recs:yuletide2010 part the first
I have begun reading my way through the Yuletide archive is a haphazard manner. Here are a few of the fics I have particularly enjoyed:
Gifts for Me! (c/ped from my reaction post because omg, so many fics to rec.)
The Way We Look at a Constellation - Fandom: Southland, Metropolis: the Chase Suite - Janelle Monae, Troubleshooter Inc. - Suzanne Brockmann, Graceland (Album).
Yes, just take that list of fandoms all in. (Made more impressive by the fact that I requested none of them this year.) It is a glorious, glorious fusion of awesome and amazing and epic.
Ready or Not is a motherfucking WIRE APOCAFIC. Oh, but wait it gets better. IT IS A MOTHERFUCKING WIRE APOCAFIC ABOUT RANDY AND CARVER. Someday I will be able to express my feelings without capslock. Today is not that day.
The Path Ahead is a wonderful crossover between the Sarah Jane audio books and Strange Days at Blake Holsey High and is full of awesome timey-wimey bits.
Other Recs
#Yuletide
The Doom of the Hippos
This was utterly delightful. It prompted an awesome chat session once we read it, too.
<@Yulebot> is everyone still writing?
<@Lan-ToD> in theory @_@
<@pillow[128765787]> I think I’m almost done!
<@kristin> starting ph 8!
A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh
In Which Eeyore Enjoys the View
The phrasing and voices are just right and the premise is adorable. Reading this fic is like a snippet of sunshine.
“I don’t think so, Pooh.” Piglet’s voice came tremulously from somewhere just out of sight. “It’s not the right shape and it, well, it seems to me that it looks more of a - a woozle sort of creature. Do woozles climb trees, Pooh?”
Pooh considered this, still staring upward. “They might. It’s hard to tell with woozles. They can be tricky, you know.”
All Dogs Go to Heaven
A Picture in My Mind (All I Have is)
I am not ashamed to admit that I cried after reading this fic. It deals with grieving and moving forward all told through the eyes of a cartoon dog. You feel the sorrow.
“Charlie’s dead,” Itchy snarls, something inside him quietly snapping. A part of him is horrified at what he’s saying, but he’s not tired anymore, he’s angry. “And he’s never coming back.”
(But he keeps glancing up sometimes, expecting a familiar handsome grin, parting with an obnoxiously loud surprise, Itchy! but it’s always a trick of the light, nothing real, it’s too much to expect the same miracle twice.)
Better Off Ted
Mengage a Folle
This is one of the many wonderful Better Off Ted fics posted this year. Featuring Veronica/Ted/Linda and awesome Lem&Phil. But really, Rose steals the show.
Rose shoves a dishcloth in Phil's hand, and a broom in Lem's. "You two could have read the bottle that said Bacardi 151. I'll be in my room, finishing my math assignment. Don't let anything else blow up."
Veridian Beauty
They made a Veridian Dynamics commercial. Let me repeat: They made a Veridian Dynamics commercial. Even beyond that, they nailed the character interactions.
Veronica continued, "At her age, I already dreamed of being president!" She added as an aside, "Of my own company, which everyone knows is really the more powerful job. She has talent, Ted. Will you be the one to stifle it?"
Rose fixed her face in the most hopeful yet pitiful expression she could.
Cougar Town
love in the time of telepathy
I have been trying to get some of my friends to watch this show, and this fic exemplifies why. Hilarious characters doing ridiculous things yet still with heart.
Jules furrows her brow. “Was that the does-my-butt-look-big-in-this look, or the cute-earrings-are-they-the-ones-your-aunt-gave-you look? Or the where’s-the-small-blue-bowl-you-use-for-nuts look, or the don’t-look-now-but-there’s-Stan’s-old-babysitter-Ellie-I-said-don’t-look look?,” she asks. “Ellie and I exchange a lot of looks, Grayson! You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
“The one where it looked like you were trying to read each other’s minds?” Grayson says, quickly adding: “But that would be impossible, right?”
Dollhouse
Afterlife
I read it two days ago. I am still thinking about this fic. The ideas in it, explicit and implicit both, are amazingly well configured. Kyle coming to terms with becoming Alpha and Echo coming to terms with Ballard during the year underground.
It hurts a lot more than he remembered, though he supposes he wasn’t really aware of more than the first couple seconds, the last time. And then there’s another person in his skull, making himself comfortable, spreading out into the nooks and crannies of Karl’s head like he’s more comfortable there than Karl is, like a really twisted game of Tetris and all that’s left for Karl are the gaps where the blocks don’t quite line up.
