Otter's Rock

The third yuletide fic I wrote was a treat for a pinch-hitter, which was an excuse to write Wimsey fic. Now, I love the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries, but I have only once been brave enough to write Peter himself--and that was only for a few scenes in a crossover. I minored in English, but that is simply not enough to give one the depth of knowledge of pre-20th-century British literature that one needs to be able to write Peter, who drops allusions and quotes like nobody's business. I spent so much time doing keyword searches through poetry archives, it was ridiculous. So instead, I wrote about Harriet and Mary, who I think would get along well together.

But in the course of doing canon review, I looked for a timeline, and discovered that Mary is much older than I thought she was--she's only five years younger than Peter! He, the Dowager Duchess, and the narrative all treat Mary like she's some silly young girl in Clouds of Witness, and she's actually 28! She and Parker don't marry until she's 35! She's older than Harriet! She served as a nurse in WWI, and she was old enough that she might have served in France itself! (Younger women were only allowed to nurse in British hospitals.) That changed a lot about how I saw her and interpreted the few scenes she's in, and also changed how I saw her and Parker's relationship. I now headcanon that the reason it took so long for Mary and Parker to marry is that at first he was hoping she'd grow out of her radicalism, and she wasn't willing to marry him on that basis, and also had to work out if she was okay with someone as socially conservative as Parker is. Which left them with some things to work out.

Title: Tea for Two
Fandom: Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers
Characters: Harriet Vane, Mary Wimsey
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Written for: tucuxi in Yuletide 2024
Rating: Gen

Harriet regarded the invitation with some suspicion. She had resolved to put Lord Peter—and all the tangle of gratitude, resentment, and admiration he provoked in her—out of her mind, at least for now. He was out of town, on a case, and Harriet had rather been hoping to use the time to settle her mind a bit.

She was beginning to plot out the next Templeton novel, and it was going as well as it ever did at this stage—meaning she was wondering why on earth she'd ever thought detective novels should be her passion, as she poked holes in every possible complication she dreamed up, and the ones she couldn't poke holes in would require ever so much research. But it would come; it always did. When she could focus; Lord Peter was not always conducive to that.

And here, as Lord Peter (and all his distractions) was safely out of the way, came a note from his sister, Lady Mary—or, as she styled herself, Mrs. Charles Parker, with an invitation to tea. Not at the Parker residence, but at a restaurant. There would be little danger of seeing the detective, and thus being unpleasantly reminded of her recent sojourn as a target of the judicial system. The restaurant was a respectable one, well within her budget, and easy to get to.

(  Much as she was grateful that Lord Peter was out of town for the moment, she was curious about him; what had made him, and why he was so interested in her. Lady Mary might answer some of her curiosity, without having to deal with the confounding man directly. )

With yuletide fics revealed, I can post the three fics that I wrote!

I was assigned to przed and we matched on Enola Holmes, with a request for Eudoria and Edith. Now, I'm actually more interested in Edith and Sherlock, but anything with Edith is great and of course writing her adventures with Eudoria would be fun (though I'd much rather someone else wrote them so I could read them--I find writing action very difficult). In reviewing the canon, the interesting thing I found was that although I remembered quite well how Edith took Sherlock down a peg, and her adventures with Eudoria, I'd forgotten or downplayed how kind and gentle she was with Enola when Enola was looking for her mother. There's a softer side to her character that I had forgotten all about. I don't know that it necessarily affected this story--it's about Edith and Eudoria, not Edith and Enola--but I was certainly conscious of it while writing.

Title: Women's Will
Author: beatrice_otter 
Fandom: Enola Holmes (movies)
Characters: Edith Grayston, Eudoria Vernet Holmes
Rating: Gen
Length: 2046 words
Written for: przed in yuletide 2024
Betaed by: kurushi

At AO3. At Squidgeworld. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.


'Mrs. Treven' was not the first wealthy woman gone slumming with radicals in search of adventure. They were not terribly common, given the sort of social consequences polite society would heap upon them if it became known, to say nothing of the other sort of consequences their male relations might dole out.

But they did happen. Edith cast a cool eye over the newcomer; unlike most such tourists, at least she had the sense to wear sensible clothing that was unremarkable in color, cut, and style. There were no distinctive marks visible, nothing to catch the eye … except for her manners, which spoke loudly of being more accustomed to giving orders to servants than of sitting down with them. And the accent, of course. And the hands, which were softer than any other woman's here.

