Chocolate Box!
Feb. 21st, 2019 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
learnedfootChocolate Box was the first exchange I've participated in in *years,* and the first one under this identify, and it resulted in an embarrassment of riches. I got four wonderful gifts, had a blast writing five fic, had amazing recips -- I'm almost scared to do more exchange because it's hard to see how I can top this. Not that it will stop me from signing up for H/C Exchange and maybe Smut Swap... I guess I'm an exchange person now. All it takes is one hit.
Anyway, the rundown:
What I received
Always Welcome, Peter/Tony, E
If you like this ship at all I can't recommend this more highly. Drunk Peter! IW angst! Sweet, and sexy, and full of feels all at once, it is everything I could ask for in P/T fic.
As Easy as Understanding, Nebula/Natasha, T
I requested this ship because I was curious about it, and this fic confirmed that I think it is a great idea. If you are also curious, you should check it out. Short, sweet, and just *so them.*
I Can Show You the World, Bucky/Shuri, T
Bucky/Shuri!snickfic wrote me Bucky/Shuri! And it is absolutely wonderful. Really, really beautiful fic. Really recommend it.
Rental, Peter/Tony (with Venom!), T
Venom gets Peter, Eddie and Tony team up to get their boys back. This is a freaking delight, and I highly recommend it not only to P/T fans, but to anyone who likes Venom. As much as I enjoyed the shippy parts, I think the best part was Tony and Eddie being forced to work together, and getting along not at all. It's great.
What I Wrote
MCU
And Again and Again, Peter/Tony, time loop, 6k, T
One of my great joys of this fest was seeing a few people who said they don't even really like the ship rec this, which is a huge compliment. I'd never written time loops before, but between this and Russian Doll I might now be addicted.
Anything but the Best, Peter/Tony, suit porn, 4k, E
Just what it says on the tin. But with feelings, because I can't not.
Not the Point, Peter/Tony, 3.3k, E
Peter almost dies, it leads to a fight and porn. Like you do. Porn with feels is my bread and butter with this ship, #sorrynotsorry
Something Left to Lose, Bucky & Rocket, 4k, G
AU where Bucky survives IW, and forms a friendship with Rocket, because they so would.
Doctor Who/Star Wars
Never Fail to Be, Thirteen + Kylo/Rey, 6.3k, G
Of everything I wrote this time, this is the most outside of my wheelhouse -- I'd never written any of these characters, or in these verses or, IIRC, a crossover of any sort -- but I also think it is the best. In fact, it's probably the best thing I've ever written. This is not to put down the other stuff I wrote, which I am generally quite pleased with, just to say it is incredibly rare for me to feel like I *nailed* a story top to bottom, but I do feel that way about this one. I give all credit tolucymonster's amazing crossover prompts, which just sparked something in me.
(Writing this was also a lovely reminder that as much as MCU has most of my fandom attention these days, Doctor Who has a uniquely special place in my heart for a reason.)
Anyway, the rundown:
What I received
Always Welcome, Peter/Tony, E
If you like this ship at all I can't recommend this more highly. Drunk Peter! IW angst! Sweet, and sexy, and full of feels all at once, it is everything I could ask for in P/T fic.
As Easy as Understanding, Nebula/Natasha, T
I requested this ship because I was curious about it, and this fic confirmed that I think it is a great idea. If you are also curious, you should check it out. Short, sweet, and just *so them.*
I Can Show You the World, Bucky/Shuri, T
Bucky/Shuri!
snickfic wrote me Bucky/Shuri! And it is absolutely wonderful. Really, really beautiful fic. Really recommend it.Rental, Peter/Tony (with Venom!), T
Venom gets Peter, Eddie and Tony team up to get their boys back. This is a freaking delight, and I highly recommend it not only to P/T fans, but to anyone who likes Venom. As much as I enjoyed the shippy parts, I think the best part was Tony and Eddie being forced to work together, and getting along not at all. It's great.
What I Wrote
MCU
And Again and Again, Peter/Tony, time loop, 6k, T
One of my great joys of this fest was seeing a few people who said they don't even really like the ship rec this, which is a huge compliment. I'd never written time loops before, but between this and Russian Doll I might now be addicted.
Anything but the Best, Peter/Tony, suit porn, 4k, E
Just what it says on the tin. But with feelings, because I can't not.
Not the Point, Peter/Tony, 3.3k, E
Peter almost dies, it leads to a fight and porn. Like you do. Porn with feels is my bread and butter with this ship, #sorrynotsorry
Something Left to Lose, Bucky & Rocket, 4k, G
AU where Bucky survives IW, and forms a friendship with Rocket, because they so would.
Doctor Who/Star Wars
Never Fail to Be, Thirteen + Kylo/Rey, 6.3k, G
Of everything I wrote this time, this is the most outside of my wheelhouse -- I'd never written any of these characters, or in these verses or, IIRC, a crossover of any sort -- but I also think it is the best. In fact, it's probably the best thing I've ever written. This is not to put down the other stuff I wrote, which I am generally quite pleased with, just to say it is incredibly rare for me to feel like I *nailed* a story top to bottom, but I do feel that way about this one. I give all credit to
lucymonster's amazing crossover prompts, which just sparked something in me. (Writing this was also a lovely reminder that as much as MCU has most of my fandom attention these days, Doctor Who has a uniquely special place in my heart for a reason.)
no subject
Date: 2019-02-23 11:23 pm (UTC)That's exactly what happened to me! My gateway drug was Fandom Giftbox - I threw my hat in the ring on a fleeting impulse, and the experience was so good that it's all spiralled out of control and now I have three open assignments with a fourth on the way and a want-to-treat list longer than I'm ever going to make a dent in. Ours is a hard life. 😂
In fact, it's probably the best thing I've ever written.
asjdhfjr. Without in any way putting down your other stories (which I haven't yet read but are at the top of my list), there really is something special about Never Fail To Be. I don't think I'm just biased as the recip either, lol.
no subject
Date: 2019-02-24 04:01 pm (UTC)Right?! I was like, "I'll just sign up for ChocoBox," and now I am also signing up for SmutSwap, and H/C Exchange, and it's so tempting to do more...