Things Unknown and Longed for Still
This is Priya. This is Sierra. This is a little bit about how those two came to be, and where they ended up. I loved it.
However, she clings to what she can as brainwaves misfire and pills are forced into her in rapid succession to cure a disease that is merely a figment of their imagination. Or so she thinks, anyway, and thoughts are all she has left as dignity and privacy were traded for hospital gowns and straight jackets.
White, of course, everything was always white.
Community
Creative (Non)Fiction
ABED FINDS A MARY SUE! Sorry. I just can't get over my glee at that point. Featuring Abed trying to find a story, possible sex pollen and awesome awesome character voices and interactions.
"Why does Jeff get to be the hero?" Pierce exclaims. "And who let him in here?"
Abed looks over at Chang, who's pulled the machine monitor's chair out of the copy room and squeezed into the corner next to Shirley.
"Jeff isn't the Hero," Abed says, "he's the Anti-Hero. Apathetic, morally grey, general problem with authority. Side of Deadpan Snarker." He shrugs and sips his smoothie. "Chang's a Self-Insert. Like Buddy, with a bigger arc."
Friday Night Lights
Visitation
Oh, gorgeous. This feels like a little slice of the show, with the same bitersweetness and love. The last line is killer.
"It was a stupid thing for Tim to do." Eric's eyes were tired. Tami knew he was replaying months of interactions, trying to figure out what he could have done differently to keep Tim on the straight and narrow.
Haven
Cold Light
Caveat: I have never actually watched Haven. However, this is the perfect fic to wallow in. With an incredibly well researched plot that is better put together than what airs on a lot of procedurals, unique creepy MOTW and a delightfully bickering threesome this is a completely enjoyable ride.
Nathan looks at her as though she’s started vomiting forth live lobsters. Not impossible for Haven, but still. Shit. She’s crap at small talk, how had she forgotten that?
Life
just what you'll say when you get home
This fic. It is everything I want in a post-series tag all wrapped up in an amazingly wry Ted POV. Featuring realistic consequences, great dialogue and overall awesome.
Ted really wants to meet his namesake. He thinks of his daughter, eyes red as she sat on the couch next to him, crying. (He was crying too, he remembers. Wishing he could put his arms around her, but feeling like he couldn't.) Maybe if he sets up some kind of trust fund for his grandson, his daughter will let him visit. After he finds them, of course. Which brings him back to Amanda, who knows how to find people, and that brings his mind back to Olivia again.
Mad Men
The Gap
Peggy and Joan the transit strike. Really stunning, with excellent character insight. Anon author's Joan voice is awesomely pragmatic.
There was one pair of loafers, but it had never crossed her mind to wear them to work. There might be dykes and beatniks lapping at the edges of the Time-Life building, but she certainly wasn't going to let everything fall apart. Most of the walking would fall to the winter boots, and that would probably be manageable, assuming winter ever came.
Metropolis: the Chase Suite - Janelle Monae
Sincerely, Cindi.
This is a fic about the power of words. It is about turning those words into a message and a cause. And it is beautiful.
It was given to us to love, too, or we would not love. We prove ourselves, a single instance being infinite and incontrovertible. I know the love that makes alleys palatial and adulation pale, and in this way do we all. We are linked, androids, we are a network. For connection like this what better word is there than love? I love and I am outlawed. What better proof can there be of love? I have looked at my reflections in the room full of mirrors, in the palace of dogs, and I saw not myself but my sister, Zossa. My enemy, Emily Empire. My master, Lady Maestra. We of the series Alpha-9000 were built in a single image, as humans and their god, but what escapes the maker’s eye is the difference between uniformity and unity. Between drones and droids.
They make no distinction; they sell us their hatred and teach us to turn it on ourselves.
Suite 0
Holy shit. That was my reaction to this fic in almost its entirety. Holy shit. I almost passed it over based on the all-caps summary, but I am so glad I didn't.
Cindi wonders what it means to be a droid that's better than all the other droids of her line. They were created the same, with the same programs and the same synthetic material. She wonders what it means that she gets to sing and dance while Mandy gets shoved in a closet (we march all around 'til the sun goes down).
But she knows the answer 'cause the future's a nifty thing, and she's been sent back to do many things, but the right thing most of all.
