kiki_eng | Entries tagged with stargate atlantis: rec

When

rageprufrock published Drastically Redefining Protocol in 2008-2009 I gleefully read it, and when

zoetrope posted their Drastically Redefining Protocol Trailer (2009, February 2) I made everyone I knew who had seen at least the first episode of Merlin and had some idea what fanfiction was watch it.

It ate my brain.

It's a minute and fourteen second long vid that uses a very small selection of footage from the show itself - it's mostly DVD extras, I think, and other sources that I've never seen. The footage has been worked with, worked into other footage, overlaid with other images. There's an ongoing theme of lights, which is such a nice match for the tinkly-ness that Badly Drawn Boy's Once Around the Block has. Like

rageprufrock's fic,

zoetrope's trailer follows the conventions of its genre, and it has the kind of endearing indy-ness to it that a mid to late noughts queer story has, with darker colours and soft focus in places.

Trailers are love:

Realm of Dryads by newkidfan (2006, April 3) for Realm of Dryads by trinityofone (2006, January 18)
Hindsight by zoetrope (2006, December 11) for Hindsight by rageprufrock (2005, August ?)
No Parachute by newkidfan (2008, July 20) for No Parachute by aesc (2006, December 21)

Fanworks for fanworks fill me with glee - they're such a wonderful expression of creative community and I love the shorter format that trailers tend to. I cut my fannish writing teeth on drabbles and the focus of short formats is something that still appeals to me - I feel like it gives you the freedom to work and re-work as a creator without jeopardising completion, so you can spend time playing with and manipulating footage, and there's something breathtaking about a short work that gets it right.

The only vid mentioned in this post that I still have access to is

zoetrope's Drastically Redefining Protocol Trailer, but I still remember how

newkidfan's Realm of Dryads made me feel, something like fifteen years after my first watch and over a decade since my last. I remember trees and the suggestion of fog and the music like a knife. I remember a kind of breathlessness.

newkidfan's work continually threw me. I'd watch it and think to myself it's 40 seconds long - how are they doing this? And it was with instrumental music from soundtracks and working source footage, and I think integrating other footage (it's been a long time since I've seen a

newkidfan vid), and building for emotion.

newkidfan's vids and fanwork trailers more generally have been foundational to how I understand and approach vidding.

The vids that have lived in my drafts have been set to instrumental music and all about building feeling. The vids that live earmarked in my imagination have a really annoying multi-source aspect. Some day, if I live long enough, I am going to crack, go on a Hewligan binge, and make that McShep AU fanvid, and it's going to be because I learned how to watch fanvids in SGA fandom.

(This post has been living in my drafts for fifteen years and popping back into a draft that's nearly old enough to vote is an experience. It's been a reminder to save the fanworks that I love when I can, of the precariousness of file hosting arrangements in general, and of the value of metadata. Sometimes metadata is the only thing you have left. Sometimes metadata is all that fans leave behind. They stop updating somewhere and don't leave behind their new address, so you wonder if they're still out there being fannish, if they're still out there at all.

I feel like it's a weird thing to be posting about fanworks that are inaccessible, that I don't have copies of, but I still care, so I am. I know that there are other people out here who will remember these vids, and I also know a kind of archivist's delight of sifting through pieces of the past that you will never know.)

Home by

cosmic_llin
Bunheads | 4:07 | G
Summary: Michelle, Fanny, Sasha and the Paradise Dance Academy.
Music: Home by Ingrid Michaelson
+ I haven't seen the source material but there's this really lovely vibe of happiness in the face of some kind of uncertainty/disappointment, friendship bringing people together, and dance as a necessity - joy and healing and meaning.

Real-Life Consequences of Role-Playing Games by

theimprobable1
Community | 7,297 | NC-17 | Abed/Annie
Summary: After their game of Dungeons & Dragons, Annie can't stop thinking about the elf maiden.
+ Delightful.

How Much Is that Geisha in the Window? by

Lierdumoa
Firefly | 2:56 | PG-13
Summary: Critique of the anti-Asian racism and confederate apologia in Firefly.
Music: Boyd's Journey by Damon Albarn and Michael Nyman; "How Much ... Window?" by Adam Baldwin, Nathan Fillian and Gina Torres
+ Damning.

Afterlife by

thingswithwings
The Good Place | 4:07 | G
Summary: Turns out life isn't a puzzle that can just be solved one time, and it's done. You wake up every day, and you solve it again.
Music: Afterlife by Ingrid Michaelson
+ Dancing and Friendship. This vid gives me feelings (about a show I've never properly watched).

your reputation and your good intent by

itsanizzyb
Knives Out | 3:29 | R | Marta, Benoit, Ransom
Summary: "you know you shouldn't be there but it's way past bed, there's comfort in the fingers of your good intent"
just a knives out vid
Music: Good Intent by Kimbra
+ Lovely, with an excellent genre-y vibe.

We Are Golden by

seekingferret
Macdonald Hall | 3:59 | G | Boots/Bruno/Cathy/Diane
Teenage dreams in a teenage circus/
Running around like a clown on purpose
Music: We Are Golden by Mika
+ Sweet and happy, the first few times I watched this I was rendered incoherent with joy, basically, because of my desperate love of MacDonald Hall, Mika, and all the things this vid chooses to be.

