"We've lost him," Purdey said, when they rendezvoused for the second time at the schoolyard where the trail had petered out. ( She was blowing hard, and Steed had the uncomfortable certainty that she'd been running for nearly the entire hour, trying to cover more ground. )

A boat!

Any idea he might have had about clearing off on his own fell away under a sudden flash of memory. His hands moving a stone back into place in a wall lit by reflections of off water, the smell of the river in his nose, and gentle movement under his feet. ( There'd been a boat. )

Sam swallowed hard. "Who? How?"

( For all that the man must have been as old as Sam's father, he seemed suddenly much younger. )

"Hey, Mister, wait up!" Sam looked up from the plan he was writing to see who his younger brother was annoying now. But for once Peanut's motives seemed to be pure. "You've got a hole in your bag and all your stuff's falling out!"
( The tall man on the crutches stopped and swung around... )

What? Another WIP? Yes, but this one has lots and lots and lots of pages already written. And I'm only posting bits as I run through the beta comments a little at a time, to give me something to post while I work on my Yuletide story and other WIPS and things I want to try to get to when I take my vacation at the end of the year. But I need to post something, right?

( Yes, it starts in Media Res, and it's New Avengers, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. )

Thanks everyone, for the input. I decided to break the story into four parts, and last night I went ahead and posted, knowing that the next couple of weeks are likely to be intensely on the Harry Potter side of the Force. I'm still not quite happy with the last line, but I can fix that...

The story is here, if anyone is interested. It's a New Avengers story where Purdey and Gambit first meet, based on a pre-series publicity picture and a comment Gambit made in the very first episode. I also brought in a character who shows up (very briefly) in a different episode, which was fun, but a bit angsty, since he kicks the bucket canonically.

( But I'd forgotten a few things about ff.n )

Well, it's been one of those weeks. Not as bad as I'd feared going into it on some fronts, worse than I'd imagined in others. I can probably survive work, now that I've figured out that keeping a sign saying "Medical Coverage" in front of my nose is good for keeping my mouth shut at meetings. And while the doctor and I aren't on the same page, she is willing to keep listening, has given me a prescription which I'm hoping will make the difference between being merely functional and feeling good, and has given me a way to get access to the information I want and need to make my arguments.

So those things went better.

But I have to stop writing fan letters to actors. It's a lot easier on the heart when you keep your love for the character on the screen, who will always be young, and cheeky, and handsome... and alive, as long as the writers are merciful or you don't watch that episode.

Twenty years ago I very shyly let Ian Marter know how much I enjoyed Harry Sullivan on Doctor Who, and he died shortly thereafter, much too young. Beginning of March I worked up my nerve to mail Gareth Hunt a letter telling him how much I'd liked what he'd done in The New Avengers and we lost him this week. And I don't even think I mailed it to the right address.

But here's the letter, anyway, just because:

( Dear Mr. Hunt, )

Goodbye, Gareth. I'll miss you. I'm glad I've still got Mike Gambit, though. Still young, and handsome, and brilliant...

The links to my New Avengers fanfiction (the TV show, featuring Purdey, Steed, and Gambit, not the comic) and other stuff on LJ are all over here:

http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?keyword=new+avengers+fic&user=rabidsamfan&sortby=des

I've been experimenting with Google Docs too, and playing with the timeline. It's a little more coherent over there than it is here, and I've decided to "publish" it for now, but there's still a lot of WIPishness about it. Its origins as a means of explaining things to my sister remain. There's an alternative version of a scene from "Faces" there too.

( The Google Docs links )

Emily

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Forward Base

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