Keep Hoping Machine Running

So. I do plan to reply to all the comments to my poll; I was thrilled to get them, and I actually have interesting things to say in response to most of them. Some of them. Okay, all of them, but we're operating by my definition of the word interesting, here, so those who commented should probably be on their guard.

In the meantime, though, drunkfics. Because a) you know I have love for them and b) no one can suspect any of these of being seriously flawed stories.

And it's interesting to reflect, with my new determination to recommend vids no matter how much I shouldn't*, just how much FF categories don't match vid categories. Drunkfic, for example, is one of the Grand Old Traditions of fan fiction, and yet I can think of only one drunkvid, Charmax's "Lily the Pink," (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ensemble, available under "BtVS Ensemble" at Bronze Ambition) and even then it isn't the same sort of thing, really.  It could be because intoxication is not all that visually interesting unless you're hoping to get into the pants of the intoxicated person in question. But I'm wondering if it's also because drunkfics focus on two things you can't show in vids: dialog - i.e., the intoxication frees someone to say something he otherwise wouldn't or couldn't - and sex - i.e., the intoxication frees someone to go down on someone he otherwise wouldn't.  

Of course, we could just not see many drunkvids because we don't see much canon drunkenness.  I don't know for sure how often people get down with the substances on TV shows, but I'm suspecting it's maybe not all that often, possibly because of those ever-present Impressionable Children. I do know you don't get a lot of full-out intoxication in movies, probably because, let's face it, when you only have two hours for the entire story, it's tough (though not impossible) to justify spending a half hour on something anyone who attended even one party in high school has seen too much of.

Whichever.  But, anyway, if you want a vid rec for this set, it's going to be "Lily the Pink," which is well worth a look, folks.  If the resultant giggle isn't enough of a reason, download it so you can admire the sheer quantity of drinking shots Charmax found. The Buffy folks apparently used their broadcast time wisely.

And now, speaking of wise uses of time, let's move on to the FF.

Best FF That Proves Definitely What I've Always Suspected: People With Mind-Reading, Mind-Changing, or Mind-Control Powers Are Deeply Wrong and Creeeeeeepy. Yes, Xavier, This Includes You. Memories, by rhyo. The Authority, and, honestly, I've no idea what to call this, but in my opinion it's gen. If you're not familiar with the comic book - and, really, if not, why not? - the problem with categorizing this story is that there's a gay relationship in the canon. But although said relationship is mentioned, this story is not about that. It's at least in part about Jenny Sparks, the butt-kickingest team leader ever to slug down a fifth of lab alcohol in seventeen seconds and then travel to another universe solely for the purpose of calling Batman an armor-dependent pussy and Robin a colorblind catamite and both of them sorry excuses for superheroes. Or, wait - just heroes, isn't it? As they aren't exactly super. That is not what happens in this story. But trust me, it could; she'd enjoy the pants right off of that. Here, though, we get to see her doing some things she really doesn't enjoy - to wit, trying to console a team member and get in touch with feelings. Her solution to that problem is get said team member, one Apollo, drunk off his ass. Unfortunately, that loosens his tongue, and Jenny ends up hearing way more than she wanted to. About Apollo. And his memories. And about the fact that, Marvel comics aside, there are very few people who can be trusted to rummage around in someone else's brain, and those few aren't the people who would allow themselves to do it.

Best Set of FFs That Proves That All Major Life Events Are Eased by Whacking Doses of Opiates. Or, OK, No. But Definitely All the Ones That Involve Arterial Bleeding Are. Rock, Toilet Paper, Scissors and Island Life** , by Tallulah Rasa, and does anyone know if she has a LJ? Stargate: SG-1, gen. Yes, more gen drunkfics. I don't know what the world is coming to. I do know, though, that these are actually drugfics; it's morphine, not alcohol, that is loosening the tongues of our good Colonel and his good civilian consultant. (And, yes, I have no problems describing Daniel as Jack's in the absence of slash; for one thing, who else does Jack have? And for another, who else could Daniel possibly belong to? And for a third, well, that's how they act a lot of the time.) Oh, and I should warn you; the author doesn't consider these stories sequels. I do, in the sense that when I read one, I have to read the other, and one of them mirrors the other, and also I consider one to resolve certain issues raised in the other, so I'm just going to rec them at the same time and save myself a lot of soul-searching. So. In both of them, a leg gets hurt. And there's morphine. And then there's talk. And what talk it is; "Rock, Toilet Paper, Scissors" sums up almost everything I love about this fandom. And "Island Life," well, it sums up why I'll probably never watch the canon. Because this didn't happen in it. And it should have. It should have. So I'll stick with my fan fiction, my denial, and my ignorance, I think. Anyway, even if you're not a big fan of denial or ignorance, these are brilliant stories, both of them, and I can't encourage you enough to go read them right now this minute.