Life Changes by

elipie
Marvel | 2:59 | G | Peter & Ned, Peter & Tony
Summary: I keep on trying to fly
Music: Life Changes by Good Charlotte
+ Friendship, growing up, and becoming. Fantastic clip and style choices. *chinhands*-inducing.

Pynk by

Tafadhali
Multifandom | 4:07 | PG-13
Summary: Pink is the truth you can't hide, maybe
A celebration of girlhood, girl friends, and girlfriends.
Music: Pynk by Janelle Monae ft. Grimes
+ Accurate summary is accurate. I haven't finished processing this vid. (I feel, like, as a consequence of this being a multifandom vid that there's stuff to unpack here in terms of what does it say about and how does the vid define the things that it celebrates and how does the media represent these things. Who, what, and how are they represented and why?)

you wait and you wonder who'll take on your odds by

paperclipbitch
The Queen's Gambit | 138,010 | NC-17 | Beth/Benny
“Don’t think of it as marriage,” Benny tells her. “Think of it as castling."
Beth raises an eyebrow. “Am I the king or the rook in this analogy?”
+ Post-series marriage of convenience. It's been a while since I've read this, but I remember it being incredibly rich - everyone's fleshed out with things going on in their life, and the texture and tension of Beth and Benny's relationship, its transformations, and the context it exists in is delightful.

Shaky Ground by

CherryIce
Saving Face | 3:11 | G | Vivian/Wil
Maybe I should chance it.
Music: Shaky Ground by Freedom Fry
+ Happy-making. This vid does such a good job of matching the tension of its song and of capturing the entirety of the film, not just the one central love story.

What I Need by

cosmic_llin
Saving Face | 2:23 | G | Vivian/Wil
a girl who ain't afraid to love me
Music: What I Need, by Hayley Kiyoko (feat. Kehlani)
+ Gentle and satisfying.

A Strange Adventure with Mrs. Nakamura the Safety Consultant by

shiplizard
Spirited Away | 6,016 | PG-13 | OMC, Chihiro
Summary: Haruki is a young administrative assistant at a large power management company. He's just been assigned to spy on (in his capacity of personal aide) the strange Nakamura Chihiro-- a sensibly dressed Safety Inspector with a sensible husband tucked somewhere in the country, and a sensible approach to her work...
...and a closer relationship with the Spirit World than she puts on her resume.
+ Chihiro, human engineering firm project liaison to the spirit world, self-appointed.

Hello by

Molly
Stargate: Atlantis | 2:53 | John/Atlantis, McKay/Sheppard, Team
Summary: SGA in the wild dark yonder.
Music: Hello by Poe
+ A post-season 1 vid that fills me with nostalgia.

Red tulips (and their correct application) by

rabbitinthewoods
Star Trek | 4,903 | PG-13 | Keiko/Miles, Bashir/Garak
Summary: After the incident with Gilora, the O'Briens have a dinner, and Miles gripes about argumentative Cardassian flirting. They have had a lot of wine, which is probably why he's telling this story, and probably why another Cardassian gets mentioned, and Julian too, and most definitely why Miles forgets himself and mentions all the times he's seen them arguing.
“They...argue?” Keiko's voice is very quiet.
“Yes, I was just saying…” Oh. Oh no. “You don’t think?”
And suddenly the two of them are involved in his best friend's love life, which Miles is most definitely (not) regretting.
+ Keiko and Miles get drunk and meddle.

strive seek find yield by

waldorph
Star Trek | 68,199 | NC-17 | Jim/Spock
Summary: Spock is heir to the Federation throne, Jim is Prince of America because his fucking brother abdicated, and the Klingons are on the verge of blowing shit up--a love story.
+ Spoctoria! A glorious space romp.

Death of Me by

kuwdora
Underwater | 2:53 | R | Nora, Emily, Liam, Captain Lucien, Rodrigo, Cthulu and Cthulu’s babies
Someone help me
Screaming out, I’m down on my knees
This will be the death of me
I feel it in my bones
The Devil’s at at my doorstep
This will be the death of me
Music: Death of Me by Saint Phnx
+ Monster horror in a bottle starring Kristen Stewart. I love the way this song is vidded to light along with everything else that this vid is doing.

best friends forever by

varnes
The Untamed | 16,736 | PG-13 | Jin Ling/Lan Jingyi
Summary: It happened like this: Jin Ling was a sect leader now, which was, and Jingyi really meant this, fucking hilarious. There were few things funnier, in his honest opinion.
Because he was young, and inexperienced, and also — it had to be said — a real shithead, there was apparently some belief amongst his advisors that the best way forward, to promote the picture of a stable, mature sect leader who absolutely did not cry at the drop of a hat, was for Jin Ling to get married.
OR: Jin Ling and Jingyi get engaged.
Things spiral from there.
+ Fun. A lark. A frolic. A+.

Marry for Love by

tuesday
The Untamed | 3,025 | PG-13 | Jiang Yanli/Nie Huaisang
Summary: Nie Huaisang snapped open his fan and covered his face. "Be careful. I'll take advantage."
+ Time travel fix-it fic wherein Huaisang subtly manipulates the cultivation world and accidentally brings about his own HEA.

