Whispers

 Add prompts and/or fills to your heart's content. For prompts, you can include canon/fandom and characters or ships, if desired.

I'll be coming back a little later today to add my prompts.

So I knew I wanted to write these three characters for the next Tower Party tag and the prompt delivered, because Strike Team Delta are the kind of people who don't like having a moment in the sun. It could have gone a lot of ways this story, but I just started writing and ended up with a lot of mistrust in the wake of SHIELD's fall and Natasha dumping everything online. It ended up with a hint of comicsverse backstory for Bobbi in that she's supposedly dead and had that done when she became a field agent to protect her family. The ending is a trifle ambiguous, as I have a deplorable tendency to do, but all in all, I liked it, I enjoyed writing it, and geckoholic saved me as usual with her MCU brainstorming brain.

I hope you enjoy!

We Were Born for Shadows (3170 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Bobbi Morse
Characters: Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov, Bobbi Morse
Additional Tags: Community: Towerparty, Trust, Secrets, Spies & Secret Agents, Aftermath of CA:TWS, established relationships - Freeform
Summary:

She brought up two browser windows and started two searches, one on Clint Barton and the other on Hawkeye. She'd been looking at baby pictures with a coworker that morning, then that morning had to shoot him or die herself. She had to know, not just believe, that Clint wouldn't have turned on her on the ship had he been there, that he wouldn't have heard that announcement and tried to put a bullet in her gut.

So I wrote two exchange fics last month that were recently revealed.

The Room (Bad Blood/MCU)

I read my recipient's awesome letter and went and watched the music video for Bad Blood by Taylor Swift. Then I went back to the letter that said, doesn't this make you think Red Room? They were all women. But I also liked them as good guys and this was for Crossovering, so I decided they were the anti-Red Room, just like the Syndicate was the anti-IMF (in the trailer anyway), and then I decided Peggy Carter founded them and I never did get around to showing that Domino was Neena Thurman Domino and that Frostbyte was going to be the other Frost sister, but I did get halfway through the stuff I wanted to show that was playing through my head as I watched and listened over and over and over and over.

I also got to pretend that The Trinity did the procedure on Natasha from the David Hayter Black Widow screenplay and bring in a bunch of Agent Carter Red Room stuff with an unnamed Dottie cameo.

This is a fusion in the sense that Catastrophe, the main character of the music video, became Yelena Belova in my head. That was kind of the most fun part of all. I had a ball with this fic.

The Room (3738 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 4/4
Fandom: Bad Blood - Taylor Swift (Music Video), Agent Carter (TV), Black Widow - David Hayter (Screenplay)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Arsyn & Catastrophe (Bad Blood)
Characters: Catastrophe (Bad Blood), The Trinity (Bad Blood), Welvin Da Great, Lucky Fiori, Headmistress (Bad Blood), Arsyn (Bad Blood), Yelena Belova, Cameo of Natasha Romanoff
Additional Tags: Red Room, Nanotechnology, Multiple Pov, Genetic Enhancements, Friendship, Betrayal, Fusion, Worldbuilding
Summary:

They've been waiting for a Widow, and finally they have one.

There are twenty-eight top operatives at the facility, more than fifty trained agents altogether in active fieldwork; a robust research and development team has output twenty new weapons and espionage technologies and adapted eleven more major baselines from Stark Industries under the guise of acquisitions from SHIELD's castoffs; the facility has been active for one fewer years than the founder's SHIELD, and there is one gender allowed into advanced training and the field. The facility has one enemy, the Red Room, and they are trained to take it down.

Kin (Escape to Witch Mountain)

Thank you, vikingprincess, for the beta! I added a scene and cleaned up a bunch of stuff on her suggestions.

This was my, I'm writing the book not the movie, fic. This was my, why, AO3, do you think they're the same thing? fic. This was my I love the worldbuilding of the book better fic. This was my reason for signing up to Fic Corner.

Basically, the recip didn't have any particular requests for the book, so I just went with the first thing that popped in my head, which was Nellie Malone, their Granny, and her outsider POV raising them. Nellie never knew they had special powers, but she was their family, and I wanted to explore that a bit, especially since in the books, they were older when they left her than they were in the movie.

