Yuletide Recs!
(more to come? who knows)
FIRST OF ALL, MY GIFT:
A Dog and Her Moth (1234 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jedao Two (Machineries of Empire), Original Dog Character(s)
Additional Tags: Dogs, Fluff
Summary: The Dog's Boy was a Moth.
I asked for Jedao Two to get some therapy and someone who understands him. He got the ULTIMATE answer: a therapy dog. Dog POVs will always punch me in the face with feelings, and this one delivers. It's soft, bittersweet, and gives the poor guy the rest he deserved.
MANY recs under the cut, in absolutely no particular order (though I try to keep fandoms together)
Incompetent Plumbers and Other Dilemmas (4248 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Garach Jedao Shkan/Lirov Yeren/Vestenya Ruo
Characters: Garach Jedao Shkan, Lirov Yeren, Vestenya Ruo
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ruo Lives, Happy Ending, Shuos Academy, LARPing
Summary: When Cadet Vestenya Ruo is arrested for heresy, Jedao plots to rescue him.
Ruo lives! Heists and cuteness. Very Lverage feels.
Underwater, over glass (3013 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jedao Two (Machineries of Empire), Garach Jedao Shkan, Ajewen Cheris, Hemiola (Machineries of Empire)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Suicidal Thoughts
Summary: A reunion, of sorts. Post "Glass Cannon".
The canon ending. Don't @ me.
Haints (1869 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Tigris (Hunger Games), Sejanus Plinth, Sejanus Plinth's Mother, Lucy Gray Baird, Coriolanus Snow
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Grief/Mourning, Dark
Summary: Five people who are haunted by the ghosts of Panem.
Coriolanus' POV is just -- chef's kiss. By which I mean it's terrible, but in the best, self-aware-author, non-self-aware-character way.
Discretion (1295 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jane Roland & Tenzing Tharkay - Relationship
Characters: Tenzing Tharkay, Jane Roland
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Spies & Secret Agents
Summary: Toward the end of Victory of Eagles, Tharkay and Roland have a conversation in implications and hypotheticals, and Tharkay lets slip several revelations in the interest of his friends.
The prompt was Jane and Tharkay interacting, and I loved it and would have written for it if I'd had the spoons. I'm so glad someone did.
Footholds (1777 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ikrie (Horizon: Zero Dawn), Aloy (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2020, Misses Clause Challenge, Post-Canon
Summary: Some songs are old and new all at once.
Ikrie and Aloy! Ikrie has a baby werak! Fantastic.
The Song in the Night (1603 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Steerswoman Series - Rosemary Kirstein
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bel/Rowan (Steerswoman)
Characters: Bel (Steerswoman), Rowan (Steerswoman)
Additional Tags: Marriage Proposal, Post-Coital, Fluff, Nostalgia, Homesickness, Post-Canon, Post-Book 4: The Language of Power, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Rowan and Bel spend a wintry evening singing, talking, and looking at charts.
I mean, I gotta. But bonus points for Rowan being so essentially herself, even here.
Green Gardening (1315 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Expanse (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Amos Burton/Praxidike Meng
Characters: Amos Burton, Praxidike Meng, Mei Meng
Summary: Prax needs help with his research and who does he turn to? His best friend in the whole world, Amos Burton.
VERY BEST FRIENDS.
Mercy and Augustine's Cake Simulator! (80 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Mercymorn the First & Augustine the First, Mercymorn the First/Cristabel Oct, Mercymorn the First/Augustine the First (optional)
Characters: Mercymorn the First (Locked Tomb Trilogy), Augustine the First (Locked Tomb Trilogy)
Additional Tags: Interactive Fiction, Food
Summary: Mercymorn makes a cake.
THIS IS SO GOOD. I haven't begun to find all the options (I haven't checked the list, I don't want to).
If you're doing it right you'll break their ribs (22483 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Gideon Nav & Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Camilla Hect & Palamedes Sextus
Characters: Gideon Nav, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Camilla Hect, Palamedes Sextus, Abigail Pent, Magnus Quinn, Isaac Tettares, Jeannemary Chatur
Additional Tags: casefic, questfic, soulbond, Telepathy, homoerotic telepathy, Canon-Typical Violence, Baking, Dream Sharing, Food
Summary:
tough as nails (5130 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Legally Blonde (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Paulette Bonafonté & Elle Woods
Characters: Elle Woods, Paulette Bonafonté, Bruiser Woods, Rufus Bonafonté
Additional Tags: Self-Esteem Issues, Nail Polish, Manicures & Pedicures, Character Study, 5+1 Things
Summary: Five times Paulette painted Elle's nails over the course of Elle's 1L year—and one time Elle returned the favor.
