sprocket | Entries tagged with exchange: trickortreatx

I wrote three fics for

Glow (475 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: VERNON Ursula - Works, Jackalope Wives Series - Ursula Vernon
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Grandma Harken (Jackalope Wives)
Summary:
It was one thing for her to tell Eva she wouldn't come into town, but keeping a young apprentice from dancing and foolishness, even a girl with cholla-rib bones, didn't sit right with her.

"Jackalope Wives" and the sequel "The Tomato Thief" are stories set in a fantastic American Southwest, which star Grandma Harken. When scrolling through requests,

desertscribe's prompts caught my eye. It also made for a nice tonal change from the canon I wrote for my assignment:

In the Cards (753 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Ben Pollard, Jurgen Graff, Meg Kady, Signy Mallory
Summary:
Well, someone has to keep them alive.

I dithered a bit trying to get

meteordust's gift started, until I put it in Ben's PoV. After that, the fic wrote itself.

Alliance-Union canon doesn't tell us where the Hellburner team was assigned after the novel. Cherryh has written in the afterword to her ebook edition of Hellburner that they went to Norway, where Mallory was captain. I've fudged this in the name of More Interesting And Plausible To Me storytelling; and who knows, the offscreen OC might drop dead of rejuv failure between "In the Cards" and Norway's commissioning. *handwaves*

Technical Services (576 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Alliance-Union - C. J. Cherryh
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sal Aboujib/Ben Pollard
Characters: Meg Kady, Paul Dekker, Ben Pollard, Sal Aboujib
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, crackfic
Summary:
"I'm not IT, I'm a developer, why don't you ever- what did you do to this thing, moonbeam?"

Unadulterated crackfic, for

sholio's modern AU prompt. The tricky bit was transferring the characters from Cherryh's fictional 24th century to our current era, without disrupting (too much) their personalities and relationships. Again, Ben PoV, because apparently Ben Pollard is Alliance-Union canon's gift to me when I'm staring at a blank document.

I got three stories, because I am a very lucky person.

Changeling (1182 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Magicians (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Kady Orloff-Diaz, Julia Wicker, Marina Andrieski
Additional Tags: Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con
Summary:
Kady had been sold, once.

Creepy story about Kady, Marina, and Julia; possession, lust, and death, all twisted together. Kady perspective, good focus on her relationships with other women (Penny gets a very, very brief mention).

Little Errands (819 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age II
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Aveline Vallen, Varric Tethras, Merrill (Dragon Age)
Additional Tags: Canon-Typical Violence, Skeletons
Summary:
Aveline wishes, for once, that Kirkwall would surprise her and give her a single day of peace. Instead, Kirkwall gives her skeletons.

Aveline gets roped into one of Hawke's projects, because Varric doesn't have a crush on f!Hawke at all, cough, and gets another "only in Kirkwall" memory out of it. Great Merrill, A+ Aveline, classic Varric. The action sequence with the skeletons is really good.

This Is a Lie (This Is the Truth) (1968 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dragon Age II
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Varric Tethras, Hawke (Dragon Age), Female Inquisitor (Dragon Age), Cassandra Pentaghast
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat: Trick, Trick or Treat: Challenge Yourself, Storytelling, Kirkwall (Dragon Age), Ambiguity, Eldritch Abominations, Horror, Night
Summary:
Varric tells a story.

A++ tone control! Varric tries to tell a creepy campfire story, but some people will not stop interrupting. Snark and banter, with good characterization all around.

Dear Trick or Treat writer,

Thanks so much for writing for me! I will be thrilled to receive a story in any of these canons, so please don't read too much into the prompt lengths. If you already have an idea you're fired up to write, please get started! Finding out what other people love about a canon is one of the things I like about fandom. Happy trick or treating!

Stuff I Like: people working together to overcome obstacles, snark and snappy dialogue, banter, darkfic, place as character, postapocalyptic, N Times Characters Did A Thing. Solving love triangles with OT3s. Worldbuiling. Food descriptions! I have a bulletproof love of competence, including competence at being villainous, and characters finding connections and trusting each other. If crossovers and fusions are your things, go for it - I am a fan.

Do Not Wants: PWP, bloodplay, coffeeshop AU, high school/college AU, explicit descriptions of sexual assault, cross-generation (May-December) ships, cheating and/or infidelity, violence much more intense than canon-typical levels.

Gen or Shippy? Add "in bed" to any of the likes and no not wants and ship away. I am in favor of consenting adults enjoying each others' company and quirks (and kinks).

( Alliance-Union )

( Dragon Age )

( Fringe )

( The Magicians (TV series) )

( Sense8 )

For

trickortreatex, I received three gift fics: two in POI, and one in Fringe.

Mirror (1072 words) by dragons_and_angels
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Person of Interest (TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sameen Shaw, Genrika Zhirova, Bear (Person of Interest)
Additional Tags: Episode: s03e05 Razgovor, Trick or Treat 2015
Summary:
Gen had to meet Bear, that was the only reason Shaw was at her new school on parents' day.

"Mirror" strikes a delicate balance between Shaw's canon issues with feelings and the sweetness you associate with kidfic. Bear assists. I recommend this to the "Shaw = complex" fans out there.

