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[kaesa]

MORE YULETIDE RECS. I still haven't made much of a dent in the archive with my reading, but here are 22 recs in a grillion fandoms. My discussion is a little shorter, just because I wanted to get these in before reveals. And also because it is my birthday, and I want to get back to the urgent birthday business of reading fic.

Fandoms:
Doctor Who RPF
Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Folgers "Home For the Holidays" commercial
Glitch
Greek Mythology
Hamlet
Hark! A Vagrant
His Dark Materials
Indiana Jones
Invisible Cities
Jurassic Park
Norse Mythology
Pushing Daisies
Robot stories - Isaac Asimov
Solar system anthropomorfic
Space vehicles
Star Wars
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
You Belong With Me (song)
xkcd 1110 (Click and Drag)

one beaded blue silk Fortuny Delphos, mint condition, never worn (2848 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Doctor Who RPF, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (1963)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Arthur Darvill/Karen Gillan/Matt Smith
Characters: Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Matt Smith
Summary:

In a tucked-away corner of Camden Town, in London, there’s a unassuming little shopfront with a bright blue door.

You'd probably like this fic anyway, if you just wanted to see Karen Gillian, Arthur Darvill, and Matt Smith running a vintage clothing shop. But I came to it having seen all of Classic Who, and it made my geeky little heart sing with joy, because this is not an ordinary vintage shop. This is a fic for fans who know a little about the history of the show, and I will not explain why, just... read.

Building the Castle of Roses (6240 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Sleeping Beauty
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Sleeping Beauty aka Briar Rose
Summary:

Sleeping Beauty in space.

This was really, really good -- instead of being a princess cursed to sleep until a prince wakes her with a kiss, Rose is a little girl who is training to be an astronaut and a biosystems engineer. It gets better from there.

from the wolf's eyes (398 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Wolf (Fairy Tales), Little Red Riding Hood, Grandmother (Little Red Riding Hood)
Summary:

He loved the little human-cub, who smelled of food and did not recognize a wolf.

He only wanted to help.

This is a very short, creepy retelling of Little Red Riding Hood that is ...surprisingly, one I have never seen before.

Granite (12338 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms, King Thrushbeard
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Rosecrown the Rose-crowned Pigeon, Granite the Stone Princess, King Thrush, Blackbird
Summary:

A loose re-telling of 'King Thrushbeard' in which the princess has more issues with marriage than with pride and in which a king truly must watch what he says -- or everyone will face the consequences.

This retelling comes with really poetic and fascinating worldbuilding -- the princess is made of granite, and her people have lava magic, for example, while her eventual husband is from the kingdom of Bird. It's a really neat concept, and the story was excellent too.

Three Sisters, Bound (12959 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Fairy Tales & Related Fandoms
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Characters: Princess (Fairy Tales), Witch (Fairy Tales), Fairy Godmother
Summary:

"Our tsar has three sons. Handsome lads, if one appreciates such things. None are married...yet." The old woman snorts. "That's why you're here, though, isn't it?"

"I'm to return the arrow to its archer. I know nothing beyond that. Other than it's," Vasilissa's mouth twists, "fate."

"So you find it cruel?"

The hut closes around her, the air warm and heavy. It's thick with the sent of rosemary and sage from the bundles of herbs hanging from the beams above them. The bones of previous suppers (hares and chickens and maybe even men) rattle in a hauntingly soothing melody. "I'd rather find it kind. But at the moment, I miss my shop." She shakes her head, and some of the syrupy warmth tugging at her mind fades. "It's childish of me, I know."

"And you're no child."

Here we have a wonderful mixture of Russian fairytale characters in a retelling of The Frog Princess -- but in this version, the princesses try to work together despite the tsar's ridiculous fairytale challenges.

Sinners, Saints and Thieves (14526 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Folgers "Home for the Holidays" Commercial
Rating: Mature
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Brother/Sister
Characters: Brother - Character, Sister
Summary:

When his sister was born, Josh didn't want her.

Eventually he changed his mind.

SO THIS FIC IS INCEST, as it says in the tags. It's for this commercial, and it is, yes, a fluffy romance fic about a brother and a sister who I'm pretty sure Folgers didn't mean to make ridiculously subtexty in the ad... but they did, and this fic is actually really good.

