Roundup: FicInABox 2022

[firecat]

ficinabox is a large exchange (800 works in 300 fandoms this year) that challenges you to write 10K words (or the equivalent in other media), but the words/other can be broken up into multiple works. Many different media types are explicitly included and can be requested via tags — for example "Reddit: In-Universe r/AmITheAsshole Post," "Knitting Chart," "Illustrated Text - Bestiary."

There's also a swap option. Once you receive your assignment, you can trade some of it in for another assignment. For example you can trade in 5K words of your assignment for 5K words of one or more other assignments.

This is my third year participating. In previous years I wrote a single 10K work, but this year I swapped 7K of my assignment for three other assignments. That was a bit of a mistake, because writing four 2K-3K assignments is more effort for me than one 10K assignment. I finished three and defaulted on one.

FicInABox is one of the exchanges that you need to complete to qualify for the Triple Crown prize (for completing three 10K exchanges). Once I'd written the three works and the medical issue that had gotten in the way of my completing all four fics was behind me, I realized that I needed to write only 300 more words to get to 10K and be in the running for Triple Crown. So I wrote a fourth fic, a late treat.

I received two wonderful gifts — both among my all-time favorites. FicInABox has been really good to me that way; I've received all-time favorite gifts every year.

I wrote Loki TV (Loki/Mobius); Our Flag Means Death (Lucius/Izzy) (in which I used one of the special written medium options: List of Things [Character] Is Not Allowed To Do); Bridgerton TV (Benedict Bridgerton/Henry Graville); and an original work, sex-magic-themed.

I received an Agatha Christie Miss Marple/Poirot crossover fic, and a fic based on Devil in a Blue Dress (1995 movie based on Walter Mosley's first Easy Rawlins novel).

What I wrote:

The End and the Beginning (3021 words) by firecat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Loki (TV 2021)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Loki/Mobius M. Mobius
Characters: Loki (Marvel), Mobius M. Mobius
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, TVA | Time Variance Authority (Marvel), Escape, Betrayal, First Kiss, Hopeful Ending
Summary:

This apocalypse, at this stage, was safe for no one.

Loki realized what the problem with the Tempad was. Why there was a blinking yellow “1-1” where the battery indicator was supposed to be.

When Mobius came through along with him, it used up a lot of the device’s battery power. Now, there was enough juice in it for only one jump. For only one person.

Bath or Barnacles? (4243 words) by firecat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Our Flag Means Death (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Israel Hands/Lucius Spriggs
Characters: Israel Hands, Lucius Spriggs, Blackbeard's Crew (Our Flag Means Death)
Additional Tags: Punishment, Reward, Jealousy, Dom/sub, Flirty Lucius Spriggs, Top Lucius Spriggs, Israel Hands Has Issues, Sub Israel Hands, Switching, Blow Jobs, Anal Sex, Bathing/Washing, Jack Sparrow References


The Quickening (2309 words) by firecat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Bridgerton (TV)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Benedict Bridgerton/Henry Granville
Characters: Benedict Bridgerton, Henry Granville, Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, First Time, Party, Recreational Drug Use, Drinking, Artists, Nude Modeling, Sketches, Belonging, Age Difference, Mentor/Protégé, Following Your Dreams, Undressing, Hand Jobs, Voyeurism, Exhibitionism, no actual pregnancy, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings
Summary:

Henry interrupts his racing thoughts again. “You must shut the door, Benedict,” he says, gently but urgently. “And so you must decide — I cannot choose for you. Will you shut it from the outside, or from the inside?”

Replenish (2492 words) by firecat
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Original Work
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character, Doctor from culture that uses sex magic/Patient from sexually repressed culture
Characters: Original Male Character(s), Doctor from culture that uses sex magic, Patient from sexually repressed culture
Additional Tags: Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Worldbuilding, Sex Magic, Doctor/Patient, Sexual Repression, Virginity, Blindfolds, Hand Jobs, Oral Sex
Summary:

Dr Kos Podwilla shook his head. Why did people persist in using magic without taking the aftereffects into account?

But on the bright side — this patient might provide him with a solution to his problem.

What I received:

Ink in the Water (15082 words) by scioscribe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Poirot - Agatha Christie, Miss Marple - Agatha Christie
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jane Marple & Hercule Poirot
Characters: Hercule Poirot, Jane Marple, Raymond West, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Rivalry, Case Fic, Murder Mystery, First Meetings
Summary:

“You and M. Poirot working alongside each other. It’ll be like a horse race.”

(A yacht trip ends with a famous writer dead, and the investigation sparks an unexpected contest.)

Now That's What I Call Easy (2100 words) by scioscribe
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins/Mouse
Characters: Mouse, Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins
Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Post-Canon, Somnophilia, Dubious Consent, Unnegotiated Kink, Undernegotiated Kink, Blow Jobs, Feelings, Domestic Bliss
Summary:

“The point is, you have a friend, you tell him what the score is.”

“Yeah, that’s what you say, but you don’t like knowing. If I tell you everything, you sit around wondering if you ought to do it or not.”

“You don’t pull my strings, Mouse. I don’t like it.”

“I don’t pull them, I cut them.” He gestured with his chin, about the only part of him he could move, like he could point at how they were—sweat-slick bodies bruising each other, Easy still crashed on him like a fucking avalanche. “This is better than you tearing yourself up, ain’t it?”

Comments

[yelp]

FIAB always seems to produce amazing works, I don't know how!

I completely feel you on the many small works being harder than one large work. Swaps are super fun, but they should come with a warning label :)

[firecat]

Yes, the actual writing might take less time for a shorter work, but the “staring at a blank document trying to decide how to proceed” aspect doesn’t!

(Never mind the “wrangling the AO3 posting form” aspect and the “staring at song lyrics trying to come up with a title” aspect.)

I have learned my lesson! I might request swaps again but no more than one or two!