The Middleman
Five Times Wendy Flew Solo
This fic is everything the title said and even more delightful. Featuring Open Source super-villains and comic shop cases.
Then the open-source freaks get out again and unleash a giant cybernetic penguin on the city. Wendy has no idea what that has to do with open-source, but even though this time they don't kidnap the Middleman, he lets her take the lead anyway.
Modern Family
a very dunphy christmas
This could be an episode of the show. From Cam's love of putting Lily in costumes to the talking heads bits, this is wonderful.
“I saw that!” Claire calls out.
Haley looks unnerved. “How did she do that?” she whispers to Alex.
Alex rolls her eyes and points to the mirror where Haley is reflected.
“Saw that too!” Claire sing-songs. Alex does a quick double-take of the mirror’s range of vision and, when she realises that it is impossible for Claire to have seen her from that angle, looks appropriately freaked out. “I... don’t actually know,” she admits to Haley.
Old Spice Man
Dial M for Manly
Go for the hilarious freeform tags. Stay for the hilarious take of Old Spice Man taking on Agent Axe (possibly the most perfectly cast villain of ever.)
The Old Spice Man nodded. "I never wear shirts. I find them to be too constricting of my rugged pectoral muscles."
"Suit yourself, I suppose," she said. She grabbed a set of files from the pile on her desk and placed them in front of the Old Spice Man. "I suppose you're curious about what could be so urgent as so call you back from your vacation in the Bermuda Triangle."
"Rabid lumberjacks? Werewolves fighting ninja bears? A return of the flesh-eating pegasi? A portal into that universe where people seem to think that I'm an actor named Isaiah?"
Parks & Rec
Christmas Wrapping
Leslie Knope facing down a Christmas spent alone. Lovely look at the character, her optimism and humor.
"No," Leslie says to herself. "No. That's stupid. Of course it's still Christmas! I am a strong, independent woman, and I can do this." What would Hillary Clinton say? She'd tell Leslie to suck it up, put on her best pantsuit, and get out to the grocery store to pick up some damned cranberries, that's what she'd say.
Sarah Jane Adventures
What to Make Out of Snow
If this fic was made into an episode of the series I would not at all be surprised. All the character voices are spot on and the plot was perfect. The Rani voice in particular is really really well done.
Rani is pretty sure she should be offended at Sarah Jane comparing them to warring planets. And that is what’s she’s doing, of course. The thing about Sarah Jane is that at least she never compares you to something boring.
Pour, Rinse, Repeat
Carla Langer is one of the most underutilized characters on the show. This fic gives her an excellent POV. Her love for Clyde comes through so clearly. Lovely, lovely work.
She remembers when he was a baby and she would never be able to resist peeking in on him at night. This little creature that she had brought into the world, now having dreams and nightmares of his own. The same little thing now with his shoulders bending under a weight they were never meant to carry. She could kill Paul. So when he makes friends with the boy over the road she’s determined that it will stick - her Clyde is too wonderful to be alone.
Son of a Preacher Man (Song)
Sweet Caroline
This is lovely and lush. There is so much atmosphere that the fic could ride on that alone. Instead, it gets even better with an interesting central character and twisty ending.
I helped her sometimes, and as many times as she said "Idle hands are the devil's playground," nobody had ever thought to warn me that busy hands weren't always safe. I never thought I was a wicked child, but I must have been, because only the wicked could steal from charity.
Southland
The Victory Is
Oh, these women. This is so expertly drawn, from the horrors the face to the way they stand strong.
Yeah, yeah, Lydia Adams, the frigid bitch. They could say what they wanted, but she’d learned the hard way not to listen. Every date eventually looked at her the same way, gave her the same familiar shiver of rejection, so why bother with that shit? Who needed love? Hell, most of the women that crossed her desk had been killed by their romantic partners. And who needed sex when you could come to work and get fucked by the system that was supposed to help them?
Sports Night
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
Dan gets a parrot. This is pitch perfect. The dialogue is sparkling and stylized as befits a Sorkin show, the plot is delightfully absurd. A perfect little Christmas story.
“The parrot is a noble and majestic bird,” Jeremy says. “It’s known for its nobility. And its majesty.”
“You’re out of parrot-related trivia?” Natalie asks, looking a bit surprised.
“I skipped that section of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It’s their beady eyes,” Jeremy says. “Reminds me of paintings where the eyes follow you.”
“You know that parrots’ eyes actually follow you, right, honey?” Dana says.
