be lucky...!) and lights shining against the encroaching darkness, and the smell of fallen leaves and bonfires. Maybe because it actually is raining a bit today, and because it is actually the autumn equinox too - from now on, days get shorter and shorter, in lads'-land, and its fair game to imagine B/D all cosy in thick jumpers, and hot showers, and lovely things like that.

Come to think of it, I had a wee autumn-based storylist up at Palelyloitering:
Autumn Afternoon by PFL
Autumn Leaves Falling by Anon (ProsLib)
Autumn Rain by Jennifer Lyon
Cider with Bodie by Lizzie
Fade Away by Agentsophisticat
October by Rowan
Point of Law by Verlaine
Redemption - of a Sort by LilyK
Third Friday of October by Dana Austin Marsh
The Wolf-Price by ER (ProsLib)

I've not read any of them for ages (or some at all, and I've just added a couple from a quick search on ProsLib) so no guarantees... I'd love some more autumn-y feel stories to read, if anyone's got any recs! (Not bonfire night, or Halloween yet, just... leaves turning, jackets needed... *g*)

Oh! And whee - I found an autumn fic that I started writing myself. Maybe if I get my skates on over work I'll see if I can do some writing... *g*

Autumn Leaves
by Slantedlight

Autumn already, yellow and red and dead upon the trees, scattered dry across the grass and turned to muck and slime in the gutters. All that life, all that colour, and it meant nothing now... There was bloody in the gutter as well, a dark stain that refused to shift itself, sitting as it did upon the old leaves and other dross. But it would rain tonight, as it had every other night this week no matter how fine the day, and by tomorrow even that would have disappeared.

A body in the morgue, another loose end tied up, one less mess to clean up some other time.

"She would have killed you," Bodie said, striding up behind him, and Doyle raised his eyes briefly. Caught.

"There must have been some good to her!" He glanced one last time at the brief brilliance of the leaves in the park, turned and began walking back to their car. "Morgan liked her, and he was no fool."

"Not what Alice would have said."

"Yeah, well... Alice wasn't exactly an angel herself." I thought I knew you...

"No one is, mate."

Doyle shook his head, but he didn't say anything, and he kept walking. It wasn't the first time he'd been made a fool of by a pretty face, but he was more tired of it than he'd ever been. Liz had seemed funny and smart and all the time she'd been plotting revenge. When would he learn?

A gust of wind blew up at them suddenly from behind, skittering dry leaves around their feet and ahead of them on the path, and he pulled his sheepskin closer around him, hands tucked in his pockets, fisted hard enough that he felt his nails digging into his palms.

Comments

[milomaus.livejournal.com]

Yay! Prosfic!
I live autumn, and I love how Bodie catches Doyle, in more ways than one!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeay Prosfic (though only a wee bit from me... *g*)!

I love autumn too - I missed so much of it last year, being the other side of the world that I should be looking forward to it even more this year. Maybe one reason I'm a bit more dubious though is how expensive this cottage is to heat... I'm already planning to layer my sofa in duvets, and wondering where best to buy more bedsocks... *g*

Happy autumn to you!

[snailbones.livejournal.com]

I adore summer so much, but it feels so good when Autumn finally arrives... Dorset today is full of muggy heat and rain, wind, and soggy leaves reluctantly falling. I'm looking forward to lighting bonfires and having fairy lights and warmed wine, gloves and scarves, and that feeling of surviving the cold and wet - like winning a medal.

Thank you - as ever - for your suggestions for reading, for your snippet of something that might grow into something more, and mostly thank you for just being there, steady as a rock.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I liked it being summer this year so much more than I usually do - I guess even our tastes in weather change as we get older! But oh, autumn! *g* And yes, yes, yes to all the things you describe about it - they're for enjoying! And thank you to for such lovely words... *g*

[shooting2kill.livejournal.com]

Lovely piece of writing and that photo's absolutely gorgeous!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Quel surpris, I didn't get to write any more after all... but today is another day!

[jat-sapphire.livejournal.com]

I love ivy changing color! (And maple trees, but that's my climate, not yours.)

And thank you for the story list! That one of Rowan's is ... intense. I couldn't reach Dana's, which makes me sad as I love her stuff. Is it the autumn setting that makes these so--I guess I'd call it wistful? Ah, if I didn't still have Big Bang tinkering to do, I'd be more than tempted to try an autumnal story myself. I have a Halloween idea, though, and that may have to do.

Thanks for the post!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are maple trees over here too - just not as many. *g* I think my favourite autumn was probably when I lived in Alaska - short, but oh so intense!

And ack, sorry about the missing link for Third Friday in October. You've probably already found the fic via Circuit if you went looking, but if not I've fixed it now. One of my favourite Pros stories too, actually!

I had meant to post an autumn challenge to Discoveredinalj, but as with everything I really really want to do... it didn't get done...

[paris7am.livejournal.com]

Beautiful picture, and beautiful start to your story! Ill take a gander at the autumn stories, too, thank you. I usually am excited for fall to arrive, but this year im feeling more sad/mournful than usual. Maybe getting old? Or being sick. Autumn is just so vibrant and strong, the colors and contrasts - you cant resist it!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I'm trying to get my autumn on, but maybe it's just that it's not quite here yet, despite a few hints in places. Although it rained last night, and when I glanced out the door the paving stones were scattered with fallen yellow leaves, so maybe it's getting closer... *g*