Title: (Re)United
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Characters/Pairings: Penelo/Basch
Rating: G
Challenge: Old Friends (Amnesty)
Spoilers/Warnings: Post-Canon, doesn’t particularly matter.
Word Count: 282
Summary: A short, abstracted view of a single decision.
Disclaimer: I do not own FFXII or the characters.

( “(Re)United” )

sweetandshort

fandomweekly

Title: At The Funeral
Fandom: Spooks (MI5)
Rating: G
Length: 579 words
Summary: Lucas is at a funeral

Title: Wait And Hope
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Ryo, Dee.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: How can a violent assault take place in the middle of a crowd with nobody seeing anything?
Word Count: 200
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 489: Amnesty 81, using Challenge 487: Crowd.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
A/N: Double drabble.

◊ my desk ♥ tired

Title: Crushing On You
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: S.W.A.T.
Relationships: Donovan Rocker/Molly Hicks
Tags: Getting Together, Fluff
Summary: It started as a crush years ago.
Word Count: 1,295

Title: Revenge At Last
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: OCs, Dee.
Rating: PG-13
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Murder most foul has been committed, but Dee and Ryo have caught the murderer.
Word Count: 300
Content Notes: None needed.
Written For: Challenge 489: Amnesty 81, using Challenge 486: Revenge.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

◊ my desk ♥ tired

Title: Like a Punch to the Face
Author: lucy_roman
Rating: Teen and up
Summary: Ray has thrown a lot of punches. Set during the first part of Mountie on the Bounty
Pairing: Fraser & RayK
Word count: 100

( Like a Punch to the Face )

Our new challenge is our eighty-first:

AMNESTY

ffw_social

The Twinkle challenge is now closed. Here are the entries:

S.W.A.T.: Fan Fiction: Happy News, by darkjediqueen
Final Fantasy XII: Fanfic: Her First Choice, by the_paradigm
no fandom : icons : like a diamond, by highlander_ii
Greek Myth: Fanfic: How Can You Laugh?, by drabblewriter
Twinkle: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Fanfic: Coming Home, by veronyxk84
Torchwood: Fanfic: A Twinkle In The Dark, by badly_knitted
Terraria: Fanfiction: Starry Night, by infinitum_noctem
Twinkle: Sherlock Holmes (ACD): Fanfic: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, by smallhobbit
Torchwood: Fanfic: When the lights go out, by m_findlow
Leverage: Fanfiction: too much twinkle, by fadedwings
Starsky & Hutch: Fanfiction: Twinkle Toes, by lucy_roman
Twinkle: PMD: Destruction Call x Cassette Beasts: Art: barkley under the stars, by himejoshiheart
Twinkle: Hyouka (Kotenbu): Fanfic: stars align, by bluedreaming
Original: Poetry: Here We Be, by teaotter
Twinkle: Guardian: fic: Feathers and Stars, by china_shop

\o/ \o/ \o/

Thank you to everyone who participated! You're now free to post your entries to your journal or wherever else you'd like. If you're archiving on AO3, you can add your work to our fan_flashworks collection there.

New challenge coming right up!

Title: Feathers and Stars
Fandom: Guardian (TV)
Rating: G-rated
Length: 747 words
Tags: Ya Qing & OFC, Backstory, Playing with narrative voice, Bedtime stories, Inconclusive ending
Summary: Dear one, settle down, and I’ll tell you a story.

( Feathers and Stars )

Title: Here We Be
Fandom: Original
Challenge: Twinkle

Author's note: When I was in high school, my choir sang a piece called "Stars," by Lloyd Pfautsch. The lyrics come from Baruch 3:34: The stars shine in their watches and rejoice. When he calleth them, they say Here we be! Here we be! Here we be!. The phrasing bounces back and forth among the vocal sections like twinkling stars. (I managed to find a recording of a different choir doing this song; it starts about 3:35 here at Youtube.)


( Read more... )

Fandom: Hyouka (Kotenbu)
Rating: G
Length: 100 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: I always wondered why (Ibara) Mayaka couldn’t just publish manga in the Kotenbu anthology.
Summary: In which Oreki narrowly misses Chitanda’s curiosity.

( Read more... )

Fandom: Stargate Atlantis, SG1
Characters/Pairings: John Sheppard/Vala Mal Doran, Cam Mitchell, Rodney McKay, Ronon Dex, Teyla Emmagan
Rating: Teen
Length: 6000
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply
Creator Links: busaikko on AO3
Themes: Marriage of Convenience, Teams, Ambiguous relationship, Humor, Friendship

Summary: Rodney had extorted a promise from John to not get recruited into SG-1 while he was on temporary re-assignment to the SGC. As John finished reciting his marriage vows from the crib-sheet Mitchell had handed him, he suspected Rodney would never let him live this down.

