As the Cardinal Flies

What I got for Rare Women 2014:

Destiny, by raktajinos
Ancient Egyptian RPF
G • gen • ~1500 words
Ankhesenamun, Nefertiti

Ankhesenamun reflects on the lessons her mother taught her about being Queen.

This was the longest of all possible long-shot matches, but the resulting vignette is a fascinating, intriguing look at one of the most elusive young women in the Egyptian archaeological record. Most of what we know about Ankhesenamun -- the young sister/wife of Tutankhamen -- comes from the latter part of her life; here, we get a speculative yet wholly captivating look at that life's beginning.  I am very happy indeed to have had this written for me.

And what I wrote:

Something in Common for prettysophist
Castle
G • gen • ~3100 words
Alexis Castle, Mandy Sutton

"Six hundred numbers in this phone, and guess how many of those I could call for help with this stuff." Before Alexis could answer, Mandy Sutton made a game-show buzzer noise. "That would be one."

I matched on Castle for the second time in a row; having done a Martha story last year, I put the focus this year on Alexis and followed up the threads from the 6th-season episode "Limelight", featuring pop star Mandy Sutton (a character presented as sort of a Miley Cyrus/Lindsay Lohan fusion).  

In the department of "what I've been up to lately"....

Title:  Come (Back) Saturday Morning [@ AO3]
Characters: Martha Rodgers, Alexis Castle, Original Characters
Word Count: ca. 4300
Rating: G
Genre: gen/humor
Warnings: none
Spoilers: None to speak of.  Takes place mid-S5, after "Final Frontier" but before "Target" & "Hunt".   Includes references to a number of '70s animated and live-action Saturday morning TV series, real and invented.
Summary: There were certain roles Martha Rodgers had taken to omitting from her resume, in hopes that eventually the world would forget about the relevant performances. But of course she'd told Alexis a few of the stories -- and who remembers to swear an eight-year-old to secrecy?

Author's Notes: Gift for normativejean; written for the 2013 Rare Women Fanfic Exchange 2013. 

[deep breath]

This should be interesting.  I've been participating in Yuletide for some years now, but this will be one of my first voyages into the wider world of the challenge/exchange universe.  I'm looking forward to it, but it's definitely going to be a new experience.

As with Yuletide, the first order of business is thanks; I am grateful sincerely and in advance for the story I'm about to receive.  (Hmm, that sounds a bit like a Thanksgiving-dinner grace -- which is apt, I suppose, although with this sort of thing a case might be made that we're skipping straight to the dessert course.)  Whoever you are, I appreciate your efforts on my behalf, and I look forward to reading the results.

As to my tastes in fic generally, they are wide and eclectic.  I read and enjoy gen, het, and slash (both flavors) at all ratings and have very few outright squicks, but I am not typically attracted to stories for erotic content or angst quotient.  Rather, I like good characterization, authentic-sounding dialogue, effectively sneaky plotting, and well-developed wit.  I am equally intrigued by clever use of canon and thoughtfully developed AUs, and I am disturbingly fond of crossovers and well-woven meta threads.  As a rule, I tend to prefer canon-consistent romantic pairings (exceptions will be noted further along), with the added note that in my book, well-sustained UST (heavy on the T) is often as good as or better than actual sex.  It's definitely true that my own writing also reflects the kinds of things I like to read; my AO3 archive is here, and you're welcome to prowl.

( Now to the requests: )