Very sweet, sometimes bittersweet, a nice look at their relationship.
Malvolio takes a walk through the Complete Works of Shakespeare (1287 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 2 - Shakespeare, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Malvolio (Twelfth Night), King of Navarre, Henry IV of England, Antonio (Merchant of Venice), Theseus (Midsummer Night's Dream), Titania (Midsummer Night's Dream), Oberon (Midsummer Night's Dream), Puck | Robin Goodfellow
Additional Tags: Fix-It
Summary: Malvolio moves on, learns from his mistakes and uses his considerable talents in the service of a few Shakespearean characters who need of a good valet ...
Yes.
The Best Defense (1271 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion Of Your Thesis Defense (McSweeney's Post) - Luke Burns
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: POV Second Person, Academia
Summary:
You had to fight a big snake for your thesis defense. One of the largest ones you'd ever seen—and you'd attended plenty of defenses, seen the fear in the doctoral candidates' eyes as they sought out their snake in the shadows. You don't actually know if it's the biggest snake the facilities department had to offer, because they don't like to give out that much information. But it was a very big snake indeed.
First of all, the canon for this (a McSweeney's piece I somehow had never read?) is wild. Second, there are apparently like 13 fic for it. I found this one in particular extremely cathartic (also no snake killing!).
just one single glimpse of relief (2982 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hendricks/Rita Vrataski, William Cage & Rita Vrataski
Characters: Rita Vrataski
Summary: Rita didn't just spring into existence from out of nowhere, nothing but a fever dream of millions of minds to save their lives. She's got history. She was a person once, before.
Rita Rita Rita Rita
silver lining, strike me down (2735 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hamlet - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hamlet/Horatio (Hamlet)
Characters: Horatio (Hamlet), Hamlet (Hamlet), Rosencrantz (Hamlet), Guildenstern (Hamlet)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Class Differences
Summary: Tread lightly, Horatio, he tells himself, and maybe you’ll make it to the end of the night.
Manages to condense the feeling of a slowburn into less than 3k, because you know how long Horatio has held it in.
The Space Garden (9359 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden), Martha Sowerby, Dickon Sowerby, Colin Craven, Archibald Craven
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Space, Healing, Gardens & Gardening, Space Stations, Terraforming, Alien Flora & Fauna, Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Summary: When Meri La Nix was sent from the Mars colony to live with her aunt at Missiles Wait Manor, nobody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. But some of them thought it.
The tone! And lovely sci-fi worldbuilding with the station and its flowers. It's like if the Belt had gone well.
Also in the Act of Reaching (2166 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mahit Dzmare, Three Seagrass, Yskandr Aghavn
Additional Tags: Friendship, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Reunions, Travel, Fish out of Water
Summary:
FIRST OF ALL, MY GIFT:
A Dog and Her Moth (1234 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jedao Two (Machineries of Empire), Original Dog Character(s)
Additional Tags: Dogs, Fluff
Summary: The Dog's Boy was a Moth.
I asked for Jedao Two to get some therapy and someone who understands him. He got the ULTIMATE answer: a therapy dog. Dog POVs will always punch me in the face with feelings, and this one delivers. It's soft, bittersweet, and gives the poor guy the rest he deserved.
MANY recs under the cut, in absolutely no particular order (though I try to keep fandoms together)
Incompetent Plumbers and Other Dilemmas (4248 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Garach Jedao Shkan/Lirov Yeren/Vestenya Ruo
Characters: Garach Jedao Shkan, Lirov Yeren, Vestenya Ruo
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Ruo Lives, Happy Ending, Shuos Academy, LARPing
Summary: When Cadet Vestenya Ruo is arrested for heresy, Jedao plots to rescue him.
Ruo lives! Heists and cuteness. Very Lverage feels.
