silveradept | AO3 Output for July-December 02022

We begin again, with more of what I've posted and done to AO3 for this year in fiction efforts.

And The Puppet Of The Puerto Rican Job (4330 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Leverage, The Librarians (TV 2014)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Alec Hardison & Parker & Eliot Spencer, Cassandra Cillian & Ezekiel Jones & Jacob "Jake" Stone
Characters: Alec Hardison, Cassandra Cillian, Eliot Spencer (Leverage), Ezekiel Jones, Jacob "Jake" Stone, Parker (Leverage), Original Characters, Jenkins | Galahad (The Librarians)
Additional Tags: Crossover, Eliot Spencer and Jacob "Jake" Stone are not Twins, Pura Belpré Is The Only Real Librarian In This Story, story time, Trying to Bluff Leverage Goes As Well As You Think, Magical Artifacts
Summary:
The Clipping Book sends the Librarians to a local brewpub, the headquarters of a similar Portland-based operation called Leverage (more crime, less magic). Both crews have to work together to retrieve a very powerful artifact from the conference of librarians happening in Portland before it moves on to another destination.

Following in the footsteps of many, a Leverage/Librarians crossover work for Crossworks! There's a little bit of reality intruding in this story, in that in 02022. the Public Library Association conference was held in Portland, Oregon, where supposedly both Leverage and the Annex to the Library have their locations. And the part where, as the tags note, Pura Belpré is a real librarian (and an originator of a lot of childrens' services things that we take for granted now). And, knowing what library conferences can be like, that gets put in a little bit as well. Along with some of the common complaints about library services and adequate funding of the same. So the Librarians and Leverage are a little more like actual librarians in this fic than they might otherwise be. And also, I had to call attention to the similar-looking characters (portrayed by the same actor), but without going with the idea that they're related this time. Mostly, I tried to let the personalities of the characters bounce off of each other in service of the plot.

Flirting With The Snow Queen (5731 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Frozen (Disney Movies), Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Axel (Kingdom Hearts) / Elsa (Disney)
Characters: Axel (Kingdom Hearts), Elsa (Disney), Anna (Disney), Kristoff (Disney)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Dark Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Recruitment for Organization XIII, Snow Queen Elements, First Time, Alternate Universe - Frozen Hearts
Summary:
Axel has been sent by the Thirteen to convince Queen Elsa to join them as an ally. Which is a lot harder to do when it becomes immediately clear that he's negotiating from a weak position. Relying on his natural charm, Axel hopes he can satisfy the Queen and his obligations to the Thirteen all at once.

Coming back to the Axel/Elsa well after some time away, and what came out of this one is a much darker interpretation of how they might have gotten together. Axel gets put in a much more precarious position this time, because he's got to navigate the fact that Organization XIII will expect some results from him toward getting Elsa as an ally, the fact that Elsa has basically no interest in being an ally to Axel or Organization XIII, and that Axel is still trying to become an independent agent, preferably doing so without anyone actually making good on threats to kill him.

The thing I like the most about this story is the way that I didn't have to change much of the original story of the first Frozen movie to shift it from a story with a happy ending to a story where Elsa only gains control over her powers after isolating Arendelle and hurting everyone that tries to get close to her. That, and killing Hans for what he tried to do to her and Anna. Small changes, really, but a big ripple from the Frozen canon to this one. I kind of like this Elsa a lot, even though she's supposed to be terrifying and powerful.

Rooftop Encounters (1059 words) by silveradept
Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018), Sleepless Domain (Webcomic)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra)
Characters: Adora (She-Ra), Catra (She-Ra)
Additional Tags: Sleepless Domain Fustion, Friends to Rivals, Corrupted Catra (She-Ra), Magical Girl Setting, Magical Team Adora & Bow & Glimmer, Past Magical Team Adora & Catra
Summary:
Team She-Ra is chasing one of their more persistent opponents on the rooftops, only to discover the enemy they've been chasing is closer to Adora's heart than she would have thought.

A pinch-hit for someone, because I didn't expect there to be all that many people who are reading Sleepless Domain, which is a dark twist on the magical girl genre, bringing to the forefront not just image, sponsorship, agents, and the like, but also the possibility that magical girls themselves are the pawns of competing forces in the universe, but for the part that most everyone who learns things closer to the truth ends up forgetting it almost instantly. I thought the main narrative meshes well with the main narrative of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. It's not the greatest work I've turned in, but I think it would be a great base for someone who wanted to do a more thorough fusion, if they were ever so inclined.