Telephone(music video)
Devils Won't Be Caught
This fic was the first I bookmarked this year, and for good reason. There is so much depth here to Honey B while still maintaining the over-the-top style of the source.
She gets up in the morning, makes herself up - primer, foundation, powder, blush, eyeliner (pencil on the bottom, liquid cat eyes on top), plum lipstick, slick gloss; she used to resent it, but now it's a costume, a mask. More than that, it's a secret identity, a movie trope, something out a pulp fiction novel. No one actually thinks the femmes fatales can do anything more than be rescued, not in real life; strong, sexy women are nothing but broken inside.
It's so nice to subvert expectations.
Threadless T-shirt Designs
You're Ready And You're Willin'
I have this T-shirt. I don't think I will be able to wear it again without thinking of this fic. An incredible picture of Velma and Shaggy and what has become of them.
Scooby's tearing into an arm, now; Velma will tell herself it's not Daphne's until the day she dies.
Treme
That Which is Altogether Just
Someone asked me if I'd written this. I believe my answer was "Fuck no, I am not nearly good enough to have written that." Because this fic is amazing. It is the women of Treme, their strength, their wills.
She thinks she's a hard girl, but I know she's sentimental. She thinks she takes after her daddy, and she do-she's soft like he was. What could make a girl with a college education come back to run her father's bar like that? I loved him for his soft heart and I don't think bad of her for trying to be like him. Nor for hiding from me. Hiding was something I always did from my own mama. I know about hiding.
The Walking Dead
Status: Surviving
Glenn's indisputably my favorite character in the show. This fic gives just a little glimpse into why. Another fic with a great ending.
Two weeks before the world ended, Glenn had finally gotten on Facebook.
He'd resisted it forever, because what was he going to post? Glenn delivered 32 pizzas yesterday and made $17.21 in tips. Glenn leveled up in his video game. Glenn jacked some soccer mom's Escalade last weekend and sold it to a chop shop for rent money. And in return, he'd get to read about his Korean friends from high school becoming pharmacists and accountants and nuclear physicists; getting married; having kids; making their families proud. Great. Just what he needed.
The Wire
Brains
WIRES + ZOMBIES + ONE WORD CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATIONS = PURE UNADULTERATED AWESOME. (Also, brains.)
Bunk raised a knowing eyebrow. “Brains,” he agreed. There was no mistaking their particular viscosity, though he'd rarely seen them applied to a surface with such force without any apparent murder weapon. No casings, no bullet holes. The victim was covered in what appeared to be claw marks and had no head left to speak of, and what was left of the second appeared to be mostly affixed to the ceiling. The third had left a trail of his or her own blood that led out of the room, but they would certainly have bled out somewhere nearby.
“Brains,” McNulty replied in a tone of wonderment mixed with disapproval, something that, loosely translated, would have meant something like “it's like a fucking Tarantino scene in here.”
The Captain Always Loved a Good Rescue
Yes, this is a Wire/Firefly crossover. Yes, it is made of win and awesome.
Mal stumbled over to the console and Zoë played the broadcast for him. All Alliance forces were ordered to hunt down Omar Little, a thief who had stolen experimental military technology from the research base on Osiris. They were offering a reward of -
Mal broke off with a whistle. That was enough to buy a man a lifetime supply of, well, everything. “Omar Little? Sergeant Omar Little?” he asked Zoë. “I thought he died on Hera.”
Come At The King
Oh, Omar. Omar and first love and mythology and becoming a legend. Great character voices and the cameos were awesome.
He rule those Westside streets. He Zeus, he a god, he the king, just for this moment. He be who he be, and ain’t nobody come at him. That, maybe, that what they call success. Maybe it ain't everything he could be, but it what he got, and he got to be easy with that.
Them Ghosts - by lettersandsodas
Technically, this isn't a Yuletide fic. But I just found it on AO3 and it is worthy of all praised. Kummy and Tasha never got much screentime, but here they are put front and center in a tale of love and crime. Great fic.
They don't talk about it, not really. But then, most things haven't changed: Kimmy still goes to Lexington Market at lunch (just does her hair up a little nicer sometimes), still picks Tosha up after work (just doesn't move her hand away abruptly if it brushes against Tosha's on the support pole), and still stakes out the corners (just feels slight twinges of jealousy when the con requires flirtation, kisses Tosha hard and possessive when they meet in the alley after).