Best FF That Proves That the Flowers Are Our Friends. At Least If We Want to See More Sex. And Who Doesn't? Blindsided, by Resonant, aka resonant8. Stargate: Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay. All of you wondering what the hell was up with the meaningful-conversation drunkfics may now breathe easy; we have returned to the land where "fun with chemicals" also means "fun with body parts." And this one is a whole lot of fun, folks. One of the reasons I get such a kick out of recommending the two Stargate fandoms side by side is the voice of English teachers past in my head, saying "compare/contrast" over and over. (Yes, I am subject to these little auditory hallucinations. Really, it's a small price to pay for the many years of fun I had in classrooms across the land.) Because just as the former stories summed up my love for SG1, this one sums up most of my love for SGA. And I could write a really solid essay explaining that statement, with illustrative quotes and proper structure and everything. But I won't, because I love you too much for that. Instead I'll say: there's funny in this, and also snark, and spitting dandelions, and substance-induced hallucinations. McKay demonstrates why he needs no drug to loosen his tongue, and John demonstrates why he needs no drug to display his fundamental flexibility. (And also that he's just really, really easy, which may not be canon - I'm not sure - but is a peck of fun all the same.)

Best FF That Proves That the Phrase 'Alcohol May Intensify the Effect' Doesn't Just Apply to Medicines. Granted, by Kim, aka meadowlion. Sports Night, Dan Rydell/Casey McCall. And here we have another pair of guys that never needed any chemical to loosen their tongues - it would probably take a substantial vat of something potent to stop these two from talking entirely - but who nonetheless benefit from some time spent amongst the intoxicants. What I really love about this one, though, is that Dan doesn't use alcohol to reduce his inhibitions. He uses his brain for that. The alcohol is for plausible deniability, and trust me when I tell you that is so Dan that it might as well appear in his official staff bio. ("Dan Rydell has been an anchor with Sports Night since its inception. Obviously, Dan has an abiding interest in all sports, except soccer, and also NASCAR if you define that as a sport, which Dan does not. He likes Casey McCall, spackle, New York City, Hilary Rodham Clinton, and poker. And he drinks, but mostly to watch other people get drunk; he himself prefers to use alcohol in moderation, except when plausible deniability is essential to his plans.") It's equally typical of Casey that he says exactly the right thing at the right time in this story; the man can be counted on to miss 99% of emotional cues, but the other 1% of the time he hits them so perfectly you sort of forget about his failures. Anyway, this story may be itty-bitty (500 words), but it is an excellent piece of interaction between the pairing often voted Most Meant to Be Together, If Only Because They've Excluded Everyone Else in the Universe.

-Footnotes-

* If you're wondering why I shouldn't, I could explain it to you. Or I could just point you to my own personal attempt at a meme. It is the movie meme that's been going around recently, and I think it pretty effectively says everything that needs to be said about why I should not be trusted when it comes to recommendations of visual media.

** I already did a theme vid rec for this, so I suppose what I'm doing now is wrong by some definition. Oh, that's right; it's my definition, and I can change it. So after you read "Island Life," go watch "Pretty Angry," by barkley, which can be found at her vid site. And, yes, there's a password thingy, but surely every person reading this has read Snow Crash, right? So no worries. (And if not, why not?) The point of watching the vid after reading the FF is that they deal with the same topic. Except that the story makes things the way they should have been, and the vid shows the way things really were. This, for me, is a fundamental difference between vids and FF. Although I imagine I will feel differently once I learn to understand the complex wonder of "created reality" vids, which right now for me translate, 99% of the time, into "random assemblage of clips" vids.

(Note: my apologies for the whole two-posts-in-one-day thing. I was in the mood, and I'd had both of these entries kicking around for a while and wanted them done. Plus, it's not like I'm usually guilty of anything even approximating regular posting, let alone flist spamming, so I'm thinking I can be forgiven this once.)

I have a special weakness for fill-in-the-blanks fic. This probably started in my misspent youth, when I spent a lot of time bitterly resenting books that ended too soon or didn't tell the whole story or left out the first part. (Thinking back on it, I was apparently a FF reader born, not made.) The only book I ever felt really covered everything sufficiently was David Copperfield, but in that case, what was mostly covered was whining. (Memo to David: Life sucks, yes, we know, especially when Dickens has hold of you. Get over yourself. You could be wearing a decaying wedding dress, you know.)

