Title: waiting in the eye of the storm
Fandom: MCU
Rating: Explicit
Length: ~75,800 words
Pairing: Darcy/Bucky
Notes: Post-WandaVision and starting off in the middle of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so spoilers for both, though I've been writing this for so long I'm assuming most people have seen them. Plus, I had a good time making things up to fill in where MCU canon is kinda sketchy.

Summary: Darcy had to hand it to her subconscious, because once it declared something thirst-worthy--and it had definitely decided that about one tall, dark and broody Sergeant James Barnes in a fucking nanosecond--it did not let go, no matter what the provocation.

Link (AO3): waiting in the eye of the storm.

hi, hi, ducking in before the complete holiday madness hits to wish you all a lovely winter holiday of your choice (belated but no less heartfelt for Hannukah and Solstice.)

I finished up work yesterday (though it's really less 'finished' and more 'made myself a list and closed the laptop') and will not go back until January 4. I'm debating deleting Slack off my phone, though we're pretty much closed up for the next fortnight so it should be quiet. (I hate having to reconfigure things when I reinstall.)

Today, I need to excavate the giant pile of shipping boxes and padded envelopes and make sure everything I ordered did indeed come in so that I can make any emergency adjustments tomorrow, if necessary. If I don't have to do anything, I might bake tomorrow, at least some candy cane brownies or sugar cookies that I can smother in sugar sprinkles.

Right now, I'm trying to figure out what food I have and what I need--I've already gone by Trader Joe's and Whole Foods for fun stuff (why yes, I did hunt down the last of the Talenti Peppermint Bark gelato across 5 different WF, why do you ask?) I think I have too much food, but all the kids are home and I'm happy to feed them their favorites without resorting to UberEasts or DoorDash so here I am with a jam-packed fridge and two freezers.

Fannishly speaking, I started watching S2 of The Witcher (I think we got to 2 eps) and we watched Tick, Tick, Boom last night (which, if no one has told you, the scene in the diner has every single Broadway legend you can think of in it. I made the kids stop so I could figure everyone out. They were less impressed.) And now I kinda want to go re-watch Rent. I'm still only on Ep 3 of Hawkeye, still haven't seen Shang Chi, and am contemplating going to see Spidey on Monday morning, when hopefully everyone will be other places. (We all finally got our boosters & I got a whole new batch of KN95 masks, I might risk it in the theater. I might also buy extra seats so we have a buffer around us. We’ll see.)

Bookwise, I'm in the middle of my annual re-listen to The Twelve Clues of Christmas, which is one of Rhys Bowen's Her Royal Spyness cozy mysteries, so lots of dead bodies with bonus pre-WWII English country Christmas setting. Next is possibly Rosamunde Pilcher's Winter Solstice--no bodies, just minor melodramas in the Scottish countryside, also at Christmas. I've lost count of how many times I've read/listened to them, but listening keeps me company while I run around and try to get things pulled together for the holidays.

Ok, I have shoved lunch at everyone & the kids have headed out to shop, so I am going to start digging through the aforementioned pile of presents & see what’s what.

Oh! I posted another chapter this morning, so my Darcy/Bucky post-WV/TFATWS fic is up over 50K words (and as I had suspected previously, the slow burn blew up so it’s rated Explicit now, waiting in the eye of the storm.

Ok, now I really am going to go deal with holiday stuff. Have a good day/night/morning!

I was unexpectedly off work yesterday as it was Veteran's/Armistice Day and the new company has it as a holiday. ( cutting for work annoyances, do feel free to skip )

So, that's been "fun".

In fannish news, the kids and I got take-out and watched Black Widow together on my actual birthday. There might also have been some Rekorderlig involved (though, sadly, no edible glitter.) ( I guess I'll cut for reaction spoilers, including for the rest of the MCU continuity? )

Also, I meant to post book stuff Wednesday, as is traditional, but I was exhausted by all the work-related stuff and spent the day off dealing with car issues (did need new tires, -$700 USD /o\; did not need new struts/something else, +$2600 \o/ \o/), so let's have it this morning before the rest of life decides it wants to suck up all my energy.

finished
(editor's note: After months and months of not finishing anything, I HAVE SOMETHING TO PUT IN HERE!! wheee!)