This entry was originally posted at http://kristin.dreamwidth.org/39872.html. Feel free to comment where you feel more comfortable.
Gifts for Me! (c/ped from my reaction post because omg, so many fics to rec.)
The Way We Look at a Constellation - Fandom: Southland, Metropolis: the Chase Suite - Janelle Monae, Troubleshooter Inc. - Suzanne Brockmann, Graceland (Album).
Yes, just take that list of fandoms all in. (Made more impressive by the fact that I requested none of them this year.) It is a glorious, glorious fusion of awesome and amazing and epic.
Ready or Not is a motherfucking WIRE APOCAFIC. Oh, but wait it gets better. IT IS A MOTHERFUCKING WIRE APOCAFIC ABOUT RANDY AND CARVER. Someday I will be able to express my feelings without capslock. Today is not that day.
The Path Ahead is a wonderful crossover between the Sarah Jane audio books and Strange Days at Blake Holsey High and is full of awesome timey-wimey bits.
Other Recs
#Yuletide
The Doom of the Hippos
This was utterly delightful. It prompted an awesome chat session once we read it, too.
<@Yulebot> is everyone still writing?
<@Lan-ToD> in theory @_@
<@pillow[128765787]> I think I’m almost done!
<@kristin> starting ph 8!
A A Milne - Winnie the Pooh
In Which Eeyore Enjoys the View
The phrasing and voices are just right and the premise is adorable. Reading this fic is like a snippet of sunshine.
“I don’t think so, Pooh.” Piglet’s voice came tremulously from somewhere just out of sight. “It’s not the right shape and it, well, it seems to me that it looks more of a - a woozle sort of creature. Do woozles climb trees, Pooh?”
Pooh considered this, still staring upward. “They might. It’s hard to tell with woozles. They can be tricky, you know.”
All Dogs Go to Heaven
A Picture in My Mind (All I Have is)
I am not ashamed to admit that I cried after reading this fic. It deals with grieving and moving forward all told through the eyes of a cartoon dog. You feel the sorrow.
“Charlie’s dead,” Itchy snarls, something inside him quietly snapping. A part of him is horrified at what he’s saying, but he’s not tired anymore, he’s angry. “And he’s never coming back.”
(But he keeps glancing up sometimes, expecting a familiar handsome grin, parting with an obnoxiously loud surprise, Itchy! but it’s always a trick of the light, nothing real, it’s too much to expect the same miracle twice.)
Better Off Ted
Mengage a Folle
This is one of the many wonderful Better Off Ted fics posted this year. Featuring Veronica/Ted/Linda and awesome Lem&Phil. But really, Rose steals the show.
Rose shoves a dishcloth in Phil's hand, and a broom in Lem's. "You two could have read the bottle that said Bacardi 151. I'll be in my room, finishing my math assignment. Don't let anything else blow up."
Veridian Beauty
They made a Veridian Dynamics commercial. Let me repeat: They made a Veridian Dynamics commercial. Even beyond that, they nailed the character interactions.
Veronica continued, "At her age, I already dreamed of being president!" She added as an aside, "Of my own company, which everyone knows is really the more powerful job. She has talent, Ted. Will you be the one to stifle it?"
Rose fixed her face in the most hopeful yet pitiful expression she could.
Cougar Town
love in the time of telepathy
I have been trying to get some of my friends to watch this show, and this fic exemplifies why. Hilarious characters doing ridiculous things yet still with heart.
Jules furrows her brow. “Was that the does-my-butt-look-big-in-this look, or the cute-earrings-are-they-the-ones-your-aunt-gave-you look? Or the where’s-the-small-blue-bowl-you-use-for-nuts look, or the don’t-look-now-but-there’s-Stan’s-old-babysitter-Ellie-I-said-don’t-look look?,” she asks. “Ellie and I exchange a lot of looks, Grayson! You’re going to have to be a little more specific.”
“The one where it looked like you were trying to read each other’s minds?” Grayson says, quickly adding: “But that would be impossible, right?”
Dollhouse
Afterlife
I read it two days ago. I am still thinking about this fic. The ideas in it, explicit and implicit both, are amazingly well configured. Kyle coming to terms with becoming Alpha and Echo coming to terms with Ballard during the year underground.
It hurts a lot more than he remembered, though he supposes he wasn’t really aware of more than the first couple seconds, the last time. And then there’s another person in his skull, making himself comfortable, spreading out into the nooks and crannies of Karl’s head like he’s more comfortable there than Karl is, like a really twisted game of Tetris and all that’s left for Karl are the gaps where the blocks don’t quite line up.
