chocolate box letter

Dear Author,

This letter is entirely optional. Optional letter is Optional. I hope you have ideas that can work with mine. I hope you have ideas that fall into the general pool of positivity about these characters and pairing and are able to write them. However, if you don't, then just go with the characters as heroes and heroic (particularly the women) and that'll be fine.

Basic notes:

I'm always about the female characters, their goals, their hopes, their dreams, their wants and desires and agency. All the pairings I've listed for this exchange are het. I pair independent women with men who have the capability to respect them and adore them, and I love reading fics about how they integrate with each other, compromising as necessary.

I really like the idea of the women in a canon being connected to each other, even if they don't necessarily like each other. But they respect what they can do, and they don't tear each other down because they've been there and they've watched the guys do that, and they're not going to be like that. In short, women being awesome, and women being awesome to each other.

( fandom specific under the cut: MCU, Sanctuary, Stargate - All Series, Star Wars Movies,  )

Finally, please don't break your brain trying to write these ideas. Short and sweet is the point of the Chocolate Box!

four Yuletide/Secret Santa gifts that I gave

So now that Yuletide has been revealed, these are my four gift-fics for the 2015 Season:

Yuletide Assignment

fandom: Mad Max: Fury Road
title: The Road To Legend
summary: Fair go, whisper the eddy currents, stirring the sands. Not easy pickings, but a fair go.
rating: PG-13
characters/pairings: Furiosa, Capable, The Dag, Corpus Colossus, Toast The Knowing, Cheedo The Fragile, Max Rockatansky
tags: Post-Movie(s), Slice of Life, Misses Clause Challenge

This was my assignment, and I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. It worked out pretty well, I think, but wasn't very popular. Someone else had written a better, more detailed version of this story, and their work was more recently posted (mine was the first Mad Max Fury Road fic posted in the YT challenge) and so by the time people got around to reading it (if they did), they were 'eh, not as good'.

Yuletide Pinch-Hit

fandom: Tokyo Crazy Paradise
title: Magnet And Steel
summary: The boy he used to be trapped her into service; the man he is becoming wants her to stay of her own desire.
rating: PG-13
characters/pairings: Shirogami Ryuji/Kozuki Tsukasa, Shirogami Ryuji, Kozuki Tsukasa, Shibuya (Tokyo Crazy Paradise)

Until two days ago (when someone posted three little ficlets), I had written the only two fics in this fandom on AO3. And, yes, last years YT Madness ficlet "Chrysalis" connects with this YT assignment fic "Magnet and Steel". I nearly linked the two, but decided, no, I wouldn't. I did anon Chrysalis after I posted, though. Just in case.

This was kind of fun to write - I've had some little bitty plot bits and pieces here and there for this manga ever since I read it back in...oh, 2009? Writing last year's Madness ficlet and this year's pinch hit forced me to actually complete them.

I guess I'll have to actually write the story where Tsukasa climbs into Ryuji's bed as an acceptance of their relationship, won't I?

Maybe next Yuletide....

Pacific Rim Secret Santa

title: together we are not optional
summary: Co-pilots, after the Drift.
rating: PG-13
characters/pairings: Mako/Raleigh, Caitlin Lightcap/Sergio D'Onofrio, Mako, Raleigh, Herc, Caitlin, Sergio
tags: relationship, love, friends, angst, fluff

The request was for Caitlin/Sergio taking Mako/Raleigh in during the holiday season. But the movie happens at the start of the new year, so the next 'holiday season' would be the Lunar New Year - which, given the strong focus of PR on the Asian countries, would be perfect.

However, there was the small issue of actually getting Mako and Raleigh together first. I've wanted to address the issue of previous sexual partners before in fic, particularly since I could write either Mako or Raleigh as ace, but since they have such a lovely respectful relationship, I really prefer them as het - and hot for each other, but working out how the whole issue of boundaries works.

So Part 1 is them getting together, and Part 2 is them working out how to balance it all in the midst of the crazy publicity that would be post-Pitfall in the Jaeger program. It's a very simple piece, which is just as well, because the Captain Hill Secret Santa was kind of crazymaking.

