Yuletide recs 2021: Part 1, lesgooooo

[wakeupnew]

You're going to read more about them under the cut, but I just want to tell you up front how fucking great my gifts are: Five Times Laliari Stayed Quiet, and One Time She Didn't, a stellar character study from Galaxy Quest, and Warm Hands and Lotion, warm cozy Vincent/Elias from How to Be A Werewolf.



THE ADDAMS FAMILY
And I Have Seen Evil
(This is such a delight!!! In college, Wednesday joins Horror Club and finds her people. Fantastic Wednesday voice and media critique.)

“Look, your edgy goth thing is cool and all,” Marissa said, “but you are derailing what is supposed to be a serious meeting with your performance art or whatever. We know what a horror movie is.”

“A horror movie is a veiled social critique,” Ramona said. “It functions in a time and place. It holds up something people are afraid of, to stare at it instead of looking away. And then sometimes we like the adrenaline rush.” She leaned back in her seat and looked at Wednesday. “La La Land feels fake, right? All plasticky? No one’s that pretty. No one’s that happy. Expecting people to be that, expecting people to want that . . . could be pretty toxic. Right?”

THE BABYSITTERS CLUB (TV 2020)
The Watcher and the Dancer
(So many of my favorite things in one place! Claudia and Janine's complicated relationship! Claudia/Ashley Wyeth! Fashion! Sisters!!! A fantastic voice that sounds just like the show.)

“I am in need of styling aid,” Janine says, closing her book and giving Claudia that cool, even stare.

“Oh, wow.” Claudia has been waiting basically her entire life for this moment but tries to play it cool. She gives Janine a quick assessment: light-wash jeans and a navy T-shirt paired with a gray hoodie, all from the Gap, very ‘90s normcore, the usual—before rushing out, “Okay, I have a million ideas. What do you think about crop tops? They’re really, really popular right now and with higher-waisted jeans they’re not as skimpy as—”

life in colour
(I love this exploration of Claudia and her life - grief and hope and what it means to grow up.)

The next night she lights the candle again, looks at it and knows she can’t even try. But there’s a pencil right by her hand, so she sketches the candle instead, trying to show how it gutters in the draught from the window and how the centre of the flame is a different colour from the outer edge. Mimi would be okay with that, she decides. Mimi would understand that this, too, has meaning.

A CHARM OF MAGPIES SERIES - K.J. CHARLES
Joy Is Not Made to Be a Crumb
(This is wildly charming! I love the banter between Ben and Jonah - beer mug pervert! I cackled!! - and the coziness of life in Cornwall now that their secrets are out and this is their home forever. Sheer joy.)

The door was flung open with some violence, and Bethy stood in the doorway, two squirming puffs of fur held to her chest: one brown and striped all over except for four little white socks on its paws, and the other a solid smoky grey. Her cheeks were hectic red, her hair coming out of its pins.

“Ain’t what it looks like,” said Bethy defiantly.

30歳まで童貞だと魔法使いになれるらしい | Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! (TV)
my love goes on
(This is so, so warm and loving -- the character voices for Adachi and Kurosawa are gorgeous and I loved every second of it, especially the chance to finally see things through Kurosawa's eyes.)

Except— he doesn’t need to hold back any more, does he? He’d spent years keeping himself under control, years feeling like his emotions were too big for him, like they spilled out in every direction no matter how hard he tried to keep them inside. It was sometimes amazing to him that Adachi had never suspected his true feelings when Kurosawa felt like they were screamingly obvious. Even when they had begun their relationship, the knowledge of the enormity of his emotions had terrified Kurosawa.

Because what if Adachi looked at him, saw the sheer weight and mass of adoration that Kurosawa dragged along behind him, and was terrified too?

ENGLAND SERIES - K.J. CHARLES
What It All Comes Down To
(Fen getting the appropriate limpid sad look, to manipulate dumb men, by staring into the sun or imagining kittens falling down just absolutely sent me. This is so wonderful - I love the four of them supporting each other, and Daniel intentionally pushing Pat's buttons but then having her back later.)

