I had the absolute best day yesterday! I had a riding lesson in the morning, which was so great and Logan was FANTASTIC, and then I ate strawberries and cream out of a Hello Kitty bowl on my patio while reading stories written for me for my birthday (YAY!) and then I went hiking and then I saw the Avengers movie for the fifth time and then I went out for a dinner that included raspberry cosmos, a lake view, fresh oysters, laughing so hard I wheezed, melt-in-your-mouth lobster, and creme brulee.

And I got three (THREE!) stories for my birthday! \o/ And the thing I love is that they are all so different and yet every one of them is wonderful and meets a different need I had after seeing the movie. How lucky am I?

(All of these should be considered spoilery for the movie.)

Calling Like a Crow (2213 words) by carleton97
Fandom: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Summary: [Is spoilery for the movie so I will not post it here.]

Okay, I was so excited I did not read the tags on this one, so I totally thought it was going to be one kind of story, but then it turned out to be another kind, and I would have loved it either way, but the second option is definitely the happier of the two so: WHEW. This kind of killed me but it was worth it in the end.

Also features a cameo by Jeremy Renner's Resting Face, for the Tumblr savvy amongst us: He knows what he looks like - face blank, eyes dead, hands loose at his sides - and that it's probably fucking terrifying to see from the outside, but this is the only way he can make it through what comes next.


Moving Targets (3139 words) by Artemis2050
Fandom: The Avengers (2012)
Rating: Mature
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov
Summary: Aftermath of the battle, dealing with the damages.

First I need to tell you guys I have worked my ass off incepting Artemis in Avengers fandom and it's a good thing I have unlimited texting on my phone and also: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. And now I reap the rewards, which happen to be stories written by her! \o/

This has angst and sex and also the best purse ever in the history of purses, and made my heart pitter-patter all over the place. This story deals with repairing both the people and the infrastructure, and the two are woven together here, both works in progress. And this part turned me into a puddle: [He] runs the fingers of his bow hand up her spine until he can cup the back of her head and hold her still while he covers her mouth with his own.


Six Meetings Before Lunch (4130 words) by victoria_p
Fandom: The Avengers (2012)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Steve Rogers & Thor
Summary: Six times Steve and Thor hang out.

Oh, Steve. Victoria and I literally said that out loud, in unison, during one of our viewings of the Avengers movie on opening weekend. And this story has lots of OH STEVE moments, and also a ton of OH THOR moments, which are entirely different in that Steve's are mostly melancholy and sweet, while Thor's are INTENSELY HILARIOUS. It's a perfect balance, and I love seeing these guys just bein' bros hangin' out, and Thor has so many priceless lines I cannot even pick one to share here.

Okay, fine: "This is my jam," Thor exclaims, and starts singing along, though his singing is more like bellowing half a second behind the beat. "They see me rollin', they hatin'."

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Hi guys hi! So. Let's get this out of the way first: you still have like 36 hours to finish any stories/fanart/user icons/whatever else you may be working on for me for my birthday which is TOMORROW and even if you don't finish it tomorrow exactly, I will always, of course, accept stories and whatnot any day of the year. And I am not picky! I like allll the Avengers and associated characters (RHODEY! PEPPER! DARCY! BUCKY!), and I love shippy stuff for couples and threesomes and foursomes but I also like gen, about that time someone set up a Slip 'n Slide in the back yard of Tony's mansion or whatever. I am so easy. Like Sunday morning, kittens.

ANYWAY. I kinda disappeared! Because my besties were here and we were super busy seeing the Avengers movie three times and eating cupcakes and having feels. And then they left and I saw the movie one more time by myself and then I was struck! down! by a cold. Which was not a surprise, really, because while they were here I was not sleeping much and eating crap and going out in public about 1000x more than I usually do, plus I worked Free Comic Book Day at the comic book store I used to work for, so basically:

1. suppress immune system
2. expose self to ten thousand strangers and their germs
3. profit cough and blow nose and whine

It would have been a miracle if I hadn't gotten sick, actually.

But really why I am here is to tell you that the awesome crinklysolution has podficced Semaphore! (Four and a half hours OMG.) Complete with a cover featuring Cupcake Avalanche artwork by howarethosenuts. And also music, which is, naturally, "Tubthumping"! <3 <3

I know it is just a coincidence this was completed just before my birthday, but I am claiming it as part of my haul for 2012. \0/

Podfic of Semaphore, by DevilDoll by crinklysolution
Fandom: The Avengers (2012)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Characters: Other Avengers

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Last night was the midnight viewing of Avengers with chicklet_girl, girlinthetrilby, and musesfool, and it was surprisingly easy and stress-free, because the theater, as mentioned in my previous post, wasn't even sold out. (Though a lot of people just showed up and got their tickets at showtime, so the theater was pretty full.) We got there about an hour and twenty minutes early and there were maybe ten people there. We got good seats, never had to stand in line. Pays to live in the sticks, kittens!

