Yuletide meme

[arduinna]

I am at !!BEARS!! so will distract myself with doing the Yuletide meme that's going around.



I've been doing Yuletide since the first year, and some years my YT assignment is the only thing I manage to write. I've waffled on signing up a couple of times, but I'm always glad that I did.

All links go to AO3, since at some point I put up all my stuff there including YT stories.

2003

Carousal (4034 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: CSI: Las Vegas
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Nick Stokes/Warrick Brown
Characters: Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown
Summary:

Nick's had a terrific day, and Warrick wants to help him celebrate.

This one was my assignment, and I'm really proud of it. My recip wanted something outside my comfort box, and even though I couldn't quite give her the angst she wanted, I think the bittersweetness of this really worked. I was writing right down to the wire, not helped by betas who were insisting that yes it really needed the sex scene (they were right, but wow, that was some frantic writing going on there).

Eye Contact (100 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dead Zone
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Johnny/Walt
Characters: Johnny Smith, Walt Bannerman
Summary:

Walt shouldn't be there.

A treat for astolat, back when these were still called stocking stuffers! (Actually, I'm not sure we called them either thing that first year -- there was just a mad free-for-all in the final few hours when people were posting all sorts of tiny things.)

2004

Serendipity (6394 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dead Zone
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Johnny Smith, Bruce Lewis, Walt Bannerman, Sarah Bannerman, JJ Bannerman
Summary:

When you get right down to it, it's the little moments that really matter.

I wasn't expecting to get a gen request for this fandom, somehow, so this took a little mental readjusting, but I liked the way this turned out. It's a quiet little piece that makes me happy to re-read.

2005

Jolly Roger (1636 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Boston Legal
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Denny Crane, Alan Shore
Summary:

"I always thought I'd make a good pirate," Denny said idly.

This was one of those assigments where it shows up in your inbox and you say, "... I said I'd write WHAT? OMG. What was I thinking?" I had no idea if I could actually write Boston Legal, which was just packed with emotion and deep, honest caring between characters who were often utter sleazeballs at the same time. But I loved them, and I was determined to give it my best shot, and I'm really happy with the way this came out.

I Coulda Been a Defendant (1252 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Night Court
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Dan Fielding/Harry Stone
Summary:

Harry sees Dan in a whole new way.

This was a last-minute pinch hit, again for a fandom I'd never written, and worse, one where I hadn't seen any source in years. But mollyamory came up with the visual inspiration, and the rest of it just flowed from there. It came together really fast, and I'm still very happy with it.

2006

Rx (1441 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: MASH
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hawkeye/Trapper
Summary:

This was what he'd been waiting for.

This was also a pinch hit, again pretty last-minute, and the writing of it is kind of a blur at this point. But I love this pairing, and I was very glad to have the chance to write it for someone. I'm still happy with it, too.

Hearthstone (5490 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Dead Zone
Rating: Explicit
Warning: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Relationships: Johnny/Walt
Characters: Johnny Smith, Walt Bannerman
Summary:

Light in the darkness.

This one was my assignment, and it was hard to write, oof. First, I have a hard time writing cases, and this is at least case-dependent. Second, I don't usually go this dark, and I'm not sure what sent me there this time, but I think I pulled it off, and am pretty proud of myself for it, actually. (Er, it is not that dark by the standards of people who like darker fic. But it was hard to put my head in this place. I'm usually much fluffier-headed.) I also wanted a Johnny/Walt story that didn't dismiss Sarah, while at the same time not making it a threesome, and I'm happy with the way that turned out, too.

2007

True Gold (7987 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Peacemakers
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Larimer Finch/Jared Stone
Summary:

A rash of fires in Silver City strikes close to home.

I think this is the longest story I've ever written for Yuletide. I got assigned to write for dorinda, who is a dear friend and fabulous writer, so this was both a blast and sort of hugely intimidating. I wound up doing tons of research for it, and writing up an actual case from beginning to end (a first for me!). I'm really happy with how the story came out, and even happier that I got to surprise Dorinda with it. <3

This was the year where I fell out of the habit of doing an extra story most years, looks like.

2008

The Golden Afternoon (3382 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Kung Fu: The Legend Continues
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Kwai Chang Caine, Peter Caine
Summary:

An autumn day in the woods with Caine and Peter.

Ah, I panicked briefly over this one; my recip is from a part of fandom that uses the slash mark to denote any sort of relationship, so she'd asked for "Peter/Pop goodness", and I read that as incest, which I was utterly incapable of writing her. It was the year I realized that I really do believe that optional details are optional; after that one panicked moment, I just said "nope" to myself and set out to write some very warm gen for them (really, there's no other kind possible for this fandom, IMO).

I'm still not sure about the style I used here, of visually representing Caine's weird speech patterns. I went back and forth on it a lot, but in the end, it seemed like the best option. Still, I like the emotion I got into this; there's nothing remotely restrained about the emotion in the source, and it was fun playing in that sandbox.

2009

Beatriz (5205 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Gunmen
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Cole Parker/Dani Servigo
Characters: Cole Parker, Dani Servigo
Summary:

It's a long, slow trip back to Boa Vista.

So, by 2009, the tradition of posting DYW letter links to the YT comm was well established, and I'd gotten in the habit of poking through them to see if there was anything interesting to set aside for treats. I bookmarked this request for a treat and left a note for myself that said "this could be my assignment!" - updated two days later to "hah, totally my assigment!" *g*

I was completely stoked. I love this movie, and was so happy to see it on the nominations list. I watched it over and over to get the voices and interactions down, forced friends to watch it so they could beta it for me, and just generally had a blast. I'm really happy with how it came out.

2010

Paying the Rent (4361 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Invisible Man (TV 2000)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Bobby Hobbes, Darien Fawkes
Summary:

The Agency has a new landlord, and it's time to pay the rent.

Another gen story, this time sort of inadvertently -- I was having a rough year, and when I read my recipient's letter I managed to misinterpret her as saying she preferred gen to slash, rather than that she was fine with both. By the time I realized my mistake, the gen story was already solid, so I just amped up the awareness a little. Ah well, I love these boys in a gen way, too!

I had an image in my head for this one early on that guided the entire story: I wanted Bobby in hip waders and an orange vest. The rest is history. *g* I had a lot of fun with this, and wound up doing all sorts of fun research on the USGS in the process.

2011

Shelter in the Storm (4529 words) by Arduinna
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Peacemakers (2003)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Larimer Finch/Jared Stone
Characters: Larimer Finch, Jared Stone
Summary:

It's warmer upstairs.

This was another rough year for me, but I was very sure about what my recipient wanted. I got dorinda again, which caused me no end of glee, and a week or two before Yuletide we'd been talking about Peacemakers, and what kinds of stories we were in the mood for. So I knew I could tailor this directly to what Dorinda wanted, and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.

2012

Did I mention BEARS!!?