Themes and Variations in F# Major by

nyargles
The Untamed | 18,173 | NC-17 | Lan Zhan/Wei Ying
Summary: The thing with musical prodigies is that they're soloists, and soloists play alone. He doesn't want to play alone anymore.
-
"A summer guest lecture series? Oh, very nice. I wish I could sit in on that."
"Do you also play the piano?"
"Not even a little bit," says Wei Ying cheerfully. "But I'm sure you'd have a lot of thoughts on musicality that would be relevant regardless."
"Oh," says Lan Zhan. He seems to be searching for something else to say. "I believe it is oversubscribed," he says finally.
"As it should be," says Wei Ying, and does not tell him that he has all of Lan Zhan's albums downloaded onto his phone, listened to over and over when he's on a train, a plane, waiting for a taxi, has followed his career since he overheard half a Mendelssohn when they were fifteen.
+ They fall in love, over years and continents and shared spaces. Delicate in places.

(doing things in a pandemic is hard; there are still a lot of tabs)

Try Everything by

walkthegale
Bon Appétit Test Kitchen | 3:24 | G | Claire
I won't give up, no I won't give in.
Music: Try Everything by Shakira
+ Curiosity, exploration, failure, despair, resilience, success, laughter, and friendship. It reminds me of Bake Off.

It's the Little Things by

bessyboo
Buzzfeed | 2:31 | G | Ryan/Shane
Summary: ...that make perfect relationships.
Music: The Little Things You Do Together from the Company 2006 Broadway Revival soundtrack
+ Fun and charming; adorable light comedy.

Each Feather and Each Spangle by

dogstar
Community | 2:39 | G | Dean Pelton
Summary: It's time to open up your closet. Dean Pelton and his love of costumes.
Music: I Am What I Am by John Barrowman
+ Gloriously celebratory. There's so much defiantly joyful queerness in this.

Fighter by

runawaynun
The Expanse | 2:40 | G | Chrisjen/Bobbie
Don't leave me in the dark.
Music: Fighter by Joseph
+ Cross-class political conspirators full of yearning, I think. (I'm not familiar with the source.)

The Middle by

turquoisetumult
Fleabag | 2:04 | PG-13 | Fleabag
Summary: You're in the middle of the ride. Everything, everything will be all right
Or Fleabag's path to self-acceptance.
Music: The Middle by Kina Grannis
+ Reflective and a bit angsty, about the struggle to settle into yourself and to be better, I think. I haven't seen this source but this vid is full of feeling.

Hustle by

colls
Fried Green Tomatoes | 2:56 | G | Ruth/Idgie
Music: Hustle by Pink
+ I feel like the summary for this vid could have been "Oh yeah?" because there is a lot of that in this - people fucking with each other and alternately saying "screw that" or "alright then". It has heist/crime vibes.

you're in my blood like holy wine by

magneticwave
Game of Thrones | 72,777 words | NC-17 | Jon/Sansa
Summary: Sansa finds it difficult to look at Jon’s face, with its weathered lines and cragginess. It is the face of the North and a face that northerners trust; the face of Sansa’s brothers and her father, who had been loved and respected by their tenants as their forefathers had been when they were kings. How can Sansa feel anything but resentment, looking into that face and knowing that all of her years of hard work will never earn her the respect that that profile engenders within seconds?
But she does. It is a small, burning coal of something that must be smothered.
+ Regency AU. I liked the way the politics of the source was transferred to the viciousness of the ton. This read a lot like a romance novel.

Grand Hotel by

Trelkez
The Good Place | 2:57 | G | Eleanor, Michael, ensemble
Summary: "You're my friends, and I wanted to save you." Finding personal growth, a family, and each other.
Music: Grand Hotel by Regina Spektor
+ Bright, once again I don't go here, but I feel like it encapsulates Michael & Eleanor's journeys and their relationship together in this really lovely airy way.

Early Returns by

rageprufrock
Inception | 15,565 words | R | Arthur/Eames
Summary: Thinking that a reporter genuinely likes you is pretty much on par with feeling like you really are special to that stripper.
+ I love Arthur's wounded and defensive hatefulness and how snappy this fic is.

Here Till It's Over by

thingswithwings
The Lesser Blessed | 2:40 | R | Larry/Johnny/Juliet
Summary: Sometimes the right people come along at the right time in your life. An OT3 love story that, however brief, helps Larry to live again.
Music: Sweet Tuesday by iskwē
+ OT3 with native kids! Teenage romance, opens with a suicide attempt, delicate and hopeful.

Dawning Political Careers (and Other Public Disasters) by

kristophine
Macdonald Hall | 11,196 words | PG-13 | Bruno/Boots
“Hey, Boots,” said Bruno.
There was a muffled thumping noise. “No.”
“You haven’t even asked what this is about yet!”
“I don’t need to. It is—” There was a pause while, presumably, Boots checked his clock. “Four forty-five A.M., as in in the morning, and I have never, in all our many years of acquaintance, known you to come up with a good idea between midnight and five A.M.”
"You’re correct. This isn’t a good idea. This is a great idea.”
+ Bruno runs for school board in 90s Toronto with gay election signs.

Call Me by

thirdblindmouse
Marvel | 1:39 | PG-13 | Tony/Peter
Call me for some overtime.
Music: Call Me by Blondie
+ Peter's awkwardness, Tony's posturing, and the tentativeness of their relationship, slashed. Fun.