Reccer's Notes: With Atlantis stuck in San Francisco, John goes out with SG1 on a mission that needs his gene, but the local Ori-worshipers require those entering the sanctum (where there may be ZPMs) to be married. So John and Vala get hitched, and are able to trade for not one but three ZPMs, which is just as well as later in the story John desperately needs both Vala and the ZPM-power. The story focuses on John and Vala's friendship which develops after their marriage and despite John returning to Pegasus, then later deepens into something more. Cam is initially a dick due to jealousy as he and John had a past fling, but he gets his head out of his ass. The John/Vala relationship is wonderfully written and we're left in the end with it still being an little ambiguous (this is Vala, after all), but definitely hopeful. A lovely read.

Fanwork Links: So Good to You

Fandom: PMD: Destruction Call (can tag as just pokemon) x Cassette Beasts
Rating: G/General
Artist notes: i have no idea how to tag cbcs/dekudogs sorry if im not doin it right lol
Content notes: it's a gif! also this is an au of barkley where instead of getting isekai'd into new wirral he ended up in the pmd: dc universe as one of the local fakemon (a laelapis specifically, he's also a delta pokemon, too.) lol
Summary: barkley under the stars!!!

( nice night under the stars... )

 

Fandom: Harry Potter
Pairings: Hermione/Harry
Characters: Hermione, Harry, Hermione's father and mother, Harry's mother, other canon characters
Rating: Teen
Length: 31,500 words
Creator Links: CatsAreCool / Rachel500 / TrekCat
Theme: Marriage of convenience, AU: Fork in the road, Working together

Summary: Lady Hermione Granger needs to get married in order to secure her inheritance and everybody agrees that the best candidate to help her is the Earl of Gryffindor, Defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter.
        There's just one problem: they're not friends and Hermione may have once told him, thanks to some meddling Weasleys, that she'd never get involved with him.

Reccer's Notes: Excellent story. AU - Hermione never cared much for Harry, but when she's required to marry, he's the logical choice. I love how they discuss it like adults, reach a mutual agreement, and then find themselves gradually falling for each other. And all of this adult attraction goodness is nicely interwoven with an intriguing mystery. It's a well-told story with a thoroughly satisfying ending.

Content Notes: Canon-typical violence including attempted murder via spells, mention of old-fashioned patriarchal approaches to women including conc.ept of ownership and arranged marriages, use of love potions. Mildly anti-Dumbledore, anti-Ron and Ginny Weasley

Fanwork Links: A Convenient Arrangement by TrekCat at AO3
 

Agatha Heterodyne, Girl Genius #21: An Entertainment in Londinium by Kaja Foglio and Phil Foglio

Spoilers ahead for the earlier volumes

( Read more... )

Title: Twinkle Toes
Author: lucy_roman
Rating: Mature
Summary: Hutch is envious of Starsky's dancing ability
Pairing: Starsky/Hutch
Word Count: 627

( Twinkle Toes )

Now that I don’t have a commute, I really had to create time to finish my latest audiobook, but it was worth it. Today I finished Welcome to Night Vale: A Novel, the first book put out by the team behind the Welcome to Night Vale fiction podcast and set in the same universe (as is likely apparent by the title). This book was written by Jeffrey Cranor and Joseph Fink.

First, I don’t believe you need familiarity with the podcast to enjoy the novel. Nor do you need to read the novel if you’re a podcast listener; it builds on what listeners may know, but also centers incredibly peripheral characters from the show (local PTA mom Diane Crayton and pawn shop owner Jackie Fierro), so if you’re a podcast only fan, you’re not missing any crucial story information by forgoing the book. If you’re not a listener of the podcast, I think as long as you go in understanding that the core of Night Vale is the absurd and the surreal, you’ll be okay.

This was a fun book! I was curious to see how the Night Vale Presents team would manage a longform story in the world of Night Vale (podcast episodes are about 25 minutes and almost always self-contained), and I think they did a solid job! The book can be a bit slow, especially in the beginning; the drip of information it feeds you about the mysteries at the center of the story is indeed a drip. But it wasn’t so slow I found it tiresome, and the typical Night Vale weirdness and eccentricity kept me listening even where I wasn’t sure where this story was going (if anywhere).
 

Fandom: Star Trek Reboot/AOS
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Length: 10,103
Creator Links: magneticwave
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary: What kind of an idiot would try to explain magic to a Vulcan.

Reccer's Notes: I wouldn't be a good Trek fan if I didn't rec a bonding story for this theme! (I'm going ahead and equating a Vulcan bond with marriage.) Punk actually recced this story six years ago for the magic theme, but it is FANTASTIC for this theme, as well.

As Punk wrote, this is not a Trek/Harry Potter crossover. Rather, facets of the HP universe (magic, legilimency, occlumency) are imported into Trekverse, where Jim comes from a wizarding family. The mental aspects of wizarding are a perfect fit with Vulcan telepathy and bonding. This fic makes excellent use of the commonality.

