Beyond the Roundels

I finally wrote the AU Meme for Catherine Winslow & Sir Robert Morton from The Winslow Boy! I was going to say I have no explanation for why it took me so long, but that's not true: I blame the moment when I realised the perfect fusion fandom was Star Wars (Prequel Era) for breaking my brain into tiny little pieces. (It also took me absolutely ages to come up with the obligatory Romance Novel one, until it finally dawned on me that the 1999 pair had canonically done a thing that would totally be a Scandalous Trope requiring instant marriage in the Romancelandia Regency.)

I should apologise for the SW, the crossover, and probably more, but what are daft AU Memes for if not doing these things?

(The question now is, is it TWB that's the problem or am I just getting terrible at encapsulating an AU into as few words as possible?)

AU Meme: Catherine Winslow/Sir Robert Morton (3933 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Winslow Boy (1999), An Ideal Husband (1999)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Robert Morton/Catherine Winslow
Characters: Robert Morton (Winslow Boy), Catherine Winslow, Arthur Winslow, Grace Winslow, Lady Gertrude Chiltern, Mabel Chiltern
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Crossover, 1910s, Alternate Universe - Medical, Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, mentions of John Watherstone/Catherine Winslow, Edwardian Period, Alternate Universe - Regency
Summary: Ten AU scenarios for Catherine Winslow & Sir Robert Morton for an old meme.

Ganked from hamsterwoman a week ago, but it's been going around:

1. List three shipping tropes you love

In fic, presumably? I do like Forced Proximity, Fake Relationship, and Hurt/Comfort, but honestly, whatever suits the ship in question, or the author can pull off.


( Rest of the waffle under a cut )

Icons I've made since I last posted a batch here. I don't think I've posted any of these here before, but some of them were made or posted elsewhere two years or more ago - this was a post I made to catch up on my delayed icon posting in April 2021 and then just... left. I'm pretty sure I have a few other odd ones in addition to the 100fandomicons ones I've made since (few, but some), but I think I ought to get on and post this one!

Mostly made for challenges for iconcolors, icontalking and iconthat but some just for fun, like the Malory Towers ones.
Fandoms - Malory Towers, Good Omens, Game of Thrones, Star Wars, OUaT, Doctor Who, Blake's 7 & Red Dwarf. (the Red Dwarf ones were made for another TV Tropes round, so I think this post got delayed because I wanted to find the trope template for that ETA: here.)

(Whyyyy am I so bad lately at making icons, posting the ones I do make, and reposting the lost ones??? idk. Will try to do better.)

Teaser:


( Stick 'em with the pointy end )

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

( The results under here )

6. What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom? What fandom was it? Not necessarily your oldest fandom, but a fandom that you started and still continue to read/write/create content for in some way.

Unsurprisingly, Doctor Who! I didn't write actual fic for until 1995 when I discovered the internet and usenet and therefore alt.drwho.creative at uni, but I loved it from the first five minutes I saw aged 11, and soon after started reading past Doctor Target novelisations and found Doctor Who Magazine after it got cancelled, and I used to have my own OC self-insert that I made up stories about inside my head and kind of did-but-didn't ship Seven/Ace (even though I really don't now; teenage me totally would have, and Sylvester/Sophie). It just took a while to be in contact with fellow fans fully, and I've still never had offline fandom friends, only online.


7. What would make you leave a fandom, or prevent you from getting into it in the first place?

I'm not very good at leaving fandoms. If I'm into a canon enough to be genuinely fannish about it, I'll probably just rotate it around, maybe with diminishing returns if it was only a minor fixation and maybe it doesn't age so well in some way with me.

Currently I find it almost impossible to get into any fandom because I don't deal well with global tagging mobile-device orientated platforms and even when I try, there just seems to be a wall of headcanons and assumptions that aren't really my thing, and I can't get past it to find wherever my sort of corner might be.

Actually, weirdly, trying SW last year was much easier than anything else has been, probably because of the mega-fandom size and high level of antis, because you get all sorts of helpful chilled out corners in reaction to that, plus it turns up regularly in exchanges & still has a slight Dreamwidth presence, which means there are really good fic writers I could find easily and go through all their stuff, and their bookmarks and so on, and that's often the best way in. But my SW fannishness comes and goes in waves, and the downside was so few comments from the wider fandom it was terrifying, and by the time I'd adjusted to that, my SW wave had ebbed again.

Challenge #9: In your own space, brag about yourself. Tell us what things you've done that you're proud of; the things that make you the wonderful person you are.