Chicken on a Raft by

bironic
Moana | 1:23 | G
Summary: Sure, the song is about eggs on toast, but why pass up an opportunity for literal chickens at sea?
Music: Chicken on a Raft by Pyrates!
+ It's a sea shanty vid about Hei Hei's voyage; it's delightful.

some fashion pages of Daph and Velma by

troubledmn
Scooby Doo | art | PG | Daphne/Velma
+ via Jodie of

ladybusiness's rec. So gay. So fashion. Such detail. I love them and also Velma's patches and the BFU easter egg with Velma's book in Daphne's plate.

A Series of Discoveries by

genarti
Sorcerer to the Crown | 5,734 words | PG-13 | Damerell/Rollo
The idea came to him like a bolt of lightning. (Rollo had personal experience with being struck by lightning, so he was confident in his simile. The weather in Fairyland is not only chancy but tends to the dramatic, and dragons are, in addition to being accustomed to fly through clouds in all weathers, more than usually conductive. Fortunately, they are also extremely difficult to damage.)
Living with his family was simply intolerable. Very well; so why not live somewhere else? Why not live somewhere quite distant from all his family? Why not, in fact, leave Fairyland altogether?
+ It's been some time since I've read this, but my lingering impression is that it was funny, cute, and a bit dark, nicely in line with the source material.

Indelible by

shaenie
Stargate: Atlantis | 128,382 words | NC-17 | McKay/Sheppard
Summary: John has a useful gift for compartmentalization: he discards the irrelevant and moves on. Then Rodney makes an ill-considered move on a mission, John steps up to take responsibility for making reparations to the locals, and things take a turn for the complicated as Rodney, an alien society, and an armada of ships make standard operating procedure completely impossible.
     + I was cleaning out some drafts, found one that was a single sentence in quotes*, knew it had to be from an SGA fic but didn't recognise it, threw it in a search engine and then laughed out loud, because of course it is this fic. I'm pretty sure there was sgastoryfinders poetry written about it being this fic**. I remember in the days before search engines were any use with fic, in the height of SGA, people were forever looking for three or four different stories that were all this fic.
     *"If you weren't already the military commander of the expedition by the time I figured out how smart you are, I'd have tried to buy you, too."
     **I used this quote to find the fic with storyfinders back in the day (I checked), and then apparently proceeded to leave it lying around unlabelled so I could look for it again with even less context something like a decade later.

Eight at the Most by

DramaticEntrance
Star Wars | 8,332 words | NC-17 | K-2SO/Luke
"How does sex work for you, anyway?" Luke asked. A moment later he turned bright red. "I'm sorry, that was an awful question, and I was definitely raised better than to ask something so intrusive."
"We were talking about sex. It's a logical request for additional information. I'd rank it a six out of ten, on the impertinent questions scale."
"I shudder to think what your ten would be," Luke said, giving K-2SO an easy smile.
+ Sarcasm and robot-human relationships.

turn towards the sun by

Ariaste
The Untamed | 21,282 words | NC-17 | Lan Zhan/Wei Ying
Summary: Every student of House Mandrake is assigned a study partner, a counterpart from House Valerian
Lan Wangji suspects, with some outrage, that he's been given the troublemaker.
(Kushiel's Legacy fusion; you do not need to know anything about those books except for the bits of the worldbuilding that I explain in the author's note!)
+ There's something about the way BDSM plays out in their relationship that feels non-standard; I'm still chewing on it. (FYI: the author's note is both very long and also something that you can probably still get the fic without reading.)

number one fan by

bonibaru
The Untamed | 3:25 | PG-13 | Lan Zhan/Wei Ying
Summary: so here's the bad news
I'm coming for everyone
and I'm coming on strong
wei wuxian :)
Music: Number One Fan by MUNA
+ Amazingly pop and fannish glee inducing. The bit where Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian are mirrors and sword-fighting each other feels like such a classic move and fills me with joy. There's a lot of sword-fighting beats in this, also, and feelings.

plant a little happiness (let the roots run deep) by

fleurdeliser
The Untamed | 47,638 words | NC-17 | Lan Zhan/Wei Ying
Summary: After thirteen years away, Dr. Wei Wuxian is back in Gusu. A car accident near his apartment brings someone unexpected back into his life and everything changes for the better.
+ Kidfic and hospital AU. Wei Wuxian is loved and oblivious and crushing hard, and it's charming and engrossing. There are currently two podfics of this work, which is indicative, I think.

I got rid of my tabs and then somehow had the same amount of tabs a couple weeks later.

The Bad Touch by

sweetestdrain
Buzzfeed RPF | 4:21 | PG | Gen/GSF
Music: The Bad Touch by Bloodhound Gang
Summary: "Let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel." Or: What WILL they try next?
+ [The Try Guys are independent of Buzzfeed now, but a lot of the footage from this is from there (all of it, maybe?) and I am going to tag them as Buzzfeed (forever, probably).] They're fun, and always so enthusiastic and silly and this More Joy Day vid captures that perfectly, and is a joy. Dancing, costumes, comedy, nudity, animals (fuzzy and otherwise), eroticism, and general shenanigans.