(musesfool is sitting next to me on the couch trying to peck out her reaction post on her iPad. Just for the record, I offered her a real computer.)

( Spoilers here )

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Hey! PSA for southeast Wisconsin folks: I just called the theater where we're going to see the Avengers at midnight and they have sold a total of 71 tickets for 600 available seats. If you live in the Johnson Creek area and are having thoughts about seeing the movie tonight, it is not too late to get tickets!

Johnson Creek 12

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In an effort to not dwell on other things happening today, I am going to hang out here for a bit and talk about happymaking stuffs, and of course right now that means THE AVENGERS.

One week! One week is all that separates me from finally seeing the movie, and I am trying to keep calm and porn all the characters instead of staring at my Tumblr dash while alternately crying and laughing, but it is hard, kittens. Very, very hard. At this time next week, chicklet_girl, girlinthetrilby, and musesfool will be on their way here, and I have already purchased our tickets for the midnight show, chosen several places to eat over the course of the weekend, ordered some awesome cupcakes, and spent a truly horrifying amount of money on Avengers paper plates and napkins, so I think we're set. And then on Saturday I will be working at Free Comic Book Day for a few hours. So basically this will be the best weekend of 2012, unless Chris Evans shows up at my door with his pockets full of baby animals and winning lottery tickets.

On Sunday I went to see Cabin in the Woods, and they showed the Avengers trailer, which I was totally not expecting. Being the devoted fangirl I am, I recognized it .2 seconds into the opening overhead shot of the cop cars on an empty street, and my entire body broke out in goosebumps and then I sat there sort of dazed and hyperventilating and slowly losing my mind through the whole thing (I had yet to see it on the big screen and it's only 19237493874 times more awesome OMG). When we got to the hero shot at the end, where they're all gathering in a circle and posing like the bunch of BAMFs they are, two perfect tears welled in my eyes like a Pity Kitty poster from the 70s and I thought, "I AM SO FUCKED." I had a full body reaction to the trailer, people. How am I going to make it through the movie? I don't even know.

My review of Cabin in the Woods as relayed to musesfool directly after:

musesfool: How was the movie?
devildoll: AVENGERS TRAILER

(twenty text exchange about Avengers and how not to have a breakdown when we see it)

So, uh. Cabin in the Woods was pretty good, very Joss Whedon, but not as great as I thought it would be. But Chris Hemsworth is briefly shirtless, so: five stars.

I had three stories I wanted to finish and get posted before the movie, and then I revised my goal down to one story, and now...well, the odds of that one story being posted before next Thursday are currently at about -17%. But I think there will be no shortage of stories in our future in this fandom. I can already feel the Avengers momentum building, in the uptick in comments and kudos notifications rolling into my inbox the last few days. Which leads me to!

The amazing Tsailanza drew a lovely scene from Semaphore (spoiler alert: Steve and Tony kiss in my Steve/Tony story):



Tribute to Fuzziness drawn by Tsailanza! (Follow link to see full-size on DeviantArt page.) <3 <3

[Image Description: Tony and Steve's first kiss.]

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On Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. Even though I had gone hiking the day before and had planned to spend all of Sunday being responsible and doing grown-up chores, the day was so sunny and warm, the bright blue sky polka-dotted white with clouds, that I kept staring through the windows, wishing I were out there. By mid-day I couldn't resist the temptation anymore, and I put on my hiking boots and drove to a nearby nature trail, just to get outside for a little bit without blowing off too many other things. It's a short walk, just a quick two miles on a beautiful trail that winds through the woods and then turns to boardwalk over a marsh formed by a natural spring.

My mom called me while I was out there (and I answered, because I always answer), and I talked to her for a few minutes, and then suddenly in mid-sentence my mom was no longer there. Instead, I could hear ringing, like you do when you call someone and you're waiting for them to pick up. When I took the phone away from my ear and looked at it, wondering what the hell was happening, the screen showed a call in progress with my friend Marcia. As I stared it, the call disconnected, just as mysteriously as it had begun. When I fumbled with the phone, disconcerted, it dialed Marcia again, and this time I let it ring and ring. I didn't expect her to answer. She didn't.

Marcia had been dying from lung cancer for two years. In the last few weeks, she stopped answering her phone, and responding to emails or text messages. She and her daughter board their horses at a barn near my house, and I would go visit them when our schedules coincided. The last time I stopped by, her daughter was there alone, which was when I really knew Marcia was almost gone. Nothing kept her from the barn. That's the way it is with horse people.