The Ties that Bind (1044 words) by Draycevixen
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Person of Interest (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Harold Finch/John Reese, Harold Finch/Nathan Ingram
Characters: Harold Finch, John Reese, Nathan Ingram
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat 2015, Old Friends, Denial of Feelings, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Baggage, Relationship Advice
Summary:
Written for Sprocket, for the Halloween Trick or Treat 2015 challenge.
Harold has a conversation with an old friend.

And I got Harold Finch getting romantic advice - nearly a "NOW KISS" - from the afterlife. Because, well, Harold. And John. Some people need a push.

The Years We Died (1365 words) by raspberryhunter
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fringe
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Peter Bishop/Olivia Dunham, Peter Bishop & Alternate Walter Bishop
Characters: Peter Bishop, Alternate Walter Bishop
Additional Tags: trick - Freeform, Apocalypse, Rocks Fall Everyone Dies, Revenge, The literal destruction of worlds, AU of AU, But maybe not apocalypse in all timelines, Darkfic
Summary:
Peter came to ask Secretary Bishop for help after he'd killed his whole universe, everything he'd ever loved. What had he expected? That Secretary Bishop might kill him, or perhaps someone he loved: perhaps Olivia. And yet the Secretary was, apparently sincerely, offering his aid.
In which 2026!Walternate has a different plan. An AU of "The Day We Died."

If the full colons weren't a giveaway, the random question about darkfic should have been! Well played,

raspberryhunter! The answer is, yes, this recip is on board with the literal and agonizing destruction of worlds.

I wrote "Recruitment" for Kimaracretak.

Recruitment (633 words) by sprocket
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fringe
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Olivia Dunham, Nina Sharp, Phillip Broyles
Summary:
Nina Sharp has two conversations in two timelines. Set after "The Same Old Story."

I think the whole would have benefited from more attention before go-live,
but I'm pleased by some parts of this, and very much by the core idea. I plead a one-time Real Life Thing for being a slacker on this exchange.

Happy Halloween, and All Soul's Day!

trickortreatex (300 words): done! Which is good, because the archive is open.

yuletide (1,000 words): Hi there, assignment! You and I will be going places.

Anyone up for some kind of November pseudo-Nanowrimo writing challenge? I'm jonesing for a finish-a-thon, or some kind of low bar "fingers to keyboard" peer pressure deal.

Dear trick-or-treater,

First, thank you! If you're reading this, we've matched on a fandom I love, and characters I would be ridiculously pleased to see featured in a fic. I will be thrilled to receive pretty much anything that is not explicitly invoked in my do not wants. ODAO, character requests should be considered "OR" not "AND", etc.

If you look at the "dear author" tag, you'll notice some patterns in my requests. People working together to overcome obstacles, snark and snappy dialogue, banter, darkfic, place as character, postapocalyptic, N Times Characters Did A Thing. A+ parenting and its tricky parent-child relationship consequences. I have a bulletproof love of competence, including competence at being villainous, and characters finding connections and trusting each other. Add "in bed" to any of this for great shippy times.

Do Not Wants: PWP, bloodplay, coffeeshop AU, high school/college AU, explicit descriptions of sexual assault, cross-generation ships, infidelity, violence much more intense than canon-typical levels.

Shippiness is okay, and background pairings, whether F/F, F/M, M/M are all excellent options. OT3 is one of my favorite solutions to love triangles. Outside of a handful of canon-specific "no not want" pairings*, I'm very ship-flexible. The pan-fandom ship I will go down with is Favorite Characters/Happiness. My shippy Do Not Wants: cross-generation (May-December) relationships are not my jam. Infidelity is also a huge turn-off.

*POI: Root/Finch. It's not Character/Happiness for me. Sense8: Please don't break up Nomi and Amanita or Lito and Hernando unless you are writing that darkfic trick; otherwise, adding people to their happiness adds to my happiness.

That's it, that's the letter. Everything else is fandom-specific prompting. If you have an idea, go forth, write. If you're looking for ideas, read on.

( Babylon 5 )

( Fringe )

( Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Manga )

( Person of Interest )

( Sense8 )

crossovering (1,000 words): all bears have been defeated! The fic is resting before a (hopefully) final round of beta and polishing edits.

Trickortreat nominations are open until September 8th. For the curious, this is the current approved tagset. I've nominated in Babylon 5, Fringe, FMA, Matthew Swift, Person of Interest, Sense8, Star Wars, and Young Wizards, but may shuffle those a bit this week. It's my hope someone will help fill out the Fringe and Sense8 character lists before nominations close.

Right now I am dithering about signing up, because of some RL stuff, but I had a good experience last year, so it's likely I'll sign up. How hard could 300 words be?

(Ha. More like, how hard could plotting to stop short of 2,000 words be.)

...happy Thanksgiving! Have Halloween follow-up.

For

trickortreatx, I wrote "Sleeping With the Big Ones" for last-winter-rose.
Fandom: Elementary (TV)
Characters: Joan Watson (Elementary), Sherlock Holmes
Additional Tags: American Museum of Natural History, Vignette
Word count: 436
Summary: Joan and Sherlock are summoned to investigate a suspect attending an all-night museum event.