“Some men were not built for these violent ways,” Daniel shoots back. Pat is relieved to see that he has carefully put the pistol on the small table with the box of ammunition. “Why can’t Archie do it?” He pouts. It does not suit his face. A smirk does him nicely, but he isn’t and has never been pathetic. The urge to shake him increases.

Archie takes care selecting another sandwich and does not engage.

ENGLAND SERIES/WILL DARLING SERIES - K.J. CHARLES
Reflections
(This just made me feel so happy and hopeful for everyone involved - for Will and Kim, Maisie and Phoebe, Daniel and Archie. I loved Will seeing his and Kim's future in that fleeting glance of Archie and Daniel. The writing is just absolutely lovely.)

The queue moved and Will swayed in a forward direction and that was when he saw Sir Archie Curtis.

He was standing about eight feet away, just inside the front door and partly obscured by the crush of the crowd—there had been quite an excellent jazz band that evening—but it was unmistakably him. Will stood stock still, feeling his legs almost freeze to the spot. He had an odd, fleeting sensation, a memory of seeing your schoolmaster outside of school grounds, and something in his brain convinced him that if he did not move he would not be seen.

the world is but a word
(Will and Kim make an Unsettling Discovery. The way they treat Daniel's book of poetry like a venomous snake had me howling!)

Sir Archie was a big man, made larger by the heavy coat he wore against the December chill, and the slim volume he held seemed tiny in his hands—the one gloved, where he'd lost his fingers in the Boer War. He was holding the book with care, like it was something exceptionally precious. After more than a year as a bookseller, Will recognised that look; he would never have expected to see it on Sir Archie Curtis.

"You don't strike me as a poetry man," Will said.

GALAXY QUEST
Five Times Laliari Stayed Quiet, and One Time She Didn't
(FOR ME!!!! It's so good!!! Laliari loomed so large in my childhood memories of Galaxy Quest that I was stunned to rewatch the movie recently and realize how few lines she had. This is an incredible expansion of her character, exploring her history, her future on Earth, and her feelings on Humans and Thermians. The sci fi details and Laliari's xenoanthropological, analytical thinking are a delight, as are the romance with Fred and the cameos from the crew, and there is a palpable sense of wonder. What an incredible take on grief and resilience, in addition to being very funny. My new headcanon!!)

Laliari had indeed enjoyed watching the natural science documents that Fred had shown her, especially after he assured her that it was “not fiction”. She was slowly beginning to wrap her head around the difference between “lies” and “fiction”, but it was still much easier to watch and understand documents that were not intended to mislead in any way. The section of the document about an Earth cephalopod species— “octopuses”, as Fred called them— was of particular interest. They shared many traits with the Thermians’ genetic ancestors, and she had laughed as she watched them clamber about the ocean floor, clumsily building rudimentary tools out of shells like children.

Boys Go to Jupiter
(I knew this was going to be great right from the Heather Locklear mention in the opening lines. The character voices are aces and I love Gwen here - this really feels like an unfilmed epilogue.)

"Jason, these people aren't fans." The waiting room is probably bugged. Gwen lowers her voice to a whisper. "Or friendly aliens. They're government agents. The kind who wear cheap shoes and expensive sunglasses and won't say exactly who they work for, which probably means the CIA--"

"Or worse," Alex says, being Alex. He sinks his face into his hands and starts mumbling about whoresons and cream-faced loons

GRACE AND FRANKIE
to know even in the deepest sleep that it is you
(This is so beautiful and aching - how to change your life, and accept that change, after so many decades. The character voices are absolutely pitch perfect, for Grace and Frankie and Sol and Robert and all the kids. It is a crime that the show didn't go there, but we'll aways have this fic.)

The world changed around them, so very slowly and yet so quickly; it took decades; it happened in the blink of an eye. The world changed, but they didn’t. She used to think that they didn’t.

What kind of life would they have had, had they pushed each other forty years ago?

“What made me angriest—it was that you stopped lying first.”