Battle Royal, Lucy Hale -- Another of her breezy, fun romances. She writes an excellent opposites attract trope and this one was no different. It's more-or-less Paul Hollywood vs a more whimsical Christina Tosi + crazy cocktails + a minor royal wedding. There's a lot of edible glitter involved, too (though, sadly, only in the kitchen.) So, you know, basically catnip for me.

The Ex-Hex, Erin Sterling (aka, Rachel Hawkins) -- Described on the author's twitter while she was writing it as Hocus Pocus but they f*ck, which is pretty spot on. Nicely seasonal and set up in the North Georgia mountains, so I had extra fun figuring out where she was setting things. Also breezy and fun. (See the theme there?)

reading now
Beowulf, trans Maria Dahvana Headley, narration JD Jackson -- aka, the 'Bro' translation. Definitely helped by the excellent narration of the audiobook, though I think that's really how you should 'read' this no matter what the translation.

Into the Dark, Claudia Gray -- This month's swbookclub pick and I am trying to actually read on time & participate. ::is determined:: My first High Republic era book of the new canon.

Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts, Kate Racculia -- Also somewhat atmospheric, given that there are (as noted) ghosts and all. I'm halfway through and while I'm not sure if the actual plot has started, it's a very entertaining story. I just had to take a break b/c of job-related stuff and let it go back to the library but I'm next up on my re-borrow.

The Companion, E. E. Ottoman -- Started this a while ago and have stalled for no discernible reason so I'll not give up on it yet.

Between Two Kingdoms, Suleika Jaouad -- a recommendation from Beach Week, and one that I was engrossed in, but I had to take it slowly as it hits a little too close to home with relationship issues during extended, life-threatening illness (it just landed back in my library inbox, but I think I will let it go to the next person in line as I'm still not sure I'm up for more of RL in my escapist reading.)

The Jane Austen Society, Natalie Jenner -- I barely started this when there was a whoosh of library holds coming in, so it's on the back burner.

There are so many more that I've gotten maybe 20 or 30 pages into, but until I pick them back up, I'm not counting them here. (and let's not even talk about the other 10+ physical books sitting in a stack next to my reading chair. Anything that looks remotely tempting, I'm grabbing b/c my brain is swiss cheese at this point and I never know what's going to work.)

next
I would not blame you if you look at that in-progress list and say words to the effect of 'are you kidding me?' but see above, re: who knows what's going to work these days?

A Spindle Splintered, Alix E Harrow -- a novella that's only a 3-hour audiobook. File this under atmospheric reads (before we descend into the peppermint madness)

Witch, Please, Ann Aguirre -- yet another seasonal read and hopefully another one that's light and fun. I somehow have never read AA, though she is beloved in Romancelandia so I'm hoping for good things.


hmmm, all those autumn/Halloween books don't exactly explain the cocktail with edible glitter this past weekend (it was called Spells by Twilight) but they definitely form more of a pattern that only my brain understands.


Okay, quitting now! Have a good weekend, y'all.

In something of a surprise, BabyBoy & I are watching Yuri!!! on Ice together -- he's seen it already but is patiently waiting until I have the mental bandwidth to deal with subtitles. We're 3? 4? episodes in and it is as lovely as everyone has said. I'm also semi-spoiled for the big reveal but it's fine; I'm enjoying all of it regardless. :D

I finally finished Star Wars: Rebels, which I think has the most coherent arc & execution of any SW-related project I've seen. And then, we were going to get into the whole Siege of Mandalor arc on Clone Wars, but life got a little complicated, so they took a side-step and showed me the one episode with Obi Wan and Satine and I'm counting my blessings they did not film me as I watched because I was cackling from about 90 seconds in. Count me among the Obi Wan/Satine 'shippers, for real. Now I need to go back in for Mando S2, and I'll possibly catch up on the Siege episodes. Clone Wars just doesn't hold my attention but I like the general arc of the story, so I'm going to just fill in around the edges.

I finally watched the most recent Little Women, which I both loved and had great ambivalence about. ( cutting even though it's been nearly 2 years since the release )

I'm almost through with a full rewatch of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries -- If anything, I'm surprised how much I'm still enjoying it. I'd almost expected to lose interest after a few episodes, but I'm only a couple from the end of the 3rd season and happily watching along (I'm watching through a library add-on so I only get a few episodes each month, but that's fine.)


