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Lexie ([personal profile] wakeupnew) wrote2016-12-27 09:35 pm

YULETIDE #1

I spent a while trying to come up with a clever post title, and then in the end I just went with capslock and a number. If only I could do the same when trying to write titles for fics... ANYWAY: AND LO, IT WAS YULETIDE, and I once again spent my winter break devouring beautifully-crafted fan fiction! Somehow this is the tenth year in a row that I've participated in Yuletide and done these rec posts, which is fucking wild. Here's to another ten years. ♥

FIRST UP, you need to read my gift, which is the cutest thing in the goddamn world (and which I will screech about in greater detail when I reach the front half of the alphabet): Tidings of Raptor and Joy (Dumbing of Age, Dina/Becky).

ZOOTOPIA
The Pineslow Case
(Listen, man, I just ship the bunny and the fox so much. This is delightful; I can hear the actors speaking the lines. I love the in-world details, too, like Judy and Nick needing a ladder to reach the breakroom freezer.)
"You know what that Pineslow said to me in the cruiser while you were talking to Mrs. Beverton?" Nick says.

Judy shakes her head.

"He said I used to be one of them," Nick says, and he means it to sound ridiculous, as in hey-can-you-believe-this-nut? kind of thing, but instead it comes out sounding uncertain.


WHYBORNE AND GRIFFIN SERIES - JORDAN HAWK
Emissary
(JUST WHAT I WANTED FOR YULETIDE: INTERSPECIES LESBIANS. I love the whole fic, but the thing that particularly got me was the loveliness of the Miss Parkhurst first-person narration. "I never had stood upon a height without having to curb the wild urge to throw myself from it, but I had learned early the value of prudence for a woman in this world" -- WHAT A LINE. The character voices are great. The mystery is great. The pastiche of it all is great. I legitimately rolled around screaming through this entire fic.)
“Your people are confusing,” she declared miserably. “I would make a very good wife. I'm a chieftess, you know. And my brother is teaching me sorcery. I've bested many fearsome enemies.” She paused for a moment, and tentatively laid one of her larger hands over mine. “And I would be good to you,” she said more softly. “I would protect you, and visit you faithfully whenever I could. I would cherish you beyond all others. I would even give you my favorite spear, if you wanted it.”


THE THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR
The Only Relative You Can Choose Is Your Space Dog
(First things first: that is a great title. Second things first: this is so fun!!! I love the relationship between Sparks and his mom, and the bonding between Sparks' mom and Croach. The fight is genuinely suspenseful and I fist-pumped at the resolution. Fantastic character voices; I could hear Marc Evan Jackson muttering.)
“Five counts of armed robbery, fourteen counts of fraud, one count of attempted murder, and two counts of impersonating a priest.”

“Yeah.”

Croach's frown deepened. “I believed he would be taller.”


SUNGKYUNKWAN SCANDAL
Three Times a Habit
(Okay, so the first thing that you need to know is that Yong-ha goes undercover as a gisaeng and it's on Yoon-hee's suggestion, which is just, like, everything I ever want from this fandom. This is fantastic -- funny and clever and, in the end, heartwarming as hell, just like the show. The character voices and the dynamic between Yong-ha and Jae-shin were spot on. It's the post-canon Yong-ha/Jae-shin fic I've been waiting for ever since I first saw the show.)
“Aish,” Yong-Ha muttered. Why had he poured an entire jug of soju over the man? He started to move forward and was jerked back into the shadows by Jae-Shin.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting the key. Am I not Yeorim Gu Yong-Ha?” He blew another kiss at his Geol-Oh. “Watch and be entertained.”


STAR WARS: X-WING
Howlrunner
(This is 7000 words long, and I would read A MILLION words of it. The characterization is dead on for all of the established characters who appear, even those who pop up for just a couple of lines, and I also loved the original character's fantastically-paced, suspenseful arc. The little Star Wars details are pitch perfect, and I want to give a special shoutout to the dogfights, which are so hard to write and are handled beautifully here. Also it is just funny, and also melancholy [there's so much loss, you know?], in the best ways that Stackpole and Allston's books always were.)
Hobbie didn't even blink. "My mother warned me not to climb into cockpits with strange men, and you're–"

"– as strange as they come," Wes finished the line in unison with Hobbie. "Guess you already heard."

