A Certain Slant of Light

evelyn_b took me up on my offer to write fic in exchange for ACLU donations. She started of with the suggestion of writing a Molly McIntire fic - Molly McIntire is the World War II girl from American Girl - and then I realized that I have consumed approximately nine thousand canons set in the mid-twentieth century, AND THEN I realized that one of those canons is the television show Poirot, (which incidentally I finished watching this weekend, incidentally. Did not expect that ending!), so of course I had to write a crossover.

Fic: Perfection Salad
Fandoms: American Girl - Molly/Agatha Christy's Poirot (TV)
Rating: G
Summary: Hercule Poirot comes to the McIntire's house for dinner.


The fic for ACLU donations offer still open, btw. Writing this has rekindled my long-dormant desire to write fic for all the American Girl series - or at least for all the ones that came out when I was young: Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Kit, Molly. (Of the girls who came out later, I'm also awfully fond of Caroline Abbott, Rebecca Rubin - OH MY GOD I COULD WRITE AN ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY CROSSOVER, SOMEBODY STOP ME - and Julie Albright.)

Think of the other gloriously bizarre crossovers we could create together! Kit Kittredge interviews Peggy Carter, y/y?

...Also I would totally write non-American Girl things, that's just what's on my mind at the moment.

I wrote a couple very short stories for trickortreatex! Both MCU, because that's just how I roll right now, I guess.

First, A Worthy Foe, about Natasha and Pepper: Pepper confronts Natalie Rushman about her true identity, and the two of them come to a tentative alliance.

Second, Nightmare, which is about post-TWS Bucky watching Steve through his bedroom window like a creeper. Steve has a nightmare. Bucky is concerned.

Look look! Someone posted a comic inspired by Reciprocity! Natasha gives Pepper disguise tips. (I particularly like the part where Natasha is like "Tap into your inner sloth." Pepper probably has not had tapped into her inner sloth since she was about eight.)

(I should probably warn you, there are like...three sentences in Reciprocity that allude to Natasha and Pepper's espionage lessons, so if you read the fic for that it's going to be beyond disappointing. There are some fun Natasha scenes, though.)

And this reminds me, I haven't crossed-posted the two most recent fics yet.

Fic: Interrogation Techniques
Fandom: Captain America
Rating: PG-13
Beta: littlerhymes
Part 11 of Reciprocity
Summary: Bucky kidnaps a Hydra agent for interrogation. (Very little of the fic is actually spent interrogating anyone.)

Fic: Self-Possession
Fandom: Captain America
Rating: PG-13
Beta: littlerhymes
Part 12 of Reciprocity
Summary: “I’ve been meaning to fix out one of the rooms for Russki Business, too, but I haven’t gotten around to it. Is he with you?” The StarkPhone turned from side to side, scanning the car, then hovered over to peer at Bucky. “Hello, murdroyshka doll.”

Bucky scowled. “Little Orphant Anthony.”

Steve and Bucky visit New York.

I finished season one of Agents of SHIELD. As much as I liked the first half of the season, they definitely kicked it up a notch in the post-Winter Soldier episodes! Like, I had to stop watching and come back later when Skye realized that Ward was Hydra, because OH MY GOD. The scenes where Skye knows Ward is Hydra and it's not at all clear whether Ward knows she knows, all so tense.

(I also think it's pretty obvious that they're setting Ward up for a redemption arc: his hesitation before jettisoning FitzSimmons, his real love for Skye, even his obvious affection for Garrett (and Garrett's barely-concealed scorn for his softness), all these things scream I HAVE A SOFT MARSHMALLOW UNDERBELLY, REDEEM ME.

Which isn't to say that they're going to do it well - I think an effective redemption arc for Ward would require a more sophisticated grasp of morality than the SHIELD writers seem to have, frankly - but that's clearly where we're going.)

I love everyone in this bar! Except maybe Ward, because he's evil, but maybe he'll get over it, we'll see. I loved FitzSimmons from the start (and now that I've seen Fitz before the accident I am kind of destroyed about the brain damage), but Coulson and May have grown on me to; I spent the first half of the season struggling to connect with May, but then her facade got a tiny little crack for like three seconds and now I am one hundred percent all over that. Stoic badasses who have very very secret feelings (VERY) are my jam.

My take on her fight with Ward at the end is that, insofar as it is personal, it's about his betrayal of the team and not the fact that he jilted her. She clearly never cared about him very much; the only person who suggests she does is Ward, and I think it's because he wants to be loved, far more than because he sees actual evidence that she's fond of him.