( Read more... )

I use the same name everywhere so I am beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.

I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for over a decade and am usually very happy with my gifts.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

I have signed up for Chromatic Yuletide, Three Turtle Doves, Two for One, and Wrapping Paper mini-challenges.

General Likes and Dislikes:

Here are some other things to keep in mind:

• I like stuff that takes side characters and puts them center-stage, especially when the characters and/or actors are marginalized. I enjoy seeing them come to life.
• I don't like it when marginalized characters get relegated to the sidekick/supporting/helper role so that it can be All About The White Dude.
• I like it when female characters are more than just the Strong Female Character(tm) or The Nurturer.
• I like fluff
• I like angst with a happy ending
• I like stories that make me think about things in a new way.
• I like to know that culture matters to people, and to see how different cultures interact and where the clashes are.
• I like unreliable narrators.
• I like acknowledgment that different people can have different points of view without either of them being wrong.
• I like stories that engage with problematic aspects of the source, and which deal with privilege in one way or another instead of sweeping it under the rug.
• Worldbuilding is my jam, I am pretty much always up for explorations of why the world is the way it is. I love hearing about the economics, the politics, the religion, the clothing, the history, the folklore, all of that kind of stuff. And I want to know why it matters--how is all this cultural background stuff affecting the characters, the plot, everything. You don't have to do deep worldbuilding, but I'll enjoy it if you do.
• I don't like it when plots hinge on characters being selectively stupid, or selectively unable to communicate. Like, if they are stupid or a himbo or whatever in general, or have problems communicating in general, that's fine! Or if they canonically have a blind spot in that area, again, it's fine. But if it's just "the only way I can think of for this plot to work is if the character spontaneously and temporarily loses half their intelligence and competence," then I'm going to spend the rest of the fic wondering why the character didn't just ____?
• I like AUs, but not complete setting AUs (i.e. no highschool or college or coffee shop AUs, and especially not mundane AUs--nothing where you keep characters but drop most of the worldbuilding). I like fork-in-the-road type AUs, where one thing is different and the changes all result from that one thing, and you explore what might have been if such-and-such happened.
• I like the concept of sedoretu marriages.
• I like historical AUs, but only when the author actually knows the history period in question and does thoughtful worldbuilding to meld actual culture of the time with the canon.
• Crackfic is really hit and miss for me, sometimes I love it and sometimes I can't stand it. Basically, if it's the characters we know and love in a ludicrous situation, that's great. If they're OOC or parodied in order to make something funny ... it's not funny to me.

I like plotty, gen stories, and plotty stories in general. I don't care for explicit sex, particularly when it's just thrown in for teh porn. I'm asexual; a lot of the time I don't even bother to read the sex scenes. Romance is awesome (as long as both are in character and the romantic plot doesn't hinge on one or both of them being an idiot). I love it when friendship is held up as important and not secondary to romantic relationships and blood ties.

Please no incest or darkfic. I define "darkfic" as stuff where there's a lot of suffering and no hope even at the end and all the characters are terrible. Angst with a happy ending is fine, I enjoy it, but there's gotta be a payoff. Even an ambiguous ending is fine! But there has to be some note of grace or redemption or hope somewhere, it can't just be "people are awful and the world sucks, the end." I define incest as siblings and/or parents, cousins don't count.

I love outsider perspectives and academic takes on things. In-universe meta (newspaper articles, academic monographs--especially with the sort of snarky feuding common in actual real-world academia, social media feeds in current day or future worlds) is awesome.

Also, I'm picky about European historical clothing details. You don't have to talk about it at all! In fact, if you don't know much about historical clothing, I would prefer if you didn't mention it at all. My pet peeve is corsets: no, they weren't a restrictive tool of the patriarchy, no, they didn't interfere with most women's daily lives, no, most women weren't wearing them so tight they couldn't breathe.