"That you're strange? The whole galaxy knows that. I think there's an Imperial proclamation to that effect."


"SHIA LABEOUF" - ROB CANTOR (SONG)
Zombie Cannibal Shia LaBeouf
(This is so gross, which I mean as the greatest comment possible, and so fucking funny; it scans so perfectly to the original. YOU BURY THE HATCHET IN SHIA LABEOUF.)
You bury the hatchet—in Shia LaBeouf. You are going to destroy Shia LaBeouf. No more will you dream of Shia LaBeouf.


SINGIN' IN THE RAIN
Or, What You Will
(WHY ISN'T THE TWELFTH NIGHT MOVIE IN THIS FIC REAL?? I will mourn for it forever. What a genius idea and genius casting. This is marvellously funny and warm, and there are so many fun, lovingly-employed Old Hollywood details. The banter between Kathy, Cosmo, and Don crackles with energy and perfect one-liners.)
“Well,” said Cosmo, disentangling himself, “duty calls. Lovebird --” He nodded gravely to Don. “Lovebird --” He nodded gravely to Kathy.

“You're cute,” said Kathy, and patted his cheek. “So's that Cary kid. Don't forget,” she added, while Don and Cosmo traded grins at the notion of Kathy calling some other young starlet 'kid,' “you've got some folks at home waiting to adore you too.”


ROMANCING THE STONE
El Corazón Wants What It Wants
(This combines so many of my interests! Romance novels! Classic action/adventure movies from my childhood! REALITY TV AUs!!!! This fic does a wonderful job of modernizing the movie while still maintaining ties back to the canon in a creative way that I don't want to spoil and carrying through the feel and the character voices. I loved it, and I especially love Joan.)
“Go on a fun vacation,” she muttered, and slapped at a mosquito trying to get fresh with her underneath the sleeve of her shirt. “See Colombia! Be on a reality TV show! It’ll be great for your career. My ass. Gloria was right.”


MISS FISHER'S MURDER MYSTERIES
To Begin With
(The Phryne and Jack banter is fabulous, and the tension is some beautiful bated-breath shit. Also, the sex is scorching.)
“Why, Jack,” Phryne says, regarding him over the rim of her glass. “I had no idea you were so familiar with the remedies available to women.”

Jack tilts his head. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Miss Fisher,” he says, solemnly, and lets his gaze linger, for a long moment, at the sharp line of her collarbones under her frock: more things, indeed, than perhaps she’s dreamt him capable of.

The Wake, the Current, the Tide
(This is a lovely exploration of Mac and Phryne's friendship, and Mac and Dot's connection as well. I love the backstory for how Mac and Phryne met, and the Mac narrative voice was so dry and matter-of-fact; it's just right.)
Dot takes a measured sip of her tea. "I know," she says. "But…I'm still not as strong as Miss Fisher, and if she can get hurt, then…"

"Phryne also runs towards gunshots and tries to stop knives with her arms," Mac says. "Some would say that's not strength, but recklessness. You certainly don't have to be Phryne to be strong - and for that matter, if you did, God save us from strength. Can you imagine a world full of Phrynes?"


THE MIGHTY DUCKS
@thatduckingcharlie
(I love epistolary-style fic, and this is a killer use of it -- a story told through the form of tweets and only tweets, over the course of about two years. I love that the Ducks are still a family [quack quack] all these years later, I love the nods to real-world hockey details [hatties! Charlie and Adam playing for the same team in Germany during the lockout!], and I loved getting to sleuth out what's happening in the private story through the public tweets. It's a clever use of the format that makes use of every bit of information that tweets provide, including timestamps and [fake] twitpics.)
@thatduckingcharlie: does this piece of toast have @adambanks23's face on it? Or is it just ugly? twitpic.com/3Bvy4e

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