Things Unknown and Longed for Still
This is Priya. This is Sierra. This is a little bit about how those two came to be, and where they ended up. I loved it.
However, she clings to what she can as brainwaves misfire and pills are forced into her in rapid succession to cure a disease that is merely a figment of their imagination. Or so she thinks, anyway, and thoughts are all she has left as dignity and privacy were traded for hospital gowns and straight jackets.
White, of course, everything was always white.
Community
Creative (Non)Fiction
ABED FINDS A MARY SUE! Sorry. I just can't get over my glee at that point. Featuring Abed trying to find a story, possible sex pollen and awesome awesome character voices and interactions.
"Why does Jeff get to be the hero?" Pierce exclaims. "And who let him in here?"
Abed looks over at Chang, who's pulled the machine monitor's chair out of the copy room and squeezed into the corner next to Shirley.
"Jeff isn't the Hero," Abed says, "he's the Anti-Hero. Apathetic, morally grey, general problem with authority. Side of Deadpan Snarker." He shrugs and sips his smoothie. "Chang's a Self-Insert. Like Buddy, with a bigger arc."
Friday Night Lights
Visitation
Oh, gorgeous. This feels like a little slice of the show, with the same bitersweetness and love. The last line is killer.
"It was a stupid thing for Tim to do." Eric's eyes were tired. Tami knew he was replaying months of interactions, trying to figure out what he could have done differently to keep Tim on the straight and narrow.
Haven
Cold Light
Caveat: I have never actually watched Haven. However, this is the perfect fic to wallow in. With an incredibly well researched plot that is better put together than what airs on a lot of procedurals, unique creepy MOTW and a delightfully bickering threesome this is a completely enjoyable ride.
Nathan looks at her as though she’s started vomiting forth live lobsters. Not impossible for Haven, but still. Shit. She’s crap at small talk, how had she forgotten that?
Life
just what you'll say when you get home
This fic. It is everything I want in a post-series tag all wrapped up in an amazingly wry Ted POV. Featuring realistic consequences, great dialogue and overall awesome.
Ted really wants to meet his namesake. He thinks of his daughter, eyes red as she sat on the couch next to him, crying. (He was crying too, he remembers. Wishing he could put his arms around her, but feeling like he couldn't.) Maybe if he sets up some kind of trust fund for his grandson, his daughter will let him visit. After he finds them, of course. Which brings him back to Amanda, who knows how to find people, and that brings his mind back to Olivia again.
Mad Men
The Gap
Peggy and Joan the transit strike. Really stunning, with excellent character insight. Anon author's Joan voice is awesomely pragmatic.
There was one pair of loafers, but it had never crossed her mind to wear them to work. There might be dykes and beatniks lapping at the edges of the Time-Life building, but she certainly wasn't going to let everything fall apart. Most of the walking would fall to the winter boots, and that would probably be manageable, assuming winter ever came.
Metropolis: the Chase Suite - Janelle Monae
Sincerely, Cindi.
This is a fic about the power of words. It is about turning those words into a message and a cause. And it is beautiful.
It was given to us to love, too, or we would not love. We prove ourselves, a single instance being infinite and incontrovertible. I know the love that makes alleys palatial and adulation pale, and in this way do we all. We are linked, androids, we are a network. For connection like this what better word is there than love? I love and I am outlawed. What better proof can there be of love? I have looked at my reflections in the room full of mirrors, in the palace of dogs, and I saw not myself but my sister, Zossa. My enemy, Emily Empire. My master, Lady Maestra. We of the series Alpha-9000 were built in a single image, as humans and their god, but what escapes the maker’s eye is the difference between uniformity and unity. Between drones and droids.
They make no distinction; they sell us their hatred and teach us to turn it on ourselves.
Suite 0
Holy shit. That was my reaction to this fic in almost its entirety. Holy shit. I almost passed it over based on the all-caps summary, but I am so glad I didn't.
Cindi wonders what it means to be a droid that's better than all the other droids of her line. They were created the same, with the same programs and the same synthetic material. She wonders what it means that she gets to sing and dance while Mandy gets shoved in a closet (we march all around 'til the sun goes down).
But she knows the answer 'cause the future's a nifty thing, and she's been sent back to do many things, but the right thing most of all.