I like religion but I'm picky about it. Basically, Christianity is deeply weird compared to most other religions, and a lot of people whose only experience with religion is living in a culturally-Christian nation assume that what they know about Christianity is some sort of universal principle of What Religion Is Like, and that's just not the case. For example, in Christianity what you believe is more important than what you do. This is not to say we Christians don't teach and practice Christian ethics or have rituals we are very attached to, but rather that if you don't believe in Jesus Christ, it doesn't matter what rituals you participate in or what ethical things you do, you are not a Christian (although you may be a "cultural Christian"). Every Christian group has at least a minimal core theology that members must affirm, but participation in ritual is far less rigidly a requirement. Most other religions rank what you do (both ethically and ritually) as more important than what you believe, and it is often quite possible to be a member in good standing if you participate in the practices and rituals even if you believe none of the teachings. Anyway, point is, if you are doing worldbuilding for a fantasy or SF or otherwise non-Christian religion ... unless it is explicitly a Christian-analogue, it should be different from Christianity. Question your assumptions and see where that leads you, and I will be fascinated and thrilled.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

I love the timey-wimey goodness of this show, and the brain-breaking nature of it. I love the complexity of the characters, and the meditations on good and evil and fate and free will. I love the way the show weaves the present and future together. I love the way people are from different timelines but may not realize that. I love how people can have their own agendas. I love Sarah trying to be a good mom while knowing she has to raise him as a child soldier. I love Derek's protectiveness of his family and loved ones. I love how screwed up and traumatized they all are, and how they still keep trying to change things. I have a lot of sympathy for Jesse, even though she did something really terrible.

Prompts: What happened after the series end, both for John in the future and Sarah and Ellison et al in the past? What is Catherine Weaver trying to do, and in what ways does Ellison both help and foil her? Do she and John Connor ever come back, and if they don't, what changes? What if you go AU from an earlier point in the series so they don't travel to the future? What if Jesse had a different plan, or changed her plan? What is she up to, because I assume she does something with herself after fleeing. What's Savannah's perception of the whole thing, and if "Catherine" had stayed (or came back) what would that relationship have been as she grew? (What did Catherine think of Savannah?) Did Ellison take over ZeiraCorp after Weaver jumped in time? Regardless, I'd love to see something of him using his FBI training and/or contacts in the fight against Skynet. Maybe they go find Danny Dyson! What happened to him, is he OK? Did he get recruited by somebody on either side? Does Terissa have some other part to play in preventing the apocalypse? And what about Jesse? What does she do after she flees and Derek tries to kill her? Or maybe an AU where things go differently with her and Riley. And I'd love either John Connor in the future with a Derek and Kyle who don't know him, or Kyle from another timeline comes back.

Go nuts. Write what happens after the last episode! Write about another time jump! Write a missing episode! Write an AU jumping off from some point in canon! Write about what's going on in the future/some characters' pasts! Write about anything that takes advantage of the central premise of canon!

Terminator/Star Trek: What would Cameron think of the Borg? What would Sarah Connor et al think about them? Is there a connection between the Borg and the formation of Skynet, or vice versa? Is Judgment Day part of World War III?

Terminator/Battlestar Galactica: Is Skynet the Cylons re-evolving, like the last episode of BSG said they would? Or is Sarah and John et al's earth the one that the Galactica finds destroyed in the middle of season 4? What if the Colonial Fleet found Earth and it was Sarah and John's earth, instead of one with only primitive humanoids?

Terminator/Buffy: what happens when the Terminator characters meet the Buffybot? Is Judgment Day an apocalypse Buffy and the Slayers help prevent? What happens to slayers after Judgment Day?

Terminator/ArchAndroid: I don't have specific prompts for this, but there's gotta be interesting stuff in "computers/robots that destroyed and enslaved humanity" vs. "androids that are enslaved by humanity"

Terminator/Batman Beyond: If anyone could survive Judgment Day, it would be Batman. When John goes forward in time, does he meet Terry?

Terminator/Doctor Who/Torchwood: time travel and apocalypses, sounds like an awesome time for the Doctor or Jack Harkness or someone to get involved in saving the world!

RoL/Terminator: If Judgment Day happens, and Terminators have microchips, all of a sudden being a wizard is a superpower to save the world. On the other hand, what if Sarah and John et al ended up in Britain and got tangled up in a case? What would Peter make of time travel?

Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic

Rivers of London

The snark! the vivid characters! the worldbuilding! the digressions! the wry-but-pointed social commentary on race and class and bureaucracy! the community and relationship building! Casefic is always welcome, but so is worldbuilding and exploring the demi-monde and magic, or character-focused stuff. I love stories that bring up weird aspects of the demi-monde and magic which Peter then has to deal with.

I love community-building. Peter goes out there and he gets to know people and builds relationships with them, and that opens up possibilities. There are good reasons things became fragmented, mostly the fault of the old Folly--but I love to see healing and reconciliation and new relationships growing.