The worst challenge! Apart from possibly #10, or if they ask you to pick one creator (ONE?!! 1?). Anyway, the examples say I can just rec my own works that I like, so I will do that now. Using only things written in the past year, to avoid it always being the same works again:


it's the rain that will strengthen your soul (10926 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, C-3PO (Star Wars), R2-D2 (Star Wars), Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Yoda (Star Wars)
Additional Tags: Padmé Amidala Lives, Post-Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Hurt/Comfort, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Spaceships, On the Run, Recovery, Loss, Clothes are Important, Found Family, Alien Planet, 5 Times, Slow Burn
Summary: Five pit-stops on the way to anywhere but here.

As I mentioned in the end of year writing meme, this was probably the story of the year on multiple levels and the most popular one, and I'm not about to argue with that. I think it probably is the best thing I wrote this year, overall.


AU Meme: Gytha Ogg (1232 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Giamo Casanunda/Gytha "Nanny" Ogg, Gytha "Nanny" Ogg & Esmerelda "Granny" Weatherwax, implied Gytha "Nanny" Ogg/Owen Tudor
Characters: Gytha "Nanny" Ogg, Esmerelda "Granny" Weatherwax, Giamo Casanunda, Samuel Vimes
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings Fusion, Humor, References to Shakespeare, Innuendo, but probably not as much as there ought to be
Summary: 10 AU scenarios for Nanny Ogg written for a Dreamwidth meme.

I like quite a few of the AU meme ones I have actually managed to do (*looks shifty*) but I think this one wins. It has Nanny Ogg in it, so it would have to. It's also a different tone to the above. I can be versatile!


Trees Too Tall to Climb (1340 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Obi-Wan Kenobi's Mother
Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi's Mother, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Community: 100_women, Community: halfamoon, Mother-Son Relationship, Sacrifice, Jedi, Stewjon, Backstory, Pre-Canon, Community: allbingo
Summary: She's never been this brave before...

I was a bit torn between this and the unexpected Jedi wing!fic AU, but probably this. It also did quite well, which I think probably speaks for itself - it must therefore objectively work, because people do not get into worldbuilding-type fic that is fundamentally about an OC (even if one who must obv have existed in canon) if it doesn't. And I liked it a lot when I wrote it.


I also continued to try and make gifsets and though not being able to do them in my photo editor is frustrating, I have been pleased with the ship and character sets I've been making. I like the Barbara one most so far for the characters and maybe the Kenny & Lynda one for the ships. (What I don't like: why is tumblr suddenly putting that random gap there on this view; it's not there on the dashboard version. *glares*)


Challenge #10: In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, creator, episode, or it could be your fandom friends. Share your love and squee as loud as you want to.

If I wrote a love letter, challenge, it would be private! Anyway, I was also feeling very grumpy - fandom in general keeps migrating to platforms I just cannot do and dropping most of what I enjoyed as it goes, and while I am feeling a bit better about Doctor Who now, I'm still not happy that I spent most of the year upset by and shut out of that as well.

But my flist are still lovely and inclue many longstanding true friends and that is always something to celebrate! So, thanks you lot, for being generally kind and patient and funny and supportive and all sorts of things between you all. ♥

And I did enjoy that flight into SW Prequel era. It was a very pretty place to escape into, and I definitely want to go back there from time to time. I still have ideas unwritten and so on, and the burst of fannishness I had for it startled me. I had no idea I still had that in me!

hurtcomfortex had its author reveals today, so I now know for sure that I have theseatheseatheopensea to thank for my gift instead of just suspecting it (<3), and can now share what I wrote here.

Anomalies (11478 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Qui-Gon Jinn, Sheev Palpatine, Sabé (Star Wars)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Assassination Attempt(s), Non-Linear Narrative, Hurt/Comfort, Combat Injury, Captured by enemy while trying to protect the other, Character A undertakes a dangerous mission and Character B's job is to keep them alive through it, Bodyguard
Summary: Padmé Amidala is an a former Queen without a planet. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a former Jedi Padawan who never became a Knight and doesn’t fit in with the AgriCorps. But sometimes, if you put two anomalies together, what you get is a force to be reckoned with.

I got so intrigued by one of shadaras's prompts and then suddenly there was plot all over the place, which is not helpful for straight-up Hurt/Comfort. (This was how the wingfic for MayThe4th happened. I decided to try and write a simpler, iddier fic instead/as well... and then it turned into something else anyway and so I gifted it to them in a different exchange.) /o\

I wrote a treat for maythe4thbewithyou! It was Obi-Wan/Padme wingfic, which happened for reasons, but made strange sense of the PT-era Jedi and had to be done once I'd thought of it. Anyway, it was a nice prompt. I had fun.

