Fandom Appreciation Challenge 2007, day 2!
So, china_shop is running the Fandom Appreciation Challenge 2007, and today's challenge is to rec 5 fics written for challenges/exchanges.
Which means I get to revisit some AWESOME fics and squee!
1. Raised Up by basingstoke for yuletide 2004. Fandom: DC, the Outsiders, specifically.
I'm not sure precisely what to say about this, except it has so many levels of awesome. It's got Ollie and Connor and Lian and Grace being Grace, and there's rooftop banter! (Also, I'm convinced that the reference to Child Protective Services is in reference to JASON, not Dick, but either way... Guh, my heart.) But best of all? Roy and Dick. And Roy knowing that something's wrong with Dick, and Dick being all avoiding and oh, these two are brothers in the best of ways:
He found Dick in his darkened quarters with Lian sleeping in his arms. The nanny was snoozing in a chair in the corner. Dick was stroking Lian's hair as if meditating.
"Hey," Roy said.
"You're right, I haven't been myself." Dick didn't look up, didn't flinch at all.
"Nope. You want to tell me what's up?"
"She's a great kid."
"Yeah." He had to smile when he thought about what a great kid she was. She was going to be a world-famous neurosurgeon, he was sure of it, and hire him eight sassy supermodel nurses when he was eighty and crippled up from the hero life.
Oh, Roy, I ♥ you so.
2. Alcohol and Sea Salt, by scribophile for the swashbucklathon. Fandom: HP.
OMG, we are teh writers of gay sex. ;) (Sorry, but it's true.) I mean, how can this fic not be adored? It's the Marauders as PIRATES and it works. And there's Lily and James being James and Peter and then there's the Remus/Sirius which is so friggin awesome it can't be described, as well as being hot like a thing that is hot. And, as the title suggests, there is alcohol. Which is always good.
“I’ll be going now,” he squeaked, and quickly escaped outside.
And promptly ran face-first into his two highly sloshed men singing an all-too-recognizable tune.
“Of all the ironies,” he muttered. Perhaps they hadn’t seen him. One’s eyesight had to be foggy if one was that far in one’s cups.
“…elves in the galley make really bad eggs!” They laughed raucously, nearly falling over each other. Remus rolled his eyes, as he always did when he heard the lyrics; they were all quite ridiculous, in his opinion, and made no sense anyway. He discreetly tried to disappear down a side alley.
“Moony!” an exuberant Sirius called out. “Yer all fuzzy! Oh bugger it, it’s a full moon, innit? Innit? And yer fuzzy!”
3. Hard Day's Night, by petronelle for jbbs. Fandom: DC, Teen Titans v. 1
Oh, this is teenage!ROY all up and down. Also, pays homage to the fact that the original Teen Titans ran in the 1970s, and it does so without being corny about it. The first paragraph's a pretty perfect example of how. But it just... it shows how much Roy needs the Titans at this point in his life, and how Ollie is just utterly failing as a parental figure. And this fic is one of the reasons I fell head over heels in love with Roy, so read it. The difference between Ollie and the Titans is so... heartbreaking. He's such a basket of insecurities at this point in his life and when you know what comes next, it's like... ow.
Whatever it was, when he was with them, he always felt like part of a really important team on a super-important mission, righting wrongs, triumphing over evil, and getting to give Kid Flash a high-five at the end. Aqualad never ran off in the middle to get a piece of skirt, just to catch his breath. Sometimes Wonder Girl made funny noises over some stupid rockstar or other, but girls were like that. She was just as glad to see him as the rest, and sometimes she even gave him a hug.
The Justice League might think he was too young to run backup for Ollie on their world-saving missions, but the Teen Titans knew better. It helped that they were mostly younger than he was, but that didn't stop him from feeling outclassed.
It didn't make a lot of sense that they needed him. All he had that they didn't was ranged weapons, and he didn't even have superstrength to back them up. That was Wonder Doll's deal, and a fine figure she cut at it, too. But whatever they saw in him, they liked him.
4. The King's New Clothes, by bantha_fodder for yuletide. Fandom: Narnia.
This fic is so much what I have looked for--the adjustment to going from children to rulers of a country. I love these four kids so damn much. Plus, PETER.
