recs and links

And my mom just goes on and on, about how everything will be different when my dad comes back, and I want to just tell her, look, it's not like anyone thinks that's going to happen anymore, not after he's been gone all these years, and besides, it's not like she could even tell for sure that O. was my dad for real in the first place, anyway. But that's not the kind of thing you say, and Minnie's right that if he *was* still around, at least the boyfriend brigade would have to move on. Fascinating telling/retelling of Telemachus' story. I'm not sure I get it all, but what I got, I really like.

Really fascinating BSG/WALL-E crossover, with D'Anna on earth during its devastation. If you could draw a line in time and space, sketch life ordered from conception to completion, it would begin here, as it ends here; in between, the loop traces from one colony to twelve to one, from Caprica to Galactica to New Caprica, from me to me to me, loops within loops, deaths within deaths, rising and falling forever. All of this has happened before. All of it.

The military had been comforting because, for all its arcane rituals, there was an order about it, a regularity, that Martin had found highly comforting, when the rest of the world seemed so random. He'd often wondered whether there was some set of invisible, inaudible signals that other people received that allowed them to make sense of it all. He was beginning to think, though, that it was the same for everyone, and that you just learned to tolerate the zigs and zags or you didn't survive at all. Hilarious take on Martin and Debi's wedding, with a spot-on Martin voice.

Sarah kneels down, resting for a moment as she locks the safe again. Somewhere, no more than ten blocks from here, Ellison is doing the same. Sarah's ritual is different, but perhaps it is no less a prayer, no less an act of faith. Suddenly, she wishes she had a candle. She bows her head, her hand her collarbone above her heart, where she still aches fiercely for the son she lost. Yet it is with the same ache that she knows that he is alive, that he is fighting, and that she will see him again, whether it is victory or defeat that awaits them. Lovely snippet in which Sarah communicates with John across time.

"But things will be different." / "They always are. Or they appear to be. The change itself is a constant enough to make it invalidating. Change is constant, and thus nothing really changes," Lucifer said. / Her lips pursed. "You're kind of full of crap, sometimes." / "We can't all be omniscient." / "No, but you're closer than most." Lovely, in character story where Lucifer tells Elaine about Michael. *sniffle*

"We are teaching each other," he said, "always. And she will learn." His voice was hushed, steady. "She will." Tenar contemplated his words. He'd spoken so reassuringly, which calmed her: his magic was gone, but his eyes were still sharp, and she trusted them. He saw Tehanu behind the scars, he always had. He'd seen Tenar, once. Tehanu is growing up and Tenar worries. Lovely.

On Ismay the stories tell of a woman who often sails in to stay for a while, a woman who calls the wizard Vetch her master, who bore a son to the woodworker Murre, who took Yarrow's youngest daughter as her apprentice. In their house there is always a room kept ready, a lantern left burning, and a dish of food left covered, waiting for her to come home. Wonderful story of something that happens after Ged lays his shadow to rest.

This is wonderful. Vivid and evocative in a quiet, intense way. I love seeing Inari get herself settled in her skin. Lovely.

A hot, sweet, awkward and funny morning after their first time for Beckett and Castle. I enjoyed this a lot.

"It's just," he says softly, hesitating over the words, "It's just that my entire life, I've been the same person to her. I've been the same guy, my whole life." / The thing is, Chuck doesn't know how to explain how that's always been a comfort, how Ellie's always had more faith in him than anyone else, celebrated his successes and mourned his losses right alongside him. As much as he's always been the screw-up little brother, he's also been the little brother that could do anything in the world, if only he put his mind to it. / And now Ellie finally has proof. Her little brother really can do anything in the world. / His entire life he's been Ellie's screw-up little brother, until now. He had no idea how much he'd miss that old definition of himself until this moment, until he looked into his sister's face and realized she didn't recognize what she was staring at. Wonderful, moving story of how Ellie finds out, and how she and Chuck deal with it.