Peter's not naïve, he knows how bad the world can get and how much evil can be done by the institutions he is serving, and yet he firmly believes that they can and should do better. I love how he is willing to risk himself to help people. I think Nightingale sees in Peter something he didn't know he was missing: a way to be and do better than the sins of the past he's been carrying around all these years. I think it's great that Nightingale's going to retire from the police to focus on teaching, I think that will allow much better scope for them both to grow, and yet still be working together. (Just in a different capacity.)

I find Beverly hard to parse in the earlier books. She's enough younger than Peter that the whole "suddenly we're pregnant and expecting kids!" and everyone's happy about it!" is weird to me. Peter's in his mid-late 20s, and is settled in his career, but Bev is in university! I would have expected her to prefer to wait. And then there's the fact that she's a goddess, and a geographical feature, and to some degree a reincarnation of a previous deity. So something exploring that dynamic from her perspective would be interesting. Her perspective on Peter, the Folly, and Thomas would also be really interesting to me. I love stories that bring up weird aspects of the demi-monde and magic.

Mamusu & Nightingale: She has such a forceful personality, and deeply loves Peter (even if their relationship is complicated). I think Thomas probably respects her a great deal. What if something happened to Peter and the two of them had to figure it out? What if, somehow, she were the one who became an apprentice, when she was younger, instead of being a janitor? What if the Jazz Vampires had killed Richard instead of just draining him/giving him brain damage leading to addiction, AND what if the Nightingale had been investigating? And Mamusu (either with bb!Peter or without, if she hadn't had him yet) becomes his apprentice so she can become a witch finder? Or Thomas felt guilty over not catching the jazz vampires sooner, and she needs a place to stay, so he offers her one of the many empty rooms in the Folly while she's getting her feet back under her. Or maybe she leveraged her friendship with Elsie "Hatbox" Winstanley and got a librarian or archivist job instead of cleaning, and somehow that connected with a case of Nightingale's? Or maybe she just folds Nightingale in to the large extended family she keeps track of and they get together for coffee regularly or something to gossip about Peter and Beverly and stuff. What if she had some magic training from her own tradition back in Sierra Leone? What if she became friends with the Rivers earlier, before Peter was an apprentice, and they used her as a go-between when dealing with the Folly?

Mamusu & Elsie: Ever since A Rare Book of Cunning Device came out, I've been curious about how those two met, whether in London or in Africa. I headcanon that Mamusu was one of those Africans who was a professional back home but couldn't get anything but janitorial work in England because racism (and also because, in her case, she was taking care of a husband and kid and didn't have time to fight through the system). But what if she could have gotten a job as a librarian, and she and Elsie worked together in special collections? Or you could do something odd-couple-ish where the major events of both lives are the same, but they're still friends who do stuff together despite the vast differences in their backgrounds and lives. Also, I would totally be down for some femslash.

Also, I'd be thrilled to get either a story about magic becoming public knowledge (oh, the conspiracy theories!) or an AU where it has been all along and an exploration of how that changed. Or a story where Ettersberg never happened and the Folly is a large institution and Thomas is one wizard among many. Or a story where Peter is the lone survivor of the old Folly, 100 years old, and Nightingale is the young new apprentice.

RoL/Young Wizards: Wizardry is so different in these two series, how do you reconcile it? How do they fit together? What would happen if Peter was investigating the same problem Nita and Kit were investigating?

RoL/The Old Guard: There are lots of different types of immortal (or, at least, really old) people in the RoL universe. How do the Old Guard fit?

RoL/Terminator: If Judgment Day happens, and Terminators have microchips, all of a sudden being a wizard is a superpower to save the world. On the other hand, what if Sarah and John et al ended up in Britain and got tangled up in a case? What would Peter make of time travel?

Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic

Dirty Commputer

(Available for free on Youtube)

As usual with Janelle Monae's work, the worldbuilding is GORGEOUS and I would LOVE something that explored it. The underground subculture that they're part of has so much richness to it. And, like, where's the money for those amazing outfits coming from? What do they do BESIDES hang out and party and be queer and subversive? Is this a post-scarcity world where everyone has a universal basic income? If there's such uber-tight control over society, how does the Pynk rest-inn stay in business? Is the tight social control universal, or only in some places? Could Jane and Zen have stayed in Pynk, but only if they were willing to never see Che again? Is Zen some kind of religious leader, and if so, how does that fit into everything? The Cleaners were some kind of hellish concatenation of bureaucracy and religion, how does that work and how does the religious part of it affect Jane and Zen's experiences? What was it like for Jane and Zen in there OUTSIDE of the cleaning? Are there lasting repercussions of the nevermind, physically or neurologically (how does disability affect things in this world)? Or you could do future-fic where they're political activists working to subvert the system. Or you could just do happy poly threesome!