Captain Hill Secret Santa

title: Personal Is Not The Same As Important
summary: Personal is not the same as important. Maria Hill and Steve Rogers understand this far too well.
rating: M - canon-standard violence, flashbacks of physiological and mental torture.
characters/pairings: Maria/Steve, Maria, Steve, Rhodey, Akela Amador, Cameron Klein (Technician Guy), Melinda May's Mom, Original Male Character...and then we get into cameo territory, which is Pepper Potts, Nick Fury, Natasha, Sam, Vision, Wanda...
tags: Civil War (Marvel), Angst Action/Adventure, Happy Ending, Aftermath of Torture, Psychological Torture

Oh look, it's yet another Maria-in-Civil-War fic. Actually, the recip was a late entry into the Secret Santa. So I gave her my assignment and took hers on instead - and she wanted something that dealt with MCU Civil War. This was the short version and the happy-ending version. (Seriously, the long version involved a trip to Asgard, Maria picking up the Hammer, and ending up holding the universe together while pregnant with Steve's child to stave off Ragnarok. And it was angsty as hell, in case you couldn't tell.)

So, I wrote the Civil War section of the fic. Which featured Maria being awesome, because this is me and this is Maria Hill. And then, because there was no way that Maria was just going to forgive Steve and take him back...it turned into a two parter. With a side of torture and psychological angst, because it's kind of fun putting Steve through the emotional wringer. I was writing the penultimate scene when I realised the connection between the two (sometimes my brain does this; I'm writing something without quite knowing where it's going, and then BANG the connection to the beginning is there and it is Very Good) and then it was tea and happy endings.

--

So that was my 2015 Christmas Season.

Now to do the Year In Fic list... Sheesh.

2015 fic list

Once again, very much dominated by MCU, Maria Hill, and Maria/Steve - assisted by her appearance in Age Of Ultron, and her interactions with Steve.

That will almost certainly change in 2016.

MCU
Maria/Steve
Them Apples - PG
Steve Rogers And The Inappropriate - NC17
No Fate - M
Nothing But The Best - NC-17
Maybe Why - PG
No Damsel - PG
Teams, Teasing, and the Appropriate Routines for TMI - PG
The Odd Couple - G
Shiny And Dark - NC-17
Between Destiny And Love - PG-13
Close Enough - M
Reborn Of Ice And Fire - PG-13
Hold Onto That Feeling - PG-13
go down with your shield or come back on it - M
Half Sick Of Shadows - PG-13
An Astonishing Resistance To Memory - PG-13
Change And Contentment (Or The Lack Thereof) - PG
there are pieces here I don't know where they go - PG
<3<\3 - PG
Personal Is Not The Same As Important - M

Other Pairing
I <3 The Russians When They Come Bearing Gifts - PG [Clint/Natasha]
hearts stoppered with clay - M [Skye/Ward]
Between Destiny And Love - PG-13 [Clint/Maria, Maria/Steve]
Differentials Between Assets And Agents - PG13 [Bucky/Maria]
Resurrector - G [Bucky/Sharon, Maria/Steve]
Weapons In Bed - M [Bucky/Sharon]