Underwater, over glass (3013 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Machineries of Empire Series - Yoon Ha Lee
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Jedao Two (Machineries of Empire), Garach Jedao Shkan, Ajewen Cheris, Hemiola (Machineries of Empire)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Suicidal Thoughts
Summary: A reunion, of sorts. Post "Glass Cannon".
The canon ending. Don't @ me.
Haints (1869 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Characters: Tigris (Hunger Games), Sejanus Plinth, Sejanus Plinth's Mother, Lucy Gray Baird, Coriolanus Snow
Additional Tags: Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Grief/Mourning, Dark
Summary: Five people who are haunted by the ghosts of Panem.
Coriolanus' POV is just -- chef's kiss. By which I mean it's terrible, but in the best, self-aware-author, non-self-aware-character way.
Discretion (1295 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Jane Roland & Tenzing Tharkay - Relationship
Characters: Tenzing Tharkay, Jane Roland
Additional Tags: Missing Scene, Spies & Secret Agents
Summary: Toward the end of Victory of Eagles, Tharkay and Roland have a conversation in implications and hypotheticals, and Tharkay lets slip several revelations in the interest of his friends.
The prompt was Jane and Tharkay interacting, and I loved it and would have written for it if I'd had the spoons. I'm so glad someone did.
Footholds (1777 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Ikrie (Horizon: Zero Dawn), Aloy (Horizon: Zero Dawn)
Additional Tags: Yuletide 2020, Misses Clause Challenge, Post-Canon
Summary: Some songs are old and new all at once.
Ikrie and Aloy! Ikrie has a baby werak! Fantastic.
The Song in the Night (1603 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Steerswoman Series - Rosemary Kirstein
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Bel/Rowan (Steerswoman)
Characters: Bel (Steerswoman), Rowan (Steerswoman)
Additional Tags: Marriage Proposal, Post-Coital, Fluff, Nostalgia, Homesickness, Post-Canon, Post-Book 4: The Language of Power, Misses Clause Challenge
Summary: Rowan and Bel spend a wintry evening singing, talking, and looking at charts.
I mean, I gotta. But bonus points for Rowan being so essentially herself, even here.
Green Gardening (1315 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Expanse (TV)
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Amos Burton/Praxidike Meng
Characters: Amos Burton, Praxidike Meng, Mei Meng
Summary: Prax needs help with his research and who does he turn to? His best friend in the whole world, Amos Burton.
VERY BEST FRIENDS.
Mercy and Augustine's Cake Simulator! (80 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Mercymorn the First & Augustine the First, Mercymorn the First/Cristabel Oct, Mercymorn the First/Augustine the First (optional)
Characters: Mercymorn the First (Locked Tomb Trilogy), Augustine the First (Locked Tomb Trilogy)
Additional Tags: Interactive Fiction, Food
Summary: Mercymorn makes a cake.
THIS IS SO GOOD. I haven't begun to find all the options (I haven't checked the list, I don't want to).
If you're doing it right you'll break their ribs (22483 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Locked Tomb Trilogy | Gideon the Ninth Series - Tamsyn Muir
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Gideon Nav & Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Camilla Hect & Palamedes Sextus
Characters: Gideon Nav, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Camilla Hect, Palamedes Sextus, Abigail Pent, Magnus Quinn, Isaac Tettares, Jeannemary Chatur
Additional Tags: casefic, questfic, soulbond, Telepathy, homoerotic telepathy, Canon-Typical Violence, Baking, Dream Sharing, Food
Summary:
"How do you know Nonagesimus has gone somewhere dangerous?" asked Isaac. "Have you wired some kind of alert system?"
"It's, uh. It's on the schedule," said Gideon. "I just... forgot. Because of the bread."
Nobody was convinced by this, least of all Gideon.
"It's a Ninth House thing," Gideon went on, backing away with increasing desperation. This was a slightly more plausible explanation, if only because nobody wanted to look too closely at what fell under the awful skeletal-ribbed and rotting umbrella of Ninth House things. "Gotta go—!" And she was out the door, gone.
But it wasn't a Ninth House thing, except inasmuch as it was happening to the only two representatives of the noble and decrepit Ninth House on this quite literally godforsaken rock. Gideon knew Harrow had gone somewhere dangerous—knew that Harrow was back in the lab where they had only just completed a horrible trial—because she could see it, clear as day: an awful overlay on her vision of that terrible dangerous room and a pair of terrible dangerous hands drawing some kind of ward next to the plinth.