"But I don't understand why we are here," said Susan.
"Because we are not Kings and Queens of Narnia," replied Peter. "Well, we don't have to be, not all the time. Sometimes, we are just school children from England, out in the countryside."
5.
From Zero to Hero by marag for jbbs 2005. Fandom: DC.
It's Lian. Lian, growing up, and being twenty million kinds of awesome. And it's equally about Roy, because how can it not be? I love this because it's one of those fics that looks at a character through another character's eyes and I adore that. And I love, in the first segment, that Roy's adjustment to going to live with Ollie after living on a reservation for ten years is addressed. Because it's not something I see all that often.
And it's so real. It's got the normal, mundane things like trying to get a four-year-old to take medicine and then the more particular-to-their-situation events, like the way five-year-old Lian reacts when Roy is shot.
My one non-flail is the pairing, because while I love Tim, I much prefer Dick for Roy. But that's almost a non-issue because of the way it's done. Lian is so made of a zillion kinds of win.
And the ending is just mush-inducing.
When I was about four years old I caught pneumonia. Now because I was such young child it wreaked havoc on my immune system and very quickly I went from a runny nose and cough to a fever of 102. I was in the hospital for 36 days and for 36 days my father made sure I wasn't alone for even a minute, according to reports I've heard. Everyone took turns bringing by food and visiting with me so that my father could take quick showers and hunt down the doctors. According to him the entire time I was in the hospital he got barely any sleep because he was afraid that I would wake up and be scared because I might not be able to see him.
American Idol? WHAT is going on with Paula--did she take crazy pills? And Simon wins for randomly pointing out that he likes puppies.
I'm so watching Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader because fifth-graders are smart, yo, and well... Schadenfreude, anyone? ;) (And I hope *I* am smarter than a 5th grader, as I hope to *teach* them!)
Trapezoids have four sides! I taught 4th grade geometry this fall. I know my quadrilaterals!
I plan on enjoying this show purely on the basis of the children, who will probably lose it when the adults blow easy answers. This will also prove that their parents cannot help them with homework. ;)
Which means I get to revisit some AWESOME fics and squee!
1. Raised Up by basingstoke for yuletide 2004. Fandom: DC, the Outsiders, specifically.
I'm not sure precisely what to say about this, except it has so many levels of awesome. It's got Ollie and Connor and Lian and Grace being Grace, and there's rooftop banter! (Also, I'm convinced that the reference to Child Protective Services is in reference to JASON, not Dick, but either way... Guh, my heart.) But best of all? Roy and Dick. And Roy knowing that something's wrong with Dick, and Dick being all avoiding and oh, these two are brothers in the best of ways:
He found Dick in his darkened quarters with Lian sleeping in his arms. The nanny was snoozing in a chair in the corner. Dick was stroking Lian's hair as if meditating.
"Hey," Roy said.
"You're right, I haven't been myself." Dick didn't look up, didn't flinch at all.
"Nope. You want to tell me what's up?"
"She's a great kid."
"Yeah." He had to smile when he thought about what a great kid she was. She was going to be a world-famous neurosurgeon, he was sure of it, and hire him eight sassy supermodel nurses when he was eighty and crippled up from the hero life.
Oh, Roy, I ♥ you so.
2. Alcohol and Sea Salt, by scribophile for the swashbucklathon. Fandom: HP.
OMG, we are teh writers of gay sex. ;) (Sorry, but it's true.) I mean, how can this fic not be adored? It's the Marauders as PIRATES and it works. And there's Lily and James being James and Peter and then there's the Remus/Sirius which is so friggin awesome it can't be described, as well as being hot like a thing that is hot. And, as the title suggests, there is alcohol. Which is always good.
“I’ll be going now,” he squeaked, and quickly escaped outside.
And promptly ran face-first into his two highly sloshed men singing an all-too-recognizable tune.
“Of all the ironies,” he muttered. Perhaps they hadn’t seen him. One’s eyesight had to be foggy if one was that far in one’s cups.