Dirty Computer focuses far more on queer themes than on racial themes than Janelle's previous work, but there are still racial themes present. It can't be an accident that the people running the cleaning (both the cleaners and the mother superior) were white, and the three victims we saw were black. It hearkens back to all the times white people have decided that people of color were dangerous and subhuman and evil and needed to be made more like the white people. The destruction of memories was a literal version of things white culture has metaphorically been trying to do for centuries. The renaming, the "it's for your own good," all of it.

I love the songs of this album. Django Jane and I Like That are my favorites, but Screwed and Pynk are also awesome and I love the lush, lyrical way they feed into one another, the visuals and the lyrics and the beat together. I also love the themes: love, and being true to yourself, and at the end refusing both to give in and to respond violently. Please, please, please, give some sort of a happy ending. Like, you don't have to magically wave a magic wand and make all the screwed up things of this society go away, but I want the three to end up happy together.

If you delve into the religious aspects, the cleaners and Virgin Victoria are modeled on the worst parts of Christianity, and Jane and Zen's religious/spiritual stuff should be distinct and different.

Potential Crossovers:
Dirty Compupter/The Archandroid (Janelle Monae's first dystopian SF/F concept): Does the time-traveling android find herself dodging Cleaners as well as the Time Bureau? Is Cyndi Mayweather a reincarnation of Jane 57821 in some way?

Dirty Computer/Star Trek: is the Dirty Computer world part of the Eugenics Wars and/or WWIII?

Dirty Computer/Murderbot: Is the dystopian world of Dirty Computer part of the Corporation Rim?

Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic

Sense8

I love the worldbuilding and the characters, and what I most want is what happens NEXT. And I'm curious for both the immediate lives of the cluster (I love them all), but also for the larger world of sensate clusters. Do they start building their own culture, now that it's safer? What scars have been left by the corporate exploitation and murder? What continuing steps are needed to get rid of the lingering influence of BPO? Does the larger world ever learn about sensates, and what happens to the cluster then?

I love Sun's contradictions and complexity, I love Capheus's heart and courage, I love Lito's drama and sweetness, I love Nita and Nomi's trust and mutual devotion (and Amanita's quick thinking), I love the way Lito and Hernando's relationship grew and the way Daniela became a true partner for them and they have a relationship with her that's as important as a marriage but not romantic/sexual in the traditional sense. I love the way all of the cluster interacts and how together they are so much more than the sum of their parts, and I love watching all of them grow and become more truly themselves as they become entiwned in one another. (And I wonder what it would be like for clusters that weren't so well-suited, if that might be part of where Whispers came from.)

Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band

I could go for slash, queerplatonic relationship, or complete gen, as long as the two are important to each other.

Prompts: the story of their first meeting is kind of mythologized by now (it's in two songs, plus lots of interviews!), another retelling of it would be great. Or an AU where Clarence wasn't in that car accident and went into the NFL and they still became close. Or an angsty fic about how they're in love but too afraid to add "living together openly as interracial queers" to "interracial queer kiss on stage." Or fluffy slice of life with the two of them together, either on tour or between tours. Or a fic where they're each the emotional center of the other's life, but they both have relationships with other people, too. (Please make it polyamory and not cheating.) Or a fic that's all about them Challenging Racism And Homophobia Together.

Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic

Oh My General

(Available with English subs on Youtube)
This is the queer poly family I didn't know I needed. The larger plots of the show are okay, but my favorite part is the stuff of Ye Zhao, Zhao Yujin, and the three concubines together as a family. I headcanon Ye Zhao as bi/pan, and possibly genderfluid in some way. I love the idea of her and the Prince sharing the concubines (but only if the concubines are okay with the idea.) If you happen to know enough about queerness in pre-19th Century China to feel comfortable writing it, I would be thrilled if historical details got brought in. I'm also interested in the way the household is adapting its ideas of gender/status and roles within the household (is Concubine Yang fulfilling some of the household roles that the wife would normally do, because Ye Zhao is occupied with her military duties?) But I would also just love general slice-of-life stuff with them as a household and learning about each other and caring for one another. I'd love to see Ye Zhao and Yang and Xuan'er and Mianning becoming friends. Or you could have an AU where Ye Zhao marries Hu Qing and they are very happy together and just really good friends with the Prince and the concubines. (I love Hu Qing and like him far more for Ye Zhao than I like her with the Prince, but then I don't get her wonderful dynamic with the concubines, and I do appreciate how Ye Zhao and Zhao Yujin grow together and learn to trust one another over the course of the series.)