Truth was that he was too selfish to let anyone else put the suit on. He didn't give a shit about being a hero, but the thought of standing back by the Humvee as the guy in the suit went in there and did his thing was unbearable. But once Sanborn had lost it, once he'd shown he was weak, James had known there wasn't any fucking risk that someone would take the one thing that made him feel alive – death – from him. 'How do you do it?' Sanborn had asked. 'Take the risk?' and James had just shrugged. It was who he was. It either was or it wasn't, that was plain fact. Sharp, smart look at James and Sanborn.

It was irritating, but sometimes it seemed like sex was the only thing that put them on the same page; and they often needed reminding that there was a good reason they'd both given up on their careers to risk their lives for each other. / They needed to figure out a feasible course of action, and fast. John seemed to thrive on living one day at a time, following hunches left and right, but this indecision was driving Jane insane. Though part of a huge organization, she had always worked the field alone; she never worked well with a partner, and she was starting to remember why. Amazingly excellent and funny follow-up to the movie, with John and Jame trying to figure out how to get free of the trouble they're in, and also make their relationship better.

Four lives that Rachel Seybolt never got to have. Wonderfully real and sad snippets of lives Rachel could have lived, but didn't get to.

Mary tries to comfort Vidal in his grief over Avon's death. Lovely.

A miscreant had inveigled himself into the space behind her, quite undetected. She startled as his arms clasped her firmly round the waist. / "I cannot see your face, but I trust, sir, that you are my affianced husband? If not, I fear your lifespan will be sadly curtailed within a brief time. I have yet to convince my lord that his violent impulses should sometimes be controlled." / The miscreant laughed in her ear. Mary shivered at the contact of even that slight breath of air. And his arms were still around her. / "Have done, wench. You know perfectly well it is I. And you may save the lectures for after we're safely wed, my dear." Wonderfully funny and sharp look at Mary and Vidal (and Avon and Leonie) at their betrothal ball. really captures the characters and the narrative voice of the book, and I do love the way Mary handles Vidal, and also Avon's soft spot for her and his family.

Approximately three hours after disappearing, Rusty handed back the jewels like they'd come out of a gumball machine and not a state-of-the-art titanium safe. Although, when Danny thinks back on it, it isn't a particularly apt analogy. Rusty would probably have been far more reluctant to part with something that came out of a gumball machine. Fun, in character take on how Rusty and Danny met. Hee!

"So why are you here?" / "Well," she said, opening her purse with very deliberate movement, "I heard about the little pool going on, and I wanted to put in my bet." / Okay, so she was the crazy one. "You want to bet on your own son's s--er, romantic life?" / "Is there something wrong with that?" / On soooo many levels.... "Of course not," he answered. She held out a folded fifty, and he took it. "What date do you want?" he said on a sigh. / "Valentine's Day," she said, sounding almost dreamy. "He's a romantic at heart, you know." / "He may be," Ryan said, putting the money in the lock box, "but good luck getting Beckett to be one." / She frowned at him. "I'm sure Beckett has a romantic side," she said. / "Right, she keeps it next to her gun." / Martha laughed. "Darling, that's where all of us keep our romantic sides." Hee! This is adorable and utterly in character for all involved.

Danny finds his way back to Rusty, post-O13. Lovely.

Adorable story in which Inigo comes back to Florin to help Westley solve a problem. I especially liked Fezzik's cameo.

When Jess dreams of leaving, she imagines coming home with some kind of triumph. What it is, she doesn't know yet. There's still a year left of school to think it through. What Jess wants to find, it feels like something out there in the twilight dark, something she'll go out and find. / Dillon's the porchlight. Dillon's like football; it's in her blood, and no matter what else happens in her life, she's always going to love it, no matter where she ends up. She'll always have that clear light of home in her eyes; to feel her heart full of Dillon and her family. Chaos isn't going to stop her. Everything, all that unknown she's chasing down, Jess is going to use it to fill herself up, until she can close her eyes and there's only the wide peaceful sky around her. Utterly lovely and true exploration of Jess Merriweather, a character canon hasn't fleshed out yet, but this story does it beautifully.

This is my favorite kind of Sports Night story - Casey realizes how awesome Dan is, and Dan gives great monologue on why soccer sucks. Plus there is pining and kissing and a 'your face' joke. Adorable.