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKEOFF RPF
The Real Winner
(The Michael/Henry I needed in my life!! So warm and absolutely charming.)

“Thanks, you guys. Honestly. I feel like you have made possible my goal of not cutting off any fingers during the technical.”

“A worthy goal, indeed,” Henry reached down his hand to haul Michael up. His hand was soft and warm, his organist-fingers long and slender. Michael was surprised by the extra squeeze Henry gave his hand, along with a quick wink, before he turned toward the door. “Come on, let’s get technical,” Henry said as they joined Alice on the way back to the tent.

HISTORY3 - 圈套 | HISTORY3: TRAPPED
give you all the beautiful things
(Tang Yi and Shao Fei after it all, when Tang Yi has finally gotten out of prison. This feels like a special episode; all the beats and the character voices and case details are just right. A lot of the time, I feel like media struggles to find tension points in established relationships and thinks that conflict has to mean cheating or break-ups or big negative dramatic moments, and this fic is a perfect example of why that attitude is closed-minded. I loved the tension of Tang Yi wanting Shao Fei to move in, and worrying that dating a felon will roadblock his career. Also Zhao Zi and Jack and the rest of the squad are hilarious.)

“I feel like one day I’m going to walk in here after not hearing from you for a while and find your bodies on the kitchen floor, rotting from scurvy,” Jack says, ridiculously upbeat. “You’ll be infested with maggots up to your eyeballs and -”

“And on that delightful note, I’m out,” Shao Fei says, coming into the kitchen. He leans down to press a lingering kiss to Tang Yi’s cheek, ignoring Jack’s delighted cackle, and says, “I’ll see you tonight, okay?”

ain't it just like love to find us?
(I love how lived-in Shao Fei and Tang Yi's relationship is here - this is another one set after prison, though this one is an AU where they're both cis women. Character voices are fantastic and it's hot af.)

There’s music playing, too, when she gets closer to the kitchen. It’s almost starting to ping her detective brain—it’s dangerous to succumb to Tang Yi’s wiles too quickly, you always lose something in the negotiation. But the music is still playing when she pads down the stairs, and the smell of tomato egg is still in the air, and Tang Yi is dressed in Shao Fei’s shirt and little else, swaying gently to the erhu while she fluffs rice with one hand and turns dumplings in a pan with the other. Meng Shao Fei wants to marry her, she thinks—

HOW TO BE A WEREWOLF | webcomic
Warm Hands and Lotion
(ALSO FOR ME!! Sharing a moment with Vincent and Elias as they continue to dance at the edge of a romantic relationship! Malaya laughing at them and shoving Eli at Vincent is delightful peak sibling energy. I love the exploration of Vincent continuing to deal with the aftermath of having been kidnapped; that he finds ways to accept help without actually technically accepting it, and how earnestly Eli, my favorite golden retriever of a werewolf, just wants to help him and be with him.)

Not that he had managed to get as much done as he had expected to, since a certain smiley werewolf kept coming over to talk to him, and he found that his eyes kept traveling over to watch Eli as he worked. Every time it happened, Eli would turn towards him and give him a toothy grin, and Malaya would hide her laugh behind her hand. Eventually, she shoved Eli in his direction, whispering something to him as she did so.

“Need another refill?” Elias asked, holding a jug of brewed black coffee, which he poured into the other man’s mug. Vincent drank it gratefully, and Eli put the jug down, pressing both of his palms down on the table, with a look of obvious excitement on his face. It was clear that his metaphorical tail was wagging.

LOVELY LITTLE LOSERS | webseries
Heart Is Healing (Running From It All)
(This is a lovely study of Peter and Balthazar, both together and apart - there are insights here that literally made me gasp. Brought me right back to watching the series all those years ago.)

“I could put in a word for you,” she says, and she doesn’t specify whether she means a good word or not, but Peter feels a sense of destiny about it, anyway. He’s going to buy this shirt, and he’s going to get this job, and then he’s going to be the kind of person who wears this tight, floral shirt and works in a bar, and maybe that person will work out a little better than Pedro had, in the end.