0059 | Yuletide Reveals, 2014 Edition!

[straightforwardly]

Yes, I know reveals happened hours ago. But I wanted to post about it when it was 1 January here, so I waited until now. And by "now", I mean that I started on this after my family celebrated the clock hitting midnight, and that it's now almost one in the morning. I want my bed. >_>

This Yuletide, I wrote a total of four fics in three different fandoms: my assignment, two full-length treats, and one Madness ficlet.


The First Drop (1221 words) by straightforwardly
Fandom: The Immortals - Tamora Pierce
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Onua Chamtong & Veralidaine Sarrasri
Characters: Onua Chamtong, Veralidaine Sarrasri
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Canon Compliant, Female Friendship, Brief Mentions of Past Canonical Domestic Abuse, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: A brief moment between Daine and Onua the day after the spidrens attack. Set during the beginning of Wild Magic.

This was my assignment this year, and I have to admit that I struggled with it a bit. My recipient requested "any" characters, and while it would have been quite tempting to just default to one of the million Rikash-and-Daine bunnies hopping around my head, I felt like that wouldn't precisely be fair to my recipient. Two of their requests were for a "missing scene" or a "scene from another character's POV", so I decided to reread the series to see if anything struck me.

I didn't get past Wild Magic before the bunnies started hopping. I tend to skip that book when I'm doing a reread of the series, and so it surprised me to realize how much potential for fic there was in the book, particularly in Onua and Daine's journey to Corus in the beginning. I went from having no ideas to having too many— one of my favorites which I didn't write involved much friendly bickering between Numair and Onua about who "gets" Daine as their apprentice/assistant after they get to Corus— and it took me a while to sort through them and figure out which ones were workable.

Another aspect of this story which was surprising to me was that not only did it include Onua, but was also actually from her POV. She's a character I've always had a super difficult time getting a grasp on, and years ago I'd decided that I probably wouldn't write her much. Getting into her head was a challenge, and I'm not sure how well I succeeded at it, but I'm pleased with the attempt, at the very least.

Overall, I think I like the result? It was tough to write, and I wish I had written my recipient something longer, but I definitely think it's one of the better things I wrote this Yuletide.

Promises To Keep (1087 words) by straightforwardly
Fandom: Cinders (Visual Novel)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: The Fairy (Cinders)/Cinders (Cinders)
Characters: Cinders (Cinders), The Fairy (Cinders)
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Cinders needs advice. The Fairy needs to be remembered. Or, how the Fairy became Queen Cinders' adviser.

I came up with this idea way back in October, when I was browsing the Dear Author letters. The prompt mentioned a desire for a f/f option and discussed a deep love for the Fairy because the requester had a soft spot for super-dangerous women, and my brain took that and came up with Cinders/Fairy. The Fairy's always been one of my favorite advisors, and from there the story came unfurling in my mind.

Despite this auspicious beginning, I'm honestly the least happy with this one. Perhaps it's because it was stewing in my head for so long, but I feel like the pacing's off, and it's certainly much different than the story I'd initially envisioned.

(Though, between this fic and my Princess Debut fic I wrote last year, I'm apparently starting to make "writing f/f stories about otome games which lack them" a tradition.)

The Fairy-Touched Queen: Discovering the Life of Queen Cinders Through An Examination of Her Mythical Counterpart, by Carla Edmundston (2122 words) by straightforwardly
Fandom: Cinders (Visual Novel)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Cinders (Cinders), Prince Basile (Cinders)
Additional Tags: Pseudo-Historical Research, Academia, Yuletide Treat
Summary: An article excerpted from Cutting Through the Veil: An In-Depth Look at the Historical Reality Hidden Within Common Myths and Legends.

I'm... not entirely sure where this story came from. Maybe it's because I just graduated, and, because I am a total nerd, the idea of not having to write essays and research papers anymore made me a bit sad? All I know is that one night, a few days before reveals, I was laying in bed, daydreaming about the above Cinders fic and trying to work out some of the lines, and all of a sudden I was hit by the idea of writing historical!fic about Cinders and her life. I recalled seeing a prompt asking about what happened re: Cinders and the Fairy's deal, and the next thing I knew, I was writing fake!academic writing about Cinders.

I have pretty mixed feelings about this one. My beta gave me some amazing suggestions, and while I did incorporate some of them, I didn't have enough time to do all of them, and, despite the lovely comments I've received, I can't shake off the feeling that it's really boring and no one but me would actually care about it. But I did have a ton of fun outlining it, making up the sources, finding names which obliquely referenced those of the canon characters, and, of course, actually writing it.

winter cheer (476 words) by straightforwardly
Fandom: Magical Diary
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Main Character (Magical Diary)/Ellen Middleton
Characters: Ellen Middleton, Main Character (Magical Diary)
Additional Tags: Winter, Hot Chocolate, Fluff
Summary: Snow, a small experiment, and kissing.

Speaking of Yuletide traditions, I think writing super fluffy!femslash might be another one for me, if two years is enough to have something become a tradition. I originally wanted to write this out as a perfect, 100-word drabble centering around Ellen's "experiment" and kissing, but I quickly realized that there was no way that I'd be able to condense the scene. So I threw away the word limit, added an opening scene, and let the rest of the story take as long as it needed to be told. The pacing isn't perfect, but I still kind of like it.


I still have one more wrap-up post for 2014 coming— the one pertaining to my fic-writing year as a whole— so keep an eye out for that one, if you'd like.