(Also, he may not be in this fic, but the idea that this AU contained a flying Yoda cheered me up a lot while I was writing it, back whenever that actually was. Also because, like, just because the Jedi are weird beings with wings and fiery swords who worry a lot about falling and becoming demons Sith doesn't mean they're angels or anything. :lol:)

Fire and Feathers (1973 words) by thisbluespirit
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Obi-Wan Kenobi
Characters: Padmé Amidala, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Additional Tags: Wingfic, Wings, Jedi, Alternate Universe - Wings, Falling buildings, Injury, the Republic still falls, Treat
Summary: Winged beings with fiery swords keep falling from the sky.

Also for genprompt_bingo square "magical creatures."

space_swap has gone live! I haven't had the chance to read round the rest yet (41 fanworks in space fandoms, for anyone else that would interest XD), but I have read my two lovely gifts.

They are both for my request for Qui-Gon/Shmi, which is (understandably) a very rare ship, so that is a treat in itself, and they are both different - one (which I assume must be my gift proper) starting an intriguing and more hopeful AU and another (a treat!) that steals something rather beautiful into the corners of canon.

Connection to Explore (2167 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn/Shmi Skywalker
Characters: Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker, Quinlan Vos, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Additional Tags: Ensemble Cast, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Pre-Relationship
Summary: Qui-Gon uses the warrior's presence as a reason to stay behind and pursue the connection that was building with Shmi.


Promise (1063 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Relationships: Qui-Gon Jinn/Shmi Skywalker
Characters: Qui-Gon Jinn, Shmi Skywalker
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Force-Sensitive Shmi Skywalker, Loss of Virginity, Mild Sexual Content
Summary: Qui-Gon makes a promise to free both Shmi and her son. He keeps that promise.


Plus, my recip has already read and liked my fic, so all is well. And later on, there's a lot of very shiny-looking stuff in there to investigate...

For hc_bingo's March Amnesty Challenge.

loss of identity

forced soulbonding

isolation

As per the comm requirements, all contain some level of hurt, comfort, or hurt/comfort. With most recs being for "isolation" rather than the other two squares. (The squares were random selections, so I only accidentally got relevant). May contain a lot of Star Wars, because it's also a relevant square for when you're having an Obi-Wan Kenobi reading splurge.

( Cut for 16 recs in Blake's 7, Doctor Who, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, The Librarians, Once Upon a Time, Spooks, Star Wars )

So, I picked the meme up from romanajo123, who gave me a selection of prompts. I wrote these two up as ficlets:

( Clara Oswald / Kathryn Janeway / Vila Restal - game night, 383 words. )


( Jyn Erso / Dayna Mellanby / Jenna Stannis - don't try this at home, 379 words. )

Life continues to be scary, so I am doing what surely any rational person would do and hiding away here, writing my hurtcomfortex letter (so many freeforms!) and making James Maxwell gifs.

I am trying to improve my gifmaking skills on the website, but all I learn is the website makes its own rules and will do completely different things with each different gif, although I am definitely getting a little bit better at knowing how many pics/what speed to do the ones from screencaps). It is frustrating, though - if I could do it on my editing programme, I could make them so much prettier!

Also you know that Obi-Wan/Padme gif I made from the RotS extras, that wasn't even that good? I posted them on tumblr as well, because I thought I might as well, and now it's at 2000+ notes and hasn't stopped yet. It's very weird. If I had 2000+ repsonses to a Dreamwidth post I'd be collapsed somewhere, but on tumblr, it's all very impersonal and has nothing to do with me whatsoever. It just sort of... goes on regardless, and indeed, would if I wasn't even there any more. (Up till now the best I had was Peter Cushing gifs which picked up c. 200-300 notes.) Anyway, so if you post any old Obidala gif, tumblr likes it. Or possibly just if you get the ones off the extra bit off the DVD.

Oh, and, in cheerful things - I have a space_swap gift already! I feel like I'm slacking now, although mine has progressed to a mental plan and notes and rewatching and I mean to get actual words down tomorrow.


Anyway, have an incomplete gifology of 1960s James Maxwell, plus one Suzanne Neve, because it included Portrait of a Lady and I couldn't not.

( cut for traditionally cheering JM giffage only no barometers sorry )

Dear Spacer,

Thank you for making something for me! This is my first time doing this exchange and I'm excited to be here. I've never yet managed to write a really concise letter, so tl;dr: I love all kinds of things, I love these fandoms/characters/pairings, and as long as you don't write my few hard DNWs, I I'm bound to love whatever you come up with. Prompts are intended purely for inspiration, not to restrict your choices. Take what's useful and leave what isn't, and I hope you have fun.

That said, here is the long version...

( General Likes etc. )

( Fandom Specifics: Blake's 7, Sapphire & Steel, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Crossovers )

Whatever you make for me, I hope you have fun. I'm looking forward to seeing the end result!