The hands were definitely Harrow's.
This was definitely a problem.
FULL DISCLOSURE, I haven't finished this, but COME ON. Also my friend has and has vetted it. Yes please.tough as nails (5130 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Legally Blonde (Movies)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Paulette Bonafonté & Elle Woods
Characters: Elle Woods, Paulette Bonafonté, Bruiser Woods, Rufus Bonafonté
Additional Tags: Self-Esteem Issues, Nail Polish, Manicures & Pedicures, Character Study, 5+1 Things
Summary: Five times Paulette painted Elle's nails over the course of Elle's 1L year—and one time Elle returned the favor.
Very sweet, sometimes bittersweet, a nice look at their relationship.
Malvolio takes a walk through the Complete Works of Shakespeare (1287 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Twelfth Night - Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 1 - Shakespeare, Henry IV Part 2 - Shakespeare, Romeo And Juliet - Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare, Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Malvolio (Twelfth Night), King of Navarre, Henry IV of England, Antonio (Merchant of Venice), Theseus (Midsummer Night's Dream), Titania (Midsummer Night's Dream), Oberon (Midsummer Night's Dream), Puck | Robin Goodfellow
Additional Tags: Fix-It
Summary: Malvolio moves on, learns from his mistakes and uses his considerable talents in the service of a few Shakespearean characters who need of a good valet ...
Yes.
The Best Defense (1271 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: FAQ: The "Snake Fight" Portion Of Your Thesis Defense (McSweeney's Post) - Luke Burns
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Additional Tags: POV Second Person, Academia
Summary:
You had to fight a big snake for your thesis defense. One of the largest ones you'd ever seen—and you'd attended plenty of defenses, seen the fear in the doctoral candidates' eyes as they sought out their snake in the shadows. You don't actually know if it's the biggest snake the facilities department had to offer, because they don't like to give out that much information. But it was a very big snake indeed.
First of all, the canon for this (a McSweeney's piece I somehow had never read?) is wild. Second, there are apparently like 13 fic for it. I found this one in particular extremely cathartic (also no snake killing!).
just one single glimpse of relief (2982 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hendricks/Rita Vrataski, William Cage & Rita Vrataski
Characters: Rita Vrataski
Summary: Rita didn't just spring into existence from out of nowhere, nothing but a fever dream of millions of minds to save their lives. She's got history. She was a person once, before.
Rita Rita Rita Rita
silver lining, strike me down (2735 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Hamlet - Shakespeare
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Hamlet/Horatio (Hamlet)
Characters: Horatio (Hamlet), Hamlet (Hamlet), Rosencrantz (Hamlet), Guildenstern (Hamlet)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Costume Parties & Masquerades, Class Differences
Summary: Tread lightly, Horatio, he tells himself, and maybe you’ll make it to the end of the night.
Manages to condense the feeling of a slowburn into less than 3k, because you know how long Horatio has held it in.
The Space Garden (9359 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mary Lennox (The Secret Garden), Martha Sowerby, Dickon Sowerby, Colin Craven, Archibald Craven
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Space, Healing, Gardens & Gardening, Space Stations, Terraforming, Alien Flora & Fauna, Emotional Hurt/Comfort
Summary: When Meri La Nix was sent from the Mars colony to live with her aunt at Missiles Wait Manor, nobody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen. But some of them thought it.
The tone! And lovely sci-fi worldbuilding with the station and its flowers. It's like if the Belt had gone well.
Also in the Act of Reaching (2166 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Teixcalaan Series - Arkady Martine
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Mahit Dzmare, Three Seagrass, Yskandr Aghavn
Additional Tags: Friendship, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Reunions, Travel, Fish out of Water
Summary:
When Three Seagrass arrived at Lsel Station, she was, officially at least, traveling as a private personage. She had missed Mahit and the possibilities they'd both chosen to turn away from. She also had-- would always have-- a gaping hole in her life where Petal had once stood.
It was simply that, left on her own, Three Seagrass wouldn't have let either absence drag her to the ass-end of beyond.
A perfect coda/continuation.