It's sweet, backstory, family fic. Sometimes that's exactly what I want to write.

Kin (1203 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Escape to Witch Mountain - Alexander Key
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Tia Castaway & Tony Castaway & Nellie Malone
Characters: Nellie Malone, Tony Castaway, Tia Castaway
Additional Tags: Found Family, adopted family, Backstory, Growing Up
Summary:

Nellie Malone wasn't sure at first what to make of the tiny, sharp-featured orphans, but they were sweet, good children, and in the end, they were hers.

there's a fire burning in my bones	I bleed when I fall down	it's gonna be forever
waiting on the love of my life	rest your fragile bones	miles and miles in my bare feet
bandaids won't fix bullet holes	all we need is just to be	I can read you like a magazine

all we need is just to be
(drabble)

They stumbled in together— No, they would have stumbled had they not had each other. The Database had thrown Meld’s arm over her shoulders; he let her lean on him just so. They walked together in from the dirtiest, bloodiest fistfight they’d had to extract their target out of in a long time.

Target delivered, they sat down beside each other in the waiting area for the medical bay assigned to their team. They didn’t say anything. They weren’t impatient at the wait for others more urgently wounded.

His shoulder bumped into hers. Their contentment bled together through the touch.


rest your fragile bones

Those who remembered—Whisper remembered, voices over her sleepy in the bed, fighting—they had something solid under the haziness of memory, the ruins of who they could have been, fragile bones beneath the packed dirt of the cities they had become.

Whisper stirred on the familiar couch, older than she was; it had been her fathers before she’d been taken by the military. She studied her father’s worn visage in the firelight, hand never leaving her husband’s unconscious form.

“Do you remember,” she asked softly, as though he were another operative, as if he knew what she meant, “before?”

Her father exhaled the weight of all the years they had been apart. She could feel the heaviness in her bones.

She remembered the whispered voices of her family, remembered it was not the military that taught her to tread softly and to be quiet and still until danger passed.

“Sometimes it’s better not to,” he answered, as though he too remembered.

Whisper could not say he was wrong.


I bleed when I fall down

This is the girl they call Shift. She’s eight years old on a retrieval mission, learning to break into secure facilities, and a guarding hostile puts a bullet in her stomach.

She’s bleeding and she goes down, choking on the blood, knife leaving her hand and finding its mark.

She doesn’t die. She’s too angry to die that they shot her, that they’re after the rest of her team, and she’s yanking together her molecules and holding them tightly, willing them to hold in the blood as she struggles to clamber to her feet.

Her leader holds her down, holds her wound. “Stay down, Shift. Don’t you die on me,” Watcher whispers fiercely in Shift’s ear.

This is the woman they call Shift. She’s eight years old and she’s bleeding out, but she isn’t hurt, she isn’t dying. She’s too angry to die.

overcomplicate the simple

First, I'm going to love on my gift fic, written by the incomparable findthesea:

overcomplicate the simple (2043 words) by andibeth82
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lance Hunter/Bobbi Morse
Characters: Bobbi Morse, Lance Hunter
Additional Tags: Developing Relationship, Companionable Snark, Friends to Lovers
Summary:

This is what Bobbi Morse knows about Lance Hunter, and this is what Lance Hunter knows about Bobbi Morse.

I love the tone of this story. It fits with the vibe I expect from these two, and the banter and the secrets and the denial (she is soooo in denial about being in love with Hunter here) and the history, which I've begged for time and again in exchanges, it's here and it's perfect and it's so like them.

I love this story. She managed to work in Clint/Bobbi history too without demonizing anyone and let Bobbi be Bobbi, which is to say quite flawed but I love her anyway, and let Hunter be Hunter, which is to say also flawed and insightful while still totally missing the mark half the time in the things he knows about her. That tension they have on the show is here and I love this fic so much.

Ahem.

So go read.