I like the Prince, but I also find his petulance and immaturity a bit annoying, and I like him most when he is growing and becoming more responsible and considerate.

Now, the thing about this story is that canon depends on Ye Zhao sexually harassing the Prince to get him to accept her as his wife and sleep with her. And that's pretty gross, especially as canon doesn't condemn it, just treats it as funny because it's a woman doing it. And I would be fine with a story that just pretended that aspect of things didn't happen and everyone had full consent for everything; I would be fine with a story that went AU and got them together some other way; I would be fine with a story that dealt with the fact that what she did was not okay and she learns that. I would *not* want a fic with canon-typical levels of sexual harassment.

Crossover Prompts: 将军在上 | Oh My General/Xena Warrior Princess: these two shows have, as far as I can tell, about the same amount of historical accuracy, and the same amount of lesbian subtext, and the same amount of Warrior Princesses. And we know Xena went to China! So make her and Ye Zhao meet!

Treats welcome
DNW: bashing, incest, explicit sex, rape/noncon, major embarrassment/humiliation, modern AUs, human/no powers AUs, darkfic, sexual harassment treated as normal/okay

Now that yuletide has revealed authors, I can post the two fics I wrote! My assignment was for vendaai, and it was an Imperial Radch fic. They were using the new "or" matching possibility, so of their requested characters I chose the ones that interested me the most, Sphene and Minask Nenkur. They also asked for worldbuilding! Which is my jam.

The books don't actually give us much detail about either the Notai in general or Minask in particular; we know they were one of the ethnic groups from the original Radch Dyson sphere, and they fought Anaander's rise to power. They seem to have given ship AIs more freedom than Anaander did, but they also saw no problem using ancillaries. And they probably didn't wear gloves because Sphene is derisive of the practice. As Sphene says in Ancillary Mercy: "What’s outside the Radch is impure, and mostly barely human. You can call yourselves Radchaai as much as you want, you can wear gloves like somehow not touching impure things is going to make a difference, but it doesn’t change anything. You’re not citizens, you’re impure by definition, and there isn’t an entrance official who’d let you within 10,000 kilometers of the Radch, no matter how many times you wash, no matter how long you fast."

So my question was, if the Notai believe that what's outside the Radch (i.e. the original Dyson sphere) "impure" and "barely human," why do they have all these ships to fight Anaander with? And the answer I came up with was "trade!" You don't have to respect or like someone to want the things they produce or the resources they have; consider the whole history of imperialism. But that got me thinking about the British East India Company, and the Dutch West India Company, and the Notai as sort of vaguely English colonialists. And that got me thinking of the Age of Sail, and balls, and arranged marriages and the marriage market, and "how does a ship get a captain if they don't have accesses that will force them to accept whoever you give them"? And that's what gave me the plot bunny to write the story.



Title: A Promised Meeting
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: Imperial Radch Trilogy
Written for: venndaai in Yuletide 2023
Betaed by: Gammarad
Length: 3,289 words
Rating: Teen

Summary: Parvenus and upstarts tried to arrange introductions to ships at mixer parties. Families with real connections arranged for more substantial—and more private—introductions in the ordinary course of business.

At AO3. On Squidgeworld. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.

Lieutenant—if all went well, soon to be Captain—Minask read a novel on her tablet, trying not to fidget. They were late, which would have been dreadfully rude if it hadn't been out of their control entirely. She ignored the excited chatter of the other two lieutenants, and the encouragement and advice one of the Lantana ancillaries was giving them. Both officers were young, and not looking for new assignments yet, but they were both from less well-connected families, and had never been to a mixer before, and were excited at the prospect of it.

Minask, as a Nenkur, had regularly attended such gatherings since before she'd been old enough to even think about what sort of apprenticeship she wanted. And a Nenkur would never depend on the chance of impressing the ship at a general meet-and-greet like this one for her assignments. Parvenus and upstarts tried to arrange introductions at mixer parties. Families with real connections arranged for more substantial—and more private—introductions in the ordinary course of business.

As had happened two years ago when Minask had been assigned to the Notai Spinward Trading Company's planet-side base on Cehines, and been conveyed there on Sphene, a Gem-class ship whose then-captain was within a few years of retirement.

