Either Do It Right, or Don't Do It at All

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----------=BigCloset Retro Classic!=----------

Either Do it Right,
or Don't Do it at All

by Lilith Langtree

Copyright  © 2009 Lilith Langtree
All Rights Reserved.

 

"Everyone," Mr. Walsh started. "We have a new girl joining us at Desmond for the rest of the year. Her name is Casidhe O'Connor and I want you to make sure you make her welcome."
 
Dear God, please, someone just shoot me!

 
Admin Note: Originally published on BigCloset TopShelf on Tuesday 03-16-2009 at 5:40 pm, this retro classic was pulled out of the closet, and re-presented for our newer readers. ~Sephrena
 


 
 
It was the second worst day of my life. The first being when I, a ten year old, Casidhe O'Connor and my parents were exiting the American Embassy in London after replacing our stolen passports. That wasn't the bad part. It was the suicide bomber that chose that moment to explode himself close enough to my parents to make identification a distinct improbability. Luckily, depending on who you talk to, I was trailing far enough behind them to be thrown clear of the majority of the blast, suffering only non-life-threatening wounds.

Don't you love that specific choice of words? Non-life-threatening.

I was sent to live with my only surviving relative in existence, my grandfather. Don't get me wrong. Gramps is a great guy, for being seventy-two years old. Yeah, Dad was born when Gramps was in his late forties and I wasn't born until much much later. So, basically we had nothing in common. He raised me for the following five years under his often quoted credo, 'don't raise a child, raise an adult.'

This basically meant, once I was healed of my injuries, that I did everything. I learned how to shop for groceries, cook the meals, balance the checkbook, arrange for repair services when something broke, pay bills. You get the idea. I had adulthood thrust upon me at eleven years of age. What was his reasoning, you may ask? Well, Gramps was seventy-two years old and I had no other relatives, remember?

Ever since I moved in with him he planned for his eventual death and my following emancipation, just in case. He wouldn't have me living in foster care being raised by people that had no clue about the family, as small as it was.

Follow me as you see how I take my life by my hands and Either Do it Right, or Don't Do it at All.

Comments

Either Do It Right, or Don't Do It at All

Looks to be a most interesting story.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Great story

Was just wondering if you were going to continue this story as I see it's been quite a while since the last addition

Oh ye of little faith

Lili is always writing something, and she made a solemn promise not to abandon any storyline. Believe me, we'll see more of Casidhe as time goes on! :)

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Hint

Enemyoffun's picture

I think so. I started rereading it again and would love more.

pleading!

Hint? heck no! Begging, pleading, big puppy doggy eyes, ANYTHING!
I was really enjoying this story :-)

Yes

Me and Rena both want to see more of this.

Yours Truly

Arina

Thanks for the hint Erin!!!

Much as I love The Center and the Comics Retcon universes, I've wanted to see more of Casidhe's story for quite some time!!!

-sb

The best stories are about character change.

"So, a dime, a nickle and a penny walk into a bar..."

Coordinated
Educational
Network for
Talents and
Emergent
Resources

Either Do It Right, or Don't Do It at All

Are you going to complete the story? Or is it completed?

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

LOL, so did mine. I was

LOL, so did mine. I was like. Hey... an update! Hold on... what? Then I realized, I'd officially been made old(retro). You know back in the day when I first came to BC:TS, I used to have to upload my stories uphill, both ways, on an old Dell Inspiron 1000 laptop. Yeah, those were the days. Windows XP and MSWord95. Can someone pass me my Metamucil and dentures please. It's time for shuffleboard with Maggie. Watch out for her she cheats.

~Lili

Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree

~Lili

Write the story that you most desperately want to read.

Please don't be offended...

I came across this story after getting hooked on Whateley, and the first time I read it, Casidhe sounded so much like Ayla I was convinced that you were Diane Castle (until I came across Sangria on the fanfic forum). This is still one of my favorite stories and I would like to see more someday.

-sb

The best stories are about character change.

"So, a dime, a nickle and a penny walk into a bar..."