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In Your Eyes

As for what I wrote, I wrote two fics, my assignment which thrilled me to pieces to get and a pinch hit the letter utterly sold me on.

findthesea helped me finesse this one (and decide whether it was any good at all). I always feel so at sea when I first hammer my way through a pairing and am trying to get their voice right. I rewatched a ton of Wanda clips and vids over and over and over and hoped for the best. (I think I'm in love with Wanda.) I stalked theladymore's journal and totally participated with Wanda in her give me a character meme and I'll tell you what I love about them.

I couldn't get to the bedroom stuff, though the ideas were there, because for some reason, I had to write the get-together fic first and fic out why I thought they'd work and how they'd get drawn together.

Normally, I don't like the premise that Laura's Barney's widow, but for this fic, I ran with it, and I don't honestly regret the choice, so there it went.

In Your Eyes (2452 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Clint Barton/Wanda Maximoff
Characters: Wanda Maximoff, Clint Barton, Natasha Romanov
Additional Tags: Friends to Lovers, Canonical Alternate Universe, Developing Relationship, new avengers team, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie)
Summary:

It broke something between them, to acknowledge each other on the field, professionally bleeding into personal when Wanda moved to actually talking to him in the halls or common rooms. She wished him a good trip when he headed back to the farm to visit his brother's family. She smiled when he returned.

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The Queen, In Exile

I don't even know what to tell you. This fic, this fic. The letter asked for so many things that hit my buttons and I just wanted to write it when I saw that letter and pounced fast before someone else could grab it. Then I hit crunch time and their voices weren't working for me, I wasn't sold on the relationship like aurilly, my recip wanted, and really the big problem was getting the crossover to work to my exacting standards.

Handwaving works to a point, but the more I dug into Narnia, the more I was convinced that the rings would never strand Susan out of time. She was just a little too young for Bucky in their original times and my recipient wanted Bucky, not the Winter Soldier, which I slowly began to realize I only knew through fandom osmosis.

Prince Caspian saved me. I started my canon review with The Horse and His Boy to pick up the royal speech patterns, but there was also commentary on Susan's personality that made me think of the other book, and behold! Royal speech patterns! I dug in and there was this throwaway line from Aslan about chinks between the worlds. I pounced on that so hard and the fic started pulling together from Susan's side. The more I read, the more I loved her. I kept in mind Lewis's saying that basically Susan's story was a more mature, complicated story rather than a children's one. He wasn't trying to say, she had a life, that's bad, so I dug into that because I wanted to do her justice without destroying what the book was really trying to say en brief.

So basically Susan, chinks and chasms between worlds that all work differently, and Aslan in all of them.

Then He sends her back to the MCU and I'm home free, right, because I've done all the brainstorming for her and Bucky and why they work and their scenes together? Yeah, no. I know Winter Soldier in MCU fine enough from watching CA2, but I really never watched all of Bucky's material (or almost any) in the first movie and I had to go canon review him and watch and watch and watch until I felt like I had a handle on him.

In short, this was an unexpected fic I never expected to get the reaction it did. I'm a little awed by how many people liked it and how well. I barely resisted writing Clint + Susan archery contest fic. And my nonny beta was gloriously awesome. Like awesome, awesome.

So. Have a fic.

The Queen, in Exile (4119 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Captain America (Movies)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Susan Pevensie
Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Susan Pevensie
Additional Tags: Crossover, Realm Hopping, Post-Canon, First Meeting, Developing Relationship
Summary:

Bucky isn't the only one who's lost everything. He was born in 1917. She was queen in another world. Susan is someone he never expected to find.

So apparently, I've been accidentally taking that "add more Renner" icon seriously.

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Should You Choose

I got assigned Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol William Brandt. Yay. Recipient ships him with Ethan. Um... But likes all the characters. Good! And come to think of it, one of the questions I've had about Brandt applies and I can fic this. Better!

Cue some research into how you become an intelligence analyst and how in the world you get involved and qualified for both fieldwork and analysis (still slightly fuzzier on, but I think the fic turned out nicely).

I'm happy, my recipient's happy, and I know a lot more stuff to help me writing most of my favorite fandoms and original storyworlds.

Should You Choose (1136 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: William Brandt
Additional Tags: Spies & Secret Agents, Training, Character Study, Backstory
Summary:

Will didn't join the Impossible Missions Force to become a field agent.

