wanderings

(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.