Coordinated Educational Network for Talents and Emergent Resources

Coordinated
Educational
Network for
Talents and
Emergent
Resources

Really? Ayla? Huh. I never

Really? Ayla? Huh. I never would have pictured the two of them alike. Weird. I'm not offended at all. I'll have you know that I am Diane Castle. Nope, not really. Ha! Wouldn't that have been funny.

I opened Sangria and wrote about two pages the other day. So hope is not lost.

~Lili

Blog: http://lilithlangtree.tglibrary.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lilith_langtree

~Lili

Write the story that you most desperately want to read.

Well, to check off the similarities...

Ayla and Casidhe both:

have significant monetary resources
have extensive professional contacts that they are willing to use
are pretty much on their own and responsible for their own lives
feel some responsibility for those around them and the need to express that

of course, both characters are written from that first person internal perspective where they examine their own state of privilege and pain.

The big difference I see is that Casidhe is accepting and embracing of the situation that was forced on him by external events, whereas Ayla is not.

-sb

Coordinated
Educational
Network for
Talents and
Emergent
Resources

Coordinated
Educational
Network for
Talents and
Emergent
Resources

There is another big difference

Do you remember how much time has passed since the decisive turn of events? How old was either of them?

That's right, Casidhe lost her parents and her testicles earlier. Several years earlier. And spent these years in sort of a personal status limbo. Ayla's loss is still very, very fresh. We will see (eventually) Ayla by the end of senior year, and how he managed to adapt. It's a gradual process after all.

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Faraway


On rights of free advertisement:
Big Closet Top Shelf

Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Absolutely great

but then you must know that by now. The whole lesbian preferring a GG thing still bums me though as I am kinda like Cas ( which btw, why did Cas's parents give him what is traditionally a Gaelic girl's name apparently? ) in that I lean way more towards women then men. The well groomed good looking ones are mostly gay imho but those are the ones that I kinda like.

I will join the crowd of hopeful puppies giving you puppy eyes, hoping that it continues.

Kim

Not Fair Teasing People....

Beverly Colleen's picture

Not fair teasing people like this! When I saw this on the list I was like OMFG!! Litith actually got another new chapter out! Then I saw the retro line attached to the top. :*(

I don't know if 18 months since the first chapter was posted and less than a year since the last chapter quite qualifies as retro classic imho. However while I would definitely like to see more of this wonderful storyline don't feel pressured from yours truly to produce more than your muse is willing to write.

I'm wondering if maybe a section of recommended series like there is for the stand alone stories might be considered might be considered. Just a suggestion.

Beverly Colleen

Beverly's Balcony

**********
I am a leaf on the wind, but someone turned the fan off.

was on a transcontinental flight

so I read it again. (made it into an ebook for my e-reader)

Like everyone else I'd love to see more to this tale but in a way, it could end here. Cas has come a long way toward getting her life in order. She has dear friends and although a 16-18 love is pretty early for a lifetime committment, it happens. We've come through a disaster and things look stable. I feel like Chloe's comments to Cas at the end of 15 could be read as an end of the story. (but I sure hope not)

Sorry

Sorry I don't mean to be rude but still waiting for update to this series it is really good. If you want help you know your fans are more then willing to help out anyway that they can.

Yours Truly

Arina

Still would like

I would still like to see this series get finished. It has been awhile sense I have been through the story but It has been sitting for an awfully long while. I do like some of the other things that you have been putting out there but I think it is time you focus a little more on some of your older ones that you have left unfinished please?

Yours Truly

Arina

>>>>...I think it is time

>>>>...I think it is time you focus a little more on some of your older ones...<<<<

Please, dear lord in heaven above, tell me that you didn't mean that the way it sounded. I had to actually walk away from my screen for five minutes before replying. Please please tell me that it was a bad turn of phrase that we've all committed at one time or another.

~Lili

Google +: http://gplus.to/lilithlangtree

~Lili

Write the story that you most desperately want to read.

It was meant

It was meant for you to focus on some of your older unfinished stories. Where ever I go to try and get info on how the stories are coming along I can't get what it is that I would be looking for. For example I come here I have no clue as to when the next one part is to come out. I go to that Blog site that you had in some of your replies to us fans it doesn't give the answers we would be looking for. And if you look closely I posted back to back with a little over a year apart from each other. So I personally think that it would be smart if you got to some of these older stories and found ways to finish them up.

