Beyond the Roundels

I did a writing meme using the Genremixer a couple of weeks ago on tumblr and have now done the first prompt - from persiflage_1 for "Silver/Antimony/Osmium – the little things" and also for genprompt_bingo square "Watching helplessly."

Why Don't You... (1539 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Silver (S&S), Osmium (Sapphire and Steel), Antimony (Sapphire and Steel)
Additional Tags: Genremixer prompt, Community: genprompt_bingo, Elemental Weirdness, original elements, 1980s, Television
Summary: ... switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead?

Three Elements on an assignment seems like overkill, but maybe there's a reason.

(And I apologise for the title. I just couldn't quite stop myself.)

Written, if belatedly, for sovay (who suggested I write Iron fic), for their birthday, and also for Whumptober Day 22 (Pick Your Poison), hc_bingo square "drugged" and genprompt_bingo square "Case / Mission Fic."

Lavender's Green (5313 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Iron (S&S), Emerald (S&S), Silver (S&S), Original Characters
Additional Tags: Whumptober, Poison, Murder, Implied/Referenced Suicide, 1980s, Terrible mid century decor, Elemental Weirdness, Community: hc_bingo, Community: genprompt_bingo, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Nursery Rhyme References
Summary: There's something lurking in the garden, under the lavender...

(My casting for Iron and Emerald turned up in the same scene as David Collings in Breakaway for a bit. I giffed this right at the end of writing, and look at them; my casting is spot on, thank you. *bows* points smugly to gifset. ;-p I didn't actually exactly write this for this reason: I generated some prompts and of the two that bit hardest, this one included that line up.)

I've been really ill again (possibly even actually have-a-cold ill as well as the usual), but kind of amusingly, I drafted this up yesterday morning before I felt really awful and then managed to edit it today by the time the worst seemed to have passed. I'd worry about it, but, honestly, I think S&S fic works better if your brain is in a peculiar state at the time of writing anyway.

So, for no_true_pair "Day 9 - Clara writes Copper a letter" because Clara and an element is obviously a potentially interesting combination, but I couldn't see why or how she would write a letter. Inevitably, once I had decided the prompt was impossible, I went off and wrote it anyway.

Also for hc_bingo sqaure "atonement."

Postscript (1377 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Sapphire and Steel
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Characters: Clara Oswin Oswald, Copper (S&S)
Additional Tags: Community: no_true_pair, Community: hc_bingo, Crossover, Angst, Time Travel, Not A Fix-It, Canonical Character Death, Episode: s09e10 Face the Raven, Post-Episode: s09e12 Hell Bent, Episode: s07e14 The Name of the Doctor
Summary: Clara writes a letter to a man who may not exist. He answers anyway.


(I do mean to try and make a post about things that have been making me happy while I have been feeling so awful/mush-brained, but in the meantime, have some more no_true_pair fic, because clearly this is the most me-suited-fest I have ever taken part in and I need to thank corvidology a lot.)

I was already being overtired and blah blah blah summer, you all know the drill by now, and then as we also all know it was so hot things were on fire, and that was even less fun, but at least that has stopped for now and it is like normal outside even if inside is only more slowly winding itself down from the peak.

Anyway, in the meantime, here are some good things (for me, anyway):

* I woke up this morning to find someone I don't know at all (poweredbuttercup10) has made fanart of my story Red Skies, which I wrote ages ago for calliopes_pen, a little John/Jonathan/Mina Dracula 1968 fic, where the Harkers vamp one fainty doctor. Anyway, I did old-school squeeing, because look: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/post/690462693065474048/based-on-thisbluespirit-s-ao3-work-red-skies

Amazing. <3 (I am laughing at myself a bit though: such a cute little murder scene!!! omg, darlings. <3)


* also i made another element moodboard (about a week or two ago? idk, it now seems like a lifetime or something) for Manganese: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/post/689391684465967104/original-other-elements-28-manganese-he-opens

(I chose Manganese for theseatheseatheopensea's gift fic: The Sky Outside)


* Marie-Clare has now reacted to Blake's 7 ep2 now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fynx_-yEnCE (Go quickly, because the BBC will probably take it down soon. I won't link every week, sorry, but it was another great reaction, so XD.)


* also lurking_latinist happened to write Like Sunshine Through Rain, making Six/Charley fic just that tiny bit less rare (also it was excellent, yes). <3


Plus, bunn7cula is promising to send me a thing!

And I do at least have a draft of the Just Married fic, but also maybe defaulting would be easier than editing in summer? idk. It is a thing that will definitely be a thing now. Hopefully on time, but eventually, even if I have to wait for a better season, and I am totally being in love with this combination of characters all over again, but I can't talk about that for a month.