The Middleman
Five Times Wendy Flew Solo
This fic is everything the title said and even more delightful. Featuring Open Source super-villains and comic shop cases.
Then the open-source freaks get out again and unleash a giant cybernetic penguin on the city. Wendy has no idea what that has to do with open-source, but even though this time they don't kidnap the Middleman, he lets her take the lead anyway.
Modern Family
a very dunphy christmas
This could be an episode of the show. From Cam's love of putting Lily in costumes to the talking heads bits, this is wonderful.
“I saw that!” Claire calls out.
Haley looks unnerved. “How did she do that?” she whispers to Alex.
Alex rolls her eyes and points to the mirror where Haley is reflected.
“Saw that too!” Claire sing-songs. Alex does a quick double-take of the mirror’s range of vision and, when she realises that it is impossible for Claire to have seen her from that angle, looks appropriately freaked out. “I... don’t actually know,” she admits to Haley.
Old Spice Man
Dial M for Manly
Go for the hilarious freeform tags. Stay for the hilarious take of Old Spice Man taking on Agent Axe (possibly the most perfectly cast villain of ever.)
The Old Spice Man nodded. "I never wear shirts. I find them to be too constricting of my rugged pectoral muscles."
"Suit yourself, I suppose," she said. She grabbed a set of files from the pile on her desk and placed them in front of the Old Spice Man. "I suppose you're curious about what could be so urgent as so call you back from your vacation in the Bermuda Triangle."
"Rabid lumberjacks? Werewolves fighting ninja bears? A return of the flesh-eating pegasi? A portal into that universe where people seem to think that I'm an actor named Isaiah?"
Parks & Rec
Christmas Wrapping
Leslie Knope facing down a Christmas spent alone. Lovely look at the character, her optimism and humor.
"No," Leslie says to herself. "No. That's stupid. Of course it's still Christmas! I am a strong, independent woman, and I can do this." What would Hillary Clinton say? She'd tell Leslie to suck it up, put on her best pantsuit, and get out to the grocery store to pick up some damned cranberries, that's what she'd say.
Sarah Jane Adventures
What to Make Out of Snow
If this fic was made into an episode of the series I would not at all be surprised. All the character voices are spot on and the plot was perfect. The Rani voice in particular is really really well done.
Rani is pretty sure she should be offended at Sarah Jane comparing them to warring planets. And that is what’s she’s doing, of course. The thing about Sarah Jane is that at least she never compares you to something boring.
Pour, Rinse, Repeat
Carla Langer is one of the most underutilized characters on the show. This fic gives her an excellent POV. Her love for Clyde comes through so clearly. Lovely, lovely work.
She remembers when he was a baby and she would never be able to resist peeking in on him at night. This little creature that she had brought into the world, now having dreams and nightmares of his own. The same little thing now with his shoulders bending under a weight they were never meant to carry. She could kill Paul. So when he makes friends with the boy over the road she’s determined that it will stick - her Clyde is too wonderful to be alone.
Son of a Preacher Man (Song)
Sweet Caroline
This is lovely and lush. There is so much atmosphere that the fic could ride on that alone. Instead, it gets even better with an interesting central character and twisty ending.
I helped her sometimes, and as many times as she said "Idle hands are the devil's playground," nobody had ever thought to warn me that busy hands weren't always safe. I never thought I was a wicked child, but I must have been, because only the wicked could steal from charity.
Southland
The Victory Is
Oh, these women. This is so expertly drawn, from the horrors the face to the way they stand strong.
Yeah, yeah, Lydia Adams, the frigid bitch. They could say what they wanted, but she’d learned the hard way not to listen. Every date eventually looked at her the same way, gave her the same familiar shiver of rejection, so why bother with that shit? Who needed love? Hell, most of the women that crossed her desk had been killed by their romantic partners. And who needed sex when you could come to work and get fucked by the system that was supposed to help them?
Sports Night
To hear sleigh bells in the snow
Dan gets a parrot. This is pitch perfect. The dialogue is sparkling and stylized as befits a Sorkin show, the plot is delightfully absurd. A perfect little Christmas story.
“The parrot is a noble and majestic bird,” Jeremy says. “It’s known for its nobility. And its majesty.”
“You’re out of parrot-related trivia?” Natalie asks, looking a bit surprised.
“I skipped that section of the Encyclopedia Britannica. It’s their beady eyes,” Jeremy says. “Reminds me of paintings where the eyes follow you.”
