Updates On Updates

First, I’ve spent about two weeks knowing I was sick and several days before that telling myself that I wasn’t.

So I’m once again behind Despite My Best Efforts.

I have to figure out how to get to the clinic that takes my – not actually crappy – insurance so I can do a follow up, but I’m probably fine for now. I’m working my way through my emails and getting in touch with people about things I missed because I was sick and trying to catch up so… I’ll be in your inboxes, apologizing profusely.

Second, hey, I’m in a fun little Pride bundle over on itch.io with some cool queer cats. You can get my cozy supernatural short story The Carnival That Comes After and tons of other amazing works for $30 HERE! Profits from the bundle go to the queer creators in the bundle and it’ll absolutely help us all with our future goals as creators and people!!

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Fics That Made Me: May 2022

Why yes, I am making a blog series all about fic that shaped me as a person. I am speed-running my way through this however, so I haven’t attached any warnings or content notes to any of the stories since for some of them, it’s been a while. So I maybe don’t recall what notes or warnings a story requires before recommending! Read carefully if you decide to dive in!


TItle: Glass Houses

Author: Viridian5

Fandom: Weiss Kreuz

Why It Hooked Me: Glass Houses is set near the end of the main Weiss Kreuz series and main character Ran Fujimiya (who takes up his sister Aya’s name while she’s in a coma) loses her at the start of the story, he tries to take his own life. While he’s miserable and restrained, series antagonist Schwarz, rolls up to “rescue” him and one of the quartet, the berserker Farfarello, becomes enamored with the wounded “kitten” and seeks to remake him to his honest and best form. I remember a lot of the early parts of this massive fic, but what hooked me was this part where Ran realizes that he’s getting pleasure from killing and it’s not about killing the just or whatever, he just likes this shit. Him starting to accept his real monstrosity – more than killing, but liking it and realizing that this wasn’t Stockholm Syndrome but genuinely his real self breaking through– was where I settled in for the story. I genuinely didn’t expect to straight up change my life.

How It Shaped Me: I’ve been reading Glass Houses since I was a high schooler. Even when I’m not reading it – a thing I used to do multiple times a year before it crossed the million word mark – I’m thinking about it. This story is a masterclass in how to write fix it fic and pull the characters in a story far from their origins while remaining in-character. Everyone in Glass Houses feels the way they would in the anime series. It’s an implausible but logical progression and the sprawling cast of characters – incorporating existing characters from side media like the radio drama or sequel manga but also new characters – helps keep you on your toes. At no point do I think “wow this couldn’t happen”. In fact, I’m like “why didn’t this happen?”. This was also an early primer for me figuring out how to write intimacy and banter so as a baby I would try to write my own fic in ways that echoed the flow of Glass Houses. I also became deeply attached to people and characters named Sasha because of this. #IfYouKnowYouKnow

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Empire State University Stories (A Marvel College AU series)

Originally published in 2014 on the AO3. This is a college AU for the MCU that was born out of a desire to have more Thor/Ororo and Sam/Steve. It’s still technically in progress, but it’s been YEARS.


Empire state university stories.png\

Trip

Ororo nearly falls head over heels for him.

The left heel on Ororo Munroe’s favorite pair of purple stiletto boots snaps on her way down the stairs of her 9AM history class.

Ororo pitches forward, arms windmilling about as she tries to snag hold of anything — or anyone — that can stop her fall, but her fingers slide over the railing on the nearby wall as though it’s not even there and at first glance, it looks like all of her remaining classmates are too far away to be very helpful.

Ororo squeezes her eyes shut in preparation for a painful tumble down the stairs and says a silent prayer of thanks to whatever force in the universe was behind her leaving her laptop back in the dorms.

But then —

Ororo doesn’t fall.Read More »

Double Booked (A Thor/Ororo Fanfic)

Originally published on the AO3 May 26, 2014 as part of Unconventional Courtship 2014Lightly edited to correct spelling/grammar errors.


Double booked

“Who are you?”

After three months of travelling, all Thor Odinson wants to do is sink into his own bed. The last thing he expects is to find a stark-naked woman already there….

Ororo Munroe wasn’t anticipating company either. Thor may be six feet four inches of pure muscle and boast a disturbingly sexy smile, but a fortnight in the South of France is the one thing standing between Ororo and her sanity—and she’s not about to give it up without a fight!

Because Ororo plays to win. The problem? Thor does, too. And with only one bed between them, things are about to get interesting….

Notes: Major thanks to Vonn for looking over this story for me and to my followers and friends on tumblr that put up with me wailing about everything from the ship itself to characterization worries. Based on the book Holiday With a Stranger by Christy McKellen.


Normally, relying on her instincts has always served Ororo Monroe well.

When floorboards in the quiet farmhouse creak in the minutes just after midnight, Ororo awakens instantly. Her eyes widen in the darkness, fear prickling along her spine as her mind immediately goes to the worst possible conclusion when she hears the muted thud of heavy footsteps come from someone making their way through the otherwise empty house.

Young woman all by herself in a secluded house in the middle of nowhere?

Yeah, Ororo’s seen that movie before and didn’t like it then either.

However, Ororo has an advantage. As far as she can remember, none of the poor young women in those horror movies were Omega-level mutants.Read More »

While You Sleep: A Black Panther Drabble Collection

While You Sleep - Title Card (1)

Four times T’challa watched someone sleep and one time that the tables are turned.

Absolutely un-beta’d. Spoilers for Black Panther abound. The last two snippets are set between the end of the final fight scene and the last scene in California. They also diverge from the end of the film.

Content warnings for character death, trauma from character death, and implied violence.


i.

The first time that T’challa holds his newborn sister Shuri in his arms, he worries for a moment that he’ll drop her. Then she nuzzles close in her sleep, tiny lips parting with a smacking yawn, and he knows that he’d never hurt her. Not even on accident.

She’s hours old and so very small, warm and soft in the cradle of his elbow, her dark little face tucked up against his chest. She barely has any hair atop her head aside from a faint whisper of black hair that is pitch black and feather light against the dark brown of her skin.Read More »

Late Last Night – Helena Bertinelli/Eve Moneypenny

Title: Late Last Night

Characters: future Helena Bertinelli/Eve Moneypenny with mentions of Dick Grayson, James Bond, Q, and The Tiger King of Kandahar

Rating: General

Contains: Flirting, subtle but significant spoilers for Spectre, Grayson #4, and Batman and Robin Eternal #2.

Summary: There are few secrets among spies.

Notes: Instead of writing the Spectre review I took 12 pages of notes for this morning while I was in the theater, I just sat down and wrote a story about two of the most powerful Black women in the spy genre (James Bond‘s Eve Moneypenny and Grayson‘s Helena Bertinelli) having a friendship and maybe (eventually) a little something more. If you squint, there are definite allusions to Moneypenny/Q/Bond and Helena/Dick too. Because that’s how I roll.


There are no secrets in SPYRAL.

Not even for its current director.

No – especially for its current director.Read More »

In Defense of Fanfiction Writers

startup-593327_1280The first thing that I want to do whenever I finish a series is to start writing fanfiction for it.

The series could be perfect, full of perfect plot twists and characters that I want to curl up with, but I’ll still feel like cracking open a Word doc and penning a little something for it.

That’s just how my mind works. For me, the best way to show off that I read and enjoyed a series is to write about it. I don’t have that many followers on my little blog where I do the occasional review, but plenty of people read my fanfiction.Read More »