vaznetti

I wrote this for eid_fic, a community set up to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, which occurs this weekend, by writing stories about Muslim characters. I am 100% behind the notion that writing is often the best response to a sense of exclusion in fandom, and the challenge gave me the opportunity to write about a character I've wanted to play with for a while. I recommend the community highly; you can find out more about it here.

Title: House of Shadows
Author: Vanzetti (vaznetti)
Fandom: Dorothy Dunnett, Lymond Chronicles
Ratings: PG, gen, c. 350 words.
Notes: The character Marthe is a European woman who converted to Islam. Spoilers for the end of Pawn in Frankincense. Many thanks to cofax7 for beta-reading. All mistakes are my own.

( Lyons. 10th day of Ramadan, 962 A.H. )

Title: Lightning fast and all alone (HL/SPN, Duncan MacLeod, John Winchester)
Author: Vanzetti
Gen, R for violence and language, c. 6400 words
Summary: The past weighs heavy on Duncan MacLeod, and the future on John Winchester.
Post-ep for SPN 1x 16, "Shadow."
Author's notes: Many thanks to Rhi and Rez for beta-reading and hand-holding. The title comes from Townes van Zandt, "High, Low and In Between." Freakishly appropriate lyrics here.

( Two men go hunting a demon; neither is quite what the other expects. )

Comments very welcome; part of me thinks I'm crazy for posting this on a Thursday, but it's done, so here it is.

Paper Weight
by Vanzetti
Rated: PG
Category: Gen
Characters: Kathleen Hudak, Victor Henriksen, Cassie Robinson, others
Summary: Kathleen Hudak is a survivor, even when she isn't sure of anything else.
( author's notes )

( The evidence is scattered all over the table, file after file of crime-scene photographs, evidence lists, a familiar face staring back from a booking photo. The other photographs are grimmer: wrecked houses, dead and mutilated bodies, charred skeletons. )

I could not make this a proper drabble, but at 155 words, it might be an old XF drabble. Consider this a reassertion of the appropriate historical order; there are spoilers for Rome 2x08, although it is set some time after that episode.

Title: Whip Hand
Author: vaznetti
Warning: Adult themes.
Summary: Octavian has only known success.

( Octavian sits on their bed... )

I wrote this for rez_lo, who is having upheaval in her life, and who wanted to see a bit more of one of those female characters SPN has lurking around in the corners.

Title: Dust and Air
Author: Vanzetti
Category: Gen, Missouri Mosely, pre-series
Rated: PG
Word count: c. 600
Summary: I went to Missouri, and I learned the truth.
For rez_lo; thanks to hossgal for beta-reading. Mistakes are mine; the characters and universe aren't.

( I went to Missouri, and I learned the truth )

And finally, another part of Blessings against the Thunder. No, really. At least it's substantial.

Blessings against the Thunder: Whitefall
by vaznetti
SPN/FF (John/Zoe and ensembles)
R for language and violence, spoilers for Serenity, c. 4,000 words

Notes: Many thanks to rez_lo and musesfool for beta reading and to the_grynne for going far beyond what might be expected in helping me with Chinese language questions. This one's for hossgal; I hope she likes it.

Summary: In which some things are broken and some things are mended, plans are made and discarded, Kaylee and Zoe gossip and Sam and Inara have tea. There are also explosions, of various kinds.

Previously:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1, 2
Blackout Zone, 1, 2, 3
Blackout Zone: Epilogue


( They eat out under the stars, though Mal can't help thinking that they were enough to make Serenity's galley feel crowded and noisy, and how that might make a change. In the morning he hears Inara and Zoe laughing as he climbs his ladder, and smiles all the way down the corridor. And there's John Winchester taking up space at the table, drinking his morning tea and grinning like he belongs there, like he's got nothing better to do than hang around on Serenity making women laugh. )

The Yuletide names are up, and it's time for the reveal. Here's mine.