“You know that parrots’ eyes actually follow you, right, honey?” Dana says.
Telephone(music video)
Devils Won't Be Caught
This fic was the first I bookmarked this year, and for good reason. There is so much depth here to Honey B while still maintaining the over-the-top style of the source.
She gets up in the morning, makes herself up - primer, foundation, powder, blush, eyeliner (pencil on the bottom, liquid cat eyes on top), plum lipstick, slick gloss; she used to resent it, but now it's a costume, a mask. More than that, it's a secret identity, a movie trope, something out a pulp fiction novel. No one actually thinks the femmes fatales can do anything more than be rescued, not in real life; strong, sexy women are nothing but broken inside.
It's so nice to subvert expectations.
Threadless T-shirt Designs
You're Ready And You're Willin'
I have this T-shirt. I don't think I will be able to wear it again without thinking of this fic. An incredible picture of Velma and Shaggy and what has become of them.
Scooby's tearing into an arm, now; Velma will tell herself it's not Daphne's until the day she dies.
Treme
That Which is Altogether Just
Someone asked me if I'd written this. I believe my answer was "Fuck no, I am not nearly good enough to have written that." Because this fic is amazing. It is the women of Treme, their strength, their wills.
She thinks she's a hard girl, but I know she's sentimental. She thinks she takes after her daddy, and she do-she's soft like he was. What could make a girl with a college education come back to run her father's bar like that? I loved him for his soft heart and I don't think bad of her for trying to be like him. Nor for hiding from me. Hiding was something I always did from my own mama. I know about hiding.
The Walking Dead
Status: Surviving
Glenn's indisputably my favorite character in the show. This fic gives just a little glimpse into why. Another fic with a great ending.
Two weeks before the world ended, Glenn had finally gotten on Facebook.
He'd resisted it forever, because what was he going to post? Glenn delivered 32 pizzas yesterday and made $17.21 in tips. Glenn leveled up in his video game. Glenn jacked some soccer mom's Escalade last weekend and sold it to a chop shop for rent money. And in return, he'd get to read about his Korean friends from high school becoming pharmacists and accountants and nuclear physicists; getting married; having kids; making their families proud. Great. Just what he needed.
The Wire
Brains
WIRES + ZOMBIES + ONE WORD CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATIONS = PURE UNADULTERATED AWESOME. (Also, brains.)
Bunk raised a knowing eyebrow. “Brains,” he agreed. There was no mistaking their particular viscosity, though he'd rarely seen them applied to a surface with such force without any apparent murder weapon. No casings, no bullet holes. The victim was covered in what appeared to be claw marks and had no head left to speak of, and what was left of the second appeared to be mostly affixed to the ceiling. The third had left a trail of his or her own blood that led out of the room, but they would certainly have bled out somewhere nearby.
“Brains,” McNulty replied in a tone of wonderment mixed with disapproval, something that, loosely translated, would have meant something like “it's like a fucking Tarantino scene in here.”
The Captain Always Loved a Good Rescue
Yes, this is a Wire/Firefly crossover. Yes, it is made of win and awesome.
Mal stumbled over to the console and Zoë played the broadcast for him. All Alliance forces were ordered to hunt down Omar Little, a thief who had stolen experimental military technology from the research base on Osiris. They were offering a reward of -
Mal broke off with a whistle. That was enough to buy a man a lifetime supply of, well, everything. “Omar Little? Sergeant Omar Little?” he asked Zoë. “I thought he died on Hera.”
Come At The King
Oh, Omar. Omar and first love and mythology and becoming a legend. Great character voices and the cameos were awesome.
He rule those Westside streets. He Zeus, he a god, he the king, just for this moment. He be who he be, and ain’t nobody come at him. That, maybe, that what they call success. Maybe it ain't everything he could be, but it what he got, and he got to be easy with that.
Them Ghosts - by lettersandsodas
Technically, this isn't a Yuletide fic. But I just found it on AO3 and it is worthy of all praised. Kummy and Tasha never got much screentime, but here they are put front and center in a tale of love and crime. Great fic.
They don't talk about it, not really. But then, most things haven't changed: Kimmy still goes to Lexington Market at lunch (just does her hair up a little nicer sometimes), still picks Tosha up after work (just doesn't move her hand away abruptly if it brushes against Tosha's on the support pole), and still stakes out the corners (just feels slight twinges of jealousy when the con requires flirtation, kisses Tosha hard and possessive when they meet in the alley after).
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