So I love those fan fiction authors that apparently share my need to get the whole story, and when getting it is impossible, to make it up. Go obsessives! (Because, hey, isn't that what fandom is really all about?)

Best FF That Shows Us What Mountie Training Is Really Good for*: Instilling Sufficient Poise to Watch Your Adolescent Fuck-Buddy Interact with Your Current Lover Without a Single Flinch: Passion, by Speranza, aka cesperanza. Due South, Benton Fraser/assorted, but I promise a Certain Person that it ends as it should, with all due (*snerk*) pairing correctness. I think we can agree that it's pretty much canon that Fraser's life has been a) sucky and b) remarkably loveless. But it takes a cesperanza to show us just how much that hurts. I love the little things in this - 12-year-old Ben's fury with himself over his inability to talk to his father, or 38-year-old Ben's fury with himself when he once again gets overwhelmed by passion. (Overwhelmed by Passion, by Roan Strober, from Harlequin: when young, cultured Cordelia Markham's ship founders at sea, she accepts rescue from the least-likely source - the dread pirate Bartholomew Bradley. He's a bad, bad man, but he's all man. Soon, she'll be...overwhelmed by passion!) Special added bonus for readers (of "Passion," not Overwhelmed by Passion, which does not exist but which I confidently predict contains no bonuses at all aside from a euphemism-filled heterosexual sex scene on page 79): the brilliant original characters in this story. Think OC = disaster? Doesn't. Here's proof.

Best FF That Shows the Hidden Horror of American Family Holidays Better Than 3 Million Student Films (or Ang Lee Films, for That Matter) Ever Could: Triskaideka: A Door Closing, by Luna, aka Violet, aka tangleofthorns. Homicide: Life on the Streets. Warning: this story is implicitly but extremely disturbing. Do not read if you are easily disturbed. By anything at all. And, yes, I do mean implicitly disturbing - there's nothing stated, but what isn't stated is so awful it's...well, I wish I could say beyond imagining, but the truth is it's all too easy to imagine. That's the problem. This story is about 13-year-old Tim Bayliss having a Magical Family Thanksgiving (tm), and I love the way Luna manages to overlay the sweet, wholesome images of this Great American Holiday (tm) with such horror. (shellmidwife or anyone else who watched the TV show - is what Luna's implying here canon? Did this really happen to him?) "A Door Closing" is part of Luna's "Triskaideka" series, and I love this series concept. (I also love the series, of course.) I want to get a look at the 13-year-old version of every single character in every single one of my fandoms (excepting of course those in which the canon shows us the characters at 13), and I want it now, and I'm going to spend a lot of today whining because I can't have it. (Come on, people. Tell me you don't want to read about 13-year-old Casey McCall watching a baseball game by himself, announcing it under his breath, occasionally trying out 18 different inflections to get that one perfect one, or 13-year-old Ray Kowalski learning to tune a carburetor and failing to have a conversation with his father, or anything involving Midshipman Aubrey learning the, um, ropes, or freshman Danny Ocean hiding a smile while conning the senior jocks who thought they were going to kick his ass, or 13-year-old Logan listening to the declaration of WWII on the radio in some cruddy shack, wondering how many years it'll be 'til he can join up, or...look, stopping now. But you see the temptation, don't you? Tell me I'm not alone in this.)

Best FF That Shows That All's Fair When You're Helping War with Her Love Problems: Holiday in Spain, by Cimorene, aka minkhollow. Good Omens, implied War/Pestilence. Pollution learns a secret (this story is from therealjae's Secrets Challenge) and gives War some career advice. And, look, for personal reasons I am not typically fond of light-hearted stories on this particular topic (not spelled out because a) I want you guys to read the story, and you won't if I tell you and b) it'll spoil it but good), but Cimorene makes it work here, somehow. (Originally mistyped as "somewow," which seems like a - I don't want to say Freudian - Jungian slip?) Possibly because this story just sounds right. The little details help - the wine, Pollution's psychobabble (because psychobabble is pollution, people), the setting. I just really like this, and if that makes me wrong...no, wait. This is my LJ. I like this story, and that makes it right. (Yes, those years of assertiveness training have finally paid a dividend! My parents will be delighted.)