Gen
Trust Issues - PG [Maria, Clint]
By The Water Cooler - PG [Maria, Pepper, Steve, Sam]
A Question Of Loyalty - PG [Maria, Peggy, Natasha, Melinda, Coulson, Fury, Pepper]
sacrifice the queen - PG [Maria, Pepper]
At The Bottom Of The Coffee Pot - PG [Maria, Bucky]
bleeding out her bones - PG [Skye, Bucky]
We Won't Always Have Paris - PG [Natasha, Steve]
His Mother's Son - G [original character, background Steve/Maria]
Once Worshipped - G [Maria, Thor]
People We Are Not - PG [Clint, Natasha]
Hell On Heels - [Maria, Natasha, Melinda, Skye, Jemma, Sharon]
Agent And Assassin - PG [Sharon, Bucky]
Keep Calm And Curbstomp Hydra - PG [Maria Hill & ensemble]
The Tools To Hand - PG [Maria, Steve]
In The Shadow Of Superheroes - PG [Maria, Clint]
with a cause - PG [Maria, Tony Stark, Melinda May, Phil Coulson, Sharon Carter, Akela Amador, Nick Fury]
Mostly Harmless - PG [Maria Hill]
Admiring The Hawk - PG [Peggy Carter, Maria Hill]
The Worth Of A Woman - PG-13 [Maria Hill]
Killing Him Softly - PG [Maria Hill, Steve Rogers, Tony Stark]
But Not For Love - PG [Maria, Melinda]
Good Does Not Equal Nice - PG [Maria, Sam, Tony, Rhodey, Steve, Natasha, Wanda, Melinda]
Stockholm In Subversion - M [Maria, Steve]

Pacific Rim
Aftermath - NC-17 [Mako/Raleigh]
smaller than my memories - G [Mako, Raleigh]
The Compressed Sense Of Eternity - NC-17 [Mako/Raleigh]
Love Sweet Love - PG-13 [Mako/Raleigh]
Two Become One - NC-17 [Mako/Raleigh]
Together We Are Not Optional - M [Mako/Raleigh]

Jupiter Ascending
A Stake In Earth - G - crossover with Pacific Rim [Jupiter Jones, Caine Wise, Mako MOri, Raleigh Becket]
Dark Queen Ascending - G - [Jupiter Jones]
Jupiter Jones And The Concubini Prime - G - [Jupiter Jones, Vassily Bolotnikov]

other
Young Wizards - Augment - PG [Ronan Nolan]
Harry Potter - Think Like A Woman - PG [Andromeda Black, Nymphadora Tonks]
Mad Max: Fury Road - The Road To Legend - G [Furiosa, the Wives, Max Rockatansky]
Tokyo Crazy Paradise - Magnet And Steel - G [Ryuji/Tsukasa]
Star Wars: The Force Awakens - Gain And Loss - G [Rey, Poe, Leia, Jessika Pava, Finn]

January Talkmeme Masterpost

The first five days are free to enable me to try to do some fandom_stocking fills. (If you're interested/able, then my stocking is here!)

1st Jan -
2nd Jan -
3rd Jan -
4th Jan -
5th Jan - quilting—favorite patterns, favorite techniques, whatever (alexseanchai)
6th Jan -
7th Jan - One thing you didn't know about Vietnamese cooking before you visited last time. (everbright_morning)
8th Jan -
9th Jan - How about your thoughts on pets (adafrog)
10th Jan -
11th Jan - Five items off your bucket list, please! alphaflyer)
12th Jan -
13th Jan - Plot bunny/trope that you would never write, and why (beatrice_otter)
14th Jan -
15th Jan - Favorite SGA ladies (theladymore)
16th Jan -
17th Jan - You always have such interesting photos of meals you're eating in (I'm assuming) cool restaurants, but I'm curious about what you cook at home! Any go-to meals? Or dishes you only cook for special occasions? theladyscribe)
18th Jan -
19th Jan - Any ways your faith has affected or been affected by your fannish experiences? (beatrice_otter)
20th Jan -
21st Jan - If you had unlimited funds where would you travel in the world? What have been some of the most memorable places you have visited? (jenab)
22nd Jan -
23rd Jan - what's your favorite kind of original story to read? alternatively, what's your favorite kind of fanfic? (scribblemy_name)
24th Jan -
25th Jan - Gardening. How did you get started? What do you most enjoy growing? Any memorable successes or failures? (sixbeforelunch)
26th Jan -
27th Jan - Maria Hill, Melinda May and Clint Barton walk into a bar (alphaflyer)
28th Jan -
29th Jan - How did you get into quilting? (freaoscanlin))
30th Jan -
31st Jan - Favorite MCU ladies (theladymore)

If you can think of other questions you'd like to ask, by all means, add!