Current state of the h/c bingo card

[sholio]

I got a line!



I'm just posting an image so that I only have one master copy of the card where I'm adding fills. Here's the link to the text version if you need it.

I haven't claimed a bingo on the h/c bingo comm yet because I want to add more to it. Right now I'm looking at a crossing line - maybe that first one, with presumed dead?

Nearly every crossing line has a square I'm struggling with how to fill - the ones that look hardest for me are:

witch hunt
bullying/hazing
bodyswap
begging
runaways

... so if anyone has ideas for any of those, feel free to hit me up! Or any other suggestions for any squares that apply to my current fandoms! Forbidden love is absolutely *made* for Biggles, but I don't really have a specific idea for a scenario there that I haven't written yet ...

The previous h/c bingo post gave me some A+ ideas (I think the one from that post that I haven't written yet, but still want to, is EvS thinking Biggles is dead), but I have no specific ideas for any of these other squares and welcome suggestions.

Comments

[rachelmanija]

Bodyswap would be fun for Biggles.

[muccamukk]

Presumed dead is ALSO made for biggles, idk what to do with runaways, but maybe some kind of Winter Soldier thing?

[snickfic]

You know who would make great runaways, are Nebula and Gamora. 👀 Actually teenage Peter Quill running away and teaming up with some other character also in the process of running away would also be really fun.

[sholio]

Oh ... my. I'm not sure why I never really thought about the possibilities inherent in Biggles suddenly finding himself surrounded by EvS's cronies, or, far worse for everyone, von Stalhein having to pretend he knows how to fly a plane.

(Do I want to know the context for your icon?)

[sholio]

IT DEFINITELY IS. Oh, hmmmm. I hadn't thought of doing that with the Winter Soldier, but it does kind of lend itself to it! Actually I also just realized this would work for spy canons in which defection/escape is a possibility. Oooh.

[sholio]

Ohohoho hmmmm. You're right, those are all very well suited to that prompt! HMMM.

[rachelmanija]

Biggles gets von Stalhein's Abusive Handler of the Week, and von Stalhein is suddenly living with a bunch of guys who adore him and think he's an ace pilot.

I think I meant to hit my book icon but here's the context.

[sholio]

OH RIGHT. I knew it sounded familiar from somewhere. Thanks!

Biggles gets von Stalhein's Abusive Handler of the Week, and von Stalhein is suddenly living with a bunch of guys who adore him and think he's an ace pilot.

You have taken me from being "meh" on this prompt to desperately wanting this to exist in the world. Honestly I'm just quietly dying at von Stalhein having to bluff his way through pretending like he knows how aviation works. (Well, I guess we know from the desert spy book that he does technically know how, but the one time we've ever seen him fly a plane in canon was also the time that he crashed immediately.) And seeing Biggles's life from the inside and experiencing the camaraderie of Biggles's friends would make his own lonely, miserable existence even more lonely and miserable by comparison ...

[rachelmanija]

Right? The other end is also fun, with Biggles being horrified at learning all the details of exactly how wretched von Stalhein's life is.

[rachelmanija]

Biggles also knows a LOT about aviation that doesn't involve literally flying a plane, so von Stalhein's troubles would start immediately upon the first casual work chat.

[sholio]

Biggles is probably not going to last more than 10 minutes in von Stalhein's body before he's punched his handler, quit his job, and told everyone at length how great he is and that they don't deserve him.

[rachelmanija]

And then amazed them all by jumping in a plane and flying away.

He probably needs to get locked up without cake for a while, just to keep the other end of the story from coming to an end too fast.

[sholio]

Von Stalhein in Biggles's body has to convince them all to go rescue von Stalhein (actually Biggles) from the gulag that he immediately gets himself thrown into after well-intentionedly wrecking von Stalhein's career.

... though Biggles would probably be able to escape from a gulag pretty effectively through some kind of objectively insane plan involving the prison laundry, blowing something up, and obviously stealing the convenient plane that's parked right there.

[sholio]

Von Stalhein as Biggles: *spends a few quiet days trying to bluff his way through aviation conversations and hearing increasingly horrifying stories of what his body is getting up to in Russia*

Biggles as von Stalhein: *has three books' worth of adventures escaping from a Siberian gulag and making a 12-country journey through the Iron Curtain on his own*

[rachelmanija]

Accurate.

[philomytha]

Please write the bodyswap idea!

Runaways: Ginger is an Actual Runaway and has teenage runaway skills like stealing food and finding shelter which could have h/c-ish applications? But for Biggles/EvS - well, technically EvS runs away at the start of Looks Back, maybe when he gets back there are evil bureaucratic consequences for this which Biggles, being flat on his back in hospital, can't field for him?

