EXCHANGE INTERFACE

(title from "the thargomindah road" - an old Australian song)

The neck always feels a little fragile the day after a visit to the chiro. And I have a headache that I fear would be probably more than threatening if not for the panadol I took a couple of hours ago.

I'm not sure I can write tonight. An awful lot of things are all churned up, including the oncoming winter, the state of Marvel fandom, my feelings about my health, and a lingering feeling of aloneness in fandom.

Anyway.

Have a link: Eleven million deaths as clickbait - a commentary on That Thing What's Currently Happening In Marvel.

And a number of fics:

oh, there's a show alright but it may not be the one you want
“So, after months of trying to keep you lot quiet and under the radar, you’ve managed to completely blow your cover, start a manhunt, and declare yourselves gay for each other in just over fifty hours.”
Sam/Bucky drunk!Vegas!Marriage fic with a side order of Maria/Steve UST that is ridiculously popular considering I dashed it off after an amusing Tumblr post. (Hey, I did say I kind of wanted to write Sam/Bucky, looks like my brain got hijacked with hijinks - and, btw, my fingers just typed 'bijinks' which, um, yeah. Hi, Freud!)

Casualties Of War
It’s better this way. Anything between them could only ever be a casualty of the events and people that need them more.
6K of extremely self-indulgent Maria-Saves-The-Day fic, featuring Valkyrie, all the Avengers, and Maria/Steve. I'm not sure what the first commenter meant; anyone willing to hazard a guess/explain it to me?

Every Breaking Wave
She's thirty-five when she realises he's never seen her as an old woman.
Someone prompted me with "Captain Hill + 'mourn'" and this is the result. It's an AU based off 'The Time Traveler's Wife', and extremely angsty, mentions a character death, and features a character coming to terms with her own death. Same series as Lepidopterae.

Return To Me
Four days is an eternity between ransom message and rescue.
Someone else prompted me with "Captain Hill + 'come back'" and this is quite possibly even more brutal than Every Breaking Wave.

trying to break the mold
Three-quarters of a potential sedoretu, shooting for orbit, burning like fire.
A little Steve/Bucky/Peggy sedoretu ficlet. WARNING: follows MCU canon, so unfinished/unhappy ending.

I'm presently working on:
* a Maria Hill movie plot that would fit into the MCU
* To The End Of Love (need to switch off my inner editor/critic and just write this on out; it's kind of awful)
* the next chapter in the Steve/Maria Neighbors AU, after they went to Italian with her grandparents and kissed
* the next chapter in Sam/Bucky drunk!Vegas!Marriage.
* and to top it all off, someone actually went and asked for "Captain Hill + loss", which involves "one character dying while in the arms of the other". Geeze. This WILL end badly.

So much writing. And BEARS of so little brain.

Plus two quilts to prep for the Sydney Quilt Show which is in LESS THAN A MONTH (what, when did this happen) and which have to be finished, ready to hang, and dropped off in a nearby suburb by the middle of next month. (Oh, geeze, I hope it's the middle of next month.)

Captain America: Civil War has premiered: it is the beginning of the end for me and any canon hopes for my ship.

*sobs dramatically into her keyboard*

Three Bucky/Sharon fics in a kind of triptych: A Knowledgeable Dame

Dreams Don't Count
This morning, Sharon rather hated her brain.

Jesse's Girl
Agent Sharon Carter, CIA, looked at him and in her eyes he saw a gleam of appreciation he hasn’t seen since... Well, since he was another man entirely.

Refresher Course
Bucky always preferred a dame who knew her way around herself; it meant he didn’t have to find out what she liked – he could just satisfy her.

--

And one Maria/Steve (so far):
Face Value
It's more than 'nothing' but this is a lie they can accept at face value.

TITLE: a practical acquaintance with bees (Part 1)
SUMMARY: The price of being the best is to always be the best, and sooner or later, the universe catches up. Maria Hill learns this the only way she knows how: one day at a time.
TAGS: Maria-centric, Maria/Steve, pre-Cap2:TWS, cast of thousands
RATING: PG-13
NOTES: The Maria Hill epic I've been threatening for the last three and a half years. Still only half-complete, but at a decent resting point, with more to come.

So, I got an anonymous ask on Tumblr, asking for a Steve/Maria AU to the lyrics of Hozier's 'It Will Come Back'.

