Stories for a winter's night

So, let's see what happened in 2019, shall we?

( January )


( February )

( March )

( April )

( May )

( June )

( July )

( August )

( September )

( October )

( November )

( December )

And that's it. 2019 at a glance. Nine fics or parts of fics put up here with three officially posted over on A03. So much better than last year!

So October came and went very, very quickly. I've spent the month working on Bleeding Daylight (and have posted two snippet parts here and here), but as mentioned in a previous post, without a firm deadline I really found myself kind of failing. I've been cleaning up the parts that I finished and touched a little on the last few chapters but I haven't really added a lot. I think that the problem is that I'm fighting over the ending. There's the one that ends happy and the other that ends ... well, not so happy. I kind of want to go with the not so happy one since this is a one-shot and will never be revisited again, and since only a small handful of people are likely to read it anyways (super rare pairing in a little used canon) I really shouldn't care that people may not like the ending. But on the other side, this is supposed to be a love story and those are supposed to end well, right? Sunshine and roses and babies ever after? I'm thinking that after NaNo I'll get back to things. Maybe then I'll have some clarity on it.

Which brings me to the other thing that I've been working on - a rough outline for NaNo. I'm going to be continuing on with Being Human. I have the first three chapters posted here, here, and here, and am working on the fourth chapter that will lead into the fic proper. Yes, four chapters of set up so I can do something ...?

The problem is that this has kind of turned into a cast of thousands with many, many locations and factions and groups involved. Assuming that everything goes to plan, I'll have one group with Hydra, one group with the Avengers, and one group with ... Maybe Dr. Strange. I'm not positive on that one just yet. But either way, I need to decide if I'm going to chapter jump and pull a "Meanwhile in Avengers Tower!" or write them as a series of fics with the four chapter opening starting it off, and then having the other three groups as their own fics, and then coming back together as a single fic for the end. I know that Ladydragon76 managed to write a cast of thousands with Crackalackalicious in a single fic, but she had everyone pretty much in one place. And yes, I'm name-dropping that fic because it's what inspired me to write mine. Well, that and Kidu's Adapt but that one's not on the net any more. I have a .pdf if anyone wants it though.

So, yeah, that's what's planned. I'm going to be working on Being Human during NaNo and see how far I get with it. I'm sure I'll manage the 50K I'm just hoping I have something halfway postable. I'd like to get something more posted on AO3 before the end of the year. I did post two new things here in September but one might end up as part of "You Remind Me" and the other doesn't quite feel done yet.

Title: Survivor’s Guilt
Rating: T
Characters: Bluestreak, Smokescreen
Pairings: Bluestreak/Sideswipe/Sunstreaker, Bluestreak/Jazz (implied), Red Alert/Prowl (mentioned); Smokescreen/Ratchet (suspected)
Warnings: Survivor’s guilt, implied self-harm, drugs and alcohol,

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( Fic below the cut )

No journalling today. Instead I am trying my hand on some short almost-flash fiction to get the juices flowing again.

Title: It’s not paranoia if I’m right!
Date: September 18, 2019
Fandom: Transformers: G1
Character/Pairing: Blast Off, Teletraan 1, Red Alert, mentions of Smokescreen and Prowl
Rating/Warning(s): None
Word Count: 648
Summary: Red Alert knows that terrible things are going to happen and it’s all the others’ fault! Now if only someone would listen to him.

“I want you to contact me the moment that-”

“Red, m’man! It’s all in hand!” Blaster said, cutting the security director off with a negligent wave of his hand. “Ain’t no reason t’ believe that I’m gonna fall down on the job!”

“You are being far too cavalier about all of this!” Red Alert snapped. “The Decepticons have been testing the perimeters non-stop for the last quartex! They are just looking for the moment when we let our guard down!”

“An’ then they’ll murder us all in our recharge cycles,” Blaster said, rolling his optics. “Are you plannin’ on leavin’ or are ya gonna keep tellin’ me how t’ do my job, man?”

Red Alert’s sensor horns flashed wildly as his hands closed into fists at his sides.

“You are not taking this seriously!”

( Read more )

I'm trying to get back to something that resembles normalcy so back to keeping regular updates and attempting to get back to writing. So, lets get back into this:

1. Bleeding Daylight - This was to be my entry to the Robot Big Bang before life tried to eat me and resulted in my dropping out. It's a Wings Universe AU dealing with a Smokescreen/Swindle cross faction relationship, questions just how free the Decepticons are, and its just an all around epic love story. It's got Smokey/Swindle, Onslaught/Blast Off (and I'm trying to respectfully write demisexual Blast Off), Ratchet/Twins, and a deep Ratchet/Smokescreen friendship.

I'm currently reworking what I had already written to include the various subplots I had to drop for time and space. Once that's done I will finalize the ending, get it edited, and start with the posting. Now, since I don't want to compete with the Big Bang and I really want to be sure that things are edited well, I may not start posting this fic until the new year.

2. Being Human - This is my Humanized TF/MCU crossover. I've posted the first three chapters here and I'm currently working on the fourth. Combat is breaking out properly and the Autobots and Avengers will actually meet.
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3

3. You Remind Me of Someone I Used to Know - This story has a long, long way to go. I've worked on some of Chapter 4. Smokescreen has been found out by Jazz and Mirage and he's promised to leave Ratchet alone. Unfortunately Ratchet's curiosity has been piqued and isn't going to give up on finding out who Cortano really is.

4. Survivor's Guilt - I've been picking at this one for ages. I noticed that there were a variety of fics out there dealing with both Blue and Prowl dealing with the fall of Praxis, but it's super rare for anything to be written about Smokescreen. So I started working on this idea. It's the anniversary of the city's destruction and Smokescreen is dealing with his survivor's guilt by getting overcharged on his own and Bluestreak decides he's having none of this. This isn't going to be part of the Medical Psychology series.