Vivat Regina (1893 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Greek and Roman Mythology
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Hades/Persephone
Characters: Persephone (Greek and Roman Mythology), Hades (Greek and Roman Mythology), Demeter (Greek and Roman Mythology)
Summary:

Persephone tells her side of the story.

This is a dreamlike -- occasionally nightmarish -- story from Persephone's point of view, that captures the dysfunctionality of the Greek pantheon really well.

Every Knot Was Once Straight Rope (455 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Glitch (video game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Tii (Glitch), Lem (Glitch)
Summary:

A story.

GLITCH. I loved Glitch. I really, really miss Glitch. And this fic almost made me cry. It's a perfect fic to remember the game by.

Shipmates (3948 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hark! A Vagrant
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Brigand/Nemesis
Characters: Pirate (Hark! A Vagrant), Nemesis
Summary:

"A pair of immoveable combatants, locked in an eternal struggle.” He puffed his pipe. “That’s what one o’ them newspapers called us,” he added, complacently.

This fic is basically the Brigand/Nemesis strips writ large -- it is hilarious and wonderful, and tells the thrilling tale of how the Captain came to meet the Brigand, and vow VENGEANCE. There are lots of meaningful looks and sighing and, um, vengeance. Totally lots of vengeance.

The Top of Happy Hours (1078 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hamlet - Shakespeare
Rating: Not Rated
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gen/Slash
Characters: Hamlet, Horatio (Hamlet)
Summary:

Hamlet and Horatio at Wittenberg at finals time.

This is Hamlet and Horatio at college -- modern college, sharing dormspace with other Shakespearian characters -- but all the dialogue is faux-Shakespearean, and wonderfully funny.

Valleys of the Shadows (13398 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 12/12
Fandom: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Major Character Death
Characters: Original Characters
Summary:

This is not a happy story. This is the story of three girls who find themselves in the middle of a new African war. There are witches' revolts, daring escapes, the killing of the bears, echoes of freedom, the lack of mercy of the pirates, chains stronger than any steel, and three deaths, one by one by one. This is not a happy story, there are no happy endings, no miracles, no subtle knife, and no angels. This is the story of three girls, a slave, an unwilling pawn, and a refugee. This is story of three girls and three dæmons.

This is a long worldbuilding fic set in East Africa. I pretty much can't resist worldbuilding stories, and this one goes into lots of interesting detail, although please do pay attention to the warnings in the summary here, as it is very dark -- which I think suits the HDM 'verse.

Alan Grant and Indiana Jones Walk Into a Bar (1354 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Jurassic Park (Movies), Indiana Jones Series
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Henry "Indiana" Jones, Alan Grant (Jurassic Park)
Summary:

Does what it says on the tin.

This is... just hilarious. The two of them have a drinking contest, which rapidly turns into a suspension of disbelief contest.

Odinstattur (1711 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Norse Mythology
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Loki/Odin, Odin/Frigg
Characters: Óðinn | Odin, Loki (Norse Mythology), Frigg (Norse Mythology)
Summary:

Once, Odin was young. Once, Odin was foolish. Once, Odin cross-dressed. And thereby hangs a tale.

This is the one where Odin learns women's magic. And misplaces his penis. See, I have done some research on Norse culture and mythology for a previous fic and let me tell you, it would not surprise me if this had been canon, since canon is deliciously cracky and wonderful, and they had very strict, kind of ridiculous gender roles. So I spent the entirety of this fic cackling to myself, because it's so true!

For Love or Money (10937 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Pushing Daisies
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Charlotte Charles/Ned
Characters: Ned (Pushing Daisies), Charlotte, Emerson Cod, Olive Snook
Summary:

Little Daisy Darling (salesperson of the month and Olive Snook Look-alike) seemed to be in love with her boss, Huge Hugh McGrew, a very dead ringer for Emerson Cod. But Hugh was in love with his wife, the equally plus-sized Rustie McGrew. When Huge Hugh finds himself with a cord around his neck and three holes in his chest, Miss Daisy is the prime suspect.

This is an amazing Pushing Daisies casefic. If you miss this show already, you will miss it more when you read this, yes, but it's basically like an episode in text form. The dialogue and narration and plot are all absolutely perfectly Pushing Daisies.