Title: My hands remember hers
Author: Vanzetti
Recipient: random_flores, for Yuletide 2006
Fandom: Deadwood
Pairing: Joanie Stubbs/Calamity Jane
R for language, set post S3, but with no real spoilers
Many thanks to rez_lo for beta-reading in the face of my many insecurities. The errors of course are all mine.
Summary: Snow in Deadwood, December 23rd: a house turns inside-out, Joanie decorates and Jane goes for a walk.

( There's some kind of crud in Jane's eyes, sticking them closed... )

On a final yuletide-related note, I want everyone to know how much I love elishavah, because she is awesome beyond the telling of it.

yuletide continues to beat me about the head and shoulders. I will do anything to avoid it including, the other night, watching about half an hour of some movie with Laurie Holden and a talking dog in it. I'd forgotten how pretty she is when she smiles: she kind of glows. Or maybe it was the lighting. Anyway, that reminded me that my first attempt at writing SPN was a SPN/XF crossover with Dean and Krycek -- five ways Dean never met Krycek, or something. Two of the scenes just never came together, one I can't find a way out of and one has been jossed to hell, more or less literally. But this one was always my favorite, and I'm a little amused that it was practically the first thing I ever wrote in this fandom.

Untitled crossover snippet; post-series for XF and pre-series for SPN
Dean Winchester, Marita Covarrubias
R for language

( Dean has strong opinions about people who try to commune with the spirits of the dead )

And now I can abandon the fic with a clear conscience, right?

I realize that everyone probably thought I'd forgotten all about this, or rather, that everyone else probably has forgotten all about this, but here's another piece of "Blessings Against Thunder." I'm calling it the epilogue to Blackout Zone. It's just John and Zoe, and almost no plot. It was supposed to just be comfort sex, but I forgot how difficult both characters can be.


Blessings against the Thunder: Blackout Zone, Epilogue
Pairing: John/Zoe
Rated: R
Thanks: to rez_lo for hand-holding and beta-reading.
Summary: It's ten days before they're set to meet up again, on a dusty moon at the back end of nowhere, ten days he hadn't really considered except as time to be endured until they could take stock and plan the next step forward.

Previous Parts:
Blackout Zone, 1
Blackout Zone, 2
Blackout Zone, 3


( Zoe's on Adelaide's ramp when the shuttle pulls up at the far end of the dock... )

Next Part: Whitefall

Title: Blind-sided Highway
Author: Vanzetti
Category: crossover, SPN/HL
Pairing: John Winchester/Amanda Darrieux
Rated: Adult
Summary: A chance encounter by a fire, and everything important left unsaid.
Thanks: to celli and killabeez for beta-reading; any remaining mistakes and infelicities are all my fault.
Written for the get John Laid challenge on papawinchester


( He doesn't fit, that's what Amanda notices )

Title: the nameless dead
Author: Vanzetti
Supernatural/Alias
R; slash; John Winchester, Julian Sark
prompt 51: water
summary: "You will find on the right in Hades' halls a spring, and by it stands a ghostly cypress-tree, where the dead souls descending wash away their lives. Do not even draw near this spring. Further on you will find chill water, flowing from the pool of Memory: over this stand guardians. They will ask you with keen minds what is your quest in the gloom of deadly Hades. They will ask why you have come..."
warnings: Spoilers through the end of Alias, and through SPN 2x01. Dead characters.
Thanks to rez_lo for hand-holding and not having me committed.

( '...I am parched with thirst and perishing; give me cool water, flowing from the pool of Memory.' )

Author's note: I could not find my copy of the B-series Dionysiac "Orphic" texts, and am using Janko's 1984 reconstruction as a basis.

For the supernatural100 challenge, sixth sense:

Shadow
by Vanzetti
G, Gen, Sam
Spoilers for 2x01

( Sam tries to ignore it... )

A little late, and a little longer than expected.

Blessings Against the Thunder: Blackout Zone 3/3
by Vanzetti (vaznetti)
Firefly/Supernatural
John Winchester/Zoe Washburne; ensembles
PG-13
Spoilers for Serenity.

Thanks to rez_lo for beta-reading and the_grynne for help with Chinese language; all mistakes are mine.