I'm sure you all know where this is going. On Monday morning the word went out, via email and Facebook and phone call and text message, that Marcia had died on Sunday.

But I think I knew that already. I knew, as I stood there on the boardwalk on a beautiful day and watched my phone futilely dial a number will never be answered again, that she was already gone.



Marcia Bobek



Image Description: Boardwalk through a grassy marsh, blue sky and green trees in the background.

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So! Six years ago, I started writing a story. Two years ago, I finished it. One year ago, I lost the flashdrive containing the only completed version of it. But yesterday...I found it. \o/ So here you go!

Title: Denial
Summary: "John talks about you all the time." AU in which the Stargate program has abandoned Atlantis and returned to Earth. Takes place pre-DADT repeal.
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Relationships: McKay/Sheppard, Sheppard/OMC
Rating: PG-13
Words: ~6,500
Spoilers: Eh. I suppose. If you haven't seen all the eps by now, I can't help you.
Warnings: Mentions of cardiac health issues, diet, weight loss, and food cravings.
Availability:
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Thanks: To girlinthetrilby for the speedy beta.
Notes: I started writing this story in 2006--so long ago I had to swap out Sam for Elizabeth in a subsequent edit. And Torchwood was still new. And DADT was still in place. And Rodney had a flip phone. Also! I wrote this before David Hewlett was reportedly advised by his doctor to lose weight (according to con reports) and started turning up at cons looking a little thinner. Once again, controlling reality with my fiction. (Remember when I accidentally killed a dude?!?) I really need to write that RPF about myself where I find a million dollars. (Let's hope I don't kill David Hewlett.)
Transformative Works Policy: Can be found here.
Posted: April 16th, 2012

( Denial )

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You guys, this is AN ACTUAL CORGI NAMED CLINT who participates in story time at a library in Michigan.

NO REALLY. Mondays at 11:30am.



IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A corgi named Clint. \o/

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Title: Can you hear when I say
Summary: "Clint, who had been half dozing, lifts his head off his paws and barks indignantly at the vet." A Corgi!Clint story inspired by And I'll cross oceans like never before by sirona_gs but does not take place in that continuity.
Fandom: Avengers Movieverse
Relationship: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Rating: PG
Words: ~2,200
Warnings: Animals are injured (but not killed) in this story. Please feel free to email, message, or comment if you need more detail. I will happily provide!
Availability: LiveJournal || Dreamwidth || AO3
Thanks: Thanks to sirona_gs for writing such a cute story, and letting me play in her sandbox.
Transformative Works: Remixes, podfics, fanart, covers, podbooks, sequels, prequels, inspired-bys and any other form of transformative work based on my stories is okay with me. You don't need to ask me first, though in the case of sequels/prequels etc it's probably a good idea to check and make sure I'm not working on one myself. Please send me a link and prepare to be adored forever. (Though in this case, you should check with sirona_gs!)
Posted: April 6th, 2012

( Can you hear when I say )

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I got some stuffs! \o/

Princess Hulk from Semaphore drawn by Avantgardian!!



And THEN!

kate podficced another of my stories! Jelly Side Up [Podfic] by kisahawklin

I have no idea how she did it, because that thing is just FULL of dick puns, and I can't even imagine reading it out loud without giggling the entire time, but somehow she managed to do it. <3 <3

I am still determined to actually READ stories instead of just hoarding them like a dragon does gold, so here are two things I enjoyed this week.

If you are in the Avengers fandom and read Clint/Coulson you have probably already read this, but let me just say how much I enjoyed this story where Loki turns Clint into a corgi, and he weasels his way into Coulson's life:

And I'll cross oceans like never before (16856 words) by sirona
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Avengers (2012)
Rating: Explicit
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Clint Barton/Phil Coulson
Characters: Clint Barton, Phil Coulson, Thor (Marvel), Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, Bruce Banner, Darcy Lewis, Nick Fury
Summary: 'Oh, hell no,' he thinks, looking down at his hands only to be met with furry paws instead of the fingers he expects.--Or the one where Loki turns Clint into a puppy, and his new condition allows him to gain some startling insights into their resident babysitter agent.

This story was filled with humor and cuteness, but there were also come heart-clenchy moments and I just loved the whole thing, especially how quiet the parts with Coulson were. <3 <3 There is also some adorable fanart here.

And then a while back ariadne83 was talking about Ultimate Hawkeye living in the suburbs with his girlfriend and three kids (trufax!) and then there was sad and sweet and hurty comment fic about Clint and his kids and the rest of the Avengers written by ariadne83 and somehowunbroken, which I devoured like a bowl of Froot Loops. <3 <3

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