What Refuses To Change (3218 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Chrono Trigger
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Maou | Magus/Marle
Characters: Maou | Magus, Marle (Chrono Trigger), Kaeru | Frog | Glenn, Hash | Gaspar, Grand | Masa, Leon | Mune, Doreen (Chrono Trigger), Lucca Ashtear
Additional Tags: One-Sided Maou | Magus/Marle, POV Maou | Magus, Taking Liberties With The Canon
Summary:
The first time he sees her, she's wearing his sister's pendant. From there, curiosity, an attempt to avoid a disastrous fate, and the perpetual search for Schala keeps him interacting with them, until there are no more alternative paths to follow.

Press Start took me back to the world of Chrono Trigger, which is one of those places where you have people who have definite opinions about whether the sequel games, Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross, exist and can or should be acknowledged at all. For that reason, I had to keep this work pretty well scoped hard to within the first game, even though there are hints of the narrative that extends past there. This story is mostly "what might the story of Chrono Trigger look like if Magus was the main character?" and so we follow his pathway through the narrative, including the places where his timeline intersects with Crono's party, until the point where Magus joins the party and they finish out the rest of the game. With Magus still trying to find his sister, of course, and in this case, Marle chasing Magus as someone she wants to have as a partner. (She might also still want to be queen with Crono, I like leaving options open for characters.) I think this one turned out better than some of the other ones this year, because it was fun to try and figure out what Magus's timeline looks like (and who would have the raw power to snark at him about what he's trying to do and how much the timeline isn't going to let him do it.)

First Date With the Cat Girl (2529 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hulking Weretigress/Man Set On Blind Date With a "Sexy Catgirl" who Kinda is Into This Anyways
Characters: Hulking Weretigress Set Up By A Mutual Friend | Lily, Man Set On Blind Date With a "Sexy Catgirl" By The Same Mutual Friend | Zane
Additional Tags: Near Wardrobe Malfunctions, Noodle Incidents, Awkward Flirting, Inconvenient Were-Shifting, Set Up By A Mutual Friend
Summary:
Lily is not what Zane expected.
Zane isn't necessarily what Lily wanted.
But Dawn might have been right about both of them being well-suited for each other all the same.

I get to play with catgirl tropes! Yaaaaay! And make a comedy out of it, which is even better. Because a lot of what you'll get in looking for those kinds of images and stories are, with some exceptions, stories about catgirls with large chests, shapely bodies, and a willingness to satisfy whatever sexual appetite is put in front of them. With this prompt, I was pretty ready to set up a very attractive athletically-built person who has the were-shifting problem and the guy who was hoping for someone tall, stacked, and sexually available, but is more than willing to go with what is in front of him, because hot cat-women are still hot, regardless of whether they meet an arbitrary ideal. Plus cycle tracking and near wardrobe-malfunctions, because being sensitive and understanding about those things is how Zane demonstrates that he's not a complete tool.

Fool and King, Ghoul and Goose (2925 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Babylon 5 (TV 1993)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Vir Cotto & Londo Mollari
Characters: Vir Cotto, Londo Mollari
Additional Tags: Trick or Treat: Treat, Emperor Mollari, Emperor Cotto, 5+1 Things, Dolls, Pumpkin carving, Ouija Boards, devil's night, The Mari Llwyd, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Friendly banter, Halloween
Summary:
Several times the Centauri Emperor tried to celebrate the season of mischief and treats, always getting close, but never quite actually in the way that the humans do.

Trick Or Treat! And this time, the targets are the Centauri, the humanish analogues to the Late Roman Empire in Babylon 5. The idea of stringing these together as "Centauri spins on Halloween traditions" was the kind of thing that made me laugh, especially in the canonical version where Londo tries extremely hard to understand human comedy and still mostly fails at it. So I thought that it would be Londo going for this, in the way of the Emperor of the Centauri, and always making things go every so slightly off (or on) in his belief of interpretation.

The title comes from Phantom of the Opera (that and a few lines should tell you what costume Londo's planning on wearing for the masquerade), but also to signify that the HONK heard is a very specific Horrible Goose on Centauri Prime. (And also, I like how much Vir enjoys giving out candy and largesse and I think he would be completely delighted by the presence of a Mari Llwyd, even though it's the wrong season for it.)

Remembering What Makes Us Human (Or Time Lord) (2404 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Twelfth Doctor & Martha Jones
Characters: Twelfth Doctor, Martha Jones, Ashildr | Lady Me, Dalek(s) (Doctor Who)
Additional Tags: Daleks Have The Worst Timing, Post-Clara Doctor, Memory Issues, Apologies (As The Doctor Attempts Them)
Summary:
A post-Clara Doctor goes to get his memory checked out, and the presence of both Me and the Daleks has Martha once again talking on a role she thought she had set down.