Sometimes an idea just co-opts your brain and you have to run with it.

title: you should never know how easy you are to need
summary: She’s the paperwork, the duty, the chore – not someone that anyone seeks out. Responsibility isn’t fun, necessity isn’t glamourous, and nobody ever wants to stay around for clean-up. She does her job and she has all the interest factor of a grey cloud in a blue sky – people are mostly hoping she’ll go away.
tags: Maria Hill/Steve Rogers, relationship, angst

title: don't take me in with no intention to keep me
summary: He signed up for an army that didn’t want him, for a chance that would change his life, and earned a one-way trip into a future he never imagined, and a war that could never truly be won. And the part of him that wasn’t a soldier didn’t make it out of the ice.
tags: Maria Hill/Steve Rogers, relationship, angst, Civil War, Ragnarok, happy ending.

Those 1.2K of words have taken me the better part of a week to write, and nommed all the other words I had in my head.

( things to do in MCU fandom )

For those of you with a strong femme-focus; the February Halfamoon Challenge is up again this year - mostly over on Tumblr, but also here on halfamoon! Get your gifs and your fics and your meta ready to go, because the more the merrier!

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.

Firstly: Is fandom_stocking happening this year? Anyone know?

Secondly, I spotted this over with cereta:

Step One:
Make a post. It can be public or friends only, whatever you're most comfortable with. The post should contain your list of ten holiday wishes, and these wishes can be anything - from simple (fan fiction written about your favorite pairing), to medium (a DVD you want), to really extravagant (a brand new laptop or car).

Just make sure these are wishes for things you really truly want.

Step Two:
Skim through your friends list and see who has posted their own wish lists. Then - and this is the most important part - if you find a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make sure that person’s wish comes true.

Sometimes a person's trash is another person’s treasure. If you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you’re never going to use, give it to someone who wants it.

Step Three:
Post this wish list any time after November 1st. Then repost it two weeks before Christmas.

You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday fairy - to spread the joy.

Gifts can be made anonymously or not, it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

( wishlist: pretty simple, mostly fannish )

Don't forget to post your own wishlists, and I'll see what I can do...

Sign-ups: 11th - 15th November
Assignments Out: 17th November (latest)
Assignments Due: 21st - 24th December

Requirements: 1000 words for a fic, a good drawing / set of graphics for art, or a 2-minute video if you’ve offered vids.

If you’d like to participate (fic, art, or vids) then please PM me with the following details:

Tumblr/LJ/DW: [tumblrusername]
Email: [something @ mailserver dot com]
Fic/Art/Vid: [whether you’re willing to write fic or make art or make a vid]
Request: [what you want to receive]
Offer: [what you’re willing to give]
Notes: [any extra details, likes, dislikes, things that your gifter should know]

I just saw the first Sharon/Steve post turn up on my tumblr...

*sniffles into her fanfic*

Two fics for not_primetime:

TITLE: Keep Calm And Curbstomp HYDRA
SUMMARY: Maria Hill is not known as a people person.
TAGS: Maria Hill, Character Study, Post-Cap 2, Maria Hill is a BAMF.
NOTES: My assignment for rmc28 (who reliably asks for Maria). A sequel of sorts to 'Keep Calm And Carry On'. The 3rd story in the series will be post-AoU and is presently called 'Keep Calm And Manage Mayhem'.

TITLE: In The Shadow Of Superheroes
SUMMARY: Against the bright screens displaying the work of one of the most sophisticated – and secret – computer networks Fury could slide under the books at S.H.I.E.L.D – she looks small and dark, the merest shadow player in a game big enough to swallow the world whole.
TAGS: Maria Hill, Clint Barton, Laura Barton.
NOTES: A treat for jena Another of my attempts to level Maria's absence from the MCU Civil War. (Basically, you're going to get a lot of fic out of it, because I want as many of these ideas out before I get fully and finally jossed (russo'd?) by Cap3.

TITLE: Close Enough
SUMMARY: His job, then, is to put her on notice: message received, mission accepted – and then to return fire in kind.
TAGS: Maria/Steve, Meet Ugly, Sexual Innuendo.
NOTES: Tumblr has a 'meet ugly' set of prompts, which I guess are the counterpoint to the "meet cute" where couples bump into each other doing cute things like walking dogs or ordering coffee. As alphaflyer pointed out, they're not exactly ugly meetings, just a little less cutesy. Yes, geckoholic, you are on a site where people fuck fruit...

TITLE: Reborn of Ice And Fire
SUMMARY: The first time, Steve dies in ice. The second time, he dies in fire.
TAGS: Steve Rogers, Character Study, Steve/Maria, Maria Hill, Bucky Barnes, Natasha Romanoff
NOTES: Oh, look, it's another fic of Steve & Maria in Civil War... (I'm not kidding, you're going to be tired of them by the time the movie actually gets here.)