Yours Truly

Arina

Big Rock Falls; Everyone dies. The End.

Well, now that we've clarified that you definitely intended that statement as it sounded and it wasn't a slip of the tongue...

Here’s something that most people don’t think about.

As of this message, I’ve written 46 published stories for BCTS.
34 of those are complete.
Number of words: 1,120,000+

Unfinished stories (Ideas, etc.) that haven’t seen the light of day: 36
Add another 250,000+ words for those stories.

Half-hearted stories and New story ideas that I’ve jotted down for the future: 23
Add another 50,000+ words for those stories.

Now, keeping this all in mind…

Writers write differently. This means some will start a story and not think of anything else until it is finished, polished, and in pristine shape before publishing.

I’m not one of those types of writers.

In order for my brain-> fingers-> computer to work properly, I have to write constantly. This means different projects, because a scene, a plot, a sub-plot, a character, whatever isn't working and I need time to figure out a way to make it work. Otherwise I will sit there and stare at a blank scene and not write anything at all. Been there done that, had four years dry spell of producing squat in the process.

So, here I am doing my best to get something out, hopefully complete, so I get the chance to make those fans that enjoy my work, happy. Then some rude asshole comes along and says they think it's about time I produce something. She doesn't inquire as to when the next chapter will come out, or if I'm making any progress on their favorite story, like most normal polite people would, she just pretty much orders me to produce.

Okay, here's the production specifically for you:

Do It Right... (Last Chapter)

Big rock falls, everyone dies. The End.

For everyone else:
I start the day off looking at every single unfinished story I have (that's been published on BCTS) to see if I can add something. Sometimes I do. I add a sentence, or several paragraphs, or an entire scene. Other times I have squat to offer for one reason or another. So I move on to whatever catches my fancy so that I can actually write and not become a person that stares at a blank screen.

I don't like to say "The next chapter will be out when it's out," because it's a little rude, but that's pretty much the reality of the situation. Here's a nicer way to say it: "I'm working as well as I can in order to produce something of quality and not simply to produce a steaming pile of crap because I pushed inferior material out there. I wish I had a specific date for you, but at this point anything I say would be a lie because I don't even know. Thank you for your patience and support."

Lastly, Arina, if you want the ability to order me to do something, then open up your freaking wallet and send me money for a completed story. Until then, I'll work on what I want, when the ideas come to me. Savvy?

Yeah, I'm feeling the fucking rage right now, and that pisses me off, because I'm not a rage type person by nature. However, you have hit on that one nerve that set the whole thing off. Congratulations, you're the one that finally made me lose it.

~Lili

Google +: http://gplus.to/lilithlangtree

~Lili

Write the story that you most desperately want to read.

Very Rarely...

...do i venture into something like this. I tend to prefer the whateleys and the comic retcons, superheroes and magic powers.

But this story is so wonderfully written I found it hard to put down.

I'm sorry for not writing comments on each individual part. I tend to compile everything that has been published into a more readable format and rip through it all at once. I also tend to default to the stance that my input wouldn't be worth anything, so why clutter up people's screens with my inane comments.

I've come across your please for comments on other stories though, so here I am. I'm not sure if you still feel the same way and really want comments, no matter how inane, but I've been trying more.

Can't wait to read more of this, but then again I say the same about everything of yours I read.

Thank you again for writing as much as you have. If you decide to write more, of this, your other stories, or something new, people are frothing at the mouth waiting.

read this in one sitting

had me crying my eyes out at points, I'm so jealous of Cassie its not even funny ....

DogSig.png

One of my favorites

Wish there was more from Lilith.

I was never certain whether this one was finished or not. The last bit could be the end or it could be ready for more.

Such a pitty yet again...

Mantori's picture

Such an amazing story without an end...

It seems to me that all too often here on BC, writers start these great stories and never finish them...

SO SO SAD...

"Life in general is a fuck up,
but it is the rare moments of beauty and peace
in between the chaos,
That makes it worth living."
- Tertia Hill