Let's Get Into The Theories by

bessyboo
Buzzfeed RPF | 2:28 | G | Ryan & Shane
Music: I've Got A Theory/Bunnies/If We're Together from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Summary: I've got a theory.
+ This vid is perfect - A+ usage of semi-unusual audio. Adorable light comedy.

even the stars hide away by

thingswithwings
Community | 3,346 words | PG-13 | Troy/Abed
Summary: Troy and Abed meet the in-laws.
+ This feels very real, how young they are in some ways, the difficulty of navigating relationships with family, the way you compartmentalise bits of yourself. Abed and Troy are so supportive of each other and growing great. It's wonderful.

my words will be your light by

dollsome
Game of Thrones | 1,473 words | G | Sansa/Tyrion
Summary: Sansa and Tyrion have another conversation. Set after 8x01.
+ I have not watched this show but I ship it. This is very much post-episode shipping fic with (I think at the time?) canon-compliant relationship development, talking things out on the way to moving forward together. Quiet.

meditations ex post facto by

singlecrow
Guardian | 9,253 words | PG | Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan
Summary: "It is very tedious,” Professor Shen agrees, setting down his cup of tea. “I admire your forbearance.”
“I have no forbearance,” Zhao Yunlan assures him. “I get drunk a lot and throw things.”
or, the lawyers AU that no one asked for.
+ This is one of my favourite things I've read in years. It's this beautiful unfurling of things; it feels like spring. The structure of the AU is great - the role transfer from SI to municipal legal counsel is stellar, the characterisation is spot-on all around and there's taking care of each other and backing each other up, and dealing with West Wing-type problems and the Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan dynamic is keyboard smash levels of perfect. There's identity stuff in this and hjfkhlgdjkgkkjlfdjl;gada.

Ordinary Numbers by

BootsnBlossoms and

Kryptaria
James Bond | 44,168 words | PG-13 | James/Q
Summary: More than anything, Mike Taylor wanted to be ordinary. Being a genius, he learned early in life, meant people expected too much. A career at the MI6 Help Desk seemed the perfect way to guarantee a lifetime of obscurity, until he got a very unusual tech support call.
+ Q is hyper-competent in spite of himself and a tech snafu leads to Bond adopting him as his personal mission tech support; they basically accidentally fall in love with each other over a series of phone calls and woo the shit out of each other, like, this is kind of curtain!fic where they haven't met and then they figure out and deal with the fact that they're in a relationship at the end. Office fic with a tiny bit of identity porn en route to a more canon compliant ending, includes action sequences and peril.

I Did Something Bad by

jarrow
Killing Eve | 3:46 | R | Eve/Villanelle
Music: I Did Something Bad by Taylor Swift
Summary: It just felt so good.
+ Source material I haven't seen. Revelatory and progressively darker narrative. Blood and knives, guns and poison, violence and unravelling.

Little bit more by

blithesea
Killing Eve | 2:25 | R | Eve/Villanelle
Music: Little Bit More by Tony C. And The Truth
Summary: Villanelle being gleefully psychopathic. Sandra Oh's face.
+ Violent lesbians to bad-ass country. The treatment of murder in this vid reminds me of the Dexter aesthetic.

Still The One (That's In Love With You) by

lilly_the_kid
Marvel | 1:57 | PG | Eddie/Venom
Music: Still The One by Ingrid Michaelson
you saved my life, I'll save yours too
+ this has some really great characterisation bits while also simultaneously being fluffy tentacle monster goo

Melodrama by

mithborien
Marvel | 2:52 | PG | Gamora & Nebula
Music: Melodrama by Lorde
Summary: "You were the one who wanted to win. I just wanted a sister!"
A Gamora & Nebula fanvid during GOTG2.
+ Fraught, full of feelings, very pretty.

the family brooklyn by

tactfulGnostalgic
Marvel | 12,874 | PG-13 | Miles Morales
Summary: New York is notoriously protective of its superheroes.
+ This made me cry, almost - dry ugly sobs - they just love him so much and want to take care of him. ...and it's also slice of life about Miles figuring out how to be a superhero - stuff about copyright law and other practical stuff, and Brooklyn is tagged as a character and this is like John/Atlantis fic; it's Miles/Brooklyn and it's beautiful. The feels snuck up on me and punched me in the gut.

The Fifties by

speranza
Marvel | 28,185 words | NC-17 | Bucky/Steve/Peggy
Summary: "Because everything's all right, isn't it?" Bucky said. "Everything's great. I'm so happy; I never thought I could be this happy. You're happy, too, aren't you, Peg?"
+ Poly fic with relationship and career discussion and development along with some great sci-fi.

Bad Girls by

elipie
Ocean's 8 | 3:41 | PG | Lou/Debbie
Music: Bad Girls by M.I.A.
Summary: If you're going to have a problem with stealing, then you're not going to like the rest of this conversation.
+ Excellent recruiter vid, solid vibe and femslash. Stylishly bad-ass lady criminals getting what they want.

a country you remember by

waspabi
Rivers of London | 1,355 words | G | Molly
Summary: When a girl goes into service, people like to think she pledges fealty to the family, but that isn’t true. She serves the house.
+ when I make that home rec set, this is meant to be in it. Molly finding a home and being part of it - excellent character study and house spirit fic, basically.

The Rock and The River by

Rhea
Spirited Away | 17,442 | PG-13 | Chihiro/Haku
Summary: Chihiro takes magic and bends it around herself to make a place in the world.
+ I think there's a few errant SPAG issues with this but I don't quite remember and sort of don't give a shit because this fic is awesome. College and part time jobs and finding and building your place in the world and magic and living. Food porn and long-distance relationships, also.