Much of Trek canon is exactly the same: Jim meets Old Spock in the way he does in canon, but, in this story, a spontaneous bond forms between them. When Old Spock dies (at what seems to be the same time he does in canon), Jim's mind is nearly destroyed by the loss of the bond. He uses his wizarding mind powers to heal the wound somewhat, but he's in danger of dying from the trauma. The logical action to save his life is to have Young Spock bond with him.

What makes this story shine is the writing and characterization. Jim is mouthy, emotionally stunted, in denial, afraid of intimacy, yadda yadda. Spock is repressed, has a huge chip on his shoulder, and is filled with rage and jealousy. It is delicious and vivid and charming. I'm making it sound like this story is all cheek and levity, but it's also emotionally resonant with glimpses of Jim's grief and the depth of his friendship with both Spocks. A+ on so many levels.


Fanwork Links: you will see what it is to be overcome

Kill the Villainess, Vol. 3 by Haegi

Spoilers for the first two volumes ahead.

( Read more... )

Fandom: The Untamed
Pairings/Characters: Lan Wangji/Nie Mingjue/Wei Wuxian, Jiang Cheng, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, Wen Ning, Wen Yuan, Lan Xichen, Nie Huaisang, Jin Zixuan
Rating: Explicit
Length: 205K words
Creator Links: giraffeter
Theme: Marriage of Convenience, Everybody Lives/Nobody Dies, Fork in the Road AU, Fix-It

Summary: When Jiang Yanli joins Jiang Cheng in visiting Wei Wuxian at the Burial Grounds, the two brothers are on the verge of cutting ties forever — until Jiang Yanli has a better idea. Wei Wuxian doesn't need to leave the sect. He needs to get married, and she has the perfect Sect Leader in mind.

When Lan Wangji is invited to come along on Wei Wuxian's visit to the Unclean Realm to spend time with his new betrothed, Nie Mingjue, he agrees — even though his heart is breaking. How else is he ever going to see Wei Wuxian again?

When Nie Mingjue welcomes Wei Wuxian and Lan Wangji into his home, he realizes two things very quickly: 1.) They clearly want each other so badly they can barely stand it, and 2.) Nie Mingjue is Into That.

(In which arranged marriage to Nie Mingjue solves just about everyone's problems)

Reccer's Notes: In the normal course of things, I'd say LWJ/WWX is my OTP. This story, however, has made me feral for LWJ/NMJ/WWX. More than that, though, this is a brilliant, carefully constructed fix-it. Giraffeter takes the time to set up every way this reality is changed from canon by the single decision to solve the friction between Wei Wuxian and the rest of the cultivation world by marrying him to a Sect Leader rather than cutting him off in the Burial Mounds. It's a long, immersive story that's well worth the time investment. The sex scenes are also some of the best I've read in my nearly thirty years in online fandom.

Fanwork Links: An Elegant Solution

Fandom: Star Trek Reboot/AOS
Pairings/Characters: Kirk/Spock
Rating: Teen
Length: 7,701
Creator Links: tardigradeschool
Theme: Marriage of convenience

Summary: When getting legally married to Spock is the only way to keep him on the ship, Jim is more than willing to do so. (In fact, upon reflection, it turns out that there are very few things he wouldn't do for Spock.)

Reccer's Notes: Okay, normally, I would not rec a story with 9,000 kudos. First, because that story does not need any help. Second, I usually hate stories with 9,000 kudos. But guess what. I love this story THAT MUCH, and, as our mod, Punk, helpfully pointed out, MAYBE SOME OF YOU HAVE NOT READ THIS. It was posted in 2016, long after much of the Reboot fever had passed (at least for me); I feel glad to have discovered it. Therefore, let me tell you about it.

In this story, Spock is offered a captaincy, which he can't refuse without suffering career consequences. Jim is devastated by the thought of losing his first officer. Fortunately, Spock has a proposal involving a loophole: Starfleet won't separate married crew members.

The Jim in this story is wonderfully Jim, getting his mind stuck on the regulation about public nudity because the reg number is similar to the marriage reg number. He's also delightfully clueless. In fact, this story has all the good Reboot Trek tropes and appearances by the supporting cast. I don't want to give away all the hilarious details that come up, but, despite the hilarity, there are lovely moments of emotional truth that really make this story happen for me.

I like marriage of convenience stories where the characters are already very close friends at the time of the marriage. That is the case here, with the depth of the friendship revealed to the reader in small ways throughout. And, as you might guess, this story also fits the theme "everyone thinks we're dating."

Fanwork Links: the warp and weft of your being

Title: too much twinkle
Fandom: Leverage
Characters: Eliot Spencer, Alec Hardison, Parker
Length: 200 words
Rating: Teen
Warnings: none
Summary: Parker’s tree might have a little too much twinkle.


( too much twinkle )

Title: When the lights go out
Fandom: Torchwood
Characters: Jack
Author: m_findlow
Rating: PG
Length: 1,161 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: Written for Challenge 488 - Twinkle
Summary: Jack sees the stars in a completely different light.

( Read more... )