5. Who Counsels the Counsellor? - This is another one that I've been picking at. It's the Festival of the Five and Smokescreen is attacked by an unknown assailant. Then he's attacked again. And again. And no one knows who's doing it. I sort of got sidetracked on this one because I couldn't decide which Autobot was doing the attacking. Fact is, according to the fandom Smokey is the designated asshole, so I wasn't sure who to chose at the bad guy knowing that I'd be pissing readers off.

4. Untitled Heat fic - There have been a variety of fics out there dealing with sudden heats among the bots. It got me to thinking, what if someone went into heat and the only person there to help them is someone they loathe. It's become a rather difficult dub-con fic that will have to be dealt with very carefully. Smokescreen/Mirage. This one is part of the Medical Psychology series.

5. Red Tape sequel - After all of the issues with my parent and the hospital, I am planning on a medical system red tape fic and poor Ratchet having to deal with it.

6. Daughters of Liberty - This is my Fallout 4 walkthrough fic. The idea is that there are a number of people survive the vault and the protagonists are a pair of sisters - one a Marine lawyer and the other an Army engineer. It's pretty amorphous at the moment but it's slowly progressing. Basically I want to flesh out the story a little and play with the world.

So, there we go. Clearly I will not be finishing all of these this month, but I do plan on working on most of them. I may post some of the WIPs over here at some point. It may be silly but I find that if I post it somewhere where people can see it (they don't need to, but they could) then I'm less likely to go back and edit the bejesus out of it.

Title: Night Terrors
Fandom: Transformers
Characters/Pairing: Smokescreen, Ratchet, Smokescreen/Ratchet
Rating: M
Summary: Smokescreen wakes from a very bad defrag that ends up dragging up something from his past that he does not want to remember or talk about.
Warning: Mentions of past non-con, PTSD, Panic Attack, verbal abuse.

Author’s Note: An LJ user (@bamshee) posted a prompt in January of 2016 that I just couldn’t help but fall in love with: “Fav trope: Severely traumatised Character A waking from a nightmare in Character B’s arms. Character B consoling and comforting panicky and upset Character A. Character A clinging to Character B. Character B cuddles Character A through a long, sleepless night.”

---

Ratchet had always recharged lightly. Even before his time as an intern he would online at the slightest sound. It was a habit that served him well in his personal life as well as with the Autobots. He didn’t want to think of the number of times the Terror Twins tried to break into his quarters to “cheer him up” after a particularly bad battle. Waking up at the slightest sound always helped in not getting surprised on those nights.

It was the soft moan that brought him out of recharge.

“Smokey?” Ratchet asked as he propped himself up on one elbow.

The Praxian had rolled onto his back, pressing his doors uncomfortably into the padding of the berth. His face was twisted in what could only be described as pain and pleasure all in one. He moaned again, arching up into an invisible touch, but his face was a mask of pain and fear.

( Read More )

I officially hate writing combat scenes. Unfortunately they are sometimes required in the Transformers fandom. And in the Marvel Cinematic Universe fandom too. And I'm writing a crossover between the two. There are times that I wish I could just skip past them, but that's not quite as entertaining a read as say a fade to black in place of a sex scene. ... I'll be happy when it's done but right now I am at the stage where I just want it written without have to actually write it, if that makes any sense.

This has the additional problem of being the first time I've written human combat and the first time I've written the Avengers, so this crossover monstrosity really is turning into a lot of firsts for me.

Ah well, nothing for it but to keep slogging through and to stop sweating the minutia. ... Though that minutia does give me the opportunity to pull out my toys to see exactly how the robots in question fit together in various configurations.

Title: The Choice
Fandom: Transformer
Characters/pairing: Orion Pax
Rating: T
Summary: Orion Pax finds the Matrix and is offered a choice he cannot refuse.
A/N: This was inspired by a prompt from ages back on 31_Days (December 2015). The prompt was: "That blinding explosion that left you crackling to the fingertips with electricity, initiated and transformed". I started it
with only the vaguest idea of where I was going and then quickly found myself mired in some major writer's block. Thankfully I kept the initial draft because I've finally been able to finish it.

( Fic beneath the cut )

I'm trying to get back into writing something focused. I managed 50K in NaNo, but as is usually the case with NaNo, the output is less than usable. So I'm going back through my works in progress and trying to finish a partially completed fic. Chapter 3 of the You Remind Me Of Someone I Used To Know fic that I haven't updated since 2016. I know what I need to do with the chapter, I just have no idea of how to get to where I need to be.

I think the problem is that I need to add an info dump. And I hate info dumps. The premise I'm facing is this: At some point before Ratchet joined the Autobots and while he and Smokescreen were still "dating", the Institute was destroyed and Smokey was presumed dead. The Council used the destruction of the school as an excuse to lock down harder and one of the many things they locked down was prostitution. The truth is that Smokey wasn't at school when it was destroyed and the Council hadn't stopped prostitution, instead they centralised it under their direct control (read: pleasure bots as spies, assassins, and gifts). There's a lot of world building I need to do and it's become seriously intimidating. This isn't just some random what-if any more. This is an entire AU.

I just wish I felt more comfortable in my abilities to tell the story that I have in my head.

I have been busily working on my Camp NaNo project, an as yet untitled Transformers AU that takes place in the MCU. After 17 days I finally have something that I am happy enough with the post, so, in keeping with my "Post at least one thing a month" directive, here is the prologue of my as yet untitled piece. Comments are always welcome!

( Read more... )