What Buddies Know About Love by

busaikko
Stargate: Atlantis | 5,432 words | G | John/Ronon
Summary: Ronon's making his own future; John's there for him. Ronon thinks it's time to take the next step in their relationship; John has reservations. Neither of them wants to talk about it, but they do anyway. (Contains canon pairings).
+ Language and culture and finding your person. John is ace in this and Ronon essentially proposes and I love them. Domesticity and therapy and taking care of each other and tattoos, also. Funny and sweet.

Your First Time Should Be Special by

Helenish
Star Trek | 6,650 words | NC-17 | Kirk/Spock
The thing about being a captain of a starship is that you forget how to break up with people; the starship is a gigantic, unmistakable clue that you're probably not sticking around.
+ Relationship development with Jim taking it slow for Spock and having a bunch of self-worth issues that he's unable to express. There's some offscreen Bones and Spock friendship stuff that I really enjoyed, also, along with the Bones and Kirk stuff.

Somewhere to Start by

lissadiane
Teen Wolf | 33,552 | PG-13 | Derek/Stiles
Summary: Stiles has always known that he isn't quite human - the plant life that tends to sprout around him whenever he gets upset or excited gives it away. He's never really fit in among the regular people in Beacon Hills and is determined to wait it out, go to college, and find somewhere to belong. He's forced to abandon those plans, however, after he desperately agrees to enter into an arranged marriage to save his father's life.
An arranged marriage with an angry, sometimes furry dude with trust issues. It's all very Beauty and the Beast, without the singing candlesticks.
+ Enforced captivity, supernatural politics, and kids are key parts of this. It's an alive Hale family fic, Stiles has been cut off from the supernatural his whole life and then gets plunged into it and used as a pawn, Derek is surly and the whole thing is kind of fandom-takes-on-fairy-tales/magical-realism at its best. Solid long!fic.

clearing out some stuff from my browser, mostly from snowflake recs, I think

I Am the Night by

Chash
Brooklyn Nine-Nine/DCU | 2,026 words | G | Jake Peralta
Summary: A new vigilante rises in New York City. The official position of the NYPD is that he's a criminal.
Jake Peralta thinks he needs a sweater.
+ Great ensemble care-taking fic, cute, A+ crossover.

closer by lucystonersix
Buffy the Vampire Slayer | 3:30 | PG-13 | multiship
Song: Closer by Tegan and Sara
+ All of the ships, so many.

#blessed by

thehoyden
Buzzfeed RPF | 9,363 words | NC-17 | Ryan/Shane
Of course Shane would rather not work; he’d like it to be like the good old days, and who wouldn’t? But a demon’s gotta eat, and he can’t even get a discount on his rent because it turns out it’s a lot harder to influence faceless companies with ominous dreams. Ergo: gainful employment at Buzzfeed.
+ Fun. I loved this.

Love, That Loosener of Limbs by

amatalefay
Doctor Who | 253 words | G | Bill Potts/Sappho
Summary: “Like, finally here's a poem that isn't just some bloke whining about how a beautiful girl won’t give him sex, and it's basically ‘sweet mother, I’m too gay to do my chores, blame Aphrodite’. Like, honestly? Most relatable thing I’ve read in years.”
Bill meets Sappho.
+ This was super cute and fun.

darkness by KatrinDepp
Doctor Who | 2:10 | PG | The Doctor
Song: Evidence by Falling Up
+ Some day when I am more over my personal hiatus from the show I will sit down and have thinky thoughts about the theme of this.

Happy Holidays, scorpling! by anonymous
Good Omens | art | G | Crowley and Aziraphale
+ exchange art for scorpling with a yet-unrevealed creator, sketchy and dreamy and lovely

Stately Homes of Wiltshire by

waspabi
Harry Potter | 57,582 words | NC-17 | Harry/Draco
Summary: Malfoy Manor has mould, dry rot and an infestation of unusually historical poltergeists. Harry Potter is on the case.
+ I cannot remember if I have read this or not but I am excited about it. Plotty-looking thing! A house!

The Crossroads by The_Spoony_Bard
LOTR | art | G | Mairon and Eönwë
+ I am not a Silmarillion person. I have not read it. This is gorgeous. The ink work, and then the colour. Stunning.

"elevator music" by k8+therobot
Marvel | 3:04 | PG-13 | Steve Rogers
Song: The Girl From Ipanema by Eartha Kitt
Summary: "when she passes, I smile, but she doesn't see"
+ I love the idea behind this, and Eartha Kitt. (Still super-distracted by how much I love her, have not processed this thing.)

Judith and her Maidservant by

Siria
Marvel | 1,146 words | PG-13 | Dora Skirth
Later, Dora would think back on it and realise that clinically speaking, she had died.
+ Fix it fic for the Venom film I haven't seen - satisfying and just generally awesome.

Mr. Holmes: Beekeeper by Educated inYellow
Mr. Holmes | 4:02 | PG | Sherlock Holmes
Summary:A vid exploring the themes of the film Mr. Holmes (2015), starring Ian McKellan.
Song: The Beekeeper by Dessa
+ An excellent argument for watching that film, chock full of feeling.

