Pacific Rim and Captain Hill Secret Santa gifts!

Pacific Rim Secret Santa Gift!

title: living in a fallen home
summary: Their instant connection pushed Raleigh into focusing on all the things he and Mako share, all the places where they align. It's only with a little time, and distance, and a lack of wires fused into both their brains, that he learns where they deviate from one another.
why: This was a pinch-hit for me when my author couldn't get her assignment in due to Life Issues (and let me know ahead of time as well as promising me a fic in Jan). So it's short but sweet, a few little slices of life and dealing as they work out how they're going to relate in a post-kaiju world.

In contrast, my Captain Hill Secret Santa gift is intense:

title: this of all nights
summary: In the weeks after Ultron, Steve and Maria find comfort in each other, only to find themselves on opposite sides of the Sokovia Protocols.
why: No quarter given in this fic; the harsh and bitter truth of love and war. It's not an easy fic to read, but it's an powerful one, and the ending is as much interlude as it is completion. The characterisation is amazing - particularly the harder side of Steve and the sharper side of Maria. We don't always write those in Captain Hill fic because it's not easy to write them in a relationship like that - it takes a fair bit of emotional maturity to both conceive it and accept it, but this has been done brilliantly, with their emotional need balanced against the things they believe are right and the choices they have to make in the situation.

being sociable

Debating whether to invite people around for afternoon tea on Saturday - perhaps even a small housewarming picnic. At this point in the week, I don't feel particularly sociable - in fact, I'm kind of exhausted. That's mostly because I got my period this morning and I'm always lethargic afterwards. I'll feel different by Saturday.

Plus, if I invite people over, I can do a lot of cooking of small sweet things. And I do like cooking things.

four gift fics

I have written four giftfics so far this season.

2 Yuletide - one in a fandom with more than 5 stories, one in a fandom where mine is the only story.

1 Pacific Rim

1 Captain Hill

There are some things that are reassuring: that my name doesn't need to be attached to a fic to have people read and enjoy it.

And some things that are depressing: that one of my fics has the worst hit-to-kudos ratio among the fics posted for that fandom, even though it has an identical premise as the fic with the highest hit-to-kudos ratio, just a lot simpler.

So far, three recips have responded to indicate they enjoyed the story; I am waiting for a response on the fourth. (Incidentally, if you're in one of my exchanges and you haven't responded to your fic, please do! Don't leave someone wondering if they laboured in vain!)

You're welcome to guess which fics I wrote, if you can. I'm dreadful at the guessing game myself.