It's not a nice thing for her to do, and one of the things that has really grown on me about May is that she doesn't care if people like her (except maaaaaaybe Coulson), and the writers don't care either (I think they like her, because who wouldn't enjoy writing her? But they're not too chuffed if viewers don't share their feeling). So she's good and occasionally kind, but not at all nice. I'd hate to work with her, but it makes her interesting to watch.

And I love the fact that this show is willing to rough the girls up just as much as the guys. (Although I have heard ominous rumblings that maybe Simmons is going to die in season two, and I REFUSE, that is just not allowed.)

I like Skye a lot (look at her face in this icon, she makes all the best faces. She has no sense of dignity, I love it), although a couple of times I nearly drowned in embarrassment for her writers when they decided to tell us about how she's a shining beacon of compassion. Skye has a lot of good qualities, and compassion is occasionally one of them, but Fitz and Simmons and even occasionally Coulson - even sometimes May, in her chilly distant way - often have more of it.

Often I feel like writers, especially TV writers, think that compassion is a fuzzily mystically quality that vaguely attaches itself to characters, particularly female characters, rather than being an actual trait with defined qualities that a character needs to exhibit.

(I'm looking at you, Torchwood writers who apparently believed that Gwen Cooper glowed with compassion! Gwen Cooper who gave her boyfriend retcon and then confessed to cheating on him, so she could wring forgiveness out of him without having to deal with long-term consequences. JESUS CHRIST. Skye never does anything a quarter so egregious, thank God. My choice in shows about world-saving ragtag teams of misfits has gone up over the years!)

I am so tempted to start adding Agents of SHIELD cameos to my Bucky stories, someone please restrain me, I know that MCU fandom has decidedly mixed feelings about this show. (Skye and Bucky team up to throw snowballs at Steve would still be the cutest thing, though. The cutest.)

And this reminds me! I have a new story that I haven't linked yet.

Fic: Suspension
Fandom: Captain America
Rating: PG-13
Beta: littlerhymes
Sequel to Self-Abuse, Disconnect, Boundaries, Untangle, Give Me Your Hand, and Dominoes. Maybe I should just start linking the series page in the future.
Summary: Steve was incredulous. “Do you think this is what happy and safe feels like?”

Bucky’s gaze fell away from Steve’s, his eyebrows bunching up. Steve had thought he claimed he was happy just to get Steve off his back, but Jesus. Maybe he did.

The trickortreatex fics have been revealed! I wrote three, my main story and two treats.

First, for my recipient: Something Old, Something New, an Ella Enchanted fic about Ella’s first few weeks living in the palace, between her engagement to Char and their wedding. She’s still getting used to living without the curse that forced her to be obedient, and navigating when and how to obey now that she doesn’t have to; and also dealing with the fact that she’s now a princess, which means that people have to obey her.

I also wrote two treats. First, The Wolf’s Tale, which actually a rewrite of a story I wrote in eighth grade, a fairy tale retelling of “Little Red Riding Hood” from the wolf’s perspective. It’s a pretty simply reversal – rather than the wolf gobbling up the womenfolk, only for them to be rescued by the manly woodcutter, the wolf flees in terror from Red who is an ax-wielding fiend – but I had a lot of fun with it both times I wrote it.

And finally, Trick or Treat a Psych fic about the annual Santa Barbara police station Halloween party. I had a bit of trouble making this fic work, but once I came up with a reason for Shawn and Lassiter to dress up as Little Miss Muffet and the spider it all came together nicely.

The story also features Gus in a pirate costume, Juliet in a dirndl, and cameos by everyone (except Woody. Sorry, Woody) including the Dread Pirate Roberts, who as entwashian pointed out to me is clearly Pierre Despereaux, the dashing art thief played by Cary Elwes. What is he doing at the Santa Barbara Halloween party? I DON’T KNOW. Clearly it’s part of a long con.

Happy Halloween, everyone! It is a very cold Halloween here: I'm sitting inside watching snow fall past the sliding glass door. I suspect the prospective trick-or-treaters are undergoing agonies: I remember one Halloween, when I was a kindergartner, when thunderstorm succeeded thunderstorm all evening long and we only had time to trick-or-treat on one street. Awful!

Regardless of the weather, I had an excellent day at work today. My coworkers dressed up as Hansel, Gretel, and the witch, which was fun: we totally got a photo of Gretel pushing the witch in the oven as Hansel beamed in the background. It was pretty sweet.

And! And I got my trickortreatex stories! Four of them. Most exciting!

First, my gift story: Return to Innocence, Pirates of the Caribbean, Philip/Syrena,PG. This is about Syrena the mermaid and Philip the missionary, who were clearly the most interesting part of the entire movie: I know Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz did some stuff, but really, the mermaid/missionary love story is where it's at.

