Stories I Am Writing (Or Want to Be)

[cygna_hime]

The long ones, in particular, which I have the most trouble finishing. These are the stories I am happy to babble about.

The Harry Potter next-gen fic. (Currently titled "We Never Knew What Friends We Had".) Because the way I interact with HP canon is to make it better, and next-gen is good for that. I can tuck the main characters quietly into the background after considering how they improved in the intervening twenty years without having to describe every change, and then I can play with characters who, since I created them in most meaningful ways, I like more. And who have more dimension, don't forget that. So far it stands at 4000 words, and I'm not quite finished the Sorting. But I quite like them, so far as words go. Long fic is long, and by long, I may well mean septology. Which would mean finding some plots other than generic Hogwarts hijinks, but I can do that.

The FFXII femslash fic. Because the world needs more. Focuses on Ashe, moving towards Ashe/Penelo, with all the maneuvering and whatnot that implies. Really more of an exploration of Ashe, really, as her sexuality develops into what it always was and she never noticed. Currently at 750 words and the start of the real gameplay, which 750 words I keep thinking of as "We're Not Straight We Just Love Each Other". Because I can. Also because fandom needs more lesbians, and more stories about developing sexuality centered around a character rather than a pairing. I know what I like, and sometimes I write it.

The Marvel Earth-3490 fic. (In which, per canon, Tony Stark was Natasha and she and Captain America got married and none of this stupid shit happened.) Also because I can. It's quite long, and was going to be my Big Bang story until I realized that I could either have the story on time or have the story I wanted, and the latter was more important. Is at least half gen about female!Tony growing up, because the thing about Tony-Stark-was-always-a-woman is that if Tony has issues, Natasha would have entire trade paperbacks. All the things Tony does...Natasha can't do them all, or if she does, she has to try twice as hard to get half the respect. The main personality difference is that Natasha is much angrier, much more in-your-face, than Tony's ever been. She has to be.

Pied Piper and the Trickster in Oz. Because this is what happens when I'm bored. It was mostly done when my laptop was stolen, and now I'm kind of depressed by the idea of having to start over. *sigh* It was quite fun, too, and stomped all over recent canon with big stompy shoes, not like anyone would miss that.

Headcanon-establishing shots of Organization XIII. Because I'd like to actually put such things as FtM!Axel and Troubador!Demyx out there somewhere, just to assure all readers that I am completely insane and do not believe in either conventional gender or conventional fanon. Because I don't, and they really should be warned.

The Electric Things Have Their Life Too. Because KH fandom is seriously lacking in the kind of AUs that are fun. This one is about being and becoming human, and if it arrives at rather a different conclusion from canon, that's canon's fault for being wrong, not mine. And I can write the Organization doing something other than self-destruct. Also, robots! Because no consideration of human nature is complete without robots! Prologue exists on swan_songs.

The High School AU That Never Was. I have this tendency to take a badfic trope and try to do it right, just to prove that it can be done and it's the writers' faults for failing, not their poor, hapless ideas. This fic, of course, is suffused with my personal preferences, like SoRiKai is awkward teenage love and Lexaeus and Zexion may or may not be married. Because, once again, I can.

On that note, the soulbonds fic. Rather darker, because the hapless victims of a soulbond they didn't ask for are Zexion and Demyx, and you know how I feel about them. (I quite like them...separately). I want to address things like: they don't know each other; living with someone is not easy, and if you believe it should be, you're in for a rude awakening; what if someone who's involuntarily soulbonded was already in love with someone else?; they have little in common from expectations of this match on down; they're really not compatible at all. Also, Demyx persists in responding to what is apparently going to be a miserable marriage (apparently to him; I intend them to come to some kind of non-romantic accord eventually) by having sex with Larxene, which is just not healthy. I've written a few dribs and drabs of this, also.

Darker still, the AU where fairy tales will be strictly enforced. I drabbled this at some point, I believe. Once again, a bit of a commentary on the nature of badfic--but also on the nature of stories, and what harm we do when we fit people into stories then chop off the bits of the people that don't fit, rather than the reverse. Because Xigbar, Xaldin, and Lexaeus ARE smart, Kairi IS kickass, and the main point I got out of Chain of Memories is that the princess and the witch are the same person. Also highly caused by Discworld. It'll do that. Everyone needs a dystopia!

FFIV fic, mostly about Kain, with Cecil/Kain/Rose, because predictable Cygna is predictable. And because me + redemption stories = very yes. me + redemption stories + threesomes + psychological aftereffects of mind control = so very very yes. Waiting to finish the game on this one. Shouldn't be too long until that happens.

The epic FFXII saga of my postgame headcanon, whether it makes sense or not, whether it complies with Revenant Wings or not (probably not). Starts with The Power and the Glory, which is 5/9 done on swan_songs, and has a whole passle of stories after that, explaining and working with the family trees as I have created them and the consequences of canon. Or rather, what comes after canon if I want there to be happiness in the maximum quantity. Also rather amusing things like the fact (which seems perfectly logical to me) that Vaan and Penelo ended up with Dalmascan noble titles. Because that is what one does, when people have made one queen. It encourages such behavior in the future. Also the Bhujerban succession (which may or may not include Ashe), the Archadian succession (which may or may not include Ashe's in-laws), and the Rozarrian succession (which Al-Cid very much wants to not include him, as princes have all the fun). Only kind of exists in any sense.

Night at the Bahamut, a murder-mystery AU that I have been trying to wrestle into shape to actually begin writing it for some time. This requires an outline and detailed sketches, which is hard, and picking a murderer, a motive, and a way for that to be muddied up, which is harder. I am amused by the prospect of AU!Vayne as a writer/producer of plays, because he would be damn good at it and it's much better for everyone than doing it with real people. (He is also, just to make it clear that I am expecting to actually apply some mystery to this whole thing, not the murderer. Necessarily, and for most values of same.) Based around the mystery Night at the Vulcan, by Ngaio Marsh. I like theatre-mysteries; they're heaps of fun.


If I could actually get any of these done, that would be nice...*sigh* I fail so hard at longfic.