Minask hadn't seen Sphene since, but they had written. Frequently. And three months of living together was a far better indication of compatibility than a few days of conversation. And in a few hours the shuttle would arrive and she would see it again.

( Read more... )

This year was amazing. All three of the fics written for me were absolutely perfect in their own way, exactly what I hoped for, and there was a fourth that wasn't written for me but felt like it was, because it matched a long-term request I've had in multiple ficathons over the last several years. (I also wrote two fanfics, one assignment and one treat, and I'm curious if anyone spotted either as possibly coming from me.)

Here are the fics I received:

( Fics I Received )


Other fics I loved:

( Other Fics I Loved )

 

I only wrote one treat this year, although neither it nor my assignment were the YT story I spent the most time on. That would be a Sense and Sensibility AU that I realized I would not be able to finish in time, and thus have set aside to become a New Year's Resolution. We shall see if I actually finish it without the pressure of a deadline.

Anyway, I loved In the Heights, and I was happy to write this story about Kevin Rosario (Nina's dad). I got halfway into it and then realized the recip had DNW'd kidfic. And I didn't know if it meant they didn't want Nina, or if it was just a general DNW they hadn't realized might conflict with their In the Heights request. After some dithering (because it was like the 22nd, and thus REALLY LATE), I asked the mods and they passed on the question and it turned out that indeed it was a case of not realizing that their general DNWs would be a problem in one fandom. So I was able to finish and post the fic, and I like it.

Title: The Dance of Time
Fandom: In the Heights (2021)
Characters: Kevin Rosario
Written For: Ljparis in Yuletide 2021
Length: 3280 words
Rating: general audiences.
Summary: Camila has been dead for a year, but grief isn't a straight line.

At AO3. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.

The first year after Camila died was mostly a blur for Kevin. He felt like the world had stopped, or that it should stop, that there should be a hole in it just like the hole in his life Camila had left behind. He worked, he took care of Nina, he slept. Sometimes, he'd realize he'd been staring at nothing for God only knew how long. There were whole days where he'd look back on it the next day and have no idea what had happened, what he'd done.

And there were other days where he wanted nothing so much as to go start a fight or crawl inside a bottle or take a spray can of paint and scrawl nasty words over the doors of the ER that hadn't managed to save his wife. Those days, he held on to his temper with both hands, and bought himself a lottery ticket if he got through the day without losing it.

( On other days, he'd turn around expecting Camila to be there, forgetting she was dead. Those were the worst. )

I succeeded in reading EVERY fic in the collection that I was interested in before reveals! And here is my list of recommendations. There are a lot of really good ones, and my tastes may not match yours, so I highly recommend browsing on your own. (And Madness, too!)

My Gifts:

Dirty Computer:
Tideline (1428 words) by Anonymous
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ché/Jane/Zen (Dirty Computer)
Characters: Zen (Dirty Computer), Jane (Dirty Computer), Ché (Dirty Computer)
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Escape, Treat, Yuletide 2021
Summary: Where they go after the House of the New Dawn.

I love this! So hopeful, and the reference to the Archandroid was perfect.


Inside Daisy Clover
Waiting for a Change (1021 words) by Anonymous
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Lewis Wade, Daisy Clover
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Chance Meetings, Drama, Angst with a Happy Ending, Memoirs, Reunions, Friendship
Summary: Wade manages to track Daisy down. Seems that the rumors of her death were greatly exaggerated after all.

I love this! I could hear their voices--Daisy, especially--and I think it'll be a much better life for her than Hollywood could have been.

General Recs:

( 56 Fandoms )

The last treat I wrote for Yuletide was for "Superstition," a queer hockey original-fic series on AO3. I love the series; it's pure escapism reading for me. And also, as an autistic person diagnosed in adulthood, the main character reads as very autistic in the way he sees the world and the way he relates to other people. So when I saw a request on the app for him written as autistic, I knew I had to do it.

Title: Sharing the Load
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: Superstition - Superstition_hockey (Original Work)
Written for: Wereflamingo in Yuletide 2020
Word Count:
Rating: Gen
Summary: After Everest, Luc and Jacks go to therapy.

On AO3. Pillowfort. Tumblr.


Luc's sports psychologist heard them out with a thoughtful air. "I can help Luc out with his issues related to retirement and adrenaline-seeking, but I'm not a couples' counselor. If you have issues to work through together, you really should have a therapist who focuses on those issues. I can give you some referrals, if you like."