Back in the day under an old username I used to do Yuletide, but there were less other exchanges those days. This current world is dangerous...
there really is something special about Never Fail To Be
<3 <3 <3
I think this is right. I mean, I do like the other fic I wrote this time around, some of it quite a bit -- and am particularly pleased with the positive reception for the time loop one, as that was a PH that got out of hand, length-wise, and I wasn't sure if I liked how it resolved, but apparently other people do, and in reflection I've decided I do, too -- but with Never Fail to Be... IDK. It holds a very special place in my heart, that's for sure. Maybe if I could say exactly why I feel so good about it, it would be easier to replicate. Though probably not. It was a magic in the bottle moment.
If I had to guess, I'd says it's partially that I set out to tell a self-contained story that was both sweeping and epic (in that it covered so much of Ben's life/arc) but also intimate and person (just four conversations between the same two people) and actually managed to pull that off somehow. The pulling it off is the magic I'm not sure I can replicate, but thinking about it now, it does make sense that something with that kind of scope, when done well, is just going to feel more impactful than endless variations on "X ship gets together." (And I say that as someone who *loves* reading and writing "X ship gets together," so no hate. But if I had to try to guess why Never Fail to Be feels different, that would be it.)
/Self-indulgent musings, I am just *very* pleased with this fic
no subject
Date: 2019-03-03 06:03 am (UTC)That's the best-worst feeling, isn't it? I love it so much when that happens with a story - it's the most satisfying, uplifting experience as a writer to know you've absolutely nailed an idea. But then it's also frustrating when you can't figure out how to replicate it. Like, if only that delicious bottled magic were on tap.
Also I'm bringing this over from ao3 and I hope I'm not talking your ear off too much on this, please feel free to tell me to go away if I am, but YES ELEVEN. I just finished the first season of his run and I'm torn between desperately wanting to gush about my feelings and not even knowing where to start. I was worried that my devotion to Jodie Whittaker would make it hard to get invested in another Doctor, but it hasn't been that way at all.
And also, just quickly, this:
I think a lot of it came from my intuitive take on the differences in the canons themselves, which then obviously manifest in the characters. Star Wars has always had heavy themes of redemption, of course, and so it makes sense that Ben's arc -- and therefore his POV -- is shaped by that. But Doctor Who -- perhaps because it is so long running, such that a single "arc" doesn't really make sense -- has always felt like it was thematically more about picking the right actions in a given situation, and let the world think of you what it will.
I just wanted to say that I've been thinking about that line of yours a lot as I watch Doctor Who and it's held so true. There are elements of that classic redemption arc there (dear god, that episode where the Doctor gets tormented across two dream worlds by the "person who hates him more than anyone" who ends up being the Doctor himself, come back to berate his younger incarnation about his past failings - yeah, that one was intense). But there's no linear progress or straightforward chain of improvement. Just the Doctor trying every episode, every day to cope with the past and be their best self.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-03 12:09 pm (UTC)And I am SO GLAD you love Eleven, too! He really is just fantastic, and his first season is my favorite season of all of Doctor Who. He and the Ponds are fantastic,* it has such a good arc, the finale is one of my favorites.
I was worried that my devotion to Jodie Whittaker would make it hard to get invested in another Doctor, but it hasn't been that way at all.
Right?! This is me every time. Or, was, up until I got used to the Doctor Who experience and realized I am always going to be open to a new Doctor. But when I first picked it up it was right near the end of Ten's run. I remember binging the whole thing. First the transition from Nine to Ten I was like "this is so weird, I'll never be able to adjust," but then within two episodes I was like "Ten is the best!"
And then the transition from Ten to Eleven... I mean Ten was so iconic, David Tennant is so fantastic, I was so sure there was no way this new guy could live up to it. But I was in love by halfway through "The Eleventh Hour" and never looked back. Elevennnnnnnn <3
(*I kind of hate to say this in a show with *so many* fantastic female characters, but Rory is just my very favorite companion. He has this moment in the Dream Lord episode when, after Eleven says about how you can trust nothing and need to examine everything, where he peers really closely at a random wrench he has in his hand, clearly trying to follow instructions, and from that moment on he was my forever fave.)
no subject
Date: 2019-03-10 11:20 pm (UTC)Oh my god I know exactly what you mean though. Every moment in this series that's really burnt itself into my brain is about Rory: him getting erased from history (still crying), him coming back to life (still crying even more), him standing guard over Amy for two whole millennia (I may never be okay again). He's such a great character, the down-to-earth straight man in the Doctor's circus of crazy, and I love him fit to burst.
Honestly, it's getting harder every episode to say who my favourite character is. The whole cast is *so good*.
no subject
Date: 2019-03-12 12:31 am (UTC)UG, don't remind me. he's so great.
the down-to-earth straight man in the Doctor's circus of crazy
Forever and always, I ADORE his reaction to going in the TARDIS. "It's another dimension." I love you Rory <3
Honestly, it's getting harder every episode to say who my favourite character is. The whole cast is *so good*.
YES. Every companion is best companion. Every Doctor is great. Just great great great.