The Tyranny of Socks

A little bird told me... no, OK, I saw it on my friends list. Apparently today is an unfinished fic amnesty day, and I've decided to sacrifice this one to the gods of perhaps someday finishing something I start.

Here's how it goes. Once upon a time, while I was preparing for my dissertation defense, not long after the Unfortunate Incident, I wrote an X-Files/Highlander crossover entitled Joy, Watchfulness, Wishing. It's not a perfect story, but I'm still fond of it. Anyway, one of the things about that story is that the main characters of both shows were MIA, and as I thought about it, a sequel with Duncan in it seemed like a reasonable idea. Also, I was reading a certain number of stories with Matthew McCormick in them, largely through the influence of gryphonrhi, and it seemed like a good idea to include him as well. And Skinner. And that was the genesis of "Revenge of the Plastic Hand, or, How Matthew McCormick Spent His Summer Vacation." I will never finish it, but there are a couple scenes I'm fond of, so I'm taking the opportunity to post it now.

( the story opens not long after the scene in the garage )

So McCormick and Skinner head for Eretria, but instead of finding Cory (or Krycek!) they find Duncan, who's doing something humanitarian and trying to avoid all other immortals. He tells them to get lost, but McCormick tries to get him interested in their problem.

( a brief scene )

Anyway, the three of them go to Bahrain to find Amanda and Cory. They track them down on the street, or in a courtyard, or something -- I hadn't quite set the scene in my head -- and and Skinner is the front man, coming up behind Cory in the courtyard of the house he and Amanda were using. OK, so maybe I had set the scene, if not worked out the blocking.

( Cory is not quite what Skinner was expecting. )

Anyway, they go inside to talk to Amanda.

( I am extremely fond of this scene, because it has Amanda being kind of a drama queen, but in a good way )

And this is where the story starts to run into trouble, because actually I had no idea why Matthew was sent that damn tape in the first place, and I also didn't know what to do with anyone once I got Skinner, Duncan and Matthew to Polynesia. I have about a paragraph of their arrival, but it's a complete change of tone, what with the worry that Krycek will start killing people, especially Skinner. So rather than work out a plot, I've left the story abandoned for about three years. And that's crazy. And what would I do about Duncan and Adam? I mean, I didn't want Jeffrey to end up heartbroken.

Happy birthday to me! And since I requested crossover fic, I feel I ought to offer something up on my own behalf--a hobbit birthday-present, if you will. nestra reminded me that this was on my hard drive, and someone else--cgb?--that there is no fandom that can't be improved by a crossover with Highlander.

I should warn that this is entirely self-indulgent, untitled and without beta. And the cameo by Death in part 2 is purely a fluke. Part three (to be posted later, really) has humor and Rambaldi.

( enough with the caveats! On to the fic! )

And Rez--thanks for the present! I'm off to read!

The first installment in the Sarkneyesque (tm Rez):

Lectio Difficilior
by Vanzetti

( parts 1-4 )

This is, of course, what became of that Sark/Sydney piece I posted a while back. It's much improved, thanks to everyone who commented.

And isn't it Jo's birthday, sometime around now?

Because talking about my fic is more fun than writing it, I'm copying this survey from azarsuerte and rachelanton73. This list isn't complete and seems to contain a lot of crossovers.

Works in Progress (as in, I have text! really!):

More Parallel Catastrophes: I'm still stuck in a rut on the Krycek and Hermione piece, but I'm planning to get some work done on it today. Sadly, this piece needs to get done before I can get into all the cool little pieces I've been working on.

The sequel to Unwritten Life (the Secret Santa story I wrote for thepiratequeen), which will be a Kim/Krycek birthday present for kristenk2. Is Alex Krycek really just a sweetheart with homicidal tendencies? Can Fox Mulder bring yet another unlikely couple together merely by being a jerk? I think you all know the answer to these questions.

The sequel to Articled to Error. I think I have a plot for this now. Even better, a plot which will enable me to annihilate my least favorite Tunisian town ever. I've been waiting to do this for years.

An untitled 24/XF crossover: what happens when Nina "Seduce and destroy" Myers meets up with Alex "Do you want a mindfuck with that?" Krycek. Might include Drazens.

An untitled BtVS/Sandman crossover, set in the summer between Season 6 and Season 7. Willow runs away from the coven and meets Destruction. Not much else happens; I wanted her to learn something about responsibility and power, but I doubt that she will. And I don't know if I'm ever going to write this. I might save it for a post-series piece, depending on what happens to Willow this year.

Sleepwalking...: The great Krycek/Marita canon-compliant romance story. I really do intend to write this. I've had the opening sections for years, and meant to write the rest this year, since it's set in New York. I think I've been putting it off because I know how sad it will be.


Not even a twinkle in your father's eye:

The XF/24 crossover mentioned above demands a sequel with Krycek and Bauer. "So, she fucked you too. Hunh. Let's go kill some people and blow some stuff up."

The Contents of a Dovecote: This would be a really good title for a sequel to Traders in Snow, but a good title does not a story make. That saddens me.

I may someday play around more with that Marita/Monica story I posted at the Harem a while back.

At the moment, I have the oddest urge to write an Angel story about Fred. I think it's because I've spent a certain amount of time wondering what on earth that girl is thinking. The premise would be that Fred is smarter than she acts. Buffy and Angel have always been, for me, the shows that I love but don't think about backstory for. This may change.

There are a few other stories I'm playing around with in my mind, and have a few paragraphs of. Some backstory for the "Pity and Rebellion" universe. Two XF/HL crossovers, one with Marita and Duncan and another (a sequel to Joy, Watchfulness, Wishing) with Matthew McCormick.

And really, isn't that enough?