Best FF That Shows Us That Some Traits Persist Right Through Surgical Torture and Mind-Wiping, Leaving Me Wish I Was an Apollo-Type Rather Than a Midnighter-Type (and If That Doesn't Cry out for an Internet Personality Quiz to Determine Your Superhero Type, I Don't Know What Could): The Waiting Room, by Andraste, aka andrastewhite. The Authority, Apollo/Midnighter. I love this look at who they were before they wore Spandex and capes (well, before they wore them all the time) and had only one name each. In particular, I believe in this look at the man-who-became-Apollo; the man is clearly the father of the superhero, in this case. And I love this line from Midnighter, who can't remember much but sure can deduce based on what he does remember: "Clearly he was a moron in his former life." Normally I don't quote from stories I'm recommending, but I had to quote that, because, really - that's what I'd conclude if I had to judge who I used to be entirely from, well, any of my memories. (Which, um, suggests that I am a moron in my current life, so not the most felicitous of thoughts there. Moving on.)

Best FF That Shows Us That the Best Way to Vacation in Spain is to Visit France. And, One Assumes, Vice Versa.: Euskadi Six Hour, by Sabine, aka sabine101. Sports Night, Danny Rydell/Casey McCall. (Warning, because a Certain Person has proven to be even more ending-sensitive with Sports Night than with due South: you couldn't exactly call this a happy ending, though I choose to believe that there's an unwritten sequel that is set after the canon that has them work it all out in Spain at the Tour de France.) (Second Warning: this contains infidelity. It didn't trigger my fidelity issues, mostly because I consider that Casey only has to be faithful to Danny, but it could trigger yours. You know, if you have them.) I'm offering a bonus story today for several reasons. First, I am obligated by my new religion to include an SN fic in each set for at least the next month, but I'm feeling pretty guilty about it. Second, I really, really hope that people took my warning about "Triskaideka: A Door Closing" seriously and didn't read it if there was any chance it would bother them, so I'm offering this story as a substitute. Third, there's just too many good history stories out there to limit myself to four. Justifications end now. This story gives us a look at Casey, already grown up, pretty much the Casey we know, but a Casey without Danny, which turns out to be a sad thing. We also get to meet a different flavor of Danny - a Danny who is overage but not really grown up, a Danny who is, at least on the surface, just like most college guys. And yet when the two of them get together, they instantly become the single-word DannyandCasey of Sports Night fame (vaguely intoxicated edition). It's fun. At least while they're still in France.

-Footnote-

* Well, yes, Mountie training is good for that, too. But I figured that went without saying in the dS fandom.

Yes, it's true. These characters are gay in canon. (I consider gay in canon stories to be slash, mostly because the term is more useful if it covers all gay fan fiction, as opposed to just gay-against-canon fan fiction.)

Best FF That the Canon Author Would Probably Really Have Liked, Assuming He or She Even Existed: Follower, by the oft-nominated Gloria Mundi. The Illiad, Achilles/Patroclus. Troy, when it comes out, may attempt to convince us that Achilles and Patroclus were just good friends, but I, for one, will keep the faith and remember these guys as Homer made them: pure slashy goodness. (Well, in Patroclus' case. Achilles was more like pure slashy whininess.) This story is a short, sad reflection on Achilles' relationship to Patroclus, with both guys very much in character.

Best FF Involving Superheroes as We All Know They're Meant to Be: Gay, in Love, and in Spandex: The Business, by Basingstoke. The Authority, Apollo/Midnighter. All Midnighter wants is one number, but it's the one number none of us can ever have. You don't need to read the comic books to understand this one perfectly. But you probably should read them anyway. It's got gay superheroes. Spandex! Masks! And in-canon groping! What's not to love?

Best FF Featuring a Ewan McGregor Character as the Sane One: Curious, by Jane St. Clair. Velvet Goldmine, Arthur Stuart/Curt Wild. At the end of the movie, we get a glimpse of a much-changed Curt Wild. This story explains the change. Explains a lot about Arthur, too. And, as I said, Curt's the sane one in this. You know an author kicks ass when she can make you believe in the basic mental stability of a character played by McGregor, the God of Neuroses.

Best FF That Explains Why Sometimes It's Best to Skip the Forgiving and Just Forget: As I Went down in the River to Pray, by Halrloprillalar. Greek mythology, and to tell the pairing would spoil the story. Hal changes a bit from the traditional version of this story, but it works even better than the original. And, look, I can't tell you much about this one, obviously, but if you're a myth geek, you'll figure out what this is based on in a few paragraphs and squeal with joy. And if you've never read Greek myths, you'll love it anyway for the unusual, wonderful ending. (Although let me say unto you: read Greek myths. They are the holy grail of canon slashiness.)