An adorable look at Castle and Beckett from Alexis's POV.

There were the moments like this: waking with Irene's hair in his face, the curve of her back against his side. / There were the moments after, when he lifted his arm to caress her with a hand that was no longer there. / "Use the other hand," she said, and did not move when he brushed the stump of his wrist against her shoulder. They never shrunk from what they had done; it was the only way they were able to know each other. / They lived moving from gentleness to cruelty and back, in the fragile spaces between love and fear and forgiveness. They ached with it, the rawness of it all, and the tenderness. / They woke tangled together in the mornings. Utterly perfect look at Gen and Irene - beautifully written and spot-on with the voices. I love this universe so much and this story is a brilliant addition to it. Plus! The title is spot on *and* from "Snow and Dirty Rain" by Richard Siken, a poem I adore.

"I get worried when you're thinking too much." / [...] "That's strange. I've been thinking my whole life and you never worried before." / "You weren't dying before." / "Are you still harping on that? I don't feel like I'm dying. It was probably a bluff." / "If you believed that you wouldn't have tricked me into taking the antidote." / "I did not trick you. I slipped it in your drink. You drank it. That's not trickery. It's subtlety. There's a difference and I've done both so I know it." / "You motherfucker," Jean said, vehemently and with the utmost sincerity, and Locke couldn't help saying, "Never knew her, actually, but I did like yours," which earned him a wallop on the back of the head. Oh, *heart* This is exactly what I wanted - both of them trying to live with the aftermath of the end of the second book while the threat of Locke's death hangs over everything. A wonderful slice of emoporn.

"Don't let the shit hide the shine, Sam." / "There's a lot of shit…" When Nick's hand closed around his wrist, the palm and callused fingers warm against his skin, Sam looked up. / "Then the shine's all the more important," Nick said softly. "The bad's so in your face that people don't see the good when it's right in front of them." Aw, Sammy. Lovely bit of Christmas fic.

So when you go out of your way to suggest that people should be thinking less — that not using one’s capacity for reason is an admirable position to take, and one that should be actively advocated — you are not saying anything particularly intelligent. And unless you live on a parallel version of Earth where too many people are thinking too deeply and critically about the world around them and what’s going on in their own heads, you’re not helping anything; on the contrary, you’re acting as an advocate for entropy. // And most annoyingly of all, you’re contributing to the fucking conversation yourselves when you make your stupid, stupid comments. You are basically saying, “I think people shouldn’t think so much and share their thoughts, that’s my thought that I have to share.” If you really think people should just enjoy the movie without thinking about it, then why the fuck did you (1) click on the post in the first place, and (2) bother to leave a comment?

Dean doesn't get his memories back quite so quickly at the end of IaTL, and he and Sam go out on the road together. Adorable and hilarious. (Wincest)

Anyway, here a few important things that I have learned in the process that you might want to implement at your end as well though it’s hard to tell if one can really prevent a determined hacker from stealing your Google accounts:

"Dean?" Sam is twelve years old, still babyfat in the face but wiry everywhere else. They're out behind the trailer, sparring while Dad's inside sleeping off a hunt, or a hangover; probably both. They seem to go hand in hand these days. It's summer in Alabama and the air is thickly humid, buzzing with mosquitoes. The old air-conditioner drones from the window. "Do you remember much about Mom?" *sniffle* Dean shares his memories with Sam, both of Mary, and of John.

The thing was, Sam hadn't been a dumb kid. Fucked up and bitter and possessed of no filter between brain and mouth, but that didn't make the unthinkable things he'd said to Dean any less sincere. Dean had had four years on his own to think about the mark Sam had left on his throat, the starry look in his brother's eyes that night at the drive-in, Sam telling him, I know it's not just me. Dean had had to bury it all away because it was true, every goddamn word of it. There was nothing Sam wanted that Dean didn't want too. But Sam had been gone, so Dean couldn't let it matter. Fantastic look at Sam over the years, wanting what he can't have - what Dean can't (won't) give him - until he can (does). (Wincest)