Bootleg Turn by

leupagus
Rivers of London | 4,641 words | NC-17 | Peter/Thomas
Sahra and Jaget have taken to texting or emailing me specs of the interior of a Jaguar Mark 2 followed by a long string of question marks. It makes me wish I had an answer for them. But more than that it makes me wish I had better friends.
+ Car sex and them messing with each other a bit en route to that.

The Quiet Gentleman by

Antares
Stargate: Atlantis | art | G | John/Rodney
+ Regency AU and I have nostalgia. It's great.

Linguistic Ambiguities in Vulcan Ethical Codes by

elumish
Star Trek | 5,770 words | PG-13 | James T. Kirk
The thing people always forget is that it was a Vulcan ship that reached Tarsus IV first.
+ riff of lazulisong's Graduate Vulcan for Fun and Profit, secretly smart Kirk fluent in Vulcan, cute?

firefly by

peradi
Star Wars | 4,483 words | PG | BB-8
Summary: Humanity is infectious, Finn makes friends with droids, and K2 cannot get any rest: the story of how Rogue One flies again.
+ Robots/humanity fan club.

Would You Be Mine, Could You Be Mine by

lady_ragnell
Merlin | 23,456 words | 2018 | PG-13 | Arthur/Merlin
Summary: Merlin does not want to invite the Prime Minister's son onto his show, even if he is an environmental scientist. Arthur does not want to admit that he has a crush on the star of Merlin's Castle, the most popular children's show in the nation.
In which Merlin is Mr. Rogers, there is a bouquet of finger puppets, Freya and Gwaine hooked up years ago and neither of them wants to talk about it, and eventually everything turns out okay.
+Merlin is an excellent Mr. Rogers and he and Arthur have just a bit of believable friction before getting themselves sorted. Charming.

This is How We Go by

skoosiepants
Teen Wolf | 5,745 words | 2012 | PG-13 | Derek/Stiles
Summary: Scott and Stiles go on the Warped Tour with Allison’s band.
“I think we need to bring more joy to the children,” Stiles says. “I think we need to dress as pirates and do the Scott is a Terrible Pirate skit, because *you are a terrible pirate*,” and when Stiles says pirate, Stiles means friend. Scott is a terrible, horrible friend, and Stiles hates him.
+Pining, ridiculousness, and dreams. Scott and Stiles feels like a show homesick college kids might watch at two in the morning, snacking on brownies and popcorn.

Catalysis for Dummies by

crysothemis
Stargate: Atlantis | 2,233 words | 2009 | G | John/Rodney
Summary: Rodney finally discovers the truth about the boots
+Snark, John irritating Rodney, and a crowd of children shouting on command.

This post is for

snowflake_challenge. Details about the first day are here.

Because the Doomsday Clock made that seem like a fitting thing this past week or something. (Also this was way easier than doing that meme without a theme.) These are all PWP or PWP-adjacent fics that I haven't recced before, still exist online, and remembered without rifling through my bookmarks.

Five Days of Dickings by

drunktuesdays,

mklutz,

the_ragnarok
Five Dickings in Five Days was the (hopefully interim) title he’d seen on the contract. More like five days of dickings. Whatever, Stiles was into it. The money is great; the fucking is also great. It’s a win-win way to pay for college.
Teen Wolf | Rating: NC-17 | 17,845 words | Derek/Stiles, Peter/Stiles, Aiden/Ethan/Stiles, Danny/Stiles, Chris/Jordan/Stiles, Boyd/Erica/Stiles, Boyd/Erica, Erica/Stiles, Boyd/Stiles
I remain impressed by the collaborative nature of this piece, appreciate the structure and arc of this story, and its spread of kinks and characters. It's solid.

This Anus Scene, It's An Arms Race by

jedusaur
Summary: This is what happened the time Fueled By Semen's main stars decided to compete for a million pageviews.
Bandom | Rating: NC-17 | 2,714 words | William/Gabe, Ryan/Brendon, Frank/Gerard, Patrick/Pete, Gabe/Pete, Brendon/Pete, Gerard/Pete, Gabe/Brendon, Gabe/Gerard, Brendon/Gerard, William/Frank/Ryan/Patrick
Comedy. This is basically the title that I am going to remember forever. That and like, a lingering impression of kazoos and clowns and Amanda Palmer?

How To Succeed In Sex Slavery Without Really Trying by

astolat
"You are never getting to plan anything ever again," Rodney said. "What kind of a military strategist are you, anyway?"
Stargate: Atlantis | Rating: NC-17 | 1,719 words | McKay/Sheppard
Noncon and snark. Really tropey. The bit where McKay and Sheppard are physically manipulated to fuck each other may be a bit meta, thinking on it.

Zone Blitz by

summerstorm
Summary: from glee_kink: Quinn loves the idea of dressing up in a boy's football uniform, but is embarrassed/ashamed. Rachel proves to her that her fantasy isn't weird, or abnormal.
Glee | Rating: NC-17 | 4,167 words | Rachel/Quinn
I remember this fic in terms of that vulnerability she has exploring that fantasy and the interplay that it has with gender and gender roles.