Perigee (7393 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Robots - Isaac Asimov
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Mike Donovan/Greg Powell
Characters: Gregory Powell, Michael Donovan (Robots - Isaac Asimov), Susan Calvin, Peter Bogert
Summary:

The Universe's most boring assignment becomes a lot more interesting.

This is absolutely wonderful casefic that could totally be a real Robot story. (Except for the slash.) Also, there is Susan Calvin. (I love Susan Calvin.) And the robot is wonderful and built, to exacting standards, to be as geeky as the two protags in its own way.

Apocalypse Rescheduled (833 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Solar System (Anthropomorfic)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Earth - Character, Mars
Remember how the world was supposed to end, like, ten days ago? Yeah, that isn't happening. Here's why! This fic is pretty hilarious, with Earth as Mars' flaky friend who has an infestation of primates.

Signal (884 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Space Vehicles
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Spirit (Mars Rover)
Summary:

Spirit's existence, from Before to After.

So this is fix-it fic about how Spirit gained consciousness, fooled NASA, and is still out there exploring, because Spirit is just that awesome. It's short and sweet and and beautifully written.

On Formally Undecidable Propositions in Principia Mathematica (1003 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: Author Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage
Summary:

The Analytical Engine has no pretensions whatever to originate anything. It can do whatever we know how to order it to perform. It can follow analysis; but it has no power of anticipating any analytical relations or truths. --Ada Lovelace

I love Ada in this, and her willingness to use percussive maintenance, and her entirely sensible reaction when the engine wishes her a good morning.

You Belong With Her (3801 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: You Belong With Me (song)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Narrator/Cheer Captain
Summary:

Taylor had been last into the showers and now the girls' locker room is empty. Empty except for the captain of the cheerleading squad, who has her pinned one armed to the lockers and is giving her a look that could melt a hole through lead.

This is kind of the companion to Wake Up And Find this year -- this fic is inspired by the original song, which um, yeah, kind of does make it sound like the narrator is obsessing over her crush's girlfriend a bit more than she is over her ostensible crush. The head cheerleader in this is delightfully horrible, in the grand tradition of fictional head cheerleaders everywhere, but she is horrible in an admirable, snarky way, and the narrator is kind of adorably clueless, and the boyfriend is one of those dimly soulful guitar-playing dudes I remember well from high school and college. What I'm saying is, it's really, really entertaining.

Bigger Than You Think (200 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: xkcd 1110 (Click and Drag), Le città invisibili | Invisible Cities - Italo Calvino
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Marco Polo, Kublai Khan, Cueball
Summary:

An interactive story of exploration.

I haven't read Invisible Cities, but I think I ought to. This is not a straightforward fic, it's a piece of interactive fiction, which perfectly conveys all the wonder and weirdness of the xkcd strip as you explore the 'verse. Apparently there are spoilers in the comments if you get stuck, but I managed to do it without looking to them for guidance, which I think is pretty good for someone taking as much cold medicine as I am right now.

Meanwhile, in Universe #364b (4712 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: xkcd 1110 (Click and Drag)
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Lemonade Stand Guy/Person in Underground Cave
Characters: Plane Surfing Gal, Icarus (xkcd 1110), Lemonade Stand Guy, Person in underground cave, Trio Tumbling Through Tunnel, Tall Ship Crew, Whales - Character
Summary:

There's a universe laid out before you -- before all of you. What are you going to do with it?

I loved this. The author has chosen to write a few loosely-connected scenes about, well, the few loosely-connected scenes in the comic. There may be other cameos I didn't recognize, but I rather enjoyed the Doctor Who cameos in this, because I recently watched Angels Take Manhattan.

Nearly Prescient Suspicion of Impending Demise (2340 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: xkcd 1110 (Click and Drag), Star Wars Original Trilogy
Rating: General Audiences
Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Cover Up Girl, Cover Up Guy, X-Wing Pilots, Antenna Girl, Secret Agency Mastermind, Icarus (xkcd 1110), Confused Plane Captain, Optimistic Houston, Social Media Spelunkers, Displaced Wildlife
Summary:

She just hadn’t expected the world to be so small.

What exactly happened to the X-Wing pilots? This is xkcd apocafic. And it's hilarious.