It’s a nice start, but this wanted to be the start of a casefic, which didn't mesh well with my ideas for fulfilling the recipient's Joan/Sherlock request.

I also treated!

galfridian wrote prompts relevant to my interests for Star Wars and Fringe. When I noticed her Leia icon on AO3 I knew what I needed to write.

"Haunted"
Fandoms: Star Wars - All Media Types / Star Wars Original Trilogy / Star Wars: Rise of Empire Era - All Media Types
Characters: Leia Organa, Original Female Character(s)
Word count: 697
Summary: Sneaking into the Jedi Temple was a common dare among the Senate and diplomatic brats.

At some point I want to circle back and do something creepy as canon with that Fringe S5 prompt.

I received paperclipbitch's very sweet (ha ha) Elementary genfic, "A Study In Pumpkin Spice (and Muffins)", about Joan, Alfredo, and Bell doing their own sleuthing. It's cute and funny and lighthearted. “I’d welcome a basic car-jacking after today,” Marcus groans, and then glances between Alfredo and Joan. “Don’t get any ideas, you two.”

desertvixen wrote a surprise treat for me, which has never happened to me in an exchange. "All We Know of Heaven" would have been welcome in any circumstances, but it's Susan Ivanova Day of the Dead fic with SUSAN AND SOPHIE, which is exactly the sort of thing I'd write for myself.

trickortreatx: waiting on reveals!

fringe_exchange (750 words): 1440 words, some even in sequential order. Three steps forward, two steps back, a step over here, a step over there...

yuletide (1,000 words): assignments are out! I have an idea for mine, though there will be a moment where people go, Oh it's you. Hopefully disguised in the noise of the canon's Oh it's you issues.

trickortreatex (300 words): first draft completed. Hooray for low word count exchanges! I'm excited to think this might get done early. I'm not thinking too hard about pinching or treating (in the traditional sense of exchange treats) until the primary story is posted.

fringe_exchange (750 words): 100 words! Noodling with more words! The story idea is in line with my recip's likes (I hope).

On the sidelines, there are three really compelling plot bunnies that are going to wait their turn.

yuletide (1,000 words): the tagset is up!. Can it be signups now? In a new twist, there's fandoms I am even more excited about offering than about requesting, a first for me.

Current Mood: happy

Dear trick or treat writer,

Thank you so much for write in a fandom I love.

First, a lot of this is "or", not "and". If multiple elements or characters fit, go for it. If not, don't sweat it.

I like plot, snappy dialogue, a strong sense of place, sex that says something about the character(s) (or awkward admissions about sex, ahem Vir "we have six" Cotto), "day in the life" snapshots, stories about connections between characters. I have a bulletproof love of comptetence, even if it's competence at being sinister. This year's fannish theme seems to be family, blood or built, so if you are in that sort of mood? Rock it. If you are familiar with more than one of these fandoms, and are moved to write a crossover, rock it.

I'm neutral on season-appropriate stories. If you want to tell a creepy ghost story, go for it, but don't feel compelled to shove pumpkins (sugary or exploding) where pumpkins aren't fitting.

Tropes I have no time for: whump, self harm, romantic pining, coffeeshop AUs, high school AUs. My big do not want: if you're in a porny mood, please keep the knives and blood out of the sex. I'm not interested in mixing pain and orgasms. Noncon is also on the "do not want" list.

Other than that, have fun! Or scare me silly, your pick.

Babylon 5: Alfred Bester, Vir Cotto, Delenn, Sofie Ivanov, Susan Ivanova
I love when B5 is plotty with Delenn politicking and reshaping the known universe because she is on fire with the righteous purity of her cause. I love every character's shades of grey (Delenn may be righteous, but she never did mention igniting the Earth Minbari war to her husband, did she?). I love all things Susan Ivanova: her mother-daughter Issues, her telepath issues, her professional comptetence and awkward romantic history. I love Vir trying to figure out this "aide to a powerful man" thing, sometimes comically, sometimes tragically.

Elementary (TV): Marcus Bell, Alfredo Llamosa, Joan Watson (Elementary)
This fandom does a great job fleshing out the people around Holmes, but a lot of their interaction still revolves around him. These are three people who have to put up with a lot from Holmes, and maybe deserve some time hanging out without him... but with a case. Or if you want to meet word count with three drabbles about things these character do off the clock, as it were, go for it.

Fringe: Henrietta "Etta" Bishop, Walter Bishop, Olivia Dunham, Astrid Farnsworth
My heart breaks at the sad under-use of Astrid in the show. Fic writer, please help fix this. Maybe Olivia and Astrid in pre-S4 amberverse? The wacky and occassionally terrifing adventures of Astrid and Walter in the lab? Plus, the multiverse setup offers a lot of scope for triple drabbles in this fandom. Red/blue/amberverse Astrid! If you're not in an Astrid mood, there's a lot of gaps in canon to fill in. Etta-Olivia mother-daughter bonding. Or Walter-Etta, that could be super cute. Or not, see also canon postapocalyptic AU.