one wound-up punch of intuition

OKAY SO, I wrote the following things for Yuletide this year:

A Very Serious Matter (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency), for lydiabell
More Than Kin and Less Than Kind (Sons of Anarchy), for fated_addiction
Two of a Kind (The Red Star), for rushin_doll
Stars Are Born (Hellboy movies), for cimera
Small Blind (National Treasure), for starfishchick

Most of my recipients found and seemed to like their stories, so I am very happy! My Yuletide experience in general this year was just excellent, and I didn't really even think about comments or recs; I have no idea why this changed (as last year and the year before, I felt very liiike meeee, please like me!), but it made Yuletide a lot more relaxing. It was really nice to just enjoy Yuletide and not fret over things that I couldn't control. But I did get a lot of really wonderful feedback and several recs (including recs from one or two people who recced more than one of my stories, which always makes me laugh and wonder if they had any idea that the same person wrote both), and I have many people to go forth and thank.

And now, some notes on each individual story!

A Very Serious Matter (The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, TV; 6524 words), for lydiabell

"No!" Mma Makutsi's voice railed. "No, no, no, you silly man, that is not what has taken place here! It is a crime!"

Mma Ramotswe stepped through the bead curtain and into the former Kgale Hill Post Office. Inside, Mma Makutsi was pacing vigorously, her heels clicking with each step, and she gestured wildly with a stapler. BK sat perched on the edge of the desk with his arms folded; he looked exasperated. "I know that it would be a cri--" he said, and then his eyebrows rose and he stopped. "Mma Ramotswe." She wiggled her fingers at him in a small wave, and he began to smile.

"Yes," said Mma Makutsi fervently, her back to the door. "She would know what to do, but she is away on a very important case, and we cannot disturb her."

Mma Ramotswe gently cleared her throat. Mma Makutsi spun around and her face lit up. "Mma!" she cried, taking several quick, skittering steps toward her. "Oh, Mma, I am glad that you are back!"

( Spoilery notes )

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More Than Kin and Less Than Kind (Sons of Anarchy; 5740 words), for fated_addiction

Jax was perched on the concrete front steps of St. Thomas with his knees draw up, shoulders hunched, and his chin low. He looked so small, so unlike his usual gangly swaggery self, that Tara paused for a long moment before quietly coming down one step, then two. Her sneakers made next to no noise as she sat down beside him, hip nearly brushing his.

Jax held the familiar top rocker in his hands, his thumb running across the TELLER patch just above the one that read PRESIDENT. Dried blood flaked off the leather under his hands. Tara wrapped both her arms around his near one and held on tight.

( Spoilery notes )

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Two of a Kind (The Red Star; 906 words), for rushin_doll

"Yeah," hollered Urik Antares sarcastically, ducking a high-flying chair and rolling across the top of the bar. He hit the floor behind it hard enough that he knew he'd still be feeling the impact in his shoulder in the morning. "This was a great idea, Goncharova!"

Alex Goncharova, on the other hand, was laughing like a maniac. "Wasn't it?" she shouted back, and she popped over the top of the bar long enough to hurl a heavy beer stein in the general direction of the knot of combatants. She was grinning like a wild thing when she came back down, but she held an enormous bottle of blue-ribbon vodka in hand, which immediately made her a remarkably more suitable companion in Urik's eyes.

( Spoilery notes )

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Stars Are Born (Hellboy movies; 684 words), for cimera

"My God," said one of the three judges seated up front. "It sounds like a herd of elephants back there." He raised his voice. "Can we have some professionalism backstage, please! We have a bloody television program to put on!"

Four stagehands carried on pushing a digital screen across the enormous stage. One worker followed along behind them, keeping an eye on trailing electrical wires. Just as the screen reached its place, a huge shaggy gray werewolf entered, stage left. Hellboy burst onstage a half a second behind.

There was a very long moment in which no one moved and no one said a word.

Hellboy and the werewolf stared out at the audience. Three-thousand four-hundred and one audience members -- and three judges -- stared back at them.

( Spoilery notes )

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Small Blind (National Treasure; 884 words), for starfishchick

Rolling his eyes, Ian shoved two cards over to him across the rickety card table, and then his eyes slid to Ben, who had, Riley privately thought, the single worst poker face in the history of the game ever. He was currently frowning at his cards, like doing so would make them magically give up their secrets to him the way that historical artifacts seemed to. "Gates?" Ian prompted.

"Oh," said Ben, looking up. "I'll take, uh -- no, I'll take none. Thanks."

"You're really bad at this," Riley said, sitting with his feet up on Shaw's empty chair.

Ben glanced at him sideways. Dryly: "Thank you, Riley."

Riley tipped his invisible hat to him.

( Spoilery notes )

If you'd like one of your characters to jump into bed with one of mine, leave a comment along with a prompt and I will write you a drabble/ficlet.

I listed my characters just a couple days ago; I'd link it again here, but A) I am lazy, and B) I don't like pulling up RP journals on work internet. I am not backlogged with cases, for the first time since arriving back here! The woman who I work with is out of the office! I am running out of things to do! Please give me things to write while I'm on my lunch break. That would be awesome.

You can consider this a drabble post in general, too, if that particular meme doesn't interest you. Give me a character or a pairing and some kind of a prompt, and I will take it from there. I don't always finish these things, but I try, and hey, you never know, maybe you will give me a prompt and I'll wind up writing thirty pages of fic for it (agonistes, I'm lookin' at you)! Look, I'll even make this post public! My fandoms are a matter of public record by now, I believe, but here's a random assortment of things that I will write for; if you see something missing from the list and want me to write it, can't hurt to ask! If you know I've seen or read something, I'll probably be willing to at least take a crack at writing for it.

Burn Notice, How I Met Your Mother, Leverage, Bones, Hellboy (movies or Hellboy and BPRD comics), Iron Man (movies or comics), Deadpool, Cable and Deadpool, Black Books, iCarly, National Treasure, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, The Red Star, M*A*S*H, Firefly, Princess Tutu, Run Fatboy Run, Watchmen, The Office (bearing in mind I never saw the end of the last season), milliways_bar, Sherlock Holmes, Torchwood (I have not seen series 1, but I've seen Children of Earth and most of series 2), True Blood (I've only seen the first six and a half episodes and read the first book, but I'll give it a shot!), Star Wars: X-Wing, Hot Fuzz, Star Trek (nu!Trek; you can request original series, Next Generation, Voyager, or even Enterprise if you want, but it's been years and I make no guarantees of the greatness of my memory)

I will write crossovers, crack, and basically anything else; I can only write sexy or gross things that are mildly sexy or gross (I am at my desk at work, pls remember. This is a worksafe space, darlings).

I inexplicably have the Next Generation theme stuck in my head. I haven't seen that show since I was 14 and obsessed. What, brain?

Title: Onward and Upward
Fandom: The Red Star
Rating: PG-13? Some swearing; dealing with death.
Characters: Urik Antares, Maya Antares

Notes: Some working knowledge of The Red Star is helpful, but even just knowing the premise goes a long way. Set after the events described (in flashback) in issues 1-4. Thanks to rushin_doll for a preliminary beta, long ago; by now, any mistakes are mine and not his.

Disclaimers: I do not own The Red Star, the world of it, or the characters; all belongs to Archangel Studios and the correct people. I just like playing in their sandbox. I make no profit off of this, and any that I did would go to the creators so that they could put out the next issue.


“Maya,” said Urik. He swayed in the doorway, water pouring off of him and darkening the hallway carpet. “C’n I come in?”

( onward & upward )