Second, an adorable Les Miserables ficlet: Thankfulness, Eponine/Cosette (Eponine => Cosette?), PG. Cosette gives Eponine an eclair, thereby winning her heart forever and also making me really, really want an eclair, because it sounds so delicious.

And two Rome fics! First, The Haunting of Lucius Vorenus, Antony/Vorenus (in a dream), briefly R. Antony is dead and far away in Egypt, but even now that he's returned to Rome, his spirit haunts Vorenus's dreams.

And finally, an adorable ficlet Preparing for War, Rome, PG. The author summarized it as Antony sizes up the newest recruit; but Vorenus is clearly sizing up Antony in return.

I apologize to everyone who hasn't fallen down the Winter Soldier rabbit hole, because these stories have sort of taken over my life for the last week. There is something disturbingly addictive about writing "Bucky with most of the niceness burnt out of him" (as one of the comments put it).

Although in this story he gets some of it back. Sort of. A little bit.

Fic: Boundaries
Fandom: Captain America
Pairings: Steve/Bucky
Rating: PG-13
Beta: littlerhymes
Sequel to Self-Abuse and Disconnect
Summary: “Your goal is to replace a world-class assassin with a defective human being? That’s fucking stupid," Bucky said.

In which Bucky lies to his therapists, glories in stories of destruction, and finally has an honest conversation with Steve.

I've been watching season 2 of Downton Abbey with my mother, and you know what that means: Downton Abbey fic! In fact, this is a fic that I abandoned half-finished when I quit the show; I believe it is the last of them, although there may be more hiding away in corners of my computer.

Fic: Heart Like a Paper Scrap
Fandom: Downton Abbey
Pairings: Mary/Matthew
Rating: G
Summary: ‘Heart, you are as restless as a paper scrap,
That’s tossed down dusty pavements by the wind…’

Mary and Matthew discuss poetry (and try very hard not to discuss their feelings) as Mary pushes Matthew around the grounds in his wheelchair.

fic_corner is open! fic_corner is open! And I have a story! A story about Lerant of Eldorne!!!

Title: Atonement
Author: fluffybun
Rating: G
Pairing: none (although I think Lerant has an itty bitty unrequited crush on Kel here)
Summary: Lerant, trying to find his way even though he bears the name of a disgraced House.

This fic shows a number of incidents where his aunt Delia's treason warped his life: the moment when he realized he would never be allowed to fulfill his dream of becoming a knight, his difficulty finding a place in the Tortallan military, and his evolving feelings when Kel becomes Lord Raoul's squire. She's taking his place! But she's so awesome! So awesome. It overcomes his bitterness and by the end he's striving to emulate her hard work and compassion.

In "Atonement" Lerant muses briefly that the only people who could understand his plight are the scions of Tirragen and Malven, which gave me an amusing - and by amusing I mean angsty - idea for a ficlet. Lerant meets one of said scions without knowing it, and they hit it off, only to fly in opposite directions as soon as they learn who the other is because what if the king learned of this meeting and thought they were conspiring?

Oh Jonathan. I suppose I can't really blame him for being paranoid, given that his cousin, his two girlfriends, and one his best friends betrayed him at his coronation. But man, it's gotta be hard on the objects of his distrust.

Amusingly, I also wrote a fic about Lerant...for the very same person who wrote me my fic about Lerant! Great minds think alike. But, proving the adage that no two authors will approach the same prompt the same way, the fic are quite different: fluffybun takes a more panoramic view, showing the way that his aunt's treason haunts his family, while I focused on one incident in Lerant's life.

Title: One of the King's Own
Author: osprey_archer
Rating: G
Pairing: none
Summary: Lerant's family history bars him from the Tortallan military - until Lord Raoul offers him a place.

Remember how a year ago motetus made the most beautiful, beautiful picture for my birthday, of Lucrezia Borgia cross-dressing with a sword?

( Here! Still the beautifullest )

And then I promptly sat on the plot bunny that inspired it and wrote nothing else. Oops.

But now! I have been watching season 3 of The Borgias, and the story has been resuscitated. Which is thematically appropriate, given that it is a story about vampires.

Title: Lucrezia Borgia, Vampire Slayer
Fandom: The Borgias
Pairings: about as Lucrezia/Cesare as the first two seasons of the show. So sort of on the edge, there.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: So not mine. :(
Summary: When Cesare disappears, only Lucrezia knows that he has gone to meet his vampire lover. And only Lucrezia can save him.

This is only chapter 1. It's going to be about four chapters, posted on Mondays & Thursdays, because I'm hoping that this will help me get my writing mojo back.