I also just rewatched The Big Chill, which I thought held up well over the years, but wow, the drugs were ... a lot. I was there during that era, so I'm not saying it's wrong, but looking at it now, yeah, a LOT.

At some point, I swear I'm going to watch Shadow and Bone, but I should probably get on with Mando and Loki, so those are on deck.

In personal news, work continues to be both mad ricochets and thoughtful support, so I guess I'm happy about the support and wish the actual project work might smooth out in time. (The whole industry is just so bad for my tendency to procrastinate--I *know* there's a better than even chance that whatever date they're giving me will slip, so it encourages my bad habits about just not jumping in and doing things, because it never fails that when I do, it changes later down the line, so I'm better off just waiting and doing it all in a power rush at the end, because it'll be that rush anyway.) Ah, well, only a couple more years and the R-word becomes viable.

For fun things, I started posting the latest thing I've been noodling on, if only to get the early parts out of my head and let my brain focus on the rest of the story, so the first chapter of waiting in the eye of the storm, a post-Wandavision/mid-TFATWS Darcy/Bucky is out in the world.

It...has been a week, y'all. D is having stroke-related issues; no one is really sleeping; we did a jaunt to the ER; work has been busy... I don't know, my brain is mush.

I did finally finish the Steve/Darcy fic I've been poking at for the last few months (strictly speaking, it's been in my Drafts folder for years and years, but it started coming together last fall.) It ended up being a smidge over 30K words, so there's yet another Darcy-related novella my brain has presented me with, *g*: baby, won't you swing it with me.

Now I need to go pick another one of my WiPs and see what happens when I keep poking at it.

I'd also like to refine my thoughts on Wandavision after 1.06 (the Halloween ep) ( behind the cut )

...aaaand stopping now before I give myself a hand cramp, :D, have a good evening!

Yep, I've been watching and it turns out, I have opinions and thoughts and conjectures (this is what happens with that damn Marvel Unlimited subscription.) Also, I'm actively avoiding spoilers going forward, so all of this is just me spinning plots out; please don't tell me who's signed on for guest appearances b/c I had a blast with that most recent reveal

( spoilers through WV Episode 5 + bunches of speculation )

er, that was a lot; I had no idea I had that much to say about this show, but here we are, yeah?

Ok, I managed to finish S2 of Star Trek Discovery in a mad binge that left me with 2% power on my iPad (b/c I was not pausing that finale to go find an adapter) & I’m already 3K into a post-canon, more-or-less PWP Pike/Tyler, which is pretty much where my head is with that. :D (I'd also love to do a Pike/Tilly, but that requires more thinking so I’m leaving that to when I don’t have to write in 5 min increments.)

Also, someone at Netflix is mining my id—not only did I get Chris Pine & Robert the Bruce (on my birthday!) but I’m getting Timothee Chamalet as Prince Hal, complete w/Agincourt? Be still, my heart.

I join you all in the Falcon & Winter Soldier squee, but I’m really tickled that my girl Darcy is back in the MCU—I have no idea how she fits in the whole WandaVision aesthetic, but I guess I’m checking it out.

Ok, back to being a worker-bee I go, have a good day/night, kisses!

Title: a garden grows around us
Fandom: The Avengers / MCU
Rating: Explicit
Length: ~7850 words
Pairing: Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis
Notes: The continuing adventures of life in hiding in Wakanda in the fall in with you 'verse, complete with crazy food and diversionary sex.

Summary: Okay, so the thing is, Darcy knows she's been getting bored, but until she's standing on a stool in the kitchenette part of the guest cottage she and Clint have been living in, flour and cocoa and superfine sugar everywhere, trying for the fifth time to get a good overhead shot of a just-out-of-the-microwave mug cake, she maybe hadn't realized exactly how bored she actually is.

