December Daily Meme - Day 26 / Yuletide recs

[motetus]

eames asked: What superpower would you like to have?

Well, it may be a completely unimaginative one to come up with, but - mind control. Just think about it: "Why yes, examiners, this sheet of paper with a drawing of pigs having a tea party on it absolutely is the best PhD thesis you've ever seen, thank you very much for the pass! You, extremely wealthy person, hire me at once for a job where I do nothing but sit around in my pyjamas and draw fanart and get paid obscene amounts of money. You there, fetch me a cup of tea and a nice biscuit. You lot, take this rope, hunt down Tom Hardy and bring him back to me all trussed up. Another cup of tea! Ah, Mr Hardy, I do hope the rope burns aren't too painful. Now, put on this hot pink lingerie and go clean my kitchen. MORE TEA."

See? I don't know why anyone would pick wings or shapeshifting or the ability to control fire over something like that.


I am slowly working my way through Yuletide (and am finally over my disappointment that no-one wrote any Gus/Jack fic for the Dark Matter request, boo), so here are a few recs!


What Happens in Hull (2,475 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The IT Crowd
Rating: Teen and up
Warnings: None
Relationships: Douglas Reynholm/April
Characters: April, Douglas Reynholm, Jen Barber, Maurice Moss, Roy Trenneman
Additional Tags: French people, Actual Paris, Spiritual quest, Tesco - every little helps, Party supplies, Douglas tries
Summary: Douglas wants April back, and he'll have to take a long hard look at himself first.

Fanfic for comedies rarely works for me, because even when the author gets pretty close to the humour of the show, without the actors it never feels quite as funny. But Douglas Reynholm's voice in this is so utterly spot on that I was howling with laughter throughout, although the story about Douglas learning to be a (very slightly) better person for April was actually rather sweet. Visually it's brilliant - there are some rather adorable dividers, and also a magnificent drawing of a horse at the end. A HORSE WITH BREASTS.


The Sweet Science (2,174 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Warrior (2011)
Rating: Teen and up
Warnings: None
Characters: Frank Campana, Brendan Conlon
Additional Tags: Coming Out, Backstory
Summary: Pre-movie. Some things Brendan knows in his blood, and some things Frank has to teach him.

I love how Frank is written in this, and the banter and drunken flirting between him and Brendan is rather adorable, and then rather achy when the flirting leads to a kiss and a fair bit of awkwardness. Aww, poor Frank. :( I also really liked how the author handled Brendan's response - having him acknowledge that maybe, maybe if things were different he could consider it, but he's so in love with Tess, his lifeline, that he won't ever let himself do that.


hoc, iucunde, tibi poema feci (1,020 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: The Borgias
Rating: Teen and up
Warnings: None
Characters: Micheletto, Cesare Borgia
Summary: “Does the poet express himself, or does he fashion himself to fit the poetry?”

A really beautiful and thoughtful little story (by someone who I'm 100% sure is my favourite writer in the fandom) where Micheletto and Cesare discuss poetry. And that's it, but there's so much just beneath their conversation, and the character voices are absolutely perfect.

Comments

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, I probably wouldn't have read that Borgias fic if you hadn't recced it. Thank you!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed it! I am so utterly in love with the way that author writes Micheletto - she could write a story entirely about him doing his weekly grocery shop and it would probably be amazing.

...although now I think about it, Micheletto's weekly grocery shop probably has a very high body count.

[jain]

I managed to write two paragraphs of Gus/Jack for that request before life intervened and I had to put the story aside. I'm hoping to post it as a New Year's Resolution fic sometime this coming year, though, if I can.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, I would stare adoringly at you for ever and ever if you finished that story! The last few weeks I've been manically refreshing the list of Yuletide fandoms and doing a lot of pouting when it didn't appear - I would be so ridiculously happy with just one tiny little Dark Matter fic, so I really hope you do! :D

[bauble]

I'm glad you don't have superpowers. You would be a terror.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Oh wait, I forgot one. "You, sit in that corner and churn out the rest of your WIPs and more new fic UNTIL YOUR FINGERS BLEED"

[bunn.livejournal.com]

That is a superpower that you should absolutely not be allowed. In the same way that the Star Trek holodeck would be horribly abused by any normal human being. :-D

Also, that IT Crowd story is INSPIRED - thanks for the rec. The Bosomy Horse is very Douglas.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

I'd be a tyrant. All that power to make people nicer and more sharing and work together to bring about world peace... fuck that, I want endless cups of tea brought to me by brainwashed pretty men in knickers with ruffles.

I love that story, but after hearing it all in Douglas' BOOMING VOICE my ears are ringing a little.

[alby-mangroves.livejournal.com]

I LIKE HOW YOU THINK. All the yes. ALL OF ITTTT. <3

[arvok.livejournal.com]

It sounds scary. And kind of sad. I mean, I do find your vision amusing, but most of all I can't stop thinking about how sad and confused and lonely I would probably feel if I could control minds.

I'd like flying; not wings flying, more like superman flying. Or teleportation... Although then I'd probably be too lazy to walk anywhere and I'd miss walking.
What I'd really like, I think, is a power to share a feeling, but, like, to really be able to make somebody understand what it is that I experience for example when I listen to a certain song. And vice versa. But on the other hand, isn't a lot of art an attempt to do exactly that? Like, maybe if people were able to just let somebody else inside their head, they wouldn't bother to try and find other means of expression. Which'd be quite sad as well.
Huh. I guess I'd end up picking something like perfect health, no matter what I do, eat, how much I sleep, etc. I'd still get older but I'd be the healthiest person my age.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

Yes, you have your emotion-sharing power, you can use it to make me feel slightly bad about myself as I'm carried aloft on my golden throne by a dozen gorgeous half-nude, oiled slaves... holy shit, I should never, ever be allowed even a smidgen of power.

I like your perfect health power though, that's not something that you usually think of when it comes to superpowers but yeah, that's one you'd appreciate later on in life. Good thinking there.

[arvok.livejournal.com]

Also, is it your birthday today? Happy birthday!

[motetus.livejournal.com]

It was! Thank you very much! :)

[whatistigerbalm (from livejournal.com)]

Thank you so much for this rec! This was a fabulous Yuletide all around.

[motetus.livejournal.com]

You are most welcome! Yours was the first one I came across in my Yuletide frolicking, and it got the day off to a truly excellent start.

And as someone who has had to visit Hull far too many times than one really should (the ideal number is 0), I have to tell you how much I like the title you picked! That line about the restaurant is one of my very favourites of the entire series.