little highway girl

It was a defense mechanism more than anything else, the running away. Steve had never run before. Someone told him once if he ran away he'd never be able to stop, that he'd always be running. That was then, and this is... not then at all. He could run now because he was confident he'd be able to face whatever caught up with him. Since the serum worked, he'd survived more in the few months (and the subsequent decades) than he ever thought one person could withstand. If he was still around after all that, then yeah, he was pretty confident he could take on anything.

( Except the pity. Damn. )

Dear Podficcer!

( Hiiiiiiiii )

For robotbigbang, I got to make art for kalloway's fic Lost Dawn & The Box of Dreams.

Here's the mix I made to go with it. It's an original fic set in the Outlaw Star universe and it's basically an all-girl group of totally kick ass smugglers in space. I think that is relevant to everyone on my reading list, just saying.

So check out the fic and then check out the mix!

( Lost Dawn & The Box of Dreams )

The sun was rising over the walls around the city, lighting up the rooftops and making all the tiled ones shine like everything was on fire. It was just another beautiful sight that Sophie had never noticed before. She'd seen so many sunrises and sunsets from inside the city walls, but she'd never really considered how lovely it was.

( It took sitting alone in the prison tower, waiting for her sentence to be handed down, for her to really appreciate it. )

Clint won another round of Spider Solitaire. The night shift case worker had scarlet fever and Jan had beaten him at seven out of thirteen rounds of Rock Paper Scissors. So here he was, the third of four double shifts. He sipped his terrible coffee and started another round of cards.

( It wasn't like he was slacking off or anything. )

All That Love, All Those Mistakes

By sunspot, aka: unavoidedcrisis.
Collaborative artwork by king_stitch.
Beta'd by tsukinofaerii.

Fandom: Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes
Relationships & Characters: Clint/Steve, implied Thor/others, Steve/others, Clint, Steve, Thor, Jan
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 19,500
Warnings: strong language, sexual content, discussion of prostitution
Author's Notes: Written for au_bigbang '12. Many thanks to my lovely artist, king_stitch, and my fantastic and ever patient even though I so didn't deserve it beta. Thank you to road_rhythm for saving my smut when all hope was lost. Thanks always to chat, for putting up with my whining, and thanks to the AU Bang mods for another great round.

This story is basically 0% like the story I set out to write, but I'm actually pretty pleased with the direction it chose to take.

---

All that love, all those mistakes; what else can a poor man make?
- Josh Ritter

After a life on the street and now a job at a run down community centre, Clint classifies himself as a hard-and-fast pessimist. Until he gets the stuffing knocked out of him by a local street gang and suddenly his life is like a bad rom-com, complete with the boy with the smile that makes his knees weak, the ever-helpful matchmaking best friend, gratuitous Abraham Lincoln, and one or more cracked ribs. Okay, maybe he's still a pessimist...

---

| | THE STORY ON DW | THE STORY ON AO3 | |
| | THE ART | |

Title: Going Down Swinging
Fandom: Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Relationship(s)/Character(s): Ike/Boyd
Rating: NC17
Word Count: 2,285
Warnings: Rough sex, some description of injuries sustained in a fight, vague dub-con quality to the encounter to start with.
Summary: Ike hasn't been spending much time in camp lately, after a fight goes horribly awry. Boyd finds him practicing alone and they make a little bet and work out some lingering tensions.
Author's Notes: I have ship them like burning since 10 minutes into my first play through. It's just a fact. And I have a soft spot for green haired people.

--

( There was a peal of thunder off in the distance, but Ike judged the storm to be at least an hour off. )

Read the truthful account: The Inaugural Meeting of an Affectionate Devil and a Gentleman, Leading to the Formation of Infernal Intentions and the Seeking of an Address (The First Part of The Most Earnest Report Regarding Deliciously Deviant Devils, Acutely Admirable Americans and the Increasingly Inadvisable Intimacies Between Them)
As penned by the shining smith of words: tsukinofaerii
Recounted to you now by the humble storyteller: sunspot
This story bears the elements of the universe: Marvel Adventures: Avengers with a generous helping of the Echo Bazaar.
Relationships & Characters: Contains the most Romantic Liasons and Shocking Affairs between Captain Steven G. Rogers of the U.S. Armed Forces and the Affectionate Devil Anthony Stark. Also featuring the Valiant Devil, James Rhodes.
Suitable for humans and creatures: Teen and up
Length: Thirteen minutes and twenty-four seconds.
To summarize a long story short, in the interest of time: When Anthony Stark, (the Affectionate Devil) bumps into a newcomer in the Neath, he absolutely has to know more about this particularly delicious soul.
One should be aware of the following notes of concern: Exceptionally affectionate prose (fluff), occasional mentions of Violence most unsettling (mentions of casual violence), Scandalous Tails and Various forms of Deviltry. May also warn those new to the Neath of the future which lies before them (spoilers for the game)
Notes from the Teller: I am neither confirming nor denying that I picked this one solely based on the title, but if you were to ask around, I am certain you would find no one who would say that it's not the Loveliest and Wordiest of titles. None who would not be lying through their awful teeth, that is.
Credit for the the delightful musical accompaniment: incompetech.com


The crude and simple cover designed by the reader, whose talents lie in many things, but apparently not in any particular artistic endeavor.

Right-click 'save as' to keep this recounting on your own device, click once to hear it played for you immediately

Title: No Regrets, No Looking Back
Fandom: Leverage
Relationship(s)/Character(s): Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 270
Warnings: none
Summary: Hardison gets a letter he doesn't want.

The letter wasn't postmarked, which set off a thousand alarm bells in Hardison's head.

( There were two people in the world that knew where his brownstone was, and neither were people who would ever send a letter.  )

Title: The Stars Will Be Our Blanket
Fandom: Leverage
Relationship(s)/Character(s): Parker, Eliot, Hardison
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2900
Warnings: none
Summary: Eliot wants to be alone. Parker has her own line of reasoning.
Author's Notes: Thank you to valtyr for some excellent beta notes.

--

Eliot sends two text messages on his way out of town. One to Nate, saying he's leaving and he'll be back when he's back. The second one is to someone in his contact list as 'A.S.' that just says be there soon.

"What's going on?" Hardison says aloud. Parker shrugs.

"We should leave him alone," she says.

( There's a note on his fridge that Hardison finds when he and Parker let themselves in to find good leftovers. )