Link (AO3): a garden grows around us

Ok, we are in the crunch period to the Royal Wedding Shenanigans (someone in my twitter feed shared the news that Eugenie & her dude have moved into another one of the cottages at KP, which makes everyone neighbors), the boys are making me crazy, and I need to go review some API doc with several non-native English speakers, so here, have the thing that has been keeping me sane recently some more Modern Royals recs:

A Princess In Theory, Alyssa Cole, might have the Best Premise Ever: Our Heroine, a grad student/former foster child on a shoestring budget, keeps getting these irritating emails about how she’s the Betrothed of the Crown Prince of Thesolo in Africa. Our Naledi, being a smart girl, ignores the spam. Except… it’s not spam. :D So, yeah, super-fun premise; super-gorgeous cover; fun, mostly fluffy, plot, seasoned judiciously with a little reality, angst and villains, requisite HEA ending. Prince [] is a little oblivious to his privilege but not outrageously so, his right-hand-woman is awesomely cool (I hope she gets a sequel) and Naledi, the heroine, is a little vulnerable under her strength. All very good stuff with maybe a little bit of a rushed ending, but still, super-fun to read.

Royally Matched, Emma Chase, sequel to Royally Screwed, which I also liked, though I will say, the men of this family (the hero is RS’s hero’s brother) are about as far down the jackass line as I want to go. They (mostly) make up for it and get better, so there’s that.

The Princess Trap, Talia Hibbert – I feel like this one should come with content warning for abusive relationships, because, holy crap, does the prince in question come from one seriously bad, bad, bad family situation. He’s mostly still a functioning adult, but he comes with a lot of baggage and ends up dragging the heroine into it all. She’s pretty awesome, though. There should probably also be a smut warning, because there’s lots of (well-written and just a little on the kinky side) sex.

Royals, Rachel Hawkins, is out today and I am waiting for the d/l from the library, but I’m giving it a shout-out because RH’s #sexyhistory twitter threads have kept me going on more than one long, gray Tuesday. I’m waiting patiently for the whole War of the Roses thread, which will probably take weeks and weeks. (Today's thread seems to be Queens Mary and Anne and their less than heteronormative emotional lives and the tangles in which Srs Historians tangle themselves to not admit said less-than-heteronormativity.)

Previous list here

And finally, a podcast: When Meghan Met Harry, which has been updating weekly since the beginning of the year, covering every wedding rumor, related event, and marginal possibility. If you only want to listen a little, grab last week's ep with Tan from the new Queer Eye as special guest.

And speaking of, I am loving the new incarnation of Queer Eye, especially since they're running around the ATL, *double* especially when they take their fabulous selves out into the wilds of OTP (Outside the Perimeter, aka, Red Country.) I don't think there's been an episode yet where I haven't cried.

Also. Holy sh*t, I had ZERO inclination to see Venom, and the first teaser trailer did nothing for me, but then the second trailer dropped and TH (IN WELL-FITTING JEANS) came striding onto my youtube with his whole face visible (and scruffy, killmenow) and this is clearly a lost cause.

Alsoalso, I was going to write up my reactions to Infinity War, but I think they can be summed up as ( definitely spoilers )

Thing the First: For whatever reason, my brain has been going off on all these PWP tangents, this time a random addition to the almost-canon Clint/Darcy (I was fine with it until the farm arrived and it was way too late to change.) This is really the set-up to the pr0n, but there's a little bit of (mostly tame) knifeplay, if that's a thing for you. More coming soon! (I hope.)

ready for the start of something new, MCU, Clint/Darcy, Part 3 of the fall in with you series (though really, it's just pr0n, so you're not really missing anything if you skip the earlier parts)


Thing the Second: It was Beach Week last week, and I posted the pretty pictures to IG, but I thought I'd share a couple of goofy ones here...

( it was the Year of the Pegicorn )


( and the unicorn floatie 'nursery' in the hot tub )

With any luck, no one got photographic evidence of us trying to ride the silly thing in the waves. (Or video, omg.) There was frozen sangria & voodoo juice involved (you're shocked, I know.)

Thing the Third: BabyBoy's Shakespeare thing was great, and he has gone and hung out with his group of fellow actors several times, so I think we can count it as a success. Even better, the extended family was confused enough by the actual verse that none of them realized the actor playing the boy/girl part was actually a guy (though shading to agender, still using he/him) and thus did not flip out at BB kissing him. (I didn't get to see the performance where all BB's HS drama friends came, but D said the kiss got a lot of hooting and hollering. No extended family there that night either.)