“…elves in the galley make really bad eggs!” They laughed raucously, nearly falling over each other. Remus rolled his eyes, as he always did when he heard the lyrics; they were all quite ridiculous, in his opinion, and made no sense anyway. He discreetly tried to disappear down a side alley.
“Moony!” an exuberant Sirius called out. “Yer all fuzzy! Oh bugger it, it’s a full moon, innit? Innit? And yer fuzzy!”
3. Hard Day's Night, by petronelle for jbbs. Fandom: DC, Teen Titans v. 1
Oh, this is teenage!ROY all up and down. Also, pays homage to the fact that the original Teen Titans ran in the 1970s, and it does so without being corny about it. The first paragraph's a pretty perfect example of how. But it just... it shows how much Roy needs the Titans at this point in his life, and how Ollie is just utterly failing as a parental figure. And this fic is one of the reasons I fell head over heels in love with Roy, so read it. The difference between Ollie and the Titans is so... heartbreaking. He's such a basket of insecurities at this point in his life and when you know what comes next, it's like... ow.
Whatever it was, when he was with them, he always felt like part of a really important team on a super-important mission, righting wrongs, triumphing over evil, and getting to give Kid Flash a high-five at the end. Aqualad never ran off in the middle to get a piece of skirt, just to catch his breath. Sometimes Wonder Girl made funny noises over some stupid rockstar or other, but girls were like that. She was just as glad to see him as the rest, and sometimes she even gave him a hug.
The Justice League might think he was too young to run backup for Ollie on their world-saving missions, but the Teen Titans knew better. It helped that they were mostly younger than he was, but that didn't stop him from feeling outclassed.
It didn't make a lot of sense that they needed him. All he had that they didn't was ranged weapons, and he didn't even have superstrength to back them up. That was Wonder Doll's deal, and a fine figure she cut at it, too. But whatever they saw in him, they liked him.
4. The King's New Clothes, by bantha_fodder for yuletide. Fandom: Narnia.
This fic is so much what I have looked for--the adjustment to going from children to rulers of a country. I love these four kids so damn much. Plus, PETER.
"But I don't understand why we are here," said Susan.
"Because we are not Kings and Queens of Narnia," replied Peter. "Well, we don't have to be, not all the time. Sometimes, we are just school children from England, out in the countryside."
5.
From Zero to Hero by marag for jbbs 2005. Fandom: DC.
It's Lian. Lian, growing up, and being twenty million kinds of awesome. And it's equally about Roy, because how can it not be? I love this because it's one of those fics that looks at a character through another character's eyes and I adore that. And I love, in the first segment, that Roy's adjustment to going to live with Ollie after living on a reservation for ten years is addressed. Because it's not something I see all that often.
And it's so real. It's got the normal, mundane things like trying to get a four-year-old to take medicine and then the more particular-to-their-situation events, like the way five-year-old Lian reacts when Roy is shot.
My one non-flail is the pairing, because while I love Tim, I much prefer Dick for Roy. But that's almost a non-issue because of the way it's done. Lian is so made of a zillion kinds of win.
And the ending is just mush-inducing.
When I was about four years old I caught pneumonia. Now because I was such young child it wreaked havoc on my immune system and very quickly I went from a runny nose and cough to a fever of 102. I was in the hospital for 36 days and for 36 days my father made sure I wasn't alone for even a minute, according to reports I've heard. Everyone took turns bringing by food and visiting with me so that my father could take quick showers and hunt down the doctors. According to him the entire time I was in the hospital he got barely any sleep because he was afraid that I would wake up and be scared because I might not be able to see him.
American Idol? WHAT is going on with Paula--did she take crazy pills? And Simon wins for randomly pointing out that he likes puppies.
I'm so watching Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader because fifth-graders are smart, yo, and well... Schadenfreude, anyone? ;) (And I hope *I* am smarter than a 5th grader, as I hope to *teach* them!)
Trapezoids have four sides! I taught 4th grade geometry this fall. I know my quadrilaterals!
I plan on enjoying this show purely on the basis of the children, who will probably lose it when the adults blow easy answers. This will also prove that their parents cannot help them with homework. ;)