Sorry, it took me a little while to finish answering these! (There were loads! It was great! XD)

( The results under here )

I had not forgotten about this! Thanks to everyone who tested it out for me... er... last year sometime. (I think I was waiting to launch till after Yuletide and then I was tired or something.)

Anyway, the Sapphire and Steel AO3 Prompt Meme is now live!



<center><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Sapphire_and_Steel_prompt_meme"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/BCSiMYd.png"></a></center>




<center><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Sapphire_and_Steel_prompt_meme"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/I0aVzoN.png"></a></center>

Complete with c+p boxes to promote if you want to be so kind! Feel free to go right over and add prompts.

ETA: also rebloggable tumblr post: https://thisbluespirit.tumblr.com/post/678722553618071552/sapphire-and-steel-prompt-meme

I wasn't very well for most of the week, although I'm beginning to feel a bit better again now, so my Yuletide reading got severely curtailed. However, reveals have happened and I can see who wrote my gifts, and ha. XD (I did have my suspicions...) Thanks lurking_latinist! The S&S one was by TheBigCat so you can see that I did indeed get very lucky all round (and do seem to have been, quite incestuously, double-assigned. *\o/*)

Anyway, as I said, I did manage to complete my assignment and to write a last minute treat - thanks to luthien for providing a fandom beta for the former and to persiflage_1 for helping me out speedily on Christmas Eve with the other!

My assignment:

Chance Is A Fine Thing (4254 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Snowdrift and Other Stories - Georgette Heyer, Hazard - Georgette Heyer
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Granville Carlington Marquis of Carlington/Helen Morland
Characters: Helen Morland, Granville Carlington Marquis of Carlington, Original Characters, Ralph Morland, Lionel Winter, Marmaduke Shapley
Additional Tags: Yuletide, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, Regency, Pining, Weddings
Summary: Helen's luck was also in that night.

Last time I was assigned to write Heyer, it happened with an unfortunate combination of events that forced me to default, so I was especially pleased to complete this one. It's for one of Heyer's short stories, Hazard, which has always been my favourite out of those (and a lot of other people's, I think). mardia's request was great, and easy to put something together for (in my head, anyway). I went from feeling very smug about the first draft to realising Part 3 was extremely lacking in... uh, everything... and then spent a week, much later than should have been the case fixing it (Part 3 is everybody's favourite part, so far, it seems, so it was worth it! Originally NOTHING HAPPENED in that bit; I can't tell you why I thought that was a good idea.) Anyway, luthien said it was okay and the recip liked it, so I think it must have turned out all right! (I got NO other comments on it for days so I did start to wonder if they just hadn't liked to tell me the awful truth, but then another arrived, and it was okay.)


I also wrote Sapphire & Steel. I'm sure anyone who read this anon and knows me will know it was me already! (I have to say, I got comments the first day from sovay and lurking_latinist and panicked for a minute that I was, in fact, not anon and my flist had somehow seen me. lol.)

Started as a Whisper (3026 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Sapphire/Steel (S&S), Sapphire & Silver & Steel (S&S), Lead & Steel (S&S)
Characters: Steel (S&S), Sapphire (S&S), Lead (S&S), Silver (S&S), Other(s)
Additional Tags: Yuletide Treat, Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, Assignment One, Serial: s03 Assignment Three, Serial: s06 Assignment Six, numbers stations, Gossip
Summary: There’s a saying – careless talk costs lives. But that’s not how it always goes…

Anyway, I love Sapphire & Steel and it was lovely to write this. It wasn't the fandom I was sure I was going to try and treat, so that bit was surprising to me at least. But aaahhhh I miss S&S when I don't write it for ages. No other fandom is like it. I just tried to make this not quite so obviously me and went for it, incorporating as much of Emmzzi's request as possible. I wish I'd started it not actually with less than 40 hours to go and had a bit more time for adding in more elements-are-their-element stuff, that I managed with Jet. But I wasn't feeling well that week, either, so I was v chuffed to have written this. And spent most of it just thinking I love S&S, I love S&S... XD

I have managed to write a few more ficlets for the writing meme this week! Plus, one from about a month ago that I wanted to wait & edit before posting to AO3 and the final effort for the AU Meme from last year. (I was saving till I had a batch and suddenly I have over a batch?)

AU Meme: Hugh Beringar (252 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Cadfael Chronicles - Ellis Peters
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Aline Beringar/Hugh Beringar, Hugh Beringar & Brother Cadfael
Characters: Hugh Beringar, Brother Cadfael, Aline Beringar
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Ficlet, Meme
Summary: 4 AU scenarios written for Hugh Beringar in a Dreamwidth meme.

