Yuletide recs (part 1)
26 Dec 2012 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
More to the point, I was the lucky recipient of not one, but TWO lovely gifts! Run, do not walk, to read these, for they are both lovely and estremely happy-making.
How To Shorten Tedious Nights (2608 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Top Gear (UK) RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Jeremy Clarkson, James May, Richard Hammond
Summary: James always gets a little melancholy in the winter, and Jeremy decides to be better at cheering James up than Richard is.
Why I love it: It’s Jeremy being a good friend! And, of course, the moment he decides to cheer up James, he is clearly going to be the most awesome person ever at cheering someone up. After all, how hard could it be? This fic is all kinds of lovely. I am a real sucker for friendship!fic, and this one made me especially happy. The Meccano (and the echo to James's gift to the injured Richard) was an especially nice touch.
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Salvation (1432 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Seafort Saga - David Feintuch
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Nicholas Seafort/Edgar Tolliver
Characters: Nicholas Seafort, Edgar Tolliver
Summary: Nick tries to save Tolliver. Tolliver has words with him.
Why I love it: because even when he’s injured, Tolliver’s first instinct is to protect Nick. And Nick has this tendency to realise how much someone means to him only after they’re dead, so it was SO happy-making to see it happen while Tolliver was still alive to be fussed over.
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The Dancers (6533 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: 12 Dancing Princesses (Fairy Tale), Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Summary: Private detective Marie Slade is landed with a strange case that just keeps getting stranger. Will she be able to solve the mystery before it's too late?
Why I love it: this is such a dark and creepy story, and it doesn’t pull its punches. A beautiful cross between fairy tales and noir.
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The Sticking Place (2944 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: 15th Century CE RPF, Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Major Character Death
Characters: Lucrezia Borgia, Cesare Borgia, Richard III of England, Marguerite d'Anjou | Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI of England
Summary: Nobody talks about the Fifth Annual Hunger Games. There are good reasons for this.
Why I love this: I really didn’t think that I’d buy the premise, to be honest, but it is beautifully done and you find yourself engrossed in the fight. And there could only be that ending, of course.
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The Very Secret Diaries of Saint Augustine (1185 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: 4th & 5th Century RPF, Confessions - Saint Augustine
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Relationships: Saint Augustine/OFC
Characters: Saint Augustine, Saint Jerome
Summary: 404
Correspondence Jerome continues. Infuriating. Do not understand why he does not see my point! Translation of "gourd" vital to understanding of gospels.
Why I love this: it’s Bridget Jones’s Diary crossed with St Augustine. There are NO WORDS.
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Fandom: Cairo Time (2009)
Rating: General Audiences
Relationships: Juliette Grant/Tareq Khalifa
Characters: Juliette Grant, Tareq Khalifa
Summary:
“You’re better at sending postcards than you led me to believe,” she said.
“And you,” he replied, “are much worse.”
A few years later, Juliette and Tareq meet again.
Why I love it: because these are the characters, captured precisely as they were in the film, but a little older, a little sadder. It’s so gentle and so sincere, I adore it.
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The Price of a Favor (1922 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Babylon 5
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Timov
Summary: All Timov wants to do is live quietly. With Cartagia on the throne, that may not be an option.
Why I love it: beautiful piece for a favourite – if often overlooked – character.
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In Flagrante (2048 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Babylon 5
Rating: Mature
Relationships: G'Kar/Londo Mollari
Characters: G'Kar, Londo Mollari, Delenn, Vir Cotto
Summary: Three times Londo and G'Kar were caught in the act: one happy, one angry, one sad.
Why I love it: I started off laughing, then sighing, and finally crying. Londo & G’Kar have all the feels.
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The Ultimate Cash Crop (1531 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Nextwave (Comic)
Characters: Elsa Bloodstone, Monica Rambeau, The Captain, Aaron Stack, Tabitha Smith
Summary: In which pointsettias are surprisingly similar to broccoli.
Why I love it: because I nearly wet myself laughing. TRUTH.
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La reine scélérate (2656 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Les adieux à la reine | Farewell My Queen (2012)
Rating: Mature
Relationships: Marie Antoinette/Gabrielle de Polignac, Marie Antoinette/Sidonie Laborde
Characters: Gabrielle de Polignac, Marie Antoinette, Sidonie Laborde
Why I love it: look at that pairing. OMG. And it’s so beautifully written, so lovely and so acidic at times, with everyone so fascinated and repulsed by MA in equal measure. I haven’t seen the film yet, but I adore French history, especially M.A. and I loved this.
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Quite Ridiculous (1915 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: QI RPF, Sherlock (TV), Mary Poppins (1964), Top Gear (UK) RPF
Rating: General Audiences
Characters: Stephen Fry, Alan Davies, Mary Poppins, The Stig, Sherlock Holmes, John Watson
Summary: Alan hasn’t been told the names of today’s guests in advance – supposedly due to scheduling issues, but probably, he now thinks, so that he wouldn’t assault the producer.
Why I love it: because this completely sold me on the premise, and has the ultimate staring showdown: Holmes vs Poppins.
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Another batch will come at a later date, but given my internet access, I suspect not before the reveal.