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Five Times They Were Just Friends and One Time They Weren't

I've been hankering to write Maria/Clint for a while (there's a ficlet about an accidental soulbond I've wanted to expand since I wrote the thing), so when this pinch hit came through, I snatched it up instantly. Then stalled out.

I have no less than three aborted drafts sitting in my Trello docket for me to finish later at some undefined future time.

I finally started writing a 5+1 falling asleep/sharing a bed fic and intended to toss in all the recipient's likes, such as slow build, competence, mission fic, friends to lovers, pining with a happy ending, friends with benefits... It went a little differently in the writing, as fics often do, and it's still a 5+1 with sleep/sleep space in all 5, but not in any consistent way.

I like it though, and I felt like I actually did it a little bit of justice and am starting to get comfortable enough with this pairing that the fics might turn out good if I keep at them, so there's that.

Five Times They Were Just Friends and One Time They Weren't (1856 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Clint Barton/Maria Hill
Characters: Clint Barton, Maria Hill
Additional Tags: Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, AKA Age of Ultron does not exist for the purposes of this fic, Pre-Relationship, finally get together, Friendship, Developing Relationship, 5+1 Things
Summary:

It wasn't a date, even if she ended up taking him up on another 'drag the workaholic from SHIELD premises' schemes and ended up curled up beside him on the couch in his apartment watching the silliest, most ridiculous show while laughing as he defended it and his horrible taste in pizza.

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Unreasoning Fears

Small, super fluffy treat to NPT Producer because I wanted to write Carter/Brandt and everyone ships him with Ethan and just ew, as far I'm concerned, so I started something and it stayed small and super fluffy and I just let it be what it was, loved the little ficlet, and posted.

Unreasoning Fears (476 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: William Brandt/Jane Carter
Characters: William Brandt, Jane Carter (Mission: Impossible)
Additional Tags: shameless fluff, Romantic Fluff, Pillow Talk, Established Relationship
Summary:

She hid her face in the pillow. "Don't laugh."

"You laughed at me."

"It was funny."

So I wanted to challenge myself. (Any time I decide I want to challenge myself, I wish someone would pry my fingers off the keys and order me to only offer fandoms I know inside out and backwards.) I offered Chronicles of Narnia. I had to defaul this fic and gift it as a treat because I knew a little beforehand it wouldn't be done on time.

:makes face:

The original story is some great bonding moments between Jill and Eustace, but there's this spot where she asks him to tell her about last time, and he says he doesn't know how to tell stories. I wrote the title and figured it would come easy. It didn't. I had to go read Dawn Treader again and whoa, did I catch some feels when I did. It was hard to write because usually when I write about this kind of loss, I do it in poetry or half-poetry, not facts, not misdirection. I'm glad I wrote it though and I think the effort that went into it was worth it.

A Factual Account of the Important Details of Eustace Scrubb's First Visit to Narnia (1052 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Eustace Scrubb, Jill Pole, Puddleglum, Reepicheep
Additional Tags: Friendship, Loss, Animal Transformations, dragon - Freeform, remembering, Remix
Summary:

So Eustace recounted the facts of his previous adventures in Narnia, beginning in the middle with the dragon.

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Remix tielan? Who in their right mind wouldn't? Now, granted, I really wanted to remix a couple other people too and I had to drop a claim for Roswell because again, time, but this one was from tielan and for characters I've missed writing something fierce: Rogue and Logan from pre-X3. So, yes, I was all over it for that reason alone.

Like That (Living Legend Remixed) (381 words) by scribblemyname
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: X-Men (Movieverse)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bobby Drake/Rogue, Logan & Rogue
Characters: Rogue (X-Men), Logan (X-Men), Bobby Drake
Additional Tags: Remix, Internal Conflict, Jealousy, relationships, Angst, Found Family
Summary:

She thinks about it sometimes, when she's curled up under Bobby's arm and he's feeling a little raw, a little vulnerable. She thinks about telling him she's not in love with Logan, despite whatever brief crush she'd felt when he followed through on his promise and gave her everything to keep her alive.