Till You Make It by

lightgetsin
I squirmed, pinned between him and the counter. "It’s not – look, I don’t run to schedule, okay?" I said. "Don’t – I’m not easy."
"You don’t say." Okay, that much sarcasm was uncalled for.
"I mean it," I said doggedly. "I’m not one of those ‘insert coin, pull lever’ girls."
The Dresden Files | Rating: NC-17 | 19,776 words | Harry/Marcone
I pulled up three of

lightgetsin's fics when I was making this list and every single one of them I remembered as a line from its summary. But, yeah: gender and elusive orgasms.

that pleases me by

mardia
Nightingale actually stopped dead in his tracks as he saw me on the stairs, in my dirty rugby kit, smeared with dirt and grass. I'd left the boots off outside, to avoid risking Molly's wrath. “Good Lord,” he said slowly, his eyes scanning me from head to toe.
Rivers of London | Rating: NC-17 | 2,088 words | Peter/Thomas
Mostly I remember this fic for that moment within it of being completely taken by the sight of someone, that kind of blinding lust. And of course there's follow-through.

Only As Directed by

rageprufrock
“Arthur is a bad man,” Roxy had said.
“Fucking tell me about it,” Eggsy had muttered, and gone to put on the tarty trousers Harry had picked out for him like a fucking high-end pimp.
Kingsman | Rating: NC-17 | 12,180 words | Harry/Eggsy
Filth within the framework of a honeypot mission heavily directed by Harry.

Ice (Upon a Summer's Day) by

sageness
"You okay there, Frase?" He looks concerned, more so as Fraser takes a deep breath, holds it, and slowly lets his eyes fall shut.
due South | Rating: NC-17 | 2,941 words | Fraser/RayK
Kink discovery with Fraser smelling ice and then devastatingly in character follow-through on the premise with perfect voices.

A Beginner's Guide to Vulcan Sexual Practice, by Captain James T. Kirk by

thingswithwings
It is tradition," Spock says blandly. "Surely you would not ask me to abandon Vulcan tradition." "Uh," Jim replies.
Star Trek | Rating: NC-17 | 4,621 words | Kirk/Spock
This fic was written in reaction to an lj comm's rules which were anti-kink; read or reread them first - it makes it better.

The Creepy Cave by

wangler
Stiles looks up. Slowly. “Holy shit,” he says. The tentacle is attached to more tentacles which are attached to a giant glowing squid thing. “That is not the droid we were looking for.”
Teen Wolf | Rating: NC-17 | 4,130 words | Derek/Stiles
Sometimes fandom churns out something that's this combination of incredibly sweet and dirtybadwrong, full on lecherous embrace of some taboo kink nestled up to the fluffiest shit imaginable, and my heart grows three sizes.

And a Roost for Every Bird by

Siria
Summary: The thing about London, John had quickly realised, was that it was a city. Kind of obvious, yeah, and it wasn't like he'd never been in a city before
Stargate: Atlantis | Rating: G | 10,854 words | McKay/Sheppard
I've been in love with this fic for years. It's the one where John gets lost in London and finds Rodney and it is the most wonderful thing ever. As

Siria writes, it's very loosely based off of a 90s romcom; it takes the basic setup and moulds it so it fits John and Rodney. The characterisation's great. It's fun and comforting and the title is perfect. It's about finding love and there's snark and domesticity and baby food.

On the East Wind by

melannen
Summary: Harry Dresden has no idea what he's getting into when he decides to save two little girls who live in a house that belongs to Gentleman Johnny Marcone.
The Dresden Files | Rating: G | 5,163 words | Harry Dresden
This is a kind of trouser pants AU and I fell for it hard. The alternate meeetings in here are interesting and clever and kind of sad and funny. This fic makes me smile. I love all of the relationship dynamics happening here - the relationship the kids have with each other, that they have with Marcone, that they forge with Harry, and the one we see forming between Harry and John. This fic is funny, clever, and involves some nice diversity. A joy.

Chris, Nicky and the Nanny by

dvs
Summary: Chris hires a hipster manny for his son Nicky.
Star Trek Reboot: RPF | Rating: PG-13 | ableist language: "lame" | 24,080 words | Chris/Zach
The dialogue in this is great and I fell in love with the OCs. Nicky is a well-written delight and so are the women in his life. There's snark and pining - so much pining from Pine: it's beautiful. (I love it when people take a long time to get together.) And there's scheming and good-natured meddling and domesticity and undignified injuries. It's a romp from start to finish.

[This post is for

snowflake_challenge. Details about the third day are here. (Also I started making this rec set almost a decade ago. \o/ )]

sinesofinsanity prompted me to write on this, and since she's a genfic person I went looking for stuff to rec her.

I didn't find a lot of female friendship fanworks when I went looking through my bookmarks. Part of this has to do with how female friendships are represented in the media. Too often there is no female character at all. Sometimes there is one female character. Female friendship doesn't get depicted where women do not exist. We live in a world where the Bechdel, or Bechdel-Wallace Test exists, where two women existing, talking to each other, about something other than a man, is actually remarkable.

( This got long )

*pfft* Was I ever in HP? I wrote about this for yesterday's post and I was super amused when I got

readbystarlight's prompt comment thing that the whole thing in its entirety was basically her asking and answering her own questions in question format; I love you, starwire. So, yeah, just doing recs today. A playlist.

( Here. )

wanderings

Fanwork Trailers

the dustiest of tabs

tabs are hanging about

that escalated quickly

tidies tabs

Imagined Children's Media

10 Fics That Have Stuck With Me: Pornography Edition

Help.

Female friendships.

SGA, Harry Potter (were you ever in HP?)

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