Previous parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1
Xinwuwei Docks, 2
Blackout Zone, 1
Blackout Zone, 2

( Their minder knows what it is, coming out through the broken glass, but not how to fight it. Or if she does, she forgets it in the panic when it swarms across the floor toward her. Simon scrambles back against the wall next to Sam. 'Demon,' Sam explains, not sure he needs to. The woman raises her head, eyes black, and clambers to her feet. 'She'll be very strong.' )

Next part: Blackout Zone: Epilogue


Next pa

Blessings Against the Thunder: Blackout Zone 2/3
by Vanzetti (vaznetti)
Firefly/Supernatural
PG-13
Spoilers for Serenity.

Thanks to musesfool and rez_lo for beta-reading and the_grynne for help with Chinese language.

Previous parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1
Xinwuwei Docks, 2
Blackout Zone, 1

( Sam and Simon are still in the upper levels when water starts bubbling up into the basins of the laboratory their minder is showing them. She does her best to ignore it, until a column of water actually shoots up to the ceiling from the sink right next to her; Sam doesn't have to feign surprise as the three of them scramble back to the corridor. )

Next Part: Blackout Zone, 3

A/N: The final part should be up at the beginning of next week.

Blessings Against the Thunder: Blackout Zone (1/3)
by Vanzetti
Supernatural/Firefly crossover
Summary: "Don't know about your old man," Jayne says, "but captain's plans don't always go all smooth-like." Dean takes the grenades. "I hear you."

Thanks to musesfool for beta-reading, rez_lo for advice, and the_grynne for help with Chinese language.

Previous parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1
Xinwuwei Docks, 2

( Dean and Jayne and grenades, oh my )

Next part: Blackout Zone, 2/3

FYI, part two is mostly done, and part three half done.

Blessings against the Thunder
Xinwuwei Docks, 2
by Vanzetti
John/Zoe, ensembles
PG
Many thanks to musesfool and rez_lo for beta-reading.

Previous parts:

Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2
Xinwuwei Docks, 1

( A meeting, a fight, a game and a story )

Next part: Blackout Zone 1

Blessings against the Thunder
Xinwuwei Docks, 1
by Vanzetti
FF/SPN
John/Zoe

Thanks to musesfool and rez_lo for beta-reading, and to the_grynne for help with Chinese language.

Earlier parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1
Xú Landing, 2


( in which we have a family reunion and the hints of a plot arc )

Link to next part: Xinwuwei Docks, 2

A note on language: I've allowed John's speech to conform to the dialect used by Mal and Zoe in Firefly; it sounds right to my ear, given the way I've translated the character. I know it doesn't match his speech patterns in Supernatural.

Xú Landing, 2
by Vanzetti
Firefly/Supernatural
John/Zoe
Rated R, spoilers for Serenity

Previous Parts:
Eurydice Settlement
Caieta Port
Xú Landing, 1


( They wind up back on his ship, stumbling through the hatch wrapped around each other, barely making it all the way up to his bunk and dropping clothes all over the cabin. )

This is the end of the first arc of the story; as the sequel hook indicates, there will be more to come. I'm working on it. But I would say that this is the segment that moves us firmly from "set of connected stories" to "work in progress," for those of you to whom that distinction matters.

Next part: Xinwuwei Docks.

A little later than I originally intended, but here's my Multiverse story. A different Firefly crossover, just for today.

Dancing in Illusion
by Vanzetti
Gen, G.
River and Yoda
Post-Serenity and between trilogies.

( River takes Serenity dancing through the darkness... )

Part three of the crossover. I've seen plot on the horizon; I hope that this will turn out to be a good thing.

Xú Landing, 1
by Vanzetti
Firefly/Supernatural
John/Zoe, probably no more than PG

Thanks to musesfool for hand-holding and the_grynne for help with Chinese place and family names.

Earlier parts: Eurydice Settlement and Caieta Port.

( The little mechanic catches him on the way and doesn't stop talking long enough for John to explain that showing up on Serenity's front hatch that evening isn't the approach he's planning on... )

Next: Xú Landing, 2