Hello, Martha! Good seeing you again after so long. This came together pretty easily, given that Martha really is the one who got away, when it comes to the companions of The Doctor, so it would make sense for her to come back and be able to work on an equal footing again with The Doctor. And the post-Clara Doctor has a reason to go see someone who he can trust to give him the answers he seeks both accuracy and without trying to necessarily spare his feelings. Me is there to drive the plot (and to give the Daleks something to shoot at) as well as make snarky remarks about how the Doctor-Companion relationship often is (and how bitter she is or isn't about having gone through all the Companion things without actually getting to be on The Doctor's TARDIS.) The Doctor is there to protest about how much he's changed, even if it seems to everyone else like it's staying the same. It would have to be expanded greatly to be a full episode, but I think it could be the skeleton of an episode (or maybe one scene of a greater episode.)

Finding the Right Note (2799 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Menolly/Mirrim (Dragonriders of Pern)
Characters: Menolly (Dragonriders of Pern), Mirrim (Dragonriders of Pern), Hildireth (Original Dragon Character - Dragonriders of Pern), Manora (Dragonriders of Pern)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Weyrsinger Menolly, Fire Lizard Mating Flights, Mirrim Sings Perfectly Well, Composer's Block
Summary:
Menolly is trying to find the right ending to the newest song she's composing for Robinton. Mirrim is trying to find someone who will accept her as she is. A chance chase of fire lizards brings them together and lets them both find what they are looking for.

Back to Pern we go, although this time I've made Menolly into a blue rider, who takes up the post of Benden's Weyrsinger in this timeline. Which is basically an excuse for her to bond with Mirrim over their shared situation of not having been on the invited guest list and Impressed a dragon. And also for musical reasons, because it's still Menolly. What I was mostly aiming for here was to give Mirrim a bit more characterization than "the defiant brat that the narrative loves dumping on" by making her a good, if untrained, singer in addition to being someone who's a little fast toward trying to solve problems with scorn and snark. And that she can help Menolly out when it comes to fire lizard mating flights and their attendant feelings. I wanted to pattern Menolly's blue-riding based on Xhinna being a blue rider, which would mesh well when she and Mirrim are both on their bravado and trying to one-up the other. With time and being away from Half-Sea Hold, I think Menolly flourishes, whatever role I put her in for whatever the story needs.

Try (8167 words) by silveradept
Chapters: 3/3
Fandom: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Pearl/Rose Quartz (Steven Universe), Pearl/Pink Diamond (Steven Universe), Pearl & Steven Universe
Characters: Pearl (Steven Universe)
Additional Tags: Very One-Sided Pearl/Rose Quartz, Extremely One-Sided Pearl/Pink Diamond, Implied Mystery Girl/Pearl (Steven Universe), Pearl has issues, Pink Diamond Has Issues, Rose Quartz Has Issues, Love and Service Intertwined (And It's a Bad Thing), Impossible requests, Post-Steven Universe: The Movie, Spoilers for Episode: s05e18 A Single Pale Rose, Implied/Referenced Major Character Death
Summary:
Service, desire, independence, disposability, thoughtlessness, and uniqueness, and how what Pearl wants may not be anything Pink Diamond or Rose Quartz could ever have provided to her.
Created as a thank you for generous support of good organizations by the gift recipient.

Here's the first of the two Fandom Trumps Hate works that I created this year - second bidder, first work posted. Both of this year's works were a lot of me writing about myself through fictional characters. More so than usual, I mean. The bidder requested something about Pearl, the personal assistant to Rose Quartz / Pink Diamond in Steven Universe, and it was specifically mentioned of not being a fan of the dynamic the two of them have and how it's often written as being love. I recognize Pearl's incessant desire to be the perfect indispensable entity and thought how much more horrible it might be for her because it's programmed into her entire self. So I split it up into three parts, one where she intends to be the perfect secretary to Pink Diamond (who asks the impossible of her and wants her to be a friend), one where she intends to be the perfect secretary and battle companion to Rose Quartz (who asks the impossible of her and wants her to be a friend) and to showcase some jealousy of how easily Greg captured Rose's heart compared to any of the more appropriate Gems around, like Pearl, and one of Pearl and how she relates to Steven, with that same pull of wanting to be perfect secretary, battle companion, and parent to Steven (and to potentially train her successor in Connie). It's only at the third phase that Pearl begins to take real steps toward developing herself as an independent being, and she recognizes how hard it is to do so when she's a Pearl. So far, it's received one comment that loves it and one comment that thinks it's insulting to believe that Pearl needs time and space to herself to grow into herself, apart from the beings she's been programmed to serve.