Thwarted (787 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (1963)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor & The Master (Delgado)
Characters: Thirteenth Doctor, The Master (Delgado), Jo Grant
Additional Tags: Meme, Ficlet, Humor, Multi-Era, Flash Fic
Summary: “Before you decide to murder me, let me explain…”

Close Quarters (343 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sapphire and Steel, Doctor Who (1963)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Liz Shaw (Doctor Who) & Silver (S&S)
Characters: Liz Shaw (Doctor Who), Silver (S&S)
Additional Tags: Ficlet, Memes, Crossover, Flash Fic
Summary:“Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while.”

Fatal Swoon (100 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dracula/John Seward
Characters: Dracula, John Seward
Additional Tags: Memes, Drabble, Vampires, Fainting, Flash Fic
Summary: “You fainted…straight into my arms. You know, if you wanted my attention you didn’t have to go to such extremes.”

Unravelled, Unwrapped (473 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dracula (TV 1968)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jonathan Harker & John Seward
Characters: Jonathan Harker, John Seward
Additional Tags: Ficlet, Memes, Victorian asylums, Nudity, Mental Instability, Mental Institutions, Flash Fic
Summary: “Is there a reason you’re naked in my bed?”

Thank you for writing for me! This letter is bound to be long, so tl;dr: I love all kinds of different things at different times, I love these fandoms and characters, and I'm sure to enjoy whatever you come up with.

Any prompts are intended purely for inspiration, not to restrict your choices. Take what's useful and leave what isn't. I hope you have a lovely Yuletide.


That said, here is the long version...

( Fandoms: Indigo Saga - Louise Cooper, Sapphire & Steel, The Shadow of the Tower, A Sudden Wild Magic - Diana Wynne Jones & Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully )

This was actually the first thing I wrote on listening to Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully, because obv. 5 + 1 times multi-crossover fic is how I show my love, even if by default nobody else will want to know! (No spoilers, though, for anything, really, if anyone's curious.)

Sending Out An SOS to the World (3421 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Welcome to Our Village Please Invade Carefully (BBC Radio), Sapphire and Steel, Doctor Who (2005), Cabin Pressure, The Librarians (TV 2014), Good Omens (TV), Red Dwarf (UK TV)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Richard Lyons, Silver (S&S), Lucy Alexander, Dave Lister, Mrs Leeson (Welcome to Our Village), Ezekiel Jones, Jenkins | Galahad (The Librarians), Douglas Richardson, Patrick (Welcome to Our Village), Margaret Lyons, Crowley (Good Omens), Katrina Lyons, Uljabaan (Welcome to Our Village), Eleventh Doctor
Additional Tags: Crossover, Humor, 5 Times, 5+1 Things, No Spoilers, Micro alien invasions, References to Drugs
Summary: Force fields don’t keep everybody out. They attract some kinds of people, even...

14. A pairing – platonic, romantic or sexual – that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

I think, as the other question established, I'm pretty open to trying out random ships or combinations to see if they work. (I mean, is that not a good part of the fun of fic? What if, what if, what if...?)

So, I'm not sure I can think of anything in the normal way, but memes, random generators and prompts have thrown up things that have wound up being accidentally great suggestions. Also sometimes some excellently appalling ones while they were at it.

I still have a bunch of suggestions from the 15 Characters Meme I treasure gleefully, and love playing with several generators. There was also an icon meme once, where you sorted your icons alphabetically and then paired them up, which was how Liz Shaw/Silver came to be a thing and sort of took on a life of its own. So, Silver/Liz, now the surprisingly large-for-S&S crossover ship is one that sails on a regular basis, at least in my vicinity. And it's a good ship! I totally recommend exploring the tag (& the platonic edition, too.)

One day I will start posting properly again, but goodness knows when that will be. In the meantime, I have now completed the gifset request meme I did over on tumblr, and here is the list, (as requested by various people on tumblr) if anyone should be interested:

Shadow of the Tower + 4 most attractive character

Spooks + 1 favourite character

Sapphire & Steel + any category you feel like (opening titles)

Adam Adamant Lives! + 17 favourite costume(s)

Doctor Who + 9 favourite location

Spooks + 5 favourite romantic relationship

Public Eye + 3 favourite minor character

The Brothers + 7 favourite familial relationship

Sapphire & Steel + 13 most heartbreaking scene

Sapphire & Steel + 16 favourite scene

Spooks + 12 favourite [Ruth] look

"the smallest fandom you can gif" (The Power Game) + 10 favourite episode

Shadow of the Tower + 17 favourite costume

Anyway, it was fun.

Meme from half the flist at this point: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line.

( Cut for length )