"Yes, please," Jacks said firmly.

"Okay," Luc said.

Jacks shot him a surprised look, which Luc was a little hurt by. He wasn't always the most perceptive guy, but he was coachable. When the coach or doc or whoever told you what needed to be done to fix the problem, you did it, unless you had a damn good reason why. Jacks knew that. Jacks knew Luc knew that. Why was he expecting Luc to balk? Luc had been an asshole, he knew that, but surely not enough of an asshole to make Jacks doubt all that he knew about Luc? He shoved down his hurt. He had been the asshole, he didn't get to feel hurt about Jacks' reaction. He still felt a little hollow inside.

---

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This was the pinch hit I took! I had fun with it, because "Daddy Long-Legs" (the book) is always a fun read (albeit one where I side-eye Jarvis more and more each time I read it.) If you ignore the skeevy bits (which I can), it's a delightful upbeat look at women learning and growing at college in the early 20th Century.

A note on dates: We are given very few hard dates, but one of those we do get is that September 24th of Judy's first year at college is a Saturday, which means that it could have been either 1904 or 1910 (the book was originally published in 1912). However, if she started in 1910, there would probably be at least some mention of tensions in Europe when Julia goes off to Paris every summer, if not in the beginning of the story then at least by their Senior year which would be 1914. So I have chosen 1904 as the year. However, I have almost certainly put in more thought than Jean Webster did to the dates, because if September 24th is a Saturday, then December 19th is a Monday. We are told students go home for Christmas Break starting that Saturday, which means … Christmas Break literally starts on Christmas Eve.

Also, from noticing when examinations are (all the ones Judy notes are either February or May/June) the college seems to be on a quarter system instead of a semester system.

Title: Excerpts From the Letters of Sarah McBride Anderson, 1904-1908
Author: Beatrice_Otter
Fandom: Daddy Long-Legs -- Jean Webster
Written for: Candyoranges in Yuletide 2020
Betaed by: sinkauli
Word Count: 8682
Rating: General Audiences
Summary: Sarah McBride Anderson is best known for her work as a suffragette and later as the Representative of Massachusetts' 5th Congressional District, where she served from 1925-1937 (the first woman to represent Massachusetts, and the seventh woman in the US House of Representatives). Less well known is her lifelong friendship with J.A. Pendleton, the celebrated novelist and Pulitzer Prize winner. The two women met at college, where they roomed together. Although the correspondence between the two women after their college years has been published, these letters (excerpted from Anderson's letters home to her family during their college years) have not, and provide a fascinating glimpse into their friendship.

On AO3. Pillowfort. Tumblr.


214 Fergussen Hall,
October 6th, 1904

Dear Mama,

In the middle of the day, when I'm at class or visiting with friends or playing basketball, I am so perfectly content with life here at college that I can't imagine not being here. And then evening falls and I go back to my room, and I long to be there at home with you all. Little Helen will have grown out of all recognition by the time I'm home for Christmas, and she probably won't remember me! I've always been so cross with Billie for making a mess everywhere and getting dirt and mud over everything, and now I think I could face his worst depredations with equanimity if only we were home together. (Don't you dare tell him I said that!)

T( Read more... )

First, I received an amazing story. If you've never seen the movie, Random Harvest is a classic 40s melodrama that is so good and tropetastic. An amnesiac WWI veteran runs away from an asylum with a stage girl. They fall in love, get married, has a baby. He goes to the city for a job interview and is in an accident and regains his memories, while losing all memory of his time while he was amnesiac. He becomes a titan of industry and politician. Meanwhile, his beloved wife eventually finds him, but instead of TELLING him everything, she gets a job as his secretary and hopes that being around her all day will jog his memory. After much emotional melodrama, he remembers everything!

Many Roads (8025 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Random Harvest
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Margaret Hanson | Paula Ridgeway/Charles Rainier | Smithy
Characters: Charles Rainier | Smithy, Margaret Hanson | Paula Ridgeway
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence
Summary: Three other ways Paula and Smithy could have found happiness together.

This was long and delightful! I enjoy all of the AUs; my favorite bit was definitely Paula sending her stage friends to get him out of the Asylum, she's smart enough and go-getting enough to have arranged that. But the last one, from the point of view of the son, managed to recapture the exact emotion of me sitting there screaming at the screen to "just TELL HIM already!" that I get with the movie.


( The Rest of the Recs )