I think Pearl does better for herself when she's not trying to be the Pearl that served Pink and Rose, but I also know that old habits die harder.

Field Notes: Applicant Eight / Roommate Nu / Perfuma (10542 words) by silveradept
Fandom: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Entrapta/Perfuma (She-Ra)
Characters: Entrapta (She-Ra), Perfuma (She-Ra), Scorpia (She-Ra)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Trans Perfuma (She-Ra), neurodivergent Entrapta, Differing Methods of Affection, past traumas, Roomies to Romance...ish
Summary:
Notes on the suitability and successes of Applicant Eight, subsequently Roommate Nu, for living and rent-sharing agreements, as well as unexpected potential personal and romantic compatibility after finalization of roommate arrangements.

Here's the second of the Fandom Trumps Hate works for this year. When an Entrapta-centric work comes out to play, I often lean pretty hard into her being at least some kind of neurodivergent, and how that can create problems between her and others. Since the recipient was looking for Entrapta/Perfuma, and was hoping for the characterization of Perfuma as transgender, it seemed like a good fir to have them end up more compatible than they might have realized, but both of them somewhat guarded or unsure about whether the other one was going to be a good fit as a roommie. Since it's Entrapta's POV, we get to hear more about her past traumas than Perfuma's, as well as a significant amount of her work on beings of steel and code, which Entrapta relates to far better than beings of blood and bone. I decided that Entrapta's very grey-ace for this, where she might consider robosex, but not so much for human sex, and she has hangups about interacting with other humans because her strong neurodivergence often creates problems that other roommates don't want to deal with, or look to exploit. If you look closely, you might see some of the things that my ex did hiding in some of the descriptions of what happened. A datalog seemed the best fit, given that canonical Entrapta has her field recorder with her at all times, and I made it into a blog, because that's an easy translation to text. (And there's Scorpia, doing what she does better to bring people who are good for each other together.) The recipient enjoyed it very much and left a comment saying so, and it was great working with the suggested beta to make this into a better work than I would have been able to do myself.

Understanding Others Intimately (4724 words) by silveradept
Fandom: Hilda (Cartoon)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hilda & Johanna | Hilda's Mum (Hilda), Frida & Hilda (Hilda)
Characters: Johanna | Hilda's Mum (Hilda), Hilda (Hilda), Frida (Hilda), Wood Man (Hilda), Kaisa | The Librarian (Hilda)
Additional Tags: Magic, Spells Working As Cast, Reading The Footnotes, Post-Movie: Hilda and the Mountain King, Sparrow Scouts Projects, Trying For Understanding Through Magic
Summary:
Johanna wants to keep better tabs on Hilda, so she tries something from the library to help. It goes about as well as one might expect regarding magic. Even though Johanna read all the footnotes!

Happy Yuletide! It's the last work for this year that I've posted. I'm kind of surprised some aspect of Hilda was still Yuletide-eligible, given what a great series it is and how long it's been out. I really enjoy the fact that it's a magical world, and for the most part, the magical aspects of it are taken in stride by the people who encounter it the most, including the trolls, the giants, the nature spirits, and the like. The request for this was about what being a parent is like, and the push-pull between trusting your child to make good decisions and wanting to know everything that they are up to because you're not sure they'll always be able to make good decisions. Magic got involved, although this time it's not Hilda causing the problem, it's Johana, but much like Hilda, the problem develops from a lack of knowledge about what's supposed to happen. Footnotes is a running gag in the series, so it had to get incorporated in somehow. It took a little while for the idea to gel, but once I had it in mind, things wrote themselves pretty well from that point.

Well, that's it for another six months. As usual, there's no rhyme or reason to where things were, only the randomness of what the assignment fairy drew up for me, and a couple of pieces where I gave some options for people to choose from. It was a pretty full year of work. About 90k of fictional words, minus a few that I borrowed from elsewhere. And then plus the weekly posts, and the link roundups, and a couple of professionally published pieces, and a few more things in the hopper professionally for elsewhere. It's interesting to see how much comes out in a year in little bits at a time, so that things never feel all that much of an issue. If I'd tried to write a single 90k work over the course of this year, I probably would have had significant problems, honestly. Spreading it out helps me keep my mind moving from idea to idea and putting more of them in place rather than trying to keep it all in one spot.

Here's to next year being better than this year was, out in the world and in fictional endeavours!