[sholio]

Ginger is a good one! I forgot that's part of his canonical backstory.

But for Biggles/EvS - well, technically EvS runs away at the start of Looks Back, maybe when he gets back there are evil bureaucratic consequences for this which Biggles, being flat on his back in hospital, can't field for him?

Ooooh. I love this; maybe Biggles gets back to England to find out that EvS is in prison or has been forced to give up intel, go on a dangerous mission, or otherwise do one of the various things that Biggles has sworn will never be a consequence of his defection.

Also, he technically ran away from Sakhalin as well, and the USSR generally. One thing I've been thinking about, off and on, is EvS in London having an assassin come after him. He worries about it in canon, but it never materializes. But I could very much go for a scenario in which someone actually does manage to get the jump on him - he gets stabbed or shot, and has to choose between going to Biggles for help (potentially getting Biggles involved in something extremely dangerous) or going on the run while bleeding out ...

[philomytha]

Three guesses which he'd do and the first two don't count...

He's very worried about it, going around in disguise and not answering the door or having a telephone and all that. Either this is trauma talking, or he has a genuine reason to expect trouble and maybe some evidence. Of course, there's got to be a lot of very pissed-off criminal organisations who found their security consultant wasn't up to the job of holding Biggles off, too.

[sholio]

Yeah, the fact that he is as worried about it as he is was what made me want to write about an assassin actually showing up. And I mean, it's a legitimate worry! The Russians did try to have defectors and other people with state secrets assassinated.

Now I'm pondering this and having a very nice time. :D Biggles realizes something is wrong when EvS misses their regular dinner date, and finds blood at his lodgings ...

[lilacsigil]

Witchhunt is perfect for a wartime setting! The brass wants to find the spy/saboteur at all costs!

[sholio]

Okay, now I'm thinking about how Biggles would actually find him, because searching for a gone-to-ground spy, who presumably is very good at hiding, really isn't in his skill set.

Although I guess it changes the situation totally if he either has reason to believe that Biggles is in danger too, or if this is post-Looks Back so Marie is in the picture, because he definitely would want to warn her that there is a Soviet assassin around (or someone else from his past; I'm sure there's no shortage of options). Anyway, it feels very Biggles-ish if Biggles gets a cryptic postcard warning him to be careful and then EvS vanishes completely. Or if Biggles and Marie find themselves warned, and then EvS tries to draw the assassin away from them, with predictably hurt/comforty consequences.

[philomytha]

Cryptic postcards are 100% on brand for EvS!

And while Biggles tends to find things things by tripping over them, he might be able to use a more detailed knowledge of von Stalhein to work out where he'd be likely to go. And if von Stalhein's injured he might not actually be able to get that far, which will make the problem easier for Biggles.

[sholio]

Somehow the books manage to get across that EvS is genuinely very good at spycraft and also that he is 100% ridiculous and over-the-top about it. The fact that Biggles actually managed to decode his postcard message in Looks Back is definitely a sign of Biggles being able to tune into EvS's wavelength to a truly absurd degree.

Biggles would probably go through a page-long monologue at the others about how this exact detail of EvS's assassin postcard means that he's probably going to be at X location at Y time, and strolls casually onto the train platform just in time to intercept him while EvS is just like, I don't know why I didn't see this coming. *collapses on him*

(For extra angst, maybe there's blood on the postcard as well. Oooh.)

[sholio]

Ohhhh, you are exactly right about that! Actually, I just realized that Agent Carter actually canonically has this in season two, with the Communist-era blacklisting. Hmmmm.

[philomytha]

It is amazing how Biggles gets from 'the wine here is excellent' to 'von Stalhein is in trouble and needs me to rush out and rescue him right away'! Admittedly von Stalhein sends the postcard hoping that Biggles will deduce that he has run out of money and wants him to send him some, which you'd think would require an even higher level of telepathy. (Now I'm imagining some kind of backstory to this in which during one of their previous dinners there is some kind of issue involving Biggles buying expensive wine and von Stalhein commenting on it, so that Biggles will associate fancy wine with von Stalhein not having money... unfortunately, it's one of those episodes that stuck hard in von Stalhein's head but that Biggles barely noticed, and so his clever clue doesn't work.)

And, I mean, it's not like they don't have form for walking right into each other in every corner of the globe! Von Stalhein really should get used to it <3

Von Stalhein's handwriting is messier than usual on the postcard...